At Roshi’s place, Goku is packing a massive backpack of stuff, while Roshi gets on the ATV with Bulma. Roshi says that he will take Goku to a place where he can learn the ability to control air, fire and water, but in order to learn these abilities, he has to get stronger first, and so he will have to carry the massive bag of gear, and travel on foot.

The three of them take a long journey across the desert, arriving at a stone temple where Roshi will teach him the skills he was taught. However, upon arriving at the temple, it is crowded with fighters, training for an upcoming tournament. They stumble upon Chi Chi, who appears to be quite skilled herself, and is one of the challengers in the tournament. This is what Chi Chi meant when she said that she and Goku are much alike, they are both warriors. However, their reunion is cut short as Bulma picks up on another dragonball and they head for it. They approach the location of the dragonball but suddenly crash and fall into a hole in the road. They are unhurt, but are now stuck in a rather deep hole, unable to get out. Suddenly, a man pokes his head over the top of the hole, and introduces himself as Yamcha (Joon Park). Bulma tries to use her looks and charm to get Yamcha to help, who agrees to, but only in exchange for payment. Roshi notes that it was probably Yamcha who dug the hole in the first place. Yamcha seems to like Bulma’s vehicle, and agrees to help them out if he gets to keep it. Bulma rejects the idea, and the three of them are stuck in the hole overnight, making a camping trip out of it (bond fire and all).

Roshi tells the story about how earth was almost destroyed two thousand years ago by Piccolo and Osaru (I think that’s the pronunciation). Seven mystics banded together and gave up their lives to create a spell that would trap Piccolo, but he has managed to escape. 

Roshi ends his story, and suddenly, Bulma’s dragonball detector gets a reading. Yamcha pokes his head over the hole upon hearing the noise, and is intrigued. The dragonball appears to be embedded inside the rock surrounding them, and they need to dig through the rock to get to it. Roshi jumps out of the hole (turns out he could have done so the whole time, he just didn’t) and confronts Yamcha. Roshi makes a deal, that Yamcha will be paid well if he helps them get to the dragonball, since he has drilling equipment he used to dig the hole-trap in the first place. After some drilling, then finally get to the dragonball.

The group (now including Yamcha) head back to the temple for rest. Upon their return, they watch a tournament match between Chi Chi and Mai. Mai cheats and cuts Chi Chi’s arm, but then takes a step out of the ring to disqualify herself. Chi Chi is puzzled, but it seems Mai only fought her to take a sample of her blood (important later).

The next dragonball is located deep underground, near a volcano. The good guys search for it, but are ambushed by a dozen or so humanoid monsters created from Piccolo’s blood. However, this seems to be a stroke of good fortune, as Goku is able to use the bodies of the creatures to form a path in the lava in order to get the dragonball. Upon getting to it, Goku is attacked by Mai, but easily knocks her out. Goku and the rest head out and return to the temple.

In the evening, Roshi attempts to teach Goku how to use the Kamehameha, a technique of generating a destructive ball of energy and throwing it at things. Roshi easily produces a golden sphere of energy and lights a torch, then tells Goku that his “homework” for the night is to light all the torches around him, then turns it for the night, leaving Goku alone. Goku attempts to light the torches a few times but fails, finally resorting to lighting the torches by candle, only to be caught by Chi Chi. She notes that Goku can do it, he just needs the motivation, and so she tells him that for every torch he lights, he can take one step closer to her. Almost immediately, Goku produces a Kamehameha and lights one of the torches. His next attempt is far from successful, but with a little bit of motivation (and flirting) from Chi Chi, he lights all the torches in one shot. The two embrace and kiss, with Goku using his new powers to put out all the torches to give them some privacy.

Later that night, Bulma hears a noise outside her room, and goes to investigate, gun in hand. Outside, she sees Chi Chi leaving Goku’s room and they have an awkward moment. They bid each other goodnight, and Chi Chi leaves. Yamcha walks by and speaks to Bulma, and they share a laugh at Goku and Chi Chi’s relationship, until Goku comes in from the outside. They realise that Chi Chi was snooping around in Goku’s room while he was away, realising that she was going for the dragonballs. Goku, Bulma, and Yamcha chase after her. As Chi Chi makes a run for it, she is ambushed by…Chi Chi. Turns out one of them is an impostor (its Mai using Chi Chi’s blood to take her shape). The impostor knocks over a bunch of lamps causing a fire barrier between the others and the two Chi Chis. Goku ignores the fires and leaps through, but doesn’t know who to fight. One of the women is knocked down and pleas for help. Goku, without thinking, attacks the other one but realises too late that she is the real one (after recognizing the scar on her arm). Goku is shot in the back by the impostor, and she escapes.

The rest of the group arrive to find Goku alive, but barely. Fortunately, Roshi is able to channel his powers to heal Goku.

Due to the loss of the dragonballs, they can no longer hope to use them to stop Picolo. Roshi has no choice but to ask Master Mutaito (Ernie Hudson) to help create another prison for Piccolo. Master Mutaito warns that using the vessel will drain the life force from the user, killing him, but Roshi sees no other choice.

The next day, the group (except for Chi Chi, whose still out from being hit by Goku) head towards a mountain where Piccolo will use the dragonballs to summon the dragon to grant his wish. The good guys are all packed into Yamcha’s flying SUV and make their way to the mountain. Piccolo realises that they are approaching though, and fire energy balls at them. Yamcha tries to evade, but they are eventually shot down and everyone is scattered around the base of the mountain.

Goku attempts to confront Piccolo, but doesn’t seem to be able to defeat him. In the crash, the vessel made to imprison Piccolo was dropped, and Roshi attempts to find it. After some fighting, the sun begins to eclipse, and it appears that Goku is mutating. Turns out, he was Ozaru the entire time! Piccolo reveals that Goku was sent to earth in human form, and on his 18th birthday, upon the eclipse, he will transform into an unstoppable monster. Goku, now in Ozaru form, chases the others. Yamcha tells Bulma and the rest to make a run for it, while he holds Ozaru off. Bulma seems impressed (and a bit smitten), and tosses Yamcha one of her guns. While escaping, Bulma runs into Mai, and they fight. They are evenly matched, but Bulma gets the upper hand when she throws her ATV at Mai (while it’s still in capsule form), then activating it, causing the vehicle to materialize, flying right over Mai and distracting her. However, it seems that Bulma has finally run out of ammo and luck. Mai moves in for the kill but is shot in the back by Yamcha.

Outside the caves, Roshi has found the vessel and attempts to trap Piccolo with it. Roshi pours his life force into it and causes a swirling vortex of energy to engulf Piccolo. For a moment it looks like Piccolo is in trouble, but having learned his lesson from his first incarceration, he fires an energy ball downwards into the vortex, destroying the vessel. Roshi is knocked unconscious and presumably dead.

Ozaru is still rampaging about, but upon seeing Roshi’s body, Goku (inside Ozaru) begins to struggle against it. Goku finally realizes what his grandfather said about making piece with both halves of himself, and is able to attain balance and control of Ozaru (his evil half). Goku then reverts to his human form and battles Piccolo. Almost simultaneously, both characters prepare to unleash a devastating attack on each other, with Goku producing a powerful Kamehameha attack. Goku’s attack proves more powerful than Piccolo’s, piercing through his attack and knocking him out of the air. Piccolo drops to the group, unconscious and smouldering.

As everyone recovers their bearings, they realise that master Roshi is dead, but with all the dragonballs in their possession, they summon the dragon and asks it to bring Roshi back. A moment later, Roshi comes back to life, the dragon disappears, and the dragonballs fly away in every direction.

Everything is back to normal - Bulma and Yamcha head off to search for the dragonballs, and Goku goes back to Chi Chi. They talk about how Goku knocked her out, and it was only because she wasn’t prepared, and they decided to settle things the right way, with a tournament. The last scene shows the two in mid-air slow-mo fighting poses.

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