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Sunlight to the Hereafter
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Prologue
Our story begins in a distant future of the Dragon Ball Universe. In this new universe things have changed, ideas have changed, and the formalities of those ideas have changed. A war of the worlds has been waged and what is now left is but the aftermath, a slow reconstruction of what once was and what will never be again. For some people safety from danger is a must and for others it's building factions to satisfy man's enormous lust for power. The World War as it was to be called transformed the very foundations of the planet once called Earth. This war ended in what some might call a "worst-case scenario", but this case just seemed like a nightmare to the billions of people on the planet. Now that nightmare is where our story beings...
Act One Chapter One... A Routine Day.
Prison is no place to call home.
Yet for some it is all they have ever known.
-MonkeyBoyGoku
Off to work for another back breaking day thought Goku. A young eight year-old boy with long spiky black hair, a tail and a cheerful spirit. Goku worked for a living, he had to like every other child in his sector. His job was simple, take whatever was in the boxes bestowed upon him apart and then to organize those parts into labeled bins. He had to do twice as much as the average kid's work quota because of his sick brother, who couldn't work due to his asthma. Goku didn't mind though, for him as long as he got to keep his brother from being taken away by the medical staff that was all that mattered. Goku's brother was the last of his family, a younger boy named Kazuhira, who suffers from severe asthma that can leave him breathless. Goku did a lot of extra work to keep his brother safe from other people, which was just about all that mattered to him. He had just left his quarters where families with children were sectioned and was off to work.
The section that houses these families is set up to keep track of kids under ten years of age, after turning ten, a child is considered a young adult in this prison, and have tireless effort put in to meet extreme work quotas, which if not met bring on dire consequences.
The prison is very large and for the vast part very dim. To the outside world it is a large black structure, over a mile in height and almost a square mile large. The prison goes several miles underground and imprisons over 1.2 million unfit people. The population census doesn't count them, the world population is only considered to be 450 million people. People in this prison must endure harsh treatment; many of them just succumb to exhaustion or famine over time.
These people work to stay alive, making the food they eat, and working on supplies for the rest of the population. Although many of these people don't even know they are in prison, most just think they are in a fortress of solitude, keeping them safe from the supposed war of the outside world. These prisoners have been tricked and are blocked off to the rest of the world. Fewer and fewer people really know the truth, those who do usually keep their mouths shut.
Goku was on his way toward work, he traveled a long and narrow path to get to his work station. He passed many family homes that were littered with trash and things of utter disgust. People here weren't in prison cells, as they believed they were not in prison, but in a fortress keeping them safe.
Goku continued along the path when something caught his eye, it was a light. Not just any light such as the electric ones that scattered the streets most of which were not very well maintained or burnt out, but this single light however was different.
Goku noticed two guards and quickly hid behind some crates, he waited until they passed. Being seen wasting time when one should be at work was a problem, one that Goku didn't want to deal with. Once clear Goku headed to the spot where he saw that tiny shimmer of light, it was a pipe that was very small, but it went into the wall. The pipe looked damaged and wasn't connected to any nearby pipes as many others were. Goku thought that this pipe was meant to get rid of some sort of waste. Goku peered through the pipe, he could see all the way down it and seen some almost warm light as it were on the other end. The pipe was illuminated by this beautifully soft and mellow light, making the pipe warm to the touch. Goku thought that this light might be the "outside" as it was rumored about from his parents and close friend.
Goku had never seen the outside before, he was born in this place, and was told that he must remain here and work in his life, that it was too dangerous outside and this was the only safe place left in the world. When he asked why he was forced into staying, he was told that he already knew, but he didn't know. It ate at him why he was to have to stay in such a place when his father told him that life outside was to be better. Although anyone else he asked about the outside just said it was dangerous and uninhabitable, they called Goku names and picked on him for thinking that the rest of these people were being lied to. Unfortunately Goku no longer had his parents to ask any more questions, they had mysteriously disappeared 4 years ago after the birth of his little brother.
Anyway, Goku peered through the pipe one last time before going to work. But before he could do that a guard stopped him.
Guard: Hey, stop it right there! What are you doing!?
Goku: Uh, nothing *Glanced at the pipe*, just got some stomach pains, that's all.
Guard: Well if you're having pains you should go to the medical examiner and have it checked out, if not then you need to get back to work immediately!
Goku knew better than to go to the medical examiner. They say if you go there and have an illness, you are examined for your "resourcefulness". If you are too sick they kill you, if you have salvageable parts then they extract them from you and then just dump you.
Goku: I'm fine! I'll just go on to work now, Bye! *Takes on last look at the pipe*
The guard notices this and walks toward the pipe. He looks through it but can't make out anything. He gives Goku a weird look and then shrugs it off.
Goku: "Maybe he can't see all the way through it? It's punishable to look for a way to see or go out. I do have pretty good eyesight though, so maybe that's it!"
Goku headed to work now, he hurried as to not be late, and another thing he might get punished for. He arrived on time this time; there was always a line to get into work anyhow, so he wasn't really that worried. In the back of the line, Goku spotted his friend Kage!
Goku: Hey Kage! How's it going?
Kage: Not too good Goku, it's my Mom, she's sick. I know I should be thankful I still get to see her. I know most of these kids including you no longer have or get to see their mom or dad.
Goku: Yeah, no kidding, but still I don't think it's right what they do to sick people. I hope she feels better soon. You know I've been dealing with Kaz for a while now, his asthma is on the upturn though, and he might even be able to return to work soon enough. I know I'd like it, and then I'd get a little more rest time.
Kage: Well like they say, we're scarce when it comes to medical supplies, they don't have enough for everybody, what with the war and all.
Goku: Oh that's right, I was meaning to ask you; I never got to ask my parents what that war thingy was all about, how does the story go again?
Kage (Smiles): It's not a just a story Goku, its history. Well anyway while we're waiting I guess I have time to make a short version of it. Here goes, a long time ago, when the world was still basically one, there was a small evil that arose; it started influencing people of all creeds and nations to join it in what seemed like heaven. But it wasn't like heaven at all, for the underlying goal was to force...
Goku (Confused): Hey Kage! What's heaven!?
Kage: Uh, Goku, don't you know anything, heaven is a place you go when you die if you're a good person. I don't know much else about it; Daddy says not too many people believe in that stuff anyway, I still do, but let's get back to the story shall we?
Goku: You got it!
Kage: Anyway, where was I, oh that's right! So the goal of this shady organization was to turn the people on their homelands and fight in a war, to what they reasoned was a good idea. This nation made packs with other nations and caused what people called WW3, although I don't know what it means. So this nation started a war with "Nuclear Weapons", like a really big bomb that wipes out everything in its path! (Kage makes a bomb sound effect and motions with his arms.)
Goku: Wow! That sounds crazy! So did they hurt people with these Nuclear Whatchamacallits?
Kage: Yes. They did, but it gets even crazier! You see, it turns out this nation underestimated the power of these other places. When they realized they couldn't win they released a VIRUS!
Goku: A virus?
Kage: Yeah, this sickness, cause people to die and come back to life, as Zombies!
Goku: Eeyah! What, you're kidding me, Zombies aren't real!
Kage: Yeah, my dad said they were! He said if you get bitten by one you turn into one! But we're safe here, plus these things are like really far away. But they aren't even the worst of our troubles, there are people trying to break into our fortress here and get us!
Goku: But my dad once told me that this was a prison, and we've all done something wrong so that's why we're stuck here doing work. We're not safe here, everyone around us is dying!
Kage: How do you know it's not worse out there than it is in here? What if you were to get out there and realize that it was worse, huh?
Goku: Well the only way to find out is to go out there and see! I mean why are we told it's a high crime punishable by DEATH?
Kage: You do have a point, doesn't really make sense to kill people are killing themselves by going outside. But how would you even attempt to get out, this place is huge and I haven't ever heard of anyone ACTUALLY leaving here. Well at least not alive that is.
Goku: So people LEAVE dead, where do they go?
Kage: I heard they get thrown over the top of this place and get tossed with the piles of dead on the side!
Goku: So if I were to get to the top I could go over the side?
Kage: Maybe if you had a rope of some kind, even then, good luck getting to the top, let alone to the bottom. Looks like the lines just about done, we should get to work Goku. Let's talk later; you can get in trouble by the guards for staying stuff like this.