The opening of the series is rather the same as standard at first, save that King Piccolo was now mentioned to be eight years ago, and not five as in the original timeline. Otherwise, the narrator introduced the world, how it had been at peace thanks to Goku and his friends, and that something big was coming, as the space pod of Raditz is shown hurtling towards Earth, waiting to bring destruction with it.
The first major visual change is that Gohan, rather than adventuring in the woods, is in a preschool of sorts, with him chatting with other kids. He is dressed to match their clothing, in a mostly normal t-shirt and shorts, and they're laughing and playing, as well as reading books, until the bell rings, and he rushes outside, confused for a moment, before his father shouts and waves down at him from the Flying Nimbus(A yellow cloud artifact that allows Goku to fly at high speeds).
Gohan, happy to see his daddy, leaps into the air several meters, and lands beside him on the cloud, introducing the audience to the fact that Gohan is already quite strong, about as much as Goku himself was at his age, even perhaps a little stronger. More importantly, however, was that the sight of the pair in the sky over West City was so common that it was literally being ignored by everyone beneath them as they rushed home.
Their home, as it turned out, was a Capsule Corps. marked building on the edge of town, one of several domes all attached to each other, with some conspicuous craters that showed that this particular building was used for energetic research. Not just with Goku, either, as when he approached, his orange Gi standing out in the sky, he got waved at by not just workers that seemed random, but also several known individuals.
Most notably, Krillin and Yamcha, who both wore clothing with the company logo on them, and appeared to be purple jumpsuits, with the former of the pair having to stop sparring with 11 and 12 to rush over. As it soon became clear through conversation, Gero, and by extension Capsule Corps. had hired the trio to essentially be full time punching bags for Dr. Gero's android division, which had grown to be a world wide leader in robotics, cybernetics, and biomechanics.
This had led to a boom in many industries, as they'd begun to offer limb replacement, or even other devices, that helped improve the quality of life for enough people that Capsule Corps. was thinking of expanding the division, even though most of the work was being done by Gero, the androids, his son, Bulma, and the fighters they employed, which kept costs down, and profits up.
It was during a small meetup that Roshi, along with a few other minor cast members of Dragon Ball made an appearance, today being a day they'd decided to get together. Nothing special about it, just a desire to see each other again, making Bulma chide the old man for being lonely since Launch, one of the characters not present, had left to pursue Tien Shinhan meaning his only company on the island he lived on was Oolong, an anthropomorphic pig shape shifter, and his friend, a talking, non-anthro turtle named Turtle.
When the scene shifted back to Raditz, he arrived, as he had in the non-modified Dragon Ball Z series. An older farmer being killed after shooting at him, showing how strong the saiyan was as he not only caught the bullet, but then, with just his thumb, flicked it back at the man hard enough to send him flying backwards with enough force to smash part of his vehicle in, amusing the saiyan, who then took off towards the highest power level his Scouter, an eye mounted scanning device, could detect.
The group, in a small party, are shocked as Raditz arrives, the fighters in the group sensing his approach, their bodies tensing up, and causing the androids and others to follow their gaze, until the large haired saiyan floats into view, an air burst following him. Everyone is forced to cover their eyes against the dust in the air, before he slowly descends, looking at the gathering and commenting on them, while also turning towards the city in the background, calling it a good start for a Kingdom, he supposed.
He is quickly questioned by everyone present, and identifies himself as being named Raditz, a saiyan, and brother to Goku, whom he called Kakarot. The group is shocked by the information, though both Gero and Roshi apparently knew the bit about Goku not being from Earth. Gero because…well he'd been studying Goku for years by this point, and even chided Bulma for not realizing it from his data, which she admitted was strange, but she hadn't assumed 'alien' from it.
Roshi, meanwhile, filled in some unheard backstory for Goku's adopted grandfather, Gohan, and how he'd found a boy, one Roshi knew was Goku now, but hadn't when he'd first met him. Regardless, the child, from a 'fallen metal star', obviously some kind of ship, had been wild and unruly, until he'd tried to run from the old martial arts master, and fallen, smacking his head hard, and leaving him unconscious for days.
Raditz claims that saiyans are too tough to have been injured by simply 'falling' but admits that he sees no other reason for his brother to have forgotten his mission of conquering this world for their people's employer, a planet broker. Apparently the saiyans had been, for generations, the muscle for a group that went around murdering and seizing worlds for their master, who paid them well for most of them, and gave them a glorious place in his empire.
However, two decades ago, there was an accident, and Planet Vegeta, the saiyan's homeworld, was destroyed in some event. Only Goku, Raditz, the Prince, also named Vegeta, and the Prince's attendant Nappa, had been off-world at the time. As such, they were the last of their race, one of the strongest in the universe, and now they were on the verge of the score of a lifetime, a planet that would ensure the three of them could live in luxury for the rest of their lives, but it would need some additional muscle, that he'd hoped his brother would provide.
Goku turns the saiyan down, pointing out he had a good life already on this world. Raditz, annoyed, pointed out that this wasn't a request, and then went all out against the group, smashing Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, and Roshi to the ground, his scouter having identified them as the most powerful in the group, though even all together, none of them were even close to his power. That said, he miscalculated, as the moment he went on the attack, 10, 11, and 12 jumped at him.
Raditz was, to be fair, stronger than them individually, but the trio fought like machines, and since he hadn't been expecting the attack, they were able to drive him back for a moment, allowing the four humans…well three humans and a saiyan apparently, to get back up, and then power up, shocking Raditz as his scouter, which had said the strongest amongst them was his brother at a power level of five-hundred or so, was suddenly powering into the thousand range, while the three humans were in the six-hundred to eight-hundred range themselves.
The androids, he revealed, had no power level, which confused him as they hit hard, but he was almost twice the strength of any of them individually, and that meant he was able to body them one at a time, driving them back with a series of energy blasts, and telling them they weren't about to beat him. He was learning to conquer worlds while they were still learning to throw a punch, after all, and soon enough he drove them all away from him, and made ready to fire into the city, his thoughts being presented as needing the distraction so he could then kill them all one by one.
Before he could let off the shot, his arm suddenly felt heavy, and he looked down to realize at some point, a weight had been put there. Worse, that same weight was on one of his ankles, and as he made to break them, the others attacked again, 12 adding more weights, slowing the saiyan down more, and putting him onto the defensive as the group piled onto him, finally forcing him to blast at the ground, creating a large explosion, one that caught him as much as them.
It had the desired effect, however, as the smoke from the crater covered him escaping, Goku sensing him leave, and after a moment, deciding to go after him. He was a threat, after all, and had said the other saiyans were out there too, and if they were as strong as him, they'd be trouble. The others, who had been closer to the blast, were still recovering, with 11 and 12 being drained to less than a quarter power. 10 was still up and ready, and so the pair shot after Raditz.
Radtiz, in the meantime, was telling the other two saiyans via his Scouter that his idea was a bust, and they'd have to find someone else to help, but both of his 'allies' chided that, weak as he was, if he couldn't bring someone else to the table, they'd just leave him behind too, making Raditz angry as the planet had been found in the database BY him, thus it was his mission, and Vegeta, annoyed, told him that he was, and always would be, low class, and thus, anything he claimed to own really belonged to Vegeta. If he wanted to prove otherwise, he'd kill his brother, and take that Earth planet for himself.
Landing at his pod, Raditz was still considering what to do when Goku and 10 arrived, the pair asking him to surrender, but Raditz, claiming he needed to blow off some steam anyway, and seeing his brother had powered down to less than four-hundred after surging earlier, decided to fight. The two on one match went better than the original Piccolo/Goku vs Raditz one from the canon fight, but only so much, as he still overpowered them, and he had 'figured out their trick'.
Where most people couldn't raise their power, being at the same their whole lives barring training, the people of this world had discovered, and taught to Goku, a method of focusing and surging their energies. It gave them boosts, but given his brother was less than he'd begun with, it obviously consumed their stamina to do so, leaving them weaker than where they started. He knew a few techniques like that himself, and knew how to drag out the fight for a bit, slowly exhausting the pair.
Finally, with them panting and sweating, with Raditz injured, but not broken, he claimed he would finish them, and then take over this pathetic world for his own, the first planet to join the Raditz Empire! Before he could make good on that, however, the other androids arrived, 11 and 12 having recharged, and thanks to him being weakened as well, 11 was able to hold him long enough for 12 to manifest some shackles for him, leaving him impotently trying to free himself from a massive metal block on his hands and feet, as the others, just behind, gave Goku a senzu bean(a kind of recovery item within the world), and 10 a bottle of glowing green liquid said to help her recover her ki.
Raditz, complaining about them 'ganging up on him' was ignored, until his Scouter revealed itself to be a communicator to the cast, who listen as Vegeta mocks Raditz, and then, after confirming the 'earthlings' are listening, declares that he and Nappa, who are many times stronger than Raditz will be coming. It will take time, almost a year, but when they arrive, their whole world will be burned to ash, and there was nothing they could do to prevent it.
Rather than panic, as Radtiz himself was doing, the group instead began to discuss what to do next, as Gero and Bulma walked right up to the saiyan, and swiped his scouter, along with observing the ship in the crater, the pair of them all but drooling over the new toys to play with, as Gero claimed this might give him the inspiration for new models of android he'd been looking for, while Bulma chiming in she'd be leading a new age of space exploration with this tech.
Everyone is brought up short when a voice echoes through their minds, Kami, the Guardian of Earth, who wishes to speak with them, as he was 'listening in' on the threat, and was quite concerned with it himself. Still, he might have a way to help prepare for the arrival, with Raditz telling him off, saying there was nothing they could do to 'prepare'. This world, and all the people on it, were living on borrowed time now, and in one year, they'd all be dead, him included.
Ignoring him, for the moment, they took him with them to the Lookout, Kami's home, while Bulma and Gero, along with Yamcha and Gedo, stayed behind. The former two to already begin theorizing on the tech they'd found, while the latter two were mostly there to help haul stuff into the ship they'd come in, commiserating over being used as pack mules by their girlfriend and father respectively, leading to them laughing together as they did the work asked.
The group would arrive at the Lookout, and after a quick scene establishing Mr. Popo, a man dressed like a Genie, they met…a very young looking Kami. As it turned out, Kami and Piccolo, in the time between series, had seen fit to fuse together again, returning to being the being they had been three-hundred years prior when Kami and the original King Piccolo had split between their 'good' and 'evil' halves. Of course, he now, in his current form, realized that that had been a mistake, but one remedied easily enough, and gave the two of them a new lease on life, given the new body had used Piccolo's as a basis, and since it was the younger.
Moving on from there, Kami reveals that he'd sent the information about the saiyan's arrival 'up the chain of command' as it were. And he'd been offered a chance for two beings from Earth to train under a master in 'Other World', I.E. the world of the dead, where they would be taught techniques that would be far and away beyond what the living masters, including himself, could offer. And he would, obviously, still be giving that service of his skills as a teacher to those who remained.
Goku and 10 both volunteered for the training in Other World, and, well, everyone agreed they were the best candidates. While It might not work particularly well for 10, she was a fully independent intelligence, and even if she wasn't able to 'learn' the techniques directly, her scans would help the scientific cast members left behind study the things they learned here, and thus create versions for the androids, and maybe even train the remaining humans in it.
It was also a good idea since 10 could communicate across dimensions, something implied to have happened during a 'Garlic Jr.' event that goes otherwise undescribed, and leaves the group to separate, with Gohan being left in the care of the rest, as Goku was able to convince ChiChi that, for all he wanted to be a scholar, his strength might be needed along with everyone else's to save the world.
With that, we get a parallel plot for a few episodes. We are introduced to King Yemma, the Judge of Souls, who opines that Dr. Gero, 10's father, was originally quite a dark one indeed, but since his joining the group, has grown…not completely good yet, mind, but he will, in fact, have a place for him in the middle realm instead of the lower ones. With that opinion given, he then shuffles the pair off to Snake Way, a one-hundred-million-mile path at the end of which lives King Kai, the Kai of North Galaxy, and someone who could make them stronger in a short amount of time.
The plot on Earth is mostly training, as 11 and 12 are improved, with us learning that 10 is using the experimental version of the Mark VI Ki Engine, with a transfinite capacity upgrade the Mark V lacks. With 10, you can exhaust her, but she'll eventually recover. With 11 and 12, as of right now, they can be completely drained, and need to be 'refueled' between bouts, though Gero, now that he's seen the Mark VI pushed to its limit, thinks he can build a model for the Twins, as well as more androids he's already starting construction on.
The human members of the team, meanwhile, spend their time training with Kami, which includes methods seen at the end of Dragon Ball with Goku's own training. Boosted slightly by Bulma and Gero helping out, the humans were making great gains, and the Twins were improving even more. Yet, in the background there was the looming threat of Vegeta and Nappa, who were swiftly coming to the small blue planet, and would destroy it, if they failed to defend it, a fact Raditz had made clear.
Interestingly, Raditz was held captive by a new device called a Ki-Blocker that Bulma made. It was a small device, worn like an anklet, that kept the saiyan from powering up his Ki, leaving him, effectively, weaker than he'd ever been. And yet, strangely, he was basically being treated as a guest amongst the others, literally walking around in casual clothes and given little to no oversight, as he treated the whole affair as little more than a vacation.
He admitted he expected them to lose, and yet, it was hard to deny the gains they were making. If they did win, he'd be free, for the first time in his life. Even though Gero said he'd be imprisoned, Radtiz countered that his LIFE was a prison, one enforced by everyone stronger than him, always forcing him to fight or die. Here? He was fed, clothed, and had some entertainment. He had even started to get into stories on television, and was quite enamoured with the concept, so to him, even if he wound up dying, he'd die happy.
That pleasant note saw the perspective, that had been focusing on Earth, flip to the pair in Other World. Where it had taken Goku, in the original narrative almost ten episodes. Here, by having the two alternate carrying each other, they had been able to maintain a faster speed, and managed to get to the end of the road in only three episodes, bypassing many of the 'filler' adventurers that had been there in the original narrative, to allow them to make it to the tiny planet that was home to King Kai.
Here they met the blue man with antenna, as well as his monkey and grasshopper roommates. From there, we see both 10 and Goku struggle with the first, and most important test from the Kai, namely, the ability to tell jokes. Seemingly random, he explains that the true purpose of that test was to show that they themselves were not just broody warrior types that he'd see from time to time, the kind that ONLY knew how to fight, and thus, had nothing to really live for.
From there, he proceeds to teach the pair, who struggle to move on his world with ten times Earth's gravity, something he tells them will increase the efficacy of their training many fold. 10, relaying that information to Gero, is hit with the man screaming in her ear excitedly, as she just gave him a marvelous idea on some project. She smiles, happy to have helped, as her father then cuts the connection, and leaves her and Goku to train in two techniques developed by King Kai himself.
10, shocking the Kai, is the first to master his initial technique of Kaio Ken. It's a technique that, as described, boosts the power of the user by a multiplier, supposedly able to go up infinitely, but in reality, even the initial boost of double was enough to nearly tear the body apart, which meant going farther was simply not possible for most people, leaving him aghast when the young woman was able to use it after only a few days of having him explain it and testing it.
As she described, it was simple once you understood the basics, as it was actually a Ki condenser technique, allowing you to hold more Ki all at once, as it compressed the stuff inside your body. That was why it was dangerous, because it required focus, and the moment you stopped, your Ki, which filled your body, or in her case her Ki Engine Mark VI, would then expand back to its full size, which would then be more than you could hold, ripping its way out of you in a very violent manner unless you could disperse it more gently.
King Kai, impressed with her, allows her to help him train Goku, the saiyan learning it much faster than before, as he has 10's example to go off of, and her knowing how he thinks, allowing him to grasp the concept even faster than in canon. Within a few days, he's got it down as well, the pair sparring with Kaio Ken base active for several hours, impressing King Kai to no end, as he sings their praises, seeing how far a technological born being is able to learn from him, and a saiyan too.
From there, he tries to teach them another of his techniques, this one, the Spirit Bomb he describes as dangerous, not because of what it does to the wielder, but because it allows the user to call on energies FAR beyond what they themselves have. The technique gathers ki from every living thing around them, up to and including the local stars, and assembles it into a sphere that can be hurled at the enemy, or used to power yourself in some way, a technique that literally turns you into the champion of the world.
Sadly, despite her best efforts, 10 proves incapable of using the technique. Not because of her artificial nature, King Kai assures her, but because it requires a pure heart, one that can be open to all around it. Innocence in its purest form, he explains, and the pair both look towards Goku, meditating, and the Kai says you basically have to believe that the world is a good and pure place for it to really work, and, well, being the smart lady she is, 10 is simply not able to see the world in such terms.
Goku, though not stupid, is just pure enough to see the world that way, and he, after a month straight of practice, is able to make use of the Spirit Bomb, the orb, looking not too dissimilar from a Kamehameha Wave when thrown in ball form, is shown to have a lot of power, as it obliterates a block of Katchin, a stone like material conjured by King Kai that had resisted the pair for their whole time, and now was reduced to so much dust and debris in the air.
It had, as revealed by Goku, been only three months since they'd arrived, half a year passing since Raditz' attack, and now, with the two techniques in hand, he sets out back to Earth, more than ready to face down the two oncoming saiyans. King Kai, with a smirk, reveals a secret, that since 10 couldn't master his Spirit Bomb, he'd taught her something else with a similar feel to it, and she had mastered that off screen.
She calls it Instantaneous Movement, a technique taught normally only to Guardians and Kais, but King Kai had determined she'd be able to use it thanks to the way she thought, as it depended on understanding one's place in the universe, and then 'willing' it to change. Goku, excited to see it, gets ready to go, the pair thanking King Kai for all his help, and then, with a rush of air, vanishing.
They arrive back on the Lookout with a whoosh, and then are nearly thrown off their feet by a blast of wind from nearby, as they look around, and for a moment, Goku asks if the Lookout had been attacked, as rubble is strewn all about the area. The central building is all but debris, with only a few pieces hanging onto each other, and the trees that typically gave the place a bit of life were nothing but bare trunks and striped branches, as they turn to find the team fighting three unknown individuals.
Well, one unknown individual. While there were three unknown figures, only one was actually fighting, a large man with long blond hair and a 'trucker hat' as was described by the D-Class, wearing a jacket that bore the Capsule Corps. logo. It was noticing the latter that stopped them from engaging, as they watched the group slam into him, again and again. They fired no Ki blasts, but instead fought with fist and feet, and still the larger man was able to match them blow for blow.
When the group finally stops, we are introduced to the three new men, obviously androids. The first, and the one the humans had been fighting was Android 13, who had used the 'kinetic canceller' module based off something from the saiyan space pod to have a field around him that did exactly that, allowing you to hit him like a punching bag, while also allowing him to hit back even harder as he 'canceled' the defenses when he struck out, meaning you always took the full force of his every blow.
The next, an almost albino looking man, save for his black hair opened his mouth, only for noise to come from inside him, something the final member of the new team, a short 'purple' man with thick lips(Obvious a censored version of an anime caricature of someone of African descent), said he was Android 15, and the one who couldn't talk was Android 14, the trio being the best trainers this side of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
He quickly laid out that Android 14 was a gravity manipulator, based on hearing what ten times Earth's gravity did to help with their training. His module was also based on something in the engine of the space pod, though very much improved to give him near pinpoint control of up to three hundred times the pull of the Earth in a huge sphere around him. It was how they'd gotten the humans up to the level of Goku in only a few weeks, as he adjusted the 'shades' he was wearing, which beeped as he looked at them.
He revealed his personal claim to fame was not only that he internally incorporated a 'Scouter' in his design, but every major scanner, recorder, and even analyzer that the two geniuses could shove into his little frame, turning him into the best 'strategy' guy in the galaxy. He was programmed not only with all the techniques of people on Earth they knew, but also some Raditz had shown them how to access in the database included with the Scouter, letting him really get his trainer on.
Goku wanted to see how much his friends had improved, and immediately challenged them to a three on one match, finding out their power now was no joke. Despite how much stronger he'd gotten on King Kai's planet, they each were almost on his level, and the three together far surpassed him, allowing them to keep him off balance, until Goku, smirking, demonstrated his new technique, the Kaio-Ken, and with a few sharp blows, he took all three earthlings, Tien, Krillin, and Yamcha, to the floor.
The Earth group is impressed, especially when 10 demonstrates that the technique works for Androids too, which soon sees Gero sharing the data around, allowing the other five to access it, and by the end of a month, getting the humans able to use it, though only briefly. Their bodies just didn't take the strain of letting the technique go as well as Goku's saiyan biology, or the Androids, who could literally filter it out in a burst of smoke from their forms.
Still, one year passes, and when it's done, the group is at their best. The Androids, using the newest models of the Ki Engine, the Mark VIIIs, are all at a power level of about seven-thousand, with 10 and her Mark IX experimental version was able to sustain a full on power level of twelve-thousand, making her the strongest artificial life form to exist in the known universe.
This made her a perfect compliment to Goku, whose power was the same, allowing the two to be rivals, though Kaio-Ken was the clencher, as Goku could only use it in small bursts, and going above level one of the technique was a strain. He could, potentially, sustain up to level four, and maybe even go to five in a pinch, but he'd be out of the fight doing so, as such, it was kept in reserve for the moment.
The humans, Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin, varied a bit, with Tien being the strongest at ten-thousand even, and Yamcha and Krillin able to hold their own well enough at nine and seven thousand respectively. The lack of power on Krillin's part came from him using his former monk training to allow him to focus, so that, where Tien and Yamcha could only use Kaio-Ken up to level one, and barely that, he could sustain it in a way none of the others could, allowing him to maintain the technique for a minute and some change in a straight fight, and surge to level three without truly injuring himself.
The androids, due to their nature, could sustain a level one for a longer amount of time than even Krillin, but their chassis had proven less than willing to take the strain of higher levels, as the energies just put too much pressure on them. The first time 10 had tried to go to level five of the technique, she'd made it, but then literally shattered her arm firing a ki blast, forcing Gero to limit his children to level two at most, and really they shouldn't go to that unless absolutely necessary.
Raditz, wearing a 'Hawaiian' shirt, and sipping on a drink out of a hollowed out coconut, is suitably impressed, remarking that even though none of their base powers quite matched Vegeta's of around fifteen-thousand, they were close, and that Kaio-Ken thing would close that gap. Meanwhile, that brute Nappa would be out powered by all of them, considering he was only at eight-thousand himself.
The gang were quite happy to hear that, and as massive power levels entered the solar system according to 15, they got ready, quickly calculating their landing, and when it was discovered it would be in a few hours, right in the middle of a city, they went off, 10 teleporting them there with her gift from King Kai, while Bulma and Gero contacted the government, getting them to order an evacuation of the whole city, claiming a threat on the level of King Piccolo was incoming.
When the two saiyans arrived, to their shock, it was to a welcoming committee, as the three humans, one fellow saiyan, and six androids greeted them. Nappa, remembering what Raditz said, was actually rather nervous looking at them, as he read out their powers to Vegeta, who claimed that it had to be some kind of trick, given a year was nowhere near enough time to bring these pathetic weaklings who couldn't beat Raditz up to his glorious level.
He proposed planting the saibamen, a kind of designed lifeform, but when Nappa pulled out the bottle with the seeds and liquid to grow them, they were both shocked as Krillin, smirking, surged his Kaio-Ken all the way up to level 3 for an instant, allowing him to move fast enough to snatch the jar from Nappa's hand, remarking on that being proof enough of their power, as they all got into a fighting stance.
The reading from him, in the twenty-thousand range, and far beyond Vegeta's own, caused him to growl, until he decided it was time for some fun, and ordered Nappa to use 'that' technique, while he held them off. Nappa, nodding, proceeded to fly off, gathering energy into his hand, causing the others to try and rush him, only for Vegeta to show off at he was more than capable of holding his own against them, even with that Kaio-Ken allowing them to overpower him for brief moments.
It helped that Nappa didn't need but a few seconds to gather the energy, eventually producing some kind of pale white orb from his hand, and then hurling it into the sky. The moment it was up there, he and Vegeta started smiling, laughing, and then…changing. Their bodies began to expand outward, their skin growing furry, and the others recognized it as Goku's own giant ape transformation, turning to find he too was changing, as he'd never had his tail removed in this version.
The pair are laughing as they attain their full height, smiling, as Goku, it seems, is a wild beast, and they both speak of letting him be the one to kill his friends, only to be shocked as an intelligence suddenly blooms behind those eyes, and Goku, without missing a beat, sucker punches Nappa hard enough to send the somehow bald monkey flying, while firing a mouthbeam at Vegeta, forcing the Prince of all saiyans back, and having Krillin try to cut off his tail with a disk of ki.
Sadly, he dodges, demanding to know what's going on, and gets told that, while Goku might not be himself when he's in the great ape/oozaru form, he's still more him than a monkey, and so he knew who his friends were, causing Vegeta to scoff, ordering Nappa to deal with the 'pests' while he takes on the transformed Goku, figuring that he can hold him off more than long enough for his minion to win.
And so we get parallel fights, as Vegeta and Goku's fight is taken outside the city, into the mountains around it, while the rest of the gang reenact a kaiju film, randomly firing from behind buildings at Nappa, and then fleeing, as he 'toys' with them. It soon becomes obvious though, he's being careful, and when 12 gets in a lucky shot with a spear of metal he creates, and it pierces the great ape's fur, showing he lacks defenses.
That was why they weren't just blowing things away quickly, the group realized. They can't extend the defending ki through their whole bodies in their great ape form, so they can't create massive explosions they themselves might be caught in. This allows the group to keep him busy, constantly trying to cut off his tail until he's forced to wrap it around his waist like a belt to finally defend it.
A cutaway for an episode shows that Goku and Vegeta's brawl is a bit less tactical, as Goku seems unable to form any kind of attacks, save some wild punches, kicks, and the occasional mouth beam. While Vegeta can't seem to launch any ki blasts either, another sign of the great ape's limitations, he does have a more evolved mind, able to toss Goku around a bit, though never quite enough to keep him on the ground before he would just get right back onto his feet, frustrating the saiyan prince.
When we go back to Nappa versus the group, finding that, for all their skills, there was simply too big a power gap between them, as even pulling out all the moves in their arsenal just annoyed the saiyan. Finally, Krillin offers one small bit of hope, a move Roshi himself had used against Goku a long time ago when he'd been a giant monkey. It should give them the opening they needed, but they'd have to act quickly to make it work, and cut off this beast's tail.
The plan was enacted over the course of several minutes, with the others providing covering fire, constantly distracting Nappa as Krillin gathered enough focus to make this work, eventually ordering the others back as he holds his hands out, electricity covering his entire form, lightning crackling up and down his body, before he lets it out with a cry, the arcs of power going from him into Nappa, who cries out in shock and surprise, but seems to only be slightly annoyed by the technique at first.
Seeing it's not working, Krillin hopes the others can forgive him, as he knows what he has to do, and with a shout, calls on Kaio-Ken times five, his body turning into a magenta explosion, before the bolts amplify themselves enough to cause Nappa to scream now, his limbs, including his tail, flaring out as the power of Krillin's attack held him in the air, allowing a combination of them to move in for action.
Using 11's telekinesis and 14's gravikinesis, they hold him in position, and then have 12 create a kind of blade in the air like a swinging axe. That done, all of them assist in pushing it forward via ki blasts, allowing it to slice cleanly throw Nappa's tail, and causing the brute to scream even louder, as his form deflated back to his humanoid one, and he passed from the pain, the moment Krillin's attack ended.
Sadly, the monk had fallen in that time, his body unable to take the strain of the times five, and causing him to fall over, dead, which got tears in the eyes of just about everyone for a moment, before they heard explosions, and remembered that their battle was actually the smaller of the two, and immediately, they fired a few blasts at the moon in the sky, shocked when their best blows did little, literally just passing through the artificial moon.
Even 12's attempt to just cover it failed, as the thing had no weight or substance, and would just hang there in the sky until the energy fueling it ran out, meaning they had no way to bring Vegeta back down to size except fighting him. That would prove daunting, given Vegeta had been spending most of his fight winning against the beastial Goku, whose fur was covered in burn marks and bruises.
They still do their best to start assisting, diving in and out of the canyon areas around the wasteland setting for some effective hit and run strikes, showing that Vegeta, for all his power, suffers from the Great Ape's weakness of lacking defense. With Goku getting enraged, even his eyes flashing blue in foreshadowing, at the news of Krillin's second death, they're able to catch Vegeta's tail briefly, before the Prince fires at the ground, blowing away the whole team, and injuring himself in the process.
Still transformed, he flies into the sky, his right arm and left leg both limply dangling from his body, as he grouses to himself about the damage, and how long it would take to heal. Yet, his pride demands that he WIN this battle, not merely survive it, and so he declares that he'll destroy this world, and all the pests on it, even if it costs him his own life, charging up a mouth beam, and firing it towards the planet.
Everyone, injured, some barely able to move, still point limbs to the sky, and fire a variety of blasts, a literal rainbow rising up from the Earth to meet Vegeta's, but they can't do more than hold it for a few moments, as Goku had been knocked out by the strike, and their bodies were simply too damaged and drained to really make an effort, causing them to brace as the purple ray of light descended towards the planet, threatening to kill everyone on it.
Then Kami of all people teleports in, his robes falling away, revealing he was wearing Piccolo's clothing beneath it, and declaring that this world was under HIS protection, and no one would harm it while he had breath in his body. He then fires up into the blast himself, and for a brief moment, they are caught in a beam struggle, with the impact point between the two beams becoming an orb. Then Kami cries out Kaio-Ken times Ten, with flashbacks showing him watching the others train in the technique in the background of several earlier scenes.
His body literally explodes into ki for a moment, his form outlined in pure light, before it vanishes into the shot. Vegeta, going wide eyed, is forced to dodge the attack, lest it literally blow his mind. Only for a small bit of the blast to 'branch' off the main attack, burning his tail to ash, and leaving him to scream out in pain and fall to the Earth, slowly shrinking back down to his normal form, landing with a crash in a crater.
Briefly, he tries to summon his spaceship using a remote, but that is quickly snatched by 10, who then lifts him up, prepared to end his life, as she declares him to be a vile, stupid, evil little man, whom the universe would be better without. Vegeta mocks her, pointing out that, at the end of the day, it took all of them to match him, and he wasn't even the strongest out there, and without the green man, they'd have died today.
Yamcha is the one to talk 10 down, though she argues about how now Krillin will stay dead, and they lack the Dragon Balls, something Vegeta is curious about himself, before 10 breaks his nose and drops him, using her version of 12's technique to create a heavy collar that holds him to the ground. Yamcha seems to have no objection to that, and instead points out that Raditz had mentioned a few times that Kami seemed to be an alien called a Namekian, and if he was from space, then maybe his people had Dragon Balls of their own, ones they could use to bring back the fallen.
Vegeta scoffs, but passes out soon after, as the group, ragged and bloody, but victorious, begin to clean up, slapping some ki blockers on the ankles of Vegeta and Nappa, hauling them off. Meanwhile, Vegeta's Scouter beeps once, before turning off, and the scene shifts to a blue man in a cape who had been standing at some screen saying he needed to tell his master about this development.
We end the season on the blue man, Zarbon, entering a huge throne chamber, and getting on one knee before the hovering throne of a being who was sipping a glass of wine. Zarbon explained that Vegeta and Nappa had been captured by the locals of some backwater world, causing the man in the throne, cast into shadow, to remark that that was an insult to his people, to have them captured, and he'd send forces to destroy that planet for it.
However, Zarbon then added that he believed he had information that his Lord Frieza would want to know about, the creature in the pod pausing, before gesturing, and Zarbon revealed that he had confirmation on the existence of the 'Wishing Spheres'. That did bring Frieza up short, leaning forward in his chair, showing his face and a twisted grin, before remarking that it was something he might have to take care of, personally, if it were true.
