A golden-haired man stood in the small spaceship, staring out the viewport into the depths of space. Though the empty vacuum was not what he truly saw.
Within his minds eye, probabilities rose and fell like sea foam on the beach, but with a mental step back they vanished.
A chain of interlocking events cause a wave, and though within that wave some things remained unpredictable, the general flow of time flowed up onto the beach that was the present and the future was made. Silently, the young man counted down, his finger resting on an inconspicuous blue button.
"Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday to you." The man sings low under his breath a song he has never heard, of an alien species he never met nor will ever meet.
"Happy birthday, my Raditz. Happy Birthday to you. Gah, I'm getting soft in my exile. Need to stop looking at Kakarot's timeline, developing paternal instincts." He grumbles, but his lips curl into a smile.
"Five, four, three, two, one." Tapping the button, a pod shoots out directionless into the void of space. Where it will drift aimlessly, inexorably towards a certain planet. A planet that was scheduled to be invaded in over a thousand years by a certain son of a certain low-class warrior.
"I wonder if it was my line or Gines...Oh who am I kidding." He smirks sardonically as his golden hair crackles with power. "Sigh, I miss you Gine. And I can't even give you a gift unlike Raditz. Well, not without...Maybe it is time."
Turning his back on the viewport and receding pod, he reaches into a small compartment on the ship, where two communicators rest.
---
With a moment of thought he makes his decision.
"Hello, Prince Trunks, I accept your offer." The Father of Goku vanishes in a burst of Time Energy.
---
With a moment of thought he makes his decision.
"Towa, you had better fulfill your part of the deal but, I accept." The Super Saiyan vanishes in a burst of Time Energy.
---
The tiny monkey-tailed boy looked at the crashed pod suspiciously. It was just sitting there, after nearly taking his head off. He was just minding his own business, slaughtering fleeing civilians when it came down right over his head, embedding itself in the storefront next to him where it hadn't moved since. With a casual wave of Power he ends his fun and the lives of many. Approaching the small pod, his tail wrapping around his waist tightly.
He opens the ancient relic, a soft hiss of atmosphere as the inside is exposed to fresh air for the first time in a millennia. And the course of his entire life changes.
---
"Raditz pay attention!" The younger Saiyan demands "Stop reading that Space-Voodoo book, the future isn't real. Now what will be Frieza-Planet 998 is known as Collared Dandria by the locals, probably referencing it's ring or something. It's a Tuffle-like race again, though scouts report something about a natural knack for eye beams. So try not to be surprised by that."
Raditz looks up from the dataslate, refocusing his attention onto his Prince.
"It's not just future-telling, and it does work!" He grumbles under his breath.
---
"Hey Raditz, do ya think you could do that Power-Infusion thing to these seeds while they are growing?" A general without an army asks, bent over a microscope. He knew the best way to grow a strong warrior was to find something they liked and then focus it onto combat, and until that mysterous pod he just hadn't found what made Raditz tick.
But that apparent birthday present from his father, it lit a fire under the boy. If only he could get him less focused on that silly book of Prophecy and Fortune-Telling and back onto the same track as his father. A combat scientist, one of the best who had finally unleashed the power of the Oozaru to a Saiyan's command with the Power Ball. What could his son be like if properly harnessed and raised within the field rather than adopting it like his father.
General Nappa glances at the tiny boy with enough hair for the both of them (which was fortuitous, as his own kept falling out). The boy was hooked he just needed a skillful hand to pull him out of the waters of mediocrity.
"It wouldn't work Nappa." The boy shakes his head "Saibamen don't use normal Ki, an influx of raw energies in such a volatile state is more likely to make them explode than gain any benefit. And after they have enough presence of mind to integrate the Power they have already been cast into their molds."
"Well then, perhaps the opposite way might help? Have you ever considered reversing the transfusion technique?" Nappa turns towards the boy and smirks victoriously at the sight before him.
---
(PoV shift: Raditz)
Your eyes glow before you touch down onto this planet's Lookout Tower.
You flare your Power into the visible spectrum. Stepping out of the way you leaves a faint image of yourself behind to attract attention, then shifting behind your assailant.
You never liked invading worlds with Guardians, they always put up a fight and tempted out your tricks. Casting your Sense out to track Prince Vegeta. Still on the other side of the planet. Good.
The red-skinned ancient being looks momentarily puzzled as his hand passes through your Afterimage. You cup your hands and draw them to your waist.
"Turtle. Destruction. WAVE!" You incant the ancient Mnemonic. The technique of an alien race you had never met launches from your hands, boring deep into the Divinely-Chosen Guardian of a pitiful ball of dirt.
"What. Was that?" You spin around in shock at the words, spotting Nappa land, his hand tapping the scouter. "How did you concentrate your Power like th-"
You blink, glow fading. Touching down on the Lookout Tower, you sway out of the Guardian's lunging attack. This is going to hurt quite a lot.
You cross your arms as you feel the buildup of Power, and not a moment to soon as a golden burst of Power lances at you.
You are driven back by the blast, inch by inch, until you feel it suddenly halt. Opening your eyes you see General Nappa standing before you, casually ignoring the beam of Power as his Aura flickers with potent gold.
"Come on Raditz, keep up. It's only a weakling with a Power of..." He taps his scouter
"Heh, 4,000. That's not bad for a punk on a tower playing at Kami. But not good enough, when I'm fully rested." He walks forwards, through the beam as if it was nothing more than a particularly bright flashlight. His Aura flickers once and he grunts in pain taking a step back, but then he keeps moving protected by his Power.
What follows is both quick and brutal.
"Come on *munch* Raddie, *munch* Vegeta says it's time to pack up and go." The bald General says, between mouthfuls.
"We have a new mission and a new planet. Some world called...Cublora or something."
You freeze, you know that name.
---
"To my eldest son Raditz. You should be around the age of seven now, a full year of study after your sixth birthday present. Congratulations on reading this fluently, but now is not the time for praise. There is work to be done. General Nappa and the Prince Vegeta cannot know of the future, all of my explorations of the future sight have shown me that if they know of the events laid within this letter, the events will not come to pass, and for the less because of it.
When you and your team attempt to invade Cublora you will be repulsed by powerful foes. In a timeline without my present you would have remembered Kakarot and volunteered to fetch him to aid the three of you. You will replicate this event as it is important."
You read the passage again for the thousandth time in your Pod, the Comms muted except for the emergency channel as Nappa is passing the time in the only way he knows how. Attempting to induce the Prince into such a state of rage the Prince attempts to murder his General with his mind.
"-nd after you send that message to that scum Frieza yo-"
"Raaaaditz. You can't ignore me Raditz. It isn't poliiite." Oh goddamn it he got bored with Vegeta. "Hey Raddie, areeeee wethereyet?"
You silently weigh the pros and cons of murdering the man.
Mechanics Information:
Raditz, PL 4,000
Very skilled at esoteric Ki techniques from a variety of alien races Bardock scried or techniques that Raditz himself has prophesied in potential futures from alien species.
Zenith level Hairdresser
Rather good at knitting
Knows a technique that knits Ki, creating a personal-scale energy shield that is rather taxing to form but sustains itself quite easily and is redundant (its also environmentally sealed and retains heat)
