Dragon Ball: Enlisted

'The sky is green.'

Over the course of a few hours, my life as a trash human being was turned on its head. I'd gained a system like out of one of those isekai novels, and was sent to the world of Dragon Ball to become a space cop.

I fought robots, slept in the same room with genuine aliens, and gained various supernatural abilities that I was sure would evolve with time.

But it wasn't the aliens or the powers that finally made me stop and think. It was the damn sky.

A feverish, adrenaline-fueled blur of half-remembered DBZ trivia and panic. But standing there, under that unfamiliar sky, it hit me that my previous life was entirely gone.

This wasn't Earth. I wasn't me anymore. Not really.

"What… am I doing?" The words slipped out as I stared at my hands, turning them over like they belonged to someone else.

It didn't feel real until now. None of it did.

I had gone with the flow until now, knowing my fate would be a thousand times worse if I didn't. It wasn't like I had a choice. But now, with the green sky pressing down on my mind, I started to wonder if I should feel something more.

Panic?

Despair?

Excitement?

I lowered my hands and let my gaze wander to the other recruits. Most were stretching or quietly chatting. One or two of them were meditating.

Nobody spoke to me. I didn't know how to meditate or stretch correctly. My only experience with moving my body was in gym class.

'I… don't belong here—'

BOOM!

I flinched as a shockwave of sound slammed into me, rattling my teeth. I could've sworn the ground trembled a little, too.

Aprico was standing there, his palms held together. A thin layer of dust kicked up around him. 

'That was from a clap? …Damn.'

"Follow," Aprico growled, his deep voice cutting through the lingering hum of his clap. "Don't stop until I say so."

He turned and started walking. No fanfare. No explanation. Just walked away like we were supposed to know where we were going.

I hesitated.

For half a second, I thought about staying put, but my feet were already moving. Instinct, maybe. Or fear. Probably both.

While we walked, I thought he was going to just take us somewhere, but he didn't say a word. He just… kept walking. 

I'm pretty sure someone even asked him a question, but he didn't bother to answer.

Besides that, no one else talked much. Maybe they knew better.

That wasn't too bad, for a while. Since he was so much taller I had to speed walk just to keep with his normal walking speed. I think I was doing pretty well since I'd managed to avoid stumbling over myself.

But as the minutes stretched, so did his stride. Walking turned to jogging, then running. By the time I realized what was happening, we were sprinting.

And then it hit me.

'He's doing the fucking marathon from hell, isn't he?'

The thought made me laugh, but it came out as a wheeze. 

It was a test from Hunter x Hunter, a different anime I'd seen. In that anime the instructor just started running. Everyone followed without an end goal in sight. A test of both mental endurance and physical endurance since the examinee didn't know when they'd ever stop.

I remembered thinking it looked impossible from the comfort of my couch.

"You've gotta be kidding me," I muttered under my breath as I felt my legs start to burn.

I didn't care about pride or competition. I hated running. Always had. If I could stop, I would. But I didn't.

I don't know why. Maybe I was afraid Aprico would clap again and disintegrate me on the spot. Maybe I was just tired of being a quitter.

"Gah, pant, kuk, pant…"

I'd never learned the proper way to breathe while running. I knew it existed, but I'd never bothered to learn.

I hated the fact that my nose was starting to run or that I involuntarily began to shed tears. I hated that I could taste a mixture of dust and saliva in my mouth.

I hated that I was still an outcast. No matter how much I tried, everyone else was slowly pulling farther and farther away.

I hated it. Not because I cared what they thought, but because it felt familiar. Too familiar.

I hated running with a passion.

But I didn't stop.

I knew that I didn't belong here and that everyone else had probably been training since birth. And it was only logical that I would take quite a while just to catch up.

My lungs felt like they were ripping apart, and my joints felt like they were cracking.

There was no shame in resting for a bit; I knew that.

But…

'I can't… I can't stop here…'

This was my chance. In my past life, I had been a loser until the end. Time and time again I simply gave up and threw myself a pity party of excuses.

But this was a new life—A fresh start where I could reforge myself without any excuses. Where I had a clear advantage in life that would push me further.

In a noble-dark world where a single man's hard work could change the universe.

Where if you're smart about pushing your limits, they will break.

It wasn't pride or faith in myself that led me to believe that, but an undeniable truth set by the main character of this multiverse.

I remembered those episodes vividly—Goku, beaten and bruised, lying in the dirt but grinning like he'd just won the whole world. Because he had. He had zero business getting up time and time again, finding some new path to greater strength.

Yet he always kept moving forward.

Even when everyone said it was impossible for him to get stronger, or impossible for him to win, he'd always find a way.

Each step felt like I had weights strapped to my ankles. My legs dragged, my breath came out in ragged gasps, and the world started tilting a little too much for my liking.

I wanted to stop. Hell, my body was practically screaming at me to stop.

'But Goku would keep going.'

The thought looped in my mind.

I stumbled forward, nearly twisting my ankle as the sprint caught up to me. A sharp cramp twisted in my side like a knife digging into my ribs, but I bit my tongue and pressed on.

The other recruits were dots on the horizon now, pulling ahead while I lagged behind, gasping like a fish.

I tried to laugh, but it came out as a wheeze. "I'm not Goku," I muttered, wiping sweat from my eyes. "I'm not even Yamcha on a good day."

Because Yamcha wasn't weak, nor was Krillin, or any of the human warriors. They trained and stood next to titans even when they had no chance of winning.

My foot dragged, and I nearly collapsed face-first into the dirt. I caught myself at the last second, stumbling forward in a half-trip that barely resembled running.

'One more step.'

I couldn't breathe.

'One more.'

My vision blurred.

'Just… one more.'

I didn't know when I hit the ground. I just remembered the green sky above, blurred by sweat and tears.

As a student, I failed. As a son, I failed. As a brother and friend, I failed. In my past life, I was a loser, through and through.

Yet somehow, even as the world slowly faded to black while the others were miles ahead…

The thought of Goku's stupid grin made me feel like I hadn't lost yet.