NOTE: This chapter has given me grief, yes, and this chapter has especially given you all grief. Trust me, I've been just as upset about this chapter as all of you have, so forgive me if I rush the transition plot and get it over with, because, with this being the TWELFTH TIME attempting to write this, I've lost my patience, and I just want it to end. Things will be much easier after this chapter. This is the last of my 'awkward transition' chapters, so bear with me here. It has a LOT of stuff in it, mostly because all of this has to get out of the way in order for me to progress forward, and every time I'd attempt to write this, I'd get discouraged from the huge agenda and/or workload.

Therefore, I'm compressing all the transition stuff into one EXTREMELY JUMPY chapter that deals with Gohan, Hercule, Goku, Pan, Uub and Buu, Bulma, Piccolo, and you name it. They're in here.

CHAPTER 62:
OMFG I FINALLY UPDATED

Real title:

Everything, Compressed, That Would Normally Have Bored the Crap Out of You

No, really. The real, real title this time -grin- :

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CHAPTER 62:
His, Her, and Their Circumstances

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The carpet of the long corridor muffled the sound of Lieutenant-General Son's footsteps as he half-casually strode along, his legs working at a mild pace as his mind was focused on inner contemplation. His face was stoic as he looked down to the roster in his right hand; his left was lightly brushing the light blue wall, causing an almost-imperceptible hiss of friction.

Gohan's tight lips almost turned to a frown as his eyes continued to scan the list, but failed to read the content; instead, his mind was focused on what that rotting rat had to say to him this morning – something about a monster of sorts on the loose.

The truth was, in order for the guy to work up the guts and interrupt his morning coffee with news of some disturbance on the ship, there must have been something truly dreadful going around. However, Gohan had checked on every passenger on the ship, and had affiliates see to all the catering services. Nothing could have gotten on the ship unchecked, so the reality lay in the unlikely hypothesis of an alien hijacking the ship, or in the very probable possibility that this 'monster' was a passenger who was playing a prank on the ship, and Gohan would see to it that this person would not get by unscathed. At the very minimum, his or her actions would be punishable by certain death.

As for the monster, Gohan could only think of one particular crowd that pushed his buttons. And, as for them, he did not care much for the sorry excuse for a pop singer, that Corn Candy rat and her sidekick, Ugly Boy, or whatever his name was. Gohan brought his left hand away from the wall, licked his thumb, and flipped some pages on the roster, forwarding to the end of the list. As he read his notes, his mouth threatened to frown again

#497: Candy, CornGreen hair, hides her eyes. Suspicious character; claims to be Corn Muffin. About 5', passable as a teenager, but appears in mid-20s. The following member of the Candy party was just as suspicious: #498: Candy, Cane – Dark skin, quiet, shoulder-length dreadlocks. Appears to be related to Passenger #497 and #500. #500: Candy, Candy –

Gohan stopped in mid-stride, and lowered his eyebrows as the numbers flashed through his eyes again 498, 500. There was a blank spot beside 498, as if he had forgotten to include someone. #499 was missing. Missing, as in… there could potentially be one additional passenger on this ship, due to his own negligence.

"Shit!" Gohan sneered as he rolled the papers and turned to smack them hard against the wall. How could he let something like this happen?.! He was a professional, and this math was so basic, he felt like a stupid Saiyan again – curse that word!

Gohan stood a moment, looking down the corridor through which he had been heading, then looked down to his pocket and pulled out a walkie talkie, holding back a mild snarl. Pressing the right-most button with his right thumb, he kept his eyes glued straight ahead as he made his formal announcement: "Lieutenant General Son to Cockpit. Inform Queen Bulma of a Roster discrepancy. Currently researching the problem. Arrange meeting in 5 minutes; Possible stowaway."

If there was an extra passenger on this ship, Gohan would be the first to know.

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Hercule stuck to the walls and alcoves of the hallway, proceeding timorously, with shaking hands. "Buu?" Hercule frowned as he quickly shot a glance down the hallway, "Buu?"

His whisper was hardly anything of the sort. His breath came out so ragged and harsh, his whisper sounded like metal scratching on metal. His chest was almost sore from his pounding heartbeat. "Buu!"

Taking a deep breath, he tiptoed to another alcove before permitting himself to exhale. His fingers clung to his shirt as he closed his eyes and leaned against the wall by one of the cabin doors. "Darnit, Buu! Where'd ya run off to?"

Two voices down the hall caught his attention and made him freeze against the wall. "Oh no! Oh no, Ah gotta hide!" Hercule pressed himself further against the wall and desperately felt along the edge for some button to press. Finding none, he plastered himself against the doorway and hoped to all Kais that nobody would look his way.

A mumbled male voice began to increase in clarity as it came closer "… to see. I was thinking of checking all the rooms…"

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"Wouldn't you need a warrant?" Bulma frowned to Gohan as she walked beside him down the hall.

"Pardon me, Queen Bulma," Gohan turned his right, to look at her, as they walked, "but as I understand it, I AM the warrant."

"But I wouldn't want our Tuffles to feel as if their privacy has been violated, especially so close to the landing. Why not just put it off until everyone gets off the ship?"

"But by then it may be too late." Gohan narrowed his eyes in mild retribution to himself, "The stowaway could escape by the same means as he or she managed to board this cruiser." He put on his most serious face as his cold gaze pierced hers, "And I don't want to contaminate our new planet with anyone, or anything that is... unwelcome."

"Lord Baby would…" Bulma turned her head to look to Gohan, as they were passing another alcove, and saw a rather familiar, but unsightly man sprawled against the doorway. She blinked in mid-sentence, shook her head, and looked to Gohan as they continued to walk, only mildly distracted, "Lord Baby would handle any uninvited guest, let me reassure you. Besides…" Bulma raised her left hand to look at her perfect Tuffle nails, "I've heard something rather disturbing on your part."

"Oh?"

"Let's pray this isn't true. You did succeed in slaying the Saiyan, am I correct?"

Gohan almost missed a step as his blood turned cold. He made no response as he continued to walk, at a slower pace.

"…Because, if that is true – and I pray it is not…" Bulma brought her left hand up to straighten the left side of her hair, "I may assume this stowaway monster should not be the main of your concerns."

"We'll see."

Bulma turned her head forward, but kept her eyes on him, to her left side, as she smirked slightly, "Our Venerable Lord Baby does not take failure lightly."

Gohan stopped and turned to her, then, coming dangerously close to narrowing his eyes at the queen. Something else caught his attention, though, as he looked down to the floor. He tensed a bit, as if sensing something that may have triggered a somewhat violent response if not in front of such respectable company. Then, he took a moment to steady his composure and fake a confident smirk as he sucked in both his ego and patience, and bowed deeply to Lord Baby's wife. "Rest assured, Your Highness, that I, as well, am not one to accept failure. I have merely been detained, but the Saiyan's death is inevitable."

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"I'm… I'm…"

The air seemed particularly hot this one morning as Goku wiped some sweat off his forehead with his right arm.

"I think I'm dying you guys," Goku sniffed a bit as he lifted another large boulder, "I don't know if I can take this anymore."

"Oh quit your blubbering and hurry up so I can get my tea!" Ancient Kai scoffed a bit as he put down his naughty magazine and huffed to Goku, "And you haven't even been working that hard! Three days is nothing for you! I think you're becoming a regular slacker, just like Kibito!"

"Hey!" Kibito Kai looked up from the chess game he had been playing with Suguro, "It's not like you do anything, either."

"No… I…" Goku dropped the boulder and fell to his knees, "I… I'm… I'm…"

A large growl suddenly shook the Kai's planet as they all flopped back in both a stupor and disgust.

"That's impossible, Goku!" Kibito brought his hands to his face in disbelief, "You just ate."

"No." Goku winced as he sat down beside the boulder and groaned, "It's not that. I mean yes, I'm hungry, but that's not it at all."

"What?" Everyone, even Piccolo from under a large tree, looked up to Goku as he began to rub his tailbone.

"It's my back." Goku frowned, "Well – no – it's my lower back. It's just so… I'm so sore."

Piccolo huffed a bit as he smirked slightly, his halo glinting a bit in the source-less sunlight, "Looks like you're finally getting old, Goku."

Goku blinked to him and looked down to his 14-year-old hands and feet, "I am?"

"No." Piccolo gave an inaudible groan and rolled his eyes, "I was wrong. You're still the naïve little kid you always were."

"Hey, you take that back. I'm not little!" Goku stood up against the rock with a scrunched face and then put up his fists, directed to Piccolo, "And I could still beat you in a spar, too!"

Piccolo smirked as he stood up then, "Even with your failing back?"

Goku grinned widely and patted his chest confidently, "I could beat you without my back!"

"Augh, idiot." Piccolo rolled his eyes and then put up his fists as he got into a fighting stance, "You're on."

"No!"

Goku grinned widely as he stretched his arms and rubbed his hands together, in preparation for a battle.

"No! No! No!" Ancient Kai stood, waving his hands with a desperate scowl, "You can't battle here!"

"Oh shut up Old Kai!" Piccolo turned to the Kai with a snarl, baring both his fangs, "You've been having me sit here doing nothing for weeks while all Goku is doing is lugging around rocks and weeding your damn garden!"

"He's training"

"You call this training?.!" Piccolo walked toward him, towering over the Kai with a menacing scowl, "I'll tell you something about training." Piccolo folded his arms and looked, hard, down to the Kai, "Training is when you take a battle seriously; when you focus your inner chi and outer strength in a balance you would only dream of achieving by just sitting there and reading dirty magazines!"

Piccolo pointed to Goku, still keeping his eyes glued to Ancient Kai, "His granddaughter trained. I made sure she trained, learning every move I could teach her. I taught her everything I knew, every last bit of wisdom I could muster! And you…" Piccolo took a step back, as if to measure Ancient Kai for size, "You keep telling us about your fifteen generations of nonsense, of what your best Kai friends used to do while dating, while Goku mows your lawn!

"This…" Piccolo turned around, waving his arms as if to include the whole world in his statement, "This is a joke." He turned on his heel, and marched over to the crystal ball that lay beside Kibito, who was watching him along with everyone else. "This guy," Piccolo pointed to the white ball, "This guy… Baby… He's not a joke. He's taken everyone. Don't you get it?" Piccolo turned to Goku, "He's taken Gohan, Goku. Maybe that still hasn't registered in your head! He's taken all your friends, family, and planet, and now he's going take Pan, Goku. He's going to take PAN!"

"It's going to be alright, though." Kibito stood up and walked to Piccolo, with a concerned face, "When Goku comes in, we'll all find a way to defeat thi–."

"–You keep saying that!" Piccolo growled and spun to look at Ancient Kai and then Goku, "But it's all empty words. I…" He made a fist, and looked down to it, seething in face, "I trained Pan for nine months, Goku. Nine entire months, thinking you were her lifeboat. And you've been playing your stupid little rock-hauling games and YOU!" Piccolo thrust his right hand to point at Ancient Kai, "You've been drinking your cappuccinos and herbal teas, while everyone is dying, or suffering inside their own prisons!" He narrowed his eyes and turned to look at all of them, briefly, "You're all just a bunch of fiddlers while West City burns!"

"Fiddles?" Goku looked around.

"Look at that." Piccolo gestured to Goku as his gaze pierced Ancient Kai's, "Fifteen generations of wisdom, and your product is a little kid who still thinks he can fight without his back."

"I never taught him that!"

"You never taught him anything!" Piccolo shouted out in frustration and threw up his hands, "So that's it! That's IT! I'm taking over."

"Hey, hey, hey." Kibito shook his head and waved his hands, "Not good."

"Come on, Goku, let's spar for real, and screw these bums."

"Not good, not good!" Kibito continued to repeat himself as he waved his hands, "Elder Kai? What should we do?"

"Well…" Ancient Kai put down his magazine and slowly stood up, with his arms crossed nonchalantly. "I guess…" He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened his right a tiny slit to peer at Piccolo, "I first want an apology."

Piccolo narrowed his eyes, "I'd sooner rot in H–."

"Woah, woah, woah!" Kibito came between them with a nervous fake smile, "You two…" he faked a chuckle, sweating slightly, "Always joking now!"

"What is this!" Ancient Kai narrowed his eyes to Piccolo in return, "I remember the day when you revered me! Now I get no respect! No respect, I tell you!"

Piccolo snarled down to Ancient Kai, "You're deluded if you think you deserve any."

"Hey, hey, hey!"

"You forget whom you are talking to!"

"You deserved to have been put away in that sword! My GOD, I would have put you away, myself, if I had the chance."

"How DARE you! That's IT!" Ancient Kai raised his hands, "That's a one-way ticket to–"

"No! No! Hey!" Kibito stepped in front of Piccolo, laughing nervously, with his hands up, "You know, I think we're all getting a little bit of cabin fever, hmm?"

Ancient Kai narrowed his eyes, "Out of the way, Kibito."

"But Venerable Elder…" Kibito scratched his face, sweating profusely, "Goku may be ready for the final training, sir."

The old Kai furrowed his thick white brow, "What final training?"

"Heh… heh…" Kibito brought his eyebrows up in a frown as he faked a chuckled and then got a very serious face, determined, with hard eyes, to get his underlying meaning across, "You know… the 'training'."

"Oh!" Ancient Kai blinked as another thought came to his head, "Has he finished my tea yet?" The elder Kai blinked a moment, and looked around in a sort of blank stare, "Wait a minute, when did I get up?"

"Just sit down, Elder Kai, please." Kibito faked an overly exaggerated smile as he gestured to the magazine on the grass. As the elder Kai made his way back to his former seat, Kibito turned on a time to face Piccolo, with inner rage being displayed quite prominently on his face, "Come with me."

"This is unbelievable." Piccolo shook his head, "If I would have wanted a soap opera, I would have traveled down to H.F.I.L."

"Imbecile…" Kibito hissed under his breath, "You almost got sent there. You need to remember your place with Elder Kai." Kibito watched as Piccolo opened his mouth to say something, but he cut Piccolo short with a hand, "I know he can act absent-minded sometimes. Believe me, I'm going to have to live with this guy for as long as I'll be Supreme Kai, and I'm not happy about it either, though he means well."

"He's gotten nothing… NOTHING do–"

"–I know, I know…" Kibito Kai winced a bit as he kept himself from glancing behind him, "But you have to trust us that we do have a plan, and until then, watch your mouth, because Elder Kai tends to get a bit… grumpy in his old age, and," he sighed, "he has every ability to make your life and death miserable."

"Listen," Piccolo scowled as he looked down to Kibito, stealing glances to Ancient Kai between phrases, "Whatever this training is, has to start now. Pan is down there, on her way to that Tuffle planet, and she's going to take on the entire army alone."

"But she can–"

"–No she can't!" Piccolo restrained himself from grabbing the Kai by the collar, "Just Gohan, himself, managed to bring her this close," he put up his right four fingers and indicated a centimeter or less between his thumb and index, "this close to joining me on that day."

"But she also has Buu on her side."

"Buu!" Piccolo snarled, "That pink pile of blubber gets by because he can't die, not because he can kill."

"And there's also that boy – Uub, I think his name is."

There was a pause between them as Piccolo glanced over to Goku who was resting against the boulder, and the two green beaver-looking shapeshifters who were sitting over the chess board. The pause extended a bit as Piccolo breathed in heavily and looked down to the grass by his feet.

"Pan…" Piccolo started, his voice calmer and lower now, "She's in this alone."

"No she's not, Piccolo. Goku's going, too."

Piccolo looked over to Goku again, who was rubbing his behind with a sore look on his face. "Train him, or I will, but Goku's not nearly ready to face Baby right now, especially with a back problem."

"No, no," Kibito's face suddenly brightened into a smile as he shook his head, "It's a good thing he's sore, Piccolo. I think he may be ready for what we intend to do. You won't have to wait much longer."

"What?" Piccolo frowned in confusion.

"Suguro!" Kibito left Piccolo and walked back to the chess board, where Suguro and Shusugoro were chatting amongst themselves. "What say you? How about a nice session of shapeshifting."

Suguro looked up with a blink, "Hmm?"

Kibito grinned as he gestured to the board, "Do me a favor, and I'll give you a rook."

"A whole rook?" Suguro looked down to the game in which he was losing, and badly, "What do you need?"

"Well…" Kibito looked over to Goku, and then quickly to Piccolo, before returning his gaze to Suguro, "How is your experience with… say…" he grinned, "…pliers?"

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Pan panted deeply as she made her way through the hallway, reaching out for any familiar ki signals. She needed to find Hercule, but his ki was so weak, she could barely detect him, especially since there were so many people on the ship. Including all the staff, there came close to 700 or 800 passengers, though Pan was in no mood to count. She, instead, was cursing to herself about how she let her grandfather get away in a moment of stupidity. "This is insane," Pan muttered several profanities under her breath as she turned down corners and dove in alcoves, "This is just begging for trouble."

Her senses immediately jolted when she sensed a faint trace of an all-too familiar ki just two floors above her. "Shit." Pan glued herself to the wall, sensing if anyone was coming, "He's close." Pan immediately suppressed her ki, for fear of being sensed.

For a minute, she paused, slowing her breathing, closing her eyes, and trying to sense to what direction his ki might be moving. When it made no sudden movement, she figured she was safe. Having come so far, it would be disappointing to have to run into him. However, running around the hallways was no way to prevent herself from being spotted. She didn't want to have to give up on Hercule, though. She had to find him; she just had to… or else she'd have to consider him lost, as a Tuffle, and do everything in her power to avoid being caught. There was no telling what they'd do to him. And, he was nowhere to be found. Hercule had just plain vanished, and Pan was suddenly put between a rock and a hard place – both abandoning him and re-adopting him into the party now seemed like terrible choices.

"Why did you do this, Gramps?.!" Pan sighed and pulled her short, thick hair. "Shit." She looked up once more, just to check any movement on Gohan's part, and began to sprint back to her room. It was unsafe to stay there anymore. They'd have to find a new place to hide.

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"Are you sure?" Bulma looked to the floor as Gohan froze for the second time.

"Yes. I'm positive."

"Then we need to set off the security alarms. I can't have her contaminating this ship."

"No." Gohan looked to Bulma with determined eyes, "I have already pinpointed her floor. And, judging by the room assignments, I can almost guarantee I know what party she's with." Gohan smirked slightly, "I would prefer to give her a clean kill and not disturb the others on this ship."
"Well, then…" Bulma smirked back to him, "It looks like you'll finally have the chance to follow through with your mission after all, Lieutenant General. Can you trace her movements?"

"No. Piccolo has taught her to hide her ki well," Gohan looked to Bulma with a half-grin, "But I hide mine better. Unless the Namek were able to teach her how to sense the energy of shifting air particles, there's no way she'd ever be able to sense me."

"Are you sure about that?" Bulma mused.

Gohan nodded with a dark grin, "As sure as I am that Lord Baby shall rule forever."

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"Uub!" Pan shot through the door and slammed the panel to automatically shut it "Uub, where are you?"

"Hmm?" Uub sat up in the bed farthest from the dark window and rubbed his eyes, "Did you find him?"

"What are you doing, sleeping? It's been five minutes! Get dressed."

"Huh?" Uub frowned as he swung his feet off the bed.

"I said get dressed." Pan grabbed some clothes from the pile on the floor and threw them to him. "Now."

Uub blinked and then got a very stern look as he frowned, "What's wrong?"

"Gramps is missing," Pan threw some clothes into the capsule cabinet, "Buu too."

"Yeah, I thought we had established that," Uub yawned as he stood on the carpet, his feet making a slight suction noise as the air vents provided simulated gravity against his skin.

"They're not coming back." Pan kept a steady face as she rapidly walked to the bathroom to gather the toiletries.

"What do you mean? Were they captured?" Uub grabbed his gi and threw off the shirt he was currently wearing. "They weren't captured, right?"

"I told him. I told him!" Pan threw everything into a bag and wandered out to the main room, "I told him that I –Ahh– I would co-consider them Tuffles if they wa-wa-wan-wandered off," Pan had to look away from Uub's bare chest, feeling extremely hypocritical on her part. It was one thing to be used to seeing a Namek's body, but something about seeing Uub's chest made her tense and her heart skip a beat. She had never felt that way about anything before. Although she merely assumed it to be a fluke, she couldn't help but manage a slight blush.

Uub, himself, was blushing as well as he finished putting on his gi. "S-so where are we going?"

"I don't know," Pan threw the bag into the capsule and checked under the beds for any remaining materials, "And get your ki down!"

"Get my what?"

"Your ki!" Pan looked up to him, with all seriousness in her face, "He'll sense you."

"Who? Buu?"

"No! Him." Pan wanted to spit instead of say his name out loud. The thing that walked around in her father's shell was too close for comfort. She paused a moment, trying to locate it, but found, in her hysteria, she couldn't calm down enough. "And keep your voice low." Pan pressed the button on the capsule to collapse it, and placed it safely inside an inner gi pocket. "We may have to fight our way out of here."

"Now?"

"No," Pan looked around to see if there were any other place to make their escape. The hallways were too risky, and there was still that chance that Gohan may have felt her ki. She didn't want to test her luck. Looking up, she noted the same air vent she had seen the night before. A dark ribbon hung from it, showing air movement flowing from it. In order to travel by it, they'd have to fight the air current in zero gravity. That part would not be the problem. The biggest concern was how to get up there in the first place without giving away their escape route.

Uub followed her gaze upward, and centered his vision on the vent as well, "Do you want to travel by that way?"

"Here," Pan looked around, and ran back to the bathroom to grab a towel, "Grab that chair," she pointed to one of the dinette chairs by the glass window to space.

"This?" Uub walked up to the chair and tugged on it, "I can't. It's nailed to the floor."

"Then de-nail it or something." Pan walked up and tugged one of the other chairs.

"I don't know, Pan. I don't feel right destroying this table set. I mean, I don't really have the money to pay for the rep–"

"–Here we go!" Pan ripped the chair clean out from the carpet and held it above her head, "Alright, mission one over with! Next…" Pan moved below the vent area and stood on the chair, frowning a bit, "Still too short."

"Need me to lift you?"

"Yeah, that will help. Thanks." Pan stepped onto the bed as Uub stood on the chair. Alright, how are we gonna make this work?"

"I'll get you from your waist, if you like. I mean, if you don't mind," Uub managed a second blush for the day.

Pan gave a quick smile, and turned around for him to lift her. When he did grab a hold of her, his grasp was firm, and strong, yet incredibly gentle to the touch. She hadn't felt hands like his since… since her own true father had held her, years ago. It was amazing, for that brief moment, how just a touch brought back a wave of nostalgia and deep emotions she had been containing for so long. However, the brief flashback only lasted a split moment, as he hoisted her into the air and held her firmly, so she could reach the vent.

"Wow, you're… You're heavier than you look!"

"Oh, shush," Pan grinned as she pushed up the vent, feeling a strong draft of air pushing her down. She threw the towel up, and then, grabbing the edges, hoisted herself up against the strong warm current, pulling herself into the rather cramped vent.

"Okay, I'm coming up too."

"No, wait," Pan shook her head and signaled down to him, "Put the chair back, so nobody knows we moved it."

"Right." Uub carried it over to the table again, and settled it back into place. "Now how am I going to get up there?"

"With this, silly," Pan grinned and held down the towel for him to climb, "Now nobody will ever know where to find us!"

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"Alright men, when I count to three."

The whole local squad was outside the door, now. Word had traveled fast that this was the place, after all. They would catch this thing, no matter what.

"One… two… THREE!" They broke down the door, hurling full-force into the room with their tazer guns. As two of them rolled out from the pile, they stood up, armed and ready, but no one was there.

"Sir. Private, sir, I don't see any– ahhh!"

Pink zaps went through the air as the giant Majin hurtled from the tops of the giant kitchen's cabinets and swung from the large crystal chandelier, tearing the whole appliance out from the wall from his enormous weight. Everything, from the chandelier to the cabinets, crashed down in the kitchen as Buu jumped forth and zapped even more of the soldiers, "Haha! Tuffle candy good!" Buu laughed and danced in a circle, watching all the enemies turn into convenient bars of chocolate.

"Sir!" Some of the men retreated with walkie talkies, screaming commands via the radio, "We've cornered the monster, sir! Throw the alarms!"

Several of the men piled by the alarm while one threw the switch, which in turn caused the whole ship to erupt in one giant siren "WAAAOOOOOOOOOWAAH" that resonated through all the chambers and hallways of the space cruiser.

Several shouts came from down the hallway, and chaos broke out everywhere in the B Sector of the ship. However, the more Tuffles that came to put an end to the alien stowaway, the more met a most ironically sweet end.

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The alarms went off right as Gohan made his way to the door that housed Passengers #497 through #500, including the missing #499 he had sensed earlier. With his master key card, he swiped it once, and did his best to put on a casual pose when the door opened. He would love to see the looks on their faces, seeing him stride inside.

However, as the doors opened, the room was empty, save for two unmade beds.

"That's impossible." Gohan snarled as he strode into the room, checking in the bathroom and under the beds, "They couldn't have vanished." He looked to the floor for any clues, and then shifted his gaze upward to the bare ceiling. Nothing was there.

Placing the key into his left uniform pocket, he once again strode through the empty room, though the bathroom was still damp from a former shower. It was obvious that whoever had left, had left quickly, though it made no sense as to how she may have sensed him coming. Even the alarms would not have given her any forewarning, and there was no possible way she could have wandered far enough for someone to pull the alarms on her. Everything made no sense.

Breathing deeply, and rubbing his throbbing temple, Gohan walked up to the window, looking out to the vast space filled with stars. As he rubbed his forehead, he tried not to imagine what Lord Baby would say when he found out Gohan accidentally let the Saiyan not only get away again, but now run loose on the ship.

She had to be stopped. Great Lord of Tuffles, even if he had to blow up the entire ship, he would stop her.

He sat down at the table placing his wrists on the cool tabletop, still looking out at the stars, contemplating how wonderful it would feel to crush her neck this time around, and see the blood come from her mouth. It would taste so sweet; he could almost feel it now. As he rocked forward in mild excitement, the chair wobbled a bit, causing him to frown. The fact that there was a defective chair in a Tuffle ship was just unacceptable.

Scowling, his mind wandered from the chair back to the cause of his concerns again, though the more he thought about it, the more he felt a rising anger within him. I may as well check out the cause of the alarms, Gohan growled to himself, flexing his wrists casually. As he stood up, the chair slid too, adding more to his annoyance. "Damn thing," Gohan pulled it out and kicked it across the room, throwing an extra small blast in that exploded the excuse for a seat into thousands of splinters and smoke.

Suddenly, the straw broke the camel's back as the smoke alarm went off in the room, adding another alarm to the fray, and the sprinklers came down to drench absolutely everything, including Gohan, in tap water.

"DAMNIT!" Gohan attempted to shield his head with his hands, and dashed to the door, slamming his fists on the master touchpad, sending sparks flying in every which-way direction, slightly shocking Gohan's skin.

With a frustrated shout, he did a roundhouse kick to the door, sending it flying into the hall, bursting through another wall as it came to rest in someone's room. There were several screams as Gohan stormed past, snarling in a rage that would obliterate anyone and anything in his way.

During the rampage through the corridor, the alarms silenced, replaced by the captain's voice, of a false alarm, and the current time.

They would be landing soon. My god, and Gohan had yet to find the damn Saiyan.

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–11/26/05–

WARNING: SUPER DUPER, DUPER, DUPER LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE:

By all means, feel free to vent about how I have not updated in half a year. I'm well aware of this, and it has not made me happy, either. Graduate school has sucked the life out of me time-wise, though I confess, I've been drawing a lot more; so, if you want to know what I'm up to, check out the DeviantArt link on my bio page.

I do not know if, by getting this chapter out of the way, I may have saved on some writing grief. I just know that all this was not only necessary to my plot,but had to be gotten out of the way, and unless I were to havecompressed the whole plot of the transition (here, it is almost 6,000 words) into one chapter, then my life would have been a living, boring nightmare, trying to convey all these situations in more than 4,000 words each.

The truth is, I love my story, and I will write my story, even if it takes me 10 years. There is a lot to my idea, and I'm sorry if by some reason I may have personally upset my readers by not being able to update, but as it stands, I have NO time to write anything. As it is, I had a mental breakdown a week and a half ago, and my parents had to fly up to help me through a time when I was beginning to get very depressed. I'm feeling a lot better now, but the deal is, I am under a great deal of stress and for a while I was pretty miserable.

I have to now study for finals, which go until December 9th, and then on December 10th, I'm flying out to Amsterdam and Spain for 2 weeks, until after Christmas. The soonest I'd be able to whip out another chapter, if it happens, would be by New Year's, though that may include forcing a chapter out, which I can't do. Chapters have to write themselves. Things will be better this upcoming winter when I only have 2 classes and clinic to worry about (versus 4 and clinic, now).

The story shall go on, no matter how long it takes. Please, have faith in me. I would never let any of you guys down. This story is too big, and has too much potential to ever be forgotten, abandoned, or discontinued. I DO, however, have a bone to pick with some of my reviewers who decided to insult me for not updating, as if trying to pick a fight with me.

I want to make one thing VERY clear: I am NOT PAID to write this. I am NOT, in any way, funded or commissioned to write this. I write when I have the time, am not panicked about upcoming tests or events, and I'm feeling creative enough, and patient enough, to sacrifice 8 – 9 hours of my day to write something to entertain you guys. You have no right to flame me for being too busy to write. If YOU would like to read 1,000+ pages per week for school, do reports, essays, observations, hours, projects, and homework in addition to the reading, and somehow manage to memorize 400+ terms per week, then feel free to do the work for me while I write this story. Otherwise, please be patient, because I am only human, guys, and I'm a grad student barely managing to get by.

One last thing: I promise to respond to each and every review I get. Now that there's a new "review response" feature, I will take full advantage of that. Also, note, and THIS IS IMPORTANT: I am no longer accepting anonymous reviews. If you would like to review my story, feel free to log in, so I may respond to you. I encourage the 'lurkers' of ffnet to make accounts, for those who are not able to log in. Accounts are free, and they really help you organize your favorite stories better, in addition to giving you incentive to one day writing your own fic.

With that said, I hope the next chapter comes a little more easily to me, though all this work has given me some very severe dialogue-block.

Note: The above Author's Note is going to be removed by the time I post the next chapter.