Chapter 10
Early the next morning Vegeta and Raditz faced off on the lawn. Everybody was there to witness the match between the two oldest Saiyans and everyone had their own opinions on who they thought would win.
There was no doubt on who the stronger one was between them but Raditz was more experienced on an actual battlefield and his technique could be able to even out the fight and possibly even get him the win.
In Raditz' corner, he had Turles, Tien, Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Mai, Puar and Oolong. Turles would never bet against his older brother unlike Goku. Tien and Yamcha just wanted to see Vegeta lose because they were tired of him acting superior to them. Mai was afraid of Vegeta after their altercation and Chiaotzu, Puar and Oolong just decided to stand on the side that Yamcha and Tien were on.
In Vegeta's corner, he had Goku, Bulma, Tarble, Pilaf and Shu. Goku loved his older brother and he wanted to support him, but he seriously doubted that he could defeat Vegeta alone. Bulma believed that Vegeta could beat anyone and had absolute faith in him. Tarble refused to ever go against his brother and he believed in Vegeta's strength, and Pilaf and Shu were firm believers that Vegeta was just unbeatable.
The area was dead silent as Vegeta and Raditz walked towards each other. Once they were about ten feet apart the two Saiyans stopped and bowed at each other as a show of respect. Both holding almost identical smirks.
Then the smiles disappeared simultaneously. A look of concentration showed on both of their faces as they adopted their respective battle stances.
They eyeballed each other, daring the other to make the first move. The lawn was silent as the others awaited one of them to finally attack the other.
Then, to no one's surprise, Vegeta was the first one to attack as he fired an energy ball at Raditz. When Raditz blocked the blast, the thick cloud of smoke that appeared covered Vegeta's approach.
Vegeta was convinced that he was invisible to his opponent as he didn't think Raditz knew how to sense energy and since Raditz was only ranked as a middle class Saiyan he figured that he still couldn't control his tail weakness. The prince decided to show Raditz why that should be a priority.
Vegeta phased behind the shocked Raditz and grabbed his tail causing Raditz' whole body to tense up. The larger Saiyan legs gave out as he landed face first on the lawn.
When the smoke cleared everyone saw Vegeta standing over Raditz with his tail in his hand.
"Oh, that's a dirty move. Grabbing his tail so that he can't move" Turles said causing Goku to nod in agreement. Goku could still remember the pain it caused him when someone grabbed his tail before Vegeta trained him.
Raditz body could been seen twitching as Vegeta's grip on his tail strengthened.
"Come on Raditz, I didn't think that you of all people would be affected by this basic Saiyan weakness. You've had ten years to fix that low level Saiyan defect" Vegeta said to his downed friend.
"And since you didn't sense my approach, it's obvious that you still rely on scouters for energy readings. I'll teach you how to sense energy without the use of scouters" He finished causing Raditz, Turles and Tarble's eyes to widen in surprise.
Raditz managed to smirk as he turned his head to look at Vegeta.
"I'm impressed Vegeta. You've managed to find a way to sense energy without scouters. If that's the case, then I'm sure you also know how to hide your power as well. This skill will be very useful in our efforts to kill Frieza" Raditz started.
"However, when you believe victory is assured you tend to relax. This, my prince, will cost you dearly" Raditz finished as his trembling stopped.
Vegeta and everyone else looked on in surprise as Raditz flexed his tail and flipped Vegeta over until their situations were reversed. Wasting no time, Raditz put his hands in the downed Vegeta's face.
Raditz gave Vegeta a quick smirk to the prince before shouting "DOUBLE SUNDAY" firing the blinding purple energy at the Prince's face at point blank range.
The winds from the blast were so intense that the fighters had to raise their power to stay put. Goku quickly got in front of Bulma, Tien covered the Pilaf and Shu, and Yamcha covered Mai. Goku was surprised at the amount of energy put into Raditz' beam. He couldn't help but think that he'd be in very bad shape if energy that strong had hit him.
The smoked cleared revealing a crater with the wounded Vegeta inside. Vegeta barely had time to block the blast, so he took most of it unprotected. He was feeling the effects of the attack, but he was far from finished.
He looked up to see Raditz standing over him triumphantly. This irritated the Prince as he shouted powering up to his maximum.
Raditz jumped out of the crater just in time to avoid Vegeta's mini explosive wave.
When Vegeta revealed himself to the group, Bulma paled at the way his arms looked after attempting to block the blast. In fact, this is the most beat up she's ever seen Vegeta. She couldn't help but wonder just how much power Goku's oldest brother had within him.
Vegeta realized that taking Raditz' attack took a lot of energy out of him. He was now weaker than Goku. This closed the gap between his and Raditz' power considerably. In fact, this battle will likely now be decided by technique and battle strategy rather than raw power.
Vegeta and Raditz charged at each other full power. They were so fast that only Goku could see the fight in its entirety. The others could only see every other attack the two sent towards each other.
The fight itself was nearly even. Neither could seem to get a clean hit on the other. Raditz would send a kick that Vegeta would block. Then Vegeta would send an elbow that Raditz would dodge. This went on for 5 whole minutes. (A/N you guys know how long 5 minutes is in DBZ lol)
Vegeta was starting to get frustrated with his inability to keep Raditz down. Even when he would land a hit, Raditz would come right back and land a hit of his own. At this point no one knew who would win.
Then suddenly, Vegeta remembered a technique that Tien used on him that had the potential to end this fight. After dashing back to create some separation between him and Raditz he put four fingers to both sides of his forehead.
Recognizing the technique, Tien, Yamcha, Goku, Bulma, Oolong, and Puar instantly shut their eyes.
"SOLAR FLARE" Vegeta shouted as a light blinded Raditz and the unfortunate spectators who hadn't been ready for it.
"What the hell! I can't see anything! Vegeta what did you do" Raditz shouted.
Vegeta smirked and attacked putting all his remaining energy into his fist. He hit Raditz square in the gut, knocking all the wind out of the older Saiyan and rendering him unconscious.
Almost immediately after this, Vegeta let himself lose consciousness as well. The two older Saiyans both laid battered and bruised on the lawn.
When Turles, Tarble and the Pilaf gang could see again, they saw the two passed out on the ground.
Both Tarble and Bulma immediately ran to Vegeta's side as Goku and Turles ran to Raditz.
Other than the slight rise and fall of the two Saiyans chest, the two were completely immobile.
"Quick take them both to the infirmary. We need to get them both patched up immediately" Bulma said barking orders.
XxXxXx
Vegeta regained consciousness as he heard voices around him. He opened his eyes to the sight of all his friends standing over his bed.
"Well, well, the prince has finally awoken from his royal slumber" Raditz teased causing a round of laughter from the group.
Vegeta rolled his eyes at the joke when he suddenly felt pressure on his body. He looked down to see blue hair and instantly knew who it was.
Bulma looked up at Vegeta with unshed tears in her eyes. Vegeta thought that Bulma was upset, but before he could try to comfort her, she snapped.
"YOU JERK! Do you know how worried I was about you? I thought that something was wrong when you didn't wake up after the first day. Raditz woke up 2 whole days before you, and you knocked him unconscious, not the other way around!" Bulma shrieked.
Raditz rolled his eyes at her statement. He didn't understand why the woman felt that it was necessary to remind everyone of him being knocked unconscious.
Vegeta was at a loss for words. He didn't think that there was anything he could say that could cheer Bulma up. But, being the quick-thinking prince that he was, Vegeta smirked and tilted Bulma's head up to plant a kiss on her forehead.
"I'm sorry that I worried you, but I'm fine. I promise that I won't scare you like that again" the said hugging Bulma.
All the other Saiyans snickered as they saw their prince comfort Bulma, making kissy faces at each other. Yamcha and Tien were just watching the scene with small smiles on their faces, while the Pilaf gang were in tears, touched Vegeta's display of emotion.
Bulma knew that Vegeta's words weren't true. Hell, the guy was going to go off to fight some insanely strong person who destroyed his planet, but Bulma was still touched at his attempts to make her feel better.
Raditz cleared his throat to gain the attention of everyone in the room. Raditz smirked at the down prince before saying
"I hope you know that I won our match"
Vegeta frowned and was about to complain before he thought about what happened. Even though he had knocked Raditz unconscious, he fell unconscious almost immediately after. Raditz regained consciousness before him so on the battlefield he would be able to finish him off.
Raditz smirked as a look of understanding flashed on Vegeta's face. He was incredibly proud of Vegeta for the level of power he had and his battle prowess, and he knew that after their sparring match; Vegeta will only grow stronger.
He had the upmost confidence that Vegeta would be the one to avenge their race and he'd be right there to witness it happen.
Later that night, everyone was assembled in the kitchen. Bulma called a meeting of the Z fighters. Z fighters was Bulma's name of the group and although it earned a few weird looks from Raditz, Vegeta and Yamcha when it was first introduced, the name stuck, even though no one knew what the 'Z' stood for.
Everyone looked to Bulma, who held a flyer in her hand.
"Everyone, the World's Martial Arts Tournament will be held in 10 months. The world's strongest martial artists will all attend this tournament, so we could recruit more people for our cause" Bulma said.
The crew agreed that it would be a good idea to go this tournament but there was a problem with their numbers.
With the strength that the Saiyans had they were automatic locks in the tournament. Tien, Yamcha and Chiaotzu were stronger than most humans as well. Hypothetically, their group could occupy all 8 of the spots in the championship part of the tournament making all their work useless since they'd end up fighting each other instead of other strong fighters.
"Okay in order to get a more effective look at everyone's powers, we'll let our weakest 4 fighters participate in the tournament. So Chiaotzu, Yamcha, Tien and Tarble are the fighters we're sending" Vegeta said.
Bulma nodded in agreement as she continued "And I'll make some adjustments to Raditz, Turles and Tarble's scouters so we can pinpoint exactly how high their power is"
"Until that day we will split up into groups and train in different locations to get stronger. We will meet back up at the tournament. Group 1 will include Chiaotzu, Raditz, Tien, Tarble and I. Group 2 will be Kakarot, Turles, and Yamcha" Vegeta said.
Goku nodded at his assigned group glad that he could train with one of his brothers. He just didn't know where they were going to train at.
"Vegeta where is my group going to train at?" Goku asked.
Vegeta thought for a moment before smirking at the younger Saiyan.
"Do you remember that turtle man that we ran into when searching for the dragon balls? He did say that you could go to his island whenever, and although he's not that strong by our standards, he is a legendary warrior on this planet. He's bound to know some incredible techniques that could help further you guy's training" Vegeta said.
"Are there any more questions or can we end this meeting?" Bulma asked. No one responded so she adjourned the meeting.
"I'll need all the scouters in my lab for reconstruction by the end of the day" She said addressing Raditz, Tarble and Turles.
They all nodded and left as the group dispersed back into their rooms to call it a night.
The next morning, everyone said their goodbyes as Goku's group blasted off into the air with Oolong and Puar flying behind, being transformed as birds. Vegeta turned to his group with a smirk on his face.
"Listen up all of you, you are training with me and as such I expect you to be able to keep up with my training regimen. Well will train for 18 hours a day. The remaining 6 hours are for you to do whatever you please. Eat, sleep, bathe, it's up to you, but we start at 5 am tomorrow morning. Be sure to eat plentiful today as this is our last day off" Vegeta said before walking away with his arm around Bulma's shoulders.
Raditz smirked at the shocked forms of the rest of his group before heading to the kitchen to eat his fill.
The rest of the group just looked at each other with flabbergasted faces before also heading to kitchen for some food.
The same thought was on everyone's mind 'These next months will be hell'
XxXxXx
When Goku's group finally arrived at Kame House, they noticed that there were people that were already training on the beach.
Roshi turned to see Goku land on the beach. He stopped training with his pupil before turning to address the boy.
"Long time no see Goku, have you come here to train?" Roshi asked.
When Goku nodded, Roshi asked the rest of the group to introduce themselves.
"I am Yamcha and it would be an honor to be trained by you. You are a compete legend in martial arts"
Roshi nodded. It made him feel good that there were still people that showed the proper respect and recognized his strength.
"Nice to meet you Geezer. I'm Turles, Kakarot's older brother. Show me what you know, and I promise that I won't attempt to kill you before I leave"
The turtle hermit sweat dropped at the amount of disrespect the other one showed, but before he could voice his displeasure his pupil spoke up
"Hey kid, don't talk to Master Roshi like that! He's the greatest martial artist in the world" The bald kid said walking towards Turles with every indication that he wanted to fight.
"Krillin stop it!" Roshi said but his shout fell on deaf ears.
Turles looked at the kid and smirked evilly.
"Do you plan on doing anything about it baldie?" He asked as he released a little bit of his power to show him what he's up against.
The boy's eyes widened as he trembled at the amount of pressure he felt in the air. Roshi also sweat dropped at the power Turles was displaying. This child was so much stronger than any opponent he'd ever faced before.
"Turles, stop teasing him" Goku said while laughing at his brother.
"Look Master Roshi, I was told that you trained Grandpa Gohan, so could you please train us too for the 10 months leading up to the tournament?" Goku asked politely.
Roshi nodded "We are about to leave to go to an island with more space. You are more than welcome to train with us"
Then suddenly bullets rained on the beach. Reflexes kicked in as Turles and Goku grabbed all the bullets before they could hit anyone.
"Who are you people?" A blond-haired girl asked as she stepped out of the pink house.
"Oh, hey there Launch, these are my friends and they'll be staying with us to train for the tournament. No need to be hostile" Roshi said trying to appease the blond.
Launch just rolled her eyes and returned to the house. She had to reload her gun after wasting all her bullets.
With Launch back in the house, Roshi turned back to the group assembled on his beach.
"Okay welcome to the Turtle Hermit school. Your training starts tomorrow at 6 am where we will be delivering milk. I'll have to get extra heavy turtle shells for the Saiyans, but everyone else will start off at 400 pounds. See you tomorrow" Roshi said before entering his house to rest.
Krillin and Yamcha sweat dropped at the thought of caring 400 pounds around on their back while Turles and Goku were just upset about having to wear turtle shell.
Before everyone went to sleep Goku called Turles and Yamcha to talk to them.
"Hey guys, even though our group is small we have to have the strongest fighters. I want Yamcha to win the tournament and I want Turles to be much stronger than Tarble when we meet back up with the group. We can't let Vegeta think that his group is superior don't you agree" Goku said.
Yamcha and Turles turned to each other with looks of determination before looking back to Goku and nodding.
"Then it's decided we'll do Roshi's training and then train again at night before we go to sleep, all while wearing the weighted turtle shells. We will become much stronger" Goku cheered earning a chuckle from Turles and a smirk from Yamcha.
The stage has been set as everyone prepared for the tournament. Both groups put everything into their training all with one goal in their minds. To get stronger
TBC
Power Levels
Raditz: 7,200
(Double Sunday): 14,400
(End of Fight): 15
(Healed): 11,500
Vegeta: 17,550
(After the Double Saturday): 8,200
(End of Fight): 20
(Healed): 21,000
Goku: 11,025
Turles: 2,000
Tarble: 1,500
Yamcha: 120
Tien: 205
Roshi: 300
Krillin: 20
Chiaotzu: 50