Beyond A Failed Future - Chapter 2.1 (Patreon)

It was amazing how quickly people could develop a routine even in the most horrendous of circumstances.

If there was one thing humanity excelled at, it was adapting to situations beyond the norm. In peaceful times, the strong were un-needed and those of questionable mental faculties rose to the forefront of society and tore down what the strong built up in an effort to cement themselves as the loudest voices and draw in all attention they could.

But when that peace was destroyed, the strong whom had been resting their tired bodies, rose once more as the weak cowered behind them.

"Tch, another dead end." Ronan clicked his tongue and sighed in disappointment, a single hand in the air with a small orb of burning orange light flickering and lighting up the insides of the building he was within.

He was currently within the half destroyed remains of a car dealership. For the last six days since he woke up in the world of Dragon Ball, he'd fallen into a routine.

Scour the city, search for some form of map, search for a car that was in working order, search for food supplies in the wreckage of houses and stores, return 'home' to his base he found on his first day in this world, exhaust himself, sleep, wake up, repeat.

He'd been completely unsuccessful finding any working car that could take him to where he wanted to go.

But…he had found a world map at the wreckage of a travel agents. And while he hadn't found a lot of food, he'd found some and a few dino capsules as well for his troubles that were life savers.

They allowed him to carry the food he'd found both in his base and outside with him at all times so nobody else could get their grimy hands on them.

Ronan sighed, "May as well go back." he mused, and proceeded to leave the wrecked dealership behind.

___________

One thing that was rarely ever touched upon in stories that took place in post apocalyptic worlds that Ronan had partook in, was the sheer lack of things to do.

Beyond scrounging for items and supplies he was looking for, there wasn't really any entertainment for Ronan to keep himself occupied.

There was no running electricity, so he had no access to television, gaming consoles or anything like that. There wasn't anybody playing any form of sport. There was no people to gather and socialise with and even books were rare to come by.

The very few in readable condition Ronan had come by hadn't exactly been useful for entertainment purposes.

Still, the lack of entertainment while 'relaxing' in his base, left Ronan with only one real way to pass the time beyond sleeping.

Playing around with his ki.

There was one thing Ronan had to say.

Ki was fascinating.

Now that he had it upon entering this world and had drawn upon it. He was conscious of it, near enough at all times.

It was like a sixth sense, or a limb he'd never known he'd had before and just rediscovered.

It felt like a second, pulsing heart deep within his core, yet at the same time, pulsed through his veins like blood.

It was truly hard to describe and even harder to accomplish anything with.

Case in point-

"!" Ronan grunted, vein throbbing on the side of his head and teeth grit as he hung a few feet off the ground.

While he wanted more than anything to learn how to fire ki blasts or strengthen himself with the energy, what he needed came before what he wanted.

And what he needed was the ability to fly.

Thankfully on that front, good old Master Gohan once again was a provider of knowledge.

And by that, Ronan remembered the lessons he went through with Videl when he was teaching her to fly.

'I should do something nice for that guy if I can.' Ronan thought to distract himself from the effort he was putting in to remain afloat in the air as he pushed his ki out from his feet.

It might have been a different version of Gohan from a different timeline, but it was still Gohan and without the lessons he'd really be up shit creek without a paddle.

Thanks to the lessons he remembered, he at least had a small, tiny fighting chance.

Minutes later, his ki puttered and fizzled out and Ronan landed back on the ground, panting deeply.

"…Fuck, it'll be a while before I can sustain it for any amount of time." he cursed, making his way over to the couch and collapsing atop it.

Not to mention, actually get the flying in working order. All he could manage right now was floating in place for a few minutes.

'Maybe if I learn to push the ki out from other places of my body at the same time?' he wondered idly.

Well, either way, it would be a few hours before his ki recovered enough to try again.

So for now, he reached into his pocket and retrieved the map he'd pilfered earlier today from a wrecked travelling agents and spread it out across a small table in front of the couch.

'From what I've found, I'm currently in Baseru City…which is over here.' he hummed, eyes tracing over the left side of the map.

The bad news was the Baseru City…was a long, long ways away from Mount Paozu where he knew Gohan had lived as a child with his mother and father, though he couldn't be sure he was still living there.

It was his best bet on where to find him though.

The good news though, was that Baseru City wasn't that far away from West City. Which was where he knew Capsule Corp was located.

Specifically, it was where he would be able to find Trunks and possibly more importantly Bulma Briefs.

But putting them aside for the moment, there were two other places that stood out to him.

A small island due south of Mount Paozu was one of them. If he wasn't wrong, that was where Kame House was located.

And Master Roshi.

And perhaps even more importantly, a large piece of land directly to the west of Basaru City, simply named as the Holy Land Of Korin on the map.

He hadn't realised that area was listed on the map at all.

But, there was potential to be found there. Kami was dead and Korin and Popo might have been as well.

But if the Lookout was still around, then the Hyperbolic Time Chamber was still around as well.

Perhaps even the Sacred Water that could unlock the users potential…if they survived drinking it.

Which could be a problem considering he was sure Goku only survived it because he was a saiyan. And Yajirobe who had been pretty damn strong for that time had only dipped his finger in and licked it and found himself on his back gasping in pain.

'..Wonder if I could do that and build a resistance to it?' he mused, before putting it out of mind.

Right now, he could decide on a goal. He could head to West City or Mount Paozu in hopes of finding Gohan. He could head to Master Roshi to see about getting training from him…if he was still around.

Or he could steal away up to the Lookout and pursue getting stronger himself before ever getting involved with anything just to be on the safe side.

…Granted, it would have to be after he learned to fly considering his luck with finding any working car around here.

"Ugh…" Ronan groaned, standing up and rubbing his head in agitation. Just thinking of what he'd have to do was making him antsy.

Maybe he should work out? That was always good for relieving stress. And training physically increased power in this world too, right?

"Wonder if there's anything I can use as weights in this place?" Ronan mused.

__________

A month passed in almost the blink of an eye.

And life in this world, became normal for Ronan and his routine became ingrained within his body.

He would wake up in the morning and work out. He would use up all his ki practising how to fly or exude his ki outside of his body. then, after eating, he would prowl the wreckage of Baseru City searching for supplies to aid him. Return him, work out, use up his ki again in the same manner as he did before. Rest for a bit, then eat. Then work out again and once again use up his recovered ki.

Before going to bed.

And then repeating that every single day.

The teenager would not lie, it was scary for the first few weeks. Every now and then, he would hear a building succumbing to the wounds inflicted upon it by the androids falling to its grave and making the earth rumble beneath his feet or the odd person screaming in fear or rage.

The temptation was there to search them out, the need for companionship in this crazy world almost overwhelming…

Before his self preservation instincts won out and he ultimately ignored them. He focused only on gathering what food he could for himself and working on his body and ki.

Those were his life lines.

"…I'm almost sad to leave it behind." Ronan laughed lightly to himself as he stood outside his 'base' and looked upon it.

It was just a rickety, cracked, small dome shaped home with boarded up windows and doors.

But, it had been home for the last month since he'd arrived here and a safe refuge where he could rest peacefully.

He wished he could take it with him, but he'd just end up ruining the place…even more if he put it in a dino capsule. For instance, he'd tear up all the plumbing

At least if he left it here alone, someone else might be able to use it as their own home for a while now that he was gone.

As it was a month had passed now since he'd arrived in this world. A full month of nothing but scavenging and training.

And he had now finally gotten to the point where he was confident enough in his flying ability to head out.

It had taken Videl only a week to get down if he remembered right, but then unlike her, beyond the initial advise given by Gohan on how to fly, he didn't have the half saiyan overlooking his training.

Everything he knew beyond that, he'd puzzled out himself using second hand knowledge he remembered from the series. Which wasn't a whole lot mind you, but he was proud of himself nonetheless

Honestly Ronan was just glad he was such a big Dragon Ball fan before he ended up here or he would have been right fucked.

"…Sayonara." he bid the home goodbye and slowed began to lift into the air. He cast one last look at it as he rose up higher and higher, before turning around.

And flying due west.

He had decided to head for Korin's Tower first beyond anything else.

___________

It took longer than he expected to reach his destination.

Granted, Ronan's control over his ki was shoddy at best even after training with it for an entire month since he discovered it and as such he was pacing himself and not going as fast as he could. He only knew how to do two things with it after all, draw it out of his body and compress it into a sphere and fly with it.

There sadly was not any teachings from Master Gohan beyond that. In actuality, in the entirety of the dragon ball series that he'd seen and read, from the beginning up to the Battle of Gods, there was only one other ki training with any actual description or showing on how it was done.

And it was one of the earliest ones, how to sense ki. By Master Roshi imbuing a bit of his ki in a pebble and then having Krillin and Goku try and sense it and find it.

'…Course to learn how to do that I need to learn how to imbue my ki into something.' Ronan sighed, 'Just more to work on.' he shook his head, putting it out of mind and turning his attention back to the towering spire rising up into the sky beyond the clouds.

As he got closer, flying over the trees he noted the burnt and wrecked remains of what once must have been a small settlement where people lived.

'Where Upa and his dad lived.' he grimaced. He didn't see any remains as he approached and faintly hoped they managed to escape whatever…or rather whoever caused this.

Well, there was nothing he could do about it, so he put it out of mind and began to ascend higher into the air.

'You usually have to climb up, but I'm sure Korin will forgive me just this once.' Ronan thought.

…If he was still alive.