Chapter One
He'd finally done it. Become a Super Saiyan. Ever since he was a baby,
Kakarot had dreamed of nothing else. To have that immense power. To be
stronger than King Vegeta himself.
Kakarot interrupted these blissful thoughts, berating himself. He had a job
to do. Slowly, he crept through the shadows toward his target.
"Yes, sir."
A guard. Wait until he was gone, then attack. It would expend much less
precious energy.
"Have you found the source of the explosion, captain?"
The king, his target. He recognized the voice.
"Yes, sir."
"Well?"
"Sir, the planet Vegeta was destroyed, thus causing the shock waves we
felt."
Kakarot froze. Vegeta? Destroyed? His home....gone. Unthinkable. Vegeta
couldn't be gone, it couldn't. Not when he was so close to going home. A
sudden, inexplicable, overwhelming pain seized Kakarot. He responded the
only way he knew how. With rage.
Kakarot lept from the concealing shadows in the corner of the throne room,
golden light glistening around him. The king and his guard looked at him in
astonishment.
"I will finish my job, and then I go back to my planet. It cannot have been
destroyed," Kakarot stated calmly.
The room filled with a blinding light, and the explosion rocked the very
foundations of the castle.
******
Kakarot had been looking forward to returning home after three years of
wandering the galaxy. But, if the planet had truly been destoyed....
Kakarot stopped this train of thought as he headed back towards the
spaceship. There was no reason that the planet Vegeta could have been
destroyed, they had no enemies capable of destroying whole planets, did
they? All of a sudden, he wasn't sure. A lot could happen in three years.
Kakarot entered the spaceship, speaking curtly to the on-board computer.
"Computer, scan for planet Vegeta, show picture on-screen."
The computer complied with various beeping, but the image that came up was
not that of the planet Kakarot had come to know as home, instead, it showed
only fragments of rock and space debris. A vicious mockery of the base of
one of the most ruthless races in the galaxy.
Kakarot looked away, unable to bear the sight of his home, destroyed. A
suspicious bead of moisture appeared at the corner of his eye. He brushed it
away angrily. Super Saiyans did NOT cry.
"Computer, scan for other saiyan pods."
Again the computer made various noises to indicate it's productivity, this
time responding positively to the task assigned it.
"Three pods found." The image of the pods and their coordinates appeared on
the screen in front of them. They had landed on a planet near the location
of their old home.
"Computer, set course for shown coordinates." Kakarot made himself
comfortable. It was not a long trip by any means, he had been on his way
home when he stopped at this god-forsaken planet. Nevertheless, Kakarot
welcomed the sleep brought on by suspended animation. After all, when he
slept, he would not think of home....
But Kakarot did think of home. As often happened to him during suspended
animation, he experienced unnaturally vivid dreams.
*Kakarot ran through the corridors of a broken-down palace. It looked
familiar, somehow. He couldn't quite place it, all he knew was that someone
was waiting for him in the throne room. Someone alive in this dead realm. He
quickened his pace.
When he finally reached the room, he had to tread carefully around the
debris....and the bodies. This room seemed, for some reason, to be in worse
shape than the others. Kneeling in the middle of the floor, a dark figure
clutched something to his breast. Kakarot slowly approached the being,
stopping a few feet behind him.
Hearing his approach, the figure turned slowly to see him. It was the young
prince, his face streaked with tears, his eyes dark and dead.
"How could you?" The accusation was little more than a whisper, but it
thundered in Kakarot's ears. He faltered, and took a step back.
"But, I didn't do anything!"
Vegeta regarded him with an angry stare. "You are a Super Saiyan. If you had
been here, maybe you could have helped, destroyed the enemy before he
destroyed us, saved our people...."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know! How could I have?"
"You must pay for your treason." Vegeta stood, dropping the medalion he had
been holding, and as he did, the bodies around him rose as well. They were
all faces he recognized. His friends, his brother, his father. All of them
had terrible wounds, most dripped blood onto the floor.
"NO! I didn't know! If I had, surely I would have come to help you! I
commited no treason!"
The zombies around him surged forward, ingnoring his desperate pleas,
ripping at his flesh. And Kakarot could do nothing. He was helpless now, as
he had been helpless when the planet exploded....*
Kakarot awoke to the steam bath automatically released by the computer. The
soft mechanical voice assured him that they were about to arrive.
'Who?' Kakarot thought to himself, 'Who had survived? Which three?'
******
As he stepped out onto the planet's surface, he was not surprised to see the
saiyans standing waiting for him. After all, the pods' landings were never
exactly inconspicuous. He surveyed the landscape briefly, before turning his
gaze to his comrades.
As the computer had assured him, they were three. First, Prince Vegeta, who
was now leader, as his father was dead. Then Nappa, the prince's former
trainer. Former, because Vegeta had surpassed Nappa in all areas a long time
ago. The third made Kakarot's breath catch in his throat. The third
was....his brother.
"Ratice, you survived?"
"Yes my brother, and thankfully so did you."
"I came as soon as I heard, how long ago did...."
The saiyans looked down in greif. "Five days," said Vegeta, "everyone, gone.
A meteor storm, one more than large enough to destroy our planet. There was
no way we could have stopped it."
The weight of guilt that had been plauging Kakarot lifted immediately, even
if the greif did not. There was no nameless enemy. None that he could have
destroyed to save the planet.
"So, what shall we do now?"
"We've set our sights on a new planet. One that will not only bring a high
price, but that we may be able to inhabit."
"A new planet?"
"Yes, it's called Earth."
******
"So, my brother, you've done it at last!"
"Yes, Ratice. I have achieved my dream."
"Earth will be no problem then."
"Apparently not, if what you've told me is true."
"It's a pity you won't get to fight."
Kakarot grinned at his brother. Ratice would depart by himself to Earth
tomorrow, and contact them when he had it under his fist.
They sat side by side, around the fire that was the central part of their
campsite.
"You know we'll be listening to your progress on the scouters," Kakarot
remarked offhand.
"Oh, of course. I want you to listen every step of the way."
"Of course."
******
About a year had passed since Ratice had left the saiyans. On Earth, a group
of friends sat on a small island, talking about the good-old-days.
"A son?" Master Roshi was astonished. "Bulma, you never told us!"
"Well, Yangcha and I thought we'd save the happy news for the reunion."
Bulma gazed lovingly at her husband.
"Well, congratulations!" Master Roshi turned to the small boy, "And what's
your name?"
"Omi." (1)
"Well, you're a rather cute little boy, Omi."
"Thank you sir." Omi bowed.
"And well mannered too." Master Roshi glanced at the boy's parents.
Yangcha grinned. "You can blame Bulma for that. She's determined he be well
brought up."
Master Roshi smiled back at him. "Well, I'm sure- Is something wrong?"
Yangcha had suddenly gone pale, and assumed a defensive position out of
habit.
"There's something.... Oh man, there's something really dangerous heading
our way. The power level is huge!"
His friend, Krillen spoke up. "Yeah, I feel it to. Man, we better prepare
for trouble."
Bulma didn't argue. She had learned long ago that her husband was most often
right about these things, and if Krillen agreed....
In a flash, a dark figure appeared in the air above them. They all looked up
in horror. Even Bulma could feel the evil radiating from him.
"What do you want?" Yangcha tried not to let his fear color his voice.
"Well, I'll get straight to the point." the soldier's voice held bitter
contempt for the obviously inferioir fighters beneath him. "Since you
obviously have the largest fighting power on this planet, I'm here to offer
you a way out, as we will be destroying this planet soon. We have chosen you
to become a soldier in our ranks."
"A what?!"
"Our numbers are few, we need to recruit strong fighters to rebuild our
empire, since the planet was destroyed."
"Yeah, and what exactly is 'we'?"
"We are the saiyans." The fighter gave him a look that said, 'only idiots
like you do not know of our race.' "Think of us as, oh, planet brokers. We
look for a planet that will bring a high price, make it ready for take over,
and then sell it."
"You sound more like pirates to me." Yangcha was thoroughly disgusted by
what he had just heard. Who did this guy think he was? "No way would I ever
join you, I may have a high power level, but that doesn't mean I'd hurt
anybody."
Ratice frowned. "Well then, I may have to try some less direct tactics to
persuade you." In a flash he was down on the ground, then, just as quickly,
back up in the air, only this time, he had Omi.
"If you kill 100 people by tomorrow, I'll take it as a sign that you have
decided to join us, and return your son." With that, he disappeared.
Yangcha fell to his knees in horror, not caring whether the others saw him
break down. Not his son, not Omi. "What can I do? His power level is
enormous."
A second figure appeared in the air above them. Less evil, but still very
dangerous.
"Piccolo? What are you doing here?" Yangcha quickly stood up again.
"I have come to help. You and I both know he's a lot stronger than either of
us, I've experienced it, I tried to fight him. So I suggest we call a
temporary truce and beat him together."
Even Yangcha, who was usually quite stubborn, knew that this time, he needed
help.
"All right, truce."
Master Roshi turned to him in horror. "This is madness! Piccolo's always
been your enemy. How do you know he won't backstab you?"
"This new guy's both our enemy now. I need his help, there's no denying it."
"I hope you know what you're doing, Yangcha."
"Me too."
******
They stood facing him. The enemy. Yangcha wasn't quite sure how they could
possibly beat this Ratice, but he had to try. For Omi's sake.
"We're going to have to go all out," he heard Piccolo mumble next to him.
"Right." Taking in what Piccolo was saying, Yangcha began to remove the
weighted training clothes he used.
Glancing at the enemy, Yangcha was surprised to see the fighter's shocked
expression. Reality dawned on him.
"Hey! He can't sense our power levels!"
"Of course not! That's what the device on his eye if for." Piccolo spoke as
if he was apalled that it had taken Yangcha this long to figure it out.
"Well," Yangcha finished removing the weights, noticing that Piccolo had
done the same, "let's rumble."
The two warriors from Earth flew at their opponent. Ratice however, seemed
totally and completely unfazed, after recovering from the initial shock of
their rising power levels.
He was rightly confident too. As Piccolo and Yangcha threw various punches
and kicks at him, the saiyan blocked them all with incredible ease. They
never landed a single blow.
******
Ratice however, did land blows. Hard ones. Piccolo and Yangcha went
sprawling to oppisite ends of the field they were fighting in.
Ratice was just about to go and finish off the human fighter, when his
scouter began reading wildly. He tore his attention away from the battle and
towards his spaceship, where he had put the kid.
"Impossible!" He yelled increduously, "a KID can't have a power level of
710! It can't be!"
As is the habit of those little 'can't be's' though, it was.
Omi burst from the pod, his eyes glowing with rage, but untouched by
recognition. "You WILL NOT hurt my father!" The young boy flung himself at
the alien, managing to seriously wound the startled saiyan.
Ratice managed to recover quickly enough, and furiously searched for his
tiny attacker. The boy was on the ground before him, with a very confused
expression on his face.
"Huh? What happened?" Omi turned around, apparently just noticing the
enraged fighter behind him.
"My, what power! It's too bad I have too kill you now kid, you would have
made a great addition to our ranks, with the proper training."
He leveled two fingers at the boy, preparing an energy blast that would blow
the annoying brat to Last Tuesday. As he gathered the power though, he felt
strong arms grab him from behind and hold him fast.
"What?!?" It was the Earthling, Yangcha.
"Piccolo," the man called out, "do you have an attack that might finish
him?"
"I have just the thing, Yangcha. Hold him tight, I'm going to need a few
minutes to prepare this one."
Ratice suddenly realized the peril of his situation. "Please! Let me go!
It'll kill you too if you don't move!"
"Yeah, well it's a price I'll have to pay."
"You would die for these Earth People?" Ratice was astounded. He had never
seen such devotion. Here was a man willing to give his own life for his
planet.
"Piccolo! Hurry!"
He had it, he was almost free from this impudent little weakling. Then, he
heard something that made his blood run cold.
"Special Beam Cannon, FIRE!"
The pain was unbearable. The heat of the attack easily sliced through his
armor, and his flesh.
Finally, after a seeming eternity, the attack ended. He fell to the ground,
hearing, as he did, Yangcha doing the same. "That idiot!" he said to
himself, "Dying for his planet."
"Oh, don't worry," came the voice of the green man, "Yangcha will be back,
soon enough."
"What? But....he died! By your own hand!"
"Well, seeing as you're dying, I don't mind telling you. On this planet, we
have something we call Dragonballs. Whoever collects all seven, can ask for
anything within the Eternal Dragon's power. Yangcha's friends will just
collect them, then wish him back. I hear they already have most of them
anyway."
Ratice laughed, coughing up blood as he did. This was too perfect! "Well
green man, I guess I get the last laugh after all. This device on my eye,
it's also a communicator. The other saiyans just heard everything you said.
Now, the three of them will be coming to take revenge for me and get the
Dragonballs. And the funny thing is, they're all stronger than I am. And
you'll have to face my brother, too. So he will get a chance to use his
power after all."
"NO!" Piccolo yelled, "That's not possible!"
"One year." The last thing Ratice heard before the Great Darkness took him,
was the sound of a plane's engines overhead....
******
"Yangcha, you're *going* to make it. Hang in there."
"Sorry buddy." Yangcha smiled apologetically. "Not this time. Wish me back,
okay?"
"Of course. We...we already have f-five Dragonballs. Don't worry." Krillen
held onto his friends hand as he breathed his last. He and Master Roshi had
gotten there just as the battle ended. Piccolo had told them about the other
saiyans, definitely not good news.
The people from Earth bowed there heads at the passing of a good friend.
Piccolo walked up to where the body of his rival was dissolving into soft
sparkles. "This is Kami's work."
"What?" Krillen looked up at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"
"Kami is the guardian of the Earth. If he took Yangcha's body as well, it
must mean that he has something special planned for him."
Krillen watched as Piccolo walked away to pick up the body of Omi, who had
fainted somewhere in the middle of the battle.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"
"I'm taking the kid for training. He showed a reamrkable amount of power,
extremely rare for a kid his age."
"But, you can't just-"
"Look, I'm not asking, I'm *telling*. We'll need all the help we can get
when the saiyans arrive in a year, and he needs MY help to learn to control
his power." With that, Piccolo rose into the air, and flew away from the
battlefield.
Krillen looked at Master Roshi. "What will we tell Bulma?"
******
"You will be trained by King Kai, who will help you prepare for the saiyans
arrival. I wish you luck."
Yangcha bowed to Kami. "Thank you. I won't disappoint you *or* my friends."
******
Kakarot sat dejectedly on a log by the fire. Ratice survived the explosion
of the planet, only to end up dieing in Earth. It wasn't fair.
Vegeta plunked down next to him. "Thinking of Ratice?"
"Yeah." Kakarot sighed. "He was my only family left in the universe."
"Come with us to Earth. Nappa and I will help you get revenge on those
weaklings." Vegeta placed a friendly hand on his shoulder.
Kakarot glanced at the hand. He didn't really need either of their help, and
Vegeta knew it. As a Super Saiyan, he was more powerful than both of them
put together, he only followed Vegeta's rule as a matter of courtesy. But,
he did appreciate the gesture.
"Yes, I will come."
(1) It is of my personal opinion that Yangcha would not have allowed Bulma
to name their son 'Trunks'. It is also of my opinion that Bulma named him,
not Vegeta. Come on, would Vegeta seriously name his son 'Trunks'? Yeah
right.
Chapter Two
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