Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Beginning ❯ Registration ( Chapter 5 )

A/N: Disclaimer: none

I am starting to use Japanese terms repeatedly, so I am going to list them to avoid confusion:

-jin - person (Saiyans are the race, Saiya-jin is a person from the Saiyan race)

-sei - planet (added to make clear that you are talking about a planet, not a race or a simple name)chibi - small

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Registration

I am following General Marduku, watching his well-trained muscles ripple beneath the black spandex as he is walking in front of me. We are moving through an extended maze of hallways, all very narrow and dimly lit, passing many dark corners and shady doors. Then, all of a sudden, we are out under the open sky again, surrounded by tall, white houses on all sides, the blue windows gaping at us sightlessly. The formerly lavender brilliance has darkened to a saturated, deep purple like a fresh bruise, indicating the closeness of the oncoming night time; and the blazing golden sunrays are setting the roof tops on fire, but can't reach us anymore amongst the close walls on all four sides.

He takes off into the cool evening breeze, and I follow him without much trouble because my energy has been replenished by the healing tank. From the air, the town looks like a valuable jewel, glittering and gleaming, reflecting the last bits of sunshine. It is surrounded by a small ring of bright greenery, accentuating the otherworldly character of the fiery spectacle so that the town looks as if it had just come down from the heavens; and then the red desert begins. It stretches for miles and miles on end, never changing, only darkening with the lack of light, and now it looks more than old, spilled blood than ever before, making me shudder.

We are flying towards the sinking sun, leaving the gleaming, golden town behind the horizon very soon. But we do not seem to catch up to the vanishing, glowing disc at all; it is rather evading our grasp and starting to slip over the slight curve where the crimson sand meets the purple sky. After countless miles of scarlet desert, my eyes detect a lush green line winding through the red sand from horizon to horizon, only about two or three miles in depth. From our height, everything looks so small; and as we are seemingly inching closer slowly, I can spot a big bluish-purple river lined by a large city on both sides in midst of the greenery.

Nearing the town increasingly rapid, more details are revealed. All the maddeningly white houses are at least four stories tall, and they stretch for several blocks; none of them are built after a plan, they are scattered over the town, creating a complex labyrinth of streets, places, and alleys. Occasionally, a person can be seen walking through the streets or children playing games, but for the most part, everything is deserted. Only the light behind many blue-colored windows is hinting at the existence of people living in the long town.

We are touching down in a bumpy alley in front of another white-washed building; although this one does not look as grand and regal as the houses of the other town; the whole town doesn't have the luxurious and rich appearance the other one had, but it is far from looking shabby or degenerate. This time, I can even understand what the wooden sign, that is held in place over the doorframe by four rusty iron nails, says. 'Registration office'.

General Marduku is opening the small door, and he has do duck a little bit so as not to bang his tall head on the low entrance. But once he has squeezed the bulk of his body through, the ceiling is almost 10 feet high and an entry hall with a small desk occupied by a strange person is uncovered.

This person has light blue skin of the same hue as the blazing sun over the red, hot desert, seven fingers on each hand; and an unbelievably thin and fragile-looking body is being revealed when he comes around the table to meet us. His (I have decided that the person is male because he is lacking any distinctively female features) face is a long oval framed by a few strands of thick, greenish-brown hair, and his slanted eyes are a disturbing pupil-less fiery red. His soft, melodious voice makes the guttural and growling language of the Saiya-jin sound like music when he greets us.

"Follow me. And don't let my frail appearance deceive you, boy, I am quite a formidable fighter, although I am a lot weaker than you ... or General Marduku. My people is known for their extraordinary techniques rather than for brute strength."

Is he a telepathic? I am pondering over that issue while we are being led to a cozy room with a big, brown couch and two comfortable arm chairs. The minimally inclined walls are painted a cheerful yellow, and the soft evening shine is seeping through the tall window, enveloping the whole room in warm colors. His slender hand motions for me to sit down on the couch, and he places himself on one of the cushioned chairs, facing me. General Marduku only retreats into a corner, leaning against the wall with crossed arms, merging into the shadows.

I am a little bit nervous as for what is going to happen now, and the blue person seems to sense my apprehension as he is bothering to explain the whole situation to me.

"One of the special abilities of my people is to assess the mental condition of others. Everybody has to have a mind-check every few years to discover any harmful potential within them. So just relax and lean back, it won't last very long, and it won't hurt. And don't worry, I am not going to look at your secrets."

Well, I don't care about him seeing some secrets of mine, within the few days I can remember, there has nothing been to hide. Nonetheless, I am still edgy, but I don't know why. Tucking my cold feet under, I take a deep breath and lean against the back of the couch, trying to expel the tension of my muscles together with the air in my lungs. He is watching me intently, the pupil-less red eyes seem to take in every minute detail; and they are working like huge magnets, drawing all of my attention to them. Only putting up little fight, I let myself get caught by the intense stare, studying his alien features in return.

I don't even realize my body slacking when all my muscles loose their tension as a second, colorless lid comes down over his blazing red eyes, making them look like hidden behind a milky glass, almost as if he was blind. But the gaze of the blind eyes is stronger than ever; it is drilling down into the unknown depth of my black pupils, capturing me, transfixing me, slowly erasing all my surrounding environment. Nothing exists besides the two glowing coals that hold all of my attention; my whole universe is filled with them.

I feel a slight probing at the fringes of my mind, as if some tender fingers would outline the edges. That has to be the ... Ueisutodamupu-jin (*), the crimson eyes insert. No, that was the Ueisutodamupu-jin communicating with me on a mental plain. I am surprised how easy and natural this kind of understanding comes to me, as if I had been used to it for years. His mind feels warm and comforting, but nevertheless, it is a foreign body in my thoughts, and my own mind is starting to react to the intrusion.

The Ueisutodamupu-jin is digging deeper, looking through my brain layer for layer, exerting an uncomfortable pressure. His touch is soft, practiced, but it sends cold shivers running up my spine. I try to relax and keep calm despite the unnerving sensations, the sensations that remind me somehow of the tortured body from my dream, and the mind within that had shut itself off. I am aware of the fact that the empty shell was me, and that the forgotten part of my personality is trying to tell me something urgent.

Concentrating harder to grasp the elusive feelings, I am closing in on them, slowly making progress. Fragments are being revealed, but never a whole picture. My mind has been touched before ... it hasn't been touched to help me ... it was touched to hurt me. Hurt me badly. Hurt me so badly that my soul had to be locked away to not go insane. And now, soft, feather-like fingers are raking through my brain, awakening the same uncomfortable feelings. It almost feels like the mental touch of ... her/the young girl/the woman.

Who is she/the girl/woman?

I don't know. She means pain/anger/hatred/love.

The Ueisutodamupu-jin is digging even deeper, tracking the picture of her to the origin. He is following the chain of associations down to my subconsciosness. Suddenly, he is touching something horrible buried deeply in my brain, and a scene is filling my mind, a scene I also recognize from the dream.

He is hanging in shackles from the ceiling, his wrists raw and bleeding, but he is too far gone to notice any pain. His mind has closed itself off to not go insane from the steady bombarding of his senses. He has withdrawn himself to the only place in his mind that she/the young girl/the tainted woman cannot access even with the mental link that they share. But the walls around the place are too strong to be broken down, even by himself.

The soulless shell that has once been his body is still hanging from the ceiling, the wrists raw, and the blood is slowly trickling down its way to the ground.

Drop.

Drop.

Drop.

Slowly, the limp body is losing its life while the barrier holding back the mind is being assaulted. Desperate, I try to communicate with the Ueisutodamupu-jin.

I am starting to remember what I am not supposed to remember. See what you have done to me?

Drop - drop - drop

The big crimson puddle of blood beneath its feet is growing.

Drop - drop - drop

I don't want you in here. Get out of my brain! You are making everything worse.

Drop - Drop - DRop - DROp - DROP - DROP - DROPP - DROPPP!

Move! Go away! I want this to stop! Please...

But he isn't going away, he is trying even harder to force the retreat my mind has built open. She has done the same, she has also wanted to break through the barrier to cause more suffering. I don't want anyone to touch me, it only brings pain, unbelievable pain; my head is throbbing under the constant assault, and I know that is only the lesser evil. I feel threatened, I don't want to see what is behind the wall. I have enough trouble with the few shreds of my former life that are haunting through my brain, and the whole package has to be much worse.

I don't want to remember.

It scares me.

The brutal attacks against the wall are relentless, only increasing in strength. No, please don't let the Ueisutodampu-jin break through, I don't think I could handle the shock. Please don't make me remember, please!! Haven't I suffered enough?

I am trying to collect all my strength to enforce the barrier and to keep him away, but I am so weak. He is shaking everything I throw at him off like a mere pin-prick, and he is starting to subdue me by telling me that he has to straighten out my mind. But I don't want to be controlled by him.

Panic is rising in my throat at the thought of being subjected and having to remember. I don't want to hurt worse than I am already hurting. The bottomless panic is making me stronger, but completely irrational, wasting my strength on futile attempts. I am afraid of the Ueisutodampu-jin, he wants to break the wall around my innermost being. If he'd succeed, there would be endless fear, endless pain, endless nightmares, endless darkness; I would be swallowed, I would loose my identity as a thinking being. I don't want that to happen. Please don't make me remember. Please!!!

Just like the incident on the med-bed, I am taken over by my instincts when my mind isn't working any more. My mental defenses, which I didn't even know I had, are kicking in with amazing power. They carelessly grab the Ueisutodamupu-jin and they haul his writhing mind out as if it was a piece of garbage, throwing him back into his own head and blocking my brain completely.

Slowly calming down with the foreign mind removed, I hear a soft thump and I open my eyes which I can't recall having closed. The Ueisutodamupu-jin has fallen out of his chair and is squirming on the carpeted floor, clutching his head in agony, his limbs thrashing around wildly.

That was my fault, wasn't it? I shouldn't have thrown him back so hard. I am really sorry, I didn't want to hurt him, I only wanted to be left alone. I think he wanted to help me, to do me a favor by straightening my mind out, and this is the way I repay him?

Suddenly, I am rudely torn out of my guilt trip. The sharp, ripping pain which indicates the body-switching is starting out deep in my muscles, spreading, taking over. My last coherent thought is that I have to control that ability someday, then I am swallowed by agony.

My head is hurting so badly, what did that brat do to me? How can that brat be so powerful?

Straining my mind to the breaking point, I am able to suppress the pain, focusing on clear thinking again. I realize that something is different from the last two times. I am in the brain of the Ueisutodamupu-jin, but he is still there, his spirit or whatever you call it, is still residing in his head. His thoughts are my thoughts, but at the same time, I can think my own.

Concentrating hard to keep the pain under control, I make up a plan and hurriedly start looking around in the hurt brain for a healing method. I don't know when I am going to be pulled back to my body again.

He was right, the Ueisutodampu-jin really have a huge variety of techniques, and it is really a pity that I can't have a look at all of them. However, that would by mind robbery, and I couldn't answer for this, so I don't go into details but leaf through them very fast. Amongst countless different healing techniques, I find out that he would be able to clear the pain if he had just enough time to concentrate.

Swallowing hard, I know what to do. I can already feel the beginning burning of the transition back to my body, so I swiftly hold on to the Ueisutodamupu-jin's monster headache and try to bring it with me. Time is running short, I am rapidly expelled from the foreign mind, and I have not enough time to brace myself against the oncoming torture.

The endless hell of agony doesn't seem to stop when I am back in my body, it just seems to concentrate in my head. I have used up most of my strength during the transition and the subduing of the foreign pain, so I don't have any energy left to resist the force that is trying to scramble my thoughts. Curling up in a ball and wrapping my arms and my tail around my knees protectively, I am surrendering myself to the pain. My last coherent thought was the hope that the Ueisutodamupu-jin will do something soon, I am not sure how long I can take this. A thick, red haze is wavering in front of my eyes, and my head is hurting, hurting much worse than at the implantation. My whole world is filled with the brain-splitting agony, and I loose all sense of time.

I can't tell how much later it is, but gradually, the pounding in my head is lessening to the point that it is bearable again. Sighing relieved, I relax slowly, and exhaustedly I fall asleep.

-----<<<<<>>>>>-----

Groaning, Rabishu (**) got up from the uncomfortable chair he had fallen asleep in last evening. His neck was terribly stiff, and his back was aching, too; he should know not to stay up that long at night. Especially when he had to work early shift. Another day at the registration office was lying ahead of him, promising many hours of boredom.

He did not like being stuck in his office all day long, but at least here on Vegeta-sei, they treated him with a heck of a lot more respect than his own family or his own people did. And, more importantly, they paid him quite a bit of money, supplied him with shelter and food, and even let him train. That was indeed much more than what he would have gotten on his home planet. And that was worth the boredom of his job. After all, an old curse amongst his people said: 'May you live in interesting times.'

He shuffled over to the red tiled bathroom; and holding his head over the sink, he splashed his face with ice cold water to force his tired brain awake. After a brief shower, Rabishu carefully robed himself in his red uniform signaling his job as registration officer. Then, feeling energized again, he trudged downstairs, through many unoccupied rooms and hallways, coming out of a tall wooden door behind his registration desk.

There were only 200 registration offices on the whole planet, but with a population of less than 30 million Saiya-jin and an average life span that consisted of 250 standard years for a healthy male, he had only two new registrations and about ten mind-checks per day. Most of them were routine work and done within a few minutes, so the other six to seven hours on his job, he was bored out of his mind.

But that was still better than life on his home planet. Ueisutodamupu-sei had been dangerously overpopulated before the Saiya-jin had come, they had had to fight severe environmental pollution, and not enough food could be grown for all of the 30 billion residents. The Saiyan invasion had radically solved that problem by killing all Ueisutodamupu-jin except for the few mentally gifted who made up less than 0.1% of the former population.

For this deed, all his relatives hated the Saiyan purgers, but Rabishu did not. He thought that if the Saiya-jin hadn't come, the Ueisutodamupu-jin would have starved and suffocated themselves after exploiting all of the planet's natural resources. Now, with only about 30 million inhabitants, Ueisutodamupu-sei could recover from the mal-treatment it had received under the rule of his people, and the continents didn't look like huge, degenerate slums anymore. There grew even some greenery amongst the destroyed cities again.

Additionally, the Saiya-jin had brought a lot of useful technology with them, e. g. real space travel (the lousy attempts to reach neighbor planets only a few million miles away didn't count in his opinion), which could have opened up countless possibilities.

But except for a few enlightened individuals, his people hated the Saiya-jin with an unrivaled passion and attacked every single one of them. Due to the disharmony amongst the single clans, no big coalitions could be formed and no strong fighting union could arise, so the Saiya-jin had made Ueisutodamupu-sei into a training planet for their elite soldiers who tested their strength against the variety of techniques the Ueisutodamupu-jin had developed. And the fast reproduction rate of his people, which had been responsible for the problem of overpopulation in the first place, made it possible that the fallen Ueisutodamupu-jin were always replaced with young ones.

On Ueisutodamupu-sei, you had to keep an eye open at all times, even when sleeping; otherwise you might have the misfortune of being in the way of a vicious battle waged amongst several Ueisutodamupu-jin and a Saiya-jin. Rabishu had grown up in that rough environment, being bred to fight; but one day he had had enough. He had approached a Saiyan fighter and had managed to convince him to take him off-planet. It had helped that the Saiya-jin was one of the few telepathically gifted amongst the Saiyan race, and that the Saiya-jin had been able to check his mind for any deception. Rabishu could feel to this day the brutal investigation he had had to endure that day, being forced to lay every intimate thought bare in front of his potential enemy; but in his opinion, it had been worth it.

Thus Rabishu had been brought to Vegeta-sei and had easily found a job at the registration office after getting used to the nearly tripled gravity. At first, the change had been very hard, but he had found out that it helped him increase his strength tremendously from 200 to nearly 450.

Rabishu had not been the first one to flee from Ueisutodamupu-sei, nor was he the last one, so the number of Ueisutodamupu-jin on Vegeta-sei had been slowly increasing. By now, there were roughly 300 Ueisutodamupu-jin, most of them distributed to all registration offices over the planet, a job they were suited for best. Occasionally, an exceptionally strong and talented Ueisutodamupu-jin was allowed to teach fighting techniques to the few Saiyan children who had not been sent off-planet.

As long as they didn't cause any trouble, all Ueisutodamupu-jin were accepted amongst the Saiyan population as equal members to the third-class warriors, and they could socialize with whomever their class permitted them to do so.

Sighing, Rabishu sat down and crossed his legs in the Lotus-position to meditate and hone his mental skills, having nothing better to do after checking two routine cases. Time passed by, but he didn't notice being caught in a deep trance. His eight-hour shift was almost over when two more Saiya-jin entered; a small and slender shadow together with a very tall and bulky one were outlined against the settling sun that sent its golden rays through the open door.

The smaller one, a chibi, broadcast his way too cheerful and innocent thoughts out in the open, having no barriers whatsoever. The boy was currently marveling over Rabishu's physiology, apparently never having seen another race before. That was strange. Either the chibi had grown up on Vegeta-sei and was thus familiar with the Ueisutodamupu-jin, or he had been off-planet the whole time. But there he should have seen many curious figures, too, many planets were populated with strange, sentient life forms. Without seriously infringing the boy's privacy, Rabishu would not be able to solve that mystery, and unauthorized intrusion was strictly forbidden under the Saiyan honor code. He was only allowed to perform the mind check, nothing else.

Feeling for the boy's power level out of curiosity, he almost choked on the air. How in the world did that brat get so powerful, almost 2,000? Rabishu had sensed nothing like the energy in front of him before, not even Prince Vegeta had such a high basic level. Perhaps, the boy was already powered up completely for some strange reason, but even then only few could compare to him.

He was distracted from his considerations when the tall Saiya-jin curtly introduced them telepathically, and demanded a new registration for the chibi. The boy did not seem to catch it, so Rabishu raised his voice to inform him.

"Follow me. And don't let my frail appearance deceive you, boy, I am quite a formidable fighter, although I am a lot weaker than you", and not wanting to insult the General, he added lamely, "or General Marduku. My people is known for their extraordinary techniques rather than for brute strength."

He led them into an unoccupied registration room and motioned for the boy to sit down on the couch. First, he would have to assure himself of the boy's mental health, and then he could go on with the actual registering, the tiresome filling out of the registration forms.

Quickly entering the boy's mind, he started looking around for any abnormalities while vocally reassuring the boy that it wouldn't hurt.

Feeling the boy shiver violently, he checked the origin of the uncomfortable feeling and discovered the life-like picture of a beautiful humanoid female with blond hair and deep, blue, haunted eyes. The picture was loaded with so much emotion that it almost overwhelmed him, he wanted to know who she was. But the boy's brain couldn't provide any information, it was surprisingly empty of any memories.

So he followed the picture of the female through the different layers of consciousness, getting deeper and deeper involved. Every layer was as empty as the first one, only fragments of memories littering them, making Rabishu wonder what had happened to the chibi. Only the picture wound a strong thread through the different layers, connecting them, holding them together so that they would not fall apart.

When he neared a wall where the thread was abruptly cut off, a scene started to fill his mind. It was an image of the boy hanging from the ceiling in handcuffs, and he was bleeding from various injuries. The boy had built himself a mental retreat which the female could not access even with the link they Shared.

Yes, that would be a reason for the strong thread, a mental connection built by the Sharing. But how in the world had that boy managed to severe the channel so abruptly? And how had he managed to close his real self away? If Rabishu could just break the wall, then the boy would be free and able to use his full mental capacities.

He heard the echo of blood dripping down, reverberating through the empty mind while he was trying to damage the barrier. Then, for the first time, the boy addressed him directly.

I am starting to remember what I am not supposed to remember. See what you have done?

Rabishu decided to ignore it, the boy could only profit from having his mind straightened out. But it seemed as if the boy didn't want to have his memory back.

I don't want you in here. Get out of my mind, you are making everything worse.

Whatever the woman had done to him, it seemed to have conditioned his mind thoroughly against any mental contact. Gritting his teeth, Rabishu continued although he was well aware of the fact that it could hurt the boy.

Move! Go away! I want this to stop. Please...

But if the boy wanted to be accepted by the Saiyan society, this had to be done. Rabishu knew he had to open the barrier, the unknown personality behind it could be a dangerous threat, so he kept on hammering against the wall. He realized that the boy was getting more frightened and agitated by the second, but he had to keep his work up.

What he hadn't expected was the following reaction. Suddenly, the boy clawed at Rabishu's mind with very aggressive defenses, binding the Ueisutodamupu-jin completely, and then the chibi threw Rabishu brutally back into his own body, leaving some nerves seriously irritated. That child was dangerously strong, mentally as well as physically.

It hurt so much that Rabishu lost control over his long limbs and fell out of the chair, writhing on the floor in agony.

My head is hurting so much. What had that brat done?

Some part of Rabishu registered that the boy was lingering in his mind, leafing through Rabishu's memories, but the major part of him was paralyzed in pain. He could feel that the boy had found what he was looking for. The chibi retreated, and the boy was wrapping his mental self around Rabishu's pain, shielding him from the brunt of it. Then suddenly, the chibi was gone from his mind, together with the pain.

The boy somehow must have taken it with him, because Rabishu could see him lying helplessly on the floor, clutching his head in agony and curling up into a fetal position. Quickly looking through the memories the boy had run through but not even accessed, Rabishu was surprised that it had been only some healing techniques, the last one being the one needed to cure the pain, the one which Rabishu couldn't perform because of the lack of concentration caused by the pain shooting through his system.

Focussing completely on the boy, Rabishu slowly calmed down the child's inflamed nerves, making the chibi relax and sigh contently. Then, the boy fell asleep immediately. Rabishu picked him up from the floor and carefully lay the small frame on the couch, still trying to force some sense into the recent events.

Slowly straightening, he turned to General Marduku who had been watching the whole scene with a raised eyebrow.

"Well?", the Saiya-jin cued.

Rabishu took a deep breath and started summarizing, trying not to reveal intimate details.

"First off, the boy has kind of lost his memory; at least, he can't access great parts. From the remaining fragments, I could reconstruct only a small part of it. He must have been heavily abused, physically as well as mentally, conditioning some flee-and-hide reflexes into him that can be triggered by certain experiences.

"The mental abuse was done through a probably forced Sharing; and to escape it, the boy has locked his real self and all of his memories away. So, the boy you have found in the desert has the whole knowledge of roughly three days, and a lot of power and reflexes he doesn't know of himself, either. He is a potential danger, but I can sense no imminent threat from his person. With your permission, I will keep him here and help him control his reflexes until I have been able to release all of his memories."

General Marduku looked at Rabishu sharply, having immediately sensed that the Ueisutodamupu-jin was hiding something.

"And what was that with the whole falling-out-of-the-chair-episode?"

Rabishu averted his eyes a little bit, not wanting to admit to his failure.

"I tried to breach the wall the boy had erected around his true self, and I must have triggered one of his reflexes. The boy has thrown me out of his mind with great force, and that had temporarily overloaded my Central Nervous System. Then, the boy has somehow transferred my pain to himself, and I could heal him. I also want the boy to stay here so that I can train his mental and physical powers so that he won't hurt anybody."

General Marduku only grunted as an answer, seemingly satisfied, and turned towards the small door he had come in. Over his broad shoulder, he called:

"In half a ten-day, I will be back to check on the brat. You better should have made some progress by then."

Letting the unveiled threat hang in the room, General Marduku left the surprised Ueisutodamupu-jin.

Since when did General Marduku care about a mere boy?

-----<<<<<>>>>>-----

HE is watching the boy.

Yes, the boy has many hidden talents that have yet to unfold, and HE is waiting for the results. Perhaps it has been a mistake to send him to Denna. HE hasn't expected Denna to go as far as to invade the boy's mind and drive the child to such a severe reaction, although it has certainly helped to point out the boy's strength of character.

But things in the past should not be regretted, one should always make the best out of them and look towards the future; and it has been rather interesting watching the set of events unfold. The boy has been acting bravely and so far has proved himself to be worthy of becoming HIS heir. Despite the unplanned occurrences, the test is still on, and there is still hope left for the boy to pass it. The boy only has to regain his memories and find HIM.

HE is waiting.

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A/N:

(*) Try to pronounce Ueisutodamupu the Japanese way:

pronounce the three vowels at the beginning separately (u like in where, e like in get,i like in sit),

the u in between two consonant or at the end isn't pronounced at all

the o in between a t and another consonant is hardly pronounced either,

a like in mother...

(**) same for Rabishu: all the rules of (*) apply...

Sorry for the ridiculous names, I had a major block on those. Hope that you can cope with them. So, what do you think of this chapter? Like it / hate it how I describe the same event from different perspectives? Please review!