Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z or Dragon Ball GT; this is a fanfic.
For the second time in his life, Piccolo felt fear, he knew that he might have been able to kill a relaxed Raditz, but against a heavily enraged one, he stood no chance. Panicking, the Namekian flew into the air. However, Raditz phased in front of him and smashed his head with a jolt haymaker, the power and force behind the blow sent the Namekian flying back to Earth and knocking him unconscious. He then began charging a purplish energy wave in his hands.
"This is for Kakarrot!" the vengeful Saiyan yelled "Saturday-."
"Raditz, stop!"
Raditz recognised the voice, it sounded like…
"Kakarrot?" Raditz questioned, wondering if he was hearing things or not.
"Yes, it's me." Goku answered "Raditz, I know this is going to sound crazy, but could you please let Piccolo go?"
Raditz was surprised "Are you insane, Kakarrot?" he yelled, "I need to finish this fool to avenge you!"
"There's one problem," Goku replied "I can come back to life with mystical wish spheres called the Dragon Balls, but Piccolo needs to be alive for me to utilise them so can you put your pride away for a second and spare him?"
Raditz sighed "Fine," Raditz sighed, "I trust you because you've been on this planet far longer than I have."
"Two more things," Goku said while telepathing his brother with the help of Kami "One, can you tell my friends what happened to me, I know it's going to be hard and two, you may find this hard to believe, but in one year, your Saiyan friends are coming to Earth and they're not as merciful as you. Raditz, I know you think that the elite remain the elite and the third-class remain the third class, but remember what I told you: even the lowest born can surpass the elite if they work hard enough."
Raditz was shocked "No Kakarrot, you don't understand," he said with fear "my 'friends' are monsters! They actually think killing is fun and they'll kill me along with the whole Earth!"
"Well," Goku said "can you please fight them off then and don't wish me back until they're here? Kami's offered to make me do special training with someone called King Kai."
Raditz's eyes widened "To be trained with a Kai is like becoming a god!" He thought with a mix of jealousy and admiration for his brother. His thoughts then wandered back to Goku's requests
"Now," he thought, "to find Kakarrot's friends."
As if to answer Raditz's question, a helicopter became coming down from the sky, bearing the power levels 2, 5, 139 and 206.
"Well," Raditz thought, "That was easy enough."
Out of the helicopter jumped a bald-headed monk, an old man with sunglasses, a beautiful blue-haired woman and a young boy wearing oriental clothes with a weird red-starred orange ball on his red hat. However, what surprised Raditz was the fact that the boy had a tail.
Raditz cleared his throat, getting ready to speak.
"Are you the human friends of Kaka- I mean, Goku?" Raditz asked
Krillin and Roshi were petrified by the Saiyan's ki energy and Bulma was scared of how tall and threatening he was. However, Gohan, completely naïve to the potent danger Raditz could be, simply smiled and responded.
"Yes we are," he smiled innocently and happily "I'm his son and my name's Gohan, these are my friends, Krillin, Roshi and Bulma!"
"Gohan!" Krillin whined, "what if this guy killed Goku and wants to kill us as well! After all, we can't sense his ki anymore!"
"What!" Bulma yelled, "How long have you and Roshi not been able to sense him?
"H-He just vanished a few minutes ago," Krillin stuttered, "I didn't tell you because I thought he might still be alive and I didn't want to make you guys worried!"
"Oh yeah, I've dealt with a demon king wanting to kill Yamcha and him killing you and Roshi, do you really think I can't deal with Goku dying?" Bulma asked rhetorically
Raditz sighed "Shut up!" he yelled, this got their attention "Kaka- I mean Goku has indeed been killed in battle!"
At this, Gohan began crying, "You're lying," he screamed "my daddy's the strongest in the world, he can't die!"
"And what's your story," Krillin said with a bitter distrust in his mouth, "did you kill him!"
Raditz sighed "No," he replied, knowing that since the Saiyans were coming, the last thing they should be doing was fighting each other. At this, his tail uncurled from his behind and surprised everyone.
"Y-you have a tail," Bulma said with fear in her voice, as she knew what would happen if the full moon was out, "just like Goku used to have!"
"Why are you so surprised," Raditz asked, "I'm Raditz, Goku's brother. Why would I kill my own brother?"
Krillin looked slightly nervous now "O-OK," he stammered, "if you didn't kill him, then who did?"
Raditz folded his arms and became enraged at the memory "Piccolo," he said through gritted teeth "we were getting reacquainted with each other, then that bastardly demon shot some sort of new attack through his heart while he was off guard!"
At this, everyone was in an emotional pain, Krillin and Roshi were crying on each other's shoulders and Bulma was trying in vain to try and contain Gohan, who was screaming and calling Raditz a liar. However, the demi-Saiyan soon broke out of the bluenette's arms, being very angry.
"You don't even care about your own brother!" Gohan yelled to his uncle's emotionless face, "you're a liar!"
Eventually, Raditz's scouter began to bleep wildly about the demi-Saiyan's power level.
"436, 872, 1,308!" Raditz exclaimed in a shocked voice as Gohan's power grew above his own "Incredible for a Saiyan child!"
However, eventually Raditz's nephew's power level fell back to normal as he calmed down. However, to say the least, Raditz, Krillin and Roshi were shocked.
"D-did you feel that!" Krillin exclaimed in alarm "Gohan's power level just surpassed this Raditz guy for a second!
"I felt it," Roshi answered, "if that's how powerful Gohan is now, he may very well surpass his father!"
However, Raditz was quite confused.
"Wait," he asked, "are you telling me that you guys can sense combat power without the use of a scouter?"
"If a scouter is the half of good looking, technological glasses on your head then yes, we've never needed anything like that," Krillin answered "ki flows all around us, if you can gain the ability to sense ki, then you can detect how strong an opponent is just by feeling how much ki energy they have."
Raditz nodded his head "That's very interesting," he said bemusedly "can you show me how to do it?"
Krillin shrugged "I don't know how to teach you," he said, sad that he was unable to help his new friend, "you'd probably have to get Roshi here to teach you, but he has certain… requirements."
"Oh come on, Krillin," the old man whined "this man here is as good looking as Goku, so he must have some sort of cute lady friend…" he winked at Raditz through his sunglasses, but Raditz's scouter gave him X-ray vision so he was able to catch the innuendo."
"Would you shut up you old pervert!" Raditz yelled angrily "I don't have a girlfriend because I'm an alien and my whole race apart from two others and I are dead!"
The last part was very confronting for the Z-Fighters there.
"Wait," deduced Bulma "if you're an alien and you're Goku's brother, then that means…"
"Goku's an alien?" Krillin questioned in surprise.
"Well," Bulma continued "I guess that explains the tail, and the fact that he transforms into a giant ape when the full moon's out."
"That is correct," Raditz answered, "our race is the Saiyans and we are the most powerful race in the universe!"
"Uh," Krillin whined "don't you think that's a bit egotistical. I mean, anyone can become the best if they push themselves."
"If you think I'm egotistical," Raditz answered, "you should meet my aquaitance, Vegeta. You see, the Saiyans are a brutal warrior race, known for destroying and pillaging worlds, but Vegeta and his ally Nappa rarely take me on any of their missions because I'm too weak and when they do, I have to kill innocent people because Vegeta and Nappa will slaughter me if I don't. Speaking of Vegeta and Nappa, your friend Goku just telepathically spoke to me and he says not to revive him with the Dragon Balls until they here, but that was the reason he told me to spare Piccolo and I haven't the foggiest idea of what he's talking about."
"As evil as Piccolo is, he is actually the evil half of Earth's god Kami," Krillin explained, "Kami created the Dragon Balls and since he and Piccolo share the same soul, if you killed Piccolo, Kami would also die and the Dragon Balls with him."
"Right," Raditz sighed "but I still don't have a good idea of why I shouldn't send Piccolo's sorry soul to hell or wherever evildoers go when they die.
"Well," Bulma explained, "the Dragon Balls have incredible wish granting abilities. If you collect all seven of them, you get to summon a mystical dragon that can grant you any wish. However, we mainly use them for reviving people, however, there's a limitation to this rule: you can't revive people more than once," she gestured to Roshi and Krillin, "so it's a good thing that Goku hasn't died yet, otherwise we could be in trouble. By the way, how did your entire race die?"
However, Bulma struck one of Raditz's nerves and his face became contorted with pure rage as he thought about Frieza.
"I don't really want to talk about it!" Raditz said angrily "can you leave me alone for a bit?"
Everyone was taken aback by Raditz's aggressive voice and there was a bit of silence before Krillin spoke up.
"Right," he said awkwardly "I get it, it's too close a subject, don't worry, I understand buddy."
He then walked towards Raditz and patted him on the back, comforting him a bit.
"Special Beam Cannon!"
It was Piccolo again, aiming to pierce Raditz's heart for humiliating him. However, Raditz's reflexes and alertiveness ensured the Special Beam Cannon just missed the Saiyan's heart. However, the Namekian tyrant's drill-like attack still pierced Raditz's left lung. Raditz cursed in anger at the cowardice of the attack and started coughing up blood. To everyone's shock, anger and disbelief at Piccolo, Goku's brother fell to the ground, unconscious, in a critical condition, barely breathing and bleeding, but alive.
Piccolo cursed at his attack's inaccuracy and at his adversary's reflexes, but continued.
"Alright, I'll make this quick and simple," the tyrant said in a calm manner while pointing at the quivering Gohan and grinning "I felt Goku's son's ki while I was unconscious, give him to me and maybe I'll let you live today."
"Yeah," Krillin yelled in a harsh voice "you'll let us live today, what's the point of that if you're going to kill us tomorrow, what do you want with Gohan?"
"I want to make him into a weapon," Piccolo grinned, "you know the old saying, if you can't beat them, make them join your side!"
However, Gohan had snapped out of his fear, he quivered angrily and began to release his hidden power."
"You...killed…my…daddy!" Gohan screamed in rage, he rapidly began to power up before charging at the evil Namekian, "I'll never forgive you for this!"
Gohan charged at a speed that was easily faster and stronger than any blow Raditz had inflicted in his life. With tears in his eyes, he slammed into Piccolo with all off his power, sending the Namekian flying through a rock formation and knocking him out for the third time that day. After this, Gohan's personality returned to that of a scared four-year old boy and his power level fell back to two.
"Alright everyone!" Krillin exclaimed while taking leadership of the Z-Fighters "we need to get Raditz to Korin's Tower for a Senzu Bean before it's too late. Everyone on the helicopter now before Piccolo wakes up!"
Bulma went to grab the crying Gohan and Krillin shrugged Raditz over his shoulder like he weighed nothing. Then, the Z-Fighters hopped on a helicopter and made a hasty retreat to the tower of the hermit cat.
Meanwhile, in Raditz's dream
Raditz was reliving a past event of his life. He kept on asking himself "Why do I feel so friendly to Kakarrot? I should have destroyed him and this pathetic planet when I had the chance!"
His queries were answered when his young self began talking to his father, the person Raditz had idolised for all of his life. His hairstyle was directly identical to Kakarrot's, he had a long facial scar that an enemy had inflicted in battle and he wore green, Saiyan armour that could withstand many blows. As far as he could tell, this was their Saiyan home, a home peppered with weapons and armour. It took a while for Raditz to realise it, but he realised his younger self was crying and his father was trying to comfort him.
"Papa," he cried while yelling through his tears "I got bullied today, everyone was saying that with a power level of only a hundred, I don't deserve to be a Saiyan."
"Hey, don't worry about it!" Bardock replied in protest while he hugged his son, "and don't let them get to you either, a crying Saiyan is twice as likely to get bullied," he then thought of a way to get his son to take his mind off what he was felling, "your brother Kakarrot was born today, do you wanna come and meet him?"
Raditz smiled at his father. It was a smile that was almost forbidden in Saiyan culture, but Bardock didn't mind at all.
"OK," the maned Saiyan smiled "let's go, papa!"
Bardock was able to fly at high speeds even with Raditz on his back, then, he finally reached the Saiyan hospital.
"Papa?" Raditz asked his father.
"Yes Raditz?" Bardock responded.
"Why are you so kind to me? Most of our race love to hurt our children, they say it'll toughen them up and give them zenkai boosts. Even in our school, my classmates come to school with bruises, cuts and bleeding wounds and when we show mercy, we're beaten almost to the point of near death. Why do you and mother show so much mercy?"
The full-blooded Saiyan pondered his six-year old child's question for a few seconds before coming up with an answer.
"I don't know, I guess your mother's softness rubbed off on me. All I can say is that before I met her, I was pretty much your average Saiyan. I was bloodthirsty, only caring about the thrill of combat with my friends backing me up. However, your mother Gine was completely different. Despite the wars we were in, she cared about all of us as deeply as her own children," the warrior's fists then became clenched with anger "and after all she'd done for us, me and my comrades were the only ones thankful. Everyone else just laughed her off as a weak excuse for a Saiyan. Eventually, I began to develop a relationship with her and no, son. I don't mean the relationships they talk about to you in class. Ever since I met her, I didn't just want her for reproductional purposes because I," the great Saiyan sighed for a few moments as if he was searching for the right words, "I loved her, Raditz, I truly loved her for everything she was. Her loyalty, her bravery and her will and that was what changed me. Feeling the Saiyan need to protect, I treated Tora, Shugesh, Fasha and Borgos like an extended family. By the way, Tora's now Kakarrot's godfather."
They finally reached the hospital room where Saiyan babies were kept and sitting next to a crying, helpless Bardock-hair styled baby. Like the caring mother she was, was Gine, her short brown hair breezing and her caring eyes protectively on Kakarrot.
"Hi, Bardock," she smiled at her love.
"Hey, Gine," Bardock replied and smiled "how's Kakarrot doing?"
"He's doing great," Gine smiled before pecking Bardock on the cheek "he only has a power level of two, though."
"Ah, screw power levels," Bardock said nonchalantly "I'm just happy to have another son. Welcome to the family, Kakarrot!"
He smiled and patted the fragile infant's forehead in a gentle display that would have made King Vegeta throw up his lunch in disgust and made Raditz smile in bliss
Later that day
"Hyaaah!" Raditz was training as hard as he could with the steel dummy in his home. The dummy was a humanoid alien, already peppered with dents from all the blows Bardock had given it when his worn-out father approached him.
"How's my powerful Saiyan warrior today?" Bardock asked his son.
"Great," Raditz smiled back, "papa, can you please help me with some homework?"
"Of course," Bardock answered, "what do you need help with, son?"
"Well, the Saiyan Academy gave us this task, they said we need to develop our own energy wave attack. You know, like your Final Spirit Cannon attack. Vegeta's already done it, he's come up with an energy wave called the Galick Gun and it's so impressive that even his father started using it."
"Well first, let's stop thinking about Vegeta and think about yourself. What do you like most?"
"Saturdays!" Saturday was known as Bardock's team's day off and it basically consisted of Tora, Fasha, Borgos and Shugesh coming over. Sometimes, Tora would bring his son Turles over as well and Raditz and Turles would have friendly hand-to-hand battles while the adults just sat back and chilled.
"OK, let's make Saturday the first part of your attack. Now, do you want it to be a wave attack, a ball attack or a beam attack."
"A wave attack. Your Final Spirit Cannon's an energy wave, Master Frieza's Death Beam is a beam attack and he uses it in very cowardly ways and he also loves using the Death Ball and the Supernova, both ball attacks to cowardly blow up planets. Plus, ball attacks take too long to charge up.
"OK," Bardock smiled at his son, he was very proud of him for choosing to use a wave of ki in honour of his bravery and not use his ki in cowardly ways. "The next question is, what sounds right to you, Saturday Wave, Saturday Cannon, Saturday Breaker, Saturday Crush-"
"That's it!" Raditz yelled "the Saturday Crush! Thanks for helping me come up with a name, papa, but I think I can do the rest by myself!"
"OK," Bardock smiled again, proud of his son "well, good luck son!"
The next day at the Saiyan Academy
"Kill Driver!" Raditz's best friend Turles created a fiery ring of ki with his hand, which he then threw into the metallic dummy that the students were using their new attacks on, it created a fiery mark on the dummy that was still burning.
"Very good, Turles," General Nappa congratulated the young Saiyan warrior on his achievements "next up, Raditz!"
Raditz stepped up, but as he did, he could feel the hostile glares and whispers coming his way.
"Pitiful excuse for a Saiyan!"
"He doesn't deserve to be here!"
Raditz smirked to himself; he had worked hard all night on his Saturday Crush attack and even managed to raise his power level up into the two hundred ranges.
He looked at his mentor Nappa, who nodded in approval and he then began forming a ball of ki in his right hand.
"Saturday Crush!" Raditz released all of his power on the metallic dummy and the purple energy wave slammed into it with a massive force. Raditz smirked, having expected to make a decent mark. However, to his utter surprise, he discovered he hadn't even made a dent in the metal dummy's defences. Suddenly, his training from last night caught up to him and he collapsed to the laughter of everyone around him.
"And let that be a lesson to all you low-classes out there!" Nappa yelled while still laughing away like everyone else, "no matter how much you train, you will never be stronger than the mighty first-class of the Saiyan race. Next up, Prince Vegeta!"
A huge roar went up for the Saiyan prince himself. He had Saiyan armour with the royal insignia on it and flaming black hair and he kicked the barely conscious Raditz out of the way like he was nothing.
"Out of my way, you pathetic, low-class trash!" Vegeta yelled loudly, "in fact, why are you even still in this world, you should just go kill yourself so you aren't a massive disappointment to the Saiyan race!"
Loud cries of "Burn!" and "wrecked!" went up around the room as Vegeta charged his Galick Gun attack, fired it and completely obliterated the metallic dummy with loud cheers going up around the room."
"OK," Nappa said with shock reminiscent in his voice as he was sure that even as a six-year old, Vegeta's power level was already 12,000, a power level higher than even his father, "well, that concludes our lesson, see you all tomorrow," he then turned to Raditz and grinned "I hope!"
With that, all of the six-year old Saiyans, even Turles ran at Raditz and beat him within an inch of his life, the beatdown finally ended when he landed to the floor unconscious after a vicious punch from Vegeta.
"Should we kill him, O mighty prince?" one of his classmates asked.
"Nah," Vegeta smirked with his prideful voice, "he should do that himself when he gets home!"
With that, everyone laughed and strutted home with pride.
Later that day
Beaten, bloody and bruised from the beating his classmates gave him, Raditz somehow returned back to his house. He was actually thinking of following Vegeta's advice but then he looked across the room to find Kakarrot, sleeping peacefully and innocently in a healing tank, his umbilical cord cut clean off, Raditz knew it would only be a few years before Kakarrot would be sent to the Saiyan Academy himself.
"Kakarrot," he said to his baby brother "what happened to me today, I don't ever want you to have to experience something like that."
He could have imagined it, but he thought he saw his brother smile.
"No matter what you become Kakarrot, I will always be your best friend, like papa and Tora, I don't care if you're the weakest Saiyan in existence, I'll be loyal to you to the very end, Kakarrot!"
Finally, after he finished his dream, he felt something with the texture of a bean in his mouth, he chewed and swallowed and felt himself regain his full strength upon awakening.
OK, so this was mainly a flashback chapter because in my first review, someone asked me why Raditz was so loyal to his family and I also wanted to show Raditz's backstory. Hope you enjoyed!