"FRIEZA! FRIEZA! Come out and fight, coward!"
It had all come down to this. Despite the visions imposed on him by that dying Kannassan, despite the death of his team and the derision of his fellow saiyans, despite even the rumor that Frieza had an absolutely massive power level of five hundred thousand and despite the small army of Frieza Force soldiers that the tyrant kept on his ship, Bardock was making his stand. And it was, apparently, working.
As the bloodied Saiyan, and the remaining Frieza Force soldiers, looked on, the upper hatch of Frieza's ship opened and the tyrant appeared, floating up in his hoverchair. So, the coward refused to even stand to fight, eh? That was just fine with Bardock.
"It's over Frieza! I'm here to deliver a message on behalf of the entire Saiyan race! We quit! We're done being your lackeys!"
Frieza did not respond to this other than to frown and raise a single finger.
"Nothing to say? Then how about I put it more like this!" Bardock conjured up a ball of ki in his hand and began pumping as much of his power into it as he could. If Frieza wouldn't acknowledge him then he'd just make himself clear as only a Saiyan could. Frieza did have a response though; a small pinprick of light began to glow on the tip of that raised finger. Bardock let out half-crazed chuckle at the sight. Maybe in a more sane time in his life he would have been more aware of the gap between him and Frieza, hell, he probably wouldn't even have had the guts to try this stunt at all. But someone needed to do this and if the high and mighty royal family or any of Bardock's fellow Saiyans wouldn't, then he would. Little did Bardock know that King Vegeta III had already been to see Lord Frieza… and the king's body was currently floating around in space somewhere in the vicinity. Prince Vegeta was away on another planet and would be told a little tale of asteroids crashing into the planet and wiping it out. These particular details were unknown to Bardock and again, if he'd known them, he wouldn't have cared any more than he did now. All that mattered in this moment was that one had stood against many, one would stand up to the galactic tyrant and make him pay.
In a more perfect universe, that's how it would have worked. But it was not to be.
"TAKE THIS!" Bardock bellowed and with a last surge of brilliant ki, he hurled his energy ball at Frieza. The Iceling waited until the ball was at just the right distance… and began to laugh. As he laughed, the ball of ki on his finger grew and as it grew, he raised it high over his head. The ball of pure energy swelled larger and larger and merely swallowed and consumed Bardock's own attempt at the attack. Frieza continued that mad cackling even as the ball became two or three times the size of his own spaceship. And then, with a flick of the finger, he launched the attack against planet Vegeta and Bardock, who just so happened to be in the way.
Bardock watched with a horrified and yet detached interest as the yellow-orange energy sphere surged towards him. Mostly it was because he had been stunned into inaction; the prophecy his new "gift" had given him had come to pass, despite his attempts to thwart it.
It had all been for nothing.
The attack struck him and he was consumed within it, the roiling energy tearing away what remained of his armor and then began tearing at his flesh. Bardock let out a howl of mingled rage, frustration and grief, though none could hear it. As he felt his form beginning to give way under the onslaught, his last thoughts were of the space pod that he and his mate, Gine, managed to send off-planet just before all this had happened. And then he was struck with another vision; he saw his son, Kakarot, a man grown, dressed in an unfamiliar orange and blue outfit, facing down a creature that Bardock knew was Frieza, yet looked much different that what the Iceling looked like now. He saw them engage in battle and… Kakarot was fighting Frieza on equal footing! Unfortunately, Bardock did not see how the fight ended. The pain of being torn apart brought him back to reality and as his being was consumed in Frieza's death strike at Planet Vegeta, he cried out, "My son… lives… ON!"
And with that, the last of Bardock's strength, so much more than most Saiyan warriors, was spent. But something happened then that he would never have expected. Forces unknown to both him and Frieza had been watching for this moment and now, with Bardock being consumed in the Death Ball, they acted. Bardock felt all pain leave him but his consciousness was still fading. His last thought before his eyes fluttered close was that darkness was claiming him… very literally.
