Dragon Ball Zeeyup!

by Tatsurou


What About...?

Piccolo watched calmly from his place in the sky above the wasteland he'd brought Gohan and Big Mac to for their training. Given the directive from Popo to not 'mess with his ponies', he was having to reassess his planned training method. Plainly, putting them repeatedly in life threatening danger to push the other to unlock their potential was not going to be viable. At the same time, it seemed to him that Gohan had more latent potential - or at least, more versatile combat abilities - than Big Mac did, so just boosting Big Mac by putting Gohan repeatedly into danger wouldn't give him the results he wanted. He wanted to be able to push them both to the point they could - and would - spar with each other, until they were ready to spar with him.
As he floated there, he tensed up. He felt an intense power level approaching, stronger than Raditz had been when they fought. Turning towards it, his eyes widened in shock as he saw Raditz flying towards him, the wound in his abdomen fully healed even if there was still a hole in his armor. "You..." he gasped out in shock, trying to keep him from noticing where Gohan and Big Mac were. "How did-"
Raditz quickly put a finger to his lips, startling Piccolo. Then, to his surprise, he received a notification on SpaceBook.

Friend Request from DoubleTrouble(Raditz).

Uncertain what to make of that, Piccolo accepted the friend request. He hadn't even opened the account yet. A message immediately was received.

DoubleTrouble: Respond in a message: do you know where my nephew and the pony are?

Piccolo was hesitant. However, he was also intrigued...and he knew he didn't actually stand a chance in direct confrontation with Raditz stronger than he was before and he without backup.

NotaYoshi: Why should I tell...oh god, why is that my username?
DoubleTrouble: Blame Kakarot's idiocy being a good cover. Look, I'm not asking you to tell me where they are, just if you know. It's important.

Piccolo again hesitated...until he noticed a device in Raditz hand. He was sending the messages by hand...but up until that point had done everything with the odd device on his ear. He decided to take a chance.

NotaYoshi: ...yes.

Raditz reached up, took the device off, and crushed it. "Good, now we can talk freely without my former superiors who want me dead listening in."
"Wait, what?" Piccolo demanded in confusion. "Why are you here? How are you not dead or dying? How did you get so strong so fast? And why should I trust you?"
"In order," Raditz replied, counting off on fingers. "I'm here to help you train my nephew, since I know how Saiyans get stronger. The bald midget tried to give Kakarot something he called a Senzu Bean, which was dropped because he couldn't swallow. I managed to snatch and eat it when no one was looking. Saiyans get a massive power up called a Zenkai Boost anytime they recover from being pushed near to death. And my two immediate superiors who are many times stronger than me even with this power boost are coming to this planet, and they've decided that I'm a failure and am either dead, dying, or the first to be killed when they get here, so getting myself, my nephew, and whoever else is willing to give me a chance strong enough to fight back against them is my only chance at survival. Also, breaking my scouter like that pretty much declared me a rebel, since it was broadcasting back to the higher ups...so if I'm not allowed to help I'm dead anyway."
Piccolo rapidly let that run through his mind. "Okay. Do they know you're still alive?"
"Probably not, but that's not as much of an advantage as you might think," Raditz pointed out, a worried frown on his face as he crossed his arms. "My power level was 1600. It's now 2400. When he was enraged and charged me, my nephew's power briefly jumped from 710 to 1307. While fighting me, you were 408 and Kakarot was 416. The power of your beam was 1330. My immediate superior's power is 4000. His immediate superior's power is 18,000. They're both coming here."
Piccolo gasped in shock as he heard numbers that spelled his doom. "Then...we're screwed!"
"Not entirely," Raditz explained calmly. "As I said, I know how to train a Saiyan. My nephew may only be half-Saiyan, but that high a power level that young suggests great potential for growth. If I help you train him, he should be able to get stronger faster, and we'll be able to grow stronger in the process...especially if you can get a hold of more of those Senzu Beans."
"Not happening, the only place they grow I'm not allowed to go, and they don't grow that well to begin with."
"Damn," Raditz growled, snapping his fingers in frustration. "Still, there are other options, and there seems to be plenty to eat around here. We should be able to manage with the size of this planet's moon."
"What does the moon have to do with it?" Piccolo demanded angrily.
"That will become self evident the first time it rises full," Raditz explained readily. "Until then, you probably wouldn't believe me. Now are you going to accept my help or what?"
"What reason do I have to believe you're telling the truth?" Piccolo countered angrily. "Maybe you're spinning a crazy yarn to trick me into trusting you so you can stab me in the back, kill Gohan and Big Mac, and leave the Earth defenseless!"
"If that were my goal, I could do so easily right here and now without even straining myself," Raditz pointed out flatly. "And yet I haven't."
Piccolo stared at him angrily. "...okay, that's a pretty good reason..." he allowed ruefully.
"So you'll accept my help, then?" Raditz pressed.
"If I don't, I couldn't stop you from ripping me limb from limb to draw them out and then killing me, could I?" Piccolo groused.
"No, not really," Raditz confirmed.
Piccolo spat through his teeth. "Fine." He turned back down into the valley. "Gohan and Big Mac are down there, though I won't tell you exactly where. And the next full moon is tonight."
"Oh, that timing is perfect!" Raditz purred happily. "Get them both somewhere isolated by nightfall, and I'll get things ready." Turning, he flew off to another part of the wasteland.
Piccolo frowned worriedly. "I hope I don't end up regretting this..."