The Middle Child: Part I

Chapter 2: Recovery and... Reparation?

By: TheRealBigJ

Disclaimer: All Dragon Ball Z characters and story elements aside from my Original Character are created and owned by Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation.

In a surreal way, Onin felt a strange familiarity to his condition.

Slowly regaining his consciousness, Onin creaked his eyes open, passively expecting them to feel extremely dry. Against his judgment though—whether it was good or not—they were actually considerably moist. So moist, in fact, that it felt as if he was submerged in some sort of liquid. Again, a strangely familiar feeling.

" … I knew I shouldn't have stolen those darn birds," Onin thought depressingly. It made him feel worse than he already did, thinking about how his mother would react upon hearing that he had died out in the middle of the desert. Yes, given the strange situation he was in right now, Onin had no doubt that he was probably dead. But that was nowhere near as sickening to him as the idea of his mother weeping for his death.

But as quickly as Onin had come to the conclusion that he had succumbed to a poor demise, he had just as quickly come to realize that it might not actually be the case. Stray groups of translucent spheres floated past his vision in a brief and rhythmic manner; yet another familiar but unrecognizable sensation. It took him an embarrassingly long time to realize that those were his own air bubbles, despite not feeling himself breathe.

" I guess they managed to throw me into a healing pod… never knew it had some sort of numbing agent in the fluid," Onin thought to himself. With complete honesty, and without any shame, he could sit for hours and ponder on such a mundane fact. He's already a swollen well of plentiful knowledge… even if it wasn't necessarily an admirable feature for a Saiyan. But why should he care about what was becoming of a Saiyan or not? He could ponder for as long as he liked, with no shame, and he'd enjoy it.

Unfortunately, however, he wasn't given such personal luxury, for his previously muffled ears caught hold of a loud suction noise. Within seconds, the fluids inside the pod were drained, and the glass dome hatched open.

Almost immediately after the healing pod was opened, Onin felt someone pull him out, removing his breathing apparatus and other wiring that he didn't know were connected to him. The boy could hear the person talking, but he couldn't actually hear what they were saying.

" How… feel… nin?"

" Huh?" Onin responded, wisely.

The person tried to speak again, but Onin could still hear nothing more than muffled gibberish. To add to that, he felt a rough cloth vigorously wipe his face, obscuring his vision. While Onin didn't feel particularly bothered about that, he was instead wondering who exactly this person was that grabbed hold of him. Was it perhaps one of the doctors? He didn't know, partly because he's never actually seen a doctor before, much less touched the grounds of any hospital. As a matter of fact, this would be his first time being in a hospital, if the healing pod was any indication. The only thing close to that would be the time his mother had shown him his birth pod, and one could make an easy guess as to how long he spent gawking in awe at it.

While allowing his thoughts to cloud his brain, Onin managed to hear a sharp sigh in the background through the rough cloth. He had no doubt in mind that it was a sigh for his current disability to hear clearly. He, too, would've been frustrated if someone couldn't hear him speak, even if he considered himself a patient individual. But to Onin's surprise, he didn't expect someone forcefully shoving their meaty fingers through both of his ear canals, causing them to pop… painfully. Now that wasn't something he'd do.

" Ow!" Onin yelped as a sharp pain struck his already dazed mind. The ringing in his ears that ensued was probably not a good sign either.

" Can you hear us now, you little brat?" Onin heard from his right side. The voice sounded very familiar, that was for sure. When he annoyingly looked to his side—passively noting that the rough cloth was no longer blanketing his face—he all but confirmed who would be so brash as to do what they had just done to his poor ears.

" Raditz?" Onin blinked, his annoyance turning into confusion. What was his brother doing here?

" Raditz!" another voice said with Onin simultaneously, though being much closer and louder. The boy turned to see that it was his mother, Gine, that was holding him. She looked no different from when he last saw her, except for the mixture of worry and disappointment etched on her face. He'd dare say that there was even some anger in there.

" That was not smart of you," Gine scolded Raditz.

" Really? It got the job done, didn't it?" the elder boy responded, as disrespectful as ever.

Their mother's frown deepened. " You did no job whatsoever. If Onin gets hurt like that again, it could become permanent!"

" Pfft, Onin's a Saiyan, not some delicate glassware," Raditz argued, crossing his arms over his gray and dull, orange-stripped armor, " He should want to get hurt. That is, if he ever wants to get stronger. I mean, Hell, look at what he's been doing lately."

Raditz subsequently gave a not-so-light punch to Onin's arm, smirking at his little brother. Onin wasn't sure if that was because he was impressed or messing with him." I see you've finally been putting some real fight towards your name… even though you got your ass handed to you, haha!"

Gine pinched the bridge of her nose. " This is different from what Onin normally does, Raditz," she spoke sternly, clearly displeased, " you would know that if you spent more time with him."

Raditz looked at their mother for a moment, taking in her words, before deadpanning at Onin." If you're telling me he's still locking himself up in his room with those dusty worthless books… then forget I said any of that," Raditz huffed, folding his arms back, " I see now why he got his ass handed to him this badly."

Sighing at Raditz's blunt words, Gine looked at Onin with even more concern than she was expressing. " Though that brings the question, Onin… what exactly happened out there?"

Briefly, in the timeframe of a heartbeat, Onin pondered whether he should tell them the truth or not. But coming from what Raditz had already said, plus the fact his mother asked what happened "out there," they probably already got the general gist of how he fell into his condition. Why even lie in the first place? He gains nothing from lying other than more humiliation, which he doesn't feel the need to build up upon.

" I… I wanted to join the Hounding Race," Onin began with a quiet voice, " so I… went into the desert."

" Into the desert?!" Raditz barked out, facepalming. " Great Sadala, are you stupid? The Hounding Race took place in the forests, not the damn desert! You went in the opposite direction!"

" Yeah, I know. I sort of figured that out when I saw nobody out there," Onin admitted with a sigh, his face flushed with embarrassment. It wasn't a surprise that he'd get a reaction like that, especially from Raditz of all Saiyans… which is why Onin would've much prefered if it was just his mother he was confessing to. And again, what is Raditz doing here? He should be across the galaxy right now!

" And you didn't come back," Gine continued, her hands absent-mindedly wiping the excess healing fluids off of Onin's bare body with a different, much larger cloth, " because you were lost."

Onin sheepishly and hesitantly nodded. With that, Raditz just couldn't contain whatever tomfoolery was in that skull of his and laughed himself off… as if this couldn't be any more embarrassing for Onin.

" I know, I should've thought it through before going out," Onin nodded, humbly.

" No shit," Raditz quipped. His annoying comment received a rightful flick on the head by Gine.

" Quiet, Raditz," their mother admonished. Raditz simply huffed and decided to sit on one of the medical machines, not caring about their delicacy. Gine returned her attention to Onin. " That doesn't explain half of how you got those injuries. For the record, there isn't any wild beast in the desert that would be deadly enough to leave anyone in your condition… other than Desert Hounds of course."

" Wait, the desert has wild dogs?" The young boy perked up.

" Onin."

Onin sighed. " OK, ok, I met this group of other Saiyan kids that called themselves… the Trotter Lot if I remember correctly. It was a group of five—two girls and three boys—that came towards this big ravine I was at because the, uh… the old stone pillars collapsed, causing a big dust cloud that looked like a river of blood."

" Oh dear, those old pillars collapsed?" Gine gasped, surprised, "So that's what that loud rumbling was yesterday. You went really far, Onin."

" Uh, I guess so…" Onin scratched the back of his damp head. Indeed, it seems he definitely should've gone to his mother before going out by himself. Also, it looks like he was out for only a day. Not that it made the situation any better, of course. " I only got a few names out of the group. One of the girls' names was Lace, who told me the group's name, and one of the three boys was called Heele… who was the one that beat me up."

" I see…" Gine hummed thoughtfully, " I don't recall any children with those names here."

" Obviously because they're from Bottleneck Sprout," Raditz stated, though this time with a less cocky tone, " I've heard of Totter Lot. Hell, everyone in the junior divisions knows them. They're the rich kids from those high middle-class Saiyans that run the G.O.B.."

" Oh, that city," Gine, with mastered subtleness, cringed, though it was noticeable by Onin. Based on that reaction, Bottleneck Sprout place doesn't seem like a nice place. Well, there aren't many nice things about Saiyans to begin with. " With all the sophistication they keep boasting, those are some of the roughest Saiyans out there."

" G.O.B…" Onin echoed to himself. Once again, this is another term that he has never read or heard of. This is becoming more and more frequent over the past few hours... erm, over the past day. First with the whole Hounding Race, then with the fact that there was a forest nearby, and now there were places on the planet that he's never even heard of, even with the dozens of maps he has stashed in his room. Onin's beginning to really question whether those books and scrolls he bought from that silver-alien merchant were legitimately the " universal encyclopedias of everything Saiyan on Planet Vegeta."

" It stands for Golden Oozaru Bloodlines. They're somewhat of a mixture between an intergalactic enterprise and a political party," their mother began to explain, quickly capturing all of Onin's attention, " while they are relatively neutral compared to other parties, a very notorious behavior of theirs is that they consistently claim to be descendants of the first Sup–"

" Mother, please, don't fill his head with that nonsense," Raditz interrupted roughly, snorting exasperatedly. Onin gave him an annoyed look; could his brother dislike learning any more than he already has? " It's complete bullshit. The only thing backing that up is their steady flow of income."

Gine looked silently at Raditz with an equally as annoyed frown. Out of rudeness or not, she promptly ignored him. " …Well, aside from your brother's foul attitude—"

"—fucking proud of it—"

"—most Saiyans don't believe G.O.B's claims. However, that doesn't mean they are just spineless aristocrats that boast a public image. They are a very strong group, making up a good portion of the elite forces in the army and royal guards. Even the lowest fighter of Bottleneck Sprout is capable of conquering two entire planets in under five months… by themselves."

"Woah…" Onin gapped in awe. On the surface level, five months sounds like a long period for a mission, especially when Onin compares that to what his brother and father normally do. But then again, this Saiyan supposedly conquered two entire planets by themselves. That's got to be some impressive stuff.

" Impressive, right? But there's a lot of factors that come into play when considering mission times, Onin. So, five months could be either fast or slow," their mother explained as she walked over to one of the metal lockers near the side of the room. With one hand, she pressed in a code on a keypad and opened a specific locker, pulling out a navy-blue body suit that was roughly Onin's size. She placed Onin on a nearby bench and started putting his clothes on.

"But just as an idea for your inquisitive mind," she continued with a chuckle, poking his nose with her finger playfully, " it takes a squadron of low-class Saiyans three months to clear one planet within a 65-day full moon cycle."

" That's a short moon cycle," Onin stated, raising his arms up as his mother slid the suit up his body, " based on our calendar, they have two full moons to use."

" Very good observation, Onin," Gine smiled, grabbing the armor plates from the locker and putting it on Onin, " but remember that things are different from planet to planet, including natural moon cycle of the planet, the terrain you are fighting in, how strong the planet's inhabitants are, how much damage the planet can withstand before being considered invaluable by the intergalactic planet trade, and etcetera."

" Like on the planet I went to conquer, it was full of vegetation," Raditz spoke up, jumping off the machine and walking over to the two as he swiped his fingers over his gray portable communicator, " all the vegetation made looking for civilizations almost impossible, even with the scouters. And even worse, the ground was super wet and had too many sinkholes, so we had to go flying most of the time."

" Then… how did you finish your mission so fast?" Onin asked. Normally, ever since he was placed into the Galactic Saiya-Youth Battalion just over a year ago, Raditz would be gone on missions for as long as a month or two. But this one ended in less than two weeks.

Raditz snorted, rubbing a finger under his nose. " Pri—uhh, our new team captain decided that the PTRs could suck their thumbs if a few wildfires happened, so we blew a straight path across the planet. Managed to find a few civilizations… turned out they were just a bunch of small fries."

He clicked a button on his recorder and showed it to Onin and Gine. It was a short bird's eye video of an ancient-looking civilization with black smoke pillars rising from every few buildings. Onin squinted his eyes and could see that there were green bug-like creatures running around the golden architecture in a frantic panic. In the air above, he could see a group of bugs who appeared to be wearing golden armor ganging up on one Saiyan, though they didn't seem to be making any progress.

" The one fighting all those bugs in the air? That was me. Was way too easy," Raditz said proudly. Onin could smell that thick lie from across the planet. He had no doubt his mother did too, for she simply rolled her eyes at his claim.

He decided to take a look at his brother and noted the faint scratches along his chest plate, as well as a few healed cuts across his arms and legs. Maybe Raditz wasn't completely lying when he said he fought those bugs. And from the way they were moving, it seemed to be a pretty intense fight… for the bugs, at least. But for a second, though, it made Onin extremely aware of the large difference between him and his brother… he pushed that thought aside for another time.

" So it really is conditional for every planet," Onin concluded.

" Yes," Gine nodded, drying any remaining excess fluid in Onin's hair, " for the Saiyan I mentioned about the five-month mission, the assigned planets had a 128-day and 400-day moon cycle separately, and the inhabitants were ranked high in the power level index on both planets. Even with all of that, he managed to clear both of them without much struggle on his part."

" How? Did he blow up the cities or something?"

" Simpler. He manipulated the inhabitants into fighting amongst each other."

" Wh…" Onin paused, his eyes widening as he processed his mother's words. Then his jaw completely slacked, "w-wow, seriously...?"

A Saiyan was able to manipulate entire species into self-destruction? He has never heard nor read any Saiyan using such a tactic. It was usually brute force and overwhelming the enemy. No, not usually. That was customary for the Saiyans.

" Pfft, it's a method for puss— OW!" While Raditz's comment went on to prove Onin's thought, it was immediately rewarded with a sharp pinch on the ear. He jumped back, holding his right ear. " What the hell, mother!"

" If you can't keep that mouth of yours clean, then we'll just have to give you a bar of soap to eat for dinner," Gine warned with utter finality.

" ...As if he won't—ok, alright, fine!" Raditz's witty remark instantly vanished, and he backed down by his mother's deathly stare. He crossed his arms and exhaled through his nose, though no one was deaf to the train of muttered slurs seeping through his lips. Gine ignored it for the sake of continuing their conversation.

She looked back to Onin, returning to her soft smile. " Sorry, Onin, we got a little sidetracked, didn't we? Please continue where you left off."

Personally, he would've liked to leave it at that, but Onin begrudgingly continued. " Where was I… uh, yeah, I asked the Trotter Lot a few questions about the Hounding Race, and they said that I needed to get two golden birds in order to pass the preliminaries. I saw that Heele was showing off his golden birds around his waist, so I kind of… bad mouth him into coming close enough so I can snatch them."

" And it worked?" Gine asked.

" Sort of. He punched me hard in the head and sent me flying into a boulder. It hurts… It hurt a lot, but I managed to get the birds off his waist and run before he realized."

" He really fell for such an obvious trick?" Raditz muttered, shaking his head. " What a dumba… dumb kid."

" Even his friends were giving him stupid looks," Onin added, flicking his tail to remove the water dripping from the tip, " so after stealing the birds, I managed to run off for a while, but I think when I was thrown at the boulder, I got internal bleeding, which slowed me down. So, I was only able to go into some forest I found before Heele caught up with me."

" That would explain the report I got from the patrollers," Gine hummed thoughtfully, " you ended up near the northern sector of the forest. Most of the area was destroyed… 'mixed up like a salad bowl', as they said."

" Yikes..." Makes Onin wonder how he even survived that. Talk about good luck.

" Then, is that everything that led to that?"

" Yeah, pretty much," Onin nodded. There was no way he was going to go into detail about his beating; not that he could remember much of it anyways.

" Ok, good for you and sh— stuff," Raditz started, raising a brow, " but where are these golden birds?"

Onin smirked. While he didn't remember much of his beatdown or anything that occurred after that, he did remember one thing he did before Heele caught up to him. In fact, even though it was something he desperately attempted to do on the spot without any hopes of success, it was probably one of the smartest things he's done… ever.

The young Saiyan boy couldn't help but chuckle to himself. He might actually be able to redeem himself! " See, while I did get beaten up into a pulp, Heele actually never managed to get the two birds. Because, you see, I hid them right here… inside… my…"

There was a void of silence amongst the three as Onin's voice died out, looking down at the new standard armor he was wearing. Slowly, he looked toward his mother with a bead of sweat running down his face.

" They, uh, did keep my other armor… right?"

Gine pressed her lips, her brows furrowed. " I'm not sure, Onin. If you placed these birds in your other armor, then… they're likely already long gone with the armor."

"... shoot," Onin clicked his tongue as dread grew in the back of his mind. The second to last thing he didn't want to happen about this whole mess was losing the birds, because then this would've all been for nothing.

" Damaged armor is usually taken to the recycling centers, where they're smelted down or scrapped up depending on the damage," their mother explained, " even though they're required to send personal items to lost and found… no one really follows those rules."

Onin's back grew cold with every word she said. " Then… they're probably already stolen, aren't they?"

" I'm sorry, Onin, but yes."

The boy groaned, leaning his head back onto the lockers with a loud thunk sound. It's official. He has undoubtedly done the stupidest thing he's ever done in his life. All for nothing. Zero, zilch. Now he has to live with this shame for who knows how long. He doesn't even want to begin to know what this'll do for his future. Heck, based on what he's just learnt from this, the Hounding Race seems really important, and now he messed up the golden chance of him getting in... no pun intended.

" It wouldn't have mattered anyways," Raditz snorted, crossing his arms, " the preliminaries have already ended. They'd be nothing more than souvenirs of your failure."

" Not helping, Raditz," Onin grumbled through gritted teeth, " now what? If I can't even enter into this Hounding Race anymore, then what was the point of all of this?"

" You didn't exactly fail."

A deep voice suddenly spoke up from the background. The family turned their heads towards the metal doors to the medical room, which slid open to reveal a Saiyan man. He had flat spiky hair with very prominent sideburns, which faded down into a stubble beard. He wore a red scouter on his left eye and had a thin scar running across his forehead.

" We confiscated your armor before it was shipped to the centers," the man said as he walked up towards them, " the golden birds you're talking about have already been sent to the examiners."

" And who the hell are you?" Raditz immediately asked with his usual hot-headed cockiness, "How long have you been listening?"

Gine was once again seconds away from giving her eldest son a mouthful and an ear-pull for such a disrespectful comment, but the man beat her to it.

" I was one of the patrollers that found your brother half-dead out in the wild, kid," the man said, his steely gaze never faltering, " and uit the fussing. I just came here, so I only heard the end of your conversation."

Then the Saiyan's face suddenly turned dark. " And it's best you learn how to talk to your seniors sooner than later, by the way, else you'll end up worse than your brother was."

Raditz smirked, unfazed by the obvious threat, " You can't scare anyone with your lowly PL of 530."

Onin noticed his brother's scouter running a power reading scan as he aggravated the man, the curious part of his mind wondering what his own power level was. But he shook his head from that distraction. Seeing that this could quickly escalate, he decided to speak up before either one started to throw fists. He would much rather get some explanations before he loses the chance. " So, uhm what did you mean by 'didn't exactly fail'? Are the preliminaries not over yet?"

The man snapped his glare from Raditz and looked at the younger boy with a more stoic look. " The preliminaries ended yesterday at dusk. We found you an hour after, so under normal circumstances you're too late to get in. However, the higher ups have made an exception."

" An exception?" Gine spoke up, her eyes gradually widening, " the Hounding Race guidelines have been strictly enforced for centuries! If Onin was given an exception to these rules, then that could only mean…"

The Saiyan man simply nodded to what she was implying. " Yes, word reached the ears of a royal official who was coincidentally in the board meeting when the case was presented. I wasn't there, but from what I heard, it didn't take long for them to decide that your kid would participate in this year's Hounding Race."

With his words being her confirmation, Gine face broke into a bright smile, and she immediately brought Onin into a tight hug. " Did you hear that, Onin? You've made it in!"

The young Saiyan boy could only blink owlishly. He just couldn't believe that this had just happened. Out of the blue, when he was almost sure he wouldn't get the chance to enter the race. This... This was nothing short of a miracle!

" So I… I actually did it…" Onin stuttered.

" Mhm. I was ordered to give you this letter from the royal official," the man pulled out a small antique-ish blue envelope from within his chest plate that had a red stamp on the center. He handed it to Onin, who gingerly took it. " Not many kids can pull off what you did and live to tell it. Consider yourself lucky, kid."

Giving the family a single nod, the Saiyan made his way to the door. But before he left, he gave them one final look.

" But I would also consider yourself unlucky as well. There hasn't been an official recommendation for the past three centuries. You've got some important eyes on you, kid."

And with that, he left with the close of the metal doors. But that wasn't on Onin's mind. No, instead, he was focused squarely on the stamp on the letter. It was the insignia of the royal family; a trident with a u-shaped arc on the bottom.

" I actually did it."

Gine sported a warm smile at her youngest son. " Congratulations, Onin!"

" Yeah…"

A silence once again fell onto the three, but this was more of a comforting one. What Onin was holding right now was a testament that this whole mess had not been in vain. Gine's heart was elated for her son's miraculous success. She watched as her son squirmed on his seat with excitement, but then she realized what he was about to do.

"... Onin, don—"

" YEAH!"

Onin couldn't contain himself, and with a body will with ripe energy, he leaped into the air with his arms raised up. However, he didn't expect himself to jump this high up.

Raditz, who was originally going to give yet another eyeroll, went wide-eyed as his brother began his descent down. Towards him.

" Hey, watch where you're—OOF" Raditz couldn't finish his sentence as Onin body collided with his face, causing both boys to tumble onto the metal floor in a jumble of limbs. From outside, hospital workers jolted as they heard the sudden and spontaneous burst of quarrelling between siblings. And within all the shouting and yelling, one could hear their mother sighing with a smile.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading the second chapter of my story The Middle Child (still trying to think up of a better name). It means a lot to me knowing that my writing has picked up someone's interest. I still have much to learn about writing, as well as how to better manage my time so I can publish chapters quicker. I have so much in mind for this beginning arc, but I just don't know how to write it out XD.

Anyways, I'll be working on chapter 3 by the time this is published. Just as a teaser, next chapter will be the beginning of Onin's training. Also, Onin's name is pronounced as Oh-Neen, like saying Onion but without the second O.

Once again, thank you for reading!