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DRAGON BALL HARDCORE
RADITZ THE SURVIVOR, part 1
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After escaping Frieza Planet 79 with the help of Cheelai and Lemo, the trio make their way to the Heeter's castle. Once they land, they are targeted by a group of Bounty hunters led by Soshiru. They wanted Raditz head because it's worth 10.000 F-credits; enough to buy a whole empty planet. However, Raditz's wanted poster has the wrong power level listed, and he easily kills two of them and leaves Soshiru alive, thanking him for helping Raditz make a good first impression.
Luckily the Heeters are home that day, and are willing to hear Raditz. There are only two of them, Elec the wise and clever, and Gas his little brother who is just really ominous. Elec is really impressed by their display. Betraying Frieza; Destroying his main military base under his nose; Escaping custody and defeating commander Dodoria in combat? That was truly unheard of; unthought of. Elec respected that. Frieza himself gave Raditz a bounty, but he was going to ignore that.
Truth be told, Elec couldn't care less about the 10.000 F-credits. He's already stupid rich. As he puts it, money is worthless in a galaxy where the strong can take whatever they want. If Elec wanted to achieve his own goals, he needed help. All he has is paid bounty hunters, either cowards or overambitious fools. He needed a soldier. Someone who isn't afraid to do a little scheming against Frieza. If Raditz and his tiny crew accepted, he would work his magic and get his face out of everywhere.
Raditz and Elec shake hands, both incredibly untrustworthy of each other, and both promising that double crossing for both parties meant death. Their new mission was to help Alec gather information contained under the name "OG73", an asset that they can find in a famous prison on Frieza's territory. Alec already knows a way for them to infiltrate.
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They had to wait for a week and steal the supply ship for the prison. Then they need to sneak in, go to the main control room, and get any kind of file under the name OG73. And so they sat in the shadows and waited for the time. Meanwhile Cheelai managed to convince Raditz to get a change of clothes so then he can go out in public. Thanks to his peculiar hair that he inherited from his mother, it was practically worthless. He kept the breastplate of his battle armor with no shoulder pads, and put on black pants and boots to hide his tail inside. All of that plus a mask to hide his face; used by some species that can't breathe oxygen so they can enter certain planets, and so no one would ask him to take it off. Cheelai and Lemo put on their respective purple and gray overalls, so the team was ready.
They hijack the supply ship while on a farm planet collecting food, and Raditz doesn't kill the innocent drivers as a request from Cheelai, to prove he's not a violent maniac and the two can be friends. And so they manage to safely invade the prison, who's entire walls, floor, ceiling and structure is made of pure Katchin. They go on to make their fake jobs until Cheelai finds a way to get inside. She uses a bit of sex appeal to fool the guard into letting them in to fix whatever broken electronics they have. As the guard guides them around, eventually they bump into someone from the main control room, who knows they are fakers because the actual transporters just called and said they were robbed. The soldier almost kills Cheelai with a gauntlet blaster but Raditz kills them both at the speed of sound. Due to the high power levels of prisoners, all soldiers kept their scouters off, and that helped them sneak by. However, eventually they are found and chased by strong soldiers that Raditz can't hope to beat.
The two manage their way through the facility and arrive at the control room. Thankfully the Katchin door stops their powerful enemies from entering. Cheelai goes to extract the OG73 file, only to realize it's not a file at all. It's actually a prisoner, something not even Elec knew. The mission just got a thousand times harder. They check on the cameras to see the prisoner they have to save, and it turns out it's a bluish android, standing straight up and looking vaguely ahead. Raditz wonders what to do, but Cheelai already made up her mind.
She releases all the prisoners at once, throwing the entire facility into absolute chaos. Raditz leaves through another passage and arrives at the prisoner hall, where dozens of low level prisoners were ganging up and killing the Frieza soldiers. He sneaks past all the fighting and arrives in 73's cell, where he stands still despite the battles going on outside. "Require instructions" is the only thing he says, and as Raditz tries to drag him out of there, he mistakes him for an enemy, entering auto defense mode.
Turns out 73 is crazy strong, not having ki but by his own admission his power level sits somewhere around the 10.000 mark. He beats up Raditz until other prisoners see him, and try to beat him up as well. 73 was fighting dozens of prisoners but was doing fine. Eventually Raditz manages to get everyone to stop. They realize the situation and decide to band together to escape. But with the ringer buzzing, all Katchin doors were closed and Cheelai lost control. They were locked in there. 73 then realizes Raditz is there to help and not terminate him, so he accepts his orders.
73 had a special ability. He can read the molecular structure of things with the crystals on his hands, allowing him to change his body into their exact match. He used that to absorb the Katchin, turning his skin dark, and so he managed to open a hole through the door with a punch. The hoard of prisoners quickly took over the prison, and Raditz rescued Cheelai with the help of 73. They were stealing ships to escape while some just went ahead and jumped into space, not needing to breathe. Lemo almost got his ship stolen, but Raditz kicks the enemies into space and they die. And so the trio escapes, calling Elec to say that the heist was successful. He was pleased.
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But once they met with him in real life the next day, he wasn't so pleased. He was bummed out and tired. He had to deal with all the wanted criminals that Raditz released, and was forced to put his A team to hunt them down. They got what he wanted, so at least it wasn't for nothing. 73 might have information that Elec wants, so Gas takes him to another room to have his data copied. Meanwhile, Elec has to break it down to Raditz.
Security cameras caught his face during the prison riot, and they identified him as the main perpetrator. Not too long after, Frieza called again and asked that his bounty increased to 20.000 F-credits. It would be way harder to make him disappear now, but Elec already has a plan. As long as they keep working together, he can make it happen. But Raditz's new mission will be tracking down every single prisoner he released, and there are some problems with that.
Not only they release those low level prisoners, but also the max security ones. Thanks to them, the fabled Bojack gang got out of jail. Raditz will have massive problems in the near future, but he accepts the challenge. Cheelai and Lemo were scared of the task, but then Elec paid them for the trouble. It was enough money for them to buy literally everything they ever wanted, and that motivated them to keep on the job.
As one last gift, Elec allows them to keep battling android 73, since they will most likely need his powers. Raditz would never turn down the idea of having a powerful and obedient fighter on his crew, and so 73 is coming along.
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For the next several months, Lemo would drive them around the North Galaxy so then Raditz and 73 could kill the wanted fugitives, each harder than the last. Eventually they are sent to a very beautiful green planet full of wildlife. It was like Earth in many ways. The planet wasn't that big, so Raditz decided to go into the wild and search for his targets. His power level at that point was 6.000 after all the fighting, and he felt confident. Though her power level on the wanted poster was unknown, it was just one woman after all. Her name was Mamoto.
He spent his time running through the jungle and eating wild animals raw; a Saiyans most favorite pastime. Eventually he came into contact with his target, as she managed to approach him by surprise. She wore strange clothes from a distant planet, and her black hair somewhat reminded Raditz of his mother. Even with the scouter on he was caught off guard. She had the same ability to conceal her power level as those Earthlings, but she was much more refined with it.
He tried to fight her, but she wasn't the only one there. She had an entire gang of fighters with the same ability, she being the strongest. Raditz was overwhelmed by all the strong fighters and ended up being knocked out. Mamoto, being their leader, decides to spare his life for now, so they take the unconscious Raditz with them.
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Raditz wakes up inside a dark cavern, still heavily damaged, and Mamoto is sitting right in front of him. They talk for a little minute about who he is and why Frieza hates him, which makes the lady respect him. Just then, Raditz finally recognized that special smell she had. One of the Saiyans most particular ability was to identify with each other by scent of the tail. Raditz had no doubt.
The girl was a Saiyan.
And so she revealed her tail from under her dress, and the two just stared at each other. He immediately asks for her origins. Mamoto knew her race, but didn't know anything about her people. She was raised off planet by her father, a Saiyan named Turles. She became captain of his pirate gang after he died. That was pretty much it. Surprising to her, Raditz began to laugh. He recognizes the name Turles. A few years before Raditz was born, that man deserted the Saiyan army because he couldn't deal with them being under Frieza's rule. He took his baby daughter with him still in the incubator, and then he was never seen again. Mamoto should be 2 years older than Raditz. She questioned him on how he knew so much, to which Raditz revealed that Turles was his father Bardock's half-brother. What would make her Raditz's half cousin.
The two keep on talking for a little more, until Mamoto comes to reveal why she is there. After she got back with her crew, they continued on with their plan of raising a certain "tree of might." After many long years of searching she came upon the rare seeds for this thing. To grow the tree its roots first need to absorb all the energy of a planet's wildlife. This planet was perfect for the job. Now she just needed to wait a few more hours for the tree to grow. Once it's up, it will bear a special fruit that gives immense power to anyone who eats it. She wanted it above all else, because she hated being weak. The feeling of being powerless sickened her, it took away her ability to be free and live at ease no matter how much riches she stole.
Mamoto still wanted Raditz alive since he would be useful to her gang with his power level, but Raditz refuses, saying he would inevitably bring her death if they banded together. She accepted it, and then quickly knocked out Raditz again with a punch to the gut. She looked down at his body, and though she needed to kill him, she left him alive as thanks for helping her get her freedom back, as she would be executed if he didn't get her out of that prison.
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Cheelai, Lemo and 73 watched as the planet around them began to die, and they were forced to pack it up before it was their turn. Raditz was still missing.
At the other side of the planet, Mamoto and her crew stare as the seed of might sprouts from the ground, and the gray tree itself grows fast. It was growing so big that it eventually took over the sky and clouds with its branches and leaves. But all that size would only produce a few fruits. Cheelai and Lemo head over with their ship and spot the gigantic tree.
They decided to call Elec for information, and the man immediately ordered the crew to get a fruit of that tree, and he would pay them dearly for it. Elec knew damn well the tree's power. Some of Mamoto's gang see Lemo's ship approaching, and they engage in combat. 73 protects them, but these warriors are rather strong, and so Lemo is forced to back out of there.
The fruit finally revealed itself to the gang. But as Mamoto went to grab it, her henchmen suddenly jumped her and forced her against the floor. This was a mutiny. She wasn't nearly as good of a leader as her father, no matter how tough she talks. She was captured and put in prison for months, but now she thinks she can come back and call the shots again? Hell no. Her vice-captain, Amond, finishes his monologue by beating her up and taking the fruit for himself. As he bites on it, the rest of the fruit instantly dries out. Amond instantly doubles his power. He tells the other pirates to search for the other fruits and eat them, while he continues to beat down on the enraged Mamoto. Eventually she gets too hurt to fight, and since she refuses to serve under her traitor, Amond might as well kill her.
One of the gang members spotted another one of the fruits. And as he goes to eat it, he gets his skull bashed in and someone else quickly snatches the fruit away. They all look up the tree to see Raditz holding the fruit. He eats it without thinking twice. Immediately, he felt the power running through his body like cold water. His true potential was awakened, and his power shot up massively. He sure wanted to see Vegeta's face right now.
Raditz used his newfound strength to kill off all of the gang members in a huge killing spree. He saw that some of them were still trying to get more fruits and fight back, so he had an idea. He decided to test out his new power, and with a Double Sunday he blew the tree trunk the fuck up. The tree was blown in half, and it immediately died as a result.
He slaughtered more gang members until Amond was the only one left. They fought one another but it showed that the fight was pretty balanced. Raditz was still injured and the traitor took advantage of that fact. Raditz was struggling to keep on at this level, but soon he found someone else to fight for him. Suddenly Raditz threw a white ball to the sky ,and exploded in light; the fake moon technique!
He told Mamoto to look at it, and soon the last Saiyan lady became the great Oozaru. Amond couldn't even scratch her in that form, so she proceeded to rush him down. She punched him in the ground again and again, making the crater bigger with each strike. With the last forces of her anger, Mamoto tossed Amond upwards, grabbed the broken half of the tree of might, and used it to homerun his ass into space, finishing off with a mouth blast that hit him with perfect accuracy. The explosion was big, and the traitor was turned to red dust. All their enemies were dealt with, so Raditz shot down his own moon and watched the giant Mamoto turn back to her normal form, covered in bruises and naked. Cheelai and Lemo manage to find one last fruit of might hidden among the leaves, and decide to take it for Elec. Now all they had to do was decide Mamoto's fate.
They left it up for Raditz to decide. She couldn't fight back no matter what he chose. But surprisingly he just walked away without looking back. He tells her that she should go dark, because he's gonna tell the Heeters that she was killed off as well. And so the last Saiyan lady is left behind, looking on as they leave in Lemo's ship.
On the space trip, Cheelai finds his sudden compassion weird, and thinks Raditz has feelings for her, so they should totally be together to continue their race. Raditz promptly yells at her to shut up.
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Not long after, they arrive at Heeter's castle. But as they cross the bridge from the landing area, Raditz bumps into a strange guy with green hair and a strange scouter covering his right eye. They just exchanged a glare and both went about their day.
Inside, Elec welcomes them after the deadly mission, and dearly rewards them for the fruit and the pirate gang they eliminated. Raditz requested that they read out his new power level, which turns out to be a whopping 30.000 currently, and for some reason the smaller digits are still going up. That number goes beyond the elite and now reaches out for Frieza's special forces. Now Raditz was officially Elec's strongest ally, and as so he had a very important mission.
Remember the Bojack gang that they released from prison? The ones who could only be defeated by the Ginyu force themselves, and even managed to kill one of the five members during the fight? Well, Raditz will have to deal with them now. Just a few months out and they are already causing chaos. Frieza doesn't give a shit, and all the while Bojack just wants to fight the strongest person of every planet he visits.
Raditz thought that was impossible for him, but it appears that the fruit of might continues to give him power. Elec doesn't know for how long that power is gonna last however, so he begs Raditz to go on this mission. In fact, he promises this is the last one. He just has to kill Bojack, his three sons Bido, Bujin and Gokua, and at last his younger daughter Zangya. Once he's done, Elec promises that everyone in North Galaxy will never hear his name again.
Raditz was tempted, and his new power made him grow a little arrogant. Over this time that he has been free, he realized something. He has been fighting his entire life; his life is fighting and surviving itself. But now that he looks on afterwards, there's nothing left. There is nothing else. Getting his bounty poster off was just an enticement all along. He has no other place in this universe. All he can do is fight, and that's exactly what he will do. He can leave his doubts for later, the only thing he wished for right now was to get a chance to destroy Nappa and Vegeta, but surely they will meet their own demise soon enough.
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After the Raditz crew left, Elec and Gas were holding the fruit of might. Gas was waiting for his brother to eat it, but he refused. Instead, he told Gas to eat it. That fruit will give him power, and as long as his little brother is strong enough to keep himself safe, that's all Elec cares about. If he is to succeed one day, he'll have to be smart AND powerful. Elec really cared for his brother, and as Gas ate it he thanked him, and promised his older brother to always be at his side.
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Bojack's crew were a rather unusual group. All that Bojack really wanted was to fight a good fight, to a psychotic degree. He took over a small planet belonging to Frieza and made the main fortress his home. Then he sent out a call for everyone; everyone in the North Galaxy who wanted to fight him could come along and he would gladly accept the challenge. Personally he really wanted a rematch against Ginyu and his men. So in the meantime he enslaved the Frieza soldiers to serve as mere peons in his game.
Sadly for him, his opponent would be Raditz. They arrived soon on the planet, but to their dismay Bojack felt his energy entering the planet. He told the soldiers to shoot his ship down, and so they did. Lemo's ship was struck out of the sky by a laser blast. Bojack wanted to trap them on the planet, and he succeeded. The four now watch from the forest mountain top as Bojack's new fortress is far ahead. He sent armed soldiers to go and test them, but they were easily disposed of by Raditz, 73 and even Cheelai with her gauntlet blaster. Bojack was getting interested, and he couldn't stop smiling. He offered his children to go and kill him one by one.
Gokua was the first to take upon the offer, so he grabbed his sword and went to fight Raditz in the forest. He was absurdly deadly, wielding a Katchin sword. He overpowered Raditz at first, but for some reason the Saiyan's powers continued to grow as the battle dragged on. Gokua was scared to fight such an enemy, and on his slip up Raditz found a way to kill him. He proceeded to take his sword for himself, because fuck that guy. One down, four to go.
Lemo stood behind to try and fix his ship so they could leave, while Cheelai, Raditz and 73 went on the assault. Cheelai needed to get fuel, since everything leaked out and they needed more. Raditz and 73 need to get all the heat towards them so she can slip by, and they begin unloading hell and breaking everything through the main entrance. The normal foot soldiers stood on guard, but once the explosion started they all ran in fear and fled the planet. They decided to split up for a while, 73 tasked with taking out the heavy artillery and the soldiers running away.
While he was alone, Raditz came across Bujin and Bido. The two fought together pretty well and overwhelmed Raditz. Bujin was not that strong, but he was adept at ki control. He could use energy needles to paralyze Raditz while his older brother knocked the Saiyan around. But the fight was stopped once 73 arrived, having completed his mission. Bujin goes to fight him, but since 73 is an android without Ki his needles don't work, and 73 takes the chance to murder him. With Bido now alone, Raditz easily kills him as well by slicing him in half with his brother's sword.
Finally they get a chance to grab their Scouter, and they realize Cheelai is in danger.
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She easily entered the hanger zone for the planet's military ships. She was getting a huge case of solid green fuel when Zangya appeared. She knew Cheelai was weak and decided to sadistically toy with her. Cheelai would try to run and outsmart her, but Zangya was many levels above her tricks. The only good shot she had was when she tossed the fuel case at Zangya and fired at it, creating a huge explosion, but even that didn't work. Cheelai ends up wounded and bleeding, and at her wits end she calls Raditz one last time through the Scouter. This time they show up.
Zangya was terrified, they beat her senselessly until she got too scared and ran to papa Bojack. 73 was ordered to take Cheelai back to the ship with the fuel while he goes alone to fight the boss. Bojack's power level should be 50.000, but Raditz has been growing stronger ever since yesterday and he's optimistic.
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He arrives at the huge throne room where Zangya is really nervous, trying to explain all that Raditz is capable of, when suddenly Bojack gets sick of his daughter being a coward so he just kills her with a hand blast. Despite the absolute brutality of what he just did, he's in a good mood. He never fought a Saiyan, but he believes it's absolutely baffling that they once called themselves "the strongest race in the universe." Raditz was glad for the opportunity to change his mind. It was nothing personal; for Raditz it was business, for Bojack it was for fun.
The two fought for a while, with Raditz and his sword getting dangerously close to chopping off Bojack's head. He was enjoying himself, but he felt like he should go full power. He takes off his turban and shirt, revealing all his scars and long ginger hair. As he powers up his skin takes a green tone. Raditz scouter was poorly calibrated, and exploded once it went above the power of 200.000 coming from Bojack.
Raditz knew it was time to literally go Ape shit mode. He made a fake moon and tossed it far into the sky, and soon enough he became a giant monkey. He became powerful and strong, but Bojack knew exactly how to fight his oversize body. The fight dragged on, with Bojack getting just as much damage as Raditz.
Eventually shit turns for the worst, as Bojack, in a mad battle hungry state, fires a blast of energy that misses Raditz but ends up hitting the core of the planet. The core wasn't that strong, and that was sure to destroy the planet soon. The ground started shaking and mountains started erupting. Raditz knew he had to get the hell out of there; nothing survives a planet explosion. But his distraction ended up being crucial.
Bojack grabbed the Katchin sword, and used it to cut Raditz 'tail off. His greatest asset was now gone, and since he passed his juvenile period it will not grow back. He reverted back to a normal human, and now Bojack was beating him to a pulp. He didn't even seem to care that the planet was about to blow. Finally, he stabs Raditz through the stomach with the sword and leaves him bleeding there. Raditz wasn't fun anymore, so he decided to blast him into oblivion.
Bojack was about to fire when suddenly he was attacked by surprise. It was 73, and he held on to Bojack's back, pretty much pinning him down with a deadly choke. He instantly turned into his Katchin form, and Bojack could no longer free himself from him. Raditz asked, "73! What are you doing?!"
"Main protocol states: the commanding unit must survive the mission. The OG73-i unit failed once with the previous commanding unit. It will not fail again." he said.
Lemo and his ship soon arrive at the destroyed wasteland. He got out and pulled Raditz in. Lemo shouted, "let's get the hell out of here, chip brain!" But 73 was not going; this is the only way to stop Bojack from killing them. With shame on his face, Lemo closes the door and takes Radits to the upper rooms. He places him next to Cheelai, who's also very wounded and unconscious. With nothing else he can do, Lemo blast out into space.
Bojack was furious, he was gonna die for being tricked. He started going crazy, but he couldn't do anything to damage the android of pure Katchin. He screamed and screamed until the earth beneath him collapsed and lava started erupting.
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Lemo watched from a far as the planet exploded in a red mist. Bojack and 73 were no more. The light shined on that part of the galaxy. It was over. Lemo went to help his severely wounded teammates, but he was allowed no room to breathe.
From afar, a lonely small ship watched the fight play out and the planet explode. Now, with its weapons ready, it fires laser blasts at Lemo's ship right where it counts; a perfect shot despite being so damn far. The ship immediately loses power and control, and so Lemo is left in the dark with a ship that doesn't work. The crew is drifting off into space, sure to be dead in their current condition.
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And so the lonely ship drew back its canons. The man inside was none other than the green-haired douchebag that Raditz met in the Heeter's castle. He calls Elec, telling him that the targets are as good as dead.
Elec immediately called off all bounties on him, saying that the Saiyan Raditz died in a fight against Bojack. Both were killed. Elec made good on his word after all. No one will ever speak Raditz's name again. He was a good worker, and his efforts will not be forgotten soon. He just had too much dirt on Elec to be allowed to live. And so Elec said:
"Good job… Granolah."