Co-written by SuperSaiyan2Link.
Pan could barely make out where she was now. It looked like she was in a pod of sorts, filled with water or some kind of blue-green liquid. But even then, Pan could breathe just fine. She then felt something covering her nose and mouth: a mask of sorts.
Outside the pod, she only saw blurry figures: one short wearing purple with pink skin and another much taller in dark grey with light purple hair.
From what she could make out, it looked like the two were conversing with each other. She tried as best as she could to listen in.
"...were you thinking...?"
"...we're spread thin..."
"...used the Dragon Balls..."
"...didn't think it'd be like..."
"...lucky to be alive..."
"...knew my name..."
But as she tried to hear the conversation, she saw her eyelids closing: she was losing consciousness once again.
When she awoke this time, Pan found herself lying in a bed in a small white room. Upon taking off the covers, she saw she was wearing white pajamas, but with "TP" written on her top.
"TP? I don't remember any clothing brands called TP."
She pat her chest and stomach to see if she still had the wounds from before, but felt nothing out of the ordinary. She lifted up her top's sleeve to feel her elbow and no wound there either.
"They're all... healed?"
To her right, she saw a small nightstand with a lamp. The clothes she was wearing that day were all neatly folded and appeared to have been washed and even repaired.
To her left, a monitor indicating her vital signs, as well as a window. From where she laid, she could barely make out the sky between some larger light grey structures.
Pan was starting to piece together this wasn't Otherworld.
The door opened. Pan sat upward quickly and turned in the direction of the noise to see who it was, revealing itself to be a younger man who looked like Trunks.
He saw her heart beat going up on the monitor, as well as her panic upon seeing him, and put out his hands to try to calm her down.
"It's okay. It's okay! You're safe!"
After seeing Pan start to relax, he pulled up a chair and sat nearby.
"I'm glad to see you've recovered. You were in really bad shape when we found you."
Pan thought back to the photo of Trunks Bulla showed him: one where he looked much younger, but where Bulma appeared to be the same age as when Trunks was born.
There this young man was, almost a splitting image, save for the dark grey coat.
"Is that really you, Trunks?"
He had to think hard on how to answer that.
"Yes, my name is Trunks. Vegeta was my father and Bulma my mother... but I'm not the same Trunks you knew."
Pan looked down for a moment, coming to terms with the fact that this Trunks was technically the same person with the same parents and appearance, but this was not the Trunks she knew growing up. Trunks saw her deep in thought and tried to start the conversation over.
"What's your name?"
She looked back at him.
"Pan. My name's Pan."
She knew Trunks, or rather, another Trunks, but she was entirely new to him. He stood up and put his hand out for her to shake.
"Nice to meet you, Pan."
He noticed Pan was hesitant to shake his hand.
Pan saw through the eyes of her younger self when she was just old enough to talk. It was the day she learned the names of the Briefs family. Gohan pointed to Vegeta.
"Pan, this is Vegeta."
"Ve...ge...ta..."
Then Gohan pointed to Bulma.
"And this is Bulma."
"Bul...ma."
He pointed further downward towards Bulla, who was just a year younger than Pan.
"That's Bulla."
"Bul...la."
The teenage Trunks, however, knelt in front of her and put his hand out below her.
"My name is Trunks."
"Tr..."
Pan reached out her small hand to him.
"Trunks."
Upon putting her fingers around his hand, he gently shook up and down.
"Nice to meet you, Pan."
The weight of everything came back to her: she was alive, but everyone she ever knew was gone, the Trunks of her world included.
"I'm sorry," apologized Pan. "It's just..."
She could tell she was beginning to tear up and looked down, trying not to make eye contact.
"Is everything okay, Pan?"
She sniffled and had to wipe her face with her wrist.
"...it's a lot."
Trunks didn't think of it due to how well Pan looked, but when he first found her...
There he was, awaiting the arrival of someone. He saw a flash of light beginning to form the shape of a person as it floated downward slowly.
"You're surprised, I'm..."
But then the shape revealed itself to be a young woman, who had clear wounds on her arms, legs, and upper body, and whose skin and clothes were covered in frost.
"Oh no."
He soon realized she was in no position to stand up and ran over to catch her before she could fall face-first on the ground. He turned to others around him.
"Quick, someone get help! Now!"
For the time being, all he could do was keep a tight grip and hold her close with his coat to soothe her freezing temperature.
"Just hang in there, okay?!"
But then she looked up at him.
"Tr... Trunks?"
He was shaken by this.
"She knows my name... but how?"
But then she fell unconscious, barely alive as is.
He remembered how bad things looked.
"No, I'm the one that should apologize. I can't even imagine what you went through."
He sat back down in his chair, trying to figure out what to say now, as Pan sat with her legs under the covers trying to think it over as well.
"How am I even alive right now? I was in space. I should've..."
He turned back to her.
"I..."
She waited for his explanation.
"You were brought here and we had you in a healing pod for three days."
"So... it was just luck that you found me?"
"Yeah. Luck."
Pan decided to get out of the covers and sat up, her legs and feet hanging off the side. Trunks got up and pointed over to the side of her.
"Do you mind?"
She shook her head, signaling "No, I don't mind" to him. He sat down, both looking at the wall in front of them.
"If there's anything you want to talk about..."
"18 years... for 18 years, I had a home. I had friends. I had a family."
She looked down, Trunks noticing she was making fists with both hands.
"And it was all taken from me... BY THAT MONSTER!"
He saw her fingers piercing into her hands, blood beginning to drip as a result. The sight of this made Trunks uneasy...
There he was, 14 years old in the pouring rain, screaming into the night in anguish while his fingers squeezed into his palm.
He could feel the pain, but the blood released, like the tears on his face, were indiscernible to him at that moment.
"Pan..."
He saw the blood beginning to go down her wrist, some getting onto the inside of her sleeves. Trunks grabbed onto her hands, trying to stop her.
"Pan!"
Her expression switched from anger to that of confusion.
"Your hands..."
She didn't even know what she was doing until he brought it to her attention. With that, Trunks let go and she saw eight of her fingertips turned red.
"I didn't realize I was..."
Trunks took the lid off a bottle and pointed it downward towards her palms.
"Here. This'll help."
He carefully poured a green liquid onto her hands, which seemed to cover the wound. Within seconds, Pan saw the bleeding had stopped and her palms were completely healed. From there, he handed her a towel, which she began to use to wipe the blood from her hands and wrists.
She then realized the big question she had been meaning to ask since she arrived.
"Where are we, Trunks?"
"Now look, Pan... this is going to be a lot to take in..."
"Well? Is this even Earth?"
He pointed over to the window.
"All of this... is Toki Toki City."
"And where is this city exactly?"
"At the edge of Universe 7."
"Universe 7? As in there's more than one?"
"Pretty much. Yeah."
She lied her back on the bed, her legs still hanging off the side.
"Huh."
The world was certainly much bigger than she imagined. Pan just looked up at the ceiling.
"Pan, I'm sorry for your loss. Truly, I am."
Trunks could tell she was deep in thought.
"If you want some time alone, I'll leave. But I'll be back to check on you."
Pan could hear Trunks opening the door to leave and just realized another thing on her mind.
"Wait! Trunks?"
He stopped for just a moment.
"Yes, Pan?"
She pointed at the logo on her pajama top.
"What does this stand for?"
"I was hoping to wait until tomorrow, but... Time Patrol."
"Time Patrol? What's that?"
"It's..."
Something was beeping on Trunks' wrist: something had come up.
"I'm sorry, Pan. I promise I'll tell you all about it later. Please, take care."
Finally, he left, leaving Pan to herself.
"What could the Time Patrol be?"
"Don't you see? Pan's awake now. She's recovered."
"Physically, yes... but the trauma is still there, Trunks. It's not just going to go away overnight."
"You're right... so we'll give her time. But I still think this will all work out."
Trunks came back into the room, seeing Pan lying on her bed with not much to do and without much will to do much of anything.
"I'm back, Pan. I didn't know if you were hungry, but I brought a few things."
He placed several capsules, each containing a food item, onto a tray.
"Don't know what you like, so here's a variety..."
"Tell me, Trunks... all about the Time Patrol."
He placed the tray in front of her, then sat down in a chair.
"You see, time is... well, complicated. There are countless, perhaps infinite timelines for this universe alone, but they all stem from one single source, which we call the main timeline."
Pan opened one of the capsules, which revealed a bowl of rice with chop sticks.
"And?"
"Well, the problem is that some rather malicious individuals have tried to use time travel in order to alter time to their own ends. Should they threaten the main timeline, it threatens all of time itself."
Pan had slowly eaten a ball of rice, then had an idea.
"But what if someone was trying to stop something bad from happening in a timeline?"
Trunks already had an idea what she was thinking.
"Like..." began Pan. "If I went back to stop Frieza."
"Stop Frieza?"
She was almost starting to smile and getting excited.
"Right! If he never gets to my timeline's Earth, then my family and home would be saved!"
But even then, she saw Trunks sighing: something told her this wasn't going to fly.
"I'm sorry, Pan, but using time travel is forbidden, even if it is for good intentions."
Pan put down her chopsticks: she didn't feel like eating anymore.
"So that's it then... history is set and I can't change it."
"I'm afraid so."
He could see she was upset at this.
"I'm really sorry..."
She turned away from him.
"Please... I just... I need time."
"I understand."
Trunks exited the room, trying to think of what to do now.
"What am I supposed to tell her? 'Hey, your family and home's gone, but now we need you to join our team?' Damn it!"
None of this went as well as Trunks had hoped. He didn't think he'd be helping someone cope with such loss. Nor did he anticipate them wanting to save their world by changing the future.
In fact, it brought back so many of his memories of the past.
Pan's lied with her eyes closed as her room went dark, the window hidden away to simulate night time. The bowl of rice was on the nightstand and still nearly full like it was earlier.
She had taken in so much: she was in a city that existed on the edge of one of many universes, she lived in one of many timelines, and altering history for any of them was forbidden.
What was she going to do now? Just live the rest of her life there? And do what?
But at long last, Pan had managed to get to sleep.
It was another childhood memory of hers. The Briefs had invited Pan and her parents to the Capsule Corp headquarters. Inside the building were tons of marvels and technologies being designed and manufactured.
Bulma was guiding them through it with Bulla and Trunks beside her. It seemed Vegeta was too busy to join them. Trunks, now nearly 18, was excited looking at everything.
"I'll be running Capsule Corp some day, right Mom?"
"Sure thing, Trunks... that is, IF you keep your grades up."
He put his hand behind his head.
"Uh... yeah... right."
"And don't forget college too."
"Yes, yes, I know, Mom."
But then they proceeded outside, where Bulma pointed to a giant rocket ship pointing upward.
"Now this is what I brought you all here to see: the launch of our latest space travel vehicle, the..."
Little Pan didn't even hear its name, as her attention was drawn to the rocket itself.
"It's going to take off in a couple minutes, so let's get to our seats so we can watch."
Pan saw Bulma and her children, and her parents heading to another section. But Pan didn't follow.
Instead, she found her way downward to where the rocket was. As far as she knew, no one could see her. And there it was, standing before her.
It was much bigger than how it looked where she was earlier. She knew rockets could fly and she had learned how to fly from her parents. A fun thought occurred to her:
"Can I fly as fast as a rocket?"
Just then, she heard a loud booming voice.
"PREPARING FOR IGNITION IN 30 SECONDS. 29. 28. 27. 26."
Pan backed up for just a moment, then decided to get herself ready as well. Finally...
"3. 2. 1. IGNITION."
The bottom of the rocket fumed with flames as it began to ascent upward. But at this point, Pan had already began flying over it. From the side, she saw the viewing area, where her parents, Bulma, Trunks, and Bulla were. For just that brief moment, she saw their jaws drop... all except for Bulla, who hopped and grinned seeing her.
But even then, Pan could tell the rocket was starting to go faster. She sped up as well, racing it up through the sky. It seemed neck-and-neck for some time, but Pan kept pushing and pushing to get ahead of it.
She was ahead of it. In the lead. She saw that the clouds were nearly entirely gone. There was still one just ahead of her. She turned toward the rocket.
"Last one to that cloud's a rotten egg!"
She sped up as fast as she could, then flew right through the cloud, putting a hole in it. But even then, she kept going, wanting to see how high up she could go.
Pan soon saw herself in space, looking down at the entire Earth. For her at that age, it was like seeing a giant spinning globe like the one on her dad's desk.
But she found she didn't like how space felt, which, as a kid, she couldn't quite explain why. As she flew downward towards Earth, she passed the rocket and waved at it.
"Bye bye."
It may have been her imagination, but Pan thought she saw someone wave back to her from inside the rocket's cockpit.
She made it back to the clouds and sky and Pan decided to try something else: she stopped using her ki to fly, just for a moment.
Pan found herself falling downward, but instead of being frightened, she smiled and giggled, twirling during her descent downward. Though as she neared the Capsule Corp building, Pan finally started flying again, slowing her descent and allowing her to hover slowly back down to the ground, where she found a few people waiting for her.
"Pan!"
She saw Bulla pointing up at her, to which Bulma, Trunks, and her parents looked up as well.
"Pan, that was awesome!"
The two giggled as Pan touched the ground, but then saw her father running over to her, looking less than pleased.
"Pan! Don't you ever fly off like that again! Ever!"
She was starting to feel like she had done something wrong. She turned to Videl, whose face was just as stern.
"Your father and I were worried sick!"
Pan definitely knew she had upset her parents. Bulma tried to step in.
"The important thing is Pan's fine. Now why don't we all just..."
Pan sat down on the ground, covering her face. Bulla was the first to notice.
"Pan, are you okay?"
From there, everyone could hear Pan was crying. Her parents turned to see their daughter clearly upset at what she did.
"Pan, honey..."
Bulla sat down next to Pan, then, when she saw Gohan and Videl approaching, stood up and pointed at them.
"You made Pan cry. You're mean!"
Bulma didn't take this lightly.
"Bulla, don't talk to them like that!"
"But they did. They made her cry."
Pan then felt herself being lifted up: her mother placed her over her shoulder. Pan tried not to look her mother in the eyes.
"I just wanted to see how fast I was."
Videl looked over at her and Pan could see her mother's face was no longer angry.
"I know you didn't mean to scare us, sweetie. But that could have been dangerous."
Gohan made his way to her, wiping her tears with his hand.
"Just promise not to do that again, okay?"
Pan was starting to understand that they didn't hate her for what she did and that she hadn't done something unforgivable. She placed her head between her parents' shoulders, then looked back up at them, no longer upset.
"Okay."
From there, Pan remembered how the rest of the day went: they went to the Briefs' house for dinner, where it was one of the last times she saw Vegeta without facial hair, and the rest of the day was pleasant. Everyone agreed to keep the story of Pan flying the rocket to themselves and not to tell anyone, and Pan understood not to fly around without one of her parents with her.
...
But this was different. Pan almost saw time itself stopping, like her parents' faces and movements were entirely frozen.
"Mom? Dad?"
Her father suddenly sunk downward, his skin looking like sand, as his clothes crumpled to the ground with nothing left but them, clumps of sand, and his glasses.
"Dad, NO!"
Panicked, she grabbed onto her mom tightly, who still didn't move.
"Mom! MOM!"
Her mother sank as well and Pan tried to hold on, only to sink through her mother's hands. She fell to the ground, seeing just her mother's clothes remaining, as well as seeing sand all over her.
She turned over to Bulma and Bulla, whom already began to turn into sand themselves.
"No, NO, PLEASE!"
They fell apart, though their clothes were still there. She knelt on the ground, unable to comprehend what was going on around her.
"Pan..."
Trunks' voice. She looked at him, who had not yet turned into sand, but seemed to shift, his casual attire from that day in the past turning into the gray coat she saw in the present.
"Trunks..."
But then, to her horror, his entire body, skin and clothes, turned into sand. As his face began to dissolve, he still spoke to her.
"I'm so sorry..."
He blew away in her direction, Pan covering her face and trying not to breathe any of the sand in. But this gust was strong, knocking her onto her back.
Pan turned around, seeing the ground she stood on turning to sand as well and even beginning to sink. She tried to fly up, but found she couldn't. Pan then tried climbing upward, but as she tried, realized how futile it was.
It was then she saw Frieza, in his golden form, creating a ball in his fingertips... one of sand.
Pan felt nothing beneath her and now only her head and arms hadn't sunken yet, and now there Frieza was, ready to finish her off.
He tossed the ball right at her, sending her deeper into the sand and now leaving her with no sky or anything to look at.
It was strange: even now, trapped in sand, she wasn't suffocating. In fact, she could still clearly see herself. But as she looked at her fingertips, she saw them slowly fading away. But how?
Her hand's skin tone was slowly morphing into that of sand. As she looked down at her lower body, she saw that it was already sand as well... and fading from the feet up.
Soon, all that was left was her chest and shoulders.
"Your time is up."
Frieza's was the last voice she heard as she saw nothing left of her.
Pan sat up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily from the nightmare she just experienced. At first, she felt relief.
"It was... it was all just a dream."
But as she looked around, she realized she wasn't in her room on Earth, but in a room in Toki Toki City.
It crushed her: Frieza's attack, her family's death, her Earth's destruction, this new Trunks, Toki Toki City, and the Time Patrol... all of it was real. It wasn't a dream she was ever going to wake up from.
She put her head on her knees and let all her emotions out while outside, the sky was still bright in Toki Toki City.
Trunks arrived several hours later, seeing Pan standing up and looking out the window.
"Hey, Pan. Did you sleep well?"
"I didn't."
"I'm... I'm sorry to hear that."
He looked over at the rice bowl, seeing that Pan hadn't finished it, let alone put a dent in it since they ate the day before.
"Look, Pan, there's no rush and we want to make sure you're well..."
"What am I doing here? Why am I really here? It's not like I'm going to just work a small job here. So what's really my purpose here?"
Trunks was dreading this. He sighed.
"The Time Patrol needs all available warriors. Fighters. Martial artists."
Pan turned back to him.
"So they need me?"
"They do."
She didn't look sad or angry: unlike before, where see unleashed all her emotions in front of Trunks clearly, it was almost like Pan's face looked indifferent.
"Not like I have anywhere else to go. Where do I start?"
Trunks wasn't pleased with her emotionless tone, but the fact was she was out of bed and he knew her presence here was critical.
"Well, the first step will be for you to join the Time Patrol itself. Go ahead and get dressed. I'll wait outside."
As Trunks left the room, Pan didn't waste any time and quickly changed from her pajamas to her old attire: a blue shirt, light purple pants, faded dark purple fingerless gloves, and purple shoes.
She made her way for the door, but realized she had forgotten something...
Trunks stood patiently as the door finally opened and he saw Pan dressed, but with her orange bandanna on her head.
"Uh, Pan..."
Pan pointed up at her bandanna.
"Will this be a problem?"
"No. No, that should be fine."
He composed himself and led Pan through a hallway filled with doors. From what Pan could see, this was a medical facility, as she saw what looked like other humans lying in some of the rooms. In one, she spotted someone that looked like Piccolo, but with purple skin.
As she saw a doctor of sorts entering one in front of her, she caught a glimpse of the patient inside: one with pure white skin with purple spots and only three toes. Almost like...
But before she could piece it together, a curtain closed, covering the rest of the patient.
"Alright, Pan, now let's start the tour of Toki Toki City."
From outside, Pan saw grass alongside the hard floor they were on, as well as bridges over water.
"This is the Plaza of Time."
She couldn't help but notice the large altar in the center.
"What's that altar for?"
"Oh? That? It's not important right now."
She then saw a doorway of sorts, but with a strange glow around it.
"And that?"
"It's... a doorway to somewhere I'll show you after training."
He tried to change the subject.
"Ah, look over here."
He pointed over to what almost reminded Pan of the entrance to the World Martial Arts Tournament.
"When we're not defending time, fighting tournaments are hosted there. Nothing serious, of course, but it's there if you wanna try your skills."
"Yo!"
Pan and Trunks turned to see a woman slightly shorter than the two of them with green hair in a black and white martial artists top.
"Whose the new kid, Trunks?"
"Oh... uh, this is Pan."
Pan gave off a light wave back to her.
"Pan, this is Hakusa."
Hakusa put out her hand to shake, which Pan took. She felt a tight grip just from Hakusa shaking hands with her.
"Whoops, sorry about that."
Trunks tried steering her and Pan towards the next area.
"Say, listen Hakusa, we need to get going, so we'll have to catch up later."
"Wait, before you go..."
Hakusa reached into her uniform's pocket on her purple pants and pulled out a scouter. Unlike the one Pan had seen that was at the Briefs house, which had a green screen, this scouter's screen was a pink-purple hue.
"I just picked up this special edition scouter. I wanna see how strong you are."
Pan stood in intrigue.
"Okay, sure. Go ahead."
Trunks walked over to the side of Hakusa to see as well.
"I mean, suppose it couldn't hurt."
Hakusa put the scouter into place by her left eye and tapped the side, activating it as it began to scan her.
"Let's see here..."
It concluded and Hakusa's face wasn't stunned by a massive power level... but almost looked concerned.
"Hakusa, what did it say?"
She took off her scouter and showed it to Trunks, who saw that the reading was not exactly a confidence booster.
"Trunks, are you sure she's ready for this?"
He tried to figure out what to say when Pan cleared her throat.
"We don't want to be late, right Trunks?"
"Right, right. We really do need to get going right now, Hakusa."
The two hurried over to the next area as Pan saw Hakusa waving back to her.
"It was nice meeting you, Pan."
When the two left her sight, Hakusa looked back at her scouter, still wondering about Pan's power level being much lower than she had expected of a Time Patroller. She sighed.
"What is she doing here anyway?"
Pan saw various shops in the next area.
"So is this the market place, Trunks?"
"More or less. It's the Industrial Sector."
Pan looked over to a clothing store, which had various items on display, including an orange gi with the turtle symbol.
"Wait, that's... from the Turtle School."
"Yes, the Turtle School's warriors are quite famous around Toki Toki City."
As Pan looked at the shops, she saw they weren't run by other people, but rather small round robots with coiled arms.
"Greetings. Can I interest you in anything today?"
Pan paused as Trunks stepped in.
"Uh, sorry. Just browsing."
Pan figured that was the case and the two proceeded.
"And this is the Time Machine Station. Perhaps one of the most pivotal areas of Toki Toki City aside from..."
"...aside from behind that glowing doorway by the plaza?"
"Yeah..."
She turned to see various time machines standing by.
"So use of a time machine's illegal, but you still use them to catch them in the act..."
"Well, I mean, sure... but it's different, though, because..."
As Trunks tried explaining how the Time Patrol's use of time machines was allowed, she caught a glimpse of a golden statue behind the tunnel to that area. It seemed to be a robed figured... in fact, it almost looked like it had a familiar stance she had seen before...
"Hi, excuse me..."
Pan heard the voice behind her and turned to see no one looking at her.
"I'm down here."
She looked down...
...and nearly hopped backward at the sight of this individual: a short, chubby-looking green creature with a blue top, yellow pants, and a black cape wrapped around his waist.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to alarm you, miss. I was wondering if you could help me find Team Registration."
Trunks immediately pointed in the direction of a round structure.
"Team registration's over there."
"Oh. Thank you, Trunks."
Before leaving, this short green man put out his black gloved hand to shake.
"Oh, my name's Goma."
Pan crouched down, then shook.
"I'm Pan."
Trunks heard a beeping on his wrist and knew what it was signaling.
"Sorry Goma, but we're running late! We have to go!"
He began taking off as Pan ran behind him. Goma waved to her, then looked over to where Trunks pointed earlier.
"Now let's see... Team Registration's there, right?"
He then saw another similar structure.
"...or was it over there?"
At last, Trunks and Pan had arrived to their intended location: from appearances, the structure looked like a recruitment center with a boot camp behind it.
"Here it is, Pan: the Time Patrol academy. The proving grounds for all Time Patrollers."
He walked her through to the entrance as they finally made it through the front doors. They came across a front desk, which was headed by another robot.
"Not a lot of living workers around here..."
"With so many at work defending time itself, mechanical staff help to keep everything running."
Trunks walked up to the desk.
"How may I help... wait, aren't you already signed up for the Time Patrol, Trunks?"
"Uh, yes, but I'm here to sign her up."
"Did you schedule an appointment?"
"Yes, around this time."
"Please hold."
The mechanical worker tapped a keyboard-esque surface, searching through files as Pan waited.
"An appointment for a 'Pan'?"
"Yes. We're here... I mean she's here, but I'm just making sure everything goes over okay."
"And this appointment is with Hale?"
"That's right."
The robot pointed in the direction of a door, which opened shortly afterward.
"You may proceed."
"Do all recruits meet with this Hale?" Pan inquired to Trunks as they proceeded through.
"No," Trunks answered. "Commander Hale's one of the highest ranking members of the Time Patrol. I made the appointment myself so you could meet him beforehand."
He began to turn a corner.
"In fact, his quarters should be coming up..."
"Trunks."
A deep voice called out to him.
"Commander Hale. We were just on our way to your..."
"I was just getting some exercise. Stretching my legs and tail, as it were. So where is this Pan you wanted me to speak to?"
Pan finally turned the corner herself as Trunks turned to introduce her.
"She's right here. Pan, this is Commander Hale."
She saw Hale's feet and legs first: military-style boots and olive green pants. She also saw the tail that Hale was mentioning: a dark brown tail swerving behind him. From above, a curious set of tan body armor with TP on the left side of the chest.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Pan."
He lifted his hand up to shake, but then Pan saw his head. Despite the dark brown skin, the tan horned exoskeleton and green gem plate on his head having different colors from him, Hale's facial features were very reminiscent of...
"Just like Frieza..."
Hale noticed Pan looking a little uneasy.
"Is everything alright?"
Trunks saw this as well and realized something he had forgotten to mention.
"I didn't even think of it. She lost her family to Frieza and I never told her the Time Patrol also consists of members of his..."
Hale could see Pan beginning to make fists with her hands and placed his hand to his side.
"It's about Lord Frieza, isn't it?"
Pan heard him acknowledge what it was she was thinking of.
"Yes, I am of the same race as Frieza... but let me make it clear to you: myself and the rest of my kind do not share his evil and cruelty."
He took a step closer to her.
"You lost family to him?"
She was attempting to calm down, even as her mind kept overlapping Hale's image with that of Frieza's.
"My family... and my home."
"I cannot express how much it pains me every time Frieza performs these acts... but do not let that color your perception of me."
Pan imagined Frieza beckoning her, then cleared her mind of it.
"...or else Frieza wins."
"Right you are, Pan."
With that standoff over...
"Now we can proceed to my quarters so we may properly begin."
The moment behind them, they arrived at Hale's room, which appeared to be a small, humble abode with a desk, a few chairs, and not much in the way of decorations. He let Pan in first, but stopped Trunks.
"You'll have to understand that such a discussion must be done with confidentiality."
Trunks nodded.
"Of course."
The door shut behind Pan and Hale as Hale took his place behind his desk. He pointed to the chair in front of her.
"Sit... unless you would prefer to stand. It makes no difference to me."
Pan remained standing.
"Now then miss "Pan"... you are here to join our Time Patrol. But before you do, I want to hear why you're joining us."
Pan then decided to sit down and tried to think of what to say.
"...because I'm needed here."
"That may be so, Pan, but why are you truly here? Only you can make yourself a Time Patroller. I can't force it onto you."
"I can't go back home. I have nothing left. And I'm here. There's nowhere else for me to go."
Hale put his hands together, listening intently to every word from her.
"All my life, I trained in martial arts... and it's not like I'm going to use them for much else now."
"I understand that, Pan, but are you truly making that choice yourself?"
She pondered for the longest time: Trunks had told her that the Time Patrol needed her, but did she truly agree to it?
"I don't know."
Hale saw her sigh.
"At this point of my life, I don't know what to do with myself."
He stood up from his chair.
"You do understand that whatever normalcy you attain here... will not be the same as that of your home."
She nodded.
"Yes."
"The most important ideal of the Time Patrol is that we must look beyond our past. This must be understood before one joins. Tell me truthfully... do you understand this?"
Pan took longer to respond to this, but nodded.
"I understand."
"Good. Then welcome to the Time Patrol. Tomorrow, you will begin your training. You're dismissed."
Pan let herself out as Trunks heard Hale's voice from the room.
"Trunks... might we have a word?"
"Pan, wait here or in the waiting room. I'll be just a minute."
Trunks took a seat in Hale's office as Hale remained standing before him.
"I know I'm mirroring the Supreme Kai of Time's sentiments, but emotionally, Pan is not ready for this."
"Shenron never makes mistakes. He couldn't have made one."
"That may be true... but that does not mean Pan will be prepared for battle immediately."
"It's why I came to you, Hale: only you can prepare her for that."
"I give you my word she will not become a casualty."
Trunks nodded, then turned to leave.
"One more thing, Trunks..."
Trunks let go of the door for just a moment to hear what Hale had to say.
"You must not delay telling her exactly how she came here. The longer you postpone it, the worse your mentorship with her will be as a result."
"Yes, Hale."
Trunks exited to see Pan was still waiting for him by the door.
"Alright, Pan. Now that you're with the Time Patrol, let me show you where you'll be staying."
Between the academy and the medical area she had been staying at the day before was the housing area.
"Obviously with so many Time Patrollers, they are all provided living quarters when not on missions."
They passed by countless houses, each marked by roman numerals.
"Ah, here's your unit."
He pointed Pan to a house with "DCCXX" etched on the side of it. Upon entering, she saw that it was more-or-less a one room apartment, but with adequate space for entertainment, cooking, eating, and sleep as well as a bathroom.
"This is all yours, Pan."
He looked over at the sofa.
"Hey, what's that over there?"
Pan walked over to it and saw...
"The Power Pole! My Grandpa's Power Pole!"
She was ecstatic to see the prized possession of her grandfather with her own eyes again. She turned to Trunks, her mood uplifted.
"Thank you so much, Trunks."
"Uh, don't mention it. Also..."
He pointed to a button on the side of the couch.
"Just a push of that and it'll convert into a bed complete with sheets."
He then pointed to a small closet.
"Clothes, including pajamas and your Time Patrol uniform for tomorrow."
Then over to the cooking area.
"The fridge is filled with a variety of things to eat. I mean, if you're picky, we can work on just getting you specifics, but for right now, it's to gauge your tastes."
Pan caught a pair of keys from him with the house numerals on a key chain.
"I guess with that, you're all set here. I'll see you at the academy tomorrow."
He started to make his way for the door.
"Trunks..."
He turned to her.
"I know things haven't been easy for me so far and I probably could've acted better before... so I just want to say thank you for sticking with me."
"Well, I mean I'm happy to help. If you ever need anything, just let me know and I'll be here."
She nodded to him almost cheerfully as she watched him opening the door.
"Uh, Pan..."
"Yes, Trunks?"
He turned, pondering if this was the best time to tell her.
"I just wanted to say..."
Pan waited for his answer.
"Good luck tomorrow."
"Thanks."
The door closed and Pan looked over at her new surroundings, then at the Power Pole still on her couch. She grabbed onto the power pole and its case, almost hugging them.
"I still have you with me..."
That night, she lied in her Time Patrol pajamas, the power pole neatly hung up on the wall above her.