The Middle Child

Chapter 5: The World Ain't Fair

By: TheRealBigJ

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

It was three past noon, and the day was still as bright and hot as ever. Scarce clouds floated about, giving brief shade to the inhabitants below. Amongst the bustle of daily life, in the backyard of the household of the saiyan Bardock, Onin and his mother were once again in a heated sparring match. The area had completely changed; what was once a flat patch of hard dirt became an uneven terrain of rubble, large craters, and streaks of sweat and tears.

Ducking low under a lightning fast punch, Onin rolled backwards as he tried to maintain distance from his mother, who continuously charged at him to close said distance. With alarming speeds, she threw attack upon attack, testing the boy's nimbleness and—more importantly—his durability. Each attack was dodged by the skin of his teeth, all of which would leave nasty damage if they landed.

Reeling a leg back, Gine sent a rudimentary but by no means weak vertical kick towards Onin, directly at his chin. Pushing both arms forward, Onin grabbed hold onto her leg mid swing. However, knowing well that it wouldn't stop it, he lifted his feet off the ground, allowing his mother's attack to crane him upwards. And using the same momentum from her attack, he leaped off her leg as if it were a springboard and flew up tens of feet into the air.

Gine gave a small but impressed smirk, which quickly vanished as she sent a volley of energy blasts up towards Onin. Reaching the peak of his jump, Onin raised his arms up as the swarm of pink energy blasts approached rapidly at his descending form. However, instead of tanking each attack, Onin managed to deflect every energy blast with his hands, albeit lacking in grace. Gine's eyes widened, her smile broadening even more as she sprinted towards the spot where Onin was estimated to land.

Seeing his mother already preparing for his arrival, Onin shot a hand forward and—with a moment of concentration—blasted his own yellow-colored energy blast. Gine raised a hand to dispatch the attack, but curled a brow as the attack missed her, instead impacting on the ground and exploding into a large dust cloud that completely enveloped her. With Gine momentarily stunned, Onin landed safely and backed up in a zigzag motion, leaving a large gap between the two. A moment of silence ensued, and Onin relaxed his body, giving himself a mental pat on the back for his quick thinking. A move like that… he'll definitely remember something like that. Maybe he'll give it its own little name.

However, Onin's moment of satisfaction was quickly taken away as the blurred form of his mother zipped from the dust cloud. Not even being able to pull up a guard, Onin took the full brunt of the heavy uppercut right into his gut. With the wind knocked right out of his lungs, Onin was sent flying straight into the training equipment. The metal bars creaked from the impact, and without a second wasted, everything collapsed into one large pile, all on top of Onin.

" Ow…"

Groaning, Onin lifted himself up, painfully removed the plate that landed on his head. As he rubbed the sore bump growing on the back of his cranium, Gine walked up to him, her tail relaxing from her waist as she laughed softly.

" That was new."

" Huh?" Onin blinked in confusion through his teary eyes.

" You know," Gine said, mimicking a hand motion similar to what Onin did moments ago, " that's a first for you, deflecting a ranged attack."

" Oh, that," Onin hummed nonchalantly, attempting to hold back a grin. He failed miserably. " Well, yeah, I've done it before. Just decided to try it again."

Gine nodded approvingly, pulling her son out from the pile. " It's a good move. That kind of quick reaction can help you in tight situations."

Onin stood onto his feet, viewing the mess that was made with a winced expression. " Sorry… I'll, uh, clean this up."

" Don't worry about it," Gine smiled, ruffling the dirt out of his hair, " for now, you'll need a good meal and lots of rest for tomorrow."

" Yeah…" Onin nodded. A pensive look fell on his face after his mother's words. Indeed, the two weeks of preparation had passed in a flash, and now he was faced with the real thing in little under twenty-four hours. But of course, he wasn't idle the whole time either. As his very recent sparring match with his mother had just shown, he had made great improvements in his training. A lot more than he had actually thought he could do within this short timespan, in fact. Especially getting a better understanding of the whole energy thing that suddenly popped up. His newfound ability to deflect energy attacks had taken inspiration from his last ditch effort a while back when fighting against that monster of a pig.

Now that he was in a much less life-threatening situation, it was much simpler than he initially thought with grasping the idea of energy; all he needed to do was get hold of that feeling, redirect it towards his hands, and then try to control it. If anything, it was like covering his hand with an invisible and very lightweight blanket.

But still, Onin felt there was still a lot he's missing out with this energy… and in his general training as well. Outside of today's sparring match (yes, this was actually the first time since training under his mother that he actually used energy at all), the only time he actually actively tried to use energy was during Raditz's training. He never really had the chance to sit down and mess around with it, with the whole global "racing" event and whatnot. Maybe… hopefully… he'll get some time once this is all over to sit down and do what he does best. And that is, of course, studying.

" Let's go get you something to eat and get you to bed early," Gine said, walking back towards the house, " we'll be leaving early tomorrow morning, so you won't be getting any breakfast in time."

" Alright" Onin hummed, following his mother. From the way she's putting it, it sounded like it was quite a distance from here. Maybe on a different continent? The idea made him pause, and subsequently facepalm. " Err, mother?"

"Yes?"

" Where exactly is the next phase taking place?"

" Oh… you never were detailed on what's going to happen next, huh?" Gine said, tapping the bottom of her lip. " It's up north at the metal mine in the Shudder Rock Mountains. The phase's board of committee rented a small portion of the area for the phase."

" Shudder Rock Mountains…" Onin repeated. Fortunately, it was a familiar name to him. He might've read it somewhere when he was delving deep into geodes.

" Mhm, I know a few Saiyans who've gone there outside the event," Gine smiled, though it quickly strained, " but… it isn't a nice place, to say the least."

Well, that was comforting. " Why the mines though?"

" It's a different location every time, greatly depending on the sponsor. If there's no sponsors, then this phase is usually done at the canyon jungle southwards."

" Huh, ok…" This was the perfect window to ask more questions, but… no, no point stressing over the small details. Not right now, at least. As his training has taught him, the less thinking, the more level headed he was. He's gotta keep that in practice… constantly.

Gine suddenly stopped at the end of the corridor, snapping her fingers in remembrance. " Ah, that reminds me. Need to check if I packed the medical set. I'll be right back, Onin, so don't go off just yet, k?"

" Alright," Onin nodded, watching as his mother left towards the storage closet. Left in the empty hallway, Onin made the corner and entered the living room, where he sat on the stiff sofa. Silence overtook him as his eyes wandered around patiently, eventually landing on the empty shelf that held nothing but . The machine was powered off, but the buttons and knobs still had the glowing lights.

Onin stared for a while before shaking his head, averting his gaze to the more interesting toaster in the corner. Maybe he should have also taken a few of those comic books with him.

The next day…

When his mother had said early in the morning, he was not expecting it to be this early.

Rubbing his tired eyes, Onin stood slumped near his mother at the front of their home. The air was cold and damp, and it was blindly dark. There was still a good chunk of time before sunrise, so the only light available was the dim glow of the street lights. There were also the glowing insects crawling the walls, though they were barely noticeable… except for their constant buzzing sound. Now he can't unhear it.

On his back was a brown leathery backpack with comical proportions. It was slightly taller than his head—probably at his eye level if placed on the ground—but nearly triple the width of his body. Whatever in the two moons was inside this backpack, it was weighing down on him heavily.

" Mother, why do I need all of this," Onin mumbled in a tired tone, adjusting the straps pulling down on his shoulders like anchored ropes.

" You'll be stuck in the mines for a while," Gine explained, not a single trace of fatigue on her face, " So I gave you a little something to keep you sustained when you're in there."

Onin sighed with fleeting annoyance but decided against complaining. It was pretty much common sense; there won't be any food or water in a cavern of rocks and metal. This was all for his benefit, anyways. It was like complaining about food during a famine… but in a less severe way. Or maybe more, who knows. There was still one thing confusing him, though.

" What are we waiting out here for? Shouldn't we be going if it's far?"

Gine looked down at her son with a cheeky grin, bringing a finger up to her lips. " That's for me to know and for you to find out very soon."

He wasn't entirely sure what his mother meant by that, so he just shrugged it off and decided to wait it out. He was honestly too tired to think much at the moment anyways. A few extra minutes of sleep would do the trick on him. Maybe an hour if he could.

Eventually, there was a distant roar that appeared. It was like the growl of a wild beast, which was gradually gaining in volume. Looking up the street, Onin saw an oval shaped vehicle making a sharp turn across the paved corner and approaching at high speeds. It was mostly orange in color—probably due to the street lights—with random white spots dotting the vehicle and connected with white lines. The windows of the vehicle were pitch black, and the front headlights shined a bright blue color. As it neared, Onin squinted his eyes from the intense scorching light and plugged his ears from the vibrating roar of the engine. Talk about an effective alarm clock.

The vehicle came to a complete stop right in front of their home, a few newspapers flying off past the vehicle and down the street. Then, the side of the vehicle lifted open with the sound of depressurized pistons, revealing a blue-tinted interior with two Saiyans seated inside; an adult in the front at the yoke and a kid in the back seats.

Gine smiled, walking up while nudging Onin to also come forward. " Morning Ruma! Long time no see!"

" Long time? We clocked out together yesterday," Ruma snorted. She ushered a hand for the two to come in, patting hard on the seat. " Now hurry right on in, we've got a long way to go."

Gine did as such, jumping up to the front navy blue passenger seat without a missed beat. She then looked towards Onin, who was still standing outside and staring at the vehicle dumbstruck. " C'mon Onin, don't waste time."

" R-Right," Onin awkwardly climbed up onto the back seats. The second he sat down, the latch of the vehicle rapidly closed with a small motor noise and clicking sound, creating a sort of silent vacuum inside. As he had noted before, the interior of the vehicle was flooded with a blue hue due to the small ceiling lights dotting across the spine of the vehicle. Every other smaller feature—from the clean padded seats to the few monitors in the corners—added to the newness that the vehicle was emitting.

Onin yelped quietly as the vehicle suddenly lifted upwards from the ground without warning. From the front driver seat, Ruma pushed the throttle lever while pulling up on the yoke, consequently accelerating the vehicle upwards at high speeds. By the time Onin adjusted to the sudden change in speed and looked out the window, they were already up above the clouds and long gone from Squash Quiver.

" I have to say, Gine," Ruma began, quietly drumming her fingers on the yoke handles, " your son's grown a bit… different from the last time I saw him."

Gine nodded, though there was a hint of disappointment in her voice. " It was bound to happen, he's been working hard for this day."

" Oh, I see. I could say the same thing for this runt here," Ruma beamed, slightly turning her head back, " Taro's quite the force to be reckoned with, I say. The blueprint of a true Saiyan in the making."

Having not really paid much attention previously, Onin fully addressed the other Saiyan boy seated beside him. Just like himself, the boy wore the standard youth saiyan armor… and that's literally where all the similarities end. His armor lacked any shoulder pads and was instead painted a black with a painful bright line green color scheme. On his left bicep—since he was apparently not wearing a spandex suit—was a black tattoo of a cat, one Onin has never seen before in any of his biology slabs or books. The same cat image was also drawn on his boots as well, but what really stood out the most to Onin was the boy's large spiky mohawk. Which was green. The same lime green color as his armor!

The boy—Taro—looked completely… neutral. Dismissive, blank. However Onin could describe it, one thing he could see for sure is that Taro had absolutely no expression. His eyes were glued to the small rectangular device in his hand that looked nearly identical to Raditz's camera device, though much slimmer and glossy. Taro swiped a finger through a bunch of images and colorful lights on the device, none of which Onin could properly see. The only part of Taro that was moving was his thumb scrolling on the screen. Otherwise, the boy was effectively a statue. Had the lady not spoken of him, Onin wouldn't have actually noticed him until maybe much later on the trip.

Gine glanced at Taro, her eyes widening slightly. She probably shared the same surprise as Onin. " You're not wrong..."

" For the better I am. He's more than ready for this next phase," Ruma nodded proudly to herself. She then pointed towards the glovebox in front of Gine's seat. " Get me some tire, will ya?"

Gine quickly frowned with an appalled expression. " Ruma, I know you know that those things is bad for your health."

" Oh, save me the saint talk," Ruma rolled her eyes in a dismissive manner, " they're medical, prescribed by those fancy saiyans in the city. All of it together isn't even enough to do a tenth of the real stuff."

"... Fine," Gine huffed, opening the glovebox and pulling out a small silky black plastic box. She gave a cringed expression as she extended the opened container towards Ruma, who gleefully snatched a short bulbous black object. " I thought you told me you quit."

" Switching counts as quitting," Ruma mumbled while chewing. Gine groaned in her hand while shaking her head.

" What's that mother?" Onin asked, craning his neck to get a better look. Unfortunately, Gine had already closed the container and placed it back in the glovebox.

" Don't worry about it, Onin," Gine sighed exasperatedly, giving him a small smile. Onin blinked before simply shrugging it off.

Rolling her tongue in her mouth, Ruma sniffled silently. " By the way, fighting broke out on Planet Crayon."

" I don't see that as a surprise," Gone hummed, resting her cheek on her palm.

" Mhm, they said that…"

As Gine and Ruma talked to each other, Onin shuffled in his seat awkwardly, trying to get a comfortable spot. After numerous attempts to get the perfect spot and failing, he glanced back to see what was bothering him, only to facepalm when he realized he was still wearing his backpack. Thankfully, none of the others seemed to have noticed, or rather they didn't seem to care. He smoothly took it off.

Half of half an hour—or simply fifteen minutes—since departure, Onin amused himself by viewing the terrain they flew over. Well, once they had flown away from the sheets of clouds. Most of the lands were really just what he had seen when wandering the desert valley, so he only really got interested once they passed through the forestry. Seeing them in person was completely different from what he had read. And as expected, there were things he saw that he couldn't remember even being stated in those books. He's going to keep that grudge for a while.

Looking back to the cabin of the vehicle, he noted that his mother was still talking to the lady. He felt like he saw her somewhere, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Well, in any case, it looked like the two of them had nearly forgotten about him and Taro, and it'll probably be like that for some time. It also brought up the fact that Taro had still not moved since their departure, much less spoken anything.

Onin glanced at the device in Taro's hands, which he had now flipped horizontally and was using both hands to tap a bunch of buttons on the screen. Curious, Onin sneakingly and slowly scooted up a bit closer to see what he was doing.

From what he could see, it showed a dark metal corridor with a dark red hand cannon covering most of the right side of the screen. A green bar was on the top left corner with a blue bar on the top right. In the center was a small white plus sign, and just below that was a pyramid of small white lines. Suddenly, a tall slimy alien with numerous spikes around its body appeared from the corner, and the hand cannon immediately blasted the alien with a red and purple beam, exploding into flames. When the fire was dispatched, what was left was nothing more than a floating blue diamond paired with floating red orbs.

Catching Onin's interest, he decided to strike the first conversation with Taro. "Hey, what's that you're doing?"

Taro didn't seem to have heard him, who continued to kill more of those spiky aliens. Onin tried speaking once more, and was once again ignored while Taro shot three aliens at once, getting a golden text reading "times three" on the screen. Seeing that just talking wouldn't help, Onin decided to tap on his shoulder. Maybe he had hearing problems, or was probably deaf. " Hey, Taro. Can you hear me?"

Taro looked up from the screen, and Onin visibly flinched back a little when he saw that one of the boy's irises was lime green. Sheesh, what's with this boy and the color green?

Taking a hand up to his right ear, Taro pulled out a small black device that was shaped like a cone. Onin actually didn't notice it was there until Taro removed it. From the small end of the black cone came out loud and rough music with the equally loud sounds of blood splattering and scratchy reverbed screeches. Taro looked at Onin with an annoyed frown. " The hell's your problem?"

A sweat drop ran down Onin's face as he gave a weak smile. He must be seeing things, because he could've sworn there was a metal piece in Taro's tongue. " I, uh, was asking what you were doing."

Taro clicked his tongue, returning his attention back to the game in front of him. " Haven't you heard? Roar of Service 6 came out yesterday."

Onin blinked at the foreign term. He's never heard anything like it before. " Uh, what's that?"

Taro glanced up at Onin as if he had grown three heads. " Are you stupid? I said Roar of Service 6."

" Never heard of it."

Taro went still for a moment before pressing a button on his screen to pause whatever he was doing. He then gave Onin a confused expression, and he almost looked insulted. " You're telling me you don't know Roar of Service? The biggest seller from Mobisight…ever?"

Onin shook his head. " Nope."

" What the actual…" Taro scrunched his eyes before clicking his tongue once again. He gave Onin a scrutinizing look. " Then you've been living under a rock, cause everyone already knows what it is."

Taro's attention returned to his device, with him pressing the button again to resume the action. As he did so, he was suddenly met with a hoard of more aliens that began to swarm him. He then became so laser-focused that he dropped the small cone device that he was holding, but luckily Onin caught it before it fell into a small crevice of the seat. Onin looked at the massacre that was unfolding on the boy's device then looked down at the small back device in his hands, which was relaying the sounds of the bloodshed.

Remembering how Taro removed it, Onin brought the black cone device up towards his ear. He winced back at the level of sound it was producing, a level too much for him to comfortably handle up close. He decided with putting it a few inches away from his ears.

Eventually, the hoard ended and a small green rectangular box filled the screen, displaying some numbers. Taro rapidly pressed a bunch of other buttons before the screen went black and showed more images Onin couldn't hope to figure out. Taro suddenly looked up from the device and saw Onin starting with the black cone device near his ears. He frowned and roughly snatched it out of Onin's hand. " Stop touching my stuff, I don't need your filth on it."

Onin blinked at the sudden hostility. It almost reminded him of Heele's temper… ok, much less than that. Maybe more like Raditz. " Uh, sorry."

Taro gave Onin a strange look before sighing and pulling out a small black container from a small pouch on his side. He then put the black cone device inside the case, going on to pull out another identical copy from the other ear and placed it in too. " Can't believe you play video games and don't know what Roar of Service is."

"... well, I don't really play video games," Onin admitted with a sheepish smile. So, this Roar of Service is a video game? It's way different from the only other game he's ever played, which was a black and white bomb sweeping game. It got pretty boring after he completed it the tenth time. And if he remembers correctly, it wasn't even the full game since it said demo on the back of the device. Apparently he wasn't aware that there were other video games, and some that looked a lot more complex, just like whatever Taro was playing. Just how outdated was his stuff?

" Well that would explain it all," Taro snorted in amusement, " Q-Fang would shit on you hard if he caught wind of this."

Onin curled a brow in confusion. Everything this boy says has been a novelty. Who even is Q-Fang? And why would he want to take a dump on him? He decided not to question it. " So, uh, what were those things in your ears? They were making a bunch of loud music."

Taro scowled, squinting his eyes. " Are you some sort of dumbass? Or are you messing with me?"

That one definitely stung. Onin was pretty confident he was far from that. " I'm just wondering, I've never seen them before."

" How have you…" Taro stared at Onin for a moment, trying to see whether the boy was messing with him or not. After seeing that Onin's genuinely curious expression remained unchanged, Taro let out a lengthy groan, sinking lower in his seat. " They're called earbuds."

Onin scratched cheek with a light chuckle. It sounds like it was something that's common knowledge. " And, uh, what about that other one?"

"What?"

" The device you were playing on," Onin said, mimicking the motion Taro was doing. Taro stared at Onin for a moment before looking out the window.

" You're definitely messing with me."

" Huh?" Onin frowned. " No I'm not, I'm just asking."

" Then I'm actually sitting with a dumbass."

" … so, what is it?"

" It's a phone, for fuck's sake," Taro groaned, facepalming, " how do you not know about it? They're everywhere!"

" I haven't seen it before," Onin countered. The closest he's seen would be Raditz's device, and Onin doubts it could be used to play the game Taro was playing. " Well, I think my brother has one that looks something like that."

" Why don't you ask him then?"

" I mean… maybe I should've," Onin hummed in agreement, " but I never got the chance to. He left for another mission… plus he doesn't really like small questions like those."

Taro remained, but he was visibly annoyed from the conversation. Maybe he didn't like where it was going. Onin thought for a moment before trying to ask something else that was different from the current topic.

" So, about the Houn—"

" Shut up, I don't wanna hear it," Taro sneered, giving Onin a sideways glance before returning attention towards the clouds passing by through the window.

Onin blinked, scratching his cheek awkwardly. Did he do something wrong? No… maybe Taro just isn't the talkative type. Best to not pester him then, less he gets punched in the face and gets sent soaring into a rock.

Yeah… better not letting that happen again.

By the time they had arrived, the sun had begun to rise. The skies were changing from a deepish navy-purple into an orange-blue hue, creating a colorful gradient. True to his mother's words—and fortunately true to Onin's inaccurate sources—they had found themselves in a cooler climate, with less reddish sandy rock and more rigid and cool gray stone.

Ruma had decided to land the vehicle on top of a generally wide stony plateau, far away from swarms of other vehicles cruising towards one specific point. There were thousands upon thousands of them, each hovering in a disorganized line to deposit the contestants down at one singular large mountain.

Onin looked on at the swarm of vehicles through the window with awe. It was one thing he wouldn't get to see very often. " Are all of them really contestants?"

" Yup, just about every kid from every corner of our region," Ruma answered, shifting the engine neutral, " and get this. We're supposed to be the smallest region on the planet too."

" I thought most were eliminated in the first phase," Onin asked. It did feel odd seeing all of these numbers when there was supposed to be a very small amount of slots left.

" You're looking at about forty percent of the total number of contestants from phase one, Onin," Gine spoke up, stepping out the vehicle as Ruma opened all doors, " this phase will shave off even more, leaving somewhere around 10%."

Wow, now that's a really small number. Though Onin could make sense of it. Sliding out and landing on the gravel-like ground, Onin scratched his head with doubt. He just couldn't imagine that this was just forty percent of their entire region. How far did their region even go? Yet another hole in his knowledge.

Sighing to himself, Onin pulled his overly large backpack out from the floor bed as the others were also exiting. Ruma came around from the other side with a dismissive-looking Taro and gave Onin an amused look as he struggled to put his bag on.

" Gine, is all that really necessary?"

" Well, I just wanted to make sure Onin is extra prepared," Gine explained as she approached Onin. Crouching down to his level, she offered a warm smile as she adjusted the bag for him. " The last time he went unprepared… thing didn't turn out well."

" I didn't even know what was going on in the first place, mother," Onin blew his cheeks out, averting his gaze.

" Hm, so that meant you were super unprepared."

" I… hrn."

" Well, looks like he's super prepared this time around," Ruma hummed, simultaneously slapping Taro on the back. He gave her a stinky look. " Maybe you should've packed some more like Onin here, Taro."

" Psh, no way," Taro grunted, crossing his arms as he began walking away from the group, " I don't need all that unnecessary weight."

As Ruma huffed in expectation, Gine looked back to Onin and placed her hands on his shoulders. " So, think you're ready, Onin?"

" Yeah… I think," Onin nodded, though it held a feeling of doubt. He honestly still had some doubts if he could even do this. His training was crammed in, and even though he learnt and grew, he wasn't gonna kid himself and say that it was enough. But at the same time he wanted to look at the bright side of things. He had a much better shot at surviving now than he had all those weeks ago. The only other thing setting him off is the scale of contestants. He's never seen this many Saiyans all coming together to one place. It's like one big army, and he's supposedly a part of it.

While he looked on, a certain thought flashed over his mind, one he probably should've asked much sooner. " By the way, mother."

" Yes?" Gine answered.

" Did Raditz ever do the Hounding Race?"

Gine paused for a moment before beaming, clasping her hands together. " Oh, yes he did! I'm surprised I haven't mentioned this earlier. It was some years before you were born."

That was news. Onin wondered why Raditz never said anything about it. " Did he pass?"

" Absolutely, your brother was no slouch," Gine said proudly, " he managed to clear through this phase a lot faster than most other contestants."

" Oh… cool." That did give Onin some peace of mind. It meant that this phase was doable. Well, doable for his brother, but still meant he had some sort of chance. That, of course, doesn't ignore the fact that he was still very screwed if he wasn't careful.

" Now then, best you don't be late," Gine said, standing up and ruffling Onin's hair, " the conductors of this phase aren't kind to late—"

Onin, with sudden motion, lurched forward and gave his mother a tight hug, instantly cutting her off. He then looked up to her surprised face with a confident smile. " Don't worry, mother, I'll be careful! I'm good at following rules."

" Y-Yes, you are," Gine stuttered, slightly shook from the sudden hug. Regardless, she reciprocated the action. " But you know it'll take more than that to pass this."

" I know. I'll try my best though."

Gine giggled. " That's right. In the end, all that matters is that you did your best."

" Yeah," Onin smiled back, leaning into the hug, " …love you, mother."

Gine stared down at him for a moment before choking on her words. She cleared her throat, shuffling in her spot awkwardly. " I—ahem, l-love you too, Onin."

After a moment of hugging, Onin looked over to see Taro already making his way down the side of the plateau, his farewells having long been finished with Ruma. Onin let go over his mother, giving a short wave before running up to Taro. " I gotta go, bye!"

Gine watched as Onin ran to catch up with Taro, her arms awkwardly going to her sides. She felt a nudge to her side as Ruma walked over.

" Hehe, what was that all about?"

Gine paused for a moment before responding. " Just… Onin being Onin."

" Well, he sure is one of a kind huh," Ruma snorted, leaning back into her vehicle, " maybe in a good way? I dunno. How does he even know what love is?"

" He probably read it somewhere in those books of his," Gine sighed, a small smile breaking on her face.

" No surprise there," the two of them stood there for a moment before Ruma gave Gine a grin, " you might be the first Saiyan mother to ever get something like that, Gine."

" Yeah," Gine hummed thoughtfully. However, a concern washed over her face. " But… it's one of the worst feelings right now."

Eventually, Onin caught up with Taro, who had not slowed down not even once. Well, he never had a reason to, anyways. Trekking down the slope just behind him, the two arrived at the lower edge of the plateau. Beyond that was a steep drop that went down into a thick fog shrouding the lower parts of the region. It was noticeably cooler and much, much more damp.

Taro walked up towards the edge and kicked a rock off the ledge. As the rock fell and was devoured by the foggy sea, the two boys waited to hear it hit the ground, but after a half a minute of silence they unanimously decided it was best not to fall.

" Alright, I guess it's time to fly then," Taro hummed, rolling his shoulders.

" But—" Before Onin could ask how they'd do that, Taro suddenly began to levitate off the ground, quickly ascending many feet over a shell-shock Onin.

Still hovering in the air, Taro pulled out his phone and frowned at the device. " Probably should've flown in the very beginning, anyways."

" You can fly?" Onin asked in awe.

Taro looked down at him with a hint of indignation. " And you're telling me you can't?"

Onin stuttered while looking down at the ground. " Uh, no…"

Taro snorted with a sinister grin. " Then consider yourself disqualified before the phase even starts. You won't make it in time."

Just as Taro was about to leave, though, Onin stuck a hand out. " Wait, hold on!"

" Tch, what now?" Taro groaned in annoyance.

" Could you, um, help—"

" Pshh, fuck off. I'm not helping shit." And without a second wasted, Taro was suddenly enveloped in a bright green light before blasting off into the distance. Within seconds, he was a dot amongst the vehicles in the sky.

Onin stood there in the silence of nature, the whistles of the wind being his background. Eventually, he sighed in defeat. He probably should've expected something like that, no less from a saiyan he just met. Taro didn't really seem like the friendly type anyways… well, that pretty much went for every saiyan. Except for his mother, but that's besides the point.

" Alright," Onin huffed, looking at the fall before him. How was he gonna get past this? A bridge was his first thought, but he didn't have the time to waste like that. His second option then was jumping to the next closest body of land. He looked out further, spotting another smaller plateau just a few meters away from the one he was on. He took a quick glance over his back to check the running distance. It looked long enough for a starting sprint. Doable… yeah, doable.

Running back a sizable distance, Onin dropped his bag and did a few quick stretches to warm up his body. Then, putting the bag back in, he coiled his legs as tightly as he could before bursting forward at high speeds. He didn't hold back his strength—not like he could when trying something this dangerous. Pushing as hard as he could, when he just about reached the ledge of the plateau, Onin quickly coiled his legs then sprung outwards with a powerful leap. His jump pushed him many feet into the air, causing him to soar high enough to see the entire plateau he was on. His mother and the lady were still grounded with the vehicle, so he gave them a wave as he began his descent.

He didn't get the chance to see if they had responded, however, for Onin quickly realized that he actually overshot his jump and was heading to fall into the fog on the other side of his target.

" …!" Seeing where he was heading, Onin quickly pushed both hands forward and—with quick thinking—let out two powerful yellow energy pulses, using the recoil to greatly reduce his momentum. He managed to land roughly at the middle of the plateau, rolling for a moment before being stopped by the lump that was his bag.

Onin slowly stood up and dusted himself, scanning the trip ahead of him. There was another plateau close enough for another jump, and as he looked onwards it was the same repeated pattern.

He hummed to himself, confidence breaking on his face. " I'm going to have to be careful, but I got this."

The sun had officially risen over the horizon, shining brightly over the land with its glorious golden rays. Amongst the numerous and varied plateaus and caves in this biome, one mountain stood out greatly. Being as wide as four buildings put side by side, a cavern's entrance was seen on the face of this mountain, which was decorated with metal supports and scaffolding that supported the large cavity. Wired lights dotted and lit the interior, revealing a steep incline that went deep down into the mountain and entered into an even greater cave system.

At the entrance of a ginormous cavern, a large gathering of saiyan youth were tightly pressed together on a metal platform supported by giant metal columns that disappeared down into the misty fog below. Scattered strategically amongst the crowd of youth, adult Saiyans stood at bay, keeping order amongst the rowdiness and ready to punish those who seeked to cause trouble.

Just in front of the giant cave entrance stood a small golden podium. In the front of the podium was the insignia of the royal crown, a blood red trident with a u-shape beneath it, The podium was unoccupied, and so the youth were forced to patiently wait. Many took on to start many side conversations, many of which lacked any nobility.

" Hey, get a load of this," a saiyan boy at the very edge of the crowd said to his friend, pointing towards a particular group of contestants that had been naturally separated from the rest, " they're even letting the half-lifes join too."

" Pfft, why even bother? They won't even be able to survive the first hour," the Saiyan's friend snorted, a smug look adorning his face, " I'll be glad to take out a dozen or so before we get to the real stuff."

" I'm saying. Talk about a light warm-up—"

" Look out!" A loud voice suddenly shouted from the skies. The two boys—as well as many of the nearby contestants who heard the shout—looked up at a small dot descending down from the clouds. Having seen the unknown entity before the shout, the adult saiyans looked up with alarm, shaking out from their bored state as they either went for the handguns or readied their hands with energy spheres. However, as the details on the individual became more clear, they all visibly relaxed with mutually annoyed expressions.

One of the adults pressed on their scouters and spoke with a monotonous voice. " Hold fire, it's just another brat."

With a loud thud, Onin slammed down on the metal platform on both legs, leaving a very small but very noticeable dent in the metal. His legs as well as much of his body shook violently from the impact, and it took him a minute before he recovered. As he fully stood up, passively making sure none of his stuff fell out of his bag, Onin quickly became fully aware of the numerous eyes staring at him. Rubbing a hand on the back of his head, he smiled sheepishly. Maybe he should've chosen a less extravagant entrance.

Whispers had already surfed through the crowd. For the ones Onin managed to hear… they weren't exactly positive.

" Who does this guy think he is? Some hot shot?"

" More like hot shit. That was one lame ass entrance."

" He actually thought he was cool doing that. What a joke."

" And the hell is up with that bag?"

" He probably thinks this is a camping trip, haha!"

Trying his best to ignore the comments, Onin's eyes scanned the crowd, not particularly looking for anything specifically. He did, however, passively try to see if Taro was anywhere nearby, but the green spiky mohawk was nowhere in sight. A surprise, really, since he would've stuck out like a sore thumb. Aside from that, he knew absolutely no one here. One would think that he'd at least see some familiar faces from his own community, but he didn't really remember any in the first place. So far, it's Taro, Raditz (which really didn't count), and the Trotter Lot…

A cold shiver suddenly ran down Onin's spine. With wide eyes, he cautiously rescanned the crowd. Once…twice…on the fourth scan, he relaxed himself. There was no Trotter Lot member in sight. That was good… wait, no. They could be up front where he can't see. Or not… they did say they were from a rival community. But… with how many saiyans are here, they're community is probably in the same region as well.

"..." Hopefully they didn't notice his entrance. Do… do they even think he's still alive? Well… the only witness they have is Heele, so probably not. In any case, this was a solid revelation that he should probably stay as low as possible and not bring attention to himself. Thankfully, it looked like everyone already forgot his entrance.

" Alright, eyes up here fools!"

Suddenly, a loud voice boomed from the speakers at the podium, causing everyone to become quiet. All attention was brought towards a lone saiyan. He was tall and bulky, with medium sized spiky hair, long heavy side burns, and a bushy horseshoe mustache.

The saiyan cleared his throat, holding up a paper and speaking in a monotonous voice. " Welcome to the second phase of the Hounding Race. My name is Paragus and I'll be the lead overseer of this phase. As you may already know, this year's Hounding Race is taking place in Railspeed's largest mineral cave, which so happens to be Planet Vegeta's largest cave system."

There was no outward expression from the crowd, though Onin silently awed at the information. Who's Railspeed? Is that a company? " You are amongst the 38% to have successfully completed the first phase, and so on behalf of King Vegeta LXXII, I give to you the surface-level commemoration of your achievement."

Like a wildfire, silent but elated whispers washed through the crowd. Many of the contestants held cocky and prideful smiles on their faces. Onin simply blinked at the supposedly shallow compliment. Also, 38%? What happened to the other 2%?

" Did you hear that? He said King Vegeta gave us a surface level comemo-whatever!" someone said near Onin. Another began talking about how they're family would be proud. Did they not know what the message meant? Onin decided to keep quiet.

" Moving on with the agenda, I will give you all a brief overview on the details of this event," Paragus continued, flipping a page on the podium, " as some of you may have already heard in the virtual preview, the second phase is designed to examine your survivability. Your only goal in this phase is to survive for the next seventy-two hours inside these caverns."

Onin's eyes widened in shock. " S-Seventy two hours?!"

" Food, shelter, safety… essentially everything is now under your responsibility. You will receive no outside aid during these next hours, and by the ninth edict of King Vegeta XLV of the Trufflean Regime, all proctors of this phase hold no responsibility for what will happen in the duration of the phase."

Onin pressed his lips, sweat running down his forehead. So this meant there was no turning back once he's down there. That is, of course, unless he left now… yeah, no way. As if he'll chicken out now. This just means he'll need to be more frugal with his supplies. He should at least have some courage in doing this. Besides… with the long line of adults forming near the edge of the crowd, there's probably no backing out now.

" Under such ruling, this phase will not be recorded. We will have no knowledge of what happened in this phase except from eyewitnesses," Paragus continued. The information gained some looks in the crowd that made Onin's back crawl.

Suddenly, the adult Saiyans that had remained in the crowd began to levitate up and flew over to join the others at the edge of the crowd. Then Paragus and the podium flew several feet up and over. He looked down at the Saiyan youth with a grin, his left hand raised up.

" Enough has been spoken, and so we will begin the phase shortly. By the count of two, I will issue the start of the phase." He then pointed out with his right hand towards the semicircle of adult Saiyans behind the crowd. " And by then, I will have also given order to the Saiyans in the back to fire at will to whoever decides to slack off."

" What?!" Pretty much everyone shouted out at the same time.

Paragus laughed out loud. It was purely savage. " I would suggest you all get moving until then. One!"

And like a stampede, the hundreds if not thousand Saiyan youth pushed against each other in a monstrous up roar. Many who were too weak to bear the sudden wave were pushed down and endured the painful experience of numerous feet stomping on them. The more adept contestants decidedly took flight, soaring over the crowds with cocky expressions and disappearing down the mouth of the mountain.

Onin's eyes widened as he looked around at the chaos. What the heck?! Why would they open fire at the contestants? Who even allowed this?! He glanced back at the very close adult behind him, who grinned at him with a sickening and bloodlusted look. Oh, they were definitely serious. He should probably get moving too.

" Two! Fire at will!"

Onin barely ducked under a rapid energy blast that shot right at him, searing the top of his bag. The same energy blast zoomed into the crowd and hit dead center on the back of a girl, cracking her armor and making her drop limp on the floor. Wasting no time, Onin darted forward with the crowd, trying his best to make weaving motions to confuse the rear assaulters. Even then, he still felt a few hits on his bag. A lot, actually. Not a huge surprise since he was definitely an easy target. It sucks, but at the same time he tried to make the best of the attacks, using the recoil as a push for him to go forward.

From above, many of the saiyan youth that decided to fly were instantly shot down, their smoking forms crashing down at the crowd and causing even more sudden delays. There was one particular blockade in front of Onin, and so making the risky but quick decision, he leaped over the crowd. However, mid air he noticed an energy blast head his way. Two of them, in fact. Adjusting himself, Onin enveloped his hands with an extra layer of energy and deflected the attacks, which unintentionally went down and exploded on the ground with the crowd. Wincing a quiet sorry, Onin used the temporary flash of light to mask himself and push even further.

He was making quick progress, and in a few seconds he was going to enter the cave. This was one heck of a turn of events, but Onin was happy he managed to react in time. However, his progress was halted as he felt a hard punch on the right side of his face, sending his toppling onto the ground.

" Move over, dumbass!" someone yelled, who Onin assumed was his random assaulter. Quickly trying to get up, he was then met with a hard kick to the stomach, another punch to the face, and a continuous series of frantic and haphazard attacks, all of which sent him flying off to the side even further. Eventually, the crazed attacks from the contestants stopped, and Onin went on to roll even further away from the entrance. Passively, he heard a chorus of laughter that waned out as the last of the contestants entered the cave.

Onin rolled to a complete stop at the edge of the metal platform, his left arm and leg dangling freely off the ledge. His face was flat on the cold metal, the coldness stinging the side of his burning cheek with intensity. Different parts of his body stung from the crowd's assault, leaving his mind jumbled in an ocean of pain. As he groaned and attempted to push himself up, he heard footsteps approaching him.

" Hm, looks like we got an over-preparer here," the voice of saiyan snorted, " haven't seen one of these in a while."

" That's because they don't get far with their over preparation," another scoffed from behind, " all that extra work just to die in the first two minutes."

" Tell me about it." Onin suddenly felt some pressure on his torn and tattered bag. His eyes widened as he felt himself being pushed more and more off the edge.

" W-Wait!" Onin shouted out in an attempt, fear washing over his eyes. Were they really going to push him off? Why? He was already down, he couldn't do anything!

" No hard feelings kid, but you know the rules," the Saiyan said in mirth. As Onin was only a few inches from falling, he looked up to see a twisted and gleeful grin on the saiyan's face. " Well, what should I say? Better luck next time? Nah… better luck never!"

And with a final hard push, Onin was sent off the ledge, the sounds of the Saiyan's twisted laughter receding as he was devoured by the fog below.

Author's Note

Thank you once again for reading. This, of course, is where the actual action begins. Time to see how Onin will fare in a real-life situation... or as realistic of a situation I can put him in. This also means I've gotta read up on what it's like to even be in a cave. Fantasy can only go as far as your knowledge, anyways.

Since I did not previously mention it in the last chapter, I'd like to give my condolences to Akira Toriyama's family for his death in March of this year. His very work is why I'm even here making this story, and I will forever commemorate him for the bringing the Dragon Ball series into fruition. If I could've met him in real life, I would've shaken his hand and thanked him for his work. May you find seldom peace, Akira.

The next chapter will likely be shorter... well, shorter in the sense that I don't drag on unnecessary segments. I've already had it all laid out in my head, now it's just me putting in on paper. I'm thinking of breaking it into two parts, maybe three if I somehow manage to make more lore out of it. In any case, I'm trying to think of what I can do in-between this phase two and the third phase. I guess I'll address that when I get there.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on the new character Taro. He's another original I made, and shockingly I haven't figured out his role yet. I may or may have not just made a useless character, but I concur! He could be useful somewhere... just know he's not permanent.

Well, that will be all for me. Hopefully I can post another chapter much sooner. Thanks again for reading! Peace.