Chapter 34: Family Reunion
The moment in the comms deck was a fragile, private bubble. Lara was tracing the new, thick scar tissue on Kakarot's forearm, her brow furrowed. "This is new," she murmured.
"Got a few more to show you," he said, his voice a low rumble. He kept one arm wrapped around her waist, holding her close, anchoring himself in her presence. It was a quiet comfort he hadn't realized he'd missed so desperately.
The bubble was abruptly popped by the hydraulic hiss of the door sliding open.
Raditz walked in, his face buried in a datapad, his long mane of hair falling over his scowling features. He didn't even look up.
"Lara, I need you to run a diagnostic on this piece of junk scouter Nappa just 'fixed'," he grumbled, his voice full of its usual impatient arrogance. "It's picking up a power signature from the mess hall's meat hydrator and classifying it as a 'hostile bio-weapon'. The idiot's about to blast the damn thing to atoms. Just... figure it out, will you?"
He finally tore his eyes from the screen, his gaze landing first on Lara. Then it slid to the large, armored figure standing beside her, an arm possessively around her.
Raditz froze.
His jaw went slack. The datapad nearly slipped from his fingers. His dark eyes, so full of habitual scorn, widened in pure, unadulterated shock. He looked like a man who had just seen a ghost, and not a friendly one. He tried to form a word, but only a choked, guttural sound escaped his throat. "You...?"
Before the scene could fully settle, the door hissed open again, and a wall of sound and muscle named Nappa barreled in.
"…AND THEN THE LITTLE GREEN BASTARD TRIED TO CHARGE ME FOR THE 'ATMOSPHERIC RE-ENTRY FEE'!" Nappa was bellowing, his voice echoing off the comms consoles. He was staring at his own, freshly "repaired" scouter, completely oblivious. "I TOLD HIM, 'BUDDY, MY FACE IS YOUR PLANET'S ATMOSPHERIC RE-ENTRY FEE!' AND I BLASTED HIS LITTLE KIOSK INTO ORBIT! HA! GET IT? 'ORBIT'? 'ATMOSPHERIC'? IT'S FUNNY 'CAUSE…. WHOOF!"
He plowed directly into the statue-still form of Raditz, who didn't even budge. Nappa stumbled back, rubbing his chest. "Hey! Watch it, you lanky…"
He stopped. He finally noticed Raditz's expression. It wasn't his usual annoyed scowl. It was a look of such profound, stunned disbelief that Nappa followed his line of sight.
His bald head swiveled. His small eyes landed on Kakarot and Lara.
Nappa's mouth fell open. His scouter, still mis-calibrated, let out a cheerful beep-boop and displayed over Kakarot's head: LIFE FORM: UNKNOWN. POWER LEVEL: DELICIOUS SANDWICH.
For a solid five seconds, the only sound in the room was the hum of the computers and Nappa's scouter's nonsensical chirping.
Nappa blinked. He looked at Raditz, then back at Kakarot. He pointed a thick finger. "You're... you're supposed to be..."
Kakarot broke the silence. He gently untangled himself from Lara, giving her a reassuring squeeze on the hip. He took a step forward, a slow, deliberate smile spreading across his face. It wasn't a friendly smile. It was a predator's smile, all teeth and cold amusement.
"Hey, big brother," Kakarot said, his voice deceptively light. "Miss me?"
Raditz finally found his voice, a hoarse, disbelieving whisper. "Kakarot... How... How are you alive? I saw the medics…! I saw you jettisoned!"
"Turns out I'm a little harder to kill than you thought," Kakarot said, taking another step closer. He stopped just in front of Raditz, looking him right in the eye. The difference in their posture was stark. Raditz was tense, coiled, confused. Kakarot was relaxed, almost lazy, radiating a calm that was more intimidating than any shout.
Nappa, recovering from his shock, let out a booming laugh that had no humor in it. "Well, I'll be damned! The runt's got more lives than a Zarbonian concubine! Where the hell have you been, boy? We had a funeral and everything! Well, we didn't, but we thought about it!"
"I got lost," Kakarot said, his eyes never leaving Raditz's. "The ship somehow returned to its last known landing coordinates and that's where I crash landed. Ended up back on PX-723. Spent some time cleaning up the mess we left behind. You know how it is. Someone's gotta do the dirty work."
Raditz flinched at the mention of the planet. His mind was clearly racing, trying to piece together the impossible. "The... the planet? You were there? All this time?"
"Yep," Kakarot said, popping the 'p'. "Just me and the locals. Had some fun. Got bored. Then Lord Frieza's survey team showed up." He let that name hang in the air, watching the color drain from Raditz's face. "Told them my story. They were so impressed, they gave me a ride. And you'll never guess who wanted to see me the second I got to Planet Frieza."
Nappa's brutish confidence finally wavered. "Lord Frieza? He... he knows?"
"Oh, he knows," Kakarot confirmed, his smile widening. "He thought my story was just fascinating. Especially the part about how I survived when everyone, including my own brother and Prince, was so sure I was dead. He thought it was so funny, he's ordered me to rejoin the team. Personally."
The final piece of the nightmare clicked into place for Raditz. This wasn't just his brother's return. This was a walking, breathing reprimand from the Emperor himself. A testament to their failure. A living insult.
Kakarot reached out and clapped a heavy hand on Raditz's stiff shoulder. Raditz flinched at the contact.
"Don't look so worried, brother," Kakarot said, his voice dropping to a low, intimate growl that only Raditz and Nappa could hear. The false cheer was gone, replaced by a cold, hard edge. "I'm back. And I'm so looking forward to catching up."
He gave Raditz's shoulder a final, almost painful squeeze, then released him, turning his back as if he were no longer a threat. He walked back to Lara, slipping his arm around her again.
"Now," Kakarot said, looking at the two stunned Saiyans. "I hear there's a problem with the meat hydrator? Sounds serious. We should probably deal with that. Can't have the team going hungry."
He led Lara past them and out the door, leaving Raditz and Nappa standing in the middle of the comms deck, surrounded by the silent, judging glow of the monitors, the reality of their new, and deeply complicated, future settling over them like a shroud.
[A/N: Can't wait to see what happens next? Get exclusive early access on patreon.com/saiyanprincenovels. If you enjoyed this chapter and want to see more, don't forget to drop a power stone! Your support helps this story reach more readers!]