WHAT IF: FRIEZA WAS KILLED BY THE SAIYANS? (PART SEVEN)

Family Reunion

Raditz stood in the field his pod landed in, tapping his feet, his arms crossed. Behind him Gohan was crying and calling for his dad, the four year old rightfully not understanding the situation. Gohan ran and hid behind the now deceased farmer's pick-up, but Raditz simply picked the car up and destroyed it with a single Ki blast. Gohan was surprised, but claimed his father could do the same, before starting to cry again. Raditz finally reached his limit and grabbed the child by the neck of his shirt and threw him into his pod, locking it behind him. Suddenly his Scouter began to beep.

'Power reading of 710?' he wondered, following the reading, 'It's coming from my pod? Ha, no child can have that kind of power. Must be broken.'

Raditz started to walk away when he gets the reading again, then a second beep, 'Two power levels coming in fast…' he said to himself, 'one of them have Kakarot's power level exactly. That settles it, it must be b…' Raditz cut himself off as he sees Goku and the Namek from earlier approaching. This meant his Scouter wasn't broken.

'Impossible!' he thought to himself, 'If it isn't broken then that child really does have…' Goku and the Namek land before he could finish his own thought.

Raditz proceeded to question the two men in front of him, he asked how they found him and why they did, but Goku simply demanded his son back both times.

'Surely you don't believe that the two of you together can defeat me?' Raditz wondered.

'Raditz… you talk too much.' The Namek said, as he removed his cape and turban, which crashed into the ground with amazing force.

'Piccolo' Goku said, referring to the Namek, 'You wear weighted clothing too?'

Goku proceeded to take off his undershirt, boots, and wristbands, each dropping heavily on the ground. Raditz noticed an increase in their power as they took off the clothing.

'You think that will make a difference?' Raditz shouted after laughing maniacally, 'Add hundreds more and you still won't be a match for me!'

'If you think power is everything' Goku said, 'Then you're no fighter!'

'Youth I might forgive' Raditz said, 'but idiocy has no place on a Saiyan, Kakarot!' Raditz voice started to raise, 'You are a shame to our race! You will die!'

Raditz dashed forward, only to appear directly behind Goku and Piccolo, elbowing them both in the back. They managed to regain balance, but were both shocked at the speed displayed by Raditz.

'Let me tell you a secret, Kakarot.' Raditz said, 'I am a Saiyan of lower-class, there are Saiyans back on Planet Vegeta who are much stronger!'

Both Goku and Piccolo looked rightfully shocked.

'Sadly Kakarot, you take after our father, and are weak both mentally and physically.' Raditz smiled as he pointed to his own chest, 'I am the one who will rise and bring our family to the height of power!'

Goku and Piccolo exchanged looks and charged at Raditz, starting off a fast-paced sequence of punches and blocks, that ended when Raditz kicked his two adversaries while leaping in the air. Goku and Piccolo then tried to follow him up, only to have two large Ki blasts fired towards them, Goku managing to avoid it, Piccolo not being so lucky. Goku landed on the ground, only to be kicked across the grassland by his foe. Goku and Piccolo reconvene, with Goku being shocked that his former foe was missing an arm.

Raditz started laughing again, 'I'll take you wretched head next!'

At that very moment, a second, battered space pod lands a few feet away from where Raditz ship had landed. The dust and tremor sends Goku and Piccolo back a few steps, but Raditz is frozen in place, 'Another space pod? No… an older model…' Raditz thought to himself, 'A model from around the time of our revolution… it can't be!'

Sure enough, Bardock slowly emerged from the craft, no longer wearing Saiyan armour, he was wearing clothes not unlike Earth, lighter fabric, black trousers, with a dark green jacket over a similarly black shirt. He still had a Scouter on, though it had a crack in it. Bardock surveyed the area, and reads everyone's powerlevel, including the large powerlevel coming from Gohan. Bardock rises up, then lands on the grassland in between his two sons.

'So, I see Kakarot and a Namek,' Bardock said, looking in their direction, 'and a Saiyan who looks like my father.' Bardock looked at Raditz, 'So who is in your space pod with a large powerlevel?'

'He looks just like me…' Goku kept thinking to himself, 'Who is he?'

'Father…' Raditz said, 'So you are still alive…'

'Father?' Goku thought, 'So he's… my father?'

Bardock looked equally shocked, 'Raditz?' he said, 'Why didn't my vision include you? I assumed I didn't see visions of you because you didn't succeed in your childhood planet clearing.'

Raditz clenched his fist in anger, 'Of course I survived!' he shouted, 'and I've gone on to be a top warrior! Meanwhile you abandoned us and brought nothing but shame to the Saiyans!'

'You fool.' Bardock snapped back, 'I was sent to my death because I had become powerful enough to rival Prince Vegeta. I've seen it all.'

'Ha!' Raditz scoffed, 'Look at your face, you have the head of a lower class scruff! Just like Kakarot!'

'Fine,' Bardock said, 'I see I never saw you in a vision because your just like any other Saiyan. Now, you didn't answer me, who's in the pod?'

'Kakarot's half-Saiyan son.' Raditz said.

'My… grandson?' Bardock muttered, suddenly causing a new vision in his head of a slightly older Gohan, standing next to Piccolo and looking across at a large Saiyan with a mustache. Bardock shakes it off with a smile, 'This is quite the family reunion.' He said.

'All I have to do is kill you, father, then I can reclaim our lost family honour!' Raditz shouted as he dashed towards Bardock, but just sidestepped and delivered a knee to his older son, sending him flying backwards.

'Sorry Raditz.' Bardock said with a smile, 'but unlike every other Saiyan besides the royal bloodline, I haven't been checked and held back to keep the King and his son the most powerful. I've been allowed to grow.'

Raditz slowly got to his feet, blood dripping from his mouth, completely lost for words.

'I'm going to give you one chance.' Bardock said, 'Join us in the fight against the royal bloodline, or prepare to face the wraith of your so-called King when he return a failure.'

Piccolo looked angry, 'You're going to let him go?' he said, 'I can see where Son gets his soft nature from…'

Goku smiled at the thought to having a father he took after. Piccolo began to charge up Ki by placing two fingers to his forehead. Goku doesn't notice as he walks to stand next to his father.

'Why?' Raditz wonders, 'Why did you have to show up? What have you been doing all these years!'

'I've been looking for Kakarot.' He replied, 'but my older ship didn't have the planet in its database. I've been drifting, planet to planet, searching for clues on planet Earth and where to locate it. I had given up a few years ago, it wasn't until I got a vision of your space pod flying overhead, heading to Earth, that I finally found it. I had just enough time to get to my ship and follow your trail.'

Just then both Raditz and Bardock's Scouter picks up a large increase in Piccolo's powerlevel, they see Goku had already turned and was shouting for the Namekian to stop. It was too late, he fired a dense Ki blast with a yellow spiral around it, Piccolo shouted 'Special Beam Cannon!' as he launched it towards the Saiyan. Bardock jumped out of the way, but Raditz was stuck.

'I can't move!' he thought to himself, holding his gut where his own father had kneed him, 'Damn you, father… you've screwed over our family again!'

The blast drilled through Raditz' chest, it lasted several seconds before his lifeless body dropped to the floor.

'What the hell was that?' Bardock shouted at Piccolo, 'Since when do Namekians shoot first and ask questions later!' Piccolo was smirking. 'I don't know what a Namekian is, but I stopped an enemy of mine. Nothing more, nothing less.'

'Sorry.' Goku said, 'He's more my enemy than an ally, but I think there is some good in him.' Bardock nodded in response, 'I don't blame his actions, but that Scouter of his is also a transmitter. After hearing on me being on this planet, the King and his son are going to head here personally on a mission to wipe us all out. I was trying to buy us a little time by allowing Raditz to have to explain things in person. Now we have less than a year before they arrive.'

Goku and Piccolo look shocked. Behind them an air-car containing Goku's friends from the island land.

'Krillin, Master Roshi, Bulma!' Goku said with a smile, 'What are you doing here?' he asked.

In the distance Bardock smiled, 'What a nice life you've had, Kakarot.' He thought, 'I truly envy you.'

'Oh hey, everybody!' Goku said, 'This is my Dad!' he pointed to Bardock, who was taken by surprise.

'What!' Krillin, the shorter bald friend, said.

'Your father?' Master Roshi, the old man, also replied.

'The resemblance in uncanny!' Bulma, the girl, said.

At this moment Piccolo re-grew his arm, which Bardock smirked at.

'I'm sorry to break up this reunion, but we need to do some planning.'

Meanwhile on the Saiyan homeworld of Vegeta, the King sat on his throne, waiting for a response.

'Sire!' a well-armoured Saiyan shouted across the floor of the palace, 'We've just got a report from Raditz!'

'And?' King Vegeta wondered, 'Did he show up?'

'Yes sire, Bardock, Kakarot and an unknown Namekian were able to kill Raditz!'

King Vegeta clenched his fist in an attempt to hold back his rage. Just then, a shorter Saiyan walked in, much like with Goku and Bardock, the resemblance was undeniable, this was clearly his son.

'Don't worry, father.' He said with a smirk, 'I'll get them for besmirching our race's good name.'

'We will both go, Vegeta.' King Vegeta said in response to his son, 'Just the two of us. Bardock is the only blackeye our race has had since we destroyed Frieza. We will end it together.'

'Very well.' Vegeta replied, 'but can I also take Nappa?'

'Your right hand?' King Vegeta wondered, 'Why?'

'I promised him I'd find him a strong opponent, he can have the Namek that helped them.'

'Heh. Very well. Do as you please.'

'Thank you, father.'

'How long will the trip take?'

'In your royal vessel?' The non-descript Saiyan answered

'Of course in my vessel. Do you want me travelling in a pod like a commoner?'

'Sorry Sire. It will take exactly one year.'

'Not too bad. I take it that includes planets to wipe out along the way?'

'Of course sire.'

'Very well. Prepare the ship!'

'But how do you know it will take a year?' Goku asked Bardock, in response to the end of a sum up of events Bardock had just given.

'King Vegeta only travels in his royal vessel, it's a large saucer ship not unlike the kind a being called Frieza used to use. It's speed isn't hard to decipher.' Bardock said, though in his mind he knew when the Saiyans would arrive due to his vision, a vision he has seen so many times.

'So what are supposed to do?' Piccolo asked, 'You're going to take Son to train in space, how does that help us?'

Bardock thinks for a second before remembering his earlier vision, 'You, Piccolo, isn't it?' he wondered, 'I want you to train Kakarot's son.'

Everyone is shocked. Gohan at that moment laid sleeping in his father's arms, ''Gohan?' Goku wondered, looking down at him.

'It must be the mix of Saiyan and Human blood.' Bardock replied, 'He has extraordinary power, it just hasn't been tapped yet. He could be a vital asset. The Vegetas won't be alone.'

Piccolo is amused by the idea and grabs Gohan by the scruff of the neck, waking him. Goku resists his paternal urge to help.

'Let's put this idea to the test, shall we?' Piccolo says as he suddenly throws Gohan towards a nearby mountain. Goku goes to help but Bardock held him back. Gohan screamed in panic and fear before a large blue light surrounded him, which then let off a Ki blast that destroyed the mountain in front of him. Everyone but Bardock was shocked.

'I think you'll find training with him most fun, Piccolo.' Bardock replied, 'Now we have no time to waste. Kakarot, get into my pod, I'll have it automatically follow mine. We're going to be training on a world that has 10x Earth's gravity, then when you're done with that, we're going to go to a planet with even greater gravity.'

Goku nods, 'Sounds fun!' he said, 'But can you call me Goku, instead?'

'I don't blame you for not wanting a Saiyan name,' Bardock replied, 'Very well. Come, Goku.'

As Goku walked towards the pod, Piccolo grabbed Gohan and flew away, the child asleep due to the amount to energy he released. 'Hang in there, Gohan' Goku thought as he walked passed his friends, 'Oh Krillin,' Goku added, 'explain all this to Chi Chi for me, will you?' Goku climbs in and the two pods fly off.

'Why me?' Krillin wondered.