Chapter 3: Gathering the B team

Goku had been sprinting down Snake way for nearly a week now and the end still wasn't in sight. While he was running his mind kept wandering back to the end of his life. He had failed, plain and simple, he let down the people who meant the most to him. He'd lost fights before but this time there were consequences, just like the fight against Mercenary Tao, this time his son had been kidnapped, taken to some far off planet to live with a bunch of killers and Chi Chi was now left without either him or Gohan. His heart ached for them he never wanted anything bad to happen to them he was suppose to protect them from things like this and he just couldn't this time. He kept seeing their faces flash before him, it drove him on like the time he was climbing Korin's tower, he wasn't going to let anything distract him anymore, not even his stomach.'I won't let you down again.' His heart was reaching out to them as he continued his run, "I promise."

(Back on Earth)

During the night one of King Furry's staffers learned that the world martial arts tournament arena had recently been rebuilt, by an ex-participant. Apparently there were plans to begin having tournaments again within the next few years, but since another suitable donor had not come forward with prize money it currently lay empty. So the King immediately rented the site for the military only tournament which would be happening the next day.

Master Roshi, Bulma, and King Furry had agreed to arrive early to the tournament grounds to thank the owner of the ground for letting them rent the stadium on such short notice. The trio planed to meet up outside the entrance, by that time though there was more than fair amount of traffic as most of the officers also tried to arrive early to gain favor with the King, so finding one another became a considerable task, in a river of people.

"Ah Master Roshi there you are." King Furry said as finally found the Martial Art's master who the entire tournament was set up for.

"King Furry, thank you again for finding this site on such short notice I hadn't even heard it was being rebuilt." Master Roshi said as he shook the dog-man's hand.

Before the King could respond he was interrupted by a voice Master Roshi found vaguely familiar. "That is because I have tried very hard to keep it under wraps, so it may be a surprise for the world." the thickly accented, gruff voice said.

Master Roshi turned around and before him another legendary martial artist stood. "King Chappa? What are you doing here" Master Roshi asked surprised to see a familiar face here.

"Yes I am King Chappa, and I am the owner of the new arena. I hope to revive the tournament that way my students get the same chance to compete that I did." King Chappa replied.

Master Roshi couldn't believe his luck, he was looking for the top Martial artists and here was one of the top ones ever standing before him. "I'm not sure if you are familiar with me King Chappa, but I am quite familiar with you, My name is Master Roshi."

King Chappa's face flashed with surprised, of course he had heard of Master Roshi he was one of the few fighters who were as legendary as he himself was. "It's a pleasure to meet you Master Roshi." Chappa said bowing in respect to the man before him. "I take it you are the King's advisor in this tournament?"

"Actually I will be the commander of a new group to defend the world from an upcoming threat." Master Roshi responded laying the bait. Much to King Furry's chagrin he and his advisers would be discussing how to best inform the people of Earth about the incoming threat soon and he really didn't want rumors to start spreading until they were ready to answer the difficult questions that would be posed.

King Chappa immediately asked "A threat what sort of threat?"

It was the question that King Furry had been dreading. "I'm sorry but unfortunately that is confidential information at this time." he cut in trying to contain the damage.

I think we can tell him if you're ok with with it your majesty, King Chappa here is fighter, strong enough that he might be able to help us defend the planet."

King Furry looked back and forth between the two, "I thought you were going to train the soldiers." he asked confused that was the whole point of the tournament.

"I am, I might just train one less of them if he is willing to help, King Chappa is one of the strongest men on the planet, I can't believe I forgot to include him in the plans from the beginning." Master Roshi responded before turning to a surprised King Chappa waiting his answer to the impromptu offer.

"I'll have to know more about this threat before I can agree, but you do have me interested." Chappa responded.

"Yes well let me start at the beginning then. As I'm sure you've heard Goku the boy who knocked you out both of the last tournaments was a student of mine. He was the single strongest fighter on the planet, beating many great fighters but his greatest victories came over the Demon King Piccolo and Piccolo's son." Master Roshi began, none of this information was new to King Chappa, he had kept track of the remarkable child who had easily beaten him, not just once but twice.

"He was the single strongest being to have ever set foot on this planet, at least he was until recently, when his brother arrived." Master Roshi continued and King Chappa took notice of how Master Roshi said arrived but stayed silent. "When he arrived we learned that Goku was in fact not from this planet, he was from a warlike alien race and sent here as a child to wipe out all of humanity. But he never knew of this mission because he had hit his head as a small child, wiping out his memory, so he grew up and became the planet's greatest defender instead. Because of this fact he refused his brother's demands that he finish his mission and as a result had his son kidnapped from him." Master Roshi paused to let King Chappa digest the rush of information he had just given him.

"So we will be helping Goku retrieve his son?" King Chappa asked trying to connect the dots.

"partially, but that's not all there is to this story." Master Roshi responded. "Goku ended up teaming up with King Piccolo's son in a desperate attempt to rescue his son and prevent the extermination of the Earth." Master Roshi continued "Even together they were not able to defeat this new foe, Goku was killed and the child of Piccolo gravely wounded. At the end of the battle we were given a small glimmer of hope though, as the attacker decided he would draw out the attack on the Earth by giving us 1 year to train for he and his allies return."

King Chappa was shocked he knew how strong the child was even 5 years ago and he had seen most of the fight between him and Piccolo's spawn, if them together couldn't beat this new foe then the world truly was in grave danger. "Of course I will help. You said you had some sort of training planned am I correct? I hardly think I need it but i will listen to your proposal anyway." The former World Martial Arts tournament Champ boasted.

"While you are a great fighter, to beat the beings we will be fighting you have to master the ancient art of using Ki, the same techniques that allow for us to do the seemingly supernatural, such as our increased strength and speed."

King Chappa had an abstract knowledge of Ki, it was how he had become the world martial arts champion, it was also the key to his ultimate attack, what Master Roshi said next though confirmed his long held ideas about other martial arts in general, "It is also the secret to using the most advanced techniques such as the Kamehameha wave." That really got his attention, the Kamehameha wave was one of the most legendary attacks ever created, even more so than his 8 armed technique. "And you would teach us how to harness our Ki to perform this technique?" he asked suspicious master level martial artists usually didn't share their prized techniques with one another.

"Yes because it is the fastest way to help get us all to the level of strength we need to defeat the invaders" the Turtle hermit responded, King Chappa could instantly tell the man was telling the truth by the conviction with which he spoke.

"It's settled then I will train with you, when will it begin?" King Chappa asked, genuinely excited it wasn't everyday you got to learn a legendary attack.

"I planning on at the end of this tournament gathering the last 2 fighters and then meeting up at this island in around 6 days." Master Roshi said as he handed over a copy of the coordinates.

King Chappa took the paper, "I will alert my students to my prolonged absence and order them to double their own training regimes." a large smile on his normally serious face and with that he turned and left.

"My that was an quite a development." King Furry said quietly not quite sure what to make of the discussion that had just happened.

"Yes it was, we were in luck, but we need to hurry and get this tournament under way now if we're going to keep the new deadline." Master Roshi said as he started back towards the arena, but was interrupted by a certain blue hair heiress, who had just arrived.

"Sorry I'm late your majesty, I was helping my father with an important invention of his." Bulma explained.

"No problem, my dear we were just about to head in ourselves so you are right on time." King Furry assured as the trio walked into the arena.

After King Furry explained the threat the world was under and Master Roshi demonstrated the power his training could give you, by destroying a decommissioned tank with just a small Kamehameha blast, nearly 7,000 of the 10,000 soldiers wanted the training. The other 3,000 or so didn't volunteer because they believed they didn't have a chance against the men they had spent years training with.

It had took nearly 3 days for the nearly 7000 fighters to be whittled down to the final 12 of which all 7 of the members of the EDF's premier special forces unit, The Blue Force. Each solders was believed to be so powerful that the only men that could even land a blow against them were the 6 other members in the unit.

The first fight of the finals, and the only fight in which members of the force would square off, would be between the current second in command of the blue force Sgt. Caspin, a man of medium height and muscular build. vs. the man who he had replaced 3 years ago after Sgt. Java disobeyed a direct order from the Captain which resulted in a successful mission but had what was considered an unacceptable level of civilian casualties, which in the Captain's opinion was any. Sgt. Java was a large man heavily built "Looks like im gunna get a chance to wipe that smug look of your face, and prove just how unworthy you are... sir." Sgt Java said a his face on the verge if a snarl as he stared at the man who had stolen his job.

"Lets just get it started Java." Sgt Caspin said a smirk on his face as he sized up his opponent, they had hated each other for years, finally he would get a chance to shut his rival up.

The referee looked to both fighters seeing they were ready he shouted "start!" And the fighters rushed each other. Sgt. Java tried to go for a quick knockout like he had the last two fights against his contemporaries, bringing his fist back for a powerful blow. Caspin had been watching the previous fights and quickly ducked into a roll right through Java's legs, knocking down him on his face. Both men quickly righted themselves and rushed back towards one another, testing each others guard, neither one willing to fully commit to an attack. Finally Sgt. Caspin saw an opening and went for it launching a quick jab towards Sgt. Java's exposed sternum, which is what Java was hoping he would do, twisting his body slightly the larger man able to pin his smaller opponent's arm under his own armpit. Sgt. Caspin instantly knew he was in trouble but before he could do anything to respond, Sgt. Java unleashed a powerful left hook straight to the side of the smaller man's head, since he couldn't roll with the hit Caspin took the full brunt of the blow, and then another.

Sgt. Caspin's world was spinning, it was either a miracle or a curse that he was still conscience.

He had now taken 3 hard blows to the head without being able to properly defend against it. So far he hadn't been able to break free from Sgt. Java's vice like grip now matter what he tried, kicking, punching, he had even tried dropping his weight to throw him right before the last punch, he was simply hoisted back and and had to take the blow anyway. Just as Sgt. Java reached back one more time intending to finish the fight right then and there, Sgt. Caspin did something unexpected, he acted as if he was dropping again and as Sgt. Java braced to lift him back up, he launched himself head first into Sgt. Java's face.

Sgt. Java staggered back as he involuntarily grasped at his now shattered nose. Sgt. Caspin wasn't in much better shape as the ringing in his head had gone from bad to worse after he headbutted his captor. Both men staggered several steps back before Sgt. Java began to get his bearings, and as he did his face contorted into a snarl, his eyes were watering and blood dripping from his nose, he didn't care about playing by the rules anymore now he was out for blood. Sgt. Java rushed blindly in a full blown rage intending to snap his opponent's neck, which gave Sgt. Caspin his last chance for victory.

As the larger man came into striking distance he swung, Caspin moved to the right at the perfect time, latched onto his attackers arm and pulled as hard as he could. Sgt. Java was already off balance from his wild swing and was completely unable to brace himself as he was hoisted into a pre-throw judo style lock, and then was promptly tossed out of the ring.

Sgt. Java may have been eliminated from the tournament but that didn't mean he was done, he immediately jumped back up ready to continue the fight. But as he was about to re-enter the ring a certain old man seemingly appeared in front of him. "You lost fair and square Sergeant, it's time for you to take your seat with the others." his voice was calm, but there was just a hint of a threat there also, a kind of confidence that was a clear indicator this man could back up his order.

"Butt out old ma-ahhhh" Sgt. Java started to say as he reached out to push the geezer who was attempting to deny him his revenge out of the way. He regretted his action before he could even finish his sentence though, as he was suddenly thrown at a very high speed back into a wall, knocking him unconscious and making a dent in the wall.

"Hmm, I guess sometimes I still forget my own strength." Master Roshi said stroking his beard as everyone present's eyes bulged. They knew the old man could make a beam of light that could vaporize things, but they didn't realize he had superhuman strength also. needless to say the most of the remaining fights ended more graciously, lest they incite the wrath of the super powered old man, though non of the remaining fights lasted very long either as the legend of the Blue Force was upheld, not a single blow was landed by any of their competition.

The final fight was a spectacle to behold, two giants stepped forth, one the commander of the Blue force, Captain Meditrain who was rumored to be the single best fighter in all of the EDF, his opponent was almost as infamous as the Captain was legendary, Lieutenant Cog, the commander of the second most prestigious special forces Delta squad.

"Looks like I finally get to avenge my squad's ranking." Lieutenant Cog said a blood thirsty smile on his face as he stared at his contemporary.

"Hm, if you really wanted to be number one maybe you should put some more effort in, Your squad has been unimpressive during the joint training missions." Captain Meditrain responded slightly bored with the whole event.

Master Roshi had kept a close eye on the Captain, he had certainly lived up to reputation as the strongest man in the EDF so far and so the wizened master was eager to see how he would fair against a tougher opponent. If anyone was hoping for a long fight though, there hopes were almost immediately dashed.

Cog rushed in and began trying to test Meditrain's defenses with a series of feints to try and get an opening. But the veteran soldier didn't bite on any of his attempts, he simply would dodge or occasionally parry the attacks waiting for his opponent to do his work for him.

Finally Cog over extended slightly on one of his feints, which was all the opening Meditrain needed. Most of the soldier watching couldn't believe their eye's one moment it seemed like an even fight, the next Lieutenant Cog wrapped his arms around his chest making a wheezing sound and then collapsed, seemingly without being hit

Master Roshi and the soldiers of Blue Force all had a clear view of what had happened though as soon as Lieutenant Cog had overextended his arm Captain Meditrain unleashed a vicious blow to captains Cog's ribs, causing his fellow giant to instinctively wrap an arm around his now bruised bones to protect them from a bone breaking follow up that never came, Which left him open for a quick knock out blow to his jaw that sent him sprawling.

To say Master Roshi was impressed was an understatement, Captain Meditrain appeared to be the closest thing to the other top tier martial artists he was hoping to recruit, though he still had a ways to go. He seemed to be at least comparable to Nam during the 21st Martial Arts tournament which gave Master Roshi hope that he and his 5 fighters could in time help defend the planet.

A few minutes later, after the medical staff had removed the still unconscious form of Lieutenant Cog from the ring. The announcer then called the 7 winners to the ring so that Master Roshi could give them their marching orders so to speak. In Addition to Captain Meditrain and Sgt. Caspin, who were by far the largest and smallest of the men gathered, Sgt. Adraic and Sgt. Aegean were two of the officers of the unit. While Pvt. Aden and Pvt. Bengal were among the longest tenured members of the squad. All of them were similar in stature and build tall and muscular with only a small amount of variation between them. Master Roshi cleared his throat before he talked to his 6 new pupils for the first time. "First off I would like to congratulate you six on your impressive fights, you all have a long way to go but at least I won't have to re-teach you all the basics." he started, his pupil's faces said there were mixed feelings on his opening statements. "As you've already heard from King Furry, the threat we will be facing will be powerful, much more powerful than any fighter to have ever lived on our world. Because of this I will remind you all one last time that this training will be the hardest of your life, your bodies will ache, and your will will be tested, some of you for the first time in your life, but at the end of the day you just might be able to help save the planet." he paused a moment to see if what he was saying was getting through to the men before him, he immediately could tell they weren't impressed with his speech so far, it was mostly the same jargon that they had heard half a dozen times so far as they rose through the ranks to their current positions. "Anyway here are the coordinates of the island i want you to meet me at, I'll be there in 2 days at most, but if you wanted to you could get there early to begin your training go right ahead, every minute helps."

Captain Meditrain spoke for the group on all matters since he was the commanding officer so he was the one to respond, "We're special forces we're ready to move whenever, we'll be there by this evening. Then after you arrive we'll spend a couple hours mastering your little technique before returning to base to resume normal mission readiness." he stated plainly before motioning for his men to move out.

'Hmmm, they're going to be in for a rude awaking when training starts, that commander of theirs definitely has an attitude.' Master Roshi mused.

"Geez, what was his problem?" Bulma asked from behind, also noticing the Captain's unhealthy self-confidence. "I bet Goku could've mopped the floor with that guy by the time he was 13." she continued voicing her irritation with the man's statement.

"Don't worry he'll get knocked down a few pegs when training starts. It's obvious the Captain has never actually met a better fighter than himself, which leads to his overconfidence." Master Roshi responded.

"That still doesn't mean it's ok." Bulma huffed as she crossed her arms definitely. Master Roshi knew that look he was getting close to the danger zone, so he decided not to press his luck any further. "On more pressing matters do you think you could give Chi Chi a message for me?" Master Roshi asked quickly changing the subject,."Just tell her to meet up for training before tomorrow afternoon at these coordinates." Master Roshi said as he handed her a second small card, with the directions on it.

Still looking pissed off Bulma responded, "Sure whatever." she mumbled still glaring as the group disappeared from view, clearly still irritated with the Captain's attitude, before storming off in the opposite direction.

'We'll that worked out well, there was no way I could find the other 2 recruits if Chi Chi got a hold of me." Master Roshi gulped at the thought of what awaited him if what Bulma had told him was right.

A few minutes later Master Roshi had already gotten in his own Capsule plane ready to find his next recruit, he just needed to figure out where he was going first. 'I suppose Korin's tower is the closer of the too, yes I think I should go that route.' the old martial artist mumbled to himself, as he started the engine of his water plane before lifting off and flying away from the capitol west towards his first stop, the Land of Korin.

It was a long 5 hour flight from the Capital there and Master Roshi spent most of the time thinking about how to best approach the situation since he hadn't actually met the man he would be trying to recruit. He was simply going off of what he had heard from Goku about his travels all those years ago. "That boy could make a friend out of a complete stranger, hopefully Bora is not only willing, but also strong enough to help." The elder martial artist said with a sigh, the weight of having to be one of the ones saving the world continuing to weigh on him, despite his early successes in rallying the Earth's future defenders.

Finally after what seemed like forever he had arrived, near the base of Korin's Tower. He circled the area twice looking for the best landing spot, after he realized he couldn't land at the closest opening because there was a tee-pee set up. He finally settled on landing a few hundred meters away, just enough space for him to walk off the leg cramp the long flight had given him, at least he hoped, it would be enough space to.

As he got out he realized his back too had gone stiff from the long period of being hunched over the controls so he begun stretching his back and was caught staring straight up at the tower. It had been over 300 years since he had last visited this land, he had nearly forgotten just how massive the tower was, and how beautiful the land surrounding it truly was. 'I can't believe I actually made it to the top of that when I was younger, I suppose I'll try it again in a few months to see if I still have It.' he idly thought to himself while he continued to stretch.

"Who are you, this is sacred land, please do not defile it with you machines." a deep gruff voice sounded from behind Master Roshi, causing the wizened martial artist to jump as he was caught off guard. He quickly turned around his hand behind his head as he chuckled sheepishly, doing his best Goku impersonation.

The man that had questioned him was near Tien or Yamcha's age only larger and much more muscular, next to him was a teenage boy who definitely had a family resemblance to the first man but appeared to be a few years younger than Goku. "Oh sorry you caught me off guard there. My name is Master Roshi. Here I'll just push the capislate button real fast." and just like that the plane turned into a small capsule that easily fit in his pocket.

Hiding his shock at the marvels of modern technology the older man continued his questions in a stern voice "Why have you come to this land Mr. Roshi, I don't suppose you will be climbing the tower like the last visitors we've had recently, will you?"

"Good so the others did make it." Master Roshi said quietly to himself before responding to the question "I won't be climbing this time I'm afraid, though I look forward to climbing it again sometime in the near future. I'm actually on a very important mission I came here in search of a man one of my students told me about nearly a decade ago a great warrior named Bora who was brought back to life with the dragon balls after he was slain valiantly defending my student from the villainous Mercenary Tao." Master Roshi responded fairly certain he was looking at said the warrior he searched for was. The younger man all but confirmed his suspicions when he, with a surprised look, turned to the larger man, who master Roshi assumed was his father and seemed to silently ask a question. The older man simply nodded before stepping forward a step and asked. "I am Bora; may I ask if the boy you spoke of might've been named Goku?"

Master Roshi smiled, "Yes that was him."

Both father and son exchanged a sincere smile before turning back towards Master Roshi, "I owe Goku my life, I told him he was always welcome here, though I haven't heard from him in years, I am glad to have the opportunity to meet his master. He is still doing well I hope."

Both of the men before him, instantly picked up the change in the man's mood, a strong sadness seemingly began to emit off of him at the question. "Goku sadly was killed recently by a being much stronger than Tao. This man was stronger than any being to ever set foot on this planet, Goku's own brother."

"That is awful, unfortunately we have not seen any of the dragon balls since the last time Goku was here, I wish we could help though." Bora's son replied misunderstanding Roshi's reasoning for seeking them out.

"We've already got a plan in place to find the dragonballs, and have someone looking for them now, but there is in fact something else I am hoping you'd be able to help us with, You see when we found out that Goku had a brother, we also found out that he is in fact an alien." he paused letting what he said set in before continuing. "Goku apparently was sent here to kill everyone on the planet but because of a head injury when he was an infant, making him forgets his mission and giving him the opportunity to become the Earth's greatest savior."

Both of the men in front of him faces' were showing signs of shock at the revelations, but he continued after a second's pause. "He teamed up with his greatest enemy the son of king Piccolo himself in an attempt to defeat his brother who was going to take his son and then finish Goku's mission. Goku died and Piccolo's son was only spared so he could deliver a message to the rest of us, in one year Goku's brother, plus two more of Goku's species will arrive to try and finish us off, the only reason he didn't do it himself is because he was injured during the struggle, and Piccolo claimed he wanted his associates in on the fun. So since they have given us a year to prepare we are gathering as many strong fighters as we can to try and defend the planet. Since I remembered Goku telling me about you, I figured I would ask you if you would be willing to help defend the planet." Roshi finished thinking over everything making sure he hadn't left out any important information.

Bora and Upa stood silently for a moment trying to go over everything that the old man had just told them, after another moment after he was sure he understood everything Bora finally spoke up turning to his son he said "For nearly 20 years defending this sacred land has been my duty, I have done it to the best of my ability defending it from every threat I possibly could. Now though in order to defend my home I must fight for the entire planet, and so the duty of defending this land will lay with you my son, until I am able to return."

Upa was shocked he figured his father would help defend the planet but he didn't expect him to agree so quickly, Nor did he expect to be thrust into the role of guardian of the sacred land so quickly he still had lots to learn. But at the same time he knew he couldn't show any surprise or fear though his father was putting his faith in him and he was going to show he was worthy for it. "Yes father I understand, I won't let you down."

Bora silenly walked to the tee-pee to gathered his sparse belongings, then gave his son one last bit of encouragement before saying goodbye and walking aboard the man's ship, for the first time in 20 years he would leave the land he had called home.

"Are we going to meet with the other fighters now?" Bora asked after the plane was able to get back in the air again. "We have one more fighter to pick up first, the plan is to pick him up and then head back to my training island." Master Roshi responded as he set the navigation system. "Get confortable it's going to be a long flight."

The entire time the tournament was going on King Furry had his people scouring the world for any hint of Mercenary Tao or the Crane school's master, Master Shen. Soon after it ended though they were finally able to contact Mercenary Tao using some of their criminal informants, who agreed he and his brother would help for a substantial fee. When they asked which students he would train and explained to him about the tournament he claimed "All of the second place fighters will do, my brother and I will make them far superior fighters to anything the old fool of the turtle school could train, I'll contact you with the coordinates to send them." with that the call was ended.

'I hope this was the right decision.' King Furry couldn't help but feel he had just made a deal with the devil.

They flew straight south for nearly 4 hours, Bora spent the time catching up on what else had been happening in the world the last 7 years. Time passed much faster for the turtle hermit than the first 5 hours now that he had someone to distract him from his own thoughts.

After they arrived where Master Roshi remembered Nam saying the desert village was located, it was nothing like what the warrior had said it was like, lush fields covered the banks of a massive river flowing down the center of a small bustling city. "Well I can see things have certainly improved here in the last decade." The turtle hermit commented, as the duo departed the plane.

Master Roshi looked around, the city was as busy as most small cities with people were rushing back and forth continuing their daily lives. "Hmm, this could be more difficult than I thought." Master Roshi tried feeling out with his senses but there were too many people in the city for him to accurately detect even someone as strong as Nam easily.

"I suppose we could ask someone where the man you're trying to locate is." Bora suggested after Roshi stood their seemingly zoning out again. "Sorry I was trying to sense where in the city the martial artist we're looking for is. I felt something that might have been him in that direction, but he feels very distant." he responded before marching off into the crowd. Bora being much larger than the average man was easily able to keep track of the old man mainly by watching for the sun reflecting off of his bald head, as he was weaving through the crowd towards the center of town. They traveled through the middle of town and out the other side, after walking nearly 30 minutes before they had reached the end of the city, but they kept on going, at the very edge there was a small group of very basic, and very worn, old capsule houses.

Master Roshi suddenly stopped and announced, "I think we've arrived." before walking straight towards the nearest house. He arrived knocked and waited, within a few moments an elderly lady with a bindi answered the door, "Yes can I help you." she asked squinting as she tried to see who it was at her door.

Master Roshi cleared his throat before beginning, "Good day ma'am, I'm sorry for disturbing you this evening but I'm trying to find an man I met nearly a decade ago and I was hoping you knew of him and could point me in the right direction, his name was Nam."

"Nam? Yes I know of him, why are you searching for him?" she asked suddenly defensive.

"He is a great warrior, the Earth is in danger from a new powerful threat, I was hoping he'd be willing to help us defend It." he responded, hoping the truth would get him the information he needed in a timely manner.

She stared at him for a minute before responding as she tried to gauge if he was telling the truth or not, there were always fast talking city people coming over to what was left of the small village telling lies to steal the little they had. "And why don't you call the military about this, instead of bothering poor Nam."

Master Roshi was afraid that the villagers would have a distaste for outsides, but continued on anyway attempting to bypass the woman by getting a better fix on where the high energy level he felt earlier was coming from. "We have already, they will be helping too but we need martial artists to help us too and he's one of the best ar-.. around" he stumbled for a minute because he got a better fix on him. "Thank you anyway for your time ma'am but I think I just found him he said as he began walking towards a nearby hill. Bora was surprised by Master Roshi's sudden change in strategy but silently followed him anyway.

After a few minutes they finally rounded a corner and noticed a man hauling a large tree over each of his shoulders, seeing how there were no large trees around this area meant he had to have cut them somewhere far off past the desert and carried them all the way across the desert, an impressive feat even for people as strong as Bora and Roshi.

The man seemed to notice the pair walking towards him and as they got nearer set the trees down as he recognized the turtle hermit who had helped him so much in the past. "Ah Master Roshi, what brings you out this way." He asked his accent thick in his voice. "I hope things are well for you." he continued quickly.

"Unfortunately I can't be visiting on better terms." Master Roshi's voiced reflected the mood that had hung over him most of the last week, "The Earth is in serious danger Nam, and we need your help to save it."

Nam stared at the Turtle Hermit, searching his mind for what he could possibly do to help that others such as Roshi and Goku could not, failing to find an answer himself he finally asked. "Of course I will help any way I can, but I'm not sure what help I could be, Goku's been stronger than me since he was a child, you too have always been far stronger than I have." He wasn't trying to be modest; he was just stating the facts as he saw them.

Roshi hesitated just a second before he began the recruiting pitch he had gotten very used to repeating lately. When he finished Nam didn't hesitate a second. "Of course I will try, I'd rather go down fighting than give up, allow me a moment to deliver this firewood to my family, tell them of the mission, and gather my things." He stated calmly before lifting the large trees once more and continuing towards his home.

Bora smiled at the fact there were others in the world willing to defend it, from what he had been told they would need all the help they could get to save the planet from the upcoming showdown.

It took Nam a mere 15 minutes before he was packed and ready to go, most of the village came to see him off, He had simply told them he had been asked to take part in an important mission to help save the planet, everyone knew and respect Nam enough to not question him further on the matter, if Nam was willing to drop everything to partake they knew it had to be dire.

And with that the trio was on their way back to the training island to meet up with the other new students. Nam had followed the exploits of Goku closer than Bora was able to but Master Roshi still spent a good portion of the 4 hour flight west filling him in on some of his ex-students exploits that didn't make it into the world news, and filling him in further on what little they knew about the attackers. Bora and Nam also took the time to get to know one another; they had similar enough personalities that they became quick friends.

By the time they arrived on the island Master Roshi felt like he didn't want to fly anywhere in a plane for the next century or two, but he knew until he got one of the ex-crane students to teach him he'd still be stuck in the cramped machine.

As they disembarked the wizened martial artist instantly noticed that something was seriously wrong, the 6 blue force members lay scattered around the ground, mostly unconscious, though one was sitting up nursing his injuries.

"What happened here Sgt… Caspin." Master Roshi asked nearly forgetting the mans name, 'There sure are a lot of Sergeants in this group.' Master Roshi mused as he waited for the man's answer.

He looked up a shocked look on his face still from the battle that had apparently been raging, but he quickly snapped out of it when he was asked a question, and shuddered before he began. "It was crazy, I've been in plenty of fights but i've never seen anything like it."

There you have it Chapter 3, It had a major rewrite from it's original form so I wasn't able to fit the explanation of the timeline in this chapter but it'll be in the next chapter for sure. The rewrite was also why it took so long for me to get it up on here. If anyone has any questions, or sees something that you think i haven't explained well enough please give me a review and I'll try and get it answered taken care of.

Reviews:

Co co: Thanks for the review. Yes Goku is going to come back, in my mind at least it would be nearly impossible for the Z-fighters to win against the Saiyans without him. Also Raditz is going to be a main character, but not the main character, if that makes sense. His role is going to be somewhere between Tien and Vegeta's role in the actual show. and Finally Raditz and Goku will have a reunion at some point in the story so keep your eye's peeled for that.