Mechanical Man No. 8

A Refusal to Fight

Murasaki unlocks the cage and orders Artificial Human No. 8 to pulverize the boy below. The patchwork giant simply shakes his head. No amount of shouting moves him, not even Murasaki invoking the Red Ribbon scientists who built him as his parents. Furious, the ninja produces a small remote and reveals the bomb implanted inside No. 8's body for exactly this kind of insubordination. White's voice crackles over the intercom demanding the traitor be detonated. Murasaki steps back and raises his thumb over the switch, but Goku sprints across the room, knocks the remote from his hand, and crushes it underfoot. A single rock-paper-scissors punch slams Murasaki into the wall, out cold.

Meet Hatchan

Goku walks out to the nervous giant, who thanks him quietly and admits that fighting scares him. The two exchange names, and Goku decides that Artificial Human No. 8 is too much of a mouthful. He shortens it to Hatchan, pairing the Japanese word for eight with a friendly honorific, and the name sticks immediately. When Goku explains he came to rescue the village elder, Hatchan offers to guide him to the top of the tower as thanks.

The Trap Between Floors

They climb through a warren of corridors as Hatchan explains the layout. A sealed secret chamber sits between the fourth and fifth floors with no visible entrance, its contents a mystery even to him. Above that lies the sixth-floor command room. Goku smashes through the command room door and demands the elder's release. General White only smiles, congratulates him on coming so far, and jabs a button on his console. The floor beneath Goku and Hatchan swings open and drops them straight into the hidden room neither of them was meant to see.