Add Another Five
The pod landed with a loud explosion in the middle of a tiny island, obliterating the house which had been standing, in its stead, a round spaceship inhabiting the aliens of Vegeta-Sei. Further away, standing on the shell of a sea turtle at a safe distance, was an old man having escaped death by a hairs width.
Master Roshi's mouth hung open as he saw his home being turned into smithereens by what he now concluded was a space ship. It had to be, the way it had fallen out of the sky like a meteor. He watched the space pod open slowly, revealing a rather human looking man, carrying on his arms what seemed to be a baby. And while both individuals looked rather human, seeing as they had fallen out of space, he assumed they would be anything but.
Roshi was unsure what his course of action should be. Approach them, or run for the hills? He could feel the power level on the older man and knew that he was outmatched and outclassed. Could he really leave though, if this man turned out to be a threat for his planet? In cases such as these, Roshi wondered if martial arts had been the right career path for him. He wasn't suicidal by any means, but being one of the strongest fighter's earth possessed, it put him at the frontlines of any coming danger. Mind you, that didn't happen all that often, but when he was faced with impossible stuff like the situation he currently found himself in…
He had no choice, didn't he…
With a sigh, he approached the crater of an island, the alien man already looking directly at Roshi.
"Not exactly where I thought we would land…" Roshi heard the alien mutter. Interestingly enough, it seemed like the man had no difficulty speaking the language of earth. Maybe he wasn't an alien after all?
One closer look at the baby's waving tail quickly put that thought aside. Earth had a plethora of strange mutations, but he had never heard or seen humans possessing a tail, no matter what kind of tail it may have been.
Alien it was then.
"I assume destroying my home wasn't part of the original coordination's?" Roshi tried to be witty and easy going, but internally he was anything but. That power level was not easy to brush off.
"You could say so… I had expected to land in a forest further north-west from here… No matter. Earthling, do you know where any of the Dragon Balls are located?" Bardock recognized the human instantly, but decided not to show his hand as of yet. He knew the old man played an important role in Kakarot's growth in strength, however this time there would be no need for the old man's tutelage. He would take care of that part of his son's education.
"Dragon Balls? Never heard of that. Maybe you've got the wrong planet pal," Bardock was quite aware of the lie, but decided to let it go. He doubted the old man could help in that quest. His time was limited. He had maybe 24 hours left to gather the balls, maybe less, maybe more. He had no time to waste. The radar would be invented 12 years into the future by the earthling Bulma, who should only be a toddler in earth years. He would have to search every inch of this planet to find the mystical balls.
"Mind me if I ask, what a-" Bardock did not let Roshi finish the sentence, handing over Kakarot to the old man without hesitation.
"Take care of my son. Don't drop him. He is rather rowdy and aggressive. I'll be back tomorrow to get him back."
Without waiting for the man to reply, Bardock took off in a burst of energy, goal clear in his mind. Roshi on the other hand, simply looked down at the naked baby, who was looking back at him, unsure of what had just happened.
"You wouldn't happen to speak, would you?" As if on que, the baby started crying his lungs out rather loudly. Roshi knew from that moment on, it would be a looooong 24 hours.
Without a home to return to, he decided the best course of action would be to visit an old student of his. Come to think off it Mount Paozu was a little further north-west. Coincidence? Maybe… Roshi doubted it though. Something was extremely off about this entire situation and the only one capable of answering his questions was the baby's father who had taken off in a hurry to hunt down the dragon balls.
Powerless to stop whatever was transpiring, he popped a capsule from his pocket, a vehicle similar to a jet ski appearing out of a puff of smoke, and started to make his way towards the mountains.
Return of Warriors
Bardock didn't leave a single stone unturned in the search of the dragon balls. The first places he looked for the magical balls were from what he could vaguely remember of his vision. With some he had success and with some he didn't. He knew the limitations of the dragon balls only allowed him to bring the dead back within a year. He only hoped he still had enough time to make the wish, as the trip to earth had taken exactly 365 earth days and his race had been still alive by that point.
After hours of exhausting search, Bardock held in his arms 6 orange balls. The only place he had yet to look was the home of Kakarot's former adoptive grandparent.
Without wasting time, he headed towards the mountain, surprized to find out that Gohan was not the only resident. Well, he honestly shouldn't be. His space ship did destroy the island of the old man Roshi.
"Hand over the last dragon ball," he demanded of Gohan, as he tried to wrestle with Kakarots unruliness. Roshi simply watched in worry, powerless to do anything against somebody so far from his league.
"Can we at least know what you want them for?" Roshi asked, if only to alleviate his guilt for giving in so easily.
Bardock was ready to ignore the question of the old man, but stopped for a moment to think and ponder. At the end of the day, he could understand the old man's worries. These were the people who had given his son the strength to care, to become strong in the face of the impossible, to become strong for the sake of protection. That is what had allowed Kakarot to achieve legendary status.
Out of the respect of the memory of a future altered and never to be, he decided to answer.
"My planet was obliterated by a tyrant almost 1 year ago. I escaped with my son before my people were killed in cold blood. While I would like to restore my planet, that is no longer a possibility, as not only did Frieza, the tyrant, corrupt our entire system, but if he found out that our planet existed once more, he would simply destroy it again and hunt down the one responsible for achieving such a feat. Worse, he could find out about the dragon balls and he would in turn never be defeated.
I want to bring some of my people back to life here on earth, so that we may start anew while also training to become the very reason Frieza decided to destroy our race."
"And what will become of the inhabitants of earth, when you bring your people back to life?" After all, it couldn't be that simple? A tyrant killing a race for, as far as Roshi understood, their power? If this alien was so outclassed by this tyrant, how much more powerful was this Frieza guy? What would this guy's race do to the earthlings? He seems to want to regrow his race on their planet. The consequences couldn't be good. The earth would be defenceless against these guys.
"Nothing. We will live alongside humans."
Roshi was rather sceptical, but he had no other choice but to trust the stranger's words. Roshi nodded to Gohan, his student handing over Kakarot to Bardock, before disappearing in the small hut he lived in.
"Who are you? How do you know of the dragon balls?" Roshi asked in defeat.
"I am Bardock of planet Vegeta. I hail from the Saiyan race and this is my son Kakarot," it would be the only name his son would have in this future.
Roshi noticed that he did not answer his second question, but as he tried to repeat it and demand an answer, Gohan returned with the four-star dragon ball in his hand, placing it on the ground where Bardock put the rest of the dragon balls together.
The balls started to glow together, responding to one another's proximity.
"Come forth ShenLong and grant my wish!"
The balls pulsed light as the sky darkened above through heavy clouds. The Eternal dragon rose from the dragon balls, its red eyes looking down on those who had summoned him.
"State your wish and I shall grant it."
Bardock took a moment to look at the massive being, in a sense, feeling like this was almost surreal. That the Namekians could create such magical beings when they themselves were nothing of significant power, being able to rise the dead… But there was no time to marvel at the creation of the Namekian he knew went by the name Kami.
"ShenLong, I wish for the people close to my heart to be here on earth with me, alive and well," Bardock had spent a long time pondering how he would formulate his wish. He hoped that this would suffice to bring back the people he truly cared for.
"Your wish is granted." The dragon said, right before 6 Saiyans stood in shock before Bardock, confused as to what had happened.
Without wasting a single second, Bardock shot an energy beam at each of Saiyans, destroying the scouters before they could register any signals.
"What the-"
"Hey!"
"Wha-"
"I thought-"
None of the Sayains could finish their words as their eyes landed on Bardock and Kakarot, wide in shock as the sky cleared once more and the dragon was nowhere to be seen, along with the dragon balls, scattering across the globe once more.
"Bardock?!"
"Father!?"
The Sayans stood shock, unable to comprehend what had aspired. But most importantly, it was Raditz who felt the most confused, looking around him to see people he thought to have been dead for a year, living and breathing once more. Was this some kind of dream? If so, it was a cruel one, as he had just come to terms with the loss of his family.
"Is that Kakarot?" Gine was the first to break out of her shocked state, already making her way towards the baby she hadn't been able to hold before her death. She approached Bardock gingerly, unsure if what she was seeing was real or not. She stretched out her arms as Bardock placed the infant in his mother's arms, that luxury having been denied both the mother and the baby since Kakarots power levels were measured by their devices to be pathetically low. Not that those devices had ever been accurate, now that Bardock knew the truth.
Bardock looked at Raditz, motioning for his eldest son to approach them, letting his feelings and instincts guide him and engulfing his entire family in a warm hug, without the fear of judgement looming over his head.
It was obviously a new feeling for his entire family. Since the Sayan race had become a race of murderers rather than warriors, affection had become a taboo rather than the norm.
But the old Sayan race was no more. With the warmth of his family in his arms, he plotted a new vision for their extinct traditions. He saw where true strength lied and it was not through a frozen heart, as King Vegeta and, most importantly, Frieza led the universe to believe.
While the humans were weak and insignificant in the eyes of the world, it was their principles and their… softness which had enabled from the last of the Sayan race to reach what people thought to be only a myth.
And while Bardock still had his own instincts and code to follow, he could easily make room for the power the human principles provided. And his family would be where he would start.
Return of Warriors
"I could have sworn we were dead…" Toma scratched his head, confused as he looked at the teammates he had seen die except for the family hugging a few steps away.
"That's because you did," it was a voice Toma did not recognize nor did he know the old man that spoke it.
"Obviously we didn't if were still alive," Celipa crossed her arms, sceptical of the entire ordeal. Her memories were foggy at best and while she couldn't remember dying, despite her words, she couldn't shake the feeling that, like Toma, she had kicked the bucket quite a while ago.
Tottepo and Panbukin remained silent, the former observing their environment while the other seemed to be in deep thought.
"Obviously, you were brought back to life," Roshi answered.
At that, three of the four Sayans burst out in laughter. As if that was a thing.
"Roshi is telling the truth," Bardock said, releasing his family at last from his affection. "You've been dead for a little less than a year. Honestly, I was unsure if you guys would be able to be brought back to life, seeing as you died shortly before I made my trip back to earth. Seems like you made the one year time limit."
"One year what now? Sorry to say this Bardock, old pal, but that sounds a bit outlandish," Panbukin said.
"Except for Raditz, Kakarot and me, you were all killed by Frieza. Planet Vegeta has been destroyed and so has been the rest of our race. We are the last surviving Saiyans, with the exception of Prince Vegeta and Nappa," and Broly too, but he decided to keep that piece of information to himself for now. He was unsure what to do with the child, but he knew he would survive just fine.
"You're kidding, right?" Tora said in disbelief.
"No, father is telling the truth. Well, at least about Planet Vegeta's destruction, the death of our race and about Vegeta and Nappa. I only just found out that father and Kakarot had also made it alive…" His son was shaking; he could see the tears being held back. Sometimes, he forgot that despite the Saiyan battle prowess, Raditz was still a child.
"So we were all dead…" Celipa accepted in defeat.
"Father… why are only us here? Why didn't you bring Vegeta and Nappa too? What about the rest of planet Vegeta?" Raditz asked the hard questions, it seemed. He barely even knew his eldest son. In the future-which-never-was, Raditz had died early on and that had been the end of him. This time around, Raditz would live out his life on his own terms, without the manipulations of Frieza and the poison of the young Vegeta.
Bardock placed his hand over Raditz long mane of hair, his son flinching away for a second, before realizing that he was in no trouble for asking questions.
"Restoring Planet Vegeta would have drawn too much attention and would have resulted back in its destruction. Bringing back to life all the Saiyans would have put all life on earth in danger, as no doubt they would have exterminated every non-Saiyan and we would have continued to be ruled under the cowardice and corruption of King Vegeta. Our race became cocky when we had nothing to be cocky about, being nothing more than glorified slaves for Frieza. There was no pride in being a Saiyan anymore. Our pride stemmed from acts of genocide for the sake of killing, rather than testing our strength. But that's what Frieza wanted our race to turn into. Mindless beasts, instead of the warriors we are meant to be.
Prince Vegeta will need to suffer under the hands of Frieza, my wish could not encompass his return. Frieza would have scoured the galaxy for the little prince, we can't afford that kind of attention until we are strong enough to defeat him.
Nappa… was one of the elite, whose pride is misplaced."
"You can't make these decisions by yourself, Bardock!" Celipa shouted, angry at what she was hearing. Bardock acted like he was in a position to choose such matters when he was just a third class commander!
"But I can and I have." Bardock replied sternly. "I have seen the future, that is how I even knew to escape. The Saiyan race, as it was, is no more. Like it or not, we are the last of our kind and it falls on our shoulders to bring it back to full glory. Without the influence of a tyrant and without the corruption of a royal bloodline which never promised power, but suppressed it instead!
King Vegeta ordered the death of an infant for being born with a power level of 10,000, simply because of his fear of being overthrown. How many other infants could have possibly died due to suck corrupt decisions?
No, I will not allow for our race to fall back into that. We are a race of warriors, we honour strength and battle tactics. The one meant to lead us should be not only the most competent but also the most powerful! Our race should be their priority, not their own superiority!"
"You've gone mad with power, Bardock! Listen to yourself! You think you can be king!?" Panbukin couldn't believe his ears. He was grateful that he was alive, held deep respect for his commander, but even he could see that this was a ruse to take over the power he would have never had if their entire race was still alive.
"No. I'm far from the most powerful. Sure, right now I might surpass everyone's power levels, but there are two Saiyans which will become legendary without doubt."
"And who are those Saiyans?" Gine asked, having been quite this entire ordeal as she held Kakarot lovingly in her arms.
"Prince Vegeta and Kakarot."
"Kakarot!? But his power levels are pathetic!" Raditz shouted in exasperation.
"You have a lot to learn, son. All of us have."
Silence reigned over the Saiyans, the 2 earthlings having listened to the entire exchange without interruption.
"We should find a place to stay. The earthlings are off limits; you can't harm any of the inhabitants." Finally, Bardock turned to the humans. "Do you know of any remote places on earth which would be suitable for us? We will cause a lot of destruction to the terrain, we'll be training and sparring a lot."
Roshi was deep in thought, unsure of what to make of this entire situation. He had listened to the exchange and he could not fathom the magnitude of danger they were currently in. Like it or not, earth was stuck with a bunch of aliens hell-bent on becoming even more powerful than they already were, outclassing each and every one of earth's best fighters.
Once again, Roshi found himself powerless in the face of this challenge.
"Mount Paozu would match those criteria. Of course, I do live here too, but I doubt you'll cause me much trouble" Gohan smiled kindly.
Roshi was unsure if that was such a good idea, but it would also help to have Gohan monitor these extra-terrestrials, or Saiyans, as they liked to call themselves.
Bardock looked around for a second, before nodding in agreement.
"We'll make camp here tonight. Tomorrow we start with proper training again.
Scatter." Bardock commanded, his team knowing exactly what to do. His family remained with him as they found a decent place to make camp and started preparing for the settlement of their new home planet and the cultivation of the rise of the Saiyan race.