I ain't no hero!

by BigPear

Planet Vegeta has been destroyed, along with most of the Saiyan race. Bardock narrowly avoids his fate by fleeing with his family, but ends up stranded on Earth. However, Earth's unique inhabitants have an uncanny desire to be as heroic as possible, annoying him to no end. After all, how could a planet-conquering warrior like him ever be a hero?

1. The Flight of the Saiyans

"Bardock, slow down! What's going on?"

"Shut up and follow me Gine!"

Clenching onto his wife's hand in an iron grasp, Bardock ran as fast as he could. Gine stumbled behind, barely keeping up while using her free hand to hold their youngest son. Kakarot was rudely awakened from his sleep in his development pod and thrust into a world full of noise and panic, but seemingly sensing the alarm around him, kept remarkably silent.

Bardock's jaw clenched, ignoring the screams of his brethren around him, the last message from King Vegeta repeating in his mind.

"Attention all Saiyans! It is as we feared: Frieza is coming to annihilate the Saiyan race! He gathered us all on planet Vegeta in order to kill off our people in a single move! It pains me to say this, but we can not fight our way out of this situation. He brought the entire Frieza Force, outnumbering us hopelessly. The only hope for our people is to flee. So, I beg of you, my people, fellow Saiyans: run! Run far away, to the farthest reaches of the galaxy! The day will come where we will rise again, but we must survive in order for that day to come. Please, for all our sakes, live to see the next sunrise."

The last few days prior to this event were strange, the first red flag of many. Frieza, out of the blue, recalling all Saiyans back to their home planet? Then, assembling the Frieza Force in the same system? Bardock cursed himself for not seeing the signs sooner, for putting the pieces together while there was still time. Now, he was without a ship, without his team, and down a son. The starports were definitely being monitored, every saiyan knew that. The only hope now was to find attack pods and use those to escape. This caused a predictable rush as every saiyan fought for their own survival, and the race for the pods began.

Pushing off the ground with a powerful leap, Bardock pulled Gine and Kakarot through the sky, flying overhead to the garrison that was their destination. Despite the flood of saiyans that were entering the building, no pods were leaving. That was strange, and Bardock's warrior senses were blaring in alarm. Landing without noise, Bardock took a defensive stance in front of his wife, casting his gaze on the empty dock. Burn marks, blood and a saiyan corpse. A battle took place here. Then, a noise. A box full of materials used to repair the pods trembled.

"Show yourself!" Bardock barked, extending his hand out, ki flooding into his palm. Gine crouched down behind him, clutching Kakarot to her chest protectively.

"F-f-father?" A voice that shocked the family stammered out. A small Saiyan, barely 5 years old, crept out from the box. A long mane of black hair arced from his head, extending well past his waist. A worn, old scouter hung over his left eye. Bruises and cuts decorated his skin, still leaking blood. A mini-suit of armor, dented and bloodied hung from his lanky frame.

"Raditz? What are you doing here? Where is the Prince?" Bardock was happy to see his eldest son, but this was not the time for emotions. Raditz was supposed to be in a unit with Prince Vegeta. If his son was here, then where was the Prince?

"W-we were escorting him off-world when the Frieza Force appeared. I was ordered to stay behind with the other warriors to buy time. We were doing fine for a while... then reinforcing Force members showed up. They took out our captain and then slaughtered the rest. The captain shoved me into this box before he..." Raditz trailed off, looking down in shame, hands clenched at this side. He didn't need to continue.

"You did what you could son. That's all that can be expected of us low-class warriors. But why leave this attack pod dock open? Unless they wanted us to think it was safe. And strike when more Saiyans arrive!" A flash of movement confirmed Bardock's suspicion. He whipped around gripping his right wrist with his left hand to keep it steady. Then he let loose a blast!

Pew!

A bolt of white ki shot out from Bardock's palm, arcing up and blasting the chest of an approaching Frieza Force soldier. Immediately afterwards, swarms of soldiers rose up from their hiding spots, their scouters all trained on Bardock. The Saiyan warrior grit his teeth and assumed a battle stance.

"Raditz, protect your mother and brother! Grahhhhh!" Powering up, enveloped in a brilliant aura of white energy, Bardock flew up and decked a soldier in the face, feeling the familiar sensation of bones and sinew beneath his fist.

The sky was suddenly ablaze with energy bolts and blood, as Bardock flung himself into the brawl in his usual brutal style. Jerking his head left to avoid a ki blast to fire off one of his own, then quickly spinning to block the jabs from two soldiers from below. A brutal axe kick to one's face and a headbut to another sent them plummeting to the ground below. A particularly beefy grunt barreled into Bardock, but a quick flare of ki knocked him back. Right hook, then left, then right again! Three punches was all it took for the big one to fall. But more and more soldiers were coming. Bardock took one look around him to see well over a hundred Frieza soldiers, all screaming and barreling towards him. Bardock set his jaw and rolled his left shoulder out. He would not go without a fight.

"Giant Storm!"

Then the sky lit out in a powerful burst of energy! The ground trembled as a massive exploding wave of ki washed over the Frieza Force, their screams cut short as they were sent flying away, with precious few still conscious. Bardock stood, his calm facade holding, but inside he was amazed. Such power!

"Alright men, get this garrison's pods up and running! We have to evacuate as many as we can!" The newcomer flew down and landed on the dock, with several other Saiyans appearing beside him. Bardock recognized the insignia on their chest. These were the elites, the best of the Saiyan army who served under King Vegeta himself! The leader, the one who blew away an entire battalion of Freiza soldiers in a single attack, stood a good head taller than everyone else. Dark brown hair, a small mustache, a hulking physique, there was no question who he was. It was Nappa, general of the Saiyan army!

Bardock gently touched down on the dock, reaching out to comfort Gine as she tried to push herself to her feet. Raditz nudged his side, bringing Bardock's attention to the main dock. The elites were moving quickly, trying to activate the attack pod's launch sequences. Their leader left them to it, and was striding over to Bardock's family, an unreadable expression on his face. Bardock left Gine to meet him in the middle.

Nappa looked him over. "I recognize you... you're Bardock. One of the most famous low-class warriors around."

"Yes sir." Bardock replied in standard military fashion, but noticed that the usual elitist attitude was missing from the general's voice.

"And you have a family." Nappa mused, his gaze moving towards Gine, Raditz and Kakarot. Bardock instinctively moved to block Nappa's vision.

"Easy. I'm not here to pick a fight. The opposite actually." Nappa sighed and hung his head. "Bardock, I'm not going to lie to you. The situation is bad. We need to get you and your family off world, now."

"What about the royal family? I thought you were assigned to the same unit as my son and the Prince." Bardock questioned.

"That was before King Vegeta discovered the truth behind Frieza's recall. Rest assured, they are already safe. That's why His Majesty allowed me back on the surface." The sound of doors opening caused Nappa and Bardock to turn, as the main doorway to the dock opened up. Sayians poured forth, rushing to the pod stations, where the elites tried to assist in any way they could. Nappa turned his attention back to Bardock, and stuck his hand out as the warrior tried to join the crowd.

"General?" Bardock raised an eyebrow at the elite. For being in such a dire situation, the general was sending some mixed signals.

"I'm going to be honest with you Bardock, the majority of these pods will never leave the atmosphere. Frieza knows all our main ports for ships and docks for pods. He's got legions of soldiers aimed at each, and has ships arriving to eliminate these areas from orbit. We just have to run the chance that 1 pod out of 100 will make it out. If we can get just a few Saiyans off this doomed world, then we will have succeeded. But for you..." Nappa then pointed towards planet Vegeta's wilderness, left untouched as a tribute to the Saiyans' rowdy nature.

"There is an abandoned outpost about 50 klicks from here, leftover from the Saiyan-Tuffle wars. There are some old attack pods there, without the Frieza Force's tampering. They won't be tracked and can launch without a dock. You'll have a better shot at living escaping from there."

"...why are you telling me this?" Bardock had so many thoughts running through his head, but he forced himself to stay calm and make his sentences brief.

"You are a powerful warrior, Bardock, low-class be damned. You can protect yourself and your family, which is more than what I can say for those behind us. We must face the reality that most Saiyans won't be leaving today. It is all that I can do, as an elite, to make sure that those who do live are the ones that can survive." A smile flickered across Nappa's face, but there was no humor behind it. He opened his mouth, but a flash of light shot down from the sky and hit the dock. Seconds later, it exploded.

Pewwww-Booom!

Screams and explosions mixed as metal and blood flew everywhere. The elites shook off the surprise and looked skywards. Nappa exited his defensive pose, with which he protected Bardock and his family and looked up as well. As Bardock directed his eyes up, he saw a chilling sight. A wide, pink figure hovered above them, eyes narrowed in sadistic pleasure, and whose mouth was arced in a malicious smile. Armor stretched over his massive, bulky stomach and he raised his massive tree-trunk like arms, holding his hands together. A ball of pale yellow energy manifested between his palms, growing larger by the second. Barking out a laugh, the pink demon flung his hands down, sending the energy sphere downwards.

BOOOOOOM!

The same Saiyans that flooded out to the docks when the doors opened fled back inside as the energy sphere detonated. The dock was torn apart, with the Saiyan warriors flinging their hands to their heads in an X to try and withstand the blast. When the explosion was over, the dock was in shambles. The pink demon rattled the Saiyan's confidence with more booming laughter.

"Guess you monkeys are smarter than we thought. Who'd ever guess that you would figure out what we were gonna do? It doesn't really matter either way in the end however. If you won't take Lord Frieza's merciful quick death, then I get to have my fun." One of Freiza's most fearsome fighters, Dodoria, gathered more energy in his hands. "Come on boys!"

Descending from the skys were more Frieza Soldiers, even more than the last wave. They darkened the skies with their numbers. The remaining Saiyans prepared themselves for combat.

"Well, no better way to go than fighting a tyrant." Bardock resigned himself to his fate, gathering ki into his fist once more. But Nappa's hand covered his own, dispelling the ki. "General?"

"Bardock." Nappa's voice was gentle, but carried a weight to it that snapped Bardock to attention.

"Get off this planet. Live, for the sake of the Saiyan race. That's an order." Bardock didn't like that order. His Saiyan blood roared for a fight, no matter how hopeless the outcome was. But he knew and Nappa was correct. He had a duty to fulfill.

"Yes sir." Nappa gave him that humorless smile again, before turning back to Dodoria and his rapidly approaching army.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Nappa channeled all his power, all his energy, into a massive flare of power. His mouth opened in a ferocious roar, his eyes alight with purpose, his arms and legs flexed as he powered up. Debris floated around him and the very ground shook as the Saiyan demonstrated his true power.

"Hear me Dodoria, and tremble in fear! I am General Nappa of the Saiyan military! Of the Saiyan elite! If you think that you can just waltz in and take our planet, then you are dead wrong! To me, my warriors! To battle!"

Phooooosh!

With a final flare of power, Nappa flew into the air arms locked forward, moving directly for Dodoria.

"Hooah!" Bellowing out a battle cry, the elites scattered on the deck ignited their own ki, and in auras of energy, flew up to follow their general into combat. Soon the sky became a warzone, with the Saiyan resistance fighting against the unstoppable might that was the Frieza Force.

"Damn elites! Throwing their lives away!" Bardock choked back his pride and grabbed Gine's hand once more and flew off. Raditz thankfully had undergone basic training and had mastered using flight, although at a slower speed than his parents. Bardock made sure to enter the forest under the cover of the trees. It would help reduce their visibility, but Bardock knew that that wasn't the only way they could be tracked. Those damn scouters could pick up his higher than average power level in an instant. But there was no time to think of such matters. Kakarot clung tighter to his mother, and was starting to let out terrified whimpers that became audible as the family escaped the war zone. Their only hope were those unregistered pods left over from an earlier era.

"Is that it Bardock?" Gine spotted a small crumbling structure ahead, barely visible in planet Vegeta's forests. Vines wove through the old walls, and trees and other vegetation sprouted out of the ceiling. This place had not been used in a very long time.

"It better be. We're running out of time before Frieza loses patience and does something drastic." Bardock touched down and scanned the area for any clues to the pods. "Raditz, check the back."

"Yes father!" As his eldest scurried around the ruin, Bardock's anxiety was reaching its boiling point. They needed these pods. Without it, they were as good as dead.

"Shhh, Kakarot. Quiet now, mother is here." Bardock could barely make out his wife trying to comfort his youngest. He started to walk along the walls of the ruins, brushing his hands against the wall that released crumbling dust as his fingers ran alongside the decaying building. Then, his boot hit something metal. Bardock froze. There wouldn't be metal under his boot unless the pods were buried!

Pew!

A blast sent dirt flying, and a hole appeared right in front of Bardock. And along one of the edges of the hole, was a dull white metal plate.

"It's here!" Bardock reached down and grasped the metal with his hands. With a heave, the pod popped out, with decades of dust and dirt forming a cloud that left Bardock hacking and coughing. Setting the first pod down, Bardock called out for Raditz as he unearthed the second. By the time the family was together, four old pods stood before them. Old, but from Bardock could tell, functional. It had been a while since he rode in a pod. He, along with almost every other Saiyan, preferred a ship to the cramped hellhole that was an attack pod. But, as a low-class warrior, he had endured years of pod travel before finally being promoted to a point where he could have a ship. To go back into a pod was not something he wanted, but was necessary at this point.

"Four pods, one for each of us." Gine noted as she moved towards a pod to put Kakarot in it. Then she paused. She turned to her husband, fear in her eyes, lips trembling. "Where shall we go? If planet Vegeta isn't safe, then where?"

"I know a place." Bardock gently nudged her aside to pop open the pod and started punching in coordinates. Soon, a dull green screen lit up, and a small planet about 70% water and populated by carbon-based lifeforms showed up. Bardock started to do the same for the other pods.

"This is a small backwater planet about 2 days travel away. It's the only planet with life in it's solar system, so Frieza shouldn't find us there. It's main inhabitants, humans, look a lot like us from what I could tell from a minute of research, although they have undergone some sort of evolutionary surge. It has let humans acquire a variety of powers, abilities and mutations. However, the average power level of a human is still very low, so I planned on sending Kakarot there for his infiltration mission. As of now, it's our best bet."

"Alright." Gine still sounded uncertain, but she offered no resistance.

"Good, now load in- GINE GET DOWN!" Bardock managed to tackle his wife and covered her and his youngest son with his body as a beam of energy pierced the air where Gine stood moments before. Then the beam hit the pod.

BOOOOOM!

"Hehehehe, just as the rumors said would happen." Dodoria sniggered as he floated down and landed some distance away from the Saiyans. "You know what they say about you Bardock? On your first mission you got sloppy and got that scar on your left cheek, but swore from then on you'd never get caught off guard. And the legendary low-class warrior of legend, Bardock, was never caught off-guard since."

"Dodoria!" Bardock growled as he pushed himself up. He braced himself in front of his wife, letting his power flow to every corner of his body.

"Come now Bardock, there's no need for this. I just want to talk!" Dodoria's grin grew even wider and Bardock's eyes narrowed. Then Dodoria's figure blurred, and then vanished. Bardock's instincts cried out and the warrior jutted out his leg to bring his body down to the ground, avoiding a meaty swing. Twisting his torso, Bardock pivoted around with a guttural roar, planning his heel into the side of Dodoria's neck and flung the pink soldier away. Dodoria slammed into a tree, it's trunk vibrating from the force of the impact.

"Pwah!" Dodoria spat out a glob of blood, as he stood, wiping away the rest with the back of his hand. His evil grin never left his face. "Not bad for a filthy Saiyan! But you just threw away any hope for mercy Bardock! This is the end for you!"

"Gaaaa!" Bardock flew forward, bringing his right arm back for a punch. Dodoria flew at this just as fast, and threw out his own right fist. The two fighter's punches collided with incredible force, which caused both to pause for just a moment to wait for the shockwave to leave their body. Then they jumped back into action, arms flying as they threw out blow after blow, and blocked attack after attack.

Bardock had no idea how much time had passed, or how many attacks he landed. He could vaguely remember Gine grabbing Kakarot to bunker down behind a tree and he couldn't remember where Raditz ran off to. All he knew was that he had underestimated Dodoria. For a pink gumball he was a powerful foe. Surprisingly quick and nimble along with his trademark brutality made for a frightening combatant. Blocking one of his punches was just as bad as taking one, and the blow Dodoria block felt like punching a planet. Unmovable.

"Huh!" Dodoria lashed his arms out and grabbed Bardock's shoulders, clasping his fingers down like iron chains. No matter how much Bardock struggled, he just couldn't break free. Dodoria gave a feral grin as he brought Bardock closer. Just what the Saiyan wanted.

"Take this!" Bardock flung his right knee up, smacking the bottom of Dodoria's jaw. The goon's eyes bulged as his tongue was accidentally caught between his sets of teeth and as he opened to scream in pain, a spurt of blue blood exited his mouth. Bardock took this opportunity to go on the offensive. A quick left jab into the stomach caused the Frieza soldier to bend over. Locked his hands together, Bardock slammed Dodoria's head in a brutal downwards smash. Not letting him have even a moment of respite, Bardock pulled his right arm back before letting loose an uppercut with so much momentum behind it that it sent Bardock into the air in his follow through.

"Urg!" Dodoria arced through the air before landing on his back. As he staggered up, all previous signs of sadistic laughter and smirking had left. Dodoria's face was contorted with pure rage.

"I will kill you!"

Poom!

'Fast!' That was all Bardock could think as he was suddenly put on the defensive. Dodoria had abandoned all semblance of style and technique in favor of what he was known for: brutal strength. Sloppy blows that left him vulnerable to counter-attack, but with enough force behind them to level buildings left Bardock no time to capitalize on Dodoria's mistakes. All he could do was hold his arms up and block. But each hit hurt more than the last, and his arms were literally shaking from each blow. Bardock tried to move, but Dodoria stayed on him like glue.

"Die!" Bardock set his jaw as another blow caused the ground beneath him to indent.

"Die!" Bardock was now very much aware that Dodoria was literally pushing the ground beneath him downwards with his power. Before, Dodoria was in front of him. Now, he was above.

"Die!" Dodoria raised both his arms and Bardock shut his eyes as he braced for the blow.

SLAM!

The ground cracked on impact, spider-webbing all around. Bardock didn't think anything was broken, but his arms were aching and he was bleeding. This wasn't anything like he had heard about Dodoria. Guess no one had ever seen Dodoria angry and truly trying and lived to tell the tale.

"Any last words, Bardock?" Dodoria spat as he raised his arms again.

It wasn't Bardock that responded.

"Double Sunday!" Twin purple energy waves crashed into Dodoria, knocking him off balance. Bardock quickly rolled back, arching his back, before shoving his feet back out with as much force as he could muster. His boots collided with Dodoria's chest and he was once more flung onto his back. Bardock stood up, glancing to the side to see Raditz panting, his arms stuck outwards, trembling with exertion. He was panting, his small frame heaving with every breath, but he managed to grin at his father. Bardock felt an unusual surge of pride for his son.

"You!" Dodoria glaring at the young Saiyan, eyes red with anger. He opened his mouth wide, energy pooling in. "You!"

Bardock's eyes widened. "Raditz get down!"

But Raditz was paralyzed with fear.

"GWAH!" A massive beam of energy shot out of Dodoria's mouth, aimed right at Raditz. This sparked his basic training ingrained in him ever since he could walk and he tried to dive out of the way. But he was too slow, and the beam exploded the ground right behind him, catching him in the explosion. Raditz flew motionless through the air and rolled on landing. There was blood, and he didn't move.

"There goes one brat! Now for dad!" Dodoria turned his attention back to Bardock, seeing the adult Saiyan with a downcast head, trembling. "Don't feel too bad for your son, he got off easy compared to what you got coming!"

"You..." Bardock never felt such rage before in his life. He raised his head, his eyes narrow slits, his arms tensed up so much it hurt.

"Bastard!" Bardock lunged forward with a lariat with a power he and Dodoria didn't know he had within him. The right punch connected with Dodoria's chest, knocking the wind out of him and splaying his arms out. Spinning with the momentum, Bardock once more joined hands but kept his arms in a line, connected and supported by his interlocked hands. Completing the spin, Bardock slammed his left elbow in Dodoira's face, feeling his nose breaking in the process. Aimed at an angle, the elbow blow sent Dodoria flying past the tree tops, into the sky.

"I'll blow you away for good!" Bardock released his hands and flexed his right. Pooling his ki into the hand, it suddenly glowed with blue light. Bardock pulled the hand back, eyes never leaving Dodoria and his hand encased in blue energy. "Final Spirit Cannon!"

The blue orb flew straight and true, out of Bardock's hand and right into Dodoria. The pink soldier flew back with the orb rammed in his chest, screaming in pain. Then the orb detonated in a massive blue explosion, and a pink figure in the distance could be seen flying away. But Bardock wasn't looking.

"Raditz!" Bardock dashed over to his son, who was lying on his side in the dirt. Sliding to a stop, Bardock rolled him over on his back, and gently raised his son's head in his arms. Raditz's eyes flickered, and then opened. Then he spat out blood.

"Good. You're alive." Bardock mentally sighed in relief. Giggling could be heard behind him, as Bardock turned to see Gine emerging from the forest with Kakarot in her arms.

"What's so funny." Bardock growled as he helped his eldest son to stand.

"It's just so out of character to see a male Saiyan care about his child. Or anyone but himself for that matter." Gine started walking over to the pods.

"I guess you rubbed off on me during all our years together." Gine was originally on his team, but quickly demonstrated that she had no fighting skills. No violent drive, no chaotic desire to brawl and having unique empathy for a Saiyan, Gine quickly found herself in desperate need of rescue when she would be sent off on planetary conquering missions. Contrast rescues and time alone broke through Bardock's walls and the two fell in love, a rare feat for any Saiyan and had a family. Bardock stayed stoic and calm, but grew more sociable and caring as a result of Gine. Although his smiles seemed reserved for her alone.

Bardock poked at the crumbling, burning remains of the pod caught in Dodoria's initial attack. "This one is gone. Three left. Gine, can you ride with Kakarot? Me and Raditz can take one each."

"That was what I was going to suggest anyways." A piercing wail was heard around the planet, causing everyone, Saiyan and Frieza Force, to look up. A large circular ship was seen in the upper atmosphere. Freiza's capital ship.

"We need to move, now!" Bardock climbed into his pod, prompting his family to do the same. The doors hissed as they started to close. Bardock punched at some of the screen and buttons on the side to open up communications with his nearby pods. "Just follow me!"

The pods hummed as they started to float above the ground, and started angling skywards. After moments of build-up, the pods shot through the sky like white comments. Nappa's words rang true as the three pods exited planet Vegeta's atmosphere without a hassle, and were soon in the void of space. But the pods' residents weren't happy about this safe departure. They were looking back at their home planet. Freiza's ship opened a hatch in it's ceiling, and Frieza, the Emperor of Evil himself, floated out on a hover pod. Even though the Saiyans were out of earshot, they knew he was cackling.

Frieza hovered closer to the planet, and raised a finger. Just one. And from that finger, a ball of orange energy formed. Then it grew. It grew, and grew, bigger than Freiza, bigger than his ship, bigger than planet Vegeta's moon, until it rivaled the size of the planet itself. Freiza, his eyes aflame with mirth and his mouth openly laughing, flung it at planet Vegeta.

The orange energy ball was like a supernova of energy, as it slowly descended upon the planet, the atmosphere being burned away. Moments later it connected with the surface. Any Saiyans left on the surface would have been incinerated in mere seconds. The crust cracked and gave away, and the planet started to crumble like dust in the wind. The ki ball moved steadily onwards, breaking through the planet until it reached its core. It was hard to tell from Bardock's point of view, but it looked like a second explosion rocked the planet as the last whole part tore itself apart. Once the proud homeworld of the Saiyan race, now chunks of heated rock, floating aimlessly.

"Planet Vegeta!" Raditz's voice broke over the intercom that Bardock forgot he turned on and didn't turn off. "It's... gone."

Bardock could hear tears emerging in his son's voice and Gine's sobs were now audible. Kakarot soon joined her, as even he could tell something had gone terribly wrong.

"Just look forward everyone." Bardock sucked at motivational speeches, but he knew he had to do something. He rested a hand on the side of the pod. "Just keep looking forward."

A press of a button left the three pods flying through space in silence. Bardock crossed his arms and legs and hunkered down, the true magnitude of the situation crashing onto him. The full might of the Frieza Empire would be hunting the remaining Saiyans, however many were left. The royal family and his own, that was all Bardock knew for sure. Did his younger brother, Turles, get caught up in this? What about Tora, Fasha, Borgos and Shugesh, his old squad?

Even though communications had been turned off, he could hear his family crying.

2 Days of space travel later: Earth

"Damnit, I hate these hellish pods!" Bardock shot a small blast of ki at the pod's door, blasting it off its hinges. Placing his hands on the edges, Bardock shoved himself out, cracking his neck.

A quick survey of his surroundings gave good signs. The three pods had landed without a hitch in some sort of forest area of a small island nation off the coast of the largest continental body. It may be due to their lack of space travel, but it appears no one had noticed their arrival. Bardock climbed out of the impact crater of his pod to walk to the sounds of a crying infant. Sliding down another crater, Bardock lifted up the door of the second pod, from which Gine carried out Kakarot, who was sniffling.

"Thank you Bardock." Gine gave her husband a small smile.

"Don't thank me just yet. Thank me when we are safe." Bardock leapt up and jogged to the third pod, where Raditz was pushing himself out, groaning in pain. He stood and patted himself down, before snapping to attention as his father eyed him. But Bardock didn't say a word and just beckoned for him to follow him.

The family gathered in their small clearing, stretching their bodies and unfurling their tails from their waists. After a few minutes of comfortable silence sitting down, it was Gine who brought forth the obvious question.

"What do we do now?"

Bardock gave an answer based on his years of being a planetary exterminator. "Figure out how strong the natives are and take out their government to destabilize their military efforts."

Gine shook her head and sighed. "I don't think conquering this planet is a smart idea Bardock, there is no need for it. You don't work for Freiza anymore. But gauging how strong the people are is a good idea. Sounds like these humans of Earth have quite a varied list of abilities."

"I still got this." Raditz brought his parents attention to a green scouter in his hands. "I stashed it in my armor, and Dodoria's blast didn't destroy it."

"We should destroy it. Freiza could use it to track us." Bardock reached over, but Gine put her hand over his.

"It's just like what Nappa said about these attack pods Bardock, the old models weren't yet touched by Frieza and his influence. It looks like it is going to fall apart in his hands. I doubt it's got a tracker."

Bardock sighed, and then gave his son a nod which prompted Raditz to equip the scouter on his left ear.

"It's a really old model, but the controls are intuitive, so give me... ah ha!"

Beweep, dededededededededededede

Yellow symbols appeared on the green screen, with Freiza's numerical system and alphabet characters flashing all over. Raditz stood and started moving his head around. When he turned right, his head went rigid, and the scouter went wild.

"Looks like there is some sort of city or large residential area over in this direction." Raditz reported.

"Power levels?"

"Uhhh. Looks like about 30% are single digit. The young, the elderly and the sick. Most are in the high double digits, about 80? But quite a few are triple digits. Then again, this scouter is as old as dirt. Take what it says with a pinch of salt." Raditz shut off the scouter before gently tucking it behind his armor. "Better conserve battery. Don't know if this planet has the power to recharge it."

"Well, take it easy here you three, and don't move from this forest." Bardock stood as well, stretching his scared arms. "I'm going to level this planet to the ground. Should take me about two weeks or so. Be back before you know it."

As Bardock was about to fly towards the city that Raditz mentioned, Gine sprung forward and held down Bardock. He raised an eyebrow at this unusual behavior. "Gine?"

"Don't do it Bardock." Gine said firmly. Once she was sure Bardock was not moving, she passed Kakarot to Raditz without even looking.

"Do what Gine?"

"Planetary conquering! I don't know why you feel the need to do that here! There is no need for it."

"Of course there is!" Bardock argued back. "The best way to be safe is to make sure no one can harm us! Besides, if it's me you're worried about, I'll be fine, I've tackled worse jobs!"

"Bardock, think about how it will look from a galactic perspective!" Gine pleaded. "I know you said this system is out of Freiza's influence, but that doesn't mean it's invisible! If you exterminate this planet, then it will draw attention. Who else dabbles in the business of selling planets? If you purge this planet and anyone notices it and mentions it to Frieza, he'll be on us in an instant!"

Bardock frowned. He hadn't thought of it like that before. He sat down, much to the relief of his wife.

"I get your point, but we stand out here. What are we supposed to do? Live in this forest, avoiding all human contact for years? If we receive a call from King Vegeta, how will we respond? We can't just sit here, we need to act!"

Amidst the arguing of the parents, Raditz struggled to handle Kakarot. He had only seen him in his development pod, and had no idea how to hold him or entertain him. The infant was curious and was poking and grabbing Raditz's limbs and armor. Then his hands found the scouter, and his fingers started pressing all the buttons.

"Hey, no! That's too important to play with!" Scolded Raditz as he swiped the scouter away. As he moved to turn it off though, something caught his eye. His eyes widened.

"Father!" Bardock stood immediately, battle ready. He looked to see Radtiz pointing deep into the forest, towards the mountains. "There is someone with a high power level coming this way, it's over 200!"

"Should be no match for me. But let's take precautionary measures. Same as before. Raditz, guard duty. I'll handle this." Bardock strode forward, cracking his knuckles as Raditz stood over his mother who held baby Kakarot.

Bardock instantly knew Raditz was correct, even if he saw nothing. As he walked forward, he could feel a pair of eyes on him. This wasn't the first time he had to deal with sneaky fighters. Heck, he had to deal with entire planets full of them. Bardock fought blinded before, it was nothing he hadn't dealt with before. But at least those fighters revealed their presence after a time. It had been over a minute and nothing was happening.

"Come on out!" Bardock shouted, flaring his ki. The trees and vegetation violently shook as the power exuded off the Saiyan warrior. "Show yourself, coward!"

A small figure obliged, and stepped out of the dense foliage. Bardock was instantly on guard. While it looked like an old male, looks could be deceiving, or even fake. And age was no indication of power.

The man in question had a wrinkly, but kind face with a small nose and small eyes. His hair was white with age, from his eyebrows to his bushy white mustache. His head was covered in an orange cap with a fluffy white ball on top. He wore an orange robe with white stylized circles decorating it with black sleeves and pants. The cuffs on the sleeves and ankles were white. His shoes were thin, nothing like Bardock's combat boots, and also black.

'Well, if he listened to me, we speak the same language. Somehow.' Bardock held his arms out in a fighting stance. "Who are you?"

"I am Son Gohan." The elderly man replied. His gaze went from the strange craters to the left, the children on the right and the man who was obviously a warrior right in front of him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Who are you?"

AN: Dragonball was the first animated show I watched and will always hold a special place in my heart. Bardock is a favorite of mine because the first DB thing I watched was the Bardock special. I really liked his blunt, no-nonsense attitude and drive. Also, he's my main in DBFZ. Hate me all you like.

This fic is just a thought in my head that I put to pen and paper (so to speak). It's not what happens in canon, and some faults can be found in the plot I'm building, but it's a fanfic, so I don't give a shit. I mean, literally all fanfics, crossovers especially, are just 'what-if' scenarios. This is mine. I prefer crossovers cause I like reading what other people do with two universes, however similar or different they are. You know what grinds my gears? When people write crossover fics but don't put them in the crossover section of . It's right there. Not that hard. Don't put it in the title, just put it where it belongs. Inconsequential, I know, but I just wanted to know if others feel the same way.

This was actually the first fic I drafted, but I didn't like it and pushed it aside. I like my B10 one a lot more, so that's the one that I work on. But, it's been almost a year (3/4 of a year, but that's basically a year) of just that story, and while I still love writing it, I crave something new. So, to recharge my creativity coils, I wrote a bunch of this story. Unlike most fics, my main one included, this one tackles parts of the MHA world that isn't being a student. It just sounded like fun. If people like it, I'll edit the other chapters I've done for this and publish those too. The MHA parts will come in later chapters, and I think people can tell when and how. I'm not trying to hide it.

This is also a good opportunity to try my hand at some form of romance, since that's all people ask of me. At least this way it's with a canonical pairing, so I can't mess up too bad.

Thanks for listening to my story and rambling and have a good day.