Chapter 1: Arrival on Namek
A cool breeze washed over me, picking up the long braid of hair that rested on my shoulder and causing it to be swept up into the turbulence. The sound of the gentle fluttering of my cape in the wind filled my ears as I relished in the gust of refreshing air. As the current died down, the roar of flowing water beneath me grabbed my attention and I slowly opened my eyes to take in my surroundings.
The blinding light from a large sun forced me to shield my eyes from the harmful rays, but after my eyes adjusted to the light, the unfamiliar setting I found myself thrust into unfolded before me. I found myself floating several hundred feet above the ground in a deep green sky that was dotted with small clouds. Also occupying this bizarre sky were three suns; one that was setting, one that was rising, and one that was at the peak of its arc across the horizon in the high noon position.
Looking down, I laid my eyes on a giant basin that was being filled with water that was the same greenish color as the sky. Around the basin were patches of blue grass in the otherwise barren terrain that seemed as if it seen rain for many long seasons. As the level of the water rose inside of the basin, my eyes caught sight of a small speck of crimson in the middle of the pool of green liquid. The longer my gaze rested on the small dot, the larger the blood red spot became.
Tearing my gaze away from the lagoon, my attention was caught by a large mountain that seemed to be racing towards me. Atop the rocky pillar was a strange white structure that was covered with blue translucent windows and it was surrounded by the same blue grass that had surrounded the basin. As the mountain and the outlandish residence atop it approached me, the urge to be closer and go inside of the foreign looking home.
My body began to move forward and I felt myself flying towards the mountain. In no time at all my feet touched down in front of the cream colored house and I could see that there was an opening that allowed entrance inside. My legs seemed to have a mind of their own as the distance between me and the doorway decreased with each step. Arriving at the entrance, my eyes darted inside to try and steal a glance of the interior of the building but all I could see was darkness. Turning to enter the doorway, my eyes were met by…
The jarring sound of a scouter's beeping roused me from my slumber, casting me out of the life-like dream I had been experiencing. Groaning, I opened my eyes and glanced in the direction of the nightstand where my scouter sat. Reaching across my bed, I scooped up the blue scouter into my hand and placed it over my left eye. Pressing a button that stopped the constant buzzing, the voice of one of the bridge officers filled my ears.
"Lord Zarbon," said the officer. "Sorry to disturb you sir but I have a report just came arrived that requires your attention sir."
"You woke me up because of a measly report," I growled into the scouter. "I don't appreciate having my beauty sleep disturbed Captain."
"I understand Lord Zarbon, but the report was labeled as Level 2 priority from Frieza 79."
My anger at the man disappeared after hearing this information, so it seemed some new updates on the monkey prince had finally come in. "I'll be right there," I briskly said before cutting off the transmission. Throwing the covers off of my body, I quickly rolled out of my bed and made my way across the giant room to the man sized mirror that was mounted onto the wall next to four dressers that contained all of my garments. This was my humble quarters aboard Lord Frieza's flag ship and these were perks you gained when you were the right hand man to the most powerful being in the universe.
Of course, none of this would have been possible if not for the amazing attributes that I myself possessed. Smirking as I carefully took out my flawless armor and placed it over my head, careful not to disturb my hair. Yes, after almost 15 years of slowly making my way up the Planet Trade Organization hierarchy and being forced to work with morons I was finally able to achieve my goal of becoming Lord Frieza's second in command. For the last 25 years I've been in charge of running the most powerful empire the universe has ever seen; and even though most of the time I'm forced to deal with simpletons I know I'm where I belong, at the top of the galaxy where everyone can see me and my glory.
After pulling up on the pink sleeves that covered my arms, my hands reached down into the dresser and pulled out my folded and pressed cape. The light blue color that represented my proud heritage seemed to glisten in the dimly lit room as I threw the cape behind me and clasped into its holders on my back. Sitting down in a chair to pull on my combat boots over the dark blue spandex that covered most of my legs, I glanced up into the mirror and caught my own eyes.
Transfixed by those beautiful eyes in the mirror, I slowly stood up and walked closer to the man sized mirror, staring at the reflection inside of it. The reflection's hand reached up and brushed a loose strand of emerald hair out of its face and then smiled at me. My eyes gazed at his and were lost in their golden depths for what seemed like hours, but suddenly those beautiful and elegant eyes turned into his eyes.
The trance that had held me was suddenly broken, and I quickly moved away from the mirror and out the door. My body shuddered as my mind tried to physically shake the image of that beast's eyes out of my head. I wandered around unconsciously for several minutes, not caring where my feet took me. It wasn't until I found myself on the bridge of the ship that my mind began to function normally again, my body apparently knowing that the only thing that could distract me was work.
"Lord Zarbon." My eyes were drawn to the voice and they found Captain Namole, the officer who had hailed me earlier approaching me. I barely was able to hold back the sneer that was forming on my face after seeing the man's butchered hair and the disgusting purple spandex he wore underneath his armor. My face somehow though was able to remain impassive though, hiding my disgust for the man, as my relentless stare drilled holes into him as he saluted me and stood at attention. My mouth made an undetectable smirk as I saw Namole gulp and tap his foot nervously as he waited for me to speak. Finally deciding to end the peon's torment, I finally nodded at him releasing him from standing at attention.
"You said you had a report that required my attention," I said as the Captain let his shoulders relax, knowing that the threat of him being punished had passed.
"Yes, straight from Planet Frieza 79," he said as he snapped his fingers and another solider walked over towards us with a file in his hands.
"I wasn't sure when to expect you my Lord," said Namole casually as he took the file from the other man. "When we last spoke you said you were going to be right up, but it's been almost an hour since then."
My eyes drove daggers into the man as he handed me the file. How dare that imbecile question and criticize me! If he wasn't such a high ranking officer and if he hadn't just handed me such vital intelligence I would strike him down where he stood. Deciding to ignore the idiot for now, I opened the file and quickly leafed through it, scanning for the valuable information.
"Has all of this been confirmed?" I asked after finding the particular Intel that I had been searching for.
"Yes, our long range scanners have confirmed that Vegeta's pod is on a direct course for Planet Namek, with Cui's hot on his trail."
"When will they arrive on the planet?"
"Approximately 6 to 7 hours after we land on Planet Namek's surface sir."
Nodding, I closed the file and handed it back to the man. "Do we know what became of the planet Vegeta and that brute of a partner of his where on? I believe I heard the inhabitants of the planet referring to it as Earth in the transmission from the monkeys' scouters."
"Yes, well per your instructions Lord Zarbon, the commander of Frieza 79 scrambled a squad and set them to the coordinates of this Earth, known as Planet XRS17 in our databases, soon after Vegeta arrived at the base. Well the squad just recently arrived at the designated coordinates but all they found was a recently created asteroid field, suggesting that Planet XRS17 had been recently destroyed. The most likely scenario of course being that Vegeta destroyed the planet after suffering severe injuries while battling against the planet's warriors which also resulted in the death of his partner Nappa."
I nodded my head in understanding. "Very well, none of that matters anyway. We have more important matters to attend to."
"Good riddance I say," said Namole. "Anyone that could leave Vegeta in the condition he was in when he arrived on 79 could mean nothing but trouble for us."
Snorting at the man's insight, I quickly retorted, "They would have been no more than a trivial distraction for even Dodoria, much less myself or our elite squadrons." Glancing at one of the monitors several feet to my left, I walked towards the front of the bridge and scanned the monitors of the navigators.
"How soon will we arrive on Planet Namek?" I asked, glancing back over my shoulder towards Captain Namole who had followed me down the walkway.
"We should be landing on the surface within the hour milord," the man answered.
"Excellent," I said as a smirk formed on my face. "Alert Lord Frieza immediately of our approaching landing and have the men ready to leave the ship as soon as we land."
"Yes sir."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
"The last of the Nameks have been eliminated Lord Frieza and we've found another Dragon Ball." I turned my head and saw that one of the lackeys held one of the giant orange globes that we had been scrounging the planet for.
"Excellent, bring it here at once," said Lord Frieza from his hoverchair and the frog faced man scrambled over to where we stood and handed the Dragon Ball to Dodoria.
"Keep an eye on that Dodoria," hissed Lord Frieza. "These spheres are worth more than your life and you would be lucky if that was all you lost if you were to misplace one of them."
"Of course Lord Frieza," said the fat pink blob. My cohort continued to speak but I instantly tuned out the man's ass-kissing. My ears had been tormented by that uncouth alien's voice for over two decades now and I had decided that they had been tortured long enough. Besides, there were more important matters to attend to at the moment, like Vegeta's arrival on the planet.
"You seem distracted, is something bothering you Zarbon?" asked Lord Frieza.
Diverting my attention from the blue screen that was across my eye, I looked up at the back of Lord Frieza's head. "Well it seems that pesky monkey Vegeta has finally landed on the planet and is on the move. One of our elite soldiers is following him for now and there so close to each other that it's hard to distinguish between their individual energies. It is most likely that a violent conflict will erupt in a few moments."
"Who is it that's on Vegeta's tail?"
"Cui milord, he happened to be on Planet 79 when the monkey recovered from his injuries and then left in his pod and he followed him here."
"Cui," spluttered Dodoria, salvia flowing from his disgusting mouth as he spoke. "He'll be able to tear that insolent Vegeta to pieces no problem."
My mouth flexed involuntarily as I was barely able to catch the snort that almost tore from my lips. Cui was an idiot and a coward who relied on pure brawn to win his battles, similar to the tub of lard that was my associate. The man had never used his brain to bring him victory and he didn't have a creative bone in his body. Though I was never Vegeta's biggest fan, I had to concede that the monkey was clever and my gut told me that the ape would run circles around the fish-faced warrior if they met in combat.
"Keep an eye on the situation Zarbon. I want to know what our unwanted guest is up too."
"Yes milord." While everyone else began to search for another Namekian village on their scouters, I kept my eyes locked on mine as Cui's power level reached the spot where the saiyan's had stopped moving. For a minute or two nothing happened but then, Vegeta's power level began to increase rapidly. My eyes widen in fear as the monkey's energy climbed higher and higher until his power was so enormous that it overloaded my scouter. Sparking as it tried to process the huge power level, the blue scouter exploded on my face.
I snarled as I brought my hand up and dusted the soot from the explosion off of my face, but even the anger of having my face marred could not distract me from the situation at hand. If the reading the scouter had given me before it malfunctioned was correct, then we could have a serious situation on our hands.
"Zarbon what was that?" questioned Dodoria as he looked over at me after the small explosion.
"This…this can't be right," I stammered. "Right before it gave out, the scouter read Vegeta's power level at 22,000!"
"Humph, you must be joking. There's no way that monkey has a power level that high, yours must be broken."
'Of course it's broken,' I thought as the slime ball raised his hand to check Vegeta's power level himself on his own scouter. 'You just watched it break, imbecile.'
The repulsive man smirked as his scouter searched for the monkey prince's power level, sure that he was about to embarrass me in front of Lord Frieza and prove that he was superior. His idiotic smirk disappeared though when the green screen across his eye flashed, informing him that it had found the power level it had been searching for. His revolting face transformed into one of horror and he let out a gasp as he seemed to be petrified by the number that was displayed on the green scouter.
"The number," I said impatiently as the moron continued to stare at the power level on the screen.
"That's impossible! This stupid thing must be broken!" exclaimed Dodoria. "It's reading at 24,000!"
"24,000." I muttered in disbelief. "That means right now that Vegeta's has a higher power level than both of us." Of course, unlike you leviathan, my power level can reach a much higher level than it currently is. Though I'm not keen on the idea of having to resort to using him to defeat Vegeta, I will if the monkey gives me no other choice.
"It cannot be true," seethed the vulgar pink blob. "At best Vegeta's power level is at 18,000! There's no way he could have possibly surpassed me!"
"Actually it's not surprising." My eyebrows rose as I turned to look at Lord Frieza's chair as he continued to speak. "Remember he has been in battle continuously for the past few years, taking mission after mission never taking a break. With his saiyan blood, his power level could have increased substantially."
My ears caught the sound of Lord Frieza chuckling before he added, "It is of little concern though; you'll beat that monkey by joining both of your power levels together."
My body shuddered at the abhorrent thought of having to actually fight side by side with the tasteless ogre. Of course we had fought together before, we had worked together for almost three decades now, but he was such an uncouth fighter and I hated it when fate forced me to place my life in the wart infested hand of my boorish partner.
"But sir," I began to plead but he cut me off before my argument could be presented.
"There is nothing to fear Zarbon," Lord Frieza assured me. "Only 24,000 remember. Compared to me, his power is but a mere grain of sand in a giant desert. Why do you think Vegeta's so desperate to get the Dragon Balls? Because he knows that without them he doesn't stand a chance against me." As he continued to talk, it seemed more and more like my lord was speaking to the monkey prince instead of us as his mind seemed to drift away to some other place.
"You've been plotting to overthrow me for some time; you even went to that Earth without my permission. Now you dare oppose me openly!? I'm afraid your time has run out my little monkey, it's time for you to join the rest of your pathetic race in the afterlife!"
"Lord Frieza, we believe we have found another Namekian village."
My master's trance seemed to be broken by the soldier's report and he curtly responded, "Thank you, minion. Lead the way, and be quick about it. I don't want to wait for my immortality any longer than I must." The soldier took to the sky and the rest of us followed after him since the peon still possessed a scouter. Since I didn't have to strain myself to keep this pace, it allowed my mind wander as we flew over the bland terrain of Namek.
It was happening more frequently now. He was becoming more and more erratic and his mind was wandering more and more into the realm of mania and drifting away from reality. My eyes stole a glance at my master before darting back to look at the ground below. Lord Frieza's enemies always had claimed that he was insane, a raving lunatic, but this was not the case. Was he cruel and sadistic with a twisted sense of humor? Yes, but never insane. He always had a firm grip on reality and knew exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it. It was always part of a cold, calculated plan he had formulated. He always had a reason.
Like when he destroyed a planet, such as the monkey's planet or even my own, it was because the inhabitants poised a threat that had to be eliminated. Or because they were insubordinate, or vain, or didn't heed his call to join his glorious empire. Always a reason. And he didn't laugh while he watched a planet's destruction because he was insane, he laughed because he finds amusement in others pain. Nothing wrong with that, who doesn't find that amusing after all.
No, this was different. Ever since I had informed of the Dragon Balls and there mystical properties after that fool Raditz's demise on Earth. At first he dismissed the idea that such a thing could really exist and told me to allow Vegeta and his lackey to go on there "wild goose chase", though he told me to monitor the situation carefully. As time continued to pass though, Lord Frieza became more and more interested in research into the possibility of items that could grant any wish one desired and he assigned a team of top scientists and researchers on it. He became more and more obsessed with the possibility of immorality, his wish that he confined in me alone, and when the team discovered legends of Dragon Balls on the Planet Namek he immediately had his flag ship set out for the planet, and he became even more giddy when I presented him with the snippets of recording from the monkeys' scouters that confirmed our suspicion about the Dragon Balls on Namek. All the while as the chance for him to gain immortality became more and more realistic, Lord Frieza began to exhibit more and more signs of becoming unstable.
It was all that damn monkey's fault. If it wasn't for him and his sniveling flunkies going to Earth and discovering the existence of these mystical spheres, then there would be none of this immortality foolishness and everything would have remained is it was. Why was there any reason to change the status quo? Business was good and my position atop the most powerful organization in the universe was untouchable, but now if Lord Frieza became immortal how could long could I remain an indispensable part of his empire. Would it be months, years, decades before my master decided that I was no longer useful to him?
I shook my head. No! No, that won't happen to me, not like the others that came before me. Cato was a fool, an imbecile whose brain was about the size of a walnut. The idiot tried to tell me that someday I would be replaced and killed by my successor, exactly how I had killed him. Ha, the simpleton! He and all who came before him, none of them could compare to me. I'm more powerful and intelligent than all of them combined!
I am irreplaceable! Without me, the entire Planet Trade Organization would fall into disrepair. Who do you think oversees all of the business transactions for buying and selling planets? Me! Who do you think approves and assigns all of the purging missions that allow us to acquire the planets we sell? Me! Who do you think manages the everyday proceedings of this marvelous empire that I helped build with my own hands? Me!
A deep breath escaped my lips as I tried to calm myself. My temper, such a nasty little trait, was getting the better of me over something silly that doesn't even apply to the current situation. My eyes moved towards the horizon and I could see that we were beginning to approach a grouping of those things the Nameks called homes. They were a disgustingly bland white color with hideous spikes coming out of the roofs. Honestly I couldn't see what these backwards people saw appealing in these atrocious buildings.
My mind was still preoccupied when we touched down a few yards away from the horrid "homes" and Lord Frieza gave the order for the soldiers to bring out all of the residents out to us. The soldiers scurried away and they quickly positioned themselves around the doors to each of the buildings before breaking down the door and going inside of them. It only took a few seconds before they reemerged from the homes with its residents in tow and they threw them down, three older looking Nameks and two that seemed to still be in their childhood, at our feet.
My eyes combed over the appearance of the green aliens that were now standing before me. The Namekian race all appeared to be overgrown slugs, each possessing green skin with pink patches where there main muscles, such as biceps and abdominal muscles, where along with a pair of antennae. The older ones possessed a darker pigment skin color, giving them a more sickly look, and wrinkles could be found all over their bodies. The children possessed the normal bright green skin that the Nameks in their primes also possessed. As my eyes surveyed the small group in front of me, I realized that a certain age group was missing in this village.
"Several of the Nameks are missing Lord Frieza," I proclaimed. "The younger adults are not present; these seem to be the elders and the children of the village."
"Excellent observation Zarbon," praised Lord Frieza as he cocked his head as he examined the five being before him.
"Sorry, I'm afraid I haven't introduced myself. I am Frieza and I'm sure you've heard all about me. Now that we've gotten the introductions out of the way, how about you go ahead and tell us where the rest of you are before my men here get angry. Trust me, they won't be as civil as I am, so why don't you just go ahead and tell us."
My mind began to drift as Lord Frieza interrogated the slug people. We had already been through this routine with four other villages today. It was really quite dull dealing with these simpletons, who didn't seem to understand that they would receive quick and painless deaths if they would just give of us what we wanted to begin with, because if there was one thing I had learned in my nearly 40 years of service to Lord Frieza it was that he always got what he wanted. If he wanted this Dragon Ball, than there was nothing these dim-witted natives could do to prevent him from getting his hands on it. They would be better off just handing the ball over and maybe Lord Frieza would be in a good enough mood that he wouldn't kill all of them.
"We elders stay back with the children while the men go work in the field. Will that do?" finally answered the leader of the Nameks.
"There see how much better we get along when you cooperate," said Lord Frieza. "Now tell me where the Dragon Ball is."
"We don't have it," the slug man replied bluntly.
"You know I'd be inclined to believe you if the last village elder didn't say the exact same thing. Of course as he found out, we have our ways if getting people to talk." I saw Lord Frieza's eyes glance over at me before returning his stare to the Namekians.
"Zarbon, show our friends here how effective our power of persuasion can be."
My eyebrows arched slightly at the unusual request. Lord Frieza must have sensed my boredom because this was the brute's area of expertise. While my job as Lord Frieza's right hand man was to handle the running of his empire and all the other jobs that required someone with intelligence to handle, the porcupine's job was to handle all of Lord Frieza's dirty work and other jobs fit for a barbarian such torture and intimidation.
With a small nod of acknowledgement, I replied, "Of course Lord Frieza."
A smirk escaped from my lips as my body phased out of sight as I moved behind one of the village elders. My form became visible again once I stopped moving once I had reached my desired position and I drew my leg back as my target slowly turned around to face me. The look on his face was one of pure terror as he knew that he was staring death in the face as my leg whipped towards his exposed head. My ears relished in the sound of cracking bones as my kick connected with the old slug's neck and the blow sent his body skidding across the ground.
I was barely able to contain the wild smile that was hidden behind the stoic mask I wore as my feet hit the ground. My body had almost forgotten the rush that battle gives a person and I welcomed the adrenaline that was now beginning to flow through my veins. It had been for too long since I had engaged in the primitive joy that was battle and even though it was against such worthless opponents it still provided the invigoration that my body craved.
My ears pricked up when a wild battle cry tore from the lips of another elder behind me as the old fool prepared to attack me. Deciding to destroy my prey with style this time, I threw one of the Dragon Balls in my hand into the air and then followed it into the air to evade the blue energy wave the decrepit slug had fired at me. The flunky behind me was not so astute of the danger though and the purple being was fried by the wave.
Raising my hand into the air, I began to gather a small portion of my energy in the form of an orange sphere in the palm of my outstretched hand. Once I had gathered an adequate amount of energy, a smirk formed on my face as I unleashed my Shooting Star Arrow on the senile creature. The orange energy barrage wave reached its target in a mere second and incinerated him in, leaving no trace of the Namek elder. After firing the attack, I gracefully landed next to Lord Frieza's hoverchair and brushed a loose strand of hair back into place before raising my right hand, where the Dragon Ball I had thrown earlier landed perfectly back into the palm of my hand.
"So do you think you're ready to cooperate yet?" asked Lord Frieza.
"Why do you want the Dragon Balls anyway?" questioned the Namek.
"Oh just for a tiny little wish, not a big request, just the power of eternal life."
I heard the old man gasp before he exclaimed, "Do what you will with me, but I'll never give you the Dragon Ball for such a selfish wish!"
"You people here on Planet Namek our just so stubborn," said Lord Frieza. "Even under pain of death you refuse to relent and give up your precious Dragon Balls. Will see how stubborn you really are when your adorable children are at stake."
"You wouldn't!"
"They're just so cute though. I could just pinch their little heads off," threatened Lord Frieza as his voice lowered dangerously.
"Just try it!" bellowed the wrinkled being as he threw the two children behind his body in a futile attempt to shield them from sight. The men all laughed as Lord Frieza, with a smirk on his face, slowly raised one of his hands and pointed towards the three Namekians. As I watched impassively as my master threatened the natives, my attention was diverted from the spectacle when Dodoria's scouter began to beep.
"What is it?" I demanded, attracting Lord Frieza's attention as he turned his head to look at the mindless boor as well.
"It looks like we're going to have company soon," he answered before turning his head to look off to the side. Turning my head as well, I could already make it three faint outlines of what looked like Nameks making their way towards the village. It seemed that the men were returning from the fields. They would have been better off staying there I thought as the three beings landed to my left, all looking enraged as they quickly scanned over the state of their village.
"Impressive landing if I do say so myself," remarked Lord Frieza. "You are a little late though; your friends could have used your help a little earlier." The three warriors gasped when they saw the broken and lifeless body of the elder whose neck I had broken earlier.
"You're just in time for the fun though. We were just convincing your friends here to hand over their Dragon Ball so we could add it to my growing collection," continued Lord Frieza before slowly turning his head to face the younger slug beings. "You do think they should, don't you."
One of the creatures began to speak, but I quickly tuned him out as my eyes began to scan over the village, trying to find the most likely hiding place for the Dragon Ball. It was obvious that a conflict between the younger Namekians and our lower level soldiers was imminent but based on how the other villages had fared against us; it would be a short and uninteresting battle.
"Ha, how will I be able to contain my fear with such power levels," mocked the pink oaf as he examined the power levels of the new arrivals. "There at a 1,000 each."
Laughter filled my ears as I turned my attention back to trying to achieve our original goal of finding the Dragon Ball in this village. In every other hamlet we had visited so far the large orange sphere had been kept in a building that no one lived in. One of the Village Elders had called it the Gathering Den, a place where the villagers congregated for some reason or another. My eyes began to roam over the atrocious buildings as I tried to remember which ones our men had dragged Nameks out of and which they hadn't.
Really if we had just searched for the mystical orb in the first place instead of dragging the Namekians out and trying to force the information out of them, we would have already have the Dragon Ball in hand and be on our way to the next village. Lord Frieza just loved forcing people to bend to his will though so he insisted on this approach, even though it wasn't the most efficient method. But as he pointed out during at one of the other villages, since he was going to be immortal anyway, time was no longer important.
As I continued to try and analyze where the Dragon Ball was most likely to be, my thoughts were interrupted when out of the corner of my eye I saw one of lowly soldiers we had sent to deal with the Namek warriors on a collision course with me. Once the imbecile was within range, I swiftly kicked him in the head creating a cavity in the man's skull, as the force from the blow sent his lifeless body plummeting into the green lake behind me.
Upset by the fact that my own men were being thrown at me like some sort of projectile, I turned my full attention to the battle. My brow arched in surprise when I saw that the three slug men were easily handling the dozen men that were sent to deal with them, having already slain nearly half of the assailants.
"Are you sure there power levels at 1,000 each," I asked irritably.
The dimwitted alien, whose own mouth was agape in shock, pressed the button on his scouter which quickly measured the Namekian's power levels again. "I can't explain it, but somehow their power levels have risen to 3,000."
"Humph, it seems that the Namekians have learned to hide their true powers from our scouters," commented Lord Frieza.
Just like Vegeta's earlier, I thought as we stood there in silence for a few moments as we observed our men being thoroughly thrashed by the green beings.
"Kinda of killing our guys," remarked Dodoria, as he pointed out the obvious yet again.
"We have more of those things back at the ship," said Lord Frieza with a dismal wave of his hand. "I mean it's not like we're losing anything valuable."
Right as Lord Frieza finished speaking, I caught a thin golden beam in the corner of my eye and then my ears heard a small explosion and I glanced over to see that my repugnant cohort's scouter had been destroyed. My eyes traced the beam back to its origin point and found the venerable Namek already firing off two more beams that hit and destroyed the only two intact scouters that our party possessed.
Lord Frieza sighed before saying, "Dodoria kill them, I'm afraid my patience has run out for this bunch."
"With pleasure," snarled the feral brute before vanishing out of sight. The spiked fiend reappeared behind the Namek elder and viciously grabbed the beings head before snapping its neck. The barbaric berserker then flew towards where the three younger green beings were battling.
Diverting my attention away from the battle, my eyes scanned for any remaining pawn that could be used to test my theory. The answer came in the form of a small, light blue alien that was one of the few soldiers who hadn't rushed into the fight.
"You," I called out as my head motioned for him to come closer to me. The peon rushed over to my side and saluted me before standing at attention, waiting to receive my orders.
"Go check that building over there for the Dragon Ball," I ordered, using my eyes to tell the being which building I wanted him to search.
"Yes Commander Zarbon," he said before dashing into the building I had pointed out. My eyes never left the entrance to the structure, even when Dodoria returned praising himself for his victory over the pathetic natives. My theory proved to be correct when the pawn existed the building with one of the large orbs in his hands.
"Sir, I'm happy to inform you that we have discovered another one of the Dragon Balls," I said as the minion waddled over to us, with the mystical sphere in his hands.
"Good work Zarbon," said Lord Frieza in a slightly annoyed tone. "You found the one where we already knew its location. What about the other two that we have yet to find? How do you expect to find the other two now that all of the scouters have been destroyed? You do remember that I need all seven for my wish to be granted don't you."
My feet instinctively took a step back, taken aback by milord's attitude. I had just discovered one of the magical orbs that we had journeyed to this planet for and he was angry with me? I wasn't the one that had allowed my scouter to be destroyed. That was my nauseating partner's fault, not mine.
"Yes sir, I remember," I finally responded, "and I'm sure if we carefully…"
"I'll tell you how we're going to find the rest of them," interrupted Lord Frieza. "You and Dodoria are going to fly around this whole planet until you find the last two Dragon Balls and bring them to me!"
"Where will you be milord?" I asked cautiously.
"I am taking the five Dragon Balls I currently possess and I'm taking them back to the ship," replied Lord Frieza, "and I don't want to see either of your faces until you have a Dragon Ball in your hands. Now get going!"
Kicking off the ground, my body took to the air as fast as I possibly could. It was never a good idea to remain around Lord Frieza long while he was angry, seeing as he could kill you merely as a way of venting his anger. A bright white aura surrounded my body as I flew through the green sky and searched the terrain below for any sign of a settlement.
My teeth barred together as I thought of the situation the pink simpleton had dragged me into. It would take hours to find another village that we hadn't already visited without the use of a scouter. The only positive in this whole scenario was that the repulsive alien had flown in the opposite direction when we had fled from Lord Frieza's wrath, so I was not cursed by the imbecile's presence.
As I flew, I continued to seethe about the punishment that Lord Frieza had given me for the pink brute's mistake. There was no logical explanation for his actions, and I immediately thought back to some of the other erratic behavior Lord Frieza had exhibited today. Could this be another one of his maniac episodes? Was he slipping more and more out of reality and into the realm of insanity?
I flew in the skies of Planet Namek for hours on end, searching for any sign of a Namekian village. The closest I came was when my eyes spotted several of the appalling homes of the slug people, but when my feet touched the ground I realized that we had already visited this settlement. It was then that my mind discerned that I had flown around the planet so many times already that I wasn't able to keep up with where we had already been. Praying for a stroke of luck, I took to the skies once more.
A stroke of luck did occur, mere moments after that cursed prayer, but it was not of the good variety. As I flew through the sky, out of the corner of my eye I caught the glare of what seemed to be a bright stare. Just as my head was beginning to turn to try and get a better look at the light, a powerful force slammed into me and as I fell back glimpsed black hair.
"Well, well Zarbon, what a surprise," said Vegeta with a cocky smirk plastered across his face.
Thanks for reading! I know I haven't really shown Zarbon really deciding to rebel against Frieza but that will be explored in the next chapter, and I know this chapter was kind of slow but this chapter was all about fleshing out Zarbon as a character and setting things in motion that will come into play later. If you didn't catch this in the chapter, one of the big differences in this story from the canon universe is that Vegeta succeeded in destroying the Earth, so there will be no Goku, or anyone else from Earth, swooping in to save the day on Namek. Another major change will be introduced in the next chapter as well which will cause this universe to skew even further from canon.
I came up with this story while re-watching the Namek Saga for my other story and this idea just hit me and I had to write it. The story will mainly be told from Zarbon's perspective, who is a textbook example of a Narcissist, but there will also be several chapters from other characters points of view as well throughout the story when Zarbon is not present for an event that is important to the story. Because the story is told in first person, you will see how the character (usually Zarbon) views the world and the people in it in a much more personal way, and sometimes in a biased way. I choose to write this story in first person because I wanted to challenge my skills as a writer because many of the most successful and critically acclaimed authors write in first person.
Again, thanks for reading and I hope you'll stick it out this story with me. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions about the story, please leave them in a review and I promise I'll address them, by using the bottom of each chapter to answer any questions or concerns you have.