That meeting in the tavern hall provided Bardock that angry burst of energy he needed to race up the stairs. He exited the building and kept on running toward the open space. He needed a better vantage point of Freiza's ship when the time came. When he felt that he ran out far enough, he hunched over and rested his palms on his knees as he caught his breath. He needed a new plan and quickly, because he didn't have the support of his fellow saiyans. Unfortunately, no one had believed him and now he would have to shoulder the entire burden of stopping Freiza. Things were not looking good for him right now and he was seriously considering breaking his vow of vengeance. If saiyan population didn't care, why should he risk his life for them? Maybe he should be spending his energy on stealing a space pod and escaping before Freiza arrived.
"Bardock! Bardock, can you hear my voice?" An unfamiliar voice called out.
"Who is that calling my name?" Bardock asked aloud as he spun around. "Show yourself!"
"Bardock…Don't you recognize me?" The voice inquired.
Bardock looked beyond the field and saw a strange yet familiar figure garbed in orange clothing. The strange individual's back was turned towards him, so Bardock could not see his face but the silhouette was unmistakeable.
"Yes, I do recognize you," Bardock admitted as he reached out to the figure. "You are my son…"
The person turned around and gazed upon him with concern in his eyes.
"Father, it's not too late for you…" Kakkarot told him. "You still have a chance to be different…To be different from him…"
Kakkarot's figure then disappeared and Freiza stood in his place instead. Freiza smirked at him and began to snicker wickedly.
"Kakkarot!" Bardock yelled out as the earth beneath him began to quiver. Freiza's laughter became more prominent as the tremors increased and the ground underneath him began to swallow Bardock whole.
"Noooo!" Bardock cried and then he opened his eyes. Sweat poured from his forehead and surprisingly, he was still on the staircase.
Another vision? But this one felt so real! No matter, I now know what I have to do…Thank you, Kakkarot.
Bardock reached the top of the tower and ran out to the observation deck. Looking up at clear sky, he could even see Freiza's ship coming near with his naked eye. It blazed like bright beacon in the sky. As the ship drew closer, Bardock was assaulted with more images of Vegetasei's destruction with Toloo's prophetic voice in the background.
"I have given this gift to you, so that you may see…" Toloo stated. "That you may see the destruction of your wretched people just like we had to!"
Toloo would not let Bardock forget that he was given this gift only to be tortured with the images of Vegetasei's demise. Toloo wanted Bardock to feel helpless in this time of strife. However, Bardock did not feel helpless at all. Not anymore. The time was here. He had nowhere to run. Although he still felt half-dead, he licked his dry lips in anticipation for the arduous battle ahead.
"I can't let that bastard get away with this underhanded plot of his! Toma, Fasha, Borgos, Shugesh and Kakkarot, I will defeat him for all you!" Bardock stated through gritted teeth as he powered up his ki. His excess energy glowed bright around him. Using the ledge of the observation deck as a launching pad, he shot off into the sky towards Freiza's looming spaceship.
As Bardock approached closer he noted that all the spaceship's hatch doors were open and Freiza's soldiers came pouring out.
Great! Freiza must have detected me! So, instead of facing me himself, he sent out his clowns? Ha, I knew he was bigger coward that I originally thought. No matter, I will get rid of them just like I will get rid of him!
A colony of soldiers all shot ki blasts in Bardock's progressing direction.
"Is that all you got?! Pathetic!" Bardock cried as he easily deflected their attack with his forearm. Afterwards, several soldiers attempted to strike at him on their own. No matter what they tried, Bardock correctly second-guessed them and turned their own attacks against each other.
"We have to stop him!" One soldier screeched. With yells of agreement, a cluster of soldiers collectively tackled Bardock, enclosing around his entire form. With a loud cry, Bardock powered up and out of his own volition alone he was able to move the cluster of soldiers toward the ship.
"Come on, men! We can't let him reach the ship!" One soldier cried out to the others as he held tightly onto Bardock's neck.
"FREIZAAAAA!" Bardock yelled out hoarsely as he pushed himself forward.
Freiza watched Bardock's performance stonily on the monitor. A slight chill ran up his spine when he saw what a half dead saiyan was able to do his legion of well-trained soldiers. Luckily for him, the destruction of Vegetasei could not have come any sooner.
"It's clear that it's me he wants," Freiza finally uttered aloud. Zarbon and Dodoria knew better to respond to his query.
"Well, what is to be, shall be…" Freiza accepted. "Zarbon, please prepare my vehicle for transport outside."
The deafening cries of their soldiers could be clearly hear over the monitor and Zarbon gulped.
"But sire, are you absolutely sure that you want to leave the safety of the spaceship?" Zarbon replied.
"Do not question my desires! Are you able to fulfil your duties as my first general or not?!" Freiza screamed back.
"Yes, sir! Of course, sir! It shall only take me a moment!" Zarbon responded quickly as he hastily scurried away.
"Freiza! Why don't you come out and fight me yourself?" Bardock shouted at the spaceship as he crept closer, even with a dozen or more soldiers holding him down. With a loud yell, Bardock shot out his pent up ki in all directions causing all of Freiza's men plummet. Then a smaller group of soldiers latched onto Bardock's formidable form. Pulling the small group of attacking soldiers along with him, Bardock hovered over the main opening of Freiza's intimidating spaceship.
"Freiza, I know all about your plans to destroy Vegetasei and I'm here to put stop to all your madness!" Bardock cried out. Suddenly, the main doors slid open and the top of Freiza's head could be seen as he levitated up in his air car, his thick tail draped over the side.
"Lord Freiza!" The soldier hanging onto Bardock's arm cried out as he straightened up. "Many salutations!"
The other legionnaires all began to get into form, following the lead of the previous solider.
"Long live, Lord Freiza!" They all chanted, barely in unison. Bardock sneered at their revelry.
"Long live, Freiza? In my humble opinion, this asshole has lived long enough!" Bardock barked. "I think it's time that someone finally told you what a lousy emperor you truly are!"
Frieza focused his gaze onto Bardock as he cocked his head to one side. He then lifted a pointed fingertip that glowed bright with his purple energy. Disregarding Freiza's dead calm, Bardock shook off the last remaining soldier clinging to his shoulder and smirked up at him.
"Furthermore, you should also know that we quit! We saiyans are no longer going to serve under you! We are freeing ourselves from your chains of slavery!" Bardock spat out triumphantly.
Freiza pursed his lips as he sized up the pathetic saiyan. Had he honestly been scared of this raving lunatic only a few minutes earlier? It was obvious from all his blathering that this saiyan was totally off his rocker.
"And one last thing…" Bardock added in as he surreptitiously opened his palm, gathering all the ki that he muster at the moment. "This is a little going-away present from all of us and all those innocents that we destroyed in your name! HOPE YOU ENJOY!"
Bardock then released the most powerful ki blast that he had ever conjured and threw it in Freiza's direction with a loud grunt on his lips.
Freiza's eyes glowed bright as he viewed the incoming projectile coming toward him. Instead of flinching, Freiza raised his pointer finger that now glowed bright with hot white ki and began to laugh hysterically at Bardock's zooming ki blast. Freiza's death ball grew bigger and bigger. It began to grow to a size that rivalled Freiza's own spaceship.
"No way! How is that possible?!" Bardock responded in alarm.
Bardock lips parted in shock as he stared bluntly at the massive death ball that Freiza had produced from his fingertip. With a flick of that fingertip the large fiery sphere absorbed Bardock's ki blast whole and then shot towards him, the saiyans, Vegetasei and Freiza's many legions. Freiza really couldn't allow any witnesses to survive to tell the tale of his mass genocide of the saiyan population. With a short grunt, Bardock fell over backwards from the force of Freiza's attack, its lethal power consuming his entire body. The golden power of the blast caused his battle armour to crumble away from his body as he looked up helplessly at Frieza's air car. If only I was stronger, Bardock's mind cried out remorsefully, feeling that he was on cusp of victory, if only... If only I went on a couple more challenging missions, if only I trained even harder in my spare time, if only I had just a little bit more time…
Before his final breath another vision assailed him. He then saw Kakkarot on excessively green planet and he was standing tall before Freiza. He knew in his heart that Kakkarot could destroy that bastard space tyrant. With a content smile on his lips, he shut his eyes as he accepted his death by fire.
But now I finally see…Kakkarot…you will avenge us all…
Unexpectedly, he felt some silky material brush against his cheek. Opening his eyes wide, he looked up and saw Zukini smiling down at him as she stretched out her hand to him. She was in long milky dress, with a deep red sash tied around her shapely hips. She appeared to be suspended mid-air as evidenced by her long glossy locks streaming freely about her face. As well, the material that had tickled his cheek was the long silky hem of her gown and the tail of the red sash. The lustrous fabric swam around her floating figure seductively.
Bardock could a see small group of people behind her fluttering garments and he strained his eyes to get a better look. To the left of Zukini's shoulder, Bardock saw Queen Courgette draped in similar attire, except her sash was a dark blue. Also, on the Queen's arm stood King Vegeta in his finest royal armour, an imperturbable expression on his face. To the right of Zukini's shoulder, Bardock saw all the members of his team and all of them were wearing pristine battle armour. He could even see Toma's familiar brash smile as he possessively draped his muscular arm around Fasha. Fasha, Shugesh and Borgos looked at their captain respectfully.
Yet, Zukini's hand drifter further and further away, as Freiza's deadly death ball enveloped him and pushed him down and away from Zukini's reach. Frantically, Bardock attempted to grasp Zukini's hand by levitating up but the energy of the death ball was a heavy force surrounding his body. He tried once more to swim up and get closer to his mate, but it was like maneuvering through viscous syrup. He felt like he was so close to touching the tips of her outreached fingers. Eventually, the death ball engulfed Bardock whole and he couldn't even see the draping hem of her gown.
"ZUKINI!" Bardock cried out against the force that tore him away from her. His vison blurred and everything went white.
After the blast went through Bardock and Freiza's soldiers, it hurtled toward Vegetasei. It collided into the planet along with other accompanied shots from Lord Freiza himself. It wasn't too long until the entire planet imploded into rubble. Freiza remained cheerful the entire time as he clapped loudly to the live firework show before him.
"Absolutely marvelous! If there wasn't such a great profit in planet trade, I might destroy them much more often!" Freiza mused aloud to himself. Tapping his communicating button on his scouter he summoned Zarbon. "Please advise Prince Vegeta that a comet has hit his planet and that there were no survivors. Tell him that his father died in the explosion as well."
"As you desire, Lord Freiza," Zarbon dutifully replied.
Unbeknownst to Freiza, one (or two, if you count Brolly and Peragus) decisive saiyan pod had escaped destruction and was well onto its way to his destiny.
Kakkarot, you were right. I'm glad I listened to you. I do regret not holding you in my arms for a moment or two when I had the chance...but at least I know that you will be in good hands.
His young son slept soundly ensconced in the space pod and smiled sweetly as if he heard Bardock's words.
"Zukini!" Bardock cried out as he sat up. He could faintly remember seeing her, the royal family and all his friends. But the thing he couldn't forget was the sight of Freiza's death ball. And his head hurt like a thousand hells. It was almost like bad hangover, however after drinking several gallons of Shugesh's homemade moonshine never had this agonizing after-effect. He gingerly touched a bump on his head and it felt tender to the touch. Opening his eyes wide, he found the atmosphere unfamiliar, yet very familiar.
"Where am I?" Bardock asked aloud as he stood up and studied his surroundings. "After all this time of being scared of this place, this is what hell looks like? It's not so bad then."
He looked out the crude window opening and his eyes widened.
"The sky, the land…it looks like Vegetasei…but it can't be. Freiza destroyed it! I know it because I was in the crosshairs of its destruction!" Bardock reasoned to himself.
"Ah! You've finally awakened!" A chirpy voice stated cheerfully. "You were out like light for the past several days. But considering how badly injured you were, that makes perfect sense. You looked you've been to hell and back!"
So, this isn't hell…I'm still alive…
Bardock turned around and was confronted with two odd looking creatures. One appeared fully grown and the other was a miniature version that barely reached Bardock's knee. They were short, round and pale purple. Their eyes protruded above their heads and they had two distinct whiskers that jutted from their chin. They were garbed in strange dresses that Bardock had never encountered on his travels, so he wasn't sure about their planetary etiquette. Nonetheless, their demeanor was friendly and harmless.
"Who are you and where am I?" Bardock hostilely asked.
"Well, I'm Ipana, the village doctor. This little guy here is my son, Berry. And, welcome to Planet Plant!" Ipana replied with a warm smile.
"Planet Plant? Vegetasei's previous name before we defeated the Tuffles?" Bardock wondered aloud.
Oh shit, I've somehow travelled into the past.