Chapter 2

"You have reached your destination," an automated voice stated.

Bardock woke up shivering, teeth clattering together. Why was it so cold? Was the pod having a temperature malfunction? Opening his eyes, everything was in impossibly sharp focus, from the buttons and lights inside the cockpit to the purplish glowing reflection off of the planet out the window; all of it was so bright that it seemed to stab into his eyes. His head was pounding away. What was going on?

Soon, Bardock could hear the sound of the pod entering the atmosphere, starting out as a quiet rumble but growing to a loud roar that made his head thrum as it exacerbated his headache. This lasted for just over a minute before the pod finally crashed into the ground with a shudder and a jolt from the impact.

The pod opened up and Bardock immediately crawled out. He shakily got to his feet to find himself standing in the crater left by his impact. He felt a cool breeze blowing across his sweaty skin, causing him to shiver.

Bardock felt a sense of urgency but his mind was too foggy to say exactly why. He forced himself to focus on thoughts that seemed to slip from his awareness like water through his fingers. But it was important that he remember. Even in his addled state, he knew that something important had happened or maybe would happen. So he fought to recall.

He had to tell the others…something. Danger. What danger? Bardock stood there, momentarily drawing a blank as he shivered from the cold and his injuries stinging. Frieza, he recalled. Frieza was coming to destroy Planet Vegeta, to kill the Saiyans.

He had to warn them.

Bardock tried to fly, only to collapse back into the crater his pod had created. The Saiyan landed on his feet only to have them give out beneath him. He attempted to get back up but found he couldn't find the strength to do more than rise into a kneeling position.

Suddenly, he was assailed by the image of an exploding planet. Was it a vision? A memory? He couldn't tell. He couldn't think. Why was he so cold? He continued to stand on unsteady legs as the world spun around him; unable to stop shivering before his knees buckled and he collapsed again; blacking out.

For a while after that, Bardock was unsure of how much of his experience was real, how much were fever-induced hallucinations, and how much was something else. At first, he had visions alternating between his pod and some strange vehicle, of labs familiar and not, voices above him, doctors telling him to stay down, him sitting with his teammates around a campfire...

Bardock blinked and the campfire transformed into a blazing inferno. He was surrounded by burning buildings. At the sound of a ki blast, he spun and looked up toward the sky. Above him floated a saiyan man with long bushy hair. He looked like a fully grown version of Raditz …no, it was Raditz but much older, flying with an older version of Prince Vegeta and his bodyguard, Nappa.

A piece of rubble fell from one of the buildings, but before it finished its descent the scene had changed again. Now Bardock was in a cavern. He could hear splashes as chips fell from the ceiling above and crashed into the water below, sounding almost like rain on water and intensified by the echoing quality of the space he was in. Before him, was Kakarot as a child, eating a tentacle off of some strange creature while the walls and ceiling cracked and groaned as if they could buckle in on him at any moment.

Images of both his sons - different as day and night, passed before him - he saw Raditz, along with the other two Saiyans, tortured by Frieza, Zarbon and Dodoria. Then he'd be tearing into undersized rations as those other two Saiyans gave him flack for being a cowardly, third class weakling and he never retorted in any way. There were also many of Kakarot as a child. Talking to orange balls and participating in tournaments with strange creatures, swimming in an ocean full of life, releasing mist from a gourd to grab people and closing a door by pulling a sword. There were floating palaces and a giant green serpent beneath a black sky. While Raditz's appearances seemed bleak, he could at least make sense of them. Everything he saw with Kakarot seemed too strange to comprehend.

Bardock moaned and cracked his eyes open to find himself suspended in a healing chamber. He tried to remember what had happened to cause him to end up here. Judging from the Zenkai boost he'd received, it must have been one hell of a fight.

As he stirred, the fluid began draining out of the chamber. He carefully pulled off his breathing apparatus and realized he was being watched through the glass. Bardock attempted to categorize the beings standing before him. They had the extremely common sapien build shared with Saiyans and several other species all over the known universe, although these creatures appeared to be more on the frail side of the spectrum, with short, slim builds. On their faces and the parts of their arms and legs not covered by lab coats, Bardock could see they had tawny colored skin that was decorated with bronze stripes, judging by the parts of their arms and legs that weren't covered by lab coats, along with their faces. Their eyes were shades of orange and amber and their hair as bronze as their stripes.

... With one exception. There was a youth with that was far more muscular than his counterparts. He had dark hair and eyes as well as a tail that was striped with Saiyan brown and the bronze of his people's own hair. To Bardock's eye, he looked like a boy in the midst of his largest growth spurt, but he knew that other species matured at a different rate compared to Saiyans. The boy couldn't be two Vegetan years old yet, considering that they had been exploring the universe for just short of that time period.

"Half-breed," Bardock stated disgustedly as the glass lifted away and he stepped out of the healing tank to tower over his audience. Saiyans were not very tolerant of their hybrids. The filthy blooded creatures were generally weak and stunted compared to full-bloods but sometimes had their uses…like helping control people that the Sayians just wanted to be subjugated rather than annihilated.

"Welcome to Planet Torwel. My name is Reed." The youth didn't seem deterred by his reaction. He actually drew himself taller and said, "I'm the one who retrieved you and brought you here when you crashed. Since there aren't currently any pure-blooded saiyans and I'm level 300, I was declared strong enough to hold the high rank here." It was an impressive growth rate for a hybrid, about par with the average for a saiyan child of a similar age. The boy looked up expectantly, as if expecting an acknowledgment for his level.

Bardock rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, not bad, but you're really the best this world has?"

"We weren't kept by you or the Tuffles before you for our strength, just for our food productivity."

Bardock sighed. For a lot of these planets, the arrival of the Saiyans had been essentially cutting out the middleman. They had been used to grow a lot of food that would last in storage for long periods of time. Tuffles kept the high-quality goods in their fields at home, allowing them to brag about having unique foods to add to their lavish lifestyle while these outside rations were kept for backup and for feeding their Saiyan labor force. That backup supply had been a major part of the reason that the Tuffles had been able to hold out so long, even after the Saiyans had started targeting supply ships. The Tuffles had a lot of food stored up and they didn't need to eat much, so they were ready for the siege on their cities.

Then he recalled where he was and why he'd come here. He remembered what exactly had happened to him. To planet Vegeta. He felt a wave of horror come over him but the only outward sign he gave was a frown as he looked around and asked, "So, there aren't any other Saiyans here?"

"No, if so we would have had them here for you. I'm currently breaking a dozen rules by standing in the same room as an unauthorized Warrior Class Saiyan." A mischievous smirk crossed Reed's face as he said this.

"And why aren't there any here right now? Shouldn't someone be here to make sure productivity stays up?"

"This was supposed to be our break in the cycle."

"You get breaks?"

"We need to replenish our soil and animal populations so that we don't run out of food. Usually, we get a couple periods for restoration every-"

"Thanks, but I don't need an in-depth lesson about growing food. I'm just surprised no one would be here to make sure everyone stays in line,"

"What do you think kids like me are here for? You guys knew that we were enough to keep everything on track. So, when it came to you hanging out on a peacefully submissive planet or leaving someone else to keep order on it, you chose us." A hopeful edge leaked into Reed's proud tone as he added, "and we've been working to get stronger so that when our Saiyan relatives came back, we could ask if we'd become strong enough to be worthy of a visit from some of our half-siblings for a tournament. We wouldn't even mind if it's the younger kids."

Bardock felt his frown deepen as his heart lurched. There were probably more hybrids here than there were pureblooded children left in the whole universe...were prince Vegeta and Kakarot the last two? Would the five-year-old Prince even still be alive or did Frieza celebrate blowing up his world by terminating the royal line in a splash of red? Or a flash of light and the smell of singed flesh?

Bardock tried to push the sickening images out of his mind. He had no love for the Saiyan caste system that had marked people by birth rather than strength but the royal family's rule went all the way back to when their people were on Sadala. The idea of it ending like that was terrible beyond words.

He looked at the boy before him and suspected that these half-breeds wouldn't last long. He was sure that Frieza would eventually find this world. Even if he spared it and the majority of its inhabitants to grow food to feed his army, the half-Saiyans would be killed.

Bardock frowned. No one was here, so what should he do now? How could he even be sure that anyone besides himself survived?

Only one certain answer came to him: Kakarot. The child was destined to grow up, he'd seen that. Still, considering his abysmal power level and the way he seemed to act in Bardock's visions, was there even any point in pursuing him?

Yes, actually, there was. Kakarot had been sent to that planet to clear it out for Frieza's forces. Eventually, they would come to collect. If his son was still there his fate would be left in their hands. And Bardock would be damned if he'd let that monster hold power over one more Saiyan, especially his son, power level be damned! It would not happen as long as Bardock drew breath!

He recalled the fever dreams of his eldest and was almost thankful for his end. He didn't like to imagine one of his own living such a life- that of an ill-treated, overworked slave.

Looking up, Bardock realized that all but the half-breed had gathered to the back of the room. Even the boy, who hadn't moved a muscle, had gone a few shades whiter. Bardock realized he must have growled or something as he thought about his son's possible fate.

"It's not you. I was thinking about someone else." Then, recalling what the boy had been asking about, he added, "But I wouldn't get your hopes up, kid. I don't think we'll be having any tournaments anytime soon."

Raditz's team had just won such a tournament mere days ago, earning the right to be the first group of their age level to go on a mission, at least for their class. If Frieza hadn't decided to commit this genocide, they might have been planning out a mission as father and son at that very moment. It would have been a celebration of the boy's achievement and the most time they would have ever gotten to spend together.

Bardock sighed and rubbed hand on the back of his head. He had run it halfway through his hair before his hand froze. "Where is my gear? I was wearing a bandanna when I came here. Where is it?"

"A bandanna?" Reed asked.

"Yes. It's red with the blood of one of my teammates. Now, where is it?"

Reed looked over his shoulder and one of the lab men ran off before he came back with a red piece of cloth. Bardock took it.

Despite having dried, the strip was still as red as when he'd first soaked it.

White cloth was a common piece of attire that many Saiyans carried with them. Often, fallen warriors had to be left behind. Some still wanted a way to remain with their teammates even after death. The act of soaking their blood in cloth for others to wear in their memory after they had fallen was a time-honored tradition that went back to the early days of their race.

More recently, they had found a way to treat such materials so that they would both absorb the blood well and hold the color. They were increadibly expensive.

When Tomat presented one as a gift to their team, everyone understood how large a gesture it was. He had probably passed up on several meals to get it.

When he had offered it to Bardock to carry, since he was the leader, he had declined and insisted Tomat carry it himself, since he had gone through so much trouble to get it for them, he should bear the honor of carrying the band of cloth with him, be it white or red.

Tomat had stated that he would accept only on the condition that, if he fall, Bardock would take on the task of carrying it afterward. Bardock had agreed to the terms, hoping it wouldn't come to that any time soon but knowing it was always a possibility.

For ages, it had blazed white against his arm, serving as an uplifting reminder that, despite all of the close calls and near misses, their team had never actually lost anyone.

Now it was red with Toma's own blood. Bardock wished he'd had time to add some of the other's blood to it, too. That's what it had been for, after all but now, this was all he had left of any of them…

This tiny scrap of stained cloth now represented his failure to not only protect his team but all of his people. It wasn't enough, not even close, but it was all he had. He sighed but did nothing more that might give away his true emotions before these people as he lifted it up and tied it around his head.

Once finished, he looked back at Reed and asked, "How long have I been here?"

"A few days. You took a real beating. You jumped from ten to nearly twelve thousand."

"Twelve?" Bardock asked, surprised. That was definitely stronger than King Vegeta. He couldn't stop himself from smiling proudly at the thought. He'd noticed that the boosts had been increasing over time but a two thousand level jump…it had been close, so close. And now he was stronger than ever.

Not strong enough, though.

To Frieza and his elites, Bardock would still look like a joke.

In fact, Bardock wondered how Frieza's men hadn't found him yet. His pod had a tracker in it, he was sure. Frieza's men recycled those things when soldiers fell. Sure, they'd have to take the time to dig up the serial number for his ship's system, but surely they should have retrieved it by now.

Maybe Frieza was too busy scrambling to cover up the slaughter of the Saiyans to realize that Planet Meat was one pod short? But still, it would have taken days to get here plus the time in the regen tank. Surely with the extra time, Frieza's men would have gotten to it by now.

Bardock looked up and asked, "Are you sure that I'm the only person who's showed up?"

The boy rolled his eyes, as if he'd heard the question many times before. "We had an expert remove the tracker and launch it back into space so no one could detect that you landed here for more than a few minutes."

Bardock chose to ignore the brat's attitude. "Your people can do that?"

"Just in case you lot forgot to do it before any of you left Planet Vegeta…or someone came here when they shouldn't. It would be hard to hide a planet your people visit so much if we couldn't handle your trackers."

Listening to him talk so nonchalantly about it, Bardock realized these people had no idea of what had happened back home. As far as they knew, everything was business as usual and he was just a desperate person returning from a mission gone sour and taking advantage of their facilities.

The fact that the Saiyans had put such protocols in place to actively keep these planets hidden from Frieza also suggested that at least someone of rank had suspected that the lizard might one day turn on them them for a long time.

Certainly well before Bardock, who'd had little suspicion of the monster's betrayal until Tomat had told him as he lay dying, surrounded by their teammates' cooling corpses.

It was a pity that the work put into hiding this well stocked little world had proven to be a nearly useless gesture, managing to save a total of one member of their entire race.

And maybe not even that much, Bardock suddenly realized with a growing sense of horror. "Where'd you send it?"

"Back to Planet Vegeta, since in your condition, you probably should have been heading there anyway. One of the experts there probably retrieved it. Whether or not they bring it up with your superiors is beyond our control. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll let it slide. It would be a pity if we went through all of this trouble to save you for them to undo our work."

"You sent it to Planet Vegeta?" The only people there now were whoever Frieza might have left behind to nail any Saiyans coming back home after distant missions, having missed the news of the destruction of their world due to pod hibernation. The moment the pod's tracker came through they would not only know that he had survived but also what direction to go in order to find him.

Bardock mentally cursed but didn't let his anger show on his face or in his voice. He didn't want to give these people a clue of what was really happening, especially while he didn't know where his pod was. He could see someone trying to hijack it to escape and leaving him here to die. He didn't plan on risking that. So he bit his tongue, letting his escort believe that he was just annoyed at the idea of getting disciplined.

"I have to get going; before I get into any more trouble."

"I'll take you to your ship right now if you want. We'll give you some ration bars, since you're probably hungry. We've got plenty for guests like as you."

Bardock replied with a single nod.

The boy looked at the others and asked, "Can one of you call up someone to get the food brought directly to the ship?" Despite his friendly tone, the others jumped to it.

The boy smiled up at Bardock and said, "Come on, I'll take you to the ship,"

"Good."

As the boy took Bardock down the hall, he chattered on about how the hybrids here had been training as he bounced from wall to wall and occasionally hovered as they walked forward. Bardock began to feel anxious as the child kept on, the boisterousness leaving him uncomfortable. This boy and the other children on the feeder worlds were probably the majority of what remained of their proud race and Frieza would soon remove them.

Bardock's thoughts hovered uncomfortably on that fact. These were only hybrids, but Frieza would still see them as a threat. If all the others were like this boy, they'd want a fight. If Bardock wanted to stand against his people's ex-employer any way he could, he could start by reducing the completeness of his victory over the Saiyan race right here.

But with hybrid brats? What difference could they really make? They were children raised on a slave planet meant to grow food. They were little more than higher-ranking slaves themselves and had shown no interest in rebelling against their relatives, who showed up only to collect food and probably occasionally fried people the brats cared about while they were there.

Bardock was so lost in thought that he hadn't realized he'd stopped until Reed asked, "What's wrong?"

Bardock looked at the energetic child who'd been chattering about training and was hoping for a tournament that could never be. Seeing his curious look, Bardock came to a decision.

"Kid, I'm sure that with your knowledge of our ships, your people have some illegal rigs set up."

Reed suddenly took up a defensive stance and stated, "That would be grounds for widespread executions, sir." All the joy had left his voice and he looked like he might actually jump to fight Bardock. Maybe these brats weren't as submissive as he thought.

Bardock sure hoped that was the case.

He smirked and said, "That doesn't mean that you don't have them." His smile widened as the boy became more tense. "I'm not getting on to you for it. Chances are, everyone who came here knew and turned a blind eye as long it didn't affect food production. Generally, we could care less what you lot do in your free time as long as you meet your quota." Bardock shook his head and said, "But even that won't matter anymore."

The boy fell out of his defensive stance but his bright mood didn't come back, "Something's happened, hasn't it? Like when you showed up to clear out the Tuffles and take over here."

"Exactly like that, except we aren't on the winning end this time. Once you've escorted me to my ship, get as many of the hybrids out of here as possible."

Reed turned his head. "Ruler turnover at work."

Bardock glanced at him. "Yes, they'll spare a majority of the people here. This world is rich in food and needs hands to work the fields but you and any hybrids like you will be killed."

"Should we call the other planets?"

Bardock smiled and joked, "Wouldn't my people discovering that you have that capacity result in a mass execution?"

"Maybe you could come with us."

Bardock snorted and said, "I have no interest in throwing my lot in with a bunch of little hybrid brats."

Reed frowned and said, "Oh, alright then, I didn't realize I was a bother..."

"It's not you personally. I just don't have patience with kids in general." He was already cringing at the idea of hunting down and living with one Saiyan runt. The idea of falling in with a whole nest of half-breed ones didn't appeal to him in the least. "You keep up the way you're going. I'm sure you'll grow up into someone I'd consider decent company. You seem to have gotten your saiyan parent's fighting spirit."

Reed seemed to perk back up at that statement, then the mood fell away.

"So my dad's probably dead too, huh?"

Bardock sighed, "Most likely."

"Who did it?"

"Lord Frieza."

"Your employer? But I thought you were happily doing everything he asked?" the boy stated in a shocked tone.

"We did it too well. He came to see us as a threat and went to work removing it."

"Oh. I'm sorry. How did he…"

"Look, I don't really feel like talking about it right now."

Reed fell silent for a moment, then he said, "Turn right and the hangar bay is at the end of the hall. You'll be able to see your pod from the entrance. I'll have the bay doors open."

"You're not going to walk me there?"

"I wanted to be with you to make sure you weren't trying to blow up the planet. It seemed like a possible reason for an unfamiliar pureblood to show up, even if you were beat up." He pulled a pin off of his shirt. "This is a speaker. The other hybrids on planet flew in and took up positions nearby, just out of scouter range for their levels, just in case. The others will want to talk so we can plan things out and spread the warnings to our kin on the other crop worlds." Then Reed looked down at his feet and said, "Thanks for telling me, though. When you catch up to whoever killed the others and will be hunting us, could you at least get in a few extra punches for us?"

Bardock studied Reed, reconsidering how he had viewed the boy and the other hybrids that must be here by extension as clueless and complacent. He smirked and said, "Sure, but just a couple. Most will be for me and mine."

"A couple's more than we deserve if you beat us to it."

Bardock looked over at the brat and felt his smile grow a little. "Is that a challenge?"

"You started it by thinking we're too weak to keep up with you."

"You are. You're just a half-breed,"

"Try telling us that once we beat you to getting revenge."

"That'll be the day."

The two looked at each other, each wearing determined smiles. Aside from an actual fight, nothing got a Saiyan going like a good competition. Plus, it was good to know that if one attempt ultimately failed, there were others that would try.

He watched as the boy pulled out a box with a plastic antenna sticking out. He noticed a button was being held down. "Hey Fern, did you get all that?" Reed said into it.

"Loud and clear, Reed. We're already gathering the others and sending messages to our guys on the other crop planets."

"How many of you are there?" Bardock asked.

"Across all of the crop worlds? Fourty eight but it's about to be fifty."

"Oh?"

"There's a set of twins due in a few weeks on Planet Torcta."

Bardock was about to ask for more details about them when he was suddenly swept up into a vision.

He spun to look beyond a pointed brown beak at the emperor, seated in his floating throne and flanked by Zarbon and Dodoria. Freiza did not look pleased.

Wow, this guy felt weak. Was this how it felt to be a low-level being? It was awful!

"Lord Frieza, sir!" He saluted the terrifying being. "T-t-to w-what d-do I oh-owe this unprecedented honor?"

Frieza smiled and said, "Oh, not much, I just wanted to ask you about a report you catalogued from Planet Vegeta the day before it was destroyed by that awful asteroid shower."

An 'asteroid shower? That's the best you could come with? The Saiyans could have easily vaporized anything big enough to do any real damage before it even entered the upper atmosphere! Surely no one would by that load of garbage!

"Well, I'd be happy to help in any way I can, Lord Frieza,"

"Oh, I have no doubt,"

"If you can tell me the report, I can pull up the information on it right away,"

"Alright, I'd like to see the last medical report for a saiyan named Bardock, specifically the medical review and his teammate's testimonials for the incident."

"Of course, Lord Frieza, right away, sir." Bardock could sense a growing fear as he stated these words, as if he knew something that spelled out bad things to come for him.

The scientist pulled them up and read. "Each member of the subject's team reported witnessing a Kanassan native striking him in the back of his head and stating that it had altered his mind to support the special power-laden abilities like their own before they killed it. Judging from their accounts, this same attack is the probable cause of the subject lost consciousness."

He looked at the brief medical summary and swallowed. "The subject's f-fuh-physical health is still at its peak, having settled from the effects from his last Zen Kai Boost a week before the incident. His br-brainwave patterns have been slightly modified… we kept him under anesthesia for days but he woke up of his own volition, despite being exposed to a dose that should have prevented this. He awoke rapidly, as if excited or scared and spoke of strange dreams."

"You read this earlier, did you not?"

The scientist felt sweat bead on his head as he spun in his chair and stood again. "Yes, well, I heard about Planet Vegeta and the other Saiyans disappearing on missions. So, I figured it wouldn't be worth wasting your time, sire. Since the Saiyan was probably dead."

Frieza stood and floated inches above the ground, leaving behind his floating throne. His tail slowly curled and uncurled behind him as he drew closer. In an instant, his previously calm unreadable features became a dark glare with a light that spoke of a deep madness that scared even Bardock to the core. "I see," he hissed. "So, you figured that you had the authority to decide whether or not to report a possible psychic being to me?"

"No, Lord Frieza, please! It wasn't like that. The Saiyans were gone before I read this. I…I…"

"Was scared of the repercussions when you reported this information too late?" Frieza sneered. "Well, let me show them to you. Zarbon, take care of him,"

"As you command, Lord Frieza,"

"No, wait! Please. I can…" There was a flash and a burning agony…

But the vision didn't end there. Bardock stood beside the corpse of the creature that Zarbon had just killed, unseen by the other occupants of the room.

Lord Frieza turned his glare to Zarbon and Dodoria. "And Cui was sure it was him?"

"Yes my Lord. There's no telling where he is now. Nor the others."

Just as quickly as it came the glare was gone, now a smile spreading across Frieza's face, the type of smile a saiyan might get when they heard that they were assigned a particularly challenging planet.

"Imagine, one of those filthy Saiyan monkeys may have made off with the Kanassans' psychic abilities." He turned to Dodoria, who was trying to hold his composure, despite the fear in his eyes as he watched Frieza in the corner of them. Zarbon had an arrogant smirk, clearly enjoying the sight of his coworker under the gun. "Looks like it might be a good thing that you didn't finish him after all, Dodoria. Would you like to make up for that mistake?"

"Y-yes, Lord Frieza."

"Good, then you can locate and retrieve our rogue monkey, alive. If there really is any chance he's psychic, I want him in hand. As for the others, they have no value to me. Kill any you catch."

Frieza looked at his two men. "We must be discrete about Bardock. If my father or my brother get word of a possible psychic, I probably won't get to keep him, even if it is a Saiyan. It's also the reason I can't involve the Ginyu Force, as they will answer to my father as well as me. Even if he doesn't directly ask for some sort of report, they might just blab in hopes of gaining his favor. Find the Saiyan. And no one beyond this room must know the true reason for his capture. In fact, I want the number of people who know he's alive to stay to an absolute minimum required to subdue and retrieve him. As far as the rest of the universe is concerned, he ceased to exist with the rest of his species when Planet Vegeta was hit by an 'asteroid.' Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Lord Frieza," his men stated.

As Bardock came back to himself, he found himself kneeling. He clenched his fists, trying to still the slight tremble they now had. The mad fire in Frieza's eyes was bad enough, but then seeing his excitement at the thought of obtaining a psychic…of obtaining him, was absolutely horrifying. Frieza was about to chase him across the universe and he had a feeling the lizard would trade multiple planetary systems to have him. If the Saiyan fell into the lizard's grasp, he knew his existence would become an agony beyond imagining.

And he apparently had Frieza's father and a brother to worry about, too. Funny, he was rather certain that the ice lizard had never mentioned his kin, seeing as the Saiyans would have happily taken up the past time of guessing at how strong they must be or actually trying to find out so that they could compare them to Frieza himself. It sounded like if they found out, this could quickly go from bad to worse. It was bad enough to have one ice lizard after him but three was too horrifying to consider.

Bardock became aware of someone shaking his shoulder and asking what was happening. He blinked and looked up to see Reed standing there, shaking his shoulder.

"I'm fine," Bardock stated, pulling away.

"You screamed like you were dying and then just fell silent and stopped moving."

It took him a moment to figure out what could have caused him to scream and then it hit him. The scientist's destruction, it had felt so real, as if he was the one being cooked alive. He must have reacted to it here while he was still under the grip of the vision. The realization that he could react to his visions in such a visceral way and not even realized it was not a comforting one.

"It was nothing." Still, he could contemplate the implications later. There were more pressing matters. Bardock had to get out of there, now. "Get the launch bay open now. I've got to go. Don't wait after I leave, get out as fast as you can."

Without looking to see how Reed responded, Bardock leaped into the air and rushed forward, following the boy's directions. He rounded the corner to see a long hallway, barely able to make out the door at the far end. Before he could get any further, though, a portion of the hallway was suddenly disintegrated in a yellow blast.

Bardock looked up out of the hole to see Cui, floating beneath a purple sky, surrounded by a few weakling lackeys. Cui? But hadn't Frieza assigned Dodoria…

In the vision. Of the future. A future that hadn't happened yet. Of course not, he'd just had that vision moments ago. No one could react to an order and find him that quickly. Not even Frieza's elite. Furthermore, the others they were talking about must be the hybrid children and there was no way that anyone in Frieza's forces could know about that yet.

Maybe today wasn't as bad as he thought. Maybe he could make it so that what he saw never came to pass. He just had to kill Cui and his men. They'd never be able to tell Frieza who killed them and he might never start digging for information. The ice lizard would continue on with business as usual, completely clueless of Bardock's new 'gift.'

But the question was, how? Whatever it was, it had better be painful. After all, even if Cui didn't do the deed, he'd been assigned to kill Raditz. He stood and watched as the boy's team was annihilated. This cowardly worm deserved to suffer.

As Bardock clenched his fists so tightly that his nails might very well be digging into the flesh of his hands and drawing blood, he vowed that he'd be the bringer of that pain.

He flew forth to meet his enemies head-on.

If anyone is curious about Bardock's visions about Goku, they are all from various episodes of the Dragon Ball Series The first one described occurs in the Red Ribbon Saga. As far as where in the overall Dragon Ball series in relation to episodes number it is, you can find it somewhere in the early 50s. Goku is in an undersea cavern, eating a gigantic octopus that had planned to eat him. The whole set of undersea caverns were threatening to collapse.

The head cannon I have for Bardock having so many visions about his youngest son is two fold. The first is that a side effect of the power transfer that the kanassan gave Bardock is that it sharpened his natural telepathic connections, especially with nearby kin, which was only Kakarot at the time. If Raditz had been nearby, he might have been included. The other is that the Kanassan was forcing Bardock to see his future personal and heritage. Now that Bardock is no longer in close proximity to Kakarot and his psychic connection isn't as powerful over the distance, he can have similar visions about both of his sons, rather than just Kakarot.

I am assuming, based off of the fact that Raditz said that Planet Vegeta was lost three years before he came to earth that a year on planet Vegeta is different than a Earth year. I am going to say a saiyan year is about seven earth years (unless I happen to find something to give me a more solid number), which would place Raditz's arrival on Earth about three and a half years after their planet's destruction. If I made a mention of time in chapter one that contradicts this model, I will have corrected it by the time this chapter was put up.

On top of Bardock not being aware that Frieza saw him leave planet Meat and head back for Planet Vegeta in the show, it's very likely with his delayed exit, that Frieza might not have noticed this time. I would assume in such a case, checking and retrieving a bunch of pods would be of rather low priority in the grand scheme of things as Frieza covered up the mass genocide he just committed. So, it would be possible that Bardock would have a few days before anyone realized someone had survived Dodoria's attack. I am going under the assumption that this is what happened for the sake of my story and address that particular potential plot hole.

Reed would be about physical age equivalent to Gohan at the time he was fighting Cell. I chose the name Reed because it represents a wild plant that, while not conventionally treated like a vegetable in stores, several parts of many species of the plant are edible. (I know that the show is not usually so obvious with their references, these seemed like legitimately good names and I plan to try for mre subtlety in the future).

I also stuck with the play on words for the names of people and places throughout the chapter. Some fern fiddleheads are also edible. I see them in the grocery store sometimes. Torwal and Torcta are plays on the words Trowel and Tractor respectively, both can be used in farming.

Also, I don't expect this portion of the story, which is focused on the time just after Bardock escapes the destruction of Planet Vegeta, to extend past chapter four or five. After that, I plan on getting more into DB/DBZ cross over territory and start bringing Goku into the story.