Ch. 62: Nappa's Heart

"You ran into Vegeta and Nappa?! What happened!?" Krillin asked, freaking out.

"We got lucky. We weren't their targets." I explained. 

"It turns out, they're rebelling." Piccolo said.

"Rebelling?" Gohan asked.

"Yeah. They clearly had history with that Dodoria guy. They didn't even bother checking the area, even though he was injured pretty badly by Hanna." Piccolo elaborated.

"So you think that Vegeta and Nappa used to be working for those guys?" Krillin wondered.

"Almost certainly. And they can sense power levels without a scouter now, too. I'd be far more worried about those two than I would that purple guy right now, if I had to choose." I agreed with Piccolo's estimate.

"Just a moment! Who are you guys, and who is this Vegeta you speak of?! And why don't I know who you are, even though you're clearly a Namekian?!" Dende asked.

"We're from a planet called Earth. Apparently, when your planet was destroyed by the climate change, one Namekian managed to escape. Long story short, I'm related to that Namekian." Piccolo told Dende succinctly.

"That about sums it up. When our Namekian got to Earth, he created his own Dragon Balls, which Vegeta heard about. He went to our planet to try to steal them, but our friends managed to fight him off, if only barely." Krillin explained, "I'm Krillin, that's Bulma, Gohan, Hanna, and his name is Piccolo."

"Hi." The younger Namekian bowed politely.

"I'm Dende, and he's my younger brother, Cargo." Dende told us.

"You're brothers? Makes sense. You look a lot alike, and I don't think it's just because you're Namekian." Bulma thought aloud.

"All Namekians born on Namek after the catastrophe are siblings. Grand Elder was the only Namekian to survive the climate change, after all." Dende explained.

"Wait... so Namekians can reproduce asexually? How does that work?" Bulma asked in scientist mode.

"Umm... Grand Elder spit the eggs out of his mouth, of course. How else can babies be made?"

"UN!" Krillin, Piccolo, Gohan and I all four instantly flinched. "That's not good." Krillin said. Ignoring Bulma and the kids, we rushed out of the cave to sense things more clearly.

...

"So weak. They should be honored. Two Saiyan warriors coming there to snuff out their lives... is there any higher honor?" Vegeta wondered aloud as he and Nappa hovered above the Namekian village.

"Vegeta. We're not killing them. We're taking the dragon ball, and in exchange, we're warning them about Frieza. If they can hide, maybe they can survive." Nappa said. Vegeta looked at Nappa increduously.

"You've never talked back to me before, Nappa. I can't say that I like it." He declared, giving Nappa a cold look, his aura flexing wildly.

But Nappa wasn't the same weakling that he'd been back on Earth. Mentally, at least. "Vegeta, they're innocent lives. I can't stand by and let you take them. If you want them dead, you'll have to kill me first." Nappa pushed his energy up, looking Vegeta in the eye.

"What hypocrisy is that? Since when do you back down from taking innocent lives?!" Vegeta shouted, angry.

"You're right, Vegeta. I've taken more lives than I can count, all in cold blood. And it's all been useless! Our families, our planet! We're alone, Vegeta! And we're not even at the top, don't you see?! We've sacrificed everything for power, and it's not enough, Vegeta! After what happened on Earth, I realized that. If I'm going to live from this moment forward, I want to find a different way. On Earth, they gained power by working together, and they were smiling, happy! I'm done living without pride, Vegeta, don't you see?!" Nappa shouted at the Prince. 

There was silence between the two of them for a long moment, as they stared each other down.

"If you live, huh? Work together to get stronger? I can't believe the nonsense that you've managed to fit in that big empty head of yours, Nappa. Get out of my way." Vegeta said coldly, "They're bugs to us. Everything in this universe is a bug to be crushed under my foot, Nappa. Get that through your head. I have no equal, and I refuse to pretend otherwise."

"My pride won't allow me to stand by while you kill these innocent people, Vegeta. I'm done being a monster. If you want to crush me, that's fine, but even bugs have value in the bigger picture. I'm done destroying civilizations for fun, Vegeta. Nobody else needs to die needlessly, like we Saiyans did." Nappa told the Prince of all Saiyans. His title was empty, rendered useless by the same person who hired them to do all the dirty, evil things they'd done in their lives, yet he still didn't hesitate to commit genocide. Nappa inwardly pleaded with Vegeta to see reason.

"Your pride, huh?" Vegeta's aura slowly diminished. Nappa's followed suit shortly after, "You may not be wrong, Nappa." He admitted, "But if you ever decide to get in my way again, I will kill you without batting an eye, do you understand? I am the prince of all Saiyans. The strongest Saiyan of them all, and none are my equal. If I choose to kill these bugs, then they only exist to die... but, I respect the courage that it took you to do this. You never would have dared to go against me before, so I'll spare them. If they give the Dragon Ball up. If they resist, they will die." Vegeta declared.

"Alright. Let me try to convince them, then." Nappa said.

"That's fine. I'll jump in when talks inevitably fail." Vegeta told Nappa.

They dropped down to the ground, their conversation over. By this time, the entire village had noticed the powerful auras from the two Saiyans flying overhead, and were gathered in a circle surrounding them. Vegeta bit his lip, annoyed at the Namekians, murmuring around them, but true to his word, he didn't do or say a thing.

"Hello, Namekians. Can we please speak to the village elder?" Nappa asked politely.