A/N: Thinking about doing a Naruto fic, wondering if it would be enjoyable tbh.
Vegeta and Escallion waded out into the icy blue waters of a secluded Namekian cove, the heavy weight of the Two-Star and Four-Star Dragon Balls cradled under their arms.
"Deeper," Vegeta muttered under his breath, his eyes constantly scanning the open sky. "The mineral content in these ocean trenches acts as a natural shield. Sink them fifty meters down, and Frieza's useless scouters won't pick up a single ping."
They submerged the giant, glowing spheres into a dark underwater shelf, wedging them beneath a massive, moss-covered rock formation. The warm amber light of the balls dimmed under the deep water, completely concealed from above.
Just as Escallion pushed himself back up to the surface to catch his breath, a sharp, high-pitched whine echoed across the sky.
Vegeta instantly grabbed Escallion's shoulder, yanking him flat against the damp cliff wall beneath a canopy of thick, teal leaves. "Don't move," Vegeta hissed, clamping his Ki down to a dead ember. "And keep your mouth shut."
Three Frieza Force scouts in dark purple armor roared over the cove, their jetpacks leaving white vapor trails against the teal sky. Their scouters clicked rapidly, red target reticles sweeping across the water and the surrounding rocks.
"Anything on the scanner?" the lead scout shouted over the roar of his thrusters.
"Nothing!" another called back, tapping the side of his green scouter lens. "That spike from earlier vanished minutes ago! It was probably just another native namekian beast acting up!"
"Keep sweeping the sector!" the leader ordered, banking his jetpack toward the north. "Lord Frieza wants every anomaly investigated! Zarbon said if we come back empty-handed, he'll throw us into the engine room!"
The three soldiers sped off, their voices fading into the distance as they headed straight toward the hollowed-out canyon Escallion and Vegeta had abandoned just minutes prior.
Vegeta let out a low, venomous scoff as the patrol vanished over the horizon. "Idiots," he muttered, stepping out from the shadows and shaking the water from his boots. "They're flying straight into a dead end. But they won't be the only squad out here for long."
Escallion wiped water from his forehead, looking back toward the deep trench where the two spheres lay hidden. "So what now?"
Vegeta's eyes narrowed as he looked east, sensing the distant, massive concentrations of energy where Frieza's main army was operating.
"Now we follow them," Vegeta sneered, a dark, dangerous grin spreading across his face. "Frieza's men are doing the heavy lifting by hunting down the Namekian villages for us. We let them find the spheres, wait for them to wipe out the natives, and then we take the balls from their corpses."
Keeping their Ki suppressed to absolute zero, Vegeta and Escallion glided low over the jagged blue terrain, staying hidden in the shadow of the canyon walls as they stalked the patrol.
Up ahead, the three Frieza Force scouts flew in tight formation, completely unaware of the two Saiyans trailing them from below. The scouts sped directly toward a quiet basin where a small Namekian village rested around a giant, golden ajisa tree.
Vegeta dropped onto a rocky outcrop overlooking the village, pulling back into the high grass with Escallion right beside him.
"Stay low," Vegeta hissed, his dark eyes fixated on the scene playing out below. "Look."
In the center of the village plaza, the three scouts landed with a heavy thud, kicking up clouds of dust. The Namekian villagers, mostly farmers and young children, backed away, clutching their wooden tools as the soldiers stepped forward with drawn arm-cannons.
"Attention, local scum!" the lead scout barked, tapping his scouter as he scanned the crowd. "Lord Frieza demands the Dragon Ball in your possession! Hand it over peacefully, and we might let a few of you live as slaves!"
An elderly Namekian stepped forward, holding his staff tightly, his face set in stone. "We will never surrender our sacred relics to tyrants. Leave this place at once!"
"Wrong answer," the leader sneered, raising his arm-cannon.
BOOM!
A bright purple Ki blast erupted from the barrel, blowing the elder's staff to splinters and sending the old man tumbling into the dirt. The villagers gasped in horror, rushing to protect him.
Up on the ridge, Escallion's hand twitched, his fingers curling into a tight fist as his instinct flared at the sight. But he didn't move. He forced his breathing steady, staying rooted in the high grass alongside Vegeta, watching the soldiers push deeper into the settlement.
Down in the plaza, the lead scout kicked the fallen elder in the ribs, laughing as his scouter pinged a high-energy read coming from inside the village's central stone hut.
"Found it!" one of the scouts yelled, pointing toward the hut. "It's inside!"
"Grab it and wipe out the rest of these green freaks!" the leader ordered, his cannon glowing purple once more.
Vegeta's face twisted into a cruel, hungry grin as he coiled his legs, preparing to spring. "Now," Vegeta whispered, his voice dripping with venom. "The moment that sphere crosses the threshold, we take their heads."
The second the lead scout ducked into the stone hut, the remaining two soldiers raised their arm-cannons, ready to open fire on the terrified villagers. They never got the chance.
In a dual blur of silent motion, Vegeta and Escallion dropped from the ridge like hawks.
Vegeta slammed feet-first into the back of the left scout's neck, the sickening snap of armor and bone instantly drowned out as the body crashed face-down into the plaza dust.
Before the right scout could even turn his head, Escallion closed the distance in a fraction of a second. His hand drove forward, fingers locking around the soldier's throat like a steel vise. Escallion didn't waste energy on a flashy Ki blast; with a single, ruthless twist of his forearm, he crushed the scout's windpipe and tossed the lifeless body aside before it even hit the ground.
The lead scout burst out of the stone hut holding the giant, glowing Five-Star Dragon Ball over his head, a broad, triumphant laugh dying instantly in his throat.
"Hey, I got the—"
The scout froze. His two squad mates were crumpled heaps at his feet. Standing over them were two figures wearing battle armor, one with spiked black hair and a lethal, bloodthirsty sneer, the other stepping over the bodies with cold, unblinking eyes.
"S-Saiyans?!" the scout choked out, his fingers trembling against the heavy surface of the Five-Star sphere. "Vegeta?! How are you—"
Vegeta didn't even let him finish the sentence. He moved so fast his image seemed to stretch. Before the scout could raise his cannon, Vegeta drove his hand straight through the center of the soldier's chest armor, punching clean through to the other side.
The soldier gasped, his scouter shattering as his eyes rolled back, and the Five-Star Dragon Ball slipped from his lifeless hands.
Escallion caught the giant amber sphere smoothly before it touched the ground, tucking it under his arm as Vegeta yanked his arm back, wiping the crimson stain off his gloved hand with a grunt of disgust.
The surviving Namekian villagers gasped, clutching their children and backing away in sheer horror. They had been saved from Frieza's men, but the absolute, cold efficiency of the two strangers made it instantly clear that these invaders were no saviors.
"That makes three," Escallion said, glancing down at the glowing Five-Star ball, his voice completely devoid of emotion.
"Three," Vegeta agreed, his eyes sweeping over the shaking villagers with utter contempt. He raised a glowing hand toward the center of the village, ready to wipe out any witnesses. "Now let's clear the trash and hide this one with the others."
Escallion's hand clamped around Vegeta's wrist like an iron clamp, cutting off the glow of the rising Ki charge before it could ignite into a blast.
Vegeta snapped his head around, his eyes burning with sudden, lethal anger as he glared down at Escallion's grip. "Take your hand off me," Vegeta snarled under his breath, his voice dangerously low. "What do you think you're doing?"
Escallion didn't let go immediately, keeping his grip steady while looking past Vegeta at the shaking, terrified villagers.
"Look at them," Escallion said, his voice flat and practical. "They barely even understand the language we're speaking. They don't have scouters, they don't have long-range comms, and they aren't going to tell Frieza anything."
Vegeta gritted his teeth, his jaw tight as he glanced back toward the trembling elders clutching their children in the dirt.
"A blast that size is just going to light up their scouters again," Escallion added, finally releasing Vegeta's wrist and shifting the heavy Five-Star Dragon Ball under his arm. "We came for the sphere. Wasting energy to slaughter a bunch of helpless farmers is just begging Zarbon to pinpoint our location."
Vegeta stared at Escallion for a long, tense second, the purple aura around his hand flickering before completely dying out. He spat on the dusty ground, shaking out his gloved hand with a grunt of pure irritation.
"Fine," Vegeta growled, turning his back on the villagers and dropping low into a gliding posture. "Let the green scum rot in their dirt. But if one of them managed to signal Frieza's main ship, I'm throwing you back into the canyon."
Without waiting for a response, Vegeta took off, skimming inches above the ground to keep his energy signature hidden. Escallion fell in right behind him, carrying their third prize into the air, leaving the shell-shocked Namekians standing alone among the bodies of Frieza's patrol.
Having submerged the Five-Star Dragon Ball deep within the ocean trench alongside the other two, Vegeta and Escallion glided silently through the towering, teal-tinted canyons.
Vegeta stopped abruptly on a towering cliffside ridge, his boots grinding into the rock. Down below in the winding ravine, a trail of rising smoke caught his eye.
Floating lazily through the canyon was Dodoria, Frieza's heavy-set, pink commander. He was breathing heavily, his scouter shattered and sparking on his hip, furiously searching the sky after losing the energy signatures of Krillin and Gohan.
"Curse those little brats!" Dodoria roared, his voice echoing off the canyon walls. "Where did they go?!"
Vegeta's face twisted into a dark sneer as he glanced at Escallion. "He's all yours," Vegeta muttered, stepping back into the shadows of the ridge. "Let's see if that body of yours can handle a real fight."
Escallion dropped down from the ridge, landing with a heavy, deliberate thud directly in Dodoria's path.
Dodoria whipped around, his jaw dropping for a split second before an ugly, knowing grin spread across his face. He instantly recognized the armor and the tail wrapped tight around Escallion's waist.
"Well, well... another one of Vegeta's little squad," Dodoria sneered, dusting off his spiky shoulder pads. "We knew you stray apes were trailing behind him after Earth. Lord Frieza figured you'd all come crawling to Namek like flies to a carcass."
"You talk too much," Escallion said flatly, his dark eyes unblinking.
"Watch your mouth, boy!" Dodoria barked, his face turning a deeper shade of purple with rage. "You think having a squad makes you brave? My power level is twenty-two thousand! I'll crush you into paste and save Vegeta for Zarbon!"
Dodoria lunged forward, his heavy, spiked fist driving straight for Escallion's face with explosive speed.
Escallion didn't flinch. He raised his left hand, his fingers locking around Dodoria's massive, tree-trunk-sized wrist in a single palm. The shockwave of the impact blew the dust off the canyon floor, but Escallion's boots didn't slide back an inch.
Dodoria's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "W-What?! Impossible!"
"I have been waiting a long time to wipe that nasty look off your face," Escallion said quietly. His fingers sank deep into Dodoria's wrist armor until the metal buckled and cracked.
With a brutal twist, Escallion snapped Dodoria's arm, sending the pink monster screaming to his knees. Escallion drove a lightning-fast knee directly into Dodoria's jaw, sending him crashing through three solid stone pillars before slamming into the canyon wall.
Dodoria coughed up purple blood, trembling as he looked up at Escallion stepping through the dust, his presence heavy and suffocating.
"Wait! Wait! Don't kill me!" Dodoria shrieked, backing against the rock, his arrogance completely shattered. "I... I can tell you something! Something about Planet Vegeta!"
Escallion paused, looking down at him without a shred of emotion. "Speak."
"It wasn't a meteor!" Dodoria babbled frantically, desperate to buy his life. "Lord Frieza blew up your homeworld! He was afraid of the Super Saiyan legend! He gathered all the Saiyans in one place and annihilated the planet! I was there! I saw it!"
Dodoria gasped for breath, looking up with a pathetic, desperate grin. "I told you! Now let me go—"
Up on the ridge, Vegeta scoffed, already knowing the truth. Escallion didn't even react to the revelation.
Before Dodoria could plead further, Escallion raised his hand, pointing his palm straight at Dodoria's face. A blinding, compact beam of Ki shot from his hand, engulfing Dodoria and vaporizing him against the canyon wall in a silent, violent flash.
The smoke cleared, leaving only a scorched crater in the rock. Escallion lowered his hand, turning his dark eyes back toward the ridge where Vegeta stood watching.
"Good riddance," Escallion scoffed as he floated upward, hovering level with the jagged edge of the ridge where Vegeta stood.
Vegeta watched the rising plume of smoke from Dodoria's ashes, a dark, vicious smirk pulling at his lips. "Not bad," Vegeta muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You didn't waste time listening to his pathetic begging. A quick execution saves energy."
He turned his back on the smoking crater, his eyes scanning the horizon toward the northeast where Zarbon's high power level was still hovering near Frieza's main ship.
"With Dodoria dead, Frieza's going to realize his elite guards are getting picked off one by one," Vegeta said, his voice dropping into a low, sharp growl. "Zarbon will come looking for him next. And unlike Dodoria, Zarbon isn't just a heavy brute who relies on brute force; he actually thinks."
Vegeta adjusted his shoulder armor, looking out over the blue landscape. "Then let him come."
"Don't get arrogant," Escallion warned, shooting him a cold side-glance. "We still need four more Dragon Balls, and Frieza has most of them locked in his ship. We aren't strong enough to take Frieza head-on yet."
Vegeta dropped into a low glide, staying beneath the ridge line. "We track down the remaining Namekian villages before Zarbon finds the bodies. Keep your Ki locked down and follow me."