son gokū

Freedom--
Howl at the moon, Gokū!
Rouse the world from it's sleep

It happened suddenly. All it takes is but a moment, that's all it would take for him, at least. A moment of weakness to overcome his prison, to rip them open from the inside out, to unseal himself, to feel air fill his lungs once more. He was no longer the pet of a mediocre ninja who treated him as nothing more than dirt, he was once again the handsome monkey king, the sage of sages.

Moonlight on his face, towering over the tall trees, his gargantuan spiked tails whipped back and forth and toppled the forest. He howled a fiery breath to the night sky, spittle flying from his lips as he tried to blow out a star.

Freedom.

Madness.

One in the same in many respects, under certain circumstances. There were mountains that were shaken and toppled in the span of hours, and he went on destroying things and plowing through army of ninja for a week before he returned home to Suirendō. It was there that he found an old man, resting, sleeping, waiting to be destroyed.

You see, Gokū was merely indifferent to humans before, they were nothing but ants to him, but after his last host his indifference became an intense hatred, one that felt like it would never fade. The old man awoke and found the silhouette of a massive four tailed ape looming over him.

"Big fella, aren't you?" The old man dusted himself off and stood to his feet. "I knew you'd come back here, though. Causing all that ruckus and whatnot...you always want to come back to the place you consider home."

Gokū responded with a roar that caused the old man to plug his ears.

"I knew you'd return here because," The old man croaked, wiping his nose and pointing to the large beast. The sound of the waterfall that hid the cave was nothing but a cacophonous white noise in the distance. "It's a wholly human thing to do for someone lost and confused and angry to return to a place they consider home. Understand?"

There was no reasoning with Gokū. There was a battle, and the old man spent the entire time he avoided dying against the four tailed ape trying to talk him down, trying to get him to calm himself. It wasn't completely a waste, Gokū saw in this old man someone else, someone who also treated him not as a monster or beast but as an individual and friend.

Man and beast caused the cave to quake and rumble, their battle sounded like thunder, then there was a sudden silence that overtook the mountain. The morning dew was settling and beyond the peak emerged ninja in pursuit of the tailed monster. When they arrived at the mouth of the cave, the old man emerged, and behind him was another man, one much younger but taller in stature.

"I sense his chakra...but..." One of the ninja said to another as they eyed the two men who silently emerged from the cave.

"You there, have you seen a monster around here?" The leader of the ninja troop asked the old man.

"No." The old man said. "I've seen no monsters here, chu."