Chapter Nine: I'm Alive

Never again will I be dishonored
And never again will I be reminded
Of living within the world of the jaded
They kill inspiration
It's my obligation
To never again, allow this to happen
Where do I begin?
The choices are endless
Denying the sin
My art, my redemption
I carry the torch of my fathers before me

I'm Alive-Disturbed

DBZ

One Year Ago…

"Aside from the destruction of the former cities Frieza has supplied us with a fine planet, I think." A tall blue-skinned alien with a humanoid appearance turned to his partner who knelt just a few feet away, peering into the crystal-clear water of a tiny pool they had stumbled upon.

The two men were scouts from an alien race called the Sion'Fujj. Their race had approached Frieza searching for a suitable planet that would house their dying race. They had paid extremely well for this rock upon which they now stood. After the purchase and the *ahem* cleansing of the planet, a group of fifty had been sent to inspect it and to map out where the more suitable portions of the planet were located.

Of course they had been initially wary of the planet when they first discovered the devastation that had been left in the wake of the cleansing, but after thorough inspection the scouting group had deemed the planet most worthy. Now these two, who had wandered away from the larger portion of their party, were relaxing and taking in the views.

"I'd have to agree," said the man kneeling by the water. "This pool is peculiar, wouldn't you say?" he said in a slow tone, a frown knitting his white brows together.

His partner moved closer to the water's edge, frowning slightly as he peered down at it. "Yes, it would seem so. The water is crystal clear and yet I cannot see more than a few feet below the surface. That is rather odd."

"Yes, it is," his partner mumbled, never taking his bright green eyes from the water. To him the water seemed to be hiding something, but that was an absurd thought to have. Water did not have a mind of its own, after all. After a few moments he shrugged and glanced up at his taller partner. "So what was the name of this place again?"

"Hm…you know, I'm not sure." The taller man looked down at the other man apologetically. "I think it was called Kanatta, or something like that."

"Try Kanassa," said a deep voice from just behind them.

The men both spun in surprise to glimpse the naked form of a man standing a few feet behind them. In a flash he lunged forward and there was a bright flash of light and then darkness was all they knew…

The man stood over their headless bodies, a look of disgust marring his otherwise handsome features. A scar stretched from the center of his left cheek and up even with the corner of his left eye. He had a thick mass of black hair that seemed to stretch in every direction on top, while the excess drooped low to hang over his bare shoulders. His cold black eyes, set in a seemingly eternally stern glare, lifted from the bodies and traced over to look at the softly glowing pool of water.

He had been sure that he would find that woman here. The woman from his dream. She had told him his name, and had seemed about to tell him what the word 'Kanassa' had meant. Despite having killed them, he still had to thank the two men for uttering the wrong name of the planet. It had been so close to what was on his mind that he couldn't help but realize that 'Kanassa' was the name of the planet they were on…But was it his home planet? As his gaze left the pool and looked around at the bleak landscape that stretched on all around him, he somehow had to doubt that. It was like some instinctual part of him was telling him that he was a long way from home.

The man, Bardock, knelt down by one of the bodies and quickly stripped the expandable armor from the corpse, before then dressing into it. He was now wearing full body black under armor, with a battle jacket that was red and green; the gloves and boots matched the color of the armor, which caused his eyes to narrow and his mouth to snarl involuntarily in disgust. He didn't like the way they looked, but he had to have something to wear. He couldn't very well fly around naked.

He frowned and looked up at the sky. Fly. Something told him he could fly; that it was just as second-nature as throwing those spheres of light he'd used to kill the two men had been. All he had to do was just fly and he would do just that. Of course it was easier to be skeptical than to believe that something deep within his being was trying to verse him in his body's abilities. Could he really fly? He took a step towards the pool almost absently. There was only one way to find out.

Taking a deep breath and bending down into a crouch he immediately sprang up from the ground and shot through the air, quickly leaving the bodies and the pool behind him in the distance. He glanced over his shoulder, his thick hair whipping and flying about madly in the wind from his travel. His eyes were wide in surprise, as well they should be. He was flying! Returning his gaze forward he allowed a smirk to tug at the corner of his lips. He was moving rather quickly. He had only just sprang into the air, and yet the pool was no longer in sight behind him and a city was looming ahead on the horizon. He held his arms out from his sides and subconsciously poured more ki into his flight. The next thing he knew a light blue aura burst to life around his body.

With wide eyes and a fierce grin on his face, he shot over the city within just ten minutes of having taken off. He had no idea how fast he was going, but something told him that he was only going about half of what he was capable of. But reaching that speed would have to wait, he thought as he looked down upon the devastated city he was now flying over, his aura gone from about his body. He folded his arms over his chest as he slowed to a crawl and more or less floated over the still smoldering buildings. From as high up as he was he could see hundreds, maybe thousands of lifeless bodies spread out for miles beneath him.

He came to a dead hover over the city and continued to quietly stare down at the sight below him. Who, or what, had done this? Had he, with his special abilities, had something to do with the destruction that lay spread out before him? Was that the reason why he had no idea who he was or what had brought him to be contained within a bubble at the bottom of that pool? Bardock was his name, but who was he? What significance did that name have if he couldn't remember anything about his life?

He sighed and let his arms drop to his sides. He was about to take off again, but something caught his eye. Lifting his gaze up to the blue and black night sky, he found his eyes following the descent of a spaceship. It was long and ovular and had two stubby wings jutting out of the sides of the elongated rear end. Arching up from the top of the ship and raking forward into a rather sharp point, was what was undoubtedly the gun for that ship.

As Bardock looked on the ship stalled its descent, casually drifting around above the dead city. It seemed to be circling around him, was his realization as the pointed gun came to aim directly at him. He frowned, a low growl building in his throat as he clenched both fists tightly. He had handled both of those scouts before with relative ease, but a spaceship was a completely different matter altogether.

And yet, that nagging feeling in the back of his mind was steadily telling him the ship didn't stand a chance.

A stiff breeze kicked up and his hair was set to waving and shifting. He clenched his fists tighter as a light appeared at the tip of the tail-piece, steadily growing brighter until a clear sphere appeared, with crackling blue electricity dancing within its core. The ball grew until it was roughly the same size as him. His eyes narrowed until his pupils were but slits between his eyelids. They wanted to fight, that much was apparent. Well, he was more than willing to oblige. His whole body seemed to cry out for a fight. From the tips of his toes all the way to the end of the dark brown tail he had wrapped around his waist.

Without preamble, the ship fired off its sphere of death. It closed the roughly 75 feet of distance in the blink of an eye, but by the time it reached Bardock he had already phased out of sight and reappeared 20 feet to the left. He offered an arrogant smirk to the ship and lifted a hand to beckon to them. Instead of advancing, the ship merely hovered in place seemingly waiting for something.

Bardock frowned after a couple of seconds and found himself glancing quickly over his shoulder. None too soon, too, as the sphere was less than fifteen feet from making impact with him. He quickly phased out of sight, and reappeared flying straight towards the ship. His blue aura burst to life around his body and he rocketed forward, a sonic boom erupting just behind him as he raced over the ship and then angled down towards the city. The sphere was hot on his tail as he shot down between two skyscrapers, his speed causing what few windows remained to instantly shatter as he flew by. He cut a sharp right and flew in a quick circle around one of the buildings until he was flying up towards the ship again. Behind him the building was engulfed in a massive explosion of blue light as the sphere slammed into its side, trying desperately to follow after Bardock. The light faded and he glanced down behind him to see that only half of the building remained; the rest had been instantly vaporized. He grimaced, making a mental note not to let the next sphere hit him at all costs.

Looking back up Bardock saw the ship angling for another shot at him. His aura vanished and he came to an abrupt stop just as they fired a second sphere down at him. Gritting his teeth and charging ki into both arms, he brought them over his head, clasping his fingers together. Just as the sphere reached him, he swung both arms down quickly and jackhammered the ball of death down towards the city below him. He grinned as it shot away from him, but the grin quickly vanished as the sphere quickly spun around and shot back up at him. Great. No matter what he did the sphere would follow him wherever he went. Did he have to race away from it into the obstacle course that was the city again?

Gathering his ki he prepared to shoot away, but just out of his peripheral vision he could see the ship hovering closer than it had been originally. And an idea quickly formulated in the back of his mind. Grinning as he raised his ki-charged arms up, he watched the sphere fly up at him menacingly. Grunting as he swung his arms around at the last second, his clenched fists slammed into the ball and sent it spiraling in the direction of the ship. Bardock watched in satisfaction as the ship began to turn, trying to quickly remove itself from the path of the devastating sphere. It failed, however, as the sphere made contact with the silver hull and a blinding blue light erupted from the point of impact, engulfing the entire ship. Bardock had to shield his eyes.

But just as quickly as the light had appeared, it was gone; as was the ship. Grinning in triumph, Bardock folded his arms across his chest smugly. That feeling in the back of his mind was gloating just as much as he was.

That is until he saw another, identical, ship descending from the sky. His grin faded and was replaced by a look of annoyance. Damn it, just how many of these ships was he going to have to destroy?

He sighed in exasperation as he eyed the ship silently. Whoever was aboard seemed to be measuring him; weighing their chances on taking him down. Well, Bardock was going to do to them what he had done to the previous ship if he had anything to say about it.

Panels opened up on each side of the ship causing him to blink his eyes in surprise. From the panels a gatling gun appeared on each side. They came out backwards, immediately twisting around to aim at him just as the tail of this ship lit up and began to form their own pulsing, ball of death. The two gatling guns began to spin, the whir of the chamber reaching his ears just as flashes of light erupted from the spinning barrels.

He phased out of sight, reappearing a moment later flying in the opposite direction with flashes of orange flying all around him, somehow missing him. Chancing a glance back over his shoulder he spotted that orb flying after him. He grimaced and, returning his gaze to the sky before him, called on his ki, his blue aura bursting to life around his body and he shot away as fast as he could.

The ship was giving chase, evident in that the flashes of light were steadily following him as he flew through the sky at his full speed. He didn't want to keep running because he knew the orb would follow him wherever he went. But what could he do? Frowning he glanced over his shoulder again, twisting his entire body around just as a stream of flashes were fired at his head. Angling so that he was flying backwards, his back arched and his hands held up by his sides with his fists clenched, he glared at the ship as they continued to fire those energy beams at him; all the while the orb was still giving chase. By now they had completely left the city beyond the horizon.

"So…" Bardock murmured under his breath. "You want to fight me that bad? Well…take this!" He thrust both hands toward the ship and fired off a massive blue beam. It tore through the nose of the hull like paper, and an instant later he closed his hands, causing an explosion to destroy the ship from the inside out, lighting up the sky before him.

He immediately twisted his body around into a dive and shot at full speed towards the planet's surface. The orb was hot on his heels; he could almost hear the crackling of the electrical energy within.

He narrowed his eyes as he watched the barren rocky surface rising up to meet him. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder to see the orb within fifteen feet of him. Looking ahead he found himself almost at the surface. He suddenly threw both hands forward firing two balls of energy into the ground. He swung his legs forward and with a quick burst of his speed he shot by his own orbs; his feet slammed into the ground, cratering it under the force of his impact. In the same instant he pushed off, his aura, which had briefly vanished, instantly reappearing around his body, shooting up past his two blasts and the destroyed ship's orb of death. He heard and felt the explosion and then had to shut his eyes against the second, blue-tinged, explosion as the orb met the destruction of his own blasts.

He spun around, his aura vanishing, and hovered over the cloud of smoke and dust that had resulted from the massive explosion. He smirked as the dust cleared away to reveal a crater more than a hundred feet across.

"Whew, that could've been me…"

While he was admiring his handiwork, a glinting from just above him drew his attention skyward again. His mouth fell open and his eyes widened as yet ANOTHER ship descended. This one, however, did not resemble the previous two. It was more of a large ball with stubby wings jutting out on the underside towards the front, and on the topside, towards the back. It was jet black, as well.

Growling in the back of his throat and clenching his fists, he bellowed out, "How many of you do I have to destroy?" His voice echoed through the expanse that separated him from the ship; but instead of answering or reacting, it merely hovered about 75 feet away from him.

After a few minutes of hovering in silence, Bardock quirked a brow slightly. He relaxed his stance, but immediately raised his guard as the side of the ship suddenly opened up. He watched in silence as a man jumped out and flew towards him slowly.

Okay, so his day had started off strange enough as it was: he had no memory of who he was or where he was from; the only clues he had to anything was a dream of a mysterious woman telling him his name was 'Bardock,' and the word 'Kanassa' steadily playing through his mind. He had already verified that the name of the planet was Kanassa, but that was about all the progress he had made so far. Granted he had only been conscious and out of that bubble for about a half hour now, but still…Who the hell was this man flying towards him so leisurely?

The man drew up before him. He was a tall man, easily towering over Bardock, with long white hair framing his dull silver face and draping over his shoulders. His narrow eyes were bright, warm, and welcoming (something that actually made Bardock wary,) and a strange shade of red. Almost pink, it seemed, but not quite. They seemed to be slightly luminescent, which would count for the odd shade, he supposed. Finally, the man was dressed in shining silver armor, but it didn't appear to be metallic in nature. No, it seemed to be made of the same material that his own, stolen, armor was made of.

The man smiled to Bardock, inclining his head forward just a bit in greeting. Without preamble he said, "You're a Saiyan." Not a question, but an outright statement.

Bardock frowned in confusion, "Saiyan? What's a Saiyan? Better yet, who are you?"

The man seemed taken aback for a moment, but quickly recomposed himself. His smile returned and he nodded his head slightly, "Yes, of course. I am Falmer Zetra. And a Saiyan is what I thought you were, but since you don't know what a Saiyan is, then I must assume that you are NOT a Saiyan."

"Now, don't go assumin' so soon." Bardock's frown deepened. "I might be a Saiyan for all I know. I can't remember anythin' 'cept my name. And the name of this planet." He added almost as an afterthought, as he glanced down at the barren surface stretching out below them. "What happened here?" he asked as he looked back up to the man known as Falmer.

Falmer also looked down at the landscape below them, "Well. Reports are that a team of…cleansers, if you will, working for Frieza cleared this land of all life." He lifted his gaze to peer at the Saiyan. "It was a group of Saiyans, according to the reports that have been turned in to me. A group led by a man named Bardock."

Bardock's whole body tensed up and his eyes narrowed as he looked back down at the ground. Led by him? He and more Saiyans had done this? His gaze fell on the smoldering crater below him and he barely suppressed a grimace. He hadn't been awake long, but he had already caused more destruction than he had thought possible of one man.

"Did you know him?"

Bardock looked up sharply in surprise, but he barely, if at all, let it register on his face, "Did I know who?"

"Bardock."

He opened his mouth to respond, but then clamped it shut, eyeing the man warily. "What do you mean?" he finally asked cautiously.

"I merely thought that due to your sudden quietness you may have known him. He is, after all, dead."

Bardock's eyes shot open wide. Dead? But wait…it was possible that he was referring to another, different, Bardock. Maybe he shared the name with the man, but did that necessarily make him the same Bardock? "How did he die?" he ventured after composing himself.

Falmer frowned slightly. He had noticed the way the man reacted so strangely to his words. His frowned deepened as he realized that the man had yet to offer his name…something he had been about to point out when the man asked that question. His frown faded and he offered the man a blank expression. "Frieza murdered him…along with the rest of your race, I am afraid."

Bardock's mouth fell open in shock and he slowly started to drop out of the air. He had descended more than ten feet before he realized what was happening and quickly rose back up level with Falmer, a dark expression on his face. His cold eyes glared at the man heatedly, "Who is Frieza?" Something deep inside him told him that he should know who Frieza was. Ever since his name had first been mentioned he had felt an apprehension growing steadily in his core. Like it was instinctual for him to hate and loathe that name…a suspicion confirmed at the revelation that his entire race had been wiped out by the man.

Falmer blanched in surprise at the sudden glare that was cast his way, but he ignored it as the Saiyan asked that question. He frowned again, folding his thin arms across his chest, "Before I answer, I have a question of you."

"What?" Bardock all but snapped in response. He was amazed at the self-control he had. Every fiber in his body screamed at him to jet away and find this Frieza character, but yet he was still hovering serenely (well, as serenely as he could anyway) before Falmer.

"What is your name?"

Hesitation…then, "Bardock." And hastily, as if he were trying to explain himself for any particular reason, he added, "Bear in mind I have no memory of my life before this morning. I woke up at the bottom of a pool of water encased in a bubble, of all things. All I know is my name, and that is it. I don't know if I'm the same guy you mentioned earlier."

Falmer's eyes widened just slightly at the revelation and he cocked his head to the side, "I thought you looked familiar. But your hair," he unfolded his arms and gestured at the black mass spilling over the man's shoulders, "It is much longer than it should be. I would ask how you are alive, but if you have no memory of anything beyond this morning, then that would be pointless." He frowned again, lifting a hand to pull at his chin in thought.

"You know me?" Bardock asked in surprise, all anger briefly leaving his face to be replaced by shock.

"I know of you. I have seen pictures and hologram projections of you before. I am an acquaintance, of sorts anyway, of your former mentor, Tettuce."

Tettuce. The name struck a chord in the back of his mind. Bardock frowned and closed his eyes as he focused on the name…It was so familiar sounding. So familiar that he could almost put a face to it…There! He could imagine the man that the name went with. He remembered a man about as tall as he was, more broad-shouldered and with long black hair that, according to his faint memories, was more often than not tied back. The man he remembered had two scars on his face; one on his forehead in the shape of a jagged X, and another shaped exactly as the one on his own cheek. His eyes shot open and he touched his cheek slowly.

He looked across at Falmer as memories of his former mentor flooded his mind. Missions, training, bickering, relaxing…anything he imagined, he could suddenly remember in exact detail. As if he had never lost his memory in the first place. A sharp pain shot through his head and he touched both hands to either temple as immense pain flooded his skull.

Flashes of images ran through his mind. There were more Saiyans, there were images of his mentor, of his father, his brother, his teammates: Toma, Panbukin, Totepo, and…His eyes opened as the pain suddenly faded into nothingness. His hands dropped to his sides and he looked up slowly.

"Seripa…" She had been the woman from his dream. The woman who had said his name…but she had not seemed to be a figment of his imagination. No, especially not with the way she just suddenly vanished from his dream. Had she actually been there…? Had she really been within his dream, giving him the answer to who he was? Well, no, of course not. She had not told him who he was, just his name. But his name had been enough to make him realize that he was more than just a nameless man. He was a warrior with insane strength and speed and power…He knew who he was now. Completely and doubtlessly, he knew just who he was.

But…how was he alive?

"How am I alive?" he asked aloud, having all but forgotten that Falmer was there. So when the man responded he jerked in surprise and looked at him.

"I am curious of that myself, Bardock. I take it you remember who you are?"

He nodded quietly, his eyes set in a perplexed frown. It hadn't taken much for him to remember who he was. He just needed a catalyst, apparently. And hearing Tettuce's name had been quite the catalyst. But…still. He remembered the Death Ball bearing down on him and his planet. He remembered the searing heat and agonizing way his body had been so slowly vaporized…

"If you know Tettuce, then I need you to take me to him." Bardock looked up slowly, his eyes set in a fierce glare. "I have to avenge my team, my mate, and my people."

Falmer nodded slowly, "Of course." He looked down at the planet, cocking a brow. "You and your team sure did quite a number on this planet."

"Yeah, I know. I did a lot of this shit while we served Frieza." He practically spat out the name. "But no more. I don't serve him or anybody anymore. He's responsible for the deaths of the most important people in my life."

Falmer lifted his eyes from the planet and looked at Bardock with a slight smile. "Good. Come with me, then." He turned in midair and took off to his ship.

Bardock hesitated a moment, but then followed after him.

As the door sealed shut behind them, leaving them in a cramped corridor, a silver-skinned woman almost ran Falmer over.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, her almost luminescent green eyes widening in surprise. "Captain Falmer! Zether has just informed us that Lady Aurah has gone missing!"

Falmer's eyes narrowed and he growled in agitation, "What? How? What happened? Diamond, where is Tettuce?"

She quickly explained to him what she had been told, telling him that a captive aboard the ship had hijacked it while Tettuce had been aboard another ship, repairing the damaged engines.

"There's also a report going out on the Galaxy Band that there was an encounter with Frieza, where during a brief altercation a Saiyan female stood up to him and challenged him, and it was after that that her ship went missing as it jumped into hyper space. There's…there's quite a bit of chatter regarding the Saiyan..." she finished timidly.

"Who was this Saiyan female?" Falmer demanded as they stepped into the tiny bridge of his ship. It was more of a cockpit, to be fair. There were three chairs seated before a complex-looking console inlaid with screens and buttons and controls all over its surface. Falmer seated himself in the center chair, indicating the chair to his right for Bardock while the woman took the other seat. It did not escape Bardock's notice that they seemed to be the only three aboard the entire ship…which was just as well, given that it was barely big enough for the three of them, let alone an entire crew.

"Um, I believe they said her name was…Seripa."

Falmer blinked and looked at her in surprise. "What?"

Bardock had frozen in shock. Slowly he turned in his seat to stare past Falmer at Diamond. "Seripa? You did just say Seripa, right?"

"Um…yes. Yes, that was her name, without a doubt." She stared apprehensively between the two men.

"That's impossible," said Bardock, a hint of anger in his tone. "Seripa died on planet Meat along with the rest of my team!"

Falmer turned in his chair to regard Bardock, "That's not…true, actually. I was going to tell you a bit later, but Seripa is alive. General Tettuce and Lady Aurah found signs that she may have survived and were in the process of locating her. Judging by this report I can only assume that they found her…but now…" he trailed off, not sure of what else to say at this point.

Bardock turned away and closed his eyes. His heart was racing in excitement. His mate lived on! Seripa, his apprentice, his protégé, his mate…the one and only woman to ever find her way into his heart…she lived!

"Take me to Tettuce."

Falmer nodded and went to work on the controls. Within moments the ship was exiting the atmosphere, leaving Kanassa behind.

But while some questions had been answered and Seripa's survival had been revealed…one burning question was left in Bardock's mind: how was he alive?

DBZ

Present day…

Bardock stared out over the glistening city of Tyr'Nanog, capital city of planet Gylder, from where he stood on a balcony of the Glyderian palace. It had taken three months for Falmer to get his ship back to planet Glyder. It had turned out that the two ships Bardock had destroyed had previously been engaged in space battle with the Gylderian warrior. During the course of the battle his ship had been damaged enough that the hyper drive engine would no longer activate, something he didn't realize until after he had retrieved Bardock and then attempted to make a jump home. Through hyper space the ship would have reached Gylder in a matter of days. But as it was it took them three months.

By the time they finally arrived Tettuce had already come and gone, taking a new ship to search the cosmos for his mate. Bardock had wanted to immediately begin his own search for Seripa, but Falmer's brother, a man named Zether (General Zether at that) had denied him his wish of leaving. He had claimed that they could not spare the ship or the crew to send a half-cocked Saiyan on a search, and possible rescue, mission. Especially Bardock; they all knew his reputation, something that had disconcerted him. They knew so much about him and he knew nothing about most of them. Sure he knew who Lady Aurah was, but he had never before heard of Falmer or Zether, and Zether was supposedly the Gylderian champion.

Bardock had only met the man once, but he knew from that point that he didn't like him. Zether was taller than him by at least a head, and bore no kind of resemblance, either physically or in attitude, to his brother Falmer. Whereas Falmer had long white hair, Zether had short golden (not blonde, actually golden) hair and luminescent golden eyes. Falmer was also clean-shaven, while Zether kept a neatly trimmed goatee on his face. His complexion, instead of being dull silver like all of his peers, was golden. And while Falmer seemed very mature and had the years to reflect it, Zether was young, just barely out of his teens, and was incredibly arrogant. In fact the first thing he had done upon meeting with Bardock was to challenge the seasoned vet to battle.

If you could call that a battle, to be fair. Zether had proven rather quickly that he was beyond a match for Bardock, easily beating him into unconsciousness. When he woke up he had vowed to train until he was strong enough to bash in the little prick's skull. He didn't just dislike the man—he hated that man with a passion. But he had no choice but to listen to the man's orders and bide his time.

In the nine months since his arrival on Gylder, Bardock's strength had grown exponentially. He had kept to his vow of training to beat the Glyderian, but as time wore on and his worry for Seripa grew, he began to train less for beating Zether and more for beating Frieza. That was his ultimate goal. He had to avenge the fallen Saiyans and make the lizard pay for he had done to his people and his family.

Bardock sighed and looked up at the star-filled night sky. There were thousands of twinkling lights spread all across the light blue expanse. Again he sighed. Tettuce still did not know that he was alive and well, awaiting his return on Gylder. He had waited so long to join his mentor in the search for their mates…He had tried several times already—each attempt unsuccessful—to hijack a ship and go into space. Zether's own men had thwarted him each time. He had even tried appealing to Falmer, but the man was so busy with constantly flying to other planets as an ambassador, or something like that. He had never really paid attention to details like that.

Lost in his thoughts he didn't notice anyone approaching until he heard the door behind him slide open. He turned around slowly, setting his eyes into their normal fierce glare, to see Diamond, the woman from Falmer's ship. She was staring at him, trying desperately to hold something back. Her eyes were wide and bright and her lips were pulled into a tight, thin line as she strode up to him, pausing several feet away and giving him a Gylderian salute: she raised up her left hand and held it at an angle across her body.

He arched a brow, barely resisting the temptation to snarl. "What is it?" He folded his arms and leaned back against the railing as nonchalantly as he could. Not constantly being around other Saiyans had almost completely changed his demeanor. He was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the menacing atmosphere he had mastered so long ago.

"We've just received word from General Tettuce. He has located Lady Aurah and the others! Seripa, too!" she blurted out excitedly. Hell, she seemed more excited than Bardock suddenly felt at that news.

He unfolded his arms and straightened up from the railing. "Excellent! When are we leaving?"

She blinked in surprise, her excitement fading. She suddenly became apprehensive and said in a slightly higher pitched voice, "What? Leave? Why would we leave?"

He growled and narrowed his eyes at her. "I've waited this long. I think it's time you people took me to where I belong! Where's Falmer?"

She jumped at being yelled at. She personally liked the Saiyan male. Probably a little more than she should, she was willing to admit. But she never could understand why he always seemed to hate everyone around him. Maybe it was just a Saiyan thing. "He's with his ship. Wh-?" But she was cut off as Bardock suddenly turned and sprang from the balcony, his aura alighting as he rocketed away.

Diamond approached the balcony railing and stared after him in silence. "Oh…"

Bardock rocketed through the sky, passing over the city and approaching the docking facility for the many spaceships that landed and departed each day. He knew where he was heading as he had been there many times in the past few months. So it was that in less than five minutes after leaving Diamond behind, he was striding quickly up to the jet-black ship. It had long since been repaired, of course, so flying after Tettuce today would only take a few days, if that long.

He boarded the ship and found Falmer sitting in the pilot's chair facing him with his arms crossed as he regarded the Saiyan man.

He grinned up at him, "I was wondering when I'd see you. Have a seat, the ship is almost ready to launch." He swiveled his chair around and leaned towards the console to quickly make preparations.

To say he was surprised would have been an understatement. Bardock frowned as he took his seat to the right of Falmer. "I thought no one was allowed to take me off planet?" He had been pretty sure that Zether had forbid the entire planet from even associating with him if he even mentioned going off planet.

"Oh I'll deal with my brother, do not worry about that." Falmer grinned again and glanced at him. Behind them the hull door opened and closed and then Diamond rushed in, her face flushed and her breathing quick and heavy. "Nice of you to join us, my dear." Falmer chuckled as he returned his gaze to the controls before him.

"Bardock…flies…fast…" she gasped out as she took her seat on the other side of Falmer. She quickly strapped herself in. Just in time, too, as the whole ship suddenly began to vibrate.

Bardock strapped himself in, as well, having waited until the last minute because he was sure that someone had been tricking him. But when the ship levitated away from its moorings, he allowed himself a faint smile. Finally! He was going to see his mate again and his former teacher. Just one step closer to reaching his ultimate goal of facing Frieza…

The ship suddenly rocketed away from the docking facility and exited the atmosphere in just under a minute.

"Damn, she's still feeling a bit sluggish." Falmer grumbled as his hands worked across the console. "Oh well. She is older than most other ships in the fleet." He grinned and glanced over to Diamond at that comment. "Take us to hyper space, my dear."

"Where exactly are we going, Falmer?" Bardock demanded as he looked towards the Gylderian man.

Falmer turned his gaze from Diamond and to Bardock with a faint smirk. "Diamond. Set the coordinates for Jynn-jin 13—heart of Flazerian territory."

The Saiyan blinked in surprise for a few moments and then grinned fiercely. "Now you're talking."

The ship suddenly rocked violently and then the blackness of space exploded around them and they were shooting through what seemed to be a swirling vortex of rainbow colors.

Bardock smirked as the ship would shudder every few minutes as it traveled through hyper space. It definitely was an older model if transitioning through hyper space was affecting it even that much. But it was also clear that the ship could handle the abuse, so he looked over to Falmer. "Contact Tettuce. I want to talk to him."

Falmer smiled again and nodded. He leaned forward and pressed a few buttons then nodded to Bardock.

A second later a voice spoke across the now open auditory channel, "Who is hailing me? Falmer, is that you on that rust-bucket of yours?" growled the familiar voice of his former mentor.

Bardock smirked and then chuckled under his breath. "Now, now, Old Man."

Silence…"Who is that?" Tettuce demanded warily.

"Who do you think it is, Old Man?" Bardock growled in annoyance.

"Bardock?"

"Yeah, it's me, Old Man." He grinned and chuckled.

"I'm alive."

DBZ