Hey. OP here.
I made it, Toriyama.
The real dream starts here.
[ OP: My First Story: REVIVER ]
Battle Thirteen! Neoru VS Zinco!
Dawn.
And the glinting spokes that… spoke… of its coming.
They shined through the blinds, jabbing at the boy's eyes, prodding them open after a while.
He began motioning toward the clock, only to notice a weight. Inspecting, he froze. Atop him was something that could kill him on the spot if it felt the wrong way at the wrong time, even in the serene state it was in. In the same breath, one small movement and he ran the risk of harming it. A being as deadly as it was fragile.
"When the…" he muttered beneath his breath, the young woman gently rising and falling off her own chest and his in harmony, within a peace he'd never seen from her. Even the way she breathed was refined, rhythmic, passively drawing in and circulating ki. Qi. Whatever, it was the same thing, she was just weird about it. The big thing was that something that most needed focus for, she could do in her sleep.
He noticed how her wine-red locks messily covered her eyes, how – for lack of better words – cute it made her look. It was like the longer he observed her, the more he had to fawn over.
"(... ok weirdass, time's up, get her off you. Wait… fine, screw it, clear up her dumbass face then.)"
He just wanted to mess with her hair. After all, hair such a uniquely dark shade of red couldn't be nat-
Mei's wide-open eyes greeted him the nanosecond her hair was grazed. As did her pointed fingers greet his carotid arteries.
"Mh?" Her body had moved before her mind could understand what had happened. Going off the ki around her fingers, so did her spirit.
Neo froze.
He began to lower her bangs back over her eyes. Like all-piercing cacti needles, hair strands had lanced his hand and wouldn't let go.
She slowly moved his hand in return, releasing it. "Ouch," she apologetically mocked.
"MH-HM…!" he agreed through air-tight pursed lips, avoiding her pleading amber eyes with his tearing violets.
It wasn't easy to stay mad at a face like that. The challenge just up ahead was hard enough.
"Breakfast?"
No, not that one.
Neo sent a knife through the air like a swordsman in a martial-heroes film. "Mhm."
Mei did his hair like she wanted him to be one.
"You're not makin' that stupid bun again are y-"
"There are not thirty minutes before you go." Mei continued, steering the subject away from the stupid bun she was making. "You won't have time to eat, not at your pace."
Neo sighed, accepting his fate in more ways than one. "Ain't for me. Don't want you watchin' me get laid out on an empty stomach, I mean ya gotta puke SOMETHIN' when I'm gettin' my shit pushed in. Anything else'd be rude, right?" He asked, before the Shadow-Spider successor shoved him in the back.
"Shut up, stupid!"
"Sorry, sorry."
"... you are not 'marching off to die', are you?"
"Still don't get the war metaphors but... I'm havin' second thoughts, I'll say that. Not enough ta stop me throwin' everything I've got, but, I'm rememberin' what I'm goin' up against."
They shared a silence as the minutes flew, and Neo finished preparing the food.
"Are you doubting yourself?"
"I wouldn't say that, it's just uh… reality's sinkin' in. It really does seem kinda dumb, now. It was the same way with you."
Mei inhaled. Deeply, slowly inhaled.
"I mean I'm still going to fight the guy, but-"
"BRAVE… BOY…!"
Neo turned. "Huh-"
[ BGM: Kenji Fujisawa – LOVERS2 ]
"STRONG BOY!" Mei screamed at the top of her lungs, closing distance whenever he'd back off.
"H-HEY, THE WINDOW'S OPEN, DUMBASS, EVERYONE'S GONNA-"
"SH-SHARP BOY! FAST BOY! FINE BOY! STOUT BOY! FIERCE BOY! TOUGH! BOY!" She finally cornered him against the window sill. There was a shaky silence before her hands lightly smacked his face.
"Dumb boy."
His eyes slowly, surely filled with light. "... h-hey, what happened with you wantin' me outta this fight?"
Mei smiled mournfully. "You decided yesterday. What would it make of me, if I allowed you to lose sight of yourself?"
They shared a silent moment. His skin grew warmer and warmer, till it practically steamed.
Neo took her into a kiss. Mei followed.
"Thanks," he whispered.
"Of course," she whispered. "You have done the same." She placed her hand on his chest, and lightly pushed him away. "Don't make me regret this."
Neoru breathed.
And then he burst into violet flame.
"Mh-h…!" Mei went red in the face, staggering back from her effect on the boy.
"Alright…!" he giggled giddily. "YEAH, ALRIGHT!" Neoru went down and planted one more on her cheek, expelling a laugh from her. "NO WORRIES! I'LL SHOW YA SOMETHIN' NEAT!"
"Mh!"
Neoru threw on a Satan Dojo badge, swung on his dragon-detailed chaleco, and hopped onto the banister.
"...! Wait!"
"Hm-" He snatched a backpack out of mid-air. It still had leak stains from past scavenging, but he'd long-since washed out their stench once he realized how much he liked the smell of not-decay. It also served, and was serving, as a makeshift sheath.
"In all your excitement, you nearly forgot!" Mei grinned. "You dumb boy!"
"Yeah, holy shit!" he giggled, playfully thumping himself over the head.
It swept over his head as he donned the club. The sun swept over his hair — still dark-brunette, though with two long stripes of grey that overtook his two spike-esque tufts — a late-onset product of his battles and training over the week's course.
A dragged-out, smoky breath left his lips, cooling himself.
He made the leap.
Dawn.
… didn't really exist on Tandora. Clouds were too thick, too far from stars for the most part. The new foliage didn't seem to mind, though, as most magic didn't.
In any case, Zinco had a phenomenal internal clock. He awoke on a bed of grass, the frost melting off him. Curiously, his eyes met a forest's canopy. He bolted upward, vivid flashes of his past life sending his heart racing.
Kaza's head poking out from behind a tree eased him. "Zinco!" she smiled. "Good mornIN-"
She faceplanted.
Almost faceplanted. Zinco stopped it with a frantic stomp.
"..."
"..." Kaza picked herself up into a knelt seat. "Mhm."
A small sigh of relief followed. "Good morning." He looked around as Kaza approached him. "When did this happen?"
"I started getting rusty and just… had an idea, I guess!" She admired her mystic handiwork. "It's weird. I've got the best and worst memories of forests."
"... me too."
For the first time, Zinco had said SOMETHING about his past to her. Naturally, her attention was yanked by the throat.
Trying to learn more was genuinely like approaching a wild stag; any move too sudden, and it'd scamper off, regardless of prior familiarity. She'd read his mind, yes, but it was like flipping through a picture book at best. She only had pieces, and she couldn't connect them without him. "Do you mind… sharing?"
Zinco stared vacantly into the canopy. Kaza waited with bated breath.
"... I thought, once… that everything had to take to live. That it was impossible to live without hurting something. Trying to stop it meant hurting something else."
"(SQUEEEEEEEE—)"
"I… one time, I…"
"I know that part, Zinco. You don't have to go through it again."
"... I'd killed again." It felt like he was confess-...
He was. He was confessing to murder.
[ BGM: Dr. Donuts – Not an Angel ]
"I tried to stop the Way of things. Because of that, I had to set it right, myself. If I hadn't rushed things so quickly, then I… I would've seen the 'kirin', someone I knew called it. Something that doesn't need to take anything. Something so strong… that it didn't need to hurt anything. It just is."
A smile bled across his face. "I accepted the way things were, after that. And I started to understand it. I still hated being so weak that I had to take to survive, but things got better after that — nothing hates each other, everything takes what it needs. It was when animals got angry with each other over their homes, or food that could be shared… that I learned when to get in the way. Nothing's born wanting to hurt or hate. There's always a reason. And if that reason's bad, then I need to step in."
Winds blew frost across the woods.
Kaza tightly squinted her eyes, mustering the same courage he must've needed. "I grew up around a forest. My dad found… my dad had me there. He taught me everything I knew, and he was always there to help whenever I needed anything. He was so kind to me that, later in life, he seemed like someone I made up in my head to make myself feel better. Kindness like that didn't seem real after a while. Other people… they showed up to that forest, one day… and then they started attacking him. I didn't understand why, back then, but still…! I was so scared that I lost control of myself. And… I don't know if I killed him, or if he was already dead by then, but… but nothing was left of him." She swallowed a sob. "Nothing."
It had been a while since she'd reflected. Immediately, she crawled inside her own head.
"... (i went too far.)"
"Do you know why, now?"
Kaza snapped towards him.
He'd gone onto his back again, his expression blank.
She pulled herself back together. "It's just like you said. They were scared, and angry, and got too excited. So I don't hold anything against them."
It was like she'd eaten something bitter. Zinco noticed.
"If you do, that's fine."
"That's silly," she told herself. "People shouldn't hold grudges."
"People shouldn't just let go, either."
WㅤHㅤAㅤTㅤ?
Zinco practically felt the crazy eyes trained on him, like she firmly believed he'd been replaced by a cyborg, and explained. "People can't make themselves let go. They need something genuine. Proof. Anything else, and they're just bottling up their feelings. Animals are the same. I'm the only one that can change that for others."
Another round of silence followed, digesting what had been said.
Kaza's eyes fell under the shade of her tendril-locks. "... I didn't know you had such little faith in people."
"..."
"... I'm the same."
Surprise filled his eyes.
"People can be bitter. And they're eager to find reasons to hate others. If they can justify it, then it doesn't matter who's to blame, they'll do anything just to sate it. There can be a good reason behind it, but some of them only use that as an excuse… they just want a reason to feel angry, someone to focus it on. But still, Zinco…" She smiled, standing up. "People can forgive, if they just let themselves. They can even forgive themselves. If they need someone else to nudge them along, then that's fine… but people can change for the better on their own."
She bent over the boy. "Right?"
There was an expectant stare she sent through his skull. It jogged his memory.
That day on the hill. Every untraceable occurrence from then on. Everything in between.
The confusion cleared quickly, but the hesitation lingered. A hand outstretched toward him and, compelled, Jin brought himself up to take it. She'd already taken his own before he could get a hold, and pulled him up.
She then pecked him on the lips.
"So keep nudging people, alright?" Kaza asked softly, a smidge of nervous sweat sliding down her forehead. "Just like you nudged me."
"..." Jin recovered from his stunned state with a swift headshake and-
"N-NO!?"
Zinco recoiled for a moment before clearing up the misunderstanding. "No, I meant- YES! YES, I'LL DO IT!" he laughed awkwardly, calming the two down. "I'll kill enough of the fight in people to push them along."
The majin transitioned into a smile, and then to a grin. "And, uh, maybe we could phrase that whole 'kill' thing, huh?"
Jin paused for a moment. "Oh... that does sound kinda bad, actually..." He beamed. "I'll come up with something better!" He readied a gate.
A portal opened before he could throw it. "Mh…!"
Kaza's elated eyes focused on the portal, then her hand, then Zinco. "H-ha!" She stood up. "Don't leave me out of it, alright?"
" 'Kay!"
She smiled back and put some pep in her step, a satisfied giggle trailing from her.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ"(I think I'm growing fond of him.)"
A bed of flowers in a swirling void, gazing upwards into nothingness.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ"(I thought he was of some high-minded pursuit of justice, or fool-hearted belief in innate goodwill.)"
Devouring divine and devil alike, birthed from the malice purged to create purity.
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ"(But no, he DOES possess an apt understanding. This is all a matter of his disdain for something. It's as simple as that... 'killing' something he finds unpleasant.)"
The Majin smiled. "But does he not indulge in it, himself? How arrogant..."
Kaza's smile grew heavier by the second.
"Th-this is weird…"
Kaza glanced his way. "It must be."
"That's him!?"
"YEAH, ZINCO!"
"But he's so young…!"
"YOU GO, MAN!"
"CRUSH IT OUT THERE, ZINC!"
"I'M ROOTIN' FOR YA, KID!"
"CAN ALL OF YOU SHUT UP I'M ON THE PHONE!"
"YOU GO, CUTIE!"
His tail reached up and nervously scratched his forehead. "I don't think I can recognize everyone…"
"It checks out, silly! You're never out in public anymore, so you've missed how much of an impact you've had on the city lately!"
Hearing that, Zinco's head began to rise.
"That's the kid who saved my life!"
"Join the club, 'm I right!"
"HEY, BOSS! REMEMBER ME!?"
"N-NO, REMEMBER ME! I'M HIS BOSS, BOSS! HEY!"
Looking around, he realized a few did stick out.
"Un-kick some ass or whatever ya do out there, ya sonava bitch!"
"Not everyone sees that as a compliment, Fido…"
"MITTENS OVER HERE WON'T ADMIT IT BUT YA GOT THE CUB TA SHED A TEAR, YA HEAR!? SEE! I'VE GOT IT RIGHT HERE!"
A smile broke out and, gradually, his posture improved.
Someone ran up to him. "Hey, Zinco!"
"Liputon!" he exclaimed, meeting him halfway, to Kaza's confusion.
"(... who's he?)"
"You sure came a long way, man!" said the amber-skinned Geo-ite, shaking his hand. "I don't see you much anymore, but… I'm proud. Always knew you had it in you, but you still managed to blow me away."
"... thanks for believing in me, Liputon. Seriously."
Liputon smacked him on the back, sending him forward. "Now get out there and win, Jin!"
The half-blood nodded. "Absolutely, positively!" he affirmed, running ahead as his heart seared.
Kaza's eyes darted between the two before dashing in pursuit. "Wait-Zinco-Who is-HEY!"
"21,000 zeni."
Ceushius happily agreed to the absurd pricing for a single steamed bun, outstretching his hand for the sneering shopkeep.
A small blur trailed by a scarf snagged it mid-air. The shopkeep seemed more upset than Ceushius, at the moment.
"Hm."
"W-WHAT ARE YA STANDING AROUND FOR, THAT BRAT JUST NABBED M- YOUR MONEY! GET HIM!"
The mammoth musai stood in place, mentally bouncing the idea back and forth as the small dasher spun around a corner.
"HEEEY!"
He shrugged in agreement — the shady man seemed a bit more distressed, after all. Ceushius disappeared in a flash, rounding the same corner without another word.
Blocking the kid's path, a crossed-arms saiyan woman.
"Shucks, you again…!" the kid with mismatched eyes – one red, one green – cursed, as the sack was wrenched from his hands.
"How… many… times do we have to go over this?" The saiyan – or, if one were to be weird about it, saiyaness – in question wore an aqua chassis different from any other in the city. Her granite compression suit was also, though to a lesser extent, odd in its lines. One way she didn't differ from the pride was the way she contrasted with saiyans outside of Conton. "If you need something that badly, then just ask me!"
The kid spat as he nursed his wrist, still aching from the saiyan's attempt at a gentle subduing. "Well 'f I need you ta stay the hell away from me, what then!?"
Sharp teeth were bared as she growled but, as if instantly regretting the act, she settled down. "Just… be more considerate, alright? You can't go around doing as you please. That's wrong. You know that's wrong."
"I don't give a Tsuin's ass!" he bit, his vile vocabulary exceeding his age by… oh wait, that's tame for a fourteen year-old. "I don' need your lecturin', ya… ya damn tailed freak!" He attempted to storm off, only to run into a sentient mountain.
"Excuse me!" Ceushius greeted in coy. "Do you have something that belongs to me, young man?"
The kid gazed up, his quivering lips the only sign of movement, before leaping back and raising his hand in what resembled a gun. "I-I AIN-N… I'LL KILL YOU DEAD, YA THING!"
One second, he glared shaking daggers at the giant, red-eyed figure, the spitting image of the devil if-not him outright. The next, the bushy-tailed woman obscured his line of sight.
"Wait. He was just brought here." Her hands were outstretched. "He doesn't know any… he doesn't know of anything better, yet. Please…"
A gentle, wide "m" shaped his unhaired brows. "Kora, I take it?"
She took a second to remember how her name must've made rounds. The fact bayed her suspicion. "Yes."
"Mh. Please, give that to the boy. He seems to want it more than I could hope to."
"Are you…" Kora broke from her almost-accusatory questioning. "No. It's yours. Letting him have something he stole would set a bad example." She shot a sassy side-glare over at the kid. "Isn't that right?"
"HE LET ME HAVE IT, YA WITCH!"
Kora tossed it back to Ceushius. "Take it."
In catching it, he sighed. He took out a thousand zeni, and knelt down. "Right, she may be… it's only because you're hungry."
"...! Hey-" The kid raced past her before her apprehension faded. "Wait, NO-!"
To her surprise, the kid was able to seize the zeni and keep running. "BITE MY BOOT, SHE-DEVIL!"
"That was only a fraction of a day's hard work, boy!" the musai shouted, waving kindly. He then turned back.
Kora stared, bewildered. Though, it wasn't because the kid got away from her. "Oh…"
"I was just on my way to the tournament grounds. Would you like to accompany me?"
The apprehension from before reared its ugly head.
"Very well." Ceushius walked off.
"W-wait…!" Kora darted to his side, remorse speckling her words. "I think we got off on the wrong foot."
"Well, it simply can't be helped. After all, one of my homeworld was responsible for many a world's suffering across an uncountable many timelines. I'm familiar with such looks."
"But that doesn't make it fair for me to…" she glanced off to the side. "That kid I'm looking out for… the saiyans were responsible for wiping out his race. If I can't separate someone like you from Frieza, then… then I can't ask for others to do the same for me."
"But it isn't so simple, is it? Perhaps that fear of yours is rooted deeper than a surface-level hatred. Ultimately, some require more time than others. Your pauses were understandable."
"Still- gyu!"
Ceushius's hand fell atop Kora's head before she could continue. An almost-humiliating squeak rushed from her.
"You harbor remorse for your acts, as I do for my indifference, and the lives which each has cost. Those are fine first steps toward change, Kora."
It was an arduous task to not see everyone and everything as a child when you were hundreds of years older than most sentient life. Being a head, shoulders, and torso over most bipeds also didn't help.
If nothing else, it brought out sides in others that nothing else could.
"You… you think so?" Kora chirped.
Ceushius nodded. "Mh. Well done."
"... hm!" She felt her tail getting uppity behind her, and composed herself with a clearing of the throat. "So what brings you here?"
"I have an acquaintance to support. I can hardly consider him a student, with the extent by which he's taught himself over the months passed, but I have guided him along with what I've said."
Kora thought about it.
"... well he's done exceptionally well… for an Earthling…"
"Muuuuuuuuuh…" (Idiotese, untranslatable)
"I believe you two have already met!"
"Whoh? Ya didn' think Ie w's WOM'N al'long, d'd'ya? How l'tle 'n ERRTHl'ng d'you kno'?"
"(How do you even listen to yourself, never mind talk so much...!?)"
"BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, KORA!"
"... eh?"
"(So that leaves the obvious.)"
"I'm certain that your comrades are up ahead, just as eager to stand behind you."
"…"
Kora's eyes lowered from their high-strung facade, and soon after, her head faced the steps. "They shouldn't be."
What say he could have in the matter, Ceushius decided, was too shrouded in questions of his own.
"I'm sure they believe otherwise."
He left it at that. So did she.
At the top,
"Kevin!"
… was greeted by Zinco, he and Kaza running over.
"I'm glad you could make it, Mr. Ceushius!" the fuchsia majin greeted.
"Yeah, Mr. Celz… Seous… Ce… Celci-"
"Kevin is fine, Zinco." Ceushius gripped Zinco's strong shoulder. "And he says you've grown into a fine young man."
Kaza aggressively affirmed the compliment with rapid nodding.
Jin got over his spectacular, repeated failures with a grin. "Thank you!"
He was dwarfed by his senior and peer, but the boy was massive for a 14 year-old — Kora had grown a decent bit in the span of a year, and he could've locked eyes with her without issue. Speaking of locking eyes,
"Hey! There goes the girl of the hour!"
She still couldn't lock hers with Archi's, for more reasons than one-
Tarubei's jaws finally snapped her barbell in half as she leapt from her 501st one-finger planche pushup, said barbell creating a shockwave that she outpaced in an instant as she cleared her way to her student, laughing all the way.
"AT LONG LAST, MY PROUD CUB HAS ARRIVED TO THE BATTLEFIELD!"
"Captain, I have to-"
"MH, MH, AND IN TIP-TOP CONDITION, NO LESS! YES, IT WOULD SEEM YOU'VE RECOVERED SOUNDLY FROM YOUR HARROWING BOUT WITH DEAR ARCHI NOT A SENNIGHT'S PAST!"
"WH-YOU ALREADY-"
"INDEED, HOW COULD I NOT LEND MY EAR TO SUCH A CALIBER OF CLASHING!? IN THE MIDST OF YOUR OWN DESPAIR, MADE LOW BY THE TRUE SCOPE OF THE MOUNTAIN LOOMING ABOVE YOU, HEART SIMMERING WITH FOCUS AND QUIET FURY, YOU RECKLESSLY HURDLED PAST YOUR LIMITS AND REJECTED ALL NOTION OF PAUSE 'TILL THE FLESH WAS RENDERED LAME AND DANGLING BY WAY OF SPIRIT ALONE!"
"T-THEN-"
"YET ARCHI'S SOUL CRIED FOR YOUR LIBERATION FROM SUCH A DASTARDLY SELFBOURNE DESTINY, AND WITH A RIGHTEOUS FLAME, HE CRIED WAR TOWARD THE WOMAN OF WHOM HE WOULD NOT LET GO, IN SPITE OF HER OWN SEARING CONVICTIONS! IN HIS PLOY TO FREE YOU FROM THE GILDED, SELF-SOLDERED CAGE OF AMBITION, SO DID HE STAKE HIS VERY LIFE TOWARD-"
"STOP MAKING IT SOUND SO HARMLESS!"
Silence.
Kora glared toward the ground she stood upon. "What happened back then wasn't any hot-blooded fight or whatever you're making it out as… in every way, I tried to hurt him…!" Her eyes looked tired as they rose back up. "You can't make this out to be alright. You just can't."
"... Dear Kora…" Tarubei's soft voice never failed to freak the saiyaness out. "It's to be expected, this rue that's cowled your soul. But make no mistake… your actions were simply the way we saiyans conquer such tender emotions best."
"That doesn't justify anything. I hate what's been done. You shouldn't…" She stared up at Archi. "You shouldn't even be here."
"... well you can't see it, but you look awful happy to see me." He crossed his arms, without a trace of sarcasm on him. "And you took my word, too. No baggy eyes, or droopy tail, or any limp… hell, you're more gorgeous than ever. So mission accomplished." He turned up his nose coyly. "You can cry about it all ya want, I'm going nowhere. Gonna cheer on the girl I like, an' that's that."
Kora's expression went blank — not from any lack of emotion, but from so many vying for dominance. It was a stalemate. "Do what you want," she muttered, gaining distance.
Tarubei watched it unfold. "(The both of them… such a mystical eccentricity. Then again, by what metric do I constitute a Saiyan's rendition of normality?)" The pre-age saiyan grew crestfallen. "(Wherefore art thou, o' cub of my enemy clan?)"
"Remind you of someone?"
Tarubei turned to see her rival. "STEEL RAVEee… pray tell?"
Ayeva sarcastically raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"
The bite-sized warrior shifted her head to and fro.
The android researcher kept playing dumb. "I have no idea what you're staring at," she shrugged, raising the handcuff linking her wrist to Kaset's.
Tarubei pointed him out. "... Pardon, I'm failing to understand."
Ayeva looked over. "Oh. Yes. See, because my partner continues to express a strong desire to ignore his physical wellbeing, I've decided to assimilate him for a while. As of now, I am he, and he is I."
The saiyan's gaze returned to the human. He was dissociating. His face, however, was curled in a constant pout. Wherever he was now, he'd felt the need to visualize his displeasure outside.
"But enough about that. Kaset's had some stories about you, y'know."
Taru flushed a faint red. "... oh."
"Seems you had a phase not far from what your pupil's experiencing, hm?"
"B-but of course. My own passions at the time were at searing heights yester. And I'd tholed defeat twice in such a small measure of time, it would only be natural."
Ayeva snorted. "And yet, she has her own way of interpreting it… It's odd, watching your own past play out in front of you."
Ayeva recalled a moment from their younger years — one from which she'd deviously loomed over a downtrodden, unsuspecting Tarubei in an act of jest she'd once thought herself incapable of.
"But I've seen it happen so often lately, it doesn't phase me as much. I'm sure this guy's the same."
Tarubei paid Kaset an annoyed glance, before her eyes darted away. "Therein lies amid the black sea of cosmos nothing looser than a human's lips…!"
"(I'm more upset that he didn't talk about it earlier…)"
More footsteps approached. From the sound of it, a crowd.
Kaza glanced over happily. "It sounds like more fans of yours, Zinco!" she chirped, to Jin's nervous head-scratch tick.
His eyes suddenly sharpened. "No."
The steps turned the corner.
Kora's eyes followed suit. "... wait."
Kaset looked over with a grin, as did Ayeva with a smile.
[ BGM: Kenji Fujisawa – Hangeki/反撃 (0:22) ]
The sun rose in the east, as the moon fell in the west, casting spokes and shadows alike across the land.
A set of dark-brown hair, two grey-highlighted tufts almost like dragon antlers, in a varied-tone grey vest of which its draconic tribal design almost glowed with a faint smoke. A set of light-brown hair, riddled with black highlights including a pattern along her bangs that vaguely made out the kanji for "king," in a ruby jacket of which its pop-on collar had been replaced by a piece of silver chain. Both rose from the bottom of the steps.
Violet and Red eyes followed.
Both Jin and Kora's heads slowly turned.
Up walked Orojia Neoru and Spaurk Dina.
Behind them, the posse they'd managed to meet since arriving.
Said posse saw them off wordlessly by the stairs, as both of them made a straightaway for the gate of the Tenkaichi Budokai.
They pushed it open.
It didn't open.
.
They pushed it open.
It didn't open.
.
.
"... 'cking… bastard…"
They really, really gave their all in pushing it open.
It didn't-
"IF IT DIDN'T OPEN THE FIRST TIME, WHY THE HELL WOULD IT OPEN THE NEXT FIFTY!?" Kora shouted.
"OY PISS OFF, THE BIT'S RIDING ON THIS!"
"YOUR BRAIN IS A BIT!"
"YA FACKIN' NAN'S A BIT, INN'SHE, THE RANK GIT!?"
"WH-WHAT!?"
"GET A RUNNING START OR WHATEVER!" Devine suggested, as everyone else looked off in shame.
"Oh hey, it's my rival!" Archi exclaimed, running up to a self face-gripping Kazikum. "How's it hanging!? Wanna go a round before the matches!?"
"Disappear, fuckface."
"H-heh… not in the mood, eh… Y-YO! It's the same human that got the jump on me a year ago!" Archi exclaimed again, moving over to a pulling-hair-over-face Mei. "Wanna see just how much better I got since then!?"
"Shā zìjǐ, shǎbī."
"(Why's Captain the only one nice to me, today?)" Archi wept internally.
"Yeah, I'm'na…" Neoru backed up. "Cut my losses, don't think this is s'posed ta open just yet."
"NANCY!"
Neoru shoulder-charged the door, to no effect. "... you knew that wouldn't do shit, didn't you?"
"Hihi, ye."
Zinco stared emptily. "... isn't the kanji supposed to glow and send us away?" he mentioned as Kaza ran over to a significantly-happier Mei.
Neo froze.
Dina froze.
They shared an "aaaaaaah" before blaming each other like the speds they were.
"WHY THE SHIT DIDN' YA STOP ME, YOU MONG!?"
"JH-FUH-YOU'RE THE DIPSHIT WHO KEPT ACTIN' LIKE IT WAS GONNA OPEN!"
"AND HERE WE GO, TYPICAL MAN WHO CAN'T THINK FOR HIS BLOODY SELF AN' HAS TO GO AND BLAME THE CLOSEST WOMAN IN SMACKING DISTANCE! TALE OLD AS TIME!"
Ayeva sighed. She's done what she'd set out to — seeing off her pupil before their biggest fight. Therefore,
"DINA!"
Dina snapped her head like a soldier heeding a disgruntled senior.
"... Do well."
The half-breed seemed to rewire herself mid-arguing. "... yeah!" She grinned. "Better than!"
She would've walked off then and there out of embarrassment, had Kaset not rooted himself – and by proxy, her – in place.
He locked eyes with his student. The latter briefly inquired about the handcuff linking the patroller to his partner, before his eyes were beckoned upward.
There was a wordless exchange. One sealed by a shared nod, and then a smirk.
Kaset and Ayeva made off, and the other took it as their cue.
"Kora."
The saiyaness looked back.
"... the Saiyan blood coursing through your veins is thyne to make of." Tarubei smiled warmly. "Be wary not to permit its evils agone to ice its embers."
Kora stared her way. "... I'll keep that in mind, captain."
"THAT MEANS LET 'ER HAVE IT, KORA!" Archi roared, almost-immediately pissing off Kazikum.
"FUCK YOU, TEAR HER FUCKING HEAD OFF DINA!" he roared, flustering Dina into a giggling fit.
As the two boys entered a screaming contest, the older saiyan nodded to her proud cub. "Farewell."
"(She couldn't even scream…)" Kora slammed her welting eyes shut, before popping them open with a new determination. "(I'll make this all worth SOMETHING MORE, captain!)"
Ceushius had not much else to say to his acquaintance. "See this dream of yours through to the end, Zinco."
Jin had no idea what that meant, but he nodded happily. "Mh!"
Kaza smiled his way, waving goodbye. "You'll win for sure! I know it!"
"MH!" Jin nodded even more enthusiastically.
Right behind her, Mei gave her own non-verbal gesture: two fingers falling down behind the side of her mouth, before throwing her palm to the sky like an eruption.
"Tshtch…!" Neo wiped off his dumbass smirk, before sending an "OK" sign her way.
As if timed, the four began to flash, transitioning between dimensions.
And soon later,
Poof.
"You're overthinking this."
Trunks frowned over his shoulder, away from the bustling comm and messy, sprawled blueprints.
"There doesn't need to be any great big change, y'know. No one fighting or watching thinks any of that matters."
He turned full-body, annoyed and tired. "Then what's your breakout hit of an idea?"
Pan raised her hands in submission. "Hey, I didn't mean anything by it. All I'm saying is… leave it alone."
"..."
"All four are strong enough now that what they've gone through won't send them over the edge. No, if anything, it's made them all stronger. Mix that with the space they're being given and… it's perfect."
"... that's an awful lot of forethought, all of a sudden."
"Someone made me invested, I guess. On that, actually… I get it."
"Get what?"
She abruptly started swallowing a piece of rotting flesh, judging by the way her face started shifting. "The hardass routine."
Trunks sighed and began to leave.
"YOU DON'T WANT ME TO KEEP SUFFERING."
He stopped just a few steps past of her.
"I understand it. How could I not? I'm always escaping into something worse on the rare occasions I'm here, I'd never be caught dead talking about it to anyone, and if anyone tries to help me, I just shoo them off to go it alone and keep it all to myself. No wonder you did what you did."
Her head sank. "And you were right… I chose this path. All the regrets and the pain it's caused me, they're mine. But I can't… I shouldn't block out everyone who wants to help out. They've made their own choices, and they've had their own share of grief, just like I have, and if they're ready and able, then…"
Her head finally raised again, after a struggle, and she turned. "Who, am I, to stop them?"
He continued to stand in place. "... you're still grounded."
"I know."
His shoulders slumped. "... as long as you know that."
She passed him, leaving the office.
Turning, he found a note in between the door.
Trunks stood alone, dimly lit beneath the four monoliths.
The one-sided conversation from days ago still lingered in his mind. Alongside it, how much stuck to himself alongside her.
Slowly, surely, the scenario drifted between the neutral plane of reality, and a decaying city drenched in pouring rain. A ghostly red light fluttered off his azure eyes.
"Yo!"
His eyes flashed with surprise, practically spinning toward the source as the faint scenario scattered — with it, the sun's rays slowly returned. "... Seriously?"
"Nice suit by the way, old man!" Son chided, lifting her sunglasses. "Mine's better, though."
"But… why?"
The suited young woman redonned her aviators. "Like I said, I got invested over the week. Besides, with what you've been seeing, I wouldn't want you to call a match early. Who else to help but Son 'One Under Heaven Means One Straight to Hell' Pan?"
Trunks gave a solitary chuckle. " 'What I've been seeing'… you're one to talk."
Pan shrugged. "I've seen worse."
His face went notably sullen, despite how much his smile sought to hide it. "Yes, you have."
"I don't think I have to like it, but the way things are, I wouldn't have it any other way. Especially now."
Though the smile left his face, his eyes held a light acceptance. "... I'm no different."
"Hm… no. You aren't, are you?"
Trunks turned to her with a petty scowl. Pan continued.
"After all, I had to pick it up from someone, yeah?"
"..."
"..."
"... so that's who-"
Pan aggressively cleared her throat and spun 'round. "IF THAT'S ALL, LET'S KICK THIS OFF ALREADY! (DAMN THAT CATCHY ACCENT!)"
Trunks glared off into space. "(I think I can trust her not to play favorites…)"
A single clap.
Four massive spectator areas sprang into existence, within the now-translucent monoliths.
"ALRIGHT, IT MADE THE CUT!" Pan exclaimed. Soon, droves of spectators began to fill the seats — predetermined by sign-ins filled throughout the upcoming two days since the change's inception.
A side-fist bumped into Pan's shoulder; Trunks' nod met her as she looked to investigate. Pan exhaled, and…
The world went black.
One after another, on the front of each monolith, in the sky and upon the stage, and spinning about in the air between them, the kanji signifying the tournament assembled, stroke by blazing-red stroke. A disembodied, frantic percussion indistinct from ancient oriental opera sounded throughout the land before, finally, the kanji was complete.
武.
[ BGM: Hiroshi Takakim – Burning Soul ]
wwwwWWELCOOOOME, ONE AND ALL, TO THE PENULTIMATE BATTLES OF THE RIESET-MET – FORMERLY WHE MAE-T – TOURNAMENT!
Hollers erupted on all cylinders, rumbling the ground and sky alike.
"(Thank Kami I didn't miss out on this feeling…!)" Son internally celebrated, before Trunks further elaborated, on his own this time.
YOU'VE SEEN FIRST-HAND HOW FAR THE WARRIORS SET TO BATTLE AGAIN WILL GO FOR VICTORY, IN SPITE OF BOTH THEMSELVES AND THEIR ADVERSARIES!
Pan wouldn't permit being shown up.
YET TIME AND TIME AGAIN, THEY ROSE TO THE CHALLENGE AND OVERCAME BOTH THEIR STRUGGLES AND THEIR PEERS, WITHOUT LOSING SIGHT OF THEIR PRIDE AND SNAPPING RIGHT BACK AT THEIR LOWEST TO FIGHT EVEN HARDER!
PROVING THEMSELVES WORTHY IN MIND, BODY, AND SPIRIT, THESE FOUR SOULS WILL NOW FIGHT IT OUT UNTIL ONLY TWO STAND ABOVE THE REST, RULING IN STRIFE!
"(nice job making it sound like some battle royale…)" AND JUST WHO WILL COMPLETE THAT COVETED POWER PAIR AND SAIL TO THE TOP OF THE TOWER TO PROVE THEMSELVES WORTHY OF HEAVEN'S EYE!? FIND OUT, NOW!
"(nice job making it sound like a romance drama…)" NOW, FOR OUR FIRST MATCH OF THE DAY, CONTESTANT ONE!
Beneath the laughing monolith, a gate – that is, a physical, wooden gate right at home within Earth's world martial arts bouts – slammed open.
AT 177CM AND 82KG, WITH A STARTING BATTLE POWER OF 344,000! HE'S SHOWN A LEVEL OF SHEER GRIT THAT COULD EARN HIM A SEAT WITH EVEN HISTORY'S GREATEST WARRIORS! HAILING FROM ISLANDS OF EARTH SEEMINGLY FORGOTTEN BY TIME, HE'S GOT THE ABILITY TO WEAPONIZE PURE FIGHTING SPIRIT, AND IS PACKING THE RAW AMMO TO MAKE IT COUNT A THOUSAND TIMES OVER! IN HIS THIRD APPEARANCE ON THE PLATE…!
Burning violet orbs pierced the void.
A boy with a dragon chaleco walked out, hands balled in pockets.
ORRRROJIA, NEEEEEORUUUUUUUU!
Son stared at Trunks. "(I only did that to tease Dina y'know, but… ok. Sure.)"
She exhaled.
OOOOOON ZA TAILEEEEEEEEND!
Trunks jumped.
Beneath the stoic, eyes-rolled-to-sky mask's monolith, another gate slammed open.
AT 182M AND 86KG, WITH A STARTING MAX POWER OUTPUT OF, HOLY F… OUTPUT OF 324,009,099! THIS GOLDEN BOY HAS GIVEN HIMSELF THE MISSION OF NOT HURTING A SINGLE SOUL ACROSS THIS TOURNAMENT, AND WITH HIS BEYOND-BELIEF TECHNIQUE OF OUTRIGHT CRUSHING HIS OPPONENTS' WILL TO FIGHT – AS LITERAL AS THIS HUMBLE HOSTESS CAN SAY THE PHRASE – AND HIS BOUNDLESS MARTIAL SKILL, THAT MISSION MAY'S WELL ALREADY BE ACCOMPLISHED! APPEARING FOR HIS THIRD OFFICIAL MATCH…!
Glowing emerald spheres dispelled the darkness.
A boy with a cloud-streaked jeogori-jacket hybrid stepped to the plate, a fist swinging ahead with his every step.
ZIIIIIIIINCOOOOOO!
"('least they didn' give me somethin' stupid like 'wayward dragon' or some crap but man…!)" Neoru moped, burying his face into his collar. "(So glad they wen' n' spoiled his big-ass piss-off super-number, too. Can't even count that high, now I just gotta pray that power levels really are bullshit an' the jerkasses at Calcs really are just gettin' paid to sit around, this sucks…)" His hand slowly fell down his face, wiping away any last-minute hesitation. "(Don't change how I sure-as-hell signed up for this, though.)"
"(That's a lot of eyes, now…)" Zinco sulked internally, also burying his face into his collar. "(Three hundred… nine thousand… and? I… huh? That can't be how millions work! I-is it? Dang it, now I wish I got his number…!)" He shook the intruding thoughts out his head. "(... No, it doesn't matter what they're thinking about me. I'm here for something.)"
THE STAGE IS SET, ALL ARE IN ATTENDANCE, AND THE FIGHTERS ARE RARING TO GO!
The two heard the louder pitch, and their eyes shot open. Sure enough, they'd entered two meters' distance from each other.
AND SO, WITHOUT FURTHER ADIEU, FIGHTERS…!
[ BGM: Hidenori Shoji – For Faith (Instrumental) (Intro Ver) ]
"... I'm glad."
Neoru raised a brow. "Eh?"
"You made it this far by being really stubborn. Right?" Zinco raised his head, a wistful smile about him. "Even despite telling yourself not to. That's how you work."
"... heh." Neoru gave a coy shrug. "Hit the nail on the head with that one. So what about it? Think I'll 'stubborn' my way right on through you?"
Jin smiled. "Give it your best." He walked forward. "If it means you'll stop forcing yourself to fight… then I'll give my all, too. I'll end that burden."
Neo grinned. "Burden? Surprised you even know that word…!" He ramped up his own pace, the two eventually running at each other. "BUT IF I WANT IT GONE, I'LL END IT MYSELF!"
BEGIN!
The Sok-Kum leapt forward.
The Dragon leapt forward.
And as if a bell across heaven, their shared strike rippled throughout the land.
Emerald and Gold clashed with Violet and Amethyst. Zinco's calm frown met Neoru's manic grit teeth. Forearm met forearm.
Neoru snap-kicked Zinco's palm strike; Zinco weaved beneath once another snap bit for his chin; and both collided against each other's side-kick, Neo's aerial variant pushing him off Zinco's stable work.
Both took a stance.
Neo sprang at him with an air-swathing elbow, it arc weaved by the half-blood as the follow-up thrust met his palm, both pushed back by the nulled force. The violet-eyed boy caught his footing with the same winding-back he used for his subsequent flying knee, and Zinco stopped it with both palms; Neo had already latched onto his collar in the moment and, using that very push-back and his own strength combined, hoisted himself upward and-then yanked himself into Zinco's face, knees-first; not quick enough, however, to stop the golden boy from nullifying the force before contact was made, crossed palms sparing his foe's bones from his skull. Neo cut his losses mid-movement with a backward somersault clear over Jin, packing power into a ki blast and pitching it straight at him, said blast growing as it neared his target before borderline evaporating into nothing on contact with the tailed boy's strike. Jin's eyes darted below to meet Neo winding up a meia lua de compasso, the dragon-eyed lad slamming right into Zinco's afterimage as he ducked beneath, leading into a conjoined sequence of toe-edge and heel-bludgeon sweeping and pushing and spinning kicks as he tirelessly advanced on his defensive opponent, keeping his momentum and footing in a constant, seemingly-erratic flow of transition that Jin somehow managed to track and adjust toward with every passing moment as if dancing with an enraged mamba, dodging like his life depended on it and cutting each one closer than the last despite the overwhelming advantage in his favor.
Neo suddenly shot into the air, a 540 kick laden with all of his might, and Jin seemed to lose the gleam in his eyes; he pivoted with the smallest bound upward, his tail becoming a point of super-torque as a 1080 was performed in the blink of an eye. Once more, a heavenly bell rang out, neither budging an inch from the ground.
"(... shit.)"
One was already on the ground.
"ROOO-EYAAA—!"
The other, as was commonplace, could still fly.
"GRAAAAA—!"
Their punches collided, and another bell kept them in inertia; this repeated over a thousand times, a thousand different strikes, ending the same way. A pull-back and dash downward, one flash-stepped by Zinco, led to another exchanged and nulled kick,
One that Neoru pulled back immediately, lunging at Zinco with a full-force fist.
He held back nothing, thought nothing, and roared into it without regard for what would come from it. A pure punch without restraint, left ripped back as right surged forth.
In one moment, Zinco stood there.
In the next, he'd wound back a meter.
In the next, he'd thrown one exactly equal.
And Neoru's fist had yet to move further.
BIHHH—m!
.
.
Neoru lowered his fist, mildly disappointed, his expectations met. He couldn't help but smirk, however; it was the greatest punch he'd ever thrown, he could feel it.
[ ED: SymaG – Imaginary Like The Justice ]
"(Nice… Yeah, I'm good with this.)"
Zinco followed, his happy smile undercut by his slanted, confident brows. "(I'm there… I know how much to use, now.)"
They eased into danger, and readied for what came next.
"I'm almost angry on the boy's behalf…!" Selaine bit her thumb. "There's such a gap in power, it'd be laughable if it weren't so heart-breaking!"
"... mh." Konus' head tilted ever-so slightly. "Yes, his acts seem without meaning, and yet his eyes scream it, how… strange."
"... he's only just now getting serious." Katlij smiled anxiously, his face buried into his elbow. "Of course."
Mashii nodded in agreement. "I guess the Zinco kid's gauging his own skills against him, so he's conserving energy. But damn, he's good… he's the best I've ever seen, actually…! No doubt even in an equal fight, that blonde's got the edge in reflexes! Damn show-off…"
Tengano's grip tightened on the banister he sat over. "But he don't got the spirit like mano. Just keep your eyes open. The dragon's just uncoiling."
Renchiru, using his torutsu as a cane, eyed the two in boredom. "Why is that Jin allowing his time to be wasted?"
Archi's tail scratched his head. "I think the kid's just too nice. He's always been like that, actually…!"
"Can you two, like, get a clue? Gawds!" Both turned to Devine. "They're, like, totally feelin' each other out! Duh!?"
"An opponent so much weaker? He'd have to be a novice not to understand his advantage."
"Watch yourself." Voshyo stared down at the ancient saiyan. "The boy down there has been made painfully-aware of his ability, I can promise. He's merely ascertaining the extent of which he'll need to use it. The brat is picky with details."
"Tch! Watch myself…?"
"Um, are you two REALLY gonna throw down!? In the stands!? Can I join!?" She leapt up, to Baubi and Euu's dismay. "That'd be, like, BAD. ASS!"
"Quit acting like fuckheads." Kazikum stared over with a fanged, annoyed grimace. "If you want the brat's balls down those shit-stinking throats so bad, then throw yourselves the fuck down there already. You're pissing me off."
"WHAT WAS THAT!?"
"OF ALL THE UNCOUTH…! YOU DARE!?"
Wabi nervously intruded, tugging Kaz's collar. "H-hey, now, guys…!"
Ceushius casually reared the other two back, his eyes closed.
Archi inched away from the possible ensuing chaos. "Think I'm gonna wait till the later half to start riots, on my end…"
"Ooh, and he can even think half-rationally! You keep impressing me, Archi!"
He jumped a tad. "Wh-WHAT'RE YOU EVEN DOIN' HERE!?"
Akaki shrugged, cheeking a handful of popcorn. "mI get to shee a shertain individual rlose rhat inshipid pieshe o' himshelf that comprishes hish iden'i'y ash a fighter, AN' I loshe nothing from it." He swallowed. "Of COURSE I'm gonna see this in-person! This is quality stuff!"
The former test subject somehow got all of that. "Eh… that's kinda spiteful, don't ya think?"
The time-tampering tsufruian smiled like a ditz. "Spite's all I have left! I just wanna see the human trash break!"
Inside the reception area, facing two opposite walls, two opposite monitors…
"That Neoru's a moron," Kora said aloud. "He's fighting a battle he knows he can't win, and for no reason to boot. He's lucky his opponent is someone so soft…"
Her own opponent said nothing in return.
"(... you've got something incredible in stock, don' you mate?)"
Dina bit her knuckle. "(You've come so far, now… I just know you're set to blow us away again…)"
Back outside again…
Ayeva looked to her left; somehow, Tarubei was loud, even when she made absolutely no noise. Her searing eyes, quaking fists and elated, fanged smile said everything. "(At least one of us is enjoying this… but I doubt I can say the same about…)"
Kaza smiled pridefully. "(Don't worry, Zinco… you're doing great. Just a little more, and…)"
Ayeva looked to her right.
Kaza looked to her side.
In spite of everything…
Kaset brimmed with an assured smile.
Mei brimmed with an assured smile.
Ayeva looked on with a bit more interest, eyes literally opening a bit more.
Kaza laser-focused, her bottom lip folding in ever-so slightly.
Neoru smirked. "Should I kick this off, or…?"
"You're fine." Zinco primed.
And he barreled forward.
"HERE I GO!"
AND ZINCO TAKES THE OFFENSIVE!
CAN NEORU RESPOND!?
I was 13.
Honestly, starting out, I just wanted to look good to impress people, but pretty soon I found myself struggling with a 30-pound weight. Then a 50-pound dumbbell swung me like a ragdoll and broke my wall.
The point is, I really, really wanted to get stronger after that.
So I decided to do 50 pushups every weekend. And every time I did it, I played the SSJ3 theme from the dub of Dragon Ball Z, an animation of Akira Toriyama's manga Dragon Ball.
It sucked. The 50 pushups, I mean. But whenever I genuinely wanted to stop because my poor widdle noodle arms were shaking, I thought about this one quote from the Goku vs Superman Death Battle:
"Goku's greatest strength is his tenacity and never give-up attitude."
That outcome of that one made me sperg the fuck out btw.
Anyway, I don't know why but, but that shit just DID it for me. It let me keep pushing. And there was also the quote of "Goku doesn't fight to be better than others, he fights to be better than himself." That pushed me to keep growing, even away from others. And I'd keep, like, I'd keep looking up other ways to get stronger after realizing how weak I STILL was, and I'd keep growing, keep improving from those. And there was other music, too, like SSJ Vegeta's theme. I kept climbing and climbing from there.
I can rep out 16 with 50, now. And 100 pushups is nothing! Thanks, Goku!
The biggest thing for me, though, was the fandom's stuff. Probably because if I'm remembering correctly, Kai only ever came around on Saturdays. Toonzai.
But yeah. Other creatives making their own stories, drawing comparisons with other stories and making that look cool, all that. I loved it. I'd spend the entire night on Deviantart and Youtube and, uh... here... just scrolling, looking up everything that came to mind. It's awesome and cringe and everything in between. I love how weird people are capable of getting. To an extent, but still. I loved that shit.
What made Dragon Ball stand out, though, what REALLY made the difference, was that people GENUINELY fought each other. It was personal. And if they weren't as strong as they liked, they trained until they got there. And they fought for the hell of it, too. Characters in Dragon Ball were strong. And proud of that. It was inspiring, ESPECIALLY compared to everything else. I can't describe it in full, but... I can give a hand to you guys for helping me witness how unique Dragon Ball was.
And I noticed tropes that I disliked even more than the ones I really liked, and there were a lot that I really liked like passionate writing focuses on characters and- ok ok ok, refocus. I wanted to make something where everyone was strong, and no one was infallible, just to stick it to people who wrote weaklings and borderline gods and horrible shit happening to characters and the guilty getting away with it. I always had ideas like that for tons of media. Won't lie. Left4Dead and Red VS Blue were like the biggest ones. Don't ask why. But there was always tons of Dragon Ball when I thought of those scenarios. You know, Zinco's later character was based on Caboose. Neo on Church. But besides that, with EVERYTHING I watched - and I was a kid back then, so, cartoons, lots and lots of cartoons - the lingering thought in the back of my mind was always "what if, instead of running, they could fight like Goku?" And that never went away.
Xenoverse. That's what made me go "let's make a story." So one day, on a whim, I made three characters and called them Neoru, Dina, and Toma. Toma was taken. It took me like 2 years to finally think up "Voshyo".
And all throughout high school, I was just thinking about that - the characters, the additions to the world, forms, the fights, the plot points, Dina was American at one point an it was weird, but yeah. In classes, outside classes, at home, at complete random while doing other things, and ESPECIALLY when listening to music. There was this real heavy focus on those three from before would be doing during the Goku Black saga cus it was new and "fresh", that arc was ass but I loved it at the time because it was edgy and I was 14, and 15, and 16. And hey, even in modern era, it's fun.
I kept it all in my head, honestly. I think that's what made me so internal across my teenage years. Sometimes I almost regret it. Never fully.
It's thanks to creators like LordCaldrin45 and M Knightium, honestly. They made the stuff that eventually spurred me to make an account on here and "meet" them as creatives, and start writing.
I mean I started by taking the piss out of two of my favorite characters and, uh, and continuing to bully the shit out of Trunks, but, yeah. "Goku Black and Trunks Communicate" was based on an idea for a point in what'd become STEP. It's what finally gave me the confidence to write STEP, actually.
2019. And the road from there. Thanks to DBZ, I started finding media similar to DBZ. Crazy I know. Other anime, and eventually, martial arts films, and later in my life, even deeper shit like wuxia and its contemporary genres. A lot of stuff that Toriyama found influence from and had parts in influencing. Eastern concepts from which Dragon Ball was built. I'd research the shit out of them, and the deeper I went, the deeper these concepts resonated with me. And I'd find myself applying some of them to my life outside of fanfiction. Balance and nothingness have pushed me over some hurdles. Thanks, Buddhism and Daoism.
And just writing this fanfic helped me fashion even stronger beliefs. It helped me sharpen my writing skills so that I always had rhetoric stuff on my mind, and 5,000 word, even 30-page essays seemed like nothing to me. "I do that shit on my own!" And the strength I'd gained from the inspiration I got from DBZ helped me in every job I found myself in. My baseline, bare-minimum work ethic was complimented, which was weird because I wasn't used to compliments. It pushed me into opportunities to better hone my mind, body, and spirit. Things that made me a better person, a person I wouldn't be if not for this series.
And here I am, now. At the biggest fight in this dream project of mine. As the strongest version of myself to date. With friends, and a job to do, and a ton of other new skills and pockets of knowledge at my disposal. Having struggled through life with Dragon Ball always at the back of my mind, in one way or another. That's why I chose, instead of making this a separate portion, to finish this chapter, and place this at its end. I'll honor him through acts, by realizing this dumb little dream of mine, the culmination of everything he's done for me, 8 years in the making.
I am the person I am today because of Dragon Ball.
Therefore I am the person I am today because of you, Toriyama. Wherever you are now, you wily old eccentric.
Thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Rest in peace, and live on in everything we do. You left a mark on the world. Some how, some way, you left a mark on the entire world. And by doing what you loved.
I'll see you.