21 - Attack On The Red Ribbon Army

Three days quickly went by. Jesse stayed with Upa and his father, and Goku trained up at Korin's Tower. The Red Ribbon army, just like in the original story, didn't know about Tao Pai Pai's demise yet and were still waiting on his return.

Jesse suddenly woke up as he felt a high energy climbing down the tower.

"It's Goku!"

Goku jumped down and hit the ground, smiling heavily at Jesse.

"You were right! Korin boosted my strength tons!"

He was clearly pretty happy with his boost in power as he jumped around and punched the air. Unlike in the original, he wasn't training to beat Tao Pai Pai, just to get stronger, so it actually seemed like he was slightly weaker.

'Not the kinds of changes in the timeline I want…'

"Kuro'un!"

Jesse called out; he'd been calling his dark nimbus Kuro'un as a short nickname for it. He quickly hopped on top of it. Goku did the same with his own nimbus.

"Alright, all ready? You got your radar and balls?"

"Yep! Hey, let's see who's kintoun Is faster!"

Goku yelled out, before suddenly zooming off as fast as he could. Jesse wasn't beyond a quick fun game, so he played along.

"Crap! Kuro'un go!"

His black cloud zoomed forward, nearing Goku, but being unable to pass him. It seemed they were just the same speed, so Jesse gave himself a boost. He layed down on the cloud on his stomach and grabbed hold, then used his Zenpo technique to boost himself forward, quickly passing Goku before he got back up and they both slowed down.

"Ehh?! Thats not fair ya cheater!"

"Well, I couldn't get faster than you, our clouds are the same damn speed! I'll buy you a nice meal later to make up for it!"

"Ehehehe you better!"

Suddenly, a small drone came up flying near them, this was of course Bulma's. Down nearby at the Turtle Hermit's island, the drone's camera was streaming its video to a small tv.

"What is that? What a weirdo…"

Goku commented seeing the drone following them.

Back on Master Roshi's island, Bulma yelled out.

"It's Goku, and there's someone with him!"

"Eh? Another nimbus…"

Roshi wracked his brain for a second before remembering.

"Oh, the Kuro Kintoun! It's a version that evil people can ride!"

"Evil? But he doesn't seem evil, he's kinda cute."

Bulma commented before Roshi continued.

"Well I guess it's not specifically for evil people, just someone not pure of heart."

"Ah! Hey look, has the four-star ball, do you think he's helping Goku search for the Dragon Balls?"

Jesse saw the drone and recognized it as Bulma's, giving a happy wave to all of them, he'd meet them for real later.

"Yeah, it looks like they're heading to the Dragon Balls over here."

Bulma stated, pointing to where some other Dragon Balls where on a screen. They continued their regular canon conversation, with Bulma moving the drone over to the red ribbon HQ, and all of them being surprised, then trying to get a plane and Yamcha to help Goku. This time however, things would happen differently.

"Theres their base!"

"Yooosh! Time to go wild!"

Goku yelled out as Bulma's drone was shot down. As they got closer, the red ribbon army suddenly realized that it wasn't Tao Pai Pai bringing back the Dragon Balls, but Son Goku and an unidentified older person. While Goku had destroyed the hover-vehicle near them, Jesse charged up a Kamehameha, blasting it at multiple buildings near building 8, which housed the Dragon Balls. They both hopped down, fighting through waves of grunt soldiers with ease.

"They're heading towards building 8! They want the Dragon Balls!"

"They're already inside building 8 and we've already lost over half our soldiers!"

Soldiers yelled out progress reports of the two's status, as they easily made their way through the base. Red and Black, commanders of the army, quickly made their way to building 8, and began to squabble.

"We're in a really bad situation… those two possess a strength beyond our wildest imagi- LOOK OUT RED!"

Black's speech was interrupted by a sudden Kamehameha bursting out of the wall, vaporizing Commander Red. Standing in the new hole in the wall was Jesse and Goku.

"Ehh, isn't that a little extreme!"

"Nah, these guys are totally evil, they deserve it, and we can't exactly just let them rebuild."

'He would've gotten shot by Black in a few seconds anyways.

Black stepped forward and yelled out in anger.

"You bastards!"

This time, he almost immediately tried spawning out his battle jacket, but Jesse zoomed forward, snatching his capsule out of the air before he could.

"Zenpo!"

'H-How did he get behind me!?"

Jesse's face remained entirely serious as he crushed the capsule in his hand and demanded to the man.

"Hand over the Dragon Balls now or die. After that we're gonna give you over to the police."

"E-Eh… H-Here, take them!"

Black handed over the two Dragon Balls, and both Goku and Jesse smiled. Right as Black was about to try to sneak attack Jesse, Jesse felt a massive energy spiking up nearby and something coming close. He suddenly recognized exactly what it was and yelled out at the celebrating Goku.

"Goku! Jump out of the way!"

As both of them jumped backwards, they only barely dodged a massive Kamehameha that had come barreling through the building. The beam did however hit Black, obliterating him. Flying high in the air past the hole made by the Kamehameha, was Pictoro.

"You bastard! You're alive!?"

"Alive and well! And now it's your turn to get vaporized!"

Pictoro yelled out angrily, he couldn't believe a young teen had almost destroyed him, he was supposed to be a god. But now he was full strength, and he wouldn't fall for any tricks again. Pictoro quickly charged and shot out another Kamehameha towards the building.

"Goku! This guy's strong, so be careful!"

As the blast came through, they both dodged it and called their nimbus.

"Kuro'un!"

"Kinto'un!"

Flying around Pictoro, Jesse jumped forward at the Bio-Android punching him directly in the face. He was then caught by kuro'un and moved back. Being pushed away slightly, Pictoro's eyebrows twitched.

"I guess you're… a little bit stronger than before! But I'll still kill you all the same!"

He spread out both his arm, rotating his body and launching ki beams all around to try and hit the circling Goku and Jesse. Goku however used this as an advantage, going under, then up with Kintoun to slam himself directly into the Bio-Android's stomach.

"S-Shit…"

Momentarily stunned, Jesse joined in, using Zenpo to quickly reach Pictoro and slam him in the face with both of his fists balled up. They both went back, then charged up their Kamehamehas in unison.

"Kaaa.... Meeee…. Haaaaa.… Meeee…. HAAAA!!!"

Both of them launched their beams at the towering monster, and he was totally engulfed in them.

"You should've stayed hidden!"

Jesse yelled as he increased the power of his blast, vaporizing much of Pictoro's body.

"N-Not agaaiinn!!!"

Eventually, their beams faded, and the Bio-Android's body had completely disappeared.

'Hopefully he's actually dead this time, if I could just sense energy better, I'd be able to tell.'

Looking over at the smiling Goku and launching his own smile back, Jesse continued his thoughts.

'Probably didn't need his help, I think I could've taken on Pictoro by myself at this point.'

"Hoo. That guy was kinda tough!"

Goku commented as he sat down and wiped his brow.

"That's weird, I can't find the last Dragon Ball on the radar... we only have one left to find."

"Don't worry, I know where to find it. For now, though, let's go out and meet your friends waiting for you, I can sense their energy outside."

Goku was surprised, but simply nodded his head and flew back to where Jesse was pointing, leaving the leftover soldiers to run away from the destroyed base.