Chapter 1: The Mysterious Saiyan Named "Kakarot"
Piccolo stood on a cliff, looking out at the distance taking in the sight as he cleared his mind and meditated. He did what he usually did when he meditated and felt out with his mind all across the planet Earth and felt the energies of all things that were occupied upon it: the air, the plants, the rocks, the animals, his friends; everything in short. He was quite used to the various energies of the planet; probably far better than anyone else in the world… well maybe except Kami and Master Roshi.
Piccolo was trying to do some personal training since today was apparently Goku and Chi-Chi's wedding anniversary and she had demanded that the they and Gohan spend the day together. That woman has never liked the Namekian since he and Goku were once enemies and that he had kidnapped Gohan to train him for the Saiyan invasion a few years ago.
How many years has it been since then? Piccolo asked himself. It's only been 4 or so years since the Saiyan who claimed to be Goku's brother – Raditz – appeared and attacked. Many various threats have come and gone since then, and now they were all preparing for the coming threat of two mysterious Androids that will be appearing in one more year.
The thoughts of the past must have put the Namekian's meditation into a slight change of whack since he was suddenly feeling a buildup of tension on his chest – a feeling Piccolo only got when his meditation was disturbed by distracting thoughts or… when he was feeling an unusual presence near. The pressure in his chest became more intense by the second. He reached out again to the pin-point of the disturbance in energy… it was behind him. His eyes shot open and he immediately jumped up and spun around to see a small ball of light forming a few feet away from him in mid-air.
Piccolo stood there and watched the light begin to fluctuate and expand and become bigger. The light grew brighter to a point where Piccolo had to raise an arm to the light to shield his eyes. Within a few seconds of his arm being raised the energy and light exploded with a small boom. He lowered his arm and let his eyes readjust to see…
"Goku…!?" Piccolo muttered to the person standing in front of him. The man before him had Goku's face, hair, build, height, and even his energy was similar to Goku's; however the stranger's clothes put Piccolo into an instant state of defense; they were Saiyan armor – similar to Vegeta's when he first arrived except that the armor was dark blue and orange. He wore the full jump suit that was also dark blue like Vegeta's, but this Goku-look-a-like had a red cape attached to the shoulder pads. The stranger's eyes slowly opened. The look in the eyes of the newcomer sent a shiver down Piccolo's spine. They were fierce and determined – totally unlike Goku's unless he was extremely angry which Piccolo has only witnessed a few times.
"Who are you?" Piccolo demanded to the newcomer. The Saiyan did not respond as he looked around slowly as if looking for someone, eventually returning his gaze upon the Namekian.
"Me?" the newcomer asked with a voice that was identical to Goku's if he was angry. "My name is Kakarot. Is this the planet 'Earth'?" The Saiyan asked, as he again looked around.
Isn't Goku's Saiyan name 'Kakarot'? Piccolo asked himself, then slowly nodding to this 'Kakarot's' question. "Yes, this is Earth. What are you doing here? Are you a Saiyan?" Piccolo demanded, not lowering his guard. The newcomer nodded.
"Yes, I am a Saiyan; and before you ask; I am not here to destroy your planet. I am here to speak with Goku – nothing more. I have no hostile intentions towards you or anyone else."
"What do you want with him? How do you know him?"
Kakarot smiled with an almost devilish grin. "Merely to speak with him. As for how I know him… its rather complicated and honestly I have no intention to speak my tale more than once. I wish to give Goku and his family the answers to some questions they've probably asked themselves at some point within the past few years. In speaking of; I would like to know where Goku is right now, can you guide me to him? I assure you that I will not harm you, him, his family or anyone on this planet."
"Give me a reason to trust you! If anything we've learned that most of you Saiyans lie about your intentions!"
"Heh, you simply have no reason to trust me due to your history with my race, except with my word. But I ask – I plead to you to trust me enough to guide me to Goku; at least a fraction of the trust you have for him."
Piccolo gritted his sharp teeth and growled as he slowly lowered his guard.
"Fine, I'll escort you to Goku's house. However if I even sense that you will betray me I will not hesitate to obliterate you myself, Saiyan!" Piccolo roared to the grinning Kakarot.
"Thank you; I will not betray your trust. It is after-all difficult to earn a Namekian's trust, so I am grateful that you are giving me this chance." Kakarot said as he bowed slightly and thanks. If Piccolo had eyebrows he would have cocked one up to this behavior – the fact that it was a Saiyan surprised him to see one act this way.
"All right, he's this way." Piccolo said as he lifted himself up with his energy, Kakarot doing the same. The two then sped off into one direction, the two flying alongside so Piccolo could keep an eye on the mysterious Saiyan.
…
Goku sat down at the table and placed his elbows upon it, and his head in his hands, impatiently waiting as his wife Chi-Chi worked in the kitchen working on their dinner for their anniversary. He rapidly tapped one of his legs against the bottom of the table, making it slightly shake from his sheer strength – he hated waiting for anything; especially when it came to food – especially his wife's food. He whiffed at the strong aromas coming from the kitchen as his mouth watered in desire. Goku envisioned a grand display of various foods being placed on the table, huge smiles on himself and his wife and son as he mowed down on it all, without a care in the world. The day dream made his stomach growl for it all. Suddenly a finger tapped on his back, he turned to see Gohan, dressed for the dinner.
"Smells good, huh Dad?" Gohan teased at his father.
"Yeah! I can't wait!" Goku said as he leaned back in the chair and patted his growling belly.
"Dad, how long have you and Mom been married, now?" his son asked as he sat down at the table. Goku blinked at the question as he placed a hand on his chin and looked up in thought.
"Uhhh…" he muttered as he thought deeply, he then looked down at his hands and tried counting off his fingers. "Let's see… your now 9 years old, right?" Goku mindlessly asked his son. Gohan nodded to his father's question as he smiled at his elementary-level knowledge. "So that was 9 years ago when you were born so I think its been…" he paused as he counted up a 9 on his fingers, thinking hard on remembering the chain of events in his life back to his wedding, eventually opening up his right thumb for a 10. "So that would be 10… I think." Goku said as he came to the conclusion. "Yeah, 10 years now!"
"Wow! 10 years?" Gohan echoed.
"Yes, its been 10 years ago today that I married your father." Chi-Chi commented as she walked in with a platter full of food. Goku and Gohan's eyes widened to the sight of the food as their mouths watered to the smell. Chi-Chi placed the platter on the table and joined her husband and son at the table. Goku suddenly got up and walked to a cabnet and pulled out a few glasses and a small bottle and brought them over to the table. "Is that sparkling grape juice?" Chi-Chi asked. He nodded as he poured the contents of the bottle into the three glasses and placed them for each member. He sat down and raised his glass to Chi-Chi's.
"To 10 years!" he announced as the three lightly knocked their glasses together and sipped. They were about to begin when they all picked up their utensils, however Goku and Gohan's expressions immediately snapped to full serious as they both stood up from their seats and looked at each other.
"Wait, whats wrong?" Chi-Chi asked as she looked at the men's faces. "Goku? Gohan?" she pleaded.
"You sense that Dad?" Gohan asked his father, whom nodded. Goku looked over to his wife with a saddened face.
"I'm sorry Chi-Chi, but I think someone is here." Goku said to his wife simply as he and Gohan bolted out the door and into their "front yard" which only viewed a field and some mountains in the distance, however two spots could be seen out in the distance approaching at high speed in the air. The two men stared at the two figures approaching. Gohan was the first to spot that one of them was Piccolo as his serious demeanor changed to a happy one as he ran a bit towards the incomers.
"MR. PICCOLO!" Gohan yelled as he waved as the Namekian and stranger landed. The young warrior went up to his mentor. "What are you doing here, Mr. Piccolo?" he asked as he looked at the stranger that came with the Namekian. Gohan's eyes went wide with shock when he saw the face of the Saiyan. "W-what?! Who are you?!" Gohan yelled as he stepped back and went into a defensive pose.
"Hold on, Gohan." Piccolo interrupted as he raised a hand in-between Gohan and the Saiyan. "This Saiyan says he wants to talk with your father… not fight." Goku approached closely, walking. He kept his eyes on the newcomer, as did he.
"Like my son said; who are you?" Goku said with complete seriousness in his voice as he looked at the Saiyan that was identical to himself. The Saiyan just smiled devilishly.
"My name is Kakarot, son of Bardock, younger brother of Raditz and current King of all Saiyans! And I am here to…" he raised and pointed a gloved hand to Goku. "Talk to you: my counter-part!" he commanded with an even bigger devilish smile.
"Why would you want to talk to me… Kakarot? If that it is your name!" Goku yelled at the Saiyan standing before him.
"A couple of reasons actually; one that I simply wish to tell you my life story to answer the questions that you may have asked yourself at some point in your life – most likely after discovering you were actually Saiyan." Kakarot stated. Goku simply glared at his twin as he looked back in his memory.
"And what question would that be?" Gohan interrupted, everyone looked at the young half-breed's question, a big toothy grin slowly forming on Kakarot's face.
"The sort of 'What-if' question that everyone asks themselves at some point in their lives. In you and your father's case it would be like 'what would it have been if Goku lived a life as a Saiyan instead of an Earthling?'It's a common sort of question everyone asks themselves, but it of course isn't a question anyone gets the answer to. One of the reasons why I am here is to give Goku a look into the life he might have had."
"What are the other reasons?" Piccolo asked this time. Goku just said nothing as he just continued to stare at Kakarot.
"Those reasons are my own, but I promise that I will reveal to you what those reasons are when my story is finished being told. My story will also answer a bit on how I know some of the things about your lives as well."
"Can you please explain to me why you have my Saiyan name, and how you got here?" Goku suddenly asked.
"The reason why I have the same name, face and such as you is that I am you, Goku! I am you from an alternate timeline from this one. One in which you didn't come to Earth and were raised as an Earthling. I was raised on our home planet of Vegeta instead where I was raised as a 'proper Saiyan'. You and I have lived very different lives, Goku. But there have been certain events that happened in my timeline that also happened in yours."
"Such as…?" Goku asked with a cocked eyebrow. Kakarot's grin turned into a loud prideful laugh as he brought his arms down from their crossed position. He bent down a bit, his hands clenched hard, as an aura of energy began to form around the Saiyan as his voice slowly elevated from a low growl to a scream. The rocks around him began to raise and shake as Kakarot's Ki rose to dramatic levels, soon a faint golden light started to emanate from his body as the shaking grew stronger and more violent. With a loud boom and a blinding light Kakarot's normally black spikey hair was shot straight up and waving as if it was fire and golden. He was a Super Saiyan. Everyone looked on in shock at Kakarot's transformation.
"Much like you, Goku; I too have achieved the status of the legendary Super Saiyan of lore. It was destiny – written in the stone of time that you, I and all our multi-dimensional brothers were to achieve this power!" Kakarot declared with pride seeping from the waves of his awesome energy. He stood there and let the transformation sink into everyone for a few moments before he reverted back to his base form. "There are other similarities between our lives besides our shared ability of being able to transform into a Super Saiyan. All of which I will reveal to you, your family and friends. In speaking of which; I will let you call any of your friends that you think should or would care to listen to my tale… minus a few exceptions."
"What exceptions are those?" Goku asked.
"The ones who can't know of my being here are anyone in the Other World – especially whom run it. Also I would like that if any other Saiyans you know such as Prince Vegeta not know of my existence as well. The Kais for the reason that technically I shouldn't be here; the multi-verse has some rules that are not to be broken – the transferring from one timeline to another namely. The consequences of which could be disastrous in levels that we mere mortals cannot easily understand. I wish to keep my time in this universe short and sweet so that I do not cause unneeded damage to the multi-verse; if which the Kais whom run this universe were to discover my presence this could be a major incident that could do a lot of damage to both our universes. As for Vegeta not knowing is that segments of my tale could and possibly would harm his Royal Saiyan pride severely, as a fellow Saiyan I do not wish to harm what little pride he has left for his title. If anything he has considered how doomed our race is before anyone else has."
Goku, Gohan, Chi-Chi (whom had come out to see the commotion) and Piccolo looked at each other. "Do you all think we can keep a secret?" Goku asked his family and friend with a smile. They all smiled and agreed. "Kakarot; we'll keep the truth of your being here a secret from everyone. And honestly I think that if I let any of the rest of my friends know there might be risk of your presence being known. I do want them to hear, but I think it might be better if they didn't. Kakarot smiled and made a slight bow of thanks.
"Thank you. Now for my story; it'll be sorta long since it's covering events from my birth to now. So I think we should go inside so I may explain it to you all." Everyone agreed as they walked into the house. Goku slowly approached his wife and whispered in her ear.
"Chi-Chi are you sure you want to post-pone our anniversary celebration for his story?" he asked. Chi-Chi's doubled back at Goku with surprise in her eyes.
"Personally, I don't care much for the fact he's here on our wedding anniversary – our 10th at that… but he is sorta family, he says that he can't stay too long and it seems very important to him to tell it to you. So I think we can do this." She said as she wrapped an arm around one of Goku's strong arms.
"Thanks, Chi-Chi." He said simply as they then pulled out two more chairs for Piccolo and Kakarot and placed them at the table. They all sat down and everyone's gaze turned towards Kakarot, awaiting for him to begin. "Oh um, Kakarot; do you mind if we eat while you tell your life-story?" Goku asked as he rubbed his belly in hunger. Kakarot smiled warmly and nodded.
"Yes, you may eat. May I have some as well?" he asked Chi-Chi, whom nodded and with a welcoming smile. "Thank you." As he reached for some meat with his hands and took a big bite out of it, and swallowed. "Ah yes, I will answer any questions you may have regarding my timeline, since I am bound to miss some details."* he explained, as everyone nodded.
Author's Note: the sentence marked with the * is to be directed towards YOU my dear readers. I ask that the questions be related to Kakarot's timeline. Kinda of an interactive thing so-to-speak. There are things that will be omitted from Kakarot's story- namely certain Saiyans such as Broly and Tarble - since by this time in the series Goku and co have not met them. But I will answer questions if I can (including Tarble and Broly's fates) Also I have not seen all the movies and episodes of the franchise, so I may miss things, but I'm primarily keeping the focus on the Saiyan race.