~Takula Saga~

Chapter 44 – Awake

The cocky grin grew larger as he pointed at the man asking him the question, while his other hand reached back for his sword. "The name's Gotenks. Remember it."

"Where are the boys?" asked Gohan. The young child turned to his half brother, his smirk disappearing some what.

"What do you mean, Gohan?." With that, Gotenks placed the two rings on his hands together, inserting the dragons so they fit together. The two ring started to glow, followed soon by the boy's body. The light started to grow and finally started to split. As the light died down, Goten and Trunks could be seen. The sword that had been on Gotenk's back stayed with Trunks, and the rings moved to either child's right hand.

"We're right here." answered both children in unison. Gohan let a sigh of relief escape as he whipped the sweat from his forehead. Explaining to both Chi-Chi and Bulma that their son's had accidentally fused themselves into one body did not sound like a fun way to spend an afternoon. At that moment however, both him, Videl, and Krillin turned around to where a mass of killing intent was bursting from. Vegeta was looking towards the ground, shadow's hiding his eyes from view.

"Takula, tell me. You must have a few area's on this ship for people to train. Yes? Please lead me and the brats there now."

Takula shook off his stupor, nodding to Vegeta hastily. "Y-yes, of course. Kibito, lead them to one of the training rooms, and make sure everything is in order there."

The large man grunted, turning around to lead the way. Vegeta lifted his head slightly, his cold eyes locked on the two young ones that had made him worry. Goten and Trunks took a sudden step back, fear consuming them. He looked seriously pissed. But if they made him wait, he'd only get more upset. Resigned to their fate, the boys took after the large red alien, hoping to use him as a shield should they need to make a run for it.

Krillin shook his head as he watched the four leave the room. "Let me tell you, its not fair. How come they're so strong even though their just kids?"

"Ah, the earthling Krillin. You've been fighting with the saiyan Goku for the longest if my information is correct, yes?"

Krillin blinked, silently wondering how he knew so much. "Well, technically Yamcha was the first of us fighters to join up with him, but I've probably gone on more adventures with him back when we were training under Roshi. But why?"

"A warrior such as yourself probably has nearly reached your potential without me unlocking the rest of it. However, you can always learn new techniques. If you wish, you have my permission to use the computers to access the data this station holds. There are numerous moves you could learn. Come, I'll show you where a computer is. And then I'll get to unlocking the potential of these two."

Both Gohan and Videl stiffened up, realizing they were being talked about. To be honest, Gohan was rather skeptical of this guy. Could he really make Videl as strong as a super saiyan three? Then again, Guru had been able to do something similar on Namek, maybe this was an improved version of that unlocking technique? Videl, unlike Gohan, was hoping against hope that this would work. She loved the idea of being just as strong as Gohan.

And so Gohan, Videl, and Krillin walked out of the large room of artifacts and continued on, lead by Takula. Soon enough the supreme Kai had led them to another door which slid open upon them getting close enough. Inside was another white room, and this one held another circular device in the middle of the ground. Takula turned to face Krillin while holding his arm up towards the machine. "It's user friendly, so you should find little problem with using it. It will seem simpler than most earthling computers at least. And if you wish to test some of the things you learn, you can get the computer to bring out a robot that you can fight against. Don't worry about damaging the room, it's built to withstand attacks much higher than what you call super saiyan three could muster. Though I wouldn't push it. Not even these rooms could take that kind of power for very long."

Krillin's eyes narrowed, slightly irritated. "So as long as I don't reach super saiyan three huh? Don't worry, I'll TRY to contain myself."

Takula gave a bow, and then turned to leave, Gohan and Videl waving as they followed after. Krillin turned back to the machine, scratching his head as he looked at it. "Hmm. Well, might as well take a look. Maybe I can find a way to go super saiyan or something. Grow a tail, hehe. 18 would have a fit if I came home with one of those."

Videl crossed her arms, growing slightly irritated as Takula lead them through the twists and turns of the space station. She needed something to do, and she needed it now. "So do you really think Krillin will be able to learn anything from that computer of yours?"

"The person who ran this station before I did had a saying; If you want a new idea, read an old book. I believe a lot can be learned if one would just take the time to look to the past."

Videl grumbled as she ran over what he said in her mind. Gohan however just glanced infront of Takula to see where they were going. "So … where are we going exactly anyway?"

Takula turned his head slightly to meet Gohan's, a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. "A special room that was made for advanced training. If my theory is correct, we will need a stronger room to contain both your powers. We don't want to accidentally blow up this station when you both power up."

"But, I mean its nice of you, but why are you helping us get stronger? Is there a reason?"

Videl blinked, glancing up at Gohan. That was a good question. Here was this guy they had come to turn around, either by words or with force, but things had turned around rather quickly and now he was helping them get stronger. Was something bad going to happen that he knew of, and he had chosen them from earth to help him fight it?

Takula abruptly faced forward, almost hiding his face from the two following him. "I simply wish to test my theories. Gathering information is what I live for, and if that leads the universe to be a safer place then so be it."

"You know something that you're not telling us, aren't you." It was a question, but Videl already knew the answers. She had been in enough interrogations to know when someone was lying, or hiding something.

Takula made no physical movement to indicate he was lying, but his voice wavered just slightly enough for both Gohan and Videl to pick up on. "I just wish to see what would happen. I am curious...ah, here we are. Please, after you."

Gohan took the lead, quickly followed by Videl. They entered into yet another small white room with another circular device on the floor. Takula followed, the last to enter in. Gohan and Videl all looked around, not sure of what they should be doing, Takula however made his way to the computer on the floor and held his arm out. A hologram of a planet that looked much like earth appeared, slowly turning around on its axis.

"What are you doing over there. I thought you were going to unlock our potential or something." growled Videl. Gohan smiled nervously, hoping Videl wouldn't take her frustration out on a supreme Kai. Though, she already did deck a kami, so a Kai wouldn't be completely out of her reach.

Takula simply smiled, standing up as he stretched out his arms. "Instead of telling, I'll just show."

One instant, they were standing in the white room, the next they found themselves standing outside standing on green grass. Blinking, both Gohan and Videl looked around, finding they no longer were on a space station. The sky was littered with small moons and other cosmic entities near the planet they now were on. The only thing of the ship that came with them would be the small circular computer that sat now in the ground. Takula lowered his arms to his side, smiling as he moved towards the two.

"Welcome to the Land of the Kai's. Your own race once lived here, thousands of years ago. What do you think?"

"It, it kind of looks like earth." uttered Gohan. It was true, besides space taking the place of the blue sky, the planet did look much like earth.

Takula nodded. "That it does. It may be that the saiyan's modeled this planet after their home planet, to make things seem more like home. But onto more pressing matters, we will start unlocking both of your powers. It will take some time, so don't get hasty. It will be worth it in the end."

Gohan and Videl glanced at each other before giving Takula a nod. Smiling, the supreme Kai directed where he wished them to stand. Doing as told Gohan and Videl stood facing each other about five yards apart. Takula stretched out, getting ready for the long ritual. "Now remember. Focus on your energy and nothing else. The more you focus, the quicker this will go."

"Uh, how long is this suppose to take anyway?" Gohan tried to remember, they were planning on contacting Bulma after a day when they left, but with the ship jamming transmissions and all these revelations, he was beginning to wonder if they'd ever find the time to call her.

"Usually it takes the better half of a day, but with you two being saiyans and all it may take longer. Close to an entire day if I was to make a guess."

Videl nearly fell down where she was standing. "A-an entire day! Are you crazy! I don't want to stand here for an entire day!"

"Hey, do you want me to do this or not? It's not easy mind you, it takes a lot of effort on my part."

Videl growled, crossing her arms. "J-just try and hurry it up."

"Of course, now remember; don't move and just focus on your energy."

The supreme Kai took his position, the same distance away from Gohan and Videl thus creating a triangle. He closed his eyes, a calm mood taking over the area. Gohan and Videl stood there, wondering if this really was going to work. All of a sudden though, completely catching both teens off guard, the supreme Kai shouted at the top of his lungs at them.

"COME ON YOU LAZY ENERGY! GET OUT HERE, RIGHT NOW! THAT'S RIGHT, I SEE YOU IN THERE! GET OUT HERE NOW!"

Gohan and Videl stiffened up, nervous now more than ever. Their faces turned red as they glanced at each other, happy that the other would be the only one to see this. And this would never leave this planet... ever...

-DBZ-

Krillin cracked his knuckles, holding his hand out as a holographic keyboard appeared from the small computer on the ground. "All right, I may not be Bulma but I've been living with an android for a while now. This should be nothing, lets find out why they came to earth here...and maybe a few new techniques on the side."

At another white room in the space station, Kibito finished his last minute adjustments on the computer in the training room. Vegeta had asked for 150 times earth's gravity, so it would be just enough to make the brats work but wouldn't slow them down to much. Goten and Trunks had pressed their rings together as soon as they got to the training room, becoming Gotenks again.

Vegeta watched Kibito warily, it shouldn't take this long to just to up the gravity. He must be doing something else. Maybe just rigging some camera's so they can document some real fighters or something. That Takula did like to go on about how this was his library and how he loved gathering information about anything and everything. Not that any of it mattered of course. Now it it was time to teach two saiyan brats that messing with his head was not a good idea.

-DBZ-

It was now one hour into the unlocking ceremony, and Gohan was starting to worry if the supreme Kai would live much longer. The first ten minutes consisted of Takula supposedly yelling at their energy to wake up and get out of them, which was rather strange to say the least. The rest of the fifty had been spent by Takula doing a strange little figure eight jig around Gohan and Videl. Small clouds of dust would come up from his feet and hover just above the ground before descending back down when the Kai came around again.

In Gohan's eyes, Videl was doing a great job. He never had figured she would be able to last this long, she must really have wanted this power unlocking thing to be real. But so far, Gohan didn't feel any different, and it didn't look like Videl was getting any stronger either. Maybe this wasn't for real after all?

Two long hours later, Videl was about to end it and kill him. It had been now three hours since they started, and she didn't feel different in the slightest. Takula finally stopped with his strange little dance, straightening up as he looked between the two. "Well, that's done. Now w-"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN DONE! I DON'T FEEL ANY DIFFERENT!"

Gohan quickly, albeit reluctantly, between Videl and the supreme Kai. He did his best to hold back Videl as she tried to get to Takula. The Kai however seemed unfazed by the threat his life was under.

"Of course you don't feel any different. That was just to get the mood ready. The real ceremony begins now. If you would both please sit down right here infront of me, we'll get started."

"S-set the mood...are you INSANE?" It was an honest question, even if it sounded more sarcastic than Videl had meant it to be. Three hours of … that, just to set a freaking mood?

"N-now Videl, we're already three hours into this. Might as well see if this is going to work, right? Just let him live for now to see what happens, right? We don't want to be responsible for killing a supreme Kai, right?"

Videl grumbled, but she sat down none the less. Gohan, happy that he had at least momentarily put off the killing of the Kai, sat down as well. Takula sat down just infront of them, stretching his arms out, palms forward, as he glared at them seriously. "Now remember, focus on your energy."

-DBZ-

Deep down in the darkness where Gohan's power resided, a single being hugged his knees to his face. Gray was slightly shaking as he gripped his legs tighter and tighter. It was quiet, almost to quiet as Gray tried to not think to much. The silence was starting to get to him. If only he could take to Gohan … no, no. He had decided to bare this alone, for Gohan. He didn't want to be any trouble to this bodies true master.

But then, something unexpected happened. Infront of Gray, a strange purple being with a white mohawk fazed into view, standing infront of the large energy balls. Gray looked up, shocked to see someone else. The person seemed to not notice him there, his focus was entirely on the energy balls. Gray slowly stood up, unsure of what he should do. That was when something really unexpected happened.

"COME ON YOU STUPID LAZY ENERGY! GET UP AND GET OUT! YOU KNOW THE DRILL, STOP BEING SO LAZY FOR YOUR MASTER!"

If Gray wasn't confused before, he was now. As he tripped over himself and returned to the ground, he could only help but wonder what exactly was going on outside.

-DBZ-

Another three hours into it, now raising the combined time to six hours, Videl had close shut her eyes as tight as she could in order to retain what little sanity she was holding on to. If this turned out to be a waste of time, Takula would pay. He would pay dearly. Gohan could sense the killing intent radiating off of Videl, but what worried him was that the supreme Kai seemed to not to notice it. Gohan readied him self, just in-case he had to move quickly in order to save one Kai's life.

Videl might have lasted longer though, she was doing pretty good controlling herself given the circumstances. It wasn't till the supreme Kai fell asleep that she snapped, even though his lower body never moved. His head falling forward and a sleeping snot bubble was just to much.

Videl went cross-eyed with anger as she jumped to her feet, rage consuming every fiber of her being. "How dare you waste my time!"

Gohan moved to protect, but just as he got in between Videl and Takula, a hand slapped him across the face with surprising speed. Gohan rolled, finally coming to a stop once he hit a tree. He rubbed his head as he sat up, but soon the throbbing of his head was forgotten as his eyes widened. There was Videl, staring down the sleeping Takula, with golden hair. But that wasn't what caught Gohan by surprise. Her fist arched back, blue lightning starting to dance along her body as her spiked hair rose up even higher. Takula's eyes split open just as Videl started to thrust her fist forwards. Takula stayed calm, waving his hand infront of him creating a barrier just before Videl would have hit him.

The barrier shook, breaking into glass like pieces as Videl wound up for another attack. Her now green saiyan like eyes burned with anger as she got ready to continue. Takula simply smiled, Gohan fazing just infront of Videl to catch her next punch. She looked up at him, frustrated at first that he would end her fun. What caught her off guard was that his hair was gold, and that blue electricity was sparking all around him.

"V-Videl, just calm down! Look at yourself, and just take a deep breath! It's working!"

Videl blinked innocently, backing off as she looked at her hands. The blue lightning danced for her, startling her somewhat. It wasn't every day that such a thing happened, and it was kind of scary. Videl brought her hand up and grabbed a tuff of her hair, bringing it down to her eye level. She found that it was gold.

"I...I'm a super saiyan?"

"No...you're a super saiyan two."

Gohan and Videl glanced back to Takula, who was sitting with a rather smug grin on his face. "I have begun to unlock your hidden power, so of course such a transformation would be possible. Gohan as well, you only meant to power up to the first level, am I right?"

Gohan glanced at his hand, finding lightning dancing around his body as well. Realization started to set in on the teens as they looked down at themselves. Takula's face returned to being serious.

"Now if you would please sit? I've only been able to open the door that hides both of your energies just a crack, and already so much is flowing forth. The sooner we continue, the sooner I can get the door the rest of the way open."

Both Gohan and Videl looked towards each other, giving a nod. They descended back to their normal states, sitting back down where they had been moments before, now ready to believe and wait the entire time, no matter what. Videl smiled slightly as she looked at her hand, imagining the sparks of energy dancing around it again. It was exhilarating, and she was going to get even stronger! She couldn't wait, but she was willing to do it no matter how frustrating it was.

A whole ten hours later, the supreme Kai suddenly stood up. Gohan looked up, surprised at the sudden movement. He had put himself into meditation to help pass the time, and Takula had broke him from it. Glancing to his side, he found Videl fast asleep on his shoulder. A light blush covered his face. "She fell asleep not long after you put yourself into your meditative state. Because you both were quiet, I was able to get done a lot quicker. Usually people have a hard time not moving, but once you both fell into your respective sleeping states, it was pretty easy getting what was needed done. Come, it's time for rest. Kibito has informed me that the others have already turned in, so why don't we do the same? We've prepared some beds, hopefully you'll find them better than this hard ground."

Gohan slowly picked Videl up bridal style, the small girl nuzzling closer to him in her sleep. Gohan nearly went cross-eyed as the redness renewed itself on his face. Takula lifted his arms up, teleporting the group to the room where they had been before leaving the space station. Once there, he teleported them again to the bedroom, where Gohan found Vegeta, Goten, Trunks, and Krillin already asleep as the Kai had said. The supreme Kai bowed, and then he fazed out of the room, leaving Gohan and Videl to themselves.

Gohan looked around. The room was decent sized, enough room for three bunk beds. Something felt odd now though, like he had felt back on earth. Like something was watching him. Shaking it off, Gohan made his way to the far bunk, the last one that was empty. Gohan softly placed Videl onto the bed, blushing slightly when she groaned in protest from all the moving in her sleep. He noticed a few stray strands of hair hanging over her forehead, close to her eyes. Without thinking much, his hand moved and brushed the stray strands away.

"Hey Gohan … what are you doing?"

Poor Gohan nearly jumped out of his skin. Krillin's sentence had started off as a whisper, but he had been so focused on Videl he hadn't heard him. And so the last part was said at a normal tone, which scared the poor saiyan teen half to death.

While Gohan was shoving his heart back down his throat on the floor, Videl and lazily sat up, rubbing her eyes as she tried to wake up. Looking around, she had to blink a few times when she found Gohan on the floor. "Uh...where are we and what happened to you?"

Gohan quickly shot to his feet. "Uh, me? Nothing happened to me, why? N-never mind that. Krillin, what was that for?"

"What was what for, Gohan? I was just getting your attention." The small human had a knowing smile on his face, which gave Gohan a cold sweat.

"W-well, you spooked me. I thought you were asleep." Looking around, he found Vegeta already standing near the door, Goten and Trunks standing at their feet. The odd thing was that they were all pushing their power levels down. "What's going on?"

"We have a problem." Krillin's face shifted to serious, which caused Gohan and Videl to do the same as they listened in. "While I was looking at that computer they showed me, I used some things 18 has taught me over the years and I was able to hack into the system. Takula wasn't kidding when he said the system was user friendly. The computer actually helped me do some of it. It might have to do that this libraries information wasn't meant to be private, at least when this station was made. Anyway, I wasn't able to find out much, but I was able to find out why this place has been giving us the creeps."

Videl was finally fully awake now, and she noticed Krillin had two golden bands, one per hand. They looked like two gold rings that had come together at the palm where a small blue orb made its home. "Hey, what are you wearing?"

"Oh, these things? They're a little gizmo I found on the computer before I started to hack it. They help the user gather energy from the outside like for a spirit bomb, pretty cool huh? They're not that good on their own, but since I already know how to gather energy, it helps speed things up. But back to the topic, the reason why this place gave us the creeps back on earth. Its because this thing is gathering energy. It's literally sucking power from nearby planets and stars, and we were able to sense it coming together. I couldn't figure out what they plan to use that energy for, but I was able to get the basic idea that it wasn't good for us."

Gohan shook his head. Just great, a supreme Kai wanted them dead? What for? "So then what's the plan?"

Vegeta took that question. "What we should have done from the start. We're going to go to where-ever this energy drainer thing is, blow it up, change this blasted ship's trajectory, and then go home."

Goten crossed his arms, thinking the plan over. "Why don't we just blow up the entire ship?"

"Because if we did that, then we'd have to blow up all the other little pieces that started flying towards earth. Remember how big this thing is? And then how would we get home if our ship was blown up too? Space, remember?"

"Trunks is right. Let's just go before Takula figures out we're on to him." Everyone gave a nod towards Krillin, letting him know it was time for them to go. Taking the lead, Krillin tried to remember as best he could the schematic of the rout he saw on the computer.

-DBZ-

"Supreme Kai, they are on their way. Should we stop them?"

Takula shook his head as he watched the hologram versions of the group from earth made their way towards his secret.

"It doesn't matter. Even if they find ... him, we have gathered enough energy off them while they were here for the plan to proceed. To imagine they'd be so strong, I figured we'd have to slow down to give the machine enough charging time, but now we're early. This station has served our needs, now let's move."

"Of course sir. Lead the way."

-DBZ-

They were getting close. That feeling of someone watching them was getting stronger and stronger the further they went. It wasn't long before that feeling was so strong it was nearly debilitating. The group found themselves infront of a door, but this one would not slide open like the others. A key-pad was on the side, and Krillin didn't know the code. Vegeta pushed the others to the side, digging his fingers into the metal. With little real effort, he ripped the door from his place and tossed it to the side, leading the others inside the dimly lit room.

Inside, they instantly took notice of another life force, a faint little thing barely holding on. They all turned to the side wall, finding an old man chained to the wall there. The man was dressed in colorless dirty white rags, which covered his legs and arms though they were full of holes. His skin was a light purple, his hair a single white fluff of hair on the top of his head. His nose stood high up on his face, just in between his eyes, while his mouth was much lower. He also had a tuff of hair in between as a small beard. The old wrinkly man looked up, an emotionless expression on his face.

"Saiyans, coming to my rescue. Truly my punishment is complete."

Gohan blinked, looking the old man over. "W-who are you?"

The old man's eyes narrowed, sadness slowly making its way over his face and into his words. "My name is Takula … and this is my library."