Piccolo scowls, deeply frustrated by the situation he's facing.

He's supposed to be the reincarnation of the Great Demon King, and yet he's stuck as a glorified babysitter! He knows that the little runt has potential. Hell, he's seen it himself when the kid turned into a Great Ape, but training Goku's son is a complete waste of time so far. The little bastard constantly freezes up, constantly second guesses himself, and worst of all, he seems to share none of Goku's love for fighting. Forget about turning this kid into a weapon to take over Earth, he'll be lucky if Gohan survives when the Saiyans get here!

"DODGE!" Piccolo shouts as he throws a ball of Ki towards the small child opposing him. As expected, the little runt freezes up once he sees the attack, before being hit dead-on. Piccolo quickly follows the fearsome blast with a powerful two-handed overhead swing, sending the kid crashing into the ground.

"I guess it's a good thing that you're as durable as your dad, shame you aren't half the fighter he is." Piccolo says scathingly, calmly watching as Gohan's anger begins to build.

"My dad is still the best fighter on Earth! He beat you!" Gohan angrily retorts, launching himself at Piccolo.

The Namekian easily dances around the attacks, grinning at his pupil. "I wouldn't exactly call him 'on Earth', kid. He was weak, and your Uncle killed him. You know this."

He follows that comment up with a mighty backhand, launching the kid away.

With an outraged shout, Gohan stops his momentum, firing a flurry of Ki blasts at Piccolo, completely decimating the area around his teacher. Breathing heavily, he looks towards the smoky area where Piccolo just was, fearfully wondering if he just killed his mentor. A kick to the back of his head clears up any doubts, and sends the Half-Saiyan flying into the ground once more.

"I suppose you do have another thing in common with your dad... both of you can't dodge." a bored Piccolo calls down to Gohan. As soon as the words leave his mouth, Piccolo puts a barrier of Ki around himself, waiting for Gohan's response. It's a good thing he did, as the Half-Saiyan immediately fires a wave of Ki that sends Piccolo soaring backwards.

Gohan, with rage that surprises himself, launches blast after blast after blast at the distant form of the Namekian.

Boom.

Dozens of explosions ring out, scaring away anyone unlucky enough to be close to their training grounds. After almost a minute, Gohan stops firing, feeling completely drained by the barrage he just unleashed.

"Not bad, runt... but definitely not good enough!"

With his clothes burnt and his flesh aching, Piccolo decides to end this little spar. Focusing his power, he forces half of the Ki in his body to enter his left hand. After a few more seconds of charging, he points his hand towards Gohan, releasing a powerful blast of energy.

Gohan stares at the incoming attack, he knows that it's deadly, he knows that he has to dodge this, but... why should he?

He's strong, he has potential, and Mr. Piccolo said that when he is angry, he's one of the most powerful warriors on Earth, even stronger than the man who killed his father. Why should he simply run away when he has the power to fight back? His hands come together overhead, the left hand behind his right as he gathers energy.

'What the hell?! Why isn't the runt dodging?! I telegraphed that move! It should've been obvious that it was coming, even to him! Dammit!' Piccolo thinks in a panic as he watches Gohan stand in place. He instantly tries to reduce the power in his attack, ripping the energy from it outwards in an attempt to stop it from killing Gohan.

Gohan, oblivious to his master's thoughts, continues to charge his attack.

Piccolo shouts at the boy. "Dammit Gohan! Hurry up and dodge!"

The green warrior looks on as his attack reaches Gohan. He shouts once more, genuine fear in his voice. "NOW! DODGE!"

Just as the attack appears to impact Gohan, a loud, shrill voice pierces his ears. "MASENKO... HA!"

Quicker than his eyes can follow, a large beam of yellow energy slams into his weakened attack, pushing it back... directly at him.

As white-hot pain flashes through his mind, and his body begins to disintegrate, Piccolo finds that he's surprised and, oddly enough, full of pride. Pride in his pupil's strength, in the sheer audacity it takes to stand there and blast that attack back. He smiles, just before his body completely disappears.

...

...

"Well done, runt. I never expected you to be that strong." a voice calls out from behind Gohan. An utterly exhausted Gohan turns his head, seeing a tall green man standing unscathed.

"That clone had half of my power. I'm impressed that you overpowered it." Piccolo says, unable to stop the smile forming on his face.

"Hehehe... thanks... Mr. Piccolo." the boy is barely able to get the words out before he slumps over, unconscious. The price of using that much power taking its toll on his small body.

Piccolo shakes his head, amused by his trainee, as he gathers the boy into his arms. Carrying him away from the ruined battlefield, Piccolo thinks to himself.

'Maybe we've got a chance after all.'

Raditz stares at the large cave around him, feeling happy with his work. It turns out, having super strength and the ability to fire blasts that disintegrate just about everything they touch really comes in hands for digging. Well... mostly.

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He collapsed the first few dozen caves he tried to make, but he's sure that this one will stay standing for more than a few hours.

'Let's see... I've got the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, and the training room. That should be good enough for the next few months... should I close off the tunnels leading here? Will that stop the locals if they try to get to me?' his thoughts are quickly interrupted by the growling of his stomach.

'May as well find something to eat... I wonder if there are any more of those centi-moles around.' he thinks hungrily as he begins to travel through the tunnels, keeping his senses open to make sure he doesn't run into any more natives.

Goku is tired. He's been alternating between running and flying down this Kami-forsaken path for at least 4 months now. He almost fell off it once, but was able to catch himself just in time. With nothing else to think about, his mind drifts to the man who killed him... his brother, Raditz.

Goku feels a hollow ache in his chest, the exact spot where his brother punched through him.

King Yemma said that he never judged Raditz... is he alive, or did he find some way to avoid meeting Yemma upon death? Goku isn't sure... but something tells him that he'll run into Raditz again. He hopes that the fight will go differently this time, that he won't fall for Raditz's tricks, and yet... he also hopes that he won't meet Raditz.

For the first time in as long as he can remember, Goku finds that he isn't looking forward to a fight. He doesn't want to fight his brother again. It's stupid, the man killed him for Shenron's sake, but that look Raditz had when he killed Goku... it unnerves him. He could sense the man's Ki, he could sense how much Raditz didn't want to attack him. Maybe the Saiyan knows a technique that can prevent his Ki from showing his intentions...

Yeah, that makes sense. That has to make sense. His brother is a monster who genocides planets, his brother kidnapped Gohan! He must've been faking it.

'But the battle was over... why would he fake it, even then? He won. I was dying, and he had no clue about Piccolo's attack.' Maybe he--' Goku's thoughts are interrupted as he turns a corner on Snake Way, which brings a small, green planet into view. Putting all of these thoughts out of his head, Goku leaps off the end of Snake Way, flying towards the planet as he loudly cheers.

Raditz's teeth sink into the tender, freshly cooked centi-mole leg in his hand. With a contented sigh, he finishes off the 32nd limb, the last the creature had. Wincing slightly, he looks down at his tail, surrounded by the fire he had used to cook his meal.

'God, this training is miserable. Damn the other me, damn him to hell! Why couldn't he have already went through this training?! Stupid, cowardly bastard. This hurts! If I can go through it, he most certainly could have!' he grumbles to himself, smashing a rock down upon his burning tail. 'At least this training isn't totally worthless...'

Name: Raditz

Age: 34

Power level: 4280

Health: 84/100

Stamina: 89/100

Ki:35/100

Ki density: 1.104 (maximum of 3)

Ki purity: 2.5% (maximum of 2.5%)

Transformations: Great Ape (Uncontrolled)

Techniques: Ki sensing (2), Flight (1), Basic Ki manipulation (3)

'Constantly keeping my tail burning with Ki does have its benefits after all.' he thinks with a grin.

He exits the tunnel, exploding a small ball of Ki behind him to collapse it. Moving quickly, he dashes back to his newly created home, avoiding several of the planet's reptilian locals along the way.

It's been almost a week since he first crashed on this planet, and he's created a sort of pattern for his day-to-day life. First, he'll start the day off by washing up at the nearest reservoir of water. Then, he'll dry himself off by creating a fire with his Ki, before lighting his tail on fire. He'll work on his Ki control throughout the day by condensing the Ki in his body. Just a little every day-- he's sure that he'd destroy his Ki Core otherwise-- but enough to slowly but surely increase his strength. After lighting his tail up like a firework, he'll spend the majority of the day training his body, hunting food, circulating his Ki to increase the speed at which he heals, and driving away the locals. Speaking of that...

A loud roar from behind reaches his ears. With a sigh, Raditz stares at the incoming reptile-man. A quick release of his aura, of his full power, is usually enough to send them scampering away. This one, however, is either brave or stupid.

'Or maybe... I got too close to their home?' part of his brain insidiously whispers, making him pause. This hesitation, however, seems to have emboldened his opponent. It charges at him, razor-sharp claws outstretched.

He channels Ki into his arm, using it to block the onslaught of attacks.

'Time for combat training.' he thinks as he lowers his power level to 900, just about the same as his opponent.

'Let's see... left claw towards the throat, right claw towards the ribs... oop, watch the teeth!'

He goes back and forth with the reptilian man, watching and learning from the way it moves...

Hours later, and he's beginning to grow bored. The fight wasn't exactly entertaining when it began-- frankly it was just about as exciting as fighting a toddler would be-- but now his opponent is beginning to fade, becoming too tired for Raditz to use to increase his fighting skills. No matter how much energy he gives his opponent, it seems that he can't restore their stamina. This fight should've ended ages ago... yet the dumbass just won't flee!

"Sure, I get it, you don't want to leave your home, but you should have some basic sense of self-preservation! You're hopelessly outmatched. Just leave already!" Raditz shouts at the reptile as his patience finally runs out, forgetting that his opponent doesn't speak the same language as him. He grabs the reptilian by the throat with his right hand, making sure not to crush their neck, and ends the fight with a quick punch delivered by the other hand, one with about 20% of his full power. He lays the unconscious reptile on the ground, when he feels something lightly impact his leg. He looks down at the new opponent, and what he sees immediately wipes away the frustration he's feeling.

A small, light green creature hammers its tiny hands on the back of his leg. The creature's claws, small enough that one could mistake them for fingernails, ineffectively slice at his skin. He watches it for a few moments, slightly stunned as he notes the similarities between it and the reptile he just defeated, before he moves past it. He runs away from the small reptile at full speed, far faster than the creature can see.

Ignoring the slight feeling of unease inside of him, he begins to distract himself with thoughts of his progress.

'At the rate I'm going, I'll have condensed my Ki to the second stage in about 9-10 weeks. After that, I can work on Ki purity for the few remaining weeks. I should be able to match Nappa's strength after that...'

He forces a grin to his face, thinking back on the first time he had the idea to set his tail on fire.

The pain was agonizing at first, enough that he instantly extinguished the flames when they first began to burn, but while it is true that keeping his tail ablaze is... unpleasant, it is manageable now. Remembering that pain is caused by nerves in the body, he searched for a way to use his Ki to cut off the pain receptors in his tail. Eventually, he found it, and now he's able to completely ignore the pain signals from his tail!

Raditz slams another rock into his tail, biting back a pained scream.

Well... mostly. Saiyan tails are strange. The nerves in them are almost... spiritual in nature. It's hard to describe, but no matter what he does, he's unable to completely shut out the pain he feels when his tail is damaged. That's fine though, it's part of his training, and the pain clears away any distracting thoughts. It helps focus him at the task at hand, getting stronger.

That's all that matters right now.