Alteverse
All right, this is my universe, so I can do what I want. Let's just assume that Goku, or as he will be in this story, Kakarott, got sent to some other planet as a baby, and so grew up to be a regular old Saiyajin. Let's also assume that Kami-sama was able to warn the Z fighters (who, by some means or another, got together and stayed alive on their own) of the arrival of Radditz, and so they were able to train and prepare for it. For necessities of the plot, I'm making it so that Chou-szu hasn't died before. I also want to add that due to the alarming lack of female fighters in this series, I'm going to keep Chichi as a warrior. Another, thing; I'm not good at writing Vegeta's character, so I'll go ahead and warn you that he's a lot less arrogant than usual. Same goes for Goku – only he's going to be a lot smarter. Or maybe that's just Kakarott – Bardock
was a genius (I don't know, take it as you will, I don't mind if you want to interpret a sign of my bad writing skills as a good idea for the plot!). I'm also unfamiliar with the Japanese names and language, so you'll have to make do with American names, and sketchy – and probably incorrect – language. Please excuse any discrepancies in the time line or story, or anything. I can't help being an American (waaaah!) and a relatively new fan. This is also my first attempt at a fanfic, so don't kill me, eh? Now, on with the show.Boring disclaimer: (Sorry, it had to come.) I don't claim to own the DBZ series or any of its characters. I'm not making any money off of this; it's just for fun. Please don't sue. It's not as if I have any money anyway.
'Why do I get all the wimpy jobs?' Radditz thought to himself. 'Oh, yeah, now I remember. Ever since that good-for-nothing brat's power level got bigger than mine, I'm basically worthless.' At the moment, Radditz was not happy with his little brother, Kakarott. What made it worse was that even from birth, Radditz had been known to be a first-class warrior, but Kakarott was only placed at third class. 'How did he do it? It's not as if he's been in any more battles than I have. And anyway, I was supposed to have the greater potential!'
But somehow, Kakarott had surpassed him, becoming an elite. And because of it, Radditz was stuck with this ridiculous assignment, one of those insignificant missions that always fell to the weakest of the group, which, until now, had, of course, always been Kakarott. 'I mean, it wouldn't be so bad if this planet had any fighters with power levels even worth considering.' But no… just a measly little backwater, with fighting powers that could only be read on the lowest setting of his scouter.
'Oh well, the sooner I wipe out the population, the sooner I can rejoin the others and have some real fun.' With this thought in mind, he jumped out of his space pod and started off toward the closest area with a large number of people. He was still about 10 miles from the city when six figures suddenly landed in front of him. There were five humans – four males, one female – and one other who was definitely not human. All in all, they were not a very impressive group. Two of the males were midgets (one of those looking like a porcelain doll), one had wild black hair, that wouldn't have looked out of place on a Saiyajin and several scars on his face, and the other was tall, with three eyes. The female was small and frail-looking, but Radditz knew better than to be deceived by her appearance, or sex. Saiyajin women had been as harmless-looking as could be, but they were every bit as deadly as the men. The last of the figures was tall and green. If Radditz didn't know better, he'd say that he had come from Namek-sei. But then, how likely was that?
As the fighters landed, Radditz smiled faintly in amusement. He hadn't thought there was anyone on the planet strong enough even to fly. There was no doubt in Radditz's mind that he could blow them all away without any trouble whatever, but he wanted to squeeze some fun out of an otherwise absolutely dull mission. These lucky volunteers might just be the ones to give it to him.
"Hello, there. And how may I help you today, hmm?" Radditz asked mockingly. No one answered, and Radditz shrugged irritably. They weren't cooperating with his game.
"Well, do you want something, or are you all just going to stand there like a bunch of rocks?" This time the maybe-Namek stepped forward. Maybe they weren't totally hopeless after all.
"Yeah, we want something. We want you to get off our planet!" the Namek said, or maybe growled is a better word.
"Oh, how rude. Do you treat all visitors to your world this discourteously?" Radditz asked with a typical Saiyajin smirk. He was actually starting to get a bit bored. Wouldn't these people just attack him already?
"We're not here to argue with you. If you don't leave, then we'll just have to kick you off-planet – one piece at a time." The Namek was also obviously getting impatient.
"Really? I must say, I'm terrified," Radditz replied with a yawn, stretching his arms. He wished they'd attack. There was nothing like a good fight to get your mind off things… like upstart little brothers. His mood took an immediate dive at the thought of Kakarott. If the fight didn't start within 10 seconds, he was just going to forget his game and kill them. Happily, that wasn't necessary.
By some unspoken command, all six began to scream, their ki igniting around them. As they did so, Radditz's scouter began to beep wildly, showing the fighters' escalating power levels. Within seconds, every one of them, except, I might add, for the little white one, was almost as, if not more, powerful than the bewildered Saiyajin.
"It's impossible! How can this be?!" Radditz screamed. If he didn't get out of there immediately, he was going to die, that much he was sure of. But he was a Saiyajin warrior. He never had, and never would run from any fight. Again he noticed that the smallest one was no where near as powerful as the others. Well, if he had to die, he was sure as hell taking one of his killers with him. That was the Saiyajin way.
Throwing his earlier desire not to be the one to attack to the winds, Radditz charged towards the Namek. But at the last instant, he changed directions, firing his ki blast towards the little white one. It was a direct hit. The little one fell to the ground, dead.
"CHOU-SZU!!!!!" the three-eyed one screamed, his voice boiling over with grief and rage. The triclops was on Radditz like a flash. The Saiyajin was down just as fast. He had been beaten to within an inch of his life by the time the others dragged the enraged human off. Apparently they only did so to gloat.
"Guess he wasn't as tough as Kami-sama thought," the surviving midget said with a laugh.
"Look at it this way, Krillin," said the female. "If he had attacked without Kami-sama's warning, we'd be dead."
"Even with the warning, Chou-szu still died," the triclops said with a voice broken in grief. His eyes darted to Radditz, and the look there was pure hatred.
"Oh, don't get so worked up, Tien," said the one with hair like a Saiyajin. Seeing that the one called Tien was about to transfer his anger to him, the wild-haired one quickly added, "I mean, we can just wish him back with the Dragonballs."
Tien's expression immediately brightened, and he nodded.
Radditz, however, was confused – again – and a bit nervous. Hesitantly, he spoke up. "Dragonballs?"
Tien's glare was once again focused on him, but the green man from Namek-sei was apparently in the mood to gloat some more. "Yes, the Dragonballs. Seven magic balls, which, when gathered together, can summon the Eternal Dragon, who will grant any one wish. We can have the balls together within the week, and wish Chou-szu back to life."
Radditz's eyes widened, and then he grinned, and then began chuckling softly. The Earthlings tensed, wondering what he had to laugh at. "Thank you for that very intriguing piece of information. I'm sure my prince will be very interested in it."
"One little problem with that plan, buster. You're not going to live to tell your prince," sneered Tien.
"Oh, but I already have. You see this scouter over my eye? Well, it doesn't just read power levels. It also acts as a communicator. My… friends… have been listening to this entire conversation. I'm sure they'll be most interested in these Dragonballs, eh?" Radditz continued to laugh. He wasn't quite sure why he was so happy that the others had found out about the Dragonballs. Loyalty to the prince? Maybe, though he'd never been as loyal to Vegeta as he had been to himself. The thought that they'd wish him back to life? Pure foolishness. Kakarott actively hated him, and as for the other two, despite Radditz's being one of the only four survivors of the Saiyajin race, they couldn't care less about him. He supposed it was just the fact that he would get revenge on his killers. The others wouldn't go out of their way to avenge him, but these bakas would almost certainly try to stop them, and the others would simply wipe them out of existence. Along with everyone else on this miserable planet. That thought gave him no end of satisfaction.
The Earthlings were glancing at each other nervously, but the bald midget stated confidently, "Then when they get here, we'll defeat them just as easily as we did you."
Radditz's laughter momentarily got louder, though he was finding it harder to get his breath. "Baka, I got sent here because I was the weakest of the four of us. The next weakest is at least twice as strong as I am. And if I know them, they'll be here within a year."
Radditz was still laughing softly as the Namek lifted a hand, and fired a bolt right into the Saiyajin's head.
End of Chapter 1
Alteverse Chapter 2
"Wha-wha-what are we going to do," stuttered Krillin. "In a year, we're going to have to face three guys more than twice as powerful as he was."
'The bald midget seems to be a little disturbed at the idea,' Piccolo thought with amusement. "What's your problem, huh baldy? It's not as if we had the slightest trouble with him."
"My problem is that only you and Tien were actually as strong as him. The rest of us would probably have gotten trashed if we tried to do what Tien did, and if you didn't notice, he was fighting in the heat of rage. And another thing: do you really believe that even you can double your strength in less than a year? Hmmm? Even if you could, you heard him: the next weakest is twice his power – what about the other two?"
Piccolo hated to admit it, but the runt did have a point. But he wasn't going to say that out loud. "So what? There will only be three of them and six of us. I'd say that would even out any differences."
"Piccolo, you may not be human, but we are, and we can't increase our power that much, that fast." Surprisingly, that was Yamcha speaking. The former desert bandit had never struck Piccolo as a man that gives up so easily.
"So. What, are you just going to crawl under some rock and let those monsters get the Dragonballs and conquer our world just because they're stronger than us now? You make me sick! Now you go somewhere and start training your ass off right now, or I swear, you'll never see another morsel out of my kitchen. Do you hear me?!" Piccolo, who didn't have to eat, could, of course, never see why that threat from Chichi could always motivate everyone into doing extraordinary things, but he had to admit, it was effective.
The group quickly dispersed to train separately for a time. After all, they only had a year to do the impossible.
"Well, boys, what do you think, should we take dear Radditz's kind invitation and collect these Dragonballs and our wish?" Vegeta asked with a grin, taking another bite from the animal they had killed for dinner.
"Sounds good to me, boss," Nappa said enthusiastically. Kakarott just smiled.
Vegeta's pleasure faded slightly as he saw that smile, though he didn't let it show on his face. Kakarott was a lot smarter than most people gave him credit for, and at the rate his power level was rising, Vegeta had a feeling that one day he was going to wake up to find, not a foolish-but-loyal warrior, but a deadly opponent. If it had been anyone but this particular man, he would have just killed him, but Kakarott was a natural military genius. Vegeta had long since lost count of the battles that might have been lost had they not had Kakarott's instinctive fighting know-how. None of this would he admit aloud, his pride was too great for that, and there was one thing he would never let another living soul find out, even if it cost him his life. That was that he considered Kakarott the closest thing he had to a friend.
Nappa was an idiot, Vegeta could kill him without a second thought; he could also probably kill Kakarott, but he wouldn't do that unless it was absolutely necessary, and even then, he would regret it.
"Well, Kakarott, what do you think?," Vegeta asked slyly.
"What do I think," the other replied, also taking another bite. "I think that we shouldn't waste a miracle."
"You think the Dragonballs are a miracle?" asked Nappa.
"No, I think that the fact that my dear brother actually did something right is a miracle." Kakarott and Vegeta laughed, though Nappa, who had considered Radditz to be something like a friend fumed a little. 'Although,' thought Vegeta, 'he should be used to it, considering how the brothers felt about each other.'
"So, what do you suppose we should wish for?" Kakarott asked casually.
"Maybe we should wish Radditz back to life," Nappa said.
Both Kakarott and Vegeta whapped Nappa on the head – hard.
"Don't be stupid, baka," Vegeta sneered. "That would be a pathetic waste of a wish."
"How about becoming Super Saiyajin?" the more intelligent underling suggested.
"No, no, we could do that on our own… if we had enough time," Vegeta said, smiling slyly.
"Immortality?" Kakarott guessed, smirking.
Vegeta returned the smirk, saying, "My thoughts exactly."
All three were chuckling as they threw the dead animal they had been eating into the woods and got into their one-man space pods. They were off to Planet Earth to live forever.
End Chapter2
Alteverse Chapter 3
The day had finally arrived. The Earthlings had been training almost nonstop since the Saiyajin warrior had died, trying desperately to become stronger. They had succeeded to some extent, but they were all aware that it probably wouldn't be enough. Using the scouter they had taken from the Saiyajin's body, and that Bulma had adjusted to use human numbers, they had estimated their power levels at ranging between 1000 and 3500 depending on who you checked. Naturally, Piccolo was the most powerful, and Chou-szu, who had been wished back shortly after dying, was still the weakest.
They knew that, assuming that what the Saiyajin had said was true, they didn't stand much of a chance, especially if the other Saiyajin had improved since then. But even if they were likely to lose, they still had to try. Maybe they'd be able to outsmart the aliens.
But whether they could win, or would lose, Kami-sama had informed them that the Saiyajin would arrive today. The group was nervous but trying to act confident.
At last, three shock waves could be heard coming from the city. Looks like they had gotten here. Flying quickly out toward Capsule City, the senshi heard another loud boom. This time a bright flash accompanied it, and the Earth fighters could no longer see the skyline.
"N-no! They couldn't have!" Krillin cried, but he was painfully aware that they could and would have. The city was gone, and everyone there with it. It was Monday morning.
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Looking about at the destruction, Kakarott felt a slight twinge, but ignored it feeling puzzled as to why it was there. He himself had done things hundreds of times worse, destroying whole planets and he never regretted it, never felt a moment of remorse. Why should he care about Nappa, the bloodthirsty idiot, destroying one lousy city? 'Ah, well, never mind. Enough time to think about it when I'm immortal.' He smiled slightly at the thought. He didn't mind the thought of being the most powerful being in the universe at all. He was actually rather looking forward to it.
Contrary to how that may sound, he wasn't planning a one-man rebellion against Vegeta. He felt honest loyalty for the prince, a rare thing in a Saiyajin; what's more, he actually liked the arrogant bastard, an even rarer thing, both on a personal and racial level. He wouldn't kill Vegeta except maybe in self-defense. As for the 'most powerful being in the universe' thing, well, that was just facing facts; he would very likely be more powerful than the mighty Prince of the Saiyajin very soon, and would likely stay in that position. Kakarott knew Vegeta wouldn't believe it, but he fully intended to stay loyal, even after that day came.
Dragging his mind back to the business at hand, Kakarott realized that Vegeta had asked him something. "I apologize, Vegeta, but what did you say?" he asked politely. Maybe if he stayed nice and polite, the shrimp wouldn't be angry with him.
"I said, look for any significant power levels with your scouter," Vegeta replied testily, feeling it wasn't worth it to get mad. "Don't let your mind wander, we have to find those idiots to get them to tell us where the Dragonballs are."
"Yes, sir," Kakarott replied sarcastically, checking the scouter. He may like Vegeta, but the runt could still be a condescending pain in the ass.
Quickly scanning in all directions, Kakarott almost immediately picked up six powers of over a thousand heading at high speed toward what used to be the city. He reported this to the other two, and took off his scouter, throwing it to Nappa. It was an old habit, gotten from who-knows-where; he never wore a scouter in battle. He didn't know why the thought of doing so filled him with foreboding, and not a little contempt, but he tended to trust his instincts. This, along with a little too much optimism – and some judicious acting – tended to make people think he was stupid. If they ever tried to interfere with him, it was the last mistake of their lives.
Turning back toward the direction of the signal, Kakarott grinned in anticipation of the fight to come. If the power levels were really as low as the scouter said, then it wouldn't be much of a challenge, but his instincts were shouting to him that this was one of those times where trusting his life to the scouter could be fatal. Unconsciously, he felt for his tail, wrapped tightly around his waist. Even if he was right, and the Earthlings were stronger than the scouter read them at, there was no way that they could beat three elite Saiyajin warriors, all fully capable of Oozaru transformation at any time. Kakarott was slightly pleased that it was his father who had made that possible.
Suddenly, Kakarott realized that he was still petting his tail. He blushed slightly. It was an annoying habit leftover from childhood, and he quickly pulled his shirt over the appendage.
Another little quirk of his was that he refused to wear the traditional armor. Instead, he simply wore a blue vest with loose yellow pants, and the standard issue boots. He had been criticized quite a bit for this dangerous habit, just to make himself look ridiculous. He had simply replied to the critics that it was really none of their business, and, to those whose opinion mattered to him – precious few of those – that it made the fight more exciting.
Very suddenly, Kakarott had no more time left to think, because the humans had arrived. Or, rather, the humans and a Namek. Kakarott wondered for a moment what a Namek was doing on this little planet, and was about to ask, but one of the humans, a bald midget – even smaller than Vegeta! – beat him, speaking out to him.
"Hey Mister!" the runt called. "What are you doing here, don't you know these guys want to kill us all? And where's the third one?"
Kakarott was astounded. Why that little… Then he realized that he must look very like a human, not wearing the armor or scouter, and with his tail hidden. Kakarott smirked. This gave him an idea. Using a Saiyajin's limited telepathic abilities, he gave Vegeta and Nappa a brief idea of what he was going to do, and silently asked them to play along. They agreed; it was the best way to find the Dragonballs.
"I didn't see any third one," Kakarott called back in a voice artfully filled with anger and a little fear, "but I kind of think that them wanting to kill everyone is a little obvious!"
The Namek snorted in amusement, and shouted, "Can you fly over, or what?"
"Of course I can fly, do you really think I could have survived the explosion if I couldn't? But in case you haven't noticed, those two monsters are in the way!"
"Hey, baldy, shrimp, why don't you let the man come on over here?" the Namek continued to shout.
"Why should we? Why shouldn't we just kill him now?" Vegeta replied, raising a finger as if about to shoot. Kakarott forced a scared but defiant expression onto his face, though he really wanted to fall to his knees laughing. These Earthlings were so gullible, it was almost sad. Using his telepathic ability, he was able to tell that they honestly thought he was a powerful human fighter in need of assistance, rather than trying to make the plan backfire. It was so funny!
The tall green man from Namek-sei was answering Vegeta's question. "It'll make the fight more interesting," he said. Oh, how right he was!
Vegeta lowered his hand slowly, as if considering, and finally smirked, and said, "Alright, why not? It's not as if you stand enough of a chance to provide even a small amount of entertainment, another player might add a little spice. Go on, then." That last was addressed to Kakarott.
'Now the fun begins,' thought Kakarott, with a small, hidden smile, as he flew towards the Earthlings' group. 'This is going to be too easy. Immortality and a potentially valuable planet in one fell swoop. The gods are kind sometimes.' With that thought, he set down with the Earthlings.
"So, who are you anyway?" asked the female. Kakarott hadn't really noticed her before, but now he couldn't stop himself from glancing at her every other second. For some reason, he found her attractive, but there was something about her that made him nervous.
"Well, I was just a visitor from out of town, but then that happened. I only just barely survived." Kakarott told them.
"Well, what's your name," the female asked.
"What are yours'," Kakarott shot back, trying to sound a little suspicious. What he really wanted was time to remember whether or not Radditz had mentioned any of the Saiyajin's names. He doubted that these idiots would remember, even if he had, but for the tenth time, Kakarott was not an idiot, and he didn't want to slip up so easily.
Vaguely, he heard the Namek introduce himself as Piccolo and the others as Chichi, Yamcha, Tien, Chou-szu, and Krillin respectively.
"Well, so what's yours?" he was asked again. He couldn't avoid the question this time, so he played it safe, thinking fast, trying to come up with a name. Suddenly, one name seemed to pop out of nowhere inside his head.
"Well?" Krillin prodded.
"Uh, my name is…Goku. Son Goku."
End Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chichi gazed over at the strange man they had just 'rescued' from the Saiyajin. It was strange, but she didn't really trust him, although, looking at him, something she couldn't name urged her to trust him completely. I don't see why I can't trust him, she mused. I mean, he doesn't have a tail, and he's not dressed like the Saiyajin, and those stupid aliens probably wouldn't make a deal with a human, even if they found one willing to cooperate.
The others were all oohing and ahhing over Goku's power level (except Piccolo, of course. Chichi didn't think he was even capable of ohhing or ahhing.) The stranger's power level was impressive; she had to give him that. Maybe that was one of the reasons she was so suspicious; he was at least as powerful as any of them, yet none of the Z fighters had ever heard of him. Surely someone with such strength would have made a great name for himself in tournaments. If what he said was true, and he had had no idea that the Saiyajin were coming – indeed, that they even existed – and thus had not trained especially for their arrival, he could easily have won the Tenkaichi Budokai at any given time. Yet, near as she could recall, she had never seen him there, nor heard his name as a competitor. She decided to ask.
"Um, excuse me, but if I might interrupt your little conversation, I have a couple of questions for our new friend here," she said in her most scathing voice. To her surprise, Goku actually flinched slightly, before getting control of himself.
"Yes?" he asked in a completely steady voice.
"You see, I was wondering how it was that you could have such a high power level, but none of us have even heard your name. Don't you ever compete in tournaments? You could win the Tenkaichi Budokai with both arms tied behind your back, that much I can tell. Care to explain?"
Goku's eyes had narrowed dangerously, but then, all of a sudden, he had the most embarrassed, sweet expression Chichi had ever seen. "Well, to tell you the truth, I just don't like to show off. I only fight for the enjoyment." His voice was so sincere, so earnest that it just begged to be believed. It was as if, without realizing it, that voice shouted out to all that heard it that the speaker was too innocent and simple to deceive anyone. The others – again, except for, probably, Piccolo – were totally enchanted by it.
Of course, Chichi had never given the others many points for brains.
While the voice called out for her to believe in him too (along with other, more mysterious qualities, as well) it was just too out of synch with the look in his eyes. There was cruelty, and not a little cunning. It was very well concealed, yes – and from the ease with which he hid it, then disguised it with that angelic Voice, he very rarely let anyone see what he was really like – but still, somehow Chichi could see right through it. I don't know, maybe I'm just being paranoid, she thought wryly. He seems so sweet.
Just as she thought this, she saw him looking at her; all ideas of sweetness left her head. The look there was cold and calculating, but also puzzled, as he watched her. For a moment, his eyes went blank, and Chichi had the strangest feeling that he was talking to someone, though he didn't say anything.
Her contemplation had to come to an end as an annoyingly imbecilic voice called out, "Well, are you going to fight, or are you just gonna talk?" It was the big, ugly, bald Saiyajin. Looks like she'd find out soon enough whether or not Goku could be trusted.
Kakarott found himself sighing in relief, for once glad to hear Nappa's moronic voice. The female was suspicious; it didn't take a genius to figure that out. He had been sure she had seen right through his sweet act – which was rare, almost everyone he ever tried it on fell for it immediately – that was why he had called to his comrades to start the battle, to distract her and keep her from infecting those other idiot Earthlings with her suspicions.
Kakarott couldn't exactly decide why he was so happy that the charade was to continue. He was starting to realize that this hadn't been such a wonderful idea after all, and that maybe he had bitten off more than he could chew.
But the female – he thought her name was Chichi – fascinated him. She was obviously the smartest of these stupid humans, that was proven by that fact that she was suspicious. While the male humans were simply wondering at his power level (how did they know it anyway? He would have to think of some way of finding out. Being able to sense an opponent's ki without a scouter would be useful) she had been to only one to think about what that high level meant. With a start, he realized that he didn't want to kill her.
Trying to get his mind off of Chichi – oh great, you're using her name now?! bad sign, old boy, bad sign – Kakarott switched his attention to the Namek. He couldn't really tell if the green man was falling for his act, either. Kakarott was unsure if 'Piccolo' was unaffected by his acting, or if he just didn't care.
Whatever. If the ruse failed, it failed; it simply wasn't possible for the Earthlings to win, either way, and surely the Dragonballs wouldn't be that hard to find. Maybe he could spare Chichi, and she could show them. Kakarott suddenly realized what he was thinking – spare the human?! – and started wondering what was wrong with himself. It was almost as if… NO!! That was impossible! It must just be lust, or that knock to the head in the last fight. It was nothing, it would pass, this urge to protect, to hold… NO!!
Unaware of the turmoil raging behind their comrade's impassive face, the prince and his trainer/bodyguard were continuing with their attack. Nappa had pulled out the last of the Saiyajin's supply of Saibamen, and was planting the seeds in the ground. The humans – and Namek – stood, puzzled, trying to figure out why the fearsome warriors had apparently taken up gardening in the middle of a battle. Then the small green fighters sprang up out of the dirt. The Earthlings stared in horror, and Kakarott heard the midget – Krillin? – muttered something about the green guys at least being shorter than he was. The disguised Saiyajin smirked as he realized the shrimp was right.
There were seven Saibamen out, meaning he would have to fight, too. Not a problem, he needed something to get his mind off of that truly frightening woman. He would have to concentrate very hard, not to win, but to keep from winning too easily. Mentally preparing himself, he dropped into a defensive position. The fun was about to start.
End Chapter 4