Well here it is. Enjoy!
Chapter 24
Final Goodbyes- The List
"PAN! PAN WE DID IT!" Bra ran to her friend while ignoring the crazy stares from schoolmates, held Pan's shoulders and jumped up and down.
"That's great! What did we do?"
"We graduated silly! The list is up by the office.
"No way." Pan walked slowly, not believing what Bra said. Then she saw her name in black on white. They were all graduating: her, Bra, Trunks, Goten(surprisingly), Marron, even Uub! Pan almost cried. Then when Michelle was dragged away by security saying they'd hear from her lawyer, Pan whooped and jumped in the air.
"Miss Son, a word."
Pan turned around and saw her history teacher. "Oh ummm. Hello sir."
" I must admit. Your essay was marvelous. The best I've had in years." He shook her hand. "In fact, it almost seems too good to be true." He squeezed her hand and squinted. "If I find out that you didn't do this, you can think twice about graduation. I'll make certain of that." He walked away from Pan and she stuck her tongue out at him before calling her parents.
"Hey Mom! Dad! I'm graduating!"
"That's great honey! Your father and I are so proud of you! And so is your grandfather."
Pan sighed. "Yeah. Well I better go."
"Pan wait. Your father wants to talk to you."
"Okay. Hi Dad."
"Congrats Pan. You know, Grandpa Hercules isn't the only grandfather proud of you."
"I know Dad. Look, I gotta go, but I'll swing by the house later, okay? Bye." She closed the phone before they spoke again and she was immediately picked up off the ground by two strong arms. She laughed. "Trunks put me down!"
"No way! We're graduating!" He put her down and kissed her. "You know you're my graduation partner, right?"
"Ummm, actually someone already asked me."
Trunks pouted. "Well I guess I can ask someone else..." He looked around the hall. "Hey Vanessa!"
"Shut up Trunks! You're going with me." She punched him.
"Ow! That hurt! Not to mention she fainted."
The rest of the gang joined them and they all whooped and high fived each other.
"Graduation party at my house!" Bra thumbs upped when everyone cheered. "All right!"
"Ugh. I don't feel so good." Uub held his head aand Marron put an arm on his shoulder.
"Are you okay honey?"
"Just a little rest I should be fine."
"Guys I'm gonna take Uub home to sleep, okay? Give us the details and stuff after." She walked with him to the park then they flew off to Uub's home. The rest of the gang went home after getting the graduation instructions. On the way home, Pan sighed.
"What's wrong Panny?" Trunks put an arm around her shoulder and rubbed it.
"It's nothing. Just that, Grandpa was really looking forward to my graduation and now he won't even see it."
Goten piped in. "Come on Pan. You know that's not true. Dad's always watching us. Always."
"Yah, but it would feel better if he was watching us physically, ya know?"
Goten sighed. "Yeah. I know."
The rest of their walk was quiet. When they reached home, Bra snapped her fingers.
"Hey I know! We can use the Dragon Balls!"
"For what?"
"Duh Trunks. To bring Goku back. Sheesh. Would it kill you to feel some compassion for your girlfriend once in a while?"
"Bra that's a great idea!" Goten swung her around and kissed her.
"Yeah it's great. But we have a few complications." Everyone looked at Pan as she spoke. "For one, how are we gonna sneak the Dragon radar out of your house without being seen? And if that happens, how are we gonna get time to look for the Dragon Balls? Graduation's next Monday. Today's Tuesday. Can we really collect Dragon Balls from all over the world, maybe even the universe, in six days?" She watched them sadly. "I'm sorry guys. It's just too hopeless."
Goten put his head down and let Bra go. "She's right. It is hopeless."
The whole room emanated sadness. Then Trunks spoke up.
"Hey isn't Marron a witch or something?"
Bra caught on to the idea. "Yeah! We could ask her to just summon the Dragon Balls!"
Pan and Goten lighted up again. Then Pan's phone rang. In her happiness, she answered eagerly.
"Hello?" She paled. "Uh huh. Yeah. No... But-" She listened to the voice on the end. "That's not fair! Yeah, but-" She ran a hand through her hair. "You can't do this!" Silence. "Hello? Hello?" She closed the phone and put her head in her hands.
"Panny what's wrong?" Trunks sat down next to her.
"I'm not graduating."
"What?!"
She sniffed. "I said I'm not graduating."
Goten, Bra and Trunks looked at each other. They knew better than to speak at that time.
Five minutes later, Bra sat down next to Pan. "What happened? Who was that?"
Pan sighed. "The old fossil himself. Apparently he was doing some 'research' and he found out that my project was pretty close to Bulma Briefs' own. He says I'm guilty of plagiarism and the principal declares that I can no longer graduate."
"I'm so sorry Pan. Are you feeling okay?" Goten put an arm around Pan.
She laughed. "Why shouldn't I be feeling okay? I mean, all I'm doing is NOT graduating. What's the big deal? And if anything, I'm satisfied with the image of what that fossil's head is gonna look like whem I'm done with it." She spat out the last few words then smiled. "So why shouldn't I be okay?…If you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed. I'm kinda tired."
"But Panny, you told your parents you'd meet up with them."
"Oh yeah. Tell them I wasn't feeling so well." Then she ran to bed.
Trunks went after her and Goten tried to stop him. "No, Goten. Let me go."
"She wants to be left alone Trunks."
"Which is why I'm going up there."
"That doesn't even make sense."
"Goten, I let you go when you wanted to save Bra. Now let me go to be with my girlfriend."
Goten looked at Bra. She nodded, and he let Trunks go.
"Panny? You in here?"
"Go away!"
Trunks opened the door, then locked it behind him. Pan had her face buried in her pillow. Trunks sat on the bed and stroked her hair.
"Honey, you can't stay like this forever." She didn't answer so he continued. "Would Goku be happy if he saw you like this? Come on Pan. So what if you don't graduate? Fuck your teacher. I'm gonna be the president of Capsule Corp in a few years and I can always get you a job there. Over a million dollars a year. What will he do about that? Panny." Trunks pulled her head onto his chest and rocked with her back and forth as her tears wet his shirt. Eventually she fell asleep. Trunks kissed her on the forehead and lay her on the bed then went downstairs where Bra and Goten were eating dinner.
"Dinner at 4 in the afternoon?" Trunks stretched. Bra looked at him questioningly.
"What are you talking about? You fell asleep with Pan. It's 8 in the night. We were planning to wait for you guys, but dinner started getting cold so we went ahead with our dinner. Yours is in the fridge. You're on dish duty tonight." She kissed her brother on the cheek. "Good night bro. Come on Goten." And they went to bed.
Trunks ate his dinner in silence but just picked around the plate. He wasn't feeling that hungry, which amazed him. Then Pan walked downstairs.
"Wow Trunks. You've barely eaten anything!" Pan started to eat his food.
"You better now?" He watched Pan eat his food, then suddenly felt hungry again. He got up to put more food for himself and Pan stole his seat.
"Yeah. I figured you were right. Makes no sense worry over what I can't change. Just gotta keep my head up." She chuckled. "Guess Vanessa's getting you as a grad partner after all."
"Yeah..."
"Now. About my job. What am I gonna work as? Capsule designer? Finance?"
"Actually," he sat down next to Pan with his food, "I was thinking more along the lines of secretary."
Pan choked and when he laughed she punched him.
"No way am I being secretary!"
"Oh come on! You'll love it! Plus..." he kissed her hair "I want you by me. Think about it. The two of us in my office all alone. Sex of the desk... can you picture it yet?"
She giggled. "Of course. You have a meeting in three minutes, Mr Briefs. I suggest you zip your pants, button up your shirt, and do something about your hard on."
He laughed. "Why thank you Mrs Briefs. Just remember I'm thinking about you all throughout the meeting. And we're going out to dinner tonight."
"Can't wait. But in the meanwhile," she handed Trunks the two empty plates, "it's your turn to wash the dishes."
"Oh man!"
She laughed and kissed him. "Good night, sweetie." She went up to bed.
"Good night." And he started on the dishes.
The next day, Bra called Marron and put it on loudspeaker.
"Hello? Bra?" Marron sounded like she was crying.
"Hi Marron. Yeah, it's us. Listen, we need your help."
"How coincidental. I need some help too."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm coming. I'll tell when I get there." Marron turned off her phone.
Four minutes later, Marron walked through the door.
"It's Uub."
"Calm down Marron. What's Uub?" Goten gave her a cup of coffee and she turned it in her hands as she sat on the couch.
"He won't wake up. I brought him to his home yesterday and went to visit him this morning. He was breathing, but he won't wake up!"
Bra felt her heart sink. "Are you sure he wasn't just tired?"
Marron shook her head as tears fell into her coffee. "No. His mother said he didn't wake up for dinner. He's been asleep since he went to bed."
"Shit." They looked at Pan. "I have a theory, but let's discuss what we originally needed. Marron, do you know any conjuring spells?"
Marron frowned. "I think I saw a few in my spell book, but I don't know any by heart."
"Great. Do you have your spell book with you?" Trunks looked at her hopefully as she felt around her little bag.
"I always have it with me. It should be around here somewhere…" She pulled out the book. "Ah, here it is. Now what exactly are we conjuring up?" She looked through the book.
"The Dragon Balls."
She shut the book and looked at them. "The Dragon Balls?"
"Hey guys!" Goku appeared in front of all of them while Marron was still speaking.
"Why would we need the-" Bra put her hand to Marron's mouth so she couldn't complete her statement.
"Sorry to drop in so unexpectedly. It's just," Goku frowned then continued, "Marron, did Uub say anything before he fell asleep?"
The question caught Marron unaware. "Huh? As a matter of fact, he did. He kept saying sin. Sin...What does that mean Goku?"
He thought. "I don't know, but I'll check King Kai. He should have an idea. There was something else I had to say, but I forget." He shrugged. "Guess it wasn't important. Bye guys!" And he left.
"Now will you guys tell me why Goku shouldn't know about the Dragon Balls?"
Pan answered. "They're for him. We want to bring him back. If he finds out, he'll obviously stop us! Not to mention, we can always use another with to wake Uub up."
Marron shook her head. "I don't like this. But we're gonna have to go outside."
"Thanks Marron." They went outside. "Alright. Hope this works!" Marron put her hands out in front her. "Come one, come all, from near and far. We need the Dragon Balls, wherever they are!"
One by one, the Dragon Balls appeared. Then so did a white beast in the center of them. Then Goku appeared as well.
"Hey guys! We finally found it out! Marron, he meant Syn."
Marron blinked. "Meaning…?"
"Sy as in Syn Shenron. He's the One Star Dragon. Pretty tough guy. In fact, he looks like that guy over there!" Goku pointed, then squinted. "Waiiiittt… Oh no! That's him! What did you guys do?!"
Goten started. "Now Dad, don't get angry, but we kinda summoned all the Dragon Balls to make a wish."
"What would you guys do that for?!"
No one answered. Syn Shenron laughed. "Is this what I'm up against? How did a group of hormone-driven teenagers beat my best warriors? It doesn't matter. You'll all be dead soon anyway."
"I've heard just about enough from this guy." Trunks turned Super Saiyan and flew to Syn. None of his attacks had any effect. When Trunks became breathless, Syn flicked him away with a finger. He landed in front of Pan.
"There. Now that that's over, let's bring in a few others, shall we?" Syn opened his arms and a wide hole appeared in the sky. Villains poured through it and charged towards the gang.
"There- there's too many." Bra looked at all of them.
"Just brace yourselves for the worst!" Pan put her arms up in a X in front her face.
"HAAAA!" A blast took out the villains closest to them.
Goten cheered. "Alright! Great job guys!"
"But... we didn't do it."
Bra looked at them. "So, if we didn't do it... who did?"
"So this is the school study group, huh?" Gohan landed in front of them. "I wonder just what kind of books did you guys open." He shook his head and looked up. "Hey Vegeta! Krillin! Take care of a few of them, will ya?!" He looked back at Pan. "We'll discuss this when this is over. Now let's beat some bad guys!"
"Wait. How did you find us, Dad?"
"I brought him here." Goku put a hand on Gohan's shoulder. "You guys won't be able to do this fight alone. So, I figured, time for back up." He moved forward and put a hand on Pan's shoulder. "I won't be here with you guys physically, but I'm always with you here..." he pointed at Pan's heart, "and here." He tickled her stomach until she laughed despite the tears on her face.
Then she ran and hugged him. "Grandpa…" The tears rolled down her face as she cried.
"We all love you Pan. No matter what." He broke the hug and watched her in her eyes.
"Oh perfect family reunion. But may I remind you that there is a fight going on?! I can't believe Kakarot would wait till now to involve me in this." Vegeta spat and killed Zarbon, Dodoria, and Captain Ginyu with one blast each.
"Yeah! Um... a little help here, guys?" Krillin flew away from Turles who was on his tail. Gohan blasted Turles and he died. "Whew! Thanks!" He kicked Nappa then continued fighting.
"Krillin! Great job!" Goku gave him a thumbs up. "And Vegeta, you never change, do you?" He turned back to Pan and tousled her hair. "Gotta run Pan. But make us proud. Bye guys!" Goku gave one last wave before flying off. The whole gang waved back.
"Oh that reminds me!" Gohan fished around in his orange gi and pulled out a Senzu bean. He gave it to Pan. "We need everyone in this. Get it to Trunks." He flew off to help Krillin.
"Right. Guys! We've come this far. We won't give up. We're gonna fight to our very best, and were gonna win!" Pan made Trunks eat the Senzu bean. "Marron, come with me." They moved away from the fight and Bra, Goten and Trunks started to fight.
Two minutes later, Pan came back and started fighting with them.
"Hey where's Marron?"
"She's busy. Don't worry. We can take on these guys, but when we fight Syn, we're gonna need her. Let's focus on getting rid of them first. Look. The hole closed up after Cell and Cooler came out of it. That only leaves about a million more, so let's go."
About two hours later, most of the bad guys were dead. Vegeta threw Cui onto the mountain of bodies that he made. "There. That's the last of it." He created a Big Bang blast and destroyed all of them, then wiped his hand. "And I didn't even break a sweat." He turned to Syn. "Now no one messes with my kids and gets away with it! HAHHH!" Vegeta went Super Saiyan and started to punch Syn.
Gohan joined him. Krillin said, "Well that's enough fighting for me! Marron, try to make it in time for dinner." He kissed his daughter and went home. "Good luck guys!"
"I got it!" Marron flew to her friends.
Goten looked at her. "Got what?"
Marron sat and opened her spell book. They all looked over her shoulder. "Triple Fusion Spell. Pan thinks that's gonna give us an advantage in the battle."
Pan nodded. "I don't think Pran's gonna be enough to take him on. 13 almost overpowered us. But with the three… it's gonna be epic. I feel for sure we can win with it!" She focused on Marron. "So what are we waiting for?"
"Well there's a slight problem." She watched them all. "The fusion time is indefinite."
They gasped. Goten scratched his head. "So ummm, what exactly does that mean?"
"It means that we don't know how long we may stay fused. Could be minutes, days, months..." She gulped. "Maybe even years."
Bra whimpered. "Could we stay like that forever?"
Marron shook her head. "The possibilities of that are so impossible, it's close to one in a million."
Trunks groaned. "That's still a big chance."
"It's a chance we'll have to take, Trunks." Pan sighed. "Are you sure there's no other spells we can use?"
Marron shook her head. "I turned the book inside out, used conjugation spells, everything! That's the only way."
"Fine. Bra, you ready?"
Bra let go of Goten's hand and nodded. "Yeah. Let's do it."
"Follow me." Marron flew up in the air and Pan and Bra did the same. "Now put your hands out in front of you like this. Good. Concentrate on bringing your energy to your hands like a ki blast, but don't release it. Send your energy out like waves. That's it... Good." A small white ball formed. "Okay guys. I'll finish up here." Marron looked at them. "You better go and say what could be your final goodbyes."
Pan and Bra nodded, then went to their fathers.
-Pan-
"Hey dad."
"Pan!" Gohan struggled to get up. "Wow. That guy sure can pack a punch."
"Listen Dad. We have a plan that we hope could work, but..." she told him about the sacrifice.
Gohan let go a low whistle. "Are you sure about this?"
"We don't really have a choice, to be honest. We already started." She pointed to where Marron was busy forming their fusion technique.
"Wow. Well Pan, seeing it's come to this, I just want you to know your mother and I always loved you." He hugged her. "Good luck out there. Make us proud."
Pan nodded then went over to Trunks.
"Pan!" Trunks hugged Pan tightly.
"Oh Trunks. You know I wish we didn't have to do this."
"I know. But others before us. Listen Pan. I've made a lot of mistakes. Like Marron…"
"Shhh. Why should we spend our last moments talking about mistakes we've made? Look at Goten and Bra." They were kissing.
"Pan, you know I love you, right?" There were tears in Trunks' eyes.
"I love you too." And they kissed.
-Bra-
"Daddy!" Bra watched as Vegeta got blown away by Syn. As he struggled to get up, she ran to him.
"I am...the prince...of all Saiyans. I...refuse to be beaten!"
"Dad listen. We have a plan! We can beat him!"
"What? How?" After Bra told him, he spat out. "No daughter of mine will fuse with the spawn of low class warriors!"
"Dad, it's the only way. And I'm gonna do it whether or not you want me to."
Vegeta grumbled. "I swear you get that from your mother. Come here." He hugged Bra with his good arm since Syn broke his left. "And just so you know, I no longer care that you and Gotham are together."
Bra laughed. "It's Goten, Daddy. Well, I better go tell him bye." She kissed Vegeta on the cheek then went over to Goten.
"Goten."
"Bra. Listen. I know what's at risk here, and despite the fact that I'm gonna miss you, I'm behind you 100% of the way."
"Oh Goten."
"I haven't finished yet. And even though we were gonna get married after school, I'm willing to wait until you're back to yourself and I don't care if I have to wait till I'm 100!"
Bra put her head down then looked up. They were both crying. "Goten, no matter what happens, I want you to know I love you." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Always have, always will." Then she kissed him until Marron called.
"Guys! We're ready to go!"
Bra kissed Goten one last time before stepping back and wiping her tears. Then she moved over to Pan. "Ready?"
Pan squeezed her hand. "Ready as I'll ever be."
Then they rose slowly up to where Marron had their fusion technique prepared.
"Okay guys. This is it."
Pan nodded. "No turning back now."
Bra smiled. "The friends who stay together, do fusion together."
They laughed and made a group hug. Marron smiled with tears in her eyes. "Youu guys are the best friends a girl could ask for."
Pan sniffed. "Yeah." She straightened up. "Okay. No more jokes. Let's do this." She put her hand out, palm down.
Marron and Bra put their hands on her own. "Right. It's fusion time."
"Marron, give us the spell."
"Okay. Listen to me then we'll say it together."
-To be continued-
Sorry for the crappy ending, but I didn't really know where to stop. Next chapter up soon! R&R Please!