Chapter 5: Preparation

Goku and Raditz continued their flight towards Goku's home on Mount Paozu. Goku's son Gohan, being carried along in his father's arms finally found the courage to speak, having listened in silence for most of the day.

"Daddy…is he my uncle?" the boy asked. "You said he was your brother…"

"Huh?" Goku looked down as his son. "Uh, I guess so. Yeah! Say hi to Uncle Raditz!" Gohan gave a nervous smile, and waved.

"Hi, Uncle Raditz!"

"Hmph." Raditz scowled and turned away. "By his age, a saiyan child would have already been sent to conquer some remote planet."

"You really know how to kill the mood, don't you?" Goku muttered, patting Gohan on the head. "It's okay, Gohan—Raditz is in a bad mood, 'cause he got beaten up by Piccolo."

Raditz wanted to retort—something along the lines of 'for the last time, I beat that green freak!'—but something else was pressing on his mind. "Kakarot…you offered to let me use your ship, when we were talking back in the island house."

"Yeah, so?"

"It sounded like you weren't going to leave—just let me go and leave you here. Why would you stay behind and face the invaders, but let me escape?"

"Because this is my home now." Goku looked at Raditz, his face open and sincere. "I couldn't just abandon my friends and family—let alone leave the entire human race to get wiped out."

"What has it come to, when an amnesiac, tailless, low-class renegade has more honour than the prince of our race?" Raditz grumbled, ending the conversation.

The minutes crawled by in silence. The mountains loomed in the distance.

"So…you gonna keep calling me Kakarot or what?"

"Well, I'm just glad you had the sense to keep my Gohan out of all that fighting," Chi-Chi said, holding her son close to her, "but it's just all so hard to believe! I mean…you're from outer space? Are you sure?"

"Look, I wouldn't lie about something like this," Raditz growled, "and as you may be able to tell from the state of my armour, I haven't exactly had an easy time today, so I don't feel particularly inclined to argue about it with you. Now, we're going to go meet with this world's fighters at the headquarters of some kind of guardian."

"Yeah, Kami," Goku interjected. "Remember him from the World Tournament, Chi-Chi? He's the good side of Piccolo." He waved. "I'll be back for dinner!" He jumped onto the waiting nimbus cloud, and Raditz followed him into the sky.

"Stay safe," Chi-Chi whispered, suddenly feeling anxious about her husband's safety. Gohan, standing by her feet, waved.

"Bye-bye, Uncle Raditz," he called. Chi-Chi frowned. That alien brother of Goku's had better stay away from her little boy, or there'd be trouble…

As they made their way towards Kami's lookout, a thought struck Goku. "Hey, Raditz—you gonna get your armour fixed up?"

"I will at some point," his brother replied, "but first we need to meet with this planet's warriors and determine a plan of action."

"What's there to plan?" Goku asked, going faster now he didn't have to worry about Gohan. "We spend this year training in preparation, and when they get here we fight them. Simple."

"True, but we still need to know who we have, any advantages we can get in terms of the battle's location, and what training facilities this world has."

"I guess so. Plus, we can make sure everyone's clear on exactly what's going on."

It didn't take them long to reach the Lookout, to find Yaijerobe, Krillin and Yamcha waiting for them. Shortly, Kami walked out to meet them.

"I have been watching recent events," he said, "and it pains me to know that such a terrible evil will so soon be descending on the Earth. Are you all aware on the situation?"

Yamcha nodded. "Yeah, Krillin told me on the way here. So, this is Goku's brother?"

"Why does everyone ask that?!" Raditz snapped. "Do I not look like him or something?"

"Hey, no offense." Yamcha flinched back involuntarily at Raditz's glare.

Krillin spoke up. "Well, what would be helpful right now is if Raditz told us more about these two other saiyans. We could really use information on what we're up against."

"All right." Raditz stepped forward, standing in front of the others. "I'm afraid it's all bad news. Both of the other saiyans' strength greatly exceeds my own—or even that of the demon I fought today…Piccolo, was it?"

"That is troubling…" Kami muttered. "In one year, we will face twice your strength, and more…"

Raditz frowned. "I don't think I've made the extent of their superiority quite clear yet. One of them—a large brute called Nappa—is, on his own, greater than double my power."

"Woah…so, he's the one to watch out for, huh?" Goku asked, trying to picture fighting an opponent more than twice as strong as Raditz—half nervous, half excited.

"I'm afraid not. You see, the other—Vegeta, the prince of all saiyans—his power is greater than ten times my own."

"W-what?" Krillin started trembling. "No way! We're doomed…" Yaijerobe began to sneak away, feeling that this battle was not for him, but Yamcha caught him by the back of his shirt and held him in place.

"Hey! Let go a' me!" the samurai whined.

"Not a chance!" Yamcha held firm. "You're not getting away that easy, you little coward!"

"Well…the odds are certainly not in our favour…" Kami said, leaning heavily on his staff. "However, I will do what I can. Krillin—Yamcha—Yaijerobe—I offer my training to you. I have nothing left to teach Goku, and I doubt Raditz needs any instruction from one such as I."

"Indeed." Raditz turned to Goku. "I suggest we train together. There are certain aspects of saiyan physiology which you might not be familiar with, which may aid you in increasing your power." He drove all thoughts of fear from his mind. There was only the coming battle.

"Sounds good! Let's start straight away tomorrow. You want to stay at my house for the night?"

"No, thank you," Raditz shook his head. "I think you should wait and explain the situation to your family today—my presence could aggravate the situation. In any case, that island house we were at earlier, being home to multiple people, would probably have a greater range of clothing I could choose from until my armour is fixed." This logic didn't quite seem to be enough reason for Raditz to choose to stay with a group of complete strangers, but Goku wasn't the questioning type, so he let it go.

"Uh, okay." Goku shrugged. "I'm sure they won't mind."

Raditz floated a couple of feet into the air. "And Kakarot, meet me tomorrow in the wasteland near where you live. And fly there under your own power."

"Huh? But the Nimbus is faster, I told you—and flying tires me out…"

"That's the point. You need to become self-reliant. For the same reason, I'm not going to use my scouter, and I aim to learn to sense energy without it." He flew off, vanishing within seconds.

Goku turned to Kami. "You might want to use your telepathy and get in touch with Kame House—so Raditz doesn't take them entirely by surprise."

"That would be wise," Kami replied. "I shall also contact Piccolo—as I believe has already been said, even he surely would not wish the Earth to be destroyed, and his assistance would be extremely valuable."

"Yeah, good idea." Goku ran to the edge of the Lookout and jumped off, catching himself in midair and flying away towards his home. He flew as long as he could without the Nimbus, until finally running out of energy and calling it.

The two saiyans met at sunrise in the wasteland, the mountains to their left. Raditz was wearing a spare turtle school martial arts uniform, and kept grumbling about how undignified he looked. "So, how was Kame House?" Goku asked.

Raditz scowled, which was fast becoming his signature facial expression. "Try and imagine a galactic warrior, conqueror of planets, sitting around the table and eating dinner with a couple of Earthlings. Then double the awkwardness."

"That bad, huh?" Goku gave an I'm-innocent grin, as if this was somehow his fault. "Aheh…sorry about that, then…"

"The old man would tremble every time I walked near him—I'm fairly sure he could sense my energy." He put a hand on his forehead, as if even the memory irritated him. "And as for the girl with two personalities…the blonde one kept trying to pick a fight with me, and it took all my willpower not to just tear her head off. The shy one I can't figure out at all. Humans are such strange creatures. It's impossible to tell what they're thinking so much of the time."

"Yeah, I always thought that too." Goku thought back to his past. "I guess that explains why people always thought I was simple—it was just that I'm a saiyan."

"No, you're a saiyan and a simpleton." Raditz crossed his arms. "So, shall we commence our training?"

Goku nodded, stretching his muscles and mentally preparing himself. "Let's do this!"tion