Jun turned to face the knock on the Gravity Room's door. He was drenched in sweat and his hair kept sticking to his face. The screen lowered behind Jun as he faced the door, he heard Pan's voice come from the screen behind him.
"You weren't in school at all today, have you been in there all night?" Pan put her hands at her hips looking only slightly cross.
Jun let his breath come out in large, heaving gasps, between them he spoke. "I've been in three fights my whole life Pan-… the first one, I talked my father down, and he backed off." He tried to pace his breathing. "The second, my opponent ran out of strength." He wiped his forehead, which only spread the sweat and smeared his hair. "The third, I backed down because I'd already used every technique I've come up with in a matter of minutes because my opponent was so much superior to me."
"So," Pan asked, not understanding where he was going with his thoughts.
Jun walked over to the computer and turned off the gravity. "That alien could be another creature like Bebi, but even if it's something pathetic and not out to kill us, any day now, Gero or Myu could find another way out of hell, or a new alien race from another planet, another galaxy, or even another dimension could appear, I'm one of the handful of people on the planet with the potential to handle whatever may come, and I've never even scratched that potential."
The door opened and Pan took a step back-
"Something's different?"
Jun looked down at himself, lifting his arms as he did- suddenly he wrinkled his nose, "I stink, that's what's different, I'm gonna go shower and catch some sleep for tomorrow."
"It's not that," Pan said as she furrowed her brow trying to identify it. Her eyes widened when she realized it. "Your Ki, I sense it?"
Jun looked down at himself again. "Oh that, it's just- my Demi-herritage enhances what I have astronomically- but as a human what I have was insignificant, I guess that changed now," he chuckled and put a hand behind his head.
"About that," Pan tilted her head, "It didn't bother me at first that you were stronger than me, but I thought about it overnight, Trunks himself said I'm about as strong as he is in Super Saiya-jin, and 17 wasn't even any stronger than Vegita and Goku were in Super Saiya-jin after they trained to the cusp of Super Saiya-jin 2. Why are you stronger than Trunks was in Super Saiya-jin 2, when he just now got strong enough to reach Super Saiya-jin 3?"
Jun scoffed, "Gero tampered with 17 time and again, it's part of why 17 grew to hate Gero so much." Jun shook his head, "I think 17 was Gero's favorite for a while at least, that's why he built that Hell Version of him, specially constructed to line up with all 17's incomplete parts and make him strong enough to fight an SSj4." Jun sighed, "My best guess, some of those parts completed themselves in me." Jun put his hand over his heart, "Right next to my heart, I have a smaller organ, it seems to help my heart take some of the extra strain when I cut loose- at least that's the best guess of the only Doctor I ever saw." He moved his hand over towards one of his kidneys, "I have another organ here- nobody can even guess what it's for." Jun moved his hands away, "I've looked over several versions of 17's schematics over the different incarnations and upgrades, all I can tell, is for all his evil, Dr. Gero was brilliant, and willing to experiment to get results. Parts that he listed only some of their functions, and that they were still incomplete- parts that he completed when he merged 17 with the Hell version of 17. I have dozens of organs inside me that correspond to parts he added to 17 over the years before 17 killed him. Any number of them could account for my power, or any combination. Any one of them could be the host of my unwelcome Not-So-Better-Half." He scowled now, looking downcast.
"But- why would you be born with any of that?"
"Gero used a human-base- but only the first few Jinzo Ningen were robotic- or rather, cybernetic, ignoring of course the non-human based 16. That's why Cell could gain power from absorbing them, because everything about them, natural or not, was organic, and in order to make sure the body didn't reject the changes, he had to rework the body at the genetic level every time he upgraded them, which is why he had to knock them out with that shutdown command."
Pan opened her mouth and Jun put a finger over it- "I don't have all the answers. I don't know exactly what I am, I just am… Seventeen was more modified than any other Jinzo Ningen that made for a barely stable DNA that he passed to me. Plus- I haven't mentioned this but my mother's a Demi-Jinzo too: Eight had a daughter, my mother. So I'm only 1/4th pure, unaltered human- give or take what with the nature of inherited genes."
Pan stepped back and away from Jun's hand and frowned.
"What- you expect to get all the answers up front, I told you- I don't even have all the answers," he pointed his hands at his chest. "Ja'ne, Pan-san, I've got to get home, shower, and rest up for tomorrow…" He waved goodbye as he levitated upwards before flying off.
Pan turned when she heard footsteps behind her.
"So, he left already," Vegita walked over with his arms crossed, "I guess I'll use the Gravity room the rest of the day, oh, and Pan, I'd be careful around Trunks today, he's having trouble monitoring his strength, he tried to sleep in SSj3 and destroyed not just his bed, but most of his bedroom." Vegita smirked, "And that was just from snoring," he laughed uproariously as he stepped into the gravity room and closed it behind him.
"Tried?" Pan looked at the shut door with a confused expression.
Pan went over to the front desk, "Can you page Trunks for me," she showed him her visitor pass.
"I dunno that he'll respond, but I can send the message," even the desk clerk seemed to be in on whatever it was Vegita found so humor, though he wasn't as blatant about, his smirk was a lot more subtle.
"He should already know I'm here, just sending the page so it alerts him should be sufficient," Pan said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Of course you could tell me what's so funny also."
The clerk shrugged, "I guess it's not that funny, but Trunks-san has been breaking things with alarming consistency since he started spending time in that newest form he acquired."
"New form?"
"Yeah, like his other super forms, but this one has hair that would scare a punk rocker," he chuckled for a moment, then coughed as if to cover and instantly went back to full seriousness.
A moment later Pan felt Trunks approaching. She looked up a flight of stairs in time to see him-
"Pan," he smiled at first then winced and choked. He clutched his chest, both dropping from Super Saiya-jin 3 and consciousness, tumbling down the stairs, leaving a mess of broken wood, metal, and plastic from each impact.
"TRUNKS!" Pan rushed to catch him, saving at least the bottom half of the stairs in the process.
The man at the desk looked over through the corner of one eye then typed a line of command into his terminal, and a blue light flashed and an alarm sounded in the room.
The first thing to happen less than a minute later was a trio of medics coming through the front door. Pan was shocked, but still smart enough to back away. The Paramedics began their usual process, checking vitals, one of the three asking Pan basic questions, after a moment they lifted him onto a stretcher and headed out the door.
It was only after that the door of the Gravity Room blasted outwards and Vegita rushed out, "Trunks!" He saw Pan first, and the leaving Paramedics second, he rushed over to Pan, "What happened to Trunks?"
"I'm not sure, he was coming down to meet me when he suddenly passed out and fell down the stairs?" Pan was verging on panic, but just barely maintaining control and composure.
"Kuso! Dammit I warned him there could be trouble staying Super Saiya-jin 3 for prolonged periods…"
It was just over two hours later when Bulma walked into Trunks' room in the hospital. She glanced from Trunks, unconscious on the bed, to Pan, sitting closest to him, and lastly to Vegita, who had his arms crossed watching Trunks' vitals on the display by the bed.
"I was just talking to the doctors. They say he could wake up in as soon an hour, or years. Their best guess is he had some kind of prolonged heart attack, his body rejecting the stress Super Saiya-jin 3 was putting on him. They suspect if he hadn't been half-Saiya-jin he would be dead by now." Her voice was clinical, but her body was shaking, and tears were welling up in her eyes. She wiped her eyes, then looked to Pan, "I'd tell you to go home, since there isn't anything you can do, but I don't expect you'd listen, you should at least call your father and let him know where you are," she sniffled but tried to put on a bold face.
'Hai," Pan nodded, she walked over to the door, stopping as she passed Bulma and turning back to Trunks. She stared for a long moment, and as she did, Bulma sat down in the chair she had been in. Pan forced herself to look away and left the room.
Once she was in the common room she pulled out her cellphone and called home.
"Daddy it's me, Pan," she began before Gohan could speak.
Gohan made a noncommittal sound of acknowledgement, waiting for Pan to continue.
"I'm sorry I haven't come home yet, first I went to go see why my classmate had skipped school, but while I was there, Trunks ended up in the hospital, so I'm there now."
Gohan gasped, "What happened to Trunks? Did the Alien arrive early?"
"No Daddy," she assured him, tensing before she continued, "He did this to himself; he was trying to normalize his body to- well- to Super Saiya-jin Three."
Gohan gasped again, as Pan expected. "Trunks achieved Super Saiya-jin Three?" Gohan pushed down his shock, "Still, that was very dangerous of him, Super Saiya-jin Three is far more demanding on the body than any other Super Saiya-jin form, including Super Saiya-jin Four." Gohan sighed, "I remember- I remember even Otousan was unable to hold SSj3 for long periods while alive, especially when he became a child again. Anyway Pan-chan, how bad is Trunks?"
"He's still unconscious, the doctors aren't sure when he'll get better, but they are at least confident he will."
"Hmm," Gohan paused in thought, "I have an idea, but I don't know if it will help so don't get your hopes up. I'm gonna go check something out and then stop by to visit Trunks, I'll probably be there late this evening, then we can go home together cause you still need to rest for tomorrow."
"But Tousan," she started to protest.
"Don't argue," his tone brokered authority without being harsh, "Trunks would want you strong in case there's a battle tomorrow, especially if he can't make it."
"Hai, see you when you get here," she said in that typical 'defeated child' tone, after that she hung up.
Gohan put down the phone. "Videl, I'll be going out in a minute!" he called out across the house. He then picked up the phone again, "Don't know why I'm bothering" he muttered as he dialed the number.
"Moshi Moshi, you've reached Goten's voice mail, please leave a message and I'll reply when I can."
"Goten-kun, I was going to be in the city in a couple hours, I don't know if you heard about Trunks or not. I was thinking it's been a while since we've been together, and you could fly home with Pan and I for dinner, plus we always have a spare bed for you, and then we could all go to the alien landing site tomorrow." Gohan hung up and sighed, not even knowing if Goten would get the message before he got there…