~Takula Saga~

Chapter 41 – Beam us up Bulma

Life definitely could be worse.

That was Gohan's thought process as he woke up to find the sun peaking through his window, a little higher in the sky than it normally is when he gets up. It had been two weeks since the day of the tournament and subsequent kiss with Videl. That night was still burned into the front of his mind. They flew to Videl's home, slipping in a window. Neither of them were in the mood to go further, so they just slept with the comfort of the other. It had been a rather emotional day, and a draining one at that. He all ready was feeling better about having to say goodbye to his father for another time.

His mother and Goten were still in a funk, but Trunks and Bulma were doing their best to help their respective friends the best they could. Vegeta also seemed content with his lot in life now, training the young ones when they came over of course, but the fact was that he wasn't pushing them as much. Power wasn't the goal, rather style and experience.

Krillin had put in to buy a island not far off the coast of the mainland, so Marron could go to a school and make friends. Reporters were at a loss to where their new champ had fled to however. Bulma must have pulled some strings so they could fly under the radar. 17 left to continue his star life. He kept secret about the relationship between the blond 18 and her husband, once again allowing the couple to keep their low profile, though some rather crazy tabloids made their guesses none the less.

Tien and Chiaotzu went back to their mountainside home with Launch and Blast. They promised the others to get a phone of some sort so they could be reached easier. Although Blast was a tad reluctant to return home, she eventually gave in after her parents agreed to let her try a public school.

Sharpner and Erasa were currently watching over Satan City as the Golden fighter and Saiyagirl. Those two seemed to be enjoying the super-hero gig, and Gohan was fine with them taking over for the time being. Hercule had been unusually quiet ever sense his loss, though he still made appearances to keep a good face. He stayed at his home a lot more now, often keeping a wary eye on his only daughter.

Piccolo returned to Kami's Lookout, happy to continue with his retirement. Yamcha also returned to his rather famous baseball career. The questions never stopped coming his way about the fighters he fought with, but Yamcha held his silence with a smile on his face. Upa went home to his tribe with news that their old friends were doing well, and a new drive to try and get stronger. Due to summer vacation starting, Konkichi relaxed most days as he took in the sun. Roshi was almost surprisingly a little upset that Krillin and family would be leaving him, but he and Turtle were given permission to come over when ever they felt the need, so the old hermit took it better than he could have. In other words, all was right for the world, even with his father still gone. He was happy, the world was peaceful. It was great.

And that was the reason he was so on edge.

It was strange, but his life had never had this before. All the way from the attack of Raditz to Cell, his life had been one big training session. And after Cell, his father was gone which left a rather empty feeling in the wake. And then there was the whole Babidi thing too. So for him to find that he was content with the world, it made him look to the sky in worry. It was about now that some big bad guy would swoop in claiming to be a relative to someone they had beat or someone they had all ready beat would come somehow stronger ready to take revenge.

Videl was currently enjoying her summer break training with Krillin in an attempt to gain the Spirit Burst technique, leaving Gohan to his own thoughts for at least what was left of the week. Chi-Chi and Goten had left for Capsule Corp for a few days to try and take their minds off things, so Gohan was left to a strangely quiet house. Maybe it was that, that strange quiet he had woken up to, but it felt like it was more than that. Like something in the back of his mind was telling him something was wrong.

Maybe it really was more than that. Gohan kept looking up at the sky from his bed, as if something would make itself known. It was as if something were watching him from just behind him, but his other senses knew that he was the only one for miles. Maybe he was just over thinking things and he just needed to get out of bed.

It couldn't hurt. So after getting up, Gohan went about starting his Friday. First, the gathering of wood, or rather cutting down a rather large tree with a good punch. Then the chopping of it with quick slices of the hand. And with the wood pile restocked, Gohan turned to other things. Random cutting of grass here, tending to his mother's garden there. Well...there went ten minutes.

...all right, things were definitely wrong here. He still couldn't figure it out, but there definitely was something up. Here he was, a high-schooler and he was doing his chores that he didn't really even have to do. They'd just be redone by his mother and his younger brother later. But what do normal kids his age usually do during summer break? Hang out or something? Well...everyone was already doing something. So what could he do?

He didn't have any homework, or chores either for that matter. Scratching the top of his head, Gohan thought about it for a while. He really didn't have anything else to do for the day. He could train...Vegeta probably wouldn't even mind a spar right now. But to be honest that sounded like a lot of work for only a lot of pain later.

Seriously...did Gohan have nothing to do?

With a sudden ring from inside his house, Gohan let a sigh go. Thank Kami, the phone. Opening the door back into his house, the teen made his way to the kitchen and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey-, uh ... Gohan is this you?"

"Ya its me, who's this?"

"It's me, Krillin. I'm at Bulma's right now with Videl. I have a question for you, but its gonna be a strange one."

Well... it was just gonna be one of those days, eh? "Uh … well, I mean, I'm listening."

"Have things been … ya know, feeling strange for you ever since this morning?"

"I guess, it has been kinda quiet around the house lately. But I don't think that's what you're talking about."

"Nah, that's not it. More like you're being watched or something?"

"...actually, ya. Why?"

"We need ya to come to Bulma's as soon as ya can. Can you be here in fifteen?"

"Sure...but, what is this all about?"

"Its kinda hard to explain over the phone … trust me, you're going to wanna see this."

"Alright then. I'll be there soon."

"See ya then."

And with a click, a mono-tone sound came over the phone. Gohan glanced at it before finally hanging it up.

Yup...just gonna be one of those days.

-DBZ-

Gohan had known it was to good to be true, but this was a little ridiculous.

A small circular table currently held some of the strongest fighters around. Krillin, Gohan, Videl, Goten, Trunks, Chi-Chi, Bulma, Vegeta, and Dr Brief's, the old scientist currently standing infront of the others with a giant round mass of stone currently on the monitor behind him. Word was that Yamcha and Tien were on their way, but probably wouldn't make it in time. Time for what? Good question, one Gohan was hoping to find out sooner rather than later.

The old man with the black cat on his shoulder held his fist up to his mouth, coughing slightly as he cleared his throat. Glancing back at the group of fighters, he pointed a rather long metal rod at the large rock on the screen behind him.

"This, is the problem. And you guys are the solution. This asteroid is the biggest one on record to come anywhere near earth, easily shattering the old records. And the problem is that it's coming right for earth. This thing is literally bigger than the moon itself."

Needless to say, that took most of the onlookers back a bit. Bulma then pressed a few buttons on the display infront of her, changing the picture to a thermal image of the space rock. Different shades of reds and oranges filled the picture. "And this is the strange part."

Dr Brief's nodded to his daughter, once again taking over the discussion. "Asteroids are made up mostly of rock and some ice. This picture should be blue, not red."

"But what does that mean?" Gohan finally couldn't take the suspense anymore. What did this have to do with him? Not like he didn't want to help, it was just he wanted to know exactly what he was needed for.

"It could mean a lot of things. Something we've never seen before. Part of a nearby star that some now broke off a part of itself, or a planet that got to close to its sun and suddenly broke orbit. Maybe even some kind of moon that seconds as a sun. But after a few different scans of the object, we've come up with what we believe it to be."

The man then took a pause for dramatic effect, or some other reason that the saiyan couldn't understand. His mind was working at top speed to try and figure it out for himself, but what could a hot space rock mean?

"It's no moon. It's a space station."

Trunks and Goten blinked, deja-vu covering their faces for some reason or another. The others looked on rather startled, the only one not looking surprised being Vegeta. The small black cat mewed as the group looked at one another. Dr Briefs just continued on once he felt things had sunk in.

"Even I'm not sure how, but I would surmise that their shielding acts as a cloaking device as well. Hence it looking like a simple piece of rock. I've even picked up some life forms now that the ship is closer to earth. But the one thing I can't figure out is why you fighters can sense it."

Finally Gohan learned why he was there. That sense of something watching them, something coming, it was coming from that, space station thing? The others seemed to be thinking the same thing. Well, at least he hadn't gone crazy yet. Turning to his side, Gohan whispered towards Videl.

"Hey V, how's training going?"

The black haired girl gave a frustrated shrug as she leaned towards Gohan. "It's going. I think I was about to get it but then this morning I couldn't shake that feeling of being watched. It was creepy, and I couldn't focus. I finally complained about it to Krillin, and he told me he was feeling the same way. It was strange, so we called Bulma to see if any one else had mentioned anything. Turns out Vegeta had been trying to ignore it while training Goten and Trunks. After asking around, they connected that to this space station thing."

Gohan smiled nervously as a scowl covered Videl's face. Well, at least she wasn't worried about this space rock station thing, instead her being more upset about not training. Turning back to the group, now a detailed path the thing had been taken was shown with a solid line, and then a dotted line finished the path to what was earth.

"From our estimates, if the station takes the same path at the same pace, it will reach earth in three days time. No one but a few of the scientists who found the supposed asteroid, myself, and you all here know about this. No government or news agency knows about this, and it's probably best if it stay's like that. Who knows how the populous would react. It would be best if you guys took care of what ever this space ship wants with earth."

Gohan blinked at that idea. These guys ... Vegeta, Goten, Trunks, Krillin, Videl...himself, emissaries for earth? Was this really the best idea? Then again, if things broke out into a fight, or if they were a threat, odds are they'd be able to take care of who ever it was pretty quickly. So that meant, they were heading to space again?

Videl looked on with a neutral expression even though she was a tad nervous. It was space, who wouldn't be a little intimidated? Though at the same time she was looking forward to it. How many people could claim she went to space for summer break? Even though it was top secret hush hush stuff, she still could rub it in Erasa and Sharpner's face a little. At least that kind of made up for her not being able to train right now.

Vegeta simple kept his arms crossed as he listened to the boring speech. Blah blah blah blow it up if things go bad. Same old stuff. Even though the rush to finish his training was slowed down now that he had gotten in his fight with his rival, even though it ending in a draw had slightly aggravated him. Training the boys was now more important than himself now though. Those two air-heads would be in charge of making sure the saiyan race didn't fall to time. They'd need to hear the stories and other things that made Saiyans who they were. And the two needed to get stronger. If they were going to be super saiyans, they sure as hell were going to earn it. Maybe this space ship would have a few people that the two young ones could get a little experience fighting against.

Chi-Chi sighed as she watched her youngest and Trunks start talking about how cool space was going to be. As much as she didn't want either of her sons to go, how could she stop them? If it took their minds off their father even for a moment, it would be worth it for them. She would just be waiting for them to return, like always.

Dr Brief's placed his hand on the top of his metal pointer and pushed down, shrinking it down as it collapsed in on itself so it was pocket size. "Vegeta will be piloting a new ship he helped Bulma make. It makes use of more saiyan tech that he could remember learning about as a child. It's safe, so don't worry about anything like that. All you guys need to worry about is what you guys do, protect us and what not. The ship is all ready and everything, so all it needs are those who wish to go along. I have full faith in those who want to go, so I wish you good luck."

-DBZ-

Soon Gohan found himself in a familiar looking space suit, though his first one had been much smaller. Seated next to him was Videl in a matching orange suit with white sleeves. Vegeta was sitting in front of the relatively large pod, his fingers pressing buttons as lights flashed on and off. Krillin was in the third row of seats, along with the younger saiyans. Goten and Trunks were currently trying to untangle themselves from the seat belts, somehow they had gotten tangled in it each and every way.

Goten was even somehow upside down. Poor kid.

Vegeta paid no head to the young ones as the sound of engines started to roar from outside the round ship. The sound quickly turned to rumbling as the ship began to shake. Videl's hand quickly darted over to Gohan's, where it rested on the side of his own chair. Both teens glanced at the hand, and then towards the owners. Both smiled, slightly shy as Gohan took Videl's hand into his.

"Don't worry Videl. Vegeta's been flying in space since long before we were born."

The saiyan at the wheel, well, buttons smirked slyly. "That I have. And I've only crashed the blasted things six times so far. Don't worry though, it was only my fault two out of those six times. The other times it was someone else's...Oh, and no eating in the cockpit, pisses me off. And I tend not to fly very well when I'm pissed."

As the flame haired saiyan continued with the pressing of buttons, Videl tried to hid a slight gulp. Gohan simply rolled his eyes, trying not to chuckle at Vegeta's attempt at being funny. As the ship started to lift off the ground, the two younger ones behind the others were smashed rather uncomfortably into their seats. They had felt larger g-force levels before, but not with the ground shaking and them not being so ready for it. They slipped of their chairs, comically falling to the floor with a thud, giving Krillin a good laugh as they quickly started to leave earth.

Videl squeezed Gohan's hand slightly harder and harder as the blue sky's of earth faded away to the black darkness of space. The shaking stopped just as the last of the blue faded from the sky. Everyone eased back in their seats, Krillin jumping up instead as he stretched.

Vegeta looked at the display in front of him, reading what it had to say and then making small changes. "Artificial gravity is good. Atmosphere in the pod is stable. Engines running as they should. Look's like it will be pretty boring until we get to the asteroid."

"Boring is good. I can live with that." Videl said as she slowly stood up from her chair. She had half expected to be able to float around once she made it to space. Figures that the saiyans would have a gravity room built into their space ships. Now that she thought of it, it did feel a little bit harder to move than normal. Probably had the thing turned up more than earths' normal gravity already.

Gohan stood, looking over Vegeta's shoulder. "How long till we get there?"

"Not much longer than a few more minutes. It may be moving like a space slug, but this ship could get to Namek and back in little more than five days."

Gohan stood, Krillin joining him at his side. "The closer we get, the stronger that weird feeling gets."

Gohan nodded, looking down to his old space partner. "Ya, that's just I was thinking. What do you think it is?"

"Beats me." Videl glanced at the two, joining them. Together they looked out the window into space as a small dot made itself known on the dark horizon. Along with them, Vegeta looked towards their goal as it slowly started to grow bigger. In the background, Goten and Trunks were jumping around as usual, the excitement of space adding to their hyper-ness.

-DBZ-

"Tell me Kibito, how long till the earthling's space ship arrives?"

In a room that was not well lit at all, two people looked at a monitor that showed the layout of the ship in question. The smaller man was the one who asked the question, it being directed at the taller one. The old wrinkled red alien grumbled as he looked at the display. Despite the age his face looked, his body had held onto his muscular build, making him stand strait and tall as his long smooth white hair reached down to his shoulders.

The small alien at his side was a light purple. His eyes were nearly like slits as he watched over the power levels the small machine was reading from the life forms in the ship.

"It looks as if they will be here within minutes sir. What shall we do?"

The five foot tall alien turned to face his assistant, his white spiky mohawk never moving from its pre-ordained state. "Why, welcome them in of course. We will need their help if everything is going to go according to our plan. Time is of the essence, so gaining their favor will be necessary."

The large red alien bowed quickly as he left the room. The small alien turned back to the small screen that lit up his own face. Those strange power readings he had picked up months before seemed to have been confirmed just a few weeks ago, once again power levels that shouldn't exist jumping to unbelievable heights on some back-water planet barely anyone had heard of. Earth. A small smile crossed his lips, hopefully things would go as he hoped.

Author's Annotation:

And so Takula and the Universal Library begins. I know you'll have some questions, so ask away. I'll probably be answering a lot in the next chapter anyway, kind of going for a mysterious and confused feel right now.

I'd like to thank all your readers, if you review or not. This story has done so good so far, it's mind boggling for me. There are no words I can think of to thank all of you, so I'll just leave you with a thank you.