[The Unkindness ("As a suggestion have Bardock come at the beginning of the fight with Freeza."): That is a great suggestion! Unfortunately, I have planned very far ahead for this story (65 chapters so far, in fact), and I can't make that happen… but something similar might happen in the next few chapters…! And thanks for the kind review!]
Chapter 2: Violent Saviour
Bardock flew closer, and noted the familiar armour worn by Frieza's army.
'Each guy's lost a shoulder plating. That's a dumb design choice,' he idly observed.
"Bahaha, utter weaklings! Flee!" a goon up ahead guffawed.
The goon felt a hand on his armoured shoulder.
"Seems like you guys lost your fashion sense. Allow me!" Bardock yelled and tore off the shoulder pad, and kicked the goon hard in the back. The goon scrambled back to his feet and aimed his blaster at Bardock.
Bardock leaned forwards, "And what do you think you're gonna do with that, weakling?"
"You! Where did you come from?! You're wearing armour like ours-"
He was swiftly disarmed… in two different ways. Bardock twisted an arm and broke it, then shot the goon's blaster to bits before hitting him square in the chest. Onto the next one.
Luckily the next one was found sooner than he anticipated since the fella had been watching the whole interaction close by.
"W- Wait! Why are you-"
Bardock grabbed his wrist so tight it effectively cut off the blood flow. "I think I've got a great reason why. Anyone working under Frieza, Chilled or the like will suffer for what they did to the Saiyans!"
"The Saiyans-? Guahhhh!"
The goon met the same fate as the other.
"Anyone else?!" Bardock yelled.
Two more troopers entered the fray and were promptly given their promised fate. After a bit of silence, save the crackling of fire nearby, a green man slowly approached him. Bardock turned towards him.
"You… You dealt with those fiends, am I correct? Thank you. We owe you a great debt." The stranger bowed, before turning to look at his deceased brethren sorrowfully. "Though it is a pity your arrival wasn't a little sooner…"
Another of his kind rounded the corner from his hiding place and his face seemed to light up.
"You saved us again! Son Goku! You are Son Goku!" the younger male declared, pointing at him.
"Son Goku? I'm not this 'Son Goku'." Bardock eyed him with his brows lowered.
"You're… you're not? Then…" The younger peered at the older villager before asking the stranger, "Who are you exactly? Why are you here?"
"Name's Bardock. I dunno how I got here. Also, you're saying that I look like this 'Son Goku'? He some kind of friend o' yours?" Bardock crossed his arms, looking to the older man.
The older villager responded, "He's our saviour. He and his friends helped save our entire race from annihilation."
Bardock crossed his arms, taking the information in.
The older one went on to say, "Allow me to explain. But first, let us introduce ourselves. My name is Tsuburi, and this is Cargo. There are two more of us around here named Esca and Necke. Oh, how I wish they had been with the Elder before all this started…" Tsuburi sighed. He then asked, "Son Goku came from a planet called Earth. Do you know of it?"
"Earth? I do." Tsuburi had Bardock's full attention.
"Right. Well, he and his friends saved our entire race from annihilation a decade or so ago, when an alien tyrant descended on our old planet, named Frieza."
"Frieza?!" Bardock gawked. "Did he and his allies take down Frieza?!"
"Yes. Frieza was stopped on our old home planet and we all evacuated successfully thanks to them. Our numbers are small, so it was easy to accommodate us elsewhere, you understand."
"I can't believe it…" Bardock smirked, but then dropped the smirk soon after. 'Wait,' he thought to himself, 'I can believe it! My son must have… from the visions I saw… If these guys say I look like this Son Goku… Of course! It was my son! My son defeated Frieza!
And… this means, I'm back near my own time!
…Why the hell is Kakarot called Son Goku?'
Bardock looked distracted in his own thoughts, so the two villagers tried to clear up any possible confusion.
"Since you seem to be a little lost, you're on New Namek, home to us Namekians," Tsuburi explained.
"Uh… right. New Namek. Namekians. I've met one of your kind before. You've got some strange magic abilities, I think," Bardock got himself back on track.
"Yep," Cargo clarified, "And we have warriors that protect our… sacred treasures, our Elders and the rest of us. And since there's the threat of aliens invading us, we've strengthened our warriors too!"
Tsuburi looked in shock at Cargo for even mentioning they had 'treasure'. This man could be a space pirate for all they knew!
Bardock answered Cargo, "Good. Because it seems you've got another invasion to handle here."
"Yes, that's right. I know you're a total stranger wearing similar armour to those guys, but… if it's okay with you, please… can you help us? We need your strength!" Cargo pleaded.
'Here we go again… Everywhere I go, there's some kind of attack. Should make for some good training,' Bardock thought. "Ugh, fine. I'm in. I'll go help save your planet," he drawled somewhat sarcastically, before clarifying, "and I'm not with whoever these invaders are."
"Thank you very much, Bardock sir!" Cargo beamed.
Tsuburi expressed similar gratitude, although he was still apprehensive. Still, he beckoned over the other two Namekians who were hiding away nearby.
"Esca, Necke, meet Bardock. He says he's going to help save us from the rest of the invaders."
The two newcomers approached Bardock and put their hands together in appreciation.
Necke spoke, "We are truly grateful for any help you can provide us, Bardock. And, might I add, you really look like another man who helped us named S-"
""Son Goku", I know," Bardock nodded dismissively. "So can you tell me where your other villages are? I'm already itching for another fight. Those guys were a joke."
A little put off by his last comment, the Namekians sighed. Those 'jokes' had just killed off a good portion of Tsuburi's village.
Esca told him, "I think there are small groups of fighters who are looking for our villages and then attacking them. They're being really picky with how they're destroying things, because I think they're after-"
"Esca, we can't mention-" Necke said suddenly.
"But I already mentioned our… sacred treasures," Cargo interrupted.
"You did…?" Necke sighed.
Esca continued, "Okay, yes, they're almost certainly after our sacred treasures."
""Sacred treasures"," Bardock repeated in a deadpan tone.
"Are you a pirate, by any chance?" Tsuburi asked suspiciously.
"A pirate? Hell no. I'm just a warrior," Bardock answered with an indignant frown.
Tsuburi was a perceptive Namekian, and he detected no falsehood in the man's answer. "In that case, I think we should take you to meet our leader before we explain anything further," Tsuburi suggested. Necke nodded in approval.
"A sound idea. Follow us, and we can discuss strategy with Grand Elder Moori." Necke began to fly, carrying little Esca, and the others followed him alongside Bardock.
A short time later, the five descended, and entered a room where Moori stood looking rather anxious.
"Grand Elder Moori! We have good and bad news," Tsuburi greeted him.
"We're under attack from outsiders again. I can sense it," Moori responded. "What's the good news?"
"We have a visitor who will help take the fight to them and protect our planet! Elder, may I introduce Bardock." Tsuburi turned to Bardock, signaling for him to step forward.
"Bardock..." Moori studied him. 'Looks a lot like Son Goku, doesn't he?' he thought. "…Where did you come from? Did you know an invasion would happen here?"
"Well, you wouldn't believe me if I told you how I ended up here. And no, I had no idea."
"Are you related to Son Goku by chance?"
Bardock sighed, "I'm almost certain he's my son, from what I've heard."
"What?!" the four Namekians beside him gasped.
"You're Son Goku's father?" Moori questioned.
Bardock crossed his arms, "Well, I highly doubt some Earthling would be capable of taking Frieza of all people down. We Saiyans however are a warrior race. Also helps that it was me who sent him to Earth in the first place. Though why he changed his name from Kakarot, I have no clue."
'"Kakarot". That's interesting. That man, Vegeta, referred to him by that name when we were on Earth, if I recall,' Moori thought. ""I… see," he said aloud. "If he really is your son, then I must thank you for saving our race a decade ago, albeit inadvertently," he stated lightheartedly, and bowed slightly.
"Hn. I guess."
"We must get back on topic. I think we can trust Bardock with the knowledge of our… artefacts, the Dragon Balls. Bring over the Dragon Ball we have." Moori was then handed the one-star ball.
"Dragon Balls?" Bardock looked towards the other four.
Tsuburi explained hesitantly, "They… allow someone to have certain wishes granted. It is only we Namekians who can create such objects, and these wishes can only be granted in the Namekian tongue."
Bardock realised something. "Granting wishes… I went to a planet named Cereal once, where I met a Namekian who wanted me to wish for something… These things must be what he used in order to do it."
"Huh? So you've used Dragon Balls before?" Esca looked at him in surprise.
"Seems so. It was the Namekian Monaito's idea. Long story short, things were dire, and he wanted to help me by making a wish, but I refused his wish to help me escape because I didn't want to retreat from the fight. I instead told him to wish for me to see that both my sons ended up thriving."
There was silence.
"…So, there are even more sets of Dragon Balls out there?" Moori muttered to himself.
"You've made a wish with a set of Dragon Balls we knew nothing about…" Necke commented aloud in fascination.
"So… that wish made Son Goku eventually defeat Frieza, then? If so, that turned out to be a very good wish," Tsuburi commented.
"As intriguing as this discussion is, we have to make a plan," Moori wanted to direct their attention back to the current situation. "So, since we're all on the same page regarding the Dragon Balls, we have to head out and gather all seven before it's too late."
"Seven? Of those massive things? That's a pain," Bardock grumbled.
Moori sighed, "Yes, seven. And yes, they are all just like this one here, but they each have a different number of stars imprinted inside. They are kept safe in select villages around our planet. We must bring them back here before the invaders gather them."
Every Namekian present nodded, accepting what needed to be done.
"I think we should stick together. It will make finding all of them take a little longer, sure, but I can't face the threat alone if they spot me," Necke suggested. "Tsuburi?"
"I agree. But I worry. Our people will be put at greater risk if we wait any longer."
"Well then just use a wish to revive them all later or something. Can these fancy balls of yours do that?" Bardock asked with his arms crossed again.
Moori lamented, "Yes, we could, although it's only possible to revive one person per wish. But even then, to have our people suffer and die and remember it once they're resurrected? I couldn't bear it if it happened again."
""Again", huh…?" Bardock gazed elsewhere briefly.
"We could use a wish to remove the memory of being-"
"Cargo, I won't allow us to warp the minds of our brethren like that. Knowing the truth is better for all of us," Moori argued.
Everyone was silent for a while.
"Well, if we're not collecting yet, I'll be off training or beating your visitors down, which is even better training," Bardock quipped impatiently.
"Ah, of course. Go, all of you, except Esca - you're still too young for this. Please, come back safely with all the Dragon Balls! We're counting on you!" Moori said.
Tsuburi, Cargo, Necke and Bardock set off into the green sky and headed to the nearest village with a Dragon Ball.
[Author's notes: Chapters may vary in size, but I aim to be consistent in the storytelling. It is my first ever long story after all. By the way, although it is hinted in this chapter what the approximate timeframe is, I just wanted to clarify that the exact year Bardock has found himself in is Age 780.]