Timely Arrival

Chapter 5: Pop In Porunga

Bardock stood slightly hunched over, clutching his forehead and spitting dirt out of his mouth. The Namekians had tried to stall Cooler to help him recover, but now that plan's time had run out.

'He's just like the rest...' Bardock fumed. 'Like Frieza, like Chilled...'

He blinked. '...Chilled! How did I beat him?! My hair... and my aura... it was different. Powerful. The legend, for sure... If I'm to come out on top, I have to get it to happen again!' He grit his teeth. 'But how?'

He clenched his fists.

'Right - I remember getting so mad... and Berry...'

Bardock made his ki go as high as it could. It elevated even higher than before after the beating his Saiyan body had just endured, which helped him concentrate.

'He's gonna pay... his whole family is gonna pay... They will... I need to...'

Bardock's hair flickered as he gripped his hands tighter. The ground shook, and the sky shot out lightning around him.

'For what they did... to me... to Gine... to my team, to my sons...!'

"Rrrraaaaaagh!"

His hair flashed gold to black, then back to gold once again.

'Yes... This power...!'

By this point only a lone Namekian and Cooler were awake to watch the spectacle. "...L- Like Goku's son described...!" the Namekian warrior whispered before falling unconscious.

Cooler stared in intrigue at the sight, his brows lowered.

Bardock gave out a war cry and charged at Cooler once more. Cooler was knocked back from an elbow strike to his stomach as he hadn't expected such speed and power all at once from this Saiyan, who had somehow turned his hair gold and his eyes a glowing teal, and had also multiplied his power by quite a bit.

"Impressive! This might actually prove to be a worthy challenge!" Cooler slowly lowered his head in approval as he spoke. He dusted himself off. "Is this power the same as your supposed Super Saiyan legend?"

Bardock shouted in anger, "You don't have the right to learn anything about me! You scum! Your kind have all been around for TOO LONG! DIE!"

Bardock launched a ki blast towards Cooler's torso, but then Cooler amassed a large ball of ki out of nowhere, nullifying Bardock's ki blast, and cancelling out both attacks.

Cooler was amused by his earlier cries. ""Scum", did you say? Has the monkey forgotten his own nature? Without my family, you were savage brutes doing almost exactly the same thing as us, though you simply raided just for the promise of a fight. No ambition. No meaningful rewards!"

Cooler's expression grew more amused. "Hahaha, you fool! My family merely organised the troupe! We did you a great favour while you were all still running around!"

The tyrant closed the distance between them both and clocked Bardock in the stomach; Bardock temporarily lost the transformation and almost keeled over. He then regained his senses as he coughed, and pulled Cooler's forearm to himself, then headbutted his nose.

Cooler backed off and eyed the Saiyan with absolute disgust for a moment. "Filth," he spat, "I think it's time you learnt your place!"

He then proceeded to yell, and began to grow in height and develop armour, his muscles bulging impressively. He was transforming into his fifth form, much to the confusion of Bardock. He wasn't aware of any transformations from the other tyrants he'd met. He knew Cooler looked a fair bit different from Frieza and Chilled, but he still hadn't made the connection that he had been surviving blows from him in one of his most powerful forms with the help of the Namekians.