Hi! Thank you for checking out this set of words. I just want to reiterate that this is part of a challenge I am setting for myself where I am giving myself around 90 minutes to get an idea or scene from my head into writing. No editing, no revising, just getting stuff on paper.

I took a hiatus from writing for over a year, and any attempts at writing in that timespan were met with frustration and little progress.

It is with this challenge that I hope to break from that curse, and get back to where I was as a writer.

Please feel free to critique as harshly as you want, I want to get better at this.


Bardock woke with a start, his sweat cold against his skin. He glanced around, taking note of his surroundings. He was in a forest of some sort, and judging by the dark sky, it was night. He noticed a faint glow from behind the clouds, and quickly averted his eyes. There was no use transforming here.

He rose to his feet, and scanned himself, patting at his armor as he began to frown. His armor was unscathed, and aside from his scar, his body was in perfect condition.

"What the hell?"

The searing pain of that blast was still fresh in his mind. It was on a scale he had never imagined, the pain, and the sheer pressure of the sphere of energy. He should be dead.

"Where am I?"

He willed himself up, above the canopy, and into the air. The area was void of civilization, nothing but the forest beneath him, and mountains in front of him. He turned around, and could barely make out the rising smoke in the night sky. He pushed himself forward, and took off in the direction of the smoke.

He surveyed the landscape beneath him, noting the varying flora and terrain. It was nothing he recognized.

He soon reached the source of the smoke. It was the ruins of a city. He touched down with a sigh. The rubble was still loose, and he could still smell the faint traces of blood in the air. This city was destroyed recently, and by the looks of it, everyone had been wiped out. Bardock raised a finger to his temple, then clicked his tongue.

"I can keep my armor and body, but I don't get a scouter," he remarked as he walked through the remains.

Deeper into the city, Bardock found the bodies. Whoever did this was very thorough, no one was left unaccounted for. He could respect that. He continued walking, taking note of the destroyed architecture and the dead inhabitants. The people of this planet resembled saiyans, but so did countless other races in the galaxy.

He glanced down an alleyway, and noticed the body of a woman cradling an infant. Both were unmoving. Bardock's fists tightened and his blood ran cold before he tore his eyes away from the scene.

"Tch, this is a waste of time."

He rose into the air, preparing to blast off, before he heard the familiar sounds of someone digging through rubble. He flew towards the sound.

Bardock closed in on a purple haired boy. He was on his knees, frantically digging through rubble. His choked sobs were deafening in the vacant ruins.

"Hey, what planet is this?"

The boy spun, his gaze on the ground before shooting up to meet Bardock's. The kid's eyes widened, his crying put on pause as he just stared at Bardock.

"Can you understand me? What. Planet. Is. This?" Bardock crossed his arms, waiting for an answer.

"G-Goku?"

"Goku? What's a Go-. Shit, you can't understand me, can you?" Bardock uncrossed his arms, and made to leave.

"N-no wait!" The boy stumbled away from the rubble, and to his silent surprise, flew into the air a few meters in front of Bardock. He wiped at his nose. "I've seen pictures of you at my mom's house. You're Goku, right?"

"Kid, I don't know who Goku is, but I'm not him," Bardock's tail unfurled itself, swaying erratically behind him. "Now, answer the damn question."

Sniffling, the boy glanced at his tail, then back at him.

"This is Earth."

Earth. The word sounded familiar to Bardock, like it was something very important. What was it that was so significant about Earth?

"You're a saiyan, right?"

Absent-mindedly, Bardock responded, "Yeah, what of it?"

"I didn't think there were any others out there," the boy said.

Suddenly, Bardock was brought crashing back to reality, "What?"

He flinched at Bardock's tone, "I thought we were the only ones left?"

"Explain. Now."

"Gohan said it was only me and him left, but it used to be just him and our dads, but they've been gone for years now. Gohan says that their planet was blown up way before either of us were born, but that's all I know," he said in one breath.

Bardock stumbled back as if he were struck, "It's gone?"

"That's what Gohan said- y-you didn't know?"

Bardock fell to the ground, the world around him spinning as he was on his hands and knees. Everyone was gone. His home. His comrades. Gine. Kakarott. Wait.

Despite the vertigo, Bardock found himself focusing on his son's name. They sent him away. They sent Kakarott to a distant planet. A backwater planet that was far from Frieza's influence. One that barely anyone knew about. Earth.

The boy touched down next to Bardock, "Sir, are you okay?"

Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet, "You're a saiyan, right?"

The boy gave him an odd look, "Yeah, well, half of one at least."

Bardock just nodded, "What's your name?"

"Trunks."

"Alright, Trunks," Bardock sampled the foreign name on his tongue, "You thought I was this Goku person. He was a saiyan too?"

"Yeah, he was my mom's best friend, and Gohan's dad."

"Alright, and your father is…"

After a second, Trunks answered, "Vegeta."

Poor Bardock's heart took a second shock, "Vegeta!? The King of the Saiyans?"

"I guess?" Trunks shrugged, "When mom and Gohan talk about him, they just called him a prince."

"That's- Forget that. I need some questions answered. Trunks, can you bring me to Gohan?"

Tears began to well up in Trunk's eyes, "H-he's hurt really bad, I don't know if-when he's gonna wake up."

"Hey, stop it with the tears, saiyans are tougher than that," Bardock said. "What about your mom?"

"S-she might be busy taking care of Gohan," he paused for the briefest of moments, barely a blink, his eyes narrowing as he seemingly analyzed Bardock, "But she could maybe see you."

"That's good enough, I'll follow you there," Bardock said.

Trunks spared a glance towards the rubble, then back to Bardock before letting out a sigh, "Alright, follow me."


I want to apologize for any poor grammar or characterization in this chapter. I should hopefully get better as I get back into the whole writing thing, and get more immersed in the characters that I'm working with.

Updates are going to be sporadic because college sucks.