Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Who would've expected that just a few changes could have such a major impact. Read as Gohan and Kai journey through life and across the universe in this exciting retelling of DBZ, with changes and surprises around every corner. Yamcha x Bulma, Raditz x Android 18, Gohan x Erasa later on. Other pairings undecided at the moment.

3. Brutal Battle, Heroes Arrival

Having landed in East City, Vegeta and Nappa observed what Earth was like "You know it's not as bad as I had been expecting."

Nappa nodded "Yeah but before we start sight seeing how about we try and say hello to some of the locals."

"Fine by me, just go easy on them."

"Whatever you say." and so Nappa unleashed his Giant Storm, vaporizing the city and everyone in it in a blinding explosion that covered the entire planet.

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Upa observed the explosion from afar in the middle of a jungle "This is unbelievable, to think that they could be this powerful.

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Nappa observed the crater left behind by his blast "Hey you know I don't think I made a big enough impression, maybe I should give it another try."

"Nappa I believe that it would be best if we left it at that." Vegeta told him "The more damage that we do now the less we'll be able to sell this planet for once it's all said and done."

"Oh yeah right well that's fine anyway, we should probably start looking for those whatever you call them balls that grant those wishes."

"They're called Dragon Balls and the first thing that we have to do is find the one that was responsible for killing Beets and extract a tiny bit of information from him about where they are."

"Oh yeah, that makes sense."

"Now of course if the Dragon Balls were being held somewhere in this vicinity then our chance to wish for eternal life just went up in smoke now didn't it? All because you had to say hello like your usual incompetent self."

"...Oh crap. Sorry Vegeta I guess I wasn't thinking, it won't happen again."

"Forget about it, what's done is done and there's no use fretting over it now. Now let's try to scope out the highest power level on this planet, finding the one who killed Beets should be as simple as that."

"Makes sense I guess." Nappa checked out his Scouter "Well that's kind of weird, according to my Scouter there are multiple readings for power levels over 1,000. But why would there be so many of them?"

"Just don't lose your head, there's no reason for us to be alarmed. As I said before we'll simply find the one with the highest power level and then go after him."

"Yeah that makes sense, and from what I can gather there are three fairly high readings are right next to each other."

"Yes it seems that you're right, what do you say that we go and have some fun?" and with that being said, the two of them took off.

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At the same time, Goku and Yamcha were making their way down Snake Way as fast as they were able to 'Just hang on guys, we're coming as fast as we can!'

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"Gohan, Kai, they Saiyans are coming right for us aren't they?" Piccolo threw away his weighted cape and turban.

Gohan and Kai shared a look and nodded "Right!"

"There's nothing for us to fear, remember that compared to a year ago the three of us have managed to increase our powers ten fold."

"Yeah I know Piccolo, we're ready."

"Good thing too because it feels like we're surrounded." Kai pointed out "Seriously I can feel a bunch of guys closing in from that direction, but they feel kind of familiar."

"What does that mean then?"

"My guess is the cavalry, or what they think is the cavalry but is actually fodder."

"I kind of resent that." that was when Krillin dropped down onto the scene "Hey Piccolo it's been awhile hasn't it?"

"Oh it's just you." Piccolo shot him a smirk "And what the hell do you think you're doing here anyway? You do realize that you're just gonna get in the way, then again I'm guessing you won't be the only piece of fodder taking part in this fight."

"Yeah you got that right, the whole gang is coming along with someone that you haven't met before but I just happened to be the one that was the closest to here."

And then Gohan recognized him "I remember you now, you're one of the ones that I saw before at Master Roshi's right?"

"Oh yeah the name is Krillin, looks like the two of you have bulked up since the last time I saw you. You look almost exactly like Goku when he was that short, the only difference is the clothes."

"And you grew up with my dad before didn't you, he told me a lot of stories that he went through back then. So you're the one that used to train in order to make up for being short!"

"Hold on a second, Goku told you what now?"

"Hey Golden Girls 1 and 2, we've got company." Kai pointed a thumb upwards.

Sure enough, Nappa and Vegeta were hovering above them menacingly "Well what do we have here, a bunch of pathetic insects doing their best to look tough."

"Perhaps they are pathetic but you can give these four credit for one thing, they at least seem to know who we are." Vegeta noted.

"Fair enough." the two of them lowered themselves to the ground.

"It looks like they've been waiting for us."

"I'm gonna say this once Golden Girls 3 and 4, screw whatever business you have on this planet and go shoot yourselves into the sun before I get mad." Kai told him "I'm giving you guys a chance to get out of this alive, your first and last chance by the way."

"That voice, so that would mean that you're the lucky one who was able to kill Beets a year ago now weren't you?"

"Yeah Raditz said that the Scouters were able to double as communicators or something didn't he?"

"Smart little brat now aren't you?"

And then Nappa noticed something "Hey check it out Vegeta, I think that green one over there might be a Namekian."

"Yes no doubt about it, now it almost makes sense in a way that Beets would've had a hard time with the likes of these fools if they had a Namekian amongst their ranks."

Piccolo blinked "Okay so then what is a Namekian exactly?"

"What you don't know? Not only are they known to have above average power levels but the people of the Namekian race are said to have mysterious hidden abilities as well."

'So then I'm one of these… Namekians?'

"I've also heard that a chosen few are capable of performing tricks, almost like what you might refer to as a magician. So that would explain it then, you must be the one who created these so called Dragon Balls aren't you?"

"And what the hell do the two of you know about the Dragon Balls exactly?" asked Kai.

"Not only do we know about them, they're the main reason we're here." Nappa told him "Now just hand them over nice and easy, your friend here may be a Namekian but you're nothing but insects to us and you're going to be crushed by our superior Saiyan power."

"Is that really what you believe?" Piccolo got into his own combat stance "Well I guess it's only right for me to start by thanking you for teaching me about my ancestry, but on the other hand you're wrong about two things. First of all I had no hand in creating the Dragon Balls, as you can see I'm not so much of a simple magician as I am a warrior and you're dead wrong if you think your Saiyan power will save you from me."

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Mr Popo could only look at Kami in awe "Oh my dear Kami…"

"I… I had no idea." Kami muttered "For the first time in my life I have been made aware of my origins, and now I am aware of why I had always possessed such special powers yes. It is true that I am the one who created the Dragon Balls on this planet so many years ago. It all makes sense now, I attempted to create the Dragon Balls in order to answer a deep yearning that I had previously held. When I had finally succeeded I felt as if I had managed to make it home, or rather as if a very small piece of home had found its way to me."

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"Oh and one more thing Nappa, take off your Scouter." Vegeta took off his Scouter "Keep in mind that these pests are able to raise and lower their power levels in response to the opponents that they face which makes our Scouters completely unreliable."

"Oh yeah you got that right Vegeta, good thinking." Nappa threw off his Scouter "Now I remember, that's how that weakling Beets went and got himself killed, he got fooled by the readings that his Scouter was giving him and then he lowered his guard."

"But we're not so foolish. Okay then, I'm not so foolish."

Krillin glanced up at Piccolo "Wait a second, Beets? Isn't he that one Saiyan that was so tough that you, Goku, Yamcha and Goku's brother had to team up on him and even then you were still just barely able to beat him? They're calling him weak? Oh man we're screwed."

"These guys are smarter than the last one." Kai noted "They actually know that those readings are useless, like YouTube."

"But I have hundreds of YouTube friends!"

"Exactly."

"Alright that's enough talk, let's see how these pests can handle themselves in action when things heat up." Vegeta shot a glance up at Nappa "Tell me something Nappa, we still have seven of those Saibamen left don't we? Get them ready would you?"

"You know Vegeta I always thought you had a twisted sense of humor." Nappa pointed out dryly.

"Yes, and?"

"I like it!" Nappa pulled out a small bottle with some small seeds "Yep you were right, we've still got six of these little bastards. This soil should do very nicely, soon you'll be telling us everything that we want to hear." he planted the seeds in the ground and poured a strange green liquid onto them, and in only a few moments it sprouted up several green plant like creatures from the ground.

"Those things are gross." Krillin muttered "But at least they're shorter than I am- Kai what are you doing?"

"What the hell do you think?" Kai was writing something down on a notepad "This could be an amazing conspiracy theory for the Walking Dead, a liquid virus that brings the dead back to life as Walkers!"

"...Putting aside your lack of mental stability, I say we go on the offensive before those things try and get the jump on us."

"Hey Krillin!" that was when Tien and Chiaotzu dropped down onto the scene, raring and ready to fight.

"Alright Tien and Chiaotzu, I was wondering when you guys would get here."

"I was under the impression that there were only two Saiyans." Tien pointed out.

"Well a lot has happened in the past two minutes and now there's eight."

"Not like it makes that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. So who are the kids, I assume that one of them is Goku's son and the other is Yamcha's nephew?"

"Yep you got that right, Piccolo did a pretty good job of training the two of them by the looks of things."

And then Upa showed up on the scene "Hey everyone, sorry it took me so long to get here but now I am."

"And we're glad to have you Upa."

"It looks like everyone is here except for Goku and Yamcha then."

"But they'll be here soon."

Vegeta studied the group in front of them "Looks like they have about 7 warriors on their side right now, quite interesting since that's the exact same number of Saibamen that we have here with us. What would all of you say to a game of sorts, each one of you can take turns fighting one of our Saibamen and then we can see what happens."

"Spare me." Piccolo outright snarled "We're not here to play some stupid games and we're not fighting on your terms, we'll take you all on at once!"

"Chill the f*ck out Jolly Green Jackass." Kai tried to call him off "We've gotta play this smart for now as long as these things are around, besides going along with this little game of his might be able to buy us some time until Goku and Yamcha get here."

"I think the boy is correct." Upa was the first one to step forward "I'll go first, these tiny creatures don't scare me and besides I could use a good warmup."

Nappa barked out a laugh "That's the spirit Triclops, fresh meat for the grinder. But just give it a minute, you won't be acting so cocky once you've seen what these little bastards are really capable of!"

"We'll see about that."

Vegeta glanced over at one of the Saibamen "You'll be going first, hit him as hard as you can you got that?" this prompted the Saibamen to charge forward.

Upa quickly sent the Saibaman flying with one hit and prepared to follow up with another attack, but was forced to dodge a stream of acid, as well as everyone else, and so Upa followed up with a sharp elbow to the torso, knocking the Saibaman to the ground, much to the joy of everyone else "You were saying?"

"Not bad by your standards I'll give you that much."

Nappa was far more taken aback by this "But there's no way, a Saibamen's power is a solid 1,200! Every one of these little bastards is supposed to be almost as strong as Raditz!"

"Well then it's simple, all that means is that the three eyed freak here is even stronger than that right?"

"But-"

"We just miscalculated, that's all there is to it."

"But the data says that-"

"Don't worry about it Nappa, if anything it should make our little game that much more entertaining." and then he proceeded to kill that Saibaman as it tried to get back up, much to the horror of almost everyone present.

"Vegeta wh-what did you do that for?"

"It's simple Nappa, he made the grave mistake of underestimating his opponent and I believe that I specifically told him to hold nothing back."

Piccolo studied Vegeta intently 'He's quite the ruthless one, if this is the way that he treats his allies then I don't expect that he'll be showing any mercy to his enemies.'

"Now then, who wants to be the next one to go at it with one of the Saibamen?"

"How about I have a crack at them." that was when Krillin stepped forward "I think it's about time I show you guys exactly why no one comes to Earth and just pushes us around like we're nobody. You guys just hang back a little bit, I'll take care of this and wipe out all six of them at once."

"Oh look at the little tough guy, how precious." Nappa glanced down at one of the Saibamen in front of him "Well what the hell are you waiting for, go already!"

"Alright come on ugly, let's get this over with."

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Goku and Yamcha were racing their way down Snake way, their minds racing 'I don't know why but I've got a bad feeling all of a sudden. Just make sure you and the others hold out for as long as you can Piccolo, we're on our way and we won't slow down until we're there.'

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Gohan was surprised as he watched Krillin and the Saibaman disappear from sight 'Did they vanish? No wait they're just moving faster than normal eyes are able to see. I've gotta feel out their Ki signatures just like Kai and Piccolo taught me. Concentrate Gohan, let your body take in your surroundings. See with your body and not your eyes.' he concentrated on sensing out the Ki signatures and found Krillin and the Saibaman duking it out not far away "Yes I see them, they're up there!"

"It's about time." Piccolo just let out a grunt and turned away, trying to hide the small smile of pride that he was feeling 'Good job kid.'

"And what do we have here?" it turns out that Kai had seen him.

"Your smoking corpse if you utter one word about this." he received only a grin "I'm serious you little shit."

Krillin was managing to overtake the Saibaman for the most part until he got launched high into the air "You wanna play rough?! Well FINE! IT'S KRILLER TIME!" and he hit the Saibaman dead on using a full power Kamehameha, sending it slamming into the ground and leaving it in a smoking crater, much to the joy of all of those that were present.

"God dammit not again." Nappa muttered.

"Looks like these little guys aren't anywhere near as tough as you made them out to be now are they?"

"What's that you bald little son of a-"

"Yeah you heard me."

"Take it easy Nappa." Vegeta was quick to call him off.

"How about this, I'll save the rest of my friends the trouble and take care of the last five of them all by myself."

"Now that's something I'd honestly love to see, too bad I'll never get the chance."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Krillin was answered by the Saibaman suddenly grabbing onto him from behind "What the hell?! Get off of me!" he tried to break free but to no avail, and the last thing he saw was the Saibaman giving him a malicious grin before they both went up in a powerful explosion.

"There we go, now that's more like it."

"The thing is insane." Piccolo muttered "It just blew himself up, he had no way to defend himself."

"Is he…?" Gohan trailed off.

"Don't get your hopes up, that was a point blank explosion and he couldn't even defend himself so the chances of him surviving are slim to none."

"Krillin!" Upa rushed over to check on him, only to slowly turn back to face the others after a tense moment "Guys… he didn't make it." he slammed his fist into the ground "I should've known something like this would happen, I should've gone in his place! At least then I can be revived with the Dragon Balls! Dammit!"

Nappa on the other hand was pissed "What in the name of hell was that idiot Saibaman thinking huh?! I don't wanna see a draw, I wanna see a win!"

"Calm down Nappa, there's no need for you to lose your head." Vegeta called him off "Let's just give them a moment to clear that piece of trash off of the battlefield."

"...You called him trash?" Upa rounded on Vegeta, the vein in his forehead throbbing "How dare you… How dare you! Everyone stand back! Okay Krillin this one's for you, I promise I won't let you down my friend. I'm going to make you pay for what you did to him!" he spread out his hands and began charging energy "Now you're going to see what happens to people who hurt my friends, I'm not the same little kid that I used to be and now I'm going to give you a taste of your own medicine! Karinga Bomber!" he fired a barrage of Ki blasts into the air and then rained them down on the area, engulfing Vegeta, Nappa and the Saibamen in a powerful explosion, with the exception of one Saibaman.

Tien nodded in approval "Nice work Upa, pretty impressive move."

"Thank you but I won't be satisfied until we finish of the last one." this was followed by the last Saibaman charging at him from behind.

"Look out!" Gohan charged at the Saibaman and hit it with a full power Ki blast, annihilating it on the spot "That was close, are you alright?"

"Yes thank you, you're Goku's son right?"

"Yeah but we can't talk right now, we've still got a fight on our hands."

Sure enough, a laugh from Vegeta broke through the smoke "If that's the best that they can muster then this going to be quite the breeze." and then he and Nappa emerged without so much as a scratch "If you're finished warming up then why don't we just get started already? There's no need for us to drag this out."

'Now they're about to bring out the big gun's aren't they? They took a hit like that without even getting so much as a simple scratch.' Gohan shared a look with Kai and nodded 'I guess that means that we can't hold back against him.'

"So how shall we go about this then?"

"Hey Vegeta how about you let me go at them." Nappa told him "I'm tired of just screwing around."

"Sure Nappa knock yourself out, but I'm not finished with the Namekian yet so let him live for the time being. You can have your way with him once he tells us what we want to know about the Dragon Balls."

"Well if that's the case then I might as well take my time and enjoy myself, so I think I'll start with… YOU YOU LITTLE SHIT!" he charged at Kai in a rage.

"Not so fast!" Gohan and Kai both suddenly charged at Nappa, the former firing a Ki blast and the latter hitting him in the shoulder with a Nail Gun, only for it to bounce off but not without leaving a burn on his right arm, which led to Kai being kicked into a nearby plateau, smashing clear through it.

"Well what the hell do you know, it looks like this is gonna be more fun than I thought." he started powering up, shaking the very Earth itself.

"Dammit, I've never felt a power like this before." Tien muttered.

Chiaotzu seemed to have his own problem in regards to his psychic powers "Tien it's no use, I tried to hypnotize him but he didn't even blink!"

Piccolo had to brace himself 'This is bad, I expected these Saiyans to be strong but this is just insane!'

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Goku and Yamcha were still flying across the skies of Otherworld in a desperate attempt to get back to Earth 'Hang on just a little bit longer you guys, we're on our way!'

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Nappa finished powering up, his body crackling with electricity in the form of an aura of lightning like armor, only to notice Chiaotzu trying to use his psychic powers on him "Well what do we have here?" and then he hit Chiaotzu with a Ki blast, sending him crashing into a plateau before setting his sights on Tien.

'He's coming right at me, I have to be ready!' realizing how powerful Nappa was and the damage that he could sustain, Tien did the tactical thing and retreated from Nappa before he could be hit and took to the air.

"You're not going anywhere!" Nappa charged at Tien and prepared to deal him a kick to the head.

"Solar Flare!" Tien dealt Nappa a Solar Flare before he was able to attack him, thus blinding him as a result.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE FOR THAT!" enraged and blinded both figuratively and literally, Nappa unleashed a Blazing Storm attack, leaving an extremely deep crater that nearly blew everyone away in a blinding explosion.

Tien was nearly frozen in awe at the display of power 'He left a crater so deep that I can't even see the bottom, to think that the amount of power that must have taken!'

"Now do you see you little shit, do you see what we're capable of?!"

"Hey Nappa you might want to look behind you for a second." Vegeta nonchalantly gestured to where Chiaotzu had clung onto Nappa's back and then began glowing.

"What the hell, get off of me you little shit!" Nappa tried several things to get Chiaotzu off of him, including slamming him into a mountain.

Tien could only look on in horror "Chiaotzu let go, stop it! Just get off of him before you get yourself killed! Please just get out of the way!" and then he was contacted by Chiaotzu using his telepathy.

"Tien, listen to me! I just want to thank you for being such a great friend." Chiaotzu started glowing.

"What- What the hell are you talking about? Just get out of there now while you still can! Please!"

"Please Tien, just don't forget about me." he started glowing brighter "I'm really gonna miss you."

"W- Wait What? Chiaotzu please tell me you're not gonna do something that you're gonna regret!"

"Goodbye Tien, whatever you do just try to stay alive for my sake okay?"

"CHIAOTZU NO DON'T!"

"Goodbye Tien!" and with that, Chiaotzu finally self destructed, apparently taking Nappa with him.

Frozen in despair at the sight of Chiaotzu dying again, Tien could do little more than let out a blood curdling scream of grief.

Piccolo on the other hand was actually impressed "Not a bad strategy, sacrificing himself in order to kill the Saiyans. I mean granted it was a little bit extreme but it got results."

Kai forced Gohan to look at the scene "Don't look away from this, honor the bravery of that small Pokemon. Don't make his sacrifice to save all of us something to be ashamed of, give him the respect that Team Rocket has been denied."

"...Did you just call Chiaotzu a Pokemon?" asked Gohan.

"Isn't that what he is?"

"NO!"

"Well what else could he be, and besides as far as I know people from this planet don't have three eyes so Tien and Chiaotzu are Pokemon!"

"No they're not!"

"Fine then I'll prove it!" he pulled out a Pokeball out of nowhere and then he and Gohan started wrestling over it.

This was still going on when the smoke cleared to reveal Nappa, alive and well and completely unharmed "Well that's one less Pokemon like pest that we have to worry about killing now isn't it?"

"See?! Even the Saiyan version of Red Hulk minus the awesomeness thinks Chiaotzu was a Pokemon!"

"Well yeah, it's a universal thing."

Upa was horrified by the more important revelation "But that shouldn't be possible, he's not even scratched. So then that means… that means that Chiaotzu killed himself and even blew himself up for nothing!"

"Yep, just gonna let that pointless shabang drag out a little bit."

Tien was outright snarling like an angry animal "He's really gone, he's gone forever! He's already been wished back to life once before so now nothing can bring him back, not even the Dragon Balls! I swear you're going to pay for this, I'll make sure of that if it's the last thing that I ever do!"

"Well fine then triclops, if you still don't realize how pointless it is to try and battle a Saiyan elite like me then I'll give you one last demonstration! Unfortunately for you though, it's gonna be the last thing that you ever see in this world!"

Tien said nothing, he just fell to his knees in his grief 'Chiaotzu…'

"If you think your friend will be lonely in Hell then you don't have to worry about that because you'll be joining him soon enough!"

"Chiaotzu… I'll… I'LL KILL YOU! I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" now fueled by grief, Tien charged at Nappa in a blind rage and started attacking him in a frenzy of randomized punches and kicks.

Nappa quickly ended this barrage when he dealt Tien a sharp knee to the gut, but even that didn't stop Tien, which led to Nappa brutalizing him even further.

"This is bad, at this rate Tien isn't going to be able to hold out for much longer unless I help him even the odds." Upa prepared to jump in and help Tien.

"No Upa, not yet at least." Piccolo was quick to stop him "We all have to strike together when he moves to make an attack and not before, it's the best chance that we had, do you two understand that?"

Gohan snapped out of his stupor and shared a glance with Kai "R-Right, I understand."

"You'd better."

"You know that plan sounds like it might actually work." Vegeta called over to them "I hope for your sake that it does. And you had best keep your eyes on the battlefield, you're only going to have one shot at this."

"So you think but let me just tell you this now, it's not going to be too much longer before Goku and Yamcha get here and the two of them will no doubt wipe that smirk off of your face."

"Oh is that so, I'm both terrified and curious at the same time. So tell me, are these two your aces in the hole?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"I would but I assume you're not going to tell me, also what exactly are those two brats doing over there?" he pointed at where Kai and Gohan were still wrestling over the Pokeball.

"...I honestly have no idea."

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Nappa dealt Tien a devastating blow to the gut, sending him crashing to his knees and causing him to cough up a large amount of blood "You know I'm starting to get kind of bored just throwing you around like some kind of worthless rag doll aren't you? I'm thinking that we should just end this little charade already. AND NOW YOU'RE GONNA DIE!" he rose high into the air.

"NOW IS OUR CHANCE EVERYONE! GO! SCATTER!" Piccolo barked out at the top of his lungs.

"SAY HI TO YOUR LITTLE FRIEND FOR ME!"

"You can say hi for him!" Piccolo blitzed behind Nappa and dealt him a vicious claw attack to the face, with Upa following up with a devastating smash attack, sending him hurtling towards the ground "GOHAN, KAI, DO IT! HIT HIM NOW!"

"Right!" Gohan shared a look with Kai from where he was perched on top of a nearby plateau, and so the former of the two cupped his hands at his side 'I'm just playing this off of memories of dad showing it to me that one time, but he, Kai and Piccolo wouldn't give up so I can't give up either! Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" he fired a Kamehameha to the best of his ability, engulfing Nappa in the explosion that followed when it hit him point blank.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed that Nappa received some minor burns and that his armor was pretty much wrecked, and he was pissed and amused at the same time "Well I'll give you little f*cks some credit for that one, it wasn't that bad of a move all things considered. So now I've decided to chance up the order in which I'm gonna kill all of you, so say your prayers or whatever because you've got 5 minutes at the most."

"Yeah about that." Kai suddenly blasted Nappa through the shoulder with another Nail Gun, sending him spiralling through the air with blood just pouring out of the new hole "Yeah like we even need Goku now!" he received several incredulous stares "What?"

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Mr Popo glanced up worriedly at Kami "Please tell me Kami, what is it that is bothering you so much?"

Kami let out a sigh "My Popo my dear friend it would seem that my life soon to come to an end, for I can sense that my death is at last upon me."

"But if that is true then that would mean…"

"Yes, Piccolo will be killed in this battle, and the Dragon Balls shall disappear with us."

"But then… what about Goku and Yamcha?"

"I still cannot sense their presence and they are running out of time."

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Tien was still on the ground grieving over the sacrifice of Chiaotzu, which had turned out to be in vain "Chiaotzu… we've faced so many challenges together and we've always been able to come through them together! But this time… this time… Goku, Yamcha, please hurry…"

Vegeta frowned when he heard this "Goku, that name again… I wonder…"

"OH THAT IS IT!" Nappa pretty much exploded high into the air "Now you're all gonna die nice and slow, so who wants to be my first victim? Anyone but the Namekian, I'm not allowed to make him suffer until we've gotten what we need out of him regarding those magic dragon testicles that can give us eternal life. Seriously though if you guys wanna fight back or something then now would be the time to do it."

"We need to get him back on the ground." Piccolo muttered "If we fight him in the air then he clearly has the advantage."

"Oh please Namekian, do you really think that's gonna make any difference? But if that's how you want to die then fine, I'll play along."

Piccolo slowly lowered himself to the ground, with Upa doing the same as the two of the regrouped with Gohan, Kai and Tien.

"NOW DIE!" Nappa prepared to charge at them again.

"NAPPA WAIT, STOP RIGHT THERE!" Vegeta barked, stopping Nappa in mid air, much to the surprise of him and everyone else.

"Hey why the hell did you stop me? Let me at them!"

"How many times do I have to tell you to be patient, there's something that I want to ask these peons first. This Goku and Yamcha that you keep on babbling on about, one of them is Kakarot isn't it?"

"Don't call him that, he's Goku now and he's a better man than any of you monsters could ever hope to be!" Upa snarled.

"To think that Kakarot would be the only chance that you have, he died fighting against someone like Beets and Beets wasn't half the fighter that Nappa is let alone myself. What could he possibly hope to do against the two of us?"

"Goku is far stronger than he was before, I know as well as anyone else that when he gets here you'll have as good as lost! He's the last person you want to underestimate!"

"Oh is that right?" Nappa let out a scoff "You know I might actually believe you if these two weren't too scared to show their faces, are you sure these precious trump cards didn't just abandon you?"

"Shut up!" Gohan snarled "Son Goku is my dad and when he gets here he'll make you eat those words, he'll make you look like the insects that you are! How's that for trash talk!"

"6/10." Kai noted dryly.

"Oh come on I worked really hard on that!"

"For like 3 hours."

"3 hours huh?" Vegeta pondered this for a moment "Well I'll admit that that does sound quite interesting, I suppose we could give our heroes a little bit more time to make their so called grand entrance."

"Oh come on, what the hell is the point of that?" Nappa protested "Can I at least finish off the rest of these guys while we're waiting?"

"Give the two of them 3 hours but that's all they get, after that these peons are yours to do with whatever you want."

"That's ridiculous, no way in hell I'm waiting for anybody!" Nappa charged at the others even further, until…

"NAPPA! ARE YOU DISOBEYING A DIRECT ORDER FROM YOUR PRINCE?!"

Nappa suddenly froze in place "No sorry Vegeta, I just got carried away there for a second that's all."

"Well hope for your sake that it doesn't happen again." he turned to the rest of them "And as for you, Kakarot won't be able to save you but he did just prolong your meaningless lives by three hours."

"We'll see about that soon enough." Piccolo regrouped with the others in the far corner of the wasteland, his mind racing 'This is a real problem, with the way that the big guy was cowering before does that mean that little runt Vegeta is even more powerful than he is? If that's the case then even if we do beat the big guy we're in trouble.'

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On the other side of the wasteland, Nappa was trying to get some answers out of Vegeta in regards to his motives "How the hell can you just sit there, don't you wanna kill these guys as much as I do?"

"Of course I do but we have to be patient." Vegeta told him "We've waited an entire year up to this point, 3 more hours won't kill us and then the real fun will begin."

"Well I already hate standing around like this, why the hell should we have to wait for Kakarot of all people?"

"Because as a traitor to the Saiyan race he gets a special sort of treatment, you and I are going to savor doling out punishment on that fugitive by making him watch his friends and family and the rest of his loved ones die right in front of his eyes as he writes on the ground in agony. And that will be just a taste of what is to come because he'll follow their lead, only his death will be much much slower. He'll remember what it means to be a Saiyan as he writhes in agony, surely three hours isn't too long to wait for that kind of entertainment now is it?"

"Okay now I get what you're going for, this is gonna be awesome!"

"That is to say if he's brave enough to show his face in the next three hours."

"If he does then how about this, why don't you take Kakarot and then I'll sink my teeth into the five over there!"

"Suit yourself but first things first make sure you get the Namekian to tell us what we need to know about the Dragon Balls before you kill him."

"Oh yeah this is gonna be one hell of a party!"

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Upa glanced over at Piccolo and the others "Hey I was thinking, maybe it's best if we get out of here while we still have the chance. We can't defeat them until Goku and Yamcha get here so I think we should live to fight another day."

"Are you really that foolish?" Piccolo let out a scoff "Don't you get it? There won't be another day for us or for anyone else to fight these monsters, these freaks intend to eradicate this entire planet."

"...Oh, I see." Upa could only grit his teeth in frustration 'This is bad, come Goku and Yamcha you have to get here already! You have to show these two monsters just how much stronger you've gotten before it's too late, now hurry! Tell me something Piccolo, will Goku and Yamcha be able to get here before the three hours are up?"

"In all honesty there's no way to tell just yet, but in any case I suggest that we use this time in order to come up with a strategy that will allow us to inflict a little bit of damage on them ourselves."

"Well let's just hope it works out for us better than it did for those guys." Kai just nonchalantly gestured to where Nappa was chasing after a car full of reporters and then blowing up a nearby news team camp.

"Yeah well frankly I don't blame him, I hate the media too." Piccolo received several odd stares from everyone present "What?"

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King Kai and Scarlet on the other hand were running out of patience "They're taking forever to get there, what are all the people on Earth some race of snail people or something?"

"You realize that this is a terrible time to make jokes." Scarlet pointed out.

"Of course I do, why do you think I left out my portable laugh track? The fate of the Earth is hanging on by a thread! Come on Goku, Yamcha, just hurry up already! They're all counting on you down there!"

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Goku and Yamcha were continuing their race down Snake Way, with the Check In Station now visible to them "I see it, yes we're almost there!" and they picked up the pace as much as they could.

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Kami's head snapped up as he sensed the presence of Goku and Yamcha "They're getting closer…"

"You can sense them sir?" asked Mr Popo.

"Just barely but yes, at this rate they might just make it in time if they hurry. But at this rate it will be cutting it close."

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The sun was beginning to set on that fateful day.

Vegeta received a timer alert on his Scouter "We only have one more hour to go, if Kakarot and his friend decide not to show their faces then I'll be very disappointed and when that happens people die. More people than usual."

Piccolo felt the same, to a certain extent 'We don't have any other options, at this point it's all or nothing.'

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Kami's head snapped up as he sensed Goku and Yamcha approaching "Yes that's it, they've made it to the end! I have to hurry, there isn't a second to lose!" and then he quickly disappeared into Otherworld using his Instantaneous Movement technique.

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"Come on feet don't fail us now!" Goku and Yamcha finally reached the end of the path of Snake Way and instantly continued on towards the Check In Station.

"Wow so that's the Saiyans huh?" Yamcha muttered "Man their power is so intense I can already sense it from here. But at the same time I don't really feel nervous, for the first time since I met you Goku I actually feel prepared for a big fight like this. I guess that means that you've rubbed off on me a little bit."

"I don't think about being prepared, sometimes I just feel like I go with the flow of things in life."

"Wow. That's deep coming from you."

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Three hours had come and gone, and there was still no sign of either Goku or Yamcha's presence on the battlefield.

"Alright time's up, time for you to die." Vegeta threw off his Scouter "I guess these so called mighty champions of yours aren't going to be coming to your rescue."

Nappa gained a cold scowl at this "What are they afraid or something?"

"That would be the long and short of it from what I can tell."

"No way, there's no way he's afraid!" Gohan snarled "My dad and Kai's uncle are gonna be here any minute and then they'll beat you both into the ground!"

"Dammit." Tien muttered "Goku, Yamcha, now is definitely not the time for a flashy entrance or anything! We need them here now! Come on you two don't do this to us!'

Nappa dropped his busted armor to the ground with a loud thud "Well I don't know about you guys but all of that waiting definitely got my blood lust through the roof, too bad the five of you are all that I have to take it out on."

"Listen up all of you." Piccolo got the attention of the other four, his voice low "We have one shot against him and that's assuming that things go our way, we're playing for keeps here so listen and listen well. Upa, Tien, the two of you will be the decoys and do whatever it takes to draw his attention away from me, and when the opportunity presents itself I'll go for that Saiyan brute's only weak spot: his tail. If that works then when I grab hold of him he won't be able to move. Gohan, Kai, that's when I want the two of you to charge him with everything that you've got. And Gohan don't doubt yourself, keep in mind that the fate of the world and its people rests in our hands. You have to have faith in yourself and your teachings, brush aside whatever doubts you have and then you'll tap into a power greater than any of ours."

Gohan looked around at Kai, Piccolo and the others, and he hardened his resolve 'He's right, I can do this. I have to do this.'

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Goku and Yamcha both suddenly sped into the Check In Station "We made it!"

"There's no time to lose!" Kami suddenly appeared in front of them and held out one of his arms to them "Quickly grab on!"

"As if you have to ask!" the two of them grabbed on and then the three of them were gone in a flash.

King Yemma was taken aback by the sudden events "Well I never, or rather that is to say that I never would've put money on the two of them being able to make it back here in one piece. I guess they're more talented than I gave them credit for."

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Goku and Yamcha both dropped down back on the Lookout with Kami, tired but nearly triumphant "Alright now it's time to meet those Saiyans, this is what me and Yamcha have been training for."

"Hurry now, there's no time to waste." Kami told him "Good luck down there you two, and make us proud."

"You got it!" so Goku and Yamcha took off running and leapt straight off of the edge of the Lookout, diving down towards the Earth below 'Gohan, Kai, everybody, you all better still be in one piece!

Korin could see them from the edge of his tower "Here they come, I can only imagine just how worn out the poor guys must be feeling right now."

"HEY KORIN!"

"HI!"

"You think you can help a brother out?"

"Yeah of course, how about my last three Senzu Beans? HEADS UP!" Korin threw the last three Senzu Beans as hard as he could.

Yamcha was the one that was able to catch them "You're the best Korin, thanks a ton!"

"No problem, now be sure to give those Saiyans a good thrashing for me!"

"Gotcha! Alright that's a half of one for each of us." Yamcha split the Senzu Bean in half and he and Goku each ate one, revitalizing them in an instant.

"Oh hell yeah now that's the stuff! NIMBUS!" Goku summoned his Flying Nimbus and landed on it feet first, with Yamcha just choosing to fly normally "Hey Nimbus it's been awhile, sorry we don't have a lot of time to talk but we have to get down to the battlefield!"

"Just hang in there for a little while longer you guys, we're almost there!"

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A stalemate had sprouted into life on the battlefield, which was about to come to a quick conclusion.

"Right, here goes nothing!" Upa charged forward towards Nappa, with Tien following not far behind.

Piccolo felt himself sweating 'Please take the bait, please take the bait!'

"You think you've got what it takes to beat both of us at once?"

"Looks like you two little bastards have gained some nerve." Nappa noted.

"It's called fighting spirit!" Upa blasted himself into the air, with Tien attempting to distract him using the Volleyball Fist.

Nappa hit the ground with a thud, though he was more pissed than hurt.

'Now's my chance!' seizing the opportunity that Upa and Tien had opened up, Piccolo quickly blitzed behind Nappa and grabbed him by the tail, pissing him off even further.

"You arrogant little son of a-"

"GOHAN! KAI! DO IT NOW!"

"RIGHT!" Gohan and Kai both charged towards Nappa at full speed, only to encounter a nasty surprise.

"Nice try!" totally unfazed, Nappa dealt Piccolo a devastating elbow to the skull, causing him to fall to the ground "Hey I don't need you dying on me yet, you'll need to stick around for just a little bit longer alright? You've got answers to our questions about those wish granting dragon testicles."

"Well we're right f*cked." Kai muttered "I should've figured that they'd figure out to train their tails, after all they're elite warriors not morons. Okay one of them isn't a moron."

"So the Namekian was your best huh? Well that's a damn shame, it sure didn't take too much to make him buckle now did it?" he tossed Piccolo's unconscious form aside.

"Piccolo!" Gohan rushed over to him to try and wake him up "Come on get up, Piccolo you've gotta get up!"

"Yeah you might wanna forget about him for the time being kid, I hate to break it to you but I think he's beyond pep talks. As for you on the other hand, well I think it goes without saying that I've got some major plans for you next. Don't bother to sell yourself short, you're the son of that traitor Kakarot and that my friend means that you've got Saiyan blood coursing through those veins of yours. That means that I'm counting on you to give me a run for my money, you get what I'm saying kid?"

"Loud and clear!" Kai blitzed in front of him and dealt him a kick across the face, skillfully dodging his counterattacks in the process "Yeah I think you'll find that I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, how about I bring back a favorite that you already know and love. Choke on this one asshole! NAIL GUN!" he fired off a Nail Gun at full speed, fully intent on blowing Nappa's head off with the attack.

Nappa was barely able to get out of the way, receiving a deep gash across his bicep as the Nail Gun blew clear through a mountain behind him, but if anything that only made him that much more enraged.

"What an imbecile." Vegeta grumbled "He would've lost his head, it's like he wanted to catch it with his teeth! Has he gone blind?"

Nappa set his furious sights on Kai in his rage "How… How… HOW DARE YOU! NO ONE CUTS THIS BODY, NOT UNLESS THEY WANT TO SPEND THE LAST FEW MINUTES OF THEIR LIFE IN TOTAL AGONY!"

"I have to look at you, as far as I'm concerned that's agony enough." Kai pointed out dryly, enraging Nappa even more.

"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE SHIT! TRY AND COUNTER THIS!" now losing it, Nappa fired off his Bomber DX.

Kai tried to jump out of the way of the attack and managed to for the most part, only for his leg to be badly burnt in the attack, leaving him lying on the ground wounded.

"And now it's time for you to die!" Nappa prepared to fire a follow up attack in order to finish off Kai once and for all.

That is, until he was stopped by a Dodon Ray to the back, courtesy of Tien, leaving him panting heavily 'That was too close.'

"You… You scorched my back! HOW DARE YOU!"

Vegeta just burst out laughing "Oh come on what's the matter Nappa, did you bite off more than you can chew?"

"Hey!"

"Saiyan trash…" that was when Piccolo stumbled back to his feet, still with a gigantic bruise on his forehead "It would not be smart of you to underestimate any of us, especially not me!"

"Don't think you can tell me who I can and can't underestimate, I was gonna be nice since we needed to pry the whole Dragon Ball secret out of you but you can forget about that now you cocky green antenna having son of a bitch!"

"Cocky, me? Who the hell you to think you're talking to?" and then he was able to get a quick feel of Goku and Yamcha approaching the battlefield "What the hell are those powers, they're tremendous! And yet it's coming from such a great distance how the hell could they possibly so strong?"

Gohan lit up with tears brimming in his eyes "I can feel it too, that's my dad and Yamcha I just know it, they're finally here! There's no doubt about it, they're really coming!"

"And most importantly of all, those two will be ready."

"Whoop de f*cking doo." Kai grumbled from where he was sprawled out on the ground, his right leg badly scorched from Nappa's earlier attack "You know it's about damn time, another minute and I would've ripped off my leg and started beating the big guy with it like those old hags in Disney movies! No one ever said that punctuality was Yamcha's strongpoint but I oughta wreck his shit for making us wait like this!"

"Well I must admit that this is quite interesting." Vegeta picked up his Scouter "Tell me something, is it somehow possible for the lot of you to detect the presence of Kakarot without using a Scouter or are you just bluffing me? Well I suppose there's only one way to find that out." he checked out the readings on his Scouter and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head at what he was seeing.

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Goku and Yamcha were still racing towards the battlefield "Okay I can feel them all out from here! There are three big power levels, two that are even bigger, and then there's two smaller ones!"

"But something feels off about that." Yamcha pointed out "I mean shouldn't there be more than seven down there? You don't think this means that…"

"I don't know Yamcha and frankly I don't wanna think about that, all I know is that we've gotta pick up the pace and we've gotta do it now!"

"Agreed!" and they made their way to the battlefield even faster than before, which was already pretty damn fast to begin with.

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Vegeta was taken aback by what he was seeing 'No, it couldn't be…'

"Hey Vegeta what's the deal?" asked Nappa "Are they just trying to buy some time or are we finally gonna see some real action? Come on let's have some good news for a change, I've been chomping at the bit all day here!"

"I don't know for sure whether or not it's Kakarot but there are definitely two power levels approaching this location at high speed, whatever it is we'll know for sure in approximately four minutes."

"And?"

"And regardless of which one of them his him both power levels exceed 5,000."

"5,000?! But that's impossible!"

"Enough of this crap! Playtime is over so just kill all of them right now! We can't risk having all 6 of them teaming up on us or it could prove to be an issue! I want their mangled corpses to be the first thing he sees when he gets here!"

"Wait what? But what about the Dragon Balls? I thought that-"

"The Namekian is of no use to us anymore, let's just say that I have a hunch that if we put the homeworld of our big green friend here next on the list of planets to conquer we'll get the answers that we need. You know it's kind of funny, until today I had always assumed that the Dragon Balls were just a fairy tale but if Kakarot has been brought back to life then that's all the confirmation that we need in order to conclude that they're far more than just a simple rumor now don't we?"

"Oh yeah you bet we do, so green guy do you wanna be first?"

"Not a chance!" Gohan got everyone's attention as he dropped into a combat stance "Let me do it Piccolo, you just take Kai and the others and get out of here while I hold him off until my dad and Yamcha get here!"

"Say what now?!" Piccolo's head snapped in the direction of Gohan "Are you insane? You can't fight him by yourself!"

"Like we have a choice, Kai is hurt too badly to fight and Tien and Upa aren't strong enough to fight him! If you die then Kami dies too and the Dragon Balls will be useless! We can't let that happen!"

"Now what kind of nonsense is that?"

"The kind that you would come up with!"

"Nevertheless do you really expect me to let you go head to head with this oaf all on your own like that?"

"Do you really expect me to let you stop me?"

"ENOUGH! IF THAT'S WHAT THE BRAT WANTS THEN LET'S GO!" and so Nappa then charged towards Gohan at full speed.

'Focus, don't lose your nerve, keep your eyes on your opponent, and have faith in the power inside of you!' with a might roar and an internal voice filling him to the brim with newfound determination, Gohan pounced at Nappa and dealt him a devastating Masenko at point blank range, sending him flying and exploding into a nearby plateau, which was almost instantly demolished upon impact "How do you like them apples you insufferable oaf!"

Unfortunately that little taunt turned into some seriously bad karma as Nappa burst out of the rubble, covered in wounds and mad as hell "AND NOW YOU'RE GONNA DIE FOR THAT YOU LITTLE SHIT!" and he fired another Bomber XD faster than Gohan was able to react to the attack.

'No!' realizing that Gohan wouldn't be able to get out of the way in time, Piccolo shocked everyone present by using his own body to shield him from Nappa's attack, taking the full brunt of the explosion that followed, and when the smoke finally cleared he was barely able to stand at all.

Gohan slowly looked up at him in pure terror "Why… Why did you do that…? Why did you save me like that…?"

"Just run… Gohan… before…" Piccolo then dropped to the ground in the crater, much to the horror of everyone else.

"Piccolo no! You can't die like this, not by saving me! Piccolo!"

"Dammit Gohan… just take Kai… and run… while you still… have time…"

"No way forget about it! I'm not gonna run away, not if it means that I'll have to leave you here like this! My dad and Yamcha are coming, just hang in there for a little bit longer!"

"Aw dammit." Nappa muttered "I had intended to save that one for last but oh well, I guess it's all the same in the end."

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Things were looking grim on the horizon.

Goku and Yamcha could both feel Piccolo's Ki beginning to disappear as they drew closer to the battlefield 'Someone's Ki is fading rapidly, that must mean that someone is dying!'

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At the same time on the Lookout, Kami himself was struggling not to fade away, but he could feel himself slipping "So this is how my story ends after all… Goku and Yamcha weren't able to make it in time to prevent Piccolo's death… but in his last moments my dark counterpart was able to outshine… such a thought is quite encouraging…"

Mr Popo could only look on in horror "Kami, no…"

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Piccolo let out a weak cough "What a sorry excuse… I've become… me, Piccolo, the proud Demon King… laying down his life in order to protect some whiny little pipsqueak… It's just pathetic…"

"Piccolo… no…" Gohan had tears streaming down his face.

"Gohan… you and Kai… you're the only two people… that I've ever known… who didn't treat me… like I was a monster… Truth be told… this last year… with the two of you… wasn't half bad…"

"Piccolo please, just hang on!"

"Thank you… Gohan… you and Kai… look out for each other… you'll both do great things together… I know you will…" and with that, Piccolo passed away with a smile on his face.

"PICCOLO!" Gohan could only let out a blood curdling scream.

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"Take care old friend, I leave the rest to you." Kami at last faded away before Mr Popo's eyes.

"Kami! KAMI!" Mr Popo could only cry out his name in despair.

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Nappa lit up when he saw Gohan level his furious gaze on him "Oh hell yeah now we're talking kid, bring it on with everything you've got!"

"DIE!" before anyone else was able to react Gohan had fired a one handed Masenko that instantly blew Nappa off of his feet, as well as something else that caught the eyes of everyone present.

Vegeta was especially taken aback by this 'The Earthlings are able to hide their true strength, in just one instant I could see the little one's power level rise to 8,000 before it started to drop like a stone. Did he use all of it in one shot? No that's not it, he simply can't control that power. I wonder…'

Gohan fell to one knee 'Dammit, all of that power and I still can't control any of it!'

Nappa slowly pulled himself back to his feet, only now with a blood covered stump where his right arm used to be, but rather than attack Gohan in a blind rage he just let out a chuckle filled to the brim with malice "Well well well what the f*ck do you know kid, you're just full of surprises now aren't you?"

'Dammit… I'm sorry Piccolo… I tried to avenge you… to honor what you taught me… but I failed you…'

"Well it's been fun kid, but now you're gonna have to tell those dead friends of yours that I told them to choke on it."

'I can't even feel my legs anymore…' Gohan fell to his knees as he felt Nappa looming over him menacingly.

"Oh don't worry about it you little bastard, when your dad and his friend see you crushed into a bloody pulp I'll be sure to tell him that this new stump was all because of YOU!" now letting his rage loose, Nappa stomped down in an attempt to crush Gohan to death, only for Gohan to suddenly disappear in the blink of an eye "What the hell?!"

Gohan opened his eyes and found himself floating on top of a familiar yellow cloud "Wait a second, Nimbus?" he looked up and his face lit up "Dad! Yamcha!"

Sure enough, Goku and Yamcha lowered themselves to the ground "Looks like we're a little bit late."

"So nice of you to finally drop by, still though I have to admit that I feel a little bit embarrassed for the two of you. I mean I sincerely hope the two of you didn't come all this way, back from the dead even, believing that the two of you stood any change against the likes of us. That would be a shame." Vegeta taunted.

Yamcha and Goku ignored them and then proceeded to go over to Piccolo's corpse and check for some kind of pulse, only to find nothing "What happened to him?"

"He died trying to protect me from the big one." Gohan muttered.

"And the big guy's are or lack thereof in this case?"

"I might have lost my cool and then did that to him."

"I see." Goku and Yamcha shared a look and glanced over to where Krillin's body lay in the same crater 'Piccolo… and Krillin…'

"Well how does it feel?" Nappa let out a malicious chuckle "Does seeing those two losers dead send your blood pressure through the nonexistent roof? There was another one around here somewhere but I doubt there would actually be that much left of him now. He was a pretty strong little runt too, you might say that he went out with a bit of a bang."

'Those bastards, they even killed Chiaotzu and now Kami and the Dragon Balls are gone for good too? Dammit!'

"Hey look on the bright side there's no need for either of you to grieve, you're all about to be reunited and even after the two of you went through all of the trouble of coming back to life to come and face us!"

Vegeta studied both Goku and Yamcha using his Scouter "Both of their power levels are increasing exponentially."

"Well well it looks like the two of you are eager! Well if you really miss them that much then I might as well oblige you! As if I'm gonna argue with the two of you over that!" Nappa then pounced at the two of them, only for them both to disappear.

'And they're both fast too.'

"Come on guys, let's take it this way." Yamcha blitzed over to Tien and Upa and helped them over to where Kai lay sprawled out on the grass, with Goku guiding Gohan over on top of the Flying Nimbus "Hey guys."

"You took your sweet time getting back." Kai grumbled.

"Yeah I know, sorry it took us as long as it did but I've gotta admit that from the look of things you guys did a pretty good job holding your own."

Goku nodded "Yeah I know, I was able to catch a quick glance of what Gohan did to the big guy and it was awesome."

"No time for that though, I want each of you to take half." Yamcha held out a Senzu Bean that he had split in half.

Upa blinked "A Senzu Bean? I didn't think that Korin had any left."

"This is one of the last two, me and Goku split on already. I want you and Tien to split one and I want Kai and Gohan to split the other."

"Alright I guess, I doubt it'll do much good though but if you insist." Upa downed one half the Senzu Bean, with Tien downing the other half.

"Alright I want you guys to follow their lead alright?" Goku fed Gohan and Kai each one half of the other Senzu Bean, bringing them back to full strength "You know Upa I was pretty surprised to see you here, you've gotten pretty strong since the last time I was here. It's pretty impressive, and what you're 16 now? Nice."

"I thought so too at first Goku but then we actually started fighting, I mean I took out most of those little green things but aside from that I was pretty much useless. The others all died on us in this fight, I see it as a miracle that any of us even survived at all."

"Well won't sell yourself short, you'll get even stronger. I just know it." then Goku looked over towards Gohan "You know I barely recognized you at first, you've been training pretty hard haven't you?"

Gohan nodded "Yeah that's right, I've spent the last year training with Piccolo and Kai trying to learn to be strong like you and them. But now he's gone and that means that we can't use the Dragon Balls to bring him or anyone else back to life."

"Yeah, I know son."

"Well I say it's payback time." Kai bolted to his feet "There's six of us and two of those mother f*ckers and with as strong as the two of you have gotten those two bags of monkey meat don't stand a chance!"

"As much I love the enthusiasm I'm gonna have to ask you to pull it back a little bit for the time being." Yamcha called him off "You guys aren't part of the equation, this is mine and Goku's own fight from here on out. Don't try to interfere, just sit on the sidelines for the time being alright?"

"Bullshit! I don't care how OP the two of you are now, I'm not getting screwed over like this in a battle to save the f*cking world-" he suddenly fell over.

"Uh…"

As it turns out, Gohan had hit him with a Ki blast, receiving a number of odd looks from everyone present "You have to learn how this guy works in order to survive with him for as long as I had to, so which one of you is gonna fight the big guy?"

"I'm gonna have that privilege for myself." Yamcha held up a hand to Goku in order to stop him from complaining "Look Goku I think it goes without saying that the little one is the stronger of the two, you'd better conserve your energy. I'll take it from here for now alright?" and then he got serious, his body just radiating energy as he walked towards his opponent.

Goku held out a hand to stop the others "Believe me when I tell you that I've never seen Yamcha as angry as he is right now, believe me when I tell you that there isn't a place for you guys in this fight now."

So with all of that being said, Yamcha stepped his way up to Nappa "Alright, let's get this over with."

Nappa let out a cocky smirk "Oh no you don't wanna make a face like that at me pretty boy, not unless that's the look that you wanna have when you see your friends after I rip you apart piece by piece."

"This ends now, and you're gonna pay!" Yamcha began powering up, his aura flaring and shaking the ground beneath him.

Tien and the others had to brace themselves, with the exception of Goku "Yamcha's power, it's unlike anything I've ever felt before!"

Vegeta tracked Yamcha's power level using his Scouter "6,000… 7,000… no this shouldn't be possible, he's only a mere Earthling!"

With a mighty roar, Yamcha finished powering up and let his aura subside "So what do you have to say about that?"

"Vegeta? Dammit Vegeta what the hell is the matter with you, tell me what his power level is already!" Nappa barked.

"It's… It's over 7,000!" Vegeta crushed the Scouter in his hand, his tone laced with anger and frustration.

"What?! You've gotta be kidding me, that stupid Scouter is nothing but a worthless piece of junk!"

"You're going down for what you did to my friends." Yamcha snarled "I doubt I'll even have to use the Kaioken against you, not that you'll live long enough to see what."

"YOU DON'T SCARE ME!" Nappa charged at Yamcha "NOBODY BUT NOBODY INTIMIDATES THE MIGHTY NAPPA!"

"And yet here I am kicking your ass." in order to prove this point, Yamcha blitzed behind Nappa and dealt him a sharp kick to the back of the head, leaving everyone except for Goku totally speechless.

"What the hell, how did you get back there?! Why you little son of a-"

"You know as much as you made yourself out to be a tough guy I'm kind of disappointed with the end result."

"What the hell did you say?! Are you trying to tell me that I'm all bark and no bite?!"

"If charging me like a crazed bull was your idea of an attack then yeah."

"Oh is that right?" Nappa began flaring his aura "Then what do you say you teach me a thing or two?!" and he charged at Yamcha in another rage.

Yamcha began swiftly dodging all of Nappa's attacks without dropping so much as a single bead of sweat, a smile on his face as he did so.

Vegeta observed this from afar with a trace of curiosity "It's quite strange, to think that this is one of the humans that was heavily outclassed by Beets and yet he's been able to increase his power so significantly since then."

"AND NOW YOU DIE!" Nappa fired another fist at Yamcha, only for him to disappear from sight "What the-?!"

"Over here big guy!" as it turns out Yamcha had appeared a fair distance away, taking almost everyone by surprise, with the exception of Goku and Vegeta.

"Okay that I didn't even see." Upa muttered, with the others nodding in agreement over how surprisingly fast Yamcha was.

Vegeta's scowl deepened 'I refuse to believe this, how could anyone possibly gain such power in such a short amount of time, especially someone who's not even a Saiyan?'

"And now it's my turn." Yamcha suddenly blitzed forward faster than Nappa was able to react and dealt him a devastating fist to the gut, causing him to nearly topple over in pain "Just so you know, that one was for Chiaotzu."

"Damn you… DAMN YOU!" Nappa started attacking Yamcha in a blind rage again, only to miss with every single attack.

"And THIS one is for Krillin!" Yamcha dealt him a fist to the spine, sending him crashing into several boulders along the ground.

Nappa rebounded into the air, snarling like an angry animal "You filthy, arrogant, wretched little… SCUM SUCKING PIG!" he fired a Bomber XD at Yamcha, intent on incinerating him on the spot.

"Are you serious?" with a mighty roar, Yamcha used his Spirit Boost technique to cancel out the attack using his aura alone, the shockwave covering the entire battlefield, but the smoke cleared to reveal him not having so much as a scratch "So what is it you were saying before?"

"WHAT THE F*CK?!"

Vegeta was almost taken aback as much as Nappa was "Is it possible that he stopped it with just his energy alone?"

"THAT… THAT WAS JUST PURE LUCK!" Nappa prepared to fire off a follow up attack to finish him.

"This one is for PICCOLO!" Yamcha blitzed above Nappa and dealt him a heavy smash attack, sending him hurtling towards the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with me?! How the hell could one earthling be so much more powerful than me?!"

"And this one is for everyone else that you killed!" Yamcha blitzed down to the ground and quickly dealt Nappa a kick to the spine, sending him crashing into a nearby mountain as Yamcha himself returned to the ground.

Tien could only look on in awe, with the rest of them being pretty much the same "I never thought I would be able to say this but Yamcha is so much stronger than me it's just completely unbelievable! Keep it up Yamcha!"

"I plan to, but it's not over yet."

Sure enough, with a roar of pure fury, Nappa burst out from within the rubble, snarling like an angry beast with veins throbbing all over his body "YOU LITTLE SHIT, NOW YOU'RE GONNA DIE!" he threw a piece of rubble.

Yamcha cranked his neck to the side and dodged it with ease "That's some strength but it would be more impressive if you know how to use it more effectively."

"I AM A MEMBER OF AN ELITE WARRIOR CLASS, I WILL NOT BE MADE A FOOL OF MY SOME WORTHLESS EARTHLING SCUM!"

"You're doing that all to yourself big guy."

"SHUT UP! You'll be begging for death by the time that I get done with you!"

"NAPPA USE YOUR HEAD!" Vegeta barked "Don't let his nonchalant attitude get under your skin, that's what's giving him the advantage! Calm down and think for a minute!"

Nappa did so, and the veins throbbing all over subsided considerably "Yeah you're right, thanks for that Vegeta. I have to stay level headed against a guy like this, especially since that little brat took my arm. I almost lost my composure."

"Almost?" Yamcha let out an audible snort.

"Yep, almost. Don't push it."

Vegeta suppressed a loud growl 'That brick headed spastic, the way things are going I'll have to step in and finish this earthling myself, and we haven't even gotten to Kakarot yet.'

"I've gotta give you credit where it's due, getting me all worked up like that was a pretty sneaky move on your part. But that's not gonna fly from here on out though, starting right now I'm a fighting machine."

"Okay that sounds a lot more interesting than an alien version of the Hulk." Yamcha dropped into a combat stance "How about you show me what you've got."

"You sure like to talk big now don't you?"

Vegeta suppressed another growl 'It's far more than just talk you imbecile, any halfwit should be able to see that he has the confidence to back it up.'

"I think it's time for you to see what happens when I get serious." Nappa started powerup up to as close to his maximum as he could go, which wasn't as high as he would've like due to Gohan blowing off one of his arms, but it was still powerful enough to shake the ground beneath everyone present. When he finished powering up he immediately unleashed a Volcano Explosion, engulfing Yamcha in the blast that followed.

Yamcha burst upwards into the air using the smoke as cover 'He's definitely doing better now than before, I can't drag this out for much longer.'

"I can see you!" Nappa burst into the air and began clashing with Yamcha, his attacks much more clear and concise than they were before, before he broke away.

"Yeah you definitely aren't screwing around anymore, this is much more like it."

"Much more like it you say? Well let me give you a little bit of a heads up, you're about to have those words crammed right back down your throat courtesy of my own." and then to prove that point, Nappa opened his mouth up wide and unleashed his Break Cannon.

Realizing the power of the attack, Yamcha was forced to fire a quick Kamehameha in order to counter the attack, resulting in a beam struggle that ended with an explosion, forcing Goku to cover Gohan and the others.

Vegeta himself was forced to cover himself as well "He's a freak of nature, no one with their head on straight would try to strike back so quick at such a close range!"

Nappa finished firing his Break Cannon, only to be stunned by what he saw "Wh-What? But how… how is that possible?"

As it turns out, Yamcha had been able to protect himself at the last second "Well that was a close one, if I had taken a blast like that head on then I probably would've ended up in pretty bad shape."

"But that was my… my ultimate technique and he just brushed it aside like it was just a run of the mill attack!"

"You really are a tough one aren't you? I figured that Kamehameha as quick as it was would've been able to at least a little bit of damage to you, neither of us are gonna be able to make a lot of headway at this point."

"That's enough Nappa, back down already!" Vegeta barked "I believe that this Earthling has proven himself to be more than a match for you."

"What?!" Nappa started grinding his teeth.

"I don't need or want that look from you, thanks to your monumental incompetence it would seem that I have no choice but to step in and finish this battle myself, which means that I will also be dealing with Kakarot personally."

"Looks like the shorter one is just standing by." Kai adjusted his gi "Even the big guy is scared of him, I'm gonna have a ball with this asshole."

Nappa let out a low growl and turned to face Yamcha "Well this completely sucks, I can't believe that I had turn over your death to Vegeta. But orders are orders, Vegeta will finish you off along with Kakarot. Still though, I can't just walk away without destroying someone!" and then he charged downwards towards Gohan and the others.

"Gohan! Kai! Everyone! Dammit I've gotta move!" Yamcha took off after Nappa as fast as he could, but he couldn't close the gap.

'Dammit he's not gonna make it in time!' Goku prepared to launch an attack at Nappa, when…

"Kaioken!" Yamcha's aura flared and suddenly turned crimson as he shot forward out of nowhere and dealt Nappa a devastating attack to the spine, breaking his back and allowing him to throw him over to Vegeta "Let's just hope that you don't play as dirty as he did."

"Ow…" Nappa was barely able to speak through the pain "It hurts… It really really hurts… so bad…"

"He's not gonna be able to fight again now take him and leave this planet before I decide to finish the job, Goku's not that pragmatic but I am."

Vegeta could feel his mind racing 'What the hell did I just witness? For just a split second his speed and power both skyrocketed.'

"You know what I'll deal with you in a minute." Yamcha made his way over to Goku and the others "So are you guys alright?"

"Here's a better question, what the f*ck was that?" asked Kai "Was that one of those new techniques that you learned from King Kai over the past year?"

"Oh yeah, you see it's called the Kaioken. By controlling every ounce of energy in your body you can amplify it for a short burst and when you do it correctly your power, speed and forces both destructive and defensive can all be multiplied a bunch of different times over."

"So as strong as you are right now you can get even stronger. I call f*cking hax!"

"Don't even get me started on that, besides I have to be sure to stay in complete control or else I might end up killing myself. Overusing something like that is way too dangerous so King Kai forbade me and Goku from going beyond the typical doubling our power."

"Well that sucks."

"Tell me about it, I could become stronger than Goku with it and I'm limited to that! It's major hax."

"V...Vegeta…" with what little strength he still had, Nappa reached out his one good hand up towards Vegeta "Please… help me…"

"...Sure thing." Vegeta gripped his hand.

"Thank you… boss…"

"No problem." with a menacing smirk, Vegeta suddenly squeezed Nappa's hand tightly and threw him into the air, shocking everyone present "When has compassion ever been part of who I am?! Compassion only makes you weak! And besides I have no use for a paralyzed Saiyan, you're only dead weight now!" he began charging a powerful Ki blast.

Goku shielded Gohan in his arms as he took to the air, with Yamcha and the others all doing the same "So much power, this guy is unreal!"

"DIE!" Vegeta fired his Galaxy Breaker at Nappa while he was still in mid air, annihilating him on the spot.

Tien was horrified, the same as the others, as the explosion settled "He's such a monster, he just killed his own partner for no reason!"

Goku could feel the sweat dripping from his brow "Gohan listen to me, I want you to follow the others and go back to Master Roshi's house right now, understand?"

"As if you had to tell me twice." Kai told him, receiving a surprised look from Gohan "Hey I wanna prove that I'm strong but I'm not suicidal, not until the day that anime dies. Besides you just saw what the midget can do to a powerhouse like the big guy, right now all we'd do if we stuck around is slow your dad down."

Gohan was still reluctant "Yeah but…"

"Look my mom once said that sometimes you have to know when it's better to stand down than to fight and I think it goes without saying that this is one of those times."

"I guess but, are you sure about this dad?"

"Yeah I'm sure." Goku told him "Sorry Gohan but this guy is a lot stronger than I thought he was going to be, I'm not gonna put you in danger unnecessarily unless I think you're ready. But this time I think Kai is right."

"...Alright fine, I guess I understand."

"Good."

"Hey Goku hold up a second." Kai got his attention "This might sound kind of weird but do you think you could move this fight somewhere else that isn't so corpsey? I doubt Krillin or Piccolo would really appreciate it if you accidently blew up their bodies before we get the chance to wish them back to life."

"Wish them back to life? But Piccolo is dead which means that Kami is too, I hate to have to say this Kai but the Dragon Balls are gone forever so there's no way that they'll ever be able to have another chance at life."

"Yeah I have my doubts about that."

"What do you mean?"

"I've got a plan, I'll explain the details later. Just promise me one thing Goku, kick that short little bastard's ass to kingdom come and come back alive!"

"Come back alive, that I can make sure of. Well then guys I'm not sure that I have that much of a choice now do I? Alright I'll do my best."

"Alright Kakarot let's just get on with it already!" Vegeta beckoned for him "Are you just going to run away like a coward or something?"

"Alright then I'll try to lure this guy as far away from this place as I can and I swear I'll be seeing the five of you as soon as I can."

"And just one more thing." Yamcha held out his hand to him "Sorry I won't be of much use against this guy and we have to leave our fate all up to you again."

"Yamcha you just took down the big guy all by yourself, you oughta be proud of yourself after that."

"I know but still, don't you f*cking dare die on us again okay?"

"...Yeah, you got it." Goku shook the hand "You just keep an eye on my son okay?"

"Sure thing, just be careful. And maybe after all of this is over the four of us can go fishing or something."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty nice." Goku lowered himself closer to the ground.

Vegeta let out a chuckle "I suppose now you realize that there's no point in fighting the inevitable."

"Oh I don't plan on running away, I just want to finish this somewhere else."

"...Fine by me, it's not like it makes that much of a difference in the end."

"Alright then." and so the two of them took off towards another location.

Gohan could do no more than watch them go 'Dad… good luck.'

"Alright former ponytail." Kai got his attention "Come on let's head back to Kame House before the others leave us, I wanna get there before my uncle and Bulma start dry humping each other."

"...What?"

"Just come on!"

"But…"

"Look freaking out over it isn't gonna change anything, all we can do now is wait for Goku to kick his ass. Sometimes all you can do is have a little bit of faith, now let's go already alright?"

"...Yeah okay." and so the two of them took off after Yamcha, Tien and Upa in the direction of Kame House.

A/N:

So among the changes, I had Krillin get killed by the Saibamen (due to Yamcha not being there to take his place like in canon) and Tien survive the battle with Nappa unlike before (without losing his arm) since I always thought that these two got screwed over big time, and since Gohan has had Kai to train with he has a little bit more of a warrior's edge than in canon. I don't want to have everyone survive except for Piccolo and Chiaotzu or else it won't seem as major to go to Namek and use their Dragon Balls to bring everyone back. Besides with Yamcha not there it was either Krillin or Upa and it's not in Upa's nature to get so overconfident like that.

Since Kai was there to teach him some of the basics during the initial six months of survival training, Gohan now has more of a warrior's edge than he did in the canon version, and as a result he, Kai and the others are able to gang up on Nappa pretty effectively, which sacrificed the need for Tien's Spirit Tri Beam, which allowed him to survive.

One thing that always bugged me was that Gohan was never seen using the Kamehameha before his battle with Cell after he turned Super Saiyan 2, so I decided to have him know it here right from the get go.

I had Yamcha fight against Nappa to show how strong he is in comparison to Goku, and as a result he's only slightly under Goku's initial (no Kaioken) state at the moment. You can see that based on my power levels list below that he's actually about 80% of Goku's power right now. Unfortunately, this means that I had to sacrifice the iconic "Over 9,000" joke. But on the plus side, it gave me the chance to show that Yamcha can use the Kaioken.

Power levels:

Goku: 9,200

Yamcha: 7,400

Yamcha (Kaioken): 14,800

Gohan (calm): 2,000

Gohan (full power): 4,000

Gohan (enraged): 8,000

Kai: 1,900

Kai (full power): 3,800

Weighted Piccolo: 2600

Unweighted Piccolo: 3,400

Tien: 1,830

Chiaotzu: 610 (But who f*cking cares?)

Upa: 1,540

Krillin: 1,770

Nappa: 4,000

Nappa (full power, minus one arm): 6,300

Saibamen: 1,200 each