I really have no excuse for the long wait. I changed jobs so my schedule has been fluctuating. But I'm not abandoning this story. I'm striving to complete it, and hopefully, the last chapter will be a long way off :)
Read and Review, and give any suggestions you might have.
It had gotten quite dark, and Bardock had finally rested enough that he was much more alert and healthy. He had grabbed a bite to eat from the table while his wife and son brought him up to speed.
And proceeded to perform a flawless spit take after drinking lots of water.
"I'm to go where?" Bardock inquired, his brow raised incredulously.
"I can't believe it, either. The Queen wants you to be at the throne room in less than an hour." Gine was scowling, upset at the sudden summons. They had just returned from a mission and now it would be even longer before she could spend any down time with Bardock.
Bardock didn't respond immediately to his wife's statement, but glanced between Gine and Goku, attempting to wrench some kind of response from them with the mild gesture.
"What the hell does she want with me? Everybody knows me and the King didn't get along all that well," the older man trailed off. Yes, he really disliked Super Elites in general, but they had a sort of rivalry going. Of course, King Vegeta probably didn't see it that way, but he remembered swearing right in front of him that he would surpass him all those years ago.
"Sounds like you and the King used to compete against each other a lot," Goku offered, hands crossed behind his head, a strangely nostalgic expression on his face. Bardock half-smiled with a short laugh.
"Yeah, something like that," he replied before his smirk dropped almost instantly.
That half-cocked statement he made to the King all those years ago wasn't coming back to bite him somehow, was it?
"But why the sudden interest in you?" Gine questioned aloud. She thought hard before making a short humming sound in realization.
"Maybe it's because of, you know...that fight from earlier, where Frieza was killed. You were there."
"Oh yeah. That," Bardock grumbled, glancing again at his family. He frowned.
"But in all honesty, I just watched the whole thing unfold. I didn't contribute in any way..."
"Father, if it wasn't for you attacking when you did, me and Vegeta wouldn't have known the planet was even in danger!"
Bardock grumbled under his breath, but didn't argue. His son had a point, even though he felt it wasn't quite valid.
"Alright," Bardock decided after standing up. "I'll go see what her royal highness wants," he mocked. He turned to Gine, a half smile on his face. "Have dinner ready by the time I'm back, will ya?"
"I'll think about it," Gine retorted, pretending to be in thought. Bardock nodded before walking out the door. Without hesitation, Goku followed, offering a small wave to his mother before departing.
Once the two were outside, the scarred Saiyan hadn't yet taken off. "Kakarot, I don't need you babysitting me."
"Ah, it's nothing like that," Goku dismissed, quickly catching up with his father after he took off. He easily kept with Bardock's speed, lagging behind just so.
"I haven't been to the palace myself, so I thought I'd just tag along," he added, his form corkscrewing in the air before steadying himself where his back was facing the ground below and his hands were crossed behind his wild mass of hair.
Bardock grunted in acknowledgement but didn't say anything to show approval or disagreement. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was starting to enjoy Kakarot's company, even if it was only temporary in the long run. He reminded him so much of his wife but was so much stronger than her and himself combined. Idly, he wondered how things would have been different if Frieza never tried to destroy Planet Vegeta. Would his son still have ended up being as powerful as this visitor from the future?
Probably not, he deduced. Not even the Super Elites came close to his son's power, which left him with a mix of pride and shame in his gut.
"Well, here it is..." Bardock stated with a sense of finality. The Saiyan Royal Palace, easily the largest building this quadrant of the planet. Both warriors landed at the base of the grandiose building and Bardock glared at the Royal Flag with narrowed eyes.
"I'm gonna explore the inside a bit. I'll be nearby."
Goku's father was going to ask how he was even going to get inside unnoticed, but was reminded of his talent when he vanished after placing two fingers on his forehead.
He really needed to learn how to do that.
Inhaling through his nose, then exhaling, he walked up the stairs to the exceedingly large double doors, which was guarded by two Super Elites, one on either side of it.
"State your business, low class," the guard requested rudely and without preamble.
Bardock resisted the temptation to pick a fight. His son was here. No need to cause a ruckus. Yet.
"Your royal highness is requesting my presence," he answered, not able to stop from saying the royal title in mockery.
The guard frowned before pressing a button on his scouter. "Name?"
"Bardock."
The guard clicked buttons on his scouter a couple more times before dropping his hand and gesturing with a nod for the other Saiyan to enter. The other guard then walked inside, leading the way towards the throne room. Bardock followed behind, examining some of the portraits along the walls offhandedly.
The scarred Saiyan already knew he was quite strong in his own right, but after the recent events, he could easily wipe the floor with probably all of the Palace's guards. That thought alone was enough to keep his self-control in check.
It was a short silence before the two Saiyans finally reached the Throne Room doors, which the guard opened.
"Your highness, Bardock has arrived," he announced.
The Queen was seated at the Throne, one leg crossed over the other, while her arms rested on either side of the ornate chair.
Queen Okra nodded to the guard, silently dismissing him. The sentry made a Saiyan salute before retreating back to his door post.
The only occupants in the room now were Bardock and Okra. The Saiyan male crossed his arms, a scowl on his face, not happy in the least to be there.
"Alright, your royal royalness, what do you want?"
Okra raised an eyebrow at the crass greeting, resting the side of her face on one of her hands.
"Is that any way to greet your Queen?" she asked, not perturbed in the least.
"What were you expecting?" Bardock retorted. "I'm just a simple low class Saiyan."
"You are," Okra agreed, causing Bardock's scowl to deepen. "But you also were the first to attack Frieza's ship, correct?"
Okra smiled upon seeing Bardock's suprised expression. It was rather common knowledge that there were several Saiyans who confronted Frieza, but not that he had charged at the ship. How would she even come upon that seemingly useless tidbit of info?
"So what?" Bardock settled on saying, adopting a scowl on his face once again. Okra was still smiling, and that served to irritate Bardock. He felt as though she knew something that he didn't.
"You were already advancing towards the ship before the time traveler, the King Vegeta look alike, arrived." Queen Okra stood from her seat and began to slowly walk down the steps towards him. Bardock tensed up as she came to a stop in front of him, and he belatedly realized how short she was compared to him.
"And your point is?"Bardock ventured, not daring to break eye contact with her now that she was staring him down.
"You know that Super Saiyan personally, don't you?"
While Bardock was surprised she was able to deduce all of that information, it seemed she was missing a vital tidbit of information. Scouter Cameras were a bit unreliable at a distance, so that recording...
The realization hit him quickly.
He must have been out of range of the recordings or his son must have been mistaken for him. Kakarot did feed the Prince's attack that nullified Frieza's planet busting blast with his what did he call it? Kame-Hame-Ha?
Did she think he had did that?
"So it was you then?" the woman asked, misinterpreting his silence, though it sounded more like a statement from her than a question.
Bardock hesitated in answering, not sure what to say. It seemed as though she didn't know about Kakarot yet, and he was keen on keeping it that way. Why was she asking all of these questions anyway?
"Why did you summon here? I'm sure it wasn't for a pointless interrogation," he demanded, attempting to steer the subject away from potentially dangerous territory. Queen Okra seemed way too curious about the Super Saiyan Transformation, and any fool could guess why.
"You're right," the queen smiled again before turning around, her back now to him.
"I have a proposition. I wish to make you my King."
"Well?" Okra asked. Bardock had been silent for several seconds and he had made no move to say anything.
"What?" Bardock queried dumbly, a frown on his face.
A/N: ...Mhm, you guessed right, BW Lewis and Thorn D. Cinni :)
I will strive to make updates more frequent, Stay tuned.
Also Review, and review hard and give me all your thoughts. I like reading them as they give me a lot to think about.