The Heart of the Adventurers

By LastationLover5000 and Demod20, edited by Firegod00

Chapter 8 — The Mysterious Warrior from Space

"Did you say Saiyans?" Tights repeated, looking at Jaco with her onyx-hued eyes. "You're serious, Jaco? But you missed the Saiyan last time; remember, wasn't it a false alarm? You were looking for days and nothing happened!"

"Did I say Saiyans? Sorry, I meant Saiyan." Jaco stressed the singular before continuing. "And I have no idea what happened with that Saiyan I missed last time, however, this time, it's real! I was notified of a ship approaching Earth and I made it here as quickly as I could!"

"...So you panicked and ran to the safest place you could find?" asked Bulma shrewdly. "How very 'elite' of you."

"How rude!" Jaco replied indignantly. "Your planet is about to be invaded, and I came here of my own free will to warn my friends and that's the thanks I get? I have half a mind to leave right now..."

"...just in time to avoid the impending Saiyan arrival, right?" the lavender-haired woman kept prodding at her alien friend's patience.

"I don't want to be that guy, but, what's a Saiyan?" Yamcha was the first to ask the question that the others were thinking. "You keep saying that word, and that our 'planet' is in danger, but how are any of us supposed to get the scope of that without you explaining it?"

"He's got a point," Kuririn nodded. "And even if one exists, how do you know it's heading here?"

"Our radar system at headquarters detected a projectile departing from a distant planet, used by the Saiyans as their home base," explained Jaco. "And the way we calculated it, the route of the space pod was headed directly towards this planet."

"And what are they?" stressed Muten Rōshi.

Jaco placed a gloved finger to his round chin; if anyone could read his strange alien eyes, they'd know the Galactic Patrolman was trying to find the words to tell them. He eventually decided to settle on the explanation he gave to Tights. It was the quickest to the point, and contained the hard facts they need.

"Their main motive is to take over the planet..."

Elsewhere...

There was a spacecraft that had already entered Earth's atmosphere. Spherical in shape, with a red glass dome, it was immersed in a deep energy flow that stayed off the heat from the atmosphere as the ship flew down towards Earth. The destination wasn't pre-set, and thus this alien was going to land in an entirely random corner of the planet his databases referred to as 'Earth'.

"So this is where Mother and Father sent you..." The man inside the ship, a stocky, well-built man with an absolute wild mess of black hair, was thinking to himself as he approached a landmass. "How well did you do...?" The ship crashed with a resounding bang into the ground, creating a crater where the metal hit earth. As if showing the differences between alien and Earthling craftsmanship, the craft was not dented; even the glass itself remained pristine, unmarred. With a hiss, the front of the pod unlatched itself, and the man placed a hand on the side, stepping out into fresh air without any regard for the state of the atmosphere.

"So this is the planet Earth," the alien man muttered to himself in a foreign, unintelligible tongue. "And in such pristine a state. Kakarrot, what have you been doing!?"

【...but the worst thing is that they're an evil alien race that loves to fight.】

The man was dressed in attire that could only be described as a form of armor. It consisted of a black chest plate, yellow shoulder pads and stomach guard, as well as similarly coloured hip guards. He wore boots and gloves of similar colours, and on his left arm and leg, he had two white bands. Wrapped around his waist was what appeared to be a brown belt, and equipped to his face was a unique piece of gear with a green lens and white section which attached to the ear.

The man surveyed his surroundings, and saw that he was not alone, as he first assumed. Just ahead was a building with unique architecture, that the shaggy-haired man could only assume was an odd Earthling design. It appeared to be a metal castle of sorts, shaped like an inverted cup, the walls inlined with turrets intersecting at various intervals. Emblazoned on the side of the building was a massive red symbol, with two white "R"s inside.

"Such basic architecture," the alien scoffed, turning his eyes onto the building and placing a finger to the odd device on his head. With a press of a button, it began to emit beeps and signals flashed in front of his left eye, scanning the building inside. It detected multiple signatures, and displayed various symbols that would be foreign to any Earthling. However, to this man, they were the numerical system his people used, and he could read them just fine. The signatures detected by the device began to move, and the alien saw that they were headed out of the building.

Towards him.

"And it seems the fun starts here," he told himself as the doors of the oddly constructed building burst forward, and a multitude of armed soldiers. They were wearing the same "RR" symbol, and armed with a variety of guns, from the M4 carbine to the M249 light machine gun. There were even some straggler soldiers stationed in the far back, setting up what looked like a PGM Hécate II — anti-materiel rifle designed typically to target tanks.

"Halt!" One of the soldiers shouted. "This area is the territory of the Red Ribbon Army! Trespassers, even aliens, are prohibited!"

The device on the alien's face immediately picked up the language and translated it, while informing him of which language the foolish man was speaking as well. It was apparently the common tongue; a language that most species just seemed to commonly evolve and learn to speak. It was spoken by several other species in the galaxy, and was the primary method of communicating due to how widespread it was. However, as it wasn't quite as advanced as other languages, many species stuck to calling it Galactic Basic Standard, or "Basic" for short.

The alien stepped forward, a smirk on his face.

"We said halt! If you do not halt, we will shoot!"

The threats, though he could understand them, did nothing to deter the man's progress. He seemed to be simply enjoy watching them sweat, and in truth, they were itching to back away. This alien simply gave them all kinds of bad vibes and the soldiers didn't want to be within a foot of him. However, orders were orders, and the moment that the ship had crashed into the Earth and their HQ confirmed what it was, they were ordered to intercept.

"FIRE!"

The order was given, and then immediately followed. There was the sound of various rounds of ammunition being unleashed from the guns, cracking and exploding as the numerous rounds were unleashed in the direction of the invading extraterrestrial. Each shot struck home, and any normal man would have been dead, bleeding out from a variety of holes shot into his body with these weapons.

But the alien was not normal.

【Even the Galactic Patrol are no match for them, and the Extinction Bomb has no effect on them either.】

The rounds shot from the guns lay scattered around the man, a smug grin across his face as he looked down. Was this what these Earthlings used as a substitute for ki? "No wonder the combat strength readings from my Scouter don't rank higher than twenty." He mused internally, stepping over broken rounds, crunching them beneath his feet.

"Impossible...!" One of the Red Ribbon soldiers backed away, gripping onto his gun in terror. "No normal man could survive a blow like that! " Many of the soldiers here had never before witnessed an impossible feat such as this; in fact, only a few within these scattered ranks had been members of the Red Ribbon Army years ago, when an impossible boy named Son Goku had performed an impossible feat and destroyed their army. They had experienced true fear then, and this man was bringing it all back to them in full.

"Form a path!" A soldier from the rear shouted, and instantly, even the fearful soldiers parted, forming a clear line between the invading warrior and the soldier at the rear of the group. The man in question was lying on the ground, his PGM Hécate II perched on top of its bipod, looking through his sniper scope. The man pulled the trigger without hesitation, and with a roar like thunder, a blast of fire erupted from the muzzle brake at the end of the Hécate II's barrel; the projectile shot from the weapon faster than the sound of the blast. The sniper himself was pushed back along with his weapon from the force of the shot, but he was certain this single bullet would be enough to rid themselves of the alien invader.

Another sickening thunderclap was heard as the shot struck home. But it was not in the way that the soldier had so desperately hoped. Standing in the same place he had been, arm outstretched, and over-sized PGM Hécate II bullet clutched in his hand, was the long-haired alien. "You're going to have to try better than that, little man," the alien laughed in his unintelligible language, gripping the bullet and lopping it with all of his strength towards its previous owner. There was the sound of splatter as the bullet hit its new intended target, and the poor man erupted into a fountain of gore.

"NO!"

"SOUJH!"

The soldiers turned in a mixture of horror and shock as the man known as Soujh was reduced to nothing more than a blood and flesh scattered across the ground. This man had withstood the force of the PGM Hécate II without a scratch, and even sent it back to the original gunman. What were they were supposed to do against someone like him?"

"This is literal child's play," grinned the alien man as the fear overtook the soldiers and each and every one of them lost their will to fight. However, he couldn't have fun here forever. He was here for a reason, and sidetracking himself would only keep him here longer than needed. He began to focus his ki, brimming with bright energy. With the flick of his fingertips, there was an updraft, followed by a massive explosion. In the wake of this move, everything was destroyed; the building, bodies, weapons, everything in front of the alien may as well have been caught in a massive bomb blast. Rocks that were blown upward by the blast fell down with a resounding crash, leaving the man alone at last.

【If the planet is ruled by a powerless race, like this Earth, they will usually send a small child to slowly do away with the people on that planet...】

He began to float in the air, ignoring his 'magnificent handiwork', and pressed a finger to the device he had called a Scouter. Tinkering with the functions, he began to search the planet on a global scale for suitable 'combat strengths'. With more alien figures showing in the readings, something even an Earthling would recognize appeared; an arrow pointing into the distance, accompanied by the 'scanning circle' of the device, and more alien numerals beneath it.

"Something powerful is close by...a combat strength of 322...distance, 4880...could it be Kakarrot?!" The 'belt' around his waist shifted, flexing in anticipation as it revealed itself to be not a belt, but a tail.

【Apart from the fact that they have a tail, they look very similar to Earthlings too...】

Laughing, the man took off towards the combat strength his Scouter was detecting, grinning. Without a thought, he left the utter carnage, and even his space pod, behind in a hurry. "I'm coming for you, Kakarrot!"

【The Saiyans of Planet Vegeta.】

Wastelands, Earth

Utterly unaware of the chaos that had just unfolded, the being known to the rest of the world as Piccolo Daimaō was standing by his lonesome, on the edge of a cliff. Truth be told, he didn't look remotely threatening in this scenario; if anything, he looked rather neglected, and his forlorn expression did nothing to fix the matter. However, the 'Great Demon King' had merely finished a training exercise, and was merely contemplating what he should do next.

The time to battle Son Goku was coming. This he knew. He'd postponed his world domination for the sake of undergoing the Demon Clan's methods of training once more after his humiliating loss to Son Goku at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budōkai, and was happy to say his training was moving along smoothly — in fact, he'd devised a new technique purely to kill Son Goku, and the prospect of using it was nearly irresistible.

And yet, a cold shiver down his spine would distract the demon from his inner ramblings. "This is...an immense ki! And it's approaching fast!" The sheer enormity of its power told Piccolo that the ki's owner had no concept of stealth, or at least felt he had no need for it. And he knew only one mortal with that sheer level of audacity and confidence. But this ki...it couldn't be... "Is it Son Goku!?"

The figure approaching in the distance, however, told Piccolo a different story. Forgetting its sheer speed for a moment, it was clearly not Son Goku; the shaggy black hair and bulky figure, complete with a vastly different outfit, told this much. The figure came to a complete and utter stop, landing neatly on the cliff-side next to Piccolo. It wasn't Son Goku, however, there could be said to be some resemblance. Looking at Piccolo, the man's immediate expression was one of disappointment.

"You're not Kakarrot," he scoffed, the tone of a man immediately writing off someone as worthless. He was now speaking in entirely fluent 'Basic', as now that he had approached someone of sizable power, he figured he could use him to locate Kakarrot.

"Forget who I am," Piccolo replied harshly. "Who are you? Do you have business with me?"

"With the likes of you?" the strange man chuckled. "Hardly."

"Then why are you here!?" Piccolo growled, becoming frustrated with this man's attitude. "Only those with a death wish attempt to make a fool of me!"

"You're quite the feisty one. I followed your combat strength of 322 here — far more than I expected to find on this rock — in the hopes of getting some information. But you'd be hardly even a warm-up if you want me to sweep you aside."

A vein throbbed in Piccolo's head. He was Piccolo Daimaō, the one destined to rule this entire world. He would be the one with the world under his feet, so how could a mere mortal like this talk down to him? "What!? What did you say!? Do you have any idea who you're talking to!?"

"I honestly don't think I should care."

"The way he carries himself...so arrogant...so self-assured...could he really have that much power?" Piccolo's senses had never lied to him before. He was very adept at sensing ki, at least when he was on guard — letting down his guard was a mistake that had cost him in Tenkaichi Budōkai — and this man's power was immense. However, Piccolo couldn't simply stand here and let him have his way. Without warning, the Namekian thrust his arm forward with a mighty shout, releasing a blast of ki that collided with the arrogant man and exploded on contact.

The ki blast proved as inefficient as the artillery the Earthlings had unleashed on him earlier, and the smoke cleared with the fresh gust of wind, revealing the man to be entirely undamaged, stunning Piccolo entirely. "A very basic attack. Easy to learn, easy to use...difficult to impress with." He raised a hand upwards, electricity crackling around it in a purple hue. "Shall I show you how to really do it?"

Beep. Beepbeepbeepbeep!

His Scouter began to beep frantically, the device having automatically located a combat strength higher than the most recently read entry. Brushing Piccolo off entirely, the invader rose into the air, looking around. "There it is...distance 12,909...and such a huge power! In fact, it's the greatest on this planet! It has to be Kakarrot!" In eagerness, he flew away, leaving Piccolo frozen in fear behind him.

Laughing as he tore through Earth's skies, the man shouted to no one in particular, back in his own foreign tongue once more. "Have you gone and lost your pride!? The pride of a Saiyan warrior, Kakarrot!?"

Kame House, Earth

Everyone was standing in a collective silence, befitting of the morbid news Jaco just explained. The Space Cop dropped a bombshell none of the reuniting friends had wanted or expected to hear. His own arrival was one thing but it was entirely another for a destructive force such as that coming to their world. Understandably, the first one to speak about this was the anxious Yamcha.

"S-So what y-you're saying is," He began to say, clearing his throat to cease the trembling that he felt overpowering his own speech. Taking a step forward he waved his hands around with a sweating expression on his wide-eyed face. "That these Saiyans...this Saiyan...not only looks like us but loves fighting and killing, is coming right here?!"

"And soon," The Galactic Patrolman affirmed with a serious nod of the head. "I suggest you all hide with your loved ones, most preferably deep underground or underwater. It might help you hide from their incredible sense of smell and hearing. If they can't find you this particular invader may just leave after killing everyone else."

"You're telling us to sacrifice everything on the planet for the sake of survival? What kind of cowardly idiots do you take us for?!" Bulma cried out with a look of anger on her face. The sheer look of incredulity on her vein throbbing face was enough to cause the diminutive enforce of the law to back up with apprehension behind Tights. Raising her hand, she ground her teeth with a cracking knuckle. "Here's a thought! Why didn't you call Headquarters and get reinforcements? Better yet, why don't you try and blow up his ship from space?!"

"My transport isn't designed to hit anything as fast as their craft!" He argued from behind the angry woman's sibling, whom herself looked annoyed. "Besides, no one in the Galactic Patrol can match the power of a Saiyan. We're policemen, notsoldiers!"

"It's a wonder you've protected anybody with that attitude," The blonde sibling scoffed with her arms crossed, eyes turning to scowl at him.

As the intergalactic lawman twitched with his own brand of frustration, a clearing of the throat was raised by the nearby pair. With a sheepish laugh, Kashiko scratched her chin while asserting forth, "Well, if you don't feel confident, why don't you leave him to these fighters? If you saw them in action at the Tenkaichi Budokai several years ago, surely you'd been impressed by their abilities. Just like my Kuririn!"

As she exclaimed in a doting manner, the Orin monk blushed at the compliment but had enough presence of mind to look at the alien speculatively himself, "If what you're saying is true, we might be the only chance of saving everyone we got. Perhaps if we all teamed up, it'd be possible, right?"

"I'm afraid you don't understand the true destructive prowess of a Saiyan," Jaco implored with a sigh, moving away from Tights to approach the couple then sweeping around the circle of gathered friends. "They are able to wipe out entire planets as young, developing children. Adults are ten times more terrifying! I'm sure you're all capable fighters, but the likelihood of stopping even one of them is next to impossible-"

"HA!" Muten Rōshi guffawed nearby, causing the alien to twitch with a turned head at him with surprise. Stroking his beard he grinned toothily at the yellow-eyed bug man. "We've faced trials of the sort you probably have never encountered. Piccolo Daimaō had the power to wipe out this world and Son Goku here beat him singlehandedly. Twice, I might add."

"Y-You're joking-"

"Nope," Goku waved with a laugh, earning a look of wild surprise and instant skepticism. Grinning he began to perform some stretches right off the bat, making Bulma roll her eyes with a wry grin while Pan clapped with excitement. "It's been awhile since I've had a challenge like that! Maybe when we meet, I can ask if he knows any other guys from outer space to fight."

"You're insane!" Jaco cried out.

"No, he's my papa," Pan boasted proudly with a waving tail. "No one's stronger than him. He's gonna beat up that Saiya-man!"

The furred appendage was enough to make the Patrolman immediately sieze up. He hadn't noticed it before but he couldn't take his eyes off it. With a startled leap back, his hand reached for the pistol and declared to everyone vocally, "Everyone, move away from the child!"

"Jaco!" Tights and Bulma cried out as one, sharing looks of surprise and anger at once for even insisting on that. Pan, whom heard it as palpable as the other shocked faces, just looked on with an inquisitive bat of the eyes that was shared with her father.

"Hey man, what's gotten into you?" Yamcha asked with a nervous smile, unaware if the man posed too much danger and why he centered on the admittedly adorable girl.

"Explain yourself!" Kuririn demanded with a scowl, seeming to speak on behalf for everybody. Kashiko looked nervously on, not understanding what was going on but had enough presence of mind to turn and see that Goku looked distant. Something seemed to be off to him that wasn't even taking place among them.

"There's no time to explain. This is for your safety," He replied coolly, his hairless brows knitting as his hand gripped the holster of his gun. "I repeat, step away from her. I only have one shot of saving your lives-"

"And you have to the count of FIVE to apologize for what you just said and take your hand off your gun, JACO!" Bulma yelled loudly, completely ignoring the look on her husband's face as he began looking around himself.

"You don't understand," Jaco began to say as his face beaded with sweat. "That child among you is a-"

"W-WHAT IS THAT?!" Goku cried out suddenly, his raised tone and look of pure alarm drawing everyone's gaze. Even Jaco was distracted by his outcry, given the outrageous report of him stopping a world destroyer. His face etched fear and sweat drew down his brow as he clenched his fists and eyed the skyline around him. "This power...it's...unreal! It's higher than even Piccolo's!"

At that moment, the other fighters present felt it too. A washing wave of tingling pressure like a drum pounded within their minds. It had spiked up and now seemed to be quite present. And it definitely was moving fast by the way they all could gauge.

"Kashiko," Kuririn spoke aloud, his own fists tightened at the sensation with bared teeth. "Get inside, now."

Backing up a few steps at hearing this rare tone she hadn't heard, she looked around at all the fighters with craned necks and sweating expressions. What were they feeling that she couldn't detect? Looking over at Tights who also shared a confused look, turned to Bulma as she nodded with an affirmed stare.

"If they can feel something like that, the Saiyan must have arrived," She declared, motioning to the door. "Everyone who can't fight, come inside!"

With a look of panic at the thought of the invader that he was speaking of was coming, the Patrolman completely ignored his set target. Rushing in at an impeccable speed, impressive to a human, blurred past the three women. The relatively overlooked Oolong also stumbled in as well, with Puar staying behind with Yamcha, hovering behind his shoulder as he squatted with preparation.

It wasn't until the lavender haired mother realized her daughter wasn't among them, she ran out to the door's entrance.

"Pan! Come inside-" She tried to call out when she suddenly saw a blurring form step too quietly onto the sandy beach.

Hulking in frame with spiky black as night hair that went past his waist with gold and black designed armor she had never seen before. The most curious thing that piqued her scientific side was the bleeping device blinking and audibly chirping on the side of the man's face. His eyes didn't need to look hard to find what he was looking for, immediately breaking out in a decadent grin.

"Ah, I finally found you, Kakarrot!" He declared in a language none of them but the trembling Patrolman peeking around the door frame near Bulma's leg could understand. With raised arms and a barking laugh he gestured with visible mockery. "You've grown quite nicely but I can recognize at a glance. You do, after all, have our father's face."

"Wh-What?" He inquired, blinking with more perplexity than fear. As much power as he felt coming off the long-haired individual that appeared, he could not understand a single word he spoke.

"He said, 'Ah, I finally found you, Kakarrot!'" Jaco translated, doing a terrible grated impression of the burly built man that towered over Goku. With Bulma looking at him curiously, the nervous space cop continued. "'You've grown quite nicely but I can recognize at a glance. You do, after all, have our father's face.'"

"Father?" Rōshi inquired with a tilt of his head.

"Whose Kakarrot?" Goku asked with a furrowed brow, now feeling a bit insulted being called something he's not.

The man's eyes widened, realizing he didn't understand a single word of his tongue. Not just that but spoke Basic atop of that. Scowling, he pointed his finger at him, "Kakarrot, have you forgotten your purpose? Your mission to purge this planet's populace? Does none of this ring a bell in that empty head of yours?"

"Purge the-...why would I do that?!" Goku cried out with anger, raising up a fist with retort at the large man. "I think you got the wrong idea. My name is Son Goku, and I've lived on Earth all my life. I don't know who this Kakarrot is but I'm not him."

"Impossible," The Saiyan declared with an angry twitch. "You are him! How can this be?!"

"Seems to me like you're a few screws loose man," Yamcha approached boldly, causing the likes of Kuririn and Rōshi to look on with shock while Goku held a curious stare at the scar-faced man. Striding over to the taller human-looking entity, he grinned despite himself. "It seems to me you can't tell who's who, so why don't you strut your hairy self somewhere else, kay?"

A beep was heard on the Scouter attached to the Saiyan's face, giving him a reading that made him chuckle darkly.

"You talk tough for a bug," Raditz jeered, his arms crossing over his chest. "Get lost!"

"YAMCHA!"

Goku's cry came too late. Faster than his eyes could see was a brown hued appendage whipping out and pummeling him in the gut. The force was enough to propel him back, zooming forth till he struck a materializing mattress. Distending back till it cracked the Kame House wall behind, he was seen falling flat onto his face, totally still. When Puar transformed back, he floated down to shake him and looked up at the others.

"He's knocked out cold!" He cried out with dismay.

"You," Goku began to say, turning to look at the grinning Saiyan. "Why did you do...that?"

"A-A tail?!" Kuririn declared, something that immediately made both Bulma and Pan's eyes bulge wide at seeing. Indeed, what was assumed as a brown rope belt was now waving around in front of their eyes. An appendage that everyone was all too familiar with.

As the child looked at the big man's prehensile limb and hers with bewilderment, Goku outright looked shocked with a open jaw and expressive shout, "You have a furred tail, just like Pan and I did?!"

"Ah, so you finally realize who you are," He declared, his tail already winding around his waist once more.

"Realized who-? You're not making any sense!" The Turtle Schooler retorted with aggravation, causing his sibling to contort with his own brand of frustration.

"What the Hell happened to you?! Did you get brainwashed? Did you receive a blow to your head as an infant? Explain, dammit!" The Saiyan bellowed out as he took a threatening step forward.

"I was never brainwashed...but, yeah, I hit my head," The father raised a hand to rub his angular raised tresses. "But it happened a long time ago. I don't remember what happened, but it was pretty bad...I've even still got a scar where it happened...why?"

"Pfft, of course you had to be clumsy like our mother," He spat, grimacing with mingled embarrassment and frustration. "But it does explain why you never carried out your purpose. Yes, it answers that question clearly."

"What do you mean?"

"Goku," Muten Rōshi cut in, causing his disciple to turn around and look at him along with the others with curiosity. His brow sweat but it looked as if his eyes had gained a solemn stare behind his shades. "I think...you should know something that your grandpa told me awhile back. Back when we used to have contact, he told me of a story that he raised a rambunctious child he found sealed within a strange orb that crashed in the wilderness.

"An angry kid with a wild hunger and savage behavior, he fought him tooth and nail for anything he threw a fit over. He had almost given up trying to raise him till a terrible accident occurred; in the form of a fall the boy took down a deep ravine, striking his head on the rocky bottom below. The wound seemed mortal and it took awhile before he recovered. Strangely enough the child was docile, even innocent afterwards, having no inclinations of violence that he once had."

"That kid, was me," Goku realized with awe.

"What are you saying, Rōshi?" Bulma asked from the door, looking at the man hard as he grinned cheekily at the stir he was causing. "That...Son and him are somehow connected?"

"Yeah, I think you owe us answers," The Earth-raised man pointed at the taller man whom smugly smiled. "Who are you?! Where did you come from?! And why do you call me Kakarrot?!"

Chuckling, the Saiyan seemed all too eager to elaborate with uncrossed arms hanging at his sides, soon raised to help with his explanation, "The truth of the matter is, Kakarrot, you are not of this world. Like me, you were born on a planet far away from here. A world called Planet Vegeta, home of the Saiyan race the most powerful warriors in the cosmos! You are one of us!"

A collective gasp was shared by all, while Pan simply looked on with furrowed brow.

"And as for your other question," He finished with his fists resting on his hips. "I am your brother, Raditz!"

Another share of looks of disbelief and confusion spread. Many seemed to ask questions at random but one seemed to stand out from the rest. One from a fearless, similarly dressed girl who walked up close to the big man who regarded her with a raised brow.

"So...you're my uncle?" She asked with a pair of surprised blinks. "You're...big!"

"Pan!" Bulma cried out, running from the doorway headlong to scoop her child up into her arms. When she saw the man's beady dark eyes narrow at her she felt herself shudder. Just before she glared back with her daughter clutched tightly to her chest. "Keep your eyes away, you creep!"

"Ah, so you found a mate with the natives. Adorable," He sneered with a dry laugh, turning back to Goku to continue where he left off. "But as for your reason for being here, as I said before, your mission was to purge this world of its inhabitants."

"Why would I do that?!" Goku asked, horrified at the thought of genocide by his hands.

"We may be proud warriors, but we're also businessmen," Raditz explained with a matter-of-fact tone. "There are races out there who have dying, dead or uncomfortable worlds out there who need a new one to live on instead. This demand is satisfied by our race's service of destroying the natives of a lush, fertile world like this one and make room for them. Depending on the strength of the inhabitants we send an Adult Saiyan to take care of stronger races. Others with miniscule power levels, like of this world, would most likely have sent a child.

"That is how you came to be here, Kakarrot," He continued, explaining with an ire in his voice. It switched to one of certainty as he glanced at his body and then looked up at the clear blue sky. "Yes, it would have taken even you a year or two, if you hadn't struck your skull so clumsily. The moon here is perfect, it'd been only a matter of time and opportunity before you destroyed them all."

"The moon? What does that got to do with anything?" The supposed brother inquired dubiously.

"Don't play the fool now, Kakarrot! Our true potential is only unlocked when we gaze at the moon, or have you been living under a rock this whole time?!" The Saiyan angrily shouted with an irritated wave of the hand.

In that instant Bulma felt herself trembling with a still wide-eyed Pan in her arms. Something that made Rōshi and Kuririn all shake while Tights looked beyond the door with Jaco with shared ignorance. The terrifying monster which had stirred her nightmares for years, forcing her to do all it took to keep Pan away from the light of the full moon was now explained. Looking at her husband, it made sense now.

"My husband really is a Saiyan!" She thought with a paled complexion.

"I don't know anything about the moon," Goku dismissed with a leaning glare. "You're still not making any sense."

A second later and Raditz gaped, looking mortified by what caught his eyes. Or rather, what he didn't see at all.

"K-Kakarrot!" The buff warrior croaked out, pointing to the space near his hip. "Your tail! Where is it?! What happened?"

"My tail?" He queried with saucer wide blinks. "I got it cut by God a long time ago."

"Y-You idiot!" The Saiyan snarled with aggravation and a balled up fist. "Do you realize what you've done?! You're walking around maimed, bereft of your precious full power! No wonder you could fit in so easily with these Earthlings!"

"That's ENOUGH!" The Turtle Schooler reprimanded with a thumb aimed at his chest. "I am not Kakarrot, this cold blooded monster you're looking for. My name is Son Goku, and I'm no brother of yours. Now get off my planet!"

"Yeah, listen to him!" Bulma cried out, snapped out of her reverie to scowl angrily at the intimidating alien. "He's no murderer! He's a hero!"

"That's right," Kuririn swung an arm around with a few brave steps forward in defense of his friend. "He's saved the world twice and fought an army for the right reasons. No Saiyan I know would do that!"

"Even if he isn't of this world," Muten Rōshi stepped forward, his cane raised and his brow furrowed behind his shades. "He's been pure of heart. He may have vices like any man, but he always defends his friends and keeps the innocent safe. He'd never follow you!"

For a moment, all the Saiyan could do before them was stew. Veins visibly throbbed across his wide brow and his knuckles cracked one by one. But before anyone could fathom what his next plan was, he just...laughed. A deep, guttural laugh that not only bewildered but scared everyone as his head leaned back.

Walking forward his broad shoulders shoved aside his brother and his wife with child in arms, striding over to stand in front of the unconscious Yamcha. With a dark smile on his face he resumed speaking in a voice all too calm for his previous demeanor, "It'll take more than mere shouts and threats to ward me off. You see, I didn't come out of the goodness of my heart for a family reunion. Our world was destroyed by a meteor of incredible size, reducing it to dust, leaving no survivors. Not even our parents escaped."

Turning to look back at his brother with a smile, he spoke in a more beckoning tone as he approached his steeled sibling, "We're a rare breed, Kakarrot. We have a Prince, named after the late king and our annihilated world, Vegeta. He's been seeking those like yourself to gather under his banner. Together we can conquer the Universe and spread our influence once more as the feared harbingers of destruction. Think about it! All of the fights you can ever want along with the spoils of anything you desire. Even if money doesn't interest you, I'm sure the thrill of challenges far beyond this puny planet could excite your Saiyan blood, right?"

For a moment, Goku seemed to grow quiet, letting his big brother even place a placating hand on his shoulder. Smiling down at him the sibling looked at him as the younger man closed his eyes and let out a calmer sigh. Reaching up he pushed the hand aside, shocking as much as angering the Saiyan.

"You're right, I may be tempted at the thought of fighting new and fantastical opponents in the stars above me," He declared, taking a stand as he smiled back ruefully at his livid relative. "But, my dream is also my wife's dream. Bulma and I will share that adventure together with our daughter. Your offer is no good to me if I have to dirty my hands and shed the blood of countless innocents!"

It was this answer that made Bulma's heart pound in her chest and her eyes well up with emotion. While Pan smiled and shouted a brief, "You tell'em, Papa!"

Raditz's expression turned from anger to a cruel smile in an instant. It was the most unnerving thing about him to the awry brother. His pools of black for eyes looked away and turned towards the fidgeting Pan whom simply stared at him with furrowed brows. With a glare almost as harsh as her father's it seemed like she understood everything that was said, making her quite smarter than the Saiyan could have foreseen. Toothily he returned his gaze back at his estranged sibling.

"Tell me, Kakarrot, how much do you love your daughter?"

The inquiry made Goku's eyes dilate and his body react instantaneously; moving without thought,he whizzed through the air with a thrusting fist. Even as he lunged the sight of his brother phasing before his knuckles like static made his angry face turn to one of shock. He didn't even see the knee that struck him in the gut, catapulting him up into the air like a cannon. Saliva and blood spewed out of his mouth as gravity claimed his pain welled body, dragging him into a thunderous crash that shook the tide lapping beach.

"Papa!" Pan cried out, slipping out of her mother's grasp quicker than the latter anticipated. Running towards him with concern, she forgot about her uncle as his big hand reached down and yanked her by the collar of her uniform. Squirming she angrily threw her small fists out, shouting with indignation rather than fear. "Let me go! How dare you hurt my papa!"

"I guess that answers that," Raditz laughed raucously as he held the feisty girl at arm's length. Hearing the sounds of rushing feet before the Scouter could bleep the long-haired man turned to see Bulma rushing forward to grasp her child. Faster than she could blink he evaporated into thin air, leaving her to skid in front of an agonized Goku who clutched at his chest while wailing in pain. Chuckling he turned to face the two crouched Turtle Style martial artists and grinned as he shook the fidgeting girl. "Don't get any ideas. If you try to take another step closer, I won't hesitate to kill this brat, even if she has Saiyan blood in her."

"W-Wait!" Goku cried out with an extended hand, a look of pleading entering his pain stricken face from the damp, sandy earth. Even as Bulma leaned down to keep him from straining himself up too soon, she also looked with a pair of watering eyes. "Don't hurt her, please!"

"Well-Well, looking a bit more negotiable, do we?" He inquired with a lean of the head. Even as Pan growled and flung herself around it was to no avail. Even her tail could only tickle the gauntlet of the hand holding her up, never fully wrap to get her a good grip. She was stuck, much to the uncle's satisfaction. "See, I have a number of things I can do to get you to agree to see things my way. I could start by killing her and then working my way across everyone you love. Or I could just take her and raise her to be a true Saiyan, though I doubt my prince would want a half-breed brat hanging around. Let's see...oh! How about this?

"Kill one hundred humans for me by this time tomorrow to prove your allegiance to your real family and kin. Do this, I'll happily release my feisty niece back to your loving woman, safe and sound. If you have a taste of more, please do kill as many as you like and just set the bodies on this beach," The Saiyan elder brother explained, chuckling at the look of horrified visages shared among the fighters and helpless wife. Shaking the uniformed girl in his grip, he sneered. "Don't worry, I won't harm a relative of mine if you do as I say. After all, we'll be coming back for her once you join us...to conquer the planet, that is."

"C-Conquer E-Earth?!" Kuririn exclaimed with a shivering thought, remembering how terrible Piccolo Daimaō's first attempt of world domination had been. Not only was he slain among a number of people, but the King of Earth was deposed. If these Saiyans were even stronger he'd see no end to the massacres they'd unleash.

"But of course, we're a warrior race after all," Raditz declared boastfully, looking away at his distant brother. "If you don't cooperate with me in a Earth day's time, your daughter's life will be mine. After the next day, it'll be your mate. The day after, the bald man. And the next day, the bearded one. Get the picture?"

Laughing with a depraved tone, he rose up high into the sky with the little girl in hand, shouting his last words, "Think about what's best for your family. Your real family, that is. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

With a sudden boom of the sound barrier being broken, he disappeared as quickly as he came.

As time crawled on the shell shocked observers eventually emerged from the house and did what they could for the mourning couple. Bulma was grieving, her eyes overflowing with tears while Goku's face was mingled with pain of both emotional loss and receiving injury. The two had no idea what to do about the insane crisis.

Kashiko had helped Yamcha inside when he regained consciousness, looking dazed and completely blown away by what he learned. Standing next to Kuririn whom was in the midst of Muten Rōshi and a Goku whose wife iced up his swollen abdomen before wrapping a salve lined bandage with it. Pulling his top back over it, minus the weighted undershirt and the rest of the unnecessary apparel he moved to walk towards the door.

"W-Where are you going?" Yamcha asked from the couch, still wincing from his own chest injury that made him want to cry out just moving. To see Goku had received a similar strike but already walk as if he didn't have it made him realized how wide apart the gap was between them.

"I'm going to bring Pan back," He declared, already reaching for the door.

"But he beat you in a single attack," Kashiko declared with an adjustment to her glasses as she looked at Goku's briefly stopped back with forlorn assurance. "If he catches you again, he'll kill you for sure and her."

"If I do what he says, people will die because of me. But if I do nothing, she dies and so will others. This is my only option in order to make sure my family and the Earth are safe," Goku announced directly, turning to look back at everyone. "Everyone needs to stay here. I don't want any of you caught up in this."

"Son-!"

"Even you, Bulma," The martial artist implored sternly, his eyes met hers as glares formed between them. "This guy is bad news. Given how he didn't hesitate to use our daughter as a hostage, I can't risk you getting caught in the crossfire."

"But I can't just sit back and let you fight that...that monster!" She exclaimed with fear in her eyes.

"Bulma, I have to do this. This is the only-" He trailed off, suddenly feeling a familiar presence. Turning towards the door as the sound of feet resting behind it, the crescendo of knocks was also heard. Reaching out he turned the knob and opened the door, revealing the towering figure of Piccolo Junior on the other side. "Piccolo!"

"I watched your confrontation with him, Son," The emerald skinned rival declared, entering with a bow and delicate turn so his caped pauldrons wouldn't strike the door panels. Looking down at him with arms crossed, he raised a brow. "I assume you're going after him to rescue that noisy brat of yours."

"And if I am?" The Turtle Schooler asked with a guarded expression.

"Then count me in," He offered with a straight face.

"W-What?" He retorted with bulging eyes as much as Bulma and the others.

"Is this the world destroyer they were talking about?" Jaco briefly whispered to Tights, who had long since given up chewing him out for not chasing the Saiyan or stopping him. "He looks unusual from the Earthling's I've seen."

"I think that's supposed to be him. Maybe he's a demon?"

"Now you really are jesting," He retorted with a roll of his neck and a shrug. "But is he that strong?"

"Very. And if you keep muttering among yourselves I may feel like shutting you up."

Covering his mouth just as quickly as Tights did, they both blinked nervously at the man who glanced at them from the other side of the room. Content that the muttering had ceased he looked back at his arch nemesis with a sneer.

"Don't get the wrong idea. We're not friends and I'm not doing this as a favor for you," Piccolo Junior assured him with a growl, raising a fist up that trembled and sported a throbbing vein of his overwhelming contempt for his enemy. "I've been planning your downfall for years and I was just about ready. Then this guy, Raditz, I heard him talk about his big Saiyan agenda with you. A lot of things add up why you stand out from the rest given your heritage of bloodthirsty warriors. If you were half as monstrous as he was, I think I wouldn't be here today.

"But I'm not here to say thanks for saving my neck from that old codger. I'm here to get you to help me kill your brother," He declared with bared fangs. "Any reservations you have of taking lives is moot since your own blood is on the line, right, Son?"

There was a brief pause as Goku considered what Piccolo said. True, even though Raditz was everything irredeemable in his eyes, he had no wish to murder him. To stoop to that level he wish he'd never become that. Not after being taught the value of life from Kami and seeing that use come about in this unexpected gesture of kindness. Even if he had selfish reasons he now felt ever-so grateful that he had indeed saved the life of this rival of his.

"If it comes to it, we'll cross that bridge together if he leaves us no choice," Goku raising his voice and a finger up to him. "You want to kill him, that's fine. But if we're both standing at the end of this, I'll make that call, got it?"

"You're too soft, Son," The Demon King sneered, turning his back at him. "But my pride has already been tarnished by his disrespect towards me. I won't stand for that, so I'll chance it by joining the likes of even you."

"Heh, look who's talking?" He snapped back, only making the taller man growl more as he stepped out the door. As he began to step out the door a pair of arms grabbed him from behind and pulled him into a tight hug. With his wife's face buried into the crook of his neck he gingerly hugged back with his face leaning in to whisper into her ear. "I'll bring her back, I promise."

"Don't keep me waiting, Son," She sniffled.

Before the two separated they shared a longing kiss. All too soon for the pair did the martial artist rush off and holler for Kintoun, allowing him to fly swiftly without wasting precious energy. Joining him in the sky was the cape and turban wearing former terror of Earth. Now joined in an effort to bring down this new invader Bulma and Tights could only look out with the rest of the company as they disappeared into the horizon.

"Stop squirming you brat," Raditz spat at Pan annoyingly, holding the child at arm's length. He had been fed up with his niece's constant useless hits on his durable frame. From ramming her head towards his protected crotch to biting his finger and then kicking his shin, she tenaciously tried anything she could to harm him. He was amused by her spirit but was slowly becoming more aggravated as time went along.

"I'm! Gonna! Beat! You! Up!" She shouted as she flailed her arms wildly towards his face.

"Oh really?" He inquired with a raised brow and a broad smile. "What are you going to do? Keep flailing angrily?"

As if it just occurred to her, a hand reached for the small pole holstered on her back. Looking at her with a bemusing stare she raised the stick to aim at his forehead. Blinking with annoyance he reached up to grab it.

"EXTEND!" She cried out, suddenly causing the stave to ram straight into his cranium and propel her back out of his grip. Crashing into a nearby boulder she felt the breath knocked out of her from the maneuver she just pulled. Even as she staggered with the elongated pole, she noted a small angry mark where she struck his skin, making him glare angrily at her. Calling it back to its normal size she ran at a swift speed for her age and size, but not enough for him to be caught off guard.

A swift grab for the tail and she felt her entire body go numb. The harshness was enough to make her be hung like a skinned animal in her uncle's grasp. Leaving the Nyoibō where it dropped, the Saiyan trod across the wasteland he had created to his impacted pod. Opening it up he tossed her in roughly, shutting it closed. By the time she got her bearings and tried to bang on the observer glass, he chuckled at the sight.

"Try as you might, you can't get out of that," He laughed at her, rubbing the soreness of the bruise that stick inflicted between his brow. Sudden bleeps and flashing symbols alerted him to distant power levels gaining proximity with every passing second. It only took him a few moments to realize who was coming for him, giving way for a deeper chuckle at his antagonists. "Come on, Kakarrot! Show me your true colors, or suffer the consequences!"

A/N:

Demod20: And we got to this point! I had a lot of fun with this Chapter, and I'm already anticipating great things for the next update. Between the differences in the characters' reactions (with having Jaco and Pan there as the prime differences) to the little kidnapped munchkin getting a good lick in, I'm proud of the minor changes along with the entertaining dialogue I was able to type up. Hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I did working on it ^^

LastationLover5000: Woohoo! We made it to the June release date! I'm actually surprised, I started the chapter off this time and I had a blast. Unlike..what, 99.99% of the fanbase, I actually LIKE Raditz. I wrote an entire three chapter story with Raditz as the main villain, and he was a Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan. Yeah. I did that. And y'know what, I enjoyed it, the audience's horrible reaction be damned. So this was actually a LOT of fun for me. First off, we had Raditz speak his own alien tongue because I have a personal loathing for the 'Universal Language' trope that seems present in almost all sci-fi. So, we had him speak an unintelligible tongue that the Saiyan race would naturally use. There's an obvious Star Wars reference here, as I use the term "Galactic Basic Standard" for the common tongue. Remember that, in Galactic Patrolman Jaco, Jaco mentions he knows all of the languages in the Universe, and it took four hours to compile them into his brain. So yeah, other languages do exist; we've seen Nameccian (yes, its actually spelled Nameccian, but we'll use Namekian for reader convenience), and another alien tongue in Super, so not everyone speaks the common language: English. Also, to anyone who uses guns, especially sniper rifles, go easy on me, okay? I don't use them so I wasn't the best when writing my gun segment. For note, Soujh is a pun on sogekihei (狙撃兵, sniper), and also a reference to Sogeking, i.e. Usopp from One Piece. Also, yes, Piccolo...and Tenshinhan and I think even Yamcha...all refer to Goku as "Son" in the original Japanese version. It rolls off the tongue weird but it's canon so roll with it. So, with this chapter, we'll be back to our usual updating chapter, I'm sorry if you all dislike it!

Firegod00: Fire here, just to say I'm alive and that I'm not just some name these two invented to cover their tracks. Anyway, I'll keep this as brief as I can (brevity being the soul of wit and all). My thoughts on the chapter: Lastation's section had a really cool effect in it. Having Jaco narrate "over" the scene where Raditz took down the RR base really made it feel more terrifying to have a guy as strong as Raditz casually going up against a meager bunch of humans all while a galactic cop told of the Saiyan race's frightening capabilities...kinda sells home what they, as a whole, are.
Demod's section was where you know things are really getting started as far as their take on canon goes. His portrayal of Raditz is already one of my favorites, feeling close to canon without BEING canon, you know? I'm also glad that he took advantage of this to make Yamcha take the hit. As a fan of TeamFourStar, I went into this expecting to mentally begin the Krillin Owned Counter. For once, I'm glad it wasn't the case. Also, Pan using the Power Pole (In case you haven't realized I tend to use dub names unlike these guys) was cute...I have no qualms admitting it.
Anyway, I hope I did a good job of proofreading up till now. I'll also try to be more active as far as author notes, kinda adding my own thoughts of what I liked in a chapter and all that.