The image of cities burning and the high pitched cackle of a familiar entity entered Bardock’s mind and he awoke from his deep slumber. He was sweating from head to toe in the nightmare as he realised the cities he saw were those of this world. He shook his head clear of the afterimage and rose to his feet.
“Frieza…” he growled, clenching his fist. The memory of Vegeta’s destruction was still fresh in his mind and his hatred for the tyrant ran deeper than the blood in his body. He looked out to the mouth of the cave. The morning had arisen quickly compared to what he was accustomed to. Nevertheless, the nightmare made sure he was fully awake. He walked out of the cave and flew a few feet above the forest in search of a water source. He didn’t have to search far. Perhaps a mile off, he came across a lake that seemed to be abundant in aquatic life.
“Huh, I guess I could eat those; though what I’ll have tomorrow is a problem.” he descended upon the lake and rested just on the waterline, seemingly standing on the surface. He unravelled his tail from around his waist and dipped it into the water. He raised it up and down slightly. “Come on, you little…” he began to grow impatient. He suddenly felt the water shift around him and he jerked his tail out of the water, which was followed by a decently sized fish. He punched the amphibian hard in the side and the creature went stiff, falling back into the water and rising to the surface. With a satisfied huff, he grabbed the fish and flew over to the edge of the lake.
Having gathered some wood, he ignited it with his energy and threw the fish over the fire, letting it cook. He took a seat next to the fire on a fallen tree and waited patiently for it to finish. While doing so, he reflected on his nightmare. Had it been just that, a nightmare? Or was it another vision? Either way, it drove Bardock to grow stronger. He had a very good idea of the difference between his power, and Frieza’s. His ultimate attack was absorbed and added to his enemy’s; and with such ease. Frieza had been on a whole other scale to his minions, even Zarbon and Dodoria, his right hand men were just insects of the highest calibre compared to him. Bardock growled again; his team, his friends had all died at the hands of someone who didn’t even compare to Frieza on any level.
The Saiyan was brought out of his state of mind when the fish began to smell cooked. He took a bite of the animal, ignoring the scales. It was different, but he liked it all the same. It was then that he noticed a creature of the strangest make. A wolf made of wood. Stopping from his breakfast to look at the timberwolf, Bardock noticed that eyes were surrounding him, much like the eyes on the wolf in his view.
“Pack hunters, huh?” he asked, putting the fish down and standing to his feet. “Come on then. I need the exercise.” he said, getting into a fighting stance. Every wolf rushed him from every angle other than the lake itself. He cracked a smile and dove out over the water, hovering above. The wolves made no attempt to swim to him, but began to surround the fish instead.
“Huh, waste of time and energy.” he muttered. Using a single energy ball, he hurled it at the wolves and the entire land went up into oblivion. Water from the lake began to fill the crater that was left behind and Bardock growled.
“I won’t find any challenging fighters here. Perhaps I should return to civilisation and see how long I can last against them.” he thought aloud, taking to the skies. He stopped high above the clouds and looked around.
“Alright. Where can I get some good practise in?” He calmed his senses and just looked around. It wasn’t until he was completely calm that he felt something on the border of his mind.
“What’s this? Power? I can sense power? How interesting. I never would have thought that possible. This could come in handy without a scouter.” he said, turning towards the source of the power. He smiled as the feeling turned opposite to him and rested in front of his perception.
“East it is.” He then forced his energy to flow around him and he was off quicker than a flash toward what he would soon find out was Dragon Territory.
“He’s not an Ancient, no matter how much he looks like one. That tail of his makes him something else entirely.” Princess Celestia muttered to herself, drowning her friends out of her thoughts.
“Wait, he had a tail?” Applejack asked, looking to Rainbow Dash who shrugged, clearly not having noticed it.
“Yes, he had it wrapped around his… waist?” Twilight tested the word. She seemed satisfied with it and let it stand.
“Ah still can’t believe he beat Rainbow Dash. And he didn’t have any wings to boot.” Applejack chuckled nervously as she watched Dash deflate at the subject. “Sorry.” she added.
“What I want to know is what he plans on doing, and what actions we should take regarding him.” Celestia said, resting on her haunches.
“Well he didn’t kill anypony except out of self-defence. Perhaps he’s generally peaceful?” Fluttershy suggested.
“No, one of the guards survived but was very shaken up. We managed to get some information out of him and it seemed as though he just decided to avoid stealth and go on the offensive.” Shining Armour had entered the room in time to hear Fluttershy’s hypothesis. He hugged his younger sister and saluted Celestia.
“So he was being patient with us?” she asked, skipping the formalities. Shining nodded.
“I believe so.” The princess made a frustrated sigh and turned to Twilight for answers or at the very least, suggestions.
“Perhaps an offering would be in order. If we can create a truce between Equestria and this strange creature, we may be able to aid each other. Did he have anything on him that seemed important to him?” The ponies all began thinking about what he looked like when he emerged from the stars.
“There was that armour fragment we found above his tail. Perhaps Rarity could make more of it.” Twilight suggested. Rarity beamed at the prospect of such a challenge.
“Ooh, I would love to do so. I may even be able to make some for the guards. It’s as hard as steel, but it also breathes and stretches like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” she stretched her smile from cheek to cheek as she imagined the business prospects of such clothing.
“There was also that red cloth around his head. And those heavy red things around his arms and legs.” Pinkie interjected.
“Weighted clothing of that size and magnitude would be difficult to make… But not for me, I have an idea.”
Bardock landed on a mountain peak overlooking the main territory of the dragons. Hundreds had gathered in one place and were nesting in a large crater, seemingly acting like one large family. The Saiyan had seen it in many species, but these dragons seemed more… sophisticated.
“Well, not going to get any training waiting for them to spot me.” he said, extending his hand. With his fingers clenched, save one, a small ball of energy began to appear on the tip of his finger and shot out to the centre of the crater.
Bardock smiled when a small explosion no larger than a small house erupted, attracting the attention of the dragons. What made him happy was the fact that they didn’t seem physically hurt by the blast. They’d prove to be a challenge yet, especially in numbers.
“Come on!” he goaded them. Nearly every dragon rose to challenge him, their maws opened wide. He met them half way and began the battle. His foot collided with one dragon’s head and knocked it off it’s trajectory. He then punched another and broke its nose, causing it to fall back a while to inspect the damage. One dragon was grabbed from behind by the Saiyan and suffocated as he used both his arms like a vice around the creature’s neck. That dragon fell to the ground, leaving the others to fight instead. Bardock began laughing as he found he was too fast for them. But he enjoyed himself as occasionally; one would get its teeth into him and take a chunk out of his body. He would then turn of that dragon and knock him away while fending off the rest of them.
“Alright, time to die!” he said to them. He flew high above them, leaving them to scramble around amongst themselves to find him. Using the same attack he’d tried to kill Frieza with, he hurled it at the cluster of dragons and watched as they exploded into pieces and a red cloud was all that remained, falling towards the ground very slowly.
“Not bad. Surviving that might make me a little stronger. But I need someone more powerful to fight, someone who can keep up with me.” His thoughts turned to the purple equine he’d met in that room shortly before escaping and he received a short vision from the image.
He could see the equine looking at him with her head tilted to one side and a smile on her face. They were in some sort of wooden home with books stacked neatly on every wall.
She giggled. “Oh, Bardock!”
Then his vision faded and he was left hovering in a stupor. He looked at his hand and clenched his fist. While he didn’t want to return to such shamefully weak creatures, it interested him that out of all the equines he’d seen, that purple one as well as the blue one didn’t fear him like the others.
“I should go back there anyway, maybe correct that little problem. Besides, I want another race.” he said, speeding off back to where he’d come from.
The trip was short and his small wounds irritated him, but did nothing else. He was certain he could escape should the need arise. Perhaps they would heal him again. For some reason, he imagined every single equine looking in some way or other like the two that had stuck in his mind. But he remembered the guards had been white, brown or even dark grey. He stopped just short of the edge of the city and proceeded at a slower speed to the castle, resting on the spire of the tallest tower. If he was going to escape again, he would need to get the layout of the streets. Unless of course he just decided to blow everything up, which would have been the easier choice, but something about that idea unsettled him. Perhaps it was because he’d done such a thing under the employ of Frieza. It didn’t matter. He would destroy the city if he had to.
Having gotten good mental image of the streets and alleys, he believed he would easily be able to sneak away if he required. He then proceeded to land before two guards who were guarding the front gates. Bardock had confidence in his eyes and it was shown through his crossed arms.
“Take me to your leader or some shit like that.” he said to the gurds who looked at each other for clarification before pointing their spears at him.
“Come with us, then.” one of the said. Without uncrossing his arms, bardock walked forward, the doors to the palace being opened for him. Several more guards joined the two and ‘escorted’ the Saiyan to the Princesses. Bardock revealed no annoyance or unease as more spears were pointed at him. This alone unnerved the guards. Bardock could feel an energy emanating from beyond two large golden doors. No, not a single energy, eight different ones, one standing out more than the others. It was the third strongest power level, but something about it spoke raw potential, which struck a familiar cord with Bardock. He liked raw potential; he had it too, as did his team which was why Frieza had them killed. As the doors opened, he smiled upon entering, seeing the shocked expressions on all the equines’ faces.