A tall, light-green man clothed in a purple martial arts gi sits on the soft, blue grass of Namek in silence, meditating hundreds of miles away from any other members of his race... or at least, he would be, if a certain child wouldn't stop pestering him...

"Hello Nail!" a cheery voice says, causing a scowl to form on Piccolo's face.

Standing behind the turban-wearing Namekian is a cheerful, green child, who stares at the grumpy man in front of him with a bright smile on his face.

"Remember, Grand Elder Moori said that you're always welcome to stay in one of the villages! I already told you that King Kai explained what's going on to the Grand Elder, right? Well, he made sure that all of us knew! We're all very grateful that you came here to protect us, so you don't need to feel like you have to stay all the way out here!"

"...I prefer being alone." Piccolo says sourly. "I'm sure that I told you that the last 5 times you've visited."

Dende opens his mouth, intending to continue his attempts at convincing Piccolo to live closer to the other Namekians, before suddenly, a small, white jar with a paper seal attached to the side of Piccolo's pants starts shaking violently. A pained expression can be seen upon the green warrior's face as he stares intently at the jar. After several seconds, the jar's struggles slowly begin to weaken, before eventually coming to a complete stop. Almost immediately, Piccolo's body sags forward, but before his head can hit the ground, Dende's hands reach out to steady him.

"Is... is he still giving you that much trouble?" Dende asks with a crestfallen look on his face.

The turban-wearing Namekian takes several deep, steadying breaths before he finally replies. "...I'll handle it."

"Nail..."

"I said that I'll handle it, Dende."

The firm tone of Piccolo's voice leaves no room for further arguments, causing the child to swallow the words he was about to utter. The two of them sit there in silence, before Dende eventually changes the subject.

"I just remembered! Grand Elder Moori wanted me to tell you that he'd be willing to teach you magic if you decided to stay at one of the villages. Although you have Grand Elder Guru's memories and magical power, they're split with... with... him..."

Dende gives an awkward look towards the sealed jar, but continues without wasting any more time.

"... anyways, he said that you'll definitely benefit from it! Although Grand Elder Moori isn't as skilled or powerful as the old Grand Elder, he said that he's sure that his teaching will be invaluable!"

'Moori? Teach me magic? Hmph. King Kai has practiced magic for far, far longer than him, and I don't even have to leave my meditation spot if I want to get him to train me.' Piccolo thinks, fighting back a scoff. 'This is just another way for Moori to try to make me feel closer with the other Namekians. He obviously doesn't want me to go back to Earth after Cooler and his father are dealt with.'

"I'll pass." he says out loud, causing Dende's face to fall.

...but after several more seconds of silence, an idea springs up in the child's mind.

"What if I teach you?" he asks with a large, hopeful smile. "Grand Elder Moori is training me to become the next Grand Elder, and he says that I have the most magical potential of anyone he's ever seen! He can teach me magic, then I can come here and teach what I've learned to you!"

Piccolo opens his mouth to deny the young Namekian... but as he looks at Dende's face, he can't help but think of another child... one who's life he saved on Earth...

"...Fine. I guess it can't hurt." the green warrior mumbles after several seconds.

Dende's smile practically lights up the area as Piccolo's words reach his ears.

"Really?! Alright! You won't regret it Nail! I'll learn as much as I can from the Grand Elder so I can teach you everything the Namekians know about magic!"

As he stares at the joyful, cheering child, Piccolo can't stop a small smile from forming on his face. As soon as he realizes this, of course, he turns his face from Dende, not allowing the child to see his expression... but when he does turn his head, the smile is quickly wiped off of his face.

"Hey Piccolo!" a familiar voice calls out.

Standing in front of the green warrior is a smiling, black-haired man clad in an orange martial arts gi. Before Piccolo can respond, Goku immediately launches into a series of questions.

"So you're gonna be learning magic from that little guy over there, huh? That sounds like a blast! Do you think it'll help you out during a fight? Oh, and why is he calling you Nail? Is that you and Kami's name before you split into two? Or is that your nickname on Namek? A title? A--"

"Shut up!" the Namekian roars, interrupted the talkative martial artist.

"Jeez... no need to yell so loud, I'm right here..." Goku mutters, suddenly feeling reminded of his wife...

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"He's calling me Nail because I fused with a Namekian friend of his named Nail." Piccolo says sourly, ignoring Goku's other questions.

"Ohhhhh... but why are you letting him call you that? You're still Piccolo, right?"

"I can answer that!" Dende says proudly, causing the angry expression on Piccolo's face to fade slightly. "When a Namekian fuses with another Namekian, one of the personalities will be dominant and stay, but the other won't disappear completely. Traces of their will and personality will still be there, but it'll mostly be subconscious, and it will fade with enough time. Piccolo lets me call him Nail because, in a way, he is Nail."

"Why not fuse the names too then? Nail and Piccolo... Nail and Piccolo... oh, I know! You could call them--"

"Enough about that!" Nailiccolo snaps, interrupting Goku yet again. "Just explain why you're here, Goku."

"Well, Raditz said that he finally got around to reading that journal of his, and the him from the future had a ton of advice for us! He wrote it down, then had King Kai tell me! Right now, I'm using Instant Transmission to travel around and deliver these!"

As Goku finishes speaking, Piccolo finally notices several fresh, brand new pieces of paper in the Saiyan's hand. With a curious look, he reaches his hand out, taking the papers from Goku...

...

...

"...Incredible..." the Namekian mutters in astonishment as he reads through the papers. "Where on Earth did he even learn all of this from...?"

"Vegeta had the same reaction!" Goku says with a chuckle. "Raditz did mention that there's a lot more in the journal than what he's written down for us. He thinks that learning all of it right now would be too much of a challenge, so he's just given us what he thinks will be the most useful in the short term. I guess that just gives us more to look forward to in the future!"

"..."

Piccolo doesn't respond, seemingly engrossed in the pages in front of him.

"Well... I'll leave you alone now! I've gotta rest up for a bit, then bring a few more pages back to Earth. Using Instant Transmission this often is one heck of a workout! Cya!"

Goku soon teleports away, his exit not even able to provoke a reaction from the entranced Namekian...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Galaxy, a small, circular Capsule Corporation ship soars through space. The inside of the ship is bathed in a red light as two tall, muscular men stand toe to toe, fiercely fighting as if their lives are on the line.

The taller of the two, Raditz, throws his left arm up, blocking a nasty elbow from Tien with the freshly-regrown arm. Immediately after, his leg snaps down, easily battering down a quick kick from his three-eyed opponent.

Tien, not to be outdone, gives a shout of exertion. As soon as he shouts, the flesh below his shoulder blades suddenly bulges, and two more arms erupt from his back. With his momentary advantage, Tien throws himself at Raditz, launching a flurry of lightning-fast blows at the tall Saiyan.

...

...

...

Gohan sighs softly as his Uncle spars with the three-eyed martial artist, before he stares out of the ship's window with a bored expression on his face.

"Ugh... how much longer until they finish?" the child mutters to himself.

Just as he says that, a particularly powerful attack blows Tien away, launching the triclops into one of the metal walls of the ship with a loud thud.

While Tien tries to stumble to his feet, Raditz's voice, sounding slightly smug, rings out.

"82-0. Are you done for today, or should we go again and make it 83-0?"

The three-eyed man clenches his teeth, but when he finally does stand up, his legs give out from under him, forcing Tien to use his Ki to fly to avoid falling.

"Tch... fine." the sour-sounding martial artist says, lowering himself to the floor with a tired expression on his face.

Unseen to both Gohan and Tien, Raditz lets out a sigh of relief.

'Phew... it's a good thing that he stopped here...' the exhausted Saiyan thinks to himself.

While Raditz tries to hide his bone-deep exhaustion, a small, quiet voice calls out.

"Um... Uncle Raditz? Now that you two are done, could you train with me?" Gohan asks.

The one-handed Saiyan's face pales when these words reach his ears.

"Well... erm..." he stutters, eyes darting around the room in hopes of finding something to save him.

'He'll kill me if we spar now! I can handle losing to Kakarot, or even Vegeta, but a child?!'

As Raditz tries to find a way out of this predicament, a familiar voice appears in the minds of all three warriors on the ship.

"From what I can sense, you'll have reached the first planet controlled by Cooler any minute now." King Kai says. "Rest up. Even if you're far stronger than anyone on the planet, you should always stay in a good enough condition to fight if it comes down to it."

'Oh thank God.' the relieved Saiyan thinks.

"You're welcome." King Kai says, this time just to Raditz, after several seconds.

'...'

"Ahem... well, you heard King Kai. It looks like we'll have to train another day, Gohan." Raditz says in a regretful tone.

The child scowls silently, but doesn't offer any complaints.

Unfortunately for Raditz, however, someone does complain.

"You haven't even told us what we'll be up against!" Tien scolds. "Every time I've asked you, you've just said that they'll be far weaker than us."

"What else is there to say?" the Saiyan questions.

"Tell us about the planets we'll be on! What their tech is like, what their martial arts are like, or at least tell us about their culture. Underestimating an opponent never ends well."

"Uh..."

'I don't fucking know!' Raditz gripes inwardly. 'If I want to get knowledge from the other me's memories, I have to manually search for them, and even then, it's a lot more vague and foggy than I'd prefer!'

"Well... the planet we're going to... its technology isn't very advanced." he eventually says after wracking his memories. "As a matter of fact, besides Cooler's troops, none of them use technology more advanced than what you'd see on Earth thousands of years ago. Their martial arts are pretty basic, but they've relied on it far too much, to the point where it completely dominates their society, and their culture... their culture..."

He trails off, doing his best to browse the other Raditz's memories...

...

...

After several seconds, a smile of pure joy blooms upon the tall Saiyan's face. As he opens his mouth to explain what he just learnt from his memories, the ship suddenly jolts, throwing all three of the people inside of it to the ground.

"What the--" Tien mutters, before a high-pitched voice interrupts him.

"We're here!" Gohan says, leaping to his feet with excitement. The young child immediately runs to the door controls, causing the ship's door to fly open. The sight that greets the trio causes Tien and Gohan to drop into a defensive stance... but Raditz, rather than preparing for a fight, looks at the scene with a joyous smile.

In the middle of a barren wasteland, standing just in front of the ship, are two men clad in long robes which seem to have come from ancient China. The two face off against each other, each clenching a sword in their hands.

"Junior, you are courting death!" the older of the two shouts, swinging his sword at his opponent with a ferocious look upon his face.