Chapter 28: Two Sides of the Same Coin

(1 month after the destruction of Namek)

To say that Raditz felt naked in the current situation was an understatement. The next few hours would be spent doing the exact thing he had scorned thousands of 'fighters' for over his two plus decade career, defending a planet targeted by the Planet Trade. Not only that but the 'armor' he was given, paled in comparison to even the low grade armor he was issued under Frieza. In reality it was nothing more than a fitted strip of metal with a thick fabric undercoat. Additionally instead of his own private attack pod, where he could collect his thoughts and calm himself before the upcoming fight. All 6 fighters were packed tightly into an antiquated trade ship, with barely enough life support for them to breath.

Cramped along with Raditz and his nephew in the small ship were a variety of Alien species. All of whom, from what Raditz could gather were on the General's bad side for one reason or another.

The one that stood out the most in the group was a large sand colored reptile, who was currently wearing a strange translucent mask. Apparently his name was Shinga, which Raditz found a completely appropriate name based on the massive teeth protruding from his jaw. The sight was bringing back unpleasant memories of nearly being eaten alive during Gohan's first purge. Other than the massive teeth, the creature's upper body was not impressive. Although he did have arms, they were much smaller than you would normally see on sentient species, with 4 fingers with retractable claws at the end. His lower body though was that of a warrior, with legs the size of small tree trunks and a long tail with a spiked club at the end.

Gohan had been immediately terrified of the beast, and apparently with good reason as it was rumored that along with being among the most powerful fighters in the camp, the reptilian man would lose all sense of sentience at the faintest hint of blood in the air. Because of this he was required to wear his mask at all times while around allied troops.

In the front of the ship, there was an almost fish like man sleeping in the captain's chair, was the commander of their outfit. Raditz had learned his name was Shizen, and although he was a powerful warrior, his courage to openly speak against General Pyro's plans apparently made him no friends. But he was too valuable to kill outright, especially since every one of his objections had been proven right. During the last two years though the number of supposed suicide missions he had been assigned to had increased dramatically. It was clear someone at the top wanted him gone. Somehow though, he always managed to pull off the impossible.

The final two members of the squad the Saiyan duo had been assigned were a large grey skinned mammalian species with a small horn protruding from the tip of his nose. His name Raditz had found out was Suma. Why he was assigned to this group Raditz wasn't sure, but what he could tell was that he didn't seem to be the brightest of the bunch by any means. That distinction seemed to fall to his small counterpart, Yubi was his name; he was some sort of insect species with a sand colored exoskeleton. At barely a foot tall, the creature was not imposing by any means, but the reading Raditz had gotten from the improvised scouters they had been issued placed him just below Raditz's current level. So far neither of the duo had left each other's side since they had been introduced, or more specifically Yubi had yet to leave Suma's shoulder. The entire time he made clicking sounds, his species form of communication while his de facto mount would occasionally respond with guttural grunting noise. If Raditz didn't know better it would almost seem as if Suma was a domesticated pet of Yumi's but he had been told that wasn't the case by Shizen, so he had dropped the issue.

If Raditz had been inclined he also could've listened in with the rudimentary translation system within his scouter. But at the moment he really couldn't care less what either of them said. His mind was too focused on trying to keep itself clear and alert before the upcoming fight.

Gohan was oblivious to all of this though, as the child played with his long hair, bored out of his mind. The only reason he wasn't asking if they were there yet was because the last time he did he was met with threats from the entire group.

Finally though the metallic voice of the ship's navigation computer came to life. "Thirty minutes until arrival in planet Feder's orbit."

When they arrived Raditz let out an internal sigh of relief the planet wasn't under attack yet so they wouldn't be dropping into an already raging battle. They would be able to land inspect the landscape and actually decide on a plan of attack, or on this case defense.

The Captain didn't bother to wake up until the ship was on the ground but the second it touched down he had immediately gone into a blur of motion, so quickly that Raditz began to suspect the fighter hadn't actually be sleeping but calming his nerves in the same way that Raditz had attempted to.

"Alright men." He paused for a moment as he stared at the two Saiyans as if surprised they were with them, his eyes lingering on Gohan longer than Raditz. But after a moment he continued. "We've received intelligence that this world will soon be under attack from some Planet Trade dogs. And we've been assigned to put those dogs down." He stated as if the soldiers assembled hadn't already known what their mission was, he continued on though, not missing a beat. "Based on the information we've been given this world appears to be classified as a class three, so the force sent to capture it should be mid-level. Regardless of the fact the power levels of those we may be fighting are somewhat higher than those we've recently been fighting, As long as we don't let our guards down we should be fine. Every fighter we come across should be treated as at least as strong as yourself."

Pausing for a moment he seemed to stare off into space his eyes completely glazing over, before returning to the present. "Shinga, please do not take your mask off near population centers. We don't want a repeat of last time's debacle." Seemingly satisfied, he gave them one last look over before marching out the door of the ship.

As the rest of the group followed their leader off the ship, Raditz couldn't help but think of what a ridiculous squad he had been assigned to. The Captain seemed to be unable to focus on what is going around him for any length of time. Raditz wasn't sure if this was because he was brilliant or if it was because he was a fool. His style was completely different from the only two commanding officers he had ever served directly under, Vegeta and Nappa.

Finally, Raditz decided he'd reserve his judgment of his new commander's ability until after the fight was over. If the rumors were in fact true this character might have more in common with Vegeta then it originally seemed.

As Raditz and Gohan exited the antique of a ship they immediately noticed that the entire squad was moving away from them in the direction of what appeared to be the main barracks. Seemingly not noticing that the two Saiyans were not with them. Being ignored didn't bother Raditz though, it was much better than he was treated back with Nappa and Vegeta. Instead of taking it as an insult he simply shrugged it off and hurried to catch back up, Gohan right behind him.

They caught up with the odd group just as they passed by a large wall separating the space port from the rest of what Raditz could only assume was this world's version of a military base.

Lined up along one wall was nearly three dozen fighters standing rigidly at attention as they commander slowly made his way to meet the group of freedom fighters.

Introductions were quick, and Shizen immediately went to work observing the fighters who had been assigned to accompany the group in their eventual fight against the Planet Trade. From what the commander said it appeared that these were this world's versions of elites.

At the claim Raditz immediately pressed the button on his makeshift scouter just to see how the group measured up. He was disappointed, first with how long it took the machine to register their strengths, and then later with the numbers he saw. Most of the fighters were below 2000, not a level that would inspire confidence in their chances of victory should the natives need to be relied upon during the fight.

"These fighters will do just fine." Shizen said without any detectable emotion in his voice. Before turning to his group shouting "Alright here is the plan. We will break into groups of 2, each group will take a dozen native fighters and wait in one of the three major cities." He continued with more emotion in his voice.

Raditz had to make a mental effort to stop himself from speaking out. Their so called commander seemed to already be making a mental error. It would make much more sense for them to stay together until they knew just how powerful the fighters they were facing were. Then split apart if necessary to finish them off. Even if a couple cities were destroyed in the mean time they would still have a much higher probability of surviving the fight and therefore saving the planet.

Shizen wasn't done yet though, "We will break up into the normal pairs for this mission, with General Glousse assigning a dozen fighters to each pair. When you are grouped up the natives will lead you to your home for the next few days or so."

Raditz had no idea what the commander meant by normal pairs, but he assumed that meant he and Gohan would be together, meaning unless Gohan's rage came through if they got into trouble, their group would be at a disadvantage. At least as long as Raditz didn't transform. But there was no guarantee he would be able to refrain from destroying the city himself if things came to that. To be honest he was still astounded he had left anything of the med base on Frieza planet 129

Silently 'his group' formed up around him, as the native sentient avian species of this world eyed him with looks that he could only assume were curiosity. Waiting for him to uncross his arms and say something like his leader had.

Raditz though was feeling up to the act, "Looks like you're the unlucky group paired with us. I'll keep this short, if we're the city attacked there is a chance we will be in for the fight of our lives no matter what. I have no inspirational words for you, there is a chance most of you will soon be dead, so just lead the way so I can try to figure out a strategy that keeps as many of us alive as possible." Raditz had no idea if they could understand everything he had said or not, but he could tell they could understand at least part of what he said because of the uncertain looks now plastered on their faces.

Gohan though could understand him and wasn't overly thrilled with his Uncle's speech but instead of countering him outwardly Gohan just said the first thing that came to his mind. "We'll beat them! We won't let those monsters destroy your planet!" His voice filled with youthful confidence, a bright smile on his face.

The tension in the group seemed to dissolve slightly, before Raditz spoke again. "Yeah sure, can we please get moving now?" He growled irritably at the fact his nephew was apparently completely oblivious to the danger they were in.

The apparent group leader nodded, and with that they were on their way.

It was only 14 hours later, in the early morning of the westernmost major city on the planet that the raid alarms began to blare to life. 3 massive shooting stars could be seen streaking across the sky together for a moment before splitting in separate directions. Each moving towards one of the massive metropolis that dotted the planet.

Raditz and Gohan looked out the window of their short term base just in time to see the collision of the pod and planet at the edge of the city. Raditz then turned and nodded to the leader of their backup. Immediately all 14 warriors were in motion towards the explosion, so they could observe the situation better.

When they within a mile or so, Raditz ordered the group to the ground, where their energy signals would be lower and harder to detect. There was already half a dozen smaller buildings on fire from, a rotund, red alien floating in the sky firing blasts indiscriminately.

A native fighter nearly lurched forward to assault him immediately from their hidden position near the ground, but Raditz grabbed his arm, his index finger on his other hand silently waving a sign telling him to be patient. The Saiyan immediately turned on his low grade scouter and tried to gain some insight into what they were dealing with. He wasn't given time for the device to start up though as the reckless Native fighter's power spike from his near bull rush towards the planetary pirate appeared to have registered on his scouter. A series of red blasts came raining down on the group.

Raditz was barely able to grab the slow to react Gohan and roll towards new cover as the area the group had been standing disappeared in a fiery explosion.

With their group shattered several of the Native warriors lurched forward up into the sky to begin their counter assault, seemingly forgetting their night long planning session, lost in their rage.

"Damn it those fools, I told them not to engage until I figure out what we are dealing with." Raditz mumbled from the shadows.

"We need to help them." Gohan argued getting ready to fly into the air and do what he could as the native warriors took their first casualty in the form of a broken neck.

"Brat what did I just say" Raditz hissed, as his scouter finally got an energy signature. "Four-thousand! Damn it, this is going to be tough." Raditz mumbled as he tried to come up with a strategy that didn't involve him transforming.

As another warrior fell he realized the slim chance they had to beat the warrior in normal combat was quickly evaporating, the loss of their two allies caused the few that had apparently paid attention to his warnings to rush into the air and join the fray.

"Damn it brat, start charging up an attack!" He barked to his nephew. At the very least Gohan seemed to be following his orders if he kept the child close.

This was a strategy they had been discussing just before the attack had started up so Gohan knew exactly what to do.

After a few minutes, another native warrior had fallen, and it was time for the Saiyans to go to work. Just a third native's body began to fall towards the ground, Raditz whispered into the scouter, "Now Gohan."

From about a block away from Raditz's position the child quickly unleashed the only attack he knew how to charge, his father's favorite. He had only seen the attack used a couple of times, but he figured since he was officially defending planet's now he could finally use it without his Dad getting mad at him. "Ka-me-ha-me-HA!"

The Planet Trade soldier twisted around, his scouter registering a power-level of almost 500 moving towards him. He quickly realized it was not another one of the natives, who had mostly backed away from him at this point, but instead was just an attack. With a simple backhand he was able to completely redirect the attack up into the sky. At the same instant though Raditz phased in behind him, "Let's see how you like my Saturday CRUSH!"

Raditz knew he needed to close the distance between the pair as much as possible because of the difference in strength. He had learned as much from the Green-man's near fatal attack against him on Gohan's home world.

The mid-level PTO troop couldn't fully turn in time before the purple attack crashed into his back. The attack itself consisted of everything that Raditz had in him, and immediately burned its way right through the pirate's torso.

The Native warriors watched in awe at the incredible display of power, it was more than any of them had seen before, the blast shot away from the city, detonating brightly on a hill in the countryside. More out of sheer luck than any prior planning on Raditz's part.

The large Red pirate convulsed once, his cry of agony echoing through the city. Then he fell out if the sky.

Raditz drifted down after him, slowly taking in the site. The native fighters dropped much more quickly and surrounded the dying being.

Through his translator Raditz heard one if the fighters say "We should just finish it off now."

His suggestion was met with several squawks of protest, "No he deserves to suffer. We should rip him apart before he dies."

"I agree with him this monster killed Twogek, Zaspa, and-" Raditz had heard enough, he was already having to watch his own worst nightmare from his time as a member of the Planet Trade organization unfold before his eyes, and from his own hand. Looking at his hand Raditz made his decision he would put the miserable creature out of its misery "Begon!" He shouted as a purple ball crashed into and vaporized the warrior.

Immediately he was met with glares, but he couldn't care less, he dropped to the ground and began to pant again, his elbows resting on his knees. It wasn't until that moment that he realized just how tired he was. It was as if he had just purged a whole planet himself.

He was confronted by his actions soon afterwards, "You had no right!" One of the native's squawked at him, his multicolored feather puffing out in all directions.

"Can it birdbrain. He was going to kill you all if I didn't step in, so I had every right to decide what to do with him after I defeated him" Raditz snarled back, causing the avian alien to take a step back. Raditz wasn't done with his verbal assault yet, "And while you lot are playing your game imitating vultures over someone else's kill, how many of your families will die. Or did you forget that there were 2 other attackers destroying your world." The color drained from their collective faces, but Raditz continued, "You're in a war right now, better start acting like it."

A look of panic spread through the group as they realized the consequences of what Raditz just reminded them of. "Well what are you waiting for?" One of them shouted, "We have to protect the other cities." Like a flock of birds they shot into the air.

"Comeback you idiots! It's our job to protect...damn it!" Raditz gave up trying to call the natives back. If they wanted to defy orders that was fine with him, it was unlikely their city would be attacked again, and it wasn't like the birdbrains were good for anything except meat shields anyway. So Raditz laid back and put his arms behind his head staring up at the sky.

"Uh...uncle Raditz...aren't we going to go after them?" Gohan asked after a moment confused about what was happening.

"Nope." His uncle answered plainly.

"Why not?" Gohan asked.

"Because we're following orders. His uncle responded in a condescending tone.

"But what about the other cities?" Gohan asked eager to continue his fight against the evil soldiers of the Planet Trade.

"Just shut up already! We're not going because we were ordered to guard this city. We did that and now we get to wait here in case one of the other fighters show to destroy this city while everyone else is guarding the others." Raditz responded quickly losing his patience.

Gohan plopped down onto the ground and crossed his arms sulking at getting yelled at. "You're mean."

Raditz's response this time came in the form of a low growl, before turning over and closing his eyes, hoping to get some sleep for the first time in almost 2 days.

"Hey are you two still alive?" A vaguely familiar voice rang out over the pseudo-scouter. Rousing both Raditz and Gohan from their slumber.

"Huh yeah we're here Vegeta." Raditz responded simply out of reflex before realizing his mistake, "Uh I mean Shizen." Gohan began to laugh at Raditz's mistake, only to stop when his uncle sent his most ferocious glare his way.

"Good, we weren't sure since the rest of your command showed up at the other two fights without you we weren't sure." The commander of the mission responded as if he missed his entire mistake. "Anyway meet back up at the ship, the natives have some thank you they want to give us."

"We'll be there." Raditz responded, his tone not overly excited at the prospect.

"What do you think we're getting?" Gohan asked with the excitement of a child being reminded it was his birthday.

"Nothing we want." Raditz muttered before taking to the sky, his strength having partially returned to him.

Gohan looked up after him a moment sulking slightly to himself before slowly following him.

It took the duo nearly an hour to reach the apparent capital of this world coincidentally it was the city they had originally landed at the night before. Though there were a few changes to it since their last visit. Like the city they had been guarding it seemed several buildings had taken damage and there were some minor fires burning in the city.

They stopped above the sprawling metropolis for a moment as Raditz scanned the ground for where they were supposed to meet, the spaceport looked completely abandoned.

Finally giving up Raditz made a general call using his pseudo-scouter, "Hey we're here." Raditz said through the scouter, his voice allowing some of his irritation to be conveyed.

"Go towards the palace at the center of town." Shizen responded, his emotionless voice only adding to Raditz irritation.

"Over there brat." Raditz said as he and his charge continued towards the oddly shaped building in the distance.

When they arrived they noticed a table with the other members of the squad spread out seemingly awaiting a feast to begin. The Saiyans could smell the wonderful aromas of food spreading out from all around them. They could barely contain themselves long enough to be lead to their seats.

The King began a speech that seemed to drag on forever. Just when it seemed it would finally end and the feast could begin, the sky was suddenly alight and a sonic boom echoed through the landscape.

Raditz and Gohan immediately tensed, fearing a second wave of Planet Trade troops were already arriving. The rest of the fighters just sat quietly, not seeming even the slightest bit disturbed by the sudden arrival of another ship.

Everyone was silent for several minutes before finally new figures came into view and to Raditz and Gohan's surprise it turned out to be General Pyros and a group of guards.

Within seconds the imposing figure had landed facing his men, a bright smile on his face as his guards moved out to the perimeter. "You've done a good job. I am proud of all of your many efforts. You are all dismissed until my work here is done." He then turned to the King of the world, "And I would like to continue our discussion of our arrangements with you after we have finished this wonderful smelling meal you've prepared together." The king looked slightly taken aback but quickly had some of his guests move to make room for his guest at the king's own table.

Raditz and Gohan just looked at one another in shock as their entire squad got from their seats and begrudgingly made their way away from the courtyard that was being used to host the dinner.

Raditz finally decided he would follow them for now, not wanting to rock the boat, but as he rose from his chair Gohan's stomach let out a loud growl. Before the older Saiyan could react his nephew jumped from his seat and rushed over to the General, tugging lightly on his pant leg. "General Sir, can we please eat before we go?" He asked as politely as he could.

General Pyros looked down at the child and responded bluntly, "No, not now, you can eat with your squad later." With that seemingly settled he began to make his way towards a seat near the planet's King.

Raditz started to make his way towards Gohan to stop him from pestering their new leader but Gohan beat him to it. "But why? We fought and beat the bad guys we should get to eat now."

Raditz stopped in his tracks as a dangerous flash crossed their leader's eyes as he turned before kneeling down before Gohan looking at him eye to eye. "Because you are a soldier now, which means you have to follow orders. But I assure you there are good reasons for my orders, even if you can't understand them right now. It is more important for me to talk to the King in private right now than for you to get a feast. Do you understand?" The General's voice was so calm and sincere that Raditz felt he must've imagined the glint in his leader's eyes, a result of being a part of Frieza's favorite punching bag trio for so long.

"Yeah I think so, sorry. I'll try to be patient." Gohan said with small apologetic bow. He was beginning to really like the General he was talking to him so kindly, almost like a more refined version of how his father used to.

A gentle smile spread across the General's face, "Good I was hoping you would." The smile suddenly began a twisted snarl as he snatched Gohan by the throat and lifted him up to his full standing eye level. "Because if you didn't I would've had to gut you right here in front of everyone you worthless piece of shit." His voice barely a whisper at the end.

Gohan's small hands struggled against the massive one cutting off his air supply, but to no avail, his small face already turning blue.

The General suddenly threw Gohan into the air and delivered a powerful backhand to the child's face. Gohan body contorted painfully as he was launched across the courtyard, before skidding across the ground.

Before anyone could move the General was already standing over the whimpering child once more. "Now then, if you ever question my orders again I won't let you off so easily. Understand." The General's hand was already around Gohan's throat again waiting for a reply.

Raditz finally found his voice as he tentatively made his way over to the General and his Nephew. "Please sir this is enough, he's just a boy. I can discipline him more myself if you would like, but if you do much more he may die." Raditz said kneeling his eyes facing the ground in a way that Frieza always seemed to enjoy.

The Saiyan heard Gohan's body drop to the ground, "Rise." was the simple command given. Raditz rose quickly his eyes still on the ground. "Look me in the eyes." Raditz did as commanded, his heart beating out of his chest as every bit of his broken pride warned him not to.

"You're right, I was being too hard on the child. I am man enough to not deny my mistakes, especially when they are pointed out for me. For that I thank you." Raditz mentally let out a sigh of relief.

The air was forced from Raditz's lungs just as he was about to respond, as the elder Saiyan was sent flying across the courtyard, his metal armor shattering on impact, and the wool eroding away as he skid across the ground.

The general was over him instantly again, "That was a warning Saiyan. Keep your brat in line or I will be forced to myself, and you will have outlived your usefulness. Do you understand?" Raditz slowly nodded, before coughing up blood.

"Good grab your Nephew, you're dismissed." General Pyros then turned to the King, "I'm sorry about that you're Excellency, let's get back to our discussion"

Raditz slowly pulled himself off of the ground, pausing once to cough up another mouthful of blood before making his way to Gohan and painfully lifting the sobbing child from the ground.

"Gohan...stop your tears." Raditz mumbled after they left the courtyard. "You remember what Frieza did for your orientation right?" He asked a moment later after Gohan continued to cry.

Gohan nodded slightly as he tried to calm himself down some, his neck hurt worse than he had even imagined possible. Being suffocated was worse than anything even Frieza or Zarbon had done to him.

"Well neither of those actions compared to my childhood. It is tough, it is a tough life but it is the life of a Saiyan warrior. The pain you are going through now will only make you stronger in the long run. Not only in body but in mind and spirit." He explained as Gohan's began to quiet down some.

Finally Gohan spoke, "I don't want to be a Saiyan warrior I just want to be strong enough that no one can hurt me or anyone I want to protect ever again." Gohan's voice was weak as he began to pour his inner thoughts out to his uncle, seemingly not remembering the fact he had been the reason he was in this situation to begin with.

Raditz was silent for a moment, he could relate to that desire, he had had to live as the bottom of the totem pole his entire life. He decided to tell the stories he enjoyed as a child to at least make him feel better. "From the stories my mother told me before our planet was destroyed, and what Nappa told me and Vegeta as we were growing up there was once a time that the Saiyans were just as you described. We were the strongest in the universe. We decided who would live and who would die. No race could stand before our might, we were the true rulers of the universe." Raditz explained.

Gohan almost immediately perked up at the story. "Are those stories true?" He asked his voice hesitantly.

"I'm not sure, the story ends with the birth of a being who achieved a level of strength beyond that of any of the other Saiyans. The birth of the Legendary Super Saiyan. His might put all of the others to shame, but it was a power he couldn't control. When he reached that level of power, beyond all others, he lost his mind. In his blind rage he destroyed the entire planet. It is said the survivors travelled nearly a thousand years after that before finally coming to rest at the planet I was born on. Planet Vegeta." Raditz finished, glad at the very least he didn't have to listen to Gohan's pitiful sobbing any more.

"I'm going to do it." Gohan suddenly said catching his uncle off guard.

"Do what?" He asked not understanding.

"I'm going to become a Super Saiyan. I don't care how long it takes." He paused to wipe his nose. "I'm going to do I'm sure." He said to himself as he stared off into the distance.

"Sure kid, whatever you say." Raditz had a strange sense of Deja vu, as he thought back to Vegeta's repeated declaration throughout his childhood. In the back of his mind he ultimately felt that the pursuit of that dream was what ultimately did the Saiyan Prince in. At the moment though he would allow the child to have his dream for now, since he boy was finally quiet.

The rest of the walk to the ship was made in complete silence, both Saiyans lost in their thoughts of the future and the past.

They were pulled from their thoughts the moment they arrived at the ship though. Sitting in the center of the only door to the ship was their immediate commander Shizen, watching them both carefully as they approached.

Raditz walked to within a foot of the cross legged man and waited to see if he would move from Raditz's path.

Finally he spoke. "So I take it you met the Flaming Temper's real form tonight." It was a much more blunt statement than Raditz was expecting.

"Who?" Raditz asked though he suspected he knew who Shizen was speaking of, he couldn't run the risk it was some sort if test.

A sad smile crossed Shizen's fishlike lips. "This isn't a test." He responded as if reading Raditz's mind. "You won't find any friends of Pyros's in this crew."

Raditz's eyes went slightly wide at the unexpected turn things were taking.

"Wait if you don't like him why do you work for him?" Gohan suddenly asked his voice still hoarse from his earlier near death experience.

"Why did you work for Frieza?" Shizen countered immediately, to which Gohan had no real answer besides the fact he had no choice.

"Don't get me wrong, we believe the fight against the Planet Trade is a noble one. We wouldn't be here if we didn't. In the earliest days of this outfit that was its true role. That is why we joined, to fight the Planet Trade wherever it rears its head. Everyone on this ship were veterans of the start of this group. We all joined because our races were wiped out in purging missions." He paused for a moment before this next point, "A group of Saiyans were the ones to exterminate my people."

Raditz's blood ran cold. 'Is he going to kill me?' Was the first question to run through the Saiyan's mind. Revenge was the only outcome he could see in this situation.

Again as if hearing Raditz's mental response Shizen continued. "I hold no ill will towards your people, at least those who are left. If the Saiyans hadn't been assigned to do the job someone else would've. Besides from what I've heard your people treated mine less sadistically than most of those monsters would've." The look of sadness was still on his face.

Raditz's heart began to pound even a bit harder than the sledgehammer level it was already at. He did have a history of sadistic dealing with some of the weaker worlds. If his commander had picked up on it he didn't get a chance to confront Raditz over his guilty look.

"I'm sorry." Gohan muttered sorrow in his voice, for nearly the thousandth time he wished silently he hadn't been born part Saiyan.

"The sins of the dead are not yours to bear young one." He responded, though he did end the sentence by giving Raditz a knowing look.

Raditz couldn't help but feel a sense of awe at just how different they were being treated than before. Even though he was clearly showing Raditz a sense of disapproval, he was still treating them both better than any commander he had ever had. Raditz just hoped it wasn't a trick like General Pyros had pulled.

Shizen then stood up, "Well regardless you both pass. I guess it is time to officially welcome you to the team." He said a small smile on his face.

With that the rest of their night was spent eating their meager rations, and later the leftover scraps brought to them from the feast. All the while the team and its new members got to know one another in more depth. By the time Gohan fell asleep, his body was still in rough shape, but for the first time in a long time he felt as if emotionally he was in a little better shape than he had been before. The group he was with now wasn't perfect, the general was a someone not that much different from Frieza as far as Gohan could tell. But the quality of those he commanded seemed better. For the first time since his horrible adventure stated he felt he had found a group with which he could belong to without a feeling of overwhelming guilt crushing him.

(Cooler Planet 42)

Dr. Chusha paced back and forth nervously, his mind fretting the orders he had just been given by Cooler himself. His Lord had ordered him to perform a special surgery on the highest ranking officer he had ever worked on. Not only that it was a surgery that was not medically necessary in his opinion, nor did the commanding officer know it what was going to be done to him.

(Flashback)

"My Lord, what do I owe the pleasure of your call?" Dr. Chusha said with a low bow to the video phone.

"It has come to my attention that a certain team of my brother's Shock troops have arrived seeking medical attention. Is that correct?" Cooler asked.

"Yes my Lord the Ginyu force is here, at least most of them are. It seems that green one, their newest member perished on their last mission." Dr. Chusha explained.

"Very good. I want you to keep all of them sedated for the time being. My brother is dead, which means all of his worlds and troops are by right mine now. Because of this I need you to perform a special surgery on the Captain." The news of Lord Frieza's death was certainly surprising to the doctor. But with the damage the Ginyu force had taken, things seemed to suddenly make more sense.

"What would you like me to do with him my Lord?" He asked his voice as submissive as possible.

"Simple, one of my technicians will be sending your base commander specs for a device I want him to build. You are to take that device and insert it into his brain as the instructions recommend." Lord responded.

"It shall be done my Lord. I hope I am not overstepping my boundaries here, but may I ask what this device shall do?" Dr. Chusha asked, his boldness only possible because he worked for the most reasonable of the three rulers.

"No it is fine, you see Captain Ginyu is a dangerous monster. He has an ability that makes him almost more dangerous than he is useful. He can switch bodies at will with another." The doctor's eyes widened in horror, such a thing was considered taboo even within a planetary piracy organization. "Because of this I have made preparations to pin him to his current body permanently."

"But sire, what if he has another surgery to remove the device?" Dr. Chusha asked again.

"That contingency has already been planned for I assure you. If you have any more questions ask now. Otherwise they should wait until I am there next week to meet my new Soldiers." An almost sadistic grin crossing his face causing the doctor's skin to crawl.

"Yes Lord Cooler, it shall be done." The doctor hurriedly said with a bow as the connection was cut.

(End of flashback)

His thoughts were interrupted as the nurse called for him, "Dr. Chusha, it is time to begin the surgery."

He gulped once before responding. "Coming." With that he entered the room ready for the most important surgery of his life.

There you have it the first half of the Gohan arc has come to an end. The next two chapters will take place with the main group of characters before focusing on Gohan and Raditz's adventures some more.

As I mentioned last time I will be trying to update the progress of each chapter on my profile so everyone is not completely left in the dark if I hit a patch of writers block/a ton of school work or something. Additionally I just found out that you can post polls here somehow so I might try to make one of those. Basically the poll question would be which character have you enjoyed the most so far in Culture Shock.

Relevant power levels for this chapter.

Raditz - 3,400

Gohan - 325

Shinga - 4,500

Yubi - 3,000

Suma - 3,500

Shizen - 8,000

General Pyros - 37,000

Other than that I guess I don't have alot to say for this Author's note, other than thank you everyone who reviewed last chapter, we tied the all time high for reviews in a single chapter!

Now for those responses.

Reviews:

Luke-

This story is in my favorites for a reason...I mean, the reason is because it's really good, you get that, right?

I'm glad to hear it. When I hear that someone is enjoying my story it definitely helps make the effort I put into it feel worth it.

Lawrence Helmbain-

Can you please not pair Gohan with Videl... that pairings far to over done... maybe with 18 instead or a Female Saiyan OC...

I'll be completely honest with you, although I haven't given the pairings of later chapters too terribly much thought yet there is a decent chance that is the direction the story will go if there is a Gohan pairing at all. Because I haven't given it alot of thought yet though I reserve the right to change my mind later on. Specifically if I can come up with a different interesting pairing that I feel is natural I could go that direction. Basically it'll come down to whether I feel like 1. The character Gohan becomes is compatible with anyone and 2. If he is compatible with anyone, who would be the best fit. It will have to do alot more with their personalities at the time than keeping to tradition.

I hope that even if the story goes in that direction that the rest of the story is good enough that you continue to enjoy it.

wheathermangohanssj4-

Okay that was interesting, nicely done,

Now a part of me would like there to be plenty of adventures with Gohan and Raditz a part of me just wants the easy Dragonablll fix to just work, after all Parunga would have brought goku back if Goku had let him.

and I don't think that Gohan would be either powerfull enough to resist or have something more...god damn it whenever I start these review ideas for how an obvious fix would go, and Gohan is going to refuse being wished back to earth to save Raditz damn it brain stop seeing into the future because that would be the best way to go about it, extend the miniarch and not have it be a lame asspull, a plot hole and a halfway decent character moment.

Glad you've enjoyed the arc so far. You're ideas for how the risk of Gohan getting wish back could go are interesting. I believe you are correct about the only reason the dragon couldn't grant the Goku going to Earth wish is because Goku refused to go. And since Gohan doesn't know anyone in his family besides his uncle is alive he wouldn't be expecting to be wished back. I guess we'll find out if that is what happens next chapter ;).

RKF22-

Never make Gohan angry

Yes that is one of the fundamental axioms of Dragon ball z. But one that the villians never seem to full grasp.

anonymous-

Gr8 chapter
So Raditz gets a mission complrtely foreign to him and I think Gohan will be more than happy with the mission to protect
I like how everything is panning out so far
Update soon

Glad you enjoyed it. Yes Raditz got a little taste of culture shock going on this chapter, and I hope you enjoyed how this half of the arc ended.

Son of Whitebeard-

Raditz is cunning

Yup that does seem to be the standard personality trait for him. Years of being low man on the totem pole has given him 'street smarts' at the very least.

dragonballAT-

Really good chapter It is pretty good how we get to see the rest of the universe in your story and the little pockets of rebels that would be fighting the PTO. Also we all know Vegeta would be betraying Frieza at some point and I can honestly see this as something he would do. It's also pretty neat because you kept Gohan and Raditz relatively weak compared to the main characters their still very much in danger in this situation which I like. Their going to be on their own little adventure. The question is when and how they will be found and meet up with Goku. I can't see Raditz going to Earth but maybe Goku could find them with the instant transmission... or maybe the planet their going to protect is Yadrat... that actually makes sense because Ginyu ship that Goku took their was programmed to go to that planet so the mission would be their. I think that's what your going to do. Anyways I like the transitioning from destroying planets to now protecting them I think it suits Gohan better I never really like seeing him as a mass killer but it could have easily happen and it's a good thing I feel uncomfortable because it means your writing him well. Anyway looking forward to seeing what your doing next chapter and to also see if Hercule and Videl clime Korins tower in the next step of their training.

Looks like you and me see things the same way about the rebels popping up and Vegeta's eventual plans. I always thought that was one of the few weak points of the show is that we really didn't get to see many of the different cultures out there, even ones that had important (although limited) roles such as the inner workings of the Planet Trade.

As for keeping Gohan and Raditz relatively weak, it is very much intentional for the time being. I mean Raditz had twenty plus years of missions and was only just over 1000. Part of that I realize though is that he didn't have to push himself quite as hard because he had Nappa and Vegeta to take the brunt of things. Because of this I've been trying to strike a delicate balance of keeping their strengths rising at a pace more similar to a young Vegeta and the pace that Raditz experience in his youth.

How and when Gohan will meet up with everyone is going to be one of the vital pieces of the story as a whole, so I unfortunately can't say much on that topic at this time. The thing about them going to protect Yardrat though is that it would be a sucide mission if they did. General Pyros, which you see in this chapter has a temper but he is still a decent enough strategist to know to stay away from the upper level Planet Trade shock troops.

Yeah being a mass killer definitely has done some mental damage to the child though, he will never fully be the carefree child he was in the show. Now how far that damage takes him, and what effects it has on his later judgement will start to be revealed before too long.

super mystic gohan-

so now instead off destroying planted radits will protect them that's great how strong are gohan and radits now must off gotten a little stronger because if they haven't I hope they get a boost of zenkia or something or even train also doing well on splitting up both arcs in the story like chi-chi bit wanting to see gohan again will anything happen on earth before freiza come back or not?

Yeah at least for now they are protecting planets. They have, Raditz is still growing faster than Gohan at the moment because Gohan has his rage mode to protect him from taking too much of a beating.

As for the Earth, that is where we are heading for the next 2 chapters, then we'll have another 3 more Gohan focused chapters and 2 more Earth focus chapters left before the next arc begins.

abcd-

Good chapter as usual
I think at the end of both arcs maybe Gohan will be wished back to earth via dragonballs i guess
Will be fun to see raditz as protector

Glad you enjoyed it. That is always a possibility as long as the dragon balls are around. Yeah being a protector might be fun for us to see, but Raditz doesn't like it much lol.

Blue Cat-

I always enjoy seeing stories in which Raditz is crafty to make up for his weaknesses, rather than just a braggart who stupidly tries to go for the brute force option anyway. I wonder how long it will take before he and Gohan finally meet everyone on Earth again. That would be an interesting reunion to say the least!

By the way, a small note on this chapter: at some point you just start referring to the general by his name, without him ever actually introducing himself in the conversation. That can be a little confusing to the reader.

Yeah being crafty just seems to make sense for Raditz. I mean he did survive two plus decades of being both Frieza and Vegeta's punching bags after all. He does have a bit of braggart in him, the remnants of his Saiyan pride, it only shows up when he is sure he is superior than those he is fighting though. Kind of the bully on the playground type in a way.

You can definitely bet it will be an unusual family reunion when it happens lol.

As for my mistake, I apologize for the oversight on my part. I ended up rewriting part of the chapter and I must've accidentally deleted the old introduction without adding in the new one. Thank you for keeping an eye out for that though, I will definitely try to avoid letting mistakes like that get through in the future.

MrCamtasic-

hey! long time! great chapter! sorry ive been MIA. Ive been moving and dont have internet yet so Im trying to get that working. hopefully ill have it in the next few weeks. and i dont have a smart phone so it makes it tough. anyway. ill be back to editing and loving the story asap. ok time at the library is over. will contact asap! good job!

Hey there no problem on that front. I also responded by email but I'm not sure if you'll get it any time soon if you don't have internet for awhile so i decided to reply on both. I hope the move went well! Glad you enjoyed the chapter.