Author's Note: Apologies for the long wait, again. That's life... And now back to Dragon Ball Z.
Human Limitations, Chapter 20;
The red slashes cut the skyline like the hand of an enormous monster, five fingertips reaching down and finally crashing down with a resonant impact that was almost lost in the roar of their engines, and the pulse-pounding thrum of blood filling the Saiyan's ears.
The 'thumb' of that monstrous hand dug into the planet's crust first, encircled at a distance by the four following spaceships to slam down with a calculated, rhythmic order.
"Oh, no..." The older Saiyan cursed under his breath hopelessly. "It's over. It's all over..."
"What? What is it?"
"Look..." He pointed straight ahead, towards the first of the craters.
The lead pod had landed less than a dozen meters away at the bottom of a slope in the landscape, and the shallow indentation of the crater allowed a view of the front of the large metal portcullis door of the pod, emblazoned with some painted badge like a white V. The younger Saiyan stared intently, sensing out the powers withing each. They seemed decently strong, some of them stronger or more menacing than others, but he couldn't quite determine by how much. But there was one thing he could tell immediately...
"You're right, they're almost monstrously powerful... But, even if they're also enemies, they're probably not friends of Turles, so maybe we'll get lucky and they'll knock each-other out for us?" he laughed nervously.
"Too optimistic... Kakarot. There are no such things as friends when you're alone in space. See that? That symbol on the door." He growled, though it sounded disheartened more than anything. "That's the symbol of Frieza's elite elimination squad. That can only mean one thing..."
The younger Saiyan turned to look, sensing the change in his voice with a growing sense of distress, just as the sharp crack and hiss of circulating air signaled the opening of the first pod.
A stark white radiance clacked on just then, blasting away the dim red ambiance that had marked their battle thus far, spotlighting them against the enormous tree. Both Saiyans covered their eyes with a grunt of startled pain. Again, in rhythm it was followed by four more lights from each pods.
His eyes finally adjusted enough to squint forward through his fingers, the younger Saiyan tensed as though paralyzed as he caught sight of massive black silhouettes.
One after the other the Ginyu Force emerged, back-lit by the blinding light from the pods. They marched over the lip of the crater almost too slow, made more imposing by the elongated shoulder armor of their rank. At the center a horned, alien figure almost his own height was flanked to either side by monstrous shapes marching in unison. The two others on the outside were small or misshapen, but they all carried themselves with the same confident bearing, scouters glinting like an inhuman singular eye, bleeping electronically with strange symbols as they suddenly stopped, as though taking notice of them for the first time.
The five stood silently, not yet silencing their blaring scouters, just standing with their fists and feet apart as though tensed and waiting for something.
"Well, this is unexpected!" A gruff voice sneered with a clipped military tone. "Two of you? I wasn't informed there were more than one escaped monkey to deal with."
The blinding light seemed to resolve into something they could see through, and the two saw clearly the hook-nosed, veined purple cranium of the alien speaking to them- or rather, as though they were below his notice. Raditz swallowed nervously, his spit dried in an instant.
"Cap'n Ginyu! These two are slightly stronger than an average Saiyan. In fact, they... They're far beyond the average soldier..." A small man with red skin and shaggily styled white hair observed, tapping his scouter controls thoughtfully. " I don't see how that can be right, though! My scouter seems to be malfunctioning..."
"Hmm... Yes, mine as well." The Elite captain moved at last to silence the scouter's alert, the others following suit. He listened for a while and frowned. "And it also seems the communication function is down. Perhaps there's some kind of background radiation in this area interfering with the tracking..."
"It's probably coming from over there. Towards that thing in the distance, whatever it is. Want me to check it out real quick?" The very tall, scaly blue one hissed, gesturing casually over the distance.
"There won't be any need, Burter." Ginyu calmly replied. "Our target is right in front of us."
The two Saiyans nearly jumped in their skins at the cold look he gave them, but ringed in as they were, they were overpowered, and with nowhere to run. They couldn't bring themselves to even move as the Captain and his men calmly discussed their fates.
"Sir, if I may... While the report did say the renegade would be a bit stronger than usual, sir, perhaps the both of them are really mutants, like all-"
"It makes no difference whatsoever, Jeice! They pose little enough threat to us. However..." The Captain interrupted himself, raising a hand. "Lord Freeza's commands are absolute! Whether it's one or two, ALL the Saiyan scum hiding on this planet will die! Burter!"
Raditz's blood ran cold in an instant, as the giant azure snake man crouched as if reaching for him. with such speed he could almost feel the fingers closing around his throat in a gust of wind, before he was yanked off his feet, and then-
"WAIT!"
Suddenly stepping in front of him, Goku thrust his hands out pleadingly. "You're wrong, we're not Saiyans! We're Zenarkyan!"
"WHAT?!" the rest gaped.
Burter hesitated as if struck, and five heads turned in shock to stare at the wild haired man in the shredded animal skins. Raditz almost shouted in surprise as well, but the constricting hand choking his throat pinched all the sound away along with his breath and he only managed a gurgle as he kicked his legs. The Ginyu erupted in arguement almost immediately.
"Zenarkyan?! The natives of this planet should all be dead by now!" The snake man hissed, squinting closely at his captive
"Hold on a second! One of those Zenarkyan, you mean? Doesn't that mean, there's going to be some trouble coming from this, though?" murmured the other giant, turning wide eyed, a flame haired humanoid with a massive jaw that seemed to impede his speech somewhat.
"It's obviously a lie, dumb-dumb! All the Zenarkyan were wiped out long ago! For them to survive here after that is completely inconceivable!" A shrill voice drew attention to a small toad-like creature that had gone unnoticed by either Saiyan, a green and warty being with four bulging, beady eyes, darting back and forth accusingly at them. He looked out of place among the massive muscular men, more pudgy and flabby than anything, as he wheezed to catch his breath.
"Yeah, that's right... These two are liars, or else they would have all been killed, by-" Th other halted, suddenly scowling as his slow-moving brain caught up with him. "Heeey, who are you calling dum dum? That's really rude, Guldo..."
"Enough of your frivolous gabbing, Guldo! Recoome! I will do the talking here! That's an ORDER!" Ginyu berated the two, and they quickly quieted.
Burter released his captive's throat and Raditz plummeted back to the crumbling terrain with a gasp of sweet relief, massaging his neck. The younger Saiyan patted his brother on the shoulder and knelt next to him while he continued to gasp and cough, a sheen of panic sweat dripping off both of their brows.
The captain rounded on the two in front of him with a discerning squint. "I'll ask you a few questions, maggots! Lets see how well you hold up against my advanced techniques of interrogation..." The captain laughed slow and deep. Raditz shuddered.
"What does that mean?" Goku whispered, leaning closer where he knelt.
"T-tor... torture..." Raditz whispered hoarsely, with a pinched look as if in anticipation of pain... The younger Saiyan went pale as well at the word.
Ginyu stood with his hands behind his back, the smirk on his face
"If you take too long to answer, or I suspect you aren't telling me the truth, I'll be QUITE peeved. And you wouldn't like me when I'm peeved! Understand?!"
The two Saiyans braced themselves wordlessly, their expressions grim as they each imagined what horrible fate might await them.
Ginyu glared daggers at the two, pacing back and forth, and then suddenly stepped in unnaturally close to the younger Saiyan's face.
"WHAT'S YOUR NAME!?"
"WAH! I'M GOKU!" the younger Saiyan blurted instantly, surprised by the quick move and sudden volume. Raditz stared wide eyed, then sunk his face into his hands.
"IS THAT YOUR REAL NAME?! ARE YOU LYING!?" He continued, screaming an inch away from the younger Saiyan's face.
"YES!" he flinched backwards at a spray of spittle.
"YES AS IN YOU'RE LYING? SO, YOU ADMIT IT!" Ginyu advanced again.
"HUH?! Wait, what?! No, I MEAN IT IS!" Goku clasped his hands over his ears, looking more perplexed than ever.
Raditz sighed and rubbed his temples against the headache he could feel coming on.
...I'm not sure who I'm more disappointed in, he thought.
"WHAT ABOUT YOU, LONG HAIR!?" the captain snarled, suddenly grabbing and shaking the second Saiyan by the scruffy tuft of the top of his hair.
"-R-...hurck...-" Raditz gloomily croaked something inaudible that might have been a name and continued to rub some feeling back into his throat.
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Ginyu snarled, cupping a hand to his ear. "Whats the matter, speak up!"
Raditz pointed miserably to his throat, and the hand shaped bruise around it.
"Oh. Ahem..." Ginyu stood straight, clearing his throat. "You, Go-goo. What's his name?" he asked, pointing.
"Oh, him? He's, uh- Krillin!" the younger Saiyan improvised. "And, it's pronounced Goku, actually..."
Ginyu stood up triumphantly, as his men applauded with polite enthusiasm and cheers.
"Well done, Cap'n! You got both the names! A fine interrogation! Nobody's better'n you!"
"Naturally, Jeice. Now, now, enough praise. Goku and Krillin eh? Well, those are definitely not a Saiyan's names..." The Captain stepped back, clasping his hands behind his lower back once again, thoughtfully.
Raditz wheezed a sigh of relief as Goku clutched his chest and took a slow deep breath.
"Eh-he he... Of course it's not a Saiyan name, because I'm Zenarkyan, remember? It's a Zenarkyan name..." the younger Saiyan lied badly, laughing nervously as his heart continued it's break-neck pace in his chest.
"Kaka-" Radit's started, and stopped himself using the Saiyan name almost too late.
"Goku. Please shut up. I'm begging' you." he finished with a wheeze, hanging his head. The younger Saiyan laughed nervously again almost like a verbal tic, and he almost started laughing as well at the sheer absurdity of the night he'd been having so far.
The Captain halted, sneering over his shoulder.
"Zenarkyan, eh? You really expect me to believe that story? What, with your filthy unkempt hair, your muscular bodies, and your -eugh, your disgusting odors?" The alien troop's commander pinched his nose in disdain, to the laughter of his subordinates.
Jeice chimed in with a smirk, pinching his nose and pointing as well. "The Zenarkyan were a civilized, scientifically advanced race! You're wearing an animal skin! You're just a pair of barbarians, and monkey's if I've ever seen one! If you're a Zenarkyan, then how about you prove it!"
Raditz glanced at his brother searchingly. Well, now what, Kakarot? Do you have a plan?
Goku glanced back at the same instant and gave a subtle nod that surprised him.
"Can't do it, can you?" The red skinned officer taunted again. "Monkey brain worn out coming up with lies?"
To Raditz's continued surprise, the younger Saiyan continued smoothly as though nothing had happened.
"Well, I guess we do look awful. But all the cities and spaceships were destroyed so long ago, and we've been forced to live like this for so long..." he said, bowing his head as though cowed. "Our clothes rotted away, and without anything to cut our hair or wash it, it ended up like this, you see?"
Raditz held his breath nervously. Will that work?
The soldiers looked at each-other skeptically and back at the two before their captain spoke up again.
"There were no Zenarkyans with a fighting strength close to yours. Explain that!"
"We, uh... we used our advanced science... to get stronger!"
"Oh really? Do tell. Such information would be quite valuable to Lord Freeza's army."
Goku hesitated. Darn, what do I say now? I don't know anything about science...
Shit! Is he expecting me to fill in the details?! Raditz thought, beginning to panic.
Jeice suddenly jerked his head up with a cry of alarm, staring in shock and surprise at something.
"W-wait a moment, Cap'n, what's going on here? Isn't it the middle of the night?"
"Eh? What are you saying now, Jeice? Of course it's night-"
"So what in the frozen hell is THAT?!" he pointed upwards.
It was at that moment that all of them at once seemed to realize that the light had been getting steadily brighter bit by bit since the pods came down, such that they could now clearly see the various colors and details of each other's group, despite the previously near total darkness; they each looked up following the startled announcement of the red-skinned second-in-command, and murmured in a mix of awe and confusion. Above them, piercing through and parting the dark rolling clouds that had rolled in over the mountain range, was a stark glare like sunlight, but a pale white unlike that planet's star or it's now extinguished moon.
mere moments ago
Turles glowered down at the assembled fighters, and then into the glowing ball in his hands as a bead of sweat gathered on his brow at the thought of what he was about to do. The level of risk he was taking in sacrificing so much control, versus the necessity of what he wanted it for, versus his assurance that by now, he must have mastered it well enough not to destroy what he didn't want to...
"Damn you all, I won't let you take the Tree from me!" he snarled, cocking back his fist to throw the moon blast... and paused, looking down at them again.
"I can't believe I'm going to do this..." he growled, staring up again, and following through, and the light grew slowly in intensity as it rocketed upwards into the highest part of the atmosphere and beyond...
"That's damn bright for a moon. It's like another sun..." Burter shielded his eyes.
"I'm telling you, that thing's no moon! It wasn't even here before!" Jeice repeated insistently.
"You're wrong, it is a moon." Raditz repeated, heedless of the turning stare of the Ginyu Force, or the information he was giving away. "An artificial one, created by energy. It's Turles..."
"What? Turles, you say!?" Ginyu barked sharply, stiffening in surprise. "So that pirate is the Saiyan renegade we were sent here to deal with!?"
Further questioning was cut short by a distant boom, turning all eyes towards the tree once more, where a cloud of dust of surprising size had suddenly erupted from the bundle of roots below.
Goku's eyes widened sharply along with Raditz's, hissing in a choked breath as he suddenly felt the sensations and raised his hands to guard against them, just then washing over them like the aftershock of a nuclear detonation. There was a tingle in the air as of some kind of electrical charge, being pushed outwards from the tree, as the strange ki-like field of absorption resonating from it's branches and roots suddenly diffused into thin air, along with the dust cloud.
To his experienced senses, it was like a curtain being drawn back, revealing the full shape lurking behind it.
The Ginyu Force's scouters merely imploded along with Raditz's.
Their scouter's bursting and their surprised cursing was drowned out by a second, deafening explosion that rattled the loose boulders around them. No, it wasn't an explosion; It was a colossal footstep, striding half the distance from the tree in a single step! The Saiyan pirate, clad in his half destroyed armor, had made his desperate move at last, and now stood revealed, eyes glowing red in furious anger- and his transformation now complete. Turles towered over them, blocking out the light of his artificial moon with a shadow that stretched ten times as tall as it did before, dwarfing the Saiyan's previous size by a long shot. The roar that followed as it stood beating its chest aggressively was almost eardrum shattering, as the mighty Oozaru stood before them in its full power for the first time.
A row of teeth illuminated by fiery energy suddenly flashed, and a massive bolt of energy lanced outwards over the horizon, becoming a beam of crackling purple fury and blasting apart a huge swath of the mountain range, carving the rocky fronts of the slopes into a massive depression after mere seconds, even as the Saiyans and the Freeza soldiers scrambled to fly out of the way of it's moving path. Even the Ginyu Force were reduced to a silent horror at the size of the crater. The Great Ape roared again, with an almost human sound, and beat it's armored chest triumphantly as it watched the mushroom shaped cloud tinging the blackened sky yellow and orange in the distance.
"NO TIME FOR THE USUAL INTRODUCTIONS! ALL TOGETHER, FIRE AT WILL, MEN! WIPE THAT SAIYAN SCUM OFF THE STAR-MAPS!" Ginyu cried out, adding his own blast to the fray, as volley after volley of attack names were called out and fired, impacting off the massive beast with earth-shattering explosiveness that did little more than crack his armor and make the thing that had been Turles howl with rage.
"CRUSHER VOLCANO!" The Ginyu Force's red magma declared, pitching back his hand and letting loose his signature attack, only for it to be deflected by a massive arm, forcing him to put his speed to work just to dodge a boulder-like fist.
"BLITZ BARRAGE!" Burter hovered not far behind, firing repeated clusters of blasts, small and quick homing missiles of energy from both hands, to little effect at all, breaking off the attack to look for a better angle to attack from when the beast rounded on him menacingly. He ended up forced to spend more time dodging than he did fighting.
Guldo hovered uncertainly. "W-what the hell am I supposed to do here?!" he gulped, trembling. "This is insanity! We can't possibly be expected to kill that thing!"
"Outta the way, squirt! I'll show you how it's done!" Recoome pushed him aside brusquely with a crazed grin.
"RECOOME... ERASER GUN!" The flame-haired giant looked far too small as he unhinged his jaw and vomited a wide beam of energy that skirted the ground and seemed to suck up any matter that passed by. The blast roared upwards, but the beast twisted to the side and the blast carried on in a straight line, only clipping the Great Ape on the shoulder and searing off a large patch of hair, before a massive stomp rolled the layer of rock out from under him like a flipped carpet, and he was swatted from the air by a spinning tail slam. Recoome hit the ground with a surprised grunt and was promptly flattened again by a careless bark from the monstrous monkey that released from it's jaws as an explosive ball of plasmic force.
The chagrined giant man managed to sit up in the middle of the crater with a prolonged groan, scorched and smoking and bruised all in different places, armor and undershirt torn to shreds but miraculously alive. He spat out a loose tooth and some blood and rubbed a thick mitt against his sore head, only for the hair on his skull to turn crispy and flake off at the touch from the heat of the blast, leaving him nearly bald.
Burter and Jeice were not stalled by the quick defeat of their comrade, instead the next instant they switched tactics and pooled their surprising level of speed into a maneuver that could only be described as a hurricane, encircling the Saiyan in a sphere of red and blue blur and whipping up a gale force of small repeated Ki blasts, fired at a rate like a hundred machine guns, to the point the gigantic Saiyan's fur almost caught fire from the cinders of the unavoidable blasts. However, with another roar, the monolithic monkey flexed it's upper body and released it's aura, bursting through the ring and dissolving their attack strategy like a soap bubble, the wind it kicked up cancelling theirs and blowing them away, to land disgracefully in the general area of Recoome.
And now, even Captain Ginyu was being steadily pushed back by the massive onslaught of the Saiyan Ape, although he was pouring out more power on his own than the rest of his team had managed combined; The Oozaru deflected the brunt of the blasts without moving to the side, continuing his steady march towards his next victim. It almost looked like the inhuman face of the Saiyan marauder was smirking as it launched another blast of heat from it's gaping maw...
The younger Saiyan watched all of this from above, un-moving, staring in sheer awe as his heart thrummed in his chest from sensing their battle, far beyond his capability. The cold sweat that drenched him at the sensation of its supermassive raw force was blown dry by the gust of wind carried on the resulting shock wave. So this is Turles; this unbelievable power, even greater than it was before. I couldn't have imagined this if I tried, before now. The Oozaru... Great Ape transformation. The younger Saiyan thought, gulping reflexively. His mouth was too dry to complete it. This is a Saiyan's... No, our... true form.
For the first time in his life, Goku contemplated what it meant to be far, far too small.
"Come on, Kakarot, now's our last chance to pull off your plan!" Raditz grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him physically away from the scene with him.
The younger Saiyan snapped out of his awe and fear at his brother's words, galvanized to their plan of action by the danger rising all around them. Finally distracted by the new enemies, he had forgotten about them entirely.
"Right! The fruit! We can still make it!" he nodded, taking to the air with all speed. Less than a minute later, they arrived at the area of the tree that had been pushed aside by Turles' emergence.
"There..." Raditz pointed out the black splotch in the center of the massive trunk, "We'll have to light the way ourselves and search." the younger Saiyan nodded, flaring up his aura a little more to glow more visibly.
The two were bright pinpricks against the dark side of the planet, occasionally brightened by flashes from the battle behind, almost like a thunderstorm on the ground, a storm they were forced to flee from for the moment. Ahead was their only hope of fighting back. The thick facade of the tree that had burst open revealing a hollow ringed by broken branches resembling nothing less than a massive mouthful of jagged teeth, and the pale light from the artificial moon shone down on the many rings of the tree, vanishing after a few feet into sheer gloom.
Raditz turned towards him as he landed inside the hollow of the tree, and did a double take, arching a brow as his jaw dropped slightly. "What's that stupid expression about, Kakarot? Have you totally lost it?"
The younger Saiyan's thoughts paused, registering the words a second later as he reached up and felt his face with one hand as if to check.
There was a strange smile on his face, growing wider as his heart continued to thrum, in tune with a deeper sound throughout his whole body, as they walked into the dark hollow before them.
"How weird... Sorry brother, I don't know what's come over me. My muscles are moving by themselves; At least, I don't think I feel like smiling right now..." he said quietly, massaging his jaw to try and loosen the wicked looking, rictus grin that made his teeth mash together. "I admit, I underestimated everything. Even though I wanted to fight these unbelievable opponents, I still underestimated what it would be like..."
Raditz looked at him strangely for a moment as they continued into the depths of the natural cavern, surrounded by wood that looked more ancient than it's time of growth would make it seem.
"It's probably be the strain tensing you up. I wondered when it would happen, and this is probably the worst first battle experience you could hope for. Want my advice? Don't try to calm down, let it happen and just ride it out. You'll feel better once we make it out of here."
"If we make it out of here, you mean..." he laughed in response, avoiding his brother's gaze and turning his back to him suddenly. "Hey. Don't worry about me so much, I'm already better! Trust me, I can handle it. Once we get the fruit, it'll be a different story, right? Lets split up to look, we'll move faster that way..."
"Right..." Raditz looked strangely at him again, and then they split off, and drifted in different directions. The size of the tree was larger than expected, even on the inside, as though it was mostly hollow, despite how incredibly durable it was. Finally, Raditz found some the hanging branches casting their tendrils down from above, and the bright red fruit, yellowish in some patches as though not quite ripened yet.
"I've found some!" he called towards the dark hollow, picking one for himself he tried a bite cautiously and immediately felt a surge of some kind going through his body, different than the senzu bean, though he'd be hard pressed to explain how. He finished the rest in a few minutes of effort and plucked another nearby, the resurgence of power steadily climbing within him, though the taste was less than great, and it was harder to bite through than any fruit he'd eaten yet. He plucked another one to see if it was just a bad one he'd picked, and found it easier to eat than the first, the juicyness of it even seeming to enhance it's potency, and suddenly felt his stomach was almost too full to continue.
"Ugh... too full, so soon? So, there's a limit with this sort of thing, even for us Saiyans..."
Even so, he felt as though his power was still rising as it dissolved in his stomach. Just as well, as there were only a few remaining there at all. With that in mind, he plucked one that was heavy and nearly purple with ripeness, and made to stow it under his jumpsuit as carefully as he could, pausing hesitantly as he realized that with his armor no longer intact, there was really only one space he could stow it where it wouldn't fall out.
"... I sure hope Vegeta doesn't mind my carrying it like this..." he thought aloud as he cringed, picturing at last presenting the invaluable prize to the prince... from his own ragged pants.
The fist sized, squishy fruit was hardly a comfortable package to carry, but he swallowed his pride and made do with what he could as he'd done many times in the course of his career.
"Kakarot, hurry up and get over here! Did you hear me?" Raditz called out louder, becoming impatient. The strange aura of the tree had not only blocked his un-attuned scouter before, he now realized he had difficulty sensing anything outside of his own body, and he couldn't find him.
A chill ran through the older Saiyan, as some unreasoning fear was drawing out of him with the silence. His own heart beat continuously echoed in his ears, sounding strange to him. He wasn't used to listening to it.
"HEY, KAKAROT! COME ON, I FOUND SOME ALREADY! WHAT'S KEEPING YOU?!" He snarled, flaring up with his aura to illuminate as much space as he could as he stomped onward. The wind from his aura pushed back the strange tingling sensation in the air once again, and he suddenly heard a noise to one side, and he turned towards it and squinted, finally noticing the aura of the other not far away, as though the darkness was solid and only now parted around them.
That sound echoed in the darkness again, then. A dripping noise... and then a sucking noise. A crunch, followed by the wet sound of something separating; and then an audible swallow.
A shadow flew out of the darkness and landed at his feet, and it took him a moment to recognize what it was, even as he noticed several others like it littering the floor around his feet.
"Sorry, I didn't hear you before until you shouted, and by then I'd found some fruit by myself, so I kinda had my mouth full at the moment." the younger Saiyan's voice shot back, and he saw him reclining on a branch suspended above, the same stiff and angular smile on his face, but his eyes seemed relaxed and his brow lowered as though tired. He belched slightly and wiped his sticky fingers off on his animal skin shirt as he reached for another one of the bright red fruits above him.
"There's that look in your eye again." Raditz scoffed, musing out loud. "And that damned annoying tone in your voice. Just like before."
"Is that a problem? I don't really get what you mean, but okay..." he called down again, chuckling lightly and throwing down the core of the fruit he'd just finished.
Raditz belatedly realized the numerous objects at his feet were in fact discarded cores like those of apples, and his eyes widened. "What in the hell... how many of these did you eat? And how?! I was full already after only half as many..."
The younger Saiyan looked down half-lidded, and Raditz involuntarily shuddered as he sensed some of that power, vastly increased yet again, this time by the power of the Fruit of Might, made worse by the knowledge that he could easily alter the size of his power just by focusing.
"I dunno, I just felt really hungry all of a sudden." he tilted his head thoughtfully, almost lazily, and shrugged his shoulders. Raditz noticed suddenly with a start that his tanned skin had deepened, almost reddened with the consumption of the red fruit; It didn't seem like a trick of the light, eating the fruit had made him look even more like Turles. Or, perhaps not the fruit he'd eaten, but the way he was bearing himself now, now that he'd achieved his increase of power. Perhaps that was what had set his hackles on end at the sight of him.
But even that wasn't his concern. He knew exactly what was happening to his brother, because it was, in one way or another, exactly what he'd had planned; though not how he'd intended. Just one thing concerned him...
Raditz's mouth twitched upwards, feeling as though that same rictus grin of unreasoning, terror, and awe might stretch across his own face at any moment. "I wonder, Kakarot... How... Just how gods-damned strong are you now?"
"I don't know... Wanna go find out?" Kakarot smirked, rising.