Dragonball Z: Saiyan Saga [2]

Raditz begin to pound the living hell out of Goku, and turns to Piccolo when his brother is down on the floor. He reminds him of the trick that he was going to use on him, and Piccolo remembers. Once again, Raditz gets that ball of energy in his hand, and prepares to throw it. Before he can launch it at Piccolo though, he suddenly falls to the floor. Behind him is Goku, holding onto his tail. Raditz is in excruciating pain on the floor. Goku comments on how he remembers the pain he suffered when having his tail removed. Raditz is pleading with Goku to let go, as Piccolo once again charges up his Demon Ray, going for another try. Raditz manipulates Goku into thinking that he’ll go back from whence he came, and never do anything bad again. The gullible warrior agrees to let go, and is thanked with an elbow to the face. Piccolo had tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen. Raditz begins laughing at Goku’s foolishness, as he is on the floor.

Piccolo looks on, unable to do anything about the beating that Goku is receiving. Raditz taunts the green man, and then turns to Goku. He presses his foot down on his ribs extremely hard, making Goku cry out in pain. As Raditz presses his foot down harder, Goku’s screams become louder, until they fill the air. From inside the crater comes a huge explosion, as Gohan soars out. He is growling fiercely. “Leave my daddy alone!” he shouted, then charged at Raditz, hitting him with a headbutt, and putting a hole in his armour. Raditz almost falls to the floor, but manages to stand his ground. He can’t believe that the son of someone he called a low class soldier, could be the strongest person on the whole planet. Gohan is dazed, but unaware of where he is, and how he got there. Raditz laughs as he sees the power level go straight back down, then kicks him, knocking the little kid unconscious.

Raditz now turns to Piccolo, thinking that he is the only one left. Slowly he advances on him, preparing to deliver a fatal blow. His arms flip into the air, into a full nelson pose. Goku is up, and clutching Raditz tightly in the full nelson hold, not letting go. Piccolo gets ready to deliver the beam which will destroy Raditz, just after Goku says that he will nobly give up his life to get rid of Raditz. Piccolo doesn’t try to stop him though, saying that it would be pretty convenient to him if Goku died. Raditz tries to escape, but the damage that Gohan did earlier had weakened him. Goku comments on how his ribs are broken, and Piccolo waits a few seconds before releasing the ray, which cuts through the middle of both Raditz and Goku, killing them both. In their dying moments, Raditz taunts Goku about foolishly giving up his life, but Piccolo tells him of the dragon balls, and them being able to revive Goku. Raditz scoffs at him, informing him that his scouter is also a communication device, which allows his other saiyan friends to hear everything that he hears, and now that he let that out, they will be along to try and get hold of them. Piccolo doesn’t show much interest, until Raditz tells him that they are about 10 times stronger than him. At first, Piccolo refuses to believe it, but he comes to terms with it in the end, and Raditz dies. He then turns to Goku, who is slowly being drained of his life too. He tells Piccolo to wish him back, then fades away, just as Krillen and the others land.

They get out, and go over to Goku, being careful to avoid Piccolo. They see Goku fading away, and are told by Piccolo that it is the work of Kami, taking him to the check in station for dead spirits. Piccolo then walks over to Gohan, and lifts him up, and walks away. Krillen tries to stop him, but knows better than to get in a fight with the green man. Piccolo informs the others about the saiyans that will soon arrive, and it shocks them greatly. He walks off, saying that he is taking Gohan to train him, as he has truly amazing potential.

Krillen and the others collect as many of the dragon balls as they can, eventually getting all 7. They take them to Roshi’s hut, and put them together.

Up in heaven, Goku has been given permission to run snake way, to try and receive some training off the great King Kai – The only person ever to make it all the way along Snake Way. The one thing he was told was not to fall off, because of he does, then there is no return.

He starts off on his quest, sprinting as fast as he can, in order to get to Kai before the saiyans arrive.

Back on Earth, a fat messenger names Yajirobe arrives on Roshi’s island, telling him that Krillen has been selected to train for the Earths Special Forces. He is surprised at his luck, and is off. Previously, Bulma had used the scouter to find out the Krillen's power level was 255, even higher than Master Roshi’s, but not even close to Goku and Piccolo’s.

On the top of a relatively small tower, high above Earth are a collection of the top fighters in Earth. These include a three eyed human called Tien, a small puppet look-a-like called Chao-zu, a fat, food obsessed man called Yajirobe, a spiky haired, cocky human named Yamcha, and a bald headed short human called Krillen. They are all training with each other, sparring, and trying to get the upper hand on one-another. Krillen doesn’t seem to be able to hit his partner – Yajirobe – who is more interested in eating than in fighting.

Back on Snake Way, Goku is still sprinting as fast as he can in an effort to get to Kai’s place. He tries jumping, and it works well, speeding up the process of getting to his destination. After a short while, Goku needs to have a sleep. He lies in the middle of the road, and falls down, into the beyond. Shady hands grab at him, but he manages to wake up just in time, and break free. He makes sure he isn’t careless again, and continues on his way.

On Earth, the fighters have their first test after the small bit of training that they have been given so far. They are to venture forth into the room of time and spirit. The fighters are in some sort of battleground of the past, where saiyans have previously been. Dead bodies path the floor, some of saiyans, some of humans. Tien seems to think that there is no need for them to be there, as everyone is already dead. In the shadows lurk two figures, as of yet unseen by our heroes. They are discussing ways of having fun with the stranded warriors, who are training for their encounters with the saiyans.

From out of the shady corner jump two figures – One slightly overweight, and the other is far thinner. They start sniveling like idiots, plotting ways to kill the warriors. They are in for no easy fight though. The fight that ensues is the most one-sided fight of the series so far. Even Yamcha’s mini-spirit bomb (Nothing like the one Goku uses) is no-where near powerful enough to stop their two saiyan enemies. They slowly dispose of each person, taking them out with relative ease. Tien puts up a major fuss when Chao-zu, his best friend, is killed, but not even his enraged state can do anything to help his power as he is easily beaten.

The heroes end up back in the room that they were in, and are all dazed. Yajirobe stands there, watching them all recover. He didn’t go in due to his general cowardice in the heat of battle. They are all surprised, and happy to still be alive, after suffering their deaths in the room of spirit and time. Kami informs them that only their minds for in there, which is why their physical state is undamaged. They are all relieved, but find the fact that the saiyans they fought were comparatively weak compared to the ones on Earth, absolutely unbelievable. Again, they get busy training.

>>> Continue on to page 3 of the Saiyan Saga