"Hands up high. Don't drop your guard!" Goku admonishes.

Gritting his teeth, Raditz forces his arms to rise from their lowered position, moving just in time to block the shorter man's punch. His legs wobble unsteadily as Goku's attack pushes him backwards, forcing him to pump Ki into them to stop himself from falling.

"30 times Earth's gravity sure is something, huh? You sure you don't want to lower it again?"

Raditz shakes his head. "No. We'll need all the training we can get for Namek. I'm going to go until I collapse, and then I'll use one of those 'Senzu Beans' to keep going."

Goku frowns, launching another strike towards Raditz.

"I think your approach to training is a bit flawed. When Master Roshi trained me and Krillin, he told us to 'move well, learn well, play well, eat well, and rest well. That's the Turtle Hermit way to learn.' I think you should follow this advice and take a break. Intense training can help a fighter grow powerful, but resting regularly is just as important."

'God knows I want to take a break...' Raditz thinks miserably. 'Kakarot is already wasting time by training me in martial arts. He'll probably be weaker than he should be by the time we arrive on Namek. I need to be strong enough to make up for his weakness.'

"You don't get it, Kakarot. Do you really think that Vegeta is the worst threat we'll face? No. Me, Nappa, and Vegeta worked for an absurdly powerful alien named Frieza. He would destroy Vegeta without breaking a sweat, even if Vegeta was a Great Ape. Vegeta knows that Namek has Dragon Balls, so Frieza surely knows as well."

"Woah, really?! I can't wait to fight him!"

Raditz sighs. "Let me put this into perspective for you. Vegeta had a power level of 18,000 when I fought him, and probably around 12,000 by the time you arrived, since he was tired from fighting me for so long. The Great Ape form would put his power at 120,000. Just his power, mind you. The form doesn't increase or decrease a Saiyan's speed..."

"Frieza has a power level of 530,000."

"What?! You're saying that he's four times stronger than Vegeta?!"

"A little more than that, but yes. Do you understand why I'm so focused on getting stronger? Neither of us will stand a chance as we are now. Frieza is merciless. He'll kill all of us without hesitation. We need to up our training intensity."

Goku hesitates, staring at Raditz for a few seconds before speaking.

"I understand why you're worried, but.... we can barely keep up with the training now, and I'm using the Kaioken to deal with it! I can go further than you because Kaioken x2 isn't that hard for me anymore, but if you keep pushing yourself, you're going to do more harm than good. Dr. Briefs believes that we'll be able to go to x50 gravity by the time we reach Namek, but I think we can manage to go further, you just have to trust the Turtle Hermit way to learn."

"You're... you're using the Kaioken? I didn't even notice." Raditz asks.

"I don't know how you managed it, but your base form is stronger than mine now." Goku says, walking over to the gravity machine's controls. "I can keep the Kaioken active for a few hours now, but I'm only risking it because we have so many Senzu Beans."

"How many do we have, exactly?" Raditz asks as Goku turns the gravity machine off.

"About two dozen. Korin said that Mr. Popo found some stashed away."

"That's... that's great." Raditz says in surprise.

'What the hell?! Did he get that many in the actual show?! It took him 6 days to get to Namek. How the fuck did Kakarot go through almost two dozen Senzu Beans in under a week?!'

"Yep! Here, try one!" Goku says, chucking a Senzu at Raditz.

Raditz's hand snaps out to catch the bean, but he doesn't eat it. After hesitating for a few moments, he speaks.

"How about you turn that gravity machine back on? If we keep it at 10 times Earth's gravity while we're resting, then we'll get used to higher levels of gravity pretty quickly."

Goku sighs. "We won't be able to rest as well as we should... but fine, if you insist."

While Goku turns sets the room's gravity to x10, Raditz stows the Senzu Bean away in one of his pockets.

"You aren't going to eat it?" Goku asks.

"If the training gets too rough, then I will. For now, I have a technique I can use to speed up my body's recovery time while we rest." Raditz replies, walking towards the ship's fridge.

"Suit yourself."

Raditz rummages through the fridge, taking out two cold bottles of water.

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"Toss me a muffin, will you?" he says, throwing one of the water bottles towards Goku.

Meanwhile, on a faraway planet, a bald Earthling faces off against a pink, spiky alien clad in battle armor.

"Don't look back, Gohan!" the martial artist shouts. "I'll deal with this guy, just take the Namekian kid and find somewhere to hide!"

"Mr. Krillin, wait! Let me help! I can--" Gohan says, getting cut off by the small man.

"Go, and don't look back!" Krillin yells, launching an ineffective kick at the burly alien. Gohan hesitates for a moment, before he looks at the green child beside him.

'Good luck, Mr. Krillin...' he thinks miserably, flying away from the fighters with Dende...

Ignoring the weak kick Krillin landed on him, Dodoria backhands the small fighter, sending him flying through the air.

Krillin holds back a scream of pain as the pink warrior's attack lands. Surprisingly, the attack did far less damage than he expected.

Noticing his surprise, Dodoria laughs at the Earthling, flying back into melee range. "You're so weak that a solid hit from me would turn you into paste! If I want to have a little bit of fun, I've got to hold back. I'm sure Lord Frieza won't mind, since I can catch up to the other two at basically anytime if I actually try. I may not have my scouter, but they aren't that fast. So I think--"

Krillin interrupts his opponent, blasting the taller fighter with two yellow beams of energy, both aimed directly at Dodoria's eyes...

The alien reacts instantly, raising a single arm to intercept the blasts. Before the smoke can clear, Krillin moves around the fat warrior, landing a two-handed Sledgehammer blow to the back of Dodoria's neck. Krillin's eyes light up as his opponent suddenly freezes, hope blossoming in the Earthling's chest...

Until Dodoria sends a massive elbow behind him, hitting the bald man directly in the jaw. Shocked, Krillin slams into the ground, creating a sizeable crater upon impact. Before Krillin can get up, Dodoria drops down from the air, landing directly on the bald martial artist. Chuckling to himself, he picks up the silent, unmoving fighter by the throat.

"Ah, well that's too bad. It looks like I broke ya. I was hoping to have some more fun, but I guess I overestimated you. I'll have to be a little more careful with the other two..." Dodoria mutters, building a blast of Ki in one of his hands to double tap the seemingly unconscious fighter...

Krillin stirs, mumbling something to himself.

"You're still kicking! And here I thought that I was too rough. Now, what'd ya just say?"

"Solar Flare!" Krillin suddenly yells out, moving his hands towards his bald head. A flash of light comes from the martial artist, causing Dodoria to drop the small man in surprise.

"Argh, son of a bitch!" Dodoria curses as the Earthling blinds him.

Krillin kicks off the alien's burly body, launching himself away from the large warrior. Silently hoping that Gohan followed his instructions, the Earthling quickly builds a disc of Ki in his hand, launching it towards his blind opponent...

A shrill cry of pain can be heard as Dodoria is separated into two halves. Concerned that the scream may have come from Krillin, Gohan turns his head to look behind him...

"Solar Flare!" Krillin cries again, blinding the Half-Saiyan before he can get a good look at the dismembered alien. Krillin quickly catches up to Gohan and the green child, both of them wailing in pain from their sudden blindness.

"Dammit Gohan, I told you not to look back! Keep flying forward, I'll guide you until your vision comes back."

The two warriors from Earth fly away with the small Namekian they recently rescued, doing their best to put some distance between themselves and the monstrous enemies they've encountered...

Sweat drips down Raditz's brow as he slowly pushes himself off the floor. Beside him, his brother struggles against the gravity pulling the two of them down. Raditz grins as he mockingly calls out towards the younger Saiyan.

"Come on Kakarot, tired already? Do you need another Senzu Bean? Is that your second in just as many days? We can turn the gravity down a little, since it seems that 36x is too difficult for you."

Goku grunts in reply as a red aura begins to surround him...

"No cheating, Kakarot. Remember, we agreed that you wouldn't use the Kaioken for this." Raditz says smugly. "Since you're giving up, it looks like I'll be taking the bed, while you'll be sleeping on the floor."

A vein bulges in Goku's head as he finally manages to push himself off the floor. Lowering himself, he replies to the older Saiyan.

"Dream on! This is nothing for me! You didn't even know the proper form to do a pushup before I taught you. I have the experience advantage."

"Well... you aren't exactly wrong..." Raditz admits, struggling to lower himself back towards the ground. "But that doesn't matter! You said it yourself, I'm stronger than you if we ignore the Kaioken! You should give up now before you hurt yourself."

"You're bigger and heavier than me. I bet the extra gravity is worse for you than it is for me. I'll be winning this, just watch."

Raditz bites back a groan as the shorter man says this.

'Dammit! I was hoping he wouldn't notice... no, it's fine. I can do this. I'm stronger, he's weaker. That's how it works in the Dragon Ball Universe. The stronger character wins.'

Raditz's arms shake as he tries to lift his body off the ground. He casts his gaze back to the weaker Saiyan, forcing a smile onto his face as he completes the pushup.

"This? This isn't that bad. The gravity may affect me more than you, but it isn't a big difference. You can surrender now. I won't judge you for being weak."

Goku chuckles. "We'll see about that..."

...

...

"Man, this bed sure is comfy! Dr. Briefs really did his best when he made this ship!" Goku calls out with a content smile on his face.

Raditz scowls at the younger man as he circulates Ki through his sore muscles. "That was a fluke. If we do best two out of three, I'll win."

"I guess we'll never know, since we won't be doing this again."

"What? Why not?!" Raditz asks.

"It was good training, but we'll do better if we focus on sparring until we reach Namek. You need to improve your martial arts skills, and if this Frieza guy is as tough as you say he is, you're going to need to be ready."

"But what about you? Sure, I need to improve my skills, but our best option would be to focus on making you stronger. You're already a better fighter, and the Kaioken will multiply any power that you gain."

Goku shakes his head. "Nah, you're thinking about this wrong. A good sparring partner can really help a fighter's growth. I think we can kill two birds with one stone by increasing your martial arts skills. You'll become a better fighter, and I'll have a good training partner to help me get stronger."

"I... huh. That's not a bad point."

"I know, right? Just trust me. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's training."

"Not fighting?" Raditz questions.

"I'm not good at fighting. I'm great at fighting." Goku jokes.

Shaking his head, Raditz lies on the floor, finally catching some sleep for the first time in two days. While Senzu Beans can be used to wipe away any exhaustion... they're still no substitute for actual sleep.