Neoru's Dilemma! Can A Fighting Spirit Truly Dissipate?

[YESTER-AGE]

"OOOOORRRRIYAAAAAA-"

"C-COME ON, BRO, JUST GIVE ME A BREAK!"

"-AAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"AIN'T YA TIRED AT ALL? 30 MINUTES, THAT'S ALL I'M ASKING!"

"-AAAAAAAAAAAA-"

"H-HUNGRY!? I SWEAR I'LL GET YOU SOMETHING YUMMY FROM THE CITY RIGHT NOW IF YOU JUST STOP!"

"-AAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"OH GOD OH FU-"

The teen's lungs had each and every bit of air promptly exorcised from them courtesy of a small child's stupidly-thick head.

"NEVER!" the would-be preschooler declared between labored breaths. "I'VE ALWAYS GOTTA KEEP FIGHTING, LIKE YOU SAID!"

"I meant… That's not what I…" the elder brother wheezed, clutching his stomach and rolling on the ground in pain.

A good 30 minutes later, the two shared a bag of bread and freshly-caught fish over a campfire.

"There's a difference between pushing on during a real fight, and pushing it during practice. You need to know that, Neo," the older brother stated, accented tone wedged between warmth and "this kid will be the death of me!"

Neo continued to stuff his little face.

"(Shenron's Whiskers, he isn't even listening.)" He cleared his throat, catching his sibling's attention.

"There are also more ways to fight. And with that, more ways to give up."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Neo asked, bewildered.

"Say… a buff guy's fighting a lanky guy. The lankier guy shows something to the buff guy that makes him give up, even though he most definitely could've won. Follow?"

Neo's face shifted in confusion ever-so slightly. "Mmm… Mm-Hm."

"Well… the big man no longer wanted to fight, because the scrawny man revealed something to him that, err… made him very sad."

"So he gave up the fight."

"Not just that."

The brother pointed to his head.

"If you give up in here, you give up the fight for now. The buff man gave up not only in here, but…"

He pointed to his heart.

"In here. If you give up here… you give up for good."

"Is that because it stops pumping the blood stuff and you die?"

The older sibling laughed. "Too literal, goofball!"

With that, he ruffled Neo's fluffy hair as his voice took on a soft, sincere tone.

"This world will show you things. Things that will make you want to give up. But I know you're strong enough to bare it, even if you deny it as much as you can."

He proceeded to grab Neo's shoulder, staring directly into his eyes.

"The heart holds your fighting spirit, and I believe it shows through a person's eyes. And there's light in your eyes, Brother Mine. A fight. Don't let this world put it out. When I say 'keep fighting,' that's what I mean. Keep that burning light of yours."

Neo stared, clueless, before staring at the ground in reflection. He was pondering hard enough to borderline hurt himself.

"(How did you explain these things so well, Papa?) Look, just get some rest. We'll talk more in the morning. Goodnight, Neo."

As his brother turned on his own cardboard mattress, Neo lied face-up. His brother's dark-grey tribal vest made as a makeshift blanket.

"Keep… your light…?"

His violet eyes, each harboring a small patch of light, stared aimlessly into the infinite cosmos.

"I guess it just means… Keeps fighting. I can do that!"

A confident smile lined his face, eyes shimmering with resolve.

"Yeah! I'll always keep fighting!"

[PRESENT AGE, PRESENT DAY]

"Shao Mei… That's correct, right?" Trunks asked.

Mei nodded.

"Alright. (First Time, Every Time.) Now then…"

Trunks pulled up a holographic image of Mei neutralizing Archi's arm with a touch, sending him to the floor and reducing him to a writhing mess. Just the sight of him made her tense.

"Mind explaining this?"

"It touched me."

"I doubt it ends there. You came up and picked a fight with him, even though there was nothing to gain from it."

Mei expression worsened.

"I needed to test myself."

"Test yourself?"

"Against a Hou Guǐ."

Trunks raised an eyebrow.

"'Evil spirits, tailed like monkeys."

"To me… and to them, and to the universe at large… they're called saiyans."

"Saiyans…" the sheer hatred and fear in her voice made Trunks's skin crawl. At that point, he was getting a decent view of how she'd come to know the race. Likely how many planets had the misfortune of encountering saiyans.

They were likely how she wounded up here in the first place.

"Look… whatever saiyans you've met in the past, I swear to you. There isn't one here that'd hurt you like they did-"

"How do you know?" Mei suddenly interrupted.

"Trust me, they would've never ended up here if-"

"WHY SHOULD I TRUST YOU?"

Trunks's control of the situation was slipping through his grasp like sand.

"THOSE BEASTS.… THEY TAKE WHAT THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO… THEY JUST TAKE AND TAKE UNTIL… NOTHING REMAINS..." she croaked as tears began to well, clutching herself in a panicked fit as if she were reliving something within her mind.

"Wait, I need you to calm down!"

"ALL THEY KNOW IS DEATH! ALL THEY KNOW IS..."

She suddenly clutched her throat in pain.

"I am weak. But when I progress… I make the 'Saiyans' pay myself."

What seemed like a day has past since then. The star in the sky began to peak through the dissipating void, forming a hazy sunrise. About 3-to-4 patrollers were out and about at the time. Mei happened to be one of them.

Mei jolted from her sleep atop a grassy plateau – the apartment she was assigned scared and confused her – in a cold sweat. Yet another nightmare remembering what little she'd gained, what little she'd loved for so long, and how so much was simply taken with such little effort. She cleared her eyes and pushed back her needle-like bangs, allowing her a cleaner view of Conton's surreal version of daybreak. It was calming, the dark-blue sky reviving memories of a younger Mei waking up early and racing to the top of the empirical palace to see the sun rise.

After an hour of practicing form, stretches, and meditation, she made her way down the path connecting the plateau's peak from the sky to the ground. The scene of the seemingly immovable mountain of a Saiyan falling to his knees suddenly popped into her mind again, giving her a satisfied smirk. That was a sign, a sign that she was coming ever closer to her goal of…

"That boy…?"

(BGM: One Million Way of Drum)

Neoru made his way toward her, fists clenched and a look of genuine resentment etched across his face.

"He wants to test me again…" Mei suddenly took a high stance, one that'd allow her to instantly counter any of his attacks with her own.

"It is fine with me! I will only defeat you again!"

His violet, void-like eyes stared daggers into hers. They were dead; hauntingly hollow and even more vacant than her own. They'd seen genuine darkness before, it was clear now that he was closer.

"Come…!"

Neoru slowly reached toward his sword. His face began to contort into a scowl, as his legs began to shift into position.

"Come!"

With utmost ferocity, Neoru let out a ground-shaking yawn, making a devastating turn left as he brutally rubbed his sore neck.

"-uckin' neck is killin' me…"

Mei just kinda stood there, dumbfounded. Her stance just looked stupid now.

"…eh?"

Neoru was an odd boy.

After waking, he just strolled out of the ER; the only thing particularly wrong at this point was that his neck had been stiffened, after all.

He took in the morning sun, and began walking around the vacant town. Along the way, the scary chick who'd kicked his ass just yesterday took up some kind of fighting pose randomly, weirdo.

If he can't learn how she was able to dismantle someone himself, then who cares? He'd only get his ass kicked or end up dead if he gave it another go.

"Fuckin' neck is killing me…" he muttered, his sleeping position the night before being less-than-comfortable.

He didn't know exactly why he was taking this walk.

"How the hell'd that water get so clear…?" he wondered as he sat by a crystal-blue waterfall.

"Wonder if anyone'd mind if I just took one of these…" he contemplated, mouth watering a bit as he circled what seemed like a cabbage crop amongst blue grass. Footsteps from within one of the spiked huts surrounding the crop quickly sent him on his way.

For the time being, he wanted to explore.

"… Please stop knocking on me," a helper bot asked in monotone.

"OH SHIT, YOU CAN TALK?"

"HEEEEY!" he screamed into the hazy sky. "BIG BLUE EYES IN THE SKY! CAN YOU TALK, TOO!"

"…"

"It's a rock, no shit it can't talk…"

Eventually, as he walked back and forth throughout the massive expanse (going in circles more times than he'd realized,) he found himself growing more and more annoyed for a reason he couldn't put his finger on. Like some chasm was being dug within him.

Neoru began to walk slower, and slower, until he finally ground to a halt. He sat on a row of stairs. Surrounded by nigh-complete silence, he found himself alone with his thoughts.

"… now what?"

He continued to sit.

"I SWEAR, once I find the son of a bitch who bent up my game cabinet," Kaset grumbled, "It's they ENTIRE ASS!"

"Yeah, that'll accomplish a bunch…" Ayeva retorted.

"Oh yeah, it must feel amaaaazing to be able to ALWAYS take the moral high ground!"

"Also helps that I don't take 1s and 0s as serious as you do."

"… Your entire life is 1s and 0s. Don't you literally LEAD calcs?"

"… you-you know what I mea-Shut up."

The two veteran time patrollers spotted a familiar face as they continued towards their respective destinations.

"Hey, Stroga!" Kaset yelled, waving his hand, "How you been?"

The namekian smiled, pausing his trek toward the Academy to meet up with old friends.

"I see you're still kicking! Blatant disregard for grammatical laws and all!"

Kaset chuckled, pulling Stroga in for a handshake. "Already know! So how's your class been?"

Stroga let out a frustrated sigh.

"That bad, huh?" Ayeva commented. Stroga glumly nodded his head.

"2 FIGHTS. IN ONE DAY. Absurd, I tell you. One period, 2 saiyans enter a screaming contest over your typical petty saiyan reasons, and the next, one human – ONE. TINY. HUMAN. – comes out of the blue before incapacitating two more students (one of them had the gall to interrupt the lesson again!) with some bizarre, nerve-shredding (in more ways than one, took forever to find the points to ease the pain) technique that I've literally never seen before. Absolute entropy soon after, had to call off the seminar early, ridiculous all around."

Ayeva gave a sympathetic giggle. "Calculations has its fair share of bumps, but I never have to deal with rookies. Wouldn't be caught dead doing anything else."

"What about the one I saw you helping out 2 days ago?" Kaset mentioned, flustering Ayeva.

"I… there's just some things I can't ignore," she muttered, folding her arms. "That's all."

"How are distortions looking?" Stroga asked, changing the subject and earning Ayeva's eternal gratitude.

"Just the usual. Anomalies are cropping up at constant rates across space-time, occasional minor rift in the fabric here and there, things are as normal as they'll ever be. Just more to keep you occupied, huh Kaset?"

Kaset's expression shifted a bit upon the mentioning of rifts; just enough for Ayeva to notice.

"Towa's been getting cryptic. No serious moves, but… I'm catchin' glimpses of her while I'm patrolling out the corner of my eye. It's like she's just teasing us right now. She's hatching something."

At the mere mention of that name, the atmosphere took a nosedive.

"Damn, looks like I ruined the mood. Don't worry; if she pulls anything serious, you'll be one of the first to know, Ayeva."

"I know that…just…"

Stroga sighed. "Class begins in 10 minutes. I hope to see you two by the day's end."

"Count on it. Don't let these bad little kids run all over you, either."

"Count on it." Stroga gave a weak smile before leaving.

"I'm gonna go do what I'm good at. Good luck," Kaset said to Ayeva, who gave him a light slug on the arm.

"I don't need luck, I need results. YOU'RE the one who needs luck, dimwit."

Kaset smirked, shrugging his shoulders before blasting off. "Whatever you say, Ice Queen. I'm gone."

"… If you die, I'll kill you…" Ayeva said to herself.

Kaset was halfway out of the city before spotting the kid he'd met a few days back who told a chick to kill herself below. The way he sat rang a few bells in his mind; he was either asleep or something was wrong.

"HEY, err, NEO!"

No response.

"You're up early!" He said in a chipper tone as he landed. "Starting to get adjusted to living here?"

No response.

"… what's wrong, Neo?"

"… I dunno," the boy weakly muttered.

"I think you do. Just that you don't know how to get it out yet."

Kaset gave a warm smile.

"You feel lost, don't you?"

"Hell no, I know this shithole like the back'a my hand now."

"(… You know what? That's my fault.)"

The veteran patroller took a different approach.

"Neo. What do you wanna do?"

"Not end up dead in some ditch somewhere, what else?"

"… Is that it?"

"And I'll say it again, what else? Don't want any damn name for myself, I just wanna keep survivin'."

Kaset took a seat on the same stair as Neoru.

"So day in, day out, you'll just keep surviving. Nothing greater than that, because to you, nothing greater exists; everything you do is for the sake of livin' another day. Never really had to think about how empty that felt because you just kept moving forward along, but now you're suddenly in a big comfy box, alone with hardly anything to work towards. Am I getting somewhere?"

"What are you, my fuckin' shrink?"

"I'm sayin' I get it, Neo. And I think I can help you through this."

Neoru was getting agitated.

"I don't need help dammit, I just need to think."

"Where's that gotten you so far?"

Neoru was getting angry.

"Look, just sitting down and dwelling on it's just gonna bring you deeper down this existential crisis I know you're having right now."

"Existen-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU EVEN TALKIN' ABOUT!?" Neoru yelled, suddenly jumping up in a rage. "YOU'RE GONNA STOP TALKIN'A ME LIKE YOU'RE MY DAMN BROTHER OR SOME SHIT!"

Neoru suddenly paused, balling his fists.

"Class is starting pretty soon," Kaset stated calmly.

Neo jumped off the stairs and stormed off in a confused rage, desperate to escape whatever he'd found himself in.

"… Nice move, Kaset," he sighed. "Like that ever worked when you were in those shoes."

Neoru suddenly ran back.

"AN' STOP CALLIN' ME 'NEO,' JACKASS!"

"'Day in Day out You Just Keep Surviving' yeah no fuckin' shit ya' genius I don't need'a do anything else but keep this up how do ya' think I got so far as-is sorry I didn't choose to fuckin'... sew shit for the rest'a my life or some boring shit like-"

During his petty, high-speed-under-breath mumblethon, Neoru was suddenly hit by a locomotive.

"WATCH IT, YOU SODDING CLUTZ!" said locomotive yelled as it barged into the school.

.

.

(BGM: 14? Ft. Substantial – When the Luster Fades Instrumental)

As he lay face-up at the now-cerulean sky, He could hardly find the find the strength to stand.

And yet..

"The hell's the point?" he sighed as he stood back up regardless.

He couldn't explain it, as he couldn't with many things.

But something, a force he couldn't make out, or maybe some kind of genetic wiring. That annoying feeling that always accompanied him, demanding that he stand back up and keep moving whenever he wanted to lie down and die, or end it himself. Or maybe it was that furious inner fire that borderline train was giving off just now. Whatever it was, he was up now.

"Somethin' about light?" Neo muttered to himself, scratching the back of his head as his feet carried him into the Academy.

Yo! OP Here.

Watch Demon Slayer.

Anyway, that was Chapter 14 of DBSTEP, centered around the almost-protagonist and establishing his quest to BECOME A DAMN PROTAGONIST. But yeah, I feel like his aimlessnes suits the type of character in my opinion; you don't exactly see many of his type in situations like this, and I wanted to try and reflect upon that. Don't worry; after this next Dina-centric chapter I've got planned (may change as always, don't count on it though,) he'll have a damn fine time to shine and a new goal set in mind. (Hint: Zinco helps in said goal's conception.)

But yeah. Not much else beside the fact that pun names are HARD AS HELL TO COME UP WITH (Shia Mei's took like 3 hours when I first started making the chapter, wanted to combine "Chow Mein" with "Xiāmáng", basically "Foolish Haste" in Mandarin, but that just kinda sounds... wonky, I dunno. Open to suggestions though, any time, 'cus I am still a mentally-broke ass bitch who needs harsh critique.) Toriyama must've had the patience and care of the Buddha to come up with this stuff in the 80s, what a guy.

((Yo, Future OP here, It's Sháo now.)

Hope you guys are having a decent last few days of summer, getting work done, watching Demon Slayer, and just getting ready all around. Already in school? Wish you the best, and enjoy and/or make the most out of the first weekend of the year. As for me, schedule may change depending on Senior Year's woes, but I'll try to be resolute about it.

That's about it. See ya.

GOD EMPEROR NEZUKO DEMANDS SACRIFICE HEATHEN-