"The incompetence, the absolute, utter, complete uselessness of my supposed best warriors, best commanders, that I selected purposefully to gather intelligence and protect our interests in the most dangerous circusmtances our people have ever faced in thousands of years! You told me the Saiyans' powers were blunt forces!" Queen Selardi was in a rage, stomping up and down her lavish quarters in the Vegetan castle while Lodj, Kezah, and Tonsa accepted their reprimand in silence. "But what have we seen instead? A control of ki that is almost on par with Hotsu capabilities! That ki barrier alone is a technique any Hotsu warrior should strive to accomplish!"

"We had no way of knowing-," Tonsa protested.

"SILENCE!" Selardi turned on her with a speed that stopped Tonsa's heart. "I have heard nothing but excuses from all three of you for the last month!"

"It's true, though," Lodj said. "The Saiyans never demonstrated anything close to this in all the time we've been with Frieza."

"And how would you know? You two," Selardi glared at Kezah and Tonsa, "have done nothing but squabble and bicker this entire time, feeding into ridiculous suspicions about Amarah instead of utilizing her closeness to the Saiyans to do even the most basic intelligence work." She took a deep breath. "Amarah will join the crew – quiet! – and you will draw out all the information she has about the Saiyans, and you will report it to me in your next return. And if I find it lacking, or unsatisfactory in any way, you will greatly regret it. Am I understood?"

"Amarah won't listen to us," Tonsa said.

"That is a result of your negligence," Selardi said. "Fix it!"

Tensions were high in the floor below the Hotsus as well.

"This cannot be allowed to stand! Broly was clearly superior throughout the match, but that boy-,"

"SILENCE!" King Vegeta roared. He, the Prince, Paragus, and Nappa had come into the King's private office, and Paragus had not stopped talking since they left the Tournament.

"Do you really think," King Vegeta said, "that I give a damn about your son or about who wins some stupid Tournament match?"

"But my reputation-"

"Is the least of my concerns!" King Vegeta yelled. "How can one of my closest advisors be so blind, so self-centered?! Out, get out! Out of my sight!"

Paragus was about to respond, but Nappa interrupted him. "Just go," he said quietly. "Check on your kid. I'll-," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "I'll catch you up."

Paragus took another look at the king's furious face, bowed, and left. As the door closed behind him, King Vegeta threw himself onto a large chair in the center of room. Prince Vegeta sat on a smaller chair next to him. Nappa stayed standing.

"How did this happen?" the king was looking at Nappa. "We sat in the same box three years ago, and saw nothing close to that kind of power in the human rounds."

"Human rounds?" the prince said. "I thought you'd be more concerned with the third-class boy!"

"Be quiet!" his father yelled at him.

Vegeta bit his tongue, but he couldn't help the anger that spiked within him – he never liked being yelled at, but especially not in front of Nappa, who, for all his titles and glories, basically worked for him.

"I-I really don't know what to say," Nappa said, head bowed submissively.

"Yes, and that's the problem, isn't it?" the king spat. "I rely on you to keep your ear to the ground!"

"Yes, of course, but on Frieza's ship I can only-"

"Only what?!" the king's hand slammed down on the armrest. "You were the one who recruited the human fighters for Frieza! You should know what they're capable of! And yet you never brought anything like this to my attention! Why?"

Nappa swallowed. He could hardly admit now that he'd delegated the task of recruitment to the brother of the third-class fighter who'd defeated Broly not one hour ago. Nor could he admit that he'd only briefly tested their abilities.

"It's possible that I-uh, that I didn't find the best fighters."

"It is not only possible but evident!" King Vegeta said. He bent over in his chair, fingers pressed together in intense concentration. There was silence for a few minutes. Finally, he spoke again. "I want a new, widened recruitment effort among the humans. No, I want a draft! And you can start with the competitors of the tournament."

"You, you want us to force-"

"Yes!" King Vegeta yelled. "Yes, damn you! I want a draft intiated immediately not just for the humans but for all the third-class, everyone over the age of 18!"

"All of them?" Nappa said, bewildered.

"We'll come up with some criteria, some ways of weeding out the weakest. You will do it, and do it quickly! I want all the humans who competed yesterday on the next ship out."

"That's going to be a very large squad-,"

"No!" the king leaned back in his chair. "No, enough of this human squad nonsense. You will disperse them through the Saiyan ranks."

"I-," Nappa paused, considering his words carefully. "I think there are some advantages to having the humans separate."

"And those advantages would be what? Having them grow in power and confidence with the guidance and approval of a Saiyan leader? No, I think not. No," he repeated. "No, they will join in with the Saiyans and be reminded of their weakness and their dependency."

"But," Nappa paused again, "the squads are…it's a little more complicated than that."

"I will not be defied, Nappa," the kind said quietly.

"Of course, certainly not, but I think that-,"

"What you think is irrelevant!" the king said, his voice rising. "It is what I decree that shall be done, am I clear?!"

Nappa bowed. "Certainly, your highness."

"And furthermore, your services on Frieza's ship are no longer required."

"What?" Nappa and Prince Vegeta said in unison.

"The prince is long past the stage of needing a guardian," the king said. "You will return to your post in the Guards. What the prince needs instead," a cruel grimace had formed on his face, "is an attendant. And I think we have the perfect candidate in today's champion."

"You're going to replace Nappa with that third-class brat?!" Prince Vegeta said in shock.

The king shook his head in disbelief and disappointment. "Vegeta, use your brain for once," he spat. "The humans outnumber Saiyans 2 to 1. The third-class outnumber the the first-class nearly 3 to 1. Our ruling class is a sliver of the population on this planet. What do you think will happen to our power when the humans and the third-class learn some math?"

"You can't seriously think that Saiyans, even third-class Saiyans, would ally themselves with humans against their own kind?"

"I'm not going to take the chance. After what we've seen these last two days, it's clear that we've already made a grave mistake by assuming that the humans and the third-class could never catch up to our superior bloodlines."

"They can't!" the prince insisted. "They're a bunch of peasants! Ours is the purest, strongest blood on the planet. Just because one third-class won one martial arts match doesn't mean anything! Broly is inexperienced, and yet even so, up until the end he was on his feet with barely a scratch on him. The third-class boy won on a technicality. He had to be carried out of the ring, for gods' sakes!"

"All excellent points," the king said, "but ultimately meaningless. If the humans and third-class start to believe they can take on the first and second-class, our superior bloodlines will not save us from their superior numbers. Imagine if Broly had been fighting that boy and the human who won the Tournament? What then?"

"They wouldn't dare!"

"Not if we act quickly," the king said. "By getting the worst threats off planet. With any luck they won't come back. And the boy who had the audacity to tell me he was a hero, that I couldn't touch him, we turn him into servant. Every day," he said, a smile forming on his face, "your treatment of him will remind our soldiers who has the power, will show them that their hero is nothing but a servant of the royal house of Vegeta, just like they all are."

"I-," Nappa was trying again, "perhaps I can return one more time, just to smooth the transition, make sure everyone adjusts to the changes-,"

"No," the king said with finality.

"Please, your highness, with all due respect, making that many changes and recruiting that many new people will present us with difficulties we can't anticipate right now. My experience can help make that transition quickly and smoothly. I mean, will Frieza even take that many new soldiers on such short notice?"

"Frieza has made it very clear to me that he wants as many recruits from our planet as possible. He appreciates the value of Saiyan blood on the battlefield," the king replied. "I'm sure he'll welcome this decision."

Nappa nodded slowly, despite his best instincts. But the king was obviously committed to this new course of action, no matter how implusive it was, and Nappa had no choice now but to follow the orders he'd been given.

The door opened slowly.

Lapis peered inside. Goku's dad was staring at him suspiciously.

"What do you want?" he said bluntly.

"I'm here to see Goku. Or Kakarot or whatever," Lapis said. "Is he here?"

Bardock eyes narrowed suspiciously at him. "Fine. Come in." He shut the door firmly behind him.

Inside, Raditz, Goku, and Krillin were sitting in the living room. It had only been a few days since the Tournament, but Goku was already in pretty good shape – his shoulder had healed almost completely, with just a thin bandage covering it, and his leg, while not completely healed, was much better. He could put some weight on it already, and it would be good as new in a week.

Goku and Krillin were obviously surprised to see Lapis. He wasn't.

"You're here," Lapis said to Krillin. "Figures. I was looking for you at Kame House."

"Me?" Krillin said. "Why?"

Lapis straightened, and a proud smile spread on his face. "I'm inviting you to my party."

"Party?" the two boys said at once.

"Master Eto's really proud of me for winning the Tournament. He's throwing me a party at the bar, and he's letting me invite anyone I want."

"So you picked us?" Krillin said skeptically.

"That's really nice of you!" Goku said, grinning. "We'd love to go!"

"No," Bardock said suddenly. "You're not going anywhere. We've already talked about this."

"Yeah," Goku said slowly. "I'm still kinda confused."

"About what?" Bardock said. "You're staying right here! You're not going anywhere, ever again!"

Raditz rolled his eyes.

"But what about the king's invitation?" Goku said.

"You are absolutely not going to that! Have I just been talking to myself for the last two days?"

"But I have to go!"

"Seriously Bardock," Gine was coming out of the kitchen. "I thought we'd already discussed this. He has no choice. He can't just ignore a direct order from the king, he'll be in even worse trouble."

"I'm not in trouble," Goku said insistently.

"This is unbelievable," Bardock said. "You have not listened to a single thing I've said to you your entire life, and now you're all about following orders? I am trying to save your life!"

"Sorry, Father, but you're acting really crazy and paranoid," Raditz said. "I don't want to be rude, but Kakarot has no choice and you're only making this worse."

"You are rude," Bardock glowered at him. "I'm not paranoid. You're a captain now, you should understand these things." He turned to Goku. "The king wants us strong, but only enough to hold our ground and do our work for Frieza. Not strong enough to challenge his authority!"

"I'm not challenging anyone's authority," Goku said.

"Oh, aren't you? What the hell were you doing at the Tournament?!"

Goku shrugged. "I was just testing myself."

"Oh good. When you see the king you can tell him that, and maybe he won't slit your throat," Bardock replied sarcastically.

"What good does it do him to kill me?" Goku said.

"And what does any of this have to do with my party?" Lapis said, annoyed.

"Father won't let me leave the house," Goku pouted. "He says it's too dangerous. He won't even let me answer the door!"

"That's dumb," Lapis said.

"Watch your mouth, you little brat," Bardock pointed a threatening finger in his face.

"I think it's harmless if he goes to the bar with some friends, Bardock," Gine said. "Surely he's earned a little a fun?"

"Yeah," Lapis said. "You should be throwing him a party."

"To celebrate what, how he broke his leg and put his life in danger?"

"I thought you'd be happy," Goku said quietly.

Bardock sighed wearily. "I'm not punishing you, I'm trying to look out for you!"

"So can he come to my party or not?" Lapis said.

Bardock paused in consideration, looking at his son's sad face. Finally, he said, "I'm coming with you. To keep an eye on you."

"No," Lapis said. "You'll ruin my party being lame and boring and old."

"What did you say to me?" Bardock snapped, eyes widened in disbelief at the audacity of the teenager.

"I said, you'll ruin my party-,"

"I can take care of myself," Goku said.

"You're not going by yourself!"

"I'm not, Krillin's going too."

"Oh, well if Krillin's going!"

"Actually, I don't really want to go," Krillin said.

"Why not?" Lapis demanded.

"Seriously? You don't know?"

"Are you still pouting about that? It's been a year. And your sister is coming."

"Launch?" Krillin said, eyes widened in surprise. "Why'd you invite her?"

"She's my friend."

"She is not!"

"Is too! We work together."

"Shut up! Both of you!" Bardock yelled. "I can't believe you, all of you! It's like I'm talking to myself!" He sighed wearily, defeatedly. "Raditz will go with you, Kakarot."

"But-,"

"That's final! Either your brother goes with you or you don't go!"

Goku looked at Lapis, who shrugged. "I guess he can come. He's less lame."

"Thanks for the warm invitation," Raditz said, smirking. "I don't mind as long as Jasper is going too."

"He is," Lapis said. "And Yamcha and Tien will be there too."

"Can we invite Bulma?" Goku said.

"I don't know who that is, but yeah. Whatever. You can bring your cousins too if you want." He smiled triumphantly. "So I'll see you tonight."

"Tonight?" Krillin said. "Shouldn't you give your guests more notice? We might have something else planned for tonight!"

"Do you?" Lapis shot back.

Krillin crossed his arms sullenly. "No, but that's not the point."

Lapis rolled his eyes. "8 o'clock. Don't be late." He walked himself to the door, turned and waved awkwardly, and left.

Bardock glared at the closed door for a minute, then turned to his family. "How do we know that this whole party thing isn't just a trap? You go to the bar," he gestured at Goku, "and then you get grabbed from behind and dragged off!"

"Can you hear yourself?" Raditz said, confusion and concern on his face. His father was sounding increasingly insane.

"Lapis likes Goku and he hates Saiyans," Krillin said. The family stared at him, and he shrugged. "It's true. He's okay with you all, but in general, he doesn't really like Saiyans. So I doubt he's in cahoots with King Vegeta." He smiled at Goku. "I think it might be fun."

Raditz got off the couch. "I'm gonna take a shower."

Bulma was late, to the surprise of no one who knew her. Also to no one's surprise, she caught up with everyone on drinking within the first few minutes.

"Alright," she slammed her shot glass on the bartop, "let's get this party started!" She looked around at the assembled group. It was Raditz and his crew, all nursing beers, Chi Chi, holding herself stiffly and generally looking disgusted with her surroundings, Goku, Krillin, Arale, and a boy she'd brought along, all of whom had elected to start off with sodas, Lazuli, who was trying white wine for the first time and disliking it, and Lapis and Launch, who had both joined Bulma in a shot of whiskey.

"Wow," Bulma said. "You all look depressed. What kind of party is this? And what is this music?"

Lapis shrugged. "It's just the bar music we always have."

"No one listens to this stuff anymore," Bulma said. She hopped off her stool. "Hold on. I'll fix this."

The bar was still open to its regular customers, so Lapis and Lazuli had made makeshift paper wristbands to put on their guests so they could get free drinks. Raditz waved at Master Eto, who was now manning the bar, and another round of beers was forthcoming just as the music started to crank up. Bulma had set up the sound system to broadcast songs from her communicator, and the speakers were now blaring a newly released pop song with a fast beat.

"Alright!" She reappeared from around the back while Master Eto looked around, bewildered. "This is more like it!"

The patrons were also looking around, obviously confused at the unexpected change in ambience. Bulma stood up on a stool, held up her glass, and yelled out, "Let's dance!"

"I'm not sure I can dance on this leg yet," Goku said, sticking it out. It was still in a cast.

"UGH!" Bulma threw her head back dramatically. She hopped off the stool and grabbed Lapis, pulling him off his stool and dragging him towards the center of the bar, where there was open space for dancing. She pointed a threatening finger at Goku. "I'll be back for you."

Lapis grinned. Goku swallowed nervously.

It took a few minutes of Bulma aggressively showing Lapis how to twerk before not only the rest of their group got into the groove, but the other customers as well. Even Goku was on the floor, managing to awkwardly shuffle as Bulma danced around him.

"You are the worst dancer!" she yelled at him over the music.

"I can't put that much weight on this leg yet," Goku said.

"Just do what I do!" Bulma put her arms over her head and began to thrust her chest out repeatedly. Goku copied her, but he had a feeling it wasn't creating the same effect.

"What the hell are you doing, kid?"

Goku turned around to see Daiken grinning at him.

"Hey! How did you know we were here?" Goku ran to him, and they hugged.

"I didn't," Daiken said. "And I'm really hurt."

"This is Lapis' party," Goku explained.

"For the champ, huh," Daiken grinned and pulled out his communicator. "Let's kick this up a notch."

"Yes!" Bulma cheered. "That's how you do it!"

It took about an hour to spread the news, but pretty soon the bar was packed, the tip jar was full, and Master Eto was giddy with joy at how much money he was making. There were more people in the bar tonight than there had ever been before – once people heard that the champions of the World Martial Arts Tournament, and more importantly, the third class winner, were having a party, they flocked from towns all around Ta-Meini, and even farther out. Goku had taken advantage of Daiken's idea to invite Tourni and Spina as well.

He never got to greet them, though. Instead, he'd met two girls, and they were getting very friendly in a dimly-lit corner. He wasn't the only one who'd met some new friends, either – Tien and Yamcha had both disappeared somewhere too.

Lazuli sat down at the bar next to Krillin, who had finally switched to beer.

"I thought you were never gonna drink again," she said.

"Bottle," he replied, tilting it at her. "I watched him open it."

Lazuli nodded. "So…I guess you're still mad."

Krillin ignored her.

"We can't get drunk."

Krillin turned to her. "What?"

"My brother and me," Lazuli said. "We can't get drunk. We thought maybe you'd get drunk and we could see what it's like."

"Seriously!" Krillin said in disbelief. "Your brother works at a bar! He sees drunk people every day!"

"Not up close."

"So you used me as an experiment?"

Lazuli shrugged. "We didn't know you'd get that drunk and…say a bunch of stuff."

Krillin turned a deep red.

"So we're good now, right?"

"No!" Krillin said. "No! We're not good! You didn't even apologize!"

"Oh," Lazuli said. "Sorry."

Krillin shook his head.

"Do you want some money?"

"What?"

"We split the money. From the Tournament," Lazuli said. "I can give you some."

"Wait a minute!" Krillin said. "Did you throw your match with him?! Did you let him win?"

"No," Lazuli said. "But…I didn't even want to do the Tournament in the first place. It was his thing. And we always split stuff anyway."

"So you did throw it."

"No."

"This is unbelievable!"

"So you don't want money?"

"No!" Krillin threw his hand up, accidentally knocking his bottle over. "You can't buy friendship, Lazuli! I don't trust you or your brother!"

"But you trust the Saiyan," she shot back, her voice tense now.

"Don't talk about Goku! He's a better friend than you'll ever be!"

"Fine." She slid off the stool and walked off.

It was much, much later. The crowd was dispersing. Goku had emerged from his corner and had a lot more to drink than he could handle. Krillin had dragged him outside in the hope that some fresh air would revive his senses. They lay down in the sparse yellow grass on the side lot.

Presently, Bulma came out.

"This is pathetic," she informed them. "I've had more drinks than the two of you combined and look at me!"

"This is Goku's first time drinking," Krillin said by way of explanation.

"Pathetic," she repeated.

"I met some girls," Goku said, speech slurring slightly. "It was great."

"Ooh!" Bulma sat down next to him. "Tell me, tell me!"

Goku told her, until Krillin interrupted. "Do we really need the details?"

"Yes!" Bulma said.

He told her some more.

"Ugh," Krillin groaned.

Bulma grabbed Goku's face and planted a kiss on his cheek. "You are such a glorious goofball."

"Can the glorious goofball walk?" Krillin said. He turned to Goku. "I think we should take you home."

"I think so too," Lazuli had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. She was staring at them with arms crossed, judgmental expression on her face. "This is really sad."

Goku made an unsuccessful attempt at getting up. "I don't feel so good."

"Don't throw up," Bulma said. "It's gross, and if you get it on my clothes, I will murder you. This dress costs more than anything you've ever owned."

"We really need to get you home, though," Krillin said. "Your dad is probably freaking out. What time is it, anyway?"

"It's 2 am," Lazuli said. "You're never gonna get him home. He couldn't walk so great sober."

"We can carry him," Krillin said.

"Who's we?" Bulma said.

Krillin looked around him. "Oh."

"I'll help you," Lazuli said, "but I'm not carrying him all the way across town to his house."

"I have a house nearby," Krillin said. "But I don't have the key, Launch has it."

"Launch left," Bulma said. "So, she'll be at home."

"Or she'll be at Kame House." Krillin frowned.

"I live pretty close," Lazuli said. "We could take him to my place."

Krillin fidgeted nervously. "That's okay, Bulma has a capsule house. Right?"

"No," Bulma said. "I don't carry every capsule I own around me everywhere I go, you know! And I'm not putting him in my aircar, either. He'll throw up all over my leather seats!"

"You want help or not?" Lazuli said, irritation in her voice.

Between the two of them, they managed to half-carry the drunken Saiyan to Lazuli's house, Bulma bouncing along with them, entertaining them with her own tales of new friends. Or at least, she thought she was entertaining them. Krillin was trying to block out as much of it as he could. He didn't need these mental images of Bulma, or anyone.

When they reached the house, Krillin and Lazuli dragged Goku through to the bedroom Lapis shared with Jasper and dumped him on one of the beds. He was snoring before he hit the mattress.

"Well, thanks," Krillin said. "I guess I'll head home now."

"You can stay here," Lazuli said. "You look like you need to sleep it off too."

In truth, the combination of drinking and carrying Goku had left Krillin also feeling queasy. Despite his better judgment, he accepted the invitation with relief and crawled into the next bed.

He was asleep maybe two hours before being awoken by the sense of someone shoving him.

"What the-,"

"Scoot over." It was Lapis, digging in under the covers.

"What are you doing?" Krillin said, rubbing his face sleepily.

"What are you doing? This is my bed. If you're gonna sleep here, at least don't hog the blanket. My blanket."

Krillin got up, head splitting with pain, crawled over Lapis and went out into the room. He wasn't interested in sharing a bed with the guy. He'd go out and sleep on the couch.

Presently he returned. He stood over Lapis' bed, wondering if it would be less damaging to his pride to sleep on the cold, hard floor.

"What is it?" Lapis rolled over to look at him.

"Your brother's on the couch. And Tien is on a mattress on the floor."

"Ugh," Lapis groaned. "Fine." He inched towards the edge of the bed, squeezing himself against the wall.

Krillin reluctantly scooted in next to him.

They fell asleep.

The next day, Krillin's headache had somehow gotten worse. He wandered into the kitchen to find Tien slumped against the kitchen table. Bulma, meanwhile, was fresh as a daisy and talking animatedly about some new experiment she was trying.

"And so I thought, if the med pods didn't take up so much freakin' space they'd be a hell of a lot more useful, so my next project-,"

Tien groaned loudly. "Can we please talk about this later?"

"Excuse you! How rude!" Bulma gave him a death glare.

"Tien is feeling unwell," Jasper said. He too was looking unchanged from the night before. Lazuli looked beautiful, too. Krillin blushed with shame. After everything, he was still in love with her. He couldn't help it.

"And that's my problem how?" Bulma replied. "So anyway, as I was saying-,"

Fortunately for Krillin and Tien, she was interrupted by a knock at the door. It was Bardock.

"There you are!" He came over to his son and smacked him over the head. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Why didn't you come home last night?"

"I drank a lot," Goku said sheepishly. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to worry you again."

One hour earlier, Bardock had woken himself up by rolling off the living room couch onto the floor. It took a second, but he realized very quickly that neither of his sons had come the night before. A mix of rage, panic, and fear surged in his chest. Rage, because he'd stayed up all night waiting for them, panic that something had happened to them, and fear that it was too late to save them.

He didn't even have breakfast. He went first to Kame House, only to discover that Krillin hadn't come home either. Panic increased. Master Roshi directed him to Launch's house, and he rushed there, hoping against hope that the worse that had happened was the Kakarot and Krillin had wandered off together and fallen asleep somewhere. Raditz would be with them, maybe, or he'd run into him on the way.

Bardock knocked on the door several times with no answer. He worried that maybe he'd gotten the wrong house.

"Launch?" he called out, trying to peek through the window but seeing nothing but the stove and kitchen table. "Launch, are you in there? Hello!"

He was about to leave and try his luck with a house down the street when the door opened suddenly. It was immediately apparent that Launch had had an overnight guest. Her blue hair was a mess, the buttons on her shirt weren't aligned, and the zipper on her skirt was undone.

"Yes, what? What do you want?" she said tensely.

"I'm guessing Krillin's not here," he said, frowning.

"No. Why are you asking?"

"I'm looking for Kakarot. I thought he might be with your brother. Do you have any idea where he went?"

"He's at Kame House."

"No, he isn't. I tried there already. Krillin never came home last night."

"Oh," she said, concern replacing irritation on her face. "Um, I-I don't know. The last time I saw him he was talking to Lazuli at the bar."

"Who?"

"The blonde girl, from the Tournament. Maybe she knows where he is?" She gave him directions to their house.

Bardock left.

"And sure enough, here you are." Bardock concluded his story. "I'm chasing after you again!"

Tien groaned again. Bardock rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen. A few minutes later, he came out with a glass full of a blood-colored liquid and placed it in front of the young man.

"Drink this, it'll make you feel better."

Tien took a sip and spat it out immediately. "That is foul. What the hell is in it?!"

"Just down it in one go, jeez," Bardock replied.

"Can I have some too?" Krillin said.

Bardock sighed and returned to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Launch was rebuttoning her shirt.

"Was that my father?" It was Raditz, undressed and horrifed. "What the hell was he doing here?"

"He was looking for your brother. Apparently he and Krillin never went home last night. And they're not at Kame House." She blinked back tears.

"Fuck," Raditz said.

"Where are you going?" Launch said, distraught. Instead of putting his clothes on and leaving, he was heading for the bathroom. "You have to leave! What if he comes back?"

"I have to take a shower! I can't go home like this, he'll smell you on me!"

The night before was blurry, but as the cold water hit his face Raditz began to recollect some of the details. Daiken had talked him into playing wingman, and over the course of the evening both of them had drunk enough to take down an elephant, Raditz in particular aided by the wristband that got him free drinks. Once Daiken scored, he left Raditz to fend for himself, who'd realized by now that he was a little too drunk to do much of anything. He'd gone outside from the back door, thinking the cool air would sober him up, and found Launch lying outside in the grass.

He settled down next to her. "Too much to drink?"

"Nah." Her hair was blonde, and she said it with confidence. The statement was undercut by a sudden hiccup.

Raditz snorted.

They lay next to each other in the grass for a bit. After some time, he wasn't sure how much, Raditz got up and brushed himself off. "I'm gonna go back in. I should probably find Kakarot."

"He was with a girl," Launch said, grinning. "They were getting along pretty well." She hiccuped again.

"I know." Raditz shuddered. It was uncomfortable watching his baby brother get slobbered on by a stranger, but he couldn't help being a little proud of the kid. Still, it was probably a good idea to disentangle him from his new friends.

She pushed herself up. "I'm going home."

Raditz paused. "Do you want me to walk you?"

Launch shook her head. "I'm fine." Another hiccup.

"You sure? It's really late, and everyone here is tanked." He gestured towards a group of young Saiyan men who had just stumbled out the door, loudly singing something obscene.

Launch bit her lip. "Alright," she said reluctantly. "I guess it's not the worst idea."

They walked slowly. "I guess you hold your liquor pretty well," Raditz said, by way of conversation.

"Yep," she said proudly. "Always have. I once drank two grown men," – she hiccuped – "under the table and won 100 zeni."

"What men? At the bar?"

Her eyes widened in the realization that she'd perhaps said something she shouldn't have.

Raditz sensed her hesitation. "Or was it some of your Bunny friends?"

"Don't talk about the Bunnies," she snapped. "You don't know what you're getting into."

Raditz snorted. "I'm not scared of bunch of human criminals."

"It's not that simple. They are a lot of Saiyans in deep with the Bunnies."

"In deep how?" He had to admit, his curiousity was peaked.

Launch shrugged. "The Bunnies do a lot of stuff. They make a lot of money. They get Saiyans to help out, share the wealth. But in exchange the Saiyans get involved in a lot of illegal stuff. Some of it's not so bad, bribes and shit. Like the old inspector, he was raking it in from the Bunnies. Some of it's more serious."

"Serious?"

"Murder. Extortion. That kinda thing." She hiccuped.

"Wow." This was a world Raditz had never heard of before.

"You know Master Eto only keeps me in this job because I get him cheap liquor."

"What, from the Bunnies?"

Launch nodded.

"I thought you said you were out of that!" Raditz came to a stop. "I only helped you that time because I thought you were innocent!"

"You think I called the Boss!"

"You did kill the Boss!"

"You can't prove that!"

"You won't deny it!"

"I did what I had to do!"

"So you admit it!"

"NO!" She got right in his face. "I can't be the one who killed the Boss."

"What, you think your Bunny friends don't know? I know. For gods' sakes, the inspector knows. You think they can't figure it out?"

"Knowing is one thing, proving's another. And don't lecture me about the Bunnies." She crossed her arms. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"If they're that dangerous, you should get out."

"There's no out from the Bunnies."

"Fine," Raditz threw up his arms in defeat. "Fine, keep at it. Who cares if you end up in jail?"

She stomped away. He followed reluctantly. After all, he'd agreed to walk her home. He ought to see it through.

"Why did you have to kill the Boss, anyway?" Raditz asked after a while.

"I'm not copping to that," Launch insisted. "But let's say maybe he owed me money on a job. And maybe when I went to collect, he said he wouldn't give me anything unless I slept with him. And maybe I really needed the money but didn't want to have to fuck a 60-year old guy three times my size, especially not for money I already earned. And maybe I didn't plan on killing him, just knocking him out, but then maybe an opportunity opened up, and maybe I took it, and maybe I don't regret it at all because it was either that or be stuck with him on my back for the rest of time." Another hiccup. "And maybe it's none of your business anyway!"

Raditz stared at her. "Damn," he said finally. "You got a lot more fight in you than I thought. I'm guessing Krillin doesn't know anything about this?"

"No," she said firmly. "And if he finds out I'll do to you what I did to-," she caught herself.

"HAH!" Raditz pointed a triumphant finger at her.

"What I did to the owner of the Ta-Meini liquor warehouse!"

"What did you do to him?"

"I stabbed him in the knee."

"Damn," he said again. "You're really something else."

"Well, we're here," Launch said. They had finally reached her house, and she fished the key out from her skirt pocket.

"Look," Raditz said as they stood in front of the door. "I'm sorry you had such a shit time of it. And I'm sorry you're stuck in this gang."

Launch shrugged. "Could be worse."

He smiled. "You know, you're really brave. And a tough cookie. Pretty, too. If you could just stay out of trouble…"

"What?" she said, staring up at him with big green eyes.

He wasn't sure what possessed him to do this, but he bent down and kissed her gently.

Her face turned red. She hiccuped.

Raditz rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess-,"

Then she leaned up and kissed him.

After that, things escalated quickly, as evidenced by the fact that he was toweling off in her bathroom. It wasn't that they were too drunk to know what they were doing, it was that they were too drunk to care. But boy, had that changed in the morning.

When Raditz came out, Launch was sitting on the end of the bed, waiting for him. She'd sneezed, and was blonde again.

"You need to get out of here," she said. "No one can know about this."

"I know," he said. Friendship with a human was one thing, sex and relationships were something else. This wasn't good for either of them. Being with a Saiyan would make Launch even more of a pariah than she already was, and the odds that she would be able to land a decent boyfriend would be slim. Raditz, meanwhile, would be subject to the hazing of his peers, and he too would have trouble dating Saiyan women.

It was in both their best interests that this be a one-time incident, a mistake that would never be repeated.

"Feeling better?" Bardock looked at the clearing faces of Tien and Krillin with satisfaction.

"Yeah, actually," Tien said. "This stuff is disgusting but it works."

Lazuli and Lapis had taken curious sips that they immediately regretted.

"Good," Bardock said. "Alright, come on," he tugged on the scruff of his son's shirt. "Let's go home. By the way, has anyone seen Raditz at all?"

Jasper shook his head. The others mumbled apologies.

"The last time I saw him he was sitting outside with Launch," Tien said. "After that I don't know where he went. Sorry."

Bardock huffed in frustration and dragged Goku towards the door.

Later, he'd kick himself for not putting the pieces together.