The Destructivedisk Anthology/Why Bother?

Why Bother? was written, like many of my one-shots, completely spontaneously. I've found that I can only write good stories about emotional developments when I myself am feeling that emotion. Why Bother? is ultimately my most personal story.

The backstory behind writing this story is really quite embarrassing, but it was mostly borne out of my own frustration with myself. No matter how hard I tried, I simply could not write as well as KidVegeta. Everything I created was just riddled with problems and I couldn't write as flawlessly as KidVegeta did even with good stories like Tien: Origins, which left me with strong feelings of inadequacy on my part. I was feeling particularly bad about this one night, so I went outside and played basketball for a little bit. While out there, I came up with this idea. I then came back inside and wrote this 600 word story. It's remained one of my favorites to this day.

The story was written on April 12, 2011 and was written in one sitting. While writing it, I was listening to Why Bother by Weezer, quite fittingly. This was the only instance where I have let a song fully transfix itself into a story. That said, aside from the chorus, there's very little relationship between the song and the story.

Why Bother?
My sword was in my hand. I was hungry. I ate a senzu bean. My hair blew gently in the air. I could sense high powers fighting really far away. I could help, but I’m so weak that I wouldn’t do very much of anything. I don’t want to get hurt. I’m not scared of fighting them, just too smart to go get hurt like that.

Why bother? It’s only gonna hurt me.

I remember when Goku first met me. He kicked me through a bunch of stones and then said I was the toughest guy he had ever met. He’d kick me now and kill me in seconds. Sure, I can use a sword, but what good is that when I can’t even fucking fly? They were all out of my league anyways.

Why bother? It’s only gonna hurt me.

I stood up. Korin angrily glanced at me. I ignored him. I could still sense the powers. They were irritating. I ate another bean really quickly. Now my break-tist was done. I squeezed my sword tightly. I considered sayin’ something’ to Korin, but decided not to. No training could get over the gap I had left between me and everyone else.

Why bother? It’s only gonna hurt me.

I calmed myself. I hadn’t fought in forever. Not since I cut through Vegeta’s armor. Then I got pummeled into a rock. My technique had to be gone by now. It would only make my muscles ache. I can’t even use ki. My sword is rusting a little bit. Maybe I can get a new one. Maybe not.

Why bother? It’s only gonna hurt me.

I had trained with people a lot a long time ago. That wasn’t too bad. But my training is done now. There’s nothing left for me to learn. I might as well just sit back and relax in the good life up on this tower. It’s not like anybody could train me. Korin can’t. Roshi can’t. Popo can’t. Goku and the others are too strong for me to keep up with them. No point in me training anyways.

Why bother? It’s only gonna hurt me.

Even when I try I can’t do anything. When I fought in the World Tournament I lost in the preliminaries against some nerd. When I don’t try I still get hurt. The androids managed to assault me even when I was mindin’ my own business. No matter what I do I still manage to get beat up by someone stronger than me… who is every baddie that comes to Earth.

Why bother? It’s only gonna hurt me.

I sat back down on my favorite chair. It was right next to a bunch of pots. I remember that when I first met Goku we went in one of the pots and went to an ice place. Goku drank some holy water but it nearly killed me and I just had a sip. Then I came back and wandered around for a while and did nothing. See, Goku can even drink water better than me.

Why bother? It’s only gonna hurt me.

I placed my sword down. I kicked it. It was old and useless. I don’t know why I have it anymore. I might as well just throw it off the tower. It wouldn’t make a bit of difference either way. Korin looked at me. I didn’t respond. I just stood up and looked over the balcony. The others were off fighting some big bad villain. I just stood there. I could go help fight. But I won’t.

Why bother? It’s only gonna hurt me.

Endnotes
Why Bother? is, to date, one of my best stories. In fact, I would go so far as to call it my first legitimately good one-shot on the site. (Although I created Tien: Origins earlier, I wouldn't write it until later.) It's certainly my most successful venture into the realm of first-person and portrays Yajirobe fairly well. That said, I still had a lot to learn about portraying something emotionally powerful and about maintaining a character in first-person. The story does ebb and flow in the quality of it's first-person writing, but it's generally pretty in character for Yajirobe. First-person is something I hope to revisit sometime soon in the world of fanfiction, so it's good to know that I can pull it off successfully. Ultimately, Why Bother? is an excellent character piece and holds a lot of value to me personally. I would give it an A rank.
 * 1) The paragraphs in the story were written with a very specific pattern in mind. The first paragraph would be bluntly descriptive and almost animalistic and then the next would be emotional/thought driven. Hyper Zergling somewhat noted this in his review of my story, stating that Yajirobe's thoughts were too animalistic.
 * 2) "Why bother? It's only going to hurt me." was utilized specifically because we had just learnt about refrains in English class and I felt like trying one. I would later use them again in Semi-Charmed.
 * 3) The 'high powers really far away' were in my mind supposed to be Buu and the Z Fighters, but it could be any of the many conflicts the Z Fighters endured throughout Dragon Ball Z.
 * 4) " I remember when Goku first met me. He kicked me through a bunch of stones and then said I was the toughest guy he had ever met." was basically a line about how KidVegeta had basically hated my first story, IP, but still told me that I was the second-best writer on the wiki.
 * 5) Saying that the sword was rusting was one of my first time's using symbolism. It basically just symbolized that Yajirobe hadn't fought in so long that his strength was 'rusting' away.
 * 6) Using the phrase 'the good life' was a dual reference. The first was to the song by Weezer, the second was to a story planned by KidVegeta about Yajirobe for Legacies called 'The Good Life'.