North Quadrant: Planet Kanassa

Age 739

"Do not lose heart, my faithful Kanass! This is our duty! We must see it through until the end!

Toolo lies through his metaphorical teeth as the monstrous apes tear their way through the capital. The full moon…! He had seen this coming, they all had. But as the fishlike alien hid inside a nearly collapsed tower, he realized that no matter how much preparation they got done, no matter how psionically superior they were, the brutish power the enemy wielded never even gave them a fighting chance regardless of fate. This… was the end of Kanassa, at the hands of the saiyans. Toolo cringes as another blast blares, the horrifically potent beam cutting its way through the darkness and detonating an nearby complex.

"Commander, I have drawn blood! But now, the foot must rise and fall…"

"… You have done well, Demetrious. I will meet you at the door."

The commander blinks tears out of his eye as the psychic death squawk of his closest friend rings out; the guffawing of the great monkey nearby does not help matters in the slightest. Their power is overwhelming - it's only sheer luck that any one individual could have survived this long in the desperate struggle; Toolo gazes up and curses the moon for granting celestial power to the invaders…

"OH CRAP-!"

He barely even has time to curse before the rubble of his building buries the already weakened Kanassan commander.

Landing Site: Four Hours Later

"That was a heckuva party, wasn't it?" Tora says as he turns to the other saiyans in the invasion party. He grins wearily; no matter how brutal, a saiyan ain't right if he can't enjoy a fight.

"If you say so. I don't remember any of it."

"Yer a typical ape, Fasha."

"Ah, shut up! I don't see how you guys can remember anything, anyways. It's elephants that aren't supposed to forget, not apes."

"Whut's an elephant?" Borgos blurts out for the sole purpose of being ignored.

"I din't remember much either, it's like waking' up from a dream. But I remembuh the crusty li'l devil what gave me this," Shugesh grumbles as he flicks the scar on his cheek. He grunts as the motion causes his chub to jiggle.

"Bardock says he remembers everything~," the lone woman snidely remarks.

"Pfha, Fasha, don't make me laugh. Bardock might remember every second of every battle, but he remembers nothing of his personal life. Allow me to demonstrate." Tora turns around, glancing at their brave leader. "Bardock! What day was your son born, again?"

The groggy squad leader grunts in confusion. His mind only recently having faded out of battlelust, only one thought comes to mind...

"… I have a son?"

Fasha snickers.

"He was born just an eighth-cycle ago, dumbass~. You should go see the little tyke. We definitely have enough time to stop by Vegeta before the next assignment."

Bardock sits up, looking bleary. "Visit him, huh? Nice, father-son 'bonding'… wait, no, that's not right. My son must've been born a while before that. I'm pretty sure he's in the military!"

"Bardock, you're too much. The other son, genius."

"Other son?!"

Tora facepalms while chuckling, and the whole group breaks out into laughter; except poor dull Borgos, who just looks around in confusion as he eats a clump of vegetation he found.

The laughter dies down…

"Hey guys," Shugesh pipes up, "Why'd we fight fer this dump anyways? Is Freezer out of his tiny little mind or something?"

"Well, yeah. But not in this case. I think this planet has special properties, or so I've heard."

"I heard the same thing Bardock. You're supposed to be able to develop psychic powers if you live here. Like being able to read minds and see the future, and stuff like that."

"Freezer's such a paranoid freak; he'd jump at the chance to be able to read minds."

"That's a scury thought! Freezer readin' minds…! I-"

Borgos suddenly falls back on his ass before he can finish his sentence; the rest of the saiyans whip around towards the source of the disturbance as rocks crumble. It looks like one of the soik natives survived?!

"How did we miss this one?!"

The survivor growls at them in a wheezing voice. It's clearly near the verge of death.

"I wish you baboons could read minds... so you could have heard the thoughts of my troops as you slaughtered them!"

Before any of the invaders even have a chance to react, Toolo's body makes a choice of its own. The commander bum-rushes what he can only assume to be the leader of the group, based on their earlier conversation.

The saiyans are too shocked to react; all but Bardock, who tenses up. He throws a skull shattering punch - only to whiff and hit thin air! An after image technique! The brawler barely has time to register the advanced maneuver before he feels a sharp pain ring out from the back of his neck, as though his nerves are on fire.

"Aagh!"

Toolo smirks as much as he can with his fishy jowls, taking bitter satisfaction on the agony he has inflicted upon the leader of the invaders for a good half a second before Shugesh fucking decks him. He stumbles forwards, dazed and unable to defend himself from the following powerful kick in the coccyx-equivalent, which slams him into the nearby rock face from which he just emerged.

The powerful warrior that he is, it doesn't actually stop him. The other saiyans step back as he quickly recovers and pops back to his feet, twisting to face his enemies. Tora silently, stone faced, raises his hand and pelts the soik with a fiery ki blast.

A few moments later Bardock manages to regain consciousness, and stands up; the first thing he sees is the fiery figure of the Kanassan warrior. He stumbles back.

"What in the hell is going on?!" he shouts as the Kanassan seems to absorb the energy; he was on fire a second ago, but now more appears to be wreathed in a ghostly blue and white aura. The rest of the saiyans step back.

"I have transmuted your destructive force into a more tolerable energy… Soon you will all die!"

He grunts out a response.

"Yeah? We'll see about that. Now GOODBYE-"

"WAIT!"

Bardock hesitates, though he doesn't know why. Maybe the rumors are true; perhaps this fishy guy has gotten in his head…

"You have come here seeking psychic power… well, I have given it to you, BARDOCK."

"He reads minds!"

"You can too now, Bardock… You have the power now too!"

"Me…? What the hell are you talking about?!"

"B-bardock… what… you talking to…?"

He realizes that the other saiyans are paralyzed, somehow removed from the situation; by what, he can't tell, though he assumes it has to do with their opponent's psychic shenanigans.

"The one who seeks this power, Freezer, will never have it… But I have given it to you as a gift, BARDOCK, so that you could see…"

"See what?!"

"See the horror of your end, just like we HAD TO!"

The beast starts to cackle. It's… kind of terrifying, seeing something so close to death laughing so intensely. Its mind probably broke, and the remnants of its psyche only continue to degenerate as it caterwauls with laughter and sprays spittle at the warriors.

Bardock cringes and fires back with a hearty "SHUT! UP!" to power through the psychic resistance: the soik's cackles are cut short via the sudden impact of the saiyan's signature Rebellion Spear attack, blowing it to bloody burnt chunks.

Suddenly the blockage is gone, and everything is thrown back into sharp focus, almost too sharp to bear. A bewildered Shugesh inspects the charred corpse of the warrior once known as Toolo.

"I-instant barbecue, heh? You, uh, never know what yer gonna find under a rock these days… Pretty freaky creature, eh…? Hey? Yo. Hello?"

The stock still saiyan manages to turn to look at his partner and gives a soulless grin. A noise starts up in his throat…

"Stop fooling a… round, Bardock?"

… until with a lurch he collapses. Bardock faceplants into the dirt, kicking up dust from the impact. Nearly unnoticeable sparks of psychic electricity glisten around his braincase.

"Hey, the hell?!"

"BARDOCK!"

"Bardock!"

"He's out cold!

"Ah knew dat freaky thing 'ad something up its sleeve!"

The team rushes forwards in a surprising show of empathy. It's rare, but not unheard of in saiyan culture; especially amongst battle brothers. After all, blood of the covenant is stronger than the water of the womb. Fasha and Tora in particular manage to lug their fallen leader onto their shoulders, while Shugesh tries to wave down their transport from the planet's moon. A normal world would have them simply appear in some pods, but for a long and difficult campaign like this it was simply more economical to come in a full ship.

"D-don't you dare die on me, Bardock…"

And as their ticket home to Vegeta closes in, Bardock drifts off to a series of foreboding dreams of the future…

"Is that… my son…?"

"Eight… nine… ten thousand…?!"

Arcosian Orbit: Training Room on Freezer's Ship

Prince Vegeta, a mere five years (or about half a Plant Cycle) old glowers around the room. The dim red lightning reflects off the eyes of the cultivars, making them appear even more menacing than they would ordinarily. The young prince is not frightened, though; he could make mincemeat out of saibamen with his eyes closed.

He tenses up, though still standing straight and stock. A sai lunges only to be casually stepped aside, its flurry of strikes easily avoided. A number of other sais join in, but the monkey prince deftly evades them all. The new operator is stunned from inside the booth.

"Holy Rings of Korbeesha, did you see that?!"

"Yes, I see it all the time. That's Prince Vegeta. He's the best of them."

"Gah! There's no way!"

"Not for any kid you've ever known."

The Grand Vizier of the saiyans, Councilor Nappa, smirks as he leans against the wall. He takes pride in how well he's trained the little monkey, and now the Freezer Force is going to eat their own damn words. Maybe not the senior operator… he seems to know his place. Maybe keep him around as a slave?

Within the Training Room itself, a quintet of sai lunge at Vegeta from all directions, their combined might making them almost a match for Nappa himself.

"Hyaaagh!"

Their efforts result only in severe concussions as the prince releases an astounding wave of energy for someone so young; the saibamen slam into the walls and ceilings to spatter purple goo. He truly is a prodigy warrior.

Forgoing a quip, the young Vegeta simply turns to the nearest unconscious sai and raises a finger. One by one, he blows their brains out, turning them to mulch and then ash. Only whence all his 'training partners' are dead, does he allow himself the pleasure of a smirk.

"H-h-unbelievable!"

"I told you."

"M-my god, what's he going to be like when he's full grown?!"

"Hmhrm… Nobody knows that. But take my advice and stay on his good side."

"Sure, yeah, yeuh…" the fishy operator mumbles after Nappa. The muscular giant grins as he pushes his way out of the operator room. The Vizier hasn't felt this smug in months.

"OPEN UP YOU FOOL, I'M DONE!"

The operator lurches forwards in terror, slamming the button to open the hatch; "Aiiiygh! Right, sorry sir!" he screeches while Nappa moves to the side of the entrance. He holds out the prince's body armor; he made sure to fold its little sash~.

"Heheheh, yer the best, prince."

The ungrateful bastard shouts at his attendant to "Stop kissing up, NAPPA!" as they make their way to the ship's walkway. The operators look on, but in substantially different manners. The junior keeps glancing at his senior, wondering if he might be desensitized to the barbarians after working with them for so long before looking out to make sure the saiyans are really, truly off on their way.

"This place bores me! I want another combat assignment, no more drills! Man, Freezer: the day will soon be here when we won't take any more orders from him, just you watch!"

"Hoh, you think so?"

"I know so," the prince quips with a smirk.

"Haha, I'd love that!"

"I thought you might."

"So Vegeta, now that yer training's done… you wanna go get something at dairy queen~?"

"… You know what Nappa, yes. Yes I do. But first, I have something in mind to get us out of the latest assignment I've heard about."

"Ooh, you mean the one about every saiyan being recalled to Vegeta; even the tykebombs?"

"Indeed, Nappa! Indeed…"

Freezer's Throne Room: Ten Minutes Later

The tyrannical ruler of the Planet Trade Organization (formerly the Arcosian Empire) glowers over the the reports being sent to him. Kikono is one of the top scientific and historical researchers in the Quadrant, and yet the amount of data he has gathered is distressingly low. Not only is there no reliable data on the Super Saiyan, there are now these fragments of rumors, of a Saiyan God?! Insanity! These monkeys… they could be a real threat. Dodoria, one of his generals, shifts uncomfortably next to him. His other present general, Zarbon, enters stage left.

"Pardon me, Lord Freezer sir. Interesting news… it seems planet Kanassa has been occupied as of last night."

"Oh?"

"Yes, sire. The Kanassans have been eradicated. The planet's yours."

"Kanassa?!" the pink spiky-headed brute grumbles. "That job's been in the pool for months. I thought we'd have to handle that one ourselves."

"No, a band of saiyans took it."

Freezer mumbles under his breath; "Saiyans…"

"Wow, their elite teams are becoming comparable to our own."

"Actually, it was a band of their low level soldiers."

Dodoria straightens in shock, before dismissing the claims. "Bah, no low-levels could take Kanassa! No way! These are standouts. The saiyans are quickly becoming our best fighters, am I right?"

"Yes, Dodoria. Without a doubt, they're much stronger now than they were even just a few months ago, during that comically foolish assassination attempt. It's amazing. In a small group on a full moon, they're hard to beat."

Freezer grumbles as he thinks about that night; the late King Vegeta bursting into his throne room after he and his praetorian guard had overrun the ship…

"This is it, Freezer! We've come to put an end to you, and your reign!"

"'We'? You and what army, Vegeta?"

"W-what...? Fools! Get back he-!"

"Nyegh, what, are you scaaared of them, Zarbon?"

"NO. Certainly not. I'm just saying that we need to keep an eye on them, that's all. Like this Bardock who led the assault on the Kanassans. What if he and his crew teamed up with the young prince Vegeta and a handful of other great fighters. How would you like to tangle with that bunch on a full moon?"

A chuckle rises from the hoverchair in the center of the room; both Generals turn to acknowledge their emperor.

"Only a fool would welcome that scenario."

"Yes, sire…"

The door suddenly opens behind them, and the generals quickly turn to see the cause of the disturbance. Zarbon remains pokerfaced in shock, but Dodoria grimaces at the little intruder. What business did this little shit have with Lord Freezer?!

A hilariously offended Zarbon slowly turns purple; "VEGETA! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Yeh, Freezer didn't send for you, punk! You know that no one sees Lord Freezer unless he calls them first!"

Said punk glares at the Generals, smirking internally. He knows Freezer has tired of the saiyans… but he also knows that his individual skill is particularly desirable.

"Look, Dodoria, Zarbon! I'm bored: this is lame! I need an assignment!"

"Hmph! Who do you think you are?! I ought to teach you a lesson in etiquette, Prince!"

Freezer drops his frown for once, almost grinning; his pet monkey is rather amusing in his presumptuousness!

"Give him an assignment Zarbon, immediately!"

"Lord Freezer?!"

"The boy doesn't mean any harm, Zarbon~. He just hasn't learned how to control his PASSION. Give him the hardest assignment that you have… And Vegeta, do come back alive."

"Sire!"