DBZ_Chapter 1

1. SAIYAN BLOOD

Gentle breeze stroked Rick’s hair as he watched over his cattle. High mountains soared at a distance as if demanding his attention. The sun overhead shone brilliantly, clearly proud of the fact that his rays were responsible for this beautiful scenery. If you hear anybody arguing that paradise doesn’t exist, show him this place.
The cattle gobbled up grass crazily, filling their mouths with impossibly large amounts and fighting with each other for more. They even felt they should somehow take a sample of grass home, not to please their siblings, but to show them how delicious they were, just to make them jealous – now, if you believe this is what happened, then you are completely wrong, but perfectly normal. You’ve got a typical human brain. Funny how our brains work, isn’t it?
But yes, the cattle were grazing [mind you, not ‘gobbling up’ grass]. But they seemed to be disciplined. Parents spend years teaching their kids how to behave [by the most famous method-‘beating the bottom’], yet kids grow up to be indisciplined. From where the cattle learn, nobody knows. [Dear PHD aspirants, you could take this as your topic. No thanks, please.]
Rick hardly had friends, so he always kept his thoughts to himself. Though his mouth was hardly used for talking, his brain would work twice as much. He had his own principles and philosophies. One of his principles was to live everyday as if it was his last.
His train of thoughts was disturbed when he noticed a glowing star in the sky. A star? It was hardly evening. He realized the star was moving ever so lightly. Probably a meteorite, he thought. It was dangerously close [in astronomical terms, of course]. To his horror, the meteorite seemed to be descending! With every passing second, Rick was damn convinced that it was headed for Earth. He could swear he felt the friction between the atmosphere and the meteorite. It was then that he realized it wasn’t a meteorite. It wasn’t that big. A wave of relief passed over him. It looked more like a tiny spherical comet, made up of fire instead of ice. It looked exactly like a test cricket ball, a few hundred times bigger, engulfed in flames. He watched it descend and realized it would end up somewhere near his place. His short period of relief was instantly replaced with fear. He covered his ears with his palm. He realized the…..whatever, was going to land in three, two, one……
And BANG!
Even a hundred palms covering his ears wouldn’t have helped. The ground beneath him shook as if it was shivering from cold. It was enough to send his cattle running in fear to places even they didn’t know. Rick quickly jumped into his vehicle and sped towards where the fire ball had landed. As he got closer, he could see the crater it had made. He parked his car nearby and walked towards it. It was like a large brown wash basin. Standing at the perimeter of the crater, he looked down.
“What the….”he said to himself. Smoke emerged from what looked exactly like a test cricket ball. It even had the lines present in them. Two similar lines started from the base and took an inverted U-shape on opposite sides. Doors, he realized. He made sure his pistol was secure in his pocket. No telling what was inside the capsule.
And slowly, one of the inverted U-shaped doors opened downwards, like a carpet spread out for whoever [or whatever] was inside, producing a sound similar to that obtained when water is poured over red hot iron. He couldn’t see what was inside as white light radiating from within the capsule almost blinded him. And then, a gloved hand from within grasped the side of the capsule. Rick flinched. Another gloved hand did the same on the other side. The hands griped the outer wall of the capsule and pulled the whole body out gradually. A head covered with large amounts of hair emerged out, followed by the whole body.
The guy elevated and landed in front of Rick. Rick vibrated with fear faster than a humming bird would flap its wings. The guy wore a brown-black colored breastplate covering even the shoulders, which kind of looked like that worn by Spartans during war-time. It connected with another piece of cloth that went down till his underwear. [Apparently, superman was world famous]. His arms, from below the elbow, and legs, from below the knee were covered with the same material as that of the breastplate. He even wore what looked like a pair of brown anklets. Palms were covered with black gloves. If he had worn a jeans, his jet black, long, spiked hair could’ve been stuffed inside its pockets. He had just one glass covering his left eye which was held in place by a match box sized white thing that ran down till his left ear. Now, if you think all these were crazy enough, how would you feel when I told you he had his tail wound round his waist like a belt?! Yes, I spelt it right, a tail. . And did I mention he was extremely muscular? Now you know why Arnold Shwazenegger gave up body building. The warrior like guy stretched his arms as if he’d just woken up from his sleep. He flexed his muscles and surveyed the scenery around him.
“So the creatures of this planet are still alive, leading a comfortable life”, he said to himself, looking at Rick’s earthen-pot-size-and-shaped belly, with a voice similar to that made by an elephant suffering from constipation. “Kakarot has failed us!” .The voice was louder now.
Rick could hardly speak but he managed to say, “One step c…..closer and you are a d….dead man”, pointing his pistol at the guy’s chest.
“Oh, really?” said the guy and pressed a button on the white match-box-like thing near his left ear. After a couple of seconds, some kind of reading appeared of his glass-device. “What a weakling. Level 5. My granny could blow you to bits”, and started walking towards Rick. Rick knew he had no options left. He pulled the trigger.
What happened after a millisecond made Rick question his own sanity. With lightning speed, the guy caught the bullet in his palm! Before Rick could let out a scream of total horror, the guy shot the bullet using his fingers [yes, his fingers!], like you would toss a coin. Difference? – 1) He had a bullet instead of a coin. 2) He could toss it fast. Very fast.
The bullet hit Rick straight in the chest. Blood spurted out like water from a sprinkler. Rick was dead before his brain could process what had happened. The guy looked at Rick’s lifeless body and reflected, “What a fragile breed of people”.
Remember one of Rick’s principles? LOL.
Suddenly, his device detected an energy level quite high for a normal human. It showed him the direction from where it had received the readings. “Must be Kakarot”, he thought.
“Prepare yourself, I’m comeeeeeng!” he shouted and flew towards Kakarot with inhuman speed [assuming humans could fly].

Z-Fighters was a group of men assigned to protect Earth. Being one of Earth’s strongest men and the leader of the Z-Fighters had its advantages. Dressed in orange robes, with long spiked hair which seemed to violate Newton’s laws of gravity, Goku jumped from tree to tree, faster than a monkey would. Having seen a tree nearby, large enough to provide firewood for a week, he jumped to the ground and stood in front of it. Yup, this would be enough, he thought. The tree was as wide as Goku’s height, and as tall as…… well, it seemed to kiss the sky.
He clenched his fists, and punched the base of the tree as if it was a punching bag. The tree shuddered. Two more punches, and the giant tree was down. He lifted the tree, and held it over his head with his two muscular arms and returned home.
“Hey Goku, where’s Gohan?” Chichi, Goku’s wife, asked. You see your husband holding a giant tree over his head and instead of helping him put it down, all you can say is this? Women, he concluded. He threw the tree to the ground. The ground shook. “Careful, you’ll hurt yourself”, chichi shouted. Finally, some sympathy from her, he thought. He might have been Earth’s strongest man, but he was still a husband. He knew better than to infuriate his wife. Not that his wife was a fighter with real powers, but…….Married men reading this, you know what I mean, don’t you? And unmarried men, you’ll know once you get married.
“You still didn’t answer my question! Where’s Gohan?!”, Chichi’s face was as red as a tomato, her arms on her waist, the kind of pose women give when they expect an explanation. And Goku came up with the most brilliant reply he could ever say.
“I don’t know”, he said. He knew he had lit the fire.
“Then go find him, you little piece of junk!”. Ever heard a death metal rock band performing live? She could easily have qualified for the vocals.
“Calm down Chichi, I’ll search for him right away”.
“You better do. You’re supposed to be at master Roshi’s place in an hour”.
“Yeah”.
“Get the flying nimbus, you can find Gohan and reach there faster”, she offered.
Goku thanked the heavens. Chichi was starting to cool down. But he knew better than to say it aloud.
“Okay, see you later” he said and ran like the wind.
After running for a few meters he called on nimbus. It was a yellow colored cloud that would carry a human to places he wanted, with lightning speed. He hopped on to it and began to ascend towards the sky. Once he gained enough altitude, he looked below and started searching for his son, Gohan. He snaked his way through several mountains and rivers until he finally heard some screaming.
“Help meeeee. I’m stuck here. Help. Please.”. Goku flew towards where the screams were coming from. As he got closer, he saw a young boy with a yellow shirt and shorts, perched on the branch of a tree, crying with closed eyes, afraid to see below. Goku flew towards his 6 year old son until he stood in front of the boy. The little kid stopped crying and opened his eyes. “Dad”, he said with relief, “please get me out of here”
“Your mom was worried sick. Promise me you won’t go out without letting us know”, Goku said with a hard face.
“I promise dad”, Gohan said, clearly guilty of his mistake.
Goku’s heart swelled with pride. Kids these days hardly acknowledged their mistakes. But his son was well-mannered. “He’s my son, after all” Chichi would’ve said if she were there.
“One last time son. The next time you go out without letting us know, I won’t come looking for you” Goku said, suppressing a smile and trying to maintain a straight face. He took his son in his arms and flew towards master Roshi’s place.

On top of a huge cliff, a man with green colored skin was meditating. He wore a dark blue dress with a white shawl. On top of his head sat a white turban. He had pointed ears. The air around him was hot. He was glowing with a faint light. He was next to Goku in the Z-Fighters. He was Piccolo.
All of a sudden he felt something. He opened his eyes as if in shock. “It can’t be, I’ve never felt something so powerful”, he said to himself. “Surely it’s not Goku”.
He scanned the sky from where he had sensed the power. After a moment, as if welcoming a king, the clouds parted, revealing the warrior-like guy. He flew towards the green man and landed in front of him. The warrior-like guy scanned him from head to toe.
“Excuse me for dropping in. I’m searching for a man named Kakarot. I thought you were him”, he said, clearly a little bit disappointed, but with the same rough voice.
“You’re excused”, the green man said “but you need glasses for both your eyes”.
“You’re a funny man”
“Yeah? I wouldn’t count on that. Now be off“.
The warrior-like guy laughed. The kind of evil laugh every bad guy has. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”, he said, as he pressed a button on the white match-box shaped thing near his left ear. It beeped for a moment and gave a reading. “Power level 322. I can tell that you’re not from this planet. But you’d be a fool to fight me. Such an insignificant power level”.
“Look, Mr. Whoever-you-are. YOU came here. I have no interest in starting a fight. But if you insist---”
“I insist”.
That was it. He couldn’t take it anymore. Not many people messed with him. And those who did, never lived to tell the tale.
“Don’t tell I didn’t warn you!”. The green man clenched his fists, set his legs apart and tightened his jaws. His face hardened as if suffering from immense pain. His body bulged a little. Several nerves were visible. Raw energy coursed through his body. He concentrated all his energy into his right fist and it started to glow like a miniature sun. He stretched his hand, opened his fist, let out a war cry and blasted a beam of pure energy towards the warrior-like guy. The place where the warrior-like guy stood exploded. Light emanating from it would’ve blinded a normal person.
The green man smiled, satisfied, and a bit exhausted. He examined the damage he’d done. Thick clouds of black smoke were swirling. Then the dust settled. It took a moment for the green man to realize.
The warrior-like guy was standing there as if nothing had happened. He lowered his face a little, smiled one-sidedly and raised his eyebrows. “Whoa. You managed to burn some of my leg hair”, he winked.
The green man’s jaw dropped. I used all my strength and could only manage to burn some of his leg hair? He was seriously outmatched.
“Allow me to demonstrate a more effective attack”, the warrior-like guy said with an evil smile. He raised his right hand till the side of his shoulder, like a waiter in a restaurant holding a plate. A ball of energy began to form, radiating a bright glow. It swelled until he was ready to release it. “Get ready to die!”
Then his glass-device began to beep. A high power level. He let the ball of energy fade away. “Consider yourself lucky”, he said, already in midair, “It’s not every day you cross me and get away with it”, and flew towards the sky, leaving the green man shell-shocked.
Once he gained height and pace, he started reminiscing memories he had of Kakarot. He remembered the day when Kakarot was still an infant and was sent in a capsule to earth so as to annihilate it. We had high hopes on you, Kakarot. Why haven’t you carried out your mission?! he thought to himself, anger building up. He raced towards the energy’s source. It also seemed to be moving, though far away. You may be running away from me Kakarot, but I’ll catch you.
The beautiful female scientist was steering her way through the clouds with her brand new air-vehicle until she saw a small island. The tiny island in the middle of the ocean was a poet’s delight. He could describe its beauty for years and if he’d pen it down, the book would’ve been larger than bible. A tiny smile spread across her face. It’s been so long since I met you guys. She landed in front of a small house. The pink house with a brick-red roof was simple yet jaw dropping in its architectural beauty. It was surrounded by extremely tall coconut trees.
The scientist got down from her vehicle and knocked on the door. “Hello?” she said and pushed the door open. “Hey you guys!” she shouted with delight.
Inside the house were two people and a tortoise. The old man, Master Roshi was wearing shorts and a green shirt, and Reybon glasses, and enjoying a cup of coffee. Krillin, was donning, as usual, an orange robe like Goku’s. He was a Z-Fighter too. A bald, short Z-Fighter.
“Hey Bulma”, shouted Master Roshi and Krillin in unison. [A science student here would’ve said the pitch of hey’ was tending to infinity].
“It sure has been a long time, hasn’t it?” said Bulma.
“Yup. And you look just as beautiful as you ever did”, winked the old man.
Sixty years old, yet his testosterone level is higher than his blood pressure level, sighed Bulma.
“Ah, you men. You’re impossible”, she said.
“I believe you haven’t got me pastries this time. That’s ok, I forgive you”
“Surprise!” said Bulma and held a box to Roshi’s face.
“You sure know how to spoil this old man, don’t you?”
The old man opened it and every one delightfully ate the pastries.
“So what’s Yamcha been up to nowadays, Bulma?” asked Krillin innocently.
Yamcha was one among the Z-fighters too. And every one knew Bulma fancied him.
Bulma looked like she was going to explode.
“Arrrgh that idiot! He’s playing baseball for a club. He even took someone else out! I’m so mad at him that I didn’t even tell him we’re going to be here today!”
“Breaking up is hard, I know” said the old man with a sad face, trying to lighten her mood.
Deep down, the old man was dancing.
“Chuck it. Where’s Goku at?” Bulma asked.
“He said he was going to be here. I guess he’s on his way” replied Krillin.
“Looking for someone?” asked a voice from a distance.
“Hoi Oh-oo!” managed Krillin with a mouth full of pastries.
“Hey!” shouted Bulma as Goku got down from his Nimbus.
“Hey you guys” replied Goku with a big smile.
And that’s when they noticed a baby in Goku’s arms.
“Who’s the kid?” asked Bulma.
Babysitting would definitely be one of Goku’s interest; only in parallel universe. And the idea of the strongest man on Earth/the leader of the Z-Fighters having babies seemed far too ridiculous.
“He’s my son” replied Goku.
Gravity overwhelmed Bulma’s lower jaw. Master Roshi dug his forefinger into his ears to remove ear-wax. Krillin fell to the floor and started laughing like he had convulsions.
“Really Goku, you have a baby?” asked Bulma, trying with all her might to control the urge to burst out laughing. The sight of Krillin literally ROFLing, clutching his stomach, made it even harder.
“Oh c’mon, everybody needs to settle down in life” Goku countered.
“Well, this is Gohan” Goku introduced his son to all of them.
“Awww he’s adorable” noticed Bulma.
Gohan wore a red hat with a dragon ball on top. With long hair, yellow-green mix of a karate shirt that went up till his knees and pants that were shorter than a foot, he bent very low to greet his dad’s friends.
“I see you named him after your grandfather” noticed Master Roshi.
“You’re right” agreed Goku.
The tortoise walked [slowly, needless to say] towards Gohan and tried to reach him as a gesture of good will. Gohan backed away nervously. He hid behind his father.
Bulma walked up to Gohan, bent down on her knees and asked, “Hey Gohan, how old are you?”
“Uh, five-and-a-half?” said Gohan, looking at his dad for confirmation.
“Are you going to be a great fighter like your dad?” asked Bulma, simultaneously pulling Gohan’s cheeks.
“Ah, Chichi doesn’t let him train” replied Goku with a sad face.
“Oh. So no martial arts huh? What do you want to be when you grow up Gohan?” asked Bulma.
“An orthopedist” replied Gohan.
“Wow, an orthopedist? Sounds great!”
The tortoise had made it to where Gohan was standing and was now trying to smell him. Gohan clung on to his dad’s leg.
“He’s just saying hi Gohan” Goku said.
Gohan turned his back to the tortoise as he attempted to climb his dad’s leg.
And that’s when Krillin, Master Roshi and Bulma saw it.
“He has a tail” whispered Bulma, her eyes wide open. Master Roshi blinked a hundred times. Krillin who was still on the floor, stopped laughing.
“Yeah, he was born with it, just like me” said Goku.
The tortoise was still trying hard to reach Gohan. Gohan started crying.
“I think he just wants you to pat him, Gohan” Goku said and made Gohan to get down. Gohan nervously put his hand over the tortoise’s head. The tortoise didn’t move. Gohan tried to pat it this time. It felt good. Soon, the tortoise and Gohan were heading towards the beach.
Goku was watching all this delightfully. Then he turned towards his friends. Everyone wore an expression similar to that of zombies’.
“What happened?” he asked seriously.
“Goku, has anything strange ever happened to Gohan, especially at night?” asked Bulma.
“What do you mean?” asked a confused Goku.
“She means, has Gohan ever looked at the full moon?” Master Roshi asked.
“Hmmm I don’t think so”
“Sure?” asked Krillin.
“Yes. We go to bed pretty early. Why do you ask?”
Oh shit, thought everyone. They looked at each other’s faces wondering what to tell Goku.
“Well?” Goku pressed on.
“Well, it’s just… it’s just me monkeying around. Hu-hu ha-ha” Master Roshi said while imitating a monkey. Everyone laughed. Krillin and Bulma gave a thumbs-up to Master Roshi while Goku wasn’t looking. Good job, thanks for saving my ass, they seemed to say.
“He’s a lot different than you when you were a kid Goku” observed Krillin, pointing at Gohan who was playing with the tortoise and as far as Krillin could tell, a crab. It was Krillin’s turn to receive the thumbs-up this time. Good change of plates.
“I know” Goku sighed, looking at Gohan, “Chichi’s very protective of Gohan. She makes him study all the time and she says that martial arts are a waste of energy”.
“Oh yeah? What does that make us then?” retorted Krillin.
“Huh?” Goku looked at Krillin with a serious face.
“Now, now, settle down boys. You can’t expect everyone to agree with what you’re doing. It would be all too easy then” said the old man wisely.
They all looked towards the beach. Gohan was playing rock-paper-scissors with the crab. If that wasn’t funny enough, since the crab had pincers instead of fists, it could only opt scissors. Gohan seemed to be enjoying himself by always going with rock.
“Watch out Gohan, he may pinch you. That crab’s a sore loser” laughed Master Roshi.
The crab seemed to understand it finally. It shot water to Gohan’s face and ran away. Everybody laughed, except Gohan. He ran back to his dad. The turtle started moving too.
“Oh that’s a real dragon ball on Gohan’s hat, isn’t it?” asked Bulma curiously.
“Yep. It was my grandfather’s. I’ve been collecting them for fun. Gohan wants to see the dragon but he’ll have to give his up” Goku said, mocking his son.
“Wow” said Bulma, looking at a distance, “It’s wild to think of all the things that we went through together trying to find those dragon balls”.
“Yeah, really”
“Hey Goku, so what’re you guys going to wish for when you get them all?” wondered Krillin, while picking up a flat stone. He tossed it up a couple of times, closed his eyes, took a deep breath and threw the stone horizontally into the sea with all his might to better Master Roshi’s record of nineteen bounces.
“Good question” replied Goku, “Come to think of it, I don’t really want anything”.
Krillin, Bulma and Master Roshi started counting the number of times the stone bounced. One, two, three, four……..fifteen, sixteen and then it sunk.
“Not again” sighed Krillin.
“Missed by an inch” said the old man sarcastically.
“I’ll beat your record one day old man!” swore Krillin.
“Do it before you become one”
That’s when Goku picked up a flat stone and threw it into the sea. BOOM!
The stone rocketed slightly above the water surface as if there was no air resistance or gravity, forcing water along its way to jump two meters in either direction. They lost sight of the stone before it even started bouncing.
Goku enjoyed looking at people’s awe-struck faces when he did something spectacular.
“Whoa” whispered Bulma.
“You’re still one bad dude, Goku!” said Krillin.
I thought Goku had less power now that he’s settled down, thought Master Roshi in awe, that would’ve easily been a hundred bounces.
Meanwhile, Goku started flexing his muscles, talking to Bulma and Krillin about how volatile Gohan is. “One night, he sees a cockroach flying towards his face. Scared, he extends his arm, attempting to cover his face. And a second later, there’s a loud sound. Chichi comes back running to see a large hole through the roof. Gohan had blasted the whole-“, he stopped abruptly. His face tensed.
“Blasted the whole what?” Bulma asked impatiently. “Goku? Goku! What’s wrong?!”

The whole atmosphere changed. Dark clouds hurriedly obstructed the sun. Unnatural cold breeze started to blow. Everybody panicked.
“Goku! What’s going on?!” shouted Bulma.
“Something’s heading straight for us. I’ve never felt a power like this before” replied a tensed Goku.
“Man, I feel it now too” said Krillin, who was looking at the sky and slightly shivering.
“There’s nothing in there, guys” offered Bulma, faking a smile.
The tortoise looked up too.
“What is it? I’ve never felt anything this powerful. This evil” said Goku. His forehead had a few worried lines now.
“It can’t be piccolo” inferred Krillin.
That’s when Master Roshi slowly raised his hand, pointing towards the sky. Everybody looked in the direction. Flying towards their island was what looked like a bird, growing bigger every second. They noticed that it was a man, descending head-first. As he got closer, they realized his face looked stunningly similar to Goku’s. He made a backflip, his long hair swinging wildly and landed right in front of them, erupting dust and small pebbles in all direction. The ground beneath them shook slightly.
Dust settled to reveal the warrior-like guy.
“So we meet again at last” said the hoarse voice, looking at Goku with a satisfied, evil smile.
Bulma and Krillin stepped back holding Gohan tightly. The warrior-like guy pressed a button on the device adjusted to his eyes. It made some continuous beeps and stopped.
“You’ve grown up”, the warrior-like guy said, observing Goku, “I recognize you, little Kakarot. We do look a bit similar”
“Kakarot?” demanded Goku, confused.
“That’s right. That’s your name”
“Huh?”
Everybody looked at Goku with a confused expression. And then they turned to the warrior-like guy.
“Who is this?” wondered Master Roshi, looking at Krillin.
“I guess he’s nuts” he whispered, making sure it didn’t reach the warrior-like guy.
“Kakarot” said the rough voice, now seriously. Everybody stopped talking, “What have you been doing here all these years? Your mission was to terminate all life on this planet! So….” he paused, pointing at the rest of the group as if their existence was illegal, “Why. Haven’t. You. Carried. It. Out.?!” pressing every single word, his anger increasing with every passing syllable.
Goku continued staring at the man with a look of shock and confusion. Krillin ventured in. “Look mister, I don’t know who you are but I think you’ve got the wrong party” and started walking towards the man. “I think you’re drunk. Allow me to show you the way out of the island”
Krillin was only a few feet away when a slight evil smile appeared across the warrior-like guy’s face.
“Krillin, watch out!” shouted Goku.
But it was too late. The guy’s tail, which was wound around his waist, glowed. In a flash, it unwound itself and slapped Krillin across his chest so hard that it sent him flying. Krillin crashed on the door of his house, and broke the door.
Everybody gasped. No one could be that fast. Plus they noticed the unbelievable.
“A tail?! You’ve got a tail too!” observed Goku in horror.
“Hahaha. So you know who I am, at last”
“What are you talking about? I’ve never seen you before!”
Gohan ran towards his dad, crying. “Get back, Gohan!” Goku shouted in anger, and gestured Bulma to pick Gohan up.
“Hey tell me, did you suffer a serious blow to your head, when you were young?” the warrior-like guy demanded, knitting his eyebrows.
“What?!” asked Goku, momentarily distracted by his son, who was still tightly gripping Goku’s leg.
“Did you suffer a blow to your head?!” now in a higher pitch.
Goku tried to push Gohan away, ignoring the warrior-like guy.
“DID YOU HEAR ME?!” he shouted in a high-pitched voice that would haunt any human for years, thereby gaining Goku’s full attention.
“Yes” replied Goku, a bit startled by the man’s rage. “I don’t remember it very well, but I did hit my head when I was a child. Still have a scar where it happened”
“YOU FOOL!” roared the warrior-like guy, “YOU FORGOT!”
“I forgot WHAT?!” roared back Goku, who was now annoyed with the guy.
“Goku” Master Roshi said, “There’s something I should’ve told you a long time ago”
A long time ago, your grandfather Gohan was having his usual morning walk to the woods. As he got deeper into the woods, he noticed a large crater. All trees and plants in a kilometer of radius were wiped out. He went towards the crater out of curiosity. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he found some sort of spaceship. He opened its door. And there you were, inside a little round pod.
Gohan took you home and tried to take care of you, but you were down right uncontrollable. Wild. And unusually powerful for a baby.
But Gohan was kind and wise. He didn’t give up. He tried all he could to control you, to make you human. He walked you to the woods, he took you to the rivers, mountains and valleys.
Then one day, an accident happened. You fell from a great height and smashed your head into a solid rock. Your head was badly injured. Gohan was heartbroken. Hoping you’d not be dead, though he knew otherwise, he came running down to the spot. You were lying there in a pool of blood. On checking your pulse, he realized you weren’t dead. He thanked the heavens. He immediately took you home and with his vast knowledge of medicine, nursed you.
And you recovered. Faster than anybody would’ve expected. And from that day on, you became a happy, loving boy.
Goku couldn’t believe what Master Roshi was saying. He felt a sense of betrayal from the old man for not telling him all this earlier.
“So, I’m from outer space?” Goku asked Master Roshi, keeping his emotions in check.
“Yes”
Goku looked at the old man out of frustration. Then he turned to the warrior-like guy. If there was one person in the island to whom Goku would shout in frustration, it would be him.
“Alright, who are you?” thundered Goku, “What do you want from me?”
“I want to put you to work” he said calmly.
At the same instant, Krillin started to groan from inside the house.
“Krillin, are you alright?” asked Goku, looking towards the small house.
Krillin came out of the house, hardly able to walk. His back was badly bent, his upper robes torn, and he looked like he was about to deliver a baby.
“Be careful, Goku. He’s not normal” he replied, his eyes almost shut. Words crawled out of his mouth with difficulty.
The warrior-like guy only smiled. He looked at Goku. “Yes, indeed. And you’re not normal either, my forgetful friend”
Goku raised one of his eyebrows, demanding an explanation. The warrior-like guy was enjoying it. This was just the beginning of a series of stunning facts he was about to reveal.
“Yes. You were born on the planet Vegeta. You’re a space fighter. A Saiyan warrior” he paused, enjoying the effect his words carried. “Just like me.”
“WHAT?!” shouted everyone in total bewilderment.
“Did any of you notice how similar I and Goku look?”
Everybody was too shocked to answer.
Time for the punch-line, he thought.
“Allow me to introduce myself” he paused, “I’m Raditz”, continuing with a strange smile while looking at Goku, “Your big brother”

Goku felt a strange feeling in his gut. Raditz was telling the truth. A harsh, evil truth. Goku tried with all his might not to accept what Raditz was saying.
“Why should I believe you?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Why does Goku live on Earth if he’s from another planet?” asked Krillin.
“Hmmm that’s simple. We had important clients who were in desperate need of a planet like this one. So Kakarot was sent to get it ready for take-over”
After a pause, he continued, “You see, we Saiyans are sort of like, planet-brokers. We find planets that bring a high price in the galactic market, and send our warriors there to eradicate all life and make them ready for sale”
“We send adult fighters to planets with strong inhabitants, but for planets with weaklings like earth, one of our babies are sufficient to carry out the mission. Kakarot was sent to clean up this planet, but he apparently forgot”
Krillin spoke up. “If what you say is true, you Saiyans are nothing but an abomination. You’re space pirates, that’s what you are!”
Bulma held Gohan tightly in her hand and looked at Raditz with pure hatred. “How can you send little babies to space, all by themselves?”
“That’s ENOUGH! Don’t get me mad” Raditz said, while accidently noticing Gohan’s tail.
He looked at Goku and went, “Kakarot, with the help of the full moon, you could’ve destroyed them all in a few years, if you only had remembered!”
“What’s the full moon got to do with it?”
Krillin, Bulma and Master Roshi looked at each other with a Goku’s-going-to-kill-us expression. Goku will now know what was hid as a secret from him. And he was going to get mad at Master Roshi for not telling him about this earlier.
Meanwhile, Raditz was shocked Goku didn’t know about it. He walked a little to his right, to look at Goku’s tail. But he didn’t have one.
“What happened to your tail, Kakarot?!”
“My tail?”
“Yes! ANSWER ME!”
“It was removed for good a long time ago”
“You fool! Do you know what you’ve done?! Your true power is gone now! You’ve lost your ability to transform at the full moon!” Raditz shouted. Now it dawned on him. “Now I see how you could be on good terms with these weaklings!”
“Look, this is my home and these are my friends! So it doesn’t matter what you say I am!” He paused, and then went, “And you don’t act like any brother I’d want to have”
Goku relaxed for a moment. “My name is Goku and I live here. Now leave us alone!”
“Yeah, just go!” Bulma joined in.
“Even if you are brothers, he doesn’t have to destroy peaceful planets like you do” said Master Roshi sternly.
“Goku once tried to save this planet Mister! So you know on whose side he is! Now go away!” shouted Krillin.
“Hahaha. So baby brother wants to be left alone? I can’t do that” He continued, looking skyward seriously, “Our home planet Vegeta met with an unfortunate accident. Three years ago, a comet smashed into it and caused it to explode, wiping out everyone. The entire Saiyan race was destroyed!”
He closed his eyes for a moment. He inhaled deeply and exhaled. He continued in a softer voice, “Only four of us were gone when it happened. You’re one of the four, Kakarot. You see, you’re quite valuable to us”
Raditz continued with a strange smile, “As a matter of fact, we could use your help right now. We found another planet that is of a premium rate. But the job requires a little extra man-power. That’s where you come in”
Raditz started walking towards Goku. That confident smile with such a muscular body would’ve terrified any man.
He bent closer to Goku’s face and asked, “Well now, what do you think? Are you excited?” winking at Goku, “You should be! I’ve come to take you back”
Goku backed away. “I’ve had enough! You don’t have to worry about that, the answer is NO!
Raditz looked at him for a moment, as if he was going to take him forcibly. Then he remembered something. He looked at Gohan.
“Hmmm, interesting. A tail. Now there is a true Saiyan!” Raditz said and thought for a moment. “Alright, I’ll take the boy instead”
Goku blocked his way. His spread his legs. Bent down a little bit and positioned himself for a fight. Goku’s face was hard. “We’ll see” he said looking straight at Raditz.
“Aha, I see the fire in your eyes brother. You should come with us! It is in your blood. You love to fight!
Raditz was just a few feet away. He started walking towards Goku. Goku stiffened. “I’m right here with you” supported Krillin from behind.
“Just take care of Gohan”
Now Raditz was just a couple of feet away.
“Watch him Goku” said Master Roshi who was unsure what would happen.
And there he was, within striking range, still calm, without the usual fighting position. Everybody became tensed. Goku didn’t think twice, he knew winning this fight was all about striking at the earliest possible opportunity.
So he clinched his fist, brought it back to his waist, loaded full energy into it and aimed a punch straight at Raditz’s chest.
But he hit thin air.
In the next millisecond, Goku looked around, but Raditz was nowhere to be seen. He looked behind hurriedly. Still no luck. He looked forward again.
And there he was. Standing face to face with him, with his usual annoying smile!
Before Goku could react, the light left his eyes. He felt a powerful blow from Raditz’s knees to his stomach which sent him flying.
He landed at least twenty feet away, erupting sand all around. He lay there clutching his stomach and shouting in agony. Goku was sure all the stuff in his stomach would come out through his mouth.
And there he was, the strongest man on Earth, completely down by single kick.
Raditz was still standing at a distance one-legged, with his knees in front, like a ballet dancer.
Gohan wriggled free from Bulma’s arms and ran towards his father. Before any of them could get to Gohan, Raditz, in a split-second, appeared beside Gohan and caught him. He lifted him up by his neck and looked towards Goku, who was still lying down in pain.
Everybody gasped.
“Kakarot, listen carefully. I’m taking your kid with me while you think over. It’s high time the boy knew his uncle” he said while winking as he pronounced ‘uncle’. After a pause, he continued, “If you want to see your kid again, you’ll have to do exactly as I say, understand?”
Goku, who was still withering in pain, slightly nodded. No time for games, the guy had his kid.
“Good” he said. He knew he was in total command. “I have a little exercise for you. Eliminate one hundred of the species by tomorrow. Got it?”
Goku tried to protest, but he was still unable to talk. The pain was too much.
Master Roshi spoke up from behind. “Hey you! Look, stop your jabber and Goku isn’t capable of-”
“Hush, old man” said Raditz, with the index finger over his lips. “Kakarot is a Saiyan. You’d be surprised at what he’s capable of doing.”
He continued, “It makes no difference, all of the people on this planet would be eliminated soon. We have a buyer for this planet and it is worth a great deal. We will take it from you.”
“Take over Earth?!” Surely, the guy was bluffing.
“Keep your shirt on, old man. It won’t be as bad as you think. Our ‘clean-up’ group is very efficient”
Now he turned towards Goku. “Ok, now hear me Kakarot. If you want to see your kid alive, eliminate one hundred of the species by tomorrow, starting from them!” he said, pointing towards Bulma, Krillin and Master Roshi.
They started trembling in fear.
And then something grabbed Raditz’s ankle. He looked below in surprise. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Neither could Bulma, Krillin or Master Roshi.
Goku, keeping aside all his dignity and self-respect, was holding Raditz’s ankle, begging for mercy.
With his last few drops of energy, he said, “Please. Leave Gohan out of this.” His face was filled with nothing but melancholy.
“I wish I could, Kakarot” he said, portraying a fake sad-face. “But then I’d have no guarantee you’ll do the job I’ve given you”
“Please”, Goku whispered, with teary eyes. The sight of such a respected man holding a stranger’s leg and begging for mercy would’ve melted anybody’s heart.
“Hmmm. Look how pathetic you’ve become. Please brother, have some pride”
Apparently, not anybody’s.
“You have until tomorrow” he kicked free from Goku’s hand. “Try and enjoy it”
Raditz slowly started to elevate with Gohan in his hand. In a few seconds, he was about twenty meters above the ground. He looked at his brother in disgust for one last time and vanished in an instant.
***