Back in the incubation pod.
@#$_ in Goku's body had somewhat accepted that he would be stuck for a long time in this state. "At least I don't feel stiff constantly stuck in this one position" he continues to think. It's all he can do at the moment. There was something about the liquid that filled his body with nutrients or it at least nurtured it while he grew. There was a numbness, although it didn't feel unnerving as he once considered it in the past. Suffice to say this was only mind numbingly boring and not an actual hell like situation. It helped that he didn't have claustrophobia.
Goku floated there pooling all this knowledge of the dragon ball world. It was always the strongest memories that came to mind first. Remembering how despite being someone who watched Z growing up, he did go back and watched the original start to the story. He deeply appreciated it for what it was. His favorite character was gohan–then after going back it became Goku. The thought actually saddened him, he would never meet goku due to this situation and the weight of his obligations befell him once again.
At the very least he would have to become strong enough to defeat Freiza in the future. The doubts crept in, "He found deep joy in fighting. Could i even learn to fight–and enjoy it" the thought hit him so viscerally.
@#$_ never really thought about living in this world, not planet Vegeta, he wasn't even considering what life would be like here. He was only thinking about what it would be like to live on earth in this different reality. One of those man plot points that he expected to be unavoidable was his father bardock sending him to earth. Escaping this pod was practically impossible after all.
One thing that permeated his thoughts was how easy life must have been with Goku's simple minded Outlook on life. The hardwork he went through became like second nature whereas @#$_ only lived life scraping the bottom of the barrel. He had been content with that life.
Goku probably enjoyed camping out and surviving in the wilderness. He didn't have to work, didn't have to worry about the future, and his strength, that he earned, made the present always so liveable.
"Geez there are dinosaurs walking around on this earth..what the f*ck" his thoughts ran wildly before that ever present threat of sleep approached him.
As Goku begun to slumber a lizard alien in a lab coat approaches the incubation pod. Looking down at the panel he notices a spike in the infants power level. With slightly widened eyes and bags underneath he makes a mental note "another one.." .
This was the first abnormality the lizard had been privy too. First it was the raising number of imperfectly incubated saiyan infants. Then that increasingly high power leveled child born around the already notable high leveled Prince, the mercy killer Kappa's daughter being sent to the rejection base, and now this random low-class infant spiking.
"No..your just stressed" he told himself inwardly. "I'll just wait and see, before informing Lord Frieza"
***
While goku dreams of his future, what his life will be like, the two new rejected saiyan are slowly adjusting to the reality of life. Their lives are isolated and filled by the constant reminder that they are no more valuable than the scraps of food they were given each day. At least the scraps were plentiful and the water clear and consistent. That was the only free slice of life a reject would see for the foreseeable future.
The knife haired boy, given a number rather than a name due to his lack of parentage had arrived to this base of rejection weeks ago. His overtly timid nature had pushed him further into isolation than the average toddler who arrived. The types of saiyans that were on this base of about five hundred were split into two categories; those who are clinging to something and those who have given up.
"456...456! Quit your daydreaming and show me your tray. I don't want to be serving food all day. Unlike you I have a place to be tonight" said the deep chain smoker sounding slug lady. She was nearly four times the size of the boy, with slimy, very pale green skin.
"Oh uh.." he lifts up his tray to receive the food. With a splat the chunky slop hits his plate. He had been distracted because from a distance there was a familiar silhouette sitting alone.
456 had been looking for him for weeks, unsuccessful until just now. The boy with scruffy somehow sharp looking bed head type hair, a neutral expression painting his face.
So he rushed over weaving through the old cafeteria tables before slapping his tray Infront of the boy who evaded him. This was 455, the child who awoke beside 456, and the one who failed the examination before he did.
The kid with the sharp bead head barely flinched while consuming his pile of slop. Even within the splash zone of 456's slob he did not acknowledge the other boy. Clearly used to the level of hazing the other rejected gave him. With the lack of a reaction the timid kid lost his momentum.
In the background a loud pair of rejects were conversing while 455 and 456 ate their food, the latter working up the nerve to actually say something.
"Did ya hear about conquest?" The first reject starts, his voice like that of a cartoonish hyena on the verge if laughter.
"You mean the big guy who passed the reevaluation?" The second reject questions with some interest in his voice.
"Yeah, well he ended up loosing an eye and an arm in his last mission." The first guy finishes his Story like it were a punch-line to a joke.
"Pffft.. you're joking" after seeing the other reject shake his head they burst out laughing. "After..pfft hahaha after he said he was going to conquer a hundred planets or something. That's why he started going around calling himself conquest after passing. Sheesh, number 50 was a riot."
While listening to the story of the day, 456 was reclaiming some of his nerves after not capturing 455's attention.
"Listen...455, i didn't push you on purpose. That's all i wanted to say" he finally let out while looking over at his peer. "I wanted to say something so i put my hand on your shoulder and then he scared me so i flinched" he continued a bit frantically.
Though his eyes rose, 455 did not respond and went back to finishing up his slop.
How could 456 tell that the boy before him was 455? How does anyone recognize each other here? Each battle suit had their number carved into it. From the moment both of them got there, the commanding officer of the base instructed that each failure be tallied. Even if you could damage your suit enough and required a new one they would just carve out the number again.
With no way to figure out how to bridge the gap, 456 gave up–for today. After finishing his lunch he quite literally left the room with his tail tucked between his legs. His timidity did not equate stealth, the weakness exhibiting from the way he carried himself only put him on the radar of other more aggressive characters in the rejection base.
Making his way outside the boy intended find a place to space out. What he got though was a swift kick into his back from the 7-7-7Gang. A trio of baldies, consisting of Numbers 07, 17, and 77, the larger the number the younger they were of course, but their biology made it almost impossible to notice–they were not triplets. Totally unrelated to each other, they just had been in sync, hence their name.
Crashing to the ground face first, 456 heard a high pitched "yahoo, watcha doin crossing our path" they all said at the same time. It was nonsense, but this was one of the ways rejects lived their lives. Banding together amd picking on the weak.
456 was weak, so as he cowered in fear he denied their relentless punishment with his arms and legs. This had become a regular occurrence. After a while the boy had started to learn to brace for impact and preemptively block the attacks coming his way while on the ground. Nothing special, but it was great considering the bloody alternative.
A week ago when this had begun he had been brutally stricken in the worst places. The weaker parts of his body, the stomach, face, chest, sides, and even between the legs. It was definitely the pain of receiving damage to that final place that had him learning to raise his gaurd or rather curl up into a ball.
Cackling the groups of baldies were now getting bored of 456's lack of pained responses. After they got their fill they would tell him "again tomorrow?" Before being on their merry way.
The scuffed ball of a human unfurled once the sound of foot steps became distant and non-existent. His arms and legs tremble as the pain shot through his bones. He groans while paying sprawled out. Eventually pushing against the ground to drag his body against the building so he could it as support to sit up.
The thought of "can i overcome their Numbers" never entered his mind. Instead he was thinking "she gets up..so if i do that i can be like her" before using his pained limbs to struggle to his feet. Leaning against the wall he dusted the gravel stuck to unpleasant places, mainly his skin.
456 doesn't understand it, how she kept getting up after facing worse that what he just endured. Carrying his body in the direction of his room, he marched onward with a single thought in his head.
***
455, the boy with sharply defined Scruffy hair had glanced up at the boy before him with utter confusion. His habit of muttering his thoughts out loud had already been beaten down and instead remained in his head. Looking aloof while lost in thought.
Since 455 had not received violence in his contemplation of 456's actions, he intended to respond only to miss the chance. Though he did not fret, this was an opportunity to learn something.
When he had finished his food, the boy carefully made his way to the hallway unlike 456 who went outside though the exit. 455 was heading to a specific place, one of the only office spaces at the very back of the base. The base was not a maze by any stretch of the imagination, however it had a few extra exits to the outside that could be abused. A few none hostile rejects that could be used as decoys.
455 made his way down the hall and when he noticed someone had followed him from the cafeteria he quickly rushed out an exit. Then he picked up his pace, learning that quick feet was a valuable asset, and using them to get it the next exit. Eventually as this process continues not a reject had their eyes on him.
Finally he made it into a certain room. Where a slender purple bipedal triceratops looking alien chirped at his arrival. "Kiddo, you returned. Glad to see you" she spoke with a genuinely warm and inviting tone. The only kind person on this base.
The boy with a calm sleepy demeanor had his countenance shifted upwards. The woman before him was his only source of joy.
"Teacher, i have to ask you something" 455 prepared to launch into the details event that happened moments prior when a loud voice interrupted him.
"Hey doc!" An older voice called from just beyond the door. Then he knocked aggressively at the door.
"Hold up a bit, kid, let me just deal with this" she responds before attending to her duties. Būdo was the only doctor on this base, she tended to the wounded. Before that could sound redundant, no, the majority of rejects did not have access to healing technologies.
"Hey i got this gash on my arm, take care of it, will ya doc" the boy with hair like a jagged void spoke with no respect at all. His eyes caught a glimse of weakness just beyond the purple alien. "Hmm" he groans out an amused sound upon observing the boy with 455 scratched into his chest piece.
"Ahh, 450, how did you hurt yourself so badly?" she speaks with a genuine care pulling some liquid from her coat pocket along with some cotton balls.
The child was probably only a year or so older than 455. Despite asking for help, he scoffed while lifting his mildy bloody arm up to be helped. The boys eyes seemed to have a deep dark gravitational pull.
"That's Jagger by the way" he corrects the alien woman who goes to clean and bandage his arm. She pays the hostility no mind. It seems to annoy the boy more to be unable to effect her. So he looks over again and bores a whole though 455 again until the tail on the boys hair stands up.
"Alright you're good to go, Jagger" she already is using his name. Sending the boy off who then leaves without saying another word.
The air had been thick for 455, his mood shifting to one of great stress. This was the first time he had been caught sticking around in the infirmary and it unnerved him to know his safe place was discovered.
Būdo turned to face 455, she could predict just how he was probably feeling. It was the emotional stability that interests her the most. The genuine curiousty in this boy is what drew her to willingly taking this demotion.
A playful smile stretched across her face. Būdo knelt down to the boys eye level before she addressed that distressed expression on his face. "Hehe, hey what's that look for kiddo, weren't you excited to ask me something?" She says while placing her hand gently onto his shoulder.
"..." He tries to speak, but the words don't come out. "Just take a deep breath like i taught you" Būdo tries to explain, inhaling to teach by example "in and out" she finishes by exhaling.
After readily mirroring his teacher, 455 finds his mind clearing of the stress and the questions flowing back. The memory of his cafeteria event returning.
"So you had to tell me something?" She asks once again.
455 would then go into his explanation of events leading up to and the moment of getting confronted at his lunch at the cafeteria. The concept of 456's actions were fundamental in many societies, something to Būdo was plain as day. The principal reason why she had decided to make such a dangerous bet; Being around such unstable aggressive people, was the she had in people. Sharing knowledge of course was just as integral too the drive she had to do what she did. So she would keep teaching 455 and maybe one day he would pass that knowledge along to the next person.
"Hehehe" Būdo couldn't help but let out light laughter in response to what was a fairly easy question.
She had to explain plenty of other things over the past couple of weeks. Ranging from how scouters work, despite them being confiscated once arriving here, to basic math, physics, and phenomena, but atonement could easily be explained this student of hers.
The boy felt embarrassed that his teacher was laughing at him, but he waited patiently despite the warmth in his cheeks His eyes had a intense glint in them. He hungered for the explanation, Desperate to understand, and possibly foster a new relationship in his life. One with his peers mattering much more than he even realizes. The hunger to understand was something he would never be embarrassed by.
455 waits with baited breath as his teachers lips part for the explanation...
***
The next morning the rejection base is essentially dead. Out of the many reasons why they remain as failures in the eyes of the rest of the race is their laxed resolve. Ironically their freedom to do as they please within the confines of the rejection base lead them to rot in the earliest hours of the day.
Who would get up? If no one told you that it was worth it, if no one sold you the values of time. 456 had found his reason to rise early, along only a few set of exceptions dotting the halls and gravely yards. He could even escape the harsh hazing while making his way to a certain section of the base.
Out onto the harsh course and gravely surface of the yard behind the rejection base. An adult saiyan woman was beating up a saiyan girl with a wildly spikey set of hair. 456 had been spooked the first time he had witnessed this, but the sight of seeing the girl return to her feer after each beatdown stuck with him.
For awhile he had assumed her body just moved on its own, day after day the girl would roar. It wasn't like the boy enjoyed her pain. 455 just felt something well up within him while gazing at the act. The battles between them drawing him in.
This morning seemed like many others. An attack caught, her body thrown or her attack avoided and a swift counter attack followed. Over and ober again on repeat. 456 wanted to ask her what was the point, but the closest he had gotten was about fourty steps away give or take. About double the distance they ever traveled when fighting. The woman who terrified him must have lost interest in scaring him away, because she treated his existence like a fly.
He stood there with his tail perked up behind him and his hands gripping the tights at his thighs. Focused on the fight when the girl hit the floor for what had to be the twentieth time this morning. 455 could have sworn he heard "five more!" Being commanded by yhe older woman.
For the first time the girl didn't bounce back up instantly. 455's eyes widened as he watched her struggle and push off the ground. Straining his eyes he swore he saw her pained expression, but there was a smile on her face as she continued to push. It finally clicked with him that this must have always been rough, to get knocked down, and stand back up.
It reminded him of how he wanted this connection with someone truly similar to him and how he had already given up after just two tries to get 455's attention. He believed the girl constantly getting up was just her nature and that it took no effort, having never stuck around so long to see the fact that it did take lots of work to do so.
With this new drive welling up within him he had to leave. 456 wanted to make sure he ran into 455 this time. So that he could attempt once more to be understood.
***
455 had decided to follow his same pattern the day before in hopes of meeting 456 once again. After figuring out what the boy had been attempting to do, he was firmly ready to accept his apologies.
The idea of atonement was wholly knew to the Saiyan race. Even of he had properly absorbed the knowledge fed to him in the nursing pods, 455 would have never figured out what it meant without the wisdom of time. If he had gone down the normal path of a Saiyan warror no one would have taught him such a basic concept under positive circumstances. Not that he knew what the potential outcome of violence would bring your average saiyan warror.
Būdo was quiet thankful for the chance to intercept a saiyan child's natural life path. So the glee in which she had explained how 456 might have been feeling came off as very compelling notion to the boy.
455 had gotten his food from the slug lady and even took a spot on the cafeteria that was roughly near his spot on the prior day. His normal aloofness was traded with am expression of an anxious desire. Eye darting around the room before they landed on the person he was looking for.
Raising his hand like Būdo expressed him to do. Like waving down a taxi, he signaled for 456 to join him. The boy had a shocked expression, but he soon joined 455.
"Hey i just wanted to say again...well i did not try to send you into the room. I would have traded spots with you" 456 launched into his apology right as he put his food down. As soon as he started though, he kind of lacked direction in what he needed to be acknowledged. There was a word he felt like he was missing, something that would sum up how he felt.
"I understand, you wanted to apologize, but i forgive you. Thank you for saying that" 455 had summed up what the other had been feeling and in an instant he acknowledged him. "So let's be friends" he held his hand out in a gesture to shake his like they were going come to an agreement.
456 was simply stunned, not just because he had felt seen, but because there were some thingt 455 said rhat he did not understand. Like what was an apology or a friend. Forgiveness was also something new, although that would probably be something he learned at a later date.
"Apologize? Friend? What are those?" 456 questioned. Instead of judging him 455 just explained as simply as he could.
" You felt bad for doing something that did not feel right so you should say sorry or that you apologize. I understand what you were trying to do.." he plans to take the credit before elaborating "actually my teacher told me that and also that we should be friends. So take my hand"
456 took the outreached hand of 455 on command like he needed this. He could only slightly grasp what the boy was talking about. It put the idea of wrong and right in his head, which were which, was going to be something he had to learn more about.
"so if what i did was wrong..what would feel right?" After their handshake ended 456 asked while trying to carefully trying to articulate his feelings and understand them. This conversation being the first to really enlightened him to the greater world of understanding.
455 took a second to understand his question. He figured that what he understood was right was something positive and to him that was leaning more things his teacher shared with him.
"Well for me, rights are things that make you feel positive–or good, the opposite of that bad feeling" 455's expression and tone returned to that aloof monotone now that things seemed to solidfy. " Like, for me i hated being beaten up.." there was a pause because that seemed like an obvious conclusion "but i enjoy learning new things, so that's the positive or good feeling"
"Hmm, i think i get it" but 456 did not respond right away, not that the other boy planned to push him.
Part of Būdo's advice was to let a potential friend take things at their own pace. So the two of them enjoyed their meal, which now sudden tasted the tiniest bit better while 456 discovered in his minds eye the image of the girl working hard as his sole positive experience.