Dragon Ball Kai
Chapter 15
Gathering Warriors
Goku grumbled as his eyes opened slowly and closed at the glaring brightness of the sun peeking in through the window of his room.
"Thank goodness you're finally awake."
Surprised at hearing his mom's voice, he glanced to his side and noticed that she was sitting next to him; his father standing off to the side with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.
"You're probably feeling disoriented," Bardock said. "Being out for a while can do that to you, I would know. Good thing we found one of your Earthling friends and had him get us a Senzu Bean, otherwise you might still be out."
Goku nodded, slowly absorbing the information that began to clear up his hazy memory. He couldn't remember getting home... Why was he home again? The last thing he remembered was fighting that Vegeta guy and then...
"Where's Mara?!"
"There was no sign of her when I found you," Bardock explained in a more serious tone of voice. "What happened?"
The boy gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, "Mara was taken by some Saiyans. I don't remember all of their names, but one of them looked like you."
Bardock narrowed his eyes when he heard that.
"And the one I fought was named Vegeta."
Gine's eyes widened and she turned to her husband in surprise.
"They sent the Prince himself," Bardock said with a humorless chuckle.
Goku nodded and stood up, "We have to get Mara back."
"There's no point in going after them," Bardock answered with a shake of his head.
"Why not?!" Goku shot back angrily.
"Think about this carefully," his father argued in a firm voice, "You have been out for a whole week since we couldn't get a Senzu Bean until today. That means that Vegeta is a whole seven days ahead of us. Even if we did go after them, the King would have made and carried out his decision."
"Decision?" Goku repeated.
"The punishment for deserting Planet Vegeta is either exile or death."
The boy's face twisted with horror. Mara was taken by her own brother just to exile or even kill her? What sort of family did that?
"I can't let that happen," he said in a serious voice, "I'm going to go help her by myself if I have to."
"Please calm down Goku," Gine said as she placed a hand on her son's shoulder, "I know you're friends with her, but you can't help her."
"There's nothing you can do," Bardock repeated, "We will end up facing the other Saiyans one day, but going to Planet Vegeta ourselves is suicide."
"There's always something I can do," Goku shot back angrily. "If you don't want to help then that's fine, but I won't let you stop me from going."
With that said, the boy jumped out the window and shot through the air at a fast speed, soon disappearing in the distance.
There was no way he was going to sit around while Mara was in danger. She was his friend, he had to do everything to help her. It didn't matter if Planet Vegeta was dangerous, in fact it was all the more reason to go.
Even so, right now he had no idea how to get to Planet Vegeta, or where it even was. But at least he had a good idea of who to ask for help.
"Shouldn't we go after him?' Gine asked, worry written all over her face.
"No," Bardock answered, "Let's let him blow off some steam and then talk to him again. He has to realize that sometimes its best to wait."
"Bardock, I..." she sighed and looked into his eyes, "I know Goku. He won't let this go, and I'm not even sure I disagree with him."
His brow furrowed at that, "What do you mean?"
"Leaving Mara all alone to face her family...I won't be able to forgive myself if something does happen to her."
Bardock sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Look, fine, I'll try to talk to some of my contacts to see what happens. If things really get bad, then I'll think about going to help her."
Gine smiled in relief. Whenever Bardock said he would 'think' about something, it always meant that he would do it. Which was surprising considering that Mara is not actually part of their family.
She grinned smugly and pointed a finger at her husband, "You do care what happens to her, don't you?"
"S-shut up," he muttered before getting out of the room, leaving a giggling Gine behind.
It wasn't long until Goku touched down on Kami's lookout. Feeling like he had no time to waste, he did not even notice that he had gotten there much faster than before.
"I was expecting you Goku," Kami greeted as he stepped out of his temple with Mr. Popo at his side.
"Kami, I need your help! The Saiyans took-"
"I already know all about it," Kami interrupted with a serious expression on his face. "I also know that you wish to go find her."
Goku nodded before his eyes lit up in realization, "Wait. What about the dragon balls? Can't we wish Mara back?"
"I'm afraid it won't be that simple," Kami answered with a shake of his head. "Shenron is powerful, but its powers cannot reach the Saiyans now that they've traveled such a great distance away from Earth."
"That's fine, I'll just go after them myself," Goku concluded.
Kami frowned, "Are you certain about this? Going there as you are now will only end in failure."
Goku scowled and clenched his fists, "I have to at least try."
The guardian looked at the boy carefully before a small smile crossed his face. "I was no implying that you should not go, but that doing so alone will be impossible. You should ask your friends for assistance."
Before the boy could answer, Kami turned and began to walk away.
"I will find the location of the planet, and tell you where it is telepathically."
"Thank you," Goku vowed before jumping off the lookout and shooting off towards his next stop.
"So you're telling me that you need a way to travel through space to save Mara..." Bulma repeated, noting that it sounded just as crazy when she said it herself.
Her day had started pretty normal too, just reading over some notes she wrote yesterday, and Goku suddenly showed up at her lab.
Goku nodded, "The Saiyans are already a whole week ahead of us."
So she didn't have a lot of time to build it...
Bulma smiled to herself, if that was the case then she would just need to build a ship that is much faster than that of the Saiyans.
"Don't worry Goku, I will make you a ship."
"Really?!"
"I am the world's greatest scientist and, after studying your old ship I finally understand how their technology works. And, between you and me, I can make something much better," Bulma boasted with a grin.
"Is it going to be faster?"
She chuckled at the question, "Absolutely. I can even equip it with a gravity room for you to train in." Her eyes lit up at the thought of making something so great, when she looked down at Goku with a worried frown, "Are you going all alone?"
Goku looked down, not really sure, "Kami told me to ask my friends but..."
"You think they'll be in danger," Bulma nodded in understanding before nudging him on the shoulder, "What are you talking about? They'll feel terrible if they know that you went somewhere dangerous without telling them."
"But..."
"Whether they'll go with you or not, it's their choice to make. Not yours," she explained, "Now go talk to them you big doofus."
Goku couldn't help but chuckle and nodded, "You're right. I'll be back later!"
Bulma giggled to herself as she watched the boy run out of her lab.
Now that she was alone, it was time to get started.
Having taken apart Goku's old ship and studied the technology deeply, she had a good grasp of what she was going to do. As it turned out, replicating the super strong material used for their ships was not too difficult.
There was a small issue though. She had no idea where the Saiyan planet was.
The best she could do was put off the navigation system for now, and then put together a set of coordinates to give her a layout for when she learned where the planet was.
If worse came to worse and she couldn't get the navigation to work, she would figure something out.
It was what she did best.
Despite the gravity of what was going on, Goku couldn't help but smile when he spotted Krillin, his best friend, standing on top of a rocky hill in a wasteland, waving his arms excitedly.
"Goku!" Krillin laughed as his friends landed next to him. It was rare for Goku to visit, they were training separately and they didn't have enough free time to see each other.
"Hey Krillin," the boy grinned.
"What are you doing here?" Krillin asked.
"I uh..." Goku trailed off, feeling a bit weird about what he was going to ask, but took a moment to close his eyes and think back on Bulma's words.
"I need your help."
Goku flew through the sky with Krillin holding on to his back.
"I have to learn to fly," Krillin grumbled.
"Don't worry," Goku grinned, "It's super easy once you get the hang of it. Maybe I can teach you the first steps while we wait for Bulma to finish the ship."
"I'm gonna hold you to that," his friend responded.
The young Saiyan smiled to himself when he heard that. There was no doubt that Krillin was his best friend, since he had agreed to help him even without him explaining anything. Even better, once he did explain, Krillin was still willing to go.
"Ah, so we're going to find Tien next."
Goku was broken out of his thoughts by Krillin's voice and answered, "Yup. He was the closest and he had Chiatzu with him."
"Now that you mention it, I can feel him as well," Krillin realized before his eyes went wide, "Whoa, he got a lot stronger."
A brief silence passed between them before Krillin looked at the back of his friend's head with a worried expression.
"Do you think we're strong enough to get Mara back?"
"Maybe not right now," Goku answered instantly before his eyes narrowed in determination, "But we will be."
Kami tensed slightly when he felt a ki closing in on his lookout.
Despite being in the process of communicating with someone that could help him find the Saiyan planet, he put that on hold to step out of the temple to meet the unannounced guest.
The Earth's guardian found it surprising that the guest was strong enough to reach the lookout already.
Eyes narrowed, Kami drew in a breath when he saw the figure, wearing old ragged clothes, hovering over the lookout.
"We met a lot sooner than I expected Piccolo."
"No way, you guys are serious?" Yamcha asked in disbelief.
When his friends showed up out of nowhere in the middle of his training, he had an inkling that something might be wrong, but he never thought it would be something so serious and – well – dangerous.
"They came here around a week ago, I'm sure you felt their ki," Tien said.
Yamcha paled, "And we're going after them?"
Of course he had felt their power, it made him stop in the middle of training and feel insignificant in comparison. There were no words that described how relieved he was when he felt them leaving Earth. To think that those very same people took Goku's Saiyan friend...
A part of him – the old selfish desert bandit – didn't want to go with them out of self-preservation, but at the same time he knew that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if they left without him. He had experienced something similar before, back when he had his leg broken while the others were fighting King Piccolo, and he vowed to never let something like that happen again.
"C-count me in," he said after a momentary silence. This time he would not sit around while the others were in danger. It was what he trained his ass off for, and it was time to see the results.
His mouth twitched slightly until it formed into his trademark cocky grin, "We'll show those stinking Saiyans that no one messes with us."
"Goku is a Saiyan too," Krillin chimed in with a smug grin.
"No offense Goku," Yamcha added.
Goku only laughed in response.
"Speaking of Saiyans," Tien began and turned to Goku, "Is your family coming too."
The boy's mood darkened and he looked down at the ground, "They didn't want to help me."
"What?! Why wouldn't they?!" Krillin asked in indignation.
"They said that it was too dangerous to follow them."
"But they're letting you go anyway?" Yamcha asked with a frown.
Goku shook his head. "They don't know that I'm going," he said before adding, "Because I don't have a ship and don't know where Planet Vegeta is, they probably haven't even thought of me leaving."
"I see," Tien nodded.
"But if you don't know where they are and don't have a ship, how are we going to their planet?" Chiatzu asked.
Goku grinned, "Don't worry, I got those things taken care of already."
For the next week Goku stayed away from the place he now called home. Part of the reason was that he was still mad that his parents told him that there was no helping Mara, while the most important part didn't want his plans to be found out.
He still missed them though, and his mom had even come looking for him at Bulma's house a couple of times, but he kept his ki as low as possible and waited until she left. Bulma had lied about not knowing where he was, which he was thankful for, and he promised her that he would make up with his parents once everything was over.
Also, since he couldn't train – not wanting his ki to be found – he stuck to helping Bulma with the heavy lifting, and teaching Krillin the basics on how to fly.
Now, after a whole week of laying low, everything was ready. They had the ship – from Bulma – and the 'coordinates' of the planet – from Kami.
Goku circled around the large circular ship in curiosity, while the others were talking.
The ship was pretty big and has the words 'Capsule Corp' written on it. As he looked at the thing, the door of the ship began to open and, wearing a very funny yellow suit, Bulma walked down the ramp with a grin on her face.
"What's with the clothes?" Krillin wondered out loud.
"Since I didn't have the time to make a navigation system, I've got no choice but to take you guys there myself," Bulma declared before pointing at her spacesuit, "And don't worry, I've got suits waiting for you guys too."
"You're coming too?!" Yamcha let out in a perplexed tone, earning a glare from the inventor.
"Of course I am, unless you can somehow learn how to fly the ship and figure out where to go."
Goku, oblivious to the heated exchanged, smiled. Bulma wasn't very strong but she was super smart and knew everything – as she always told him – so having her come along would be great.
Bulma crossed her arms and turned away from Yamcha to face the others. With anger still in her voice she half-shouted, "Are all of you packed and ready?"
"Yes," Tien answered politely while adjusting the duffel back slung over his shoulder. At his side Chiatzu carried a backpack that was easily twice his small size.
"Guess we're all ready then," Krillin said while putting on the white and blue baseball cap he brough along.
As everyone began to board the ship, Goku stayed behind to look off in the distance with a frown. A large part of him felt really guilty about leaving without telling his family.
Even though they didn't to help him save Mara, it didn't mean that he didn't care about them and, as much as he wanted to see them during the past week, he knew that if they found out he was leaving, they would stop him.
That's why he had no choice.
Goku would never turn his back on a friend in need. Mara was all alone, surrounded by bad people who would decide what to do with her. Even so, while she was being taken away, she had tried to protect him in her own way.
At first he'd been shocked about her hurting him, but he realized later that she only did it to stop the others from killing him. By hurting him like that, whoever had been flying towards them, had increased their speed and made the Saiyans leave him unconscious on the ground.
That's why he's determined to help her no matter what.
Casting one last look in the direction of where his family was, Goku turned back and boarded the ship.
As soon as he entered the ship, the door closed, and the ship shot up into the sky before shooting out of the planet.
It was finally time to find and save Mara.
