Your support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)The universe was a vast, dark place teeming with life, on planets all mind-bogglingly far apart from each other, and yet the advent of technology soon negated this cumbersome isolation and travelers were capable of faster-than-light speeds to explore the unknown. Far more civilizations were able to reach this level of technology and soon a thriving galactic economy of trade and political exchanges was established. It was far from ideal, with many conflicts arising as a direct result among planets more greedy than they had any right to be, but waging interplanetary campaigns was a rather dubious enterprise and so peace was for the most part the order of the day. That was, until the arrival of a particular warlord whose singular person had more power within than an entire fleet of the most advanced warships.
Frieza, a veritable galactic emperor, effortlessly crushed numerous planets that he sought to bring under his dominion. They made the foolish mistake of refusing. This dictatorial, almost child-minded sadist was in no mood to hear the word 'no' and his wrath was swift and, though none would ever have the guts to utter it aloud, entirely unnecessary overkill. Worlds full of valuable resources reduced to barren wastelands where not even the charred skeletons of the hapless denizens remained. Six major worlds fell before Frieza's name began to make blood run cold, and rather than even attempt to resist or merely negotiate, planets swore allegiance immediately in the hopes of being spared. If one could call the men being conscripted into Frieza's armies and never see their families again (the families being forced into slave labor) 'spared', that is.
No planet had more than a handful of soldiers that could enforce Frieza's rule on their own, the few very talented ones enjoying higher ranks within Frieza's inner circle. That is, until they made contact with Planet Vegeta. This was a mostly lawless land, where the natives had wiped out an entire other species recently that they had been warring with for control over the planet. Those other tragically extinct being, the Tuffles, were what Frieza's soldiers had expected to find there, their advanced technology allowing them interstellar travel and other valuable resources useful to the empire. Instead, they found savage, yet cunning, people, humanoid in appearance but possessing monkey-like tails and an incredible propensity for hand-to-hand combat. The planet was rather inhospitable, however, to most of Frieza's vassals. For one thing, the gravity on this world was inordinately strong, fitting for the raw power possessed by these beastly Saiyans, as they called themselves.
They quickly became the equivalent of Frieza's favorite playthings. They loved nothing more than fighting, and when they weren't off doing that in the name of conquering planets in Frieza's name, they were entertaining him directly with exhibition matches in coliseum-style arenas. "Dance, monkeys, dance!" Frieza would gleefully clap as the Saiyans butchered any opponent sent up against them with ruthless ferocity. This lasted for quite some time, and King Vegeta was a mere boy prince when Frieza's name first became known to them. While it had been difficult to get them to do anything other than thrash Frieza's soldiers who had tried to make first contact and demand their fealty, it did not yet reach the point of Frieza becoming irritated enough to wipe them out, as then-King, Vegeta the 1st (named as such after the destruction of the Tuffles), recognized the level of technology from their visitors and what it could do for his people. Vegeta was a rather barren place as it was, even if they called it home. Calling for a truce, they were able to negotiate with Frieza's forces and were delighted that in addition to accessing that technology, they would get to sate their bloodlust by spreading their violence to countless other worlds. It was a match made in Hell, truly.
But one day Frieza's favorite toys ceased to be what he had once thought they were. While it was a rare occasion, even on their own home world, the Saiyans had neglected to mention a peculiarity of their species, the very reason they toppled the Tuffles after such a long war against them. Right in the middle of a free-for-all battle with an open roof, dozens of Saiyans were expected to fight to the death until only one was left standing, and they would be richly rewarded. Unfortunately, the planet they were on was having a full moon that night, and the open ceiling gave them all a full, clear view of the moon. They all froze just as the battle was beginning, mesmerized by the pale light. Frieza was puzzled, and quickly became infuriated at their failure to entertain him as expected. But what he saw next turned that anger into something he had never felt before: Fear.
A primal roar shook the ground, the collective voices of the Saiyans bellowing louder than it should have been possible for beings their size. In a matter of seconds, each and every one of them swelled in size, their bodies covered entirely in hair but for their hands, feet and faces, which elongated and looked rather more wolf-like than ape, but their body structures still resembled that of an upright-walking chimpanzee, though with their enormous Saiyan tails. The entire coliseum exploded outward, unable to contain even five full-sized Saiyans, and the planet, much smaller than their native one, was not long for itself once they began thrashing about, still driven to do only one thing: Fight. To the death. Their energy beams spewing from their mouths were at least ten times as powerful as any the Saiyans had wielded in standard form. Every Scouter worn by anyone who survived this initial transformation event exploded from overload. Frieza retreated to his ship and fled, the first time he had ever shown cowardice to any of his soldiers. None dared question this, however, as they were just as scared shitless of this nightmare! At least with Frieza they knew where they stood, but with these out-of-control monsters, there was no safety but being no closer than orbit!
The planet was small enough that Frieza, with intense concentration and a significant amount of his own power, was able to destroy it, which, one way or another, would kill the giants that would be identified by non-transformed Saiyans as Oozaru. Frieza demanded to know why this information was kept from him, and made no pretense that he wasn't making a direct threat to annihilate the lot of them for this treachery. How dare they hide something that could potentially topple him if a concentrated effort was mounted to be near him at the time of transformation? A strong enough Saiyan, in Oozaru form, could actually stand a chance against Frieza, almighty as he may have been. This whole situation was unprecedented, as was Frieza's reaction to it. It became clear that the new Saiyan ruler, King Vegeta the 2nd had not wished to give away any of the information that could be used to their detriment. Every Saiyan would keep it to themselves that their tails were their weak point, and were the key to unlocking their transformation that only occurred during full moons.
Frieza didn't figure it out himself, but his advisors (the ones he didn't kill simply out of frustration), connected the Saiyans' transformation to the full moon, although nothing about their tails was yet known to be involved. Knowing that a full moon was about to occur on Planet Vegeta, Frieza decided it was now or never. The Saiyans would likely know that it was a full-scale war and that they were going to have to band together for a last stand against Frieza. It should have been obvious that them still having a King of their own meant they were not truly loyal to an outsider. Their pride would not let them bow down to a non-Saiyan! Thousands of them had gathered as Frieza set a course for their world, intending to blow it up and them along with it, Oozaru or not! A show of strength was needed now, to ensure that no other races hiding any sort of major powerups would ever even think about challenging him!
It was a trait of the royal family of Saiyans that even in their Oozaru forms, they retained full use of their mental faculties and even their voices. In this way, King Vegeta the 2nd and his son, Prince Vegeta, were able to quell the savagery of their brethren and lead them like a true army against Frieza. Firing their mouth lasers skyward, they decimated all backup spaceships Frieza had brought along with him, and he ordered all but his flagship to retreat. Still too fearful to enter the atmosphere of the planet, Frieza instead opted for the next-best solution to the problem: The moon had to go. Still recovering from his recent high-level energy expenditure on the coliseum planet, it took a toll on him to muster the power to obliterate Vegeta's moon, but it happened, and the Oozaru shrank back down to their original forms. This was a devastating loss for the Saiyans. The only planet they knew of for certain had a moon cycle they could use to their advantage, now moonless. But that wasn't all; they had also to contend with the massive pieces of their crumbled moon crashing down onto the planet, causing demolition on a scale that would embarrass even a rampaging Oozaru. Planet Vegeta wasn't fit for sustaining life very much even before, but now...remaining in that dusty atmosphere would be toxic to any lifeforms. They had no choice but to flee.
This was, however, a window in which they were capable of doing so without Frieza's immediate retaliation. That last moon-crushing attack was crippling to Frieza. His energy needed time to replenish and no one else with him now was capable of going down there and blasting down the Saiyans' ships before they could leave the planet. Though hundreds of Saiyans perished in the effort as their planet turned on them, they still largely managed to evacuate, going off in all directions, agreeing to come together again one day and make Frieza pay for this. They would need to get stronger, strong enough that even a full moon would not need to be relied upon. Whispers of trying to find the legendary Super Saiyan, even. But after their initial takeoff, they had to maintain radio silence to ensure they could not be followed or tracked. They might need to settle on distant planets that had never made contact with any other species before. As long as Frieza couldn't follow or find them until they were ready to be found, their will to defeat him would live on.
The King and Prince each boarded their own space pods and went off in the same direction, intending to keep their bloodline together and bring along a small harem of females. After all, it wouldn't do to just leave their population as it was. They needed to repopulate, especially if they wanted more firepower against Frieza when the fateful day arrived. However, things were not going to be that easy for them. The best-laid plans of mice and men were not immune to Murphy's Law. Passing space debris caught Prince Vegeta's pod and damaged it very badly, causing it to go off-course and not follow anywhere near the course of his father and harem of females' ships. Everyone had planned on a long journey to put enough distance between themselves and Frieza's forces, and were in hibernation within their pods. Nobody was alerted that Vegeta's was suddenly no longer following them. His craft hurtled toward an alien world that had thankfully never known the existence of other worlds with intelligent life...at least, not for the most part. The guardian of Earth was, in fact, another alien, but that was a tale for another day.
Unconscious, badly hurt but still capable of breathing in space thanks to a great deal of training, Vegeta was unable to extricate himself from his predicament and mercifully his considerable strength allowed him to withstand what would have easily killed a lesser warrior, as well as the crash to the ground when it finally came. A smoking meteorite creating a city block-sized crater just outside of the planet's biggest major city would certainly get the attention of the local news, but no one could possibly have predicted that it was going to contain the still-living body of an unearthly visitor! Fortunately, Earth was a rather unusual place full of humanoid animals, sentient monsters, non-extinct dinosaurs, and amazing levels of technology, so he would not be treated as a freak, or as a threat...unless he acted as such. They were very open-minded there on Earth...some, more than others; like the particularly inquisitive, gifted and especially the young and reckless.
Frieza, a veritable galactic emperor, effortlessly crushed numerous planets that he sought to bring under his dominion. They made the foolish mistake of refusing. This dictatorial, almost child-minded sadist was in no mood to hear the word 'no' and his wrath was swift and, though none would ever have the guts to utter it aloud, entirely unnecessary overkill. Worlds full of valuable resources reduced to barren wastelands where not even the charred skeletons of the hapless denizens remained. Six major worlds fell before Frieza's name began to make blood run cold, and rather than even attempt to resist or merely negotiate, planets swore allegiance immediately in the hopes of being spared. If one could call the men being conscripted into Frieza's armies and never see their families again (the families being forced into slave labor) 'spared', that is.
No planet had more than a handful of soldiers that could enforce Frieza's rule on their own, the few very talented ones enjoying higher ranks within Frieza's inner circle. That is, until they made contact with Planet Vegeta. This was a mostly lawless land, where the natives had wiped out an entire other species recently that they had been warring with for control over the planet. Those other tragically extinct being, the Tuffles, were what Frieza's soldiers had expected to find there, their advanced technology allowing them interstellar travel and other valuable resources useful to the empire. Instead, they found savage, yet cunning, people, humanoid in appearance but possessing monkey-like tails and an incredible propensity for hand-to-hand combat. The planet was rather inhospitable, however, to most of Frieza's vassals. For one thing, the gravity on this world was inordinately strong, fitting for the raw power possessed by these beastly Saiyans, as they called themselves.
They quickly became the equivalent of Frieza's favorite playthings. They loved nothing more than fighting, and when they weren't off doing that in the name of conquering planets in Frieza's name, they were entertaining him directly with exhibition matches in coliseum-style arenas. "Dance, monkeys, dance!" Frieza would gleefully clap as the Saiyans butchered any opponent sent up against them with ruthless ferocity. This lasted for quite some time, and King Vegeta was a mere boy prince when Frieza's name first became known to them. While it had been difficult to get them to do anything other than thrash Frieza's soldiers who had tried to make first contact and demand their fealty, it did not yet reach the point of Frieza becoming irritated enough to wipe them out, as then-King, Vegeta the 1st (named as such after the destruction of the Tuffles), recognized the level of technology from their visitors and what it could do for his people. Vegeta was a rather barren place as it was, even if they called it home. Calling for a truce, they were able to negotiate with Frieza's forces and were delighted that in addition to accessing that technology, they would get to sate their bloodlust by spreading their violence to countless other worlds. It was a match made in Hell, truly.
But one day Frieza's favorite toys ceased to be what he had once thought they were. While it was a rare occasion, even on their own home world, the Saiyans had neglected to mention a peculiarity of their species, the very reason they toppled the Tuffles after such a long war against them. Right in the middle of a free-for-all battle with an open roof, dozens of Saiyans were expected to fight to the death until only one was left standing, and they would be richly rewarded. Unfortunately, the planet they were on was having a full moon that night, and the open ceiling gave them all a full, clear view of the moon. They all froze just as the battle was beginning, mesmerized by the pale light. Frieza was puzzled, and quickly became infuriated at their failure to entertain him as expected. But what he saw next turned that anger into something he had never felt before: Fear.
A primal roar shook the ground, the collective voices of the Saiyans bellowing louder than it should have been possible for beings their size. In a matter of seconds, each and every one of them swelled in size, their bodies covered entirely in hair but for their hands, feet and faces, which elongated and looked rather more wolf-like than ape, but their body structures still resembled that of an upright-walking chimpanzee, though with their enormous Saiyan tails. The entire coliseum exploded outward, unable to contain even five full-sized Saiyans, and the planet, much smaller than their native one, was not long for itself once they began thrashing about, still driven to do only one thing: Fight. To the death. Their energy beams spewing from their mouths were at least ten times as powerful as any the Saiyans had wielded in standard form. Every Scouter worn by anyone who survived this initial transformation event exploded from overload. Frieza retreated to his ship and fled, the first time he had ever shown cowardice to any of his soldiers. None dared question this, however, as they were just as scared shitless of this nightmare! At least with Frieza they knew where they stood, but with these out-of-control monsters, there was no safety but being no closer than orbit!
The planet was small enough that Frieza, with intense concentration and a significant amount of his own power, was able to destroy it, which, one way or another, would kill the giants that would be identified by non-transformed Saiyans as Oozaru. Frieza demanded to know why this information was kept from him, and made no pretense that he wasn't making a direct threat to annihilate the lot of them for this treachery. How dare they hide something that could potentially topple him if a concentrated effort was mounted to be near him at the time of transformation? A strong enough Saiyan, in Oozaru form, could actually stand a chance against Frieza, almighty as he may have been. This whole situation was unprecedented, as was Frieza's reaction to it. It became clear that the new Saiyan ruler, King Vegeta the 2nd had not wished to give away any of the information that could be used to their detriment. Every Saiyan would keep it to themselves that their tails were their weak point, and were the key to unlocking their transformation that only occurred during full moons.
Frieza didn't figure it out himself, but his advisors (the ones he didn't kill simply out of frustration), connected the Saiyans' transformation to the full moon, although nothing about their tails was yet known to be involved. Knowing that a full moon was about to occur on Planet Vegeta, Frieza decided it was now or never. The Saiyans would likely know that it was a full-scale war and that they were going to have to band together for a last stand against Frieza. It should have been obvious that them still having a King of their own meant they were not truly loyal to an outsider. Their pride would not let them bow down to a non-Saiyan! Thousands of them had gathered as Frieza set a course for their world, intending to blow it up and them along with it, Oozaru or not! A show of strength was needed now, to ensure that no other races hiding any sort of major powerups would ever even think about challenging him!
It was a trait of the royal family of Saiyans that even in their Oozaru forms, they retained full use of their mental faculties and even their voices. In this way, King Vegeta the 2nd and his son, Prince Vegeta, were able to quell the savagery of their brethren and lead them like a true army against Frieza. Firing their mouth lasers skyward, they decimated all backup spaceships Frieza had brought along with him, and he ordered all but his flagship to retreat. Still too fearful to enter the atmosphere of the planet, Frieza instead opted for the next-best solution to the problem: The moon had to go. Still recovering from his recent high-level energy expenditure on the coliseum planet, it took a toll on him to muster the power to obliterate Vegeta's moon, but it happened, and the Oozaru shrank back down to their original forms. This was a devastating loss for the Saiyans. The only planet they knew of for certain had a moon cycle they could use to their advantage, now moonless. But that wasn't all; they had also to contend with the massive pieces of their crumbled moon crashing down onto the planet, causing demolition on a scale that would embarrass even a rampaging Oozaru. Planet Vegeta wasn't fit for sustaining life very much even before, but now...remaining in that dusty atmosphere would be toxic to any lifeforms. They had no choice but to flee.
This was, however, a window in which they were capable of doing so without Frieza's immediate retaliation. That last moon-crushing attack was crippling to Frieza. His energy needed time to replenish and no one else with him now was capable of going down there and blasting down the Saiyans' ships before they could leave the planet. Though hundreds of Saiyans perished in the effort as their planet turned on them, they still largely managed to evacuate, going off in all directions, agreeing to come together again one day and make Frieza pay for this. They would need to get stronger, strong enough that even a full moon would not need to be relied upon. Whispers of trying to find the legendary Super Saiyan, even. But after their initial takeoff, they had to maintain radio silence to ensure they could not be followed or tracked. They might need to settle on distant planets that had never made contact with any other species before. As long as Frieza couldn't follow or find them until they were ready to be found, their will to defeat him would live on.
The King and Prince each boarded their own space pods and went off in the same direction, intending to keep their bloodline together and bring along a small harem of females. After all, it wouldn't do to just leave their population as it was. They needed to repopulate, especially if they wanted more firepower against Frieza when the fateful day arrived. However, things were not going to be that easy for them. The best-laid plans of mice and men were not immune to Murphy's Law. Passing space debris caught Prince Vegeta's pod and damaged it very badly, causing it to go off-course and not follow anywhere near the course of his father and harem of females' ships. Everyone had planned on a long journey to put enough distance between themselves and Frieza's forces, and were in hibernation within their pods. Nobody was alerted that Vegeta's was suddenly no longer following them. His craft hurtled toward an alien world that had thankfully never known the existence of other worlds with intelligent life...at least, not for the most part. The guardian of Earth was, in fact, another alien, but that was a tale for another day.
Unconscious, badly hurt but still capable of breathing in space thanks to a great deal of training, Vegeta was unable to extricate himself from his predicament and mercifully his considerable strength allowed him to withstand what would have easily killed a lesser warrior, as well as the crash to the ground when it finally came. A smoking meteorite creating a city block-sized crater just outside of the planet's biggest major city would certainly get the attention of the local news, but no one could possibly have predicted that it was going to contain the still-living body of an unearthly visitor! Fortunately, Earth was a rather unusual place full of humanoid animals, sentient monsters, non-extinct dinosaurs, and amazing levels of technology, so he would not be treated as a freak, or as a threat...unless he acted as such. They were very open-minded there on Earth...some, more than others; like the particularly inquisitive, gifted and especially the young and reckless.
