Read Chapter 17 before this one. They are both new and part of the same installment! Chapters 17 and 18 were originally one single chapter, which I broke apart because I have issues about scrolling windows.

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CHAPTER 18:

Unsuspecting Thieves

A cold voice started behind him, "Till about right now!" It scared the life out of Trunks as he leapt in surprise as he felt something touching the back of his head. "Turn around, hands above your head!"

Trunks gave a blank questioning look to Pan, but she just stared at the person behind him. Whoever this was had to be kidding around. They could not possibly be serious. This had to be some joke. Trunks turned around slowly to get a better look at the person behind the voice, raising his hands as if it would somehow make the person safer.

A woman who looked very much like his sister was holding some gun-like object between his eyes, smirking confidently in a red dress. He instantly recognized the girl from the store. Behind her, her young male companion held a similar object, aiming where Pan stood. He was a good eight feet away from Pan, though. If he fired, she'd have plenty of time to escape or catch the bullet. He, on the other hand, had a barrel pressing between his eyes. It was at times like these he thanked his father for being a Saiyan and passing down a good portion of his genes. Trunks knew that if there were some metallic item, such as a bullet, in that gun, it would barely bruise him if he powered up a little bit. If it hit Pan, on the other hand, she was a lot more human than Saiyan. She could really get hurt.

He didn't want to take any chances. His principle concern was to get Pan out of there. He would comply with them until he'd find an opportune moment to catch the woman off her guard and get Pan to safety before going back to confiscate their guns.

Trunks raised his hands a little higher, "Alright, what do you want?"

The woman's smirk broadened as she glanced to his pocket. "Your gem pouch."

"Is this supposed to be a robbery?" He tilted his head slightly and felt the gun move with his forehead as she cackled. "I recognize you from the store we were just at. You two are just a couple of crooks, aren't you? Cheating your way through life by forcing people to do things at gunpoint. I wonder what your manager would think of you, knowing you're taking your lunch break to rob 'helpless' tourists?"

"You're stupid for carrying around that much money, and if my mother were any younger, she'd be joining us in this fantastic hold-up. Just a few of those gems could buy us a mansion! I must say that I'm quite pleased with you. Because of you, I can finally live the dream life I've always wanted with my mate. If you hand your gems over without any resistance, we'll spare your lives. If you're cooperative, we'll maybe even let you keep a few of them so you can leave this planet and go back home to your 'Earth'."

Trunks glanced at the man again. His eyes and aim were directly on Pan. Things could really get messy, especially if Pan were looking at him right now and not concentrating on her captor. He could feel her ki fluctuating dramatically. She was obviously currently distracted. If he made a break, they'd shoot in surprise and Pan wouldn't be ready to dodge it.

The barrel pressed harder between his eyes, causing him to step back to balance himself. "Do you hear me? Hand over your gem bag now!"

Trunks heard a desperate shout from Pan behind him, "Don't you dare hurt him!" He felt her ki skyrocketing. He realized that she was probably having trouble controlling her power.

"Oh, he will be hurt if he doesn't hand the gems over right this second." The woman laughed triumphantly, throwing her head back for a moment, "His life is meaningless to me. Those gems are worth more than fifty of his lives."

This was better. This was getting to be the opportune moment. The woman was getting too overconfident. He would take her by surprise. All he needed was for her to look away for a brief moment and then he could take care of this and get Pan out of danger.

The woman continued, undaunted by his patient glare, "However, I'm beginning to rethink it. Maybe I should just kill him and take the money. It will make things a lot cleaner this way." She triggered some button that made the gun emit an eerie high-pitched sound, as if it were preparing to fire. She turned her head to face her husband, "Wouldn't you agree, honey? I say we finish him off."

This was it! The right moment, at this time, when she was looking away. Trunks powered up as fast as he could and was about to whip his arm around to whack the gun out of her hand when all of a sudden, Pan charged at the woman, flying at her with an other-worldly scream that pierced the entire city and shook the buildings around.

The woman had just enough time to whip her head around and see Pan hurl her body onto hers, her nails slicing through the woman's throat. The woman screamed and fell backward, but in the process, as the gun barrel loosened against Trunks' forehead, it suddenly went off, splitting through the screams and shouts that were erupting around them.

Trunks flew backward from the blast against his forehead and smacked into the cement wall, cracking it where his body had made impact, before he fell to the ground. He heard Pan scream something shrill, indecipherable in her maddened rage. His vision was a bit blurry. He looked up from where he lay collapsed on the ground and could make out Pan's figure pummeling the man, howling curses and roaring profanities, crying as if all her world had ended and she was blindly fighting to the death. The young woman lied in a comatose state on the ground, the man looked like he wasn't going to make it if Pan kept this up.

He tried to sit up, to call out to her, to tell her to stop, but the world was reeling and he felt too sick and dizzy to breathe right in order to form words. His skin burned where the weapon had made impact, and saw that some metal was etched into his skin. He gently peeled it off as if it were a band-aid before tossing it to the side and rubbing his forehead in pain.

Something was definitely not right about Pan. She was fighting differently, almost desperately. It was a little hard to make out, but he could have sworn that her left hand was emitting some really bright light that somehow wasn't a ki blast. He couldn't focus straight. His head pounded and he brought his hand to his eyes to concentrate on staying conscious. The blast was a little harder than he thought. Perhaps he had overestimated his Saiyan side. He was also half human, after all.

"Pan..." He gasped, trying to stand up. "Pan, stop it. You're going to kill him." His hands pressed against the wall, trying to balance himself as he attempted to put some weight on his feet. "Pan..." He took a sharp intake of breath, "PAN!" He collapsed down again and groaned.

She stopped in mid-punch and looked at him with a tear-stricken face. She was gasping for air, holding the bloodied man up by his shirt, looking as if she had lost her mind, or a piece of herself that nothing could replace. She looked forlorn, and he had no idea what spurred this. It came out of nowhere. He gestured for her to come to him, hoping she would release the man's collar and stop whatever tantrum she was on. Those people were criminals, but they didn't deserve to die.

Pan threw the unconscious man down and ran toward Trunks, dropping to her knees, throwing her arms around his neck and sobbing into his shoulder. "I thought you died! I thought you died..."

What was she thinking? He could have died, if he were not powered up or expecting that blast. She should not have lunged at the girl when she had a gun to Trunks' head. What she did was not wise, and it showed her lack of fighting experience. It was just stupid on her part. He would have to have a long and serious talk with her about this.

"I'm alive, Pan, and I'm okay..." He took a deep breath, trying to ignore his pounding headache. "Could you help me up?" He took Pan's hand and stood on his feet, rubbing the spot where the blast had hit him. She again pressed herself against his body, burying her face into his black shirt, sobbing uncontrollably.

He didn't know what to do with his hands. He opted for smoothing her bandana with one hand while the other gently squeezed her shoulder. He was in a really pissy mood right now, but he was doing his best to hide it. If she expected him to be all kissy and cuddly after what just happened, she definitely thought wrong. But, he waited for her crying to settle down before separating himself from her and looking into her eyes with his hands on her shoulders. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"She... she was going to shoot you. She was going to kill you and she didn't care and –"

"I know that part. I'm wondering why you jumped in. You should have just gotten out of there. I could have easily handled them on my own, and I only didn't act because I was afraid you might have gotten hurt."

"I... I didn't mean to. I was going to just stand back, but I don't know what happened. All of a sudden, I couldn't control it anymore. I pictured her killing you, and I couldn't take it." Pan looked down and sniffled again.

"What do you mean you couldn't control it? You've been training all your life. You should have been able to keep your thoughts unclouded. What happened?"

"My finger started burning... and I couldn't control my emotions. I can't explain it..." She looked away, ashamed. "I know what I did was stupid. I don't know what happened. I couldn't handle the thought of you dying, and in the end, you got shot and... and...and..." Her eyes teared up again, "I'm so sorry, Trunks... you could have died. I thought you died..."

"I'm fine Pan, but I think those two had a number done on them." He gestured to the two blue haired criminals on the ground. "I'm not quite sure what to tell you. On one hand, I want to tell you that I'm extremely proud of you for handling those two by yourself. On the other hand, I am disappointed that you brought them so close to death. Now it has become our responsibility to get them to the hospital. Your game shopping will have to be put on hold."

She shook her head, "I don't want to shop anymore. I don't want anything except for you to be okay." She ran her hand through his bangs gently, "No game could ever come close to how much you mean to me." She brought her hand down to rest on his cheek as she sniffled and offered a sad smile.

"Pan, don't act all weird on me. I know I'm your best friend and all, but what you're doing right now is getting me to feel really uncomfortable. I mean –" Trunks pushed himself slightly away from her to look in her eyes, "It's sweet, Pan. I really think what you did just now, defending me from these two people... it was really touching." He brought her hand down from his face and held it for a moment. "But you're not acting like yourself."

"I'm sorry," she dropped her hand and shrugged to no one in particular. "I'm just confused. I'll be better in a little bit, I promise." She chuckled lightly to herself, "I guess this proves that I don't always need my grandpa around to get me out of trouble." She pointed to Trunks and cracked a grin, "It also proves that you're the one that always gets me into the trouble in the first place."

"Me? What did I do? I didn't do anything except stand there."

"Exactly. When you don't take the initiative, I have to. And that's what gets us into trouble."

"We only get into trouble because you jump into something that isn't our business. That's why I don't do anything about it."

"But if we just ignored every cry for help, it would become my business because it would weigh on my conscience!"

Trunks stepped back and grinned even wider as a memory came to him. "My goodness, that sure sounds like the ideology of someone else I know..."

"What does?"

"The urge to help everyone. Not just one or two people, but absolutely everyone." He leaned against the cracked wall and smirked, "You could have been another side-kick to the Great Saiyaman."

Pan blinked and frowned, "Who's the Great Saiyaman?"

His eyes widened, "You don't know the Great Saiyman?!"

"What are you talking about?"

Trunks couldn't hold it in. He burst out laughing, relying on the wall for support as he banged his fists against the cement, unable to express how funny he thought the whole idea was. "Your parents never told you?! That's hilarious!!! Hahahahah!"

"Trunks are you going to tell me, or are you going to just laugh at your own joke?"

"The Great Saiyaman was a justice-enforcing hero who um..." His eyes rolled up as he tried to choose his words carefully, "...tended to be his own trend-setter." He coughed once as he tried to keep a straight face, "To put it lightly, he dressed like an overgrown bug." Trunks felt his diaphragm spasming again, threatening to send him into another fit of laughter. He tried to breathe in a steady rhythm, but found it hard when he looked at Pan's expression. A huge grin framed his face, his eyes looking beyond Pan to picture that classic, yet notoriously mortifying outfit. "That was years before you were born. The Great Saiyaman retired a long time ago. I must have been about... let's see, with the year in the hyperbolic time chamber... I must have been about nine, going on ten."

"How does this 'Great Saiyman' relate to me?" Her eyebrows were pointed downward, her eyes portraying the confusion and impatience she was enduring in her mind.

Trunks just grinned, "I have a better idea. Instead of me telling you, I'll show you sometime."

"How do you intend to show me?"

Trunks stood up straight and dusted off his shorts. "Let's just say I brought some entertainment along that may humor you. I really had assumed you had already seen it. I guess I was wrong." He paused for a moment and looked at her, "I'm surprised you've never heard of him." He began walking over to the crumpled forms of the criminals and whispered to himself under his breath. "I wonder what else he hasn't told her..."

Pan followed Trunks and walked over to the unconscious male, checking his pulse. Trunks picked up the woman under his arm and turned to see that Pan was having a hard time picking up the male. He walked over and began to pick him up under his left arm.

"Hey, wait, I can carry him!" Pan adamantly slapped Trunks' hand away and leaned over to pick the male up with both her arms, carrying him as if cradling a baby.

Trunks took to the sky, searching around the city with his sharp vision to see if he could spot any hospital around. Pan soon joined him in the air, careful not to drop her carry-on. Trunks looked at her, still pondering how she could never have heard of the Great Saiyaman. Behind her, his eyes focused on a tall white building in the distance. It had the universal symbol for hospital on the top. A hover-craft was lifting off from its roof at the moment. If it weren't for that brief movement, Trunks might never have spotted it. "There it is!" He pointed in the direction of the building.

Pan turned to him, grinning. "Hey Trunks, I'll race ya to the hospital! Last one there has to do Grandpa's laundry!"

"Bring it on!" Trunks grinned evilly and spiked his ki to go Super Saiyan. "See ya there!" He saluted her with his right index finger and blasted off.

"What?! WAIT! You can't go super! That's not fair! Trunks, get back here and start over!" Pan blasted after him, already too far behind for her voice to reach his ears. She muttered several indecent comments under her breath and pushed her ki to go as fast as she could fly.

Another night of doing Grandpa's laundry... Why did she always do this to herself?

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-Completed 10/24/04-

-Uploaded 10/30/04-