The match opposing Gero to Krilin was very short, the later was destabilised by the overwhelming support his adversary was receiving. To add salt to the wound, Gero just grabbed him and started to spank him like one would spank a naughty kid during these dark ages when the violence against children was widely accepted. For the better of the worst, that cockroach of C-19 started to clap his hands, following the rhythm of slaps, and was soon mimicked by the whole public. Humiliated, Krilin just could not hold on the tears, and cried like a little child he was in front of the spectators. The MC swiftly disqualified him, because crying warranted it. The little guy run back to hide somewhere in the backstage and did not return for the rest of the event.
When it was time to fight Ten Shin Han, Gero was expected at least some resistance but the baldy just gave up. Even though he was a background character further down in the series, the doctor was not expecting this kind of outcome, as he hoped the three eyed man had some fighting spirit in him.
After the tournament, and a short celebration, everyone parted ways. Contrary to the original work, Chaozu and Ten Shin Han returned to the Crane school, to the grand disappointment of Gero. Indeed, inadvertently he saved the chinese zombie boy's life. Not betraying Shen, they will not follow Roshi fight Demon King Piccolo, and thus, remain alive.
The Geros retuned back home, but soon enough C-19 and Gero flew away, indeed some dirty work would always be inevitable. They saw Goku, still exhausted after his fight, have his magic cloud destroyed and fall in the jungles down bellow after an altercation with Tabourine, a Piccolo's creature. Ignoring them, the two synthetics continued their flight and finally caught up with Pilaff's seaplane. They boarded it and entered the main control room. Not expecting visitors, Pilaff, a dog, a bald man, a green old thing on the throne and a pterodactyl man looked at them with surprised expressions.
"Who dares to intrude without invitation?" Yapped the pterodactyl man.
"19, terminate those three." Gero casually said while approaching the old namekian.
C-19 appeared behind the trio and grabbed the goon's heads with one hand each, and slowly tightened the grip. Just as in the original story, C-19 enjoyed bullying the weak. The brain matter, skull shards, eyes and blood flew in different directions. Pilaff, horrified, was pressed under the android's foot, and yelled in panic as he was slowly crushed, but the sweet release of death didn't come yet. C-19 kept toying with him, knowing well who the real target was and the torment it deserved.
"How dare you!" Exclaimed Piccolo, standing up and blasting Gero with a Ki orb, but the expected explosion never came. The orb disappeared like it never existed as soon it entered in contact with the man's head.
A powerful punch forced the old green demon king to sit back.
"I am Dr. Gero, old thing, your epoch ended long ago." Patiently explained Gero, knowing that namekian was an elderly man and probably disabled in some ways. "West City is my turf, do whatever it pleases you anywhere else, capisce?"
Even though Piccolo didn't understand italian, he still got the general meaning, and powerlessly nodded, accepting the rules. In the background, at that moment, C-19 finished strangling the poor little thing with its intestines. Letting Pilaff live would only mean further complications, and there was nothing more dangerous than a lingering and unnoticed evil.
As they were flying back, the outraged and humiliated Demon King was cursing the good doctor, swearing that once he'd recover his youth, he'll make him pay!
The tranquility returned to Gero's family life, and the kids stayed home, Mai was happy and C-19 got qualified for the regional FPS tournament. This peaceful life lasted until the day a green man got broadcasted on every TV channel. The Kami attempted to reach out to Gero, but the anti-psycher warding modules blocked all intrusive telepathic communications.
"So this is why I am abdicating in favour of the new King of the World, the Demon Piccolo, I am very sorry..." Announced the already old dog, the same one who delivered Gero the first prize of science.
As he was suddenly possessed by some courageous spirit, the former king tried to rally people against Piccolo, but the green man just strangled him, and it was over.
"To every earthlings," said Piccolo. " Look attentively! I am your new king, the Great Demon Piccolo! I believe you already know how powerful I am after seeing the ruins of the city I have just destroyed."
"Dad, will you go smash that green head after dinner?" Logan asked casually.
"No, I believe some one else should do it, we are busy right now." Said Gero, resting on a deckchair. The whole family had a barbecue party by the pool right now.
And indeed, from the next day Piccolo disappeared like he never seized power at all. The parliament refused to restore the monarchy, and took over as the governing body. The prime minister was now the head of state, but only in a symbolic way. He would be the one dealing with the ceremonies and similar events.
Three years from now, Piccolo Jr. will confront Son Goku. The little saiyen, meanwhile, would be taught by Mr. Popo at the Lookout. Right now Gero only had four hundred sixty-three fighting power, which was unpleasantly not enough, as during the next six years the main heroes will get major power boost after boost, reaching ridiculous proportions. He obtained immortality and perfection, and the only things he had to trade for it, were his weak flesh and twenty years of martial and physical training.
As he descended down the laboratory to B6, he was thinking again about his future plans.
"Night Dog, Hell-Forge chamber status." He demanded the super computer."
"STATUS: 78% Complete.
MATERIAL AVAILABILITY STATUS: REQUIREMENT MET.
MATERIAL DEPLETION: INSIGNIFICANT."
Gero's android eyes flashed with a cold light, and he resumed his work. The research never ended. Alive inside every soul, resides a will tat would always be earning for answers, and a scientist's mind was always questioning everything. Gero was aware that the survival in this cruel and violent world was resting on that desire, that fire burning with passion within, the will to improve and learn. The Omnissiah has the duty to find the way trough the dark, unleash a revolution, and clear the way towards the fortune and stars, and in this world forsaken by gods, Gero became the avatar of the Machine God.
The following week, the Hell-Forge chamber was finally completed. It was an immense training space built underground, made of adamantium and it's machinery components were mixes of the most durable alloys that ever existed. The room's height was of sixty kilometres, and twenty in width. It was built to endure the most vicious strikes and energy blasts, and allowed to increase the gravity by billions. But Gero judged that is was still not enough, as even with a heightened gravity, the air resistance would still be lacking. He devised a system of irrigation and reutilisation of a liquid substance that would continuously be poured, drained, and reused in a virtuous cycle. As for the substance? Mercury, the densest of all liquid metals. Being one hundred percent robotic, he would not get poisoned by this shiny metal. And now, it was time to test the whole thing.
"Gravity ten times." Ordered Gero, and his knees buckled under the pressure. Forcefuly, he moved in rhythm, unleashed kicks and hits and dodged, practicing the shadow boxing. His captors continued to display his synthetic muscles and bone's improvement, and after three hours of exercise, it went up by ten points.
"Activate the waterfall." He demanded the super-computer.
A continuous torrent of liquid metal crashed down, its weight enhanced by the augmented gravity, pressed Gero against the floor, and if he weren't mainly made of adamantium, that would have been deadly.
Just by existing in this hellish environment, Gero's fighting power numbers kept steadily rising, and after enduring this torment for another three hours, Night Dog concluded:
"ANALYSIS COMPLETE.
GRAVITY FIELD ONLY: 5.6 UNITS > HOUR.
GRAVITY FIELD + MERCURY WATERFALL: 23 UNITS < HOUR.
INFRASTRUCTURE ENTROPY=NEGLIGIBLE."
"Disable the waterfall and cancel the gravity field." Instructed Gero trough the noosphere. Even though he was entirely cybernetic and didn't need to eat, he still implemented artificial taste buds to keep enjoying food, and mimic more efficiently the humanity.
The following days, Gero set up for a seven times gravity multiplier with the metallic waterfall, and kept practicing like that for months. When he was not training, he was spending his time with his wife, and witnessed his youngest children move out of the house. Two years for him were nothing now, but his family was a grim reminder of the cruel flow of time. The rest of his days was spent on the construction of a interstellar ship, as he still wanted to get his hands on the tree of might, and find how to synthesise it's fruits.
Meanwhile Piccolo Jr. was growing on an alarming rate, but also learned what was kindness and acceptance from an old couple. Not every one in dragon ball wanted to unleash a crusade against the xenos.
Weirdly he didn't commit any evil deeds, didn't kill for fun or stole money. A weird King of Demons.
After continuous efforts and training, Gero finally reached one thousand five hundred battle power. He was a whole Radditz now! But what he needed most was some real battle experience. He could spar with C-19, but uncle Cooky is not a trained fighter either. But that had to be considered later, as the twenty-third martial arts tournament was happening very soon.
Knowing the severe devastation that would result from the climax of the event, Gero didn't bring anyone with him this time. His masters and the two baldies could fend for themselves though, and a little surprise was good for the blood flow, specially for the old immortals.
The day of the tournament, at the year seven hundred fifty-six, the two sages were bickering again, but surprisingly, Yamcha, Ten Shin Han, Shaozu and Krilin arrived together. Goku grew up much taller, reaching his adult size. Gero avoided the enthusiastic youngsters and waited for his two masters inside a private room he reserved specially in advance before the tournament, and the organisers happily accepted his money for it.
As he was serving his elders tea, Shen asked:
"The competition will be fierce this time. Ten Shin Han has improved a lot, but that pervert's disciples too, from what I saw. Did you recover your power?"
Meanwhile Tao was quietly drinking the warm tea, not concerned.
"I've practiced only the basics, changing bodies isn't as casual as I though it would be. But I'm at seventy-percent, I believe."
"But in reality?" Asked the well informed Tao.
"Maybe thousands of old me won't be enough to defeat me if I fight casually now." Stated Gero.
"Yes! This year again we will get the trophy!" Enthusiastically exclaimed Shen.
Tao on the other hand truly grasped his disciple's meaning. What is a martial artist against a machine of mass destruction, never tiring, never hurting, unbreakable? Gero had shown him the effects of phosphex in a controlled environment, demonstrated the endless barrage of Ultimate DonDon Waves. The other competitors had strictly no chance.
Later, during the preliminary elimination phase, still wearing the pink changpao with the characters "Kill", Gero's name was called, and for the best or the worst, he had to fight against Chaozu. Ten Shin Han was on his knees imploring him to stop as the good doctor administrated slaps to the little guy while holding him by the collar. The white face of the usually deathly pale Chaozu was red, the blood flow was improving, and maybe some brain cells would see the light of day after this treatment. Once bored, Gero casually threw the zombie out of the ring, and after slapping away a muscular giant, was finally qualified.
The tournament's main event matches were then decided. Gero would face Ten Shin Han, Son Goku will fight ShiShi, Piccolo though will be against Gero's future and unlucky son in law. Then finaly Kami against Yamcha. Yes, the god of Earth snatched a mortal body for the occasion.