Dragon Ball Gine

by Exists In Theory

AU: What if Goku's mother went to Earth with him when he was a baby? How will one decision at the very beginning of the story ripple throughout the DBZ universe's timeline?

38. CHAPTER 37: SOME R & R

Hello! Good news: new chapter! And one about a different perspective this time ;) Be advised: excessive alcohol consumption and some swearing in this chapter. I also went back and fixed a few things in the last chapter and the first two.

Based on MasakoX's What If series "What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?", but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.

DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.

Please support the official release!

Also, read and review!

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CHAPTER 37: SOME R & R

"C'MON!" Shouted Raditz.

Chi-Chi and Krillin threw their cupped hands forward at him from a hundred yards away.

"KAMEHAMEHA!" Both chanted as they fired the signature Turtle School attack. Raditz jumped high into the air before the twin beams could strike him, impacting below his feet in a massive fireball. But he wasn't clear yet, for Tien, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha took the moment to jump him from the sides while he was dodging the dual Kamehameha Waves.

"HYAH!" Raditz blocked their combined strikes with each arm and a leg before flinging them off , just in time for Chi-Chi and Krillin to pounce on him while Tien, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha recovered. Soon all five of the human combatants were on him, attacking from all sides and looking for an opening, his tail waving around behind him...

As they fought, Raditz marveled at how he was handling himself. They had been fighting for ten non-stop hours so far in this five on one battle, and not once had he given these Earthlings an inch. Individually, he could easily overpower them. But all five of them working together posed quite a challenge, all trying to divert his attention. They always found ways to get around his defenses or trip him up. It put the seasoned Saiyan's years of experience on the battlefield to shame, and Raditz had to adapt the martial arts training his mother taught him to combat them. Slowly, he did better every day as he fought against them. His opponents in turn grew stronger and fought harder, adapting new moves or strategies. Then the fights grew bigger and more intense, so much so that they had to take them to the next valley over in order to not damage the pristine forests of Mount Paozu or the crops of vegetables they painstakingly sowed. Soon Tien, Chiaotzu, Chi-Chi, Krillin, and Yamcha were each approaching the same threshold of power he had when he landed on Earth.

Raditz estimated his own power level to now be about more than twice that of what it was when he arrived on Earth. It was remarkable how far he managed to come with just training for the last six months, the last two with just these humans!

They still had another six months to go before Vegeta and Nappa arrived. Raditz almost dared to hope that perhaps... If they kept it up, and used the tactics they were developing... maybe, just maybe... they may have a chance...

The mental train of thought unknowingly slowed Raditz down, distracting him from guarding his tail. Tien and Chi-Chi phased behind him, grabbing hold of the furry appendage. "GOTCHYA!" Both gleefully shouting as they squeezed.

"AGH!" Raditz screamed, falling to the ground and panting. Krillin, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha landed beside him while the other two clutched his tail. The Saiyan collapsed to his hands and knees.

"OKAY! OKAY! I GIVE UP!" He shouted, sounding desperate. "PLEASE! LET ME GO!"

Tien narrowed his eyes. "Oh no, Raditz. We're not falling for that trick again!" He squeezed even harder.

"ARGH! DAMMIT, I'M SERIOUS, TIEN! IT HURTS! I'M NOT TRYING TO TRICK YOU THIS TIME! PLEASE! LET ME GO!" Raditz begged, his voice shrill.

"Uh-uh-UH!" Chided Chi-Chi. She stood opposite Tien and clutched Raditz's tail while they pinned him down. "You said so yourself that you would say anything to make it look like you're surrendering only to catch us off-guard! But now we know better. So you gotta get yourself out for real this time!"

Raditz breathed heavily as he lay there helplessly before the human fighters. But then, his features relaxed and he smiled wickedly.

"Then I WILL!" Raditz screamed, letting out a powerful release of ki in a shockwave that sent all five of his opponents flying away from him before they could react. When the dust settled, Krillin, Chi-Chi, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha sat back up. They looked stunned at Raditz as he waved his tail at them.

"B-but... HOW?!" Chiaotzu stammered.

"I'm glad you guys took my advice to heart!" Raditz said to them. "But luckily for me, I figured out how to strengthen my tail so you can't grab it anymore. Thought it would make a nice surprise to leave it exposed for you to try and squeeze it. You should've seen the looks on your faces when I threw you off!" He added with a laugh.

Chi-Chi shook her head from where she fell. "Shoulda seen that coming."

"Then I hope you like a little surprise in return, Raditz!" Shouted Krillin's voice from behind. Raditz stopped laughing and turned around to see the short, bald-headed fighter with a flat golden spiral held out above him. When did he get back up?!

"DESTRUCTO DISK!"

Krillin hurled his arm forward and the circular saw-like ki wave flew straight at Raditz. Shock and alarm went through the Saiyan like a bolt of lightning. That was a technique he had never seen before. And with enough power concentrated within the sliver of energy closing in on him...

Raditz ducked in the nick of time to avoid the disk slicing at his neck, but not without cutting off some strands of his long and wild black hair. The disk flew past him, the others, and towards the rocky hill beyond. Seconds later, the top half of the mountain slid off to one side as if was perfectly bisected by a giant cleaver. It crashed to the ground with an quaking roar of crumbling rocks.

Everyone starred at the jaw dropping sight in awe while Krillin stood there with his arms crossed, he seemed rather pleased with himself.

"W-whoa!" Yamcha stammered, breaking the stunned silence.

"Hehe. So, whaddya think?" Krillin chuckled.

"Krillin... what the hell did you just do?!" Raditz asked in bewilderment.

"That right there..." Said the bald monk as he pointed to the now flattened mountain. "...was a new move I came up with recently. By focusing my ki into a very long and thin object, I found I could create a sort of energy saw that's so sharp that it could cut through anything. I call it the Destructo Disk. Cool name, eh?"

Raditz looked back at the bisected hill that was now a perfectly flat plateau. He realized in amused shock that had he been a split-second too slow, that attack would have decapitated him.

"Very impressive, Krillin. I'd say that move is almost ingenious!" Raditz cheered once he regained his wits. "Where'd you ever get the inspiration for that idea?"

Krillin shrugged. "Eh, just came to me one day I guess. Nothing inspired, really."

"Well, it's an effective weapon, that's for sure. I'm definitely gonna ask you to teach me that move sometime." Said Tien as he dusted himself off.

"Hehe, sure! But I claim the trademark for it." Krillin joked.

The six of them all starred at the sliced mountain that Krillin had just made, which compelled them to survey the surrounding landscape that was also thoroughly destroyed through the course of their latest training battle. It was starting to resemble a moonscape of cratered grasslands and blasted hills rather than the lush forests of North Valley.

"Wow. We really tore this place up." Whistled Yamcha as he looked at the damage around him.

"I'll say. Good thing we've decided to take our training away from Paozu." Said Chi-Chi as she looked around. Her once long black hair was now cropped around her head, forming short bangs that framed her face. It was a dramatic improvement after she had buzzed her whole scalp after the accident a couple months prior. "To make it all match again" as she put it.

"And speakin' of fruitful..." Said Yamcha as he looked up at the setting sun. "We've been at it for like ten hours already!"

Tien looked up and was surprised too. "Hey yeah, you're right, Yamcha! That was almost a new endurance record for us!"

"Oh, wow!" Krillin looked down at his hands. "Usually we get tuckered out after eight, but I still feel great." He threw a couple punches into the air. "I feel like I can keep going!"

"That means that we are all getting stronger! A few months ago we couldn't have battles this intense." Said Tien. He turned to Raditz and gave the tall Saiyan a thumbs up.

"And it's all thanks to your help, Raditz. Without you and your mother, we wouldn't have been able to come this far."

Raditz looked away, unsure of how to take the compliment.

The Saiyan within him still despised how repulsively soft these Earthlings were, even after all the time he spent with them in the last six months. An even deeper part of Raditz that was quite literally pounded into him over the years, believed that these humans were only praising him because he was the strongest one present. He himself had sang such praises before to stronger warriors or to his superiors to either weasel his way out of a confrontation or to toady up for favors. So surely these Earthlings wouldn't be so kind as to vocally appreciate him if they were stronger than him... right? Then again, his mother praised him for being strong enough to survive all these years even though she eclipsed his power. So perhaps, there was some truth to that.

Furthermore, despite his distrust, Raditz felt a comradery among Tien, Chi-Chi, Krillin, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu that he never did with Vegeta or Nappa. Unlike with his former Saiyan comrades who only held him in regard to being a fellow Saiyan and nothing more, he wasn't scolded for doing the smallest thing wrong here, nor was Raditz turned into a punching bag when things went wrong and someone needed to take it out on him. Not here.

After half a year of training and cohabitating with these Earthlings (and with some help from his mother), they had taken him in as one of their own and treated him as an equal. They trusted him, opened up to him whenever they had their picnic-side chitchats that he too often found boring. They had not only come to respect him, they even regarded him as a friend, the first time anyone had ever done that in his violent life. So, understandably, he felt slightly uncomfortable being actually praised for his efforts.

"Oh, uh..." Realizing he was just standing there without saying anything, Raditz shook his head to shove all those thoughts aside. "Sure. No problem." He muttered politely.

Yamcha placed his hands on his hips and beamed to the group. "Well then, I don't know about the rest of you but in light of our progress, I think we've earned ourselves the rest of the day off!"

The five of them looked surprised at Yamcha.

"Really?" Said Krillin.

"Yeah! Why not?" Said Yamcha. "We've matched our non-stop sparring record today and none of us feel tired, right? I think that deserves a little celebrating. So why don't we call it a day?"

"But our rest day is tomorrow." Chiaotzu pointed out. "Aren't we supposed to keep training until sunset like Gine told us to?"

Yamcha shrugged. "I know, but c'mon! We've been training like this non-stop for six months already! We've all gotten far stronger than we ever were before!" Yamcha said while flexing his body and his ki to showcase his point.

"Besides, Gine's not here. I don't think she'll mind if we take off just a couple hours early today, right? Not like there isn't much more we can do today anyways."

Yamcha turned to Raditz. "I mean no disrespect to your mom, Raditz, but we don't have to train ourselves to death like she can. We all could use a little rest and relaxation if ya know what I mean, right?"

"Sure, whatever." Raditz said in disinterest.

He felt conflicted, both wanting to be as prepared as possible to face Vegeta and Nappa, but also felt deep down that all their efforts may be in vain. If his mother's plan failed (which he believed it inevitably will somehow), if she and Kakarot don't return in time to face his former comrades, then this all would have been a waste of time better spent making the most of it. Who was he to deny his friends a chance to have some fun? It's not like he had something to fight for besides his own life...

Yamcha's eyes lit up. "Awesome!"

"Hmmm. I could be down for that." Chi-Chi said with an enthusiastic smile. "Gohan's birthday is coming up, and I'd like to get some shopping and baking done ahead of time."

"Then let's go to West City, make an afternoon of it!" Yamcha offered.

"Whoa, whoa. Hold on." Krillin waved his hands. "Since Gine's gone, Tien's in charge here. So it should be up to him to say so before we split."

Krillin turned to the former Crane student. "So what do ya say, man? Can we take today off early?"

Tien thought for a moment and looked up at the setting sun. "Well, we have another two hours of daylight left... but we did surpass our record."

He then shrugged with a smile. "Awww. Sure, why not."

The rest of the Earth-born fighters cheered. Raditz just stood there with his perpetually indifferent expression.

"Alright, let's head back then!" Yamcha grinned, waving into the direction of Mount Paozu. Soon they all took flight back towards their encampment away from home at the base of the mountain. Raditz trailed behind them, alone to his thoughts as the forest zoomed by below...

His thoughts drifted towards his mother, and out of curiosity he reached out with his newly developing sixth sense to find her. It still baffled him how these primitive Earthlings could sense power levels without scouters and how an advanced race of conquerors like the Saiyans could not. The tactical advantages linked to this ability would have been limitless if they did.

Since his mother was the most powerful person on the planet, she was easy to detect. Appearing as a fuzzy white light surrounded by emptiness in his mind's eye, Raditz could sense his mother was some several thousand kilometers away... He frowned, was he feeling this right? He could sense that she was not alone, accompanied by another presence that did not feel as powerful as either of the fighters here but far stronger than the rest of the blips that dotted the planet. He wasn't sure who it was, but knew she was in no danger.

Returning to the present, Raditz focused on the gang ahead of them and Mount Paozu approaching. But his thoughts remained with his mother...

It had been two months since she left the group. He was surprised when he learned that she had taken off without letting him know, given how inseparable she was with him. After being reunited after so long and getting him settled to life on Earth, his mother had went out of her way to try and get to know him, to make up for over twenty-four years of lost time. He figured she wouldn't want to just leave. But she had acted erratically since his arrival, teetering between placidity on most days or complete silence at the slightest mention of the old Namekian they visited in the sky on the day of his arrival. After the accident with Chi-Chi and his nephew, Raditz understood why his mother took off. She needed to sort out her own problems before she could be around them again.

Odd, Raditz thought as he flew. He strangely found himself missing his mother.

He still held a lot of resentment towards his mother and little brother for hiding out in this paradise all these years while he fought through hell every single day since he was a boy. Regardless of the excuses, how could they not feel ashamed at themselves for not looking for him? How dare did his mother think she could just integrate him into their lives after twenty-four years as if nothing had happened to him? And how could she dare ask for his help to fight Vegeta? He owed them and their friends nothing, and often contemplated just leaving Earth altogether to save his own skin from the prince, to hell with everybody else. But... somehow the thought of just abandoning the only family he had left, and abandoning a comfortable future he could have with them here, just didn't sit well with him. And despite how much he tried to repress it, the idea of his long lost mother actually being here for him, showing him compassion despite everything he has done to survive, nurturing him through training to make him a better warrior, and showing him a mother's love that he never had while growing up... he wished for all that.

It stirred something within Raditz, something he thought was long deadened after a lifetime of war and harsh living under Frieza's rule. It made him feel... like a child. Like a little boy with a loving mother that would always be there for him, to make him feel that she will keep him safe from everything that happened to him, and everything will be alright from now on...

Raditz shook his head, trying to fight off the tears falling down his face.

"Dammit. Either it's the wind, or these Earthlings' softness has been rubbing off on me." Raditz cursed to himself.

They touched down on the grass of the semi-circular camp of four capsule houses surrounding the wooden hut that was his mother's home. The only people out were Master Roshi socializing with the elder Gohan and Launch, who was in her blonde state and seemed to be sitting against a tree looking bored. As he landed, Raditz caught her looking at him from the corner of his eye.

"Alright. Let's get a quick shower and change before we go. West City, here we come!" Yamcha, Krillin, Tien, and Chiaotzu whooped as they sprinted back to their respective houses.

Raditz was in no rush to join them. These Earthling's made great training companions, but their idea of "fun" outside of battle was soul-crushingly boring to him. Whatever mindless entertainment they could think of from "shopping" to "moviegoing" was nothing compared to getting roaring drunk and into city-wide brawls like he used to back home on Planet Vegeta or in the Frieza Force. No wonder these people were so soft.

"GOHAN!" Chi-Chi called out as she ran to her capsule house. Raditz saw the head of his nephew peek out of the window of his room where he had doubtlessly been studying.

"Hey, mommy!" Little Gohan hopped out of the window and happily greeted his mother with a hug. "Guess what?! I finished my trigonometry homework!" He beamed.

"That's good, sweetheart." Chi-Chi said rather quickly, as if obligatory. "Now you can start on your physics course! Mommy needs to go run some errands for your birthday party, so why don't you start on your next assignment and I'll give you your quiz when I get home, alright?"

"Oh." The boy's face fell, clearly disappointed that he would be trapped indoors with more studying to do again. He wanted to protest, but knew better than to question his mother, especially after the accident.

"Okay." Little Gohan sighed in defeat.

"That's my good boy!" Chi-Chi smiled as he picked her son up into her arms and carried him back inside, oblivious to his displeasure. Raditz watched Chi-Chi enter the house with Little Gohan briefly looking over her shoulder and back at his uncle with a look of resignation on his face before Chi-Chi shut the door behind her.

Raditz respected Chi-Chi as a warrior, but held nothing but contempt for her denying his nephew his Saiyan birthright to train alongside them. Even though he was a half-breed, Little Gohan was at the age when he would have been conquering planets already, and all he did was study all day every day since Chi-Chi's accident. What's worse was that the boy had potential. Raditz had caught a glimpse of Little Gohan's power when he was pushed hard enough, it actually caught Gine off guard. Not even Prince Vegeta was as strong as Little Gohan was at four years old. His own nephew could be a super elite-class warrior! And his wench of a mother was letting her son's hidden power go to waste because of one mishap.

She had forbidden Little Gohan from ever participating in training again, yet ironically, Chi-Chi had brought the Son residence's capsule house closer to the campsite so she could be nearby for her own continued training to prepare for the Saiyans. Raditz had caught glimpses of the boy looking from behind the window of his room, pitifully watching everybody training together with longing in his eyes while his mother had all the fun.

Raditz clenched his fist. Chi-Chi's hypocrisy infuriated Raditz sometimes, and he wondered to high heaven what his brother, Kakarot, saw in that woman.

Exhaling through his nose, Raditz forced himself to calm down. He was about to head back into his own dwelling, unsure of what to do with himself for the rest of the day...

"Hey, Raditz!" Blonde Launch called out to him, stopping from opening the door to his capsule house. Raditz groaned and turned to see her walk up to him.

"Where ya guys headed?" She asked.

Raditz frowned in confusion. "Headed? Oh... you mean Yamcha and the others. I'm not traveling with them."

Blonde Launch raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Not going to West City?"

"Nope." Raditz said simply, thinking that was the end of the conversation and Blonde Launch was about to leave him be.

"Why? Sounds boring?" She asked.

Raditz sighed in annoyance. Although he liked this Saiyan-like blonde version of Launch whenever her temper was not aimed at him, she was as bubble-headed as her placid blue-haired form that would never hurt a fly. The woman was endearing in her own sweet way, but her pestering him at every opportunity with questions was off putting.

"Yeah. Not really my thing." Raditz answered more curtly. He hoped she would take the hint and leave.

"Huh." Blonde Launch held a finger to her cheek as if in thought, she didn't seem to notice or care of his growing impatience. Then there was a mischievous glint in her eye.

He was about to turn the handle to open the door when she asked, "So you don't have plans for the afternoon then?"

Raditz was about to just ignore her and go on inside, already fed up with her presence. But he stopped in his tracks. He knew what that question really meant, for in his experience it was another way someone usually asked him to sacrifice his free time for an errand or another mission or a task he rather not do, more often than not he would end up doing it out of being forced to by Nappa or Vegeta or any other superior.

He'd rather say no to her, but... he was suspicious. Knowing the stories of what the others have told him of Blonde Launch and what she did in her free time, he was overcome with slight curiosity with what she had in mind if she wanted to do something involving him. It's not like he had anything better to do anyway.

He looked over his shoulder back at her. "No. Why?" Raditz asked.

Blonde Launch smiled widely. "Well, since ya don't have anythin' else goin' on, I was wonderin' if you would like to go out with me instead?"

He wheeled around towards her, completely taken aback. "Go out? With you?"

"Yeah! Wanna get away from these bozos and have some REAL fun instead?" Blonde Launch chuckled with a wink.

All the blood rushed to Raditz's face, turning his cheeks violet red. Does she mean...?

It was considered one of the grossest dishonors to ever rut with the natives of other worlds. That to mix with "lesser races" was to taint their Saiyan bloodlines forever, so no Saiyan in their right mind would ever be caught fulfilling their carnal desires with a native unless it out of desperation or a game. However, he had to admit that human females were... enticing, especially Launch in her blonde form. And he knew she was infatuated with him already. So... who was to say that as a Saiyan he could not have his needs met with a native? Afterall, there were no Saiyans left, so no one could judge him.

"So... wanna go for some fun?" Blonde Launch asked again when Raditz didn't answer.

"Oh-uhhhh..." He tried to think of what to say to what he thought was a bold idea. "What do you mean by "real fun?""

"I was thinking of robbing a bank." She answer simply.

Raditz collapsed to the ground, quite literally floored as all the lewd thoughts that went through his head moments ago were quickly extinguished. He was not expecting that as an answer.

"THAT'S your idea of fun?" A bewildered Raditz asked.

Blonde Launch laughed. "Yeah! It's something I've done all my life. I'm good at it and it always centers me when I need to get my head straight. Plus it's a quick way to get some cash when I need it."

Raditz looked away. This woman was far stranger than he imagined her to be.

"Anyway, there's this joint over in Brown County I've been scopin' out for a while. The security there is pretty tight, so they gotta have some huge vault with a motherlode of zeni in it. I think it'd be the perfect place for a heist, and I could definitely use a strong hand like you for the job! Will split it fifty-fifty with ya." She winked at him. "So whaddya say? You in?"

Raditz thought for a few moments, already playing whatever scenario he could think of in his head. If the people he is surrounded by here are the strongest beings on the planet, then whatever security forces or authorities they would be up against would be nothing compared to him. There wouldn't be much of a challenge, and he had no use for this planet's currency.

Then again, he didn't have much else to do today anyway, and did not fancy just sitting around doing nothing. Besides, causing some trouble, even amongst insects like these humans, could be at least a little entertaining. Almost like the legendary brawls and street battles of yore from his home world...

He looked up to the grass yard where Yamcha, Krillin, Chi-Chi and the others have gathered to begin their mindless retreat to civilization. He made up his mind.

"Sure. Count me in." He said with a hint of eagerness.

Blonde Launch pumped her fist into the air. "Yeah! That's the spirit! Well then, no time to waste!"

"Wait, you mean we need to go right now?" Raditz asked.

"Yeah! Nothin' else that's pressing to do, right?"

Raditz opened his mouth to say... he wasn't sure. Perhaps he might want to change into his civvies, but dropped that idea.

"Alright then, lead the way." He said.

"Way ahead of ya." Blonde Launch pulled out a capsule, clicked it, and threw it near her feet. A mono-wheel scouter expanded into existence from the puff of smoke, and Blonde Launch hopped on.

"Hey, Raditz! Launch! You guys comin' along too?!" Yamcha called out from the group.

Raditz looked over and cleared his throat. "Umm... "

"You guys go ahead!" Blonde Launch spoke up for him. "Raditz and I will catch up with you later. We got plans of our own!"

With that, she gunned the engine of her S-Cargo motorbike and sped away. Raditz looked over to the baffled group, and just shrugged. Then he took off into the air, following after Blonde Launch towards Brown County, muttering to himself that it "could be fun"...

---

"Here we are." Whispered Blonde Launch. "I've had my eye on this one for a while, and now is the perfect time to crack it wide open."

They were keeping in the shadows of an alleyway, across the street from the imposing concrete walled building with no windows. The words: FIRST BANK OF BROWN COUNTY were on the front in large and opulent bronze lettering.

"This is it?" Said Raditz, his voice barely concealing his disappointment.

Blonde Launch turned to him looking indignant. "Whaddaya mean "this is it?!" This joint is one of the biggest banks in the land! It has top-notch security! Armed guards, blast door safe, cameras, silent alarm, the works! An army would have trouble getting into there!"

Raditz could sense with his mind's eye the weak ki signatures of no more than a hundred people inside the bank. Even if he assumed every single one to be armed with their puny human weapons, they would be push overs to him. And blast door? Pff, he's punched his way through mountains made of diamonds on some mineral-rich worlds being defended by piloted mech suits with advanced laser-based weaponry. This "job" would be nothing more than a cake walk.

"When you said you wanted to rob a bank, I thought you had something more... challenging in mind." He said. Then added, "There's no fun in it if I can just waltz in there and take everything without a good fight."

Blonde Launch shot a glare at him, about to say something. But she relented. She must have figured that he as a Saiyan would not be stopped by a bunch of guards with machine guns and ten-foot thick walls of stone and steel, but it was still hard for her to believe in such feat being possible.

"Believe me, I know what you mean. No fun in it without it being hard." She began to say. "But-"

"So why don't you go in there instead if you want the challenge?" Raditz interrupted.

"Would ya pipe down and let a girl talk?!" Blonde Launch hissed, then continued. "Anyway, I'd like to do it myself, but I can't. I've been robbin' joints for a long time and my face is on posters everywhere. So I'm too recognizable. If I tried to go in there and blow the joint, they'd haul me off to prison in no time, no matter how much firepower I pack. But you..." She pointed a finger at his chest. "They don't know you, a Saiyan from another planet who could turn mountains into dust. You're unstoppable! You could barge in there and take out security before they know what hit 'em, giving me the perfect opening to blow open the safe..." She patted the duffle bag full of explosives and other weapons "...and grab the dough before the coppers show up. It's perfect!"

Raditz wanted to protest, but found himself unable too. Sure her whole plan of grabbing the money herself while he took out security was unnecessary if he could just do it all himself. But, he seemed to understand her need for a proper challenge. She knew he could do it all himself without any help, but wanted just enough to make it hard for her. Still, it wasn't much in it for him if the human security forces can't put up a decent fight.

He sighed in defeat, wondering if he should've just stayed home instead. "Alright, so what do you need me to do?" He asked.

She looked back at the bank with determined eyes. "You just go in there and stick 'em up. Take out the guards and the tellers before they can trip the alarm, then I'll go in and blow open the safe. Grab what we can and we haul ass outta here. Got it?"

Raditz groaned. It sounded boring already, but said. "Alright." He'll grant this little adventure for her.

"I'll wait here until you give the all clear." Said Blonde Launch as she took cover behind the alley wall. Raditz rolled his eyes and walked across the street towards the bank.

He pushed his way through the revolving doors, careful not to get his long hair caught in it's rotation. Inside the lobby, Raditz glanced around. Expensive looking desks with uptight men in expensive suits adorned with gold pens sat behind them in, the chairs they sat in looking as cushy as the whole place felt. There weren't too many customers present but they all looked as ordained and superior as the staff, wearing felts of rare Earth game and handling more money than he imagined other humans would. And the guards were just fat-looking men with pistols, and no where near enough of a threat to him.

Some of the staff and other customers gave Raditz strange looks and upturned their noses at him as if he was gutter trash. This place repulsed Raditz to his core. It reminded him of the fancy palace of King Vegeta where the prince and the other super elites dwelled, casting looks of disgust down at the lower classes below and sneering at any common warrior that dared to set their dirty feet into their presence. He wanted to blast it all to smithereens.

Up ahead was a row of counters that made up the wall, and behind them was the giant round steel vault that made the safe of the bank. It looked heavily armored, but nothing he couldn't handle with just his own brute strength. A family of humans huddled at one of the counters. A man, a woman, and young girl. Their clothes were tattered and moth eaten; they all looked hungry in stark contrast to the plump and wealthy patrons around them.

"Please! We beg of you, just give us more time!" The man wailed to the teller, a greedy-looking pencil neck that stood behind the counter and regarded the man as if he were an annoying fly rather than a customer. He waved a finger at them.

"I'm sorry, sir. But the terms and agreement clearly stated that by the end of the month you ought to pay the amount owed. And already you are three months overdue. We've been more than generous as it is." Said the teller.

"I told you, we've already given you everything we had!" The poor man fumed. "And that was after I was laid off from my job AND after you increased the interest rate on us! That's not generous at all! Please, you must extend our..."

"There's nothing more I can do, sir. I'm truly sorry." The teller clearly lied. He closed the folder on his desk and said, "The bank will reposes your house and complete the foreclosure. You have forty-eight hours to vacate the property, and if you are still there we will have you forcibly removed by the police."

The whites of the families eyes all widened in shock and horror. The man was all but on his knees practically begging. "But, please! PLEASE!"

"I said good day, sir! Now please: LEAVE!" The teller forcibly yelled, waving a hand for security as if it were an afterthought, like the family before him.

Moments later the guards grabbed the destitute man by both arms and dragged him past Raditz and outside the rotating doors. Through the glass he could hear the man breaking down into sobs when they dropped him to the ground. The mother and daughter shuffled out in pitiful slowness, as if in a daze. The other customers turned away in disgust, regarding the family with condescending apathy at the grave misfortune that fell upon them.

The mother started crying softly, and the little girl looked up at Raditz as they passed by. Her large eyes were empty with utter hopelessness. It sent a chill up the Saiyan's spine, for he had seen that look far too many times among the natives of destroyed worlds that knew all was lost. But this was a look of hopelessness he had never seen before. The pencil neck teller said something to his coworker in the next counter, saying something about the people they turned away, and they both broke out chuckling.

Raditz clenched his fist hard, cracking his knuckles in his grip. The low-class Saiyan warrior had seen his share of pain and injustice inflicted upon other peoples, some of which he himself inflicted, but somehow the whole exchange he witnessed made his stomach turn. The way these cowards mocked those far less fortunate than them with utter impunity, how they treated them like garbage, and the smarm of the well off around them... he wanted to break the pencil neck in half like the twig he was with his bare hands. So angry was Raditz that he failed to notice the rotary door opening up behind him and a stream of men entering the building. They were all wearing trench coats and were spreading out in the lobby.

The teller behind the counter finally seemed to notice Raditz. The look of annoyance at having to deal with another customer flashed across his face, along with the flash of revulsion and fear at seeing someone like Raditz with his tall stature and wild hair.

"Can I help you, sir?" The teller dutifully asked.

Raditz realized that he was spoken to. Remembering the plan, he opened his mouth to shout...

From behind Raditz a machine gun suddenly went off. "FREEZE! EVERYBODY DOWN! NOW!" A man shouted.

Raditz finally noticed the men in trench coats that entered the lobby, twenty in total. They had now just flew open their coats to reveal men in suits pulling out concealed machine guns. People started screaming in panic, the men in suits quickly took down the guards and anyone in their way without killing them. Raditz was off to the side so he was out of the line of fire. So caught off guard he was that he simply watched, unfazed by the sudden change in the situation.

Soon the last guard was subdued, but it was still bedlam with some customers and staff members screaming their lungs out in terror. One of the henchmen aimed his gun in the air and let out a couple shots that rang loudly. "SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!" He shouted.

The people screaming suddenly quieted down at the gunfire.

"NOW EVERYONE FACE DOWN AND HANDS UP WHERE WE CAN SEE 'EM!" The henchmen ordered. But then added by turning to the counters, "EXCEPT FOR YOU GUYS! YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND KEEP YOU HANDS UP!"

Everyone quietly obeyed. The tellers behind the counter kept their hands up and the customers in the lobby got down on their knees, then bend down onto their stomachs keeping their open hands visible. Raditz however was off to the side and wondered how the robbers didn't seem to notice him yet. He wondered bemusedly to himself if they mistook him for a statue or something.

Satisfied, the henchman then said, "ALRIGHT, NOW EVERYONE STAY CALM AND DON'T DO ANYTHING! DON'T MOVE, DON'T TALK, AND DON'T EVEN LOOK AT US! IF ANYONE TRIES ANYTHING FUNNY, WE'LL PLUG YA WITH LEAD! YOU DO AS WE SAY WITHOUT ANY FUSS, YOU'LL ALL GET TO WALK AWAY FROM THIS! AM I CLEAR?"

Everyone that was now a hostage seemed too scared to process what was happening, let alone answer. But collectively they all tentatively nodded. Seeing how that he hadn't been spotted yet and deciding to take advantage of this, Raditz stealthily crept backwards to some pottery with tall plants for cover.

"THAT'S GOOD!" The henchman nodded. He pulled out a walkie-talkie from his coat and spoke into it: "All clear, sir."

A moment later a short, round fellow in a lime-green suit and hat walked through the door, twirling a cigar between his fingers. His dark red glasses and smirk were as distasteful as his choice in attire. Behind him, another figure entered through the rotary door. A taller, leaner man in a pink martial arts gi and a long ponytail of hair. Or, half of a fellow rather. Raditz squinted at him and saw the mans face obscured by some rather primitive looking cybernetics and red goggles. But Raditz could tell that by the way he carried himself with his impeccably straight posture and hands behind his back that this human was a stone cold killer. An assassin, maybe? The words "KILL" on his back would seem to be a dead giveaway.

The pink cyborg flanked the short fellow in the green suit as he walked up to the same teller that turned the poor family away. He was trembling in terror, even though the lime-suited mobster was too short to clear the counter. Raditz somehow found the sight funny.

"Uh... Mr. Vodka!" Stuttered the teller with his hands in the air. "Um, uh, uh, h-h-how've you been?"

"SHUT UP!" Shouted Mr. Vodka, startling the teller. "Cut the crap and answer my questions. Where's my damn money?"

The teller looked confused. "Uhh... sir?"

"Don't be coy with me!" Mr. Vodka spat impatiently. "You know what I'm talking about! You holding out on us?"

The teller started sweating nervously, his eyes darting from side to side. "Uh, ummmm... n-no, sir! We've been collecting for you and counting it as you requested!"

"Then why are my deliveries coming up short, huh?! We've been missing a few million zeni for a month now, and YOU are the only other guys who could have access to it once you get it from these suckers!" Vodka waved his hand around at the cowering hostages, then pointed an accusing finger at the teller. "You skimming from me or not?!"

The poor pencil neck looked so scared that he might faint. He stammered, "What?! I-I don't... I-I don't know what you're-"

Mr. Vodka pounded his small fists onto the counter in what seemed to be a threatening gesture but just looked pitiful for a man his size.

"DON'T LIE TO ME YOU LITTLE TWERP! You better start coming clean with me or my associate, Tao here, will make you spill the beans!"

The taller pink-clad cyborg, Tao, held up a mechanical hand that grabbed the teller by his face and yanked him across the counter. Tao held the shivering man by his jaw, squeezing his cheeks hard enough for the teller's tongue to involuntarily stick out. Then Tao raised up his other hand, and from it extended a long blade that gleamed in the light.

"Thou shall not lie, or thou shall lose thy tongue." Tao threatened, holding the blade close to the teller's face and toward his tongue.

"Oooo..okee...OKEEE!" The teller begged through his pressed lips, almost crying. "We'ff bean skimming! Bud we steel haff te muney, you can thake it! Pease, thon't hurth meh!"

Raditz watched quietly from the corner. The sight of the same man begging for mercy the same way the downtrodden family begged him almost seemed beautiful if it weren't so pathetic.

Mr. Vodka grinned wickedly. "There! Now that wasn't so hard to tell the truth, now was it? Let him go, Tao."

The assassin dropped the teller, and he fell back gasping for air. Then Mr. Vodka tossed him a couple of large empty duffle bags that hit the teller, letting out a surprised yelp.

"Alright. Now here's what you're gonna do. Open the safe and put as much money as you can into those bags." Mr. Vodka ordered. He reached into the inside breast pocket of his suit and pulled out a pistol. "Consider it payment for trying to cheat me. Just be glad I don't kill you all and take all the money."

The frightened teller looked to his companion he joked with earlier. They both looked uncertainly at each other.

"Well, move it!" Mr. Vodka demanded, cocking back the hammer of his pistol and pointing it at the teller. "Get to work or I'll take out one of your kneecaps! Then I'll let Mr. Tao here follow through with cutting your tongue out!"

"Ahhh!" The teller snapped out it. "Um, uh, yes sir! Right away, Mr. Vodka!" He waved to his other friend. "Come on!"

Both the teller and his co-worker hurriedly went to the large vault door behind them. With a few access codes that had to be put in by both of them simultaneously, the door swung open to reveal a massive chamber filled from floor to shelf with this planet's currency. The teller then busied himself with loading the duffle bags with wads of cash until it was full to bursting and too heavy for him to lift.

"Huh." Said Raditz during all this. Although Planet Vegeta and the Planet Trade Organization did not use as complicated a system of money that these Earthlings did, he already knew what this was all about. It wasn't just a simple heist. These bankers have been suckering customers and robbing poor saps blind, doing the dirty work of hoarding currency for some shady business on the side. This Mr. Vodka must have been their boss. And their own greed had turned against itself when they tried to slip some past Vodka, all the while Raditz himself was about to rob from this same bank.

Who's robbin' who? He wondered with a chuckle.

The little noise gave him away, and suddenly one of the thugs in trench coats finally spotted Raditz.

"What the... Hey! You in the long hair!" He shouted at Raditz, pointing the machine gun at him. "Why aren't you down?! Hands up!"

Raditz looked to the thug as if he had just noticed a fly buzzing around. It didn't concern him, but found it annoying. He did not answer.

"HEY, I'M TALKING TO YOU!" The thug shouted again, drawing closer to Raditz with the gun pointed at the Saiyan's head. He still did not answer, and did not looked concerned. The other henchmen took notice of him, along with some hostages that dared to glance in Raditz's direction. Vodka and Tao even turned to see what the commotion was.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Complained the mob boss. He then noticed Raditz. "Huh? Where'd the hell he come from?!"

The thug was now right in front of Raditz with the gun in his face. "GET DOWN NOW, OR I WILL SHOOT YOU!" He ordered.

"Hmph. Amateurs." Raditz scoffed aloud.

The thug recoiled, making a face that showed his offense and the slightest twinge fear at the remark. "What did you say to me-"

Raditz backhanded the man before he could finish his sentence. The thug's body flew across the lobby, crashing into another thug behind him and finally plowing into the wall. Both were out unconscious and groaned in pain.

Everyone starred bug-eyed at Raditz. The hostages starred in terror that someone just doomed them all, and the robbers starred in anger for the defiance. All of them equally shocked by the display of sheer strength.

Mr. Vodka seemed to recover first, and looked concerned at his fallen men. Then turned furious towards Raditz. "GRRRR! TAKE HIM DOWN, BOYS!"

Every thug aimed their readied weapons at Raditz, who only looked at them with slight anticipation.

All the henchmen opened fire. Instantly, Raditz phased out of sight. Although the bullets could do no harm to him, he dodged the torrent of lead with ease for the sake of it. Made good practice anyway.

"WHERE'D HE GO?! WHERE'D HE GO?!" One of the thugs panicked. Suddenly he cried before hitting the floor out cold. Then another dropped to the floor, and another. The thugs now shot wildly in every direction in panic before they started dropping as well, knocked out by the unseen force of Raditz moving too fast for anyone to see.

Just a few seconds after the shooting started, the last thug fell and Raditz reappeared before a terrified Tao and Vodka. He glared at them silently. Tao stood frozen in place, starring in terror at Raditz and stuttering, "Y-your-your eyes! T-They're just like his!"

Raditz was confused. "Huh? Whose eyes?" He asked.

Tao fainted before he could answer, falling onto his back with a thud. Vodka was now alone, and looked up at Raditz in complete disbelief. He barely reached half of Raditz's height, but looked infuriated instead of afraid.

"NO! NO ONE'S GONNA TAKE WHAT IS OWED TO ME!" He shouted and pointed his pistol up at Raditz's face. "EAT LEAD!" He pulled the trigger.

Without flinching Raditz caught the bullet faster than Vodka could see, then dropped the crushed projectile while still scowling. The mobster's eyes bulged in shock, so did everyone else that saw that feat. Now shaking in terror and out of options, Vodka turned to run. But he tripped over Tao's unconscious form and faceplanted himself into the tiled floor, knocking himself out.

"Tsh." Was all Raditz said. Even the criminal elements of Earthlings were as fragile as everyone else. It was embarrassing for them to call themselves robbers, but at least they made the heist he was supposed to pull a little more interesting. Speaking of which...

Raditz glanced over to the teller that stuffed the duffel bags that Vodka gave him. They were both about to burst at the seams with cash, the total bundles in them numbering in the millions. He smirked and walked through the counter, destroying the expensive barrier in a shower of splinters and fragments, then stood before the bug-eyed teller.

"I'll take these, if you don't mind." Said Raditz as he grabbed the two duffle bags of cash from the teller. In response, the poor fellow fainted on the spot.

"Heh. Well, thank you." Raditz joked to the unconscious teller. He turned around and walked out of the lobby, with every one of the other customers and disarmed guards watching incredulously. Then Raditz was outside. With his Saiyan hearing, he could hear sirens in the distance. He had to get out of there quickly.

Before he could take off back towards Blonde Launch's hiding place, Raditz looked over his shoulder. The poor family that had been turned away earlier were standing there, huddled together on the sidewalk. They must have heard the commotion of the robbery and stayed to watch what happened. They looked at him with terror as if he was about to rob them too, the father holding his arms in front of the mother and daughter to protect them.

Raditz wasn't going to rob them. He knew their kind, just desperate folks down on their luck with nothing to their names. There was no reason to worsen their suffering.

For some reason, Raditz looked down at the duffle bags of stolen money he held. They both contained more than enough money to buy anything he could ever want on this planet. But he wanted nothing, save for an excuse to fight someone. He just agreed to rob the bank because of Blonde Launch and could care less about money if he could take things by force. And Raditz thought of the misfortune that befell these people, and the way the teller inside the bank treated them...

"Here." Said Raditz as he threw one of the bags of money to the family. It landed in front of them with a loud thunk. They looked between the bag and Raditz in utter disbelief. Was this robber just casually giving away money?!

Slowly, the father unzipped the bag and saw the obscene amount of money inside. His eyes flooded with tears and his voice cracked.

"Oh, thank you so much, sir! Kami bless you!" The father wept. Both the mother and daughter saw the cash too and cried in joy.

"You're such a good man, sir!" The mother said, unable to contain herself. "Thank you!"

Raditz was unsure how to react to being called those words. Could a man like himself who once slaughtered billions of people call himself "good" for one deed?

"Whatever." Was all he said before running off. He didn't look back as the family called out to him. Raditz rounded a corner and made it back to the alleyway where Blonde Launch had been hiding.

"Hey, ya made it!" She exclaimed happily.

"Hn. Was nothing." Raditz said dismissively. "Some idiots decided to rob the place at the same time we were supposed to."

"Guess they made our job a lot easier." She joked. Raditz still held onto the other duffle bag of money, and Blonde Launch looked at his empty hand that threw the money away to the poor family.

"Ya know, I'd be really pissed off that you just threw away some of the cash, but good on ya for helpin' them folks out." She said while pointing towards the now financially saved poor family that fled the scene. "They looked like they needed it."

The discomfort from the family's compliment still lingered. Raditz was surprised. How could he feel so unsettled with being praised for such a "heroic" effort despite all the things he had done? He didn't want to address that question, but a part of him felt a sense of warmth that he helped alleviate someone's suffering, and the flash of the little girl's face of hopelessness vanished from Raditz's mind.

Raditz shrugged. "Still got something out of it." He held up the other bag he still had.

Blonde Launch smirked. "Can't complain about that." Then she said, "Well since this heist counts as a success, I say we go get a drink to celebrate."

Now that got his attention. "Go for a drink? Hell yes!" Raditz said excitedly. It's been ages since he drank anything.

"I know just the place." Said Blonde Launch knowingly. "Follow me."

She activated the capsule to her S-Cargo motorbike and began riding off through the alleyways. Raditz followed suit, leaving behind the bank as police cars finally arrived...

---

Later, they made it outside of town and arrived at their destination. A squat building with no windows, surrounded by motorcycles and parked long-haul trucks. The muted sound of boisterous activity could be heard from inside. It was a place not unlike the ones Raditz had seen on other planets: a seedy dive of a bar.

Blonde Launch looked back at Raditz and held up the duffel bag of money. "Come on! Drinks are on me!"

Raditz followed her to the entrance. Opening the doors they were greeted by a cacophony of men laughing, arguing, clinking drinks, and loud music blaring away. It was dimly lit within the crowded building, a pool table took up the center and a jukebox played the noisy rock music from the corner, drowning out the television over the bar. The stench of bad food, distilled liquor, smoke, and the thick air of warm bodies filled Raditz's nose. This was his kind of place, one that could thankfully be found in any corner of the galaxy. A place where you could find the worst lowlifes and the best drinks anywhere.

Despite how busy it was, they managed to find two empty stools at the bar, and Blonde Launch grabbed them quickly. Raditz sat down next to her.

"Hey! Two beers over here!" She called out. Moments later, the bartender wordlessly shoved two tall glasses of foaming yellow liquid across the bar to them. Blonde Launch caught them both and handed one to Raditz.

"Cheers!" Blonde Launch held up her mug to him. "To taking down the First Bank of Brown County!"

Raditz rolled his eyes and clinked his glass with hers. Blonde Launch gulped down her drink while he eyed the foaming liquid. He tasted it, and felt a grimace form on his face.

"You got anything stronger?" He asked.

Blonde Launch looked over, just finishing her drink. "Ah, straight to the hard stuff, eh?"

"Pff, this stuff is like flavored grain-water to me. Give me something strong!" He urged.

"Alright then." Blonde Launch called out again, "Bartender! Gimme some scotch for me and my friend here!"

The bartender did so, sliding over two smaller glasses but with gold looking liquid with ice. Raditz picked it up and tasted it. It had a little more kick, but was nothing to write home about.

"Is that all you Earthlings got?" He asked, not masking his disappointment. "This is nothing compared to what I used to get back in Frieza's Army."

"Really?" Asked Blonde Launch.

"Yes!" Said Raditz. "One place we used to stop in on all the time between missions had the finest malts in the universe. The kind that used to put you out for days, and could even kill you with one drink if you couldn't handle it. You got anything like that?"

Blonde Launch seemed impressed by his boasting for such a high tolerance, and took this as a challenge. "I think we might."

She called out one more time. "Hey, bartender! Hand me the strongest stuff you got!"

For the first time since they walked in, the vested bartender actually looked at them. He raised an eyebrow for a moment when he realized what Blonde Launch had asked for. But he seemed to comply with it as he bent down to retrieve a large dark bottle from under the back cupboard of the bar. He set it on the stand in front of Raditz and Blonde Launch. Some patrons around them eyed the bottle and whistled in hushed tones, as if the bottle was something of legend.

"Here we are, ma'am. Our strongest liquor: Fire of the Dragon." Said the bartender. He pulled off the cork and poured bronze colored liquid into their glasses. Even though there was ice in their glasses, the drink seemed to steam as if it was boiling hot. Raditz eyed the beverage expectantly. He hoped it would live up to the hype that everyone else seemed to share for it.

"Cheers!" Said Blonde Launch as she picked up her new drink. "To..." She read the label on the bottle. "Fire of the Dragon... nah, that's to long. How about: to Dragon Fire!"

Raditz clinked his new drink with hers. He threw his head back and chugged down the drink in one gulp. Launch sipped hers, but immediately she winced hard and started coughing. As for Raditz, it felt like the drink was setting the back of his throat on fire as it went down, but it had the sweet taste of fruit and sugars mixed with something spicy, chilis perhaps? And when exhaled, the air of his breath shimmered as if it was hot, leaving behind an aftertaste of chilis for sure.

"Now this is more like it!" Raditz said with a one-sided grin, he set his empty glass down and started pouring another drink. Blonde Launch had just recomposed herself after her coughing fit and looked at Raditz warily.

"Your stomach made of iron or somethin'?!" She wheezed. Her face was red and was sweating.

He looked to her and said, "Oh no, it's just that this is actually pretty good. You see, we Saiyans have a far better alcohol tolerance than any other species. The Mandrian Elixir is the only known drink that can get us drunk, but it's so strong that it may as well be poison. But it doesn't have much flavor, we just drink it to get wasted. But this though..." He held his refilled glass up. "It isn't half-bad of a kick and I can actually taste it! Who woulda thunk that you Earthlings had got something right!"

Blonde Launch looked to the second glass of Dragon Fire he had and down at her own she had only sipped. This stuff was extremely powerful, even for an experienced drinker like her. But she didn't seem like the kind of girl to give up face when it came to showing how tough she was. But the drink did seam to have an effect on her already, as she was less reluctant to not drink it.

"Well... at least I'll toast to that." Said Blonde Launch. She held up her glass. "To finding Raditz the perfect drink! And..."

Both of their gazes turned to the TV over the bar. Although it was hopelessly too loud to hear it in this noisy den, she already knew what the story was: the news report of the robbery they had just committed an hour ago. Footage showed police were hauling away Tao and Mr. Vodka in handcuffs while several of the henchmen were carried away on stretchers to ambulances. Security camera footage from inside the bank showed the footage of the robbers inexplicably dropping like flies until a large figure cloaked in long black hair appeared out of thin air to take down Tao and Vodka, then ran off with the stolen money. Thankfully, the images were too blurry and no pictures of Raditz's face emerged on the screen to tell the audience that he was a wanted fugitive. They had got away scot-free.

Raditz and Blonde Launch eyed the duffle bag at their feet, and back at each other before they burst out laughing. He suddenly felt a little more festive.

"To some good ol' robbery and rum!" Blonde Launch cheered.

Raditz held up his glass to hers. "To robbery and rum!" He said with a smile. That's definitely a better way to spend some "R & R", he thought.

He downed his second drink while Blonde Launch took another sip of hers. She coughed again, but recomposed herself quicker this time. The bartender reached over to take the bottle of Dragon Fire back when Raditz snapped at him to leave it. The bartender looked like he wanted to protest, but backed down with Raditz gave him his steely-eyed glare.

Raditz had a couple more glasses worth as Blonde Launch gingerly worked on her first one.

"I gotta admit, robbin' a bank was pretty fun." Said Raditz as he poured another.

"Told ya that you might like it." Blonde Launch said, her cheeks flushed red. The extremely potent alcohol was beginning to take effect on her while he remained sober due to his Saiyan metabolism. So far...

Then she said, "And it was really nice to see you give all that money away to those folks. That was very sweet of you."

"Yeah, well, I figured why not." Said Raditz. "If this planet is going to meet it's doom at the hands of Vegeta and Nappa if we can't stop them... at least I made someone's last days a little easier."

Blonde Launch turned to him, her eyes looked serious. "Do you really think we have a chance to beat those Saiyans?"

Raditz poured another drink and starred into his glass as if it had the answer. "Honestly, I'm not sure." He said quietly, but not too inaudible over the noise of the place.

"Mother's power is far greater than I imagined." He explained. "And with Kakarot's too, we might be able to hold them off. But as I told you all before, Vegeta and Nappa are the most ruthless and powerful warriors in all of Frieza's empire. And they could bring an army of Saibamen for back up." Raditz said before he chugged the glass. Then continued, "Let's just hope that they haven't restocked on them before coming here."

Blonde Launch looked at her glass in concern. "Well, hopefully Tien and the others can pick up the slack if it comes to that..."

She looked worried, and didn't want to think about what would happen if they failed. She shook her head and tried to sound more cheerful. "But hey, I'm glad we got to have a little fun and do some good from it. I always prefer to live a little like that, in case you die tomorrow or somethin'."

Raditz noticed how her tone turned morbid. He understood what she meant. He felt the same uncertainty of the future that bothered Blonde Launch, and it made him uncomfortable to imagine her feeling scared, and even worse what would happen to her if Vegeta and Nappa were victorious. He felt something akin to protectiveness for her.

Wanting to take her mind off of worrying about the upcoming battle he asked, "By the way, what's with you and that bald one?"

Blonde Launch looked at him in confusion. "Huh? Bald one? You mean Krillin?"

"No, no. The other one." Raditz clarified.

She looked even more confused. "Chiaotzu?"

"No!" Raditz said in exasperation. "The three-eyed one! Tien!"

"Ooooh! Tien!" Said Blonde Launch, but still looked as depressed as before. "Well, he's a cutie. But... nothin's going on between us."

Raditz was confused. "Really? I thought you two did. At least, that's what I've been told by everyone."

Blonde Launch's expression soured into something like anger. "He never appreciated everything I've done! I looked after him, cooked for him, supported him, but he didn't like me back! I just don't get it! How could such a great guy be such a insensitive pig-head?!" She said, looking about to whip out her gun and start shooting at something.

Raditz, who was surprisingly starting to feel lighter, said in his usual blunt manner: "Maybe's he's just not into you." He chugged another drink.

Blonde Launch wheeled around on him. "WHAT?!"

Raditz rested his elbow on the bar and propped up his head in his hand, getting comfortable. "I mean, I could sort of see why with how pushy you can be. And I'm not sure if you've noticed before but you can be quite scary sometimes when you're... blonde."

Blonde Launch growled at him. "JERK!" She picked up her half-empty glass and threw it at Raditz, spilling the drink everywhere.

Despite the slight buzz within his system, Raditz caught the glass without flinching and set it back down. "Hey, don't get mad at me! I'm just answering your question."

"Ya don't have to be so mean about it!" Blonde Launch said angrily. "Be glad that this stuff is working through me or else I oughta throw bullets at you instead!"

Raditz placed a hand on his hip and grabbed his glass with the other. "Oh yeah? Is that a challenge?" He teased.

"You bet! You say you're a big bad Saiyan but you haven't fought a girl like me yet!" Blonde Launch whipped out her SMGs and twirled them in her fingers. Raditz supposed it was meant to be threatening, but he found himself liking seeing her angry.

He brought his glass to his mouth but Raditz discovered that it was empty. He grabbed the Dragon Fire bottle and tried to pour himself another drink, only droplets came out.

"What the... empty already?" Raditz decried. He had drank the whole bottle without realizing it.

"Aw, man! I was just starting to like that stuff." Blonde Launch bemoaned. Although he felt the effects of the alcohol running through him, Raditz wasn't quite done yet.

"Hey! Bartender! Another bottle here, would ya?" Raditz barked.

The annoyed man behind the bar glowered at him. "I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid that was our only Fire of the Dragon bottle."

"What?!" They both cried out.

Blonde Launch groaned in disappointment. "Alright then, give us the next best thing then!"

The bartender crossed his arms. "Don't you think you two had enough? That was the strongest stuff we had and you drank it all! That stuff is not cheap!"

Raditz narrowed his eyes at the man. He was lying, there had to be another bottle here somewhere.

"Oww, quit your whinin'!" Said Blonde Launch, who then picked up the bag of money and slammed it on the counter with thick stacks of cash spilling out. "We'll pay you whatever you want, just get us another drink!"

The bartender's eyes bulged at the sight of more money then he had ever seen at once. But, to his credit, still seemed concerned despite the obscene wealth being given to him. "Uh..ummm... Thank you, miss, but... you and your friend have already had enough to drink! You two could get alcohol poison-"

Raditz, tipsy and at his patience's end, reached over the bar with frightening speed and grabbed the bartender, yanking him off his feet like a rag doll. The Saiyan glowered at the man with all the malice and anger he could muster.

"Now you listen here you little welp!" Raditz hissed into the bartender's face. "I know you got another bottle of that stuff so don't kid around with me. Get us another drink or so help me I will rip you apart, limb from limb!"

The bartender cowered before this incredibly strong and long-haired man who sounded as if he meant to carry out his threat to the letter if he didn't comply. Some of the other patrons were watching the scene unfold, and even some of the tough looking ones backed away.

"Uh, uh, uhh..y-y-yes sir! Right away, sir!" The bartender stammered.

Raditz dropped him to his feet, and the man busied himself with getting under the bar stand and digging around. A few minutes later, he pulled out a second bottle of Dragon Fire. Raditz smirked to himself as the bartender shakily poured him and Launch new drinks.

"Thank you." Raditz said coolly. The bartender then scurried off to the other side of the bar to get as far away as possible.

"Not bad." Blonde Launch nodded. "You're as a convincing negotiator as I am!"

Raditz took up the fresh drink. "When all else fails, brute force works nicely."

She grinned and held up her glass. "Ha! I'll drink to that. Cheers!"

He chugged his glass down and she resumed slowly sipping hers down little by little. Although the stuff was too powerful, she was slowly taking on more and more of the high-grade liquor. After another drink, Blonde Launch's high tolerance was reaching it's limit.

"S-so... hey." Blonde Launch said, her speech beginning to slur. "What's with the red armband you always wear?" She pointed to the band in question on Raditz's left arm.

Raditz glanced at it for a long moment, it somewhat swam around in his vision. "It was a gift from my father." He said. "For winning a tournament back on our home planet."

"Oh? You won a tournament?" Blonde Launch asked with interest.

"Yeah, it was a- " He paused to hiccup. "...it was a match that was held by our division to determine who could go out on their first mission."

"Mission?" She asked further.

"Uh-uh." Raditz nodded. "All Saiyan children begin their warrior journeys after they come back from their infiltration phases and have been reintegrated. I was six years old after I went through the whole the process. Our whole division was a little too packed with fresh recruits like me and not enough planets during that time to send us all out. So we held a tournament to see who was the strongest one of us and to let them go. I won that."

"Oh, cool!" Said Blonde Launch, she listened to him with inebriated interest. "You were the strongest of your entire division?"

Raditz gave her a side-eyed look. "Well... sort of."

"Sort of?"

Normally he wouldn't tell anyone about how he fought unfairly in one of the most traditional Saiyan games, but Raditz felt his tongue was quite loosened from drinking. He said, "I and some other mid-class punk were the only ones left standing. He had me pinned down but I managed to... "outsmart" him, and take him down. So impressed they were that they put me with Prince Vegeta and General Nappa." He patted the red band on his arm. "So, my father gave me his battle stripes as a token of victory."

Launch studied him. "By "outsmart" I'm to assume you mean "cheated?""

Raditz shrugged. "More or less."

He did. Raditz remembered that day very well, even thought it felt like it was from another lifetime. The last division match before their planet was destroyed not three days after that. He couldn't recall the name of his opponent, but Raditz of then was sure he had lost until his old partner, Turles, gave him some outside help. Even though it was against the rules, some convincing feigning of surrender plus a handful of sand and a second pair of hands to grab his enemy's tail turned his luck around. It was a downright dirty way to win, even for a Saiyan, but he won.

"My father said he was proud of me that day." Raditz muttered, almost sounding guilty. "But he wasn't there to see me... "win". Though... I don't he would have approved if he was."

"Huh?" Blonde Launch said in confusion. Raditz kept talking, taking more sips from his drink.

"It's not the Saiyan way to run away, hide, surrender, or cheat in battle. We are meant to face our challengers head on, no matter how much stronger they are. But I was never that strong of a Saiyan by a long shot. I was born with a power level of ten, much lower than the average of a hundred for low-class warriors. I should have been put down at birth for being so weak. But I wasn't, thanks to my mother's bleeding heart."

Raditz was surprised that he was spilling some of his most private inner thoughts to another person, but he couldn't stop himself. The liquor was definitely taking effect.

"Although I knew my place in the grand scheme of things, I didn't want to resign myself to forever being a pushover like my mother used to be. I wanted to be more than just low-class trash, like my father who fought his way up. But... I wasn't as brave as him. I had to cheat, lie, run, or hide to survive. Not like him, who faced impossible odds without fear..." He then added, "No. If he saw me at that tournament he would've called me for what I am: a coward."

Blonde Launch looked away in thought after Raditz finished talking. He didn't care if she was listening or not. He was feeling emotions he thought were long buried now bubbling up, loosened by the alcohol. Seriously, he thought, this Dragon Fire stuff is strong!

That tournament was the last time Raditz ever saw his father, Bardock, and it was one of the happiest moments of his life. His father actually approved of him for once that day! Raditz had finally showed him that he wasn't entirely hopeless, that he made up for his lack of battle power with his wits, and clawed his way out of the bottom of the barrel and into something worthwhile as his father once did. Raditz's methods may have been unsavory, but to him, doing whatever it took to survive and improve his standing was all that truly mattered. It was a philosophy that got him this far afterall, and he hoped that Bardock could have appreciated that, and deemed Raditz a worthy son afterall.

But he knew deep down that he never would have been so, because raw strength meant everything. Even if his father started off as a low-class warrior that climbed the ranks against all odds, he still believed in the sacred Saiyan belief of strength. So no matter how much smarter Raditz was than his enemies, if he didn't fight them tooth and nail to his last breath like a "real" Saiyan would, then he was just a coward and a weakling. It was a secret shame that Raditz had to bare, that he would never measure up to the standard set by his race. He didn't deserve the stripes on his arm, but he still kept them because they were all that he had left of his father...

His intoxicated mind drifted to darker memories of his childhood after that day. How it all went to hell after their planet was destroyed, and believing that he, Kakarot, Vegeta, and Nappa were all that were left. His winning of a spot among Vegeta and Nappa turned out to be a curse in of itself. Being the weakest of them by a wide margin left him to be constantly ridiculed by his surviving Saiyan compatriots, being reminded every day that as the last of their race that he truly was the "weakest", all the while he was under the thumb of Frieza, oblivious to his role in their species' extinction. He almost crushed the glass in his hands just thinking about it all...

"Huh. Well, it's far more than my old man ever did." Said Blonde Launch, breaking Raditz from his train of thought.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh? Your father couldn't care less if you lived or died unless you lived up to his standards?"

Blonde Launch scoffed. "I wish. Impossible expectations or not, at least you meant something to your father. He even gave you something personal when you proved you were smart enough to survive. My bastard of a dad didn't care that I even existed at all!"

Raditz was about to vehemently correct her that his father didn't consider smarts that much over grit and courage, but was intrigued by her statement of her own father.

"Really?" He said, wondering how any human could match the callousness of Bardock. Out of drunken curiosity he asked, "What was your father like?"

Blonde Launch starred down at her half-finished glass for a few long seconds before answering. "He was a drunk and a loser that almost killed me over money."

"Oh." Was all Raditz could say. He wasn't expecting that.

Launch continued, her tone turning melancholic as she spilled her life story to him. "My mom died when I was little, and I had to unfortunately be looked after my dad. We never had much money, but my father was always blowin' whatever we had away on booze, gamblin', or other women. I was mostly on my own growing up, and he didn't care about my own well being or what I did, even when I started getting... allergies, which then got me into trouble with the law. Only then did he take issue with what I did. But he was just mad that he had to pay my bail."

Raditz guessed her "allergies" had something to do with her transforming between her blonde and blue haired forms, but remained quiet as she went on.

"Then one day when I was sixteen, I pulled off my first successful heist. I brought home the money to pay off all the bills and debt my father accumulated over the years. And when I told him it wasn't for him to spend as he wished, he pulled a gun on me and threatened to shoot me dead if I didn't give it all to him right then and there."

She took a big swig from her drink, leaving Raditz in stunned silence.

Blonde Launch propped her elbow on the bar and rest her cheek in one hand, her drink in the other. "So I gave him the money, and wouldn't you know it? He squandered it all like he always did." She barely hid the contempt and bitterness in her voice at that.

"After that, I said to myself: to hell with him. So I ran away, and never looked back. Been robbin' ever since and only lookin' after myself. Was the best damned decision I ever made if you ask me." She took one last swig from her drink as she finished talking. She starred into her empty glass as if to burn a hole through it.

Raditz was floored. So human parents could be that cruel. Sure, Saiyans could kill their young sometimes but at least it was never over something so petty as material things. For once, he felt sorry for someone other than himself. That maybe his relationship with his father wasn't so bad afterall if others had it worse.

"Wow. Sounds like he sucked." Was all he could really say to that. What else could one say anyway to a story like that?

"Yeah. Sums that up pretty good." Said Blonde Launch as she twirled her finger around the lip of her empty glass.

He felt like he understood her in a way. Sure his own father was a mean S.O.B., but at least Bardock actually cared about the small victories Raditz won, and respected him as a fellow Saiyan even if he was weak. To not be acknowledged entirely and wasting one's self away as Launch's father did... he couldn't imagine that. She must have been a lot tougher than he thought a softy human could be.

"Well at least he didn't try to kill you like mine did." Raditz said, trying to cheer her up.

Blonde Launch glanced over to him with mild interest. "Really? How so?"

Raditz shrugged. "We're Saiyans. We fight to the death all the time, and almost do when its just us. Last time I fought him, it was after my infiltration phase but long before that tournament. I was four I think. He nearly killed me in a fight just to see how tough I was. It's our way of showing how much we care, by measuring us up instead of leaving us to guess."

"Whoa." Blonde Launch mouthed, then looked away. "Sounds kinda messed up to me. Say what you will about absent and greedy fathers, but I think I'd draw the line at flat-out filicide. At least give me a reason to kill my own kids."

Raditz scoffed and joked morbidly, "How could you be brought up by the meanest bastards and still be so soft?! You Earthlings are so bizarre."

Blonde Launch bust out laughing instead of answering. Raditz looked to her with mock indignation. "What?!"

"Heheh. Nothing! It's just... it's funny how our problems are like everyday things to you, and your problems are like everyday things to us humans. Pretty topsy-turvy when you think about it."

Raditz chuckled. "Culture shock, I guess." He said.

They were silent for a moment before Blonde Launch spoke again.

"For what it's worth, I don't think you're a coward."

"Really?" Raditz asked, sounding more sincere than he would have.

Blonde Launch looked him in the eye. "We don't have a say in how we turn out when we are fresh outta the womb. The way I see it, from what you said about power levels and your home planet's castes and stuff, you were born into circumstances that were beyond your control. So, you did what you had to do to change that and get a better deal. I can respect that. Hell, I did that myself! No one can fault you for that, and that's more than most other people ever would do in those situations."

Raditz looked at Launch incredulously and feeling speechless.

"You beat the odds against you with brains instead of brawn!" Said Blonde Launch. "I dunno why you Saiyans are so obsessed with how big and strong you are, but all that matters is that you were put through the grinder and came out alive, and in better standing than you would have! If your pops was as much a rebel as you said he was, I think he'd appreciate that. If he didn't, well... that's his problem. Not yours. You did your part, and took control of your destiny. That's gotta be somethin' to be proud of, right?"

Raditz looked away, not sure what to say to all that. How could Blonde Launch so flippantly say it was okay to disregard what his father would have thought about him as a warrior? The idea that he shouldn't fret over what someone he looked up to thought of him seemed unthinkable, but, he found it appealing. How liberating it was to be able to not give a damn what others thought of him, including the person who showed him that improving your place in life was possible. Sure, Bardock gave him the inspiration to rise above his station, but didn't have to take his every expectation of him. Only he, Raditz, could determine what was good enough for him. No one else. Especially not someone who was long dead and could not judge him anyway.

"Huh. I haven't really thought of it that way." Said Raditz with a smile. "But ya know what? It feels... good. Thank you for shedding light for me... Launch."

Blonde Launch smiled back warmly. "Hey, don't sweat it! You got some pretty heavy stuff on your shoulders and I can understand that. When life gives ya the short end of the stick, sometimes you gotta whack life over the head with it."

Raditz laughed heartily at that analogy. "Yeah, I suppose so."

More silence fell between them, but it felt comfortable somehow.

"But yeah, anyway, that armband looks cool on you." Said Blonde Launch. "It really highlight's your tone." She placed her hand over the band on his arm, feeling the solid muscle beneath. Her slurred speech then turned sultry. "Hehe. A big, strong man that steals from the crooks and gives back to the poor... Sounds like a dreamy superhero to me."

Raditz's cheeks flushed red, and not just from the alcohol working through him. He was amazed, because in that moment he actually felt flattered by that little compliment. Somehow, against all of his own insecurities and self-doubts, he liked it when she called him a hero. As if she really meant those words.

"Oh. Well... thank you." Said Raditz as he involuntarily scratched the back of his head nervously.

Blonde Launch drunkenly laughed.

"What?" A surprised Raditz asked.

"Nothin'. Just... when you did that little thing there." She mimicked the head scratching move he just did. "Your brother does that all the time. It makes him look like such a goofball sometimes, but seeing you do it somehow looks... cute."

She placed her hand on his arm again, and didn't retract it this time. Her touch was very soft against his course and calloused skin. She ran her fingertips over his arm, feeling the texture of every muscle. For some reason, Raditz felt burning hot all over from her touch. But in a way he didn't find unpleasant. In fact, he welcomed it.

His gaze then drifted from her eyes to up and down her hourglass figure. From her face, to her low cut green tube top showing her busty chest, her exposed midriff, then her yellow shorts that pronounced her hips, and her long smooth legs. Although finding physical attraction in races other than his own was extremely taboo as a Saiyan, the alcohol that was flowing through his veins had made his judgement hazy, and he realized then that Launch was drop dead gorgeous, even in her blonde form. Plus, the fact that she liked him, looked up to him, and didn't regard him as the coward he thought himself to be, made him reconsider some prejudices of his. If humans like her could be so understanding and beautiful, then perhaps finding them attractive wasn't such a bad thing at all.

He was then aware of how close she was to him, their faces inches away. When did that happen? He wondered as they were leaning closer...

The front door to the bar burst open and a gang of four burly men with large bellies, truck drivers most likely, barged in with conversation and laughter louder than everyone else inside jolted Raditz out of the moment.

"Hey, did you see the look on that punk's face when we ran him off the road?! That was priceless!" One of them bellowed.

"I know, man! That was so cool! Wish we went back and kneecapped that sum' bitch!" Said another before the others broke out laughing.

"Come on! Let's get a drink!"

The four of them approached the bar and stood on the other side of Blonde Launch while placing an order. "HEY! FOUR JUGS OF BEER OVER HERE!" One of them shouted unnecessarily.

Blonde Launch seemed to feel that the moment was broken. She gestured at Raditz with her eyes to the noisy men behind her and rolled her eyes in exasperation. Raditz suppressed a knowing laugh. He then felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up when he sees the largest of the four men checking her out.

"Oooh, what do we have here?" The lead truck driver whistled, elbowing his companions to which they all turned to her with predatory looks.

Raditz's always vigilant situational awareness, honed by years of being on the battlefield, told him that these humans were no threat to him. But he suddenly felt tense when they approached Blonde Launch from behind.

"Hey, baby!"

Blonde Launch turned around to the truck driver that cat called her. He was leaning on the bar with a hand on his hip, making his massive beer gut stand out. Raditz instantly despised this disgusting excuse of a human male at the ungainly sight.

"You're a fine lookin' little thang. Why dontchya come drink with us?" He smirked as his friends snickered behind him and gazed at Blonde Launch hungrily.

Raditz felt like his blood was beginning to boil with anger. He knew what those glances on Blonde Launch were, and something more malicious were behind them too. His territorial instincts kicked in. He was not going to let her be at the mercy of these pigs. Not over his dead body they won't.

Blonde Launch looked at the truck driver, clearly unimpressed. "Get lost. I'm already havin' a drink with my friend here." She said while pointing a thumb towards Raditz.

The truck drivers took notice of him and their leader glowered at Raditz like a lion eying a rival trying to rob him of his meal.

"This guy?" Said the truck driver incredulously. "Would you get a load of that hair?!" He pointed and laughed, which his friends followed suit.

"Hey buddy! When's the last time you had a haircut?!" One of them mocked.

Raditz didn't answer, he just stared back at them with his Saiyan frown. His glass cracked in his grip without him realizing it.

The truck drivers stopped laughing. "You gotta problem, pal?" Their leader asked in a tone that suggested he was challenging him.

Raditz growled dangerously, "Yeah. You've rudely interrupted us. I suggest you leave us be."

The other drivers mouthed "Oooooh" derisively. The lead driver walked around Blonde Launch and straight to Raditz, stopping right in his face and not flinching.

"Then why don't you make me leave, tough guy. Huh?!" He dared.

Raditz smirked something fierce. "Heh. Have it your way, fool."

He raised his hand to the driver's face and with just the flick of a finger he sent him flying across the bar. The truck driver screamed as he crashed through the thin wooden walls and outside into the street. His body skidded a stopped, and he wailed in agony.

"WHAT THE?!" The other three truck drivers, and everyone else inside the bar starred bug eyed at the fallen driver, and at his attacker.

"Why you!" The other three truck drivers, now recovered from the shock, drew out hidden handguns and knives. The other patrons of the bar, seeing the drawn weapons, screamed and backed away in a chaos of pushing and shoving. Blonde Launch watched it all looking amused.

"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" The next lead driver said.

Raditz's smile grew even wider. He was itching for a fight, and this was all the invitation he needed.

"Go ahead and see what happens." Raditz dared.

The drivers were confused, but the second leader shouted: "KILL HIM!"

They fired their pistols. Raditz stood still as the bullets bounced off of him. When they had run out of ammo, the three drivers stood there slack-jawed at how the man they had just shot at point-blank was unscathed.

"N-NO WAY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" One of them stammered in terror.

"HEY!" Came another voice. They turned to see that some of the bullets that ricocheted off of Raditz had instead shattered the glasses and drinks of other burly-looking patrons. And some of them looked very displeased.

"That was my drink, you idiot!" Said one of them, a large black man. He walked up to the three drivers and socked one of them in the face with a massive fist.

The other drivers still standing, alarmed by the new attacker, turned away from Raditz and came to their friend's defense by pouncing on the black man. He was thrown back and into the other very disgruntled and very drunk customers. They attacked him, they attacked the drivers that shoved them, then each other, until the entire bar had erupted into an all-out brawl. Drinking glasses thrown around as projectiles, shots fired, chairs smashed over heads, bottles shattered, shouts and curses exchanged. It was beautiful.

"Now THIS is more like it!" Laughed Raditz. Despite the world spinning as he stood up from his bar stool, he stumbled into the action and punched whoever got in his way.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Shouted Blonde Launch as she jumped up from her seat and entered the fray after Raditz. The punched driver that went down earlier charged in also. Soon they were all spread out. Raditz held back to both not kill anyone and to savor the punches thrown at him, but the other brawlers soon caught on to his strength and backed away. However, one man who was unaware of Raditz's invincibility charged blindly at him with drunken rage. Raditz got into stance, his Saiyan blood flowing amusedly through him. But Blonde Launch, who was off in the corner, saw this and pulled out her gun. She shot at the man's feet, scaring him off. Raditz is taken aback and shouted over to her: "HEY! HE WAS MINE!"

"I THOUGHT HE WAS CHARGING AT YOU WITH A KNIFE!" She shouted back, but another attacker pounced her before they could argue further. Suddenly terrified for her safety, Raditz aimed a non-lethal ki blast at Blonde Launch's attacker and took him down.

"NOW THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Was her thanks.

"Oh, but shooting at mine was?!" Raditz chided back before having to take on another attacker.

This continued on, them bantering back and forth, chiding about stealing each other's hits as the brawlers kept coming. News of the fight had spread to the streets, and people started flooding in to join the action in a free-for-all. Raditz smiled to himself. He probably started a riot. He hoped so, he was having so much fun.

He went back to the next challenger and punched his way through the crowd, plowing his fist into the face of one nameless human and then another and another. He looked over to see how Blonde Launch was handling herself and saw her spraying the floor of the bar with machine gun fire. Where does she keep those weapons? Raditz wondered.

"C'MON! YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME?! WELL HAVE A PIECE OF LEAD!" Blonde Launch let out her war cry. Her remaining attackers cowered from the rain of bullets from her SMG, as if dancing frantically to not get shot. In his drunken haze, Raditz watched the ridiculous sight, spellbound by Blonde Launch's rampant shooting. Her fiery spirit shone through with her wicked grin as she shot up the bar. It was almost arousing.

The tearing sound of gunfire stopped as she ran out of ammo. Just then another burly fighter plowed into Blonde Launch after being shoved by another.

"Ow! HEY!" She shouted as the other two brawlers squished her against Raditz. They looked at each other locked in an embrace as the chaotic scene around them seemed to fade out into background noise. Raditz and Blonde Launch starred into each other's eyes, feeling a spark from either the adrenaline rush or the alcohol. They were unconscious of how close their faces were, and were drawing closer...

"HYAH!" A brawler charged at them with a... machete?! Raditz and Blonde Launch went bug eyed for a second and shoved each other away to the let the attacker run by them, stumbling over a table and falling down black-out drunk.

More and more people from outside had joined in on the brawl, Raditz looked around and saw that more people were inside than there were when it started. The bartender looked hopelessly at the scene, and hid behind the shelves of liquor that exploded from wayward gunshots.

"POLICE! EVERYBODY, HANDS UP!" Another voice shouted, followed by sounds of loudspeakers and whistles blowing. A squad of armored police officers had entered the bar to re-establish order, but it was so chaotic that no one paid them any mind.

Then, one officer looked over at Raditz's and Blonde Launch's direction. Through the noise, Raditz heard: "HEY! THAT'S THE GIRL WHO ROBBED THE SECOND EAST CITY BANK LAST MONTH!" And then another: "AND THAT'S THE LONG-HAIRED SUSPECT THAT ROBBED THE BROWN COUNTY BANK TODAY! ARREST THEM!"

Shit! Raditz thought. Blonde Launch seemed to notice the police too and her face went white.

"Uh-Oh! The cops are here! WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!" Raditz yelled.

"Best idea I heard all day!" Blonde Launch agreed without argument.

"FREEZE! HANDS UP! OR WE'LL OPEN FIRE!" The police shouted and pointed their weapons at them.

Blonde Launch looked over to the bar and saw the duffle bag of money they stole, still laying there. Without thinking, she dove for it.

"TAKE HER DOWN!" The police officer shouted.

"NO!" Raditz panicked. Instantly, he phased in front of Launch as the police opened fire. He stood with his back to them and arms out, shielding her from the hail of bullets as she grabbed the money bag.

"Give me a warning before you do that!" He shouted to her over the gunfire.

"Oh calm down, will ya? I got the money!" She shouted back. But her face fell when she realized they ran into a problem. More police were entering the hole in the wall from where Raditz blew the truck driver through. Soon, they would be entirely surrounded.

Raditz picked up on this too. "Alright! Time to exit! He shouted. Without warning, he scooped up Blonde Launch and the duffle bag into his arms, making her blush from the act. The police in front of them aimed their weapons.

"Hang on!" He warned.

Bending his legs, Raditz shot straight up and blasted through the roof off the bar in an explosion of wooden fragments. From the dust, Raditz's figure cradling Blonde Launch emerged as the police fired after them, bullets streaking by as Raditz ascended higher into the air. Moments later, they were safely away from the gunfire and the bar far behind, flying off into the setting sun. Then they both broke out laughing.

"Ahahahahahaha! WE MADE IT!" Blonde Launch cheered.

"What a bunch of idiots! I haven't had this much fun in a long time!" Raditz said jubilantly as he carried her.

Blonde Launch looked at him mischievously, and she then reached into the bag. "And lookie what else I managed to get before blasting outta there!"

Raditz looked down to see the bottle of remaining Dragon Fire that Launch had somehow stolen from the bar in the confusion.

"He-hey! Nice!" Said Raditz with a wide grin.

"Oh yes, ain't goin' home without somethin' for the road!" Blonde Launch declared as she bit off the cork and started chugging straight from the bottle.

"Hey! Save some for me, eh?" Said Raditz, distracted by her drinking and not noticing her going bug-eyed and screaming: "Watch out!"

Raditz looked ahead and flew out of the path of almost plowing into a mountain. "Whoa! Haha, close one!" Blonde Launch laughed, as did he.

He was really disoriented and drunk, and it was already getting dark. But thankfully it was a crescent moon out to light the way, and Raditz knew which way to go to get back to Mount Paozu. He managed to fly straight and level enough to get back without plowing into any mountains, carrying Blonde Launch and the duffle bag bridal-style in his arms all the way home and she holding up the bottle to his lips as he flew.

A while later, Raditz saw the cluster of capsule homes that was their camp at the base of Paozu. The lights were out in the other dome houses, so it must have been late. He arched down his flight path and touched down as gently as he could to not wake anybody up, but in his intoxication he landed as gently as a meteor. They crashed into the grass, throwing up dirt and debris. The dust settled to show that he had half buried his legs in a shallow crater.

"Perfect landing!" He drunkenly joked, drawing a stifled laugh from Blonde Launch.

Raditz pulled himself out of the crater and set Blonde Launch back onto her feet, taking a long swig from the bottle until it was almost empty. He draped an arm over Blonde Launch's shoulder and they staggered back to his home as quietly as they could manage, but were giggling madly all the way there.

They stood in front of the capsule house, Raditz was finding it hard to remain standing. "I.. *hic*... I had a lot-... I had a lot of fun, today." He slurred.

Blonde Launch swayed where she was for a few moments, and eyed him with something like a craving. She then turned to face him, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaned close to him. Even though she was as drunk as he was, her voice was as steady and sweet as syrup when she whispered in a husky voice: "It ain't over yet."

In his stupor, Raditz could feel her bosom pressing against his chest, her hands ruffling through his hair, and could smell the booze on her breath along with her natural scent electrifying his senses. Raditz's arms found their way around Blonde Launch's waist, pulling her even closer to him. Their faces mere inches away... His heart was pounding in his ears, as if he was barely holding himself back. He was surprised that he could be so giddy for an Earthling.

Raditz briefly wondered for one more time if it was still unbecoming of a Saiyan warrior to stare with animalistic lust as he was with Blonde Launch right then, and if there was no going back if he lost control of himself now. He then remembered the most fun night he just had, and the words of the woman he held in his arms. That he, and no one else, could tell him what was right or wrong. He knew what felt right in that moment, Blonde Launch felt it too, and they both wanted it...

To hell with it. He thought. And just like that, he didn't care anymore.

The last thing Raditz remembered was his lips pressing against Launch's, and something carnal within him breaking loose. Then the rest of the evening faded to a blur...

---

A/N: There we go! Hope you liked it, since it was fun to write ;) Also, DB Zero belongs to Toyble. And please! Don't drink and drive!

See you next time and Happy Mother's Day!