TITLE: Chapter One - My Name Is...
DEDICATION: To all the people who reviewed the last chapter (either for the first time or the second time). I managed to get all my reviews back. Thanks. Also to I Think You're Gay! for rebuilding the Flamer Empire.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except my computer and my clothes. The only thing I may own are the people I make up. I make nothing off this stuff.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In this chapter, you are introduced to some...new ki techniques and new uses for ki control.
=====
"Live and let live."
- Unknown -
=====
Dust and sand swirled around like miniature tornadoes as the wind picked up, an obvious sign that a storm was in the works. The sound of waves crashing against the shore could be heard even from so far inland.
A man, in his late teens, also known as 'the boy', searched the vicinity near his house trying to find herbs. True, the area was mostly sandy beach and a few trees, but every once in awhile, a few herbs could be found. Tom was very sick and it scared the young man. He had never been alone for long and the thought of having Tom leave him forever was scary. He knew nothing of the world or the type of people it held. All he knew was that they were mean and threw items at him. Everyone hated him.
A surge of pain rushed through his body and he grabbed at the mark that, once in awhile, showed up on his forehead. He had no idea why it was there or why it sometimes disappeared, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that it hurt like hell.
He dropped the bag of herbs scattering some all over the place and fell to his knees, growling in agony. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to fight the pain, trying to suppress whatever was trying to rise out of him. His breaths came in short little gasps and little beads of sweat began to form on his face. As quickly as it had come, it was gone. The searing pain vanished. The young man sat down for awhile, trying to regulate his breathing and get his heart rate to slow down.
That had hurt more than any time before. He shook his head trying to clear the cobwebs. Whatever it was, it would have to wait. He had to help Tom first. That was top priority.
Getting up shakily, the young man stuffed the fallen herbs back into his bag and looked up at the darkening sky. He had to hurry or he was going to be rained on. Shouldering the bag, he began his short run home, trying to make it before the rain started.
As soon as he made inside, rain began to pelt down unrelentlessly, making loud pattering sounds on the roof of the little house. He looked out of the window near the door and smiled a brilliant smile, glad that he wasn't out there at the moment.
"Boy?"
He heard Tom calling him from one of the two bedrooms and hurried to see what he needed. "Yes Tom?"
"Could you get me a glass of water?"
The young man faught the fear rising in his voice. Tom had never been polite before. He had always demanded, not asked. Add to that the fact that Tom seemed weaker and his voice was raspier, and it scared the young man even more.
He poured a glass of water from a nearby table and walked back towards Tom's bed, helping the older man sit up.
"Here you go." Gently, he tilted the cup to allow Tom to drink. True, Tom had always been harsh with him, but the young man knew he was loved and he loved Tom back. He loved Tom as any person would a father or father figure. The young man watched as Tom slowly drank the water. Abruptly Tom pulled back.
"Enough boy." His voice was still raspy and scratchy. A look of pure pain came over Tom's face. "Listen up. I don't have much time."
"No! Don't say that Tom! You will live with me forever!"
A single tear ran slowly and silently down the young man's smooth face as he shut his eyes tightly, fighting back the flood that threatened and demanded to be released. He had never cried before so it was a very strange, new sensation. He wasn't sure yet whether he liked it or not.
"Shut up and listen boy. Don't believe what other people say about you." The sentence came out in short, sharp gasps as Tom faught for breath. "Follow your heart and make your dreams come true. You were always...the son...I never...had..."
"NOOOOOOOO!"
He didn't need to check, didn't need to make sure. He wasn't sure how he had done it, but he had sensed Tom slowly lose his grip on life and pass into the world of the dead. He felt empty, hopeless, alone. He knew nothing, had no one, had no purpose left. He buried his face in Tom's blankets and weeped like a child. He knew it was disgraceful, but he didn't care. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing.
Outside, the storm raged on, lightning and thunder illuminating the darkening sky. The wind continued to howl it's rage, whipping aginst the wooden house, drowning out the sobs of the young man.
=====
The transition from day to night was almost unnoticable as the storm continued to show why nature was one of the strongest forces on Earth. Still, a lone figure kneeled in the rain, daring the storm to strike him harder.
Water streamed down the young man's face as he continued to mourn the loss of the only friend, only family he had ever known. His hands, bloody from digging up a grave, rested on his knees. He didn't care that he was bleeding or that he was being soaked to the skin. None of that mattered. In fact, he was so depressed that he didn't notice two figures flying towards him at a quick rate.
A dark haired, dark eyed girl chased unrelentlessly after her foe. She had been trailing it for two weeks and was not about to give. She almost had it now and she knew it. No storm could save the beast now. Letting her ki flow through to her sword, she flung the sword at the creature, trying to distract it enough to catch up to it.
Since her ki was part of the sword, she could control it without actually holding it. Making the creature dodge and weave bought her a few seconds of precious time. Not wasting any, she built up a large ki ball, not one of destruction, but one of capture. She released the ki ball and watched it engulf the creature in a large bubble. Pulling with all her strength, the dark haired girl forced the creature towards herself while reducing the size of the bubble it was in and, consequently, the creatures size as well. Once the bubble and the creature were reduced to a little ball, she quickly stuck it in a small, magical bottle. Quickly, she fit the stopper on top of it and flashed a quick smile.
She raised her head slightly, in a sign of defiance. She had kept up the chase and captured the beast. She shook her head slightly, trying to shake the rain water from her eyes while still feeling the surge of triumph flow through her body. All those sleepless nights hadn't been wasted afterall.
Out of the corner of her left eye, she spotted a slouched over figure. She knew she should get out of the rain and get some rest, but her curiosity got the best of her. Walking boldly forward, sword in hand, she approached the lone figure.
Trained questions rushed through her mind. Who was this person or thing? What was it doing out in the middle of nowhere during the middle of a stormy night? She gripped her sword a bit tighter, just in case. She blinked furiously as she tried to see past the droplets on her eyelashes.
"Hey." No response from the figure. She didn't like being ignored. "Person over there. Are you okay?" She sensed the figure's ki and relaxed a bit. The person had a ki, which meant he or she wasn't an undead creature. She sheathed her sword in a sign of peace and approached the figure with much more confidence.
A closer look at the figure and she could tell that it was a guy. He seemed to be sort of out of it. She was literally beside him and he still hadn't moved a muscle. She raised an eyebrow inquisitively. Either he was dying, or in a very deep trance. Gently, not wanting to startle him, she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Anyone home in there?"
The young man's eyes popped open and he looked up at her in fear and shock. Immediately he began to move away as quickly as possible. The shocked expression that had been on the girls face was quickly replaced by one of anger. How dare this guy be like this? She had tried to help him and here he was scrambling away from her? She ran up to him and placed a firm grip on his shoulder, not allowing him to go anywhere.
"Listen, I won't hurt you okay?" She tried to sound as soothing as possible while angry at the same time. Her words did little to calm the frantic young man so she tried a smile instead. "My name is Pan. What's your's?"
The young man stared at her suspiciously for a few seconds before replying. "I have no name." He bowed his head in shame.
"Oh." Pan was unsure of what to do. She had never been in a situation like this before. As she thought of words to say to the lavender haired man, her smile faltered. "I'm sure you must have some kind of name. Anything at all?"
The man's face fell even more. "Tom called me boy. That was it."
"Oh."
"And some other people called me Trunks."
Pan brightened at the new name. "Trunks? Great, then we'll call you Trunks from now on."
Trunks winced at his new name but didn't say anything. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her once more. Finally, deciding that she wasn't like the people of the village and wouldn't hurt him, he got onto his feet.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so inconsiderate. We should get out of the rain. Follow me, my house isn't far from here." He was still upset about Tom's death, but he understood that life moved on. Besides, he wouldn't let a lady catch a cold because he was too busy feeling sorry for himself.
A few minutes of running brought them to Trunks's house. "It's not much, but it's my house and it'll keep us dry for now."
Half an hour later, and much drier than they had been before, the two sat sipping tea at the small kitchen table. It was akward, being in the house of a total stranger, but Pan didn't really mind. Trunks seemed like a very nice young man and he was cute too. She almost slapped herself for thinking such thoughts. She had duties to fulfill and romance wasn't one of those duties.
"So, do you live here alone?"
"No. Well...yes. Tom use to live here too, but he died."
Pan was struck by Trunks's innocense and his bluntness. "I'm sorry to hear that."
Trunks looked up from his cup of coffee. "Don't be sorry. It's not your fault."
Pan quickly blinked back the shock again. No one had ever said anything like that. At first, she was angry. The nerve of this guy. She tried to be considerate and he dared to say something like that? Before snapping at him though, she thought more carefully about it. He was right. Why was she saying sorry? It wasn't like she had killed this Tom guy or anything.
"Lighten up Trunks." A sudden idea rushed to her mind. If Tom had been the only one living with him and Tom was now dead, than Trunks was living alone. "Hey, what are you going to do now?"
He looked away. "I'm not sure yet." He began to bite his lower lip in frustration.
"Well, if you don't have anything better to do, why don't you come with me? I'm on my way back to see my sensei."
A look of hope shone in Trunks's sad eyes. "I can go with you? Where are you going? What's a sensei?"
"You can come with me if you want. I'm returning to Rotak mountain where my sensei or teacher is."
"I'd love to accompany you." He didn't care what he would do once they got there. All he cared was that now he had somewhere to go, something to do.
Throughout the night, the storm continued to rage, but neither Trunks or Pan cared. They knew that with the new day, would come new dreams, new hope and new opportunities.
=====
Trunks woke up to the sound of birds chirping and a clear sky. The storm seemed to have wiped away everything for him, giving him a second chance at life. He stretched his tired limbs, trying to bring back the regular circulation. Feeling very refreshed, he stepped out of his room and found a ready to go Pan.
"Wow, you must have gotten up very early."
She smiled at his comment. "Actually, I haven't been up that long. Besides, it's part of my training."
"Oh. Are you ready to go?"
"You don't eat breakfast either?"
He smiled. "No. It's too early."
As the two set out, Pan explained that she needed to make a little stop in a nearby village. Trunks's heartbeat almost stopped but he convinced himself that it must be some other village. There were many villages around here...right?
His heart sank as Pan began walking down the road towards the little village full of "mean people". As they neared the village, he decided it was best to keep quiet. Tilting his head downwards as far as he could, he continued to follow Pan hoping that no one would notice him. No such luck. The minute he entered the village, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared. He cringed at their glares, sensing the hatred that bore right through him.
Pan sensed the tension in the air but choose to ignore it. She would ask Trunks about it later. Plastering a sweet smile on her face, she approached the man closest to her. He backed away from her as if she had some kind of contagious disease. The tension in the air only grew as Pan stared in bewilderment at everyone.
Without warning, all hell broke loose. The villagers all seemed to pounce at once, catching both Trunks and Pan by surprise. Not wanting to hurt anyone, Pan allowed herself to be held captive. She almost laughed at the flimsy, wooden cage they put her and Trunks in. Trunks however, looked petrified. True, the people of the village had never treated him nicely and had in fact beaten him countless times, but never had he seen them so angry or hyped up.
The villagers pranced around the little cage, muttering darkly about things they would like to do to him. One of the older men stepped closer to the cage and raised his arms for silence. Almost immediately, everyone shut up.
The man glared at Trunks as he began to speak. "For many years now, our village has lived in peace. Yet this evil monster continues to stalk us, waiting for the right moment to strike. Now this monster has a follower. We must destroy it before its numbers grow any larger. We must destroy it for the safety of our village!" A loud cheer erupted from the villagers. "We shall kill it slowly as a tribute to the gods! Make it feel the pain!"
Another loud cheer erupted shaking the very establishments themselves. Some of the men began to pick up long poles and advanced towards the cage. Evil smirks began to spread onto the lips of many villagers.
Their torture began with a few pokes at Trunks. Then they began to poke at Pan as well. Pan faught hard to keep in control of her temper. She knew she could kill these idiots without another thought, but that was wrong and she refused to do it.
Trunks backed up as far away from the bars as he could go, trying to get away from all the poking. He wanted to tell them that he wasn't evil, that they were wrong but he knew better than that. They would only say he was lying and beat him even more. Years of experience had thought him that much.
Within a few minutes, the people began to grow bored of merely poking. A few of the pokers began to swing their poles a bit and in no time at all, they were downright beating Trunks and Pan.
Trunks took a kick peek at Pan who was now back to back with him. She didn't look too pleased and he felt bad. It was because of him that she was in this situation. Quickly, not really sure of what he was doing, he pushed her down as the poles began to wack harder on the pair of them.
Pan lay stunned underneath Trunks for a moment, surprised that Trunks had knocked her over. What was he trying to do anyway? She blinked a couple of times, slapping herself mentally as she heard the sticks wacking down on Trunks's back and his sudden jerks of pain as they came down on him. He was shielding her with his own body.
Anger began to rush through her veins. These people were insane! They hadn't even tried to ask questions. Whatever Trunks had done, it probably wasn't that bad since these people seemed to be senseless. What kind of people took actions first and asked questions later?
She let her ki grow, knocking Trunks completely off her while standing up all in one motion. Glaring at the villagers who were now all slowly backing away, she used her ki to bend the wooden outline of the cage without touching it.
Everyones eyes began to pop open. This girl was either a monster disguised as a girl or someone very powerful. The villagers didn't like the thought of either of those.
"MONSTER!"
With that yell, everything happened quickly. The women and children began screaming and running in all directons while the men picked up whatever they could and threw it at Pan. Pan only smiled and stepped in front of Trunks as her ki shield deflected everything away.
She raised her hands, forming small ki balls and began to randomly fire at the houses and other buildings nearby. As much as she hated destruction, these people needed to learn a lesson and she was going to be the one to teach it to them.
Screams of rage and fear tore through the dark night as people tried to put out the fires that began to spread. Pan pointed her hand at another house, planning on destroying all the buildings. She felt someone trying to approach her and quickly turned her head to see who it was.
Her eyebrows narrowed in curiosity as she saw that it was Trunks. Dropping her ki shield so that he could approach her, she asked, "You want to say something Trunks?"
"Please Pan, don't hurt them. Don't do anymore damage. Please?" His blue eyes shone with sadness and remorse. They asked and pleaded her to stop.
She wanted to question him, wanted to know why not, but instead, she let her hands fall and walked out of the village without another word. Trunks quickly followed. Once past the village gate, he took one look back, not knowing when he would see the village again. True, the people had never been nice to him, but he had envied the friendship that they all shared with each other.
Silently, following Pan, he murmured, "Goodbye...everyone."
=====
"Forgiving others is the first step to peace and respectability."
- Unknown -
DEDICATION: To all the people who reviewed the last chapter (either for the first time or the second time). I managed to get all my reviews back. Thanks. Also to I Think You're Gay! for rebuilding the Flamer Empire.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except my computer and my clothes. The only thing I may own are the people I make up. I make nothing off this stuff.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In this chapter, you are introduced to some...new ki techniques and new uses for ki control.
=====
"Live and let live."
- Unknown -
=====
Dust and sand swirled around like miniature tornadoes as the wind picked up, an obvious sign that a storm was in the works. The sound of waves crashing against the shore could be heard even from so far inland.
A man, in his late teens, also known as 'the boy', searched the vicinity near his house trying to find herbs. True, the area was mostly sandy beach and a few trees, but every once in awhile, a few herbs could be found. Tom was very sick and it scared the young man. He had never been alone for long and the thought of having Tom leave him forever was scary. He knew nothing of the world or the type of people it held. All he knew was that they were mean and threw items at him. Everyone hated him.
A surge of pain rushed through his body and he grabbed at the mark that, once in awhile, showed up on his forehead. He had no idea why it was there or why it sometimes disappeared, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that it hurt like hell.
He dropped the bag of herbs scattering some all over the place and fell to his knees, growling in agony. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to fight the pain, trying to suppress whatever was trying to rise out of him. His breaths came in short little gasps and little beads of sweat began to form on his face. As quickly as it had come, it was gone. The searing pain vanished. The young man sat down for awhile, trying to regulate his breathing and get his heart rate to slow down.
That had hurt more than any time before. He shook his head trying to clear the cobwebs. Whatever it was, it would have to wait. He had to help Tom first. That was top priority.
Getting up shakily, the young man stuffed the fallen herbs back into his bag and looked up at the darkening sky. He had to hurry or he was going to be rained on. Shouldering the bag, he began his short run home, trying to make it before the rain started.
As soon as he made inside, rain began to pelt down unrelentlessly, making loud pattering sounds on the roof of the little house. He looked out of the window near the door and smiled a brilliant smile, glad that he wasn't out there at the moment.
"Boy?"
He heard Tom calling him from one of the two bedrooms and hurried to see what he needed. "Yes Tom?"
"Could you get me a glass of water?"
The young man faught the fear rising in his voice. Tom had never been polite before. He had always demanded, not asked. Add to that the fact that Tom seemed weaker and his voice was raspier, and it scared the young man even more.
He poured a glass of water from a nearby table and walked back towards Tom's bed, helping the older man sit up.
"Here you go." Gently, he tilted the cup to allow Tom to drink. True, Tom had always been harsh with him, but the young man knew he was loved and he loved Tom back. He loved Tom as any person would a father or father figure. The young man watched as Tom slowly drank the water. Abruptly Tom pulled back.
"Enough boy." His voice was still raspy and scratchy. A look of pure pain came over Tom's face. "Listen up. I don't have much time."
"No! Don't say that Tom! You will live with me forever!"
A single tear ran slowly and silently down the young man's smooth face as he shut his eyes tightly, fighting back the flood that threatened and demanded to be released. He had never cried before so it was a very strange, new sensation. He wasn't sure yet whether he liked it or not.
"Shut up and listen boy. Don't believe what other people say about you." The sentence came out in short, sharp gasps as Tom faught for breath. "Follow your heart and make your dreams come true. You were always...the son...I never...had..."
"NOOOOOOOO!"
He didn't need to check, didn't need to make sure. He wasn't sure how he had done it, but he had sensed Tom slowly lose his grip on life and pass into the world of the dead. He felt empty, hopeless, alone. He knew nothing, had no one, had no purpose left. He buried his face in Tom's blankets and weeped like a child. He knew it was disgraceful, but he didn't care. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing.
Outside, the storm raged on, lightning and thunder illuminating the darkening sky. The wind continued to howl it's rage, whipping aginst the wooden house, drowning out the sobs of the young man.
=====
The transition from day to night was almost unnoticable as the storm continued to show why nature was one of the strongest forces on Earth. Still, a lone figure kneeled in the rain, daring the storm to strike him harder.
Water streamed down the young man's face as he continued to mourn the loss of the only friend, only family he had ever known. His hands, bloody from digging up a grave, rested on his knees. He didn't care that he was bleeding or that he was being soaked to the skin. None of that mattered. In fact, he was so depressed that he didn't notice two figures flying towards him at a quick rate.
A dark haired, dark eyed girl chased unrelentlessly after her foe. She had been trailing it for two weeks and was not about to give. She almost had it now and she knew it. No storm could save the beast now. Letting her ki flow through to her sword, she flung the sword at the creature, trying to distract it enough to catch up to it.
Since her ki was part of the sword, she could control it without actually holding it. Making the creature dodge and weave bought her a few seconds of precious time. Not wasting any, she built up a large ki ball, not one of destruction, but one of capture. She released the ki ball and watched it engulf the creature in a large bubble. Pulling with all her strength, the dark haired girl forced the creature towards herself while reducing the size of the bubble it was in and, consequently, the creatures size as well. Once the bubble and the creature were reduced to a little ball, she quickly stuck it in a small, magical bottle. Quickly, she fit the stopper on top of it and flashed a quick smile.
She raised her head slightly, in a sign of defiance. She had kept up the chase and captured the beast. She shook her head slightly, trying to shake the rain water from her eyes while still feeling the surge of triumph flow through her body. All those sleepless nights hadn't been wasted afterall.
Out of the corner of her left eye, she spotted a slouched over figure. She knew she should get out of the rain and get some rest, but her curiosity got the best of her. Walking boldly forward, sword in hand, she approached the lone figure.
Trained questions rushed through her mind. Who was this person or thing? What was it doing out in the middle of nowhere during the middle of a stormy night? She gripped her sword a bit tighter, just in case. She blinked furiously as she tried to see past the droplets on her eyelashes.
"Hey." No response from the figure. She didn't like being ignored. "Person over there. Are you okay?" She sensed the figure's ki and relaxed a bit. The person had a ki, which meant he or she wasn't an undead creature. She sheathed her sword in a sign of peace and approached the figure with much more confidence.
A closer look at the figure and she could tell that it was a guy. He seemed to be sort of out of it. She was literally beside him and he still hadn't moved a muscle. She raised an eyebrow inquisitively. Either he was dying, or in a very deep trance. Gently, not wanting to startle him, she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Anyone home in there?"
The young man's eyes popped open and he looked up at her in fear and shock. Immediately he began to move away as quickly as possible. The shocked expression that had been on the girls face was quickly replaced by one of anger. How dare this guy be like this? She had tried to help him and here he was scrambling away from her? She ran up to him and placed a firm grip on his shoulder, not allowing him to go anywhere.
"Listen, I won't hurt you okay?" She tried to sound as soothing as possible while angry at the same time. Her words did little to calm the frantic young man so she tried a smile instead. "My name is Pan. What's your's?"
The young man stared at her suspiciously for a few seconds before replying. "I have no name." He bowed his head in shame.
"Oh." Pan was unsure of what to do. She had never been in a situation like this before. As she thought of words to say to the lavender haired man, her smile faltered. "I'm sure you must have some kind of name. Anything at all?"
The man's face fell even more. "Tom called me boy. That was it."
"Oh."
"And some other people called me Trunks."
Pan brightened at the new name. "Trunks? Great, then we'll call you Trunks from now on."
Trunks winced at his new name but didn't say anything. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her once more. Finally, deciding that she wasn't like the people of the village and wouldn't hurt him, he got onto his feet.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so inconsiderate. We should get out of the rain. Follow me, my house isn't far from here." He was still upset about Tom's death, but he understood that life moved on. Besides, he wouldn't let a lady catch a cold because he was too busy feeling sorry for himself.
A few minutes of running brought them to Trunks's house. "It's not much, but it's my house and it'll keep us dry for now."
Half an hour later, and much drier than they had been before, the two sat sipping tea at the small kitchen table. It was akward, being in the house of a total stranger, but Pan didn't really mind. Trunks seemed like a very nice young man and he was cute too. She almost slapped herself for thinking such thoughts. She had duties to fulfill and romance wasn't one of those duties.
"So, do you live here alone?"
"No. Well...yes. Tom use to live here too, but he died."
Pan was struck by Trunks's innocense and his bluntness. "I'm sorry to hear that."
Trunks looked up from his cup of coffee. "Don't be sorry. It's not your fault."
Pan quickly blinked back the shock again. No one had ever said anything like that. At first, she was angry. The nerve of this guy. She tried to be considerate and he dared to say something like that? Before snapping at him though, she thought more carefully about it. He was right. Why was she saying sorry? It wasn't like she had killed this Tom guy or anything.
"Lighten up Trunks." A sudden idea rushed to her mind. If Tom had been the only one living with him and Tom was now dead, than Trunks was living alone. "Hey, what are you going to do now?"
He looked away. "I'm not sure yet." He began to bite his lower lip in frustration.
"Well, if you don't have anything better to do, why don't you come with me? I'm on my way back to see my sensei."
A look of hope shone in Trunks's sad eyes. "I can go with you? Where are you going? What's a sensei?"
"You can come with me if you want. I'm returning to Rotak mountain where my sensei or teacher is."
"I'd love to accompany you." He didn't care what he would do once they got there. All he cared was that now he had somewhere to go, something to do.
Throughout the night, the storm continued to rage, but neither Trunks or Pan cared. They knew that with the new day, would come new dreams, new hope and new opportunities.
=====
Trunks woke up to the sound of birds chirping and a clear sky. The storm seemed to have wiped away everything for him, giving him a second chance at life. He stretched his tired limbs, trying to bring back the regular circulation. Feeling very refreshed, he stepped out of his room and found a ready to go Pan.
"Wow, you must have gotten up very early."
She smiled at his comment. "Actually, I haven't been up that long. Besides, it's part of my training."
"Oh. Are you ready to go?"
"You don't eat breakfast either?"
He smiled. "No. It's too early."
As the two set out, Pan explained that she needed to make a little stop in a nearby village. Trunks's heartbeat almost stopped but he convinced himself that it must be some other village. There were many villages around here...right?
His heart sank as Pan began walking down the road towards the little village full of "mean people". As they neared the village, he decided it was best to keep quiet. Tilting his head downwards as far as he could, he continued to follow Pan hoping that no one would notice him. No such luck. The minute he entered the village, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared. He cringed at their glares, sensing the hatred that bore right through him.
Pan sensed the tension in the air but choose to ignore it. She would ask Trunks about it later. Plastering a sweet smile on her face, she approached the man closest to her. He backed away from her as if she had some kind of contagious disease. The tension in the air only grew as Pan stared in bewilderment at everyone.
Without warning, all hell broke loose. The villagers all seemed to pounce at once, catching both Trunks and Pan by surprise. Not wanting to hurt anyone, Pan allowed herself to be held captive. She almost laughed at the flimsy, wooden cage they put her and Trunks in. Trunks however, looked petrified. True, the people of the village had never treated him nicely and had in fact beaten him countless times, but never had he seen them so angry or hyped up.
The villagers pranced around the little cage, muttering darkly about things they would like to do to him. One of the older men stepped closer to the cage and raised his arms for silence. Almost immediately, everyone shut up.
The man glared at Trunks as he began to speak. "For many years now, our village has lived in peace. Yet this evil monster continues to stalk us, waiting for the right moment to strike. Now this monster has a follower. We must destroy it before its numbers grow any larger. We must destroy it for the safety of our village!" A loud cheer erupted from the villagers. "We shall kill it slowly as a tribute to the gods! Make it feel the pain!"
Another loud cheer erupted shaking the very establishments themselves. Some of the men began to pick up long poles and advanced towards the cage. Evil smirks began to spread onto the lips of many villagers.
Their torture began with a few pokes at Trunks. Then they began to poke at Pan as well. Pan faught hard to keep in control of her temper. She knew she could kill these idiots without another thought, but that was wrong and she refused to do it.
Trunks backed up as far away from the bars as he could go, trying to get away from all the poking. He wanted to tell them that he wasn't evil, that they were wrong but he knew better than that. They would only say he was lying and beat him even more. Years of experience had thought him that much.
Within a few minutes, the people began to grow bored of merely poking. A few of the pokers began to swing their poles a bit and in no time at all, they were downright beating Trunks and Pan.
Trunks took a kick peek at Pan who was now back to back with him. She didn't look too pleased and he felt bad. It was because of him that she was in this situation. Quickly, not really sure of what he was doing, he pushed her down as the poles began to wack harder on the pair of them.
Pan lay stunned underneath Trunks for a moment, surprised that Trunks had knocked her over. What was he trying to do anyway? She blinked a couple of times, slapping herself mentally as she heard the sticks wacking down on Trunks's back and his sudden jerks of pain as they came down on him. He was shielding her with his own body.
Anger began to rush through her veins. These people were insane! They hadn't even tried to ask questions. Whatever Trunks had done, it probably wasn't that bad since these people seemed to be senseless. What kind of people took actions first and asked questions later?
She let her ki grow, knocking Trunks completely off her while standing up all in one motion. Glaring at the villagers who were now all slowly backing away, she used her ki to bend the wooden outline of the cage without touching it.
Everyones eyes began to pop open. This girl was either a monster disguised as a girl or someone very powerful. The villagers didn't like the thought of either of those.
"MONSTER!"
With that yell, everything happened quickly. The women and children began screaming and running in all directons while the men picked up whatever they could and threw it at Pan. Pan only smiled and stepped in front of Trunks as her ki shield deflected everything away.
She raised her hands, forming small ki balls and began to randomly fire at the houses and other buildings nearby. As much as she hated destruction, these people needed to learn a lesson and she was going to be the one to teach it to them.
Screams of rage and fear tore through the dark night as people tried to put out the fires that began to spread. Pan pointed her hand at another house, planning on destroying all the buildings. She felt someone trying to approach her and quickly turned her head to see who it was.
Her eyebrows narrowed in curiosity as she saw that it was Trunks. Dropping her ki shield so that he could approach her, she asked, "You want to say something Trunks?"
"Please Pan, don't hurt them. Don't do anymore damage. Please?" His blue eyes shone with sadness and remorse. They asked and pleaded her to stop.
She wanted to question him, wanted to know why not, but instead, she let her hands fall and walked out of the village without another word. Trunks quickly followed. Once past the village gate, he took one look back, not knowing when he would see the village again. True, the people had never been nice to him, but he had envied the friendship that they all shared with each other.
Silently, following Pan, he murmured, "Goodbye...everyone."
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"Forgiving others is the first step to peace and respectability."
- Unknown -