Chapter 7: Separation Anxiety.
"Ow," Bardock moaned. "My head..."
He heard Fionn's voice from somewhere nearby.
"Hey, I think he's coming around."
Bardock sat up and clutched the back of his neck, still tender from his earlier battle, as were other parts of his battered body.
Wait a second, where was Conoracha!?
He leapt to his feet and did his best to keep from falling over. He failed miserably and ended up sprawled faced first in a crumpled heap on the ground, prompting a muffled laugh from one of his companions. From what he could determine, it was Fionn. Tenshinhan didn't really seem like the laughing type anyway.
"Nice one, twinkle toes. I guess you're back to your old graceful self, eh?"
Bardock grumbled. That was definitely Fionn.
He rolled over uncomfortably and lay on his back, clasping his head with both hands.
"What the hell happened?", he moaned. "My head's killing me, and... where are Conoracha and the other two?"
"Don't worry about it. All three of them are dead. You saw to that after you transformed."
Bardock sat up in surprise.
"Transformed? When did I...?"
He suddenly remembered, and groaned again.
"Oh yeah. Tell me, did I do much damage?"
Both Fionn and Tenshinhan shifted uncomfortably. Neither of them really wanted to inform Bardock that he had come very close to killing them both.
"No...not really," Fionn mumbled awkwardly. He knew that Bardock really wouldn't believe that, and so he decided to change the subject as quickly as possible. He picked up several small, dark pellets which were laid out on a nearby rock.
"Here, take these. They'll heal those wounds of yours in no time."
Bardock stared at him intently. He knew that Fionn wasn't telling him the truth, and he had every intention of finding out why, but first things first...
He took two of the small oval pellets and popped them into his mouth.
A look of extreme distaste crossed his face. They tasted incredibly bitter, and were as hard as two small stones. If he wasn't careful he could easily break a tooth. Nonetheless, as soon as he had swallowed them, he noticed a sudden and dramatic change come over his body.
All his muscles went numb, and he no longer felt the pain from his wounds. Every inch of him tingled, and he felt surprisingly...sleepy, all over again.
"What the hell...was that?", he mumbled with difficulty.
"Hey, don't worry. That drowsiness you're feeling is only temporary. It'll only last while your wounds are being repaired, so it should pass in a few minutes."
Tenshinhan nodded in agreement. "What Fionn just gave you were two seeds from the Pitharos plant, a small vine-like shrub which grows here in Hell. It has remarkable regenerative properties when ingested, but it takes a while to get the work done. It releases a powerful anaesthetic into your body to prevent you from feeling any pain as the wounds heal, but unfortunately, one of the side effects is a temporary dulling of your senses and reflexes which resembles drowsiness. It's also been known to cause erratic behaviour in the afflicted person. Because of that, it's not something you should ever use when in the middle of a battle, but in cases like this it's fine".
Bardock nodded weakly. His vision was beginning to blur, and he found it hard to keep his eyes open. He smiled inwardly.
Maybe he should only have taken one.
Fionn turned to Tenshinhan with a concerned look on his face.
"Are you sure he's okay? It didn't affect us this badly."
"He'll be fine, trust me. Maybe they just have a stronger effect on Saiya-jin physiology, but in my opinion, it's probably just because he took more than us".
They both turned their attentions to Bardock once again. Sure enough, the majority of the lacerations covering his body had been sealed, leaving only the barest marks behind. The sound of his broken bones knitting themselves back together could be distinctly heard even over the rush of the river near which they had chosen to set up camp.
Within the space of a minute, his body had completely healed itself, and the effects of the Pitharos' anaesthetic began to wear off.
Bardock got to his feet and warily took a few steps, almost as if he wasn't sure that his legs would support him. He flexed his muscles and threw a few punches in mid-air, determined to see if is body was indeed back to normal.
So far, so good.
A wide grin cut across his face. His injuries had vanished, and the pain had completely disappeared, even in his head, which had bothered him ever since Conoracha dealt him that fantastic blow to the back of the neck.
Now that he was certain that the Pitharos had done its job, he turned to Fionn, determined to tackle the issue at hand.
"Now," he stated sternly. "I know full well that you're not telling me the truth about just what happened when I transformed during the battle. Even though I can never recall what I do in that form, I know you well enough to know when you're trying to hide something."
Fionn returned his icy stare, determined not to be pressured into revealing any information that he believed would have a negative effect on his friend. After all, who knows how he would react once he learned that he came within a hair's breadth of killing two of his closest allies...
"I know how aggressive we can be in our transformed state, how we can't distinguish friend from foe. Are you trying to tell me that after I killed Conoracha I just transformed back..?
He stopped just short of finishing his sentence. A look of horror suddenly passed over Bardock's face, as if a possible reason for his reversion had just forced it's way into his addled brain. His blood seemed to freeze in his very veins, his lungs seemed to cease functioning, his mind raced as he desperately tried to convince himself that it couldn't be true. The reason for his reversion couldn't be...
He looked back. And his mind descended into red hot rage.
"...My tail...". He turned to Tenshinhan and Fionn with a look of pure hatred on his face.
"Who cut off my tail!!??!"
Both warriors were completely taken aback at Bardock's sudden change of mood. So much so that they couldn't even splutter out a single word in their defence, as they simply stared in shocked amazement as the Saiya-jin advanced on them with murderous intent in his eyes.
He repeated his question, this time with no emotion whatsoever, only a monotonous, eerie whisper.
"Who the fuck cut off my tail?"
For several unbearably long seconds, there was nothing but pure silence. The wind died down, and even the river seemed to stop flowing, almost as it nature itself had been petrified by the sheer anger emanating from the Saiya-jin.
Then...
"I did".
Bardock twisted his head to try and catch a glimpse of the fool who had just signed his death warrant. In the dim light, it took him a while to focus on any one point, but he eventually caught sight of a cloaked figure sitting near the fire which marked the centre of the makeshift camp.
He was sitting cross-legged by the slowly burning embers, his face highlighted intermittently by the dancing lights which the fire cast off. Even while he sat, Bardock could tell that he was extremely tall, and his shoulders seemed inhumanly wide. No, not his shoulders, he thought. He was wearing something, some form of mantle. That was it.
Anyway, it didn't matter one bit to him what he was wearing. He was still going to die.
Bardock roared and flew towards him, his faced contorted in an insane grimace, his fist cocked back to deal the killing blow.
A bestial scream escaped his lips.
In a movement which was too fast for the Saiya-jin to follow, the cloaked figure suddenly moved from his seated position beside the fire, to a standing position right in his path. It was enough to severely shake Bardock's concentration.
In the slit fraction of a microsecond it took him to regain his focus on his target, he remembered thinking..
"Impossible, there's no way he could be that fast."
Then a vice seemed to fasten itself around his throat. For a moment he thought the impact would take his head off. It was like he ran into a steel wall. He couldn't move, he couldn't even breathe.
It was unbearable.
Even through his shock and overwhelming rage, he suddenly realised that the cloaked figure had moved yet again and had intercepted him in mid-flight: it was he who now held him by the throat. And now that he was literally standing at arm's length, Bardock was finally able to see who it was that had caused his reversion...
It was a Namek, and an unusual one at that. His eyes were cold and nard, his brow furrowed in an unforgiving frown. His long white cape whipped majestically around him, and the incredible power he was exerting as he gripped Bardock's neck unmercifully apparently posed no effort to him whatsoever. Were it not for the fact that he had moved only seconds beforehand, the silent warrior could well have been a statue.
Struggling fitfully, Bardock launched a vicious punch at the Namek's jaw. From past experience, he knew that the Namekian jawbone was easily dislocated, so that was where he aimed his assault. His fist connected with the side of the Namek's face with a resounding crack.
He didn't flinch.
Nearby, Fionn moved forward to intervene before things turned nasty, but Tenshinhan's arm shot out and held him back. Fionn jerked around as if to demand an explanation for the obstruction.
Tenshinhan simply shook his head.
Bardock quickly withdrew his hand and grabbed the Namek's wrist, desperately trying to twist himself free of his iron hold. To no avail, however, as he soon discovered that his own strength was no match for his unyielding opponent.
He ceased his struggling and stared him straight in the eye, then opened his mouth and attempted to say something. The Namek's grip made it difficult to speak, and as such his mouth worked soundlessly for a moment, then it twisted and a strange gagging sound came out.
His face contorted and turned red with rage. His eyes grew wide and veins bulged visibly on his forehead. Finally, the words came out in a gurgling croak...
"You...bastard...How...dare...you...!?"
The Namek's face held it's nightmarish stare, and he broke his silence for the first time since the scuffle had began. His grip on Bardock's throat grew even tighter, if such a thing was possible.
"You lost your tail. If you ever talk to me like that again you'll lose something else, got it?"
With a minimum of effort, he lowered Bardock so that his feet were touching the ground, but maintained the hold on his neck.
"Look me in the eye," he continued, "and tell me you don't believe I'll lay you down like a dog if you decide to continue this little fracas."
He released his throat.
Bardock hit the ground, his decidedly unpleasant mood already fading fast. Quickly gathering his bearings, he faced the Namek defiantly, more by way of attempting to regain lost pride than anything else. There was no way he was going to attack him again. After several long minutes, he turned around and sat down beside the dwindling fire.
From a distance, Fionn leaned over to Tenshinhan and whispered...
"Uh, would you care to explain what the hell just happened? A moment ago Bardock was trying to kill him, and now he's taking orders?"
Tenshinhan smiled.
"Well, Piccolo can be quite...persuasive...at times. But honestly, I'd say he's just suffering the after effects of eating the Pitharos. It can drastically affect personality and behaviour for a short while after ingestion, so it's probably what caused this sudden increase in aggression. I held you back because I knew that Piccolo wouldn't seriously harm him, and that he would be able to restrain him until the effects wore off."
Fionn nodded in acknowledgment.
"So, he's back to normal now?"
"Well, I wouldn't go near him for a while yet. It does seem to affect Saiya-jins worse than other species, so just play it safe and don't do anything which would set him off again."
Tenshinhan turned and beckoned for Fionn to follow him.
"Let's just let Piccolo deal with him for the time being."
Fionn silently agreed, and the two warriors picked themselves up and left the halting site, quickly vanishing into the surrounding darkness. They would return when Piccolo's tale had been told...
Back at the fire, the Namek approached the Saiya-jin, who sat with his head in his hands, his body wracked with silent convulsions. The Pitharos were still having an adverse affect on his system.
Piccolo sat at the opposite end of the fire, draped his long white cloak around him, and removed the ornate turban which adorned his head.
"You alright?", were the first words out of his mouth.
Across the smouldering embers, Bardock nodded his head with apparent difficulty. Piccolo didn't believe for a second that he was in good condition at the moment, but he knew from personal experience that Saiya-jin rarely revealed a physical weakness. Out of respect for the man who had fathered one of his best friends, he didn't press the matter.
"That's withdrawal you're currently undergoing. It'll be over in a few minutes, so bear with me, Bardock. Tenshinhan already told me why you're here. In that case, I suggest you listen well to what I have to say..."
He crossed his arms across his chest.
"I want to tell you a story about your son..."
"Ow," Bardock moaned. "My head..."
He heard Fionn's voice from somewhere nearby.
"Hey, I think he's coming around."
Bardock sat up and clutched the back of his neck, still tender from his earlier battle, as were other parts of his battered body.
Wait a second, where was Conoracha!?
He leapt to his feet and did his best to keep from falling over. He failed miserably and ended up sprawled faced first in a crumpled heap on the ground, prompting a muffled laugh from one of his companions. From what he could determine, it was Fionn. Tenshinhan didn't really seem like the laughing type anyway.
"Nice one, twinkle toes. I guess you're back to your old graceful self, eh?"
Bardock grumbled. That was definitely Fionn.
He rolled over uncomfortably and lay on his back, clasping his head with both hands.
"What the hell happened?", he moaned. "My head's killing me, and... where are Conoracha and the other two?"
"Don't worry about it. All three of them are dead. You saw to that after you transformed."
Bardock sat up in surprise.
"Transformed? When did I...?"
He suddenly remembered, and groaned again.
"Oh yeah. Tell me, did I do much damage?"
Both Fionn and Tenshinhan shifted uncomfortably. Neither of them really wanted to inform Bardock that he had come very close to killing them both.
"No...not really," Fionn mumbled awkwardly. He knew that Bardock really wouldn't believe that, and so he decided to change the subject as quickly as possible. He picked up several small, dark pellets which were laid out on a nearby rock.
"Here, take these. They'll heal those wounds of yours in no time."
Bardock stared at him intently. He knew that Fionn wasn't telling him the truth, and he had every intention of finding out why, but first things first...
He took two of the small oval pellets and popped them into his mouth.
A look of extreme distaste crossed his face. They tasted incredibly bitter, and were as hard as two small stones. If he wasn't careful he could easily break a tooth. Nonetheless, as soon as he had swallowed them, he noticed a sudden and dramatic change come over his body.
All his muscles went numb, and he no longer felt the pain from his wounds. Every inch of him tingled, and he felt surprisingly...sleepy, all over again.
"What the hell...was that?", he mumbled with difficulty.
"Hey, don't worry. That drowsiness you're feeling is only temporary. It'll only last while your wounds are being repaired, so it should pass in a few minutes."
Tenshinhan nodded in agreement. "What Fionn just gave you were two seeds from the Pitharos plant, a small vine-like shrub which grows here in Hell. It has remarkable regenerative properties when ingested, but it takes a while to get the work done. It releases a powerful anaesthetic into your body to prevent you from feeling any pain as the wounds heal, but unfortunately, one of the side effects is a temporary dulling of your senses and reflexes which resembles drowsiness. It's also been known to cause erratic behaviour in the afflicted person. Because of that, it's not something you should ever use when in the middle of a battle, but in cases like this it's fine".
Bardock nodded weakly. His vision was beginning to blur, and he found it hard to keep his eyes open. He smiled inwardly.
Maybe he should only have taken one.
Fionn turned to Tenshinhan with a concerned look on his face.
"Are you sure he's okay? It didn't affect us this badly."
"He'll be fine, trust me. Maybe they just have a stronger effect on Saiya-jin physiology, but in my opinion, it's probably just because he took more than us".
They both turned their attentions to Bardock once again. Sure enough, the majority of the lacerations covering his body had been sealed, leaving only the barest marks behind. The sound of his broken bones knitting themselves back together could be distinctly heard even over the rush of the river near which they had chosen to set up camp.
Within the space of a minute, his body had completely healed itself, and the effects of the Pitharos' anaesthetic began to wear off.
Bardock got to his feet and warily took a few steps, almost as if he wasn't sure that his legs would support him. He flexed his muscles and threw a few punches in mid-air, determined to see if is body was indeed back to normal.
So far, so good.
A wide grin cut across his face. His injuries had vanished, and the pain had completely disappeared, even in his head, which had bothered him ever since Conoracha dealt him that fantastic blow to the back of the neck.
Now that he was certain that the Pitharos had done its job, he turned to Fionn, determined to tackle the issue at hand.
"Now," he stated sternly. "I know full well that you're not telling me the truth about just what happened when I transformed during the battle. Even though I can never recall what I do in that form, I know you well enough to know when you're trying to hide something."
Fionn returned his icy stare, determined not to be pressured into revealing any information that he believed would have a negative effect on his friend. After all, who knows how he would react once he learned that he came within a hair's breadth of killing two of his closest allies...
"I know how aggressive we can be in our transformed state, how we can't distinguish friend from foe. Are you trying to tell me that after I killed Conoracha I just transformed back..?
He stopped just short of finishing his sentence. A look of horror suddenly passed over Bardock's face, as if a possible reason for his reversion had just forced it's way into his addled brain. His blood seemed to freeze in his very veins, his lungs seemed to cease functioning, his mind raced as he desperately tried to convince himself that it couldn't be true. The reason for his reversion couldn't be...
He looked back. And his mind descended into red hot rage.
"...My tail...". He turned to Tenshinhan and Fionn with a look of pure hatred on his face.
"Who cut off my tail!!??!"
Both warriors were completely taken aback at Bardock's sudden change of mood. So much so that they couldn't even splutter out a single word in their defence, as they simply stared in shocked amazement as the Saiya-jin advanced on them with murderous intent in his eyes.
He repeated his question, this time with no emotion whatsoever, only a monotonous, eerie whisper.
"Who the fuck cut off my tail?"
For several unbearably long seconds, there was nothing but pure silence. The wind died down, and even the river seemed to stop flowing, almost as it nature itself had been petrified by the sheer anger emanating from the Saiya-jin.
Then...
"I did".
Bardock twisted his head to try and catch a glimpse of the fool who had just signed his death warrant. In the dim light, it took him a while to focus on any one point, but he eventually caught sight of a cloaked figure sitting near the fire which marked the centre of the makeshift camp.
He was sitting cross-legged by the slowly burning embers, his face highlighted intermittently by the dancing lights which the fire cast off. Even while he sat, Bardock could tell that he was extremely tall, and his shoulders seemed inhumanly wide. No, not his shoulders, he thought. He was wearing something, some form of mantle. That was it.
Anyway, it didn't matter one bit to him what he was wearing. He was still going to die.
Bardock roared and flew towards him, his faced contorted in an insane grimace, his fist cocked back to deal the killing blow.
A bestial scream escaped his lips.
In a movement which was too fast for the Saiya-jin to follow, the cloaked figure suddenly moved from his seated position beside the fire, to a standing position right in his path. It was enough to severely shake Bardock's concentration.
In the slit fraction of a microsecond it took him to regain his focus on his target, he remembered thinking..
"Impossible, there's no way he could be that fast."
Then a vice seemed to fasten itself around his throat. For a moment he thought the impact would take his head off. It was like he ran into a steel wall. He couldn't move, he couldn't even breathe.
It was unbearable.
Even through his shock and overwhelming rage, he suddenly realised that the cloaked figure had moved yet again and had intercepted him in mid-flight: it was he who now held him by the throat. And now that he was literally standing at arm's length, Bardock was finally able to see who it was that had caused his reversion...
It was a Namek, and an unusual one at that. His eyes were cold and nard, his brow furrowed in an unforgiving frown. His long white cape whipped majestically around him, and the incredible power he was exerting as he gripped Bardock's neck unmercifully apparently posed no effort to him whatsoever. Were it not for the fact that he had moved only seconds beforehand, the silent warrior could well have been a statue.
Struggling fitfully, Bardock launched a vicious punch at the Namek's jaw. From past experience, he knew that the Namekian jawbone was easily dislocated, so that was where he aimed his assault. His fist connected with the side of the Namek's face with a resounding crack.
He didn't flinch.
Nearby, Fionn moved forward to intervene before things turned nasty, but Tenshinhan's arm shot out and held him back. Fionn jerked around as if to demand an explanation for the obstruction.
Tenshinhan simply shook his head.
Bardock quickly withdrew his hand and grabbed the Namek's wrist, desperately trying to twist himself free of his iron hold. To no avail, however, as he soon discovered that his own strength was no match for his unyielding opponent.
He ceased his struggling and stared him straight in the eye, then opened his mouth and attempted to say something. The Namek's grip made it difficult to speak, and as such his mouth worked soundlessly for a moment, then it twisted and a strange gagging sound came out.
His face contorted and turned red with rage. His eyes grew wide and veins bulged visibly on his forehead. Finally, the words came out in a gurgling croak...
"You...bastard...How...dare...you...!?"
The Namek's face held it's nightmarish stare, and he broke his silence for the first time since the scuffle had began. His grip on Bardock's throat grew even tighter, if such a thing was possible.
"You lost your tail. If you ever talk to me like that again you'll lose something else, got it?"
With a minimum of effort, he lowered Bardock so that his feet were touching the ground, but maintained the hold on his neck.
"Look me in the eye," he continued, "and tell me you don't believe I'll lay you down like a dog if you decide to continue this little fracas."
He released his throat.
Bardock hit the ground, his decidedly unpleasant mood already fading fast. Quickly gathering his bearings, he faced the Namek defiantly, more by way of attempting to regain lost pride than anything else. There was no way he was going to attack him again. After several long minutes, he turned around and sat down beside the dwindling fire.
From a distance, Fionn leaned over to Tenshinhan and whispered...
"Uh, would you care to explain what the hell just happened? A moment ago Bardock was trying to kill him, and now he's taking orders?"
Tenshinhan smiled.
"Well, Piccolo can be quite...persuasive...at times. But honestly, I'd say he's just suffering the after effects of eating the Pitharos. It can drastically affect personality and behaviour for a short while after ingestion, so it's probably what caused this sudden increase in aggression. I held you back because I knew that Piccolo wouldn't seriously harm him, and that he would be able to restrain him until the effects wore off."
Fionn nodded in acknowledgment.
"So, he's back to normal now?"
"Well, I wouldn't go near him for a while yet. It does seem to affect Saiya-jins worse than other species, so just play it safe and don't do anything which would set him off again."
Tenshinhan turned and beckoned for Fionn to follow him.
"Let's just let Piccolo deal with him for the time being."
Fionn silently agreed, and the two warriors picked themselves up and left the halting site, quickly vanishing into the surrounding darkness. They would return when Piccolo's tale had been told...
Back at the fire, the Namek approached the Saiya-jin, who sat with his head in his hands, his body wracked with silent convulsions. The Pitharos were still having an adverse affect on his system.
Piccolo sat at the opposite end of the fire, draped his long white cloak around him, and removed the ornate turban which adorned his head.
"You alright?", were the first words out of his mouth.
Across the smouldering embers, Bardock nodded his head with apparent difficulty. Piccolo didn't believe for a second that he was in good condition at the moment, but he knew from personal experience that Saiya-jin rarely revealed a physical weakness. Out of respect for the man who had fathered one of his best friends, he didn't press the matter.
"That's withdrawal you're currently undergoing. It'll be over in a few minutes, so bear with me, Bardock. Tenshinhan already told me why you're here. In that case, I suggest you listen well to what I have to say..."
He crossed his arms across his chest.
"I want to tell you a story about your son..."