A month after their voyage, the gang from Earth had finally made it to Namek. All were in awe of how pretty and green it was. After a couple minutes of admiring the planet, Bulma made everyone take a seat so they could land. The landing was pretty rough, especially for Tien who didn't have a seat.
"Alright. We made it." said Bulma. She walked over to a panel on the other side of the room. "Alright, before we go out, I need to check the planet's atmosphere. It'd be a miracle if there's oxygen but just in case, I brought some masks that'll give us some time. Oh, I just realized I don't have a mask for you Tie-" She turned her head to see everyone had already left the ship.
"Wow, this looks a lot like the place Mr. Piccolo and uncle Raditz trained me." said Gohan as he noticed the similarities in the terrain.
"Yeah, now that I think about it, this does look similar to where we fought the saiyans." said Krillin as he was taking in the sights. "Think he was following some sort of instinct?"
"Do you guys have any sort of common sense in those thick heads of yours?!" screamed Bulma as got out of the ship. "What were you thinking coming out here without knowing if the atmosphere is breathable?!"
"Geez, calm down Bulma. It all worked out fine didn't it?" said Yamcha as he put his hand on Bulma's shoulder, who responded to smack it away.
"For Kami's sake, there had better be dragon balls here." growled Bulma as she pulled out the dragon radar.
At the same moment the dragon radar picked up on 4 dragon balls, Gohan and Tien took notice of several powerful energies quite a ways away.
"Ah! A signal! There are dragon balls!" shouted Bulma in excitement. Her, Yamcha and Krillin started dancing around in excitement.
"Um, Krillin? I sense some powerful energy over there." said Gohan as he pointed in the opposite direction the dragon balls were.
Both Krillin and Yamcha stopped and focused, realizing it was true. "Yeah, there's quite a lot of them too."
"Oh come on guys, I'm sure it's just some namekians." said Bulma, not understanding what they could sense. "Considering how strong Kami and Piccolo, I'm sure these guys are pretty strong too."
"Yeah, but this energy. It feels.. Vile. Dangerous even." said Tien. His fist clenching as he's reminded of the time he fought King Piccolo and his minions.
"Oh come on, I'm sure you're overreacting. King Kai said that namekians are peaceful by nature, just like Kami." said Bulma, turning in the direction the dragon balls are. "Come on, there are 4 dragon balls over in that direction. We should go and introduce ourselves."
"Yeah, I'm sure it has to be namekians. There's no way the saiyans recovered that quickly." said Yamcha, choosing to believe Bulma.
Gohan stiffened as he was the first to notice a new energy and turned around, looking at the sky. His eyes widened as he saw 2 familiar pods coming down from the sky in the distance. Everyone else had the same response as they saw the pods as well.
"H-Hey guys? Why do those meteorites look so familiar?" asked Bulma as she backed up in fear.
"Those aren't meteorites." said Gohan as anger and fear started welling up inside him, his hands trembling.
"Those are saiyan spaceships!" shouted Krillin.
"What?! Are you sure?" asked Yamcha as he looked at his comrade and then back at the ship.
"That's impossible! There's no way they recovered from those injuries that fast!" growled Tien as he pressed to his chest tightly.
"Guys! Lower your power so he doesn't recognize us!" shouted Krillin. The other 3 fighters nodded and weakened their energies.
"Damnit, it has to be the saiyans. There's no mistaking that power." said a frightened Yamcha, still looking in the direction of where the saiyans landed.
"W-What do we do? The only thing we can do now is to go back to earth, right?" asked Bulma as she crawled backwards towards the ship.
"If they get their hands on the dragon balls, it's all over for us. Bulma, let everyone else know what's going on and then leave us behind." ordered Krillin. "We have the dragon radar so we'll have the advantage."
"Whatever you say. I'll let Roshi know what's happening and head back to grab Goku, then come back here." Bulma got to her feet as started moving to the ship. "The round trip should take roughly 2 months. Sit tight, okay?"
Krillin and Yamcha both laughed nervously. "2 months. Got it."
Over where Nappa and Vegeta landed, the saiyans climbed out of the pods. Vegeta pulled out a scouter and started putting it on. "Freeza, you rotten bastard. I won't let you take the dragon balls that are rightfully mine."
"I'm sure Cui told Freeza about our betrayal. That means he'll have us killed if he finds us." said Nappa as he stretched his arms. "What's the plan?"
"Hmph. We'll have to keep our distance for now. We gather whatever dragon balls we can and swipe the ones Freeza has when the chance shows itself." answered Vegeta. "To think I'd need to use a scouter again."
Nappa took notice of that comment but once again didn't bring it up, simply tapping his scouter and reading the power levels it catches. "Looks like he's over there. And he's brought Zarbon and Dodoria with him."
"Good. Now let's make sure to humiliate him for everything he's ever done to us." said Vegeta as the 2 of them flew away from their pods.
Back with the Earth gang, Bulma was explaining the situation to Roshi with a radio setup she had ready. While she was doing this, Gohan once again felt another large energy show up. Everyone else noticed too and looked to see yet another spacepod enter the planet's atmosphere and crash down far away.
"W-What?! Why is there another one coming?!" screamed Bulma as she accidentally hung up on Roshi.
"That's what I wanna know." answered Krillin.
"I don't understand, why is there another spaceship if there are only 2 saiyans?" asked a panicked Yamcha.
"Yeah, didn't you say the rest of the saiyans were wiped out a long time ago?" Tien asked both Krillin and Bulma.
"O-Okay, well I'm heading back to Earth now, so good luck! I'll come back with Goku as fast as possible." said Bulma as she started moving back to the ship.
"Bulma, wait!" shouted Gohan. Bulma turned to Gohan, unsure what he'd have to say. "Could you leave my uncle's scouters here with us?"
"Oh yeah! I forgot I had those." Bulma started digging through her pockets and equipment to see where she left them.
Tien was the one this time to notice energy approaching, but not from the sky this time. "Guys, someone's coming."
Bulma shrieked and hid behind on of the legs of the ship. "Is it a saiyan?!"
"No, this doesn't seem as strong as either of the saiyans' strength." said Yamcha, trying to calm things down.
"Maybe it's a namekian?" asked Krillin as he looked to where the energy was coming from.
From around the corner of a large rock formation, 2 figures who didn't look like saiyans walked out, wearing similar armor that the saiyans were wearing.
"Those don't look like namekians!" screamed Bulma as she hid behind the ship's leg again.
"They don't look like namekians. What in the world are they?" asked one of the figures. From the distance they are, the 2 figures couldn't hear the gang from Earth and vice-versa.
"It doesn't really matter does it?" said the other figure. "We were given orders to kill anyone on the planet."
"Guys, look at what they're wearing. Aren't those the same uniforms the saiyans were wearing?" asked Yamcha, who was already in a defensive stance.
"Yeah, but they don't look at all like saiyans." said Tien, also in a defensive stance. "What do you think that means?"
"I don't know. But whatever it means, I've got a bad feeling about it." said Krillin.
"Y-Yeah, no matter how you look at it, they don't look friendly at all." said Bulma, peeking out from her hiding spot.
The 2 figures started flying up and getting closer to the gang and their ship. "Look at that, their power level is garbage. They tourists yet?"
"Guys, start building up your energy, but don't go all out." said Krillin quietly. Everyone nodded.
"It won't be any fun if they get away. take out their ship first." ordered one of the soldiers to the other.
"Sounds like a plan." said the other soldier as he aimed a weapon mounted on his arm at the ship and firing an energy beam into the cockpit, destroying the controls.
"The ship!" shouted Gohan in fright. He turned to the soldiers and grit his teeth. He launched himself at them and kicked the soldier with the gun at the other soldier, knocking them out and seeing them drop into the water. He pants as he calms down and lowers his power again.
"What the heck, Gohan?! You might have given us away!" shouted Krillin.
"Well, it doesn't seem anyone else is coming for us." said Tien as he was looking around.
"Oh, it's hopeless. It's over! We're never getting back to Earth." said a sulking Bulma.
"Maybe we should get out of here. Someone stronger might show up." said Krillin.
"He's right. That energy we sensed earlier might be the saiyans' friends." said Tien.
Yamcha grabbed onto Bulma's shoulders. "Don't worry, I'm sure the namekians can fix the ship."
"Gee, how optimistic of you. Fine, let's just get out of here quickly." said Bulma, packing the radio equipment into a capsule.
Gohan was staring into the water where the soldiers fell in and likely drowned by now. "Actually, I'm gonna stay here for a bit. You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up."
Krillin looked at Gohan and looked a little concerned. "I don't think that's a smart idea. It's best if we stick together." After seeing Gohan stay silent and stare into the water, he nodded and turned to the others. "Alright, let's go."
"But what about Gohan? We're really letting him stay here?" asked Bulma.
"He'll be fine. He knows how to defend himself. He's Goku's son after all." said Yamcha.
As Bulma stared at Gohan for a few moments, a hint of doubt entered her as she went with the other to a new location, the ship put inside a capsule. "That's what I'm afraid of."
Meanwhile, Vegeta and Nappa were standing in a clearing, looking face to face with Cui. Both Vegeta and Cui looked quite happy, but Nappa was only worried, unaware that Vegeta was hiding something.
"Well well, Vegeta. It looks like the time has finally come to put our rivalry to an end. Though with that power level, I don't think you'll be putting up much of a fight." said Cui as he was using his scouter to gauge the energy of the saiyans. "Though it looks like Nappa's increased in strength quite a bit in the last year."
Nappa grits his teeth and prepares to fire a sneak attack, but Vegeta holds out his arm to stop Nappa. "Rivalry huh? Well if this is our final encounter, I see no reason in holding back a new trick I learned on Earth."
Cui simply started laughing. "And what might that be? Running away?"
Vegeta smirked and narrowed his eyes. "The ability to manipulate my power at will." He got clenched his fists and the air around them felt a little more pressurized.
Both Nappa and Cui had the same reaction to this. "Manipulate your power? What are you talking?" asked Cui as he started feeling a bit nervous.
"That's right, Cui. Why don't you take a look at that fancy scouter of yours and tell me if we're still evenly matched." ordered Vegeta.
Cui used his scouter and widened his eyes as he saw saiyan prince's energy rise up higher and higher, trembling in place as he was seeing it keep rising up. "How is this possible?! You and I have always been evenly matched!"
"Did you think us saiyans were always gonna be on the same level as you trash?! We've seen combat you could never have dreamed of! The battle on Earth nearly took my life!" shouted Vegeta, grinning at how Cui was responding.
Nappa was just staring at Vegeta in awe, amazed that someone who's dreaded Freeza was suddenly raising his power beyond that of Zarbon and Dodoria, Freeza's right hand men."
Cui looked on in horror as Vegeta's power continued to raise. So much so that his scouter exploded off his own head. "W-Wait a minute! What if we teamed up?! I'm sure with the 3 of us, we could be unstoppable! I never even liked Lord- I mean Freeza!"
"You're such a pathetic creature Cui, hiding behind your blatant lies. You sicken me." Vegeta said as he finished pushing his power to its limit.
Cui grumbled as he had to do something fast. "I-It's no lie, I promise you. You have to believe me, Vegeta!" He turned his eyes past Vegeta. "Ah, Lord Freeza!"
Both Nappa and Vegeta fell for the trick and looked behind them, seeing absolutely nothing behind them. Cui used this opportunity to fire a flurry of attacks at the saiyans with everything he had.
After he finished attacking, Cui looked at the destroyed and smoking terrain and no sign of the saiyans. "Heh heh heh. I don't care how powerful you've gotten, there's no chance you're getting back up after an attack like that head-on."
"Hmph, in your dreams. That was a pretty pathetic attack, even for you." said Vegeta. Cui whipped his head around to see both Nappa and Vegeta behind him, Vegeta holding onto his underling as he moved him out of the way. "If my power has risen, obviously my speed has grown as well. All that pitiful excuse of a sneak attack did was piss me off."
Cui looked in horror as the saiyans didn't even have a scratch on them. He knew that he stood no chance against them at this rate and immediately started flying away.
"I'm not letting you get away!" shouted Vegeta, flying after Cui and catching up with ease, getting in front of the pathetic soldier. Vegeta slammed his fist against Cui's stomach viciously and send him flying upwards. He then aimed his hand up at Cui and much like the saibaman he killed on Earth, made him self-destruct in heaping explosion.
Nappa caught up to Vegeta and looked a little shook, never having seen Vegeta us this kind of power. "What the heck was that? What happened on Earth that made you gain this much power?"
Vegeta looked at his hand, looking excited at how powerful he's become. "Let's just say I owe Kakarot my thanks for all this. I never thought I'd have the chance to take out Freeza's men. Who knows, I just might spare his planet and just take his life."
Nappa chuckled a bit. "Well, I guess we got nothing to worry about then, huh? If we pick off his men one by one, we can get our wish for immortality easily!"
Vegeta looked at his underling with a smile. "Not a bad idea. What better way to humiliate Freeza than to kill his soldiers AND take the dragon balls from him. I made the right choice keeping you around." Now come on. We've got work to do."
The Earth gang had been walking for quite some time. The fighters of the group were doing fine but Bulma looked pretty tired and was lagging behind.
"Come on, Bulma. If we don't hurry, they're gonna find us for sure." ordered Krillin.
"Can't you guys fly? Why don't you just grab on to me and fly to somewhere safe?" asked Bulma, looking out of breath.
"We would, but flying takes too much energy." answered Tien, who would know since he was the first to know before even Goku about the flying technique. "They'd be able to track us if we were to fly. They can't if we walk."
Yamcha, who was at the head of the pack noticed a cave not too far away. "Guys, look! A cave, straight ahead! There's no way they'll see us in there."
Bulma continued to whine as she was forced to take this accommodation. "Awe man, how long am I gonna be stuck in this place?"
As they got right to the cave entrance, Tien sensed the energy from a group of beings not all that far from them. "Hey Krillin, you feel that?"
Krillin looked where Tien was and also sensed it. "Yeah, and it feels different from what we felt before. Maybe this time it is a namekian."
Before they continue, Gohan was running at them rather quickly, his power still lowered to avoid attention. "Everyone, hide!"
Before they were able to ask Gohan what he meant, Gohan grabbed onto everyone and pulled them inside the cave. Bulma groaned as Yamcha had fallen on top of her and sat up. "What the heck was that about Gohan?"
Mere moments after saying that, a large number of beings flew past the cave at frightening speeds. Even after the last of them had past, everyone was shaken with fear. "W-What on Earth was that?" asked Bulma.
"Geez Gohan, how did you know about that so quickly? I only sensed them the moment you pulled us into the cave." asked Krillin.
Gohan panted as he looked up. Everyone noticed 2 things about him: his clothes were dripping wet and he was wearing a scouter. "Uncle Raditz taught me how to use one of these. I took them both from those guys I attacked and saw powerful people heading your way. So I ran as fast as I could without raising my power."
Gohan also seemed to look completely panicked by something else as well. "Hey, Gohan. What's the matter with you? You look a little shaken up." asked Tien.
"Bulma, can you check the dragon radar? I think those guys might have taken the dragon balls." said Gohan, still trembling.
Bulma looked pretty confused and looked at the radar, seeing the 4 dragon balls that were bunched together on the move, in the same direction as the guys who flew past a moment ago. "Yeah, you're right. All 4 of them are on the move with those guys. But why does that have you shaken up?"
"You guys probably would have noticed anyway if I hadn't distracted you and pulled you in, but 3 of those guys are even stronger than the saiyans." Gohan grabbed onto his shirt as he tried to calm himself down.
Everyone went wide-eyed and screamed in unison. "What?!"
"So Vegeta isn't even the worse of them? Who the heck are these guys?" cried out Yamcha, doing his absolute best to not completely freak out.
"Hold on, they're going right for another dragon ball." said Bulma, getting everyone's attention. "What's going on? Do they have a radar too?"
"Where's the location?" asked Krillin.
Bulma pointed in the direction of where the aliens flew. "About 14 kilometers in that direction."
"Ah, that's where we sensed the energy of what we thought might be namekians!" shouted Tien.
Krillin looked in that direction and a drop of sweat slid down his forehead. "I have a bad feeling about this. If those guys are Vegeta's friends, then I don't like what might happen to those namekians. I'm going to check things out."
"Yeah, I'm going too!" said Gohan, having calmed down and now full of determination.
"Count me in too." said Tien.
"Whoa, hey! You're just gonna leave me here?!" shouted Bulma, who was both scared and angry at this prospect.
"Where we're going, it's too dangerous to bring you along." says Krillin as he changes into his gi.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll stay here and guard Bulma. You guys just be careful out there." said Yamcha.
Bulma grumbled but knew they were right. "Alright, I guess this is for the best. I'll set up a capsule house in the cave."
"Alright. Tell Master Roshi what's going on." said Krillin. He turned to the others. "Alright, make sure to keep your power levels low as we move quickly."
Both Tien and Gohan nodded. "Right!"
All 3 of them started making giant leaps across the area, making quick progress in getting to where the dragon balls are, unaware of the full terror of what they're about to find.
First chapter of Namek finally done. Gotta say, this one was pretty fun to right as I got to take quite a few creative liberties without ruining the story. Also, to clarify 1 thing, I've written Gohan to be more violent because of his training with Raditz, making those rare violent spurts from him become more common. Also, I skipped on writing the Freeza dialogue of the chapter for 2 reasons: firstly because this dialogue would hardly change anything to the story other than a few words and it would make a better start to his character in this series where the heroes first see his terror. Anyway, that's all from me. You know what to do at this point. See you in the next installment of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.