Human Limitations, Chapter 14:
Bardock was staring at him.
His armor bloodstained and shattered, his arm still blurring down in the motion of his signature attack. He saw his father staring right at him, or perhaps through him, mouthing words he couldn't hear. The blue blast whirred through the air with a slow and deep thrumming sound, as though sound too had been affected by the inescapable slowdown of the nightmare.
He wanted to turn around to look behind him as the brilliant blue bolt passed him to incinerate its target, but he couldn't move. He wasn't even aware of his body, but he was forced to look this way, as if a strong arm was holding his head in place, saying repeatedly LOOK, LOOK AT IT, in an angry and frustrated voice.
Then, below, he realized, the planet Vegeta, looming like a bloodshot eye in the blackness of space. As soon as he did there was a blinding light from behind, and time seemed to decelerate further. From his vantage point he clearly saw what happened next, and he felt more than heard the scream as his father was pushed back and engulfed by the light of the blast wave, his already damaged clothes and armor peeling back like a tin can and his the atmosphere sparking and igniting into columns of flame. The deadly silence of space erupted finally into a rushing noise of confusion, and he could finally hear his father's voice, but only now as it erupted into a scream, screaming a name into the echoing vortex….
KAKAROOOOOT!
Catapulted into a sitting position and dripping with cold sweat, stifling the gasp that had slipped from his throat, Raditz woke panting in the semi-darkness of the cave shelter where the two Saiyans had spent the night. He cupped his face in his hands and squeezed at his eyes, willing away the sensation and getting back to reality.
"Damn it. That's the damned dream again." Raditz hissed, gritting his teeth.
For the past several months, this exact dream plagued his rest during the long flights through space, on more than one occasion spoiling his mood before a purge, when normally he should have been enjoying the chance to stretch his muscles and cut loose a reckless blast of energy. He dreamed a lot of things, but none of them made sense to him and they all ended up the same way, with the destruction of planet Vegeta by that damned meteor storm…
Maybe it was just him losing his nerve for going against Freeza, or perhaps he was losing his mind after all, but there was no way he could let the Prince catch on. If Vegeta thought he was no longer a capable warrior, he might decide he was more of a liability, after all.
What would father think if he could see me now? Unnerved by a nightmare? Am I a Saiyan warrior or aren't I? The eldest son of Bardock laughed, somewhat self-deprecatingly. He shook his head, privately ashamed of himself as he thought over and tried to rationalize the dream.
For that matter, why the hell would father call out Kakarot's name and not mine? Raditz pondered with some annoyance, despite realizing it was ridiculous.
On the other hand, at least one good thing had come of his bizarre night-terrors, he thought as he glanced sidelong at the younger Saiyan. It was only because of this most recent dream reminding him of Kakarot that he had begun to think about him in the first place.
At any rate, vauge dreams of doom and destruction had soon been pushed from his mind minutes ago at the comical sight of his brother, splayed across both of sleeping piles haphazardly in a deep slumber. Completely innocent to the worries of the universe, it would seem. For just a moment he felt a twinge of envy towards that innocent sleeping face, but he brushed the thought aside.
"Get up, Kakarot! You've slept long enough," Raditz grumbled, giving the snoring Saiyan a light but rousing kick in the ribs.
Goku snorted and sat up, scratching his head with a look of annoyance and confusion, before the reality of the alien environment and his present company sank in, and his attitude picked up considerably.
"Hey Raditz. Today is training day, right? Thats what you said last night?" he said, a hopeful tone of anticipation in his voice.
"That's right. I'm going to show you all my tricks, little brother." Raditz nodded somewhat cockily, folding his arms over his chest. "I'll try not to fight with more than half my strength for for you, so try to at least keep up."
Goku bristled at the implied insult, but almost immediately shot back in a surprisingly good imitation of Raditz's own sneer. "Only half strength, huh? Doesn't sound like much fun, but alright. Hey, If I win do I get a prize?"
"Win? Little brother, it's a bit early in the day for you to be even imagining winning against me. But with that said, I like your style," Raditz smirked, narrowing his glare at the younger Saiyan. "Now get ready, time is wasting!"
"Yeah, just hold on for a few minutes while I warm up..." Goku sighed and stretched.
Raditz smirked as the younger Saiyan immediately leaped off the flat grey cot and began his morning routine of stretches.
"That's the spirit," he chuckled, following suit on his own. I'll whip you into shape, Kakarot. And while I'm at it, I'll show you the proper way to respect your older brother and an elite warrior!
The previous day, Raditz had wasted no time in welcoming him at his crash landing site, the coordinates of which had led him to land in a stretch of wide open badlands miles long in a wide swath, seemingly uninhabited by the native beasts, and also seemingly rare on this planet, and now marked by a large crater from his landing as well. The two of them decided this would be a good enough place to make camp, and found a small cave, little more than an indent in the rocks, where they could pile leaves together to make sleeping space for two. As a child Goku had been more than used to this sort of situation when camping in the wilderness, and his sense of adventure was making it practically impossible for him to contain himself. He did, however, refrain from bothering Raditz with it too much, as he had found that the older Saiyan did not hold interest in such things, and lost patience with him after too much excited talking.
Deep space was unlike anything he could have imagined; Goku's mind reeled at the strange sights hidden just beyond the comparatively plain and orderliness of Earth's solar system. It was the first morning waking up on Zenark, the medium sized jungle planet Raditz had chosen for their meeting and their first stop before eventually meeting up with the other Saiyans. The thick foliage that seemed to consume the planet in its tangle was such a dark green that it was almost black except for some large, poisonous looking luminescent flowers that hung from the branches like garlands. The dense, foggy air was at all times extremely humid and uncomfortably warm, with the exception being that at night the temperature and moisture in the air dropped considerably, and sometimes it snowed seemingly at random. From time to time the planet's surface seemed to shake, but it seemed to be a normal occurence for there to be mild earthquakes on planet Zenark. The enormous and varied population of reptillian beasts on the planet were astonishing even to Goku, who had grown up in and around jungle species, and was used to weirdness. Above all, Goku realized that his body seemed heavier and slower than before, which Raditz had explained to him as being a result of the slightly higher gravity.
Their first night together on the planet had been uneventful, and they two of them had each hunted on their own and withing ten minutes or less brought back whatever they could to eat, seared to a crisp over a pile of superheated stones in the way Raditz had shown him. Raditz even tried some food slowly smoked over a firepit in the Earth style and found the taste to his liking. The previous night's hunt had ended it what amounted to an eating contest, and in the end they didn't end up knowing or caring who had eaten the most or the fastest, as the giant reptile meat seemed to render them as sluggish and content as a lizard themselves while they both digested.
Now it was morning, the reddish sun penetrating and reflecting through the many layers of fog rising from the distant jungle canopies casting things into a high contrast that almost hurt to look at until the sun rose a little higher. The stage was set for battle.
The two Saiyans stared eachother down as they walked out into the open space of the sparse wasteland surrounding the cave.
"Well then Kakarot, I think it's high time we put your training on Earth to the test and see just how much effort it's going to take to turn you into a real warrior. See if you can follow me. Let's start with a little sparring, shall we?"
"Fine. Hand to hand is a bit of a specialty of mine." Goku boasted, smirking back excitedly.
Raditz slid effortlessly into a shoulder width stance he was comfortable with and cocked his leg forward and readied his fists, snap kicking forward several times in a rapid display that for him was almost sluggish. He followed by demonstrating some of his basic chain punches. Goku had slid into a low crouching stance of his own, but now was watching with only mild interest, as it was obvious the attacks were not intended to connect. Without warning he shot up and stopped just short of the older Saiyan's chin with his fist. Raditz quirked an eyebrow.
"Where's the follow through, Kakarot? You left me plenty of time to see that coming and dodge, you should have taken advantage there," he sighed, as Goku glared back at him.
"Isn't that the same as what you're doing? If you're not going to put any effort into fighting me, why should I?" Goku growled back.
Raditz looked at his brother with a glimmer of interest. He could see clearly now the Saiyan instinct working in him, what the Prince would call pride in his battle prowess. As well as the adrenaline.
"I told you before we started, I'd only fight you with half my power. That should be enough for you for now, little brother," he sneered back, shoving the fist aside. Goku stumbled back slightly before righting himself, but he didn't look any less eager or aggressive.
"What is this, basic training? Trust me, I know what I'm doing when it comes to fighting. I want to fight already!"
Raditz scowled. "Oho. So you think your meagre fighting skills are enough just because you've been through a few skirmishes? That might get you killed in the future."
"Maybe I'll surprise you, Raditz. The Earth has some pretty strong guys, after all," the younger Saiyan shot back. He already discarded his weighted shirt, as well as training bands and boots. He was serious.
Raditz kept the smirk and cracked his knuckles fiercely on one hand at a time, removing his scouter to avoid damaging it. It was already turned off anyways, since they weren't supposed to use scouter communication on their secret base planets anyways.
"Are you prepared for this?"
Goku smirked confidently. "I didn't come all this way not to fight you."
Raditz moved like a blur, fist slamming into Goku's stomach and knocking him back. The younger Saiyan just barely tensed in time to avoid taking full damage, but even on guard the blow staggered him considerably. Raditz himself prevented him from falling by grabbing his hair and pulling him back to his feet before he tipped backwards.
"ARgh, that hurts!" he yelped as his hair was tugged sharply.
"On your feet, Kakarot! A Saiyan warrior cannot take a knee except in defeat!" Raditz snapped, but loosened his grip somewhat. Goku panted for air and rubbed his stomach, glaring up at him while he dangled by the hair. His toes touched the ground, but he swayed as though he was going to fall over in exhaustion.
"That wasn't a fair hit, you didn't say we were starting yet," he groaned.
"What are you, a child?! You asked for my full strength, and you got it!" Raditz barked angrily. "In a real fight we wouldn't even be having this conversation, because nobody sets limits like that! I could have kept hitting you until you were dead!"
The younger Saiyan was still clutching his stomach and looked severely winded, but Raditz waited a moment longer for him to regain his strength before stepping back to let him stand under his own power. Goku hit the ground almost immediately afterwards and took a knee, clutching his stomach still and groaning.
"You'll live, Kakarot. Saiyans are built for taking hits like that. Just give it a few minutes and breathe," Raditz said, somewhat quieter. He almost felt bad for allowing himself to go all out. "Still, I warned you about my full strength, didn't I?"
"Yeah... you did, heheh," Goku laughed uncomfortably throught the pain. "And you were right. I guess I just had to try it for myself. I wanted to know what it would feel like if I got hit by the strongest opponent I've ever met. I couldn't resist the chance..."
"You're attempting to flatter me, I think," Raditz smirked back, joining him in a brief laugh. "Just remember you have to earn the right to brag, and you'll do fine."
After a few moments, the younger Saiyan was able to get up with a determined effort and they resumed sparring, Raditz now refraining from using his full strength, but still putting the pressure on by forcing his younger brother to work hard and dodging and blocking. Fighting at only 60% seemed like a good balanced approach for the moment, as the added ten percent difficulty forced his brother to fight back harder without putting him at too much risk.
"Now that's much better," Raditz noted approvingly, as Goku picked up the pace. As of yet however he hadn't landed a solid blow on Raditz's body like he had on him. The battle continued in intensity like the younger Saiyan had never before experienced from a training match, not even his life and death battle against Piccolo had felt this rough, or had he felt so outclassed by his opponent. In the space of minutes that followed scrapes, cuts, and painfully swollen bruises were becoming increasingly prevalent in any area of his arms or legs that deflected or blocked a blow from Raditz. They had been going like this for ten minutes almost, just their arms and legs crashing against each other, with Raditz deflecting every blow and stepping backwards, to the side, or simply swaying out of the way.
Surpising his older brother at the very first with his determination to make this a real challenge, he was able to quickly adapt his Earthly fighting style to counter his aggressive movements, and even managed to move with him to stay within striking range without getting hit. A quick check of the scouter would have determined it for sure, but without it he estimated that his power level increased another fifty points when he was angry, in addition to the hundred points from removing the weights. The difference was still measly, but it showed as his tactics became more agressive, switching from quick kung fu strikes to attempt grappling. Judo proved ineffectual, as even if he could lift Raditz off the ground he was simply able to levitate and continue the battle from there.
Even carefully holding himself back to his power level, there was still a huge difference between the two of them in physical strength, as Raditz's broad shoulders and biceps, as well as his height advantage, proved too difficult to overcome no matter what tactic he tried against him. That wasn't to say the older Saiyan wasn't challenged by the attacks, as they tested his reaction time and toughness to the nth degree, but the difference in power level was still far too severe. Raditz laughed excitedly as he swatted away a fist that from his point of view appeared to be moving almost too slow to be considered a real punch.
"Are you tiring out already? Such pathetic endurance! I'm going to have to break you down and build you from scratch." he snarled returning the punch with a quick hook from his right fist.
Almost before he had finished the movement however he noticed that his opponent was leaning just slightly backwards in anticipation of the punch and rotating the upper body and head in a quarter turn, just managing to graze past it by the nose. Raditz stared in shock, Goku was giving him an intense glare of focus the entire time as his instincts chose his path of action for him. The dodge was so fluid it was shocking, that he could move that quickly into an opening in his defence in the middle of his attack, that Raditz was caught up in simply staring at it and failed to react as he completed the movement, the quarter turn also being a wind up for a heavy punch into the armored plate of his torso that buckled the tough spongy material despite its hardness.
Raditz flinched at the impact's sting and let out a sharp cough, snapping back into reality. Goku stared back at him through one eye swollen almost shut and panting and dripping with sweat, almost in as much shock as he was, before a wide grin spread across his face.
"Hahaha! I did it! YES!" Goku crowed happily, focused glare melting completely as he jumped up and down, pumping his fist. "I finally got you back! That one makes us even. But ouch, your armor is seriously hard, I think I bruised the bones in my hand," he laughed, shaking his wrist out.
Raditz stared dumbfoundedly at the younger Saiyan's laughing antics for a long moment before joining in, and the two of them almost sounded like a pair of laughing monkeys.
"Alright, Kakarot," Raditz said after a while, plopping down on the ground next to their campfire. "I think you have some talent we can work with. That was a pretty good warmup, I actually worked up a good sweat."
"Uh, wait. Warm up?" the younger Saiyan echoed back, watching him.
"Yes. For a Saiyan first class like me, little skirmishes like that will do nothing to improve our battle power." Raditz smirked darkly, "As true Saiyan warriors, we can only reach our potential by fighting to the brink of death."
"The brink of death?" he echoed again, somewhat nervously. "How have you survived if every time you train you keep going until you almost die?"
"Didn't you know this already? Every time a Saiyan experiences near death, his battle power increases dramatically. I'm sure you've gone through something like that at least once in your life." Raditz shot back, "...after all, you got this far on your own strength. Your power level must be something like five-hundred right now, a good average, for a low class anyways. Thats a long way to come from being born at a power level of what, 10?"
Raditz laughed while Goku thought it over, appearing to be counting in his head. "To be honest, it was a good thing for me that you decided to come along with me, or else I'd probably never have a training partner."
"Why is that?" the younger Saiyan asked, deciding at that moment to join him around the campfire. Raditz chuckled.
"Saiyans are prideful, little brother. We don't like to share power. If we don't have a training partner of similiar strength who we know we can trust, we'll train on our own rather than allow the chance of somebody else getting stronger than us."
"That seems a bit backwards, you can't just do everything on your own," Goku frowned. "How do you learn new techniques?"
"We forged ourselves on the battlefield, obviously! There is no better master than life or death battle to teach you what does and doesn't work!" Raditz grinned, staring into the flickering fire. A small ki blast brought it roaring back to life again, spewing cinders into the air rapidly like a miniature volcano.
"So then why offer to train with me?"
"Obviously because we're family, fool." he scoffed.
Raditz glanced up over the fire to find Goku staring into the firepit as well. He prodded at a smaller lizard on a stick left over from last night's dinner had burnt to an inedble cinder in the blast, but that wasn't really where his mind was. Unable to read the pensive expression on the younger Saiyan's face, he simply shrugged.
"Like I said, with the two of us at a more or less even level, we can progress much more quickly using this technique. For the time being I just want to get you onto my level, and then we can fight without holding anything back. We might even get strong enough to contend with Nappa, given enough time." Raditz thought with a laugh.
"How many times have you trained to the brink of death?" Goku asked suddenly. Raditz stopped laughing and thought over the seriousness of the question.
"Thats hard to say, really. Before you came along, Nappa was closest to me in strength, but still too powerful to train with without it being a waste for him. Maybe he's worried about being outstripped by me, if he gives me the chance, but if I tried this training method he'd probably try to kill me first for trying to steal his spot as the Prince's favorite," Raditz muttered broodingly, but not without humour. "But on the other hand, that's good training for me to get to the brink of death, as well..."
"How strong is he again?" Goku asked again suddenly, "This Nappa guy I mean."
"Around 5,000 battle power, and physically he's a giant. You don't want to get on his bad side, trust me," Raditz snorted, recalling the tempermentality of the bald brute.
"So... If I want to fight him evenly when we meet, I have to get about five times stronger than you, huh?"
Raditz's jaw dropped. "What!? Is that some kind of joke? You seriously think you can improve that much in only a year of training!"
Goku leaned forward. "I'm serious. You said if we trained to the brink of death against eachother, we could get way, WAY stronger in a short amount of time. I want us both to do that and get five times stronger."
Raditz shook his head. "You fool, don't you think if it was that easy, EVERYONE would do it? Have you even considered the possibility you might simply die of injury after fighting too hard? Even with a healing tank and a medic, it's risky. We don't have either of those out here!"
The younger Saiyan suddenly smirked. "We don't need any of those things. I've got something even better," he said, reaching into his belt and removing a small leather pouch.
Raditz watched curiously as Kakarot tipped the contents of the bag over, producing a few small, green lumps that looked like ungrown Saibamen to him, although he knew they couldn't be that. Placing the rest back in the bag, he popped just one between his teeth and crunched loudly before swallowing. Raditz's eyes widened as without warning Goku's muscles twitched and bulged just slightly, only a few milimeters or more but still visibly, and even more shockingly every scratch and cut instantly repaired itself, and bruises faded to normal coloration, even the swelling and perspiration of battle vanished completely. If he didn't know better, he'd say he hadn't been training hard at all just a minute ago.
"What... what was that?" Raditz gaped in shock.
"It's called a Senzu bean." Goku smirked, tossing one to Raditz before tucking the bag securely back under his belt. "They're a sacred treasure, only grown in a secret place. They have incredible power hidden in them, they can heal just about any wound, and they're supposed to keep you fed for days. I once got blasted through the lung by Piccolo and came back fighting fit , all thanks to these cool little beans. So what do you think? Will the plan work now?"
Raditz grinned savagely. "Through the lung, huh? Kakarot, I think training with you just got a lot more interesting. The Prince will definitely be surprised when he sees us again. Actually... With these, we might even be strong enough to train alongside Prince Vegeta!" Raditz laughed out loud with a thrill at the idea of getting that much stronger.
Goku grinned back just as excitedly. "Really?! Isn't he like three times stronger than that Nappa guy?"
"Well, I think if he was pushed he could go further, but essentially, yeah. How many beans have we got?"
"There were twelve in the bag, but I just used one right now so there are only ten left, counting the one I just gave you. They don't grow a full crop very fast, so twelve is all I grabbed,"
"That should be more than enough for our purposes, but I think we should save one or two for a scientist I know of," Raditz mused, turning over the tiny bean in his hand, before tucking it safely into a the fold of his red armband.
"A scientist? Why give one to them if they're not even going to fight?" Goku said puzzled. Raditz rolled his eyes and continued with a laugh.
"To study it, of course! If we could somehow replicate this power, and add it to our healing tanks back at Vegeta Base one, we might gain a real advantage over Freeza's forces..."
"What's this about a Vegeta base?" Goku interrupted. Raditz blinked, then remembered who he was talking to.
"That's right, you've never been there. Vegeta Base one, formerly Freeza planet number Sixty-six until he gave it to Vegeta, as a 'reward for his services'. It's our main operations base, located far from here on a dead planet that Freeza gave to Vegeta to rule. It's an ugly planet, though. More of an insult than a reward. Anyways, its out of the way of other bases and not convienient, so its just been the three of us there, some scientists and staff officers who keep out of our way... and whoever feels like coming around to pick a fight with the Prince from time to time," Raditz sighed.
"Pick a fight?" Goku echoed in confusion. "I don't understand. Why would Freeza let his soldiers pick a fight with you guys? I mean, he still thinks you're his subordinates or whatever, right?"
"Not like that, Kakarot. It's not open war on their part, just childishness."
"Okay... Now I'm more confused than before."
"I think you'll understand better once you actually meet the Prince..." Raditz trailed off, laughing uncertainly, "His personality is, well, abraisive to most people."
The confused look on the younger Saiyan was interrupted by a loud growl of his stomach. Raditz chuckled along with him at that. "Thats right, we haven't eaten breakfast yet..." Goku added.
"I thought those beans were supposed to keep you full for days?" Raditz laughed questioningly.
"Well yeah it does, if you eat like a human that is!" he grinned back, scratching his wild hair.
The two brothers shared another hearty laugh before flying off into the jungles in search of food. Meanwhile, the seemingly inactive scouter left behind ticked and whirred as a secret mechanism processed certain information.