Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
The Portal to Beyond: Chapter XX
"All you have to do is find three rare plants. The Lava Flower, the cuminus herb, and the ultra rare Drasil plant."
King Vegeta blinked. "Is that it? We're going on a treasue hunt?!"
Aniirin smirked. "It's not as easy as it sounds."
Veget returned the expression. "Believe me, it is."
Aniirin reached opened a drawer within his desk and started to root around. He pulled out the first piece of paper he felt and looked at it.
It was a placemat like the kind that you gave toddlers at restaurants to keep them occupied while the food came. This particular one featured a maze that wasn't even complete.
The whole group burst out laughing and he blushed bright red.
"What?" he asked. "I, uh, took my son out to eat yesterday!"
"Right!" ChiChi gigled. "How come you signed your name in the corner?"
He looked where she indicated and sweated even more. "He's also named Aniirin?" he said, not even believing the lie himself.
That made them laugh even more until the man produced the thing he was looking for.
"Ah ha! Here's it is!" He unfolded it and spread it out on his desk, ignoring the still lingering snickers. "This is a map of the wildlands outside of this city. You will have to go here to find what you're looking for." He paused and motioned with his hand. A servant brought something else. "Here is also a guide book for newcomers to our planet. It tells of all our flora and fauna. Especially the deadly types." He handed it to Gohan who immediately began to flip through it, taking note of the poisonous things.
"How long will this take us and who do we give all of this stuff to?" the younger Vegeta questioned.
Aniirin thought briefly. "You should be finished within the week. When finished, you return here of course. If the things are correct, I'll personally escort you to Wu. Does everyone understand?"
They all nodded and turned to leave. ChiChi sighed and looked at Gohan.
"Something that was supposed to take us a few days have been taking us a couple of weeks."
He nodded. "Hai." Then he spun around and faced the leader, suddenly angry. "Look. What if we don't want to do your stupid 'trials'?"
Aniirin spoke calmly. "No trials. No access to Wu. And you need that," he added in a nasty tone, "don't you?"
Then everyone saw it. Or rather, *felt* it. Gohan's face was slowly changing to a bright shade of red. He looked like he was trying really hard not to break every bone in the man's body. ChiChi looked worriedly at her future son and then back to Aniirin.
"Uh sir? I would recommend that you be quiet."
"Oh?" he asked. "And why is that?"
"Because Gohan's about to kill you."
An eyebrow was raised. "And I'm supposed to be scared?"
There was many nodded heads from the group.
"Definitely," Goten spoke up. "Niichan could kick your--"
Goku slapped a hand over his mouth. "That's enough Goten." Releasing the little one he turned to his first born. "Gohan, you can't hurt him."
Still semi-powering up, he turned to his father. "And why not?"
"He didn't do anything wrong yet!"
The older Vegeta snorted and shook his head. "Kakarott, do you want to stay here any longer?"
"Well no, but..."
"That's all the answer I need!" Vegeta powered up to super saiyan and started to ready a ki blast in his hand. "This won't hurt for long..."
"WAIT!" Gohan shouted as he powered down completely, getting everyone's attention. Sighing he continued. "As much as I want to hurt that man, we can't. If we do, we'll never get Wu's attention, we'll never find that metal, we'll never get home, and we'll never SAVE THE DIMESIONS!"
After one last threatening look, Vegeta powered down and absorbed his blast. "Stupid problem. I haven't killed anything in WEEKS!"
Trunks widened his eyes. "Papa's suffering from withdrawal." Then he picked up Goten by the back of his collar. "Here! You can murder Goten!"
"NANI?!" The small boy shrieked trying to free himself. "Put me down!"
Then Trunks broke out into laughter. Releasing Goten he poked him in the arm. "Calm down baka. I wouldn't do that to my best friend!"
Goten laughed a little himself, if not doubtfully. "I knew you were joking!" Then he sobered up. "Weren't you?"
Gohan rolled his eyes. "Veggie-man, you can go hunt an animal or something. Will that satisfy your stupid need to kill?"
"I'm a saiyan," Vegeta growled. "I have to kill *something*!"
During this whole thing, Aniirin had been inching toward a door behind his desk. ChiChi looked up sharply and barked out an order.
"Hold it right there!"
Everyone looked up.
"Look!" Trunks said. "You've gone and scared the poor alien!"
"Look, I agree with Kakarott's brat. We need to get that metal!" Raditz exclaimed.
Gohan gave him a look. "You do know what the word 'nephew' means, don't you?"
"Of course," he answered smoothly.
"Then WHY DON'T YOU USE IT?!"
"Raditz-ojisan, just do it." Goten counseled. "You know how Gohan hates to be called a brat. Do you really want your life to be cut short?"
Goku cleared his throat loudly. "This isn't getting us anywhere! Look Aniirin, just tell us where to find Wu Fong and I won't have my son hurt you." It was an empty threat but the man didn't know that.
"Sure!" He nodded eagerly as he wrote on a pad. "Here are the directions." Then he stopped. "Do you want the long or short way?"
"What's the difference?" The older Vegeta asked impatiently.
An innocent expression plastered itself across Aniirin's face. "Besides the length, nothing."
Gohan noticed immediately that something wasn't quite right here. Before he could say anything however, ChiChi was sending him warning glances. He quieted quickly since she *was* his mother in the future. And stronger at that.
Vegeta snatched the paper from his hand and began to walk out. "If we don't find him, be sure that we'll be back."
Aniirin gulped and began to write again. "Then throw that copy away. You'll need the real one."
***
"Is this the place?" Trunks asked aloud as he gazed at the pretty nice white house, with the white picket fence surrounding it. There were colorful, if not exotic, flowers in the beds in front of both windows and the lawn was well maintained. The group all filed slowly to the door where Goku proceeded to knock.
A small, almost child-like, man opened the door. He was obviously of Chikyuu's chinese descent and was wearing tan slacks, and a brown and black vest overal a white dress shirt. Smiling gently at them he ushered them in.
"I have been expecting you, my children." He said in a faint accent as he led them to a cozy living room off to the right where they all took seats. "Do you want anything? Cookies? Candy? Soda?"
"If you have some Cherry Coke that'll be great!" Goten said cheerfully before Trunks hit him.
"Baka," the other boy whispered. "We're not here on a social visit!"
Goten pouted in his direction as he rubbed the back of his head. "I was thirsty!"
"Believe me, it's so trouble at all. It's going to be a while before I can get the junsei metaru. The least I can do is to make you feel at home."
"Really now?" Goku asked licking his lips. "Then can we order in pizza? I want 10 large pepperoni, ham, bacon, and sausage pizzas..."
"Hold it Kakarott!" Vegeta held up a hand. "If you don't make that 25 I'll hurt you."
As the two older saiyans argued, Gohan and ChiChi talked things over with Wu Fong.
"About how long will it take? We're sort of on a schedule you know." ChiChi told him.
He patted her on the shoulder. "Not a long while, my dear. Just a couple of hours."
Gohan smiled for the first time that day and asked another question. "Will you go broke feeding us? I know my father can be sort of..."
"A pig?" Goten a spoke up.
"A garbage compactor?" Vegeta added.
"Greedy," Gohan finished.
Wu waved a hand. "Oh it's no problem at all. A lot of people owe me favors. Including the owner of Antonio's Pizza. How many do you need?"
Gohan shook his head. "Well we have 6 full saiyans, 3 half saiyans, and one human. Not more than 80 or 90."
Wu whistled softly. "I had heard how much saiyans could eat but I never really believed it. I might have to call at least 5 or 6 different places to get them all here within a couple of hours." He smiled at ChiChi's concerned look. "Don't worry. It's not a problem."
"Yea! I get to eat!" Goku cheered. He grabbed Vegeta in an impromptu dance. "I get to eat! I get to eat!"
"KAKAROTT!" Vegeta screamed. "I am the king of all saiyans! PUT ME DOWN!"
Goku grabbed his friend in a huge hug that left Veggie gasping for breath.
"I will kill you one day Kakarott," he rasped. "Count on it."
Only about one more chapter!