Freeza's Rule

Aftermath

It took two months before he stopped expecting to see that child when he woke up. It only took three days for his body to quit producing food for it. He cursed himself for his weakness, for his attachment to the parasite. He was a saiyan warrior not a weak breeder. He was not going to be hampered by the memory of that child, it meant nothing to him. He had thrown himself into his training his strength was growing slowly but steadily. Back on Planet Vegeta they would have been hard pressed to keep calling him a low-level.

‘Kakarot.’ The name had begun to cross through his mind at random times. His younger brother, who was more than likely dead. ‘Or stranded, like I was.’

Raditz shook his head. He didn’t have time for this, or maybe he had too much time. One blow was all it took to split the creature’s head open. As the creature’s warm, blue-green blood washed over him he couldn’t help but grin. These were gentle creatures; he had no clue why they were even assigned this mission over other ones that were available. The aliens were naturally physically resilient but under even a lower classed fighter such as himself the creatures’ bodies cleaved open easily. They were large targets, their heads were easily half the size of Raditz’s body, but they were easy to hurt and it exhilarated him, it soothed a deep pain inside. Perhaps he was one-step closer to understanding Nappa’s madness.

Vegeta and Nappa were over the horizon sparring. They had deemed this too far beneath them. They had left this to him, he would have finished an hour ago if he weren’t having so much fun.

The species was down to three, how ironic. He decided to name them, Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz. Vegeta died the most violently, his royal blood covered the others along with chunks of his flesh. Nappa died the slowest, Raditz, the saiyan, broke his bones puncturing organs and leaving him to collapse while visibly gagging, Radtz, the saiyan, let him drown in his own blood before blowing up his body. Lastly Raditz, the saiyan, skewered Raditz, the beast, quickly through the stomach and heart. He died too quickly to feel much pain.

“Ha, Ha,” he began to laugh. It winded him more than killing the creatures.

‘Kakarot,’

He whirled as a roar caught him off guard, his scouter chiming in a late warning. It seemed he had missed one and its anger at seeing its comrades killed had overcome its usual gentle nature. A quick blast through the chest cured his oversight and the beast collapsed at his feet.

“I guess you can be Kakarot,” he told it.

His job complete Raditz set about his next task, finding his next meal. He eyed the deceased creatures. With the other two blasted to smithereens, he ripped up and cooked Kakarot and Beast-Raditz. There were plenty of other corpses on this planet so he didn’t think he should share with the other two. He gorged himself, even by saiyan standards, all that was left were bones.

He laid back on the ground for a well-deserved nap, though he doubted it would be a long one. Vegeta and Nappa would finish sparing then come yell at him for taking so long to complete such an easy mission. After that, they would probably go scour out their own dinner amongst the corpses. Either way, Raditz drifted off.

He was awoken by a heavy boot kicking his side.

“Get up,” it was Nappa of course. He was irritable a having his ass handed to him by Vegeta, even though that was a forgone conclusion when they had started sparing. Raditz stretched out lazily in a way he would have never done in front of Nappa just six months ago. After the entire incident with the parasite, Vegeta had made it clear that Nappa was not to bed Raditz. He had promised to castrate the older saiyan if he couldn’t follow that command. Raditz was almost grateful but now Nappa was taking out his frustration on Raditz in other ways.

He’d long grown use to Nappa hair-trigger temper and his violence but it seemed to be worsening. He was still just as possessive over Raditz’s time and who he spoke with outside of training. His friendly moods were fewer and farther between. The drinking had stopped though. He’d gotten drunk once after the incident and tried his usual tricks in full view of Vegeta. He woke up two days later in the medic bay.

Raditz was under no illusions that Vegeta was helping him. Vegeta was only concerned about his orders being followed.

Raditz rose and brushed himself off.

“Is the job finished?” asked Nappa

“Do you sense anything living on this planet other than us?” responded Raditz. Nappa tightened his fists, Raditz knew he was on thin ice. “Yes, the mission is finished, but I’ll do a final pass around the planet to be sure,” he said. Nappa nodded before flying off.

Raditz took off to do the final pass. He was glad he did, on the opposite side of the planet, far out of range of his scouter in his first position was a cache of eggs. They had been hidden in a cave, all of them viable. If Vegeta or Nappa had discovered this cave instead of him, they would have been enraged at his failure to do such a simple job right. As he stepped further into the cave he heard whispering, the whispering of beast-children. He rounded a corner, expecting to find them cowering like many of the adults had been but he was surprised. They faced him with rocks, sticks, slingshots, and other implements they must have gotten from their homes. There were maybe 15 of them and they looked determined.

“So you think you can defeat me with toys?” he mocked them. It was obvious neither side could actually understand the other but they charged. Raditz let them nearly reach him before letting off a wide blast that killed the lot. He walked back out to the eggs ignoring the slight sick feeling in his stomach. He blasted the eggs as well; the floor was covered in reddish egg yolk and half-formed creatures.

It was sickening.

It was fun.

Another passed revealed nothing. The planet was clean, ready to be sold and in a few decades, maybe the new inhabitants would be murdered all over again.

‘Kakarot,’ the name crossed his mind again this time accompanied by the wailing of a child. ‘Bar-,’ he stopped the thought before it could be completed. It couldn’t be, in his, its short life it had never cried like that. He shoved the entire matter out of his mind.

He flew over to where Vegeta and Nappa were eating. “The job is finished,” he said. He stood awkwardly for a few moments as they continued to eat without acknowledging him. He wouldn’t sit with them because Nappa was still pissed off, he couldn’t just leave because Vegeta required that he be dismissed from his royal presence. Saiyan hearing was impeccable, at this distance there was no way they hadn’t heard him. He had no choice but to wait.

After about fifteen minutes of watching them stuff their faces, Vegeta spoke.

“I want to take the Georia job,”

Nappa and Raditz shot him a surprised look. That job had been on the waiting list for years and was likely to remain there. It was one of those jobs that were too high level for any squad but Freeza’s elite to handle yet for them it was considered a waste of time and effort. It also wasn’t high on Freeza’s priority which was why it had been allowed to sit for so long. Doing a job like that would get them noticed; it would open doors for them.

“We can’t handle that,” said Nappa plainly. He looked afraid, and rightfully so, there was no telling how Vegeta would take that statement.

“We just need another squad member. It would push us over the edge,”

“None of the other soldiers would survive the Oozaru transformation and we’d have to use it,” said Raditz softly. He had no desire to be on the receiving end of Vegeta’s rage.

“Don’t you think I know that?” snapped Vegeta. Then the diminutive prince smirked in a way that Raditz just knew he would hate the next thing the prince was going to say.

“Raditz, you’re going to Earth,” declared Vegeta

“What’s there?” asked Raditz, ‘And why just me?’ he thought to himself.

“I was looking around in Freeza’s copies of Saiyan records; I found the name of three Saiyan children who were never confirmed to be killed. One is on Earth, you are going to retrieve him, and stop at Planet Yoril on the way to check on the other. Nappa and I will check on the other one and then head to Planet Ungollen to complete our next mission, we don’t need you for that. Report when you land on Yoril as to its status, the saiyan assigned to that planet was Bean, son of Pinto. The one assigned to Earth is Kakarot, son of Bardock, take the time to bury your brother’s bones if need be,” said Vegeta mockingly. In his shock, Raditz could only nod.

Vegeta wasted no time in setting the coordinates in Raditz’s pod. As it closed he could see Vegeta and Nappa boarding their own pods. Raditz began to drift off as the pod went into hibernation mode.

‘Kakarot,’ he could hear a baby wailing again.