~Takula Saga~

Chapter 50 – The Z-Cannon

A blue sphere hanging in the fastness of space, with a smaller moon. Earth. However, something else was close by on the screen. Next to the moon hung a slightly smaller asteroid, and the rock was moving straight towards earth. The rock continued on it's path, crashing straight into the blue planet. The planet started to crack and spark with lightning and explosions, finally ending in one large bang.

The screen then shrunk to the top left corner of the TV, revealing a reporter whom was sweating rather nervously. "As you can see, that was what scientists are predicting to happen if the asteroid is not stopped. Currently they are working around the clock, and we are being told they may be on to something. Capsule Corp released a statement today saying they had the best the earth had to offer on the case. W-We can only hope they succeed."

Meanwhile in the streets the TV was facing, people were standing silently, both listening to the news and looking up into the sky. Up in what should just be blue skies and white clouds was the space station made to look as an asteroid.

At Capsule Corp, Dr Brief's was nervously watching a blank screen. Had he evaluated the data wrong and the station had been moving faster than he had first thought or had it sped up once Gohan and the others had gotten aboard? Either way, the station was upon earth and would be hitting soon. Gravity was all ready acting different now with the large ball of mass closing in. The other Z-fighters had found where it would hit and set up there. If they got word that the others had failed, they would do what they could to push the station back out with their energy. It was all coming down to this.

-DBZ-

Gohan and Videl fell to their knees, their arms laying limply on what was left of the floor. Krillin and Takula however couldn't relax quite yet. Sparks started to dance around the portal, and Krillin had to grab Takula and fly away before the device broke down and exploded, sadly taking his new spirit devices he had picked up from before along with it. Krillin sighed sadly, wishing he could have held onto them a little longer. The explotions seemed to start a chain reaction in the room, and it wasn't long before the entire room was ablaze.

Gohan grit his teeth, baring with the pain as he pushes himself to get himself up along with Videl. The two finally got to their feet, their arms now draped over each others shoulder to try and keep themselves up by leaning against each other. They glanced at each other and smiled slightly before they started to float towards the door. Goku and Bardock stood, followed soon by Vegeta. The Saiyan prince was definitely worse for the ware, but he wasn't about to let himself be carried out by the likes of Kakarrot or his sons. The father's grabbed their youngest sons, whom were just about to come to, and followed Krillin and Takula out of the blazing room while trying to hold onto what balance they had as the station suddenly shook from a larger explosion.

The group met outside the room after the door shut. In the hallway, Videl and Gohan once again fell to the ground while the rest of them began to talk over what to do next.

Krillin started with the obvious. "We gotta get out of here! Takula, which way to the hanger?"

"We have a bigger problem than just getting out of here." Those words caught most everyone's attention, excluding the two chibi's that were still struggling to gain consciousness. "The library is to close to the planet Earth and is still set on a course for the planet. This ship was never built to land, and if it crashes your planet won't stand a chance."

Gohan groaned inwardly. He had just gotten out of one of the biggest frying pans of his life, only to find that he was still in the fire? Great. Videl was to tired to make heads or tails of the situation yet, though she had a bad feeling in her stomach as the words entered her ears. Vegeta and Bardock looked rather emotionless, while Goku took a more startled look.

"So wait, how do we turn this ship around then? Where's the control room?"

Takula smiled, Gohan taking note that it was a sad one as the librarian left Krillin's side to stand under his own power. "We'll never make it. You all must get back to earth, I'll stay here and take down the shields. When that happens, blast this ship with everything you have. With any luck you'll take out the ship and all it's debris with one blast."

"Whoa there!" yelled Krillin, a little startled that Takula was suggest such a thing. "We can't just leave you here to die!"

"There is no time to talk about it. With the shields on this ship still on, any attack you use will just be ignored. The shields are designed to take in energy, and since the portal was just on the ship is almost out of it. It would take to long for the ship to over-charge and be taken care of that way. The shields have to go, I'll take care of it. I'm this ship's captain and crew after all."

The Z-fighter's were silent. They knew they were between a rock and a hard place. Takula was the only one who could find the control room in time to shut off the shields so they could blast the ship. The old man smiled again, waving as he turned. "It's been fun, you young kids proved you have some guts at least. Let the old die, and the young live. I need to repay my debt to you Saiyan's anyway and saving their planet would be a start."

Besides the explosions in the background, the ship was silent as Takula made his way down a dimly lit hallway until he took a turn. The group turned back to one another, their expressions clearly written on their faces. Leaving a life be hind was a tough pill to swallow for these guys. Non the less, a more violent quake which caused the ship to shake much more than before woke them up. They still had to get off this thing and save the planet.

Goku put his hand on his father's shoulder. "Everyone grab hold...I'll get us out of here."

Gohan took a hold of Goku's leg, and then held his hand out to Videl. They both blushed slightly, turning to look the opposite way as they took a hold of each others hand. Vegeta grumbled, grabbing a handful of Goku's gi, while Goten and Trunks were starting to lift their heads and look around as their father's held them. Krillin took a hold of Goku's gi as well, and in a flash...they all vanished off the ship just as another explosion rocked the area.

-DBZ-

Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, and even Piccolo were now gathered in a clearing five miles outside of West City. They figured that would be the best place to try and stop the station in case the others failed. A place outside a city were they could cut loose without worrying about people or buildings. To be honest though, they were standing quietly looking up at the sky as they wondered what was happening up there. Power levels were jumping up and down, notably Gohan and...Videls? It was hard to tell with the distance between earth and the station, and the powers were going up and down to fast to lock on to who they were to know for fact who was who. That...and there just was no way Videl's energy was so high. Right? And that couldn't be Goku either, he was in Other-World. Just what was going on up there?

The uneasy silence was suddenly filled with the noise of an instant transmition. Looking to the source, rather startled to say they least, they found themselves looking at the group of people whom had been at the space station. From Goku to Bardock, the fighters returned tired. They couldn't relax however, they had to save the planet first.

Yamcha was the first to find his tongue. "G-Goku...'s?"

"Hey Yamcha." Goku said, with a rather tired voice. Bardock looked around, rather surprised at the sudden change. Vegeta dropped the now conscious Trunks, the small boy catching himself before he hit the ground. Goku placed Goten down, the boy awake as well.

Tien was quickly growing impatient. "Goku, mind telling us what you're doing here? You're suppose to be dead."

Scratching the back of his head, Goku turned to Gohan and Videl while answering Tien's question. "Well it's rather complicated and I don't really understand myself, but I'm back now." Looking up at the space station that was not getting dangerously close to the planet's atmosphere, his face grew more serious. "We have to blast that thing."

Chiaotzu gasped at Goku's proclamation, Piccolo looking a little startled as well. Yamcha and Tien turned dot the sky, balling their fists. Yamcha nearly growled, his voice escaping from his clenched teeth.

"So you couldn't get who ever is in there to just turn around?"

Gohan finally caught his breath, standing back up. "Well, we kinda did. But a lot of things happened, We'll explain later, we have to do something now."

As Gohan reached down to give Videl a helping hand up, Piccolo stepped up to his student. "Gohan, that person you were fighting...are you okay?"

"Ya, I'm good. Don't worry about it." Gohan smiled sincerely, turning to Videl with his spiky silver hair still pointing towards the sky. Videl groaned, taking Gohan's hand as she stood. Her muscles urged her to sit back down, but the fight wasn't over yet, and Videl Satan never left a fight half finished.

The Z-fighters turned to the sky, the station still looking like an asteroid. Krillin crossed his arms infront of himself, closing his eyes as he went into a deep thought. "I'd say we have about five minutes before we have to attack anyway, be the shields still on or not. We have to try something soon, or it'll be to late."

The other fighters stayed silent. Bardocks mind was working a mile a minute, trying to take in the new faces and the environment. So this...must be earth? He remembered seeing something like it before...in his visions. This then was the planet where his youngest had grown up away from Frieza and all other things Saiyan.

"Gahhh! Come on Kakarrot, I can't stand this waiting. Let's just power up and blast the thing so we can be done with it. We're Saiyans, no way some two bit technology can stop us."

"Give Takula more time! We have to have faith in him."

Piccolo turned from Gohan back to Goku, crossing his arms infront of himself. "Who?"

"A guy we met up there. He owns the place and is trying to fight his way to the control room to shut off the shields so we can use our energy to blast the ship." said Gohan. Piccolo's attention returned to his student, looking him over again. After the slight pause Piccolo reached up, taking off his cloak and turban.

"So that means..."

"Ya...he's staying up there."

Silence consumed the area again. The acute senses of the Z-fighters were starting to notice a change in gravity. This wasn't good, the planet was reacting to the large object in space. Goku closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. The truth was, they didn't have time to wait. They needed to act now.

Startling the others, Goku started to charge up his energy. The dust and dirt flew up from his feet, clearing a small area of ground around him. Vegeta soon followed suit, both of them jumping to the first level of super saiyan. The others looked at one another, giving a slight nod before they as well powered up. Goten and Trunks took a stance just infront of one another, smirking as they thrust their rings together. A bright light surrounded them, relieving Gotenks sword and all, when it faded.

Gohan and Videl looked at one another as well. They didn't really need to say anything to know what they were thinking. Even the passing glance was enough for them to encourage one another. They both were so tired they were all but exhausted, but they still had to try and help. Looking up at the large asteroid, their energy's surrounded them like a flame.

A low battle cry started to seep from all the Z-fighter's voices. Bardock even joined in once he caught on what was going on. Their respective flames of energy started to grow, the ground beneath them beginning to shake. Gotenks tried but was failing to push himself past super saiyan, feeling that he could do it but not knowing how meaning he was stuck at the first level. Goku jumped to super saiyan 3, Vegeta trying to do the same. However, his energy stayed golden and his hair only spiked up a little more as he entered into super saiyan 2. Gritting his teeth, Vegeta tried to push himself farther, however it seemed he couldn't pull it off. Non the less, he kept trying.

Gohan, Videl, Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha all took a step back, their hands cupping behind themselves with a blue ball forming behind them. Tien and Chiaotzu pointed their hands like a gun up towards the station, a yellowish red ball taking form on the tip of their fingers. A blue ball formed in Bardocks right hand, him taking a step forward as if he were getting ready to throw a baseball. Vegeta held his arms out, sparks dancing around them as his muscles bulged. Gotenks took out his swords, mimicking Vegeta's stance while holding the sword in his right hand. And finally Piccolo spread his base, bringing two fingers to his forehead with dark purple lightning starting to spark around the fingers.

"Kamehame..."

"Dodon Ray..."

"Final Spirit..."

"Final..."

"Double..."

"Special Beam..."

With a final burst, everyone's energies shot up in size along with their attacks. Not only the ground beneath them, but the entire planet was now starting to shake. It was now or never. Much more of this and earth would shake itself apart! The Z-fighter's didn't need to say it though, they all were thinking the same thing. Everyone moved as one, thrusting their attacks forward.

"HA!"

"Fire!"

"Cannon!"

"Flash!"

"Buster!"

"Cannon!"

The beams shot forward from the Z-fighter's hands, making a v-line for the asteroid. The ground under them started to crack and crumble. Gohan and Videl especially were working hard to even just keep the attack up, their bodies just wanting to stop and fall over. The two of them grit their teeth together, glancing over at one another as the Z-fighter's attack closed in.

The attacks merged as they flew, becoming one mass of energy as it sped towards its target. It hit the station within seconds, the asteroid looking shields holding strong. The ship however did slow to a stop, it just pushing against the beams of earth's special fighting force.

It was good that the ship had stopped, but it didn't look like the shields were having any trouble keeping up with all the energy it was getting hit with. The Z-fighters couldn't keep this up forever, they needed Takula to make it to the control room and turn off the shields.

-DBZ-

All around the world, the focus was on a strange beam of light hitting the asteroid, slowing the impending doom. Hercule was standing infront of his mantion, where he had been trying to keep people calm moments before. He silently let out a sigh. He had been wondering when those hero guys from the tournament were going to do their thing, and all he was trying to do was keep people calm till then. Now it was all left up to if those guys could blow up the rock or not. Surely they could, right.

Now that the champ thought about it, Videl had said something about leaving to do a little training, with those strange fighters no doubt...crap! That meant she was there with them! Without thinking much, the Champ rushed to get a hover car. It wasn't long till he was in one and had taken off towards where the beam of light was coming from. The people took notice and a few of them, news crews included, decided to do the same.

High in the mountains, Blast and Launch were looking up at the sky. Launch was in her more aggressive state, and she were showing it. Yelling at the top of her lungs, letting the hills and valley's know what she thought, Blast in her clam blue haired form had to cover her ears just so they didn't burst.

"Come on Tien, show that giant rock you don't mess with the Shinhans!"

Blast just silently prayed Tien and Chiaotzu would come back safe, while trying to dodge her mother's bullets and shield her ears from her mother's voice.

Deep in the woods, Upa, his father, and the rest of their tribe were looking up at the beam of light was pushing against the giant rock in the sky. The people had worried looks on their faces as they hung their young ones, but Upa and Bora balled their fists and they rooted for their friend Goku to pull threw and save the planet again. If anyone could do it, it would be those guys.

17 had shown up in West City to meet with 18 and Marron. The young girl was currently sitting on her uncles head, whom was putting up with it quite surprisingly. The two androids were quiet as they stood in the yard of Capsule Corp. Marron was also unusually quiet as she sat there, a curious look on her face.

Chi-Chi, also in the Capsule Corp yard along with Bulma's parents was currently chomping down on a handkerchief to try and keep herself calm. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that of course Gohan and Goten would be smack in the middle of all this. And though she wouldn't admit it out-right, besides being scared for them she was proud of them for standing up and defending the planet. She just wished they didn't have to do it so damn often.

Mr and Mrs Briefs were standing side by side as they watched the light show quietly. Not much really fazed them, as they just waited quietly to see what would happen.

In Satan City, Konkichi looked out a window, grinning quite cheesily as he looked on. Looks like they were going to save the planet again. The thought of them failing never entered the green fox's head.

-DBZ-

Up in the Universal Library, Takula was panting as he rushed down a fiery hallway. Damn it all, he was to old for this kind of excitement, and he hadn't exactly been moving around much lately, being chained up and all. Behind him, the ceiling of the hallway gave way, flames crashing down as the debris burned. Takula paid no head to it as he rounded the final turn to the control room.

"Thank goodness..." A sudden extremely violent shake in the ship sent Takula sprawling to the floor however just as he entered the control room. The old man grunted, pushing himself up as fast as he could. He really hated feeling this old, but he couldn't dwell on that right now.

Finally getting back up, he made his way over to the high tech computers infront of him. After pressing a few buttons, a screen popped up on the transparent monitor. He had to blink a few times, startled to say the least. The group had gathered on earth and had started to blast the ship before shields were down. But the part that surprised him the most was the fact that they had stopped the ship from moving. He had expected the force of the energy would only be able to slow it down, but for them to be actually halting the movement of the Library...

Shaking his head, he returned to looking for the controls to shut of the shields. Another nearby explosion rocked the ground Takula was standing on, but the old man stood firm. With those young whipper snappers trying so hard, no way he was going to be the one to fall. Finally, he found the button he was looking for. He pressed it, looking back up at the screen. There, now it was all up to those...darn...k-kids...

Up on the screen was a red error message. A fiery explosion from another console near by went off, but Takula didn't even flinch at it. A cold sweat was covering his body. Of all things, a fail-safe...and because of that. Because of that...he...he couldn't turn off the shields?

Author Annotations:

Well…it was a fun ride. I had fun writing this story, and I hope you all had fun reading it. Hehe, if you want to see the conclusion…you'll have to keep an eye out for Torment and Pain. Torment and Pain will be the next installment of T.a.P. and I hope everyone is looking forward to it as much as I am.

Fifty chapters on the nose, and just under 200k words. So close, oh well. The story went just as I hoped it would. For my first story the reception was astounding. Over 300 reviews, it's amazing and I thank each and every one of you for each review. Even if you didn't review, thank you so much for reading.

Thanks again, and keep an eye out for Torment and Pain! I'll have the first chapter up soon!