Chapter Ten

Pan wished she hadn't had to talk about the battle with Naturon right before going to sleep. She knew that meant her nightmare about it would reoccur. It wasn't a moment after she'd closed her eyes that the dark returned, a smothering and heavy dark of being buried alive. Pan had this dream enough to know this wasn't even the worst part. The worst would come when that darkness was broken by cold light.

She braced for it, wondering if it would ever get any easier, when the nightmare popped like a bubble and she stood on loamy and soft ground beneath a giant pink lily. A ladybug up to her knee tottered by. She followed it to the shade beneath a giant mushroom. A giant mushroom made of metal, with a panel opened on the back, gears scattered across a mat of moss. The ladybug crawled inside and tossed a few more springs and bits out, uttering an unladylike curse.

"Oh, no," Pan said. "Your ship!"

"It's fine," Donpara said. "We haven't crashed or broken anything. We're still on schedule."

Beyond the ship stood Bonpara and Sonpara, haggling with a giant caterpillar. Pan must have been seeing the scene through Donpara's eyes.

"Why's it in pieces?" Pan asked.

"After that run-in with the smuggler, or whoever that was, we thought it might be prudent to outfit ourselves with some helpful and purely defensive measures in case of another such incident."

"So you're mounting turrets on the ship."

"As a precautionary measure," Donpara said. "In a pinch, there's nothing our ship can't outrun."

"That's what Grandpa thought about our ship until we ran into you," Pan said. "What planet are you on now?"

Donpara turned so Pan could see, and as he was a very tall man, she got a good view. It looked like Dr. Briefs' garden inflated to several hundred times its proper size. A few genuine mushrooms towered over the brothers' mushroom-shaped ship amidst blades of grass that stood as tall as Donpara. The buildings were stems lined with leaves, and on these leaves, more caterpillars went about their business, carrying shopping bags, driving vehicles that looked like onion bulb helicopters with petals for blades.

"The place is called Lychen. It's in the eastern part of the South Quadrant. They aren't too picky about whose money they take and they don't ask too many questions; so, basically, our kind of place. Or it would be if we weren't one-hundred-percent reformed."

"I like it," Pan said. "I wish I could be there for real. I miss space."

"You'll be there yourself soon enough. In the meantime, I thought I'd check in with you, so you wouldn't wonder if we'd been shot down and we wouldn't wonder if you'd been barbequed."

Donpara, all three brothers, deserved to know what kind of danger they were flying into. Pan remembered her conversation with King Sulfuri all too well, though, and feared telling them it was, specifically, Frieza she was dealing with. What if they didn't believe her, either?

"I haven't been invited to any barbeques as a dish just yet," Pan said. "But remember when I said I hadn't seen any live Colds here? That's changed. I'm in trouble. Maybe you guys should stay where you are until I can promise you it's safe to land on Ketchyn."

"Don't be silly," Donpara said. "It's our fault you're in trouble. If we hadn't come to Earth that bee never would have found you."

"Actually, if you hadn't triggered that sentry before it was meant to go off, I'd probably be dead. It was supposed to teleport me into a much worse situation than it did."

"Maybe for you, being thrown in a dungeon isn't a bad situation, but we're still not leaving you stranded, and that's the end of it. If the Cold Family's found you, escaping from Ketchyn is even higher priority than before. We're the good guys now, and we're in the business of saving the day. Bonpara would tell you the same if he weren't busy trying to talk the illegal weapons dealer down a few thousand Zeni."

If the brothers wanted to cheer Pan up, they were succeeding. She grinned so hard she thought Donpara might feel it on his own face. "Thanks, you guys. Will you at least keep the channels open so I can warn you if something goes really sour?"

"Wouldn't dream of shutting them down," Donpara said.

A bird tweeted directly in Pan's ear. "Uh-oh. Time to wake up."

"You trained a bird to wake you up?"

"I'm traveling with a couple of people out of necessity, but none of us are exactly on good terms. We split up to get some rest… that's how little confidence we have in each other… but we can only afford a few hours right now, so Captain Ember made us these alarms that look and sound like yellow birds. That's my alarm going off."

"See ya later," Donpara said.

With that, Pan came to on a prickly tree branch, bare of leaves, with the sky yellow above her, and the alarm leapt off the end and spread its wings, dissolving into sparks as it took flight.

ooo

Dawn had crept into daylight and, in the plain where the hunting lodge had stood, the dust had settled. Most of the dust had, anyway. There was still one stream of clouds floating in a circle around the camp. Gelata watched it, leaning against the rock.

"Pacing like that won't speed anything up," she said.

Ember didn't stop pacing, though. "Sly little brat. I thought she agreed too quickly. It was a trick, wasn't it? She says she'll go with us, and then ditches us as soon as we split up."

"Captain, it isn't time for her to be here yet. She's still got a few minutes."

"She should be here now! Punctual means early. It isn't as if we've got all day to hang around here. Look, the sky is already pulsing yellow."

The grass vibrated. The air trembled with a quiet grinding, like old machinery coming to life.

"Did she transform again? Is it another quake?" Gelata asked.

Right on schedule, Pan rolled into camp. She rolled literally, too, walking atop a giant stone wheel. She would run occasionally, or attempt to balance on one leg or the other, but she stayed atop it the whole way to the two dumbfounded guards.

At least that stopped Ember from pacing. By this time, he'd worn a trail around the rock.

"Hi, guys," Pan said. "Ready to head out?"

Ember and Gelata's astonished faces made Pan wonder if something was behind her. She looked, but saw nothing. "Everything's okay, right?"

"I'll bite," Ember said. "Why are you on that thing?"

Pan rocked back and forth. "Training. If my best won't cut it right now, I'll just have to get better. This exercise is great for balance and agility, even speed if you push yourself. It's one of the first assignments I give the children back home."

"I didn't know you had children," Gelata said.

"I don't," Pan laughed. "I'm a teacher." She flipped and caught herself on one hand. The wheel barely rolled. "At least I was. I haven't shown up to work for two days now, so I might be fired."

Ember took a step closer. "Where exactly did you get that… is it a millstone?"

Pan vaulted to the ground and landed on her feet in front of Ember.

"I carved it out of a boulder I dug up. Say, you said you wanted to get stronger, too. Why don't you train with me? You'll be getting free lessons from a sought-after instructor. You can't beat that."

Ember tapped the wheel with his knuckles. "You want me to climb up on this thing."

"Not until you've warmed up. Otherwise you might tear something."

"Warmed up how?"

"What warm-ups do you usually do? I'm asking because I don't want to overload you, but I do want to push you a bit," Pan said.

"Whatever we do, we should do it on the road," Gelata said. "We still need to be indoors by nightfall."

It was a clear day, though, and the roads were improving. Pan took deep breaths of the crisp air; it was still chilly enough she exhaled clouds, although the movement kept her comfortable. All in all, it was a pleasant stroll until Ember had gone through enough drills he felt ready to trade her spots.

Pan hopped off the wheel. "Okay, while you're getting on it, keep in mind I deliberately made this one uneven, off-balance, and narrow so it'd be more difficult to keep upright. No cheating with bukujutsu, though. I'll know if you try."

"I would've tried, too," Ember said. Pan didn't see why, though. He sprung from the ground and landed atop the wheel with little difficulty.

Staying once he got there, however, proved to be a more trying task. The wheel rocked from side to side and back and forth as he tested it. He tried to move to his toes, then his heel, but it simply would not let him get comfortable. It hadn't been meant to, exactly, and he didn't fall off, but progress slowed considerably as he spent as much time rolling backwards as forwards.

Still, they pressed on.

Some time later, he swore. "If I could only see where I was going wrong, I'm sure I could figure this out."

"This is one of the exercises Grandpa taught me," Pan said. "And it's a variant of something Master Roshi taught him. He had Grandpa and Krillin stand on uneven surfaces while balancing pots of water on their heads. It wasn't just for extra strength training, although it helped. It's also a great counterbalance and visual aid, sort of like those levels carpenters use. If you were struggling, you could tell where you were off by looking at the surface of the water. We could do the same thing if we only had buckets to put it in."

Gelata said, "There's a town nearby, Colander. Truth be told, Ember and I needed to stop there anyway for more appropriate attire. King Sulfuri had a point when he said we couldn't visit the Bludwald as we are and expect to come back in one piece. We didn't think we'd have to follow you this far or we'd have worn something else to begin with."

Pan thought Ember could throw clothes over his uniform and call it underpants. "I still don't understand why you followed me. What did you think I was doing?"

"Upon Flare's death, the throne passed to his son, Sulfuri. Not everyone was happy with that choice. Not even among the Sutova. When analysis revealed you had been transported here by a third party, we thought one of Ketchyn's various splinter factions had brought you as a recruit. The universe still fears the Saiyans, even all these years after your near-eradication; recall that when Planet Vegeta wanted new territory, one Saiyan warrior was usually all it took to acquire it. Now imagine a usurper showing up at the gates of Asphodel with your furry tail at his side. You could stand there doing nothing and the psychological effect alone might be enough to bring the walls down."

"You can't blame me for deciding the safest course of action was to kill you before you razed anything," Ember said.

"Can so," Pan muttered.

"Once it was established you were here against your will, we hoped that when whichever of the king's rivals summoned you came to collect you, we could catch him. It's all irrelevant now, of course. We completely misread the situation. Anyway, we can get your buckets in Colander, too."

Checking the map, Pan found the trip wouldn't be a detour. It was almost a shortcut, since she'd plotted her initial course to deviate around civilization and plunge into the roughest parts of the wilderness.

"Forget riding this thing into town," Ember said, dismounting the wheel. "We'll leave it at the outskirts. I don't see anyone making off with it while we're shopping."

ooo

Ketchyn was a world terraformed by the essence of the dead, every line a construct. In that context, it made sense to Pan it would feel eerie. Colander, for instance, came with a sense of déjà vu so profound it was disorienting.

There was nothing unusual about the town itself. Maybe town square was marked by a courthouse that looked like a beached and gutted whale overlaid with shellacked meat, and maybe it was surrounded by buildings like bone and tissue peppered with wormholes, and maybe those were broken up by domed Earth-style houses rendered bizarre by their surroundings… but that was just how Ketchyn looked, and by this time, Pan was used to it. No, what put her on alert was a familiar smell. She couldn't place it and couldn't decide whether it meant danger or not. That bothered her.

She still lined town up in her phone's viewfinder. "I'm taking a picture. Do you want to be in it?"

"Do I want you to create photographic evidence I disobeyed a direct order from the king? No. I do not," Ember said.

"You don't have to be so rude about it. You could've just said no," Pan said, snapping the town sans Ember and Gelata. Picking through the photos to see if it had blurred, she noticed a thin trail of smoke on film. She took a second look, and sure enough, there was a ribbon rising from the square. It was so pale she wouldn't have seen it without the digital autocorrect throwing it in sharp contrast, letting her know where to look. "That's what I was smelling. Someone's burning grass. Right in the middle of town, too. That's a weird place for that."

"Hmm?" Gelata asked.

Pan pointed. "Over there."

To her surprise, Gelata groaned. "Don't we have the worst timing."

"Is that…" Ember trailed off.

"Unfortunately, yes, and there's no going around it," Gelata said. "The stores we want are in the square. It's going to be congested."

It was, too. Crowds gathered so thick they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, and navigating the maze of people became its own agility drill. Had Pan arrived in the middle of a festival? She didn't see any games, and nobody looked like they were having fun. Worry lined the few faces she glimpsed. The throng became denser the closer they got to the courthouse; or, rather, a bonfire held in front of it.

They didn't just thicken. They formed a line. Packed around the bonfire were Reizomorphs, waiting.

Was there someone in that fire?

Pan pushed her way through the crowd for a better look, resisting the temptation to teleport or fly. She was glad she did. A closer looked revealed there was a figure tied amidst the flame, but not a person; a straw doll. As each spectator passed, they removed a stick from a nearby pile and tossed it into the blaze. Again, Pan was nagged by an uncomfortable familiarity. She was certain she'd seen this before, but where?

By reflex she pulled away when someone grabbed her arm, but it was only Captain Ember. He glared at her, and the eyepatch only made it more menacing. He looked like an alien pirate.

"Don't get lost in the crowd. We'll never find each other again."

"Right," Pan said. "No getting lost."

Ember said, 'hmpf,' and dragged Pan to a store.

"Now, here," Ember said. "Gelata and I need to go to this store. The one right next door? That's where you'll find your buckets. If I let you go there and get them, do you think you can come right back here and wait for us without causing or getting into any trouble?"

"Wait right here," Pan said. "Got it."

Ember wiped his forehead. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

He tramped into the store and slammed the door behind him.

"Bad feeling?" Pan asked. "What's the matter with that guy? Does he think I can't follow simple directions? I can buy buckets. It's not rocket science. Does he think I'm going to bolt at the first shiny thing I…"

A scream came from the alley between the two stores.

"I'd better go see what that is!"

Deep in the alley, a Sutova girl pressed against the wall, and she wasn't alone. Pan ducked behind some garbage so she wouldn't be seen. Those weren't friendly people with her. The ten- Pan counted- ten men who surrounded her were thieves at best, carrying cannons and blades. It wasn't a situation where the girl was hiding some massive power, either. She was made of crepe paper. Any one of those weapons could tear her to bits.

The girl screamed again, and the thugs' leader slapped her across the face.

"Nobody's going to hear you with all that ruckus in the square, Lucia," He said. "Just come along quietly and nobody has to get hurt."

Only, Pan was sure that if nobody was supposed to get hurt here, they wouldn't be surrounding Lucia ten-to-one and jamming guns in her face. Pan was conflicted, though. That she had to do something wasn't even a question, but Ember had told her not to get into trouble, and this was definitely trouble. One wrong move and any one of the kidnappers could grab the girl and slip away while she fought the others.

Frustrated, Pan did what she always did when her head wasn't providing her answers: she swung her fists. As quickly as she could, too, knocking each of the ten kidnappers out in an instant. Lucia would see nothing but a flicker. It would look to her like they all suddenly lost consciousness and hit the ground at the same time.

There! Problem solved, no trouble.

Lucia remained clinging to the wall, a half-ring of fallen kidnappers around her. All right, so she was shocked.

A few more seconds later, she still hadn't moved.

Pan appeared before her and put her hands on her hips. "Well? Run!"

Why was she staring like that? Did Pan's tail come loose from its hiding place? No, she checked, and it was still tucked safely under her coat.

"Did you do that?" Lucia asked.

"Yes, but it's not like I killed them. You still need to get out of here."

Lucia grabbed Pan's hand. "Will you go with me?"

"I'm supposed to meet somebody…"

"Just as far as the square. Please. When my father was well, these elements stayed in the shadows, but ever since his sudden illness they've been so much bolder. They might attack again if you're not here."

Pan looked over her shoulder. The square wasn't far from here, but with all those people, it still wasn't easy going.

Ember was going to kill her.

At least nobody else jumped them. Pan couldn't ask Lucia who she was that those guys wanted to abduct her, but it gnawed at her the whole way. She also wanted to get back to the store before Ember noticed she was missing and his "bad feelings" exploded all over the place, but at this point, that was going to be an impossibility. She tried to think up a good excuse and couldn't.

So worried was Pan about the inevitable confrontation, which if she was being honest scared her more than Frieza, she didn't notice Lucia had brought her to the line around the bonfire until they'd gotten close enough for the heat to sear her face.

Flame licked the doll. It had to have been treated with something to make it burn slowly; straw should have been consumed long before now, but this was no closer to ashes than it had been when Pan had arrived. Lucia threw a stick on the fire. She bumped Pan with her shoulder, which Pan took as a hint she should do the same thing. She followed Lucia's lead.

But then she couldn't stand it anymore. As they left to make space for the next person in line, she asked, "I'm new here, and I have no idea what I just did."

"You're an off-worlder?" Lucia asked. "I see how strange this must look to you. It's an effigy of Kuriza. The Reizomorphs burn them when someone they care about is dying. They believe there's a chance death will be fooled and take the effigy instead."

Great, ask a question, get an answer that raises more questions. Pan should have kept her curiosity to herself.

"Of course, the real reason I'm here is to meet somebody, and because of the crowds this is a discreet place to do it. Strange, though; he should have beaten me here, especially after that business in the alley, but I don't see him anywhere."

"There you are!"

And now she was going to get chewed out by Ember.

Pan prepared to face the lecture, still rummaging around her head for something more useful than repeatedly promising she was sorry, but the Sutova she found fuming towards them wasn't Ember. He was shorter, portly, and had two whiskers drooping over his top lip like a moustache. Also, he wasn't heading for Pan at all. His target was Lucia.

"That's not who you meant, is it?" Pan whispered.

Lucia only had time to shake her head, and then he was in her face.

"Sneaking out! That's the second time this week. Do you have any idea what could have happened, with your father too sick to rise from his bed? Do you think of no one but yourself? Do you even think?"

"If my father were well and this were someone else, you know he'd have been here."

"He could have ensured his own safety!"

"I can, too, now that I've found this amazing Brenchian warrior…"

That was as far as Lucia got towards introducing Pan. The crowds parted just enough to give the edges of the square a good look at her, and she heard,

"I am going to strangle you with your own entrails!"

Pan wilted. "There's Ember."

Sure enough, he and Gelata pushed through the crowd. Pan couldn't see much difference in their new attire other than color (Ember's was brown, Gelata's was purple), but she guessed there must be one.

"I gave you one task… one simple little task… go one store over and buy one little thing… and you… you… Magister Bustion, is that you?"

The mustachioed Sutova split into a wide grin. "Captain! How many years has it been, eh? What brings you to this part of the territories?"

The two men slapped each other's shoulders in something like a hug. Pan never imagined Ember could greet anyone that warmly.

Lucia elbowed her. "Maybe we can slip away."

"Don't you move a whisker!" Bustion rounded on them both. "Whose fault do you think it's going to be if you get yourself killed or held ransom?"

Pan swallowed. That was exactly what Lucia had almost done.

"And you! Encouraging her!"

Ember pushed him out of the way. "When you shouldn't have been there to encourage her, I might add!"

At this point, Lucia and Pan were also clinging to one another.

Bustion regarded her. "So that's yours, Ember? Is she a war orphan?"

"Something like that," Ember said. "What's all this, then?"

"That's right. News wouldn't have reached the city yet." Bustion stroked one of his whiskers. "The count is deathly ill. Nobody knows what's wrong. He's beloved, so the townspeople organized a vigil for him."

That meant something to Gelata. Judging from her expression, it wasn't anything good. "Perhaps we should take a look at him, Captain."

"The delay will cost us," Ember said, "But this is important. The count's the only thing holding this town together."

"I wouldn't mind at all," Bustion said. "This way. As for those two, maybe we can throw them in the oubliette until they grow some brains."

Lucia blushed as the three ushered them away. "I'm sorry for all this."

Pan felt for Lucia. She had, after all, grown up with Chi-Chi. She knew all about over-the-top threats.