Kakarot walked leisurely around the lookout and checked on the various duos as their spars progressed. He had a little bit of time to get a feel for everybody's current level as well as providing pointers here and there. He figured he might as well take some time to help everyone else improve and shore up their bases since he was a bit ahead of the group.

Piccolo of course had chosen to train alone, meditating in some far off corner of the corner-less lookout. The first group he stopped to inspect was none other than his wife and son, because he always put family first. (lol)

Bulma noticed the approaching man first and waved him over. "Well if it isn't my big strong man. You sure kicked his alien butt, huh?" Kakarot laughed sheepishly as he approached, reaching out and catching his son who had leapt at the man in delight at the sight of his father. "Daddy!" The child yelled. Goku's smile was wide and blinding.

"Hey buddy! Did you see dad's fight? Now remember Gohan even though you're only four, you have to learn to master your emotions or you'll end up getting beaten up like uncle Raditz, OK?

The child nodded sagely in response to his father's words. "Yeah! Do you think I can ever get that strong?" Gohan asked his father innocently.

Goku beamed at his son in a knowing manner. "I have a feeling you're going to be stronger than all of us someday, Gohan, I mean it. But you've gotta train and study hard ok? Most importantly, always fight for what's right and follow your heart."

"Right!" The boy agreed, hugging his father tightly around the neck. Goku winced and rubbed his son's back tenderly. His son truly did not understand his own strength. After their brief but heartfelt reunion Kakarot continued on to the next group, leaving his wife to instruct their son on basic self defense and ki control. Truly the boy was incredibly strong for his age but he severely lacked courage and the strength of will to control his power.

The next group Kakarot found himself inspecting was Tien and Chaizou, who were fighting just as much with their telekinetic abilities as they were with their fists. Goku observed the two intently, smiling in encouragement. He was amazed by the mental prowess demonstrated by his friend's and fellow martial artists; he honestly didn't have much to add. In fact…

"Wow that's amazing guys! Do you think you could give me some pointers sometime? I would love to train my mind to get stronger and learn new techniques!" Kakarot asked hopefully while bouncing up and down like a toddler asking for a new toy. "Sure thing, Goku, we'd be happy to train with you anytime." His three eyed friend said with a welcoming smile. Chaizou nodded in agreement.

After that Goku made his way over to Chi Chi and Yamcha. Goku half expected to find the two goofing off or flirting around but they were hard at work. Or at least Chi Chi was as she threatened and thrashed her boyfriend and he fought for his life. "Hey, Chi Chi, that's excellent energy! Keep it up! That courage and intensity is why we've always been such good friends."

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The brunette smiled proudly and crossed her arms, while ymacha thanked Kami, or rather Goku for the reprieve. "Thanks, Goku! I wish this lug had at least a tenth of the passion for hard work you and Bulma do. Hell, even Gohan's a better fighter than him!" She yelled with a disgruntled sigh and a shake of her head. "Hey now that's not fair.." yamcha raised his hands in defense. "They're part saiyan!"

Kakarot slipped away, laughing as Chi Chi once again went about attacking her boyfriend, screaming profanities and something about how there was no excuse because Krillin was arguably the strongest Earthling of the bunch right now, being comparable to Goku himself overall.

Speaking of the bald monk…

"Hey buddy! Sorry our match got interrupted like that.." Goku said with a wave as he approached the resting monk. Krillin smiled brightly, the son reflecting off of his bald head. "Hey goku. It's no problem at all. Thanks for standing up for me.." He said with a light hearted laugh.

Goku snorted and with a nudge to his friend's ribs he replied, "Don't mention it. But you know you probably could have taken him."

Krillin smirked. "Probably."

Letting the short man return to his intermission between katas, Kakarot strolled over to Kami, who was watching as Mr Popo tended to the worst of Raditz's wounds. "I'm sorry Kami.. I didn't mean for things to get this far out of hand…"

The wizened and wrinkled old Namekian smiled and waved the man's concerns away. "Don't mention it my boy.. I've gotten used to expecting things to go awry when you show up Goku."

The saiyan in question laughed and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Kami continued with a gesture towards the downed Raditz. "You know Goku.. I could easily heal him with my abilities. It's no trouble.."

Kakarot held his hands up in defense. "Thanks Kami but that might not be the best move.. Due to our Saiyan genetics we get a hell of a lot stronger after getting our asses handed to us." He explained. "Honestly, I'm not so sure I could beat him like that a second time around.." Kakarot replied with a frown.

Kami gasped. "Truly!?.. How fascinating. My word this explains much.. So then, tell me Goku, what's to stop either of you from just letting the other warriors damage you repeatedly and then healing with a senzu bean?"

"Well to be perfectly honest.." Kakarot began, scratching his chin in deep thought. "Without getting too much into the scientific mumbo-jumbo, the way it works is, our Saiyan body pretty much forces our cells to metabolize and multiply rapidly. We heal extremely quickly and our bodies memorize and adapt to the damage we receive. That's why we get so much larger zenkai boosts when facing stronger opponents as opposed to weaker ones because our bodies are adapting to those much higher power levels. The larger the difference in our power the more we'll close the gap before, during and after a fight." He said, pausing to take a breath and let the information sink in.

He cupped his right elbow with his left hand and switched from scratching to tapping his chin. "So basically it would be extremely inefficient A) as we're all around the same relative strength, and B) it would drastically reduce our life span. Just like how human cells can only multiply so many times, saiyans are the same way, we just have more vitality than most so we stay younger much longer."

Kami nodded savagely as he carefully listened to the information provided. "Yes I expected as much. How unfortunate for us. Or perhaps fortunate in this case." He finished looking back over at the still unconscious Raditz.

Looking at his fallen brother the saiyan shook his head, "you know, I feel like if we really wanted to sacrifice our life force for power, we could just ask the dragon balls to make us the strongest in the universe or something…." Kakarot said slowly, as he and Kami looked at each other. There were several tense moments of silence…

Then the master and mentor burst into simultaneous laughter and shared a shoulder in a sideways hug.

End of chapter 4.