Day One: Afternoon

[Raditzu]

"Well... someone's out for blood."

Raditzu and 18 had wandered towards all the commotion as Bardock flared up his fists of fury. The poor human he was accosting probably had no idea who she was staring at, or how much trouble she was actually in. Bardock allowed his eyes to dart towards his son for only the briefest of moments when he spoke: the mocking tone had undoubtedly caught him off guard. Whoever she was, Rad's scouter confirmed that she would be less than a problem for Bra and Bar should it come to a fight, so Rad simply shrugged his shoulders and strode towards the lake, motioning for 18 to follow. The androidess jogged a couple of steps to catch up, then the two walked side-by-side to the lake. With a relaxed sigh, Rad dropped to the grassy floor while 18 took a somewhat more graceful approach. There was a moment of silence where the two simply took in the sights, before Rad turned to his better half.

"So... you bought a ship did you?"

"Mhmm. Its a," she paused for a moment to think, "Cete'el Interstellar Cruiser." Another pause. "Or something like that."

"Oh? Did I ever tell you I bought a ship a while back."

"Oh?" her tone was designed to mock her partner's. "No, you never thought to bring that up. Is that where my money's been going?"

"Heh..." Rad tried to look casual, but found himself failing miserably. "Well... what's a ship without some big guns, eh?" He cleared his throat and got back on topic. "Anyway, I put in an order for one last time I was on Mercy -- there was a poster or something like that and they sounded pretty sweet -- and a few days ago I was notified that it had just been completed and was waiting to be picked up."

"I see. What kind of ship was it?" The android picked at blades of grass absent-mindedly.

"Uh... the big kind." Rad laughed at himself. "I don't really remember what its called."

"So," 18 looked up from her grass and caught Rad's eyes, "where did you go?"

"Eh? I went to the Room of Spirit and Time." The saiyan said it so matter-of-factly that 18 wasn't sure how to respond. A second later the saiyan caught himself. "Which I meant to tell you, of course." A lame cover, but its the thought that counts, isn't it?

"Uh-huh." 18 gaze turned back towards the grass.

"No really! I was! It was just... one of those spur-of-the-moment things. You know how that goes."

"I'm certainly learning."

I deserve this... I deserve this...

The long-haired saiyan kept thinking that over and over to himself as 18 cast him an icy glare. He was happy to see, however, that after a moment or two her stare turned to something much warmer. If he played his cards right he might be able to get out of his ever-present dog house. He looked around idly for something to talk about... something that wouldn't get back to him ditching her. When his eyes fell on Bra, however, he was struck with the brilliant idea to do the exact opposite.

"You noticed Bra, right?" Rad hooked his thumb over his shoulder, toward the Princess of his race.

"I guessed as much, but I wasn't sure."

"Heheh... you wouldn't believe what happened in the Room."

"You went with her into the Room of Spirit and Time?" Dog House 1. Raditzu 0.

"Well... yeah, but wait til you hear this."

Raditzu went on to explain their rather mundane trainin sessions, while 18 simply fell back into a routine of nodding. Training wasn't something alien to her. When Rad got to the part about fusion, her interest was peaked, and made for the perfect segue into the part about black magic and dimensional pockets and all that jazz. From there, Rad tried to recall exactly what had happened in Grimshaw's dimension, which was not an easy task. Trying to remember whether a pirate had turned into dasiys or tulips seemed a bit superfluous, but Rad didn't mind. He finally got the part where he had slain the dragon-woman ("Not like she was much of a challenge for someone like me!") and the crystal had been taken back to Grimshaw.

"So then the old man's like 'you must give up part of your life' yadda yadda. Bra agrees and bam she's all grown up by the time we get back to the Room."

"She just...?" Rad nodded, "and poof...?" another nod of confirmation.

"Actually..." Rad hopped up, "I'll be right back. I promise!" He added as 18 glared daggers at him.

With a sudden urge to make this little visit a quick one, Rad strode over to Bra, who had broken away from Bardock's interrogation of the new comer, and greeted her with a wave. Despite the fact that they had been traveling since morning, Rad hadn't had the chance to ask Bra the only question he really wanted to ask. As he approched the girl, he had to wave a hand in front of her face to get her attention; Bra's eyes had been fixed intently upon the lake he had just left. The princess blinked a couple of times as she took in Raditzu.

"Nice view, eh?" Rad looked towards the lake himself.

"Err... yeah. What's up?"

"I just hadn't actually had a chance to ask you about what happened since... you know... you were kind of in a hurry to leave." Though many might consider Bra's current attire indecent, it was certainly several steps above what she had been caught in after she had aged.

"Oh... heh... yeah." Bra suddenly found her boots very interesting.

"So... have you found it yet?"

Bra's eyes darted back up towards Raditzu, but she shook her head.

"Its supposed to be here, right?"

"I guess," she replied with a shrug. "That's what Grimshaw said."

"Hmmm... well... if you need any help, you know where to find me."

"Yeah... thanks."

Rad turned away from Bra with a grin, intending to rejoin 18 by the lake, but was intercepted by his father. Apparently his questioning had grow old. The elder saiyan stopped Rad with a firm clap on his shoulder. The long-haired saiyan sighed and turned towards Bardock with yet another grin.

"What's up, pops?"

"This isn't a picnic, ya know."

"Tch," Rad's grin quickly faded away. "I'm aware of that. However, there's something I have to get squared away first."

"That so?"

"You go into battle with your allies pissed off atcha?" Rad cocked an eyebrow at his father. "Look at our present company, pops." Both Rad and Bardock looked around. The lack of any other Y chromosomes was painfully obvious. "And we both know that hell hath no fury..."

"Yeah, yeah. Fine. But we're not doing ourselves any favors by sitting around here."

"I agree." Rad reached into his pocket and tossed his map to his father. "So find us a better place to sit around."

Pops snatched the map out of the air with a shake of his head. He looked like he had more to say to his son, given the chance, but both saiyans decided now was not the time for it. Regardless of what his father said, Raditzu had brushed 18 aside too many times and, come hell or high water, she would get the attention she deserved. Hopefully, Rad thought, Bardock would be slightly appeased by getting to make the decisions. He doubted it would work, but it was better than just telling him to bugger off. As he approached 18, he wiped all that from his mind and sat back down.

"Now, where were we?"