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.

16. Father and Son, Divide and Conquer

Many great stories have multiple different sides. Some of them are important, some of them not so much, but regardless they still exist, and they have an impact on the story overall.

To this point, this story is divided into two different parts focusing on two different characters going through two different sets of challenges.

The first part starts with the legendary Super Saiyan, Son Goku.

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(Last time on Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation…)

Goku found himself stranded on the dying Planet Namek with no means of escape 'I can't believe this, this just can't be happening! IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S JUST NOT FAIR! I gave up an easy chance to get home, I gave everything I had to defeat Frieza, and I've fought with every ounce of strength I had only to just hold on to my sanity and my sense of reason, and THIS IS HOW THE UNIVERSE DECIDES TO THANK ME?! BY LEAVING MY STRANDED ON A DYING PLANET?!"

"Quite the opposite actually." a second voice answered him "You've done the universe a great service and you should be honored to serve, but keep in mind that a wise man once said that no good deed goes unpunished. Which is why I'm here for you now."

Goku whipped around the confront the source of the second voice, but all that he saw was a flash of purple and orange before he blacked out.

And only a few seconds passed before Planet Namek finally met its fate in a blinding fiery explosion, reducing it to nothing but spacedust.

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(And now, here's some new stuff…)

Goku's eyes snapped open and he bolted upwards, then he cringed from the pain that he was feeling, and he looked down to realize that a large percentage of his body was covered in bandages "What the- Oh man my head is pounding and… Okay everything hurts… Where the heck am I anyway?"

"Well at least you're far more calm than before, so that's fortunate." a voice noted dryly "But considering the last time you were conscious was on a planet that was about to explode, so it shouldn't be that surprising."

Goku glanced over to the side and found Cooler sitting in a chair by the bed he was in,reading a book nonchalantly, and his eyes widened "Oh hey Cooler… Wait a second, you were the last thing that I saw on Namek… But then you knocked me out…"

"Incorrect Son Goku, I appeared to save you since you had no alternative means of escaping before the explosion, and once I did appear before you your body finally gave out from the strain under which it had been during that battle."

"And then you brought me here?"

"I did place you inside a Healing Chamber but that didn't restore any of the stamina that you had lost, you've been asleep for about a week."

"A week? Oh man…" Goku laid back down and glanced out the window at what Cooler's planet looked like on the outside, and his thoughts started drifting.

"You seem distracted, what is it?"

"...It's about Frieza."

"I'm listening."

"He begged for mercy at the end of it, but despite everything that he had done, the pain that he had caused, the people that he hurt… he even killed my own son and my brother right in front of my eyes. But despite that, I just… I couldn't bring myself to just leave him there to die. I wasn't in this fight to win, all I wanted was to make sure that he couldn't hurt my friends or anyone else again. But now after I met someone like him, I can't help but wonder… How is it that there's someone like him out there, someone so despicable in every way imaginable? Now I'm thinking that maybe this is some kind of sign, maybe there are some people out there who just have to die."

"Don't be so narrow minded about this Son Goku. Think of it this way, you know that Frieza and his men have slaughtered billions of people throughout the universe."

"Well yeah."

"People that had families."

"I know. There were warriors out there who fell to Frieza's might, warriors who love and cherish life and understood just how precious it is. However they understood something that you're having difficulty grasping, there are times when in order to preserve life, you have to be prepared to take it away as well."

"But…"

"Don't try to deny it, you know I'm right. You have to realize that not everyone in the universe can be saved, and even some of those who can be saved may not want to be saved, no matter how much you may want to be able to save them."

"Well I hate that."

"You don't have to like it, you just have to accept it. I myself have lost people that I could've considered to be my friends, but that's part of life. Making mistakes and learning from them."

"...Alright, I guess I understand. Thanks Cooler."

"Don't thank me yet. First of all, I should commend you for defeating Frieza. That's a feat that few can claim, and even fewer of those claims are actually true. Anyway everyone believes you to have perished along with Planet Namek."

"Wait what?!"

"Worry not, they intend to wish you back with the Namekian Dragon Balls as soon as they are restored."

"How do you know so much about this?"

"I've been monitoring the situation from afar. Anyway you have much to do before then, you have to get far stronger before you can return to Earth."

"But I beat Frieza and you don't want to kill me."

"Not at the moment, but that's an issue for another time. Frieza may be out of the picture but my father King Cold is not. His power makes even myself and Frieza pale in comparison."

"...Oh crap."

"Indeed. The Zenkai boost that you've received should help your chances considerably, but raw power will not be enough. You need to learn some new techniques before you're ready to face him."

"You think he'll come for me?"

"Without so much as a second thought. I have one technique in particular that I believe to be suited for you, and I am willing to teach it to you."

"Really, what is it?"

"Not so fast, I need you to do something for me first."

"...Oh crap."

"More or less. Anyway there is a grave situation taking place on one of the planets on the edge of my domain."

"What do you mean?"

"A wicked tree known as the Tree of Might has planted its seed and taken route on the planet Tech Tech."

"Tree of Might? Sounds serious."

"It is, the fruit of the Tree of Might was originally intended only for the Eternal Dragons. The tree is also known as the Tree of Death because it burrows far beneath the surface of the planet to find the nutrients it needs in order to bear this fruit, if it is allowed to grow then it will feed on the soil sucking out everything it would need in order to survive and the fruit will be rich beyond imagination. You must hurry and stop it from baring this fruit."

"Why would we need to do that?"

"Because it takes so many nutrients and so much energy to produce this fruit that everything the tree touches is completely destroyed, if this process is not stopped and soon then the tree will suck all that it needs from Tech Tech and leave it as nothing but a wasted and depleted desert wasteland and almost all of its people will be completely wiped out."

"...I won't let that happen."

"By my estimation you have about 15 days before the first fruit is born, and all life on the planet is wiped out. Regardless of whether or not you make it there in time, you must go and face the warrior responsible for planting this seed, or else the universe will be thrown into chaos." he snapped his fingers and one of his servants entered with a set of orange and blue colored armor similar to what Raditz wore "This is one of the older models of our armor, I took the liberty of coloring them to what I believed was your liking." (just imagine Bardock's armor but orange and blue)

"...I like it. Now I need a ship though."

"Take one of the pods outside."

"Right."

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Days passed, and Goku's trip through the stars to the planet Tech Tech seemed like only a matter of hours, mainly due to him being sedated during the trip.

Goku stepped out of the crater in which his pod had landed, and it only took him a few minutes of flying before he found something that made him sick to his stomach: an entire city that had been reduced to runs, with streets filled with dozens of corpses, whether they be men, women or children, drenched in their own blood or that of each other. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists furiously "Why… Why did something like this have to happen? I guess Cooler was right after all, Frieza wasn't the only monster in the universe. But dealing with whoever is responsible for this can wait for a few minutes, at the very least these people deserve a proper burial."

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It hadn't taken very long to go about the grim task of burying the unfortunate victims of the Tree of Might, and it didn't take very long for Goku to find the Tree of Might either "Looks like I found what I'm looking for. This thing is definitely massive, if I'm gonna do any sort of significant damage then I'm gonna need to start attacking it at the trunk. I can't afford to hold out on it either, so I had better pull out the big guns. Kaioken 10x!" he quickly powered up his Kaioken 10x aura "Alright here goes. Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" he fired a quick Kaioken enhanced Kamehameha, engulfing the trunk of the tree in an explosion, but when the blast subsided it was revealed that the tree had sustained no damage "Oh come on! So what now, should I hit that thing again?"

"I wouldn't bother if I were you." a new voice told him "All you're going to end up doing is destroying everything around the tree instead of the tree itself."

Goku looked up and saw a figure in grey armor with a red scouter appear in front of him, but he froze at the figure's face 'He looks like… me? No it can't be, there's no way my eyes would ever show so much evil.'

"How truly pitiful, do you actually believe that you can destroy the Tree of Might?"

'This guy's power level is amazingly high, it's almost as high as Frieza's was when he was using 50% of his full power. Tell me, who are you?"

"You and I are very much alike Kakarot, you and I are both Saiyan warriors struck from the same mold and built for destruction. I can tell from your already massive power level that you truly are a Saiyan warrior, if you were to join up with me then the two of us could rule the universe together."

"Thanks but no thanks now answer my earlier question, who are you?"

"I am Turles, the last and the mightiest of the Saiyan warriors." he shot Goku a look of disdain and disgust "And you Kakarot are a pathetic feeble excuse for a Saiyan warrior, we sent you to destroy the Earth and you failed. You could never have learned to be a true warrior thanks to a pitiful planet like this so called Earth, how about you show me that you're smarter than he was and join me."

"Not a chance, especially not after what you did to the innocent people of this planet."

"It's a shame, but then again how much of a fool would I have to be to take on a traitorous piece of trash like yourself? The Tree of Might has already left this planet a dry and withered up wasteland, and after all of the fruit that I've eaten from the Tree of Might over the years not even the likes of Frieza himself could stand up to me as I am now. Observe." he held up a fruit from the Tree of Might and devoured the whole thing, causing his entire body to bulk up slightly and his aura to turn purple and flare wildly.

'Well he's definitely far more powerful than before after eating that fruit but that doesn't change the fact that it sickens me, a Saiyan has to risk their life to train and get stronger to reach this kind of level of power and he just cheated his way up here without any effort whatsoever. But all the same I had better be careful with this one.'

"I've eaten the fruit of the Tree of Might more times than you can count, my energy keeps expanding to an amazing extent and now I'm completely invincible."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that."

"Do you really think you can defeat me boy? Your power next to mine is like that of an anthill when compared to a mountain."

"We'll see about that."

"I guess we will." Turles flared his purple aura "This amazing, I can feel the energy inside of my body building up endlessly!"

Goku had to brace himself, despite already using his Kaioken 10x 'This is ridiculous, even now I can't sense any sort of limit to his power!'

"Time to see just how far a fruit from the Tree of Might can take me now." Turles suddenly burst forward and appeared behind Goku faster than he could track "Oops."

Goku aimed a kick at Turles' head.

Turles blitzed behind Goku and kicked him in the back, sending him into the air.

Goku rebounded and fired off a quick Kamehameha.

Turles easily deflected the Kamehameha with one hand "Just pathetic." then he suddenly burst forward and slugged Goku in the face, sending him flying into the Tree of Might "How did you like that one?"

'I didn't expect his power to increase as much as this.'

"This is incredible, it's beyond anything I could ever have imagined! Nothing can stop me now, especially not you!" he burst forward and aimed a fist.

Goku managed to block the attack, but just barely.

Turles quickly rebounded "Looks like I overreached thanks to this overwhelming power, but I won't miss this time." he promptly slugged Goku in the gut and attempted to smash him into the ground even further.

Goku managed to block the strike 'One thing is for sure, his power and speed are both far beyond that they were before.'

"Don't bother, you can't win this fight." Turles began launching a furious barrage of kicks, eventually managing to knee Goku in the jaw, sending him crashing to the ground "Don't give up now, I'm just getting started!" he grabbed Goku by the legs, swung him around and let go, sending him flying into another part of the Tree of Might.

Goku rebounded and charged.

Turles forced him to go on the defensive with a furious barrage of attacks, then followed up with a Full Power Energy Wave.

Goku was forced to block it, engulfing him in an explosion. When the smoke cleared, it revealed Goku, his crimson Kaioken 20x aura flaring wildly 'To think he would actually force me to bring this out.'

"So I take it now that you're finally fighting me seriously?"

"More or less, I figured that as a Saiyan warrior you at least deserved to see this form as what was going to wipe you from the face of the universe."

"Oh well how very kind of you, well if that's the case then I suppose it would only be right if I went all out as well." his aura burst into life, flaring even higher than before "Are you surprised? Don't be, after all of the fruit that I've eaten from the Tree of might over the years such an increase in power can be obtained in a matter of seconds. We're both Saiyans, only I've eaten the fruit of the Tree of Might so I would say that the advantage would go to me."

"I wouldn't be so sure, you may have unnaturally boosted your power to incredible new heights but you lack the. I've trained this form, mastered it and even gone beyond it, so I would say that I have the advantage here."

"Well I guess we'll see about that soon enough." Turles charged forward.

Goku met the charge in the middle, resulting in them trading even blows, which promptly ended when he blitzed behind Turles and aimed a kick at the back of his head.

Turles dodged the attack as well as the follow up attack and aimed his own fist at Goku's gut full force.

Goku blocked the attack with his forearm and broke away, then began firing a barrage of Ki blasts.

Turles stopped the onslaught directly directly in the middle with his own barrage of Ki blasts, eventually breaking off from the clash and forcing Goku to go back on the defensive with a furious barrage of punches "If you're struggling against me then you've got a long way to go boy!"

"Forget it, I'm not going to lose to you!" their fists met in the middle, sending out a massive shockwave.

"One more!" Turles fired off his Kill Driver.

"One step further!" Goku managed to fire a quick Kamehameha, just barely cancelling out the Kill Driver "Get ready Turles, now I'm serious and this is where the true battle begins!"

"Of course. I must admit, a battle like this was well worth the wait. You truly are a worthy foe to defeat in the heat of battle!" he fired his Sudden Storm barrage.

Goku quickly blitzed through the barrage and slugged Turles in the gut, sending him skidding backwards.

Turles lowered his guard after blocking the attack "My arms are numb and I can feel chills going down my spine. Come on, I think it's time we get serious." he flared his purple aura.

"You've got that right. Kaioken 20x!" Goku flared his Kaioken 20x aura, his skin now turning a deep shade of crimson as a result.

"I'll crush you with everything I have!" Turles charged forward.

Goku quickly blitzed in front of Turles and promptly slugged him straight in the gut full force, sending him flying back into the bulk of the Tree of Might.

Turles burst back up, panting slightly as he wiped some of the blood from his lip "I have to give you credit where credit is due, that one actually hurt a little bit. But that being said, I'm far from finished in this fight!"

"You're persistent and willing to fight, I guess you've got more Saiyan blood in you than I gave you credit for."

"Come on boy!" Turles fired another Sudden Storm.

"That attack isn't going to work on me anymore. Kamehameha!" Goku fired off a quick Kamehameha, cancelling out the Sudden Storm.

"I've got you!" Turles quickly blitzed behind Goku and kicked him in the temple, sending him tumbling away and crashing to the ground, as well as literally knocking the Kaioken right out of him in the process "What a shame, I was really hoping you would put up more of a fight than that. So much for you actually being worth anything, but then again I guess that's to be expected of the likes of you Kakarot. But then again considering you're related to Raditz I guess it's no surprise."

"What… was that…?" Goku slowly staggered to his feet, his eyes flickering and his body beginning to crackle with bio electricity despite him being in his base form.

"I have no interest in a weakling like you, I'll just wipe you out and get on with my day, that being slaughtering whoever is still alive on this planet and then going on to take Frieza's place as the ruler of the universe."

"Don't you dare…" Goku glared up at Turles, his eyes flickering teal "If you do anything to my friends… or my family… or my home… if you dare to insult the people I care about… I will… MAKE YOU PAY!" he was engulfed in a blinding golden light that covered the entire battlefield, and when the light disappeared it revealed Goku in his Super Saiyan form looking angry as hell.

"So you still have some strength left and want to continue this battle do you? Well fine then, go on and have another taste of my power!" Turles fired another Sudden Storm barrage.

Goku suddenly batted them all away with surprising ease, deflecting them all into different parts of the Tree of Might behind him "Well then what do you suggest we call that?"

"That… That was just a fluke, nothing more and nothing less! But a miracle never happens twice, I'll be sure to blow you away this time!" Turles quickly fired another Sudden Storm barrage at him.

Goku turned and dodged every single blast thrown at him with ease 'This new level of power, I guess I was so enraged at the thought of this guy killing the others and insulting my brother that I ended up somehow accessing my Super Saiyan form. I'll have to work on it later. Still though this form is amazing, my battle instincts are at their peak! I can see every attack coming and dodge them all like they're moving in slow motion!'

"I don't understand, how is this possible?"

"I'll tell you how it's possible, through the power of genuine hard work and not trying to cheat your way to the top." Goku then leapt back onto the top of a plateau and flared his golden electric aura as he let out a primal roar "It's over Turles, you no longer have any chance of defeating me."

"Is that so? Well I'm willing to take that challenge." Turles leapt back onto a plateau "Don't think I'm going to go down so easily, I am the strongest Saiyan who has ever lived!" and with a furious roar he powered up to his maximum, his aura crackling with black electricity "Yes that's it, that's the power of my Saiyan blood and the Tree of Might coursing through my veins! Go ahead and power up as much as you want, I'll just push myself beyond that!" he summoned a Sudden Storm, which then formed into a much larger Ki blast "Now then, just let yourself be erased with the rest of this pathetic planet so that my conquest of the universe can finally continue!" he burst forward and fired the Ki blast.

Goku sidestepped the attack "Was that supposed to do something?"

"Shut up and stop dodging you fool!" Turles aimed a kick.

Goku ducked under it and easily dodged the oncoming barrage of punches and kicks with an amused and confident smirk on his face, though he quickly wiped it off 'No Goku, you can't lose control, not again.'

"Are you trying to mock me?!" Turles quickly grew frustrated and fired a Sudden Storm barrage from each hand.

Goku just swerved his body around a little bit and ended up dodging every single attack with ease as he glided off of the plateau with his feet grinding into the side of it.

Turles burst downwards to meet him.

Goku sent out an invisible Eye Beam, sending Turles flying clean through the Tree of Might as he landed on the ground.

Turles furiously burst right back up from the rubble and leapt back onto the side of the Tree of Might "What was that supposed to be? Sure your moves are pretty impressive but your attacks are pitiful. That isn't all you've got is it boy?"

"Far from it, as a matter of fact I'm just getting started!"

"Oh please, you'll never beat me with attacks like that. I don't very much appreciate that attitude of yours either, I hope you're ready because I'm not holding back this time."

Goku suddenly blitzed behind Turles and began dealing him a furious barrage of punches to the chest and abdomen, the force destroying the plateau that they were standing on and sending Turles crashing to the ground.

"That's not possible!" Turles burst back up into the air and blocked another fist using his own forearm.

"What's wrong? Don't tell me this is all you can do after all that talk."

Turles aimed a kick.

Goku blitzed behind Turles and landed a kick of his own, sending him flying through the Tree of Might again, then fired a quick Masenko, the force sending him crashing into a mountain behind the Tree of Might.

Turles furiously flared his aura and broke free of where he was lodged in the mountain "You little…"

'This form is powerful but the problem is that I can feel my control over it beginning to slip, I'd better end this fast before it gets out of hand. I'm going to finish this battle with this next attack."

"You wretched, arrogant little brat! I won't lose, not to anyone and especially not to you!" with a furious roar Turles powered up to his absolute maximum, his aura turning a deep shade of crimson.

'His power just shot up to a whole other level, that means that he's finally beginning to lose his cool.'

"Well if that's the case then I'm gonna hit you with everything I've got!" his crimson aura flared even higher, releasing a massive barrage of laser like beams made of his Ki in every direction, the sheer power cutting into and through the bark of the Tree of Might.

'Well that's just great, now Turles is releasing all of his Ki in every direction like a barrage of lasers as if he's trying to make it into some kind of Final Weapon. Actually now that I think about it Final Weapon has a really nice ring to it. It looks like cornering him the way that I did just enraged him to the point where he's unleashing all of that power in that form like some kind of a fight or flight response, this might turn out to be rather problematic.'

"Time to say goodbye!" Turles fired a massive barrage of Ki blasts infused with a strange form of black electricity.

Goku charged forward and dodged every laser, though a few of them ended up grazing his elbow and cutting off a few strands of his hair 'This is bad, if I get hit by even one of those lasers then I'm as good as dead. I'm going to have to end this in one shot.' he quickly leapt back onto the side of the Tree of Might and cupped his hands at his side, blue Ki charging up in between his palms "Ka…" he dodged another blast and landed on a piece of rubble "Me…" he dodged more blasts by leaping onto different pieces of debris "Ha…"

Turles fired a massive Sudden Storm barrage in every direction.

Goku leapt through the attack, barely managing to avoid being hit "Me…"

"I think it's about time we end this battle, and you can't avoid being hit in mid air!" Turles formed two purple Ki blasts, one in each hand, and then combined them into one massive Ki blast "This battle is over and I win, now burn in hell! Meteor Burst Cannon!" he fired a two handed version of his Meteor Burst, pouring every ounce of Ki he had left into it.

'Now!' being sure to time it just right, Goku used one foot to kick the air and propel himself upwards, then used the Kamehameha that he was charging to grind up the Meteor Burst Cannon like it was some kind of wheel until he was right in front of Turles and held up the blast "This ends now! HAAAAAAA!" he fired a full power Super Kamehameha at Turles at point blank range.

Turles could only scream in agony as he was sent flying by the blast, being carried up the the trunk of the trunk of the Tree of Might, resulting in a massive explosion that shook the entire planet, destroying both Turles and the Tree of Might, obliterating them and leaving not a single trace behind of either of them, and with the destruction of the Tree of Might, but the damage to the planet had already been done, and the planet and its people had paid the price as a result.

With the battle at last over, Goku dropped to his knees as his Super Saiyan glow faded from existence, reverting him to his base form "I guess… this is as far as I can go… right now… But that also proves… just how much futher I can go…"

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A few hours went by, and the sun was now rising over the now restored but now unpopulated planet of Tech Tech.

Goku stared down at the graves he had buried before the battle as he knelt down and placed some flowers on each grave "I'm sorry that I couldn't get here in time to save you, a pretty big part of me blames myself for you guys not making it through this. I guess Cooler was right when he said that I can't save everybody. But that being said, it doesn't mean that I won't at least try." he prepared to make his way back to his ship, when he paused and noticed something "Wait a second, I think I sense somethng. Yeah it's pretty faint, but there's definitely a Ki signature nearby. And it feels kind of like Raditz, does that mean it's a Saiyan?" he quickly bolted across the skies for a few miles, then landed on the ground and began digging, and after a few minutes he found what he was looking for: a short figure with a slim build, spiky hair standing tall, a tail falling freely from his lower back, and the cracked and broken remains of a blue jumpsuit and brown and white colored Saiyan armor "So I was right it is a Saiyan, and he's still alive! I'd better get him back to Cooler's planet before it's too late!" and he gently put the Saiyan on his back and took off towards his space pod.

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Several days later…

He opened his and found himself strapped down to a bad, and immediately he started panicking and trying to free himself "Wh-Where am I?! Where's Turles?! Where's Gure?! Gure where are you?!"

"Easy easy!" Goku quickly tried to calm Tarble down "It's okay you don't have to worry, you're safe here."

"Who… Who are you, what happened to my people? Where's my wife?! Did Turles kill her like everyone else?"

Goku lowered his head and let out a sigh "Well the good news is that… Turles is dead and the Tree of Might is destroyed. I did both of those things."

"You… You did?" the Saiyan's face lit up with hope "So then there's a chance that at least some of them survived right?!"

"Well… actually by the time I got there… they were all dead… all of them… It was a miracle that I found you before it was too late."

"...Oh." the Saiyan's face fell and looked away as tears began streaming down his face over the loss of his people "I see."

"I'm sorry, if only I had gotten there sooner then… maybe I could've saved at least a few of them before Turles got to them."

"Please, just don't blame yourself." the Saiyan slowly turned to face Goku "If it wasn't for you then Turles would've made every world like Tech Tech, and at least now my wife and the rest of the people of Tech Tech can rest in peace, so thank you for that." the tears continued to flow endlessly.

'His eyes… so gentle and compassionate, but they're so full of pain… they actually remind me a lot of Gohan… I wonder…' Goku knelt down and put a hand on the Saiyan's shoulder as he removed the straps binding him "I know how you feel. I actually lost my son not too long ago, at the hands of Frieza."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah. I understand all too well how much it hurts to lose someone you care about and be helpless to do anything about it." his mind flashed to Gohan and Raditz dying by Frieza's hand, and of Grandpa Gohan as well "But you'll heal. The pain does go away eventually. I can help you, if you want that is."

"Y-You can?"

"Sure. I still have a lot of work and training to do, but when I do go back to my home planet, why don't you come with me?"

"Me? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. People like Frieza and his father, what they believe in lies in power and dominance, but what I believe in lies in people, hard work and dedication. You fall into the first category though. So what do you say?" he held out his hand "I guess that would kind of make me a master right? So what do you say?"

"Master and student? I've never actually had a master before." the Saiyan gave a small smile and slowly accepted Goku's hand "To be honest, my father just shipped me off to that planet because I wasn't good at fighting, so you're really the first person to actually care about me enough to bother to train me."

"Then I guess I'd better do this right. My name is Son Goku by the way."

"My name is Tarble of the Saiyan race."

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And as that story ends, not only has Son Goku grown stronger both in body and in mind, but the student has now started the path of becoming a master in his own right.

But as one story ends, another begins as the son starts down the path of following in his father's footsteps.

But before that, a little bit of light entertainment that is intended to be turned into a plot device later on.

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The vacuum of space was dark and cold.

And that's exactly why Raditz and Nail found themselves lucky to be travelling in a heavily furnished space pod complete with anything they would ever need "You have to give it to those people on Earth, they know how to make a damn good ship."

Nail nodded "Indeed, and now as we complete our travels we can train as we please without any unnecessary distractions-" he was cut off by the phone on the ship ringing "What in the universe is that?"

"My guess is Ghostbusters." Raditz pressed the button and his expression dulled "Oh you've gotta be f*cking kidding me."

"Hey yeah it's me, long time no see. Don't ask me how I've got this number, I've got a punch of people now."

"What the hell is going on?"

"Okay so here's the deal, from what the almighty Lord Popo told me they used the Dragon Balls to wish back everyone who was killed by Frieza and his men, and technically Vegeta worked for Frieza when he killed me, so bam! Nappa's back baby! Whoo to the whoo!"

"What about all of the ones that you killed?"

"Well technically I worked for Vegeta, but that has changed! I'm in Hollywood now!"

Nail stiffled a chuckle "I suppose that would mean that they're doing a live adaptation of Mr Clean?"

"Ha that's hilarious green guy! Find me the guy who writes your material and give me his number, because I'm a producer now."

"Of course you are, what do you even do?" asked Raditz.

"Actually I'm in charge of this new project, I wrote it myself. It's about this one guy who gets killed tragically by his best friend, but then comes back as a ghost and haunts him until his death by another former friend. I call it Citizen Nappa, the merchandising rights alone are gonna make a f*cking mint! We just signed on this great new actor too, his name is Mark Satan. We'll need to work on the first name though, I'm thinking Hercule. So what do you think?"

"I-"

"What do I care, you're not on my board."

"But I-"

"Listen I'll see you around and when you and your Namekian buddy get back to Earth give me a call! We'll do lunch! Ciao!" and then he hung up.

"...And suddenly I find myself questioning every decision I've ever made."

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(And now onto the next part of the story…)

A full year had passed since the war on Planet Namek, since Goku had awakened the Super Saiyan form, since Frieza had at long last been defeated by Goku's hand, and since the destruction of Planet Namek by Frieza's hand.

Now the Earth would once again be in danger, and thus the time has come for the son to follow in the footsteps of the father.

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A typical day in West City, at least for most that is. You see, in reality, it was the day of the West City carnival.

Gohan was currently exploring the wonders of the booth where you have to use a ball to knock over some bottles and win a prize "So you can just win stuff like this so easily?"

Kai nodded and handed him a ball "Yeah, just give it a shot."

"Alright, being sure to hold back but still channeling power into my arm, and…" he threw it, but only knocked over 2 of them "Oh come on! You cursed milk bottles, I swear I will conquer you yet!"

"Gohan you do know those games are rigged don't you?"

"Rigged?! Why didn't you bother to tell me that before I made a fool of myself and wasted my money?"

"Because I love to screw with you."

"Oh ha ha, very funny." Gohan just scowled and looked away took a sip of his soda, his tone catching Kai off guard.

"Okay why the hell are you acting like it's your time of the month? We both know that's my thing and this is our only day of the week where we get to just do whatever shit we want, and besides the carnival only rolles around once a year."

"Yeah I know, it's just…" Gohan let out a sigh "It's been an entire year since everything that happened on Planet Namek, but my dad still hasn't come back to Earth. I mean he didn't even let us wish him back home, or even give any kind of message. I know he's still out there somewhere but what's he doing, and I mean he does want to come home doesn't he?"

"Hey you said it yourself, all good things come to those who wait and that Goku could come back in his own good time. Besides you and I still have a lot of work to do before that actually happens, as in you going Super Saiyan and me beating the ever loving shit out of you after you go Super Saiyan."

"Nice to know that you've got your priorities in order."

"It's what I do, and speaking of priorities I need you to hear me out for a second. So I fire the Nail Gun with one hand right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well what if I used two hands instead, make it like a Double Nail Gun."

"You mean like the Kamehameha?"

"NO! Not like the Kamehameha, the Kamehameha doesn't blow the garnish straight off of a locker!"

"Last time I checked neither do energy guns."

"That's what makes it awesome, just like how the Special Beam Cannon drills through shit and that's what makes it special!"

"I'm pretty sure you're special-" Gohan paused as their heads snapped up towards the upper atmosphere "You feel that?"

"Yeah, there's something heading towards the planet."

"But what could it be?"

"I don't know but whatever it is it's definitely not good. It's the apocalypse and now we're all gonna die! Quick spunky sidekick, get me Chris Evans, Sean Schemmel and Bon Jovi and make it snappy!"

"What about Josh Brolin?"

"What about Monkey Soup?" and that pretty much ended the conversation.

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Dr Briefs looked through his telescope "Oh my, this isn't good my furry little colleague."

"What's going on dad?" asked Bulma "Is it gonna hit?"

"I'm afraid so my dear, it won't be long now."

"What?! How the heck can you be so calm? Can't we just destroy it?"

"Well we thought about that, and it definitely is an option but the problem is that it happens to be inhabited."

"So you're saying we just have to redirect it somehow?"

"Possibly."

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"Well ladies and gentlemen you've seen it here, that's the computer simulation of what's going to happen to the Earth later this afternoon! Now if you're anything like me then you're downright terrified and you have no desire to spend the last moments of your life in some dead end TV studio, so have a semi happy end of the world and I'll see at least some of you in Heaven when the dust settles."

Krillin looked at the news "Oh for crying out oud, I just wanted to see the sports and instead I find out that the world is going to end again. The world can't end, I've never even had a girlfriend yet, or even gotten laid! It's not fair, I haven't even lived yet!"

"Oh yeah… there there honey…" Master Roshi on the other hand was just snoozing the end of the world away "No need to worry… there's enough of me to go around…"

"And some people just sleep this kind of stuff away."

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People were dealing with the crisis in different ways.

On one hand, a good number of normal people

On the other hand, Yamcha, Krillin, Chichi and Bulma were all waiting in anticipation for Kai and Gohan to deal with the meteor before it hit the Earth.

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Gohan and Kai bolted upwards into the upper atmosphere "Keep in mind Kai that we don't want to destroy the thing, just change its course."

"First of all I'm not cool with being Mr Pink." Kai pointed out dryly "Second of all I say that it would be a lot easier to just blow the whole damn thing to bits."

"Well of course it would but there are innocent people on that thing, try to put yourself in their perspective."

"Hey I'm not saying I would, I'm just saying that it would be easier. Whatever let's just get this over with."

"Right. Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" the two of them launched a Double Kamehameha at the meteor… only for the meteor to be completely unfazed and their attacks to bounce off of the surface like they were nothing "So this part is bad right?"

"Well now it's about to crash into us so yeah I'd say that's bad." note how dry and unfazed his tone was, as if he had already resigned himself to this.

And that was before they got hit by the meteor.

The meteor passed near the Earth but just barely missing crashing into the planet, and it exploded almost immediately afterwards.

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Yamcha the first one to get up from eating dirt "Is everyone alright?"

Bulma spat out some dirt "I think so." she looked up and noticed what looked like a meteor shower passing overhead "Looks like they had to blow up the planet."

That was when Krillin noticed something "Guys check it out, it looks like some kind of ship landed in the city."

"That's not good." Yamcha gripped the 4 Star Dragon Ball hanging around his neck 'Goku, I chose to wear this Dragon Ball to protect it until you got back. You gave everything you had to save all of us from Frieza now it's time for me to do the same.'

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As it turns out, that spaceship actually belonged to Lord Slug and his henchmen, who have conquered several planets throughout the universe, with the Earth being their next target.

And their last because let's face it, you guys know how this goes.

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A crowd had soon gathered to see what was going on.

One of Slug's soldiers stepped out first "Alright men, now let's move in!" he stepped all the way out, with several more of Slug's soldiers following "Attention inhabitants of Earth, prepare to be conquered in the name of Lord Slug! Anyone who resists will be exterminated, so accept our rule now if you want to live!"

Needless to say, none of them believed in any of this and they just burst out laughing.

"On my mark. Fire!" and the soldiers started firing random Ki blasts at the crowd, which quickly quelled any doubts.

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Slug was told by one of the soldiers that terra freezing the Earth would take a total of 10 days and promptly killed the soldier in charge, and was told by the new one that it would only be 3 days.

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Fortunately, this was when the cavalry arrived.

"Spirit Ball!" Yamcha fired a Spirit Ball, skewering many of the soldiers, and kicked another soldier's mask in "It looks like somebody needs to teach you not to mess with other people's planets, and I'd be glad to volunteer!"

"You tell them Yamcha! Destructo Disc!" Krillin fired off his Destructo Disc, killing 10 soldiers at once.

"Alright, good job Krillin."

"Thanks." he was promptly tackled by 3 soldiers.

"Get away from him!" Yamcha charged at them at full speed.

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Slug and his men watched as the combined efforts of Krillin and Yamcha kicked the living crap out of all of their mooks, but Slug's eyes were fixated on the Dragon Ball that Yamcha wore around his neck.

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"Destructo Disc!" Krillin sliced through 7 more soldiers with ease "You see? That's how-" he was cut off by two of them catching him off guard and slugging him in the gut.

"Krillin!" Yamcha gently lowered him to the ground "Just stay here and don't move, I'll take care of them myself." he then proceeded to blitz through several more of Slug's men with ease, but he lost his Dragon Ball necklace in the process 'Dammit, well at least nobody here knows about the Dragon Balls.'

That was when Slug suddenly appeared and picked up the Dragon Ball "My my, people are so careless with their valuables these days."

'...Yeah okay, that one is on me. Who are you guys, what do you want?"

That was when Slug's top three henchmen Angila, Wings and Medamatcha all appeared in front of him and the others "Our master Lord Slug has comandered this planet, follow his edict and you shall be spared or you can try and join the countless others who have tried to resist and died slowly and painfully by his hand."

"You don't really think we're going to let you-"

"You don't have a choice you fool. Wake up Scarface, you're in denial. Look take my advice and just stay out of our way, you're far more out of your league here than you realize. You're playing with the big boys now."

"Oh get real, as if you guys are big boys and what do you want with our planet anyway?"

"It's simple, we're going to terra freeze it and turn it into our own personal star cruiser."

"Do you really think I'm going to sit here and let you do that?"

"It's not as if you have a choice." this was when Slug stepped forward and held out the 4 star Dragon Ball "You wouldn't happen to know where to find the rest of these would you?"

"But how do you-"

"I'm a nomad my friend, I've been to Namek before. Nice place, now where are they?"

"As if I'm going to tell you-"

"Well sorry to disappoint you old man, but it's going to take a lot more than a lifetime to find the Dragon Balls without a radar!" Bulma barked.

"Bulma!" Yamcha quickly slapped a hand over her mouth "Don't listen to her, she doesn't know what she's saying."

"Oh by all means, she doesn't have to be shy. I love secrets." Slug quickly used his telekinesis to send Yamcha flying into the cliffside and pull Bulma towards him, then used his powers to read her mind and got the information he needed on the Dragon Balls, as well as the Dragon Radar "Yes, this will do very nicely."

"Let her go!" Krillin charged and tried to stop them, only for Wings and Medamatcha to knock him out by simultaneously kneeing him in the gut, leaving him out cold.

Slug snatched the Dragon Radar from Bulma's waist, and then let her go, causing her to pass out and fall to the ground "What a resourceful girl, keeping a radar to detect the Dragon Balls." he handed the radar to Medamatcha "There are 6 more Dragon Balls like this one scattered across this planet, I want you to use this device to find all of them. You have 1 hour, fail me and it will be your final mistake."

The men scattered, all of them being fearful of Slug's wrath.

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An hour passed, and all of the Dragon Balls had been gathered.

Slug quickly gathered all of the Dragon Balls together and summoned Shenron himself "Now arise dragon, I call upon you to grant my wish!"

The Dragon Balls glowed, the skies darkened, and Shenron appeared "Why have you summoned me? State your wish so that I may return to my slumber."

"Great dragon, that are only two things that my wealth cannot buy! I wish to be returned to the prime of my youth never to grow old again, I want eternal youth!"

"Very well, it shall be- Wait a second hold on, something seems really familiar about all of this."

"Just do it!"

"Very well, it shall be done." Shenron's eyes glowed crimson, indicating that the wish was being fulfilled.

Slug quickly felt himself getting younger and let out a malicious victorious laughter "It's done, at last the almighty Lord Slug has returned!"

"Your wishes have been granted, I bid you farewell." and with that, Shenron disappeared as the Dragon Balls scattered across the planet once more.

"I'm young again, my strength his greater than it's ever been, I feel absolutely incredible! I can feel the power coursing through me once more! Kneel before me you fools, Lord Slug the almighty has been reborn!"

They promptly knelt before him.

"I can feel it, everything my youth granted me has been restored! My youth! My strength! My impeccable singing voice!"

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Now that his youth and full power had been restored, Slug and his men launched the terra freezing the outskirts of the Earth's atmosphere, releasing a thick dark cloud that covered the planet, blocking out the sunlight and lowering the temperature all over the planet, freezing the oceans in the process.

I see trees of brown

And skies of black

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

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Gohan finally came to and found himself almost freezing to death "Dammit it's cold, I must've landed in the polar ice caps or something."

"No, they simply terra froze the planet."

Gohan looked and saw two figures, one short with purple skin and a mohawk and the other tall with pink skin and long white hair "Who… Who are you guys?"

"Oh yes of course, how could I have forgotten? You may refer to me as Shin for the time being, and this is my attendant Kibito."

"So you guys were the one who healed me- Oh no what about Kai?"

"Cool your ass I'm right here." Krillin floated down towards him.

"Oh good. You said your name was Shin right? So are you guys by any chance do you intend to help us fight off the ones who did this?"

Shin shook his head "I'm afraid not, it goes against the rules of my position to interact with the inhabitants of this realm but at the moment I had to make an exception. Your planet must survive, and you must be the ones to protect it."

"...I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about but I'm going to assume you want me to kill the guys who did this to the Earth, am I right?"

"Yes."

"Okay then. Come on Kai, let's move." and he grabbed Kai by the hand and took off into the air at full speed.

"I suppose it's time for us to take our leave then." and Shin promptly grabbed onto Kibito and they both disappeared.

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By this point, everyone had gathered back at Kame House to try and make sure they didn't freeze to death.

"Well this oughta warm us up a little bit." Bulma handed Krillin a cup of soup "There, that oughta do the trick at least for a little while. Just hang in there for a little while, I'm gonna bring some to Yamcha." she stumbled slightly due to the after effects of Lord Slug using his mind reading on her, but she quickly recovered and made her way up the stairs.

'Okay seriously when the hell is Yamcha gonna pop the question already? I can feel the sexual tension all the way from here.' Krillin let out a mental sigh, followed by a shriek.

Bulma bolted down the stairs "Krillin it's Yamcha, he's changed into his gi and he took off out the window! And Red Dawn is on Netflix!"'

"Wait a second, you don't think he…"

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He did.

Yamcha looked up from where he was hiding behind a truck "Looks like I'm gonna have to be cautious about this , it's pretty obvious that I can't beat their boss with the level that he's at right now. But that being said, that doesn't mean we can just sit back and do nothing. I guess all I can do for now is try and finish off as many of the space trolls as we can until the likes of Piccolo can get here."

Unfortunately, that was when one of the soldiers, along with several others, noticed them "And just where do you think you're going?"

"It's actually a matter of where you're going, and that's to hell! Spirit Ball!" Yamcha was quick to unleash a Spirit Ball, blitzing through every single one of the soldiers with ease.

However, that was when Angila showed up and suddenly blitzed through Yamcha with ease before he knew what hit him, sending them both crashing to the ground "And to think the likes of you actually killed so many of our men so easily, it's honestly too hard to find good help these days. But enough about that, I think I'll finish you myself."

Unfortunately for him, that was when a Ki blast drew a wall between Angila and Yamcha, and a caped figure threw one of the soldiers at Angila and another one at the light fixture on Slug's ship, revealing himself to be Piccolo "Are you alright?"

Yamcha spat out some blood to the side as he got back to his feet "Well I'm still alive, but thanks for making the save in a Batman like fashion.

"Don't worry about that, and frankly I don't get that reference so let's get the lackeys over with already."

"Right." Yamcha dropped into a combat stance "I'm ready."

"Good, because now the real battle is about to begin."

That was when Angila returned, now joined by Winds and Medamatcha "Now you're dealing with the big boys."

"Alright, just hurry up and tell us what your gimmick is already."

"Gimmick?"

"Yeah like the last guys, from what I was told about it they were some kind of Wheel of Fortune and wrestler stereotypes. What does that make you guys?"

Angila shrugged "Well we're just here for your planet, though if I had to choose then I would have to say that I'm the pretty one."

"You get 6/10 at the most."

"You sassy bitch."

"Takes one to know one." then Piccolo turned to Medamatcha "I'm guessing that would make you the weird one that has the freaky powers."

"I can spawn mini me's!" note how he said this with a disturbingly huge shit eating grin that left them somewhat creeped out.

"Just spectacular." then he turned to Wings "And I'm guessing that that would make you no doubt the big tough stupid one."

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK OR I'LL KILL YOU!" Wings let out an outright snarl.

"Alright alright, you're not tough."

"That's better."

"Yep."

Tien raised an eyebrow "Wait, didn't you-"

"Just give him a minute."

That was when Wings finally got it "HEY! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" he charged at Piccolo in a blind rage.

Piccolo leapt onto the roof of a cargo truck, letting Wings ram his fist into the side of it and end up getting stuck "Now now, that truck is not your eating disorder."

"You're a penis!"

"It's been so long since you've seen yours that you don't even recognize one do you?"

Wings leapt onto the top of the truck and fired his fist forward in a rage.

Piccolo easily caught the fist and crushed it, then raised his elbow.

"Please don't break my arm."

"No." so Piccolo then proceeded to break his arm, causing Wings to cry out in agony.

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Tien leapt back and dodged a rapid barrage of Ki blasts 'Dammit, he's stronger than I thought he would be and I can't find any sort of openings.'

Medamatcha fired another barrage of Ki blasts, with some of them actually damaging Tien, sending him crashing to the ground "Not bad, you made it through the first round. But nobody ever makes it past the second round. Care to try your luck?" he made several odd gestures and spawned mini clones of himself from his back.

"Gross." Tien retreated into the air "Tri Beam!" he fired a Tri Beam, only for the mini clones to dodge all of them and latch onto him "Dammit!"

"You can feel it can't you? The way that they're sucking away all of your energy!"

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Piccolo easily kicked Wings off of a building "This is just pathetic."

"Oh please, you think you're so great? Well I'm gonna show you!" Wings wandered his way inside the building, only to get blown off of the roof again "Oh god dammit! Alrght now I'll go for the left, he won't see me coming from-" he got blown off of the roof again "Okay so he saw that coming. You know what fine, I'll wait down here and catch him off guard." and he wandered back into the building.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Oh hey, I'm just waiting for that green jackass so I can surprise him."

"Neat."

"Yeah he'll never see it coming- Oh wait."

"Yeah." and then Piccolo blasted him through the wall.

Wings slowly sat up and coughed up blood "Alright hold on, please don't kill me. You're strong I admit, but you're nowhere near strong enough to take on Lord Slug so why not join him while you still have a chance to? So what do you say, high five?"

"Down low."

"What-"

"Too slow."

and with that, Piccolo merely held out a hand towards Wings' face and fired off an Explosive Demon Wave, incinerating Wings on the spot before he even had time to scream.

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Angila noticed the explosion from afar and let out a sigh "So it looks like I'm actually going to get my turn for once. Wings that fool, he just couldn't measure up could he?"

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Medamatcha watched as his mini clones sent Yamcha crashing to the ground "I'm so proud of those little guys." he let out a whistle, causing the mini clones to merge back into his body.

"Yamcha hang on, I'm coming!" Piccolo attempted to rush to Yamcha's aid.

That is, before Angila's arms burst out of the ground and grabbed him by the ankle "I've got you!"

"Someone needs to put him out of his misery, like me!" Medamatcha promptly fired a Ki blast at them.

Piccolo used his own body to shield Yamcha from the blast, and when the blast subsided, all that had been damaged was his weighted turban and cape, which he promptly ripped off "If that's all you got then this will be easy."

"That's enough of that Piccolo." that was when Gohan, now wearing a gi identical to Goku's, only minus the blue undershirt, dropped down onto the scene, with Kai by his side "Take Yamcha and get as far away from here as you can, I'll take over this fight and finish it myself."

Medamatcha let out a chuckle "Coming here was a big mistake boy, freezing to death would honestly have been better. I think your friends over there can testify to that."

"One of those friends happens to be my teacher, and the other happens to bethe uncle of my best friend." Gohan promptly knelt down beside Yamcha "You did a great job all by yourself Yamcha and Piccolo, but let me handle this." he held out two Senzu Beans "Kai and I made a quick stop to see Master Korin before we came here." he fed one of them to Yamcha and then gave the other one to Piccolo, then turned back towards Slug's men "I'm giving you guys one warning and only one warning, unfreeze the planet and get out of here and I'll let you live."

"Did you hear that Angila? He thinks he's all that, he's quite the comedian isn't he?"

Angila smirked "Have any other strong words you'd like to throw at us little man?"

"Actions speak louder than words, and words won't win this battle." with his milky white aura flaring into life, Gohan easily dodged two simultaneous attacks from Angila and Medamatcha and grabbed Medamatcha by the neck using his ankles, then promptly flung him directly into the side of Slug's ship.

Medamatcha emerged and quickly snapped out of his daze "You little shit, my babies are gonna love you!"

"Let me have some of the fun!" Angila thrusted his arms into the ground and grabbed Kai by the ankles "I've got him Medamatcha, let the little Medas have at him!"

"I'm on it!" Medamatcha quickly unleashed his mini clones, which then latched onto Kai's face and head, before Medamatcha himself lunged.

"Oh no, now what ever should I do? Oh I know. Kaioken!" Kai boosted his new Zen Ryuken technique to the next level and sent out a small scale Explosive Wave, obliterating all of the clones attached to him, then fired a simple Ki blast at Medamatcha before he could pounce on him from above, obliterating him on the spot.

"You little upstart prick!" Angila furiously fired a Mouth Energy Wave.

Kai countered the blast with a quick Ki blast of his own, forcing Angila's Mouth Energy Wave back down his throat, causing his head to explode and killing him almost immediately, and then he caught Gohan in a high five "Well the guard dogs are down, now where's the great dane?"

That was when Slug made an explosive entrance onto the scene, killing all of his remaining soldiers as they were trying to retreat "It's impossible to find good help these days, look you're with the government or the church then just go ahead and get the f*ck off of my property, and considering I now own this rock that's effectively everything. On the other hand, if you've come to apply to apply for the soldier job then just use the side entrance."

Gohan let out a quick gulp and braced himself "Thanks but no thanks ugly big green and ugly, I'm self employed."

"I seel, well I've already staked my claim here so don't interfere."

'This guy's power is incredible, not that it's anything Dad couldn't beat if he just went Super Saiyan but at this point I'm gonna have to be careful. No Gohan , you have to focus. Dad would never give up, and neither can you.'

That was when Krillin stepped up, getting way too cocky for his own good "This guy is asking for it. Don't worry Kai, just sit on back and let me handle this one."

'...This is going to be far more amusing than it should be.'

"Remember this ugly! The name! Is KAI! And it rhymes! With DIE! And any minute now, you're about! To! See! WHY!" Kai charged in, only to get backhanded by Slug "Change of plans, he's all yours Gohan! What possessed me to do that?!" and he was sent flying away from the battlefield.

"Kai! You're gonna pay for that!" Gohan flared his white aura and charged towards Slug at full speed.

"Is that all you've got? You're pathetic." Slug dodged and easily blocked a Masenko.

Gohan charged after Slug into the air.

Slug blitzed forward and slugged Gohan straight across the face, sending him crashing down to the ground.

Gohan quickly recovered and went back on the offensive.

Slug caught both of his fists with ease "Is this all of the power you're capable of?" he promptly smashed Kai down to the ground.

"Gohan hold on!" Piccolo attempted to rush to his side.

"No, stay back!" Gohan held out a hand "I can handle this myself."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Slug lowered himself to the ground and picked Gohan up out of the ground by one of his ankles "You may have had a chance yesterday, but thanks to the power of the Dragon Balls you're fighting Lord Slug in his prime! And you know, there's a certain sport that I excel at."

"What's it called?"

"Competitive Bitch Toss!" he promptly flung Gohan through a truck, as well as through the wall behind said truck.

Gohan emerged from the rubble and spat out some blood 'Come on Gohan, you've gotta think of a way to get yourself out of this. It's times like this I wish I had learned the Kaioken too, but there's no telling if my body would be able to handle the strain.

"It feels good to be young again." Slug nonchalantly fired his Darkness Eye Beam.

Gohan barely managed to get himself out of the way and thrusted his hand forward, managing to punch Slug clean across the face.

Slug gave an arrogant smirk "Now that wasn't very nice now was it?" he backhanded Gohan into another building "Nothing like a little bit of window shopping is there?" he grabbed Gohan by the face and threw him back out onto the street, followed by slugging him in the gut, then in the face, and then sending him flying through another wall. Well, sending his head through the wall anyway. Then Slug roughly grabbed him and began pummeling, before sending him tumbling back down the street with a single Ki blast "I don't know why I'm wasting my time with the likes of you."

Gohan slowly staggered to his feet once more, now bloody and battered but still not beaten, though the top of his gi was practically shredded halfway 'Well I guess finshing this fight quickly is out of the question now. But no matter what I can't give up now, everyone is counting on me to beat this guy, so I can't fail them.' then the realization suddenly sunk in as his surroundings faded away 'Like I did against Beets, or against Vegeta and Nappa, or against Frieza. Whenever my friends needed me the most I was always too scared to help them, I've always been letting them down this entire time, and they've always had to save me! I can't run from this battle, no one is here to protect me, they're all depending on me! But I can't let them down, not again! Kai, Piccolo, Yamcha, everyone. All of you please just hang in there, I need you to lend me your strength so that I can beat him. None of you would give up, My dad wouldn't give up, and neither will I!' his aura suddenly took on a golden shade

Slug nonchalantly waltzed up to him "This is boring, it's time for you to die." he clocked back one of his fists and let it fly forward.

Much to his surprise, Gohan caught it with one hand, and before anyone knew what was happening his aura and hair had turned a shade of gold, and his eyes had taken a shade of bluish green "No way, not today, especially not to the likes of you!"

"What the- But how are you doing this?!"

"I know exaxtly what your kind are like, you think that you can just waltz in and take our planet because there's no one around strong enough to stop you! But you forgot one thing: the blood of the great Son Goku is coursing through my veins, and on my father's name I refuse to let him or anyone else down!" Gohan quickly bent Slug's wrist and broke it with ease, then promptly slugged him in the face, sending him crashing to the ground with ease.

Slug could still feel the burning aura on his face where Gohan had punched him "His power has surpassed my own, how could this be?"

Gohan burst forward and kicked Slug straight in the gut, sending him crashing into a building.

Slug burst out from the building, demolishing it almost immediately.

Gohan began blitzing through Slug over and over again, ending the brutal and endless assault by smashing Slug in the face, sending him crashing into another building.

Slug staggered back to his feet "What the hell got into you?!"

Gohan fired off a rapid barrage of Ki blasts and headbutted Slug into a wall "I got my second wind, that's what."

Gohan gripped his now useless wounded left arm and let out a chuckle "Well well, you're just full of surprises aren't you? You even managed to wreck a perfectly good arm." he then ripped his bad arm clean off.

"You know you're actually supposed to leave it on, it gets better."

He just regenerated it and removed his other glove and sleeve.

"Or I guess you could just do that instead. Wait a second, that means that…"

He removed his helmet, revealing his full appearance.

"Your jaw is enormous! And oh my gosh, you're a Yoshi. Wow Kai was right, it is fun to say things like that."

That was when Slug made it worse by entering the Great Namekian form, transforming to the size of a Great Ape.

"Oh crap."

"Gohan you have to be careful!"

"Yeah I figured that much, is that you King Kai?"

"Yes it's me, now listen very carefully. Slug is one of the ancient Namekians who discovered the key to unlocking a higher consciousness within called Super Namekians, but the problem is that their power corrupted them and turned them into beings of pure evil and malice rivalling that of the likes of Frieza himself. Thanks to the power of the Dragon Balls, the good Namekians were able to banish the Super Namekians from their homeworld forever and sever any connections with them, even life links like the one that existed between Piccolo and Kami. Thanks to the power of the Earth's Dragon Balls, he's regained his youth and his full power has been restored, and with this transformation he's become even more power than the likes of Frieza. Above all, be very careful." then the connection shut off.

"Okay this is definitely bad."

Slug let out a menacing and maniacal chuckle "Oh yes, the view is much better up here with all of the skyscrapers!"

Gohan stood his ground and flared his new Super Saiyan aura "Well then I guess I'll just have to cut you back down to size!"

"I must say that I am impressed boy, you're one of the few who has seen my true form and not run away from fear."

"Look, I don't wanna have to hurt you."

"What?!" Slug stomped down his foot, only to realize that he had missed, and began sweeping through various buildings "Why you little runt, you dare pity Lord Slug?!"

Gohan dodged another sweep and fired off a stray Masenko as he retreated.

Slug turned and found that he couldn't see Gohan, but he could sense him "Oh my, looks like somebody is out of breath."

Gohan quickly dodged one of the arms but found himself trying and failing to track Slug "This is bad, where did he go? How could someone that big possibly hide himself?"

One of Slug's hands burst through the building on the left, another hand from the building on the right, and his actual face burst through the building in the middle "I've got you!" he fired off a quick Mouth Energy Wave to stop Gohan from charging any attacks, decimating several of the surrounding buildings in the process "What a feisty little guy. Oh well he's dead now." that was when he noticed something as the dust settled "How the hell did I miss him? I shot at him point blank!"

Sure enough, the smoke cleared to reveal that Gohan had blocked the Mouth Energy Wave at the last second, though his black wrist bands fell off in the process, and he smirked "Not yet, and not anytime soon. It's times like this I have to love those lucky wristbands Dad gave me before we left for Planet Namek."

"Get over here you wretched little-" Slug extended his arm in an attempt to grab him and crush him to death.

Gohan leapt above the attempted grab and ran up Slug's arm, then fired a simple Masenko at his face and sent him crashing to the ground, before he retreated 'This isn't good, his power level definitely multiplied with that transformation. Come on Gohan you need to think, there has to be a way to beat this guy.'

"Need a hand?"

Gohan looked back and saw Kai, Tien and Piccolo step up "Kai, all of you? I guess I got a little bit in over my head didn't I?"

"A little bit, it happens."

"Well I guess I should apologize, I wanted to prove to all of you and to myself that I could handle stuff like this on my own but the truth is that I'm just not strong enough to defeat him by myself."

"You don't need to apologize, we've all been there at some point." Yamcha told him "Sure you're already amazingly strong as it is, but it takes being able to trust and believe in others and having friends by your side to make you even stronger."

"So you'll help me?"

"If by help you you mean take all of the credit after beating the ever loving shit out of this guy then yes. Kaioken 10x!" Kai powered up his Kaioken.

"Never change Kai, never change. Anyway I have a plan. At this rate none of us are gonna be able to last a second against this guy, if we want to have any sort of chance of winning then we need to combine all of our power for one all out assault. Agreed?"

"Yeah works for me."

"Alright, we'll do it on my signal."

"I've had more of you than I can stand!" Slug roared at the top of his lungs "I'm going to kill you if it's the last thing I do!"

"Looks like he's pretty much losing his cool." Gohan flared his new Super Saiyan aura and dropped into a combat stance "Alright everybody get ready, it's just about go time."

"DIE!" Slug fired a Mouth Energy Wave, packing every ounce of Ki he had left into the attack, intent on incinerating the city along with them.

"Alright everyone, let's go! Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" Gohan fired a full power Super Kamehameha.

"Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" Kai fired a full power Super Kamehameha.

"Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" Yamcha fired a full power Super Kamehameha.

"Special Beam Cannon!" Piccolo fired a Special Beam Cannon, with all 5 attacks combining into one and clashing with the Mouth Energy Wave, though it increased in size and began slowly pushing them back.

"Come on people, don't give in!" Gohan packed more Ki into his blast "I'm not going to lose, not to anyone especially not to you! This is bad, we're all giving it everything we've got and it's still pushing us back!'

"This is my chance!" seeing an opening, Piccolo broke off his Special Beam Cannon and flew up to the Mouth Energy Wave, then began pushing it back with all of his strength.

"Piccolo what in the world are you doing?!"

"You guys hold it off until I take care of it!" Piccolo began pushing the Mouth Energy Wave back as he continued flying upwards.

"What?! Piccolo!"

"Just trust me!" Piccolo burst up towards Slug and attempted to fire a Ki blast.

Unable to speak without breaking off of his Mouth Energy Wave, Slug attempted to hit Piccolo with his Darkness Eye Beam.

Piccolo narrowly dodged the blasts and fired two simultaneous Explosive Demon Waves, one at each eye, causing Slug to cry out in pain and his Mouth Energy Wave to waver "Now!"

"Right! Come on everyone, just give it one final push!" and with a furious roar, Gohan unleashed every ounce of strength he had left, with Kai and Yamcha both doing the same, finally breaking the through the Mouth Energy Wave, engulfing Slug in the combined blast.

Slug could only scream in mangled agony as he was sent flying into the terra freezing generator, destroying the machine as well as killing him in the massive explosion that followed.

"It's… It's over…" Gohan powered back down to his base form and grinned "We won… We really won…" then he collapsed forward from exhaustion and lost consciousness.

Piccolo caught him as he lowered himself back to the ground 'You've gotten strong Gohan, truly strong. You really have made me proud with your performance today.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few days went by, and things had returned to normal.

Yamcha was with Gohan and Kai back at the carnival in West City again, at the exact same booth, and he easily knocked all three bottles over with one "It doesn't have anything to do with power you guys, it's all in the wrist. That way you can get more action on the ball when you throw it. Go ahead, give it a shot."

"Alright." Gohan flicked his wrist as he threw, getting all three bottles in one shot "Now that's what I'm talking about, I guess we do still have a few things to learn."

"Um, Gohan…" Kai pointed to where the ball had gone through the stand, as well as through several more stands behind it."

"...I might need to work on that." but he still burst out laughing at this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Son Goku and Son Gohan, father and son, survivors of a warrior race. They have been tested in the heat of battle, and they have emerged stronger both in body and in mind as a result. But as the calm before the storm subsides and the storm looms ever closer, do they have what it takes to rise to the challenge? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation!

A/N:

And thus the new generation of Z Fighters has at last proven that they have what it takes. This was a semi breather chapter after the hell that everyone had suffered because of Frieza on Planet Namek, and meant to take advantage of some ideas revolving around my adaptations of movies 3 and 4, the Tree of Might and Lord Slug respectively, so it's divided into two separate stories, one of the adaptations focusing on Goku and the other on Gohan, hence the title of the chapter.

I had Goku be saved from Planet Namek exploding by Cooler for two reasons: First of all, to make something different from canon. Second of all, to find a way to make further use of Cooler in my story without just shoehorning him in or cutting and pasting him in from another story. Also, in case it wasn't clear Goku's part in this chapter takes place during the four months after the battle with Frieza, whereas the part with Gohan and Kai takes place a year after that.

Tarble is Vegeta's younger brother from the OVA Yo Son Goku and his Friends Return, I always had a soft spot for him and thought that he had a lot of unused potential, especially after reading the fic Honor of the Disgraced by Cosmic Cannon, so I figured why not have Goku take him as an apprentice.

I'm going to have Shin and Kibito make a few brief appearances in a few chapters leading up until the Majin Buu Saga, so I can say that they're trying to find any warriors strong enough to tangle with the likes of Buu, if for no other reason but to make Shin less of an overall disappointment.

Gohan going Super Saiyan in between sagas is probably the biggest change from canon since I had Raditz be a good guy, but since he's one of the two main characters of this fic, I wanted to give him a lot of bonus development. Granted he's not as strong as Goku right now but he's definitely strong enough that he would surpass Frieza at full power. Also I figured that since people are whining about Slug being a ripoff of King Piccolo, it would be the perfect place for it to happen. Think about it, it parallels Goku's fight with King Piccolo perfectly. By saving the world from an evil Namekian that used the Dragon Balls to regain his youth, Gohan has taken the first step to following in Goku's footsteps.

Power levels:

Gohan: 2.7 million

Super Saiyan Gohan: 135 million

Kai: 340,000

Kai (Kaioken 10x): 3.2 million

Goku: 3.8 million

Goku (Kaioken 10x): 38 million

Super Saiyan Goku: 190 million

Weighted Piccolo: 3.5 million

Unweighted Piccolo: 4.55 million

Yamcha: 305,000

Krillin: 220,000

Tarble: 2,200

Cooler (suppressed): 6.5 million

Turles: 10 million

Turles (fruit): 100 million

Wings: 500,000

Medamatcha: 750,000

Angela: 1.8 million

Old Lord Slug: 30 million

Young Lord Slug: 60 million

Lord Slug (Giant form): 120 million