Chapter 39
Pan awoke with a start, she'd been dreaming of the tournament again. Even with Akira back, she still had nightmares of that day. As soon as she was fully awake, she concentrated and, to her surprise, was able to feel Akira's power in the gravity room; it was weak, but definitely there.
'I guess his barrier drops when he's sleeping. Speaking of which, why's he asleep in the gravity room?' she asked herself as she glanced at the clock. 'Well, it's time to start training anyway, I hope he doesn't mind if I wake...' Suddenly she remember the weirdness between the two of them. She cursed her brain for ruining her happy thought of spending time with her...whatever Akira was. Friend? Boyfriend? Something else entirely? She could feel another bout of arguing with herself coming on. So rather than deal with that, she climbed out of bed, got dressed, and walked out the door.
'Weird or not, I need a training partner and he's the only one there is for another couple hundred thousand miles.'
When she opened the gravity room doors Pan immediately spotted Akira slumped against the wall.
"Rise and shine sleepy head, it's time to train," she called out.
The young man didn't move.
Before Pan could call out to him again, the gravity machine's monitor caught her attention; she walked over to it to get a better look.
"EMERGENCY OVERIDE" was flashing over and over on the screen. Pan looked down at the controls and her eyes went wide in horror.
'1000G! That's not possible, not even Vegeta's crazy enough to do something like that,' she thought as she rushed to Akira's side.
He was frighteningly pale and his shirt was in tatters. His chest was red and bruised from whatever it was that had done this to him. Pan pulled him away from the wall so he could lie flat and then ran to her room to get some pillows and a blanket. As soon as she got back she covered him up and propped up his feet with the pillows, not entirely sure if she was doing it right or not. She hadn't paid much attention when her instructors were teaching first aid in school because she and her family weren't the kind of people who were hurt by things that could be treated with first aid. They were the kind of people who were hurt by monsters and aliens trying to take over the world.
Pan took one of his hands in hers and with her other hand ran her fingers through his messy, dark hair. "Please Akira," she whispered, "stay with me."
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It took less than a second for all ten aliens to reach Goten. The moment they got to him he flew into a blur of motion. Throwing a punch, dodging a kick, firing a ki blast, blocking a punch, kicking one of them in the gut, jumping over a low sweep, sidestepping another kick, and then landing a powerful uppercut to the face of Chiat. The big cat stumbled back and there was a pause in the action.
Chiat rubbed his chin and smiled, "Excellent. You are indeed a worthy opponent."
"Thanks," Goten said, his eyes shifting from one enemy to another, waiting for one of them to make their move. "Are you finished taking your breather yet?"
"Of course," the feline alien said as he and his comrades powered up even more and then rushed at the lone Saiyan.
Goten dodged the first attack that came at him, but was hit by a hard kick from Chiat. The distraction threw him off his rhythm and he fell pray to several vicious blows from the group of aliens. Blood was trickling from his lip and there was a small gash above him right eye before the exchange was all over and the two sides stepped back for a moment to lick their wounds.
Chiat and his warriors didn't give Goten much time to rest before they ran at him again. This time the Super Saiyan fared even worse and after several minutes of intense fighting Goten was bleeding from gashes above both eyes, his lip, and several other small scratches and bruises all over his body.
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"Aaaakkkiirrrraaaaa!" a voice called out, seemingly from great distance. Akira tried to figure out where it was coming from, but his world was full of darkness.
"Akira," the voice was much closer now, but still he could not see anything or locate the voice.
"Akira, wake up."
The young man opened his eyes and waited for a moment while his eyes slowly focused on the worried face of Pan.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice filled with concern. "I found you here almost an hour ago...you were barely breathing and I...I thought you might leave...again." Pan's eyes became glassy, but she refused to let the tears fall.
Akira flashed her a lopsided grin. "I'm not going anywhere Pan," he said as he painfully climbed to his feet. Pan stood up as well.
"I'm glad to hear it," she said with a soft smile. The two Saiyans looked into each other's eyes for a moment and then Pan scowled and crossed her arms. "Well, now that I know you aren't going to die, tell me, what the HELL were you thinking? 1000 times Earth's gravity!?! Are you insane or just a complete idiot? Even Vegeta doesn't go much above 500G!"
Akira held up his hands in defense and was about to try explaining himself when the room began to spin around him.
"It's not th...whoa," his knees buckled and he started to fall.
Pan caught him before he could hit the ground. She gently slid her arm around his waist and pulled his arm over her shoulder. "I think we need to get you to your room so you can rest," she said.
Akira weakly shook his head, "N...no, I...I'm fine."
"Yeah, you definitely look fine," Pan said, not catching the double meaning to her words until after they had escaped her mouth. Fortunately Akira seemed oblivious to her Freudian slip.
"No, just give me a second and I'll be okay. We need all the training we can get."
Pan didn't look convinced, but after a moment of staring at him she nodded, "Fine, but you're going to take it easy for a while."
Akira smiled weakly and looked down at his tattered shirt. "Uh, maybe I should go change before I do anything else," he said as he pulled the remains of the shirt of with a light tug. For a moment he could have sworn that Pan's eyes had widened slightly at the sight of his chest, but before he could be sure she had turned back to the gravity machine. He shrugged, thinking that it had probably just imagined it, and headed back to his room to change.
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"You're not looking so good over there "Super" Saiyan," Chiat taunted as the other warriors laughed.
"Yeah well, I guess that's easy to say when you outnumber me ten to one. Too bad you guys are too cowardly to try and fight me one at a time!" the Saiyan said through deep breaths.
"I tell you what, since I don't want you to die thinking you were given a bad break, I'll let you fight us one on one, at least for now," Goten smiled inwardly, they were playing into his hands. "Ladon," the cat called over his shoulder, "why don't you take the first crack at our friend here?"
A pale-green skinned creature with four eyes stepped forward, grinning almost literally from ear to ear. Goten dropped into his fighting stance and waited for the creature to make his move. Ladon's smile grew larger and his features began to blur.
The Super Saiyan watched in confusion as the creature disappeared. 'An after image?' he asked himself, trying to sense the green alien; to his surprise, Ladon's ki was still coming from the same spot. 'No, he's just using some sort of camouflage.'
"Confusing isn't it?" the alien's gravely voice called out. Goten's sharp eyes noticed that there was an indention in the dirt where the alien was standing that moved just slightly as Landon shifted his weight. "Too bad you can't hit what you can't see." The green alien charged forward at full speed. Goten half-closed his eyes, concentrating on Ladon's ki signiture, and then at the last possible second he sidestepped and stuck out his arm. Ladon was moving to fast to avoid the clothesline and his neck smacked painfully into the mighty Saiyan's arm; he flipped in the air and fell to the ground, gasping for air.
Goten stepped over to the noisy indenture in the dirt and picked up the invisible alien. "Just a suggestion, but in the afterlife you should probably avoid using that technique against opponents that can sense ki." He threw the creature high into the air and fired a massive energy wave at him, incinerating Ladon instantly.
"Mar," Chiat said evenly.
Goten didn't even have a chance to turn when a powerful kick sent him crashing into the dirt. He slowly climbed to his feet and looked at his attacker. Mar was a large, muscular, pink-skinned alien with pointy ears. The alien motioned with it's hand, encouraging the Saiyan to attack. Goten obliged, rushing forward and landing a vicious uppercut to the creature's stomach, then spun behind the warrior and landed a kick to Mar's exposed back that sent the alien crashing to the ground.
"Ouch, that hurt!" the pink fighter said in a soft, feminine voice.
Goten cocked an eyebrow and looked at Mar in confusion. "Whoa, are you a woman?" he asked in surprise.
"Of course I'm a woman you idiot! What do I look like?"
"Uh...well... you look like a woman...of course..." Goten stifled a chuckle as he spoke.
Mar growled and fired a quick ki blast at the Saiyan. Goten dodged and fired one of his own; hitting the unusual female in the gut. The Super Saiyan flew forward and landed a series of punches and kicks. Mar was off balance for a moment, but then recovered and counterattacked, hitting Goten several times in the face with some hard punches that sent him stumbling back.
The Saiyan took a moment to regain his composure and then launched back at the big female. With lightening fast speed, he punched and kicked her, breaking past her defenses at will. She threw a powerful punch in desperation, but Goten dodged and sent a ki blast flying at Mar's unprotected stomach sending her flying. She hit the ground hard, tried to stand, and then crashed to the ground.
Goten turned to Chait and smiled. "Well, whose next?"
.
Pan awoke with a start, she'd been dreaming of the tournament again. Even with Akira back, she still had nightmares of that day. As soon as she was fully awake, she concentrated and, to her surprise, was able to feel Akira's power in the gravity room; it was weak, but definitely there.
'I guess his barrier drops when he's sleeping. Speaking of which, why's he asleep in the gravity room?' she asked herself as she glanced at the clock. 'Well, it's time to start training anyway, I hope he doesn't mind if I wake...' Suddenly she remember the weirdness between the two of them. She cursed her brain for ruining her happy thought of spending time with her...whatever Akira was. Friend? Boyfriend? Something else entirely? She could feel another bout of arguing with herself coming on. So rather than deal with that, she climbed out of bed, got dressed, and walked out the door.
'Weird or not, I need a training partner and he's the only one there is for another couple hundred thousand miles.'
When she opened the gravity room doors Pan immediately spotted Akira slumped against the wall.
"Rise and shine sleepy head, it's time to train," she called out.
The young man didn't move.
Before Pan could call out to him again, the gravity machine's monitor caught her attention; she walked over to it to get a better look.
"EMERGENCY OVERIDE" was flashing over and over on the screen. Pan looked down at the controls and her eyes went wide in horror.
'1000G! That's not possible, not even Vegeta's crazy enough to do something like that,' she thought as she rushed to Akira's side.
He was frighteningly pale and his shirt was in tatters. His chest was red and bruised from whatever it was that had done this to him. Pan pulled him away from the wall so he could lie flat and then ran to her room to get some pillows and a blanket. As soon as she got back she covered him up and propped up his feet with the pillows, not entirely sure if she was doing it right or not. She hadn't paid much attention when her instructors were teaching first aid in school because she and her family weren't the kind of people who were hurt by things that could be treated with first aid. They were the kind of people who were hurt by monsters and aliens trying to take over the world.
Pan took one of his hands in hers and with her other hand ran her fingers through his messy, dark hair. "Please Akira," she whispered, "stay with me."
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It took less than a second for all ten aliens to reach Goten. The moment they got to him he flew into a blur of motion. Throwing a punch, dodging a kick, firing a ki blast, blocking a punch, kicking one of them in the gut, jumping over a low sweep, sidestepping another kick, and then landing a powerful uppercut to the face of Chiat. The big cat stumbled back and there was a pause in the action.
Chiat rubbed his chin and smiled, "Excellent. You are indeed a worthy opponent."
"Thanks," Goten said, his eyes shifting from one enemy to another, waiting for one of them to make their move. "Are you finished taking your breather yet?"
"Of course," the feline alien said as he and his comrades powered up even more and then rushed at the lone Saiyan.
Goten dodged the first attack that came at him, but was hit by a hard kick from Chiat. The distraction threw him off his rhythm and he fell pray to several vicious blows from the group of aliens. Blood was trickling from his lip and there was a small gash above him right eye before the exchange was all over and the two sides stepped back for a moment to lick their wounds.
Chiat and his warriors didn't give Goten much time to rest before they ran at him again. This time the Super Saiyan fared even worse and after several minutes of intense fighting Goten was bleeding from gashes above both eyes, his lip, and several other small scratches and bruises all over his body.
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"Aaaakkkiirrrraaaaa!" a voice called out, seemingly from great distance. Akira tried to figure out where it was coming from, but his world was full of darkness.
"Akira," the voice was much closer now, but still he could not see anything or locate the voice.
"Akira, wake up."
The young man opened his eyes and waited for a moment while his eyes slowly focused on the worried face of Pan.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice filled with concern. "I found you here almost an hour ago...you were barely breathing and I...I thought you might leave...again." Pan's eyes became glassy, but she refused to let the tears fall.
Akira flashed her a lopsided grin. "I'm not going anywhere Pan," he said as he painfully climbed to his feet. Pan stood up as well.
"I'm glad to hear it," she said with a soft smile. The two Saiyans looked into each other's eyes for a moment and then Pan scowled and crossed her arms. "Well, now that I know you aren't going to die, tell me, what the HELL were you thinking? 1000 times Earth's gravity!?! Are you insane or just a complete idiot? Even Vegeta doesn't go much above 500G!"
Akira held up his hands in defense and was about to try explaining himself when the room began to spin around him.
"It's not th...whoa," his knees buckled and he started to fall.
Pan caught him before he could hit the ground. She gently slid her arm around his waist and pulled his arm over her shoulder. "I think we need to get you to your room so you can rest," she said.
Akira weakly shook his head, "N...no, I...I'm fine."
"Yeah, you definitely look fine," Pan said, not catching the double meaning to her words until after they had escaped her mouth. Fortunately Akira seemed oblivious to her Freudian slip.
"No, just give me a second and I'll be okay. We need all the training we can get."
Pan didn't look convinced, but after a moment of staring at him she nodded, "Fine, but you're going to take it easy for a while."
Akira smiled weakly and looked down at his tattered shirt. "Uh, maybe I should go change before I do anything else," he said as he pulled the remains of the shirt of with a light tug. For a moment he could have sworn that Pan's eyes had widened slightly at the sight of his chest, but before he could be sure she had turned back to the gravity machine. He shrugged, thinking that it had probably just imagined it, and headed back to his room to change.
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"You're not looking so good over there "Super" Saiyan," Chiat taunted as the other warriors laughed.
"Yeah well, I guess that's easy to say when you outnumber me ten to one. Too bad you guys are too cowardly to try and fight me one at a time!" the Saiyan said through deep breaths.
"I tell you what, since I don't want you to die thinking you were given a bad break, I'll let you fight us one on one, at least for now," Goten smiled inwardly, they were playing into his hands. "Ladon," the cat called over his shoulder, "why don't you take the first crack at our friend here?"
A pale-green skinned creature with four eyes stepped forward, grinning almost literally from ear to ear. Goten dropped into his fighting stance and waited for the creature to make his move. Ladon's smile grew larger and his features began to blur.
The Super Saiyan watched in confusion as the creature disappeared. 'An after image?' he asked himself, trying to sense the green alien; to his surprise, Ladon's ki was still coming from the same spot. 'No, he's just using some sort of camouflage.'
"Confusing isn't it?" the alien's gravely voice called out. Goten's sharp eyes noticed that there was an indention in the dirt where the alien was standing that moved just slightly as Landon shifted his weight. "Too bad you can't hit what you can't see." The green alien charged forward at full speed. Goten half-closed his eyes, concentrating on Ladon's ki signiture, and then at the last possible second he sidestepped and stuck out his arm. Ladon was moving to fast to avoid the clothesline and his neck smacked painfully into the mighty Saiyan's arm; he flipped in the air and fell to the ground, gasping for air.
Goten stepped over to the noisy indenture in the dirt and picked up the invisible alien. "Just a suggestion, but in the afterlife you should probably avoid using that technique against opponents that can sense ki." He threw the creature high into the air and fired a massive energy wave at him, incinerating Ladon instantly.
"Mar," Chiat said evenly.
Goten didn't even have a chance to turn when a powerful kick sent him crashing into the dirt. He slowly climbed to his feet and looked at his attacker. Mar was a large, muscular, pink-skinned alien with pointy ears. The alien motioned with it's hand, encouraging the Saiyan to attack. Goten obliged, rushing forward and landing a vicious uppercut to the creature's stomach, then spun behind the warrior and landed a kick to Mar's exposed back that sent the alien crashing to the ground.
"Ouch, that hurt!" the pink fighter said in a soft, feminine voice.
Goten cocked an eyebrow and looked at Mar in confusion. "Whoa, are you a woman?" he asked in surprise.
"Of course I'm a woman you idiot! What do I look like?"
"Uh...well... you look like a woman...of course..." Goten stifled a chuckle as he spoke.
Mar growled and fired a quick ki blast at the Saiyan. Goten dodged and fired one of his own; hitting the unusual female in the gut. The Super Saiyan flew forward and landed a series of punches and kicks. Mar was off balance for a moment, but then recovered and counterattacked, hitting Goten several times in the face with some hard punches that sent him stumbling back.
The Saiyan took a moment to regain his composure and then launched back at the big female. With lightening fast speed, he punched and kicked her, breaking past her defenses at will. She threw a powerful punch in desperation, but Goten dodged and sent a ki blast flying at Mar's unprotected stomach sending her flying. She hit the ground hard, tried to stand, and then crashed to the ground.
Goten turned to Chait and smiled. "Well, whose next?"
.