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Chapter 13
Fateful Landing

Kakarot slumbered as his Space Pod flew at impossibly high speeds. He was completely motionless; this was the most peaceful he's felt since escaping Freeza's forces. This peace soon ended as a blinking red light, along with a robotic voice, read out a message, "Destination…three hundred meters…awakening procedures initiated…prepare for landing sequence…" It spoke in a heavily robotic yet feminine voice. Soon the air in the pod shifted as air inside it was sucked into vents from within and new air was pushed onto the sleeping Saiyan. Kakarot began to stir and let out a light groan before opening his eyes.

He felt the cold chill of the air conditioning system on his face. He let out a groan and said, "Damned wakeup call… could never get used this chilled feelin." In order to help with long distance travel, the Freeza Empire's Space Pods put the occupants to sleep with an airborne sleeping agent. It's a similar concept to cryo sleep but thanks to the advanced ships the Freeza Force has access to traveling from one point of the galaxy to the other isn't a problem, granted depending on the destination any number of years could pass before reaching their destination. Kakarot dislikes the cold chill of the air which is used to wake him up.

Regardless, Kakarot does his best to stretch out inside of his pod despite the cramped space he's confined in. Kakarot looked through his front window and saw that he was passing right by a large Sun. Kakarot muttered, "If only I could feel that heat." If it wasn't for his Pod's advanced internal systems keeping the internal temperature static, then Kakarot might be feeling the immense heat coming off of the nearby star. Even as the surface flames of the sun grazed the sides of the Pod, it remained cool inside with no visible damage showing on the outside.

Soon the pod circled this star and spotted his destination in the distance. He saw a bright blue and green world as a second circular body was a distance from it. Kakarot was careful not to give this second object his full attention since this object was his destination orbiting moon. Transforming now would be a death sentence, luckily it was much too far away and at a difficult angle to get a full view of it. Kakarot disregarded the floating rock and focused on his destination, Earth. Unsurprisingly his brother was correct, "It actually doesn't look half bad from here." Kakarot smirked in the planet's direction and spoke with confidence in his voice, "I'm coming brother, just…"

Kakarot dropped his smirk, and then glared at the planet, "Don't be dead…" Kakarot then took out a device with a small blue screen and pressed a few buttons. It indicated there was an object flying alongside his ship. Kakarot said, "Good, didn't lose the second one. Wouldn't be much of a rescue if I didn't bring a spare." Kakarot put the device inside one of the many hidden compartments inside the pod and waited for his pod to reach the Earth. After some time, the Pod reached the Earth's surface, penetrated the atmosphere with minimal difficulty and rocketed toward the designated landing zone. Kakarot set it to aim for a remote landing zone away from civilization.

Kakarot wanted to avoid the locals as much as possible, if he attracted negative attention then he could get distracted from finding his brother. Kakarot gauged that he had at least two weeks before whoever was chasing him caught up to him. His decoys would only delay his pursuers for a limited time. Soon his pod landed in a large forest covered mountain shaking the surrounding forest with its impact. Kakarot noted, "Well this was a smoother landing than my arrival on Prune." Kakarot paused for a moment at the thought of Prune but soon disregarded whatever he was feeling and pressed a few buttons on the inside of his pod.

The front door soon opened wide allowing him to exit his pod. He set foot on crushed dirt and soon stepped out of the crater his Pod made only to see he was surrounded by tall trees and long green grass. Kakarot marveled at his environment, "Damn, brother… Ya said the place was nice, but I didn't expect it would look this beautiful. No wonder Freeza wanted it, it'll sell well." Kakarot sucked in a deep breath, letting in the fresh air into his lungs. As he exhaled, he was overwhelmed by a sense of calm he hadn't experienced in a long, long time. It was strangely nostalgic, but Kakarot soon shook his head and said, "Alright down to business."

Kakarot gives his supplies a quick check up before moving on to his brother's extra pod. While Kakarot checks it for damages on the other side of the planet several individuals have begun to move in unison. Somewhere on the earth was a large floating half-circle shaped object with several palm trees and other shrubbery planets on the edges and in a number of other places. At the center sat a single white and yellow Arabian styled temple. A man with pitch black skin with long ears, red lips and Arabian style attire stood. He smiled as he watered a flower patch when suddenly a new pair landed on the "Lookout".

Among the pair stood a tall bald man sporting three eyes and a unique sleeveless green Gi which covered all but the upper right part of his chest. The second individual was a short individual with snow white skin and a black cap with a red ball at the tip along with a white shirt and green pants. The pair smiled at the lone man and waved, "Hello Popo!" The short man spoke in a cheerful voice while the three-eyed man said, "How have things been up here?" Popo smiled back at them while waving, "They've been peaceful, up until now at least." All three of them frowned after this response.

The three eyed man named Tien suddenly said with a grim tone, "So you feel it too." Popo approached them and said, "Yes, it's a truly terrifying Ki. The last time I felt such a malicious Ki was the initial reign of Piccolo." The white man named Chiaotzu swallowed hard as he recalled their previous battles with this "Piccolo". Right then a new individual landed next to them saying, "I see you guys beat me here." Tien said, "What do you think of this Ki Krillin?" The newcomer was taller than Chiaotzu but not by much. He was bald, had six incense burns on his forehead making it clear he is a monk. He wore an orange Gi with a black undershirt. The noseless man grimaced at the power he was feeling, "It's many times larger than the previous guy we faced."

Chiaotzu let out a nervous response, "I-Is it possible this one is friendly?" Krillin shook his head and said, "Not likely, you can feel the animosity mixed in the Ki too, right?" Chiaotzu reluctantly nods in response. Suddenly one last individual lands next to them. The man named Yamcha scratched the back of his head while he nervously said, "Sorry I was late guys, Bulma wasn't happy with me leaving so suddenly." Yamcha wore an orange gi but unlike Krillin's own outfit, he was missing the black undershirt. Yamcha had long black hair that dropped down to the middle of his back, both Krillin and Yamcha had the Kanji for Turtle placed on their uniforms.

Chiaotzu asked, "Are you two still having problems?" Yamcha responded with, "I've been going out to train too much for her liking. After this I'd better take a quick brake before she gets fed up with me." Even Krillin begins to feel sorry for him but soon clears his throat. Everyone dropped their lighthearted expressions and got down to business. As if on cue a man called to them from the nearby temple, "Let us focus, this invader calls for our attention." An old green man with long ears and antennae on his head joins their group. He made his way to them carrying a large light brown cane almost as tall as he was. The old man was clearly not human as patches of his arms displayed a layer of pale lined muscle.

Regardless of his intimidating appearance the rest of the warriors paid close attention to what the man known as Kami had to say. "It has been three months since that fateful day." Tien angrily punched his open palm and spoke with spite in his voice, "And now we have to deal with another one and without the help from last time." Yamcha calmly puts a handout and with a wavering expression says, "Wait, how do we know this one's hostile? For all we know he's like those other visitors." Tien's expression relaxes but he crosses his arms and says, "I appreciate your optimism Yamcha but you feel that Ki too, right?"

Everyone peers over the horizon and was stunned into silence from the immense presence they felt from afar. Krillin through a tense tone says nervously, "I would like to believe this isn't a threat but the feel of this Ki alone… all I sense is animosity." Tien added, "Never mind the fact we can feel it from here. We didn't even know the previous invader was here until he blew South City to bits." Everyone's gaze drifted away from each other, each of their expressions looked pained, saddened and mournful. Krillin's expression hardened as he clenched his right hand into a quaking fist as he spoke with anger in his voice. He declared, "That will not happen again, I won't allow it."

Everyone looked at him with a similarly determined stare and nodded in unison. Yamcha then asked, "Where's Piccolo at a time like this. We could use his help." Krillin immediately says, "I haven't seen him in three months, where could he be?" Tien grimaces at the name and said, "As much as I hate him, we could use more muscle right about now." Kami pauses for a moment, closes his eyes but then lets out a low sigh, "My other half surely has felt this Ki. His absence can only mean he has different plans." Tien suddenly said, " Other plans? I knew he was full of himself, but he can't honestly believe he stands a chance against this new guy without our help."

Yamcha put a hand over his mouth and spoke in an uncertain tone, "This is Piccolo we're talking about, who knows what he's thinking. He's not actually our ally at the end of the day." Krillin then said, "Whatever his plan is, it can't be good. We should keep a lookout for him. I don't like it when we don't know what he's up to." Kami nods while saying, "I concur, I may sense less evil in him than his father, but it would be wise to be wary of him." Tien let out a short grunt and said, "Alright so what's our plan? Last time we were too slow to respond and because of that we lost South City." Chiaotzu interjects asking, "How many balls have we collected? We still haven't revived the people of South city."

Yamcha gave a look of regret and said, "I've collected three balls so far, but the Radar has had a bunch of malfunctions in my attempt to find the fourth one." Krillin crosses his arms and says, "Right now the balls will have to wait. Reviving those people won't fix our current situation." Krillin then points his index finger upward and provides a strategy. "We'll all patrol one of the big potential targets of this alien." Krillin then says, "If he's after cities like the last invader then we'll be there to distract him. The second one of us spots him, raise your Ki and the rest of us will come running."

Krillin then said, "With this strategy we'll determine his intent, and we won't lose a city." Yamcha looks hesitant, Tien has a similar look but said, "I'd rather we take him head on but given this Ki…" Tien's expression begins to look grim, "I doubt we can win in a fair fight." Tien doesn't like their odds but admits to himself that this might be their best shot. Yamcha suddenly asks, "What if his goal is to destroy the planet?" Krillin immediately answers him, "If that was his plan then he wouldn't have bothered to land. He would have just parked within our atmosphere and fired off a big one."

Tien nodded and said, "Yeah, what idiot would blow up a planet they're standing on? Regardless, we don't even know if he's strong enough to do that, so it's pointless to worry about that." They all nodded in agreement. Yamcha agreed to protect West City, Tien decided on North while Chiaotzu defended South City since it could still be targeted regardless of it being under reconstruction. Lastly Krillin decided he would patrol Papaya Island and the surrounding areas since they were short on manpower. Kami then said with a serious tone, "Be wary, my former pupils, do not underestimate this new foe and remain vigilant." All of them nodded in agreement and flew off to their respective areas.

Kami watched as they disappeared from view, which is when Popo asked, "Do you think they can win?" Kami paused for a moment but then walked to the edge of the Lookout while staring off into the distance. He then let out a tired sigh and said, "I can't know for certain. They have long since surpassed me but even with all the wisdom I had attained through my years, I can't begin to predict what the outcome will be… we will just have to wait and see." Kami stared off into the distance hoping that his former students will prevail in the end despite the odds being stacked against them.

Author's Notes: Hello, sorry for the wait. I had to stop for a time in order to keep myself from burning myself out on this story, but now I'm back into the story and have finally finished finalizing the roadmap for the arc and am now ready to start writing the actual story chapters.

Edit note: a bit of added dialogue when Kakarot arrives on Earth.

Current Power Level's=

Kakarot: 4,000

Raditz: 2,900

Krillin: 1,500

Yamcha: 1,000

Tien: 1,500

Chiatozu: 800

Kami: 520

Popo: 300