Age - 768
Location - Earth
I hate this job. The long hours underground really take a toll on you. Not to mention the boredom of standing around doing nothing but guarding the doors to this stupid room really makes me wish I had all the damn Dragon Balls. The Red Ribbon Army has seen better days, after being almost completely destroyed by that kid Goku years ago, and the disaster that was Gero's Androids, we've barely got a leg to stand on. If it's not the constant change in leadership, it's the dangerous and foolhardy experiments that'll probably kill us all in the end.
Now what remains of us is under the leadership of one Dr. Bedd, a distant relation of Gero's apparently. She supposedly had some of her "cousin's" research and experiments given to her as a fail-safe in case of Gero's death, and for the past year and a half she and her eggheads have been conducting something behind these very doors. I've caught glimpses, but nothing substantial. I just know it's big ground-breaking stuff, but to be honest I don't really care. I just guard the doors.
"Hey, you." I turn around to see the big boss herself, Dr. Bedd, coming my way down the hall with one other guard to her right, "What can I do for you ma'am?" She looks at me dismissively, "Join me inside, I'm gonna need an extra gun. Today is the big day, we might all finally be able to go home after this." I take up the spot on her left and thank Kami that whatever it is they're doing down here is almost over. The guard next to me is some rookie I've seen around before, "Don't worry kid, we're only here in case shit hits the fan, which it won't." He nods his acknowledgment at me, and we follow the Doctor inside.
The Laboratory is a mess inside, papers strung about the place, overturned coffee mugs, and dead tired scientists laboring everywhere. But despite all the squalor, everyone seems to have an air of excitement about them. The room is made up of different workstations all feeding into the main component at the end of it, a giant Incubation Tank with a young-man floating inside. Surprising, but I've seen weirder things, especially working for Red Ribbon. Bedd's assistant, Dr. Cohol, calls her towards the tank, "Madam, please come and observe. Today is most momentous, today Subject-22 takes his first breath." Bedd's smile is full of malice and victory, pretty normal for a Red Ribbon, "Very well, Cohol you may begin, we may no longer be able to kill Son Goku but with this we'll make sure everyone he cares about is annihilated." Cheers and claps spread throughout the room, I myself get a little excited but also start getting a sense of deja vu.
The Incubation Tank begins to light up, and the subject begins to move for the first time as his fingers twitch and his arms start to move within the viscous liquid surrounding his body. Bedd turns to me and the rookie, "Keep your weapons trained on him at all time, if the subject acts out of line you have my permission to eliminate him." As 22 begins to stir several of the scientists begin running back to their work stations, to keep an eye on their precious readings I guess. Aiming down the sight on my rifle, I get my first good look at Subject-22. He has the look of an adolescent boy, no older than 15, with long black hair floating around his head, and a similarly black furred tailed floating aimlessly behind him. Features reminiscent of the very one whose loved ones 22 was created to kill, Son Goku. "Hey rook, any idea why he looks like Son Goku?" The rook shrugs, "I don't know, maybe it's psychological." Hmm, I get the feeling there's more to it than that.
Suddenly, alarms and sirens begin to blare as 22 begins to spasm inside the tank and his screams are heard through the speakers around the lab, "AAAHHHHH!" Bedd's expression is one of confusion and frustration, "What the hell is happening, Cohol? Why is he screaming?" Cohol flips through several of the notes in his hands, "He seems to be reacting negatively to the new stimuli and like an infant, his first instinct is to cry." I bite the bullet and speak up, "Doesn't sound much like crying to me, Doc. He seems to be in a crap-load of pain."
"Thank you for your colorful observation soldier, but the best we can do is let it run its course." Cohol gives me a stink-eye as he says this but I don't care, the screaming is too much for me to give a damn about anything else. Just then, a blinding light appears inside the tank, and a deafening explosion rocks the entire lab. I come to my senses moments later, all around me are dead scientists and to my left is sitting up looking horrified at something. I turn around to see what she's staring at, "Oh, crap baskets." Subject-22 is standing in the middle of the lab, dripping in incubation fluid, breathing heavily with his eyes blank and white, "UUUUAAAAAHHHHH!"
What follows is another world shattering explosion, and as I melt away in the inferno caused by the wailing voice of this man-child all I can think is, "Fuck this job."
O=O=O
A lone figure sits cross-legged on top of a bluff, overlooking a humble mountainside home. Green-skinned, wearing a purple fighting gi, and a white billowing cloak the figure known as Piccolo Jr. begins to stand. Piccolo had just got done meditating, ever since Cell was defeated and Goku had gone for good he'd been watching over his former rival's home and family, specifically Son Gohan. The young half-saiyan had, since his father's death, split his focus in half between training and studying for his career and future. His mother, Chi-Chi, had been reluctant to this agreement, but ultimately decided to allow this because it was what "Goku would've wanted." Not to mention it's also what Gohan wanted, the boy had been given the mantle of Earth's Protector and as he currently stands, the Strongest in The Universe... for now. Piccolo was no fool, he strongly suspected that this kind of peace wouldn't last long; given everything they've gone through, the universe is an inherently dangerous place. Whether it would come from the vast expanse of space, or from much closer to home...
Just then, as the namekian was lost in his thoughts, a giant spike of energy is registered on the periphery of his senses. "What was that?" Almost immediately, Piccolo begins to fly towards the source of this power, "It doesn't feel particularly strong, but this kind of power could wipe out the planet if left unchecked." As he thinks this, behind him Piccolo feels another power, this one all too familiar. "Gohan, did you feel that?" Son Gohan, flying up next to him, looks towards his master, "I did, it's not powerful but it feels... familiar, and also different?" Piccolo concedes, "It's definitely chaotic, uncontrolled, we've got to find the source." Gohan, still trying to figure out the nature of this ki signature, boost his speed to the maximum with Piccolo following closely behind.
O=O=O
The Prince of Saiyans floats with his eyes closed around the gravity chamber built and improved upon by his father-in-law and his wife respectively. Around him, training orbs are flying every which way, trying to get a shot on the Prince. "Hmph, got to raise their accuracy, I'm barely trying and none have hit me." Training at 300x Earth's gravity had seemingly become normal for Vegeta, after the Cell games he may have almost lost his fighting spirit, but it was quickly regained when reminded of the power that Kakarot's son currently possesses. He may have lost his saiyan rival, but he would not slack-off and allow his enemies' progeny to outclass him. Vegeta looks up towards the ceiling of the Gravity Chamber, "Training program 52, off." As the gravity returns to normal and the training orbs return to their holes along the walls, the door to the Chamber opens revealing Bulma Brief, the prince's wife, carrying their two year old son, Trunks.
"Why'd you stop? You were just about to beat your record for shots dodged." Vegeta considers his wife's words, "I need you to raise the potential of this Chamber, I need to reach the level of Kakarot's brat faster than this." Bulma gasps, "Are you crazy?! If we raise the gravity anymore you'd crap out your spine!" Vegeta smirks, "I know, the thought excites me, but nevertheless it's necessary for me to ascend to this ...Super Saiyan 2 form." Bulma uses her free hand and face-palms, "I know, I know, we'll see what we can do but don't expect anything too crazy." She steps forward and hugs the prince, Vegeta had grown to love his wife in his time on Earth, but he'd only ever allow this kind of affection in private, as they are now. His son stares up at him from their embrace, "Daddy?" Vegeta looks at his son, every time reminded of his future version, "Yes son?" Trunks looks at him expectantly, "Can we play soon?" Playing had become Trunks' way of calling training, "When you're 3, boy, saiyans are usually sent to planets around that age..."
As Vegeta explains to his son details about his heritage, a power spike surges through his mind, "What in blazes was that?!" Bulma gives a confused look towards he husband, "What happened?" Vegeta answers, "A large power just appeared on the planet, definitely not one of the humans." Bulma glares at Vegeta, "So what, you're gonna go chase it down?" Vegeta exasperatedly states, "Of course woman, a power this strong, appearing out of nowhere, on this planet? It's too suspicious." Vegeta races out of the chamber and out of Capsule Corp flying west towards the power's source, "This energy feels oddly... saiyan in nature, but that can't be." Vegeta increases his speed blazing across the sky, wondering just what it was that he'd find.
O=O=O
Subject-22 lies in the epicenter of a giant explosion, a blast that has seemingly obliterated the entire Red Ribbon compound and the mountain-top it was under. "What... is this?" 22 rises from his prone position and looks down at himself and his surroundings. "Where am I?... What... am I?" Standing at an average 5'9" and wearing nothing but some kind of stretchy underwear, Red Ribbon's lab experiment looks the part of a lost and confused 15 year old child. His shoulder length black hair, in its strange spiky form, flows in the wind, his lean build suggest he has worked out his whole life, and his black furred monkey-like tail suggest another level of strangeness that Subject-22 does not understand.
22 begins to walk towards the edge of the crater, hoping to find some place, any place that's not here. As he walks he finally feels the strange device that is place around his neck, a collar of some kind. He pulls at it hard, only to be electrocuted and sent into a shattering pain, "AAAAGGHHHH!" The shock subsides soon after, "Lesson learned don't pull on... whatever this is." Subject-22 once again rises and begins to walk away from the crater, when suddenly, just as he's about to climb over the edge, another new feeling assaults his senses. "Aghh, what is that?!" Grabbing the sides of his head in a desperate attempt to stop this new stimuli, he starts to look around for the source of this disturbance. Just as his eyes look east, 22 is left with the sight of three individuals floating above and looking down at him. "What the?! How?!"