Somen

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Somen
ソメン, Somen
Detailed Information:
Appearances:	Across the Universe A Quest for Booty Softpetal Leap Dragon Ball: Heart of the Dragon
Species:	Yardrat
Gender:	Male
Birthplace:	Yachebo, Planet Yardrat
Birthdate:	November 12, Age 765
Birth Power Level:	140
Height:	5'8"
Weight:	114.2 lbs
Hair Color:	None
Eye Color:	Black
Rank:	Student
Organizations:	Starchasers
Favorite Food:	Tamon
Hobbies:	Ditching school, stealing from intergalactic merchants
Family:	Soba (father)

Somen (ソメン, Somen) is a Yardrat and the son of Soba. He makes a brief appearance in the epilogue of Across the Universe. He is the protagonist of Leap, Softpetal, and is featured as a major character in Dragon Ball: Heart of the Dragon.

Overview

Appearance

Somen is a short, green-skinned Yardrat. He is the type of Yardrat with a bulbous, squid-like head. He very much resembles his father, Soba. He tends to wear the standard Yardrat attire while adventuring. His aura is royal blue.

Personality

Somen is a curious, cheeky Yardrat. Like his father, he has a thirst for adventure. However, he is less prone to moral conundrums than his father. For example, he is not above stealing from the worlds he visits. And if he has to do other immoral things to save his life, he won't hesitate to do so. He is easily bored, so he will often visit planets against his father's will. Somen can be fairly naive and also has a propensity to trust people he probably shouldn't. While he is fairly cautious, his curiosity can lead him to having moments of recklessness. Somen doesn't have a tremendous patience for bullshit, so he can be somewhat irreverent. He enjoys seeing other people flustered or enraged by his actions, making the Yardrat somewhat of a troll.

History

Across the Universe

In chapter 5, Soba and his son Somen teleported to the moon of Yardrat. Staring down at the planet, Soba told his son that soon he would learn Instant Transmission and be able to venture about the universe. Somen knew that. He did not like it when his father said that he wouldn't be around forever, though. Soba's point was that whenever that occurred, he wanted his son to be able to care for himself. He told his son he loved him and mentioned that he regretted not telling that to Udon before departing for the Venyi Academy. They stared up at the stars, talking amongst themselves about what lay out there deep in the void.

A Quest for Booty

In the second scene of chapter 5, Somen watched Jaco attempt to arrest a drunken alien in the parking lot of a Space Sonikku restaurant.

Softpetal

At the start of this story, in Age 777, Somen and two upperclassmen, Harusame and Hiyamugi, went to Lipanto to steal serrokin. This was Somen's first trip to the planet. The night they left, Somen snuck out of his house and was careful not to wake his father. On the edge of town, they used Instant Transmission (Somen held onto Hiyamugi's arm, since he didn't know where Lipanto was) to make the jump.

The three ended up in a street in Lipanto that was bustling with merchants and buyers haggling over wares. Somen was struck by how many of them there were. Harusame asked Hiyamugi to go get them some tamon while he instructed Somen on what to do. Somen asked him how competent the guards were. The upperclassman told him not to worry, for he could always use Instant Transmission to get away from them. Somen made sure to locate Yardrat in his mind before starting his mission, which would allow him to quickly make the jump.

Afterwards, Harusame told him that a Namekian and his son stashed serrokin in some of their ajisa plants - every fifth one from the left - three blocks south of the Yardrats' location. Somen was tasked with stealing one of those plants, though he was free to steal anything else he wanted to.

The two departed from one another, with Somen making his way to the Namekians. When he arrived at their stand, he found them dealing with a horde of customers. It was very easy for him to swipe an ajisa plant without being spotted. He melted back into the crowd after taking one. Somen teleported over to a Jolean merchant. The man was startled by Somen's appearance and berated him for visiting the planet, as Yardrats were not members of the Planet Trade Organization. Somen asked him how much one of his abevho peppers cost, but the man refused to answer, instead calling for security. When nobody came, Somen grew confident. He swiped one of the peppers and teleported back home.

He found Hiyamugi and Harusame on the outskirts of their town in an abandoned mill. Harusame was looking over a golden necklace while Hiyamugi ate some dried meat. He gave them the ajisa plant and then asked them what an abevho pepper was. They didn't know and they didn't care, for they just wanted to get high. Somen didn't immediately join them, for he wanted to try the pepper. Yet, when he bit into it, he tasted the spiciest thing he had ever tasted.

In the second scene, the Yardrats continued to sneak off to Lipanto in the dead of night, stealing ajisa plants and other things every few days. Somen got addicted to serrokin in that time. On one particular trip, it was Harusame's turn to get the serrokin. The other two watched from an alleyway. When Harusame stole a flower, a Planet Trade Organization guard came out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground. He began beating Harusame. Hiyamugi ran over to stop the guard, but it was no use. Somen fled in terror, teleporting back home, knowing that his schoolmates were as good as dead.

When he reached his homeworld, he realized that someone had grabbed onto his ankle. It was the younger Namekian. He told Somen that his father had asked the guards to kill any Yardrats who stole ajisa from them in the future, as the boys had been taking a lot of serrokin from their stall. Somen didn't care. The Namekian punched him with an elastic fist. He hit him several more times. Somen eventually caught one of the boy's fists and then instantly teleported back to Lipanto. He left Rikyu in a remote part of the planet before teleporting back home, not caring if the boy lived or died.

Leap

In the first scene of this story, instead of washing dishes, Somen decided to explore some nearby planets for a few hours, as he was bored. His father was out buying a new neck warmer, so he wouldn't be back for a while. Somen used Instant Transmission to travel to a nearby planet. It had more gravity than Planet Yardrat and was covered in dunes of blue sand. He noticed a ship crashed in the sand up ahead and could sense a being inside. Somen approached the vehicle and found an alien having sex with an android inside. He watched them go at it for a second, then used Instant Transmission to move to another planet. There, he found a drunken pirate ranting incoherently. The pirate threw a bottle of Sailor's Goc at him, then collapsed on a pile of garbage. Somen teleported away from the world, thinking bitterly that so far, these experiences had been a waste of time.

In the second scene, Somen arrived on a humid, forested world. There, he met Ramponi the Ribald on the edge of a forest. The alien asked him to find his missing cuticle slippers. He had lost them in the Bolongian Forest. He couldn't go back in there to look for them, as the forest was too spooky. Somen agreed to help him, though he didn't really want to. He ran into the forest, but it was so brambly, he couldn't get more than twenty feet in before having to stop. He considered using Instant Transmission to visit a more interesting planet when he heard voices coming from up ahead.

Somen came into a clearing, noticing a bearded man sitting in a chair and pouring what looked like oil over his head. There was a wooden table with space beer on it next to him. There was a lantern at his feet, thankfully. The man was blind. When he heard Somen enter the clearing, he mistook him for Space Sonny. From up ahead in the forest, Space Sonny shouted back in confusion. The blind man asked Sonny to return to him, as he felt the presence of someone nearby. Sonny assumed it was Ramponi. Hearing Sonny returning to the clearing, Somen grabbed two space beers from the blind man's table and ran off.

He told Ramponi that there had been a couple of guys in the forest, so he had been forced to leave. He hadn't seen the slippers anywhere. Ramponi demanded that he return to the forest and continue looking, as he had not only visited in Sonny's clearing when he had gone in there before. Somen refused. Ramponi demanded that he hold true to his word and find the slippers. The boy didn't want to. He took a sip of beer.

Just then, Ramponi ran up to him and punched him in the collarbone. He roared at Somen to find his slippers. Somen jumped back and took another sip. He started feeling drunk. He closed his eyes, sensing for the nearest planet. He locked onto one, then noticed Ramponi was charging him again. Somen was easily able to dodge out of the way, which gave him confidence. Ramponi's fist hit air, and his momentum carried him over the cliff's edge. He fell into the waters below. Somen teleported to the next world without another thought.

In the third scene, Somen arrived inside the throne room on Melirion. There, he found Telnauki soldiers surrounding Emperor Haimaru on his throne. Somen finished off the first bottle of beer as he watched them. Into the room strode Admiral Nectarian. He held an onyx dagger in his hand. As he approached the throne, he bowed. The young Arcosian seated there told him to rise. Nectarian declared Haimaru, son of Cooler, the rightful heir to the Planet Trade Organization. The bugs screamed "blood for blood". Nectarian repeated the phrase and called forth the Time-Eater, Myaku, to give Haimaru a boost in strength.

He cut Haimaru on the forearm. Blood sprayed down the steps; the bugs parted to make it visible to all. Suddenly, the demon appeared in a black portal over the throne. It swam through the air down to the floor, where the blood had pooled. Somen, having finished off his second beer, felt anxious. He knew he had to leave, but couldn't concentrate on another planet to teleport to. The creature drank Haimaru's blood. Somen screamed, dropping the bottle, and the beast looked to him. The others did as well. Somen was petrified; he couldn't move. The creature lunged at him and he fell back, nearly fainting. Thoughts of his father and the dishes overwhelmed him, and he felt shame. He waited for the monster to kill him. Suddenly, he felt himself moving and noticed the purple, bulbous face of someone for a brief second before passing out, and he knew he recognized that face.

In the fourth scene, Somen realized that Jimizu had taken him back to his home on Planet Yardrat in Universe 2. The older Yardrat gave him a cup of sorghubie tea, which would restore his stamina. Somen sensed other Yardrats nearby, so he suspected that Jimizu lived in an apartment complex not unlike his own. Jimizu noted that if not for him coincidentally being in Universe 7 at the time, Somen would have died on Melirion. The boy apologized and asked the other Yardrat to take him home. Jimizu couldn't, as inter-universal Instant Transmission jumps took so much stamina to perform that he would not be able to do another one for several days. Somen freaked out, for he knew that his father would find out that he had left their house. Jimizu wasn't swayed by his panic; Somen had indeed left the planet and deserved to suffer the consequences of his disobedience.

Somen didn't like the tea. He asked Jimizu to teach him how to make a inter-universal jump. Jimizu was surprised that Soba hadn't taught Somen that technique. He noted that the Yardrats of Universe 7 didn't seem to know how to do that without being taught by Yardrats from other universes, so it may have been lost knowledge. Somen begged the man to teach him how to do it. Jimizu promised he would if Somen delivered a package to Doctor Zarbuto. Jimizu mentioned that he was already indebted to Soba for saving Universe 2's Planet Yardrat from some evil force in the past, so he wouldn't require Somen to do anything serious to repay him.

Somen asked what was in the package, but Jimizu refused to answer. He instructed the boy not to open it before giving it to Zarbuto. Somen begged him to give him some instruction about inter-universal Instant Transmission before leaving so that he could have time to understand the concept. Jimizu told him that he would have to enter the Teleportation Zone without a specific destination in mind, then fight against its influence, and have clear intent to explore those distant places. If done properly, the other universes would then be able to be sensed. Somen didn't understand how to break through the Teleportation Zone's influence. The other Yardrat said that it required a certain amount of willpower.

Afterwards, Jimizu guided Somen to Zarbuto's world, which was located to the east of Planet Yardrat. Jimizu said that Zarbuto lived on the capital city of his world, in the tallest spire. He instructed the boy to go to the landing pad near the top of the tower. He described what Zarbuto looked like. Somen prepared to leave when Jimizu once more asked him not to open the package. The boy agreed. Before he left, Jimizu said that in order to perform inter-universal jumps, lucidity was the main factor. If he could break through the Teleportation Zone's influence, it would then become simple.

Somen teleported to Zarbuto's world and easily found his tower. As he approached it, he sensed some familiar energy signatures inside.

In the fifth scene, Somen met with Zarbuto. The man immediately realized that Somen had opened the package before coming to the door, due to the bite marks on his neck. The boy tried to say that those had been from space-badgers, but Zarbuto didn't believe him. He invited Somen inside. The Yardrat realized he had made a mistake by opening the package. Zarbuto asked Somen if he knew what was in the package. He did not. The doctor said now Somen was stranded on Zarbuto's homeworld, so he'd have to send Jimizu a message. He told Somen that what had been in that package had been Jatli, a type of bug whose poison would cripple a Yardrat's ability to use Instant Transmission. Since the boy had been bitten, he wouldn't be able to teleport back to Jimizu.

Somen became distressed. Zarbuto took him to see the other Yardrats who had been bitten by the creatures. He noted that the Jatli only affected Yardrats, so he speculated that they had been engineered to do so by some unknown force. Somen asked why Zarbuto was studying the creatures. The doctor refused to answer. He confirmed with the boy that all of the animals were still in the box (they were). He then noted that the Jatli's effects were permanent. Somen grew enraged, for Jimizu had put him in harm's way without telling him. He threatened to send his father to kill both Jimizu and Zarbuto for what they had done. Zarbuto didn't believe the threat and replied that since they had told the boy not to open the box, his curiosity had been his fault.

The doctor led Somen into a room full of Yardrats in cages, both men and women, children and adults, pink-skinned and green-skinned. Zarbuto told them that their group was called Health at Every Consciousness. All of them had been bitten by the furry Jatli. Zarbuto had only brought Somen to them since he too had been bitten. One of the women wanted to mate with Somen badly; she begged Zarbuto to throw him in her cage. A man also wanted Somen. Zarbuto explained that Health at Every Consciousness had been started by Yardrats who had been bitten by the Jatli. As the organization had grown in popularity, some Yardrats had been bitten on purpose.

Somen didn't understand why any of his kind would do that. The Yardrats explained that now they couldn't sense energy signatures and no longer had any interactions with the Teleportation Zone, which was easier on their minds. Somen said he hadn't been infected like them, which Zarbuto didn't believe. He asked the boy to come with him so he could run some tests, for he needed to make sure that Somen hadn't taken a lethal dosage of Jatli poison.

The young Yardrat refused. He could still sense energy and could still access the Teleportation Zone. Closing his eyes, he sensed Jimizu's homeworld. The Yardrats defended HAEC with all their energy, but the boy wasn't listening. Zarbuto begged Somen to come with him. The boy refused and used Instant Transmission to leave.

He remained in the Teleportation Zone, unsure of where to go. As he did so, his concentration grew, and he realized how to break through and perform an inter-universal jump. He returned to Universe 7, sensing his homeworld in the distance. Without waiting, he jumped back home, never for once realizing that the Jatli Jimizu had given him had been fakes.

Dragon Ball: Heart of the Dragon

Techniques

Non-combative Moves

• Flight
• Ki Sense
• Wild Sense
• Afterimage
• Instant Transmission

Offensive Moves

• Ki Blast
• Energy Ball
• Finger Beam
• Mouth Beam
• Explosive Wave
• Continuous Energy Bullet
• Darkness Eye Beam
• Energy Beam
• Energy Sword
• Ki Explosion
• Energy Disc
• Energy Sphere

Trivia

• Somen's name is a pun on somen noodles.