Two days after their conversation, Goku's excitement at their upcoming journey had started to grow. He was never one to stay in one place for very long. Sure, he considered Earth to be a fantastic home. The streams were clear and fresh; the mountains high and rough; and the trees shady and strong.
However, when he did a bit of math, he could easily tell that he really had not spend much time on his beloved planet. There were the times he spent training in other-world, the many months in space, the time spent on other planets, the time spent in the Room of Spirit and Time among other jaunts around the cosmos. Especially after Chi-Chi had died, he had barely spent any time as part of human civilization. He was always looking for a new adventure.
And traveling with Vegeta across the galaxy was just the adventure he was looking for. There were so many people to meet and strong warriors to face. Everything was new and different and nothing was familiar. It was scary, but exciting.
Sitting outside their accommodations on his favorite bench (really an old fuel tank flipped on its side), Goku grinned as he watched the people walk by. They would be leaving in three short days. Vegeta had already finished the updates to the ship and was only waiting for final clearances in order to leave. They had already loaded extra food and water supplies into the ship the day before.
Goku took a bite out of the street food he had bought a few minutes ago and savored the taste. He would probably never eat the same thing ever again. It was delicious, as all foods on sticks tended to be, but he doubted the other planets they would visit would have quite the same foods. He would probably never see – much less taste – a turkey sandwich again or take a big gulp out of a soda. It was all back on Earth.
He hesitated before taking another bite. Would he never return to Earth? It seemed like such a strange eventuality. However, it also seemed natural. He was connected to nothing on the planet and had no reason to return. Chi-Chi and his sons were gone. His grandchildren were gone. His some great-grandchildren were barely hanging on to life and his great-great-grandchildren had no idea who he was. The Saiyan blood he had passed down to them was so diluted by their human blood that they did not feel the thrill of fighting and had concentrated only on human ambitions.
Suddenly he felt alien even to himself. He had considered himself human for so long, even after he had learned from his brother that he was not human, that he had never realized the differences between himself and his human friends. He had never realized that they had grown weary of fighting and training and had concentrated on raising families or other careers. Even Gohan and Goten had settled down with wives and children and had put training to the side as a hobby. But his drive to fight had never been exhausted. He still felt that burning need to achieve new levels; to push his body to its limits.
He took a bite of the meat gingerly off the the stick. He was probably not going back. Earth was just another planet floating in the cosmos.
Just as this thought filtered across his mind, a creature approached the bench and grabbed his arm, surprising him so much that he rose out of the seat. The creature grunted, as it had no translator device, and gestured with a fingerless arm to a group forming on the other side of the street. Out of the corner of his eye, Goku could see other people being rounded up in this manner. The creature gave him a quick shove in the gathering's direction and trotted off the haul someone else over.
Goku shrugged to himself and followed the crowed. The sun was beating down on the group of people, but a tiny stage had been erected in the shaded part of the street closest to the other side of the ravine. This particular street was an average width with plenty of room for storefronts, street vendors, and a pedestrian walkway. All the vendors' carts had been pulled off to the side and the store keepers were all leaning on their doorways. The tenets of the apartments overlooking the street were hanging out their windows to listen in.
The Saiyan found himself uncomfortably close to those in the crowd. The creature to his left smelled of rotting olives and the one in front had course hairs that were tickling his arms. Luckily, he thought, no one was blocking his view. He had not yet become accustomed to being one of the shorter individuals.
A hush descended on the crowd as a portly alien took the stage. He had a translator around his neck, but he spoke in quick Standard instead. Goku felt, for the umpteenth time since they had arrived, grateful to the people of Yardrat for teaching him Standard along with the Instant Transmission technique. A translator was effective, but bulky, if he happened to be caught in a fight, and easily breakable.
The alien cleared its throat and rubbed two large, six-fingered hands around on its large, greenish belly. "Citizens and visitors, I have been instructed to report to you that a dangerous creature has defiled the sanctity of out planet." A wave of whispers and grumbles rippled through the crowd but no one shouted out. "As you all know," the alien continued "After the fall of the Tyrant Freeza, the citizens of the galaxy have made great strides in keeping dangerous races at bay and have defended themselves against those peoples who are driven to violence."
A few cheers erupted from members of the crowd while many clapped or stomped in agreement. Goku found himself clapping as well. It sounded like these people were working towards a great cause. And they had apparently been doing a good job since Freeza had died many decades before. His eyes narrowed at the thought that some upstart was trying to ruin it for everyone.
The alien continued on, his bravado increased at the crowd's response. "Unfortunately, someone has taken it upon himself to deny the citizens of the galaxy the right to peace. A report has gone out from a Central Mothership that a dangerous member of a race thought previously to have been extinct is on this planet as we speak."
A few shouts rang out from the crowd in accented Standard and other languages. "Who is he, you ask? Who is he?" The alien cried, throwing his hands up in the air. The crowd cheered in response – their level of excitement growing.
"He is a man possessed by anger and violence. A man who can transform into something terrible. He is a vestige of a time of killing and rape; a man who does not belong in a galaxy of peace and harmony!"
Goku held his breath at the speaker's pause as the rest of the spectators leaned in to catch the words that were so softly and fearfully spoken. " My friends, a Saiyan is on our precocious planet."
Before the alien's words could soak in, Goku's energy immediately dropped in an instinctive attempt to hide himself. The soft hairs on the back of his neck shot up as he became painfully aware of how many creatures surrounded him. His eyes darted around taking in doorways and windows that he could escape to. He glanced up to see if a flight escape was possible. His hands formed fists and he bent his knees in anticipation of an attack as his tail constricted his thigh in his panic.
But the crowd gasped and took a collective step back. The scraggly creature in front of Goku bumped into him while letting out a short shriek of fear. A few other members of the crowd screamed or wailed in their shock and despair.
"My friends!" The speaker called again, pulling their attention to the stage. "We must approach this with intelligence and cunning. We must not burn and pillage in our fear. We must find this animal and defend ourselves until a Squadron sent from the Race can assist us." The crowd seemed cheered at those words.
Goku was still reacting based on instincts. His eyes were continuously searching the forms around him for signs that showed he was recognized. The Saiyan's breath was coming in short, sharp bursts and his ears were strained to catch the smallest sound of warning. His nostrils flared with each painfully tense breath.
The man on the stage was shouting something else when a hand slammed down on Goku's shoulder. He tensed and prepared to shoot up into the air and find Vegeta. "Calm down there, young one," the alien behind him said in what Goku assumed was meant to be a soothing tone of voice. "The Saiyan is not going to jump out right now. In a few days, you'll probably hear that the Race bagged him before any harm could be done. They're good at that stuff you know."
Goku forced himself to nod slowly and turn to face the other being. "Ah," he said, trying to look nonchalant as he raised his hand to the back of his neck – a move he know made him look young and naive. "Its just a little scary, you know."
The other man nodded, a large beard of purple tentacles bobbing up and down. "I hear ya. But stuff like this happens all the time. Yo must be new if you aren't used to it by now. Why, just a year ago, a female Ice Lizard was found giving birth in the warehouse down by Hanger Three. Just imagine if those-" He was interrupted by a cheer from the crowd "little life-suckers had gotten out. They have broods of five or more! We would have all been dead within the month."
Goku tried to look relieved at the news, but bile began to rise in his stomach. "And, ah, what happened?"
"Well," the creature said, looking up into the sky as to unearth an old memory. He pulled a long-nailed hand through his beard. "Once somebody discovered them, the Race sent a Squadron – just like they are doing with this Saiyan, mind you – and they took them all away. Dunno what happened to them after that. But they didn't ever come back, if ya know what I mean."
"- vigilant watch and we shall overcome!" The announcer was shouting as he stepped off the podium. Goku glanced towards the front before nodding back to his informer. The crowd began to disperse, whispering among themselves.
"So," Goku started, his breathing starting to even out. Thoughts were pounding in his head. "What does a Saiyan look like? Have you ever seen one?" He prayed that his question would not lead the man to realization that the Saiyan was standing in front of him. Goku thought bitterly that his strategy of channeling Vegeta was bound to back-fire. He simply lacked the same finesse as the prince.
"Well, I don't think I know," the man said. He turned to his right and addressed another creature who resembled him. Goku thought they must be the same race. "Do you know, Ribble? They were all died out before I was born. And most are not permitted to watch footage from Freeza's War Agaisnt the Citizens of the Galaxy."
The other creature ran his hand through his beard as well and looked up into the sky in an eerie caricature of the first. "Nope. Don't know. I'm not that much older than you. All those Saiyans were long gone. Died out about three Cycles ago. I don't think many will remember what they looked like. Not many people are that old you see." He looked straight at Goku. "Might make finding the monster a bit difficult."
Goku laughed nervously. "Yeah! How are we supposed to find him in nobody knows what he looks like!" Secretly, he could not believe his good luck. Apparently, no one had a clue. He wondered if Vegeta knew that his race was such an obscure myth as to be unrecognizable. Maybe they could just leave in three days like they had planned and no one would know the difference.
He smiled at the two aliens and thanked them before making a beeline towards the hotel room he and Vegeta were staying in. His ki still remained low, but his breathing had returned to normal and his tail had relaxed in its place around his thigh. On the short walk, in the lobby and on the lift, no one gave him a second glance.
For a moment, he even thought his room chip would not function. But, it beeped as always and the door swung open to reveal a small room complete with a table and chairs, a bed and a tiny vid-screen. Not a piece of furniture was out of place or an object moved. He had almost expected all the chairs to be smashed on the floor and Vegeta's blood smeared on the walls.
Instead, the prince was bend over a tablet on the table, his tail waving in the air behind him. Goku smiled in relieve at the comforting and gloriously normal sight.
Vegeta graced him with a glance as he shut the door and sat down on the only other chair. "Kakarrot," he said mildly in greeting.
"Vegeta," Goku said back.
The two sat in silence while the shorter Saiyan punched in information into the tablet. He had been working non-stop on equations for the ship over the last day, making sure that there were not mistakes in the guidance system. One error and they could go careening into a gas giant or crash onto some slow-moving asteroid.
In the silence of the small room, Goku wondered if he didn't look enough like a Saiyan to the effect that people would not recognize him. The only other Saiyans he knew looked nothing like him and he looked nothing like him. And, there were so many other humanoid creatures out there. He looked just as much like any of them than he looked like Vegeta.
But would Vegeta be more recognizable? Goku knew that the prince was famous in his earlier years. Did people still recognize his image? They were both much older in years, but basically unchanged in appearance. Sure, Vegeta had gotten a bit taller and was not quite so lanky, but his face was the same.
He was drawn out of his musings as Vegeta switched off the tablet and leaned back his chair. He stretched his arms up over his head as his tail mimicked the movement. "No talk of eating, Kakarrot? You must have had your fill with that sweet Jarku from yesterday." The grin on his face was feral and he only smirked more when Goku blushed.
He fiddled with his t-shirt. "She was so pretty..."
The prince scoffed as his tail settled over his forearm, on the arm of the chair, in a lazy gesture. Goku's tail was hardly so expressive. He could barely keep it from dragging on the ground – a problem he did not remember having as a child.
Goku forced himself too abandon his embarrassment. He had only stared, after all. Vegeta always made the littlest thing into a big deal.
"Ah, Vegeta, do you remember my question from the other day? About Saiyans, I mean," he added quickly.
Vegeta's smirk quickly turned into a neutral face. Goku took that as an affirmative that he did remember. " Well, is it possible that any of them are on this planet, right now?"
"Why?" The prince snarled. "Don't tell me you saw one."
"No no! Not at all. But there was a guy right outside saying that there is one on the planet." He hesitated to continue but Vegeta's impatient glare forced the words out of his mouth in a rush. "And they think that the Saiyan is dangerous and they are going to find it and give it to some galactic police force people and it happened before with a person like Freeza only that person was a girl and she had babies -"
Vegeta dropped raised an eyebrow and Goku snapped his mouth shut. Why did he always make a fool of himself?
"So, it is possible they are looking for us." Vegeta put a finger to this temple. "And why weren't you recognized? You were standing right there I assume."
Goku nodded. "Yeah, no one seemed to know me. I asked someone what a Saiyan looks like – to be sure, ya know – and he had no idea. He said that most people didn't."
"And a person like Freeza?" Vegeta prompted.
"Well, the same guy said that a year ago, a female of Freeza's race was found by these police people and never seen again. He said she was pregnant too."
A second finger joined the first on the prince's temple. Sometimes, if felt like the galaxy moved at a snail's pace. It took massive amounts of time to travel anywhere. News was sometimes as slow to spread as new innovations. When you were traveling a year to another planet under gas, it was difficult to keep up with new information. He had forgotten how fast news could travel when people were frightened; even when it was across light-years.
He wondered if someone had actually recognized either himself or Goku. Neither of them had exactly been secretive about their nature or point of origin. Although, neither had they powered up in the street and announced their presence with a flash of ki. He had considered his race to be a moot point.
If anyone recognized him as a servant of Freeza, they were hardly one to point him out. He had been quite careful to dispose of any being who saw him on a mission. As a member of Freeza's attack force, he was not permitted to have a public image. He could be needed for under-cover operations where his face would be just one of the crowd. Only soldiers like Zarbon and Dodoria were actually known around Freeza' empire (and outside of it). Vegeta's own face was not a known to the general public. So, if someone did recognize him now, that would mean they were also a member of Freeza's army and unlikely to call him out.
Vegeta took a breath before speaking. "I see no reason to panic, but we should probably leave as soon as possible. The day after tomorrow. I have to be cleared by the docking manager first. And, we need to fill the tanks. I don't want this whole escapade to be over before it started."
Goku nodded, his eyes serious. "Are we in danger here? I don't really want to hurt anyone to get away, but I'm certainly not going to be arrested and thrown in jail."
"I highly doubt we will be arrested. If you say that they Iceian was never seen again, then she was probably slaughtered along with her hatchlings. I suggest that we are not caught. I have no desire to involve myself in some sort of galaxy-wide hunt where I am the prey."
Vegeta stood from his chair and went to the single window over-looking the street far below. "Stay inside until then. We will get off this rock as soon as possible."
