Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN DBZ OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS.
The quartet hurried back to the cave, hopping from rock to rock. Nonoi carried Dende on her, as Gohan and Krillin led the way. As they neared their shelter, Krillin looked towards Gohan with somber eyes.
"Hey, Gohan?," He began. "Do you think coming to Namek was worth it? I mean we can potentially bring back all of our friends, but there's so much danger happening on here...and I feel like at any point we can fail and become another wish or two, y'know?"
Gohan frowned and looked at the bald monk with a similar look in his eyes. "You're right, Krillin. We barely avoided Vegeta and that big pink guy, and they're not even the monsters of their group."
Nonoi watched as the young Saiyan was brought down by his friend's sudden change in mood, frowning as he wiped away small tears. Just twenty minutes ago they were excited and ready to adventure, but it seems the topic of why they were here brought them down. "Perhaps, you should have more faith in yourselves. I doubt your friends died for you guys so you can mope around and become depressed, I believe they entrusted the wellbeing of their lives in your hands in hopes you would accomplish wishing them back." Nonoi sped up, leaving Krillin and Gohan behind. Perhaps some reflection amongst themselves was needed for the Earthlings to understand her point.
Gohan watched as the female Saiyan dashed ahead with Dende on her back, she was faster than anyone he knew besides maybe his father and Vegeta. Gohan stopped dead in his tracks, thinking about what she said. Did Mr. Piccolo truly trust him? Was he entrusted to bring back the green alien? Was Mr. Piccolo's sacrifice more than just protecting him, but him trusting Gohan with the task to bring him back to life?
"Gohan?" Krillin asked concerned, the young boy had suddenly stopped and was just staring down at the ground. Gohan looked up and smiled, waving off any concern Krillin had and continued on trying to catch up with Nonoi. "Look Krillin! We made it!"
Gohan grabbed both Nonoi's and Dende's hands and raced towards Bulma, his other companion from Earth. The quartet stopped in their tracks when Gohan and Krillin noticed the blue-haired woman was missing from the area they left her in, causing them to wonder if she wandered off looking for a dragon ball. "BUULLLLMMMAA!" Gohan called out loudly. "WE ARE BACK!"
"This cave goes deeper, she could've went further as well?" Nonoi asked the duo.
The Earthlings look at each other and sheepishly smiled while shrugging as they walked deeper and deeper into the cave, it became darker and darker the further they went. It was not long before the quartet found a house marked with the words 'Capsule Corp.' across the side. The door opened slightly to reveal their blue-eyed colleague with matching blue hair. Her eyes immediately filled with anger as she stormed out of the house and punched the back of Gohan and Krillin's heads. The sudden and angry appearance of Bulma sent the young Namekian hiding behind Nonoi.
"Where have you two jerks been?!" Bulma yelled. "You dare leave a defenseless daisy like me by myself!"
Krillin rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath, earning him another hit from the enraged blue haired Earthling. Bulma stopped her pounce of Krillin when she noticed her two other visitors. Her eyes widened at the sight. Before Bulma could begin questioning her new guests, Krillin pushed her towards the door. "Before you start your questions, let's go inside. We have been running around for hours now."
"Right." Bulma nodded and raced to get the door.
-Vegeta-
The Saiyan Prince landed in the center of the village he tracked. The Namekian outside of their homes stared at the alien in amazement and gathered around him.
"Greetings," Vegeta said. "According to my sources, this village hosts an item called a dragon ball, right? I would appreciate it if you gave it to me now." The Prince held out his hand to emphasize his request- no his order.
An elderly Namekian shuffled through the group of stunned Namekians, staring the lone renegade in his eyes. "Why should we give it to you? You are nothing more than a stranger." He grumbled.
Vegeta grabbed the elder by the collar and grinned at him. His patience was running thin with this village already, but he couldn't just execute them all without them answering his questions. "I may be a stranger, but I'm nothing compared to the other ruthless and dangerous strangers on this planet, so your best bet is complying with me, old man." Vegeta tossed the elder aside and waited on his compliance.
"No." The elder gasped, rubbing his neck. "You are not worthy of it. My people have capable enough warriors to take down you or anyone else."
The Saiyan Prince frowned in disgust, before chuckling madly. He extended his hand and shot a beam towards the elder, but one of the other Namekians darted forward and pushed him away, taking the blast instead. The village remained quiet as everyone realized the Saiyan was in a different league than all of them.
Vegeta grinned. "Let's see how worthy I am."
-Cave with Z-Fighters, Dende and Nonoi-
Nonoi watched as Gohan and Krillin chowed down on the meal Bulma prepared them, Dende had not touched the food at all. Something was obviously troubling the young boy, but she wouldn't press on it till he was ready to talk. Oblivious to everything else, the other Earthling, Bulma, was busy taking photos and writing notes about Nonoi and Dende, asking random questions every so often.
"Dende, you should eat up. I bet you're hungry from all that running, huh?" Gohan asked as he stuffed his face. The Namekian child shook his head and pushed away the plate. "Namekians don't really need to eat to survive, we can survive purely on water and an occasional fish. The plants around the planet are actually trees, though."
Krillin raised an eyebrow. "So why do you need all those trees?" He asked, wiping his face and heading to the sink.
Dende slouched slightly, before getting up and sitting next to Nonoi, who seemed ready to answer the question, but instead, let him answer. "A long time ago, Namek was fruitful and covered entirely in those beautiful trees, but there was a great time of massive drought. We call that period the Great Drought and it destroyed almost everything from the trees to the majority of the Namekians on this planet. Our grand elder Guru was the only one to survive this and through pure willpower, he gave birth to all the Namekians on this planet. His children from the first generation, or our elders, collected the remaining trees and planted them, giving life back to Namek."
Bulma stopped her notetaking and looked at him, before speaking. "So one Namekian gave birth to you all? Like asexually?" Dende nodded, prompting another question from Bulma, but this time it was directed at Nonoi. "So if they're asexual, are you not a Namekian?"
The female Saiyan shook her head, before answering. "According to Elder Moori, I was rasied on Namek amongst their people, but my home is Planet Vegeta, which belongs to the Saiyans."
A deafening silence fell over the room as she finished speaking. The young Saiyan boy, monk and blue-haired woman stared at her shocked, looking her up and down.
"S-s-s-saiyan?! How is that possible?!" Krillin stuttered out. "How could you end up on Namek?"
"She doesn't seem like the ones we fought on Earth, Krillin. Dende seems to trust her greatly." Gohan said as Dende nodded in agreement. Bulma stood up, grabbed her notepad and sat next to Nonoi. "Remember guys, Goku was the same according to his jerk brother, he was sent to Earth as a baby, maybe that happened as well to her and Namek?" Bulma poked Nonoi's arms and legs, feeling her skin and whatnot.
"Humans and Saiyans are identical in appearances and anatomy...however, Saiyans have tails like you had Gohan and your dad when he was younger," Bulma said, as plucked a piece of Nonoi's hair. "Speaking of...where's your tail?" She asked, but the puzzled look on Nonoi's face answered her question. Bulma continued to scribble on her notepad, as she inspected Nonoi's body. She seemed to have everything a female from Earth would have...the area on her chest seemed to be bigger than the blue-haired woman's though.
"Why are you staring my chest?"
"Oh well, I was just comparing your chest to the average Earth woman's that's all," Bulma answered, blushing slightly. "Well that's all for now, I'm going to use the restroom." So much for average, huh? she thought as she walked away.
Krillin and Gohan watched as Bulma scurried off, looking a bit defeated. Krillin began laughing when he realized why his blue-haired companion looked upset, causing Gohan and Nonoi to raise an eyebrow. "She's jealous of how much bigger your boobs are."
"Boobs? What is that?" Nonoi asked, causing Gohan and Krillin to shift slightly in their seats. Just how oblivious was this woman about her own body?
"Um..well, Ms. Nonoi, that area on your chest would be called boobs or, in a lame man's terms, breasts on Earth." Gohan explained, blushing from embarrassment as she fondled her own chest. It was humiliating enough to explain this to his tutor, but he never felt as embarrassed as he did now.
"So do you guys have breasts as well?" The female Saiyan asked reaching out to touch the bald monk's chest but was stopped by the abrupt return of Bulma. "If we are done with the anatomy lesson, I have some important news you might want to hear. Yamcha said Goku will be arriving on Earth in a couple of days."
Both Gohan and Krillin stared wide-eyed at Bulma, wondering if she had finally lost it from being alone.
"Gohan, go put on some tea. Bulma is sick from being alone for so long." Krillin said, getting up out of his seat and approaching her so she could sit down.
Gohan chimed in, "Yeah Bulma, it seems we can't leave you alone for too long anymore."
"I'm being serious!" Bulma yelled as she punched the bald monk on the head. "He will be here in the coming days."
Krillin whimpered and rubbed the top of his head. He knew Bulma would crack but he didn't think it would be this quickly. He looked at Gohan and shook his head, Bulma was done for.
Gohan extended his hand for Krillin to grab onto and softly spoke, "No, I think she's right. I just know he's coming."
Krillin looked up at the boy and smiled, grabbing onto his hand he lifted himself up and dusted off his pants. If Goku was coming, it's best they started looking for the dragon balls, but the problem with searching was the other scavengers on the planet and they needed all the help they could get. "Nonoi, would you mind helping us look for the dragon balls on this planet?" He asked the Female Saiyan, who was still entranced with her breasts.
"I will help you as long as you don't come off as a threat later, however before we begin how did you guys know there were dragon balls on here?"
Before the bald monk or hybrid could reply, a sudden drop of multiple energies hit them hard. One by one, energies were disappearing, very quickly too. The group of five rushed outside the cave to figure out where and why this was happening.
"I can sense a familiar energy source east of here, it's Vegeta!" Krillin said. "He's after one of the dragon balls it seems, damn it!"
The Namekian whimpered and cowered behind Nonoi. "No." He cried out.
"If he has one right now and if he's still working for that Freeza guy, they have five or six balls now. We have to find one of the last ones fast." Krillin said. He turned to Nonoi and Dende and spoke straight to them. "Do you guys know where the last ball might be?"
"Yes. Grand Elder Guru guards the last ball." Nonoi answered.
"Gohan, you stay here with Bulma." Krillin told the young saiyan. "Nonoi, Dende and I will fly to this Elder guy's place and get the dragon ball."
Gohan nodded and guided Bulma back into the cave. The remaining trio took off in a hurry, the Namekian child leading with Nonoi and Krillin behind, ready to fight off anyone trying to stop their journey.
-Vegeta-
Vegeta grinned. The slaughter of the village was severely easy, their warriors were about as strong as Nappa. The Prince looked on as the village elder struggled to his feet, it was a marvelous sight. The elder of the village surrounded by the bodies and covered in the blood of his brothers, and yet he still remained stubborn. "Am I worthy now? I mean the dragon balls must have recognized my power as supreme and sufficient enough, no? Ah, either way, it doesn't matter what you think anymore." Vegeta blasted the sole surviving Namekian before he could respond. The Prince looked around and counted seven houses, the ball was bound to be in one of them. Starting with the closest house, he found the ball sitting on a pedestal on top of a purplish cushion.
"Well well, they seem to have gift wrapped it for me." Vegeta grabbed the ball and walked over to the nearby water bank, and dropped the ball. He figured hiding the balls would be much smarter than traveling with them all and it would make Freeza's search much harder. He looked back at the carnage that had taken place and smirked, This should be fun.
-Freeza's Ship-
The Galactic Ruler tapped his index finger restlessly, eagerly waiting on the report by Zarbon regarding Dodoria's status. He was a loyal soldier and a valuable member of his army, so any news he has been defeated or even killed would stain Freeza's army and their moral. The thought of anyone being strong enough to defeat Dodoria would force him to be more selective with his resources and who he sends out. I should call Ginyu...no Zarbon is en-
As if on cue, the light blue alien entered into Freeza's main chamber with four other soldiers behind him. All five kneeled before the tyrant before Zarbon stood and began to speak. "Lord Freeza, Dodoria has not returned. I suggest we send out a recovery team to look for him and any other dragon balls on this planet." He said.
Freeza waved Zarbon off. "No need to send a recovery team. Just look for the balls, as well as that pest Vegeta and those two from that village earlier." Zarbon nodded and took his leave, accompanied by the other soldiers. Freeza found no need to search for Dodoria. If the pink brute was alive, he would have returned by now and this was something that Freeza and Zarbon must accept. The only thing that bothered him about Dodoria's death was that his killer was unknown. The brat Vegeta either gained immense strength in the matter of one year or there were warriors on this planet stronger than expected. This should be fun.
-Krillin, Nonoi and Dende-
Krillin and the two Namek natives dashed as fast as they could towards the Grand Elder's house. Krillin wished the flight there would end soon, the silence on the planet scared him a bit. Nothing but the wind could be heard and that seemed deafening now that majority of the Namekians had been massacred.
"Nonoi, how much longer until we get to your Grand Elder?" Krillin yelled towards the female Saiyan.
"Looking at how the suns are positioned, we will be there in two hours, maybe three," Nonoi answered, causing the bald monk to groan in frustration. He couldn't stand flying around on this boring planet any longer. His frustrations soon turned into fear as he sensed a high power level flying towards them. "Nonoi, Dende! Hide!" He yelled, darting behind a rock.
-Vegeta-
Vegeta couldn't help but be curious when he felt three moving energies after he slaughtered that village. He spat in disgust when the three signatures suddenly disappeared. Damn fish again, he thought to himself. His interest was once again peaked when he felt a stronger energy source in the same direction. He stopped in tracks and tried to identify the person he was tracking, smirking to himself when he realized who it was. Seems Freeza let another one of his dogs out of the cage. He dashed off towards his next victim.
-Krillin, Nonoi, and Dende-
Krillin watched as Vegeta flew past them, silently thanking Kami for protection. "Has he found another dragon ball? Can't be that or he would have been going in the other direction, right?" Krillin looked towards Nonoi, who was looking in the direction that Vegeta flew in.
"He seems to be flying in the direction of another high energy source, feels like one of them I sensed from Elder Guru's." Nonoi grabbed Dende and began flying again. "We should hurry before they begin their clash."
"Right!" Krillin followed closely behind her.
-Vegeta-
Vegeta grinned as he confirmed who he had been tracking. There was Zarbon, his prey, ready to be destroyed by the Prince. The light-blue alien seemed to be searching for something, but his search would be put on hold as he came face to face with Vegeta.
"Zarbon, quite interesting to meet you here on Namek." Vegeta mocked. "I would have thought you would be holding Freeza's hand the entire time. Perhaps you've finally grown up and decided to venture the world on your own like a big boy?"
Zarbon scuffed at the Prince. "Remember your tone when speaking to your superior, monkey!"
The Saiyan Prince began to chuckle at Zarbon's remark. "Do you believe you're superior than me?"
"You have always been below me, even your father was below Dodoria and myself brat." Zarbon said, earning another laugh from Vegeta. "What's so funny?"
"Speaking of Dodoria, it seems he and I had a little accident earlier." Vegeta began to smirk, seeing Zarbon get flustered was great entertainment before they began their battle.
"You're bluffing! Dodoria was as strong as me and there's no way he would be defeated by Saiyan scum like you!" Zarbon yelled at the smirking Prince, who took his battle stance.
"Enough talking, let's finish this so I can get on with killing Freeza next." Vegeta said, earning him a laugh from Zarbon.
"A monkey like you defeating Dodoria is more believable than you potentially defeating Lord Free-" The Saiyan Prince moved quickly, kneeing the high ranking commander in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Zarbon quickly tried to counter with a punch of his own, but Vegeta easily dodged it and delivered a series of punches. The light blue alien disappeared from Vegeta's sight and reappeared behind him. He extended his right arm and fired a large beam towards the renegade's back, but Vegeta quickly turned around and swatted it away, a smirk remaining on his face the whole time.
"Interesting enough, Cui put up a better fight than Dodoria and you have so far. Perhaps Cui should have been Freeza's right-hand man?" Vegeta mocked.
Zarbon floated in place, shocked at the level of power Vegeta had displayed. The Prince had easily deflected one his blasts and simply just seemed to be toying with him. Sensing Zarbon's state of shock, Vegeta appeared in front of him in a flash and landed an upwards kick to his chin, sending him flying upwards. When Zarbon looked back down towards where Vegeta had been, Vegeta was already above him. He kicked Zarbon in the head once again, but this time downwards. The merciless Saiyan continued to pounce on him, refusing to let him get up and instead tossed him face first into the dirt.
"This is disappointing Zarbon, I expected more from you." Vegeta scoffed. "You're boring me more than Dodoria did. Give me a fight!"
Zarbon chuckled as he stood up again. "Very well, you ape. I will show something that will increase my power by tenfold!"
"Are you going to turn into a great ape?" Vegeta began laughing. "I'm calling your bluff, but nonetheless I will indulge your little remark. Go on."
Zarbon let out a small roar as his body began to swell up. His chest began to bulge in muscle as his once handsome face began to distort and twist into something unbearable. I might look ape-ish, but I'm far stronger now brat!, he thought to himself.
Vegeta was left astonished at the alien's transformation. "No wonder you don't use this transformation, you look more brutish and ugly than Dodoria." Vegeta laughed, annoying Zarbon even more.
"Laugh it up Vegeta because, in a couple of minutes, you'll be begging me to stop beating you."
Zarbon dashed at Vegeta and plowed his knee in his stomach, causing Vegeta to double take. Zarbon refused to let up however and pulled the Prince towards before clotheslining him. Wrapping his arms around Vegeta's head, he kneed him repeatedly in the face before tossing him aside.
Vegeta struggled to his feet but remained defiant. "I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!" He declared, blood trickling down his face as he created an aura around his body.
Zarbon remained relentless and took this opportunity to unleash a barrage of kicks and punches at Vegeta. Vegeta tried to dodge, but the Freeza Force soldier was too quick for him. Vegeta received another punch in the stomach from Zarbon and was tossed into the air, a volley of blasts being fired at him as well. Vegeta regained his posture and desperately tried to avoid being hit by the blasts and fired off a blast Zarbon, who effortlessly knocked the blast away. Zarbon speed blitzed Vegeta once again and planted his knee into his Vegeta's gut once again.
"I want a real fight, Prince! Fight back, so I can enjoy breaking you down!" Zarbon boasted, jumping backward and taking a fight stance.
Vegeta and Zarbon charged at each other at full speed. Zarbon's massive arms slamming into Vegeta's head. He grabbed the Saiyan's head and began to headbutt him over and over, before locking him into a guillotine hold. "I may be hideous, but this form gave me enough power to destroy you."
The Prince began to jab at the brute's stomach over and over with his free hand, successfully loosening his grip. The renegade floated away from the coughing alien. I can't win this battle yet, he thought as he watched Zarbon cough up blood.
Quick to recover, Zarbon rushed once again towards Vegeta and landed a dozen heavy strikes to Vegeta, followed by a powerful punch to the head. He wrapped his arms around Vegeta and flew straight downwards, much to the screaming Prince's displeasure. "It's about time I finished this." He let the screaming Saiyan go and watched as he landed with an explosion that created a giant crater.
Water quickly began to fill the crater as the few rocks separating the rivers split apart. The flooding crater started to submerge Vegeta. "Only water and no corpse, hmmph. Even if he did survive, he will drown from all that water." Zarbon said as he landed on a nearby grassland. Smirking to himself, he began to revert to his original form. "I should go report this and what Vegeta said to Lord Freeza at once."
*END*HEY THANK YOU FOR READING THE FOURTH CHAPTER. IS THE PACING ALRIGHT? I ADDED MORE DETAIL TO IT. LET ME KNOW! THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE REVIEW, FOLLOW AND FAVORITE! CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS ALSO WELCOMED! BYE