The day was silent. The only sound that could be heard was the small humming noise uttering from his throat. All else was still and quiet.
Suddenly, Piccolo's eyes shot open as he heard a loud, banging sound. Like an explosion. He looked towards the direction of the noise. He could see smoke in the distance. "What the - ?" he flew up a few metres off the ground, and tried to see where the smoke was coming from. What was that? A ship? Great. Another one of Goku's "friends." Well, if they crash - landed they couldn't be much of a threat. But it was still worth checking out. He headed towards the smoke.
~
The smoke was starting to clear when he landed in front of the ship. Yes, it was a ship. A pretty battered one. He made his way towards it, being careful not to inhale too many fumes. It was a very small ship, the smallest one he'd seen. Surprisingly, the door was already open. Piccolo leaned in, and looked around. There was nobody there.
"What is this? Some kind on hoax?"
He pulled out, and examined it. There were no other parts. In the front of the ship there was a control panel and a monitor. There was also a seat and a bed. Nothing else. That was all there was to it. It was round with wheels on the bottom. Well, they were meant to be wheels, but obviously they hadn't worked. Piccolo knelt down, and could just see where they'd attempted to come out. But the ship had already crashed.
"Hm." Piccolo frowned in confusion. He wanted to leave, but his unsatisfication made him stay there. Come on, this thing had to have a driver. Where had they gone?
*cough*
"Huh?" Piccolo turned his head, and could faintly see someone through the smoke which hadn't yet fully cleared away. He walked over to them.
He was surprised at what he saw. A girl. Well, a young woman. She was sat down, her legs bent slightly in front her She had her arms wrapped around her knees. She had a few cuts, but she was mostly just a little dirty. Patches of black ash were spread about over her. She was - was she a namek?!?! There were antennae on her head and she had lime green skin. On her bare arms were pink patches of hard skin, like Piccolo had. Her bare stomach, like Piccolo's, was smooth, but she didn't have any pink skin at all on it. And the green skin on her arms looked hard like Piccolo's, but the skin on her bare legs was smooth. These were the first two out of four differences between her and Piccolo. The third was that she had hair. Black hair with purple highlights that had been tied back in a ponytail. And... she had breasts. Piccolo didn't know nameks could look like that. But she definitely was one. Wasn't she asexual? Or maybe nameks could look female just like they looked male.
She coughed through the fumes and covered her mouth and nose to stop her inhaling any more. She stood up, and ran out of the smoke. Piccolo followed her at a walking pace.
He stopped a few feet behind her. She had her back turned to him. She cough a little more and started to breath in the oxygen. Then, she put her arms down by her side.
"Phew." she uttered, and looked over her shoulder at him. Piccolo stared at her. She had an innocent and friendly smirk on her face as she looked at him. Yes, a smirk. It wasn't as sweet as a smile. She wore a kind of mischievous expression. She wasn't surprised by him, so obviously she'd known he was there. Her eyes, he noticed, were another difference. They were shaped the same as him, but were blue. He noticed that she had a fringe. Her antennae poked up through it, pushing her fringe in such a way the hairs seemed to be "leaning" against them. She was also dressed differently. She wore black running shorts and a black crop top. Showing a lot of her legs, her arms and stomach. But her shoes were the same as his, funnily enough.
"Hi." she turned around fully to face him, smiling in a welcoming way.
"Er.... hi..." Piccolo was a little surprised by how casual she was. "Who are you?" was his first question. "An enemy of Goku?"
"Goku? I've never heard of him." the girl replied. "My name's Maple."
"Maple?" it didn't sound very namekian.
"Mm - hm." Maple nodded. "What's yours?"
"Wait, first, what did you come here for?" Piccolo replied.
"Hm. Not very friendly, are you?" Maple folded her arms. "I have a little business, that's all. First, tell me your name. And then, tell me where I can find Vegeta."
"Vegeta?" Piccolo repeated.
"Yeah. I heard he came here a few years ago."
"Yeah, over twenty years ago. You're a little late." Piccolo said.
"Well it's hard to track someone like him down." Maple frowned. "Anyway, are you gonna help me?"
"That depends on what you want to find him for." Piccolo answered sternly. "Who are you? You're a namek, right?"
"Yeah. Hey, aren't nameks asexual? What do you look like a guy for?" Maple questioned.
"Huh?! Hey, you're the only namek I've ever seen who doesn't look male! So you are asexual?"
"Of course. All nameks are. Don't you know that?" Maple started to walk away.
"Of course I know that!!" Piccolo growled, catching up to her.
He followed her as she walked.
"Just tell me what you're doing here. Where do you come from, anyway?"
"An orphanage. The Samedin orphanage. Have you heard of it? It's on Planet Zeek."
"No. I've never heard of either of them." Piccolo said.
"Oh. Well, my mom - foster mom, that is, owns the Samedin orphanage. I'm one of her adopted children. There's me, my two sisters and my brother." Maple explained.
"You mean there are more female nameks?!" Piccolo gasped.
"No. My sisters and brother are adopted, too. My little sister, Leela, is a saiyan. And my twin brother and older sister are blood - related. They're zacrimanians."
"A saiyan?! That's why you wanted to find Vegeta?"
"No, Leela has absolutely nothing to do with it." Maple answered. "It's Zarbon I'm here for."
"Huh?" Piccolo stopped. He stared after her as she continued walking. "Did you say Zarbon? Hey!" he ran and caught up with her again. This time, he stepped in front of her. Maple stopped, and raised her head to look at him. She only came up to the top of his chest.
"What?" she asked.
"You said Zarbon, right?" Piccolo checked.
"Yeah. Heard of him?"
"Of course. He worked for Frieza." Piccolo replied.
"That's right." Maple nodded.
"Sorry, but you're a little late. He died over twenty years ago, too." Piccolo told her.
"Yeah, I know. By Vegeta's hand." Maple said.
"How did you know that?"
"We were told." Maple went around him and carried on walking.
"Wait!" Piccolo ran in front of her again. "By who?"
"I can't remember, it was long time ago. Either Frieza or someone on his ship contacted us. Told us that Vegeta murdered my brother."
"So I guess that's why you're here, right? To avenge him?" Piccolo assumed.
"Gee, it didn't take you long. So you know where I can find him?" Maple asked.
"Yeah, but I'm not gonna tell you. Your brother was a jerk. Him and his gang of freaks killed almost every one of us." Piccolo frowned.
"WHAT did you say?!?!"
"Huh?!" Piccolo stepped back, wide - eyed in surprise in the sudden look of anger on her face. Maple glared at him.
"Don't EVER insult my brother again, GOT IT?!?!" she yelled.
"U - Uh..." Piccolo was suddenly speechless.
"Hmph!" Maple walked past him with her nose in the air. Piccolo shook his head, and turned around.
"Hey, just wait a minute!" he ran after her yet again. This time, he grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.
"I don't care if he was your brother, kid, he was still an enemy of mine. And if you're gonna go round causing trouble for that pansy then you'll have to fight me!" he growled.
"Oh, really?" Maple raised an eyebrow. "And do you know just how high my power level is compared to yours?"
"Hm?" Piccolo realized that she was holding back her ki, he couldn't sense any of it. "Ah, who cares? She's just a kid. How strong can she be?"
"Yeah, whatever. I'd like to see you try to even hurt me, brat." he smirked.
"Oh, well if you really want to." Maple shrugged. She threw a single punch, and knocked him out.
Piccolo fell to the floor. Maple looked down at him.
"Told you so." she smirked, and chuckled, and flew off.