The wind spiralled attentively around Roshis torso, pulling gently on the
rags he was wearing. It was, he could tell, proud of itself. There was no
reason why it shouldn't be; the fish, the firewood and the fork-like branch
were all gifts for him. In the years that lay behind him he could remember
wondering, before his mind sank down into the pit he was only yet part of
the way out of, how to repay the wind for its kindness.
He had come to realise some time ago that the only gift to give was one he had given in all their time together. Awareness. The wind longed for nothing more than someone to be with and Roshi fulfilled that duty every day. It wasn't even aware of the boys existence though Roshi thought, quite cynically, it seemed hard to miss him.
Roshi knocked the thoughts back easily and sank a little closer to the fire, his old bones bathing in the heat. Glasses staring into the dancing flames - Roshi listened to the story of a world he no longer knew.
There had been some confusion when Robby began to speak, Roshi had to make it clear that he wanted to know the history of the world spanning centuries instead of decades or years.
The revolt had come some time 200 years ago, as far as Roshi could tell that was at least 400 years after whatever had happened, happened. It had come with enough warning preceding it - several parts of the World Government had been pressing for independence since before the grinning face of Son Goku disappeared from the Earth - but it had happened anyway. Military bases were seized, easily enough for war was nearly extinct at that point, and a barrage of missiles landed on the Palace.
With most of the administration dead the World Government stumbled, the world rocked and since even at the best of times it is balancing on the curve of chaos, revolution took over the whole world. City-States and military bases declared themselves countries, islands banned all visitors, transportation became a thing of the past and through it all the revolutionaries surged into control.
It took 2 years for the fighting to stop and 100 for the world to settle into something resembling a balance. With the borders settled and people more or less where they wanted to be, there was no more reason to fight. On top of that the incredible shielding technology that had protected the boy's sentry post was being used to guard all the major cities sites of importance against any large-scale attack. Still, while the people got on with their lives, the nations worried.
They worried about their neighbours and what they were doing. They worried about their weakness. They worried about anything and everything and saw no solution apart from some new kind of weapon. That weapon came from Argonia; a small, insignificant little country nearby the north coast of the largest body of land in the world. It was a rocky, barren country with absolutely nothing going for it; it survived because no one else wanted it.
The country discovered the lab in a routine scavenging operation - a common thing during the revolution and a tradition in the years afterwards - and it changed the course of things to come like no other event in the world. Most of the machines and devices that had been created there were useless, destroyed beyond repair with no way of fixing them.
But, deep inside the mountain, further down than the outer labs, was a computer containing all the data that had been collected. Including evidence, theories and conclusions on Ki Manipulation.
* * *
"Gero"
Roshi could feel the boys penetrating glare, he could almost hear the sound of the wheels turning. Not only an old man with incredible power, someone who knows history from 200 years ago; a mystery to be solved. It annoyed him that he had let himself slip but how could it be any better to keep secrets? He was alone in this world save for the wind and this 'Robby.'
He nodded towards the boy to continue and, reluctantly, he did so.
* * *
It began, as most things do, with many failures. It was only discovered in the past 20 years how many failures there had been and how dangerous they had become. So many different methods had been employed: genetic manipulation, energy suits, hypnosis and so on - nothing worked.
Argonia spent years working on what they knew to be their ticket to power and eventually came up with the programme they use today.
All children are tested at birth and any with even a single point above the average power level are taken away for training. It went by without anyone realising it, every so often a child would mysteriously die and it was rare enough that no one ever looked into it. It was only 25 years after the programme began that what had happened came to light.
Argonia started by attacking all three of its closest enemies: Merck, Golod and Freona. The attacks happened simultaneously, three teams of 5 warriors each appeared wherever the respective leaders were and, with some ceremony, killed them. Then the teams laid waste to a significant part of each army, taking out the missiles and air force in order to assure Argonia's safety. Within the week Argonia had swelled to encompass one eighth of the whole continent.
The fact that the central part of Argonia was still a poor wasteland, almost bankrupt from devoting nearly all funds to the army, seemed unimportant now. With an army of soldiers who could create explosions and literally tear tanks in two it had become the strongest player in the international game.
It didn't last for much more than a decade, the information on Ki Manipulation was leaked out to the rest of the world and soon every country had its own super strong warrior. Once again a balance came about, everyone knew how to scan for approaching warriors, everyone had the technology and men to fight them, everyone was even once again.
The old Tenkachai Budokai was revived and - on the ground where the original Ki Warriors had fought some long forgotten battle, inside of Argonian territory - was held every 7 years. That went some way to easing the tension but the old worries were still strong. Argonia was still the strongest of all the countries with the best-trained warriors but it feared retribution for its violent acts.
Everyone was afraid that some new weapon would appear, something to tip the balance and send the world back into chaos as the appearance of Ki Warriors very nearly did.
* * *
"But so far, nothing has happened."
Roshi could feel the renewed ferocity of his companion's gaze but ignored it.
Roshi could feel the tug of the wind, anxious to understand what bothered him but he ignored it.
He knew in some vague way that the way he was thinking and acting weren't quite the same as how he had been. His understanding of this was more instinctual, something felt without words, but he trusted it. He could imagine that after 300 years of life, around the time that he had first met Goku, the moral constraints that bound others so tightly would have seemed inconsequential to him.
After nearly a thousand years? That was only a guess as to how old he was now but he imagined that it was accurate enough. After being conscious for so long his mind appeared to have redesigned itself, the morals didn't matter any more but neither did the urges that they were meant to halt. He was beginning to wonder how long it would last. And whether he wanted it to last at all.
"What country is this, out of interest?"
"Helion, a tiny little country that occupies the peninsula that we are sitting on."
Roshi nodded silently, not really caring about where he was. Helion, Argonia, Freona, it was all too different for him. At least in the past no matter where you were, you were in the World Government.
"Is that all you want to know?"
"At the moment, yeah."
Roshi flopped backwards against the sand, staring up into the heavens. He loved the night sky, the stars sparkling against the satin cloth of the void, the little points that remained a constant during his lifetime. An unfortunate result of the battles that had taken place on Earth was that it wasn't much like the place he had grown up in; entire mountains were missing from it. On top of that cities had risen and destroyed themselves in the time that he had sat in his little hut. All he really had was the stars; they changed a lot slower than anything else.
"Do I get to ask questions now?"
"Nope."
Roshi smirked slightly at the antagonised sound that escaped from the boy's throat as a result of his simple response. He supposed the boy had every reason to be annoyed, after all Roshi had arrived uninvited into his quiet little life. Quiet, boring life if Roshi was any judge, why Goku and.. Krillen? Yes, Goku and Krillen would have jumped at the opportunity for some excitement. How could someone spend their time just sitting in a small room, staring out into the ocean day after day?
"I think I've been very patient so far."
"Yep."
One hand waved gently and the wind that had been rustling in his ear died down, allowing him to hear the deep breath Robby took. The boy was calming himself down, thinking before he responded, going through what he would say before he said it. That was impressive and, of a security guard, unexpected. It gave the impression that there was more to the boy than was immediately apparent. He hoped that was so; that which was immediately apparent wasn't very impressive.
"Will you answer my questions tomorrow?"
Roshi grunted a non-committal response but Robby wouldn't accept it, he asked the question again.
"I might, may I sleep now?"
"I need to know the answer to one question right away."
Roshi sighed but he was smiling on the inside, at least the boy was persistent.
"What is it then?"
The answer didn't come for a few seconds; the boy was obviously trying to get the wording of his last question so precise that Roshi would have to give him the information he wanted.
"What is it you intend to do now?"
The old man blinked and pushed himself up onto his elbows, studying Robby intently through the tainted glass of his sunglasses.
There were two possible answers for that question, both were true but only one was what the boy needed. The first was a trite remark about sleeping and eating, a childish use of the flaw in the boys questioning that Robby had probably overlooked, it being too simple to consider. The second was the whole truth that he was uncomfortable about admitting as it revealed too much about himself and his weakness.
To be unable to recall most of the details of his life was a terrifying thing but admitting it would make him appear feeble minded and he wasn't absolutely sure about what sort of person Robby was yet.
"I will.." Roshi took a deep breath, conscious of the fact that he was emulating the boy, and continued.
"I will seek out my sister, if she's still alive. I know for certain that she doesn't live here; she's far across the ocean to the west. Or at least that's where I remember her last being. We haven't had much contact."
"Sibling squabbles?"
"I can honestly say we don't get along too well."
Robby disappeared before Roshi's very eyes, his considerable mass thumping against the sand as he laid his head down and stared upwards into the starry night.
"I know what that's like, me and my brother have never got on."
The wind dropped away completely at Roshi's silent signal, allowing him to catch the almost non-existent sigh.
"Family squabbles are a natural thing," muttered Roshi, speaking only to give Robby an excuse to talk to himself.
"We never got along, even as kids."
Roshi laid his head down slowly, making as little noise as possible as he thought up a way to answer.
"Children can be cruel."
His eyes closed slowly, listening out for Robby's response while responding to another call, that of a tired body.
"He was certainly that, in his own dumb way."
Roshi stifled a yawn quickly but it had already done its treacherous work, loosening his joints, sending that sleepy signal to every part of his weary limbs. Still, he needed to keep up the flow.
"Children grow up."
The old man scratched at his scruffy beard, picking stray bits of seaweed that had become lodged in between the hairs.
"He didn't, he just grew."
This gave him reason to pause; there were dark harmonics in the way Robby said this that reached past the dulling part of his mind.
"Big guy?"
Blinking away the sleep, Roshi cocked his head slightly in order to see, almost out of sight, the side of Robby's body.
"Ki Warrior, dad was never prouder.."
Watching it shudder in bitterness and pain.
Suddenly it was going to be a long night.
* * *
Lying there, listening to the easy breathes of his sleeping companion, Roshi thought about a world very different from the one he had been in before. And about a boy who was more than what he seemed.
Abuse of power was something Roshi was all too aware of. In the back of his mind he could almost see the cringing figure of Krillen, a small boy who had been scared to death of the bullies of his old home. Imagine if those bullies had been truly skilled. Imagine if they had had control of Ki.
It came from Argonia opening the doors of its 'Energy Manipulation Division' or the EMD to the public. After attacking the other countries that surrounded it, taking control of them by force, Argonia couldn't just take children from the hospitals any more. That had been an irrational act; something unthinkable and those responsible had been duly punished.
"But.. lets not be too hasty here. It'd be impossible to reunite those soldiers with their families; the army's the only family they know anyway. So I don't think we'll be sending them out into cold, cruel world. They're home. They're ours."
Roshi could imagine how it had gone but when it became clear that such things couldn't continue any longer they had been stuck. What happened after this generation or how many others had been taken got old and lost their ability to fight? Roshi doubted that at that point anyone was aware of the longevity that channelling Ki afforded, from the country's point of view a new army was desperately needed.
And, in the copycat way of people watching the most dangerous players, everyone else did the same. Even little Helion had its own EMD and it started accepting pupils, people who appeared to be above average in strength, speed or endurance. And quite a few who were just average and wanted to feel the true power of Ki Manipulation. Lots were probably just crazy kids that wanted to learn how to fly but by the end they were a formidable fighting force and when those kids went back home they showed their family and friends just how much they had changed.
It was, now that he knew where to look, quite obvious. Robby's left leg and right arm had both been broken and now that Roshi knew that he could see how Robby favoured his left arm and right leg, as if terrified that he might break the weak limbs again. Of course Roshi could also see that there was nothing wrong with his left leg or right arm, they had healed cleanly and should be as good as new. The real problem was something deep inside, some wound that hadn't so much healed as it had scabbed over.
It wasn't Roshi's place to pick at it. Or at least that's what he told himself.
Rolling over so that he was staring away from the fire and the boy, looking out towards the sea, Roshi caught the sparkle of his discarded sunglasses as they shined from where he had left them in the sand. Those glasses hadn't been in that hut for all those years; in fact they should have decomposed by now.
He had the distinct feeling that he was a piece in some other person's game and he didn't like it. Especially since he had somehow managed to recruit Robby and for as long as this game was being played, the boy was in danger purely by being near him.
"I'm no hero," muttered Roshi, "pupil to hero, yes. Teacher to hero, yes but they're completely different from being an actual hero. I'm no Goku, I'm just a stupid old man."
Roshi curled up a little tighter, easing himself closer to the dying fire.
"Leave me alone."
He had come to realise some time ago that the only gift to give was one he had given in all their time together. Awareness. The wind longed for nothing more than someone to be with and Roshi fulfilled that duty every day. It wasn't even aware of the boys existence though Roshi thought, quite cynically, it seemed hard to miss him.
Roshi knocked the thoughts back easily and sank a little closer to the fire, his old bones bathing in the heat. Glasses staring into the dancing flames - Roshi listened to the story of a world he no longer knew.
There had been some confusion when Robby began to speak, Roshi had to make it clear that he wanted to know the history of the world spanning centuries instead of decades or years.
The revolt had come some time 200 years ago, as far as Roshi could tell that was at least 400 years after whatever had happened, happened. It had come with enough warning preceding it - several parts of the World Government had been pressing for independence since before the grinning face of Son Goku disappeared from the Earth - but it had happened anyway. Military bases were seized, easily enough for war was nearly extinct at that point, and a barrage of missiles landed on the Palace.
With most of the administration dead the World Government stumbled, the world rocked and since even at the best of times it is balancing on the curve of chaos, revolution took over the whole world. City-States and military bases declared themselves countries, islands banned all visitors, transportation became a thing of the past and through it all the revolutionaries surged into control.
It took 2 years for the fighting to stop and 100 for the world to settle into something resembling a balance. With the borders settled and people more or less where they wanted to be, there was no more reason to fight. On top of that the incredible shielding technology that had protected the boy's sentry post was being used to guard all the major cities sites of importance against any large-scale attack. Still, while the people got on with their lives, the nations worried.
They worried about their neighbours and what they were doing. They worried about their weakness. They worried about anything and everything and saw no solution apart from some new kind of weapon. That weapon came from Argonia; a small, insignificant little country nearby the north coast of the largest body of land in the world. It was a rocky, barren country with absolutely nothing going for it; it survived because no one else wanted it.
The country discovered the lab in a routine scavenging operation - a common thing during the revolution and a tradition in the years afterwards - and it changed the course of things to come like no other event in the world. Most of the machines and devices that had been created there were useless, destroyed beyond repair with no way of fixing them.
But, deep inside the mountain, further down than the outer labs, was a computer containing all the data that had been collected. Including evidence, theories and conclusions on Ki Manipulation.
* * *
"Gero"
Roshi could feel the boys penetrating glare, he could almost hear the sound of the wheels turning. Not only an old man with incredible power, someone who knows history from 200 years ago; a mystery to be solved. It annoyed him that he had let himself slip but how could it be any better to keep secrets? He was alone in this world save for the wind and this 'Robby.'
He nodded towards the boy to continue and, reluctantly, he did so.
* * *
It began, as most things do, with many failures. It was only discovered in the past 20 years how many failures there had been and how dangerous they had become. So many different methods had been employed: genetic manipulation, energy suits, hypnosis and so on - nothing worked.
Argonia spent years working on what they knew to be their ticket to power and eventually came up with the programme they use today.
All children are tested at birth and any with even a single point above the average power level are taken away for training. It went by without anyone realising it, every so often a child would mysteriously die and it was rare enough that no one ever looked into it. It was only 25 years after the programme began that what had happened came to light.
Argonia started by attacking all three of its closest enemies: Merck, Golod and Freona. The attacks happened simultaneously, three teams of 5 warriors each appeared wherever the respective leaders were and, with some ceremony, killed them. Then the teams laid waste to a significant part of each army, taking out the missiles and air force in order to assure Argonia's safety. Within the week Argonia had swelled to encompass one eighth of the whole continent.
The fact that the central part of Argonia was still a poor wasteland, almost bankrupt from devoting nearly all funds to the army, seemed unimportant now. With an army of soldiers who could create explosions and literally tear tanks in two it had become the strongest player in the international game.
It didn't last for much more than a decade, the information on Ki Manipulation was leaked out to the rest of the world and soon every country had its own super strong warrior. Once again a balance came about, everyone knew how to scan for approaching warriors, everyone had the technology and men to fight them, everyone was even once again.
The old Tenkachai Budokai was revived and - on the ground where the original Ki Warriors had fought some long forgotten battle, inside of Argonian territory - was held every 7 years. That went some way to easing the tension but the old worries were still strong. Argonia was still the strongest of all the countries with the best-trained warriors but it feared retribution for its violent acts.
Everyone was afraid that some new weapon would appear, something to tip the balance and send the world back into chaos as the appearance of Ki Warriors very nearly did.
* * *
"But so far, nothing has happened."
Roshi could feel the renewed ferocity of his companion's gaze but ignored it.
Roshi could feel the tug of the wind, anxious to understand what bothered him but he ignored it.
He knew in some vague way that the way he was thinking and acting weren't quite the same as how he had been. His understanding of this was more instinctual, something felt without words, but he trusted it. He could imagine that after 300 years of life, around the time that he had first met Goku, the moral constraints that bound others so tightly would have seemed inconsequential to him.
After nearly a thousand years? That was only a guess as to how old he was now but he imagined that it was accurate enough. After being conscious for so long his mind appeared to have redesigned itself, the morals didn't matter any more but neither did the urges that they were meant to halt. He was beginning to wonder how long it would last. And whether he wanted it to last at all.
"What country is this, out of interest?"
"Helion, a tiny little country that occupies the peninsula that we are sitting on."
Roshi nodded silently, not really caring about where he was. Helion, Argonia, Freona, it was all too different for him. At least in the past no matter where you were, you were in the World Government.
"Is that all you want to know?"
"At the moment, yeah."
Roshi flopped backwards against the sand, staring up into the heavens. He loved the night sky, the stars sparkling against the satin cloth of the void, the little points that remained a constant during his lifetime. An unfortunate result of the battles that had taken place on Earth was that it wasn't much like the place he had grown up in; entire mountains were missing from it. On top of that cities had risen and destroyed themselves in the time that he had sat in his little hut. All he really had was the stars; they changed a lot slower than anything else.
"Do I get to ask questions now?"
"Nope."
Roshi smirked slightly at the antagonised sound that escaped from the boy's throat as a result of his simple response. He supposed the boy had every reason to be annoyed, after all Roshi had arrived uninvited into his quiet little life. Quiet, boring life if Roshi was any judge, why Goku and.. Krillen? Yes, Goku and Krillen would have jumped at the opportunity for some excitement. How could someone spend their time just sitting in a small room, staring out into the ocean day after day?
"I think I've been very patient so far."
"Yep."
One hand waved gently and the wind that had been rustling in his ear died down, allowing him to hear the deep breath Robby took. The boy was calming himself down, thinking before he responded, going through what he would say before he said it. That was impressive and, of a security guard, unexpected. It gave the impression that there was more to the boy than was immediately apparent. He hoped that was so; that which was immediately apparent wasn't very impressive.
"Will you answer my questions tomorrow?"
Roshi grunted a non-committal response but Robby wouldn't accept it, he asked the question again.
"I might, may I sleep now?"
"I need to know the answer to one question right away."
Roshi sighed but he was smiling on the inside, at least the boy was persistent.
"What is it then?"
The answer didn't come for a few seconds; the boy was obviously trying to get the wording of his last question so precise that Roshi would have to give him the information he wanted.
"What is it you intend to do now?"
The old man blinked and pushed himself up onto his elbows, studying Robby intently through the tainted glass of his sunglasses.
There were two possible answers for that question, both were true but only one was what the boy needed. The first was a trite remark about sleeping and eating, a childish use of the flaw in the boys questioning that Robby had probably overlooked, it being too simple to consider. The second was the whole truth that he was uncomfortable about admitting as it revealed too much about himself and his weakness.
To be unable to recall most of the details of his life was a terrifying thing but admitting it would make him appear feeble minded and he wasn't absolutely sure about what sort of person Robby was yet.
"I will.." Roshi took a deep breath, conscious of the fact that he was emulating the boy, and continued.
"I will seek out my sister, if she's still alive. I know for certain that she doesn't live here; she's far across the ocean to the west. Or at least that's where I remember her last being. We haven't had much contact."
"Sibling squabbles?"
"I can honestly say we don't get along too well."
Robby disappeared before Roshi's very eyes, his considerable mass thumping against the sand as he laid his head down and stared upwards into the starry night.
"I know what that's like, me and my brother have never got on."
The wind dropped away completely at Roshi's silent signal, allowing him to catch the almost non-existent sigh.
"Family squabbles are a natural thing," muttered Roshi, speaking only to give Robby an excuse to talk to himself.
"We never got along, even as kids."
Roshi laid his head down slowly, making as little noise as possible as he thought up a way to answer.
"Children can be cruel."
His eyes closed slowly, listening out for Robby's response while responding to another call, that of a tired body.
"He was certainly that, in his own dumb way."
Roshi stifled a yawn quickly but it had already done its treacherous work, loosening his joints, sending that sleepy signal to every part of his weary limbs. Still, he needed to keep up the flow.
"Children grow up."
The old man scratched at his scruffy beard, picking stray bits of seaweed that had become lodged in between the hairs.
"He didn't, he just grew."
This gave him reason to pause; there were dark harmonics in the way Robby said this that reached past the dulling part of his mind.
"Big guy?"
Blinking away the sleep, Roshi cocked his head slightly in order to see, almost out of sight, the side of Robby's body.
"Ki Warrior, dad was never prouder.."
Watching it shudder in bitterness and pain.
Suddenly it was going to be a long night.
* * *
Lying there, listening to the easy breathes of his sleeping companion, Roshi thought about a world very different from the one he had been in before. And about a boy who was more than what he seemed.
Abuse of power was something Roshi was all too aware of. In the back of his mind he could almost see the cringing figure of Krillen, a small boy who had been scared to death of the bullies of his old home. Imagine if those bullies had been truly skilled. Imagine if they had had control of Ki.
It came from Argonia opening the doors of its 'Energy Manipulation Division' or the EMD to the public. After attacking the other countries that surrounded it, taking control of them by force, Argonia couldn't just take children from the hospitals any more. That had been an irrational act; something unthinkable and those responsible had been duly punished.
"But.. lets not be too hasty here. It'd be impossible to reunite those soldiers with their families; the army's the only family they know anyway. So I don't think we'll be sending them out into cold, cruel world. They're home. They're ours."
Roshi could imagine how it had gone but when it became clear that such things couldn't continue any longer they had been stuck. What happened after this generation or how many others had been taken got old and lost their ability to fight? Roshi doubted that at that point anyone was aware of the longevity that channelling Ki afforded, from the country's point of view a new army was desperately needed.
And, in the copycat way of people watching the most dangerous players, everyone else did the same. Even little Helion had its own EMD and it started accepting pupils, people who appeared to be above average in strength, speed or endurance. And quite a few who were just average and wanted to feel the true power of Ki Manipulation. Lots were probably just crazy kids that wanted to learn how to fly but by the end they were a formidable fighting force and when those kids went back home they showed their family and friends just how much they had changed.
It was, now that he knew where to look, quite obvious. Robby's left leg and right arm had both been broken and now that Roshi knew that he could see how Robby favoured his left arm and right leg, as if terrified that he might break the weak limbs again. Of course Roshi could also see that there was nothing wrong with his left leg or right arm, they had healed cleanly and should be as good as new. The real problem was something deep inside, some wound that hadn't so much healed as it had scabbed over.
It wasn't Roshi's place to pick at it. Or at least that's what he told himself.
Rolling over so that he was staring away from the fire and the boy, looking out towards the sea, Roshi caught the sparkle of his discarded sunglasses as they shined from where he had left them in the sand. Those glasses hadn't been in that hut for all those years; in fact they should have decomposed by now.
He had the distinct feeling that he was a piece in some other person's game and he didn't like it. Especially since he had somehow managed to recruit Robby and for as long as this game was being played, the boy was in danger purely by being near him.
"I'm no hero," muttered Roshi, "pupil to hero, yes. Teacher to hero, yes but they're completely different from being an actual hero. I'm no Goku, I'm just a stupid old man."
Roshi curled up a little tighter, easing himself closer to the dying fire.
"Leave me alone."
