30- Arrival

Pan walked down the stairs with Trunks slowly. It was early in the morning, and sun had barely risen. They had hardly slept. The night was spent whispering about the anxieties of the day coming and just lying in each other's arms.

They entered the dining room, and Pan wasn't too surprised to see that most of their family was already there.

"You look rough," Goten commented as Pan and Trunks sat down.

"Look whose talking," Trunks huffed back.

Pan grabbed a muffin and forced herself to eat it. Her stomach was swirling with nerves. She would be facing Axel today. The last time she had seen him, she had thought she had been dreaming, and that had been bad enough.

Heavy footsteps sounded down the stairs. Moments later, LP and MT entered the room. LP looked as if she hadn't slept at all. MT looked as if he had stayed up with her.

"Pan," LP looked at her. Her dark eyes were wide. "May I speak with you for a moment? Alone, please."

Pan looked at Trunks, who looked nervous. Still, he gave her an encouraging nod. The room was quiet as Pan stood up and walked over to LP. LP squeezed MT's hand like she was telling him that everything would be okay.

"This way," LP said as she led Pan down the hallway. They walked until they were in the greenhouse. Pan felt herself relax at being surrounded by all the plants she cared for. She could feel them soothing her.

"Earth really is your element," LP said with a soft smile.

Pan's lips twitched, but she couldn't find it in herself to really smile.

LP let out a sigh. "I figured it out," she said. "I know how to stop Axel and how to take his power away."

"Really?" Pan's eyes widened.

LP nodded, "but I can't do it alone. When the times come and trust me, you'll know when it is, I'll need your help, Pan. You'll know what to do."

"Shouldn't we tell the others?" Pan asked.

LP shook her head with a sad frown. "I have a plan that I'm taking a huge chance on to work."

Pan looked at her counterpart worriedly. She was shaking. "LP, you're not going to get hurt, are you?"

LP let out a shaky breath, "if everything goes according to my plan, then no. I hope not." She grabbed her stomach and looked as if she were going to be sick.

"LP, you don't have to do this," Pan said. Her throat felt dry and scratchy. Her heart throbbed inside her chest.

"I do," LP's voice was soft. "Because I'm the only one that can. And you're the only one I can count on to do what needs to be done next."

Pan let out a breath. "Okay, what do I have to do?"

Bulla frowned as she stood in front of the TV as the morning news played. Nothing abnormal had been reported yet, but a gnawing feeling was growing in the pit of Bulla's stomach. Pan and LP had been gone for half an hour now.

A hand reached out and touched Bulla's shoulder, and she looked over to see that Seventeen had walked up beside her. He was such a kind and caring man, and it was hard for Bulla ever to imagine that he had once been a villain. Even her Daddy had once been evil and corrupt.

Bulla knew that Axel was different than them, though. Deep down, there had been goodness in Vegeta and Seventeen's heart. There had been misunderstanding and pain. In Axel, there was nothing. Bulla was sure that if his heart were pulled out, it would be shriveled and black.

"Panna."

Bulla turned to see Trunks lean off the wall where he had been standing silently with Goten and MT. Pan walked in, and a strange glow was coming off of her. She looked more awake than she had earlier if there was a seriousness to her face now as well.

"Panny, what's going on?" Goku asked as he rubbed a nervous Chi-Chi's back.

"We must go to the islands off the coast," Pan said. "Axel will be drawn to me, and we need to lure him away from the city. He'll be here in less than an hour."

Bulla could feel the hair on the back of her neck start to rise. Her stomach dropped, sinking low into the floor, and her feet felt cold.

"Drawn to you?" Trunks' eyes were wide. "You're saying we're baiting him with you?" His voice rose in a panic.

"Trunks," Pan reached down and held his hand. She was shaking, but she was holding his hand tightly. "It's okay. LP put a protective spell around the baby and me. She has a plan, and for it to be followed through, we have to go to the island, so there's no damage to the city."

"Where is she?" MT asked. His eyes were wide as well. His jaw seemed to be twitching.

"She'll meet us there," Pan said softly. "She's going ahead. Don't be alarmed, but she's not going to show herself until after Axel does."

"But-" Gohan began.

"We need to trust LP," Bulla cut in. "Like it or not, she knows Axel better than any of us. And Pan is smart. She wouldn't risk the safety of her child unless she trusted in LP's ability and power, right?" She looked at her friend.

Pan gave her a small, grateful smile. "Right," she nodded.

"Alright then," Goku nodded. "Let's go."

It was a quick blur as the Saiyans, Seventeen, and Marron gathered together. Bulma, Chi-Chi, Eijiro, and Tsu stayed behind in safety. The jump from Instant Transmission made Bulla queasy, and she grounded herself as she looked around the island Goku had transported them to. It was a barren island, nothing but grass that stretched out for miles until the shore.

"When exactly is he getting here?" Vegeta asked Pan.

Pan opened her mouth to speak, but she didn't have a chance to before a high-pitched whoosh of wind sounded overhead. The warm air had grown cold, and Bulla shivered as she looked up at the sky.

The sky, which had been a baby blue in the early morning sky, turned a darkish blue. A hole tore through the sky, and with it, a swirling black tornado. Bulla could see Trunks grabbing Pan to protect her, and Seventeen caught her as well as the wind roared through the island plains.

The tornado began to disappear, and in its place was a man. Bulla's eyes widened as she looked at him. His dark hair stood on in the end. His eyes were wild and frightful, the veins surrounding his temple and neck were sticking out, and they were black instead of blue or green. He laughed wildly, his head falling back as he stumbled forward. Trunks still had Pan behind him.

"You-" Axel spoke, his voice like a hiss as he pointed towards Pan. "I found you."

Bulla swallowed the lump in her throat. She could feel the Ki and magic crackling in the sky.

"You took her away from me," Axel continued as he glared at Pan.

Pan's eyes narrowed right back, and she took a step away from Trunks. "She was never yours to begin with! You stole her away from her family - from her home! You deserved to have everything taken from you!" She declared harshly.

Axel slowly looked down at Pan's body, and Bulla had to give her props for standing up straighter and glaring him down. Axel's eyes found Pan's stomach, and he snarled, an action that immediately had Trunks taking a step in front of Pan again.

"Are you going to save her?" Axel mocked. "I've killed you before in another timeline, you know." His eyes found MT, and he smirked, "it won't pain me to kill you two more times."

Trunks let out something like a laugh and a snarl. "You're nothing but a piece of shit. Do you think I'm scared of you? You didn't even have powers until a fucking dragon gave them to you. How pathetic is that?"

Axel's eyes widened, and Bulla could feel the buzz in the air as he raised his hand. He was about to strike! She could feel her mouth opening in a scream -

A coconut flew out of nowhere and hit Axel in the back of the head. He stumbled forward and caught himself on his hands and knees. LP landed on the ground a few yards from him. Her short dark hair was flowing around her from the wind, but she looked calm.

"Pan -" MT let out a breath. He rushed forward to be with her but was stopped by an invisible wall that made him stumble back.

"What the hell?" Vegeta asked. He sent a blast right to the wall, but it did nothing.

"What's this?" Axel managed to stand up with a smirk. "Precious!" He greeted LP. His grin took up half of his face. "You came to greet me as well? And you cast a boundary around them -" he eyed the group. "Are you trying to protect them?"

"You've killed my family once," LP's voice sounded hollow almost. "I won't let you do it again."

"I told you, your family wouldn't have understood!" Axel hissed at her. "Do you think that boundary wall will keep me out?!" He demanded with a jerk of his head. "Come with me, Pan -" he held out his hand to her. "Come with me back to where you belong, and I'll leave them alone, I promise."

"PAN!" MT slammed his hands against the invisible wall. He was even trying to crawl through it somehow, but the wall still wasn't moving.

"I used to be scared of you," LP said. "I was scared of what you could do to me and the ones I love. I'm not scared of you anymore, though," she admitted. "You have no power over me."

A twitch ran through Axel, and he tilted his head. He looked peeved, but a smirk curled upon his lips. "Is that so?" He asked gently. "I'll make you see how much you should still fear me!"

Bulla's breath caught in her throat as Axel rushed toward LP. She barely jumped up in time to avoid him. MT was banging on the boundary as Axel twirled around and jumped towards LP once again.

"Pan, you said LP had a plan, right?" Goten asked. "What's that plan?"

Pan swallowed hard. "This is a part of it," she said softly. "She knew he would chase after her."

Just then, Axel caught LP's foot, and with a powerful force, he tossed her into the ground. MT let out something between a yell and a sob.

"PRECIOUS!" Axel screamed. "COME OUT, COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE! DID YOU THINK I'D BE FOOLED BY THAT DOPPELGÄNGER COULD FOOL ME?!"

Bulla's eyes widened LP on the ground started to fade. That had been a doppelgänger? She hadn't realized - it had seemed like the real thing!

"It wasn't the real LP," Goku let out a heavy sigh as he placed a hand on a frozen MT's shoulder. They must have thought the same thing Bulla had.

"I didn't think you'd be fooled," LP said as she appeared out of thin air. Bulla wanted to say that it was the actual LP. Her voice sounded clearer than the LP's had. "I knew you'd see through it," she told Axel.

He smirked at her. "Are you done playing your little game?"

LP narrowed her eyes at him. "I was never playing," she said. "Every word that doppelgänger spoke was words from me," she hissed. "You have no power over me. I am never going back with you."

Axel snarled and let out a scream of rage. He ran forward towards LP, but she didn't move. Her back straightened, and just as Axel reached out to her, something stopped him. He was frozen in place. He took a step backward, his eyes growing wide as he looked at the ground. Bulla could faintly see it as well - a golden circle surrounded Axel.

"You look surprised," LP told Axel. "This used to be your favorite way of punishing me, wasn't it? It's a binding circle," she stated. "You cannot harm me while inside of it."

Axel glanced around for a moment before he started to laugh. "Oh, Precious. You are clever," he told her with a smirk. "Just how long do you think you can hold me?" He raised an eyebrow. "You're weak."

Out of the corner of Bulla's eye, she saw Pan take a step forward, and she turned her head with a gasp. Trunks quickly grabbed Pan's hand and stopped her.

"Panna, what are you doing?" He asked with wide eyes.

Pan gave him a gentle smile. "It's okay, Trunks," she said. "I have to go help LP. I'm one of the only ones who can. The baby and I will be fine," she promised. She turned towards the invisible boundary that protected everyone and let out a sigh as she stepped right through it. Both Trunks and MT tried to follow her, but they weren't able to.

Pan walked over towards LP and stopped on the other side of the circle. Axel turned to face her, his face into a snarl. "You two think you can stop me, don't you?" He laughed wildly. "Are you going to call upon the four corners?!" He demanded, and then he laughed again as he stumbled across the circle. "There's only two of you!" His dark eyes were blazing. "There's no more enchanters as strong as you two! You're all alone!" He screamed.

"You're wrong -" a cold, masculine voice cut through the air.

Bulla watched as a man and woman began to walk towards LP and Pan. She squinted to get a better look, and she gasped. They were teenagers - both of them no older than sixteen! The boy was tall for his age, and his dark blue hair was styled in a shaggy mess as his bangs swept across his face. His dark eyes were shining and dangling from his left ear was an earring in a shape of a star. The girl was shorter, only reaching the boy's shoulder. Her dark purple hair was long, and half of it was pulled up. She had the same dark eyes as the boy, and dangling from her right ear was an earring in the shape of a crescent moon. Both of them favored Trunks and Pan so greatly that Bulla felt herself doing double-takes.

"They're not alone," the boy spoke again.

"Not at all," the girl smiled as she took her place in one of the spaces between Pan and LP. The boy took the other space.

"You two -" Axel's eyes were wide as he looked between the boy and girl. "You two are -"

"Yeah," the boy gave a smirk that looked just like Trunks'. "We're here to help our mothers kick your ass."