Ch. 60: The Story Is Told

"S-stronger than Vegeta... by a lot? Did Bulma happen to mention anything else about this person? Perhaps the name... Frieza?" Raditz asked Dr. Brief through the screen.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't catch it if she did."

"Raditz, are you okay? Do you know this Frieza guy?" Goku asked his brother.

"Let's just hope that I'm wrong. If it really is Frieza... We'll all die." Raditz told his brother, terror creeping into his voice just at the possibility of Frieza being on Namek.

"He's really that strong?" Goku asked.

"More than strong. He's basically the embodiment of evil power." Raditz declared, "No matter how much we train, I can't see us ever beating him."

"Then we'd better get training!" Goku said cheerily, "Goodbye, Dr. Brief! Thanks for the heads up!" 

"Good luck, Goku!" Dr. Brief said, the monitor he was talking to the Saiyans through disappearing into the ceiling of their ship.

"Kakarot, didn't you hear me? We can't beat Frieza no matter how much we train! It's pointless to even try!" Raditz shouted at Goku as the latter went to turn their gravity machine back on.

"Let's see... 20 times for now, but we'll have to put it up higher as soon as we can... Let's try to max it out at a hundred times before we get to Namek!" Goku said, ignoring Raditz.

"What's the point?! We can't beat Frieza!" Raditz shouted.

"I heard you." Goku said, a cold edge creeping into his voice, "But isn't that the entire point!? Getting stronger and stronger, fighting enemies even stronger than that! Doesn't the very thought just make your blood boil with excitement!" Goku asked his brother, the cold edge gone, replaced with boundless excitement.

"That's exactly the attitude that Mistress said you would take, Goku."

"S-Shay!" Raditz yelped, jumping backwards as Shay appeared behind him. He bumped into Goku, causing the tailless Saiyan's hand to slip as he was punching in numbers for the gravity machine. Instead of a 20, he accidentally pressed 30.

"Nnrgh!" Both Saiyans fell to the ground as the gravity machine booted up, putting out gravity slightly stronger than their bodies could handle at the moment. While they weren't in danger, they couldn't really move at all.

"I'd start off a little lighter. Let's try... 25 for now." Shay decided, seeing how difficult it was for the Saiyans to move. She casually strode past them, punching in the numbers at the gravity machine. The brothers sighed in relief as the gravity around their bodies lightened just enough that they were able to move again. Standing up with a groan, Goku greeted the dragon-girl.

"Maan, Shay! You really are waay strong, aren't you?!" He said, a little awed by the ease at which Shay was moving. Honestly, with her strength, twenty or thirty times Earth's gravity wasn't anything that she'd bother noticing at all.

"Are you here to check up on us?" Raditz asked.

"Not quite. I have a little story that it's high time you two heard." Shay told them. It was finally time for the two of them to learn the truth about the destruction of planet Vegeta, since Vegeta was currently learning it from Dodoria as they spoke. 

"A story? Can you tell us later? Raditz and I have a lot of training to do." Goku complained.

"I dun wanna! I dun wanna! I wanna be by Mistress's side, but instead I have to be here!? Why can't I jus' stay by her side forever and ever and ever and ever and ..." Shay threw a temper tantrum, like a little child, her vocabulary quickly devolving into "And ever and ever and ever...."

"We get it! Please stop doing that!" Raditz shouted, stopping Shay's tantrum in its tracks. Like a dime, she immediately stopped her tantrum and gave a big smile. 

"Good. I'll tell my story now, then I'll get to go back to Mistress's side! I can't wait! Mistress must be so lonely without me..."

Raditz and Goku exchanged a 'this girl really is insane' glance, but wisely said nothing. They'd known that Shay was... abnormally loyal to her 'Mistress...' but seeing beneath the hood creeped them both out.

"Anyways, a long time ago, right after you were born, Goku, your father was a low class Saiyan. But he had strength pretty much equal to the strongest fighter on the planet, King Vegeta... in fact, he was a bit stronger than the king, from all of his battles across the solar system at Freiza's orders." In the canon, Goku had never heard the story of his father in so many details. In fact, he didn't know a thing about the man, ever, during the original story. To Hanna, that felt like a shame, so she had Shay tell the two exactly what had caused Frieza to destroy Planet Vegeta.

"Frieza ended up catching wind of Bardock's incredible power gains. He began thinking, 'if a low-class Saiyan can end up being stronger than my own elite warriors, then is it possible for a mutant to be born among the Saiyans that rivals, or even surpasses me in power? No... it's impossible.' He thought." Shay explained.

"A Saiyan rivalling Frieza's power..." Raditz muttered, shocked.

"Frieza didn't believe that that was possible. His biggest concern was the possibility of a Saiyan revolt. If each Saiyan was far stronger than his own fighters, and they rose up against him in earnest, then he'd suffer massive losses before he could manage to take them down. In fact, it was entirely possible that they'd wipe out his entire army, and he'd have to spend the rest of his life hunting stray Saiyans down, one by one." Shay explained.

"That doesn't surprise me in the least. It was probably only a matter of time before that happened... but what's that have to do with... you can't mean!?" Raditz put two and two together. He was far smarter than his brother. 

"What? What's she talking about, Raditz?" Goku asked, not catching on.

"That's right. Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta. With his own two hands."