Disclaimer: Anyway, I don't own anything to do with Dragonball Z. The amazing Akria Toriyama does. I only own the plot and my own characters.

Bardock's story

Chapter 10: Shugesh redeems

A few hours later, Bardock's recovery time was finally over and he was allowed out of the pod. He dried his spiky hair then dressed, pulling his newly repaired armour on. As he dressed, the anger at Shugesh's actions was racing through him. Although he was now supposed to rest, he really wanted to pound the fat saiyan's face in.

"How could he be so stupid?"

But then, as he turned around, something caught his eye. Or rather someone caught his eye.

Stood talking to Plenthor was her, the beautiful saiyan girl Bardock saw on the morning Tarro died, out of the landing deck. She was clearly having an enjoyable conversation with Plenthor; she was smiling that dazzling smile once again. This time, Bardock saw her figure. She was petite like Fasha but she seemed somehow more delicate than his female comrade. She was wearing new armour too, light and mid blue, it just had straps with armour protecting her intimate areas, matching boots and wrist armour with long dark blue spandex stockings. Also, this girl had her tail out, rather than wrapped around herself. The tail was just as pretty as she was, the fur looked very soft and silky as she carried it high. It also seemed to wave in a happy way. Bardock just couldn't help but admire how stunning she was.

'Wow, she's…'

Then she stopped talking and turned to look right at Bardock with those stunning green eyes. Plenthor turned to see his patient staring, transfixed. The female saiyan seemed to blush at Bardock's attention. Then she recovered her composure before the young male did.

"Anyway, I'd better go," She smiled at Plenthor, "Thank you for the help, Plenthor."

"Any time, my dear"

With one more smile at Bardock, the mystery girl left, her tail waving freely behind her. Plenthor saw the look on Bardock's face and walked over.

"She's very beautiful, isn't she, Bardock?" He smiled, knowingly.

"Y-yeah, she is."

Plenthor just chuckled. In all the years he had known Bardock, he had never seen the saiyan warrior so awestruck.

But now with Bardock's angel out of sight, there was something more serious to worry about.

"Plenthor, do you know if Tora and the others are back yet?"

"They got back just thirty minutes ago."

"Thanks"

Grabbing his scouter, Bardock set off to find his team. It actually didn't take long to find them; they were very easy to find. Bardock could hear Fasha, Tora and Shugesh shouting at each other. He ran until he found his team stood together. Well, Fasha, Tora and Borgos stood on one side of the room and Shugesh was stood on the other side. It wasn't hard to work out what they were fighting about.

"He was nearly killed, Asshole!" Tora roared, "All thanks to you!"

"Me?" Shugesh growled, "That cocky little punk should've been watching what he was doing!"

"Don't talk about Bardock like that!" Fasha warned.

"Hey!" Bardock finally shouted.

The four saiyans stopped argument and Bardock marched over, standing between Shugesh and his friends.

"You see?" Shugesh barked, "He's fine, nothing happened."

"I only made it off that planet alive because my team look out for each other and respect each other. If you hadn't got in my way, Tora wouldn't have had to step in."

Shugesh huffed, "Respect, you say? Well, clearly, you don't respect me."

"Likewise," Bardock snarled, "And, after that stunt, respect's not coming your way any time soon."

The two saiyans glared deep in to each other's eyes. As tempted as Bardock was to kick Shugesh off the team, he remembered the threat Nappa gave him.

"Fasha, Tora, Borgos," He said sternly, "Go get something to eat. I need a few moments."

Although they wanted to argue, Fasha and the two boys walked off, leaving Bardock alone with Shugesh.

For a few moments, the two young saiyans stared at each other. Shugesh was trying to work out what was running through Bardock's head. And, if he was honest, Bardock wasn't sure how he was going to handle this. But he had to say something.

"Nappa told me how you ended up on my team."

"Oh yeah? Did he give you the bullshit about deserting?"

Bardock nodded. "And, after that stunt on Ethica, I do not trust you at all, now."

Shugesh stared at Bardock. Bardock could see that Shugesh didn't really know how he could argue with that. Clearly, Shugesh couldn't deny his desertion of his team or his arrogance on Ethica.

"Look, Shugesh, trust is what makes this team work," Bardock told him, "Tora and I have known each other since we were very small and Borgos and Fasha are like family too. Right now, we are all still adjusting to Tarro being gone."

Shugesh's eyes narrowed with new knowledge. He had no idea that Bardock's team had lost one. Bardock saw the look.

"He was Tora's twin brother and Fasha's boyfriend. He was a great guy and great warrior but he was fatally injured during a mission and died. Anyway, you pushing your weight around without thought did not help. If I had a choice, I'd kick you off this team then kill you. But I don't. So, do me a favour, do not pull another stunt like that. Or I will actually kill you."

With that, Bardock turned and walked away, leaving Shugesh in the hall alone, absorbing what he had been told.

A couple of days later, Bardock and the crew were given a new assignment, the planet of Chosh. Tora and Fasha were very angry that Bardock had let Shugesh come along, even though he maintained he had no choice. Borgos, though quiet, stayed as far from Shugesh as he could. It was tough being caught in the middle but Bardock had no choice but to push his team on to do their jobs. However, a surprise was on the way. The five saiyans landed and climbed out of their pods then got their bearings. They then started looking around the immediate area. It was a rather average planet, basic blue sky and green grass. It was just a good liveable planet.

"Not a bad place," Bardock commented, "Anyone getting power signals?"

"I've got, what looks, like a village a few miles north of here." Fasha replied.

"I've got a smaller one in the west." Shugesh said.

"And there's another in the south." Borgos added.

"Ok, Borgos, you and I will take the south. Tora, you and Fasha take the north. Shugesh, you take the west."

Shugesh looked at Bardock with narrow eyes. At first he wondered why Bardock was sending him alone but then he remembered the trust issue. There was no way Bardock was going to risk anyone being killed this time. Once everything was clear, the five saiyans went they separate ways.

It was long before Tora and Fasha landed in the village they sensed. The buildings were rather uninteresting, round, white and roughly two levels each. The creatures were the same height as the saiyans, humanoid like them but had natural formed armour, rather like a turtle and were of athletic build. They seemed like decent fighters but Tora and Fasha weren't getting very high readings on their scouters. So they landed right in the middle of the village, catching the attention of the villagers. After just a matter of seconds, the largest of the creatures took on fighting stances.

"They look serious." Fasha whispered to Tora.

"Yeah, I noticed," Tora replied.

Then Tora addressed the villagers.

"People of the planet Chosh, from today, this planet is now under the control of the Planet Trade Organisation. The mighty Lord Frieza requires this planet. So you can either surrender willingly and be recruited in to the organisation or we will destroy you all."

Fasha glanced at Tora and gave the hint of a laugh. Tora was trying really hard to be in charge. Bardock was the one who usually gave this speech and he gave it more gravity than Tora did just now.

"So, what do you say?" Fasha said loudly to all the villagers.

"We say no!" The elder of the villagers shouted.

Suddenly six of the fittest, healthiest members of the village hit off the ground and attacked. As it turned out, although not powerful as the saiyans, the fighters of Chosh were very fast. Even speedy Fasha was struggling to keep up with them. These six fighters were overwhelming the two saiyans.

Finally, Fasha and Tora found themselves cornered by the six fighters, stood ready to attack. Both saiyan warriors were panting heavily with scuffs and minor wounds over their faces and damage to their armour.

"Ah Man!" Tora groaned, "This isn't what I had in mind for my death."

"Well, we can die together."

The two friends glanced at each other and smiled. But before they could fight back, a huge long energy wave hit the six fighters, knocking them like dominos. Tora and Fasha looked to their side to see Shugesh flying towards them. The two friends stared with wide open eyes as he flew closer. He clearly had been in the same situation. But he was saving them!

"Hey, let's get out of here!" He yelled.

Without asking, Tora and Fasha did as suggested and took to the air. As they raced away from the village, they heard Bardock's raised voice shouting down the scouters.

"Everyone get to the pods now!" He ordered, "We're abandoning this mission."

In just a few minutes, the five saiyans reunited at the pods, climbed in and were on route back to Planet Vegeta.

"What the hell was that?" Shugesh demanded, over the scouter.

"You tell me, Shugesh," Tora replied, more calmly, "You got Fasha and me out of some serious trouble."

"What?" Bardock asked.

"While Fasha and I were pinned down, Shugesh blasted six of those creatures off us then told us to flee."

"Yeah, he saved us!" Fasha near cheered.

The scouters went silent as Bardock took in this new information. Shugesh smiled to himself, remembering what happened to him.

Like Tora and Fasha, Shugesh landed a village and gave a similar conquering speech to Tora's. Then a few moments later, the fighters of the village attacked him. But he managed to escape. As he flew away, a part of him wanted to find his pod and get back home. But then something stopped him in his tracks. Echoing in his brain was Bardock's voice from a few days ago.

"Look, Shugesh, trust is what makes this team work. Tora and I have known each other since we were very small and Borgos and Fasha are like family too."

"I can't be a deserter all my life."

With that, he used his scouter to find Tora and Fasha. When he got close enough, he could see the battered and worn comrades cornered by the native warriors. Knowing he couldn't turn back now, Shugesh powered up his most powerful energy wave and threw it at the fighters.

"Hey, let's get out of here!" He yelled.

Now, sat in his space pod going home, he was glad he made that decision. As he smiled to himself, Shugesh heard Bardock's then Tora's voice.

"Hey, Shugesh," The scarred warrior said, "Nice work, man."

"Yeah," Tora grinned, "Welcome to the team Shugesh."

Safe and relatively unharmed, the five saiyans returned home.

From the next chapter, we finally get the name of the pretty girl that Bardock's had his eyes on. But things won't go smoothly.