Ultimate Bardock - Chapter 1: The End and the Beginning

(Age 737, Planet Vegeta)

A long time ago, in the turbulent atmosphere of Planet Vegeta, a battle was being fought that would define the fate of the universe.

On one side stood a single, bloodied but unyielding Saiyan, and on the other, an army of a thousand soldiers commanded by one of the most feared beings in existence—Frieza.

The sky was ablaze with explosions, energy blasts streaking across the clouds like falling stars. The lone warrior fought with unmatched ferocity, his fists breaking bones, his energy waves tearing through the endless tide of soldiers that tried to overwhelm him. He was exhausted, wounded, and hopelessly outnumbered, but he fought on. For his comrades. For his people. For vengeance.

I will avenge them. I will stop Frieza, even if it costs me my life.

“Why?!” the Saiyan’s voice echoed, raw and desperate, as he incinerated another squad of Frieza’s men. His gaze lifted to the tyrant floating high above, untouched, smiling with venomous amusement. “Why are you doing this?! For years, the Saiyans conquered worlds in your name, killed without question—and this is our reward?!”

Frieza’s laughter rang out, shrill and cruel, carrying across the battlefield like a death knell. “My, my… one of the monkeys found his tongue.” He reclined lazily in his floating throne, his tail curling idly around him. “Do you really think I need a reason to exterminate a pack of filthy, flea-ridden apes?”

The Saiyan’s bloodied fists tightened. Sparks of golden light flickered around him for an instant, then vanished. His tail lashed behind him, his entire body trembling with rage.

“I’ll stop you, Frieza!” Bardock roared, blasting upward through a squad of armored troopers, his aura blazing with raw fury. “Even if it kills me, I’ll make sure you pay for everything you’ve done!”

“Pay?” Frieza chuckled, his red eyes narrowing in delight. “You insects think too highly of yourselves. You were dogs on a leash—useful for a time. But then, the whispers began. Legends of a warrior who could challenge me. A ‘Super Saiyan.’”

Frieza’s grin widened, his sharp teeth gleaming. “And you know what, little monkey? I detest legends.”

The army roared with laughter at their emperor’s words. Yet the lone Saiyan stood his ground, blood dripping from his scarred face, his dark eyes blazing with unbroken defiance.

“I don’t care about your legends,” the warrior growled. “I’m not fighting for myths. I’m fighting for every Saiyan you murdered. For every world you burned. And I swear, even if it kills me, I’ll drag you down with me!”

“Oh, how dramatic.” Frieza smirked, lifting one slender finger as if swatting a bug. “But in the end, you’re just another monkey screaming at the heavens.”

The Saiyan roared, his aura exploding in a storm of fire and light as he launched himself through the clouds, tearing apart any soldier foolish enough to stand in his way. When the smoke cleared, he hovered alone, bloodied but unbowed, staring directly at the tyrant who had doomed his race.

Frieza leaned forward ever so slightly, feigning interest. “So… this is the mighty warrior who dares defy me? Hmph. A pebble, pretending to be a mountain.” His smile turned razor-sharp. “How amusing.”

The Saiyan dropped into a battle stance, fists clenched, eyes filled with fury.

“I may be just one warrior…” his voice thundered, “…but today, I’ll show you what a Saiyan really is!”

However, before Bardock could reach the tyrant’s throne, Frieza lazily extended his index finger. A single, shining point of energy shimmered at its tip, glowing with a deadly brilliance.

Bardock’s instincts screamed, his scarred face twisting in fury and fear. “What the… no! I will not let you do it, Frieza!!”

He clenched his fist, summoning what little ki he still possessed. A sphere of crackling energy burst into existence in his hand, unstable but burning with his desperate will. He channeled every ounce of his remaining strength into it, veins bulging as the energy sphere expanded with raw intensity.

“This… this will change everything!!” Bardock roared, his voice hoarse yet unyielding. With one final push, he hurled the glowing mass of energy toward the tyrant, every fragment of his soul carried in that single attack.

The blazing orb tore through the sky, leaving a trail of light behind it. For a moment, hope flared in Bardock’s heart.

But Frieza… didn’t move. Didn’t even flinch. And his smirk only widened.

Instead, the tiny spark at his fingertip began to grow. Slowly, calmly, as though he were savoring Bardock’s last act of defiance.

The Saiyan’s attack collided with the sphere on Frieza’s finger—and vanished. Absorbed as though it were nothing more than a drop of water into an endless ocean.

Bardock’s eyes widened in disbelief, his body trembling. “What?! Impossible!”

Frieza’s laughter split the heavens, high-pitched and manic, echoing across the battlefield. His finger’s sphere continued to grow, swelling from the size of a sun to that of a colossal moon, its radiance blinding, its heat searing. The soldiers around him gazed in awe and terror, many of them realizing that they too would be consumed.

“Ahahahaha!” Frieza threw his head back, drunk on his own power. His red eyes locked onto the lone warrior. “TAKE THIS, YOU FILTHY MONKEYS!!”

With a flick of his hand, the tyrant unleashed the colossal supernova. It roared forward, a burning apocalypse that swallowed soldiers, ships, and sky alike as it descended upon Planet Vegeta.

Bardock hovered in its path, frozen. The sheer size, the sheer force—it was overwhelming. His ki was spent and his body was broken.

No. It’s too late… I can’t dodge it, I can’t stop it. That last attack was everything I had… and it did nothing?

His breathing slowed as he stared into the oncoming inferno, the end of his race barreling toward him. Around him, Frieza’s soldiers screamed in panic, some begging, some fleeing, but none escaping the fate that loomed, as they knew it was impossible.

Bardock closed his eyes, the weight of failure crushing him.

Gine… I’m sorry. I couldn’t protect you. At least Raditz and Kakarot are safe…

A single tear traced down his scarred cheek. He embraced death, ready to burn alongside his people.

But then—

Just as the blazing wall of destruction was about to consume him, Bardock felt it. A strange force, pulling him, wrenching him away from the flames. His eyes snapped open in shock.

The firestorm of the supernova vanished. The battlefield, the screams, even the cruel laughter of Frieza—all gone.

Instead, he found himself adrift in silence.

Bardock floated in a void, an endless expanse of nothingness. No stars, no planets, no time. Just darkness stretching infinitely in every direction, broken only by faint ripples of strange light that shimmered and twisted like liquid glass.

His chest heaved as he tried to steady himself.

And a shiver ran down his spine as he made himself aware of his surroundings. For the first time in years, Bardock felt something unfamiliar. Not anger, not fury… but unease.

“What the…?” He tried to say, but nothing came out. Panic crept in as he realized he couldn’t speak—more importantly, he couldn’t breathe. His lungs screamed for air, but none came. The sensation was the same as the vacuum of space, crushing and merciless.

How?! How is this possible?

Then it began.

Needles. Thousands—no, millions—of invisible points digging into his flesh all at once. They pierced his skin, his muscles, his bones, his organs. Bardock convulsed silently, eyes wide in agony as he felt the phantom assault tearing through his very being. It wasn’t just pain—it was invasion. As if something was probing him, rewriting him.

What?! What’s happening to me?! His mind screamed as his body trembled violently. Am I under attack? No… this feels different, like it’s inside me, eating me alive!

He tried to summon ki, to flare his aura, but nothing came. His reserves were too low. He was still drained from fighting Dodoria and his guards, from tearing through Frieza’s soldiers, from that final, futile attack against the tyrant himself. Against Frieza… if that could even be called a fight.

Desperation gripped him. This was it—death, not by Frieza’s hand, but by some unknown horror in the void. He clenched his fists, rage bubbling, refusing to let his end be so meaningless.

And then—

Silence.

The needles vanished. The pain stopped as abruptly as it had begun, leaving Bardock panting, shivering, floating in the emptiness. For a brief, fragile moment, he wondered if he had gone numb.

But then he inhaled and his eyes widened.

I can breathe.

He raised a hand to his chest, feeling air move freely in and out of his lungs. It was impossible, but undeniable.

I can breathe in space now.

A chill crawled through his spine. Saiyans couldn’t survive in the void—every warrior knew this. Even the mighty King Vegeta would have suffocated in the endless dark. Bardock himself had seen comrades die, frozen bodies drifting in orbit after their pods were destroyed.

This isn’t right. This isn’t natural.

His thoughts raced, searching for some explanation. Frieza… I heard whispers that he and his father could survive out here. But they weren’t Saiyans. They were monsters. Could… could this place be changing me?

The thought curdled in his mind as he glanced down at his scarred, bloodied hands. He flexed his fingers slowly, noticing the faint shimmer that coated his skin—a strange glimmer, almost like the rippling light of the void itself had clung to him.

His tail twitched nervously, fur bristling as if it too sensed the alien intrusion.

Bardock scowled, teeth gritting. “Tch… whatever this place is… it won’t break me. I’m still a Saiyan.”

However before another thought could even pass, suddenly he saw everything become white and then he passed out.

Suddenly he heard a lot of noise, there was just too much noise. He heard too much voices he couldn’t understand.

So he opened his eyes and the first thing he saw in front of him was a… red ball.

Well, a ball wasn’t too specific. The thing had a round form, that was for sure, but it wasn’t perfectly smooth. It had a faint stem protruding from the top, as if it had fallen from a tree. He had seen something like this once before on a backwater planet that his squad had conquered—a sweet fruit the locals protected fiercely.

An apple? he wondered vaguely. The thought was fleeting.

Because his attention shifted instantly.

Several figures were approaching him.

Bardock’s instincts sharpened. In his eyes, they were… strange. Almost like Saiyans, but not. Their bodies weren’t as muscular as the warriors he knew; many were lean, fragile even. Their clothing was bizarre, made of fabrics he had never seen before, with strange shapes and ornaments that had no clear battle function. Their hair wasn’t uniform black and spiky but came in a variety of colors—brown, blond, even red—and some wore it long, others cut short.

But what struck him the most was what they lacked.

No tails.

That detail alone confirmed what his instincts screamed: he wasn’t on Planet Vegeta.

The second thing he realized was that he was lying on some kind of metal platform, cool and smooth beneath him, with faint lines of light running across its surface.

Slowly, quietly, Bardock stood. The motion was deliberate—controlled. Even as battered as he was, his instincts as a warrior never dulled.

And that’s when he noticed the beings raising their weapons at him.

Long, metallic tools with barrels—primitive compared to the blasters used in Frieza’s army, but unmistakably weapons. They pointed them straight at him, tense fingers near their triggers. He read it instantly, the language of fear in their eyes.

He knew that look well. The same look he had seen a thousand times in the faces of conquered civilizations, just before he or his squad finished the job.

One of them, clearly their leader, stepped forward. He wore a uniform with glittering ornaments, metal stars glinting on his chest, symbols of rank. His face was stern, his voice sharp as he barked words Bardock couldn’t understand. Alien syllables, they were meaningless noise for him without his scouter to translate them.

The leader’s tone grew harsher when Bardock didn’t respond. The others grew restless. Fingers tightened on triggers. Weapons rose higher, ready to fire.

Bardock slid one foot back and dropped into a fighting stance. His aura flared weakly around him. Great. Just what I needed.

But then, unexpectedly, one of the men in the group shouted something, stopping the others. Orders, perhaps. Whatever it was, the soldiers lowered their weapons, though uneasily.

From their ranks, another figure stepped forward. This one was different. He was coated in dust, his blond hair disheveled, his pale skin streaked with dirt as if he’d been through an explosion or fire. His piercing blue eyes studied Bardock with a mixture of awe and calculation. Unlike the others, he wore no armor but a long white coat—similar to the ones Bardock had seen scientists wear on Planet Vegeta during experiments on captured aliens.

The man approached slowly, speaking in the same incomprehensible language. Bardock didn’t budge. He wasn’t lowering his guard, not for anyone.

The stranger’s expression shifted when he realized Bardock didn’t understand. He raised his hands, making deliberate gestures—signs.

Bardock frowned, confused at first. Then something clicked. Somehow, the motions made sense, bypassing the barrier of sound. It was as if his brain pieced the meaning together on its own.

“Hello—where—you—come—from?” the signs asked.

Bardock’s eyes narrowed. What is this trick? Still, he answered bluntly, his voice low and rough: “Vegeta.”

The man’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but his lips curled slightly, he was intrigued, that was obvious. So, the man continued doing his signs.

“Who—are—you?”

“…Bardock.”

The man hesitated, clearly struggling with the foreign name. Then he nodded once and asked another question.

“Could—you—please—come—with—me? I—am—a—scientist. I—want—to—ask—you—questions.”

Bardock’s gaze hardened. His mind raced. So that’s it. They want to study me and probably test me, see what I am capable of. Typical scientist behavior.

He was just about to jump and start flying when he started to analyze the situation.

I am evidently in an unknown alien world full of alien people with no means of returning to Planet Vegeta and even if I had them, Frieza already…shit. For now, I will have to play their game but only till I end gathering the neccesary information to know where I am or when I am.

His decision was made. He gave a single, sharp nod.

The man’s expression softened into relief, even joy. He smiled, turning back to his soldiers and shouting something. They lowered their weapons fully this time, though Bardock still didn’t relax.

His eyes lingered on the apple resting on the platform where he’d first opened his eyes. A fruit, simple and strange, yet the first thing he’d seen in this new world.

Bardock’s jaw clenched at this but didn’t say anything.

He didn’t know what this planet was about. But he would find out.