This is a "what if" story, based on the thought of the baby Broly being sent to Earth instead of Kakarotto
Chapter 1: Prologue Part I
Short Info: This story is inspired by an idea I had while reading the awesome fan-manga Dragon Ball Multiverse (GOOGLE IT! ) go read it!
Please note that I might heavily bend or even full-out break the accepted canon of the manga/anime (I'm already doing it by using Broly, anyway). If you're offended by such, DON'T read this story :D
This Chapter has been edited by smashman42! He did an awesome job! Thanks, man!
Prologue:
It was a mildly warm summers night in the year 737 on Earth. An elderly hermit and martial arts master of the Turtle style named Gohan, was sitting in front of his house in the woods. While looking at the full moon shining down on the mountain and trees, he mused about his last visit to the nearby village just outside the vast forest his house stood in. He smiled as he remembered the cute girl, who stood behind the counter of the grocery store. Gohan's mentor (Master Roshi) taught him far more than just martial arts, he also taught him how to enjoy the 'finer' things in life as well. Still, Gohan was content with his hermit life. But that very life was about to change, a lot.
-Earlier that year, on a Planet far away from Earth.-
"I beg you, Master Carto! You were a good friend of my family for years now, you can't let that happen!" the young saiyan woman exclaimed, grabbing the gray-haired saiyan by his shoulders. Carto, violently breaking free from the grip with a step back and replied in a cold voice "Calm down Peppa, I can do nothing for you. The King himself ordered the execution of your son. I will not resist the orders of our King and the Royal Guards who will come to kill your son won't listen to your shameful cries either. This isn't the way a proud saiyan warrior like you should behave! Go and bid your son farewell; and if you don't stop your husband from his foolish attempts to plead for mercy for the child, you may lose more than just your son. Now go and don't bother me with this matter any more!". As he finished speaking he grabbed Peppa, turned her around and shoved her out of the door to his room. Peppa just stood there as the door slammed shut, shaking her head in disbelief. This was impossible! She and Paragus had tried for so long to have a child. Now that their wish was finally granted, the King had ordered her son, her little Broly, to be executed? A part of her mind could understand the reasoning behind the King's decision, her boy was born with this incredible power that could be a threat to the King's family one day, but she still couldn't accept it. The King simply couldn't allow any saiyan to be stronger than his family. She heard rumors about a warrior named Bardock, who despite being a low-class saiyan obtained a power level similar to that of the King himself. Paragus told her he once met the man and that the rumors were most likely true. Her husband also mentioned the darker side of those rumors, Bardock was to be killed by mercenaries under the rule of Lord Frieza. "Frieza...", Peppa shuddered and shook her head again, trying to clear her mind of the disturbing childhood memory of the one time she met the tyrant in the flesh. She launched herself off the ground and flew towards the hospital in which her son awaited his early death.
Arriving at the Hospital she met a man leaving the building, he wore armor accentuated with green parts and his hair resembled that of Turles – a friend of Peppa's father, who disobeyed the King and turned renegade during a mission some years ago. "That must be Bardock!" Peppa thought, "Maybe he can help me!". But before she could greet him, he took off at incredible speed. She looked after the saiyan until he disappeared from her sight, wondering if she should follow him and ask him for help. But why would he help her? He probably would only tell her the same as Carto just did, empathy wasn't a strong feature of most of the Saiyans after all. Peppa heaved a sigh and went into the hospital to look at her son for possibly the last time. Heading to the room in which Broly and some other newborn babies were held, she overheard two attendants talking "...Kakarotto is to be sent off to conquer a planet this evening, we better get him ready and take him to the spaceport!" "Sure, but lets finish our break first, no need to hurry...". Peppa entered the room where the babies waited to be taken away, either by their parents or some attendants sending them on a mission. One of the babies was crying loudly and upon reaching her son's cradle, she noticed the crying baby was lying next him. That annoying little bag of screams was named Kakarotto and was the son of Bardock, according to the sign on the cradle... a plan began to form in her head. She quickly checked to see if anyone was looking her way. The plan was desperate and had next to no chance of working, but she couldn't just stand by and watch her son die when his life had only just begun. Once she was sure nobody looked her way, she reached out for the screaming Kakarotto...
Later that day, the whole planet was destroyed by the hand of Frieza. Only one space pod survived the destruction of planet Vegeta, the records of the launch stating that in that pod, Kakarotto sped towards a soon to be conquered planet.
This planet was called "Earth" by its inhabitants.
-Planet Earth-
Gohan noticed a shooting star on the night sky, just as he was about to step inside. Looking more closely, he soon realized it wasn't an ordinary shooting star. For one thing it appeared too large, no... coming closer? Then he saw it crashing down into the woods just a few miles from his house! He heard the birds screeching as they flew up to escape the thing that had disturbed their slumber. Gohan turned to go inside, deciding that he would check the crash site in the morning in broad day light rather than stumble around in the dark, when a sudden sensation stopped him mid-turn. He felt an incredible spiritual energy coming from the direction of the crash-landed "shooting star". Then a shiver went down his spine as he heard the ear shattering roar of an unknown beast. Gohan decided he must take a look at this "beast from the stars" immediately, he went inside and grabbed his trusted red fighting staff (a gift from Master Roshi) and rushed out towards the crash site.
Before even reaching the clearing and crater created by the impact of the "star", Gohan could see a towering, raging monster that seemed to attack its surroundings in blind fury. The beast tried to punch and bite birds attempting to flee the scene of its rampage. The spiritual energy radiating from this giant monkey-like creature dwarfed any Ki Gohan had ever felt, whether from person or animal. While he hid in the trees Gohan considered what to to do. Attacking this monstrosity was out of the question, it would probably just stomp him into the ground if he tried. He decided to just keep observing it from his hideout, when suddenly bright lights filled the sky and explosions could be heard. The village! They must have been having some kind of celebration and now they'd started to shoot fireworks into the night sky! The giant monkey turned his head towards the lights and loud noises, let out a bone-chilling roar and started to move towards the village. Gohan knew he had to do something. He couldn't let this creature attack the village; they wouldn't stand a chance! But what exactly should he do to attempt to stop the monkey-beast? He was certain that he couldn't really beat the beast in a fight. There was one move he knew, one technique from the Turtle style that could potentially seriously harm the monster. It had taken Gohan years to even understand the basics of the attack and even more time to finally be able to use it in a combat situation. He was still so far away from the mastery Roshi had in it, but Gohan saw no other chance to stop the fifty foot tall monkey. He would have to use the Kamehameha.
Jumping on top of a rock formation behind the beast, he released as much dormant ki into his body as he could, activating it, letting it flow freely throughout his body. He assumed the pose taught to pupils of the Turtle style for centuries, both hands on one side of the body by the hip, fingers spread as if to hold a ball between the hands. Then he pushed the flowing energy through his arms, then out of his hands. It formed a ball of whirling bright blue energy between his palms, as his raised voice began the chant "KA!... ME!...". The giant monkey noticed the energy rising behind itself and wheeled around frighteningly quick for such a large being. Gohan panicked when he saw this and involuntarily pushed nearly all his energy into the attack too rapidly, setting it off prematurely while still screaming "HA! ME!". The attack spread out uncontrollably instead of in a tightly focused beam, but it seemed like it would still hit the intended target all the same. Gohan felt the mental drain from the exhaustive misfiring of the attack, but he hoped the attack might still take out the beast, or at least hurt it enough to stop it. Just before Gohan lost consciousness he saw the monster-monkey duck under the beam. Gohan's last thought was "Damn it, now I'm dead!" then darkness engulfed his mind.
Gohan woke up to the ear-shattering cries of a baby. Confused as to why he would be greeted to the after life by a baby, Gohan opened his eyes to bright sunlight and looked around. He was lying on the same rock that he had been standing on when he lost consciousness. The giant monkey wasn't to be seen anywhere and somewhere down in the woods, not too far away, a baby was crying loudly.
Checking his own body Gohan found, partly happy partly disappointed, that he was still alive. At least his aching body didn't feel much like paradise, sunshine and cute angel girls... maybe some other time. Right now he had to find out who lost this baby in the woods and where this monkey thing went.
Following the cries, Gohan soon stood before a naked baby lying on the ground. The baby had a lot of hair for such a young child. As far as Gohan could tell from his limited experience with babies, the child looked to be about a year old, maybe a bit younger. In any case the baby shouldn't have had such long hair at this young age, it fell down in a long purplish black mane. Aside from that, he, since it was a boy, looked rather healthy. He certainly sounded healthy, Gohan thought smiling. "Well little one, I can't let you lie around here, can I? The big bad monster monkey might come back and eat you!", Gohan said in a hopefully soothing tone, whilst smiling and picking the baby up. He decided to take this child to his house first, then he could start looking for the monster and check on the village to find out if someone was lost in the woods and missing a baby. When he took off, jumping on tree branches and such to avoid the bushes on the ground, the baby stopped crying. After some more leaps from tree to tree, the baby even started giggling a bit. "Ah, you like that, eh?" Gohan asked, stopping to look at the smiling baby. Just then Gohan's hand brushed along something surprisingly hairy on the back of the baby boy. He turned the Baby around to see what the hairy thing was and discovered the stump of some sort of tail coming out of his lower back. It looked like the tail had been burned off by fire or something. "Well, aren't we an odd little boy? Hair like a rock-star and now a tail?", then the realization hit Gohan. When the monster had ducked under the attack it brought its tail up! Could this baby really be the monster he fought last night? Why would it stop attacking him and transform into a human looking baby just because he burned its tail off by accident? Bewildered by his discovery, Gohan hurried home carrying the baby along. It started giggling again.
-Planet Vegeta about ten hours before Frieza's arrival-
Whilst holding a baby wrapped in cloth, Peppa spun around on her heels and dashed towards the exit of the maternity ward. Two Royal Guardsman witnessed this and immediately gave chase, shouting out for her to stop.
Outside the hospital five young teen saiyans were making their way to the main entrance. As they walked they jokingly hit each other with low powered energy balls, or sometimes kicks and punches. Only one of them, a saiyan girl named Para, wasn't partaking in the play fights. She quietly kept admiring the leader of the group. The boy, named Raditz, was by far the strongest and most aggressive of the low class teen group. Para already daydreamed about challenging him, one day, to the ritualistic fight that would show him she was interested in far beyond mere friendship.
"Hey fearless leader! Tell me again, why we are delaying our next mission and heading to this place instead?" shouted the second strongest in their team Omato, while punching Raditz in the back as hard as he could. Raditz answered with a grin and a hard spinning kick to Omato's chin that sent him flying, "because I want to wish my brother good luck in devastating the planet he will be sent to! Any problems with that, 'Commander' Omato?". While Omato recovered and rose to a standing position the scouters of the entire group started bleeping, closely followed by an explosion which ripped part of the hospital walls open; the teens stared at the smoking hole in shock.
"Wha-" Raditz started, when suddenly a saiyan woman jumped through the hole and headed right in their direction. She seemed to be holding a bundle of white cloth. Whilst still in mid-air, the woman was hit by an orange beam of energy and she hurtled towards the ground. Regaining control just as she hit the surface, she let go of the bundle which flew towards Raditz and landed right at his feet. Upon impact a loud and long cry came from the bundle and it partly unfolded, revealing a baby's head with its eyes welling in tears.
"Kakarotto?" Raditz whispered dumbfounded, picking up his baby brother carefully. He set his eyes on the woman, anger rising inside of him he started to shout "HEY! What were you doing to-" when the woman screamed at him, "Run! They want to kill him! Run away with him!". Just then the saiyan teens saw two Royal Guardsmen descending from the gaping hole in the wall, one of them bellowed with a deep and icy voice "Hand over that child, boy! It is to be executed as ordered by our great and noble King Vegeta!". Raditz staggered back a step, he couldn't believe his own ears. His baby brother was to be executed? "No w-ay!" the boy stammered, his voice trembling. The Guardsmen advanced towards the teen group. Omato looked at Raditz with utter disbelief – how could his friend and rival be the same being as the trembling child he now saw before him, seemingly petrified as the men who wanted to kill his brother advanced upon them?
Raditz had himself killed babies on at least three planets by now. He was supposed to be the ruthless leader of their group and had always been the one who reveled the most in cruelty towards their victims. Okay, these were adults attacking them now, saiyan elites even. Nonetheless, frightened or not, he was his friend. Omato took a fighting stance and shouted, "Team! We're saving that kid! Para! Take the baby and retreat!"
As the girl grabbed Kakarotto and fled, Omato threw an energy ball at the first Guardsman whilst pushing Raditz behind him. The other two boys, Corna and Cumber, jumped at the second Guardsman and started punching and kicking him furiously.
"Raditz! Follow Para! Get off-planet, now! We'll find you later on!", Omato shouted while firing a beam of turquoise light at the Guardsman who kept walking towards the two boys, apparently totally unaffected by the energy attacks of the low class child.
Raditz ran. Years later he would still remember how he ran like a coward and left his best friend behind. He would remember the blood-curdling screams of Corna as the guardsman grabbed the boy's leg mid-kick and ripped it right off. He never saw any of them again.
Behind the two Royal Guards who were distracted by the boys, the saiyan woman got to her feet and launched herself into the air to flee the scene. One of the guardsmen, drenched in the blood of the two boys lying at his feet, turned around to take aim. "Let her go, Brok." the other Guard said, "She obviously realized her mistake, we will take care of her later! We have to recapture the child first.". His eyes were locked onto the two saiyan children fleeing with the baby; he casually shook Omato's brain matter off his fist.
Peppa couldn't believe her luck. She really did it. She saved her baby. Before they would realize the mix-up, her little Broly would be far away in space. Now all she had to do was get herself a pod as well and head towards this planet named "Earth". It would still be difficult to pull the whole thing off, running from the king's men for years to come, but she would do it. She had to.
Suddenly, a most unwelcome train of thought came to her mind. What would the mother of Kakarotto feel when she found out her boy was killed? And what about Bardock? Would he be able to find out what really happened? Would the boy with the long and spiky hair, the baby's brother, now die as well? Could Peppa really condemn the parents of Kakarotto to the fate she had just escaped?
She knew she was acting like a fool, if she just keep flying away she would be together with her precious little Broly, but the feeling of guilt was intensifying. Broly would be fine even without his mother. He was strong. She turned around and adjusted her scouter readings.
-Earth-
At his house, Gohan took a closer look at the now sleeping baby in his arms. He sensed the immense spiritual energy of the boy. Compared to Gohan himself, well... it was like comparing a lake to the ocean. The boy's ki was chaotic, uncontrolled. Still, Gohan could feel it was but a fraction of the power the monkey-beast had exhibited last night. Brushing these thoughts aside for the time being Gohan examined the boy's tail, or what was left of it. It was a burnt stump, about 2 inches long, protruding from the lower back of the baby. When Gohan touched it with a finger he felt a disturbance rolling through the spiritual power of the boy, who immediately awoke and started to cry, banging one of his little fists on the table he rested on. The inch thick wooden tabletop promptly collapsed and the baby slid down into the resulting crack. Gohan clumsily tried to catch the baby and just managed to grab hold of the tail-stump. Once he'd firmly gripped the remains of the tail and it supported the full weight of the baby, Gohan noticed two strange things. Firstly, the baby immediately fell unconscious. Secondly, the child's enormous spiritual energy seemed to vanish almost entirely, like a stormy ocean suddenly calming down.
Quite surprised by this, Gohan sat back down on his chair and laid the baby in his lap.
"Well, aren't you quite the special one, hm?" he thought while caressing the boys head and looking at the broken table. He had lovingly hand-crafted that table himself over a number of weeks from the finest mahogany.