Chapter 1: Escape to Heaven
Dim, oppressive, damp.
This was a metal laboratory dozens of meters underground.
Discarded robot parts littered a corner crisscrossed with pipes, while rows of coldly gleaming incubation pods lined the metal walls.
Each pod held a different kind of biological specimen, trapped inside.
Two researchers in white lab coats were moving between the workbenches.
"Doctor, your artificial weapon has engaged the intruder."
The younger researcher watched the screen as he spoke to the other, noticeably older man.
"Black Adjutant may deserve no forgiveness for killing the Commander-in-Chief, but if he can use that weapon to kill the intruder and get the Dragon Balls, he'll have made up for it."
On the screen, a tailed boy was fighting a Black adjutant piloting a giant robot.
The boy leaped off a strange-looking cloud and punched the robot's glass canopy. His fist unleashed a burst of force, but the canopy didn't budge.
"Doctor, the weapon you made is so powerful. That kid—"
"Shut up, you fool!" Dr. Gero snapped, cutting him off.
The young researcher froze, then looked back at the doctor, confused.
Cold light glinted off the doctor's glasses, hiding his expression.
"You think that useless fool can win?"
No longer paying attention to the screen, he walked straight toward an incubation pod set apart from the others.
"Sun Wukong survived Tao Pai Pai. And you think a machine that still needs someone to operate it can beat him? Don't make me laugh."
As soon as he finished speaking, the battle on-screen took a sudden turn.
The Black adjutant piloted his robot and fired a bomb at the boy standing atop a high-rise—a bomb powerful enough to level the headquarters.
But the boy leaped into the air and kicked the bomb toward a distant snow-covered mountain.
Boom!
In an instant, half the mountain vanished in the explosion.
Then the boy looked at the robot as it staggered, trying to flee. He pushed off with both legs and shot through the air.
His small body collided with the robot's purple metal abdomen.
The boy wasn't stopped as the researcher had expected.
There was no slowing him down, no resistance.
He pierced straight through the machine, leaving a huge hole in it, then landed effortlessly back on the cloud.
"Th-that's incredible."
The young researcher stared at the image of the robot exploding into dust on the screen and stumbled backward, his face full of shock.
"Hmph! A fool's a fool."
Dr. Gero looked down on his assistant's childish reaction.
His gaze settled on the humanoid creature in the incubation pod before him, and he became lost in thought.
"This is my perfect weapon."
Inside the pod before him, a boy lay curled up, tubes plugged into his body.
His face was youthful and handsome, but his eyes were tightly shut and his brow deeply furrowed, as if he were trapped in a painful dream.
[Android No. 0] [Equipped Weapon: Energy Conversion Device] [Status: Near Death]
The red warning light flashed, and Dr. Gero sighed.
"What a shame..."
"Research on biological androids is still in its early stages. It seems I'll need to find more test subjects to complete the data."
"We should move our base first. This place is no longer safe."
Thinking about what to do next, he walked over to a huge computer and quickly typed on the keyboard, bringing up a strange interface.
The young researcher hurried after him. "Doctor, the Red Ribbon Army has been destroyed. What are we going to do now...?"
"Who said it was destroyed?"
Dr. Gero spun around. There was no anger in his eyes, only an almost fanatical resolve.
"As long as I'm alive, the Red Ribbon Army will never fall. No matter how long it takes, we'll have our revenge on Sun Wukong."
"Right, right, we—hahaha—"
The young researcher hadn't had long to celebrate when he stared at the doctor in shock, then looked down at the hole in his chest, where blood was slowly seeping out. He collapsed with a crash.
A trace of mockery crossed Dr. Gero's face as he put away the energy gun in his hand.
"We, but not you. You know too much. Keep your mouth shut forever."
Ignoring the corpse on the floor, he accessed the laboratory's management AI.
"Activate the base self-destruct sequence and transmit the experimental data to the northern base."
The AI's voice rang out. "Data transmission complete. The base self-destruct sequence is ready to begin. Please confirm activation."
"Yes."
"Base self-destruct sequence activating. The base will self-destruct in fifteen minutes. All personnel, evacuate immediately."
Dr. Gero glanced at the countdown on the screen, then took one last look at the boy in the incubation pod, who remained unchanged. He turned and hurried away.
No one knew how much time passed. Silence settled over the laboratory, broken only by the countdown ticking away on the computer screen.
Suddenly, the boy in the incubation pod snapped his eyes open.
Crack!
With a sharp shattering sound, the boy tumbled into the broken glass scattered across the floor.
Ignoring his condition, he threw all his strength into charging toward the laboratory's iron door.
He burst through it and scrambled up the metal ladder.
Boom! A burst of scorching flames erupted beneath him.
The sturdy walls enclosing the laboratory trembled in the blaze. The entire escape ladder was like a skeleton, and the moment he leaped onto the surface, it collapsed with a roar.
"Whew, I'm finally alive."
The boy stared at the sunken patch of land before him, still shaken.
He brushed the dust off himself.
"Tsk..."
Then he realized something. Looking down, he saw that he was standing naked in the freezing wind.
Shivering, the boy folded his arms across his chest. "I'd better find some clothes first. This body's really been through the wringer."
He headed toward the ruins of a building in the distance—the headquarters of the Red Ribbon Army, which had just been destroyed.
The boy was named Raditz. He had come from another world.
When his soul joined with this body and he figured out what was going on around him, he'd assumed he'd landed in a technological world much like the one he'd known before.
He'd thought he was in the secret laboratory of some evil scientist.
After all, the bizarre creatures filling the room and the mechanical wreckage scattered everywhere were clear signs of the owner's madness.
He'd guessed right. It really was an evil scientist.
"But who the hell told me this was a technological world? Dragon Balls? The Red Ribbon Army? This is obviously the Dragon Ball world!"
After pulling clothes off a dead soldier, Raditz ranted to himself.
As an overworked otaku, Raditz had watched plenty of anime, and of course he knew Dragon Ball.
The fight scenes and energy-beam clashes had once stirred his blood.
But if he was really going to end up in this world, shouldn't he at least have started as a Saiyan? What was with this half-broken human body?
A hellish start? No, wait.
He raised his right hand and opened a metal-colored palm. A round metal core was visible inside.
"Was this modified by that doctor? This mechanical hand feels almost the same as a real one. I wonder what it can do."
Now that he knew he was in the Dragon Ball world, Raditz realized that the person who'd escaped earlier might have been Goku's future enemy, the mastermind behind the Android Saga—Dr. Gero.
"So this body I'm in is one of the androids Dr. Gero was developing?"
Just then, a voice sounded in his mind.
[Host's soul integrity confirmed. Consciousness stable. System activated.]
Here it comes! Better late than never—my cheat!
Raditz immediately stopped thinking about anything else, his eyes lighting up.
Of course! What would be the point of transmigrating without a cheat?