Hell is a complex domain, filled with peaceful garden areas, lava spouts, frozen tundras, and the list goes on. It is also composed of several layers. And, the deeper you travel, the harsher it gets.

Residents on the highest layer of Hell, with its blood fountains, yellow sky and green trees, appear in the form of little white wisps. They have the easy life, going on tourist trips and having lots of fun in Hell's theme parks. Hell's Heaven, you could say.

However, deeper down, Hell's name becomes much more appropriate.

Those dwelling in the 'depths of Hell' are granted their original bodies, with a little halo on top - that is, if they had done enough misdeeds in life.

One such individual, the evil-minded brother of the pure-hearted Goku, had earned the esteemed privilege of living in eternal damnation in this part of the god-forsaken land, with his body intact.

Along with his armour. His damaged armour.

That had been damaged by his four-year-old nephew.

He never got over it, even after thirteen years.

There were a few other things he hadn't gotten over, too.

"Hey. Raditz."

"Nappa," Raditz ground out.

"I swear you're like this every day. Or night. Still haven't been able to figure that out yet…" Nappa scratched his cheek. "You up for another sparring match? Y'know, before another storm hits."

"…" Raditz turned away.

"I see… it's like that today, is it?" Nappa's scratchy voice grew a tad louder.

"You moron…" Raditz mumbled to himself, then turned his way. "I'm not in the mood."

"Yeah. I can see that now. You still act like you did when you were a teen."

"Shut up." Raditz began to storm off.

"You still thinkin' about Vegeta and your father?" Nappa called to him.

"…"

"Well I know I'm still thinkin' about our beloved prince." Nappa crossed his arms. "He ain't dead, that much is clear. Since he isn't here." Raditz rolled his eyes at Nappa. "An' if he ain't dead, then either Frieza spared his sorry ass, or…"

"You're always talking about what Vegeta might be up to," Raditz snapped, but decided to partake in the discussion regardless, "No doubt he conquered Earth and used a wish to become immortal. Then he probably killed off Frieza and King Cold since he can't die."

"Do you think he forced Kakarot's chumps to give him the Dragon Balls?"

"What else?" Raditz tilted his head and sighed. "If you hadn't been so cocky-"

He suddenly had no 'air' in his 'lungs', due to a large hand clamping his throat.

"What's that, you cocky little runt?" Nappa growled.

"If - agh… Forget it," he breathed out.

"That's what I thought." Nappa threw him on the floor. "When he gets here… ohhh, that'll be the day… you and I, Raditz, we'll be sure to give him a royal welcome, won't we?" Nappa balled his fists, his desire implying Raditz had no choice but to participate in Nappa's revenge.

"Hmph…" Raditz rubbed his throat, giving Nappa a harsh side glance. "But if he can't die, he'll never come here and you'll never get your revenge."

Nappa grimaced at him, and spat, "There's always a bigger fish. Mark my words. Who knows, he might just suffocate in space or have every atom of himself vaporised."

"You really changed your tune on our prince as soon as he killed you," Raditz commented with a little vigour.

"You're trying to subtly mock me. More than usual…" Nappa bent over at Raditz, who knelt on the ground. "How many times do I have to teach you a lesson in respect, runt?"

""How many more times" indeed… I don't care anymore."

"You what?"

"I don't…" Raditz shook his head angrily. "All of you. You, Vegeta, the… the King…"

"What in Hell are you spouting off now? Are you losin' your marbles kid?" Nappa scowled. "Maybe it's because of our torment here. Or… are you still clinging onto hope that Bardock's around here?"

"Ngh…" Raditz's fist clenched into the dirt.

"You know what happens to some souls that enter Hell, don't you? They get cleansed, reincarnated, and born anew as someone else-"

"I won't accept that! He couldn't possibly…"

"Stop sulking about him! He's been gone for years! Ever since you were a tiny runt! Ever since we lost Planet Vegeta!"

"You hypocritical bastard. "Stop sulking"? You stop sulking about Vegeta! Just… just shut your damn mouth…!" Raditz dashed off as fast as he could.

Nappa's mouth was open for a while before he closed it.

"Tch… and they designated him a Mid-class. Deep down he knows he's a Low-class like his father was. He didn't even attempt to fight me - scurrying away like the runt he's always been."

Nappa and Raditz had never seen eye-to-eye on a personal level, only professionally. Destroying things under Frieza's supervision and taking orders from Vegeta were the only things that made them talk with each other. Being the last of the Saiyans didn't necessarily mean they'd be buddies.

Of course, in Hell, their continued talks over the years were more for the benefit of familiarity. Someone who you were with in life could keep you mentally grounded in death. Or only slightly mentally grounded, perhaps, judging by Nappa's harsh ways.

But Hell is harsher. Gotta make do with whoever you find in this huge expanse.

However, for Raditz, this would be the last time he saw Nappa.

He'd frankly had it.

It was time to plan an escape.

The main thing he needed to do was get a good gist of the area.

He ran for what seemed like days before stopping at the bottom of a ravine. He looked up and saw a chiselled pathway up the ravine. Unlit lanterns dotted the walls, and large black spiky bushes riddled the path.

As he ascended the steps he caught a glimpse of light through a narrow passageway that was up ahead. This looked promising.

He moved closer before dashing sharply to the right as two of Hell's guards passed by.

"Hm… shame he had to leave Hell. It gets so boring round here," one of them spoke.

"Pfff. No kidding," the other said, "Still can't wait for another guy to fall off Snake Way so we can have some more fun…"

Raditz's eyes went wide.

'You can leave Hell?! I knew there had to be some way out of here!' he thought with renewed hope.

As soon as their idle chatter faded into silence, Raditz re-emerged and treaded as silently as he could along the walkway. It was difficult to tread silently because echoes resounded with every step he took.

A rat-like creature suddenly dashed out from a crevice, briefly startling Raditz. But in that brief moment, a large chunk of rock from the path gave way close by him, and toppled down the steep ravine.

'Crap-'

"Oh, wonder what that was?"

It was those guards! They were coming back!

Raditz frantically looked around for any place he could hide.

Finding nothing but those terribly spiky bushes close by that would surely scar him all over, he had a stroke of genius.

"It was probably a rat. Y'know, like the last hundred times."

"Oh yeah. Lookie here!"

There were footsteps drawing closer to him.

"…See that? Rat droppings!"

'Phew…'

There was silence.

"Ew. Don't pick it up!"

"It's interesting though!"

"Put it down!"

"Fine…"

There were sounds of patting.

"Let's continue the patrol. And you better wash your hands!"

"Yeah, sure…"

There were more footsteps that faded away.

Raditz exhaled deeply. "Holy…"

Raditz got up from his tightly packed crouch position.

'I can't believe that worked.'

Who knew his extremely long black spiky hair could be this useful?

He crept over to the passageway where the light was coming from, and saw a strange land with a yellow sky.

"What… is this?"

He dashed out into the area which was dotted with small white wispy forms that floated about. Some noticed him and actually paid him no mind.

He ran for quite a while, and took in the bizarre scenery this land had to offer. Those fountains were definitely filled with blood…

He stayed in a small cave for a few days before scouting the area for possible means of figuring out if this was still Hell or not.

He saw a group of white wisps and called over to them.

"Hey! Do you know what this place is?"

All he received in response were a few confused high-pitched hums.

"Can you guys seriously not talk? Ugh…" Raditz held his forehead. "Make noise if yes, silence if no. Is this still Hell?"

They hummed.

"Fantastic…" he mumbled. "Do you know of an exit?"

Silence.

"You know what, why would you? Tch." Raditz was about to ask another question until-

"Woah…! There's another guy here! With his body!"

"This is our lucky day! He must've fallen off Snake Way!" the two conversed unaware they were within Raditz's hearing range.

Raditz turned around in alarm. It was those two guards he bypassed a couple days ago!

"Hey there, fella! Wow… you must've had a nasty fall, huh?" the blue guard looked at his cracked armour.

Raditz nodded slowly. 'They think I fell off this "Snake Way"… I can't say I'm supposed to be in the depths of Hell… I'll have to play along.'

"Yes. Is there a way to… get back up to Snake Way?" he asked, faking an unsure tone.

"Haha! You're just like the other guy! What was his name…"

"Goku!" the other supplied.

Raditz's eyes boggled.

""Goku…?!" Kakarot?!" He exclaimed in surprise, "He was here?"

"Heheh! And you know the guy too! Small Otherworld we live in, huh?" the red one chuckled.

"Ahem… anyway. Snake Way?" Raditz asked again.

"If you wanna get back there so bad, you gotta catch Mez here!" the blue guard Goz said with a devious grin.

Raditz looked Mez up and down. "Hm. Shouldn't be a problem."

"Fighting words! I like it! But… it'll be no use!" Mez declared, "Be prepared to never get outta here! I've trained since Goku got me!"

"I'll win this easily! If Kakarot did it, I can certainly do it faster!" Raditz boasted.

"Kaka-who?"

"Rgh… "Goku"!" Raditz grumbled.

"Oh, him… Well, if you say so, tough guy." Mez sprinted away suddenly. "See ya!"

Raditz scoffed. "Cheap tactic. It still won't help you!" Raditz began to chase after him.

Which proved to be quite the task, as it turned out. Mez wasn't lying about training for this.

Raditz tried to cut him off at every turn, but Mez upped the ante every time. Mez had taken the same route he took against Goku, taking the two to a local theme park.

Mez twisted his way through the busy plaza and ran behind a building. Raditz turned the corner only to be met with no one there.

He heard heavy breathing from above and found Mez latching onto a pipe. Raditz ripped the pipe off the wall, bringing Mez down with it. But Mez flipped off from the descending pole and continued running.

Raditz swore in his heart he'd catch the guard and attain his freedom from Hell.

"You won't escape me!" Raditz yelled.

Mez laughed and zipped even faster away. He was almost out of sight.

It was a good thing Raditz had been training with the other Saiyans all these years; he wasn't so sure he would have gotten this far, otherwise.

Mez turned back to see Raditz slowly gain on him, but as he turned back around, he tripped on a rock, and tumbled to the ground. He almost recovered to continue sprinting away again, but Raditz dove for him.

He had him locked in place on the ground.

Mez panted, "Argh… That… that was cheating 'cause I fell! My glasses are dirty now too!"

"You never did state any other rules other than to catch you, which means I have succeeded!" Raditz smirked in satisfaction.

Mez groaned. "Alright… I guess you did… Man, can't believe I've been outpaced again in the span of only 13 years!"

Mez got up, and started to walk along the path out of breath. "Let's get back to Goz, and we'll show you the way out."

"Alright," Raditz responded a little plainly. But, internally, he was very excited. He was actually going to escape Hell!

The two met back up with Goz, who sighed knowingly at Mez.

"He caught you didn't he? How much training did you even do?"

"I did plenty enough! This guy's just that fast! I'm impressed, to be honest," Mez explained sorrowfully.

"Guess this means we need to lead you to Snake Way then!" Goz beckoned Raditz to follow. Truth be told, Raditz made the two feel a little uncomfortable from his general demeanour. They didn't think he'd be fun enough to keep around, so they actually wanted him to go on his way unlike with Goku.

They didn't once think that his demeanour might be because he was a bad guy who needed to go back underground.

After two dozen minutes of walking, the guards of Hell showed Raditz their workspace.

"Alright, just through here is the exit out of here. You'll be back on Snake Way… for sure!" Goz chuckled.

Raditz stared at him, but otherwise said nothing of Goz's suspicious tone. He then nodded and acknowledged the two ogres.

"I appreciate your help. I'll be off then." Raditz raised a hand a walked away into the dark space.

"See ya!" Both chuckled.

Raditz was getting more uncertain by the second as he walked towards the slit of light at the end of the dark room, that oddly smelled of old wood. But, it was either he risked this or he would be still stuck in Hell.

He heard a lot of commotion on the other side, and tried to be discreet as he opened up the space.

'Now where the heck does this lead…'

"Ugh… you're going off to Heaven… Next." a booming voice spoke as paper was audibly moved.

'Oh shit… it's him!' Raditz paled. He had returned to King Yemma's office. 'Those damn guards…!'

"And you're going to Heaven Trunks. Next."

"You are off to Heaven, Chiaotzu. Next!"

'Lots of goody-two-shoes kicking the bucket, I see,' Raditz thought idly, 'Must've been another purge…'

Raditz peeked through the gap he created and noticed Yemma was hunched over the desk, surrounded by paperwork. He might just be able to sneak past him!

Raditz silently hopped down from the… drawer he was inside of? Interesting.

He was grateful to be so small compared to the gigantic King Yemma in that moment. It made sneaking behind him so much easier.

Raditz saw a path to his right that had a snake's head.

'Snake Way? Better than being caught here, I suppose.'

Raditz managed to sneak his way around the corner to the road.

"Son Gohan… you're going to Heaven."

Raditz stopped. 'Wait… is that the same Gohan brat who-?'

He heard footsteps.

'I need to split now!' Raditz dashed as fast as he could until the check-in station was out of sight.

Raditz ran for a good few hours until he was sure there was no one about.

He stopped and panted.

"I did it… I escaped Hell… Mother. Father." Raditz leaned on his knees and looked up to the sky.

He pondered something.

'If that was the same Gohan who attacked me, then that means Earth is only just being purged. What took Vegeta and the Frieza Force so long? …Guess I'll never know the answer.'

Raditz began to walk leisurely along the road. He felt depressed all of a sudden. Why was he feeling this way when he had just left his own prison world?

'What is there for me here?'

Raditz stared at the brick path.

'I'll never know what happened to father…'

He sighed angrily.

'Kakarot was on this path for some reason after he died.'

…

'Why?'

Raditz's mind was left even less content than when he started this blasted escape effort.

So many questions he feared he would never get the answers to.

But he was free.

…He hadn't given his farewells to his mother.

'Pff… She'll live.'

Raditz's heart betrayed his thoughts.

'She'll be happy for me. I'm sure the other Saiyans will figure out that I escaped when they're unable to find me, and that I didn't just run away to be in the wilderness in the depths of Hell.'

Raditz smirked to himself. 'They'll never be able to repeat what I did either… except maybe that one guy with long hair I saw in a bar once on Planet Vegeta. Regardless, it looks like I am an Elite Saiyan Warrior after all.'

Maybe it wasn't so bad. He figured he could enjoy this peace for a while. He felt he deserved it.

Plus, this road had to lead somewhere interesting.

And so he walked along this different path.