Me: Hey, all! Some people seem to be getting nervous (no offence though, it's been a really long time now u.u") about the long update o.o" Gomen! … I finally got internet connection on my pc ^_^" ... but the annoying part is school……… and I have less time to write and get on the internet...

Raditz: That sucks... I never went to school that long... and I'm not stupid, am I!?

Chibi-Vegeta: .... I could answer something to that.... ~noticing Raditz's evil glare~ ... but I guess I won't.

Me: ... Well, for one, you're an anime character. Second, in that anime, you're a warrior and learned everything you needed to know in training and on missions. Third, you die after a few episodes anyways... stupidly...

Raditz: ... er... I don't do so in your fic? ...

Me: Of course not, 'cause it just wasn't damn right. But let's just get to the fic now.

Chibi-Goku: Disclaimer: Dark-Sephy doesn't own Dragonball Z or the characters, except for her own characters and this story.

Chibi-Vegeta: Since when did you let him do the disclaimer?

Me: hey, where can you get someone that wants to do it for a lollypop? ~gives Goku his lollypop~

Chibi-Goku: Yay! ^_^

CHAPTER 15: THE DRAGON

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Under a comfortable silence, the two brothers just sat beside each other on the cliff's edge. That is, of course, until a thunderous roar sounded from the younger Saiyan's stomach. Raditz chuckled while Goku laughed nervously and scratched at an invisible itch on the back of his head.

"I'm starving!" he finally chirped. Raditz nodded in agreement and stood up.

"Alright, little brother… let's see if that onna has got us some breakfast ready."

" 'Kay!"

"Race ya…"

A few seconds later, two figures whizzed through the late morning air.

"I'm gonna be first, 'nii-san!"

"You'd wish…" Raditz sped up and went ahead by far.

"Aw, no fair!" Goku pouted and raced after his sibling on Nimbus.

"There you are, finally!" Kate awaited the Saiyans at the door entrance of her house. "You just ran off! I was getting worried…"

Raditz merely glanced to her as he walked past her "Why would you care, onna…" he growled.

Kate blinked but regained her composure merely a second later "You… you… jerk! I was worried sick, in case you're at least a bit interested!? … And besides, 'why?'… well, my duty as a doctor, and you're still my patient, mister! … Now happy!?"

Raditz just looked at her, his face set in an emotionless expression. Kate sighed and threw her hands up in defeat "Go stuff your face full, that's probably the only thing you care for!" She yelled at him before she stormed off.

Raditz turned and entered the dining room, where his fellow Saiyan had already begun on the pile of food on the table.

"Yummm, it was good!" chirped Goku.

"Yeah, very!" agreed Puar, "So… where are we going to now?"

"We're going to find the next dragonball, obviously…"

"Do you have a wish then?" The blue cat asked curiously.

"………" Raditz remained silent, sighed finally, stood up and left the dining room. A few seconds later, the front door slammed shut.

"…… Did I say something wrong?" Puar blinked.

"No… I don't think so… I think he doesn't really know what exactly he wants to wish." Goku spoke up softly.

Once again, Raditz walked through the streets of the small village, and once again, he felt the eyes burning on his back. He growled, shutting his eyes, and started running.

~ "Wherever you are, Raditz, those stronger than you look at you with contempt. Those weaker than you look at you with fear. Weak people, mental or physical, do not understand you or your powers. They fear what they don't understand… and they hate what they fear. But always know this, son: Be proud of who and what you are. Wherever and with whomever you are, do not let them change you. Even if you're alone." ~

'Father… I have no idea where the hell you are now… but I promise, I'll bring you back! We'll fight together again… side by side, against the monster that tore us apart…"

Raditz stopped hearing a voice calling to him. Goku came up running to him.

"Are you okay? …"

Raditz turned around looking back to him. "Of course I am… are you ready? We're leaving… we still have to find 5 dragonballs."

Goku nodded "Hai! We just gotta get our stuff and the dragonradar and we'll leave."

"Good…"

"Be careful… and come visit again some time!" Lissy yelled with eyes that shined suspiciously. Android 8, who Lissy had dubbed 'Franky', stood beside her and seemed equally sad to see his newfound friend leave so soon.

Kate's face was blushed when she stepped in front of Raditz. The Saiyan eyed her suspiciously before barking an annoyed "What!?"

"Erm… I thought I still had to say sorry… for the… things I said. You just made me angry … and … well, I said some things that I shouldn't have said. You did actually as well… but… I guess it must be hard to suddenly have to live on a planet that's not your own, and with people, even a race, that you don't know. I heard the story from Puar…"

"Hm… well, fine. I accept your apologies… Kate… and till we meet again." With that, he floated up into the air. The people that had gathered around watched in awe, and in fear. Goku called his Nimbus and jumped on top, with Puar perched on his shoulder.

"Bye!!!" Goku waved and shot off after his brother.

"Bye!!! And take care!!!" Kate, Lissy and Franky yelled after them.

********************

"Say… I just thought of something…" Bulma and Jade were sitting next to each other on a bench at lunch.

"What?" Jade asks curiously.

"Well… if Raditz is an alien… then he would have come here with an alien spaceship, right!?"

"… Yeah, I guess so… why?"

"…… Don't you wanna see what it's like!? It must be so cool! It probably has kick-ass alien technology in it and all!" Bulma's eyes twinkled of excitement. Jade looked a bit weird to Bulma, but she had to admit she was rather curious as well about this technology, which spoke to everyone's imagination.

"Well, er… yeah. But where are you going to find it?"

"……… Well… that's the problem." Bulma sighed, "We don't know where he came from, he just popped up at that tournament…"

*********************

"The dragonball is supposed to be somewhere around here…" muttered Goku while looking around in the middle of some kind of jungle area.

"Okay, it's in this direct…" He was broken off in mid-sentence when suddenly a black bird flew between the two Saiyans, took the shining disc out of Goku's hands in its beak and flew off.

Both stood staring with mouths agape after the bird. Raditz cursed and raised his arm to fire a ki blast at the bird, but Goku stopped him.

"If you blast it, you'll blast the radar too! …"

"… Doesn't matter now anymore… now it's damn too far… we can never find it in this thick forest." Raditz cursed again. Goku sighed.

"At least, we can try to find the dragonball and then go back to Bulma to ask for a new dragonradar."

"… Yeah, I guess we'll have to." Raditz walked further in the direction Goku indicated earlier. His brother followed closely after him.

While pushing just another tree aside, Raditz cursed again in the old Saiya-go. "We're never gonna find that wretched ball!!! Shimatta!"

Goku followed behind him "Calm down, big brother… We'll find it sooner or later…"

"But when, we've been searchi…" This time, Raditz was interrupted by a yelling voice.

"Wretched bird!!! Leave me alone!!!"

The Saiyans looked up to see the same stupid bird that had stolen their dragonradar fly away with something else in its beak and a stone was thrown after it, which the bird dodged and it disappeared into the forest again.

"………"

The voice came from a cave in the side of the mountain, just at the end of the forest, where the Saiyan brothers just arrived. They blinked surprised seeing a dragon at the cave's entrance raise its fisted claw at the bird, still yelling profanities after it. It was a tall, dark red-coloured dragon, with large wings draped across his back and a long, spiked tail swaying behind him. "And don't try it again or else I'll pull all your feathers out, soup chicken!"

Raditz coughed and finally, the dragon's attention turned to the two newcomers. "…. What are you humans doing here!? This is my area!"

"First off, lizard breath, we're no humans… and second, we're searching something important here, so buzz off!"

The dragon snorted "No humans, ey!?" He leaned his long neck down and looked a bit more closely to the two creatures in front of him. He snorted a puff of smoke through his nostrils in their faces "Then what are you? And what is the item that you seek…"

"We are Saiyans…"

"Saiyans!?" The dragon's eyes widened. "B-But… that's impossible… you are from another planet……… Are… Are you gonna destroy this planet too!?"

Raditz was rather surprised that any creature on this planet knew of his race, but answered nonetheless calmly "Don't worry, ojaji… I'm not here to clear this planet, in fact… I'm planning to stay here…"

The dragon eyed him with interest "Has something happened on your home planet then?"

"…. Yes…" Raditz sighed and looked down "Vegeta-sei was destroyed… and my entire family and race killed… my little brother is the only other Saiyan than me alive, he had the luck to have been sent to this planet."

The dragon stayed quiet for a while, before speaking up again, but the tone in his voice softened "I am truly sorry to hear that, young one…"

Goku stared up to the dragon in curious wonder. "… You look a lot like Shen-Ron… but .. well, then different."

He chuckled "Well, us dragons all look a bit alike, young child… There are also other types of dragons than Shen-Ron, he is a wish dragon … or… something like that… I don't know how you would translate that term into human language, actually… but it's something in that area."

"What are you then?" asked Goku with growing curiosity.

"I'm a nature dragon… well… specifically, a fire-type one."

"Fire-type?"

"… Yeah, it means I have control over the element of fire." He explained patiently.

"Cool! Can you…"

"Goku…. We are still here for a reason, remember!?" Raditz growled impatiently, tapping his foot.

"Oh, yeah," Goku laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head "Would you have a dragonball? We're searching for them!"

"So you want to do a wish? Hm… you're lucky I could just stop that stupid bird from trying to steal my dragonball again…" He glared momentarily into the direction the bird had disappeared to, "Alright, I'll give it to you… if you tell me what you are going to wish for, because it must be a worthy and right one."

Goku looked to Raditz "… Erm… we… didn't really have a wish, you see, I was just looking for…"

Raditz cut in "I am willing to wish my father back to life. He died fighting against the monster that killed our race."