In search of redemption.
Period 1: Apprehension
WARNING: This story contains, violence, coarse language, adult themes and sexual content
To understand this installment you must read the first
This story is a continuation of its predecessor 'In Search of Amity'
Having found no proof of an asteroid field in their sector. Gohan skims the tip of his finger swiftly down the screen. Searching for any data of planets in the known area, the databases range extends out to beyond the next quadrant.
"This isn't possible" he says, looking back at the great, dark, sphere hovering before them. The database shows no record of planets in the area. He steps aside and to the communications panel, pressing down the small red button below the microphone.
"I need someone up here please. Dad, Trunks someone, you have to come and see this," he requests, trying to sound calm.
From the kitchen on the second floor, Goku hears the announcement. Closing the cupboard door, he heads for the cockpit.
"Coming Gohan" he shouts, flying off the second floor to the cockpits entrance. Grasping the door handle, he pulls it down and pushed the door open, stepping inside.
"What's the problem?" He asks, walking to Gohan's side.
"Look" Gohan points to the dark, starless area in space. Goku lifts an eyebrow; walking closer to the viewing screen and squinting, placing his hands on his hips, he shakes his head.
"That's not normal, what it is?" he asks.
"I think it's a planet, but there isn't suppose to be anything out here for miles." Gohan reports.
Goku nods in agreement.
"You're right; I have seen this area before during instant transmission." He informs, a sensation hits him suddenly, his eyes darken and his neck muscles tense.
"You know, I'm sensing a dark energy from it. It's like, like nothing I have ever felt before." He reveals, his hand rising to meet with his chest. Massaging the area above his ki's centre with his fingertips, concern filling him.
"You're getting a reading from that thing? Stay here, ill get Trunks" Gohan declares, running to the door to fetch their pilot. Abruptly, it's flung inwards before he reaches it. Dende stumbles in, frantically running to the viewing window. Knocking Goku aside, he slams his open palms down on the control panel.
"Dende?…" Goku questions, concerned.
The Namek's mouth hangs ajar, his breathing deep.
"No further… go no further" he pants, his eyes blink less as they stare out into space.
"Why, what's out there?" Gohan asks, staring at his profile.
Both men's heads swing around when Piccolo suddenly storms in. Standing behind them, his eyes focussing with the dark area in space.
"Piccolo?" Gohan says, awaiting a response.
"He's right, stop the ship now." Piccolo orders, his voice strong. Goku observes them both, then Dende's hand reaches up, rubbing his Ki's centre on his chest.
"You both feel it too, don't you Can you tell me what is it?" Goku solicits, receiving no answer from either of them.
Her back is to him, he slides his fingertips down the side of her body, until they reached the peak of her hip. Resting his palm momentarily, before repeating the process again. Tickling her skin, but not enough to awaken her. His head is propped up by his elbow; his hair hangs loosely around his face. And the left corner of his lip is pulled up in a smirk. He would not trade this moment for anything. Behind them, the expanse of the universe for their viewing pleasure.
He glances at the candle beside them; large lumps of wax have collected around its base. He realises they have been there a lot longer than should. His body still feeling the pleasure of the experience, just watching her sleep induces a calm that he has never experienced.
She begins to stir.
"That tickles, stop it." She muses through smiling lips, Trunks smiles wickedly.
"Make me." He replies. Her eyelids part, turning onto her back, she glares at him daringly. He drops his smile, focusing his eyes with his fingertips as they trace around and between her breasts. Her glare softens; her hand reaches up to cup his cheek gently. He reverts his eyes to hers, her thumb caresses the apple of his cheek.
"You're so beautiful" he whispers, looking at all the feature of her face.
"So are you" she replies, mimicking the same notion. Her fingertips brushing his freshly shaved skin, the sent of his aftershave mixed with his clean sweat, creating a pleasant sent.
With no blankets covering them, Pan feels the exposure, but refuses to show it.
"It's your pain any better?" he asks, shuffling closer until their eyes are inches apart. Her scent reminiscent of pine, like a forest on a sunny day.
"Yes, it's just a momentary thing when your body isn't used to it. I actually feel better inside, like something's been released, relieved." She explains, her face taking on a nostalgic cool.
"Its funny, mom always said it's a release, after the first time you're with a man. She snakes her right hand around the back of his head.
"And you did that for me, you released me" she whispers. She pulls him down into a deep, constant kiss. His hand moves to rest on her waist, his other hand moving to nest against the soft skin of her neck.
"Trunks, we need you up here now!" A voice screeches through an unused, rusty wall speaker, it's Gohan.
Trunks pulls away from Pan the seconds he hears his voice, the responsibility of taking his daughters innocents hours earlier still fresh in his mind.
Standing he jogs to the speaker, flicking the switch beside it.
"Ill be right up." he replies into the small wall mounted mic, flicking off the switch.
"What's wrong?" Pan asks, sitting up. Trunks walks over, fetching her clothes and handing them to her.
"I don't know, get dressed, we should have gone back up ages ago" He instructs in an orderly manner. Feeling neglected by his tone, she does as asked. Slipping on her under garments and clothing quickly, Trunks is quicker to replace his. Leaning down, he grasps his sword and its pouch lying nearby. Slipping it over his head, he replaces the sword inside sharply.
Pan is buttoning up her blouse when he grabs a hold of her hand, pulling her along behind him.
"Lets go, c'mon." he urges, dragging her through the door and the tattered walkway. Heading for the ground levels, her bandana left forgotten on the room's floor.
"About time you showed up boy, im tired of hearing him call your name" Vegeta huffs as Trunks and Pan emerge from the lower level stairway, both of them stop.
"What's going on?… Gohan sounded worried." He asks, Vegeta motions his head toward the cockpit.
"I haven't the faintest, get your ass up there and find out" He orders, Trunks nods and before leaving, turns to kiss Pan, but he stops himself and just stares at her.
She understands why, and goes along with it. Nodding for him to go and not to worry; hesitant to leave her at first, he then flies swiftly up to the cockpit.
Vegeta watches him leave, turning his attention to Pan standing beside him. She also looks to him with confusion of the way his eyes portray her. Noting they are not always focussing with her face.
Following his gaze she looks down, horrified that the upper part of her blouse lays buttoned. The space between her breasts visible. Her eyes refocus with his, it was clear that he knew what had gone on. She walks away as calmly as possible, while buttoning up the last three buttons. His eyes follow her, until she was out of view.
He looks to the ground, squinting his eyes. Being the man he is, he knows the situation. It's the wrong time and place for this to happen. Recalling that long ago, he himself was driven to anger when Goku revealed young Trunks and his beloved Bulma had been absorbed by Buu. Causing him to make rash decisions and take insane actions. Attachments are a foolish thing for a warrior, especially at a time like this.
Trunks pushes the door open, running to the control panel.
"What's happening?" he asks, looking at each of their faces.
"That's what's wrong, look." Gohan replies, pointing through the viewing window.
Trunks looks out to the blackened sphere, confusion presents on his face and he shakes his head indifferently.
"What's the big deal, it's no threat to us" he states. But looking around, he notices Piccolo staring at the area, also Dende's expression is one of dread.
"It's new Namek, Trunks" Goku reveals.
Trunks looks to him as though he had grown horns, chuckling lightly.
"What?" it must be a cruel joke.
"He said its new Namek, get your head into gear" Piccolo grunts nastily. Trunks turns to him annoyance.
"I'm not in the mood for bull shit, how did you get the idea that that's Namek's, it could be anything." He supposes, hearing Piccolo snort a' yeah right'
"With you as navigator, it's a wonder how we got this far." Piccolo relents. Trunks ignore him, refusing to look in direction
"It could be anything, an astroid, black hole, nebular or an empty space like the one between your ears" He sneers at Piccolo. Piccolo turns at him slowly, stepping forward he prepares to give a physical reply
"ENOUGH!" Goku shouts, stepping between the bickering warriors. They stop, though Trunks continues sneering hatefully at the namek.
"How can you two argue like this, do you both realise what has happened?" Goku instigates, but receives no response from either of them.
Dende clears his throat, preparing to speak.
"The planets being moved around, it's being pushed by an unnatural force. It's the only explanation, this could not have happened otherwise." He explains, his head bowing toward the control panel.
"Could we get closer, we are a fair distance from it to be sure of what it is." Gohan inquires. Trunks nods hesitantly, walking to the pilot's seat and sitting down. Taking hold of the controls, he gently steered the ship on a course toward the mysterious phenomenon. The ships engines push them closer and closer to the blackness in space. Trunks feels concern, if this is in fact a black hole, their ship will be helpless to escape it.
"A little closer, Trunks" Goku urges, placing his hand on Trunks shoulder encouragingly. He complies; urging the ship closer. From behind, he hears the cockpit door open then slam shut, identifying Goten's ki source entering the room.
"Well?" Goten inquires, walking up behind his father.
"Not much to tell, but that might change at any second" Gohan replied, the rooms voices falling silent.
Only gentle rumbling of the ships equipment is heard, in some instances, the shuffling of clothing and shoes scrapping against the ground. Someone clears their throat, Piccolos breathing heightens. Goten licks his lips tensely, placing his hands upon the back of the co pilot's chair. Trunks palms start sweating, his senses on high alert, he listens for any out of the ordinary sounds. The creaking of rubber form his boots, the stretching of leather from his seat and the scraping of his control stick are heard as he turns it. The stars in the background are fading, a strange feeling of being closed in overtakes him, his breathing labours.
"Man, are you ok?" Goten asks, sensing his friends ki starting to rise abnormally. The others notice also, but refrained from comment, as long as he can steer them in the right direction, all is good.
"Fine, im fine" Trunks replies, swallowing a lump down his dry throat. His mind full of distractions. However, everything he wants to think about vanishes, as something stirs in the distance.
An eerie red cloud forms in front of them, their ship floats through it for several moments. It rapidly thickens to the point invisibility. Trunks tries relying on the ships radar, it reveals a solid entity about 500 kilometres ahead of them.
"Can you make it through?" Goku asks, examining the radar with him.
"I fucking hope so. Something's there all right, I think I can just get us close enough to see it" He replies. Reaching down to a scientific keypad beside the radar, he punches in a code to test the clouds content. A red light beside the pad starts flashing, the sound irritating to everyone. Trunks slams his hand down on it, turning it off.
"I'm guessing, that wasn't a good thing" Gohan speculates
"This cloud is toxic, full of fatal gases," Trunks discloses
"Whoa… check it out." Goten utters, pointing out the viewing window. All look up in silence, theirs gaze resting upon the planets surface, or a mere shell of a planet.
"Jesus, I wouldn't have believed it unless we got this close," Trunks utters.
"It's just sitting, there as though it were… dead" Goten observes.
"It's not dead, but it is dying" Goku confirms, his eyebrows merging when he feel a ki signature in the room, rise up dangerously. He turns to find it is Dende, his body shaking stressfully, his eyes glassy and his lips quivered into a snarl.
"Dende, Dende listen to me. You have to calm down, I need you to stay focussed because you know what were dealing with better than anyone else." Goku orders, grasping the namek's upper arm firmly to get his attention.
Dende's shakes his head violently, his ki rising higher as he pulls away from Goku, stumbling back.
"Its coming… its here... we must evacuate now!" He shouts and dashes out the cockpit.
"He's lost the plot" Goten declares.
With everyone's attention away from the planet, Gohan turns back and sees something, squinting with confusion in an attempt to identify it.
"What the hell…look out!" He screams, backing away from the window. Everyone turns in time to see what Gohan had; they try to escape from the room. Trunks' being in his seat is slowed down by a few seconds. A great nebular of purple light and red gasses, strikes the viewing window. With a sickening crack, glass flies in all direction, coating the control panel, floor and Trunks.
Trunks screams, hundreds of small shards piercing through his arms, hands and face. Stripes of skin hang off his fingertips and hands like shredded cheese.
"I'm coming Trunks!" Gohan calls upon hearing his shriek. Running back he grasps his companion around his upper body, pulling him from the pilot's seat and dragging him along the floor. Struggling to get them both out of the room, which is close to impossible. Due to the large hole in the window, air is being suck out, seconds is all they have before suffocation. Reaching the door, Gohan grasps the rim with one hand, trying to pull it open for him to pass through.
Trunks knows what happened, he also knows what must be done.
"Shut it, you have to shut it!" He hollers, he couldn't see the door, but he could hear it ricocheting against the wall. Gohan hears him, baring his teeth he pushes through the force of the suction. Tossing Trunks out the door first, he turns around clasping the handle with both hands. His greatest fear is that the hinges will snap, he can feel the doors week points being tested.
An extra pair of hands suddenly clasped themselves firmly over his own, with a struggle he looks up to find Piccolo by his side, both of them pulling with all their strength.
The door finally slams shut sending an echo through the ceiling; they fall back against the railing, exhausted. With heavy breathing, they continue their escape. Gohan drags Trunks to his feet, anchoring his arm over his shoulder. They fly down lightly to the ground level, the entire ship shakes violently, causing them to stumble. Gohan then hears women screaming.
"Pan, Bra, Savarna where are you!?" he call urgently, searching the immediate area. Boxes of supplies and equipment tumble across the floor, the ship swerving to one side. Loosing their balance, Gohan stumbled back against the wall with at thud, pulling Trunks with him.
She ship shudders violently but briefly again, Gohan can tell they have hit the planets atmosphere.
"Everyone, get to the escape pods before this place blows!" Goten shouts. Gohan, Piccolo and Goku all see him run down one of the corridors; they follow close behind with Gohan carrying Trunks over his shoulder. The ship tips in the other direction, Piccolo grasps Goten's sleeve to catch him from loosing his balance. As they ran past an opening in the hallways, Goku spots Vegeta and Pan running toward them from another area.
"Kackarot, what's going on!?" Vegeta calls.
"Vegeta, Pan this way hurry!" Goku calls back, his hand motioning for them to follow. In a split second, the floor beneath the pair cracks from wall to wall, collapsing. Vegeta and Pans screams hit his eardrums before disappearing from view, pieces of debris is being sucked out along with them, through a gaping hole in the floor.
"NO PANNNY!" Gohan screams painfully, running toward the hole.
Goku reaches out, grasping the back of his top he pulls him back.
"Its too late, they're gone!" he screams, pushing Gohan down the hallway toward the pods. The suction from the gape detaching parts of the ship, they go flying past them and out the hole.
"What's happening, where are my father and Pan!" Trunks demands, unable to see what was happening, but hearing his beloved's screams. Gohan ignores him, against all his willpower he runs down the hallways. His daughter is lost.
Trunks realises why Gohan ignored him, the fury that erupts in his heart is deadly. Slamming his fists against Gohan's back, but only enough to get his frustrations out. The pieces of glass already in his skin, cutting deeper. The reality sinking in, Pan and his father are gone.
Thankyou for reading In Search of Redemption... next chapter will be up soon...