The vibrant and bustling metropolis of East City had begun its day the same as it had a thousand others in the past, the city's 2 million residents engaged in a variety of activities. White collar workers scrambled onto buses to get to work on time, parents took their children to school, college students walked towards the city's premiere university, and various other commuters were busying themselves buying groceries or luxury items at their own discretion.
However, the citizens' ordinary day would quickly become anything but, as two large fireballs seemed to materialize out of thin air, on a collision course with one of the city's busier streets. The first of these landed slightly before the second, ramming through a building and embedding itself into the concrete as the other fireball crashed through a street light before following suit. Once the smoke and heat had cleared, onlookers could see that they were not fireballs or random meteors, but rather two perfectly spherical pods. No sooner had they observed this than the pods' doors swung open, revealing a pair of curious looking humanoid creatures. The first was bulky, easily twice the size of the average human, with a physique to match, a bald head and a trimmed goatee. The second was far shorter, with spiky black hair and a look of contempt in his eyes. Both wore strange visors over their right eyes-the first blue, the second red-and both wore a similar style of armor and had what appeared to be furry belts along their waists. Thousands of questions swam in the minds of the onlookers, but something about the gaze of the shorter one silenced their tongues.
"Heh. Look at them all, Vegeta," the first one sneered. "A timid race like this could be easily conquered."
"Well, obviously, seeing as they sent a low class child like Kakarot to do it," Vegeta replied. "Still...there does appear to be a far greater degree of genetic compatibility compared to most other species we have met. All in all, a very promising candidate for our purposes, Nappa."
Eventually, one of the onlookers interjected. "H-hey! W-who are you people anyway?! What is it you want here?!"
Nappa chuckled as Vegeta raised his eyebrow.
"Well, how about that? A ram among the sheep," Vegeta said, to which Nappa laughed.
"Well, then, perhaps we should introduce ourselves!" He began concentrating his ki into his right hand, and raised it upwards in a single swift motion. Within seconds, the entire city was engulfed in a massive ki blast that vaporized everything but the two Saiyans and their Attack Balls.
When the dust cleared, the large warrior laughed heartily. "Perhaps that was too strong an introduction, eh, Vegeta?" He asked rhetorically, to which Vegeta merely scoffed.
"As amusing as that was, we can't allow ourselves to become distracted from our objective; the Dragon Balls that the one that killed Raditz mentioned. And if it turns out any of them were around here..."
"Agh, you're right! Forgive me, my liege, I wasn't thinking!" Nappa apologized.
"Whatever. Let's just find the one that killed Raditz. Search for the highest power reading-it should take a moment to pinpoint its location."
Nappa complied with the request, but paused as his scouter took in some startling information.
"V-Vegeta, I don't understand it. There's a large collection of power levels moving together near our position-within the range of 750 to 2000!"
"What?!" Vegeta cried out in astonishment. 2000 is the average strength of a common soldier in his army. Surely he hasn't sent any...no! No! I'm positive I deactivated the transmitter on my scouter before we came here, and Nappa told me that he had done the same before we left! He couldn't possibly be here! "H-how many power levels are there?"
"It looks like...five in total, sir."
Vegeta let out a sigh of relief as his own scouter beeped. "And the highest power on this planet is fluctuating, yet seems to be holding steady near that range. Must be this planet's sorry excuse for fighters, nothing more." He chuckled at his own foolishness. I can't be losing my head now, of all times, he chided himself. "Now, let us set out at once!"
With that, the two Saiyans flew off towards Piccolo's position just as the Z Fighters were mere minutes away from doing the same.
Piccolo's antennae twitched in anticipation as he felt the two enormous powers approaching. "Boy!" he called out to Gohan. "Prepare yourself!"
"Wh-what?" Gohan asked, confused as to what was going on.
"They're coming. The enemies that you and I have trained for this last year to face."
"What?! Y-you mean-!"
"Yes! Now be on your guard and locate their ki. You must be prepared to fight opponents from whatever direction they choose to come from."
Gohan focused his mind, eliminating all unnecessary sensory input until he came upon what he sought: ki signatures. Two powerful ones, approaching from the east, and unlike any ki he'd felt from the likes of Piccolo or his dad's human friends at Kame House. These were undoubtedly the Saiyans that Piccolo had told him about, but...there was something strange.
"M-Mr. Piccolo, you said there were only two Saiyans coming, right?"
Piccolo simply nodded. "Indeed. It would seem that his allies are arriving."
"His allies? What are you-?"
No sooner had Gohan formed the question than five figures suddenly landed in front of them, their ki gradually dispersing as they ceased focusing it into the power of flight. Piccolo simply smirked as Gohan looked on, delighted.
"Hey, I know you guys!" the young boy said. "You guys all fought with my dad!" After a moment, Gohan stopped to consider the wording of his statement. "Or...alongside my dad!" Then he paused again. "Or...largely on the same side as my dad without actually being in the same place as him. I'm pretty sure."
"Honestly, all of them are accurate in a sense," Yamcha replied.
"Yuh-huh," Krillin added.
"Mhm." Roshi.
"Yup-yup-yup!" Chiaotzu.
"More or less." Tien.
"Agh! We don't have time for small talk, you fools!" Piccolo interjected. "The Saiyans will be here any second!"
"Don't worry, I've got an idea to speed things along," Roshi said before tapping the young boy's forehead and focusing his ki. The boy gasped in surprise at the sudden influx of information about each of his apparent allies, but was nevertheless amazed at Roshi's talents.
"Whoaaa. So cool! Can you teach me how to do that, Muten Roshi?"
Roshi smiled with a look of nostalgia, a comforting feeling that Roshi could tell was about to be interrupted as two large ki signatures made themselves known in the vicinity.
"Maybe later, kid," he said quickly as he and the others turned around and surveyed the two Saiyans floating high above their position. The warriors' muscles tensed, ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation, as the pair of aliens slowly descended to meet them.
"J-jeez," Krillin muttered as he felt Vegeta's ki. "Goku's brother sure wasn't one to exaggerate..." Vegeta merely smirked in response.
"Yeah," Yamcha added. "That ki blast from East City was insane..."
"So," Piccolo began, ignoring them, "You two are the Saiyans we've heard so much about."
Vegeta's eyebrow rose slightly. "That voice...so you are the one who killed Raditz."
"And a Namekian to boot. With their renowned combat prowess and mystical abilities, it's no wonder Raditz was bested so easily," Nappa remarked.
"Indeed. I would wager that this is the man behind the creation of the treasures we seek."
Piccolo was surprised by this revelation, as were Krillin and Gohan. The others' responses were more measured.
"Y-you're telling me Piccolo's an alien too?" Krillin asked to no one in particular.
"I mean...in retrospect..." Tien replied as the others nodded.
"Well..." Piccolo finally said. "That's...one question answered. But unfortunately for you, I am not the creator of the Dragon Balls. My specialty is combat!" He assumed a battle stance, daring the Saiyans to come at him, but this was met only with a hearty laugh from Vegeta.
"Well, look at this! The slug wants to tangle with a Saiyan elite! Trust me, you'll get your chance eventually."
Piccolo scowled. "S-slug?! I am the reincarnation of the fearsome Demon King Piccolo, whose sheer power cast this world into a shroud of darkness the likes of which had never been seen before!"
"Heh. You want to see a shroud of darkness? Take a look at the dirt floor back thataway," Nappa replied smugly, jerking his thumb in the direction of East City. Piccolo merely growled in anger at the Saiyan's mockery.
"Regardless," Tien interjected. "There's still the matter of your intentions with this planet after you've gotten your wish on the Dragon Balls, whatever it may be."
Nappa laughed. "As if we're under any obligation to explain ourselves to you!"
"They're going to use the Dragon Balls to become immortal," Roshi replied matter of factly, surprising everyone in the group save Tien, who simply nodded with a smirk. The two Saiyans in particular were especially shocked.
"W-what?!" Vegeta asked. "H-how could you possibly-?!"
"After they've got that settled," Roshi continued, his eyes gleaming slightly as he watched the prince squirm, "They've toyed with the notion of subjugating this planet and its people, using the Earth as a breeding camp in order to rebuild the population of the Saiyan race, although this 'Prince Vegeta' person has expressed doubts on the plan." Roshi pointed to Vegeta, "He wants to become immortal so that he can become capable of defeating a galactic tyrant by the name of 'Frieza,' thus allowing him to rule over the entire universe for all eternity."
The two Saiyans simply looked on dumbfounded before Nappa finally muttered, shuddering with genuine terror, "W-what is this sorcery…?"
"Let's just say that when you've lived as long as I have," Roshi said with a smirk as he tapped his head, "You learn a handful of tricks."
Vegeta looked at him shocked for a moment before chuckling with the return of his bravado, forcibly casting out whatever traces of fear may have been present. "So, this frail old man thought he could intimidate us with his backwater parlor tricks, eh?"
Nappa was still shaken, yet attempted to replicate his leader's confidence. "Y-yeah! L-let's just see how tough you really are, geezer!" Nappa activated the scouter and began surveying the group. "981 for the kid...1,083 for the midget...1,220 for the Namekian...1,136 for the triclops...450 for the small clown...586 for the old geezer...and 1,047 for the womanish one."
"Why does everyone insist on calling me a midget?" Krillin asked with a groan.
"'Womanish?'" Yamcha asked, scowling slightly.
"Jeez...even the toddler's stronger than me," Chiaotzu said with a resigned sigh.
Nappa laughed heartily at their reactions. "You really expected to defeat us with numbers that pitiful?! They'd barely stand up to Raditz!"
"Take off your scouter, Nappa," Vegeta commanded as he threw his own to the floor. "Those readings do not align with those we observed a few moments ago. It's obvious that this slug here has taught the others how to vary their battle power as needed for any given combat situation. Traditional means of measurement are useless."
Nappa nodded in understanding, and unclipped his own scouter from his face. "Yeah, you're right...that's probably what got that weakling Raditz killed. He relied too much on the scouter's numbers, and got caught off guard when that one raised his power level with that last attack."
"'That weakling…?'" Piccolo mused to himself.
"He beats both Piccolo and Goku to a pulp a year ago...and he's the weakling," Yamcha remarked with a nervous chuckle.
"H-hey, w-we're a lot stronger than they were then. W-we got this," Krillin replied, equally nervous.
"Hm..." Vegeta thought aloud for a moment before turning to his aide. "Nappa, it is true that we have six seeds for Saibamen in our allotted stock, correct?"
"Yes, sir! I shall plant them immediately!"
As Nappa knelt down to the ground to plant six seeds and several drops of a mysterious chemical on top of each, Earth's warriors looked on in confusion, which quickly turned to horror as the ground burst forth to reveal six lime green, scaly creatures with pointed ears and dark red eyes. More than anything, it reminded Piccolo of the inherited memory of some of his mutated brothers.
"Ah, there we are," Vegeta stated once they had emerged. "Six Saibamen, and seven warriors. So of the seven, I'll remove...the clown from the lineup." Chiaotzu bristled at the term, but was likewise thankful that he didn't have to fight one of these creatures head on.
Vegeta then turned to the summoned creatures. "Now, I want you all to give everything you have in these bouts. It's important we understand the capabilities of what we are fighting against in pursuit of our objective. Understand?"
"And hey, if you manage to kill any of them, all the better for us to go out and find these Dragon Balls fast!" Nappa added.
The Saibamen nodded mindlessly to the directive Vegeta put forth; automatic obedience was the primary reason these life forms had become such coveted shock troopers within the Frieza Forces. One of the Saibamen stepped forward and readied itself to fight the gang.
"Watch these guys, everyone," Roshi sent out telepathically. "The big one's thoughts indicate that these things have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves."
The others nodded. "I'll fight first," Tien proclaimed, eager to see what his opponents had in store for him.
"Don't go all out just yet," Roshi cautioned him as he walked.
"What? But this creature is nothing compared to the power I possess," Tien replied, somewhat snobbishly.
"You are correct, however I believe it is vital that I observe those two Saiyans first. After these creatures fall, they will be our next opponents."
Tien stood off against the Saibaman, and began assuming a combat stance.
"Any particular reason?"
"Based on what I've heard about this Raditz fellow, I have...let's call it a hypothesis about these aliens' capabilities."
"Alright. Three-fourths of my base power should be more than enough. Let's hope this hypothesis of yours checks out." Tien powered up and prepared to strike the scaled creature as it in turn readied itself.
However, its combat stance was quickly broken through by Tien's blow, sending the creature flying backwards. The creature caught itself after a few seconds by firmly planting its feet in the ground to gradually reduce its speed, but by the time it stopped, Tien was already upon it once more. He cracked his knuckles before lunging towards his opponent.
"One!" he shouted as he sent the Saibaman flying along the ground once more, flying alongside it until he ended up almost in front of where it would be in a few seconds. He held both his hands aloft in preparation for the next strike.
"Two!" as he punted the Saibaman into the air, before flying upwards until he was directly above it.
"SPIKE!" he proclaimed as he hit the Saibaman with a powerful karate chop from his left hand, sending it flying into the ground. No sooner had it gotten up on all fours, bruised and considerably weakened, than Tien briefly unleashed his full power and flew rapidly towards the ground as he landed a powerful aerial dive kick on the creature's spine.
With his opponent crippled, Tien simply leapt off the creature's body and pointed a finger at it, preparing to finish it off with a Dodonpa. No sooner had he prepared to do so, however, than Vegeta gestured towards the creature, causing an explosion of ki which blew the dying Saibaman into pieces. Tien stepped back along with the others, stunned by the display of power.
"Vegeta!" Nappa objected. "Why did you-?!"
"It was crippled and useless. There's nothing it could've done against him," Vegeta replied with a smirk. "It would seem I was right not to trust those Scouters."
"So, their power levels really must be nearing two thousand. Every one of those Saibamen is at 1,200. Strong enough to go toe to toe with Raditz."
"Then this one's power must be even greater than his," Vegeta replied before laughing slightly.
Meanwhile, Tien returned to the others' position as they congratulated him over his easy victory. Roshi simply continued looking at the two Saiyans before nodding his head. As they celebrated, Vegeta broke the silence.
"Ah, yes, rather impressive for backwater trash like yourself," Vegeta began. "Based on your movements during the battle, I would estimate your power level to be slightly over 2,000, half of Nappa's own combat strength. I haven't encountered a being of that strength on assignment to D-class worlds like this ever since I began my service in the Frieza Force." He then chuckled with a sarcastic air. "However, if my assumption is right, you are this group's strongest native warrior. I'm afraid your hopes of stopping us were doomed from the start."
Tien looked back at the prince with a determined expression, as did the others, albeit some not as readily.
"But in any event, let us continue this game!" Vegeta said, changing tack. "At this rate, a half an hour or so lost won't matter much if these are the strongest forces your planet can bring to bear against us."
The group hesitated, then nodded.
"I'll go next," Yamcha declared. "I'm the only one left who hasn't been brought back before, and if Piccolo dies, the Dragon Balls will be gone. It's the least risky option. Besides, these things don't look so tough."
Roshi and Tien nodded, while Krillin stepped back a pace. "A-alright, if you say so..." he said, worried for his safety.
"Remember, I said to go all out," Vegeta strictly reminded the creatures standing before him.
The second Saibaman stepped up as Yamcha crouched, ready to unleash the Neo Wolf Fang Fist. In lockstep, the two warriors leapt at each other, ready to strike, before disappearing from sight.
"Th-they're gone!" Gohan cried out in disbelief.
"They're moving at supersonic speeds, idiot! Sense their ki!" Piccolo scolded the child. "Everyone can see them but you!"
Upon obeying his instructions, Gohan could see the two warriors once more. They seemed to be matching blow for blow, but as time went on, Yamcha kept getting singular hits in with his signature technique, and the creature was left staggered. It stepped back and attempted to launch an acid attack from a slit in its cranium, but Yamcha was able to dodge it, leaving the acid to fly towards Nappa and Vegeta, who both effortlessly jumped out of the way before landing slightly to the left of their original position.
"Agh, watch it you idiot!" Vegeta cried out in protest. "You almost ruined my armor!"
"J-just his armor?" Krillin asked nervously, not expecting an answer.
Yamcha and the creature continued to exchange blows before leaping up to opposite cliffs, leaving the others free to converse telepathically.
"So, have you gathered the information you were looking for?" Tien asked.
"Indeed," Roshi replied. "Both of these aliens are fearsome, but without the ability to sense ki, they are much like young Gohan was earlier: limited in their perceptive capacity, in spite of their immense power."
"I see...you were attempting to observe how they tracked the two of us using only their eyes, weren't you?"
Roshi nodded slightly.
"And?" Tien pressed.
"The big one had trouble keeping track of you at full power, although if you tried using Max Power, he'd easily intercept you. The little one...encountered no trouble at all. How strong did you say Piccolo was?"
"When I sensed him during training, he was over 50% stronger than I am at the maximum of my base power."
"Then he should be able to get the jump on this Nappa fellow. We could use that to our advantage. I think if we-"
Suddenly their train of thought was interrupted when the Saibaman was sent hurtling into the ground. After another round of combat, Yamcha, having unleashed his maximum base power, had managed to dodge the Saibaman's lunge and strike back with a ki blast, leaving it dazed in a large crater. Yamcha flew down to admire his handiwork.
"See? What'd I tell you guys?" he said with a smirk. "I could probably take the rest of these things on my own."
Nappa and Vegeta merely smirked as something caught Roshi's attention. He peered into Nappa's mind and furrowed his brow in concentration before his eyes widened in surprise. In a panic, he ignored his prior caution about keeping his observations confined to telepathy.
"BOMB!" Roshi shouted out to the group at the top of his lungs, catching Vegeta and Nappa off guard as everyone else panicked.
"What?!" Yamcha cried out, trying to leap away from the crater as the creature's arm twitched. However, he only managed to get a few feet away when the creature leapt out as quickly as it could. With the slight distance he'd put from the crater, the Saibaman could only grab his legs in its claws, but it tightened its grip to compensate. As the claws dug into Yamcha's skin with the intensity of their hold, the Saibaman, weakened from his bout with Yamcha, engaged its self destruct technique to the best of its ability.
As the influx of ki caused it to glow with yellow light, Chiaotzu held both of his palms open and reached out towards the Saibaman's ki signature as fast and hard as he could. No sooner was the Saibaman about to explode when his hands became enveloped by a blue glow. Chiaotzu strained with all of his power to loosen the Saibaman's grip, leaving the Saibaman off guard long enough for Yamcha to power back up to full strength, get behind it, and kick it in the direction of Nappa and Vegeta. Just as the Saiyan warriors leapt away, the creature detonated ahead of them, the recoil of the explosion sending Yamcha flying backwards and into the ground slightly behind the other fighters. With a pained grunt, Yamcha shakily got back up, stumbling slightly before recovering his footing and breathing heavily.
"Hah...guess I...hah...underestimated it," he said weakly.
"This is bad!" Krillin said. "If they have more tricks like that up their sleeves, they might take out Gohan and Master Roshi! And if he dies again..."
"We all know the stakes, Krillin," Tien replied. "But Goku still hasn't arrived, and I'm not certain any of us stand a chance against that Vegeta character."
"I-If I had enough time to charge up, I could-" Krillin began before being cut off by Roshi.
"Tien's right. As frightening as these things are, I sense that they've showed us the extent of their abilities."
"I'm afraid the geezer's right," a familiar voice responded as it touched back down to Earth along with a larger obscured figure. "Our minions don't have any new tricks to show you, and now that the element of surprise is gone," Vegeta said, pausing for dramatic effect, "The game has lost a good deal of its luster."
Earth's warriors merely readied themselves for Vegeta's next move, with even Piccolo losing some of his bravado.
"However..." Vegeta began, "These bouts have been rather informative, so I shall allow them to continue."
The gang were taken aback by this course of action, and began conversing once more.
"A-are you guys sure we can keep doing this?" Krillin asked timidly.
"Between me and Tien, we should be able to bail out Gohan and Master Roshi if need be," Yamcha replied, some of his strength returning.
"I'll be fine," Roshi communicated, to Krillin's surprise.
"Uh, with all due respect, master, I don't know if you're strong enough to take one of those things on."
Roshi simply chuckled. "You should know by now that strength isn't everything. Now, don't you have a creature to fight?"
Krillin was still unsure, yet nodded in resolution and began to walk forward.
"Remember, Krillin, don't use up any more energy than you absolutely have to to stay safe," Tien cautioned. "We need to buy as much time as possible for Goku to get here."
Krillin turned back and nodded again, then continued walking forward until he was about ten paces away from one of the Saibamen, who decided to move up under the assumption the game was still progressing.
"Alright, you scaly slime ball! Come at me!" Krillin said, attempting to sound confident.
Nappa, meanwhile, voiced his concerns.
"My lord, even if some of them aren't strong enough to fight the Saibamen, their buddies could just come in and save them. What's the point of continuing this?"
"Somehow I doubt that-they didn't interfere in the last two bouts. They know as well as we do: every move that each of them makes drains their energy that much faster. Plus, even if we barred the creatures from fighting, one of these warriors would probably just kill them all anyway."
"Still, they could've been useful in establishing control," Nappa argued.
"Meh. Assuming we even bother with this planet to begin with, all their absence means is slightly more work for you once these weaklings are dead. Not much of a loss."
"Very well," Nappa replied. "I suppose any excuse to watch these morons struggle is a good excuse."
"Exactly!" Vegeta said with a laugh. "Nothing tastes sweeter than giving your adversary false hope before ruthlessly tearing them apart and crushing their dreams into nothingness. Oh, but don't worry, Nappa, you won't merely be watching..."
Krillin gulped nervously, but assumed a combat stance. The third Saibaman did the same, but before either could move, Vegeta called for the creature to stop fighting.
"Not so fast! We're going to be changing the rules of this game somewhat," Vegeta said with a sinister grin as he looked towards the others.
Nappa grinned widely as well, understanding his master's intentions.
"Based on the power demonstrated by the triclops and the other one, it is clear that having one of our creatures fight the Namekian would be a waste of time. He is likely a fair bit beyond all of you in terms of power. Therefore, I shall deploy a more...meaningful metric, and save the Saibaman for the clown child. Saibamen-attack each of your selected opponents all at once! If any of the Earthlings interfere, feel free to attack the rest! Nappa...if you will?"
Nappa laughed merrily, excited by the prospect of a good fight.
"Gladly!"
The group looked on as the Saiyan brute assumed a combat stance and gathered his power, an act which caused the nearby area itself to shake violently at its sheer enormity. As the others expressed their shock, Nappa began flying forward at breakneck speeds in order to charge Piccolo, with no concern for the other warriors he was about to run into.
Krillin and the Saibaman leapt out of the way, while Piccolo took off to confront him halfway, meeting Nappa's waiting punch with a kick of such strength that their collision produced a shockwave which sent Chiaotzu flying backwards. The two rose up into the air as they traded blow after blow, leaving the other warriors stunned at Piccolo's sheer power.
However, the remaining three Saibamen quickly turned their focus back towards the fight at hand. With Chiaotzu winded, his opponent cackled in its animalistic way before leaping towards him. Roshi powered up to 50% Max Power and engaged the creature assigned to him, put onto the defensive by its superior power but managing to dodge every strike. Gohan, meanwhile, was completely caught off guard and frantically leapt out of the way of the first few attacks by his opponent. Just as he wound up cornered by the Saibaman, a Spirit Ball emerged from the ground and hit the Saibaman right in its midsection, sending it flying upwards. Yamcha stood a good ten meters away, right hand outstretched and proud at the effectiveness of his technique.
"Try to blow me up, huh, you scaly freaks?! Well, how about this!" he shouted. "Spirit Ball...BURST!" he cried out as he closed his hand into a fist. The sphere began to constrict and glow even brighter before it reached a critical point and detonated, completely enveloping the Saibaman. Yamcha fell to his knees in exhaustion, causing Gohan to run towards him in concern.
"Mr. Yamcha! Are you okay?"
"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. This battle's just taken a lot out of me is all." He got up, albeit shakily, and surveyed the situation, taking a step back in shock as he noticed the third Saibaman heading towards Chiaotzu, but sighed in relief when Tien intercepted it with a Dodonpa, fatally wounding the creature and causing it to fly off into the distance. That crisis averted, he then looked towards the other two battles in progress, then to Vegeta, who was observing the pitched battle with amusement from the skies above, and stood resolutely.
"I imagine Shorty over there won't be happy we broke his rules," Yamcha mused. "Master Roshi seems to be holding his own, but who knows how long that will last? Kid, you go over there and lend him a hand! I've got an idea of how to deal with that big brute up there."
"W-wait, but if that thing's giving my dad's master trouble-!" Gohan began nervously.
"You'll be fine! Piccolo trained you, right? You're almost as strong as Master Roshi already!" Yamcha said with his trademark winning smile, which improved Gohan's confidence somewhat. He nodded with some reluctance, and set out towards Roshi and his opponent while Yamcha breathed deeply and prepared to enact a plan of his own.
Elsewhere, after recovering from the shockwave, Chiaotzu extended his palms towards Nappa, hoping to at least stun him long enough for Piccolo to get a hit in. However, even with all of his strength, the best he could manage was to slightly slow down Nappa's punches. Nappa looked down at his fists in confusion, which left him vulnerable to a kick from Piccolo. As Nappa flew backwards, Piccolo charged up a hasty Special Beam Cannon and fired it at the Saiyan, but Nappa was able to recover and deflect the beam with his hand, leaving a clear burn mark upon it.
"Agh!" he cried out in pain as the beam collided. "Hnnng! So...this is the technique that killed Raditz, huh?" He then flew back towards Piccolo and resumed his assault. "Not bad! You've got a lot of power, Namekian! You're actually making me try here!" Piccolo attempted to land a punch on Nappa's face, but Nappa narrowly dodged and hit him in the forehead with a powerful punch, sending him crashing into a cliff. "But it's gonna take a lot more than that to take me down!" He shouted out with a laugh of pure euphoria.
Meanwhile, Krillin and the Saibaman were still exchanging blows on a nearby mountain, Krillin doing his best to conserve energy. As the Saibaman began to tire, it launched an acid attack in desperation, which Krillin managed to dodge before punching it in the stomach and sending it hurtling towards the Earth with a ki blast. Before it could get up, Krillin flew down and landed another powerful hit to the back of its neck, killing it instantly. Krillin breathed heavily before looking up at the cliff where Piccolo had landed. He noticed Piccolo emerging from the remains of the cliff, only to be crushed further into the ground by a divekick from Nappa into his stomach.
As Piccolo lay on his back, winded, Nappa was about to charge up a ki blast, but reined himself in after he remembered Yamcha's earlier statement about the Dragon Balls. Instead, he simply punched the Namekian with all of his strength, knocking him out, before sighing in satisfaction. Well...now that those brats broke the rules...he thought evilly before he powered up once more. Nappa smiled at the prospect of additional carnage, and turned towards the fallen Namekian. "You sit tight, pal," Nappa said snarkily. "I'll be back for you later." He then began eyeing the crowd in order to choose his first target.
Yamcha, his plan decided upon, began powering up, gathering all of his ki and redirecting it into his own body in order to increase his muscle mass. After months of training, the warriors on the Lookout had decreased the charge time of this Max Power technique, taught to them by Master Roshi, to a matter of seconds, and increased its potency to a 25% power increase. However, when the technique is used, the expansion in mass causes a 50% decrease in their base form speed and mobility, making close quarters combat difficult.
After Yamcha had completed his transformation, Krillin looked to him and followed suit as Vegeta looked on, fascinated. Only a few species I know of are capable of increasing their mass to such a degree, and there was no documentation that these humans could do it. He decided to observe and see just how much power this ability granted the two. So distracted was he that he failed to observe Roshi continuing to fight the Saibaman before Gohan ran up and kicked it in the face, sending it flying. Roshi looked on, stunned at the immense power of someone so young.
"Heh...you're Goku's kid, alright," he quipped as he dusted himself off. However, the Saibaman was soon back up once more, and began to rush them.
"Ah, it's coming back!" Gohan cried out in panic, hurriedly assuming a fighting stance.
"Don't worry! Follow my lead!" Roshi replied as he cupped his hands together and began to increase in size. Gohan did the same with his hands and began focusing ki just like how Piccolo had taught him to do. As Roshi calmly charged his attack and entered into his Max Power form, Gohan endeavored to do the same only two seconds behind Roshi.
"Ka...me...ha...me..." The two paused briefly as the Saibaman grew ever closer, causing Gohan to panic and almost lose the sphere of ki before regaining control. When the Saibaman was directly upon them, Gohan could hear a voice in his head cry out, "Now!" With that, the two launched their attack simultaneously.
"HAAA!" They screamed as two blue streams of condensed ki exited their hands in a mighty burst directly in front of the creature, blowing off his upper body in a fierce explosion of energy as it was gradually disintegrated, leaving only a torso lying awkwardly on the ground a few feet away from Gohan's face. As Gohan stared wide eyed at the remains of the creature, unaware of the power he'd truly possessed until that moment, Roshi powered down and fell onto the ground, gasping for breath. Gohan laid a hand on his shoulder before Roshi waved him off.
"Don't worry about me," he said in between coughs. "There are bigger fish to fry."
"But, Master Roshi, sir, that blast took everything I had," Gohan replied. "What can I do?"
Roshi smiled with the air of experience. "Trust me, kid, you've got a lot more potential stored inside of you than you realize. Now go!"
After another look, Gohan nodded and flew upwards, intent on lying in wait for the right time to strike Nappa. Roshi looked on with another smile, but wondered if perhaps he should've told Gohan to run away instead. He concluded that it would make no difference, and looked up to observe the others as their bouts also concluded. In particular, he noticed Tien and Chiaotzu together in the air, lying in wait, while Yamcha was standing ready with Max Power. What is he hoping to-? Roshi began when Yamcha looked off at Tien and angled his head slightly.
Tien got the message, and began to charge at the brutish Saiyan while Chiaotzu endeavored to hold him in place to the best of his ability. Once more, Nappa met this new threat, and was once more perplexed at why his hands were kept from moving fully. Even handicapped in this manner, Nappa was able to easily repel Tien's assault and send him flying backwards into Chiaotzu with a punch, but this was merely a distraction to allow Yamcha to fly up and punch him in the gut with all of his power, leaving the warrior somewhat winded. Yamcha then attempted to use his Neo Wolf Fang Fist on Nappa, but Nappa managed to block every hit before grabbing his shoulders and kneeing him in the ribs. Before anyone could do anything, a single palm strike from Nappa cleaved through Yamcha's right arm like a knife, severing it at the elbow and leaving him in agony as it fell to earth. Nappa then launched a downward kick at Yamcha which sent him flying into a mountain.
"Mr. Yamcha!" Gohan cried out as he flew off to assess his condition. Meanwhile, Krillin, also having powered up fully, flew up from behind Nappa and managed to land a powerful roundhouse kick, sending him crashing into the ground. Before Nappa could recover, Krillin concentrated all of his ki into a yellow sphere of energy in his hands, which he then launched outwards as a powerful beam.
"Max Power Scatter Bullet!" he cried out as the beam split into six different streaks of energy, three of which angled towards Nappa's crater and three of which angled towards Vegeta. Nappa looked up to see the bright lights coming to meet him and hurriedly braced himself for the impact, while Vegeta simply looked on bemused as he was completely enveloped. However, even as the smoke cleared, the fighters could tell that the Saiyans' ki was still there. Thus, Tien readied himself to re-engage Nappa before turning to Chiaotzu, floating right next to him while Krillin stayed some distance behind.
"Chiaotzu! You need to get out of here now! These aliens are too strong for you!" he bellowed, but Chiaotzu shook his head stubbornly.
"And for you!" Chiaotzu countered. "I'm not going to just leave you here! I could never!"
"Listen: I can come back! You cannot! Now get out of here before he-!"
No sooner did Tien speak than a powerful ki blast emerged from the crater where Nappa lay, one which left Chiaotzu with only barely enough time to throw Tien as far away as he could with his telekinetic powers. Tien realized what was happening and hurriedly flew back to try and save Chiaotzu, but by then the beam had already arrived upon its intended course.
"CHIAOTZU!" he cried out in anguish. Chiaotzu simply smiled, content that he'd managed to save his best friend, before the blast disintegrated him completely.
As Tien was left to mourn the loss, still trying to process the reality that his closest friend was dead forever, Nappa emerged from the remains of the rock formation he crashed into, covered in light burn marks and breathing heavily, his armor torn in a number of places. He slowly flew upwards in order to meet Krillin and Tien, his ki diminished due to the damage he'd received from Krillin's powerful attack. He smiled with the barely restrained fury of an animal on the hunt in spite of his injuries, and posed his most burning question both simply and eagerly.
"So...hah...who's...next?"
And at last, Fight Time has commenced! ...And it only took almost two months.
My apologies to those looking for intense action right out the gate, but for those of you who were kind and patient enough to wait, I hope that my action writing is to your liking. Admittedly, not quite used to it compared to writing dialogue, but I was trying to capture the feel of Dragon Ball's action sequences the best that I could. Whether or not that worked, well, that's up to your own interpretation.
Anyway, I gotta say, the longer I worked on the outline and writing for this What If fic, the more I was surprised by how much was changed just by Roshi's inclusion, even though he isn't that powerful a fighter. Particularly the fun that could be had with his telepathic powers as far as planning out strategy and discovering enemy tactics went. Definitely liking writing a fic that features a character who doesn't rely solely on physical power or even fighting prowess to gain an advantage over their opponents.
As always, please be sure to leave reviews on the work and let me know what you think. I'm aware that I'm hardly perfect writing fics like this, and greatly appreciate the feedback you guys provide. With all that said, I hope you all have a fantastic day, and take care.