A/N: "AL" stands for After Landing, and is used like BC or AD.  "PL" stands for Power Level, and is on par with the known power level in the Saiyan and Freeza sagas.  When I want to flashback I will italicize the setting and then the time.

Title: Uncharted Territory

Chapter 1: The Ultimate Sacrifice 

The hibernation chambers finally opened after their long journey deep into uncharted territory.  Once everyone had been released from their sleep, the first news of the fate of Cold Outpost 127A was heard.  Soon all the display screens were showing the sacrifice of Pepper and the destruction of their planet. 

While they knew they would never return home, viewing the actual destruction left them in a somber mood.  Upon landing on their new planet, many of the inhabitants went to pay their condolences to Pepper's mate and three children.  In honor of his memory, they named the planet Arcania, from the Saiyan phrase "Arc-An", with meant "Renewed Hope".

Over the next several months, work went into building homes and facilities for the inhabitants.  Work was split up amongst the races depending on that race's abilities, and within a year they had a city built that was equal to the one they had left on Cold Outpost 127A. 

Most species flourished in this new and free environment, however, the Saiyans did not.  With no enemies to fight, the warrior race became weaker with each passing generation.  Also with only a handful Saiyan families to begin with on the trip, the bloodlines were diluted until almost none had any Saiyan blood left. 

Within 150 years of the landing, only one pure Saiyan family was left.  Direct descendants of Pepper, the final two pure Saiyans of Arcania were brothers born in 138 AL and 144 AL named Mazen and Cori, respectively.  Their father Tomaten died in an accident when Cori was barely three years old.  Mazen could still remember that day clearly.  It had been such a beautiful day...

Summer Season, Six Years Earlier - 147 AL

It was a beautiful day outside, deserving of the summer solstice.  As was tradition for their family, Tomaten took his son Mazen out to the Hikatori Cliffs a few days prior.  Ever since Mazen was four years old they had taken this trip to help practice their hunting and survival skills. 

It was an event both Saiyans looked forward to each year, and Tomaten never felt closer to his son than at this time.  The two would head through the thick Anbotan Forest until they came to the flat Rikagou Plains, which they would cross until reaching the Hikatori Cliffs.  They would climb the cliffs and then return home by was of the Icarneth mountains.

Everything was going fine for the nine year old and his father, and it seemed as though the Kais were smiling on them.  This would be Mazen's last time coming alone with his father, since Cori would join them next year.  After their two day journey through the forests, living off only meat they could find, they crossed the plains in under a day, reaching the cliffs by nightfall. 

The next morning, the two Saiyans ate some food they had stored in the forest and then began their morning training.  Mazen's flying ability and ki manipulation was coming along nicely, even faster than expected.  After their training was done, the two began their several hundred foot ascent.

A little above the halfway point was when they both noticed something was very wrong.  Large boulders seemed to be falling from the top of the cliff and a low rumbling could be heard.  It was only an instant later that the entire rock face collapsed upon them. 

Terrified by the fall, Mazen could not think to use his ki to fly to safety.  Tomaten realized this quickly and flew towards his plummeting sun with all the speed he had.  It was just enough to reach his son before they fell to their deaths, but there was no time to stop them from hitting the ground.

With his ki mostly used for the incredible burst of speed, a weakened Tomaten hit the ground first, holding his son in his arms protectively.  Smiling at the knowledge that his son would survive the fall, he used the last of his energy to hug his son closer and in a rare show of affection, kiss his son's forward. 

A few hours later, a search party found the dead Saiyan, his arms still wrapped tightly around his son, who was crying openly into his father's chest.

Summer Season, Present - 153 AL

            This was the first time Cori had ever actually visited the Hikatori Cliffs, the sight of his father's death.  He did not remember too much about his father, just that he was a strong and kind man that everyone liked.  His brother Mazen never seemed to talk about his father, but his mother Parseli often did. 

Seeing the cliffs made Cori want to climb them, and take the journey that he never got to when he was four years old.  His brother should have taken him here the year after, but Mazen never returned to this place until now.

            "Is this where it happened?" Cori asked his mother while pointing at a cliff that seemed to have many large rocks lying at the bottom.

            "Yes, this is it.  This is where Tomaten died and was buried.  The cliff there is the one they were climbing and there you can see the large hole created when they hit the ground." Parseli explained to her younger son. 

She was the only member of the family to come to this site since the accident, so she had arranged the burial and funeral that took place here.  Cori was too young and Mazen in too much shock to attend either ceremony.  Now would be both of their chances to pay their respects.

            The two walked towards the crater, followed in the distance by an obviously distraught Mazen.  It had taken over a year for Mazen to recover from the loss of his father, his hero; an entire year without training, socializing, or eating enough. 

Finally, he realized his father would not want him to continue like this and that he had to move on, but the damage was done.  While he may still grow taller later, Mazen's year of malnutrition left him only 5'4", only three inches taller than his younger brother who is only nine.

            "Do you think that brother will want to fly with me now?" Cori asked hopefully.

            "I hope so, but I don't think it will happen.  Not only has he never flown since the accident, he is afraid of heights too." His mother responded.

            "But flying is so much fun.  I wish he could have taught me, instead of having you teach me.  I mean, not that you are a bad teacher, but you are my mommy!" Cori said in a tone so cute that Parseli couldn't help but giggle at.  Cori was of the few things that could ever make her smile nowadays.

            "I understand honey, but I don't think that Mazen thinks flying is fun at all.  It reminds him too much of what happened here to your daddy.  However, I will ask him if he will help train you from now on.  I think I have enough blackmail built up to do it by now." Parseli told her son in a warm, motherly tone.

Cori only tilted his head in thought then asked, "What's blackmail?"  To this she actually let out a laugh and replied, "Don't worry honey.  I am sure within a few years you will know all about it.

The two then became silent as they approached the gravesite, which was only a few feet next to the crater in which he died.  Within a few moments, Mazen had caught up with them and stopped in front of the grave. 

The gravestone was not actually made of stone, but a metal alloy called Cryellium, which can be made to look and feel like marble, but is actually much stronger.  This gravestone would never be destroyed unless a blast of significant power was thrown at it.  The words etched upon the gravestone would never fade from its face, just as they would never fade from Mazen's heart.

Here Rests Tomaten

Proud Saiyan Warrior

Loving Husband and Father

Max Power Level: 237

107 AL – 147 AL

As with all Saiyan graves on Arcania, the maximum power level of the Saiyan was given to attest to their strength.  With the average power level on the planet being around 8 or 9, any power level over 100 was considered high.  The scouting system had recorded that Tomaten hit his all time high of 237 PL before dropping to almost nothing as he crashed into the ground.

Before the fateful accident, the highest he had ever gotten was around 170 PL.  Such a jump attested to the love he had for his son, which allowed him to go beyond his limits and become the most powerful Saiyan on the planet to date.  Before Tomaten, the record was held by Cumber, Mazen's great uncle, who had a rating of 204 PL in his prime.

While knowing that his father would be remembered for his great power and love, it did little to stop the pain in his heart.  After his year of grief, the pain had lessened to the point where Mazen could deal with it, but every night he would still think about how much the past day would have been better if his father was still alive. 

Every night he blamed himself, knowing that if he hadn't been so afraid, he would have not needed his father's help, and his father would not have died.  He trained himself to become stronger, but still he could never bring himself to fly.

'Goodbye father, I will miss you.  I wish you were still alive, but I know you wouldn't want me to dwell on your death.  I promise I will make you proud one day.' With this thought, Mazen turned around and left the gravesite, his brother and mother following behind him at some distance as they walked to the ATTS, the All Terrain Transport System that allowed people to go almost anywhere on the planet quickly and with ease.

A few weeks later school began again, with Mazen going to his second to last year at Pepper Academy, and Cori going to his last year at Arcania Academy.  Before their father's death, Parseli home schooled both children, but without her husband gone she had too many commitments to do so anymore. 

After Mazen came out of his shell she enrolled him with the other first years at Pepper Academy.  Once Cori turned five, she also enrolled him at school, this time Arcania Academy, which was for children under ten only.  It was difficult for both children to fit in, due to their looks and strength, but they eventually made friends and began to have fun.

            As always, Mazen started the day with an hour long training session alone before school.  However, after his mother threatened to tell his friends and classmates about certain transgressions her son had made at home if he didn't train with Cori, Mazen decided that having a training partner wouldn't be so bad after all.  Mazen was surprised when the training actually was better when he had another person fighting him for real.  He was almost disappointed when his watch beeping, telling him it was time for school.

            "It's time to go to class now Cori.  This will be the last part of today's training, running.  On three we will race all the way to the school.  That's over fifty miles from here.  Think you can do it?"  Cori didn't respond at first, he just walked up next to his brother, got into a running stance, and waited for his brother's signal.

            "Okay Then!  One!  Two!" Mazen haled out the word two for as long as possible, then immediately followed it with a shout so loud that it shook the ground. "THREE!!!!"  The two Saiyan brothers pushed off the ground with such a force that it left two scorched holes where they started from.  Huge clouds of dirt and sand lifted up behind them and trees beside them were slammed in opposite directions.  Quickly Mazen took a lead that continued to gain for the first twenty miles.

            'There's no way I can win now." Cori thought somberly, until a realization hit him.  'I can fly and brother can't!  That means I can beat him if I fly!'  With that in mind Cori took off and within half a minute had taken the lead.  With half the race already completed, the odds seemed to be against Mazen.  'Why isn't Mazen yelling at me or calling me a cheater?  I would think he would be at least a little bit angry.  Oh well'

            Cori turned up the heat and had soon put two miles between him and his brother.  He thought he it in the bag when he felt a pull in his stomach that he sometimes felt when his brother was about to use a lot of energy.

            "Super Sonic Run!!!" Mazen shouted out as an explosion of ki behind him propelled him forward so fast that it sent out a sonic boom into the surrounding woods.  Within seconds Mazen had caught up to Cori who was too stunned by the awesome technique to move.  Cori had never seen his brother use this technique before, but there was a very good reason why.

            Mazen slammed into Cori directly at full force, propelling both of them forward at over Mach 1.  It was then that Cori realized why his brother had never shown him this technique.  They couldn't stop!

            Both Mazen and Cori were now diverting all of their ki into stopping themselves but to no avail.  The ball of ki pushing the two boys was still active and would remain that way until it either faded away in a few minutes or if they hit a few hard objects.  With the schools only five miles away it appeared that the latter was the likely result.

            Realizing the futility of trying to stop themselves with their remaining ki, they instead focused on strengthening their bodies and adding ki shields for the inevitable crash they were about to make.  They didn't have to wait very long either.

The first roadblocks came in the form of several trees surrounding the perimeter of the village.  Both schools were located in this small village of only 150 inhabitants.  The second roadblock was the safety net, created to protect against animals and weather anomalies they may damage the village.  Every person needs to enter at one of the main gates or the net would block them out.

However, the nets were never designed to take the stress of two super sonic Saiyans slamming into it.  The net did slow them down but was nowhere near capable of stopping them completely.  As they entered the village the roadblocks began to hurt more, lampposts, ATTS poles, even a corner of a building or two.  Their speed had dropped far below Mach 1 by the time they saw the final roadblock.

'That is really gonna hurt!' they both thought as their keen eyesight showed a large sidewall of Pepper Academy directly in front of them.  The walls were reinforced with Cryellium, the alloy used to make objects, like gravestones, unbreakable.

'If we hit that I should be okay but Cori might get injured.  I guess its time to put some of those physics classes to good use!'  Mazen then pulled himself in front of Cori, created a ki ball, and fire it at his brother in just the right way. 

Cori and Mazen came to an immediate stop, Cori right before the wall and Mazen a few feet after the wall.  Mazen only saw black for a few moments until a loud bell woke him up.  Opening his eyes he let out a pained laugh.

"Looks like I got here just before the tardy bell, so don't mark me late!" Mazen said in a clear voice.  He got to his feet and brushed the dust off of his clothes.  'Gotta make this look cool in front of my friends and classmates.'  With that in mind Mazen strode over to his desk leaned over to put his backpack down next to the desk.

Mazen saw the blood drip onto the floor and desk and felt very tired.  He tried his hardest to focus and regain his balance, but it was no use.  In one last moment of focus he stood up straight and said to himself, "Ah hell with it, school sucks anyways!"  Then his vision went black as his body slammed face first into the ground.

End Chapter 1

PS: Chapter 2 is already finished.  I hope to post it around 2 days from now and then chapter 3(which I have started) will be posted 2 days after that.  I will continue this pattern of posting every 2 days or so if possible at least until the true plot of the story begins, which may be a few chapters from now.  Thanks for reading and please review!!!