Disclaimer: I own nothing except the pic used, though I don't own the characters.
Surviving History
Chapter Four – Setting up Camp
Sometimes Pan seriously doubted Trunks' sanity. It didn't happen very often, but at the moment she just couldn't bring herself to believe anything could be done to salvage the time machine. Granted, it was their only ticket home, but still, the thing was a mangled mess. In fact, she was sure they would be losing parts like confetti in the wind if Trunks hadn't stored it in a capsule.
They flew at an easy speed toward the huge mountain that the Saiyans had been headed for when they left. "Hey Trunks, are you sure this is a good idea? That one guy said their leader would kill you if we set foot on their turf."
"We're not going to bother the colony, I just want to see where they are." Trunks didn't look at her as he spoke, but was intently focused on an unusual device that he had pulled out of his pants pocket. "I don't care if they're Saiyans, they need food and water just like everyone else. We need to find their water supply so our emergency Capsule-House can drill a plumbing unit."
Pan hovered closer to peer at the gadget curiously. "What are you doing with that thing?"
Trunks chuckled lightly and sent her a brief smirk. "I'm using my phone to locate the most ideal placement for the Capsule-House."
"That's your phone?" It didn't look like any phone she had ever seen and it certainly didn't look like her phone.
"Among other things." His gaze drifted back to the device in concentration as they neared the huge mountain.
A few moments later and Pan was suddenly aware of numerous power levels all congregated around the same area on the mountain, though they seemed rather weak compared to the formidable opponents she had faced in the past. Er, future, the past-future...? She was pretty sure she was contracting a headache by the time Trunks pointed and exclaimed, "Ah-ha! There it is."
Pan looked down to see that they had passed the mountain and found herself staring at a grand valley instead, it was as lifeless as the mountain range surrounding it except for a brilliant blue lake shimmering at its center. A number of powerful channels flowed into the massive reservoir and they all seemed to come from the same direction.
"Whatever source is feeding those rivers must be enormous for the water not to dry up in these harsh conditions," Trunks observed and quickly consulted his phone. "As I thought, the readings show that there are much more fertile areas on this planet where it rains heavily, but it also shows a high level of activity in those areas."
"Activity?" Pan wondered aloud as she tried to follow his technical rambling.
"Animals," he answered. "Possibly even dinosaurs, which poses a problem. I'd like to work on the time machine in peace. We don't need to setup in those areas anyway, all the Capsule-House needs is a water supply."
Pan frowned at his explanation. It made sense but she liked the idea of setting up camp near animals, since playing with them would give her something to do while he tinkered away on the broken time machine. She followed when Trunks dropped altitude and they flew over the surface of the lake, kicking up a spraying path in the placid, azure water as they went.
Pan was suddenly aware of many power levels, much more than that of the first colony they passed. All around the circumference of the valley she could feel a number of groups, and if each group represented a colony, then she counted five in all. "How are we gonna find a place to make camp near water without them finding us? All the area's beside the lake or beside the rivers are too exposed."
Trunks smiled and held up his phone-that-was-much-more-than-a-phone. "With this." He chuckled when she gave him a dubious look. "It's scanning the surface of the water for a twenty mile radius. Once it's done it should give me the most strategic location for setting up camp."
"I suppose it monitors your sleep cycle too?" Pan joked but blinked in befuddlement when he simply gave her a blank look.
"Well, yes it can, actually." Trunks looked back to his phone when it gave a shrill beep. "Here we go. This should be perfect!" He swerved abruptly and Pan followed.
They were still flying over the surface of the lake but were headed straight for a huge, roaring waterfall as it cascade down the face of a monstrous cliff. Trunks wasn't slowing his pace though... "Um, Trunks?" He only smirked in reply. "Big flat surface at twelve o' clock!"
He didn't hear her, or if he did, he wasn't listening. Pan pulled to a sudden halt the instant before impact with the veil of water but Trunks flew straight into it. The quarter Saiyan cringed and had the mental image of him blasting clean through the cliff face and coming out the other end of the mountain, but there was no crash, no discharge of energy, just silence. "Trunks?"
A few seconds lapsed and the only sound was that of the droning of the water as it sprayed a fine mist onto her face and clothes. It puzzled her that she could still feel his energy signature but it was located inside the cliff itself. "You plan on staying out there all day?" was his snarky, belated reply, his voice warped oddly by the barrier of water passing between them.
Scowling in annoyance, Pan thrust herself headlong into the cascading river, phasing through it so fast that she barely got damp. Just passed the barrier was a large cavity in the rock-mass of the cliff; a cave with the perfect camouflage of a waterfall. She halted and landed a hand's breadth from her companion and gave him an irritated smack on the shoulder. "You could have told me you knew this was here!"
Trunks offered an apologetic smile as he rubbed his offended shoulder. "Hey, I was just testing my theory. If it worked on you, then it should deter our unfriendly neighbors too."
Pan crossed her arms and sharpened her glare. "And just what does that mean?"
The violet haired man seemed to realize the metaphorical hole he was digging for himself and promptly turned from her with a nervous chuckle. "How about we setup our new home-away-from-home?" he ventured, probably in the hopes of curbing her ire.
Pan decided to let his offense slide this time as she followed him further into the cave. The air was damp and the constant roar of the waterfall was almost deafening, but she supposed she would get used to both annoyances after awhile. Once Trunks found a desirable spot, he triggered one of the capsules and after the smoke cleared a rather small house appeared where there had only been a bare cave wall before.
"That's our new "home-away-from-home"?" Pan questioned and noticed the despairing look on her companion's face as he too seemed surprised by its diminutive size. "But it's so small!"
After a moment of gawking, Trunks collected himself and shrugged. "Well, it is just an emergency unit. Remember, the time machine wasn't really ready for use, so we didn't have it completely equipped yet."
"Whatever, let's just hope the inside is bigger than I'm imagining it to be," Pan said as she waved an impatient hand and moved to enter the small, domed house. Trunks nodded and followed right behind her and as the automatic door opened with a hiss both of them halted just inside the threshold to stare in disbelief at the meager interior.
Unfortunately, Pan's imagination had been spot on. In fact it would have been more accurate to call this Capsule-House a Capsule-Hotel-Room instead. It had only one main room, with the bathroom and kitchen parallel to each other and located off to the right. The bathroom was the only thing that was actually cordoned off with walls and a door, leaving the rest of the tiny dwelling open.
The house, if it could even still be considered as such, had obviously been designed for one person as the bed wasn't very big... Wait, the bed? As in, only one? Pan looked around the room again but could not see anything that resembled another bed, loft or hammock. And although the bed was fairly small it looked just big enough to accommodate two people. Without permission, Pan's imagination started running wild and she felt an uncomfortable heat roll up her neck before she had time to block out the sudden image that flashed in her mind.
She chanced a glance at Trunks and noticed that he too aimed a tense gaze at the only bed. As she waited for his coiled reaction, Pan felt as though a haze had descended on her focus and her mind began to wander aimlessly. She thought about what that stupid Saiyan had said before and how Trunks told her to forget it. Well, she couldn't. Not when it had struck a nerve that she hadn't known even existed.
She understood that what the Saiyan said, he said with an uncouth disregard, but having or choosing a mate was a serious matter, one of the most serious matters, as both her mother and father had told her. With that in mind, and strictly determined to be honest with herself, she regarded Trunks with a careful scrutiny.
Despite considering him as her best friend, she'd admittedly had a crush on him for years and she always thought they shared a close bond, but sleeping together? That just felt like things were moving a little too fast in her mind. Even if this was just a circumstantial situation and absolutely had nothing to do with... that. The very idea that she and Trunks could ever share in such an outlandish activity made her refuse to even name it in her thoughts.
"Well," Trunks finally spoke, jerking the raven haired female out of her deliberations. He scratched his neck in that awkward mannerism of his and gave her a sheepish smile. "Looks like we get to alternate bed rights." He walked over to the wall adjacent to the bed where various drawers and panels were located and accessed one of them. "There's enough extra blankets here for one of us to sleep on the floor."
Pan released a pent up breath she hadn't realized she was holding and felt an overwhelming sense of relief. That said, why did she suddenly feel a slight pang of disappointment in her chest? She blinked in bewilderment at nothing in particular as Trunks crossed back to the door and gave her an odd look before promptly dismissing the matter without a word. He gestured graciously at the bed. "You can have it first. I'll be up all night anyway."
"You're not sleeping tonight?" Pan asked, genuinely concerned. Though she probably shouldn't be, considering she knew he often pulled all-nighters back home for his research and his share in the family business.
He waved a bothered hand, as if he was used to such nagging concern, probably due to his mother, who, by all rights had no place to preach on the matter when she herself rarely slept. "I'll sleep tomorrow night. Right now I need to determine how long it'll take me to repair the pod. I really don't want to be here when the planet gets conquered."
"Why the rush?" Pan wanted to know. "Can't we just keep hiding out here after that happens?"
"If I remember correctly, shortly after the Saiyans conquer the planet, Frieza takes over. He would end up finding us, and frankly, I don't want to think about what would happen at that point."
"Aww come on Trunks, what are you worried about? My grandpa took care of that freak as a first stage Super. You could take him, no problem!"
Trunks sighed wearily but offered a complacent smirk in regard to her confidence in his abilities. "That's not the point though. Getting involved with the past is dangerous unless there's a really good reason for it. Our goal for right now should be to simply survive and leave as soon as possible, without effecting things too much."
But that's no fun! Pan wanted to whine but kept the thought to herself and nodded compliantly; what he said made sense. "Yeah, you're probably right."
She wasn't sure how to react when he smiled with what seemed like amusement and lightly tapped her chin with one hand before passing through the open doorway. So unsure in fact, that she simply stood there, gawking in a stupor at where he had been standing. What was that? After shaking her head fervently to shake off her daze, she moved to peer at him through the doorway but he was already distracted with uncapping the time machine for her to question him.
Somewhat flustered, Pan turned toward the kitchen. Food always solved everything. Besides, she figured even if Trunks refused to sleep, he would undoubtedly be getting hungry later. It was time to see what this sorry excuse for a house had to offer for nourishment.