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.

4. The Battle Ends, a Star of Hope

Goku dropped to the ground on top of a plateau in the Gizard Wasteland 'Yeah I think this spot will do just fine, from what I can tell there are no people or animals nearby so that way no one will get caught in the crossfire.'

Vegeta dropped to the ground on top of the plateau in front of Goku "Well this is quite interesting isn't it, of all of the places in your planet you chose to make this one your gravesite. You know you should feel honored, not every low class warrior gets the chance to spar with a super elite like yours truly. Not long after Saiyans are born their skills as a soldier are tested, the scum whose scores are ranked the lowest are sent to the outer worlds where the inhabitants are worthless and weak much like how you were Kakarot. To put it quite simply, we cast you out like a dog."

"Am I supposed to be bothered by that? Because you cast me out I was lucky enough to come here to Earth, my true home and I'm grateful to you for that, and besides that doesn't mean that a lower class outcast can't surpass an elite if he puts his mind to it."

"Is that what you believe? I'll admit that that's a nice attempt at a joke but now I'm going to show you the wall that you will never have the ability to scale through effort alone." he dropped into a combat stance.

Goku dropped into his own combat stance, and with the drop of a rock he charged forward and let the first fist fly, beginning the battle.

Vegeta blocked and dodged every attack and retreated backwards across several other plateaus behind him, then ricocheted off of another plateau and decked Goku in the jaw.

Goku retreated into the air and dodged an attack from behind, and he and Vegeta began trading even blows in mid air.

"What's the matter Kakarot? Surely you can put up a better fight than this, I saw your earthling friend exert more effort when he was fighting Nappa so why the hell would you not do the same for me?! LET'S SEE IT!" Vegeta smashed Goku down towards the ground.

Goku rebounded and landed on his feet 'Well he's definitely impressive, we haven't even been fighting for five minutes and his speed and technique are definitely beyond my own. This is kind of exciting, or rather it would be if he wasn't going to destroy the world.'

"Now why don't you just show me already, or was that the extent of the strength that you've been hiding up until now?"

"If you wanna see it then that's your call, but fine! Kaioken!" Goku's crimson Kaioken aura flared into life and he burst forward and slugged Vegeta straight across the face, followed by a rapid barrage of attacks and an uppercut kick to the jaw.

Vegeta recovered before Goku was able to launch his counterattack and dealt him a return kick to the jaw, knocking the Kaioken straight out of him "Okay not bad I'll admit, but if that's all that the limit of what you have to offer then I'll be sorely disappointed."

'This guy is brutal! But for all of the trouble that I'm facing, I'm beginning to get even more excited at fighting someone as strong as this."

'He's laughing, is he completely out of his mind or has he simply given up on all hope? No perhaps he's hiding the fact that he can raise his power level even higher through some sort of convoluted disguise. Come on now Kakarot, don't tell me that you're done already. I guess that means that you're all talk then huh? Well if that's the case then allow me to show you something before I finish you off, and that is the overwhelming power of a Saiyan super elite! Soon you'll follow the rest of your friends into oblivion! Or Hell! Whatever!" and to add onto this point he started powering up, shattering plateaus around him and summoning storm cloud as well as various strong winds, his body being engulfed in a sphere of energy.

'Oh man his power is incredible, it's like the whole planet is shaking! It's like he's generating a mini hurricane!'

With a mighty primal roar, Vegeta finished powering up and let out a massive shockwave, the force sending Goku flying as everything died down.

Goku quickly rebounded in mid air to find that everything had settled back down, with the exception of one thing 'That's kind of weird, the wind just stopped and all of the clouds have disappeared too. But Vegeta… oh crap that's a gigantic power level.'

Sure enough, Vegeta was still just floating in front of him, his body crackling slightly with electricity, looking as confident as ever "And now Kakarot, it's done." he suddenly blitzed forward and dealt Goku a fierce headbutt and elbow to the gut.

Goku rebounded on top of a plateau and tried to recover "What the-?!"

"Hey stupid behind you!" Vegeta dealt Goku a sharp kick from behind and attempted to incinerate him with a fireball through use of his Shine Shot technique.

"Kaioken!" thinking as fast as he could, Goku used his Kaioken to boost his speed in order to dodge the attack, though he still ended up having part of his shirt burned off 'Okay that one was way too close.'

"Well done Kakarot being able to dodge an attack like that one, of course that was one that I made easy for you. After all where would the fun be in this battle if a simple attack like that would be able to kill you."

"Yeah I kind of agree with you about that." Goku lowered himself back to the ground on top of a plateau, with Vegeta doing the same in front of him 'Dammit his speed and power are unlike anything I've ever seen before, even with the basic Kaioken I can't keep up with him. I guess that leaves me with only one option.' he ripped off the remains of his shirt 'This may destroy my body but it's better than dying, the only choice that I have right now is to go to the third level of the Kaioken. The only question is, once I do use the third level of the Kaioken how long will my body be able to hold out? I guess there's only one way to find out.'

"Why bother with so much hesitation Kakarot, after all it is your move. Don't make me lose my patience."

'It's my only option, I'll have to pull out all of the stops if just want to stay alive.'

"What you don't have anymore of those trick moves up your sleeve? Not that any of them would actually be able to do that much good for you, even among the other Saiyans I was always the most powerful one by far."

"Yeah that definitely shows."

"Of course it does! I don't care if you've trained every minute of your entire life for this day to come, it's not going to change the fact that you will always and forever be a worthless low ranked outcast and nothing more than that."

"Well I think we'll see about that soon enough." Goku's muscles began bulging as his crimson aura began slowly flickering into life "Come on body, you can't fail me now! Kaioken… times three!"

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Back at Kame House, where she and the rest of the gang had been monitoring the battle to the best of their ability, Bulma observed the growing power level on the Scouter that she had previously received from Raditz 'What the hell is this, it's at 12,000 and it's still rising so rapidly it's insane!'

"Hey calm down now, what's the matter?" asked Master Roshi "Are you seeing something on there, did something happen?"

"This reading is probably coming from Goku but the power level I'm reading is shooting up like crazy!"

"Wait what?" Chichi's head snapped towards her "Are you serious, it's really Goku? What's going on down there?"

"It's at 17,000… 19,000… 23,000-" and then the Scouter exploded on her "Oh come on you've gotta be kidding me!"

"Well I think we know that Goku is about to wreck some shit." a young sounding voice commented.

Bulma whipped around "Kai!"

Sure enough, Kai was leaning against the doorway, with Upa slowly crossing into the threshold of Kame House "What's up guys, kickass right over here. Oh and to solve the case of the exploding facial accessory here, I kind of snuck it off of that other Saiyan last year before I left with Gohan and Piccolo." he pulled out a capsule, revealing a red scouter, and he tossed it over to Bulma "Check that one out, I think it's a higher model than the green one and I did a little bit of modifying to it. Give it a try."

Bulma did so and nearly did a double take "Goku's power level is over 27,000!"

"Wait until you see who else is here."

"What do you-" she glanced over at the doorway and her eyes widened as they began filling with tears "Y-Yamcha…"

Sure enough, standing in the doorway was Yamcha, still alive and well, which contrasted from how he was the last time they saw each other, with Gohan hiding behind him "Hey guys what's up?"

"YAMCHA!" Puar immediately latched onto his face "Oh Yamcha I missed you so much don't ever leave me again, I'm so glad you're back!"

"Yeah well it's good to be back Puar, sorry I was gone so long." he glanced over at Bulma and gave a small smile "Hey."

"Yamcha…" Bulma slowly began making her way over to him, her hair covering her eyes in a very ominous way "You really haven't changed have you, you're still being such a reckless idiot!" she suddenly smacked him upside the head, but then pulled him into a gentle and tender hug "Welcome home."

"It's good to be home, sorry I took so long." Yamcha slowly wrapped his arms around her, also forcing Gohan out of his hiding place.

Now out in the open, Gohan could do little more than wait for the inevitable to happen '5… 4… 3… 2…'

"MY BABY!" and as if on cue Chichi instantly glomped Gohan in a death hug "Gohan are you okay?! It's alright baby, mommy's here! You're going to be okay sweetie! Mommy's here, mommy's here! You poor thing, I promise you from now on I'm never gonna leave your side you hear me? I swear your mommy won't let anything happen to you, oh Gohan I missed you so much what have they done to my poor baby?! Oh my baby boy you must be traumatized from everything you had to endure and go through! I mean you're turning blue for the loud crying out of!"

"Excuse me ma'am but I don't believe that him turning blue." Upa pointed out "Your hands are around his throat, he can't breathe."

"...Oh." she loosened her grip "Is that better?"

"More or less." Gohan took a few deep breaths "Anyway I really did miss you too mom but it wasn't actually that bad."

"Not that bad?! You almost died!"

"Well sure but that's to be expected, and besides the only hard part that really got to me was the training and even then Kai took really good care of me."

"You're welcome and I've gotta pee." Kai quickly made a beeline for the bathroom,

"And yeah Piccolo was a really tough teacher and I almost gave up on myself a few times during it, but I was able to persevere and become stronger both in body and in mind. And you know I learned one other really important thing too." he glanced over to see Bulma drag Yamcha upstairs to the bedroom "That is not one of them and I'm really glad it's not."

"What are you saying?" asked Chichi.

"You hate fighting I get that, which is kind of weird because you used to be a martial artist yourself, but it's not just punching people for no good reason like you claim that to be. When I saw dad get killed by that Saiyan before I just hated myself for not being able to stop him or do anything while Kai just charged into the fray without any sign of fear. I knew that there were more Saiyans coming and I couldn't just stand by like a weak little kid again, not if I had this crazy power inside of me. But I figured that if someone like Kai, a kid like me who was my age, could do it then I figured that maybe I could too. And besides it gave me the chance to make my first real friend my own age. And knowing that I had what it takes, knowing that I could get strong enough to protect all of these new friends, it awoke something inside of me that I never knew was there. It showed me that I'm so much stronger than I ever thought possible, and that deep down I have this fighting spirit I inherited from dad."

"Stop it Gohan what are you saying? You're not a fighter, you're just a little boy! You shouldn't be worrying about fighting, you have to study and live a normal life!"

"I was never meant to live a normal life mom, and now I understand why. When dad fights it's not because of being a thug or whatever you said he was, he fights to protect us, to protect all of us."

"Sweetie you're just confused, you don't know what you're saying!"

"Yes I do mom, more than I ever have. Yes spending six months with Kai alone in the wilderness may have impacted my sanity, but after that was over I came to understand just how dangerous the world is and how I have to get stronger if I want to protect all of you. What happened with dad a year ago and what happened today with Krillin and Piccolo, I don't want that to ever happen again."

"Gohan… my poor baby you received brain damage from those beasts!"

"Oh for god's sake!" and then Gohan lost it "Look I tried being reasonable mom but clearly you can't do the same!"

"Don't talk back to me young man, I will not have you turning into a delinquent!"

"Have you not been listening to a word I've been saying? If you want to talk about how bad I've turned out then do it later, we have other things to focus on. I'm doing this for you and for everyone else, my family and my friends. They all fought hard in order to protect and three of them died to save us, and dad is still fighting hard to protect all of us. It's not for nothing and I won't let it be, right now the best thing I can do to honor their memory is to get stronger so that I can protect everyone. I'm sorry mom, I really am, but this is something that I just have to do and you're not gonna stop me no matter what you say."

"Gohan…" realizing that she couldn't win this argument, Chichi just hung her head in an air of defeat.

"You have to admit Chichi the boy has a point." Ox King patter her on the shoulder and then patted Gohan on the head "Looks like you've got your mind made up. Way to go Gohan, you're getting stronger every day. I'm sure Goku will be proud to hear that."

"Thanks grandpa, really."

"Yeah but in the meantime we've got other things that we have to do." Kai made his way out into the living room "Mainly in regards to bringing everyone back to life now that Piccolo has been offed. Hey by the way where's Tien?"

"Oh I saw him take off on his own before we reached Kame House, I think he just wants some time to process losing Chiaotzu like that. We should leave him alone for now."

"Fair enough."

"So what's the plan you were talking about?" Yamcha came down stairs with a big goofy smile on his face.

"Uh…"

"Well one thing's for sure." and then Bulma came back down with the Scouter on, numbers blazing through it "I've gotta admit Yamcha being able to crack 7,400 is pretty surprising all things considered. And Goku's is still at over 27,000."

"Well then, Vegeta is f*cked. Who wants to watch a movie?"

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Goku continued powering up, his muscles bulging from the shear strain as he tried to push the Kaioken to the third level 'Come on, just a little further…'

Vegeta raised an eyebrow at the scene 'What's going to happen next I wonder, what with all of the pressure he's building up it's like he's about to explode.'

'NOW!' Goku unleashed a massive shockwave, nearly blowing Vegeta off of his feet and causing the plateau he was standing on to shatter "Kaioken… times… THREE!" with a mighty roar and his crimson aura flaring into life he began his onslaught, in which he slugged Vegeta across the face and then kicked him in the spine.

"Take that!" Vegeta attempted to hit Goku with a stray Ki blast, only to get literally nowhere with that move.

Goku kicked Vegeta square in the face, sending him crashing into the side of a mountain with a loud thud.

With a roar Vegeta shattered the mountain, the vein in his forehead throbbing "You wretched little…"

Despite feeling the pain of the Kaioken on his body, Goku blitzed behind Vegeta and headbutted him in the spine.

Vegeta quickly recovered and attempted to deal Goku a Ki enhanced fist to the face, only for that to fail when Goku buried his red fist into Vegeta's gut, causing him to cough up blood and nearly topple over in pain 'How… How the hell is this happening?!'

'Good I was able to make him bleed, just one step at a time and I might just win this fight after all.'

"DAMN YOU!" Vegeta attempted to let a desperate fist fly forward.

Goku caught both of his fists and began crushing them with his hands, causing Vegeta to cry out in pain, before Goku added on a headbutt, smashed Vegeta into the ground, elbowed him in the face and just kept on going with a fierce barrage of attacks before finally smashing him into the ground on top of a plateau, leaving Goku himself to return to the ground, reeling from the pain that he was feeling.

Vegeta on the other hand had finally toppled over in pain and in denial 'I absolutely refuse to believe this is happening, it's not possible for the power level of low class scum like Kakarot to exceed that of mine! No this is not happening, I will not accept this!' he pulled himself back to his feet.

'What you've gotta be kidding me, dammit he's tougher than I thought he would be. I was hoping to try and settle this quickly.' Goku cringed as he felt a muscle convulse in his arm 'No you've gotta focus Goku, work through the pain.'

"I belong to the upper echelon of the most elite class of warriors that has ever been seen by this universe, I will not be bested and I will certainly not be bested by some worthless low born amateur like you! I AM THE GREATEST WARRIOR WHO HAS EVER LIVED!" this declaration echoed throughout the Gizard Wasteland.

'Using the three times Kaioken really does a number on my body even more than I thought it would. I don't think I can keep this up for that much longer or I won't be able to make it.'

Vegeta wiped some blood from his lip, which was the final straw for him that caused him to pretty much snap "Blood?! My noble blood has been spilled by the sheer of luck of such worthless low class scum?! No, no I will not allow this to stand! I CANNOT ALLOW THIS TO STAND! YOUR INSOLENCE JUST COST YOU THIS ENTIRE WORLD, I'LL BLOW IT ALL TO PIECES AND THERE'S NOTHING THAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME!" in his rage he burst high into the air.

"He's gonna what?"

Now out of patience, Vegeta began charging his signature attack, his Galick Gun, in order to blow up the entire planet "Go ahead and try to dodge this if you can, you might be able to save yourself but your precious Earth is doomed!"

'He's got me, now what the hell am I supposed to do? There's only one thing I can and I'm gonna have to risk it!' Goku powered up his Kaioken again and cupped his hands at his side for his own signature attack "A THREE TIMES KAIOKEN… KAMEHAMEHA! KA… ME… HA… ME…" the rubble around them began to rise into the air as Goku's muscles began bulging visibly.

"It's hopeless Kakarot, you don't have a chance in hell of stopping my Galick Gun! PREPARE TO JOIN THIS FILTHY ORB IN OBLIVION!" Vegeta fired his Galic Gun down towards the Earth.

"HAAAAAAAAAA!" Goku fired his full power Kamehameha into the air as hard and as fast as he could, the blast colliding with the Galick Gun and resulting in a beam struggle that shattered the mountains around them.

"No that's impossible, his blast is exactly like my Galick Gun!"

"Kaioken… TIMES FOUR!" using the last of his power, Goku pushed his Kaioken to the absolute limit, increasing the power of his Kamehameha, allowing it to overpower Vegeta's own Galick Gun and then send him flying into the sky and out of sight. With the battle appearing to be over, Goku fell to one knee in pure exhaustion "That… That was way too close…"

"Tell me about it." that was when Tien revealed himself from underneath the rubble, much to the surprise of Goku and the readers "Looks like you had it covered though."

"Tien… what in the world are you doing out here? I thought you went with Yamcha and the others back to Kame House."

"Something didn't feel right so I decided to tag along in secret and keep an eye out in case you needed any help, looks like I wasn't needed though."

"Well it did come pretty close a few times though I guess."

"But you continue to surprise me Goku, nice job." he patted Goku on the back, causing him to howl in pain "What the heck? I barely touched you."

"Sorry Tien but I may have pushed my body a little bit passed its limits."

"Yamcha said not to push the Kaioken past the first level, you pushed it to the fourth. You're just unbelievable sometimes Goku."

"Listen to me Tien, you'd better get out of here. It's not safe here yet."

"What do you mean? Wait a second, are you saying that that Saiyan is still alive even after all of that?"

"Yeah he's still out there somewhere, there's no way that's all it was gonna take to finish off a guy like that. I just wish I'd be able to blow him away like that though I doubt I would actually be able too, my body is pretty worn out and I think that might have been all that I had in me at the moment."

"You don't say."

"Is that offer to back me up still available? Chances are that I'm gonna need it when he comes back down."

"Don't worry about that Goku, I'm here to back you up every step of the way. He has to pay for what happened to Chiaotzu."

"Thanks Tien."

"Don't worry about it. Besides I'm not a spectator, I am a warrior."

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It took a good long while before Vegeta was able to pull himself off of the Kamehameha, foaming at the mouth with pure rage "DAMMIT! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A LOW CLASS BOTTOM FEEDER THAT CAN SURPASS ME IN STRENGTH, SUCH A THING IS UNTHINKABLE! I AM NOT JUST A SAIYAN, I AM SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT! I AM THE COMBINATION OF EVERYTHING SUPERIOR IN THE SAIYAN RACE!" he finally stopped shrieking when the gears in his head started turning and a devious smirk gained its way across his face "As much as I hate that it's come to this it's clear that I only have one option left now, I'll transform into a Great Ape and grind him to a pulp! We'll see how cocky he is once he witnesses the full extent of the powers of a true Saiyan! Fortunately I planned for our arrival to coincide with the full moon but that was so we could wipe out the inhabitants of this planet without wasting any time, I never imagined that I would have to transform in order to defeat a single opponent like that. Damn that Kakarot!" he looked around and noticed something that he found very unsettling "Wait a minute where is the full moon, I should be able to see that thing by now."

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King Kai observed him from Otherworld and let out a snicker "He can search all he wants but there won't be a full moon out tonight, or ever again for that matter. Piccolo suspected that you would try something like this and he personally took steps from happening long before either of those two Saiyans got there."

"Not like they're in the clear yet though." Scarlet pointed out "Even if he's stuck in his normal form that Saiyan is more than a match for Goku, though he has been weakened by the battle and now Goku has help from that triclops."

"Yes I know, if Goku can muster up the strength for one all out attack then that means that he might still have a chance at winning."

"You mean if he uses the Spirit Bomb."

"All he has to do is hit him with the Spirit Bomb and he can't lose."

"If he can muster the power and get the time that he needs, that's going to be the real issue in this fight

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Goku and Tien were still waiting on the battlefield for Vegeta to return as the sun was beginning to set "I don't like this, what could he be doing up there? Why won't he just come back down here and fight."

"Whatever it is it can't be good." Tien pointed out "We should use this time to come up with some kind of strategy."

"Yeah, good idea. I don't think I have enough stamina left to use the Kaioken in that kind of way again. I've got one more trump card though, it's called the Spirit Bomb. It might be powerful enough to take him out but I'll need time to prepare it."

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Vegeta continued searching for the moon, only to be forced to reach one conclusion as to its whereabouts "This can't be happening! It's gone, the damn thing is gone! How the hell could an entire moon just up and disappear like that?! Kakarot that conniving little bastard, he must've known what I had in mind and then took care to stack the odds in his favor before the fight even began! Well that can't be helped I suppose, what I have to do in order to correct that might reduce my power level a bit but at this point it's the only choice that I have. And besides I think the look on his face will more than make up for that!" and then he proceeded to fly his way back to the battlefield.

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Goku and Tien braced themselves as they watched Vegeta drop back down to the ground in front of them 'It's about time he came back down, so what's he gonna try next? The only way I can take him now would be with the Spirit Bomb, I guess I'll just have to trust that Tien can hold him off long enough for me to charge it up.'

"Well well well." Vegeta let out a chuckle "I have to give you credit where it's due Kakarot, for you to blast the moon right out of the sky in the sneaky way that you did but I'm afraid that it was all for nothing."

"Wait blow up the moon, why the hell would I do that?"

"Fine you can go ahead and play dumb."

"He's not playing." Tien pointed out, only to be ignored.

"But regardless of that I'm still curious, do you even know why it is that we Saiyans transform at the sight of a full moon?"

Goku blinked "Wait hold on a second, we do what?"

"The moon appears only because it's reflecting the light of the sun, but when the sunlight is bounced from the lunar surface it causes a slight shift in the wavelength and this results in the creation of what we Saiyans refer to as a Blutz Wave and when the moon is full their intensity is over 17 million zenos."

"Yeah okay I'm afraid that you lost me there."

"Once 17 million zenos are absorbed by the Saiyan retina our bodies respond to a biochemical reaction produced in the tail and we transform as a result. Among the elite of our race there are a certain few that are capable of actually producing a satellite with the emissions of zenos that are necessary to effect the change and as luck would have it I happen to be an elite of that same caliber! Just watch and learn as my Powerball mixes with the oxygen in the atmosphere of this planet!" he summoned a Powerball in his hand "Well Kakarot I'm sorry to have given you such false hope, this nonsense should've been over a long time ago! Let this be a lesson to all low class scum such as yourself and your brother Raditz who dare to challenge their superiors on the battlefield!"

'When that Powerball thing of his appeared he lost some of his energy, why would he risk a move like that? What is he planning to do?'

"And now this pathetic excuse for a battle ends!" Vegeta threw his Powerball into the air "Burst open and mix!" he closed his fist, causing it to blend with he oxygen in the atmosphere, thus creating an artificial moon.

"What the- What is that, what have you done?"

"It looks like he created some kind of fake moon." Tien muttered.

"But why?"

"You really don't get it do you?" Vegeta let out a cackle "Boy would that long lost tail of yours ever come in handy right about now!" and then shit hit the fan when he started transforming into his Great Ape form.

"So… does this mean anything."

"If I had to guess then I'd say that we're f*cked." Tien muttered.

"Sounds about right."

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Yamcha's head snapped up as he sensed Vegeta's rising power level "What the hell was that just now?"

"Hey lover boy we're in the middle of planning here!" Kai threw a marker at the back of his head and went back to writing on some random white board "Okay so going to how we're gonna get to the planet of the slug people…"

'That thing out in the distance, it's so bright. And that power level that's just rising out of the blue like that, whatever it is I doubt that's Goku's power level. There's no mistaking where that energy is coming from, it's that Saiyan. His strength is totally off the charts, what could be going on down there?'

"Yamcha what are you thinking?" asked Bulma.

"Something's wrong, Goku is in trouble. I have to go back, Tien is down there too so he knows this as well as I do."

"But Yamcha…"

"Look Bulma I can't explain it but I just know that Goku is in trouble and if I don't do something then he's gonna get killed. I'm not gonna stand by and let that happen. Maybe I won't be able to do very much to help out against an opponent as strong as this but I won't just stand by and do nothing, sorry guys but this is the way that it has to be." he activated his Kaioken to give himself a boost in speed and took off back towards the battlefield.

Bulma couldn't do anything else other than watch him go 'Yamcha…'

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Goku found himself frozen in pure fear as he watched Vegeta transform "Hey Tien would now be a bad time to start screaming?"

"Better now than five minutes from now." Tien muttered.

"But you are seeing this right? This is really happening?"

"Yep." the two of them suddenly found themselves being forced to dodge and evade Vegeta in his Great Ape form.

With a deep rumbling chuckle, Vegeta continued to slowly advance towards them "So do tell me what do you think, quite the impressive transformation isn't it?"

Goku and Tien were forced back on the evasive "I don't understand, what the heck is going on here?"

"Well I think this Saiyan has turned into some kind of gigantic ape creature."' Tien pointed out rather dryly.

"No one likes a smart ass Tien!"

"How about I let the two of you in on a little bit of a secret? When I adopt the form of a Great Ape my power increases ten times over!"

Goku was forced to evade another sweep attack, only to freeze as images and memories suddenly began to flash through his mind 'Grandpa… you told me all those years that that giant gorilla monster lurks around whenever the full moon comes out, and Kami… you must've known about this too so you made sure that my tail would never grow back! So that's why, now everything makes so much sense!' he was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Vegeta pouncing at him until…

"Goku look out!" Tien yanked him out of the way of Vegeta's attack "Goku what's the matter with you? Get your head together!"

"It… It was me…" Goku slowly pulled himself to his feet "It was always me…" his voice was soft and his bangs were covering his eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"If it's true… if I'm really like this guy… then it was me… I was the one…"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know if you ever heard about this Tien, but apparently there was some kind of gigantic ape monster that was responsible for crushing my Grandpa Gohan to death, and the same thing smashed up the grounds during the World Martial Arts Tournament all those years ago, and if I'm really like this guy then that means that… It was me. It was always me!" he slammed his fist against a plateau "DAMMIT!"

"Goku…"

'I owe it to you Grandpa and to everyone else to take this guy down, I don't care how strong he is or what I have to do, even if it kills me. And if I die and see you in the next world then I'll make it a point for saying that I'm sorry for doing all of those horrible things that I must've done whenever I transformed. Come on Tien we've gotta finish this, we can't beat him when he's in that form so maybe if we can find a way to get him back to normal then we might still have a chance."

"Goku are you sure you're alright?"

"No I'm pretty far from it but that's the last thing that I can think about right now, right now we have to stop this guy no matter what the cost may be. I can't charge the Spirit Bomb if he won't give me the time and you can't last long enough against him on your own, the only hope we have is to-"

"Either destroy that fake moon or cut off his tail."

"Exactly, and then we might be able to double team him."

"Oh what's the matter Kakarot, are you and the Triclops trying to strategize in a desperate struggle? What happened to all of that blazing red bravado you had a moment ago?! Come on now, don't give up yet, we're just getting started!"

"I think I have an idea but it involves me borrowing one of your moves."

"Or rather than repeat what happened in our last fight how about I just take the lead and stop you from stealing that technique from me again." Tien burst upwards in front of Vegeta and was able to avoid being grabbed and crushed to death "Solar Flare!" he quickly unleashed his signature Solar Flare, blinding Vegeta with the effects of it.

"MY EYES, DAMMIT MY EYES!"

"Now Goku, go for the fake moon!"

"Got it Tien, thanks!" Goku quickly flashed into Kaioken and made a beeline for the artificial moon above them 'I'm gonna have to put a lot of power into this attack if I want to completely destroy this thing, the problem is that I don't have a lot of power left to begin with so I'm gonna have to make this count!' he cupped his hands at his side "Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"

"AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SNEAKING AWAY FROM ME KAKAROT, I CAN SMELL ALL OF YOUR FEAR FROM HALFWAY ACROSS THIS PATHETIC PLANET!"

"HAAAAAAAA!" packing as much Ki into it as he could, Goku fired a full power Kaioken enhanced Kamehameha, engulfing the artificial moon and annihilating it on the spot, much to the clear horror of Vegeta.

"NO NO NO NO NO! DAMMIT THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" and yet despite his protests Vegeta was forced to transform back into his normal form, slightly weakened from when he transformed and also foaming at the mouth from pure, unyielding rage "You… You…"

"Yay…" Goku fell flat on his back and hit the ground with a loud thud "Ow…"

"YOU WILL ALL PAY FOR THESE TRANSGRESSIONS! YOU'RE ABOUT TO SUFFER IN WAYS YOU COULD NEVER EVEN BEGIN TO IMAGINE!"

"...Hey Tien did we plan this far ahead?"

Tien breathed a frustrated sigh "No we did not Goku, no we did not."

"Don't be said about that you guys, I never do." that was when Yamcha suddenly dropped down onto the scene "I figured you could use a hand."

"Well we can thanks, I just wish I had an idea about what to do from here on out."

"Well I've got one idea."

"Go down fighting like true warriors?"

"Yep."

"Works for me."

"I figured that it would."

"BE SILENT YOU WORTHLESS PEASANTS!" Vegeta bellowed furiously "I REFUSE TO ALLOW THE LIKES OF YOU TO IGNORE ME!"

"I wish we could ignore you."

"I SAID SILENCE! I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET THE DAY YOU WERE BORN! YOUR TORMENT WILL BE LEGENDARY!" and then to prove this point Vegeta suddenly attempted to unleash a Super Explosive Wave to incinerate the three of them "NOW BEGONE YOU IMPUDENT GNATS!"

Thinking quick, Tien and Yamcha tried to hold back the blast, only to find themselves quickly being pushed back "Come on Yamcha put more power into it!"

"Why the hell don't you take your own advice!" and yet Yamcha still unceremoniously pumped his Kaioken up to the fourth level in an attempt to hold back the blast, with Tien using a Super Dodon Wave from each hand as well as the Four Witches Technique, thereby adding on four Ki blasts in total.

That was when another blast joined the fray, courtesy of Goku, him being barely able to stand at all "Sorry about this you guys, I shouldn't have left all of it to you."

"You still able to move?" asked Tien.

"Like you have any room to talk, how about you guys go ahead and I'll try and back you up from a distance."

"You say that like you have any chance of victory!" Vegeta let out a cocky smirk "The three of you or however many more can join forces if you like, a few more puny insects won't make any sort of difference against the power of an elite warrior like yours truly! Your fates were decided the minute that I set foot on this miserable planet!"

"You've gotta admit that a guy like this is amazing, no doubt he's the strongest person we've ever faced!"

"You're not gonna start fawning over him are you?" asked Yamcha.

"Not a chance, just do what has to be done." and with a mighty roar the three of them managed to cancel out the Super Explosive Wave "Well what do you think of that?!"

"NOW YOU'RE GOING TO DIE SLOW AND AGONIZING DEATHS!" now void of any patience, Vegeta prepared to charge forward and slaughter all of them.

"Come on man, let's go!" with two simultaneous mighty roars, Tien and Yamcha met the charge and began trading even blows with Vegeta, the latter receiving a fist to the gut but catching said fist and the latter.

"Now!" Goku barked, prompted the two of them to move out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by Goku's barrage of Ki blasts, sending Vegeta flying into a plateau.

Tien and Yamcha took the chance to attack him while he was still embedded in it as they ricocheted off of rubble, the former grabbing Vegeta by the throat and the latter slamming his fist into Vegeta's chest.

"You wretched little… HOW DARE YOU STRIKE ME!" Vegeta dealt both Tien and Yamcha a fierce barrage of punches as he slammed them through the plateau and blitzed towards Goku, dodging every Ki blast being thrown at him

"There's no time to waste, Yamcha launch me at him!" Tien barked.

"I gotcha now GO!" Yamcha quickly launched Tien forward, giving him a boost in speed and allowing him to grab Vegeta by the throat and pull him downwards towards the ground with a brutal use of the Volleyball Fist technique.

"Don't think I'll go down that easy!" Vegeta took control of the pile driver and then ended up slamming Tien into the ground instead.

"KAIOKEN TIMES FIVE!" forcing his Kaioken as high as he could, Yamcha joined the charge against Vegeta as he felt his body being ripped apart, the two of them forcing Vegeta through the ground with all of the force that they had.

Finally forced to his knees from sheer exhaustion, Goku could only watch as Tien and Yamcha finished the battle "Tien! Yamcha! FINISH IT!"

"RIGHT!" and so using whatever Ki they could scrounge up, Tien and Yamcha launched Vegeta high into the air with a two man uppercut.

Vegeta barely had any time to process what was happening 'How could this happen?! How could I, the prince of all Saiyans, lose to such trash?!'

"AND NOW THIS ENDS!" with two simultaneous roars, Tien and Yamcha hit Vegeta with two massive Ki Blasts, the former using the Super Dodon Wave and the latter with a Kaioken enhanced full power Kamehameha, both blasts combining into one and engulfing Vegeta in a massive explosion that covered the entire area.

Once the explosion died down, Goku could only smile at the sight 'You guys have all gotten really strong, things got pretty hectic for a second but somehow we were able to pull through in the end.' then he frowned 'Grandpa Gohan… and the tournament… it was all me… I can't help but wonder… did they know?'

"D-Dammit…" now thoroughly wounded to the point where he couldn't stand with his tail having been blown off in the assault, Vegeta pulled out of his suit the remote control for his Saiyan space pod and summoned it 'Crushed and broken by a lower class Saiyan, a worm with scars and a triclops… Yep, I think I'm done here.'

"Oh come on…" Tien pulled himself to his feet "He's still alive…?" he glanced up and noticed the space pod land in front of them 'Is that the ship he used to come here…?'

"Okay Vegeta, you know what to do…" Vegeta started pulling himself towards his ship "Get into the pod… fly back to Frieza Planet 79… and sleep this off like a bad hangover… me, Vegeta, the prince of all Saiyans, the greatest warrior in the entire universe… actually being forced to… retreat…"

'So that pod is his spaceship, that means that he's trying to get away… No, he has to pay for everything that he's done… for all of the people that he's hurt… time to finish him off…'

"Just like some kind of bad hangover…" Vegeta was about to climb into his pod and leave the planet, when…

"And just where do you think you're going?" Tien staggered his way towards Vegeta and began charging a Dodon Ray "You're not going anywhere… you killed my friends… and Chiaotzu… and now you're gonna pay!"

'Dammit I can't move, I don't have any power left!'

"Now die!" Tien prepared to blow through Vegeta's heart, when…

"Tien no… don't do it…" Goku staggered towards them and then grabbed Tien by the hand, stopping him "It's over… just stop…"

"Goku are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Please… just let the Saiyan go…"

"You cannot be serious Goku, two of our friends and Piccolo are dead because of this guy and you want me to let him get in his space pod and fly away like nothing ever happened? Goku if we don't finish him now then he's just gonna lay low until he has his strength back and then he'll just come back and wipe out the planet!"

"Yeah I know, he probably will."

"I know he will, Piccolo may have had a change of heart but this guy is pure evil! People like him don't change, if we let him live then he'll just keep on hurting people and I don't want him to have that opportunity."

"Yeah I know, and I know how strong he is and how much damage he can do. As long as he's alive nobody on Earth is safe, but I need you to listen to me. This might sound crazy and chances are I'm gonna regret saying this any second now, but just now when it looked like you were about to kill him I couldn't help but think of how much of a waste it would be."

"A waste, what the hell are you talking about?"

"After me and Yamcha finished training with King Kai in Otherworld I thought that I had gotten as strong as I could possibly be, but then I saw Vegeta fighting and he's so much stronger than me even without his Great Ape thing. Which reminds me, Yamcha you and I need to have a serious talk. Anyway the things that Vegeta was capable of was overwhelming, but I've gotta admit that deep down I was kind of excited. Maybe it's because I've got Saiyan blood in me too, but when I see someone as strong as that I can feel my heart racing because I realize that I still have that much further to go. I got that feeling against all sorts of enemies like you and Piccolo, and I think that maybe he's no different. It makes me want to train even harder to be able to push myself to reach that level. Listen to me Tien, I know that this is wrong but please just let him go for now, for me. I need to be able to fight him again someday, to know just how much more powerful I need to become."

"...You know something Goku there are times when I really really hate you." Tien very reluctantly dispersed his Dodon Ray "But I'll respect your wishes for the time being, after all if it wasn't for you and Yamcha then right now we'll all be dead. But that being said I want my chance to beat him too, for Chiaotzu."

"I understand."

"And next time we fight him we'll make him regret that he ever came to this planet, that much he can be sure of." he glared down at Vegeta "You would be wise to keep that in mind."

"Oh believe me I will." Vegeta climbed into his pod "I believe that now would be the time for me to make my grand exit. But don't think this is over, not by a long shot, and don't think that you'll be able to save yourselves from me next time. That is a personal guarantee from me." and with that, the pod sealed itself and departed from the planet.

'And you won't get away next time, that's a guarantee from me.' and then just to prove that point he fired a Ki blast at the ship, altering its course unbeknownst to anyone.

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King Kai breathed a sigh of relief "Well that's one hell of a relief, that had me worried for a minute there. I know that I'm not really supposed to take sides."

"A rule that went out the window ages ago." Scarlet pointed out.

"Well regardless, that Saiyan is a menace to the entire universe so someone as evil as that guy was bound to get a taste of his own medicine at some point right? It was just a matter of time now wasn't it?"

"But despite this victory that doesn't change the fact that no one will be safe until the route of this evil is completely cut off at the source."

"This isn't over, not by a long shot."

"Which means that my brother and my son both have a lot more growth to go through before this is all over, the path of martial arts is quite a difficult one."

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"Thanks Tien, I know that wasn't easy." Goku sat down on the ground and let out a tired and aggravated sounding sigh.

"Yeah you're right, it wasn't." Tien just breathed out a sigh "I just wish there was a way to undo everything that's happened."

"I know what you mean."

"Actually I think Kai had a plan for that." Yamcha sat down between them "So Goku are you okay after all of that?"

"...No Yamcha, you know what I'm not okay. At all." Goku slowly got to his feet, his anger taking both Tien and Yamcha by surprise.

"What's going on with you?"

"I'm only gonna ask me once, did you know that the monster who screwed up the tournament grounds all those years ago?"

"So… you found out about that transformation?"

"Yeah I did, now did you know or not?"

"...Yeah Goku I did, we found out that night when we were stuck in Emperor Pilaf's castle and you transformed at the full moon. Bulma, Krillin, Launch, Master Roshi and the others saw it too back then."

"And Tien, Chiaotzu, Piccolo and the like?"

"As far as I know you never transformed in front of them so I doubt that they know."

"So you're saying that… for 12 years you know this about me, that I transformed at a full moon into some kind of giant gorilla, that I smashed up the tournament grounds, that I killed my own grandfather, and you never bothered to say anything?"

"Goku we thought it was for the best, we knew that if we told you then you would be devastated."

"Bulma came up with the idea, we just promised to go along with it."

"What were you guys thinking?"

"Hey I promised Bulma that I would never tell you but that shit hit the fan pretty hard today didn't it?" Yamcha looked up and noticed some sort of ship descending towards them "Oh you've gotta be f*cking kidding me, now he's coming back?"

"Nope, that's not the Saiyan." Tien told him.

"Then who is it?"

"Hey what's up A holes!" Kai flipped them off from the window of the plane, earning a smack on the back of the head from Bulma "Ow!"

"...I'm not sure if that's better or worse."

"Yamcha!" Bulma leapt out of the plane and into his waiting arms.

"Okay it's better. Listen Bulma, we might have a bit of a problem. Goku is-"

"Goku!" she suddenly threw her arms around Goku, a gesture that he didn't return "You're back and you're okay!"

"No Bulma, I'm not okay." Goku removed her arms from him and let out a sigh, taking her by surprise "Yamcha told me what happened at the tournament all those years ago, and what happened at Pilaf's castle that night."

"...Oh."

"So no I'm not okay, you guys should've told me the truth."

"Goku I wanted to so many times, I really did. And don't blame Master Roshi or the others either, I was the one who made them promise not to."

"...I've gotta go get some air, I'll meet up with you guys later." and then Goku just blasted off into the sky before anyone could get another word in.

'Goku… Wait what about the Saiyan?"

"Sorry about that guys, but he got away." Yamcha told the group.

"That's of little consequence at the moment, right now you guys deserve credit where credit is due." that was when Korin approached Yamcha and Tien "Not just anyone can run off a warrior of the Saiyan race like that."

"Yeah no kidding, you wouldn't believe just how strong the guy was. The three of us were lucky to survive against him, I just wish the same could be said for everyone else like Krillin, Piccolo and Chiaotzu. Especially since Piccolo dying means that Kami is gone too, and that means that the Dragon Balls are gone forever."

"Yes I know, it's such a shame. But right now we had best get the two of you some medical attention because I gave Goku and Yamcha the last of my Senzu Beans earlier."

"Yeah, I know." so while everyone else boarded the plane, Yamcha glanced up at the moonless night sky "I hope you saw that sis, and I hope that I made you proud." and then he boarded the place after the others.

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It wasn't long before the plane was soaring high through the sky in search of the original battlefield.

Bulma looked out the window of the plane in search of the bodies "So this is where the battle started right, where Krillin and Piccolo went down before?"

"We're getting closer, I think it was a little bit further that way." Yamcha pointed in a certain direction.

"Not like we have to worry about them being gone forever." Kai piped up, earning looks from everyone "Not if the plan that me and Gohan came up with works the way that we think it's gonna, and if that does work out the way that we think it does then we can still fix everything."

Gohan nodded "Kai is right, I mean it definitely is a long shot but it still might work and unless we're missing something then there's still a chance that everyone who was killed today can be brought back to life." he glanced over at Kai "And by the way Kai, about the whole giant ape thing…"

"You mean how you turned into one and I blew up the moon and gloated about it for like a week after that?"

"Yeah… you don't think it's kind of scary or anything?"

"Hell no, that just make you even more awesome in my eyes! As far as I'm concerned you're more than qualified to be my sidekick."

"Thanks Kai, you really- Wait a second, sidekick?!"

"Alright you two we don't need any of that." Yamcha broke them up "We had enough of that after the Pokemon thing earlier. Anyway what are the two of you thinking?"

"Well here's the thing Yamcha-" Gohan glanced out the window "Me and Kai will explain it all later, it looks like we're here. You can go ahead and set it down here Bulma, this is where we'll find the bodies so we can get them on board."

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The bodies of Krillin and Piccolo were quickly put into cry coffin capsules provided by Bulma.

"Alright there's just one more body to go." Yamcha looked around "I don't think there's any sign of Chiaotzu anywhere, you guys know where he is."

"You won't find anything." Tien had his back turned to the others, staring upwards into the night sky "There's no body, he blew himself up trying to kill one of the Saiyans. It didn't work though."

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Soon enough, the bodies had been loaded into the plane and they were all on their way once again.

Gohan knelt down in front of the coffin containing Piccolo's body, his teeth grinding furiously and his fists clenching tightly "These kinds of things just shouldn't happen, I just wish there was a way that I could've saved him."

Korin nodded "You've definitely got Goku's good heart in you and I agree, as it stands right now far too many good people have made far too great of a sacrifice."

"And to think I was helpless to stop this from happening, it's just wrong. And to know that I couldn't do anything about it, it's just so infuriating it's making my blood boil! The feeling of being so helpless, I just hate it!"

"Welcome to the club." Kai sat down next to him "This is only the second time I've gotten that feeling and I'm only five I guess that just shows the kind of life I'm leading right?"

"Well we made it this far haven't we?"

"I guess so."

"You know you guys never finished." Upa got their attention "What exactly were the two of you saying about bringing everyone back to life?"

"Well so far it's just a theory but we'll try and keep it easy to follow. See from what we were able to gather the Saiyans already knew about the Dragon Balls when they got here, they heard us talking over the Scouter that prick Beets was wearing."

Gohan nodded "They didn't come for revenge, at least not entirely."

"Or at all, they were a crap load more interested in tracking down the Dragon Balls so that they could make a wish. But what really caught our attention, they called him a Namekian. Do you guys know where we're going with this?"

"Which means that Piccolo and Kami have to have been some sort of aliens from another planet like the Saiyans or dad."

"I mean the fact that they're green is kind of a dead giveaway but what Vegeta said after that that got both of us thinking, he said that they would get answers if they visit Piccolo's homeworld, his and Kami's home planet."

"It just took us a while to really understand what they meant by that, but it's like they were saying that they would be able to find more Dragon Balls on the Planet Namek, which means that if we can somehow get to this Planet Namek, which we already know is a really big if right about now."

"But if we can find it somehow then we might be able to use those Dragon Balls and wish that everyone who was killed today by the Saiyans to be brought back to life."

"And then we get to see Piccolo again!" this was met with Chichi freaking out, but she was ignored.

"They'd all be brought back to life and if Piccolo and Kami get brought back then that means that we get our magic dragon testicles back and if not then he can just make another set of them for us, say whatever the hell you want about me but I know a good idea when it pops into my head!"

"Yeah Kai for all of your insanity you're a genius!" the two of them high fived.

"You're damn right I am."

"Yeah but guys that's easier said than done." Bulma pointed out "We could never pull off something like that, it's kind finding a needle in an intergalactic haystack."

"Yeah but we've got you on our side so if anyone could find it then it's you, and even if you do f*ck it up then we can just get Goku or Uncle Yamcha to use King Kai to track it down for us."

"Don't worry Kai, I'm way ahead of you." so Yamcha tapped into King Kai using telepathy from his end "Hey King Kai are you hearing that, I bet you know just about every planet in the universe so you could track down Planet Namek for us then couldn't you?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I know where Planet Namek is, if I didn't know my own realm then I'd be a pretty sorry king. As a matter of fact I can give you its exact coordinates too for that matter. They can hear me right?"

"Yeah they can all hear you, you're coming through loud and clear. Go ahead, we're all listening to you."

"Nice change of pace compared to you and Goku. Alright just hold on a minute, I'm trying to translate the coordinates to Earth terminology so you guys can understand it. Now let's see here, it says here that you'll have to keep a barring of SW66- No wait hold on that's not it. God this thing might as well have been written in Japanese. Okay maybe this is it, SU83 by 9045YX. Yeah I think that's it, give that one a shot."

"Hold on a second." Kai cut in "Let me just make sure that I heard that right, you said 9045YX right?"

"You understood that?" asked Yamcha "I'm glad someone did because I'm totally lost on that right now."

"Big surprise there, let me just do a little bit of math."

"As I recall Planet Namek was once an extremely beautiful world populated by a large number of Namekians, but a long time ago there was a major change in the climate of the planet. It was horrible, and as a result all but a few of the Namekians were wiped out. No one really knows what it's like on Planet Namek these days but I'll go ahead and check it out with my antenna for you. Oh wow that was fast, I think I found it!"

"So yeah that's it, so Kami or whoever he was before the whole thing where he and Piccolo split from each other escaped from his home planet and then came all the way here to Earth."

Gohan nodded "And if that's the case then that means that one of two things happened. Kami must have either lost his memory or he came when he was too young to remember. But either way it's safe to assume that his past must have been pretty hard for him."

"And chances are trying to wish the climate normal again wouldn't have worked either, keep in mind that the Dragon Balls have limits to their power depending on who the creator is so maybe this guy wasn't that powerful. And besides, the fact that the Dragon Balls have limits is what's screwing us over to begin with."

"I found the Namekians, it looks like there are almost one hundred of them! I mean granted it's not nearly as many as there were before but they're flourishing!"

"Which means that there are 100 other guys who can make Dragon Balls!"

"Yes that's right but rest assured that's nothing to be worried about, the Namekians are known for their gentle nature. They're nice like Kami was on your planet, I mean granted Piccolo had a mean streak but that was more of the exception than the rule. Keep in mind that Piccolo used to be one with Kami but Kami was exposed to evil within him that he would never have known on Planet Namek and when he decided to purge the darkness that crept into his nature that gave birth to Piccolo, the embodiment of all of the evil that he had encountered."

"Yeah that does make sense, no wonder he was such a prick before. But anyway now there's nothing stopping us from going to Planet Namek and using their Dragon Balls to bring all of our schmucks back to life!"

"But did we consider how we'd get there?" Gohan held up a calculator "Even if we do know the exact coordinates of Planet Namek using any kind of spaceship that's available on Earth with the world's best engine built by Bulma's dad to get us to there it would take us 4,339 years and over 3 months."

"Yeah that had me worried too for a minute but then I thought back to the ship used by those other Saiyans Raditz and Beets, they were so small that they could only fit one person at a time inside, two at the most if they wanted to get freaky. That means that Vegeta and Nappa had to have come in two different pods and Nappa's pod should still be sitting right where he had left it when he landed. I mean granted Beets' ship was pretty screwed up after what you did to it a year ago, which was awesome by the way."

"But still one alien spaceship might turn out to be more than enough, we can't say for sure until we get a better look at it but I bet that we can figure something out! But how are we going to get to it?"

"How do you think?" Kai pulled a control pad out of his gi "I swiped it off of that big guy earlier after Uncle Yamcha snapped his spine with his head, I saw it lying there while he was explaining his Kaioken technique and I picked it up because I thought the thing might come in handy a little bit later if our theory panned out."

"Kai you're a mad genius, this could actually work! There's still hope for Piccolo and everyone else after all!"

"And now onwards!" the two of them pointed forward to the sun beginning to rise beyond the horizon in front of them "To Planet Namek and to the Dragon Balls!"

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Suddenly Planet Namek doesn't seem that far out of reach anymore, but the crew has much to do in order to prepare before they can start their journey, next time on Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generations!

A/N:

I know that Gohan and Kai are meant to be the main focus on this story but it's not their time, at least not yet. Besides I like the idea of Goku and Tien teaming up against an opponent, especially since Tien didn't have the chance to do that much just yet.

This fight gave me the chance to exploit some of Tien's older techniques (Four Witches Technique, Multi-Form, Volleyball Fist) and give him a few other techniques used by other characters and in other movies and the like (Dodon Barrage, Super Dodon Wave).

Rather than let Goku get his ass handed to him by Vegeta, I decided to get a little bit more creative and add some elements of the Goku vs Giant Piccolo fight from the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament.

I was going to just have it be Goku and Tien vs Vegeta but I couldn't just shove Yamcha to the side after having him take out the likes of Nappa, so I decided to take a cue from the final episode of Dragon Ball Super and have Tien and Yamcha epically double team Vegeta like Goku and Frieza did to Jiren, which you have to admit was pretty epic. Also I had Vegeta's tail get blown off because I won't be writing out him transforming into a Great Ape again, and besides if you look closely at Dragon Ball Super episode 131 you'll notice that the end off Frieza's tail was blown off in the final struggle against Jiren so I figured why not here too?

Sorry if the whole thing with the Great Ape was kind of underwhelming but I always figured, why not just destroy the fake moon to undo the transformation process? I mean it worked with Gohan didn't it?

Also sorry if this seemed rather anticlimactic, I was pretty eager to get to the Namek saga. That's where it's going to get good, trust me.

One thing that kind of bugged me was how Goku was able to just get over the whole realization over the Great Ape transformation and how he was the one who killed his own Grandpa Gohan all those years ago, and since Goku wasn't injured anywhere near as bad in his fight with Vegeta thanks to Yamcha's intervention I decided that rather than go to Namek he'd take some time to process this newfound revelation, along with the one where Yamcha, Bulma and everyone else (with the exception of Tien, the only one still alive who was around back when Goku still had his tail, and Upa, who hadn't appeared since the Fortuneteller Baba saga) knew and never told him, so you can imagine how that would be pretty heavy even for him. This stems from the fact that I've never seen Goku get that much development in terms of his overall character, so now I'm giving him that chance. And before you say that it's OOC for him, take a look at this situation from his perspective. He found out that he killed his own grandfather and that his best friends new for years and never told him.

Power levels:

Goku: 9,200

Goku (Kaioken): 18,400

Goku (Kaioken 3x): 27,600

Goku (Kaioken 3x Kamehameha): 33,000

Goku (Kaioken 4x Kamehameha): 44,000

Yamcha: 7,400

Yamcha (Kaioken): 14,800

Yamcha (Kaioken 4x):

Yamcha (Kaioken 5x): 37,000

Tien: 1,830

Tien (Super Dodon Wave): 18,300

Tien & Yamcha (Miracle of Earth): 50,000

Vegeta: 14,000

Vegeta (full power): 18,000

Vegeta (Galick Gun): 28,000

Vegeta (weakened): 12,000

Vegeta (Great Ape, weakened): 120,000

Vegeta (post transformation): 10,000