Chapter II: Back in the Swing of Things
Bulma fell backwards onto the floor, trembling as Vegeta walked into the capsule house. His posture was relaxed as he held an oversized Dragon Ball under his arm, but his eyes shone with a frightening intensity as they stared into hers.
"Bulma," he said quietly, causing her to jump.
"H-How do you know my name?" she asked fearfully.
Vegeta blinked, as if coming out of a trance, and smirked. "How indeed?" he said, a bit mockingly. "I suppose the only ones who could have told me were cue-ball and the brat," he continued, easily deflecting the question.
Bulma's eyes widened in shock as she came to the wrong conclusion, namely that he'd already encountered Krillin and Gohan.
"You! What did you do to them?" she yelled defiantly, rising to her feet, despite the lingering fear in her eyes. "If you hurt them, I swear I'll—"
"Oh, quit your babbling, woman. I haven't even run into them yet, but I know they're here regardless."
Bulma stared at him skeptically, but started to calm down, seeing no reason why he'd bother lying. "Oh...well, ok? So, what do you want with me?" she asked fearfully.
Plenty, but that'll have to wait. "Nothing, I'm just here to give you this," Vegeta answered, tossing over the Dragon Ball. Unprepared, Bulma fumbled with the oversized orb before finally gaining a grip on it. She stared at him incredulously as he turned around and waved.
"Those two have no doubt noticed I'm here by now. Give it to them when they arrive, will you?" he asked, as if he couldn't care one way or another. She could only stare, dumbfounded.
"Hey, wait!" Bulma finally shouted, following him out the door after he exited the cave.
But he had already flown off into the air.
When Krillin and Gohan arrived back at the cave along with the Namekians, they found Bulma standing outside the door to a capsule house, staring off vacantly into the distance with a Dragon Ball in her hands.
...Wait, what?
"Bulma!" Gohan yelled as they touched down. "Are you ok?" She nodded numbly.
"What happened?" Krillin urged. "Where's Vegeta?"
"He...left," she answered absently.
Krillin gaped. "Left?" he repeated dumbly. "What, he just dropped by, said hello, and then took off?"
Bulma seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in. "Well, no," she admitted. "He gave me this." She tossed Krillin the Dragon Ball, which he caught. "He told me to give it to you guys."
"...He what?"
Bulma shrugged, obviously just as baffled. Gohan listened silently, wide eyes darting back between the two.
"But—but that makes no sense! He wanted the Dragon Balls for himself! That's the whole reason he came to earth and killed most of our friends! Now he's just handing it over? Is that bastard mocking us?"
Bulma once again shrugged helplessly. "To be honest, I don't think so. I mean, on one hand he was what I expected. A bit arrogant, rude, acting all high and mighty…but he almost seemed...sincere. And, I don't know, courteous in a way? Did he seem like that when you guys met him?"
Krillin and Gohan exchanged a confused glance, before turning back and simultaneously shaking their heads.
"I'm sorry, but who is this Vegeta?" Elder Moori asked, speaking for the first time.
"Oh, you guys found some of the Namekians?" Bulma asked, finally taking note of them. "Hi there! I'm Bulma!"
Moori nodded politely, while the two children, Dende and Cargo, introduced themselves.
"To answer your question, Vegeta is the one who distracted Freeza and his goons back there by killing the pink guy," Krillin said. "As much as I hate to admit it, he helped us out a lot. I don't know if we could have gotten you guys out of there otherwise."
"Wait, so he helped you guys, even if indirectly?" Bulma asked, her analytical mind going to work. "Doesn't it seem like he's being kind of...nice?"
"That's just weird…" Krillin mumbled. "What's he playing at?"
"Maybe he wants us to feel like we owe him," Gohan suggested. "I mean, he knows we're the good guys, right?"
Krillin gave the 5 year old a disbelieving stare. "What could he possibly want from us? He's a hundred time stronger than both of us combined."
"True…" Gohan conceded. "But he was fighting fairly evenly with my dad, wasn't he? Maybe he wants his help to take down that Freeza guy, so he's playing nice?"
"That doesn't seem likely either. Even if he assumed Goku was here, he doesn't seem like the type to ask for help from anyone, much less his enemies."
"Oh, guys, that reminds me!" Bulma spoke up. "I got a call from Master Roshi before he showed up! Goku is going to arrive on Namek in six days, and he's training on the way here!"
That seemed to brighten up the atmosphere. Once the Namekians were told how strong Goku was, they seemed to regain a spark of hope as well.
"So it seems like Vegeta might get that alliance after all," Gohan said thoughtfully.
"Assuming that's really what he's after. Even if he did want one, I don't think we could trust him not to betray us at the end of the day."
"Yeah, you might be right," Gohan said as he looked down, remembering the careless ease with which the Saiyan Prince had ordered the deaths of their friends.
"Do you think we should go talk to him?" Bulma suddenly asked.
"Even if we wanted to, we can't if he doesn't want to be found," Krillin replied. "I had my suspicions, but now there's no doubt about it. He's learned to hide his ki."
"I suppose there's no point wondering about it now then," she admitted. "We have one Dragon Ball. That means as long as this Freeza guy doesn't find us, they can't make their wish, right?"
"That's correct," Moori confirmed.
"So how should we go about getting the others?" Gohan asked.
"Well, I'm not sure how we can get the ones Freeza has as of now," Krillin began, "But we should be able to use the Dragon Radar to find the ones he hasn't found yet."
Gohan nodded and turned the Dragon Radar on. He turned in the direction of the nearest one, which was still pretty far off.
"That one resides in one of the villages that hasn't been attacked yet," Moori commented. "With any luck, it will stay that way, since I destroyed those contraptions they were using to track us. Though, if I could make a suggestion?" The elder pointed in a different direction, where a farther off Dragon Ball was blipping on the radar. "That one is in the hands of Lord Guru, the Grand Elder of Namek. He has the unique power to draw out one's hidden potential. If both of you were to visit him, it might give you better odds against that madman's forces."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Krillin replied. "Will you guys be fine here on your own?" Receiving ready nods from the Namekians and a reluctant one from Bulma, he and Gohan took off again.
Vegeta touched down in a small village, the same one he distinctly remembered pillaging last time. As he walked up to the white domed houses, he was met by the wary stares of the locals.
"Hello," an older Namekian, probably the elder, greeted. "Can we help you, young one?"
"Let's skip the pleasantries," Vegeta drawled. "I need your Dragon Ball."
The elder seemed a bit unnerved, as did the rest of the townspeople. "And would you happen to know anything about the ones that have been taking them from other villages by force?" he asked suspiciously.
"Yes, actually," Vegeta replied. "I'm here to make sure they don't get them all, among other things. And you're lucky I found you before they did. Now, the Dragon Ball."
The elder sighed, no doubt realizing that he could just take it by force if he so chose, and relented. Soon, Vegeta was flying away with another gold starred orb tucked under his arm.
"Hey Krillin? One of the Dragon Balls is moving," Gohan said worriedly.
"Really? Do you think Vegeta's got it?" the monk asked.
"Must be. I don't think anyone else could find it since those other guys had their scouters destroyed."
"Yeah…" Krillin said thoughtfully. "But was Vegeta even wearing one when we saw him?"
Gohan's eyes widened. "You know, I only caught a glance of him, but I didn't see one."
Krillin sighed. "Great. That would mean he's learned how to sense ki too. What else did we inadvertently teach him?"
Gohan shrugged.
It took another hour of flying until they reached their destination, which turned out to be a tall, thin plateau with a single white dome building atop it. Touching down, they were greeted by a tall, young Namekian.
"Hello there," he said with a touch of a smile. "Your kis are pure. It's good to see visitors who aren't here to ravage the planet. Can I help you two?"
"Um, that's actually part of the reason we're here. Do you think we can speak to Lord Guru?"
"Of course. Follow me." Nail led them in, where the Grand Elder welcomed them.
"Hello, young ones. Am I correct in assuming you have need of our Dragon Ball?" he asked.
"That's right," Krillin nodded. "If Freeza gets ahold of it, it'll be really bad for us all. We also have our own wish we need to make. Some friends of ours died recently, and we need to wish them back."
"Very well," Lord Guru complied, as Nail fetched the Dragon Ball and handed it to Krillin.
"Lord Guru Sir?" Gohan spoke up. "Elder Moori said you can also awaken our inner potentials. Do you think you could…?"
"Yes, I sense great potential in you both. Especially you, young saiyan," Guru said. "Come forward."
Krillin went first, laughing in joy as his strength was multiplied several times over. Gohan had a similar reaction when he felt his power reach the level Vegeta's was at on earth.
Their business done, they thanked the Grand Elder profusely. Before they could leave though, the Grand Elder gave them one last piece of information.
"I should mention, there is another saiyan on the planet currently. Would you happen to know of him?"
"Oh, you mean Vegeta. Yeah, we've met the guy," Krillin grumbled.
"Would you happen to know what his motives are?" Nail asked. "Just a couple minutes ago, we sensed him in a village on the other side of the planet, one with a Dragon Ball. He didn't harm anyone, but we want to be sure he isn't hostile, since his power is quite high."
Krillin frowned. "You're saying he left the village without hurting anyone?"
Nail exchanged a look with the Grand Elder before turning back to the two earthlings. "That's correct. Why, is that uncharacteristic behavior for him?"
"You could say that. When he came to earth, half of our friends ended up dead," Krillin replied. "I'm honestly surprised he hasn't killed anyone."
"Then again, he's been acting strange lately," Gohan said, remembering what Bulma had said.
Nail hummed in thought. "While his ki isn't malevolent, it isn't completely pure either. If what you say is true, we'd best keep our attention on him."
"Yeah, you're right," Gohan agreed, as he looked down at the radar. Suddenly, his eyes widened.
"Uh, Krillin? The Dragon Balls that Freeza had...it looks like they've been separated."
"What? Really?" Krillin looked down at the radar in amazement. Sure enough, the four Dragon Balls that Freeza and his army had gathered were now scattered around, far enough away from each other that it would be nearly impossible to find them all without a radar. A fifth one was making its way over to the area in which they were scattered about."
"That must be Vegeta," Gohan deduced.
"Well, he's certainly been busy. Think we can get our hands on those before he finds them, Gohan?"
"Maybe we don't need to, Krillin," Gohan reasoned. "If he wanted to make a wish, he wouldn't have given us that Dragon Ball he had."
"Why is he gathering them at all then?"
"To keep them away from Freeza, maybe?" Gohan suggested. "He probably doesn't want that guy to make a wish either."
Krillin sighed. "I guess you're right. It looks like we're going to have to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't think we can just take those without him noticing anyway."
Thanking Lord Guru and Nail once again, the two took off.
Freeza stood in the middle of a ransacked room, where multiple dead soldiers were strewn about. The room was conspicuously empty of the four Dragon Balls Freeza had placed inside. At the far side of the room was a large, round window with a hole blasted through it.
He had only stepped out for a minute to make a call, but it was as if that blasted saiyan had known the moment he'd left the room. This...was unforgivable.
As soon as the Ginyus arrived with the scouters, that Monkey. Would. Pay.