Rise and Shine
By Duran the Gladiator
Chapter 3: Moments of fright
Pan relaxed once she had the course of the ship set to Earth's coordinates. Fern stood, watching the young girl operate the ship with the greatest ease.
"Wow, you must fly this thing a lot!", he said to the princess.
"Yep. This thing is, by the way, Capsule Corp.'s Deluxe Model nr. 15. Wait – I'll engage the ultra boosters…", replied Pan while switching them on. The ship started to pick up speed very fast, and within five minutes planet Vegeta was just a blue dot behind them. Pan set the automatic pilot on and went to accommodate her two fellow travellers.
"Choose any unoccupied room you like. By the way, we're not even properly introduced. I'm Pan Son, princess of Earth."
"Wow, Tora, you didn't tell me she's a princess! I have no sense of protocol or whatever it's called…"
"Hey, don't bother, I'm just an ordinary girl and from now on your protector. I already know Tora, but what's your name?"
"I'm Fern, and me and him –", said the thief while pointing to Tora, "- are two first class thieves. Were, excuse me. Tora told me you were willing to give us a second chance?"
"Well, my grandfather, ceremonial king of Earth, has a great deal of influence, a lot of money, and a heart of gold. He always gives everyone another chance, even if no one else is willing to." Pan smiled. "Wait here – I'll tell my grandfather what has happened." She pushed a few buttons and suddenly, a big screen flashed on and showed the image of Goku.
"Hey Pan! I didn't expect you to return anytime soon…"
"Yeah, well, somehow King Vegeta and Queen Bulma got the idea that dad and uncle Goten kidnapped some princess. I was imprisoned and sentenced to death, but rescued by a thief who coincidentally ran into me. I promised them a second chance in life in return for saving me."
"Ah, I get what you mean! Sure, they can start anew. I'll settle the little "kidnapping" matter with King Vegeta later. Do you know that Chichi's going to be operated day after tomorrow? …Yes, she has a pretty serious disease of the heart. If you hurry, you can get here and see her before she's going to the hospital. Think you can make it?"
"Think I can. I'll phone Seventeen and Dr. Briefs to ask if this contraption can go any faster. See you soon, gramps!", she said, then turned the screen off and dialled another "number". This time, the screen revealed Seventeen's face, covered with oil.
"Capsule Corp. Lab, Juunanagou speaking. Pan? Hey! On your way back already?"
"Yup. Say, I want to get home real fast, so I was kind of wondering if the ultra boosters could top 1/10th of light speed."
"Wait, I'll get Doc Briefs for you…" Seventeen disappeared from the screen for a while, but after a minute he came back. "He said that you can take it up to 1/8th of light speed – no more, or else the heat shield will break and you'll be hardboiled!"
"Okay. I'll see you, Juunanagou!", she said: he chuckled and threw her a quick kiss before he disconnected. Fern chuckled as well as Pan set the controls quickly, blushing furiously.
"Seem nice people to me. Seems you liked the oily guy, too…"
"He's an old friend of the family. They're androids, and were once bad guys, made with the purpose to kill my father and destroy our bloodline, but they were defeated and my father decided to reprogram them rather than deactivate them. Juunanagou is very good at technics, and his sister Juuhachigou is my mother's closest friend, she works as a martial arts trainer."
"Oh, I see. Now, tell us a bit about your planet."
"Ah, the earth is the most beautiful planet of the universe – that's what I think, at least. It's very different from your planet. It has very big cities, and air cars drive around everywhere. It's a fertile planet, but it also has the kind of dry, hot deserts you have on Vegeta. The nature grows freely there, it isn't planted. Oh, and there are also humans living there…"
"Well, there's one human living on our planet, that's the queen.", said Tora.
"Queen Bulma is human?! I mean, I didn't see her tail, but I just thought she was hiding it under those big skirts…"
"Nope, she's human. Don't really recall how she got there, must have been before my time."
"Before your time? How old are you then, Tora?", asked Pan, suddenly very curious.
"Heh, he's barely out of the cradle! He's nearly twenty… but, of course, that cannot be compared to my thirty-five years of experience.", said Fern in a mocking tone, but not without blinking at Trunks, who was blushing because of it.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, Tora, I'm 18 and a half. It's not the age you have that matters, Fern, it's how you spend those years… but don't worry, we'll make men out of you two yet! Now, if you'll excuse me, I want a decent meal and a nap in my nice, soft, comfy bed."
Meanwhile, back on planet Vegeta, three soldiers stood in front of their king, scared out of their wits.
"What do you mean, she got away along with the thief?!"
"Y-y-yes, lord, she f-flew off in a spaceship…"
"Damn it! You shall be severely punished for such, such… incompetence!" Vegeta was furious: not only was his daughter, the only child he and Bulma had left, missing, but he had also been humiliated twice at once. He ordered the guards to throw the three in the deepest dungeon and to feed them only salted bread, with no water, for a week. As the guards dragged the poor men out, he walked out of the throne room into his bedroom. Bulma sat on the edge of the bed.
"They haven't found that girl, haven't they? …Vegeta, let it rest. Just… let it rest…", she said in between sobs. "You know, that girl… she told me she hadn't seen… she had walked to their ship with them…"
Vegeta went to sit down beside her, feeling uncomfortable about her human emotions. He was about to say something to comfort her when a knock on the door disturbed their peaceful moment.
"King Vegeta, we have a message. It's from Earth's delegates. Shall I play it?"
"Yes, play it", came his response. The servant pressed a button on the little machine and a message, spoken by Gohan, came from it.
"King Vegeta, Queen Bulma, I am sorry we didn't contact you earlier to tell of our early departure, but our mother, Queen Chichi, has fallen very ill and wishes us to return ASAP. My daughter Pan has agreed to stay behind so the Earth is represented at the signing of the treaties. By the way, we have discovered a stoleaway, a girl about fifteen years old, dressed in a servant's dress. Maybe one of your servants has run away? Again, our sincerest apologies for our hastened departure. May peace and durable alliances be forged on Vegeta!"
Bulma was baffled. One of the servants had run away? She called for Sary and asked her if one of the maids had gone missing.
"No, ma'am. No one's gone. One of the maids did notice her spare dress had been stolen, but we replaced it."
"And when did this happen?"
"Day before yesterday, ma'am"
Bulma paled. First the princess had gone missing, then the supposed kidnappers leave a message telling of a stoleaway dressed as a maid, then she's told a maid's dress was stolen the day before the princess went missing… It couldn't be coincidence anymore. It finally began to dawn on her why she hadn't believed Pan's guilt – she was innocent, and so were her father and his brother. But she knew she couldn't get that through to Vegeta.
"Vegeta, I'll leave for Earth.", she suddenly said, standing up as Sary went out again.
"What for?", asked Vegeta, perplexed by her sudden gain of vitality.
"I'm going to see who that maid is who they're talking about, and to talk this kidnapping stuff over with Goku."
"Why? They kidnapped our princess. I say we should attack them.", came Vegeta's simple reply. "Besides, why would Goku talk to you if his sons kidnapped our daughter?"
"Because", said Bulma, who had already started packing, "he is my childhood friend. We grew up together. He'll be more than happy to see me again and hear what I've become – not to mention my father and mother – oh, and Krillin! I wonder how he managed to go by after I refused to be his mate…" Vegeta heard her voice trail off and knew she wouldn't be talked out of it. "Fine, go – but if you're not back with our daughter in two weeks, I'm coming to get you two with force!"
Goten and Gohan were very happy to hear the computer report that they'd arrive on Earth the next day. Goten asked to be excused from their luscious dinner early to check on the girl in the rejuvenation tank. He thought he recognised the girl from somewhere, but couldn't quite figure out where he'd seen her. Gohan joined him after he had finished dinner.
"She's a beautiful girl, isn't she?", he said.
"Yes. …Hey, that's not why I come to take a look at her! I… it's just, I think I remember her from somewhere, but can't figure out where from."
"Hmm… now that you say it, she does seem familiar! But maybe she has served us, or we could have seen her walking down the corridor. As soon as she comes to, we'll ask her who she is and solve the problem."
"Yes. Maybe I'll figure out why I seem to know her by then…" Goten left, but picked up a stone before leaving.
"Why are you so attached to a simple rock?", he asked, curious.
"Well, this rock made me stay at the ship long enough to hear of mother's disease. So this rock is generally a new good luck charm of mine…"
"What does it read?"
"Well, it says "Only you can save me now!", but who am I supposed to save, huh? All I've saved until now is this girl here. All WE've saved, naturally."
Goten nor Gohan noticed, but as he read the inscription on the text, a mental impulse ran through the girl inside the rejuvenation tank, the princess Bra disguised as a maid. The machine bleeped as she became conscious for a split second, seeing Gohan and – more clearly – Goten, holding the rock she had thrown out of the window the day before she escaped. Then, her mind fell back into darkness, relishing the sight of the dark-haired prince…
AN: Hey, I'm back with another update. Really am setting a new trend… I'll try to keep it up! (Although it's just plain luck that I started typing this in the one week off I have.) Of course, all you faithful T/P readers know I can't get away with writing one without including at least a bit of B/G. Any questions/remarks/positive comments? Drop me a line! I'll try to respond. Oh, and I'd like to say thank you to those of you that have reviewed already. It's people like you that make writing worthwhile! Love y'all!