Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or have any rights to it.
Seventeen and Eighteen had been searching for hours before they found a town with a sizable population. By that time, it was already morning though the androids didn't feel tired; they could go on for hours without feeling worn out.
Upon seeing the city, the pair didn't waste anytime before blowing things up. They started with the buildings, laughing at the screams and chaos they generated. As the first buildings fell, people poured out onto the streets from those still standing, making themselves targets. Those in the damaged buildings were either killed in the blast of died in the fall as they tried to leap onto the ground. Still others chose to hide inside the buildings, under desks or in closets, hoping that those outside would serve as a diversion.
Satisfied with the chaos they had caused, the androids took to the streets, blasting away at the screaming crowds. They had their own distinct styles of killing. Eighteen went for the direct approach, hitting the people with ki blasts, while Seventeen preferred to play around, and killed people through indirect means, such as blasting a nearby building to kill people with falling debris.
"So has your mood improved?" asked Eighteen as she blasted a group of men who had tried to shoot her.
"I think so," replied Seventeen, "though I still want to hurt him…badly."
Eighteen rolled her eyes. "Off course you do; we always do. So how about a little game?"
Seventeen raised an eyebrow, interested at the prospect. "What kind of game?"
"There are a lot of people trying to shoot us from the buildings. People on the ground are one point; people on rooftops of in the buildings are worth five points. The one with the most points wins."
A broad, and malicious grin appeared on his face. "That sounds fun."
As the sun began to rise, Trunks, and Tarble went up to the lookout to meet with Kami, and the others. They had to develop a plan of action, because randomly going from one fight to anther wouldn't get them any closer to saving the Earth.
Bardock, Tapion, and Kami were waiting on the edge of the lookout, watching the Earth below for any signs of activity. Mr. Popo was inside watching over Piccolo.
Kami was the first to notice the new arrivals, and looked up at them with a smile. "Ah, Trunks, Tarble, good to see you both. I hope you slept well."
Trunks nodded courteously, before replying. "We did, but there's a new enemy we have to fight. My mother saw a news report about it. There's a creature on the loose, and it apparently feeds on people…or at least sucks people out of their clothing. Have you sensed it?"
Kami nodded affirmatively. "Yes…I am well aware that there's a mysterious new threat on the loose, though during the brief instances when I have been able to sense it, I have been unable to gauge its strength. I'm afraid I cannot tell you what you are up against."
Bardock looked to the skies, and said, "I can sense two power levels approaching the Earth. They should be here by tomorrow night at the earliest, though they're not too strong to handle."
"Those must be Abo and Cado, Freeza's remnant forces," stated Tarble. "Maybe we should devote our attention to them the moment they arrive. We can definitely beat them, so we might as well get them out of the way."
"I agree," added Tapion. "The fewer threats we've got, the better, and the lower threats could work as stepping stones, to help us practice for the higher threats. As for Hirudegarn, it will probably be at least a week before Hoy is ready to unleash him. He used up a lot of energy breaking me out of the music box."
"I suppose for now, it would be wise to go over your strengths and weaknesses, so you may strive to improve yourselves in the appropriate area," suggested Kami. "You know that you can beat Abo and Cado, but the creature remains a wild card. As for the androids, your current level of power won't do, and that's especially true for Hirudegarn."
"Sounds like a plan," commented Bardock. However, a set of explosions below caught their attention, and they all looked down to see a town being destroyed. "It must be the androids," said Bardock angrily.
"That's them," replied Trunks. "They've always been fond of explosions." He powered up to super saiyan. "We should go down there and try to help those people."
"I agree," stated Kami, "but you must be careful. Don't try to defeat the androids, just hold them at bay, before retreating." However, as they were about to leave, Kami's eyes widened as he sensed a mass death occurring elsewhere. "It must be the creature! It's attacking a town as well."
Trunks clenched his fists in frustration. "What should we do? We need our strength for the androids, but we can't ignore everyone else!"
"Calm down," said Bardock, tightening his headband. "You three go fight the androids. I'll check out this creature. If anything goes wrong, I can use instant transmission to escape it."
Trunks nodded. "Alright, but be careful." He then flew towards the androids, followed by his uncle and Tapion. From the lookout, I didn't take them too long to arrive at the besieged town, and a sight Trunks found too familiar greeted them. The super saiyan growled angrily at the sight of dead bodies, pilled on top of each other.
It didn't take them a long time to find the androids, which were busy attacking people in buildings. The poor humans had long since given up trying to resist and were trying their best to remain hidden.
"Hey Androids," called Trunks, as he and his two companions landed behind the pair. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
They turned to face him with mocking smiles. Eighteen was the first to speak. "If, by that statement, you're referring to yourself, I'm afraid that you're sadly mistaken. You can't even defeat one of us, let alone both of us."
Seventeen looked past Trunks at Tapion and Tarble. "You brought two of your friends along, how nice, though I was looking forward to battling that other guy. What was his name?"
"His name is Bardock," replied Trunks. "Sorry to disappoint you, but he's got something else he needs to do, but we'll be more than happy to oblige you." Trunks, Tarble, and Tapion took their fighting stances.
Eighteen raised an eyebrow as she eyed Tarble. She recognized Tapion, so no introductions were necessary, and she didn't care much for who Bardock was, but Tarble bore an uncanny resemblance to Vegeta, and Trunks. "Who is that guy in the saiyan armor? He reminds me of that stupid saiyan prince we fought some time ago."
"That's Trunks' uncle," replied Seventeen. "He's even more pathetic than his father and nephew." He then turned to his sister with smirk. "However, that Bardock guy was an interesting challenge, he's Goku's father, and while he wasn't very strong, he was tricky."
"Tricky?" Eighteen raised an eyebrow. "And you say he was Goku's father?" She then began laughing. "Figures that any new challenger would drop out of space. I was getting bored of this planet's warrior's anyway." She was obviously referring to Trunks. "After all, they're so bland," she flashed Trunks a mocking smirk.
Trunks felt his blood boil. The androids had dealt a blow to his pride by insulting his family and his abilities as a warrior. He clenched his fists as his flaming aura flared around him.
Tapion drew his sword; Trunks had given it back to him, thinking he would make better use of it. "Calm down Trunks. We need to approach this cautiously. They're just baiting you, so don't charge in recklessly."
"By the way," said Seventeen, "why isn't Bardock here helping you? You said he had something else to do, but what could be more important than defeating us?"
"That's none of you business," replied Trunks. "Now prepare to fight!" He rushed forward to attack Seventeen, while Tarble and Tapion attacked Eighteen.
Seventeen was easily able to block all of Trunks punches, and quickly rammed his fist into the super saiyan's gut. Trunks doubled over, but was quick enough to dodge a double-fisted smash, aimed at his back. He then aimed a ki blast at the android's face, but Seventeen caught it and threw it back. Trunks dodged the blast before trying to punch Seventeen, but the android leaned out of the way, and caught Trunks' arm before swinging him and around and sending him sailing into the sky.
Eighteen yawned as Tarble hit her in the face. He was punching her with all his strength, but she was hardly affected, however, she quickly jumped back as Tapion slashed at her with his sword; she didn't want him to cut her hair.
Eighteen gave her opponents a mocking smile. "Is that all you've got? Come on, it's two against one, yet it seems like you're both moving in slow motion."
Tapion turned to Tarble, who nodded in response before powering up. A blue aura flared around the small saiyan as he shot into the air above Eighteen. Tapion then tried to keep her occupied by engaging her with fancy sword combinations.
Eighteen was barely trying, as she was able to block all of Tapion's sword blows with her wrist. After a few minutes she heard Tarble shout, "Galic Gun Fire!" Raising her right arm, she quickly swatted the blast away with a flick of her wrist before phasing into front of Tarble and doubling him over with a gut punch, and then sending him to the ground with an elbow to the back.
Tapion tried to slash her with his sword, but she caught the blade barehanded, and pulled him in before kneeing him in the gut. The swordsman fell to the ground, with his blade landing a few feet away from him.
At the same time, Trunks was struggling to keep up with Seventeen as he kept tabs on how many people were still in the area. The android was more than twice as strong as he was, but was holding back considerably, hoping to drag out the fight.
Bardock used instant transmission to appear in the town where the creature was. He could sense a few people nearby; something he had picked up on Yardrat. Running through the streets, he spotted a stray survivor, armed with a gun, and ready for a suicide mission.
"You should leave," said Bardock. "Whatever's here can't be killed by guns."
The man gave Bardock an arrogant smirk. "No way mate. This here is no ordinary gun. It's a light machine gun. It should take that thing out."
Before Bardock could say anything, the monster's tail lashed out, piercing the man's neck, before coiling around him, and pulling him into the shadows. Bardock heard gunshots as the man's screams died down. Then a green, insectoid creature walked out of the alleyway, grinning with its peculiar mouth.
"Ah…that was a satisfying meal." He eyed Bardock with reptilian eyes, recognizing whom he looked like. "Are you…Goku?"
Bardock raised an eyebrow, looking on the creature with disgust. "No…if you must know, I'm his father, Bardock." He saw the creature's grin broaden, and eyed it cautiously. He knew it was holding back and didn't trust it.
"So you're Goku's father…how interesting. I thought you died along with your home planet. This presents an interesting opportunity indeed. I'm sure absorbing you will be most filling."
"So that's what you've been doing to these people?" Bardock leapt out of the way as the creature lashed out with its tail. He then fired a Riot Javelin at the beast, but was shocked as it swiped it out of the way. Keeping a clear head, he used instant transmission to get behind the beast and landed a roundhouse kick to its head. However, he had to retreat as the creature, unfazed by his attack, lashed out again.
"Bardock, it appears that you're a skilled and resourceful warrior, though with a puny power like that, you can't hope to defeat me. Don't be afraid, I'll absorb you into my being and you will be a part of greatness."
"No thanks," replied Bardock coolly as he took off. He could tell that the creature was giving chase, and that it wasn't using its full speed. It's toying with me…playing a game of cat and mouse!
"There's no use running Bardock, you can't escape me." The beast phased in front of the saiyan, and tried to punch him, but missed as Bardock used instant transmission to get away. It sensed Bardock appear several feet away from it and smirked. "That technique of yours isn't getting you very far."
Bardock sensed the people scattering out of the town. There were only a few on them, but he knew that they were all safe for now. For the creature, tracking them all down would be like splitting hairs.
He smiled at the beast. "Sorry, but my time here is done." As it charged towards him, in an attempt to falsify his statement, Bardock used instant transmission to appear on the lookout.
Kami was a bit surprised to see him. "How strange. I never thought you'd run away so soon."
"I was obviously outclassed, besides, my goal was to find out more about the creature, and attempt to gauge its strength, as well as buy time for the civilians to escape. I've learned over the years not to let my saiyan pride get the best of me, and that it can be better to run and fight another day than die fighting."
"You are truly wise Bardock," commented Kami, but his expression then contorted with worry. "We have yet to see an upper limit to the creatures power, but now we know that it's very strong. The only one among us right now who could handle it is Trunks as a super saiyan."
"It gets worse," said Bardock. "The creature absorbs people through its tail, making itself stronger. I don't know if Trunks can beat it right now, let alone after it's absorbed some more people."
"This is most disturbing," replied Kami grimly. "We will have to take it down as soon as possible, before its power gets too large for us to control, though for all we know, it could've already reached that point."
Bardock's eyes widened as he sensed Trunks power level drop. "Darn it! Those androids must've given him a quite a beating. I'd better get over there and bring them all back here!" He quickly placed his middle and index fingers over his forehead before vanishing.
As Trunks sensed the last few people leaving, he fell to the ground, unconscious. The bruised, battered, and unconscious bodies of Tapion and Tarble were several feet away. Both androids were hovering over them, ominously.
"I'd say that was somewhat amusing," said Seventeen. "How about it Eighteen? Should we kill them?"
She shrugged indifferently. "I don't mind it. They were pathetically weak anyway, so if they can't survive our attacks, they're not worth sparing. Let's just blast them, and leave."
As the androids were about to extend their hands, Bardock appeared in the rubble below, and quickly picked up Trunks, fireman style. He then ran over to the two bodies, grabbing one with his free arm, and the other with his tail, before looking up at the androids.
Bardock felt anger course through him as he stared up at the beings he had seen in his nightmarish visions. "So you're the androids. The ones I came all the way here to defeat."
Eighteen chuckled as if he had made a joke. "You must be Bardock. I can see the family resemblance between you and your son, Goku. I doubt you could ever hope to beat us. From what Seventeen told me, the only thing keeping you in a battle would be your fancy tricks. You have no power behind your attacks."
Bardock knew better than to get angry at their insults, though he still had a powerful desire to shut them up for good. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not ready to fight you today, so goodbye." He disappeared, without given them time to respond.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Seventeen and his sister looked around frantically, but couldn't find any sign of their intended target. "How did he do that?"
"I don' know," replied a frustrated Eighteen. "I can see why you'd call him tricky, he might even be a better escape artist than Gohan was."
Seventeen's lips curled into a malicious grin. "We'll be sure to get him next time, before he has a chance to do that again."
I know that the fight with Cell was short, but I want to portray Bardock is more tactical and wise, because he has a lot of experience. I'm trying to portray him as aggressive in battle, but smart enough to know when to retreat.