Dragonball: RPG Remembrance
A/N: "The following is a fan-based work. Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Heroes, Super Dragon Ball Heroes, and Dragonball Xenoverse are all owned by Funimation, Toei Animation, Shueisha, Dimps, and Akira Toriyama. Please support the official release."
Epilogue
There is a soft flash of light and code, as a short female Majin appears, blinking rapidly in the harsh sunlight. She shakes her head, her little head doodlydad shaking softly along with it. She brings up her wrist, a menu appearing that only she can see. She clears an update notice from the owner, Chris, on the new update, before switching tabs to check her current tasks.
"Hmm...Let's see. I need to collect twelve more skins for that dumb fetch quest, and then I should have enough XP for level 5!" She announces happily.
She closes the menu, before reaching out with her senses, searching for the giant boars that frequently roam the lands in this area. It takes her only a moment to track them down, and she takes off, running swiftly through the hills in their direction.
It only took her an hour to track down what she needed, and she quickly packed up to head back into town. She only had seven more hours of time dilation before she would be auto-kicked from the game. She hated that the game only allowed her to play for two real-time hours, but she understood that the technology was still new. She was thankful that the game managed to stretch that two hours into eight within the game, and all while she was asleep! She would log out, and sleep till morning, retaining the memories of everything she did in the game. It was quite ingenious.
She hopped into the air, her aura sparking around her as she rocketed through the sky. She couldn't help but giggle as she did several flips and loops. She wasn't interested in the fighting aspect of the game, but she was at least getting into it. If she was lucky, she would qualify for the following week's amateur tournament and could win some prizes. The flying, however, would never get old. As she rocketed over the forest towards the nearest city, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye that brought her to a stop.
"Woah...what's that?" She said as she dropped swiftly to the ground.
She landed softly, bending her knees to absorb the shock, hopping slightly. She loved flying, but landing certainly left much to be desired.
'A bit more practice, maybe!' She thought as she approached what she had seen.
Laying on the soft grass was a young boy, early teens at the oldest. His body was covered in injuries, fresh and old. His clothes, what remained at least, reminiscent of what the Namekian players wore, yet of a slightly different design, was soaked through with blood. The pants were destroyed, both pant legs burned away at the thigh.
"Hey...Are you okay?" She asked quietly, after checking to see that he was breathing.
She nudged him slightly, speaking slightly louder. "Hello?"
The young boy jerked awake with a gasp, his aura sparking to life around him as he jumped to his feet. There was a hard buffet of wind as his power pushed everything around him away, even launching the poor Majin girl away, where she splattered against a tree. The boy's aura died down as he fell to his hands and knees, vomiting, breathing heavily. He looked around wildly, studying the world around him for a moment.
"What the fuck…" He whispered, pushing himself to his feet.
"Hey! What's the big idea, idiot!" The Majin girl yells, as she reforms. "Why would you do that? I was just trying to help you, you dummy!"
The boy stared at her wildly, confusion painting his face. He blinked rapidly, wiping his mouth before speaking.
"W-who are you?" He asks at last.
"What? Oh, right, sorry!" She replies, bouncing slightly. "My name is Suu, nice to meet you!"
"Suu? Like a female Buu?" He asks, smiling as though there was hidden joke. "I like it, it fits you."
"Really?" She asks, blushing. "Most people make fun of me for it."
"I like it, yeah." He replies, before looking, a slight frown on his face.
"Oh, right!" Suu says, shaking her head. "What's your name?"
"Hmm?" The boy asks, looking back at her after a moment. "Oh, my name is…Kll."
There was a slight hesitancy, as though his name took a second to come to him.
"Suu?" He asks, grabbing her attention. "Where are we?...Are we…in a game?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" She asks, seemingly startled. "This…this is Life RPG: Dragonball Edition."
Kll looked down for a moment, as though thinking deeply. He frowns, before shaking his head.
"You okay?" Suu asks, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You need me to call for a moderator?..maybe you should log out?"
"Log out?" Kll asks, his eyes widening. "You can log out? We're not on stuck?"
"Stuck?" Suu asks, laughing. "Like in that old Sword Arts anime? No! Hahaha! Of course we can log out…are you okay?"
"Suu…" Kll starts, pausing. "I don't know how to explain this but…."
A phone begins vibrating on the side table, startling the bed's sole occupant from his sleep. He reached out, feeling for it, unable to find it.
"Answer Phone!" He calls out, rolling over. "Speaker Phone."
It takes a moment for the phone to follow the orders, before a voice can be heard. "Chris?"
"Logan?" Chris asks, suddenly wide awake. "What's wrong?"
"We've found him."
The two floated there, an infinite expanse of white in all directions. The silence was near deafening, one having just shared a long story, the other in horror of it all.
"I…killed people?" I asked, a deep sadness filling me. "And this was all meant to do…what?"
"Heal you, Kll." Chris explained. "Its…been a long time…but it worked. The fact that we stand here so early in the simulation proves that. No one dead, the system still intact."
He floated over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You did it Kll…You've come back from the brink of hell, and proved that the you standing before me now is the same one that sacrificed himself to save us. I know it's not much, but…you saved over 8000 people in that prison, and several others across the globe. There is no telling how many could have ended up just like we were, had it not ended then."
"People still died though." I replied, looking up at him. "Killing them in the game doesn't matter…I'm immortal, functionally. I can never truly die it seems…so to me, humans…animals…those little specks of light that burn as bright as the sun…they matter."
"I understand." Chris replies, "But you've paid your dues. I can't tell you how long we've been here, but I can promise you that you've spent more than your time in prison for those human lives."
I frowned, considering his words. "Alright…so what's next?"
"Well Kll, that's up to you." Chris explains. "The original idea was that there would be an android body for you to inhabit in the real world. That you could live the life of the same people you saved…but, it's truly up to you. You can have anything you want. You earned it, Kll."
I thought about what he was saying, weighing the words, considering the options…before nodding.
"I know what I want." I said, looking up to meet Chris's eyes.
Chris studied me for a moment, before nodding as well. "I had a feeling. Just tell the system what you want, and it will provide."
"Will I ever see you again?" I ask, as he turns away.
"Maybe some day Kll…Maybe some day."
"System!" I called out.
SYSTEM…LISTENING
KLL - CODE REMEMBRANCE - CLEAR
AWAITING REQUEST…
"I…I want to go home. I-"
2087
A nurse walks down a small row of SleepMachines, each one whirring away softly in the dark. Besides each one is a set of machines, helping to keep the prisoners alive, fed, and clean. As she pauses at the one furthest left, checking the log, the one next to it begins to alert. She jumps, having never heard the alarms in the decade she had worked there, before slapping the Code Blue button on the wall. She rushed to the machine as it began to open, barely glancing at the flatlining machine. The older gentlemen within, Chris, eyes opened for the first time in a very long time, look right at her, as she begins CPR.
A second nurse joins, AED in hand, but is held off as the first nurse stops CPR. The old man, a smile on his face, closes his eyes once more.
"Time of death…11:18pm.
"2017"
I walked up to my front door, keys already in hand, prepared to jiggle with the finicky lock that was always a struggle. I managed to get it undone, opening the door and slipping in. I dropped my backpack in the hall, slipping out of my shoes, following the smell of food wafting from the kitchen. The hallway was cramped, not quite enough to feel claustrophobic, but more than enough to feel closed in. I dropped my keys in their assigned spot, making my way into the kitchen.
Just like every time I'd ever seen her, she still took my breath away. The one bright spot in my life…
"Hey, Maddie," I say, just watching her from the doorway.
She turns, spatula still in hand, smiling at the sight of me. "Billy…"
A/N: Well…I hadn't planned on writing an epilogue. I at first felt that the tragic ending was the best ending. That the game ending with horror, but hope fit with what I had written best…but…the more I thought about it, that ending simply didn't fit with you guys, my readers. The world is sad, and sometimes all we have is hope…but what we all truly wish for is the happy ending.
To give Kll anything less would be wrong.
To give YOU anything less would be an insult.
So…here we have it. Kll succeeded in the end. It took a long, long time, but in the end the damage done was healed. Kll suffered, but by suffering, he once again beat the odds.
Kll, an AI, made the most human choice of all…to return to what comfort he's known.
(Be sure to read the stuff below if you didn't read it on the last chapter before I moved it here!)
Acknowledgments:
Shout out to HaiseKanekiV2, for being a fantastic friend, and being there for me when no one else was. When I was terrified to write the final chapters of RPG Rebirth, Super GT Rebirth, Xenoverse, and Remembrance, it was he that read them and judged them first. Without his encouragement, I may never have made it this far.
Shout out to Sora, whose knowledge and enthusiasm for Dragonball helped me keep writing even when all I wanted to do was stop. His help with my D20 RPG game has been pivotal to my writing ability over the past year.
Shout out to Shirl, whose advice was always welcome.
Shout out to Navarone, who left me a long time ago, but has never been forgotten.
Shout out to DrunkenHamster whose enthusiasm for writing helped me on some really hard days.
Shout out to Ark, who is single-handedly the weirdest, but the funniest person, I have ever met. You kept it interesting man, and for that I thank you!
Shout out to Angryshadow, who helped keep my head from overinflating on several occasions.
Shout out to my discord members, whose presence, and patience, is the only reason this story ever made it past Super GT Rebirth.
Shout out to the DB20 Alpha, and Beta testers! Always been a dream of mine to make a Dragonball Dungeons and Dragons game, and I'm getting closer with every passing week.
And finally, last but not even fucking close to least…shout out to my readers and reviewers. You guys have made the last five years of my life a pleasure. There were some ups, and downs in equal measure, but holy fuck did you guys came through when I needed it most. Without you, I'd have never discovered my love for writing. Without you, I'd never be able to point to this accomplishment.
Without you, I'd never, ever, have finished what I started.
Ladies, Gentlemen, all persons between, and even a few animals…This is Klldarkness, and you've finally, at long fucking last…finished reading Dragonball: RPG.
Thank you…and see you next time.
*Roll credits*
THE ORIGINAL A/N FOR THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER BEFORE I DECIDED TO WRITE THE EPILOGUE:
And so this journey ends…maybe not happily, but with a small measure of hope. Kll suffered, and continues to suffer, to do the right thing. Some will look at this ending, and perhaps sit in awe of the horror of it…
As I said at the end of RPG: X "Kll is no more...who he was washed away with the memories of a life he never knew he had. At the cost of it all, he's made the ultimate sacrifice for others to end a nightmare he didn't even know he was living."
I believe I have kept that promise…
Will Kll ever return? Probably not. Go forward considering this to be the one, true ending to Kll's life. Feel free to imagine that one day it all works out, that he one day wakes up, being implanted into an android body. Fuck it, feel free to WRITE that story if you want.
I consider the RPG Tetralogy to be done here. You are free, at any time, to make use of my system, my world, and my characters. I require only that you point people my way, and give credit where it's due. The recommended way is to let me know you plan to use something and drop an acknowledgment and my name in your first chapter AN. If you want access to any of the excel files I used for Character tracking, PL calculations, etc, drop me a review. Review, not PM! I've got a top list to stay at the top of. :p
Is this the end of me writing Gamer Stories, or Fanfiction in general? Nope! I still love writing and will continue to do so. Keep reviewing! Feed me!
As I tend to do, when I finish a story, I take a break. A well-deserved break at that, as writing the ending to something you love hurts more than most will ever know. This time ten, ending something that took me over five years to finish.
But you'll see me again, someday, my friends. Thank you for being here with me. It truly means the world to me.