Chapter 14

"Well, Jeice, it looks like everything's good to go here. The dragon balls are practically calling my name. Come on. Let's get a head start before the Earthlings even bother."

Jeice stood there, unsure of himself. Vegeta, now in Ginyu and Goku's former body, was propped up against the side of a cool, eerie cave that Jeice had found while Ginyu was gone. The force member had wanted to dispose of Vegeta so badly, but knew it was unwise to do so without Captain Ginyu's command.

"What about Vegeta, Cap'n?" Jeice asked. "He escaped back on Namek and he can do it again. Why not just kill him?"

"That would be absurd, Jeice!" said Ginyu. "While I'm fine with Vegeta's body now, I'm going to want to return to the old body later. Vegeta may have somehow been able to one up me this time, but Goku's body has much more potential."

Jeice, still unsure of the whole dynamics of body switching, simply nodded. "So I'll stay here and keep an eye on him, mate."

Ginyu shook his head. "He won't be getting up anytime soon. I know Goku managed to come back after I injured myself on Namek, but I made sure to hit harder this time. No doubt there's plenty of internal bleeding going on, but he's a Saiyan. He'll stay long enough for me to get his body back to a regen tank on one of Frieza's planets."

"And the boy?"

"Don't worry, Jeice. He's safe and sound." Ginyu turned around and peered at the little dot that was actually a large boulder he and Jeice placed over the entrance of another cave across the way. "Time to do the same to Vegeta."

Ginyu flew over to a large boulder several hundred feet away to pick it up and carry it back, placing it over this cave entrance. He patted the dust off his hands before looking down at his attire. Usually, Vegeta wore some sort of spandex suit to train and full Saiyan armor with crotch guards while fighting. Well, I gotta admit I was a little upset to find him in Earthling clothes, but I can't risk changing into my Ginyu Force uniform now.

Even during the most serious of times, Ginyu had no choice but to think about style. An image of him and the entire force flashed through his mind before he turned back to Jeice.

"Come on. Let's get moving." Jeice nodded and the two sped off into the air.

Ginyu snatched the dragon radar out of his pocket and pressed the large button on the top. The device immediately started beeping. It took a moment for Captain Ginyu to figure out what this really all meant, but he was quick to find out where he and Jeice were on the coordinates. He studied it for another few seconds, trying to decide where the closest dragon ball would be to them.

"Veer a little to the right and follow me, Jeice," Ginyu ordered. Jeice nodded and proceeded to follow the man as he sped across the sky.

It was a good twenty minutes before Ginyu and Jeice reached their destination. Ginyu found himself floating directly above a large lake.

"What's wrong, Captain?" Jeice asked, a little worried.

"According to this radar, the dragon ball should be right where we are right now." The man peered down at the lake with a grin. "I get it now."

With one hand, he sent a series of ki blasts down into the water and watched as it erupted onto the land. The lake was nearly empty of all water by time he was done. Ginyu grinned as he slowly flew down to the bottom of the pit. Jeice was close behind.

Both men started looking around the area in search of an orange ball, but there appeared to be none in sight. Ginyu started cursing. "Damn radar must not be working right!" He was about to throw it hard against the ground in frustration, but Jeice stopped him.

"Check underground," Jeice told him.

Ginyu sighed before placing his fist in the muddy substance below. He tried hard to cause an explosion with his ki, but it wasn't working out too well. The ground was much too wet and he only caused a small amount of mud to splash into his face. Cursing again, Ginyu wiped his face out as best as he could and started furiously digging away at the mud.

He turned to Jeice. "Don't just stand there, Jeice! Help me!" Jeice quickly crouched down and began digging away at the mud with Captain Ginyu. After several minutes of this, the two had managed to dig a huge hole. Ginyu was just about ready to give up when Jeice struck something hard with his hand. He excitedly pulled it out and wiped a bit of mud off of it.

The first thing the pair noticed was the stars, letting them know that it was indeed a dragon ball. The second thing they noticed was how small it was.

"What the hell?" Ginyu stated. "That little thing is a dragon ball?"

"Apparently, Captain," said Jeice. "Guess they make their balls smaller here on Earth."

Jeice laughed at his own joke before Ginyu slapped him on the back of the head. It killed Ginyu to ruin his good shirt, but he wiped off the rest of the mud with it, revealing the shiny exterior of the dragon ball.

"What now, Captain?"

"What do you mean, 'what now?' We keep looking for the rest of the dragon balls."

"What about the Earthlings?" Jeice asked. "They still think you're Vegeta. Since he's working with them, they're going to expect you to turn the dragon balls over to them. If you don't, you mentioned that they have a dragon radar of their own. They'll be able to track where the dragon balls are."

Ginyu sighed, thinking about what he was going to do now. Jeice was right. It definitely was a disadvantage that the Earthlings knew where the dragon balls were at all times, but it was simply something he'd have to work around.

"Don't worry about it, Jeice. I've got things under control. I'm going to look for a few more dragon balls on my own. Head back to the city and find that case of money and return it to the space pods. I'll meet you there as soon as I can."

Jeice nodded before turning around and taking off, leaving Ginyu in solitude.


"Looks like we've already got a dragon ball moving," said Krillin, staring at the dragon radar.

"Vegeta moves fast," Piccolo responded. "For our sake, I think we should be moving faster. I know I've said this before, but I'll say it a million times. I don't trust Vegeta. You were pushed into an alliance temporarily back on Namek, but it's time to let him go. You know he's only going to end up trying to screw us over when it comes down to it."

"We only have one thing on our side, really," said Krillin. "Vegeta hates Frieza and will do anything in his power to bring him down. We both have a common interest at the moment. Plus, I don't like the idea of being unprotected in case any of Frieza's men decide to show up. Believe me. I don't like Vegeta either and I still wonder why Goku let him live, but it's Goku's choice and I guess we'll just have to trust it."

Piccolo didn't want to say anything more in fear of causing an argument with the bald man. He simply nodded and let it go. The two landed in some sort of jungle. Krillin patted the messenger bag slung over his shoulder. He planned to keep the dragon balls inside of it.

"According to the radar, the dragon ball should be really close, but I'm not sure of its exact spot," said Piccolo. "We're just going to have to look around."

Krillin started to wander around. This landscape looks familiar. We must be near some ancient runes, because I swear I've seen those symbols before. Krillin peered at a rock with some sort of ancient writing on it.

"Come this way," Piccolo said. He motioned for Krillin to follow him forward and the short man followed. Sure enough, Krillin was right. They moved past a group of large trees to find some sort of temple.

"I was right."

"What?" Piccolo asked.

"This is some sort of rune from an ancient race of people. I couldn't really remember where I've seen it, but I read about it in one of Gohan's textbooks that Chi Chi's been making him study. I promised Gohan we'd come visit after all of this is over. Boy, would he love being here."

Krillin's mind flashed to a picture of Gohan. He had just seen the boy last night, but he was nowhere to be found today. He knew for a fact that Gohan and Vegeta had been together this morning to run an errand for Bulma, but the boy hadn't been seen since. It would make perfect sense that Vegeta would have lost him, but it didn't make any sense that Gohan hadn't come back by now.

Krillin pulled a mobile phone out of his bag and started dialing. "Bulma?"

"Krillin, what is it? I'm a little tied up at the moment," said Bulma from the other end.

"It's been a few hours. Has Gohan come back?"

She paused before answering. "Come to think of it, he hasn't. I guess I just assumed he was with Vegeta, looking for the dragon balls."

"Hmm," Krillin breathed. "I'll try to check up on Vegeta when we're done getting this dragon ball. I don't trust Vegeta too much with Gohan. If he hasn't shown up, we'll just have to go looking for him."

"Sounds like a plan, Krillin. Keep up the search with the dragon balls and I'll talk to you later." Bulma hung up the phone before Krillin even had a chance to say goodbye.

"Worried about Gohan?" Piccolo asked.

"Well, yeah, I am," said Krillin. "I figured you of all people would understand that. We haven't seen him at all today. I wouldn't put it past Vegeta to pick a fight with him."

"Me either. We'll just have to check it out later, but for now, we need to focus on getting this dragon ball."

Piccolo moved forward up the temple steps. "You figure there'd be a lot of tourists here."

Krillin shook his head. "Not really. For one, it's not exactly the most popular place to visit. Secondly, it's supposed to be very dangerous. The animals that live around here aren't exactly friendly, so we might have to watch our backs."

Piccolo laughed. "Come on. You can watch your back, but if anything pops out at me, I'll take care of it. You don't have to worry."

Krillin rolled his eyes as the two entered the temple. As they moved away from the daylight, Krillin created a small energy ball in his hand to produce light. The two found themselves in a long stone corridor. As they moved further, Krillin could feel them travelling downwards. They were moving below ground, but at a very slow and steady pace. He could tell that Piccolo was growing impatient, but he didn't want to rush and possibly run into some trouble.

After a while, Krillin placed his hand in front of Piccolo to get him to stop. "Wait."

"What is it now?"

"Don't you feel that?" Krillin asked. "Someone's in there." He pointed further down the corridor, where he could barely make out the entrance to a larger room.

Piccolo paused and then nodded. "I feel it too. We're just going to have to proceed with caution."

Krillin agreed and they began to slowly move forward, but after a moment, Piccolo sent a ki blast down the corridor.

"Piccolo!" Krillin yelled as they heard it made impact with something. Someone cried out before they heard the stone starting to collapse and the ground start to shake.

Krillin rushed forward to the end of the corridor. He found a large amount of rubble piled onto the ground thanks to Piccolo's ki blast, but he also heard some cursing. The short man soon found who he perceived as Vegeta struggling to get out of the rubble.

"Vegeta, stop struggling! I'm going to help you get out."

Before Krillin could move to help him, Ginyu sent another energy blast, causing the rubble to explode into smaller pieces. The man was freed, but the ground started to shake even more.

"You shouldn't have done that," said Krillin. "This temple isn't already very stable."

"Yeah, well, I'm going to be fine. I just have to find the dragon ball."

Although Ginyu was portraying Vegeta, he was still trying to act like he somewhat cared about keeping Piccolo and Krillin around, as Vegeta had somewhat of an alliance with them.

Piccolo made his way into the room, not bothering to greet Ginyu at all. He studied the room for a moment. "It's up there on top of that pillar." Both Krillin and Ginyu looked forward to see the dragon ball on top of a tall pillar in the back of the room.

Piccolo moved forward and began to climb up the wall to reach the dragon ball while Krillin and Ginyu watched. He almost managed to grab it, but something bit into his wrist before he could. He studied the small hole in his right wrist before collapsing to the ground. "What the…?"

"What the hell is wrong with you, Namek?" Ginyu asked. "Don't have very good balance? A warrior's supposed to have good balance. How else is he supposed to show off his poses… I mean, if you want something done, you do it yourself."

Ginyu moved forward and began to climb the wall, just as Piccolo just had.

"Vegeta, don't!" Piccolo warned.

"I'll be fine, " Ginyu reassured him. The ground was still shaky from the ki blasts, but it wasn't a problem for Ginyu. He really had no idea why the Namekian was having such an issue.

"Piccolo, what's wrong?" Krillin asked. "What happened up there?"

Ginyu managed to grab the dragon ball, but was bitten soon after. Like Piccolo, he stared at his wrist for a moment to see the little hole in it before falling to the ground, the dragon ball still placed firmly in his hands.

'Some sort of scorpion bit me and paralyzed me from the waist down," Piccolo answered. "And it appears that the same thing happened to Vegeta because he doesn't know how to listen."

Ginyu shot a glare at him. "At least I got the dragon ball, didn't I?"

Piccolo ignored him. "I don't know how soon this is going to wear off or if we're going to need medical attention. You're probably going to have to carry us out of here, Krillin."

Krillin sighed. As much as he disliked the idea of dragging Vegeta and Piccolo out of the temple, he knew he had to do it. He moved forward to take Piccolo's hand, but something caught his eye. A large group of scorpions were making their way down the wall and Krillin was starting to panic.

"It wasn't just one scorpion, Piccolo. There are literally dozens and they're coming for me." Krillin sent a blast of ki to dispose of them. It worked, but the ground started to tremble even more. Krillin watched as pillars started to fall and crumble. The entire building was about to go down.

Krillin quickly slung Ginyu and Piccolo over his shoulders. He was already starting to stumble a little from carrying them. Staring back at the room before he left, he saw a glimpse of more scorpions retreating. They were following them down the corridor.

Piccolo sent blast after blast, trying to rid them of the scorpions, but there seemed to be an endless supply. Krillin couldn't move very fast with both Ginyu and Piccolo slung over his shoulders, but he eventually made it to the end. As soon as they were far enough away, Ginyu put a hand up and destroyed the entire temple.

Krillin didn't even have the strength in him to yell at Ginyu for doing that. He placed Piccolo and Ginyu down before plopping himself down. Within a few minutes, both Piccolo and Ginyu started to regain motion in their legs.

"Well, that wasn't a very pleasant experience, but at least we got the dragon ball," said Piccolo.

"I'll be taking it with me," said Ginyu, staring down at the dragon ball.

"We're aware that you've already found a dragon ball," said Krillin. "Where would that be?"

"Someplace safe," Ginyu replied.

"We're taking this dragon ball with us back to Bulma," said Piccolo. "We expect you to do the same with yours."

Ginyu was about to argue, but decided not to. He simply nodded. It was better just to go along with it.

"Have you seen Gohan?" Krillin asked.

Ginyu shook his head. "I've been out looking for the brat, but he's nowhere to be found," he lied.

"We'll have to go looking for him after we're done at Bulma's," said Piccolo. "Krillin and I are leaving now, but we expect to see you soon."

The two got up and were about o leave, but something stopped them. "What is that?" Krillin asked first.

Both Ginyu and Piccolo peered into the sky to see some sort of space ship preparing to land. It appeared very large. "It must be Frieza."

"That isn't one of Frieza's ships, you buffoon," Ginyu hissed. He had been serving under the man for so long that he'd be able to recognize it. He simply got odd looks from Piccolo and Krillin. "No, it's someone else."

"We're going to be fast about this," said Piccolo. "Krillin and I are going to see Bulma. You are to meet us there, understood? We'll move on from there to check out this space ship and find Gohan."

Ginyu nodded before taking off. He was going to get his dragon ball, but he wouldn't be returning to Bulma's house anytime soon. He'd be checking out the space ship by himself.


Jeice moved quickly with the briefcase in his hand. He had grown a little uneasy by the fact that neither Jeice or Ginyu were wearing scouters. It wasn't simply that he couldn't read power levels, but because he could no longer effectively communicate with Captain Ginyu.

He was about to fly right past the area where Vegeta and Gohan were hidden when he stopped himself. The cave where Gohan was hidden had been left sealed by a boulder, but Vegeta's cave had somehow been opened. Jeice flew down to see what was going on.

"God damnit! I can't believe this fucking shit."

Jeice normally didn't swear like a sailor (that was Ginyu), but now would be the perfect time. Vegeta was gone without an explanation. The boulder was gone too. It must've been obliterated, but Vegeta doesn't have the kind of strength to do that now…

Jeice dug in his coat pocket and pulled out his scouter, carefully placing it over his left eye. "Captain?" he said.

The chances of Captain Ginyu responding were incredibly low, as Ginyu had been trying to blend in with the Earthlings by not wearing a scouter, but the man responded a moment later.

"Jeice? I'm glad you put on the scouter when you did. I've got something you need to check out."

"Did you find any other dragon balls?"'

"Just one, but the Earthling and the Namek showed up to take it from me. Don't worry. I'll be getting it back later. Some sort of ship's landing on Earth and it's not Frieza. I need you to come meet me to take a look into it."

"Captain, we've got some other problems as well," said Jeice hesitantly.

"What is it, Jeice?" Ginyu asked from the other end. Jeice didn't respond right away in fear of Ginyu's response. "SPILL IT, JEICE!"

"Well, Captain, you see… um… I went back and got the money like ya asked… and well… it's not really easy to explain… I kind of…"

"Will you hurry it up already?"

"Vegeta's gone."

What came through Jeice's scouter next was a growl of frustration and a string of curse words. "How the hell did this happen?"

"I don't know, Captain. I was flying back to the space pods and saw the boulder in front of his cave was gone. Somebody must've found him because Vegeta wouldn't have the strength to do that now."

"Meet me at the space pods, Jeice," said Ginyu. "I'm going to put the dragon ball away and check this out."


Sunlight hit Vegeta's cold eyes as they slowly opened. The sun was setting and it wouldn't be long before it was dark on planet Earth. The Saiyan attempted to get up, but his entire body ached from head to toe. He peered down at his street clothes, which had been soaked in blood. He couldn't quite remember what had happened before he passed out. All he knew was he was fighting Captain Ginyu and Jeice.

The next thing he saw sent chills down his spine and nearly gave him a heart attack. He took his hand and slapped his already hurting face. Sweat, blood, and dirt covered his face, but he kept slapping himself until the man in front of him pried his hands away from his face and placed them on the ground firmly.

"What's wrong with you? I know you're a low class, but I didn't expect you to be this stupid."

Vegeta didn't answer this.

"Don't you remember me, Kakarot? We've met before. I've been on this planet for quite some time now, but I managed to find you. You see, things have been pretty inconvenient for me without my scouter. I was surprised to find out that you were still alive, but when I saw, I came to get you. For one, it would be smart to have you as an ally. It looks like someone busted you up pretty well and I can help you. I just need to know one thing. Where is Vegeta?"

Vegeta didn't answer once again, still awestruck at the person standing before him. The man started to grow impatient and slapped Vegeta across the face himself. "I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!"

Vegeta growled. "Don't you understand, you idiot? I am Vegeta! Now you answer me this: how the hell are you here, Nappa?"