Merry Christmas! I'm glad I could get this chapter out by Christmas Day. It's quite a bit lighter than the previous ones, and I found the overall focus very much in keeping with the season. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and thank you for reading!

AnonymousDBZFan, I am like, physically restraining myself from spilling the beans on a few things because you are so on track with a bunch of ongoing issues in this story, lol. I'm so happy that this story is engaging enough that you are formulating some very on point hypotheses!

Vegeta has long struck me as the tough love type - or at least, he did once he was a father for a few years. He's one to say, 'Sack up and quit your bitching or you'll lose.' This is sort of a case of takes one to know one, even though it makes Vegeta a bit of a hypocrite (something he's shown himself to be from time to time even in canon). He knows that being stuck in the past will keep you, well, stuck. He didn't dwell on the destruction of his planet or the death of his father. He looked to the future of obtaining absolute power and overthrowing Frieza, and that was it. The thing is, a person can stuff that baggage down and not acknowledge it, but still be dragging it with them all the same.

In this story, Vegeta's haunted by his latest mistakes that barred him from a potential life of bliss. He hates that he's struggling to let it go and move on, and he projects his self disgust (and guilt for past actions) onto the young Familia in the chapter "Susmir". The Familia indeed have every right to feel their resentment, but they only keep themselves in purgatory with the ones they loathe the most as long as they do so. As Vegeta said, in regards to leaving the purgatory of Nav, 'Of course it's easier said than done. It doesn't mean it can't be done.' The Familia can indeed move on at any time. Subconsciously, they simply choose not to.

...I'm big into the subconscious btw, lol.

Reconciliation

It was a night like any other. The returning fighters filed out of the Fire of Life before the Tournament officially commenced. Then, at last, a pair of familiar silhouettes emerged from the flames. Nappa and Raditz had finally returned. Touketsu was aware but unmoved that he wasn't the slightest bit interested to see how much stronger they'd become. He was not salivating in anticipation of at last having a worthy opponent, one that challenged him and got his battle blood pumping. It was as though his heart had long stopped beating. The two Saiyans took their places along the wall, and he paid them no more attention.

Raditz could feel Nappa's eyes on him. He looked over, his brows creasing together at his stoney expression. "What?"

"I never asked ya that night, after your loss." Raditz's jaw clenched at Nappa's emphasis on the word. The general dropped his voice to a whisper. "What the hell was that?"

Raditz squinted in confusion. "What the hell was what?"

"What the hell came over you? Ya coulda' won if you hadn't dragged it out, Mid-class. It's like ya fuckin' enjoyed it. Enjoyed…tryin' to humiliate the very symbol of our people!" Nappa sputtered, barely restraining himself from outright yelling. "Right out the fuckin' gates you were throwing insults at our prince like he was beneath you! YOU, a piece of Mid-Class trash!"

Raditz gaped before scowling furiously as he leaned towards Nappa. "This Mid-Class piece of trash mopped the floor with you just a few times, old man," He hissed, jabbing a thumb at himself. "And I recall you telling me that he was no more Saiyan than my treacherous little brother!"

Nappa stood trembling in fury. "He isn't anymore. An' that ain't somethin' to celebrate, you stupid shit! Damn it, I had to convince your cowardly ass to not hold back, and then you ended up makin' a game outta that match!"

Raditz snarled angrily. He'd been reluctant to kill Vegeta, knowing that he couldn't just come back like the other Inimicus. That changed after Nappa opened his eyes to what their prince truly was: a tyrannical betrayer of the Saiyan people, just like their Icejin overlord. Once he accepted that fact, Vegeta had become a traitor worthy of derision. He was no prince of his. "Are you forgetting just who sent you to Hell, Nappa?"

Nappa growled. He wished he could. Being unceremoniously disposed of only reminded him of his failure to shield the king's son from corruption. "No."

"Is that how Saiyan loyalty would be rewarded? He betrayed us, Nappa. I finally accepted the facts when I saw what he'd literally become. Truth without, yes?"

"Tch. You woulda' made a better scholar than a warrior, egghead."

"Huh. Just who are you calling an egghead?"

Nappa cuffed him on the side of the head. "Cram your jokes, smart ass! You were supposed to execute him quickly and respectfully, end the royal bloodline with some dignity and honor, damn it!" Nappa snarled at the embarrassing memory of the two younger Saiyans grappling around on the arena floor like a couple of schoolyard boys. "Because of your shitting around he's still stuck in that insulting form! You almost had 'im!"

Raditz grit his teeth. He could scarcely recall what transpired after Vegeta bit him while they were both Oozaru. All he could remember was an insatiable battle lust like none he'd ever experienced. It felt unquenchable, and damned if he didn't want to keep drinking in the high of conquest from that bottomless cup, to see the pain and fracturing confidence in his opponent's face, to drag out his enemy's precise moment of defeat, to watch his spirit die slow. He could have watched that for eternity…

Raditz looked away, frowning as he crossed his arms. "Maybe I lost objectivity," he grumbled.

"Ya think?" Raditz's head snapped back to him. "Ya better bring your A-game tonight, Runt," Nappa snarled, jabbing a thick finger at him, "'cause I'm gonna slaughter you. I don't trust you to not embarrass the Saiyans again." Raditz looked away petulantly, the muscles in his jaw flexing in anger over the general's reprimands.

4th Quarter. Touketsu watched stoically as his two cohorts powered up to Super Saiyan before climbing up to another level, their sun-yellow auras taking on a deep, burnished gold and blue voltage coursing up and down their bodies. They had attained Super Saiyan 2.

Nappa showed a self control that he'd never exhibited before in life. His face hard and his normally chaotic battle lust channeled decisively in every strike, he quickly wore Raditz down. With one last well-aimed punch from a battering ram of a fist, Raditz's head spun 180 degrees, his neck broken. Nappa's expression hard and all business, he picked up the body and threw it into the flames, turning to face the Imperial Box before the corpse even disappeared from view.

"Next is General Nappa versus Prince Vegeta!"

Touketsu had been taking notes. Typically when a Saiyan broke through his limitations and learned a new technique, he could resort to it with ease in the future. If Raditz had been able to obtain Super Saiyan 3 again, he would have transformed the moment he began to lose to Nappa. Apparently, any breakthroughs attained through the dark ki's influence were maintained only so long as there was give and take with Touketsu's power. There was no danger of that now. In the emotionally dead state of the Void Transformation, he'd maintain control, Zhernobog would receive no energy, and there would be zero risk of lending Nappa fuel for his fire.

There would be no challenge in this match. As always. Touketsu entered the arena and faced his opponent. The gong sounded. His body descended into flat blackness, cobalt light pulsing once through his markings before disappearing. A shadow clad in armor, heavy black smoke drifting down from his form, he waited. Nappa roared and again ascended to Super Saiyan 2. With a speed unlike any the immense warrior ever had, he rushed the black demon standing stoically before him.

Nappa doubled over Touketsu's fist, and his Super Saiyan 2 transformation snuffed out. Nappa drew in a wheezing breath as he looked over at the demon prince that had sidestepped to his left; Touketsu was looking straight ahead, his dull, red eyes the only feature visible on his face. The Saiyan general began to straighten when his whole body buckled, his lower vertebrae crumbling after the concussive force of the attack; it was as though the bones had aged and turned to dust.

He fell onto his back, blood bubbling from his lips before coming out in a spray when he coughed. Nappa winced as he tried raising his head, the audience cheering around the both of them. He dropped his head to the ground with a grunt, his eyes squeezing shut. He had never felt like giving up so quickly; It was like his very will had been knocked right out of him. His brows furrowing, Nappa opened his eyes to the shadow looking down on him. His adversary's very presence was a black mirror reflecting his failure back at him. Not his failure in the arena…

But his failure to his prince.

Unbidden, Nappa's eyes began to burn. The dark creature looming over him wavered and swam like smoke as threatening tears began to warp his vision. Dishonored. The last of the Saiyans, their small band of three, were dishonored. That was their legacy. Not able to bear the sight any longer, Nappa gathered the decaying shreds of his will and forced his trembling arm up, his hand held out to his one-time ward and prince as he gathered a weak ki blast.

Touketsu just stood over him and watched. He reached down and grasped Nappa by the hand, his black, smoky aura instantly smothering the shuddering ki in Nappa's palm. With a powerful jerk of his arm, he hauled Nappa up to his knees.

Touketsu had seen something in that moment. In spite of the emptiness, in spite of feeling nothing at all, something had barely breached through the darkened swamp of his soul. Emotionless as he was, he recognized that it wasn't a desire that was beginning to surface. It was a need. It was a need that had been building and stalking him for quite some time. He needed to say this. Perhaps his ego wouldn't let him say it before. In the Void Transformation, his ego was dead.

Touketsu looked at the huge man that was practically eye level with him even on his knees. "Nappa," he spoke softly.

Panting, sweat beading his bald head, Nappa regarded him with what could only be described as regret. Touketsu's lifeless eyes grew duller still.

"I'm sorry."

Nappa's expression softened in bewilderment, and Touketsu drove his arm through his gut. The immense man gasped, pitching forward as Touketsu dropped to his knees across from his dying comrade. Nappa slumped over his shoulder, and Touketsu's hand came up to steady him. The prince stared sightlessly forward, listening to the dying breaths of the man he'd known since childhood, the man he'd known longer than his own father. The darkness began to lift from his body.

"I'm sorry, Nappa," he whispered, so quietly no one but his former bodyguard could hear. "I am. I'm sorry I became this. I'm sorry Frieza won," he rasped, his face barely tightening. "I'm sorry…for betraying you, for betraying the memory of our people. I'm sorry."

Nappa died, and the now pale Touketsu withdrew his blood coated arm to the cheers of the crowd. He stood and scooped up the body gently, and the crowd's cheering tapered off to confused murmurings. Levitating into the air, he carried the body before the bonfire. Closing his eyes and lowering his head, he let the body drop into the inferno below.

The gong sounded. "This concludes this evening's Tournament! The Fallen, if you so choose, rise and join us at Susmir!"

Hovering in the air, Touketsu opened dispassionate eyes, ready to tear off into the sky and leave the arena behind like he did every night. He hesitated. It was as though speaking to Nappa had shaken something loose, disrupting the mindset of the unfeeling automaton that he had perfected through his months of training. There was a seeping sense of dishonor. Guilt. Shame. It was unpleasant, jarring. Strangely, it was not entirely unwelcome. He was brought back to the moment he stepped foot in Marenna's palace, when he was soon assaulted with hunger pains. It was…good to feel something. Anything.

He wouldn't avoid this time. If Nappa and Raditz returned, he'd look them both in the eyes before he left. Lowering himself back to the arena floor, he crossed his arms and faced the Fire of Life. The dead filed out in droves, moving around Touketsu like water around a stone as they made their way to Susmir. Nearly all had emerged from the flames and departed by the time two familiar forms walked from the flashing fire.

Nappa and Raditz slowed to a stop. The three Saiyans were now the only ones left standing in the arena. Frowning a little, Raditz looked away and made to move on when Nappa grabbed him by the arm, stilling him. Nappa's eyes were trained on Touketsu's. The general believed that Vegeta had become a living symbol of Saiyan subjugation under Frieza. After Vegeta spoke to him, he realized something: The Saiyan race was still vocal within the prince.

Back straight and head held high, Touketsu only gave Raditz a cursory glance out of the corner of his eye before looking to Nappa. He gave a short nod of his head, then turned away. He was just about to take to the air when a big hand landed on his shoulder. He stiffened, but didn't shrug it off. Nappa was most definitely faster than he used to be.

"Where are you going, Vegeta?"

Now he did shrug off Nappa's hand. "Not your concern."

"Wanna grab somethin' to eat?"

"I don't eat at that place."

Nappa hesitated. He hadn't seen Vegeta at the dining hall that first night either. That must have been ages ago. What was he trying to do, starve himself? "Where the hell you been eating then?"

"Elsewhere."

Raditz, who had been hanging back behind Nappa, stepped forward. "What have you been eating? There isn't anything on the outskirts that can sustain energy long." He looked at Touketsu warily. "This…form doesn't require energy to-"

"You can cram it, you low class runt!" Touketsu whirled on him, his anger exploding when Raditz hit a sore point. "My appearance is none of your business!"

Raditz's eyes narrowed. I think it is. He'd witnessed something transpire between the two from his benched position in the flames, but he was suspicious. Nappa had always been loyal to a fault when it came to the prince. Raditz however was loyal to the Saiyan people, rejecting his own brother when he proved to be a traitor. In his eyes, the prince no longer represented their race. He'd become the embodiment of Frieza, and he was likely every bit as manipulative.

"Come on, Vegeta," Nappa said. "Get something to eat and drink."

Touketsu glanced over at the general. He just gave a short shake of his head before turning away, still ruminating over how quickly Raditz had gotten under his skin. After all his training in detachment, that shouldn't have happened.

Nappa's mustache twitched. Let's see how much he's changed. "Hey, ya never know!" he called out after him. "Could be your last chance!"

What?! Jaw dropped open incredulously, Touketsu whirled around and his eyes narrowed. He stomped back up to them. "You didn't just insinuate that either of you have a snowflake's chance in hell of ever defeating me, did you?"

Nappa submerged his smirk and shrugged. "I came pretty damn close that first time." He nudged a guarded looking Raditz in the arm with an elbow. "The Runt here coulda' won if he hadn't fucked around."

They were both punched in their mouths in quick succession. On their backs, they looked up at the demon prince who was now glowering down at both of them. "Almost winning isn't winning. For a dead man you sure talk a lot, idiot," Touketsu snarled at Nappa. "Now, I suggest you two go and dine with the other losers before I knock out any more of your teeth."

Nappa pushed himself up into a sitting position and wiped the blood off his nose, his spirit body rebounding almost instantly. "One drink, Vegeta. Last time we hit a bar us two were still alive," he said flicking his head towards Raditz. "Come on, beer's on me."

Touketsu's lip curled in annoyance as he watched the two Saiyans get back to their feet. "The drinks there are free, dumbass."

"And that's good 'cause I don't have any money."

Touketsu's nose twitched, and he turned away when he came dangerously close to smiling. He waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Forget it."

"What, the company that bad? You hated eatin' in the mess hall with the other PTO soldiers too, but that never stopped you. Fuck em. Take full advantage of what Queeny has to offer, that's what I say."

Nappa certainly had a way of spinning things. Touketsu hesitated and looked back to the two, actually finding himself considering. He'd been slowly starving, in several aspects, he realized. His body was malnourished, his battle spirit malnourished. Now, looking at his two old cohorts, he conceded that perhaps he'd also been starving for some company. Not just any company, but the company of his own tribe.

He glanced over at Raditz, and his gaze darkened. Raditz had surprised him when they faced off in the arena, and not in an entirely good way. He was pleasantly intrigued to find that the life long weakling and coward of the group had done some growing after death. The disrespect his underling had thrown at him however had blindsided him. Had the Mid-Class always harbored this disdain for his better? Touketsu's fur and mane bristled, his pride prickling at the thought of a lowly soldier looking down his nose at him. Bardock's boys were on his last nerve, the insubordinate shits.

Touketsu huffed through his nose and gave Nappa a conceding nod. "You're right, Nappa." he said gruffly, and he looked at Raditz. "Fuck 'em." Raditz's eyes narrowed ever so slightly more.

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Nappa crowed, not picking up on the glare-down between the two younger Saiyans as he walked ahead. "Let's eat and drink 'til they're forced to shut the place down!"

Beer and food were consumed quickly and in silence by the Saiyan trio seated at a round table away from others. As they began to fill up and the beer continued to relax, so did tongues. All three of them now sporting a healthy flush across their cheeks and over the bridges of their noses, Nappa and Raditz were mired deep in a conversation about their training. Touketsu meanwhile was concentrating on several plates of ikayaki.

"I don't get it," Nappa said. "I shoulda been able to reach that level again, 'specially after training for a while."

"I had the same problem," Raditz grumbled, picking up his horn tankard of beer and taking a swig. "Hell, if I could have reached that level again, I would have taken you out no problem."

Nappa glared. "Oh you think so, Runt?"

"Yup."

"Hn. Guess we'll never know," Nappa drawled sarcastically. He glanced over at Touketsu who was consuming his food at a highly efficient pace. "Hey Vegeta, any training tips?"

Touketsu bit down on his growl, his mouth full of grilled squid. Some things never changed. Ever since he proposed tail training and shared Bardock's ground-breaking simulated moonlight technique, Nappa had tried to pick his brain for more tips. Swallowing his food, he reached for his tankard. "I highly suspect you reached those levels with my help."

"Heh, well yeah. A challenge will do that for yah."

He took a drink. "No. I mean there is no way you can reach that power again without me." Correctly interpreting their silence for confusion, he put down his tankard and gave them his full attention. "When I land a punch on you, it isn't just your body reacting. My energy is channeled into you and feeds the power you already have. In fact, if you so much as come in contact with my aura, your battle fury is bolstered. This isn't something you can tap into, because it doesn't come from you, get it?"

He could practically see the tiny gears in Nappa's big, bald head turn. His sweaty face flushed with alcohol, the big Saiyan's response was predictably enthusiastic. "Yeah? Well let's finish up here and do some sparring!"

"Did I say I'd help you?" He sneered. "It would be pointless. My energy can potentially unlock a new transformation, but the berserker state also inhibits self awareness. Once the battle haze lifts you won't remember how to replicate it. Didn't you consider that's why you've been unable to reach that level again?"

"Well ya never know 'till ya try," Nappa shrugged. "If I can get there again maybe it'll stick this time."

Touketsu bristled at Nappa's ignorance of the dark ki and its cancerous effect on his body. He was fighting it every day. Naive idiot…all about the power, not realizing what sort of sacrifices it demanded. Just like himself. "I've given you enough of an edge even sharing this bit of knowledge with you. Fool. You have no idea the cost for this power," he grumbled into his tankard. He took a big swig, and his ever loosening tongue completely unraveled. "I'd give it all back if I could."

Touketsu realized what he said the instant those words left his mouth. He couldn't take it back, though. He set his tankard down and grabbed his chopsticks, plucking a piece of tamagoyaki from his plate and keen on moving past the moment.

"You're stuck in this transformation, aren't you?" Raditz asked, his filter long gone. Touketsu dropped the chopsticks with a clatter as he looked sharply up at him.

Nappa looked at the two before casually taking a drink. He knew that this was Vegeta's base form now. The night he returned to Susmir he had spoken to the other Inimicus about him, and they had never seen him transform into anything other than those shadow-darkened versions.

"What happened to you, Vegeta?" Raditz prodded.

After several seconds Touketsu turned away and picked up his tankard, considering. There was no easy way to explain this whole convoluted, unfortunate affair, especially when he himself was missing so many pieces. After his death on Namek, everything that happened afterwards was like bits and pieces of a dream. He'd made the decision to step back from that dream life, hadn't he? It was irrelevant now, and he didn't answer to his two underlings. He'd simply pick up where he left off - when he awakened to his true identity on that rooftop.

"I'll grace you two with the abridged version," he said finally. "After Earth, I went to planet Namek for the Dragon Balls…and I faced Frieza," he stared straight ahead, aware that he had their full attention. He raised the tankard to his lips. "I died. And I woke up like this." He tipped back his drink, effectively signaling that he was finished speaking on the matter.

Nappa and Raditz glanced at each other, unnerved. Somehow, the prince had come back to life as a demon, one that was indelibly marked by his executioner. "I'm sorry, Vegeta," Nappa said somberly.

"Yes, you've said that" he replied dryly, idly tracing a groove in the wood table with his claw.

"The king made me your personal bodyguard, and I completely failed." Raditz looked away and busied himself with his own drink, uncomfortable with witnessing the general's uncharacteristic soul baring.

"I don't know what the fuck you expected," Touketsu snarled quietly. "I was the strongest Saiyan to be born in a thousand years, for gods' sakes. What the fuck could a weakling like you protect me from?" He sneered as he looked up. Nappa looked away, which only pissed Touketsu off further. He'd become painfully aware of just how much Frieza had influenced him as a youth, so it both rankled and shamed him that his bone-headed bodyguard of all people was aware of this too. "Your blubbering and hand wringing is embarrassing all three of us, Nappa. Obviously I've gone through some changes, and apparently so have you two. What kind of hells did you go through to compel you to rip out your spine and gift it to Raditz there?" He said, nodding his head towards the Mid-Class.

Nappa shrugged self consciously. "Been thinking, that's all."

"You? Thinking? Huh. You have changed," Touketsu smirked, and Nappa's thin mustache quirked up into a wry smile. Touketsu's amusement faded. "Nappa. There's a reason why Frieza had acquired such a far reaching empire. His power wasn't limited to his physical abilities. He was diabolical in his intelligence and strategy. To compare yourself to him, in strength and wits, is nothing short of asinine."

Nappa knew that his transformed former ward was offering him absolution in his own denigrating way. Still, he couldn't shake his sense of personal dishonor for having failed the responsibilities appointed to him. "Vegeta," he sighed. "You were a kid. I-"

Touketsu slammed his drink on the table, sending froth up into the air and making his cohorts straighten in their seats. "Fuck you!" he snapped as he shot to his feet. He planted his hands on the table as he leaned forward. "Even as a child I was smarter, stronger, and more capable than any other Saiyan, much less you two morons," he said, training an angry finger at both of them. He glanced at his white hand and clawed index finger, and his indignant rage tempered. His hand curling into a fist, he sat back down. "Frieza succeeded in changing me, yes. I realized that after facing him. But you listen to me, Nappa," he said as he raised his eyes back up to him. "That's on me, so get over it. I'm my own man, and you are not my fucking nanny."

Nappa blinked, and he snorted. Touketsu's mouth twitched up into a smirk. Nappa began to chuckle, and Raditz looked away as he began to do the same in spite of himself. Touketsu started to laugh, and soon Nappa erupted into great brays of laughter, his giant hand covering his sweaty face.

Still chuckling, Touketsu took another drink. He settled back, eyes closed and a satisfied smile on his face. "Take heart, Nappa. It was in this form that I destroyed Frieza body and soul." He gloated when their tapering chortles turned into dead silence, and he looked back to them. "That's right. I sought him out, and there is now not a shred left of him. Frieza shaped me in his image, and I paid him back in full."

They gawked back, eyes bleary with alcohol. "Fight fire with fire, did you?" Raditz asked.

Touketsu looked sharply at Raditz when his eyes locked with another three pairs behind him. Damn it!

"Touketsu! Didn't expect to see you here of all places."

Raditz turned around and did a double take, his mouth twitching up in a predatory grin.

"So you decided to join the party," Likha remarked, her two other sisters flanking her.

"Touketsu, hi! Glad you finally came!" Zeema said brightly.

"The usual haunts not doing it for you?" Kuma deadpanned. Touketsu's eyes flashed in warning, and she rolled her own in response. Relax, your little secret's safe within our circle.

Touketsu scowled. He had not employed his rarely use telepathy since he'd had his full memory recall back on Earth. It bothered him that Marenna and her daughters could get into his mind when he couldn't do the same. "It's good to change one's diet up." His scowl deepened. "Wouldn't you agree, girls?"

Likha's eyes narrowed. She braced her hands on the table, leaning towards him as her ruby lips pulled insidiously at the corner. "Well, I'm glad you decided to come over and put some meat on your bones," Likha said as she gave him a suggestive once over. Raditz raised an eyebrow, watching with intrigue as she leaned closer to the stone-faced Touketsu. "Wouldn't want that virile body wasting away, now would we?" She purred.

Raditz cleared his throat as he stood and casually stepped around the table. "Princesses," he announced, crossing one arm over his chest in traditional Saiyan salute and offering a deep bow. He locked eyes with each of them, giving his most dashing smile before straightening. "A pleasure to be graced with your presence and an honor to be speaking with you. I've never before seen you mingle with the Inimicus. My name is Raditz, and this is Nappa."

"General Nappa, Mid-Class."

"So you know Prince Vegeta by this, uh, stage name of his, huh?" Raditz asked, chuckling. "What was it? Toketsu?"

"Touketsu," the prince growled.

"Oh we're just used to calling him that. That's what he said his name was when he moved in."

"Oh he did, huh? A non-Saiyan pseudonym. Interesting." Touketsu was angrily stuffing a handful of takoyaki into his mouth. "He lived in the palace?" Raditz asked Zeema.

"Oh yeah! He lived with us for a while!"

"Until he got kicked out," Kuma said flatly.

Raditz's eyebrows raised. "Really?" He said, turning to Touketsu. Glowering, Touketsu took a swig of his beer. He'd knock Raditz's obnoxious, drunken block off right now if it wasn't against the rules.

"Oh, I guess you weren't here that night!" Zeema said, smiling. "Touketsu won the right to stay at the palace after he defeated Zeygorn. He was super popular, but he had to leave the palace once everybody found out he was Inimicus," she frowned.

"Oh yeah, that was right after our fight, huh Vegeta?" Nappa said around his roast dinosaur leg. Touketu's eyes rolled heavenward before sliding closed.

"So, um, you guys know each other?" Zeema asked the big, uncouth Saiyan, her polite smile strained.

"Know each other? We used to fight together!" Nappa crowed. "We conquered whole planets, took on all their armies, just the three of us. Sold 'em for a great profit!"

"So you were pirates," Kuma said matter-of-factly.

"Mercenaries," Nappa said defensively, pointing a meaty finger at the princess. "And we were damn good at it. Good money in the planet trade."

Raditz raised a powerful arm to lean against the pillar near Zeema. Touketsu rolled his eyes. Raditz hadn't changed that much. "There's always the haves and have-nots," Raditz said with a shrug, grinning as his eyes briefly dropped down to her cleavage. "…And the have-nots want what others have."

"Like planets," Nappa grunted. "So long as the 'have-nots' had money, heh. We just capitalized like the next guy would've. We were in high demand, too."

"Your kind are proud of that, huh?" Kuma asked blandly as she stepped between her oblivious sister and Raditz, crossing her arms to glower up at him.

Raditz grinned. "For being recognized for our strength and fighting skills? Absolutely," he said proudly, straightening. "Those Saiyan attributes were at the very crux of our economy. Saiyan civilians themselves brought wealth and notoriety to the kingdom and to the entire planet! We were both feared and respected for our battle prowess."

"Yep, we Saiyans were daaaamn good at clearin' planets." Nappa drawled wistfully. "Vegeta here was just a kid when we banded together, but he was the strongest of us," he chuckled, nudging the annoyed demon prince with an elbow that made his drink slosh.

The sisters took in Touketsu's rag-tag entourage, looking dubious. "What was a future king doing sneaking out of the palace to play pirate?" Likha asked.

Touketsu scowled. "For your information all Saiyans trained for battle at an early-"

"Oh, our planet was blown up." Nappa remarked over the rim of his tankard. Touketsu closed his eyes, his brows drawing together in exasperation. "If it wasn't, Vegeta woulda been trainin' to lead whole armies, not just us two, heh."

Touketsu angrily slapped Nappa upside the head, making the beer splash in the big man's face. The prince placed a hand over the top of the tankard and slowly pulled it out of his bewildered cohort's hand. "Slow the fuck down," he growled.

"Well that explains a few things," Likha said. "But if you guys were so great at taking over planets why didn't you take one for yourself?"

"Or several?" added Kuma.

"Ah, well it wasn't our say," Nappa shrugged. 'We were employed by-"

"Enough!" Touketsu roared as he stood over him. "That is none of their business, you drunken fool!"

"Well, it couldn't have been a very noble profession," Kuma said. "Otherwise you three wouldn't be here. Or maybe Saiyans just weren't a very noble race."

Raditz and Touketsu looked almost like twins in their reactions. "The Saiyans were a proud and noble warrior race," they said angrily in unison. They glanced awkwardly at each other.

Raditz cleared his throat. "With all due respect, princess, one shouldn't judge a whole race off a few individuals," he said as he shot Touketsu a look. Touketsu's eyes flared; he could scarcely believe that his inferior was persisting in throwing him shade. "People are flawed, and people make up a race, yes," Raditz continued as Touketsu stood quaking in repressed rage. "People also have their noble qualities, and our race was no exception. Pride, strength, honor, bravery, loyalty. Those are the tenets of Saiyan might."

"Hm," Kuma said, looking at Raditz appraisingly. "You seem a rather enlightened one. You must have been spending a lot of time training in the Fire Realm."

"Oh yes," Raditz smiled, crossing his bare, muscular arms across his armored chest.

Kuma suppressed a smile of amusement. "Raditz. You look like a man that can handle the truth. Now, I know what you're looking for, and it seems shallow of me, but…we're only interested in men with nice bodies. Sorry," she shrugged.

Raditz's brow crinkled with incredulous amusement, his confident smile still firmly in place. "What do you call this?" He said, leaning towards her and curling a massive bicep. Kuma looked pointedly up at his halo. Raditz glanced upward, his smile faltering for only a moment before it was back. He straightened proudly and put his hands on his hips. "I get a brand new, hot-blooded body whenever I enter Volkfangr. Perhaps you'll consider stopping by and saying hello before the games start? We can find someplace private."

"In the very public arena?" She deadpanned.

"Where there's a will, there's way," he smiled with an arch of his eyebrow.

Kuma smiled back, her expression cool. "I'd rather hang out in the Necropolis and play with beetles."

"Oh, you're into beetles? Me too - fascinating creatures. Impenetrable armor…naturally evolved for survival…" Raditz said after Kuma as she and her sisters walked off. Smiling, he stared wistfully at her swaying hips. For the first time since he'd died, he considered he may actually have a shot at getting laid. "She's a tough one," he grinned. He sighed as he took his seat. "But…I'll wear her down."

Touketsu snorted. Raditz was clueless. He'd also had enough of his insufferable, passive aggressive company. "I'm going to bed," He announced as he turned to leave. "Thanks for the memories, fuckers. Eat, drink and be merry, because tomorrow I'm killing you," he sneered over his shoulder.

"YEAH!" Nappa crowed, raising a newly filled tankard. "That's the spirit! See ya tomorrow, Vegeta!"

"…Bye," Touketsu grumbled, slapping at the air in some clumsy form of a wave before turning away.

"We'll see who kills who," Raditz muttered into his tankard.

Touketsu went sliding across the table when he launched himself at Raditz, sending plates crashing to the floor. Gripping the Mid-Class by the armor he hauled him to his feet and swung him around. "I take it back, YOU'RE STILL A SPINELESS COWARD, RADITZ!" He roared into his face. "You dare disrespect me here with your pansy-ass slights under the umbrage of Nav's little rules!-"

"Gentlemen."

Touketsu turned, Raditz still gripped firmly by the collar of his armor. Marenna.

"Prince Vegeta. You know the rules." Not taking his eyes off of her, he shoved Raditz away. She gave a small nod and made to leave when she hesitated. "Your conduct in the arena this evening was very unorthodox."

"That a problem?" He rumbled, his tone clearly communicating he didn't care.

Her mouth seemed to turn up in the barest of smiles. "Not at all, actually. In fact, 'unorthodox' is something that I've come to expect from you." Nappa glanced surreptitiously between the two. "No violence outside of Volkfangr, understand?" she said politely. Touketsu gave a terse nod. He was a little baffled that he wasn't facing immediate punishment, but then again he hadn't actually thrown a punch. Marenna's eyes lingered on him a moment more before she disappeared into a whirl of snow and left.

Touketsu rounded on Raditz. "Outside," he hissed up at him.

Raditz glowered down at him, inwardly annoyed that his height advantage over the prince wasn't as great as it used to be. He glanced down at Touketsu's digitigrade feet, and his lip curled in a sneer. Tiptoes. Cheater. Raditz nodded, and they both stalked out.

Nappa finished the last dregs of his ale before getting up with a sigh to follow them out. Finally. Those kids always did talk too much. About time they settled their issues the proper way.

Nappa's and Raditz's encampments were near the shoreline, the two thatched, wooden hovels in a state of disrepair since their long absences. Nappa sat down on a large driftwood log, one hand planted on his knee to watch the two younger Saiyans have it out. He was honestly a little surprised that Vegeta let Raditz's drunken tongue wag as long as he did. Then again, the prince looked a little thin. Better to put away as much food as possible before putting the Runt back in his place.

Raditz stood on the beach across from his opponent. Vegeta had revealed valuable information about the nature of his power. Raditz would goad the short-tempered prince and intentionally let his attacks make their mark to fuel his own battle fury. He could again reach that terrifying level of power he'd attained in the arena.

However, he was acutely aware that Vegeta's darker transformation didn't fuel his power, but drained it. He didn't want him to get a hold of him while in that state. Based on what he'd seen in the arena tonight, Vegeta's newest transformation didn't even require him to maintain contact to drain his opponent; with one punch he'd incapacitated Nappa.

With a shout Raditz powered up to Super Saiyan 2, blue voltage licking up and down his blazing gold form. Not having a physical body had its advantages: His spirit body had greater endurance, was resistant to pain, and could take infinite damage. Outside of the arena, he could endure whatever Vegeta threw at him. Raditz would not hold back. If the prince died during their little throw down, so be it.

Touketsu sneered. Super Saiyan 2 was nothing to the might of the dark ki, let alone the Void Transformation. He would lend Raditz no strength. His body became jet black, icy light pulsing throughout his markings. He didn't know if his emotionally isolated new form had been compromised after interacting with his cohorts or if it was the alcohol, but he was struggling a bit. After another moment his body became flat black, the icy light pulsing through him darkening to cobalt before guttering out. Now an armored shadow dripping with black smoke, he took his battle stance.

Raditz realized in a second that under cover of night Vegeta had practically disappeared; with no ki signature, he was all but invisible. He only saw the slight glint of armor under Nav's waxing crescent moon before he was sent rocketing back, his cheekbones crushed under a fist and his transformation winking out. The will to fight left him as quickly as his breath, but it rebounded in an instant; Raditz's prolonged training in the Fire Realm had given him a much stronger spirit. His injury instantly healing, he went back to Super Saiyan 2 and took to the sky.

Touketsu looked up. There was one drawback to this form, something he discovered during his training: he couldn't use projectiles. By nature, the Void Transformation was receptive, not projective. A single strike drew out his opponents' energy and will, turning bones to fragile husks as their energy was cast into a nullifying void in his soul, leaving his mental state unaffected. Combined with his speed, the deadly technique truly didn't need to rely on projectile attacks. If Raditz was fleeing, he'd simply follow. Tapping into the Life Force, Touketsu's true ki of blue-white energy flared around his dark form and he took to the sky.

Raditz's eyes widened. The moment Vegeta's aura flared around him he was visible, his minuscule ki now actually on the radar as the small amount of Life Force circulated through him. There you are. Raditz unleashed a barrage of ki blasts at the prince. Touketsu evaded, but the spheres of energy followed. Raditz continued firing at a blindingly fast rate until the prince was surrounded, the ki blasts now a tightly packed globe of power. Raditz brought his hands together.

"BLITZKRIEG!"

Touketsu grunted as he was pummeled with the blasts. Initially neutralized by his dark form, the relentless barrage of energy was fast chipping away at it. Raditz's Riot Javelin had already proven capable of dispersing the darkest phase of his Shadow Cast technique. Touketsu's already compromised Void Transformation was further weakened the moment he drew in the Life Force for flight. He could feel his emotions awakening, his hold on the transformation slipping.

With a snarl he reigned them back in, phasing behind Raditz and driving a side kick into his back. With the Void Transformation, one punch and the fight was all but over. Touketsu was finding out that rule didn't apply to a spirit body. Raditz's transformation again only went out for a moment before he went on the offensive. They traded blocks and blows, Raditz deftly dodging whenever his Super Saiyan 2 Transformation went out and landing another blow when it returned.

Raditz took in the prince's countenance as they fought. He still looked far too calm. Time to get under Vegeta's skin and exploit his legendary temper. "What did you say to Nappa in the arena? You murdered him and suddenly he's ok with it." The flat blackness that was Touketsu's face began to intermittently reflect the ambient light of Raditz's aura, his features briefly reappearing. "Nappa may fall for your manipulations, but I won't. There is one thing you said that I believe to be truth, though: Frieza did succeed in changing you."

Icy blue light began to sputter and strum through Touketsu's markings as though struggling to keep something buried. A thin corona of his blue aura began to seep out around him, the light reflecting off jet black skin.

"Going to use this vampiric form you used in the arena?" Raditz prodded. "Interesting you adopted a technique that you always looked down on: taking others' energy."

Touketsu's aura began to trickle and weep from his body, the light running faster through his markings. "Hiya-te!" Bringing his hands to his sides, the dripping blue energy diverted to his palms. He struck, all the while trying to keep from slipping into his berserker mode.

"Do you even have any power to call your own, Vegeta?" Raditz persisted. "Considering how weak your ki signature is, I'd say not."

Touketsu snarled, struggling to keep his growing rage and frustration in check. His strikes were landing, but Raditz's strong spirit body quickly recovered. Raditz was also getting frustrated. He needed the prince's berserker energy to reawaken Super Saiyan 3 again.

"You've spent too much time in Hell, soldier," Touketsu growled. You've forgotten your place."

"My place is with the Saiyan people. Know of them? You're not who I thought you were, Vegeta."

Red light pulsed through Touketsu's markings. "I am your prince, fool. And you will show me proper respect!"

"I respect our people, and you no longer represent them. You represent Frieza in all his treacherous, scheming ways. You're not my prince." Touketsu's aura bled red. "YOU'RE NO SAIYAN!"

With a roar Touketsu landed an uppercut into Raditz's jaw before grabbing him by the throat. "HOW DARE YOU?!" He roared, his body going grey and his dripping aura erupting into raging purples and blues. Raditz's eyes lit up in avarice for but a moment before his face fell. Touketsu's muscles suddenly bulged, the darkness leaving his body to turn his aura into a roiling purple cloud. His eyes flashed purple for a moment before becoming the blank, burning red of the Oozaru, his voice becoming that of the beast. "THE OOZARU LIVES IN ME!!"

Raditz blanched, his hands going to the steel grip around his throat. "Something certainly lives in you," he rasped.

Touketsu's white face wrinkled into a fanged snarl. "RYŪKETSU." Raditz's golden aura darkened to a dim red before suddenly collapsing around him, dripping off of him like blood. He grew pale as his spirit energy trickled away, not into Touketsu's being, but to drip into Nav's dark sea below. "I DON'T NEED YOUR ENERGY, YOU PATHETIC WEAKLING. NAV'S OCEAN CAN LAP UP WHAT'S LEFT OF YOUR SPIRIT."

Raditz glanced down and saw his powerful hands and arms growing thin and emaciated. With a gasp of panic Raditz tried to pry off Touketsu's powerful grip to no avail. He was being wrung dry, his very essence being lost to Spirit World. Far below, Nappa stood, concern on his features. Raditz's energy signature was steadily diminishing. If this continued, his very soul would be gone.

"DOES THIS MAKE YOU A BELIEVER, RADITZ?" Touketsu asked. His grip tightened. "DO YOU FEEL THE POWER OF THE OOZARU? YOUR LITTLE BROTHER CERTAINLY DID. IT WAS IN MY OOZARU FORM THAT I CAPTURED HIS TINY, INSOLENT BODY IN MY HANDS AND CRUSHED THE LIFE OUT OF HIM. YOU LOOK LIKE HIM NOW."

Raditz dug deep, managing to raise his power back to Super Saiyan only for it to slip away again. "At least one of you traitors to our race died," Raditz ground out. Touketsu growled low, looking on as Raditz's proud mane flickered between gold and black.

Goku continued to channel his Super Saiyan energy in bursts, briefly blasting the soldiers off him and parting the darkness surrounding him each time he did. His outstretched hand was now a foot away from the prince.

"Vegeta! Take my energy!"

Touketsu's brows furrowed before hardening again. "FOOL!" he spat, his grip tightening.

"Why did you do that?" he asked in one exhausted breath. He shook his head slowly in disbelief. "Why the hell did you bring me back? After everything I did…everything I did to you. Your friends. Your family. Why?"

Goku shrugged a little. "It's who I am."

"Fool," Touketsu growled, softly this time. His eyes slid closed, his aura disappearing and the bulk in his muscles receding as though a malignant spirit had vacated his body. His voice was normal again when he spoke. "Raditz. I didn't kill your brother."

He released his grip. Raditz's Super Saiyan form winked out as he took in a lungful of air, and he dropped down about 15 feet before stopping his descent. Greatly weakened but his spirit body slowly rebounding, he rubbed his throat as he looked up warily at Touketsu.

Touketsu reopened his eyes, the Oozaru gone. It happened again. He knew it had happened again because the last few moments felt like a jumbled, fleeting, fever dream. Just a few drinks and barbed words and he'd lost control? How? Through consistent meditation he'd closed the door on his emotions and attained the Void Transformation. It was as though his emotions had grown unchecked behind that closed door, breaking it down at the first opportunity. What was happening to him?

He looked down at Raditz. "Kakarot was the first," he called to him, his expression defeated. His shoulders dropped. "Your brother became the first Super Saiyan in a thousand years." Raditz stared up at Touketsu, shocked beyond belief.

Hovering in the air a short distance away, Nappa was gaping over what he'd heard. "Vegeta? You, uh…you drunk?"

Touketsu rubbed his face. "Not drunk enough."

There was silence between the three of them. "Wanna get drunk?"

After a few moments he sighed, shrugging. "Sure. Why not."

Before Touketsu Vegeta apologizes to Nappa, you may have noticed that I mimicked the scene in canon where Nappa is lying there with his back broken, and Vegeta grabs his outstretched hand before throwing him in the air and killing him. Touketsu still kills him, lol, but at least he helped him up and apologized first.

When Raditz jokingly mangles the pronunciation of "Touketsu" into "Toketsu", I was riffing off a similar spelling with a very different meaning. "Touketsu" means "frozen", while "Toketsu" is essentially a coughed up blood clot.

As ever, Raditz is a tricky one for me to write. I guess because he was such an underdeveloped character one can say 'anything goes', but I wanted him to bear some resemblance to the other two more established members of his family, namely Goku and Gohan (though I also researched Bardock who comes across as a gritty, selfless patriot). There is that one panel in Super where a kid Raditz can be seen playing with beetles, so I was rather amused that in the Dragon Ball Super Hero movie Gohan is depicted (apparently) as an entomologist. Bug interest is something that runs in the Bardock family, I guess?

Raditz: "Truth without, yes?" I know full well that I was quoting verbatim Arthur Weasley's words to Harry Potter in the "Order of the Phoenix". It popped into my head and I put it down, and I just didn't feel inclined to change it. Nappa's subsequent scholar quip was a reference to Gohan.