Raditz stares at the trio of humans in silence, carefully weighing the pros and cons of each fighter...
...
...
"Well...?" Krillin presses.
"...Vegeta can't go with me." the one-armed Saiyan begins. "We all know what he thinks of me, and I'm not planning to get into another fight with him while we try to kill King Cold and Cooler."
"Cold is weaker than Cooler, but much, much more skilled than him. Frankly, he's probably more skilled than Kakarot, and he's a fighting genius. We should send our strongest fighters, which would be Kakarot and Vegeta, in an attempt to overpower him. I'm not sure who the most skilled of you Earthlings is, but you'll be going with me and Gohan. We can't overpower Cooler, but we can out-fight him. The other two can back up Kakarot and Vegeta."
Krillin and Yamcha both turn towards Tien, each with an unwilling, reluctant expression on their faces. After several seconds, Yamcha scoffs, turning away from the triclops.
"Tien is a better fighter than me or Krillin." he admits with a scowl. "He'll probably be the most help against Cooler."
"So why exactly are you sending both of them against King Cold?" Tien asks, slightly confused. "Goku and Vegeta surely won't need as much help as we will with Cooler."
"That's right. Our group will objectively be weaker. They'll probably be able to deal with King Cold without too many issues."
"Then--"
"Use your head." Raditz interrupts. "King Cold and Cooler represent two extremes. Cold is the weaker opponent, but he's incredibly skilled. Cooler, on the other hand, isn't as good as a fighter as his father, but he's incredibly powerful. No offense to you two, but weaker fighters would just get slaughtered by his speed. The only reason I'm taking Tien is because, according to you, he'll have the best chance of surviving against Cooler."
"...Fine. That makes sense." Krillin says sourly. "But... what's your plan to actually deal with Frieza's family? We don't even know where they are. How are we supposed to find them? Are you going to make King Kai look for them?"
Raditz opens his mouth, but is quickly stopped by the blue Kai's angry voice.
"It doesn't even work like that!" he shouts. "The only reason I'm able to watch any of you is because I already know where you are, and, when I can't find you, I'm familiar enough with your Ki signature to search for you! I've never even met King Cold or Cooler, and I have no idea where they could be! It'd take far too long to find them manually!"
"...Uh... yeah, what he said." Raditz says awkwardly.
'Dammit! He couldn't have told me that before I started planning?!?!' the one-armed Saiyan thinks as he scrambles for new ideas.
"So what's your plan?" Krillin asks.
"...I... uh..."
"Weren't you listening?" Tien asks rhetorically. "He already told us what to do."
"...He did?"
'I did?!'
"Of course he did. Remember what he already said about King Cold? That he likes to fight against 'worthy' opponents? And that Cooler would 'deal with things himself' if his troops couldn't handle a battle? The solution seems pretty obvious... we just need to force them to seek us out."
"But uh... wouldn't that be a bad idea? We don't want to destroy Earth." Yamcha points out.
The three-eyed Earthling sighs to himself. "We won't be on Earth. We'll have Vegeta and Raditz guide their groups to planets owned by Cooler and King Cold, then we'll deal with any of their soldiers that we find. After we cause enough damage to their empire, they'll be forced to look for us."
"Ohhhhh..." Yamcha and Krillin say in sync as they come to a realization. As if on cue, all three Earthlings turn towards Raditz.
"I... ahem... yes! That's what we'll be doing. I thought I was clear enough on that." Raditz lies.
"That's not a bad plan." Krillin admits. "When are we leaving?"
"As soon as possible. Both of you will need to inform Kakarot and Vegeta of this. I'll go tell Gohan to pack his things."
"So you've already asked Chi Chi to let him go with you?"
"Well..."
"NO NO NO! A THOUSAND TIMES NO!" a loud, furious voice shrieks, snapping Gohan's attention away from his book. Soon after, an ear-piercing slap can be heard.
Gohan's eyes widen as he senses a familiar power level. Soon after, he dashes towards the door to his room, throwing it open as he runs to the source of the screaming...
In the middle of the house's kitchen is a tall, long-haired man with one arm. A small frown can be seen on his face as he stares down at the woman in front of him.
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"HE BARELY SURVIVED THE TRIP TO NAMEK, AND NOW YOU WANT TO TAKE HIM ON ANOTHER ADVENTURE?!?!?! WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROLBEM?!?!" Chi Chi screams, causing Gohan to flinch back.
Raditz, seemingly unfazed by her yelling, calmly responds.
"I've already talked to Kakarot. He mentioned that he's already told you and Gohan about Trunks and what he said. If we don't get Gohan's help, then we'll have to deal with Cooler without one of our best fighters, and we'll be much less likely to actually win, which will mean that Cooler will go after Earth. Gohan will be in danger either way. Him coming with us is the safest option."
"I don't care!" she screeches. "You want to make my baby boy fight against a monstrous, evil galactic tyrant! He's a child! He's supposed to stay at home, study, and enjoy his childhood! He isn't supposed to constantly put his life in danger and fight people who can blow up planets with a sneeze!"
"It'll be a fantastic opportunity for him!" Raditz argues. "We'll be visiting dozens, if not hundreds of planets before we can lure Cooler out. You always want him to study, no? He'll be able to observe an enormous amount of foreign culture and technology. This is knowledge that literally no other person on Earth will have. If he pays attention while we travel, then he'll revolutionize whatever scholarly field he chooses to pursue."
"I... you..."
The furious Earthling trails off as Raditz's words reach her ears. After several seconds of hesitation, she shakes her head.
"No! I may want him to become a scholar, but I'd rather my baby boy be safe and less-learned than knowledgeable and in danger!"
She steps forward, raising her hand to slap the Saiyan yet again, before Raditz continues speaking.
"Well, why don't we just ask Gohan what he wants to do? He's been listening to us for a while now."
Chi Chi halts mid-slap, immediately turning her head to look at her son. Her mouth opens, but before she can speak, Gohan mumbles a few quiet words.
"I want to go with Uncle Raditz." he mutters.
The Earthling's mouth drops into an O shape, and Raditz immediately takes advantage of the momentary silence.
"Well, I'd love to stay and continue to persuade you, but I've got to prepare. Gohan, we'll be leaving tomorrow. Go to Capsule Corporation at around noon."
A fraction of a second later, the front door flies open, and Raditz disappears into the sky, leaving Gohan alone to convince his mother.
"...Wow..." King Kai says, shaking his head in disbelief. "You really..."
"It's better to let Gohan deal with her." Raditz replies. "We both know that she doesn't like me."
"...I wonder why..."
Raditz chooses not to respond to the Kai's quip, instead getting lost in his own thoughts as he flies above Earth's cities.
'I... I was really supposed to die today, huh? And by Vegeta's hands, no less...' he thinks, feeling a bitter taste in his mouth. 'If Trunks didn't show up... damn. Damn!'
The long-haired man's thoughts turn dark, causing his hands to tremble in barely-contained rage. With a scoff, he increases his speed even further, as if he were trying to escape the ugly ideas that had sprung up in his mind.
'I need to finally get off my ass and start training, because of course I have to. I did all this shit so that I could relax and enjoy my life, but apparently, the entire fucking Universe has decided "oh no, you don't get to relax. Keep working, monkey." It's bullshit, but it's bullshit that I could deal with... except it won't matter in the end anyways! According to Trunks, the future Raditz literally could not grow stronger. If the future me could spend 17 years training with no result, then why should I even bother trying now...?'
His mind trails off at this thought, and his body speeds up even further.
'...I suppose it could've been a System thing? Punishing the future me for messing with the timeline? if that's the case... then maybe I actually do have a chance? The Golden Great Ape form actually exists, which must mean that Super Saiyan 4 exists. Maybe I can train to control the Golden Ape form? But I remember reading something online about it requiring Super Saiyan 3 levels of power... I'll leave those thoughts for the Buu saga, and keep the Golden Oozaru as a very dangerous trump card until then. Still... it is a bit unsettling to know that the future me, despite having all my knowledge and tons more experience, still died in the end. Heck, everyone in the future ended up dying, including...'
Raditz shakes his head, quickly clearing his thoughts as he halts his movement in the air. He looks around, quickly noting the familiar area.
Boom.
As he looks down at the messy, half-ruined island, a shockwave reaches him, causing his eyebrows to raise in pleasant surprise.
'He's gotten this good so quickly?!' the Saiyan thinks, unable to stop a grin from forming on his face.
Down on the barren island are two figures. One of which is a large, human-shaped dummy held to the ground by a piece of black metal, while the other is a burly, half-naked man, sweating intensely as he moves around the dummy.
Hercule never stops moving, continuously circling the dummy as he peppers it with blast after blast, each showing tiny, almost imperceptible improvements from the Ki blast that came before it. Despite the thoughts that've been plaguing Raditz, he can't help but let out an amazed chuckle.
Hercule's head immediately snaps over, instantly spotting the source of the laughter. His eyes widen, and a small sigh of relief can be heard when he sees Raditz.
"Sensei!" he shouts, stopping his assault on the dummy. "You're--"
"I'm fine." Raditz says with a large grin, cutting Hercule off. "I didn't even get a new scar this time. I'm completely uninjured."
"B-But... he stabbed you! He got you through the lung... uh, actually... do Saiyans even have lungs like humans? I know that you're an entirely different race and all, but you look pretty similar to a human and--"
"Our organs are in the same place as a human's would be. I just heal really quickly."
"You do? Then what about... uh..."
The beefy martial artist can't help but look at Raditz's left arm, which still ends in a stump.
"The entire arm got blown up originally. It'll be good as new in no time. I just came here to say goodbye."
"You're leaving?!" Hercule exclaims. "Why?"
"You remember what I told you about my race? How we were ruled over by King Cold and his family More specifically, Frieza?" Raditz says. Upon seeing his pupil's confirming nod, he continues. "Well, I killed Frieza a few years back, and I decided that it'd be a good idea to take care of the whole family before they find and destroy Earth."
"B-B-But you said that Frieza can destroy planets! You... you really killed him?"
"I lost an arm, but yes, I did. I'm going to be leaving with most of Earth's strongest warriors to kill his father and brother, so Earth is going to be relatively undefended--"
'Other than Chiaotzu.' Raditz silently adds.
"--so I figured that I may as well teach you one last thing before I leave. Something to help you make sure that Videl will be safe and sound even if you're on the other side of the planet..."
"I'm going to teach you how to sense Ki, Hercule."
On a warm, cloudless day, just when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, three figures stand in front of a Capsule Corporation ship, each with a determined expression.
"Are both of you ready?" the tallest of the three asks. "We won't be coming back for a while now."
The two people standing beside him wordlessly nod, both seeming more than eager to get on the ship.
Raditz grins when he sees the looks on their faces, quickly pressing a small button on a remote to open the door to the ship.
"After you."