Chapter Three- Mutual gain
"Goku has a..brother!?"
"Goku, he looks like you"
"Why should I believe you?"
"Yeah, that's right, what the heck is goku doing on earth if he's from another planet" Raditz chuckled.
"Simple, we sent him here. Kakarot was given specific orders to wipe this planet of its current inhabitants. You see, we saiyans are sort of like planet brokers. We scour space for planets that would bring a high price of the galactic market. Once we find them, we send our warriors there to purge them of any life and get them ready for sale. It's a very profitable business and we take great pride for being efficient in our work. For example, if we discover a planet of strong inhabitants, we send a team of adult warriors to wipe them out, but for planets full of weaklings like this one, we send our babies; who are generally sufficient to carry out the order"
"If what you say is true then you saiyans are an abomination. Space pirates, that's what you are" Goku seemed slightly enraged, but his expression was one of complete realization, as if he had finally learnt the truth about a past he never knew. I knew the feeling to a certain extent, I had always felt there were still many things I knew not of in my past.
Would I ever feel the feeling of completing the puzzle?
"How can you send little babies into space all on their own" The blue-haired woman was horrified, hugging the small child for her own comfort, and maybe as if to prevent that horror from happening to the boy.
"Trust me, there more than capable of looking after themselves..well most of them, Kakarot, you're a disgrace, you could have easily wiped out every living thing on this planet by yourself, if you hadn't of forgotten your orders it would have only taken you a year or to at most, especially considering this planet has a nice big moon" Looking to my side, I noticed piccolo swing a sideways glance at the moon. As if he was suspicious of its pale appearance during the light of day.
"Yeah, let me guess, I was probably supposed to blow that up too" Goku rolled his eyes.
"You fool! You know as well as I do it's the key to unlocking your full potential. I'm sure at least once in your life you've looked at the full moon"
"I don't know what your talking about" but the woman and two males certaintly did. Their fear was palpable as they flicked their gazes to and from each other. I wondered how much this new planet was hiding. Was it like human earth? Where lies and deceit were as common as a cold?
"W-what happened to your tail Kakarot!?"
"He had a tail?" piccolo muttered under his breath.
"Huh? My tail…why?" Confidence was now suspicion.
"Answer me, now!"
"It was removed permanently..a long time ago"
"Do you have any idea of what you've done, your true power is gone now, you've lost the ability to transform at the full moon. Now I can see how you can be on good terms with these weaklings"
"Listen, this is my home and my friends, so I don't care what you say I am, and you sure don't seem like any brother I'd want to have. My name is goku and I live here, now leave us alone!" I underestimated the strength of goku, as he forcefully shoved his black boots into the sand.
"So you want to be left alone do you, well it's a shame your far to valuable for that, you see three years ago, our home planet met with a meteor and our entire race was wiped out with the exception of those on missions. That leaves just four of us including you. We recently found a very nice planet that would bring a high price, but it's a little too big for just three of us to cover. That's where you come in. So, what do you think, are you excited?"
"I've heard enough, I'd rather die before joining a gang of pirates like you"
"Intresting…" His eyes flickered to the small boy and the feeling of dread was back in full force. I wasn't sure why I cared about the turnout of this situation. It wasn't like it was anything to do with Marissa, and instinctively I felt she wasn't even on this planet, and I wasn't just going on my past experience either. Although it wouldn't be the first time I'd been dragged to a planet without obvious meaning.
"I've been meaning to ask you Kakarot, I couldn't help but notice your son has a tail"
"Leave him out of this"
"I'll decide that. If you wont join us, I'll just have to settle for taking the boy in your place"
"we'll see" Goku braced his muscles, preparing to square of with his brother who stalked forward as if time was at his dispense.
Without warning, in the blink of an eye. Raditz was gone with a wisp of air and then re-appeared directly in front of Goku. As Goku's features barely had time to shape in shock, Raditz landed a devastating blow to his gut.
He was down like a shot. Helpless as the child's uncle plucked the boy away from the woman's arm. Because it wasn't like she could put up a fight. Her energy was defeatist.
"Like I said, im taking your son, if you ever want to see him alive again I suggest you listen closely. I'll give you one day to think about my offer. So when you decide to join us and you will. I want you to kill one hundred humans and line them up here on the beach as prove of your loyalty, I'll be back tomorrow for a head count"
"Daddy i'm scared!" and with a gust of wind, the boy and his uncle were gone just like that.
Well fuck. If that wasn't an interesting thing to watch I didn't know what was.
Another sideways glance showed Piccolo was already on the move before he even let the people recover.
But I could be sure that despite the tension in his pink muscles, he wouldn't fight a downed man.
As we left the privacy of the palm trees and drifted onto the sand; Goku forced himself to stand with a pained expression. His look said it all, he expected a threat.
"Whoa, chill out there Goku, we ain't here for a fight" I waved my hands in surrender. His muscles relaxed briefly as he struggled and failed to recognize me. Which was obvious, we'd never met.
"We're not?" Piccolo turned towards me, with an almost playful look in his eyes. Almost..i could tell he was not familiar with using sarcasm.
"You're not?" Goku relaxed further as the other three gathered close to him.
"Then what are you here for?"
"An alliance" Piccolo was all serious now, and I let my eyes wander round the expanse of the small island. It was going to be the last time I saw it.
"An..alliance?" What was he, a parrot?
"Yes, we saw what transpired between you and your sibling. He's a threat to me to, so it makes sense we join and get rid of the threat. It's mutual gain.
And don't worry, afterwards we can go back to hating each other. I will have rule over this pathetic world of humans"
Well that was something new. A bad guy huh? Who knew.
"Right, of course. You had a bad run-in with him to huh?" Beside me, Piccolo started to get antsy.
"That's none of your business. Let's just get this over and done with so I can hate your guts in peace" Goku smiled slightly and brushed back a spike of hair.
"Same old Piccolo..Let's go then. But first, who's the lovely female?" I turned away from the view, blushing slightly at the compliment.
"The name's Lessa" I stuck out my glove clad hand and Goku took it firmly.
"Lovely to meet you Lessa"
Apparently not everyone on this planet could fly. Although in retrospective terms, Goku was flying, just not with his energy. Instead he stood upon a small yellow cloud. That only just matched the speed of mine and piccolo's flying.
We'd been flying for long enough to talk, with Goku asking me who I was, how I got here etc. I had nothing to hide, so I told him the gist of it; with him promising to keep an eye out for Marissa. Piccolo hadn't said a word for the entire journey, but had occasionally pointed downwards to make sure we were on the right track.
Now though, he slowed. A familiar wasteland below. Ah, the scene of the crime as it were. The pod still in its crater with Raditz sat across a patch of grass just meters away, filing his teeth with an animal bone.
Well, at least someone was enjoying the planet.
"Alright, we split up and charge in" Piccolo growled, clenching his arms tight.
"Whoa there, hang tight a sec. I hate it when people decide to split up. And we ain't got the advantage of surprise cause that green piece of plastic seems to detect power levels"
"She's right, we'll stay together then" The three of us floated down forcefully since the need for discretion was a lost cause.
Raditz looked up lazily, gnawing on the bone with a small smile stretching the animalistic mouth of his.
"That was quick, and you brought some friends I see" I didn't like the way his eyes lingered on me, and I could feel Goku and Piccolo tense up beside me.
"I want my son back"
"Have you decided to join me then?"
"Where is he!" Raditz frowned then pointed into the crater.
"I'm going to guess by the hostility of your friends that your going to be stupid enough to fight me. Very well, you may see your son one last time" Goku sprinted to the edge of the crater, hovering above the ground by centimeters to peer into the pod.
Inside the boy could be heard crying.
"It's an awful waste though. You're valuable you know"
"It's alright Gohan, I'm gonna get you out" Goku called down the crater, touching down gently on the ground.
Raditz sighed before pressing his green detector, the strange numbers crossing the screen and his view passed over the three of us.
"320, 340, 350..is that all? The three of you together barely make a thousand"
"Is that so" Piccolo growled again. Throwing of his white turban and cape to reveal green antennae. They smacked to the floor with a loud thump.
"Wow piccolo, you wore weighted training clothes?" Goku grinned as he too started stripping. His top, wristbands and boots all dented the shallow grassy field.
"Of course" Another press of that green plastic.
"You know that 100 doesn't make a difference right? Your power is far to insufficient to even be compared with mine"
"We'll see" It was goku who charged first, and Piccolo next. Their speed had increased with the stripping, evidently. There were hit before I even moved.
Raditz had flipped out both legs, kicking them to the ground. I willed my legs to run forward, shielding my torso with my arms, preparing to do an uppercut once I was close enough. But he was fast, and as soon as my arm swung, he backhanded me to the ground.
We sprung up panting, and Raditz just stood there all composed, his smirk getting wider.
This could be trouble.
"Alright, we attack together this time"
"No! we can't beat him physically!" Piccolo snarled and Goku nodded.
"Right, then we all attack with our energy at once, but from different positions. He's fast, but there's way he can counter all our energy from different sides"
I felt rather than saw Piccolo's look of concern.
"Don't worry, how hard can it be? I just push the energy out of my hands right?" Piccolo didn't look amused but it would have to do. Maybe I could do my white fire attack.
Oh, that would be a bad idea. Last time, it drained me of all energy. If I missed…
Well I didn't want to think of it. A slightly weaker attack would have to do, with all three of us attacking we should easily overpower him.
"On the count of three"
"Three..two"
"One!" And Goku and Piccolo quickly flanked Raditz's sides, their muscles straining as energy traveled down them.
I slipped behind him, raising my arms and feeling a tingly feeling as my energy traveled through the sinewy muscles of my body. It was an unpleasant feeling to say the least.
At the same time, all our energy, red, yellow and blue; mixed into a greeny red, blowing up the ground all around Raditz. Smoke blew up and I silently cheered as there was no way he could have survived that.
I was about to join the two when suddenly,
"Watch out!" A yellow beam of energy burst from the smoke, forcing Goku and Piccolo to fly upwards. But it didn't stop and it gave chase.
"Move!" I yelled, blasting another beam of red energy from my hands into the yellow beam. The beam was unconcerned however and just absorbed my energy.
"Well shit" Goku did a cartwheel in the air at the last second, moving out the beam's range as it rushed upwards, but Piccolo wasn't so lucky. The beam cutting right through his arm before the green pile of muscle hit the ground.
"Look's like the green man has been disarmed" Raditz appeared from the dust, laughing in a way only a villain could do.
"That's not even funny" I crossed my arms, giving him an evil look.
"Of course not, you weaklings wouldn't appreciate good humor"
"Hey Piccolo, you okay?"
"Yeah, just fan-fucking tastic"
"Hey, you actually know some swear words" And that was the last thing I said before bulky arms wrapped around my chest, collapsing my lungs inside. All air was crushed out of me.
"How do you like this for humor, female"
"It's terrible..like your face" I choked out what was possibly my worst comeback in the history of my short life, but it did the job. Enraging him and focusing his sole attention on me.
Goku caught my eye from the air, and placed his arms together, one in front of the other.
"Ka me, ha me ha!" And Raditz's grip had barely released me before the white energy hit him hard. I collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath like a fish out of water.
Again there was a chuckle, a sound I now hated, and I lifted my head to see Raditz charge up, and slam his fists into Goku's back.
He was down like a shot. And Piccolo was still on the ground clutching his bleeding stump of a left arm.
Well wasn't this going great.
"Who should I finish of first then? I think I'll make sure all your death's are slow and painful" Great, I had always imagined dying like this..not.
Like a predator, he stepped forward slowly, the gleam in his eyes the same as a cat about to play with its food.
And then, out of nowhere, there was a flash and a crack; and,
"Stop beating up my daddy!"