Disclaimer: You know this one.
The Portal to Beyond: Chapter XIII
The next day everyone gathered at the Capsule Corp. The younger Bulma had hooked up the communicator to some kind of monitor so now the older Bulma could been seen as well as heard. Everyone was in various states of lounging in the lab. Goten and Trunks were slumped on a couch next to the computer terminal, Gohan was floating in the air having picked the habit up from Piccolo, both Vegetas were leaning against a wall in the shadows in similar stances, the younger ChiChi was sitting in a chair beside Bulma while the other was next to Goku, and Raditz and Nappa were just standing around looking lost.
"Are you sure that you have the correct engine in the ship? It won't get enough boost to clear the atmosphere if the thrusters aren't--"
"BULMA!" The group exclaimed in unison. She had been nitpicking the other Bulma's work ever since she had began.
"Gomen."
Bulma stood from the terminal and wiped some sweat from her forehead. "TOUSAN!" she shouted.
Dr. Briefs stuck his head around the corner. "Yes?"
"Are you finished yet? I transmitted all the stuff that you wanted."
"Sure Bulma. It'll just be a few more hours..."
"HOURS!" she raged. "We don't have hours!"
Dr. Briefs sighed as he walked away. "I've got to do something about that girl's temper."
The older Bulma rolled her eyes and looked down when she discovered that she was getting a print out. "Uh guys...."
"Hai Kaasan?" Trunks looked up at her.
"You know how I said that I didn't know how long you had until the realities eliminate each other?"
They all nodded.
"Well, I know now." She hesitated.
"Spit it out woman!" The older Vegeta roared.
"Veggiec-chan SHUT UP!"
"Veggie-chan?!" Nappa said while raising an eyebrow. He looked at Kakarott and they both cracked up.
"QUIET!" Bulma shouted. "Thank you. Ahem." She cleared her throat. "Based on the latest figures, you have exactly 5 months, 3 days, and 9.5 hours."
"5 months," 'Veggie-chan' began slowly but his voice rose with each word, "3 days, AND 9.5 HOURS!!! Do you actually think that we can stop it in time?!"
"Don't yell at me! I'm not the one who came up with this stuff! Blame Jouten if you really need someone to place the blame on!"
"We're gonna die!" Trunks moaned. "No more girls! No more pranks! No more beating Goten in sparring..."
"HEY!" Goten exclaimed.
"We just have to think positive, that's all." the younger Bulma said. "TOUSAN! We need that ship RIGHT NOW!!"
"I'll do all that I can to help but I don't know if it'll be much."
"You've done your part Bulma-san. You gave us the metal, the blueprints, and the actual time remaining. It was more than enough." Gohan said as he looked around and sighed. "Boy, I sure am going to miss existence."
Trunks started to wail and he grabbed Goten in his grief. "It's been nice knowing you!"
Goten picked up on it and hugged Trunks back. "It would have been fun to grow up..."
"Will you three brats SHUT UP!!" Vegeta roared. "We are not going to die. The King of the Saiyans -- i.e. me -- will not let that happen."
"You tell 'em Veggie-chan!" The older Bulma exclaimed.
"Shut up onna," Vegeta muttered. "Anyway, we're gonna to build that ship, we're gonna to go out into outerspace, we're going to track down that metal, and we're gonna save these dimensions! Are you with me?"
"HAI!" The group chorused.
"Then let's do it!"
A loud cheer errupted and everyone ran out of the lab. Goku lingered for a second to have a word with his reluctant friend.
"Vegeta?"
"Nani?"
"Nice pep-talk! I didn't know you had it in you!" Goku grinned.
"Shut up Kakarott."
***
"Extra emergency fuel?" the younge Bulma called out.
"Hai!" Trunks and Goten carried some large barrels into the storage area.
"Spare clothing?"
"Hai!"
"The gravity chamber Trunks' mother gave me the plans for?"
"Does it go up to 3000 G's?" Vegeta asked, interrupting the checklist.
"What do you think Vegetable Head?" she asked.
Vegeta frowned. "You better be glad that my Bulma and you are one in the same because if you weren't..."
"I know, I know. I'll be taking a--" And then everyone from his dimension said this in unison with her. "one-way trip to Hell."
Vegeta smirked. "Good. There may be hope for you earthlings yet."
Bulma rolled her eyes and resumed her previous task. "1000 tons of food?"
Goten drooled at the thought and then snapped out of his trance. "HAI!"
"You better cook that before you eat it. It wouldn't do for you to get food poisoning or something."
"Don't wory. I'll make sure that they do like civilized people." Gohan assured.
"Onna we're saiyans. We eat food like that all the time." Nappa said.
"What about the young ones? They're only half you know. Their human sides might rebel."
"She's right," Gohan said.
Nappa glared at being proved wrong and turned away. Bulma checked a few more things off and raised an eyebrow at something.
"Hot tub?"
The younger ChiChi grinned sheepishly. "Can I have one?"
"Now you know that you can't ChiChi-chan."
Bulma crossed it off and read something else out loud. "Playboys?!"
Trunks looked up from where he was trying to hit Nappa's bald head with rocks. "I can dream can't I?"
"I just knew Master Roshi ruined his mind," Goku muttered. "Glad the other Bulma didn't overhear this one."
She crossed that off too and made an unidentifiable noise. "Pocky I can do. Who's request was that?"
No one responded until Vegeta spoke up. "Did you get the chocolate kind?"
Everyone sweatdropped.
"Hai Vegeta-san. I got the chocolate kind."
"You better had."
She rolled her eyes and he went back to annoying Raditz. For some reason that had become his new hobby. "Anything else I'm missing?"
"Nope. None that I think of."
"Can we go now?" Goten whined. "This is boring!"
"Goten! Have patience." The older ChiChi called from her seat in a lawn chair.
"Aw Kaasan!"
"Then you can all go. Remember, you only have--"
"We know. 3 days and 9.5 hours." Trunks finished.
"Don't forget the 34 minutes," the older ChiChi mentioned absently.
"34 minutes? What about 34 minutes?" Gohan asked, confused.
"They go with the 13 seconds," the younger Bulma took a seat next to ChiChi.
"There never was 34 minutes and 13 seconds involved before!" Gohan exlaimed.
"Hai, I know. It came into existence after you went marching out like you were going to play in the Super Bowl."
Vegeta glared at her but it wasn't effective since her eyes were closed.
"Now you go and save humanity. Remember: Our lives are resting in your hands." Bulma grinned at them. "Ta ta!"
" 'Our lives are resting in your hands'." ChiChi mumbled. "Great! If we fail, everyone dies. Just wonderful!" She stomped on board. Trunks and Goten followed waving goodbye and Gohan came next.
"Sayonara Kaasan. Bulma. I'll see you when we get back." He turned and sighed. "Things were so much simpler when I was a child." Then he thought about what he said. "Maybe not."
Raditz and Nappa were next followed closely by Kakarott. He looked about him one last time, marveling at the beauty of Chikyuu, and went inside. Vegeta was right behind him, not even bothering to look back, and finally Goku was last. He paused briefly and looked to his wife.
"You will be all right, won't you?" he asked with uncharacteristic concern.
"Yes Goku. Go do what you do the best. I'll be cheering for you! Just don't die this time, okay?" He nodded and waved as the hatch closed and the engines started. ChiChi rose from her seat and waved a handkerchief.
"Sayonara Goku! I'll be waiting!"
Well, that was almost normal length! I just wish it could have been 18-20kb like the earlier ones.
To anyone who wonders why the text is somewhat larger than normal:
I use the Arial font so it's larger than Times New Roman anyway. I also use +2 or 4 or (and I'm guessing here) 14pt. It's because some people said it was too small on my other fics.
***
Promos:
#1. I just wanted to say that I have an interactive fanfic on the Fanfic Realm. (I been had it and I don't remember if I promoted it or not before.) It's created in CGI and it's when more than one author writes a part to a fanfic. It's also in "real time" so when you type it click the button at the bottom to get it saved. If a certain amount of characters get typed it will get moved into the "history" (or the space above to text box). I hope more people will go to my site and participate because it's sort of slow right now.
#2. My new site: It's called the Anime Café and I just added some things to it. I would appreciate staff to help me out and more affiliates so please go. I need feedback on the layout (but not the content because there isn't much yet). Arigatou minna-san!