Did several moments pass or an eternity? The watery image of black, covered by cracked green glass surrounded Zekunai's momentarily feeble eyesight. Pain was all he felt. His shoulder was bruised and one of his ribs may have been cracked. Mustering up all of his strength, he shouted, "Bardock!"
His words echoed throughout the cavern. What seemed like another eternity passed by Zekunai; the only sound he could hear was his own deep breath, falling heavily from his mouth.
There wasn't much air within the cavern. This planet's air was much rougher than what he was so used to on Vegeta.
Zekunai decided that the only thing for him to do was blast his way out of here – but then a faint beep emitted from his damaged scouter. Barely making out the yellow arrow pointing to the right, Zekunai swung himself around, facing an enormous, morbid creature. It resembled a cross between an insect, and something you'd find in caves deep within the most treacherous of all oceans.
The creature lunged foreword with its giant claws. Being restrained by injuries, Zekunai barely managed to retreat backwards, avoiding the monster's swipe. Zekunai jumped high into the air and fired a blast of Chi.
The blast struck the monster hard, sending it tumbling backwards into the waters.
Breathing even more heavily, Zekunai crept foreword, surveying the creature. Before he knew what hit him, the creature swiped its arm through the air, striking Zekunai hard.
The force of the blow sent Zekunai crashing into the wall of the cave, bringing mounds of rubble down upon him.
The dust forced him to cough heavily, and then he opened his eyes: seeing the monster lumbering towards him.
Adrenaline kicked in. Zekunai jumped foreword and threw a monstrous kick into the creature's torso, knocking it backwards.
The creature was now bleeding – but it was extremely angry. Zekunai was now struggling to stand. His rib was screaming in agony; but he managed to muster another attack.
He fired a blast at the creature, and then he jumped foreword and kneed it in the face.
The creature realized that the Saiyan was too much for it. It quickly moved backwards and crept back into the waters with deepness unimaginable.
Zekunai caught his breath and fell foreword. Once again, he blacked out.
Sensing his prey's unconsciousness, the creature snuck back out of the waters, and slowly approached the Saiyan. It raised its hideous claws to deliver the killing blow – until a flashing light engulfed the cavern. Having never seen such light in its life, the monster turned his head in shock; only to be met with a massive kick to its head, ripping it apart.
The creature's headless corpse crashed onto the ground. Its killer kicked the body into the waters. The crunching sound Zekunai had heard earlier resumed, but was soon silent again.
The figure picked up Zekunai and hovered into the air; back into the light.
Light slowly crept into the darkness. Zekunai could see three figures standing before him. He was leaning against a round metallic object, which he immediately recognized as his ship.
"He'll be alright," one of them spoke, which Zekunai recognized as Bardock.
"You gave us a scare there," Raditz said. "How are you feeling?"
Zekunai slowly stood up and massaged his head and groaned. "What happened?" he asked. "I remember a creature and a cave and-"
"The creature is dead," Bardock cut in. "I killed it. After you passed out, it was going to kill you."
"Oh," Zekunai replied. "Well thanks."
"It's no problem," Bardock said. "But we need to put this behind us. Another brigade is approaching, and we need to infiltrate that city to the north. It is there where the majority of the population is, and we need to exterminate them immediately. Night is still several hours away, and we cannot attack with three alone. You have to fight."
"I understand," Zekunai replied. "Of course I will. It's only a cracked rib."
Yham went into his ship and retrieved another scouter from one of the supply pouches. "Here," he said. "You'll need this."
Zekunai took the scouter and placed it on his ear.
"Our first priority is took take out the approaching squad," Bardock said. "Let's move. If they destroy our ships, we're fucked."
Soon, all four of them were flying north, preparing to meet their approaching enemies. Bardock had a look of utter determination in his eye. He was going to accomplish this mission.
"Listen up," Bardock said over the roaring winds. "The strongest of the squad – presumably their leader – has a power of 1,500. I'll take him out immediately. We should be rid of them within several minutes. Just stay close to me. The others average around 1,200."
After another minute of flying, the Saiyans could see the approaching squad. "There's no time to waste!" Bardock roared. "Kill them all!"
Bardock, Zekunai, Raditz and Yham immediately fired a bombardment of blast at their foes.
Seeing the hostility of their enemies, the Kretkanian squads charged towards the Saiyans, but were being obliterated on the spot. Bardock immediately sought out the leader, and took his head off with one swift punch.
Within the minute, more than half of the squad was dead. The survivors began to retreat, but Bardock would have none of it. He and the others raised their hands, and slaughtered every last one with a rain of Chi blasts.
"How wonderful," Raditz said. "This will certainly go on our résumé."
The others laughed and they continued their flight to the city, leaving the bodies to rot.
In a palace hall, an emperor sat in his throne furious with his subjects. "Why!?" it roared: "why haven't these aliens been exterminated yet!?"
An alien approached its master's throne and bowed. "We're terribly sorry sire," it said. "But these foes are beyond anything our noble race has ever seen. They have powers that exceed our finest troops." The alien gulped hard and stuttered. "It – it is my suggestion that perhaps it would be in our best interest if you were to join the battle, sire?"
The emperor roared with laughter. "Consider yourself lucky, Mekl." If it weren't for your fine contributions for this fine empire, I'd have you killed for suggesting such a thing." The emperor gave a false smile and then screamed: "only I decide whether or not I do battle! Do you understand!?"
The alien jumped in fear. "Forgive me sire, I was only suggesting-"
"Be quiet," the emperor said. "And now be gone."
The alien got up slowly and crept away.
"We shall show these bastards who their dealing with!" the emperor yelled. "I want all of our finest troops stationed around the city. When they get here, make sure they're dealt with as soon as possible. I want as few casualties as possible and little damage to our city. Do I make myself clear?"
Every alien listening to their master shouted: "Yes sir!"
"Good. Now to make further preparations-"
"Um master?" one of the aliens cut in. "They're already here!" The alien pointed his finger to the window, where they saw four dots in the sky. Light of blue emerged from their hands and ravaged whatever it struck.
"No!" the emperor yelled. "Attack now, attack!"
Dozens of aliens had already met their ends at Bardock's hands. Every second afterwards, several more met the same fate.
Even Yham, the weakest of them all was having an easy time. "This is easy!" Yham yelled. "Look at your scouters. These guys are barely over 200."
"Yeah," Raditz laughed. "It looks like this wasn't as difficult as we were told!" Raditz dodged another punch, and slammed his fist deep into the stomach of the attacker; then he swung his leg around and took of the head of another alien attempting to take him by surprise.
Despite his injuries, Zekunai was having just as easy of a time. "Is something wrong?" he asked Bardock while elbowing another alien's face into its brains. "This seems too easy."
"You're right Bardock replied." He ducked to avoid a kick, and then he grabbed the alien and threw it into another. The force of the impact made both of them split into two. Bardock pressed the red button on his scouter. "You're right to be suspicious," Bardock said. "High level fighters are gathering. This is just the warm up."
Raditz also pressed the button on his scouter. "Holy crap," he said. "Some of these guys are around 1,600!"
"Don't worry about them," Bardock said as he obliterated several more aliens into smoldering piles of ash. "I'll deal with everyone over 1,500. Just do what you can."
After Bardock finished speaking, they came. A couple dozen figures approached them at high speeds. This was the first time that any three of them other than Bardock truly felt scared.
To make this as easy for his team as possible, Bardock fired as many blasts at them as he could. Five of them were already scorched to death before they began their assault.
Yham and Zekunai stayed close to Raditz. Yham's power was exceeded by every single one of these aliens, and Zekunai was still hurt. Raditz was the only one who stood a chance by himself.
Bardock immediately drew the attention of the strongest fighters. Despite Bardock having the highest power, he was still forced back. There were eight aliens exchanging blows with him, every one of them with a power around or exceeding Raditz's.
There were too many for even him. Bardock was forced to retreat backwards. His only chance to defeat them was with Chi blasts. He raised his arms and fired a massive blast of blue energy. The aliens screamed. Those who were in the middle of the group were engulfed within the burning pressure and reduced to nothing.
When the smoke cleared, Bardock smiled when he saw that he had killed four of them. "Excellent," Bardock said. "I can easily take on four of you insects!" He charged foreword and they resumed their exchanging of blows.
Despite all of their efforts, Raditz, Zekunai and Yham were being overpowered. Raditz was the strongest of all of them, but they were fighting eleven opponents. Zekunai was hurt, and Yham's face was bleeding. "Blast it!" Raditz yelled. He dodged a kick, but was struck in the back. He tumbled foreword and regained his composure. He swung around and swiped away an oncoming blast, and then he saw Yham being overpowered. Raditz fired a beam and burned a whole through Yham's attacker's head. Before Raditz could concentrate on his own fight, a pair of fists were slammed down hard upon his head; sending him crashing into the ground. His pride enabled him to get back on his feet, and he immediately resumed the fight.
"Bardock," Zekunai yelled as he blocked a kick. "We could really use some help here!"
Bardock had already killed another alien. The three remaining were losing confidence with their abilities with each attack that Bardock blocked, so when Bardock abandoned their fight to help his friends, they held back in shock before chasing after their enemy.
Bardock went to help Yham first. He fired a blast at everyone one of his attackers and impaled those who survived with his fist. Then Bardock helped Zekunai. Yham joined them and the three of them quickly disposed of their enemies.
There weren't many left now. The three joined Raditz and together they exterminated them all, including the ones Bardock was fighting.
Yham sighed with relief and wiped the blood off of his forehead. "That was a close one," he said. "Good thing you're here, Bardock."
Zekunai was trying to catch his breath.
"How's your rib feeling?" Bardock asked Zekunai.
"Oh that?" Zekunai replied. He laughed but stopped when the pain kicked in. "I had completely forgotten about that."
"What's this planet's population?" Raditz asked. "How many more powerful warriors like that are there?"
"If I remember correctly," Bardock replied. "This planet's population isn't very big. I think it's only in the hundred of thousands. This city we're attacking is the planet's capital. Ninety percent of the population lives here. Gentlemen, I think it's safe to say that we've seen the worst of things to come."
Back in the emperor's throne room, rage was in the air. "How!?" the emperor roared in anger. "How did our finest warriors lose to these scum!?"
"Sire, please settle down," one of the aliens said. "Hope is not yet lost. We can still defeat them."
"You're right," the emperor said. "It seems that perhaps I shall listen to what you suggested earlier. I shall fight, and I shall destroy them!"
Every alien cheered for their ruler.
The emperor stood up from his throne and headed towards the balcony door. He opened it and faced the scenery before him. Then he hovered high into the air and flew towards the Saiyans at an amazing speed.
Bardock's scouter began to beep, as did the other three's. They turned to face this new threat.
"You bastards are done for!" the emperor roared. "I am the emperor of Kretkor; the most powerful of all of my people. You shall pay for our suffering!"
"Indeed," Bardock replied. He smiled and laughed. "For the emperor of a race, you sure don't have a very impressive fighting power."
"What are you talking about!?" The alien snapped. "My power is the greatest of all words!"
"2,206 is not the greatest of all words," Bardock laughed. "I alone shall be able to do away with you."
"How dare you insult me!" The emperor screamed. "You shall die!"
The emperor charged foreword a threw a punch at Bardock. Bardock caught its fist in his hand and raised his knee, striking the emperor's chin. Then he did a round house kick, slamming his foot into the emperor's face.
It was already bleeding. "Impossible!" the emperor said. "There's no way you can be more powerful than my current state!"
"Current… state?" Bardock said. "What are you talking about?"
The emperor smiled. "I guess I'll have to show you," it said. "I won't be able to beat you otherwise."
Its chest began to expand, as did its leg and arm muscles. Then its neck extended to over a foot in length. It's back rounded and its knuckles began to expand. An aura now surrounded it.
"How do you like this?" It asked. "Face my true form!"
"No way!" Bardock yelled. "This is impossible. 3,500!?"