stuff. (original application for econtra_rpg)
appearance - Goku stands at five foot four and weighs about 112 pounds. He's a short kid with pointy youkai!ears and brunet hair that frames his face in spiky bangs and flows down to about thigh-level in three long tails. He's extremely athletic, but leans slightly towards the scrawny side; this, coupled with his short height, childish face, and immature personality, often makes him seem younger than he actually is. One notable feature is his eyes--they're stunningly gold in color, with slitted pupils like a cat's. On his forehead is a curious bronze diadem; however, if one happens to know him well, they may realize that it's quite different from the one he usually wears.
His normal outfit is quite flashy, complete with clawed shoulder guards and a bold yellow cape. However, since his capture, Ukoku removed most of the unnecessary layers, leaving him in just his oversized white shirt and Gojyo's old jeans and boots. Ukoku's experiments also left Goku with long youkai!talons, and Seiten's odd black tattoo on his stomach.
personality - A friendly and cheerful youth with an insatiable appetite. That's probably the most accurate description of Goku. He's an eternally optimistic young monkey with a relatively one-track train of thought. Goku's very sincere and tends to be rather naïve, if not outright clueless at times. Nevertheless, he likes to help others out, and rarely-if-ever has any ulterior motives behind any of his actions. He's not quite the brightest guy around, but his good will makes up for it. Well, maybe.
Although Goku's a pretty light-hearted kid, he also has a more serious side to him. He doesn't get depressed easily--when he does, it's usually because something serious happened to his close friends. Goku thinks very highly of his companions, dysfunctional as they all are, and is willing to go to insane lengths to protect them, especially Sanzo. He has a phobia of being abandoned, since he was left alone in a cave for 500 years, so he tries to stick around his friends whenever possible.
The teenager also possesses a certain kind of charisma that inspires others at the most hopeless of times. Goku doesn't believe in playing to lose, no matter what the situation, and he'll stubbornly persist in doing what he thinks is right, no matter what he's going up against. He doesn't like to linger too much in the past, which makes sense considering how he doesn't remember most of it to begin with. He lives life without regrets and takes nobody's side but his own.
All in all, Goku's a likeable enough guy, but his alter ego Seiten Taisei is another story. Seiten is, simply put, a monster, bloodthirsty, and violent. He's almost incapable of coherent thought--once he's released, he promptly starts massacring anybody unfortunate enough to be near him with sadistic glee, friend and foe alike.
abilities/strengths - Goku doesn't really look that intimidating...which makes it that much easier for him to lower his opponents' guards before kicking their asses six ways to Sunday. He's extremely powerful, able to carry 100-kg shackles effortlessly as a child in Gaiden, and can move at blinding, nearly unblockable speeds. Arguably the strongest member of the ikkou, his endurance and energy seem to be limitless, and it takes about fifty youkai assassins and an empty stomach to tire him out. He called himself "rechargeable" once, with good reason--he seems to heal at an extremely quick rate, going from half-dead to full health in a matter of weeks, if not days. Goku has a keen sense of smell, which can come in handy when identifying youkai, distinguishing shikigami from humans, tracking down Gonou-on-the-run, and sniffing out takoyaki stands.
He's skilled at dealing with multiple enemies at a time, and he's resourceful enough to use the environment to his advantage if things are going downhill and his brute strength just doesn't seem to be enough. Goku excels at fighting with his staff, Nyoi-bo, but he can also change the weapon into a three-sectioned nunchucks for some variety. His hand-to-hand combat skills are very formidable, he's excellent at pillow fights, and he plays a mean mahjong game.
Even though Goku's a formidable enough force, his split personality is practically unstoppable. Seiten's powers are legendary--a few of his abilities includes manipulating chi, controlling the weather to a certain extent, and using the earth's energy to heal himself even from mortal wounds. His agility is unbelievable--he can pluck bullets out of the air and even catch them between his teeth if shot at from close range. He's considered pretty much equal to a god, or even to the whole of Heaven itself. While Goku fights mainly with Nyoi-bo, Seiten prefers a more bestial approach and just uses his claws, leaping on others and literally tearing them to pieces with his bare hands. Not very neat, but Seiten never really placed much thought in glorifying death in the first place, not when he deals it out so often.
weapons - Goku used to be able to summon a gold-tipped staff called Nyoi-bo, but his new diadem suppresses this ability, so he's currently unarmed. Which...doesn't mean much, considering his melee skills, but he can't help but feel a bit disturbed over this fact.
weaknesses - Goku's main weaknesses are food and his admittedly less-than-stellar I.Q. He's also very impulsive, and is known to get into trouble without even realizing it. He lets his emotions get the better of him, never looks before he leaps, and tends to act very childish when insulted, as Gojyo and Sanzo would know all too well.
Battle-wise, Goku is surprisingly vulnerable to surprise attacks. He seems to have some trouble with shikigami and long-ranged strikes like Kami-sama's beads and Sanzo's bullets. Unfortunately, Goku is extremely susceptible to the wrath of the monk's paper fan.
Seiten's only weakness is Sanzo. Not only because Sanzo can hold his own against the demigod with the Maten Sutra, but also because...well, for some reason, just seeing the man causes him to hesitate. Interestingly enough, despite being a child of the earth, Seiten can also be knocked out by powerful lightning attacks.
Since Ukoku's experiments, Goku's modified diadem causes him occasional headaches that can range from small, annoying migraines to unbearable pain.
history - (warning: massive spoilers for saiyuki gaiden, gensomaden saiyuki, and saiyuki reload. :o)
Seiten Taisei was born from a boulder at the peak of Mount Kaka, but he didn't get a chance to stay down on Earth for very long before he was captured and spirited up to Heaven on account of his golden eyes, the sign of a heretic that would bring chaos to the world. To control his powers, he was chained up with five 20-kg shackles, and limited with a special diadem, but it's obvious that he's an extremely dangerous character (despite his childlike attitude). Brought before the goddess of mercy, Kanzeon Botatsu, to have his fate decided, he meets her nephew blond-haired god, Konzen, for the very first time. He's enraptured by the man's golden hair, and reaches out to touch it...and then accidentally pulls out several of the long blond strands. Konzen is Not Very Happy with this, to say the least, and promptly starts trouncing the insolent little monkey.
And because Kanzeon is beautifully sadistic like this, she decides that her nephew would get along wonderfully with this odd heretic, and declares that they would keep him in heaven under Konzen's jurisdiction. Konzen reluctantly has no choice but to accept. He eventually gives the boy a name, Son Goku, and allows him to run about his new home, bumping into Kenren and Tenpou and Nataku in his days wandering around Heaven. Goku easily makes friends with Ten-chan and Ken-nii-chan, but finds it tougher to get close to the only other person who looks his age--the pale-haired boy named Nataku Taishi, who, like Goku, has golden eyes. Nataku is a "killing puppet" for Heaven; since the gods are not allowed to take lives, they send their heretical puppet down to Earth to punish heathens instead.
Li Touten, Nataku's "father" (read: creator), feels threatened by the presence of another heretic in Heaven, and plans to have his puppet eliminate Goku when the moment is right. Meanwhile, Goku's friendship with Nataku makes his three older friends realize just exactly how corrupt Heaven's army is. Tensions mount when Kenren stands up to support Nataku when he's sent down to Earth on another murder mission; Kenren gets punished instead for his good intentions, causing Tenpou to snap and approach Li Touten as well. Konzen, who had previously remained passive in Heaven's issues, realizes that he can't stay aloof like this forever and decides to protect Goku, now that he realizes just how much danger the little monkey is.
When Li finally orders Nataku to kill Goku, Kenren and Tenpou try to stop him. The "killing puppet", however, is too powerful for the both of them and easily blocks all of their attacks before turning to his former friend. Goku had never before gotten a chance to introduce himself properly to Nataku, since he'd been nameless until only recently. Once he tells Nataku his name, however, Nataku realizes that he couldn't kill his only friend in Heaven, and drives his sword into his chest instead, right in front of Goku's eyes.
And Goku snaps. His limiter shatters and releases Seiten Taisei, who goes berserk and immediately starts slaughtering everybody nearby, until Kanzeon Botatsu shows up and knocks him out with a single punch before replacing his diadem. Konzen decides that if the whole of Heaven is going aginst Goku now, he may as well leave. He plots with Tenpou and Kenren to escape to Earth, while Goku recovers from his trauma. They get pretty damn close to reaching the world below, after holding Goujun hostage and run-ins with countless of Heaven's soldiers, but eventually fall to the mutant "killing puppets" produced before Nataku was successfully created. Kenren and Tenpou die first, trying to buy time for Konzen and Goku to escape, but Konzen was never a fighter and without the help of his two stronger friends he gets easily picked off by the monsters, despite Goku's every effort to defend him.
Goku is then recaptured by Heaven's forces. The gods decide that he's far too unsafe to be kept in Heaven, so they seal him away in a cave atop Mount Gogyo and erase all of his memories. And there Goku stays, never aging or hungering, never being able to reach out to the world beyond the bars of his cage but always calling out for somebody to break him out.
And, 500 years later, somebody does. Konzen's reincarnation, a worldly monk named Genjyo Sanzo, was annoyed by the voice constantly whining for help in the back of his head, so he eventually climbs the mountain, planning to shoot the idiot in the head and get some peace and quiet for once. He had heard rumors of a monster being imprisoned at the summit, but never really believed them until he saw Goku, staring stupidly at him from behind the stone pillars of his prison. Without knowing exactly what he was doing, his anger fading away at the boy's clueless face, Sanzo reached out and freed Goku from his chains.
His irritation returned, however, when Goku persisted in following him down from the mountain, claiming that he'd been stuck there a long time and didn't know where to go. Against his better judgement, Sanzo brings the kid to Chang'An temple, intending to take care of him until he found a suitable foster family or something. Although he'd had his suspicions of Goku being more than he appeared, he didn't find out exactly what the teenager was until he paid a visit to the Three Aspects, Heaven's will manifested on Earth. The Three Aspects warn him about Goku's true identity--Seiten Taisei, the great sage equal to Heaven itself. While Sanzo was at first skeptical of this, he soon realizes just how dangerous Goku could be and races back to the temple.
He barely makes it in time--while he was gone, Goku had been discovered by the monks, who correctly assumed that he'd been stealing from the kitchen and gardens. The monks tried to capture the panicking adolescent, who was so stricken by Sanzo's absence that his diadem breaks. Seiten Taisei almost decapitates one of his pursuers, but Sanzo shows up just in time to use his Maten Sutra, restraining the heretic long enough to replace the limiter. It was a close call, as well as a wake-up sign; Sanzo realizes that Goku's too destructive to be on his own, so he decides that the only thing he could do was keep the monkey by his side.
Thus Goku stays at the temple as Sanzo's ward, much to the horror of the other monks. Although he starts growing up at a relatively normal pace, he continues to be incredibly attached to Sanzo and always whines to be taken along when the monk leaves on assignments for the Three Aspects. On one such mission, Goku meets Gonou and Gojyo, Tenpou and Kenren reborn. The Three Aspects had wanted Sanzo to apprehend Gonou, a mass murderer who had slaughtered more than a thousand innocents trying to get his sister back from a youkai king. Gonou, who'd been heavily wounded by his crimes, had been picked up by Gojyo and struck up an unlikely friendship with the other man. Though the four clashed in their first meeting, Gonou is eventually brought back to the Three Aspects for his trial and, Gojyo assumes, his death.
Fortunately, Buddhism forbids killing. Gonou is spared, but he gives up his old name, returning to Chang'An as a new man, Hakkai. Hakkai swears to turn over a new leaf and moves in with Gojyo, taking care of his friend and tutoring Goku while trying to rebuild his life. Despite everything that happened, however, Sanzo was still a bit distrustful of his three friends. Which meant that he was properly dismayed when the Three Aspects gave him a new mission to travel to India in the West and stop the resurrection of the youkai king Gyumaoh...with Goku, Hakkai, and Gojyo as his companions.
And that's basically the premise of Saiyuki, the year-long-and-counting journey to the west. Like Sanzo feared, it was full of trouble, including but not limited to constant youkai assassination attempts, obligatory angsty flashbacks, and inconvenient plot devices from the ikkou's pasts. They also bump into many interesting other characters. Kougaiji, for example, a red-haired demon prince with a mommy complex. Or Hazel, a sexually-challenged priest with a bad habit of bringing the dead back to life. And Ukoku, a mysterious Sanzo with perverted tendencies and an apparent Miffy fetish.
(AU starts here)
Ukoku's an interesting guy in that he is perpetually searching for entertainment. He'd always been a genius, amazingly skillful at anything he tried his hand at, and when he was younger, he had tried becoming a Sanzo simply because it was the toughest goal he could possibly set for himself. Though he eventually reached it, he'd done so through extremely bloody and forbidden means, and he never got a chakra on his forehead. Since then, Ukoku was always searching for a challenge, for a chance "to be eaten", or to be finally defeated by someone, as he'd never experienced loss before, only countless, empty victories. This was part of the reason he tried assisting Gyokumen Koushou in reviving Gyumaoh--the ox king was, apparently, one of the strongest youkai who ever lived, and Ukoku was always drawn to people who had the potential to overpower him...
Meanwhile, the Sanzo party's travel had suddenly ground to a halt. Goku had woken up one day to find all three other ikkou members missing. Needless to say, he freaked out for a good while, but eventually pulled himself together and started investigating the mystery. Their hotel rooms looked exactly the same as it had the night before, their beds mussed as if they'd left without even having a chance to make them, and for all appearances it looked as if they'd left the place voluntarily. There was no sign of struggle, no blood, but Goku was still uneasy and he ran out into town to find the others.
Only to bump into an odd-looking man wearing Sanzo robes. Goku had no idea what the bespectacled priest was looking for, or why exactly he seemed to be so interested in him, but hey, he was a Sanzo, and despite there not being a Sanzo Union the man claimed that he knew where his missing friends were. So of course Goku had to follow him.
...Too easy. Ukoku knew about the legends of Seiten Taisei, but never expected to find him this smoothly. True, Goku looked innocent enough, but the coronet on his forehead was the giveaway. And there was an unmistakeable aura around him, an unnatural, vicious presence lurking underneath his dominant persona. Seiten Taisei was said to be "equal to heaven" all in himself, and Ukoku had to wonder what exactly it would take to bring such a powerful being under his control.
It'd been a simple matter to drug Goku into unconsciousness and spirit him away to his laboratory in the West. Ukoku had experience removing the "hearts" from others and making them living puppets to serve his will--Kougaiji was proof of that, though the guy was flawed enough to eventually regain himself. Goku, however, was alone, so there'd hopefully be no pesky friends to interfere with the project. However, Ukoku was still a careful person, so he made sure Goku was absolutely comatose before beginning his experimentation. After all, it wouldn't do if Seiten Taisei awoke in the middle of the operation and tore him to shreds, would it?
It was obvious that the limiter was the only thing separating Goku from Seiten, so Ukoku focused his efforts on modifying it. Destroying Kougaiji's jewelry was enough to break him, but Ukoku knew better than to think the same technique would work on one as powerful as Seiten Taisei. The new diadem was only partially successful--though Goku grew physically closer to his alter ego, he had yet to get Seiten's raw strength. Ukoku was unsatisfied, but he supposed he was making progress--Goku still had his old personality, which was a good thing. He rather thought that Goku's naïvete would make him easier to manipulate than Seiten's one-track bloodthirstiness.
But Ukoku didn't get a chance to further experiment on the teenager when he found Goku missing from his test tube the next morning, gone to Econtra.
sample roleplay - Goku just stared in utter bewilderment at the strange man as waves of monotone exposition flowed out the Warden's mouth, in one ear and out the other. It wasn't until he was pushed roughly out the room that he realized that he still had no idea what the hell had just happened.
"Hey--hey!" The teen snapped out of his stupefied daze and knocked impatiently on the door. After a few seconds passed with no response, he tried prying the thing open--there was no knob. But no sooner than he had wedged the tips of his claws between door and wall--wait a minute, claws?!--a sharp wave of pain spiked through him, centering right between the eyes. Goku hissed and pulled away from the wall, pressing his palms to his temples in an effort to stifle the ache, counting down the seconds 'till the migraine passed.
Damn, that was weird. He didn't get sick often, didn't have a history of getting headaches, but that really hurt. The youth scowled, shaking his head to get rid of the last lingering spikes of pain and clear his mind a bit. All right, first things first. How'd he get into this--Econtra, wasn't it? Goku frowned as he racked his memory. They'd been in that golden-eyed town last, he had been looking for Sanzo and the others after they'd vanished into thin air from the hotel...
No matter how he tried, he couldn't quite remember what had happened next, and that fact unnerved him more than it probably should. He had a feeling of elapsed time, but no idea of what exactly happened during that period. And then there was the matter of...claws? Well, there was no better way to describe them, Goku thought wryly as he glanced down at his transformed hands. Huh, they were practically youkai talons, now that he got a good luck at them. Kinda weird. He lifted one arm to better examine the claws, then blinked as his gaze flicked over to the metallic cuff fastened to his wrist. And what was this? His old arm bands disappeared, he noticed with mild dismay as he began looking himself over. His cape, too, and his belts and--
This was really too weird. Goku shook his head again, an almost puppyish gesture that sent his long tails swishing like whips. He didn't notice his mysteriously-lengthened hair and just hefted a sigh as he began trudging down the hall to who-knows-where. The way he saw it, he might as well get moving. Standing around wouldn't get his questions answered any time soon.
And he was definitely going to find answers.
His stomach growled and Goku paused in his walk, pressing his hand to his belly in an almost puzzled manner. Ahh...now that he thought about it, he was really hungry...
Food first, then.
His normal outfit is quite flashy, complete with clawed shoulder guards and a bold yellow cape. However, since his capture, Ukoku removed most of the unnecessary layers, leaving him in just his oversized white shirt and Gojyo's old jeans and boots. Ukoku's experiments also left Goku with long youkai!talons, and Seiten's odd black tattoo on his stomach.
personality - A friendly and cheerful youth with an insatiable appetite. That's probably the most accurate description of Goku. He's an eternally optimistic young monkey with a relatively one-track train of thought. Goku's very sincere and tends to be rather naïve, if not outright clueless at times. Nevertheless, he likes to help others out, and rarely-if-ever has any ulterior motives behind any of his actions. He's not quite the brightest guy around, but his good will makes up for it. Well, maybe.
Although Goku's a pretty light-hearted kid, he also has a more serious side to him. He doesn't get depressed easily--when he does, it's usually because something serious happened to his close friends. Goku thinks very highly of his companions, dysfunctional as they all are, and is willing to go to insane lengths to protect them, especially Sanzo. He has a phobia of being abandoned, since he was left alone in a cave for 500 years, so he tries to stick around his friends whenever possible.
The teenager also possesses a certain kind of charisma that inspires others at the most hopeless of times. Goku doesn't believe in playing to lose, no matter what the situation, and he'll stubbornly persist in doing what he thinks is right, no matter what he's going up against. He doesn't like to linger too much in the past, which makes sense considering how he doesn't remember most of it to begin with. He lives life without regrets and takes nobody's side but his own.
All in all, Goku's a likeable enough guy, but his alter ego Seiten Taisei is another story. Seiten is, simply put, a monster, bloodthirsty, and violent. He's almost incapable of coherent thought--once he's released, he promptly starts massacring anybody unfortunate enough to be near him with sadistic glee, friend and foe alike.
abilities/strengths - Goku doesn't really look that intimidating...which makes it that much easier for him to lower his opponents' guards before kicking their asses six ways to Sunday. He's extremely powerful, able to carry 100-kg shackles effortlessly as a child in Gaiden, and can move at blinding, nearly unblockable speeds. Arguably the strongest member of the ikkou, his endurance and energy seem to be limitless, and it takes about fifty youkai assassins and an empty stomach to tire him out. He called himself "rechargeable" once, with good reason--he seems to heal at an extremely quick rate, going from half-dead to full health in a matter of weeks, if not days. Goku has a keen sense of smell, which can come in handy when identifying youkai, distinguishing shikigami from humans, tracking down Gonou-on-the-run, and sniffing out takoyaki stands.
He's skilled at dealing with multiple enemies at a time, and he's resourceful enough to use the environment to his advantage if things are going downhill and his brute strength just doesn't seem to be enough. Goku excels at fighting with his staff, Nyoi-bo, but he can also change the weapon into a three-sectioned nunchucks for some variety. His hand-to-hand combat skills are very formidable, he's excellent at pillow fights, and he plays a mean mahjong game.
Even though Goku's a formidable enough force, his split personality is practically unstoppable. Seiten's powers are legendary--a few of his abilities includes manipulating chi, controlling the weather to a certain extent, and using the earth's energy to heal himself even from mortal wounds. His agility is unbelievable--he can pluck bullets out of the air and even catch them between his teeth if shot at from close range. He's considered pretty much equal to a god, or even to the whole of Heaven itself. While Goku fights mainly with Nyoi-bo, Seiten prefers a more bestial approach and just uses his claws, leaping on others and literally tearing them to pieces with his bare hands. Not very neat, but Seiten never really placed much thought in glorifying death in the first place, not when he deals it out so often.
weapons - Goku used to be able to summon a gold-tipped staff called Nyoi-bo, but his new diadem suppresses this ability, so he's currently unarmed. Which...doesn't mean much, considering his melee skills, but he can't help but feel a bit disturbed over this fact.
weaknesses - Goku's main weaknesses are food and his admittedly less-than-stellar I.Q. He's also very impulsive, and is known to get into trouble without even realizing it. He lets his emotions get the better of him, never looks before he leaps, and tends to act very childish when insulted, as Gojyo and Sanzo would know all too well.
Battle-wise, Goku is surprisingly vulnerable to surprise attacks. He seems to have some trouble with shikigami and long-ranged strikes like Kami-sama's beads and Sanzo's bullets. Unfortunately, Goku is extremely susceptible to the wrath of the monk's paper fan.
Seiten's only weakness is Sanzo. Not only because Sanzo can hold his own against the demigod with the Maten Sutra, but also because...well, for some reason, just seeing the man causes him to hesitate. Interestingly enough, despite being a child of the earth, Seiten can also be knocked out by powerful lightning attacks.
Since Ukoku's experiments, Goku's modified diadem causes him occasional headaches that can range from small, annoying migraines to unbearable pain.
history - (warning: massive spoilers for saiyuki gaiden, gensomaden saiyuki, and saiyuki reload. :o)
Seiten Taisei was born from a boulder at the peak of Mount Kaka, but he didn't get a chance to stay down on Earth for very long before he was captured and spirited up to Heaven on account of his golden eyes, the sign of a heretic that would bring chaos to the world. To control his powers, he was chained up with five 20-kg shackles, and limited with a special diadem, but it's obvious that he's an extremely dangerous character (despite his childlike attitude). Brought before the goddess of mercy, Kanzeon Botatsu, to have his fate decided, he meets her nephew blond-haired god, Konzen, for the very first time. He's enraptured by the man's golden hair, and reaches out to touch it...and then accidentally pulls out several of the long blond strands. Konzen is Not Very Happy with this, to say the least, and promptly starts trouncing the insolent little monkey.
And because Kanzeon is beautifully sadistic like this, she decides that her nephew would get along wonderfully with this odd heretic, and declares that they would keep him in heaven under Konzen's jurisdiction. Konzen reluctantly has no choice but to accept. He eventually gives the boy a name, Son Goku, and allows him to run about his new home, bumping into Kenren and Tenpou and Nataku in his days wandering around Heaven. Goku easily makes friends with Ten-chan and Ken-nii-chan, but finds it tougher to get close to the only other person who looks his age--the pale-haired boy named Nataku Taishi, who, like Goku, has golden eyes. Nataku is a "killing puppet" for Heaven; since the gods are not allowed to take lives, they send their heretical puppet down to Earth to punish heathens instead.
Li Touten, Nataku's "father" (read: creator), feels threatened by the presence of another heretic in Heaven, and plans to have his puppet eliminate Goku when the moment is right. Meanwhile, Goku's friendship with Nataku makes his three older friends realize just exactly how corrupt Heaven's army is. Tensions mount when Kenren stands up to support Nataku when he's sent down to Earth on another murder mission; Kenren gets punished instead for his good intentions, causing Tenpou to snap and approach Li Touten as well. Konzen, who had previously remained passive in Heaven's issues, realizes that he can't stay aloof like this forever and decides to protect Goku, now that he realizes just how much danger the little monkey is.
When Li finally orders Nataku to kill Goku, Kenren and Tenpou try to stop him. The "killing puppet", however, is too powerful for the both of them and easily blocks all of their attacks before turning to his former friend. Goku had never before gotten a chance to introduce himself properly to Nataku, since he'd been nameless until only recently. Once he tells Nataku his name, however, Nataku realizes that he couldn't kill his only friend in Heaven, and drives his sword into his chest instead, right in front of Goku's eyes.
And Goku snaps. His limiter shatters and releases Seiten Taisei, who goes berserk and immediately starts slaughtering everybody nearby, until Kanzeon Botatsu shows up and knocks him out with a single punch before replacing his diadem. Konzen decides that if the whole of Heaven is going aginst Goku now, he may as well leave. He plots with Tenpou and Kenren to escape to Earth, while Goku recovers from his trauma. They get pretty damn close to reaching the world below, after holding Goujun hostage and run-ins with countless of Heaven's soldiers, but eventually fall to the mutant "killing puppets" produced before Nataku was successfully created. Kenren and Tenpou die first, trying to buy time for Konzen and Goku to escape, but Konzen was never a fighter and without the help of his two stronger friends he gets easily picked off by the monsters, despite Goku's every effort to defend him.
Goku is then recaptured by Heaven's forces. The gods decide that he's far too unsafe to be kept in Heaven, so they seal him away in a cave atop Mount Gogyo and erase all of his memories. And there Goku stays, never aging or hungering, never being able to reach out to the world beyond the bars of his cage but always calling out for somebody to break him out.
And, 500 years later, somebody does. Konzen's reincarnation, a worldly monk named Genjyo Sanzo, was annoyed by the voice constantly whining for help in the back of his head, so he eventually climbs the mountain, planning to shoot the idiot in the head and get some peace and quiet for once. He had heard rumors of a monster being imprisoned at the summit, but never really believed them until he saw Goku, staring stupidly at him from behind the stone pillars of his prison. Without knowing exactly what he was doing, his anger fading away at the boy's clueless face, Sanzo reached out and freed Goku from his chains.
His irritation returned, however, when Goku persisted in following him down from the mountain, claiming that he'd been stuck there a long time and didn't know where to go. Against his better judgement, Sanzo brings the kid to Chang'An temple, intending to take care of him until he found a suitable foster family or something. Although he'd had his suspicions of Goku being more than he appeared, he didn't find out exactly what the teenager was until he paid a visit to the Three Aspects, Heaven's will manifested on Earth. The Three Aspects warn him about Goku's true identity--Seiten Taisei, the great sage equal to Heaven itself. While Sanzo was at first skeptical of this, he soon realizes just how dangerous Goku could be and races back to the temple.
He barely makes it in time--while he was gone, Goku had been discovered by the monks, who correctly assumed that he'd been stealing from the kitchen and gardens. The monks tried to capture the panicking adolescent, who was so stricken by Sanzo's absence that his diadem breaks. Seiten Taisei almost decapitates one of his pursuers, but Sanzo shows up just in time to use his Maten Sutra, restraining the heretic long enough to replace the limiter. It was a close call, as well as a wake-up sign; Sanzo realizes that Goku's too destructive to be on his own, so he decides that the only thing he could do was keep the monkey by his side.
Thus Goku stays at the temple as Sanzo's ward, much to the horror of the other monks. Although he starts growing up at a relatively normal pace, he continues to be incredibly attached to Sanzo and always whines to be taken along when the monk leaves on assignments for the Three Aspects. On one such mission, Goku meets Gonou and Gojyo, Tenpou and Kenren reborn. The Three Aspects had wanted Sanzo to apprehend Gonou, a mass murderer who had slaughtered more than a thousand innocents trying to get his sister back from a youkai king. Gonou, who'd been heavily wounded by his crimes, had been picked up by Gojyo and struck up an unlikely friendship with the other man. Though the four clashed in their first meeting, Gonou is eventually brought back to the Three Aspects for his trial and, Gojyo assumes, his death.
Fortunately, Buddhism forbids killing. Gonou is spared, but he gives up his old name, returning to Chang'An as a new man, Hakkai. Hakkai swears to turn over a new leaf and moves in with Gojyo, taking care of his friend and tutoring Goku while trying to rebuild his life. Despite everything that happened, however, Sanzo was still a bit distrustful of his three friends. Which meant that he was properly dismayed when the Three Aspects gave him a new mission to travel to India in the West and stop the resurrection of the youkai king Gyumaoh...with Goku, Hakkai, and Gojyo as his companions.
And that's basically the premise of Saiyuki, the year-long-and-counting journey to the west. Like Sanzo feared, it was full of trouble, including but not limited to constant youkai assassination attempts, obligatory angsty flashbacks, and inconvenient plot devices from the ikkou's pasts. They also bump into many interesting other characters. Kougaiji, for example, a red-haired demon prince with a mommy complex. Or Hazel, a sexually-challenged priest with a bad habit of bringing the dead back to life. And Ukoku, a mysterious Sanzo with perverted tendencies and an apparent Miffy fetish.
(AU starts here)
Ukoku's an interesting guy in that he is perpetually searching for entertainment. He'd always been a genius, amazingly skillful at anything he tried his hand at, and when he was younger, he had tried becoming a Sanzo simply because it was the toughest goal he could possibly set for himself. Though he eventually reached it, he'd done so through extremely bloody and forbidden means, and he never got a chakra on his forehead. Since then, Ukoku was always searching for a challenge, for a chance "to be eaten", or to be finally defeated by someone, as he'd never experienced loss before, only countless, empty victories. This was part of the reason he tried assisting Gyokumen Koushou in reviving Gyumaoh--the ox king was, apparently, one of the strongest youkai who ever lived, and Ukoku was always drawn to people who had the potential to overpower him...
Meanwhile, the Sanzo party's travel had suddenly ground to a halt. Goku had woken up one day to find all three other ikkou members missing. Needless to say, he freaked out for a good while, but eventually pulled himself together and started investigating the mystery. Their hotel rooms looked exactly the same as it had the night before, their beds mussed as if they'd left without even having a chance to make them, and for all appearances it looked as if they'd left the place voluntarily. There was no sign of struggle, no blood, but Goku was still uneasy and he ran out into town to find the others.
Only to bump into an odd-looking man wearing Sanzo robes. Goku had no idea what the bespectacled priest was looking for, or why exactly he seemed to be so interested in him, but hey, he was a Sanzo, and despite there not being a Sanzo Union the man claimed that he knew where his missing friends were. So of course Goku had to follow him.
...Too easy. Ukoku knew about the legends of Seiten Taisei, but never expected to find him this smoothly. True, Goku looked innocent enough, but the coronet on his forehead was the giveaway. And there was an unmistakeable aura around him, an unnatural, vicious presence lurking underneath his dominant persona. Seiten Taisei was said to be "equal to heaven" all in himself, and Ukoku had to wonder what exactly it would take to bring such a powerful being under his control.
It'd been a simple matter to drug Goku into unconsciousness and spirit him away to his laboratory in the West. Ukoku had experience removing the "hearts" from others and making them living puppets to serve his will--Kougaiji was proof of that, though the guy was flawed enough to eventually regain himself. Goku, however, was alone, so there'd hopefully be no pesky friends to interfere with the project. However, Ukoku was still a careful person, so he made sure Goku was absolutely comatose before beginning his experimentation. After all, it wouldn't do if Seiten Taisei awoke in the middle of the operation and tore him to shreds, would it?
It was obvious that the limiter was the only thing separating Goku from Seiten, so Ukoku focused his efforts on modifying it. Destroying Kougaiji's jewelry was enough to break him, but Ukoku knew better than to think the same technique would work on one as powerful as Seiten Taisei. The new diadem was only partially successful--though Goku grew physically closer to his alter ego, he had yet to get Seiten's raw strength. Ukoku was unsatisfied, but he supposed he was making progress--Goku still had his old personality, which was a good thing. He rather thought that Goku's naïvete would make him easier to manipulate than Seiten's one-track bloodthirstiness.
But Ukoku didn't get a chance to further experiment on the teenager when he found Goku missing from his test tube the next morning, gone to Econtra.
sample roleplay - Goku just stared in utter bewilderment at the strange man as waves of monotone exposition flowed out the Warden's mouth, in one ear and out the other. It wasn't until he was pushed roughly out the room that he realized that he still had no idea what the hell had just happened.
"Hey--hey!" The teen snapped out of his stupefied daze and knocked impatiently on the door. After a few seconds passed with no response, he tried prying the thing open--there was no knob. But no sooner than he had wedged the tips of his claws between door and wall--wait a minute, claws?!--a sharp wave of pain spiked through him, centering right between the eyes. Goku hissed and pulled away from the wall, pressing his palms to his temples in an effort to stifle the ache, counting down the seconds 'till the migraine passed.
Damn, that was weird. He didn't get sick often, didn't have a history of getting headaches, but that really hurt. The youth scowled, shaking his head to get rid of the last lingering spikes of pain and clear his mind a bit. All right, first things first. How'd he get into this--Econtra, wasn't it? Goku frowned as he racked his memory. They'd been in that golden-eyed town last, he had been looking for Sanzo and the others after they'd vanished into thin air from the hotel...
No matter how he tried, he couldn't quite remember what had happened next, and that fact unnerved him more than it probably should. He had a feeling of elapsed time, but no idea of what exactly happened during that period. And then there was the matter of...claws? Well, there was no better way to describe them, Goku thought wryly as he glanced down at his transformed hands. Huh, they were practically youkai talons, now that he got a good luck at them. Kinda weird. He lifted one arm to better examine the claws, then blinked as his gaze flicked over to the metallic cuff fastened to his wrist. And what was this? His old arm bands disappeared, he noticed with mild dismay as he began looking himself over. His cape, too, and his belts and--
This was really too weird. Goku shook his head again, an almost puppyish gesture that sent his long tails swishing like whips. He didn't notice his mysteriously-lengthened hair and just hefted a sigh as he began trudging down the hall to who-knows-where. The way he saw it, he might as well get moving. Standing around wouldn't get his questions answered any time soon.
And he was definitely going to find answers.
His stomach growled and Goku paused in his walk, pressing his hand to his belly in an almost puzzled manner. Ahh...now that he thought about it, he was really hungry...
Food first, then.