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The Dragonball Z series begins five years after the conclusion of the original Dragonball series. Goku is a grown man and is married to Chi Chi. They have a five year old son named after Gokus' grandfather Gohan.
The story begins with a planned reunion at Master Roshis'Kame House. The reunion starts off well, but is interrupted by the arrival of a man claiming to be Gokus' older brother Raditz. Many mysteries of Gokus' past are finally revealed as he learns that he is an alien, called a Saiyjin, from another planet, and that he was sent here as a baby to destroy the Earths' people so that the Earth could be sold on the Intergalactic black Market. Raditz goes on to say that their home world of Vegeta was destroyed years ago, and that there are only four Saiyans left in the universe. Goku is one of the four, and they want to add him to their ranks. Sensing the terrible evil emmanating from his brother, Goku refuses the offer.
Goku and his arch enemy Piccolo team up to destroy Raditz, but Goku is killed as well. Before Raditz dies, he tells Piccolo that two more Saiyins are on their way and will arrive in a years time. Goku dies and is sent by Kami to King Kais', who has a small planet in Heaven. There he is trained by King Kai and his assistants, Bubbles and Gregory.
Because of the incredible powers Gohas has displayed, Piccolo spends the next year training him. The other Z Fighters, Tien, Chou Soo, Yamcha, Krillin and Yajarobi go to Kamis' Sky Palace and train there. All too soon, the year is up and the Saiyjins arrive right on time. Master Roshi and Bulma gather the dragonballs and wish Goku back to life.
The battle with the Saiyjins ensues. Yamcha, Chow Soo, Tien and Piccolo are killed by the Saiyjin Nappa. Goku arrives in time to save only Krillin and Gohan. Goku defeats Nappa and the giant Saiyjin is killed by his boss Vegeta, for losing the fight. Vegeta turns out to be a tough customer for Goku as the two are evenly matched in strength and power. However, Vegeta has an extra trick up his sleeve and transforms into a mammoth ape with ten times the power he had before. Goku is easily defeated. While Vegeta is distracted with Goku, Yajarobi cuts off his tail, and he becomes normal once more. It's Gohans' turn to transform into a mammoth ape, but Vegeta manages to cut off his tail and is caught beneath the giant ape as he falls to the ground. Very nearly crushed to death, Vegeta escapes to his ship and heads back to his home base to heal.
With Piccolo and Kami gone, the dragonballs have turned back into ordinary stones, and are useless to summon the eternal dragon Shenlong. During the battle with the Saiyans, everyone learned that Piccolo and Kami were also aliens from another planet, which meant their homeworld was still out there somewhere. The planet Namek might have dragonballs as well. Krillin, Gohan and Bulma decide to find the planet Namek so they can wish their fallen friends home.
Chapter Two
The Namek Saga
Krillin, Gohan and Bulma take off for the planet Namek in Kamis' old spacecraft. After a series of misadventures they finally arrive on the Namekian homeworld only to find that Vegeta is hot on their trail and another being called Freiza is after the dragonballs as well. Freiza has already collected five of the dragonballs and killed many of the Nameks. Vegeta too, kills an entire villege and captures the sixth dragonball. He hides it in a lake, to keep it safe from Freiza.
Gohan and Krillin save a young Namek boy named Dende from Freiza, and Dende tells them of the eldest Namek Guru. krillin and Dende take off for Gurus' and Gohan goes in search of a dragonball that is spotted sitting off by itself. He finds the dragonball Vegeta had hid in the lake and begins to head back to the camp.
Krillin and Dende reach Gurus', and Guru gives Krillin the number one star dragonball, he also is able to raise Krillins power level by touching his head.
Vegeta meanwhile, has been very busy. He runs into his old enemy Zarbon and the two battle. Vegeta is almost killed, but Freiza orders Zarbon to bring Vegeta back to their ship and have him healed. Once healed Vegeta is stronger than before and he steals Freizas' five dragonballs. Thinking he has six of them, Vegeta goes looking for the last dragonball and spots Krillin returning from Gurus'. With the seventh dragonball in hand, Vegeta flys off toward the lake where he hid the sixth one. He encounters Gohan, but is unaware that Gohan has his dragonball. He lets Gohan go and enters the lake, but can't find the dragonball. Enfuriated, Vegeta goes back after Gohan, he finds them at Gurus' but before another battle can start, he senses an ominous presence.
Chapter Three
The Ginyu Saga
Vegeta senses the approach of The Ginyu Forse, an elite team of fighters loyal to Freiza. Knowing he has little chance against them alone, Vegeta proposes that he, Krillin and Gohan join forces and use the dragonballs against the Ginyu. It's agreed, and they take off for the remanining dragonballs, but are beaten to them by the Ginyu. Capt. Ginyu gathers all seven balls and takes them back to Freiza leaving the four other members to kill the newly formed allies. Vegeta kills one of the Ginyu but cannot defeat the next team member, and all looks lost. But luck is with them when Goku arrives on Namek, having trained in a spacecraft built by Dr. Briefs, Bulmas' father. He easily defeats the remaining Ginyu except for Jace who runs away to get Capt. Ginyu. They return, and Goku faces off against the Captain alone. capt. Ginyu is stunned to realise that Goku is stronger than he is, so he cheats and uses an attack that switches bodies with his opponent. Now in Gokus' body, and thinking he's almost as powerful as Freiza, he and Jace head for Freizas' ship to get the dragonballs.
Krillin, Gohan and Vegeta are already there, and thinking it's Goku they rush to greet him. They soon learn that it's Capt. Ginyu in Gokus' body, and Goku in Ginyus' body. Ginyu challenges Krillin and Gohan and discovers his power level is no where near what Gokus' had been. Vegeta kills Jace and then turns his attention on Ginyu. He nearly beats Gokus' body to a pulp, when Ginyu attempts to change bodies again with Vegeta. Seeing the danger Vegeta is in, Goku, (in Ginyus' body) jumps in front of the change beam and is switched back into his own body. Now in HIS own body, Ginyu attempts another change with Vegeta, but this time Goku throws a frog in the beams' path and Capt. Ginyu becomes a frog. With the Ginyu no longer a threat, and Freiza no where in sight, Vegeta puts Goku into a healing tank, orders Krillin and Gohan to watch the dragonballs, and then decides to take a nap.
Chapter Four
The Freiza Saga
While Vegeta is sleeping, Krillin goes looking for Guru, fearing that he's in danger from Freiza. He meets up with Dende who was sent by Guru to give the Earthlings the password to the dragonballs. The three boys quietly gather up the dragonballs and take them to a safe distance. There Dende summons the eternal dragon of Namek, Perunga. Perunga can grant three wishes in contrast to Shenlongs' one wish. They wish for Piccolo to be brought back to life, then the second wish is to bring Piccolo to the planet Namek. Just as they are about to make the third wish, they're interuppted by Vegeta, who's fury knows no bounds at this point. To save their lives they allow Vegeta to make his wish for imortality, but before Perunga can grant it, Guru, the eldest Namek, dies, and Perunga dies with him leaving Vegeta's wish unfulfilled. Vegeta decides to kill the guys again but is stopped short by the terrible sight of Freiza gazing down at him.
With Piccolo nowhere to be seen and Goku still healing, they must battle Freiza alone. Freiza transforms into a much larger version of himself and criticaly injures Krillin. but Dende has been given the power to heal by Guru and he saves Krillins' life.
They do little to hurt Freiza, but just as they think thye're about to be destroyed, Piccolo arrives in a blinding white flash. He tells them he'll fight Freiza alone and does well against the evil being, but Freiza sences he's at a disadvantage, transforms again into a second even more powerful form that even Piccolos' great strength has trouble dealing with.
Vegeta has seen Dendes' healing power and gets Krillin to mortally wound him. Dende reluctantly agrees to heal Vegeta, but just as the Saiyjin is restored, Freiza transforms into his final form. What appears is not a hideous monster, but a sleek and pleasent faced being with deadly intent.
His first course of action is to kill Dende, so that he can't heal the others. The second is to beat the overconfident Vegeta into a broken Super Saiyjin wannabe. Just as he's prepared to deliver the death blow to Vegeta, Goku enters the arena fresh from the healing tank and ready to fight. Vegeta is amazed at Gokus' new power and guesses Goku has achieved what he could not. That Goku has become a Super Saiyjin! Vegeta laughs at Freiza and tells him "I told you so!" Without a word Freiza blasts a hole through Vegetas' heart. With his dieing breath, Vegeta tells Goku to not be so softhearted, that he must kill Freiza or the entire universe will pay the price just as their Saiyjin race had. With that said, Vegeta dies.
Goku promises Vegeta he'll do his best, and the battle between Goku and Freiza commences.
The first half of the battle Goku is on the loosing end of the spectrum, until he uses his secret weapon The Spirit Bomb. He gathers all the life energy from the entire Namekian solar system and hurls it at Freiza. Freiza disappears into a blast that would make all others look like small firecrackers. Thinking Freiza is gone, the guys have a moment to catch their breath. But it's only a moment because Freiza isn't dead. He points a finger at Goku and shoots, but Piccolo jumps in the way and goes down. Krillin is next as Freiza says that this time he isn't going to come back, and causes Krillin to explode into a million pieces. Angrier than he'd ever been before, Goku suddenly explodes into a vision in gold. At last he'd reached that peak that Vegeta couldn't. Goku had become a true Super Saiyjin.
Goku tells Gohan to take Piccolo and leave the planet. Then he and Freiza begin their second round. This time it's Freiza who's outclassed and he knows it, so instead of defeating Goku in a fight, he tries to defeat him by destroying the entire planet of Namek. The planet doesn't explode immediatly, so Goku and King Kai telepathicly set up a plan. King Kai has the now restored Kami to gather the dragonballs of Earth, and to wish for everyone who was killed by Freiza or his men to be brought back to life. Once all the Nameks, including Guru and Dende are wished back, Perunga the eternal dragon also comes back, and he's still waiting to grant a third wish. Dende is instructed to wish everyone but Goku and Freiza to the planet Earth. With the final wish made everyone vanishes off Namek, including a surprised Vegeta.
Goku and Freiza are left to conclude their battle, with the looser being Freiza, but to everyones' horror, the planet explodes and Goku is feared dead.
Back on Earth, Guru passes leadership to his eldest son, then dies for real this time. Bulma invites the Nameks, (and a grumpy Vegeta) to come live at her dads' science compound. They wait for the Namekian dragonballs to recharge, and once the year is up, they attempt to wish back Goku and Krillin. Perunga is unable to grant the wish for Goku to be brought back to life, because he wasn't dead in the first place. Perunga tells them Goku will come home when he gets ready, so wish for something else. They are able to get Krillin back using two wishes, and the third wish is used for Yamcha. Meanwhile, once he heard that Goku was still alive, Vegeta steals Dr. Briefs new spaceship and takes off in search of Goku. Another year passes and they are able to wish back Tien and Chow Soo, and the final wish is for the Nameks themselves, and they wish for a new home planet. And for a time...all is quiet on planet Earth.
