A Son
"Kakarot has a son? A lowly halfbreed, but still..."
Raditz paced outside his spacepod, hands clamped over his ears against the assault of incessant screaming coming from within. Yet no matter what he tried, the sound penetrated straight through to the base of his skull. His head throbbed more than from any blow Nappa had dealt him in training.
"Stop that monotonous squalling!" he yelled, slamming a fist into the side of the pod.
Raditz had a sudden flash of deja vous. He remembered saying the same thing to another bawling baby. His brother, Kakarot, didn't listen to him either.
"That's your brother, Raditz," his father announced, pointing to the spiky-haired newborn. "We've named him Kakarot."
He didn't care anything about crying infants. "So what? I've got better things to do," he said, turning to leave. Bardock's large hand landed on his shoulder, turning him back to face the nursery window.
"He's your brother. Your family. You may need each other some day."
Raditz snorted a laugh. "Me? Need a whiny crybaby? I don't think so. Did you forget I'm leaving on an important mission for Lord Frieza today?"
Bardock sighed. "Raditz, I'm proud of you for passing your training, but don't go off to fight with an inflated ego. That's how mistakes happen. I've seen it a hundred times."
He tuned out the rest of his father's speech as he glared at his sibling. He'd heard this talk too many times before, and by much more powerful warriors than a third rate fighter. But he was planning on becoming stronger than Bardock, and he couldn't do that playing it safe.
"What's wrong with him?" Raditz interrupted, tapping the glass. "Why won't he stop crying?"
"Babies cry," Bardock answered with a shrug. "He's probably just hungry."
On a whim, Raditz pushed the button on the side of his new scanner. The numbers flipped and blinked before settling on Kakarot's power level. "Just as I thought. A weakling."
"Your power level wasn't so high when you were born, either." He chuckled as he rubbed a hand on top of his son's head. Raditz groaned and batted away the offending hand.
He wasn't a child anymore. He was a Saiyan warrior in Frieza's Galactic Army! Soon, he'd be leaving for his first real mission with other real warriors to clear a real planet. And there was no way he would ever need to depend on such an annoying, weak, pathetic, whiny baby!
"Stop that monotonous squalling!" he yelled, slamming a fist into the viewing glass.
"You can't order a baby to stop crying," Bardock laughed and reached to ruffle his hair again. This time, Raditz stepped far out of his father's reach.
"Stop that!" he shouted, his frustration intensified by the steady noise still coming from inside the nursery. "I'm not a child anymore. I don't understand why they allowed you to breed another child in the first place, let alone a weak, irritating, noisy, defective thing like that. The thought of actually needing the help of something so pathetic makes me sick to my stomach! We have enough powerful Saiyans as it is. This reject should be destroyed as soon as possible! Preferably before I return from my mission so I don't have to listen to this annoying sound ever again!"
Those were the last words he'd spoken to his father before Planet Vegeta was destroyed.
And now here Raditz stood, listening to the same relentless crying while he waited for his long-lost brother to agree to help him. He'd laugh at the irony of the situation if he wasn't so disgusted with the sickly sweet creatures Kakarot and his offspring had turned into. Watching the two of them interact with these earthlings made him actually want to vomit.
It's not that he never wanted to sire a son of his own. The desire to extend his own bloodline was as strong as any Saiyan's. Yet with his home planet destroyed and no worthy Saiyan women left, he'd made peace with the fact he'd never have his own family. Even if he allowed himself to stoop so low as to breed with another race as his brother had obviously done, Frieza would never have permitted it. And this bawling, weak, abnormal halfling was irrefutable proof as to the importance of keeping a pure bloodline.
Raditz looked through the spacepod's window, a smile spreading across his face. "Look on the bright side," he told himself. "If Kakarot doesn't agree to come willingly, I still have my 'precious' nephew to take back with me. I can raise him up right, teach him to fight, tell him all about the illustrious history of the Saiyan race, and show him how to act like a Saiyan warrior. Everything I would do with my own son. And the first thing I'll do is beat the tears right out of him!"