Chapter 36- Cell's Back

Suddenly a beam shot right out of the cloud going straight through... Pan. The force of the shot sent her flying back on the ground, unmoving.

"P-Panna?" Trunks whispered hoarsely. He felt like vomiting, his mind throbbing as he ran over towards her, numbly. "Panna?" He asked again, falling to the ground beside her. He wiped some of her hair out of her face, looking at her carefully. He was shaking with boiling rage as he blue eyes looked over her small frame. She was barely breathing, and blood trickled out of her mouth. A huge gaping hole was on the right side of her chest, just above her breasts. Blood was oozing from it, making him almost gag. The thought that she could be seriously hurt made him want to blow something up.

Cell laughed, as he stood in front of the Z-Fighters in his final form. "My aim is as good as ever! Man it's good to be back! What's wrong, surprised to see me?"

"You monster!" Gohan bellowed as he shook with anger. "You shot my sister!"

'Panna?' Trunks asked through their bond, praying that she would answer to that.

'Trunks...?' Pan responded softly before pain spread across her face and she coughed up some blood. 'It hurts,' it was just a whisper, even in her mind.

Gently, he picked up her head, holding it to his beating chest. 'Hang in there, Panna... I'm going to make him pay, just hang in there. You can't leave me... Promise me, Panna, just like I promised you! You can't leave me!' Tears were burning his eyes. He couldn't lose her, she was all he had!

'I promise,' Pan said weakly. 'I'm not going anywhere... Go Trunks... Go help Gohan, kill Cell.'

Trunks nodded, placing her head back in the ground before standing up and looking at the monster. "CELL!" He roared, shaking the ground as he cut the monster off from his reply of how he came back.

"Did I strike a nerve?" Cell smirked at Trunks' dangerous aura.

"Damn right you did, you son of a bitch," Trunks snarled. His hair twitching gold. "You are going to pay for even touching her!" He yelled, screaming as loud as he could and powering up into a Super Saiyan.

Yamacha ran over to Pan, checking her pulse. "She's in really bad shape." He told the others, unaware that Trunks could hear him. "I don't know if she'll make it..."

Trunks aura shot up, growing darker and more deadlier. The Saiyan screamed again, making the ground shake as lightening flashed around him as he ran towards Cell to attack him. He wasn't even thinking about what would happen, all he was thinking was about Pan and that she was hurting because of Cell. He sent his strongest blast at Cell, but he knew the monster was still alive. Repeatedly, over and over again he sent blast after blast towards Cell. Smoke was everywhere, and. it was hard for people to breath or couldn't see.

"Trunks, stop!" Krillin tried.

"Don't tell him to stop!" Vegeta barked at him. "His mate is almost dead! He has every right to be angry! Brat," he said looking at Gohan. "Go help him! It's going to take two Super Saiyan 2s if we want to beat Cell!"

"Trunks is a Super Saiyan 2...? " Krillin asked shocked.

"Not yet," Vegeta gruntted as Gohan ran out there as it was his turn to fight Cell again. Trunks was still shaking from the anger that was inside of him.

Vegeta stalked over to Pan and gave Yamacha a glare. The man took a step back as Vegeta picked Pan up in his arms smoothly. "Boy!" He called to Trunks, who had a look on his face that was all to familiar with Vegeta. It was the same look he had when he was determined to do something...

"I have her," he assured his son. "I'm not going to let anything happen to her. So do what you have to do! Go all the way- do it for Pan! Kill Cell!"

Trunks let the power overtake him as he threw his head back and screamed so loud that it might have broke the sound barrier.

Vegeta jumped up on a mountain before looking down at Pan, who still in his arms. "Hang in there," he told her softly. "You can't leave him..."

"Kame-Hame HA!" Cell said, sending it straight towards Gohan.

"Kame-Hame HA!" Gohan said right back sending one at Cell's.

Both of theirs met halfway, equal in strength. They were both struggling for control.

XxXxX

Meanwhile, Pan was having an out of this world experience...

Slowly, she opened her eyes to find herself surronded by white and on a very long strech of road. She turned her head to see a very fimallar face.

"Papa!" She stood up, hugging him tightly. He laughed, hugging back tightly.

"What happened?" Pan asked. "Where did you go with Cell? Where are we? Are we dead?"

Goku laughed lightly at all of her questions. "I took Cell to King Kai's Place- he's an old friend of mine. Needless to say, Cell blew up, killing me but a few of his cells survived so that's how he's back. We are on snake way; it's a place where people go when they're dead. People who are good can prove themselves worthy can travel on this road and go train with a Kai, or they can go to paradise. But it's also an in between place, you could say for the people somewhere between living and dead. Panny, I'm dead, but you're not."

Pan sighed, "So I'm still alive down there?" She looked down.

"Yes, but you have a choice. You can stay up here if you want..." Goku trailed.

Pan met his eyes, they were so much like hers. "I can't Papa, I have to go back."

Goku smiled brightly, "I knew you would say that. Them boys need you; Trunks needs you. I really am sorry from having to leave... I promise I'll work extra hard in training for the Other World tournament so you can be born in this timeline. I'm just sorry that I won't be able to watch you grow up."

Pan smiled sadly before hugging him again. "You never know what might happen, Papa. Who knows, maybe you will get to watch me grow, life's weird like that."

Goku pulled back from the hug and placed both hands on her shoulders. "Stay strong my Panny, I am so proud of you."

Pan smiled, "I will Papa. I am your daughter after all," she said before disappearing.

XxXxX

Pan took a deep breath in Vegeta's arms and he looked down at her again. She was fighting so hard, he could see it.

Trunks walked over to Cell, getting ready to do a Big Bang Attack on the monster's other side. After years of practicing when he was younger, and the year he spent with his father in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Trunks was sure he had mastered it.

"What?" Sputtered Cell. "You two can't work together! That's not fair!"

Trunks' lips formed a twisted smirk. "You're the one who said no rules," he told Cell. "Plus I've always had the tendency to never follow them."

Trunks took in a deep breath; he hated that monster more than he had ever hated anything else. Pan was still alive he could feel it, but each moment that went by was a risk that she wouldn't make it. He wouldn't let her- he woudn't lose Pan. He couldn't. If she died then so would he, it was as simple as that.

"Big Bang... Attack!" Trunks yelled, blasting it at Cell.

Cell was losing and he knew it. He had Gohan's Kamehameha with one hand and Trunks' Big Bang with the other.

"Now Gohan," Trunks told him.

Gohan nodded and together both boys pushed their power as far as they could, letting it surrounded Cell. They watched, and Trunks enjoyed watching it, seeing Cell suffer and finally die once and for all.

It was silent as Trunks and Gohan stood across from each other. Gohan powered out of Super Saiyan as he fell backwards, laughing softly. Tein, Yamacha, and Krillin who was carrying Eighteen all jumped down to see him.

Trunks powered down too. He was tired, but he could wait. He wasn't going to sleep one bit until he knew that Pan was okay. Before anyone could say something to him, he jumped up to where his father was. Pan was still in Vegeta's arms, her breathing was still shallow and you could tell she was having problems. Trunks looked at her, and Vegeta could see his worry... He knew his son was exhausted and probably shouldn't carry Pan... But he also knew that his son was as stubborn as him. So telling him 'no' was a no.

Gently, Vegeta placed Pan in Trunks arms and he watched at Trunks immediately brought Pan closer to him. His features relaxed but you could still see the worry.

"Take her to the lookout. That Namek up there should be able to heal her," Vegeta told him.

Trunks nodded his head at his father before jumping down to where the others were.

"Is she okay?" Gohan asked weakly.

"She's going to be," Trunks told him, refusing to believe anything else.

"Good..." Gohan sighed, closed his eyes.

"Come on little buddy, let's get you two to the lookout," Yamacha said, picking up Gohan before they all flew to the lookout.