Chapter 3 – Proving Grounds

Goku: Hey! It's Tien!

Tien: Goku! Hey everyone!

A small spherical object leaving a vivid red tail of smoke stops them. The round thing twirls around in short semi-circles as it gains altitude. After it reaches its desired height, the sphere bursts in flames. Red smoke rains downward toward where the globe originated.

Now aware of trouble below them, the fighters observe hovercrafts and hooded people scattered about the building with an image of an arrow pointing upward with two triangles at the sides on the helicopter-landing pad.

Vegeta: Let's just keep going.

Goku: But, we can't just leave them there.

Yamcha: Yeah, they need help.

Vegeta: Fools! Don't you see? This may be a trap.

Piccolo: Something's blocking my signal. I can't tell what's going on. Now we can't risk leaving. There might be real hostages and real psycho killers down there.

Vegeta (sarcastically): Fine. If it'll make you all feel better, I'll dispose of the guards. The rest of you go and get the others out… (demanding) And make it fast!

Vegeta flies downward toward the warehouse.

Goku: Okay. Piccolo and Krillen, you two search the lower floors. Yamcha, you and Gohan look in the top floors. Me and Tien will look everywhere in between. Got it?

Everyone nods.

---
Vegeta comes in for a landing. Each guard loads up his/her own rocket pack.

Vegeta: All right. I'm not in the mood to be screwing around with you bastards so to make things easier, come and get me.

The guards look at each other, nod, and then charge at Vegeta.

Vegeta (to himself): Heh heh. Just like sheep begging to be slaughtered.

---
Gohan and Yamcha enter the room on the top floor. Inside, many different types of typical laboratory tools – beakers, test tubes, and other items as such – are displayed on tables. Chemicals inside of beakers are shown in an array of many diverse colors.

Gohan: Look at this place. It's like this lab appeared out of nowhere.

Yamcha: Well, since it's the top floor and we haven't seen any other signs of life while coming up here, it wouldn't hurt to look around for a moment, right?

Gohan: I guess not.

Gohan and Yamcha start to explore inside of it. Yamcha walks up to an area where there are no tables and stops.

Yamcha: Hey Gohan. Why do you suppose this area's empty?

Gohan (walking up to Yamcha): I don' know. Strange.

Yamcha: Yeah. It's eerie.

Yamcha continues to walk around the area. He places his foot down and notices it stops in mid-air.

Yamcha: What the--?

He applies force to his foot. The floor starts to make a clicking noise and proceeds to vibrate. He looses balance and falls – his foot drags along the floor carrying part of the "air". Gohan walks to Yamcha to see what happened.

Gohan: Yamcha, you okay?

Yamcha: Yeah, I think so. But what was that?

Gohan looks around Yamcha's foot, finds the "air", and examines it.

Gohan: It's like an invisible tile…or something.

Yamcha moves his foot. Now visible is a large red button. Next to it, a small green light bulb begins to flash faster and faster.

It stops.

The sound of alarms blasts through the warehouse. Red lights flood the laboratory. Two barrels from opposite sides of the room explode, causing the sides to collapse.

Gohan: Run to the stairs!

Yamcha gets up and starts to run to the staircase behind Gohan. The two frantically race down the stairs

---
Goku (looks up toward the ceiling): What the--?

Tien: Goku! That was an explosion! We better get out of here!!

Goku: There's no one here, right?

Tien: Right!

---
Krillen: Huh? What was that?

Piccolo: That was just the sound of explosives being set off.

Krillen (frantic): What?!

Piccolo: And the building could collapse on top of us. Luckily, there are no hostages in this building.

Krillen: Got a signal back? Well then, LET'S HURRY!

---
Another explosion shakes the building.

Yamcha: What was that for?!

Gohan: There's no time to think! Just keep moving!

The two get down their first flight of stairs. Gohan notices a barrel with a skull on the front. There's a timer on the top counting down the seconds before exploding.

TIMER: "beep" "-00:10" "beep" "-00:09"

Gohan (points to the barrel): There's your answer!

Yamcha: There were stairs here!

Gohan: They got sealed off! (looks around) There's another case there!

Gohan and Yamcha run towards the opposite side of the floor and race downstairs.

TIMER: "beep" "-00:01" "beep" "-00:00"

The barrel explodes, releasing a colorless, odorless gas that fills the room in seconds. Yamcha and Gohan just get to the staircase before coking on the fumes. They both struggle down the staircase.

Yamcha (coughing and wheezing): We gotta…move faster!

Gohan: Other side!

They run to the other side of the floor where another barrel bearing the same skull greets them, blocking the staircase.

TIMER: "beep" "-00:12"

Gohan kicks the barrel out of the way and both descend.

Yamcha: There's gotta be a faster way down!

Yamcha powers up and raises his fist.

Gohan: Yamcha! Don't! You might kill someone on another floor!

Yamcha: We searched! There's NO ONE there!

Gohan: The building's weak enough as it is!

Yamcha: Then what about the sides?!

Gohan: They're too unstable to risk it!

Yamcha (powers down): Then what should we do?!

Gohan: I don't know yet! Just keep moving!

---
Trunks draws closer to the warehouse and senses the others' ki. He stops to look around.

Trunks: This doesn't look like where the Solstice would be. Why did the others stop here?

Trunks flies down toward the warehouse, enters from the top, and lands inside what was once a laboratory. The walls are virtually non-existent. Scraps of instruments and experiments are spread across the tarnished and mangled floor. Unseen danger dances around in the air as Trunks searches for the others. He walks around, examining the state of the room. His leg penetrates through the floor after taking a few steps. He then feels something burning inside of him - something yearning to vacate – and tries to hold this feeling back.

Trunks: Not…now…

Taking this as a sign of danger, Trunks rips his leg out of the decaying floorboards and jolts back into the air. His regular breathing pattern is replaced by deep, shallow gasps for air. His chest begins to tighten, his head becomes increasingly lighter, and his throat starts to close. He tries to fly away from the building, but only manages to drift several meters away. Vegeta, waiting in one of the arsonists' get-a-way cars, notices Trunks sinking toward the ground.

Vegeta: What's that boy doing?

Other fighters – Piccolo, Krillen, Goku, and Tien - begin to vacate from the building. Yamcha and Gohan barely exit the premises before stumbling over each other and losing consciousness. Tien, Goku, and Krillen help their fallen comrades and set them leaning against a car.

Vegeta (tauntingly): So, exactly how many people were in there?

Piccolo: Not now, Vegeta. We need to get help.

Vegeta: Well, it just so happens there's a radio in here.

Krillen: What's a radio doing in a rust bucket like that?

Vegeta: How the hell should I know, baldy?! Now just get help!

Within twenty minutes, an emergency hovercraft arrives. Gohan is fully alert, but Yamcha has slight trouble breathing. Paramedics carry the still unconscious Trunks into the vehicle.

Goku: Someone has to stay behind with Trunks. We can't just have him go into a hospital without someone else telling him what happened.

Yamcha: I'll stay. It's my fault to begin with.

Goku: Okay. You know where the island is?

Yamcha: Right.

Goku: Good. We'll be waiting for you guys. (to everyone else) Let's move it.