Skeletons

The mysterious Judge had finally been unmasked, his face revealed to be none other then Pan's infamous grandfather, Goku. "What the hell?" Trunks gasped, Pan's eyes couldn't leave Goku's face, it was really him under that hood. "Grandpa, is that really you?" Pan asked softly. BAM! A powerful energy blast struck Pan and crashed her into the ground. Trunks screamed and immediately went after her, but the Judge apparently had other ideas.

The dark warrior slammed his hammer into Trunks chest, and punched him across the face. "ACK" Trunks coughed up a heap of blood, as he held his mangled ribs in agony. The Judge snarled as he turned is sights towards Bulma. "This isn't over woman, I'll be back and when I do, you're going to wish I killed you and that piece of shit Sayian trash when I had the chance" Goku said. The dark warrior vanished using the instant transmission.

Soon after...

Bulma carried Pan into the Capsule Corp. building, and immediately placed her in the spare hospital bed she had next to Vegeta. Trunks staggered into the room, still clutching his gut in pain. "You knew……didn't you?" Trunks immediately asked. Bulma replied "She should be fine, she's a little banged up but I don't think the blast hurt her too badly". Again, Trunks repeated his question "Don't ignore me; you know exactly what I'm talking about".

The blue haired woman looked to Trunks with an uncaring glare; she turned to exit the room. "I have nothing more to say" Bulma said. The young boy angrily grabbed her by the throat and jammed Bulma up against the wall, green Super Sayian eyes boiled with fury. Bulma's eyes widened in shock.

Trunks screamed "I DON'T GIVE A DAM! You've been keeping us in the dark this whole time, now Pan's hurt and you're the only one with answers. So unless you want to end up like Vegeta over there, you better start giving me answers, and I mean right NOW, got that?".

Terrified of the young boy's fury, Bulma slowly nodded and answered "Yes, I think I do". Trunks sighed "Good then start talking. How the hell is Goku still alive? You told us he was dead, and instead we find out that HE is the Judge. Any other lies you care to share?". Bulma shook her head "You don't understand……".

Trunks blinked "What was that?". The woman screamed and angrily shook Trunks off of her, her face wrinkled with sobbing tears and hate filled eyes. Trunks backed away as she shrieked like a demon. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! What you saw out there was a ghost, a shadow, a hollow shell that used to be the little boy I grew up with. Goku may be walking, talking, and breathing, but inside he's very much dead" Bulma sobbed.

The Sayian looked to Bulma as he asked "How, how did this happen?".

Bulma said "Many years ago, when Radditz kidnapped Gohan. Goku teamed up with Piccolo and tried to take on Radditz together. Half way through the fight, Gohan displayed an unnatural raw power, one that nearly killed Radditz. But it ended just as soon as it had begun. Radditz knocked Gohan unconscious and was worried that he was too dangerous to be left alive.

Goku rushed in to try and save him but……he was a split second too late. Radditz killed Gohan before Goku could save him, and even though he and Piccolo managed to defeat Radditz, Goku never was the same. He blamed himself for what happened to Gohan and he vanished the very next day".

Trunks blinked "But that doesn't make any sense. Sure, it would hit Goku pretty hard but he wouldn't just give up like that, it's not like him at all.

I mean he could have used the dragon balls and", Bulma quickly cut him off "Goku refused to use them, or let anyone else use them ever again", Trunks screamed out loud "WHAT?". Bulma's sad story continued "Before Goku left, he told Chi, Chi that he realized what a fool he's been all these years. Using the dragon balls to bring people back to life is wrong he said. Goku believed that he was in fact tampering with god's work; his grand design

He felt that we had no right to save lives that clearly not meant to have been. He would not dare mess with another mortal's life ever again. So, he took the dragon balls with him, and vanished for an entire year. When Nappa and Vegeta arrived, he returned as the Judge. With new powers and new abilities, he brought a dark, new order to the world and believed he was in fact the right hand of God. He made himself judge, jury, and executioner.

After all, who else had the right to decide who lives and who dies, then a true servant of god. And that's how it's been Trunks. The Judge controlled the planet, punishing and killing any person who sinned God's eyes or his own. He believes that he failed to save Gohan because he was too soft on criminals, so he became heartless, ruthless, a merciless vigilante who believed only in punishing the wicked". Trunks robbed his head softly.

The purple haired Sayian sighed "Man……Goku, I never thought he had it in him. Maybe it just goes to show us that, he's not invincible after all. And maybe just maybe, something really bad has happened to him".

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Pan's vital signs suddenly spiked into a dangerous red alert, Trunks and Bulma both turned to see her body trembling and shivering. "PAN" Trunks yelled as he rushed to the girl. Pan's forehead felt like it was on fire, her body was burning up with a murderous fever. Bulma gasped "Oh my god, something's happening to her, it's like her body is on fire". The girl's limbs shivered, her forehead dripping all over with sweat.

"What the hell is happening to her?" Trunks shouted. The blue haired woman quickly examined her medical charts, examining the machines as they spewed out sheets of medical data. Bulma's eyes widened with disbelief as she read them out loud "No way, this can't be right, it doesn't make any sense. According to this her blood has been infected by some kind of radioactive virus, her whole body is burning up. I don't understand it".

Angrily pacing back and forth, Trunks nearly tore out his hair in aggravation. "What do you mean radiation, that doesn't make any sense, Goku's not a freaking plutonium core" Trunks argued, his mind racing with frustrated thoughts. Where on Earth could have Pan possibly come in contact with any radioactive materials that would have given her this virus. "Oh my god" Trunks said, his eyes widened as he remembered now.

Flashback

"Wow it looks like those weirdo blasts finally stopped" Trunks said. The young Pan panted tiredly, beads of sweat dripping sounds the sides of her red cheeks. Pan thought to herself "Oh man I don't feel so good (pant), dodging those blasts took a lot out of me.

It's weird though, I don't really feel tired and yet my body feels like it's burning up or something". The girl shook her thoughts apart; Pan had to stay focused on the task at hand.

It finally became crystal clear to Trunks what had happened, the boy gasped "It was Android 30's ray blasts. Of course, no wonder Pan was looking so tired. Android 30 was powered by a bio-nuclear reactor core, it was feeding him the energy he used in his blasts. Pan must have been infected with the virus when he shot at her". Bulma looked to Trunks with confusion "Wait a minute, if this happened a while ago then why is just now taking affect?".

The purple haired boy scratched his chin "Maybe it works differently with Sayian DNA, Pan is a quarter Sayian and the rest is human. Pan's Sayian half must have rejected the virus as long as it could, now it's given up and the human half is being infected. And I think the fact that I'm half Sayian and half human prevented my blood stream from getting infected as well". Sadly looking to his fallen female friend, Trunks eyes filled with worry.

The young, sweet, feisty little girl that had been with him through so much, that had gone on so many adventures with him, was now dying before his very eyes. "Don't worry Pan" Trunks said, his hand gently gracing Pan's burning forehead, his eyes watering at the feel of her burning skin. "I'm going to take care of you I promise, I won't lose you" Trunks whispered. A moment after those words passed, Pan's body rested, she had fallen asleep.

Trunks sighed with relief seeing that the pain had finally died down a bit. Bulma looked to him with frowning lips, knowing full well this was a very serious situation. Trunks demanded "Fix her", Bulma gasped "What, fix her, do I look like a doctor? How am I supposed to". Angrily the boy cut her off "I DON'T CARE, I don't care what you have to do, what you have to get, just help her now". Trunks stormed out of the room with fury in his eyes.

"Blood transfusion" Bulma blurted out, the young Sayian turned his eyes towards his alternate mother. As if entranced by what she said, Trunks asked her to repeat that. Bulma sighed "I may be a mechanical whiz when it comes to machines, but I know enough about blood work to know that Pan needs a transfusion. It'll filter out the contaminated blood and exile the virus". Trunks looked to her firmly "Then let's do it, hook me up let's go already".

But the young woman shook her head with regret, her light blue hair shimmering as she looked to Trunks. "Only blood relatives will work, she has to have a biological relative's DNA or else she won't make it" Bulma said. A deep powerful wave of pain and frustration swarmed over Trunks like a blanket, his best friend's life was hanging in the balance. The only way Pan could live is if she received blood from a direct family member.

Bulma sighed "The trouble is you brought her to me Trunks, she's a complete stranger to me. And I don't know any direct members of her family that live around here".

Trunks frowned "I do".

To be continued……