[OP: My First Story – King and Ashley]
What Lies Within You? Neoru's Reacquaintance with Hell!
[YESTER-AGE]
"Socai!"
"…"
"Socai!"
"…"
"SOCAI!"
"I'm up! I'm up!" Neo's brother picked himself up. "Good grief, you're a handful!"
"You said we could start training when the hand pointed to…"
The bright-eyed child pulled out a cracked, rusted stopwatch from his pocket.
"… THIS part!"
Socai scratched his head. "Oh, you're using THAT battered old pedaço de lixo? Don'cha know that's… fiii-10 minutes early?" He used ki to wind the clock back 10 minutes, to Neoru's immense distaste.
"There. Mucho mejer!" He coyly proclaimed, knowing very well his brother would be having none of that.
Sure enough, Neoru'd already started pouting.
"Bro…! We can't save the world if you're just snoring all day!"
Socai gave a defeated sigh, ruffling Neo's poofy hair. "OKAY, I get it. Let's begin."
His wide-violet eyed kid brother pumped his arms into the air. "Yush!"
As the two made their way out of the busted-up home and into the young moon, as Neo stood in awe at the wonky-looking Borealis struggling to dance in the sky, Socai couldn't help but feel a tinge of admiration. Or maybe it was pity. Or hope. All 3? Likely.
"I'm glad…" he thought to himself, "to know such a cabeça-dura little tyke."
[PRESENT DAY, PRESENT TIME]
Infinite.
If Neoru knew what it meant, he'd use it to describe the sky above.
An infinite, teal-green and deep dark blue, swirling abyss of a night sky above an endless forest.
And at the center of it all, far off in the distance, a tree of metallic-purple bark, colossal in width and height alike, piercing the sky. Like something out a fever dream.
"I know, right?"
Neoru only continued to gaze off.
" 's called a 'Stagnant Timespace.' It's no Hyperbolic Room of… no, lemme slow down. What I'm getting at is, it doesn't compress time or anything. It's just an anomaly, infinite and yet never progressing, without reason. They just kinda crop up, and the Time Patrol… 'confiscates' em. Use 'em for training purposes. Like we are…"
"Uh…huh…"
Kaset sighed. "Yeah, you don't care. Not here to lecture you, anyway."
Neoru smacked his cheeks.
"YEAH, yeah, let's uh, let's do this."
With a nod, Kaset issued his first order:
"Drop down and give me 2000."
.
.
.
"Eh?"
"2000 pushups. Do 'em."
"The hell's a thousand?"
"Twenty hundred pushups. Do 'em."
"Oh. Wait, that's it?"
"Right now, yeah. Somethin' light, lets me know what I'm working with."
Neoru shrugged. "Sure, fine, whatever."
The boy lifted himself thrice before a swift, harsh foot to the gut elevated him a good 5 heads off the ground. He spent the next few seconds reeling in agony.
"Gu-~AaAcK-! THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU-" the young man spat after rerolling his eyes to the front of his sockets.
"Oh-my bad. I just get heated when I see people do the simplest shit wrong. Something I picked up off the old bastard that trained me. Apologies."
"I DID THE DAMN PUSHUPS…!" Neoru gasped, baring through the pain of the blow and standing again, before having his legs swept from under him with a kick that shook trees well past the horizon.
"Nooo, YOU kept dropping yourself and throwin' your weight all over the place, looking like a pile'a meat with Parkinson's."
"WHAT THE F…"
In a huff, Neoru once more dropped to the ground, outstretched backward, lined himself up, straightened his back, and did a pushup as passive-aggressively slow as humanly possible; all while maintaining eye contact with a disgusted Kaset.
"AW COME ON!"
"You didn't feel how shaky that was? How off-center that shitshow felt?" implored the experienced patroller. "My WORD boy, I've never seen form so sloppy since I first started!"
Neoru hardly shook.
"If you're so smart then SHOW ME!"
Kaset proceeded to do a perfect pushup; he seamlessly lowered himself from optimal rest position until his chest was millimeters from the ground, shifted his core forward as far as possible, returned to initial position, and promptly raised himself upward; his performance was comparable to a machine's.
"2000-NO, 4000. 4000 of these exact movements!"
"F-FINE, DIPSHIT! IF IT'LL GET YOU TO SHUT UP, I'LL DO 'EM!"
Neoru got down to all fours, took up posture and, with every ounce of concentration, lowered himself.
"ONE! TWO!"
"th… thirty…"
"3999, come on."
"…"
The uppity vagabond's eyes were popping out of his skull.
"Come OOOOON…" Kaset yelled, clapping his hands.
Neoru had been swindled out of a day's worth of food over coins worth literally less than dirt in the past, and he'd been less angry then he was right now.
"Damn it…!"
Besides. Back then, it was just people doing what they had to. Now?
"Gnnh…"
He was too pathetic to do a simple pushup.
"…!"
"Last one."
"…uuuUNDRED!" Neo held the position until his arms gave out on him, and he crashed into the dirt below him, panting like a dog all the way.
"Sure took your sweet time, jeez," Kaset blankly stated, arms crossed and boredom written across his face. Neoru couldn't so-much-as cough in his general direction before…
"Alright, let's move on."
Neo had to shake off the fear which briefly took hold of him.
"Can you get up?"
After a brief struggle, the boy got back on his feet.
"Oh damn, your arms look like they're about to fall off-"
"JUST MOVE ON!"
"…betta watch yo damn tone, lil… Anyway, you won't need your arms for this next one. Again, just wanna see where you are right now, this'll be somethin' light."
"THAT'S WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT THE LAST ONE, DIPSHIT!"
"THAT WAS LIGHT, YOU JUST WEAKER THAN I-DON'-KNOW-WHAT!"
Kaset cleared his throat. "Professionalism, professionalism… you know how to set a core, right?"
"No?"
"Sharp breath and tense your 'stomach muscles.' "
Kaset gave an example. Neoru followed suit.
"Alright, hold that. I'll be right back."
Kaset jogged into the forest.
Which gave Neoru some time to contemplate what he'd thrown himself into.
" 'Light,' huh?"
Neo chuckled to himself.
"Why the hell am I putting myself through this again?"
…
"Oh yeah, a reason. Being strong spans my options and stuff."
"… Geez, you mean the only reason I'm going through with this is to find a reason? You're one sad sack'a shit, Neoru…"
Neoru gave a cynical a sigh after the fact.
"Screw it. I'll just worry about an actual reason once I'm strong enough to find it on my own. Besides, shouldn't need any stupid reason to get stronger."
His mind traced back to his encounter with Zinco and the freaky psycho bitch. How he was so easily disposed of, and… how Zinco threw himself in the way. How much it pissed him off, how people'd act so stupidly in the heat of the moment. And how his own weakness forced the situation.
Again.
"And as long as I stay the way I am, whether or not I like it, some asshat's gonna end up treating me like a kid. Hell, a KID wound up treating me like a kid…"
He grit his teeth.
"Nothing more to it. I don't care what it takes, I'm gonna be a strong as I can, no matter what the hell is he holding?"
[BGM: Force of Nature – Death Wish]
Neoru was too busy feeling sorry for himself to notice the tree that'd come down a minute prior. He most certainly noticed it now that Kaset was walking in his general direction with that very tree in tow.
"You're still tensing your core, right?" the tutor asked while holding a tree the size of a 10-story building.
EVERY muscle in Neoru's body was now as tensed as possible. The boy's eyes resembled an LSD-ridden tarsier's.
"OK, good. Now, focus everything you've got in that central region of your body."
Neo devolved into a sweating, stuttering mess.
"W-wait… yo-you're fuckin' with me… stop… this isn't funny any…"
"One…"
Kaset had already made up his mind, ensuring he wouldn't miss his pupil's centremass with a practice swing.
"Two…"
Neo balled his fists.
"(NO. NO, FUCK IT. DO IT. SWING THAT BITCH WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT, ASSHOLE!)"
Kaset wound the tree back once more, taking one forceful step forward before throwing his weight into one swing.
"THRRREE!"
"RRRAAAAAAAAAA-"
A violent CRACK echoed through and dissipated into the infinite dimension.
The older patroller looked on in subtle admiration, as ethereal bark seemed to drift through the air in slo-mo.
The tree actually snapped.
Neoru fell to his knees and howled in absolute agony.
"Alright! You're more solid than I thought!" exclaimed Kaset over Neo's screaming, his voice inaudible to the pain-wracked student.
"Hey…" he knelt down to meet Neo. "Can you stand?"
"CAN YOU GO FUCK YOURSELF?" He wheezed out between pulses of pain.
"Can you stand?" Kaset pressed. "At least try. You didn't come here to complain, did you?"
After a pause, Neoru ripped out his hands out of the rough soil and, perhaps miraculously, stood. "There, you damn sadist, ya happy now?"
"Sadist, huh?" Kaset smirked.
"What else'd you call this?" Neoru smirked in return.
"Oh, best believe, this is gonna look like cake compared to some'a the rougher stuff I've got planned. But you know what?"
"…?"
"I can tell you're up for it."
"Ah, shut up. This ain't it, is it?"
[ BGM: Earthside – The Ungrounding ]
"Nope. See that tree?" He pointed to the colossal tree in the distance.
"Yeah…?"
Kaset seemed to teleport into the air.
"Full sprint. Now."
"Wha-"
An explosion cut off the young man's inquiry, as he was sent sprinting by a hailstorm of ki blasts.
"I WOULDN'T STOP IF I WERE YOU!"
"SHIT! HE REALLY WANTS ME DEAD…!" Neoru gasped, his soreness from the previous "exercise" now taking its toll on the boy in full force.
In fits of strained wheezing, he ran on pure self-preserving instinct, the forest violently shaking and taking on a blueish hue all the same. The dirt below his feet blew in a fractured frenzy into the wind, every high-speed stomp creating a new crater as he pushed himself forward with enough speed to outpace any earthly car in a flash.
The pain in his torso multiplied, to the extent that he felt like he'd rip himself apart if he continued at his current pace. Neoru began to lose speed; Kaset wasn't trying to take him out, after all. That bastard was just goading him on.
He dropped to about half his initial velocity before a blast hit him dead-on, sending unbelievable pain searing through his being. His scream echoed through the realm.
No, he'd lost it; Kaset WAS trying to kill him.
That piece of shit really wanted to either work him to death or fry him.
Neoru threw himself forward, running once more. He wouldn't give him the pleasure of either; now, this was personal.
He violently threw one arm after the other backward, constantly advancing at a pace that seemed to be increasing, as the grimace across his face threatened to rip it in two. The pain picking at his being was ever-present – perhaps now more than ever – but now, Neoru fought against it. He didn't care anymore; he was gonna reach that fucking tree, and there wasn't a damn thing anyone was gonna do to stop him.
Though his mind was in a ride-or-die state of rage and concentration, his body was under immense stress all the same. The aching exponentially increased, his sweat streaming off him as the forest heated up with the temperature of Kaset's energy.
Compared to the pain he felt that day when he "died," that flesh-molting energy, that anguish of giving all he had and failing spectacularly, this was nothing.
But this was pain all the same.
Neoru fell, his legs abruptly giving way. Suddenly, all the agony he'd put himself through compiled at once, threatening to eat him alive as he screeched in shock.
"FORWARD…!"
"FORWARD…!"
"GO...!"
His vision was clouded with white blobs. All of his senses were going haywire.
But like a revenant that wouldn't let either rest, the thought of his failures invaded his mind. Soon, it became a struggle of justifying his existence; if he died here, if he gave in, EVERYTHING he'd ever done would be for nothing. In that moment, as he picked himself up through tearing muscles, he wanted to prove it to himself.
He wanted proof that he wasn't a waste.
And so, his spirit roared alongside him.
He took a step, flung himself forward, and passed out from shock.
The blasts stopped.
"Did… did I take this too far…?" Kaset worried as he descended to Neoru's bleeding carcass – a good few kilometers away from that final self-flinging. He was subjected to this kind of torture as a boy, as well, but he'd bashed Death's door handle multiple times as a result. Yet, when he went to check Neoru, despite his visible condition…
He could feel something emanating from the boy; something beating. Something stronger than Neoru. Something that wanted something greater.
Kaset's mortified expression rose to one of admiration, as he smiled warmly. His gaze rose to meet the tree, a hundred kilometers before the boy.
"About 3 weeks on some hot legs, about a day and a half with a hot rod, and… about 7 minutes for a hothead."
[ ED: Pay Money To My Pain – Weight of My Pride ]
"Not dead yet, huh? Rest easy, spitfire."
( 6/3/2023 PATCH NOTES: Sokai is now Socai. )
( 9/17/2023 PATCH NOTES: OP yells at himself over the next chapter's misinformation because he can't fix it anymore. )
Ahem.
FUCK YOU PAST OP. YOU DIDN'T EVEN WATCH DRAGON BALL YOU FRAUDULENT SUBHUMAN. "WeLl ShUcKs YoU'd HaVe Ta Be ScHtUuPiD tO pUt RElIgIoN in-" TORIYAMA DID THAT. DUMB BITCH. YOU KNOW WHAT, JUST FOR THAT... NO, NO I'LL LET WHAT COMES NEXT BE A SURPRISE. JUNE 8, 2022. HAVE FUN HAVING BACK PROBLEMS BEFORE YOU EVEN HIT 30, YOU LITTLE SHIT.
Alright, I'll let the 17 year old mongrel speak now.
Yo! OP Here!
5 weeks have passed since my last update. You know what that means: double update tiem, lads! Yeah, I'll drop the next chapter hopefully tomorrow. It'll highlight Dina's training, as well as a particular date both she and Trunks are eccentric about. Hint: it's Kwanzaa, obviously. It'll also be wholesome, somewhat at least.
But uh, yeah. Nioh is hard as shit. It's also fun to bash my head on a wall until it breaks. Therefore, I'm having fun with this game. Besides the art concentrations I've had (I've got another one right now, but who cares tbh) that's pretty much why I've been absent. Nioh, hmmm... seems like a cool name for a character. Eh, someone probably took that already. Regardless, let's discuss this Neo chapter.
Regarding his heritage, you probably noticed his big bro speaking some (Prolly butchered) Portuguese tongue. Originally didn't know if I wanted to give Neoru a kinda Japanese or Brazilian-inspired ethnicity, but then I remembered that Dragon Ball doesn't have or care about real-world continents or countries. So, naturally, I combined the two cultures and made an indigenous, islander people. The name I'm thinking of ATM is Oroji, based on the "-ology" suffix. Their story involves a long history of weaponizing fighting spirit/spirit energy. And THIS will be elaborated upon as the story progresses, because this is still a relatively new concept.
(Here's somethin to do: calc Neoru's current footspeed based on what's been given. Hint: he made 7000 km before he dropped.)
If this chapter got you pumped up, I'd be ecstatic to hear that, because that's the goal of this story. A lot of fanfics are about escapism and self-insertion, and I personally despise the concept; I wanna make stuff that makes people jump up and push themselves further. That's what Dragon Ball is in essence, after all. As for the boi Neoru, he'll be at big boi levels soon enough, but I wanna keep WHEMAET-Y arc characters below Frieza-saga levels for the most part, so there's that.
But yeah, I'm gonna get to work on this chapter, and you guys and gals have a decent holiday.
See ya.