Chapter 17 – "A beastly power emerges! A brave Pan stands her ground."
Blinding rage…
Dark storm clouds raged over the island, shooting erratic lightning bolts across the landscape, one of which struck the very stage that Pan and Choi were standing on. Shards of slabs broke apart from the impact and flew outward while the crowd was in a panic, frantically figuring out what is going on.
For Goku and the others, they were more aware of the situation that has arisen. Choi, hit hard in the face with a powerful right hook from Pan, suffered a shattered nose that soaked most of his face in his own blood, as one of his eyes popped a blood vessel in the process. The disturbing visual of a young boy injured to this extent showing signs of pure unbridled rage unnerved Broly and Cheelai as they were forced to watch their son scream a monstrous scream that they never heard him utter before.
Screaming to the heavens, Choi's power continued to grow. His muscles bulged outward a bit, having grown about a third in size. Pan felt trickles of sweat bead down on her face as she witnessed this unfold in front of her. Her smile had faded a while ago as she saw how angry Choi was getting, an anger that made her feel uncomfortable. She decided to take up a fighting stance and power up, preparing herself for what's to come.
Goku, on the other hand, wasn't sure this was a wise course of action as he could sense how much power was festering itself within Choi and compared it to Pan's.
He slowly shook his head. "This is a bad idea; she needs to get out of the ring immediately."
Gohan actually agreed and nodded. Videl was very much on board with this notion and called out to Pan.
"Pan! Get out of there!" she shouted as loud as she could. Pan glanced up at her mother, confused.
"But why? If I leave, I'll lose the match by ring out!" she yelled back and Goku wasn't having it.
"Pan! It's not safe anymore! Get out of there, now!" Goku yelled but Pan wore her most confident smirk she could muster.
"I'm not going to let this brat get out of control. I'm taking him down," she said and Goku's eyes widened.
"What?!"
Videl almost wanted to faint, her face growing pale and flushed. She held onto Gohan's arm tightly and Gohan took his glasses off, looking ready to jump in and put a stop to this. But he glanced up at Goku when he felt a hand hold him back.
"Father, we can't have Pan stay in there," he said and Goku didn't say anything, only stared onward at the stage.
As Bok watched his brother, thoughts danced in his head. Of all the times he and Choi have trained and fought together while on Bloss, there never was a moment where Choi lost complete control of his emotions. He stared at his parents.
"Mom, Dad, maybe Pan's parents are right and we should stop this fight," he said and Broly closed his eyes, fists clenched.
"Dad?"
"Broly? I-I don't like this. Our baby boy's hurt really badly and he's going to hurt himself even more if he keeps this up. I'm worried about what he's going to do in this state," Cheelai said and Broly shook his head, gritting his teeth. He felt angry about this but he learned to control this level of anger over the years. Seeing this emerge now in his own offspring left a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The last thing he was expecting was his anger passed down to his child and helplessly began thinking if this was going to be the case for all three of his children and this thought made him feel scared for their safety, especially Choi's.
Arugula's face became paler as she hugged Mr. Bronto tightly against her and she turned away from what was happening, burying her face in her mother's arm. Bulla was standing and stared down at Pan.
"Pan, this isn't the time to be brave, get out of there," she muttered to herself.
Choi's screaming relented a bit as he breathed heavily, puffs of his own breath steaming against the air as he assumed an unorthodox stance, leaning forward slightly. His pupils were yellowish-green from what Pan could see, but the way he was looking forward unnerved her. The malice he was giving off only gave her more reason to stay determined and tighten up her focus, getting herself ready for what was to come.
If this gets too dicey for me, then I'll forfeit. But I'm all that's keeping this brat from hurting everyone else. If I can just keep him focused on me, I can probably do something about this.
She swallowed, trying her best to slow down her heartbeat. She knew she was feeling fear at seeing this kid lose himself with a mangled face of her own making, but she was also feeling determined. She hoped this would give her enough adrenaline to handle this beastly power before her.
Choi breathed heavily again but gritted his teeth as he snarled at Pan and burst forth in such a way that Pan almost didn't see him move. Even in this chaotic state he still managed to unconsciously channel energy to produce speed bursts that were significantly higher than they were earlier and Pan blocked Choi's head from crashing into her face with both of her hands. Sparks of energy shot out from the impact as he was pushing her back yet it was all she could do to hold his bloodied face at bay. She didn't have enough time to react to an incoming uppercut that drove itself hard in her stomach and she gasped, eyes wide from the impact. Choi brought her down hard on the stage with another blow from above her and she bounced hard from the impact, crying out. Videl winced and covered her face as Gohan looked on while Goku stared back and forth between Choi and Pan.
Quite a few groups of people fled from the stadium in the initial panic, while those still brave enough to remain watched in horror. Choi narrowly missed stomping on Pan with his right foot as Pan disappeared in a burst of speed, reappearing in front of him. She threw a right hook that connected to Choi's face but it only nudged him back a moment. He growled as he began to push back against her fist and Pan looked back in surprise.
He began throwing hard rights and lefts that Pan couldn't avoid, blocking them as much as she could. But the power behind those punches was hurting her forearms as she was blocking them and she winced and grunted from each impact.
She tried countering when she could, but each impact barely dented Choi, lost in this state. She knew she had to start gaining some distance and resort to energy attacks, as hand-to-hand combat was taking its toll on her arms with all the blocking she had to do. She took to the air and fired off a barrage of energy blasts that hit Choi but did little damage to him. He walked towards her but tanking each energy blast meant that Pan had to up the ante and draw on more power to at least make an effective attack work.
Raising her energy output, she cupped her hands to her side to charge up a Kamehameha blast, ready to strike at Choi.
She let loose with the energy beam with a scream and Choi took to the air right before the beam could hit him. The beam went through the building behind the stage, creating a large hole in the process before it tapered off and disappeared.
"What?!" Pan cried out and saw that Choi was darting right for her. Again, her reaction time wasn't fast enough to elude what was coming and she ended up taking a knee to the face, rocking her flying back. She did manage to stop herself from crashing into one of the buildings but Choi was hot on her heels. Even in his state, he was still focused squarely on Pan, some measure of himself still not blinded by his fury.
He fired off several energy blasts at Pan, who flew out of the way to avoid them, but he was still on her, continuing his assault. Pan needed to fly as high as she could so Choi wouldn't direct any of those blasts at the crowd and felt she needed to divert his attention as best as she could. Using her split form ability, she split into two separate Pans, each flying in opposite directions to confuse Choi. She multiplied again, and again, until she reached her threshold of sixteen copies surrounding Choi.
"She's taken too much damage to even be effective with that technique," Goku stated, staring up at all of them. Gohan couldn't say anything and Videl was too panic-stricken at this point to utter a single word.
Choi darted his gaze around him and growled even more, his fists and arms shaking and channeled energy into a green aura that surrounded his body. Goku's eyes widened a bit as he recognized that kind of energy and Broly seemed to be familiar with it as well. He could remember bits of his original fight with Goku and Vegeta years ago and remembered being in a green aura, figuring that there was a striking similarity in Choi manifesting itself before him.
Choi screamed as he shot energy blasts outward in all directions, not caring what was being hit and Pan did what she could to deflect them away from the crowd. She wasn't expecting this kind of attack from him and needed to do something fast.
"Hey, follow me! Up here, brat!" one of them yelled down at him and they all took to the air, flying higher. Choi burst forth right at her and aimed for one of them, who took a hit squarely in the face. The copies began to flicker and fade, forcing Pan to re-merge herself together again. When she was back as one again, she flew up and both her and Choi flickered in and out, their bodies moving so fast that they looked like they were blinking rapidly. She tried her best to move as fast as she could to draw Choi away from the crowd and hopefully find a solution to bring him back to his senses and end this, but Choi's power and speed were overwhelming her, putting her in a bad spot.
She drew him back to the stage but she caught a hard left to the side of her face and another downward chop sent her flying down to crash into the tiles. Choi flew down to follow up with another punch and Pan managed to narrowly avoid getting hit again as Choi's punch hit nothing but slabs of concrete, smashing through them causing a crater to form as deep cracks appeared around the impact site. Choi screamed again as he roared outward with his fists clenched and Pan backed away a few steps to charge another Kamehameha from her hands.
"Whatever it takes, no matter what, I will stop you and get you back to your senses," Pan muttered as the bluish-white energy grew within her cupped hands. She put forth even more power into this than before, needing to tap deeper into her well of energy that the Supreme Kai graciously unlocked for her. She didn't realize she needed to go this high, not for a tournament match. She knew this level of energy was meant for more dangerous fights in the near future if it ever came to that, but she felt as though this was becoming a life or death situation and that Choi was in a such an enraged state that one mistake could cost her her life.
Choi screamed outward again and from his mouth he fired a huge green energy blast at Pan, who retaliated with the blue-white energy beam that connected against it. It was causing the earth to shake around them and forcing more people in the crowd to flee, deciding it wasn't worth it to stay for this. Not even the announcer knew what was going to transpire from this and was at a loss for words, electing to hide near a chunk of the stage that had been broken off earlier.
Pan grunted as she held onto the beam but felt Choi's energy blast was pushing back against hers and it was gaining the advantage. Dammit, I need to put in more power.
She realized that she was reaching levels that were taking her closer and closer to her limit and began to wonder if this was worth putting so many lives like this at risk to stop Choi from rampaging. But she decided against her better judgement and would continue onward. Not yet, I will not give up yet. I HAVE to stop him!
She screamed as she put forth more power into the Kamehameha and it started pushing Choi's energy back towards him and he retaliated back with another burst of energy that pushed it right back at Pan and she felt herself pushed back from the force, dragging her feet along the concrete.
"Dammit," she muttered under her breath. Choi pushed through with another burst of energy and the two erupted, exploding. The blast took out most of the fighting stage from within, leaving most of the outer rim intact that could still separate the outside part from inside. Pan covered her face from the blast as Choi stood watching, breathing heavily again. He faltered a bit but still stood, which Goku took notice of.
"He's overexerting himself. It won't be long until he passes out from exhaustion and blood loss," Goku said.
When the dust settled, there were still a few patches of tiles that remained, but there was a great deal of the stage gone from the explosion and pan had to gauge where everything was so she wouldn't accidentally fall off. Choi flew right at her like a bullet and caught her with a nasty headbutt against her forehead, causing her to stagger back, screaming in pain. Gohan reacted by almost taking off to rescue Pan, but Goku grabbed his arm.
"Gohan!"
Gohan glanced back at his father. Part of him, the father in him, was giving Goku a pleading look, asking him why he's not letting him get his daughter out of there. But there was also the fighter in him that acknowledged the hidden code of honour behind these fights that compelled them to just sit back and watch until an absolute outcome was decided in the end. As much as he hated watching this unfold, he didn't realize this was eating away at Goku even more. Goku knew the best solution was to get Pan out of there and deal with Choi himself, but he couldn't bear with the thought that this would disrespect Pan. She still had a look of determination that Goku couldn't ignore.
Pan blocked a fist from Choi but it cut through her defense and hit her in the face, though not as impactful as the headbutt was. She was moving as fast as she could but it was clear that the hits she was taking were cutting deep into her power and it was starting to fade fast. She moved to counter but each hit that connected with Choi only seemed to anger him even more and he hit her with a body blow so fierce that it lifted her off her feet. She recovered quickly enough to grab his knee that he was lifting up to kick her again and connected with a roundhouse kick to his face, causing blood to splatter outward. He staggered a couple steps backward but glanced back with more growling and that one bloodshot eye that unnerved her.
She moved forward with another barrage of punches but Choi was moving around, dodging them now. Her movements were slowing down as she kept going, the damage accumulated from Choi's blows slowing her down. It was then that Choi's next move would turn the tide of this fight completely.
Pan reached forward with a left hook and Choi dodged it by flipping over her. When he landed, he immediately turned around and flew back at blinding speeds towards her as she was still moving forward. Readying a kick, he spun around and kicked her so hard in her right arm that Pan felt the bone in her upper arm snap completely and her eyes widened in shock and panic, her mouth hanging open and agape. This stunned the crowd into silence as Goku and Gohan looked on in shock, and Videl about to scream in sheer panic. Bulla covered her mouth with her hands as her eyes widened, while Cheelai covered Arugula's face, bringing her in close to her. Piccolo couldn't believe his eyes either as he watched Choi's kick break Pan's arm. Bok, Broly, and Lemo were too shocked to even process a reaction to this and could only watch on in horror.
Pan staggered forward a few steps and grabbed her right arm instinctively. She never felt a pain like this before in her life and didn't know how to process this. She wanted to scream but it wasn't coming out of her mouth. Her eyes were wide open and she looked back and forth. In her panic, she tried to sense Choi behind her but the excruciating pain in her arm was muddling her focus. There was a scream, that of her mother, and she heard it loud and clear. Her breathing was shaky as well as her body and she was in a state of fight or flight at this point. This whole moment felt like it moved in slow-motion for her as her mind was racing.
I can hear mama's screams. I…I can't feel my arm anymore. I can't focus on Choi anymore. I can't think straight. I…I…I…
But as she began to process her thoughts more clearly, she was struck again in the back by Choi's right fist that sent her flying forward. In her panic, she could see her right arm hang awkwardly by her side, not a single ounce of power able to bring it back up. She could see the outside of the stage coming closer to her and she began to feel the resolve to meet it head on. She began to feel that this was a lost cause and decided to take the loss and land outside of the stage. Hopefully then someone can come knock some sense back into him before he tears this whole island apart, or worse.
But as she was ready to land outside, a hand grabbed her ankle and she gasped in shock. Choi wasn't ready to throw her out just yet. She glanced back quickly in her state of panic but only saw his face breathing heavily. He pulled her back in and slammed her hard face-first onto the stage, and she cried out in agony from the impact.
Videl's tears were now flowing down her face. "Make it stop."
Her voice seemed to fall on deaf ears as all eyes were glued onto the scene below. Choi planted his foot down on Pan's face, pressing down against the side and she cried out in pain and panic as he was pushing her into the stage with his foot.
Videl covered her mouth, stifling her sobs as the sight before her triggered something from her memory. This was becoming all too familiar to her now as she remembered a painful part of her past.
Her mind flashed back years ago when she fought a crazed lunatic called Spopovich. She thought for sure that she had the match won but this brute was possessed of an otherworldly strength that gave him crazy resilience and inhuman levels of strength and endurance she could not comprehend. It wasn't long until she started suffering damage from his blows and though she was determined to win, she was suffering considerable damage to the point she was fearing for her life as he punished her mercilessly.
Seeing her daughter gradually suffer the same fate, she clutched Gohan's sleeve even harder and pulled him towards her, looking up at him.
"PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP!" She screamed at him and Gohan gritted his teeth, closing his eyes. He too began to remember some of the similar instances from his point of view about Videl's brutal defeat at the hands of Spopovich and he felt his anger rise up within him.
Pan reached up with her good arm and grabbed Choi's ankle to try and lift it off of her head, gritting her teeth. She could hear her mother's cries and felt determination come back to her. No, I can't let him beat me, I can't bear to see mama like this!
She fired off an energy blast up at Choi, which forced him to step back instinctively and she used this to get back up but it was all she could to just get on her knees and her left arm, the right arm dangling like a wet noodle. She grabbed her right arm as she stood up and stared back at Choi, who breathed heavily again and his blank glares of malice didn't seem to phase her anymore. She felt compelled to wear a brave grin through her scratched up and bloodied face, scraped from Choi's blows, with a nasty gash dripping blood from her forehead, not quite getting into her eyes but a couple drops coming close.
She glanced back at her parents and could see how hurt they looked from this, hoping that the look she could give them would put them at ease but it looked much worse from their viewpoint.
"Pan! Get out of there, you've done enough!" Gohan screamed at her. Pan's never seen her father this angry before and she decided to maintain her determined expression.
"Pan! Please, give up and leave!" Bulla shouted, on board with Gohan's pleas. Pan glanced at Choi, her smile not fading in the slightest.
"I know I can't win this, but rest assured I'll knock your sorry butt back to your senses before this fight's over," she said and brought two fingers up to her face. Piccolo gasped in shock at what she was attempting.
"She wouldn't!" he cried.
Even Goku caught on and reacted the same way.
"Pan! You can't use that technique! You'll kill him if you do!" Goku yelled at her but she wasn't staring at him. This caused an audible gasp from Cheelai, who stared at Pan and it dawned on her what she was doing.
"Wait, isn't that the same technique she was using against Bulla?" she said and Bulla now reacted in surprise.
The tips of Pan's fingers were building up energy and she stared at Choi, who looked like he was almost spent. His heavy breathing was becoming more pronounced but he was still giving off a lot of power from his stance and she felt that this was her one last chance to knock him down.
She wasn't sure how much damage this was going to do or where this was going to hit him, but she was putting all her stock on one last ditch effort with a Special Beam Cannon. She had built up enough power to fire it at this point, and all she could do now was wait for an opening. She felt that if she fired it now where she was, he might dodge it and that would ruin her one chance, so she had to buy as much time to find the right moment while she was still conscious enough. The pain from the broken arm and the extensive damage she's taken so far were wearing her down so much that she felt her mind grow hazy with each passing moment.
She needed to get the momentum going otherwise she was going to pass out and the energy she gathered would fade away, killing her one shot. She took off on a sprint along the uneven terrain of the stage, running around Choi to get his attention and he reacted with a growl and a cry of rage as he darted forth at her with a burst of speed. He appeared in front of her after a quick burst and he grabbed her by the hair and hit her in the face again with a headbutt, making her stagger back. She almost lost the energy she had gathered from his impact, disorienting her, but she kept her determination up. But her eyes widened at the sight of an energy blast coming right at her from Choi's outstretched hand and it sent her flying back.
This was the moment she needed and thrust her left arm forward, firing the Special Beam Cannon at Choi as he let loose his energy blast and it shot right towards him. He didn't expect what was coming his way and as Pan was flying backwards, her trajectory was moving her to the outside of the stage, while her attack was on a collision course with Choi's face.
It hit him with a sickening thud, rocking his head back. Blood sprayed like a heavy mist from his face after the energy collided and he fell down on his back, while Pan landed outside on the ground below, passed out before she even hit the ground. Both of them were out, and it was only a matter of time and quick sensing of energy to determine what sort of state the two of them were in.
The announcer had enough of his bearings together to rush to the stage and check up on Choi, wincing at the sight of his mangled face, unrecognizable when you looked at it more closely and he checked for a pulse. It was faint but it was there and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ladies and gentlemen, contestant Choi is down. But I can feel a pulse so he is still alive. Contestant Pan…has landed outside of the stage. The winner of this match is Contestant Choi."
There was no bravado, no cheers or reactions coming from anyone, just dead air. The medical staff quickly came in with stretchers as Choi's muscles went back down to their normal size. Both Pan and Choi were loaded onto their respective stretchers and carried off towards the island's hospital to be treated, while Gohan was holding Videl tightly against him, consoling her. Goku put a hand on his son's shoulder and glanced back at Piccolo, who had a grim expression on his face.
"You should go immediately to check up on Pan," he told the two and Gohan nodded, nudging Videl to head out quickly. He walked over to Cheelai and Broly with a solemn expression on his face, staring up at the larger Saiyan.
"Did you know?" Goku asked him. Broly stared down, then looked away.
"No, I didn't."
Goku sighed, then glanced down at Arugula and something dawned on him as he looked at her more closely. He knelt down on one knee and Arugula turned around to look at her mother, then at Goku.
"You said Pan was in danger before the match started," he told her. Arugula nodded but didn't say anything at first. She held up Mr. Bronto to her face and looked at him with a sad expression.
"Mr. Bronto was right about big brother. Pan-Pan looked the same as the Pan-Pan I saw in my dream too."
Goku's eyes widened a bit.
"What do you mean?"
"I had a dream where I saw Pan-Pan but her arm looked really weird. But why was her arm looking that that in real life? I asked Mr. Bronto but he didn't know."
"We'll talk about this later. I really need to see Choi," Cheelai said but Arugula shook her head.
"Arugula, come on, we all need to go."
"No!" Arugula cried out and that caught Cheelai by surprise.
"No?"
"I don't want to see big brother! His face is too scary!" Arugula cried out and hugged Mr. Bronto against her face. Bok walked over to them.
"Bulla? Can you watch over Arugula for us, then? We'll go see my brother in her stead," Bok said and Bulla nodded. Her face was still a bit pale from the outcome of the match and looked around nervously as the tension of the crowd leaving felt heavy in the air. She reached over to take Arugula's hand and squeezed it.
"Come on, let's go see Pan-Pan, okay? I think she'd want to see you," Bulla said and Arugula nodded behind Mr. Bronto. She glanced up at Goku.
"I'm kind of glad Uub wasn't there to witness this. I can't imagine what he would've done if he had seen this all unfold."
"Yeah. The question now is whether Choi is fit to compete in the final match or not," Goku said and glanced back at Broly and Cheelai as they began to walk out of the stands with Bok and Lemo. Lemo stopped for a moment and turned to face Goku and the others.
"I've watched those kids fight and train since they were wee ones and despite what any of you might think, I ask that you don't put any blame on Choi for this," Lemo said and ran back to Broly. Goku instinctively felt in his gi for the bag with the senzu beans in it and felt a tinge of panic when he couldn't feel it.
"Something the matter?" Bulla asked.
"I can't remember where I placed the senzu beans I brought with us," Goku said. If he remembered correctly, there would only be two left in the bag, and both would be needed to heal Choi and Pan.
"I think Uub had them last I checked. When Pan gave one to Uub, she handed off the bag to him. But he might still be asleep though."
"Then I'll have to ask Buu instead to heal them so we don't have to use the beans and save them for another time," Goku said and took to the air to go look for Buu, who might've returned to spend time with Hercule. He felt that Uub needed the sleep after the stress he's been through and wanted him to be well-rested by the time the final match took place. He glanced down at the state of the stage though and wondered if there might be a delay in the finals to give the grounds crew enough time to repair the stage and make it good as new again. He also locked eyes with Kelerot for a moment but ignored him for now so he could focus on finding Hercule and Buu.
Kelerot stood calmly with his hands behind his back, looking closely at the damaged stage. He sighed, thinking about the match as a whole and sighed again out of disappointment towards Choi, thinking about the state he was in and the blind rage he had found himself under. The air was tinged with bloodlust coming from Choi as he watched him fight and he felt something he hadn't anticipated before. He felt intrigued by Choi's level of power yet he also felt a degree of discomfort in how out of control his anger was. It reminded him of his youth and how much of his own anger got the better of him. Flashes of his own memories about losing his parents suddenly hit him, then one of when he was arrested by the Pride Troopers and he winced, putting a hand to his head. He gripped the handrail as he felt a surge of anger almost overwhelm him and he had to focus his mind to get a hold of himself. He didn't realize he had crushed the pipe in his hand until he let go of his grip and he looked down at his hand. He glanced over and noticed that Piccolo had his eye on him, watching the sudden burst of emotion he felt and looked away. He took to the air and left to get out of his sight.
Piccolo stared suspiciously at Kelerot as he watched the sudden spike of energy flare up within the Saiyan. He wasn't sure what brought this on but seeing a momentary lapse of concentration from nothing piqued at his curiosity. He watched as everyone else was leaving, seeing Broly's group make their way to see Choi while Gohan and Videl, followed by Arugula and Bulla, were on their way to visit Pan and wanted to wait outside of the hospital where they were taking them.
Meanwhile…
Tundra and Glacial's search for the Dragonballs brought them to a small village some distance from where their craft landed and noticed a group of monks training and moving simultaneously together in a temple from their vantage point in the air. They observed their movements until they noticed another figure emerge from an archway that served as an entryway to the building behind him. His garb was different with dark colors embroidered with a symbol on the front and he slowly paced back and forth in front of the group as he watched their movements. He had a companion, a smaller being with a snow white face, dressed in similar clothing and he glanced over to spot the two androids staring at the group and he had a slight hint of panic in his expression and turned away immediately after he realized he was being watched.
"He caught us watching them," Glacial said with a smirk on her face.
"Do you think they have one of the Dragonballs?" Tundra asked and Glacial crossed her arms daintily and nodded.
"Possibly. We could ask them of course. Whether they'll cooperate with our request is irrelevant," she said and raised her hand to charge an energy attack aimed at the landscape, which on a more expanded view was a temple with a set of training grounds that had a group of at least a few dozen monks training vigorously together, some sparring, some training with weights, and some deep in meditation. Tundra raised his hand.
"Let us inquire first. If they prove to be stubborn then we'll destroy them," he said and the two nodded, landing on the ground. They walked towards a set of doors.
Cooler programmed them with a basic set of etiquette and manners, which was easily illustrated when Tundra knocked on the door a couple of times, waiting for someone to answer. A few moments passed by and a slot opened up.
"Can we help you?" said a voice from behind the door.
"We are in search of items called Dragonballs, do you happen to have one in your possession or have any knowledge of where they might be located?" Tundra asked. He wore his most polite gaze which still held a degree of sinister motive behind it while Glacial smirked, finding this amusing.
"You won't find any Dragonballs here. If you're not here to learn martial arts at this temple, we must ask you to leave," the voice said and closed the slot. Tundra and Glacial glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Tundra lifted his hand and charged an energy blast that blew the door away and whoever was unfortunate to still be standing behind it. The doors flew off their hinges, flying back and hitting a couple monks in the process, knocking them down with a cry of pain.
"Who are you?!" said one of them and was met with a small beam that pierced him through the chest from Glacial's index finger as she smiled at him. The two androids casually walked along the hallways, and each monk that tried to attack them were hit once in the face, either knocking them out or knocking them dead from the impact of the blow.
The two ignored the monks for now, only countering any incoming melee attacks and small energy blasts with finger beams that quickly disposed of them. They investigated each room along the hallway and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. The design specifications of the Dragonballs that were programmed into their memory banks would allow them to recognize one of them when they came across them but each room came up empty.
The monks retreated to notify the groups that were still training and they gathered together to wait for the intruders to emerge on their training grounds. They communicated with group leaders to pass the message along to the head instructor, the one the androids noticed was dressed in different robes. They didn't get a good look at the head instructor, but when the group leader of the sparring group ran up to him, the instructor looked a bit worried.
"Master Tenshinhan! Intruders have stormed the temple! They're searching for the Dragonball!" he cried and Tenshinhan (or Tien for short) turned to his companion.
"Chaozu, secure the Dragonball and get it away from here as far as you can. We'll deal with the intruders," Tien informed him and Chaozu was a bit reluctant to leave his friend behind.
"I saw them, Tien," he said and Tien looked at him curiously.
"Do they look strong?"
"Th-they looked like Freeza," he said and Tien gasped, wide-eyed.
"Freeza?!" Tien cried out and swallowed. Of all the people he wished didn't come back to earth, Freeza was definitely on the top of his list. He knew his power couldn't compete with the likes of Goku's fiercest opponent and he quickly turned to his students.
"Go and seek shelter, now!" he commanded and the monks quickly left to head into the main building.
"Chaozu, hurry and get the Dragonball out of here!"
"But what about you?"
"GO!" He yelled and Chaozu immediately flew into the building to a room in the far back. The Dragonball rested comfortably on an embroidered silk red pillow with golden tassels on each corner and he cradled the Dragonball in his hands before retreating with the monks to an underground chamber via a trap door located on the floor in Tien's private chamber. This led to a hidden tunnel in the catacombs that would eventually take them to the outskirts of a village that was overlooked by a waterfall, the entrance hidden behind the cascading water.
Chaozu, once you're in the clear, go and find Bulma and tell her to get the rest of the Dragonballs. I'll keep them occupied as long as possible. Tien's voice echoed in his head through their telepathic link and Chaozu's face grew even paler as he was dreading what might happen to Tien.
When the androids appeared on Tien's training grounds, he stood ready for them and they tossed a couple of dead bodies in front of them.
"Is this a school for fighters?" said one of them and Tien glared at the two.
"Who are you? Why do you look like Freeza?" Tien asked and the female smirked. They had the same physique as Freeza yet something about their eyes were vastly different. They had no irises or pupils from what he noticed but a glossy metallic hue to them, something he hadn't seen before. But their air of hostility was all too familiar with him and he powered up, a white aura surrounding him. There were other monks who chose to remain, some of Tien's top students and they too were able to power up and shine a brilliant white aura, though not as pronounced as Tien's was. The two androids looked equally bored and bemused by this.
"Oh? You know Uncle Freeza?" said the male and Tien's eyes widened a bit. Uncle Freeza?
"Tell me! Who are you!" Tien yelled again and the monks moved to surround the intruders. The male's eyes flickered a few set of red lights and Tien's focus was more determined. He tried to sense their energy but none was being put out and his eyes narrowed.
"You're…androids…" he muttered and the male smiled.
"Very observant! I'll reward your curiosity with our introductions. I'm Tundra and this is my sister, Glacial. Now, do you have a Dragonball in your possession and will you be so kind as to hand it over?"
"This is a temple to teach the martial arts! We have no use for things like Dragonballs," Tien told them, putting on his bravest face. Tundra raised his hand, channeling energy at the tip of his finger at Tien.
"My data indicates that you are Tenshinhan, an associate of the one called Son Goku," Tundra said and Tien gritted his teeth.
"Are you strong, Tenshinhan?" Glacial asked, stepping forward.
"Master Tien is one of the strongest fighters on the planet and a revered instructor in both the Crane and Turtle hermit schools!" said one of the top students and Tundra aimed his finger, blasting a hole in the monk's head, knocking him down. He glanced down, annoyed and turned his attention back to Tien.
"Don't ever interrupt my sister like that," he said and lifted his hand up again at Tien.
"Will you answer her question or mine? Your choice," Tundra said.
"I'll answer no question!" Tien yelled and fired a quick Dodonpa ray at Tundra who deflected it with the back of his hand and noticed that Tien disappeared from his sight. The other monks did the same and they converged on Tundra while Tien engaged Glacial. The monks couldn't land a single blow on Tundra as he dodged and weaved around each of their attempted punches and they jumped back to charge up an energy blast which Tundra allowed to hit him, but they left not a single scratch on him when the dust cleared and he smirked at the surprised looks on the monks's faces.
Glacial giggled as she blocked Tien's punches and kicks and caught his fist with her hand, pulling him in to knee him in the gut. He gasped and was then knocked into one of the buildings with a double axe-handle. She followed with several one-handed energy blasts that levelled the terrain, destroying the building as Tundra absorbed each of the blows from the monks but none of their punches even made him budge. He crossed his arms and bided his time while his attackers wasted their energy punching and kick him to little effect.
Watching from the shadows was a woman clothed in green robes and she observed the whole ordeal unfold with a shocked and scared look on her face. This was Yurin, one of Tien's other students who mastered different techniques that weren't typical of Tien's school but was respected enough by Tien that he allowed her to train under his watch.
Yurin readied a couple slips of her own personal enchanted papers in her hands, waiting for a moment to use them on these intruders. She could see that he was more distracted by observing the monks ceaseless gestures and decided this was a good opportunity to strike. She darted from the shadows straight at him, readying a slip of her enchanted papers.
"What?" Tundra said, unsure what this new figure was up to as she emerged from his right. But before he decided to react, she attached the slip of paper to his face.
"Gotcha!" she cried and moved her hands to channel energy into the slip and Tundra froze in place for a moment, staring at her from behind the slip of paper. She moved her hands in a puppet-like fashion but looked on in shock as nothing was happening.
"It's not working?!" she yelled and Tundra casually took the slip of paper off his face, staring at her blankly.
"What was that just now?" he asked, crumbling the slip in his hand and tossing it behind him.
"You were supposed to be under my control!" Yurin cried out and at the same time, Tien burst out from the rubble and stood up on his feet. He spotted Yurin and he gritted his teeth, waving at her to move.
"Yurin! Get out of here, now!" he cried.
"Master! My enchantment didn't work on this guy!" Yurin yelled in response.
"That's because they're androids!" Tien shouted and Yurin gasped in shock, stepping back. She tripped on a small crack and fell backwards, scurrying back on her hands and feet. She grabbed a clump of dirt and threw it at Tundra, which hit him in the face and he sighed, rolling his eyes. He aimed a finger at Yurin, ready to fire an energy beam and Tien moved to intercept, hitting Tundra from behind with an energy blast to make him miss his mark and it pierced Yurin in the shoulder instead of her heart. She cried out in pain, holding her shoulder while Tundra turned and glared at Tien as Glacial landed beside him.
"He's becoming quite troublesome, wouldn't you agree?" Glacial asked and Tundra nodded.
"Indeed, sis. We saw that he had a companion with him, yet he went into hiding. We should smoke him out."
Tien looked back in horror as he realized they were going to obliterate the whole area and stared at his students and Yurin.
"GO! LEAVE NOW!" he screamed and one of the monks helped Yurin to her feet, swooping her up in his arms and taking to the air, followed by a couple of the remaining monks and Tundra glared up at them. He aimed a large energy blast at the group and fired it, forcing Tien to react quickly and fly up to intercept, knocking it out of the way to explode outside of the temple.
"Your fight is with me!" he shouted down at them and brought his hands up to his face. One of the monks glanced down and a look of dread came over his face.
"Master Tien's going to sacrifice himself to buy us enough time," he said and Yurin gasped. She glanced down with a solemn expression on her face, saddened at how chaotic things have become in such a short amount of time and felt powerless to help him any more than she could.
Tien concentrated a huge amount of energy inside him for his signature attack as the two androids looked up at him. The glanced at each other, nodded, and aimed finger lasers up at him. Two blasts were fired at the same time that hit Tien in the chest and he grunted, belting out a war cry as he powered up even more out of defiance towards these two and they reacted with surprise.
"That should've killed him, how is he this resilient?" Glacial asked, a little unnerved.
"It should be expected, we weren't putting our full power in those blasts. The fact he wasn't knocked down from that is remarkable but not surprising. But what is he trying to accomplish with that stance of his?"
Tundra's question was quickly answered as Tien's three eyes stared intensely at the two down below.
"SHIN-KIKOHO!" He screamed and a pillar of powerful energy rained down upon the two androids and they cried out in both shock and fear as they were slammed down into the ground, which exploded all around them, the huge blast levelling the entire area in one singular moment.
When the dust cleared, Tien was breathing heavily, focused more on the pain of their beam attacks than of the energy he expended just now. His breathing slowed for a moment as he saw what looked like two pools of a metallic grey ooze splattered around the area. But this moment was short lived as he gasped, seeing the ooze converge together into two separate puddles that began to reform themselves into the two androids.
"Wh-what are they made out of? What has that bastard Freeza been up to?" he managed to say before he almost lost consciousness. He couldn't hold himself up in the air anymore as the pain was too great to handle and expending that energy meant he could no longer maintain his flight and he fell down to the ground.
Tundra and Glacial walked over to him and he slowly glanced up at them.
"I hope…I bought Chaozu…enough time…" he said. "Go ahead…do your worst…"
Glacial grinned as she raised her hand to charge up an energy attack but Tundra put his hand on top of hers.
"Wait a moment."
"Why? Let's just kill him and be on our way to find the other one. If they did have a Dragonball, that pipsqueak likely stowed it away somewhere," Glacial said and glanced up at the sky.
"Meanwhile, those others gave us the slip."
"Let them. Besides, I've thought of a better use for this one besides being a corpse," Tundra said, smiling down at Tien. Glacial glanced at him, then caught on to what he was alluding to and smiled greatly.
"Ah, yes, we have that method, don't we?" she said and giggled a bit, daintily putting a hand to her face.
Rest and recovery…
Goku met up with Hercule, who led him to his chamber and pointed him to Buu, who was no longer his slim self and had reverted to his large rotund figure, sighing.
"Sorry Goku, Buu's gone into hibernation mode again. 'Fraid he won't be of help to you for a couple months," Hercule stated and Goku nodded, frowning.
"Guess it was worth a shot, though. I'll have to wait until Uub wakes up so we can get the Senzu beans to Pan and Choi," Goku said and Hercule gave him a worried look.
"Is Pan okay? Is my granddaughter going to be alright?" he asked, putting his hands together in a prayer.
"They both took a lot of damage but they'll pull through. Pan fought bravely in her match and I couldn't be prouder of her courage."
"Oh, thank goodness!" Hercule shouted and grabbed Goku's hands. "Thank you so much for training my little Pan! It means so much to me!"
Goku chuckled a bit and raised his hand. "Not to worry. One senzu bean will fix her right back up and good as new. I gotta go check up on her, though. See ya!"
Goku waved and put two fingers to his forehead, disappearing in front of Hercule. He reappeared next to Pan's bed, where she had been moved to since they put a temporary splint on her arm while they were busy treating Choi's injuries. Pan had regained consciousness a moment ago when Gohan and Videl arrived with Bulla and Arugula standing at the foot of the bed. When Pan glanced up at Goku, she smiled.
"Hey Grandpa," she said weakly.
"Pan, please don't talk, you need to save your strength," Videl told her and Pan glanced at her mother.
"It's okay, mama. I'm not as damaged as you'd think I am," she said but winced when she tried to move her broken arm and realized she really didn't have any strength to move a muscle whatsoever. All of her energy and adrenaline had been exhausted, leaving her practically a vegetable at this point on the bed. It was all she could do to move her head to look at her friends and family. Videl stood up and glared at both her daughter and at Goku.
"This training and fighting you do is too much, now! You could've died, you know?!" she shouted and Pan's eyes widened a bit.
"But mama, I wasn't going to die! I said I was going to handle it and I did, didn't I?" Pan pleaded and Videl clenched her fists.
"That's NOT the point! I can't sit by and watch you put your life on the line like this! Not for some petty tournament or to save the world or anything!"
"V-Videl, you're not thinking straight. Please, calm down," Gohan interjected but she glared at him and he averted his eyes reflexively.
"This stops now, understand? I don't want you training or fighting anymore! You're going to school and catch up on all your studies so you can finish and go to college to learn something more useful than throwing punches and kicks!"
Goku's eyes widened a bit. Golly, she sounds an awful lot like Chichi right now.
"Don't you think you're being unreasonable, Videl?" Goku said and Videl glared at him.
"Do you want me to bring your wife on board as well? She'll side with me and put you both in your place for good! I should've put a stop to this ages ago."
Goku and Gohan waved their hands in front of them at Videl.
"Videl, sweetie, please calm down. Once Pan's eaten a senzu bean, she'll be all better again," Gohan told her and Videl got in his face, staring up at him baring her teeth.
"Our daughter is not growing up to be a brawler! I want Pan to live a normal life for once without putting herself in all this nonsense!" she shouted at him and Gohan shielded his face as best he can.
"Mama," Pan said and Videl rushed to her side, holding her hands.
"Mama's here, Pan. I won't let you get yourself in any more danger," she told her, doting on her fully now.
"Mama, I want to keep fighting and get stronger. I need to be if I want to protect you and papa," she told her and Videl shook her head.
"No! No more of this, Pan! You're growing up to be a delinquent with this behavior and you're showing signs of it more and more now," Videl said and Gohan winced when he heard that word come out of his wife's mouth. She really has become his mother, forcing him to relive all those years of his strict upbringing, all those times Chichi forced him to study every subject she shoved in his face so he could become the scholar she always wanted him to become and earn an above average salary. Seeing this manifest itself in Videl, who wasn't even like this when he first met her was a bit scary to watch. He placed his hands on Videl's shoulders and she gave him a look.
"Videl, let's go for a walk, you're really stressed out right now. We should let Pan rest and recover before we decide what to do after the tournament's over," Gohan told her and she harrumphed, turning around. She pulled him behind her.
"Fine, you're taking me to get some tea," she said, dragging him out of the room. He waved at Goku and the others before the two were out of sight and both Bulla and Goku let out huge sighs. Arugula glanced up at her.
"Sissy? Pan-Pan's mama looked really angry," she said and Bulla leaned forward on the foot of the bed, glancing at Pan with a defeated expression.
"I don't think you need to be psychic to figure that out, kiddo," she said and walked over to Pan's side. She held out her hand and Pan slowly raised her left hand to grab it, smiling up at her friend.
"We'll just have to be sneakier with our training from now on, won't we?" Bulla said, smirking and Pan gave her a weak smile. The two giggled and Pan winced from laughing, but her face lit up all the same, making Goku feel a bit more at ease. Arugula walked up beside Bulla and held up Mr. Bronto.
"Mr. Bronto is happy you're going to be okay, Pan-Pan," she told her and Pan nodded slowly.
"Thanks. Are you going to go see your brother?" Pan asked and Arugula frowned, staring down at her feet.
"Mr. Bronto hates Choi, he says he's a bad person who hurts people," Arugula muttered and looked away, holding the stuffed dino tightly against her. Bulla and Pan glanced at each other and Bulla put a hand on Arugula's head.
"I think you should still go see him, though. He could use the support from his family right now. He might not be aware of what he had gone through because it looked to me like he wasn't in control of himself when he went berserk like that."
"Yeah," Goku piped in, drawing their attention. "He's definitely inherited his father's temper, that's for sure."
"You mean Broly can get angry like that too?" Pan asked and both of the girls swallowed together, glancing at him with a bit of worry in their faces. Picturing a big man like Broly lose his cool and go wild was something they didn't want to imagine and they shuddered a bit after they formed the image in their heads. They glanced down at Arugula.
"Be thankful you're not trained how to fight. I'd hate to see you lose your cool like Choi did," Bulla said and Arugula gave her a small nod in response.
"Come on, I'll take you to your family. Are you staying here?" she asked Goku and he nodded.
"Yeah," he said and Bulla took Arugula's hand in hers.
"I know it's scary, but you should be brave like Pan, okay?" Bulla told the little girl and Arugula nodded.
When they left the room, Goku sat down, crossing his arms.
"Piccolo warned you not to use that attack again. Why did you disobey him?" he asked and Pan stare down at her feet, looking ahead.
"I didn't want to at first, but if I hadn't decided to use the Special Beam Cannon, there was nothing I could've done anymore to stop Choi from hurting those people in the crowd," Pan said.
"You know one of us would've stepped in to knock him out if that was the case. You didn't need to push yourself like that when it's not necessary. Remember, this is only a tournament and putting your life on the line isn't the smartest thing to do for something so small like a championship or prize money."
Pan suddenly started crying, putting a hand to her face. She began sobbing a bit more, gritting her teeth.
"I just wanted to be brave like you, Grandpa. I have never been so scared in all my life than in that moment when I saw Choi go berserk. If I didn't put on a brave face, I'd lose respect for myself. I didn't want to let anyone down, especially you."
Goku grabbed Pan's hand and gave it a tight squeeze.
"You're more than brave, Pan. You always stood up for your friends and you got that from your mama and papa. You make me so proud. Keep believing in your power and nothing will stand in your way."
"Still, I wish I wasn't always so scared, Grandpa," Pan said and Goku couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh I've had lots of scares in my lifetime, believe me!" he yelled, rubbing the back of his head.
"Really? You get scared? Since when?"
"Since I've fought every single strong opponent growing up. It gets scary, but I also get really excited to see how far I can go against them until this body of mine can't fight anymore."
Pan blushed, smiling up at her grandfather and she closed her eyes.
"Thank you, Grandpa," she whispered and began to breathe a bit more smoothly. She started to drift off into sleep and it wasn't long before she was out like a light and Goku adjusted her blanket before he ran a hand through her hair, smiling down at her. He stood up and turned the light off before he left the room to locate Gohan and Videl, hoping that she had calmed down at least.
