Day Five: Afternoon

[Raditzu]

Far off in the distance, Raditzu could see a lighthouse. It stood tall, silent, and alone. At its base, sea water crashed against the rocky shore of the island, as though desperately trying to join the lighthouse atop its almost majestic perch. It was surprising, what emotions this scene envoked in the long-haired competitor.

The sea was vast and wide, and carried a mysterious strength that only fools would underestimate. Yet there it was. clamouring towards something it would never be able to reach. The sea, however, didn't see to care. Or rather... it didn't know. It continued to surge up the shore of the island. It continued to rage against a force it could never overcome, but that fact didn't seem to mean anything.

It was an uncharacteristic moment of clarity for Raditzu. He looked down to the hole in his chest: the bandages he had fashioned were stained a deep red. They clung to his body only by the will of the blood that had dried between them. It felt as though, at any second, his insides would spill forth. Yet he continued to fight. Through shotgun wounds, machine gun woulds, cuts, bruises, burns, and anything else that could be thrown at him, he would continue to fight. Its what he did and, more importantly, who he was.

With a long sigh, the saiya-jin pulled himself up from the rock he had been using for a rather uncomfortable seat. The lighthouse scene seemed to waver for a moment as the saiyan started down the road in front of him. His pace had slowly dramatically, as it had suddenly become crucial that he save his strength for the fights that still waited for him. The fights that he had sworn he would see out until the end. They wouldn't be easy, and they wouldn't be fun, but Raditzu was beyond that.

The physical wounds Raditzu had endured were nothing agaisnt the pain he had suffered within. This tournament... this damned abyss had torn through the proverbial web of lies and deceit that he had created for himself. No longer was he hiding behind the excuses and the backwards rationale that had taken him year to forge. He was staring at the blatant truth of himself, and it was something he had hoped he would never have to deal with.

"Well..." Rad stopped in the middle of the road for a minute, and leaved heavily on the staff he had taken from Burter. "Looks like I can't say ya never did anything for me, Blue."