Training schools were reversed?

[GSM123]

Let’s say Tenshinhan and Chaozu trained under Muten Roshi’s tutelage while Goku and Kuririn (And later Yamcha) trained with Master Tsuru. How would this affect the story, power levels, personalities, relationships…?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

To set the scene, I'll alter the first arc of Dragon Ball. When visiting Roshi, Goku and Bulma encounter Tenshinhan and Chaozu who would've been training under him for years, given how Ten would have to do the same with Tsuru Sennin to be so familiar with Tao. At this point, I'll say Ten is stronger than Roshi by the same extent he was Tsuru Sennin, whilst Chaozu is about on par with 21st TB Kuririn. They agree to help Goku and Bulma on their journey, with Bulma gradually falling for Ten's strong nature and polite personality. This Tenshinhan would be far more similar to his Z self's stoic but sincere personality, given that seemed to be his nature fully after he cut ties with Tsuru Sennin. When encountering Yamcha, Ten beats him soundly and helps the group leave the desert before nightfall. When going to Mount Fry Pan, Tenshinhan attempts to extinguish the flames with his own Kamehameha and does so without destroying the castle or mountain. He also saves Bulma from the Carrotiser Rabbit and manages to defeat the Pilaf gang and have the group avoid being captured. For the sake of simplicity, I'll say they still take the Dragon Balls and Oolong has to save the day, with Pilaf retreating immediately afterwards. The arc ends as normal with Ten going with Bulma to West City temporarily (training under Roshi, he'd be far more open to taking breaks from training and enjoying life). He'd ask Goku to come with him before they head back to Kame House, though Goku decides to go straight to Roshi, Ten giving him what was his Kinto'Un.
As he does so, however, he gets lost and eventually wanders into Tsuru Sennin. I'll say that at a similar time, Kuririn encounters them when having decided to train under Tsuru Sennin rather than Roshi. Tsuru tests the two and finds they have potential, taking them on as his students and putting them through severe training. Having been tracking the main group ever since his defeat, Yamcha then approaches Tsuru Sennin and demands training too, to which the master accepts.

As for the 21st TB, things go relatively similar with Chaozu taking Kuririn's place up until the final in which Ten is able to defeat Jackie Chun, who reveals himself to be Roshi when seeing there to be no point hiding it anymore. Meanwhile, the training under Tsuru Sennin and to some extent Taopaipai has affected Goku, Kuririn and Yamcha quite a bit. Kuririn has gained a fair ego and a more selfish personality than his normal self, whilst Yamcha's experience as a murderous bandit has lent itself well to an assassin's training, his personality being a copy of 22nd TB Ten's. Goku's good nature, however, remains the same and aside from knowing the Dodonpa as well as a basic version of the Kamehameha as well as Bukujutsu, he's basically the same as his 21st TB self. Eventually, however, he wishes to abandon Tsuru's strict training and escapes to train with Roshi. In the meantime, he also checks the Dragon Radar to see if he can find the four star ball and, thus, gets embroiled in the battle with the Red Ribbon Army.
One major difference between this version of Goku and his canon self, however, is that Tsuru Sennin's training would make Goku far more knowledgeable of human society and less naive when fighting. That said, he wastes no time when at Muscle Tower and flies up to the top floor, destroys a wall with a Dodonpa, beats White before he can pull out his gun and rescues the village chief before liberating the village from the rest of the RRA with #8's help (once finding him). Eventually finding Bulma again, as well as reuniting with Chaozu (Ten would have left on a short training journey at this point), they venture into the Pirate Cave. Blue is less of a threat as Chaozu's telekinesis clashes with Blue's and the counter gives Goku the opening he needs to defeat him. Eventually, the battle against Taopaipai happens, which is where things change drastically. Aware of Tao's strength, Goku attempts to flee immediately, though Tao breezes past Bora to capture Goku. Instead of fulfilling his assassination, Taopaipai decides to send Red the Dragon Balls and take Goku back to his brother for him to punish. Not long afterward, Tenshinhan's training journey brings him to Karin-to and when he hears what has happened, his immediate course of action is to climb the tower. He succeeds in doing so and completes Karin's training in slightly less time than Goku, before summoning the Kinto'Un to head directly to the RRA base. He fulfills Goku's role in destroying the army, though when hearing what has happened to Goku, he hurries back to Roshi to tell him and ask for help on Goku's whereabouts.

Roshi knows just where Tsuru will be and takes his pupils there. They then confront Tsuru Sennin, Roshi saying that Goku chose willingly to leave and Tsuru has no control over his actions. Conflict then breaks out and though Roshi has slacked off enough that he's no match for his rival, nor is Chaozu for Kuririn and Yamcha, Tenshinhan's new power is able to quickly defeat the two pupils, KO Taopaipai and help Roshi and Goku push back Tsuru Sennin. After returning to Kame House, Tenshinhan decides to travel the world fully on his training journey until the 22nd TB without the Kinto'Un, with Bulma accompanying him. With the empty slot, Roshi decides to train Goku in the ways of Kame Sennin-ryu. Goku would train with him for two years, before exploring the world in the last year and eventually going through Karin's training. Meanwhile, their defeat motivates Kuririn and Yamcha to reach further heights, as well as builds up the tension between the two schools even more than in canon.

When the 22nd TB happens, it's entirely a school rivalry. With Roshi competing as himself, Tsuru Sennin decides to compete too for payback, as does Taopaipai. Ten has Chaozu fix the matches to be the same as in canon. He does consider having the Tsuru faction fight each other, though remembers the same applies for the Kame school. Tsuru Sennin takes Man-Wolf's place against Roshi and Taopaipai has Pamputto's place against Galu.
Tenshinhan VS Yamcha occurs. This Ten is about as strong as his canon self, or slightly stronger, though Yamcha is able to still compete when having been moulded into the perfect pupil of the Tsuru faction and letting his rage and murderous experience fuel him, his training having brought him up to being Ten's equal. The fight brings both to their limits, though Yamcha's use of the Taiyoken gives him the opening he needs to land decisive blows on Ten and break his leg. Roshi VS Tsuru Sennin ends in Roshi's victory. Kuririn VS Chaozu is a complete stomp. Chaozu is as strong as his canon self, but Kuririn is equal to Yamcha and far more tactical, coming very close to killing Chaozu. With his training, Goku is able to defeat Taopaipai, though it is with a lot of difficulty due to Taopaipai being on the same level as both his brother's students.
Yamcha VS Roshi is far different from the canon equivalent with Ten as Yamcha is far more absorbed into the mindset of an assassin to the point even Roshi considers him too far gone. He uses every technique he can to defeat him such as Yoiko Minmin-ken or Bankoku Bikkuri Sho, though Yamcha has the strength, willpower and skill to overcome them and provide Roshi a crushing defeat. Goku VS Kuririn is a very tense match as well, with Kuririn doing everything he can to defeat Goku out of pride for the Tsuru school. Over the course of the match, the two are equals, but eventually Kuririn comes to remember how well Goku treat him in their training and ultimately allows Goku to defeat him.
The final match, Yamcha VS Goku, occurs. Goku's rage at the severe injuries his friends gained and Kuririn's mental pain motivate him to fight as aggressively as possible, his Saiyan rage fuelling him just as much as Yamcha's savage nature. After both fighters have expended and countered each others' techniques, they forsake all attempts at skilled martial arts and fight each other with primal, savage rage in a battle only matched in brutality within the Budokai by Videl VS Lord :bitch. The battle then goes on so long the moon comes up, at which point Goku transforms into an Oozaru. Knowing of Goku's former trail weakness from their training, Yamcha deduces the tail is the cause of this and dismembers it with a Dodonpa. After Goku is given some new clothes, the battle continues until Yamcha's desire for victory pushes him so hard he decides to use the trump card Tsuru Sennin taught him - the Kikoho. Much as in canon, Goku manages to dodge and the match ends in a similar manner to Goku VS Ten; the only difference being that Goku wins as the longer time taken means the convenient car hitting him wouldn't have happened. Immediately following this, the crowd attempt to take both Goku and Yamcha to hospital before a scream is heard from inside the fighter's waiting room. One of the Budokai staff has been killed, with the Budokai roster being taken by Tambourine. Tsuru Sennin and Taopaipai move forward and are horrified to see the Ma kanji, knowing that if anyone is to survive, it's time to put aside the two schools' differences to overcome this threat to humanity.

To be continue in Part 2.

 

[ahill1]

@CC don't you think it's kinda odd for Tao Pai Pai to take Goku for his brother to punish him? It's not like Tao had a beef with him, merely taking him on for the money, so if it happens that the one who was doing all this harm to such criminal faction was someone bonded in some way to his brother he'd likely abandon the task imo.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

@CC don't you think it's kinda odd for Tao Pai Pai to take Goku for his brother to punish him? It's not like Tao had a beef with him, merely taking him on for the money, so if it happens that the one who was doing all this harm to such criminal faction was someone bonded in some way to his brother he'd likely abandon the task imo.

Taopaipai still had some bond with his brother and would probably be made aware of what Goku did, so I'd say it'd be very likely Tsuru Sennin would make it apparent he wanted Goku captured and punished if found.

---

Part 2 - Piccolo Daimao Arc

Upon everyone being informed of Piccolo Daimao by Tsuru Sennin, Tenshinhan has the Kinto'Un carry him to Karin's tower to get some Senzu. Meanwhile, Tsuru Sennin, Taopaipai and Kuririn are given the Dragon Radar and try to take the Dragon Balls after seeing Goku's four star ball ball moving towards a location. For security, Bulma placed one of the Dragon Balls at Kame House after the RRA conflict ended and the trio head there to secure it. Taopaipai then decides to fly towards Karin-to in case Ten takes too long and secures some Senzu from Karin, with Ten taking some more when he finally arrives. As Yajirobe isn't met in this series of events and doesn't devour the entire jar's worth, there is a far larger Senzu supply. Everyone is quickly healed and head towards gathering the Dragon Balls, tracking down Tambourine and figuring out a strategy against Piccolo. The Kame faction (now including Kuririn) focus on collecting Dragon Balls whilst the Tsuru faction focus on taking down the Mazoku. Roshi and Tsuru shake hands for the first time in centuries, being surprised the same thing that drove them apart would bring them together again. It isn't long before Tambourine is intercepted and killed by the Tsuru group whilst one of the Kame faction kills Cymbal. Daimao then goes on the move, at which point the Kame team have finished collecting all but 2 of the Dragon Balls in Daimao and Pilaf's possession, though Daimao targets the location of Tambourine's death first.
Tsuru Sennin then tells his brother to fall back as he has no role to play in this battle. Tao can tell what Tsuru is planning and begs him not to, but eventually concedes to help gather the others. As expected, Tsuru Sennin's plan is to use the Mafuba, with the contingency plan of Yamcha using the Kikoho to distract Daimao. As Tsuru Sennin confronts Daimao and is about to tell him just who he is, however, he's stopped by an intense pain. Yamcha has brought his arm to stab straight through Tsuru and grab his heart. Yamcha then tells his master how he could never understand how he feels now - having been pushed to the brink and given the lies he could become the ultimate assassin, only for a rebellious child to surpass all of the Tsuru students. Knowing how powerful Daimao is, Yamcha pledges his allegiance to the demon in order to learn how to achieve true strength. Everyone else then arrives to the horror of seeing Yamcha's betrayal, with Piccolo then facing all the fighters at once. Roshi attempts to use the Mafuba, but it fails and he dies. Daimao then injures each fighter enough so they can't fight back and interrogates them on the Dragon Balls, with Yamcha eventually collecting them when stealing the Dragon Radar from Goku. As Daimao is distracted with his prize, Kuririn uses the Taiyoken and the fighters get the opportunity to escape. They eventually retreat to Karin's tower. Piccolo gets his wish and kills Shenron. Having been already actively been approached about the situation, Karin pays far more attention to the events and discovers Shenron has been killed. Rather than giving the group the Choshinsui, Karin decides it wouldn't matter compared to restoring the Dragon Balls as Piccolo will cause irreversible damages if so and it isn't worth risking the last line of defence drinking it. Instead, he tells everyone to head to Kami's Heavenly Realm. The only exception is Taopaipai, who believes he's too old to keep up with such training and will take the risk of the Choshinsui alone. He manages to become as strong as his Cyborg self and decides to head straight to fight Daimao, only to be killed in battle after proving his strength. With this, Daimao continues to make an active effort in killing all martial artists, particularly finding those who opposed him prior.

For 3 years, the main cast train under Kami and Popo. Given the amount of sparring partners, the inclusion of Goku and lasting 6x longer than the humans' training in the Saiyan Arc, I'll say that Tenshinhan and Chaozu end up just as strong as their Saiyan Arc selves, with Kuririn slightly stronger than Ten. All of the fighters teach and learn each others' techniques, as well as develop and master the Shishin no Ken and Kienzan. The reason they haven't attacked Daimao earlier, however, is that his strength has been growing too through training with Yamcha and Drum, to the point he is now as strong as Piccolo's Saiyan Arc self, whilst those two have grown in power as well. The Earthlings then descend to save the Earth, finding it has become a lawless dystopia under Daimao's rule. They eventually find Chichi, who has become the leader of a small resistance movement of martial artists that have grown in amount after Taopaipai came to be treat as a martyr. They then actively confront Daimao and his main forces, noting that his Mazoku children have grown in numbers and power with Drum as their leader. Yamcha and the Mazoku squad face the 3 humans whilst Goku fights Daimao. The teamwork of the humans are able to easily trounce the Mazoku fodder, though Chaozu is then taken out in one blow by Yamcha as he and Drum fight against Ten and Kuririn. Each of them prove to be about equal until Kuririn manages to kill Drum with the Kienzan and their combined efforts are able to overpower Yamcha. He then makes note at how he didn't imagine such soft fighters could've ever managed to reach such a threshold, sitting down and letting them go ahead to assist Goku. He contemplates what it means to have been matched by such fighters and what it means for what was his plan to eventually prove himself and surpass Daimao in power.
Meanwhile, Goku and Piccolo are completely even, though the intervention of Kuririn and Tenshinhan cause Daimao to attempt to flee. It's then that Yamcha finds his long awaited opportunity to hit Piccolo with the Kikoho and though not a direct hit, it does take off the Namekian's arm. Goku then prepares a Kamehameha to finish things off, but hesitates when knowing what it'll mean for Kami and the Dragon Balls. Piccolo uses the opportunity to try and strike Goku with a mouth blast and though Goku is aware enough not to lower his guard, it still damages his arm somewhat. As the fight between the two continues, Goku eventually concludes there is no other choice but to destroy Daimao as even if things can't be restored, the damages will only be made worse if he loses. With support from Tenshinhan and Kuririn, Goku's Super Kamehameha completely overpowers Piccolo, who's last action is spitting out the egg containing his reincarnation.

Upon the realisation Kami is still alive and being told why, the group use the Dragon Balls to revive all of Piccolo Daimao and his Mazoku's victims. Goku then marries Chichi and Ten marries Bulma. Yamcha offers an apology to everyone, saying that he knew that even if his master managed to seal Piccolo Daimao, it would only cause the cycle to repeat in another age and he knew the only way to break it was to surpass and kill Daimao himself. He then leaves beyond the horizon to train in solitude. Meanwhile, Piccolo Jr. develops, prepared to get revenge on Goku, and Goku trains hard in case the day comes when they must fight again.

To be continue in Part 3.

 

[GSM123]

[mention]Captain Cadaver[/mention] what do you reckon to have happened with Yajirobe in this story?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Either he'd continue leading his life as a vagabond, or he would have been killed during Daimao's reign. Either way, there's no chance of him meeting the main cast in this scenario.

---

Part 3 - Saiyan Arc

Following the fall of the Mazoku Empire, the world changes drastically compared to the main timeline. With how much prominence martial artists gained as a group Daimao wished to purge and the threat the demon king posed, martial arts and Ki control are sought by the masses, with the Kame and Tsuru schools gaining legendary status. Roshi and Tsuru Sennin make their schools and training regimen public to anyone wishing to learn, with Tenshinhan and Kuririn respectively taking up the role of actively teaching the students Ki control. The Tsuru school does gain some controversy due to being where Piccolo's right-hand man arose from, though Tsuru Sennin declares he will not allow any student to fall down the same path as Yamcha anymore and as a declaration of this, he resigns in favour of Kuririn being the grand master.
Due to the necessity for people to protect themselves after Daimao's reign, Ki control becomes part of the standard curriculum. That said, Gohan is trained in this timeline, though is only taught the basics by Goku due to his age and doesn't flourish into the warrior he'll become straight away. 3 years after Daimao's fall, Piccolo seeks out Goku to challenge him. The two are completely even, though this is enough for Piccolo to know he cannot conquer the world just yet. He decides to retreat and though Goku considers chasing after him, he's able to tell this Piccolo must be different if he's capable of knowing when a battle is a lost cause. In the wilderness, Piccolo is eventually found by Yamcha, who's notoriety has had him flee from human society altogether. He would have fashioned his iconic scar and have his Cell Arc haircut at this point to help make his identity less obvious to all. Piccolo threatens to kill him for his betrayal, though Yamcha says all he did was in the name of his own ambitions to reach the top and reminds Piccolo his previous self wouldn't have been able to match 3 humans like himself had it not been for their training together. He tells Piccolo that he's no longer concerned about a society he can't be a part of, nor in trying to become the strongest. All he desires is to be as great a martial artist as he can become and the best way to do so is by training with someone as strong as Piccolo. Reluctantly, Piccolo agrees and the two form a strange bond for different from what Gohan and Piccolo had; Yamcha's more worldly knowledge and maturity allowing him to teach Piccolo some things of his own and in doing so, Piccolo's reconsideration of his goal in killing Goku or world domination occurs far sooner.

When Raditz arrives, he approaches Piccolo as normal. He then reads his battle power and is shocked that, even wearing weighted clothing, the Namekian's battle power is over 3,000. What's more, the human next to him is far above the 2k level. Raditz immediately flees and whilst contemplating chasing and killing him, Piccolo decides to let him go. He noticed Raditz had a tail like Goku and that his Ki was still far too great for a human without godly training. Curious, he and Yamcha stealthily track Raditz to spy on him. Raditz immediately contacts Nappa and Vegeta, telling them he's encountered fighters far above what Earth should be capable of birthing and the two tell him they will arrive in one year. Raditz then finds the power he believes to be Kakarotto and flies towards it.
The Kame House reunion still occurs, though with Tenshinhan, Chaozu and Chichi being present too. Raditz then descends and when seeing Goku, tells him all about his identity and begs his brother to save him from Piccolo, feigning being a helpless victim (as well as withholding the information that the Saiyans conquer planets for a living). Raditz is allowed to stay with them and Goku helps him train, quickly helping him get over his tail weakness. When a full moon appears, Raditz uses it as his chance to launch a counterattack and goes on a rampage as an Oozaru, though Goku quickly targets and severs his tail.
Seeing how even humans have become capable of surpassing him, Raditz eventually starts feeling conflicted about whether he's making the right decision in deceiving his brother. After a month staying with the Son family, Raditz confesses everything and says that after seeing how strong his little brother has become, they may actually be able to defeat Vegeta if they train hard enough. In order to make the threat apparent to Goku, he makes it clear that the combined forces of them, Piccolo, Gohan and the humans would still be nothing to Vegeta. He even tells them about Freeza and how Vegeta is an ant to the tyrant as additional motivation. They then start training along with Gohan whilst Dr. Briefs converts Raditz's pod into a spaceship complete with a gravity chamber. After about a month, the ship is complete and the Saiyans plan on training in there along with the human fighters. Before doing so, however, Goku decides to visit Piccolo and Yamcha, telling them what Raditz told him and saying even they may need to put aside their differences. Piccolo agrees, though makes it clear he won't miss his opportunity to kill Goku if it comes up. Despite their differences, everyone trains in the gravity chamber and become far stronger than their canon selves. Though Raditz is the weakest of the group at the start (minus Chaozu and Gohan), his Saiyan biology has him quickly progress to the level he is slightly above Ten and Kuririn, though still below Yamcha and far weaker than Goku and Piccolo, as well as Gohan by the end.

After the 8 months have passed, the battle arrives. Raditz destroys Nappa's Saibaiman vial before he can grow them and the Z-Warriors split into two groups for the battle - the humans fight Nappa whilst the Saiyans and Piccolo fight Vegeta. With their training, it doesn't take the humans long to kill Nappa and in seeing the combined forces of the 4 are able to put Vegeta on the defensive, he decides to change his strategy to injuring Raditz. He succeeds in doing this before creating a power ball and becoming an Oozaru. With his power in the form still superior to Raditz's, his speed being the same and having his intelligence, the Z-Warriors struggle to do anything against him. Chaozu retreats under Ten's order, whilst trying to deal with both Vegeta and a rampaging Oozaru Raditz and Gohan at once leads to Kuririn and Yamcha being injured too much to move and the rest of the group fatigued. Goku finally gets the opportunity to use the Taiyoken and aims a Kienzan at Vegeta's tail, succeeding in bringing him back to normal.
However, the situation is no better. With everyone fatigued and still having Gohan and Raditz to stop, Goku and Piccolo are at the disadvantage. Vegeta uses the chaos as his opportunity to fatally injure Piccolo before beating Goku into submission. There was one thing that Vegeta didn't factor into his plan, however. With him having injured Raditz prior when in the Oozaru form combined with Raditz having some years of resentment in serving Vegeta obediently, he becomes the Oozaru Raditz's target and is quickly defeated. Goku uses the opportunity to then launch a Kienzan to cut both Raditz and Gohan's tails. Raditz then looms over Vegeta and is about to kill him, but is stopped by Goku's request. He reminds Raditz what he told him about Freeza and that if they are to overcome him, someone with Vegeta's strength would be necessary. Vegeta tells them that in the right scenario, defeating Freeza wouldn't be impossible, but he'll never be able to do so by working with them. After much discussion, they agree to let Vegeta go after Raditz concedes the prince has no true loyalty to Freeza and it's better to let him do what he wants if he has some plan in mind. He then takes off in his pod.

Though the battle has far less casualties than in canon, Piccolo still died and, thus, the group decide to go to Namek. Though the ship is already built, Dr. Briefs would have to adjust it in order for the gravity effects to not cover the entire ship, as well as stock up food supplies for far more than just Goku (even with far more Senzu than in canon, they wouldn't be overly liberal in their use of them as snacks). This takes quite a while, though the redesigns are eventually made and the team going to Namek includes Goku, Gohan, Bulma, Ten, Kuririn, Yamcha and Raditz. Chaozu wouldn't join them as he isn't as he'd concede he'd be too weak to keep up if they run into trouble and him already having died before would put him at risk, plus someone would need to stay and look after Ten and Bulma's child (who I'll call Trunks for simplicity). Many of the group object to Yamcha going along until he tells them that in his years training with Piccolo, he's come to learn he's far different from the old Daimao and is someone he could consider a friend. The fighters then start training in higher levels of gravity, with the training going up to 100x (though the humans eventually start to reach their breaking point at around 50x). Starting off at far higher levels than in canon, all the characters are far stronger now. I'll say Goku has reached the 180k range his Kaioken had in canon, with Gohan not far behind, Raditz somewhat behind Gohan and the humans still breaking through the 100k threshold. Though the trip only takes 6 days, the time spent with the adjustments of the ship causes the group to arrive at the same time Kami's ship did in canon. So, the Freeza Arc begins...next time.

 

[GSM123]

Where's Freeza Arc [mention]Captain Cadaver[/mention]

 

[theallpowerfulpuipui]

Shit, this topic requires thought and spam wouldn't come off well.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Where's Freeza Arc @Captain Cadaver

Was waiting until someone else replied or contributed to the topic before continuing.

---

Part 4 - Freeza Arc

When the group arrive on Namek, they kill the scouts before they can attack their ship. They then sense Freeza as in canon, with Raditz ordering to hide. Goku agrees, knowing their training still isn't enough to conquer Freeza and they go the same route as in canon. Vegeta also arrives and kills Cui. When arriving at Dende's village, things become quite different when Gohan's rage gets the better of him. His far greater power at this point causes his kick to not send Dodoria reeling back, but rip his head clean off. With little alternative, Goku grabs Dende whilst Yamcha distracts Freeza with a Ki blast, one that kills Zarbon and any of the other soldiers in the process. They then all attempt to escape, though the fairly annoyed Freeza pursues them. Kuririn is able to distract him with a Taiyoken and the group escapes. Once having recovered, Freeza recollects that one of the fleeing enemies seemed to be Raditz and another looked like the Saiyan who once opposed him. Believing Vegeta may have organised some kind of secret coup and being shocked at how strong his small group has become, he immediately heads back to his ship to call the Ginyu Tokusentai along with the bulk of the Freeza Force, as well as put in a word to his father to keep close to the system should something unexpected require his assistance.

Meanwhile, it doesn't take long for Vegeta to sense such massive Ki and be found by Goku. Enraged that lower class Saiyans and even humans surpassed him, yet not foolish enough to fight them, he agrees to work with them and not harm the Namekians. Dende takes Goku and Gohan towards Saichoro's house and takes one Senzu whilst Ten and Yamcha guard Bulma from Vegeta. Raditz is given the rest of the Senzu to protect and goes off to scout villages for Namekian survivors. Goku and Gohan get their potential unlocked and with the vast increase in power, they feel confident to go ahead and fight Freeza directly. Saichoro also unlocks Dende's and tells him to head with them in case things don't go as expected. Goku and Gohan quickly arrive to face Freeza, with Goku quickly tooling the tyrant. Upon hearing how Freeza can transform and being confident in his new power, Goku tells Freeza to hurry up and transform. At this point, Goku and Gohan will be in about the million range and together are able to fight 2nd form Freeza, though Freeza's 3rd form quickly overpowers them. Goku tells Gohan to hurry up and run whilst he is quickly brought down by a Death Beam to the heart from Freeza, who then continues to chase the boy. Goku quickly searches for his Senzu and consumes it in just enough time to save his life. Meanwhile, an enraged Gohan stands against Freeza and is able to overpower him, though Freeza quickly transforms into his true form and as he's about to kill Gohan, he's knocked into the sea below by a surprise kick from Goku, even stronger than his base form's peak in the Freeza Arc due to the severity of the Zenkai and his far greater initial strength. He doesn't choose to fight Freeza, however, being aware there's even more to the tyrant's power than he's showing and focuses on retreating until the group can think of a better plan; intercepting Freeza with a Taiyoken if need be. Freeza also chooses not to pursue them, knowing that Vegeta or another one could attack his ship and steal the Dragon Balls and ruin his plans. He decides to wait there until the Ginyus arrive with a new model scouter so he can search for his enemies and erase them with one swift stroke.
As this is going on, Raditz brings the members of Tsuno's village and their Dragon Ball to the hideout. Aware of the severity of the situation, the Namekians of the village all fuse into one Super Namek. Whilst not as strong as the one in the Moro Arc due to being made up of mainly farmers and the elderly rather than warriors who have had time to improve from the Freeza conflict, they are still one of the strongest fighters to face Freeza at the moment. The Namekian then decides to do their duty best, they should fuse into Nail as he is the only true warrior and head to Saichoro's to do so. Nail agrees, but makes it apparent they will not move unless to protect the Grand Elder. Super Namekian Nail then waits to make his move.

Once Dende arrives back at the hideout, the group is caught up with all that is going on. Vegeta then brings up the idea of abusing the Zenkai system and has Goku fatally wound he and Raditz until they've gained all they can from this method, with Vegeta doing the same to Gohan due to Goku's unwillingness to injure his son so severely as well as to Goku himself with Raditz's unwillingness. The humans and Saiyans all head to Saichoro's house in groups too. For simplicity, I'll say Vegeta ends up slightly below Goku, with Raditz somewhat below Vegeta and Gohan far above any of the full blooded Saiyans. The humans all surpass the 1mil mark from their potential unlock, high base power and additional training, though that's about it. With everything done and some time left to train, the group feel ready to attack Freeza after almost 5 days. Freeza will be expecting the Taiyoken at this point, so the plan is for one of the group members who knows the Mafuba to use it on Freeza; with it either trapping him and resolving the conflict, or sacrificing themselves as a worthy distraction. After some debate, Yamcha chooses to be the sacrifice, noting that his experience with life draining techniques like the Kikoho is far better than the other humans and would make him the most likely to succeed with a Mafuba, as well as noting that Kuririn is a far more strategic fighter and that he doesn't have much to live for compared to the family man Ten. He also considers it his penance for having scoffed at his master's way of fighting and slain him for it, now knowing that someone so overwhelmingly powerful isn't to be revered when Yamcha had failed to surpass Piccolo in the past and is now far more helpless against Freeza. Bulma is also brought to her ship and told to retreat to Earth if things become hopeless.

They then launch the assault and Yamcha does his work whilst Vegeta and Ten gather the Dragon Balls in Freeza's possession and flee whilst Yamcha dies failing to seal Freeza. As they do so, however, the Ginyus arrive. Though they could easily kill the entire Ginyu Tokusentai, the group chooses not to waste time when even a single moment could make the difference between successfully fleeing and an enraged Freeza killing them all. They then get back to their hideout to summon Porunga, with Ten and Dende going about making the wish whilst the rest prepare for Freeza's assault. Piccolo is revived and chooses to be brought to Namek due to his pride, quickly becoming aware of how out of his league he was
As the group had been fleeing, Ginyu had tried to lock onto them with his scouter only for it to explode. When presenting Freeza with his scouter, he and his men were told to follow him with the rest of the Freeza Force, using his scouter to get a lock-on to the point they were defending and telling his soldiers to comb the area from above whilst he and the Ginyus move forward. He also patched in a communication to his father to tell him to stay directly above Namek in the case that these Saiyans prove too annoying for him to continue to waste time with. In seeing the sky turn dark, he becomes desperate and quickly catches sight of Porunga.
Meanwhile, the group are debating about the third wish. Vegeta wants immortality, but Raditz objects and says Goku's superior strength makes him a far better candidate for it. Kuririn considers reviving Yamcha, though is told by Goku Freeza won't fall for the Mafuba again. As they're discussing all this, Freeza shows up and wastes no time unleashing 50% of his power and revealing how delightful it will be to finish the Saiyan genocide he started, but is confronted by a new fighter wishing to face him - Piccolo.
Going back slightly in time for a moment, Nail was told by Saichoro there was no longer any point defending him when Freeza was close to the Dragon Balls. He reluctantly agreed and moved to assist the Earthlings, but sensed Piccolo along the way. Noting Piccolo's power after Kaio's training being quite high (let's say stronger than Piccolo would normally be, but weaker than 1st form Freeza) and knowing Piccolo is tied to Earth's Dragon Balls, he allows himself to fuse into Piccolo to make him the last, best hope for Namek.

The fight begins and to everyone's surprise, Piccolo is able to not only contend with Freeza, but overpower him. Observing closely, Goku, Vegeta and Raditz note that his power doubles each time he either attacks or defends, believing he must've learned some advanced technique in the afterlife. In actuality, Piccolo's far greater power and role as Kaio's sole student in this timeline lead to him being taught the Kaioken, though his limited time and focus on improving his core strength as well lead to him only mastering x2 and still using that conservatively. Even using 70%, Freeza cannot fight against this foe and shoots a beam into the sky, a signal to his father. As he does so, Ginyu then uses the Body Change to steal Piccolo's body, with Gurd using his time freeze to make sure Ginyu has a clear shot. Even with poor control of the Namekian's body, Ginyu's power is enough to put the Saiyans into submission and he kills Ten mercilessly. Kuririn launches a Renzoku Kienzan and succeeds in cutting off one of Piccolo's arms and Freeza's tail, though the enraged Freeza then kills him. As the two then begin to set their sights on fighting off the enraged Gohan, Kuririn's death causes Goku to transform into the Super Saiyan. With his far greater power, Goku knocks Piccolo-Ginyu away before pummelling Freeza. Piccolo in Ginyu's body is also struggling with the other Ginyu Tokusentai members until Raditz and Vegeta rush in to kill them all with a surprise attack before eradicating all the Freeza Force surrounding them. As Ginyu attempts to change bodies with Goku, Piccolo gets in the way and returns to his body, speedblizting and killing Ginyu before he can change his plans. As Freeza is getting desperate, however, a new figure descends - Cold. Goku wasn't about to let Freeza gain his full power, but with Cold now here, he doesn't know where to turn his attention to. His experience fighting 2nd form Freeza and Cold's similar appearance to him make Goku worry Cold is holding back more power, and even if he isn't Freeza may power up in the time it takes to kill Cold. On top of that, his newfound Saiyan instincts are wanting to test his power against Freeza, knowing he can win if Freeza previous power really was 70%. Piccolo then steps forward to simplify everything, saying it'll be easier for Goku to just fight Freeza and he'll fight Cold. Goku does just that, with him easily overpowering 100% Freeza and beating him into submission whilst Piccolo's use of Kaioken allows him to overcome Cold after risking bringing his body to x3. Both the Saiyan and Namekian raised on Earth have saved Namek and avenged the killer of the Saiyans...or so it seems. Desperate for victory. Freeza shoots a blast straight into the ground below that goes straight to the core. As in the main timeline, he held back out of some fear, though with his far greater power and less distance, the planet is set to explode in one minute. Goku then tells Dende to wish for everyone but himself to be wished off the planet as he wants to make sure Freeza doesn't survive this and has no time to risk everyone else. With everyone gone, Goku completely destroys Freeza with a Super Dodonpa before searching for the ship he arrived on. Seeing it descend into the sea, he's forced to move towards Freeza's ship and sees one of the Ginyu's pods, heading to Yardrat as in the main timeline.

With things at peace on Earth, Kami uses the Dragon Balls to revive Freeza's victims and Muri uses his new Dragon Balls to bring Kuririn and Ten and Yamcha's souls to Earth for him to be revived 130 days later, with this Kuririn choosing to train at Kaio's in the meantime under Yamcha's request. We'll also say for simplicity that Cranberry isn't revived since he wouldn't be transported to Earth and would've died from lack of oxygen, so no Moro Arc in this what-if (thank god). Piccolo chooses not to go back to Namek as not only does he still have his personality, but he wishes to be somewhere where he can continue to grow stronger with rivals and (though he doesn't admit it) have a friend like Yamcha. As a parting gift to the other Namekians from Tsuno's village, however, he creates an egg with a newborn, non-mutated Namekian inside it to hopefully grow strong enough to protect them from any other crises, with him choosing to name it Nail in honour of the Namekian who helped give him the strength to fight back against Freeza and Cold.
All in all, things are quite peaceful and Goku does return 1 year later. As for the Cell Arc, however, we'll have to see how that goes in the future...

 

[GSM123]

[mention]Captain Cadaver[/mention] Cell Arc now

Also, Cranberry is to blame for Moro? That's new.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Also, Cranberry is to blame for Moro? That's new.

Cranberry was the one to unlock Moro's cell. How he didn't do this in Trunks' timeline or why Moro would need to be freed from a cell, however. are questions that show how incredibly shit the Moro Arc is (though not TROS tier shit ).

---

Part 5 - Future Arc

First, we must cover "Trunks'" timeline. Considering Piccolo isn't too far away from SSJ tier by the end of the Freeza Arc, I'd say his training after that would allow him to be the top dog with Kaioken at the time of #17 and #18's arrival. Through training, Raditz would've been taught how to become a Super Saiyan by Goku prior to his death and Vegeta would've achieved it through the humiliation of not only being far outstripped by Goku and even Raditz at an earlier point, but being far surpassed by Piccolo. I'll also say Raditz encounters Lunch at some point and, her falling for the Chaditz and his Saiyan charms, leads to their marriage and a child who (like in another what-if) I'll call Toben. With the Z-Warriors far stronger than they would be at this point, Piccolo, Raditz and Vegeta are actually able to put up a decent defence against the cyborgs, but are ultimately put at a disadvantage by their infinite energy. Seeing this as a hopeless situation, Piccolo and Vegeta tell Raditz to retreat and train Gohan in case things come to the worse. Whilst initially refusing due to his Saiyan pride, seeing Vegeta grasp the severity of the situation and the years of taking orders from him having put in something of a Pavlovian complex, Raditz concedes and retreats. As expected, Piccolo, Vegeta and the humans all meet their end - all apart from Yamcha that is who Piccolo orders to flee as well, his techniques learnt from training with Piccolo being ones that could prove useful to Gohan.

That said, this version of Gohan is in a far better position than his canon self. Along with being able to unlock and become adept at using Super Saiyan far earlier, he has Raditz to train him and can learn techniques Yamcha inherited from Piccolo such as the Mafuba and Kaioken. Trunks would also be trained when coming of age, though he wouldn't be treat as a last hope due to his pure Earthling genetics. Toben would also be trained, though wouldn't progress too quickly due to her age.
In this scenario, Raditz would become Future Gohan in a way. After a few years, he would feel ready to defeat #17 and #18 himself, knocking out Gohan and leaving alone. Though he'd put up a decent fight against the pair and nearly defeat them, their teamwork and infinite energy would lead to him being killed. Bulma would then start construction of the time machine and be finished in 3 years. I'll say it is finished in Age 774, when the Boo Arc occurred canonically. At this point, Gohan has become vastly stronger than in the canon due to his several extra training benefits and Toben would've learnt how to become a Super Saiyan. Gohan and Yamcha would make one last attempt to stop #17 and #18 before going back in time and, with his training gains, Gohan would be able to kill both of them. As I suggested in the previous part, the Namekians restored Namek rather than relocating, leading to Bulma venturing there to revive their fallen allies.
However, this victory is ultimately short-lived. Mere weeks after the defeat of the cyborgs, a visitor appears on Earth warning of a wizard's arrival. Of course, this is Shin warning of Babidi and Majin Boo. In this timeline, the Earthlings being a stronger race due to mandatory learning of Ki control and the cyborgs being present for far less time lead to the Earth not being damaged nearly as much and Babidi still seeing it as a place worth attacking. With the idea of a new threat far more ominous towards the Z-Warriors as a whole, Piccolo recommends finding a new God from Namek as he plans to fuse with Kami. His power increases to the point he's the strongest warrior amongst the group, though he's still not sure if he should recklessly charge into battle. Instead, he brings up the Rosat as an option to the group. Raditz goes in with Gohan and together they master the Super Saiyan form. Vegeta then goes in with Piccolo and, upon seeing just what they did, goes through similar training and manages to become as strong as his Cell Game self, though still far weaker than Gohan. Toben also wishes to go in with her father, with Raditz choosing to train his daughter and sees her become quite strong, almost as strong as Post-Rosat Piccolo. The humans choose not to go in when seeing they can't catch up with the Saiyans, with Kuririn instead teaching Gohan a technique that he wasn't able to prior, of which will soon come into place.

With everything prepared, the group head to confront Babidi and Shin is shocked to see Dabura amongst Babidi's minions. As in the main timeline, many of the group are turned to stone with the three remaining fighters being Gohan, Raditz and Vegeta. Vegeta kills Pui Pui, Raditz kills Yakon and Gohan faces Dabura. In order to avoid the whole SSJ vs SS2 against Dabura debate, I'll say that the events in Trunks' timeline in Super would say Dabura is SS2 tier in Trunks' timeline, making him such in this one. Even together, the group is no match for Dabura and both Raditz and Vegeta are eventually killed, as is Shin. Gohan becomes enraged and achieves SS2, killing Dabura and Babidi. Dabura's victims are then revived, Gohan partakes in the Z-Sword training as an additional precaution and goes through the predictable route of eventually achieving the Ultimate state.

Though peace is restored, the group start to wonder if things may have taken a better route had Goku not died of a heart disease. With this, the time machine is finally used as Gohan heads back to the time of Goku's return from Yardrat to create the perfect future. How will this go? Find out next time...