AN: I had to rewrite this chapter several times before it was readable.
Ch 9 Invasion I
It had been nine years since the defeat of King Piccolo, and six since Goku's marriage.
The earth has been a peaceful place during that time. But that peace was about to be shattered.
He raised his head, trying to follow his opponent. He merely got a glimpse of a fist flying towards him when he raised his arms in defence. Too late, the punch flew over his block and hit him squarely in the face. He was thrown backwards, against one of his allies. He pushed up, wiping his long, black hair out of his face. His other ally landed next to him, standing still for a moment then stretching out a finger. "DODON!" The word echoed over the platform as the beam shot out towards their opponent.
Alas, the man had waited too long, as their opponent dodged by a hairs width and held both hands by the right hip. He and his two allies followed the example.
"KA!" Four warriors cried out simultaneously.
"ME!" Powers rose as energy was concentrated.
"HA!" Blue light began to glow between the hands.
"ME!" The light lit up brightly, and the scenery was engulfed in blue light, shadows dancing over the white tiles.
"HAAAAAA!" Four beams were released simultaneously, three from the platform, against one from the sky. The beams clashed midway, before the combined strength of the three overcame the one. It was pushed backwards, and the one behind it moved sideways to avoid being hit.
He launched himself forward, ready to take his opponent head on. His smaller ally followed him, while the other flew up. He struck out with his right arm, but his fist struck empty space, as his opponent had seen it coming and pushed it sideways with the right hand. His ally kicked with the right in a large sweeping motion and struck against the raised forearm of their opponent. He didn't wait for the man to recover and grabbed the arm with his left hand, his right reaching out for his opponent's throat. The man simply flew backwards, and made him let go.
The second ally dropped from the sky, right behind his opponent. They had him trapped between them. They charged together, he kicked high with his right, as the smaller ally to his right went below the kick and flew forward with him and reached out with a left hook. The one behind flew in as well, spinning and kicking out with a high roundhouse kick. The two kicks met each other over their opponent's head, but the punch hit in the chest, blowing the man backwards.
The one behind drew in his right leg and struck out his left, kicking the man back between them. The small one kicked, and missed. The man shot up from between them and floated upside down above, an energy blast prepared in each hand.
He drew his forearm above his face, ready to take the blast head on. But it never came. They struck the other two instead, crashing them into the platform. He fired a blast himself, but his opponent let it pass over his back and flew down, spinning and lashing out with the heel at the last moment, sending the last of the three into the platform as well.
He picked himself up, the three of them breathing hard, and saw his opponent land before them, trademark smile on the face.
"Very good." A voice sounded from the sidelines. "Mr. Popo is very impressed."
"Yes," a second agreed. "The three of you are making remarkable progress."
"It doesn't feel like that." The smaller one said as he let himself fall backwards again.
"Don't be disheartened." The three-eyed warrior said. "Goku makes it look easy."
"If you call that 'making it look easy', I'd hate to see that hard parts."
"Come on, Krillin, you nearly had me." Goku said back.
"Just like we nearly had you last time? And the time before that? And every single time so far." Krillin sat up again. "Damned, Goku, can't you just let us win for once, just to boost our morale or something?"
"That wouldn't feel like a real win, now would it?" Goku said back, stretching out and unfolding his tail from his hips.
Yamcha wiped off his orange clothes and turned to the other warrior. "Tien, why didn't Chiaotzu show up?"
"He didn't feel well," the other said back. "In fact, I'm starting to suspect he's feeling a bit outclassed. Hand to hand combat has never been his strong point."
"But his psychic powers are not to be messed with. Especially that paralyzing thing he does." Yamcha tried to reason.
"But those powers are of little use in a sparring match, are they?" Tien shot him down.
"I guess so." The Turtle warrior shrugged before turning away.
"Hey, Yamcha." Said man looked up at Krillin. "I'm heading back to Kame house, you coming?"
Tien turned. "Same time tomorrow?" After three times 'Sure, later' everyone took off. Goku, Yamcha, and Krillin in one direction and Tien in another.
Krillin turned to Goku. "You should bring Gohan over sometime. I'm sure he'll love it."
"I don't know if Chichi will let me, she has been feeling a lot more protective lately."
"Just bring her along as well." Yamcha suggested. "Hey, we could ask Bulma to come over as well. We could have a little reunion."
"Just call me when." Goku said. "Hey, I promised Vegeta I'd spar with him in the afternoon. I'll see you later." With that, Goku blasted off.
The two Turtle Martial Artists remained flying side by side.
"Vegeta." Yamcha remarked, with a small distaste in his voice. "I don't see why Goku is so friendly with him."
"You're just sore because he stole Bulma away from you." Krillin teased him.
"No, I'm not!" Yamcha remarked a little too strongly. "Ok, maybe a little. But the guy is just an arrogant prick."
"Oh, he's not so bad. Once you get past the attitude that is." He laughed.
"And the pride." Yamcha added.
"That smug face of his."
"His rudeness."
"Ok, maybe he is that bad." The two men laughed. "But Goku seems to like him."
Goku soared through the sky. He followed Vegeta's energy signature and soon arrived at the usual training grounds, where he found Vegeta waiting for him. He landed.
"You're late." Vegeta said as a greeting, not rising of from the rock upon which he sat.
"Training with the others lasted a little longer than I expected." Goku made his excuse.
"I don't see why you would spend your time training those weaklings." The Prince told him once more.
"Hey, I was once one of those weaklings too you know." Goku defended himself.
"You're a Saiyan warrior, Kakarot. Battle is in your blood." Vegeta stood up and flared his energy, signalling that the small talk was over. Then he lifted off, Goku following his example.
Shattered stone littered the field. Many Saiyan shaped holes could be spotted. The sky was a flawless blue; all clouds had been driven away by the impacts. The two sat back to back on top of a large boulder, waiting to recover enough energy to fly home. Goku's shirt had been completely destroyed and Vegeta got many holes in his blue spandex.
Goku decided to break the silence. "Bulma passed by yesterday."
"Hn." Was all he got.
"She brought Trunks along." Goku continued.
"Hn!" A little more forceful this time.
"He's a good kid." Goku ignored it.
"HN!" Annoyed now.
"Have you ever gone over to see him?" Goku fired the reason he started..
"Yes Kakarot! I have!" He stood up, his energy erratic.
"Then why did you leave?" Goku asked in a casual tone.
"Did the woman pester you into talking to me?" Vegeta tried to change the subject.
"Vegeta!" Goku stood up as well. "We spent eleven years together. I know something is bothering you."
A low grumble was heard. The wind blew gently over the torn battlefield before them, as the two men stood side by side motionless.
"It was never supposed to be born." Vegeta started suddenly, in a low voice. He turned to look at his companion. "We're warriors Kakarot, the last of our kind. We're not supposed to be polluting our bloodline."
"Last time I checked, there are no Saiyan women left. That means the Saiyan race will die with us. Is that what you want?" Goku looked him straight in the eye.
"You wouldn't understand." He turned back, shaking his head.
"Try me." Goku crossed his arms.
"You've never seen our home planet. Our ancestral pride. Our culture. You've never known the kinship among true Saiyan warriors. We're not meant to be wasting our lives with these inferior beings, let alone mate with them."
"Perhaps, but I doubt wiping out entire civilization was the way our ancestors meant for us to live."
"It's still better that training some Humans." He spat out the last word.
"Just because they're Humans doesn't mean that they're weak." Goku tried to reason.
"Hn."
"Before you came here, didn't you have twice the power of Nappa? And he was supposed to be one of the strongest."
"Nappa was born an elite, but he was never one of the strongest. He only boasted he was."
"Still, I think Krillin, Tien and Yamcha are reaching the level you were on, making them stronger than an average Saiyan."
"I doubt that!"
"They've came a long way since our battle with Piccolo. We all have. They may not have our inborn drive to fight, but they're becoming really strong now."
"Fine. I'll head by sometime and see for myself." The prince took off, and headed towards Mt. Paotzu. Goku followed him.
The two flew in silence for some time, until Goku decided to break it again.
"The next full moon is two nights from now, isn't it?"
"Nh." He grunted in agreement, wondering.
"Would you mind if I brought Gohan along? It's past time he learned."
"Something for you to say, you still don't even remember anything."
"But I'm only destroying almost everything in sight, so it's improvement."
"If you can call that improvement. We've been at this ever since the geezer restored the moon nine years ago."
Several days later.
A gentle wind blew down over the shattered rocks. An eerie silence hung over the battlefield.
"Goku, you're up." Krillin glanced over to his old friend.
"I have a little surprise." Goku let a small grin take hold of his face.
"Goku, don't you dare." Tien glared at the Saiyan, guessing what would be coming.
"Come on Goku, knock him out." Yamcha cheered.
"Go for it." Chiaotzu egged him on.
"Here you go." Goku threw it down. "Ace, you're out."
Tien threw down his hand. "Not again."
"Relax hotshot, there can only be one winner." Yamcha tried to smooth him over.
"That'll be me." Krillin claimed, reaching over to pick a card from Goku.
"You wish." Goku returned.
"You know," Yamcha remarked, watching Krillin's face turn to despair from the card he picked. "For someone who wags his tail whenever he gets a good hand, Goku's pretty good."
"There is no countering dumb luck." Tien said, before turning to Krillin. "You do realize Chiaotzu is psychic?"
"That doesn't make him invincible." He said, drawing a card from said mime. Chiaotzu laughed as Krillin dropped his cards. "Out again, and I was doing so well."
Goku and Chiaotzu drew three cards each from the stack. Goku promptly shot out his tail, and curled it the other way around his waist. Chiaotzu threw down his cards.
"Another Joker, go figure." He complained.
"That means I win." Goku threw his cards away in his usual carefree manner.
"Break's over." Tien decrared as he stood up, while Yamcha pocketed the cards.
Everyone else went airborne, but instead of flying, Goku remained still.
"You feel that?" Goku asked, looking up. The other four turned to the sky, but couldn't find anything.
"This one is definitely too far away to be flying." He continued. "Either someone figured out we're here, or this planet just got on Frieza's list."
"What are you talking about?" Krillin asked him, eyes also on the sky, but he didn't find anything.
"There is a high power floating above the earth." Goku answered. The other let themselves fall from the sky and landed close to him.
"What's going on?" Chiaotzu asked Tien.
"I don't know, but to get him riled up like this, it must be serious." Tien didn't like where this was going.
"Someone's coming." Goku warned the others. And true enough, a white ship was rapidly descending. It was sphere shaped, but larger than the attack pods Vegeta described. It came to a halt just above the ground. Then it opened, revealing a large man. He wore armour, not unlike Vegeta wore when he was wished to earth, and had long, raven black hair which reached past his back. The newcomer lifted himself off a bit and slowly levitated towards the warriors.
"Well, well, well." He said, with a grin, his eyes locked on Goku. "Am I interrupting something?" He set down in front of them.
"Who are you?" Goku asked sharply.
"So we meet at last." The man said, ignoring the question. "You've grown up, but I recognize you, Kakarot. You're the splitting image of our esteemed father."
"Kakarot?" Krillin looked at Goku. "Isn't that…" Goku held out his hand, silencing him.
"So you know who I am, yet I do not know you." He looked at the stranger. Then a light went off in the back of his head. "Wait, our father? Would you be, Raditz?"
"You know him?" Yamcha nearly screamed in Goku's ear.
"That's right, so you do remember." Raditz let his scouter go over the group. "What are you doing with these pathetic weaklings? Why didn't you carry out your orders?"
"You mean my orders to exterminate all life on this planet?" Goku said with a small smile. "I felt free to ignore them." He crossed his arms before his chest. "Would you mind telling me why you're here?" He let his tail swing freely from his back. The ones behind him followed his example, save for the tail of course.
"I found myself in need of a place to stay and an extra pair of hands. I believed you could help with both." He walked forward. "Your power is pathetic, but that's nothing that some training won't fix."
"Listen, mister." Krillin stepped forward. "I don't know who you think you are, but you obviously got the wrong guy." He made a waving motion with his hand. "Shoo. Shoo. I think you've been dipping in the eggnog too much. Allow me to escort you out of the area."
Before anyone could warm him, a tail leashed out, sending Krillin flying, skipping a few times on the ground, before crashing into a nearby boulder. The monk flew up soon after.
"That was unnecessary." Goku said while Krillin was flying back, massaging his jaw.
"I'll be the judge of that." Raditz was becoming agitated. Goku simply smiled to him, confusing him, and pissing him off even more.
"Broke from Frieza, haven't you?" The remark caught him off guard.
"Well, yes." Raditz said, perplexed by the fact that his brother even knew about Frieza.
"I suppose Frieza didn't take the disappearance too well." Goku continued.
"No." Raditz said, regaining his posture. "He ordered me and Nappa to be installed with the S7 Chip."
"S7 chip?" Goku tilted his head slightly. Vegeta never said anything about chips.
"You don't want to know." Raditz waved his hand in a dismissive manner. He turned, and flew back to his pod. "Me and my crew are staying here for a while to resupply and regain our breath. You have until then to make up your mind." He said over his shoulder.
"What if I say no?" Goku asked daringly.
"That would be a stupid thing to do." The pod closed, and flew back into the sky.
Everyone was frozen for a few moments, processing what just happened. Then Goku lifted himself into the sky.
"I better go find Vegeta."
"Then he flew off." Goku recalled the story to the prince. He found himself upon a high mountain, overlooking a forest.
"So, he remembered you at last." Vegeta looked towards the sky. "Did he say anything about me, or Nappa?"
"Nothing about you, but he did mention Nappa, and said something about an S7 chip."
"I see." The answer came. "S7, that's a bit drastic." He added mindlessly.
"So what is this S7 thing?" he wanted to know.
"The S7 is a tracer, surveillance, communicator and remote torture device all rolled into one." Vegeta told him coldly. "Frieza has most of his soldiers be implanted with a surveillance chip, to make sure we don't run off on our own." He raised his hand to his neck. "I think mine was left behind when you wished me here, but the other two were not that lucky."
Silence. They let their eyes wander over the scene before them.
"They came at last." Vegeta said with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Expecting trouble?" Goku raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, we have my former team mates to contend with." He commented while taking off, Goku in tow, towards Mt. Paotzu.
"Do you have a plan?" He asked when he caught up, which wasn't so hard since both of them were suppressing their powers.
"First, we go and see whether or not they are trustworthy. After that, who knows?"
-Line Break-
"Sir?"
"Not yet. Wait until they separate."
Getting back to Goku's place was the easy part. Apparently Raditz had tracked the two of them, and soon after Goku and Vegeta arrived, the large transport vessel set down not too far from the house, landing in an open field.
Chichi wasn't thrilled to hear Goku's brother had come to earth. She complained that it would endanger their son and mess up his studies. Their discussion was stopped when the two Saiyans felt three powers heading their way.
"Who do you suppose the third one is?" Goku asked the prince. They were standing before the house, waiting.
Vegeta huffed. "Could be Cui for all we know." He was leaning against a tree, sideways into the shadow.
Three pair of feet set down just before Goku, who was standing out in the open.
"Been expecting us, haven't you?" Raditz said, looking at Goku. None of the three had noticed Vegeta to their left yet, and said Prince decided to observe.
"Why yes, actually." Goku said back, smiling.
"So that's Kakarot?" Nappa said, letting his scouter calculate. "Your power is pathetic."
Goku let the comment slide. Raditz spoke up again. "We landed nearby because the area is secluded, making restocking that much easier for us." He gestured to the two behind him. "But these two insisted on meeting you."
"Since you will be joining us, we might as well get to know you." Zarbon added.
"And what of I don't want to join." Goku argued.
"We have ways of… persuading you." Nappa added darkly.
Raditz held his hand in front of him, telling Nappa to back down. "Like I said before, we could use an extra pair of hands."
"You have stronger people back on your ship, what do you need me for?" Koku could sense the people back, and since he suppressed his power, these three couldn't know he was actually stronger.
Raditz blinked a few times. 'How does he know?'
"You're right, we don't." Nappa said, holding up a glowing hand. "With your puny power, you would only hold us back.
"That's rich coming from you." Vegeta decided he heard enough, and stepped out of the shadow with a smirk.
"And who…" Raditz words seemed to become stuck in his throat the moment he laid eyes on his prince. "Prince Vegeta, what are you doing here?" he nearly stuttered.
"Due to circumstances, I live here." He answered slyly. "Looks like little Zarbon has joined the gang as well." he walked closer in a carefree manner.
Raditz clenched his fist. "Why did you leave?" he didn't as much as ask as demand. "How did you leave, and why didn't you take us with you."
"I had no choice in the matter." Vegeta dismissed him.
"Of course you didn't, that's why you left me and Nappa to rot!" They glared at each other, neither Saiyan willing to back down.
"And what were you doing here?" Nappa suddenly asked the prince. He let his scouter calculate Vegeta's power. 113. "What have you done? Your power used to be over ten thousand!" he screamed at him.
"Don't trust your scouter." The corners of his mouth were drawn upwards, into an arrogant smirk. "It lies."
"Or maybe you have gone soft." Nappa wanted to step forward, but Raditz held his hand to Nappa's chest.
"Kakarot will demonstrate." Vegeta said simply, turning to said Saiyan.
Goku concentrated for a moment, while Nappa measured the power through his scouter. Then it disappeared, the device calculated for a bit, and settled on Vegeta instead. Nappa reset the device, and he saw Goku smiling and waving through the red glass, but as far as the scouter was concerned, Goku did not exist.
Raditz glanced sideways to Nappa. "How?" he asked.
Vegeta waved a finger. "Now that would be telling."
With a cry of anger, Nappa threw himself forward, ignoring Raditz's complaints, and threw a punch at Vegeta. The prince sidestepped and, as if he flew into and invisible wall, Nappa launched backwards, blood spurting from his nose.
Nappa landed some distance behind the other two, who immediately took their battle stances.
"Vegeta, that wasn't nice." Goku said casually.
"He shouldn't have swung at me." Vegeta said back, equally relaxed.
"Aren't you two feeling safe?" Zarbon decided to join in. He drew one hand back and lit a small energy ball in it.
Behind him, Nappa got up to his feet, and released several energy blasts at Vegeta. Said Prince jumped sideways, towards the forest, careful not to let any hit the house behind them. He shot a single blast back, which hit Nappa in the face and the large Saiyan disappeared in the smoke.
Zarbon thought the other was standing idle for long enough and released his attack at Vegeta while said prince passed behind a tree. It hit the tree before Vegeta and the prince moved sideways from behind it and released a blast of his own. It wasn't strong enough to hurt Zarbon, but it did annoy him greatly. Without a sound, the reptilian warrior launched himself between the trees, Nappa hot on his heels.
Goku and Raditz watched the three disappear between the trees.
"I don't suppose you're still willing to join our crew." Raditz didn't even look at his brother, keeping an eye out for stray blasts instead.
"I never was." Goku said back.
Silence, as both Saiyans heard several explosions and screams of rage.
Raditz looked at Goku. "How did Vegeta end up here?"
"I don't think he wants you to know."
"You won't even tell your own brother?" He tried a differed route.
"Some brother you are. You only remembered me when you needed help." Goku crossed his arms in a very Vegeta-like manner.
"Ouch." Raditz replied mockingly. "I'm hurt. So tell me," He took on a more casual pose. "How do you hide your power level like that?"
"Oh, I just repress it." Goku smiled.
"Of course, everyone knows how to do that." Raditz jested. "How strong are you really?"
"Strong enough." Goku said, so far not having really answered anything yet.
"Can you be a little bit more specific?" Raditz was getting annoyed.
"Let's see." Goku scratched the back of his head. "In terms of raw power, I would be a little over half of Vegeta."
"Half of Vegeta?" Raditz blinked. 'That is at least five thousand, if Vegeta has not grown stronger.' He turned to the forest again, letting his scouter search. But it only found two powers.
"It's quiet." Goku remarked. And he was right. There were no blasts going off or in fact any other sound of battle.
"Do you think they got Vegeta already?" He asked casually. "Zarbon is very powerful, you know.
"No way." Goku waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "Vegeta is much stronger than they are." Cu to his words, several blasts went off, and a beam of energy flew into the sky.
"And you know how?"
"That's a secret." Goku smiled again.
'How has Vegeta not killed him already?'
Suddenly, Goku broke eye contact. His gaze wandered towards the sky. Raditz followed it, but found nothing. He glanced at Goku, who seemed to have his eyes transfixed on something. He scanned the sky, hoping to see Zarbon and Nappa, perhaps a mangled royal body between them. Instead, his eyes focused onto something else entirely.
"Behind the tree?" Nappa turned to Zarbon.
"What tree? There are a million of them here." Zarbon snapped at him.
"That one." Nappa pointed a couple close by.
"That doesn't help!"
"Vegeta, you coward!"
Said prince smirked, watching the two bicker while searching for him. He stood on a branch, and let the two pass beneath him. It had been easy, all he had to do was repress his power and move out of their field of sight and the two would never find him again.
He compared their powers. Nappa had definitely increased. And Zarbon was pretty high himself. In fact, before the trio even set fot here he had compared the highest power to his own, and thought that was Nappa's. He smiled; he must have been getting stronger than he thought. Time to find out.
He jumped down between his unsuspecting targets, hitting the ground without even making a sound. The two were standing with their backs to each other, trying to spy him. He walked straight up to Nappa. Using the tree right behind Nappa, he pulled himself up a little to reach right by Nappa's ear. The Saiyan still didn't even notice.
'Was I really this dull once?' Vegeta asked himself before smirking.
"Hello, Nappa" He said softly into the ear.
With an almighty scream, Nappa whirled around, tripping over his own feet, and fell backwards, away from Vegeta. Zarbon turned on the spot, and threw a blast next to Vegeta and over Nappa. It hit a tree and exploded, covering the entire area with smoke.
Nappa jumped up again and started swinging wildly around in an attempt to catch Vegeta before he got away. But Vegeta dodged every swing and stepped backwards into the cover of the smoke, from where he made his way towards Zarbon. The reptilian had made clear of the smoke and had a blast ready to fire.
Vegeta walked calmly out of the smoke with his hands behind his back, towards Zarbon, who was frozen on the spot.
"Maybe a little payback is in order." Vegeta said to him. Zarbon threw it, but Vegeta leaned to his left, letting the blast harmlessly pass by.
"You missed." He antagonized him.
Zarbon threw another. Vegeta dodged in the same manner.
"You missed again." Vegeta straightened his back and let his tail swing freely. "You need to work on your aim."
"So, the monkey learned a few new tricks." Zarbon tried to lure him out of his shell.
"What if I have?" Vegeta let a cocky smirk grip hold of his face. He crossed his arms, daring Zarbon to retaliate. Behind him he could feel Nappa's energy approaching him.
"It won't help you." Zarbon stated.
"Really?" Vegeta felt Nappa firing a large energy wave at him. He didn't even bother dodging. Instead, he turned his left shoulder slightly backwards, fired a beam with his right hand from underneath his left arm. The beams collided; Vegeta's overtook Nappa's quickly, flew right over the stunned Nappa and flew into the distance. He hadn't even taken his eyes off of Zarbon.
"HOW!" Nappa cried behind him. "How did you get so powerful?"
"I do a lot of push-ups and sit-ups." Vegeta turned to him. "And I drink plenty of juice."
Zarbon ignored the comment, and let his scouter calculate Vegeta's power once more. This time he got a reading. It was fluctuating between some twelve thousand and twenty-five thousand.
"You're strong, but not strong enough."
"And what makes you think that this is my maximum?" The power shot up to a steady thirty thousand. Vegeta eyed the green skinned fighter.
Then the smirk washed off of his face. His eyes shot to the sky. Out of reflex, Zarbon and Nappa followed suit. The sky was turning orange, as hundreds of small fireballs were descending upon Planet Earth.
End of Ch 9.
Thank you for reading, please review, and tell me the things you liked and didn't like.
Special thanks to BringingYaoiBack, for Beta Reading.
And to MsAnimeGeek, for beta reading, as well as helping me improve my writing.
