What-If Bardock Convinced the Sayains: Season 2, Chapter 11

A Man From The Future, In Those Years

Kudza gestured towards the other side of the table. "Take a seat! Unwind from the day you've had, and enjoy the tea I ordered exclusively for you!"

Piccolo remains still.

The waitress from earlier comes out holding a tray of fried chicken and freshly boiled tea. "Alrighty! I have your refill, order of chicken and tea—" She stops mid-sentence seeing the tall and imposing green man looming over her customer.

In a gasp, she loses balance, and her tray begins to fall over.

Everything goes into slow motion as Kudza flashes up from his chair. The strange Ki that Piccolo felt while in Ginger Town instantly flared in front of him. This guy shared not only Kami and Piccolo's energy but had the collective energies of all of Earth's mightiest warriors, just as Cassava had described.

Kudza made to move directly at the waitress. Piccolo feared the worse but was ultimately caught off guard.

With a quick movement from his waist, Kudza sprung forth towards the falling tray, and his tail wrapped itself around the waitress to catch her.

They both lock eyes with each other.

"Hey."

The waitress's face started to look like a tomato. "Hehe…"

Kudza pulls her back upright. "Please, forgive my friend here. He's not exactly renowned for his presentation in social environments." Kudza places the tray on his table and takes a seat. "I'll be sure to settle him down for our little discussion. Can I let you know if I need anything else?"

"Mhmm." She nodded with red still plastered on her face. She walks back into the pub.

The second she's out of sight, Kudza snickers. "Show a little bit of speed and a soft voice, and these humans can fold so easily." He looks up at Piccolo. "Give them a little taste of what real power is like, and they'll flock to you like sheep."

Piccolo eases up on his fighting stance. "What are you?"

Kudza blinked at the question. "...Well, I already told you, I'm a Sai—"

"No, what I just felt wasn't that of just a Saiyan. In fact, I'm not even sure if that's genuinely a part of you. Son Goku, Tien Shinhan, myself, and many others. It feels like everything about you is borrowed or stolen from someone else. So tell me, what are you?"

Kudza tilted his head and smiled. "Quite the inquisitive type, aren't you? Rest assured, answers will be given in time. But right now, come and sit! I have quite the tale to tell you."

Piccolo still had no intention to trust him; however, it looked to be that if he wanted answers, Piccolo would have to play this little game.

Piccolo takes a seat at the table.

Kudza takes a drink from his glass. "My story has a past, present, and future. So, we'll start in the future."

I remember the air being cold and stale when breaking through the glass that surrounded me. It took me moments to register where I was and what I was.

Dr. Gero then spoke to me from beyond the grave.

"Should you be hearing this message and I am not there, then I have most likely perished. So listen well. During the precursor of your design and through collecting various DNA samples of the world's strongest fighters, you were to be the deliverance of my revenge on the individual known as Son Goku. However, during the collection process, a grand revelation was discovered from the surplus of Saiyan DNA. One that can change the position of humanity as a species, and you are now that first step towards it—my gift to the world, a stem that will grow and bud into something beautiful. You shall go forth and share that beauty as my last and perfect creation."

The madman's rambling was lost on me; however, looking through everything that he had left behind. Notes, blueprints, prototypes. I was indeed the pinnacle of his work. A great bio-android made up of Earth's greatest warriors, both native and foreign.

I learned everything I could from that ruined lab and set forth into the outside world, finding it was cold and stale as the lab I crawled out of, a Future Earth that the Androids ravaged. The few remains of humanity had told me this.

But upon looking at how everything surrounding them was broken and torn down yet persisted and survived in life. It inspired me.

Perhaps that was the reason, then, why I had started to help them rebuild this broken world.

A few years went on since my awakening, and things were progressing well. Then ships began to descend from the sky. At first, there was a panic. Speculation that the Androids had returned to finish what they had started. However, they couldn't have been more wrong. Returning to Earth was, in fact, the long thought dead Bulma Briefs alongside her son and a Saiyan girl coming home to tell us that the Androids had been defeated.

This caused a celebration, one that I still remember to this day. But, unfortunately, it could only last for so long.

There were plans to expand humanity to the greater space of our galaxy. Colonization efforts would have given them a fresh start, but a plague struck as soon as that began. A mutated variant of the once thought controlled Heart Virus had erupted and spread like wildfire, killing off all humans and any Saiyans that were still left in the galaxy. All except for me.

I'm designed to be genetically superior, so any plague that could even get into my system would simply be snuffed out. But genetics couldn't prepare me for the overwhelming loneliness that filled my soul.

Even if I was created in a lab, it still didn't stave off the fact that I was the last human-created being in the universe that held the pieces of what was once Saiyans and Humans.

At first, I mourned. Then I started to try and find solutions.

"Could my blood be somehow used to create a cure?" That was my first thought.

But it wouldn't matter to a race that no longer exists, not now, in today's world.

Then I remembered.

I had orbited around the Briefs to hear their tales of how it was they came to destroy my android siblings. Never truly revealing myself or my identity to the Briefs due to the circumstance of my creation, but enough to learn more about them.

"Time travel, huh? Well, that's a start."

Going through the abandoned remains of the Briefs Residence on Earth, I had uncovered the Time Machine.

"Which is how yours truly had gotten to the here and now!"

Piccolo had heard some wild tales before, but this takes the cake! He could believe what Trunks and Kholba had spouted because they came true. Albeit in a drastically different scenario. However, this man spoke of intents and events that he claims to have happened—leaving plenty of room to remain highly wary.

Piccolo only has this stranger's word, but that's not enough.

The tea sitting in front of Piccolo remains untouched and grows colder. "In this tale, you haven't, in the slightest, made me any less suspicious of you."

Kudza held his head up curiously at the Namekian. "Oh? How so?" he asked.

"To start, I have a good source that tells me that you've been here in this time a lot longer than you claim to have been."

Kudza narrows his eyes.

"About a month ago, you had popped up on her radar. So don't expect me to believe that you just arrived. For that matter, if you genuinely were here to help, then why didn't you come forward and offer help against the Androids?"

Kudza silently sat, then responded. "There were too many unknowns. This, you have to admit, is true. Tell me, when Trunks and Kholba first arrived, were they aware there'd be four more Androids? As opposed to the two they were acquainted with in their future?"

Kudza looked down at the half-empty glass and took a hard chug.

Kudza holds the now empty glass up to Piccolo. "Imagine that this glass is time. Smooth, with no faults or imperfections in its design. However, add an unknown element or action—" Kudza squeezes the glass, causing it to crack. Not enough to break it, but enough for it to keep its form. "—it then changes."

He sets down the glass. "Tell me, is this glass the same as before or different now?"

Piccolo raised an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

"The glass is this timeline, and the crack is the result of the time machine's first arrival in your timeline." Kudza reaches over and picks up Piccolo's now cold cup of tea. "Now, in its current form, you can expect the glass to accomplish its design in holding a drink, however—" Kudza pours the tea into the glass, and it began to leak onto the table. "—it's not as expected, you see?"

Piccolo took a moment. "I think I understand, but how would you know things would be different when coming back? Why or how would you know if anything was different after the first time Trunks and Kholba came to the past?" he asked.

Kudza smirked. He reaches into his coat to bring out a small tablet. "Because I came back prepared." He sets it on the table, and it begins off a steady beat with three dots on its screen.

"What's this?"

Kudza begins to tap on the tablet's screen. "This is something I whipped up right before I came to the past. I decided to read up and learn what I could before charging into the unknown. And with the time I had to myself, along with an abandoned secret lab left behind by a madman. I learned how to build things. Like this radar." Kudza looks up at Piccolo with a crooked smile. "A radar that tracks the Androids."

Piccolo's eyes go wide. "Then why—"

"—Didn't I go directly to the doctor and take him out there and then? When I first looked at the radar in this timeline, it had four more dots than I cared for. Secondly, if I busted in, with ki blasts blazing, the doctor could have activated the androids in a panic, and I would've had no way to know my power to there's. So, it's as I said. There were too many unknowns." Kudza picks up a chicken drumstick from his tray and munch into it.

Piccolo was still brimming with questions. "That still not an excuse for not revealing yourself. If your intentions are as you say, then why—"

Kudza groaned and leaned towards Piccolo. "By gods—listen!" he pokes the table hard. "You have a sure-fire way straight to the Androids right in front of you. Every minute you spend trying to interrogate me is time the Androids are using to get closer to Son Goku." Kudza leans back in his chair, arms crossed. "Now, I can lead you straight to them, right now! Just to get this done and over with!"

Kudza's jovial attitude faded into a hardened expression. "So, can we stop wasting time?"

Piccolo was no fool. Even with everything that this Kudza laid out as a narrative, it was still suspect. However, he and the other Z-Fighters had no reason to believe Trunks and Kholba when they first arrived. So, it could be true.

It might be a safe bet to keep this one within sight anyway. That way should things turn for the worse; Piccolo has the power to deal with him quickly.

Piccolo sat up from his chair, eyes still locked with his. "Very well. Lead the way, chimera."

Kudza's eye twitched as he finished up his last bit of chicken. "It's Kudza."

He gets up from his chair with the tablet in hand and begins to fly upward towards the skyline. Piccolo follows suit just before the waitress walks out with the bill.

As they're just out of Ginger town, looking back to make sure Piccolo follows, Kudza pulls the tablet up to his face and begins typing.

*_NEW_PROXY_ACQUIRED_FOR_SYTHESIZATION_*

*_HANG_BACK_FROM_TARGETS_*

*_ONLY_ENGADE_AT_MY_CALL_*

Kudza then brings up the Android tracker and hones in on the Androids.

Back on the Lookout, two hours have passed since Bardocks collapsed, and Mr. Popo had prepared a bed for him. Everyone now is waiting anxiously for any updates on his condition.

Especially Raditz.

Just outside of Bardock's current chamber is Raditz pacing back and forth. He is just about at his wit's end. "This… This doesn't make any sense!" Raditz turned to Goku sitting legs crossed on the floor in front of him. "He had to have taken the medicine, right?" He said with a shaky voice.

Goku crossed his arms. "Let Trunks and Krillin figure things out when they meet up with Bulma about the medicine," he said calmly. "The best thing we can do right now is to be by our dad's side."

Raditz flinched and stopped in place. "Is-is that what he really wants?" he said aloud.

Goku looks up at Raditz, almost thinking that the if question was for him. But Raditz didn't meet his brother's eyes.

Instead, he only stared at the floor, with his face contorted and twitching.

Inside Bardocks chamber, Kholba looked over her father while Cassava sat beside the bed preparing a wet face cloth.

Bardock laid there breathing heavily.

"...All the symptoms present point to the Heart Virus," Khobla looked up to her mother. "And you're telling me that he took the medicine?"

"In all the communications we've had together over the three years, he's claimed to have taken it regularly." Cassava began to glare at Kholba. "So why is this happening?" she said forcefully.

Kholba stumbles in response. "W-well, there was little to no margin of error for the patients back in my time. One's that took the medicine! Including the Saiyans that were left. So I don't understand why this would be happening." Kholba looked down at Bardock. "Hopefully, the medicine Bardock had will provide a clue…." She began to trail off.

Cassava followed Kholba's gaze. "If there's anyone that can figure this out, it's Bulma." She looked back up at her. "But you might already know that—huh?"

Looking back to Kholba, Cassava saw her shivering with her head down. "You know, it's strange." She began with a shaky voice. "I know I've never met him before in my time; I was barely a toddler when I had time with him. And I know that it's been at least half a day for me to get to know him. But looking at him… Seeing how he presented himself in both battle and authority… I just know that this is my father. So with the little experience that I've had with him—" Kholba looks up at her mother with tears running down her face. "—Is it fine to have these tears flowing for him?"

Any contempt Cassava had for this girl—no, her daughter, had instantly vanished.

As if an instinct, Cassava went forwarded and pulled her in to comfort her. "Shhh… Shhh, it's alright. It's fine… It's fine." She said while rubbing her head.

"Did I do this to him?" She asked, quivering. "Did I send him to Yardrat just for him to come back and die?!"

Cassava pushed Kholba out to meet her face. "Listen to me; no one expected there to be four more Androids, right? Things are different from what you described in your time. That can't be your fault!"

"B-but the medicine—"

"—The medicine worked for Kakarot! You said he would've died around this time, but he hasn't. So the future changed! And if it worked on him, then there's no reason it wouldn't work on Bardock."

"Then how… How is this—" Kholba sputters as she looks back to Bardock.

"Hey, look at me!" Cassava brings Kholba back to her. "There must be a piece that we're missing. That's why Trunks and the bald one went out for Bulma to get the medicine analyzed."

"But… But," Kholba's voice was beginning to become stable once more. "But the more time we waste on that, the less time dad has left."

Cassava scrunched her face up. "It's—it's all that we can do right now." her voice now solemn.

Bardock lets out a series of coughs, but he calls out a name weakly between them. "Master… Pybara."

As the outside world goes on, the mind of Bardock shifts through its memories.

Two years on planet Yardrat. It took some time for him to completely let go of his more hostile and stern Saiyan nature in favor of an open-minded and altruistic one.

However, he managed to get there, and right now, he was focused on sharpening and expanding his mind.

Bardock is high above, perched on a pike in deep mediation. Trying to activate his future vision. A feat he once thought uncontrollable but has discovered its potential use for combat in recent months.

How he came about this was in a reflex exercise with Master Pybara. He saw the series of rocks flying at him a few seconds in the future and could counter them all. Unfortunately, immediately after, a severe migraine had incapacitated him.

To compensate, Bardock went on to train his mind. Rigorously.

The sound of the wind is only present in Bardocks mind as he focuses.

Master Pybara, floating and observing from a distance, muses to himself. "He has certainly come far in today's session."

Suddenly a sharp pulse echoes through Bardocks mind as a vision begins to fill it.

It was in space. The vision was showing Bardock Yardrat itself. It began to zoom out, away from the planet. It became smaller and smaller in the distance. Until the scene entered into what looked to be an asteroid field, a spaceship was among the roaming rocks. One that Bardock recognized, and it looked to be in bad shape.

The vision shifts again as it shows the interior of the ship. Red lights were flashing overhead, an automated message blaring warnings on repeat:

"HULL_BREACH_DETECTED_*_LIFESUPPORT_UNRESPONSIVE_IN BBBBBBBZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTRRRR*_PLEASE_VACATE_AND_SECURE_TO_SECTIONS_7-B_*_SOS_BEACON_DEPLOYED_AND_ACTIV-TIV-TIV-TIV-TIV-TIVATED"

The scene focuses on a dimly lit room. The lights overhead flickering. Inside were four figures. Three of them were lying on the floor wearing air respirators, but one was sitting against a wall, breathing heavily.

Closer inspection on this man—it was Potot.

Starcha Squad were sitting there, dying on their ship near Yardrat.

Bardock snaps back to reality in a gasp and vaults himself off his pike and into the air. "Master Pybara!"

Bardock goes to tell Pybara of his vision.

Pybara holds his chin. "Hmmm. From your tone Bardock you don't seem that eager to jump in and rescue them."

"Well, that's…." Bardock crossed his arms. "Starcha Squad isn't very fond of me, and I'm pretty sure one of them would rather die than be saved by me."

"Still, are they not valued allies to have?" Pybara asked.

The master was speaking some truth. Whether Bardock wanted to admit it or not, Starcha Squad is a potent force within the Saiyan ranks. Along with inside knowledge and connections to the criminal underworld that boils under the Galactic Patrol.

To lose an asset like that would be…

Bardock lets out an annoyed groan. "I suppose you're right," he grumbled. Bardock brings up his two fingers to his forehead and focuses on the squad's energy.

In minutes, Bardock was able to get the first three members of Starcha Squad out, Gunda, Yukun, and Russat, leaving Potot last in line.

Bardock teleported right back on the ship and approached the heavily breathing Potot.

Potot, in a daze, looks up at the figure coming at him. "Wha—who?" He looked up at Bardock's face. His eyes widen for a moment before closing with a smug smile. "Of course, in my dying moments, the thing I hallucinate is you."

Bardock kneels to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. His face was now slightly surprised and confused. "Hold that thought, Potot," Bardock told him as they both Instant Transmission back to Yardrat.

Potot took a moment to process what just happened. He took a look around him, expecting to still be on the ship but now suddenly on a planet?

He looks up to the looming Bardock. "You?" Potot's face tightens up into a death stare. "YOU!" Potot attempts to get on his feet, but suddenly his face goes lax as he falls face-first into the dirt unconscious.

Bardock puts his hands to his side and sighs. "You see?" He looks back to Pybara. "He'd rather die."

A few days pass as Starcha Squad recovers.

The first to regain consciousness is Gunda, who expresses his gratitude to Bardock. Second, to come out of it was Yukun, then Russat. Potot, who had been severely oxygen-deprived, took more time to recover and has been in a coma for five days.

The Yadratian healers say that his progress has been slow but has been building up speed, very resilient this one. They expected him to wake up by the end of the week, which was almost right, as on the sixth day.

Bardock and the other three Saiyan had been enjoying a hearty meal.

Russat sat and devoured bowl after bowl of alien meats and fruits. Even for Saiyan standards, his speed is remarkable, making Bardock wonder how this kid can stay so toned. The kid must have some super metabolism or something.

Russat just finished his last plate before falling on his back, satisfied. "Aaaah, gotta say, this Yardratian cuisine is the best!"

"You say that about every food you digest, child," murmured Yukun.

"Oh shut it, old man!" Russat sits back up, leans forward towards his plate, and flicks a scrap of meat at the towering man. "Listen, I know my way around food! From the filthiest slums of the Mediani Galactic Ring to the high class, illustrious marble of the Galactic Patrol!"

"We've never been into Galactic Patrol space, and you know that Russat," commented Gunda.

Russat only frowned as he fell back again.

Gunda stifled a small laugh then leaned towards Bardock next to him. "Speaking of the Mediana Galactic, there've some interesting developments," Gunda tells him.

"Oh?"

"Well, I can tell you that there have only been stronger and stronger fighters entering that ring. As we passed through about three months ago, as we attended a finals match, the new champion gave off a power level that placed him in the same region as Nappa. When he was under Frieza's control."

Bardock raises an eyebrow. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"This new rise in fighters only started after you killed Frieza. The rise of the Super Saiyan has shaken the Universe to its core, and people are scared of what's next with the power vacuum you created. As a result, civilizations are scrambling to bring up their equivalent of what they think a Super Saiyan is to defend themselves."

"Other species don't have to worry about Saiyans. If they keep to themselves and let us do our business, then we have no problems.".

Gunda looked directly at Bardock. "I can't tell if that's ignorance or arrogance. But, Bardock, although I'm supportive of your new direction for the Saiyans, there are others—" he looks back to Russat, who's now sleeping on the floor "—who'd want to see the Saiyans rise as a new empire, one that replaces Frieza's. Can you tell me that every Saiyan is on board with you?"

Bardock didn't have an answer. Instead, he looks back to his plate in silence.

Gunda sighs. "Well, in any case, that's currently the status of the Northern Quadrant at the moment. So, after all this 'Android' business is done, I hope you can have a plan for what comes next because I hope that I can retire too somewhere nice and quiet. Maybe a mountainous planet with trees."

Yukun, who was eating a drumstick, looked at Gunda with a stern face. "Gunda, you're in your thirties. You still have a lot of life and fight to give for the Saiyan race."

Gunda shrugged. "Eh, what can I tell ya? I a bit of a… what do they call em? Easy-goer? No, that's not it." Gunda begins tapping his head, trying to think of a title for himself. Then, after a few moments, he stops and looks at Yukun. "Well, what about you, Yukun? You're in your twilight years. Do you have any retirement plans?"

Yukun took a moment. He looked like he was about to reply but only grunted and started eating his meal again.

After the meal, Russat wanted to check up on Potot, so the group decided to swing by Potot's room, but a scream was heard as they approached. The next moment, a Yardratian is thrown through the wall and into the hallway.

Gunda dashes to the newly made hole and sees inside Potot up and about, holding another Yardatian up by the throat.

"Where am I?!" he yelled, angry and confused.

The poor Yardratian winces as Potot's grip on his neck tightens.

Gunda was about to step in, but Bardock had beaten him to the punch. Literally.

Bardock teleported in and immediately grabbed Potot's choking arm. "Let. GO!" He squeezed hard, and Potot's grip loosened from the pain, letting the Yardratian drop to the floor.

The little guy scurried away as in the next moment Bardock sent Potot flying through a few walls to the outside.

On the ground, still dazed from his sudden awakening, he looks back at the building and sees Bardock slowly approaching.

Potot tasted the blood in his mouth and glared intensely at Bardock. "So, that wasn't a dream then," He struggles to stand. "I don't think I asked for help, so why'd you pull me out?"

Bardock stopped and shrugged. "More of a courtesy, actually. And I could've lived with leaving you suffocating on that scrap heap, but then the rest of your squad might've had—different opinions on that. Better to keep you alive so I wouldn't deal with that."

Viens started to bulge across Potot's head. "Are you—ARE YOU MOCKING ME?!" he demanded.

"No, simply stating the facts." Bardock plainly said.

Potot launched himself at Bardock without another word with a punch aimed for his head, but his fist only met air. Bardock had teleported a few feet behind him and crossed his arms.

Potot was at first shocked, but that quickly went back into anger as he spun himself around to Bardock. "How'd you?"

"I've picked up a few new tricks since the last time we met. But it looks like you've stayed as the same angry man that beat his daughter."

The rage that was building before was enflamed now. "TRICKS?" Potot raises his arms and clenches his fists hard. "I'll show you a trick, prophet!" Blue sparks danced around his fists momentarily.

Bardock narrowed his gaze at Potot, now curious, intrigued, and slightly concerned.

What was looking to be the start of an intense battle had quickly been squashed. Gunda rushed in front of Potot and grabbed both of his arms.

"Potot, bring it in!" Gunda demanded, which caught Potot somewhat surprised.

Gunda could tell that Potot was ready to let loose and possibly level the place. So Gunda got closer to Potot's face and said. "Not here," Gunda takes a glance at Bardock. "Not now."

Potot was incensed right now. First, he looked at Gunda, then to Bardock, then back to Gunda. In what felt like an eternity, the moments passed by. Until finally, Potot eases up.

In a grunt, Potot shakes off Gunda's grip on him and slumps down onto the ground, legs crossed and now holding his head with his hand.

Despite Potot's supposed admission, Bardock stands his ground but is quick to complement Gunda. "Good thing at least one of you can keep a calm head."

Gunda didn't immediately face Bardock, but there was a sheepish smile on his face when he did. "Well, the queen, herself, put me on this team for a reason. Ya know?" he laughs.

Potot sighed loudly with his eyes closed. "So, can someone tell me what we're doing here?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me. After all, it was your damaged ship in Yardratian Space." Bardock retorted.

Gunda raised an eyebrow. "You're asking us this now?" he asked.

"I wanted everyone conscious to ask questions. That way, I could interrogate all of you at once."

"Well," Gunda looked at Potot, still sitting there. His eyes were still closed. He didn't want to be bothered, almost as if expecting Gunda to answer, which he begrudgingly obliged. "We were passing through this section of space when the lights and alarms started to blare suddenly. I would have tried to find the issue, except at that moment, I realized the cabin we were in was quickly losing pressure and oxygen. Potot here was quick on the trigger as well. He was the one that sealed the room that you found us in. That gave us enough oxygen to survive 'til you showed up right when that oxygen was nearly depleted. But honestly, Bardock, we don't know how our ship ended up in that state."

Bardock thought for a moment. "Well, we recovered your ship a few days ago, and it turns out, according to your ship's data, that a recently installed… Meat Grinder? Caused a power surge that led to a cataclysm effect for other functions of your ship?"

Both Gunda's and Potots eyes go wide as they turn around and glare at Russat standing in the freshly made hole in the wall next to Yukun.

Russat puts on a nervous frown and steps out of sight of everyone.

Bardock, getting an idea of what happened, holds his forehead and sighs heavily. "Well, in any case. Repairs on your ship will be complete in the next few days, so don't get too comfortable around here. As soon as it's done, I want you—" Bardock addressed Potot exclusively. "—and your squad off Yardrat."

Bardock turns and leaps into the sky away from Starcha Squad without another word.

To Bardocks surprise, Starcha Squad kept true to their word! No major or violent incidents occurred during the ship's repairs. Other than a squabble about a specific meat grinder, everything was peaceful. So then, why was Starcha Squads' final day of stay the tensest?

The other Yardratians had picked up on why Bardock loathed this group of Saiyans in those days of stay and watched from afar as Bardock was seeing them off personally.

After making final preparations for the ship, Gunda spoke with Bardock.

Gunda was the one that approached Bardock with Potot standing behind him, only glaring at Bardock. "Well, I must say Bardock, despite the circumstances that brought us here, it's been a pleasure!" Gunda extends out a hand.

Bardock was hesitant at first as the only thing he was focusing on was Potot behind Gunda.

Gunda then awkwardly retracts his hand. "U-umm… Yeah! Okay then!" He turns and walks back up to the ship.

Gunda passes Potot, who remains in this staredown with Bardock.

Halfway up the ramp, Gunda notices Potot's lack of following and looks back. "Boss?" He then sniffed the air

The air was getting heavy and beginning to give off the smell of ozone.

As Gunda looked closer between the two, he realized how dire the situation was now, and fear started to creep in.

Both Bardock and Gunda were letting off energy profusely. In the height of the moment, sparks danced across the ground from both of them.

Gunda had a lump in his throat but managed to get the words out. "P-Potot, we need to get going." Potot showed no reaction. "Now… Please!"

Gunda was now holding his breath as a deafeningly silent moment passed.

Potot turns to his ship, goes up the ramp, and is out of sight.

Gunda lets out an exhausted yet relieved sigh as he follows behind him.

But before Gunda is gone, Bardock calls at him. "Gunda!"

Gunda looks back, surprised.

Bardock rubs the back of his neck before saying, "You… Take care of yourself, alright?"

Gunda raised his eyes and chuckled to himself. He turns away with a wave.

The ramp folded up, and the hatch was sealed. Starcha Squads' ship rose up and up as Bardock looked on. Bardock watched as their ship was gone from sight, up into the stratosphere, and into orbit.

Now, where the memory was supposed to end, looking up into that lavender-colored sky, it began to twist and morph into a new scene. One which Bardock shouldn't know.

The location Bardock was presented with now was the bridge of Starcha Squads' ship.

Gunda is positioned at the front console with Yukun at his right.

Russat sits on the floor at the far left wall, chowing down on an alien-meat drumstick.

A door opens at the back of the chamber, and Potot enters.

"Well, that went off better than expected," Gunda says, attention still on his console. "Fortunate that Russat's impulses gave us a good alibi."

Yukun, at his side, nodded in agreement.

Russat gave a laugh with his mouth full. "Hmh hmh hmh! Goes to show ya'll what dis mind can do!" his words were incoherent as he continued to munch on.

Yukun sighed.

"Yes, yes. We are aware." Potot walks up to Russat. "But let's not forget—" Potot swipes Russat's drumstick into his hand. "It was your mind that nearly got us all killed." He rips a piece of meat off for himself and drops the drumstick on Russat's head.

Russat gulps. "Y-yeah, sorry, boss."

Potot eats the piece of meat. "But never mind that. Did you do it?"

Russat looks up to Potot and a wicked smile forms on his face. "Well, of course!" Russat gets up onto his feet, rummages through his chest plate, and pulls out a small bottle. "Sugar pills have been planted. Now, all we have to do is wait, right?"

Potot takes the bottle and grins. "All according to plan, right future man?" he says to himself.

The scene now fades as Bardock's mind falls into darkness once more.