Father and son crashed against one another, sending invisible, rippling shock waves emanating from their point of collision while lightning bolts danced around them. This time, Goku proved to be smarter, having learned from his previous struggle by sweeping his father's leg and throwing him dangling without balance in mid-air. Dashing across the range separating them, Goku's leg climbed all the way from Bardock's lower body to his face before his golden aura imbued both of his calves and feet while the Super Saiyan blasted his opponent aside with a double roundhouse kick.
Bardock recovered in a crouched position and extended his palm, firing a blue Ki blast wave toward his opponent, but it only pierced through a blurry afterimage. Goku moved in from the side, blitzing in and out of vision before he drove his elbow into Bardock's face, cracking his forehead open and sinking his father's front in trickles of gashing red. Taking a wide stance, Goku unleashed a flurry of stout tsuki-style punches that devastated the unarmored core of his opponent and left him crumbling.
The Super Saiyan transitioned his push into a more diverse, swift flurry of blows that attacked both high and low. Goku concluded his beatdown with a power dig at Bardock's abdomen that lifted his father off his mid-air position and left him hanging over Son Goku's fist. The golden shine of the Super Saiyan aura surrounded Goku's clenched punch, and all exploded at once while Goku soared into an uppercut shot.
"Dragon Fist!" he yelled out. The heftiness of the punch and the energy he packed into the megaton blow seemed to possess an all-encompassing gravitational field of its own, as shortly before the execution of the technique, all time seemed to freeze in place. Then, the very next moment, Goku's fist crashed into Bardock's jaw. The impact whited Bardock out for a moment and it took a few blinks before the Saiyan's body caught up with the grueling tension in his neck and shot out into the air, through the clouds like a shining bullet that left a burning hole in the gloomy layer of black. The golden pillar of energy swallowed Goku and Bardock whole, joining in on the parting of the clouds, and beamed out into space where it peacefully dissipated in a victorious golden nebula.
The punch seemed to sap Goku's own body out of a decent chunk of energy and the Saiyan stood tall with his fist stuck in a raised position while his shoulder burnt up with fatigue that took some time to spread out evenly across his musculature. Goku took a while to regain a full degree of motion in his body.
"That's a nice technique…" Bardock grumbled while descending from the hole in the clouds that was closing up with a black shroud after Goku's rampant energy stopped incinerating and beaconing through them. The Saiyan had torn off bits of his tattered bodysuit and wrapped it over his head to ease up the downpour of crimson over his forehead and eyes. "Nearly pulled my head off."
"It's a work in progress. Ever since I've learned to reserve power and unleash it at just the right moment, I've been wondering just to what extremes I could take it," Goku tightened the torn-up wristband over his right fist.
"I've got a move just like that too. This is nothing special!" Bardock winced in pain before taking off at his son. Goku leaned aside, avoiding the soaring punch before answering each blow and kick of his father's barrage. Though, when Bardock's right fist ignited with an aura of actual flames, Goku staggered back in surprise. "Heat Phalanx!" Bardock roared out while throwing a mighty uppercut and letting the packed heat behind his blow explode all at once.
Goku formed two energy spheres in each hand and clashed them together into one before driving both his arms, alongside the Ki sphere down into the blazing uppercut. The combined force of his ax handle slam and the fully powered Ki energy ball spat out sparks in all sides and detonated with enough violence to throw each of the two combatants aside with as little tear as they could've hoped to take after such a crude exchange of blows.
Without skipping a beat, Goku drew his arms back, forming two energy spheres that were even larger than the ones he used before in each hand. Bardock crossed his arms up to protect himself when Goku extended his open palms, but the energy balls didn't immediately rush toward him. Instead, Goku vanished and appeared in front of his father with a fist wound up for a slam.
Bardock spun around the soaring strike before turning around and instinctively placing his arms up to block Goku's rush of kicks that had caught him unprepared a few times in the past. The almost completely unmasked Saiyan locked his arms over Goku's ankle to prevent his kick barrage into exploding in some unpredictable flurry and thusly stopped it in mid-motion. Bardock flung Goku over his shoulder and drove his push kick into Goku's back. The Super Saiyan grunted in pain but returned to his father, taking no extra time to wince for his wounds.
Goku exploded in a flurry of strikes, but this time Bardock was ready. Almost as if he had recorded the rush attack before, he placed his own wrists at the exact degree and depth needed to stop each strike mid-swing. Like a stick inside of a wooden wheel, Bardock interrupted each of hundreds of nigh-unperceivable punches, controlling his own body like an automaton. This differed from Bardock's normal fighting style that relied on brutal brawling and toughing his opponents' attacks out rather than high technical skill. This was entirely new.
And yet, Goku wasn't just repeating the same combination attack he had used before. The Super Saiyan vanished in hi-speed motion, revealing the pair of Ki balls he had left behind racing across toward Bardock, with Goku's own body having served as obstruction of a clear view of them. The Twin Dragon Shot forced Bardock to cover up and weather the fortitude of the blast, though Goku gave him little time to recover as he dived from up above with a crushing dive kick and blasted Bardock down into the colossal crater his earlier Kamehameha had created.
"Continuing this fight any longer is pointless, dad," Goku proclaimed when Bardock returned to the battlefield enveloped with a golden aura and stood before him again. Bardock snarled in reaction to this proclamation and grabbed hold of the remains of the mask persisting to hang over his face. With one yank, he pulled it off and shattered it in his hand. "Let's stop this fruitless fight and go help Chayote stop Puri!"
"Fruitless? You impubescent asshole!" Bardock snarled. "You call your father's worry about the future of his family fruitless!? I've ought to knock some sense into you for that!"
Bardock stretched his right arm to the side, channeling a blue energy sphere in his open palm using all of his unwavering stamina and limitless energy reserves. "Rebellion Trigger!" he roared out before extending his palm and throwing the energy sphere as a massive energy wave racing across toward Goku.
With a rugged snarl, Goku smacked the energy wave aside with the back of his hand while his drawn into his body aura emerged with a focus around his forearm and his hand at once. Just as Goku readied himself to counterattack, Bardock let out an even louder battle cry as he sent an empowering pulse of Ki into his energy wave. Goku shot his head up to observe as the energy wave he had just deflected curved around and grew rapidly in size before splitting off into dozens of smaller energy waves, all headed toward him.
"You fool!" Goku cried out, clenching his fist and focusing his Super Saiyan aura even harder, transferring all his might from his forearm and his wrist entirely into his fist, where it had shaped an ethereal golden energy sphere. Goku threw his empowered fist onward in a bolstered glide piercing right through Bardock's Rebellion Trigger wave until he had punched right through the energy wave and his fist lingered just inches from Bardock's face. With a supplementary battle cry, Goku forced his fist through and canceled Bardock's Rebellion Trigger, driving a fatigued punch into his father's face and sending him flying while Goku extended both his hands out.
"Rapid-Fire Kamehameha!" Goku yelled out, firing two one-handed rapid-fire Kamehameha waves toward his airborne opponent that surrounded him whole and detonated in a round, bright energy dome blast. The explosion snuffed out in a trail of smoke and debris flying in all directions. The smoke didn't take long to part around a busted and de-powered Bardock. Despite the sum of his grievous injuries, there wasn't as much as a trace of panting in the Saiyan's breath. "That's enough." Goku cut it down.
"You numb-skulled brat. We're not fighting until either of us got our fill. Until you prove to me you can protect your family, a family that I treasure just as much, I ain't stopping punching you. Even if this new fighting style of yours reserves a bunch of Ki for when you really need it, reserving your stamina too, it ain't the same as limitless energy!" Bardock put his fists beside him while letting out a mighty burst of a brilliant-clear aura around him. "You know, you're not the only one to have used your time developing your skills for a new fighting style. My conversion let me master something new too. Now that Puri's programming is out of my head, I can show you my own way to surpass Super Saiyan!"
"What!?" Goku gasped.
Bardock grunted while stiffening his muscles and placing his fists beside him. A calm golden shine lit up around him while his black hair spiked up and took a golden shine once again. Bardock's face strained with signs of extreme physical effort while he began bulking up, and the golden aura around him became more and more hectic and violent. Its intensity multiplied dozens of times while it burst with so much radiance that it forced Goku to clench up to keep it from blowing him away.
The luminosity of Bardock's aura made the outline of his body difficult to perceive. With each punch of its aura intensifying in its overflowing radiance, Bardock's body pulsed with greater and greater bulk. The roaring oceans underneath the two airborne combatants swirled up in rising aquatic pillars that reached all the way into the stormy skies. Veins burst out on Bardock's face while his muscles continued to swell up and the electricity around his aura turned bright lemon instead of the ordinary electric blue. Bardock's golden hair took a more orange tinge to it while preserving the bright golden outline.
With one rapid burst of Bardock's aura, his swelling energy blasted in a lightning storm of golden lightning that resonated all throughout Goku's body, biting him with electric snaps as it passed through. The entire atmosphere around the two became electrified as the jolts resonating through the air even brought the devastated lighthouse torch back to life for a few seconds before it shattered into glassy shrapnel to be flung about by the surrounding whirlwinds.
"This is… Incredible…" Goku muttered to himself. "Dangerous too…"
All around the two Saiyans, the remnants of the mountainside shore began crumbling from Bardock's swelling energy. While neither of the two could feel it while floating in mid-air, when Goku looked at the crumbling mountains further away, he realized that the entire region was being tormented by calamitous quakes from Bardock's swelling power.
Bardock stretched his back out while his aura expanded beyond the reaches of space and beamed out into the atmosphere, spreading the quakes all throughout the surrounding continent while causing ruptures and fissures all over. Goku clenched until the expanse of Bardock's aura eased up and withdrew back to its source. When it did, Bardock stood still, huddled up with a reflective, golden shine all over his body and a significantly buffed-up Super Saiyan transformation.
"It makes sense that, knowing you had to compete with machines of limitless energy supply and the ability to absorb Ki, you would train yourself to fight for prolonged periods of time. That you would bring your Super Saiyan transformation more toward longevity while balancing out its power. I, however, knowing that I possess a polished, semi-cybernetic body, brought my Super Saiyan into an entirely different world and chose a complete opposite direction–maxing out of its power supply, stamina demands be damned!" Bardock explained while warming himself up for the upcoming finishing touches of the battle. "It's easy to talk fancy shit when you're in control of the situation. Show me your resolve to stay human and vulnerable when things are tougher on you than you can handle!"
"This Ki's pretty wild. Even feeling it up makes me get goosebumps. Alright, show me where my potential with the Super Saiyan form measures up, dad!" Goku stretched his arm out before resuming his fighting pose with a smirk on his face.
Bardock roared, drawing his fist back and imbuing it with a radiant flash of golden gleam as his blinding aura ignited once more around him. The Super Saiyan rushed toward his son. Mid-charge, the flashing luster around his fist expanded to create an energy field around Bardock's entire body as he became a living comet penetrating through the gloomy distance between him and his son with all his power. Goku drew his arms back and stiffened his body before crossing his arms up in a blocking stance.
In a curious manner, Bardock's punch didn't quite explode with a boom, but instead drew the surrounding sounds in and drowned them out. It was only after a blink of grave silence that the destruction reigned in with an outward hurricane of flames, smoke, debris, and destruction incarnate while Goku's grunts within the twirling devastation signaled the Super Saiyan doing his best to weather the storm from within. Goku's shape slid out from the shining aftereffect of Bardock's attack, still stiff and crossed up. His gi got torn off of him and shredded to bits outside of the range where Goku's aura could have protected the cloth somewhat.
Not being one to back down, Goku roared and charged back, returning the fight that his father brought to him with a charging uppercut to Bardock's jaw that snapped his old man's head back. Bardock forced his cheek to shove Goku's fist back with a rich and bloody smile before springing back into battle. A black, round void formed around Bardock's open hand with a blinding white beacon in the center and a lustrous azure ring on the outside, beaming with rays of cerulean light in all directions.
"Riot Javelin!" Bardock clamored, thrusting the charged-up energy sphere at his son at a near point-blank range. Goku extended his hands, grabbing hold of the advancing energy sphere and competing with its overwhelming push. The Super Saiyan grumbled and cried of the tremendous physical strain on his entire body before mustering up the madness in him to pound the energy sphere from below and knock it upward into the skies above.
In its bright and howling detonation, Goku charged at his father, vanishing in a halo of golden light before snapping up in Bardock's face and driving a strong left punch at the center of Bardock's block. A blunt force shiner sprayed trickles of blood in a nasty bruise marking the spot of Goku's attack. The father and son exchanged a myriad of light-speed punches and kicks, dancing around one another without either letting up before Goku put an end to their collision with a left-hook kick that knocked Bardock diagonally down and closer toward the abyssal void of the grand Kamehameha crater to which the roaring ocean had been spraying down to.
"Your transformation's incredible…" Goku observed, waving his numb fists and observing the bruises at the other end. "In strength, it's about comparable to my Perfect Super Saiyan version. Of course, if used by anyone without infinite stamina, it would sap them dry of Ki soon enough. In that way, Perfect Super Saiyan is superior, though, because of your unique and augmented body, you can make an inferior technique rival even a perfected Super Saiyan form."
"Perfected? I don't recall raising you a cocky wuss like Vegeta. You've sensed that incredible Ki of Trunks, didn't you? If anything, that version deserves the title of Perfect Super Saiyan…" Bardock snickered while cracking his own knuckles. Even his modified body was at its limit, though this seemed to be where Bardock felt the most comfortable fighting in.
"That? That power is on a dimension of its own. It far surpasses even Super Saiyan. I'm still itching to find out what Trunks has discovered and if Chayote can do it too…" Goku turned his eyes away from the battle by glancing as far behind him as he could for a blink, imagining the sight of Future Trunks before him in all of his unmatched power. "Are you still planning on fighting on?"
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Bardock barked out. "Don't tell me you intend on chickening out! I've still got juice left in me and you haven't convinced me that your way is what's best for our family!"
"It's just that… You could have whipped that transformation out immediately if you didn't have Puri holding you back in your head. Who knows, maybe you'd have gotten one over me if you did. The way we are now, we're absolutely equal. Whatever advantage your infinite stamina has over me is neutralized by the damage your body's already taken. Even with infinite stamina, you can't bring out the full power of your transformation in this state. I'm not sure why Puri held you back, maybe she hates seeing the full potential of us Saiyans, maybe she was afraid of that power or maybe she thought that running moves of other fighters through your system would serve you better in a long run… Either way, I wanna fight you when you're thinking by yourself and you're at your full power," Goku replied while letting his Super Saiyan aura seep back into his body again and letting his rustling, spiky hair ease up into a static position and change color into cornsilk yellow.
"Don't forget that this isn't about just us fighting it out! This is about the best fate for our family! Until you beat me, you won't convince me that leaving them as is will be what's for the best. It's Puri's tinkering that made my body immune to diseases, poisons and viruses, and aging. You should ask Future Trunks about how scary your son can be with cybernetic conversion and I'm sure your missus will appreciate eternal youth as well," Bardock let his 2nd Grade Super Saiyan snuff out before pleading his case with his son.
"Yeah, I guess all that stuff's pretty amazin'…" Goku replied nonchalantly before canceling out his own transformation as well. "But wouldn't you rather live a brief life on your own terms and fight whoever you want whenever you want and live to the fullest than live an eternal life as Puri's lackey? Have you forgotten that she can control everyone she augments or creates whenever she wants?"
"Screw that woman!" Bardock swiped his hand aside with a loud grunt. "We can blast her to bits together! I'm sure that Bulma could pick up the slack where Puri left it off. She's more trustworthy than that four-eyed bitch anyway! There's no reason for all of us not to change all of our bodies into Artificial Humans and make ourselves the best versions of ourselves!"
"Work well, study well, play well, eat well and sleep well!" Goku muttered. "That's what the old-timer taught me as a kid. That's the Turtle School way of learning. If your body's always perfect, there's no more use in working for anything or learning anything either. You don't feel hungry anymore and don't need to sleep either. Plus, there's no way that I'd ever settle for artificial perfection. There's just got to be a step beyond perfection and I'll reach it my own way. I've trained with Gohan and Chi-Chi and lived with them plenty. I'm sure that they'd give you the same answer. I'd much rather die knowing there are still heights I haven't reached yet than live forever bored."
"Tsk… Dumbass…" Bardock's left eye twitched before both of them bulged out. "Wait… What did you just say!? You mean I won't be able to eat anything with this body!?"
"I don't know…" Goku shrugged with a confused grimace on his face. "You tell me. Do you feel hungry?"
"I don't feel full… So I could probably eat as much as I want but… That feeling of utter craving being washed away by excellent Earthling food… It's gone…" Bardock looked down at his hands before examining the cybernetic patterns that showed electric signals beaming up and down his body in azure energy beams. "Hmph… Perfect body, my ass. I kind of want my money back on this. Let's go knock on Puri's door and see if she can undo all this."
"Say, say…" Goku looked at his father with an inquisitive pair of eyes while the two floated toward West City alongside one another. "Didn't Puri bring back all those Rainbow Brigade guys? Maybe she can bring back Chiaotzu and mom too? All the other people that have already been brought back that we can't bring back anymore?"
"It crossed my mind when we had our dealings with that woman, though… I didn't even ask for that, even though she would have probably done it if I did. You haven't seen those guys, but… They just ain't the same. They're just that woman's tinkering hopping around in someone else's body and the last thing I want to see is some program parading around in my Gine's body. That's why I'd have ripped her head off if she ever as much as touched Gine. Plus, her body's over at the God Temple and Puri had trouble accessing that place."
"Hmm… I see, so no good then. That sucks," Goku smacked his head and sighed.
"Don't slack behind. Chayote couldn't have bashed Puri's head in yet and I don't want to play second fiddle to her. Manipulating my grief like that and nearly driving me to force my family to do something like this… I wanna blast her away myself!" Bardock gnashed his teeth. "Plus, she still has to fix me so I can enjoy food the right way again."
"Really? You think Chayote hasn't pummeled Puri yet? I don't know 'bout that…" Goku crossed his arms. "Is Puri really all that strong? She doesn't seem to do much of anything by herself."
"That's because she's too busy making herself new amazing Android models and then eating them up. Strong ones, fast ones, smart ones, intuitive ones, pretty ones… Her ability goes beyond mere Super Android transformation. She doesn't just integrate parts of other Androids, she outright eats them up and assimilates them while they're still alive. It's that sort of horror show that keeps even the freaky show of cyber soldiers like the One Models in line. The reason she doesn't fight herself is a part of that. No one really knows how scary she truly is and everyone's afraid of her eating them up and becoming even worse. I'd say Chayote's going to have her hands full. I wouldn't be surprised if she'd actually appreciate our help even," Bardock replied with a dire look on his face.
"Wow! She's that strong, huh? I'm kind of getting doubts now. Maybe we should visit the Korin Tower and pick up some Senzu first?" Goku snickered with a shaky voice. If it was excitement for the upcoming ultimate challenge or terror remained unclear. Likely a bit of both, with each one enhancing the other.
"That'd be smart. My mask's off. I'm done being smart! My fists are itching again!" Bardock made a sour face before taking off toward Puri's skyscraper at twice the speed. Goku had no other choice but to follow his bitter old man.