Unexpected Fate

Training for the Tournament

Unexpected Fate

Chapter 35-Training for the Tournament

For the past three months, Bardock had spent a great deal of time training with Piccolo and felt his power rising back to where it was when he fought Cell, but he was still far from ascending like he had at that time. He still lacked the motive to train seriously due to the sadness he carried deep inside. He had tried to ignore it, but there were times when it crept up without warning. When it happened, he would have to call it a day and retreat to his home to deal with it quietly.

There were days he struggled with it and the constant reminders he saw in his grandsons made him regret neglecting his son years before his death. Sometimes, he even had nightmares of his youngest accusing him of letting him die or worse, Cell returning and killing everyone he had come to care about. Those nightmares forced him to awaken in a cold sweat; his energy fluctuating wildly around him due to the intensity of the nightmares.

For a time, he thought Cell lurked in the very shadows and had no choice but to sleep in another room where the moonlight spilled onto the ground and made him feel more at peace. When he told Bulma the issue, she had labeled the problem as post-traumatic stress disorder and had given him pills to help with the issue, but he only took them after his worst nightmares.

Currently, he was standing in the kitchen raiding the refrigerator yet again to find any edible food somewhere within the finite steel box. Nothing seemed like it was any good to him and the very smell made him nauseated. Truthfully, he had spent a great deal of time outside as of late and realized that some of the food had spoiled much to his disgust.

'Maybe I should have eaten this before it went bad,' the man thought while throwing yet another plastic container into the trash. He didn't give a damn as long as it was out of his refrigerator so he wouldn't have to look at it for another second. 'Things were easier when I was training for the stupid androids.'

The sudden thought made him pause and it sent a fresh wave of sadness though him when he thought of his deceased youngest son came to the forefront of his mind again.

_______

"Hey dad!" Goku called from the sky. Bardock had been standing on the balcony when he felt his son's landed just a few yards away from him. "Aren't we going to spar today?"

"After I get some food," Bardock mulled. He had at this point been living on Earth for a little over a few months now and was getting used to living there; however, there were times he longed for some excitement in his life.

"Oh, I forgot you live on your own now..." Goku sheepishly replied. "Have you been eating any of the food I brought from my house?"

"Not really," Bardock stated in a confused tone.

"It's probably spoiled then," Goku winced at the thought.

"Spoiled? Why would you say that? It looked fine the other day I checked."

"Dad, how many days has it been since you looked in there?"

For a moment, Bardock was at a loss to answer his son's question. He walked into the house; Goku following him with a confused expression on his face. The kitchen, albeit a slight layer of dust on the countertops, seemed to be silent and calm. The idea of a former soldier of Frieza standing before the looming refrigerator didn't seem to bother him; however, a foreboding sense of dread started to build the pit of his stomach. Opening the refrigerator, the cursed warrior nearly bolted from the sight of the rotting smell that emitted from the multitude of containers and other objects sitting in there.