Dragon Ball Z, The Saiyan Saga

The Raditz Saga begins five years after the events in the Piccolo Jr. Saga depicted at the end of Dragon Ball. A reunion at the Kame House reunites Goku with his old master, Master Roshi, and his friends Krillin and Bulma, who all have not seen each other in five years. Goku surprises everyone by bringing along his four-year-old son, Gohan, who is not becoming a martial artist due to Chi-Chi wanting him to keep studying and not getting himself into danger with him fighting all the time.

King Kai then begins to instruct Goku on his two signature techniques: the Kaio-ken and the Spirit Bomb. Goku masters these techniques within a day of the Saiyan's arrival on Earth. Unfortunately, King Kai realizes that even though Goku's friends can wish Goku back to life, Goku still has to run all the way down Snake Way to get back to Earth. Goku, in a panic, telepathically instructs Master Roshi back on Earth to resurrect him. Master Roshi complies, having gathered the Dragon Balls over the past year, and summons Shenron, the Eternal Dragon of the Dragon Balls, and asks the Dragon to bring Goku back to life. The Dragon complies, Goku returns to life in the Other World, and immediately flies at top speed down the Snake Way. Then, one day later, the Saiyans arrive.

Upon their arrival, the Saiyans Nappa and Vegeta immediately destroy the city they landed in. Vegeta, wanting to find the Dragon Balls, uses his scouter to determine the location of the strongest warrior on the planet, whom he presumes to be the one who killed Raditz. They head off towards Piccolo and Gohan. Piccolo and Gohan sense the incoming powers, as well as several smaller ones, who turn out to be Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu. The Saiyans arrive. When Krillin arrives, Nappa and Vegeta also reveal that they came to Earth to use the Dragon Balls for immortality.

The Saibamen are unleashed against the Z Fighters The Saiyans recognize Piccolo as being a Namekian. This revelation about his true origin shocks Piccolo for a while, with Kami also realizing that his creating the Dragon Balls was some kind of racial memory from his Namekian heritage. Nappa decides to let Saibamen beat up the fighters first, and plants seeds in the ground, which sprout and become six small green aliens. Tien fights one first, and easily bests it. Upon seeing this, Vegeta deduces that the fighters are concealing their power and easily destroys the defenseless Saibaman for its incompetence. Yamcha goes after another Saibaman, and seemingly defeats it with a Kamehameha. However, it instantly stands up again and latches on to him and self-destructs, killing both of them. An enraged Krillin snaps and launches a devastating Expanding Energy Wave blast that splits off into six separate blasts, one for each remaining Saibaman and one for each of the two Saiyans.

Piccolo battles against one of the Saibaman The blast manages to kill three Saibamen immediately, Piccolo destroys one that hid from the blast and tried to attack Gohan. Vegeta and Nappa also survive the blast unscathed. Nappa then decides to step up and battle the Z Fighters himself. Vegeta tells Nappa not to kill Piccolo, as that would probably cease the Namek from revealing the location of the Dragon Balls as well (they are under the belief that he is the only one who knows of the Dragon Balls). Nappa goes on the offensive, powering up a great deal and choosing Tien at random to attack. He actually knocks off Tien's arm, causing him extreme pain. Krillin tries to rescue his friend, but Nappa stops him by firing a powerful attack straight in front of him. Nappa, distracted, fails to notice Chiaotzu coming up behind him. Chiaotzu attaches onto Nappa and self-destructs, much to Tien's dismay. When the smoke clears, Nappa remains, with no harm to him. Chiaotzu sacrificed himself for nothing.

Nappa prepares to eliminate the Z Fighters Tien, enraged, goes into an all-out attack against Nappa, who blocks all his attacks like nothing. Piccolo tells the others that once Nappa goes to the offensive, he will be unguarded, and they will sneak up and attack. The plan goes well until Gohan chickens out at the last second and runs away. Piccolo and Krillin, pretty much the only ones left, continue to fight Nappa, but are no match, even together. Tien, who is only alive through pure willpower, however, puts all of his energy into a final attack, a one-handed Tri-Beam. Unfortunately, this fails, and Nappa survives with only his armor damaged. Tien, who literally put his life into the attack, dies.

Vegeta waits three hours for Goku Nappa prepares to make the kill on all three, however Vegeta, who had remained on the sidelines, halts him. Vegeta has deduced that "Goku" is Kakarot, and wants Nappa to wait three hours for Goku to arrive to provide punishment for the "traitor", planning to continue the fight afterwards regardless of whether or not Goku is there. Nappa reluctantly agrees, much to the puzzlement of the remaining fighters, as Nappa is much larger in stature than the diminutive Vegeta. Goku, who had been flying down Snake Way for two straight days, finally reaches the end of the road. Kami appears to transport Goku back to Earth, and on his way to the battlefield, he receives two Senzu Beans from Korin, eats one of them himself to regain his strength, and rides the Flying Nimbus towards the action to conserve energy. Unfortunately, the three hours are up.

Piccolo attempts to grab Nappa's tail The remaining fighters formulate a plan to weaken Nappa by grabbing his tail, as Goku had done with Raditz. This ultimately fails, when Nappa reveals that elite Saiyans have learned to overcome the weakness of the tail. He then hits Piccolo on the head when Piccolo learns that it is hopeless. Piccolo is rendered unconscious, and Nappa attacks Gohan and Krillin for a while. Piccolo regains consciousness and exclaims that Goku is coming. Vegeta's scouter picks up Goku's power level to be 5000, which shock the two Saiyans. Vegeta knows that since the Fighters have the ability to change their power as they see fit, 5000 is most likely the lowest power that Goku is exerting.

Piccolo sacrifices himself to save Gohan Vegeta then orders Nappa to kill everyone before Goku arrives, as a team attack might prove to be a disadvantage. When Nappa argues about the Dragon Balls, Vegeta tells Nappa about the existence of Dragon Balls on Piccolo's home planet, Namek. Gohan urges Piccolo to escape as his death would mean the end of the Dragon Balls on Earth and subsequently kicks Nappa in the head, sending him crashing into a cliff wall. However, he only succeeds in making Nappa angrier. The enraged Nappa launches his powerful Bomber DX at Gohan, but before it hits, Piccolo jumps in the way and takes the blast full force, killing him. Before his death Piccolo admits with tears in his eyes how he had enjoyed training with Gohan and how his innocence made him soft, leading up to the events of him eventually sacrificing his life for the boy. Up above Earth, Kami vanishes as well, as his being is linked with Piccolo's due to their history. Gohan's rage explodes and he fires his Masenko at Nappa, who blocks it. This surprises Vegeta, considering that Gohan's power level upped from a low 981 to 2,800. However, finishing the attack leaves Gohan helpless. Fortunately, Goku arrives just in time.

Goku splits up the remaining Senzu Bean and gives a piece each to Krillin and Gohan. Nappa asks Vegeta what his scouter says about Goku's power level. Vegeta responds that "It's over 8,000!!!" ("IT'S OVER 9000" in the Ocean Dub), destroying his scouter in a fit of rage. After realizing that everyone else is dead, Goku gets angry and begins fighting Nappa. Nappa is no match for Goku, and Vegeta orders him to back down. Nappa complies but decides to take out Krillin and Gohan instead. Goku cannot catch up to Nappa and uses the Kaiō-ken technique to ram into Nappa, breaking his back and rendering him useless. Goku throws Nappa at Vegeta's feet.

Nappa meets his end When Krillin asks him what he did, Goku replies that Kaio-ken utilizes all the potential energy within him and multiplies his reflexes, speed, senses, and power. However, Goku then comments that Kaio-ken's weakness is that it damages his body if multiplied to an extent he cannot handle, and this might even kill him by causing him to explode with the pressure. Nappa begs for mercy, but Vegeta throws him up into the air, and destroys him with a single concentrated blast. Goku tells Gohan and Krillin to return to Kame House and they say their farewells as Vegeta then sets his sights on Goku.

Goku vs. Vegeta

Vegeta faces off against Goku Goku tells Vegeta that he wants to fight elsewhere so as to not destroy the bodies of his friends. They head off to a desert, while Gohan and Krillin fly back towards the Kame House. Vegeta implies that not many low-class warriors like Goku get to spar with the elite like Vegeta, but Goku replies that even a lower-class reject can surpass the elite if he tries hard enough. Goku and Vegeta begin to fight and appear to be evenly matched. Vegeta tells Goku to release his hidden power, to which Goku complies. He engages the Kaio-ken, however Vegeta manages to defend against it. Vegeta powers up a great deal himself, and Goku uses the Kaio-ken x2, however, he still is not a match for Vegeta. Finally, Goku concentrates all of his energy into a Kaio-ken x3, raising his power level to over 24,000, which worries King Kai.

Goku and Vegeta's beam struggle In this form, Goku gains the upper hand, and forces Vegeta to use one of his signature attacks. Flying straight up into the air, Vegeta powers up and unleashes his Galick Gun at Goku and the earth. Unable to move for fear of letting the blast hit the earth, Goku charges up to Kaio-ken x3 again and launches his own Kamehameha at Vegeta. The two blasts collide intensely, and Goku finally gains the upper hand by stepping up his Kaio-ken to x4. The Kamehameha overpowers Vegeta, who goes flying into the air. However, this leaves Goku's body devastated.

Vegeta dominates Goku after transforming into a Great Ape *Yajirobe, who had been hiding nearby the entire time, comes out to congratulate Goku,