"How lucky must I be to find you again in the whole universe. To think you'd be stuck on this pathetic little rock. I almost overlooked it due to the state of it," the Saiyan stated standing up, "It doesn't look like you've laid a single hand on it all these years! What have you been doing here?"
Steven's brow furrowed in confusion. "Vegeta, who is this?" he asked.
Raditz turned his attention to the boy. "Who's the kid?" he asked, "Don't tell me you've been 'intermingling' with the locals."
Vegeta growled at him as Piccolo and Goku moved defensively in front of the half gem. "He's none of your concern, Raditz," he hissed.
"Steven, get inside," Piccolo ordered. Steven started backing up and opened the door of the barn, but continued to peek out the when they turned away.
The taller Saiyan gave Vegeta a confused look before his eyes turned back to Piccolo and Goku. His eyebrows flew to his hairline as recognition flooded his face. "Wait a minute...Kakarot?" he asked. Goku's shoulders tensed as he spoke. "Dear Beerus, it is you!" he said with a chuckle, folding his arms, "Well isn't this a pleasant surprise! I thought you were a goner when the planet went out. The records show you flew straight through Cooler's territory!"
"No. I landed here safely," Goku stated tartly, eying him carefully, "Some of the people here took me in and took care of me."
"Well that certainly explains a few things..." the taller Saiyan muttered.
"Seriously, who is this guy?" Krillin asked, "And what is he doing here?"
"His name is Raditz," Vegeta responded, "An old comrade of mine and Kakarot's brother. More importantly, he's a member of Frieza's army." Steven's eyes widened and he had to suppress a gasp. With that one line, Steven's mind began to explode with questions. This guy worked for the Colds? The people who slaughtered whole planets to make a profit? Why would he do that? He's a Saiyan! The Saiyans were wiped out by Frieza! And did Vegeta just say they were once comrades? Did that mean he...no it couldn't be. He probably just meant before Raditz joined up with Frieza...right?
"As for why he's here…" Vegeta growled, "I can make a pretty safe bet. And because of that I'm giving you one warning, Raditz: Leave or die. I don't care how important this mission is, this planet is off the market."
Raditz looked baffled, before a smirk formed and he started laughing. "Oh this is too rich! I understand Kakarot getting so attached to these whelps, but the great Prince Vegeta? I wouldn't believe it if I weren't seeing it with my own eyes! In fact I'm still having trouble," he said, wiping a tear away from his eye, "Must have taken an awful lot to make you turn over a new leaf. What was it? A woman?"
Vegeta glared daggers at him. "I said leave!" he snarled, firing a ki blast at the Saiyan.
Raditz stumbled back. "Oh, calm down!" Raditz hissed, "I'm not here to hurt your precious planet!" The three Z warriors faltered in their stance as they were caught off guard by his comment. "I haven't worked for Frieza for years. In fact, I left soon after you disappeared from his ranks," he explained.
…
Steven backed up from the door as the words stuck him like a knife. His eyes were as wide as saucers as his world seemed to crumble. No...it couldn't be true. Vegeta couldn't have been one of them. Vegeta cared about him, and the Earth...kinda. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The comments about being evil, of Rose keeping him under supervision, the way he threatens people, his willingness to kill…even the armor he sometimes wore resembled the armor Raditz was wearing. A sickening feeling developed in his stomach as he thought about it. A horrifying image came to mind of his mentor hovering above a burning planet, looking down at it with the same smile he saw him wear many times over when they fought monsters. The image made him want to throw up. He willed the image away as best he could. He needed to be alone. Steven ran to the back of the barn as fast as he could…
….
"That's a lie," Vegeta hissed, "It has to be. What other purpose would you have here?"
"I was trying to find someone strong enough to stop him!" Raditz explained, "When we returned after you disappeared, Frieza didn't believe us when we said you died. He was convinced you were hiding somewhere, waiting to eventually overthrow him."
"That's actually not entirely untrue," Vegeta noted.
"We didn't know that. But he thought we did," he explained, "He had Nappa tortured for information. He obviously didn't have any and so he ended up dying...not that Frieza would have let him live otherwise."
Vegeta's eyes widened before he grimaced again. Nappa had been like his caretaker in the years he spent in Frieza's army. Although he wasn't too bright, he had trusted him more than anyone. Knowing how horribly he had died because of him was upsetting to say the least. Just another reason to hate the purple space lizard.
"I managed to escape before they got to me, and as I presumed myself to be the last of the Saiyans, it became my duty to take revenge on him for our race. I've spent years training and dodging his forces, but its still not enough," he continued, "So I started using a scanner to track power levels and see if I can find someone strong enough to either train me or help take out the over lord. That's when I discovered you. Several months ago I picked up a reading of immense power coming from this planet. It was only for a split second but I was still able to pinpoint it and track it back her"Now that I've found you two, we may actually stand a chance," Raditz said with a smile, "So I'll ask of you this: Come back to my ship with me. We can leave this rock and prepare to one day take on Frieza."
"As much as I'd like to, I'm afraid we can't," Vegeta stated.
Raditz gave a surprised look. "Why not?!" he questioned, "You said that's why you stayed on this planet in the first place."
"Yes, but things have changed," Vegeta explained, "We have more pressing issues at the moment. Currently we're trying to save this planet from a parasite that's ready to crack it open like an egg at any moment. We can't even begin to consider taking on Frieza until that's taken care of." Vegeta turned away from him and started walking back to the barn. "If you truly mean no harm to this place and there is no one tracking you down at this moment then you can stay, But we can't face him until this is dealt with," he finished, waving his hand in a dismissive motion.
Raditz growled. "What about Vegeta-Sai? And the Saiyan race? Are they not important to you anymore?" he demanded.
"Of course they are!" Vegeta snapped turning to him, "Revenge just isn't my first priority!"
"The fact of the matter is, the Saiyans and your planet are already gone," Piccolo chimed in, "The Earth isn't yet. The living take priority over the dead."
"The Earth is our home," Goku added, "It's our Vegeta-Sai...kind of. If you could have prevented your home's destruction, wouldn't you have?"
Raditz frowned before relenting. "Fine," he grumbled, "But once this is over with, I will not take no for an answer. I'll stay on this planet peacefully until then."
Goku fully relaxed and smiled. "Sounds like a plan," he said, "I'm sure we can find a place for you to stay in the meantime...Maybe here at the barn or my old room at the temple. Somewhere we can still keep an eye on you."
"I'd say not at the temple," Piccolo argued, "You may be willing to live here peacefully, but I still don't like the idea of have you around our house when we're not around. Plus there's the fact that civilians tend to hang around their."
"Whatever. So long as it's not outside," Raditz said as they all started walking towards the barn.
"Soooo….Just like that you guys invited a gigantic threat to live with you?" Yamcha asked.
"I guess," Goku said with a shrug, "I mean it's not the first time we did that. Peridot did try to kill us several times after all." "We should probably tell Gohan and the others about you before hand," he said, opening the barn door. "Steven! Connie! Gohan!" he called, "It's safe to come out."
Connie and Gohan peeked out of the door before scampering forward. Peridot peered out from her own hiding space but didn't budge. "Is the threat gone?" Connie asked. She squeaked as she felt a shadow fall on her, and turned to see Raditz looming over her. She and Gohan pressed together and backed away slowly. He stared down at them, seemingly analyzing them.
"Connie, Gohan, this is Raditz," Goku introduced, "He's going to be staying with us for a while."
"Um…nice to meet you?" Connie started, offering her hand. Raditz just stared at them.
"I can tell the one with a tail is a half breed, but what about the other one?" he asked Goku.
"That's Connie. She's just a regular human," Goku explained.
Raditz nodded before continuing. "And what about the other one...the Steven brat," he asked, "Is he a half Saiyan or a full blooded human?"
"Well...neither actually," Goku said, scratching the back of his head, "It's a bit complicated...wait a minute, where is he?" They all noticed that Steven hadn't come out of the barn yet.
"Steven?" Goku called. There was no response. "That's strange…he usually comes running immediately..." Goku scratched his head in confusion.
"We saw him run to the back of the barn," Gohan said, "he looked upset about something, but he told us to leave him alone."
"Hmm…" Goku said frowning, "I'll go see what he's up too."
….
Steven sat in the loft and hugged his knees. He just couldn't believe it. Not only had he been lied too, but the truth was absolutely horrifying! Vegeta wasn't just a murderer. He committed genocide! Most likely multiple times! All sorts of uncomfortable questions came to his mind. Was Vegeta assigned to destroy the Earth? How many planets had he destroyed before?...Did he enjoy it?...And if so, did he ever want to do the same to Earth now?
Steven shook his head. What was he doing?! This was his guardian! Vegeta risked his life for him before! He deeply respected his mother. He protected the planet from all sorts of monsters including invaders like Raditz! Even if he used to be evil, he certainly wasn't anymore, right?
"Steven?" he heard Goku call, "Where are you? I know you're here. I can sense you after all."
Steven sighed as he crawled out of his hiding place. "Hey…" he said.
"There you are!" he said, "I called for you earlier, but you didn't answer. Connie said you were upset. Is that true?"
"Yeah…" Steven trailed off, rubbing the back of his head. He didn't want to talk about this right now, especially not with Goku. He knew Saiyan stuff in general was a touchy subject with him, and he thought he knew why now. "I uh...was just a little angry you guys didn't let me help you defeat the bad guy," he lied.
Goku seemed to study him for a second. Steven was worried he had caught his lie. "Sorry about that Steven," he said, "but people like Raditz are a bit too powerful for you to handle. Maybe next time."
Steven inwardly sighed in relief as Goku accepted the lie. "Ok. So how did you defeat Raditz? Did you scare him off?" Steven asked as he got down from his loft.
"Well…" Goku said, scratching the back of his head, "No...not really. We didn't fight him at all actually…" "Infact...He's kind of...staying with us now…" Goku continued awkwardly.
Steven stared at him, flabbergasted. "What?!" he said, "But He's… I mean...Why? I thought you said he was dangerous?"
"We thought he was and technically, he still is," Goku explained, "But he didn't come here looking to hurt the Earth. He came looking for our help. He wants us to help him take down Lord Frieza."
Steven's eyes widened. "What about the cluster?" he asked.
"We're still working on that. In fact that's still our first objective," he explained, "So until we have that taken care of, he's just going to...hang around for awhile...mostly so we can keep an eye on him, but still. He'll be living in the barn here."
"Ok then…" Steven murmured, "I hope Peridot doesn't mind."
As they exited the barn, the party resumed...mostly. Everyone had a slice of cake, including Raditz. Upon taking his first bite, he proclaimed, "Now I think I get why you like this place so much!" Still there was a wary air as the festivities continued. People kept their distance from the new Saiyan, who honestly didn't mind. At some point he even decided to abandon the party and go inside the barn to start making a sleeping area for himself, much to the displeasure and distress of the green gem inside. This caused the tension to disperse greatly...for everyone except Steven. Although he still cared for his shorter Saiyan mentor, he couldn't stand within four feet of him or make eye contact with him now. Drumming up conversation was even harder, but at least he could excuse that by talking to others instead. He just hoped the prince didn't notice.
And you guys though I was going to make Raditz a villain. Nah, I have still have plans for him, so have some Radidemption instead!
On another note, I'm probably going to put this on hold for a few days. I need a short break from writing because this has managed to consume my life and I have other thinks I need to get done. Plus I still have a few things to figure out with the next chapter before I can write.
So until then, thank you all for reading! I really appreciate it!