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Chapter 29: Father Vs. Son! A Fated Showdown!
The two Saiyans touched down in a grassy plains area, all alone (by Bardock's request). The wind blew their identical hair in a gentle sway. They both got into battle positions, anticipatory smiles on their faces.
"You know, this isn't even the first time I've fought someone who looks just like me!" Goku mentioned.
"What, like Goten?" Bardock figured. Goku shook his head as Bardock poised to strike. "Guess you'll have to tell me all about it once we're done here."
His son crouched into one of his signature fighting stances. "Sure! There's a ton of other things I wanna tell you about, too!"
"Alright - No more talk!" Bardock told him.
The next moment, their fists did the talking. Several loud shockwaves shook not only the ground around them, but the sturdy trees dotted around, too. It was a good thing it was currently deserted here, and Goku was thankful there were no bird nests nearby either.
The two warriors knew there was little need for a warm-up, especially in Bardock's case as he had only just sparred with Gohan, so they went at each other with a shocking display of punches and kicks.
"Agh! What the-"
…And the occasional bite on the arm from a restrained Goku under Bardock's hold.
When Bardock decided to back off from his son, he grinned, pleased with him. "Good - That's what I expected to see from you."
"Glad someone likes that trick!" Goku responded, regarding his special battle tactic. "I've tried it on a bunch of people, including Whis. He didn't approve of it, but it worked!"
"Whis? You bit a god? You're insane," Bardock laughed with a shake of his head.
Before Goku dove back into the fray, he noticed a certain furry appendage wrapped around his father's waist. "Woah, that's right! You've got a tail!" Goku pointed at it.
Bardock stared at him in disappointment. How had he only just spotted it? "Gee, ain't that somethin'!" Bardock roared with sarcasm, and lobbed a ki blast from his palm.
It zoomed past Goku, who dodged it quite easily. Bardock grumbled and took a moment to turn Super Saiyan. Goku did the same, but in the blink of an eye.
"I was hoping you'd do that!" Goku smiled, and started firing a barrage of ki blasts towards Bardock. A couple of shots grazed Bardock's arm, so he leapt into the air to avoid the rest. A few small craters resulted from the barrage.
Once Goku stopped firing, he descended to attack his father. "Ha!"
He landed a solid punch on his cheek, making Bardock's head recoil. Bardock snapped out of it and tried to sweep his son's legs, but to no avail, because Goku simply hopped over the attempted kick.
Bardock grimaced and tried to launch a point-blank ki ball at Goku's chest, but Goku caught his wrist and flung him away. Bardock was caught completely off-guard by the move and had his face buried in the dirt as a result. His look of surprise changed to determination the moment he caught the challenging look in his son's eyes. Just as he expected things out of his son, Kakarot expected just as much out of him.
The scarred Saiyan jumped a fair distance away, clenching his two fists tight as he concentrated. He used his new knowledge of Frieza's revival to trigger his anger.
"By fightin' with you… I'm going to change this cursed future! HAAAAAAAGH!"
Commanding his newfound power of the ascension beyond a Super Saiyan, Bardock let out a yell as he finished charging, and sparks of electricity danced haphazardly around his new form.
"Whoa!" Goku gasped in amazement, his hands on his hips. "This is gonna be better than I thought! Hahaa!"
Goku proceeded to give a small shout, instantly hitting the next level also.
Bardock looked at his hands and then looked over to his son, revelling in the new surge of power that he had achieved. "Heh… Don't you dare underestimate me!"
He charged forwards with his signature attack, hitting Goku's sternum. He then spun his body rapidly, landing a roundhouse kick which sent his son flying into the air.
Goku backflipped during his flight, and with focus, he vanished behind his father for a kick of his own. Bardock turned around too late to react, and was sent flying himself, this time.
"Dammit! Even in the same transformation, he's still way faster!" Bardock complained, letting out even more of his power. He yelled, "HRAAAAH!"
Goku braced himself, and blocked an oncoming fist to his face, an elbow to his chest…
The chain of attacks surprised Goku and he noted the unconventional fighting style his father had. It was rough around the edges but it was definitely solid hand-to-hand combat. Indeed, he could tell that his father had a lot of fighting experience. As a matter of fact, it reminded him a little bit of his first fight with Vegeta.
Goku was getting distracted from his current musings, and ultimately got handed a fast one across the face courtesy of his father. "Ow!" he yelped, and skidded to a halt on the grass.
He then looked up to find his dad floating in the air, charging another blast in his hand. Goku braced himself for the attack, but then he realised he had time to dodge it. As he got out of the blast's range, the blast itself caused a massive crater to appear, and it spanned at least fifteen metres wide.
'Dammit. I gotta work on charging that one,' Bardock thought to himself. 'He easily escaped.'
"Now it's my turn! Ka…" Goku cupped his hands to unleash his favourite blast.
"Me…"
"Ha…"
"Me…"
Bardock tried to muster an even more powerful ki wave than before to try and match the power being accumulated by his son's Kamehameha wave, but he feared it wouldn't be enough. He had to try. "Take this!"
"Haaaaa!" Goku yelled.
Both attacks zoomed towards each other, clashing vividly in the air. However, it was soon evident that Bardock's stream of ki was far too weak and unconcentrated to maintain its advance.
"Tch-! Dammit!" Bardock cursed himself for his weakness. The beam of light drew closer to him, and his eyes widened. 'If this collides, I'll be in for a world of pain!'
Bardock roared, "This is everything I have! HRAAAAAAAH!" He fought back against the beam of ki with all his might, but even so, it was not enough.
"Gaaaaghhhhh!" he screamed as the light engulfed him. As the Kamehameha faded, Bardock's Super Saiyan 2 form also faded, and he dropped to the ground with a loud thud surrounded by a whole lot of dust. Bardock lay there on the ground, with his entire chest armour gone from the blast, and his tail became loose again, which was something he'd have to keep working on.
"Uh oh! Looks like I got carried away!" Goku scratched the back of his head as he powered down as well.
Bardock groaned and didn't move a muscle. Pain did indeed fill his whole being, and he was sure something inside him had broken - A rib or two, maybe. He stank of smoke.
"Hold on a sec! I'll go grab somethin' to get you on your feet again!" Goku then zipped out of existence.
A moment of silence passed until Goku instantly appeared again holding a green bean. "Here, eat this! It'll-"
"I… know what it is," Bardock said in a strained voice. He then crunched and swallowed the bean, and immediately sat up, flexing his once-aching muscles. "Incredible…!" he spoke in awe.
"I know! Korin's a real hero for growing those beans!" Goku smiled cheerily. "That was a great fight. What do you think, Dad?"
Bardock smiled with a reminiscent expression. "When I was in the past, I thought I'd never see you again, or anyone I used to know, for that matter. So… even though I utterly lost, that was one of the best fights I've had in a while, excluding your eldest kid's ones of course, even if ours was a little short for my liking. I guarantee you would have loved to have seen my fight against a guy called Gas."
"Wow… So that one was a long one, huh? Maybe I could-" Goku reached out a hand to touch Bardock's forehead again.
Bardock's eyes grew wide. "No! Get your hand away from my head! How the hell do you even do that? Gaining intel from someone so easily? It's absurd!" Bardock then proceeded to stand up and flex his wrists, performing a couple stretches too while facing away from his son.
"Wellllll… I think every experienced martial artist can read minds on Earth to some extent… Or is it just me and Master Roshi…? I dunno…" he spoke and scratched his head as Bardock rolled his eyes in disbelief.
"To think you were just a little kid with a power level of 2. Barely anyone thought you'd amount to anything. And now look how strong you've become…" Bardock commented, still in awe of his son's accomplishments.
Goku chuckled, "I guess that power level stuff was a lie or somethin'!"
Bardock looked wistful as he responded, "Yeah… well, sort of. I just wish some of the other Saiyans could've seen how you turned out."
Goku looked around, noticing the mass of craters the two had made while fighting. He thought about how his dad had time travelled here. His dad could have ended up anywhere, maybe even back when he was younger, participating in the World Tournaments, or when he married Chichi, or when he fought the Saiyans.
Speaking of… "Hey, Dad?"
"What?"
"I'm… sorry about what happened with Raditz. He really was my brother, wasn't he?"
Bardock frowned. "Yes, he was. Your only brother, in fact."
Goku scratched his head, unsure what his father would say next.
Bardock asked after a moment, "Kakarot, why was it that you never considered bringing your brother back?"
"Well, he kidnapped Gohan and threatened to kill everyone, including me!" he answered bluntly. "I don't think anybody would want him to be wished back…"
"Vegeta got brought back, and his crimes were no doubt much worse than your brother's. Why is it that he got a second chance, anyway?" Bardock asked curiously.
"I, uh… kinda spared him the first time we met. Then he was wished back along with everyone Frieza killed on Namek and brought to Earth, then he got revived a second time- Uh, anyway! That's just how it worked out for him, Dad!"
Bardock sighed heavily. "I don't know how, but you somehow defied the wish I made on Cereal, Kakarot."
"Whazzat? You made a wish to a bowl o' cereal?" Goku looked puzzled, pouting with his eyelids lowered.
Bardock clipped him round the head. "No, you dunce, Cereal's a planet! I guess you didn't see that memory in your snooping, huh? Well, I'll tell you myself. Cereal has, or used to have, a set of Dragon Balls. I got to make a wish to see that both my sons ended up thriving," he explained.
"Oh, cool! Thanks for wishing that for me, I guess! Hm… yeah, that's odd. I'm pretty sure you can't defy a wish. You sure Raditz ain't just thriving in Otherworld instead?"
"…That's ridiculous. You can't thrive in the afterlife," Bardock scoffed doubtfully.
He paused. A wave of unease filled his mind. He said this in a vision. Another had come true. If only he had remembered sooner… Could he have changed his own response…?
Goku pointed to himself. "Well I know I sure did while I was there! It's how I got the Kaioken technique along with Super Saiyan 2 and 3!" Goku put a hand to his chin, pondering aloud, "Hm… If he's thriving, I wonder how strong he's gotten?"
"Is a good fight all you care to look for in a Saiyan?" Bardock groaned.
"No…! I care about other stuff in Saiyans! You gotta know that!" Goku pouted. "I mean, my sons are part Saiyan, right? And Vegeta's a good guy now! He's a good friend!"
""A good friend"… Good grief." Bardock closed his eyes with amused grin.
"Hey! It's true!" Goku reaffirmed.
"In any case… Look, Kakarot. I'm not talkin' about Raditz or any Saiyan now. There's something I wanna make clear; Vegeta may have changed his ways, but that doesn't mean Frieza will too."
Goku pouted again childishly. "Oh, we're back to this?"
"Your tolerance of Frieza gets me seriously pissed off." Bardock turned his head away from his son.
"Look, don't worry! I'll handle him properly next time. Cool?" Goku held out his hand.
Bardock rolled his eyes and walked closer to him. "You better, Super Saiyan God."
They both shook hands, and felt a sense of pride ripple between them both. They were happy that their familial connection to each other had been reignited.
Goku was about to fly off to see his wife until Bardock 'asked' abruptly, "Hey. I wanna see my next targets - show me Super Saiyan 3 and your other transformations."
"Oh…! Well sure, I'll show them to you! I gotta warn you, though - Super Saiyan 3 brings out a lot of ki, so if you can sense ki, then I'd stand back once I start powering up, if I were you."
"Is it really that potent?" Bardock wondered.
"You'll see!" Goku smirked. "Anyway, I'll tell you what exactly it is you need to do if you wanna learn it."
"Alright then." Bardock stepped a few metres away, and nodded for him to begin.
"Okay!" Goku cheered excitedly and put his hands into fists, and bent his knees. "This next stage is something I had to train really hard to be able to find."
He first turned Super Saiyan, then Super Saiyan 2. "I completely mastered Super Saiyan 2, so it makes it easier to transform into 3," he elaborated.
His ki started to rise at a rapid rate. Bardock's face lit up in surprise from the amount of power emanating from his son. 'That's much more than I expected-'
Goku suddenly yelled as dust began to swirl violently around him, "You have to reach deep inside you! Push hard to find the energy to transform! HAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"
Bardock was almost swept off his feet. He held steady, crouching with one hand on the ground. He saw his son's aura pulse like it was a fast-flowing rapid. No, wait - now it was faster than that. It was like it was vibrating. The amount of ki being expelled… it was overwhelming his senses. He'd never felt anything like it.
"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" Goku continued screaming.
'Is… Kakarot's hair starting to grow…?' Bardock wondered, but as he did so, he suddenly recalled the time Goten said, "It's got crazy hair!"
The hair continued growing, much to Bardock's confusion, reaching past his son's hips. 'No kidding, Goten. What the hell is this?'
"…HRRRRAAAAAAAAAH!" Goku finished powering up, and stood firm and confident in front of his father. "So? What do you think? Can you feel how much stronger this form is?" Goku asked with a much gruffer tone.
"What kind of question is that? And what happened to your eyebrows?" Bardock asked, walking closer to inspect his son's strange form.
"Not sure. That's just what happens," Goku answered.
"Well I gotta say, you almost literally blew me away with that power-up. Can't wait to figure this one out," Bardock chuckled eagerly. He then inspected the massive amount of hair his son now sported, that reached down to the backs of his knees. "Holy hell, your hair's worse than what Raditz's was like. How d'you fight with all that?"
"I'll tell you how," Goku spoke with a smile. "This form is actually better suited to improving the amount of ki you have at your disposal, so it's less about the physical improvements, you see? And besides, it's very hard to maintain this form for long, so I can't really hope to use this for an entire fight."
"Hm. This form seems to change your mood," Bardock pointed out, having noticed the voice change and his son's more serious demeanour.
"Oh? It does, doesn't it?" Goku scratched his head. "I don't really tend to notice it. I must be concentrating too hard and not focusing on how I feel, too much."
Bardock tilted his head and exhaled. "Well, regardless, I can't wait to get to that level and fight you as a Super Saiyan 3. I'm itchin' to try my luck…"
"I'm pretty sure you can't get it as you are. The way you used Super Saiyan 2 was proof enough," Goku stated casually.
"Hey! C'mon, don't sound so sure of that! You moron…" Bardock shook his head, though he didn't entirely disagree.
"Besides," Goku continued, "I think it might be easier to ascend to Super Saiyan God than to get Super Saiyan 3. You'd basically be skipping a level."
"Hn. I'll see what I can do about this form you've shown me first, before I decide to do some kind of easy ritual to achieve the god form," Bardock replied with a disappointed expression.
Goku nodded. "I suppose your pride wouldn't want you to attain power so easily from others. I didn't like using Super Saiyan God at first because I didn't earn it myself."
"Spoken like a true Saiyan," Bardock remarked.
"Yeah. Even though Master Roshi taught me that true strength isn't something you obtain on your own, Vegeta actually managed to pick up God Ki and transform."
"Hm… what exactly is God Ki like?" Bardock asked. "Show me this God form of yours."
Goku closed his eyes as he instantly powered down in a flash, his hair and other features now reverted back to normal. He smiled as he began to show a red aura. "It's not what you'd expect!" he mentioned.
Goku's red aura swirled around him in a twirling dance before he opened his eyes, which were now a larger red colour. His aura settled into himself and his hair turned a sparkling red too, and his muscle mass decreased.
Bardock looked at this transformation in silent awe, but with a questioning gaze.
"Well? Huh? You like it?" Goku gestured all over himself.
Bardock wondered, "You yelled like crazy when you powered up to your third one, so what's the deal here? Why does this one make you look a helluva lot weaker?"
Goku scratched his head, smiling. "Hehe! That's what you'd think, right? But nah, I'm actually crazy strong when in this form, and really fast!"
"I can't feel your strength, but I can sense some kind of pressure coming off of you," Bardock remarked.
Goku briefly pointed at him. "And that's God Ki for ya! It's not like regular ki because you can only really sense it if you're using the form yourself."
"Right… So I gotta pick between a form with hair that's the length of my whole body, or a form that makes me lose muscle. Just great. Can't I get that "Super Saiyan Blue" instead? Or how about that… uh… "Ultra" whatever?" Bardock complained.
"Whoa, who told you about those? I'm surprised you know about them already!" Goku remarked.
Bardock responded indignantly, "It's not like I've just been staying on my ship this entire time. Besides, those kids tend to give me info from time to time."
Goku's eyes lit up with curiosity. "You have your own ship around here? Can I see it?"
"Kakarot-"
"Okay, I'll show you Blue. Man, and I thought I was excited!" Goku quipped.
"I'm not excited!" Bardock argued to no avail. He was totally excited.
Goku proceeded to yell once again, his red aura from before becoming a dazzling bright blue. His hair now stood on end, looking similar to regular Super Saiyan. His hair and his eyes turned blue just like his aura and he smirked confidently.
"This is what it looks like to go beyond Super Saiyan God!" Goku declared dramatically.
Bardock remembered the discussion he had about this form with Trunks and Goten. At the time, he had wondered, "How the heck do you go Super Saiyan while being a Super Saiyan?"
He took in the form with a pensive expression. "So why is the red one called a Super Saiyan form? Because this blue one looks a lot more like a Super Saiyan form to me."
"Seriously? That's what you think of first?" Goku slouched his shoulders before scratching his cheek thoughtfully. "Though you might be onto something there…" Goku then looked back at him. "But whaddya think of it though?"
"It would probably be great if I could sense the damn thing."
"Heheh! I suppose. Here's something neat I learned to do with this form…" Goku crouched and clenched his fists before shouting, "Kaioken!"
The whole grassland started to billow from the force generated by the combined power-ups. Bardock could sense huge pressure waves emanating from the power up.
Bardock shielded his face. "Ugh… That pressure is really hard to ignore. So, this is the Kaioken, huh?"
"That's right. It multiplies your body's power, but it's pretty hard to maintain for long, because after you stop using it, your body gets hurt," Goku explained as he powered down from the Kaioken.
'It's mind-blowing how you can train and learn techniques when you die…' Bardock pondered. He then complained, "There always seems to be a catch! And if I'm right… what's the catch with your Ultra one, then?"
"It's called Ultra Instinct, and the catch with that is… I can't do it at will yet," Goku stated in a plain tone.
"What? What do you mean you can't do it at will? How come you used it in the Tournament of Power, then?" Bardock had recalled the others mentioning that his son had done so.
Goku replied, "Well, it requires you to be completely detached or emotionless in battle… or something along those lines, which is pretty hard for me to do because I love to fight!"
"Hmph. Well, I guess that's only natural; a Saiyan's blood boils when we fight. But, from all the things I've heard about you, I'm sure you'll surpass even that obstacle, too," Bardock told him.
"Ya think so? Thanks a lot, Dad!" Goku said gratefully as he reverted to base form.
"Yeah, yeah…" Bardock crossed his arms, looking a little awkward. He wasn't ready for a grown man older than he was to call him that…
"Hey… so you know how you're a time traveller and all that?" Goku began.
"…Yes…?" Bardock sighed, knowing that his son only knew this because he pried into his mind.
"How… old are you, exactly?"
"How old d'you think I am?" Bardock asked in return.
"Uh… I dunno… 47?" Goku guessed.
"47? I'm younger than that!" Bardock retorted. "I'm 33!"
"Huuuuuh?! You're way younger than me!" Goku, who was 46, exclaimed. "That doesn't sound right!"
"Well too bad; just pretend I'm older," Bardock told him.
"Man… I guess that means you'll be around for a while, which is pretty cool," Goku commented bluntly, to which Bardock huffed. "Anyway, I think we should head back. I wonder how Chichi's doin'…?" Goku pondered. "Oh, that's my wife, by the way."
"I've met her already. She's doing just fine. You sure picked a strong one, Kakarot."
"Haha! Don't I know it! And actually, she was the one who picked me first!" Goku laughed. "Say…! I gotta tell ya about all my adventures and all my friends! There's probably loads of 'em you haven't met yet! And you would've loved to have met Grandpa Gohan. He was the guy who raised me and taught me a ton of things! Ooh! And I gotta tell you about Krillin, Master Roshi…"
As Goku waffled on excitedly to his father, they flew back to Capsule Corp to meet with the others again, and they explained how the fight went down, with Goten and Trunks listening with great interest. After a while, the Son family and Bardock went back to the family home for the day for a big reunion, even inviting Ox King over for a big feast.
There, Bardock told his son all about his past adventures (that totally didn't involve being dragged through mud and barely getting out of places alive, as was the case on Planet Cereal. Goku really liked his retelling of his fight with Gas, though).
Bardock explained that while Goku was gone, Goten had become such a powerhouse for his age and that he should be proud of the kid, which Goku replied he was insanely proud, just like he was with everything his other son Gohan had achieved, too.
Bardock had questioned his son about him being dead for 7 years, to which Goku explained that the dangers they had faced usually came about because of him, so that was why he stayed dead. Bardock reprimanded him for his foolish choice, saying that regardless of whether he stayed dead or not, powerful enemies like Majin Buu still appeared.
Goku acknowledged his father's point of view and said that in hindsight, he might have made the wrong choice, his gaze briefly flicking over to his son Goten.
All in all, Goku very easily accepted his father, and vice versa with his father accepting he, though Bardock had already done so just by word-of-mouth about this crazily powerful son of his. And after all was said and done, Goku and Bardock were a great deal happier that day.
Goku agreed to train with him too, which Bardock was very excited about.
Tomorrow, however, Bardock was going to have a little spar with His Royal Highness, as promised.
[Author's note: Bardock got quite a bit stronger after getting hit by that SSJ2 Kamehameha lol.
"Goku smiled, and started firing a barrage of ki blasts towards Bardock." - That's Vegeta's Technique™!
Some of you might be wondering, "Why didn't Goku show Bardock Super Saiyan 4 (from Daima)?" - Here's what I've decided: Daima's events are too contradictory to Dragon Ball Super's continuity, so I'm going to exclude it in this instance. I'm not saying that the form itself isn't canon, of course!
If Toyotaro includes it in future DBS chapters, that'll be cool, but I wonder how he'd explain it. Would Goku forget he had it? Or would Neva's magic have worn off, stopping him from using it? Perhaps Toyotaro would just have Goku unlock it from scratch again, saying he just trained and stumbled across it, lol.]