Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z. Period, dot, end of statement.

Chapter 21: Kakarotto and the Dragonball Hunt

Raditz touched down in front of a small house, looking around for any trace of his brother. On his way to the house, the man had picked up the six-star Dragonball wedged tightly between two rocks. As he drew closer to his brother's abode, the golden ball had started glowing, intermittently at first before settling into a steady glow. This combined with the fact that he could feel the presence of a Dragonball meant that Kakarotto and his Dragonball should be somewhere close by, right? "Hello?" the tall Saiyan called, feeling slightly self-conscious. "Is anyone here?" His sensitive hearing caught the sound of footsteps and he returned his attention to the house as the front door opened and a child came out, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Raditz's jaw dropped. The boy was a mirror image of their father, sans the battle scars and the lighter skin. He had seen his brother as a baby very briefly, but all he had managed to catch was the head of black hair and the incessant wailing before he had to report back to Tarek.

Kakarotto stared up at him curiously. "Who are you?" he asked curiously, tail twitching behind him. The elder brother raised an eyebrow.

"My name is Raditz," the Saiyan replied. "I'm your brother, Kakarotto."

The child's nose wrinkled in confusion. "What's a Kara-koto?" he asked, mangling the name. His brother laughed slightly.

"Kakarotto," Raditz corrected. "And you are Kakarotto. That's your name." He knelt down to his brother's height.

"But Grandpa called me Goku!" the boy protested. His head tilted to the side as something else apparently occurred to him. "And why don't you live here if you're my brother?"

Raditz blinked once before sighing and running a hand through his hair in exasperation. He should have seen this coming. How the hell was he supposed to explain to a seven-year-old that he had been sent to the planet to kill all its inhabitants and that was the reason why he had been separated from his true family? He picked his words carefully, choosing to tell Kakarotto only the most basic truths. They could reveal more of the story once he was older.

"In our culture, we sometimes give our children to other people for a few years," Raditz said slowly. "After a few years, we take them back and they live with us again. We gave you to the person that you call 'Grandpa,' but it's been several years and it's time for you to come back with us." He waited patiently for the child to absorb this information.

Kakarotto had a look of intense concentration on his face as he tried to understand what he had been told. Finally, he asked, "So I'm gonna go live with you?"

Raditz nodded. "Yes," he replied. "You're going to live with both me and our father. He's training right now or else he would be here. Are you ready to come with me?" Kakarotto's face split into a wide smile as he nodded, bouncing in place. Suddenly, he whirled around and raced back inside the small house, calling, "Grandpa, guess what?"

Raditz winced. He had not thought about the man still being alive. "Grandpa," however, was not quite what he expected. Instead of dragging an old man behind him, Kakarotto carefully held something in his hands. Walking slowly back to his brother, the boy held the object in his hands up to Raditz for inspection. "This is Grandpa," he announced proudly.

"Grandpa" was a small golden ball, not much bigger than an orange. It had four reddish stars engraved on it. It was definitely a Dragonball. So why was Kakarotto calling it Grandpa?

Kakarotto's smile faded when Raditz asked the question. "A big monster squished him," he said sadly. "Grandpa always told me that the monster came out on the night of the full moon and that I shouldn't go outside, but I really wanted to see what it looked like! I think the monster snuck up behind me and made me go to sleep because I can't remember what happened." He shrugged a little.

"The monster probably did make you go to sleep," Raditz agreed outwardly, hiding his shock behind a knowing look. Great, something else that they would have to explain. 'Hey Kakarotto, remember that big monster that killed your grandfather? Well, you were that big monster.' He internally grimaced. 'Lovely conversation to have. Can't wait to have it.'

Not voicing these thoughts, the older Saiyan looked down at his brother. "Now are you ready to go?" Kakarotto nodded, smile big as ever again. "Good." Raditz drew the six-star Dragonball out of the sack slung across his back and the boy's eyes widened.

"It's another Grandpa!" Kakarotto exclaimed incredulously.

Raditz smirked faintly. "This is called a Dragonball. There are seven of them. When we find all seven, a Dragon will come out and grant us a wish." His voice was serious and demanded that he be paid attention to. Kakarotto looked like he was hanging onto every word. "There is someone who needs the wish to go back to his family. We need to find five more –"

"Because you have one and I have one, right?" Kakarotto interrupted excitedly, clearly proud that he knew this.

"Right," Raditz replied, smiling at him. "When we use them though, the balls fly all over the world and turn to stone for a whole year. Can you give up your Grandpa for a whole year?" The little boy stayed silent, stroking the ball with one hand as he thought.

"Can we find him again?" he asked finally.

"Of course we can," the elder answered instantly. "We might even be able to catch him before he flies away." Kakarotto studied him for a moment, as if ascertaining the truth of his words, before nodding a bit reluctantly.

"Okay," the boy said hesitantly. "But you need to catch him before he flies away, okay?"

Raditz nodded. "Deal," he said. He held his hand out to the boy, who unflinchingly took it. The older brother hoisted his younger brother into his arms and rose up into the sky. Kakarotto gasped in delight as they took off towards where Raditz could feel the next Dragonball.

***

A few days later, Raditz and Kakarotto had collected all but one of the Dragonballs. With Raditz's ability to sense the Dragonballs, the hunt was a piece of cake. Well, finding them was a piece of cake. Getting some of them was another matter entirely, and it was this last one that was causing them the most trouble of all.

One of the remaining five balls had been lying out in the open, ready for anyone to take it. Naturally, the two Saiyans did just that. One was for sale in an antique shop, but once Raditz had done some work cleaning up the store (Gohan would have a fit if he found that they had stolen the Dragonball), they received it as payment. The third one was not too hard to get if one did not factor in that the ball was in a nest of baby pterodactyls on the side of a mountain. The parents came back right as Raditz was retrieving the Dragonball. While he tried to escape the angry mother and father, Kakarotto watched from the bottom of the small mountain, laughing hysterically.

The fourth Dragonball was one of the most complicated to obtain, not including the one the two brothers were currently trying to get. It was in a place called Capsule Corporation. The leader of Earth's foremost technological advances, CC was designed like a small fortress. The security systems were cutting edge and were changed every other month. Though primitive by Arcosian standards and therefore easy to hack into, Raditz preferred to at least try to retrieve the Dragonball through legitimate means. He did not want his ass kicked by his nephew yet again. He still had some pride left.

The Saiyan's chance to get into the building came in the form of a flyer. The paper boasted that no one had been able to penetrate the CC system. The owner of CC invited anyone and everyone to try and bypass the security. The prize was ten million zeni. Raditz did not know how much ten million zeni was worth on this planet, but it was apparently a lot of money judging by all the people who showed up. Kakarotto sitting on his shoulders and gaping around at the sight – he was definitely a country boy through and through –, the Saiyan maneuvered through the throng of people, heading towards a random computer. After familiarizing himself with the older (read: ancient) technology, he proceeded to rip through the defenses like they were tissue paper, easily defeating even the most cleverly hidden trap. Ten minutes later, a shocked and stuttering president of Capsule Corporation presented him with a nine million zeni check and the small golden ball with seven stars.

The last Dragonball was turning out to be almost more trouble than it was worth, however. The three-star ball was currently in the possession of a man who lived in the middle of the ocean. His name was Roshi, and he was the Turtle Hermit, master of the Turtle Style of Martial Arts. Remembering the name from Gohan's more… amusing stories of Goku from when he was a child, Raditz knew exactly what he would have to exchange in order to get the Dragonball. So he thought.

What the Saiyan did not remember was that Master Roshi was a very picky old man. The woman Raditz had originally brought with him and Kakarotto was not up to Roshi's standards and so Raditz was sent out to find another one, younger this time. Kakarotto stayed behind. The boy had happened to see the Turtle Hermit actually training for once and had tried to copy his moves. So involved in this exercise was the boy that Raditz left, stopping only instruct his brother to behave. The elder Saiyan was sure that Kakarotto would not cause trouble in the short time that he would be gone.

The long-haired man scowled as the doddering old woman waved happily and toddled back into the nursing home. How was he supposed to know that the pervert wanted a younger woman than that? Rising back up into the air, Raditz floated on his back as he lazily flew in a random direction. "Old fart," he snorted to himself. The sound of gunfire and sirens drew his attention to the scene below him. It looked like some sort of chase. Curious about what was going on, he decided to take a quick detour and get a closer look.

A blonde woman on a motorcycle was leading the pack of police cars through terrain that was easily maneuverable for her and not so easily maneuverable for her pursuers. "Come and get me suckers!" she shouted over her shoulder, showing her middle finger to the cops. Though Raditz did not recognize the gesture, it was obviously offensive if the intensity in which the police chased her was any indication. He watched a little longer.

Then he got an idea. An awful idea. Raditz had a wonderful, awful idea. The Saiyan had a way to both make the old man happy and get back at him for all the trouble Raditz had gone through all at once. His laugh sounded a bit evil as he swooped down in between the woman on the motorcycle and the officers chasing her, landing on the street right in front of the police cars. He smirked as the group of cars crashed into one another while trying to avoid hitting his person. "Whoops," he said, casting an eye over the damage he had caused. From the looks of it, the men would not be going anywhere soon. Satisfied with the amount of damage he had caused, he flew in the direction that the woman had gone.

The man caught up with the blonde a few miles from the smoke that signaled the police's position. She had stopped to look into a bag that had been strapped to her back during the chase. From the depths of the bag, the Saiyan could see glittering jewels and sparkling gold peeking out. He raised one eyebrow. 'A thief?' he thought. 'Even better.'

Raditz landed next to her. She was too busy rummaging through her stolen items to notice. He tapped her shoulder. "Hey—" He did not get any further into what he was going to say. The woman let out a yelp and swung her gun around to point directly in the Saiyan's face, pulling the trigger almost instantaneously and continuing to do so until the clip had been emptied. When the smoke cleared, all she could do was gape at the empty space he had occupied until two seconds ago. "Looking for me?" a voice said in her ear. "Turn around."

For the first time in her life, Lunch was scared out of her mind. What kind of maniac could dodge bullets like that? She turned around obediently and came face to chest with a man clad in a green gi. After hastily taking a few steps back, she looked the man up and down. He was tall and had a rather muscular frame. When he took a step toward her, his movement was smooth and graceful, indicating years of martial arts training to her skilled eye. His long, knee-length hair would look ridiculous on any other man, but it suited him in some strange way that Lunch could not put her finger on. He also had a… tail? He smirked at her and she knew he had caught her staring. She glared at him. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"My name is Raditz," the man said. "I've come to ask you for a favor."

Lunch's eyebrow quirked. "I don't do favors," she replied scathingly. Despite herself, she shrank back as her companion's face hardened.

"I took care of those… what were they called? Police?" Raditz tapped his chin in thought. "Yeah, police. I took care of them for you. You owe me."

This statement perked the woman's interest. It was not so much that he did not know that the police were called… well, the police (though she filed that away for careful scrutiny later), but rather the fact that he had taken care of them and had emerged from the conflict unscathed. The fact that he had done so just to get them off her tail nagged at her, though. Lunch hated being in someone else's debt, no matter who it was. "Fine," she agreed gruffly. "What do you want me to do?"

Raditz smirked at his victim, glad that he had the upper hand for once. "All you have to do is take a walk on a beach with an old man so I can get what I want from him," he informed her.

Lunch blinked. "That's it?" she replied unbelievingly. She had expected something else. Sexual favors were not what she was into and she would have refused had Raditz asked for one. Taking a walk with an old man trying to relive his skirt-chasing days was a piece of cake.

"That's it," Raditz confirmed, wondering why she looked so relieved. What had she thought he would ask for? Deciding that he did not want to know how these strange Earthlings thought, he put it out of his mind. "Do you need anything before we go?" he asked. "I need to get this thing as soon as possible."

Lunch shook her head silently; everything that she owned was in capsules and she had all those with her. She started to get back on her bike. "Um…" Raditz murmured, sounding uncertain. The blonde turned back to him and was surprised to see his cheeks redden slightly. "We'll have to go faster than that," he said, not meeting her eyes. "We're going to fly."

Seeing as her S-Cargo bike was the fastest thing on two wheels, Lunch was understandably offended. "I'll have you know that this thing goes plenty fast," she snapped. "I've made a lot of special modifications to it."

"It's not faster than me," the man said bluntly. Walking over, he found the button to capsulize the bike and pressed it, causing the bike to revert back into a capsule. He flipped the capsule at Lunch, who caught it easily. The next thing she knew, she was being held bridal-style and they were flying through the air.

"You can fly?" the woman gasped out, holding onto the cloth of his uniform for dear life.

"Yes," Raditz answered simply.

Lunch watched the ground fly past much faster than her bike or even her plane could ever go. When the man had said "fly" she assumed that he meant in an airplane or helicopter or something of that nature. She never expected that he would just jump into the air and stay there. "Could I learn how?" she asked. This would make it so much easier to get away from the cops!

Raditz glanced at her. It felt like he was measuring something, though she was not sure what it could be. "It's possible," he admitted. "It would take a long time though. You don't have any control over your ki."

"What's ki?" the blonde asked curiously. They were speeding over deep blue water. She had never seen the ocean and forgot all about her question as she took in the breath-taking beauty beneath her. She was so absorbed in taking it all in that she never heard Raditz's answer. She did hear him swear, however, and looked in the direction that he was looking.

Smoke was rising from the horizon. They quickly drew near enough to reveal that the smoke was coming from a small island. Lunch could see tiny figures running around a burning house. "I leave Kakarotto there for an hour and this is what happens?" the man muttered. He stopped a few hundred feet away, still over the open ocean. "Put your arms around my neck," he ordered. "I need a free hand for this." She complied, feeling him slip one arm around her waist. Again for what was probably the first time in her life, she blushed.

Raditz's body tensed for a brief second as he held his hand out and he gave a short, unintelligible exclamation. All of a sudden, a huge wave of water rose up from right in front of them, a wave that was soon almost as high as they were. It wavered in place for a few seconds and then fell with a crash – right on top of the island. When the water receded, Raditz gently landed, letting Lunch out of his grasp. The woman gaped at him and the house in turn.

"That was fun, Raditz!" a child's voice cried from above them. Lunch looked up at the top of the palm tree. A little boy with wild hair was sitting among the fronds, holding onto an old man and a turtle. "Can you do that again?"

The old man glared at his young savior. "No!" he snapped. "You've caused enough trouble for one day, you little hooligan! Now put me down!"

The boy shrugged. "Okay!" he agreed cheerfully and promptly dropped the man down the twenty or so feet to the ground. The child followed, still holding the turtle.

"What happened, Master Roshi?" Raditz asked in a peculiar voice. It sounded like he was trying to keep from laughing and was only half-succeeding.

"Oh, I'll tell you what happened," Roshi sniffed. "He saw me using the Kamehameha Wave and decided to try it out on my house!" The tone of his voice faded from ire to puzzlement and a bit of awe. "I can't believe that he was actually able to do it the first time he tried it."

"It was so cool, Raditz!" Kakarotto butted in enthusiastically.

Raditz raised a slightly reprimanding eyebrow at his brother. "Why did I think that you would actually behave?" he asked rhetorically. Kakarotto, not understanding the concept of rhetorical questions, opened his mouth to answer.

The boy was interrupted by Master Roshi's blurred form as he raced over to the still gob smacked blonde. "Well, he-llo beautiful!" the martial artist greeted. He leered at her prominent cleavage and exposed legs. "I apologize for the state of my island. Normally it's quite a beautiful place." Lunch turned pleading eyes on Raditz, who gulped but shook his head. She glared at him as the old man led her away on the promised walk on the beach. The Saiyan watched her retreating form with some trepidation. Who knew what was going on inside her head? Definitely not him. He was fairly sure that he did not want to know either.

An enraged yell sounded from the other side of the house, followed shortly by the sound of flesh impacting flesh. Kakarotto clambered onto Raditz's shoulder as Lunch stormed around the corner, the last Dragonball clutched tightly in one pale hand. "We're leaving," she growled. Raditz nodded meekly as she wrapped her arms around his neck once again. In turn, he obediently put an arm around her waist.

"Hold on," the Saiyan warned. "This flight is going to be longer." He twisted his head around to look at his little brother. "Are you ready to meet our father?" he asked the boy.

Kakarotto perked up at once. "Can we really?" he asked excitedly, plucking the three-star Dragonball from Lunch's hand and placing it in the sack that contained the other six balls.

Raditz laughed and lifted up off the ground, ignoring both the questioning look that Lunch sent him and the strange feeling he got from the tightening of the woman's arms as he raced through the air. "Let's go, brat."

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~tp