"It won't be much longer until this planet is ours." A burly man stated.
"It would've been ours much sooner if you stopped fucking around and did your job for once." An intimidating voice snapped.
"My bad."
"It is your bad, you stupid little runt." A brawny voice grumbled.
"Things will be different on the next planet."
"I assume you'll sit there nursing your wounds or toying with someone far beneath your notice." A dangerous, womanly voice jeered.
There was a moment of silence.
"Listen here, turnip boy. If you fuck it up again, I will kill you."
"Wait! I think my little brother and little sister-Kakarrot and Luula-were sent to a different planet. I bet they're still there."
"A brother and a sister? I didn't think there were more of us than those gathered here right now. Are you sure you're just not lying, turnip? I'll blast you to a crisp if you are." The womanly voice cooed.
"If they join us the rest of the universe will be ours in no time!"
The intimidating man crossed his arms over his chest, speaking in his dark and murderous tone. "The fact that they are your siblings doesn't fill with me anything but dread at thought of having two more failures on board...What planet were they sent to?"
"Uhh...I think it was called 'Earth'."
The four of them walked through the gore of the battlefield, tall shadows in the planet's gloom.
Thousands of troops and thousands of fighters had given their lives trying to defend this world against them-and they had lost. They had been wiped out down to the last. They relished the suffering and despair, and even now they could sense it rising up like the stench from the broken, charred corpses scattered about the landscape.
In the distance a storm was brewing. Each flash of lightning illuminated the sky, the world's two moons were momentarily visible in the distance, striking lights towering over the barren horizon.
"This is still a great victory. It has been far too long since we've had a challenge." The brawny man spoke up, breaking the silence.
"I sense you are eager to begin killing again. I expect you to control yourself." The woman said, tone holding no humor.
"Why?" The brawny man asked pointedly.
"I'm in no mood for your video game rage nor do I want to deal with your destructive inclinations right now."
Her statement was met with an easy laugh by the intimidating man.
"She means no harm. Just keep yourself in check."
"She refuses to celebrate in our triumph." The brawny man noted. "She has been like this the whole time."
The brawny man clasped a hand on the woman's shoulder.
She shrugged free of the hand and turned away with a flick of her tail as it wound around her waist.
"Celebrate this if you wish. Keep yourself under control. I am not so merciful."
The real war had only just begun.
The burly, long haired man didn't miss the stark contrast when the singular, pod shaped starship shot out of hyperspace and saw the gem planet of Earth looming before him. This world was a place of green grasses, verdant lands, and deep blue water that formed oceans, rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds.
How different it was from so many other worlds, and his own home world, which had long meant its end.
His home world had been a place of deserts and mountains, with blood red and yellow cloud patterns swirling all across it. It really had been just a ball of brown and red hanging in space, as barren and remote as Earth was alive.
"Don't waste any damn time." A man's voice cut into the pod's com-link.
"If those two failed, just kill them." Another voice, deeper and more sadistic than the first added.
The burly man stretched his shoulders, looking over them, pleasantly surprised to hear from his two kin. "We could use them both."
"Not if they are not up to par." A sultry, womanly voice cut in.
"More so...How do you know they even completed their mission?"
"I don't know if they did that." The man simply said.
"Oh, I'm sorry, then maybe you should stop talking and handle the business." The first person who had spoken said in a crisp, no nonsense tone.
The man shook his head doubtfully, but he wasn't bothered by the jabbing tone. In a strange way, he was glad that his three kin were communicating with him, glad that small details were being finalized, and glad, that he and his two siblings would have yet another thing in common.
"They haven't signaled me any landing coordinates yet." The man noted.
"They probably won't. You're out in the back country now. Things aren't very strict there, usually. Just find a place and park it, then hope no one steals it while you go about your business."
"This place is just lovely."
The man nodded. How different things were now than decades before when he and his comrades had been forced to land on a world in order to effect repairs on their ship. That same day, their home world had been destroyed. He tried to manage a smile, but the edge of his anticipation kept it from appearing genuine.
There was no way to control the singular pod star-ship on its descent. So the ship came down fast, breaking through the atmosphere and soaring across the sky.
"So...This is Earth?" He mused when the skyscrapers and towers of the cities came into sight against the horizon.
There were many cities that weren't destroyed. In fact, there wasn't a single mark of destruction or obliteration anywhere that he could see. Everything was like it had been. Even if his ship was streaking faster and faster, his perception of the places and people didn't falter.
The ship curved, and went in hard towards a mountain region, and some protests did squeal over the com-link. But, the burly man didn't know his way around this place. He flew over the edge of a city, then the pod starship finally slammed down in a large forest.
"Hey! Who's out here!? What the hell you doing on my property!?" Barked the farmer, a stout man with a mustache and a shotgun in hand.
The burly man stretched his neck until it cracked, then twisted it to the other side until it cracked. He slammed his foot down out of the pod, growling as he rose to his full height. It had been a long and miserable travel, and the landing didn't do anything to lighten his mood.
Apparently, his moronic brother and sister couldn't do an easy job.
"Who the hell are you!? Damn near busted my still. I told you to get off my property!" The farmer barked.
The man clicked his strange device attached to his ear, focusing his eyes on the loud mouth.
"I'm warning you! I'll put one in you! Don't make me!"
"A pitiful fighting power of five. Hmph." The man grinned, lifting himself out of the crater and landing on his feet.
The farmer at this point was terrified seeing whoever this being was, take flight. "You're one of em alien cryptids or something?"
The burly man stepped towards him as he let off two shots, and he caught the bullets, looking at them curiously.
"Your turn." The burly man smirked, flicking the bullet back at the farmer in a flash of killing light, knocking the hapless man into his truck.
He paid little mind to the corpse and moved to check his surroundings, frowning in discontent.
"Those two are in for it. There's no excuse for not being able to cleanse this planet when there's nothing but pitiful hillbillies running around. A multitude of weaklings. What the hell were they doing this whole time!? Nursing their thumb while it was up their ass?"
He clicked his device again, surveying the surroundings. The device ran through its paces, measuring, surveying, and relaying. Eventually it leveled off, making a strange distorted sound as numbers flashed across the screen.
"Power level of...330, this one is the closest trajectory. The highest is 340, that must be Kakarrot with no doubt...He's far away from my location. The lowest power level is 180. That's quite a few fighters for what it is worth on this little world, I never would have thought..."
He lifted himself high into the air, shooting towards the nearest trajectory.
"Power level of 330 here I come!"
Eyes as cold as glaciers and a face carved from stone, he stood surveying the destruction of his most recent energy wave. His training had started to get more intense as of late. He considered the speed at which his most hated foe dodged his lethal attacks, how his second most hated foe dodged his counters each and every time, and for the last five years he had pushed all of his hate and fury into his strikes.
Kata were more than just movements meant to adjust his muscle memory. They were an extension of his will and fury, something through which his hate could flow and guide his movements in battle. He would be the most powerful. He would have no equal. He would rule without any dispute.
He would crush his hated enemies underneath his foot, like the insects they were.
A stabbing sensation pricked on the edges of his perception, and he whirled around to face the approaching malice coming right for him. It couldn't be his two hated foes, or any of their friends. Even if they were strong and capable, they didn't have malicious ki like this.
Nor was their ki this powerful. This was far worse, whoever it was inclined toward brutality and sadism.
After a moment, he could see the figure coming in at hyper speed. The flight wasn't slow by any means, and though he was muscular, it appeared the man didn't have a hard time picking up his speed as he made his way closer and closer.
It definitely wasn't his most hated foes, as while their hair was ridiculous, neither of them had a widow's peak like this newcomer.
He held his ground as the figure landed in front of him, crossing his arms over his chest.
The man opposite of him was fair skinned, packed with muscle, had stern black eyes with body length spiky black hair and wore a strange set of armor he hadn't seen or heard of in his lifetime or in his memories from his long dead father.
"You are not Kakarrot. You are not Luula. Green man, do you know where I can find Kakarrot or Luula?"
"Kakarrot? Luula?"
"Do you know Kakarrot and Luula?"
"Who the hell are you? You just come here and think you're going to demand answers from me, without me doing anything about that? Do you have business you want to settle with me?"
"Hehehe...I have no business with an insect like you. I grind bugs under my boot like the vermin they are. If you want my name...Well, since you're going to die by my hand anyways. it's Raditz."
"I'm Piccolo. You will address me as Mazoku-Ue."
Raditz snorted. "I'm going to call you green man because you are green."
"You're going to pay for that."
"Certainly."
Piccolo remained silent, staring down the disrespectful spiky haired foe, who only returned his expressionless gaze with a vicious smirk of his own. He slowly shifted his footing, putting himself into a comfortable, yet stable position for offense or defense.
"You think too highly of yourself, you spiky haired jackass. Now, you're going to wish you never fucked with me in the first place."
"Right, green man. You just sit there and gather up all the power you can, because you're going to need more than what you have in you right now if you want to even leave a scratch on me." Raditz smirked, chuckling loudly.
Piccolo slowly shifted his stance again, growling.
"Go ahead and attack. Your power is tiny compared to mine. You are nothing but an insect that is going to be ground down by me."
"I suggest you back off!"
Jeering, Raditz took a step forward. "You would love for me to fly off and not beat you senseless...Look at you shaking in fear."
Piccolo snarled, holding his ground. "I'm warning you...You come any closer and I'll blast your ass sky high."
Raditz chuckled. "I'd love to see you try that. You just prattle right along don't you?"
Piccolo snapped his legs out, squatting in a defensive stance. His muscles flexed and his teeth began to gnash as he seethed in fury at his foe, digging deep within the hot core of his center. A gust surged around him as yellow bolts of power began to form all over, forcing his veins and muscles to bulge, expanding to compensate the sudden surge, and his radical ki started flickering brilliantly.
"YAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Piccolo's voice cracked with fury as he pushed the energy forth from his hands, digging himself in as the shockwave drove him back, and the blast itself began shearing across the ground, bellowing its terrible cry of hatred like its owner.
Raditz held his ground, watching the blast come, slightly impressed by the speed which such a massive blast could move fired on the fly.
There was nothing subtle about Piccolo's attack. The massive shock wave shook the very foundations of the ground they stood on. The concussive blast alone had enough power to shatter every bone in Raditz's body and pulverize his flesh into a mass of pulp.
When it got less than a centimeter near him, he calmly exerted his ki, and reached out with it to form a barrier around himself and the heat seeking blast of death.
Everything around him exploded into great chunks of rubble. The natural archways around them collapsed in a shower of stone and dirt, burying Raditz beneath tons of rock and mortar. A second later the rest of the natural ceilings caved in, drowning out the blast's screeching howl with a deafening rumble.
Piccolo watched the spectacle of the explosion from the safety of the ground at the foot of the hill made from his blast, keeping himself in the same squatted position he started out in for stability.
Reaching out, he sought some sign that Raditz might still be alive beneath the mountain of stone.
To his horror, he felt the man's ki.
He...Survived?
Raditz stood before him with the same smirk he had on his face before, arms crossed over his chest, his eyes lit with sinister intention. He hadn't moved an inch from his spot, and idly checking the wreckage around him, he allowed his smirk to grow as he focused on Piccolo once more.
Piccolo was silent-this man was unscathed from that attack!
"Are you finished, green man? You managed to burn some of my hair. I do not like you." Raditz finished with a mocking chuckle, walking towards him.
Piccolo held his ground, refusing to waver.
"Now, I'm going to burn all of you."
Raditz began to gather power into his palm, clinching his teeth down as veins began to bulge around his form, and his ki began to spark sporadically. He slowly raised his arm above his head, now surging with malevolent ki transformed into lightning.
Piccolo braced himself for the end, but to his surprise, Raditz cancelled the attack.
What the?
Raditz glanced at him, smirking viciously. "Lucky for you, I've got to find Kakarrot and Luula. I'll be back though, once I'm done with them. Enjoy living while you can, insect."
He glanced at Piccolo, noting the creature's eyes were fixated in the sky. After a few moments of his foe not looking or speaking to him, Raditz hardened his gaze and focused on the same trajectory as well.
Was it possible this creature was able to sense energy without a device?
No, that was impossible. If such a thing were in the works, he wouldn't have a scouter right now.
He tapped the button on his scouter, looking in same direction as his foe, honing in on the detected power levels. "Combined power level of 985...Kakarrot has 340, Luula must have 335...Who could have a power level of 320...Could it be another Saiyan? I'll find out soon enough..."
He smirked for a second.
"It looks like they're closing in on this location."
Raditz got the feeling that they were more likely to be his enemies, but considering he held a considerable gap in power regardless of their combined numbers, it shouldn't pose him too much of a problem.
Silently, both Piccolo and Raditz seemed to agree to prolong their conflict and watch the newcomers arrive.
The first was a busty young woman with a curvy body and muscular physique, brown skin complexion. She was five feet and seven inches tall, weighing one hundred and twenty pounds. She had direct, dark eyes, and shaggy, unkempt brown hair.
Her most noticeable trait besides her hair was the long and thick scar on her left cheek.
The second was a man with a pale-skin complexion, standing at five feet and eleven inches, weighing one hundred and thirty six pounds. He had dark eyes, black spiky hair that was stood up, with five spikes in the front, four in the back, three bangs hanging to the right of his forehead, and two bangs hanging from the left of his forehead to be exact, and a muscular body that was covered by an orange gi.
Raditz noted he hopped off a strange, golden cloud that had been carrying him.
The third was the one who caught Raditz's attention. It was almost natural that she did. She was a young woman with a fair-skin complexion, standing at seven feet and four inches, she had a slim waist, flared hips, and must have weighed close to two hundred and fifty pounds. She had dark eyes, with long spiky black hair that trailed to her lower back, with a bang covering her left eye, while a spike of hair hung above her head like an antenna.
Despite being well developed and powerfully built, she wore a black bodysuit, white knee length boots, and long white gloves.
Focusing on the detected power levels, he moved his head a fraction every few seconds. The two women could fly by their own power, while the man either had trouble, preferred a different mode of transportation, or wanted to twirl around like a pansy before he landed.
There were several more power levels that appeared, but they were all beneath his notice for the most part.
Raditz looked up with a knowing smirk, noting the features of the three newcomers. He went through the records, but he didn't actually think he would find them here. He didn't actually think they would fail in their mission.
"How did you find me?" Raditz asked.
The spiky haired man scowled at him. "That's none of your business."
"Fair enough. I'll ask another question in that case. Have you come to say that you will join us?"
"I'm here to boot your ass back into the sky. What are you doing here?" The brown haired woman demanded harshly.
"I suggest you slow down with that tone."
"You get the hell out of here before I steamroll your hedgehog hair ass."
"That is quite the disagreeable temper."
The brown haired woman scowled. "I'm going to give you one chance to leave, you push my patience and I will kick your ass and dig a tunnel through it to the sun."
"Funny."
The woman's eyes flashed with flinty murder.
"Are you three Kakarrot, Luula, and Yamma?"
"My name is Goku." The spiky haired man looked at Raditz with genuine confusion.
"I can tell it was you three from a glance. You both have clearly grown up.. You both look just like father, though you have definitely inherited mother's traits. Yamma, you are quite pleasing to my eye...You've taken after your father, but you take after your mother in looks and charm, clearly..."
"Goku...Who is this man? Do you know what he is talking about calling us that?" The brown haired woman asked him, eyes growing steadily icy as she focused.
Her face could have been carved from stone.
"I don't know May, but losing your temper won't help things..." Goku trailed off, eyes narrowed, remaining fixed on the long haired man.
May turned to the black haired woman.
"I'm not sure what he's talking about. I felt his ki all the way from Goku's house. Chi Chi and Tabby wanted me to come and check it out. My husband and the twins wanted to come, but I managed to convince them to hold off." Nia admitted.
Goku nodded, expression growing serious. "You're right. He is incredibly strong, stronger than Piccolo. I felt his energy all the way from Kame House while we were testing our crop...I don't think it matters what he calls us...The only thing that matters is what he plans to do."
"What have you been doing all of this time?! Playing around like children!? Your duty was to exterminate this species so this world can go up for sale!" Raditz barked.
May glared at him, unable to sense any good in the newcomer.
"My sister and I would never do that! Nia would never do that either, she's too kind hearted to ever kill someone willingly."
Raditz glowered at them, clenching his fist. "Don't tell me you're one of these weaklings! You've allowed yourselves to become like them! It is disgusting and not becoming! All three of you!"
"My name is Son Goku and this is my sister Son May. This is my friend Nia."
Raditz growled lowly. "Did one of you go against your programming or hit your heads?"
Nia clenched her hands tightly. "It's none of your concern!"
Raditz snarled, cutting his fist through the air.
"Damn it, you brain dead idiots. I'm Raditz, your eldest brother. Kakarrot and Luula, you are my younger siblings-the offspring of Bardock and Gine. Yamma, you are a fellow Saiyan even though we are not biologically related. You are the offspring of Arti and Gabbe."
"What the hell!?"
"He just called us aliens, said he's your older brother, and that's all you have to say..." Nia remarked, looking at the woman with a dry expression.
May could only blink and look at Goku.
Goku couldn't take his eyes off of Raditz.
Raditz cut between them.
"We are Saiyans. A mighty warrior race. You were not born on this planet, but on planet Vegeta, which had ten times the gravity of this world."
"You lie." May said.
Raditz continued as if he didn't hear her. "Our homeworld was wiped out roughly twenty four years ago by a meteorite, leaving only myself, three others, as well as you three alive. We were the only ones off world when the rest of our kind was vaporized. We are part of the planet trade business. We locate suitable planets, exterminate the native inhabitants, and sell them to rich customers. It is quite a lucrative and profitable business."
"You're nuts." Goku remarked.
Raditz laughed.
"Adult Saiyans like me, the best of the best are assigned to worlds that you can call problematic...We go where only the strongest and toughest inhabitants are. Weaker Saiyans, like you three dimwits, are sent as infiltrators when you are still infants to exterminate the population of weaker worlds...At least you were supposed to. You three have miserably failed in your missions, you've went against your programming which is even worse. You would have been better suited to be engineers."
"You must be smoking those space drugs, because you are talking like you've lost your damn mind on space sherm ten years ago. I would never kill people by the billions like you're saying." May said, nearly shaken with outrage.
"You could never be my brother. There's no way I'm related to a bunch of space pirates who just go around murdering and pillaging!" Goku snapped, irate.
"Don't push my patience with your tongue..." Raditz warned.
"It's the truth. You are pirates, not warriors! You wouldn't kill the weak if you were warriors!" Nia bit out.
"You've forgotten your pride! We are Saiyans, the mightiest warriors in the universe. I can still remember the day that we first sent you three off as infants. We had high hopes for all three of you. Kakarrot. Luula. Yamma. Why have you not carried out your missions! Why have you not destroyed everything here! Why are you all here in the first place!?"
"I already told you...I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not doing any of those things you said, even if you are my brother." Goku said, tone having no levity.
Raditz glanced at the three carefully, a frown crossing his face. "Your tails! Where are they?"
"Why?" May asked, tone biting.
Raditz growled, taking a step forward, hand clenching halfway into a fist. "Don't play dumb with me! Answer my question!"
Goku eyed Raditz warily. "We had them removed a long time ago, permanently. We got tired of people always messing with them."
"How were we supposed to wear clothes with tails? I had a hole right by my ass." May remarked, sarcasm clear in her tone.
"No wonder you have no desire to go on the hunt and conquests with me! You've lost your ability to access your true power now! You've lost your primal and true destructive nature! You're not even Saiyans!"'
"What are you talking about?" Goku blinked, confused again.
Raditz hissed.
"You're hopeless! Every Saiyan transforms at the sight of a full moon! You have to remember that! Even a low level halfwit like you can comprehend that. This world has a nice big full moon, it shouldn't have taken you long after a year or two of being on this world."
May's and Nia's eyes snapped wide, their blood running with ice.
Goku only looked in confusion before he frowned, growing angry with the newcomer. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I've seen the full moon at times, but I don't remember..."
Raditz growled, a feral and savage sound that was driven home by supreme fury. "I can't believe this!"
"Besides, we'd never kill people like you say." Nia interjected.
"That's right." Goku took a step towards Raditz, discarding his weighted boots, then tossed aside his weighted wristbands.
"A stupid hillbilly took two shots at me, and I gently tossed the projectiles back at him and he flew into his stupid vehicle. I waited five minutes for him to get back up. Even with a pitiful power level of five, I wasted my time. There is no excuse for your failures on this pathetic planet!"
"You're trying to tell me my mission, my sister's, and Nia's was to kill every last living person and living thing on this world, or other worlds, just to sell it? I'd never do something like that and neither would my sister, and I don't care if we went against our programming or forgot it...At least we aren't pirates like the rest of these Saiyans were!"
Goku threw off his undershirt and the top of his gi, removing all of his weighted clothing.
Raditz smirked slightly, tapping his scouter. "That's a nice jump little brother. you're at 500 now."
"Even at full power...I doubt I'm a match for you. You're probably three times stronger than I am, so I need every advantage I can get. If Piccolo couldn't even leave a scratch on you, I definitely have my work cut out for me..."
Goku began to stretch, rolling out the kinks in his wrists and ankles.
"No sand bagging or warm ups then." May said.
Raditz frowned, watching May throw off her own weighted gear, her long sleeve black undershirt, her boots, and her black wristbands, while Yamma and Goku began to warm up.
He clicked his scouter, measuring the two women. "Yamma at 465 and Luula at 475. More than I anticipated, less than I was expecting. You three really are a bunch of brain damaged idiots. You cut off your tails and now you're going to try and take me on with that kind of power?"
"I'd rather be an idiot than a certified psychopath like you are." May snarled.
"What you want us to do is just horrible." Nia struggled to keep herself calm.
Raditz smirked. "Luula and Yamma...You both sound soft. It's quite unbecoming of you. I need to get you off of this world before it poisons you further."
"Shut up. This is my home. I have friends and family. You are not my brother." May spat.
"We've recently found a world that will sell for a great price on the galactic market. The only problem we have is that the locals are very powerful, even the current four of us may have some trouble. However, with you three on our side that would make seven, and while your power levels aren't impressive by any stretch going by our standards...I think with some training-"
Nia shook her head. "If by training, you mean us killing innocence...It's not happening, Raditz. Drop it."
"I'm not here to ask. I am not going to change my mind. No is not an answer. You have no choice. We Saiyans were never high in number, and because our world was wiped out there's only a few of us alive still. Before I found you three, there were only four of us total, and one of them is a woman. It's going to take more than that to get me to leave." Raditz snarled.
May cut her hands through the air with finality. "You're crazy if you think we'd help you bring more of your kind into the world!"
"It wouldn't take long with the incubation chambers."
"I-incubation chambers!?" Nia shrieked, horrified.
Raditz snarled. "We are warriors! Saiyans never carried their young, even you three were put into incubation chambers despite the fact your mothers weren't cleansing worlds."
Goku's face contorted with fury, the opposite of Nia's and May's expressions of pure disgust.
"Now I am going to warn you one time-leave this planet and other planets alone!"
"I strongly recommend that you join us! Right now before I lose what little fucking patience I have left."
"I don't care what you recommend! The answer has always been no!" Goku yelled with finality.
Raditz clenched his hands tightly, keeping the urge to shed blood at bay, just for the moment. He knew there was a time and place to wreak havoc. The victory he had already foreseen was going to be that much more savored when he delivered the finishing blows.
"You guys should listen to your big brother and superior." Raditz said, starting to grow agitated.
"I would if I had one, but I don't!" Goku bit out.
"You are just a murderer and a coward. You're no brother of mine." May made no move to hide her hostility.
Raditz smirked, though his body shook with murderous rage. "Do you agree with her, Kakarrot?"
"My name is Goku! I am not Kakarot!"
Raditz growled. "You're telling me that as...One of the last living Saiyans, you three are turning your backs to us right now? You're not going to join the rest of the pack?"
"I've made it clear I am doing exactly that."
"There's no way I'd ever join up with a bunch of space pirates."
Raditz clenched his teeth. "Think about our parents."
"My Grandpa Gohan raised May and I as far as I'm concerned. Bulma and Nia grew up together. We were orphans. I've had enough of your lies!" Goku snapped in defiance.
"All right then. Have it your way. I didn't come here to make trouble, but you three morons are leaving me with no alternative now."
"You came here wanting to kill everyone and everything for profit. You wanted May and I to put our children in incubation chambers instead of carrying them. You had trouble the second you broke through the atmosphere." Nia snarled.
"You're all a disgrace! Thousands of years of evolution and you cast all of it aside for a world of weaklings. You're soft. You've become one of these earthlings! It's almost too bad with you three, I think you would have found the life of a Saiyan quite invigorating."
"Murdering innocence wouldn't be invigorating, you can forget it..." Goku spat.
Nia cracked her knuckles, hearing enough of the tirade.
"For once I'm with Nia...Enough of all this mumbling, family past time shit. I couldn't care less about whatever personal vendetta you have against these three for not listening to you." Piccolo said.
He grabbed his turban and cape, tossing them aside with practical ease, listening for the satisfying dull impact of them smashing through earth and stone. With a relieved sigh, Piccolo moved his neck to the side, working out the tension in his shoulders, adjusting to the loss of pressure weighing him down.
"I'll help you three get rid of this punk, but after this we go back to how things were. Do I make myself clear?" Piccolo jeered.
"Sure, Piccolo. I'll be training and ready to fight you." Goku said, carefully looking him over.
"Green man is at 493 now." Raditz remarked lightly.
Piccolo smirked, using the time they spent bantering to regain and focus his energy. It also gave him time to catch his breath. He was feeling quite confident in his ability to kill Raditz. The trap was set into motion. The fool relied on his armor, and Piccolo knew with certainty, that was where his weakness was.
Either that or the tail.
"You'd better hope I don't get a hold of your tail. I don't care what comes out of your mouth, I'm going to hold you and let Piccolo drill a blast right through your skull at point fucking blank. I hate you." May said with a flinty stare.
Raditz grinned slightly. "You're definitely a Saiyan...I can see the ice in your eyes. It is the opposite of the usual fire seen in our kind...You see yourself when you look at me."
"I hate you, Raditz. You are done!"
"You and the whole merry gang can attack me at the same time, it won't make a difference. Take off all your weighted clothes, it's not going to make a difference. I'm going to make up for lost time by beating some sense into all of you, consider this me teaching you to fight-the hard way. And as for you mean green, I'm going to grind you beneath my boot when I'm finished pulverizing them."
Nia was trying to concentrate, gathering her mental energies for the coming battle, however she was slightly distracted by Raditz.
He was not prowling back and forth like an angry predator, his ki already drawn like a blade. He stood completely still, entirely confident with whatever perceived outcome he had thought of before this encounter.
She could feel the evil building inside him, fueled by his blood thirst, his never‐ending hatred for all things, and his resentment toward them for exposing him. For not accepting what he had to say. For refusing to become sadistic monsters.
For calling him a coward.
There was a moment she expected to see the bloodlust of the man unleashed, but Raditz kept his fury in check, savoring it for the coming battle.
"Tell me one thing...Which one out of the four of you is going to beg me for mercy first? Maybe it'll be someone who rushes to help one of you...I wonder who is louder between you weaklings...I'm going to make a game out of it. I'm going to punch all of you as hard as I can, and you're going to scream, the harder I punch you, the more you scream."
Nia clenched her teeth, bringing her hand to her side, shifting back, focusing her ki into her palm, drawing on her power.
"Go ahead and waste your energy Yamma. It's not going to have any effect on me, you're a million years behind to try and blast me out of existence." Raditz mocked.
Piccolo grunted, seething quietly while he glowered at the muscular man, shooting his eyes towards the tall, curvaceous woman he had come to strongly dislike. "I tried that already and it had no effect on him. Energy waves don't seem to work...I'll think of something to pierce that armor."
Raditz laughed. "Well, don't stop now. I haven't even got to play my favorite game yet. That one is called where is my arm and I spy the dumbass on the ground."
Piccolo found himself smirking slightly before it turned into a knowing smile. "I can be pretty damn cocky and arrogant, but you really push the envelope. You're a walking promo of arrogance. That bravado is going to be your downfall."
Raditz smirked, remaining supremely confident in his ability.
"Forgive me for not shaking in my boots."
Raditz turned his focus onto the trio.
"I am not unreasonable. I won't beat you three low level brats to a bloody pulp right here and now...If each of you, kill one hundred earthlings, and pile them up here in front of me within the next twenty four hours so I can make a headcount. You will then help me grind this little green bug into dust, and you will then come with me on this assignment."
May didn't like the glint in Raditz's eyes, there was something wicked about that piercing look, even some of her past foes didn't have such a blood lust.
May finally understood what the glint in Raditz's eyes was.
She had seen it only once before in King Piccolo-an appetite for murder, mayhem, and destruction that could never be satisfied. This man took pleasure in inflicting pain and suffering, he enjoyed hearing the anguished screams of his victims.
He enjoyed feeling their bones grind beneath his boot and absolute destruction.
Goku scowled. "Enough of your talking. You're lying...Even if we're some kind of aliens from another planet, or even if you actually may be my older brother...None of it matters. Anyone who would do the horrible things you say is no family of mine and I could never share blood with them. I will never kill people like you say. My name is Son Goku, and this is my home, and you're not welcome here."
"Goku and Nia...There is no good in this man. This isn't simply anger I am sensing, this is nothing but pure evil. This man is wicked. He came here to finish what we were supposed to do, and he isn't going to hesitate to kill us in the process. He was sent here to get this planet ready to be put on the market. " May stated, voice dropping to a dangerous tone.
"What do you mean?" Nia asked, completely shocked.
"I think it's a good target. One month is the longest it will take me to clear this world."
"Keep on dreaming! That'll never happen with me around!" Goku's hair waved, standing up on end by the sudden surge of ki.
Raditz uncrossed his arms, his smile darkening. "I gave you all a chance to join me on conquests, but you're too weak and soft hearted to even be worthy of my time...You'd only slow us down and we don't like tail-less Saiyans."
"You're an abomination. Nothing but a damned space pirate." Nia spat.
"You're actually going to go up against me and defy me? I am your elder brother and superior both in rank and skill, you low level little shits. Our parents would not want this, especially mother." Raditz jeered.
"Like I said before-you are no brother of mine-my Granpda Gohan raised me. I gave you a warning and May gave you one. You aren't leaving peacefully." Goku said, any levity in his expression or tone gone as he transitioned into the Turtle Style stance.
May transitioned into the Turtle Style stance.
Nia shifted into the Turtle Style stance.
"That's more like it...This dirt bag needs to be put down for the count." Piccolo growled, clinching his teeth in a grin as he took his own, compact Demon Style stance.
"You're a disgrace to Saiyans, and for your betrayal you will die by my hand. Prepare to meet your end!"
Raditz smiled and ignited his ki. He didn't step slowly, nor did he run, instead he came on the four warriors in a sudden rush, his body coming in hard, dissipating out of view. With only a slight movement, his elbows and knees stabbed into his enemies, then lifted them up off the ground very briefly until they found their footing.
With a slight reversal of his wrist, Raditz stabbed straight ahead, and Piccolo had to throw himself backward. It took him a second to get behind them and strike, and it took another second for him to chamber his attack once more and unleash it full force.
The four warriors shot across the ground, jumping twice before they finally found their purchase.
Raditz chuckled. "I haven't caught my stride yet. Remember the three Saiyans I mentioned before? Well, one of them is more than twice my battle power, one of them is nearly ten times stronger than me, and the last one is more than ten times stronger than me."
That statement struck everyone harder than any strike or ki blast possibly could, and for the first time in years, they all felt true fear.
Even if they defeated this menace-there were three more, at least three times stronger.