Chapter 30 – Raditz

That fucking woman.

How could they have been so stupid? How had they come to trust this weak, manipulative Human who had just ratted them out on Frieza? Right after saving her from being raped by a Kordylipe, no less!

Raditz had always said it. Women, when they were too pretty, had a way of getting men into trouble because they too easily robbed them of their judgment, and they invariably ended up listening to their hormones. He should have known that this blue-haired, busty vixen was no exception. He should have known that his prince was making a mistake by blindly adhering to her grotesque plan. Since Vegeta had never truly been affected by the persuasive power of women before, Raditz had foolishly figured he didn't have to worry about his decision to trust her. But Bulma had only had to bat her eyelashes to fool him.

And now they were paying the price for their carelessness.

The woman's skillful manipulations had paid off. Frieza knew the truth now; Vegeta was responsible for the death of one of his soldiers, and no matter what justifications his prince would suggest, he wouldn't get away with it. He would be punished and, dismissed by his Emperor at such a critical moment, Raditz couldn't even contribute to mitigate the resulting sentence.

Damn Human.

She was going to pay, for sure. He was going to personally care for it.

Furious, the long-maned Saiyan stood in front of the closed door of the Command Room for several long minutes, wondering if there was any way out of this unfortunate event. After careful consideration, he concluded that it would be best not to intervene, not yet anyway, and he headed towards the Quarters to find Nappa. He absolutely had to inform him of the Human's betrayal, and plan their revenge.

But he had barely crossed the corridor leading to the elevator when a voice called out to him.

"Raditz!"

The Saiyan whirled around, and came face to face with a Znig, those strange creatures with white fur that always smelled a little weird. He eyed his colleague irritably as the latter gave him a formal salute, a loaded weapon in hand.

"What do you want?" Raditz asked, not bothering to hide his bad mood.

This was not a good time to have a discussion. The soldier, however, seemed unaffected by the Saiyan's irritability, and he approached him, his small stature and bald head becoming more and more obvious the closer he got to the lion-maned behemoth.

"Where's your scooter?" the Znig asked eagerly.

"I don't have it with me" Raditz grumbled. "Forgotten it in my room. Because of some stupid Kordylipe thing."

"So… you don't know" said the Znig cautiously.

"About what?" impatiently asked Raditz.

"Everyone's looking for you. You were called to the boarding station over an hour ago."

Raditz's mood changed at the mention of his supposed summons, and the Saiyan momentarily forgot about the Human's betrayal.

"Huh? To the boarding station? To go where?"

"No idea. I don't have the details. But you'd better hurry. The departure has already been delayed twice because of you. I've just been tasked with finding you as quickly as possible. I'll let them know you're on your way" said the Znig, tapping on his scooter's monitor.

Raditz muttered a few profanities in Saiyago as he entered the elevator. The boarding station wasn't far from the command room, which didn't leave him much time to ponder this sudden assignment. It was unusual of Frieza to appoint him to a mission he didn't know about.

A few seconds later, the automatic doors opened to reveal a familiar setting.

The boarding station was a vast, circular hangar used to settle space pods and small ships for departure. It housed the soldiers assigned to the missions and all the technical personnel responsible for the associated preparations. It was currently packed, and the hustle of activity told Raditz that something big was afoot. All around him, people were frantically transporting crates of food and medical supplies to load them onto one of the ships docked on the nearest ramp. Further away, other workers were equipping a few stragglers soldiers with brand-new armor and Ki weapons. The enclosed space was teeming with activity.

This sight was well known to the long-haired Saiyan. It was the one announcing that a new mission was coming.

Raditz felt a shiver of excitement run through his spine. He strode toward the area reserved for assigned soldiers, the memory of the Kordylipe and the Human's betrayal definitively left at the doorstep.

"Ah, Raditz! Finally!" shouted one of the workers in charge of preparing the soldiers. "You took your time! What took you so long? Almost everyone's already gone. Come on, put on your armor and get out of here before there are no more space pods left."

The warrior approached the glass display cases and grabbed a suit of armor that fit him, the largest of them all.

"I left my scooter in my room. I didn't receive the mission details. Where are we going?" he asked, slipping the metal shield over his head.

"Earth, what do you think?" the creature said, swinging its tentacles around a nervous soldier who was struggling to properly set up his equipment.

"Earth?" Raditz said, a little surprised.

Considering how his recent deployment during the nightclub mission had ended, the Saiyan thought he'd not be able to return to Earth so quickly. The news delighted him. He was eager to return to this rock to discover all the landscapes and, above all, the food. He'd had a brief glimpse of it a few weeks ago, but was disappointed when he didn't have time to enjoy it long enough.

"Yes, Earth" his interlocutor replied. "But don't get any ideas. It's become a real mess since you went there. Frieza sent reinforcements two days ago, and we've already lost almost all the troops. Several permanent military bases have also been dismantled. And still no sign of life from Recoome either. Can you imagine?"

"Is he dead?" Raditz asked.

Not that he was really worried about the fate of the Ginyu Force member, but if Recoome had been beaten, then this mission might become even more exciting than he thought. Besides the scenery and the food, maybe he would get the opportunity to use his muscles, too!

"We don't know" the worker said. "Communications have become almost impossible for the past two weeks. It's hard to know exactly what's going on down there. Humans hold more resources than we expected. Although rumors are circulating that it's all the fault of just a handful of men."

Raditz smiled. It wasn't the first time he'd heard that rumor, and the idea of facing an opponent with fighting skills rivaling his own made him even more eager.

"That's why you're being sent there, by the way" the tentacled creature added. "We need brute force, like yours. Weak soldiers armed with those stupid Ki weapons aren't cutting it. Those are all easily beaten."

The soldier who was getting ready looked up worriedly at the one who had just put a Ki weapon in his hands. He frowned and took a step back, as if questioning his willingness to be "easily beaten", too.

Raditz, for his part, rubbed his hands together in anticipation, a satisfied smile on his lips.

Finally! A fight! A real one!

He'd been itching to break jaws for a while now, and the mission two weeks ago hadn't satisfied that need. Not to mention, he'd be able to put a face to the person responsible for all this mess, and he'd give them the beating of their lives. His excitement didn't really stem from a thirst for revenge. He didn't care about making this person pay for the losses he'd inflicted on Frieza's army. It was rather his repressed Saiyan instincts that truly needed to be fulfilled.

Nappa and Vegeta would be so jealous when they realized he'd been sent there to fight!

"Don't worry, Jirath" said the enormous Saiyan, pushing the nervous soldier toward the boarding ramp. "We're going to blast them off this time."

The two headed toward the remaining space pods, Raditz enthusiastically and his colleague with great reluctance. The Saiyan doubled over to settle into one of the pods, a huge grin plastered on his lips. The coordinates of his destination had already been planned, and all he had to do is cross his arms over his chest and wait for the technicians to make the final checks before the pod began to vibrate beneath his feet.

Then, he was propelled into space at breakneck speed.

With Frieza's mothership stationed in Earth orbit, the journey only lasted a few minutes. The space pod moved smoothly through the void at first, then began to shudder as it entered the planet's atmosphere. Finally, a sudden crash happened about thirty seconds later, telling Raditz he had already crashed to the ground. The Saiyan tapped the confirmation codes to unlock the pod's door, and as soon as it opened, the fresh air of Earth filled the cabin.

The happy warrior inhaled deeply, glad to finally breathe air that hadn't been chemically produced. A small breeze tickled his nose as he unfolded from the pod, slowly flexing his massive muscles as his eyes scanned his new surroundings.

It was broad daylight where he had landed, and the dazzling sunlight blazing across the sky forced him to squint. He found himself in the center of a verdant plain surrounded by hills whose lazy waves stretched as far as the eye could see. The ground was covered with fresh grass and small plants of impressive diversity. In the distance, he could see a herd of four-legged animals fleeing the commotion his space pod had just caused, and the predator that had just emerged from it. The sky was a clear blue like he had never seen before, and he guessed that this beautiful coloration was related to the large quantity of water that covered this planet. His heightened senses also allowed him to hear a stream flowing nearby, and to smell an abundance of unfamiliar smells, each more appetizing than the other.

He had often heard about it, but now that he witnessed it, Raditz understood all the praise heaped on planet Earth. The landscape before him was truly magnificent. The air was pure, and breathing it felt good. The sun didn't burn his skin or retina, its rays only gently warming his epidermis. The sound of the flying animals in the sky and the slow wind blowing on his face was soothing.

Earth's environment was truly nothing like the inhospitable, filthy, and depraved environments he had visited before. Frieza's reluctance to fight this war as he was accustomed to doing was understandable. He wanted to make all these resources his own, not destroy them beyond use.

Raditz stood there for a few minutes, enjoying the breathtaking view unfolding before him, when the whir of his colleague's space pod caught his attention. It crashed a few seconds later, several hundred meters away from him, sending a horde of orange-skinned reptiles fleeing toward the nearest hill.

The Saiyan flew off to find his colleague.

"I don't have my scooter with me" he said when the soldier exited his capsule. "You'll have to guide me to the nearest military base."

The man nodded wordlessly, his pale face regaining color after he too had breathed in some fresh air. He began tapping on his scooter's monitor, his eyes attentive to the information it transmitted to him through the small greenish screen in front of his left eye. Then he pointed in the direction of one of the hills to his right.

"Our destination is approximately a one- or two-minutes flight in that direction. According to the information I have, it's a makeshift encampment. The main military base was supposedly completely dismantled two days ago."

Raditz didn't wait for more details. He rose high into the air and headed in the designated direction. He soon made out the remains of a combat zone looming in the distance. The naturally green ground had been turned over in several places. Deep craters dotted the landscape, an unmistakable testament to the recent explosions. The grass and bushes were charred by the fire, and he could see that the nearby rock formations had collapsed. Before his eyes, a particularly familiar war landscape unfolded. A vision that further excited his Saiyan instincts.

As indicated by his colleague who was following closely behind him, the silhouette of a makeshift camp soon formed on the horizon. Numerous tents had been erected near a small stream. The two headed for the largest of the shelters, in front of which they landed in a gust of wind a few seconds later.

Around them, dozens of armed soldiers were carrying crates of supplies inside the tent, whose thick, white canvas was seriously damaged in several places.

Raditz was welcomed as soon as his unmistakable mane was recognized.

"Raditz! Finally!" cried the soldier stationed at the tent entrance.

It was Abo, the commander in charge of operations on the southern side of the planet. His blue face was battered. His jaw was strangely deformed to the left, giving his round head an even more globular appearance than it usually looked.

"Abo" Raditz said, crossing his arms over his chest and giving him a brief nod. "I heard we're in trouble, huh?"

The Saiyan scanned the area. The working soldiers were also battered. Their armor was dirty, broken, and most of them weren't even carrying weapons anymore. Some were limping, others wore makeshift bandages, and several were disfigured. But the worst part was that resignation was easily visible on their faces. A resignation making the warrior sick to his stomach.

Abo approached the Saiyan with short, quick steps. The top of his head barely reached his knees, which always made the fighter smile a little.

"Trouble, you say?" the Commander exclaimed in a slightly shaky voice. "Have you seen the state of the camp? We lost half the soldiers in yesterday's offensive, and all the permanent installations were destroyed last week. All that's left are these fucking shelters that we have to move almost every day to avoid detection. The troops are discouraged and struggling to regain their strength. Radio communications are jammed by Earth's defense systems, and we don't have enough supplies to repair the broken ones. Frieza isn't sending us enough resources! I swear, he doesn't give a damn about what's happening here!"

Raditz listened to his colleague rant about his dissatisfaction, raising a questioning eyebrow. It wasn't like Abo to be so agitated. The situation was worse than he'd imagined.

He watched him open one of the crates that had just arrived.

"You see!" said the blue-skinned soldier, gesturing angrily at the crate's contents. "He's sending us those damn weapons again! They're useless! Completely useless!"

He slammed the crate shut.

"What do you mean, they're useless?" Raditz asked. "I thought those were effective against Humans."

Abo took a deep breath, his hands beginning to tremble even more than before.

"Regular Humans, maybe" he said, a glint of fear in his eyes. "But not these ones. Those who resist us can dodge the blasts and counter it. They even can reduce weapons to dust before they're even used!"

Raditz's eyebrows rose even higher. The facts Abo was telling him were surprising. The blast from Frieza's Ki weapons was powerful. Most living beings were either killed or seriously injured by the burst of energy they produced. A regular Human wasn't strong enough to withstand it.

"Oh, I see your skepticism, Raditz" Abo said mockingly. "But believe me. These Humans... they're different!"

"Oh?"

Abo pointed at the makeshift camp behind him.

"They're the ones responsible for all this damage. I swear, we're not dealing with regular Humans here."

Raditz took the time to observe his surroundings. It was true that the makeshift camp was a pitiful sight. The tents were almost all broken and had clearly been hastily built. Damaged equipment of all kinds lay scattered throughout the camp, and debris littered the ground due to the lack of organization.

This mess had absolutely nothing to do with the solid, state-of-the-art facilities Frieza's army usually built for operations of this magnitude.

The Saiyan turned to Abo, his huge grin contrasting sharply with the crestfallen expressions of the remaining soldiers.

"Damn… you really needed me here heh!" he said, flexing his biceps to warm them up.

Despite the degradation surrounding them, Raditz was jubilant. He didn't give a damn about the troops or the camp. He really didn't even care if this mission was a success or not. Those were Frieza's ambitions, after all, not his, nor Vegeta's. All he wanted was to put to good use what he was born to do: put his raw strength and fighting skills to use.

"Where are these weak Humans so I can fight with them?" he asked Abo, not bothering to hide his enthusiasm.

Abo watched him for a moment, before finally narrowing his eyes.

"You seem confident. I'd be careful if I were you" he warned him.

"Pfft" the Saiyan laughed, dismissing his warnings with a casual wave of his hand. "I'm a warrior. Fighting is in my blood. I don't need those stupid weapons to beat them up."

"I advise you not to underestimate them" Abo added gravely. "You might be surprised. There's one in particular who might give you a hard time."

Raditz frowned. Saiyans didn't like their abilities to be questioned, and he was no exception.

"It's you, little man, who should be careful not to underestimate me" the warrior growled menacingly. "Do you want me to give you a taste of what awaits them?"

The Saiyan rubbed his fist in warning, a menacing smile spreading on his lips. Abo took a step back, aware that he was no match for a fighter as powerful and experimented as Raditz.

Satisfied to see the impertinent commander retreat so easily, the warrior lowered his arms and extended his palm in his direction.

"Give me a scooter so I can locate them now" he ordered.

Abo shook his head vigorously.

"It's no use. Scooters won't work with them" the little blue man explained.

"What do you mean, they won't work?"

Abo placed his hands on his stomach, his arms too short to cross over his chest. A haughty look on his face, he seemed satisfied that Raditz's ignorance was showing already.

"These warriors have the ability to lower their energy to negligible levels. You wouldn't even be able to distinguish their Ki from that of a fly, even with a scooter."

Raditz opened his mouth, so stunned that he forgot his desire to erase Abo's air of superiority with his fist. It was the first time he'd heard of such a technique. He, Vegeta, and Nappa were capable of fluctuating their Ki, but it had never occurred to him to suppress it to undetectable levels. The usefulness of this ability had already proven itself, however, since it currently prevented him from hunting down his opponents at will. He mentally made a note to talk about it to Vegeta and Nappa when he returned to the ship. It would be interesting to practice developing such a skill, especially when one possessed such high and easily detectable power as theirs.

"What do I do then?" asked the Saiyan, running out of options. "I wasn't sent here to lug boxes and play doctor!"

Abo shrugged. Apparently annoyed at being the target of threats, he turned his back on him and headed inside the nearest shelter.

"Get their attention or something like that, I don't know" he replied before disappearing into the tent.

Raditz smiled mischievously.

Getting the attention of the Humans protecting Earth? Abo couldn't have suggested an easiest way to find them.

Without further ado, the Saiyan flew high into the air and began searching for the perfect place to create a stir. Earth, with its merciful living conditions and high reproduction rates, was a very densely populated rock. Large cities were common, and after crossing the expanse of plains and hills where he had landed, he quickly made out the straight shapes of Human structures rising towards the sky.

Once he reached his destination, Raditz stopped in the very center of the metropolis he just had found. The air was much less pure here, and the warrior made a disgusted pout when the warm smell of overpopulation tickled his nose. Below him, he could make out the numerous motorized vehicles moving across the black-paved spaces, releasing a dirty, suffocating gas that made it difficult for him to breathe. Disgusted by the abundant pollution, he told himself that what he was about to do would ultimately be of great service to this planet.

So, without an ounce of hesitation, he lowered his hand toward the tallest building of the city, and an orange orb appeared and crackled in his palm. The Saiyan's eye was distracted for a split second by a few Humans walking casually through the streets, oblivious to the mortal danger hovering above their heads.

He smiled, amused by the weakness and the innocence of the living species residing on Earth.

And he released the energy all at once.

The explosion that occurred a split second later ripped through the entire city, and chaos instantly engulfed the peaceful town. The targeted building transformed into a hellish blaze. The windows of neighboring apartments shattered violently. Cars driving too close to the epicenter were overturned. Many Humans literally vanished, their weak bodies suddenly vaporized by the overwhelming heat, while others were thrown several meters into the air by the explosion. The detonation was deafening, and its force made the ground tremble as the orange glow that had lodged in the palm of the Saiyan's hand a moment earlier was reflected in the clear blue sky.

The cacophony didn't last long, and was quickly replaced by the lazy hum of flames engulfing the metal structure. An eerie silence fell around the buildings, the usual uproar caused by life temporarily silenced while people took time to realize what had just happened. The quiet interlude was then pierced by screams of all sorts, horror and confusion mostly, rising up from every corner of the streets.

A perfectly harmonious melody to the ears of the Saiyan who had just took the role as maestro of this orchestra.

And now, all Raditz had to do was to wait.

Motionless in the air, he watched with satisfaction as the anarchy slowly built under him. He considered giving in to his nature and descending to sow even more terror in the city, but he quickly changed his mind. He already had done too much. The damage he had just inflicted on the infrastructure would likely earn him the wrath of his emperor, who was determined to limit material losses, for some reason.

But hey, after all, one didn't call upon the services of a Saiyan warrior without expecting a little discord and destruction.

Modesty having prevailed, Raditz nevertheless remained there, floating calmly above the city he had just massacred. The lack of remorse didn't even bother him anymore, experience having taught him that such feelings were never useful in times of war. So he watched the horror unfolding with blatant disinterest, until a horde of winged lizards flew past him hastily, probably also frightened by the commotion below. The reddish-skinned beasts immediately made his stomach rumble, and Raditz thoughtfully wondered if they would make a good meal.

The Saiyan was about to dash off in their direction to find out when his gastronomic plans were suddenly interrupted by a voice behind him.

"Are you the one responsible for this?"

Raditz jumped, his heightened senses foiled by the newcomer's discretion. Instinctively, he cursed himself for leaving his scooter in the ship, before remembering that it would have been of no use anyway.

He whirled around to look at the man who just talked, certain that he was the opponent whose attention he was trying to get.

He burst out laughing when he saw who he was dealing with.

"This can't be serious!" he laughed. "A Namekian! A mere Namekian?!"

The creature's antennae twitched at the mockery. Raditz, for his part, found it hard to believe that the one who had so easily defeated Frieza's troops was nothing more than this green-skinned gnome, even if he had to admit that for a Namekian, this specimen's stature was particularly imposing.

"I'm sorry it's just that… It can't be real" continued Raditz with a scoff. "How stupid and incapacitated Frieza's soldiers can be, to think that a Namekian like you could be a threat!"

This avenue only heightened Raditz's hilarity, and a loud laugh escaped him.

"Huh… excuse me but… may I ask what's so funny?" a second voice suddenly said to his left.

This voice, light, innocent, almost amused, didn't startle him. Raditz knew, thanks to the information Abo had given him, that the resistance to the Cold Army troops consisted of a handful of individuals. He had expected the Namekian to be accompanied.

He swiveled his head to the side to look at his second opponent, certain now that this guy would be as easy to defeat than the first.

And that's when surprise caught up with him.

If Abo had been right in telling him that the resistance was made up of several people, he had been completely wrong in claiming they were Humans.

It was clear in the case of the Namekian. But it was much less evident for the second guy.

An imposing height with impressive musculature. Thick, resistant, almost armored skin. Black, exceptionally reactive eyes. And thick hair of the same color.

Even if this second opponent could easily have passed for a Human, Raditz knew he wasn't.

Because this person was very familiar to him. So familiar that the name of his father almost escaped his parted lips.

Seeing his second opponent, Raditz felt a weight settle in the pit of his stomach.

Before him was a Saiyan.

Before him was Kakarot. His long-lost brother.