Dragon Ball — Hardcore Chapter 14: The Raditz Saga, pt 1, a dragon ball z fanfic

DRAGON BALL HARDCORE

THE STORY OF RADITZ, part 1

Planet Vegeta wasn't the most remarkable one, but Raditz could never forget it. One of the few things that he remembered the most about his childhood was his father's lesson. And most like other lessons, it began with him beating his son senselessly. They would go outside the village and into the wastelands, where Bardock would look him dead in the eyes and tell him to do everything in his power to survive his father's attacks, even if it meant hurting his father in the process.

Raditz would attack, and if he couldn't attack he'd have to block. If he couldn't block, he'd have to dodge, and if he couldn't dodge either, then he better run and think of a better way to engage. Sometimes he would surprise his father with a good hit or two, but he never won. Back when he was six years old, and his baby brother Kakarot was about to be born, his father started to take him to these lessons twice a week if he had to. Raditz power was a puny 600 by then; the most average of Saiyan warriors. Thankfully he was born twice as strong as his pathetic mother, Gine. Bardock meanwhile had a power of 3.000; putting him on the middle-class to elite level. Their fights were never fair; a captain beating down a recruit.

There was one time in particular that Raditz was beaten extensively. It was the day after he was sorted as being one of the three random Saiyans chosen to follow Prince Vegeta and General Nappa into a planet conquering deal; one of Raditz's firsts. When his father heard about it, he took his son to the wastelands again, and their "talk" only ended once Raditz was bleeding all over and was incapable of getting up from the ground.

He knew his father couldn't possibly do any worse to him, so when he sat beside Raditz he asked why. Why does he do this every time?

Bardock began saying, "son, how do you think I became one of the twelve Saiyans on this planet with the rank of captain? Do you think I was born into it? No… I was born weak, if not weaker than you were." Raditz was shocked to hear this, but it didn't stop there. "We Saiyans are a warrior race; the strongest of the universe. And you know why? It's not because we are born strong, but because we continue to grow stronger as we age. We survive battle after battle, getting ever close to death, and reaching new limits. These scars on my face remind me of that every day.

The reason you're on the floor right now Raditz is because I want you to grow stronger. I want you to reach as high as me, if not higher. Those bastards who were born strong; I want to show them what a low-class Saiyan can do. I want you to survive that dangerous planet, and show Prince Vegeta your worth. And I'm teaching you this, Raditz, in case I won't be around to teach it to Kakarot; so then you can do it in my stead."

Raditz wondered if they should really care for Kakarot, since his power level showed to be so miserable that it broke the records, a never-before seen power of 1. Raditz could remember his father hitting his head against the wall when he saw the scouters. Kakarot's overwhelming weakness was the talk of the town. However, Bardock reinforced his lesson because of it. It doesn't matter how weak he is now, all that matters is how strong he can become. They found a nice and suitable planet with a moon for him to start; it should take him a year or so to conquer it under his great ape form. When he returns he should be stronger.

Once they were done with their talk, Bardock took Raditz on his back to the local healing pods. He wanted Raditz to survive his next mission at all costs, so while they were flying back to their village, Bardock took off the arm strap from his bicep and gave it to Raditz. He orders that Raditz brings it back to him once he's done with his mission, and if he failed Bardock would personally torture his son in hell. It's truly amazing what kind of terrible things a Saiyan can say as words of encouragement.

…

And so Raditz departed to that planet the next week. He was the only low-class warrior present in that squad; being accompanied by two middle classes of 1.300, General Nappa of 4.000 and Prince Vegeta with his record-breaking 15.000. With the prince coming along with them it seemed to be a sure victory, but it turned sour. The race of monsters and natives that they fought there knew strange techniques and abilities. They managed to take over half the planet until they got to their actual threats. The two middle-class Saiyan twins were allegedly killed and never seen again, while Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta continued. Thanks to his father's lesson, Raditz power had increased to a good 800 before leaving, but that wasn't the only thing that kept him afloat. Raditz was clever to a genius level. He wasn't enamored by the Saiyan philosophy of dying a warrior's death and facing even the most hopeless of battles, and many times he decided to run, hide and regroup. Sometimes his plans got even Nappa and Vegeta from sticky situations. The conquering of that planet took a whole year for them to complete.

When they were finally done ridding the land from all structures and killing all the dangerous wild life, the planet was ready to sell. Their powers grew like crazy over that year. Raditz went to 1.500, Nappa to 6.000 and Vegeta to 18.000; a power dignified as the elite of Frieza's forces, and he was just seven years old. Raditz was also seven, and he couldn't believe that he was already halfway-through reaching his father's power, who is 27 years old.

Frieza's soldiers eventually came to pick them up and reward them for their efforts, but that ship came with good and bad news. The good news is that Frieza will be happy to have powerful warriors such as them under his wing, officially. And the bad news is that they probably are gonna need it, because their home planet was destroyed by a huge meteor and they are the last three Saiyans alive. Those news shocked them… for a good few seconds. They quickly took it to heart and accepted it without a single care. That is a Saiyan for you.

Raditz didn't really like anyone, nor are Saiyans known for being friendly people. He cursed his father for not upholding his part of their deal.

Once they were alone, they tried to rationalize their knowledge and try to figure out if there were any other Saiyans out of the planet that day. Nappa remembered sending Captain Bardock and his crew to planet Kanassa, but they probably finished up that mission months ago since the planet was fairly weak; they are probably dead too. Vegeta knew he should have a younger brother named Tarble, but Nappa noted that King Vegeta personally sent him away never to return to another galaxy once they saw his power to be weak and undeserving of royalty; he probably landed on some pitiful planet and died there. Nappa remembered again, before he became general and was a captain, the one who was the general of the Saiyan army before him was a man called Paragus. He apparently tried to desert and flee from Planet Vegeta with his son, but his ship was shot down and he crash landed on a level-20 planet, fit only for warriors above 20.000. He and his son were assumed to be dead. That was four years ago, but when Vegeta asked if he remembered the planet's name, Nappa could only scratch his soon-to-go-bald hair. It was the first of many times that Vegeta called him useless.

But it was then that Raditz pointed out that a week before he left for this mission, his father Bardock told him that his little brother would be sent to a weak planet in the most isolated place of the North Galaxy; a planet called Earth. He was just a baby when he left, and probably is still alive. His name is Kakarot.

The moment he said it, Nappa and Vegeta looked at each other, and began to laugh maniacally. "HA! Why haven't I realized he was your brother yet? I remember Captain Ringer brought it up in a reunion, and Bardock stood there straight faced as we all rolled around laughing. It was the best- HAHAHA!" said Nappa. "How did he even stand up and walk with such weak power?" asked Vegeta, retaining his laughter.

Raditz looked away and mumbled. "Mom had to carry him around all day…" and that sent Nappa and Vegeta on a second laughing fit. "You guys are the worst," said Raditz.

"Well, forget about it. Might as well bring in a worm to join our crew than to go there and pick him up," said Vegeta. Now it seemed that they would have to go directly under Frieza's order. Not a single Saiyan that was once alive liked that bastard, but he was strong enough for them to fear and respect his rule. They thought they were gonna fit in nice and easy.

…

And that was a terrible guess from Nappa. Truth is, for the next 23 years under Frieza's rule, they were treated like total pushovers. They encounter people who were stronger than Vegeta, something that they thought impossible. Zarbon and Dodoria could mock him freely and he couldn't do a thing about it, other than shove his frustration on Raditz and Nappa. Vegeta grew more and more spiteful as the years passed. Frieza would assign them to miserable planets that weren't worth a scrap, and he would keep doing it forever. Nappa figured that Frieza would never allow them to grow naturally stronger by facing tougher battles because he fears they'll cause him troubles. Frieza was very strict about it; his soldiers were given a power level by the scouter once they joined, and if it ever happened to go up or down that person would be properly punished.

For those 23 years, they remained on the same powers since their last conquest in the name of the Saiyan race; not a digit up or down. Raditz and Vegeta were 30 years old, and Nappa was nearly 60; yet all the opportunity to improve was taken away by Frieza. Only the devil knows how strong Vegeta would've grown if he was allowed to have a proper challenge. And on another miserable day, the last straw was finally dropped.

…

They were on standby at Frieza Planet 79; the main space fortress of his empire. Eventually they were summoned again to Frieza's presence, and the bastard just stood there floating in his little pod with a smirk. Frieza had been notified of a lone planet that wasn't conquered by neither he, his father or his brother; at the absolute outskirts of the South Galaxy. He wanted Vegeta and his crew to go claim it, saying that the trip should be a little long but they would manage it. As usual, Vegeta just took it until they blasted off into their pods.

…

They had to travel five months, and they weren't even halfway to that stupid nothing planet. Vegeta was sick of it; Frieza was clearly messing with them for his own amusement. Vegeta wanted to betray him so bad, but that would be a terrible idea still; Frieza is just too strong. If only they could raise an army to fight against him, but nobody would like to ally with them. As Raditz pointed, "there's not a single soul out there who does not hate our guts." How would they raise an army? Should they join the rebellion against Cold? "No. Those fools are suicidal if they think they can take on Cold. It's that damn Frieza that needs to die," said Vegeta. "But I do believe we might do better if we had more people on our squad."

Surprisingly, Vegeta was the one who brought up Kakarot. He wondered if he was still there on planet Earth after so many years, and if he grew any stronger. He ordered Raditz to go to planet Earth while they proceed with their mission. This little affair should be kept hidden from Frieza. From now on they were going rogue. Vegeta and Nappa would keep tabs on his solo mission as they literally have nothing else to do. Once he gets Kakarot they should bring him to this same empty planet and proceed from there.

And for the first time the Saiyan squad split up. And little did they know… They would never get the chance to meet up once more.

…

Raditz thought it was a simple deal. He was even excited to see if his little brother had grown strong enough to call himself a Saiyan, and if he didn't, then Raditz would have to teach him a few lessons. It took him a few months to reach the planet, and he expected to find a total wasteland. He was disappointed.

When he arrived, he was confronted by a bunch of different life forms. Earthlings, some wild life, and even a legendary race. Raditz was shocked when he picked up a power level of 493 on a planet that should be 5 at best. When he caught up with it, his scouter analyzed his physique and overall appearance, and above his power level it declared him to be a Namekian. Vegeta and Nappa were just watching it all through their audio and visual feed given by the scouters. They all knew the Namekians for being a race of technologically-advanced people who had an aptitude in magic and fighting. They were assumed to be extinct hundreds of years ago after their planet suffered an internal crisis, and only legends remained of their skills. The most prominent one was about a Namekian who went about the galaxy, and could give someone the gift of immortality.

They could discuss it further, but Raditz picked up some other strong power levels somewhere in this sea and went for it; one should be Kakarot, no doubt. And his guess was right. But it wasn't a pleasant reunion.

…

To cut it short, Kakarot was a complete failure. No, he was even worse than an impairment. Not only did he fail to kill all the Earthlings, but became part of them, and now is willing to fight his own brother to protect them. The only good part about this whole deal is that he had a kid with some princess; one more to add for the ranks. So like any good brother, Raditz volunteered to take his nephew for a day out and gave Kakarot another chance to prove himself. Since he doesn't exist for Frieza they don't need this planet, but Kakarot needed to get his Saiyan side to blossom again. Nappa and Vegeta were just as disappointed, and they wanted to straight up kill Kakarot for his betrayal. Raditz disagreed and went on with his choice. Kakarot just had to kill a couple hundred thousand and Raditz would take him in, but guess what…

Kakarot and his pathetic earthling friends decided to fight back, despite knowing Raditz overpowers them by a huge margin. But one thing that bugged Raditz the most were the Earthlings' abilities. Not only could they hide how powerful they are, but their special attacks could reach far above their power level. It was almost scary, but their downfall soon came. They were stupid to think his tail was still a weak point; almost as if they were mocking him. After it all these warriors could barely scratch him with their fists.

But all of the sudden, the Namekian was back and he joined Kakarot. That fight took way more than it should, but still they couldn't defeat him. And still, Kakarot was ready to throw out his life to defeat Raditz, and it almost happened if a baldy there hadn't interfered in the Namekian's attack. That was the last straw for Raditz, he gave Kakarot far too many chances and he rejected all of them. If he was willing to die to save this miserable rock, so be it. "At least you have a single good trait from the Saiyans, Kakarot. You clearly don't know when to give up."

He was looking down at his bloody and beaten brother, Raditz thought how much of a shame it was. Would his father be proud of what he's about to do… Or would he tell Raditz to stop? At the end of the day, at least Kakarot lived up to the expectations of their father, and grew to be an above-average warrior despite being born so weak.

But there was another special surprise that day. Out of nowhere, he picked up a power in his scouter. Somehow the power there skyrocketed to above 1.000 mark. He thought another damn earthling was doing a crazy technique, but it wasn't the case. When he turned to look, he saw Kakarot's brat bursting through his pod, enraged. The kid managed to pick him off guard and Raditz suffered a brutal blow to his midriff, cracking his armor and making the Scouter fall off his face.

…

Seeing his ship in ruins, probably trapping him to this rock, and plus the pain of this strike made Raditz explode in fury. He had too many surprises today. He blasted towards the sky, ready to blow this entire land to dust. He prepared his attack that shined from above them. He was gonna fire, but… he had problems with it. He still had pity on Kakarot. He remembered what his father told him so many years ago. He was told to help Kakarot become a proper Saiyan, not kill him. He held onto that thought for far too long.

He closed his eyes and made up his mind, with a sweat running down his forehead, he fired.

…

However, when he opened his eyes again he was no longer looking down the green hill he was about to fire on. He was miring towards the depths of space. The energy he just fired went straight from where he stood, and he ended up hitting the side of a huge structure; causing a massive explosion that blew the thing to pieces.

…

When Raditz's senses returned to him, he looked around. He was back to Frieza planet 79, just like he was six months ago. He had no idea what was going on, but soon he realized what he had done. He appeared to be on the deck of the space-station planet, where everyone gets their ships and leaves for missions. The thing that he just destroyed was actually Frieza's personal ship. Not only that, the explosion he caused severely damaged the upper levels and destroyed a lot of transport pods, and now it was all collapsing.

He had far too many questions, but he understood that if he doesn't run right now he's a dead man. He managed to slip away really quick and hide, just as elite soldiers appear on the deck and start searching the area. The huge and loud buzzer began, and all of the sudden everyone thought that the station was under attack. Raditz had no idea what he just unleashed, but the chaos allowed him to slip through the entrance easily. He walked down the corridors as soldiers passed by him. He told all of them that there was an intruder outside; he was the one who injured his midriff like this and he took his Scouter too. With quick thinking and a smart lie he got out of there safely.

As everyone was preparing and searching for a ghost enemy, Raditz went to the private communications lobby. It was emptied out thanks to this little crisis he caused, and now he had plenty of time. He got into a booth and put up the code to join in the same connection as Nappa and Vegeta once again. After a while, they answer.

"Raditz, is that you? Well that's quite a surprise, we thought you were killed by those earthlings." said Vegeta with a laugh. "Where are you?"

"I'm back at 79 and I don't know how. I just blinked and I reappeared here! And the worst of all… I ended up firing against Frieza's main ship on the deck. Everyone is in such a hurry now and I think it's only a matter of time before they see it was me on the cameras," said Raditz.

Nappa laughed through his speaker for a good few seconds. "When Vegeta told us we were gonna go rogue, he didn't mean it like that; HAHA!" Raditz tried explaining again that he was brought there suddenly by some ability, and fired before he realized it.

"Oh yes, when your scouter fell to the ground we kept on hearing their conversation. Apparently they wished you away using the help of something called 'dragon balls.' It seemed to be the doing of the Namekian," said Vegeta.

Raditz asked what happened next, and Vegeta coldly replied. "Right now Nappa and I are going to Earth to find more about it. If these dragon balls can grant wishes then killing Frieza will be a breeze. I'm going to use them to become immortal like in the old legends. And on that, we'll take care of your 'family affair' for you." Raditz wasn't specific enough, he asked, "And what about me? What am I gonna do?"

The two laughed, and Nappa broke it down to Raditz. "Well it's very simple, Raditz. You seem to be in quite a mess over there. Frieza doesn't know we went rogue, and Vegeta and I prefer to keep it that way. And besides it will take us nine months to reach 79; we won't get there in time to bail you anyway. If you fight or run to survive, it's up to you now. As once-general of the Saiyan race, I commend and thank you for many years of service."

"YOU'RE GOING TO ABANDON ME?!" shouted Raditz.

"Don't take it personal, Raditz" said Vegeta, "we just don't have much use for you anymore. Your failure to finish your brother has shown me that you're untrustworthy. I would find use in your high power, but Nappa and I have that covered. You see, on this stranded planet that we arrived at, we happened to find something interesting: Warriors that burrow from the ground instantly. Nappa has a couple hundred thousand of their seeds in his pod as we speak. That shall be our army against Frieza's soldiers. And to top it all off they have powers that are just a little bit below you, my friend. How does it feel to know you're being substituted by a plant, Raditz?"

With shadows covering his face, Raditz accepted it very easily. "I hope you two rot in hell. I hope Kakarot kills you both. In fact I bet his toddler son could do it. And while you are at it, just know that I can go to Frieza right now and tell him your whole plan."

Vegeta's smile disappeared, and he now had a menacing tone. "Don't you dare… tattle on me, low-class scum" he said, "if you do… there is no place in this universe that can hide you from me."

With a smirk Raditz answered, "why would I hide from a dead man?"

And so he cut the line. Nappa and Vegeta were left miring into the dark space as their pods fly through the stars. Nappa wondered if Raditz was really gonna do it, but Vegeta didn't think so. If he does then he'll probably be killed too, and they both know how much of a knack for survival that weakling has.

…

Raditz took a deep breath while inside the communication booth. He had to leave the planet station somehow, but he literally just blew up the nearest deck with most of the transport pods, and there were about a dozen elite soldiers there to stop him. He has to run through the planet's infinite maze of corridors, get to the West Deck, and hope he doesn't meet up with anyone who knows him.

He exits his booth, and is welcomed by the same dark room with no lights that he entered before, but something was different. He looked to his right, and saw someone just leaning his back against the door of the other booth. It was Cui.

"Well, if it isn't Raditz…"

Raditz knew he was in deep shit now. Cui is as powerful as Vegeta, and he is borderline obsessed with messing the hell out of them. He was oddly calm that day, probably because Raditz represents no threat to him. "You can't imagine my surprise when one of my three favorite rivals just walks past me, even though he should be on a 2-year mission to the South Galaxy…"

As Cui begins to talk, Raditz mumbles to himself and pinches his nose bridge in silent anger. Cui leans off the wall and stands face to face with Raditz with his hands on his hips.

"...And when I decided to follow him, I discovered that he and his friends were planning to rebel against my dear lord Frieza. How awful of you. To be honest I never even liked you; you are just another dirty monkey that survived from sheer luck. Without Vegeta and Nappa by your side you don't seem so powerful all of the sudden. What do you think, Raditz? I think lord Frieza would reward me dearly if I were to get rid of a traitor like you."

As they both look at each other, Raditz suddenly turns his eyes to the side, and expresses genuine shock in his face as he says, "lord Frieza…!"

Cui's face went stiff and he quickly turned around, ready to bow and assert himself. But when he looked behind him there was no one there. Then he looked back at Raditz, and he was pointing his shining hand to Cui's face, smirking. "Idiot."

Raditz unleashed a point-blank blast that caused tremors all over the station, and completely destroyed the entire communication sector. Cui just appears from the smoke completely fine. "Do you really think your worthless attack can defeat me-?"

Then, Cui realized that Raditz wasn't there anymore. He was gone and took the smoke as camouflage. He immediately tried to toggle his scouter on him, but he then realized that Raditz just blew it off his face.

He continued pursuing him through the corridors at high speed. Through many turns of hallways that looked exactly the same, Cui eventually caught up to Raditz. He had to think of a way out quickly, and so he charged his full body against the wall and went through it, arriving at another hallway. Raditz would try to cheese Cui away by going both left and right, up and down through the walls, but the bastard was too hot on his trail. On his way, Cui managed to snatch a Scouter from the passing soldiers from the corridors.

Eventually they arrive at the most prestigious point of Frieza Planet 79. The enormous Main Assembly Hall, where about five thousand soldiers can fit in a formation and Frieza usually stands atop a plateau to give speeches to his men. The place was empty today, and Raditz and Cui just happened to arrive on it by bursting through the smooth white wall.

Now they saw each other from across the huge hall, and Cui asked if he was ready to die. Raditz calls him a fool. He, who calls himself their rivals, doesn't know the first thing about their true power. And so Raditz used a bunch of his energy to make a small white ball, and chucked it towards the ceiling where it exploded in a flash of light. The Fake Moon technique is one of the few techniques invented by the Saiyans, and quite easily their best.

Cui watched from a far as Raditz stared at the ball he just made, and began to change his figure. Before, Cui was confused when Raditz's power went up a little after he first saw him, but now he was terrorized. Through his battle on Earth, Raditz got a small near-death boost, upping him to the power level of 1.800. Cui watched from his new Scouter as those 1.800 became 18.000; his same power level. In his Great Ape form and intimidating voice, Raditz asks, "shall we begin, puny?"

Cui rushed at him, and proved to be quite a match by using his speed to combat the clumsiness of the Great Ape form, and deal some damage to the tough skin and fur. But he underestimated the heightened senses that come with it, and so Raditz managed to predict where Cui was gonna be and grabbed him with his two hands. Cui managed to fight off the grip and saved himself from being crushed. The two were matching strengths, but Raditz had a trick. With his open mouth he released a blast that was about to erase Cui from existence while on his palm, but Cui managed to get one hand free and fire back at it before it hit him. That caused a huge explosion in between them, that set both apart once again.

Raditz was putting up a good fight, and that scared Cui. He thought of what he could use to his advantage, and then he remembered his tail. Without it Raditz would revert back to a miserable state, and would be a clean kill.

With the intention of cutting off his tail, Cui charged head first. He shot a ki blast at Raditz in the face as distraction, and was about to swipe the tail clean off when Raditz moved his tail around Cui's strike like it was rubber. "Predictable fool!" Raditz said, as he turned around at full speed and kicked Cui with all his Great Ape strength, and sent him flying across the hall. He crashed against the smooth white wall, forming a crater on it. It took him a good second to recover, almost a second too late. When he opened his eyes, Raditz was rushing at him, about to unleash a powerful strong punch. By a fraction of a second Cui dodges it and survives. The punch went through the wall, and left Raditz' arm stuck there for a couple of seconds. Cui looked at him in shock, but then saw something good. Under Raditz's right arm that he just got stuck in, he saw a clear crack on his armor as well as a deep bruise on it. Quickly, Cui fired a blast at that wound, and that got Raditz really bad. He screamed in pain and covered his wound with the other hand. Cui was about to fire again, but Raditz pulled off his arm from the hole and fired a hand blast of pure ki. Cui manages to dodge it, and it makes a gigantic explosion once it hits the floor. Raditz followed it up with a quick and less powerful mouth blast that hit Cui head on, but he survived with damaged arms.

For a second they stop to catch their breaths. The lights around the Main Assembly Hall begin to phase and die out. Fire was spreading through the floor. Cui got mad by his persistence and saw him on the floor holding on to his wound. Cui unleashed a barrage of ki blasts at Raditz, and he was forced to curl up and protect himself; suffering heavy damage through his arms, legs and back. Cui wasn't finished though; he prepared a ki bomb over his head to throw at Raditz to kill him for good. "Begone you miserable monkey!"

He threw it, but it never connected to its target.

Between them appeared Commander Zarbon, who fling his cape and stopped Cui's energy ball with one hand. "Cui… Are you planning on blowing up the entire station?" said Zarbon, as he squeezes the energy ball out of existence, turning to nothing more than smoke on his palm. Cui almost peed on his pants. He immediately flew and kneel down to Zarbon's feet while saying twenty excuses per second. To cut it short, he was just trying to defeat the Saiyan traitor. To which Zarbon quickly replied, "I see, but it seems that you forgot the basics," then Zarbon picked him up by his collar and speaks right to his face, "like for example: DESTROYING THE MOON!"

With a quick blast, Zarbon shot down the Fake Moon that Raditz set up in the ceiling. With the explosion, Raditz's body begins to change and he shrunk down to his human form. Now he was but a guy in destroyed armor and blood everywhere on his body, but he was still standing. He had no idea how he would get out now; that seemed to be the end for him. However, he was surprised when Zarbon didn't kill him immediately. Right after him a couple dozen elite soldiers showed up, and circled Raditz from every possible point of escape.

Soon enough the bastard himself, Frieza shows up in his hovering pod next to Dodoria. His smile fades as soon as he sees his precious Main Hall in a complete wreck from the battle. "My my, now what happened around here?"

Cui went straight to lick his boots for forgiveness, and surprisingly Frieza was pretty understanding of the situation. "Very well, Cui. I do appreciate your devotion to the security of our ranks. Traitors must be dealt with accordingly, and I commend you for that. However, I do believe that the repairs for this battle will have to cost you 18, maybe 20 months of your future payments. It is truly regrettable."

Cui didn't mind and accepted the terms wholeheartedly, as he knew the other option was getting killed right here and now. Then, Frieza turned to Raditz and smiled once again. "Why, if it isn't one of Vegeta's Saiyan friends… Haven't I ordered you away on a long mission several months ago? Well, I guess that joke doesn't matter now. In any other circumstance you would be already dead, but somehow you have discovered something that falls to my attention."

"W-w… what?!" mumbled Raditz.

"Tell me, Saiyan: What exactly have you discovered on that planet? What were those "dragon balls" Vegeta mentioned? Since you were the one who went to that planet, why don't you tell me everything you know?"

Raditz was in shock; mentally that is, since he managed to keep his cool on the outside. Frieza has been spying on Vegeta's Scouter all along? How much does he know? Does he know everything? No, he clearly missed some information. They never mentioned the name "Earth" while talking through scouters, but they did reveal that those dragon balls might grant wishes. The truth is, Raditz doesn't know anything about them either. If he says that he doesn't, Frieza will kill him now; and if he says he does, Frieza will force him to tell and then kill him anyway. He needs to exit this situation; buy time. He felt a sudden pain and tiredness through his body and was getting worse and worse. He was gonna pass out…

…

THAT'S IT!

With everyone surrounding him, they all witnessed as Raditz just threw himself on the floor and closed his eyes. He didn't move for a good few seconds, and Frieza's smile turned to a frown. "Lord Frieza, it does seem that the recent fights have drawn him to severe peril. What should we do?" asked Zarbon.

"Hmm… I still want information out of him. Take him to the healing pods on Level-1 Confinements and notify me when he is fully healed. And to the rest of you, I want this whole place cleaned up until next week or heads will roll. You heard me, Cui" said Frieza, as he and his commanders left the Main Hall. Still pretending to be unconscious, the soldiers grab Raditz's body and carry him away. Before he passed out for real, he admired how much of a genius he is.

The problem was: he was getting deeper into the planet, and not out. Frieza is now on his back, and he is currently an enemy to everyone. He needed new friends to take him out of what comes next, and sure enough, he shall have them.