Ascension, Part II

Chapter 4

Saiyan Test Scores Remain Flat

By Reene

West City– Despite notable improvements by their human counterparts, Saiyan schoolchildren performed about the same on the latest round of standardized tests.

The King’s Reading, wRiting and aRhithmetic (RRR) Test is designed to evaluate all children across the kingdom with a single standard to see where additional education resources may be needed. While well-meaning in its inception, the tests have become a negative mark on the reputations of Saiyan schools, which consistently fail to meet goal on the standardized tests.

According to a recently released report by the Royal Ministry of Education, human students on average performed at goal or better on the reading and arithmetic tests, while falling a few points short on the writing test. Education Minister Riley said that results were up by almost 10 points across the board, showing that the latest education reforms were finally starting to show results.

However, Saiyan students showed no progress on the tests over the last year. Saiyan students on average failed all three parts of the RRR Test, leading to calls for reform from across the social and political spectrum.

Minister Riley said that the King remains committed to improving educational outcomes for Saiyans.

“We will not stand idly by while our Saiyan residents languish while their human classmates thrive,” Riley said to a gathering of the press. “We assure you that no child will be left behind.”

Some Saiyans argue that the tests are rigged against their children.

“What kind of test results in the average student failing it? A test that isn’t fair,” said Bokcha, a parent of a child at Saiyan School #4 in the eastern part of the city. “It doesn’t make sense that all of our kids are the problem. There’s something wrong with the tests.”

Intelligence Systems, Inc., the maker of the RRR Test, did not respond to a request for comment. 

Will carefully applied a few layers of foundation to his right cheek. He’d never worn makeup in his life, until he met Reene. She’d taught him the secret to covering all of his bruises, at least the facial ones, after an intense sparring match a few days ago. Reene had slid past his extended arm and landed a blow right on his cheekbone. He’d both heard and felt the bone crack under the force of her fist, but that didn’t concern him. He’d learned that his Saiyan physiology meant that even broken bones were more or less mended in a couple of days with some rest. Reene had given him, and Jicama, the foundation to hide the evidence of their sessions. 

The rules of their dojo were simple- do not talk about the dojo to outsiders, and always give it your all. He’d been giving it his all for the last couple of weeks, ever since Reene arrived. She was like a refreshing breeze blowing through the dojo, eager to learn and passionate. It had been months since the last new member, a red-haired Saiyan youth who had simply stopped coming after a few weeks. The dojo had fallen into a stale routine, with everyone losing to Jicama, and then him losing to Arula. At least now with Reene in the mix, there were some interesting upsets every once in a while. 

Will was annoyed that it seemed like each passing week brought him closer and closer to being one of them. Reene was learning quickly, and she’d already defeated most of the Saiyans in the dojo in a one on one. Her only challenges left were the four original members of the dojo: Arula, Jicama, Piña, and himself. She’d nearly beaten Piña just before their last sparring match, and Will believed that if not for her fatigue, she’d had a real chance at beating him as well. 

Beneath the annoyance though was a sense of excitement. Fighting Jicama was its own kind of thrill, because there’s a special feeling when it comes to challenging the unsurmountable with all of your effort. Will didn’t know if he’d ever defeat him, and while he enjoyed the challenge, it was getting old and repetitive. 

Fighting Reene though, now that was enjoyable. She was still new, but there was a ferocious determination behind every one of her attacks. She was very unorthodox as well; where Piña and especially Jicama changed forward with reckless aggression, Reene was more calculated, picking her moments to counterattack. He figured her style was developing on the fly, and since she was facing opponents so much stronger than herself, she was compensating with a more defensive posture. Whatever she was doing, it was working. When she hit back, she hit back hard.

He finished smoothing out the foundation to blend in with the rest of his brown skin, thankful that the faculty bathroom had a lock. He stepped out into the hallways, enveloped by the cacophony of students milling through the hallways on their way to homeroom. He slid carefully through the crowds until he reached his classroom, where a few students were already in their seats either sleeping or chatting with their friends. 

“Good Morning Mr. Decon,” said a young man with jet black tufts of hair spilling over his eyes.

“Morning, Mr. Celer,” he said in response. Celer was the boy’s given name, as many Saiyans didn’t use family names. Another way in which Will was an exception. “How was your weekend?”

“Good, didn’t do much. How about you?”

For a moment, the memory of himself kicking Reene in the back so hard that she crashed through the far wall of their dojo flashed into his mind. “I didn’t do much either, you know, just graded some homework.”

The rest of the class trickled in as the two kept talking, and after the bell rang the daily lesson began. The topic was the Saiyan Codes, the first set of laws passed to govern the behavior of the Saiyan minority and the human majority. Something he prided himself on was telling his students the whole truth, no matter how sordid, violent or miserable it was.

“The first Saiyan Code was passed approximately 450 years ago,” he said to the class. “That was a result of the West City Port incident, where a Saiyan who had learned how to fly caused an international incident that almost led to war between the Furry Kingdom and the Dinosaur Confederacy in the west,” he said. 

“It seems like they overreacted to just one guy flying,” said a girl sitting in the front, her tail wagging lazily beneath her.

“Maybe, but you have to look at it from their perspective,” Will said. “Humans still didn’t know that Saiyans were on earth at the time. Very few people realized that Vegeta had initially come to earth as part of an invasion force, and no one knew the truth of Son Goku’s origins. It was believed for a long time that they were just incredibly strong human beings, like Mr. Satan from the same time period. And after the defeat of Majin Buu, it was rare to see anyone flying through the skies. So someone rediscovering the lost art of flight must have been very scary to people who had never seen it before, and who didn’t know aliens were living among them.”

“Do you know how to fly?” came a question from the back of the room. He’d actually been working diligently over the last few weeks to master flight. It was something even Arula couldn’t do, despite how powerful she was. He felt that if he learned flight, he’d have something special to contribute to the dojo. But his students didn’t need to know that.

“No, I don’t,” he answered.

“It’s not right that there are laws against just us,” said Celer. “Isn’t that like discrimination?”

“In a way, yes,” Will said. “But the law doesn’t say that Saiyans can’t fly, but instead that no one can fly. So it doesn’t specifically target Saiyans.”

“But if humans can’t fly anyway, and only Saiyans can, then what does it matter? In reality it only targets Saiyans,” he said.

Realizing he was stumped, Will went back to his lesson. “Flying wasn’t the only thing that was restricted for Saiyans. More and more Saiyan Codes were passed. Over time, we went from existing normally as part of society to being increasingly segregated and policed. When you look at the world today, most of the cities in the kingdom have a very clearly defined area where Saiyans live, and there are almost no humans in those areas. Saiyans do live among humans, but it’s rare.”

“I live in the Saiyan quarter,” Celer said. 

“Me too,” another student said.

“Do you live in the Saiyan quarter?” came the question from the back.

“No, I live a couple of blocks from the school.”

“Oh yeah, I should’ve figured you live with humans, since you don’t have a tail,” Celer pointed out. Will immediately bristled at the statement, but made himself relax. The boy hadn’t spoken out of malice, but out of a well-known fact that tailless Saiyans were the ones who lived among humans. Assimilationists, as some called them, Will thought bitterly.

“Yes, I do live with humans as my neighbors.”

“What are they like?” a girl named Marra asked.

“They’re just like us. Weaker, but otherwise they look and act just like us,” Will said. He was preparing to return to his lesson when he thought about the question. “Marra, have you ever talked to a human before?”

“Well yeah, I’ve had human teachers,” she said.

“Besides that. When was the last time you talked to a human that wasn’t your teacher?”

“Hm, the doctor is a human. And the policeman who stops by on Dark Nights.”

“Do you ever just talk to regular humans who aren’t telling you what to do?” he asked. Marra shook her head no. “Have any of you interacted with humans outside of school or your doctor’s office?” The rest of the class joined Marra in her headshaking.

Will stood silent for a minute. “Okay, we’re gonna fix that. We’re going on a field trip to the human part of the city.”

***

Reene sat impatiently on the concrete floor as she waited for Arula to return. She’d had a rematch with Piña on her mind all day. She’d replayed their last match hundreds of times in her mind, and she could see the openings in her bruising, aggressive style. Victory would be hers, as soon as whatever was happening now was over. The others were standing off to the side, and Reene had been instructed to assume a meditative state until Arula returned. There was no meditation happening though. Reene was fuming.

“Open your eyes,” Arula said. Reene opened them, and saw Arula standing before her holding a book. It was old, and Reene could see where the binding had been redone. Still, pages overflowed the boundary of the cover, hanging on by the slightest bit of thread to the rest of the book. The cover was faded and bleached out, but in the dim light of the dojo she managed to make out a few words.

“My Life…As a Warrior…”she said, and suddenly lunged for the book. Reason reasserted itself just in time and she paused, instead taking the aging tome gingerly between her hands. “Where did you get this?”

“It’s been passed down by at least four generations in my family,” Arula said. “There was a secret mass printing of the book about 200 years ago, and this is one of the last survivors of that run. We’ve had to put this book back together over and over again, but it’s worth it.”

Reene had dreamed of finding this book someday. It had been scrubbed from virtually every public database, and physical copies were thought to be extinct. She’d heard rumors of Saiyan hackers and cybercriminals who had digital copies of the book, but even those were impossible to track down even for a reporter. Holding the book in her hands was the closest she’d ever come to experiencing a miracle.

“This book has guided our studies here in the dojo. It’s time for you to read it, so that you can understand who your people really are.” 

All thoughts of punching Piña vanished, and Reene carefully turned the book to a random page. 

Chapter 6: The Warrior Prince

After my father died against Cell, it was the longest I’d ever been without him. His death, and the death of Android 16, were my first experiences with permanent death. The rest tried their best to help– mom, Piccolo, Krillin and the rest. But we were all grappling with the same unbelievable, overwhelming grief. They’d never dealt with someone being truly gone either.

The only person who had, was Vegeta. He’d lost his family, his race and his planet. None of them were ever coming back. Until then, I thought he truly believed all his Saiyan bravado about strength being the only important thing and bonds like family and friendship being meaningless. Then I saw him after my father died. There was none of the gloating he’d done when he thought my father had died on Namek. Back then, he thought he’d gained something with Kakarot’s death. After the Cell Games, it was clear he thought he’d lost something.

Reene frowned. “I thought this was a guide on how to be a great warrior? It’s just talking about how they felt.”

Arula lifted Reene up by her shoulders and stared directly into her eyes. “That’s the point,” she said. “What made Gohan, Kakarot and Vegeta so strong was the depth of their emotions, anger and rage, but camaraderie too. Our mental and emotional training must be as rigorous as our physical training if we are to someday reach the strength of our exalted ancestors.”

Jicama stepped forward. “You can probably tell books and me don’t get along, but that one’s worth reading,” he grunted at her. Will nodded in agreement. If they were agreeing on something, then it had to be true. 

“Now that you’ve learned the basics of combat, you need to get your mind, body and spirit in order so that you can begin to learn the next power. Read that book before our next dojo session.”

Reene turned the tome over in her hands. “The whole thing?” 

“If you’re serious about being strong, then you have to be serious about studying too. 

Reene sighed. She thought that she was done with school.

Chapter 5

The Furry Kingdom encompasses most of the continent on which it sits. The boundaries were set hundreds of years ago, when conflict arose between humans spreading across the land, and other nonhuman species that took the aggressive expansion of humans as a threat. In particular, the dinosaurs were upset by human encroachment on their territories, as their breeding and hunting grounds were being disrupted.

The western border of the kingdom is located at the River of the Kami, so named because of a massive waterfall upstream that local tradition claims reaches all the way to the now abandoned Kami’s Lookout. The lands beyond the river are reserved for the Dinosaur Confederacy, and the two nations leave each other be, for the most part.

The kingdom itself has five major cities. Four are named for the cardinal directions, and the fifth is simply known as Capitol City. Each region is known for certain specialties, such as farming in the east, manufacturing in the south, science and technology in the west and natural resource extraction in the north. 

Approximately 200 million people call the kingdom home, and it’s one of the most prosperous nations on earth. That’s thanks to the leadership of King Furry, and the hard work of all the people who make up the kingdom.

–The Official Guide to the Furry Kingdom, Ch. 1, pg. 3

Parliamentarian Serin rushed down the hall. She was running late, and hoped that the briefing hadn’t started without her. As she approached one of the Grand Parliament’s many conference rooms, she could hear the low murmur of her colleagues. Good, if they were still talking, then the meeting hadn’t started yet.

She set herself down between Francis Soot and Armena Castoco, parliamentarians from districts that bordered hers. They were staunch allies in most government matters, and none more so than their concerns about Saiyans. Across the circular table sat Bell, with his counterparts Brada, from East City, and Adly from North City. They too were an inseparable block, always voting in favor of Saiyan affairs. Serin wasn’t worried about them. Her targets were the other seven members of the committee, each one a swing vote that could determine whether her policies were enacted, or died before they even reached the parliament’s floor. 

The whispers died down as several men and women in dress uniforms entered the room. They filed in silently, and went to stand behind the lectern at the front of the table. The last was a tall, lanky man with a hardened look in his right eye and an eyepatch over the left.

“Good afternoon Parliamentarians,” he said in an accent Serin recognized from the eastern farm country. “My name is Brigadier General Jabon Bradley. I’m the new head of the Saiyan Intelligence Service. Behind me is my staff. I won’t bore you with introducing every one of them, but I wanted you to see the faces of the men and women who will be working on this important initiative.”

“Thank you for your service, General,” said Serin. “Your predecessor put a great deal of thought into how we could address the Saiyan problem, so I’m looking forward to seeing how you continue her work,” she said.

“And think creatively about how we can engage with Saiyans, instead of simply labeling them as a problem to be dealt with,” Bell interrupted.

“I can assure you both that we are here only to track the behavior of Saiyans and Saiyan groups that pose a threat to public safety, for humans and Saiyans alike,” he said. “However, as you will see in a few moments, there are some disturbing trends that we’ve seen.”

“Please, deliver your report,” Serin said. 

The general pressed a button on the computer before him, and a display appeared on the wall to his right. The display was covered in numbers, percentage signs and charts of various sizes and colors. At the top of the display, in bold lettering, read “Organized Saiyan Resistance: Summary.”

“I trust you’ve all read the report Captain Neely sent out a few days ago, so I’ll get straight to the point. We’ve seen a 15% increase in known Saiyan resistance organizations over the last three years. That three year time period coincides with the tenure of my predecessor, who developed many cutting edge tactics in terms of surveilling, infiltrating and disrupting these nascent networks. Therefore, the increase could be a result of better identification, but whatever the reason, they exist,” Bradley said.

“What exactly constitutes a Saiyan resistance organization?” Bell asked. 

“While there are several traits we look for, the primary one is evidence of organized combat training. We’ve seen over a dozen new combat training facilities appear just this year alone. These facilities are often small, providing combat training to only a handful of Saiyans throughout the kingdom. We know though that even a small contingent of well-trained Saiyan combatants would pose a major strategic threat to the kingdom.”

“Hold on one second,” said Bell. “You can’t seriously equate these small dojos around the area with some kind of insurgent training camps?”

“That’s exactly what they are,” Serin said. “They’re flagrantly disregarding the law in preparation for something to come in the future.”

“We’re not saying that just yet,” Bradley cautioned, raising his hand in the air. “We’re not calling them insurgents or anything of the kind because we haven’t confirmed any kind of intent or motive behind these training facilities. They don’t seem to have contact with each other, so it’s highly unlikely that they are coordinating any kind of violence.”

“See, relax,” Bell said, glaring at Serin.

“However,” Bradley said, “Ms. Serin is right in that the Saiyans running these facilities are fully aware that their actions are illegal. While there is no hard evidence of violent intent, it is reasonable to wonder why so many Saiyans are willing to risk the consequences of getting caught participating in illegal training exercises.”

“So you know that there are more of them,” asked one of Serin’s allies. “What are you doing about it?”

“At this moment, we’re biding our time,” Bradley said. “We know the exact locations of several facilities throughout the kingdom, and have them under constant surveillance. We’ve also begun to accelerate work on potential Saiyan countermeasures should they become necessary.”

Bell shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and Serin leaned forward. “Can you detail some of those countermeasures?”

“Several remain classified, so I can’t talk about those at this time. I can discuss some breakthroughs in weapons technology that we’ve achieved. Field tests for the X-R60 energy rifle are going well. We’re still having difficulty dispersing the heat from the weapon in a way that doesn’t harm the user, though.”

“What about nonlethal means of subduing Saiyans?” Bell asked. “Have you looked into any of those methods at all?”

“With all due respect sir, if you have any ideas for those methods that would actually work, we’d love to hear them,” Bradley said. “Frankly, even our lethal means oftentimes aren’t enough to stop a Saiyan.”

“You’re doing great work, general,” Serin said. “Some of us simply have an unrealistic understanding of the situation at hand. If there are no more questions, I see no reason to keep the general here any longer. We’ll be in touch with any questions.”

“Thank you ma’am. Ladies and gentleman,” Bradley nodded with stiff formality before turning to leave the room. The lawmakers were silent until Serin began tapping her fingers on the table. 

“A fifteen percent increase,” she said quietly.

“Now hold on,” Bell said, and the room erupted. The conversations stayed within the bounds of parliamentarian restraint– polite, measured, quiet– but fear tinged every word. As the debates continued, the committee hardened into two equally split positions: the defenders, who wanted stronger Saiyan restrictions, and the protectors, who wanted more Saiyan integration. There was only one undecided lawmaker, a Saiyan man from a district on the edge of West City. He felt all the eyes in the room boring into him as he considered both sides of the argument. After what felt like hours, he cleared his throat.

“If there are radical Saiyan elements out there, we need to know more about them,” he said. Bell slumped back into his seat as Serin nodded in agreement at the lawmaker.

“That’s all any of us want,” she said.

***

Reene couldn’t get the book out of her mind.

It had been almost a week since she started Son Gohan’s autobiography, and she was engrossed. It read like a Greek tragedy; the emperor of the universe, defeated by the very creatures he destroyed to protect himself. The folly of the battle against Cell, tainted by arrogance and pride. The triumphant return of Son Goku to defeat a galactic, magical monster. It all seemed too fantastic to be real, and yet, here she was, a descendant of those warriors. Living proof of the story, tail and all.

She was staring at a blank screen on the computer. Her deadline was fast approaching, but she couldn’t focus. She was still trying to decide what to make of her people’s history. We were basically pirates, she thought. Sellswords who annihilated entire civilizations and sold the planets to the highest bidder. It disturbed her greatly that her race was basically all of the stereotypes that humans used to describe them: savages who loved nothing more than battle. But that’s a human way of thinking, she thought. We were feared throughout the galaxy. We produced the greatest warriors in the universe.

And I’m the heir to that power.

“Hey, Earth to Reene, you there?” Justin said, tapping her on the shoulder. Reene started, and turned around. Justin was looking right at her, a vague expression of annoyance on his face. “You’ve got a visitor.” Reene instantly recognized the blonde haired man standing behind him.

“Hey Will, what are you doing here?”

“Hey. Do you have somewhere we can talk in private?” 

Reene led him down the hall from Justin’s snooping eyes and into a dark conference room. She shut the door and drew the blinds closed. “What’s up?”

Will started pacing back and forth. “I need your help. One of my students has gone missing, a kid named Celer.”

“Shouldn’t you go to the police?” 

“I already did,” he said. “They said that the parents had already filed a missing persons report, and that they were pursuing leads into his disappearance. Then they went back to playing battle ball on their phones.”

“I’m sorry about your student Will, but what do you want me to do?”

“As I was leaving the police station, I noticed a bulletin board near the exit. There were six posters of Saiyan youth who have gone missing in this area, all in the same year. Then I started thinking about the Saiyans who came to our dojo before you showed up. Most of them stopped coming, and we didn’t think much of it. But I’m starting to think that something is going on.”

Reene was quiet for a moment. She had heard rumors in her neighborhood about a young man who had gone missing as well, but thought of it as a youthful mistake. Was it possible that Will was right, and there was something connecting a spate of disappearances?

“Okay, I’m going to talk to my editor about it,” she said.

“Please don’t. The authorities already aren’t taking this seriously. What if he orders you not to investigate? If you start without telling him, he can’t stop you.” He was right, Reene thought. She didn’t like the idea of going behind her editor’s back, but this was too important to ignore.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll let you know what I find.”