Day two of Spring Fling – Picnic
Kakarot flew over, walked, ran, and flew again over that region for some time, but there was only vegetation and animals. There were no other people around that he could ask questions of, locate, locate his ship, Vegeta's family, his parents, anything! Anything that was familiar to him.
But nothing he saw reminded him of anything. He didn't recognize that place, that so-called planet Earth.
He even found that name ridiculous for a planet. It should be called Garbage, Planet Garbage.
He chuckled to himself. That was it, he would call that planet Garbage from now on.
Tired of flying around and not finding anything useful, he stopped in an area with many canyons. Hours had passed and he was already hungry again, so he decided to sit in the shade of a tree and near to a lake to eat.
While enjoying the food of his supposed mate, Kakarot reflected on that Planet Garbage. There was no destruction at all. Everything looked alive, clean, and colorful, the weather was nice, and it was much easier to fly there because gravity was much lower than on his planet. Why would the king or the prince and he be on planet Garbage and not have destroyed it? Why would they be living there and not on their home planet?
Were they hiding? Running away from Frieza?
It was all very confusing and strange to him, but he needed to find the answers. However, before he could get ready to start flying again, he heard a noise. Immediately Kakarot went on alert and positioned himself in attack mode.
Damn. He wanted to have his scouter to know what it was, where it came from, and its power level.
"Son Goku?" he heard a deep voice and then his eyes located the person.
A green being with pointed ears and strange clothes.
"I'm not Son Goku!" he replied staring at the green fellow. He looked strong, but not very strong, he could probably crush him with his foot like the crawling insect he must've been.
The green man studied him minutely for a few seconds.
"No, you're not Son Goku!" said the guy, finally. "Who are you?"
The Sayan was slightly surprised. So, the green fellow could tell that he was not this Son Goku guy. He smiled defiantly as he replied: "I'm Kakarot!"
"Kaka... Kakarot?!" Piccolo's eyes widened.
It couldn't be. Could it? How was that possible?
The part that belonged to Kami-Sama inside him could sense that that man, despite having Son Goku's form, Son Goku's power level, Son Goku's voice, emanated a slightly different energy than Son Goku.
"Heh! So my name lives up to my reputation." Kakarot felt proud when he saw the green worm was frightened. "I still don't know what I'm doing here or how I got here, but I see that you have an interesting ability, maybe you can cooperate and take me to Vegeta, or to my brother or my parents."
"Your parents... your brother?" Piccolo muttered.
"You don't have much choice, big green man, either you take me to them, or I'll finish you off!" Kakarot said coolly, although he intended to finish him off afterward anyway.
Piccolo stared at him for a few seconds as his mind of three processed that information. There was only one person who could help him at that moment.
"Come with me!" Piccolo turned his back, ready to take off.
"Where to?"
"To the place where we will find the answers to your questions."
Kakarot smirked and decided to follow the green worm.
{***}
At first, Kakarot was annoyed that he wasn't taken to the people he had asked for, but eventually came to terms with it when the green worm introduced him to Dende, the current God of the planet Garbage, and explained that the little green worm could help him understand what was going on.
Surprise was what he got when he found out what had happened.
He was in Son Goku's body. That was not a dream. It was not a nightmare. It was not an illusion.
Somehow that they still didn't understand, Kakarot had switched places with Son Goku. That's why he didn't have his memories, so everything he remembered was totally different from what had happened.
In a totally alternative universe different from the one he lived in, Kakarot was sent to the planet Garbage – aka Earth – when he was still a baby, in order to purge the planet. Being a low-class Sayan, he was sent to a mediocre little planet where he could handle the mission.
However, it all went awry when he hit his head and lost all his memory. He had been adopted by an old man named Son Gohan, given the name Son Goku, and had grown up and lived on the planet Garbage his entire life, where he learned to fight, made friends, and created a family.
Kakarot felt like throwing up when he heard all this.
What a beautiful loser that version of him called Son Goku was. Weak. Pathetic.
Among all the information, one that left him dumbfounded: his planet had been destroyed, by the bastard Frieza, which eventually led to the extinction of his race. The only Sayans alive now were him and Vegeta, whom he came to discover was the prince – although he was the only imbecile to refer to himself that way.
Kakarot snorted upon hearing this.
He couldn't believe that that stupid prince was also there on planet Garbage playing house. Just the proudest of his entire race.
The good news was that Frieza was dead, as were Zarbon and Dodoria and also that stupid Captain Ginyu and his elite squad.
And apparently, there was no other emperor in the universe, which made him a free Sayan.
"I suppose my parents and my brother died in the planet's explosion." Kakarot commented.
"Your parents, yes, I guess. Raditz, no. I killed him!" Piccolo replied, and Kakarot's eyes widened.
"You?"
"With your help! Or rather, Son Goku's."
Kakarot laughed. His asshole brother was killed by that green worm and with his help?! That was too good to be true. He didn't even care why, Raditz should have earned it. Maybe that Son Goku wasn't as dumb as he had thought.
"So if Frieza is dead, my planet doesn't exist anymore and Vegeta isn't king of shit on this planet Garbage. Why am I still here?"
"Son Goku had adopted the Earth as his home."
"Tch! Ridiculous! How do I return to my universe?"
"Maybe the She-"
"Unfortunately we still don't know how to reverse the situation." Piccolo interrupted with a stern look at Dende, who fell silent.
"Does this mean that I'm stuck in this universe and on this planet Garbage?"
"I'm sorry to say, but you'll have to live like this until we can find a solution, some way to send you back to your universe and bring Son Goku back to this one."
Kakarot laughed scornfully.
"As if. I'm nobody's slave, I'm FREE! Where can I find a ship? How do I get off this Planet Garbage?"
Piccolo frowned. "What?! You can't leave! What about your family? Your wife, your children?"
The Sayan shrugged. "I don't care about any of them. They are just bugs that my other version wasn't able to kill."
Piccolo gritted his teeth.
"If you want to leave, then go, we won't stop you. But we don't have any ships, if you want to leave the planet, you will have to find a way by yourself. But whatever you do, we'll find a way to bring Son Goku back."
"Piccolo?! What are you doing?" Dende sounded horrified, but Piccolo ignored him.
Piccolo knew that his family would be devastated, Gohan especially, but it would be the best, for everyone.
"Do what is necessary and do it fast. I don't want to waste my time on this planet Garbage!" Kakarot threatened and took off.
Horrified Dende questioned him: "Why did you do this? Are you really going to let him go?"
"This is no longer Son Goku, Dende. This is Kakarot, a savage and cruel Sayan who never lived on Earth. He is not our friend, not the same Goku who saved the Earth so many times."
Dende remained mute for a moment, just looking at the place where Kakarot had disappeared.
"So that's why you didn't tell him everything, about him defeating Frieza and the dragon balls?"
"Do you remember what Vegeta's goal was when he came here for the dragon balls? What about Frieza? We can't take the risk of having someone with Goku's power level and the personality of a cruel Sayan living as an immortal. He can't know about the dragon balls and he better not know how powerful he is... What could he do if he knew he had so much power in his hands? There is no one today capable of defeating Son Goku..."
Dende sighed. Piccolo was right. Perhaps only Gohan could match or surpass Son Goku, but he would never kill his own father, even if he was from a different universe. That was something they could not ask of the young man.
"But we can still try to use the dragon balls to reverse his situation. I believe Shenron is able to reverse their spirits."
"However, the dragon balls are dormant, and should only return after a few months."
"What? What do you mean?" Piccolo scolded. "Who used it?"
"It was Bulma."
"What for?"
"According to her, to remove a pimple that appeared on her forehead without leaving a mark on her skin."
Piccolo grumbled.
He couldn't believe that this inconsequential woman was using the dragon balls for futile things like that.
"Well, we'll have to wait. Maybe go to Namek..." Piccolo muttered. "Until then, I hope Kakarot doesn't do anything stupid."
"But if Kakarot from another universe is here... Does that mean that our Son Goku is somewhere else?
"I hope so." that's what Piccolo replied.
{***}
Kakarot flew over a few more places on that outdated technology planet for a while. He couldn't believe that there were no spaceships available for him to leave. That planet was a real trash dump. He thought about finding Vegeta, but then he gave up on the idea, after all, what difference was it going to make to find the prince-of-no-shit? He was a free Sayan, he could go wherever he wanted! He didn't owe the crown anything anymore.
It was already late afternoon when his stomach rumbled with hunger.
He could hunt some animal he saw in the forest, or he could gather some fruit from the trees he flew over. Then he would find somewhere to sleep.
It was then that he remembered he didn't need any of that. At least for that night, he had a place to sleep and good food to eat. Maybe even a little more...
A mischievous smile crept across his face.
He decided to go back to his supposed home, it was better than sleeping outdoors and eating raw food.
For some reason, he managed to get back without too much difficulty and soon caught sight of the humble dome-shaped house high up in the mountains. As soon as he entered, he heard the younger man shouting and running toward him:
"Hey, Dad! We're watching the Captain Rhino movie, want to watch it with us?!"
"Captain Rhino? What the fuck is this?"
Before the boy could answer, Kakarot saw his two sons make a perfect circle with their mouths and their eyes widen, and then he heard some thumps on the ground preceding the scream:
"SON GOKU!"
Kakarot cringed at the shrill shout and turned back, meeting the piercing gaze of Chichi who had her hands clasped around her waist and a vein about to burst on her forehead.
"What?"
"What is this language in front of children?"
He frowned. What was wrong with his language? Were children from the planet Garbage not used to swearing?
Sayans were born swearing. Their first words were curse words. Even before they learned to speak 'mommy' and 'daddy', they learned to say 'fuck' and 'shit', because that was part of the Sayan lingo.
"I'll talk the way I want and in front of whoever I want!" he replied and saw Chichi's eyes widen. "And I told you I'm not Son Goku!"
He had no idea that that woman could get even angrier.
"YOU WHAT?"
He took a step back and saw that his children did the same.
Okay, that female might not be a Sayan and was certainly extremely weak, but that she could be scary like one, hell yeah, she could.
And, was it just him or did she look extremely sexy in that nervous way?
"You're already annoying me with this nonsense! GO GET YOUR SHOWER NOW!" she shouted, pointing to the hallway. "But first, make sure to explain to your son that this is not something that should be said!"
"I... ham..."
"NOW, GOKU! Or you'll be left without dinner!"
His belly protested.
Irritated, he turned to his two sons who looked like they were trying to hold in their laughter, and then said, grumpily:
"Children are not allowed to cuss!"
He turned to Chichi who was staring at him with crossed arms and a frown as she tapped her foot on the floor.
"Bath, okay, I got it!"
Kakarot didn't know how he hadn't killed her right then and there. But the truth was, the more she argued with him, the more he got aroused. If he had a tail, it would be agitated right now.
Maybe that was what had attracted his version of this universe to this female. She was fierce and angry, he liked that, surely Son Goku should like it too, he was a full-blooded Saiyjin for God's sake.
{****}
After dinner and listening to endless stories about what his little copy had done at that school during the day, Kakarot finally found himself free of his children and alone in his room with his mate, but she didn't seem very happy.
"What's wrong with you?" she asked him with a worried look. "You've been acting strange all day, talking nonsense. And don't think I didn't notice that you came home too clean for someone who should've been working in the field!"
'Working in the fields?' So that's Son Goku's work?
His counterpart kept disappointing him.
"Talk to me, please! Tell me what's happening? You're not normal!"
"I..." for some reason, Kakarot was unable to answer that female's questions, to tell the whole truth, to say that he was Kakarot and that he had plans to leave them as soon as dawn came. It didn't seem right, and he was never one to care much about what was right or wrong.
"The last time you acted strange like that was when... when..." Chichi swallowed hard. Kakarot felt that she was about to cry and it bothered him. "Before your fight with Cell..."
He wanted to ask what happened in the fight with this Cell guy, but he felt that if he did so he would annoy Chichi, and as much as he enjoyed seeing her angry, he didn't think it would be wise to do so at that moment.
"I was with the inse- I mean Piccolo!"
"With Piccolo? Why? Is Earth in danger again? Are you in danger?" Chichi held him by the arms in a sign of despair and Kakarot just felt he had to comfort her, so he took her in a hug. "Oh, Goku, please tell me what's going on! I don't want to... I can't lose you again... I couldn't bear it!"
It broke Kakarot inside. Those words, that concern, that feeling of care that she had for him, or rather for her version of him, were too pure for him to simply ignore.
"Shhh!" he stroked her silky hair. "It's okay, there's nothing wrong, the planet garb- EARTH is not in danger! I just... I had some questions to ask him, that's all! It's all right, I'm sorry I worried you."
"Do you promise?" Chichi pulled away from his shoulder and stared at him. Her gaze was so piercing that it seemed to enter his soul.
Kakarot nodded.
"I promise. I'm not going anywhere."
And, as much as he wanted to be lying, his answer had been completely true.
{***}
That was a difficult night for Kakarot. Chichi did not seem inclined to continue what they had started in the morning, and he didn't insist because he understood that she wasn't in the mood – he was a Saiyan, he could transform into a giant ape, but he was not an animal. – But sleeping next to that female, smelling her delicious scent, and not being able to do anything about it, was torturous.
But, as much as he hated to admit it, Chichi wasn't really that bad. She wasn't a Saiyain, but sleeping with her, next to her, and cuddling with her, was kind of nice. He had never been the type of male to sleep with someone in his arms – no Saiyan was – and yet he had ended up falling asleep with her glued to his body.
And he hadn't slept this well for years. He slept so deeply that he only woke up when the smell of bacon invaded his room.
The Sayan got up with the intention of having coffee and leaving, without saying goodbye, believing that he didn't owe anything to anyone there, even if his counterpart from that universe did, and also because he thought it was better not to say anything, not even the truth – no matter if he had promised Chichi that he wouldn't go anywhere. – He didn't know if he would be able to face the sad eyes of hers and his children when they heard that he was leaving, they seem to like him very much. Like it or not, the boys might be weak, but they were part of him, part of his Saiyan blood. Well, not of him exactly, but of his pathetic version of that universe.
When he arrived in the kitchen, the food was not laid out on the table as it had been the morning before, but Chichi was putting everything into various boxes while his children were making some fighting moves in the living room. This caught Kakarot's attention. So they could fight after all?
"Now you'll suffer the death blow of the mighty Black Alligator! Haaaa!" shouted Gohan striking a pose as ridiculous as the imbeciles of the Ginyu Force.
"You'll never defeat Captain Rino! Yaaaaa!" Goten responded by clenching his fists and jumping on his brother.
Kakarot snorted. It was just a silly joke and that fight wasn't real. He was about to turn his back on them when he heard Chichi shouting from the kitchen: "Watch the furniture, kids! No Super Sayan in the house!""
Kakarot raised his eyebrow. Super Sayan? Did he hear right?
No... it was probably just a silly name like that Captain Rino and his sons came up with when they learned that Son Goku was a Sayan.
"Haha! You're going to die now Captain Rhino!" Gohan locked Goten in his arms, preventing him from moving.
"You'll never defeat me!" Goten shouted and his hair began to fly in the air.
Chichi shouted again. "Goten! No super Sayan in the house! Last time you broke that vase I got as a present from your grandpa!"
"Okay, Mom!" the boy replied.
Immediately his hair returned to normal and Kakarot was intrigued. What was that?
"Do you think you can defeat me with cheap tricks, Captain Rhino?" Commented Gohan theatrically. "Ha Ha Ha! I'm the most powerful in the world! Surrender, surrender to the Black Alligator, now!"
"Never!" Goten shouted trying to get loose from his brother's arm.
"Surrender, Captain Rino, you lose."
"Neveeeeeer!" Goten shouted, and this time he exploded into a golden aura that turned his black hair into yellow, sticking them up, and his eyes changed to a teal color.
Kakarot was slack-jawed and wide-eyed. Chichi shouted: "No super Sayan in the house, I won't repeat!"
Goten returned to normal, but by that time he had detached himself from his brother's arm.
"What? How?"
Kakarot was stunned.
Was it really real? Wasn't it just a legend?
His son... his son was the legendary Super Sayan?
And everyone took it as if it were the most natural thing in the world?
His SON was a super Sayan!
"Y-you... how? How did you do it? You turned... turned into a Super Sayan!"
Goten and Gohan stared at Kakarot with an expression of curiosity and confusion.
"Yes..." replied the minor casually.
"This is amazing! Do it again!"
"But Mom-"
"Forget what she said, you're the fuc..." Kakarot stopped before he finished, he shouldn't anger Chichi again by cussing. "You're a super Sayan! THE LEGENDARY SUPER SAYAN!"
"Huh... No I'm not..."
"Of course you are! No one has ever been able to transform into a super Sayan before!"
"No, Dad, you are!" replied Gohan.
"Me?"
"I mean, I guess now all of us Saiyajns are... We can all transform, but you were the first!"
"Can you? I can too?"
Gohan nodded and transformed, causing Kakarot to jump in surprise.
"I SAID: NO SUPER SAYAN IN THE HOUSE!" Chichi bellowed. "OUT NOW!" And rang them out of the house.
{***}
How that female was able to dump outside the house three Sayan males who were able to transform and then drag them to this picnic was a mystery to Kakarot.
However, it was still a fact.
The boys obeyed their mother without hesitation, and Kakarot, well, as much as there was a part of him that wanted to defy her, he ended up complying too. Maybe it was because he was attracted to that fiercer side of her, or maybe it was to avoid fatigue.
But he could not deny that the picnic with his family was rather nice. At first, Kakarot thought it was bullshit and was not interested in anything but the food. Sayans didn't do that. They didn't go out with snacks to eat outdoors next to their family, they could eat their food at home and only ate outdoors when necessary, such as when they needed to purge a planet and ended up staying outdoors to eat after battle.
All that, however, didn't matter. All he really wanted to know were the stories of his counterpart, Son Goku. His sons seemed very excited to tell them, and Kakarot was fascinated by everything he had heard.
So it was he who had defeated the fucking Frieza!
He is the first super Sayan in history!
He was even stronger than the prince-of-no-shit!
His children were stronger than the children of the imbecile Vegeta! The present one and the past one!
His mate had trained his younger son! She was also a fighter!
Boy, that explained a lot!
And he also knew how to transform into Super Sayan: two and three! They had THREE levels and he had surpassed ALL of them!
He could now read people's ki without needing those stupid scouters. He could teleport anywhere he wanted just by identifying other people's ki.
It only took one simulated fight against his two sons to awaken his warrior instincts and learn to master those techniques in that trained body. Kakarot could feel the power coursing through his veins.
At first, he was angry with the green worm for not telling him the whole story, all the primary details, but he decided to leave it aside, at least for now. Later, when he would meet him again, he'd make him pay for having hidden the truth. What really mattered now was that he had everything ready. He was ready! Once he returned to his original universe, Kakarot would defeat Frieza and finally be a free man!
Tired, satisfied, and hungry, Kakarot sat down on the checkered towel laid out on the grass beside Chichi to eat more of the delicious treats she had prepared. His children continued to play.
He put a piece of mochi in his mouth and heard Chichi murmuring happily.
"It was really cool that you pretended not to remember anything to hear your and our stories from our children's perspective!"
Kakarot stared at her. Yeah, that wasn't exactly what had happened, but he preferred not to say anything and just shook his head while chewing.
"It's always you and even me who tell these stories, it was nice to hear their version."
"I think I couldn't tell those stories this time." he said with his mouth full and was slapped playfully by his wife.
"Don't talk with your mouth full!"
Kakarot shrugged and picked up some more treats. Those candies were amazing! He could die eating them, and he would die a happy man.
"It's getting late, we'd better get back."
The Sayan nodded.
"They want me to go fishing with them..."
"Ah yes! That's a good idea. You can catch a big fish and also bring a pork with you so that we can have a barbecue for dinner. What do you say?"
"Yes, that's fine!" Kakarot agreed without even knowing what fishing was exactly, and completely forgetting that in the morning he intended to leave.
Chichi bent down and gave him a little kiss on the cheek before saying:
"And tonight I'll give you a special dessert!" she winked at him, and Kakarot had the impression that the dessert she was referring to was not something to do with food.
At least not real food.
"Nice!"
As it turned out, this so-called picnic was actually a pretty cool thing.
{***}
Meanwhile, in another universe...
Son Goku, who much to his chagrin was dressed as a Sayan soldier and trapped inside a rudimentary facility where a pinkish energy prevented him from moving, surrounded by never-before-seen creatures, was screaming at the top of his lungs:
"Who are you? Why did you arrest me? What have I done? Where am I? AAAAAAA!"