"It won't be much longer until this planet is ours."
"It would've been ours much sooner if you did your job for once." Vegeta snapped.
"My bad."
"It is your bad, you stupid little runt." Nappa grumbled.
"Things will be different on the next planet."
"I assume you'll sit there toying with someone far beneath your notice." Vable remarked.
"Listen here, turnip boy. If you fuck it up again, I will kill you." Vegeta said.
"Wait! I think my little brother and little sister can help-Kakarot and Sarpa. They were sent to a different planet. I bet they're still there."
"A brother and a sister? I didn't think there were more of us than those gathered here right now." Vable said.
"If they join us the rest of the universe will be ours in no time!"
Vegeta crossed his arms over his chest, speaking in his dark and murderous tone. "The fact that they are your siblings doesn't fill with me anything but dread at thought of having two more failures on board...What planet were they sent to?"
"Uhh...I think it was called 'Earth'."
The four of them walked through the gore of the battlefield, tall shadows in the planet's gloom.
Thousands of troops and thousands of fighters had given their lives trying to defend this world against them-and they had lost. They had been wiped out down to the last. They relished the suffering and despair, and even now they could sense it rising up like the stench from the broken, charred corpses scattered about the landscape.
In the distance a storm was brewing. Each flash of lightning illuminated the sky, the world's moon was momentarily visible in the distance, striking lights towering over the barren horizon.
"This is still a great victory. It has been far too long since we've had a challenge." Nappa spoke up, breaking the silence.
"I sense you are eager to begin killing again. I expect you to control yourself." Vable said.
"She means no harm. Just keep yourself in check." Vegeta said.
"She refuses to celebrate in our triumph." Nappa noted. "She has been like this the whole time."
Nappa clasped a hand on the woman's shoulder.
She shrugged free of the hand and turned away with a flick of her tail as it wound around her waist.
"Celebrate this if you wish. Keep yourself under control."
Raditz didn't miss the stark contrast when the singular, pod shot out of hyperspace and saw the gem planet of Earth looming before him. This world was a place of green grasses, verdant lands, and deep blue water that formed oceans.
How different it was from so many other worlds, and his own home world, which had long meant its end.
His home world had been a place of deserts and mountains, with blood red and yellow cloud patterns swirling all across it. It really had been just a ball of brown and red hanging in space, as barren and remote as Earth was alive.
"Don't waste any damn time." Nappa's voice cut into the pod's com-link.
"If those two failed, just kill them." Vegeta added.
Raditz stretched his shoulders, pleasantly surprised to hear from his two kin. "We could use them both."
"Not if they are not up to par." Vable's voice cut in. "We don't need them slowing us down."
"How do you know they even completed their mission?"
"I don't know if they did that." Raditz smply said.
"Oh, I'm sorry, then maybe you should stop talking and handle the business." Vegeta said in a crisp, no-nonsense tone.
Raditz shook his head doubtfully, but he wasn't bothered by the jabbing tone. In a strange way, he was glad that his three kin were communicating with him, glad that small details were being finalized.
"They haven't signaled me any landing coordinates yet." The man noted.
"You're out in the back country now. Things aren't very strict there, usually. Just find a place and park it."
"This place is just lovely."
Raditz nodded. How different things were now than a couple decades before when he and his comrades had been forced to land on a world in order to effect repairs on their ship. That same day, their home world had been destroyed. He tried to manage a smile, but the edge of his anticipation kept it from appearing genuine.
There was no way to control the singular pod on its descent. So the ship came down fast, breaking through the atmosphere and soaring across the sky.
"So...This is Earth?" He mused when the skyscrapers and towers of the cities came into sight against the horizon.
There were many cities that weren't destroyed. In fact, there wasn't a single mark of destruction or obliteration anywhere that he could see. Everything was like it had been. Even if his ship was streaking faster and faster, his perception of the places and people didn't falter.
The ship curved and went in hard towards a mountain region. He flew over the edge of a city, then the pod finally slammed down in a large forest.
"Hey! Who's out here!? What the hell you doing on my property!?" Barked the farmer, a stout man with a mustache and a shotgun in hand.
The burly man stretched his neck until it cracked, then moved it to the other side until it cracked. He slammed his foot down out of the pod, growling as he rose to his full height. It had been a long and miserable travel, and the landing didn't do anything to lighten his mood.
Apparently, his moronic brother and sister couldn't do an easy job.
"Who the hell are you!? Damn near busted my still. I told you to get off my property!" The farmer barked.
The man clicked his strange device attached to his ear, focusing his eyes on the loudmouth.
"I'm warning you! I'll put one in you! Don't make me!"
"A pitiful fighting power of ten. Hmph." The man grinned, lifting himself out of the crater and landing on his feet.
The farmer at this point was terrified seeing whoever this being was, take flight. "You're one of those alien cryptids or something?"
The burly man stepped towards him as he let off two shots, and he caught the bullets, looking at them curiously.
"Your turn." Raditz smirked, flicking the bullets back at the farmer in a flash of killing light, knocking the hapless man into his truck. "Those two are in for it. There's no excuse for not being able to clear this planet when there's nothing but pitiful hillbillies running around. What the hell were they doing this whole time!?"
He clicked his device again, surveying the surroundings. The device ran through its paces, measuring, surveying, and relaying. Eventually it leveled off, making a strange, distorted sound as numbers flashed across the screen.
"Power level of...322. This one is the closest trajectory. There's two more...334 and 326...That must be Kakarot and Sarpa with no doubt...They're far away from my location."
He lifted himself high into the air with a smirk, shooting towards the nearest trajectory.
"Power level of 322 here I come!"
Eyes as cold as glaciers and a face carved from stone, he stood surveying the destruction of his most recent energy wave. His training had started to get more intense as of late. He considered the speed at which his most hated foe dodged his lethal attacks, how his second most hated foe dodged his counters each and every time, and for the last five years he had pushed all of his hate and fury into his strikes.
Kata were more than just movements meant to adjust his muscle memory. They were an extension of his will and fury, something through which his hate could flow and guide his movements in battle. He would be the most powerful. He would have no equal. He would rule without any dispute.
A stabbing sensation pricked on the edges of his perception, and he whirled around to face the approaching malice coming right for him. It couldn't be his two hated foes, or any of their friends. Even if they were strong and capable, they didn't have malicious ki like this.
Nor was their ki this powerful. This was far worse, whoever it was inclined toward brutality and sadism. After a moment, he could see the figure coming in at hyper speed. The flight wasn't slow by any means, and though he was muscular, it appeared the man didn't have a hard time picking up his speed as he made his way closer and closer.
It definitely wasn't his most hated foes, as while their hair was ridiculous, neither of them had a widow's peak like this newcomer.
He held his ground as the figure landed in front of him, crossing his arms over his chest.
The man opposite of him was fair skinned, packed with muscle, had stern black eyes with body length spiky black hair and wore a strange set of armor he hadn't seen or heard of in his lifetime.
"You are not Kakarot. You are not Sarpa. Green man, do you know where I can find Kakarot and Sarpa?"
"Kakarot? Sarpa?"
"Do you know Kakarot and Sarpa?"
"Who the hell are you? You just come here and think you're going to demand answers from me. Do you have business you want to settle with me?"
"I have no business with an insect like you."
"I'm Piccolo. You will address me as Mazoku-Ue."
Raditz snorted. "I'm going to call you green man because you are green."
"You're going to pay for that."
"Certainly."
Piccolo remained silent, staring down the disrespectful spiky haired foe, who only returned his expressionless gaze with a vicious smirk of his own. He slowly shifted his footing, putting himself into a comfortable, yet stable position for offense or defense.
"You think too highly of yourself, you spiky haired jackass. Now, you're going to wish you never fucked with me in the first place."
"Right, green man. You just sit there and gather up all the power you can, because you're going to need more than what you have in you right now if you want to even leave a scratch on me." Raditz smirked, chuckling loudly.
Piccolo slowly shifted his stance again, growling.
"Go ahead and attack. Your power is tiny compared to mine."
"I suggest you back off!"
Jeering, Raditz took a step forward. "You would love for me to fly off and not beat you senseless...Look at you, you are shaking in fear."
Piccolo snarled, holding his ground. "I'm warning you...You come any closer and I'll blast your ass sky high."
Raditz chuckled. "I'd love to see you try that. You just prattle right along don't you?"
Piccolo snapped his legs out. His muscles flexed and his teeth began to gnash as he seethed in fury at his foe, digging deep within the hot core of his center. A gust surged around him as yellow bolts of power began to form all over, forcing his veins and muscles to bulge, expanding to compensate the sudden surge, and his radical ki started flickering brilliantly.
"YAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Piccolo's voice cracked with fury as he pushed the energy forth from his hands, digging himself in as the shockwave drove him back, and the blast itself began shearing across the ground, bellowing its terrible cry of hatred like its owner. Raditz held his ground, watching the blast come, slightly impressed by the speed which such a massive blast could move fired on the fly.
There was nothing subtle about Piccolo's attack. The massive shock wave shook the very foundations of the ground they stood on. The concussive blast alone had enough power to shatter every bone in Raditz's body and pulverize his flesh into a mass of pulp. The heat seeking blast of death streaked. Everything around him exploded into great chunks of rubble. The natural archways around them collapsed in a shower of stone and dirt, burying Raditz beneath tons of rock and mortar.
A second later the rest of the natural ceilings caved in, drowning out the blast's screeching howl with a deafening rumble.
Piccolo watched the spectacle of the explosion from the safety of the ground at the foot of the hill made from his blast, keeping himself in the same squatted position he started out in for stability.
Reaching out, he sought some sign that Raditz might still be alive beneath the mountain of stone.
To his horror, he felt the man's ki.
He...Survived?
Raditz stood before him with the same smirk he had on his face before, arms crossed over his chest, his eyes lit with sinister intention. He hadn't moved an inch from his spot, and idly checking the wreckage around him, he allowed his smirk to grow as he focused on Piccolo once more.
"Are you finished, green man? You managed to burn some of my hair." Raditz finished with a mocking chuckle, walking towards him.
Piccolo held his ground, refusing to waver.
Raditz began to gather power into his palm, clinching his teeth down as veins began to bulge on his body, and his ki began to spark. He slowly raised his arm above his head.
Piccolo braced himself for the end, but to his surprise, Raditz cancelled the attack.
What the?
He glanced at Piccolo, noting the creature's eyes were fixated in the sky. After a few moments of his foe not looking or speaking to him, Raditz hardened his gaze and focused on the same trajectory.
He tapped the button on his scouter, honing-in on the detected power levels. "Combined power level of 660...Kakarot has 334. Sarpa has a power level of 326..."
He smirked for a second.
"It looks like they're closing in on this location."
Raditz got the feeling that they were more likely to be his enemies, but considering he held a considerable gap in power regardless of their combined numbers, it shouldn't pose him too much of a problem.
Silently, both Piccolo and Raditz seemed to agree to prolong their conflict and watch the newcomers arrive.
The first was a man with a peach complexion, standing at six feet, weighing one hundred and thirty six pounds. He had dark eyes, black spiky hair that was stood up, with five spikes in the front, four in the back, three bangs hanging to the right of his forehead, and two bangs hanging from the left of his forehead, and a muscular body that was covered by an orange gi.
Raditz noted he hopped off a strange, golden cloud that had been carrying him.
The second one was a woman with a dark tan complexion. standing at five feet and nine inches, weighing one hundred and twenty six pounds. She had dark eyes, black spiky hair that was stood up, with seven spikes in the front, five in the back, four bangs hanging to the right of her forehead, and three bangs hanging to the left of her forehead, and a muscular body covered by a black gi
Focusing on the detected power levels, he moved his head a fraction every few seconds. The woman could fly by her own power, while the man preferred a different method.
Raditz looked up with a knowing smirk, noting the features of the two newcomers. He went through the records, but he didn't actually think he would find them here. He didn't actually think they would fail in their mission.
"How did you find me?" Raditz asked.
The spiky haired woman scowled at him. "That's none of your business."
"Fair enough. I'll ask another question in that case. Kakarot and Sarpa...Have you come to say that you will join us?"
"My name is Goku." The spiky haired man looked at Raditz with genuine confusion.
"My name is Kukyo." The spiky haired woman said.
"I can tell it was you two. You both have clearly grown up. You both look like our father."
Goku nodded, expression growing serious as he glanced at Kukyo. "He is incredibly strong. Stronger than Piccolo."
"What have you been doing all of this time?! Your duty was to exterminate this species so this world can go up for sale!" Raditz barked.
"My sister and I would never do that!"
Raditz glowered at them, clenching his fist. "Don't tell me you're one of these weaklings! You've allowed yourselves to become like them! It is disgusting and not becoming!"
"My name is Son Goku and this is my sister Son Kukyo."
Raditz growled lowly. "Did one of you go against your programming or hit your heads?"
Kukyo clenched her hands tightly. "It's none of your concern!"
Raditz snarled, cutting his fist through the air.
"Damn it, you brain dead idiots. I'm Raditz, your eldest brother. Kakarot and Sarpa, you are my younger siblings. The offspring of Bardock and Gine."
"What the hell!?"
"He just called us aliens, said he's your older brother, and that's all you have to say..." Kukyo remarked.
Goku couldn't take his eyes off of Raditz.
"We are Saiyans. A mighty warrior race. You were not born on this planet, but on planet Vegeta, which had ten times the gravity of this world."
"You lie." Kukyo said.
Raditz continued as if he didn't hear her. "Our homeworld was wiped out roughly twenty-four years ago by a meteorite, leaving only myself, three others, as well as you two alive. We were the only ones off world when the rest of our kind was vaporized. We are part of the planet trade business. We locate suitable planets, exterminate the native inhabitants, and sell them to rich customers. It is quite a lucrative and profitable business."
"You're nuts." Goku remarked.
Raditz laughed.
"Adult Saiyans like me, the best of the best are assigned to worlds that you can call problematic. We go where only the strongest and toughest inhabitants are. Weaker Saiyans, like you two dimwits, are sent as infiltrators when you are still infants to exterminate the population of weaker worlds. You would have been better suited to be engineers."
"I would never kill people by the billions like you're saying." Kukyo said, nearly shaken with outrage.
"You could never be my brother. There's no way I'm related to a bunch of space pirates who just go around murdering and pillaging!" Goku snapped, irate.
"We are Saiyans, the mightiest warriors in the universe. I can still remember the day that we first sent you two off as infants. We had high hopes for you. Kakarot. Sarpa. Why have you not carried out your mission! Why have you not destroyed everything here!?"
"I already told you...I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not doing any of those things you said." Goku said, tone having no levity.
Raditz glanced at the two carefully, a frown crossing his face. "Your tails! Where are they?"
"Why?" Kukyo asked, tone suspicious.
Raditz growled, taking a step forward, hand clenching halfway into a fist. "Don't play dumb with me! Answer my question!"
Goku eyed Raditz warily. "We had them removed a long time ago."
"No wonder you have no desire to go on the hunt and conquests with me! You've lost your ability to access your true power now!"'
"What are you talking about?" Goku blinked, confused again.
Raditz hissed.
"You're hopeless! Every Saiyan transforms at the sight of a full moon! You have to remember that! Even a low-level halfwit like you can comprehend that. This world has a nice big full moon, it shouldn't have taken you long after a year or two of being on this world."
Goku only looked in confusion before he frowned, growing angry with the newcomer. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I've seen the full moon at times, but I don't remember..."
Raditz growled, a feral and savage sound that was driven home by supreme fury. "I can't believe this!"
"Besides, we'd never kill people like you say." Kukyo interjected.
"That's right." Goku took a step towards Raditz, discarding his weighted boots, then tossed aside his weighted wristbands.
"A stupid hillbilly took two shots at me. Even with a pitiful power level of ten. I wasted my time. There is no excuse for your failures on this pathetic planet!"
"You're trying to tell me our mission was to kill every last living person on this world? Just to sell it? I'd never do something like that, and neither would my sister..."
Goku threw off his undershirt and the top of his gi, removing all of his weighted clothing.
Raditz smirked slightly, tapping his scouter.
"If Piccolo couldn't even leave a scratch on you, I definitely have my work cut out for me..."
Goku began to stretch, rolling out the kinks in his wrists and ankles.
"No sand bagging in that case." Kukyo said.
Raditz frowned, watching Kukyo throw off her own weighted gear, her boots, and her black wristbands, while Goku began to warm up.
Raditz clicked his scouter, measuring the three of them. "Sarpa is at 405. Kakarot is at 416. More than I anticipated, less than I was expecting. You two really are a bunch of brain damaged idiots. You cut off your tails and now you're going to try to take me on with that kind of power?"
"I have friends and family. You're no family of mine." Kukyo said.
"We've recently found a world that will sell for a great price on the galactic market. The only problem we have is that the locals are very powerful, even the current four of us may have some trouble. However, with you two on our side that would make six, and while your power levels aren't impressive by any stretch going by our standards...I think with some training-"
Goku shook his head. "If by training, you mean us killing innocence. It's not happening."
"I'm not here to ask. No is not an answer. We Saiyans were never high in number, and because our world was wiped out there's only a few of us alive still. Before I found you two, there were only four of us total. It's going to take more than that to get me to leave." Raditz snarled.
"Now I am going to warn you one time. Leave this planet and other planets alone!" Goku said.
"I strongly recommend that you join us!"
"I don't care what you recommend! The answer has always been no!" Goku yelled with finality.
Raditz clenched his hands tightly, keeping the urge to shed blood at bay. He knew there was a time and place to wreak havoc. The victory he had already foreseen was going to be that much more savored when he delivered the finishing blows.
"You two should listen to your big brother." Raditz said, starting to grow agitated.
"I would if I had one, but I don't!" Goku bit out.
Raditz smirked, though his body shook with murderous rage. "Do you agree with Karakot, Sarpa?"
"My name is Kukyo! I am not Sarpa!"
Raditz growled. "You're telling me that as one of the last living Saiyans, you two are turning your backs to us right now? You're not going to join the rest of the pack?"
"I've made it clear I am doing exactly that." Goku said.
Raditz clenched his teeth. "Think about our parents."
"My Grandpa Gohan raised Kukyo and I." Goku snapped in defiance.
"All right then. Have it your way. I didn't come here to make trouble, but you two morons are leaving me with no alternative now. You're both a disgrace! It's almost too bad with you two, I think you would have found the life of a Saiyan quite invigorating."
"You can forget it..." Goku spat.
Kukyo cracked her knuckles, hearing enough of the tirade.
"For once I'm with Kukyo...Enough of all this mumbling. I couldn't care less about whatever personal vendetta you have against these two for not listening to you." Piccolo said.
He grabbed his turban and cape, tossing them aside with practical ease, listening for the satisfying dull impact of them smashing through earth.
"I'll help you two get rid of this punk, but after this we go back to how things were. Do I make myself clear?" Piccolo demanded.
"Sure, Piccolo. I'll be training and ready to fight you." Goku said, carefully looking him over.
"Green man is at 408 now." Raditz remarked lightly.
Piccolo smirked, using the time they spent bantering to regain and focus his energy. It also gave him time to catch his breath. He was feeling quite confident in his ability to kill Raditz. The trap was set into motion. The fool relied on his armor, and Piccolo knew with certainty, that was where his weakness was going be.
Either that or the tail.
Raditz grinned slightly. "I can see the fire in your eyes Kakarot and Sarpa. Take off all your weighted clothes, it's not going to make a difference. I'm going to make up for lost time by beating some sense into the both of you. consider this me teaching you to fight the hard way."
Kukyo was trying to concentrate, gathering her mental energies for the coming battle. Raditz was not prowling back and forth like an angry predator, his ki already drawn like a blade. He stood completely still, entirely confident with whatever perceived outcome he had thought of before this encounter.
There was a moment she expected to see the bloodlust of the man unleashed, but Raditz kept his fury in check, savoring it for the coming battle.
"Tell me one thing...Which one out of the three of you is going to beg me for mercy first?"
Piccolo grunted, seething quietly while he glowered at the muscular man, shooting his eyes towards the muscular woman. "Using your full power in a blast is a waste of time. I tried that already and it had no effect on him. I'll think of something to pierce that armor."
Raditz laughed. "Well, don't stop now green man. I haven't even got to play my favorite game yet."
Piccolo found himself smirking slightly before it turned into a knowing smile. "I can be pretty damn cocky and arrogant, but you really push the envelope. That bravado is going to be your downfall."
Raditz smirked, remaining supremely confident in his ability.
"Forgive me for not shaking in my boots." Raditz turned his focus on Goku and Kukyo "I am not unreasonable. I won't beat you two low level brats to a bloody pulp right here and now...If each of you, kill one hundred earthlings, and pile them up here in front of me within the next twenty-four hours so I can make a headcount. You will then come with me on this assignment."
Kukyo didn't like the glint in Raditz's eyes, there was something unsettling about that piercing look. Kukyo understood what the glint in Raditz's eyes was. She had seen it once before in King Piccolo. An appetite for mayhem and destruction that could never be satisfied. This man took pleasure in inflicting pain and suffering.
Goku scowled. "Enough of your talking. Even if we're some kind of aliens from another planet. None of it matters. Anyone who would do the horrible things you say is no family of mine and I could never share blood with them. I will never kill people like you say. My name is Son Goku, and this is my home, and you're not welcome here."
Raditz uncrossed his arms, his smile darkening. "I gave you all a chance to join me on conquests, but you're too weak and soft hearted to even be worthy of my time...You'd only slow us down."
Kukyo transitioned into the Turtle Style stance.
Goku shifted into the Turtle Style stance.
"That's more like it...This dirt bag needs to be put down for the count." Piccolo growled, clinching his teeth in a grin as he took his Demon Style stance.
"You're a disgrace to Saiyans! Prepare to meet your end!"
Raditz smiled and ignited his ki. He didn't step slowly, nor did he run, instead he came on the three warriors in a sudden rush, his body coming in hard, dissipating out of view. With only a slight movement, his elbows and knee stabbed into his enemies, then lifted them up off the ground very briefly until they found their footing. With a slight reversal of his wrist, Raditz stabbed straight ahead, and the trio had to throw themselves backwards.
The three warriors shot across the ground, jumping twice before they finally found their purchase.
Raditz chuckled. "I haven't caught my stride yet."