Chapter 8: Another Saiyan, Another Story

It was late in the afternoon when Goku and Bardock set up camp in the wilderness near the Calm Lands, both wanting the isolation but for different reasons. For Goku it was an opportunity to get to know his father without interruption, something he had never realized he wanted until it was within his grasp. For Bardock it was just another part of living his days in solitude, only this time he had the company of a son he had all but forgotten about. This was an opportunity to bond that both had lacked in their lives, and now they finally had the time to remedy that fact.

Together they had spent much of that afternoon catching plenty of food, even for the appetites both of them possessed. Anyone else would have thought they were hunting a herd of animals to near extinction, but for the Saiyans it would make for a light meal. Once they made camp they were nearly ready to start cooking, though in the simplest sense of the word. Goku had stripped the meat off the various animals they had caught, providing the best pieces of steak first. Bardock was setting up a large campfire, putting it together in just the right way to sear in the flavor.

"There we go," Bardock said, putting the last big of kindling in place. He aimed a finger at the wood, fired a tiny energy blast, and the wood was set ablaze. "We're ready to cook."

"Good," Goku said, handing him the first slab of meat, taken from some large beast. "So how long will it take?"

"An hour, give or take fifteen minutes," Bardock answered, putting the meat in its place. "We need the time to bring out the flavor."

"I can wait," Goku said. He sat down next to Bardock, who scooted a few inches away from him. "So, while we wait, I don't suppose you might tell me what you've been doing in Spira?"

Bardock sighed, and he poked at the fire with a stick. "This might take a while…"

…

"I thought my story was over."

Bardock's dying screams echoed across the upper atmosphere of Planet Vegeta, the last sound many of its people would ever hear. The low class warrior was caught in a giant sphere of energy, one that had been created by the galactic tyrant Frieza in order to wipe out the Saiyan race. Bardock alone had foreseen the genocide of his species, but that foresight had not been enough to save his people. Now Frieza's death ball attack was plummeting down towards the planet, taking Bardock down with it towards his death and planetary annihilation.

As his body was slowly disintegrated by the death ball Bardock had one last vision of the future, a future where his people would finally be avenged. That vengeance would be carried out by his own son, a fellow low class warrior that was given the name Kakarot. In that vision he saw the moment that Kakarot would achieve the legendary transformation into a Super Saiyan, and use that power to bring down the tyrant Frieza. But that was a day that Bardock was never going to see. Planet Vegeta had seen its last sunrise, and all that was left for Bardock was an eternity of oblivion.

"I was wrong."

Over a decade passed since his demise, the time spent lost in the dimension of the dead. Yet Bardock's soul never found rest, instead eternally tormented by his failure in life. While the rest of the Saiyan race faded away into oblivion over the years Bardock remained behind, his soul drifting from one part of Hell to the next in seemingly eternal solitude. It wasn't until he stumbled across one plane of existence that his nightmarish journey came to an end, a plane of reality very far removed from where Planet Vegeta had once existed.

White mist parted as Bardock walked into a wide open field, which was filled with colorful flowers that grew to just above waist height. Massive waterfalls surrounded that field on three sides, the water falling into an abyss far below him. On the field's open side the landscape stretched on for an eternity, filled with bright colors and shimmering lights far away from him. All around Bardock there were glowing spheres of light that left shimmering tails behind them, all drifting aimlessly in this almost sickeningly colorful place.

Above him there was a small stone platform seemingly hovering in the air with nothing to support it, a curious sight that was certainly worth investigating. So Bardock jumped and flew straight up to get above the platform, then dropped to land on the floating barren rock. There he could see a strange transparent barrier at the platform's end, and that the rock was jutting through the barrier from the other side. Bardock walked up to the barrier and stared at his reflection in it, wondering what might lie beyond its shimmering veil.

Bardock reached for the barrier, but when his fingers touched its surface the barrier repelled his hand. So he punched the barrier and the impact sent ripples through it, but his fist still could not get through it. Then Bardock aimed a palm at the barrier and fired a small energy blast, which tore a hole through the barrier and exploded on the other side. But then the hole instantly sealed over, barring his path once more. So Bardock kept punching the barrier over and over again, screaming to vent his frustration at this impasse.

As if beckoned by his screams more spheres of light emerged from the flowers in the field and ascended to the platform, where they started swirling all around Bardock. They converged on him and passed into his flesh, and for the first time since his death Bardock felt alive. He also noticed that his Saiyan armor had become whole again, exactly as hit had been before that fateful day his comrades had been slain by Dodoria. Once the last sphere of light was in him Bardock punched the barrier again, and this time his fist plunged through it.

Now Bardock forced his way through the barrier, even as its energy pushed back against his flesh. He got his arms through the barrier and then his head and upper torso, feeling incredible pain everywhere as he steadily pushed his way through to the other side. Even as his legs passed through the barrier it still tried to pull him back the other way, right up until the last piece of Bardock made it through. There Bardock stumbled forward and nearly crashed into a wall, but then found his footing again inside this long cavernous tunnel.

Immediately something felt very different about this place, as if it possessed a quality that had been absent everywhere else he had been all these years. "Am I really back among the living?"

To find out Bardock walked down the tunnel to its end, where it opened up into a large cavern with stone bridges spanning the walls. The bridges crisscrossed over the cavern floor at various angles, connecting the upper walls with the floor and other places. There were some structures built right into the rock, some resembling homes while others were business establishments. And passing to and from every structure were a bipedal plantlike species, similar to the Saiyans but with grass-like hair and extra-long fingers more like tree branches.

When Bardock entered this underground civilization he found the people stopping in their tracks, all staring at him from nearly every direction. Knowing the sight of fear all too well, Bardock understood that he would never be welcome here. So he kept walking and passed through the cavern while ignoring the stares of the locals, content to let them be so long as they didn't strike him first. Bardock found another tunnel that led outside the cavern, though he could hear heavy rainfall and thunder echoing from the other end.

A short walk down the tunnel led to wide open plains, but the sky was covered in storm clouds that blotted out all light from above. Amidst the pouring rain there were lightning strikes on a regular basis, some rather large bolts striking a series of large towers but most of the lightning coming down on the open ground. Instead of crossing these thunder plains Bardock leaped into the storm itself, flying through the dark clouds and emerging into a brightly lit sky above. For a moment Bardock hovered in the sky to bathe in the sunlight, taking in the relative peacefulness of this place.

Then his mind started to wander. Bardock thought about trying to find a way off this planet, but without a home world to return to there was little point in leaving. He had no idea if this planet even supported the technology necessary to achieve escape velocity, let alone the reality warping speeds required for interstellar travel. There was always the option of conquering the planet like in the good old days, but even if he wiped out the populace there was no one Bardock could contact to buy the planet from him.

Having no good options to choose from here, Bardock shrugged and flew west. "Maybe this planet has something to offer?"

The new flight path took Bardock away from the endless storm raging on underneath him, and he soon passed over a forest filled with strange blue trees and sparkling vegetation. Beyond that there was a large city filled with tall and ornate buildings, and inhabiting that city was a bipedal species that at first glance appeared to be almost identical to the Saiyans except for their lack of tails. Bardock flew to the city and hovered in its bright blue sky, taking in the view of its earthbound inhabitants before deciding his next move.

Suddenly something big blindsided Bardock and sent him tumbling across the sky, much to his annoyance as he searched the spinning sky for the attacker. When he reoriented himself Bardock saw what had hit him, a giant wyrm with wide wings and sharp claws. The wyrm lunged forward to strike him again, but this time Bardock nimbly dodged the claws and tail of the beast. Some aerial maneuvering got Bardock behind the wyrm and he punched its back, and it roared in pain and fell a short way before recovering.

When the wyrm flew at Bardock he started flying higher into the sky, making some goading gestures at the beast. "Come and get me," he taunted, in the mood for a little chase.

As Bardock flew higher the wyrm chased him into the heavens, roaring as it pursued him high above the city. The wyrm sucked in a deep breath and then spewed out a plume of toxic gas, which Bardock had to swerve to his left to avoid. While upright and flying on the horizontal Bardock fired several energy blasts at the wyrm, which exploded on contact and left holes in its scaly hide. But then the wyrm's horns glowed before firing energy blasts back at Bardock, dozens of them that he had to deflect with his bare hands.

Then the wyrm accelerated and got up close to Bardock, swooping in to slash with its claws like a man would with a scythe. The claws hit Bardock and tossed him further across the sky, but he reoriented himself rather quickly this time to retaliate faster. Bardock struck back with a fast uppercut into the wyrm's jaw, and he heard something crack inside as the wyrm's head snapped back. Then he resumed flying across the sky while the wyrm recovered from the blow, eager to continue the chase of this small yet strong threat.

But then the wyrm suddenly stopped following Bardock, instead idly beating its wings to remain in place while it stared at him from a distance. Bardock looked down and saw that the wyrm had stopped directly above the very edge of the city, and that he was now hovering over a wide expanse of open plains. Just to see what the wyrm might do Bardock flew up and down as well as left and right, and the wyrm's gaze followed his movements but the creature itself did not fly any further away from the city below.

"You're territorial," Bardock realized. He sighed and shook his head. "You're a real buzzkill, you know that right?"

The wyrm hissed at him, but still did not fly any further towards Bardock.

"Figures," Bardock said, disappointed in the creature. So he picked a direction that caught his fancy and started flying to the east, leaving the city and its guardian far behind him. "What else does this planet have?"

After flying across the open plains to the northeast Bardock passed over rocky plateaus, followed by a barren coastline and then open ocean. After passing over a long expanse of sea Bardock eventually came across a large island isolated from the mainland, which completely covered by an expansive desert. Bardock flew to the center of the island, where he was surprised to find another city surrounded by sand. However this city was very different from the earlier one, as it appeared to have been built from scavenged parts.

There was no guardian over this makeshift city, or at least none that Bardock could see. So this time he observed the city and its inhabitants below him, and this time his expectations from the locals soared. This civilization was utilizing various forms of technology, from the simplest tools to complex battle machines. All of it appeared to have been salvaged from a much earlier civilization, but at least they knew how to use technology they had and there was potential to improve upon it to something Bardock could use.

While Bardock hovered in the sky one of the locals below spotted him there, and moments later an alarm sounded throughout the city. A loud klaxon could be heard even from Bardock's altitude, and on every rooftop large cannons were turned and aimed upward right at him. All of the cannons fired explosive shots at Bardock, filling the air around him with large and loud booms. Some of the shots struck Bardock and he tumbled in the air, but quickly reoriented himself after each hit and he remained in the sky.

A little amused by the firepower from the locals, Bardock started maneuvering around the shots. At the same time Bardock fired his own shots back, using small amounts of energy and targeting the cannons one by one. Each of his shots exploded on contact and destroyed the cannons they struck, and in minutes all of them were reduced to piles of scrap metal. Once the sky was clear of the local fire Bardock descended into the city, and he set foot in the center of a large square plaza filled with dozens of upset locals.

Bardock took a moment to take in the sight of hundreds of surprised locals, many of which were arming themselves with handheld rifles or prepping ancient war machines. Then he made one simple request. "Take me to your leader."

That demand made the locals hesitate, and many of them were whispering to each other in a language that Bardock didn't recognize. Locals that had weapons kept them aimed at Bardock, while unarmed locals were sent away for safety. In a few minutes the crowd parted to allow a single man to pass through, one who seemed to be the leader of these people. He was a middle aged man with a very receding blond hairline, clad in yellow and brown clothes like most of the locals, although in somewhat better condition than the rest.

"Fryd tu ovi fyhd?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Bardock asked, not understanding the language.

"Yna ovi y vummufan uv Yevon? Un yna ovi y veaht?"

"All I'm hearing is gibberish," Bardock said. He aimed one palm at the local leader, and charged an energy blast in it. "If you know the language I'm using, start speaking it."

The leader paused and cleared his throat, and took a moment to find the right words to say to the stranger. "Clearly, you don't speak any Al Bhed."

"I don't know what that is," Bardock said, lowering his hand and letting his charged energy disperse harmlessly. "But at least I now know the galactic standard language has gotten this far out, wherever this planet is."

That remark got the Al Bhed leader to raise an eyebrow. "This planet? Is that supposed to mean you come from another one?"

"Duh," Bardock said. "I come from Planet Vegeta. However I don't know where it was relative to this planet. What is this place called?"

"Spira," the leader answered, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. "You're standing on Bikanel Island, the Home of the Al Bhed. I am Cid."

"Bardock," he introduced himself. "I take it your race is still bound to this Spira?"

Cid frowned at that, not liking what that implied. "Yes, and there several others bound here with us, unfortunately."

"Several?" Bardock questioned, starting to wonder just how many species inhabited this world. Usually there was only one or two sentient species per planet. "I saw some of those plant people earlier. How many more than two races are there here?"

"Those plant people are the Guado," Cid clarified. "Besides them there are regular humans, who really aren't much different than Al Bhed aside from their beliefs. Then there's the Ronso, a feline people from the northern mountain Gagazet. After that there's the Hypello, a small blue people scattered just about everywhere. And a few other minor species that have carved out niches all around Spira."

"Your planet seems quite crowded," Bardock observed, surprised by that description of all this world's inhabitants. "I've been to several dozen worlds and I rarely saw more than three sentient species coexist without killing each other."

"Believe me, there are some who would like to see that happen," Cid assured, figuring that it was best to play along with this guy. "Particularly against us, what with that ridiculous Yevon ban on the machina we use."

"Like those cannons?" Bardock asked, pointing a thumb at some of the still smoldering wreckage on the nearest rooftop.

"Yes," Cid answered. And then he crossed his arms, scowling at Bardock. "We're not very happy about that."

"Your people shot first," Bardock pointed out. "You should be grateful that I've decided to not wipe you off the face of this Spira."

That got several gasps from people in the crowd that understood the language, and Cid's eyes widened for a split second. Then Cid turned towards a nearby building and gestured for Bardock to come. "We should continue this in private."

Bardock shrugged and went along with Cid into that building, which appeared be a command center of some sort. There were various computer consoles and screens along all of the walls, and in the center of the room there were a ring of stations around a strange spherical display. On the screens were images of other parts of this world, from lush tropical forests to urban towns and the open ocean in between. And one of them seemed to be showing a strange athletic sport being played underwater, but Cid quickly turned that one off.

"Now," Cid said, taking one seat next to the center of the room. "What was that you said about wiping us out?"

"I conquer planets for a living," Bardock answered, taking a seat right next to Cid. "Fortunately for you, I don't know if there are any buyers for yours."

"So why are you here?" Cid demanded, leaning forward and putting his hands together.

Bardock shrugged, not really certain how to answer. "I guess I'm unemployed. And I'm stuck on this rock until someone else finds it."

"What would be the odds of that happening?" Cid asked. "I'd like to know if someone's going to come and attack us."

"I can't say," Bardock answered. "I don't have a star chart or a tachyon transmitter. Without those tools I can't tell where we are in the cosmos or which empires might stumble their way here. Could happen tomorrow, could happen never, I just don't know."

Cid grumbled, starting to think that this guy might be for real. "And if you did have those tools? What would you do with them?"

"I would call for a space-taxi and leave," Bardock answered. "There are lots of other planets I would rather be on instead of here."

"You'll wish you were somewhere else after living here for a while," Cid said, speaking from experience. "Everywhere we go there's something trying to kill us, from malfunctioning machina to ravenous fiends to paranoid Yevonnites and of course mother fu-"

A sudden alarm cut him off, and an Al Bhed voice spoke over a loudspeaker, still in the language that Bardock could not understand. "VAEHTC! AJanouha du pyddma cdydeuhc!"

"What's he saying?" Bardock asked, holding a hand towards the loudspeaker.

"Fiends," Cid answered, rising from his chair. "And there must be a lot of them."

Sure enough there were a lot of fiends, as they found out when they exited the building. An entire flock of large birds with wide wingspans were descending upon the city, and flanked by dozens of unusually large insects. Normally this aerial assault would have been quickly annihilated by the city's defenses, except that the cannons for that purpose were smoldering piles of scrap metal. Now the birds and insects were diving into the city, where the people had to fight with their weapons and machina to defend their families.

When Bardock saw the large birds he licked his lips, only now noticing the loud rumbling in his belly. "I'm dining on poultry tonight."

Bardock took off and flew straight for the nearest bird, ramming into its chest at very high velocity. The impact launched the bird out of the city and into the desert, and it crashed into a large sand dune. While the bird struggled to get out of the sand Bardock slammed his foot down on its large throat, crushing its windpipe in a lethal injury. However, before Bardock could even think about carving it up like a space turkey, the bird started disintegrating into a cloud of spherical lights that quickly dispersed into nothing.

"What the hell?" Bardock muttered, surprised that his meal was quite literally fading away. "Disintegration?! What kind of life does that when you kill it?"

The answer would have to wait, as the city was still under attack from the flock of large birds. Bardock flew into the sky again and got above the flock, and he started charging energy in his hands. Then he fired energy blasts at each of the birds one by one, hitting their heads and blowing them into tiny pieces. Just like the first one he killed the other slain birds disintegrated into the same spherical lights, which all vanished in moments. With smaller energy blasts Bardock struck down the large insects en masse, which in turn also disintegrated upon their demise.

Once all of the birds and insects were slain the locals stared at Bardock, now uncertain of what to think about him. Some remained very and rightfully distrustful of him, as this fiend attack had only happened because Bardock had destroyed the city's cannons that would have protected them. Others started cheering for him, grateful that Bardock had rescued them from the fiends. Bardock ignored the locals and flew back to where Cid was standing, back in the plaza in front of the building where the largest of the crowds had gathered again.

"What were those things?" Bardock asked, pointing a thumb at where the last insect died, of which there was no sign anymore. "I've never seen dead things disintegrate like that."

"Fiends," Cid answered, with a tone of disgust that implied this was a common problem. "They form from the souls of restless dead, and when they are killed again they become pyreflies."

"Well that's something different," Bardock commented.

Cid looked around at his fellow Al Bhed, noticing the change in how some of them looked at Bardock. Then he got an idea. "Alright, I'll make you a deal. If you deal with the fiends whenever they attack Home, I'll make sure you get whatever you need while you're here."

Bardock looked around the plaza, particularly at the various machina in sight. It didn't look like it was from a space age, but who knew what resources lay in the scrapheap. "I might be able to cobble something together from the parts you have. It's worth a try at any rate."

"So do we have a deal?" Cid asked, holding one hand towards Bardock.

"Deal," Bardock said, and the two shook hands.

...

"So you found a place to call home," Goku summarized. "Well, I suppose that's easy when the place is literally called Home."

It was early in the evening at the Calm Lands, though at this time of year the sun was still a couple hours from setting. By now the food was nearly done cooking, Bardock having optioned for the slow cook for maximum taste. Goku had been patiently waiting for the meal to be ready, and he had listened to Bardock telling his story while he waited. It was intriguing to hear how different Bardock's journey through Spira was from his own, having gone to different places and fought different enemies in his first days here.

"It may have been a scrapheap, but it was a good scrapheap," Bardock said. "That island was the closest thing to home that I ever found on this planet."

"I never realized the Al Bhed had an island all to themselves," Goku admitted, thinking about his very limited experience with them. "I only met one, and she didn't say anything about her home."

"They're a decent folk, don't deserve the bad rep," Bardock said.

"Good to know you had a good place to stay," Goku said.

"Well it didn't last," Bardock said. He took a pinch of cooked meat and tasted it, and decided to let it cook a little while longer. "I'm sure you can guess why."

"Sin," Goku said.

"Sin," Bardock confirmed.

…

"Just when I had a plan, it was dashed away."

A few days passed by rather quickly, as during that time Bardock made himself at home in Home. He got his own room in one of the taller buildings of the city, complete with a large window that he could fly through at a moment's notice whenever he felt like going outside. Bardock spent his time tinkering with different kinds of machina available in this scrapyard of a city, scavenging for parts that he could use to assemble a spaceship to get off this planet. It might take a while to find all the parts, but Bardock was optimistic about getting them within a year or so.

One morning Bardock was clearing his head with a flight above Home when he noticed something on the horizon, something pitch black in stark contrast against the light brown sand. He flew towards it and quickly discovered that it was a massive creature, at least a thousand feet tall and half as wide. This gargantuan creature rose out of the ocean and took steps on the desert island, revealing its reptilian shape with sharp claws and long spiked tail. Once it was on land the creature bellowed with a mighty roar, and it started walking straight towards the Al Bhed Home.

"Whoa that's big!" Bardock said, having never seen anything on that scale before. It dwarfed even the Oozaro transformation, no small feat in itself. But then the gargantuan creature started shedding its outermost layer of skin, and thousands of person sized pieces flew straight for Home. "And now it's spawning!"

As the black pieces of the creature flew past him Bardock blasted as many as he could out of the sky, but there were just so many of them that his efforts only made a dent in their numbers. Several hundred had flown by when Bardock started flying back towards Home, shooting down many more of them along the way. Still a swarm of the creature's spawn descended upon the city, prompting screams of fear and terror from the panicking locals. The screams were followed by a loud siren ringing throughout the city, and a single word was announced over a loudspeaker.

"SIN!"

In the city the pieces of black skin morphed into person sized insects, each resembling black oversized fleas with wide and thin wings. Locals fired their weapons at these black insects and others activated battle machina, having them engage the invaders with raw mechanical might. While they were able to hold the attack at bay, others in the city were already evacuating to bunkers beneath the city. Locals fleeing for their lives did so in an organized fashion, as if they had been expecting this attack to happen at any moment.

While shooting more of the black insects Bardock flew into the city, spotting Cid heading outside to coordinate the evacuation. Bardock stopped and hovered ten feet above Cid, and kept shooting while speaking to get some answers. "What are these things?"

"Sinspawn," Cid answered, picking up a weapon to shoot one black insect that got too close.

That was enough for Bardock to make an educated guess about the creature, going by what was spoken over the loudspeaker. "So is that giant lizard on the way called Sin?"

Cid's expression turned to sheer horror. "How far away is it?"

Bardock flew up to get a better view, and then came back down to his previous altitude. "It's about ten miles away, and it's coming here fast."

"Go!" Cid ordered. "We can deal with the Sinspawn. Do what you can to slow Sin down!"

Normally Bardock would have resented taking orders from someone weaker than him, but there was no time for that now. Instead he flew out of the city and through another wave of Sinspawn, blasting a path through them in a straight line towards Sin. Once he was through and in clear skies Bardock accelerated to high speed, allowing him to cross the distance to Sin in a matter of moments. There Bardock truly discovered just how big Sin was, and he felt like an infinitesimal speck in comparison to its sheer mass.

At half a mile in front of Sin he stopped and hovered in the air, and his hands glowed with raw energy that he charged for an attack against the monster. Bardock fired a barrage of energy blasts straight at Sin's face, completely covering it in hundreds of small explosions. Yet Sin kept on moving straight towards Home, and in mere moments Bardock had to fly out of its path so avoid crashing into it. From above and to Sin's right Bardock kept on firing energy blasts, which only seemed to scratch its skin no matter how many he fired.

So Bardock then switched to a different tactic, and he put both hands together and aimed for Sin's massive head. He took a moment to concentrate his power and then fired a large energy beam, hitting Sin just below the eye and burning into its flesh. As Sin continued to move forward Bardock's aim went off, which led to his beam attack cutting a thin line across what would be Sin's upper cheek. Yet from afar it appeared to be only a small scratch, one that didn't even make Sin bleed. He doubted it would even leave a light scar.

But then Sin slowed its pace toward Home just a little, and its massive head turned towards Bardock. It seemed to take a bit of time to look at him, like a person would observe an unfamiliar insect that happened to be annoying him. Then Sin's colossal mouth opened up all the way, and black energy coalesced within that massive space between large and sharp teeth. When the black energy started to overflow it was released in a colossal black beam, which in seconds seared through the air aimed straight at Bardock.

In those seconds Bardock flew to the side and just barely dodged the black beam, missing it by only a few inches on the right. Turbulence that surrounded the beam caught Bardock and flung him away from Sin, and he was nearly past the far coastline when he got out of the intense wind. When he stabilized his flight Bardock was facing the ground, and he had a clear view of Sin's collateral damage. A long trench had been dug into the desert and stretched into the sea, with sand and water held back by warped gravity.

"What have I gotten into this time?" Bardock wondered aloud. Then he spotted Sin returning to its former path. "Hey don't you dare ignore me!"

But then Bardock noticed something else happening on a grand scale, and his gaze was drawn towards Home. The city seemed to be vibrating and from afar it appeared to blur, right before each individual building started sinking into the sands. Bardock flew toward Home to be sure his eyes weren't deceiving him, but as he got closer he saw the city slowly disappear into the desert. Massive machina were pulling the buildings down into subterranean holes, leaving only the roads and open spaces exposed above the desert sands.

"This must happen often," Bardock muttered. When he reached the steadily sinking city it was nearly buried completely, and sand dunes were already spilling into the space that the buildings left behind. And by then Sin had nearly reached the city too. "Alright big guy, you're not getting past me."

As if sensing a challenge Sin's whole body started to radiate the same black energy from before, and it steadily flowed to the front and dorsal sides and concentrated there. In one large burst that energy erupted in a massive black wave, stretching nearly from horizon to horizon and nearly a mile into the sky. Bardock flew straight up in an attempt to avoid the black wave, but it was simply too fast to avoid and the black wave struck him head on. Bardock screamed as the black energy seared into his body, and the wave carried him clear across the island and far out to sea.

…

Goku finished eating the last of his meal, eagerly listening to the story Bardock told even while they ate. By now the sun was setting on the horizon, and they had a good view of the sunset. When they finished eating they tossed more wood onto the fire, letting it burn far more vigorously than it had been for cooking a meal. It was more for the aesthetics and visual entertainment than for any form of comfort, as neither of them needed the heat to make it through the night. Now they were laying back and facing the fire, having just reached one of Bardock's many failures in his story.

"So Sin beat you up," Goku summarized, having been entertained by the tale of the fight nevertheless. "That must have been a big blow to your ego."

"It certainly was," Bardock admitted.

He turned and looked directly into the large fire, indulging in the primal satisfaction a simple blaze provided. For a moment he simply wanted to stare into the dancing flames, wishing that it could burn away all of his failures and regrets. Yet the memories of long ago kept coming to the surface, unable to stop until they had run their course, no matter how much Bardock wanted to keep them bottled up inside. He couldn't stall forever, eventually letting out a deep sigh before taking a deep breath, putting the old memories into clear focus.

Bardock turned away from the fire and looked Goku in the eye. "I suppose you still want to know what happened next."

…

"I should have died."

In some distant part of this world, Bardock was floating face up in the open ocean. He had been blown clear across the face of Spira to the northern hemisphere, and during the night he was staring up at unfamiliar stars in strange constellations. One familiar sight was in the sky above, that of a large moon about three quarters full. He stared at that moon as he thought about what had happened, another defeat at the hands of a powerful and terrible monster. Yet again he had given it everything, and everything hadn't been enough.

"Of course I didn't die."

"I was already dead."

His drifting across the sea ended when his head hit a rocky shore, and he looked up to see a very large mountain standing right next to the sea. The mountain's slopes were so steep that it was impossible to walk around it, not without plunging into the deep ocean water. This mountain had to be climbed to cross between lands on two sides, but only to those that were stuck to the ground. Bardock flew out of the water and ascended the mountain with ease, even though he was still weary from his unfortunate battle with Sin.

Halfway up the mountain Bardock set foot on a snow covered path, though the cold didn't bother him. There he walked along the path that crisscrossed a wide crevice that split this side of the mountain, taking the time to stretch his legs and think some more. Then Bardock heard footsteps that were not his own, and he looked forward to see someone walking the path but in the opposite direction. Falling snow made it difficult to see the stranger at first, but as the footsteps got closer the sight became much clearer for him.

The approaching man was different from the others Bardock had seen on this world, his physical appearance being similar to the native Spirans but slightly off in places. His fingers were longer than normal, his veins were more easily visible under his skin, and his blue hair was long and somehow molded to stick out on the sides and a little in front. It almost seemed like this teenager was a hybrid of the normal people and those plant people Bardock first saw on this world, but he could not tell for sure just from his looks alone.

The hybrid teen stopped when he saw Bardock, and seemed a little intrigued by his presence here. "It is risky to travel this path alone, and pointless if you seek the prize at the end."

"I'm not seeking anything," Bardock said. He continued to look at the teen, but eyed the path that he had come from. "I take you've already claimed that prize?"

"Long ago." The teen walked up to Bardock and held out his right hand in greeting. "I am Seymour Guado."

"Bardock," he answered, and shook Seymour's hand.

"We should head down the mountain," Seymour recommended.

"I followed Seymour down the mountain, across the vast Calm Lands, to reach the city of Bevelle."

"I didn't really care for it."

From the ground the largest city on Spira looked more impressive than it did from the air, now that the large buildings were stabbing at the sky. The wyrm that guarded the city's airspace was nowhere to be seen, apparently only on patrol when there were possible threats from above. Bardock couldn't help but be disappointed, having wanted to fight that thing again, but there were bigger fights to plan for. Seymour stopped at the city's edge to take in the view, far more impressed by the city than Bardock ever was.

"This place again," Bardock said. "It looks quite different from the ground."

"Bevelle is always a glorious sight," Seymour commented. Then he pointed to a dome like structure within the city. "There is the Temple of Yevon. Perhaps you may find direction through prayer there."

"I doubt it," Bardock said, shaking his head. "I've never been much of the praying type."

"Still, I have business to attend to there," Seymour said. "You've come this far, you might as well see the sights."

Hearing no objection to that Seymour led the way across a grand high-bridge that spanned over many of the smaller buildings of the city, taking the direct route to the grand temple within the city interior. Along the way Bardock kept an eye out for the giant wyrm that he had fought in this city's sky, but the creature was nowhere to be found. Instead he could see thousands of people scurrying about all around him and beneath the high-bridge, most just living their daily lives while others were taking part in various ceremonial duties.

It did not take long to reach the grand temple, and the two passed through large doors to get inside. Within the temple there was a large antechamber, though the space on this floor curved in the shape of a smoothened double-arch. The next floor above was a simple curved shape, and with empty space in the middle making it visible to people that were below it. And on a third floor, but only in the back on the antechamber, was a smaller space clearly meant for those of authority to look down upon on the lesser folk that came here.

"You call this a temple?" Bardock asked, looking around at the relatively unadorned and rather bare walls. "I thought there would be statues and holy icons and other made up crap."

"It has a utilitarian appearance, I'll admit," Seymour said. Then he turned to look Bardock in the eye. "But I assure you, our religion is quite real."

"So who do you worship?" Bardock asked, ignoring strange stares from others. "Is it that Yevon thing you mentioned to that guy?"

Before Seymour could answer the question, a bald man in a blue and white robe approached them. "Can I help you?"

"I am here to see my father," Seymour answered. "I understand Lord Jyscal has regular meetings with Grand Maester Mika."

"I shall let him know of your arrival," the robed man assured. He made a strange gesture that included a bow, along with placing both hands in front as him holding a ball. "Praise be to Yevon."

"Yes, yes," Seymour said, clearly dismissing the man with a wave of his hand.

Bardock watched the robed man leave before speaking up. "So what's there to do here besides have a family reunion?"

"There is the Chamber of the Fayth, but that's just for summoners and their guardians," Seymour answered. Just then he heard footsteps and looked down the left side of the antechamber, becoming louder as the source came closer. "Speaking of which, here come a few now."

Two men approached from a side passage and were walking towards the front exit, seemingly with all intent of passing them by unnoticed. One of them was a young man with plain blue hair and wearing a flowing red and blue robe, had a white headpiece with a strip of fabric going over his head and down his back, and was carrying a fancy staff. The other was about the same age but had short black hair and wore a red kimono over a black vest, kept his right arm inside the kimono while his left hand carried a long sword.

"Summoner Braska," Seymour said, making the same bowing gesture that the earlier robed man had used. "I thought you would have left for Macalania by now."

"Not just yet," the man with the staff, Braska, corrected. "I was making living arrangements for my daughter when I heard the strangest news. There appears to be a man in prison who claims to have come from Zanarkand."

"Were the Hypellos selling their special potions again?" Seymour assumed.

"He wasn't drugged," Braska corrected, but then held his hand in a so-so manner. "Drunk for sure, that's much is obvious, but not drugged."

"Must have been some strong drink then," Seymour guessed, wondering where to acquire it. There were some people that could surely use lessened inhibitions.

"I don't think any amount of alcohol could explain this man's claim," Braska said. "Auron and I are going to head down to the prison and talk to him. See if he really is from Zanarkand."

The man with the sword, Auron, scoffed at that notion. "Braska, it's a waste of our time. If we leave now instead we could be through the Macalania Woods by next moonrise."

"Moonrise?" Bardock repeated, his interest peaked by the use of that term. "Speaking of which, when is the next full moon?"

"Tomorrow night," Auron answered, and then turned back to Braska. "That's another reason we should leave now. We'll make good time by moonlight."

Bardock ignored him and proceeded to his next question. "And where is Sin now?"

"South of Bevelle," Auron answered. "The Crusaders are marching to defend this city as we speak."

"Excellent," Bardock said, putting his hands together.

And with that, Bardock turned around and left the temple.

It seemed to take forever for the following night and day to pass, and it was very difficult for Bardock to stay calm and wait for the full moon. During that time he stumbled upon the organization known the Crusaders, a military force that had a single purpose of defending the cities of Spira from Sin's attacks. They had never succeeded in destroying the beast, but have managed to turn it away from populated areas many times and thus spared many lives. Now the men and women of the Crusaders prepared for another costly battle to defend Bevelle, one that had been fought more times than could be counted.

This time, they would have some rather unexpected help.

When the night of the full moon finally arrived Sin could be seen approaching on the horizon, both from the city's outskirts and from the tallest towers of the urban skyline. Sin was on a course that would make a glancing blow on Bevelle, as if the city only merited the slightest attention while Sin was heading to a more important destination. Simply passing by would still lead to widespread destruction in Sin's wake, and the Crusaders held the line and waited for the order to strike at the Sinspawn that were sure to come.

Bardock stood just behind the ranks of the Crusaders, looking at the enemy that had bested him once before. Then he turned his gaze upward and found this planet's single moon, completely full and shining its brilliant light onto the land. He stared into the full moon's light and entered a deep trance, letting its glow stimulate his Saiyan tail and trigger the rightfully feared Oozaro transformation. Bardock's body grew to several stories tall and took the appearance of a feral ape, and his armor expanded to fit his greater size.

Onlookers had been so focused on Sin that they missed the transformation, only noticing when the great ape appeared. Among them was Seymour, staring at the sight. "Whose Final Aeon is that?"

In the mighty Oozaro form Bardock lost most of his rational thoughts and inhibitions, but enough premeditated aggression remained to override this form's feral instincts so that the great ape would specifically target Sin. The great ape announced its presence with a mighty roar that made the ground tremble, and from its mouth the ape fired a large energy beam straight at its foe. The attack struck Sin in the chest and burned into its black flesh, and yet when it was done the damage was about the size of Sin's eye.

Sin stopped, turned, and glared at the great ape, eyes narrowing in response to this unknown challenger.

After its opening attack the great ape charged at Sin, leaping over the Crusaders and then running on all fours towards the enemy. While the Oozaro form was huge by the standards of nearly all sentient life, it was rather small compared to Sin's massive body. On a relative scale it was only about the size of a doll to a normal sized man, or a normal sized person to the great ape's scale. So when the great ape jumped into the sky it only got to about time and a half of Sin's height, and came down hard to slam both furry fists onto Sin's skull.

The mighty blow thrust Sin's head down some distance, bringing it halfway to the ground before stopping. Sin raised its head back up and thrust the great ape into the sky, giving the beast over two miles of altitude before coming back down. As the great ape fell it roared and fired the mouth beam again, this time burning a long line along Sin's spine. Then the great ape dived straight into the long burn mark it just made in Sin's flesh, inflicting enough pain to get Sin to roar so loud the ground broke underneath it.

Something struck the great ape from behind and knocked it off, and as the beast fell it saw Sin's tail moving to strike again. At the last second the great ape grabbed Sin's tail and held on tight, only to get slammed into the ground and buried in dirt. Sin resumed its walk but quickly noticed that its tail was dragging through the ground, held down by the great ape's weight and immense strength. The great ape yanked on Sin's tail and pulled the rest of it back, getting it to stop and turn all of its attention on the great ape.

Black energy coalesced within Sin's widening mouth, and once its head was in position Sin fired a massive black beam. The attack struck the great ape and the terrain behind it, the black energy spreading across the land all around the beast, burning away everything within a quarter mile of the initial impact site. Only Sin itself remained unscathed as the energy washed over its legs and tail, but when the energy dissipated the great ape was still standing, if a little scorched and on all fours within a circle of death.

The great ape raised its head and fired its mouth beam one more time, aiming it right back where the black beam had come from. This time the great ape's beam went straight into Sin's open mouth and down its throat, impacting a spot inside the monster. This time the energy in the beam gathered within that massive neck and exploded, leading to Sin belching a plume of black smoke and gray ash that darkened part of the sky. After its throat was clear Sin closed its mouth and glared at the great ape, raising a mighty fist above its head before bringing it down.

Sin's fist slammed into the great ape with enough force to crater the scorched ground, and when Sin's fist was raised back up the great ape was barely standing. Sin punched again with even more force, deepening the crater and sending tremors all the way to Bevelle. Again and again Sin struck the great ape as if to grind it down into the bedrock, and after the ninth blow the great ape was lying face down in the rock. For good measure Sin stomped on the great ape once, and after that blow the great ape stayed down.

With the last of its strength the great ape raised its head, seeing Sin slowly walking away from the battlefield. Sin glanced at Bevelle and the Crusaders ready to defend the city, but then it looked away and walked in a different direction. The great ape saw Sin spare the city this time, right before the beast's head fell back down to earth. There the great ape lost consciousness, and started to shrink and revert back into a normal Saiyan. In just a few moments Bardock was back, but out cold and lying motionless in the dirt.

…

"Twice huh," Goku said. "That's hard for me to imagine."

By now the fire had burned down to a few small flames, barely burning atop a wide bed of hot coals. Bardock or Goku hadn't bothered to add more wood to the fire in the last hour, letting the light die down after the sun had set. It was the first few hours of the night, and the stars were coming out to brighten the sky with many pinpricks of light. There was a good view of the moon tonight, nearly full and casting its own radiance on the land, nearly enough for someone to read without straining one's eyes.

Every once in a while Goku would look up at the night sky, noticing the stars in strange constellations completely unfamiliar to him. He wondered just how far away he was from Earth, what part of the galaxy Spira was in to make the stars so different. Goku could only imagine how that felt for Bardock, who surely knew more of the particulars of space travel than he did. But that was something to ask about later, since it had nothing to do with the story Bardock was telling. Instead he commented on the story, even if it seemed to annoy Bardock when he did so.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in," Bardock said. "We can't all be powerful enough to destroy such a powerful monster on the first try."

"It actually got away on my first try," Goku admitted. "I ran into it off Kilika, but it got away from me in the big ocean."

"How did you let that happen?" Bardock asked.

"Well it was going to destroy that island with a tidal wave," Goku said. "I couldn't let that happen."

"I see," Bardock said. He looked up at the night sky, realizing how late it was. "I think that's enough for one day. We can pick this up in the morning."

"Sounds good," Goku said, ready to get some sleep.