After traveling for nearly two days, the spaceship continued its journey smoothly in a state of super acceleration. Everyone was switching between training and rest in an orderly manner. The ship was equipped with an emergency alert system that would sound an alarm if any major situation arose, so there was almost nothing to worry about.
There were no time references in the vastness of space. The outside was always pitch black, and they could only use instruments to judge how much time had passed.
After taking a shower, Raditz walked through the special hatch with a bath towel draped over his shoulders, wearing only underwear. He was quite satisfied with his current physique and had admired himself in the mirror for a long time.
As he entered the main cabin, Raditz found himself captivated by the view outside the huge transparent shield.
Behind him, Gohan and Goku had just finished showering and came to the main cabin with Piccolo to rest.
"Mr. Piccolo, let's eat something!" Gohan suggested.
"I don't need food to survive," Piccolo replied.
"I made it myself..." Gohan's excited expression suddenly dimmed.
Piccolo's face changed, and he faltered, "Well... let's eat some then."
Gohan's face immediately lit up with a smile, like sunshine breaking through clouds, sweeping away all gloom.
With his back to them, Raditz smiled. It had indeed been the right decision to pair Gohan and Piccolo together from the beginning. This master and student duo was a natural match. Piccolo was typically aloof and detached from the group, with Goku being the only one he normally spoke with—and even then, they were still somewhere between enemies and friends. Only Gohan could truly touch Piccolo's inner tenderness.
The two had developed a deep bond during their year of training together, and their relationship had grown very naturally.
"Brother, aren't you going to eat something?" Goku called carelessly while chewing on a square snack.
"I'm not hungry, you—"
Before he could finish speaking, the spaceship's alarm suddenly sounded, interrupting him.
Red lights flashed throughout the ship, and all auxiliary systems, including the gravity training room, paused momentarily. Everyone rushed to the main cabin with panic on their faces.
Vegeta darted to the pilot's seat to check the instruments, while the others looked around but found no visible danger outside.
"No glitches!"
"The ship should automatically avoid all kinds of space debris—there's no possibility of collision."
"Could it be some kind of explosion?"
"Nothing detected on the sensors."
But not only did the alarm continue, it became louder and louder. The frequency of the flashing red lights increased, as if something dangerous was imminent.
Raditz felt his body plummeting. The spaceship's engines seemed to have lost power, and the surrounding gravitational field was severely distorted, like a huge vortex trying to suck them in!
"Look below!" Krillin pressed against the transparent viewing port, his eyes scanning the scene below.
It was a strange planet with an oval shape. It appeared dark gold, exuding brilliance, though a gloomy chill emanated from its dull tones. Their spaceship was approaching this planet—or rather, being captured by its gravitational pull!
According to their calculated trajectory, this planet shouldn't exist. How could it suddenly appear?
"Hold steady! Adjust propulsion to maximum and get us out of here. If we're pulled down at this rate, we'll crash!" Raditz shouted. He didn't need calculations to know that falling at their current acceleration would be extremely dangerous.
"We're entering the atmosphere!"
The spaceship scraped against the atmosphere, producing sparks. The burning and shaking combined caused everyone inside to feel violent jolts. An incomparable uneasiness welled up in their hearts. Encountering such a situation in an unfamiliar cosmic environment was potentially fatal. If they'd known earlier, they would have brought Bulma with them! After all, she was the technical expert. If problems arose, she could fix them. Now they were completely vulnerable.
Vegeta pushed the engines to maximum power but still couldn't completely overcome the planet's immense gravitational pull. The two forces confronted each other in a stalemate. It was as if a giant hand were holding their spaceship and pulling it straight down, while the ship struggled like an angry bird trying to reach the sky.
The alarm flashed red light more violently, the sound shrill and piercing. The ship's hull shook endlessly.
"Wait! The operations manual! Krillin, where did you put the manual Bulma gave you?" Raditz had a flash of inspiration.
"In—in the box on the console!"
Raditz immediately rushed to the control panel, flipped through the manual, and pressed buttons on the panel as he read. A series of graphical data appeared on the screen. After browsing quickly, Raditz's frown deepened.
The atmospheric composition of this planet wasn't much different from Earth's, which meant there could be humanoid creatures living on it! The strange thing was that the water content was extremely low, and metal readings were off the charts—spread across the entire planet.
The closer they got to this planet, the more surprised they became. The ground showed a metallic color, with countless towering buildings between the sky and earth—or perhaps they were mountains—all appearing to be made of metal! Steel structures framed the cities vertically and horizontally, and some shining unknown metal covered everything.
"How is this possible?" Sweat beaded on Raditz's forehead.
"What's wrong?"
"We've got to get off this planet. It's made entirely of metal and... it's alive!"
As soon as he said this, everyone shuddered involuntarily. Chills climbed up their backs like venomous snakes.
The spaceship was being pulled in by the huge gravitational force, as if by the planet's conscious will. Could it actually want to swallow their ship?
A terrifying thought flashed through their minds, startling everyone. The thrust that had barely kept them aloft was once again overpowered by the stronger attraction, and the spaceship was pulled toward the metal planet!
Raditz made up his mind, hurriedly put on his clothes, and opened the hatch.
"I'll go outside for a bit. Goku, come with me."
"What's your plan?"
"We can propel the spaceship using the reaction force of our energy blasts. The combined energy of the two of us should be enough."
"I get it. Let's do this." Goku immediately understood Raditz's meaning and nodded.
The two flew to the back of the spaceship, pressed against the hull, let out low growls, concentrated the energy in their hands, and compressed it into spheres.
Turtle School Energy Wave!
Both were preparing to release Kamehameha Waves!
"HA!!!"
With a mighty shout, they launched their energy waves simultaneously. Blue light overwhelmed the flames ejected from the spaceship's engines, and the enormous reverse thrust pushed the two Saiyans back while propelling the ship forward.
No matter how strong the metal planet's pull was, it couldn't compare to the terrifying energy of the Kamehameha. The powerful shock waves directly hit the metal surface. After a dull impact, there was a roaring explosion, and thick smoke billowed upward.
As the thick smoke rose, the spaceship successfully broke free!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~