[Timely Arrival has reached 11,000 total views so far on this site, and 1,000 on Wattpad! Thank you for taking the time to read my fanfiction up to this point, and thank you to those who have faved or followed!]

[To ItzMeSalazar: I appreciate that a lot! I have loads more to show!]

Chapter 16: Brawl for a Beast

Chichi wondered why the two Saiyans hadn't returned by lunchtime. She was huffing and puffing in annoyance at first, tapping her feet, but now she grew concerned. Something bad might have happened to them! The mountains could be a very dangerous place, after all - She knew this first-hand!

She began to fidget until she gave in and dialled her father's phone number to tell him of her dilemma.

"Dad, have you seen Goten and Bardock at all today?"

The Ox King responded, "Goten? No, I'm afraid I haven't. But who is Bardock?"

Chichi slapped her forehead. "Oh, I forgot to tell you! He's Goku's father! He showed up recently… Uh, ANYWAY! They've been out in the area for the morning but they were supposed to come back before lunch! And it's been two and a half hours! I just thought they might have visited you."

The Ox King replied in great surprise, "Did you say "Goku's father"?! Gee, that is a big surprise! I'm sorry, Chichi, but they haven't been seen around my home. But if they show up, I'll tell you, alright?"

Chichi said, "Okay, thank you Dad! I need to call someone else now! Bye!" She hung up and immediately dialled the Briefs residence.

"Hi, Mrs. Briefs! Can I ask you; have Goten or Bardock travelled to Capsule Corp at all today? They've been gone for two and a half hours!"

Mrs. Briefs put down her coffee cup to think. "Why no, Chichi. I don't think they have! Trunks dear?"

A barely audible, "What's up, Grandma?" could be heard on Chichi's end.

"Has Goten visited with Bardock today?"

"No. Why?" Trunks asked.

"I'm on the phone with Goten's mother. She says they've been gone for two and a half hours! Oh, I do hope they're alright…"

Trunks requested to speak with Chichi. She handed the phone to him and resumed drinking her coffee.

He greeted with a laid-back tone, "Hi, Chichi. Goten is probably out in the woods showing Bardock stuff. Maybe they just lost track of time?"

Chichi exclaimed, "I don't care Trunks, I need them here safe and sound, or I think I might have to get a search party!"

Trunks sighed. "This is Goten and his badass warrior grandpa we're talking about! They've gotta be fine, but I'll go and check on them for you."

"Oh, you will? Are you sure? Then you better be careful, Trunks," Chichi advised.

"Yeah, sure. I'm on it." 'I was getting bored anyway,' he thought.

Chichi said that Goten wanted to show his grandfather the forest within the mountains, so Trunks began his search there.

Luckily, there was little cloud coverage today, so it gave him much more of a view of the area as he flew overhead. He scouted around for about half an hour in places he and Goten had frequented in the past, until he saw a black jet flying in the distance. Underneath the jet, hung a very familiar dragon, tied up with harnesses.

"No way! Is that Icarus…?" Trunks gasped. Goten had shown him Icarus when they were younger, and they both got along well with the dragon. But for him to be carried by this jet… Just what was going on? "I should probably go and stop the jet from taking Icarus, but… I need to find Goten and Bardock, too."

He sensed the area for their ki, to no avail at first. Then, he caught a slight amount… coming from the jet. Time to investigate.

He flew alongside the jet and looked through the windows for clues, until he caught sight of Goten who was sat down but fast asleep on the floor inside. Were those handcuffs on his wrists? Just who could have done this to him? It unnerved Trunks a little, since Bardock was supposed to have been with him the whole time. The two of them shouldn't have had any problems out in the woods at all…

Trunks decided he should wait until the jet landed before proceeding to pummel whoever did this to Goten and Icarus, and maybe Bardock, too. 'Is he even here?' he wondered.

As soon as it landed, Trunks got to work, smashing through a panel on top of the jet and pummelling most of the armed crew inside, aiming swift blows to their heads while they were caught unawares. Luckily, most of their weapons were still on safety mode. Some looked pretty banged up already, Trunks noted.

There was one man who had been surprisingly durable, and his skin felt like the equivalent of Trunks hitting a wall of steel. Fortunately, the man's head wasn't like that, so he was soon dealt with like the rest. It still concerned the kid.

He went over to Goten, breaking the cuffs before shaking him awake. But, he didn't stir in the slightest. Trunks then smirked, shouting, "Goten, lunch is ready!"

Goten bolted upright. "Lunch?! Huh?! Trunks!"

"Goten! What happened?"

Goten explained, "Well, I was in the forest with Grandpa and then- Oh no! Icarus! Grandpa!" Goten looked panicked. "Where are they?!"

"I'm over here," Bardock said with a strained voice. As it turned out, he too had awoken from Trunks' call for lunch. "Seems those soldiers woke up before I did. Damn tranquillisers, incapacitating a Saiyan… How humiliating…"

Trunks exclaimed, "Tranquillisers?!"

"They fired cheap shots while I was distracted. Just… get over here…" he ordered, grimacing.

Trunks asked if he was alright, to which Bardock replied, "Can't move… Those sick bastards clamped my tail tight… M'stuck in here like some damned animal in a cage. You gotta blast the lock."

Trunks and Goten headed over and blasted the lock of the cage like he told them to. They went behind him and tried to pull the clamp off of his tail, but it was stuck on so tight that they couldn't weave their hands underneath to pull on it. They instead wanted to blast the clamp, but Bardock said that if they tried it, they would likely blast his tail too. The two looked at him sheepishly and agreed that it was a bad idea.

Bardock then remembered something. "Goten. Remember how that blue-skinned weirdo nicked my arm back on New Namek?" Goten nodded slightly. "Well I need you to replicate what he did, by making an energy blade. It'll make cutting the clamp a breeze. Think you can do that?"

Goten looked apprehensive. "I'll try, Grandpa, but I don't wanna do it wrong."

Bardock looked down, eyes shut. "Look, kid. There's no other way to get it off, and we ain't gettin' outta here with you carrying me with the heavy clamp on, alright?" He heard rumbles outside. "Who knows who'll be coming in to see us soon. You need to hurry up, n' figure it out! M'tired, an' it's killin' my ability to think straight, here." His voice came out almost slurred due to his groggy state.

Goten looked at Trunks for a moment before facing his grandfather again. "Hey, Grandpa, I think we could carry you out, y'know. We're pretty strong. Why don't we just take you back to Trunks' place? It has tons of tools we can use."

Bardock responded, "Listen. Truth is, I'm gonna finish what we started here. I'm beating those men to a pulp for taking us down like cowards. Gettin' away from here wouldn't give me the revenge I want. And you wanted to save that dragon of yours, right? Well he ain't saved yet, is he?"

Trunks said, a bit uncertain, "Okay… So I guess we need to take down the bad guys that'll be in the area and save Icarus, on top of freeing Bardock's tail as well."

Goten wondered, "Hey, do you think if we fused, we could make the energy blade easier?" Trunks and Bardock looked at Goten in surprise. "…What? Is that not a good idea?"

"No, Goten, it's a great idea! Let's do it!" Trunks replied with a grin.

Bardock looked wide-eyed. "H- Hey, hold on-"

"Fu-"

"No wait-"

"-sion! Ha!"

"Dammit…"

A blinding light encompassed the two before a single being stood, looking unbelievably strong and muscular for a kid. "Ta-da! You finally meet the mighty Gotenks, Gramps!" He struck a pose while pointing at Bardock.

Bardock gawked at him, completely weirded out by the uncanny resemblance this kid had to the duo (and to Prince Vegeta, as it turned out). He was also taken aback by the two-toned voices. He shook his head to concentrate.

"What the hell did you just call me? …Tch, whatever. Go…tenks, do you remember the energy blade Salza made?" Bardock asked.

Gotenks nodded proudly. "Mhm! I mean, I am part Goten after all! Why wouldn't I know that? Let's see…" He stood a ways back in the cage, and concentrated on his ki. "Energyyy… Blaaade…" A jet of ki erupted from his arm and went up to his shoulder.

He then flailed his arm about erratically, as though his arm was set on fire. "Agh! No, no, no! That's wrong! Gimme a sec!"

Bardock stared at him all the while for ten whole minutes, trying to figure out how in the world fusion was even possible, especially from a mere dance routine. He was no scientist, but it seemed impossible to conjure up something like that and have it work out perfectly like this. 'Hold on… Where'd the weird garb come from?'

Gotenks was fully devoted to the task, trying and failing to execute it properly.

"Kid… I dunno about you, but I'm sensing things outside, and I'm certain they're getting closer." Bardock looked apprehensively at the exit of the jet to his right.

Gotenks had his back facing Bardock as the ki on his arm flared up and disappeared like an on-off switch. "I know, I know, I think I'm almost there…"

There was a streamlined shape surrounding Gotenks' hand for a few seconds before it morphed into nothing. "Gah, c'mon! We got Super Saiyan 3 just by looking at it, so why not this?"

Bardock commented, "I thought you said my son taught you the method to get that transformation. Maybe this isn't the same kind of deal."

Gotenks kept trying in frustration for a dozen minutes until Bardock reminded him of the things outside again. The muffled voices out there seemed to be shouting.

Gotenks said, "I think I've more or less got it. I'll just have to give it a shot…"

Bardock responded with a stern expression, ""More or less"? If there's even so much as a patch of fur missing-"

Gotenks held his hands up. "It… It'll be juuust fine! I'm gonna be careful, okay? Just, uh, stay reeeeally still." Bardock grunted and shut his eyes, his whole body going rigid and unmoving.

Gotenks began attempting to cut the clamp painfully securing Bardock's tail. After a few seconds, a couple sudden forceful knocks could be heard at the exit of the jet.

Because Gotenks' concentration briefly slipped from the knocking, it almost cost Bardock a good amount of his tail fur, but Gotenks pulled away before any damage could be done.

Bardock clenched his teeth. "Hurry up!"

Gotenks was immediately back on the task, but asked Bardock if he should take out those guys first before continuing.

Bardock shook his head. "The sooner the clamp's off, the sooner I can pound 'em with you!"

More knocks resounded. Gotenks had a determined expression. "I'm almost through it! And the fusion too! By that, I mean we're gonna defuse in a few minutes."

Bardock said, "30 minutes is the time limit, right?"

"Yep."

"Gotta be the weirdest technique I've ever seen."

A snap was heard, and immediately Bardock's tail moved, and he inspected it closely before gently wrapping it around his waist again.

Gotenks jumped. "Wah! I almost cut your tail with you moving it right away like that! Okay, let's go get these guys!"

Bardock gave a "hmph" before the two blasted the exit off and stormed outside. As they stepped down the ramp, the two saw a decently sized group of soldiers and trapping experts, all trained on them both.

Bardock commented, "Ready to party, kid?"

Gotenks gave a thumbs up. "You betcha! Let's go!"

The two then charged head-first into the fray.

"Yaaaaah!" Gotenks yelled, "This is for my friends n' family you captured!" He slapped a couple soldiers in the face, knocking them out from the sheer force of the swipe.

"And you! And you! And-" Gotenks gasped as a bright light shone around him, with two kids taking his place. The two of them looked at each other, smiling, and continued fighting.

Goten decided to attempt using the energy blade trick he just learnt as Gotenks to slice at the soldiers' weapons and equipment, with the soldiers trying to grab the child, but they were too slow.

Meanwhile, Bardock was doing what he did best, taking down the enemy soldiers daring to attack him. "Raaagh! Take that, you scum!" He lobbed a couple ki balls at the soldiers, seriously injuring some and killing others. Bardock spat on them. "Tch. Forgot how weak some of you guys are. Didn't think you'd get this badly beaten from a couple small blasts. Looks like I'm in a whole different league than you."

Some soldiers far off conversed with their commander about what to do to get the attackers under control. The commander ordered, "Focus your fire on the monkey man over there! He's killing our men whereas those children are not. And you, use the dragon as a hostage! Go!"

"Yes sir!" the soldiers replied.

The commander muttered to himself, "All this for a single dragon. I'll be expecting good pay after all of this is over and done with."

Back with Goten, he had sort of got the hang of his new ability. But it suddenly occured to him that he was no longer the main target. He looked around at Trunks and then his grandfather, and decided to move in and help the latter, noticing how many troops amassed in his vicinity.

Trunks was done picking off the troops that weren't attacking the others, but then he heard a commanding shout. "Hey! Kid! Stop fighting, or the dragon gets it!"

Trunks looked over, shocked to find a soldier aiming his gun at Icarus' head. Trunks paused for a moment, and held both his hands out in front of him towards the soldier. 'Hopefully this'll work.'

"W- Wait! Stop! Don't hurt him! I'll do as you ask!" Trunks wailed pathetically.

The soldier kept his gaze on the boy as he lowered his weapon away from the dragon.

Trunks immediately fired lightning-quick ki blasts from both his still raised palms, one destroying the gun and the other, striking the man in the chest. Trunks disregarded the man, and headed over to check if the unconscious Icarus was okay. Finding that he was, Trunks turned around, intending to head over to his other two friends, before the man he thought he downed ran towards him, going in for a melee punch.

"What-?" Trunks uttered as he blocked the punch using his hand. Trunks was greatly surprised by the sheer force it had behind it. "Whoa, dude… Are you a martial artist or something?"

The soldier used his other arm to try hand chopping the kid's own arms to release his hand. Trunks kicked him where it hurt before he could strike, and the man fell on his back, clutching the targeted area in pain. For good measure, Trunks strode over to him and kicked him in the head to knock him out.

He had no idea that there were guys that strong around here. He ran off to rendezvous with the other two Saiyans shortly afterwards.

Bardock was very much enjoying picking off the soldiers. "This is what they get for messing with a Saiyan warrior!" He smirked.

Goten approached him with a frown when he noticed a particular red substance in a couple places on the ground. "Grandpa, you're not trying to kill them, are you?"

Bardock decked another soldier with a solid uppercut and responded, "They're trying to kill us! Why spare 'em if they won't spare you?"

Goten's frown deepened and wanted to argue further, but Trunks approached and pointed in a particular direction. "I think that guy with the ridiculously tall hat is their leader. I wanna be the one to talk to him, Bardock! Please?"

Bardock quipped with a grin, "I thought you were the Prince here."

Trunks laughed and flew over to the commander who was all alone now, as all his troops had been defeated. The commander was sweating profusely. He pointed his pistol at the boy as soon as he approached.

"Stop right there. Or, I shoot."

Trunks shook his head. "Ugh, you guys and your guns. Actually, never mind that, a sec - You really wanna shoot a kid like me?"

The commander's hand shook a little, but he maintained his composure. He scowled. "The price this dragon will fetch for will make us tens of millions of zeni, you tough brat. If you had common sense, you would've wanted to stay the hell away from our operation. And your little band over there too."

Trunks crossed his arms. "So what you're saying is someone's gonna pay you some money for taking our friend Icarus? I don't know how you ended up doing something like this, but you know it's wrong!"

The commander shouted back, ""Some money"?! You clearly have no idea how this world works, kid! That amount is enough for me to have a comfortable retirement and then some! So what…" He brought out another pistol. "If I have to get my hands a little dirty for it?!"

Trunks held up a palm. "Ah well, guess it was worth a shot." He fired a ki blast at the man, only for it to simply push him back a little. Trunks raised a brow. "That didn't knock you out? Wow, you guys've got some tough armour under there. Too bad that was one of the weakest blasts I've ever fired in my life! Take this slightly stronger Final Flash for good measure!"

Trunks fired again, singing the armoured plating underneath the commander's uniform. "Wha…?! Whaaaa…!" The commander looked down at his chest to find no armour. He could feel the heat creeping into him from its singed remains.

Trunks shook his head. "You really are stupid. You saw the whole fight, didn't ya? What were you expecting, a light show?" He then kicked the guy square in the face, knocking him out.

There was a period of silence, before Trunks broke it by destroying the two pistols that lay besides the man. He proceeded to search the man's pockets for any info on the ones who wanted Icarus. Dad's lessons really came in handy.

Bardock and Goten came over after dealing with the clamps on Icarus. Bardock looked at something Trunks found. "What's that?"

"It's a business card… for a hat store? Oh, wait, I found something else…" Trunks pulled out an electronic storage device. "Oh, it's one of these things. We gotta go to the computer room back at my place to check its contents. Hey, is Icarus…?"

Goten responded, "He's fine! He's just asleep because of the darts the soldiers gave him. I don't know when he'll wake up though…"

Bardock said, "To start with, we need to move him away from here, and back into that forest." He suddenly turned away and put a hand on his head. "Ah, dammit. Your mother's not gonna be pleased with us, Goten. It's been a couple hours since lunchtime now. She wanted you home at noon, remember?"

Goten was about to nervously respond until Bardock spoke up again nonchalantly, "Eh, a couple more hours can't hurt. I mean, you've been gone for longer, after all. I guess we can tell her what happened while we're at your place, Trunks. You have those 'phones' in order to speak to people from long-range, don't you?"

Trunks chuckled. "Yep! We sure do!" He turned towards his best friend to reassure him, "It's okay, Goten! We'll call her as soon as we get there!"

Goten understood, and nodded. "Okay. I guess we should carry Icarus back now."

Bardock replied, "Won't be an issue. I've got plenty of my strength left. And so do you two as well. Let's go."

And so, they trio carried the beast back to his wooded home, and set off for Trunks' place, Capsule Corp.

A while later at said place, which Bardock had found to be oddly familiar to him somehow, Trunks dialled Chichi's number and put the phone right to his ear. Big mistake.

"Hello? Dr. Briefs? Trunks? Are Bardock and Goten at your place?!" Chichi shouted into the phone.

Trunks yanked the phone away from his ear, wincing. "They're right here with me! We had to go save Icarus from a ton of armed guys. And-"

"Kid, let me take over." Bardock took the phone. "Chichi-"

"Bardock, you should have told me exactly where you went! How many more times will you Saiyans head out for longer than you're supposed to?!" she shrieked. She had clearly had enough of the antics of Saiyans for a lifetime.

Bardock sighed agitatedly, thinking how if he tried to lie, this woman would probably find out anyway and give him a ton of grief. "We were… knocked unconscious. I don't know what you expected-"

"Is that a joke? I thought you two were mighty Super Saiyans!"

Bardock grimaced, knowing she had quite a valid point. "The enemy had damn strong weaponry for some reason! Your planet's stronger than you had me believe. Look, we've got something important to track down, here."

"So what you're saying is-"

Bardock 'asked', "Can you allow Goten a couple more hours."

"…Why me?" she groaned. She then shouted into the phone angrily, "All right. Fine! Go figure it all out, why don't you! I'll be generous - I'll give you a week. Just… you had better give me regular updates or else! And my Goten had better be well-fed! And-"

"Great. Bye." Bardock hung up and threw the phone back to Trunks as he walked off. Trunks just about caught it, putting it back where it needed to be.

He smirked and caught up to Bardock, thinking that the man had handled that call pretty well. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you get along great with your daughter-in-law!"

Bardock glared at him before looking away. "That woman's persistent attitude is as irritating as you can get," he muttered, "But she sure as hell wouldn't have been out of place back on my home planet."

Goten appeared next to Bardock and Trunks with a smoothie. He slurped it loudly. "Yeah, Mom's really strong and she cares for us a lot. When Dad was away when I was younger, she did pretty much everything around the house. It's just how Mom is."

Bardock frowned at the kid's phrasing. 'Imagine being dead twice in a row.' He shook his head to dispel the thought. It didn't work. 'Hold on a moment… The second time, Kakarot would've been dead for quite a bit of Goten's life, right? So…'

Bardock asked them, "Why was Kakarot dead for so many years? Weren't the Dragon Balls around after Cell was killed?"

Trunks and Goten looked at each other, wide-eyed. 'Oh… Bardock won't be pleased when he eventually meets him, huh?' Trunks thought. He answered, "Well, ya see… Goku actually was gonna get revived, but… he kinda chose to stay dead in Otherworld to keep bad guys away, and train…" Trunks scratched his cheek.

The duo could see Bardock's face melt into disbelief after that answer. He bared his teeth. "Why, that…" He shook his head. "Stupid…" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Damned moron of a son! Dead for seven years… Why? There's obviously gonna be other threats to fight if he's not here. Did Kakarot just forget he had a family? And a ton of friends on top of that?"

"At least he's not your other son they never talk about…" Trunks mumbled quietly.

"I can hear you talking about my other moron of a son!" Trunks sharply jumped from Bardock's yell. Bardock combed through his hair in frustration. "Why couldn't I have had sons with a shred of common sense? I wished for them to thrive, too…"

"Goku may have his quirks, but he's one of the kindest people I know." A new voice entered the hallway.

"Grandpa!" Trunks beamed.

"Trunks, my boy! And Goten! Nice to see you here again." Dr. Briefs shifted his focus to the man of the trio. He adjusted his glasses. "Goodness, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you really were Goku, but merely dressed like Vegeta! In fact, without these specs of mine on, you're practically identical!" Dr. Briefs laughed. Bardock tilted his head in slight indignation at the Vegeta comment while Dr. Briefs took a puff from his cigarette.

"You are this Bardock I've heard about, aren't you?" the elder man asked.

"Yeah. So you're Trunks' grandfather. Heard you've got a lab or two around here."

Dr. Briefs chuckled at this statement. "Well, you heard wrong! I've got more than a hundred labs around here! I'd be happy to show you around, if you have the time."

Trunks said, "Actually, Grandpa, we found this storage drive after we stopped some hunters from taking Icarus. We wanted to check it out."

"Icarus? Isn't that your dragon friend that you boys visit from time to time?" Dr. Briefs recalled, always able to remember a friendly animal.

"Yeah. They got him with a tranquilliser and we saved him. This drive might tell us who hired these guys to capture him. Then, we can go pay those guys a visit!" Trunks stated enthusiastically.

Some time later, the four of them waited for Dr. Briefs' computer to finish processing the data on the storage drive. Bardock, leaned against a table with his arms crossed, thought to himself, 'I bet it's nearly done now.'

"It's nearly done now!" Dr. Briefs told the group. Trunks and Goten made their way over to check the progression bar while Bardock shook his head at the wall. Dr. Briefs adjusted his glasses as info started to pop up in the file explorer. "Hm… Now then, there are quite a number of transactions being displayed here from several private companies. Some I know of, some I don't know of. The money and resources being sent through are rather small in scale."

"So… does that mean they're not taking a lot of dragons?" Goten asked.

"Well, I'm not sure. The things listed here are just for a few harnesses, buckles, storage crates, a few locks…" Dr. Briefs read out to them.

Trunks frowned. "Maybe some of the files are missing?"

"Or maybe the important info is being stored somewhere else," Bardock theorised. "They must have known that there are strong fighters like us who could easily take 'em down and steal the info. So, why have information that sensitive on you if that's the case?"

"Good point." Trunks sat down. "So what now?"

"Well, Trunks," Dr. Briefs patted him on the shoulder, "Let me say that it's not every day that you catch a company in the act of an animal kidnapping scheme. Whether the operation was officially approved by higher-ups or not, they're at risk of being investigated regardless. But, of course, I'd need actual proof that animals are being either hurt or illegally hunted by them."

"There's an entire area we cleared of soldiers, if that helps. The ones left alive there will talk for sure, after what I did to 'em," Bardock said with a slight shrug. The group eyed him, taken aback by his wording.

Trunks and Goten glanced at each other, their views on him slightly… altered. Sure, those soldiers deserved to be punished, but… perhaps Bardock shouldn't have been so ruthless. They might have to keep a closer eye on him.

Dr. Briefs cleared his throat. "I see. Trunks, could you pinpoint where this place was?" he asked.

"A- Alright, gimme a second…" Trunks took a few moments to search on a digital map. "Okay - I think it's here, since there was a helipad like this one, and there was a shelter over there."

"As soon as I find out who owns the site, I'll let you know. And, I'll send word to the authorities about those soldiers who might give us information on their activities." Dr. Briefs sniffed, changing the subject. "Anyhoo, is there anything else I can do for you, Trunks? Handing over the reigns of Capsule Corp to your mother has made my life much more easygoing, and it gets a little boring, I tell you!"

"Hm… I guess there isn't anything else I need right now," Trunks replied.

Dr. Briefs gathered his pen and coffee mug… and his little black cat. "Then I'll be seeing you! You know where to find me, Trunks!" He waved and walked away.

"Bye, Grandpa!" Trunks waved back.

"So are we just gonna wait around now?" Goten asked Trunks.

"I'll be outside training. No way am I gonna be wastin' time doing nothing," Bardock decided.

"Hey, how about I show you something cool first?" Trunks suggested with a grin.

"And by "something cool", you mean…?" Bardock questioned.

"It's no fun if I tell ya straight away!" Trunks was going to hope this worked. "Listen, if you promise to cut out the, uh… killing next time, then I'll show you."

"I can't believe the prince raised you so soft that you're able to say that." Bardock explained, "Remember, I'm a Saiyan warrior. We take revenge on those who dare to slight us, and we take it very seriously. But since you don't like that very much… fine. Your planet, your rules," he grumbled in annoyance. 'Don't want Kakarot getting in my face about it if he finds out,' he thought. 'He'd give me a great fight, though, for sure…'

Goten wiped his arm across his forehead in relief. Trunks responded just as relieved, "Yeah, great! Awesome! Okay, uh, follow me. It's something every Saiyan warrior in our house uses. And by that I mean me and my dad!" Trunks proceeded to jog down the hallway.

Bardock caught up to Trunks. "You're showing me something Vegeta uses?"

"Why not? It's not like Dad's here right now to stop you from trying it out. And don't worry, I know how to operate the system so nothing's gonna go wrong!" Trunks kept jogging.

"Hmph. Wouldn't happen to be some kind of training room, would it?" Bardock asked. "You know, such as, the Gravity Chamber you talked about with Goten on the way to Chichi's house?"

"Uh… well… we're almost there so quit guessing already!" Trunks responded irately.

"Can I go in as well, Trunks?" Goten asked excitedly.

"Sure! But don't touch any of the buttons unless I say so! And that goes for you too!" Trunks ordered. He whispered in Bardock's direction, "It's dangerous!" to which Bardock lowered his brows unamused. He turned away, rolling his eyes. "Tch… Kids…"

Trunks lead them to a doorway. "After you!" He gestured them to head inside after opening the door. Bardock looked around the spacious area, and Goten began to run, brushing his hand against the walls of the bright white room for fun.

"So I was right then?" Bardock smirked.

"Ugh, yeah, you were, but when I say this room can change its own gravity, I really mean it! It can go as high as 500 times Earth's gravity!" Trunks boasted.

"That's… a seriously impressive number. I can't imagine how strong someone could get with such heavy gravity pulling down on them during training. So what kind of gravity does your father train in?" Bardock asked.

"Usually, he trains in 150 times Earth's gravity, but when he wants to push himself he goes above 410!" Trunks gave a huge grin.

Bardock's face morphed into one of shock from how ridiculous it sounded. Granted, he knew Earth had a comparatively weak gravitational field compared to other planets he'd encountered. (His home planet Vegeta had been ten times more than here for example.) But, 410? For a Saiyan? He was almost certain that no Saiyan had ever endured such substantial gravity in the history of their race.

"You've gotta be kidding me. Is this the kind of power gap I'm faced with?" Bardock groaned. Trunks turned fully towards Bardock in surprise.

"Wait, does that mean you were planning to fight my dad?" Trunks started to giggle, "Is that what you meant when you said you wanted to fight all the Super Saiyans? Ohhh, man! I hate to break it to you, but it would take you years to catch up to him or Goku!"

Bardock looked at him with a ticked off expression. "Well then," he growled in annoyance, "No time like the present." He glared at him expectantly and crossed his arms.

Trunks flinched, sweatdropping. "Uh huh… I guess you can use this while Dad's not here. Hey, Goten! What gravity d'ya want?"

"I want 60!" Goten yelled excitedly.

"60? You baby." Trunks put it at 70, disregarding the fact that he should've asked for Bardock's input on the number too. Soon enough, the room's lights faded to red, and the gravity began to shift.

Bardock braced himself for 70, trying to remember if he'd ever been to a planet with that level of gravity before. 'Guess I can always go Super Saiyan if things get out of hand,' he thought.

With a deep whir of an engine, the environment changed drastically.

'Ugh… What the hell… Now that's definitely 70 times gravity,' Bardock thought to himself. He hunched over at first, straining, but slowly stood straight, fists clenched. "Gh…" he grunted.

Sure, he still felt the strain, but it wasn't unbearable. He was sure he could hold on for a while at this level.

"So? How's it going over there, Bardock?" Trunks called.

"Just fine," Bardock confirmed to him.

"Oh really? Maybe it's too weak for a good warmup then!" Trunks headed over to the console and inputted a new number of 110.

"Hold on, what number are you-? Hng!" Bardock fell to his knees, straining even worse now. He got up on one knee, then painfully slowly, he rose back to standing. He was sweating profusely and he just knew his bandana would be soaked. He noticed a small thing approach him out of the corner of his eye.

"Grandpa! You're doing great!" Goten encouraged him. "My dad said he trained up to 100 times gravity before he fought Frieza!"

"Huff… That right?" He directed his sweating head towards his grandson and straightened his posture. "If 100 times was all it took…"

Trunks corrected him, "Well, he couldn't do it without Super Saiyan. He managed to achieve it in that fight, remember?"

Bardock smiled. "Yes, remember what you told me. It's a miracle…" He hadn't realised that he'd adjusted to the gravity by now, and stood firm in it. "Huh. I think I'm getting the hang of this now. I wonder how high I can go before I collapse?" Bardock chuckled and panted.

— — —

"…Times 125!"

"Agh… I can keep going!"

— — —

"…Times 140!"

"Ugh… This is something else…"

—

A gruelling 10 minutes later…

"Turn it up now… Trunks…" Bardock panted.

"Are you sure you're ready for higher gravity? You're sweating like crazy!"

"I'm a Saiyan; no pain, no gain, right?" Bardock breathed even more raggedly.

"But… this is your first time in the Gravity Chamber! You shouldn't overdo it!" Trunks cautioned.

A static sound came in through some speakers. "Hello! How are you guys doing in there?" Dr. Brief's voice came through on a screen.

"Grandpa!" Trunks exclaimed.

"Trunks, hello!" He chuckled. "I overheard what you were saying earlier, and it reminded me of a little incident that happened years ago, before you were born I believe. It happened in my old Gravity Machine." He continued, "I'm not sure anyone even knows about this, and I'm certain the person in question isn't aware I know either."

"Really? What's it about?" Goten asked.

"Well, you know our friend Yamcha?" Dr. Briefs started.

"Which one's he?" Bardock questioned.

"The guy with the long black hair and the scars you met," Trunks informed him.

Dr. Briefs recounted, "One night, he snuck out towards the old Gravity Machine we had in the garden…"

"Whoa, seriously? He really did that?" Trunks exclaimed.

The elder man chuckled. "Yes, quite the daring man, he was. Vegeta was obsessed with the machine back then. But, I guess it was rather easy for Yamcha to sneak in there, considering he was once a bandit." Dr. Briefs cleared his throat. "Anyway… Yes, he snuck in all alone, walked over to the console, and put in a number. Can you guess what this number was?" he asked in an amused tone.

"Well, I have no idea how strong he is, so count me out," Bardock responded.

"If I had to guess… Hm… Before I was born, huh? All of the fighters were probably a lot weaker back then, so… 20?" Trunks guessed.

"Nope."

"I bet he put in 40!" Goten challenged.

Dr. Briefs laughed, "Well, you're getting warmer, that's for sure! Keep trying!"

Trunks and Goten gave a look of clear surprise. "Higher than 40?" Trunks questioned, and received a nod from his grandfather. "60!" Trunks said.

"No."

"70!" Goten said.

"Not that!"

Trunks was silent for a moment as he considered this. "Nah, he's dead for sure at that gravity. You're seriously telling us he survived higher than-?"

"Yes Trunks. The number I saw on that screen was clear as day for me to see from my surveillance camera. And I checked the data logs on the console afterwards."

"What?!" Trunks scratched his head in awe. "Well, okay! Let's try a crazy number… 150!"

"You're halfway there."

The duo gaped with dumbfounded expressions, while Bardock was just confused. Trunks' brain tried to come to terms with what that response implied.

"…No," Trunks stated.

"Yes!" Dr. Briefs replied.

"Nooooooo-" Trunks put his hands on his forehead in amazement.

"He did. I wouldn't lie about this. He even held it for a solid minute," Trunks' grandfather added.

A thoroughly clueless Bardock asked them, "Hold on, is this really that surprising? S'this guy supposed to be a complete snowflake or something?"

Goten turned to Bardock, quivering in amazement, "G- Grandpa… That number… For a normal human like Yamcha…"

The kids turned towards each other, and Trunks decided, "We have to see him do that again!"

"Yeah!" Goten agreed. "We gotta bring him in here! Can we, can we, can we?"

[Author's note: I seriously hope those gravity figures for Bardock were reasonable enough.

And, I know that the Yamcha scene in the Gravity Room was anime filler. Let me cook with it. It's funny to me!

It's not the first time I've incorporated DBZ filler into my fanfics; I think it worked out last time. (I'm referring to the Raditz side story I published - Its core elements were taken from anime filler. You can check that out, if you want. (It's called "Raditz's Quest to Escape From Hell".) I've not been advertising it too much so far because it's… I dunno… spoiler territory? A bit? I'm not sure myself, lol.)]