Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball
Chapter 02: Arrival on Earth (Year 737)
I woke with a start when the attack ball touched down on the ground. I was about to move, following the for the longest time ingrained habit of leaving the ship directly after landing, but stopped mid-motion. Not only was my battered body protesting still in an awful state despite me sleeping for weeks on end, but there was movement on top of me.
I looked down and saw a small toddler with black, unkempt hair standing up in spikes, nestling against my chest. That was when it hit me, the memories were returning with a vengeance of my crew falling one by one until only Bardock and I were left.
I remembered how he pleaded with me to take care of his son, to bring him to safety should he fall. How I reluctantly agreed, I never was able to refuse him, and this time was no different.
I dragged my injured body to the launching pad to where his capsule was readied for the imminent departure if Bardock was to be believed. I had to support my body against the wall the whole way. I had never felt so weak and useless in my whole life, and I was disgusted with my weakness.
Was this all I amounted to? After I swore to myself, I would have Bardocks back. Even a newborn might be able to defeat me. Perhaps he was right, and I was better served at protecting his kid. I wouldn't have been any help to him in my state anyway, and I never would have been able to forgive myself if Bardock would have put himself in danger to save me from harm.
I was not anything like Gine, but even she eventually saw reason and admitted her shortcomings to herself that she was a liability on the battlefield. I winced as I hit my fist against the wall. Damn it, damn it all.
There it was, the one time Bardock needed somebody at his side, and I was too weak, too pathetic for him to rely upon. When the doors opened for me, I saw one from the staff placing a young sleeping toddler into a capsule. From where I was standing, I didn't get a good look at the kid. Although, the familiar spiky hair left me with no doubt it being the right one.
"Stop!" I shouted. The two occupying the room, instantly stopped what they were doing and faced my way.
I was aware of the precarious situation I found myself in. What I was about to do contravened pretty much any rule we were taught to obey, which is why I couldn't allow them to question me. At least I had to stall them long enough for me and the little tike to have brought enough distance between us and Freezer so that it wouldn't matter if they do.
"You," I pointed at the right one, "Go, fetch me a scouter immediately." He was looking at me, concern plastered on his face and about to retort, his eyes fixed on the scouter I was still wearing.
"What are you looking at? The only thing you should have any interest in is my rank, which clearly is above yours. So get your ass moving or help me god, I'm gonna help you get a move on."
That shut him up hard, not that I thought myself capable to deliver on my threat, I would be hard-pressed to win even against such washed-out low-levels like them at the moment. Not that they would know that or be daring enough to test me.
I turned to the other one. "And you go to the medical facility and bring back a dose of the anesthesia they use to put someone to sleep, bring me enough to put someone my size down." He just stood there as if not comprehending what I just said.
"I want my order obeyed, now." I barked, which finally got him moving, too. I waited until he, too, rounded the corner to brace myself against the wall for a moment, to catch my breath just long enough to gather enough strength to allow myself to cross the room to the capsule they placed Kakarot in without falling on my face.
Not only would it paint a picture unworthy of me, my race, and my crew, but I couldn't be sure should that happen that I would be able to muster what would be required for me to rise once more.
I continued on, and more stumbled my way than actually walked to the capsule. Somehow, I actually managed to reach it. A look inside revealed the small toddler lying within, peacefully sleeping. I leaned against its frame and waited for those two to return. More than once, I had to stop myself from succumbing to my exhaustion and fall unconscious by repeatedly slapping myself to keep the adrenalin running through my veins.
It didn't take them long to return, hardly a moment apart from each other. Both of them came to me with great haste and presented the items they were ordered to bring to me.
First, I reached for the bottle filled with pills and raised my eyebrows in a questioning manner. "One pill should suffice to induce a deep comatose state that should last for at least 24h"
I nodded at him, flipped the can open and ingested a pill, and closed it again before I tossed it into the capsule. It might turn out to be useful later on. I then grabbed the Scouter from the other guy.
"You will forget everything you saw here today, is that understood?" I told them.
They both gave me a reluctant nod. I could understand their reaction even though the prospect of being on my bad side must be scary to be on the bad side of those higher up in the food chain was even more so. Admittedly I didn't expect them to keep silent. Fortunately, they didn't have to, just long enough for there to be no official report finding its way to Frieza.
The uneasy feeling, since the moment Bardock told me about his premonition refused to go away and my mind, for some obscure reason, agreed.
Not wasting any more time, I crawled inside the capsule and closed the hatch. Placing little Kakarot on my lap with my arm slung around his little torso, I then proceeded to open up the casing of both Scouter and deactivated their tracking and communication function and did the same with the capsule and started its launch countdown.
A few seconds later, we were in the air flying away from Planet Vegeta. I couldn't help myself from wondering why Kakarot didn't wake from the considerable sound produced by the takeoff nor by the turbulence our little craft experienced as we left the atmosphere behind. When suddenly without any warning, the very Planet we just left violently was lighted up, and an expanding orange ball of fire bloomed across a huge area on the surface.
A huge number of ships fell out of warp encircling the planet and started with a bombardment. Even from the distance, we were at, I could see the flashes whenever a warhead hit the ground. There would be no escape. Everybody lucky enough to survive the bomb carpet was just going to be hunted down and killed.
It took my mind a moment to fully realize what I just witnessed, the death of everyone I ever knew and the only person I ever cared about.
For minutes after it happened, I could only stare at the burning remains of what ones was our capital, reminiscing. Deep down, I knew, that when Bardock left to stop Frieza that it would be the last time we would see each other. And now we, I and his little son, are all that was left of the Saiyan race. With the tike in my arms, being all that was left of Bardock.
I would be damned if I didn't make sure with every fiber of my being that he wouldn't be taken from me too, I vowed to myself that I wouldn't allow for that to happen, not ever. With tearful eyes, I clutched Kakarot to my breasts until finally, the medicine took effect, and blissful darkness enveloped me.
I lifted Kakarot up in the air the sudden absence of my body warmth, and with it, the associated loss of comfort was enough to wake him and for the first time, I saw his unblemished sapphire blue eyes, which turned out to be even more captivating than his fathers and I was in danger of losing myself in them.
He stretched his short arms my way in a silly attempt to get himself back into my embrace, back to the warmth he was already missing. I indulged him and drew him close again.
A short glance in the interior of the capsule showed me that, I must have slept for weeks. My body was in a slightly better condition than by the time of our departure. Some of the injuries were in the slow process of mending themselves.
Still, it meant I was a far cry from my best. I just hoped it would be enough to protect us both from the indigenous population of this Planet, whatever it may be called.
I extracted myself from the capsule not without wincing more than once when I moved in a way that provoked a painful response from one of the numerous lacerations of my body, some of which was accompanied by dried blood crumbling away.
I checked that nothing fell out of the capsule and that I had a functioning remote control in my possession before I closed the hatch. A short flight brought me to the edge of the crater our landing generated, and I softly touched down on the ground.
The first thing I noticed was the awfully weak gravitation of this backwater place. On the one hand, this pretty much ensured that the average power level to be found here would be low, and therefore no real threat to our well-being was likely to exist. On the other hand, this would make it difficult to gain any meaningful strength for me and Kakarot both.
A look around made it clear, that this planet seemed to have a healthy biosphere with all the plant life around us. At first glance, it seemed we had the luck to have landed in the middle of a forest, meaning the chances that our arrival went unnoticed were pretty high.
The absence of a military force of some kind in the process of surrounding our crash site also suggested that this planet's inhabitants were not the spacefaring kind.
Good, the only thing left was to check what else we got. I activated the scouter and scanned for signatures, and as I suspected, the average power level of this planet was low in the lower single digits. But what really interested me were the outliers every planet had. I needed to know at what level the strongest was.
I gave the scouter time to sift through all the signatures. After all, this planet had a large population. It eventually stopped and displayed a fighting power of 307 as the strongest it could detect on this hemisphere.
Awfully low, even for such a planet, I expected it to be twice that. Well, no matter, that was so weak that even in my current state, I would have no problem dispatching it.
I lifted us from the ground and followed the Scouter's direction to the origin of this signal. Shortly after our departure, Kakarot started to giggle uncontrollably, seemingly enjoying our flight. He even tried to scrabble upwards to get a better view. Instead of permitting it, I just turned him around with his back facing my chest to give him the best view possible, and he enjoyed it quite a lot going by the baby babbling he gave off while suckling at his thumb.
I kept the speed we traveled at low for Kakarot sake. This way, he had more time to savor the sights, and the airstream was mild enough that it didn't bother him.
At any rate, it was what I told myself, making the condition of my body responsible, me going easy not wanting to risk resetting my progress towards recovery would be ludicrous. After all, I was a proud Saiyan.
Kakarot started to get bored at seeing green as far as the eye could see when we happened to come upon a structure. Something I have yet to see, despite having visited dozens of worlds.
It looked like a huge pole extending straight up into the sky, seemingly with no end. A glance at my Scouter display showed me that the power level I followed to this location must be at the top. I angled my flight upwards and followed the pole.
After a while, without the end nowhere in sight, the air was getting thinner. The tower clearly extended above the clouds. For a moment, I considered returning back to the ground. Because Kakarot wasn't wearing anything, and the cold started to take its toll on him, although I held him close and tried to shield him as best as I could from the falling temperature and the loss of warmth through the air convection.
Despite that, I decided to wait with that until I had a look at what was above the clouds, it would give me a better idea of what to expect when we inevitably returned, furthermore the scouter made out another signal, considerably weaker, but also far closer and than the original one.
The clouds themselves turned out to be just condensed water, which didn't stop Kakarot from being absolutely fascinated by them. He repeatedly tried to grab the white stuff we found ourselves surrounded by, only to end up with a puzzled expression whenever he pulled back his hands to find them empty after opening them. Every time that happened, he tried again, more determined to succeed than the last time.
I couldn't help myself and grin at witnessing that. He had the determination necessary to succeed as a warrior even at this age.
Barely a moment later, we pierced through the clouds, and a cylinder-shaped structure sitting at the top of the pole came into view. It was several stories tall with some stairs on the outside, allowing travel from one floor to the other. Both floors were located in between two halves of some identical ellipsoid shells only separated from each other by pillars erected between them. A Railing surrounded the floor wholesomely.
The whole thing gave the impression of some kind of Watchtower. I approached the tower and passed over the railing to land. The interior, if you could call it that that was in a good condition. There was no grain of dust anywhere. The wind, despite relatively easy access, couldn't account for that. Some nock or cranny would have been dirty. Meaning, that someone had to be living here.
A conclusion my Scouter wholeheartedly agreed with when it alerted me to a presence. A creature stepped into view from behind one of the pillars. It was a small creature barely tall enough to reach over my knees, and it appeared feline. Given that it was not wearing any clothes, I would have assumed it to be some kind of animal if not for the walking stick it carried around and the fact that it began to talk with me.
At first, I didn't understand a word it said, but since the universal translator function of my Scouter started working, I assumed the creature used something that at least the scouter considered a language.
I allowed it to talk, not leaving it out of my eyes for a second, its power level of 105 didn't warrant such a measure since it couldn't hurt me even if it tried, but I wouldn't risk Kakarot's well-being in missing a sneak attack.
It took the Scouter around a minute to a big enough sample size to analyze the language to a sufficient degree that it started to translate what was said.
" ... Do you understand what I'm saying?" the feline asked.
"Yes -"
"Then why didn't you say something or answered any of my previous questions?"
"This device," I pointed at my Scouter, "needed a sample of your language in order to learn it and to allow us to communicate."
"Interesting," it took my explanation in stride as it trailed its whiskers with one hand, "then this means you didn't understand me when I introduced myself."
"No, I did not."
"In that case, you may call me Korin. What shall I call you, esteemed guest?" the feline wondered.
"Fasha," was my curt response.
"In that case, I guess you are not here to claim the Sacred Water?"
"Sacred Water, what's that?"
"It is a special kind of water that is rumored to be able to tremendously increase a person's strength and speed after its consumption."
That got my attention. It was not the first time I came across such a Legend in some kind of fashion. Unfortunately, they all turned out to be false. Although considering how numerous those Legends are across so many Planets there had to be some truth to at least some of them.
"No, I originally didn't," I told the creature. "But given your reaction, this isn't the first time someone comes here with the intent to get this Sacred Water. So does it exist?"
He, upon closer inspection, I concluded it to be a male, scratched his head in a way I associated with showing embarrassment. "Well, you could say in a way it does."
"Meaning what?" I barked. I was in no mood to play games. If such a thing existed, I had to get my hands on it by any means necessary. I might have escaped Frieza's clutches for now, but there was no doubt in my mind that this wasn't the last I had seen of him and his men, and everything that could increase the chances of my survival and especially Kakarotts was something worth pursuing.
"You see, the water is just that water, nothing special about it. But those wanting to raise their strength, who are determined enough to climb this tower all the way to the top, are told it exists. However, in order to be allowed to drink it, they have to catch me."
"Meaning you trick them into training with you, and by the time they catch you if they do at all. They'll have grown stronger, achieving the very thing they came to you in the first place." He just nodded at my deduction.
"So why are you telling me this," I wondered "shouldn't you also offer me this chance."
"There would be no point. It would take you no effort at all to catch me.
You already are a lot stronger than me, even as hurt as you are."
I was surprised at that statement; what gave it away? Someone's appearance didn't allow anyone to get to such a conclusion. What else could it have lead to him thinking me stronger? I asked myself when it became clear as day. I flew up here, Flying requires no small amount of energy-sapping strength the whole time, and the maximum achievable speed is highly dependant on one power level.
The speed with which I arrived here was low for someone like me, but for someone as weak as him, it must have been something else entirely and combination with my battered experience. I could see how he could draw the conclusion of being outmatched.
He silently watched me the whole time contemplating something himself. "You aren't from around here, aren't you?"
"No -" not being able to speak his language definitely was a clue too big to overlook. At that moment, my stomach grumbled.
"Oh, where are my manners. This is no way to treat a guest." he waddled to a cupboard, reached within, and took something out of it.
With the words "Here catch." he threw it to me.
I grabbed it with my free hand, and when I opened it, I had two little unremarkable beans in my hand.
I gave him a questioning look, which prodded him to elaborate. "Those are called Senzu Beans. Magically Beans, I grow them up here. Upon eating them, they are able to instantly heal any injury and keep one sated for ten days. You and the kid look like your last meal was some time ago."
He wasn't wrong, I was hungry, and Kakarot's nibbling at my clothes gave me the impression he was too. Still, such a small thing is capable of what he advertised was hard to believe. Could it be a lie? For all I knew, those beans might be poisoned.
If he truly noticed how outmatched he was, it would be his only chance to take me down, and if it was the fast-acting kind, I might not have the time to retaliate.
He didn't strike me as someone relying on underhanded tactics. Nonetheless, I couldn't risk it, not with Kakarot life on the line. I threw one of the beans back at him.
"You first." I left no doubt in my voice of what would happen to him if I didn't like what I was about to see.
Without him, hesitating he popped the bean in his mouth. I couldn't detect anything amiss, no trick or attempt to switch the bean I gave him with something else. Of course, I couldn't rule out the possibility of him just being immune to his own poison, if he indeed did try to feed me such.
For some reason, I didn't think it was a likely scenario. Which was why I risked it and ate the bean. The effects were immediate, my aching body just stopped hurting, and I felt great, better than great. Every injury I had sustained just vanished. I was sated and felt incredible, stronger than ever. The Zenkai boost must have set in. It usually was a gradual process during the healing that just now was instantaneous.
What an incredible medicine to have with access to those our race would have been unstoppable. My musing was interrupted when he threw me another one.
I crushed the bean between my fingers and smeared the substance into Kakarot's mouth with him lacking teeth, I didn't dare to risk him choking on the bean. Given the content expression on his face, he seemed to like it.
"I'm interested in acquiring one of those plants." I flatly told the feline.
"Oh, I have no doubt you are, but it is one of a kind and quite difficult to cultivate, I am afraid. I honestly do not think anyone besides me would be able to succeed in doing so."
"I understand." I accepted his answer, for now. I could always revisit this topic at a later time. No need to antagonize a perfectly good source of information without any need to do so.
"So, care to tell me what is the reason for your visit?" He asked. Something was off, though, with his attention solely focused on Kakarott.
Fear flooded my system, the Bean I gave him could it have been ... my thoughts came to an abrupt halt, looking down on the toddler in my arms, I saw what held the feline interest Kakarot tail was wiggling around.
"I was on my way to the highest power level of this planet when we came across your tower," I told him.
"I see," he mused, "would you mind telling me what you intend to do when you find the person responsible for generating this power level?"
"Ascertain if the person poses a threat to Kakarot or myself." I left unspoken what would happen in the case I deemed it one.
"Well, in that case, you have some more flying to do." He commented while pointing upwards. "I'm sure he would want to have a talk with you, too. Before you go," He walked over to another cupboard and removed a blanket from within, and held it out to me. "Here, it is not ideal, but it will keep him warm at least until you reach your destination."
I took the blanket from Korin with a nod and wrapped it around Kakarot. When I was sure he was sufficiently protected from the cold, I slowly levitated us from the ground and over the railing outside of the tower and resumed our flight straight up towards the signal.
With Kakarot clad in something that would keep him warm, I didn't need to be as careful as before and was able to travel at greater speeds. As a result, it took me mere moments until I saw a circular-shaped object flying in the air.
When I came closer, the structure turned out to be the bottom half of a huge sphere with the top being flattened as if cut in half, resulting in a flat circular surface around 500 meters in diameter.
Four spots of slim green stripes adorned the edge of it placed equidistant from each other, in between two of them stood a huge palace consisting of three round, with each other connected, towers. The one in the center was overlooking the other two of a smaller equal size, which was slightly placed behind the big one to allow for the three roofed entrances to connect to the central tower angled in a ninety-degree to each other.
In close proximity along the two side-entrances were two more green stripes, separated by the main entrance perpendicular to them.
What held my attention was the plump black-skinned person, who emerged from the main entrance. His eyes were trailing me with a disturbing intensity.
I landed a short distance away from the main entrance and the very place the person decided to stop at. Seeing him from up closer, just served to emphasize his unremarkable look. Consisting of red slippers, white pants fastened with a red sash around his waist. On his head, he wore a white turban with blue a jewel on the center of the forehead, and a gold-trimmed sleeveless west was as bland as his power-level of fifty.
He wasn't worth wasting my time on, in contrast to the person hiding in the building right behind him. I walked right towards the entrance, fully expecting him to step out of the way and not hinder me from entering the building.
Instead, he was just standing there, stoic and looking right at me. The temptation was there to just blast him to kingdom come. On the other hand, diplomacy has served me well since coming here.
"I'm here to see the person in that palace behind you," I stated, for some reason, my words resulted in no reaction from the little man, he just kept staring like a statue. After waiting for a few moments, I had enough of not receiving a response.
"Move," I ordered, changing my approach, I really wasn't in the mood for any games, and my harsh tone should have made that fact more than clear. But still nothing.
I moved a fast step forward. A lazy slap with my unoccupied hand should take care of this pesky fly. I expected my light tap to send him flying, right against the building. With some luck, he might even survive it. What I didn't anticipate was for him to sidestep my attack with the least effort possible and in the same motion, used the blind spot created from my raised hand to move behind me.
I was so surprised by this that my honed battle instincts took over. I immediately pushed myself forward away from him and escaped up into the air while turning at the same time. Energy gathered in the palm of my outstretched hand, about to end not only his life but to destroy a huge chunk of this Platform upon its release.
What held me back was my Scouter informing me of the arrival of the person I was here for in the first place, approaching from the entrance my back was facing, which is why I flew sideways to keep both of them in my field of view.
My guard was up, my mind frantically trying to make sense of what just happened. How could he have done this? The Scouter clearly had his power level at fifty. There was no way for someone so weak to be able to move that fast. This was something I would have at most expected from someone who had surpassed the power level of one thousand. The speed wasn't all there was to him. He moved the same instant I did, no, even before that as if he knew what I would do.
"That is enough – That is no way to welcome our guests." Said an old green-skinned creature, which I was sure of was not indigenous to this planet.
"Popo is sorry, but Popo is tasked with protecting Kami from evil people."
"I'm well aware of her disposition. Nonetheless, not everything is lost. There is still some hope for her. The child, however, is someone I have waited for a very long time."
Authors Note:
I'm personally no fan of flashbacks in their various forms, but I couldn't see this chapter through without using one myself.