The first thing Pan recognized was the faint glow of light streaming through the curtains, bringing out the general shapes of the room's interior. She felt exhaustion weigh her down, and turned over onto her right side away from daylight, hoping the new position would lull her back to sleep and away from the troubles in the real world. She waited. And waited. Still staring at the back of her eyelids. As the minutes crept by, each one of her senses simply became more vivid. Soon she simply let out a soft groan, having slept but not feeling rested at all. Eventually she relented and moved to sit up in her futon bed. The only positive she could note was that she had no dreams, and therefore no nightmares, except the one she awoke to.
Taking a bottle of water she left beside her bed, she drank its whole contents quickly, causing her physical grogginess to mostly vanish. The girl looked around, properly absorbing the bedroom; the curving wall of the building's outside, the closet, the drawers by the window, neither of which she assumed to be filled. Looking to her right, she saw a second futon bed rolled and folded up neatly. There was silence until her hearing picked up the sounds of casual movement outside the room, indicating where Trunks was. She thought for a moment; how there was a small worry in that short silence that something bad had happened. That she was alone. Folding away her own bedding, something she was not used to doing, she walked over to the window and opened the curtains.
Looking outside, Pan saw the remaining trees come apart onto a meadow, rolling green hills coated in warm, soft grass underneath a crystal blue sky. It was one of the most picture-perfect scenes one could look at, but knowing what was out there, what was looking for them, haunted the view with such a foreboding, to the point where she felt more at ease turning back to look at the Capsule home's interior, as if it were a protective bubble.
'This is gonna be a long day...' she guessed.
The sound of a door sliding open signaled Trunks' exit from the gravity chamber. Though he couldn't exert his fullest potential, it was training that still felt well earned. He sat down on the couch opposite Pan, looking tired.
"Sleep well?" Pan asked as she looked up from her breakfast.
"Not much," he replied. There was a noticeable pause. "You didn't either, did you?"
"No, not really. Was there anything else is that bag you took besides this house? I've noticed there's multiple capsules on the table," she asked
"Yeah," Trunks answered. "A few of them are leftovers from the ones we had on the ship, which adds to a lot of the supplies already there; including the food, medicine, and clothes."
Pan nodded, "OK. Is there anything unique that you grabbed?"
"Mainly some tech and engineering equipment, that I'm sure you're interested in," he replied, injecting a hint of sarcasm. He picked up one capsule in particular, "We now also have a few Senzu Beans."
"They can be stored in capsules?" the girl asked in partial surprise.
"Yeah. We talked to Korin about that," the older Saiyan explained. "He worked to grow a specific batch so they could be long-lasting enough to be stored away. The downside is so few of them survived the process in the end. There's no more than ten of them, I think."
"Should still be useful," Pan commented, but a part of her secretly hoped that there wouldn't be a chance for them be useful. "So what's the exact plan for today? Besides finding Dragon Balls," not expecting to be told anything new.
"For today, we just get a bit of training in, clean up a bit, then head on Nimbus to the nearest Ball Giru can find. And hope that we don't run into anybody else. Really, that's our only daily routine for now."
The mention of the machine's name made Pan look around. "Speaking of which, where is that bucket of bolts?" she wondered.
"He's been outside exploring, getting to know Earth as best he can," Trunks said. The boy gave a fond smile as he mentioned it. "It's actually quite nice having someone talk so fondly about this planet."
"Glad he likes his new home," Pan said, smiling a bit herself.
"Never doubted that he would."
A short while later, the front door opened and the three exited the house into the mild breeze of the late morning, offering a morale boost with its refreshing serenity. Pan, stretching out after having put in some training, while Trunks began to store the house back into its Capsule.
"Man, I've never heard someone talk so much about just seeing the sunrise," Pan commented, more upbeat due to Giru's infectious liking to the planet.
"Giru—Planetary environment and astronomical positions create visually optimal conditions," the robot giddily continued.
"You'll be glad to know that it's like that almost every day. And it happens a second time if you count sunset," she replied, her arms behind her head in a laid-back manner. As the girl turned around to call Nimbus again, Trunks re-stored the house with a loud pop, placing the refilled capsule of the house away.
"And if things go really well, we could have two or three more Dragon Balls by then," he said, sharing in the optimism.
"Giru help find Dragon Balls!" the machine declared, turning around and activating the radar integrated on his back.
Trunks took a hold of him, analyzing the readings as the two Saiyans got on the magic cloud.
"Hmm..." he muttered, his face showing mild inconvenience.
"What is it?" Pan asked.
"The nearest one is further away than I thought. Not really a problem, just a delay," the boy replied.
"So can I nap on my side of the cloud while you fly us there?" she asked half-jokingly, and half-seriously after the previous night.
"Go ahead, but I won't grab you if the wind pushes you off the edge."
"Okay, fine then," was all he was met with as the cloud drifted upwards, then accelerated in the direction Giru's radar pointed.
Nimbus' max speed meant that traversing the sky was slower than either were used to or wanted, but it was accepted if it meant a chance of staying hidden. It also became something of a scenic route by virtue of said pace and the absence of either passenger needing to focus on flying. Soaking in the many shades of green across the mountains and valleys below made for a calming experience.
The serene mountainous landscapes soon rolled back, gradually being replaced with more barren rock and earth, until eventually there was no trace of green below them. And though minimal and offset from the wind of riding NImbus, the air became noticeably drier and hotter.
And cloudless.
Looking down, Trunks took in the view and looked to see how many people, if anyone at all, was below them. He could only see the dust trail kicked up by a single vehicle, heading in a perpendicular direction from them towards the outskirts of a city in the distance. He knew that from this height an ordinary person wouldn't see them clearly, despite the clear sky.
"Dragon Ball detected! In nearby crevices—Giru!" the machine exclaimed to the others.
The giant carvings in the earth took up the size of a small town. While there was no glint of amber plainly visible, especially from a birds-eye view, it wouldn't take too long to find it, especially with Giru's precision.
Both were unaware that the vehicle they flew over had turned, heading directly towards them.
"Wow, it really is this easy, huh?" Pan said, smiling to herself as the cloud came to a stop above the area Giru pointed to, over one to the deeper looking caverns.
Pan took the initiative and jumped off Nimbus, leading Giru with her.
"I'll meet you down there," she said to Trunks as she dropped down.
The girl was already on the ground by the time Trunks followed suit. Looking up, Pan saw him halfway between Nimbus and where she stood. The next thing she saw was him being engulfed in an explosion from behind.
Instantly, adrenaline went straight through her chest, and a thousand thoughts flooded her mind. Her attention re-centered when she saw Trunks emerge from the ball of smoke, still heading towards her. The boy was now tattered and dazed, but still conscious and not hurt too severely as he landed next to her. Pan grabbed onto shoulder to support him as he fell onto one knee, steadying his body through the shock brought on from the direct hit.
"Damn..." he grunted.
Before they could react, the sound of a Ki blast being fired cut through the air, much closer by being able to hear it. They both looked at the source of the sound and saw another magenta ball of energy heading straight for them. Their fighting instincts took over and led they way as they leapt apart, flying up into the sky.
The attack's impact exploded on contact with the ground. The flash and shock-wave were short and small, creating more smoke than explosion, but it was potent enough to collapse the cavern the Ball was located in.
Pan looked at the crumbling rocks in dismay at the Dragon Ball being buried, even Giru spoke while clinging to her shoulder.
"DRAGON BALL STILL ACCESSIBLE!" he said, panic in his voice from the current threat.
"Giru, go down and find it now! And stay safe!" Pan replied in a quick shout.
The robot gave a look towards the still obscured threat, as if hesitating, he gave a look back at Pan then dropped faster than a stone, disappearing down the linger dust clouds and away from immediate danger.
The two Saiyans then turned to the energy they sensed nearby, and approaching them quickly. Parting through the curtains of smoke, with his hair tied back and in a black t-shirt and light brown pants, they saw the familiar face of Yamcha heading for them. He wore the same single-minded look of loathing that was on Gohan and Goten's faces.
Though not that intimidated by a human past his prime, what still put Trunks on edge was that fighting him, however quickly, could easily attract more unwanted attention from more dangerous people.
Without a word, their former friend flew straight towards them, sending another blast ahead of him at Trunks. But with the element of surprise gone, the Saiyan effortlessly dodged the attack. He briefly looked behind himself as it collided with the ground and exploded like a rock thrown in a lake. He looked back to see Pan had already jumped straight into the fight. She was delivering forth far more strikes and kicks than she was blocking, and the momentum had Yamcha on the back-foot, rapidly floating back towards the vehicle he arrived in.
"Pan! Try not to use too much power!" the boy called out to her in the hope she wasn't getting too invested in the fight as a Saiyan would be prone to.
He was met with a quick glance back as though she didn't hear him properly. But as short as it was, the small opening this created was quickly taken advantage of, and the former bandit's signature attack, the Wolf Fang Fist, landed directly on the girl; a powerful kick followed by a flurry of clawing strikes. The impact sent her back spiraling for a few seconds, but she quickly regained her composure mid-air, and felt her anger quickly flare up. As Pan flew straight back into the fight, Trunks quickly set off towards Yamcha, hoping to end this sooner and escape with the Dragon Ball.
The fight quickly turned in favor of the Saiyans through strength in numbers, something Yamcha realized as his look of determination collapsed into frustration. His strikes began to weaken, his speed began to falter and his ability to block attacks lessen. As Pan launched a punch aimed directly for his face, the bandit disappeared before the blow landed. Halting her momentum, the two looked around to see where the man went. The quarter-Saiyan saw him at a distance in the corner of her eye, looking directly at them but using the brief moment to regain some strength.
"THIS WAY!" Pan shouted as she flew towards him on her own, now far less restrained than before.
Trunks began to move to catch up to her, wanting to try and snap her out of the adrenaline rush. He barely moved an inch before there was a flash of light around him. He felt a massive force hit him from above, as if a mountain had been dropped on him at the speed of a bullet. The boy was planted straight into the ground, his head felt as if it could feel the Earth spinning. Attempting to bring himself out of his dazed state he lifted himself up to his knees, looking ahead to try and see where Pan was, hoping she was unharmed. Then the same flash and crushing blow came down on him again. The boy's head smacked back down against rock and every part of his body felt pain. This time, Trunks could only lift his head up to see his surroundings. But he noticed he was now down deep in a square-shaped pit formed in the ground. Again another blow landed all over him stunning him. And again it came. Each new strike only added to the pain he was left in. The most he could do now was open his eyes to see everything spinning in a daze, which he then closed as he clenched himself for the next blow based on the rhythmic sync of each strike.
But this time Trunks felt nothing. Within the second of realizing this he pushed through the pain and brief confusion, looking up with his remaining strength. His fight-or-flight instincts went into over drive as he saw a figure rocketing straight down towards him at full speed, his arms above his head and his leg forward, using the momentum to smash the boy beneath him.
He managed to leap out of the way at the last moment, his sore body being sprayed with stone smashing up from the impact. Unable to stop his momentum he slammed upright into a corner of the crater the two were now in. Focusing himself, Trunks looked forward and saw two eyes staring coldly at him.
He knew immediately who it was, "Tien."
His third eye though open was no longer visible, hidden behind a red haze. He wasted no time in going straight for Trunks, aiming a strike straight at the Saiyan's head. With the confusion now mostly gone, he raised his arms up in defense, taking the punch with relative ease. Tien didn't relent as he tried raining down even more blows while Trunks was cornered. Despite being weakened from taking the relentless Tri-Beam attacks, he continued to block each strike, and took advantage of the toll the attack took on Tien's body. Ducking below a hit to the face, Trunks responded with his own punch to the stomach, knocking Tien back. Using his open the half-Saiyan darted past him and took off out of the crater. As soon as he shot upwards a flash caught his attention from below, and looked down to see a beam of energy heading straight for him. He dodged it by inches, only to see another blast heading straight for him. Hitting its target, the impact knocked him to the side of the crater, breaking through the ground as he flew out of it. Picking himself up, Trunks felt more and more frustrated, and unwilling, to restrain himself.
A battered Yamcha then landed next to him, conscious but unable to pick himself up immediately. Trunks turned up from the ground only to see Tien hovering above him, firing another attack. He leapt sideways to dodge, and seeing that the blast was not going to stop, grabbed Yamcha to avoid the attack hitting him as well. The half-Saiyan's goodwill only earned him an unexpected Ki blast to the face from the bandit, sending him crashing backwards.
"Can we hold out long enough?" Yamcha asked standing back up, watching Pan stop to check on Trunks, as the triclops landed next to him.
Tien simply looked past the crevice and off to the distance, as if sensing something approaching. "We might now," he replied with determination. He turned back to see Pan flying straight for them, her left hand drawn back, emanating a yellow glow, Trunks now standing back up.
The warrior quickly raised his hands beside his face, stretched his fingers across his eyes, and cried out, "SOLAR FLARE!"
A white light filled the two Saiyan's sight, so pure and strong that it left a burning sensation in their eyes. Pan, being closer, felt a splitting line of pain throb over the top and back of her head. Panic welled up inside her as a metallic ringing robbed the girl of her hearing. Her effort to regain her senses was halted by something colliding with her torso, then exploding. She let out a cry of pain, leaving a crater on the ground where she landed.
"PAN!" Trunks shouted out with his eyes clenched shut, unable to see but able to partially hear the girl's shout. Standing up, he pushed himself through the pain in his retinas and opened his eyes, only able to see a brownish grey beneath a clear blue sky above it. He lumbered in place trying to get his vision back fully, but to no avail.
Seeing his chance, Tien went straight for the girl, leaping side to side to avoid the hail of Ki blasts Pan was literally blindly firing off in front of her in a desperate bid to defend herself. With ease he stood to her right, and raised his right arm at her point blank as a glow started to shine from his hand.
All of a sudden, an explosion erupted behind him, the shock lowering his guard and knocking him forward, causing his outstretched hand to graze against the girl's upper arm. Still in full control of her sense of touch, Pan immediately reacted. Her eyes opened to a blurry landscape, and she then put all her strength into throwing a left-hook at whatever was to her right. The girl's shorter height let her deliver a perfect liver-shot to Tien. He recoiled back from the hit, clutching his stomach as he fell on his side and his body instictively curled itself up, smoke billowing from his singed back. Pan didn't relent as she looked at the forming human shape in front of her, and began reigning more punches, and several head kicks, as soon as she was sure it wasn't Trunks.
The older Saiyan now had his sight back, and while looking towards the fight, saw Yamcha facing upwards and away from them with a similarly scorched back to Tien. The boy wasted no time firing a powerful Ki attack of his own at him, only holding back enough to not fatally hurt him. Curiosity then made him follow Yamcha's line of sight, and what he saw filled him with relief.
"Come on! Now's our chance to get out of here!" he shouted as he went up to Pan, still beating down Tien.
His voice managed to grab her attention back to the present. He then pointed up to the sky, and following the direction, she looked up. It made her immediately forget her anger and fear. Looking up, she saw Giru. The robot had two empty slots protruding from his lower body, that reloaded with missiles. He held a thumbs up in one hand and a cloth sack in the other, clearly more full than before. He had the second Dragon Ball.
Pan smiled as her eyes fully adjusted to the sight of the robot. She immediately called out for Nimbus as she ran over to the descending robot, Trunks following behind. As they approached the robot, a small circle of light out of nowhere spun across the sky, going straight for Giru from behind.
The disc passed through him with no resistance.
The attack cut a line two-thirds down the side of his body through his shoulder. The robot felt every wire and circuit board that was hit come apart inside him. Electric sparks sprayed out from him, his thumbs up fell to his side limp, the arm lifeless. His descent turned into a fall, his speed increasing as he tilted sideways. The tilt opened his mechanical body with a perfect cut between his central eye and now dangling arm, only barely attaching at the bottom of his body. Smoke poured out of the opening. Silently, he tightened his grip on the Dragon Balls as hard as he could with the dwindling strength in his other arm.
The Saiyans stopped in their tracks, initially too shocked to properly respond. But panic quickly set in, even stronger from the lingering adrenaline kick from fighting. They could only register the fact that Giru—their only chance to find the Dragon Balls—was severely wounded, or worse. Pan was immediately airborne, catching him before he could drop to the ground. Trunks looked over to a large mound of rock where the attack came from. He felt even worse as the culprit came into view: Krillin, the father of his old friend Marron, joined by dozens of armed police officers that were about to open fire. He wore the same look in his eye as Tien and Yamcha, but also had a gloating smirk at hitting his target.
"Giru! GIRU!" Pan frantically cried out in an attempt to stir some sign of life from the robot as she cradled him.
The only response was an occasional spark and stream of smoke. They were then hit with a storm of lead and blaster fire all around them. As he looked between the two, the sight of Giru, coupled with Krillin's smirk was enough to push Trunks over the edge.
In a bright flash the boy's hair turned gold and stood on end, his power skyrocketing in tandem. He turned to Krillin in the distance, and fired off a large energy blast that wiped away the incoming firepower like rain on a wind-shield, exploding nearly three quarters of the way to its target. Before it could clear, Trunks burst through the smoke with his arms retracted behind him. He then let loose a charged up attack, aiming for the rock beneath them. The impact created an explosion from the stone that sent the men standing atop it flying.
As the sounds of destruction died down, the boy looked around to see a sea of people lying about broken stone, including the three friends they had fought as he saw Pan tending to Giru. Breathing deeply to try and calm himself, Trunks then noticed a flash of yellow enter the corner of his sight. Turning to it, readying for more fighting, he felt relief as he realized it was merely Nimbus returning to them. But it still set him off, using so much power put a massive target on their location. He felt a familiar signature heading rapidly towards them.
Returning to his base form, Trunks rapidly hopped on the cloud as it passed by him and quickly guided it towards Pan. He quickly helped her onto the flying cloud while her attention was on keeping Giru together, then shot off away from the battle as fast as the cloud could go.
Taking a risk, Trunks didn't bother looking for a well hidden location to stop, only the first patch of trees he saw once the nearby city was far, far out of sight. He uncapsuled the house before he was on the ground, almost breaking the front door down. "GET HIM ON THE TABLE!" he shouted behind him as he quickly looked through a box of capsules nearby.
Pan did so as quickly and gently as possible, still holding Giru to prevent his split from worsening. She cringed every time he sparked or flinched, unsure if it was a sign of life or suffering. In the quiet of indoors, it was much easier to hear him emit a near constant, painful electrical sparking noise. The only good sign was that the smoke emitting had lessened to the amount of an extinguished candle.
"Please. Don't strain yourself..." she said quietly to him to try and comfort the robot, not sure if he was trying to, or if he could even hear her. The sight made guilt well up inside her. A sense of self-blame began to grow, that she should have been more vigilant, that letting Tien get an opening on her caused Giru to be so exposed. She looked up to see Trunks place a toolbox on he table, now wearing a headlamp. "Can you fix him?" she asked, barely able to conceal a worried tone.
"Once I see the full damage I'll know," he replied, deciding not to reveal that most of the equipment that he needed the most was on their ship when it was destroyed, and that he was now working with the equivalent of scraps. The first thing he noticed was that the robot was lying more still than usual. "Giru, can you make ANY movements?" Trunks asked, unable to hide the uncertainty in his voice.
A few seconds passed without a response, worsening their fear for their friend. Then, almost unnoticed, his hand holding the Dragon Balls opened up, causing the two star ball to roll out of the sack and off the table, landing on the carpet with a short clatter. Trunks let out a small sigh of relief at the sign. He then turned his attention to the damage, prying open the split in the robot's body as gently as he could. Despite only seeing wiring and circuits, the sight was difficult to look at. But the more he inspected it, he became marginally more hopeful. Charring and fire damage was almost all limited to where Krillin's attack cut through, and didn't spread to the across his inner workings.
Pan, seeing the changes on his face, spoke up, "How's it look?"
The boy leaned back, still looking at Giru as he responded, "It'll take a while, but I think there's a chance," his voice emphasized the scale of the task he had.
She sat silently, not taking her eyes off Giru, as she absorbed his assessment before replying, "Okay...there's nothing I can do now, is there?"
He was taken aback a bit by the question, how it was so resigned, especially compared to her usual enthusiasm to want to help. "Can...can you keep watch in case anyone tried to follow us?" he asked, after thinking of something on the spot.
Pan looked from Trunks, then back down at Giru blankly, before silently nodding and getting up off the couch and heading outside.
'You better not blame yourself for this,' he thought with concern, not taking his eyes off her until the front door was closed. He didn't know how long he'd been thinking with worry about how she was coping before he realized he was distracted. Shaking his focus back, he then set himself to work.
The sky had been a mix of amber and yellow for a while, the light blue turning dark on the horizon opposite the sunset, the only measure for how long time had passed. The Capsule house stood partly hidden among a quaint patch of forest, where Pan sat atop it. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, which were tucked in with her knees covering the lower part of her face. The only solace was the fresh air and the scent of nature was more soothing than the faint smell of burnt metal that had filled the front room. She had long given up on keeping watch for anyone following them, instead dwelling incessantly on the day's events. And the reasonable part of her eventually gave up on debunking the self-blame she began to feel. One particular event stood out and repeated the most: seeing Giru be nearly bisected from out of nowhere. Her mind flooded with things she could have done; she could have been more vigilant, she could have been faster she could have been a better fighter.
'Were anyone else thereinstead of me, he wouldn't have gotten hurt…' she thought.
She again recalled how quickly Trunks managed to end the fight, how all it took was turning his hair gold like flicking a switch. Defeating Yamcha and Tien was no small feat, but even then she had to admit that Giru helped her, and it wasn't nearly as easily done as when her friend turned into a Super Saiyan. She pulled a few strands of her raven hair into view, and began to think about how it had never happened to her yet. She knew she was older than her father, Trunks and Uncle Goten when they achieved the transformation. But she never showed a sign of doing the same, despite all the times where the circumstances should have been perfect. She was only ever curious or mildly frustrated about It before, but with the current circumstances, it felt like a weakness.
"Maybe if I had been abledo it, I could have saved Giru…' she wondered. This thought made her feel frustrated and angry more than the others.
She let her hair go and brought her arm back down as a cold evening wind began to feel sharp. Drawn back to the present she stared ahead, and began mindlessly following a few leaves that fell off a tree and were being lazily carried in the breeze.
'Wait a minute,' she realized, her eyes opening up from their glaze. 'It's way too early in the year for the leaves to start falling.'
Jumping down from the roof, she picked one up ahead of the front door. Even in the faint light from the window, she could see a few even more strange things. It was completely dessicated and shrivelled, breaking apart from the touch of her fingers. This was less like a leaf that fell in autumn and closer to a plant that had been starved of light and water until death. Or perhaps even burned, its colouring was tinted with an almost charred black rather than a mostly soft brown.
Before Pan could continue to wonder what caused it, the sound of the front door opening stole her attention. Her confusion was replaced by a tense anticipation, only seeing his silhouette against the light. Upon seeing her, Trunks didn't wait to deliver the news.
"He's alive," he let out in an exhausted breath with a smile. He walked forward and slumped down onto a rock outside the house, trying to relax in the night air.
Pan only responded with a relieved sigh of her own, leaning forward and supporting herself with her hands on her knees. Her eyes began to feel watery as the fact that Giru wasn't dead set it further. "H—how good is he doing?" the girl asked, wanting specifics, while regaining her composure. She saw his smile falter slightly
As Trunks opened his eyes, Pan saw that he was cradling the robot in one arm. His body was fully re-attached and wore a blowtorch scar down the side of his torso where Krillin had cut through him.
Before he could answer, the machine answered himself, "Gi-Gi-Gi-Gi—Giru functionality capacity range between thirty and fifty percent capacity."
Hearing the strain it took for the robot to simply speak, Pan went over and rested a hand on her wounded friend with care. "It's better than zero percent," she said tenderly.
"He's banged up hard, his memory storage is untouched, but his ability to process it might be faulty from time to time. So don't get mad at him if he misremembers the odd name or place, or gets something wrong," Trunks explained. His tone then became more serious. "I'll also need to do some touch up maintenance a lot. The hard part is that the energy reserves were severely damaged, so he can only do certain things for a short time each day…" he trailed off then paused as if that wasn't the worst news.
"But he's still with us for good, right?" Pan interrupted before he could continue.
"Yeah…" he answered, slightly more reassuring in tone.
"That's what matters most then," she declared, wanting to end the day on a high note.
"It's not all though," he said. The younger Saiyan crossed her arms with a mix of intrigue and worry on her face, but let him go on. "Because of the depleted energy, he can't scan the whole planet for the Dragon Balls. He can only get a range of any number of miles that can change depending on how he is." Her arms fell to her side, and her face looked like she was given homework on the last day of school. "He has to keep the radar level low when he's using it."," Trunks said in response to her, "but he can't have his reserve energy hit zero, at all. If that happens, he's gone for good."
Starting low and soft, Pan simply let out a groan, going in a crescendo, louder and higher like a shepherd tone before dropping to her knees on the ground in defeat. The prospect of having to traverse whole planet, a small patch of land at a time, to find the Dragon Balls, stole away nearly all her happiness at Giru being alive.
"But that. Will take. WEEKS!" she complained. "And, the entire world is still out to kill us!" she reminded him as though it could change anything. She considered crying on the spot, not out of sadness but simply to vent.
Trunks didn't say anything having already had time to realize and process this reality, but he understood the frustration, especially since they had a taste of simply and quickly heading to only seven locations at once. And he knew it also meant they were in more danger. He leaned his head back and inhaled the fresh air to steel himself, looking up at the sky.
Something strange caught his eye. "What the…" he said aloud as he sat back up straight and stared at the stars.
Pan noticing his reaction then looked up herself. She saw what appeared to be a star, far brighter than all the others in the sky. And was moving across the dotted black canvas quickly. "What is that?" she asked. Despite it clearly being far away, if not outside Earth's atmosphere, it put her on edge as though something could happen to them there and then.
Trunks meanwhile thought about everything he had seen changed by Baby since returning to Earth, trying to think of a theory for what the Tuffle's plans were. Something he had been doing a lot in the small bits of alone time he had gone through so far..
"I have a feeling it has something to do with that new planet. And that ship he built in West City," he guessed as it moved directly to the new world that peaked over the horizon like a large moon. They both stared at it with tense nerves, waiting for it to do something different.
After realizing that it was only moving across the skyline, Trunks chose to focus elsewhere, "Come on," he gestured to the Capsule house hoping inside would make him feel slightly more secure "we've got a lot to do tomorrow and it's late."
She sighed in lethargy, "so how much longer will it take to find the Dragon Balls now?"
He paused. "As you said, weeks," he replied, "we at least have a year to get them though. But I'm more worried about finding the Black Star Dragon Balls again." He turned and walked back inside, still carrying Giru.
Pan followed suit, but gave one last look at the few dead leaves that lay on the ground. Before heading back in she saw a single one break off a nearby tree and fall to the ground.
Next time:
Trunks let Giru go as he clutched his stomach from the blow, while Pan tried to stand back up, wincing as pain shot through her back, rain continuing to drench them as debris landed around them.
"Giru—DANGER ENTERING VISUAL DISTANCE!" shouted through the loud patter of rain.
Trunks quickly looked around, only able to see a faint trail of gold disappearing into the storm. Unable to see anything he realized they had nowhere to go.