Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball
Chapter 03: The Guardian of the Earth (Year 737)
Yeah, scratch that the only way someone is taking Kakarot from me is over my dead body.
"Wait, you misunderstand." the green-skinned creature nearly screamed an instant before I would have erased his existence. Holding my attack, I gave the creature a closer look.
Its skin wasn't just green, it was wrinkled, a clear sign of its very advanced age. It wore a white robe with some unfamiliar sign in red plastered on the chest portion. Its head was formed like an inverted water droplet, a round top that narrows towards a thin fragile looking neck. The mouth eyes and nose were located in the lower third of the head, this resulting in skewing the proportions compared to Saiyan features. The creature also featured two antennae on his forehead, springing up a short distance above the eyes, curling downwards with very distinct prick ears. That was when it hit me, that I had seen pictures of his race in the past. One of the few races in the universe considered to be strong, given their average power level.
"Oh, and what exactly do I not understand Namekian?" I shot back.
"What is a Namekian?" the Namekian wondered.
"The name of your race. You are just as much an alien to this place than myself and Kakarot here."
"So I'm no human, no wonder ..."
"As fun as it is to watch, you contemplating about your thereness, perhaps you should focus on the matter at hand. Remember, I was about to kill you mere moments ago, and only the prospect of getting some answers was staying my hand. So you better start talking and fast."
Slightly bowing his head, he said, "I apologize, Miss Fasha, on behalf of my Assistant and myself."
"How do you know my name?" I demanded to know my previously slightly lowered guard immediately went up again, alarmed at him knowing my name. Besides Frieza and his men, nobody should know my name ... well they and that feline from earlier.
"I'm Kami, the Guardian of this planet, and my position comes with certain abilities. One of them is being able to view what is happening everywhere on this planet." Guardian of a Planet, some of us met people claiming to hold the same position on various assignments. They usually were by far the strongest fighters on their respective Planets.
"So you decided to listen in," I concluded.
"Yes, I am very sorry for this transgression. Even so, I needed to be sure."
"Sure of what?" I barked. Couldn't it just give a straight answer for one? I was growing tired of this game.
"Sure of your nature, but even more so of his." The Namekian clearly meant Kakarot with this. The question was why? Why was he given more attention than myself? He was only a toddler... which meant malleable ... He was still young and could be educated to be everything somebody wanted him to be.
In the same way, we do it to our kids when we send them in attack balls to conquer planets and use the journey to educate them.
I had no illusion of what actually occurred within transit, an infant mind with no defenses or personality to speak of it came down to nothing short of brainwashing.
I gritted my teeth. I didn't like where this was going and just killing them to be done with it seemed to get more alluring with every second that went by.
"How about we all calm down and have a serious discussion, like adults and try to refrain from antagonizing and killing each other?" The Namekian suggested.
Its gaze swept from Popo to myself and lingered as he continued to talk.
"To that effect, would it be too much to ask for you to land once more. That way, I would no longer be required to speak up. Living up here with only one companion while calm and quiet has the unfortunate consequence that there are very few conversations to be had, and my voice might not last through this discussion if I have to keep this up. Additionally, I would not have to strain my neck looking up at you, my age is quite advanced, and my body grows weary quite easily nowadays."
I was quite aware of what he was trying to do by pointing out his prescribed weakness, trying to get me to buy into it, to underestimate it, to lull me into a false sense of security. It wouldn't work, but I might be able to make the Namekian believe it did to turn it around on it if need be.
"You better make sure your assistant doesn't make any hasty movements, I am not going to stop myself, from falling into my default mode of operation for the third time."
"Which would be?" He asked.
"Kill everything within sight that moves with extreme prejudice." I stated, "We wouldn't want anything to happen to him now that we are talking, would we?"
"No, we really do not." Those words were addressed more at Mr. Popo than me.
I gently touched down not far from them. Eying them, warily.
"So? Talk."
"I think the best way to start would be for us to put our cards on the table. As a measure of trust, allow me to start." The Namekian paused a moment, seemingly to sort its thoughts. "As I already mentioned, I am the so-called Guardian of this Planet named Earth, a revered position which originally was bestowed upon by the great Kaio and has since then be inherited by an individuum found worthy of the current holder of that very position."
"And you want Kakarot to follow in your footsteps." I surmised, "why? You only just met him? There have to be others qualified."
"Oh, there have been, despite the requirements being quite harsh, the one the hardest to meet being pure of heart. A characteristic not easily found outside of newborns since someone's nature is easily tainted, greed and hate are just two of the most common causes someone succumbs to. You do not necessarily become what I would call evil. Most people never progress further than having stained themselves, even so, no matter the severity it renders them ineligible for this position."
"So what? Your idea boils down to raise a child early on to keep it pure. Why not use one of those thousands or millions of children this planet certainly provides you with?"
"They lack the potential, the strength required to amount to anything more than just a placeholder, and even then to train a common human child up to what would be needed is not easily done." He lamented, "It would take decades, time, I don't think I have at my disposal. I'm getting old, my power is waning, and the last eligible candidate to be my successor fell like all the others before him. This makes the child in your arm so much more valuable. He might even be my last and only chance allowing for enough time to teach him everything I know in the time I have left while making sure he will succeed where others would have failed."
"That still doesn't explain why him? He descends from a warrior race and, without a doubt, is gonna surpass anyone on this planet in a few years' time. But he's still a child, and even among our people, we had those not suited for a life of combat. He might be just another defective." Not that I believed that for a moment, him being Bardocks son. "The way you made it sound that `revered´ position seems to be for life, what makes you think either one of us wants to stay on this planet?" or that we can? I left unspoken.
They both were now looking at me strangely. "She is unaware."
"I'm unaware of what?" I asked the fat servant.
"Does your reluctance to stay on this planet have anything to do with the state you arrived in? Are you two Fugitives? Do you fear to strike roots because you might have pursuers?" The Namekian inquired.
"Shut up!" I barked, "stop your inept guessing and answer the damn question. What is it I don't know about?"
The Namekian sighed. "The child in your arms, Kakarot, he is stronger than you, by a lot. If I had to rate him, I would say he is twice as powerful as you are."
"You've got to be shitting me." I couldn't stop myself exclaiming. Kakarot had just been born, right before the mission to Kanassa. He was just a few weeks old, a little over a month. There was no way what the Namekian was saying could be true. Not even Princess Vegeta rated as the one with the highest ever recorded Saiyan power-level at birth came anywhere near a thousand. She only reached three hundred, and every single point more sets one apart leagues in how rare it is to occur. Since one power-level at birth is widely believed to indicate the latent talent of someone as a fighter.
On the other hand, he was the son of Bardock. No matter how unbelievable it might seem. If anybody could achieve such a feat, it was gonna be him.
I pointed the Scouter at the kid in my arms and forced it to measure his power level, and I was shocked by the reading I received 10001. That was impossible, utterly ridiculous, and I had to smirk. It was the exact same reaction I had when I witnessed Bardock fight for the first time, as I realized his offspring was already following in his father's footsteps.
How could I have missed that? Right, Scouters are set to not bother with measuring the power level of the one wearing them. Given the close proximity we kept to each other, the damn thing must have assumed it was my own.
Although this didn't explain how everybody else could have missed that back on Vegeta? The anesthesia - I didn't have time to wonder how Bardock knew about them being able to mask one's power level, but if his son was born with such an exceptionally high one. It would make sense for him and Gine to search for ways to hide the scrutiny and whatever else might have awaited Kakarot if it came out. It was nothing a parent wanted for their son, and it also would explain why Bardock didn't protest when they wanted to send him away. He probably was the one to arrange for it in the first place, and it would also explain why he wanted me to safeguard Kakarot.
It wasn't just about him trying to protect his son. He actually meant what he said, every single word of it, with his son being our final hope at revenge, our chance at retribution. The Legend he might actually be...
This changed everything. Until now, I expected to have to hide with him, to the end of our days. With Kakarot already showing such potential, it was now about preparing him, biding our time for when he would be ready to exact our revenge, to make them pay for what they had done to us and what we have lost, what was taken from us.
Then again, it begged the question, was this the right place to prepare ourselves. There was a non-negligible possibility that Frieza either had locked on the course of the seemingly empty attack ball leaving Vegeta right before his attack or that the flight plan of Kakarot ship had already been sent to him, after all, in order to be able to oversee his operations he needed to know where his troops were deployed at any given time.
As a result, I had to account for the worst case, meaning he might send someone to this Planet to verify what was in the capsule. The smart thing to do would be to leave immediately without a trace of where we went. Especially, since I have already been healed. The main reason, for landing - to recuperate - but with that taken care of ...
On the other hand, space travel is time-intensive. It takes weeks or longer to reach other planets, and with the small size of the capsule, time spent in transit is time not spent training. The closer systems were out as a hiding place. They would be the first place any pursuers we might have would look for us. With Frieza Empire being as vast as it is, it would require a travel time of years just to get out of his sphere of influence.
An influence that was aggressively expanded. I couldn't be sure how the borders would shift in the future; a planet which, at this very moment, was located right outside of his territory might be conquered by the time we arrive. This meant that by choosing to travel elsewhere, I could give up a perfectly good strategic position in the hopes to end up with a better one upon arrival. Whereas I could land in the middle of the world being conquered by Frieza and his men, all the while wasting time in transit, which I could have used to get stronger.
No, the uncertainty and outright lack of information made it too big of a risk to consider. But if we stayed here, what could I expect to happen? What would be Frieza's most likely response?
I doubted he would send some of his men to return an empty capsule. It just wasn't worth the effort. In case, I was wrong at worst, I would expect a small squad of nothing more than low-levels to be tasked with the retrieval. Easy enough to get rid of, even a squad of his so-called Elites wouldn't be much of a threat as I was now.
If he somehow was aware of a sole Saiyan baby being sent here. He wouldn't bother for quite some time, assuming conquering the Planet was a work in progress... if I remembered right, twenty years was the average time expected for such a mission to last until the kid reached adulthood. So before that amount of time has lapsed, it was unlikely anybody would care about this planet.
Then there was the last option to consider. Under the assumption that Frieza was unaware of Kakarot potential, those he would have sent after us should have been here already and would have taken care of me. Since this didn't happen, it was more than reasonable to rule out that scenario.
Not to forget, there was a chance Freezer could have missed us and the capsule entirely, being completely unaware of it and our continued existence. This, of course, would make this the ideal scenario, the one in which we would have nothing to fear for a long time. Sending an infant to a world already means that it was of low priority and of no consequence in the grand scheme of things, in other words, the Planet was deemed possessing nothing of value, be it population technology or something else, and it is highly unlikely this notion would change anytime soon.
So to summarize, since I was still breathing at one point in the near future someone might want to retrieve the capsule, or in about twenty years' time expect Kakarot to hand over this planet, or in the far future, someone might attempt to conquer this planet in Frieza name. In all those cases, I would just have to kill them, and then it depended on where we would be at... could we hope to survive the second Wave that would undoubtedly follow in its wake.
Looking down at the sleeping Kakarot in my embrace at how he was sucking his thumb and nestling in my chest, I came to the conclusion that we were gonna stick around for a while. Time to squeeze and see what I could get out of those too.
Coming out of my musing, I looked back up again and noticed they still kept their mouths shut just like I ordered them to. "So our continued stay on this planet happens to be in your best interest, but what about our interests? Why should we stay and not just go somewhere else, where I don't have to fear you two killing me in my sleep to get your hands on Kakarot for your, for all I know nefarious purposes."
"I resent your allegations we would never harm you or the child, if not for a good reason, and taking him away from you certainly does not qualify. The nature of our intent is not nefarious, quite the opposite. We want what is best for this Planet, as its sworn Guardians, and we hope this child will ensure the Planet is cared for long after we are gone. Something we can only accomplish in helping you forming him into the best version of himself we possibly can. You see, our interests overlap. We both want what is best for the child. "
"So you say," I drawled, "you are aware we have only just met, and I can't just take your word for it."
"Your distrust is ... unhelpful." The Namekian professed.
"It's supposed to. Paranoia is what keeps you alive. Besides, you still haven't given me a single reason to stay."
He visibly sighed, "We have Dragon Balls, seven orange crystal spheres eight centimeters in diameter numbered by the five-pointed stars ranging from one to seven inside of themselves. Individually they possess no power. However, if all seven are gathered in one place, they have the ability to call forth Shenlong an Eternal Dragon who can grant a wish to those who have summoned him."
"A wish?" I wondered out loud, "I find it really hard to believe for such a thing to be anything more than a blatant lie. But for argument's sake, let's assume there really is something like this, are there any limitations of what such a wish can accomplish? Can they bring back the dead?"
"Yes, it is possible to return the dead to the living using them. To do so certain conditions have to be met. The person can not have been dead for more than one year, and it requires an anchor left behind by the person in the land of the living, which is another way to say their body or parts thereof are needed. It serves as a beacon for the soul to return to."
So if I would use a wish to restore Bardock's body here on Earth, I could revive him with a second.
"How long until those Dragon Balls can be reused?"
"One year." was the curt response I received. I gritted my teeth, damn this green-skinned bastard, for getting my hopes up and then shooting it down.
"Can you use them to kill somebody?" was the next question I asked.
"Why would you do that?" The Namekian questioned in response.
"Because there are some people who are better off dead. Believe me, if you'd know who I'm talking about, you'd think the same."
More reluctantly he confirmed. "Yes, they can. However, they can only affect people who are weaker than the creator of the Dragonballs, people weaker than myself, or by giving their consent for the wish to affect them."
So they are completely worthless, aren't they? I had to bite my cheek not to say that out loud. Instead, I asked, "What other restrictions are there? What can and can't they do?"
"A great many things," The Namekian told me, "I don't know all their limitations. Only Shenlong truly does know what he is able to do."
"In that case, let's stop wasting time and ask this Dragon," I told them.
"I'm afraid that is not possible," it said, "to do that, we have to collect all the Dragon Balls."
"Yeah, I got that," I retorted, "I understood you the first time. So let's just do that?"
"We don't know where they are?" The Namekian admitted.
Confused, I questioned. "Aren't you the creator? Not only do you not know what they can do, but you also don't even know where they are?"
The Namekian faltered. "The Dragon Balls were created as a means for the human to alter their fates, but such power is dangerous in the wrong hands. Therefore I made it so that they would have to work for it. The reward would mean nothing if there were no hardships involved in getting there and only those showing the determination to not give up, to see the hunt through to the very end are the ones deserving of their wish being granted."
"That's no answer to my question, old man."
"No, I don't know where they are, and I am unable to locate them. After the Dragon Balls grant a wish, they disperse around the world and go inert for the duration of a year."
"Great, Remind me again why do I need you?" My hand twitched.
"You cannot!" the servant shouted," Kami-sama is connected to Dragon Ball. No more Kami, no more Dragon Balls."
"So what you are saying is that I have to keep you alive to use those Dragon Balls. How very convenient for you, wouldn't you say. Especially since there is no way to verify your story without finding those Dragon Balls first. A task which, if you are to be believed is next to impossible. Since it requires searching this whole planet, for seven small spheres. Tell you what, since you're after Kakarot and I'm the only thing standing between you and him, I'm just going to kill you. Perhaps someone is gonna fall for your tales in the after-life."
"Wait," he said, "there are other things we can help you and Kakarot with."
"We teach you," the servant added.
Smirking, I responded, "getting desperate now, are we? But I'm curious what is it you can teach me worth sparing you."
"We can teach you how to hide your KI and sense it in others." The Namekian informed me. "Show her Popo."
And he did as ordered. His power level climbed to 1030 in a matter of seconds. I was impressed I have never seen a Scouter giving off a wrong reading before. This was great, being able to conceal one's power level was a huge advantage and allowed for devastating surprise attacks, and sensing KI if it is anything like what a Scouter is capable of is possibly even more useful.
It also explained how they knew about Kakarot, and it might even explain how Popo managed to evade me. Depending on the limits of this technique sensing the subtle changes in one's energy accompanying movement, possibly even intent of such, could be detected. Resulting in an improved reaction time that might border on limited foresight and would easily allow for someone to fight without needing to see.
I could definitely see the benefits.
Wait, Korin reacted strangely to Kakarot only after he swallowed the Senzu Bean. Which made sense if it flushed his system from the anesthesia, which also meant they weren't the only ones capable of teaching me.
"Not good enough." I raised my hand in a threatening manner.
"We can introduce Kakarot to Kaio residing in the afterlife. He is said to be one of most esteemed Masters of Martial Arts to exist." The Namekian blurted out.
"Another Fairy Tail," I tilted my head in a questioning manner.
"No, he is for real." The Namekian assured.
"So you say," I noted, uninterested.
"We have room, the Hyperbolic time chamber. One year inside equals one day outside." The servant informed.
Kami shot him a look I couldn't interpret.
"Useful," I admitted, "still doesn't explain why your continued survival is required, only that I have to keep the collateral damage to a minimum to not risk damaging it."
"There are rules and restrictions to the use of the room, which only we two are privy to." The Namekian divulged.
"Which you have to tell me for me to make use of it. So not exactly a good bargaining chip." I retorted and waited for them to say more, but nothing came of it. They spilled no more secrets. Did they run out of them, or was it something else? Because they made no more attempts to save their lives.
Only after I slowly began to lift my arm did the Namekian see the need to talk again.
"You are indeed correct if you do not believe in - what did you call them `Fairy Tails´ - then there is little you can't just take by force or figure out yourself that we could provide and help you with. So go ahead and kill us, but know this everything we spoke to you about today was the truth and you are making a terrible mistake denying the child in your arms from having access to that truly valuable resources."
Defeat and acceptance thereof – with this, I can work.
"Good," I let my raised hand fall to my side. "You have finally recognized you are powerless, and it's by my benevolence alone and the fact that I acknowledge you as useful for the future development of Kakarot that you get to live. Disappoint me or try to hold out on Kakarot or me again, and there'll be no further talks, only death."
I allowed them a moment to digest my words and then asked, "So those Dragonballs are real?"
"Yes, they are." The Namekian confirmed.
They would really be useful to have. If we really stay here for twenty years or longer unmolested by Frieza troops, that would mean up to twenty of those wishes. If only there was a way to find them. It was infuriating for such a resource to be dangled in front of you, while unable to use them.
"What about the Hyperbolic Time Chamber? What are the restrictions?" It would be really nice to go in there for a few days and come back out years older, in a sense skipping the time Kakarot was vulnerable with me as his sole means of protection.
"Everyone can step inside the chamber only twice in his or her life, and the accumulated time inside can't exceed two years. Otherwise, the Exit vanishes and traps one inside for eternity."
So at most, I could get two years out of it, meaning that using it now was out of the question since Kakarot wouldn't be able to make meaningful use of them. The time spent there was best saved for a situation in which we really needed it.
Damn, it was the same with Kakarot being introduced to this Kaio character, which can only happen if Kakarot is older, potentially useful, but not for quite a while.
It's like the universe has conspired to keep us on this planet.
"Kakarot and I need our own quarters, with only us having access to them. We need a large number of meals three times a day, with Kakarot lacking teeth, this means liquid sustenance for him, for the time being."
I looked down at myself, at the ragged bloodstained clothes I haven't changed in weeks. "We also need a bath and clothes."
"You can move into West tower. Mr. Popo will see that everything is prepared to your specifications." with those words, the Namekian gave Popo his leave to do just that.
"If you will follow me, I will show you the way to the bath in the main tower. By the time you have cleansed yourself and Kakarot, you will find suitable clothes outside." The Namekian promised.
Walking towards the entrance of the main tower, I asked. "Which one is the west tower?"
"The one on the right side."
I used the remote control for the attack ball and gave in the coordinates of the tower; or to be precise, the free space to the left of it, and sent the command for the attack ball to move there. I really didn't want to risk our only means of transportation to be tampered with, and up here, I could have an eye on it.
"I called our spaceship to land over there," I pointed at the space I set aside for it to land on, "so don't be alarmed."
I only received a nod in return and was lead me deeper into the building. We stopped in front of a large double door. "The bath is behind these doors. I will place the clothes for both of you right here." It said as pointed at a small dresser standing next to the door.
"Good," was all I said and then marched through the doors which closed behind me.
I found myself standing in front of a small bathing pool, a small whisk of steam coming from the water. Moving a hand inside what was left of my clothes, and in one fell swoop, I severed the fabric, and the shredded fabric fell to the floor around me. Following this, I freed Kakarot from the blanket and dropped it on the floor.
I moved to the edge of the water and dipped my toe in to ascertain the temperature to make sure it wouldn't hurt Kakarot. To my surprise, the water turned out to have a pleasant temperature, no need to adjust it.
I slowly descended the stairs leading into the water and noticed the pool wasn't exactly deep. It only went up to my thigh, and the ground had a smooth gradient, getting just slightly deeper with every additional step. I walked a few more steps until I was sure that when I sat down with Kakarot in my lap, his head would still be above the water surface, and then only then seated myself.
It was an exhilarating feeling to wash away the filth, dirt, and blood that was clinging to my body. Kakarot seemed to share my sentiment. The soothing warmth of the water he was slowly submerged in woke him up from his slumber, and he seemed to quite enjoy it considering his content expression, the joyful giggling while splashing the water around with his tiny hands.
"Earth, hmm, at least one of us likes it here." I rubbed his head and ended with an annoyed look from him, disrupting his playtime. I couldn't help myself and had to laugh at witnessing that.
When I finally calmed down, I felt relaxed for the first time in I didn't know how long. The weight that had settled onto my shoulder suddenly decreased by orders of magnitude.
Yeah, I thought to myself, watching Kakarot, stranding on this Planet, really might not be the worst that could have happened.
Authors Note:
I thought on the question Does the creator of the Dragon Balls themselves know where they can be found? I mean, it would make sense that Kami could because they are linked.
Canon, on the other hand, implicitly states otherwise. In the Buu Saga, Goku has to stall Buu in order for Trunks to retrieve the Dragon-radar – Something that would not have been needed if Dende could just find them.
But there also was the instance after Piccolo was revived during the Frieza arc where Kami used the Earth Dragon Balls to resurrect all those fallen at the hands of Frieza men. It is not made clear how Kami assembled the Dragon Balls or if it happened at all.
For Plot convenience sake, I will go with the first version -
I tried unsuccessfully to find a mention of Vegeta's power level at birth. I remember that it was mentioned somewhere to be 300. (Either during Bardock Father of Goku, or Dragon Ball movie 8, the legendary super Saiyan - the First makes no mention of it. Only that young Vegeta was approaching his Father Battle prowess ... which is suggested to be around 10K. Perhaps even as high as 12K, whereas Bardock power-level being around 10K IMO is a reasonable assumption to be made.)
Since Radditz in canon states as witnesses Gohan's power level of 710 that it is impossible for a child to have such a high one.
Despite him constantly being around Vegeta, who must have prattled on and on about his status as a high-level. Therefore, I can only assume Radditz should have known exactly how strong Vegeta was as a child (I doubt you could get much stronger in the early years of one life... having to learn walking etc) that he must have been weaker. So until someone can provide me with a canon source or a convincing argument, I will go with this number, which already is high – making him stronger than Goku during his second participation at the Tenkaichi Budokai.