Chapter 19- The Adventure Begins
A year had passed, and yet again a group of friends was gathered around the seven dragon balls, which where now glowing brightly in response to Kami's commands. Kami himself could not help but feel a rush of pride as the dragon that he created so long ago emerged from its slumber, towered above them and rumbled "make your wish".
Goku smiled to himself as he watched their space ship materialize in front of them. He could feel the adventure coming, it was all he could do to stop himself bouncing off the walls; he was like a child on Christmas Eve. This feeling was not entirely shared by his future crew, apprehension was heavy in the air, although he did not feel it as they boarded the ship and waved goodbye to their home planet.
They looked around for a while, their mouths hanging open. The dragon had obviously pulled out all the stops for Kami, there where separate bathroom and recreational facilities for all of them and even Goku couldn't have finished off all the food on board.
"It didn't look this big from the outside" said Krillin suspiciously "there's definitely magic involved here" both Yajarobe and Goku nodded, gave an absent minded grunt and retired to their rooms to unpack for the estimated week long journey, Krillin shrugged his shoulders and followed suit.
Goku flopped down on his mattress and grinned up at the ceiling, he looked over at his bag and realized that he couldn't be bothered to unpack while he still hadn't seen the training facilities on board. So he was back on his feet and off to explore the ship further.
Krillin, meanwhile, carefully unpacked his clothes and put them away, only then realizing that he'd forgotten his toothbrush. He mentally slapped himself and imagined his teeth on the return journey, seeing green fur spilling out of his mouth. He soon recovered from this horrifying image, however, when he found the bathroom fully furnished with everything for his dental hygiene needs, along with any other needs he might have on the short trip. He finished his inspection and looked around, feeling lost. He couldn't help but feel nervous about the trip, and craved something to keep his mind of what might lie ahead. Feeling himself descending into panic already, he hurried off to find the training room, and Goku.
Yajarobe, safe in his room, hid his face in his hands and wept.
'What am I doing here???' he mentally whined, but he knew the answer 'it's all Goku's fault! I could get eaten by aliens or lost or the ship could explode… I want to go home and I'M HUNGRY!!!' He began to violently kick his bag around his room, imagining what he'd do to Goku, if he was a billion times stronger and a less moral person, of course.
Goku somersaulted mid air in ten times earth's normal gravity, it seemed the dragon had thought of everything, even a gravity altering machine for training. He stopped, having reached one hundred and stared out of the window. The sight of the stars rushing past him seemed oddly familiar, like he was traveling home
'Strange to feel like that, it was so long ago, and I can't remember anything else.' He thought "heh, anyway, back to work" he spoke aloud, causing Krillin to cease his press ups, notice that Goku had stopped
"Hey buddy, you want to go get something to eat? I'm starved!" Krillin seized his chance to take a break
"Huh? Food? Of course! I wonder what old shenlong packed for lunch?" Goku returned the gravity to normal and followed Krillin to the kitchen.
"I hope you're not expecting me to cook." Krillin stated, causing Goku to stop in his tracks.
"You can't cook?" he said, with a small gulp.
"They should be setting off about now" said Bulma, staring up at the sky, imagining for a moment that it was the sky of her home planet, and that she could see them up there waving. Then she snapped out of it, worrying that her time as a kind of honorary dead person had sent her slightly insane. She turned back to the living room, seeing a brief flash of interest in Vegeta's face. She knew that she had his attention, so she carried on. "It should take them about a week to get there, according to Kami. But once they get there it's anyone's guess how long it'll take. With Goku's speed, you would've thought it'd only take a week at the most, but it never turns out to be that simple…" she trailed off as old memories of rabbit gangs, desert bandits, countless evil tyrants and Goku as a giant monkey roamed freely in her mind.
Vegeta supposed he should reply before she sank into one of her homesick moods again. Granted, she was quieter in these moods, but she also punctuated the sighs with endless angst filled sighs, which Vegeta found endlessly irritating.
"So it should be no more than two weeks?" he said, in what he hoped was a vaguely optimistic tone. Bulma snapped out of her daydreams and replied
"I just told you, it's never that simple." She broke into a smile "something always comes up, it's like those balls are cursed or something…" she trailed off dreamily and stared without focus out of the window into the sky that she had grown to despise over the last year.
Vegeta gave up and decided to get out of the house before he started reminiscing too.
'Not exactly my idea of fun' he thought, and went to find another saiyajin to beat up. They were all only too willing, knowing that their time with their bodies was drawing to a close, and soon they would go back to aimless floating in endless limbo.
One saiyajin was suffering more than most at this thought, and he passed Vegeta on his way up the path leading to Bulma's front door.
He bowed low
"Get up Bardock" Vegeta snapped in return. He scrambled to his feet. "Where, need I ask, are you heading when I have sparring to do?" Bardock looked up sharply. Vegeta knew he was here to say a kind of goodbye to Bulma, but he didn't like it.
'I will permit it though' he thought 'if only to keep her quiet for the next few weeks'
"I was heading to visit Bulma, your majesty" Bardock mumbled, refusing to lie.
"Don't ever call my mate by name in my presence Bardock, I don't even use her name, why should you?" he sneered cruelly.
Bardock wondered briefly what on earth he was supposed to call her if he couldn't use her name.
While he thought, though Vegeta simply rolled his eyes and snapped
"Go on, go and say your sentimental goodbyes, but then I demand you spar with me like a real saiyajin!" he growled and marched off toward the encampment where the rest of the Saiyajin could be found, most probably already engrossed in battle.
Bardock sighed as he watched him leave, then turned and headed back up to Bulma's front door, wondering if it would be proper to call her by her name when Vegeta was not present.
Hope you enjoyed! Things start to speed up from here on, I know this story has been a little slow so far, I promise I'll make up for it soon!