Raditz appeared in the middle of the town square and waited. Two seconds later Kakarot appeared beside him. Raditz gave him a grin and disappeared again, this time to the other side of the world. One second, and Kakarot was there. Again Raditz left him behind, appearing on the top of a skyscraper in the biggest city on the planet. This time Kakarot was there almost as fast as Raditz appeared.

Frowning, Raditz blipped all over the planet, Kakarot keeping pace with him no matter where he went. Frantic now (Kakarot had only just used the technique successfully for the first time yesterday) Raditz blinked in and out of each location as fast as he could: mountain desert city forest parking lot bathroom— "Sorry Olalla!"— farm grassland temple.

"That's enough," Master Pybara said laconically. He sounded pleased. In half a second, Kakarot was beside him again, grinning.

"Olalla was pretty mad," he said. "Raditz, you dirty dog."

"Shut up!" Raditz shoved his brother, grinning back. "You're a monster, you know that? It took me weeks to be able to go across the room."

Kakarot shoved him back, laughing. "I told you I'd do it faster."

"Very good, Kakarot," Master Pybara said, and they settled. "You are indeed progressing very quickly. Are you sure you do not want to stay and master more techniques?"

"Naw, I'd better be gettin' goin'," Kakarot said, digging the toe of his boot into a crack in the floorboards. "I didn't mean to be gone so long. They're probably worried sick about me back home."

Raditz swallowed. Kakarot meant his wife and child, but he also meant their mother. The more Raditz thought about it, the less he was sure gallivanting around the galaxy beating people up was the best way to make her proud. He'd told himself there was no point in going if Kakarot couldn't go, and Kakarot couldn't go until he'd gained full control over the Super Saiyan form (which he still hadn't taught to his brother!). Master Pybara, Raditz and Kakarot all agreed a good benchmark for control would be gaining mastery over Instant Transmission, but Raditz hadn't expected him to master it so soon.

"Do you wish to attempt an interplanetary jump now?" Master Pybara asked.

"Sure!" Kakarot said, and Raditz jolted.

"You can't try it now!" he protested.

"Why not?"

"Because— ah— I mean— well, breakfast was ages ago! Aren't you hungry?"

Kakarot patted his stomach thoughtfully.

"I could do with a bite. Your treat?"

He was teasing, but Raditz was happy to oblige. He took him to a restaurant where the proprietor knew him. The pink Yardratian looked up as they entered and grinned.

"Hey, Rad, it's been a while!"

"Good to see you, Tria. Give us two Saiyan-sized lunch platters."

"Snack-sized, huh?" Tria joked, and Raditz chuckled. He led Kakarot to a table and they sat down.

"Tria was the one who helped me find my apartment," he said.

Kakarot grinned. "The apartment Olalla's never been to, huh?"

Raditz drew his finger across his neck and Kakarot laughed. Then he cocked his head to the side.

"You happy here, bro?"

It came totally out of the blue, but Raditz had grown used to that with his brother.

"I suppose," he said. "I'm not unhappy."

"But do you wanna stay here forever?"

"Hell no." Raditz shook his head to soften his answer. "Don't get me wrong, I like it here. The Yardrats have been very welcoming. I'll always remember my time here. But… this isn't a place meant for Saiyans, you know?"

Kakarot's smile faded somewhat and he didn't answer right away, but then their food began arriving and Raditz didn't pursue it.

They ate without talking, as was customary, but when they were finished they both sat there, unmoving, staring at the stacks of empty plates and cups that towered over them.

Raditz cleared his throat.

"If, um, you're ready…"

"Oh!" Kakarot startled as though Raditz had caught him by surprise. "Um. I… I dunno if I..."

It was Raditz's turn to be surprised.

"You were flitting all around the planet like it was nothing just an hour ago. Distance is only in the mind, remember? Getting back to Earth should be easy."

Kakarot pulled a lock of hair down and began worrying it between his fingers.

"S'not what I meant," he mumbled. "I could do it, easy, I know I could. I just… dunno if I'm ready to see ma."

Raditz leaned back in his chair, raising an eyebrow. Now this was interesting.

"Why not?"

Kakarot frowned deeply, his eyes staring at something far away.

"Raditz, what was she like? Before… before I was born?"

Before the planet was destroyed.

Raditz answered carefully, unsure what had gotten his normally happy-go-lucky little brother so melancholy.

"She was… soft. She was always mollycoddling me. I acted like I hated it, but I actually liked it when she did that. She'd sneak me extra food when she could get away with it. I never stood up for her when people spoke badly of her and I wish now that I had."

He'd never told anyone any of this. Vegeta and Nappa had rarely talked about their families, much less in any detail and certainly without affection, so Raditz had followed suit. He still didn't know if they'd really been indifferent or had merely been burying their feelings. Nappa had had two children by the same mate, he knew that much, but only from Zarbon's mouth, not Nappa's. Vegeta had always been a heartless little gremlin, but even he had turned sulky and vindictive after they'd received the news.

"So she wasn't like other Saiyans?" Kakarot sounded almost… hopeful.

"No, not at all," Raditz agreed, and then reconsidered. "Well... everyone treated her like a freak, and she was different. She spoke of… things of the heart more readily than anyone I ever knew. And she was weak, of course. But looking back on it I don't know if they treated her badly because she was different, or if she was different because she was treated badly."

He looked away. He'd sometimes been one of the people treating her badly, and he wasn't sure he'd ever be ready to admit that to Kakarot.

"Oh." Kakarot had resumed staring at the table. "Growin' up she was always nice. She made me stand on my head for an hour once 'cause I hit gramps too hard. But on Namek she got… different."

"Different? Different how?"

Kakarot twisted his mouth, in distaste or frustration Raditz couldn't tell.

"She was… Raditz, it was like she wasn't her!" Kakarot looked up, locked eyes with his brother in a frantic pleading that made Raditz feel like recoiling. "I ain't never seen her like that before. Like she had ice in her heart. Or, like, like fire. Like she was angry but… cold." He shivered. "It was like she was someone else."

"'With fur like fire and eyes like ice'," Raditz recited in awe.

Kakarot blinked at him. "What?"

"That was what the legend said the Super Saiyan would look like. I always thought it was just window dressing, you know? Exaggeration for the story. But that's a little what you look like when you transform. With mother it must have been spectacular."

Kakarot looked at him uncertainly.

"It was…" he said reluctantly. "But mostly it was scary. I ain't never seen her like that. She's always so… sweet. Even when she got angry it was never like she wanted to hurt anyone. But on Namek she…"

Raditz studied his brother, who was biting his lip and staring at the table again.

"You're talking about her fight with Frieza, yes?" he said slowly. Kakarot nodded without looking up. "Kakarot," Raditz said firmly, and didn't go on until his brother looked at him. "Frieza slaughtered our people. He kept us as willing slaves before that. He toyed with our lives like playthings. Is it really so strange she got angry at him?"

"I know all that about Frieza!" Kakarot said, frowning. "She wasn't… It wasn't just with him."

"Oh?"

Kakarot nodded. "With Vegeta, and the Ginyu Force too. She was... I dunno how to say it." He folded his arms over his chest. "She killed those other two, too, Zar-somethin' and the pink guy. Like they were bugs. It was like…" He sucked in a breath and frowned deeply, brain obviously working hard. "It was like... she was takin' out the trash."

Raditz snorted. "She was. Those two were always awful to us Saiyans. It only got worse after there were just the three of us. I'm glad they're gone."

Kakarot huffed in annoyance. He tapped his fingers on the table and stared out the window, but he didn't seem quite so lost, at least. Raditz leaned forward.

"Trust me, however strange she might have gotten, her results are nothing but good. With the heir to the Cold Dynasty gone, the g—"

Kakarot snapped his head up.

"Dynasty?" he said incredulously. "Like… there's more of him?"

"Just his father, as far as I know. But he wasn't nearly so bad."

Kakarot jumped up from his chair, his former melancholy gone.

"But he was bad? He was like Frieza?"

"Well, yes, he wasn't good. Neither of them were."

"What'll he do if he finds out Frieza's dead?"

Raditz stared, his stomach sinking.

"Nothing I'd like to be in the middle of," he said. Kakarot nodded firmly, placing his first two fingers to his forehead.

"Then I know where I'm makin' my first jump."

Raditz leapt to his feet, clapping Kakarot on the shoulder.

"Not without me, you're not."

Kakarot grinned at him. He concentrated, sweat beading out along his hairline, and with a triumphant, "ha!" Kakarot made the jump and they were gone.

"Dammit," Tria muttered, wiping out a glass. "That's going on your tab, Rad."