Prologue
A pair of boys stared silently ahead of them, marching beside each other through the desert. Exactly two paces behind their father - their legs swung forward and backward as a synchronized pair.
"Look in his eyes, boys." their father stopped beside a burnt corpse, and placed his foot across the dead man's chest. "This is what happens to people who cross us. A Saiyan never backs down from a fight, understand?"
The boys nodded in agreement. One was a head taller than the other, but they both shared the dark skin and unruly black hair of their father.
A pair of their father's soldiers swooped down beside them. Blood stained their armor, but they didn't appear to have suffered any injuries. The boys were glad. Father had been losing lots of soldiers lately, and the children didn't like him very much at all when he was angry.
"We killed all the stragglers, boss." The soldier said. "Are you gonna wipe this place out?"
"What a stupid question." Father grumbled.
The boys trailed behind their father as he flew into the sky, high above the domed building they'd been standing beside. The soldiers followed behind the trio as their father raised his hand above his head and bright purple wisps of energy whisked through the sky above them. The lights gathered in his hand and in a searing flash, the building beneath them erupted into a pile of wood and bricks.
"Soon, the tyrant Frieza's army will belong to me." Their father raised his head and began to speak as dozens of his soldiers gathered around him in the air. "And then, we're going to take them all to his homeworld, and wipe out the whole royal family! We will have our justice!"
One of the soldiers broke forward from the group and handed their father an unusual fruit. It was a dark shade of red and looked so ripe that it was nearly bursting its skin.
"And this is the first step to it all." He said longingly, gazing at the fruit with wide eyes, as if it had put him in a trance.
Turning away from his soldiers, he stared down at his two sons. They stared back at him silently, awaiting his instruction as they had been taught.
"Look to the ground, boys." Their father said in a calm and solemn tone. "What do you see?"
The boys eye's shifted downward. Several buildings lay broken and rays of energy had scorched paths of ashes across the fields of tall grass surrounding them. The former inhabitants, a race of short, stout creatures with pale skin had been eliminated and stacked in a pile beside the wreckage.
The boy's father looked his sons in the eyes.
"You are Saiyans." He told them. "Never forget that you're better than they are."
Chapter 1
15 years later
Kale bounded through the shop window, glass shattering around him. The sharp glass edges scraped harmlessly against his rock hard skin. With a brief pause to check his surroundings, he darted down the busy street, bags of stolen food filling his arms. He ran fast enough that none of the passerby could see him, and he was nothing but a strange, rough breeze brushing past them on the sidewalk.
He'd nearly reached the border where the streets ended and the forest began when he heard a loud thunderclap overhead. A man appeared in front of him, wearing a bandana and sunglasses to cover his face. Kale had run into him many times before. He called himself "the Great Saiyaman" and thought he was some kind of crime fighter.
"This is your last warning." The masked man said. "I don't want to resort to force."
Kale really hated this guy. What right did he have to act like some kind of super policeman? If it wasn't for him, there would be no one who could stand against Kale's strength. They'd fought each other on several occasions and the young Saiyan warrior was surprised to find out that there actually were people on Earth with power similar to his. He was judging by the name that this man was a Saiyan like himself, and the thought of one of his own kind defending a city of weaklings made him uncomfortable.
Kale dashed past the hero. He noticed that the man didn't react to him very effectively. Despite his speed and power, chasing human criminals must have dulled his instincts. He was pursuing Kale and gaining on him quickly, as they tore through the forest at blinding speed. He had to act now or he was sure to be caught this time.
He stopped abruptly, twisting around and throwing a kick at the hero's masked face. He connected and sent him hurtling into a wide tree and knocking it to the ground with a sharp crack. Throwing his bags of stolen food to the ground, he swooped down on him with the speed of a falcon chasing its prey. Grasping the front of the man's shirt in one hand, Kale pooled his ki into the other. The crackling energy that travelled through his veins began to flow into his other hand and a glaring bright orb of power hung over his palm.
Another thunderclap echoed through the sky.
Kale's older brother flew down to him, quickly taking hold of his wrist.
"What are you doing, dumbass?" His brother, Orka, scolded him. "You're gonna set the whole forest on fire."
"Don't interrupt me when I'm taking care of our problems." He replied to his brother rudely.
"I already told you we're not going to kill this guy." Orka argued back.
"You have no right to tell me anything." Kale fumed.
While Kale had shifted focus to his brother's arrival, the hero suddenly thrust out his arms, grabbing onto him and throwing him hurtling into the sky. Kale spiraled helplessly into the air. The hero flew beside him and took hold of him by his shirt.
"You're a Saiyan too, aren't you?" The masked man asked seriously. "How did you end up on Earth?"
Kale was rescued by his elder brother flying behind the man and sending a hard chop into his neck. The hero plummeted down and the ground shook when he slammed into it.
"He'll be out for a couple minutes. Grab your food and get back home." Orka said, flying away after carrying Kale to the ground.
He sighed in frustration and began running through the forest again. He quickly made it back to the cave where his brother and him lived. His brother didn't say anything when he passed him sitting outside the cave. Kale was glad. He was both angry that Orka had stopped him from finishing the man off, and embarrassed that he'd had to be rescued by his brother. For some reason, Kale had never been able to fly. His brother spent countless hours trying to educate him when they were younger, but the lessons never helped him at all.
The sun was beginning to fall in the sky, so Kale sat down and leaned his back against a piece of the cave wall he had smoothed out with his ki energy. He should have killed that guy. His father would have killed him. They stole to survive and he was determined to stop them. He was an obstacle in their path. He'd thought these things to himself many times - but still, he had never killed. Why did he hesitate?
He closed his eyes and hoped for a dreamless night. Whenever he did dream, he only had nightmares.