Won't Ever Understand Me- Part Five
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Disclaimer: I-I … ::sob:: I d-don't… ::sniffle:: I DON'T OWN DBZ!!! ::wailing:: You don't have to rub it in!!! Leave me be!!! ::weep::
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"Do you know why we're here, Yamucha?" Kuririn asked, scratching his head a bit. He was sitting on a couch in the Briefs' living room after Goku had teleported around and zapped everyone there.
"No clue," Yamucha confessed, sighing and leaning back. "Do you think that there's another threat to Earth?" he said slowly.
Kuririn paled, and cleared his throat. "I-I don't think so," he stammered. "I mean, we would have sensed something, wouldn't we?"
Juuhachi leaned into the conversation, giving her husband a slightly ironic smile. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that. You couldn't sense androids, could you? Who knows what else could be out there that could hide their energy signatures?" she teased.
Yamucha paled, but Kuririn knew that Juuhachi was just trying to scare them. At least, he hoped so.
"Everyone listen up!" Gohan stood at the front of the room, looking out at everyone there; Kuririn, Juuhachi, Bulma, Vegeta, Tenshinhan, Chaotzu, Ox-King, Chichi, Goku, Videl, Piccolo, Master Roshi, Mr. Satan, Yamucha, Marron, Bra, Trunks, and Goten. His face was grave.
"Pan has run away from home." Gohan caught Vegeta's eyes, trying to find some flicker of knowledge there, but the ebony depths remained impassive.
All around him talk was breaking out, from Mr. Satan's panicked, "My cute little granddaughter is gone?! Oh, no! Call the police! The fire department! The SWAT team! The National Guard!" to Bulma's concerned, "Why in the world would Pan leave home?"
Gohan swallowed painfully, then started again. "She left a note saying that…that she was okay, and that she'd be back, but she didn't say when, or where she went. And, if you'll notice, her ki can't be sensed anywhere…I don't know what that means…" Videl came up behind him and put her arms around his waist comfortingly. It helped both of them, and Gohan straightened.
"I just wanted to let you know, and to ask i-if anyone had any clue to where she might be. Thanks." Some immediately crowded around him, offering condolences. Others stayed where they were, in shock. Among these were the Z teens.
"Pan's…gone?" Bra managed finally.
"But why?" Marron said hopelessly. "I mean, I noticed that she's…changed, and she looked kind of, well, unhappy…but…"
"I… don't understand," Goten murmured, lowering his head to hide the shimmering of tears in his eyes, and to hide the pain. "Does it have something to do with what happened last night? What happened outside that we didn't see?"
"She can't be gone!" Bra said wildly. "Even if something were bothering her, she wouldn't be so weak as to *run away*! This is Pan we're talking about! Tough girl!"
"I don't think Pan's as strong as she pretends to be," Marron said quietly. "I think she's kind of like Vegeta…holding her pain inside and standing up straight no matter what."
Trunks, quiet until now, finally spoke up. "This has something to do with us," he said, total confidence in his words. The other teens looked up, surprised.
"With us?" Goten asked. "What are you talking about?"
Trunks wasn't listening. His brow was furrowed in concentration. "Something to do with us…" he muttered again.
"Oh, great," Bra said, exasperated. "Now he's gone into one of his rare 'thinking modes'."
"You guys," Marron said cautiously. "I think he may be right. Pan's been avoiding us. She's uncomfortable around us, and we hardly ever do anything with her anymore."
"We were going to change that!" Bra protested. "We were going to hang out with her more!"
"She stays at home all the time, studying or training," Goten contributed. "Gohan said he was worried because she didn't have any friends at school, but I thought that was okay, because she had us…"
"She never came to any of Mom's get togethers," Trunks mused. "She didn't even tell us she was training with Dad and Goku. I think we must have hurt her somehow, guys."
Vegeta's voice rang out suddenly above everyone else's talk. "The girl is in the Room of Spirit and Time," he said nonchalantly. Everyone's heads whipped around. It was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop.
"What did you say?" Gohan said, his voice deceptively calm, barely concealing the underlying well of anger.
Vegeta walked right up, so close to Gohan that they were almost touching. "The Room of Spirit and Time," he repeated, "She went there to train and find out who she was. Sort out her problems. I for one approved of her actions. Very worthy of a saiya-jin." Then his tone became derisive. "And if you didn't even notice what she was going through, what a sorry father you are."
Gohan's face was very pale, but he didn't say anything in response to Vegeta's words. Everyone watched them, wide eyed.
Goku started, warily, "Vegeta-…" But Gohan cut him off by grabbing his arm.
"Dad. The Lookout. Now." A moment passed while Videl put her hand on Gohan's arm, and then they disappeared.
**********
Mirai Trunks' Timeline
Trunks tapped his foot on the hardwood floor quickly. Then he got up and paced the length of the room for a few minutes before growling and flinging himself back down on the couch. His nerves were wracked. He was restless, and couldn't get the thought of the vision out of his mind.
"Trunks, honey, are you okay?" Bulma sounded concerned, and Trunks looked up to see his mother in the doorway, holding a platter with some cups and a teapot. "You seem jumpy."
Trunks sighed. "I'm fine, Mom." He gestured for her to come sit next to him, which she did. "I just- It's nothing. I'm fine, really."
"You've never lied to me before and I don't want you to start now!" Bulma said sharply, rapping his wrist sharply with a spoon as he reached for a cup of tea. "Now tell me what's really going on!"
Trunks, withdrawing his hand, chuckled wryly despite his strange restlessness. That same tone of voice had probably scolded his father as well…His mother was really something else.
"Well?" Bulma prodded.
He hesitated. "It's just that, ah, I feel like something's going to happen," he admitted. "It's like a premonition. A niggling little sensation that won't go away." Seeing his mother's thoughtful look, he tried harder to describe it. "Like, uhm, an itch I can't scratch."
"When did it start?" Bulma questioned, tapping her finger against her chin in an unconscious habit she'd acquired whenever she was concentrating.
"After I woke up from blacking out," Trunks said dutifully. Then he got up, his frustration showing plainly on his face. His power level rose slightly. "I just can't sit still!" he exclaimed. "I feel like I've forgotten something important, and I'm just about to remember it, but then I can't!"
"Calm down, Trunks, calm down," Bulma said, growing alarmed. The last time she had seen Trunks so listless was after he got out of the hospital wing just before he went to the past. It was stirring up painful memories.
Trunks ignored her and continued pacing, faster. Bulma was about to grab his arm when he suddenly went stiff, his eyes wide and unseeing, his mouth slack.
"Trunks! TRUNKS!!!"
_*_*_ The wind was howling, worse than ever before, and the gravity was high; unbearably high. The burning white landscape suddenly contorted, and They cried out, shielding Their eyes against a brilliant flash of light. Then reality began to spiral; the temple, ground, and floor swirling together, draining into a single point of light far below. They were screaming, and a distant voice was calling out Their name. Someone was reaching out- trying to grab hold of Them, but then They were falling, falling into that light, and everything else faded. _*_*_
THUD. He hit the floor. Bulma knelt beside her unconscious son, shaking him frantically. "Trunks!" she cried. "Wake up! Don't you dare leave me dammit! Trunks!"
She was scared, but she sobbed and kept shaking him. What had just happened?! One minute he was just there, fine…Okay, a little jittery, but it was nothing! Then he was frozen, and his eyes went wider and wider, and they were just so empty, like he was GONE! He started shaking, and no mattering what she had done, she hadn't been able to snap him out of it.
_I'm am *not* going to lose Trunks,_ Bulma thought grimly. _I don't know *what* is going on, but nothing, *nothing* is going to take my son from me. He's all I have left._ Then she hurried to the kitchen to get some water to splash him with.
**********
Pan wolfed down her food angrily, ripping the roll apart with a feral growl. It had been two months since the heat storm had wiped her out, and though she was undoubtedly much stronger, she just couldn't seem to reach super saiyajin!
What was the matter with her? she thought. She had the drive, and she most definitely had the anger that was the key to the transformation. She remembered the words her grandfather had said to her once. She had been a little girl, and had wanted to do the same thing all her favorite people did. But how how HOW was she going to make her hair a glowing gold, and her eyes teal green? She wanted to be a super saiyajin!
Goku had laughed, and then said, "It comes from a need, not a desire, Panny." She had stubbornly protested that she *did* need to be a super saiyajin. She needed it so she could be happy. Goku had just laughed some more, not unkindly, and ruffled her hair.
Was it the need, she wondered? There was no threat to the planet at the moment, her friends weren't in any danger. Her father had said that only through raw, soul-searing emotional loss and pain did he, Goku, Vegeta, and Mirai Trunks achieve super saiyajin. About Goten and this timeline's Trunks…well, nobody except they knew about that.
"And they weren't about to *tell* me," Pan said bitterly. But she *would* do it. She *would* reach that plateau. She would show them all. There had to be some way, and she would find it. No matter what the price.
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RaliNeoBlade: Hmmmmm. Pan seems really set on this, doesn't she? Almost FREAKY, if you ask me. EVERYONE: We *didn't* ask you!!! RaliNeoBlade: well, fine, BE that way. ::sulk:: What drastic measures will Gohan and the others take to bring Pan back? Why was Trunks so jittery, and just WHAT happened to make him freak out?! Will Pan ever become a super saiyajin! Keep watching for the next chapter of, Won't Ever Understand Me!!!!!
Rali: Sorry that took so long. I was occupied with other stories, other things. (stupid high school application essay…) Anyway! What did you think? Please kindly RATE this story from 1-10, (1 being bad, 10 being really good,) and tell me what you think is gonna happen. Feedback is much appreciated. Check out my other stories if you can, BYE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: I-I … ::sob:: I d-don't… ::sniffle:: I DON'T OWN DBZ!!! ::wailing:: You don't have to rub it in!!! Leave me be!!! ::weep::
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Do you know why we're here, Yamucha?" Kuririn asked, scratching his head a bit. He was sitting on a couch in the Briefs' living room after Goku had teleported around and zapped everyone there.
"No clue," Yamucha confessed, sighing and leaning back. "Do you think that there's another threat to Earth?" he said slowly.
Kuririn paled, and cleared his throat. "I-I don't think so," he stammered. "I mean, we would have sensed something, wouldn't we?"
Juuhachi leaned into the conversation, giving her husband a slightly ironic smile. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that. You couldn't sense androids, could you? Who knows what else could be out there that could hide their energy signatures?" she teased.
Yamucha paled, but Kuririn knew that Juuhachi was just trying to scare them. At least, he hoped so.
"Everyone listen up!" Gohan stood at the front of the room, looking out at everyone there; Kuririn, Juuhachi, Bulma, Vegeta, Tenshinhan, Chaotzu, Ox-King, Chichi, Goku, Videl, Piccolo, Master Roshi, Mr. Satan, Yamucha, Marron, Bra, Trunks, and Goten. His face was grave.
"Pan has run away from home." Gohan caught Vegeta's eyes, trying to find some flicker of knowledge there, but the ebony depths remained impassive.
All around him talk was breaking out, from Mr. Satan's panicked, "My cute little granddaughter is gone?! Oh, no! Call the police! The fire department! The SWAT team! The National Guard!" to Bulma's concerned, "Why in the world would Pan leave home?"
Gohan swallowed painfully, then started again. "She left a note saying that…that she was okay, and that she'd be back, but she didn't say when, or where she went. And, if you'll notice, her ki can't be sensed anywhere…I don't know what that means…" Videl came up behind him and put her arms around his waist comfortingly. It helped both of them, and Gohan straightened.
"I just wanted to let you know, and to ask i-if anyone had any clue to where she might be. Thanks." Some immediately crowded around him, offering condolences. Others stayed where they were, in shock. Among these were the Z teens.
"Pan's…gone?" Bra managed finally.
"But why?" Marron said hopelessly. "I mean, I noticed that she's…changed, and she looked kind of, well, unhappy…but…"
"I… don't understand," Goten murmured, lowering his head to hide the shimmering of tears in his eyes, and to hide the pain. "Does it have something to do with what happened last night? What happened outside that we didn't see?"
"She can't be gone!" Bra said wildly. "Even if something were bothering her, she wouldn't be so weak as to *run away*! This is Pan we're talking about! Tough girl!"
"I don't think Pan's as strong as she pretends to be," Marron said quietly. "I think she's kind of like Vegeta…holding her pain inside and standing up straight no matter what."
Trunks, quiet until now, finally spoke up. "This has something to do with us," he said, total confidence in his words. The other teens looked up, surprised.
"With us?" Goten asked. "What are you talking about?"
Trunks wasn't listening. His brow was furrowed in concentration. "Something to do with us…" he muttered again.
"Oh, great," Bra said, exasperated. "Now he's gone into one of his rare 'thinking modes'."
"You guys," Marron said cautiously. "I think he may be right. Pan's been avoiding us. She's uncomfortable around us, and we hardly ever do anything with her anymore."
"We were going to change that!" Bra protested. "We were going to hang out with her more!"
"She stays at home all the time, studying or training," Goten contributed. "Gohan said he was worried because she didn't have any friends at school, but I thought that was okay, because she had us…"
"She never came to any of Mom's get togethers," Trunks mused. "She didn't even tell us she was training with Dad and Goku. I think we must have hurt her somehow, guys."
Vegeta's voice rang out suddenly above everyone else's talk. "The girl is in the Room of Spirit and Time," he said nonchalantly. Everyone's heads whipped around. It was so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop.
"What did you say?" Gohan said, his voice deceptively calm, barely concealing the underlying well of anger.
Vegeta walked right up, so close to Gohan that they were almost touching. "The Room of Spirit and Time," he repeated, "She went there to train and find out who she was. Sort out her problems. I for one approved of her actions. Very worthy of a saiya-jin." Then his tone became derisive. "And if you didn't even notice what she was going through, what a sorry father you are."
Gohan's face was very pale, but he didn't say anything in response to Vegeta's words. Everyone watched them, wide eyed.
Goku started, warily, "Vegeta-…" But Gohan cut him off by grabbing his arm.
"Dad. The Lookout. Now." A moment passed while Videl put her hand on Gohan's arm, and then they disappeared.
**********
Mirai Trunks' Timeline
Trunks tapped his foot on the hardwood floor quickly. Then he got up and paced the length of the room for a few minutes before growling and flinging himself back down on the couch. His nerves were wracked. He was restless, and couldn't get the thought of the vision out of his mind.
"Trunks, honey, are you okay?" Bulma sounded concerned, and Trunks looked up to see his mother in the doorway, holding a platter with some cups and a teapot. "You seem jumpy."
Trunks sighed. "I'm fine, Mom." He gestured for her to come sit next to him, which she did. "I just- It's nothing. I'm fine, really."
"You've never lied to me before and I don't want you to start now!" Bulma said sharply, rapping his wrist sharply with a spoon as he reached for a cup of tea. "Now tell me what's really going on!"
Trunks, withdrawing his hand, chuckled wryly despite his strange restlessness. That same tone of voice had probably scolded his father as well…His mother was really something else.
"Well?" Bulma prodded.
He hesitated. "It's just that, ah, I feel like something's going to happen," he admitted. "It's like a premonition. A niggling little sensation that won't go away." Seeing his mother's thoughtful look, he tried harder to describe it. "Like, uhm, an itch I can't scratch."
"When did it start?" Bulma questioned, tapping her finger against her chin in an unconscious habit she'd acquired whenever she was concentrating.
"After I woke up from blacking out," Trunks said dutifully. Then he got up, his frustration showing plainly on his face. His power level rose slightly. "I just can't sit still!" he exclaimed. "I feel like I've forgotten something important, and I'm just about to remember it, but then I can't!"
"Calm down, Trunks, calm down," Bulma said, growing alarmed. The last time she had seen Trunks so listless was after he got out of the hospital wing just before he went to the past. It was stirring up painful memories.
Trunks ignored her and continued pacing, faster. Bulma was about to grab his arm when he suddenly went stiff, his eyes wide and unseeing, his mouth slack.
"Trunks! TRUNKS!!!"
_*_*_ The wind was howling, worse than ever before, and the gravity was high; unbearably high. The burning white landscape suddenly contorted, and They cried out, shielding Their eyes against a brilliant flash of light. Then reality began to spiral; the temple, ground, and floor swirling together, draining into a single point of light far below. They were screaming, and a distant voice was calling out Their name. Someone was reaching out- trying to grab hold of Them, but then They were falling, falling into that light, and everything else faded. _*_*_
THUD. He hit the floor. Bulma knelt beside her unconscious son, shaking him frantically. "Trunks!" she cried. "Wake up! Don't you dare leave me dammit! Trunks!"
She was scared, but she sobbed and kept shaking him. What had just happened?! One minute he was just there, fine…Okay, a little jittery, but it was nothing! Then he was frozen, and his eyes went wider and wider, and they were just so empty, like he was GONE! He started shaking, and no mattering what she had done, she hadn't been able to snap him out of it.
_I'm am *not* going to lose Trunks,_ Bulma thought grimly. _I don't know *what* is going on, but nothing, *nothing* is going to take my son from me. He's all I have left._ Then she hurried to the kitchen to get some water to splash him with.
**********
Pan wolfed down her food angrily, ripping the roll apart with a feral growl. It had been two months since the heat storm had wiped her out, and though she was undoubtedly much stronger, she just couldn't seem to reach super saiyajin!
What was the matter with her? she thought. She had the drive, and she most definitely had the anger that was the key to the transformation. She remembered the words her grandfather had said to her once. She had been a little girl, and had wanted to do the same thing all her favorite people did. But how how HOW was she going to make her hair a glowing gold, and her eyes teal green? She wanted to be a super saiyajin!
Goku had laughed, and then said, "It comes from a need, not a desire, Panny." She had stubbornly protested that she *did* need to be a super saiyajin. She needed it so she could be happy. Goku had just laughed some more, not unkindly, and ruffled her hair.
Was it the need, she wondered? There was no threat to the planet at the moment, her friends weren't in any danger. Her father had said that only through raw, soul-searing emotional loss and pain did he, Goku, Vegeta, and Mirai Trunks achieve super saiyajin. About Goten and this timeline's Trunks…well, nobody except they knew about that.
"And they weren't about to *tell* me," Pan said bitterly. But she *would* do it. She *would* reach that plateau. She would show them all. There had to be some way, and she would find it. No matter what the price.
**************************************************************************** ***********
RaliNeoBlade: Hmmmmm. Pan seems really set on this, doesn't she? Almost FREAKY, if you ask me. EVERYONE: We *didn't* ask you!!! RaliNeoBlade: well, fine, BE that way. ::sulk:: What drastic measures will Gohan and the others take to bring Pan back? Why was Trunks so jittery, and just WHAT happened to make him freak out?! Will Pan ever become a super saiyajin! Keep watching for the next chapter of, Won't Ever Understand Me!!!!!
Rali: Sorry that took so long. I was occupied with other stories, other things. (stupid high school application essay…) Anyway! What did you think? Please kindly RATE this story from 1-10, (1 being bad, 10 being really good,) and tell me what you think is gonna happen. Feedback is much appreciated. Check out my other stories if you can, BYE!