Missing Prince

Two metal spheres shot across the indigo sky and crashed into the ground with a bright flash of light followed by a loud rumbling sound and a shockwave that caused all the nearby buildings to collapse into heaps of rubble, killing thousands within seconds. The people who weren't dead ran to the edges of the craters made on impact, only to see the small spherical objects opening and two enormous men stepped out into the humid, tropical air.

The two men looked up at the sky and then glanced around them, ignoring the indigenous people. They looked confused and apprehensive. The taller one, a bald man with a thin black mustache turned to his long-haired companion with a scowl. "Where is he?"

The man with wild hair shrugged helplessly. "He was on his way with us. Maybe something happened on the way here?"

The bald man grunted and reached up to a strange device attached to his left ear that wrapped around and covered his left eye. He pushed a button and foreign symbols started scrawling across the blue screen at a rapid pace. "There's no power levels on this planet higher than 750 besides us. He's definitely not here."

Both men's brows furrowed. "Should we try contacting him?" the long-haired man asked.

"You do it. I'm going to start the purge. He wouldn't want us wasting time." The bald man levitated up out of the crater while his companion started pushing the button on his own device that had a dark green screen instead of blue. He smirked evilly when he landed on the edge of the crater, held his arm out with two fingers extended, and started gathering energy. Time for the fun to begin.

The second man ignored the destruction around him as he tried fruitlessly to contact their missing comrade. "Damnit, his scouter either isn't turned on or it's broken!" he snarled. The likelihood of the scouter being off was rather slim. They were supposed to be able to contact each other and receive transmissions from their superiors at all times. Something probably had gone wrong and there was no telling where the third member of their squadron was.

"Nappa!" he shouted up to the taller man as he jumped up to the edge of the crater, not even noticing the leveled city around him. "I can't get a transmission to go through to his scouter. Do you have any messages from him?"

Nappa pushed the button on his scouter a few times then frowned and shook his head. "No messages from him," he sighed. "Come on, Raditz, let's finish this purge and we'll see if we can find out where he is from the idiots at base."

"Right." The two men split up and started systematically destroying all sentient life on the planet.

It was four days before all life was cleared off the planet and Raditz and Nappa met up again where they originally landed. Both were covered in dried blood and gore, smelled like smoke, and seriously needed baths, but they didn't notice their lack of hygiene. There were more important matters at hand.

"He's still not here," Raditz said.

Nappa crossed his arms over his chest and furrowed his brows. "It's possible his pod malfunctioned and he had to stop on another planet before he could reach this one. I'd say we should go look for him, but where would we start?"

Raditz shrugged. "Should we contact base?"

"I don't know. If they don't already know that something's happened to him then it would be better not to let them know. Then again, if they know where he is, we can get him and take him back with us," Nappa reasoned aloud.

"We could tell them he was killed on the mission. Then he'd never have to go back," Raditz added.

Nappa shook his head. "We can't risk them finding him later. He probably wouldn't survive the beating they'd give him. I think the best option is to contact base and see if they've heard from him."

There was no arguing about it. Base would know if he'd tried contacting anyone when he had a problem with his space pod, assuming he had a problem at all. But there was no doubt in their minds that he was missing because of a technical problem, not because he'd bailed out on them. He hadn't tried escaping his bondage since he was seven years old. He learned after one failed attempt that not only could he not escape, but any attempt made would be rewarded with punishment cruel enough to make him beg for death.

Sitting down on the ground, Nappa pushed the button on his scouter until it connected with the nearest base planet. It took a few minutes for the transmission to go through before someone replied on the other end.

"You have contacted Base Planet 53, soldier."

"This is Nappa from squadron 10. We lost one member on the way to purge Planet 1084XR. Has Prince Vegeta made contact with any base planets concerning pod malfunction?"

"Checking now. Stand by."

Nappa grumbled under his breath while he waited for the technician on the base planet to search through the myriad transmissions received over the past few weeks. Several minutes later the technician reconnected with Nappa. "A transmission was received 23 days ago from Prince Vegeta. He is stranded on planet 1076XR. A team has already been sent to retrieve him. You have orders from Frieza not to go after him. Return immediately to the home ship."

"What? Not go after him? We could get him on the way back and save time!" Nappa shouted at the messenger. With a growl of frustration he cut the transmission and stood up.

Raditz raised an eyebrow as he also stood up from where he was sitting. "They know where he is?"

The bald man nodded and formed a large ki blast that he threw into the already decimated city. He needed to vent his anger. He, the prince's bodyguard, was ordered not to go get him from some random planet where there might be a hostile environment, maybe no food or water, or he could be severely injured after a crash landing. It was aggravating, knowing where he was and being ordered not to go there. If he went, both he and the prince would be beaten. His own life may be terminated for disobeying orders. He didn't have a choice. They had to return to the ship without Prince Vegeta.

"Let's go," Nappa growled. He turned and got into his space pod and entered the coordinates for the home ship. Raditz followed suit and as quickly as they came, they were gone, leaving only destruction behind.

A/N: ...I should be writing a 15-page philosophy paper...