Dragon Ball Kai

Chapter 19

Planet Vegeta

A young scrawny boy carrying two large paper bags filled to the brim with food, pushed through narrow walkways, created by hundreds of small tents, swarming with dozens of people.

"Ow!" He yelped when something his his tail and he quickly wrapped it around his waist.

This was the busiest market district in the city. All kinds of vendors filled large plazas selling all sorts of things from food to weapons. Fights broke out constantly because of how crowded the place was.

The boy, with his spiky hair in a short ponytail, wearing a black jumpsuit, mumbled apologies as he tried not to hit anyone with his impaired vision, though he wasn't being very successful. Turns out that carrying two huge bags of food on his arms made it hard not to bump into anyone.

"Watch where you're going runt!"

He squeaked out apologies and continued to move.

Just his luck to be spending his one day off running errands for some idiots that had a superiority complex just because they came from a family of stronger than average warriors. Why did he even go outside? He should have spent all day at the training center in the dormitory even if he got bored.

"Ah!"

He suddenly bumped into someone else, though this time it was a head on collision that caused him to drop the bags and fall on his butt.

"You okay?"

The Saiyan boy looked up to see two Saiyan warriors wearing black armor and green scouters, and instantly froze in fear. If there was one thing that everyone knew was that you didn't mess with warriors under any circumstance. The ones in black armor may be considered the weakest, but the difference in power level between them and someone like him was considerable.

One of them reached his hand forward, causing the boy to yelp and close his eyes.

"Hm? You alright?"

He hesitantly opened his eyes and saw that one of the warriors was offering a hand to help him up.

"Y-you..." he trailed off as he took the hand and was helped to his feet. "You're not from around here are you?"

They couldn't be. This type of incident would have ended up with him bloody and on the ground. Either they weren't from this city, or they were rookie warriors that hadn't let the position go to their head yet.

"T-thank you," he stammered as he dusted his clothes.

"You should really watch where you're going," one of the warriors said in an irritated tone which caused the boy to flinch.

"Sorry!"

"Hm? Uh no, I was talking to my friend here," the bald warrior said while pointing at his friend who only laughed in response.

"Oh, um... My name's Daikon. Good to meet you," the boy introduced himself.

"My name's Goku, and this is Krillin!" The warrior with black hair slicked back said with a grin.

Goku? Krillin? What kind of names were those?

"Yeah, good to meet you," Krillin greeted with a nervous smile, thinking to himself that they should have come up with some fake names just in case.

"We'll help you out with your bags," Goku said in a friendly tone.

Daikon smiled, "Are you sure?"

"No problem."

"Okay..."

He really didn't want to say no. Who knew if that would offend them in some way, so he did his best to act casual around them so they wouldn't think he was being ungrateful.

"So uh... You guys are probably not from here, huh? The crowds here always freak out newcomers."

Krillin nodded but didn't think it was too bad. Sure there were a lot of people, but they hadn't bumped into anyone other than Daikon. In fact, it looked like the people were going out of their way not to bump into them.

Daikon grinned to himself and looked up at the sky, "You guys probably fly everywhere and don't have to put up with these crowds... I hope I can become a warrior too so that I'm allowed to fly. It must be great getting to do whatever you want..." He glanced back at the two and quirked an eyebrow, "What are you guys doing in this city anyway? There's not a lot going on here and we're pretty far from the capital... Some sort of mission?"

"You could say that," Krillin answered.

The boy nodded. Having forgotten that they were warriors just for a minute had made him run his mouth but he was glad that it didn't offend them that he had been a bit nosy; and instead focused on leading them out of the crowded walkways and into the entrance of an alley created by two tall sleek buildings.

"Wait here," Daikon said as he took the bags from Goku and walked into the alley, disappearing once he turned a corner.

"We didn't walk into some sort of trap did we?" Asked Krillin, a bit wary about being led into a rather isolated place.

Goku threw his hands over hid head and smiled, "I don't think so. That Daikon guy didn't look like he was lying."


Daikon sighed as he stepped into a large area surrounded by tall walls. Two, of the three that had sent him to get food were sparring, flying through the air since they were well hidden, while the last one was leaning against one of the walls with his arms crossed.

"The little runt is back," he smirked as he pushed himself off the wall and the others stopped their sparring session. "Let's see if you got it right for once," he said as he checked the contents of the bags.

"I guess I'll be going now," Daikon muttered as he turned to leave but was struck on the back by a ki blast that exploded against him and knocked him back several feet until he hit the ground. "Gah!"

"You got the order wrong again you idiot!"

Daikon gritted his teeth in pain and turned to see the three Saiyans laughing as the other two shot ki blasts at him as well. He prepared himself for the pain, but instead ended up letting out a gasp of surprised as the two Saiyan warriors from before appeared in front of him and blocked the blasts with ease.

"Are you okay?" Krillin asked Daikon, who nodded in response while slowly getting back on his feet.

"What? You got some low-class warriors as protection?" One of the Saiyans said with a laugh.

Daikon grimaced, knowing that he was right.

These guys weren't ordinary, the blue jumpsuits they wore signified that they were above average in terms of power. Goku and Krillin may be warriors, but that wasn't enough to close the gap between different classes. Last he checked, these three guys had power levels of over nine-thousand.

"I don't get what you're talking about at all," Goku said with a frown on his face. "But it's not nice to pick on others." He dropped into his fighting stance, causing the three to laugh.

"Do you really think some low-class runt like yo-"

Not even having time to finish, one of the Saiyans was struck on the stomach by Goku's elbow. He gasped for air, eyes wide, before he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. The other two dashed at Goku but he flickered out of view and reappeared behind them, striking both on the back of their necks as he did so, and relaxed his stance when he saw them fall unconscious as well.

"Wh-wha..." Daikon muttered in pure disbelief. It was impossible! He just took down three high-class Saiyans in the blink of an eye. That kind of power... he had never seen anything like it. "Y-you're not ordinary warriors..."

Goku cocked his head to the side in apparent confusion, while Krillin inwardly panicked.

They were about to blow their cover and bring unwanted attention to themselves. He had to think of something before Daikon grew suspicious.

"We're undercover," Krillin said with a nervous smile.

"Huh?" Goku and Daikon let out at the same time.

Krillin shot looks at Goku who looked back at him with a pensive expression before he put two and two together and faced Daikon.

"Yup. We're on a secret mission."

Daikon looked at the two and nodded, accepting their explanation. "There's probably not much I can do for you, but if there's anything you need then feel free to ask. You guys helped me so let me return the favor if I can."

Krillin waved his hands, "You don't nee-"

"Then can you show us around the city," Goku interrupted with a grin. "We're not from this city and we're lost."

"Of course, no problem," Daikon answered, "I know this city pretty well. Any place in particular you're interested in?"

"Any place we can get more armor. We have to get some for our friends."

"They're also undercover," Krillin added.

Daikon grinned, "No problem. I can take you to this city's biggest training center. They have tons of spares for warriors. Follow me."


Goku took in his surroundings as he followed Daikon through an actual street after they had come out of the giant street market. Now they were surrounded by small buildings as well as long thin structures that got wider the higher they got. It reminded Goku a bit of where Bulma lived, but the main difference was that buildings here were much taller and that he could see armored Saiyans flying around.

The confusion must have shown on his face since Daikon spoke up.

"Those tall buildings are either places where the elite and high classes live, or research centers that have landing pads and can communicate with Capital City. Oh! There do you see it," Daikon said, pointing ahead

A large light brown building, standing at about ten stories, with wide walls that stretched out for at least a dozen blocks, was in front of them. Several Saiyans, most in jumpsuits, some dressed in strange clothes, and others in armor, walked in the surrounding area.

"That's the Training Center. This one is open to almost everyone to spar or train, and obviously has a section just for warriors. They always have spare clothes laying around so you can probably get some armor in the changing rooms in the warrior section," Daikon grinned sheepishly, "But all I can really do is just take you into the building since I'm not allowed into those sections... Probably never will be."

"What do you mean?" Krillin wondered, curious about the shift in tone.

"I'm on my third year on the training program..."

Receiving two blank looks, he guessed that they were obviously far above the norm since they didn't appear to know what they were.

"Those of us who come back after purging a weak planet with low power levels are put into Training Programs where old warriors act as instructors to get us to become stronger. They only give us three years and if we don't have a power level of at least three-thousand, they don't let us become warriors," he sighed. "I'm in my third year already... I'll probably end up stuck working some bad job barely making any credits for the rest of my life since I'm not even smart enough to become a researcher."

"Don't worry about it," Goku said, clapping his back with a friendly smile. "After we're done with our mission we can help you train and get stronger in no time."

"I appreciate it," Daikon answered with a small smile. They were probably just trying to make him feel better.

Soon, the three entered the building. The inside was equally as grand as the outside; massive halls, slick white floors, and a large glass further down the room where Saiyans could be seen sparring in a large open area with a rocky floor.

"That's the section for warriors," Daikon said, pointing above them.

Goku and Krillin looked up to see that the area directly above them didn't have a ceiling, but a large rectangular opening.

"I'll wait for you guys here."

"Thanks for the help," Krillin said.

"We'll be back soon," Goku said with a wave and he and Krillin floated in the air and moved into the second floor.

There was a very noticeable change as soon as the two touched down on the second floor. There were many doors spread out around the curved hallway, and there were some people cleaning the rubble form a collapsed wall.

"Okay, let's see here..." Krillin trailed off as he and Goku stared in confusion at the various signs with the written language of the Saiyans on it.

Goku looked around, noting that the glass wall didn't show the rocky floor anymore, but many armored Saiyans sparring in the air.

"Let's ask that guy," Krillin pointed at a single desk that was placed against the outer wall. Goku nodded and, as the two got closer, they noticed the Saiyan behind the desk grow visually anxious.

"C-can I help you?"

Krillin had no idea why the guy was so nervous, but ignored it, "Where are the changing rooms?"

"Oh! Uh... It's the fourth door down the right."

The two nodded in thanks and made their way to the gray door that slid open when they got close and revealed a large spacious room that was in pretty bad condition. There were clothes thrown all around the room and broken glass where a mirror used to be. A doorway seemed to lead into another room, there were various large open lockers against the wall which had some clothes and...

"There!" Goku cheered when he saw all types of armors in one of the lockers.

"We only need three but..." Krillin muttered as he looked through the sets of armor in confusion. "I don't see any big enough to Tien and Yamcha."

Goku crossed his arms, "They'll probably fit. Those guys we took the armor from were bigger than us but they fit okay."

"Now that you mention it, that's true," he took one of the sets of armor and pulled on it from both sides. "Whoa," he let out in surprise when the armor expanded and then returned to normal when he let go. "Yup this will work. Take some jumpsuits from that table over there."

Goku walked to a table with various jumpsuits stacked on top of each other and took the first three he could find. The two nodded at each other, put the full sets together and took out a capsule that opened with a big puff of smoke to reveal a large box.

They quickly stuffed the armor into it, turned the box into a capsule again, and walked out the locker room, their task a success.

Goku and Krillin were surprised to see that Daikon had been waiting for them at the lobby. He was leaning against a wall, perked up when he saw them, and walked up to them with a smile.

"Did you guys find them?"

"Yup," Goku nodded.

Daikon tried not to let the confusion show on his face as he noticed that they weren't carrying anything.

"Do you need me to help you carry it?"

"Oh, no it's okay. We're going to come back later," Krillin said, fixing the situation quickly.

Goku grinned, "Thanks for your help Daikon."

"No problem," he assured, "If you ever need help again, I'll be glad to lend a hand... Or so I'd like to say, but I don't have a scouter so I can't communicate with you."

"We can talk with these things?" Goku asked in amazement.

Daikon cocked his head to the side as Krillin mentally panicked.

"We just got them recently."

"Then I'll show you. Can I borrow your scouters?" Daikon nodded as the two gave him their scouters, and showed them a large button to the side. "The top button is for reading power levels, bottom is for everything else. If you press it twice and keep it pressed, like this," he said as the two scouters beeped twice, and he handed them back over. "Now just keep the button pressed when you want to talk."

Goku took back his scouter, and pressed the button, "Can you hear me Krillin?!"

Krillin yelped in pain and ripped the scouter out of his ear. "Goku, don't scream into it!"

"Sorry," he chuckled.

"Thanks for everything Daikon," Krillin said with a firm nod. "We have to get going now."

"Bye Daikon," Goku waved as he and Krillin floated up the air.

"Bye guys," he waved back before the two shot off into the distance.


The way back to the others was mostly quiet. The air was much cooler now that the sun was setting, and Krillin couldn't help but rub his arms. Needing a distraction, he turned to Goku who was flying next to him with his eyes closed.

"So nothing huh?" Krillin asked.

Goku shook his head and opened his eyes, "I can't feel Mara at all." His eyes narrowed as his tone grew more serious, "Mara is strong, wherever she is, I'm sure that Vegeta guy is close."

Either that, or she was already gone...

A troubled expression crossed the young Saiyan's face. Even if she as gone, he still had a lead to her.

Vegeta. His ki was easy to spot, like a wildfire going off in the middle of the night. In order to save Mara, Goku knew that he had to fight him again but, even after training non-stop, he didn't know if he was strong enough to beat him.

'I won't lose,' Goku thought to himself. Now that they had the armor, they could finally get closer to finding her and facing Vegeta. 'Just hang in there a little longer Mara."