"Chichi, I'm going round to Vegeta's." a man dressed in baggy orange clothes didn't seem to notice her. He turned around, and gasped.
"Whoa!" he jumped back, startled to find her there. "Uh..." he looked at her. "Hi?"
"My name's Maple." the namek introduced herself.
"Goku."
"Hey, you said Vegeta, right?" Maple began. "Do you mean Prince Vegeta, the saiyan?" she asked.
"Yeah." Goku nodded. "Why, do you know him?"
"Yeah, we go back a few years. Do you know where I could find him?"
"Are you a friend of his?" Goku asked. Maple nodded.
"That's right."
"Funny, he's never mentioned you..." Goku said. But then, Vegeta did have his secrets. "Well I'm going over to his place now. I could take you."
"Thanks." Maple smiled, and let him out. He flew off, she followed closely.
"So, how did you guys meet?"
"When he was a teenager. He landed on my home planet. Well, it was where I lived anyway."
"Gee, he's known you that long? I didn't even know he knew any nameks. You're a namek, right?"
"Yeah. That's right."
~~~
Bulma answered the door. She smiled at the man standing there.
"Oh, hi Goku."
"Hey Bulma. I brought someone." Goku replied.
"Hm?" Bulma looked at Maple. "A namek?"
"A friend of Vegeta's. Let me guess, you're his wife, right?" Maple said.
"Yeah..... he's never mentioned any namek before..." Bulma mumbled.
"Well, we didn't know each other for long. He and his friends just stopped by at our place for a day or two. Frieza wanted to do some business with my mom. Is he here?"
"Y - Yeah, sure. Come in." Bulma stepped to the side and allowed them to enter. "He's in the gravity room."
"Okay, thanks."
~~~
Vegeta stopped training when he heard the door open. He turned around.
"Kakarotto." he addressed him.
"Hi." Goku smiled. Vegeta's head moved to look at the other figure, and when he saw her his eyes widened.
"Wha?!?!" he gasped. "Aren't you - - ?!"
"Hey, you recognize me." Maple smirked. "Well I'm flattered." she folded her arms. "Although, after my sisters and I - AND my brother helped you, it'd be an insult for you to forget us."
"What are you doing here?!" Vegeta demanded. "You're Melanie, right?"
"My name's MAPLE!!!" Maple yelled. "Can't you even remember my name, you moron?!?!"
"Okay, okay. Just tell me what you're doing here!" Vegeta frowned.
"Wait, aren't you two friends?" Goku looked at them.
"He's NO friend of mine!!" Maple snapped. "Not after what he did to my brother!"
"Your brother had it coming. Working for Frieza, he should've known he'd get killed someday." Vegeta argued.
"And you think I don't know that?! We all begged him not to take that job but he wouldn't listen!!" Maple protested.
"Well it's not my fault he was a stubborn idiot! Anyway, he was nothing but trouble! He and all the others - they deserved to die!"
"NO!!!" Maple flew at him. Vegeta cried out as she knocked him to the floor, pinning him down angrily. "You're wrong! Maybe the others deserved death, but my brother didn't! He didn't deserve any of that!!"
"Hey, Maple! Come on, get off him! Who was your bother anyway?" Goku persuaded.
"Her "brother" was Zarbon. Him, her and her sisters, they're all orphans." Vegeta told him. he glared at Maple. "I guess that's something we have in common - thanks to your brother and his gang. Now get off me!!" he pushed her away.
"Hey!" Maple jumped to her feet. "Listen, my brother was a good guy, okay?! He was my best friend and YOU killed him!!"
"Yeah, great guy. Try to find someone else that agrees with you." Vegeta climbed to his feet.
"Hey, guys, can you two just calm down a little? And try to explain just HOW you two got to know each other?" Goku suggested.
Maple frowned at him.
"It doesn't matter how we got to know each other." she shot her eyes back at Vegeta, glaring at him. "We are gonna settle thing RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!!"
"What? You wanna fight me?" Vegeta smirked.
"Lose your tone. If I remember rightly, you were even weaker than my little sister - and she was the weakest out of all of us!" Maple exclaimed.
"That was a long time ago, brat. I'm much stronger now." Vegeta didn't lose his tone.
"Guys, please..." Goku whined.
"Maybe, but you're not much taller." Maple smirked. Vegeta growled, reddening a little.
"You such a little squirt I almost feel sorry for you." Maple continued to irritate him. "Geez, I bet you have trouble getting onto roller coasters."
"YOU - -" Vegeta turned super saiyan. "Whatever, I'll still kill you!!"
"Yeah, right!" Maple powered up.
"Vegeta! Come on, she's just a kid..." Goku said.
"JUST A KID?!?!" Maple yelled, glaring at him.
"H - Hey, I didn't mean any offence..." Goku backed off a little, smiling nervously.
"For your information, I'm older than Vegeta!! Thirteen years older, actually!" Maple growled.
"Really?" Goku blinked. "You don't look it."
"Thanks ^_^"
"Thirteen years older with the maturity level of a thirteen - year - old." Vegeta frowned. "I thought you wanted to avenge your brother."
"I DO!" Maple turned back to him. "THIS is for Zarbon!!" she dove at him. Vegeta dodged. Before Goku could even see it begin they were engaged in one of the most violent battles he'd ever seen.
"Why is it that all my enemies have family?" Goku thought aloud. He sighed. "Okay, you guys, can you calm down now?" he frowned when he noticed that Maple seemed to be winning. But she was holding back her ki.
"You are SUCH a jerk! I can't believe I used to have a crush on you!!!" Maple yelled to Vegeta. Vegeta smirked.
"You had a crush on me?"
"AAAAAAARGH!!!"
Goku's eyes widened when she stopped holding back. She was only just weaker than him! There was about a thousand levels between them.
"Hey!" he was worried now. He flew towards them. "Maple!" he began to fight her just to stop her killing Vegeta.
"Kakarotto! Get outta here! This is OUR fight!!" Vegeta snapped.
"Yeah, and if I leave you're gonna lose it." Goku replied.
"Argh!" Maple stopped suddenly. She looked at them. They were hovering in mid - air, opposite her. "Two against one?" she smirked at Vegeta. "What, you can't even defeat a puny little girl? What was it you said? A little brat?"
"You - -" Vegeta turned his head from her, and glared at Goku. "Get lost! I don't need your help!"
"Have you seen her power level?" Goku insisted.
"Big deal. That's not the point, Kakarotto." he turned back to look at Maple. "This is between me and her. Not you. Not anyone else."
"That's right. Get lost, Plant - head." Maple frowned.
"Listen, is there even any point in you coming here? You honestly don't seem like a bad kid - er... I mean, girl." Goku began. "You clearly just miss your brother a lot, and who can blame you? But this isn't going to bring him back. Nothing you do will, so don't you think you should just go home? I know you're not really like this."
"How do you know me?! Maple demanded. "We've only just met!"
"And already I can tell you don't really wanna kill us." Goku replied.
".... Argh, what do you know?!" Maple yelled. "I came here to avenge my brother and that's what I'm gonna do - even if it means killing BOTH of you!!" she powered up to what Goku assumed was her maximum. They were of equal strength. "I'll never forgive you for what you did!!!" she launched herself at them.