Kotoro
Chapter 1
The Birth That Would Change The Multiverse.
The baby wailed loudly, mentally and physically at the
sudden coldness of the real world. It had been shorter than most Saiya-jin
births, and the mother was in extremely good shape. The King had demanded that
the nursery workers suspend normal procedure for the care of Saiya-jin newborns
and allow the mother to help raise this child. For this to be successful the
mother and baby needed to bond, so the infant was handed over to Shinu to begin
breast-feeding. Power readings, and mental fitness testing could wait;
Saiya-jins were not known for their patience when it came to meals.
Not that they could have kept the child from her for long. They all knew that
Shinu was stronger than the King both in power level and raw physical strength.
Despite just having given birth, she could easily have broken the bones in their
arms and legs and taken the child from them.
Shinu had been on a mission of
scientific discovery under the direction of the Centurion High Council. She had
happened upon planet Vegetasei and had immediately begun to study the
inhabitants.
She was amazed to find sentient life of any kind, but even more surprised when
she discovered that the Saiya-jin Genetic code was very similar to the Centurion
genetic code and only had major differences in one chromosome. This had led her
to believe that somehow their two races shared a common ancestral species. She
had become determined to find the ancestral species. Along the way she had
fallen in love with one of her Saiya-jin companions and was delighted to
discover that Saiya-jin and Centurion were biologically compatible.
Shinu's mate, Ionno, not as powerful but a formidable fighter nonetheless, was
standing next to her bed, fussing more than one would expect from a man raised
in the usual Saiya-jin fashion. Ionno had always been an odd man, more emotional
than most Saiya-jin males, but a good mediator. Ionno managed a tavern in the
Capital city and often had to break up brawls between irrational, enraged,
drunken Saiya-jin, something most non-Saiya-jin members of the planet trade
would never attempt for any amount of money. He was highly respected by all who
frequented his bar, because he never let them feel he condescended to them or
tried to take advantage of them when they were drunk. Shinu suspected he had
some latent empathic powers that he was unaware of. Keeping a group of drunken
Saiya-jin calm was no small feat.
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After a few days when the couple and the child settled down, Shinu finally
relinquished the baby to the usual round of tests that baby Saiya-jin were
subjected to. She had decided to name him Kotoro, after an ancient Centurion
warrior who was known for protecting Centurai from an invading force.
The nursery staff placed Kotoro in the testing vessel and began the testing
program. At such an early age it was usually difficult to assess intellect, but
this baby was obviously off the charts. He had many of the capabilities that
normally took until the end of the first year to develop. He was already
imitating facial expressions and hand gestures, and was clearly interested in
the strange looking men who kept poking him with testing implements.
When it came time to test the baby's power, they placed him in a special sensory
container. By now, Kotoro's good temper was frayed and he had become cranky. In
addition he was hungry, and had realized his mother was not nearby. When they
started the machine they realized they would soon be in serious trouble. The
child's power rating was in the 4,000's, and it was rising rapidly. They had
never encountered this before, since most member species of the Planet-Trade did
not know how to concentrate their power to raise their power level. The baby was
clearly upset now and was crying. The machine started to shake. The machine
readout reached 9,500 when the electronics shorted out and began smoking. The
walls of the machine began glowing red and the nursery workers ran from the
room, knowing there was nothing they could do to stop the child. The machine
exploded and the baby began floating toward the door where the men had fled.
Suddenly the child's mother burst into the room, grabbed the baby and began
making soothing noises and sending psychic signals to calm the child down. A few
minutes later the child was sleeping in her arms.
"You see now why I insist on being involved with this child's development? You
could not afford to spare your top warriors to control a small child." Shinu
told the frightened nursery workers. "You should have stopped the tests the
moment the child began crying. If the child's mental cry hadn't been so loud I
don't think I would have gotten here in time to stop him. You can test his power
again tomorrow, but I will be present, and I suggest you bring a machine that
would tolerate reading power as high as Frieza's so I don't short the machine
out."
"Your child's power is truly something I have never personally encountered
before in one so young. Although the king would have me slain for saying so in
public, your child makes the prince's power look small. There is definitely
something to be said about hybrid vigor." the head of the nursery staff said.
Shinu wasn't so sure. She had expected a child with higher than normal power,
but something about Kotoro suggested he was stronger than he should be. Even
compared to her more educated estimations he was progressing faster than he
should. Something about her child was different and it couldn't just be his
genes. She planned to apply a subconscious restraint against the use of power on
Kotoro, to prevent future occurrences of this nature until he was old enough to
handle himself properly. She needed to test his full potential in her
mothership's lab.