Crusaders of Hell
Ch.1: A Chance for Redemption!
Knight of Balance: (Fiddling with something at a disk until noticing the reader) Oh, hey. Sorry about that but I was making something for the story but it broke all of a sudden so now I'm stuck repairing it. Anyway, I'd like to thank you for checking this story out. If it seems a little fragmented at first, like there are some parts missing, it's because this story intertwines with two other DBZ fanfics I have in mind. On the request of Vintage Taylor, I have decided to go with this story first. Well, I'm kinda busy as of the moment, fixing this damn thing, so I'll just begin the story. (Goes back to fixing before perking up) One more thing, this takes place after the Episode of Bardock.
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Deep in the place known as Netherworld, a place where the dead go to be judged. In this place, there exists a plane where the evilest of souls reside, trapped for an eternity in darkness as punishment for the sins they committed in life, a place that has become known to humans as 'Hell.' For a very long time, there was peace in the realm known as Hell. Well, as much peace as their can be when its inhabitants are all murderers and sadists. But now, a new resident of Hell threatens to destroy this peace, once and for all, in the pursuit of his own devious goals.
Right now, this individual, known as the wizard Babidi, was engaged in battle of wills with the former member of the Plane Trade Organization, Appule. The purple alien shot a ki blast after ki blast at him but the attack simply dissipated when it got near him. The wizard giggled with confident evil, floating toward him.
"Come now, those attacks simply do not do you justice." The wizard said, lacing his voice with magic as to seduce the alien and have him join his ever growing army.
"Nooooo," Appule moaned, trying to rid his mind of the evil man and his evil, poisonous words. "I'm not evil! Leave me alone!"
Babidi tutted, "Oh, and how are you not? You stood by and allowed Freiza to destroy innumerable planets and said nothing."
"I'm not evil!" He repeated, "Get out of my mind!"
"There's nothing wrong with being evil." The bald reptilian creature continued, putting even more power into his voice as he floating closer to him, "Just submit to the darkness in your heart and you'll know peace and power unlike anything you can imagine."
Appule tried his best to resist Babidi's power, to hold onto what was left of his soul. But, years as the joke of Freiza's crew had corrupted his soul, filling his soul with anger and hatred. Using his magic, the wizard brought these memories back to the surface and used that to seduce him. With so much anger hazing his mind, Appule finally gave into the darkness in his soul, accepting and embracing it. A flood of dark power exploded from Appule's body as Babidi's magic enhanced his abilities. The power drew back into his body as he was marked on his forehead with a capital 'M': The symbol of those who were seduced by Babidi, the symbol of the Majins.
"So," Babadi said to his new comrade, "How does the power of darkness feel?"
At first, Majin Appule didn't answer, floating in the middle of sea of eternal darkness. Then, he drew a deep breath and answered his new monster, "Great, my lord. I can feel the power within me, giving more strength than I could ever imagine." He looked at his master with malicious eyes, "Thank you, Lord Babidi."
"You're welcome, Appule. Now, come with me. We have work to do." He chanted a few words and they warped away, unaware that a pair of eyes were watching them and saw what had just transpired.
"Hmmmm." The person said with malefic humor in his voice. He resembled a giant Frost Demon, with blood-red skin, except his checks which were the color of lava, and black armor with navy blue on the shoulders, top of the head, kneecaps, and on the lower legs. The only difference was the overwhelming power emitted from him, a league not even Freiza could attain in his wildest dreams. "Things are getting really out of hand."
"I'll say," A new voice said, belonging to a light blue skinned person with stylish white hair and purple eyes and lips. He was garbed in an odd red apparel and wielding a sliver staff with a purple gem at top. The Frost Demon look-like turned around and looked at him as he talked, "That Bibidi has recruited quite a few followers. Doesn't help things either that his power seems to have a greater effect on souls than living creatures especially since he can draw power from the sins of these wandering souls."
"Oh me, oh my. If it isn't Whis?" The look-alike said with a grin. Like all Frost Demons, he had a sadistic sense of humor, "Is the minor Babidi issue really worth your attention or were you just looking for an excuse to see your dear old brother?"
"Hello Erabes." Whis said, twirling his staff without a thought in the world. "I felt a disturbance here and decided to make sure you weren't running amuck."
"Oh brother, dear brother. I'm honestly appalled you would suggest such a thing!" He declared with fake shock, "I haven't rampaged in so long. Like… 2000 years?"
"A mere blink in your life," Whis joked with a slight scorn, "But back to business. Babidi has been turning the residents of Hell to his side and we've from what we've both seen of this, he wouldn't use them for good."
"Yep, it ain't for no soup kitchen!" Erabes said.
"So, the question is: How do we stop it?"
The being grinned widely, "Well, I could kill Bibidi once and for all-"
"No, you can't." Whis countered, "Remember how mad the Kais got the last time you fought?"
He grimaced, remebering "Guess you're right. Can't get the Kais mad again or else they'll be all over my back. Still, I got Plan B!"
"This never ends well." Whis sighed.
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Deep in the ice plains of Hell, a certain warrior was training his butt off in the arctic cold, trying the ever harder to get stronger. This warrior was garbed in a suit of black, broken Sayian armor that had lost its left shoulder pad in a battle long ago. The wearer was a Sayian male with messy, long black hair, slightly tanned skin despite the lack of a sun in the dark realm. He had a face similar to Son Goku's, savior of the universe, but his face marked physically with a long scar on the side of his face and marked mentally with a sadness and pain from a life of deep suffering. He charged an attack, pouring all of his rage from his failed attempt to save the Sayian race from Freiza, his sorrow from knowing that he would never see his beloved wife Gine again, and his hatred at himself for not being a better father for his sons into the palm of his hand and flung it into the distance, causing a huge explosion to erupt on the horizon.
"Hm," He said, examining the force of the blast critically. He didn't like how weak the blast was, knowing that he needed to get stronger to live up to his son's reputation. Normally, he would've trained with another as that would have made him stronger; but since he got here, Bardock hadn't seen another soul in the God forsaken place. While he took a small break from his training, the warrior's mind wandered back to the day that changed his life forever…
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Bardock, beaten, bloodly and weary from his battle Dodoria and his elites stumbled into his low-class home. Vision blurred from pain, injury and blood, he noticed that his mate wasn't in the room at the time and called out for her.
"Gine!" He howled, making him cough and sputter as blood invaded his lungs, spraying a mixture of spit and blood on the floor and into his hand as he hacked out his breathing organs. After several minutes of this, his knees buckled and failed beneath him, gravity forcing him onto the ground like he was its bitch for what seemed like the hundredth time that day alone. Bardock scrapped at the ground, desperately trying to get to Gine as fast as he could, to warn her of the events to come. "Gine!"
"Jeez, Bardock, could you be any louder?" said his mate, a short, beautiful woman with unkempt dark hair, expressive eyes of the same color, and soft, delicate facial features dressed in pink armor similar to his own just without shoulder pads, as she walked into the room, looking at her mate with playful scorn then with unrestricted worry as he saw the condition he was in. She quickly ran over to his side, gasping at the severity of his wounds and moved him straight over to their bed, laying him down on it so she could go get the first-aid kit. After retrieving said kit, cleaning out her mate's wounds and applying bandages to his wounds, Gine sighed, making Bardock rub his head in embarrassment, knowing that coming home bloody was something that she despised, evident when she drove her fist into one of his few intact ribs. "God damn it, what did I tell you about coming in all injured like that?"
"S-sorry." He sputtered, hoping for mercy. Unknown to most, Gine, the softie of the Saiyan race, was actually pretty strong from years of training, not that she used her strength when she was in his elite. She couldn't so much as hurt an animal, let alone kill somebody. Except that one time-
Bardock's face drooped at the thought of his comrades; remember seeing them sprawled out across Planet Meat's surface, discarded like trash by Dodoria and his(/She/it?) men on the orders by their emperor Frieza , whom they had served loyally for years on end, killing race after race so that he could sell their planets off. And all that had gotten them was an exploding home world, complete genocide, and in his case, ominous visions that foretold these events and others with only the slightest sliver of hope for change. Which reminded him…
"Where's Raditz?"He asked his mate, making the woman look at him with no little surprise on her face, seeing as he never showed any concern or interest in their eldest son.
"He's off on a mission with Prince Vegeta and General Nappa. They haven't returned yet." She informed him, making Bardock feel both relieved and upset at the same time. Raditz would be spared in the genocide, seeing as he was traveling with Prince Vegeta, who was known for not listening to orders but upset that he would be stuck with the obnoxious prince and the cruel general. He never got along with Nappa, especially since they had fought for the place of general before. It had been a long, grueling battle that lasted for what now seemed like an eternity, Bardock's intelligence against Nappa's brute strength and aerial maneuverability. Finally, with one final strike to the gut, he finally overcame the elite soldier's strength but, in a twist no one saw, he refused the position. As a matter of a fact, he never wanted it as it would keep away from the front lines. No, he fought to show that a Low-Class warrior, with enough training, could defeat even the elite. As for the prince, he didn't have anything against the prince himself, but he did have a few beefs with his father, King Vegeta. The two of them never gotten along, what with his pride as a super elite and his attitude toward the lower classes, and their relationship worsened as Bardock grew stronger, overpowering mid-class and even the elites. The final straw in their bond broke when Gine, instead of becoming the king's mate, choose to become his, a giant blow to his pride that a woman would choose to live with a mere low-class warrior rather than him, a member of the royal family. Still, that was better than death.
"And Kakarot?" He asked, thinking of the young boy facing multiple enemies on a far off planet, facing Nappa and someone who looked suspiciously like King Vegeta then, finally, Frieza himself. Hearing this, Gine playfully smacked his shoulder but, as he looked up into her eyes, he noticed sadness in her eyes as if something was bothering her.
"In Raditz's old room, I just took him out today," She informed him, noticing that she was trying her best to seem cheerful, "Do you want to see him?" A normal Saiyan father would've snorted at the idea, even Bardock was pretty neglectful of his firstborn son, but seeing where that had gotten the raced, he gladly agreed to. She grabbed his giant paw of a hand with her tiny one,, she lead him into one of the back rooms, right across from their own, filled by only a small crib and a few crude toys. In the bed, lying in a fitful slumber, was a small child, only about a month old, that looked almost identical to Bardock himself; same facial features, same colored tail, he even inherited his ridiculous hair, shared by none of the other Saiyans. The only thing that could distinguish the two was his skin tone, the same light color of his mother's.
Seeing the young baby lying in his bed, kicking and pawing at an unseen enemy in his sleep, Bardock felt a rush of fatherly pride race through his heart, knowing the young one would become an even greater than him, strong enough to challenge even Frieza himself. Activating his scouter, he scanned his child, seeing he had an average power level of 2. Bardock felt relieved, knowing that despite his low power level he would surpass even their super elites. Of course, there was only one way this could happen…
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of blue and black race away, making suspicion rise in hi mind. Shaking it away, he looked to his mate., "Gine," He said, drawing away her loving gaze, "I'm going to go get a pod. We're sending Kakarot away."
Gine blinked at him a few before her motherly instincts kicked in, "What the hell are you thinking, Bardock? Do you honestly think that I'll let Kakarot become a rocket baby just because he's not super strong?"
Bardock looked at her, hurt that she would suggest such a thing when Kakarot began to cry, showing such lung strength for a small child. Gine bet down and picked up her second son, trying her best to quell him as he watched this, his heart drooped, feeling like lead his he remembered that she too would die in mere hours before turning this sadness into determination to make sure that the vision he saw would never occur for her sake. "Listen, Gine, I can't explain but I just have this bad feeling like something going to happen," He looked down at his son, who began to cry louder when he told her about his 'bad feeling', "and I believe Kakarot feels it too."
The attractive woman frowned at him, gently rocking her son in a futile attempt to calm him down. She looked at him like this for a few moments that stretched out into an eternity until she finally spoke, "If we send him away and your 'bad feeling' is just some hoax, we'll go and get him back, right?"
Bardock gave her that rare smile that he reserved just for her, "Yeah, we sure will." He said, walking up and wrapping his arms around her, making blush and smile.
"Since when does the great Bardock care so much about his family?" She joked at him as snide humor shone in her eyes, which he returned back to her.
"Your weakness is starting to rub off on me." He told her, walking away to go get the transport. Once out of eyesight, Bardock frowned, feeling slightly bad about lying to Gine but he couldn't bring it upon himself to tell her that death was only a few hours away nor tell her that he would spend his last few minutes facing off against Frieza in some hope of defeating the tyrant or at least give him a few scars to remember them by. A few minutes and several broken necks later (Normally, the later would get him in some deep shit but at this moment the more of Frieza's men he took with him to the grave the better), he had himself a pod, primed and ready for launch. He threw his son not-so-lightly into the pod and began carrying it to a safe distance away so that none of Frieza's men would notice the pod's launch. As he and Kakarot's mother walked, their son banged against the ship with all his might, making his heart thump with pride. He might not have the strength, but young Kakarot had the spirit of a true Saiyan warrior. Judging it to be a safe distance away from Frieza's sight, he set the capsule down and began typing in coordinates into its navigation system.
"I'm typing in the coordinates of a low-level priority planet," he informed Gine, not telling her that the Kassian that had cursed him with foresight was the one who gave him the coordinates, telling him that his son would be irreplaceable in the planet's fate, "It has a few valuable resources but nothing else. Plus, the average power level is only about 5 so Frieza won't be focusing on it anytime so-" His scouter beeped halfway through his talking, just as he finished typing in the coordinates, detecting a power level of 3,000. Whipping around, he saw a person, a Saiyan judging by his tail, standing on the hill overlooking them and, somehow, he sensed that the person was looking at them. Gine began to move toward the person in hopes of protecting her family, but Bardock reminded her that she had only a power level of 2,300. "I'll go." He told her, flying up to the person. Landing on the hillside, the low-class warrior was surprised to see that the person looked a lot like himself. Same face, albeit his seemed much more friendly and relaxed, same skin tone, same eyes though his had a slight brown hue to them, same body build and even his hair greatly resembled his own, and the only difference was that his sides were cut off. He wore dark jacket that covered the top part of his torso, a scarf of the same color, blue undershirt, dark pants and shoes with blue laces and a black cape that fluttered behind him in the soft breeze.
"Hey, Bardock." He said to him in a deep, light-hearted voice that rang of purity and kindness but also with a determination that matched his own. "Got a minute or two to talk?" Bardock's reply was a quick kick to the head, doing miniscule if any damage. "Is that a no?"
Barock simply looked at the warrior I horror, wondering how in hell a person with only a power level of 3,000 was still standing after that attack. Checking his scouter again he saw that his power level had shot up to 30,000, ten times greater than before. Seeing the warrior's face, the Saiyan gave a half-innocent, half-snarky smile. "Yeah, you'll find scouters are very unreliable. Energy sensing's the way to go." Bardock blinked at him before giving him a begrudging look.
"What do you want?" He asked reluctantly, knowing now he couldn't fight him off as he jumped from 3,000 to 30,000 in just a few seconds. The Saiyan continued to smile but the humor in his eyes died out, leaving the image of an amused soldier.
"I'm guessing you already know about Planet Vegeta's destruction," He said in a very serious tone, contrasting his light-hearted one beforehand, shocking Bardock as well as his knowledge of the future, "and I'm also guessing you're thinking of fighting Frieza," Bardock's surprise grew even furtther, seeing as he had only decided to defeat the tyrant himself about an hour ago, "and I'm here to say: You're gonna die."
"W-w-what?" He said, unable to comprehend what he was saying. Was it really true that his plan to confront Frieza would result in nothing more than a quicker death than the rest of his race? The Saiyan rubbed the back of his head nervously, a tick he apparently shared with Bardock.
"Sorry, I probably shouldn't have said anything," He apologized, making him resort to his default emotion: anger.
"Then why did you?" He yelled, not fazing the other warrior in the slightest, "Why did you tell that the one thing I put all my hope, not just for me but for my entire race, is going to add up to squat?"
"Wow wow, who said that?" The warrior said, "Now, your efforts to save the Saiyan race in its current state won't pan out, but what you do here will plant the seeds for Frieza's defeat in the future." Bardock raised an eyebrow at him.
"I'm listening," He told the other male. The warrior looked behind him and at his family.
"You see your son there? He's gonna do great things when he grows up." He informed Bardock, "Not only will he defeat a super elite Saiyan warrior and overcome even Frieza but he'll defeat even stronger enemies than them, providing a guiding light for the new Saiyan race, created by his descendents, aspiring us achieve greater heights of power." Hearing this, Bardock looked over at his son, pride growing in his heart with every beat, "And it all starts with you."
"Me?" He said, wondering how the hell he contributed to his son's life if he were dead.
"Yeah. On the day he meets Frieza, that lizard up there will say that your son reminds him a great deal about you, a Saiyan warrior who stood up for your race. Inspired by this, your son will fight for all the Saiyans killed by Frieza simply because you make a stand, here and now." He told Bardock, smiling as he did with the fierce warrior joining in, truly touched for one of the few times in life.
Determination renewed and burning hotter than ever before, he told him, "Let me go prime my son's pod and I'll teach hat overgrown lizard a thing or two about the power of the Saiyan race!" As turned back toward his family, a thought occurred to him, "Hey, kid, you never said why you were here."
"Well, let's say someone wants to change your history and I've come here from the future to make sure it prevails." The warrior laughed, joining Bardock as he walked toward the others while the warrior simply shook off the fact that he just revealed himself to be a time traveler, knowing that weirder things had happened. Seeing Gine, the warrior added, "Ya know, History says you die here and most of the Saiyans die."
"Yeah?" He said, looking at oddly. What in the world was he getting at?
"It's not like saving one more Saiyan, say that woman over there, will affect history that much." He finished giving Bardock a sly look as he looked between his mate and the time traveler, getting the not-so-hidden message but still reluctant.
"Can-can I do that?" He asked him, trying to get all the facts straight before acting for once in his life. Could he really do want he was suggesting?
"What's stopping you?" He replied with a wink, "It's not like I'll see anything, since I'm sooo distracted by these rocks over here." The time traveler turned away, purposely avoiding looking at Bardock and his family. The Saiyan looked at him thankfully, said 'thank you' for the fifth time in his life and returned to his kin, seeing Gine strap their son firmly into the cockpit.
"There, safe and sound." She said, hearing her mate walk up from behind, "Hey, Docky. I just got finished strapping Kakarot in. Sure is like his daddy."
"Cool, " He said, looking at Gine for what he knew was the last time. "Did you prime the pod?"
"Yep. Had to put the emergency lock on it so Kakarot doesn't accidentally unlock it in mid-flight." Bardock nodded, once emergency lock was activated and the pod launched, the pod wouldn't open until it reached its destination safely. He gave his mate one last look over, mesmerizing every feature of her form and committing them to memory as he wanted his last thoughts to be of her and their sons. Bardock laughed in despite himself, her softness really was contagious it seemed. Gine patted Kakarot's head as fell asleep from his fighting earlier. "You know, even though it's probably only going to be a few days, I'm going to really miss him." Bardock chuckled, her comment mirroring his own thoughts. Deciding now was the best time, he gave her extended rear end a push causing her to fall forward into the pod with it closing behind her. She turned around just I time to see her shocked face before the pod launched itself into space, dispersing the family for good. As he watched the pod fly from sight, he took a small, deep breath to calm himself before taking off toward Frieza's ship, ready to face his fate. That is, if nothing could be helped.
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"Who would've figured what happened next?" Bardock laughed, remembering his battle against Frieza's army, the travel back in time, killing Frieza's ancestor, presumably creating the Super Saiyan legend, being transported to his son's battle against Frieza, fighting a monster of a Saiyan with the warrior he had met earlier and apparently returning Planet Plant after the battle, not to forget his own adventures throug out the ancient Cosmos.
'Still, all that wasn't enough for me to reach Kakarot's level. So I must get stronger to live up to his expectations.' With this in mind, he charged up another attack, trying his best to condense the energy as much as he could this time, drew his hand back as far as he could and started to throw the power when Erabes and Whis appeared before him.
"Hello, Bardock!" Erabes yelled, leaning in his face with a grin, making the brave warrior jump back in surprise.
"Who the hell are you?" He yelled, the power collected in his hand dissipating as his concentration was lost.
"Oh me, it doesn't matter who I am." Erabes said mysteriously, smiling again with such a resemblance to Frieza that it started to make Bardock's heart thumb, his rage starting to grow growing.
"I'm Whis and this is Erabes." The blue-skinned man introduced frankly to the ire of his partner.
"Asshole," He growled before returning his attention to the warrior before him, "As I said, it doesn't really matter who I am. What matters here is one simple fact: I need your help."
"Huh?" He said, caught 120% off-guard by what he was being told, who exactly these people where or how they got here.
"Before I can tell you with what, I need to make sure you're as powerful as I've heard." He told him, getting into a fighting stance, making Whis sigh.
"I give, do what you want. Just don't get carried away or else the Kais will get on our backs again." He said, sitting on his staff as it floated in the air. Bardock blinked, unsure what exactly was happening. But, he gave a confident smirk, always happy to beat the crap out of a Frost Demon. Seeing this, Erabes rushed at him. Bardock got ready to counter him, but before he could strike him, the demon warped away and reappeared to his right, driving his fist between his ribs with his godly strength. Pain shot throughout his body, but the Saiyan warrior pushed through and blasted him with a rain of ki blasts in return for the attack. Each energy attack connected with him, shocking the being. Instead of showing any form pain, Erabes smiled wickedly and smacked Bardock as hard as he could with his tail, slamming the Low-Class warrior into the ground, cracking the ice plains beneath him as he landed, and the destructive being landed on one of the jagged, frigid spikes of ice, tutting in disappointment at the warrior.
"Now now, you'll have to do much better than that, dear Bardock." Erabes advised, frowning at the beaten down Saiyan with disdain, "You need to show me the true extent of your power."
Bardock rose up from his fallen state, glaring dangerously at his opposing being. He dared to talk down to him, a Saiyan Warrior who had trudged through the worst of battles? With a mighty roar that made many tyrants of the past piss themselves, Bardock rushed at his opponent, seemingly blinded by rage. Again, Erabes tutted in disappointment at his plain, predictable tactics, drawing his hand back lazily to prepare in smacking him away before he could hit him yet the attack never came as Bardock fired a quick, condensed ki blast, instead on bursting on impact like a normal attack, it shot threw him; the wound spraying blood on the icy floor, dying the pristine white field crimson. Erabes stumbled back a little from the injury, his suddenly disorientated mind gave him the perfect moment to attack, which he did, kicking him straight in the neck with as much force as he could muster, returning the favor from earlier since it sent him throw five of the ice mountains before crashing into a sixth. Bardock looked on with smug pride, having avenged his wounded pride, until he felt a small tap on his left shoulder. Looking behind himself, he saw Erabes smiling and waving at him, completely unharmed and fully healed. Angered once more, the Saiyan began attacking him again, this time with a flurry of punches and kicks, each one would have caused severe injury for a non-immortal. Erabes endured the barrage for a small while until he caught Bardock's left leg and right arm, raised up into the air and threw him into the ground roughly, causing the ice plains to crack for miles and miles. When the ice and mist rested, Bardock knelt in the middle of the crater, looking up at him with an apparent bored expression.
"That all you got?" He asked Erabes, wiping some blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Perhaps," He answered, sneering at his combatant below, "What about you?" For the second time that battle, Bardock smirked, confusing both him and Whis slightly.
"I'm glad you asked." He said, moving into a fighting stance. He inhaled deeply; calming the Saiyan bloodlust in his system, then exhaled and opened his eyes. That instant, power burst forth forth from him, much to the shock of his opponent and their spectator, evident by their faces: shocked then pleased. As the power flowed from him like that of raging water, a slight golden aura started to envelop him and his hair occasionally spiked up, becoming golden. After a handful of seconds passed, the stopped flowing all of a sudden, making the immortals question this until it came all the way out with one final explosion so strong that it nudged Erabes back a micro-meter. When the light died down, Bardock stood triumphantly now sporting golden hair, teal eyes and a golden, intimidating aura. The darker immortal observed the new form with great interest, feeling the very sharp rise of power coming from him.
"What is that form?" He asked Bardock, making the Saiyan laugh smugly.
"This is the epiphany of the Saiyan race's strength; a form feared by all throughout the cosmos. A form dreaded even by the likes of you. This is a Super Saiyan." He informed, imaging that it was Frieza that he was talking to, talking immense joy on the tyrant's look in his head. Meanwhile, Erabes looked at him with an enormous amount of joy on his reptilian face.
"Splendid, simply splendid!" He cheered in the confines of his own mental realm, jumping from foot to foot in excitement to show just how happy he was, "His power is just what I need to teach that Babidi a lesson or two, not to mention the power just waiting burst underneath! But, that Babidi with his Majin magic is rather dangerous itself. Maybe I should get that other guy as well…" Erabes had to put this thought on hold as Bardock launched himself at him with a newfound, incredible speed, moving upon him in a matter of milliseconds and delivering yet another power kick, this time to his special place, making the immortal double over and fall to the frozen ground, staying there for a few moments until he shakily rose back to his feet, looking at the Super Saiyan with evident disdain. "Really? You're going to stoop so low as to kick me in the twins?"
"Yes," He said, having no pity for the Arcosian look-alike as he slugged him with the power of a falling meteor, flinging him into the air before he stopped mid-air, glaring down at Bardock with a mixture of excitement and pure madness. The black Frost Demon gave a mighty roar, energy cackling around him.
"That's rather impressive, Bardock!" He commented, energy pulsating from the being, "But let's see how you handle things when I turn up the heat!" With a grand laugh, Erabes disappeared and reappeared behind Bardock, striking with a quick yet strong kick, pushing the Super Saiyan away. He whipped his head around to locate his opponent, finding him now right in his face, slamming him into the solid ice with a double-handed blow from above. The father of Goku rose to his feet rather quickly, having suffered worse blows, but was thrust immediately back into the fire as his opponent flew at him and began throwing punch after punch, kick after kick at him. Having analyzed his opponent's movements, Bardock was capable of defending himself from the barrage of attacks and even threw a few punches himself, connecting with what he assumed was a few of the weak points in the Frost Demon's body. Watching this display of power, Whis shook his head.
"Oh, dear. It seems Erabes is losing himself in the battle." He said, jumping off his staff and grabbing it. Back at the fight, Bardock broke through Erabes' barrage and struck his stomach with his fist, stunning the fighter just long enough to conjure a ki blast in the palm of his other hand and blast hi with the energy in a huge explosion, causing what would've been massive if not fatal damage…
"Good work, Bardock!" Erabes spat, clearing away the smoke from the attack, with the most crazed look he had ever seen.
… If his opponent was immortal.
"Now," He continued, rising into the air with a manic look on his face, pressing his thumbs together, "Time to REALLY test your strength!" Once he was eight stories in the air, Erabes parted his thumbs, electricity sparking in the space between them. He raised his hands into the air, power running up from his feet up his body, separating at the arms and condensing into the middle of the space between the thumbs with increasing frequency until a small, marble-sized ball of darkness. Bardock looked at the ball with a sinister feeling in his gut, knowing that was no ki blast. The ball kept growing and growing as energy was sent into it until it was the size of a basketball, the light all around it being drawn to it. Bardock and Whis' eyes widened, knowing what the object was now: a black hole. With an insane laugh, Erabes began to throw the ball, much to the horror of his opponent until Whis yelled out, "I won't let you!" Moving at such speed that Bardock couldn't even comprehend that he moved, the blue-skinned spectator raced behind his brother and gave him a sharp chop to the neck, shattering his concentration and making the black hole dissipate. Erabes looked behind at his family member.
"What the hell was that for?!" He yelled at him, having regained his sanity. Whis jabbed at him with his staff, cutting him off.
"You lost yourself in the battle and almost destroyed this entire plain of Hell!" He told him, bonking him on his armored head with his staff, "Besides, I think that was enough for evaluation." Erabes cleared his throat, obviously embarrassed.
"Yes, I guess it is." He agreed, looking at Bardock, "You seem pretty strong, perhaps strong enough to deal with the problem I have." Barock frowned, having heard these lines Frieza before and he knew that it didn't work out the last time he heard them, "I'll keep it short: Hell is in danger."
"What kind of danger?" He asked, powering down from his Super Saiyan form, deciding to hear out the deity albeit with an unfathomable amount of reluctance.
"Well, a certain wizard named Babidi has recently entered Hell at one of the upper levels. Now, instead of quietly waiting out of his eternity like most, Babidi has decided it best to, instead of ruling the lower universe to ruler Otherworld instead, using Hell as the basis of his new empire, recruiting lost, powerful souls to create an unholy army to destroy and conquer. If this were to happen, then not only would Otherworld fall into chaos but the entire multiverse would decay and collapse on itself, not that Babidi knows or would care. He's quite the short-sighted individual."
"And how does this concern me?" Bardock said, "As a sort of god, can't you just ask for help by some holier-than-thou asshole to do your dirtywork for you rather than me?"
Erabes swiped at Bardock with a single finger, grinning manically once again, "Two flaws with that: 1. I'm not a god, I'm an envoy, a primordial being from the Beginning of Time. As an envoy, I have very limited contact with mortals or even lesser beings. The only way, in fact, would be to subjugate myself to a lesser being and masquerade as their servant or something, which is not a choice as I have been ordered to stay here in Hell. 2. Even if I could appeal to a lesser being and ask them bring a champion, they'd most certainly take their sweet time getting them here and I cannot spare a single second in waiting for them. Plus, if someone new were to enter Hell, Babidi would sense I and overwhelm said person."
"How? While I was waiting for judgment, I heard some souls talk about pure hearted warriors that were unrivaled in the universe." Bardock pointed out.
"Well, the thing is, when Babidi recruits another in to his armor, he uses a unique magic on them binding them to his will by using even the slightest darkness in their hearts to invade and control them. When he does this, the magic in the body also uses the darkness to enhance their power to greater lengths. Normal, the power increase is relatively large but not something to fear unless said person was already near your level of power. However, this is only true because the physical body is, for the main part, pure and resists the darkness thus limiting the power increase. In this case, all these people have are spiritual bodies completely corrupted so-"
"The bodies don't resist the darkness and the true power of their darkness is unleashed." Bardock finished, finally feeling the true gravity of the situation.
"Right oh!" Erabes said, "You're pretty sharp Bardock. Anyway, this means that a normal average level warrior will suddenly become rather high-leveled, more than tripled in power! Now, this may seem like a threat but send about 300 of these warriors at a single person, not mention if Babidi were to get his slimy hands a truly fearsome warrior well, hohohoho, that'll be quite the mess. Now, back to the subject at hand, if I were to send one or two powerful warriors already in Hell, then he won't see anything coming!" The Saiyan warrior nodded, understanding what he said now, knowing I would be the equivalent of guerrilla fighting something he knew a thing or two about. But, he still doubted that it would work, after all he was in Hell because of the darkness in his own soul. Wouldn't Babidi be able to control him through his own darkness like so many others? Erabes sensed this and shook his head, "You know, your son really does take after you. Listen, once there was no doubt that you had a heart of darkness and would been a candidate for Babidi's army. But, your adventures after Planet Plant, the ones were you would go from Planet to Planet saving races instead of destroying them partially purified your heart. In fact, your imprisonment in here was actually a bit of a coin-toss, that is, it could've gone one way or another. In fact, you were sent here to this particular plane of Hell because of your desire to become stronger so Yemma sent you to the toughest place in Hell."
"But Babidi can take control if there's just the slightest amount of darkness in them, like you said!" Bardock said.
"That is true, he can infiltrate. But let me tell you something, back in the mortal world, right beforehe died, Babidi wove his magic into a Saiyan with more darkness in his heart than yours, pushing his influence into his mind. But, even so, he acted on his own accord, even did some noble things before he died and was brought back. We immortals later found out that those who have some pureness in their hearts were capable of fending off Babidi's magic through sheer willpower. And no race possesses sheer willpower like the Saiyans. Now, will you help me?"
Bardock mulled it over in his head a few times, going over it over and over carefully each and every time until he came up with an answer:
"No." He said, turning his back on them.
Erabes smiled, wholly expecting him to say yes, so it took a moment to process that he denied him. "What?" He said.
"It's not my problem. You think that I went around saving races on purpose? I only did it to become stronger; saving a few measly lives were just confidence. I'm dead now and have all the time to train now; I don't need to seek out a strong opponent anymore." He told them, trying to convince himself as much as convince them, An utter fail on his part.
"You can't lie to me, Bardock. You have an urge to help others, just like your son, you just doubt your own good." Erabes explained, "But, to sweeten the pot for you, I'll release you from Hell." Seeing him tense upon, the destructive fighter continued, "Better than that, I'll have you returned to life."
"You lie." Bardock said, unable to keep the hope out of his voice.
"No? You forget that I'm an envoy; I can do almost anything I want; especially since I'm the guardian of Hell. It's a simple task for someone as mighty as myself, I simply don't exercise it since none have proven their worth. Do this for me and you can see your family again, your son Kakarot and your wife Gine. Did I forget to mention Kakarot has a family of his own now? An Earthling wife and even two boys. You could meet them yourself, hold them in your arms, spar with them every day." He whispered, reeling him in closer and closer for the catch and he knew it. Bardock gritted his teeth, he hated being used but the offer just wasn't something he could refuse and deep down, he couldn't leave the universe in danger. With a sign of acceptance, he look at the being leaning over him.
"Deal damnit."
Erabes smiled widely while Whis nodded happily, "Wonderful," Whis said, offering his arm, "Now take my arm. We need to make a small stop." Glaring at Whis, giving a silent warning not to do anything fishy, Bardock grabbed a hold and they instantly vanished with the two.
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A split millisecond later, they arrived at highest plain of Hell, right in front of Hell's Prison. The tailed Saiyan looked around, amazed that they had moved so quickly from the lowest layer of Hell to its highest. Then, he noticed the iron, spiky structure behind him, looming over them ominously.
"Why are we here?" He asked his companions, looking over the ominous structure with slight chills going down his spine.
"We're here to pick someone up." Whis informed him, moving toward the prison steadily with his brother.
"Who?"
"Your partner." Erabes said frankly making Bardock glare at him.
"I work alone." He said.
"Is that why you had your own elite team of soldiers?" He countered, "Listen, as tough you are, you stand nothing against Babidi's forces without someone to help." As they approached the front of the prison, a dark green ogre stood guard, reading a newspaper. Erabes approached him and said, "Excuse me, but I wish to see a certain prisoner." The ogre looked up from his paper, growling at Erabes, a very evident cursive black "M" on his forehead, Babidi's symbol.
"No one leaves without Lord Babidi's permission." He growled, "In fact, I should report this to him right-" The ogre never finished, hid neck being roughly twisted with a sick snap. He fell to the ground in a messy heap as the being wrinkled his nose.
"Crap, Babidi's influence has spread even here." He swore, "We need to hurry." Erabes quickly blew away the door to the prison, its clanging echoing through the ghost town of a prison. They walked through the prison, observing the hundreds and hundreds of empty cells.
"I thought this was prison, why is there no one here?" Bardock asked, looking around him.
"My guess is that Babidi came in here and walked out with who ever wanted to join his army, which seems to be almost everyone. Easier to control" Erabes said, looking at each of the cell numbers. After three hours of walking and wearing on Bardock's nerves, they stopped in front of cell number 54-XX and the guardian of Hell knocked on the dark cell's bars, "Anyone here?"
"Who wants to know?" Replied a deep, baritone voice deep in the darkness, hostile and unhappy, "If it's that slimy lizard again, go away. I will not answer to a lesser being."
"Nope. It's your ticket outta here." Erabes replied, disintegrating the bars before walking back. A few moments of silence later, the sound of echoing footsteps was heard and the creature in the cell walked out, causing Bardock to step back a few feet. The creature was the strangest thing he had ever seen. The creature was taller than any humanoid Saiyan by far and seemed more like a bug than a man, with green skin with black blotches over his dark, shiny joints with orange shoe-like feet, black armor on the chest and beetle-like wings on the back with what seemed to be a submerged stinger in his back, and milk white-almost blue hands with claw-like black fingernails. The oddest part of him was the head: White skin with purple strips for cheeks and black around the jaw and under jaw area, two appendages that were spread out over his head in a "V"-shape with a black dome in the middle. His pink eyes looked at them all with suspicion, especially as he looked Bardock over.
"What's with the Saiyan?" He asked, looking at Erabes, "and more importantly, what's this about a ticket out of this damp hellhole?"
Erabes smiled at him, "Why stop there? Bardock," He called to the Saiyan, drawing his attention, "Meet Cell. Cell, Bardock. Now that we introductions out of the way, let's cut to the chase." Erabes gave him a quick overview of what he told Bardock about Babidi, his army and his plan to take over Otherworld and the real clincher: a full pardon from Hell and a second chance at life.
"Really?" Cell said, giving a rather wicked grin, "Another chance to do what we want in the living world?"
"Yep," He said, rolling his eyes at Cell, knowing full well what he was thinking, "All you two have to do is work together, find Babidi and kill him."
"Wait, we have to find Babidi?" Bardock said, "I thought you knew where he was?'
"If I knew where he was, don't you think I would've killed him by now?" He pointed out, "I would search for him myself but the Kais are so annoying when mad. So, you guys do it and get a free pass outta here." The two fighters growled at him but were silenced when he let a little more of his divine power show, giving the chills, "Now, you'd better get going before things get really out of hand. Don't worry, I'll be watching," The red guardian turned around and remembered, "Oh, I forgot. Whis, Scouter."
"Right." With a snap of his fingers, a small piece of tech with a green lens appeared in his hand, handing it to Bardock, "Here. You can't sense ki so you'll have to do with this." Bardock toke the technology from his hand and fixed it onto his face, thankful to have it once more. "Well, this is farewell!" With this, the brothers warped away, leaving the two alone with each other. The two fighters looked at each other, neither happy with the idea of working with the other. But, they figured, the sooner they could go their separate ways. With that, they exited the prison and flew away, the dead ogre's eyes watching them.
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In some unknown part of Hell, Babidi watched the seen unfold, laughing with confidence as a group of shadowed people surrounded him.
"It seems Bardock has decided to defy our new order." A giant of a man said.
"Good, I've been waiting to get that snarky bastard for a very long time," Snorted a smaller yet stronger man.
"It'll be fun skinning him alive," Commented a short guy, his tail wagging happily.
"I just want to deactivate that failure of an experiment," droned a skinner male.
"Yes, once these two are out of our way, nothing will stop our quest to escape this damned realm." Babidi said, cackling evilly along with his group of minions at the unknowing duo.
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Knight Of Balance: (Standing there with a red scouter and slouched shoulders) And that wraps up the very first chapter of Crusaders of Hell. (Sighs) Broke my record for a chapter by over 2000 words. This really wiped me out, but I'm proud of what I made. Too bad I can't continue this too much until I get my other fanfics done. But, I definitely will not abandon this. (Sees them looking at the scouter) Oh, this. Well, I can't sense energy and I'm not paying someone to do it for me. So, here they are:
(Italics are cannon, normal are my best guess.)
Bardock (On Planet Vegeta): 10,000
Gine (On Planet Vegeta): 2,300
Bardock Base (After training in Hell's Ice Plains): 12,000,000
Super Saiyan Bardock: 600,000,000
Erabes (First Time): 13,500,000
Erabes: (Second Time): 630,000,000
Erabes (True Power): ?
Whis (Current): 37,500,000,000
Whis (True): ?
Cell: 900,000,000
Techinques that premiered this chapter:
Revolt Strike (Bardock): Bardock blasts his opponent with a condensed ki blast then kicks them away.
Tyranny Counter (Bardock): Bardock endures attacks until he strikes them in the stomach, halting any attacks, then blasts them away with a ki blast.
Inverted Destruction (Erabes): Creates a basketball sized black hole and fires it at his opponent.
Knight Of Balance: (Throws arms into the air) I'm done. Leave a review please. I also dedicate the first chapter to Vintage Taylor, who gave me the confidence to write up the first chapter. Great gal. I'm gonna take a nap. (Falls flat on his face. Lies still for a few moments until drool appears.)