The Bardock Effect

Chapter Twenty: Preparations for the Cell Games

Time seemed to pass like cold syrup as Bardock laid back near the garden. The day that Kakarot and Gohan were to spend in the Chambre was nearing its end, and Bardock was filled with a nervous energy, as well as memories of a certain other "calm before the storm" he'd endured, shortly after his arrival on Earth. Bardock smiled.

"Are you sure about this?" he remembered Raditz asking Kakarot dubiously, as his youngest taught them to sense ki. "It all sounds a little too good to be true…"

"I'm surprised you can't do it, tough as you two are," Kakarot replied nonchalantly. "I learned it when I was a kid, after all."

"I think it's safe to say that you had far different experiences growing up than we did," Bardock stated matter-of-factly. "But, if that's really how it works…"

"It is!" Kakarot responded, nodding. "Close your eyes, and feel out with your power…"

Bardock screwed up his face in concentration. It was difficult to send out ki when it wasn't either propelling him or using it to attack. Nearly two hours of frustration later, Bardock had nearly given up when he felt a faint echo hit him. It was feather light, like a gentle breeze across his body, but it was there. He sent out another faint pulse of ki, and the echo came back, stronger this time. More than a breeze, there was also a small touch of heat now, too.

"I'm feeling…" Bardock began, turning his head as he tried to understand what was happening. "Something… I'm not sure, but I might be getting it."

"Hm," Kakarot said, touching his chin with his finger. "Okay, I'm going to move, and I want you to point to where you think I might be."

Quiet as a whisper, Kakarot moved a few meters to the left. That time, Bardock didn't even need to send out a pulse to sense the movement of the small light he was seeing inside his mind. Tentatively, Bardock held out a finger in the direction of the light.

"Got it!" Kakarot said excitedly.

"Wait, I'm getting something, too…" Raditz whispered. "It's like there's a light in my head. Hold on a sec…" he added, Bardock heard him turn around. "And there's another one, it's even brighter than the one I just saw!"

"That'd be Bardock," Kakarot confirmed happily.

"I guess you weren't kidding," Bardock said, opening his eyes, before he felt something like a jolt of electricity across his mind. "What is this?"

It was like a switch had flicked on inside him. Suddenly, he could feel…everything. The trees, the planet beneath his feet, his sons, in the direction of Kakarot's home, he could feel three other powers…there was one that was far away, more even further away, and an unbelievable number of tiny ones scattered everywhere around him.

"Are you feeling that, too, father?" Raditz asked, awed.

"Yeah…" Bardock replied, eyes wide. "This is…crazy. I feel everything."

All at once, Bardock's perception had expanded a million fold. He could see without eyes. It was overwhelming, to say the least. To be made aware of so many things at once, to have so many little lights he could feel all over the place, there was no describing the emotion he felt other than "awe." More than that, even though he could tell each light was unique, there was an undercurrent of commonality between them, as if some common thread was woven between every living thing on the planet. To say that this technique would be useful would be a gross, nigh offensive understatement.

Back in the present, Bardock sighed and blinked. What was once scary and new to him, back then, was as easy as breathing, nowadays. But, even as it became easier, he couldn't shake that feeling he'd experienced, back then. The idea that everything living was connected on some level was a revelation that had shaken him to his very core…

"I can't believe something like this had been hiding beneath our noses for so long," Bardock recalled Raditz saying as they lay on the grass, that night.

"Me, neither," he replied, sighing. "It's…scary."

"I still can't wrap my head around it," Raditz admitted. "There's so many of them, but they're all…all…"

"All connected," Bardock added. "Yeah, I'm having trouble handling the idea, myself. Especially the part where I'm connected with all of them, as well."

"Father," Raditz began after a few moments. "What if this was a bad idea? What if this changes us? Was coming to Earth a mistake?"

Bardock sighed. "Maybe that wouldn't be so bad," he said. "Ever since we got here, I've been thinking about why our people died the way they did, exterminated like animals."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," he continued, nodding. "Maybe it's because, on some level, we were animals. Killing without remorse, depopulating entire planets for profit, all the while never stopping to think about what we were doing or if it was the right thing to do. I knew Nappa," he added, a thought coming to mind. "Or, at least, I'd heard a fair amount about him before all this happened."

"What did you hear?"

"That he was powerful," Bardock said with a derisive laugh. "Strong, bald, had a mustache, and dumber than a sack of hammers. Thinking about it, that's how a lot of Saiyans were. What's the point in being smart if you can just punch your way to the top?"

"Or are just born with power," Raditz added with a mocking laugh of his own.

"Exactly," Bardock said firmly. "Most Saiyans were fools, and they died like dogs. The gentle ones got cast out, sent to live on one shitty planet or another. When all you look for is brute force, is it any wonder your society produces a bunch of idiotic thugs?"

"And once we'd outlived our usefulness," Raditz replied darkly. "Poof, Frieza kills almost all of us without a second thought. As if he were swatting noisome insects."

"Yep," Bardock said after a moment, nodding his head. "Given all that, maybe…maybe its best that we change. I can't say that I'm entirely comfortable with the idea, myself, but I think it'll be useful."

"Frieza would expect typical Saiyan savagery, hit him with what he doesn't expect, and that'll give us an advantage."

Bardock blinked. "To think," he said quietly. "I'd worried that all that time spent with the Little Prince and his pet had weakened your mind."

"Vegeta's a lot smarter than he lets on," Raditz admitted, smiling. "But, I had to overtake them, somewhere. I know I can't stand up to even Nappa, but at the very least, I can out-think him."

"What is the Prince like?"

"I don't think growing up without a father did him any favours," Raditz said, shaking his head. "He's smart and strong, but he's impulsive and arrogant, as well. In some ways, he's even more brutal than Nappa."

"So, I take it he's got a bit of a temper problem," Bardock responded with a snort.

"To put it lightly," Raditz replied, sighing. "He once threatened to kill me because I dared remind him that Frieza didn't want us to blow up a planet we'd been assigned."

"Jeez," Bardock said, closing his eyes. The Prince had grown up to be a spoiled child, apparently. He didn't doubt his son's assertion that he was powerful, though, if he could bring Nappa to heel. Still, the picture Raditz had painted was one of overbearing egomania…Bardock couldn't bring himself to do much more than laugh at what the King's son had become. If the elder Vegeta were still alive, he'd no doubt have beaten those bad habits out of his son long ago.

Bardock blinked again. He had been revisiting the past a lot, lately. Maybe it was the idea that everything could end in a few days making him sentimental. He and Raditz had made up for a good deal of lost time when Vegeta had arrived with his lapdog. He'd even bonded with Kakarot and his family, gotten to know his grandson. Gohan had been so small, then, so scared…even then, though, he could see a drive in the boy. Not to mention all the schooling his mother was having him do had honed his mind razor-sharp. Bardock couldn't tell if the boy had the Saiyan warrior's spirit, or if he had another reason for training as hard as he did, but all the same, Gohan was shaping up to be a formidable young man. Now, he was getting a year alone with his old man, no doubt picking up new tricks and getting even more powerful.

Bardock smiled. Well, if Gohan was gonna try to upstage him, then he'd put everything he could into his training when his turn came and show the boy how it was really done.

"The time is nearly upon us," Bardock heard Kami say in a calm voice. "If you will all follow me…"

Bardock practically bounded up from his spot. The group, filled with a quiet, excited anticipation, gathered around the door to the Chambre, eagerly awaiting the return of their comrades. The sands in the hourglass nearby fell with an almost unbearable slowness. Bardock could swear he could count the individual grains falling as the final few seconds slipped away into the ether. At last, the final grain fell, and the door opened.

A rush of power was the very first thing that had caught Bardock's attention. Two large, but oddly calm sources of ki came out of the room. As he turned, Bardock beheld his son and grandson, standing just outside the precipice, on their end, when the door closed behind them. Both of them were in their Super Saiyan state, but they seemed…off, somehow.

Kakarot's demeanour seemed to have not changed from normal in the slightest. He was wide-eyed and happy, beaming at his friends. His youngest son had always been a little bit…different as a Super Saiyan, but the state had always had a marked effect on him. But, now? Now, Kakarot moved with a calm grace, and Bardock could easily sense the calm within him.

The most startling change, however, was in Gohan. His hair had noticeably grown since yesterday, and he'd gained several centimeters in height. His body had become slightly leaner than his father's, and for a moment Bardock was worried that he'd not had proper food in the Chambre, but upon closer inspection, Bardock saw that his muscles were actually exceptionally well-defined. More than the boy's physical growth, however, caught Bardock's attention. He was in the same odd Super Saiyan state as his father, completely unaffected by the form. What's more, his power was almost on par with Kakarot's, and well beyond his own.

"You tryin' to upstage me, kid?" Bardock asked Gohan with a smirk on his face.

Gohan had the good grace to look down and blush in embarrassment.

Bardock laughed. "Colour me impressed, kid," he said, ruffling his grandson's hair. "You've gone and beat all my expectations into the ground! Though," he added, looking at how long his grandson's hair had gotten. "You seem to have forgotten to get a haircut, in there."

Gohan's eyes looked at his uncle Raditz, but he kept his mouth firmly closed with only a slight smile betraying the fact that he'd done so intentionally.

"I think he looks cool," Raditz added, kneeling down. "Trying to take after your uncle Raditz, huh? Well, if no one else approves, I do."

"Gohan's gotten really tough, too!" Goku piped up happily. "I feel sorry for Cell when he comes knocking."

"About that…" Bulma interjected, somewhat awkwardly.

What followed was the group, mostly Bulma and Bardock, bringing Goku and Gohan up to speed on what had transpired during the day they'd spent training in the Chambre. Gohan had a grave look on his face, by the end, but Goku simply looked excited by the prospect.

"Wow, a tournament, huh?" He said, smiling. "Hehee! I'm so excited, I can hardly wait!"

"Goku," Krillin began in an exasperated tone. "You do realize that Cell's stronger than everyone and that he threatened to blow up the planet, right?"

"That just means we've got to fight extra hard!" Goku replied, grinning.

"It's a lost cause," Bulma said sadly, patting an exhausted-looking Krillin on the shoulder. "When Goku hears the words 'tournament,' 'powerful,' and 'opponent,' he goes off into his own little world."

Just then, Android Sixteen walked up to Goku, his enormous body looming over the Saiyan. "You are Son Goku," he stated simply.

"That's me," he responded. "And who're you?"

"I am designated as Android Sixteen," Sixteen replied, looking down at Goku. "I was created with the sole purpose of ending your life." Just as Goku prepared to settle into a fighting stance, Sixteen continued. "However, that particular drive appears to have been…" he looked at Bulma, who looked alarmed. "Excised from my programming. I ask for your help in avenging the loss of my friends to the monster known as Cell."

"Don't you worry," Goku replied, smiling as he put a hand out, which Sixteen grasped firmly. "I assure you, Cell will pay for his crimes."

"Thank you," Sixteen said, smiling and nodding.

"Do we not have something more important we need to be doing?" Vegeta interjected, annoyed.

"We do," Piccolo added, sighing. "How do we decide who gets to go first?"

"You guys came here to train, too?" Goku asked excitedly.

"Don't be dense, Kakarot," Raditz said, rapping his brother on the shoulder. "If we just wanted to greet you and Gohan, we could've waited for you to come to us."

Goku just beamed giddily, clearly excited at the prospect of seeing how powerful his friends and family would become.

Piccolo held out a fist and in it appeared several white sticks. "Easy," he said simply. "Draw straws. We go in order of length, from longest to shortest."

As everyone drew their straws, Bardock saw that the one he'd gotten for him and Trunks was quite long. Longer than the others which were being drawn.

"Well, then," he said, once everyone had drawn. "It looks like Trunks and I are going first."

"We go after you two," Raditz said, looking at Bulma.

"I go next," Vegeta said simply.

"Cooler and I are next," Sixteen added, looking somewhat perturbed.

"Damn, that means you and I go last," Nail said, sighing.

"I'm as happy about having to wait four days for my turn as you are," Piccolo replied, exasperated.

"Well then," Bardock said, turning towards Trunks. "Let's not waste any time, then."

"R-right!" Trunks choked out.

"Train well!" Goku said, waving at the pair as they entered the Chambre.

Bardock did…not expect with what he'd been greeted. A simple, clean marble living area and beyond it, an endless, white expanse stretching beyond sight.

"Whoa," Bardock said, eyes wide.

"Yeah," Trunks added breathlessly.

Bardock had no idea how long they stood there in silence; it could've easily been hours. He honestly didn't know what, exactly, he'd expected. Training dummies? Weights? He honestly didn't know, but what he got was…odd, to put it lightly.

"Alright, then, Trunks," he said, breaking the silence between them. "Let's get started."

Trunks merely nodded and followed Bardock to the training area.

"It's so heavy," Trunks stated as he stepped off the platform into the endless expanse before him. "And hot."

"Reminds me of home," Bardock said with a hint of fondness. "I take it you never trained under increased gravity."

Trunks shook his head, saying, "No, I haven't. Mom never got the chance to make another ship like the one she said Vegeta had used. Once the cyborgs attacked, all she could think about was the time machine…well," he added, choking up. "And us."

"She's a hell of a woman, isn't she?" Bardock asked fondly.

"Mhm," Trunks replied, nodding with a small smile on his face. "She's the smartest person I know; so long as humanity has mom, it has hope."

"That," Bardock said, patting Trunks on the shoulder. "And you."

It was too much. There were so many competing emotions in Trunks' mind that he could no longer handle it. He clung to Bardock, crying. Bardock pulled Trunks closer; he could only imagine what the boy had been through. He knew Trunks saw him as his father, that he'd give his life to save the world in Trunks' time.

"I missed you so much, dad!" Trunks wailed. "There was so much I never had a chance to say, so much I wanted to ask! I never thought I'd see you again!"

In that moment, Bardock saw what Trunks had been hiding the entire time. Now, here, with just him as his only company, the boy had finally let down his guard. He'd revealed himself. Deep down, Trunks really was just a frightened kid who'd lost his father. A kid who'd grown up living in terror every day of his life, wondering when the day would come when the cyborgs would kill him and everyone he held dear. As Trunks stood there, sobbing into his shoulder, Bardock understood.

"I might not be exactly the same person you remember," Bardock said quietly. "But, I'm proud of you, son."

"You are?" Trunks asked as he looked up, his face wet and eyes red.

"I am," Bardock confirmed, nodding firmly. "You've grown into a strong young man. One with a strong sense of justice and a good heart. I know that, wherever your me is, he's thinking the same things I am."

"Thanks, dad," was all Trunks could say, a sad, yet sincere smile on his face.

"You're safe, son," Bardock continued, looking into Trunks' eyes. "And, together, we'll make you strong enough that you can keep your mother safe, too. Your Earth has the finest protector she could possibly ask for."

"Let's get to it," Trunks said as he slowly pulled away, wiping his face dry with his sleeve.

"Alright, then," Bardock responded with a nod. "How about we start off with you showing me what you know."

A few hours later, Bardock and Trunks were both breathing heavily, their Super Saiyan powers having been pushed nearly to their limits.

"Damn, kid," Bardock said, though each word stung in his chest. "You fight like a monster."

"That's…how you taught me to fight," Trunks replied, his hand clutching his chest.

Bardock laughed. "That sounds about…about right," he said. "What with the cyborgs and all, I'm surprised you held back as much as you did."

Trunks looked embarrassed, Bardock just grinned.

"You think I didn't notice? Come on now, kid. I've been fighting wars longer than anyone else here. Even before I could sense ki, I could tell when someone was holding back on me," he said, a cocky grin on his face.

"So," Trunks began, having regained his breath. "This is what you used to be like, before the cyborgs."

"Like what?"

"Less desperate," Trunks replied. "Less…I dunno, hurt by everything, I guess. More confident and sure of yourself," at Bardock's inquisitive look, he continued. "Mom said that after everyone died to the cyborgs, you changed. She said you used to be cocky and a little bit arrogant. After, you were a lot more careful, more…guarded."

"Like how I was when I first got here," Bardock surmised. "I'd lost my people, most of my species was gone, and I honestly felt we'd die before we'd even had a shot at our vengeance against Frieza," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I guess I did get cocky after beating Vegeta and Frieza, especially after Frieza. But, can you blame me? In one fell swoop, I bested the last remaining royal Saiyan, Frieza's most elite goons, the bastard that killed my squad, fulfilled an ancient legend of our people before finally going on to both humiliate and nearly kill the man that'd destroyed my planet and most of my species."

Trunks laughed. "When you put it like that, it does make sense…"

"Maybe," Bardock added a moment later, thoughtfully. "I have gotten overconfident. But, Cell gave me as rude a wakeup call as I'd needed…probably moreso, given what all went down."

Trunks couldn't exactly disagree. Seeing his father practically swaggering had been more than a little jarring. His father had always been headstrong, but seeing him almost to the point of arrogance…his mother's assessment had been more spot-on than he'd realized. Given how powerful he and his friends had gotten in the time before the arrival of the cyborgs, it made sense. He'd be lying if he said some of his father's confidence hadn't rubbed off on him, either. Seeing how strong everyone had become, he was so sure that everything was in good hands, especially with Goku being alive.

However, Cell had been something else entirely. The cyborgs were violent and unhinged, powerful to the point of absurdity, but Cell was so far beyond them that it was laughable…and that was before he'd achieved his Perfect form. Their complacency completely shot, Trunks was feeling the stirring of desperation once again. He knew he needed to train harder than anyone to not only catch up, but to actually stand a chance of surviving.

Trunks scowled as they set back to training. He needed to stack the deck in their favour, again. His training here would see to that. He remembered something his mother had taught him before his Bardock had died: arrange the pieces in such a way that victory isn't just likely, but inevitable. His mother wasn't a great fighter, but she was still a brilliant woman. She'd taught him, in what downtime he'd had during his training with his father, to play chess.

"I used to play on a professional level, I'll have you know," he remembered his mother saying with no small amount of smugness. "I even placed in a few championships, back when those were a thing. Mom taught me how to play when I was little…it reminds me of her and it helps me relax."

Not that it'd stopped her from being insanely competitive, even with him. He could tell when she wasn't just coaching him, because her eyes had this intense focus to them. She'd move her pieces with precision, and she rarely spoke except to announce the fact that she'd had him in checkmate. Which was often. He'd only ever beaten her once, the day before he left for this timeline the first time. She was so stunned, she couldn't even say anything for a full minute. Once she'd snapped out of it, all she could do was cry and hug him, saying how proud of him she was.

Their first full day of training behind them, Bardock was drying off from his bath as Trunks lay in the bedroom, fast asleep. The boy had barely been able to eat and wash his face before he'd all but passed out on the clean, white linen. He could tell the boy's brain had been working overtime during their training, and he'd looked the world like Bulma when she was playing that odd board with her mother. The wheels were turning inside the boy's head, that much was obvious. A few times, Trunks had counterattacked in such a way that'd baffled him, at first. Seemingly pointless moves that only made sense once the follow-up had connected square with his face. The boy was good at misdirection.

As he walked into the bedroom, Bardock heard Trunks moaning in his sleep. What he heard was…deeply troubling.

"Don't…" Trunks mumbled into his pillow. "Don't go, dad…don't leave me…"

Bardock was about to try and wake Trunks before the boy began flailing.

"NO!" Trunks screamed at the top of his lungs, his eyes wide open, but unseeing. "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE HIM AGAIN! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Trunks' fist connected with Bardock's face, nearly knocking him across the room with the force of the blow. Bardock was frightened, to say the least. The boy was crying, screaming, and fighting with all his might against something only he could see. Was he hallucinating? Bardock didn't know, but he sped to the boy's side, shaking him as hard as he could.

"Trunks!" he cried out. "What's going on? What's happening?"

After a few moments, Trunks' eyes blinked and he looked at Bardock. A look of dawning horror found its way on to his face as he saw the red spot, now turning just the slightest hint of green-blue, which had appeared since he'd last seen him. Trunks knew what had happened.

"It happened again, didn't it?" he asked in a small, ashamed voice.

"What happened?" Bardock asked, uncomprehending.

"Mom says they're night terrors," Trunks explained, tired. "They've been happening off and on since…you died."

"Are you okay?"

Trunks nodded weakly. "Mom," he began, exhausted. "Gave me some medication, it makes it so I can sleep at night. I was so tired after training, today, that I forgot to take it."

Trunks reached down into his vest and pulled out a small bottle. Without even thinking, Bardock went and got Trunks a glass of water, bringing it to the boy, who took it with an appreciative nod and swallowed it down alongside his medicine.

"I…had no idea," Bardock said, feeling he needed to say something, anything, to try and understand what was happening.

"It's a lot more common in my time," Trunks said, finishing off his water. "For…obvious reasons."

Bardock really didn't know what to say. Such a thing was unheard of amongst Saiyans; each and every one of them was bred for war and battle. The loss of a comrade always hurt, but to have it affect one to such a degree was something he'd never encountered. It must be a human thing, given that the boy was half human. He was more than willing to admit that he didn't know a lot when it came to how humans worked, emotionally. Certain things, amongst Saiyans, were merely accepted, endured, or overcome. Inside, he laughed a little, remembering more than one occasion where Bulma had been…less than happy with his reactions, or lack thereof, to certain things. When those times came, though, one thing he had learned…

"Are you alright?" Bardock asked Trunks gently.

"I…" Trunks began, looking at his father, exhausted. "I haven't been okay in a long time. Maybe once I fix the world," he added, a spark of determination in his voice. "I will be. But, for now…for right now, I will be."

Trunks got up and stretched. "After one of those things," he began tiredly. "I have a hard time getting back to sleep," at his father's concerned look, he added. "You rest. I'll be back in a bit, I just need to work it out."

"If you need me," Bardock said, nodding at Trunks. "Don't hesitate to come get me."

"I won't, dad," Trunks responded as he headed out the door. "And…thank you."

A few minutes later, Trunks heard light snoring from the bedroom. He smiled, some things might've changed, but the fact his father slept like a log was not one of them. His whole body was still aching from his earlier training, he'd barely gotten any rest. However, in the training area, the added gravity felt…good, like it was slowly pulling all the bad things out of his body.

Trunks practiced the forms his Bardock had taught him all those years ago, back when they'd just started training. They were simple to execute, having been drilled into his brain since childhood, but the routine was calming. It reminded him of better days, of how his father would tell him stories about the time before the cyborgs. How he had trounced Vegeta and the Ginyu Force…how he'd beaten Frieza. The narrow battle between his friends, him, and Frieza's father, as well as the reborn Frieza, himself. No matter how many times he'd heard them, he loved hearing them again and again.

He knew his world would never be the same again. The Dragon Balls were gone, and with them went the hope of returning to normal. But, at the very least, he could protect what remained of humanity, especially his mother. With his cyborgs gone and once Cell was a memory, he'd help rebuild. Maybe use his strength to train new defenders of Earth, passing on what his father had taught him. Once it was all over, he'd tell others the story of a man named Bardock. The story of the man who'd sacrificed his life to liberate their world from the cyborgs. Spread it far and wide, so his father would always live on in Earth's collective memory. It was the least he could do for the man that raised him, that trained him…that taught him what it meant to be a hero.

Over the next few days, Bardock noticed a change in Trunks. He'd fought like hell before, during their first day, but now Bardock could see just how much Trunks had held back, then. Bardock made sure to remind Trunks to keep up with his medication, at night. Even if the boy was two seconds away from passing out, he'd thrust a glass of water into his hands and order that he continue his regimen before any rest was attempted. He could tell the boy's sleep was still disturbed, Trunks was quite…vocal when he was dreaming, but there hadn't yet been a repeat of that first night.

Not only had the Trunks pulled out all the stops in their training, much to Bardock's delight, but the boy had been getting steadily stronger. He could feel a deep well of potential in the boy, and Bardock wondered idly if insane potential was just part and parcel of being a Saiyan-human hybrid. Even with all the ghosts haunting the boy, he was still performing well above expectation. Trunks was a wily fighter, too. More than once had Bardock thought he'd put the boy on the defensive, only to realize too late that he'd played right into some ploy Trunks had laid well beforehand. Like the time Trunks had distracted him with a kick aimed for his face, only to find out that he'd dodged right into some sort of ki mine Trunks had placed without his knowledge.

"You really are your mother's son," Bardock said after the incident with the mine. "Always two steps ahead."

Trunks laughed happily. "I always thought of you as training my body," he replied proudly. "While mom was training my mind. She always encouraged me to think outside the box and try new things, and how to anticipate my opponent's moves."

"I'll say one thing," Bardock said, powering back up to full. "You're definitely keeping me on my toes! Keep it up, kid!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way!"

Trunks had to admit, he was enjoying himself. Training with his father again was both challenging, as he'd not had a training partner since his Bardock had passed, but also fun. Bardock always kept things on a friendly level, but injected a sense of competition and drive that made Trunks want to push farther, faster. He was every bit as powerful as he'd remembered, too. Moreso, actually, given the time this Bardock had spent training amongst other Super Saiyans. But, Trunks could feel himself inching ever closer to his level. For the first time in his life, Trunks didn't just want to be strong like his father, he wanted to be stronger than his father. He wanted to surpass him, to well and truly put Bardock on the defensive. If his father was the kind of man that could move mountains, Trunks wanted to be the kind of man that could move continents. He, alone, was his Earth's greatest protector. To hold that title, Trunks knew that he had to become as powerful as he could possibly become. He had to break every barrier in his way, overcome all obstacles, and become capable of taking down all evils that would dare threaten his world.

Nearly two months to the day into their training in the Chambre, Trunks had a breakthrough. An epiphany. He had discovered a way to draw more power from his Super Saiyan form.

"Is it just me?" Bardock asked, seeing Trunks' new form. "Or did you just get a lot more muscular?"

"I figured out a way to pull more power out of Super Saiyan," Trunks elaborated. "You wanna test it out?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Bardock said with a grin.

Trunks had gotten significantly stronger, that much Bardock could tell right away. What's more, his new muscles weren't slowing him down noticeably, if at all. Of course, he wasn't any faster, either. However, after nearly an hour of hard fighting, Bardock could sense at least one flaw with the form…

"You're tired, already," Bardock noted.

"Yeah," Trunks replied, dropping back to his normal Super Saiyan state. "I get a lot stronger, but it wears me out even more quickly than regular Super Saiyan does."

"With more experience," Bardock said, after a few moments. "I don't doubt you could extend the time you could stay in that form."

"And every little bit counts," Trunks responded, nodding.

Outside, atop the Lookout, time was passing with incredible slowness for everyone; everyone, that is, with the exception of one person.

"This is taking forever," Raditz moaned, irritated. "I never thought hours could get so long!"

"Hm?" Bulma replied, confused, as she looked up from the device in her hands. "How long has it been?"

Raditz checked his watch, as he'd done innumerable times before. "A little over three and a half hours."

"Already?" She said, surprised. "I thought it'd only been a few minutes..."

"If I were any more jealous," Raditz said, irritated. "You could confuse me for a Namekian," he peered over her shoulder. "What are you doing over here, anyway?"

"Catching up on some of my reading," Bulma responded, holding the device up for Raditz to see. "I figured that, if I'm going to be stuck here for a while, I might as well read through all of Gero's notes."

"Anything useful?"

"The bastard was meticulous," Bulma observed. "Every single experiment was documented in absurd detail, and not just the successful ones that got model numbers, either. Hell," she continued, looking back at the digital scrawl in front of her. "The amount of notes on a single failure has almost as much data as Seventeen. I'm not surprised he managed to make them as powerful as he did."

"You almost sound like you admire him," Raditz noted, curiously.

"Not in the slightest," Bulma replied, offended. "Gero was a crazy monster that abducted dozens of orphaned teenagers and experimented on them, all to get revenge on Goku. However," she added, sighing. "I can't deny that the man was a genius. If he'd dedicated his mind to helping people, he'd be on the level of my father, but no. He had to dedicate himself to his own selfish nonsense, instead."

"Did you find anything that might help beat Cell?" Raditz asked, though he was sure he knew the answer.

"Nearly twenty years' worth of notes," Bulma sighed, vexed. "And not a damned thing, so far. I've barely gotten to the formula for the nutrient distillation he uses to keep the embryo alive, let alone anything actually useful. I've been trying," she added, stretching her arms. "But there's just so much data to get through. It's hard with just this little guy. I almost can't wait for our turn in the Chambre."

"And why is that?" Raditz asked, smiling and quirking an eyebrow in amusement.

"Because," she replied, pulling a capsule out of her coat. "I have a nice set of portable machinery in here that I keep in case I need to do work on the go." She continued, putting it back in her pocket, "I figured I'd do some proper research while you guys were training. Now that I've been roped into this whole thing and will be spending a whole year in there, I can actually get some serious work done."

"And if I get broken?"

"I was going to give this to you," she responded, producing yet another capsule from her coat pocket. "It's a small medical station that can treat most injuries you'd suffer during training. I made it years ago in case Bardock got hurt training to fight the cyborgs and he couldn't be moved, for whatever reason."

Raditz thought over his next words carefully. He'd been wanting to ask this question for a while, now, but he'd lacked both the opportunity and comfort to do so. It'd been burning a hole in his mind for so long, he wanted to just rip that bandage off and be done with it. Sighing internally, Raditz committed himself to the question he'd been wanting to ask for so long. All he needed were five words:

"Do you love my father?"

Bulma turned a frightening shade of crimson; if he didn't know any better, Raditz would swear she were about to spontaneously catch fire.

"WH-WHAT?!" she stammered, half-screaming, having been caught totally off-guard. "Why are you asking this, all of the sudden?"

"I've been wanting to ask that for years," Raditz admitted calmly, trying to settle both her nerves and his. "You're practically letting him raise your son, you go all doe-eyed when you think no one's looking and he's around, you shift your leg-"

"You can stop right there!" Bulma hissed, punching Raditz in the arm. "Jerk."

"You haven't answered my question."

Bulma sighed, getting her thoughts in order. "Yes," she said, after a few moments. "I do. I haven't told him, yet. Just…sometimes," she added, desperately searching for the words she needed. "I don't know, it's like things get in the way. That, and from his perspective, his wife died only a few years ago, and I know that can't be easy on him. I don't know when I should say it, or if I should wait for him to speak up, or what…"

"I think," Raditz said, sitting next to Bulma. "After all this business with Cell is done, you should sit down with him and let it out, as plainly as you can."

"I'll do that," Bulma responded, nodding firmly. "And thank you, Raditz."

"Just don't go calling me 'son' once you two make it official, okay?" Raditz replied, laughing.

"No worries, there!"

Trunks was running as fast as he could. He was tired, but he had to keep going, his base instincts driving him beyond feeling the exhaustion he had barely registered. Sweat poured from his body. Maybe they could smell it. The fear. They'd had him on the run for what felt like weeks. His power was gone, he was running on fumes. His only hope was to evade them and find his way to Capsule Corp, to his mother. His last comfort in the blasted hellscape that had once been his world. The cyborgs had given up killing for pleasure, now they were going for…completion. They had wiped out all but the last few humans taking up shelter with his mother.

He was almost there. His legs burned and his lungs felt as if they'd been scoured clean. Everything hurt, but he had to survive. Above all, he knew that he had to live. He breached the door to what remained of Capsule Corp with his shoulder, panic driving his body more than rational thought. He had no time for thinking, he had to save his mother and the people here. He sprinted to where he could feel them hiding. The last vestige of succor on the ruined Earth entered his view: his mother's lab.

"Mother!" Trunks screamed before his eyes had even adjusted. "We have to go now! They-"

"'They' what?" he heard a mocking voice as his vision cleared.

The cyborgs had made it there ahead of him. Everyone was dead, their remains littering the floor. Women, children, the elderly, all rendered into bloody splotches of torn clothes, limbs, and viscera. A heady stench hung in the air. Slaughter, a scent Trunks knew well. As he looked up, he saw the cyborgs hovering above a hole in the roof. Seventeen had something in his hand, a coat…and in it, was the barely-conscious form of his mother, beaten and bloodied, but alive.

"Mother!" Trunks screamed yet again, this time in absolute terror. "No! Take me! Please, don't kill her! I'm the one you want!"

"You and everyone else, kiddo," Seventeen said, smiling. "You ain't the only one that's gonna go down, today."

"All of you," Eighteen added, a horrid gin on her face. "Are going to die. Slowly."

"Trunks…" Bulma coughed, barely hanging on.

"No!" Trunks yelled, moving as fast as he could, pushing what little power he had in a desperate attempt to free his mother from their clutches.

But, it was too little, far too late. A single flick of Seventeen's wrist sent Bulma flying towards the edge of the demolished roof. A wet splash and a sickening crunch resounded in the otherwise deafening silence and Bulma, his mother, was torn in half by the force of the collision. Trunks went white and his eyes went wide. He looked at the cyborgs as they floated there, silently mocking him. His left eye twitched.

Hate. That was the only thing he felt, anymore. Hate for the cyborgs, who had taken the life of the last family he'd had. Hate for himself, for being too weak to stop them. He stared at the cyborgs. He wanted them dead. No, that wasn't right. He wanted them to suffer. He wanted them to die screaming.

"I will make you suffer," Trunks said coldly, before his eyes went wide again and his voice went from a deep growl to lunatic screams. "You. WILL. DIE. SCREAMING!"

"Holy shit!" Bardock said, hurriedly throwing off his sheets.

Trunks' power had gone through the roof. As he watched, for a moment, as Trunks flailed in his bed, his hair shot up and golden, his aura lashing wildly at everything around him, he could feel a monstrous power coming from the boy. It was deep, but terrifying. That wasn't simple rage he was feeling, Bardock could tell. No, the nightmare he was suffering had sent him into a state of maddened fury. If he were awake, Bardock would be legitimately scared of his son's mental state. Whatever he had seen in his dreams had nearly driven him insane.

"Trunks!" Bardock yelled, shaking the boy. "Wake up!"

Trunks stopped flailing, and his power had calmed to a degree, but it there was still that feeling of monstrous insanity coming from him. Then, Trunks did something in his sleeping state that shocked him: Trunks smiled. The boy started laughing like a maniac. Panicked, Bardock did the only thing he could think of: he transformed into a Super Saiyan, picked up Trunks by his shoulder, and gave him one, solid punch in the face.

That woke him up.

"Father!" Trunks gasped, a horrified look on his face.

Bardock didn't know what to say. What was there to say? What could he possibly say regarding what he'd witnessed? His son, albeit in his nightmares, had been driven mad with rage. Bardock did the only thing of which he could think: he pulled Trunks close.

"What happened, my son?" Bardock asked gently.

Trunks eyes went wide. He realized that his father had probably been disturbed by what he'd just felt. He had no words. Even if it was just a night terror, for a brief moment, he'd completely lost his mind. In his mind, he'd just lost everything. There was no survival, anymore. There was no living. There was only the execution of untold misery. Bringing back to the cyborgs what they'd given him and every other person on Earth for years.

Trunks couldn't say anything. Shame, fear, loss, it'd all come in one fell swoop, completely overwhelming him. Again, he found himself completely broken down in his father's arms, wailing like a child. He didn't want his father to be scared of him, to keep him from training because he didn't think he could handle the burden of power. He didn't want this night terror to drive away the man to whose memory he'd so desperately clung for so long.

As if reading his mind, Bardock spoke, quietly and gently. "I'm not frightened. It's okay, son. You're safe."

Trunks cried until he couldn't feel anything, anymore. The emotions that had welled up inside him bled away in the face of the simple kindness of his father's words. Trunks knew Bardock was sincere, that he was being completely honest. Exhausted both physically and mentally, Trunks fell back to sleep with little resistance.

Bardock kept a vigil over his son for a few hours afterwards. Were all half-bred Saiyans this powerful? It was absurd, the amount of ki he'd felt coming from his son. Those thoughts gave way to exhaustion and, soon after, Bardock fell asleep where he was sitting, at the side of his son's bed.

Author's Notes

Good god damn! That took forever to write! I'm really sorry about that, folks. I had to go on something of a hiatus for a while so I could refocus my efforts on university. These past two semesters really kicked my ass, and I needed every ounce of my brain focused on that. Thankfully, my penultimate semester is almost done: I've only got this week and finals and I'm free for the summer! After that, I've only got one semester before I'm graduated and employed! I can't fucking wait because I am so done with this shit. Though, as a heads-up, a few things are gonna be happening near year's end and the first few months of 2019 that will likely delay me. One, I'm graduating and will be settling into a new job. Two, I'll likely be moving into an actual house sometime after that. Three, and this is the big'un: I'll be getting married! Once the dust from all that is settled, I've no doubt that I'll have more time for writing and doing shit I actually like instead of an endless litany of homework and bullshit tests. With that said, let's get through the numerous reviews that have piled up in my absence!

DBZ Maniac: Oh, I have plans to go beyond Buu, brother, you've no need to worry, there! I enjoy this shit too much to quit at Cell! I gots me plots. Some of 'em are even written down!

Jurassicmonster65: I would absolutely love it if someone did that! Alas, my drawing skills are barely worthy of XKCD, much less DBZ. If you (or any of you guys in the peanut gallery) are or know someone that'd be interested in adapting it, lemme know! I don't have the means to pay (as I'm saving for a house), but I'd be absolutely thrilled to death!

Eman: Sorry to disappoint ya, brother… But, don't worry, Jeets isn't gonna end up forever alone. I got plans.

Guest 11 August 2017: Unfortunately, this story started before I'd even known about Dragon Ball Minus, so Gine isn't canon, here. That said, I do like the idea of her character, even if Dragon Ball Minus was kind of an overall miss, for me. MasakoX is doing a what-if video series about what'd happen if Gine had survived and it's pretty good! If you're interested in hearing a Brit ramble about alternate universe scenarios, look him up!

Tess4aria: Why thank you! I also thank you for your immense patience! Like I said, I just needed time to refocus on university. With my upcoming break, I hope I can get more of this and my other stories out. It feels good to be back in the saddle again!

Flamelegendvargas: I always saw Cooler as a black sheep amongst his family. Always favoured over his younger brother because daddy was a blatant prick like that. The personality was my idea, though, lol. Let's just say that the Earth and his friends are rubbing off on him in interesting ways.

Danielcg050897: In the words of Shenron, your wish has been granted! I got more comin', I promise!

Guest 28 Oct 2017: …How? Vegeta's primary role in the story isn't as Bulma's husband or even Trunks' father, it was as Goku's rival. For most of the Cell saga, he couldn't give two shits about his family, and it wasn't until the Buu saga that he became less of a cretin. I love the guy, too, but he was an asshole before Buu. Besides, technically speaking, Bardock came first, in this story.

TokaiAngel: HA! I wouldn't say that, necessarily, but thank you for the compliment, nonetheless!

SSGSS Of Time Drakus: In the words of River Song, spoilers! I might, or I might not! I'll not spoil y'all by speaking out of turn.

Vbt22220: I thank you for your immense patience! I just really needed to double down and get focused on at least passing my classes in university. Thankfully, GPA isn't as important for computer science majors as it is for others, but I still need that degree! I do plan on posting more between now and mid-August, though. I got some time to actually do fun shit, now!

Angel de acuario: My Spanish isn't very good, so apologies for responding in English like a fool. However, Bra will feature, though I'm not 100% with regards to Tarble, just yet. I want him to appear, but I'm just unsure as to when and in what context he'd show up. I need more time to think on that one, unfortunately!

Guest 16 Mar 2018: Was that actually confirmed? I thought that was just a Dragon Ball Multiverse and Xenoverse thing.

ChronoMiturugi: I agree that I need more work on my fight bits. I will try to improve, there, now that I've actually got a damned opportunity to do so. I could've handled the Saiyan Saga a wee better, as well; in my defense, this was pretty early in my writing "career," so to speak, and I didn't really have a good handle on things. As far as Piccolo being a bad guy, that's certainly an interpretation, and a valid one. But, I'm more of the mind that he really did want to conquer the world like his father did, at least initially. Over the years, though, that desire got worn down as he became more of his own person. Yeah, Raditz was a genocidal asshole. So was Vegeta, and he got better.

Now, for the big'un. I'm sorry you feel that way. I had planned that little twist for a while. Besides which, hints are not confirmation of an event and that's a pretty common form of storytelling sleight of hand. You're also failing to take into account the context surrounding the events. For Bardock his planet (and his wife, whom he did love) had been gone for less than five years prior to Trunks' conception. Most people who lose a spouse never get over it, and many have problems finding someone else and/or remarrying. Bardock is/was unsure of his feelings for Bulma, and he didn't want to potentially ruin things by turning their relationship into a romantic and/or sexual one.

Let me tell you a short story.

Before I met my fiancée, I was in a long-distance relationship with a young woman whose name I'll not reveal for privacy reasons. I loved her, full stop. She said she loved me, and our relationship turned (digitally) quite sexual, quite easily. Time went by, things were good, but one day, she stopped talking to me. Just, one minute, we'd been sharing texts and shit and the next, nothing. This is, of course, a simplification to save space, but I went through absolute hell for eight months. I was completely fucked, emotionally, flitting between extremes like a terrified bat caught in a malfunctioning wind tunnel.

When I met the woman who'd become my fiancée, we became friends easily. I found, after a few months, and with her helping me come to terms with what I'd gone through, that I'd developed feelings for her. That scared the absolute dogshit out of me. She was with another guy, even if things weren't exactly happy between them. Even after they broke up and the dust settled, I couldn't spit it out. I didn't know if I just wanted that feeling again and was using her as a replacement for the previous girl or if my feelings were genuine and because of who she was, as a person. It took a long time before I was able to tell how I really felt, and that was just after a particularly nasty break-up, so I can only imagine how much worse it'd be after your spouse was freaking murdered.

Unfortunately, Bardock hesitated for too long and, in a moment of weakness, Bulma had a one-night-stand with Vegeta. In a way, that cemented his feelings for Bulma as genuine. His disgust with Vegeta's abandonment of the woman who was carrying his child and his eventual raising of said child really rammed home his feelings, even if he still has yet to actually spit them out.

When it comes to that aspect of Bardock, I am writing from experience.

Well, with that out of the way, methinks I'm done here! I can't wait for this semester to be over so I can begin writing this and my other little buddies in earnest again! I'll catch all you fine lads and lasses in Chapter Twenty-One of The Bardock Effect, A Day Inside! Take care!