Chapter 3: Train for the Tournament

Trunks leaned back in his chair, glaring at the intern that was bringing in the latest stack of paperwork for him to fill out and wondering for the millionth time why he had taken this job. When he was fresh out of college and his mom had suggested it, he had jumped at the opportunity, after all, how many 23 year olds were pulling in a six-figure salary? But now, after a few years of sitting in his office, watching the mountains of paperwork grow, he would give anything to jump out the window, fly to Goten's house and spend the rest of his days goofing off with his best friend.

The intern put the papers on his desk and left, but Trunks didn't even look up, he just sat at his desk thinking of the "good 'ol days" when Buu and Baby threatened the universe and he was allowed to go on adventures.

"Penny for your thoughts," Bulma said as she walked into the office.

"Oh, I was just thinking about... uh, I was just thinking. Um, what are you doing here, Mom? Aren't you supposed to be in a meeting?"

"Actually yes, I am; but a certain purple haired executive never showed up, so I decided to come find him."

"Uh... that was today, huh? Sorry about that, I've had a lot on my plate lately," Trunks said, nodding toward the piles of paper covering his desk. The two sat quietly for a moment, lost in their own thoughts.

"Trunks, are you happy working here?" Bulma finally asked, causing her son to look up in shock.

"Yeah, of course, what's not to like?"

"Ha! You're a terrible liar; you know that? I know why you have been forgetting meetings, falling behind on the paperwork, and why you don't like working here any more: You're bored." He started to protest, but Bulma held up a hand and silenced him. "No, don't deny it. All of you are bored. Vegeta, Goten, Pan, and even Gohan all have the same look in their eyes as you do. You guys just aren't happy unless you have some epic battle to look forward to."

Trunks stared at her for a moment, soaking in what she had just said. He had, of course, known that he, Goten, and Vegeta were bored out of their minds, but hadn't realized that Gohan and Pan were feeling the same also. Now that he thought about it, it did make sense though, after all, it had been three years since the earth faced certain annihilation. "So, what do you think we should do?" he asked.

"Well, first of all, I'm putting you on a forced vacation," she winked at him, "and secondly I want you to look at this." Bulma handed him a small folder.

Trunks opened the folder and started to skim through the first page, after a second, he stopped, went back to the top, and began reading the document very carefully. "This can't be what I think it is..."

"But it is! Capsule Corp has bought the rights to the Tenkaichi Budoukia. I figured since we would be running the entire thing we could add some enhancements that would let everyone fight at full power it they want. So, what do you think?" Bulma smiled as she watched Trunks flush with excitement.

"I think this is the best idea I've heard in a long time. Did you tell dad yet?"

"Of course, why do you think he's been training so much more this last week?"

"Well, to be honest, it's kind of hard to tell. I mean, he trains almost every waking moment anyway," Trunks laughed.

"Yeah well, now he's been coming to bed later and even getting up in the middle of the night to get in a couple extra hours... It leaves a woman very unsatisfied..."

Trunks looked slightly ill, "Um, please don't ever say that again."

"Oh come on now Trunks, you know that your dad and I have se-"

"MOM!" Trunks' face was turning a very funny shade of red in his embarrassment.

"I'm just kidding! Sheesh, you need this tournament worse than I thought," Bulma stood and headed towards the door. "Oh, before I forget. Gohan came by earlier asking if he could borrow a gravity room capsule, so I explained everything to him already, meaning that Goten and Pan will know too. Your dad expects you to beat all of Goku's kids, so you better start training today."

A minute later, Trunks exploded out the window and flew to the gravity rooms on the other side of the building feeling happier than he had in a long time.

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As soon as Gohan left Capsule Corp, he headed straight home. In fact, he left the car where it was parked and flew because it would be faster. The moment he walked through the door he called Goten to fill him in on the exciting news and soon the two brothers were starting up the gravity machine and beginning their workout. The started off at 50x Earth's gravity (written as 50G from now on) and soon worked their way up to 150G. After an hour and a half, the two began sparring.

"It's been a while since we did this Goten, do you think you can keep up with me?"

"Ha, just watch me old man!" And with that Goten flew forward, firing a ki blast.

Gohan blocked it, but received a swift kick to the side of the head while he was distracted. Goten pressed his advantage, chasing his brother around the room, punching and kicking him several times, then throwing him at the wall. Gohan made a good-sized dent and looked dazed when he hit the wall. Goten flew at him looking to keep up his attack, but suddenly Gohan disappeared. The younger Saiyan stopped in his tracks, shocked, and was promptly sent flying by a punch from Gohan.

"You've been training," Gohan observed through slightly heavy breaths as he settled back into the fighting stance that Piccolo had taught him all those years ago. "Dad would be proud."

"Thanks," Goten said, a sad expression passed across his face, but was gone almost as soon as it appeared. "Well, do you think we should turn things up a notch?" An explosion of gold light from his brother was all the response he needed. Goten transformed also and the two brothers began again.

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"Akira, over here!" shouted Zori to the young man carrying a mountain of food on his tray. He walked over and sat down across from her and Pan, who had brought a packed lunch that took up an entire extra backpack, soon joined them. "Wow, I didn't think I'd ever meet some one who could eat as much as Pan," commented Zori.

Akira, who was in the process of inhaling his fourth slice of pizza, stopped and looked a little embarrassed. "Oh, well, I just thought that everything looked so good, it was hard to pass any of it up," then he went back to eating.

Pan watched him as she finished her second bowl of pasta. Something about Akira just didn't sit right with her. "So, where did you say you lived again?" she asked.

"The eastern outskirts of town," came the muffled reply, Akira had moved onto the first of several bags of Doritos.

"Really, I live over in that area, what street is your house on?" Pan could have sworn that she saw his eyes widen just for a second, but it happened so fast that she wasn't completely sure.

"What? Sorry, I didn't hear you, I was eating chips..." he flashed her a small smile and then said, "Hey Zori, how was that quiz in math? I overheard some kids saying that it was pretty tough...I hope the teacher doesn't make me take it on my first day."

Pan's eyes narrowed as her friend began telling Akira about the quiz. 'There's something weird about this guy,' she thought.

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The rest of the day seemed to drag by, but finally the bell rang and Orange Star's students started heading home. Pan said good-bye to Zori and began searching for Akira. She spotted him walking down the street, 'I thought he said he lived on the outskirts of town, surely he isn't going to try and walk home...' She ran to catch up to him.

As if he could feel her coming, he stopped and waited. "Hey Pan, what are you doing?" he asked.

"I was going to ask you the same thing. Don't you think you live a bit far away to be walking home?"

"Oh, uh, I was just going to take the bus."

"Then you're headed the wrong way, the bus stop is this way," she said, pointing in the opposite direction.

"Really? Wow, I guess I got turned around! Thanks, you just saved me a really long walk," He smiled warmly.

Pan looked at him feeling very puzzled. It seemed like a plausible explanation, but there was still something about him that bugged her. They walked toward the bus stop in silence for a few minutes while she worked up the nerve to ask him something that had been on her mind most of the day.

"Look, I wanted to asked you, um, how did you do that in the gym?" She finally asked.

"Do what?" His face was the picture of innocence.

"How did you block my punch? Heck, how did you even see that punch? I mean, I'm not trying to brag here or anything, but there isn't a single kid in that school who could have done that." He stopped and gave her a perplexed look. She looked up at him, but suddenly found herself blushing and had to look away. 'What is wrong with me? He's just an annoying, arrogant boy... okay, a cute, annoying, arrogant boy... but that doesn't mean I should be blushing like a silly schoolgirl. I'm a Saiyan, damn it!' She looked back up, forcing herself to maintain composure this time. "Well?"

He shrugged and grinned, "Maybe you were just having an off day."

"I don't have 'off days,'" she said in a low voice, glaring at him.

"Then it must have just been luck on my part." Pan looked ready to strangle him, but before she got the chance, her father came running over to them.

"How come you didn't wait for me in front of the school, Pan?" Gohan asked. "Well, never mind, I got the gravity room all set..." he stopped as he finally noticed Akira. He extended his hand and smiled, "Oops, uh, hi, I'm Pan's father, Gohan."

The boy smiled, shook Gohan's hand and said, "I'm Akira. It's very nice to meet you, sir."

"Nice to meet you also. Anyway, Pan, we need to get home. Capsule Corp is starting the Tenkaichi Budoukia back up and we need to start training if we are going to compete," Gohan said excitedly.

In an instant, Pan completely forgot her anger and suspicions of Akira. She hurriedly said goodbye to him and ran with her father to the car. As soon as they got home, they changed clothes and headed into the gravity room, where they stayed until dinner.

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The rest of the week at school went by in a blur. Pan was so focused on her training that she didn't bother to look for any unusual behavior out of Akira and barely noticed that despite all of Zori's best efforts, he didn't really seem all that interested in her as anything more than a friend.

Once the weekend finally arrived, Pan and Gohan began training in earnest. Up until that point, Gohan had mostly been allowing Pan to get used to the increased gravity, but now he decided that she was ready for some real workouts. The two of them would lift weights, practice energy attacks, and spar for hours on end all under the crushing pressure of 100G.

"Are you excited about the tournament, Pan?" asked Gohan as they took a small break for some Gatorade.

"Heck yeah! It's going to be great, but..." her voice trailed off.

"What?"

"Oh nothing, it's just that, I'm a little worried, I mean if I have to face any one we know in the first round, I'm sure to get beat."

"Why do you say that?" Gohan asked, already knowing the answer.

"Cause I'm not a Super Saiyan," Pan looked down and then voiced one of her darkest fears. "What if I can't transform? I mean, we don't really know a whole lot about the Super Saiyans from the past, but what if its something that only a male Saiyan can do? What if I can't become one just because I'm a girl."

Gohan sat quietly for a moment turning the idea over in his head; he'd never considered that possibility. Then he smiled and said, "I don't think you have anything to worry about. I mean, the Saiyans were a race of warriors and from what Vegeta's told me, women were no less capable than men when it came to battle. It's true that we don't know if there have ever been female Super Saiyans, but even if its not supposed to be possible, who cares? A 'third class' warrior wasn't supposed to be able to do it, neither was his ten-year-old half-breed son, but your grandpa and I are proof that it can happen. Trust me, you'll get there, it'll just take sometime.

Pan beamed at her father and jumped to her feet. "Well, what are we waiting for? I'm not going to become a Super Saiyan sitting around drinking Gatorade! Especially if I only get to train after school and on weekends..."

Gohan laughed at her not-so-subtle hint. "Okay, I'll talk to your mom about keeping you home so we can train, and we'll see what she says. But if she agrees, I need you to promise me something. Promise me you won't tell your grandmother that I let her little angel put off studying so we could have 'another monster' in the family. She'd kill me!"

Pan started laughing and nodded, "You know dad, you sounded a lot like grandpa right there!"

And then they began. Hour after hour, they worked on Pan's ki beams, her defenses, her basic attacks, and even her stance. Then, just when Pan thought that her body was going to give out, her dad made her spar with him. She ended up spending more than one night sleeping in the rejuvenation tank that Bulma had brought over, but every morning she woke up feeling stronger than the day before.

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Nearly two weeks later, Pan was doing her afternoon exercises at 100G when her mother's voice called to her through the intercom.

"Pan, you have a visitor." Her voice sounded very pleased, maybe even joyous.

"Who is it?" Pan asked in confusion, after all, Zori wasn't supposed to be by until later tonight.

"Why don't you come out and see?"

Pan considered saying no and getting back to work, but then curiosity got the best of her. "I'll be out in just a sec," she said as she walked to the gravity machine and turned it off.

She walked through the door and was greeted by the sight of Akira chatting pleasantly with her mother. He turned to her and grinned.

"Hey Pan, how's the training going?"

"Um, good... who told you I was training?"

"Well, it was mostly an educated guess. See, half of the school says you are lying at home sick with some horrible disease, I think it was typhoid fever in the most recent version of the story. The other half of the school says you're at home training to take over your grandfather's crown as earth's strongest fighter." He smiled and shrugged, "You don't look too feverish, so I figured you must be training."

Pan started to laugh, "So you just came by to see if I had typhoid or not?"

"I didn't really think you had something that serious, but I was in the area and I figured I could make sure that you were feeling okay... Okay, actually I just miss having you kick my butt in PE; its no fun sparring with Zori, she fights dirty."

Pan was about to point out that the only time she'd sparred with him, she hadn't kicked anything, when she noticed her mother smiling broadly just out of Akira's line of sight; their eyes met and Videl winked at her.

"Hey, do you want to take a walk, I could use some fresh air," Pan asked him quickly.

"Actually I was wondering if I could see the gravity room. I've never seen one before, but your mom was explaining it to me and it sounds cool."

"Sure, this way," she said heading out the backdoor. As they were leaving she saw Videl dash to the phone and begin dialing. 'Well that's just great. I'm never going to hear the end of this,' she thought.

They walked into the large dome and Akira let out a low whistle. "How high does the gravity go," he asked.

"Well, I was just working out in 100G, but you can go all the way up to 500G if you want." As soon as the words came out of her mouth she realized how strange they would sound to a normal person, but Akira didn't seem to care.

"Can we try it out?" he asked, looking very excited.

"I don't think that's such a good idea..."

"Oh come on, it'll be fun," and with that he flipped a switch on the controls and set the gravity to 10G. Pan expected him to be a pancake, but at first he didn't even seem to notice that his body now weighed over 10,000 pounds. He looked over his shoulder at her, smiled, then his body bucked and he crashed to the floor, struggling to get up. It took Pan a few seconds to realize that he needed help, but once she did, she ran to the controls and turned the gravity back to normal.

He was panting hard, but smiling as he pulled himself into a sitting position, "Wow, and you were just in 100G? That's just incredible! You sure you're not from another planet or something?"

Pan's head snapped up at those words. "What do you mean by that?" she demanded.

"You know, like Superman. Coming here from a distant world and having super powers and all." Pan's eyes went wide. "Um, Pan? It was a joke."

"Oh... hahaha... a joke, right..."

Akira gave her an odd look and cocked one eyebrow. "You okay there?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course, sorry, I guess I was just off in dream land or something."

Akira gave her another puzzled look, but then asked, "So, is everyone in your family strong like you?"

"Pretty much, I guess its genetic or something."

"Are you all entering the tournament?"

"Just dad, Uncle Goten, and myself."

"Well, hopefully I'll get to see you there." Akira said, flashing another smile. They spent the next thirty minutes talking about random things until Akira decided to head home and finish his homework.

"It was really nice to see you again Pan," he called over his shoulder as he headed out the door. Pan trained for the rest of the day with a smile on her face.

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A/N: The idea for Capsule Corp to purchase the Tenkaichi Budoukia came from Dragon Ball Next.