Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball.

Gohan panted heavily but let out a yell as he rushed at Piccolo and let loose a jump kick. The green man easily blocked the blow. Gohan rebounded off and jumped back towards him, but he phased out of sight. Gohan began looking around frantically.

"Where did he-?"

"Dodge!" The command was followed by a swift kick to the face which sent Gohan reeling. He rose to his feet unsteadily.

"You didn't dodge," Piccolo noted indifferently.

"Well, I couldn't see you," Gohan said with a pout.

"That's why you need to reach out with your senses and locate my ki. It should be easy. I'm not even suppressing it."

"Well maybe you should actually teach me how to do that," Gohan grumbled. He was rewarded for his suggestion by a pair of laser blasts courtesy of Piccolo's eyes.

"You're still not dodging," Piccolo observed. "Is there a reason why you're talking and not dodging?"

"I wasn't ready!" Gohan defended.

"And therein lies the problem. When an enemy has an advantage over you, are you going to grumble on about how the fight isn't fair, or are you going to find some way to win?"

"When the time comes, I'll find a way to win," Gohan said with determination. "But…" He looked at the ground. "I don't really think of you as an enemy…"

Piccolo growled. "I don't have time for this nonsense. The saiyans will be here in six months, and I will not be shown up by that fool Goku when that time comes. So until then, when you're not eating or resting, you'll be training with me. Get some rest for now. We'll pick up where we left off in an hour."

Gohan nodded gratefully and collapsed onto his back before looking up at the man who he had grown quite fond of over the months, the man who had technically kidnapped him.

"Mr. Piccolo? Are you really going to try to kill my Dad when the saiyans arrive?" Truth be told, he already knew the answer to that, but he wanted to see what his mentor would say. Piccolo looked at him in annoyance.

"Is that even a question?" he asked. Then he smirked. "Nothing personal kid. I just happen to hate your father."

Gohan hummed. "You know Mr. Piccolo, you're not a very good liar," he said, causing the smirk to fade from Piccolo's face.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"I mean you always try hide your real intentions and act like you're doing things for selfish reasons, but it's obvious that you do care. Why would you be training me if you were planning to kill my Dad? Every minute spent training me is a minute that could be spent getting stronger yourself. You can say it's just because I have potential, but you know I'm not going to help you kill my Dad or destroy humanity, so what are you really trying to accomplish?" As he spoke, the scowl on Piccolo's face grew, but Gohan continued on undeterred.

"For the longest time I asked myself that. But recently I think I've begun to figure it out. My Dad always said you're not really evil, just angry. And from what I've seen, I think he's right. And I don't believe for a second that I'm here as part of some evil plot. So...even if I'm not quite sure why you brought me here…" He smiled widely. "I just want to say that I'm grateful for what you've done for me."

Piccolo stared at him for a few seconds before he turned away. "You talk too much kid," he said before closing his eyes in meditation, indicating that the conversation was over. Ok, so the kid had seen right through his act. Sharp little bastard. At least he wasn't pushing to know why he was being trained though. What was he supposed to tell the damn brat? That he'd foreseen his own death? That for reasons he couldn't fathom, he was almost certain he was going to die after the arrival of the saiyans, who were supposedly coming in peace? That he didn't want to end the same way as his father? That he wanted to do one worthwhile thing with his cursed life before he went to the next dimension?" It wasn't exactly on the list of conversations he was planning to have in the next six months.

The next hour passed in silence before the two continued their sparring session, Piccolo only half paying attention.

Hovering above a rocky, barren wasteland where they had relocated, Goku flexed his arms after recovering from his latest training session with Raditz. They were currently taking a break, but he felt healed now.

"Kakarot." Goku looked up at his brother.

"Yo, what's up?"

"I thought I'd give you the latest update on your son's progress," Raditz said.

"Oh, yea! I can tell he's gotten stronger since I can feel him from here. What's he at now?"

"450. I must admit he's making impressive headway even though he was impeded by his lack of training at first. If he keeps this up he might break a thousand by the end of the year."

"Wow, what a guy, he's stronger than I was when you first arrived! I guess he has a lot of potential," Goku said in wonder.

"Either that or you've been slacking off all this time," Raditz remarked. Goku just shrugged in response. He'd long since gotten used to his brother's tendency for bluntness. When he had first commented on it, Raditz had laughed in his face. If you think I'm straightforward, I can tell you're going to love Vegeta. That's what he had said. Goku found himself looking forward to the saiyan's arrival even more these days. Not just because he wanted to know how strong he was, but also because he was curious as to what kind of person his brother would swear loyalty to.

"So how are the others doing?" Goku asked.

"The Namekian is now above 2000. As for your other associates, they're still at the place that you refer to as the lookout. Their powers are steadily rising, but they're all still below a thousand. I don't know why you insist on checking up on them. If they're indeed martial artists as you say, then they shouldn't be making such slow progress."

Goku frowned. "That hardly seems fair. If I didn't know about the advantages of being a saiyan, I wouldn't be making this much progress either. It's not their fault they're human. They just need to find a way to train that works for them."

Raditz rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's get back to it. I'd like to get you as close to my power level as possible in the next six months." Goku nodded, but as they got into their fighting stances, Raditz' scouter started beeping, alerting him to an approaching life form. They both looked off into the distance.

"It's coming from the direction of the lookout. That feels like...Krillin?"

"Krillin...which one was that again?" Raditz asked, not having learned names while he was here.

"You met him at Kame house. Short, bald, orange gi like mine."

"Oh yea, him. I wonder what he wants."

It was about 10 minutes before Krillin arrived, stopping in midair in front of them. "Hey, Goku! Long time no see, buddy! And uh, hi Raditz."

Raditz grunted what could be interpreted as a greeting, while Goku was much more enthusiastic. "Hiya Krillin, what's up? Did you need something?"

Krillin's expression sobered. "Actually, I have a message from Kami, Goku. He wants to meet with you."

Goku scratched his head. "Kami? But I'm in the middle of training. Did he say what it was about?"

"He wasn't specific, but he said he had an idea about how to enhance your training." He snuck a glance over at Raditz. "He said your brother can come along, but that his plan would only work for you."

Goku briefly wondered what Kami might have left to teach him, but decided he should definitely hear his old master out. He turned to Raditz.

"Well, I'm going to go see what his is about. Wanna come? You can keep training at the lookout if you want."

Raditz thought about it. He was very skeptical about someone on this planet being able to offer better training them him, but he was also a bit curious. After a moment he shrugged.

"Great!" Let's go then. It'll be nice to see Kami and Mr. Popo again."

When they arrived at the lookout, Kami was waiting for them along with Mr. Popo. Kami explained that what he was offering Goku wasn't ordinary training. Apparently, he was going to be training in a place called other world, and the only reason he could was because Kami had special privileges as Earth's guardian, and Goku had special privileges for having committed his life to protecting the innocent and having saved the earth multiple times. When he mentioned that Raditz couldn't go, the saiyan just shrugged and told Goku that he better get a lot stronger from this before flying off.

Excitement welled up inside Goku as he put his arm on Kami's shoulder and got ready to depart for the place where everyone went when they died. As the two vanished, Krillin wondered what his best friend had gotten himself into this time.

A/N: Power levels:

Chiaotzu: 400

Gohan: 450

Yamcha: 710

Krillin: 840

Tien: 980

Piccolo: 2200

Goku: 17,000