Korin never got tired of the view.
For the last 800 years, he had lived peacefully on his tower, one which extended all the way to the heavens, and in all that time, he never grew tired of waking up in the morning and gazing down from the railing of the central chamber towards the clouds which hung over the many people below. With his telepathy, he could sense the energies of every living thing on his beloved planet's surface as they went about their routine lives, completely unaware of the danger now posed to them by two entities thousands of light years away.
Suddenly, however, a bright light appeared behind the feline as he surveyed his domain.
"Kami," Korin stated simply, to which he replied in kind.
"I trust you are aware of the situation?" Kami asked, already knowing the answer.
Korin simply nodded. "Goku's brother, coward though he may be, still has the same warrior's blood in his veins. He was in a tier all his own compared to anything this planet has faced-stronger than all but the greatest warriors even of your own planet."
"Indeed," Kami replied grimly. "King Yemma has begrudgingly allowed Goku to receive training from King Kai-Sama, but I doubt he will be so courteous to the others. And Piccolo has absconded with young Gohan."
"It would not be wise to attempt to intervene, old friend," Korin replied, sensing Kami's thoughts. "King Piccolo carried the greater half of your power, and his son carries still greater potential. A rescue attempt could be costly, especially if Piccolo is killed in the attempt. Besides...I can sense the influence of your counterpart's soul diminishing within his mind."
Kami looked at him, surprised. "You are certain of this?"
"Indeed. It would seem that Piccolo's own personality is asserting itself more and more. And the boy is like his father was when he was younger, in many ways. It may yet be possible for him to turn to the side of good."
"Hmph. Perhaps. But at any rate, it falls to us and Mr. Popo to prepare Earth's warriors for the Saiyans' arrival," Kami concluded.
Korin nodded. "I believe Krillin, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Yajirobe, and Chiaotzu are our best chance."
Kami turned to him yet again. "Just those five warriors? S-surely there are others with great potential. The renowned King Chappa, or Panput, perhaps? Both have won global tournaments before."
"Bah! Amateurs," Korin muttered distastefully. "Goku didn't even have to try to defeat them."
"Nam of the desert?" Kami suggested.
"...Better. Although, unlike these other warriors, he is bound to serve his village. I do not believe he would be willing to separate himself from them for a year, even in light of the circumstances."
"Chi Chi?"
"She gave up the warrior's life long ago."
"Hm...what about Roshi?" Kami eventually suggested after a moment's consideration.
Korin sighed loudly before replying. "He does indeed possess a fair amount of power, but his advanced age presents a problem. Moreover...he does not strike me as being worthy of your training, Kami."
"His age is a concern, but I do not see how this makes him unworthy of training, especially given the feats of strength he has displayed in the past."
"The other warriors have had slight moral lapses, but he is unscrupulous, and his motives impure," Korin responded, scoffing. "If he put as much effort into climbing my tower when he was younger as he did into trying to 'pick up chicks,' he would've done it in 3 weeks instead of 3 years!"
"Perhaps, but it is clear that age and experience has changed him...somewhat," Kami stated. "He does indeed possess concern for the world and all of its inhabitants, and places it vastly ahead of his own pursuits. After all, he gave his own life in an attempt to stop my darker half. And furthermore, there are some techniques of his which the others can learn from."
"Hm...well, you have the final say, old friend. But I would like to say that I believe you are mistaken in your judgement of him."
"Your objection is noted," Kami stated before turning to the Tower's other inhabitant, who had up until that point been ignoring them both while chowing down on roasted fish.
"Yajirobe!" Kami commanded, startling him and causing him to drop the piece of meat he was about to eat. "I need you to deliver a message to five warriors on Earth. Inform them of the coming Saiyan threat, and tell them that I require their presence in order to train for their arrival in one year's time."
"K," Yajirobe replied simply. "Who do you want me to bring here?"
"Who-? W-weren't you listening?" Kami asked him, dumbfounded.
"Nah. I was too busy eating."
"Hm. Alright. I want you to bring Krillin, Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, and Roshi to the Lookout."
"K. Be back later," Yajirobe said as he pulled out a capsule containing his car and flew off of the Tower.
"So...when are you going to tell him you wanted him to train here, too?" Korin asked.
"He'll figure it out on the way back," Kami replied. "In the meantime, I will retire to the Lookout to prepare for their arrival."
"Good luck, my friend," Korin said as Kami began to glow with light once more. After he had disappeared and returned to the Lookout, Korin added under his breath, "We're all going to need it."
And there we go! Sorry it's so short, but well, kinda wanted to just kick it out the door sooner rather than later. That way I have an obligation to keep working on it. Anyway, thought I'd add a few details as far as how this story is going to work goes.
This is my first Dragon Ball fic, and my only experience with the franchise is bits of Super, reading the entire manga from Dragon Ball through Z, and DBZ Abridged. So, might sound like a lot, but believe me, I'm definitely still not well versed in some aspects of the continuity. So, if y'all could help me clean up any continuity errors I make along the way, that'd be much appreciated. Or just reviews in general, good or bad. You have no idea how much those mean, even if they're calling for my death. ;)
For the story itself, we're going to be operating under a series of educated assumptions based on the original canon. The main assumption is that Master Roshi's power level at base is 139, and the power level he displays against Tenshinhan, 180, is 50% of the full capacity he is capable of increasing his power to. His max power transformation, which renders his mobility nonexistent, will therefore be seen as a 100% increase, and will increase his power by another 41, leaving him with a maximum power level of 221 before training. Still not sure if I'll be using power levels all that much here, but for now, I'll leave those numbers here for reference.
We're also assuming that everything else about their training is followed to the letter of the manga save Roshi's inclusion and what that could mean in terms of techniques, meaning no Hyperbolic Time Chamber, no prototype gravity generator at Bulma's place, no time travel anime filler, nothing. And we're assuming that his max power thing is in fact a technique one can teach others.
Anyway, once again, let me know what you guys think and where I can improve!