A/N- (6/21/2015) Chapter 7 has been updated with a whole new ending following a slight error on my part. Also, sorry it took longer than usual to post this.


As 17 pushed open the heavy oak door leading into his cabin, he scoffed at the site that greeted him upon his return. Raditz had somehow managed to hook his ankles over a massive log that served as part of the door-frame for the bathroom and was feverishly doing upside-down crunches. The remaining length of his mane and tail dangled below as the red-faced Saiyan pounded out set after set of the exercise. 17 eyed his heavily bruised chest and back and frowned before finally closing the door behind him.

"You do realize your body should probably heal before you start dangling from my fixtures, right?" 17 muttered as he stretched out on the sofa.

Raditz paused for a moment and crossed his arms. "It's pointless to just lay around all day and do nothing just because you're injured; a warrior must push his body to the limit in order to see results. Plus, I was cold."

17 couldn't help but smirk. "Well then, I guess a Saiyan and his pride are not so easily parted."

"Damn straight." Raditz growled before releasing his grip on the door-frame; he quickly flipped forward before landing feet-first on the hardwood floor below. He snatched a towel he had hung on the brass doorknob behind him and began wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Now, what were you able to find?" he asked as he gingerly patted his abdomen with the cloth; the corner of his mouth twitching slightly at the sudden sharp pain that followed.

"I might've found some things you could use." 17 grinned as he sat up, withdrawing the small white capsule container from his back pocket. He tossed the pack to Raditz, who quickly scooped it from the air. Opening the pack, he eyed the capsules curiously.

"What's this?" he asked, withdrawing a capsule.

"It's encapsulated armor. Press the button on top and toss it onto a clear space on the floor."

Doing so, a large smoke cloud appeared, flowed closely by a loud 'poof'. In the capsule's place was a large olive green container riddled with Capsule Corporation numbers and logos. Raditz knelt down and selected a blinking red icon on the face of the container, causing it to begin whirring. The top suddenly sprang open, revealing the contents to the Saiyan. After sliding into his new armless black jumpsuit, Raditz readjusted the red band on the bicep of his still bare arm and flexed the muscle, ensuring that it was firmly attached then continued to sort through the rest of the gear.

The chest armor inside was much like his previous armor set, only with shoulder straps instead of pauldrons. Raditz ran his hand over the black chest plate and grinned with satisfaction at the quality. Affixed just underneath the white grooves at the bottom of the 'battle jacket' was two bronze-colored blades attached to the right and left sides of the armor. Sliding it on, the armor stretched just enough so that the Saiyan could fit his muscular arms and head through before retracting into a more form-fitting shape. As he wrapped his tail around the waistline of the armor, Raditz couldn't help but smile.

"Not half-bad." He laughed as he continued to dig into the container. He held a set of white gloves and boots aloft in front of him before quickly dropping them to the side, sneering.

17 looked on, amused by the Saiyan barreling through his new gear. Raditz seemed like a child opening presents on Christmas rather than an alien warrior suiting up for training. 17 felt like the familiarity Raditz had with the items may have brought a bit of order to the Saiyan's world, which had gone helter-skelter since his arrival on Earth.

"So, I take it the armor isn't too awful?" 17 asked.

Raditz nodded. "I'm not going to lie, I never expected one of those humans to be able to craft armor this impressively."

"Good. Unfortunately, I had no luck acquiring a scouter, but the armor is supposedly top-notch tech. Are you ready to put it to some use?"

Raditz's brow furrowed as he looked away in shame, it was clear he was still wounded. "Maybe tomorrow, I'm not in the mood right now."

17 grinned mischievously as he withdrew a small brown satchel from his other pocket. He untied the thick leather rope and withdrew a small light-green bean.

"This should do the trick," he said, tossing the bean to Raditz. "You better be thankful, I had to sit through an hour long tea party with a talking cat and a chubby samurai to get them."

Raditz opened his mouth to make a snide comment, but quickly withheld it. After all, the cyborg had gone out of his way to help him quite a lot. Raditz nodded in gratitude and proceeded to ingest the senzu bean. Afterwards, his eyes widened as the mystical power from the senzu bean coursed throughout his body. He felt his strength return, his muscles harden and his power rise. The fight with Android 17 had brought him quite close to death, and with his recovery complete, his power was now doubled thanks to his Saiyan genes.

"This is…overwhelming!" Raditz exclaimed, patting his chest.

17 smirked as he stood up; absent-mindedly stuffing his hands in the back pockets of his jeans. "It's good to see you back up to 100 percent my friend, it really is, but now I'm going to need something from you in return."

Raditz raised an eyebrow, growing edgy regarding the cyborg's intentions. "What do you mean by that?"

17 blushed, looking down at the floor. "My sister is throwing a birthday party for my niece tomorrow on Master Roshi's island and I was asked to go."

"So what?" Raditz asked, crossing his arms.

"It would be embarrassing to go by myself, but Azu and the kids won't be returning until next week…"

Raditz's eyes widened, shocked. "Wait, you want me to go with you?!"

"Well, yeah."

Raditz's face grew serious. "You do realize all of the people attending that party are not exactly my biggest fans, right?"

17 shrugged. "So what? You said you wanted to give the whole 'brother' thing a second shot, didn't you? Making amends with Goku's friends would be a good start for that."

Raditz frowned, feeling unsure. "I don't know…"

17 sneered. "What's your deal, huh? What are you afraid of?"

"I don't want to feel guilty around Kakarot over the past, much less his pathetic brood of humans. All they're going to do is caste their insignificant glares my way, or decide to grow a pair and confront me; knowing my luck they've all increased in strength as well, leaving me with little option but to back down like some sort of bitch!" Raditz shouted.

"Remember what I told you before Raditz, you're going to have to earn your forgiveness. They're not just going to give it to you; same goes for me. We need to face our fears and get the whole situation over with; then we can really move on," 17 grinned, "plus, if it's strength you're so worried about, I've got just the ticket."

"What?" Raditz grumbled.

"Your Saiyan abilities enable you to double your strength following a near-death experience, so you're twice as powerful as before. If we train together for a little bit, you'll grow plenty strong, enough so that Goku's friends won't get any silly notions about confronting you. Keep in mind that neither of us can hold a candle to Goku or Vegeta, so don't get any stupid ideas in your head about hurting any of them."

Raditz smirked. "Fine, you win. In exchange for a sparring partner, I'll go to your little party. Hell, I'll even put on my happy face, but remember this 17, I'll play nice with the Earthlings, but will not be made a mockery of."

17 grinned. "Understood, and Raditz?"

"What?"

"Thanks." 17 then walked into his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Raditz blushed slightly, feeling embarrassed. Something about the cyborg's approval meant a lot to him, though he'd never admit it to 17. Regardless of that, he was very happy to have such a friend. Raditz paused at the thought. It had been years since he ever felt close enough with anyone to call them 'friend.' Not since Nappa, anyway. He'd never been able to see Vegeta that way. Back then, the prince was heartless, concerned only with growing stronger, not with bonding with someone he considered to be 'low-class trash'.

Though Nappa could be just as cold as Vegeta, there was a nurturing side to the giant bald Saiyan general not often seen by anyone. Raditz recalled feeling frightened when he'd first been selected to be part of Vegeta's crew. He didn't know if Nappa was being sentimental because he missed his own children, or if he just liked Raditz, but he took him away from the group and told him to be strong, that as long as he gave the team his all, he'd be taken care of. After that, there was no more sadness or fear, only pride. He saw Android 17 in a similar light as he saw Nappa then. The cyborg was much stronger than Raditz, a lesson learned from receiving quite a few blows, but despite that he showed the Saiyan mercy. Unlike Kakarot, 17 did so in a way that left his honor intact. For that, Raditz was most certainly grateful.

17 returned to the room, the white sleeves of his undershirt rolled up. "So, you ready to train?"

Raditz grinned and nodded. "Let's do it."

"Good, but before we get started, put this on." 17 tossed the Saiyan an orange bandana similar to the one tied around his own neck.

Raditz stood up and caught the cloth and examined it. "What's this for?" he asked curiously.

"Other people make you wear their symbol when you train with them, but I'm a little more fashionable…I guess I picked that up from 18."

Raditz nodded curtly. He then folded the cloth and tied it around his arm over the red arm band. Raditz would never remove them; his mother had given him his father's old bands after he'd been accepted onto Vegeta's crew. Even underneath his new armless black jumpsuit, he continued wearing his leg band as well. Afterwards, he was led to a massive field by the cyborg. From the looks of it, it had been deserted for some time. The massive cat tails that covered much of the area came up to Raditz's stomach. He sneered at them as they blew gently in the breeze.

"Alright, show me what you've got!" 17 exclaimed.

Raditz gritted his teeth and flew at 17. Screaming, his fist collided directly into 17's cheek, but it only caused the cyborg to turn his head slightly.

"Not bad," he said, grabbing Raditz's wrist. "But you can do better."

17 kicked Raditz in the face, sending him skyrocketing into the clouds. Raditz gasped as he reoriented himself in mid-air, looking around for the illusive cyborg. Soon he felt a strange sensation in his temple, he couldn't explain why but felt the urge to turn around. As he did, he saw an oncoming blast heading right towards him. "Damn it!" he shouted as the blast collided with his chest. Though it still hurt like a bastard, he was surprised to see Bulma's armor was only slightly scuffed. Taking a direct hit like that in his old set would've caused it to shatter to ribbons. Noting the blast's trajectory, Raditz soon spotted 17 and quickly fired a volley of his own.

As the smoke cleared, the cyborg had vanished. Raditz snarled as he flew down to where he had been. Examining the area, Raditz frowned. There was no sign of 17. Without warning, 17 suddenly appeared from behind the cover of the blinding sun. With his fists clinched together, 17 delivered a devastating blow to the back of Raditz's head, slamming him into the ground. Raditz slowly pushed himself up, spitting out a mouthful of blood. He grinned and looked up at 17, a look of determination in his eyes. "Toss me another bean, would you? It's time for round two."

Throughout the rest of the day, the two battled intensely. Because of Raditz's lower power level, each of these skirmishes lasted little over five minutes, and each ended with the Saiyan lying in a bloody heap. However, because of the senzu beans, Raditz recovered immediately and jumped back into the fight. As the two concluded their 50th bout, 17 relented.

"I think that's enough for today, Raditz; we're almost out of senzu beans!" The cyborg laughed as he jingled the cloth bag.

Raditz stood up and rubbed his left shoulder. 17's last attack had nearly blown his arm clean off, but thankfully the mystical plant had caused the limb to regenerate.

"Fine, but tomorrow we should resume training. I've never imagined I could become so powerful!" Raditz relented. "By the way, your stamina is incredible. Is it the enhancements that cause you to have such endurance?"

17 nodded as he knelt down and tied his shoelace. "My sister and I have unlimited reserves of energy because of the physical augmentations."

"That's incredible!" Raditz exclaimed.

17 looked up, his eyes exposing the sadness he felt about the topic. "It is…but the price paid for such gifts is often too much..."

Raditz frowned. "Hey, I didn't mean to drudge up bad memories."

17 stood up and beamed. "You think I'm still upset about all that? The past is the past, Raditz. I couldn't care less. Now come on, it's time to get some food and rest up a bit. We've got a big day tomorrow. "

Raditz smiled slightly as 17 turned away and left for the cabin. The cyborg was more like Raditz than even he knew, the walls he put up to shield himself from his own emotions were certainly as high as Raditz's; maybe that's why they were drawn to one another. Raditz followed behind, still grinning.