Disk 4: Warming Up To Conton City! There's a Smile Around Every Corner!
On the last "riveting" installment of Dragon Ball STEP, despite his best efforts, Neoru was completely outmatched by Trunks's unimaginable power! Now our 3 hero- our 3 recruits have been dropped into the heart of Conton City! What wacky and light-hearted hijinks will these kooky kids get into now? Tune in and find out!
(BGM: J Dilla - 2 Can Win)
"Welcome to Conton City."
And with that, Trunks disappeared, leaving the 3 to take in their surroundings. Well, 2, considering Voshyo immediately distanced himself after letting out an obligatory sucking of teeth.
Both Neoru and Dina took time to look around. The 2 stood in front of a small 3-way pond walkway, which displayed a sizable hologram depicting a spiky-haired figure in a caped jacket. Leading from the pond was a roundabout spreading outward into 3 brick paths, each leading into different sectors. Surrounding the pond was a plaza, where dozens of unique faces congregated and a cacophony of voices spoke, shouted, whispered, etc.
Dina wasn't taking this sudden new shift well. In fact, she was becoming more bewildered and hyperventilated by the second. Neoru, on the other hand, was more curious than anything. "Uh-huh... this is something..." he slowly stated, still evaluating everything.
"...What's wrong with you?"
"Eh?"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Dina screamed in a sudden outburst, drawing passing looks. "HOW? HOW ARE YOU JUST ACTING LIKE NOTHING IS WRONG, YOU ABSOLUTE KNOB? WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF FUCKING NOWHERE, FIND OUT YOU'VE BASICALLY FUCKING DIED, KICKED INTO FUCKING WONDERLAND WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A FUCKING MAP, AND YOU JUST BEHAVE LIKE EVERYTHING'S ALL HUNKY-DOREY? LIKE THIS IS IN ANY WAY NORMAL? NO! THIS ISN'T NORMAL! NORMAL PEOPLE DON'T FUCKING ACT LIKE THIS!"
Neoru's eyes widened like a fish's before narrowing.
"...Really got an issue with 'fuck' don't you-You know you aren't exactly normal either you, piss-haired weirdo! Besides I'm not getting anywhere by rolling on the floor in the fetal position like you're doing. You can ACT like a dumbass all you want, just don't drag me along with ya."
With that, Neo left in order scope out the area.
"Fine, piss off and take your shit stench with you, cunt!" Dina screamed, tears now falling freely. Now on emotional overdrive, she raced off in order to find a quiet place to think, bumping into a multitude of extraterrestrial species along the way.
Neoru walked through a pathway riddled with bamboo, recapping past events. "So I'm not dead, and this isn't Hell, huh? Well if I'm trapped with these freaks, it might as well be..." Neo proceeded to pick up a handful of grass from the ground. "Little pick-me-up..." he mumbled as he began to munch, somehow bearing its taste. As he enjoyed his bizarre snack, a scene began to play out in his mind...
"Look, you're better than me! I know it, you know it, hell, they knew too! So if anyone's gonna make it past here, it's gotta be you!"
Neoru's eyes narrowed.
"Use your head, dumbass! If we both die here, everyone would've died for nothing! Listen, I'm sorry I fucked this up, just... you've gotta be the one to give this bastard one for all of us, ok? I'll hold him off my damn self, you just go!"
Neoru's fists balled.
"I SAID GO!"
Neoru bit his tongue, stopping him dead in his tracks. "Ffffuck!" he spat in between bloody gobs of grass. He kicked up dirt in frustration, allowing his mind to use the sudden injury as an excuse for his rage.
"Ay, you alright in there?" an unfamiliar voice echoed from the end of the bamboo walk.
Neoru hacked up the last of his former meal. "Who is that?"
"Wait, you're new here, aren't you?"
"I said who's askin'!"
The voice decided to reapproach the situation with an answer instead of a question, like a decent human being, as he began to walk down the path.
"Just a guy looking to help!" He said in a friendly tone.
In a quiet alley, Dina had been crying on the ground for a good 20 minutes straight. Nearby, a woman was analyzing sets of numbers on a portable screen. Clad in an long indigo jacket and a white shirt coupled with leggings, she ended up stumbling upon the sobbing wreck while walking past the alleyway. She paused for a moment, took a few steps back, paused again, walked forth again, and finally decided to check on the girl.
"Leave me alone!"
"Oh thank Chronoa", she said to herself loud enough for Dina to hear.
"Wait..."
"Tch!" the woman hissed.
"I just... need someone to talk to..."
A tad of empathy emerged from the woman in that moment, and she decided to take a seat on the ground with the halfbreed. Exhaling a bit of carbon, she then went on to say in a monotone voice:
"Go on."
"SOONEMOMENTIMWAKINGUPANDTHENEXTIFINDOUTMYBESTFRIENDJUSTMURDEREDANENTIRESCHOOLSWORTHOFPEOPLEWITHHERMAGICHANDSORWHATEVERSOIRUSHOVERANDTHEREWASSOMUCHBLOODANDIWASNTINTHERIGHTMINDANDALLICOULDSEEWASREDANDTHENTHENEXTTHINGIKNOWIMAGAINSTAWALLANDIGOTSTABBEDANDITREALLYHURTANDIWASSCAREDANDTHENIWAKEUPHEREANDTHENTHISBIGBLOKEWITHATAILFORSOMEREASONBEATSMEUPANDCALLSMEANABONINATIONANDNOONEWILLHELPMEANDIMSCAREDANDCONFUSEDANDAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!" Dina's incoherent blabber ended in intense wailing.
"Oh ok" the woman replied in deadpan. Somehow, the woman was able to process the general gist of her situation. "Name?"
"Du-Dina."
She began to type away at the air until acquiring her desired information. "Do you know you have an apartment?"
Dina shook her head.
"Want me to take you?"
"Y-you'd do that?" she sniffled.
"Sure why not."
Dina began wiping her practically leaking face and gave the stranger a smile almost infectious with its sincerity. "Thank you."
The woman blushed a light-blue hue, her cold, seemingly robotic exterior melting a bit. "Oh, yeah, it was nothing. Now on your feet, let's go."
"Mh-Hm!"
Neoru stared at the food for a good few seconds. Everything about it - the gooey yellow-orange stuff oozing off it, the chunky red stuff underneath that, the weird scent that he could've sworn he'd smelled before...
Wait, he began to form a word for it in his head. Someone special had found it for him once, and they both ate together... it was, uhhhh... had a "P" in it... it was right on the tip of his-
"It's pizza, dude. Just eat it."
"Whatever, I knew that" Neoru half-murmured as he slowly savored the slice of life.
"Sooo... got a name, kid?"
"Meou."
"Huh?"
Neoru gulped down the warm slice of pizza. "Neoru."
"Neh-Oh-Ru? Who names their kid Neoru?"
"Alright then dipshit, what's your name?"
"First of all, it's not 'dipshit', it's Kahset."
"Don't ever fucking talk to me about stupid names again."
"...you've got balls, I give you that."
The ma-Kaset stood a bit over 6 feet, mocking Neo's 5'7. He wore an earpiece that doubled as a scouter, as well as a sleek wrist gauntlet showcasing a complex screen; in fact, a few patrollers had this gauntlet, all of them possessing a noticeable pressure. And although this man was no different, the pressure was offset by his casual choice of clothing. He even wore a baseball cap.
"Over there", he pointed towards the large establishment behind a fountain on the far side of town, "is Orange Star High. Where you're supposed to be for 9 months. You know what a month is, right?"
"That's like a night butterfly, right?"
"You need to head there, first thing tomorrow."
Kaset began typing at his gauntlet. "O-R-U - got it. You've got an apartment oveeer..."
He attempted to point to the coordinates, while Neoru watched intensively, but too many buildings obscured it.
"Screw it, I'll take you. Hop on."
"That's sky dance, right? I can do that, wa-"
"You don't even know what a month is yet, you ain't even close to earning your flier's license."
"THE HELL'S A LICENSE?"
"Look, I'm not walking. Hop on."
Neoru reluctantly boarded Kaset Airlines 474.
"Oh!" Dina gasped. "I almost forgot. I didn't get your name, fair stranger!"
The woman turned her head to hide a smirk before replying. "My name is-"
"YO, AYEVA!"
"Eternal Shenron grant me restraint."
Kaset landed by Ayeva in a playful manner. "Didn't think I'd catch you here, or did you wait for me?"
"Choke on it."
"Still so cold..." Kaset dramatically wiped a crocodile tear from his sorrowful visage. "Why must you wound me so with your venomous tongue?"
"Keep mocking me if you want a Shining Prostate Exam, you pathetic idiot."
Kaset smugly snickered. "With threats like that, who needs rewards?"
As the two veteran patrollers bickered, Dina glared at Neoru, who was coming to terms with his predicament and how he could overcome it.
"Pleasure seeing you here," she sarcastically growled.
"Yeah, whatever crybaby, just don't screw with me and I'll live."
"Keep chatting like that and they'll never find your carcass, yeah?"
"KEeP cHaTtInG lIkE tHaT aNd- kill yourself, you big words bitchass."
Dina stared in shock.
Both Kaset and Ayeva immediately snapped to Neoru and Dina.
"...You have 5 seconds to scurry inside that building, find your flat, and hide for your fucking life."
"Bite me," Neoru said as he walked inside.
He proceeded to scream profanities as he desperately searched for his number.
"Go get 'em, tiger", Ayeva proudly pushed Dina onward.
"AYE AYE, CAPTAIN!" she yelled as she gave chase at mach speeds.
"No" Trunks stated.
"I demand you!" Voshyo proclaimed.
"That'd be suicide. Are you stupid?"
"A Saiyan does not run from death, and yet you dared deny me one befitting a king. That isn't your call to make."
"Like hell it isn't. If you go back now, you're not a hero, you're an idiot who died twice. If you stay, you can get strong enough to ensure that you never endure anything like that again. But you aren't, and you won't be for a while."
"I've heard enough! Every waking moment I breathe, a Saiyan is forced to slave away beneath the heel of a self-righteous reprobate! I won't accept that!"
Trunks slammed his open palm upon his desk.
"WHAT GOOD IS A DEAD KING, HUH? WHAT USE IS A MARTYR WHO DIES FOR NOTHING? WAKE UP, DAMMIT!"
Voshyo found himself without a confident retort.
"You...!"
"Now if that's all, I have business to attend to," the lavender-haired commander bluntly concluded. "Get the hell out of my office."
Voshyo snarled, ultimately departing in defeat.
Trunks rubbed his forehead. "Give me a break..."
OP in this bih'.
Ain't got nothing to say except that I had to rewrite this entire thing over some stuff. Eat some good food and live free.