"All right, boy. I came here for your dad, but I didn't expect you in the slightest. So I want to see what you're capable of," Raditz said, leading Gohan into the field after breakfast. He turned, and looked down at the boy, "I want you to hit me as hard as you can."
"Wh-What?"
"Hit me, Gohan. Show me what you can do. Hit the bully, come on!" Raditz pounded his chest, "As hard as you can!"
Gohan obliged, running straight at him with a battle cry, and punched Raditz in the boot. It barely gave a 'thunk' when the fist connected. Raditz grunted, pulled back his foot, and kicked Gohan across the field.
"What did I say, boy? I said HIT ME! With EVERYTHING!" Raditz shouted, "You've got power! It runs in your veins, and I need you to SHOW IT TO ME! Come on, boy! HIT ME!"
"B-But I don't-" Gohan cringed, trying to stand.
"What will it take, boy, for you to do something? Is it pain?" Raditz stomped back over to Gohan, and kicked him again, emitting a shriek and a sob from the boy, "Do you know what made me find my strength? Being on the edge of death. Standing on that cliff, only to be pulled back from it."
Raditz put his boot on Gohan, "So, unless you show me your power, I'll beat it into you."
BANG!
Raditz felt something impact the side of his head. He looked down, and saw the smushed bullet on the ground. He turned to see the woman holding one of the Earthling weapons. She cocked it, aimed, and fired at him again. The bullet impacted with his armor and smushed.
"You get away from that boy!" she snarled, firing a third time. Raditz caught it this time; the other humans were standing behind her, and they gasped when he caught it. The man scrambled in front of his mate, and fell to his knees.
"Please, don't! Forgive her, she's just worried about the boy! Don't hurt her, do it to me instead, please, Mr. Raditz, sir!"
Raditz held up the bullet, and prepared to flick it at him, when his scouter let off a noise. Raditz managed to make a half-turn when Gohan struck Raditz with a flash of blue light, sending him across the field, leaving him at the end of a streak of dirt.
"I-I did it!" Gohan gasped, eyes wide as he gawked at Raditz, "I beat him! I-"
Raditz stood up, wiping off the dirt. He grinned, stomping over to Gohan.
"There's more than power that runs in your blood, kid."
"Wh-what?"
Raditz loomed over Gohan, "I could kick you around all day, and you still wouldn't stand up for yourself. You don't know how. But someone else?"
Raditz held up a hand, aimed at the family, and charged a blast. Gohan snarled, and jumped straight at Raditz with both fists in front. Raditz snapped his outstretched arm in, striking Gohan with the charged Ki, planting him in the ground.
"That is what we need, Gohan. It's what they need," Raditz pointed to the humans, "You'll do your grandmother proud. But you do us no good dead."
Raditz peeled Gohan out of the ground, and back on his feet. Gohan wobbled back and forth, woozy from the blow.
"We'll make you a Saiyan warrior yet."
XXX
Krillin looked over all his friends who had joined them in the wasteland. It was hard seeing their faces, the look of worry. They were picking up on Goku's doubt and pensiveness.
"We don't have time to be worried," Krillin declared, "We need a plan."
There was silence from everyone. Krillin clenched his fists.
"Come on, guys, I know Raditz is strong, but there's got to be something we can do. He's got power, but we've got numbers and experience. We can't just stand here worrying about it, we need to train!"
"Yeah. We've gotta fight smart here. We can't overpower him, so what can we do?" Goku stood, his mood shifting from hesitation to determination, "Master Roshi, what do you think?"
The old man stroked his beard a couple of times, "Well, there is the Mafuba. It's tricky and dangerous, but I didn't get the impression that Raditz was the kind of warrior that understands real technique. He's all about power, there's no finesse, and that's where we've got him beat."
"We'll need more than just good technique," a new voice rang out, and the warriors turned to face the voice. Tien and Chiaotzu let out a gasp when they saw Tao Pai Pai walking towards the group, his cybernetics gleaming in the sunlight of the desert they were gathered in.
"What are you doing here?" Tien demanded, bearing his fists at him.
"Answering a peculiar offer," Tao held up a hand to placate, "From your friend Bulma. She told me about your alien problem, and asked to help you fight. She was quite concerned for your well-being. Normally I wouldn't associate myself with you rats, especially traitors like you, Tienshinhan, but when I followed up on the reports about the destroyed towns, I was willing to entertain her offer."
"Bulma called you? Talk about desperate measures. Goku, just how strong is this guy?" Yamcha asked.
"I don't think there's any one person on Earth that could beat him," Goku admitted, "Tao, you won't pull any dirty tricks, will you?"
Tao gave a toothy smile, "Not on any of you. I've been humbled from our past encounters, I assure you, and I'll be well compensated for my time and trouble. I know when I'm outclassed, so while I normally work alone, I know none of us can do this alone. If you're opposed to tricks, Goku, I'm afraid we won't stand a chance. Technique and teamwork alone won't be enough."
"You're saying we cheat our way to victory?" Roshi said.
"You are all warriors. You know that winning means surviving. That was a lesson Goku and I learned together, isn't that right, boy?" Tao said, still grinning at Goku.
"All right, that's enough. We're here to train and come up with a plan, not stand around. Are you in or out?" Piccolo demanded to Tao. Tao nodded to Piccolo.
"Hard to enjoy my fortune if the Earth is conquered or destroyed."
"I don't like this, but we need all the help we can get," Tien admitted.
"We've got a week. How are we going to get strong enough to fight Raditz in a week?" Yamcha asked.
"Stronger will only get us a few more seconds of life. It won't win this battle," Tao said, "Like I said, we will need to use every technique and trick we can manage to gain the upper hand."
"Tricks didn't do you so good when we fought," Goku said.
"True. But the fact we're here shows that you understand that strength alone will not be enough, or you would have run straight after him like a fool. We will begin with what techniques we know, and we will see what we can manage from there," Tao said.
"Wait, hold on, who put you in charge? Last I remember you couldn't even stand up to Tien without resorting to weapons!" Krillin demanded.
"And last I remember you couldn't stand up to Tienshinhan at all," Tao retorted, eliciting an irritated grunt from Krillin.
"Enough talk!" Piccolo shouted, holding up his hand, "Training begins now!"
Yamcha and Krillin were knocked aside by the sudden blast, though the other fighters dodged out of the way. Piccolo continued to blast at each target before him, one at a time in rapid succession. Roshi was forced to slip his turtle shell off his back and block a blast, while most of the others simply dodged out of the way. Yamcha, however, was not quick enough, and was sent flying into the air again, only to be caught by Goku.
"Come on Yamcha, we need you!"
"He's too fast!"
"So get faster!" Goku let Yamcha down as he ran from Piccolo's blasts. Yamcha stumbled briefly before pushing himself to follow Goku until finally matching him.
The bombardment was interrupted when Tao charged Piccolo, who turned his attention to Tao. The first attacks were dodged easily enough, but as Piccolo's aim was focused, Tao was unable to keep up, and was tossed aside. Tien attempted to charge in, but Piccolo simply changed targets. Krillin attempted to jump from above, but Piccolo nailed him in the face with a simple rock, and Krillin landed on the ground clutching his head where his nose should have been.
"WOLF FANG-FWAH!" Yamcha tried to get a strike in, but Piccolo shot out his arms and smacked him aside. Goku grabbed the arm and tried pulling, but Piccolo reeled Goku in and smashed Roshi, who wasn't even making a move, with his own student.
"Pathetic!" Piccolo growled, "If that's how we're going to fight we might as well stand in line and let him slaughter us one at a time!"
"He's right," Roshi said, pushing Goku off, "We can't just stand around like a bunch of doofuses challenging him one at a time while everyone else watches. This is a real battle, with the fate of the world at stake. We need to learn to work together."
"Um-" Chiaotzu said, and suddenly all eyes were on him, "Uh!"
"What is it, Chiaotzu?" Tien asked, and Chiaotzu relaxed a bit.
"I just thought...Look at everyone who's here. If we need to find teamwork and play to our strengths...Maybe we should...Start with our schools?" Chiaotzu gestured to the three Turtle School students and their master, "Turtle."
Chiaotzu gestured to himself and to Tao, "Crane. We know our own styles. It's not the best option, but we only have a week."
"Are you saying split up and train separately?" Yamcha asked. Chiaotzu shook his head.
"No, but we should work within our schools and fight to our strengths, and then we figure out how to combine Turtle and Crane together," Chiaotzu said. Roshi nodded.
"I wish we had time to think of something better. But it's the best idea we've got. Come on boys, let's huddle up and figure this out," Roshi gestured to his students. While Krillin and Yamcha went to Master Roshi, Goku remained in place.
"Hey, Goku? What's wrong?" Krillin asked. He followed Goku's gaze, and looked to Piccolo, before he looked back at Goku, "I know that look. You're up to something, Goku."
"Chiaotzu's right, but that leaves out Piccolo," Goku said, "And if what he says is true, Raditz is my brother. So we need bad guys if we're going to train right."
Goku walked up to be face to face with Piccolo.
"Besides, if anyone needs to learn teamwork, it's Piccolo."
Goku turned to the others, "Besides, we're going to need to learn to think like him. Who better than the biggest bad guy we've ever fought, right Piccolo?"
Piccolo gave a disgusted grunt.
"All right, so we've got Team Turtle, Team Crane, and Team Badguys," Yamcha gestured to each group, "Why don't we spent the first two days training with our own teams, the next two days fighting each other, and the last two trying to get our teams to work together?"
"I can't say I'm happy about this," Tien admitted, "But it's the best plan we've got. How about it, Tao? Are you willing to put aside old grudges?"
Tao took a moment to breathe before nodding.
"Let's kill ourselves an alien."
