Father Returned

Goku and Bardock.. what should've happened..

It'd been a year since everyone had returned from Namek and the nightmare of Freiza. Everyone was settling back down, except Gohan, who couldn't get over the idea that his father was alive somewhere in space. Chi-Chi mulled over the fact, too, that her husband and father of her child was gone. They'd both dream in their sleep that one day he'd return, safe and sound. Gohan also tossed and turned, imagining that Freiza wasn't really dead, but alive and was coming back to get him.

....It was a normal Saturday, boring as always. Gohan would study his brain out then sneak out to train with Krillin. They were in the middle of sparring when they both stopped and looked towards the sky.

"Oh Kami! Do you feel that Gohan?!"

"Y-Y-Yeah. That power level... it's... it's..."

"HUGE! It has to be...."

"... DADDY! My dad finally came back!" Gohan jumped around excitedly. Krillin held his stern expression.

"No, Gohan. That's not your dad. It's too evil to be Goku." Gohan stopped doing the funky chicken and looked on at the sky. He was shaking from head to toe, knowing that there was only one other person it could belong to...

". . .Freiza's alive?"

"It has to be." The two looked at each other, and not saying another word, Gohan ran inside and Krillin took off toward Master Roshi's island.

While Gohan fit back into his Saiyan Armor he'd used on Namek, Krillin was on his way to alert the rest of the senshi of the situation. But by the time he'd reached the island, everyone was standing on the shore looking at the sky. Krillin landed between Yamcha and Tien.

"It's Freiza isn't it?" Yamcha began.

"That's the only person it COULD be," Krillin responded.

"Man, I wish Goku were here right now," Tien muttered to himself.

"Let's go guys," Krillin took off towards Gohan's house with Yamcha, Tien, and Choatzu following closely behind. They landed in front of Gohan's house just as Gohan came out. The group took off without noticing Chi-Chi's screeching to Gohan for him to study instead of "always flying off".

With Krillin leading the way, they reached a rocky clearing and touched down. Vegeta appeared soon enough, as did Piccolo. Vegeta and Yamcha immediately began verbal combat, making everyone else groan. Piccolo stayed completely silent, studying the sky. A few minutes later Bulma showed up along with Puar in her air car.

"Bulma! What are you doing here?!" Yamcha yelled at her.

"Chill out, Yamcha! I just want to see what this guy looks like since you're always talking about him."

"But this is Freiza we're talking about!!"

"Oh shut up! I just want to get a look at him then I'll leave."

"But Bulma!!.."

"Yamcha, you can't do anything about it so SHUT UP!" Bulma glanced around and caught Vegeta smirking at her. To her shock he gave her the thumbs up and turned around. Everyone was silent for a while when suddenly Piccolo jerked his head up.

"Look everybody! Up there!" Everyone followed Piccolo's gaze to the sky where an oblong ship was quickly approaching. They froze in shock as it barely passed over them and landed a mile beyond a hill. Gohan began flying off toward the ship when Vegeta caught his foot.

"No! We have to surpress our energy or he'll sense us!!" Vegeta growled. Suddenly from out of nowhere, Goku appeared with two fingers on his forehead. Everyone stood in shock looking at him. The all ran to him and hugged him, with the exception of Piccolo and Vegeta. Gohan was in tears at the sight of his father. The odd thing everyone noticed about him was the large pack he had by his side. Goku looked very serious.

"Bulma," he began, "I need to use the Dragon Radar. It's very important,"

"Uh, okay. She pulled a case out of her pocket, opened it up, reavealing about ten tiny caspsules. She picked out one marked 6592, popped the top and threw it on the ground. After the smoke cleared, the Dragon Radar sat nicely on the ground. Goku pat the bag he had around his waist. He pushed the button on top of the radar and immediately it showed six dragonballs altogether and another at the top right of the screen. Without another word, Goku put two fingers to his head and disappeared. The entire group was totally confused, and wasn't sure what to do. Even Vegeta was speechless.

Goku appeared right next to the final dragon ball, and picked it up out of the sand and brushed it off. He opened the brown pack he had around his waist and pulled the other six of it's kind out.

"Arise Eternal Dragon!" The balls began to glow and from them a gigantic dragon creature arose, filling half of thhe now-black sky.

"What is your wish?" the Dragon thundered. Goku swallowed in slight fear of the gigantic beast.

"I wish for my father, Bardock, to come back to life," The dragon's eyes glowed red and he grunted. His eyes faded, and he thundered, "Your wish has been granted," The Dragon Balls floated together towards the sky then shot out in different directions. Goku looked around, seeing nothing but sand, sand, and more sand. A dune near him began to move, and then suddenly a body arose from it, sputtering and shaking off sand.

Goku was nearly in tears. It was Barock, his father who he'd never met. He was practically a mirror image of Goku. The same hair, eyes, slightly darker skin and a scar on his left cheek. Wrapped tightly around his waist was a tail, something Goku had lost a long time ago. He wore an old fashioned Saiyan armor and tight black pants. He looked around, confused. Goku was facing his back, so Bardock was unable to see him.

He stumbled around a few seconds, oblivious to Goku. He bent down, picked up a pile of sand, and inspected it in his hands. He let it run through his fingers and it blew away in the wind.

"Oh man... Where am I? I thought I died! Wait... I DID die... I remember being dead. There were little floating ghost things everywhere. But where the HFIL am I now?" He turned around and spotted Goku, smiling with tears stinging his eyes. Barock jumped back defensively and fell into a fighting pose. Goku smirked.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

"You know me."

"That doesn't tell me anything."

"I have your blood."

"No.... it couldn't be..."

"Dad..." Goku said with difficulty, "It's me."

Bardock stood up straight. His mouth hung open in awe. He looked incredibly afraid at first, then his face fell into a smirk. He circled Goku, looking him from head to foot.

"WoW, you're taller than I am now Kakarot. Probably older too... But where are we? Where's Freiza?"

"Calm down Dad. I'll explain everything soon enough," He placed his hand on Bardock's chest and put two fingers to his own forehead. They disappeared and reappeared on the scene where Vegeta was having a slight difficulty with Freiza. Somewhere while Goku had gone, a lavender haired boy had shown up with a sword, ready to fight Freiza, but was crowded out by Vegeta. He had deep blue eyes, deep like the ocean. He donned a Capsule Corp jacket and a sword strapped to his back.

"If I had my damn armor instead of this froofy pink outfit, I'd been WINNING!" Vegeta screamed at Freiza before being kneed in the gut.

Bardock was frozen in shock at the sight of Freiza. The monster that'd killed him and the entire Saiyan race was now standing in front of him fighting the Prince of Planet Vegeta, Vegeta.

Vegeta was thrown into the ground by the now much stronger and faster Freiza. He was now a mechanical beast, with machines on half his head, arms, and everything below his waist. Goku was responsible for that. Freiza's father, King Cold, had found him floating in space after the explosion of Planet Namek and was mumbling something about "stupid monkeys" when he was picked up. He looked even more evil than before. And with him stood King Cold, his father, a much darker purple with horns coming from the top of his head. He looked slightly like Freiza's second form.

Goku picked Vegeta up from where he'd been slammed into the ground and layed him at the feet of Bulma who nursed his wounds. He looked towards Bardock.

"I have a surprise for you." The other fighters suddenly noticed Bardock, a million questions running through their minds about him.

'He looks so much like Goku!' thought Krillin.

'He looks like my dad!' thought Gohan. Vegeta barely sat up and looked at the newcomer. He fell back down in shock. 'It's... It's... Bardock! How is HE here??' he thought with great shock. 'Maybe I should rest a little more. I'm starting to haluccinate...' he layed back down, and rubbed his forehead.

Goku powered up and his hair stuck up and began to wiggle. Vegeta felt the power level going up and sat back up and looked at Goku. Gold flashed through his hair and it shot jagged straight up into the air. His eyes turned a bold aquamarine from the usual black. This was too much for Vegeta and he fainted onto Bulma's lap.

Bardock fell backwards onto the ground, with his jaw dropped. Goku saluted his dad, and turned to fight Freiza. It seemed like the fight was over in seconds because all it really took was a few good punches and kicks and a big Kamehameha from Goku. He nailed both Freiza and the King Cold at once, killing them both with one big blow. The only one not totally shocked was Gohan, being the only one who'd seen his father as a Super Saiyan.

Goku formed a blue ball of ki in his hands and blasted the ship, blowing it to Timbuktu. He powered down, letting his hair fall into it's usual odd style. Bardock stood up and ran to Goku.

"Kakarot! That was awesome! How.. I mean, the hair! You're a Super Saiyan! OH MAN!" Goku put a hand on his dad's mouth to silence him, and turned to the rest of the stunned group.

"I'll be right back everybody. Nobody move!" He vaporized himself and Bardock to an open meadow not far away. He took his hand off his father's mouth.

"Kakarot! How awesome! MY SON IS A SUPER SAIYAN!! This is GREAT! Now we can work together plundering planets since we have a SUPER SAIYAN! Is Vegeta a Super Saiyan? Does everyone on Planet Vegeta know this? We gotta tell your mother and Raditz!! By the way, where are we? And how do you do that little disappearing thing? How did you get so strong? MAN! I don't know where to start!"

"I do... This is going to take a while. I hate to tell you this, but Planet Vegeta is gone."

"What? Are you serious? So I was right..."

"Freiza destroyed it right after he destroyed you. The only ones to survive were Me, Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz. Everyone else is dead."

"The entire Saiyan race is gone?"

"All but me and Vegeta."

"Where's Raditz? You said he survived."

"He came to Earth a long time ago trying to conquer it."

"So we're on Earth?" Goku nodded. "I was wondering why it didn't look familiar."

"Yeah, I've been here since I was a baby. A man named Gohan found me raised me. He named me Goku, since I had no idea who Kakarot was. But Vegeta still refuses to call me Goku. I hit my head on a rock one day and changed completely. I forgot what I came to do. I lived with him for a while until I finally saw the full moon..."

"Uh oh."

"So I lived the rest of my life alone until I met Bulma."

"Bulma... the girl right?... I remember seeing you riding on a motorcycle... No.. that can't be right." Bardock rubbed his head.

"I passed you... on the way here. I knew it was you... You were on your way to Earth, and I was going to destroy Freiza. You were only a kid..." Goku paused, thinking about this for a while, then started exactly where he left off.

"Anyways, Raditz took my son Gohan."

"You have a son?"

"And a wife. Gohan, the little one with black hair?"

"So the Saiyan race lives on."

"Yeah, I guess. So Raditz takes Gohan and then me and Piccolo, the green one, follow him so we can get Gohan back and save the world. Raditz was trying to get Gohan to do what I failed to do when I was sent here."

"Uh huh.. Keep going."

"Well Raditz was too strong, so we worked together. I grabbed him from behind and Piccolo shot a laser beam at him. It killed Raditz and me too."

"So you ARE dead."

"No dad, I'm not dead. I got wished back by the Dragon Balls, the same way you came back."

"The Dragon WHAT??"

"Dragon Balls."

"Poor Dragon..."

"I'll explain that later."

"Ok."

"So while I'm dead, I'm up training with King Kai."

"We had a King Kai. He's East Kai."

"Well, this is West Kai. Anyways, so while I'm dead, I'm training. Meanwhile on Earth, Nappa and Vegeta are arriving to find Raditz and the Dragon Balls."

"Poor Dragon...."

"Dad!"

"Oh, sorry."

"Anyways, only Krillin, Piccolo, and Gohan survive fighing Nappa. But then Piccolo sacrifices himself to save Gohan."

"I'm starting to like this Piccolo guy."

"That's about the time I got back. When I started fighting Nappa, he wasn't strong enough to take me on and Vegeta killed him."

"Sounds like Vegeta. He always was a spoiled brat."

"That's Vegeta for you. So I start fighitng Vegeta..."

"I remember that too. I remember seeing him fighting you and I..."

"and I win, but I let him go because I thought he'd change from being evil. Instead it made him MORE evil, and more determined to kill me. So while I'm healing in the hospital..."

"A hospy what?"

"A great big regeneration tank..."

"Oh ok.."

"So while I'm "regenerating", Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan are on their way to Namek to get the Namek Dragon Balls since Piccolo died. When he or Kami die, the Earth Dragon Balls disappear."

"Kami?"

"The guardian of the Earth. He and Piccolo were originally one person but they separated into good and evil."

"Oh. Keep going.."

"So then when I was healthy enough, I went to Namek to help them. Naturally Vegeta and Freiza were there, but Vegeta was working against Freiza."

"Odd."

"Yeah. So Freiza's already gathered five of the Namek dragon balls, and Bulma has one, and Vegeta has the other. So as long as they're not all in one place, everyone's safe. So then a bunch of confusing stuff happens. I somehow ended up in Captain Ginyu's body, and then he was a frog, then Bulma was a frog... It's all so confusing. And while all this is going on, I'm regenerating again."

"My son is accident prone." Bardock stood up and began walking around, still listening to Goku, but now facing the setting sun.

"Let me finish. So meanwhile, Vegeta is roughing Freiza up pretty good, and Freiza has to go all the way to his final form until he has the upper hand. So by the time I get out there, Vegeta's on the ground dying, and he tells me the truth about Planet Vegeta, and Freiza and... you." Bardock sighed heavily, feeling what was coming next.

"The one thing I remember most of all about that fight was Vegeta crying..." Bardock turned around, surprised. Imagining ANY Saiyan crying was hard, but Vegeta? Goku sighed and paused a moment, then continued.

"Freiza tried to shoot at me but Piccolo threw me out of the way and sacrificed himself the same way he did for Gohan."

"Now I really like this Piccolo guy."

"So then Freiza targets Krillin," Goku lowered his head, and put his hand to his heart, "I also remember very distinctly, Krillin flying into the air.... and...Freiza..." Goku paused to hold back his tears of rage. Gold was wiggling into his hair, and once in a while his eyes would flash green. Bardock put a hand on Goku's shoulder, but pulled it away quickly. Goku's skin was burning with fire. He breathed heavily a few times and continued talking. His voice was extremely shaky.

"After Freiza killed Krillin, I let loose. I completely lost it.... I had no idea who I was anymore. But it was the biggest rush of energy I've ever felt. Dad, it was amazing! Such pure energy flowing from every cell in my body! I didn't even know what had happened... I sent Gohan to take care of Piccolo and Bulma and get them off the planet."

"Where is Bulma at this point in the story?"

"Apparently in some rocky crevice a hundred miles away. So then I get a major upper hand and Freiza tries to blow up Namek. Things got pretty blurry after that. Gohan came back at one point and held up against Freiza for a while. Then Freiza threw these disks at me... I don't remember everything. He got sliced in half by his own attack because he wasn't paying attention."

"HA! He deserves it! I hate that slimy.."

"Dad.."

"Leave me alone."

"So I'm just going to leave him there and let the blast finish him off. Then I hear him begging for his life. It was the most pitiful thing I've ever heard. I couldn't stand just leaving there. And I thought to myself, he could become a better person knowing there's someone out there stronger than he is. So I gave him just enough energy to survive the blast. And as I'm leaving, he tries to kill me one final time. So I turn around and return the favor. I thought he was dead."

"That creature can survive almost anywhere."

"So, I'm glad he's dead, or so I thought, but I need to get out of there. Now right before all that happened, everyone was wished back to life and back to Earth so I didnt have to worry about hurting them."

"Smart move."

"So I'm looking for ANY way out of there. And the one ship I find doesn't work. But at the last split second I found a ship... Probably from one of the Ginyu Forces. I just punched in random numbers and took off in barely enough time to survive. And then I found my way back here, and I realized Freiza was already here so I had to use my Instant Transmission that I learned on Yardrack and I had to zap around real quick getting the dragon balls. I wanted to wish you back so you could see Freiza finally die."

"WoW. So how about Vegeta?"

"He's frustrated because a Super Saiyan is what he always wanted to be, but I never even thought about it. He's going to be mad about this until he achieves it himself or kills me. Either way will suit him." There was a long pause between them and Bardock turned away again. The sun was sinking lower on the horizon, splashing oranges and red and pinks and purples across the entire valley sky. Bardock's shadow was long behind him. Finally he gathered his words to speak, his back still turned from Goku.

"Son. It's so weird to say that now, now that I'm alive again," he chuckled, "You're probably older than me now, eh? Son... Our family continues."

"It's pretty odd for me calling anyone dad. At least you can remember me being alive." Goku said with a slight bit of bitterness.

"Kakar-...Goku, I would have been there. It's not like I died on purpose!"

"I'm not blaming you. I'm just mad things had to happen like they did. I'm happy that Gohan gets to grow up with both of his parents, but in a sense I'm jealous of him, because only now am I meeting you. I missed so many years with you." Bardock breathed, words building and sticking inside his chest. He used all his strength to bring them to the surface.

"I saw all this coming you know. Did Vegeta tell you I could see into the future?"

"Well Freiza did. Plus you "saw" Bulma and my fight with Vegeta."

"Well, when you were very very little, I got struck in the back of the head, and I think it must have hit a nerve or something. But suddenly I was getting wild images in my head, of you, growing up, of Planet Vegeta being destroyed. I went to stop Freiza, knowing he was going to be the entire downfall. Of course I was definitely no match for him even in his lowest form. But right before I died, I got one final vision, of you destroying him... and I died with a smile on my face." Bardock turned to look at Goku, who had stood up. He walked up proudly to his son, and with tears in his eyes, embraced him. This surprised Goku, since he always imagined his father as being a hard core full blooded Saiyan. But father and son were finally reunited. They broke their grasp on each other when they heard a tiny voice from behind them.

"Daddy?" They both turned to see who it was. Gohan was standing there, confused more than anything, with a cute look of innocent surprise knit into his features. Goku held his arms out to Gohan and the tike moved towards his father slowly, eyeing Bardock as an alien. Goku picked Gohan up in his arms.

"Gohan, I'd like you to meet someone very special. This is your Grandpa, Bardock." Bardock smiled awkwardly at his half-saiyan kin as Gohan eyed him suspiciously. Gohan smiled broadly then jumped into Bardock's arms. Goku gave him the thumbs up while hugging his son.

Goku led Barock and Gohan back to the group of confused onlookers. Goku smiled and waved casually, confusing everyone even more. Vegeta was just now getting up from Bulma's healing. He sat up and saw Bardock, and once more fell down to the ground. Bulma rolled her eyes, and popped out her Capsule health kit.

"Attention everybody! I'd like you to meet somebody! He's a personal friend of mine that I just met, but I've known forever." Goku's voice was slightly shaky; he was still trying to hold back tears that were waiting to fall. Bardock stepped forward to be directly next to Goku. Goku put a hand on his back.

"Everybody, I would like you to meet Bardock.... my father." There was a general silent gasp as a response. Questions flew threw all their minds. Vegeta sat up and in a daze walked over to Bardock. For a few moments he inspected him from head to toe, in near disgust. Startling Bardock, he held out his hand. Bardock stared at it for a second, then offered his and they shook. Vegeta smirked.

"Nice to see another familiar face, Vegeta."

"Same. I haven't seen you in ages. You're not the same person."

"Well now you have three people to rule over."

"I AM still the Prince of Saiyans." They exchanged an understanding look and dropped their hands. Bardock looked around and spotted Piccolo, halfway turned away, but still able to be seen.

"Piccolo!" Bardock called out. The green grasshopper looking creature jumped when he heard the voice. It wasn't a familiar one. Piccolo turned around, and surveyed Bardock. He approached Bardock defensively, ready to be attacked at any given moment. Bardock bowed when Piccolo reached him. Bardock stood up straight and looked deep into Piccolo's eyes, studying his face, almost knowing him. He smiled.

"I've heard so much about you. I want to thank you for saving Gohan and Goku. That was very brave of you. I see you're very honorable, Piccolo, and a valuable member of this group." Piccolo smirked in return, not wanting to show all of his appreciation. They both nodded and Piccolo turned and flew off, his cape blowing mightily behind him.

The lavender haired teen who'd mysteriously arrived on the scene stood to one side while the remaining Z fighters came to meet this newcomer Saiyan. He moved to Goku who was watching his father with pride, and pulled him aside.

"Goku, I need to talk to you. It's very important," Goku nodded and they flew to the nearby valley where Bardock and Goku had been only a few moments before.



Goku paced outside the room, flustered from head to toe. Chi-Chi put an arm on his shoulder to calm him down. She tried to look into his eyes, but he held them shut. He couldn't look at anything. Bulma was on the verge of tears, but Vegeta put his arm around her and pulled her close. Gohan sat anxiously awaiting someone to energe from the room. He was now fifteen, in high school, with a girlfriend. Both his parents were alive, so were all of his friends, and he had an A in every class. His life was perfectly fine. No villains trying to take over the world, nothing.

But Goku, his dear father, was writhing in pain. Not physical pain that he felt with Freiza, but emotionally. Every villain was after Goku, trying to eliminate him. He'd never known either of his parents, and he was raised by a man he eventually killed. He was barely forty and he'd already died once, and been attacked by every villain in the known universe. One thing that brought peace to him was the fact that he restored his father to life. But Bardock had contracted Goku's heart disease, and he'd found out a few months too late. There was no way to contact Trunks, the boy who'd given Goku his medicine. Goku had used every last pill to survive. He now felt guilty, since Bardock was with Goku through every second of his sickness. He shouldn't be repayed by death.

A doctor emerged from the room and motioned for Goku to go in. Chi Chi and Gohan were about to follow when the doctor held them back. He closed the door behind Goku and spoke in a slow whisper to prevent Goku from hearing.

"He's not going to make it past midnight. The disease he caught is rare and no doctor on this planet has seen it before... I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. Goku needs some private time with him before he goes." A tear rolled down Chi-Chi's cheek and she fell into Gohan's awaiting arms.

Goku approached the hospital bed with caution. He sat down next to Bardock and glanced at the clock. 11:50. He'd have to be quick. He slipped his hand into the sleeping Bardock's.

"Dad... Dad...." Bardock stirred and opened his eyes wide enough to see. He turned his head towards Goku. He'd never seen his father in such an awful state before. He held tight to his hand, but he could barely feel it's return.

"Goku, it's so nice to have company," Goku's face was entirely serious, not a smile dared try crawl into his face.

"Dad, I have a plan. You don't have to die. If you die of natural causes you can't get wished back. But if I kill you, I can just wish you back! All I'd have to do was just blast you away real quick. It'd have to be less painful than this," Goku sounded slightly excited.

"Goku, it's not that simple. Sometimes people just have to die. What if the dragon balls didn't exist? I wouldn't be here right now. Sometimes you just need to get along with what life puts on your plate."

"I wouldnt be here either. But neither would the entire planet! Vegeta and Nappa would have taken over the world and the planet would have been sold on the black market and eventually Freiza would take over the entire universe! Dad, I can't leave it like that. I can't stop, knowing you could be back. Please don't ask me to do that."

"Goku..."

"Dad, I need you here. I mean, with a little more training you could go Super Saiyan 2! Just think of all that's happened in the past few years. You were there when we destroyed all five androids, and even cell! You stuck with me through that entire battle. And when Gohan finished him off... man. You can't just leave that when you have a chance to come back."

"You can live your life without me. It's not that I don't love living here. Living on Earth was the only part of my life I enjoyed. I love you so much Goku, but sometimes you just have to.... let... things....go..."

"Dad, no.... not now..." The clock began to strike the hours out and Bardock's grip on Goku's hand completely gave out. Goku was frozen in horror.

"Daddy?" The clock clanged twelve and Goku dropped Bardock's hand. He dropped his head to his hands and cried. The tears were unceasing, then the rage began to build. He couldn't suppress it, couldn't hold his anger and frustration back. He calmed himself slightly, but it built inside him again. He kissed Bardock's forehead and ran to the window, threw it open, and blasted off into the star dotted sky.