The Lost Jinzouningen Saga
A Dragon Ball Super Z spinoff by Deaku
Story 01 ~ Reawakening
Lore awoke to the smell of smoke and the hiss of hydraulics. Opening his eyes he hoped to see his cluttered-up bedroom, wishing all that had happened was just a bad dream. No such luck, there were the crudely carved rock walls and scientific looking equipment that he remembered.
Stepping out of the capsule he had been in for an unknown amount of time, he stretched a bit. Then turned to examine his former resting place, to try to figure out why he had been released from his confinement. Wisps out smoke were seeping out from the console, with the slight smell of melted plastic.
"Something must've shorted out." Lore said, voicing his thoughts. One would think that madman would take better care of his own equipment.
Why had fate done this to him, turned his normal happy little life into hell.
~~~~~
It was late and home was still a good hour away, even at the speed he was driving. Lore glanced at his watch, 6:55.
"Great, just great." Lore lamented, he had promised Urika that he would be home to watch her favorite show with her. With luck he would just make it, not that the weather was helping any.
"Bright and sunny all week, the weather report said, SURE." He had never seen the sky so dark. With all the rain, he was thinking a boat would have been a more appropriate vehicle.
Lore had gone out into the wilderness to film dinosaurs for a school project. But the only herd he was able to find turned out to be camera shy. He tried everything; sneaking up on them, hiding in bushes, crouching behind rocks, even using camouflage. Every time he would get the camera set up and start recording, they would run away. It took six hours to get the shots he wanted. Lore thought it was only because the herd took pity on him and let him film them.
His ordeal would soon be over though. He would get home, watch some TV with his little sister, then go to bed. Tomorrow he would go to school and do some editing on the tape before turning it in. Then he could go to see movie with Athena and forget about the whole thing.
Lore then saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. At first he thought it might be a person, but nobody could run as fast as his car was moving . Before he could turn his head for a better look, his car was struck by something. Causing it to fly up into the air and fall into the ravine next to the road. He tried to yell, but soon everything went black.
~~~~~
Looking around the room he saw several more capsules like his own, all of them empty, except one. Walking over to it, he paused briefly and looked at his reflection in the polished metal surface. He was wearing black jeans and a blue tank top with boots, definitely not what he would normally wear. He was wearing a bandanna as well, it had some weird symbol on it. Brushing his hair out of the way for a better look, it was two red triangles on their side with the letters "RR".
"R.R., Why does that seem so familiar?" Lore asked himself. Absent-mindedly running his fingers through his hair, then noticing a red lens on each palm.
"NANI!?" trying to take them off proved useless, as the lenses seemed attached to both skin and bone.
After several minutes of trying to remove them, he gave up. Deciding then to look into the capsule's view port to see who the unlucky individual inside was. There was stern face toped by a red mohawk. By what could be seen of his body, the guy was huge. It was anyone's guess how he fit in the capsule.
"Anata mo, large one?" he said, reaching for the control console. Suddenly, by no will of his own, his eyes scanned the one locked within the capsule.
"Completely mechanical, no telling what he might be programmed to do if he's let out. Probably better if I left him in there." Lore told himself as he left the room.
~~~~~
Lore awoke to a world of pain, his whole body felt like it had been crushed. He tried to open his eyes, but everything was so blurry. Still, he could just make out two human forms off to his right. He could hear them talking about something.
"But why did I have to knock his car into the ravine? I didn't want to hurt him. Couldn't we have just asked him to come here?" A young female voice asked.
"I seriously doubt that he would have come here willingly, child. Also, with his vehicle at the bottom of that forested ravine, no one will know where to start looking for him." Answered the voice of an old man "Now go retrieve those parts I told you to get. I want to get started right away, before we lose our guest."
Lore tried to say something, but darkness overtook him once again.
~~~~~
After walking down a long corridor, Lore entered into a large room. Looking around he found the remains of a large computer. By the looks of it, someone had cannibalized it for spare parts. Of all the other equipment in the room, only a large broken glass cylinder caught his attention. Upon closer examination he saw that it was directly connected to the computer, or what was left of it anyhow.
"What kind of monster came out of here?" He wondered aloud, before turning away to go down the next corridor.
~~~~~
Lore awoke again. But instead of pain, everything was numb and he felt incredibly heavy. Someone was helping him up from whatever he was lying on.
"Don't worry, I'm going to take you out of here." It was the same girl who was talking to that old man before. His vision was still blurry but he could make out that she had red hair and blue eyes. She was also a lot smaller than he was, Lore didn't know how she was supporting his weight. He wanted to say something, but found that he could not speak.
"Please, don't try to move. You're still suffering from some serious injuries and Gero hasn't finished rebuilding you yet. Don't worry, I'll get you out of here and take you to a real doctor. Hopefully they will be able to undo what Gero has done." She said lifting him up and walking out of the room.
Lore tried to figure out what she was talking about as they continued moving. "I know I can't undo what I did, but I'm really sorry and I hope you can forgive me someday." He didn't know where they were, it was just blackness as they continued on. "After I get you to a doctor, I'm going to go find this Gokou person that Gero hates so much. Then tell him what's going on, so he and his friends can come and stop Gero."
All of a sudden there was a sudden change in movement, like they were rising. At first Lore thought they were flying. But then decided that it was some kind of elevator as they started moving forward again. "Even though he created me, I just can't go along with what Gero is doing. His plans will end up hurting a lot more people and I don't want that to happen." The room had a bit more light and Lore could feel a breeze "Here we are, just a few more steps and we'll be out the door and home free."
"Not so fast my dear." The old man's voice, must be Gero, Lore thought. "You two are not going anywhere."
Lore saw Gero raise his hand and point something at them, then heard a clicking sound. The girl just seemed to collapse and Lore hit the ground hard.
"I should have known she would try something like that." Gero said to himself. " She was not strong enough for my purposes anyway. Perhaps I'll find another use for her someday, as for you." He said as he kneeled next to Lore. " I can't let you go just yet. There is still much work to be done on you Juuni-gou."
Lore felt a sting on his neck, and a familiar darkness enveloped him.
~~~~~
After climbing a ladder at the end of the last corridor, Lore found himself in what appeared to be the entrance of the lab. Not too far from the doors, lay the body of Gero.
"So he mechanized himself, not that it did him any good," he said, looking at the body. "I wonder what did it? If fate has any sense of irony, it must have been one of his own creations."
"Juuni-gou, that's what Gero called me." He thought. "I'm definitely not the killing machine he wanted, but I don't know if I can still call myself Lore either." Lore was now something other than human. Some would say is more than human now, while others would say he is less than human. He found himself leaning toward the later notion.
He opened the doors only to find a pile of rocks blocking the entrance of the cave. There was some space between the ceiling and the top of the rock pile, barely large enough to crawl through. Once outside he set off walking.
~~~~~
Lore awoke, if you could call it that, everything was just suddenly there. He sat up, feeling a bit strange, but a lot better than before. His vision was back, it almost seemed better than it had been originally. Lore looked around, he was in a lab of some sort, scientific equipment all around. But it seemed that it was all in some kind of cave, judging by the looks of the walls.
"Excellent, you survived the conversion process with no problems." Gero's voice came from behind him.
"Gero! Where's the girl, and what the hell did you do to me?!" Lore demanded.
"I have rebuilt you into the perfect fighting machine; strong, agile, and impervious to harm. With a power source strong enough to give you continuos energy. Along with the ability to absorb that blasted Kamehameha attack, and then turn it's power back upon the one you were remade to destroy. " Gero told him.
"Nani?" Lore replied, confused.
"Your only purpose now is to kill Son Gokou, so that I will have my revenge."
"Not if I kill you first, Kusottare!" Lore screamed leaping at Gero.
"I don't think so." Gero said calmly, raising up a small black box and pushing a button. Lore fell to the ground immobile. "Looks like I'll have to do something about your unwillingness to follow orders."
~~~~~
As he walked, Lore found that he could access files from some kind built in computer. He learned of Gokou, the Red Ribbon Army and why Gero created the Jinzouningen. He learned of his own capabilities as well.
After walking for a few hours, Lore came across a familiar stretch of road. Realizing where he was, he began walking along the edge and looking down into the ravine, scanning the terrain below. After locating what he was searching for, he jumped down into the ravine hoping that the information in the computer was correct. His flight ability kicked in just above the trees. Breathing a sigh of relief, Lore slowly lowered himself to the ground. He found himself standing next to a rusted mess of metal that used to be a car, laying on what may have been it's side. It was covered in plants that had been growing around it since it had fallen into the ravine. Judging by the looks of everything it had been here for years, hidden from above by the trees.
Pulling away some vines, Lore began to search through the wreckage. Most of what he found was in the same condition the car was in. But one container, despite some dents, had remained intact and sealed. Inside was Lore's camera equipment, in need of some repair, but was in great condition compared to everything else. Satisfied with what he found and now knowing where he was. Lore started walking in the direction where he hoped to find his home.
~~~~~
Lore regained consciousness, but found that he could not move or make a sound. He could only look. Gero was looking down at him.
"Awake again, eh? I must have jolted the activation switch while I was connecting you to the computer. Don't worry about moving though, your main motor functions have been switched off." Gero said smugly.
As he spoke, Gero walked over to a large computer console. He then started typing various commands. "I bet you're wondering what I'm going to do to you now, hmm? It's quite simple really. By direct connection to your brain, I shall use my master computer to erase your memories. Then you shall be a perfect Jinzouningen." He continued as he checked the cables attached to the computer. "You should be proud, you represent a giant leap forward in my work. All other Jinzouningen who follow after you shall be based upon your design. Now prepare yourself for the mind wipe Juuni-gou, soon you shall be a true Jinzouningen."
Lore didn't know what to make of what Gero was telling him. Nor did he have much time to think about it before it felt like his brain had been set on fire.
~~~~~
Lore reached the city just after dawn, "Iie." he lamented as he looked around. Everything had been decimated.
As he walked through the streets, he looked around at the piles of rubble that were formally buildings. The few that were left standing had huge holes blown through them. Hoping to find some people to learn what had happened, he scanned everything in the area but he could not find anyone. Eventually he made his way to the apartment building his family lived in, and despite a huge chunk taken out of the side, it was still standing.
Lore decided to go inside. He had to fly up to the floor his family's apartment had been on, since the elevators definitely didn't work and a good portion of the stairs were gone. When he opened the door he was surprised to find everything was as he remembered it. Except for some things that had fallen to the floor when whatever took a chunk out of the side of building. Dust rose up as he walked and looked around. He found a tobacco pipe lying on the floor.
"Tou-san, you smoked this because you thought it made you look distinguished, but everyone else thought it stunk." He said aloud, placing the pipe in it's proper spot on the coffee table.
Lore found a sketch book under the table, "Kaa-san, you always had this around so you could draw out any idea you had for your dresses as soon as it appeared in your mind." Remembering as he brushed it off and flipped through the pages, before setting it down on the table next to the pipe.
Lore walked down the hall toward the bedrooms. The first one he came to was his little sister Urika's. A memory of that day came back to him as he entered.
"Oniisan, do you promise that you'll be back in time to watch my favorite show with me?"
"Of course I will, I'll be back before you know it."
He opened his eyes and looked around, it was still hauntingly the same. Even Mr. Fluffy, the stuffed animal he had given her on fifth birthday, was in his normal spot on the corner of the bed. But judging by the size of the clothes that were all over the floor, she was several years older than the last time he had seen her.
"Kami, she had become almost as messy as I am."
Next was his older sister Ryoko's room, by the looks of things she had moved out. Since it looked like the room was being used for storage. No surprise there, since she was going to college last time he had seen her.
At last he came to his room. Lore walked in hesitantly, expecting everything to be gone. Much to his surprise everything, except one shelf that had fallen and his normal mess had been picked up, was in the place he had left it.
"Probably left it alone, just in case I came back." He told himself sadly.
After looking around he sat down on his bed, causing a cloud of dust to rise up. Lore reached under the mattress and pulled out a cobweb covered box, he opened it and looked at the pictures inside. He could recall the events of the day that each photo was taken. Each one held so many memories.
Lore then took something that was buried under the pictures, it was a small black box, inside was a ring. The one he planned to give to Athena at the end of the year when they graduated, when he was going to ask her to... he couldn't finish the thought as his vision started to blur. Was she even alive? was his family? was anybody still alive? Lore tried to block out those thoughts, but failed to as the tears started to flow and he dropped to his knees.
"Why? Why has fate done this to me? Why has everything been taken from me?" he said through the tears. "Was I always meant to be a tool for that maniac?!"
"HANASH'TE!" Lore screamed toward the heavens.
~~~~~
"This can't be!" Gero screamed at his master computer, "Operation failed, it is inconceivable! This is the fifth time, his memories should have been long gone by now!"
Lore wasn't sure what was happening, but he hoped that Gero wouldn't try the mind wipe again. He had never been in so much pain in his life. He kept fading in and out of consciousness and wasn't sure how long Gero had been trying to erase his memories.
"Well it appears we have a little problem Juuni-gou, it seems that the computer can not erase your memories right now. So I will have to place you in stasis capsule until I can perfect the process." Gero said sounding both angry and disappointed " Have a good rest my Jinzouningen." Gero pointed a familiar black box at Lore and pushed the button.
~~~~~
It had been a few months since Lore had awoke in Gero's lab and made his way back to his home. He had packed everything he thought that he might need or wanted to keep
in his father's large camping pack. Then he put on a pair of gloves to hide the lens-like devices that were embedded in his palms. He then decided to leave his ruined home, never to return.
Lore was happy to find that there were still plenty of people alive and doing well. He was also able to find out what had been going on since he was placed in that capsule, over three decades before. Two Jinzouningen, similar to himself, had ravaged the world for nearly twenty years before they were stopped by a young man known as Trunks. There were rumors of one resurfacing and forsaking her once murderous ways. While the other appeared to wreck havoc once again, only to be stopped the same as before. Lore often wondered, as he traveled from city to city, how the people would react if they knew what he really was. Not that he was ever going to tell anybody though.
Lore decided to live his life as best as he could and was making a living by salvaging things from the ruins, then selling them in the growing cities. He was leaving a town, where he had just sold several electronic components that were in excellent condition. When a little girl had came running from around a corner, nearly running into him. Causing Lore to drop his pack as he dodged around her.
"Sorry mister." She said apologetically.
"Don't worry about it," Lore assured her, "I don't have anything in here that will break that easy. But you really should be more careful when running around like that, you just might run someone over next time."
"Hai," she told him, then asked, "I haven't seen you around here before, did you just move here?"
"No, I'm just passing through."
"Where do you live then?"
" I don't really live anywhere, I just go where ever my feet take me."
The girl was just about to ask something else, when a voice called from down the street. "Mai, Dinner's ready!"
"That's me, it was nice talking to you, bye bye." Mai said as she turned and ran down the street.
Lore waved goodbye, picked up his pack and continued on his way out of town.
"This world and all the people are so full of hope for the future." Lore thought to himself, "Maybe someday, I can find some hope for myself as well."
The End
Well, it's not really the end. In next chapter Lore is still living his life the best he can, and trying to make up for the past sins of his kind. Stay tuned for the next chapter of the Lost Jinzouningen Saga: Wanderer.
