On the planet Cereal, night had fallen, and after a busy day, the Cerealians walked along the streets, sharing tales of the day's achievements in a lively, thriving city.
But the peaceful evening didn't last long—an unexpected disturbance came. Many Cerealians soon noticed a fireball in the sky, hurtling down like a meteor toward the city's edge.
Then came a second, a third... and finally, the Cerealians realized what these fireballs were: spherical spacecraft, shaped like baseballs, crashing straight into the city.
The spherical ships crashed mercilessly into the Cerealian city. Buildings crumbled under the immense impact, and many Cerealians were knocked unconscious by the shockwave of the landing. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢•𝕟𝕖𝕥
One unfortunate Cerealian was hit directly by a descending ship, dying instantly—perhaps a mercifully quick end without pain.
Other Cerealians weren't so lucky, facing off against the Saiyans who emerged from these ships with fierce, sinister grins. Their fates would not be so painless.
"Hm… seems Bardock made special arrangements for me; my landing coordinates are indeed at the city's edge," Zuke murmured as he emerged from his ship, quickly noting that his landing spot was some distance from the other Saiyans'.
While the other Saiyans had descended straight into the city center, his ship had landed at the outskirts, putting him entirely apart from the main forces.
Bardock might seem ruthless to outsiders, but to his Saiyan allies, he was certainly reliable.
While Zuke was assessing his surroundings, an ear-splitting roar erupted from within the city, piercing the night sky.
Zuke watched as giant apes slowly stood among the city buildings, radiating fierce, savage energy, immediately beginning to destroy everything around them without mercy.
"Tsk, such terrifying power."
He put on his scouter and checked the apes' power levels—since Saiyans' power levels increase tenfold when transformed into giant apes, the numbers displayed were staggering.
22,000... 41,000... 39,000... Zuke even spotted one power level close to 100,000, likely belonging to Bardock, the strongest among them.
But Frieza's power level in his first form alone was a staggering 530,000.
Zuke glanced up at the bright full moon in the night sky, feeling his blood stir—an instinctive Saiyan reaction to the full moon.
However, without a tail, Zuke wouldn't transform into a giant ape, allowing him to remain rational. Plus, with Bardock's help, he'd landed on the outskirts, perfect for completing his mission.
"First, I'll search for any combat power signals outside the Cerealians and Saiyans."
By adjusting his scouter, Zuke quickly filtered out the power readings of the Saiyans and Cerealians, leaving only a handful of unique signals on the detector.
These signals were clustered in a house on the city's edge, with the highest reading only around 300, and the weakest at a mere 5.
Zuke knew these were the Namekians who had taken refuge on Cereal after Namek's destruction, forming a tiny settlement.
Over time, their numbers had dwindled to just a few. And if things went according to plan, most would perish in this invasion.
Only one elderly Namekian would survive, guarding the two Dragon Balls.
"Now that I have their location, time to claim them."
Not waiting around, Zuke quickly headed toward the location marked on the scouter. Even without flight, his high combat power made running and leaping incredibly swift.
For now, Zuke was clueless about "ki" in this world, but with his Saiyan aptitude, he could probably learn to fly soon enough.
"Elder, we should escape while we can; the situation here on Cereal looks bleak," a Namekian urged in the small house at the city's edge, where the few surviving Namekians were gathered, planning their next move.
Though few in number, the group still had an elder with certain special abilities, though far weaker than the elder on Namek.
"It's not just the Cerealians in danger—we Namekians are too…"
The elder wore a pained expression as he listened to his companions' pleas.
Although the Saiyans were mainly focused on fighting the Cerealians, where could the Namekians go?
They never expected Cereal to be invaded, and their old refugee ship was too worn to work again.
Moreover, the Cerealians had kindly taken them in when they fled; how could they abandon them in a time of crisis?
"Elder… should we use the Dragon Balls?" suggested an elderly Namekian—Monait, the only future survivor.
The elder lifted his gaze toward a shrine-like structure in the room, where two Dragon Balls rested.
"The Dragon Balls were indeed meant for moments , so…"
"Apologies, but could you leave those Dragon Balls to me?"
Before the elder could finish, a figure suddenly shattered the window and jumped in. Before the stunned Namekians could react, he had blocked their path to the Dragon Balls.
It was Zuke. Just as he arrived outside the house, he overheard the Namekians discussing using the Dragon Balls, and he couldn't allow that—so he broke in.
The Namekians were startled and then, upon recognizing Zuke's attire, horrified.
The Saiyans' notorious reputation had spread to many planets, and the giant apes invading Cereal were too distinctive to mistake. Everyone knew the attackers' identity.
Zuke lacked a tail, but his Saiyan battle armor was unmistakable—he certainly wasn't a Cerealian joking around in Saiyan garb.