Chapter Twenty-Two
The men came at Pan like a wave. They crashed around her. Some had assumed those numbers would be enough and were surprised to find they'd slammed into nothing. Pan held both hands before her. She'd stopped them with the sheer power of her movement.
She took advantage of the seconds she'd bought to drop into a fighting stance.
They attacked again, not bothering to look for an opening.
The first three met Pan's fists and collapsed on the spot. Their colleagues had no qualms about crawling over them to get to her. She spun out of their outstretched hands, firing; only a few blasts connected, but the purpose of that defensive trick was to get Pan out of their range and throw off their phalanx. It worked; dodging made a crack right through the center of the crowd. Pan shoved herself into it like a wedge. Enemies went down on either side of her.
It was a lot like the Panther-Fang fight that started all this. True, these men had practical experience, but it was all against crowds of their invaded planets' shivering inhabitants, not opponents with every advantage they had and more. Pan's biggest problem was holding back the rage and her Super Saiyan power that came with it. She needed to save her unstable transformation and the few minutes she could safely use it for Cooler.
Atop the platform, he gave a new command: "Fire into the crowd. Get her when she tries to save the townspeople."
No! Pan stirred up enough of a breeze to divert the first barrage of cannon fire, but there would be more. When another warrior leveled his cannon at a fleeing man, she could stop him. She could even stop the one yards away; but there were too many of them flooding the square from too many directions, and sooner or later one would slip through.
A trader turned to fire and found his face breaking under the weight of a massive blue fist. Two red blurs passed it and broke through the line on either side of that fallen warrior; Sonpara and Donpara. Bonpara stepped over him, following them.
The brothers were excellent fighters, but in a melee of this size, that still left Pan with too much of a blind spot. Mercenaries came at her from both sides, then a man charged her head-on. She stopped the blows and deflected the attackers, channeling her building anger into a Burst that threw them, spinning, into the air.
"Red Wave Snare!"
A group charging her stopped cold, struggling against bonds they couldn't see.
Ember stepped out from the alleyway, hands folded before his face. He pulled one back and hurled light and heat at his trapped opponents.
"Firedrake Bite!"
Behind Ember, another mercenary slipped from the shadows, making to sneak up on him, but Gelata punched the man in the stomach and, not expecting that to do much to a Planet Trade elite, followed it up with some kind of orange goo in a canister. Pan had no idea what that was, but the mercenary screamed and clawed his face, wide open for Gelata to bat him away with her tail.
She waved the can. "Bioluminescent conductor fluid. It gets very corrosive with age. I pulled it out of a saucer in the junkyard, and there's plenty more where that came from."
Ember jerked his head. "You know what's going to happen if she has to transform. Can you get these people out of here?"
"I've cleared a path to the forest beside the lodge already, captain, and I've taken that painter friend of Pan's there."
When she turned back to her own corner of the battle, Pan had a smile on her face. It looked like she was covered after all.
Cooler's expression didn't change, though, and that shook her for just a moment. He remained as impassive and confident as he'd been when the battle began.
She couldn't stare at him, though. The fight commanded her attention. She was grabbed on either side. She leg-swept one mercenary and let him pull her down with her, throwing the other off-balance. She elbow-smashed the first as she fell on him, then clawed her way back to her feet up the second's body, knocking him out.
"Captain," Gelata said. "The people; they aren't moving."
"Do they have a good view of me?" Pan asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
She didn't ask again. She climbed onto the two fallen mercenaries (they were so huge that between the two of them, she almost had as much platform as Cooler) and pulled her tail through the hole on the back of her dress.
"Did you think you killed us all, Cold?" She said, projecting her voice, again channeling Gramps and her mother. "The Saiyans are not so easily destroyed! Did you think I'd die here today? On the contrary; this will be the day I take my revenge!"
That was not a reassuring thing for the crowd to hear, but Pan hadn't wanted it to be. In fact, it got exactly the reaction she'd been going for: they didn't just follow Gelata's instructions, they stampeded to and through the path she'd cleared. Even Cooler looked surprised, though unruffled.
Pan again threw herself at the line of warriors, and this time, between the assault from her, the Para Brothers, and Ember, it shattered completely. These men knew better than to flee, and fought to the last, but Pan struck three, the Para Brothers one each, and Ember five with another Razor Rain, and it was over. Cooler's men were spent, spread on the ground unconscious or worse (Pan had been trying not to kill them. She didn't think the Para Brothers or Ember had bothered).
Pan approached the platform. The Para Brothers struck a pose and then fell in behind her. Ember and Gelata flanked them.
"You were resurrected as well, then," Pan said. "Maybe you can tell me who brought you back."
Cooler surveyed the damage. "Nobody brought me back. There was no need. Don't you remember when the gates to Hell opened and the dead poured forth? While everyone else threw themselves right back into the grave with their dreams of conquest and revenge, I simply boarded a ship like any other passenger and left Earth. In the bedlam, King Enma never noticed I was missing."
She wasn't getting any answers from him, then. "Are you ready to come down here and fight me yourself?"
"I would love nothing more," Cooler said. "However, I'm afraid you owe a fight to someone else on Ketchyn. Princess?"
A red hand clenched the back of the platform, right behind where Cooler stood, and an arm followed it, then tendrils.
Princess Incendria pulled herself onto the platform, holding her power pole.
"You wanted to see what she was capable of, didn't you, without revealing your true power to the rest of the palace?" Cooler asked her.
She extended the pole. It flashed yellow and hissed with energy. "Yes, I did."
"Here's your opportunity. Bring me that gibbon."
Incendria leapt from the platform to the ground and advanced.
ooo
Pan had known this moment would come. She hadn't expected it to hurt so much. She'd suspected from their first meeting that Incendria wasn't really her friend, but she must have been nursing more trust than she'd thought, because she felt deep inside the vituperative sting of betrayal. Her black hair flashed golden again. She suppressed it. "Attacking me is one thing, but attacking your own people alongside the Planet Trade Organization? That's low, Princess, even by Ketchyn standards."
Incendria stopped her placid approach. "Is that what you think is happening? You're wrong. Not a word I've said to you was a lie. Not a thing I've done for you was inspired by anything but sincere affection. This isn't an invasion, either. Cooler is here for one thing, and he's going to leave as soon as he gets it."
"Let me guess. The 'thing' is me, right? It wasn't Frieza who put that bounty on my head, it was Cooler. Why couldn't I be this popular in school? It would've been easier to get dates."
"I can't imagine a sweet girl like you had any trouble getting dates," Incendria said.
Pan looked around her and quirked an eyebrow. "Are you still talking to me?"
She answered with the kind of sing-song tone a mother might take with a bratty child. "Yes, I'm talking to you. Cooler would like you to go with him, and it would be best for all of us… including you… if you did what he asked."
"Why is that?" Pan asked.
"He has something to tell you."
"Tell me now. You have my full attention."
Incendria looked over her shoulder as if she expected to find someone hovering there. "That would be a bad idea. We might be overheard."
"By who? Frieza? I don't see any mirrors."
"That isn't the only channel open to the Vile Wave," Incendria said, "And Frieza isn't the only one listening. You can't even begin to fathom the danger we're in; not just you, but all of Ketchyn. If Chilled's Mirror isn't…"
Cooler hissed. "Shh!"
"That confirms you know about the mirror," Pan said. "Are you the one who stole it from Cold Manor after all? Funny, I was about to dismiss you as a suspect."
On the sidelines, Ember cleared his throat. "I wasn't."
"It's not for you to worry about, Pan. Or you, for that matter, Captain," Incendria slid into a dragon stance, holding the power pole diagonally from the ground. Voltage darted up and down its golden length. "We've got a plan to set everything right again. The first step is getting you onto a cruiser, off Ketchyn, and to one of Cooler's more defensible fortresses. To be honest, I'm looking forward to this. It's been so long since I've gotten to use even a fraction of my strength against an opponent. I can't wait to see your limits."
In spite of the lingering pain, Pan felt her chest thumping with excitement. "I can't wait to see yours."
Pan knew the pole would enhance Incendria's range and force, and she didn't know what its Prismatic connection would bring to the mix; but she also knew it was better as a defensive weapon. Regardless of the Princess's natural talent, if she were used to fighting dummies and inexperienced training partners, Pan might be able to put her out of commission quickly if she could goad her into attacking first.
It turned out, not much goading was necessary. Incendria swept low. Pan had to get out of the pole's way, and normally the best way to do that would be to dart closer to Incendria; but Pan felt the crackle of a green shield, and the pole flashed green, and she knew she'd only be trapping herself. Instead, she turned away on the outside of the staff and knocked it away.
So much for putting Incendria out of commission quickly.
Incendria tried a high strike this time. She's testing my defenses. Pan thought back to their first fight. She brushed against the shield this time, feeling the Prismatic energy over her shoulder. She tried to block, but Incendria slid the pole right past her forearm, into her ribs, knocking her back.
Pan rolled with the fall, throwing herself into a building. She pulled a bone from its wall and deflected Incendria's next strike. Splinters flew. This improvised weapon wouldn't last long. That was exactly why Pan had picked it.
Indeed, Incendria brought the pole down again and again until it broke clean through the bone. She raised it higher. Again, Pan blocked. Again, the pole glanced off her skin and went right through her defenses. This time, however, she spun, locking it against her body, and wrenched it from Incendria's hands.
The yellow energy flared and burned, but Pan didn't let go until she'd thrown the weapon to Ember. Surprisingly, the pain cooled instantly.
Incendria chuckled. "A weakness deliberately introduced. It's exactly what I did to you when we sparred. I should have seen that coming."
"Still," Pan said. "I'm impressed. You're a lot of trouble for someone who's never had to seriously fight someone on your own skill level."
"I have a confession," Incendria said. "I don't have as much practical experience as I'd like, but I have been trained. Do you remember when I said I had help building those tunnels? That's what we built them for."
"Whoever your mystery man was, he was good with a staff," Pan said. "How much hand-to-hand did he teach you?"
Incendria winked. "I'll tell you all about it on the way. Red Wave Paralysis!"
"Green Wave Deflection!"
"That's the problem with paralysis. It shatters like warm ice at the slightest disruption. We'll do this the hard way, then."
The ground collapsed beneath Incendria as she flew towards Pan; it buckled further beneath them as Pan cross-blocked and threw her. Incendria flipped mid-air and planted her feet on the junkyard building, demolishing the wall. Pan thought she'd launch another attack, but instead, she flew to another building, dragging something behind her.
It was one of those snares, the kind Ember used to immobilize his enemies; it must be a sturdier version of the paralysis, but with the disadvantage the target had to walk into it for it to work.
Not only that, but Pan had yet another way out of it: Instant Transmission. If Incendria did manage to box her in, she could just anchor herself to Ember or Bonpara, whichever was closer, and teleport out of it. That would cost her time and energy, though, and it could take the battle dangerously close to the fleeing civilians. It would have to be a last resort.
Atop the platform, Cooler lashed his tail.
Though Incendria managed to lay one thread, Pan banked and caught her before she could start another.
Incendria counterattacked with more power than Pan was expecting. Incendria released her power like an explosion; it wasn't like Vile Frieza's, but Pan only had to outlast him, and she had to defeat Incendria. The Princess didn't fall for a second feint. She wouldn't seize on any of Pan's false openings, opting instead to try to force her own. Another building fell as the force of their battle shattered it. So many cities Pan had seen like that, living cities made ruins in a day by the wake of the Shadow Dragons…
Isn't that what you are now?
The memory felt as sharp as a knife to the brain, and it gave Incendria the chance she needed. She kicked, and Pan took it full force. She struggled on the ground, struggled to repress the energy that glowed and faded, glowed and faded like the rhythm of the Prismasphere. Not yet. She couldn't change yet. Incendria set two more snares.
Clawing her way to the surface like a woman drowning in her own head, Pan jumped back into the fray, but it was too late. Incendria set the final corner of the trap.
"Red Wave Snare!"
Pan felt the Prismasphere closing around her. It was like moving walls. She waited, uncomfortable, for the energy to graze her skin, and then she tapped her forehead.
That little bad feeling grew into a big bad feeling as she entered the teleportation zone. Something was wrong, and by the time she figured out what, it was too late.
Cooler wrapped his arm around her neck from behind and kicked her in the back.
"I got you," He whispered, slamming her into the cold forest ground.
ooo
For the second time in one week, when she pulled herself back to her feet, Pan was not standing in the place she'd fallen. She wasn't in Blendarr anymore. Cooler's strategy had been first-rate. Hadn't she just told her friends he had little respect for polite one-on-one combat? Why had he bowed out and offered just that sort of "time-wasting" fight to Incendria? Because Cooler, like Pan, knew Instant Transmission. He knew if he kept throwing Pan into escalating fights, it was only a matter of time before she'd have to use it. He'd planned this whole thing with one goal: getting her into the teleportation zone, where he and nobody else on Ketchyn could follow her.
They were still on Ketchyn, though. As much grief as it had caused Pan that she couldn't teleport through the Prismasphere, she was glad for it now. Cooler couldn't, either. The yellow wave fell in beams through the trees, looking deceptively like the sun. They must be somewhere in the Buldwald.
Cooler grabbed her throat… well, he'd never really let go of it… and shoved her into a tree. "I had my men stash another cruiser here. I'd advise you not struggle any further."
"You interrupted my fight with Incendria. She's not going to be any happier about that than I am."
He continued as if she'd said nothing. "I don't want to kill you because I don't want to stir up that hornet's nest your father and 'uncle' Vegeta crawled into. If you die at my hands, they most certainly will be knocking down my door to avenge you, and the empire needs my full attention right now. I can't be 'settling scores' with Saiyan debris."
"You think they won't come to find me if you kidnap me? It's been a week. They're probably already circling Ketchyn. They'll spot you the second you take off."
"They don't know you're here, and make no mistake, I have a way to keep you in line."
She tried to jump again. He clamped down harder and suddenly, ice consumed her from the inside out. When the agony faded, she no longer had the strength to jump.
"There. See? You can walk through the woods on your own feet, or I can drain you to unconsciousness and carry you. It doesn't matter to me either way. In fact, forget having a choice in the matter. I think I'll just do it to save myself the headache."
He's stolen my energy. Pan thought, wondering if the Brothers could hear her. I was already weak, working so hard on so little sleep, and now there's not even enough left to teleport. There's barely enough left to transform…
And suddenly, she knew how she could defeat Cooler.
It might work. It might kill her, too.
Screaming, she stopped trying to hold back her rage. In a burst of energy, her last remaining bit, she became a Super Saiyan.
The transformation alone was enough to break his grip on her. That was fine for now.
"You must be joking," He said.
She knew she was breathing hard. He lunged at her and she dodged. It was sloppy, and she looked more like a tossed doll than an experienced fighter, but she was out of his range. She had to make sure Cooler really believed she meant to fight him to the end so he didn't wonder why she was stalling.
"I could use a senzu right now, it's true," She said. "But I've seen dad and grandpa come back from worse. Are you sure you don't want to tell me what's going on? Why you put a bounty on me? I might cooperate if you're convincing enough."
He actually appeared to consider what she was saying.
"The Mirror is going to explode if it remains in use," Cooler said. "I don't mean the kind of explosions that destroyed Planet Vegeta. I mean Chilled's Mirror sleeps, and each Prismatic technique channeled through it rouses it a little more. If it wakes fully, it's going to trigger a planet-wide Vile Backlash. There isn't a thing on Ketchyn that could survive that, and with the Dragon Balls destroyed along with those Shadow Dragons, there'd be no way to undo it."
"Oh, no," Pan said. "But if that's true, we need to find who took the mirror!" And that definitely meant it wasn't Incendria, if she joined forces with Cooler to stop that backlash from happening.
The ground shook. Cooler gazed at it, perturbed. "That's funny. We aren't near a fault."
"Answer me! Why are you trying to lock me up in some dungeon on whichever Planet Cooler when we need to be searching Ketchyn for…"
"Frieza has the mirror! I don't know who he got it from, but he's the one using it now, and I knew exactly what he'd use it for: trying to yet again defeat your grandfather."
"Grandpa is…"
"…dead. I was close enough to Earth that I heard his final distress call. You forget, this is my home world, too. I know how a sentry works. In absence of its target, it would take the next nearest thing."
"How did you know the sentry would decide that was me, not dad or Uub or uncle Goten?"
"Because you're the one Son Goku left his gi," Cooler said. "Prismatic techniques lose power the further from Ketchyn you are. Put enough distance between you and the planet and they won't work at all. I thought if I could take you away from this world and hide you somewhere you wouldn't be easy to retrieve, Frieza would leave Ketchyn to try to acquire you, and the mirror would remain asleep."
"But you can just… tell him," Pan said. "That's what we'll do. The next time Frieza comes to fight me, we'll tell him to stop using the mirror."
Cooler laughed. "And you think he'll listen? Have you ever tried to tell my brother anything? No. Close your mouth. I know what I'm doing. This conversation was as much a waste of time as I thought it would be."
The rumbling below grew steady. I hope it's enough, Pan thought.
She tried to put up a fight nonetheless. Cooler did not pull his punches even a little. She felt her skin breaking with the first two, and on the third, she coughed up blood. He grabbed her by the hair.
The icy pain returned.
Pan laughed, even though it hurt. "I got you."
Then she screamed. But this time, so did Cooler. He threw her into another tree, shaking, clutching his hand. Pink energy darted up and down his arm. It moved to his shoulder.
"Negative energy," Pan said, limping away from the tree. "How do you like the taste?"
"What… are…" He slumped, fell to the side. "…you."
Pan checked him. Cooler was still alive. She didn't know how long her negative energy infusion had knocked him out for. She had to get out of here, whether she knew where 'here' was or not.
Without the energy to teleport or even fly very fast, Pan picked a direction and walked.