Spirit - Another Dragon Ball Fanfiction

Chapter 55: A Very Familiar Face

"Huh?! Oh, shoot! Why does this always happen at the worst possible time?!" Yamcha exclaimed. Suddenly, as the broken pink infinity symbols mysteriously disappeared from the foreheads of both Frieza and Cooler, a stranger's voice rang out: "Simmer down! There's no need to panic." Everybody present looked towards another cliff, where a teenage humanoid with glasses and a sword strapped to his back was standing. The teenage stranger studied everyone, a thoughtful look on his face. "Yikes. Looks like you're in a tough spot, huh, Yamcha? Well, don't give up yet! I've brought you an ally." The stranger pointed at yet another cliff, continuing, "A really tough, really brave one!" Everyone looked over towards where he was pointing, where all of a sudden a swirling dark blue, purple, and black portal appeared out of nowhere and spit out someone who looked very familiar to Yamcha for some reason- and it wasn't just because of the resemblance the newcomer had to Goku. The green Saiyan armor, the red bandanna, everything spoke to Yamcha: You know this person. Then, the stranger stood up, and the second Yamcha saw his facial scars, he realized who this was. "You're... you're that Saiyan who spoke to me back on Namek! You're Goku's dad, Bardock!" 

Bardock glanced down at Yamcha. "Huh? Oh, it's you. You're that Earthling I gave a pep talk to when you fought Frieza, right? Hey, you got any idea as to where we are right now?" Yamcha blinked, his brain taking a moment to register the question. "Uh, Earth." Bardock's eyes widened, and then he noticed Frieza, Cooler, Goku (who was still badly injured), and everyone else. His attention averted back to Goku. "Kakarot? Is that you?" He glared at Frieza. "You! What..." His eyes focused on the wound in Goku's chest. They went small. "What... what did you do..." Bardock clenched his fists, a white aura surrounding him and the ground under him cracking apart. "What did you do to my kid?!" Yamcha threw his head towards Cooler, who was obviously a machine. "Actually, he did it, not Frieza." Bardock scowled. "I don't care how many of you there are..." He charged at Cooler, determined to rip him to pieces. "I'm gonna make you PAY for what you've done!!" 

As Bardock charged Cooler, Vegeta appeared between Yamcha and Golden Frieza. "You stay back, Earthling. I'll take care of this." Frieza clenched his teeth. "Ha ha. Your threats are as empty as your title. All hail Vegeta, prince of no one." Vegeta grimaced. "I'm going to pulverize you until there's nothing left. Prepare yourself!" Suddenly, he powered up, and just like Goku had done before him, Vegeta went Super Saiyan Blue. Frieza's eyes widened in fear and shock, and Vegeta smirked. "That's right. You had no idea, did you? I've been a Super Saiyan for years, and now... I too have the power of a god!" He began to pummel Golden Frieza, while Yamcha looked over at Krillin. "Krillin! Get over here, man! Goku needs a Senzu Bean, fast!" Krillin nodded. "OK, I'm coming!" He flew down to feed Goku the last Senzu while Yamcha rushed off to help Bardock fight Cooler. 

It turned out that Cooler wasn't the most formidable foe- he was about as strong as Super Buu. However, Yamcha had surpassed that level a long while ago, and after about two minutes of clashing Cooler was nothing but pieces of metal scattered across the area. Bardock glanced at Yamcha. "Not bad." "Right back at you." Bardock smirked. "Heh. Don't get too confident: there's no way I'm gonna let myself be matched by an Earthling for long. Let's go see how Prince Vegeta's doing against Frieza." Both of them blasted off. 

They found Vegeta, still in his Super Saiyan Blue form, walking up to Frieza, who was now in his final form and on his knees once again. "N-no! This can't be happening! Not to me! It can't end like this!" Vegeta raised his hand and charged up a Big Bang Attack. "Hmph. At least try to face your death with some honor." Frieza looked up, his eyes wide and his teeth clenched. Vegeta took another step forward. "And don't dream of resurrecting again." Suddenly, an image went through Bardock's mind- one of Earth being blown to shreds. He didn't waste any time: he just charged forward. "Huh? Hey, wait! What-" Yamcha began to ask, but Bardock just kept flying towards Frieza as he replied "I'll stop him this time if it's the last thing I do, dammit!" 

Vegeta was almost tempted to reveal the smirk he was hiding. His payback was finally here at last- this time, he would be the one to defeat Frieza. Not Kakarot. Not Trunks, his own son. Him! Vegeta! Finally, revenge was in his grasp. He was about to fire when Frieza suddenly grinned evilly. "You can all go to hell without me-" "FRIEZA!" Vegeta and Frieza both looked over to see Bardock flying at top speed towards them. The father of Goku's eyes widened, and he clenched his teeth in effort and anger as he charged up the most powerful energy blast he could muster. Just for a second, his hair stood up and flashed yellow, and his eyes glowed green, but that quickly disappeared. Bardock didn't fully transform. He didn't need to go Super Saiyan to deal with Frieza now- he flew forward a little more, then abruptly stopped and hurled his Riot Javelin attack at Frieza. But instead of being a small energy blast, this time it was a large blue energy blast. Vegeta quickly moved out of the way as the attack engulfed Frieza, who was visibly fearful of it, but not without him shouting his last words: "DAMN IT ALL!" Then, his body disintegrated as the blast exploded. Bardock lowered his arm and exhaled, betraying a relieved look on his face. "Now it's all over..." 

As Yamcha and Bardock met up with everyone else, Vegeta confronted the father of Goku. "You! I want to know what you stealing my payback was about! Now!" Bardock scowled. "Your payback? Hey, I deserved that just as much as you!" "Frieza killed my father and slaughtered the race I was destined to rule over!" "He killed my squad mates! And they were my friends, too! And I'm also a Saiyan as well, you know!" Just when it seemed like the two of them were about to brawl, Gohan stepped in between them. "Whoa, whoa, guys, just calm down here." Bardock raised an eyebrow at him. "Who the heck are you?" Gohan looked totally ashamed of himself. "Um... I'm your grandson." Bardock looked like he had been slapped. "You? You're skinnier than a stick! How-" Gohan moaned. "I'm sorry! I haven't been training recently." Goku chose that moment to walk forward. He studied Bardock. "Wow! So you're my dad, huh? Frieza told me he killed you." Bardock closed his eyes and sighed. "Well, I hate to admit it, but he would've, if it wasn't for a strange pair trying to mess with history. I escaped their control, and then-" He gestured over at the stranger who had brought him to this time. "-their kid here found me. But he's not a bad guy. After all, he brought me here to help you all out." The stranger nodded and pushed up his glasses. "Thanks, Bardock! I'm Fu. I cause changes like this in history so I can absorb the power gained from those changes. But you know, I don't like dark, depressing timelines. I think people deserve to be happy! So I'm going around changing and then fixing timelines, and making them better in the process! It's fun, it's nice, and it's efficient!" 

Yamcha laughed. "Ha ha... OK, OK, we get it, kid. And thanks for not being a nasty person, by the way." Fu nodded, smirking. "Oh, I've been watching you closely, Yamcha. I'm a big fan!" Yamcha's eyes widened as he took a step back. "Y-you are?" Before he could ask if Fu knew about what he had done, Marorizu wrapped her arm around Yamcha's and smirked. "Don't go giving my husband an ego, now." Fu laughed. "Sorry about that, Marorizu. Anyway, you're all welcome. No need to thank me past what I deserve." He turned to Bardock. "You ready to go?" Bardock locked eyes with Goku, who opened his mouth, but Bardock just clapped his son on the shoulder. "Kakarot... whatever threats pop up for you from now on, I leave them for you to handle. I know you can do it! Make me proud!" Goku nodded. "I will, Dad!" Then, he rubbed the back of his head. "Yeesh, that feels kinda weird to say..." Bardock rolled his eyes, and then he and Fu slowly faded away. But not before Fu gave Yamcha a conspiratorial wink. And then he and Bardock were gone.