Path of the Guardian chapter 1 (Patreon)

Dragon Ball parody: Tier 1

Path of the Guardian

Kami senses Kakarot arriving on Earth, sensing the danger of the Saiyan he sends Mr. Popo to collect him. Kami is tempted to dispatch the child but instead chooses to raise the Saiyan to be a force of good, surpass him when the inevitable day King Piccolo awakens.

Chapter 1 Kami’s Choice

Kami is the namekian guardian of Earth, having split from his evil half King Piccolo, and the creator of the dragon balls. After the terror, his evil half caused, he created the magical wish-granting orbs to give the people hope and inspire courage. He lived upon the Lookout watching over the planet.

So when an alien pod came crashing down he was the first to know. He sensed the child inside and felt a chill run through his spine. His attender was Mr. Popo an immortal genie tasked with training the Earth’s guardian, was sent to investigate.

Mr. Popo arrived at the crash sight in record time thanks to his magic carpet. He found the small child clad in armor and has a swaying monkey tail. “Come here little one.” the child was a Saiyan, and sensing the powerful being he lashed out in self-defense.

The genie just took the Saiyan's attacks not being affected by them. Once the Saiyan was tired out he was able to be taken to the Lookout, the Saiyan gaining respect for Mr. Popo in the process. Kami observed the child, though his current power was nothing, his potential was high.

What scared him was the danger the boy posed to the Earth. Thanks to the power of the Pendulum Room Kami had experienced battles against numerous threats, including the Saiyans. He knew enough about them, they were a warrior race and could transform by the power of the full moon. The Saiyans were threats Kami was never able to defeat in his training.

“Stand back Mr. Popo...” he charged an attack.

“Kami...what are you doing?”

“He’s a Saiyan, one look at the full moon he’ll go on a rampage and destroy the Earth!”

“Kami, he’s an innocent child, please reconsider!” Kami hesitated, torn between his sense of justice and his duty as the Guardian of the Earth. “Kami...” Kami gripped the young boy’s head.

He checked the boy’s mind to see how he came to Earth. If he was sent as a weapon he’d put an end to him there and then.

What he saw broke his heart, the Saiyan known as Kakarot, was sent away from his home to save his life. A pure-hearted Saiyan, a noble warrior, was there a chance this boy could become a force for good? Kami sighed and dispelled his attack. “Give the boy a bath and some food, he’ll be staying with us so I can keep an eye on him.”

“Thank You, Kami!”

-x-

Mr. Popo had his hands full with the young Saiyan, but it certainly wasn’t boring. He gave the boy the name Son Goku based off of an old tale he knew, he felt it was a fitting name. Thanks to the genie Goku was able to learn about the world as well as martial arts.

As a Saiyan he respected strength, and Popo and Kami were very strong. They were able to teach him a lot, ki control, flight, ki sensing, and the basics of martial arts. He taught the boy about right and wrong, the value of life, and even the balance of creation and destruction. Though Kami kept his distance at first, leaving the raising of Goku to Popo, that didn’t mean Goku’s curiosity didn’t lead to him.

Goku would sit and meditate with Kami and even tried to spar with him even if he was vastly outmatched. Goku received a zenkai boost after fighting the powerful namekian. Kami said he was often busy looking over the Earth, but the few times he did make time for Goku just made the time they spent together more special for the Saiyan.

This led to Goku calling Mr. Popo, Papa or Papa-Popo, and him calling Kami Grandpa. It was kinda adorable, and since Kami had no children of his own reached a deeper layer of special.

As the years passed and Goku reached a proper age he began training in the Pendulum Room. Kami had agreed to it mostly because the boy wanted to see the world, Kami feared the Ozaru form running rampant. Increasing his mental and physical strength, it was in this room Goku first transformed. Learning of this ability and of the damage it could do to the world.

“How goes his progress?” Kami had made Goku a deal that if he could learn to control this form, he could venture away from the Lookout.

“Very well, he’s training to try and control his Great Ape form.” He even got rid of his tail weakness, training it up so it was nice and strong. “He wants to see the world, I don’t think he wants to destroy it.” Kami nodded. Goku may have enjoyed battle but he didn’t want to kill. From what he observed Goku was willing to give mercy to his opponents, but if that mercy was rejected he didn’t give someone a third chance.

“Do you think he could defeat King Piccolo?”

“Kami...you aren’t thinking of...”

“It’s crossed my mind, the boy’s strength has grown impressively if he can defeat King Piccolo for the good he could replace me as the Earth’s Guardian.” Mr. Popo didn’t like it, thinking there had to be another way.

“Don’t you think you and Piccolo could reconcile, and become one again?” Kami shook his head.

“This is the only way. I’ll be accelerating his training, I trust you’ll do the same.” Mr. Popo nodded. Goku returned from the Pendulum Room, it was difficult but he was slowly getting control of his transformation. It wasn’t easy, but he thought he was getting closer and closer to figuring it out. Battling dinosaurs was decent practice since the Pendulum Room’s magic allowed him to go back in time without altering any events. “Goku how would you like to train under me?”

“You mean it!” his tail wagged. “Thank you Grandpa!” he hugged the older namekian. With Kami’s more hands-on training Goku started developing more advanced techniques; the After Image Technique, Energy Cannon, Mouth Blast, and the Exploding Wave. Mr. Popo taught Goku the Energy Absorption Technique, though he warned that since he wasn’t immortal he couldn’t just absorb energy endlessly.

Kami used Magic Materialization to create weighted clothing for Goku to wear building up his muscle mass as he trained and sparred. With proper training as he grew up, he was able to gain control of his Ozaru form. With a sharpened mind and chiseled body, he was quite the fierce warrior.

“Grandpa, how come you don’t go down and visit the Earth?”

“It isn’t the path I chose, as Guardian, you have to make hard decisions. If you act on every single thing people will come to rely on you too much and not handle matters on their own, and progress will grind to a halt, but if you do nothing you risk losing what you are trying to protect, the balance will crumble.” Kami looked up to the sky. “Believe it or not Goku there are beings known as the Kais, they watch over the vast universe trying to keep the balance and natural order.”

“Wow!” Mr. Popo had explained the balance of creation and destruction to him before, but it was still hard to fully grasp.

‘I wonder what kind of path you’ll take when you become the guardian.’ Kami told Goku about the Dragon Balls his gift to the world to right some of the wrongs beyond his control. Though he feared the balls would one day be used for wicked purposes.

On Earth things were bustling…

Emperor Pilaf was trying to get his hands on the Dragon Balls for World Domination purposes, but his small forces soon faced off against the Red Ribbon Army. In the face of their overwhelming military might, they had surrendered their claim on the Dragon Ball they held.

The Red Ribbon Army was amassing countless forces as they searched for the Dragon Balls. The desert bandit Yamcha and his comrade Puar were recruited by the Red Ribbon Army, because of their reputation. His skills earned him the title of General Orange.

Commander Red wanted the Dragon Balls for petty reasons, wanting to wish to be taller. Not that he told his Generals that, they were believing he was questing for World Domination. Yamcha didn’t trust Commander Red and planned to play his cards right to get the balls right out from under him.

With the ball, they got from Pilaf they had a total of two, but they needed all seven to make a wish. They knew where two of the balls were but had issues getting to them. One of them was on Fire Mountain guarded by the Ox-King, the man was a skilled martial artist and a monster of a man on his own but Fire Mountain was something they couldn’t get near. The magical flames gave off such intense heat even trying to fly near the place with the most advanced technology would either melt or explode.

The other ball was in the hands of Master Roshi the Turtle Hermit, known as one of the greatest martial artists in the world. Messing with him was a gamble, an attempt was made but he blasted them out of the sky before they even got close to his island.

“Commander Red sir, our men reported the sight of another ball.”

“Where is it?”

“In a small village beneath Korin’s Tower.”

“Good, have the men retrieve it!”

“They tried sir, they were defeated by the village chief.”

“Ridiculous!” He grumbled. “I’ve had enough, we have no choice, contact Mercenary Tao!” the name struck fear in the hearts of everyone who heard it. The man was a killer for hire, he was so good at killing he decided to make money from it.

To be continued...Goku’s Trial Collect the Dragon Balls