Prologue

Bardock braced for impact as his spaceship hurdled towards the planet called Earth, certain both his ship and his body would survive the landing, but his muscles were so cramped and rusty after a year and some change folded into his giant clam of a spaceship, that he was almost certain he was gonna' hear one of his bones 'pop' if the landing was rough. But at least he would feel something, and feeling something was always good. It meant he was alive, and thanks to that bastard Frieza wiping out his people, being both alive and a Saiyan had become the rarest thing you could be in the universe.

He ground his teeth until he felt his muscles flex in the corner of his jaw. As far as he knew, him and his family were the only Saiyans left. He gripped the fabric of his pants and took another deep exhale, something he felt guilty and cautious of doing, as if with each breath he was daring the death that he cheated to come and claim the one that got away. Of course his race had their problems, their issues. He wasn't exactly fond of the Vegetas, for instance, and the Saiyan elite liked to look down at low levels like Bardock and his sons, but that didn't stop him from taking great pride in his people. How could anyone not? Because being born a Saiyan, no matter what your place was on the pyramid, even the lowest level Saiyan was worth more than ninety percent of the weaklings that populated this galaxy. They were fierce, battle hardened and ruthless, they were conquerors and killers and so dangerous that even Frieza had to murder them off out of fear, turning the Saiyan race into an endangered species.

His eye twitched.

Bardock was going to kill him. Someday, somehow he was going to rip Frieza's head off and mount it as his trophy for his sons to spit on. Until then, though, all Bardock had to concern himself with was making Earth his new home.

Planet Earth grew the closer he got to it, heading towards him at the same speed that Bardock's ship was heading towards it. Even from far away Bardock could tell the planet was well taken care of, almost pampered. Luscious green lands were broken apart by giant strips of blue, and a feint white was smeared over parts of the planet like frosting. It looked like a giant fruit, ripe for the plucking, something that would nourish Bardock forever if it was small enough to eat.

And it was going to be a breeze taking it over from the looks of it. In fact, he might let Raditz and Kakarot do all the work themselves, the kids would have a lot more fun wreaking havoc on this place than he or his wife would.

The spaceship entered the atmosphere. Flames lit up the pod as the Earth swallowed it whole, turning it into a fireball. It penetrated the sky, parted clouds. The ship crackled and shook and sounded like a giant shell about to hatch.

"This is nice," Bardock's wife, Gine, said over the pod's intercom. "It'll take some getting used to, but it's nice."

"Too nice." Bardock said, unable to hide the disdain in his voice, his throat rattling along with the ship. "You can tell the people of this planet haven't gone through much war or battle. Earth looks lazy."

"Well, good thing we're here to whip this planet into shape, right?" Gine said.

Bardock smirked. Yes, good thing indeed. He needed something to take his anger out on, the Earth would have been a good outlet.

His spacepod landed with a loud thud. Thankfully, he didn't hear or feel his bones 'pop' after all. The hardness of his Saiyan biology never ceased to surprise him. He cracked his neck and, as he opened his pod, he heard and felt his family's space pods landing close too, shaking the ground like the Earth's core was about to erupt. When the door to his pod opened, Bardock crept out of it and stretched. His arms and neck cracked, he snapped the knots in his body loose, untangled himself like tight shoe laces. He'd never smelled air this fresh before, he'd never smelled anything this fresh, the whole planet had an odor like it'd been washed and cleansed of any filth. Completely pure.

Bardock heard the doors to the other space pods open. The way Kakarot was screaming, you'd think he was powering up.

"Shh, come here. Come here." Gine said.

He looked over his shoulder. Gine was picking up Kakarot, cradling him, quieting him down. Raditz hopped out of his spacepod, his hair much longer than his tiny body. He jumped up and down, ran around in a circle like he was chasing his own Saiyan tail, laughing. Frolicking. Hell, at least Raditz would have good time here.

"The gravity here is crazy, guys!" Raditz said, running towards me, doing front flips in mid air. "I feel like I weigh, like, nothing! It's awesome!"

Bardock smirked. Raditz was right. The gravity was weak. Everything in this planet was weak. He could have sent Kakarot here on his own and he'd have this planet ready on the market in a day, he bet.

"So what's the next course of action?" Gine asked as she approached Bardock, still holding Kakarot. "Should we do a search? Try to find this planet's strongest warrior and take them out."

"Or how about we start killing people!" Raditz yelled. "Forget all of this sneaking around stuff! Besides, with gravity this weak, there's no way this planet has anyone worth a real fight!"

"Yeah, but you never know." Gine said.

Gine was right. Sometimes even the weakest planet hid the most formidable fighters, but still. Bardock couldn't imagine a planet this soft producing anything to get excited for.

"That's where that noise was coming from!"Another voice said. Raspy. Matured. Old.

Bardock looked over his shoulder. An old man was approaching. Short, chubby. A face full of gray hair, green baggy pants with a yellow robe with a symbol on top, an orange ball with four stars sat on his black bowl of a hat. He approached Bardock and his family slowly, a cane in his hand acting as a third leg since, by the way the old man moved, his two legs didn't work properly. Bardock scoffed. Pathetic! How could someone so old, so weak, still be alive?

"Ohhh, we have our first victim." Raditz whispered with a smile.

"I was wondering who was doing all that crying! That's quite a kid you got there! Sounds like a fighter!" The old man said.

Gine giggled.

"We should let Kakarot take care of him," she said. "You know he could. Look at him."

The old man stopped a couple of feet away from them. He studied Bardock and his family, his eyes lingering around their proud Saiyan outfits, Bardock's armor still damaged from his fight against Frieza's men a year ago. He didn't have time to get an extra set of clothes.

"You guys...you guys aren't...aren't from around here, are you?" The old man asked. He tip toed and looked at our space pods, then back at them. "What are those things back there?"

"You ask a lot of questions, old man!" Raditz said, already adopting a fighter's stance.

The old man tilted his head, curiously.

"I see your other kid is a fighter, too," The old man said, chuckling. "That's an interesting stance you got there, I've never seen it. Do you guys practice the martial arts?"

Martial arts? Sounds like a fighting technique.

"Hold on, son." Bardock whispered to Raditz, his son teething for action. Twice now the old man mentioned his kids being fighters, and he seemed more interested in his son's pose than scared. Maybe this planet might have had its fair share of warriors after all.

Bardock clicked his scouter. Gine laughed.

"Oh honey, I know you're not checking the power level of that poor thing. Look at it." Gine said, laughing. Not even bothering to whisper. "Just let Raditz have his fun."

The old man just looked confused. Bardock's scouter booted up, scanned him.

"What are you guys talking about?" The Old Man asked, as curious about them as he was confused. "An interesting bunch, you all are. What are your names?"

"My name's Raditz!" Raditz shouted with pride, as if he wanted the whole planet to hear him, announcing his presence to the world.

The Old man waved.

"Well, my name's Gohan, nice to meet you!"

"I didn't ask for your name, you old fart! It won't matter who you are in a few minutes!"

The Old Man raised his eyebrows, obviously taken back by Raditz's lack of tact.

The scouter finished. Bardock's eyes went wide. Power level 112? Really? He looked like he was a level 5, a level 10 at most! Of course this was nothing to the Bardock family, but still...surprising, nonetheless.

"112," Bardock told Gine. "That's his power level."

Gine giggled.

"Is that right? That's surprising. And cute."

Raditz was jumping up and down at the news. The Old man, Gohan, was still scratching his head. How his instincts didn't say run away, Bardock had no idea.

"Now can I take care of him! Please?" Raditz asked. "And it needs to be just me, too!"

Bardock wanted some fun, too. And he could tell that so did his wife, but it wouldn't have been fair to his son. Bardock nodded with a smirk.

Raditz turned to Gohan and showed his teeth with a smile.

"Finally!"

Raditz charged at Gohan. Fast. Fists clenched. Gohan reacted quicker than Bardock thought he would. He ducked Raditz' first attack, only for Raditz to get a good hit in. Gohan stumbled back, dropped the cane, and did a back flip I was surprised to see from a man that old.

"Hey! What are you doing, kid?" Gohan yelled.

"Killing you!"

Raditz continued charging at Gohan, sending a flurry of fists and kicks his way. Some of them connected, some of them didn't. This Gohan,whoever he was, was skilled. Trained. And if Bardock didn't know any better, giving his son a bit of a hard time. Bardock guessed that was to be expected, Raditz was still barely at a power level of two hundred himself, but still, that should have been enough.

"Stay still, you old fart!" Raditz shouted.

He clocked Gohan with a hard right fist that sent the old man flying backward. Raditz was smiling.

"Aw, he's playing with his food." Gine said against the backdrop of Kakarot's cries.

Gohan was bleeding. His face was puffy, the bowler hat on his head was knocked off. He was breathing hard. Still, the old man managed to stand up, but barely. He was hunching over. Raditz continued his assault. He hit Gohan with a flurry of punches and kicks, lumping Gohan up. Bardock started hearing bones crack, and a hard right hand to Gohan's gut sent the old man buckling to his knees and spitting up blood. It was like Gohan was kneeling to him.

Gohan was breathing hard, heavy, and each breath sounded like his last.

"Why..." Gohan coughed. "Why...why are you...doing this?"

Raditz kicked Gohan so hard the old man flew several inches backward and bounced off he ground. Bardock smiled. He was so proud.

"Oh, come on! This is all you're giving me! Seriously?"

The old man writhed on the ground like a worm. He kept coughing up chunks of blood, kept taking those deep, course exhales. Raditz rubbed under his nose. Bardock was surprised that the old man was still kicking.

"Get up! Get up, you weak piece of trash!" Raditz shouted.

The Old man was struggling to his feet. One foot was up, then the other. Raditz smiled.

"You get it yet, old man? I'm going to kill you!" Raditz screamed. Gohan lifted his head, his hair was all over his face, and what little Bardock could see of his face wasn't pretty. Black and blue bruises, blood, even his nose seemed a bit lopsided. Bardock's son was doing a number on him. "You're going to die! You get it yet, stupid? I'm going to kill you right here, right now! So you better do better than that if you want to live!" Raditz screamed. "Come on, y'know what? I'll even give you a free shot. Give me your best! I'm feeling generous!"

Gine shook her head. Bardock smirked.

The old man suddenly took an interesting stance that Bardock had never seen before. He bent his knees, cupped his hands behind him and started chanting,

"Ka...me..."

"What are you, praying you loser?" Raditz asked.

"Ha...Me..."

Suddenly, Bardock's scouter went off. His eyes went wide, his mouth flopped open. His power level was shooting up! How? How in the hell was that possible? 120...130...damn near, 190 now! Close enough to Raditz's power level to pose a problem.

"Ha!" Gohan shouted.

A rush of blue energy waves rushed out of his palms, swirling towards Raditz like a tsunami. Even Raditz's eyes went wide, but it was a reaction born more out of surprise than caution. His stupid son actually looked like he was going to stand there and tank it.

Any other day, Bardock would've let Raditz do just that.

But Bardock didn't want anymore Saiyans to get hurt after everything he'd seen.

Or worse.

Bardock flew in front of Raditz and deflected the energy blast. Then he raced towards Gohan and grabbed the old man by the throat. He lifted him up. Gohan gasped for air, for life, in Bardock's grip.

"Hey, come on, dad! No fair!" Raditz shouted.

"Shut up! I'm in no mood for games right now, we have things to do!"

Bardock at first thought about sparing Gohan, thought about asking him how he was able to conceal his power level like that, it seemed like a good technique to have. Then his pride kicked in, and Bardock refused to ask this lower, disgusting life form for help. He'd learn it himself, and probably use it far better than this human would.

Gohan screamed. Bardock snapped his neck and silenced him for good. He tossed the old man's limp corpse to the side.

"Besides, there's most likely more where this Earthling came from, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to test yourself." Bardock told Raditz. "You don't want me interfering like that, then get stronger so I won't have to worry about you."

Raditz slumped.

"Fine."he said.

Raditz' eyes wavered about the floor. He approached the round, orange ball with the four star on it and picked it up, examining it. Tapping it.

"I'm keeping this!" Raditz shouted. "Looks like jewelry or something! I'm gonna' make a necklace out of it!"

Gine approached Bardock,still rocking a crying Kakarott in her arms.

"That was entertaining," Gine said. "But it's time we start exploring this planet, no? See what it has to offer. I'm curious to see if they have similar fighters like that old man. Perhaps even ones who are stronger than that. Might make taking over a bit difficult."

Bardock chuckled.

"You're funny." he turned to his son. "Come on, Raditz! We're going now!"

"Coming!"

Raditz ran towards Bardock and Gine,cradling the orange orb in his hand like it was a baby itself. They made their way down the woods, away from that weakling Gohan's rotting corpse, to explore the rest of this planet they were destined to conquer. The further they walked away from Gohan, the louder Kakarott screamed, his voice filling the forest, as if he was mourning the old man.