In exchange of payment, the Karinga tribe accepted to provide Mai with a hut, lumber, food and all the necessities. Even as Gero was not planning to stay for long time at the tower, he knew it would be foolish to bring her up with him. An untrained human being would still be hit by the hight altitude sickness, and a prolonged stay up there would cause unnecessary suffering to his brand new girlfriend.
He started the ascension after Mai finished nagging him about his security and well being, and it was heartwarming to discover a new facet of this character that was mainly passive in the series. It also showed that he was not in a work of fiction at all, but truly a reality that was real. Even though he was conscious during the transmigration, his smooth sailing in this word made him doubt sometimes about its nature, it felt like it was a dream or the continuity of an hallucination made up by his dying brain. "I hope I won't get the same phobia as Rudeus..." He muttered while climbing steadily, using only the force of his arms, his legs hanging and remaining crossed to add weight to his training.
Contrary to what would Goku do in the future, he didn't rush, he deliberately made very slow movements, climbing up at a turtle's pace. Once he heard his timer's bip, he would pause momentally to take his daily elixir rations, and continue.
This way day turned into night, then the night ended and the day returned. After three cycles, he was basked in the imaginary fluffiness of clouds, and the ambient cold added even more difficulty to his deliberately arduous climb. After what felt like forever, his thoughts calmed down as he mechanically repeated the same motions, and unknowingly arrived at the top of the pillar. There was a platform like structure with four holes, and he used one of them to enter inside. The infrastructure gave palace vibes, but Gero was too exhausted and fell down on his knees. He was completely drained by this continuous effort. Using the scouter, he checked his power level to see if there was any progress, and he was delighted to discover that he reached eight hundred seventy-six combat power, this trip was not for nothing at least, but the scouter soon switched to another energy signature, one that amounted to one hundred eighty-four. He looked around him, but only saw jars, a bathtub, and nothing more interesting. He proceeded to climb up the stairs that led upwards, and very shortly after was in front of an over-the top decorated altar, with a the jar containing the sacred elixir, or more precisely plain water. Next to it was standing a blue-teal little humanoid cat that was looking at him with it's squinted eyes while holding a crude stick, much taller than itself. Maybe this stick was a child of a log, and much better than bacon too?
"Congratulations, you finally reached the top after eight days of climbing. You must be exausted, take this senzu bean, it is quite nourishing."
"No thanks, sage Korin, I have my own good stuff."
"Oh you knew my name? Are you here for the sacred elixir? As you reached the top you can pass my trial. If you succeed, you will earn the right to drink it."
"Very well, honourable sage, we can start whenever you are ready."
Korin was blocking the way to the jar, and displaced it with it's stick whenever Gero tried to take it. He was not using his power, as for now this type of training would mean nothing if he didn't play by the book's rules. This was a training designed to learn and improve the way one felt the Ki, and maybe was the base to develop the ultra instinct later. Unfortunately for the cat, he did already learn the Ki sensing and it's use from his master Tao and martial uncle Shen, and feeling there were no improvements after three hours, he snatched casually the jar. The poor thing was all fidgety as it witnessed for the first time someone snatching it after only three hours of practice. Gero returned the jar without drinking the water, as it was not his goal to obtain it. He could get some random water anywhere anyway.
"Oh? I thought you came specially for this miraculous water, am I mistaken?"
"Indeed honourable sage, I am well aware it is just simple water, and I am not refusing it by simple purity of heart. I want to use divine water to unlock my potential."
"What? How do you know about it? Who are you?" Panicked the cat, expecting everything but that.
Unbeknownst to them, at Kami's palace, the Kami and Mr. Popo were watching the scene.
"I cannot see trough his strength, how did I miss such powerhouse?" Complained the old alien.
"He is not a good person, I can feel the darkness in his heart." Stated Mr. Popo, with his usual pokerface.
But knowing they were powerless against this mysterious man, they decided to not act and kept watching the scene down bellow.
"I am not a good person, but I am not an enemy either. I need to gain power to protect what I hold dear to me from the future events. If I survive, I wow to help the Kami three times as long the task doesn't go against my beliefs and principles. And if I fail, well, you know that I will perish."
The cat was even more surprised, a hooman who knows about the Kami and the divine's water existence and side effect? How? And then it received the confirmation from the god of Earth.
"Very well, the Kami accepted the deal, let me retrieve it."
Contrary to what was shown in the anime, Korin casually kept the kettle inside a jar, not inside a strange dark space. It poured the divine water into a cup, and presented it to the mysterious man.
Gero drunk it in one go. As soon as the liquid was ingested, he felt a sharp pain spreading all over his body, and he sat in lotus pose to meditate. He was monitoring the state of his body using Ki, and felt himself getting continuously injured, then healed by the elixir pills he swallowed earlier. The later's effect was fading, and so he ate an additional dose. Unlike Goku, a phantom of his potential was not appearing, as C-20 was not Gero's innate form, and that was a shame. If he could unlock a potential related to a being far more powerful than Freezer in his final form, he would speedrun the whole dragon ball storyline in the next few years. The suffering continued for days without diminishing, and more the time progressed, more he was aware of the two pair of eyes watching him from the Kami's palace. He could feel more and more clearly every life form further and further away, and it was no wonder the divine water was not made for a human being to drink. As long even a trace remained in a human organism, it will persistently continue to kill it. Days later, under the horrified gases of the three witnesses, he stood up, and as he opened his eyes the skies turned dark and a tempest was unleashed, roaring like a demon. Thunder was falling in droves and a thick evil aura engulfed the world around them. Korin was holding with everything it had to not get blown away by the storm, while the turbulence was gradually expanding.
"Kyaaah!" Roared Gero, and the storm suddenly disappeared, like it never existed before. His scouter was reading: two thousand three hundred twenty-two. His power reached two Yamchas from the sayen arc.
Without any words and goodbyes, he disappeared like a mirage under everyone's eyes.
"What a monster... this is horrible!" Exclaimed Korin, still shivering.
"I chose to believe in him." Calmly stated the Kami. "He has an evil aura, but even I had evil in me before. He was not slaughtering aimlessly and we never noticed him until now. He is not qualified to become the new Kami, but I trust in the promise he made and that he will respect it."
However the poor alien was not aware of one thing: Gero will never help some xeno-scum, it was against his belief in the Machine God, the Motive Force and the Omnissiah.
That same day a crystal ball disappeared from the Ox King's castle on the Fire Mountain, another one disappeared from Son Gohan's house, and on the Master Roshi's island... The old man was cackling while reading an indecent magazine, lying on the beach. Sudenly he was pulled up by his necklace and slapped away by a monumental force. He ricocheted on the waves like a pebble, and only stoped after hitting a tree, kilometres away. A huge red palm was imprinted on his right cheeck. Once he regain consciousness and returned to his island, he found his house wrecked, his collection of magazines burning, pilled up as a tiny mountain, and on the sand were written in big characters : "Crane School."
The turtle sage exploded: "Curse you Fool Crane! Curse you!"
The same day, and far away from there, Gero appeared back again at the Karinga tribe's grounds, and was greeted by a worried Mai who threw herself in his harms.
"I started believe you would never return... sob... sob..." She cried.
"Calm down, Mai, I am here now. Let's ho home. alright?" Said Gero, trying to calm her down.
With a big smile she looked at him and nodded. Gero then pulled her up in a bridal carry, and flew away with her, not going too fast to prevent any discomfort. Mai panicked at first then got used to it, and this is how it was until they reached his house, a bit away from West City, talking of sweet nothings and laughing at their anecdotes.
Gero did land in front of the first Ferbolg's security outpost first, startling the soldiers who deployed in a hurry, aiming at them with guns.
"I'm Gero, here, look this is my Ferbold ID."
A scarred older soldier approached cautiously, while Mai hid behind Gero, surprised by the soldiers' reaction.
"Lower your weapons every one!" He ordered. "Joe, go notice every one that the doctor is back. Sir who is this lady? Do we need to proceed for a security check up?"
As Mai was foolishly getting ready to comply with the armed force, Gero announced: "No need, she is my fiancee, please issue her an ID, very soon she will become Mrs. Gero."
As the soldier hurried back into the outpost to order a new ID, the soldiers escorted the couple in a military jeep all the way to the heavily guarded propriety. The poor Mai nearly melted away and was bright red after experienced this emotional roller coaster, and as they crossed the garden's portal, her eyes widened like big saucers. She's never seen such a big and luxurious house before.
"Mai, welcome home!"