I do not own Dbz
Chapter 1: prologue
Voices.. everywhere all around him he could faintly hear the distant noises. On a lone bed secluded in a fairly sound proof hidden room, was a young boy no more than two and a half years old. It had been hours since he was put to bed, but he could not go to sleep. It was because he was having those nightmares again. Dreamless he would think he'd sleep half the time, yet for some unknown reason, he'd begin to see things a child should not at his age. Shouts, screams, curses, blood, slaughter, all things someone like this boy should not see nor hear. Yet, he is still haunted by the nightmares. Usually he would sleep in bed with his favorite guardian, the one he calls his mother, but he was told by his third caretaker that he could not be with her as of now. She had just came out of the delivery room the day before.
So he went to bed that evening prior as of then, hoping to avoid the blanket of sleep that night as he tinkered with the gadgets and machinery that he was given to in secret in an effort to study them. To him these were toys, but not just any toys, references to inventions he so hoped to one day create to aid his second and most viewed as a father figure guardian, Bardock. He so thought that tonight of all nights he would be able to avoid sleeping for that night, but instead he unevitably fell into the tiring feeling of sleep as his eyelids grew heavier. Soon he faced a vision he so hoped to avoid and never see ever again ever since they first began appearing in his mind. Shuddering in his sleep he dearly wished to be held by his guardians for he had no yet been able to sleep peacefully by ridding himself of these nightmares.
"You've may have won this battle, but I am one step closer to winning this ever lasting war! I will come back for all of you! May the history between light and Darkness be forever soaked in blood!" Then the demonic voice of a fading silhouette vanished, maniacally laughing as it plunged into a void.
Left behind out of everyone in the battlefield was a dying warrior, probably the very one who had defeated this exiled being. Bleeding out from his torn torso and dangerously coughing out large amounts of blood from his mouth he could smell the fresh burnt flesh of his enemies and comrades in all from the island they all fought valiantly on for miles around. He himself had been left to die in his post victory for he had sent everyone else far away to a place where they would be safe from his final battle. However, he had not anticipated what would happen to him if he choose this decision. And now he was alone, alone to rot in the fields of death that would cultivate the dead land once more into its former glory for his sacrafice. Despite all he had done to get this far, despite everything that he had achieved, no potion, elixir, spell, or majestic powers would heal him in his final moments.
He had been beaten to the very inch of his life. His body had been wrought out to its limits, took a chance with a technique that was incompatible with his finishing blow which should have killed him in the process, and was ultimately incurably poisoned by the dark powers of his greatest enemy, rendering him inevitably subjectible to death. There was no escaping his fate this time, he had already fulfilled what needed to be done. But before he could close his eyes to fall into the endless blissful sleep of death, he was faced with a certain person he dearly wished not to be seen in his current condition- his little sister.
"I have converted all that foul energy of yours into something more tolerable. It is so that the one who seeks the power, Frieza, will never have it. From here on forth you may have this gift, Bardock, so that you can see. See the horror of the truth that you've all been oblivious to. Now you will be able to see how the world will be with your own demise as we have seen ours."
Inside a healing tank in the middle of the medical room was a man in his late twenties struggling to understand the things he was told before he fell in and out of consciousness. Nearby him was his closest friend ever since the incident, and the two doctors who were recording his data and reviewing the number of times he had been put in that healing chamber over the last few months.
"How is he, Malaka?" asked Tora. After the fight with the Kanassan alien, Bardock had fallen unconscious and the group had immediately left to the Saiyan planet for medical help. It was abnormal for their leader to fall unconscious and everyone had been worried.
Malaka pressed a few buttons on the control panel before him and checked the Saiyan's status. "Physically, he's healed and ready; however, I can't say the same for his mental state." The lizard man shook his head, clearly not understanding the phenomena presented to him. "There's something strange going on with his brainwaves. It's like he has an added layer running in sequence with his normal brainwaves."
"Brainwaves…?"
"...I don't know. He's been in that pod recovering so many different times already. I'm not sure if he would be able to continue living this way, it's idiotic." said the first doctor who had reptilian features.
"Idiotic? Saiyans like him do not care to think about their health condition when they fight so what makes you think they'll start now?" said the elderly doctor. He then began to type into the controls, searching to see how his mind was faring.
"He's right about that Malaka." Tora urged on the elderly Doctor. He then recieved a transmission call from his scouter.
"Uh huh. I'm on my way." He said back. "Well, it turns out we are given another mission from Frieza himself. It's nice to finally be given acknowledgement for our hardwork." He added. "Take care.. my friend." He said to himself looking at the saiyan struggling to understand the things he was seeing, before he left the room to join the others.
'Strange. I've never seen such an irregular brain pattern like this before. It reminds me of something.' He began to compare the data with regular saiyan patients finding no clues to it what so ever, but when he pulled up a secret document file on the screen, he found it to be compatible.
'That can't be!'
An alarm started wailing. The first doctor walked over to the controls he had been assigned to, and quickly studied the information being flashed at him.
"Planthor, do you see this? His brain activity is skyrocketing." Malaka yelled out.
-.-.-.-.-
'Where? Where am I?' Bardock thought within the darkness. He didn't know where or why he was in an empty space but lately he didn't know the reason that he was seeing several visions of his son.
All of a sudden his senses indicated there was another presence was with him. While he did turn around to find whoever else was with him, he could not see who it was.
"..Bardock... Bardock." Faintly cried out a weak voice over to him. It was the voice of a saiyan child... a saiyan child he was familiar with over the last two years.
'Taritzu? H-how am I hearing him?' He began to franticly search for the source, however he did not know where to start. Finally he was presented with a scene of a ruby-red planet in the middle of space. As soon as his attention was focused on this scene, he witness the planet explode by his very eyes as a large circular space ship watched from afar.
'W-what is this? Is this.. Is this planet Vegeta?' He thought to himself continuing to see the rest of the scene.
"This is stupendous! This is a great show! Look Dodoria, Zarbon. Look at the fireworks! Aren't they splendid?" Shouted the Acrosian emperor.
'NOO! This can't be!' Suddenly his vision changed making him seem as if he was also inside a secluded room well hidden inside a secret room. Inside was the same saiyan child who he had recalled to be the owner of the voice that first called out to him.
"Bardock.. I need help.. I'm scared.. Please.. Someone wake me up." The young child said throughout the darkness. In the vision, Bardock could see the child shaking violently as he moved his arms in a failing effort to wake himself up.
-.-.-.-.-
In the medical room, Malaka had panicked at the sudden brainwave change and had to let the more knowledgeable and calm doctor Planthor to release the saiyan from his healing pod. It only took him seconds for him to take action after analyzing the machine indicating Bardock's mental and physical help before yelling at his assistant. "Get him out of there! NOW!"
As Bardock was within the healing tank, in the next room the little newborn child, Kakarot, had started to wail as he saw the same visions Bardock was seeing.
Malaka jumped and proceeded to release Bardock from the rejuvenation tank. The water began to recede and the cries of little Kakarot, who was a mere few doors down from the room his father was currently in, reached Bardock's ears and his eyes opened instantly.
"Open it! Open the hatch Malaka!" The door slowly opened and a naked Bardock stepped out of the tank. "Thank goodness you're alright, Bardock. You had us worried there. Bardock…what happened back there? On Planet Kanassa?" Asked the young scientist.
Bardock ignored the doctor and took off the mask before taking his clothes from Malaka.
'It was like I was having a dream…except I was awake….at least I think I was awake. Taritzu... I could feel what he was going through...but the Kanasan said that I would be able to see the future, not feel the emotions of others...what the hell did the Kanasan do to me…?'
"You are excused for now, Malaka. It seems as if our patient here does not want to speak to us. Why don't you go on break?" Planthor offered the young doctor. Malak nodded in response and picked up his card key before leaving the other two in the room. Sure that they would not be overheard by anyone as of then, Planthor began to speak.
"You should stay and rest Bardock. I'm not sure if it would be wise to go on another mission soon with that kind of condition you had been before being healed. It's unwised of you to continue with this." The doctor began. Planthor had known Bardock ever since he was a mere child, and from what Bardock believed his age to be, Planthor would of also known their former King and the one before him a long time ago. In all retrospect, Planthor had been working with the previous royal family for three generations excluding the current one as of now.
"Pfft. Unwise..what has wisdom gotten me into now? I have lost everything. My friends are dead, my brothers are gone, I had to let her go for her sake, and our homeplanet.." He stopped himself from speaking too much. It had been eighteen years since their planet had been taken over by the ancient evil had been told about in stories by his godmother, the Queen. And since that day they were uprising from their seal his King had stayed behind with the majority of the army and volunteers to allow everyone else to escape. That event had been known as the first Global Exodus of his people in history, yet it was lost in the shadows of the past so that the future generations would not know such horrors they've seen, and was replaced with an adaption of the Legendary Supersaiyan.
Sensing his dilemma, Planthor spoke up breaking the awkward silence for them both. "I know you may not care about what happens to you in battle Bardock, it seems to me that you also have the same fighting spirit of your father. But.. you are forgetting about the life of the one we both have been left in charge of."
'Taritzu.' He suddenly was taken aback to the visions he saw. Ever since his oldest friend Cedrick had died mysteriously Bardock was left to care for the family he left behind, when he recieved a missing letter adressed to him. It was a bit awkward for him at first; Colleen had a slight fit when she heard about his predicament with Cedrick's mate, Hanasia, but agreed to allow it after he explained the situation to her piece by piece. Since Hanasia had been about a week before the due date, she had become eerily silent about what had occured and that frightened Planthor about the developing child within her.
Eventually the day had come when she had gone to the delivery room, and the young newborn Taritzu was named. Tetsuo, after his father's twin Tetsu which was addressed in the letter as one of his final wishes, and Taritzu, after Hanasia had a dream of a child named similarly like that. However, the happy days for that particular family were limited; there was soon a search party intent on finding and killing Cedrick's remaining family. Fortunately Colleen told Hanasia that her son would be safe with her and that she would take care of him as if he were her own on the day they came for her and executed the young mother.
That moment was when Bardock had been able to piece together the clues and found out that King Vegeta may have had a strong connection to Cedrick's death. He wasn't too sure about that conclusion, but he wouldn't take such a high risk for the boy leaving him out of their protection. Taritzu had been silent about his family for the time being, and he did call Colleen his own mother at times, it felt heart-warming to her as she had already bonded with the child as if he was truly her own, and Raditz was happy to have another child around. They believed to be brothers at the time, until the nightmares came and went.
During certain random nights, Taritzu would wake up from his sleep and cry out for his mother. He was beginning to subconsciously remember what had happened the year before, and one particular night he had called out to Bardock in a childish nickname, Baddack, which Colleen had found to be funny for a child to call an adult by such a name. That was also the night that marked the beginning of a new dilemma for Taritzu had begun to avoid sleeping alone or even at times when he was avoiding it all together- which failed all together. It got frustrating for him and Bardock grew anxious that one day the boy would alarm a guard with his loud wailing, so he began to send him over to Planthor to sleep inside a sound proof room so that he'd be able to finally rest. Since then he would take the child back with him on days he was certain that no one would track him or spend time with him in the secret room.
Even though he had been taking care of the boy oh-so well, Bardock had not been able to train the kid properly like he wanted to since he was limited to certain areas he could safely take him to. Nonetheless, the boy did pay attention to the theorectical advice Bardock had told him and had begun to train a little on his own, but Taritzu was not interested in training at such a young age. No, he was going to train like everyone else but the boy grew lonely doing things on his own so he began to ask questions about his family after he grew interested in seeing all the other kids with their families when he would secretly watch them from afar.
From then on, Taritzu began to ask many questions, such as who his true parents were and his family history. Bardock answered them all with caution but one day the boy asked why they were gone. Since Bardock knew that Frieza would have never known about Cedricks secret and the search party that murdered his mother would composed of elite guards, he had a strong hunch that the King would have been the one to give such an order, so he told the boy what he thought. Since that moment, the boy knew who he was and began to be much more affectionate to Bardock as if he was his own father, but he would never straight out tell him that. So the boy began to study engineering so that he could help him grow in power. Taritzu so hoped that one day he would become a great scientist much like Planthor as he was influenced by his studies and a magneficent warrior such as his family were known to be for millenia.
But Bardock had not been paying attention to what anyone else thought about his well-being. Even though he never knew it, Bardock subconsciously went into Elite class missions because deep down, he was in remorse for what he said to Cedrick.
Now Bardock was standing here, remembering what he promised, and wondering if what he had been seeing was the future that inevitably laid before them.
'I'm not sure if he'll be safe anymore.' "Yeah. I remember about him." He began. Bardock turned around to see his newborn son in the room next to the medical bay. He had heard his son start to wail when he was shown yound Taritzu's horrific dream. 'You could see it too, can't you son?' He thought as his hand pressed up to the glass wanting to hold his boy.
It didn't matter to him if the child had a low power level or not. If they sent him away then young Kakarot would be safe from the hidden enemy and Bardock wouldn't have to worry about him. However, it was not like him to just leave the boy go with no clue what so ever of where he would be sent.
"Then you should know that things have gotten edgy with the Trade Federation. Things are beginning to be insecure and with how Taritzu is faring, I wouldn't be so sure if we can keep him away from society much longer. They've been sending more and more unannounced security checks each month. Just this week I've gotten three and luckily they haven't found the boy as of yet. I suppose that he was a bit wise on his part to have skipped on his training or they could of found him with the scouters. In any case, I'm afraid to think they will catch him. He's not safe anymore here." Planthor continued with the topic at hand.
"Planthor. My son, Kakarot. Do you know what will happen to him?" He asked preparing himself to the news if he would like what he heard or not.
The elderly doctor kept silent for awhile before responding back to the young man. He didn't know what his newborn had anything to do with what he was more concerned of but he wasn't one to reject a friend's request. "He was born as a low class. They have already made the plans to send him away. I'm sorry Bardock, It's not like I could also keep him here like Taritzu. They know of his existence." He guiltily ended.
"It's not your fault Planthor. I need to know: where will they send him?" He really did need to know. He had come to the conclusion that Taritzu would have to be sent away for his safety, but also so that if what the future held was true, then he would avenge them with the help of Kakarot if his boys would somehow escape in time.
'I don't know how much time we have left so I got to do this quick.'
Planthor checked his computer for the recent files of Kakarot. It had already been posted on his profile that the boy would be sent to small planet in a far away galaxy with relatively low gravity.
"A little planet call 'Earth'. Why do you ask?"
"I've made my decision. His life can't be risked any longer. I'd like to send him with my son to this planet so that they will both be safe for the time being." 'Hopefully they'd be able to fight back when the time comes.'
"I see. And Raditz, what would you do about him?"
"I'm not sure where he is as you are as well. I don't know if he'd be safe out in the world or not, but he's an Elite. I don't think anyone would try anything against him with the rank system in check." Bardock replied carefully. "So how will we be able send him with the workers in the launch site?" Bardock added.
"I've already have a custom made new model made specifically for this moment. It's in the east port so we will have time to get him there and leave before anyone notices. I'll go get the possessions, you get the boy." The elder told him.
-x-
After going through the specified doors to get into Planthor's lab, Bardock moved the file cabinets to the side, revealing a secret scanner. He pulled out an extra card key and scanned it before making a camouflaged door appear, then entering and closing the sliding door behind him and return back to it's previous function.
'Now for the second room.'
He walked over to the second lab bedroom where the lights were turned off and had opaque windows as he so remembered the room Taritzu had been left in. Opening the door and turning on the lights, Bardock carefully walked over the trinkets the boy had been playing with and shook him awake from his nightmare.
"It's alright. You can wake up now." He softly reassured him from the nightmare. After setting the boy back down on his bed, young Taritzu's face began to change from that traumatized state to a much peaceful one. His expression had Bardock recall the day his life had began to change quickly. When he was just eight years old, an assassin was sent to kill Cedrick when he was alone with his twin brother in the sacred woods. Tetsu had a limited amount of clairvoyance and he had seen the event happen in a dream one night a few months before. So when he was able to recognize that it was beginning to come true, he took Cedrick's place seeing as it was the only option he could take.
Cedrick had been mortified at the fact that his younger, much more respected brother had taken action without thinking twice so he secluded himself in his grief. Bardock himself had been put in charge of taking care of his best friend years ago so when he saw the way Cedrick was blaming himself, he went ahead to tell him he wasn't to blame for what happend. However Cedrick would not come out from his room because he deeply believe it was, and so when Bardock tried to take him back with him he was blasted in his face in his anger. That was the day young Bardock recieved his scar, the very same day his life had changed significantly from that point on.
As the boy wiped his wet eyes after learning that Bardock came to see him, he cheerfully jumped at him.
"Baddack! Your here." He said knowing well that no one would be able to hear them through the sound proof walls.
"Yes, Taritzu. I've come to see you." He half-lied. He truly did come to see him, although that moment would be his last time.
"So what are we going to do now? You promised you'd tell me another story after you came back." He cheerfully said with the young innocence he had left.
"A story?" 'That's right. I did promise him.' "Okay. I'll tell you one, but you'd have to come with me. Make sure not to let anyone hear you along the way." He said, careful not to slip up with what he planned on doing.
"Okay, I'll keep quiet." Young Taritzu said knowing that Bardock was not one that you'd like to cross. The older male picked up the little boy in his arms. The miniture white great coat of his he was wearing since Planthor had gave it to him if it so happened that the guards found the boy in his lab during a security check would make them think he was studying to become a scientist was ruffled up duing his sleep while the white artist cap was what kept his hair from giving him away was on the floor. Bardock picked it up and then left the secret room, making sure to close all the doors behind him and putting back the cabinets to where they first stood.
-x-
"Okay wait for me here. When I get back I'll tell you the story." He told him before leaving him alone in the middle of the vacant hangar in front of a well conditioned space pod. The older male went over to the other side of the room where the old doctor had a large trunk on top of a hover lift.
"So what makes this new model pod you had made better than the rest?" He said as the old man walked over to the young child.
"Since it was custom made I have not registered it. I have also done my best as to get the manufacturer to make it so that the pod will not leave such a large crater, and it will reach it's destination much faster than any other pod we currently have." He informed him.
"That's a smart decision. Well, hopefully things will go along quite easily." He said with his mind elsewhere.
"Is something on your mind Bardock?" The old doctor asked in concern. His young associate seemed to have a troubled look on his face as hey walked closer to the boy. Soon they stopped in front of the ship but he continued to walk over to the boy. Planthor himself just ignore the expression on his face and went over to type in the coordinates for the flight.
"Baddack. Why is Planthor with you? Why are we even in here? Didn't you say you'd tell me a story?" He innocently asked before being shushed.
"Taritzu, I want you to listen carefully to the story I am about to tell you." The adult said to the young boy, who in turn nodded obediently. Seeing as he was given approval to go on, Bardock began to tell a story his Queen had told him when he was a child about the Royal family's origins.
"A long time ago, there was once a happy family that lived in secret from the rest of the world. One day this family was betrayed by a close friend when they found out their secret. Since the family was not to be allowed since the parents were forbidden to fall in love due to their nationality, they were betrayed by the foreigner country's officials. The father of this family had told his mate that he would hold them off long enough for her to escape with her children, but she was not one to leave him behind. So she put her twin newborns in a basket carefully wrapped in a warm blanket, kissed them both goodbye, and set them into the tempered waters of the raging river so that they would live.
When the boys were found by a hunting wolf due to their excessive wailing, he decided to take them for his family as a meal. But before the wolf could make them a meal, the two boys cuddled up to the wolf's body for warmth. The children reminded him of his own cubs so the wolf decided to raise the two as their own.
Years pass by and before the age of fourteen, the oldest boy had stumbled upon a native girl from a nearby mountain village that was being chased by the men from the foreign country. The boy protected her from these men, attacking in a style resembling the power, grace, and speed that only a true wolf could. Being helped by this boy, the girl had invited him and his brother to her village. There, the two had learned of the suppression that the invading country had on the people, so the two began to train and recruit neighboring villages to fight back for their independence. The older brother was more of a traveller, so he began to walk great distances to unite each section of the land and lead the war for three years, and in his honor, courage, and wisdom, the people believed that he was best fit to be their King, as the culture of the invading country had mixed with their own.
From these two brothers came forth two different families. The first as you may already know is De Lupo, which soon became Rutabaski with the Revolution of that newly formed nation that happened a thousand years later. The second one had been known to be Del Orso, which in turn became Valogna."
The little boy took this information all in. He liked the story he was being told but he had no idea why they had to be in here to tell it in the first place.
"Baddack, what does this story have to do with where we are now?" He asked once more.
"You see Taritzu, like the mother in the story, I have to send you away so that you may live." He started.
Now things were becoming clear for him. "Baddack, why? Are.. are we being betrayed like that family?"
"Yes. I believe we are, that's why I'm doing this." He responded.
"So if I am being sent away for my safety then what will happen when I get there?" He asked, careful to not let his emotions leak through his voice. He wanted to stay strong for the last moments he had with his father figure.
"I am not sure, but I do know that you will also have someone with you when I send you away."
"Who is it?" Taritzu believed that he would be sent away with Raditz for the trip but he didn't want to have his hopes broken.
"It is my newborn son, Kakarot. He will be with you on the new planet you will land upon that is called 'Earth'." He told him who he would be with for the time being. "Now like those two brothers I want you two to train together and fight back against the enemy, Frieza and the Cold empire." He added.
By then, Planthor came out of the control booth and walked up to the two saiyans. Once Bardock saw him, he let him say his part. "Taritzu. In this trunk are many special possessions of your family. They have been properly taking care of for many generations, and have been passed on so that the next generation of the heir, yourself, would have it. I do not know exactly what is inside of it, no one really has for it had never been open, but what I do know is that there are important items that can help you within it. I also have been told that there are books inside of it that will help you learn different saiyan fighting techniques, from the basics to the more advanced mastery level." He pulled out a silver key from his pockets and gave it to the boy. "Here. It is now yours." He handed the key over to the boy and then moved the trunk into the pod.
Before the boy was allowed to enter the pod, he was stopped by Bardock. "What is it Baddack?"
"I wasn't going to let you go without this." He pulled out a red cloth that held two pendants. The first one was made of gold which had been designed into the sun and had strange writing encrypted along the side of it and the other had a design based on that of the full moon, with six sapphire gems along the three circle Venn diagram and between the vines etched on the design.
"This is the two jewels that was given to your father before we left 16 years ago. Now I give it to you." He left it in his hands.
"What is it for?" He should have known better to ask such a stupid question but it was necessary of him to do so.
"When a royal becomes of age, he or she, which is rare for a female to be born in your family nonetheless become the sucessor, will give the second pendant that corresponds to the opposite gender to their potential mate as an engagement ring. So if you ever happen to come across one, you would do the same with her. Remember to treat her well." He told him.
"Okay Baddack." He said before walking onto the platform. Before he entered the pod Bardcok spoke up once more.
"REMEMBER. YOU ARE A RUTABASKI AS I AM A VALOGNA. OUR FAMILIES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN LOYAL TO EACH OTHER. DO NOT FORGET WHO YOU ARE." He yelled out so that he would remain confident that the boy would be able to hear him and so that his voice would not betray him. Just as he finished that sentence, the door closed down and the pod was launched into the vast emptiness frontier of space.
'Goodbye...' Bardock thought to himself as a stray tear fell from his eyes. He wiped it off and then turn about to leave in a space pod of his own before the attendants would enter without finding him in there and become suspicious.
'FRIEZA... I'm coming for you.' And he flew off to help out his friends on planet Meat and warn them of the looming threat.
