A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry about the delay, but I had a little mental block with the fic. Plus I got fired, so it hasn't been an easy time here, but I'll try to update once a week or every two weeks. Anyway, the Namek saga kicks off, and if you read carefully, you'll find a little surprise…

One week after Saiyan attack

Goku and Bardock finished another light sparring session. Thanks to their Saiyan genes (and some Senzu Beans the older Saiyan still had on stock), the survivors of the Saiyan invasion were all fighting fit and were planning their next move.

"Goku!" Chichi called "Can you come down here, please?"

"Sure honey" the hero of Earth descended from the sky and went to his wife. "What's up?"

"I'm having doubts about Gohan. You think he should go? It can be too dangerous"

"I know how you feel" Bardock landed as well. "Gine was too fond of both Kakarrot and Raditz. But I'll tell you what I told her: the final decision is always his, not yours. If he wants to go, then you can't stop him. Besides, I'll go as well, so I'll protect him" and the father of Goku smiled.

Chichi felt more relieved, but still scared and she had reasons for that. After Vegeta acknowledged defeat and agreed to help the remaining Z-fighters, they devised the next move: they were going to Piccolo and Kami's home planet, Namek. They were sure that Frieza was going to know about the Dragon Balls since Vegeta's space pod had all the information. In the worst case scenario, they would have two months before Frieza landed on Namek, and Kami's ship would take the exact amount of time to reach Namek.

At Capsule Corp, Bulma was busy working. Thanks to Mr Popo, the heir of Capsule Corp found Kami's old spaceship. She was already finished with teaching Bardock the controls since the scarred Saiyan was the one who was going to pilot the ship. Bulma was now busy on building a new gravity chamber that could go to 30X Earth's gravity. It would be installed in the ship and be ready to fly in 2 weeks. It would take one month to reach Namek and by Vegeta's calculations, the worst case scenario was that Frieza was already there. For that reason the crew would be Bardock, Yamcha, Krillin and Gohan. Goku and Vegeta would go later on a new ship, designed after Nappa's.

But there were 2 problems. The first was Gohan. The young Demi-Saiyan wanted to go since he felt responsible for Piccolo's death, but his mother was reluctant in letting him go. However, Bulma was hoping that the matron of the Son family would let the kid go, since it would be hard to get the Dragon Balls if that Frieza guy was there as well. Vegeta warned them that the Frost Demon's power was incredibly higher than his own Oozaru transformation.

The second problem was the Saiyan Prince himself. Not only was he demanding a new gravity chamber that could go to 50X Earth's gravity, he self-invited himself to live at Capsule Corp while Bulma worked on fixing Kami's ship and building the new one. Not to mention he was constantly annoying Bulma about the new ship.

"I've already told you, it will be ready on time! Now stop bugging me and get out of here!" the heir of Capsule Corp exploded one day.

"Woman, I am the Prince of All Saiyans! Talk to me like that again and I'll…"

"Oh, the Prince of All 3 Saiyans is getting grumpy. What are you going to do, try to blow up Earth again? 'Cause Goku and Bardock are keeping tabs on you mister!"

Vegeta grunted and went back to the standart gravity machine Bulma had.

"Arrogant idiot… But he is kinda cute" Bulma said to herself.

Just then, Bulma's scouter beeped. It was Goku.

"Heya Bulma, is everything going okay in there?"

"Hey Goku. Everything's fine. Kami's ship will be ready by tomorrow and the 30X gravity chamber is already installed in there. The other ship is almost ready, but the 100X gravity chamber will take a while"

"That's okay" Goku's voice was heard through the scouter. "I just wanted to know if you and Vegeta were getting along well"

Bulma blushed a little. "D-don't be stupid. He has to be the most arrogant, self-centered person I've met… And I dated Yamcha!"

"Well, okay then. Oh, if you have time, tell Vegeta to come with you to Kame House for the launching. I have a proposal for him. See you tomorrow" and the scouter went silent.

The next morning, at Kame House…

"Okay guys, are you all ready?" Yamcha asked excited.

"Remember, Yamcha, we only want the Dragon Balls. We don't need unnecessary fighting, especially against such a monster like Frieza" Krillin said.

"Get moving, you slowpokes!" Bardock ordered. "You're going through a hellish training session once we leave Earth's orbit, so I suggest you hurry up!"

"Bardock, can you come here for a second?" Bulma asked.

"What is it?"

"I need you to do a little detour on your trip. I've spotted that on planet Florana, the natural energy of the planet is vanishing, like its being sucked. Since it's on the way to Namek and it would only take you about a day of the trip, would you mind checking that out?"

"Sucking the life energy of the planet… Could it be…? Very well, we'll go there" the scarred Saiyan answered. "Now if you'll excuse me…" and he turned to Gohan. "You ready, kid?"

"You bet, Grandpa Bardock!" and he hugged his parents and went inside the ship.

"Don't worry, Chichi. He'll be fine" Bardock said to his daughter-in-law and went inside the ship as well. It took off to space and in a second, it was already out of sight.

"That reminds me, Kakarrot," Vegeta spoke for the first time "You said you had business with me. What do you want?"

"Well, I would like if you could be my training partner while Bulma is finishing our ship. I could teach you to sense energy without the scouter. What do you say?" and he extended his hand for a shake of approval by the Saiyan Prince.

"An interesting proposal… Very well, Kakarrot. You help me with energy sensing and I will assist you with your training. As much as that Kaioken technique is useful, if your base strength isn't great, you'll be at a disadvantage against Frieza" and the Prince shook hands with the Earth-raised Saiyan.

"Wait… You mean we're really going to have to fight him?" Goku asked.

"Sooner or later, it will happen. Frieza will know of Earth's coordinates and will attack the planet after his visit to Namek, I'm sure. So we need to improve ourselves a lot. Let's get going, Kakarrot. There is no time to lose!" and both Saiyans took off.

In space…

Earth's defenders were training at 10X Earth's gravity. Gohan was already getting used to it, but Krillin and Yamcha were experiencing some serious difficulties.

"Ouch! And this is the base gravity of the Saiyan's home planet? No wonder they are so strong!" Yamcha stated.

"Yeah, but at least we're improving. Maybe it's for the best." Krillin answered.

Bardock was lost in his thoughts about what Bulma asked him. "If the life force is being sucked out, that can only mean one thing… Damnit! I knew I should have killed him back then! I was too soft…"

"Grandpa Bardock, what's wrong? You seem worried" Gohan walked over to his grandfather.

"It's nothing kid. You go train. In about two weeks we'll reach Florana and check things out for Bulma so I suggest you turn up the gear to 15!"

"But we're even not used to 10! You want us to die before Namek?" Yamcha protested.

"You say that, but you're the only one who's having effort standing up" Krillin stated.

They all laughed a little and resumed their training but this time, Bardock joined them. If his hunch was right, he needed to be prepared

And there you go! Have you spotted the hint? I'm having some ideas to add the movie villains to the story in a way that is bearable, even for 'filler' standards. So the voyage started and before Namek, our heroes will make a quick stop in Florana, the plant planet. What will they find there? Stay tuned to find out!

PLs

Goku: 22.500

Vegeta: 34.000

Bardock: 25.000

Gohan: 7.500

Krillin: 3.500

Yamcha: 3.250