Chapter 2: The Preparations Begin
'Why do I always end up being the one to have to do things like this' Krillin thought to himself while sweat began to bead up on his bald head. 'Ok Krillin you're one of the strongest fighters on the planet, you've fought monsters like Tambourine and Piccolo...'
Sweat began to bead up faster on the back of his neck at the memories. 'Ok not the best examples. Anyway you're at least stronger than Chi Chi so as long as she isn't armed you'll survive, just gotta knock.' Krillin circled for the 5th time as he tried to work up the courage to inform his best friend's wife that her husband was killed and that her son had been kidnapped by his uncle from outer space.
"Damn it why didn't I take Tien up on that offer to learn how to fly when I had the chance" he mumbled to himself before finally reaching up and knocking on the door.
Immediately he regretted that decision "Goku! you're in trouble mister! You and Gohan were supposed to be back in just a couple hours, that was yesterday! Now Gohan's behind on his studies, if you think you're getting any lunch out of me you got anothe-" she swung the door open and was surprised with a scared Krillin instead of a sheepish Goku like she was expecting.
"Oh, what are you doing here Krillin?" her tone going from one of anger to one of suspicion. "I thought you were going to be at Master Roshi's with everyone else... like Goku and Gohan... were... suppose... to.. be." she said adding just a fraction of a second to the spacing between each word to add emphasis to what she was saying.
Krillin gulped, his moment of courage having fled like he wished he could.
Chi Chi continued to glare at him waiting for an answer, arms crossed a scowl on her face that seemed more fitting for Piccolo than his best friend's wife.
"Uh... Uh…" he stuttered all forms of communication escaping him under her relentless glare.
Within seconds Chi Chi's foot began to tap signaling she was on the verge of running out of patience with him, "Well I'm waiting" she said her tone sharp enough to cut trees.
Krillin mentally tried to calm himself down and tried to rebuild his now shattered courage 'Damn it this is going to be the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Come on Krillin just buck up and do it, if she doesn't take the news well you can at least outrun her.. probably.'
Finally he was able to get his nerves under control enough to speak, "Ok Chi Chi it's like this, right after Goku and Gohan arrived on Master Roshi's island, someone else showed showed up, he was even stronger than Piccolo. He claimed to be Goku's brother and wanted Goku's help exterminating the Earth."
Krillin watched as Chi Chi's mood shifted from impatience to nerviousness. inside her head alarm bell were ringing 'I didn't know Goku had a brother. Why isn't Goku the one telling me this? Is he still fighting him? Why isn't Krillin there helping him? Is Gohan ok? Did he get hurt? Is Goku in a hospital somewhere? What's going on?' Her mind was racing through a thousand awful possibilities in the second it took Krillin to take a breath before continuing.
"Me and Goku confronted him but he knocked us both away like we were nothing, he was so fast." Krillin could see the color beginning to drain from Chi Chi's face. "Chi Chi he took Gohan." with that Chi Chi fainted.
'Well she took that better than I was expecting.' he glumly thought to himself.
"Hey Chi Chi who's at the door? Oh hey Krillin." The Giant Ox King said as he rounded the corner of the small round house that was Goku and Chi Chi's home."What happened to Chi Chi?" Ox king suddenly shouted as he rushed to his unconscious daughters aid.
"Hey Ox King." Krillin hoped the Ox King would take the news better than Chi Chi, He decided he'd just say everything as fast as he could and prepare to run if things went bad. "I was telling her there was a new threat to the Earth who is immensely strong, even stronger than Piccolo and Goku together. He took Gohan and he… well he… he killed Goku even though he and Piccolo teamed up to fight him." Krillin said the weight of his best friend's death still weighing down on him.
Unfortunately for Krillin, Chi Chi was just beginning to come to from her fathers hand fanning right when he was saying the part about Goku dying. As soon as it registered with her what he had said she instantly broke into tears. "No..o..o! I'm a widow..ow..ow! and My baby's been kid… napped… napped..." She whipped around facing the Ox King and began to sob in his shoulder as he just looked on shocked trying to digest the information Krillin had just revealed.
"Wait we can use the Dragon balls to wish Goku back and then we can gather all the fighters and together we can beat this guy and get Gohan back" The aging Giant said stating the obvious.
Chi Chi's eyes lit up, she had been so overwhelmed by grief that she hadn't even remembered the Dragon balls.
Krillin knew the next thing he was going to say was going to crush the small amount of hope Chi Chi had been given but he knew it would be worse if he waited, "We can't do that guys, at least not yet. Goku's brother, right before he took off with Gohan apparently said he and some of his buddies were coming back to finish us all off in a year, so Kami took Goku for special training in Otherworld. We need to wish him back before they arrive but Goku has to finish his training first. Until then we have to prepare for this fight ourselves to help Goku when the time comes. If the others are as strong as strong as Goku's brother is, we're going to need all the help we can get." Krillin paused for a moment to let the first part of what he had to say sink in.
"We came up with a plan though, Me, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, and Yajirobe are going to Kami's lookout to train. Master Roshi has agreed to train any other strong fighters we can find to help us in our fight, and since you're one of the strongest fighters on the planet we were hoping you would help?" Krillin's voice wavered some at the end unsure of her response.
He halfway expected Chi Chi would faint, or at least begin to cry once again when she found out her son had been taken into space and that her husband wouldn't be back for a full year, but she surprised him yet again. She completely ignored what he had said about Gohan and Goku. She was solely focused on the last thing he had said 'They're bringing Gohan back in a year, I have one year to prepare to make Goku's crazy in laws pay for taking my son, and they will pay dearly'. An angry flash appeared in her eyes as a red fire like aura surrounded her entire being.
She stood up and cracked her knuckles. "No one takes my son away from me, especially to outer space, where he's constantly in danger, and he doesn't even have any of his schoolwork with him. If it's a fight they want it's a fight they'll get!" she yelled before storming back into the house to gather what she'd need to begin training.
'Well she took that better than I thought, at least she didn't kill me.' he thought sweat still running down his neck from how intimidating Chi Chi was just seconds ago. 'Glad she's on our side.' he followed up on his previous thought before gulping.
Bulma sighed as she prepared herself to talk to Yamcha again, the last time she had seen him was a couple of weeks ago and of course they had had one of their biggest fights to date. She had found women's underwear in his hover car, and they definitely weren't her's.
Even now she could feel her anger at him rising just thinking back on that day, it felt like her heart was being stomped on over and over again every time she thought about it. 'I've got to stop this, I'll never be able to convince him to help save the world if we get into another argument and we really don't have any time to lose. I just have to buck it up and get it over with.' Finally she walked into the game; and noticed a massive fight had just broken out.
Yamcha was having the most fun he'd had in years, no one could touch him, his movements were a blur to anyone who had not trained in advanced martial arts for years. With his advantage he easily dispatched everyone around him, his team or the opposing team in a matter of minutes, his face shining, showing the rush even that meager fight had given him; it was something he had truly craved.
As he examined the pile of unconscious baseball players both from his team and the other team; hoping he had missed one of them so he could have some more fun, he noticed a certain blue hair women walking towards him. 'Guess she finally got over it, today rocks! I get to have my first fight in ages and I get Bulma back.' a stupid grin overtook his face as he imagined how they would make up this time.
His day dreams were dashed when she started speaking though. "Yamcha…" she seemed lost for words for a second but just a second, there was a definitely sadness there.
'Oh shit is she actually breaking up with me?' fear began to creep into the pit of his stomach, and with the fear came anger. as the milliseconds flew by he quickly tried to come up with a retort to what he knew now was the inevitable goodbye, he wasn't going to take any of the 'we can still be friends' bs, if the relationship was going down he'd make sure it went down swinging.
Tears began to stream down her face as what she said next was the last thing he could have expected. "He's dead Yamcha…"
Yamaha's scheming came to a dead stop, as he tried to decipher what Bulma had just said. "Wait what? Dead? who's dead, what's she talking about?" He was at a loss for words his mind trying to make sense of her seemingly nonsensical statement. After an awkward moment of silence between the two he finally responded "What are you talking about babe, who's dead?
"Goku's dead Yamcha, some evil...I can't even say man he was closer to a monster... He was strong, stronger than even Goku and Piccolo together. He showed up, claimed to be Goku's brother and that they're both aliens, demanded Goku help him kill everyone on Earth. When he refused he took Goku's son. Goku and Piccolo teamed up to try to fight him but even together they couldn't beat him, Goku was killed and Piccolo was in bad shape when we got there, he filled us in on the rest. Piccolo told us to gather everyone up and go to Korin's tower. Apparently you can get to Kami's lookout from there to train. It's our only hope of stopping them." She was talking a mile a minute because it was the only way she could say everything that had happened in the last 24 hours before she could burst into tears.
Yamcha just stared at her a blank look on his face, his mind trying and failing to process what she just said. Goku being an alien sort of made sense to him since he had been an anomaly since he was just a child, but there was one part he was struggling to wrap his head around 'Goku's dead, that can't be, he the strongest man on the planet, and if Piccolo was helping him no one should have been able to touch him… could they? Maybe I heard wrong, but then why is she upset?' his brain continued to run like that for what seemed like hours running through every possibility he could imagine. Finally when his brain was on the verge of just giving up, he decided he must of heard correctly to begin with. One of his best friends, the strongest man on the planet was dead and his killer was coming back in a year to kill him and everyone else.
"So you're serious huh?" He waited for Bulma to nod and then continued.
"Well I guess I don't have much of a choice, I've been looking for an excuse to get back into martial arts anyway." he said with a bravado he didn't fully feel, mainly because Bulma liked it when it seemed like he was a tough guy.
On the inside his inner voice was much more pessimistic. 'How many times have I trained as hard as I can only to be the first one taken out, now there's someone stronger than Goku and Piccolo combined out there and I have to try to help fight him, this is just great. Well at least Tien, Krillin, and Chiaotzu will be there to help me train, I have been wondering how Kami made Goku so strong so fast. And I guess Piccolo is on our side now too so that's a plus... I think. On top of it all we're obviously going to wish Goku back, and all together we'd be unstoppable.'
"Alright I'll do it, you said to meet up at Korin's tower right?" he finally said beginning to feel better about their chances.
"Yeah that's what Piccolo said to tell you guys." she responded caught off guard by his sudden confidence, she knew him well enough to know when he was faking bravery to score points, which he clearly was to begin with but after he thought about it for a few seconds he seemed actually confident. This began to give Bulma confidence that maybe they could win this if everyone works together.
"Well I guess I'll see you later, I've got to go get my stuff and get ready for training." Yamcha said his usual grin spreading across his face.
"Please be careful Yamcha" She responded planting a light kiss on his lips, no matter what he did, she just couldn't stay mad at him.
"You know me I will" Yamcha said as he and Bulma began to walk their separate ways, he back towards the dugout to gather his things, and Bulma back towards the exit for the stadium, both knowing it would be a long time before they saw one another again.
It had taken Master Roshi several days before he was finally able to contact Tien and Chiaotzu. He had had to wait until Launch's mild form had become her dominant personality since she was the only one of the 3 with a phone and the blonde part of her was usually too busy out robbing banks or committing other various felonies to bother with answering her phone.
Finally on his 8th attempt he was able to get an answer and find out where She, Tien, Chiaotzu, were staying now a days. They were living in a modest capsule house high up in the remote mountains in the north. the high altitude and cold weather meant it was a good place for the duo to continue their training, and provided Launch with a perfect hideout, for when her other half didn't feel like 'having any excitement'.
As he landed Master Roshi couldn't help but feel the gravity of the situation weigh down on his shoulder once more. The greatest fighter the world had ever known was dead, and his killer would be back in a year, with backup, to kill everyone else on the planet unless he and a small band of his students and friends could somehow stop them, it was a great weight for the martial arts master to bare.
He sat in the seat of the plane for another moment collecting his thoughts; finally sighing he got out and began to walk towards the trio who had now gathered outside the house.
Everyone gathered could sense how grave the atmosphere was as Master Roshi approached. Even so Tien still realized the need to initiate the conversation. "Hello Master, by the look on your face, I take this isn't a courtesy call." he said causing a sad smile to form on the turtle hermit's face.
"No unfortunately it's not Tien." he responded his voice reflecting the look on his face. He sighed before continuing, "I'm going to be blunt the Earth is in incredible danger, Goku is dead." he paused so the shock of what he said could sink in.
Several seconds flew by as Master Roshi let each of them work their way through the shock. Finally Launch was the first to speak up. "That's ok though isn't it? we can just gather the Dragon balls and wish him back right?" the more stable version of the schizophrenic woman asked.
"Normally we would but because of the unique situation we're facing he's asked for time to train in Otherworld before he returns." Master Roshi responded.
"Just how strong is this new threat? I mean Goku is almost unstoppable he beat Piccolo and Piccolo Jr after all." Tien asked slightly nervous about the answer.
"For you to fully understand it I'll have to start at the beginning." Master Roshi cleared his throat before continuing "Apparently Goku is originally from another planet." the shock appeared on the trio of faces which he expected but he pushed onwards explaining everything that had happened and why they needed their help.
The gravity of the situation, which had been weighing on Master Roshi since Goku's death began to weigh down on Tien and Chiaotzu's shoulders as well. "So what it all adds up to is that we're in serious trouble. We don't have much of a choice do we, continuing training at the pace we have been won't get us anywhere near as strong as Goku was. Besides I have been curious just what kind of Training Kami put Goku through to make him so powerful all of those years ago, I guess this is a good chance to find out." He said as he tried to make lemonade out of the lemons life had handed them.
"Good that's the answer I was hoping you'd give, what about you Chiaotzu?" Roshi asked Tien's floating shadow.
"If Tien thinks we can win, then I'll definitely try." the small floating man responded with enthusiasm.
"Very good, Piccolo said that Kami wanted everyone to go to Korin's tower and that Korin would have a way to get you to the lookout."
With that the group of old friends spent a few minutes attempting to catch up on what they had been up to recently but no one's heart was really in the conversation so it was postponed until after the threat had been resolved.
As soon as he left, Master Roshi went straight to West city to meet up with Bulma again and begin discussing the second part of their plan to save the Earth.
"There you are, what took you so long? Krillin's already been to Goku's and Chi Chi is already training downstairs. She's really tearing the gym up waiting for you. Also we need to decide who else we're going to recruit before she realizes you're here and drags you down there to begin her training." Bulma began speaking at a rapid fire pace as soon as he walked through the door, he was a surprised at how gung-ho it sounded Chi Chi was, but then again he really didn't know her to terribly well and she did marry Goku who never seemed to stop training.
"Sorry it took so long I had some trouble getting ahold of Tien and Chiaotzu." he responded as he sat down in a kitchen chair and sighed to himself, it felt strange to him to actually have to think about preparing to defending the Earth, seeing how he had been becoming more and more irrelevant for most of the last decade. He was now unaccustomed to the burden.
"Anyway I've been trying to think of other powerful fighters." He quickly change the subject before Bulma could tear into him for making excuses. "Other than with Nam, if he's been keeping up with his training, I haven't been able to think of anyone else." he said hoping she had thought of some fighters that could help.
"That's a name I haven't heard in a while he was one of the few contestants to even give Goku some trouble the first time." Bulma said her voice becoming the complete opposite that it was the last time she had spoken. "I thought of someone also I just don't remember his name, do you remember when Goku gathered up all the Dragonballs himself to wish someone back that Mercenary Tao had killed? If I remember right Goku said he was really strong, I think he was the guardian of the land of Korin or something." Bulma said hoping Master Roshi knew who she was talking about and could supply the name that she couldn't remember, she leaned over the counter racking her brain in case Roshi didn't know, unintentionally giving the turtle hermit a view of her cleavage.
"Hmmm let me see now." Master Roshi replied stroking his beard apparently deep in thought, or so Bulma thought until she saw the blood that start dripping from his nose and noticed he had been staring down the neck of her shirt.
"You old PERV!" she screamed before delivering a powerful punch to the seasoned Martial artist's unprepared face, knocking him all the way back into the wall.
"Uhhhh" he moaned as she stomped towards him, arms tightly crossed over her chest, preparing to finish him off once and for all. "Wait! Wait! Wait!" he cried "I remember his name your blow jogged my memory" he yelled hoping to delay his seemingly inevitable demise.
Bulma stopped just feet away from him crossed her arms and began to tap her foot with a glare that could freeze nearly anyone's blood solid. "Well I'm waiting" she said impatiently.
"Bora! His name is Bora!" he quickly said hoping it would be enough to save him from her wrath, it wasn't, she sent a powerful kick to his gut. "You're lucky you remembered his name, I better not catch you looking down my shirt again. Just be sure you're at the palace on time tomorrow you damn old pervert" she growled before storming away, leaving Roshi dazed on the floor his sunglasses cracked and a large lump on his forehead.
'Maybe she should be one of the ones training she packs one hell of a kick' he grimly thought to himself before scolding himself for such a crazy idea 'if she actually trained I might not survive the next time she lashes out.'
The next day, by the time she had flown all the way to the King's palace, Bulma had gotten over Roshi's issues, now she was just nervous about the upcoming meeting. It was imperative that they convince King Furry that they were telling the truth and get him to authorize the whole world to help prepare for the upcoming Saiyan invasion.
When she landed Roshi was already sitting there, waiting for her presumably, looking just as nervous as she felt, though for an entirely different reason.
'Please don't still be mad, please don't still be mad, please don't still be mad' he silently prayed as she approached, he really didn't want to go before King Furry with a welt on his head.
"Good you at least managed to show up on time." Bulma said with more anger in her voice than she actually felt, if anything she was just trying to hide how nervous she actually felt.
"Yes well I know it's an important day, and I wanted to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible." he said glad she wasn't yelling, yelling almost always meant he'd be in pain at some point in the conversation.
"Well you got that right, let's get a move on we don't want to end up late since he agreed to meet with us on such short notice" Bulma said her mood seemingly shifting again, before walking right past the perverted old martial arts master whose eyes instantly dropped down her back side as he followed at what he hoped was a safe viewing distance.
After going through several intensive searches by high resolution scanners, that Bulma was pretty sure her own father had invented, the duo had finally made it to the official waiting room for the office if the King of Earth.
The cordial King didn't make them wait long though, he had them ushered in as soon as he finished with the elderly farmer he was currently talking too.
As they entered they noted King Furry's office was large round and very regal. The King himself was a cheerful looking dog-man sitting at the desk, eager to greet his new guests. "Welcome, welcome what can I humbly do for you today Miss Briefs and hmm you are Master Roshi if I'm not mistaken." His deep friendly voice was enough to put nearly anyone at ease.
Both of them were thoroughly impressed the King to actually went to the trouble of looking up and remember their names, despite their relative fame, his attention to detail and love of his people were just some of the reasons he was the most popular ruler in Earth's history.
Bulma decided she should give the King the respect he deserved by not beating around the bush and get right to the point none of them really had any time to spare. "I'm going to get right to the point because the Earth is in grave danger and there isn't much time to prepare to save it." She started, King Furry stiffened in his chair ever so slightly he knew they claimed to have knowledge of some impending disaster, it was why he had them worked into the schedule on such short notice but to actually hear it from their mouths still caused some uneasiness to form in the pit of his stomach.
"What exactly is this danger that you speak of, and what can we do to stop it?" he asked giving his guest his utmost attention.
Master Roshi was the first to answer this time "Well for you to get the whole picture I'm going to have to go back a few years, nearly a decade to be exact. I'm sure you remember when King Piccolo made his attempt to take over the world, and his subsequent defeat at the hand of a child."
King Furry did indeed remember that event "Yes I sometimes still have nightmares about that day, I've never seen a child display such skill or such bravery, I owe that boy my life though I never got a chance to repay him."
"It's good you remember him, it will make explaining things that much easier" Roshi continued. "I'm not sure if you watched the 23rd world martial arts tournament but that same child Goku, one of my pupils, took on the child of King Piccolo in the finals of that tournament, the fighting was fierce and in the end the entire arena was destroyed, but Goku proved victorious in the end. As per his nature though Goku was merciful and spared the demon king's child. Until a few weeks ago they were the two most powerful beings on the planet, completely eclipsing the rest of us."
King Furry knew something had happened to destroy the stadium for the tournament but since all of the cameras were destroyed and most of the people had fled, the investigators had had to rely solely on the referee's description of what transpired afterwards, the the overwhelming consensus was the referee had hit his head during a terrorist attack and his testimony was unreliable, though King Furry had seen enough to secretly believe something more incredible had happened, something more akin to the terror King Piccolo had rain down on the Earth.
"Recently though an even more powerful being showed up, the man claimed to be Goku's brother, and that Goku was actually an alien." Master Roshi let this fact sink in for the ruler of Earth.
The King thought about what had been said so far and he was slightly suspicious that he was being played for a fool, the only thing that kept him listening besides courtesy was the fact that he had seen Piccolo and the boy apparently named Goku fight with his own eyes. "That would explain the child's inhuman abilities." the King responded deep in thought.
Roshi nodded, "Anyway Goku's brother was as evil as King Piccolo himself and said he planned on killing everyone on the planet, he claimed that he and his species conquer and sell planets on a galactic planet trading market. so to combat this threat Goku and King Piccolo's son also named Piccolo teamed up to try and defeat him, but even the two strongest fighters this planet has ever seen were no match for Goku's brother. In the end Goku was killed, Piccolo Jr. gravely wounded, and Goku's son kidnapped."
The King was shocked, he thought the young man who had saved him was unbeatable, the idea that he could have been defeated seemed impossible to him. Even so he understood that a super powered kidnapper, like King Piccolo himself, was on the loose hidden somewhere on Earth and it was up to him to organize the army to stop him and his inevitable plans to lead the world into an era of darkness. "I understand I will call the generals immediately, we will stop this fiend I promise you that." The King announced as he immediately reached for his phone.
"I'm afraid it's not so simple your majesty, conventional weapons will do no good against fighters like them, Goku has been tough enough to essentially be bulletproof since he was just a kid. He did manage to take down the whole Red Ribbon army back then himself after all" Bulma added which was news to the King.
'That boy took the Red Ribbon down too, incredible he's a hero many times over yet he never came forward to take any of the credit' while the king was inwardly marveling at his past savior's apparent humbleness Master Roshi cut in continuing where Bulma had left off
"And you saw how unstoppable King Piccolo was, nothing could scratch him. Even I'm at a level where normal weapons cannot harm me. I assure you his brother would not feel even the most advanced weaponry, and besides that isn't even the worst of it, His Brother left the planet, but before he left he said he and his 'associates' would be coming back with him in around a year to finish everyone off here, supposedly they are at least as strong as he was."
The king had secretly feared his troops would actually be useless if someone like King Piccolo had come along again but had hoped that King Piccolo had just used some trick or illusion that had kept him from being harmed, and that with enough time his soldiers could adapt and find a way around his tricks, if what his distinguished guests had said were true then his hopes were misplaced.
Confusion began to settle in as he tried to figure out why they were here if there was nothing he could do to help. 'Are they just doing they're duty as good citizens and warning us of our impending doom, or do they know of some other way I can help?' he thought puzzled. "If the military can't help you I'm not sure what I can do to help." he finally conceded.
"The military can't help us with weapons, but the men themselves might be able to help us in another way. As I stated earlier I was the one who began Goku's training, if you could provide some troops already skilled in hand to hand combat for me to train up I might be able to get them in to shape to at least help us try and fight the invaders." Master Roshi continued hoping the King would help them.
The King was silent for a moment before he responded. "If what you say is true, I don't see any other option than to go with your plan, how many soldiers do you think you can train before these invaders get here?"
Master Roshi had been thinking of how many students he thought he could realistically handle at one time for awhile now and unfortunately it was a smaller number than everyone, even himself, would be hoping for. "My training will last 6 months, it will be extraordinary grueling so only your most exceptional soldiers will be worth training, I think I can probably handle 10 beginner students, In addition to the other martial artist I plan on training, I can train maybe 7 of your soldiers, before the results each one obtains start to really diminish. At the end of the 6 months I and the students will be going to train under Goku's second master for the final 6 months in hopes of becoming at least as strong as Goku was before the battle." Master Roshi answered, his voice somber.
The King thought for a moment before deciding, "Alright let's do it I'll have the soldiers gather as soon as possible for you to decide who you wish to train, I'll also attempt to find other Martial arts masters who will be able to train other groups of soldiers so we can have as large of a trained force as possible."
Master Roshi was suddenly filled with a mixture of emotion, should he tell the King about the Crane school and give his arch nemesis more fighters to corrupt in the name of saving the Earth or keep silent and put the world in more danger.
Finally he decided he needed to minimize the risk to the world however possible, even by aiding his nemesis. "There is only one other school of martial arts that's up to the task, though I warn you the teachers are themselves not far above the invaders on the scale of good and evil. The school is known as the Crane school lead by Master Shen and Mercenary Tao."
The King's spine instantly stiffened Tao's reputation spoke for itself, the man was believed to be responsible for hundreds, if not thousands, of unsolved murders, kidnappings, and robberies, though everyone was too afraid of him to press charges or even investigate incidents with alleged Tao involvement further. "Are you sure that is the only other school worth contacting?" The King's voice wavered ever so slightly.
"As much as it pains me to say his school is the only other one capable of training students up to the level that they need to be at to even have a chance to useful in the fight. No other school knows the secret to mastering Ki." Roshi's voice was grim.
"Ki is that a martial arts term, I've never heard of it." The King responded confused.
"It is the life energy that exists inside everyone, if you train yourself hard enough and know what you're doing you can harness this energy to make powerful energy blast, not only that but you can use it to reinforce your body so blows do less damage to yourself, hence why after a certain level you basically become bullet proof. You can also use it to increase your speed and physical strength to superhuman levels. It took me nearly 50 years to master it myself, but my last few students were seemingly naturals at using it and have all surpassed me." Master Roshi responded, Bulma was beginning to get irritated at being completely left out of the conversation ever since Roshi interrupted her, especially since she was the only reason they were here to begin with, but she continued to hold her tongue... for now.
"Ah I see, so you're going to train the soldiers to use this Ki against the invaders when they arrive." the King was beginning to understand their strategy better.
"Exactly only the people attacking the Earth are much better at it than Roshi over there." Bulma said finally seeing her chance to rejoin the conversation.
"So the plan is going to be a safety in numbers approach then, will the 10 fighters be strong enough in just a years time?" The king asked.
"The plan is not to use me and any of the new students as the main attack force, there are other warriors, some of Goku's contemporaries, my ex-students who I just mentioned are training hard to try and be the main defensive force for the Earth. Each of these fighters is stronger than I am. But in case they aren't strong enough to defeat them we decided that we should train as many fighters as we could to serve an auxiliary role if needed to hopefully overwhelm the attackers. If this fails their job will be to buy us time to wish Goku back so he can try to help us." Master Roshi responded not even realizing that King Furry wouldn't know what they meant by wishing Goku back. Bulma face palmed at Master Roshi's oversight.
"Wait I thought you said Goku died fighting his brother, how could you 'wish him back', what do you even mean by wishing him back?" The King said suddenly suspicious again that this was some sort of elaborate ruse.
"This is going to sound far fetched but it's true, currently Goku is dead, but there are 7 magical orbs scattered around the planet if you can find all 7 you are granted 1 wish, My job during this year is to gather the balls so we can use the wish to bring Goku back to help us fight off the invaders. The magic orbs are called the Dragon balls; we've used them several times over the last decade or so. You can tell when they're being used because the sky all around the world suddenly gets incredibly dark, and there's an enormous dragon." Bulma said trying her best to explain things in a way that the King would believe.
"I have heard of the legend, but I've never seen anything that would indicate that it is anymore than a child's fairy tale, do you have any proof that what you say is true." The King was very suspicious now. He wanted to believe them they seemingly had an explanation as to why King Piccolo was nearly unstoppable and claimed to know the boy who managed to stop the monster but the story had just gone from far fetched, to downright insane.
"The best proof I think I can offer to show that we're telling the truth right now if for you to have some of you guards fire at me so I can prove at least part of the story, it'll take Bulma awhile to gather the Dragon balls." Master Roshi responded, knowing he needed to put the King's worries at ease.
"I'm not sure if we have to go to something quite that extreme do we?" the King said suddenly alarmed.
"I am sure; I've been hit with all sorts of bullets throughout the years." The ageing martial artist responded referring to his time with Launch, he popped up and prepared himself for the bullets.
One of the guards in the room was willing to call the old man's bluff, and stepped forward, "I'll do it sir." his partner left quickly to warn the other guards about what was about to happen. He quickly aimed the gun at the old man expecting him to flinch or show some sort of fear, what he saw was the man's face stay completely impassive. "Grrr, fine here I go." he yelled before firing into the ground near the old man's feet, Roshi didn't even flinch.
"You're going to have to have better aim than that I'm afraid." Master Roshi said, taking off his shirt and pointing to his stomach as where the guard should aim.
This time the guard now having second thoughts about this 'test', he didn't want to kill an old man even if he did have a death wish, he just wanted to give him a scare and ruin his obvious scheming. He looked to the King for final approval, "Fine yes does it if he's absolutely sure, get the palace medics on standby just in case though."
"I am your majesty, and there is no need to call the medic." He responded one final time.
Finally the guard aimed and pulled the trigger the bullet hit right where the old man was pointing, the bullet crushed itself against his skin. It wouldn't even end up leaving a red mark on the old man's surprisingly toned stomach.
Everyone in the room minus Bulma and Roshi had their eye's comically bulge as the bullet fell harmlessly to the floor.
"As you can see we were telling the truth." Bulma declared a triumphant grin on her face.
"Yes… Yes you appear to have been." The King said nearly stunned silent as he dabbed his forehead in relief that the man didn't die, his mind was spinning though. 'It's true... it's actually true. they know why King Piccolo was so unstoppable. I'm just going to have to believe them about the rest of it I suppose since they don't have any proof to offer for that yet.'
"I'll make the calls now, you two can relax in the lobby if you please." He said as he motioned for his guards to escort them to the lobby once more, the rest of the day would be very busy.
Nearly an hour later the King emerged, "I've called the generals and told them to gather up the troops so you can chose your new pupils, some are less than convinced though. Do you have a specific way you want to choose them?" The King announced.
"I was thinking that since it's martial arts that they will be learning, the selection should involve martial arts like a tournament, the best fighters will move on" Master Roshi responded.
"That might take a while since there are over ten thousand soldiers in the EDF." King Furry countered.
"Not all of the soldiers have to compete in the tournament it should be volunteers only because I guarantee you going beyond normal human limitations is extremely difficult, if they are to be successful it has to be because they want to be there not because they are forced to be. But if a large number still try out, will just have to let it play out we need the best fighters available" Master Roshi responded.
"Well if you think that's the best way to do it I'll have my people call around and see if we can find an arena big enough for it." King Furry said finally relenting. With that the world's ruler returned to his office to begin making arrangements for Master Roshi's tournament.
Alright well there you have it chapter 2, It was longer than I anticipated but I hoped everyone liked it regardless. And now for the reviews.
NatNicole: That's what I was thinking when I started writing it, In my mind the number of outcomes of this fight in which Raditz loses are few and far between compared to the number in which he wins, I mean he didn't even break out the Oozaru form on them. So that's what I'm going to try to portray a universe where Raditz won and all the reverberations that are felt throughout the rest of the timeline.
super mystic gohan: Glad you liked it. The arrival timeline is going to be better flushed out in chapter 3 but for the most part the time frame be roughly the same as in the show for yet to be revealed reasons. Also you are correct Raditz is going to get stronger as the story progresses.
(5/18/2015) Some re-editing done to get it up closer to par for the later chapters.