Chapter 3

Krillin had never felt this amazing. He soared through the skies, giddy with excitement and power. Even Namek's monotonous landscape seemed brighter and more colorful to him.

It was so rare that everything went according to plan, no went even better than that. Not only had he and Dende reached the Grand Elder without Vegeta or one of Freeza's men catching them, he had also gotten the last Dragon Ball. Now, as long as he held onto the orb neither Vegeta nor Freeza could summon the dragon and use it for their evil plans. And as a cherry on top, the Grand Elder had unlocked Krillin's hidden potential, giving him power he never dreamed of before.

Okay, maybe he had dreamed of power like this but to see it coming true was just unbelievable.

Krillin chuckled and clutched the Dragon Ball tighter. He finally dared hope again. If he could get Gohan to the Grand Elder, too, and when he arrived in some days maybe even Goku, they'd make a formidable fighting force.

He sped up even more, something that came so easy to him now, and scanned the rock formations ahead for the cave they had settled in. He arrived in almost the same moment he spotted the place and set down lightly right in front of Bulma.

She needed a second to notice him, but then she dropped the magazine she had been reading and jumped back, looking as if she just had a heart attack.

He barely kept from grinning but remembered in time how terrifying Bulma could be when she was mad. "Sorry to have startled you, Bulma. But maybe it'd be safer if you stayed in the cave."

Her glare made him grateful she didn't know how to hurl energy blasts at people. "You really want me to stay locked up in that dingy cave? You know how terrible that place is for my looks?"

Before he could remind her about the capsule house containing plenty of luxuries she had set up in the cave, she noticed the orb in his arms and did a double-take. "Oh, is that a Dragon Ball? Wow, it's so enormous."

He shifted the massive orb forward and presented it proudly. "Yes, they're bigger than the ones on Earth." Maybe that even meant they were more powerful, but he was well aware of how dangerous it was to judge power based on mere appearances. "Say, Bulma, where is Gohan? I have amazing news for him."

She grinned. "He's off to fetch another Dragon Ball. We saw one on the radar and ..."

Krillin frowned and held up a hand to stop her from talking. "There's a ki. Someone's coming."

"Oh, that's probably Gohan coming back."

No, that didn't feel like Gohan ...

Dread formed in his mind. How could he have been so careless? How could he have forgotten about masking his ki? How could he use all of his newfound power without even pausing to think that he was radiating ki like a bright beacon for everyone capable of reading it?

He wanted to tell Bulma to run, to hide in the cave, but it was far too late.

Vegeta flew up to them so quickly, it looked as if he had appeared out of thin air, and landed just a few steps away from them. The state of his armor hinted that he had been in battle not to long ago. One of his shoulder pads was torn off along with the suit underneath but his skin showed not a single scratch, as if he had been healed by the power of a senzu bean, although Krillin doubted that was what happened.

In any case, he seemed in excellent shape, radiating even more power than he had on Earth, and his sneer showed he was all too aware how much his strength dwarfed theirs. "I didn't expect to run into you here, Earthlings. I thought your technology wasn't quite advanced enough for space travel."

Krillin kept staring at him alternating between inwardly screaming at himself for his mistake and lamenting their fate. So was this how he was going to die?

Vegeta didn't seem to mind the lack of response. His grin widened even more as he took it all in. "It was so nice of you to save me the trouble of finding the last Dragon Ball. But keep it safe for a moment, will you? I have some business to finish first. But don't even think of running. Or I'll end not only you but also the woman."

With that, he turned and faced another newcomer. Just a few meters away a tall man whose armor showed quite a bit of his pale blueish skin landed.

By now the voices in Krillin's mind were shrieking. Idiot! How can you be so lost in your own thoughts to miss not one but two kis of such terrible and dangerous people?

First the murderous Saiyan and now one of the monsters he had seen in the entourage of Freeza as they attacked and slaughtered the inhabitants of Dende's village.

"Zarbon," he heard Vegeta greet the other alien in his most mocking tone, but before anyone else could react Bulma grabbed Krillin's shoulder.

"We're saved," she breathed. "Just look at that guy, so handsome. He has to be some sort of hero."

Krillin shivered. "I'm afraid not. You really shouldn't be judging by appearances, Bulma, he ..." He glanced back, saw her smitten expression and realized that nothing he said would get through to her right now.

He sighed and returned his attention to the two combatants who were still appraising each other and exchanging insults. He didn't know whose win would bode worse for him and Bulma. If only they'd just kill or at least incapacitate each other, then they could make a run for it. Both seemed rather confident, though, so that option was not wholly impossible.

"So you really made some allies on your trip to Earth, Vegeta," he caught Zarbon saying. "Lord Freeza suspected as much and when I saw the runt with the Dragon Ball I knew he was right."

Vegeta scoffed and for the first time Krillin found himself agreeing with him. The mere idea of them being the Saiyan's allies was absurd and thinking back to how Vegeta had murdered his own comrade once he had lost his usefulness made it even more unappealing.

"Yoohoo," Bulma called out from behind him and waved towards Zarbon. "We're not with him. On the contrary, if you could go and defeat Vegeta that would be great!"

Krillin flinched, but Vegeta only chuckled at her words while Zarbon looked nonplussed.

"You heard it, Zarbon," the Saiyan said, "get on with it. But do both of us a favor and transform now instead of wasting our time."

The other alien snarled at him and launched into an attack but without changing forms in any way. Krillin didn't care. He wasn't keen on seeing any transformations anyway. His focus lay on survival, not enjoying the spectacle.

He watched the first exchange of blows but as their battle grew fiercer he grabbed Bulma's arm and held the Dragon Ball tightly with his other hand. "Come on," he hissed at her. "We have to run."

"But Vegeta said he'd kill us," she hissed back.

"He'll do that no matter what we do. Come, we have to take that chance."

Dragging Bulma with him he moved away from the cave and then broke into a full run. They didn't get very far before the way ahead burst into flames and shattered rock. Krillin pulled Bulma down and did his best to shield her from debris. When he frantically looked around Vegeta's voice boomed over to them. "I told you to stay where you are!"

Obviously, the fight hadn't been enough to keep the Saiyan busy even though Zarbon used the distraction Krillin had caused to land a few hits. But he couldn't keep Vegeta at bay for long.

Zarbon was beginning to look quite desperate, but just when Krillin expected Vegeta to finish him, he transformed. Judging by Bulma's horrified gasps and disgusted expression that made Zarbon lose all of his appeal in her eyes, but it gave him quite a bit of muscle mass.

The fight was a bit more even now but Vegeta still kept the upper hand. He even explained to Zarbon that every near-death experience gave a Saiyan a big boost in strength which made a lot of Goku's feats more clear in hindsight. Krillin struggled not to feel jealous about it which was not easy at all because this ability would likely contribute to their getting killed today.

Then, just as Zarbon managed to grab Vegeta's head, the Saiyan landed a massive punch on his abdomen. Or rather in his abdomen. Vegeta's fist had shattered Zarbon's armor and was now buried deep within the other alien's guts. Dark blue blood ran down Vegeta's elbow but so far both combatants were still standing.

Krillin swallowed. It was over. He vaguely heard Zarbon's pleading for mercy, for an alliance, anything, but he knew Vegeta wouldn't agree to that, would never spare an opponent the way he had been spared on Earth.

The Saiyan fired an energy blast from his fist that ripped apart Zarbon's insides and tore out part of his spine. In the same fluid motion, Vegeta made a ki wave that hurled the remains into a nearby lake and thus out of sight.

Then he turned towards Krillin and Bulma and smiled. There was an almost feral gleam in his black eyes as he relished in his kill. "Now back to you," he said as he sauntered towards them. "Hand over the Dragon Ball."

Behind Krillin, Bulma cowered even more as if she could remain undetected this way. But this wouldn't work even if she hadn't drawn attention to herself and tried to talk Zarbon into defeating Vegeta before.

Running would do them no good either and fighting wasn't even an option. Krillin contemplated whether reminding Vegeta that he had been at his mercy was a good idea but decided against it. Considering that his first reaction to being spared had been to vow to kill them all, Vegeta might even get angry when this got brought up.

Still, there had to be a better way than just waiting to get killed. "If ... if we give it to you," he began, trying to get his shaking voice under control, "will you promise to simply leave us alone?"

His own audacity surprised him but not as much as Vegeta's chuckle. "Well, fine, why not? I suppose I could let you live for now. It's not like you're in a position to stop me, especially because now I have all the Dragon Balls and I'm going to be immortal when we'll meet again. Immortal and unstoppable. I'll end Freeza and rule the universe in his stead. There'll be plenty of time to take my revenge on Earth then."

That certainly soured the brief moment of relief Krillin had felt, but the odds of getting away without giving up the Dragon Ball hadn't improved one bit and so he walked a few more steps in Vegeta's direction and held up the orb to him.

The Saiyan snatched it away eagerly and for a moment their eyes met. Then Vegeta grinned and launched himself up again, speeding off without another word.

Krillin half waited for him to go back on what he said and hurl an attack at them but nothing came.

Bulma went up to him and clenched her fists. "What did you do? How could you just hand it over? Now he has all the Dragon Balls!"

This time he didn't back down. "He would have just killed both of us and taken it if I had tried to resist. Besides, didn't you say Gohan was off to fetch another Dragon Ball?"

"Gohan! Yes, yes, he was. Oh, no, I hope Vegeta won't find him."

Krillin nodded. "In any case, I think we should prepare to move camp as soon as Gohan comes back. Now that Vegeta knows of this place it's no longer safe here."

He went back towards the cave to pack but Bulma still stood there and looked into the direction Vegeta had flown off. Impatiently he turned back. "What is it now?"

She cocked her head. "I just thought it was strange. When he was on Earth Vegeta sure looked a bit shorter. Now, granted I only saw him on TV and in Urenai Baba's crystal ball and he was with some much taller guy, but it's almost as if he has grown since then. Maybe he ..."

Krillin stopped listening and turned around. This woman was going to be the death of him.