Chapter 3: Travel Without Direction
Tuesday 19th September Age 791
Only a couple of hours had passed since Noca left his village, it was late, or early, depending on how you looked at it. Noca checked his old watch, seeing it was around 3am. He decided there was no point in stopping until he got to the next village over. Back to the Rinjin village. Where he would see Holline again. Checking his watch again as he walked along the path, in the dark, Noca noticed the date. It was just a month until his birthday. It was something that got him thinking about his mother again. They had plans. His birthday was going to be special. Noca found himself getting worked up and emotional again, but he had to brush it off. Ignore it. Keep going.
He needed to find Son Goku.
The only problem with that quest; he had no idea where he was going. He didn't have a clue where Goku would be or what he would doing. It wasn't going to be an easy task.
As Noca continued along the path he started to become very aware of the silence of night and it heightened all of his already effective senses. Noca was drawn in by any subtle sound that he heard. The rustle of bushes in the light breeze. An owl in the distance, a bat as it fluttered overhead. Everything was unnerving. Noca had started to become very anxious about where he was and whether or not he was actually safe out there alone. He was familiar with this path. He knew where he was going, but it was different in this deep darkness.
Not to mention that something in Noca's head was saying he should be worried. There was some sort of disturbance in the area. He knew it was his senses trying to warn him, but the boy just wasn't sure how to react or deal with the situation. He was unsure he could trust his senses in that moment, especially with his current state of mind and the swirl of emotion he had been through.
There was a heavy rustling from the bushes to Noca's right and it caused him to step back quickly, setting him right on edge. He froze on the spot and scanned the area. He noticed the bushes were moving, semi-erratically. Something was hidden in there. Noca took a deep breath and moved towards the bush slowly. He started to tremble. He clenched his right hand into a fist as he reached forward with his left. Noca's attention was fully focussed on the rustling bush and he had narrowed in on figuring out what was hiding from him.
That was until the striking sound of a gunshot in the distance stole his attention away.
Noca sprung to attention and that time his instinct took over and, for the time being, overshadowed his nervousness and fear. Noca started to run towards the sound, reaching the edge of a slight cliff looking down onto one of the smaller local villages. There were lots of lights around the village turning on all at once as Noca figured out he wasn't the only person that heard the gunshots.
Something bad was definitely going on. Noca jumped down the cliff edge, his instinct continuing to drive his actions. He landed a few feet away from the village and started to walk towards it. Loads of people were flooding into the streets and were drawn to the same thing. Noca moved on into the village and started to mingle in the crowds. As he managed to position himself in a good place two men came bumbling out of a shop, carrying SMGs.
"Thanks for the supplies!" One of them yelled back. He was tall, bald, and well-built, with a bit of a gut. He laughed as he ran towards the village exit. He was followed by another man, a smaller man with a black mohawk, he was also laughing maniacally.
"Yeah, thanks. It's not like they had a choice, Avure!" He yelled at his ally, continuing to laugh. The two men shot their guns in the air as they headed towards the exit. The crowd had scattered out of fear, but Noca stood strong, for some reason. "Kid get out of the way! Avure, shoot him!"
The two men stopped and Avure looked to the smaller man.
"Dole, he's just a kid…" The larger man said, nervously. Dole was clearly getting frustrated and wanted to rush on.
"Just push him out of the way!" Dole shouted as he ran towards Noca, managing to push him to his feet. Compared to the two men, Noca was smaller, and he was just a kid. But he was a Saiyan. Noca got back to his feet and watched after them.
"Hey!" Noca yelled, in anger. Both Avure and Dole stopped in their tracks, looked to each other and turned around to face the boy.
"What do you want?" Dole screeched, getting very frustrated with the delay.
"Yeah, you want to fight us?" Avure asked, chuckling to himself. Noca froze again. He didn't know what to say and just stared ahead, trying to keep the angry and confident stature. But he couldn't move.
"Come on, kid. Say something!" Dole screeched again. Noca took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"Return whatever you stole from these people!" Noca demanded.
"Or what?" Dole asked, laughing again. Noca stepped forward again, trying to be intimidating, but he was still just a child in their eyes, and it amused them.
"Ah, to hell with this shit!" Dole yelled as he whipped his gun around and started to unload the magazine in the general direction of the boy. But the young Saiyan managed to dodge every shot and act completely on instinct. He then sprung from his final position and shot towards Dole, but Avure moved in the way and caught Noca in the last minute, pinning him to the ground.
"Ha, I got him!" He chanted, victoriously.
"Good for you," Dole said, sarcastically and screamed out again. "Now grab his backpack and let's get going!"
Avure looked down and shrugged his shoulders as he took Noca's bag and push the boy into the dirt before turning and running off with his ally. Noca slowly got himself up, shaking off the dirt and watched as the men ran off.
"Hey, give that back!" Noca shouted, getting very protective over the contents of the bag. The people in the village moved towards Noca to check on him, but he just pushed them away and ran after the duo. "Give it back, now!"
It was still pitch black and Noca could barely see as he sprinted along the path, trying to follow the duo. Noca was so focussed on his new mission that he was shocked by the sudden jolt of being held back by something. Noca didn't get a chance to see what had stopped him but he assumed it was a person.
"Get off of me, I need to get my bag!" Noca yelled, starting to panic.
"Save your energy, Saiyan. You're going to need it," An adult male voice said, in a calming fashion. Noca stopped squirming.
"How do you know I'm a Saiyan? Who are you?" Noca asked, as the guy released him from the grip. Noca turned around and got a good look at the person who stopped him. He appeared to be a middle-aged man with shoulder length black hair. And there was the strange sensation that Noca wasn't feeling any sort of threatening energy from him. There was no unease. Noca's senses had been getting stronger recently, so this was new. "Who are you?"
"Android #17, but just call me #17," The man said, smirking.
"How did you know I was a Saiyan" Noca asked, keeping himself at a safe distance, unsure of what this man might do.
"I've met Saiyans before, plus I know they typically have tails," #17 answered as he sat down on a rock and kept his eyes on Noca. The boy looked to his tail and back to #17, keeping an uneasy eye on the man. He edged his way around the man and sat on another rock himself. Then something dawned on him.
"You know Saiyans, so do you know Son Goku?" Noca asked, immediately. He didn't even know if he could trust the man, but this was far too important to him. #17 scoffed as he got more comfortable on the rock.
"I do," He replied. Noca sat forward.
"Do you know where I can find him?" Noca asked, starting to feel a certain level of satisfaction.
"Either Mt Paozu of the 439 Mountain Range, but you'd be safer going to West City. You'd get lost in those mountains," #17 answered, clearly not finding issue with sharing that information. This did get Noca thinking about whether or not this man was an ally of Goku's or perhaps an enemy.
"Thank you," Noca said, genuinely. No matter what, at least he knew where he had to go now. #17 waved off the thanks as if it was insignificant, but it certainly wasn't to the boy. "But I still need to get my backpack…"
#17 looked over to the boy again and sat up.
"Why?" He asked. Noca looked up. "What's so important in it that matters to you?"
Noca didn't understand why that question was important, but he knew why his backpack mattered to him.
"I have some things from my village, a photo…" Noca started to explain, showing that he wasn't up for going further with it. He started to fiddle with his hands and got a bit upset at the prospect of losing those possessions forever. #17 noticed that Noca was getting emotional and he sat forward.
"I didn't get your name," #17 said. The boy sniffed and looked up.
"I'm Noca," the Saiyan answered.
"Well, Noca. I'll help you get it back in the morning. Those men will be returning to where they came from, but they'll still be around. We'll find them," #17 said as he stood up, looking like he was considering something. He looked around and then looked back down to Noca. "We can set up camp near to the next village, that's where they'll be going tomorrow."
"Why? How do you know this?" Noca asks, getting a little worried. He hadn't been given a reason to trust #17 but he felt comfortable around him.
"Trust me, I've be following these guys and waiting for them to slip up with something. Now I have some help, maybe I can catch them," #17 explained to Noca, showing that there was something more to him helping the Saiyan than he was letting on. Noca wanted to press and ask, but also didn't feel it was right to do so.
"Why couldn't we stay in the village?" Noca asked. #17 looked away, not paying Noca any attention.
"Let's just say I don't handle being around other people," #17 said, over his shoulder. Noca just silently agreed with the android and started to follow him down the path.
"Did you say you were an android earlier, as in a robot?" Noca asked, needing to know a bit more about who he was allying himself with. #17 chuckled.
"Kind of. It's a bit more complicated than that. I'm more cyborg, part human with some mechanical parts," the man explained. Noca nodded along, not really understanding and wondering why someone would have that done. He didn't feel it was his place to press further. #17 suddenly stopped walking at some point and turned to face Noca. "Here's good. We can rest and move at dawn."
Noca looked at his watch, noticing that they wouldn't be getting too much sleep. He groaned and started trying to get himself comfortable on the ground. His first night wasn't a good one, so far.
"I know this probably goes without saying but you might need to fight by my side tomorrow," #17 said.
"I've never fought against another person before… but I think I can fight," Noca mentioned, starting to doubt himself and his own abilities.
"It's ok, you're a Saiyan so it's in your genes. You'll know what to do when you're faced with danger, just make sure you don't lose your nerve like you did back there," #17 explained, motioning back towards the other village. Noca nodded in response. "Now, get some rest."
Noca turned around and continued trying to get comfortable. Luckily, he was feeling pretty tired already and the warmth of the summer night was enough for him to drift off quickly.
Noca was woken up by the sun rising, he knew it was very early, and he hadn't managed to get much sleep. But since he had started to get a taste of sleep his body wanted him to keep going and lay down again. The sun definitely wouldn't make that easy. Noca slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes, yawning and stretching. He stood up and looked around. Android #17 didn't seem to be around. Noca started to walk around, hoping to find him sleeping behind a tree or a rock, but he wasn't having much luck.
"Hey," A voice said, from behind Noca. The Saiyan' initial reaction was one of fear and instinct and he swung around with his fists up, ready to attack, but noticed it was the missing Android.
"What the Hell?!" Noca exclaimed, unable to control his breathing. He wasn't yet familiar enough with the man to recognise his voice immediately.
"Calm down, we need to head on down that path," #17 said, quickly getting on to the task at hand and pointing towards Noca's right. The Saiyan looked towards the path. "We'll find those thugs down there."
Noca nodded in agreement and let the Android lead the way. Noca stretched one more time before walking on after the Android, but remained back a little bit, not wanting to be right up close with the stranger. Noca wasn't quite sure why he was still following him anyway.
The Saiyan felt a slight twinge in his head and stopped, looking around like there was something he needed to deal with. There was nothing about, but he felt something. It wasn't a physical presence, it felt more like emotion. Someone was in pain, and Noca could feel it. He could feel them. He knew them.
Suddenly Noca woke up completely, realising just where he was. He knew what village they had reached.
"#17!" Noca called out as he rushed up to the Android's side. #17 turned around with his finger to his lips.
"Will you shut it?!" #17 said in a hushed tone. Noca stopped and composed himself.
"I'm sorry, I know this village," Noca revealed. #17 rolled his eyes.
"Good for you," he said, turning around to start walking towards the village again. Noca caught up to him again.
"It's not just that. I can sense something… or someone? They're in trouble," Noca continued, hoping #17 would understand, or at least help Noca figure it out. The android turned around again and saw that Noca was rather shaken by what he could feel, as if it was new.
"Ok, then we better hurry up," #17 said, smirking.
"Let's see what the boy can do,"the android thought to himself. He was about to turn around and walk back towards the village again, but the sudden sound of gun shots rattled through the quiet morning, shaking the local wildlife awake. It also captured Noca's and #17's complete attention. Noca froze up for a second but soon took on a determined persona.
"No!" He called out, running off down the path towards the village. #17 didn't get a chance to stop him or talk some sense into the boy, Noca was too quick. The android knew what happened when a Saiyan got angry and started to act on pure instinct, and he was eager to see it, but he didn't want Noca to do something far too rash. He rushed to the Saiyan and grabbed him back.
"There's no point acting like an idiot, I don't think anyone has been killed, I'm sure you'd feel it," #17 said, attempting his most calming, yet commanding voice. "Plus, you can't control your anger or your power yet, so you don't want to go in there with no plan."
Noca started to calm down, but he was still determined to save the people.
"You need to train yourself, and it's something I'd be willing to help with once we're out of this, but you have to do what I say, ok?" #17 instructed. Noca looked up at the Android, still feeling his rage and wanting to break free. He closed his eyes, but for a second something shot into Noca's mind. An image of fire. Lots of fire. Flames engulfed wherever he was and out of the anarchy stepped a single silhouetted figure.
Noca's eyes shot open and he had suddenly been put back into the moment, but he just stared at Android #17 with fear in his eyes. The Android's brow furrowed as he tried to contemplate what was going on with the boy.
"You ok, kid?" He asked, more confused than he was worried. Noca blinked a few times and looked down, trying to shake the image out of his mind, but it had been burned right in there.
"I don't know, I have no idea what I just saw…" Noca muttered, trying to make sense of it. "It was just fire… it doesn't matter though, we need to go!"
Noca pulled away and started back towards the village, although not as rushed as before. He needed to learn to be more calculated. #17 watched after the boy for a second and noted that he needed to ask more about that vision later. He made sure to follow Noca down and remain close.
Once the village came into view, they noticed that there were two familiar men standing down in the village by the entrance. Avure and Dole stood there, together, only Dole had his gun pointed into the air and Avure had his gun pointed to the head of a red-headed girl. Then there were a lot of villagers that had gathered to try and do something about the commotion. They were all far too disturbed and scared though.
"Alright! You're gonna give us access to everything you have! Money, food, supplies, and then we'll give you this little red-head back," Dole said, yelling and cackling maniacally. An older man stepped forward, holding his hands up to show he had no weapons.
"Please, don't hurt her, she hasn't done anything wrong!"
"We're the ones making the demands! Give us your stuff!" Dole screeched back. Noca's inner rage started to grow again, but he was trying to do his best to ignore it and focus on doing things in a more calculated and precise way. Until he noticed that the hostage was indeed the person he was most concerned for; Holline.
"They have her, they have Holline!" Noca muttered. He stood up and prepared to rush into the village.
"Don't do it kid," the Android ordered, standing up to try and grab the boy but Noca had already jumped down and rushed towards the criminals. Noca made sure to move in quietly and get as close to the two of them as he could.
"Hey!" He called out. Avure turned around, still holding on to Holline, but he was shocked by a sudden fist into his face. The larger man was knocked to the ground, the red head falling by his side. Dole turned around.
"What the hell was that? Wait, it's that kid!" Dole screamed, getting a little worried after seeing that the boy had managed to knock down his ally.
"That hurt…" Avure muttered as he stood up. "Can we kill them yet?"
"No, Omega wouldn't want that!" Dole yelled at his comrade.
"Omega?" #17 questioned as he stepped up beside Noca. Both were glaring towards the two criminals who looked very scared by that point. They appeared to know #17.
"You again?!" Dole asked.
"Yeah. Me. And I knew you were working for Omega. Who is he?" #17 asked, seemingly like he really had been following up on these two for some time. Noca didn't take his eyes off the two of them, not even taking in any of what was being said.
"How do you know Omega?" Dole asked again, his panic continuing to grow. #17 chuckled.
"Why would I tell you that?" #17 said, smirking as he stepped forward. "I just know he took an interest in Androids, like me."
Both Dole and Avure froze upon hearing that.
"You… are an Android?" Dole asked, laughing nervously. #17 smirked and stepped forward, in front of Noca. The Saiyan moved to try and get a visual on what would happen but that's when he noticed Holline again. He finally dropped into reality and rushed over to his friend. She hadn't been able to move, clearly frozen from fear. It was a horrible situation for the girl to be in. Noca dropped by her side and she panicked slightly reacting by throwing her arms up, Noca managed to stop her though.
"Hey, don't worry, it's me!" He said, trying to get her to look at him properly. She stopped and stared at him for a second before hugging him and holding on to him.
"Oh, thank God!" Holline whispered into her friend's chest. She then pulled away. "What are you doing here?"
"I'll have to tell you later, right now we need to get you somewhere safe," He helped her back to her feet and rushed towards the big crowd. She rushed into the arms of the older man, who was her grand-father and Noca turned back to face the criminals and his new android ally. Holline noticed that.
"What are you doing?" She asked, stepping up again. "Tell me what's going on!"
"I will, just not now, I need to help #17," Noca told her, but turned back to face the criminals again. "First I need to get something back from them."
Noca moved forward and #17 noticed immediately.
"No, Noca. You stay back and keep them safe," The Android commanded. "I want to find out everything I can from these guys first. This is important."
"You won't get anything from us!" Avure called out.
"Yeah! Now, why don't you piss off?" Dole followed up. #17 laughed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"And I thought we could have a polite conversation here. You don't want to cross someone who has the ability to kill you with a flick of their finger," #17 taunted, knowing his abilities were far superior to theirs. Dole stood strong, despite being the smaller, but Avure turned to him.
"Maybe we should retreat…" The larger criminal said, clearly getting a bit worried about what violence might happen.
"No! Let's kill this guy!" Dole screamed in a rage, lifting his SMG and proceeding to unload the magazine in #17's direction. All the villagers turned away, not wanting to see what happened to the mysterious man standing up to those criminals. Neither Noca, nor Holline, turned away from the action though. Much to their surprise, #17 was completely unharmed by the attack.
"Ouch," #17 said in a monotone style, "I'm in so much pain. But is it my turn yet?"
Both the criminals turned to face one another.
"Ok. We can run now," Dole said, no longer confident of his ability to kill the Android. Both of them tried to sprint past #17 but the black-haired man swiftly moved grabbing both of the men and thrusting them down into the dirt.
"Now, tell me about this Omega," #17 requested, getting serious.
"He's a scientist… planning to set up some sort of base of operations here in the mountains, we are just working with him to help collect supplies. Honestly, we don't know anything more than that," Avure blurted out, getting a bit too scared. Dole turned to face his ally with his mouth open.
"Why don't you just tell him where you were born!?" Dole yelled at his partner. Avure seemed nervous and didn't have any more to say.
"That can't be all you know," #17 said, getting their attentions back. "You seemed to worry when you found out I was an android, meaning you know something about androids and Omega's connection to them."
Neither of them said anything. #17 wasn't happy.
"Tell me!"
Both of them winced when #17 yelled, but they weren't given a chance to say anything as a voice from behind #17 cleared their throat. The Android stopped and turned around. There was a man standing there. He was about average height for an adult, he seemed to hold himself to a high standard. A clean, ironed grey suit. Combed silver hair, and a smart pair of glasses.
"Android's are fascinating, don't you think," the man said. He spoke in a very educated and posh style. He was clearly a man of high class and seemed to be intelligent. It wasn't quite what #17 had expected. "I haven't seen you in a long time, Lapis."
"What did you call me?" #17 stepped forward, getting very angry at hearing his real name uttered by the man he had been hunting.
"Oh, my apologies. You must prefer to be called Android #17. Although you're not really an Android, are you? You're a cyborg," The man said, smirking. #17 clenched his fists and wanted to attack, but he needed information.
"How do you know my name!?" #17 demanded to know. The man chuckled.
"I should probably introduce myself, I am Omega," the man finally revealed, "Former ally of Dr. Gero, and like the great scientist himself, I am also an Android."
Characters Seen/Mentioned in this Chapter:
Noca (OC)
Son Goku - Mentioned
Avure (OC)
Dole (OC)
Android #17
Holline (OC)
Omega (OC)
Holline's Grandfather (OC)
Dr Gero - Mentioned
Emna (OC) - Mentioned
