Sub Sagas: Radditz - Training - Saiya-jins

Radditz Sub-saga

The epic tale of Dragonball Z begins with a meeting between Son Gokou and the friends he's made during his previous quests for the dragonballs. Riding on Nimbus, he lands on Kame-sennin's island, and with him he carries a small boy, who has a tail. After welcoming his old friends Kuririn, Buruma, Kame-sennin, and Umi-Game, he reveals that the boy is in fact his son. Though his friends are distressed over the boy, his tail, and the full moon, Gokou is indiscriminate to such worries.

Meanwhile, a small, round space pod crashes in a farmer's field on the other side of the planet. A tall, long haired and oddly clad man steps out of the crater the crash creates, and after dispatching the farmer, picks up a large power level on his scouter, not far from his position. He flies away to find Piccolo, who is training alone in the desert. The man finds that it is not "Kakorot" and then threatens Piccolo. The Namekian doesn't back down and fires a huge ki blast at the new arrival. When the smoke clears, the tall man remains unscathed, and Piccolo is left scared. The man then picks up another large power level, the largest on the planet, and determines that it must belong to "Kakorot". He then flies off, leaving Piccolo in fear.

Just as the people on Kame-sennin's island are beginning to get comfortable, Gokou senses a huge ki flying towards the island. The man that had just attacked Piccolo arrives from the air, calls Gokou "Kakorot" and asks what he's doing. Gokou has no idea what he's talking about, but before long, the man reveals what he is doing on Earth.

He claims to be called Radditz, and also claims to be Gokou's brother! Gokou is dumbfounded as Radditz explains that he and Gokou are part of a race of warrior's called Saiya-jins, whose business is to destroy planets and then sell them on the inter-planetary market. He tells Gokou that his real name is Kakorot, and that he was sent to Earth as a small boy to clear out Earth so it could be sold. Radditz also says that their home world, called Vejiitasei, was destroyed, and that only he, Gokou, and two other Saiya-jins survived. He then tells Gokou to help him destroy the Earth and come back with him to help take over the universe! Gokou, being both confused and scared, rejects his brother's offer and tells him to leave. Radditz is quickly angered and after knocking down Gokou, takes Gohan, Gokou's son, and threatens that unless Gokou comes to his senses, he will kill Gohan. Radditz then flies off the island, leaving everyone worried, especially Gokou.

Before long though, Piccolo arrives on Kame-sennin's island and tells Gokou that Radditz is too powerful for either of them to fight alone. Despite Kuririn's requests, Gokou agrees that Piccolo and he must team up to defeat Radditz. The two head off for Gohan and Radditz's location, prepared to do battle.

When the two finally reach Radditz's position, they learn that Gohan has been hidden in Radditz's space pod, and then they surprise Gokou's brother by removing weighted clothes, which dramatically raise their power levels. Gokou then tells Radditz to leave and give him Gohan back, but Radditz of course rejects the offer and tries again to get Gokou to team up with him. The trio then begin to do battle. Piccolo and Gokou both go all out on Radditz, but he easily deflects their attacks. After a while, Radditz fires a ki beam that slices off part of Piccolo's arm. With the dynamic pairing of Gokou and Piccolo on the defensive, the Namekian warrior reveals that he has developed a new attack that is extremely powerful, and best of all, he can perform it with only one hand. In order to have time to power up the attack though, Gokou is forced to go one on one with Radditz for five minutes. After a few exchanges that Radditz easily dominates, Gokou fires a Kamehameha at Radditz, who still manages to block the attack. After hitting Gokou with a ki blast and sending him plummeting to the ground, Radditz's scouter goes crazy, as Piccolo's attack is done charging up. Piccolo fires a beam called the "Makankosappo" at Radditz. Despite it's huge power and amazing speed, Radditz manages to dodge the blast.

With Piccolo exhausted, and Radditz barely tired, it seems the battle is all but over for the Earth's heroes. Just before Radditz is going to strike though, Gokou jumps up and grabs his tail! Radditz is overcome with pain as Gokou mercilessly squeezes his brother's tail. Piccolo begins powering up another Makankosappo, and tells Gokou to hold on tight. Radditz pleads for mercy though, and claims that he will leave if Gokou releases his tail. Gokou, being the kind man that he is, lets go of Radditz's tail for the sake of brotherhood. Radditz pounces on the mistake, and beats Gokou down. Piccolo is helpless to do anything against it, and just as Radditz is about to finish off his brother, a huge scream emits from Radditz's space pod, and Gohan suddenly shoots out. Radditz's scouter reads Gohan at a power level far too high for any child's, and just as he is about to defend himself, Gohan fires his entire body at Radditz and strikes him in the chest in a ball of energy.

Radditz is badly winded from the blow, and after recovering slightly, kicks Gohan into unconsciousness. Almost scared by Gohan's hidden power, Radditz intends to kill the little brat and then finish with his father and Piccolo. Just as he is about to finish Gohan though, Gokou again springs into action and grabs Radditz in a nelson head-lock. Piccolo smiles and continues charging up his second Makankosappo. Radditz again tries to squirm his way out of being killed, but Gokou doesn't fall for it this time. Piccolo fires his Makankosappo the instant it's fully charged and the beam cuts straight through both Gokou and Radditz!

The two are flung into the air and thud onto the ground. While he is bleeding to death, Radditz calls Gokou an idiot for choosing to die along with him. Piccolo then reveals that Gokou will not be dead for very long, and will in fact probably be back very soon. Radditz questions how, and Piccolo tells him about the dragon balls and their ability to grant any wish. Radditz then laughs and says that his fellow Saiya-jins have just heard about the dragon balls as well, through his scouter, which also serves as a radio transmitter, and that they will come to the Earth within one year to make a wish with the dragon balls. Piccolo finally silences Radditz and then goes over to the slowly dying Gokou. Kuririn, Buruma and Kame-sennin then also arrive on the scene by airship. The Radditz era ends with Gokou saying good-bye to his friends and saying that he will be back in a year to help fight the next two saiyans.



Training Sub-Saga

With Radditz and Gokou killed, and a much larger threat on the way, the Z Senshi know exactly what they must do.

Piccolo declares that he will take Gohan to train, so that he can release the power that he has hidden within himself. Though Kuririn, Kame-sennin and Buruma all object, Piccolo snaps up the unconscious Gohan and leaves away for the deserted plains area immediately.

Realizing that they can do nothing to prevent Piccolo from training Gohan, the three humans head back to Kame-sennin's place to begin their training. While they're there, Buruma fixes Radditz's scouter, and uses it to read Kame-sennin's and Kuririn's power levels. Immediately after she does, there's a knock at the door. Yajirobe is there to tell Kuririn, Yamucha, Tenshinhan, and Chao-zu to go to Karin Tower, and then go to Sky Palace, to receive training from Kami. Yajirobe then sets off, leaving Kuririn slightly dumb-founded.

Kuririn and Buruma then set off in an air-car, and using the scouter, locate each of the other human Z Senshi. They find them without much trouble and then they all set off for Karin Tower. Once they climb the tower and reach Sky Palace, they meet Kami, and their training begins.

Meanwhile, Piccolo deposits Gohan in the desert and leaves him there to fend for himself. Gohan, though basically defenseless and frightened, manages to fend for himself, finding food and shelter through his own means. In only a few days though, Gohan looks into the full moon and transforms into a huge Oozaru monkey. Piccolo is forced to destroy the moon, before he is destroyed himself, and Gohan is changed back into a human form, after which, Piccolo takes Gohan's tail out of his rear-end. Piccolo, satisfied that Gohan will survive for at least a while, flies off to begin his own training.

While all this is occurring on Earth, Gokou finds himself in a very peculiar situation in another dimension. Kami speaks with the gate-keeper to the dead realm, who wonders if Gokou is worthy of receiving training from the great "North Kaio." Kami shows that Goku has done more for the defense of Earth than anyone else in history, and Yemma agrees to give Gokou permission to run down Snake Way and train under the North Kaio. Gokou thanks King Yemma, and Kami hurries the Saiya-jin warrior to the Snake Way. When he reaches the start of the path, he finds that the entire path to Kaio's location is a million kilometers long.

Back on Sky Palace, the human Z Senshi spar, practice their ki attacks, and perfect new manuevers, all under the watchful eye of Kami. With the addition of weighted clothes and a few new training methods, Yamucha, Tenshinhan, Chao-zu and Kuririn all know they are getting stronger, although they're not sure by how much.

Gohan manages to do very well on his own, and before long constructs a craft that will take him back home. Once he reaches his old home and finds his mother though, he is overcome with an urge to remain with Piccolo and train to beat the Saiya-jins heading towards Earth. Piccolo sweeps in and take's Gohan away again, so they can continue their training.

As this is happening, Gokou continues his path down Snake Way. Though the sheer enormity of the path would daunt most people into giving up, Gokou, being Gokou, merely considers the path "Long" and has absolute confidence that he will reach Kaio's planet.

In space, the two Saiya-jins, Nappa and Vegeta continue their long journey towards the Earth.

Piccolo and Gohan begin their sparring on the plains in the eastern hemisphere, where the two find that they both have a lot to learn about the other. Despite Piccolo's often brutal training style, Gohan gains a great level of admiration and respect towards the Namekian, and Piccolo, though he doesn't show it, also deeply cares about and respects Gohan.

Gokou, after over half a year of running down Snake Way, arrives at the end of the huge path to find...nothing? Upon further inspection, Gokou discovers a small planetoid hanging high in the sky. He leaps towards it, and just as he hangs above the ground, he is pulled down from the sky and crashes onto the planet's surface. He is amazed that such a small planet could have such a huge gravity, and with much effort, stands and begins a search for the great North Kaio.

After a short encounter with a monkey, Gokou meets with North Kaio. After cracking a few bad jokes, Kaio-sama agrees to train Gokou. Gokou is very happy and wonders what his first assignment will be. Kaio-sama says that Gokou must catch his monkey, Bubbles, before he will get any direct training for Kaio himself. Though Gokou doesn't understand why, he agrees to try and catch Bubbles, and finds the task much harder than he originally assumed it would be. When Gokou manages to catch Bubbles in only a few days, Kaio-sama is amazed and wonders if perhaps Gokou is the one that will learn to master even his most difficult attacks.

On Earth, the humans on Sky Palace finish their training under Kami, and they are all amazed at how much stronger they've become. Still, they agree to go back down to the Earth and continue their training on their own, in preparation for the Saiya-jins.

Gohan and Piccolo are also nearing the completion of their training in the wastelands of the plains. Gohan has shown a huge improvement, and Piccolo realizes that Gohan could very well be the most powerful being in the upcoming battle. The relationship as mentor and student continues to grow, and Gohan even believes that he and Piccolo will remain good friends after the battle is done with.

After five months have passed on Kaio-sama's planet, Gokou has completed his training, and through Kaio-sama, he communicates to Kame-sennin and tells him that he is ready to be wished back, as the Saiya-jins will be arriving in a day. Kaio-sama then realizes that he has forgotten about the time it will take Gokou to get back, and that Gokou will be arriving late for the Saiya-jins. Luckily, Gokou's new training will let him make it before the battle is completely over.

Kame-sennin makes the wish back on Earth, and Gokou begins his return trip down Snake Way, and back to Earth. And on the planet Earth, the humans, Piccolo and Gohan see the dark sky from the dragon balls being used, and realize that the Saiya-jins are arriving.



Saiya-jins

A pair of blazing white lights shoot through the atmosphere of Earth, and almost instantly, all the Z Senshi feel the presence of two huge ki's landing on Earth. They each calmly prepare for the arrival of the Saiya-jins.

Nappa and Vegeta's pods crash into the heart of a city. After stepping out of the crash-site, they find that the human vermin before them are afraid of them, and try to run away. Nappa laughs and destroys half the city in a single blast of energy. Vegeta then orders Nappa to use his scouter and find the location of the most powerful beings on the planet, so they can kill them and then begin their search for the dragon balls. Nappa is amazed to find a batch of large power levels (all near a thousand at least) scattered over the planet. Soon though, he locates a pair of the large power levels grouped together, and sets off for Gohan and Piccolo's location.

While they do, Gokou continues racing back down snake way so that he will arrive in time to help out his friends.

Tenshinhan, Yamucha, Kuririn and Chao-zu all feel the pair of Saiya-jin flying towards Piccolo and Gohan, and quickly set off for the Namek and half Saiya-jin as well, so that they will be able to combat the oncoming enemies together. Piccolo and Gohan, meanwhile, are quietly awaiting the Saiya-jins arrival, so that they will be prepared to do battle. Just before Nappa and Vegeta arrive, Kuririn and Yamucha land alongside Piccolo and Gohan. And immediately after the pair of burly invaders land, so does Tenshinhan and Chao-zu.

Nappa and Vegeta both laugh at the Z Senshi's "pathetic" power levels, and claim that they will quickly wipe them off the face of the Earth. But, since they don't wish to get their hands dirty, they plant six small seeds into the Earth instead of immediately beginning the fight. Almost instantly, six green men, roughly the size of Kuririn, pop out of the ground, seething with tenseness and power. The Saiya-jins then offer to let their "Saibamen" do battle with the Z Senshi first, to see if they're even worth their precious time. The Earth's warriors agree to fight the Saibamen, so that they will have time for Gokou to arrive.

Tenshinhan does battle with one of the Saibamen first, and after only a short while, easily dominates him. After the Saibaman is easily defeated, Vegeta becomes enraged and destroys the green being. Though the Z Senshi are amazed at Vegeta's will to destroy his own, Yamucha volunteers to fight the next Saibaman. He also does quite well, and after a minute or two, beats down the Saibaman with a Kamehameha. Just as quickly as he thinks he's won though, the green Saibaman pulls a quick one on the human warrior. He springs up from the ground and envelopes Yamucha in his arms. There is then a large whine in the air, and the Saibaman suddenly explodes, with Yamucha. When the smoke clears, there is only a pile of rubble where Yamucha and the Saibaman once stood.

All the Z Senshi howl in agony and fear, but none more so than Kuririn. He becomes extremely enraged at Yamucha's defeat, and powers up a huge blast of power. He fires it right at the remaining four Saibamen, destroying all but one of them, and directing the remaining power at the Saiya-jins. After a long explosion, Nappa and Vegeta slowly walk out of the dust, laughing. Kuririn exclaims that he threw everything he had into that blast, and comments on the overwhelming power of the Saiya-jins. Just as he is doing all that, the last remaining Saibaman jumps out of a cave and tries to kill Gohan. Piccolo catches him in the air though, and flings him into the sky, before blowing him up with a ki blast from his mouth.

So with no more Saibamen to do their dirty work, the Saiya-jins are forced to do battle with the Z Senshi themselves. Nappa claims that he can take on all five of them, and doesn't want Vegeta to get annoyed by the Earth scum. Nappa begins by attacking Tenshinhan, who finds himself thoroughly outmatched. Just when it seems Nappa is gaining a distinct advantage over Ten, Chao-zu flies in and attaches himself to Nappa's backside, right where the bulky Saiya-jin cannot reach him. Nappa continually bashes Chao-zu into the nearby mountains before finally Chao-zu fully powers up and explodes himself onto Nappa in a vain attempt to destroy the dangerous Saiya-jin.

Though it appears Chao-zu's last ditch effort has succeeded, it is soon revealed that Nappa is very much alive. Tenshinhan then attacks Nappa at the sight of the death of his longtime friend. Nappa easily evades Ten's, assault though, and before long, Tenshinhan is tired beyond belief, and Nappa begins to have his way with him. However, Piccolo sees that Nappa is concentrating on Ten too much, and tells Kuririn and Gohan to help him intervene and destroy Nappa. Kuririn does so, but Gohan is too scared to, and in the end, they only succeed in taking Nappa's attention away from Ten, and directing it towards themselves.

So with Gohan scared and Ten hurt, its up to Piccolo and Gohan to beat Nappa. They too find that even when paired together, that they are no match for Nappa. Just as Nappa is about to finish them off though, Tenshinhan puts all of his remaining strength into one huge blast, which Nappa barely sees at the last second. Tenshinhan dies of over-exertion, and Nappa is barely even scathed.

Just as the darkest hour is arriving for the Z Senshi, Kuririn tells Vegeta to just wait until Gokou arrives, so that they will have a fighting chance. Interested that perhaps Gokou is the one they call Kakorot, Vegeta agrees, and tells Nappa to wait 3 hours, for Gokou's arrival.

Just as all this is happening, Gokou is nearly finishing his journey down Snake Way, and towards an inevitable battle.

During the three hour break, Piccolo shows his disgust for Gohan's cowardice, but secretly only wishes to release Gohan's hidden power. Immediately after the three hours are up, Nappa again wishes to take on the remaining fighters by himself. Kuririn and Piccolo launch an attack in an attempt to grab Nappa's tail. Though they do succeed in doing so, they find that Nappa does not have the same weakness as Radditz did, and the big Saiya-jin proceeds to nearly knock-out Piccolo.

As he is doing so, Vegeta picks up a large reading on his scouter. Gokou has finished his travels and is now heading towards the location of the battle. Finding that Kakorot has a power level much higher than before, Vegeta orders Nappa to kill the remaining Z Senshi, as the teaming of them with Kakorot would be a danger. Nappa begins roughing up Gohan, and immediately afterwards blows away Kuririn. Then, Nappa is blasted in the back by a rejuvenated Piccolo. This only angers the Saiya-jin though, who powers up a huge blast and fires it at Gohan in anger. Piccolo intervenes, and takes the brunt of the blast head on. It is then that Piccolo dies, and with him Kami, and the relationship between Gohan and his Namek master is forever strengthened.

Gohan cries out in anger at seeing his second father die right before his eyes. He then directs his rage at Nappa. His power level rises significantly, and he fires a "Masenko" at Nappa. Though the Saiya-jin is amazed at the young boy's power, he still manages to block the blast away and send it careening into a mountain.

Nappa laughs at the human's pathetic attempts to defeat the mighty Saiya-jins, and right as he is about to kill Gohan and destroy whatever chances the Earth has for salvation, Gokou arrives on the scene, saving his son and Kuririn. He gives them both a half of a Senzu bean, which gives them back their energy. Gokou then begins to do battle with Nappa, who we find is no match for our human-raised Saiya-jin. Though in the end Nappa does give Gokou a slight run for his money, he easily beats the bald Saiya-jin down, and sends him hurling towards Vegeta.

The black-haired Saiya-jin prince, disgusted at his comrade's lack of power, sends him careening into the sky, where he fires a huge beam and incinerates Nappa in it. Gokou and the other Z Senshi are amazed at Vegeta's power, and Gokou tells Gohan and Kuririn to leave so that he can do battle with Vegeta alone. Kuririn leads Gohan away, and the two set off for Master Roshi's house, leaving the last two pure-bred Saiya-jins to do battle.

This begins Gokou and Vegeta's long battle. Gokou quickly finds that he is no match for the prince of the Saiya-jins, and is forced to use his Kaioken attack (which doubles his power) in order to just keep up with Vegeta. Even in doing so, he finds that Vegeta is still slightly more powerful than him. The two battle for a while like this, with Vegeta holding a bit of an advantage, before Gokou realizes what he must do. He powers up to a level beyond Vegeta's, with his Kaioken manuever being multiplied by three. Though the strain put on his body is huge, he gets the necessary increase in power, and easily starts handling Vegeta. Before long, Vegeta is beaten badly, and becomes enraged at Kakorot. He then flies high into the sky and begins powering up his beam, called the Gallick-Ho. Gokou, seeing that he must counter-act Vegeta's beam, powers up with Kaioken X 3 once again, and then begins charging a Kamehameha. Vegeta fires his beam before long, and so does Gokou.

The two gigantic beams of power meet, and a battle of power ensues. The two beams are evenly matched, and in order to beat Vegeta, Gokou is forced to pump up his Kaioken to a level four times normal. His beam instantly grows larger and overpowers Vegeta, sending him into the atmosphere. Gokou's body is seriously damaged though, and he knows he may not be able to take much more damage.

Meanwhile, Vegeta becomes even more amazed at Kakorot's strength, and knows that the only way to beat him was to transform. He flies back down the Earth, and then hurls a ball of energy into the air, which perfectly simulates the full moon. Vegeta then begins to transform into a huge Oozaru (or were-monkey), and then chases and beats down Gokou.

As this is happening, Gohan and Kuririn sense that something is wrong, and begin heading back to the battle-ground of Gokou and Vegeta's. As they are doing so, Vegeta begins crushing the life out of Gokou, who sees that the only way for him to defeat the Oozaru Vegeta is to use a Genki-Dama, which was the most powerful move Kaio-sama taught him.

Using a Taiyoken, Gokou escapes Vegeta's grasp long enough to begin powering up the Genki-Dama, but before he can use it on Vegeta, the huge Saiya-jin recovers and blows Gokou away, and in the process, rids Gokou of most of the power that he built up.

Just when it seems it can't get any worse, Kuririn and Gohan arrive back on the scene, to find Vegeta crushing Gokou in his palms. With almost no hope in sight, the most un-thought of warrior appears on the scene to slice off Vegeta's tail... Yajirobe! Vegeta cries in agony as he shrinks back down to his normal size, and releases Gokou out of his grasp.

Once Vegeta's finished transforming back, he begins to do battle with Gohan, who is instructed by his father to hold off Vegeta as long as he can. Though Gohan is out-matched fairly badly, he does manage to put up a very good fight against Vegeta. Meanwhile, Gokou begins passing the power he gathered for the Genki-Dama to Kuririn, who is instructed to hurl the power at Vegeta. Perching himself on a ledge, Kuririn eyes Vegeta, and hurls it at the Saiya-jin. Vegeta sees it at the last second though, and manages to avoid the ball of pure energy. With the ball heading straight towards Gohan, it seems all hope is lost. But then suddenly, Gokou tells Gohan that the ball can't hurt him if he has no evil inside his heart. Gohan closes his eyes and bounces the Genki-Dama back at Vegeta, who is hit with the blast, and sent once again into the sky.

It seems that the Z Senshi have won, but just as they begin to celebrate, Vegeta falls back out of the sky and shows that he is very much alive. He quickly disposes of Kuririn and Yajirobe, and then begins to work on Gohan. Just when Gohan is nearing defeat though, his tail suddenly grows back, and he looks up into the sky to see the fake moon Vegeta has thrown up there. He transforms into a huge Oozaru as well, and begins beating up on Vegeta. In a strange twist of fate, Gohan crushes Vegeta under his huge ape-like body, just as Vegeta is slicing off the boy's tail.

Vegeta, hurt and dazed, calls for his space pod to come and pick him up. Kuririn though, intervenes and takes Yajirobe's sword in an attempt to finally kill the stalwart Saiya-jin prince. Gokou pleads with Kuririn though, and finally convinces him to let Vegeta go, since he believes that everyone deserves a second chance. Vegeta shoots off into the sky, and the Earth rejoices.