990High Earth Orbit, 3 Minutes Until Impact
5 bone-white pods flew in formation as they began to approach their destination. Their speed had drastically been reduced by the time they had entered the outer boundaries of the Solar System, granting their passengers time to wake up from stasis. Under normal circumstances, the formation would split and each pod would land on one of the planet's most densely populated regions, but the cause for this squadron to appear before Earth was a special case, so the pods continued to fly in formation, but still aimed at the city center the Earthlings call "East City."
East City Market District, 11:43 A.M.
Day-to-day business carried on as usual in the metropolitan East City. Many folks began looking for a place to eat for lunch, while others found a nice place to sit and have what they had packed earlier. A young girl began pestering her father about getting lunch, to which he agreed with the sentiment when he glanced at his watch. The usual millings within the city were disrupted when 5 loud sonic booms cracked through the air, rattling several windows, and even shattering a few at ground level. Everyone was shocked by the sudden noise, and several bystanders looked up and saw what looked like 5 asteroids heading towards the city.
One by one, the falling objects impacted the city streets, with 2 of them each crashing through a skyscraper before impacting the street adjacent. The scene was one of utter panic as several civilians scrambled for their phones trying to call the emergency services, while others tried to be good Samaritans and aid those under fallen rubble or overturned vehicles. At the center of all the chaos, 5 large craters, each about 30 meters in diameter, perforated the streets of the now shocked market district of the city. Some civilians peered into the craters and began wondering what the pods were, and where they came from. Their answers would soon come as each of them began to open up with a hiss.
From one pod, stood a stout man with unappealing features, including a jagged scar across his right brow and a balding haircut. He was adorned in a black and yellow combat jacket and quickly tilted his head to get the cricks out of his neck, each tilt giving a satisfying crack. On his face was a device with a green-tinted lens. Another pod yielded an equally repulsive man but was much taller and had a messy mop of hair that fell behind his shoulders. The 3rd pod yielded an absolute behemoth of a man who was completely bald, save for a thin mustache and the hair on his brows. He gave a sneering grin as he took note of the other two emerging. From the 4th pod emerged a female with tan complexion and her hair flowing back behind her shoulders, with several locks obscuring her dark grey eyes. Unlike the others, she did not exhibit a murderous energy, but one that seemed hollow. She was clad in a similar combat jacket like her colleagues, but the yellow accents were red instead.
From the 5th and final pod emerged a man whose malice could be felt just without looking at his face. He wore a sinister grin as his hair shot up like a black flame, arching into a needle-sharp widow's peak over his forehead. Unlike the others, he wore white armor with a blue undersuit, complete with white gloves and boots.
From the rim of the craters, the civilians looked at the invaders with a mixture of shock, awe, and most of all, fear.
"So, the locals call this planet 'Earth?'" The leader declared as he took in his surroundings. "Not as bad as I was initially expecting."
"The welcome wagon's kinda lacking, if I'm gonna be honest," The scar-faced man responded with a sneer.
"Well that's typical with backwater worlds, isn't it?" The giant retorted before turning to the leader with a mischievous grin. "Mind if I say hello to the locals?"
The leader merely chuckled at his subordinate's enthusiasm and merely shrugged. "Go easy on them."
The giant's grin widened as he clenched his palm. A pale yellow light manifested around it as he raised his fist forward and extended his index and middle fingers. In one swift motion, he raised his fingers upward.
Break Wastelands
An impossibly bright flash of light was seen on the horizon, which was quickly followed by a loud and powerful shockwave roaring across the atmosphere at supersonic speeds. The Demon Team braced themselves against the shockwave that left them awestruck.
"That ki is unreal!" Gohan exclaimed as he hid behind a rock to escape the shockwave.
"What's happening?!" Kuririn grunted out as he shielded his eyes from the light and wind.
"Nappa…" Raditz growled as he squinted at the explosion, recognizing the effect even from this distance. "He's saying 'Hello…'"
"Well I'm gonna have that bastard put a lid on it!" Chi-Chi snapped, ruffled from the powerful explosion.
"Something tells me that was just a flex," Piccolo commented, taking note as the explosion died down. "Time to see if 8 months was enough…"
East City Ruins
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Nappa bellowed at his handiwork. All around the 5 Saiyans was once a bustling cityscape, now reduced to a flat desert. "I don't think that left a big enough impression! Lemme try again!"
"That'll be enough for now, Nappa," Vegeta calmly ordered. "The more damage we do, the more we squander the planet's value."
"Besides, we've got traitors and their extended family to take to court first, right?" The Scar-faced Saiyan asked. "Let's see if we can't track 'em down…"
With that, all 5 Saiyans pushed the button on their scouters. The short one and the lanky one had looks of shock as they read their numbers while Nappa looked surprised, but not concerned.
"Heya, Onio?" The lanky one said, trying to keep track of the numbers displayed on his scouter. "There's a lot of signals above 1,000 in all directions! What gives?"
"How the hell should I know, Corne?" The scar-faced Saiyan known as Onio whined. "I thought this dirt ball had nothing but weaklings no higher than 10!"
"Stow the bellyaching, you two," Vegeta ordered, bringing his subordinates back in line. "We can address them at a later time. For now, we find the highest concentration of power levels and begin our search there. Odds are we'll find Raditz and his accomplices there."
"And maybe Rensō's grave to spit on,~" Onio suggested with a vile snicker.
"If you happen to find it after this is over, be my guest" Vegeta declared with a shrug. He then turned his attention to the information his scouter relayed to him and grinned devilishly. "Now there's a substantial cluster of combat scores. What say we go have some fun?"
"It's about time we got to scrape Raditz's face into the dirt!" Corne cheered with jubilation. The squadron took to the air and flew at high speed towards the break wastelands.
"WEEEEHOOOOO!" Onio shouted with jubilation. "I love flying on planets with gravity at 1G!"
"Who doesn't?!" Nappa agreed as he tore through several clouds, leaving several streaks of water vapor trailing behind him. "Mach speed is a cakewalk on planets like this!"
Break Wastelands, 30 minutes later
"Here they come…" Raditz growled grimly. His newfound talent of sensing ki alerted him of his 5 former colleagues.
"Just don't screw up your aim when they get here," Tarble ordered. "None of us can afford eavesdroppers."
"Ain't that the truth," Jica nodded, glaring in the same direction as Raditz and the others.
"What eavesdroppers are we worried about?" Chi-Chi inquired as she glanced over at her colleagues.
"If we make it through this, I'll explain everything then," Raditz answered.
"I-I'm a little nervous…" Gohan muttered, trying to put on a brave face, though a visible bead of sweat could be seen rolling down his face.
"Understatement of the year, bro," Menra jeered, trying to keep her trembling in check. The ki signatures she was sensing right now terrified her. She could sense how strong her friends and family were, but the five on approach easily eclipsed them.
"They're here!"
True to Piccolo's word, 5 warriors donned in alien armor stopped mid-air above the area. Four of them had murderous looks in their eyes eager to get started, while one seemed like the odd one of the bunch with a vacant and empty look in her eyes. Tarble did not care about intent as he raised an index finger and aimed at one of the shorter silhouettes, specifically around their head.
"NOW!"
At Tarble's command, Raditz, Chi-Chi, Piccolo and Jica all fired a thin beam of ki at their respective targets - Chi-Chi in particular using the Crane School's Dodonpa as her preferred method. Five targets hit home, and five small explosions obscured the heads of the Saiyans.
"W-Was it that easy?" Menra asked, having a feeling she already knew the answer, but held onto a glimmer of hope.
"I don't think so," Gohan surmised. His senses told him that none of the above were hurt badly by that maneuver, but he wondered who could possibly be eavesdropping on their scouters. Tarble and Aunt Jica mentioned that Vegeta and his crew were the only renegades left, but who else could be listening in on their conversations?
"HEY!" Nappa roared out as he and the others landed. "What's the big idea blowing up our scouters like-"
Nappa immediately cut himself off as the large Saiyan general recognized one of the assailants. "P-Prince Tarble?!"
"What are you on about, Nappa?" Vegeta inquired as he landed, wiping away the soot from around his ear. He then saw the man in question. His eyes widened ever so slightly before quickly recomposing himself and narrowing his eyes. "Well now this is unexpected..."
"Hello, Brother," Tarble greeted with a cold older brother had changed very little since he last saw him, but his resemblance to their father has held true since he last saw him when he was very young. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"Indeed it has…" Vegeta responded with an ice-cold glare of his own. "The last time I saw you you were a soft coward sent off to be in the Avocado Twins' custody, and now here you are, throwing yourself in the lot with a bunch of traitors."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but you and your squad are the real traitors here," Tarble retorted with a smirk.
"Ha! What the Hell are you on about?" Nappa laughed. "Last I recall, you were second in line for succession, so you still gotta go by what Vegeta wants."
"He's not the one occupying the throne, cue-ball," Jica piped up before Tarble gestured a hand to her to keep quiet, to which she merely grumbled.
"C-Cue ball?!" Nappa stammered with indignation. "It's not my fault I have to deal with male pattern baldness!"
"That's enough, Nappa!" Vegeta ordered, causing his large general to shrink back before the prince returned his attention to his brother. "You're saying that the throne has been handed to someone else? Who could it be? Because last I recall, Mother and Father both perished with Planet Vegeta."
"Father perished," Tarble echoed. "But Mother had assumed his role shortly before disaster struck."
"Q-Queen Romei is alive?!" Raditz stammered, almost having trouble believing this. His disbelief then soured to outrage. "And you didn't bother telling us about this?!"
"To be fair, you were the only one relevant to that information,~" Jica added with a smirk, enjoying that stupefied look on his brother once more.
"So here's the deal," Tarble began, ignoring the admittedly amusing banter between his colleagues. "You can either come with us quietly and we can discuss this at the capital, or-"
"You've clearly forgotten who I am, Tarble," Vegeta interrupted, not giving his younger brother a chance to finish. "You might be telling the truth, you might not. But anyone who aligns with whom I deem a traitor will share their fate, even if it's my own flesh and blood."
"Hell yeah! Now we're talking!" Onio cheered as he slammed his fist into his palm and cracked his knuckles, the blood lust welling in his eyes.
"Hey General, do we have any Saibaimen available for testing the waters?" Corne asked his bald superior. "I'd go in myself, but SOMEONE decided to blow up our scouters!"
"Ease up, Corne," Vegeta placated. "It's clear that Tarble did not want anyone else eavesdropping through the comm link. Besides, the number readouts would be useless, given how our opponents here can alter their power levels at will."
"He's got a point. That's how that weakling Rensō lost his head, remember?" Nappa nodded as he rummaged through his armor and pulled out a small double-ended bottle: One with 10 green bean-like objects, and the other with a green fluid. "I'm game to get some Saibaimen running, and it looks like I've got 10 left. Waddya say, Vegeta?"
"Oh but of course," Vegeta gleefully agreed as he gestured a hand to Nappa. "I want to see what the traitors and their earthling buddies are capable of first." Vegeta then directed his gaze squarely on Piccolo. "Especially the odd Nameccean of the group."
"Alright, 10 Saibaimen coming right up!" Nappa declared as he knelt down and poked holes into the earth. "Hmm… This soil looks like it'll do nicely." The giant muttered as he dropped one seed into each hole in the earth he had made and poured a drop of the green fluid into each before tossing the bottle aside.
"Uh, Saibaimen?" Kuririn echoed, wondering what could possibly be inside that bottle Nappa pulled out.
"Oh great. These things…" Raditz groaned at the thought of fighting Nappa's special breed of Saibaiman cultivar, but he was far stronger than he was when he first arrived here on Earth. If anything, this should prove to be an interesting stress reliever.
"I've heard about Saibaimen, but I've never seen one up-close," Jica commented aloud.
"Well after you get a good enough look at one, kill it," Raditz added.
A few seconds passed and nothing happened to the seeds Nappa had planted. Just a moment later, the earth began to crack and fissure as 10 green bipedal creatures with bulbous heads and blood red eyes emerged from the earth, each with a murderous look and made horrendous screeching noises.
"Eugh," Kuririn voiced his disgust at the new creatures. "Well, at least these things are shorter than I am."
"Alien cabbage patch kids…" Chi-Chi groaned. "I could say I've seen everything, but I'd probably end up jinxing myself."
"Your targets are the 7 in front of you," Vegeta ordered the hideous green cultivars. "Don't hold back when engaging them."
Gohan and Menra forced down the lumps that formed within their respective throats as they both settled into a comfortable combat stance, while everyone else, barring Raditz and Tarble, did the same. One of the Saibaimen was about to lunge forward when 3 new arrivals landed on the side of the Dragon Team.
"Sorry we're late."
Kuririn and Chi-Chi both grinned seeing their old colleagues from the Crane School. Tenshinhan, Lunch, and Chaotzu have arrived.
"I'd make the excuse we got lost," Lunch began as she stood up and flipped her green hair back. "But given how the ki rolling off those jackasses was like a lighthouse at night, not to mention that earlier fireworks display…"
"I was also under the impression there were only 5 Saiyans to fight," Tenshinhan pointed out, taking note of not just the opponents in question, but also the Saiyan allies who had come some time before. "Now we have a bunch of what I can only assume are Martians?"
"Well, a bit happened before you got here," Kuririn explained, also taking note how Lunch's creative way of speaking impacted Tenshinhan as he called the Saibaimen 'martians.' "Family drama, the big guy growing those things like crops in a field, just an average day."
"Is the party starting without me?"
Everyone looked up as the desert bandit himself descended and offered a smirk - adorned in the classic Turtle School gi.
"Nope, you're right on time," Lunch answered as she folded her arms.
So… 5 Saiyans, and… a bunch of green things?" Yamcha surmised, a touch bit confused. "What, did they bring these things along?"
"In a sense," Tarble sighed.
"Well, I can tell the Saiyans and their lettuce posse mean business," Yamcha stated, until he noticed Kale and how her demeanor contrasted greatly with the other four. "Though she kinda seems out of place compared to the rest."
"Don't jump to conclusions," Raditz warned. "She's every bit as dangerous as the rest of them…"
"Heh. Well, at least we don't have to check out those other combat scores later," Onio chuckled. He then noticed Vegeta was pointing at each of his enemies. "What'cha thinking, Vegeta?"
"11 fighters…" Vegeta hummed as he finished counting the new arrivals. "So they outnumber our Saibaimen by one. If you lot are interested, why not fight our Saibaimen one on one? Of course one of you would have to sit out, but the game would surely be entertaining."
"Game?!" Chi-Chi spat. "Why should we play along with whatever kind of ruleset you come up with?!"
"Hey, hey!" Kuririn interrupted. "This could actually work to our advantage, y'know? Stall for time until Gokū and Caulifla get here?"
"As much as I'd hate to admit it, he does have a point," Piccolo agreed. "And if my senses are telling me anything, this should prove to be a good warm-up."
"Hmph!" Chi-Chi huffed as she backed down.
"Well, if there aren't any objections, I'd like to go first," Tenshinhan declared as he slammed his fists together.
"Actually, I object!" Jica spoke up. "I've been itching for a genuine fight since I got here."
Tenshinhan glanced at the other fighters assembled and saw several shrugs, to which he merely sighed. "Alright. What's a few moments to wait a turn?"
"Thank you very much," Jica nodded as she rolled her arms to loosen up. "So, which of these crop goblins are stepping up first?"
"You there!" Vegeta pointed at one Saibaiman in particular, immediately gaining its attention. "You will go first. Don't hold anything back."
The green creature nodded with a wicked grin as it walked forth. As Jica settled into her stance, the green creature immediately charged forth, but was abrubtly stopped as Jica delivered a swift knifehand chop across where the bridge of its nose would be if it had one. This blinded the creature temporarily, and by the time it had regained its sight, Jica had vanished. The Saiyan woman reappeared and delivered a swift kick to the Saibaiman's back, sending it stumbling forward before it regained its footing. The monster grinned as its cranium opened up and a foul liquid spewed forth. Jica immediately leapt out of the path of the stream, as did everyone else, and the spectators watched in horror as the liquid violently hissed and dissolved a good 30 centimeters of earth. The Saibaiman leapt up to try and stop the fleeing Jica, but she counted on this and spun herself into an axe kick that slammed right onto the Saibaiman's head, sending it careening down to earth and into a small divot of its own making. Jica then made sure to land several meters away from the creature and breathed a sigh of relief, but remained alert.
"Hooray Aunt Jica!" Gohan and Menra cheered in jubilation, seeing their aunt take down one of these creeps so easily.
"Alright! Nice moves!" Kuririn cheered. Jica barely managed to suppress the blush, but returned her attention to the creature in question.
"Admittedly not as tough as I first thought," Jica commented aloud, keeping her attention on the downed creature.
"No way!" Nappa roared out. "Each one of these freaks has a combat score of 1,200! Wasn't that Raditz's score also?!"
"Was, being the key word, Nappa," Vegeta answered. "This Saiyan seems to be yet stronger."
"But there was nothing in our data-"
"We have no data on this low-class and Tarble," Vegeta interrupted, his comment earning a twitch in Jica's eye. "And data often tends to be incomplete with backwater worlds, anomalies and all that."
"Hey Widow's Peak!" Jica snapped out. "I dunno how long you've been away, but I wasn't born into the caste system before it was dissolved!"
"You're saying that a long-standing tradition of our people has been dissolved?" Vegeta questioned, not liking the idea of a classless Saiyan society. He recalled how it was intended to separate the weak from the strong, and strength was highly valued in a Saiyan. The prince grinned and gave a mirthless chuckle. "Heh. Well, that's something I'll have to correct afterwards, won't it?"
The Saibaiman soon began to struggle to its feet, earning Jica's attention once more. Before either fighter could do anything, Vegeta extended his index and middle finger in a quick gesture, and the green creature exploded in a shower of green gore. Everyone, barring Raditz and Tarble, were stunned, as the latter two expected this from Vegeta of all people.
Jica stood there with a mixture of emotions, the two dominant being anger in that her kill was stolen, and stunned fear at how Vegeta destroyed her target with but a gesture. Sure she was stronger than the Saibaiman, and she did not even exert much effort, but that left her to wonder how her own strength compared to the Saiyans in question.
"Um… Sir?" Corne hesitantly spoke up. "What was that about…?"
"She'd already won the fight," Vegeta answered flatly. "There's no need to drag out a contest with a clear winner, and I don't want to bore myself with such repetition." The Saiyan Prince then shot the remaining Saibaimen with a glare that caused the entire harvest to flinch with fear. "And I also recall telling that failure of a yield to hold nothing back!"
"Alright, my turn," Kuririn declared as he began to step forward, only for Yamcha to step ahead of him and gesture back to him.
"Better if I step up first, buddy," Yamcha countered. Kuririn was about to retort but the former bandit raised a hand. "You've been brought back by the Dragon Balls once already. I haven't. Worst case scenario, I have an insurance policy to fall back on."
"Don't go relying on that insurance policy," Raditz added.
'Dragon Balls?' Vegeta mused. The thought of bringing someone back from the dead seemed far-fetched, but he decided to put a pin on that bit of information until he got what he came for.
"You there," Vegeta pointed to another Saibaiman among the bunch. "You're up next."
The creature nodded and smacked its clawed fists together to indicate it truly meant business. Yamcha immediately charged at his foe, and the saibaiman did so in kind. Just as they were about to collide, they faded from sight.
"T-They vanished!" Menra exclaimed.
"No no no, They're probably just moving really fast," Gohan corrected before Piccolo could get the chance. "I can hear them fighting. Try sensing their ki."
"Oh, right," Menra sheepishly nodded as she scratched the back of her head much like her father. Menra focused on sharpening her ki senses until, at last, she was able to detect the fight in its clarity. "Whoa! Um… Any reason Mr. Yamcha fights like a wolf?"
"It's his schtick," Kuririn chimed in, observing his friend and the recently grown foe duke it out above. "Honestly, if I didn't know better before I met the guy, I'd assume he'd turn into a werewolf under a full moon."
"That's a thing on this planet?" Jica inquired, a touch bit curious about another life form beyond Saiyans that undergo a transformation under a full moon.
Before Kuririn could answer, the group's attention was pulled solely to the fight as Yamcha delivered a haymaker that staggered the Saibaiman back. The creature leapt back in retreat, landing atop a large rock, prompting Yamcha to pursue. The Saibaiman soon leapt forth in attempt to tackle Yamcha, but instead of impacting the bandit, it phased right through an afterimage that faded as swiftly as the realization set in.
"Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"
The Saibaimen, as well as everyone else looked above and saw Yamcha prepare the Turtle School classic in his palms, the bright blue star beaming through the gaps of his fingers.
"HA!"
The blast came down swiftly, far too swiftly for the Saibaiman to avoid the blast, and far too powerful to resist. The creature was sent careening down to earth until it crashed into the rocky soil and the beam peered off. Yamcha landed before the smoldering crater that held the downed Saibaiman and simply smirked as he looked over at the rest of the batch.
"These little creeps aren't so tough," Yamcha declared. "Now if no one else minds, I'll clean up the remaining 8 all by myself."
"So sure of your victory, are you?" Vegeta inquired, puzzling the desert bandit for a second.
Before Yamcha could return to his victory, the Saibaiman leapt up in an attempt to grab him…
…Only to be held in place, screeching and flailing helplessly as its head was caught in a vice grip by Raditz, who glared at the hapless creature with nothing but disdain and contempt.
"I've had enough of these little shits…" Raditz growled as he began to put the squeeze on the Saibaiman's head, causing it to screech further in pain. By the time his ears heard enough of the monster's torment, he closed his fist with full force, collapsing the creature's cartilage skull and the cashew-sized brain located between its eyes, causing it to go limp. Raditz tossed the corpse aside and shook the green blood and entrails off his hand as he grabbed Yamcha by the gi shirt and held him up and delivered a punch to his gut, knocking all the air out of the bandit's lungs.
"Consider yourself lucky that I hate those cretins more than swelled heads on the battlefield!" Raditz shouted as he dropped Yamcha to the ground. "Jica at least kept her attention on her foe even while it was down, not stopping the fight before it was guaranteed over. The moment you took your eyes off that bastard he was gonna jump you and self-destruct, taking you with it. So, either drain that swelled head of yours, or lose it."
Yamcha was left speechless as he eventually got himself to his feet. Unsure of what to say, he merely walked back over to the group, his head slightly hung in shame.
"And as for the rest of those gremlins, I'm taking them all out, here and now!" Raditz shouted at the 5 opposing Saiyans with a look of genuine fury.
"Ha! Raditz here makes a speech on having a swelled head and here he goes turning into a parade balloon!" Corne mocked as he laughed at his declaration.
"Now now, Corne. Let Raditz have some confidence in himself,~" Vegeta mockingly countered, earning a snicker from Onio and Raditz. "After all, it's all he has left."
'Laugh it up you scrawny dolt…' Raditz fumed as he eyed the remaining 8 Saibaimen with murderous intent. 'Once these little snots are out of the way, I'm coming for you next…'
A/N: Aaaaaaand we're back! Life is a bitch, ain't it? I won't go into the details of my absence, but I can assure you it's got a whole host of headaches. As for the story, we now have names for our jobbers! Onio (Real original, I know) and Corne. (BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!) Vegeta clearly has no intent to follow Tarble to rejoin the fold when he wants his fold to be the only fold. We also get to see Jica in action. A mixture of brutal assault and diversionary trickery to get the upper hand. Yamcha almost got the meme treatment, but Raditz hates the cabbage patch xenomorphs enough to spare him that unfortunate fate. Hope this was a fun read. :)