Chapter 9: Deserted on the Desert Planet

"Already it's been three weeks since our last stop at Planet Lood," said Piccolo, "having only traveled across the universe once prior to my split from the previous Kami, this is quite the eye-opening experience that teaches how vast this universe truly is."

"Trunks, why did you have to destroy the whole palace?" complained Pan as she was flipping her frying pan to cook eggs in the kitchen, "That spaceship the Para Para Brothers were using would have made the trip to the next Dragon Ball in a jiffy, you know!"

"Ha… Haha," stammered Trunks, "I-I guess I just went and lost my cool. When I thought the both of you were dead, I sort of completely lost it."

"That spaceship would have been of little use to us anyway," interjected Piccolo, "from what you told me of how quickly it ran out of fuel when making the round trip from Planet Lood to the Muma planet and back, we would have needed an incredibly abundant amount of fuel to scour the universe."

"But we haven't made a stop anywhere in almost a month! Pretty soon all the food in the fridge is going to go bad, you know!"

"Slow and steady wins the race, Pan. For now, concentrate on what you are doing. And Trunks, remember, just because you ascended past the Super Saiyan level last month does not mean there aren't higher plateaus you still have yet to reach!"

"You've got that right," replied Trunks, "without Goten around to serve as backup, I really need to carry two people's weight on my shoulders."

Pan's previously irritated expression turned into a full-blown frown of anger and she said, "Hey! Trunks! What are you saying? You think I can't carry my own weight?"

"Pan-chan, I'm not saying that at all. You've been useful to us when… when…"

"When? When what?"

"Gi-Give me a second. I'm sure I'll think of something…"

"Sheesh! Here, Trunks! Piccolo-san! Your fried eggs and meat stew are done, you can have my plate too! I'm useless, I probably can go without eating this! Hmph!"

Pan pressed a button on the side of the wall to climb up into the window room upstairs, clearly distraught that it was becoming more and more apparent how little she has contributed to the Dragon Trio's endeavors.

"Piccolo-san, I don't hear her pouting anymore," whispered Trunks, "I didn't want to say this to her face, but maybe it really would be good if we made a detour back to Earth at this point. If it's taking us nearly a month to get to this third Dragon Ball, getting Goten – a Super Saiyan and user of Shunkan Idou on our journey might really be for the best."

"The Super Radar indicates that the next Dragon Ball shouldn't be too far, Trunks. A detour at this point in the game would only serve to slow us down. Not that I'm particularly begging to differ that Pan has been a burden on our journey, but it's the more pragmatic choice to get this third Dragon Ball first. We'll decide what to do from then on."

The two older warriors whispered this conversation to each other for Pan's benefit, but upstairs, Pan was using Gill's connection to OctoPUS 9000's central computer to listen in on the whole conversation.

"Geez, Trunks, Piccolo-san, they're both jerks!"

Pan threw Gill onto the floor in frustration and then opened the closet next to Trunks' bed, taking out his 100-ton dumbbell.

"I'm no useless dummy, I can pull my own weight! In fact, I'm willing to bet in the time it takes to go to Earth and get Uncle Goten here, I can train with these weights and become even stronger than that meanie Trunks! They'll all see!"

Pan tried to lift the 100-ton dumbbell with one arm, only to painfully nearly twist her elbow. She barely managed to lift it up with both arms, only to fall over backward and nearly drop the dumbbell onto the window.

"Huff… Huff… S-Shoot! That was a close call! I-I… I know I'm not useless, I came here for a reason too!" said Pan while teary-eyed, "Gill, you agree with me, don't you? I've done some good on this journey, I know I did…"

"That is not a question Gill can objectively quantify and calculate. Gill Gill!"

"Geez, Gill! This is why I hate robots, you know! When a girl says these things, you're supposed to give her some encouragement, even if you don't really – "

"Gill! Gill! Dragon Ball found in the location of the Southwest, coordinates 2358! Gill Gill!"

"D-Dragon Ball found, you say? Piccolo-san and Trunks haven't whispered anything in a while, maybe we found it before them! Heh heh, just wait! I'd love to see the look on their faces once I go out and grab the third Dragon Ball before either of them, then they'll think twice about sending me to Earth! Gill, don't say anything to those two, let's just pretend we fell asleep and surprise them tomorrow with the Dragon Ball!"

"Gill? Gill Gill, affirmative! Gill will not divulge the information!"

Pan then tucked herself to bed in the closet, elated at the possibility of showing up her two elders for once.

The next morning, OctoPUS 9000 was nearing the stratosphere of the location of the next Ultimate Dragon Ball. Although Pan originally planned to sneak out of the spaceship first thing in the morning and surprise her two elders, the two woke up well before her due to Pan's greater fatigue from not having eaten anything the night before. While Pan was still tucked in her makeshift bed in the closet, Trunks and Piccolo were holding a conversation.

"So, the more pertinent matter at hand than this Dragon Ball is who was the real brains behind the Lood cult," said Piccolo, "according to your account of the mysterious voice that was in control of Lood minutes before you destroyed the robot, there was a third party besides Motchi that spoke remotely through Lood's mouth, correct?"

"Yes. I remember that when we killed the Ki absorbing Mutchi monster, Motchi did communicate through Lood, but when I was managing my last stand against the robot, it was a different voice entirely. I don't trust that sneak Motchi with much of anything, but considering that he himself was absorbed into Lood with all his former followers and Pan, I think we can surmise that the story he told us about being manipulated by this Dr. Mu character is fairly credible, Piccolo-san."

"And he was using the Lood cult and those Para Para Brothers to gather the Ultimate Dragon Balls as well… perhaps we might truly be in for the battle of our lives soon enough. Trunks, might we be able to beseech your father or the others' assistance?"

"My father is probably out of the question. He's always been of the mindset that my mom and Bra matter more to him than what becomes of the rest of the universe, and I'm afraid that my grandfather just destroyed his reservoir spaceships to make sure Kaiba couldn't reverse engineer them and try to sabotage our own journey somehow. Plus, he's understandably pretty mad at him for the whole predicament he's put our family in."

"Then we'd best wake up Pan and get the Dragon Ball as soon as possible. I thought about avoiding Mu altogether and gathering as many Dragon Balls as possible before returning to Earth, but I'm afraid that doing that might eat up more than the six months we're allowed on this journey. And it could easily backfire if we gather five or more of the Dragon Balls, and they get stolen again like on Zunama's planet and get scattered again if Mu were to make his wish."

"Meaning, it's better for us that we face them sooner than later, right?"

"Yes. The good news is that we warriors of Earth have experience battling organizations with manpower greater than ours, just as your father, Gohan and Kuririn did on Namek by suppressing their Ki and outwitting Freeza's forces. If we can just assassinate Mu and whoever is his second-in-command, we may be able to win even if in a direct battle they have the edge."

"I'll trust you on that one, Piccolo-san. But I think we should probably keep our lips sealed in front of Pan about this. She hasn't exactly been in life threatening battles so far, and she could get cold feet and screw up – "

"Screw up how, exactly?" asked Pan as she suddenly snuck up on Trunks, still barely woken up, "Is that all I am to you two? A screw-up who's nothing but dead weight?"

"P-Pan-chan! I thought you were still asleep! What are you doing up so early?"

"Jeez, Trunks! You can stop calling me Pan-chan already if all you think of me is as dead weight! I had Gill calculate the coordinates of the next Dragon Ball last night before either of you, so I thought I would surprise you two by going out there myself and getting it before either of you got up! But apparently you guys can function on like two hours of sleep…"

"That's for the best. Now that all three of us are up, we have three pairs of hands to get the next Dragon Ball with. The faster we get the next Dragon Ball, the faster we can begin to strategize on how we can topple Mu's army."

"Then let the search begin! As my dad always says, my Saiyan blood is itching for someone to test my new powers on!"

OctoPUS 9000 landed onto a planet in which all as far as the eye – and the radar could detect – were a planet-wide desert.

"I-I said I was fired up, but maybe this is just too hot…" said Trunks.

"Y-Yes… I think I concur with you on this one," said Piccolo as he drank a sip from a water bottle, "us Namekians are particularly strong against the cold, but when we're forced to perspire under grueling heat like this, the loss of fluid is devasting on our stamina…"

"W-We really should have packed some of that desert gear they had on Imegga…" said Pan.

"Let's just take a break first under some air conditioning, and maybe go gathering the Dragon Ball later when it's nighttime," said Trunks.

Just then, a massive, ant lion-like creature sprang out of the desert floor and snarled at the trio.

"Grrr…. Uwaaaaaaaargh!" yelled the creature as it shot a stream of sand at the entrance of OctoPUS 9000, forcing Trunks and Piccolo to dodge. It struck Pan directly, and buried her in a large pile of sand.

"Pfffuuu! Pwaaahh! I got sand in my mouth!"

"Trunks! My Namekian physiology is particularly disadvantageous in this environment, you must hit that creature, now!"

"Oh, I'll hit it alright. It won't be anything resembling a threat," said Trunks as he formed a Ki ball in his hand, "take this! Mini Big Bang Attack!"

The blast hit the giant ant lion, causing it to fall over backwards, but then it whipped out its tail and coiled itself around OctoPUS 9000.

"Oh shit! This thing's gonna damage our spaceship!"

"Trunks, grab this!"

Piccolo took out the sword Trunks took from Planet Lood, which he'd strapped to his weighted shoulder guards, and Trunks then strapped it onto his own shoulder and then drew the sword.

"I'll slice and dice him!"

Trunks dove into the ant lion's location and sliced the hostile creature into several pieces, albeit not before it was able to cause fairly noticeable damage to their ship. Piccolo, after this, completely collapsed, obviously hit the worst by the intense heat.

"I have to wonder how on Earth he lasted a year in the Room of Spirit and Time..."

"Why do you think I went in alone instead of going in with Gohan? I was consuming twice as much water as the Saiyans were."

"T-Trunks! Our spaceship looks all crumpled up! We're not gonna be stuck on this planet, are we?"

"Nah, I should be able to fix this in under 8 hours. Take out some umbrellas from inside the ship's storage, Pan! And while you're at it, take out all the water we have in the fridge! The engine was damaged and we need some water to help cool it!"

"O-Our water? But we're on a desert planet, and Piccolo-san already looks like he's about to croak!"

"We just need to wait until nightfall. You and Piccolo-san can rest inside the ship while I fix this. This is only going to delay our plans by a few hours. Think of it this way, we did get something out of this and it's that we know Piccolo-san and the heat don't mix. That gives us a tactical advantage against Mu since we can make sure Piccolo-san doesn't face anybody with pyrokinetic powers."

"Pyro-what?"

"Flame manipulation. You know, for Gohan-san's daughter you really don't seem to read a lot."

Pan, already irritated from being belittled all night, finally snapped and said, "Well, excuse me, Mr. Brainiac! I guess when you're all super brawny and cool and Super Saiyan 2 or whatever you became on the Lood planet where I almost ended up a doll for the rest of my life, and you're all smart and nerdy you really don't need me, now do you?"

"P-Pan, that is not what I'm saying. I-I probably couldn't have even become Super Saiyan 2 in the last battle if I thought you and Piccolo-san weren't dead – "

"Meaning the only thing I'm good for is getting myself eaten so you think I'm a goner, is that right?

"Pan, I think you're taking things a little out of context…"

"Context, my butt! Come with me, Gill! We can find the Dragon Ball ourselves! And we'll find the other four on top of that too, then we'll see who's useless! Up yours, Trunks!"

Pan grabbed an umbrella, opened it and then flew off with Gill.

"Stupid Trunks, stupid Piccolo-san, stupid… Uncle Goten and all those other people who think they're better than me, I hate them! I'm not useless, darn it! I-I'm going to prove it!"

About half an hour elapsed before Pan fell onto the desert floor, too affected by the scorching heat to keep flying.

"I-I…"

Pan sipped the last of what little water she was able to bring on her and then attempted to get up and take flight again, only to be dragged into the quicksand.

"I-I… I'm not gonna die here! Hah!"

Pan flared up an aura with the last of her strength and escaped the quicksand, then landed to safety. Unfortunately, it was still the scorching heat of the afternoon of over a hundred degrees Celsius, and she soon dropped her empty water bottle on the ground and collapsed again.

"I… I think I might really be done for…"

Meanwhile, on the planet M2 a spaceship that had escaped the Lood planet three weeks prior encircled the planet like a satellite before then entering Dr. Mu's central control spire.

"Mu-sama! I come to report my findings!" said the mysterious alien who had encircled the planet.

"Very well. You may come in, Dolltacki. What have you found?" said a shadowed figure sitting in the central command room.

"Mu-sama, sir! I have through our advanced energy detector software found that the Super Saiyan whelp who put a wrench in our plans on Planet Lood may have played a hand in ending the pesky Native Resistance Force once and for all!"

"Oh? And how does that work out, exactly?"

"Well, it's quite simple, sir! The energy he gave off when he gave that power surge in the amazon forest, we have found to be remarkably similar in energy signature to the masked leader of the Native Resistance! They may even be of the same race! I have programmed our satellites to hone in on the exact same signature, and hopefully within days we will be able to – "

"Hopefully?" said the shadowed figure, disgruntled, "Meaning you haven't actually made progress in tracking the rebel down?"

"S-Sir! It will only be a matter of days, if you were to just give me four, no, three days, I'm sure I can capture the leader and present him in a metal plate – "

"That's enough, Dolltacki!" said the shadowed figure as he rose from his chair, "Mu-sama has a message for you… DIE!"

"M-Mu-sama has what? Y-You're not Mu-sama! Rild, what are you doing here? Why are you using his voice – "

Rild shot a blast straight through Dolltacki's chest with his finger and then said, "You were of no use to us as flesh and blood, but perhaps when raised again as a Machine Mutant you will be. Sigma Force! Take him and convert him to a form where he will actually serve some form of use for once!"

"Yes, sir!" replied the three Sigma Force robots.

"Three Dragon Balls are gathered in a solar system not terribly far, Mu-sama! I would wager that the three Earthlings' next stop will be here!"

"Excellent. Three great samples for our Machine Mutant army and three Dragon Balls, all in one handy package. Rild, Dolltacki's information perhaps wasn't entirely useless, if we can keep the resistance bugs at bay, the next phase of our plans may go more smoothly than expected! Have our satellites hone in on the energy signature!"

"Yes, sir."

The scene once again cuts back to the desert planet.

"Gill! Gill! Pan's energy signature not caught on radar! Gill surmises that she may have dehydrated after flying on ahead!"

Pan, who had risen again and again to wander aimlessly looking for shade, mumbled to herself, "I-I… I've lost Gill, and I can't even see my water bottle from here. I guess I really am done for…"

Pan collapsed onto the desert floor for the final time, finally spent.

"Maybe it'd just be easier to keel over and accept my – "

As Pan said this, too weak to even finish the rest of her sentence, she flipped over and stared into the blinding sun, her vision ironically too blurry to even see its bright rays.

"S-Save me, Trunks… Piccolo-san…"

To make matters worse, from the quicksand that she escaped for the fourth time several minutes ago, another giant ant lion creature rose up. Pan mustered the rest of her strength and hit it with a Kiai, but weak as she was, it did little more than annoy it.

"Grr… Grr… GWRRRRAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGHHHH!"

The ant lion was about to jump in for the kill when Gill suddenly flew at her direction from the sky and said, "Don't bully Pan!"

Gill knocked itself into the giant ant lion and managed to knock it back, but then the ant lion took its huge tail from the desert sand and knocked Gill dozens of feet away before shooting a torrent of sand at it. Gill clawed its way into the giant ant lion's mouth, at which point it fired off a missile and knocked it unconscious by firing the projectile inside its mouth. However, another ant lion then emerged and knocked Gill over. Gill still wouldn't give up, and said, "Gill! Pan is comrade! Gill Gill! Will not let her die! Gill Gill!"

"Gill… all I ever did was push him around, and yet…"

Pan mustered up the energy to get up and just barely managed to fire a Ki blast at the ant lion, which knocked it over but failed to defeat it. Pan then finally fell over and began hallucinating, saying to Gill, "That's enough, Gill… Just run… Save yourself…"

In the middle of her heat stroke induced stupor, Pan saw illusions of Gohan, Videl and Satan.

"Papa… Mama…. Satan-Ojiichan…"

Goku then also entered her vision, before he smiled at her and then began turning his back on her and walking into the distance.

"G-Grandpa… Grandpa Goku…"

"Pan-chan…"

Trunks' voice rang in Pan's head.

"Pan! You can't die here! It's not your time yet! As I told your father before when I trained him, what doesn't kill you just makes you stronger!"

"What doesn't kill me… Makes me stronger…"

"Get up, Pan!"

"I-I will! I will! I'm not about to just bite it here, I have to apologize for all the bad things I've done and said! I really have been a burden on Trunks and Piccolo-san, it's not too late to change things!"

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Piccolo-san! I'm sorry, Trunks! And Grandpa…. I-I swear, I'm gonna make you all better soon! Grandma won't have to cry anymore!"

"Haaaaah!"

Pan powered up in her heat induced hallucination and her will sprang her back to life in the reality of the desert planet as well. She then flared up a flight aura and punched the ant lion, breaking through the roof of its mouth. She then smiled faintly before collapsing.

Hours later, she was woken up by the feeling of water splashing in her face.

"H-Huh?"

"Gill! Gill! Oasis found! Gill Gill!"

"Gill… those two ant lions, did you get them? O-Or, did I?"

"Dragon Ball also found! Gill Gill! Pan indeed defeated one of the felled creatures, Gill Gill!"

"G-Gill! I'm… I'm really sorry I pushed you around 'till now! I'll never pick on you again!"

Just as Pan was embracing Gill in relief, Trunks and Piccolo, each carrying an umbrella on their shoulders, flew to Pan's location.

"Pan-chan! It's us! Are you okay?"

"I heard that Gill has gathered the Dragon Ball, Trunks. It seems all is well. Take the spaceship out of your capsule case, it's time to refuel in the oasis!"

The Dragon Trio, reconvened again after a stressful afternoon, flew into the oasis Gill found, where Pan treated herself to a well-deserved soak in the oasis in her underwear.

Pan rose up from inside the oasis after drinking a mouthful and said, "Trunks! I-I'm sorry, I've been doing nothing but holding the two of you, no, the three of you, Gill and you and Piccolo-san back! Haven't I?"

"That's not true at all, Pan-chan. Even as worn out as you were, even when Piccolo-san and I were doing nothing, you beat all those ant lions all by yourself, and Gill got the Dragon Ball not for us, but for your sake! You're contributing to our journey plenty!"

"R-Really?"

"Yeah! In fact, you can forget about all the stuff we said about ever going to Earth and switching places with Goten! If the three of us were fated to go off on this journey and not me, Piccolo-san and Goten, then it's fate's hand guiding us! When we started out, you and I both had a lot to learn, and I think I've become able to contain and control my temper, and as for you, you've grown a lot as a person in just one day!"

"Awww! You're just saying that to make me feel better…"

"That's not true! And we'll destroy Mu's little criminal empire and get the rest of the Dragon Balls yet!"

"Hmph. A childish optimism I can't help but appreciate," said Piccolo, "but I have to say, this oasis water is really quite good! It really doesn't hurt to kick back and relax once in a while, I have to admit!"

To be continued…

Arc 1: Ultimate Dragon Balls - END