Vegeta came to Earth with his ally Nappa to retrieve the Dragon Balls and grant himself immortality. It didn't come as easily as he expected, since he had Earth's special forces to face. He let Nappa handle them, and stepped into the fight once Goku arrived and took care of Nappa. After being defeated, he took off to recuperate, and eventually ran into Krillin and Gohan on Namek, where he was searching for the Namek Dragon Balls.