(Meanwhile)
Once Kana had docked with her vessel still floating suspended above the planet, the girl wasted no time in closing up the hatch, having a nice, long hot shower, and returning to the cockpit to get underway. Discarding her ruined plug suit to the recycling, leaving her in only her underwear with a towel draped over her neck, the fiery haired girl strolled up to the cockpit and sat herself down in the smooth, plush seat of the pilot's throne. It was here the girl let out a sigh, rotated in her seat, and turned to look out the front window.
Seeing the earth hanging directly in front of her through the enormous visor of her vessel, the clouds drifting over the planet's oceans and continents in swirling sheets, the girl's gaze took on a look of forlorn while her finger tapped against her arm rest. Watching the planet rotate and listening to her ship's incredibly sophisticated helm and transparent control panels hum away, the girl then became aware of a familiar series of beeping noises. A second later, a blue hologram of a small, robotic figure appeared on the dashboard.
Hands behind his back, the armored hologram looked at the exhausted girl with noticeable concern. "Ma'am. Is there something wrong?"
"Hello, Bit," Kana greeted, expression remaining unchanged as she rocked back and forth in her seat. "No… nothing's wrong."
"I'm detecting some unusual breathing patterns in your body's respiratory system. Your brain is also giving off some very mild yet uneven electrical signals. Are you sure you're doing alright?"
"Yes. I'm fine. It's just…" the girl paused for a moment, a momentary look of sadness coming over her before she leaned back and rested her head on her hand. When she closed her eyes and opened them some moments later, you could see her irises shimmering. A sad sigh escaped her lips again, "I met someone really incredible today… a kindhearted young man and one hell of a fighter." Her expression then fell slightly, "I doubt I'll ever meet someone like him again."
"Ah yes. This Son Gohan from Mount Paozu," the A.I replied, at the same time pulling up a profile picture of the boy on the hologram projector and suspending it in front of Kana, who spent the next few seconds staring at it. "I watched the recordings of your battle with him from your suit. He was undoubtedly an impressive specimen."
Kana smiled, her expression taking on a faraway look as she gazed at the demi-Saiyan's face. "Yes. He really is." Staring at Gohan's picture for several moments, the girl then stretched her arms over her head and leant back, kicking her feet up onto the control panel in front of her like it was a desk and resting back. "Anyway… my business here is concluded. Mark this planet as 'protected', eject the satellite from our link bay and prepare for warp jump." With her towel still flung over her neck, Kana then turned her attention to the visor in front of her and ran her finger through the air, pulling a couple of hologram nodes across and beginning to give commands to her vessel. "Set coordinates for Sector 15."
"Of course, ma'am," Bit replied, a series of beeps ringing out as the ship was prepped and readied for flight. As a low humming sound started to echo throughout the vessel's interior, the A.I then looked away from the ship's windscreen and fixated on the girl kicking back in her helm's seat once again. "Would you like to listen to some music on our way there?"
"Oh yeah. I almost forgot about that," Kana exclaimed, a wide grin forming on her face as she looked out the window of her vessel as it started to rotate away from the planet. Seeing the Capsule Corp. satellite drift away, the girl continued typing into the hologram panel next to her, "Did you manage to separate all of the information we were able to download into individual drives?"
"Yes. Of course. I categorized all of the data we were able to collect from Earth's satellite, killed the bugs and arranged them all in their order of significance," Bit replied, earning an understanding nod from the pilot.
"Excellent. So…" Kana beamed at her incredibly helpful A.I. "Whatcha got for me? I could use with some in-flight entertainment." For every planet she'd visited in her lifetime, she'd been able to collect an enormous amount of information on their cultures and history. While a lot of the facts regarding their history were mostly white noise and she panned over that stuff easily, it was the cultural stuff she was most interested in.
A lot of worlds she'd visited in the past had some very interesting tastes in cinema, which she… illegally downloaded.
Bit, appealing to his master's whims, bowed his head."I think I've found something that may be to your liking." There was then a click, followed by two seconds of silence.
Then, before Kana knew it, her ears were filled with the chant of 'Ouga Chaka' as Blue Swede's Hooked on a Feeling started blaring out over the speakers inside the vessel. Gradually starting to bob her head to the beat, the fiery haired girl felt a grin spread across her lips as she laid further back in her seat, allowing it to go full incline while her ship lined up with the stars.
"Oh yeah. Now this is what I'm talkin' about," Kana remarked and closed her eyes, basking in the melody of earth's music, completely unaware of how old it was.
A hum and a bright orange glow from the ship later, and the oval shaped vessel fired its engines and rocketed off into the cosmos with a crack of light.
It was gone in the blink of an eye…
OOO
(Sometime Later)
Back in Mount Paozu, the sun was starting to set over the mountains. With the sky turning orange and the animals beginning to return to their homes to roost, Gohan could be seen dropping down from the sky to land in front of his home's entrance. Once on the ground, the boy stepped forward and opened the door, where he then made his way into the living room to see his mother sitting anxiously on the couch.
Chi-Chi looked up when she sensed her son's return and stood up to greet him in the typical manner, "Gohan! Where have you been? You've been gone for hours! I was so worri-GAH!" She jumped in shock when she saw the still Super Saiyan 2 form of her eldest boy step around the corner, his orange and blue gi in tatters and his form covered in all sorts of gunk. Hand gripping her chest, the mother quickly recomposed herself, "W-What in the world happened to you?"
He looked like someone had run over him with a lawnmower.
Despite his ascended Saiyan state, the boy still wore the characteristic Son grin and, walking further into the room, he revealed he was carrying his mother's order, all of which were covered in the dry cleaning bags. This was obviously to protect them from getting ruined on the flight home.
"Sorry, mum. I got a little bit… sidetracked." Was that the right word? Yeah. Sure it was.
Seeing the sheepish look appear on the Super Saiyan's face, Chi-Chi let out a sigh and marched up to tower over her spiky haired son. "You're your father's son alright; always getting into some sort of trouble. Geez." She shook her head. "What am I ever going to do with you?"
"Well, I know one thing…" Gohan replied, smile widening, "If I want to stop being dragged through mountainsides and fields by freakishly strong opponents, I've got a lot more training I have to do." Seeing his mother stare at him for a moment before giving him a small, loving smile, the boy then brightened up again and looked the woman square in the eyes. "Oh yeah, guess what. Videl's coming over this weekend."
Chi-Chi clapped her hands together, "That's wonderful, Gohan. I'll be sure to make something special for when she comes by. We'll make her feel right at home." She then clenched her fists and looked up towards the ceiling victoriously. "Oh, I can see it right now. Grandchildren galore…"
Blushing and laughing nervously at the woman's sparkling eyes, the young demi-Saiyan then remembered why he'd been sent out in the first place and pulled Chi-Chi's new clothes around to dangle in front of him. "By the way mum, why'd you send me to pick these up for you?" He could've sworn his mother already had a couple new sets of clothing, only these ones were a little bit bigger.
Gazing back down at the boy in surprise, Chi-Chi's expression then softened as she walked forward and placed a hand on her son's shoulder. When she did, she looked him right in the eyes and said something to him that would mark the first step to what would be the biggest change in their lives. "Because… in just a few months, the two of us are going to become a family of three, Gohan." Seeing the Super Saiyan 2 give a few confused blinks, his mother's smile widened and she laid a hand across her belly, which she then rubbed tenderly. "You're going to be a big brother."
At that exact moment, once the realization of his mother's words passed through his head, Gohan's face lit up with a thousand kilowatt smile.
~~~~~~~
End of Collector Arc.
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Eddy: And well, dear readers, this is where this arc ends, where an OC adversary is presented. I hope you liked it and that you enjoy the next arcs that I will start uploading in the future.
Meanwhile I will spend the next few days updating my other Naruto fanfic that I abandoned to give priority to this one. If you liked this work, take a look at that other fanfic and the others that I will surely upload in the future. See ya~!