Chapter 6: This Man...This Monster.
Conoracha stared down at his defeated opponent, the nameless Saiya-jin who had become the latest warrior to fall before his seemingly indomitable power. He lay in a crumpled pile at Conoracha's dust-covered feet, a pool of dark red blood slowly spreading outwards in a grotesque circle from his damaged head. The crimson liquid seeped into the cracks which had been created when the Saiya-jin made contact with the ground, and steadily began to trickle into the unknown crevices which lay beneath. Conoracha raised his boot and prepared to crush the Saiya-jin into a bloody pulp...
The sound of battle caught his attention, however, and he turned himself around, surprised that his two comrades had not yet triumphed over their respective opponents. It amazed him even more, however, to see that Malachi and Jermotte were, in fact, being overpowered by the other two fighters, and it looked to him like they were close to losing.
"Useless," he growled through clenched teeth. Then, glancing down at Bardock, he snarled.
"Don't go anywhere..."
He disappeared from beside the fallen fighter in a flurry of motion, quickly reappearing high above the ground, where he separated his two fighters from Tenshinhan and Fionn, who were more than a little startled at his remarkable speed. Despite their surprise, they noticed that Conoracha had dropped his guard to beside his body, and they refused to let such a good opportunity go to waste. They attacked almost simultaneously: two vicious punches to either side of his exposed face. The power of the strikes should have crushed his skull. Conoracha didn't even flinch.
Without warning, he lashed out with his left arm and right leg, catching Fionn and Tenshinhan square in the midsection. The impact from the seemingly effortless attack was mind-blowing, causing both fighters to double over in agony. Conoracha then dealt the stricken fighters a blow to the back of the neck, just like he had bone with Bardock, although not just as powerful this time. It was his favourite method of disabling a weaker opponent, and he knew he wouldn't have to hit these two as hard as the Saiya-jin. Nonetheless, it packed sufficient power to send Fionn and Tenshinhan flying to earth, already well on the way to unconsciousness.
They crashed headfirst into the ground, further enlarging the crater caused by Conoracha's initial ki attack. Over a minute passed, and they remained motionless, telling Conoracha that his attack had the desired effect- they were completely out cold.
He raised his right hand above his head and extended a single long, clawed finger. Slowly but surely, a small ball of energy appeared above it: first it was only the size of a small pebble, then a few centimetres in diameter, then a few inches, then a few feet...
He let it grow until it reached a sufficient size, then turned his attentions to the three beaten warriors on the ground below.
"Time to end this. I know you can't hear me, but I hope you enjoy living the rest of eternity as a puff of smoke!".
He laughed insanely, and prepared to unleash the coruscating energy ball in their direction.
Unfortunately for him, he was completely unaware that something of great importance was transpiring in the mind of one of his defeated opponents.
"Am I dead?
I can't be dead. I have to find my son.
Two sons. Two. I have two sons.
Why are they fighting each other? Raditzu! Kakarotto! You two are each other's flesh and blood! What the hell are you doing?
Another vision. Kakarotto, Raditzu, and...the Namek! The Namek again! That's twice I've seen him now. What significance does he hold? He obviously knows my son, but this time it's different. They seem to be...working together now. The hatred in his eyes is still there, but not as intense as before. He and Kakarotto are fighting side by side, against his own brother. Why?
Skip ahead. Kakarotto is injured, badly. His ribs are broken, his lungs are pained. He's restraining his brother, and the Namek is...
No! He's charging up a massive energy attack! Has he betrayed Kakarotto? Something that powerful will kill them both. Kakarotto is encouraging him, telling him to fire. Is he insane? Does he want to die that badly?
I shout until my throat is raw, but they can't hear me. The Namek prepares to release his attack. Raditzu begs for his life.
Kakarotto! Don't do this! For God's sake, you're killing your own brother!
MAKANKOSAPPO!
No!"
"No!". Bardock woke up screaming. Not another damned vision. Not again. Not now.
Blinding pain shot through the back of his head, and he gingerly reached back with one of his gloved hands. It came away covered in a sticky red substance. The sight of his own blood shocked him back to reality, as did the memories of where he was and what had happened to him.
He quickly sat up and looked around him. The terrain was in shambles, and only a few metres away lay two motionless bodies- Fionn and Tenshinhan. His eyes widened, the remainder of his memories came rushing back, and he recalled the recent events with electric clarity.
"Conoracha! He did this! I remember now," he sputtered to himself. His vision was blurred at the edges, and even the smallest impact jarred his damaged head, causing angry red spots to dance in front of his eyes. He stumbled over a piece of rubble, and the pain in his head almost tripled.
"Dammit", he swore. "I can't fight like this..." He twisted his head around as far as his neck would permit, desperately trying to locate Conoracha and his two partners. A sudden flash of light above him caught his attention, and he directed his vision to an area high above the ever-expanding crater. Three figures lay there, silhouetted against the burning red sky.
"Conoracha", he hissed.
The alien paused the enlargement of his ki attack, and for good reason. Far below him, the impossible had just occurred; the Saiya-jin was still alive. More than that, he was able to walk.
"No fucking way!", he roared with genuine anger. "I hit him hard enough to put down a man three times his size! What the fuck is that guy made of!?"
He turned to Malachi and Jermotte, then pointed to Fionn and Tenshinhan.
"Keep an eye on those two. They're not dead yet".
He turned and faced downwards; ready to finish what he had originally believed to be an easy fight. His ki energy gathered behind him, preparing to propel him in whatever direction he so desired. It was a difficult enough technique, but after countless years of use, it simply came as second nature to Conoracha. The energy was gathered and collected in specific areas, then, depending on how powerful the user was, it could be used to levitate and power forward in a move that simulated flight. This incredibly useful technique was called Buku Jhutsu.
Conoracha began his descent towards Bardock, still only a mere black dot from his great distance, until something about the comparatively tiny figure made him think twice about attempting a head-on assault. He stopped and stared haphazardly from a safe proximity, vainly trying to construe just what it was about the Saiya-jin which seemed so out of place.
His arm, that was it. It was extended at an odd angle, and it was...glowing?
He was charging up some form of energy attack.
"Bad strategy," Conoracha thought. "He has to realise just how weak he is. Even if he could somehow gather enough energy to kill me, he'd still have Jermotte and Malachi to deal with."
Logic, it seemed, was not high on Bardock's list of priorities.
"Conoracha!!", he screamed. His right hand contained a small orb of energy which had taken al his remaining strength to create. As weak as he was now, it was all he could do to keep on his feet. This was a final gambit, his last chance for survival...
An inane grin crossed his face.
"Y'know something?" he growled. "I've just realised that I can't beat you as I am now. You're just far too powerful."
He laughed quietly to himself
"But..."
He nodded towards the orb in his hand.
"I have a feeling that this little attack will give me the edge. You might want to surrender now."
Still high in the sky, the alien folded his arms across his chest and smiled confidently. The Saiya-jin's bluff wasn't going to work on him: he was far too weak to attempt any kind of offensive. He was finished, and he knew it.
Bardock gritted his teeth and drew back his arm.
"Die!!"
In a blindingly fast motion he launched the attack in Conoracha's direction, surprising even himself at his battered body's ability to pull off such a strenuous move. He honestly hadn't been sure if he could throw it high enough. But now, everything was going according to plan.
Conoracha didn't move a muscle as the small white ball drew closer and closer; as far as he was concerned, that little piece of crap wouldn't even singe him.
Curiously, he noticed that as the attack came within the remaining 10 metres between them, it seemed to veer off by a few degrees or so. Nothing too obvious, but enough to throw off it's trajectory quite significantly. The orb apparently missed it's intended target, whipping past Conoracha by a distance of several feet.
He laughed harshly.
"What the hell was that supposed to be? Why don't you try aiming with your eyes open next time?"
Even as he finished his derogatory comment, he began to think of how unusual it was for Bardock to miss with what had obviously been his final piece of energy. Sure, he was injured, but Saiya-jins were tough bastards; it should have connected, especially since he himself hadn't made any effort whatsoever to dodge. It was almost as if he wanted to miss. Either that, or he was aiming for...something else.
Conoracha's blood froze.
"Oh shit."
In one truly horrible instant, he realised what the attack was.
He turned to Jermotte and Malachi and roared at the top of his voice.
"Destroy it NOW! Don't let it reach the sky!"
His two partners, however, had neither the reflexes nor the strength to intercept such a quickly moving target, and once it got past them, there were no further obstacles on it's path towards the heavens. It erupted into a flash of pure white light which made Tenshinhan's Taiyouken attack look positively puny in comparison, and Conoracha found he had to cover his eyes in order to prevent his optic nerves from being burned right out of his head.
"No, no, no!! This can't be happening!!" he screamed hysterically.
Far below them on the ground, Bardock simply laughed and soaked it all in. His eyes widened like twin vortexes, and gathered in as much of the light as his body would allow. After only a few seconds, the change had begun...
The maddening pain of his wounds disappeared; the memory of the sensation was stricken from his mind as if it had never happened. His entire body surged with newfound power; his muscles bulged, his bones lengthened, and all complicated thoughts began to fade ever so gently, as if they were simply blown away by a gentle summer breeze. A single ominous mantra began to repeat itself over and over throughout his being: kill the enemy, make them suffer, destroy them all.
His body mass began to increase dramatically, and his armour found that it had to expand to compensate for it's owner's fluctuating size. The whites of his eyes glazed over, the pupils disappeared, and they began to flash the burning red colour of death. Dark black fur sprouted all over his body, and his face began to distend and twist as the transformation reached its apex. His bones snapped and cracked with sickening intensity as his metabolism strained to keep up with all the effects of the Brute Rays his body had absorbed. Within the space of 5 seconds, his height had doubled.
Conoracha simply stared in horrified disbelief. He had never seen a Saiya-jin transform before, although he had heard plenty of whispered stories and fearful tales about the soulless monsters they became during a full moon. And with Bardock's attack perfectly simulating the conditions needed for the change, it looked like he was finally going to get the chance to see one for himself.
He shook himself out of his daze. What the hell was he thinking? He chastised himself. Saiya-jins were nigh on invulnerable when in their transformed stage. If he wanted to survive this fight, he would have to attack now, while the transformation was still incomplete.
"Damn you, you piece of shit! I won't let you win, you hear me!?!"
Conoracha mustered the strongest ki attack at his disposal and fired in down in Bardock's direction. His anger gave him a much-needed boost, increasing the power of the technique. Bardock was either unable to, or did not feel the need to dodge. The beam connected with him with a massive explosion, completely shattering the ground for several metres around. Other attacks would have damaged a much, much wider area, but Conoracha had focused the entirety of the technique's strength on one small target- Bardock, and so the damage was limited to a miniscule area around him.
Conoracha panted heavily, the majority of his energy completely spent. The smoke still billowed around the epicentre of the impact point, obscuring his view of the intended target. Nonetheless, he felt sure that nothing in the entire expanse of Hell could have survived such an attack.
Minutes passed, and there was no sign of either life or movement on the ground, save for the unconscious Fionn and Tenshinhan. Conoracha turned to Malachi and Jermotte with an exuberant yell of triumph.
"Hey, I think I got him..."
Suddenly and without warning, a massive crimson beam of energy tore it's way through the thick grey wall of smoke and headed straight for the three horrified fighters. Using all his remaining energy, Conoracha pushed himself out of it's path, avoiding the deadly assault by the merest fraction of an inch. The heat emanating form the beam was phenomenal, and he could feel his skin sizzling from only the briefest of exposure.
Jermotte and Malachi were not so lucky, however. Their ki levels were far below that of Conoracha's, and as such they never even saw the beam coming. They were hovering about 20 metres away from each other, but the attack was still able to connect with them both at the same time: it was that large.
As the incomprehensible energy washed over them, they barely even had time to collect their thoughts before their skin was shredded away. Blood flowed freely from their open tissues, and evaporated almost immediately in a hazy red cloud. Malachi's neck snapped from the pressure exerted on his already damaged spine, and his head was ripped from its foundations as the attack pushed them back even further. The two fighters landed in an unrecognisable mess over a mile away.
Conoracha feel limply to the ground, his muscles drained of every conceivable ounce of power he had. There was no tone or strength left in his body. Breathing became a problem, as his chest became fatigued, and he realised that he was in real danger of suffocating.
If he lived that long, that is.
The smoke finally cleared from around the crater, revealing what had caused the deaths of Jermotte and Malachi. There Bardock stood, unscathed, and fully transformed, his burning red eyes piercing into the rotten depths of Conoracha's soul.
The alien sputtered weakly, expelling a thick line of blood from his mouth. He realised that his heart was beginning to fail him.
"Ultimate...Saiya-jin...form. Oozaru...
He coughed again, adding to the puddle of dark blood trickling from his mouth.
"No...way."
Bardock walked forward, a low throaty growl rumbling in the back of his massive throat. This was his enemy: kill the enemy, make him suffer. When he reached the fallen fighter, he reached down and took him up in his right hand, which was now bigger than the alien's entire body. He brought him up to eye level, and bared his curved white teeth in an animalistic parody of a smile.
Conoracha summoned his last ounce of strength and spat in the gigantic Oozaru's face. In his current condition, it came out a mixture of blood and saliva.
"Fuck...you."
In the blink of an eye, Bardock tightened his grip on the vanquished fighter in his hand.
Conoracha exploded, his final scream echoing in Bardock's ears.
The Oozaru cast the bloody remains from his hand and roared, a deafening cry which could be heard for over a hundred miles around. His enemy was dead.
Nearby, Fionn stirred from the painful depths of his unconscious slumber. What the hell was that noise? He picked himself up both cautiously and painfully, then turned around to get his bearings. What he saw before him, he would remember for the rest of his life. The sight of the Oozaru, fangs bared, his hand dripping with blood, would have struck fear into the heart of even the most hardened warrior.
As it was, Fionn found the armour the monster was wearing more than a little...familiar.
"Bardock?", he uttered disbelievingly. "Is that you?"
The Oozaru cocked it's eyebrow and stared quizzically at the Kanassa-jin before him. This was not an enemy, he was almost certain of that. He didn't want to hurt him, but...
The anger kept gnawing at him; it was undeniable in this form. All traces of his original personality had been erased; he had never had enough experience in this form to be able to retain them, as certain other Saiya-jin were. His thoughts were expressed as growls, his words as roars. It was all he had as an Oozaru. That...and the anger.
He roared and charged forward, then prepared to slam his fist down on top of the diminutive warrior in front of him. It was the anger which instructed him to do so.
"What the..?" Fionn pushed off the ground with all the strength he could muster, barely managing to avoid the titanic strike.
"Dammit Bardock! What the hell is wrong with you!?!", he yelled from a relatively safe position.
Fionn had never seen his friend in this transformed state before, and as such he had no idea that Bardock was completely unable to control himself as an Oozaru. He didn't know that he was unable to understand him or recognize him as an Oozaru, and because of this, he made a fatal mistake. He tried to reason with him.
"Calm down. The fight's over...".
Bardock heard none of this, and simply did what came as instinct to him: he resumed his attack. He lashed out with his left hand, at a speed which belied his enormous size. It was the last thing Fionn had expected, and as such he had made no preparations to dodge. Everything seemed to shift into slow-motion as the huge fist drew closer and closer.
Fionn found it impossible to move. The combination of his recent injuries, and the unbelievable speed of the attack had rendered him completely helpless. Luckily for him, someone tackled him from behind and pushed them both out of the monster's range: Bardock's hand crashed into the ground an instant afterwards. A massive dust cloud kicked up once again, obscuring his view of the terrain in front of him. It gave his targets a much-needed chance to retreat.
As they rolled to a halt, Fionn looked around to ascertain the identity of his saviour.
It was Tenshinhan, who, although awake, was obviously in worse condition than Fionn himself. He was bleeding copiously from multiple wounds scattered all across his body. Conoracha's vicious assault had taken its toll on them both.
"Thanks," Fionn panted. "I never expected him to attack so quickly."
"No problem," Tenshinhan replied weakly. "They aren't themselves when they're like this. Believe me, I know."
Fionn jerked his thumb at the rampaging Oozaru, who was still sifting through the blinding dust cloud in an attempt to get it's bearings.
"So, how do we stop him? Will he just change back by himself?"
Tenshinhan shook his head.
"No, not unless he's cut off from his source of energy." He pointed upwards at the light from the energy orb which Bardock had fired earlier on. "It should dissipate by itself in around 90 minutes, but I think you'll agree that we really can't afford to wait that long".
Fionn nodded. "Can't we just destroy the source ourselves?"
"Well, I don't know about you..." He paused and clutched his chest painfully, indicating that several of his ribs were broken. "..but I can't even summon enough energy to get to my feet at the moment, never mind fly up there and blast that orb."
Fionn suddenly became aware of his own injuries. Maybe it was the shock of almost being killed by his best friend, but he hadn't noticed them up until that exact moment. Tenshinhan was right; he was in no shape to eliminate Bardock's energy source.
Tenshinhan looked warily at the Oozaru from a distance. The dust was obviously bothering him, as he floundered around within the cloud, thrashing wildly in an attempt to break free from it's blinding embrace.
"Our only chance is to escape now while he can't see us. If we get far enough away, we can just wait for the time to expire."
With a great deal of effort, he picked himself up off the ground and offered his hand to Fionn.
"Let's get moving. He won't be stuck there for long."
Fionn got up, his desperation overriding the pain which wracked his body. The two then hobbled away from the direction of the crater, trying to take as much weight off their shattered legs as possible. Neither of them had the strength to fly, and he only hoped that they could get far enough away to escape Bardock's murderous intentions.
Back in the crater, Bardock's rage increased tenfold. The dust was all around him, irritating his enhanced senses, obscuring his vision, disorientating him, but most importantly, it stood between him and his enemy. He roared in violent frustration, and leapt forward, not even sure what direction he was going in. He just wanted to be out of that infernal cloud.
His single-minded determination paid off, as his massive body burst through the dusty curtain, and landed near the outer limits of the crater.
He roared again and cast his eyes around the nearby terrain. The cloud had already been forgotten by his primitive mind: all that mattered now was his enemy, and whoever had helped him. He wanted their blood...
Far off in the distance, his superbly acute senses caught sight of two small moving figures, heading away from him. That had to be them. He bared his teeth. Time to die...
He opened his mouth as wide as it would go and fired a massive energy blast at the two escaping fighters. It crossed the expanse between them in the barest fraction of a second and tore open a gigantic hole in front of them, impeding their escape route.
Even though it apparently missed them, Fionn and Tenshinhan could feel the incredible impact of the Oozaru's attack as it created an enormous canyon right in front of them.
"Dammit! He's free!" Fionn yelled. "What do we do now?"
Tenshinhan covered his eyes from the rubble kicked up from the explosion.
"Nothing. We can't go around, and we don't have nearly enough energy to fly over. All we can do now is wait for him to get here...and hope for the best."
Fionn stared in disbelief.
"Are you crazy!? He'll just as soon kill us as look at us!"
Tenshinhan didn't reply as the monster drew ever closer.
The Oozaru came within several metres of them, his blood on fire from the thrill of the chase. The smell of his opponent's fear tickled his nostrils. He had purposely missed with his energy blast: he would never kill an opponent from a distance, not when he could do it up close and personal. All he had wanted to do was prevent them from escaping, so that he could get in and finish them off himself. He clenched his hands into fists and drew his arms above his head.
Fionn tried to get through to him one last time.
"Bardock! Don't do it! It's us! Try and remember!"
If the Oozaru recognised him in any way, he gave no indication. He drew his hands back even further and prepared to bring them down on the two helpless warriors.
Fionn finally gave up, and simply stood motionless, waiting for the end to come. There was no way they could survive this attack, not with their current injuries. It was hopeless.
He wondered what it was like to die a second time...
The ape brought his arms forward and once again, everything seemed to switch into slow motion. Tenshinhan faced his demise with a smile on his face. Fionn folded his arms and accepted it like a warrior.
Suddenly, the Oozaru stopped in mid-swing, only several feet from Fionn's head. The monster stood motionless, a look of quiet surprise on his face, all hint of his murderous rage gone. The ape drew it's head back and roared, not a roar of anger, but of intense, blinding pain.
"Why the hell is he tormenting us?" Fionn thought angrily to himself. "Just get it over with already..."
Even over the sound of the ape's deafening cries, Tenshinhan noticed something hit the ground behind the gigantic monster. What was is, he wondered. It looked familiar, somehow...
Suddenly, the realisation hit him...
"His tail! Fionn, his tail's been cut off!!"
Fionn stared behind Bardock, and saw that Tenshinhan indeed spoke the truth. Someone, or something, had removed Bardock's tail, which now wriggled spasmodically on the ground behind him. That was what had caused him such pain.
"Yo..you're right. How the hell did that happen?"
"Don't ask me. But believe me, he's not going to be very happy about it, so let's just get out of here while we have the chance".
Fionn nodded and shuffled as fast as he could possibly move away from the giant ape, who had begun to thrash around in a fresh berserker rage. Stones were upturned and shattered, dust flew everywhere, and the canyon was further enlarged by his maniacal stomping. Fionn noticed that he was losing a lot of body mass, quickly, and his fur was disappearing as well. Bardock's armour shrank to compensate for the loss in muscle and bone, and his features began to revert back to their normal appearance. His eyes faded back to white, and the pupils soon began to reappear. Within the space of 10 seconds, the Oozaru was no more.
When the dust cloud began to clear, a Saiya-jin warrior stood in its place- Bardock, father of Goku.
Completely spent, he collapsed into an unconscious heap.
Fionn and Tenshinhan also collapsed, they had endured all they could take. Panting heavily, they lay on the shattered ground, glad that the threat was finally over.
A sudden thought flashed through Fionn's head and he jerked upright, causing his damaged muscles to scream in protest.
"Wait," he turned to Tenshinhan. "Who the hell cut his tail off?"
"That would be me". A voice boomed from an unknown location. It exuded authority, and Fionn cupped his hands by his side, ready to fire what little energy he had left at the newcomer should he prove hostile. The only problem was...he couldn't see him.
He felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Wait," Tenshinhan smiled. "I recognise that ki. And, if I'm not mistaken, this is the person I wanted you to meet."
He pointed to somewhere within the midst of the dust cloud. Fionn followed his finger, and saw a silhouetted figure walking calmly towards them.
Tenshinhan continued.
"You wanted to know about the limitations of the dragonballs. Well, this is probably the greatest authority in the entire afterlife on that particular subject. Isn't that right..."
The dust cloud cleared, exposing the being who saved them.
"...Piccolo?"
Conoracha stared down at his defeated opponent, the nameless Saiya-jin who had become the latest warrior to fall before his seemingly indomitable power. He lay in a crumpled pile at Conoracha's dust-covered feet, a pool of dark red blood slowly spreading outwards in a grotesque circle from his damaged head. The crimson liquid seeped into the cracks which had been created when the Saiya-jin made contact with the ground, and steadily began to trickle into the unknown crevices which lay beneath. Conoracha raised his boot and prepared to crush the Saiya-jin into a bloody pulp...
The sound of battle caught his attention, however, and he turned himself around, surprised that his two comrades had not yet triumphed over their respective opponents. It amazed him even more, however, to see that Malachi and Jermotte were, in fact, being overpowered by the other two fighters, and it looked to him like they were close to losing.
"Useless," he growled through clenched teeth. Then, glancing down at Bardock, he snarled.
"Don't go anywhere..."
He disappeared from beside the fallen fighter in a flurry of motion, quickly reappearing high above the ground, where he separated his two fighters from Tenshinhan and Fionn, who were more than a little startled at his remarkable speed. Despite their surprise, they noticed that Conoracha had dropped his guard to beside his body, and they refused to let such a good opportunity go to waste. They attacked almost simultaneously: two vicious punches to either side of his exposed face. The power of the strikes should have crushed his skull. Conoracha didn't even flinch.
Without warning, he lashed out with his left arm and right leg, catching Fionn and Tenshinhan square in the midsection. The impact from the seemingly effortless attack was mind-blowing, causing both fighters to double over in agony. Conoracha then dealt the stricken fighters a blow to the back of the neck, just like he had bone with Bardock, although not just as powerful this time. It was his favourite method of disabling a weaker opponent, and he knew he wouldn't have to hit these two as hard as the Saiya-jin. Nonetheless, it packed sufficient power to send Fionn and Tenshinhan flying to earth, already well on the way to unconsciousness.
They crashed headfirst into the ground, further enlarging the crater caused by Conoracha's initial ki attack. Over a minute passed, and they remained motionless, telling Conoracha that his attack had the desired effect- they were completely out cold.
He raised his right hand above his head and extended a single long, clawed finger. Slowly but surely, a small ball of energy appeared above it: first it was only the size of a small pebble, then a few centimetres in diameter, then a few inches, then a few feet...
He let it grow until it reached a sufficient size, then turned his attentions to the three beaten warriors on the ground below.
"Time to end this. I know you can't hear me, but I hope you enjoy living the rest of eternity as a puff of smoke!".
He laughed insanely, and prepared to unleash the coruscating energy ball in their direction.
Unfortunately for him, he was completely unaware that something of great importance was transpiring in the mind of one of his defeated opponents.
"Am I dead?
I can't be dead. I have to find my son.
Two sons. Two. I have two sons.
Why are they fighting each other? Raditzu! Kakarotto! You two are each other's flesh and blood! What the hell are you doing?
Another vision. Kakarotto, Raditzu, and...the Namek! The Namek again! That's twice I've seen him now. What significance does he hold? He obviously knows my son, but this time it's different. They seem to be...working together now. The hatred in his eyes is still there, but not as intense as before. He and Kakarotto are fighting side by side, against his own brother. Why?
Skip ahead. Kakarotto is injured, badly. His ribs are broken, his lungs are pained. He's restraining his brother, and the Namek is...
No! He's charging up a massive energy attack! Has he betrayed Kakarotto? Something that powerful will kill them both. Kakarotto is encouraging him, telling him to fire. Is he insane? Does he want to die that badly?
I shout until my throat is raw, but they can't hear me. The Namek prepares to release his attack. Raditzu begs for his life.
Kakarotto! Don't do this! For God's sake, you're killing your own brother!
MAKANKOSAPPO!
No!"
"No!". Bardock woke up screaming. Not another damned vision. Not again. Not now.
Blinding pain shot through the back of his head, and he gingerly reached back with one of his gloved hands. It came away covered in a sticky red substance. The sight of his own blood shocked him back to reality, as did the memories of where he was and what had happened to him.
He quickly sat up and looked around him. The terrain was in shambles, and only a few metres away lay two motionless bodies- Fionn and Tenshinhan. His eyes widened, the remainder of his memories came rushing back, and he recalled the recent events with electric clarity.
"Conoracha! He did this! I remember now," he sputtered to himself. His vision was blurred at the edges, and even the smallest impact jarred his damaged head, causing angry red spots to dance in front of his eyes. He stumbled over a piece of rubble, and the pain in his head almost tripled.
"Dammit", he swore. "I can't fight like this..." He twisted his head around as far as his neck would permit, desperately trying to locate Conoracha and his two partners. A sudden flash of light above him caught his attention, and he directed his vision to an area high above the ever-expanding crater. Three figures lay there, silhouetted against the burning red sky.
"Conoracha", he hissed.
The alien paused the enlargement of his ki attack, and for good reason. Far below him, the impossible had just occurred; the Saiya-jin was still alive. More than that, he was able to walk.
"No fucking way!", he roared with genuine anger. "I hit him hard enough to put down a man three times his size! What the fuck is that guy made of!?"
He turned to Malachi and Jermotte, then pointed to Fionn and Tenshinhan.
"Keep an eye on those two. They're not dead yet".
He turned and faced downwards; ready to finish what he had originally believed to be an easy fight. His ki energy gathered behind him, preparing to propel him in whatever direction he so desired. It was a difficult enough technique, but after countless years of use, it simply came as second nature to Conoracha. The energy was gathered and collected in specific areas, then, depending on how powerful the user was, it could be used to levitate and power forward in a move that simulated flight. This incredibly useful technique was called Buku Jhutsu.
Conoracha began his descent towards Bardock, still only a mere black dot from his great distance, until something about the comparatively tiny figure made him think twice about attempting a head-on assault. He stopped and stared haphazardly from a safe proximity, vainly trying to construe just what it was about the Saiya-jin which seemed so out of place.
His arm, that was it. It was extended at an odd angle, and it was...glowing?
He was charging up some form of energy attack.
"Bad strategy," Conoracha thought. "He has to realise just how weak he is. Even if he could somehow gather enough energy to kill me, he'd still have Jermotte and Malachi to deal with."
Logic, it seemed, was not high on Bardock's list of priorities.
"Conoracha!!", he screamed. His right hand contained a small orb of energy which had taken al his remaining strength to create. As weak as he was now, it was all he could do to keep on his feet. This was a final gambit, his last chance for survival...
An inane grin crossed his face.
"Y'know something?" he growled. "I've just realised that I can't beat you as I am now. You're just far too powerful."
He laughed quietly to himself
"But..."
He nodded towards the orb in his hand.
"I have a feeling that this little attack will give me the edge. You might want to surrender now."
Still high in the sky, the alien folded his arms across his chest and smiled confidently. The Saiya-jin's bluff wasn't going to work on him: he was far too weak to attempt any kind of offensive. He was finished, and he knew it.
Bardock gritted his teeth and drew back his arm.
"Die!!"
In a blindingly fast motion he launched the attack in Conoracha's direction, surprising even himself at his battered body's ability to pull off such a strenuous move. He honestly hadn't been sure if he could throw it high enough. But now, everything was going according to plan.
Conoracha didn't move a muscle as the small white ball drew closer and closer; as far as he was concerned, that little piece of crap wouldn't even singe him.
Curiously, he noticed that as the attack came within the remaining 10 metres between them, it seemed to veer off by a few degrees or so. Nothing too obvious, but enough to throw off it's trajectory quite significantly. The orb apparently missed it's intended target, whipping past Conoracha by a distance of several feet.
He laughed harshly.
"What the hell was that supposed to be? Why don't you try aiming with your eyes open next time?"
Even as he finished his derogatory comment, he began to think of how unusual it was for Bardock to miss with what had obviously been his final piece of energy. Sure, he was injured, but Saiya-jins were tough bastards; it should have connected, especially since he himself hadn't made any effort whatsoever to dodge. It was almost as if he wanted to miss. Either that, or he was aiming for...something else.
Conoracha's blood froze.
"Oh shit."
In one truly horrible instant, he realised what the attack was.
He turned to Jermotte and Malachi and roared at the top of his voice.
"Destroy it NOW! Don't let it reach the sky!"
His two partners, however, had neither the reflexes nor the strength to intercept such a quickly moving target, and once it got past them, there were no further obstacles on it's path towards the heavens. It erupted into a flash of pure white light which made Tenshinhan's Taiyouken attack look positively puny in comparison, and Conoracha found he had to cover his eyes in order to prevent his optic nerves from being burned right out of his head.
"No, no, no!! This can't be happening!!" he screamed hysterically.
Far below them on the ground, Bardock simply laughed and soaked it all in. His eyes widened like twin vortexes, and gathered in as much of the light as his body would allow. After only a few seconds, the change had begun...
The maddening pain of his wounds disappeared; the memory of the sensation was stricken from his mind as if it had never happened. His entire body surged with newfound power; his muscles bulged, his bones lengthened, and all complicated thoughts began to fade ever so gently, as if they were simply blown away by a gentle summer breeze. A single ominous mantra began to repeat itself over and over throughout his being: kill the enemy, make them suffer, destroy them all.
His body mass began to increase dramatically, and his armour found that it had to expand to compensate for it's owner's fluctuating size. The whites of his eyes glazed over, the pupils disappeared, and they began to flash the burning red colour of death. Dark black fur sprouted all over his body, and his face began to distend and twist as the transformation reached its apex. His bones snapped and cracked with sickening intensity as his metabolism strained to keep up with all the effects of the Brute Rays his body had absorbed. Within the space of 5 seconds, his height had doubled.
Conoracha simply stared in horrified disbelief. He had never seen a Saiya-jin transform before, although he had heard plenty of whispered stories and fearful tales about the soulless monsters they became during a full moon. And with Bardock's attack perfectly simulating the conditions needed for the change, it looked like he was finally going to get the chance to see one for himself.
He shook himself out of his daze. What the hell was he thinking? He chastised himself. Saiya-jins were nigh on invulnerable when in their transformed stage. If he wanted to survive this fight, he would have to attack now, while the transformation was still incomplete.
"Damn you, you piece of shit! I won't let you win, you hear me!?!"
Conoracha mustered the strongest ki attack at his disposal and fired in down in Bardock's direction. His anger gave him a much-needed boost, increasing the power of the technique. Bardock was either unable to, or did not feel the need to dodge. The beam connected with him with a massive explosion, completely shattering the ground for several metres around. Other attacks would have damaged a much, much wider area, but Conoracha had focused the entirety of the technique's strength on one small target- Bardock, and so the damage was limited to a miniscule area around him.
Conoracha panted heavily, the majority of his energy completely spent. The smoke still billowed around the epicentre of the impact point, obscuring his view of the intended target. Nonetheless, he felt sure that nothing in the entire expanse of Hell could have survived such an attack.
Minutes passed, and there was no sign of either life or movement on the ground, save for the unconscious Fionn and Tenshinhan. Conoracha turned to Malachi and Jermotte with an exuberant yell of triumph.
"Hey, I think I got him..."
Suddenly and without warning, a massive crimson beam of energy tore it's way through the thick grey wall of smoke and headed straight for the three horrified fighters. Using all his remaining energy, Conoracha pushed himself out of it's path, avoiding the deadly assault by the merest fraction of an inch. The heat emanating form the beam was phenomenal, and he could feel his skin sizzling from only the briefest of exposure.
Jermotte and Malachi were not so lucky, however. Their ki levels were far below that of Conoracha's, and as such they never even saw the beam coming. They were hovering about 20 metres away from each other, but the attack was still able to connect with them both at the same time: it was that large.
As the incomprehensible energy washed over them, they barely even had time to collect their thoughts before their skin was shredded away. Blood flowed freely from their open tissues, and evaporated almost immediately in a hazy red cloud. Malachi's neck snapped from the pressure exerted on his already damaged spine, and his head was ripped from its foundations as the attack pushed them back even further. The two fighters landed in an unrecognisable mess over a mile away.
Conoracha feel limply to the ground, his muscles drained of every conceivable ounce of power he had. There was no tone or strength left in his body. Breathing became a problem, as his chest became fatigued, and he realised that he was in real danger of suffocating.
If he lived that long, that is.
The smoke finally cleared from around the crater, revealing what had caused the deaths of Jermotte and Malachi. There Bardock stood, unscathed, and fully transformed, his burning red eyes piercing into the rotten depths of Conoracha's soul.
The alien sputtered weakly, expelling a thick line of blood from his mouth. He realised that his heart was beginning to fail him.
"Ultimate...Saiya-jin...form. Oozaru...
He coughed again, adding to the puddle of dark blood trickling from his mouth.
"No...way."
Bardock walked forward, a low throaty growl rumbling in the back of his massive throat. This was his enemy: kill the enemy, make him suffer. When he reached the fallen fighter, he reached down and took him up in his right hand, which was now bigger than the alien's entire body. He brought him up to eye level, and bared his curved white teeth in an animalistic parody of a smile.
Conoracha summoned his last ounce of strength and spat in the gigantic Oozaru's face. In his current condition, it came out a mixture of blood and saliva.
"Fuck...you."
In the blink of an eye, Bardock tightened his grip on the vanquished fighter in his hand.
Conoracha exploded, his final scream echoing in Bardock's ears.
The Oozaru cast the bloody remains from his hand and roared, a deafening cry which could be heard for over a hundred miles around. His enemy was dead.
Nearby, Fionn stirred from the painful depths of his unconscious slumber. What the hell was that noise? He picked himself up both cautiously and painfully, then turned around to get his bearings. What he saw before him, he would remember for the rest of his life. The sight of the Oozaru, fangs bared, his hand dripping with blood, would have struck fear into the heart of even the most hardened warrior.
As it was, Fionn found the armour the monster was wearing more than a little...familiar.
"Bardock?", he uttered disbelievingly. "Is that you?"
The Oozaru cocked it's eyebrow and stared quizzically at the Kanassa-jin before him. This was not an enemy, he was almost certain of that. He didn't want to hurt him, but...
The anger kept gnawing at him; it was undeniable in this form. All traces of his original personality had been erased; he had never had enough experience in this form to be able to retain them, as certain other Saiya-jin were. His thoughts were expressed as growls, his words as roars. It was all he had as an Oozaru. That...and the anger.
He roared and charged forward, then prepared to slam his fist down on top of the diminutive warrior in front of him. It was the anger which instructed him to do so.
"What the..?" Fionn pushed off the ground with all the strength he could muster, barely managing to avoid the titanic strike.
"Dammit Bardock! What the hell is wrong with you!?!", he yelled from a relatively safe position.
Fionn had never seen his friend in this transformed state before, and as such he had no idea that Bardock was completely unable to control himself as an Oozaru. He didn't know that he was unable to understand him or recognize him as an Oozaru, and because of this, he made a fatal mistake. He tried to reason with him.
"Calm down. The fight's over...".
Bardock heard none of this, and simply did what came as instinct to him: he resumed his attack. He lashed out with his left hand, at a speed which belied his enormous size. It was the last thing Fionn had expected, and as such he had made no preparations to dodge. Everything seemed to shift into slow-motion as the huge fist drew closer and closer.
Fionn found it impossible to move. The combination of his recent injuries, and the unbelievable speed of the attack had rendered him completely helpless. Luckily for him, someone tackled him from behind and pushed them both out of the monster's range: Bardock's hand crashed into the ground an instant afterwards. A massive dust cloud kicked up once again, obscuring his view of the terrain in front of him. It gave his targets a much-needed chance to retreat.
As they rolled to a halt, Fionn looked around to ascertain the identity of his saviour.
It was Tenshinhan, who, although awake, was obviously in worse condition than Fionn himself. He was bleeding copiously from multiple wounds scattered all across his body. Conoracha's vicious assault had taken its toll on them both.
"Thanks," Fionn panted. "I never expected him to attack so quickly."
"No problem," Tenshinhan replied weakly. "They aren't themselves when they're like this. Believe me, I know."
Fionn jerked his thumb at the rampaging Oozaru, who was still sifting through the blinding dust cloud in an attempt to get it's bearings.
"So, how do we stop him? Will he just change back by himself?"
Tenshinhan shook his head.
"No, not unless he's cut off from his source of energy." He pointed upwards at the light from the energy orb which Bardock had fired earlier on. "It should dissipate by itself in around 90 minutes, but I think you'll agree that we really can't afford to wait that long".
Fionn nodded. "Can't we just destroy the source ourselves?"
"Well, I don't know about you..." He paused and clutched his chest painfully, indicating that several of his ribs were broken. "..but I can't even summon enough energy to get to my feet at the moment, never mind fly up there and blast that orb."
Fionn suddenly became aware of his own injuries. Maybe it was the shock of almost being killed by his best friend, but he hadn't noticed them up until that exact moment. Tenshinhan was right; he was in no shape to eliminate Bardock's energy source.
Tenshinhan looked warily at the Oozaru from a distance. The dust was obviously bothering him, as he floundered around within the cloud, thrashing wildly in an attempt to break free from it's blinding embrace.
"Our only chance is to escape now while he can't see us. If we get far enough away, we can just wait for the time to expire."
With a great deal of effort, he picked himself up off the ground and offered his hand to Fionn.
"Let's get moving. He won't be stuck there for long."
Fionn got up, his desperation overriding the pain which wracked his body. The two then hobbled away from the direction of the crater, trying to take as much weight off their shattered legs as possible. Neither of them had the strength to fly, and he only hoped that they could get far enough away to escape Bardock's murderous intentions.
Back in the crater, Bardock's rage increased tenfold. The dust was all around him, irritating his enhanced senses, obscuring his vision, disorientating him, but most importantly, it stood between him and his enemy. He roared in violent frustration, and leapt forward, not even sure what direction he was going in. He just wanted to be out of that infernal cloud.
His single-minded determination paid off, as his massive body burst through the dusty curtain, and landed near the outer limits of the crater.
He roared again and cast his eyes around the nearby terrain. The cloud had already been forgotten by his primitive mind: all that mattered now was his enemy, and whoever had helped him. He wanted their blood...
Far off in the distance, his superbly acute senses caught sight of two small moving figures, heading away from him. That had to be them. He bared his teeth. Time to die...
He opened his mouth as wide as it would go and fired a massive energy blast at the two escaping fighters. It crossed the expanse between them in the barest fraction of a second and tore open a gigantic hole in front of them, impeding their escape route.
Even though it apparently missed them, Fionn and Tenshinhan could feel the incredible impact of the Oozaru's attack as it created an enormous canyon right in front of them.
"Dammit! He's free!" Fionn yelled. "What do we do now?"
Tenshinhan covered his eyes from the rubble kicked up from the explosion.
"Nothing. We can't go around, and we don't have nearly enough energy to fly over. All we can do now is wait for him to get here...and hope for the best."
Fionn stared in disbelief.
"Are you crazy!? He'll just as soon kill us as look at us!"
Tenshinhan didn't reply as the monster drew ever closer.
The Oozaru came within several metres of them, his blood on fire from the thrill of the chase. The smell of his opponent's fear tickled his nostrils. He had purposely missed with his energy blast: he would never kill an opponent from a distance, not when he could do it up close and personal. All he had wanted to do was prevent them from escaping, so that he could get in and finish them off himself. He clenched his hands into fists and drew his arms above his head.
Fionn tried to get through to him one last time.
"Bardock! Don't do it! It's us! Try and remember!"
If the Oozaru recognised him in any way, he gave no indication. He drew his hands back even further and prepared to bring them down on the two helpless warriors.
Fionn finally gave up, and simply stood motionless, waiting for the end to come. There was no way they could survive this attack, not with their current injuries. It was hopeless.
He wondered what it was like to die a second time...
The ape brought his arms forward and once again, everything seemed to switch into slow motion. Tenshinhan faced his demise with a smile on his face. Fionn folded his arms and accepted it like a warrior.
Suddenly, the Oozaru stopped in mid-swing, only several feet from Fionn's head. The monster stood motionless, a look of quiet surprise on his face, all hint of his murderous rage gone. The ape drew it's head back and roared, not a roar of anger, but of intense, blinding pain.
"Why the hell is he tormenting us?" Fionn thought angrily to himself. "Just get it over with already..."
Even over the sound of the ape's deafening cries, Tenshinhan noticed something hit the ground behind the gigantic monster. What was is, he wondered. It looked familiar, somehow...
Suddenly, the realisation hit him...
"His tail! Fionn, his tail's been cut off!!"
Fionn stared behind Bardock, and saw that Tenshinhan indeed spoke the truth. Someone, or something, had removed Bardock's tail, which now wriggled spasmodically on the ground behind him. That was what had caused him such pain.
"Yo..you're right. How the hell did that happen?"
"Don't ask me. But believe me, he's not going to be very happy about it, so let's just get out of here while we have the chance".
Fionn nodded and shuffled as fast as he could possibly move away from the giant ape, who had begun to thrash around in a fresh berserker rage. Stones were upturned and shattered, dust flew everywhere, and the canyon was further enlarged by his maniacal stomping. Fionn noticed that he was losing a lot of body mass, quickly, and his fur was disappearing as well. Bardock's armour shrank to compensate for the loss in muscle and bone, and his features began to revert back to their normal appearance. His eyes faded back to white, and the pupils soon began to reappear. Within the space of 10 seconds, the Oozaru was no more.
When the dust cloud began to clear, a Saiya-jin warrior stood in its place- Bardock, father of Goku.
Completely spent, he collapsed into an unconscious heap.
Fionn and Tenshinhan also collapsed, they had endured all they could take. Panting heavily, they lay on the shattered ground, glad that the threat was finally over.
A sudden thought flashed through Fionn's head and he jerked upright, causing his damaged muscles to scream in protest.
"Wait," he turned to Tenshinhan. "Who the hell cut his tail off?"
"That would be me". A voice boomed from an unknown location. It exuded authority, and Fionn cupped his hands by his side, ready to fire what little energy he had left at the newcomer should he prove hostile. The only problem was...he couldn't see him.
He felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Wait," Tenshinhan smiled. "I recognise that ki. And, if I'm not mistaken, this is the person I wanted you to meet."
He pointed to somewhere within the midst of the dust cloud. Fionn followed his finger, and saw a silhouetted figure walking calmly towards them.
Tenshinhan continued.
"You wanted to know about the limitations of the dragonballs. Well, this is probably the greatest authority in the entire afterlife on that particular subject. Isn't that right..."
The dust cloud cleared, exposing the being who saved them.
"...Piccolo?"