Living Legend
Second chapter of my story. Thanks for the fans, who so far are much more than I had first expected. This story is just starting, don't worry. Sorry if I missed something. I was a bit rushed in publishing the new chapter so let me know if there's a mistake to correct.
Chapter 2: Questions
Goku jumped out of the golden-colored flying Nimbus with Gohan on his shoulders right on Master Roshi's door at the island of Kame House a few miles away from their home in the mountains of Paotzu.
"Hey guys, anyone home?" The Saiyan asked out loud. He could feel the others energies inside, but it was polite to ask first. The first to come out was a short bald man dressed in a similar orange Gi to Goku's. His name was Krillin, old-time friend and rival to the Earth-raised Saiyan. Gohan jumped from his father' shoulders.
"Hey pal, good to see you" Krillin greeted his friend, he then patted the black-haired head from the demi Saiyan "Hey kiddo, you are getting taller"
"More than you so" Gohan joked and the monk laughed. After years of knowing the bald monk, the young demiSaiyan was adapting to joke like him. Something many would not approve.
"Krillin, you are becoming a bad influence for Gohan" A lavender-haired woman walked outsider, almost reprimanding the Turtle student by his child-like behavior. But Krillin didn't look sorry at all. Every young kid needed a funny uncle in their lives.
"Hey Bulma" Goku hugged his long-time girl friend. The science woman answered back. Both had been growing close for the last three years. After all she had helped Goku to raise Gohan after Chichi's death during labor. The lavender-haired woman wanted to get things a bit more closer with her friend from the mountains but she didn't want to take the dive. Chichi's death had been a hard blow for her warrior friend and it was obvious he was still coping with that situation. And Bulma didn't want to get advantage of such a difficult position.
The science woman hugged the young half alien. She was like Gohan's mother figure. And she had found out that the young kid was also a smart one.
"Hey Goku" The Turtle Hermit called Roshi walked out dressed in his Hawaiian outfit. Goku bowed his head in respect to his martial arts teacher.
While the people on Kame House were distracted, something showed up in the atmosphere of the planet. A flaming meteor was coming down from the sky, air atoms burning at the reentrance.
Goku, Krillin and Roshi widened their eyes, a chilling sensation going through their spines. A power was coming closer to them. And it was gigantic. They all looked up into the blue sky. A flame-covered thing was heading straight into them at astonishing speeds.
"What's that?" Krillin asked, feeling the staggering energy inside that meteor. But how was that even possible? Space rocks couldn't have life energy. They weren't alive in the first place. The object was getting closer and still the others didn't know what to do.
Goku flew up.
"Daddy, where are you going?" Gohan asked. He was always curious for everything around him.
"Stay there Gohan" Goku ordered serious. Krillin gulped. The monk knew that his friend's voice wasn't one to sound serious unless extremely needed. Bulma stopped the young half alien child from moving, taking him up in a hug. She looked to the floating man. His determination was something she had always admired.
The Earth Saiyan floated up a few more feet. Though flying was something that took the tool out of him, he preferred to save his family than doing nothing. Gathering all his strength and ki energy, the Earth-raised Saiyan braced himself for the impact. It would hurt? Definitely. It would kill him? Possibly.
Without a warning the meteor hit Goku straight on, a crippling shockwave echoing through Kame house. The sea waves moved out of the epicenter, the bottom of the sea almost visible for a moment. The people of the island covered themselves with their forearms when the wind lashed like a hurricane.
Bodies fell from the skies, right in front of the human fighters. The people in Kame house just could not fathom what was in front of them.
Now inside the house, a few more hours later and now with the Scar bandit Yamcha and the three-eyed Crane student Tien with the group, the full pack of friends saw what was on the ground. Two Gokus were unconscious on the ground injured, though Goku, the original one, was less damaged than the other. The scared one was nothing but a mess of dry blood and cuts.
"Guys you remember when I said our lives couldn't get any weirder?" Krillin asked to his friends, a bit rhetorically. The others nodded. The monk simply pointed at the sleeping figures. The others had to grudgingly agree. Their lives were meant to be weird.
The sound of a flying ship arrived outside, the chubby samurai Yajirobe walking in the beach house.
"What took you so long?" Bulma asked to the fat samurai without concerning her tone. The other humans knew not to mess with an angry Bulma.
"You are welcome by the way" The sword-wielding ninja sarcastically said, handling the Senzu bag to the blue haired scientist. The science woman placed one healing bean inside Goku's mouth, who instinctively ate it. The Saiyan from Earth opened his eyes, healed stronger than before.
"Uh, what happened?" Goku asked confused, every one of his friends surrounding him.
"Daddy!" Gohan jumped to his father, hugging him. The others smiled by the affective display.
"Goku, we have a problem with the 'meteor'" Bulma said not mincing words.
"It wasn't a meteor, it was..." Krillin wanted to talk, but he just couldn't. It would be easier to simply show it. The Martial artist from Earth turned his head to see himself lying in the floor covered in opened wounds. But it couldn't be him. How could he be looking at himself in the ground? It made no sense.
"He looks like me!" Goku stated the obvious. The Saiyan looked at his friends "Is that even possible?"
"Daddy look!" Gohan said, picking something up from the ground. It was a brown long thing attached to the man. Goku realised it was a tail. Like the one he used to have and like the one Gohan had. It wasn't hard to notice that they had to be related in some way.
"Bulma give me a bean" Goku said to his first friend. She gave one to him though reluctantly. The knocked down Goku didn't look as friendly as the first one the group knew.
Placing the magical food inside Bardock's mouth, Goku forced it down his throat. A few seconds later, the wounds banished as his power skyrocketed to amazing heights. The black-colored eyes opened immediately. With a blur of motion, the full-blooded Saiyan was on his feet and in fighting stance, looking murderous to his enemy. The group was also on alert, even Gohan seemed to be cautious.
"Who are you?" Bardock asked in very dark tone "Where am I?"
"Hey pal, we ask the questions here" Krillin said in his joking tone, although the situation had no joking topic at all "After all, you were the one who meteored us" The Scar alien narrowed his eyes after recognising the bald monk.
"Wait, I know you" Bardock said to the turtle student "I saw you before" In the memories, he saw the bald man training with young Kakarot. So that means that...
The Saiyan started to turn his head, and for a moment he thought he faced a mirror. But it wasn't. His reflex had an orange suit and had no face scar. But their faces were equal. Both had a fighting stare of battle-grown warriors.
"Kakarot" Bardock nearly whispered, his eyes opening "Is it really you?" The comment only made Goku to increase his guard.
"Kakarot? I don't know a Kakarot. My name's Goku" The non face-scarred Saiyan said to his scarred counter self.
"Hey, let's calm down, we don't have to blast each other" Yamcha said smiling and trying to act as peacekeeper. His tryclops friend, however, would have non of that.
"Please, how can he be exactly like Goku? This cannot be sheer coincidence" Tien said forward, ready to fight. Though the tryclops knew he was very outmatched in power, he would still fight to the end. It was something Goku tought him those years ago when he was still foolishly serving master Shen.
"I know" Yamcha said out loud like having an idea "Piccolo used his magic to create an evil and powerful Goku" A drop of sweat appeared on everyone's head.
"Okay Yamcha, let's stop here before you have a stroke" Bulma said mocking in an intelligent way "First, if Piccolo hates Goku, why would he create a clone of him to use? Second, If Piccolo can indeed create a much more powerful clone than Goku, then why would the clone obey him? I don't think magic can force someone's will for eternity and I'm sure Piccolo knows nothing of how to use mechanical stuffs to haywire someone's brain" The logical and very long explanation left the others confused but pretty much agreeing.
"Please, would you care to explain who you are?" Master Roshi asked towards the meteor man "Your resemblance with Goku is just implausible" The scar Saiyan dropped his guard, knowing fighting was useless. He could win with a very obvious overkill for sure, but it would still bother him to do so. He had a lot of questions but how he arrived to the future wasn't one. He had time-travelled to the past, so going back to the future wasn't so hard. Frieza's family sent him backwards and then forward.
"My name is Bardock" The Saiyan explained "I'm Kakarot's father" The last comment was said directed to Goku.
"Why are you calling me carrot all the time?" Goku asked, picking Gohan in his arms.
"Kakarot, that's your Saiyan name" Bardock explained, ignoring the joke or simple stupidity "You and I came from one of the most powerful races in the universe called Saiyans" Everyone looked at Goku in surprise. Sure the Full-Moon monkey was something odd but to call it extraterrestrial?
"You mean I'm an alien?" The Earth-raised fighter asked, nearly fainting. He knew he was different from the others because he had more power and strength. And a tail too, but surely it wasn't something weird. All around him his friends were all different and yet that's what made them friends in the first place.
"I always knew Goku wasn't from around here. Gohan explained me the day he found a baby on a white spaceship" Roshi explained, surprising everyone "While I trained Goku, nothing could break his fighting spirit. A human would have broken, but I can see now why Goku didn't. Fighting is in his blood"
"Ok, so my name is Kakarot" Goku started thinking, folding his arms "Thanks for telling me, but I'll still be Goku. That's my Earth name, and Earth is my home" Bardock was not surprised by the answer. In his visions he saw his youngest son growing up different from the other Saiyans. He grew up into a better man.
"So, how did you arrive here, father?" Goku said, though now his tone more friendly towards his father. Years ago, the Earth-raised Saiyan wondered who were his parents, though after some fights that thought just lost itself in the subconscious.
The question was a good one and the others were hanging to hear the answer.
The scar Saiyan just closed his eyes and shook his head.
"Not even I know the full story" Bardock explained rubbing his temples "First, I was fighting Frieza..."
For the next hour or so the scar Saiyan related all the information he knew. His fight with Frieza and the failed attempt to stop the dead of his comrades, the sudden teleportation to Plant and the last incident that took him to Earth.
"Wow, is that Frieza guy still alive?" The Earth-raised Saiyan asked, wanting already to fight him.
"I'm not sure, but if he is, then he will be up for a big surprise" Bardock said the last part with clutched teeth to himself.
"How powerful do you think he is? If you fought his ancestor and beat him, then Frieza isn't so powerful" The Saiyan from Earth asked again curious. The other fighters weren't so eager. If the Frieza guy could beat someone as powerful as Bardock then it was obvious they were just ants.
"Frieza's power has never been measured before. Even after you healed my wounds from the fight with Chilled, I doubt I have a quarter of his power" Bardock said crestfallen. Frieza's power was legendary, and even with the new power the time-traveller had received, he was sure he wasn't powerful enough to avenge his race. Yet.
"What do you mean with heal your wounds?" Bulma asked, curious as any scientist would. The warrior was eager to respond.
"If a Saiyan is injured, then we heal stronger and our power increases. The more wounded, the more energy we obtain. It's our birth ability called Zenkai" Bardock explained. The others looked at Goku, who rubbed his head.
"That explains why I got so powerful after so much fighting" The Earth-raised Saiyan said smiling innocently.
"Hey, I'm confused" Krillin asked, rubbing his head "If Bardock here travelled back in time, shouldn't he have changed our time here?" Bulma thought that option. Such things as time travels were very misterious and not something to tamper with. Specially with the thousands of theories about it. If anything, Bardock's arrival should have torn Earth and all the universe apart.
"Not if the time travel was meant to happen" A voice came from the entrance. A green-skinned man walked inside dressed in a blur and white outfit with a wooden crane, his face full of wrinkles that showed his experience as the Guardian of Earth.
"Kami!" Goku smiled, making a small bow to his teacher, who also bowed "What are you doing here?"
"I felt the sudden power on Earth and decided to see what was going on" Kami sat on a chair, getting the attention on him "And again, if Bardock here did not change the time stream was because his actions were intended to come to be, one way or another"
"That's an explanation" Bardock said to the green visitor. Time travel was something brand new to him, and particularly, something he never wanted to experience again. The two times he traveled were two times too much.
The group remained in silent for a few minutes while no one knew what to say or do.
"Hey Kami, if you are linked with Piccolo, do you know anything about him making a Goku clone?" Yamcha asked, still trying to prove his original clone theory. Everyone sweat dropped, even Kami. The Guardian coughed before answering.
"Not that I know about" The Earth Guardian replied "But why would he make a clone in the first place? He hates Goku" Everyone looked at Bulma, who had a big smug smile that obviously said 'I told you so'
After Kami left a few minutes later, Goku stood up.
"Hey dad, I'm going home, do you want to come?" The Earth Saiyan asked his blood father.
"Sure" Bardock said, but Gohan hugged his leg.
"Grandpa!" The young half said, making everyone to laugh. The scar Saiyan was not used to be hug by children. Even if they were his family. His face blushed by the interaction.
After saying goodbye to everyone, the three Saiyans walked outside.
"Nimbus!" Goku called forth his good old golden flight. Father and son jumped on it, while the grandfather followed flying as fast as them without wasting energy.
"Kakarot, can't you fly?" The scar Saiyan asked. Every Saiyan could since they were two years old, depending on how much power they had at birth. Some even could fly just after been born. Even Kakarot's son should already be flying.
"Oh, I know how to fly, but it drains a lot of my energy" The palm-haired alien of Earth explained, the wind gusts blowing his hair back.
"Well, you will have to start flying if you want to fight me?" The Saiyan from the past commented, causing his son to look at him with eyes opened.
"What, fight you?" Goku asked in both surprise and thrill "Seriously?"
"I still don't have the power to defeat Frieza, so I will need someone to spare with" The Scar fighter explained, accelerating a bit. Goku almost jumped in delight by the prospect of fighting someone who outclassed him in power. It was obvious he was a Saiyan, even if raised on Earth.
"Cool, I will show you all of my techniques and you will show me yours!" The Earthling alien said in happiness, getting his nimbus to go faster. Bardock followed thinking in his new situation. He would have never thought that he could end up time traveling and then living with his son and grandson in a planet he never visited.
But he could only sigh. Weird things were pretty much the very needed requirement to be a Saiyan.
Notes from Chapter 2:
I know the idea of Goku physically stopping a meteor seems very unreal, specially with his current power level. But cannon Goku isn't known for neither planning or dyeing when he should.
Yes, there's a future Goku/Bulma thing going on.
Piccolo did feel Bardock's power but will make an appearance in the next chapter.
Bardock arrived one year before Raditz.
Gohan is not 4, he's 3.
Goku and Gohan visited the others many times over the years. that's why everybody is not suprised by Gohan.
Power levels:
Bardock:
Healed (Normal Zenkai): 80,000
Goku:
Injured after trying to catch his father: 100
Healed (Little Zenkai): 1,800
Gohan: 350
Tien: 400
Yamcha: 300
Krillin: 350
Bulma: 20
Bardock has made sure his presence is known to the Z-Fighters. Let's see what future holds for them.