A/N: Hello, my fellow fans and authors! I've edited this first chapter for typos and some timeline issues, so you'll notice some differences though the chapter is largely the same. I've also changed the story's name somewhat: the series is now "Bardock's Journey", and the different sagas will be put in the title when they are posted. For example, this saga is "Bardock's Journey: The Blue Lizard Saga", the next saga will be "Bardock's Journey: The Space Pirate Saga", ect. As for the website address I tried to post the first time, it didn't work for some reason, so I put it in my profile instead. The website I tried to post before has a bunch of info about the Saiyans and their culture and history, and its all derived straight from the canon source material, so if you're interested go check it out! And while we're on the subject of canon material, I'll be drawing inspiration and dialogue from both the English version and the Japanese version of the anime/manga, so if some dialogue or events sound kind of off, that's probably why. Anyway, enjoy the new improved Chapter 1 of Bardock: The Blue Lizard Saga!

Chapter 1

What happened?...Where am I?...

His mind felt incredibly sluggish and vague. He seemed to be lying on his side in a crumpled heap on the ground. Tiny pebbles and dirt - or was it sand? - dug into his cheek and bare arm. There was the sound of water close by. A lone animal shrieked in the distance. A cool breeze blew against his skin and ruffled his hair. He could smell many living things on the wind, trees and plants and animals, and a slightly salty tang that must have been an ocean. He didn't immediately try to get up or even open his eyes; he simply lay there trying to get his thoughts back together…

His eyes flew open and his mind snapped to attention as the horrible memories came flooding back. His crew members, lying bloody and lifeless on the ground…the life of the brother that he never had fading away in his arms, while he could only watch helplessly…mocked and heckled by his own people…facing the tyrant alone…futilely trying to push back the massive sphere of deadly energy aimed for his planet, his home…the final explosion, and his entire race being plunged into the darkness of death…

The flood of memories and his rising anger made him clench his hands and give out a wrathful growl. Ignoring the sand and pebbles that got imprisoned in his hands, he rolled over onto his hands and knees, then his feet. His fists were still balled up in anger and small rocks dug into his palms. The rocks in his hands were drawing blood before he noticed the pain.

He looked down and watched as a thin trickle of blood oozed from between his fingers. He was no stranger to blood; he was a warrior and the son of warriors. After a lifetime of fighting it affected him indifferently at best. But seeing his blood with the knowledge that it was ultimately spilled for nothing-that was a different story…

"What the…"

Bardock wasn't sure what had happened. However much he wanted to deny it, those were indeed his crew members, his friends, lying scattered on the ground, still and silent in death. But how?

"B-Bardock?" A weary, pained voice spoke up on his left. He looked that way and saw a battered man lying half buried in debris.

"Toma!" Bardock rushed over and knelt down beside the injured man. He reached out to support the man's head, his face grim.

"What's going on here? What happened?" Bardock wasted no time in asking. Toma didn't answer at first. There was an odd smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"What a fool I've been. We should have stayed home tucked in our beds like good children." Toma stated this with the air of a condemned man resigned to his execution. A nameless fear gripped at Bardocks heart; had Toma gone mad?

"Never mind that, don't tell me the Meatians got the best of you?" Bardock asked, stern but confused.

"No. We eliminated them quickly."

"Then who did this to you?" Bardock demanded sharply. His anger was born from worry, but he managed to hide it.

"F-Frieza!" Toma spat out bitterly. "He's stabbed us all in the back!"

"But that's impossible!" Bardock protested.

"That rotten Frieza's just been using us." Toma coughed painfully and a trickle of blood dripped down the side of his mouth; he must have sustained major internal injuries. "I-I've already had it, but before long—cough!—all the Saiyans are going to be killed by that rat Frieza." Bardock stared at the man laying before him, too horrified by what he had just heard to respond. Toma panted painfully, and struggled to continue.

"Listen to me, listen well…" Toma growled through the pain of his injuries. "Go back to Planet Vegeta right now! Once there, gather our comrades and defeat Frieza!"

Bardock didn't answer. Part of him knew that everything Toma said was the truth, but another part of him still didn't believe it. Toma's breathing became more ragged and strained, he was fading fast. The resigned smile from before appeared back on his face - resigned, yet proud, even as his eyes closed in death.

"Let him know…how strong the Saiyans…really…are…"

Bardock deliberately relaxed his hands and let the sand and pebbles fall to the ground where they belonged. As Toma died, Bardock really had no intention of warning his fellow Saiyans back home. Frankly, he hadn't the slightest idea just what he was going to do. Part of him still refused to believe the things that Toma told him.

But the squad that Freiza had sent to kill Toma and the others was still on the planet. It was led by Dodoria, one of Frieza's closest advisors and also one of his strongest fighters. Bardock managed to fight off the flunkies, but Dodoria himself was far more difficult. He tried to kill Bardock with a massive mouth-beam of energy, and he would have succeeded if the bodies of Toma and Bardock's other crew members hadn't been caught up in the blast. The bodies of his comrades shielded him from most of the damage, and Dodoria left Bardock for dead.

By then, Bardock knew for sure something was up with Freiza, and staggered back to his space pod and made his way back to Planet Vegeta. After a futile attempt to rally the other Saiyans, Bardock had indeed faced off with Frieza…but it had been a useless endeavor. Next thing he knew, he was trying to singlehandedly push back Frieza's Supernova, a massive sphere of deadly energy powerful enough to destroy a planet. It was pointless, he was too weak—a fine example of a Saiyan's strength he turned out to be! In less than a minute he was overwhelmed by the Supernova. The last thing he remembered was incredible pain...and a proud smile of hope.

Bardock shook his head and brought his thoughts back to the matters at hand. Hope or not, he could have sworn he had died confronting Frieza, but his heart was still beating like nothing had happened. That Supernova had so much power in it, how could he have possibly survived it? Confused, Bardock glanced down at himself just to be sure he really had a body and wasn't some sort of immaterial spirit. No, his body was still here, and…

Bardock felt himself all over, just to be sure that he wasn't imagining things. But no, there were no wounds to be found anywhere. The only pain he could feel was some slight bruising in his right side and arm, which he had been laying on when he came to. Now he was really confused. How long had it been since his confrontation with Freiza? He knew that he had gotten more than a few simple bruises trying to hold back that Supernova, so how much time had passed for his wounds to have healed completely? How had he gotten here? Where was 'here', anyway?

Bardock looked around. He was standing at the bottom of a cliff, on a narrow beach that couldn't have been more than twenty paces from cliff to water line. He didn't know where he was, but it was definitely not Planet Vegeta. For one thing, he knew for a fact that it had been destroyed, even though he had apparently survived somehow. And for another thing, the sky there had been a deep red like blood; here, the sky was yellow and streaked with pink and orange.

The ocean tide ebbed and flowed ten paces away, a sickly grey-green color. A swift tide like this was an oddity for Bardock. On Planet Vegeta, the moon moved through its phases very slowly and became full only once every eight years. As a result, the tide on Planet Vegeta was very subtle, and certainly didn't break in waves upon the shoreline like this.

The water came close and dampened the soles of Bardock's boots, as if to punctuate his rambling thoughts. Bardock stepped back and idly watched the water flow back. It rolled forward again, washing bits of aquatic debris onto the sand. Bardock glanced up at the cliff behind him. It was many dozens of yards above his head and quite rocky. He decided that he may as well figure things out in a spot where his feet wouldn't get wet, and get some scouting done at the same time.

Bardock focused for a moment, and levitated off the ground. He shot up the cliff face, and in an instant landed firmly at the top. In a glance he saw that he was standing in a grassy area, with a forest beginning maybe a hundred paces away. He didn't have time to notice anything else, because his attention was drawn by a startled gasp and blue fist that shot towards him from the right.

He reflexively blocked the incoming blow and lashed out with his right leg in return. He caught his attacker solidly in the stomach, and a pained exhalation of air reached his ears. His attacker staggered back, doubled over in pain and trying to regain his footing. While his opponent was somewhat unbalanced, Bardock took the opportunity to settle down into a proper fighting stance. The creature before him didn't seem very strong, but he knew better than to underestimate someone who caught him almost completely off guard.

Bardock took a moment to study his opponent more closely. The creature standing hesitantly before him was blue and furry, and appeared to be a young adult male. The blue fellow wore a loosely fitted, black sleeveless tunic and matching trousers. He was still hunched over at the moment, but would be taller than Bardock if he stood up straight. He was long limbed, slight of build compared to Bardock, and the hands that gingerly covered his sore midriff were long and narrow with only two fingers and a thumb. His bare feet, likewise, had only three toes, two facing forwards and one toe-like projection facing backwards from the heel. A lithe, hairless tail that almost brushed the ground twitched nervously behind him. Vivid red eyes peered at Bardock in curiosity and nervousness, from underneath a shaggy, shoulder length thatch of blue fur that grew and behaved much the same way as regular head hair would on a humanoid. Long, expressive ears poked out from beneath the creature's 'hair', swiveling about to catch any little sound.

Overall, the blue creature resembled a large furry lizard. Bardock scowled at the thought of a lizard, it reminded him of that traitor Frieza. The blue fellow made no move to attack again; he simply stood there trying to catch his breath and probably trying to gauge Bardock's intentions. After a long silence, Bardock relaxed his stance but kept his eyes on the blue fellow. He decided that if there wasn't going to be a fight, there may as well be an interrogation.

"Who are you?" Bardock asked curtly. He didn't realize until after he had spoken that he had used his native language of Saiya-mal, instead of the Universal Standard dialect. The blue fellow wouldn't understand his question at all—

"I could ask you the same thing," the blue fellow replied, still rather breathless. Bardock couldn't hide his surprise. This fellow actually knew Saiya-mal? He frowned in puzzlement and suspicion.

"You have ten seconds to tell me how and why you know my language," he stated in Saiya-mal with a no-nonsense tone. The blue fellow, one hand still coddling his midriff, answered readily enough. It was still a surprise to Bardock, though.

"I learned Saiya-mal from a group of Saiyans who came to this planet twenty years ago," the blue fellow replied. "They have been living here ever since then," he added hopefully.

"So there were survivors…" Bardock muttered to himself, surprised but already making plans for the future. If there were enough surviving Saiyans able to have children, the race could very well have another chance at defeating Frieza in the not so distant future.

"Survivors?" The blue fellow asked, puzzled and concerned.

"Frieza betrayed us. He was using us all along. When we lost our usefulness, he wiped out our planet and most of us with one blast." Bardock gritted his teeth angrily at the memories and growled out his next words. "He took our loyalty and paid us back in our own blood!"

The blue fellow said nothing, but his eyes said everything. Bardock frowned in annoyance at the sympathy he saw in the blue fellow's eyes. He didn't need anyone's pity! Couldn't this guy have a little more tact about the situation?

"That's exactly what one of the Saiyans who came here warned the King about when they first took service under Frieza," the blue fellow remarked quietly. "He suspected - no, he knew something like this would happen but the King wouldn't listen."

"So, those Saiyans who showed up twenty years ago…how did they get here without King Vegeta or anyone else noticing? And why did they come here to begin with? This planet hasn't been purged, apparently…" Bardock allowed himself to ask curiously and regarded the blue fellow suspiciously. The blue fellow hesitated before answering.

"I think it's only fair that you hear the story from the Saiyans themselves," he replied. "Their village isn't very far from here."

Bardock lifted his hand to calibrate his scouter, but remembered that he didn't have it anymore. It had been blown off and destroyed by Dodoria's mouth-blast. Bardock frowned, without his scouter he wouldn't be able to get a reading on another's power level or position. The blue fellow waited quietly for Bardock's answer.

"Take me there," Bardock ordered curtly, folding his arms.

"All right. Just give me a moment to see to my friend…" The blue fellow turned and crouched down beside a short, bulbously built creature in white clothing that Bardock hadn't noticed before. The creature was an odd purple-grey color, and apparently unconscious. The blue creature examined the purple-grey one carefully and checked its pulse. After a moment, he seemed satisfied and lifted up the purple creature, hoisting it onto his shoulder and holding it steady with one arm.

The blue fellow motioned Bardock towards the forest a short distance away, and moved off in that direction himself. Bardock followed him, still suspicious. This blue fellow seemed peaceful enough, though first impressions were often deceiving. He was quite concerned about the purple creature's welfare, and had apparently just been startled by Bardock's sudden appearance and only attacked first in self-defense. But what if this fellow wasn't so mild mannered as he seemed? What if there were no other Saiyans on this planet? What if this fellow was planning to turn him over to Frieza for a reward? Bardock didn't know what was going on, so he would simply play along for now and see how things turned out.