"Stop mocking me, damn it!" Bardock cursed, charging at the king of Saiyans while he still maintained his quirky fighting pose. King Vegeta took on a defensive role, using his bent and extended hands looking to swat the rushing offensive of the rebellious Saiyan aside.
It was too subtle and soft of a method to deal with Bardock's brutish strikes. Once a single punch found its way to the center of the king's face, it opened the Saiyan royalty up for a myriad of potential follow-up attacks. Bardock maintained a strong and widespread footing, using the ground beneath his feet as he rotated his entire upper body with powerful crosses that aimed to decimate the king's ribs and leave him pummeled and defenseless.
A kick to King Vegeta's heart area stunned the king of Saiyans, and a followup swat of Bardock's snapping leg across the king's face sent him flying. For a grumbling brute, Bardock moved gracefully in a cannonball-like roll, covering the entire distance between him and the king of the Saiyans in pursuit of his opponent before delivering an upward kick to flip his airborne opponent over and leave him falling flat on his front.
Rising back on his feet, King Vegeta sneered at his relentless opponent as he rushed on ahead with another barrage of power blows. This time the Saiyan king covered himself up, blocking the barrage of fierce attacks from Bardock before delivering some offensive of his own, kicking right to Bardock's shins but the Saiyan had snapped away from King Vegeta's counter-attack and appeared behind the king, unleashing a much quicker yet less focused barrage of strikes. A blinding flurry of blows that overwhelmed King Vegeta with speed instead of power.
Once Bardock completed his flurry, a devastating cross to the jaw sent the king flying again as Bardock rushed back with a sliding uppercut. King Vegeta panted as he rose from the ground, looking to Bardock with a sweaty face and displeased expression of pain.
"Incredible. Your power is simply incredible. I hadn't dreamed that there might be a being in this universe that could deliver such an entertaining show when tangling with me," King Vegeta declared.
"As expected, a spoiled fool…" Bardock spat to the side and fixed his wristband to cover up to his elbow as it had slid down some during the intense clash.
"What was that? Do you mean to tell me I don't deserve the incredible power that I possess right now?" King Vegeta beamed a smile back in Bardock's direction. Just like before, it felt as if his body just wasn't built for such intense and cheerful emotions as the stretch of the Saiyan patriarch's face just didn't look natural.
"That's exactly right. You think that it's my power that's leaving you behind when you, in fact, possess superior physical strength. You can't read the battle for shit, bastard king!" Bardock mocked his opponent to his face. "I noticed it when you blocked my pursuit, you didn't wince even once. Your strength, your toughness, they're all off the charts incredible, but what you're lacking is proper speed. That's where I can open you up and put a real beating on you."
"I see…" King Vegeta beamed another over the top, ecstatic smirk Bardock's way. "Indeed, the speed of your punches felt overwhelming. Though I am curious where you've learned to fight like that."
"You dumbass," Bardock cursed, looking at his king as if he meant nothing in the Saiyan's eyes. "I've been doing your dirty work since boyhood. It's a thrive or perish universe out there, except that Frieza doesn't like it if you're doing too good, so you're in for a disappointment either way. I just found the guts needed to change that!"
"Guts? Let's see just how far mere guts will carry you, Saiyan…" King Vegeta smirked again, vanishing in a violet blur as his aura boomed out from his body.
"Saiyan?" Bardock's stare widened for a second as he leaned to the side to avoid King Vegeta's punch. Although Bardock leaned out of its way, the current of the passing air made Bardock's left eye wince in a twitch in pain as his scar lit up with crimson for the first time since its inception. The king of Saiyans followed up his attack with a rising kick that found itself entrapped in Bardock's grip as the rebellious Saiyan flung his king over his shoulder and snapped in pursuit after his opponent.
King Vegeta vaulted over himself in a backflip, slamming the tip of his foot into something invisible yet tough. After suffering the full brunt of his king's kick, Bardock appeared from his speedy blitz in a daze while King Vegeta chased after his subject with a stunning headbutt right into the depths of Bardock's abdomen before kicking him square in the face with a solebutt and performing six static and extraordinary showy punches before stomping upward at Bardock's face.
"It might be true that your speed is superior to mine, but that doesn't matter much if I land a blow, does it? You just can't handle getting hit by a stronger opponent!" King Vegeta taunted his opponent as he danced around with spinning kicks just to keep his opponent dazed and open for his follow-up flamboyant punching combinations. "King Chop!" King Vegeta yelled out, slashing through the air with a dull thud of his hand as it aimed to split Bardock's skull by slamming him back down into the floor of the royal palace.
Bardock's landing was so nasty that it sent cracks and fissures all across the palace and shattered the windows of the royal hall. More than a few pieces of the hall's ceiling collapsed down and shattered into dusty rubble while King Vegeta landed with his arms crossed over his chest and an exuberant smile lighting up his face. Only one boot of the king touched the ground, his other foot bent behind him as the royal Saiyan lifted his right arm over his head, pointing straight up while his left one wrapped over his abdomen in a showy pose.
"If speed is your only advantage, rebellious Saiyan, I'm afraid that a prolonged engagement favors the side of brute power, doesn't it?" King Vegeta chuckled to himself, speaking in a noticeably higher pitch than before because Bardock's opponent failed to contain his excitement.
"Maybe so…" Bardock muttered as he rose from his fall covered in bruises and wiped the blood off of his face with a quick drag of the back of his hand. "But that's where guts come back into the equation."
King Vegeta pouted his lips, wondering just what his opponent was talking about. Common sense showed that he was just talking a load of bull, but in that case the king had nothing to worry about as after weathering the initial, speedy blitz of his rushing opponent he'd once again find his opening to overwhelm Bardock with raw power. He had better chances of putting his own game plan into motion as his toughness carved the path for much better odds.
"King Kai's Fist!" Bardock clenched his fists, booming with red energy. An aura that enveloped his entire body.
"Huh?" King Vegeta's face lit up in awe of this sudden burst of power. "What an interesting technique!"
The rebellious Saiyan rushed in with a grounded dash, throwing a wayward hook to stop his opponent in place and give him something else to think about instead of plotting his escape or his counterattack. Bardock then transitioned into an uppercut to King Vegeta's gut as the king had left it wide open by crossing a block to protect his face. A wild rush of sweeps, uppercuts and solid punches overwhelmed the king's defenses, littering his body with bumps, but once Bardock became winded, the defensive king staggered back with little torment plaguing his expression. Just a weary panting.
"Power shots, all of them!" King Vegeta muttered in pain. "All of them matching my strength, no, stronger! Impossible!"
"That's right," Bardock put up his fist with a proud proclamation. "Your sturdy fists have earned you this much truth–I'm in cahoots with the Earthlings. They've shown me some interesting techniques back on Earth and involved me in a lot of disgusting brawls that nearly ended up getting me killed, but I'm thankful to them for all that hassle. Without it, I wouldn't have become nearly strong enough to challenge you. I'd have simply hurried into an early grave…"
"Y-You unbelievable scumbag! Did your battle power just grow out of nowhere?!" King Vegeta roared from the bottom of his chest when air at last returned to his lungs. The Saiyan royalty took off, but he didn't rush at Bardock. He dashed across the hall toward a body of a fallen Saiyan elite to scoop up his scouter so he could measure his opponent's power. "Power up to your very limit now, rebel, your king demands it!"
"You shouldn't act so surprised, Vegeta," Bardock smirked with a corner of his lips. "After all, I was always capable of such a thing. It's just that as a Saiyan I had an undiscovered ability to break my very limit and ascend beyond it when the lives of my comrades were in danger. It's ironic that I would discover such an ability on Earth–a planet that taught me a bunch of things. A planet that gave me a lot of stuff to be grateful for: getting a shot at your punk kid, meeting my son, also a battle power beyond my wildest dreams."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Show it to me! That King Kai's Fist or whatever. I want to see the full potential of your body!" King Vegeta demanded.
"You don't get to boss me around, bastard king," Bardock dismissed his king's demands as he looked down at his clenched and bruised fist. "Though just a simple King Kai's Fist won't do. Even Earthling women can do better than that…"
"Fine! If you won't show it to me again, I'll beat it out of you!" King Vegeta extended his hand out, opening his palm as he spread his legs in a wide and balanced stance. After learning a thing or two about martial arts down on Earth, Bardock couldn't understand what the deal was with those ridiculous stances. It hurt a little being bullied around by someone fighting in such an impractical manner.
A tight grip wrapped around Bardock's arms and legs. It felt as if an invisible constrictor wrapped itself around his body too and also choked him out by pressing against his neck too. The rebellious Saiyan found himself able to only make subtle twitches and restrained, useless struggling moves against the telekinetic pressure constricting his body.
The king of Saiyans smirked, thrusting his index and middle fingers of his extended hand up as a resonant howl filled the area. The noise preceded a bright, pink flash and an explosion that blew the lid off of the Saiyan royal palace and shook up every facility inside the esteemed complex. Soldiers began flooding the decimated hall, witnessing a bottomless crater where Bardock just was, but the Saiyan floated in mid-air, breathing heavily as his heart definitely skipped a few beats after nearly being blown up in a paralyzing combination of moves like that.
"You did well to dodge my attack for someone of your default power level. I'm afraid that you won't surprise me with a trick of hiding your true strength, rebel," King Vegeta looked ecstatic, staring down his troubled opponent as he held himself suspended in mid-air in an unstable floating position.
"That's like that pale ghoul shrimp's technique… How in the hell could a lazy bastard like Vegeta learn a complex technique like that?" Bardock grit his teeth. His opponent was flexing on him and his upper hand was rising higher and higher still. It was just frustrating seeing such a gap in stamina, toughness and raw power in a bout that seemed like it would be his from the very beginning. A fight where he had a more solid plan than usual.
"It's King Vegeta, he's fighting that scoundrel Bardock!" one of many elite Saiyans pointed at the airborne Saiyan rebel but King Vegeta lashed out at them, giving them a chilling stare as he swiped his hand in a gesture that told them off.
"Leave now, you fools! Can't you see your king is entertaining himself! I will execute whoever messes with my battle!" King Vegeta growled at his subjects, a bit vexed that he had to reveal bits and pieces of his true power to them, but neither one of them had been scanning the battlefield with their lower tiered scouters. It would have been troublesome explaining why his power had risen multiple times compared to the level of power they all saw him use day to day.
"B-But… King…" an elite Saiyan warrior took a few steps and twitched immediately as a Ki blast left a fist-size hole in the center of his chest. The warrior collapsed and died on the spot, sending frights across the backs of the entire gathered party ready to protect their king. It was King Vegeta's hand that extended and sent that Ki blast, shocking Bardock with how ruthless the leader he abhorred so long was and just how mad he had gone with his own power.
"He dispatched an elite Saiyan warrior with just one attack!" an aghast Saiyan warrior yelped. "I didn't know that even the king himself had such incredible power! I thought only the Ginyu Force or Lord Frieza himself had strength on that level!"
"Flee!" King Vegeta roared, frightening his subjects as they fled the royal hall in panic. "This fight's all mine!"
"I know it will sound crazy, but you sound really off-character for King Vegeta I know by talking like that…" Bardock smirked as he landed on his feet and settled in a more solid fighting stance. "You're acting just like a Saiyan would, which is exactly what I hate you for being incapable of, you groveling idiot."
"Oh, I see… So that's your problem with me on the throne. You think that I'm doing wrong by the Saiyan race by working with Lord Frieza, right? But look at how strong I am still, despite every Saiyan liberty I've given away. Doesn't this enigma just baffle you?" King Vegeta taunted Bardock with a cocky stance of arms wide open, as if inviting Bardock to come right at his king.
"I've long since given up on that brainy stuff! Ever since I thought that Frieza would try exterminating the Saiyans for becoming too powerful, too quick! I guess I just lack the brain for that sort of stuff, so I stuck to my guns and did what I do best. That's exactly what I intend to do right now. Crazy strong or not, whatever you're hiding, it doesn't matter because I'll come at you with everything I have!" Bardock proclaimed, putting up his fists by his sides as he lowered his upper body for a better sense of balance since what he was preparing for was bound to make him dizzy. "King Kai's Fist X5!"
Bardock's hair shot right up instead of hanging to the sides. A pinkish hue reflected off of his armor, his hair and his eyes as the Saiyan rebel exuded incredible power from every fiber of his being. King Vegeta activated his scouter to measure up the power of his opponent now that he drove Bardock to a proper corner where such a show of power felt necessary. Muscles swelled up as the roaring Saiyan rapidly gained body mass by overstepping all boundaries of reason in his chase for a wicked power surge. The crimson aura shined with several times the intensity that it did before.
A pop followed by metallic clanging on the cracked marble floor sent King Vegeta in a sweaty fit. This might have been the first time that Bardock saw fear and a blanked out, senseless look on his opponent's face.
"This… This is impossible. The scouters that I and my elite guard use are the top tier stuff, they're capable of measuring power levels up to half a million!" the frightened king stuttered out.
Bardock's body vanished in a blink. King Vegeta raised his block out of sheer instinct, absorbing the awesome force of impact but failing to contain it as it blasted him flying aside. The king burst out from the royal palace like a ball that's been knocked out of the park, finding no resistance in any artificial barriers standing in its way. The worried crowd found themselves stupefied to see their king carving out a ridge meters deep and a few kilometers long as he laid sprawled out and distressed.
"Shit… I'm still not used fighting like that. My entire body stiffened up from the pain and I couldn't put too much punishment in. That damned thing only lasts for one heartbeat too…" Bardock cursed, staring at his shaking fist as he emerged through the opening in the royal palace that he himself had just made by sending the king flying through it. "The Earthlings taught me this, punk! A way to headbutt all my limits and shatter them by relying on nothing but my own skill and power. That's more Saiyan than you've ever known in your pathetic time ruling us as king!"
"You wild asshole," King Vegeta rose to one knee, shaking in pain as having to use his arms invited him to wince and whine in pain. "Nearly broke my arms with just one hit… If only Lord Frieza didn't have need of me the way I am, I'd take that unbelievable potential in a snap."
"That's King Vegeta fighting that rebel Bardock!" Saiyans muttered one to the other. As the king of wounded pride looked back and around him, all he saw was sharp fingers pointing his way. All those Saiyans mocking him, noting his disadvantageous position.
A burst of pink light enveloped King Vegeta as his own image became impossible to tell from his rising energy. The wounded king shot his hand out, forming a large Ki blast in his hand and sending it across the massive ridge that he had created, headed straight for Bardock.
"Damn it, that King Kai's Fist did a number on my body!" Bardock winced in pain when he tried jumping away from the blast's intended trajectory and purple light became too bright to tell what was going on around him anymore. There just wasn't enough time to think of anything anymore.
"You cocky, rotten Saiyan dogs, I'll take all of you down for mocking me! Milky Cannon!" King Vegeta hollered as he clutched his hand and detonated his blast prematurely, swallowing the entire district up in his fearsome power and rising a mushroom-shaped cloud of flames and dirt that sent scattering across the entire planet and rode the Ki blast's coattails all the way into Planet Vegeta's atmosphere.
Nothing but a gloomy wasteland of dark clouds and a rain of dirty, smoldering debris remained of the royal district of Planet Vegeta. The king of Saiyans panted on one knee, forced to use most of his power and survive the backlash of his own detonated ace technique at the same time. He had never expected such a challenge from a low-class clown like the Saiyan rebel Bardock, and yet… What he expected even less was the amount of mockery that would come his way. The threat of losing his throne keeping which was of paramount importance to Lord Frieza's grip over the Saiyans. This fool nearly cost him this much.
"You've gone and done it, you grubby tyrant…" Bardock's whines filled the air, frightening King Vegeta with the prospect of the Saiyan's survival. "You've killed random Saiyans that had nothing to do with the pummeling that you deserved at my hands! I don't give a shit about being the king but I'm gonna kick your rotten ass right out of that throne!" the Saiyan seethed in fury as he had lost his armor in the massive explosion and found himself to have received some gruesome, bleeding wounds but through sheer hatred continued to press his claim for punishing the rotten king for his countless transgressions against the Saiyan people on.
"Heh," King Vegeta smirked, setting off the creepy senses with his unnatural expression again. "It doesn't matter. I'll just tell everyone that you–a worthless rebel did this. Who do you think they'll believe? An esteemed, mighty Saiyan king with the backing of Lord Frieza himself or a crushed insect, a rebellious terrorist six feet underground?"
"It's a good thing you're such a shithead," Bardock chuckled through a great deal of a physical backlash from his body. "Seeing your rotten face piss me off more and more is the only thing keeping me on my feet right now."
The resolution to settle the fate of Planet Vegeta was about to unfold. The signs of this quiet coup grown to a cataclysmic engagement threatening to swallow the entire homeworld of the Saiyans had spread all throughout the planet, inviting the attention of all parties found in it but also those yet to arrive on the planet.