Anger Management

by LadyCressa

This story begins directly after Goku's battle with Frieza. Instant Transmission was not what kept Goku on Planet Yardrat for a year. Goku faces a foe he was utterly unprepared to face, one he had no idea what to do with. Read to find out what really kept him on Yardrat...

Summary: This story begins directly after Goku's battle with Frieza. Instant Transmission was not what kept Goku on Planet Yardrat for a year. Goku faces a foe he was utterly unprepared to face, one he had no idea what to do with. Read to find out what really kept him on Yardrat...

Anger Management

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times to clear my blurry vision. A dimly lit room slowly came into focus. Soft light radiated from a small ledge that ran along all four sides of the room right in the junction of wall and ceiling. There were no windows – or maybe there were windows and they were just covered with thick curtains. I couldn't quite tell.

I tried to sit up, but pain lanced through me and a hiss escaped my lips and I dropped back onto the soft pillows and mattress. I tentatively lifted my hands to check my injuries and felt a lot of thick layers of bandages around my middle.

Nothing was broken, but every inch of me was covered in bruises and there was a bad sprain in my left knee. That wasn't what hurt me when I sat up. My ribs were a whole other story. Each breath sent a burning, intense pain radiating throughout my torso. My ribs had been broken before and I knew I'd feel better in a week or two. I had always healed faster than a normal person.

At least the bed was comfortable. I felt like I was lying on a cloud. I had no idea what the mattress was made of, but somehow I could shift to any position without hurting myself as long as I didn't try to sit up. It was really very nice. I decided I wasn't ready to get up right then.

Instead, I passed the time thinking about the battle. I remembered I transformed into a Super Saiyan when Frieza killed Krillin. The rage I felt at that moment… it was almost consuming. I didn't know anything butrage. Looking back on it, I was a little afraid of that – I had never felt anything like it – but that rage gave me mind-boggling power and with it, I defeated Frieza.

After the battle, I found a space pod after trying a broken ship that I thought might have belonged to Frieza himself, ironically enough. In my panic to get away, I just started hitting random buttons as fast as possible to get the pod started up and it got me out of there just in time. I had passed out sometime during the flight as it flew me to who knew where.

What planet did it take me to?

The lights were slowly brightening and with that extra light, I saw for the first time the color of the room. The smooth walls were a uniform soft green tone. There was a single unoccupied chair with a small table beside it in one corner. On that table sat a small vase with what I assumed were some kind of flowers striped green and yellow. The whole room was really very relaxing.

I extended my senses and I was met with many life-forces in the area. It felt like one was just outside my room. I tensed, clenched my jaw, and prepared to jump out of bed despite my broken ribs as I examined that one more closely.

I sensed only goodness from that life-force and I relaxed immediately.

There was a hiss on the far side of the room and my head snapped over to face that direction. A door slid into the wall and a much brighter light flooded into the room – blinding me briefly – along with an interesting sort of spicy smell in the air. I suddenly was very grateful for the slow brightening of my room's lights. Daylight would have been really painful after being in the dark.

A short figure stood in the doorway silhouetted by the intense light and took slow, cautious steps into the room. My eyes gradually adjusted to the light. He was pink skinned with heavy wrinkles on his face and heavy lidded eyes and blue spots on the top of his bald head and had pointy ears like Piccolo's.

Then, I noticed his strange clothing. He was wearing a white long sleeved shirt underneath with a sort of light armored black vest with a gold chain holding it up on one shoulder and more of the armor making a short sleeve on the other and red pants. The collar of the white shirt was puffy – very puffy and swallowed up his neck. It looked a little ridiculous. I stifled a chuckle causing more pain to lance through my chest.

He carried a bundle of something but I couldn't make out what it was. He was making an odd sort of burbling noise but his eyes were kind and his body language wasn't threatening. He seemed concerned, even worried.

He approached me hesitantly, and looked into my eyes for a moment then shifted his gaze to my chest as he pulled the blankets down to my hips. He began tugging at the bandages wound around my midsection and I shifted from side to side to make removing them easier on him.

He exposed my chest completely and rubbed some kind of balm on me. At first, the contact hurt – a lot – and I sucked in a sharp breath, only making myself hurt more. Whatever it was he rubbed into my skin quickly sent soothing, tingling warmth through my midsection and alleviated the pain from the fractures. Breathing was instantly easier. He carefully and deftly wound a new roll of bandages around me after applying the salve, pulled my blankets back up for me, and stepped out of the room.

I closed my eyes and sighed, content. The warm feeling spreading from my midsection and working its way down my arms and legs was really very nice.

The medicine for pain given through needles people used on Earth made me feel funny. I didn't like that very much. Needles and feeling funny was not a good combination for me – those horrible, tiny, sharp things. I would rather deal with the pain of broken limbs than that awful stuff, needles and all. In the hospital after battling the saiyans, I couldn't for the life of me understand why anyone bothered with the stuff. I shuddered and suddenly felt a little sick to my stomach at the thought.

Things seemed to be done differently on whatever planet my space pod took me to. I was very, very relieved. The salve was much better. Not only were no horrible needles required, but also it took away the pain without making my head feel all fuzzy. I was very relaxed and soon I drifted off to a deep sleep as the pain faded.

---

When I woke, I noticed my chest hurt a lot less. Breathing didn't hurt anymore at all, either.

I had no idea how long I slept, but it felt great. I felt rejuvenated.

I slowly stretched my legs and arms and realized the bruises were gone. My knee no longer felt sprained. Everything but my ribs felt back to normal, but even they had gotten better.

I decided to attempt to sit up. I was relieved to be met with only a dull ache. I sat up fully and realized the fractures were mended. I only had bruises to deal with. I didn't know what was in that salve the one guy put on me but whatever it was worked!

I pushed the blanket off and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I carefully put my weight on my feet and walked toward the door. I looked down at myself and realized I was only wearing my boxers. My gi – or what was left of it – was nowhere to be found.

I swept my eyes around the room looking for something to wear. I spotted that bundle he had carried in on the table. I walked up to it and saw it was clothing. The same clothing he was wearing, puffy collar and all.

I pulled the white, long-sleeved shirt on carefully over my bandages, followed by the red pants and the very lightly armored vest. The fit was just right. I tugged at the puffy collar, slightly annoyed by it tickling my jawline. The rest of it was comfortable enough. The fabric was soft and much more flexible than those stiff, itchy suits Chichi made me wear from time to time.

The moment I thought her name, her face surfaced in my mind and I missed her and Gohan lots. I was awake and almost recovered. I didn't think I'd be on that planet long. I silently promised them I'd be home soon, even though I knew they couldn't hear me.

My usual blue boots were by the bed and I pulled them on.

I walked to the door and but there was no door handle. I pushed on it lightly.

Nothing.

There was some kind of keypad on the right side of the door with unfamiliar symbols on it and I pressed a button – which just plunged the room into darkness. I pressed that same button again and the lights came back on. I tried another.

There was that hiss and the door slid into a slot in the wall.

I was momentarily blinded by the bright light of day and stood in the doorway a few moments to give my eyes time to adjust.

As they did, huge, towering rock formations came into focus. Some had dwellings built into them and others were just solid rock. I realized my room was pretty high up in one of the formations. There was about ten feet of rock and then a drop off. I walked the few paces to the edge and looked out over it.

I had a pretty nice view from that ledge.

The sky was bright yellow and the sunlight was intense. The air was warm but not too hot. Thin white clouds slowly drifted by. Somehow, days seemed brighter on Yardrat than on Earth. Maybe it was something to do with the planet's yellow sky.

I looked down. The ground was pretty far below me. I could see tiny figures moving around below. One dot got bigger. Not bigger, I realized, but closer. One flew up to join me, the same one that changed my bandages and applied that amazing salve earlier.

I waved. "Hi! I'm Goku!"

My stomach introduced itself, too. Loudly.

I rubbed the back of my head and smiled sheepishly.

He made a gravelly sound that was unmistakably laughter and signaled for me to follow him. Growling stomachs were a universal language.

He walked to the edge, stepped off it and took to the air. I followed close behind as he led me down to ground level.

An unmistakable odor reached my nose as I followed him down. Food. My stomach growled even louder.

We touched down and a group of the natives ran up to me, chattering and gesturing excitedly.

One grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the base of another rock formation and through a door. Once inside, the sights and smells made my mouth water, so intense it was overwhelming. I realized I hadn't eaten in a very long time. I was so hungry my stomach hurt. I tried to go straight for the nearest table with food on it, but one green native – who seemed to be female – gave me a stern look and stopped me with a firm grip on my wrist with her long, slender fingers.

Irritation reared up in me from being stopped. I snarled and wrenched my wrist out of the native's grip.

The green native's eyes popped wide open and she sprang backwards, landing several paces away. She watched me closely. I could sense the fear radiating out of her and it didn't take my saiyan senses to notice that. It was written all over her face. My irritation disappeared the moment she sprang away.

I felt more eyes on me and realized the rest of the large room had fallen into a tense silence and everybody stared at me, eyes like saucers. Still more eyes peeked around the legs of others, these eyes smaller than the rest, but still wide.

Guilt washed through me when I saw how badly I scared them all. I apologized even though I knew they didn't understand me. I hoped my expression and tone put the point across. I really had no idea where that came from.

They seemed to understand my apology because they relaxed after a few minutes and continued with what seemed to be a tradition before they sat down to a meal, which explained why I was stopped.

They all made a funny little hand sign, and turned to face each of their neighbors, exchanging some kind of greeting, then dished themselves up. I was finally allowed to grab a plate – okay, several – and dished up all kinds of their wildly colorful food, trying some of everything. I sat down and grabbed the strange, two pronged fork. I stuck the first forkful in my mouth and experienced flavors I've never even imagined existed, all of it delicious. They all ate nearly as much as I could and truly appreciated my appetite!

After the meal, they gathered around me. I felt tiny hands tugging at my pants and looked down into the eyes of their kids, barely level with my knees. They stared up at me with eyes brimming with excitement and happiness that only a little while earlier were filled with terror.

I reached down and rubbed their bald heads like I would my son back home. They all made an adorably high-pitched burbling sound, and I reached down and scooped them up, laughing with them. They all clambered for a seat on my shoulders. One was too slow to grab a spot and almost fell off me, but I caught him and stuck him on top of my head, his tiny hands grabbing at my hair for balance. He squealed with joy.

They all seemed forgiving enough of my outburst earlier. In fact, they seemed to have forgotten all about it, but it sat in the back of my mind throughout the meal and well afterward.

What made me do that?

---

It was about one week since that banquet. The only reason I knew this was because – thankfully – that planet had a similar day and night schedule to Earth's. During that week as my ribs healed completely, I was given a tour of the place. They showed me everything: their technology, their culture, all of it. They were so friendly.

They took me to an observatory one day and showed me they have almost the same year length as Earth's. That made keeping track of how long I was there easy.

That same day, they took me to the small spaceport where my space pod was stored. They had even repaired it for me! I was amazed! I decided to step into it to look and see if it could tell me where I was and learned the planet was called Yardrat.

Apparently the pod was already programmed to go to Yardrat. Whoever used the pod before me must have intended to go there next. Maybe it belonged to one of the goofy Ginyu Force guys? Or maybe another Saiyan?

The next thing I searched the pod's computer for was Earth. I frowned slightly, suddenly worried I was years away. Thankfully, my worry was short lived. Earth was only a couple weeks away thanks to the high speed of the pod. I was very lucky the pod happened to take me to a planet fairly close to Earth.

After the tour, they left me more or less on my own. I spent time training a safe distance away from their cities. I couldn't control my new Super Saiyan power and didn't want to hurt anyone by accident. It didn't matter. I hadn't yet transformed again since my battle with Frieza. It didn't seem any amount of training would make it come out – not even pushing my physical strength to my limits.

It was on my third day out training in the hot, rocky terrain that I met an older Yardratian and a younger one I guessed was his student. They were both light blue and almost as tall as me. They had darker blue spots and the same pointy ears of their race, but they wore different clothes. They wore a type of flexible black armor similar almost to the saiyan armor Krillin and Gohan wore on Namek.

In my first week, I had learned the green ones seemed to do a lot of the cleaning and cooking and that kind of stuff and the pink ones were workers and healers. Out in the wilderness was the first time I met blue ones. If the other blue ones were anything like the two I watched spar, maybe the blue ones were their fighters.

It was clear they were both very powerful and very fast. The thought of a sparring partner while I stayed there made my heart pound with excitement.

I watched them, fascinated by their style and techniques as student and master sparred. They were fast, but my eyes could keep up easily. Then the student did something I wasn't expecting and for a second I completely lost track of him!

He put two fingers to his forehead in a gesture that reminded me a bit of a salute and then he vanished! I couldn't even sense him! When he reappeared behind his master, he landed a really good hit and sent his master crashing to the ground.

His master stood up and dusted himself off. He nodded what was clearly a 'Good job!' to his student. He must have noticed me at that point because he signaled me over to join them.

My blood started to really flow through my veins and I felt my heart beat even faster. A fight was exactly what I needed. I couldn't wait to test my new powers against another foe!

The master nodded once at me in greeting and I returned the gesture. He looked at his student, pointed at him, and then pointed at me.

The meaning clear, I took my fighting stance, as did the student and the master moved away from us to give us room to spar.

The student smirked at me and launched himself at me with a fist raised and with amazing speed but I blocked it no problem and kneed him. He seemed to expect as much and blocked it easily.

Lost in our sparring match, we climbed slowly into the sky and moved faster and faster until he did that trick on me.

For a second I couldn't sense him at all! I had no idea where he was going to reappear when I felt a fist collide with my back, knocking the breath out of me and I crashed to the ground.

I decided in that moment I had to learn that technique. That teleportation trick could really come in handy in a fight.

I got up and flew back into the air and it was my turn to show him my speed and I landed a good hit on his right cheek.

He took it in stride and counterattacked with a fist aimed for my gut, and moving much faster than I expected, the hit collided, and my breath whooshed out of my lungs.

Intense heat began to surge through me and I roared as I felt that power rear up in me. For the first time since my battle with Frieza, I transformed. Golden aura engulfed me and I reacted on angry instinct, flipping up to land a powerful kick up his chin and sent him flying.

I watched, breathing hard in my rage, as he smashed hard into the ground and lay unmoving.

Slowly, reason – control – returned to me, and that brilliant yellow aura evaporated.

I actually snapped.

I couldn't believe it. I had never lost control like that in a fight. As angry as I was at Frieza, I was still in control. When it was clear to me he was defeated – chopped in half and missing a few limbs like he was – he still tried to fire a blast at me. I didn't even want to kill him then. I just left and went and found a space ship.

I rushed to the student, cold dread seizing my heart, afraid I had accidentally killed the guy when I lost control.

I looked desperately to his master some distance away, who was staring back at me with wide eyes. He jumped into action and raced to his fallen student.

He kneeled down and placed one hand on his student's head and another on his chest and closed his eyes. A warm, golden glow engulfed him for several seconds then faded.

The student's eyes fluttered open and I blew out a breath of relief I hadn't realized I was holding.

The student jumped to his feet immediately, glaring at me.

The master said something in a calm sort of tone and the student spat out his reply, clearly still angry – if that vein popping out of his forehead wasn't enough to go by. They argued back and forth for a minute in their rough, gravelly native language, which left me completely lost.

Their conversation over, the master sent him away then approached me.

An apology tumbled out of my mouth. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to hurt him!"

The master put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me, his eyes soft with nothing but kindness.

He withdrew his hand and his features assumed a distant sort of look, as if he was thinking something over. He seemed to make up his mind and nodded to himself and grabbed my shoulder again. He put his pointer finger and middle finger together and touched his forehead.

There was a weird sort of snatching feeling deep inside my gut and when I opened my eyes, we were flying through a tunnel with distorted shapes and bright flashing colors then I blinked and it was over.

I gazed around me. Somehow, we ended up back in the city!

At the time, I had no idea how the heck we did that so fast. I had flown over an hour at high speed to reach a safe distance from the city to train. It only took a second for him to take me back to the city from that distance!

I took in more of my surroundings. We were in a very large room. Yells and grunts accompanied by thuds and thumps and the clang of weapons against weapons reached my ears. I realized the sounds were coming from people sparring and some were strong!

A dojo! He took me to a dojo! Was my kid-in-a-candy-store thought to myself as I stared around the room. I felt my mouth split into a huge grin and my heart fluttered excitedly. I couldn't wait to get to work!

I felt another tap on my shoulder. I turned and came face to face with the warrior I snapped at – and nearly killed – earlier.

"Hey! Um – "

He clapped a hand on my shoulder and shook his head, but his eyes glinted.

He spoke up and everyone in the room turned to face us. They each brought a hand up in a wave.

I waved back. "Hi, everybody! I'm Goku!"

They each smiled, bearing pointed teeth before returning to their sparring matches and the student left me in the center of the room to go talk with a small group gathered near a ring.

The Yardratian to take me to the dojo must have been the master of the place. He seemed to command a lot of respect there, as everyone he passed bowed to him as I watched him move about the room, pausing for a minute or two to watch some matches and offer advice or point out flaws in the fighters' form.

Once he had worked his way all the way around the room, he caught my attention and twitched his head toward the door as he headed in that direction. I followed and once we were outside, he took to the sky and I was hot on his heels.

When we landed about an hour later, I took in the rocky, barren terrain and realized it was the same spot I had chosen to train in.

I wondered what he had in store.

He turned to face me, his expression serious. His voice was gravelly, somewhat guttural and low-pitched.

"What are you?"

"I'm hum – uh…. Saiyan. I'm a saiyan."

It was very weird to even think of myself that way, let alone tell someone.

His intense gaze didn't waver. "My people have legends of your ilk, passed down from adventurers. Legends of entire planets and entire civilizations destroyed in a short period of time by giant beasts."

"Yeah that was how the saiyans were. I'm not like them."

"Were?"

"The saiyans were wiped out when their home planet was destroyed some time ago. There are only two saiyans left and… I'm one of them."

His eyes narrowed. "By examining your pod's destination log, we noticed you came from Namek and our astronomers said Namek was destroyed. What part did you play in that?"

"I was fighting an intense battle against someone named Frieza and – "

He paled and his eyes widened. "Frieza!? And you survived!?"

"Yeah. You've heard of him?"

"Yes. That sick creature is evil and ruthless and destroys anything he wants with no remorse or mercy. He wants to take over the galaxy but none of us are strong enough to confront him. We noticed your pod was programmed to bring its inhabitant here. Could that have belonged to one of Frieza's men?"

"I guess that's possible, but don't worry; I defeated Frieza and his men but he destroyed Namek before I could stop him. I noticed that about my pod. It might have been one of theirs but not anymore."

He gaped at me. "You defeated Frieza!? How? Frieza is probably the strongest being in the galaxy. Not even the saiyans were any match for him."

I allowed myself a small smirk. "I defeated him because I transformed into a Super Saiyan."

His shock faded and his eyes narrowed. "Wait. You said 'defeated', not 'killed'. Is he still alive?"

I twitched my shoulders. "Possibly, but he shouldn't be a threat anymore – he was in pieces from his own attack the last time I saw him. If he somehow puts himself together and tries to come find me, I'll just beat him again no problem. You don't have to worry."

His jaw dropped again and he nodded.

He recovered from his shock and was serious again. "You emitted a massive amount of energy and your hair and eyes changed color while you were sparring my student earlier. I assume that was your Super Saiyan power. If it was, it does not seem you have any control of it yet."

I frowned as I remembered when I lost my temper. "That was it. You're right. It seems to only come out when I get mad about something."

"I see. Train out here until you have control over your power. I'll make sure you have someone to spar with every day while you're here. I can see you're very strong. I'm sure many of my students will very much enjoy testing their powers against you."

Excitement surged through me at the thought of sparring with warriors with interesting new techniques to learn. "Thank you!"

He nodded curtly. "I am called Master Soba. Should you need me, I am generally in my dojo unless I'm here sparring with one of my students."

I nodded once. "Say, can you teach me that cool teleportation trick you do? That could really come in handy."

His eyes crinkled in amusement. "Yes. It is called Instant Transmission in your tongue and I will teach you how to do it. Be warned. It is not easy."

I had to suppress the sudden urge to jump up and down. "I can't wait!"

"Then let's get to work. Instant Transmission is a technique that almost every native on this planet masters at a young age and is a popular mode of transportation. I know you can sense life forces and that is what this technique depends on in addition to intense concentration. While using this technique, you travel as fast as the speed of light through a pocket dimension."

My eyebrows pulled down as I puzzled through his explanation. "I opened my eyes once while we were teleporting and noticed we were in some kind of weird tunnel but it was over so quickly. Is that what you mean?"

"Yes. That is called a Teleportation Zone. You will be able to drop in and out of it at will once you have mastered this as long as you have locked onto an energy signature. Now, I want you to close your eyes, clear your mind and focus on my energy signature, forgetting about all else."

I did what he said.

"Do you feel a pull toward me as you concentrate?"

I managed a single nod as I opened my eyes.

"Good. Concentrate on that pull. Do not fear it. Let it guide you."

With that, he flew several yards away and nodded for me to give it a try.

I closed my eyes again and focused on his ki. I felt that pull and let it take me where it would.

That strange snatching sensation caught me off guard and yanked me into the weird tunnel. Disoriented as I was, I felt his ki get close. Way too close. I focused on itas I tried to pull myself out of the tunnel.

I dropped out of it and slammed hard into my teacher and we went down with grunts in a tangle of limbs.

I jumped up and stuck a hand out to help him up. "Oops… sorry."

He grabbed my hand, I pulled him up and then he waved a hand dismissively. "No matter. Fly away a ways and try again."

I lifted into the air and flew away about the same distance as we started out and looked at him.

He nodded at me.

I shrugged. "Here goes nothing."

With a little knowledge of what to expect, I touched my two fingers to my forehead, was pulled into the Teleportation Zone and paid extra close attention to his ki.

A little closer…

Almost there…

Now!

I dropped out of the tunnel and painfully slammed into a rocky outcrop a distance behind him, partially burying myself in pulverized rock.

"Ouch! Dang it! I really thought I had it that time!"

His rough, low-pitched chuckle reached my ears as he approached and helped pull me out of the crater I made.

"I told you it wouldn't be easy."

I rubbed my sore backside irritably. "You weren't kidding!"

He merely raised an eyebrow. "Try again, Goku."

I flew the short distance back to where I had started and tried again.

I touched my two fingers to my forehead, focused on him, and was back in the tunnel. I pulled out of it at what I thought was the perfect spot. He was close but not too close. I was sure I had it…

I felt myself plummet.

Oops! I was in the air twenty feet directly above him and falling fast.

I quickly flared up my ki to stop my fall and looked down at him. "At least I didn't hit you or the rocks that time!"

He looked up and gave me a small nod of approval. "Better, Goku. You're starting to pay attention to your distance from me. Once more."

I flew back to my usual starting spot and once again, touched my two fingers to my forehead.

I dropped into the Teleportation Zone and focused extra carefully on his ki. I was beginning to get used to the strange sensations the more I practiced. I was less and less disoriented.

I pulled myself out of the Teleportation Zone a little easier and with more control than before and…

Found myself on the ground facing him a comfortable distance of eight feet away.

He bared his pointy teeth in a pleased grin. "Excellent, Goku! Take a step back please."

I obliged and watched him bend over and grab a small stone at his feet. He tossed the stone to where I stood moments before.

"Now try again. I want you to land right on top of this rock."

"Okay, but I think I got lucky more than anything."

He raised an eyebrow. "You might just surprise yourself. Now, enough chit-chat and try again."

I nodded and flew away to my usual starting spot.

On that attempt, I ended up three feet short of the stone.

I was getting better at entering and dropping out at will and with much better control. At least I wasn't crashing into anything anymore, even if my accuracy was still pretty bad.

Once more and I was a couple of feet to the left of the stone.

By about my eighth try, he held a hand up. "You're getting better at this and picking it up quite quickly. That's enough for today. I'll meet you back out here tomorrow and we'll work on your accuracy. Do not try to use this technique to move around our city until you have mastered it."

I nodded and he turned and flew away.

I resumed my solo training until their sun hung low in the sky, casting warm golden light over the area. Earth's sunsets were more spectacularly colorful, but Yardrat's were cool. Yardrat's sunsets were mostly various shades of yellow with some bright orange thrown in.

---

A couple of days later

True to his word, he also brought a different student with him every day and I fought the student for a while then he would give me an Instant Transmission lesson.

I hadn't seen the first guy I sparred with since that incident when I lost control. I hoped he would be back. He was a challenge. Fighting him had been fun, but I had plenty of other strong opponents to spar with so I wasn't bored.

I found myself in another sparring session as the master stood off to the side and watched as the hot Yardrat sun beat down on all three of us.

That person – yet another student of his I hadn't met – was almost as strong as the first guy and kept me on my toes. That guy may not have been quite as strong, but he was fast – very fast, not to mention agile, especially in the air. His technique was amazing, good enough that I learned a few new moves just by fighting with him.

I made a sloppy mistake with my form and his fist connected with my gut, painfully forcing the air out of my lungs. He was plenty strong enough that his hits hurt when they landed, and that was more often than I would have liked to admit. When I hunched over from the hit, I felt his elbow slam into the base of my neck – the thud echoing around the rocky terrain – and I slammed into the ground, making a small crater.

I felt that raging power flare up in me and tried to clamp down on it, but failed. The boiling fury built up in me and exploded out in a burst of bright yellow. Brilliant gold aura surged around me as an overwhelming urge caught me by complete surprise, the urge impossible to ignore.

I kicked off the ground hard, rushing straight for my opponent, intently focused on spilling his blood, intent on killing him.

I was so blinded by my rage, I didn't sense the master Instant Transmit behind me until I felt a powerful hit to the back of my head and I felt my power slip away as I my vision went black and my awareness faded.

---

I opened my eyes to find myself in my room, but I had no idea how I got there or how long I had been out.

My head pounded very, very painfully. I reached up and rubbed my temples, feeling thankful my room was dark. I carefully slid a hand around to the back of my head to find the large goose egg sticking out from under my hair.

I winced as I sucked in a sharp breath.

I tried to figure out why I was back in my room with a giant bump on my head. I squeezed my eyes shut, partly against the pain and partly to try to remember what happened. The harder I pushed, the worse my head hurt so I gave up for the time being and was content to stay in bed.

My mind started to drift and – before I knew it – I was asleep.

Kakarot… Mission… Earth…

My eyes snapped open and for some strange reason, I felt a chill work its way up my spine as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

There was something vaguely familiar about those broken, crackly words spoken in a cool computerized voice but they sounded like a radio not quite tuned into a station. Those words had startled me awake for some reason.

I wasn't having a nightmare – and I've had some pretty gnarly ones in the past. Nothing scary happened in my dream – in fact, I didn't see anything in my dream. I only heard those words.

My reaction to that strange, broken dream only confused me further. Why would a few broken words creep me out?

I realized my head no longer hurt.

My stomach growled.

I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I stood up and headed for the door and light controls, faintly glowing green in the darkness of my room.

I tapped the button to make the lights come on and was rewarded with a faint glow emanating from that ledge along all four walls. Like it always did, it slowly grew brighter, giving my eyes plenty of time to adjust.

I tapped the button to open the door and, with a hiss, it slid into the wall. I stepped out and into the fresh, spicy smelling air and the bright light of the Yardratian sun.

I walked up to the ledge as the door closed behind me and stepped over. I dropped like a stone, enjoying the sensation of free-fall for several seconds before I flared up my ki and slowed myself and gently touched down. On my way down, I tried to figure out why I ended up back in my room with a massive bump on my head and thought about that weird dream I had.

When I landed, the natives all looked up at me and smiled before going on with their day. My stomach growled again, louder that time and I walked to the same place I ate at when I was recovered enough to start exploring. The same spot I had eaten at every day since and the first place I learned how to get to. A place I had learned was a restaurant and was welcomed in by the friendly waiters, chattering with each other in their guttural native language.

Word traveled like wildfire that I was the guy that defeated Frieza and because of that, I got free food! I didn't much like the idea of being seen as a hero on Earth, but free food at my favorite buffets was one perk I would love.

They did that familiar funny little hand gesture and bowed at me. Master Soba had told me that was a casual greeting among his people and that I was expected to return it even though I was a guest on his planet so I did.

The waiters looked happy and led me to my usual table closest to the buffet. I dished myself up and started happily shoveling the yummy food into my mouth, cleaning plate after plate. They never batted an eye at how much I took, even if I did wipe out nearly half their buffet in one sitting.

As I ate, my mind drifted to my Instant Transmission lessons and then onto fights and sparring and – with a jolt – I remembered exactly what happened and why I woke up in my room with a huge lump on my head.

I quickly polished off my last couple of plates and then waved to the waiters as I dashed out the door.

The moment I was outside, I kicked off into the air and extended out my senses, searching for the strong kis of the fighters at the dojo, zeroing in on Master Soba. Seconds later, I found him. I sped off through the sky as quickly as I could.

When I landed in front of the large building, I opened the door and rushed in. He seemed to sense me coming for he stepped out of his office and motioned me inside, his face serious.

Everyone was staring at me and the whole place had fallen dead silent as I walked across the large room toward the master's office. It was a little… unsettling. I kept my eyes on the floor, only peeking up to make sure I was heading in the right direction.

He held the door open for me and closed it as I walked into the small room with some kind of awesome looking, serrated sword hanging on the wall above and behind his chair. His chair was draped with some kind of blue animal skin. He gestured for me to take a seat in the simple wooden chair on the other side of his desk from him.

"Goku, do you remember what happened?"

I felt my eyebrows pull down as I nodded. "I… snapped again."

"Yes, you did. From now on, Goku, you'll be sparring with only me because you're too strong and your power too dangerous until you are able to control it. The only way you'll be able to control your power is by practice and that practice can only be had through fighting.

I nodded and crossed my arms as I stared at his desk lost in the swirling knots of what was unmistakably some kind of wood.

"I get the feeling something else happened. What's on your mind, Goku?"

I sighed. "I had a weird dream last night."

"Tell me about this dream."

"It doesn't make any sense. It's just a broken up computerized voice saying Kakarot, mission, Earth, but for some reason, it creeps me out."

He stared at me. "Repeat what you just said, please."

I did and a troubled look came on his face.

"Were you aware you changed tongues?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Wait… what? You mean… I spoke a different language? How the heck is that possible? You're listening to the only language I know."

"You changed languages and spoke in a guttural, harsh sort of tongue when you told me what you had dreamed about. I assume that was the saiyan native language."

I repeated those strange words again out loud mostly for myself and then said, "This is crazy! I didn't know one word of the saiyan language before!"

"Those words seemed to roll out of your mouth very naturally, as if it was your first language. What do the words mean?"

I crossed my arms. "The first word I said was my saiyan name. The next two were 'mission' and 'Earth' – which is the planet I'm from."

It was unnerving to me how easily my brain translated those words – and unnerving that I could even understand them at all. That language was connected to a culture I wanted nothing to do with, but apparently I could understand it as easily as if I had grown up hearing it. I didn't like that one bit.

Master Soba eyed me with a troubled look. "I see. I have an inkling that dream of yours might be linked to your outbursts. Tell me about any more you may have. I will do what I can to help you get to the bottom of this. Meet me this afternoon at the training grounds to spar."

I nodded. "Thank you… for helping me sort through this."

He nodded once.

I stood up, and walked out of his office and out of the dojo, too troubled to really have any particular destination in mind.

I crossed my arms as I walked aimlessly. I wondered what the heck was wrong with me. First, I started getting angry for no good reason, and then I discovered I understood a language I had never heard in my life!

My feet had carried me well into the wilderness once I had started paying attention to my surroundings. I realized I was only a short flight from the training grounds. One quick peek at the sun told me it was late morning. The master wouldn't be there for hours, so I had the place to myself for a while.

I punched and kicked at imaginary foes with all my might. I charged up and fired several blasts, the release of energy helping ease my mind.

Quickly, my body screamed for more and launching punch after punch and kick after kick into empty air just wasn't enough. I needed to hit something with substance. I needed something to destroy.

My gaze swept around for something that would fit the bill and settled on a large boulder a couple times taller than me a hundred feet away. I rushed at it and punched into it hard, pulverizing it with one strong hit; the satisfyingly loud crack was an appetizer.

I needed more.

I spotted an even larger one a little farther off than the first one, and with a flare of ki, kicked off toward it, a smirk on my face. That one I decided to destroy with a kick. The loud crack I heard as my foot met rock was even more satisfying than the first one. I watched as it shattered and turned into sand.

I still needed more.

I found the main course: a hill. A quick sweep with my senses told me there was nothing living in it, not even animals. I slammed my foot into it like the last one, the hill big enough it took a few good, hard hits before it was in pieces.

I dropped to the ground next to the huge pile of pulverized rock that was all that was left of the hill, panting slightly from the exertion, my heart pounding from the adrenaline rush.

After I caught my breath, I kicked off into the air and took up my usual training until Master Soba showed up.

We started off with an Instant Transmission session, my accuracy with the technique improving quickly. Once that was over, we moved on to the spar that became our daily routine.

---

A few days later

I went three whole days without losing control! I also had three restful nights of no weird dreams. I thought maybe whatever was wrong with me at the time was over.

I was wrong. Very wrong.

Master Soba and I were locked in a particularly intense mid-air sparring session. He was serious about bringing out my power. I wasn't too happy about that. I thought he was nuts!

I had gotten good enough with Instant Transmission I was beginning to meld it into my fighting style and used it to move in close behind him and fire a small blast at him, but he Instant Transmissioned behind me and fired one at me instead and hit me square in the back, burning through my clothes and then did it again from a different angle.

I felt the prickle from the energy of the blast on my skin and the same second a surge of intense heat swept through me. I was caught in an inferno with no way out and I was lost to the raging fire in me as my power exploded out, the brilliant yellow aura hot enough to almost sear my skin.

I rushed toward him – intent on making him pay dearly for using that dirty tactic – and shot my right ki-charged fist out, aiming for his chest.

He blocked it with his left, but I felt and heard the telltale crack of his forearm giving in to my fist. He snarled in pain, but clenched his jaw so no more sound would come out.

The sound of his forearm cracking awakened much stronger instincts in me – a powerful, impossible to ignore drive to spill as much blood as I could. The drive swallowed me up and suddenly, the prospect of taking only one life didn't seem all that exciting anymore. Not with the thousands of others so close by.

My sights set on the city, I flew as fast as I could for it, but I didn't make it far because Master Soba teleported in front of me, blocking my way.

Annoyed at being stopped, my hands shot out and wrapped very tightly around his neck. Some part of me knew the only way I was going to get to that city was through him.

I felt a sudden, sharp pain in the back of my head, distracting me. My grip on him loosened just enough and Master Soba got free. I leveled a glare at whoever was behind me, at whoever distracted me that little bit.

When I had turned around, the familiar face of the first Yardratian I sparred stared back at me with equal helpings of fear and anger. His eyes darted back and forth between his master and me, concern flashing through his eyes.

His power wasn't much compared the power that raged through me. It would be easy to end him – too easy – and not very much fun. I wanted to drag it out. I lunged through the air for him, but he narrowly dodged my fist aimed for his face by pulling his head to the side. My fist slipped into the empty space his head occupied just a second before, my momentum carrying me too close. He countered with a powerful punch to my stomach, too close for me to block it. A blow with enough power behind it to actually hurt a little bit.

The same second he landed that hit, I felt another hard blow to the back of my head – hard enough to give me tunnel vision and make me dizzy, but wasn't enough to knock me out completely. The blow did snap me out of my instinct driven angry haze.

When the instincts were gone and I was myself again, my power immediately slipped through my fingers and my jet-black bangs fell into my eyes.

Master Soba and the other fighter appeared in front of me, eyeing me cautiously. Master Soba rubbed his throat – ugly black blotches already beginning to form – with his good arm, his broken arm pressed into his chest, while he stared at me.

I didn't miss the fear in their eyes. It poured out of them in potent waves. They weren't human, but their fear still smelled the same. Fear was fear.

Up to that point, that was the closest I had ever come to taking an innocent life, an innocent life that had done nothing but help me despite the beast lurking in me, ready to attack with little provocation.

Guilt bubbled up in me. "Master Soba… I'm – "

He raised his unbroken arm, and I fell silent. He waved his student off.

He closed his eyes briefly, and then took a deep breath and stared me in my eyes. "My promise to you still stands. I will help you as best I can." His voice dropped. "If this isn't stopped, it will not be only our lives that you will destroy."

The realization hit me harder than any of Frieza's blasts ever had. "I can't go home until I have this… this power under my control. I might… hurt my wife and son and my friends – or worse!"

"Yes, it would be best if you stayed away from Earth until you have this power under perfect control. Wife? You have a mate? And a child?"

My reply was quiet. "Yeah. I have a mate and we have a son together. He's six by now."

He looked pensive after I mentioned my family. "What are their names?"

"Chichi is my wife, and Gohan is my son."

He nodded, but remained quiet and didn't ask anything else about them.

I had no idea how long I'd have to stay on that planet, but I absolutely could not go home.

I blew out a big breath. "Thank you… for helping me."

He nodded and looked at me with nothing but kindness briefly before his expression was thoughtful again. "That is enough sparring for today. I would like to take some time to discuss your history. I know a little of the saiyans, having heard in legends passed down by my people of the saiyan race's bloodlust and of their monstrous transformations, as I mentioned when I first met you. I've heard they send their youngsters out to kill whole civilizations."

"That's true far as I know."

"Were you sent away as an infant?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I was. I was told that a little over a year ago. I thought I was human all my life up to that point. A strong human with a tail, but human just the same."

"I see. Why didn't you kill the earthlings? What changed?"

"I… don't really know."

He crossed his arms. "You said someone recently told you were sent to Earth as a baby to kill all of its inhabitants. Who told you that?"

I couldn't stop my lip from curling slightly in disgust. "My older brother I didn't know I had. His name was Raditz."

"Judging by your expression, I'm guessing you don't like him. Tell me more about this Raditz."

"You see, he showed up on Earth looking for me a little over a year ago. When he found me, he told me that I'm a saiyan and then kidnapped my little son. He threatened to kill him unless I killed one hundred people by the end of that day. I teamed up with another strong fighter on Earth and – working together – we killed Raditz and saved my son but I died in the process."

He looked… baffled, so baffled it was funny. "You died? But... you're here."

I chuckled lightly. "Oh! That? My friends summoned the Eternal Dragon to wish me back."

He didn't look like he quite believed that one. "Eternal Dragon. I had heard legends of that but only regarding Namek."

"That's all true, too! Earth has its own set of Dragon Balls and its own Eternal Dragon named Shenron. Namek's is named Porunga."

He raised an eyebrow. "I see. That legend is true as well, then. I assume they both have the ability to revive dead people."

"Yeah. I don't really know much about Porunga, but Shenron can only restore lives that were lost within one year before the wish as long as they didn't die from natural causes."

He frowned as he considered what I told him. "Since you did not die from a natural cause, the dragon was able to revive you?"

"Pretty much!"

"I see."

He crossed his arms, still looking thoughtful.

After a short while, he continued. "Did this brother of yours tell you anything else?"

"Yeah… uh… he asked me a weird question. He wanted to know if I hit my head. I did hit my head. I don't remember it but I did. The old man who found me as a baby in my space pod in the woods and raised me told me about it not long before he died. He was worried he was going to lose me. He mentioned I was… different after that.

"When I told my brother I did, he told me I had scrambled my – I forget the word he used… he seemed sure that bump was what changed me. He said it made me… forget something, I think. I don't remember that very well. The memory is hazy because I was so worried about my son."

Master Soba looked confused. "He wanted to know if you hit your head? What would that have to do with anything? Beyond that, what did he mean by 'scrambled'? Scrambled your… memories? Scrambled what, exactly?"

I shrugged. "Beats me. I don't remember the word he used."

He frowned and rubbed his chin. "I see. Well, if you think of the word, come find me right away, please. I think we're done here for the day. I'll talk to some elders in the village and see if I can find out any more about the saiyans. We'll meet back here at the same time tomorrow."

"Okay. See ya then!"

He touched two fingers to his large, wrinkled forehead and he was gone. A second later, his ki reappeared at his dojo, leaving me alone at the training grounds.

It was still pretty early in the day. I decided to get back to my solo training. Fighting had always helped me work through things in my head. Flowing through the different forms and moves I knew helped things come to mind whenever I needed to come up with a plan for something or just figure something out.

I trained for a few more hours before my stomach roared and mumbled to myself, "Well, there's no way I'm getting any training – or thinking – done on an empty stomach."

I flew back to the same restaurant I had eaten at every day since I arrived on that planet. Once I was done eating and back at the training grounds, I trained a long while, until the sun hung low in their bright yellow sky but made no breakthroughs with the problem I had.

After working up a good hard sweat, I eventually called it quits for the day and flew to my quarters to get some sleep.

Kakarot, your mission… kill all… Earth…

My eyes snapped open. That strange robotic voice was clearer. I repeated the words aloud so I wouldn't forget them come morning. "Kakarot, your mission… kill all… Earth."

I drifted back to a fitful sleep, dreaming about meeting my brother and just how badly that reunion with my friends ended.

---

The Next Morning

The moment I opened my eyes, I yanked my covers off, hurriedly got dressed in the strange clothes they gave me and ran outside.

I closed my eyes as I zeroed in on Master Soba's ki. I felt that familiar pull, but even though I was better at Instant Transmission, he still didn't want me using it in the city just yet, so the only option was to fly.

I jogged a few steps and kicked off my ledge, flying straight to his ki. Several others of varying strengths surrounded him. Judging from the distance and others being with him, he was in his dojo.

I kicked in a burst of speed and was there in no time. I touched down, opened the door, and stepped inside.

I caught Master Soba's eye as he supervised two students during a sparring match. He signaled me to come to him and he walked to his office. I followed.

He shut the door behind us. "Remember something new?"

"No, but that weird dream changed."

His ears perked. "Go on."

"There were more words and the strange voice sounded… clearer. 'Kakarot, your mission… kill all… Earth.' What do you think it means? Oh! Did you talk to those elders? Did you find out anything?"

It was unnerving to me how naturally my brain translated those new words – new words belonging to a language I had never heard.

He frowned. "Yes, I did talk to the elders. After I had explained your situation to them, there was little they told me that I didn't already know about the saiyans. They did, however, mention one thing I didn't know: They spoke of some type of programming that all saiyan–"

I gasped. "Programming! That's the word I couldn't remember before! That was the word my brother used!"

His eyes widened and then they narrowed into a contemplative expression as he crossed his arms. "Programming… Tell me about that dream one more time and how it's changed."

"The voice I heard in my dream… it started out sounding sort of crackly and broken like a radio that wasn't tuned right to a station. Then last night, it got clearer and I heard more words."

"You lost control while we were sparring and then you had that same dream last night, but clearer and with more words."

My eyes darted to the bruises on his neck and his broken arm. I was relieved to see they were fading fast and he seemed to have full use of his arm. Maybe he had some of that salve that can heal broken bones super fast like that one native put on my ribs.

I frowned, troubled. "Do you think they're… connected somehow?"

He nodded. "I'm almost positive they are."

"Okay… so… now what?"

He stared into my eyes for a moment. "I don't know, Goku. For now, we will continue to have our sparring sessions and I will continue to teach you Instant Transmission. I want you to come to me when that dream changes again. I will meet up with you later this afternoon at our usual spot. I must get back to my other students now."

I nodded and opened the door. "See you then."

I walked quickly out of the dojo, the students pausing their training to silently watch me leave.

It was with some relief that I kicked off the ground and into the air. I hovered a minute while I decided where to go.

My stomach growled and suddenly felt like it was eating itself. I hadn't had breakfast yet. "Food first and then onto training."

I booked it to my favorite restaurant.

After stuffing myself to the gills – emptying half their buffet in the process – I left with a cheerful wave to the servers. "That was great! Thanks!"

They smiled and waved back.

Once outside, I flew toward the training area in the wilderness and got to work, going through my usual punches, kicks, and energy blasts, sometimes pulverizing boulders.

Some hours later, Master Soba showed up.

I waved as he approached and he lifted a hand in response.

We got to work with my Instant Transmission session and it was with some pride that I was finally starting to really get the hang of it. My accuracy was way better. I could drop into that tunnel and out of it exactly where I wanted to.

"Well, Goku, you've done well with your Instant Transmission sessions the last few days. I don't think you need any more lessons. I'm amazed how quickly you mastered it. You're proficient enough with the technique, you could safely begin to use it to move around the city."

I pumped a fist into the air as I felt my face light up. "Wahoo!"

His eyes crinkled. "Let's spar."

I immediately shifted into my fighting stance with a relaxed, confident smile on my face as he did his and we rushed at each other.

He landed a couple solid hits on me, but I didn't lose control once even though I did get a little irritated. I did what I always did: I got up and kept going. I landed a couple of good hits on him, too, but he didn't mind. He seemed to appreciate the challenge.

After a few hours, he raised his hands, calling a truce. We were both hovering about twenty feet off the ground and panting slightly, sweat rolling down both our faces.

My stomach roared very loudly.

He quirked an eyebrow. "Let's go eat."

"Yes! I'm starved!"

His gravelly laugh reached my ears. "Goku? Will you transport us?"

My eyes widened and I felt my mouth split into a big grin. "Really?"

He nodded and grabbed my shoulder.

I touched two fingers to my forehead and concentrated on the very familiar kis of the servers. Between one heartbeat and the next, we stood just inside of the door, precisely where I had meant to place us.

"Well done."

"Thanks!"

I dashed to the all-you-can-eat buffet line and piled about twenty plates high with all kinds of the weirdly colorful, crazy, but extremely delicious foods.

My stomach unleashed another mighty roar as I dished myself up. The others there – both servers and customers – all laughed. The sound of so many laughing their gravelly laugh sounded a little like being in a rock quarry.

I carried my swaying tower of plates to our table and dug in. It was all so delicious as I cleaned one plate after the next. The servers were quick to take my empty plates.

I was down to my last few when some kids dashed by. One tripped and bumped into our table, knocking my desert plate to the floor.

If I had learned anything about my new power during my second week on Yardrat, it was sporadic. It was completely unpredictable. In moments where I was sure I was about to snap, I wouldn't. In moments that shouldn't have bothered me, I did snap. I couldn't make any sense of it and I hated that.

I felt that telltale rage build up in me as a scream tore out of my throat and terrifying power surged through my veins and that brilliant golden aura flared up around me. My blood boiled – almost literally from the heat of the power forcing itself out of me. My heart galloped in my chest, but rage wasn't the only thing fueling it.

Reacting on my instinct, I stood up so quickly, I knocked my chair and the table over. Dishes shattered as they hit the floor.

The kids hadn't even made it to the front door of the place before I was on them. I reached my hands out, ready to wring their necks. I was just a second away from grabbing them when a sudden, sharp pain exploded in the back of my skull, the shock to my body forcing me to drop my power. My head swam and my vision went black as I felt my legs give out from under me.

---

I was vaguely aware of hard, rough ground beneath my back. My head pounded. My eyes refused to open right away, no matter how much I willed them to.

I swept over wherever I was with my senses and found only Master Soba's ki. With no imminent danger, I allowed myself to stay down a little while longer.

Finally, I was able to crack my eyes open. With a groan, I propped myself up on my elbows and slowly, my vision came into focus as I stared around me.

The sun was low to the horizon, casting a warm golden glow around us. I was thankful. My head couldn't have handled any brighter light than that.

For a moment, I was confused why I was back at the training grounds with my head pounding. It didn't take long before what happened in the restaurant came back to me as I sat up fully.

I almost killed kids. Innocent children.

I closed my eyes and put my head in my hands. "I almost killed kids! I can't believe this."

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "It seems to me we are getting closer to figuring out why this is happening to you and closer to a solution."

I lifted my head out of my hands and stared straight ahead. "I hope you're right."

He removed his hand and I stood up.

He floated into the air. "Same time tomorrow. Go get some sleep."

With that, he flew off and left me to think. I was too wound up to go to bed right away, so I decided to watch the last remnants of the sunset fade from view as darkness overtook the land.

The planet's large moon rose, full and bright, and I watched for a while as it climbed slowly into the sky, the scene strikingly beautiful and for a moment, it felt like I was back on Earth. The scene soothed my restlessness and I yawned wide and loud, as my eyelids finally grew heavy.

I floated lazily into the air and drifted toward the faint glow of the city and the bright points of life within. Eventually, I touched down just outside my door, my landing clumsy and I stumbled a little bit in my sleepiness. I touched the button to open my door, stepped in, and collapsed on my bed, not bothering to undress. I immediately sank into a deep sleep despite the dull ache in my head.

---

Another week went by with our usual routine, minus the Instant Transmission lessons. I had mastered that technique by my third week on the planet. Master Soba said he had never seen anyone master it so fast.

I went a whole week with no loss of control. I had no breakthroughs large or small with controlling my power, either, but at least I didn't try to kill anyone else.

An afternoon a week since I lost it in the restaurant, we sparred like normal, which gave me another opportunity to practice merging Instant Transmission into my fighting style. I wanted it to be second nature to me and before long, it was.

I would have been more excited and more proud of myself had my mastering of a new technique not been overshadowed by my worst loss of control up to that point.

We had each taken some pretty hard hits and were a little bloody, but we weren't ready to stop. Despite seeing everything he had seen, he still pushed me to release that uncontrollable power despite knowing of the terrible rage and bloodthirst that went with it. He knew to be careful what he wished for.

He was right – in general, using a power was the only way to learn to control it. That bright, blazing hot aura that surged around me and the massive power boost that went with it was one power I wasn't sure I'd ever control. A power I dreaded using. Dreading new strength. I never thought I'd hear myself think that, but I did. He tried to bring it out anyway.

Sometimes, he succeeded.

He used Instant Transmission repeatedly to fire blast after blast at me from various angles. It wasn't anywhere near enough to kill me or even severely injure me, but each impact was irritating, pushing me closer and closer to the edge. It was a dirty tactic, but he got what he wanted.

The power that tore its way through me felt like it was pulling at me from all directions – as if it was going to tear me apart. My heart pounded hard in my chest as the power erupted out of me and my aura exploded into the brilliant gold I had come to dread because of that awful bloodlust that went with it.

Enraged, I Instant Transmissioned right in front of Master Soba and slammed my fist hard into his gut, making him slump over my arm, exposing his back. I rammed my other fist into his back and his limp form fell fast, hitting the ground with a loud thud and with enough force to leave a small crater.

Blood trickled out of his nose and mouth and he didn't move. The sight of his crumpled body on the ground and his blood oozing out of his nose and mouth triggered far more overwhelmingly powerful instincts than any I had up to that point. Instincts with one drive: to spill as much blood as possible.

I set my sights on the city and flew as fast as I could, my powerful instincts anticipating the bloodbath. The people would have been sitting ducks and didn't have a chance.

My instincts urged me forward faster than I had ever flown before and – within a few minutes – I hovered above the city. I stared around me. The closest thing to me was one of the huge, skyscraping rock towers dotted with hundreds of doors, life behind every single one of them.

The very thought of bloodshed made me happy. I was a cold-hearted killing machine with absolutely no room for compassion, no room for mercy. I was completely lost to my instincts. That wasn't just an angry reflex like all of the other times my power exploded out. I was my instincts. They were all I knew.

I reached the tower and toppled it with one well-placed blast, the terrified screams from those within giving still more strength to my instincts but the screams stopped abruptly and their kis disappeared before the tower hit the ground.

Before my clouded mind could wonder why that was, I felt a sudden, hard hit on my back and spun around, landing a hard punch on the fighter I didn't sense sneak up on me, shattering his jaw. Blood poured out of his nose and mouth as he sailed away and slammed into a tower a distance away, his impact strong enough to topple that one as well.

I sensed that telltale crackle in the air and locked onto four more strong kis a nanosecond before they appeared. I spun, intending to take them all out with one sweeping, very fast roundhouse kick with some power behind it, but they were too fast. They dodged it easily and tried to knock me out again, but their punches and kicks weren't strong enough.

I found my stride and effortlessly blocked their attacks, retaliating with my own far more powerful punches, kicks, and blasts. They were fast but no match for my speed and strength. They dropped like flies, crashing into the massive rock structures one by one.

My eyes followed them down, enjoying the view. With my gaze on the ground, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, movement that for some reason caught my attention despite my enraged, instinct-driven state of mind.

The movement was in the pile of rubble from the first tower I destroyed. My gaze locked onto a stumbling, bleeding female carrying a tiny, limp form in her hands.

For some reason, I couldn't tear my gaze away. I couldn't move – either to destroy her or help her. I was frozen to the spot, hovering high above her. For what felt like an eternity, I stared as she stumbled through the massive pile of rubble, almost dropping the small bundle in her arms.

Finally, she collapsed, the tiny, limp form almost rolling out of her arms. That snapped me out of it. I dematerialized and rematerialized directly in front of her, catching her and the tiny form of her child before either hit the ground.

She stared up at me with an expression torn between desperation, sheer terror, pain and sadness for just a second before her eyes rolled back into her head as her energy dipped dangerously low, her blood soaking into my shirt. I lowered my eyes to the tiny form tucked against my chest by my other arm. Both still gave off the barest hint of warm life but wouldn't for much longer.

I dropped heavily to my knees. Reacting on a different – but equally as powerful – instinct, I pulled them both close and closed my eyes, bolstering the last of their waning life-force with mine, stabilizing them, careful not to give them too much too quickly. Slowly, their power rose.

The baby – limp and near death just a minute before – squirmed in my arms and then… cried. That sound broke through my instincts – broke me. The cry sounded so much like a human baby – like my son did at that age.

The minute the baby cried, the mother's eyes snapped open and she twisted in my arms, snatched her baby away, and was on her feet several paces back, eyeing me like a prey animal would a predator and slowly slid one foot after another behind her before finally turning and sprinting away.

My power slipped away, the brilliant yellow aura evaporating around me as I dropped to all fours, my chest heaving. An intense, sick feeling bubbled up in me and I was violently sick.

After my stomach was empty, I twisted to one side and sat up, immediately burying my head in between my knees, my hands tangling in my hair. I was shaking hard and felt a large, painful lump wedge itself firmly in my raw throat and didn't even try to stop the tears pooling in my eyes.

Finally, I fell apart and my shoulders heaved again and again. My stomach was empty, but the sick feeling refused to go away. I killed. I killed innocent people.

After a while, I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder but I couldn't face anyone so I kept my face buried in my knees. The hand on my shoulder wouldn't leave. If anything, it tightened. I knew who it was.

The hand left and I heard the crunch of gravel as he moved around in front of me followed by a scraping sound. "Goku?"

His voice was soft and concerned but I didn't miss the fear he tried to keep out of his tone. With him sitting so close, I smelled it. He was shaken.

He tried again. "Goku?"

I finally lifted my head out of my knees and stared at Master Soba, tears still rolling down my face.

His expression was grave, more serious than I had ever seen him look.

Three cloaked figures suddenly materialized a short distance behind him. Their faces were in shadow, hidden within large hoods. Their cloaks were pure white with gold trim. The only part of skin that was visible was their hands, very wrinkled and frail, almost skeletal.

Master Soba twitched when he sensed them. His face paled slightly and his eyes widened. He took a deep breath, stood up and faced them then dipped into a deep bow and held that for several seconds. He straightened and the four of them walked a distance away and talked. For a very long time. I could guess what – or who – they were talking about.

I knew they were trying to decide what to do with me. A chill went down my spine and I felt truly powerless. How was I going to… stop myself?

I had saved Earth several times, but never once had I needed to save the world – or any world – from myself. I had no idea what to do. Even if I stayed away from Earth, I would be endangering a different planet.

Master Soba's quiet words echoed in my head: "If this isn't stopped, it will not be only our lives that you will destroy."

I had to figure out what was wrong with me and put a stop to it.

I pushed a hand through my hair as my mind ran wild.

If it was just another strong bad guy, all I'd have to do was train until I could beat him. I rarely got nervous in battles; in fact, I very much enjoyed them even if the whole of planet Earth was in danger, even if the odds seemed stacked against me. I enjoyed them but I also made sure I won.

Part of winning my fights meant understanding my enemy. I sure didn't understand the foe I faced on Yardrat. I didn't even know then what my foe was exactly.

How was I supposed to fight a foe I couldn't see let alone understand?

That question gnawed at me as I stared at the rubble. It occurred to me Master Soba did all he could to help me. I had a hunch I had all the pieces to my puzzle. It was time to put them together.

Their conversation apparently over, Master Soba bowed again and the three cloaked figures teleported away. He looked somewhat relieved when they left.

He walked back over to me and took his seat in front of me again. He was about to speak when I headed him off and took a deep breath and stood up. "Master Soba. I'm going to fly deep into the wilderness to meditate. Please make sure no one comes looking for me. I really don't want to hurt anyone else."

He nodded once slowly, solemnly as he stared deep into my eyes. "Good luck, Goku."

I nodded at him in return and flew off in a flare of ki. I flew as fast as I could to cover as much ground as possible, far passed the usual training grounds, passed the tall mountains that were themselves only distantly visible from the training grounds. I flew for hours under their hot sun. Only when my energy began to run out did I land.

I looked around the flat rocky emptiness that seemed to go on forever in every direction. It was so hot, the only plants were frail twigs poking up out of the ground. The desert outside of the city was hot enough, but that deep into the wilderness was much worse. I watched as a stiff breeze picked up and snapped a few of the frail twigs in half. It was so hot, not even the wind helped.

I extended my senses. A few very dim points of energy below me hinted at critters burrowed deep into the rocky terrain, waiting for a storm that would never come. It didn't look like it ever rained out there.

I closed my eyes and pushed my senses out further. There were great clusters of dim points of energy in a few directions around me. Distance made them dim. Those came from the cities and I was very, very far away

I found the perfect place to fight my fight.

I sat down in the lotus position, their hot sun beating down on me and closed my eyes. I took several deep breaths and allowed my translucent white ki to envelop me.

I held the position for I didn't know how long. It must have been hours because the sun had moved a long way across the sky. No matter how much time passed, I wasn't going back to civilization until I understood… whatever it was I was supposed to understand.

I drifted deep into my meditation, so deep I was unaware of the outside world.

Unbidden, thoughts drifted into my head randomly. My battles. The faces of my wife and my son and my friends flashed before me, one-by-one, ending with the face of Grandpa Gohan.

His face stayed visible the longest then slowly blurred and faded completely.

A single word popped into my head. First, I heard it spoken by my brother, followed by Vegeta, and last by that cool computerized voice.

Kakarot.

I cringed internally at its rough sound. A name connected with a culture – a race – that I wanted nothing to do with. A name connected to a race that destroyed so many innocent lives without a second thought.

A name I refused to go by and one I would never accept.

No sooner had that cool computer voice uttered that name than it continued in the same guttural, harsh language like it did in my dreams. A foreign language I somehow understood.

A vague image of the inside of a space pod like the one I took to escape Namek accompanied the words, as a planet slowly grew larger through the small, round, red window as the voice spoke:

"Kakarot. Awaken. Your mission is to kill all life-forms on Earth. Look at the planet's moon. When the planet's moon is full, you will have all the power you need. Do not fail."

It was as if the voice reached me telepathically in addition to being out loud. It filled my mind, bringing with it an all-consuming rage. The words and the rage became… who I was somehow.

My eyes snapped open as I sucked in a sharp breath of the hot air around me, my heart pounding painfully hard and fast in my chest as the pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place.

I was breathing hard, my hands clenched into tight fists, and my whole body shook. My ki began spiking and falling erratically and unstably.

I was barely aware of the sudden presence that appeared right beside me. The presence stepped over and sat down in front of me.

"Goku!"

I twitched and my wide eyes found his.

"I sensed your power spiking uncontrollably. What happened during your meditation?"

Words refused to come to me to right away. He sat and waited patiently as I tried to collect myself.

Gradually, my heart settled back into a more normal rhythm, as did my breathing and my ki stabilized.

"I… understand now. The dream I had… the computer voice I heard… that was my programming. My programming was causing me to go into fits of rage and driving me to destroy. I couldn't control it because the programming was too deeply engrained. It was forced down my throat when I was a baby on my space pod on my way to Earth…" I trailed off and shuddered as the image of that mother and child rushed into my mind – an image I knew I'd never forget.

He stood up and extended a hand to me. "Stand up, Goku."

I reached up and grabbed his hand. He pulled me up on my shaky legs, but I kept my balance.

He walked several paces away and slid into his fighting stance and motioned for me to do the same.

"Are. You. Crazy!?" I nearly screamed the last word as my arms hung limply at my sides, my eyes like saucers.

"You can't run from this, Goku. You must learn how to control that power. Fight me. I will attack you whether you're ready or not."

I took a deep breath and slowly – reluctantly – slid into my fighting stance.

He Instant Transmissioned in front of me and I barely had time to block his powerful fist aimed for my face and countered with a fist aimed for his stomach.

I was too tense to fight very well at first. His speed very much kept me on my toes. I was only barely able to block his attacks, missing several altogether. Counterattacking was not possible.

I had to relax.

I allowed my fighting instincts honed from years of experience to guide me. They relaxed my tense body and I flawlessly flowed through blocks and counterattacks as our match worked its way into the air.

"Yes! Let your instincts take over!"

I Instant Transmissioned behind him as he threw a blast at me and elbowed him in the back of his neck and kicked him to the ground. He flipped in the air just in time to land hard on his feet and immediately kicked back into the air again, disappearing in his favorite tactic.

I closed my eyes and sensed him out. I had discovered that just before the fighter using the technique reappears, he can be sensed out and his attack blocked.

Having practiced that so much in the last few days, it was second nature to me to sense out and dodge a fist aimed for my head and land my fist in his gut, causing him to grunt as he doubled over.

Before I could finish with my favorite fists to the back hit designed to make my opponent slam into the ground, he teleported many paces away and watched me with an eyebrow raised as we both still hovered in the air.

He then did something I wasn't expecting. He disappeared again but instead of reappearing closer, ready to launch another attack, he was gone. I stretched my senses out and detected him back in the city, surrounded closely by the other fighters. Sensing all five of the fighters I battled earlier meant they were still very much alive.

Maybe he changed his mind about trying to force out my power. I was… relieved if I was being honest with myself.

A couple of minutes went by, and then I sensed that familiar crackle of energy in the air seconds before they appeared.

They.

I was confused and then concerned. Part of me wondered what the master had planned. The other part of me already knew. I asked, anyway.

I looked around at the small group of five recently healed fighters that stood before me; the only evidence of the injuries I gave them was dried blood on their light armor. I had faced every one of these fighters in sparring matches. One of the faces belonged to the first fighter I fought the first time I snapped. My eyes lingered on him the longest. He nodded once at me and I nodded back.

"What are you all doing here?"

I eyed the master suspiciously. I really hoped he didn't have planned what I thought he did.

"Goku, you have seamlessly melded Instant Transmission into your fighting style. Because of that, we are too closely matched. My students will join in and we will bring out your power one way or another."

He nodded at his students and – as one – they slid into their fighting stances along with Master Soba.

He really did have planned what I thought he did!

I slid a foot back. "I could… kill you all."

His expression was stern and unyielding. "You must face this power, Goku or you will kill us all."

He quirked an eyebrow and gave me a small smile. "If you do kill us by the time you've gained control, just wish us back with the Dragon Balls as soon as you're on Earth." His expression turned stern. "You will learn to control this right here and right now. If you don't here, then you might never."

I glanced around at the other fighters. Their jaws were set in determination, but the beads of sweat rolling down their temples and their faster and lighter than normal breathing betrayed their nervousness.

They were willing to help me even if it cost them their lives.

I looked each of them in the eye in turn. "If I kill any of you, I swear to you I will wish you back with the Dragon Balls as soon as I can."

They dipped their heads, accepting my promise to them.

I slid into my fighting stance.

"Ready, Goku?"

I nodded once but apprehensively.

As one, they rushed for me and I dodged and wove through the group, countering with my own attacks – landing many hits – but getting many more landed on me.

They were strong. They fought flawlessly together, as if they had spent hours practicing fighting as one cohesive being. It was as if it was second nature for them.

They were so great together I couldn't get a blow in edgewise as they adjusted to my fighting style. Every time I tried, I would get the wind knocked out of me, crash into the ground, or get a new bruise added my growing, somewhat painful collection.

I could feel my irritation start to rear its ugly head. I didn't usually get flustered during fights, but I sure was then. I could feel a quickly pulsing vein pop out on my forehead.

I felt a foot connect with the right side of my head – a foot with a lot of power behind it – as a knee connected to another fighter collided with my exposed ribs on my left side – cracking a few. The blow to my head was nearly enough to knock me out. I got a little dizzy from that one.

My dizziness cost me whatever ability to defend myself against the five fighters I had, if only just for a few seconds, but in a fight, a few seconds can change everything. That fight was no different.

Master Soba chose that moment to pop up directly in front of me and fired a small blast, aimed point blank for my chest. As busy as I was trying to defend myself from the other fighters from all sides, I couldn't block the master's blast.

The impact was enough to knock the wind out of me and push me back several feet as the small blast exploded on me. I felt the front of my clothing sizzle and melt away, exposing my skin to the intense heat of the blast. It was enough heat to actually burn me a little bit.

There was a strange shimmer in the air in front of me, like someone would see in a desert. Like that area of the wilderness under Yardrat's hot sun.

I realized knocking me back – away from the other fighters – somewhat gave me an advantage if I played my cards just right.

Before I could make my move, Master Soba vanished and reappeared directly in front of me and fired another one, scoring another point blank direct hit quicker than I could react.

My power climbed. I balanced precariously on the edge. One slip and I would fall into the boiling, endless sea of rage below.

My heart pounded hard and fast against my chest and it had little to do with the exertion of fighting. It was beating furiously, trying to hold onto whatever shred of control I had over the beast within me.

Several more blows landed at the same time in various places as I barely managed to block others. I had bruises on top of bruises.

I felt and heard a few cracks immediately followed by a sharp, intense pain as a few more of my ribs gave into the force of the foot that connected with my right side.

I roared in frustration as I was shoved over the edge, the endless sea of rage swallowing me completely and my power skyrocketed. The rage consumed and wiped out my panic as I fell in, leaving room for nothing but my most basic instincts.

That golden aura I had come to dread the sight of erupted around me as my power exploded outward and the beast clawed its way to freedom, knocking Master Soba and the other fighters several feet away.

I felt my lip curl as I leveled my gaze at them. My instincts screamed for their blood. Screamed for the blood of every life-form on that planet. One way or another, I would have what I wanted.

I lunged at them, almost salivating at the thought of spilling blood – at the thought of their screams of pain and terror as I tore them apart.

The fools held their ground, chins held high.

They exchanged glances and nodded at each other once before vanishing as one, only to reappear very close to me and seize my limbs, trying in a futile attempt to hold me back, as the oldest of them – the one I recognized as the master who taught me that handy little move called Instant Transmission – materialized in my face.

"Goku! Listen to me! This isn't you! You are not a bloodthirsty monster, even if you were originally programmed to be one. What do you think Chichi and Gohan would think of you if they saw you like this?"

At the mention of their names, my instincts faded, the beast idle for the time being and losing its hold on me.

My wife… My son… Their faces surged to the forefront of my mind, terror filled and then blurred and faded as my mind shifted to a vision of myself looking down at their twisted bodies, their blood dripping slowly off my hands and splattering onto the floor of our home.

I killed my family.

My blind rage suddenly evaporated, replaced by a mounting terror of the power surging through me. My heart pounded so hard it hurt. Sweat rolled down my face, sweat that didn't have much to do with the heat of the day.

My stomach felt sick. If there was anything in it at all, it would have come up. I was glad it was empty.

"Do not fear this, Goku. You will never learn to control this if you fear it."

His words reverberated through my head, reaching deep into my being.

Fear.

I didn't just dread it; I was well and truly terrified of the power surging through me.

Far more than that, I was terrified of hurting my family. Terrified of murdering innocent people.

My eyes stung and that sick feeling got a whole lot worse as that horrific vision of me staring down at my family's twisted, bloodied bodies pushed into the forefront of my mind.

I retched.

At the same time as that awful image surged into my head, I heard the words spoken in the eerie, robotic voice of my dreams, running on and on as if on a loop…

"Kakarot. Awaken. Your mission is to kill all life-forms on Earth. Look at the planet's moon. When the planet's moon is full, you will have all the power you need. Do not fail."

Hands grabbed my shoulders in a firm grip and my eyes snapped up to stare into Master Soba's concerned eyes. When he spoke, his tone was soft, but stern. "I don't know what you're seeing in your head, but I know you're trying to run from it. Don't! I know you're scared. Goku… you must embrace this power. Embrace it fully and fearlessly."

For the first time since my strange outbursts began, I finally fully understood my foe. Fear. I was terrified of hurting my family, of hurting innocent lives. I was terrified of my power because of how extremely violent it made me. My terror held me back, kept me from taking control of my power. It weakened me. It hogtied me.

No longer.

I swiftly clamped down on my programming, forever silencing that robotic voice from my memories.

I took a deep breath. "I am a saiyan. My name is Son Goku. And my name is Kakarot. I will never harm an innocent person as long as I live."

The hands that had a firm grip on my shoulders slowly released me, as did the others holding my arms and legs.

I dropped to the ground. My knees shook and then gave out and hit the ground, my arms hanging limply at my sides.

Slowly, my heart returned to its normal rhythm, as did my breathing, but my power remained. I wasn't afraid. I wasn't angry. I was just… myself.

I had finally fully embraced my new power.

Master Soba landed in front of me and grabbed my shoulders. "You did it, Goku!"

I felt several other pairs of hands slap my back good-naturedly.

I was too tired, too overwhelmed, too… relieved to respond at all. I smiled a little weakly at the group surrounding me.

I was so busy defeating Frieza and then escaping Namek seconds before the planet exploded that I didn't have much time to think, to admire – or fear – my new power.

When King Kai taught me how to use Kaio-ken, he explained to me in detail the risks of the move. That using that kind of energy might destroy me. I wasn't afraid of that at all, not even when I first used the technique, feeling like the power was going to tear me limb from limb, like it was just barely at the edge of my control. I marveled at it.

My terror gone, I marveled at the thing that was Super Saiyan. The power coursing through me was unreal. Even my most powerful Kaio-ken didn't hold a candle to the power that came with the brilliant, bright golden aura flaring around me.

I marveled at my intensely heightened senses, seeing details I missed before. My vision was sharp, so sharp. Scents I never noticed filled my nose. I could smell the musk of the tiny creatures sleeping deep under the ground. Even my hearing was sharper! I could hear other tiny creatures scraping around in their burrows.

My ki sensing was almost overwhelming at first. What were faint blips of life from the cities a long way away were far brighter and far more defined. The kis of the master and the other fighters standing before me blazed like the sun.

It was a change I could get very, very used to.

And I did.

From that point, it took a year of frequent, constant training, but I did. I mastered it. The other fighters had a blast testing themselves against my new power. Sometimes – like they did twice that day that changed me forever – they ganged up on me. Not only did a ton of power come with Super Saiyan, but a massive speed boost, too and sometimes I won!

About four months into that year, an ancient, booming voice reached me telepathically. It was so… intense it rattled my bones. It was the Namekian dragon Porunga. He told me my family and friends were trying to wish me back to Earth. I had to say no. It hurt, but I had to stay away as long as it took for me to master Super Saiyan. I knew it would be worth it in the end.

It was.

I had learned such perfect control of it in the following months that I even powered up in the middle of the city to help them rebuild the towers I destroyed for some seriously heavy lifting. No one was afraid of me, even the natives who saw me at my worst weren't afraid of me anymore. They trusted me completely – even those I had attacked and tried to kill.

It turned out I didn't actually kill anyone. Master Soba had asked me as I experimented with my new power if I noticed the kis of everyone inside that first tower I destroyed vanish as it went down. When I nodded, he explained they got out just in time with Instant Transmission, and the people in the other towers did the same. The mother and child I saved were caught too much by surprise to react, but because I had saved them, no one died.

There were not words to describe my relief when he told me that.

The very best part was: I could finally go home because I understood and defeated my foe. It was one enemy that would never bother me again.