The first rays of dawn crept across the desolate mountain range. Steam rose from countless craters that dotted the landscape like scars. The air hung heavy with the scent of scorched earth and blood.
In the center of this devastation stood a lone figure. Sage's jet-black hair hung wild around his face, damp with sweat despite the cool morning air. His simple training clothes were torn and stained with dirt and crimson. Every muscle trembled with exhaustion, yet he remained perfectly still.
His breathing was labored. Fresh cuts decorated his knuckles, and bruises painted his arms in shades of purple and yellow. But still he stood, waiting, listening to something only he could hear.
Screams. Explosions. A child crying for his mother.
Sage's eyes snapped open, revealing depths of pain that seemed far too old for his youthful face. He shook his head violently.
"S-stop it," he whispered to the empty wasteland.
"They're gone... everyone's g-gone..."
His hands began to shake. Not from exhaustion this time, but from something deeper. Memories that refused to stay buried. He stared at his trembling fingers, then slowly clenched them into fists.
"I have to... I have to be stronger."
Without warning, he launched himself into the air. His fists began to glow with pale blue energy as he descended toward a massive boulder.
Each strike came with desperate intensity. His technique was flawless—years of solitary practice evident in every movement. But there was something frantic about it, as if he were trying to punch through more than just stone.
"For Taro," he gasped between strikes.
"For Nasu... for father..."
The boulder began to crack under his assault. Chunks of rock flew in all directions, but Sage didn't stop. Each name he spoke was like a weight lifted from his chest, only to be replaced by another.
With a final, earth-shaking blow, the massive stone exploded into dust. Sage landed hard among the debris, stumbling before catching himself on his knees. Dark spots danced at the edges of his vision.
"Not dead yet," he muttered bitterly, wiping blood from his knuckles.
"Pity."
He pushed himself to his feet, already scanning for his next target, when something made him freeze. His head snapped up, eyes wide with terror so profound it seemed to steal the warmth from the morning air.
There was a power out there. Distant, but unmistakable. An energy signature that felt achingly familiar yet wrong in ways that made his skin crawl.
"That power..." he whispered.
"That energy signature..."
The haunted look in his eyes intensified. He'd felt this before—this particular resonance that sang in his blood like a half-remembered song. But it was impossible.
"Saiyan," the word escaped his lips like a curse.
"But that's impossible... unless..."
His face went ashen as realization dawned. All color drained from his features.
"Frieza's forces," he breathed.
"They found me."
For a heartbeat, Sage stood paralyzed by complete fear. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, his expression hardened into something unrecognizable.
Without hesitation, he exploded skyward. His aura blazed around him like white fire. The force of his departure left a crater that dwarfed all the others. Within seconds he was nothing more than a streak of light racing across the sky.
Behind him, the mountain training ground lay in ruins—a monument to years of preparation for a day he'd hoped would never come.
Meanwhile...
The rocky battlefield stretched endlessly under the harsh midday sun. Three figures circled each other like predators, each bearing the wounds of brutal combat.
The largest stood defiant despite his battered appearance. His strange white armor was cracked and smoking. Long black hair flowed down his back, and his eyes held cruel arrogance that even exhaustion couldn't diminish.
"You insects still don't understand the power of an elite warrior!" Raditz snarled, wiping blood from his mouth.
Despite his boastful words, he was clearly struggling. His breathing was labored, and his stance wavered.
Across from him, two unlikely allies prepared for another assault. The first was a man with impossibly spiky black hair that defied gravity. His orange martial arts uniform was torn and stained, but his eyes burned with determination.
Beside him stood a figure from nightmares. Green skin stretched over a muscular frame, and a white turban covered his bald head. His cape billowed as he floated above the ground.
"Your mouth writes checks your body can't cash!" Piccolo retorted, energy crackling around his fingertips.
"You're finished!"
"Give up, Raditz!" Goku added, his voice mixing anger and desperation.
"Return my son and leave Earth! This doesn't have to continue!"
Raditz threw back his head and laughed, the sound harsh and mocking.
"Kakarot, you pathetic fool! When Vegeta and Nappa arrive, they'll—"
His words died as something made all three fighters suddenly tense. A presence was approaching—something massive and filled with barely contained fury.
"What is that power?!" Goku breathed, scanning the sky.
Piccolo's normally stoic expression flickered with concern.
"It's enormous... and getting closer fast!"
A small device on Raditz's ear began beeping frantically. Numbers scrolled across its red display at an alarming rate. His eyes widened as he read the impossible figures.
"That's impossible..." he muttered, tapping the device.
"That power reading... it's almost like..."
A figure dropped from the sky like a falling star. The impact created a massive crater, sending debris flying in all directions. Dust and smoke filled the air, obscuring the new arrival.
"Who is that?!" Goku shouted over the rumbling earth.
As the dust settled, a young man emerged from the crater. His wild black hair framed a face twisted with terror and rage. He was staring directly at Raditz's armor with recognition that spoke of old nightmares.
"F-Frieza's armor..." Sage's voice shook with fear and fury.
"You... you found me..."
Raditz squinted through the settling dust, his device still beeping wildly.
"What?! Who are you?! That power reading... it's impossible!"
Sage's expression transformed. The fear remained, but it was now mixed with desperate determination. Years of paranoia and suppressed rage began to surface.
"I won't... I won't be taken alive!" his voice grew stronger, the stuttering fading.
"Not after what your kind did to my people!"
Goku stepped forward, hands raised peacefully despite the tense situation.
"Wait! There's something wrong here. You're making a mistake—"
But Sage's eyes were wild with panic and rage. In his terror, he saw Goku's approach as a flanking maneuver. Another enemy closing in.
"Stay back!" Sage lashed out instinctively, his fist crackling with energy as he struck toward Goku.
Goku barely managed to dodge, the attack meant for him instead redirecting toward Raditz.
"This ends today, Frieza's dog!" Sage snarled, following through with his assault on the armored warrior.
His fist connected with Raditz's jaw before anyone could react. The already weakened warrior went skidding across the rocky ground, leaving a trail of disturbed earth in his wake.
"Another Saiyan?!" Raditz struggled to his feet, genuine shock replacing his arrogance.
"But that's impossible! Everyone died when the meteor destroyed Planet Vegeta!"
"METEOR?!" Sage attacked relentlessly, each strike carrying years of suppressed grief.
"There was no meteor, you lying bastard! Your precious Frieza destroyed our home! Murdered our people!"
His technique was flawless but desperate—the result of countless hours of solitary training. Each blow was precise, calculated, and filled with the weight of survivor's guilt.
"I don't know who this is," Piccolo said to Goku, "but they're giving us the opening we need!"
Goku watched the newcomer with concern rather than relief.
"Something's not right... they're terrified, not evil..."
Raditz, now overwhelmed by three opponents, began to falter under the combined assault. His earlier confidence crumbled as he found himself outmatched.
"Listen to me, you fool!" he blocked frantically.
"I haven't served Frieza in years! There are others! Other Saiyans still alive!"
Sage grabbed Raditz by the armor, his face inches from the larger warrior's.
"More lies! How many of us did you hunt down?! How many children did you drag back to that monster?!"
"You don't understand!" Raditz gasped desperately.
"Vegeta! Prince Vegeta is alive! And Nappa! We came here for Kakarot!"
He pointed weakly at Goku with his free hand.
"That's Kakarot! He's Saiyan like us! A low-class warrior sent here as a baby!"
Sage froze, his grip on Raditz loosening slightly. The words hit him like a physical blow.
"K-Kakarot? But he's... he's fighting against you..."
"He lost his memory!" Raditz coughed, sensing an opportunity.
"He doesn't know what he is!"
"Now, Goku!" Piccolo shouted, his fingertips glowing with gathered energy.
"Special Beam Cannon!"
As Piccolo charged his ultimate attack, Sage stared at Goku in growing horror. The pieces were falling into place, and the picture they formed was devastating.
"Another Saiyan... and I... what have I done?"
Goku lunged forward to restrain Raditz, but Sage's desperate assault had disrupted the battlefield positioning. In the chaos, Goku couldn't get a clean hold.
"Now!" Piccolo shouted, his attack already charged beyond the point of stopping.
"Wait, Piccolo—" Goku called out, realizing the positioning was wrong, but it was too late.
The Special Beam Cannon fired. Goku, still trying to reach Raditz through Sage's frenzied attacks, ended up directly in the beam's path alongside their enemy.
Raditz collapsed, his life fading rapidly. But his eyes remained fixed on Sage with a mixture of confusion and recognition.
"You... what's your name, survivor?"
Sage's voice was barely audible, the stuttering returning in full force.
"S-Sage..."
Raditz's eyes widened in genuine shock.
"Impossible... the records said you died... in the nursery district bombing... before Planet Vegeta fell..."
His scouter crackled with static as his strength failed.
"One year... Vegeta and Nappa will come for the Dragon Balls... in one year..."
"Tell them... tell them Sage lives..."
With those words, Raditz died. Sage stood frozen, staring at Goku who was also dying from the attack. The full weight of his mistake crashed down on him like a collapsing mountain.
"I helped kill him..." he whispered to himself, the full horror of what had transpired washing over him.
"He was trying to help... trying to talk to me... and I... my attack disrupted everything..."
He stared at Goku's still form, guilt crushing down on him like a physical weight.
"The only other Saiyan on Earth... and I got him killed because I was too afraid to listen..."
Piccolo studied the newcomer with narrowed eyes, clearly struggling to piece together what he'd just witnessed.
"Who are you? What was all that about... Saiyans? Frieza? What are you talking about?"
His voice carried genuine confusion rather than understanding. The names meant nothing to him, but the raw emotion behind them was unmistakable.
Sage's battle persona shattered completely. He was back to being the traumatized, shy individual who lived in the mountains. His legs gave out, and he fell to his knees among the rubble.
"I... I thought he was..." the stuttering was worse now, each word a struggle.
"I m-made a terrible mistake... I thought they were here to c-capture me..."
He stared at his hands, which were still shaking from the fight.
"All these years... training... preparing... and when the moment came, I... I killed the wrong person..."
"Training for what?" Piccolo pressed.
"What aren't you telling us?"
Sage looked up with haunted eyes that seemed to hold the weight of an entire world's death.
"For the day Frieza's forces would find me... the last Saiyan they missed..."
Thunder rumbled overhead as the reality of the situation settled over them. Piccolo processed this new information while Goku lay dying nearby, and Sage knelt broken by the realization of his catastrophic error.
"Forgive me, Kakarot..." he whispered.
"I failed you too..."
The first drops of rain began to fall, mixing with the tears that finally came.