The Missing Squadron

Trudging through the waters of the marshy wetlands, the three members of the Onyx Squadron ripped through the foliage, keeping an eye out for the plant that they were supposed to find and collect. 

It had been almost an entire day since they had started their search and they hadn't found anything that even remotely resembled the godforsaken plant. 

"Vegeta, we need to head back to the ship." Raditz suddenly spoke out. "I don't know about you; but don't want to be out here searching in the dark."

Vegeta looked towards the sky and saw that the system's resident star was about to fall under the horizon. Looking towards Broly and Raditz, Vegeta saw them both nod at him and he let out a tired sigh, realizing that they were right. 

As much as he wanted off this damp rock, they would only be stumbling over each other in the dark. 

"Alright." He said, turning around and flying back towards the ship. "Let's head back for now. We'll continue our search tomorrow."

Broly and Raditz followed him back towards the ship, equally as frustrated as their leader for not having found what they came here for. Finding a particular plant on this planet was like trying to find a needle in a haystack made of needles. 

As they returned to the ship, they removed most of their clothes, leaving only their undergarments as the rest of their clothing were soaking wet. 

As Raditz took off his boots, he watched as the murky water from the marsh poured out onto the ground, shaking his head and scoffing at the situation they found themselves in. 

"This is some mess..." He said. "This planet stinks."

"You say that about every planet." Vegeta groaned as he sat down on his bed. 

"I do, but this time I mean it literally." Raditz replied as he tossed his boot over his shoulder, it landing beside his own bunk. "This planet smells like what Dore eats."

"That Keerax Steak?" Vegeta asks. 

"It's good." Broly comments. 

"No, not the steak, the one with the ground up worms and other shit." Raditz said. 

"That's not Dore, that's Neiz, you idiot." Vegeta told him.

"Whatever." Raditz said, waving off Vegeta's insult. "Doesn't matter who eats what. Point is, this planet smells like crap."

"Well, Raditz, if it bothers you so much, why don't you go out and find the plant so we can leave?" Vegeta suggests, motioning towards the marsh that has now turned pitch black. 

Raditz looks out and sees just how dark it has become and shook his head. 

"I think I'm good." He says. 

"Then stop complaining." Vegeta tell him. 

Rolling his eyes, Raditz stood up and went inside the ship. Broly did the same, heading inside and pressing the button beside the open door, shutting it firmly behind him. 

"We should search in a different direction tomorrow." Vegeta said as Broly and Raditz sat down, taking out a small disk-like object and tossing it in the middle of the floor. 

The object suddenly lights up and casts a holographic map in the middle of the ship, producing a red glow on a small part of the map. 

"This is where we searched." Vegeta said as he pointed towards the area lit up in red. "If we continue like we did today, we can probably find that plant in a day or two."

Raditz and Broly examined the map, both agreeing with Vegeta's logic. 

"Sounds good, but..."

Raditz zoomed in on the red area, using his finger to circle it with a yellow light. 

"I think it would be better if we split up rather than stick together. See how the area we've searched is cone shape?" Raditz asked, getting a nod from Vegeta. "If we split up, we'll cover more ground, but it'll look more like this."

Highlighting the other directions they were supposed to search, Raditz added three yellow zones on the map, but they were thinner than the first zone they had searched.

"They're thinner, but we would cover all three directions at once."

"That is true..." Vegeta groaned. 

Vegeta had to admit that Raditz had brought up a good point. If they split up, they would cover three directions, but then they wouldn't be as carefully checked over like the first had been. 

"You sure that it's wise to split up like this?" He asked Raditz.

"I think it's a good option." Raditz replied. "There's nothing on this planet that would cause us any trouble, and it seems like the most effective way to find the plant."

Letting out a sigh, Vegeta pondered over Raditz's suggestion. He saw the logic, but he didn't want to spend anymore time on this backwater planet than they'd already had. 

Sure, it seemed more efficient, but it was all dependent on whether or not they were observant enough. The three of them searching in one direction made sure that they had checked it over thoroughly.

"Seems like we're at a crossroads..." Vegeta says as he pinches the bridge of his nose. 

It's situations like these that make him wish that Zyleth and Turles were still members of the squad. 

As much as he hated to admit it, Zyleth was good at handling these types of things. He tends to answer the most complex issues with the simplest of solutions, something Vegeta himself wasn't very good at. 

His tendency to overthink sometimes caused more work than they realistically needed. 

"Broly." Vegeta called out to the only member that hadn't given his thoughts on the matter yet. "What do you think we should do?"

Out of all of them, Broly was the most like Zyleth when it came to situations like this. 

Looking at the map, Broly pondered over what would be the best course of action to take before voicing his opinions. 

____________________

It was now early in the morning and the Onyx Squadron was up, ready to spend another day searching for this elusive plant. 

Walking out of the ship with a sizable container in hand, Vegeta placed it on the steps of the ship and opened it, revealing their Scouters. Taking them out of the container, Vegeta tossed them over towards his teammates. 

"Remember, if anything out of the ordinary happens, press the emergency alert on your Scouters and we'll immediately zero in on your location." Vegeta told the others. "And set a timer for just before dusk. We don't want to be out here in the dark." 

Ever since Zyleth had taught them how to sense each other's energy, they never needed to use their Scouters unless the situation called for it, such as mapping, scouting, or recording data. 

They did this because they didn't trust that Cooler wasn't listening in. 

Actually they didn't trust Cooler in general. 

He was a better employer than Frieza and his father, but that wasn't saying much. A wild animal was better than a rabid one, but it was still wild. 

Doesn't matter how nice it seemed, it was still liable to rip you apart. 

"We know." Raditz replied as he caught his Scouter. 

Broly nodded as he caught his, acknowledging the words of his leader. 

"Good, then hurry up and move out. I don't want to spend a second longer on this planet than I have to." Vegeta said, motioning for them to 

The three Saiyans all broke off to search their respective areas. Vegeta took off towards the West, Broly went towards South, and Raditz flew towards the East. 

____________________

A few hours of searching the marsh, Vegeta and Raditz had found absolutely nothing. 

Not a single trace of the plant that they had came for. 

With the timer that they set going off, they immediately backtracked to the ship, seeing each other, but not Broly. 

"Where's Broly?" Raditz asked, looking around at their surroundings. 

"Does it look like I have the answer to that question?" Vegeta asks back before trying to contact Broly over his Scouter. "Broly, you there?"

He waited a few seconds for a response, but Broly didn't answer the call. 

"Broly?" He tried again, getting nothing. 

"Let me try. Broly?" Raditz said as he tried to do the same. "Come on, big guy, it's starting to get dark." 

There was still no response from Broly. 

"You think his Scouter fried or something?" Raditz turned to Vegeta and asked. 

"I doubt it, but I suppose it's possible..." Vegeta replied.

"Should we go looking for him?" Raditz asked. 

Vegeta looked off towards the South, wondering what it could be that was holding Broly up.

"Let's give him some time before we go back. If it is a problem with his Scouter, then he should come back when he realizes that it's getting dark." He told Raditz. "In any case, let's increase our power a bit so he can make his way back."

Nodding, Raditz took off his Scouter and placed it back in the container before releasing his power a small bit, with Vegeta doing the same. 

They waited for a couple hours, but Broly still hadn't returned. As the system's star set over the horizon, Raditz and Vegeta had grown tired of waiting. 

"Vegeta-"

"Let's go." Vegeta cut Raditz off, already knowing what he was going to say. 

The two Saiyans took off with their Scouters in hand, heading towards the South and trying to lock onto the signal from Broly's Scouter. 

"What could've happened?" Raditz asked. 

"I don't know." Vegeta shook his head before gritting his teeth. "Damnit... I knew we shouldn't have split up..."

____________________

Vegeta - [1,780,000]

Raditz - [1,420,000]

Broly - [2,790,000]