Chapter 13: Family Reunions and Alien Brothers
The dust settled over the scorched plateau. Raditz was still on his knees, gasping for breath as the suffocating heat of Ron's Gourmet Blaze and the crushing weight of his Conqueror's Haki faded back into nothingness.
Before Raditz could even attempt to stand, a sharp sonic boom cracked through the sky. A bright yellow cloud streaked toward the clearing, bringing a familiar spiky-haired warrior in an orange gi.
"Gojo! Tony!" Goku called out as Flying Nimbus hovered to a smooth stop. He hopped off the cloud, holding his Power Pole, his eyes darting around the cratered battlefield. "I felt two crazy energy signatures all the way from Kame House! Is everyone—"
Goku froze mid-sentence.
His eyes landed on Raditz, who was trembling in battered Saiyan armor, then shifted to eight-year-old Gojo Brief casually dusting off his shirt, and finally to Tony, whose Mark X Nanotech suit was slowly retracting into his wristband with a smooth, metallic click.
"Whoa..." Goku blinked, scratching the back of his head in sheer wonder. "Tony, your suit just... shrank into a watch?! And Gojo, did you fight this guy? His power level was way higher than anything I've felt in years!"
"Please," Gojo Brief smirked, adjusting his dark sunglasses with a single finger. "Big brother Tony blasted him through three mountains, and I stopped his energy attack with one finger. He's all talk, Uncle Goku."
"You... you stopped a blast like that with one finger?!" Goku gasped, his eyes practically sparkling with excitement. "Man, Uncle Ron's training is insane! I gotta spar with you two again soon!"
The Truth Revealed
While Goku was busy marveling at his nephews, Raditz slowly lifted his head, his dark eyes wide with utter bewilderment as he stared at the newcomer.
"K... Kakarot?" Raditz rasped, his voice trembling.
Goku turned, tilting his head in confusion. "Huh? Who's Kakarot? My name's Goku!"
"Don't play dumb with me!" Raditz yelled, struggling to his feet while clutching his scorched chest. "Look at you! You have the exact same face as our father, Bardock! You even have a tail... or you had one!"
Goku took a cautious step back, his brow furrowing. "Our father? What are you talking about?"
"I am Raditz, your older brother!" the Saiyan barked, pointing a shaking finger at Goku. "You were sent to this primitive rock as a baby to wipe out its population so we could sell the planet! We are Saiyans—the mightiest warrior race in the universe! What have you been doing all these years?!"
Silence hung over the plateau for a long moment. Goku stared at Raditz, processing the news that he wasn't human, nor was he alone in the universe.
"My... brother?" Goku murmured. Then, his face hardened, his eyes filling with quiet resolve. "I don't care where I came from or who my biological parents were. Earth is my home. Grandpa Gohan raised me, and the people here are my friends and family. I'm not a planet-destroying monster!"
"You fool!" Raditz growled. "You've gone soft! And worse, you've let these earthlings become... become..." Raditz's eyes flicked over to Ron, who was currently tossing his empty wooden skewer into a small pocket dimension, and shivered. "...whatever they are!"
A Friendly Offer
Ron walked over, placing a gentle, reassuring hand on Goku's shoulder.
"Take it easy, Goku," Ron said warmly, giving his nephew-in-law a light chuckle. "You don't have to worry about alien invaders ruining your Tuesday. Your cousins and I have everything under control."
Goku looked at Ron, then at Tony and Gojo, before letting out a big, characteristic laugh. "Haha, yeah! I guess I don't need to worry at all! Tony and Gojo are practically superheroes!"
"Speaking of which," Tony chimed in, crossing his arms with a cocky grin. "Hey, 'Brother Raditz'. Since you clearly got your butt handed to you by an eight-year-old and a guy in a suit, what's your next move? You wanna try fighting Goku, or are you gonna listen to my dad?"
Raditz gritted his teeth, his Saiyan pride warring violently with his absolute terror of Ron's overwhelming power. He knew that if he tried to kidnap Goku's son, Gohan, or force Kakarot to join him now, Ron or his sons would erase him from existence before he could even blink.
"This isn't over..." Raditz spat through bloodied teeth, taking a slow step backward toward his pod. "Our comrades... Prince Vegeta and Nappa... they will hear of this! They'll come to this planet, and—"
POOF!
Before Raditz could finish his dramatic villain speech, a soft cloud of white smoke erupted right in front of him.
Out stepped a fantastically chubby, orange-and-white cat wearing a small red bowtie.
Raditz blinked. "W-What the—"
The fat cat lazily looked up at Raditz, opened its mouth, and spoke in Ron's unmistakable, sharp-witted voice:
"Meow... (Listen closely, long-hair. If you go back and tell your little Prince about us, make sure you tell him one more thing.)"
The fat cat suddenly floated into the air, its eyes glowing with a subtle, blinding combination of Six Eyes and Kayden's Golden Lightning.
"Tell him that if he comes to Earth looking for a fight... he better bring a really good chef. Because after I beat him, I'm making him cook dinner for my family."
Raditz didn't say another word. He scrambled into his space pod, slammed the hatch shut, and ignited the thrusters, shooting into the upper atmosphere at maximum speed, desperate to escape the nightmare planet of god-like martial artists, nanotech suits, and talking fat cats.