he Flying Nimbus carved a golden streak through the crisp upper atmosphere.
But up here, the cloud felt tight. Intimate.
Chi-Chi was forced to sit closer than she had ever been. Her knees pressed firm against his back, and with every sharp bank or sudden dip, her hands instinctively clamped around his waist to keep from slipping into the open air.
Why is my face so hot?!
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore how close they were, but then her senses betrayed her.
She leaned in just a fraction. Her nose caught a scent that wasn't the cold mist of the clouds or the salt of the sea.
Wait... he doesn't smell like a wild animal at all, she realized, her brow furrowing. He's actually... surprisingly clean for someone who fights in the dirt all day.
"Hey, Chi-Chi! You're squeezing me pretty hard!" Goku shouted over the wind.
"I can't breathe if you keep hugging me like that!"
"I AM NOT HUGGING YOU!" Chi-Chi screamed, her face exploding into a bright red. She immediately let go, waving her arms indignantly.
"The cloud moved, you moron! I was just making sure I didn't fall off! Don't you dare get any ideas!"
"Whatever. Just hang on, we're almost there!"
The Nimbus suddenly dived, plummeting toward a lush, green valley dominated by a massive, towering pillar of rock that seemed to touch the heavens themselves.
The Sacred Land of Korin
The cloud slowed to a halt near a peaceful tribe at the base of the Great Tower.
As they touched down on the soft grass, two figures emerged from behind a large teepee. One was a massive man with a feathered headdress and a spear. Beside him stood a small boy, clutching his father's leg.
Bora, the guardian of the Sacred Land, leveled his spear at them.
"Halt, travelers. State your names and your purpose, or leave this ground at once."
Upa, the young boy, peeked out.
"Father... is it the men with the red armbands again?"
Goku hopped off the Nimbus, waving.
"Hi! I'm Goku! We're just looking for a Dragon Ball!"
Chi-Chi stepped off the cloud, smoothing down her clothes.
She didn't like being pointed at with a spear.
She stepped forward, her hand resting near her sash, meeting Bora's gaze with a sharp, steady look.
"You can put that toothpick away, big guy. We aren't with those Red Ribbon creeps. In fact, I just finished kicking their teeth in at the coast."
Bora didn't lower his spear, but he paused, studying her. He could see the way she stood—balanced, ready to move, like a tiger waiting to spring.
She didn't look like a tourist; she looked like a fighter.
"The Red Ribbon Army has been circling us like vultures, you say you want that orange ball. That makes you just as greedy as them in my eyes."
Before Chi-Chi or Goku could reply, the heavy thud of military boots began to vibrate through the earth.
From the treeline surrounding the Sacred Land, a massive column of soldiers emerged, their uniforms standing out sharply against the deep green of the forest.
"Father! Look!" Upa cried out, clutching his father's leg.
"The men with the red armbands are everywhere!"
"Stand back, Upa!" Bora growled, planting his feet and leveling his spear at the approaching army.
"They have finally come for us in force."
A stocky figure hopped out, but it wasn't a man. It was a humanoid tiger, his bright yellow fur cut by stark black stripes.
He looked like an ace pilot from a bygone era, leather flying helmet with goggles, a red bandana tied loosely around his neck, and a green aviator jacket over a khaki shirt.
He tugged at his brown leather gloves, his feline eyes narrowing with greed as he looked up at the Great Tower. Then, his gaze snapped down, locking onto the small group standing in the clearing.
"So, the reports were right. The little brat with the tail and his girlfriend really did head for the Tower."
Chi-Chi's eyebrow twitched at the word 'girlfriend,' her face heating up instantly.
"I am not his—" She stopped herself, shaking her head and shifting into a fighting stance.
Colonel Yellow chuckled, ignoring her as he signaled his men.
A dozen soldiers stepped forward, their rifles aimed directly at Chi-Chi and Goku.
"I'm Colonel Yellow, and I don't have the patience of General Blue." He sneered, pulling a heavy-duty pistol from his holster.
"I heard what you did at the coast, girl. Impressive. But you're in the open now. No walls to hide behind."
Goku stepped in front of Chi-Chi, his expression unusually serious.
"Leave these people alone. They didn't do anything to you!"
"They have a dragon ball."
Yellow looked at Bora.
"Let's not waste time. The Four-Star Ball. The children. Or this village becomes an example by nightfall."
Bora didn't move an inch.
"The Sacred Land does not yield to thieves."
"Suit yourself." Yellow sighed, waving a hand dismissively to his troops.
"Erase them. Fire at will."
The forest erupted with the sound of gunfire.
"Chi-Chi, look out!" Goku yelled, blurring into motion as he swatted bullets out of the air with his power pole.
Chi-Chi didn't need the warning.
She dived into a roll as she closed the distance between her and the front line of soldiers in a heartbeat.
She delivered a devastating kick to the first soldier's chest.
The soldiers opened fire, a chaotic roar of gunpowder filling the air.
But before the bullets could reach Chi-Chi or Goku, the massive frame of Bora stepped forward, shielding them like a wall of living stone.
The lead slammed into his bare chest, flattening against his skin and falling into the grass like harmless pebbles.
"Is this the best the modern world has to offer?" Bora's voice rumbled, deep and unfazed. He looked down at the small welts on his skin that weren't even bleeding.
"Your weapons cannot pierce a heart protected by the spirits of this land."
The soldiers froze, their eyes widening in terror as they fumbled to reload. They had never seen a human shrug off a firing squad.
"My turn." Bora growled.
With a surge of terrifying power, he gripped his heavy spear and drew his arm back.
With a sharp exhale, he launched the weapon. It didn't just fly; it whistled through the air.
The spear struck the lead soldier squarely in the chest, the force carrying the man off his feet and pinning him to a massive oak tree fifty yards back.
The soldier died instantly, his body suspended three feet off the ground by the wooden shaft.
The second soldier didn't even have time to scream. Bora was already upon him, moving with a speed that defied his massive size.
He delivered a single, brutal punch to the man's face.
CRACK.
The impact was so violent that the soldier's neck snapped instantly, his head twisting at a sickening, unnatural angle.
The force of the blow launched him backward, his body tumbling through the air until he slammed into the same tree, collapsing in a heap beside his pinned comrade.
Chi-Chi stood back, her eyes wide as she watched the sheer, raw power of the Guardian.
"Whoa..." She muttered, her ponytail swaying as she looked at the carnage.
Colonel Yellow turned pale, falling from his mouth into the dirt.
"W-what are you people?! You're all monsters!" He scrambled back toward his jeep, screaming at the remaining troops.
"Don't just stand there! Use the grenades! Use the rockets! Kill them all!"
Goku didn't wait for the smoke to clear.
He blurred into motion, appearing between two soldiers who were desperately trying to aim their rifles.
With a sharp twist of his body, he delivered a double-kick that sent both men flying in opposite directions, their weapons clattering uselessly against the stones.
Chi-Chi wasn't about to let Goku have all the fun.
She remained light. She didn't even need to bridge the gap to the soldiers closest to her. Instead, she unleashed a barrage of concentrated Kiai strikes—focused, piston-like punches driving into empty space.
The motion compressed the air, sending invisible waves of vacuum pressure screaming forward.
Each impact hit with, blasting the troops backward.
But in the chaos of Bora's raw carnage and Goku's high-speed acrobatics, Colonel Yellow had found his opening.
While everyone was focused on the front line, the Colonel had stayed low, crawling through the tall grass like a snake.
"Father! Help!"
The high-pitched scream cut through the sounds of battle.
Colonel Yellow had managed to circle back. He was standing near the edge of the clearing, his arm locked tightly around Upa's neck, pulling the terrified boy against him.
He held a knife to the child's throat, his eyes wide and bloodshot with desperation.
"Stop! Everyone stay back!" Yellow shrieked, his voice cracking with fear.
"One more move from any of you, and the kid gets it! I mean it!"
Bora froze, his massive fist trembling as he looked at his son.
Goku stopped mid-air, landing softly on the grass, his expression turning deadly serious.
Chi-Chi gritted her teeth, her hands curling into fists.
"You coward, you can't win a fair fight, so you hide behind a child?"
"Fair? There's no such thing as fair in the Red Ribbon Army! Now, give me that Dragon Ball and stay where you are, or the boy dies right here!"
Chi-Chi's knew that a direct charge would only end in tragedy for Upa.
She needed to break Yellow's focus, and she knew exactly which button to press: his ego.
She slowly lowered her fighting stance, letting her arms hang loosely at her sides. She even forced a small, mocking laugh to bubble up.
"You really think that's going to work?" Chi-Chi asked, her voice dripping with artificial boredom as she began to walk in a slow, casual circle.
"Look at him. Does that boy look like he carries the Dragon Ball?"
"Stay back!" Yellow shrieked, pressing the blade closer to Upa's skin.
"I'm not playing, girl! I'll do it!"
"Go ahead." Chi-Chi shrugged, her expression turning cold and indifferent.
"Kill him. Then his father will tear you apart limb from limb, and Goku and I won't have to worry about protecting a hostage while we finish off the rest of your army. Honestly, you're doing us a favor. One less distraction."
Goku looked at her, his eyes wide with horror.
"Chi-Chi! What are you saying?!"
"Think about it, Colonel. You kill him, you die. You drop him and run, and maybe I'll let you reach the treeline. Which sounds better to you?"
Yellow's eyes darted between Chi-Chi's cold stare and the towering shadow of Bora.
For a split second, he actually believed her.
He was used to the ruthless logic of the Red Ribbon Army, where lives were disposable.
The thought that she didn't care about the boy sent a jolt of pure terror through his system. His grip on the knife faltered as his mind scrambled to find a new leverage.
"You... you're a monster!" Yellow stammered, his focus shifting entirely to Chi-Chi as she took one more casual step forward.
That was the gap. The moment Yellow's eyes locked onto hers in fear, Chi-Chi's bored expression vanished.
Before Yellow could even process the feint, Chi-Chi drove her palms together.
She didn't aim at him; she aimed at the ground at his feet.
A focused blast of air pressure struck the dirt right in front of the Colonel, exploding in a cloud of dust and grit that blinded him instantly.
"My eyes!" Yellow screamed, instinctively reaching up to rub them.
In that heartbeat of blindness, Upa was no longer a shield.
Goku moved like a lightning bolt, his hand blurring as he snatched Upa from Yellow's grasp and retreated twenty feet in a single bound.
Chi-Chi didn't wait.
She surged through the curtain of dust, cutting the distance in a heartbeat.
She planted her foot and drove a piercing side kick straight into his midsection.
The impact lifted the tiger clean off his feet and sent him rocketing backward, crashing violently into the deep of the forest.
"Oops… you missed your chance."