Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Another World ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

ANOTHER WORLD

AN: This fic begins on the day Radditz would have arrived on Earth. It's an AU, so I get to play with things like when stuff happened. It's my world! Mwahahaha!

Warnings: Language, possible references to sex.

Disclaimer: I did not create DragonballZ. Although I've been offered millions, I refuse to make money on my stories.

Chapter 2

Although Capsule Corporation was the bastion of all technological advancement on Earth, Goku sensed the alien presence first. He was just sitting down to eat lunch when he felt the enormous ki signatures.

"Uh-oh," Goku said. "Looks like Dr. Briefs was right." He stood up to leave and then looked back at the feast Chi Chi had prepared. He grabbed his fork, leaned over and shoveled a couple of forkfuls into his mouth just as Chichi reentered the room with another bowlful of food.

"Goku! Sit down before you eat!"

"Sorry, Chi Chi. I can't stay. We've got company." He headed for the door.

"What are you talking about? Who's here?" She followed him to the door.

"Not here," he said and then he pointed toward the horizon. "There!" He put his fingers to his lips and summoned Kintouen. "Sorry about lunch, Chi Chi." He thought about the huge powers approaching Earth. "I'm sorry about dinner too."

"Dinner? But Goku, where---"

Then she was talking to air, because Goku was gone, speeding off toward West Capital City.

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"I've entered a low orbit around the planet. The atmosphere is so deep that we're actually in the upper layer, so we don't need to take a shuttle; we can just fly down."

"Any sign they've noticed us yet?" the king said.

"No," Radditz answered. "I've been monitoring one of their communications satellites. Surprisingly, they speak galactic Standard."

Vegeta quirked an eyebrow. "The Glambien's influence do you think?"

"I don't think so. It's understandable, but colloquial. Perhaps it's an early settlement, abandoned and forgotten. Take a look at this."

Radditz punched a button on the console and a screen flickered to life, displaying a cat with a very large hammer chasing a mouse.

"That's our enemy?" Vegeta said. "They don't look real."

Radditz glanced at the screen. "Oops. Forgot to change the frequency." He adjusted the controls and the picture on the screen changed. Vegeta found himself looking at beings that looked . . . Saiyan.

"Saiyan? No remaining records showed us anywhere near this quadrant."

"No. There is no tail. And look at these power levels. Three, five, twelve. The bulk of the population is as weak as a newborn Calderian."

"Why would they bring my son here? These people are nothing but blast fodder."

"Disappointing, I know. It's hard to get any satisfaction out of killing the weak," Radditz said. "But look on the bright side, Vegeta. You'll have your son back very soon."

"Have you located Vegeta?" the king asked.

"He's in this city." Radditz punched a button and the screen closed in on domed structures. "In this building."

"Excellent," Vegeta said. "Let's go get my son."

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At Capsule Corporation, the boy's condition had improved although he still had not regained consciousness. The gash in his side had healed impressively and his blood pressure had improved as well.

"Pity we can't do anything about your hair!" Bulma's mother giggled. She had brought Bulma and her father a mid morning snack in their lab and stopped to check on the boy. "No boy should have to go through puberty with hair like Eddie Munster!"

"Mother, honestly!" Bulma said, entering the room. "Wait until he's awake before you pick apart his fashion sense." She walked over to the other side of the bed. "This hair is probably the height of fashion on his planet. Besides," she ran a fingertip across one velvety black eyebrow, "I think it suits him.

"When are you going to wake up, little guy? I sure could use some help understanding the power grid on your ship---"

"Oh, I can't pester him about his hair, but you can pester him about his ship?" her mother asked.

"We've got to fix his ship if he's ever going to get home, Mom. I don't think he's going to want to spend the rest of his life here."

"Hmmph!" her mother sniffed. "Maybe if there was a child running around here you might get in the mood to make a few of your own."

"Not you too, Mom!" Bulma groaned.

"Well, there's no point in waiting. If you have them young you'll still look good when they're grown," she said, walking to the door. She paused in the doorway and primped her hair for effect. "After all, look at me!"

Bulma shook her head as her mother left the room. With both Yamcha and her mother on the baby bandwagon, it was going to be harder to put off the inevitable. She wanted kids, she did. She just didn't want them right now. She looked down at the boy.

"I bet your mother didn't have everyone breathing down her neck to have you," she said.

Then the wall exploded.

Unhurt by the blast, Bulma instinctively covered the unconscious boy. When nothing else exploded she lifted her head to survey the damage. Sunlight streamed through the wall, then a very large, very dangerous-looking man blocked it as he entered the room, followed by a smaller, somehow more dangerous-looking man. From their odd dress to the clicking headgear they both wore, it was clear these were not Earthlings.

They stopped just inside the room and surveyed their surroundings. Satisfied the room contained no other threat; they turned their attention back to Bulma and the boy on the bed.

"I suggest you back away from the bed," the larger man said, "unless you would like to look like your wall."

Despite the man's fearsome appearance, Bulma found the courage to stand her ground.

"No way. We've spent too much time patching this kid back together. I'm not going to let you tear him up again."

The large man took a step forward and raised his hand toward Bulma. The hand began to glow.

"Radditz," the smaller man said softly, reaching up to lower the other man's arm, "this being has a power level of four. Surely we can just toss her out of the way."

"Toss me?" Bulma bristled at the thought of being treated like garbage. "Listen, buster," she said to the smaller man, "Maybe tossing people around is OK where you come from, but around here-" Her voice trailed off as she noticed for the first time the hair this man possessed. It was identical to the boy's.

"Around here the custom would be?" the man prompted.

"You. You're. . . related to him? Well, then I guess you're not going to hurt him!" She smiled, obviously pleased at this turn of events and took a step back from the bed, allowing the strange pair access to the boy.

"Pity I can't say the same about you," the larger man grumbled while the smaller man inspected the boy using his headgear. It hissed and clicked as the man pushed buttons on the side. Satisfied with whatever results his equipment displayed, he looked back at Bulma.

"If you tell us who captured my son and brought him to you, I might be persuaded to spare your life," the smaller man said.

"Spare my life? Why would you kill me? I've been busting my butt trying to save your son and fix his ship! You guys sure have a funny idea of gratitude!"

"Gratitude is not the usual response to kidnapping,"

"Kidnapping? Nobody kidnapped anybody. Your son's ship crashed into the ocean four days ago. He was unconscious and wounded. We brought him here and treated him. Ask him when he wakes up. If he wakes up. He hasn't woken up yet. We can't figure out why."

They turned their attention back to the boy on the bed, but before anything further could be determined, Goku burst through the hole in the wall.

"Bulma! Are you OK?"

All eyes swung to the voice and then to the floor. Radditz had fainted.

"Sorry," Goku said, scratching the back of his neck. "I didn't mean to scare anyone. It's just I saw this hole and thought Bulma might be in trouble."

"It's okay, Goku. They're this boy's family. They've come to take him home. This is . . .? I'm sorry, I don't know your name yet."

"I am Vegeta. And this is Radditz," he said with a nod of his head. He looked at Goku. "I believe Radditz is your brother."

"What?" Bulma and Goku said in unison.

"Either that or I'm staring at the ghost of Bardock."

"Bardock?"

Vegeta sighed. This was getting complicated quickly. When he'd left Vegeta-sei he had planned on a rescue-and-punish-the-culprits-responsible mission. Now it appeared they had stumbled across an even bigger mystery. He looked at his son.

"Is my son out of danger?"

"Yes. He is healing at a phenomenal rate. He just hasn't woken up."

"It's a healing sleep. His body is focusing all its energy on healing his injury. He will wake when he's healed. "

"Bulma, what was that noise? What's----oh, my!" her mother said. She glanced from one alien to the other one still sprawled on the floor and then to the hole in the wall where Goku stood. "Oh, my!" she said again.

"Mom, we have company," Bulma said.

"Well, I can see that, dear." She looked again at the hole in her wall and the huge alien sprawled on the floor, and did what she did best whenever things got weird.

"So, have you boys had lunch?"

********************************************************* ********************************

"So that boy is your son!" her mother crooned. "Such a cutie!"

"Mother!" Bulma warned in a low voice. At this rate the first contact with alien life was going to be the last contact because they were sure to turn tail and run if they believed her mother was an example of human intelligence.

"Yes," Vegeta said, amazed at the spate of words that continued to flow from the blonde woman's mouth. Didn't she ever need to breathe?

"Weren't you going to make lunch, Mom?" Bulma said and then turned to Vegeta. "Are you hungry? Did you want lunch? Stop raising your hand, Goku, I know you want lunch, even though I'm sure Chi Chi has fed you already."

"Well, she tried, but then I felt these guys coming." He looked at Vegeta. "You are really strong. So is . . . the other guy."

"Radditz," Vegeta supplied. They had left Radditz on the floor of the room. Vegeta had nudged him once with his boot and then proclaimed it would probably be easier to have a discussion without him. Bulma had wanted to move him to a bed, but Vegeta said no. "He'll be fine. He's slept on worse than a floor."

Bulma had at least shoved a pillow under his head. It didn't feel quite right leaving him sprawled among the rubble without one. The one called Vegeta had snorted, but didn't object. They had made their way back to the Capsule Corporation living quarters to the soundtrack of her mother's chatter.

"Will he want lunch too?"

"Yes," said a voice from the doorway. Radditz had awakened to find the room empty except for the king's son, so he used his scouter to locate the king.

"Did you have a nice nap?" Vegeta inquired.

"I'm sorry, Sire. When this man first appeared, I thought I was seeing a ghost." He looked at Goku. "Who are you and why do you look like my father?"

"I believe he is your brother," Vegeta said.

"Impossible!" Radditz said. "No records indicate---"

"No records remaining," Vegeta said. "You of all people know how much was lost in the revolution."

Bulma's head was spinning. "Hold on, you two! Maybe we should start at the beginning. And at least sit down." She indicated the sofa and chairs in her living room. The two alien men appeared slightly irritated at her interruption, but did as she asked.

"Now," Bulma said when they were all seated, "Isn't this better?" She looked at the headgear the men were wearing. "Would you like to take those off? They do come off, right? We found one in your son's ship. Nifty little toy. It's some type of scanner, isn't it?"

"Among other things," Radditz said and took his off. "It's called a scouter."

"Scouter, " Bulma repeated and committed the term to memory.

"It's how we tracked Vegeta to your planet," Vegeta said and removed his as well.

Bulma was confused. "Vegeta?"

"My son."

"Oh, he has your name? I bet that gets confusing!" she said. She was going to add something else, but the man called Vegeta was looking at her in an odd way.

"What?" she asked after a moment. "Do I have dust on my nose?" She brushed it with her hand.

"You're blue," Vegeta said.

"Well, some of me is, yes," Bulma answered. "Couldn't you tell that before?"

"Not really. You get used to focusing through only one eye when wearing a scouter. It turns everything red."

"Oh."

Vegeta continued to stare at Bulma, holding her gaze until at last she could stand it no more. "What's the matter? Don't they have beautiful women on your planet?" she said with a flip of her hair.

Vegeta was shaken out of his trance by her forward comment. Had he been staring that long? And why?

"Of course we do," he answered automatically. "It's women as ugly as you that are in short supply."

Bulma's eyes flew open in shock and then they narrowed as she drew a breath to reply. Goku recognized the signs of a trademark Bulma Briefs outburst and cut in before she could start.

"So why do you think I'm Radditz's brother?"

The woman closed her mouth and looked at him expectantly. Clearly the need to satisfy her curiosity was more important than saying whatever it was she was about to say. Vegeta was oddly disappointed.

"You are the image of your father," he said. "Bardock."

"Bardock. You said that name before. He's my father?"

"Was your father. He's been dead for ten years."

"Oh," Goku said. "But why am I here? On Earth?"

"During the First Empire it was the practice to send infants to other planets," Radditz said.

"You sent babies into space?" Bulma said. "That sounds . . . cruel. Why would you do that?"

Vegeta tried to catch Radditz's eye to signal him that discussing the purpose of the infant pods was not a good idea. Discovering that this lost Saiyan was supposed to be the means of their destruction probably would not be welcome news. Fortunately, the blonde appeared again and interrupted before Radditz could answer the blue woman's question.

"Lunch!" Mrs. Briefs called from the doorway.

"Goody!" Goku said. "I'm starving." He rushed ahead to the table.

Bulma gave a chagrined look to the aliens. "Goku likes to eat---a lot."

"All Saiyans do," Radditz said.

"Saiyans?"

"Us," he said. "We are Saiyans."

"Well, I hope Saiyans don't mind answering questions," Bulma said, "because I have quite a few." Then she smiled and led her guests to the table.

********************************************************* *******************************

It was an interesting lunch and at times it got confusing. There were two stories being told at the same time---the Saiyans' tale of the missing prince and the one about Goku's childhood, which brought up the third story of how he had wound up forty-three thousand light years from home.

"Why would you send babies into space? It doesn't make any sense," Bulma said.

"It was common practice during the First Empire, but so many Saiyans were lost in the revolution, we discontinued it." Vegeta said, hoping that would end the topic. He had been on the surface of this planet less than two hours, but in that short time he had taken his measure of this woman. He knew without being told that conquering planets with Oozaru was not a practice of which she would approve, and for reasons he didn't understand, he didn't want to disappoint her.

"But, why?" she pressed. "I hate to think of a little baby all alone and defenseless."

Radditz laughed. "Saiyan children are hardly defenseless, particularly on a planet with a moon. Your planet must have had one at one time to attract an infant pod. What happened to it?"

"Master Roshi destroyed it," Goku said, "because I kept turning into a giant ape and destroying everything."

"It was just safer that way," Bulma added. "Eventually his tail stopped growing back so---"

She paused, a sudden flash of insight upon her. "That's why you sent them, isn't it? To destroy everything? For goodness' sake, why would you do that? You said you'd never even been near this part of space; you don't even know anything about Earth, but you sent a giant ape baby to destroy us?"

"Oozaru," Vegeta said. "The giant ape form is Oozaru." His lips pressed tightly together and he flashed a look at Radditz. No way out but the truth. "Yes, that was the purpose of infant pods. To clear a planet of indigenous life so it could be sold."

"Sold?"

"Yes. Before the revolution, planets were a commodity and a valuable one," Radditz said.

"You've said that before, 'revolution'. What revolution?" Bulma asked. Her head was starting to spin again from all the information and somewhere inside there was a burgeoning sense of disappointment in the alien king. She'd looked into his strong, handsome features and immediately cast him in the romantic role of benevolent protector. Instead he appeared to be, at best, a callous opportunist, at worst, a mass murderer.

"Three years before I was born," Vegeta said, "my father entered into a treaty with the Ice-jin, an incredibly powerful race. Their weakness was their numbers. Although they had long life spans, they had a breeding cycle to match. One offspring every two hundred years. They needed more hands to do their bidding. My father signed a treaty that basically turned Saiyan warriors into mercenaries for the Cold Empire. When I was five I was sent to serve under King Cold's son, Frieza. Radditz and Nappa came with me as bodyguards.

"When I was ten, Bardock," he looked at Goku,"had a vision of the future. In the vision Frieza destroys the planet Vegeta and the Saiyan race. My father and the other nobles refused to listen. They were getting rich off the treaty and saw no reason to heed Bardock's vision. Bardock contacted me and warned me of his vision. Suddenly, so much of what had been happening on Frieza's ship made sense. I deserted---"

A human male burst into the room, interrupting the rest of Vegeta's tale. He went directly to Bulma.

"Honey, are you OK? Who are these men?"

"We're fine, Yamcha. These men came for our guest. This is his father, King Vegeta and this is Radditz. We were just having some lunch."

"I'm sorry I couldn't get away earlier," Yamcha said. "It was the bottom of the eighth and they had two men on base---"

"It's OK, Yamcha," Bulma insisted. "You didn't need to rush back before," she put her fingers to her nose, "taking a shower. Go take one now; you're spoiling our appetite. Besides, Goku's here."

Yamcha felt the alien men's eyes on him and saw himself reflected in them. Submissive male who lets his wife order him around and other men protect her. He wanted to assert some authority and stay, but he knew Bulma would never let him sit down dressed in his dirty baseball uniform. Any attempt to do so would probably only make him look worse in the eyes of these strangers. He nodded silently in agreement and went upstairs.

Later he would realize that the aliens couldn't judge him as a man ordered around by his wife because Bulma had never introduced him as her husband. This did not make him feel better.

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Thank you to the few who have left reviews! I appreciate it greatly.

Sorry about the lag in updates, but with the kids home for summer, I didn't get much prime writing time.

As always, thanks to my spectacular beta, Ember. Thanks to debbiechan for creative feedback.