The sound of calm, feminine breathing returned Bardock to consciousness. The Saiyan opened his eyes slowly, feeling the surging light call upon a headache comparable to a ring of knives being worn as a crown. It was through becoming accustomed to the pain and the hazy state that he was in that Bardock could regain more and more control over his body. Once a hint of feeling returned to his fingertips and his biceps, as well as his thighs, could twitch on command, Bardock could try recalling how he ended up this pummeled, to begin with.
That daunting task slipped to a role of secondary importance once Bardock set his eyes on a slender and short female Saiyan, pressing her body against the wall and peeking through a gap in the wreckage to stare at the sky outside. Her Ki was insignificant, like that of natural wildlife and she was no warrior though her spirit seemed rustled as if she was one. Bardock had been sensing Ki long enough to tell that the woman felt terrified and distressed, though an ordinary man might not have needed to take a gander into one's Ki to see the signs of such feelings.
"Gine…" Bardock muttered through pain, wriggling back to the wall so he could sit up against it. The woman jumped up and exclaimed in surprise before rushing up to the injured warrior, feeling up his body with her hands, as if her touch could have whisked the pain away. Despite the woman being no sorceress and possessing no healing magical powers, her gentle touch seemed to soothe Bardock as nothing else could.
"Bardock…" the woman whispered, pressing her forehead against Bardock's, leaving a bloody trail, the leftover from Bardock's massive battle with Captain Ginyu on her face as she touched him. "They're looking for you. That's okay though, they've gone elsewhere now."
"They…?" Bardock wondered before wincing in pain. "Damn Ginyu… Really did a number on me. Didn't expect to run into a crazy bastard like that. Just wanted to kick Vegeta's ass."
"Everyone was talking in the plant. I was so scared, didn't know what to think…" Gine sniffed and whimpered before punching Bardock in the chest. Despite the woman having little combat training or potential, Bardock howled in pain as her feeble blow resonated through his entire body and triggered every wound he had. The resonance seemed to encompass every torn muscle fiber in his body. Right now even his soft-core, scorned wife was a deadly threat.
"Sorry, Gine. I guess I got you into trouble, huh?" Bardock's voice softened up. It was something that only his wife drew out of him–the ability to not think about whom to punch next and keep grounded. Stop being a warrior and return to being just a man, even if it's only for a few moments.
"When I heard that you're fighting it out with the king and how crazy it's getting, I knew I had to help you. I figured I wouldn't be much help but… By the time I got to the royal palace, there was no more royal palace and your fight was over. The least I could do was hide you from everybody looking for you. We need to find you a healing pod…" Gine nuzzled Bardock's sore and broken body. A look of worry and care didn't leave her face for a second. The woman returned to a sash hanging on the right side of the wrecked building that the pair were hiding in and pulled out a massive chunk of processed meat from it, handing it to Bardock.
"Gine… You lifted this off work, didn't you?" Bardock grunted. Even if it was his wife, he didn't like the idea of relying on her and accepting her help. That was unless he couldn't help it at all, like when he was out and had no say in the matter.
"Just shut up and eat it!" Gine cried out with tears running down her eyes. The wrath that broke free was like nothing that could have come from the soft-spoken and kind-hearted weakling that Bardock knew, so it threw the battered Saiyan for a loop there. "When you left and started your rebellion, everybody was pointing fingers, talking. I grit my teeth and kept on working. Alone, hated, and blamed for everything, but I didn't care. I knew that all this was temporary, that you'd come back for me. My job, this planet, it was all temporary, you've thrown it away already when you sat inside that pod and took off to put sticks in between the Saiyans' and Lord Frieza's wheels."
Without saying a word, Bardock grabbed the meat off of Gine's hands, feeling how its weight taxed his torn muscles and squinting in pain and weary but digging his teeth into the processed food. It wouldn't change anything. This lump of meat wouldn't heal his wounds or stitch the schism between him and his wife, but it would, at the very least, give him some energy to plan for what to do next.
"I've met Kakarot, you know. On Earth…" Bardock mumbled out with a full mouth.
"K-Kakarot?" Gine turned to her husband with her mouth gaping and eyes open. She rushed up to Bardock and kneeled by his side, shaking his right shoulder lightly. "How is he doing? What kind of man has he become? Is he happy on Earth?"
"Dunno…" Bardock shrugged, "You can ask him yourself, he's here on Planet Vegeta. When the king's cocky brat caught up to us, we crashed on Earth to scoop Kakarot up. We needed more muscle. We were getting dire and there he was. Earthling family and all… You're a grandma already."
"Here!?" Gine leaned back to where she fell on her backside and crawled away a few bits before standing back up. "What's he doing here?"
"The bratty prince threatened to hurt you when I fought him back on Earth. It took a while, but we've finally gathered the force and technology needed to rescue you. Kakarot, his son, his annoying friends that grow on you eventually, we've all come here to take you back to Earth where we can have a peaceful life." Bardock explained after slipping the last chunks of meat off of the bone and flinging the man-sized bony stick away.
"You idiot!" Gine yelled out, jumping right on top of Bardock and rubbing her face and body in his embrace as her confused husband looked at her in bewilderment. His soft and warm wife wept and laughed at the same time, taking whiffs of him and squeezing him tight just to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. It was only in this moment of weakness that Bardock fully realized that Gine was in his arms again. He wrapped his own arms around her and pressed her tighter. "You've killed the king. Why are you always so hasty and brash? I hope that Kakarot didn't take after his old man like that…"
"Brash? He's just as brash, but I don't think he's nearly as angry at everything. He's not boiling, he's more… Curious." Bardock smiled, feeling his wife's light taps at his chest. "What the heck are you going on about now? Is it 'cause we've lived long enough to become grandparents? Back on Earth, nobody cares about that. You've said it already that this planet and Frieza can go screw themselves, so why are you still letting that honor bullshit get to you still?"
"You've gone on and killed the king, Bardock!" Gine looked up at him. "Even if you were just being hot-headed and stupid before, now Lord Frieza really will destroy us all. If you just came and gone as if you were never here, maybe then he'd have let it go but… Now. There'll be no peaceful life anywhere in the universe for us or for Kakarot and his friends."
"Damn it, you always had a cooler head and thought things through…" Bardock cursed. "In that case, we'll have to beat the shit out of Frieza too and make him leave us alone."
"Do you even listen to yourself sometimes?" Gine pleaded, looking up to her husband still in his embrace. Her puppy-eyes always had a way of making Bardock melt.
"Hey, it's that kind of mentality that got us this far and this close to freedom. You said it, not me–kicking Frieza's ass is the only way for us to leave peacefully at this point and I've already beat the snot out of Ginyu. That asshole Frieza's just one step higher…" Bardock hissed out.
"We've got to get you healed," Gine wriggled out of his grip and ran off to the exit from the wreckage, looking around the area that now saw no Frieza Army around. All soldiers occupied elsewhere. It was fortunate that Gine's battle power was overall unimpressive and Bardock was unconscious. Their scouters must not have picked up on anything out of the ordinary because of that.
"Damn it, that's gonna be one tall order," Bardock grunted. "Those assholes are covering for all the facilities with healing pods. I can sense their energy all over the planet."
"You must have really ticked them off…" Gine shook her worried head, ironically lamenting her life's decision to choose this hothead for the love of her life even if her heart made this choice for her long ago and gave her no say in the matter.
Just as a round complex of buildings loomed on the horizon, clear in sight, Tenshinhan felt a rising surge of energy behind them. It was an open call to arms but as the three-eyed warrior turned around to answer it, much to his shock, it wasn't him, nor was it Chiaotzu to become the object for the ire of the Frieza Army. The alien soldiers started blasting at the Saiyans, catching them by surprise.
"Wh-What's going on?" Tenshinhan muttered, caught unprepared for such a sudden eruption of brutality.
"It ain't outsider's business but… Lord Frieza's orders. The Saiyans have got to go, permanently. You've aligned yourself with a couple, but you also took Bardock in. What are you going to say about it? Gonna make a good impression on Lord Frieza or are you gonna go down with them?" a tough-looking, fiendish alien flexed his muscles, kicking a fallen and deceased Saiyan before aiming his Ki channeling weapon at Tenshinhan while the rest of his company did the same.
"Chiaotzu…" Tenshinhan turned to his lifelong friend with a resolute stare. "It appears we've got no choice but to break our word and fight. I'm a little glad, anyway. As a martial artist, I wouldn't have forgiven myself if I missed out on the chance to test my limits against this Frieza." He spoke to Chiaotzu telepathically.
"Yeah…" Chiaotzu nodded his head with a doll-like smile as he put up his fingers and let two beacons shine at the tips. With a telekinetic pulse, the ghoulish fighter removed the Ki-channeling weaponry off of the hands of the Frieza Army.
"Fist of Four Bodies!" Tenshinhan yelled out, crossing his arms and creating a triplet of clones to rush and take on the Frieza Army alongside him and take them out as fast as possible, leaving none of them the opening to flee.
"What now?" Chiaotzu turned to Tenshinhan with a blank face.
"If the Frieza Army has betrayed the Saiyans, Goku's mother is in grave danger. We best look into this Meat Processing Plant building and see if we can find her or confirm her fate, at the very least." Tenshinhan fixed his gauntlet while his cloned bodies returned and molded with the original. Chiaotzu nodded in agreement and the pair took off toward the Meat Processing Plant complex looming on the horizon.
Chiaotzu stopped and turned back. Tenshinhan lingered in mid-air as if frozen in place in an awkward, sprawled out, and uncomfortable pose while his face twisted in a scowl of torment while his skin became reddish before displaying signs of the fact it was about to change color again to something more pale blue. The ghoulish martial artist bent his head to the side, looking perplexed by his friend's troubles. He raised his fingers and sent a telekinetic signal that broke whatever had paralyzed Tenshinhan.
"Th-Thank you…" Tenshinhan wheezed and panted, looking weary to even keep his body floating in the air after a telekinetic grip had completely paralyzed his lungs. "Just what… Was that?"
"Oh!" an ear-raking shriek came from the east, prompting the two martial artists to turn right and witness a small and round-shaped, mint-skinned alien with two pairs of eyes accompanied by an army of hundreds behind him. "You possess telekinetic powers too? How curious…" the mint-skinned alien chuckled with a vexing, high-pitched voice.
Chiaotzu and Guldo stared at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time, with Guldo becoming more and more distressed by this awkward pause the more time passed. Tenshinhan turned to Chiaotzu and to Guldo again, seeing the anxiety in the faces of the Frieza Army soldiers.
"Dumpling…" Chiaotzu pointed his finger at Guldo.
"Wh-What is that!? Name-calling!? That's really low, you know!" Guldo shook his fist out, grinding his teeth while his smaller pair of eyes appeared to almost completely disappear. "For your information, I've had problems with bullies early in my career, and that sort of behavior is really immature of you!"
"Guldo-san, these fighters are wearing Frieza Army uniforms, but they're not in any of our registries. Regardless of that, they've got power levels of around 10 000. That is a bit high for mere soldiers…" a member of the Frieza Army approached the field captain asking for orders.
"Humph… These guys must be the Earthlings that Zarbon spoke of. It's no use asking them to join us if they're so mean! Kill them off! But leave the pale shrimp to me. Telekinesis is a dangerous talent, and it takes another telekinetic to deal with it the best," Guldo relayed his orders as the present soldiers backed off of their field captain and formed a circle around Chiaotzu, Tenshinhan, and Guldo. Tenshinhan traced the movements of the soldiers with a calm look.
"These guys won't let us fight in peace…" Tenshinhan proclaimed.
"Leave this dumpling-guy to me, Ten-san." Chiaotzu declared.
"Are you sure?" Tenshinhan raised his eyebrows before submitting. "I guess it makes the most sense, as I'd spend too much time struggling against his telekinesis to be of any use to you. I'll make myself useful by dispatching of his company so they do not interfere in your battle."
Chiaotzu nodded without a verbal response, his eyebrows pointed just a few degrees downward. Just a bit short of the apathetic, doll-like look that he usually confronted and creeped out the world with. The pale martial artist took a fighting pose, standing opposed to the short and chubby Ginyu Force member.
Tenshinhan pressed his arms to his sides, subtle trails of ethereal vapor rose from his body that transcended into the realm of becoming a gleaming, crystalline aura that boomed out and encompassed the martial artist whole. In its expanse, it grew larger and larger, shaking up even the soldiers that kept a respectable distance from both of their targets set for elimination.
A scouter popped off of the head of an oval-shaped head alien. Another one, then another one. A chain reaction of crackling pops and electric short-outs resonated throughout the fighting force, leaving every soldier utterly baffled at just what might have been going on.
"Wh-What's going on with you all?" Guldo shrieked out, losing his focus to scold his soldiers before something emanating from Chiaotzu demanded Guldo's attention back. An expanding, telekinetic field so powerful that despite not having the ability to sense Ki, Guldo could feel it. The shaken pudgy turned on his high-tier scouter model and scanned the power level of his opponent and his comrade behind him.
"What!? A power level of 27 667? That's even higher than mine!" Guldo dropped his jaw before turning his attention to Tenshinhan. The shorty seemed to erupt in sweat and very nearly white-out from the massive reading that didn't stop beeping and counting up for a very alarming while. "65 497!?" Guldo shrieked in terror.
"I guess now you wish you'd truly have tried to getting on our good sides, huh?" Tenshinhan smirked in Guldo's direction.
"D-Did Guldo-san just say… 65 497!?" the Frieza Army soldiers lost their wills to fight just at the mere mention of such a wild number. They hadn't heard about power levels this high even when discussing Frieza's most trusted officers and only spoke rumors about the battle power of Ginyu Force measuring up, possibly, in the realm of somewhere that high up.
"It doesn't matter!" Guldo twisted his face into a scornful expression in defiance. "I did not get accepted into the Ginyu Force for my battle power alone. It is my telekinetic abilities that make me a dangerous opponent as you two shall soon find out!"
"Yogurt popsicle," Chiaotzu muttered, mocking Guldo again and sending him into a shrieking frenzy as the Ginyu Force member clenched his tiny fists and unleashed a frightening aura of untraceable energy building up around him. It was when sensing that eruption of telekinetic grip that Tenshinhan took off and began dismantling the Frieza Army soldiers hundreds-strong. It was best that he kept moving so that Guldo didn't catch him unaware again and drag Chiaotzu down.
As Guldo put up his arms and pointed his fingers downward, a dark navy-blue nebula shroud surrounded Chiaotzu while a golden outline encompassed his body, it all pressed against him in a psychokinetic grip, unlike anything that Chiaotzu had felt. Not even the gravity on King Kai's or this planet felt anywhere remotely this oppressive. The pale ghoul smirked with the tips of his lips turning upward as an electric-blue aura pushed the golden outline away from Chiaotzu and shattered it while dispersing the dark navy nebula around him as well.
"I'm not afraid of you," Chiaotzu proclaimed bluntly, which appeared to send Guldo shivering and drawing back away from this freaky challenger.