The sun had set on Raditz's first day back on Earth. Goku and the rest of his family had finished dinner and headed to bed, but the newly-revived saiyan was hardly ready to do the same; his mind was far too restless to allow him to sleep just yet.

Once he was sure everyone had turned in for the night, he quietly made his way outside to get some fresh air. He took in a deep breath, enjoying the crisp nighttime air filling his lungs. It was a much more pleasant feeling than when he had to breathe in Hell's putrid air, so he chalked that up to being the only thing he had to enjoy about Earth so far.

He floated gently up to the roof of the little round house before landing on top of it, doing his best to not make any noise that would wake anyone inside. He then sat down and crossed his legs and folded his arms against his chest as he began to look up at the sky in silence. Perhaps a little stargazing would clear his head…

The view from where he sat was fairly decent; the sky was clear, so every star was visible. They were far from any city or town that would pollute the air with their light, so that was also a plus. He also noted that there was no longer any moon shining bright amongst the stars, and he assumed someone had destroyed it once they realized it could be used to trigger a saiyan transformation. Clever worms , he thought with a grimace.

Crickets and the occasional breeze rattling the leaves nearby were the only sounds that accompanied him, and he eventually managed to tune those out as he became lost in his own thoughts. Did Kakarot really resurrect him on a whim? Did he think it through at all? Was what he said about wanting to know about his heritage true, or had he just wished him back to prove that he'd gotten stronger? The questions caused him to grow restless. He had to find a way to get away from these people and go elsewhere.

But...where would he go?

He had no planet or home to go back to. There was no way in hell he was going back to Frieza, either. He supposed he could escape to another planet somewhere, but...could he make it on his own? He'd thought he could at one point, but now that he'd been shown the power of some of the individuals on this planet, he wasn't so confident about the power levels on other planets. He didn't want to underestimate his opponents and get killed again…

It was starting to look like his brother's home was the only place he had left to go, now, and he didn't know how to feel about it.

The sound of the front door to the house creaking open snapped Raditz out of his thoughts. He flicked his tail as he listened to see if he could figure out who could possibly be awake at this time of night, but his question was soon answered when he saw his brother flying up to join him on the roof.

"Hey," Goku said quietly, probably as to not wake anyone inside, "what're ya doin' up here? It's super late… Aren't ya tired?"

Raditz didn't answer. He instead turned his attention towards the sky again, ignoring him and hoping that he'd have enough sense to take the hint and go back inside. However, apparently that was giving Goku too much credit, because he soon came and took a seat beside his brother.

Goku leaned back on his hands, looking up at the stars. He soon glanced over at Raditz before speaking again. "The sky's really pretty at night, huh? Especially when there's no clouds."

Again, Raditz didn't answer. Goku shifted a little, and for a few moments there was silence.

"... Goten seems to like you, I think! He kept asking about you over dinner. I think you'll get along with him really well."

No response. Goku was starting to get uncomfortable. He was just trying to make conversation, but it was really hard when the other person just wouldn't talk back to him…

Eventually, the younger saiyan sighed, which made Raditz think that maybe he was about to finally give up and go away. However, Goku spoke once more.

"Hey, um… Sorry if this is weird to ask, but...what were our parents like?"

That took Raditz off-guard, and he cast a glance over at him. It was his turn to sigh this time; it seemed Goku had finally broken him. "... You really don't remember them, do you?"

"Not really. I bumped my head when I was little, remember? Everything before then was completely wiped from my memory."

Raditz gazed thoughtfully up at the stars, trying to figure out where to even start.

"... Father was a strong man, like any good saiyan. You look almost identical to him. He was considered a low-class warrior as well, but...he didn't act like one."

"How strong was he?"

"Well, he couldn't turn into a Super Saiyan, if that's what you're asking."

"Oh."

There was a pause before he continued.

"Our mother wasn't a warrior; she was too soft for that. She cared for her family dearly, though, and she would fight to protect us. I remember she sounded proud of you before you were even out of your nursing capsule. She always supported me, too."

Goku let his head loll to the side. "Were you close with her?"

The larger saiyan shifted. "Saiyans usually don't get close with their parents." He hesitated. "... But...I suppose I did spend more time with her than the other children would with their parents. I was teased for it, so I stopped after a while."

"Do you regret doing that…?"

Another uncomfortable shift.

"... I suppose I sometimes I wish I could have spent more time with her before she died along with the planet," he finally said after a moment. "The last thing I remember of her was hearing her message saying that you had been sent off to Earth because Father was feeling paranoid. I guess his gut was right in the end."

The two sat there quietly for a little while. Eventually, Goku spoke again. "What were their names?"

"Father's name was Bardock, and Mother's was Gine."

"Bardock and Gine…" Goku repeated the names to try them out on his tongue. He then offered Raditz a little smile. "I've never heard those names, but they do give me a familiar feelin'."

Raditz huffed. "As they should. I still can't believe that you forgot everything about where you came from."

That elicited a little laugh from his brother. "Hehe… I am pretty clumsy sometimes, I guess."

The silence returned once that conversation had ended. They sat together for a good while, just taking in the sight of the stars above. The peace was only interrupted once Goku let out a big yawn.

"Well," he said tiredly as he rose to his feet, "I guess I should head back to bed. You should think about sleepin' soon, too. G'night!" And with one last two-fingered wave, he hopped off the roof and entered the house, leaving Raditz alone with his thoughts once again.

It seemed as though his brother's fatigue was contagious, because soon enough, Raditz was yawning, too. He gave a heavy sigh before hopping off the roof and making his way inside a few minutes after Goku had gone in. He'd been given the guest bedroom to sleep in, so he headed there and began to finally wind down.

Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.

—

Raditz slept in the next morning — Goku had convinced Chi-Chi to allow him to rest more, since he figured he needed it after the day he had. Once he'd woken up, though, he made his way to the kitchen to try and find something to fill his stomach; now that he was alive again, his hunger had come back with a vengeance…

He rummaged around in the fridge for a minute, loading his arms with things he assumed were edible before closing the door with his tail. As soon as he turned around, he was greeted by Goten, who was standing there staring at him again. This startled him and caused him to jump a little. "Mother of — Stop coming out of nowhere like that!" he chided. "One of these days you're going to get punted out the window!"

Goten just giggled at that, swaying from side to side. "Dad wanted me to tell you to meet him in the fields after you got breakfast!"

Raditz furrowed his brow as he stuffed some fruit into his mouth. "What for?"

"I 'unno. Maybe he wants to train with you? Or he wants you to cover for him while he goes to train with someone else. He does that with me sometimes."

The elder saiyan grumbled, picking up another food item. "I don't know why I expected anything less from a saiyan," he muttered to himself before taking a bite. He quickly spat it back out. "Eugh — ! What is this?"

Goten tilted his head. "Umm… That's an onion."

Raditz growled and tossed the onion onto the table. That was someone else's problem, now.

After Goten left him to eat his breakfast, he took the time to fill up as much as he could before finding his scouter, which had been put away in a drawer for some reason, and heading outside. He used the scouter to find his brother and headed that way.

It wasn't long before that orange gi came into view. Raditz landed a ways off, his tail wrapped around his waist instinctively. "Well, Kakarot? What did you want from me this time?"

Goku was busy stretching, but he soon smiled brightly at the other. "I was wonderin' how long you were gonna sleep! I wanted to do some trainin' with ya today."

That was expected, Raditz supposed. "Fine. I'll spar with you, but don't expect me to go easy on you this time!"

Goku stood straight and rested his hands on his hips. "Oh — I didn't mean against me! I invited some friends over so they could get to know you with a little sparring match!"

Raditz's expression dropped. "You what?"

He quickly noticed some power levels appearing on his scouter. One, two...four of them? Just how many friends did Kakarot invite to fight him? He told himself it didn't really matter; these power levels were pretty small compared to his own. He had nothing to worry about.

At least, until he saw everyone coming into view.

Two of these people he'd never seen before, but the other two he had definitely already met — a small bald man, and the Namekian that had killed him.

The other two — another bald man with a third eye and a scruffy-looking man with scars on his face — landed with the first two, and they all walked up together. Goku turned to them and waved. "Hey, guys! Glad you could make it!"

Raditz was clearly unnerved seeing the Namekian again. His tail was a bit puffed, and his expression was anything but pleased. The other noticed, and he soon crossed his arms and spoke in a deep voice: "I'll be damned. It's actually you."

The shortest of them stepped forward, seeming to look him over. He had a wary air about him. "So, uh… You got wished back, too, huh?" He then gave a small, awkward laugh and glanced at Goku. "That's Goku for ya, I guess!"

Goku just let out a silly little giggle before turning to Raditz again. "Everyone, this is my big brother Raditz! He's staying with us, now." He gestured to each of his friends individually. "Raditz, you remember Piccolo and Krillin, right? Well, this is Yamcha and Tien — you haven't met them before."

Raditz eyed everyone as they were introduced, trying to size them up. His scouter wasn't picking up any significant power levels...but, he was beginning to think that since they were Kakarot's friends, they had learned to hide their true power as well. Maybe the scouter was going to prove useless around here…

As if reading his mind, Piccolo spoke up again. "Still wearing that scouter of yours, huh? What, you can't sense our power by yourself?"

Raditz tensed, and Goku stepped between them. "Hey now, let's not be that way! I know you guys got off on the wrong foot the first time he came to Earth, but things are different now. We can all be friends, right?"

"Debatable," Raditz grumbled.

Both Raditz and Piccolo seemed to share the same amount of disdain for each other already as they shot glares at one another. However, Piccolo soon uncrossed his arms. "I'm going to assume Goku's reined you in already, judging by how you're even agreeing to be here at all. If you're through causing trouble, maybe we don't have to be enemies after all."

Raditz did not like the idea of being reined in by anybody, and that wording elicited a growl from him. He simply turned his head away and looked elsewhere. "I didn't agree to anything. Kakarot didn't even tell me you lot were coming until I got here. I thought I was just going to spar with him by myself."

Goku rubbed his neck. "Heh, well… I figured ya wouldn't come if I told ya that," he confessed awkwardly. "But, you're here now, right? Now everyone can all spar with you! It'll be a fun way for you to get to know each other!"

That...didn't sound like fun at all. However, Raditz was never one to turn down a spar, so he uncrossed his own arms and rolled his shoulders. "Fine. All of you come at me at once so I can get this over with faster."

Goku blinked. "... You, uh...sure about that?"

"Of course! I may not be able to defeat you yet, but I have no doubt I can take down a few Earthlings and a Namekian. Don't insult me, Kakarot."

Before Goku could object, Piccolo interrupted. "Let him have what he wants, Goku. If he wants to fight all of us, then we'll give him a good fight."

Yamcha gave his hand a little punch to pump himself up. "Yeah, that sounds fun! I wanna see what Goku's brother can do! I mean, if he's anything like you, it won't be an easy match, right?"

Raditz resisted the urge to frown more than he already was; he didn't like being compared to Goku.

Still...Goku ended up shrugging and stepping back. "Alright, if that's what you want… Just warnin' ya, though, these guys are pretty tough. I wouldn't underestimate 'em."

Raditz rolled his eyes, ignoring him as he got into his battle position. He wouldn't have any trouble with this, surely! They were just a bunch of humans, and the Namekian couldn't have possibly gotten that much stronger since the last time. If anything, they should have been evenly matched at best. He wasn't worried. In fact, he felt so confident that he took off his scouter and tossed it aside. He wouldn't be needing that for this.

Everyone took their own battle stances while Goku stood a few yards away to give them space. He held up his hand for a moment before dropping it. "Go!"

All at once, the Z-Fighters launched themselves at Raditz, who stood his ground and allowed them to make the first move. They came at him quick, and he almost didn't react fast enough when they started attacking him from all sides. He did his best to block most of them, but a couple did manage to slip by his defenses and nail him in the side. To knock them away for a moment, Raditz expelled his energy in a big force around him, pushing them back enough for him to collect himself.

He quickly noticed that Piccolo had gone missing, though. He looked around, but before he knew it, he felt something grab his tail from behind. When he turned to see who it was, he found Piccolo with his hands gripping his tail tightly. It was almost identical to what Kakarot had done when they first fought.

However, this time things would be different.

"Ha!" he laughed. "You really think that trick will work on me still? You're as foolish as ever!"

Piccolo just smirked. "I figured as much."

The grin on Raditz's lips soon faded as Piccolo tugged on his tail hard enough to pull him back. He yelped, since that did hurt him actually. Was he trying to pull out his spine?!

Thankfully, Piccolo released him soon enough, but he was sent flying off behind him. He tumbled for a second before righting himself and skidding on his feet. He seemed a little shaken, but that wasn't about to stop him.

He held out his hands to his sides, charging up an attack in each hand. "Let's see how you like this !" he bellowed before thrusting his hands forward and firing off two pink energy beams at the group. He was bound to hit someone with this!

… Or, not.

One beam connected with Piccolo, who actually just cancelled it out with his hand. The other beam headed straight for Tien, who also cancelled it out with his own energy attack. Nobody seemed fazed except Raditz.

Yamcha decided it was his turn to play, and he formed a ball of energy in his hand before sending it towards Raditz. Raditz braced himself, but the ball suddenly took a sharp turn in another direction, confusing him. It moved all around him in every which direction — he managed to catch Yamcha's hand moving with it — but it got too fast for him to keep up with. When Yamcha saw this, he went in and started striking him with the ball, knocking him back and forth as he tried to block it. On its final pass, it connected with his back and exploded on impact, causing him to stumble forward and almost collapse.

What the hell…?! he thought. These are just normal Earthlings, aren't they?!

He hadn't been able to land a single hit yet — he had just been on defense! Maybe it was time to —

"Okay, everyone go in at once!"

Raditz looked at Krillin as he took charge. The others nodded, and all of them almost immediately launched at him again.

Oh, shit.

He decided to just go for it this time in hopes of maybe catching them by surprise with offensive moves instead of defense. He ran straight at them, bringing his fist back to strike…!

It totally whiffed.

Tien, the one he'd aimed for, easily dodged the attack with reflexes quicker than anything he'd expected from an Earthling. Immediately after letting the punch pass him, he whipped his leg around and gave him a good, heavy kick to the back, sending him flying. The others took advantage of his misstep as well, closing in and launching their own attacks. He was soon getting pummeled, completely off his game by now, barely able to block or counter anything at all anymore.

All it took was one hard blow from Piccolo straight to his gut to bring him to his knees, struggling to breathe after the wind was knocked out of him.

"Alright, that's enough, guys!"

Everyone stopped and looked over to Goku, who was walking up to them. "Phew! Watching you all fight like that really made me wanna jump in, too…"

Piccolo crossed his arms and scoffed. "You weren't missing much. He hardly put up a fight."

Krillin rubbed his neck. "Well… I guess I have to agree. It wasn't as big of a challenge as I thought it'd be, to be honest."

Even Yamcha chimed in, "Yeah. I totally hyped myself up for nothing!"

Raditz heard...all of this.

His tail had unfurled by then and was lying limply on the ground, but it soon curled up with shame. He kept his head down, unable to look at anyone, but he could tell he had eyes on him. He felt them burning into him.

Piccolo turned to Goku after a moment. "If you don't mind, Goku, I'd like to get back to training. I think he needs to as well," he said, gesturing to Raditz with a nod.

Goku scratched the back of his head. "Aw, okay. Let me know when ya wanna spar with me, alright?"

Tien stepped up as well, Yamcha behind him. "I think we need to go, too. I left Chiaotzu at home."

"Sure! Tell him I said hi, will ya?"

The two left, leaving only Krillin behind. He walked over to Goku. "I guess I'll head out, too. It was good to see you again, Goku!" He turned to the hunched-over saiyan on the ground. "Uh, you, too, Raditz! I hope we can get along in the future."

Raditz just scoffed in response, which made Krillin feel a little awkward, so he ended up just leaving. Only Goku remained. He knelt beside his brother. "You okay? I tried to warn ya — "

Raditz aggressively got to his feet, startling his brother. His tail was puffed again, and his fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles were white.

Goku blinked, a concerned expression on his face. "What's wrong?"

Raditz couldn't quite answer at first; he was just so... angry , mostly at himself.

"... I know I'm not as strong as you," he started. "You didn't have to have your friends humiliate me to prove that to me again."

"Huh? That's not — "

"I can't sense power levels like you. I can't go Super Saiyan like you. I can't even take down a simple Earthling anymore. I'm so far behind you all it's... embarrassing ! I'm...not like you."

Goku stood up, frowning. "Raditz…"

Raditz turned away. "You should have left me dead, Kakarot."

With that, the larger saiyan blasted off into the sky, not really knowing or caring where he was going, leaving his brother behind. Goku stood there and watched him fly off, rubbing his neck with a sigh.

Well… That didn't go as planned.