Finally done! I literally just finished this. A bit late, but hey, now it gets to go out on the anniversary which is neat
ragnarok042501: thanks lol, but man this fic is one of the ways I keep track of the week. I feel weird if it's not up on time. Plus the comments I get is free dopamine, which is nice
guestyperson: weird lol
Raditz
"Welp, final day. Wanna check your progress?"
No. No he did not. Still, Raditz handed over his scouter regardless.
He fought the urge to tap his foot at the brat barely managed to put on the oversized scouter.
"Hmm, welp you're still a bit shy of a million, but over nine hundred thousand's not bad."
Raditz, didn't think what was said registered in his head until the brat looked up at him.
"…don't. Don't lie like that. It's not very nice," because by now he'd thought that the brat was above cruel jokes like that, but apparently-
"Why would I lie?" He tossed back the scouter, "what's even be the point of lying about a number still weaker than mine?"
Raditz didn't know.
…
Raditz would be lying if he said he'd slept the night before the supposed Androids were set to appear.
He could no longer pretend the purple kid was lying, Kakarot had already gone Super Sayain like he'd predicted, and well, he'd been born.
Raditz didn't even know why Kkrot still wanted him to go, sure, survival in numbers, but Kakarot was so much stronger that Raditz would only end up being a liability.
Whatever, it's not like it's the first time he's gone on a mission without proper rest. He'll just, stick to the side. Try not to get in the way.
Come morning, the brat looked worse off than he did. At least he knew well enough how to look like he wasn't about to combust. The brat looked tired and on edge.
It wasn't long until they left, and while the Namek being unable to accept care from anyone over four feet tall was amusing, it didn't do much to distract from what was to come.
Kakarot engaged in frivolous small talk on the way, first with the Namek, then with his short friend, Krillin.
(He'd learned their names out of convenience, that's all)
It wasn't long until they got to the meeting place and-
Why in the hell was Bulma here?
With her child no less.
(Reckless woman)
Nappa was hovering over Bulma as if some random attack was going to target her specifically.
Yeah, no, it was still amusing to see him act so fiercely protective over the "little prince."
Krillin questioned the father of the child and questioned if it was another of Kakarot's friend's.
From what he's picked up, that was her ex, which was an understandable assumption he supposed.
But, laughably incorrect.
His gaze strayed to the Namek brat. Which, ok, fine. He might have relented on the whole teaching thing. After he changed his ridiculous outfit. It didn't amount to much. A power level of a few thousand.
After the first try, the Namek brat had left with the statement of "you are not a good teacher," after having insisted that there was no such thing as a bad teacher, and then declared that he'd wait until the next lesson.
He might not know many children. But another has been added to the hated children list.
He leaned against the side of the mountain as the others waited impatiently. He rolled his eyes at the assumption that because it was a few minutes late the purple kid was lying.
(As though you wouldn't have jumped to it if you didn't already have proof otherwise)
Another of them came with those stupid magic beans. He hated that those were actually a thing. Magic healing beans. How ridiculous. He'd still be denying it if he didn't see one work for the brat firsthand after a day of training.
The bean delivery boy left and the waiting continued.
Is what he would have said if the man's car wasn't blasted out of the sky.
The Namek brat flew out to the rescue as the rest were focused on the Androids.
He pressed at his scouter as the group commented on not being able to sense their energy and was more disappointed than surprised when his scouter also came up with nothing.
He stated his assumption, that since their machines, they couldn't be sensed. It made sense, and nobody had any arguments-
"Or at least whatever's powering them we can't sense," of course the brat had an argument. If that even qualifies as one.
Instead of being annoyed, however, Raditz raised an eyebrow. For some reason, something in the brat's voice sounded almost, defensive.
Weird.
Everyone decided to split up and Raditz muttered angrily about it as he wandered around the city.
It didn't even make sense. If literally anyone other than Kakarot or the Namek, or maybe Nappa, runs into one of them they're basically just a walking corpse. If he runs into anyone the least hit suspicious he's turning the other way. And maybe informing the group after.
He kinda hated being able to sense whatever now. Especially in a goddamn city. He could block them out, but he had to focus on that. Sensing someone close to you is like remembering to manually breathe, once you do it, it takes forever to stop again. That was the worst part of staying at Capsule Corp. At least at Kakarot's place there were only three energies to disturb him.
Plus all the animals, but they're small enough to hardly notice.
Of course, it was also a lot easier to notice Kakarot's or the brat's, or even Chichi's energy.
Nope, Capsule Corp is still better overall. 100% less Kakarot.
His scouter blipped and only after making sure everyone else was already heading that way did he follow its source.
He got there and gosh golly who would have guessed but one of Kakarot's friends had been gored through.
Gosh g- goddamn he needed to spend less time around the brat.
The Android started speaking some backstory which, Raditz couldn't really care less about.
The Android "complied" with Kakarot's concerns setting half the city on fire.
Which got the expected reaction from him but really? Only half? Didn't Nappa level a whole city upon arriving? Weren't these guys supposed to be worse?
(Well no, in the future timeline they are still destroying stuff and killing people. If left to their own devices, Vegeta and Nappa would have killed everyone back then)
To preserve the rest of the city, Kakarot demanded they go somewhere else. And so they were flying again. And flying…and flying….
Ok what the hell? Since when did Kakarot prolong getting to a fight?
Eventually, the Android, the one who seemed to be in charge, demanded they stop and get on with it.
They landed, and more backstory.
Raditz, still didn't really care. There was no reason to believe it was the whole truth and it's not like it changed the end goal here.
Kakarot was, out of breath?
Odd…
Regardless, turns out that despite his spying, this Android 20 had no idea what a Super Sayain was.
Sucks to be him.
Especially as Kakarot powered up to be just that.
Even as he did, the Android looked no more concerned.
Obviously just unaware of the true power. He still wasn't risking scanning Kakarot with his scouter despite the improvements he's- Bulma's made over the years.
The fight with the other Android, the one who hasn't spoken much, began and it looked like Kakarot was doing well, and winning. Until he wasn't.
Raditz wasn't sure when exactly the turning point was, like hell he could keep up well enough to watch accurately, but at some point, Kakarot began to slow down.
The Namek seemed concerned and Raditz decided to risk scanning Kakarot after all.
As he'd expected, it was a disgustingly high number- except-
"Kakarot's power is lowering," he announced as if it was a casual statement.
"What do you mean it's lowering?" Krillin turned and asked.
"I mean, the number is going down," Raditz dryly pointed at his scouter.
"Yeah I got- never mind, how can it be going down if he's winning?"
"How should I know? I'm not the one fighting."
Bulma's ex thought the Android must have been draining Kakarot's power, because that's a thing they can do apparently, and as if to prove the point when Kakarot fired his beam attack, it vanished into the Android's palms.
Weird.
But then Kakarot continued to get worse. He was far more tired than he should have been after firing a single beam.
The Namek insisted that something else was wrong and as Kakarot lowered to the ground clutching his chest, the brat decided to speak up, "it's the heart virus. It must be getting to him now."
It was, oddly monotone, even for the brat. Kid watches his father collapse and, sure he looked worried, but no more so than he had at any other point in the fight, or that morning for that matter.
As the rest of the group fretted, Raditz stood silent. He felt, something, watching his brother in agony as the Android he'd been fighting took advantage of his weakened state.
He didn't like it.
They tried a bean, to no effect.
And as quick as he blinked, the golden glow of his hair flickered back to black.
Well that's not good.
Apparently having had enough, the Namek shot forward. The old-looking Android tried to stop him but was quite literally frozen in place by the, mime child (?)
Raditz wasn't really sure what he was now that he thought about it.
The new fight was considerably fairer. To the point where the other Android decided he needed to interfere and-
"Light of Death!"
Raditz's pulse shot up at the sight and sound of the attack. He was glad to be in the back of the group so no one else would notice his panicked breathing.
He forced himself out of it, tracing back to the source of the attack. It was the brat. It was just the brat. He didn't know when the brat learned that attack but whatever it's fine. The brat might be an annoying little shit but by now he was fairly confident that he wouldn't-
It was just the brat.
(He ignored the burning pain growing in his chest)
He forced his breathing under control and hoped no one noticed.
Oh hey, Vegeta's here. Bulma's ex took Kakarot back and now Vegeta was fighting the Android.
And then Vegeta was ripping the Android's arms off.
Despite himself, he couldn't help but feel impressed by the Prince's quick and thorough removal of the Android's existence.
And then that left the old man one.
Who promptly fled.
Joy.
Vegeta demanded one of those goddamn beans and took off after him.
Joy. The sequel.
And now they were searching.
Which for him equated to staying in the area so he doesn't look like a coward and standing with his back to a wall so nothing can sneak up on him.
He scanned the area to look like he was busy since the Namek brat decided to follow him. Not the brat. Not Krillin. Him.
Joy. The underwhelming threequel.
And he stayed like that until the Android was fighting the Namek and the Brat.
Or did the brat pick the fight? It was hard to tell.
He heard a blip on his scouter and looked over to see the purple kid, and some teenage girl.
He'd say they were too late, but considering the number inconsistency, their Androids might show up yet.
Then he heard a plane approaching. He looked over, it's not like he cared if some random civilian got shot down but-
Was that Bulma?
Goddamn reckless woman.
He'd be willing to bet she brought the baby purple kid with her.
Completely unsurprisingly, because what else would he have done, the Android shot Bulma's plane out of the sky,
The purple kid and Nappa immediately rushed to her aid.
Even Raditz felt a tad annoyed when Vegeta didn't so much as glance back.
The Android was gone and there wasn't much else to do but regroup by Bulma's tattered ship.
Where Bulma stated that the Android that they've been fighting was actually Dr. Gero.
He couldn't even bring himself to be annoyed.
As conversation continued the girl cut in, and now the purple kid being named Trunks and being Bulma's kid was common knowledge.
Then the brat questioned who the girl was. After some hesitation, she revealed her name as Clover.
Something about the girl's mannerisms itched at the back of his head.
He absorbed the new information being discussed on the side, only speaking up on the absurd topic of the actual Androids having infinite energy. Which made absolutely no sense, that would never be sustainable and even if it were, they'd have to overheat-
And now they were discussing Gero's lab and how to get there.
And now Vegeta was charging off again. The purple kid followed after. The girl after him.
After situating how Bulma was going to get back- the Namek brat- they also went to follow.
Damn, he should have volunteered to bring her back. That'd have been a good excuse to leave.
Flying in the direction Bulma indicated, they were once again baselessly searching.
Which for him once again translated to back to a wall and wait. This time he didn't even have to pretend to look because no Namek brat following him.
Ultimately, it was Krillin who found the lab.
Unfortunately, Gero had gotten there first and locked himself in.
By the time the door was broken down, which took an oddly long time, he was staring into the eyes of, were those teenagers? Early twenties at most. Or, at least whatever they were modeled after must have been.
Is half their threat a false sense of security? Because if so Vegeta was falling for it hook line and sinker.
It didn't take long for the dark-haired one to rip a hole through Gero's chest. And points for thoroughness because he then proceeded to decapitate and crush the Android scientist's head.
Honestly, would have been gruesome even by his standards if it had been anything other than wires and cooling liquid spilt.
The boy then proceeded to question why a child was there.
An odd thing for him to focus on.
The boy turned around and, the two were just ignoring us completely. Perhaps this was a good thing, as long as they didn't set them off maybe-
The purple kid blasted the Lab into dust.
Raditz cursed under his breath. Now not only was Gero's stuff gone, now they might have provoked the Androids into-
They woke up a third Android and flew away.
Well then. That's one problem avoided. Really weird, but fortunate.
And then Vegeta took off after them.
Really noticing a pattern here.
Also, the girl was oddly fussing over the brat, who had stumbled into a punch from Vegeta.
Because he was a child? Probably that. Regardless he made a mental note of it.
They, unfortunately, followed after Vegeta and the Androids.
If Vegeta wanted to die why not let him? It's not like anyone here liked him. Except maybe Nappa. And his future kid had incentive. But other than that, why bother?
They arrived and the brat went so far as to root for the Android. It was the girl Android who was fighting Vegeta,
And Raditz was, surprised. The brat had seemed so concerned this morning, and openly loathed the Android scientist, but the two that were actually supposed to destroy everything? And the brat had no issue?
It's not the oddest thing the brat has done, but still.
Weird.
The fight went, badly. The girl Android was barely putting any effort in as Vegeta wore himself down.
And then the Android broke his arm. Raditz winced at the injury.
But more than that, it was terrifying. He knew Vegeta. He knew the man had been working himself to the bone training. He knew the legend of the Super Sayain and how it was supposed to be unbeatable.
And here he was. Being well and thoroughly beaten.
So while most of the others rushed in to help, Raditz backed against the wall.
This wasn't his fight. It was never supposed to be his fight. He didn't- he couldn't- even if he jumped in there he couldn't make a difference.
He focused on something else instead. The girl. The one with the purple kid. Her hair now sparked that damnable blonde rather than the brown it had been before.
First, he cursed yet another goddamn Super Sayain, because apparently legends are just passed around like candy now.
Second, his internal jokes about Nappa getting one of his flings pregnant came back and- that's just great. He had firsthand proof that Nappa wasn't the best father figure. He was proof. Vegeta was even better proof.
Welp. Not his problem. It's not like he could do any better.
The distraction didn't last long as the entire group had been quickly defeated.
But as the two walked away, and back towards him, as well as Krillin and the brat who also didn't fight, Raditz frowned, activating his scouter.
They were all still alive. Hell, the mime kid didn't even seem injured.
Then the boy Android suggested they give them some of those beans.
They spoke to each other casually, and though they wanted to find Kakarot, that was the only malicious intent they'd stated.
And then the brat decided to make fun of the boy's socks.
And Raditz wished he was physically capable of strangling the brat.
Even then, while annoyed, the boy just turned and tried to ignore the brat.
As the two walked off to rejoin the one that had just been, standing there, Krillin shook himself out of his stupor.
He tried to reason with them, which, at this point did seem like the best option. He did come across as a bit desperate, quite literally begging for Kakarot's life but it was a better shot than rushing into a futile fight.
And then the brat made fun of the boy's socks again.
The girl was amused. The boy was not. He demanded they leave stating "before I reevaluate my opinion on beating up children," implying that no, he just plain was not going to fight the brat.
Made him wonder what he would have done if the brat had jumped into the fight with the others. Would he have ignored the brat? Pushed him off to the side as he fought the others? Or would he have justified it as the brat attacking first?
The girl then kissed Krillin on the cheek before leaving with the other two.
What the hell?
Whatever.
The Androids were gone and that's all Raditz cared about for the moment.
They gave the rest of the group some Senzu beans and explained what had happened.
Surprisingly, the Namek was the first one to storm off. The group, except for the brat seemed concerned until Krillin mentioned he was going in the direction of the lookout, whatever that was, and was probably going to fuse with Kami, the other Namekian on the planet.
Despite himself, he recalled how the Namek brat had described Namekian fusion. He was, uncomfortable with the concept.
"I don't get it, those Androids they- Shaylan?" The purple kid brought everyone to look back as a woman had landed behind them.
The woman waved off her companions' concerns and when Vegeta questioned her she didn't so much as flinch. Even when threatened she looked, amused if anything.
If the girl, who he was still assuming was Nappa's, had itched at the back of his mind, the woman was sending off alarms. His brain was screaming at him, saying that he should recognize her, but for the life of him, he couldn't place it.
And yet, when the triclops questioned if they knew her, she looked at him with disturbingly blank eyes before denying it.
He got his confirmation that the girl was Nappa's kid by just asking, that way he had nothing to distract from this new mystery.
(Other than the fact that Nappa was apparently so careless that he had no idea who the mother could even be)
One that was going nowhere even as they left.
As they flew he took notes on whatever she said. There's no reason to think that she wouldn't lie about any of it, but it's a well enough place to start.
She's met Kakarot, at least in her time.
It is unclear if this is something that changed in timelines. She changed the topic quickly on that subject.
Most of what she knows about him is still anecdotal.
She knows Bulma, enough so that she knows the details of the medicine and is trusted to train her child.
To that note, she is strong enough to train two super Sayains, and still be considered strong by them.
She has been fighting the Androids of her time alone for the past 17 years.
These ones were apparently stronger than those.
Even as they collected Kakarot he glanced at her as subtly as he could as she just, leaned against a tree, looking bored off to the side.
The brat had brought some weird rabbit toy as they left. It had the branding of that stupid show he liked on its tag.
The woman didn't talk much. She'd respond if spoken to directly, but other than that, she sat in the back as her two younger companions did all the speaking. She added a couple of comments, but only to add information that would have gone unsaid otherwise.
And she did not budge on giving any more information about herself when directly asked.
She was oddly standoffish with Chichi, who was being rather kind to her.
They had ended up calling Bulma, who then informed them of some second time machine? Which definitely fell under the category of not his concern so he didn't bother paying much attention.
The purple kid and the brat ended up going to check it out.
Nothing of note happened for the rest of the trip, however. If anyone focused for too long on the woman, Nappa's kid engaged them in conversation away from that but otherwise, nothing.
They settled Kakarot into a room and were just kind of, standing around. Waiting for something to happen.
It's not like they could go out and search for the Androids. They couldn't be sensed and well, fighting them didn't go over great the first time.
At least Nappa got to kinda smooth things over with his future kid.
Bulma's ex had eventually turned the television on, flipping through channels before pausing, lingering on one for a moment too long before calling for everyone else's attention.
Something, was happening on it. It was news coverage. And there were just, piles of clothes behind the reporter? As well as obvious screams in the background.
By the time the broadcast ended, with the assumed death of both the reporter and cameraman, as well as anyone else working there, the purple kid and the brat had shown up and managed to catch the end of it.
That was, something.
The brat had tried to sneak off, but Chichi prevented it. He seemed, really unnerved by the situation.
The future trio went off instead to check out what was going on.
Nappa decided to follow. Then apparently he changed his mind because he was walking back towards-
The next thing he knew he was being dragged out of the building by the collar.
His protests were in vain as he was only released after they were a fair bit away from the island, though not yet caught up with the trio.
"Ok, quickly. What did I do right raising you and Vegeta?"
Raditz gave him a blank look, "…do you want an honest answer or one that won't hurt your feelings?"
"Come on, seriously Raditz. I don't- I don't want to mess this up," there was a sincerity in his eyes that he still wasn't used to from Nappa.
Fine, what good, what good was there? "You didn't get us killed," he decided on.
Nappa stood there, as if expecting more.
"Nope. That's all I'm giving you."
He could have gone into the problems. How he clearly favored Vegeta after him. About how he did nothing but foster Vegeta's arrogance. About how he not only did nothing as Vegeta treated Raditz as beneath him, but encouraged and engaged in it himself.
But that, didn't seem appropriate when Nappa actually seemed to care for once.
"Look, it doesn't matter, right? You're not raising this one, you're just, interacting with her. She's already nearly an adult. And, for the one that's still going to be born, well, you'll have Bulma to keep you in check if you're so worried."
Nappa considered that, glancing back in the direction that the trio was still heading in.
"You're gonna be too late to catch up if you stick around for too long," he pointed out.
"Right ok, so how about this, if I can't figure out what to say for something, I'll look at you and you'll help me out, alright?"
"That's really stupid and it will be extremely obvious what you're doing."
Still, he once again wasn't given a choice as he was once again dragged along. Only released when they got close enough that it'd be too obvious that he was being physically dragged.
They flew to the now destroyed city and holy shit that monster was terrifying. And after it escaped, it was only more so by the Namek's explanation.
That was a big pile of nope he was not dealing with any of this.
So when Krillin brought up the idea of checking out Gero's basement lab, he jumped on it. He didn't even bother hiding his intentions.
(Basement lab means new science stuff)
The lab itself was hidden under the rubble of what the purple kid had previously destroyed. He didn't let either of the other two touch anything until he had gone through all the papers he could find, sealing them away into Capsules. Including one not so subtly labeled, Subject number 17.
Which, holy shit those were actually teenagers. Well, teenagers, plus however many years since they were first created, or, modified? Experimented on?
Whatever.
At least the two were like that, the third one was so different he wouldn't be surprised if there was a difference in their making.
Did that make a difference? It'd certainly explain some of how they acted. If the brat found out about this he'd definitely have some issues.
Hell, if Krillin found out about this, he was already gaining a crush on the girl, and was far too soft-hearted as it was, if he found out that they were actual people before-
He turned his head to see Krillin reading over his shoulder.
Well shit.
He quickly rolled up the paper and could only hope Krillin hadn't read that far. Most of it was schematics so it's possible he was just trying to figure out what any of that meant rather than reading the actual text.
The explanation sounded flimsy even in his own head.
Regardless, Raditz continued to seal up whatever odds and ends into capsules and wished he could do something to preserve that giant computer but he didn't exactly bring anything to upload anything into, and even if he did, he didn't trust anything Gero would have made with anything he could upload it to.
There's no telling if there was some virus waiting to destroy whatever it touched without Gero's input so, destroying the machine it was.
What a shame.
With the fetus Cell and everything left in Gero's lab atomized, it was decided that he'd bring back 17's blueprints so that Bulma could create an off switch. Or better yet, a self-destruct button.
And the Purple kid would try to reason with his father and try to train with him.
Raditz almost felt bad for the kid.
Krillin went back to meet with the others and he dropped off the blueprints.
Raditz was, quite tempted to just, stay there. It's not like anyone would really question it.
No, the brat would. Loudly. And then Nappa might complain he wasn't there if he was still having issues with his kid and-
Reluctantly he headed back. Directly to the pink house though, not anywhere that could lead to any person drinking bio Android.
He kept a constant eye on his scouter and when he saw a much of signals from a city drop off directly in front of him, he did not go in that direction. At all. In the slightest. He went so far around that it added an extra 10 minutes to his flight. Holy hell that was close.
Unfortunately, he go lay there just in time for them to try another bug-catching method, this time with an airship so that Cell couldn't sense them coming.
A decent plan. Except for the fact that he'd now be obligated to go.
Whoever happened to not leaving Kakarot here alone? Couldn't he just-
Wait no, then he'd have to deal with the Androids when they inevitably came here to look.
Fuck no. At least with the group, he was so minimal a threat he was likely to be ignored.
And then Kakarot showed up. In the airship. Not sick.
The hell? They were just at the pink house and Kakarot was, doing better sure, but he was still out cold-
Whatever. It was Kakarot. He needed to stop questioning anything that happens around him.
After the shock of Kakarot's return died down he mentioned something called a hyperbolic time chamber? That they could have used this whole time? What the hell?
Whatever. He was now going to be offering it to Vegeta and his kid, and then go in with the brat after.
For now though, the brat decided to stay here.
And the next search for the bug came up empty.
It was a failure for the rest, but to Raditz, he was glad. At the moment the only one who could do anything was the Namek. And with how quickly Cell was absorbing cities of people, how long until he passed him?
Or was it already too late?
Raditz wasn't looking forward to rolling that die and so he was perfectly happy to not find Cell. Just wait for Vegeta to get out of the chamber and have him deal with it. Win-win. Well actually, win-lose. Cell would be dead but Vegeta would be strongest again.
Until Kakarot got out at least which, still not really a win, but better than Vegeta being the strongest.
Regardless they went back to the pink how and sat twiddling their thumbs as they waited for another city to start to die.
"Are you drawing on your arms?" Raditz asked as when he looked over he saw the woman, drawing on her heavily scarred arms in permanent marker.
"Yeup," she didn't so much as pause as she just turned her arm to continue a line.
"Why?"
"Why not?"
And again, something in the back of Raditz's mind was screaming at him to recognize the woman but he still could not place where. Something about the flippancy in her voice was just itching at him.
It wasn't long until the woman got too antsy waiting here and decided to go off and look on her own. Raditz had no idea what she thought she'd gain from that.
Eventually, the fact that they'd all been up for nearly 24 hours was starting to catch up and they decided on shifts to sleep in.
Which meant that he finally got to go to sleep and ignore everything that was going on for a while.
…
He woke up to the sound of the brat walking, which was odd in itself considering the brat didn't have a night watch and he would have been woken up before that.
The brat opened the door and on the other side stood Android 17.
"Hi. Is Goku home?"
"No."
The brat shut the door in his face.
…
"That, would be really funny if it wasn't also terrifying," Bulma's ex said quietly. Raditz couldn't help but agree.
He could come to appreciate the brat's ability to make such absurdly strong threats, not seem like threats.
Regardless they were dealing with the Androids again, and after making fun of the boy's socks again, or rather, lack thereof, the brat decided to try to warn them about Cell.
The boy did not believe him.
Which brought up the implication that they didn't even know.
So, Gero experimented on teenagers, then created a monster meant to kill said experiments, because he didn't like them, and they didn't even know.
Of course, there was also time travel involved, because why wouldn't there be, but still.
The Namek decided that he'd fight them instead and as they left, Raditz found he, wasn't worried. The Namek was now stronger than all of them and he was fairly confident that even though the brat did follow, the Androids wouldn't try and use him as leverage.
That was, he wasn't worried until well into the fight his scouter blipped and another power level was rapidly heading towards them.
He could feel the fighting stop before it began again, this time against the new person there.
Except, it wasn't a fight. Not really. The Namek was severely outclassed and he could assume the same of the Androids.
In a frustrated rage, the triclops rushed towards them. Despite surely knowing he stood no chance.
And Raditz too, knew that he could not make a difference. That there was absolutely nothing he could do to make any difference. Not in strength, or in speed, or any special attack.
So why then, did he find himself flying over there as well?
There was no one dragging him. There was no one to impress. It was widely accepted as the stupid thing to do.
So why was he?
He didn't know.
All he knew was that he got there just in time to see the Namek tossed into the ocean.
The brat looked terrified. Which was jarring in of itself. Because he hadn't seen the brat look anywhere close to scared since, the first time they'd met.
The brat didn't get scared. He, supposedly, fought against Frieza. He insulted Vegeta to his face. He looked at one of the Androids prophesied to destroy the world and made fun of his outfit.
The fact that the brat not only looked scared, but to the point where he couldn't move- proven further by the fact that the Android had to physically pull him away before he was skewered.
It did two things. First, it made the monster seem even more terrifying.
And second, it made the brat look even more like a child.
So when Kakarot showed up to teleport the brat away he was (relieved) glad for it. Because now the brat wasn't in (danger) the way.
As that had happened the woman showed up. And, she had to have known the fight was futile. If she was around the same strength as the Androids of her time, there was no way she could keep up with this monster.
Still, she removed her jacket, and her hair sparked blonde.
And Raditz, wasn't necessarily surprised she was a Sayain. There just weren't many other explanations for her power. But goddamn if it didn't throw about a dozen more reaches into figuring out who she was because there just wasn't anyone in the age range-
Whatever. He pushed it off to the side and refocused on the futile fight.
She put up a valiant effort, however. She ducked and weaved through attacks smoothly. Never fully taking her eyes off her opponent.
The bigger Android took the opportunity to try and drag the boy Android away, who's eyes were locked on the fight.
Still, even as she avoided just about any attack, the few she was able to get on him, did absolutely nothing to slow or derail the monster.
Eventually, she jumped back, flying up into the air as she looked down at him.
The lines she had drawn on her arms earlier glowed white as she extended them to her opponent, "TIRO FINALE!"
A Golden beam overtook Cell.
But still, as the smoke cleared, and he came out having cleanly blocked it, not even the woman looked surprised. Just, tired.
The fight started back up, but the woman was no longer as smooth in her movements. Evidently, she had put too much energy into the bean attack. She took one hit, and then another, this one slicing a cut through her shirt and into her stomach.
The woman tried to break away, assumably to catch her breath, but the second her eyes were removed from Cell-
He had shot a blast into her stomach.
He didn't even bother with a follow-up, only dropping her to the ground and stalking back over to his true prey.
He wasn't, really aware of what happened after that. He was too focused on the woman.
It was, wrong to let a Warrior die alone.
He lowered to the ground and knelt by her side. Her eyes squinted open as he place a hand on her shoulder.
"…oh.." her voice was forced, "hey Radish."
"…What?"
Her eyebrows furrowed, confused. Which, no, of course. That was a ridiculous assumption. It's not like the only person to ever call him that- even Vegeta used to when they were kids.
But then a realization hit her eyes, "…oh, oops…I was, doing so well too…"
Every puzzle piece infuriatingly snapped in place at that moment.
He wasn't given much time to dwell on it, as the woman was speaking again, "hey…don't tell anyone…that wouldn't be fair to….and don't tell Trunks I- he'd get angry and, do something stupid. Clover too, but, she can probably sense that, something happened."
"Would you quit worrying about them? That's not what's important now, just, hold on I'll figure something-"
And he cursed himself and the group for using up all the Senzu beans earlier. They didn't have to give one to Vegeta. Certainly not two.
(If they didn't you still wouldn't have one with you)
"Of course I do," she still insisted on speaking, "They're the only reason I've, managed to go on this long. Besides…if I don't then, I have to think about myself, and I don't want to…" her breathing sped up and she screwed her eyes shut.
In his utter helplessness in the situation, he settled on holding onto her hand.
"…I'm scared…" something broke in her voice, "I'm not supposed to be scared."
"Like hell you're not! Of course you're- just, hold on, I'm sure someone will come with one of those beans and you'll be fine, just, don't-" he wasn't sure how to finish that sentence.
"I don't want to die."
"You're not-" but Raditz stopped himself, because he didn't have to turn on his scouter to know her energy was quickly depleting.
If someone didn't show up soon-
"Look, ok, even if you do, somehow die. It won't be for long. The Namek planet still has Dragon Balls, and Kakarot can teleport, so that's always an option right? A couple days, at most."
(They wouldn't leave her.)
"And, I've died before, it's not, it's not that bad. Well, I went to hell…but you certainly won't! It's, it'll be fine. But that doesn't matter! Because you're still going to be fine. Just, a couple more minutes, I'm sure someone-"
But even as he spoke he felt her grip loosen, and her blinking got slower, never quite bringing her eyes all the way open.
"…'m sorry…"
"What?"
"…you shouldn't…have to…" but she never finished that sentence. Her eyes remained half open, blank in a way that proved that they never were truly blank before.
He, slid them closed with his other hand.
Not twenty seconds later did he feel Kakarot's hand on his shoulder, and in the next moment, he was kneeling on tile instead of dirt.
"I'm sorry," Kakarot had said, "a Senzu bean isn't going to help," which he already knew. Raditz already knew that. He knew it too well.
Kakarot had placed a hand on her shoulder. As if that was splice enough. As if it wasn't his own who just-
He didn't know. Kakarot didn't know she was his. Why didn't he know? Weren't you supposed to? If you had a child? Weren't you supposed to just know?
But Kakarot didn't. So he couldn't be angry for that. But he damn well could be mad for the fact that it took so long for Kakarot to get there. What possible excuse could he have?
"Why in the goddamn hell didn't you do that thirty fucking seconds sooner?" He could feel the rage in his voice, and he couldn't bring himself to care.
It took Kakarot off guard, "I came as soon as I could-"
"Bullshit. You can bounce in and out all you want." Because he was a goddamn teleporter and-
"Why do you care?" Raditz's eyes snapped over to the brat. His (her?) eyes were red and just looked tired.
He quickly looked away. He didn't even want to begin to think about any of the implications-
He was almost glad when Kakarot spoke up again, "Yeah, I mean, it's good that you care, but you never get this worked up about anything. You didn't even blink when the first Androids killed half a city,"
You- you- forget it," Raditz settled on, no less rage in his voice, "how long until that stupid time chamber opens?"
"Very soon now," Raditz first noticed another, person, in the room. He didn't even want to try and describe this one.
"Fine then," Raditz picked her up in his arms, "she didn't want the purple kid to know right away."
"Follow me then, I will find a place for her, for now."
So he did. The new person insisted that while she was, wherever he brought him, no sort of decomposition would set in. So they'd have plenty of time to- not that it would take long. He wouldn't let it. Not this time.
"Why do you care?"
Thebrat's voice came back to him as the person left.
Which was annoying, because he didn't. He didn't care.
He didn't care that the brat brought him back to life.
He didn't care that he had a, talking relationship with his brother.
He didn't care that he had something to do other than getting beat up all the time.
He didn't care that he had more than two people who half tolerated his existence.
He didn't care that they had made Nappa tolerable to be around.
And he definitely didn't care that he didn't realize that the woman was the adult version of the brat until she was literally dying at his feet.
He didn't care.
He didn't-
…
Goddamn it.