CHAPTER 6:
Spunk

The bedroom of the spaceship was hardly bigger than twelve-by-ten feet. It had enough room for one bunk bed, in which the bottom bunk was slightly larger than the top bunk, and there was a netted hammock that hung from the bunk bed's top pole, to a hook that they installed along the hypotenuse of the room, close to the door. The hammock was partially suspended above a 3-drawer nightstand, in which each of them stored their undergarments and nightclothes, and by the door to the room was another small closet that ran from where the nightstand ended, to where the door began.

The bedroom was kept particularly cool because of all of their body heat contained in the small space - and Goku especially always ran hot, which is why he got the bigger bed, which could absorb some of his heat. Well, that plus the fact that Goku snored loudly when he was in the hammock, so Trunks and Pan sacrificed the bottom bunk to him so he could quickly flop. It was easier for him to crash there, and their nights were more peaceful. When Pan felt she wanted more back support, she took naps in Goku's bed, and Goku would be happy to take the hammock - but then the snoring would start again, and their whole musical chair-bed ritual also repeated.

Trunks staked his claim on the top bunk bed, insisting on it without compromise. To him, it was a matter of principle, akin to adhering to camp rules. While he recognized that the top bunk's significance was largely symbolic, he attached a peculiar importance to it. Trunks needed to have it, so he justified it by saying it allowed him to sleep well so he could focus on plotting their course and maintaining the ship without fatigue. The top bunk also came with a couple perks; first, Trunks could be away from the room's commotion; and second, he had an unobscured view of the window, so at any point, he could turn away from the room and just gaze out at the stars in quiet solitude as he marveled the universe.

Trunks had parked the spaceship in the pink grassy fields outside the city. From his window, Trunks had a clear view of the giant bright green chlorine planet high above, in a waxing gibbous phase. Its presence cast a green aura upon the moon Kikarroo, and the combined light created a soft purplish glow that enveloped the grassy field outside.

Despite listening to his team's soft, soporific breathing patterns in the small dark bedroom that they shared, Trunks couldn't sleep. His mind was active, and his thoughts were occupied by Giru, who had suffered a circuit malfunction earlier in the day when Trunks accidentally walked into the Mystic temple's electric field.

Fortunately, the damage appeared limited to Giru's startup sequence data. Since Trunks had multiple backups, fixing it wouldn't be a challenge. However, it would require a few dedicated hours and a clear mind to rebuild the circuit board. For the time being, Trunks decided to postpone this repair. It could even work to his advantage, as he had plans to enhance Giru's modular motherboard and potentially integrate some of his own A.I. into Giru's data processing unit. At the very least, Trunks aimed to incorporate capsule technology into the robot, recognizing its vast potential.

But Giru was just a thoughtful distraction for Trunks.

There were bigger issues ahead.

As Trunks lay in the bed, he tried to review all the events that had happened that day. With his head against his pillow, and propped on his side, Trunks gazed out to the stars.

At one point, those stars had represented adventure and freedom. The stars also reminded him of Goten… and for some reason, when he looked at the stars, his thoughts tended to go back to a certain time and place when Trunks was a kid.

He remembered gazing at similar stars when he was thirteen years old with Goten, who was twelve at the time - it was shortly before they got interested in girls, and they were still roughhousing for fun.

At the time, Trunks had gone through a wanderlust stage, and had dragged Goten into his capers around the world as they'd play "Super Seeker," a game they invented between themselves that was a derivative of Hide and Seek, except it was a timed game that involved revealing their locations every 60 seconds, when their watch alarms went off, and they were allowed to move in between pulses. They wore watches that had special timers in an app that Trunks invented for their game.

One day, Trunks and Goten were playing Super Seeker and accidentally discovered their favorite spot in the entire world - a vast sea of trampoline mushrooms. The location was close to Fungus Town, in the western part of the Diablo Desert - just south of the Pilaf Castle ruins. It was about a thirty-minute flight from Trunks' house if he broke the sound barrier, and a fifteen-minute fast-flight from Goten's house to get there, so they often met up when they had a two-hour window to putz around.

But they also went there at night, to sit back on the mushrooms and stargaze.

Those nights were the times when Trunks was able to actually talk to Goten - to open up. There never really seemed a better time to be vulnerable during the day. They had a fun rapport, and they resonated with each other's energy. But they never became sentimental until they discovered the trampoline mushroom sea.

The mushrooms were interesting because, as they quickly learned, if they did a quick impact, such as a bounce, the fungal membrane held together like a bouncy rubber, and Trunks and Goten would fling upward into the sky like they were launched like a rubber band gun. It was so fun.

The mushrooms were remarkably comfortable to lie down on, as well. When they sunk into the fungal membrane, it felt a bit like lying back on a foam-filled bean bag. The angle of the mushrooms made it perfect to stargaze, and just be able to talk.

It was there, where they had shared all of their personal experiences and secrets. And it was because of these talks that Trunks knew that all of Goten's actions came from a source of innocence and naivete. Trunks often had to educate Goten for him to see through people. Trunks wanted to protect Goten from people who took advantage of his kindness.

The more Trunks thought about it, and what Goten meant to him… he started to see a common thread. He thought he may have gravitated to Goten because of Trunks' sense of protection, and his desire to educate Goten while also guarding his innocence.

Trunks wondered about the emptiness inside of him after he lost Goten's close friendship - if maybe it was triggered by his loss of having someone to protect. Or maybe the empty feeling inside manifested because of his inability to protect Goten during his cheating-expulsion and his inability to shield Goten from the family drama that led Trunks down his dark spiral…

Maybe that's why Gohan yelled at him for three hours that day, telling Trunks that he needed to acknowledge his accountability. Trunks just didn't understand back then.

What would Gohan say now, if he knew Trunks' choice with Pan? Would he even understand…? Would anything justify marrying a child bride? How would he explain his theory about the prophecy? He was basing all of his thoughts off Goku's promise - that prophecies were definitely real, with "one hundred percent" confidence. And, Trunks kept reminding himself that he "one hundred percent" trusted Goku on this.

When it came to Trunks' situation with Pan, at least Goku understood. Despite the surprise of Trunks' proposal, Goku did not voice any resistance. He did not smile, but he did not disapprove. Trunks wondered if Goku was feeling ambivalent.

It was clear that things were awkward between everyone on his team, because nobody mentioned the proposal the entire evening after they got back to the spaceship.

In fact, until they went to bed, nobody even discussed what to expect the next day. Over a straightforward grilled cheese dinner - courtesy prepped by Pan - they remained engrossed in their thoughts.

Trunks suspected that this was a new phase of grief - the shock and denial part. If they just didn't discuss it, then maybe it wouldn't happen tomorrow.

But Trunks knew it would happen; it was definitely tomorrow. Trunks was about to marry… Pipsqueak Pan.

Ooohhh, Trunks didn't want to think about that… but he had to.

It destroyed Trunks inside to think that his father Vegeta would tease him about Pan for the rest of his life.

Gods, Trunks had sought his father's approval his entire life. He wanted to live up to his father's expectations so much. And here he was, marrying a weakling who his dad never took seriously. But… at least she was a fighter. And at least she had a relationship with his dad, to see him every Friday. Trunks was sure that it would be enough for Vegeta to reluctantly approve of his ring bonding to her; after all, according to his dad, she did embody the Saiyan spirit.

And there were some other perks to Pan, too…

Trunks had to admit, on paper, if there were any girl to have an arranged marriage with, Pan would have been a strong contender to nominate. First, Pan's Saiyan heritage could promise his family a strong Saiyan heir for the next generation. There also was the tie to the Son family - it was good to keep relations with them.

His mom's happiness was another perk. Despite how Trunks wanted her to butt out of his life, he did like making her happy. And he knew how important the Son family was to her. Trunks knew she'd probably romanticize the idea of Trunks merging their families. His mother always loved to daydream about love stories and "perfect boyfriends." She no doubt would expand that daydream to fantasize about their families' union as well.

The bad - no, devastating - news about Pan was how her age was going to impact Trunks once they returned to Earth. Trunks was going to need to navigate some serious public relations backlash if he didn't figure out a way to hide Pan from the public eye. But the paparazzi were nefarious. There might be repercussions related to Trunks' ability to continue with his position at Capsule Corp to save his family's reputation. Despite how teenage marriages used to be more common when his mother was in her teens, the world had changed a lot since then. Laws were introduced to protect children.

But then again, there were no laws about interplanetary marriages. It was all going to be the Wild West once he got back and delivered the news to the families.

Trunks could feel his concern rising as he considered the impact of today, and how he would need to protect Pan even on Earth moving forward. Images of possibilities and outcomes started to flash through his mind. Like, what if Trunks had to move them to a private island - be a hermit like Muten Roshi - to prevent Pan from being seen? But even if he ran off, how could he prevent the shareholders and press from finding out about his marriage to a teenage truant? What would the press think? And social media? How would something like this impact even his sister's online reputation?

This was not ideal, and Trunks felt there was a tremendous amount of weight that would fall on his shoulders upon his return to Earth... and Trunks felt the weight also threatening to pull his heart back into the spiral gutter.

Trunks felt his heartbeat quicken, and he recognized the spiral symptoms before they started. He closed his eyes, and allowed himself to stop thinking for a minute, and instead focused on one thought - his resolution.

They were going to work on this one day at a time. And tomorrow, Trunks was going to do the fresco's ring bond with Pan, to protect her.

Whatever was about to happen, Trunks' choice to marry Pan was his choice. He made this choice. It was the only choice he was able to make to protect Pan… and it was a coerced choice… but it was his decision. He would honor that. He would do the ring ritual.

He would guard Pan from whatever the Kais had in store for her prophecy.

Despite how Trunks foresaw his own doom on multiple fronts, Trunks had maintained his emotional stability throughout the whole evening. He was able to contain his temper by using Goku's trick of imagining all of his feelings within a ramen bowl. Once everything felt mentally contained, he was able step back from his feelings and acknowledge them before they spiraled.

He was surprised at how well the technique worked as a psychological trick, and he was grateful to Goku for passing that advice to him. Maybe Goku was right… maybe there would be some merit to Trunks opening up to Goku and Pan on the trip.

Trunks let out a breath he did not realize he was holding, and realized he was far too awake to get any sleep, and his mind was wandering to too many thoughts. He needed to calm his racing heart.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, Trunks pushed his covers aside. There was no ladder to the bunk bed, so Trunks just dangled his feet over the edge and used his ki to guide his fall down. It didn't take much, since the gravity on the moon was so low.

Trunks fell down from the bunk in slow motion, until his socks tapped the floor. He grinned for a moment. That was pretty fun.

He inched along in the darkness, trying his best not to trip on any of Pan's or Goku's junk on the floor, and ducked to avoid Pan's hammock string, which he could not see in the low light, but he located from memory.

From the brush of cloth against his hands, he felt himself reach their open closet. He blindly reached for his section of the clothes rack and felt around for a jacket that he was sure he rolled up and put in the back somewhere. After a few seconds of probing and realizing that Pan must have moved it, he instead felt a rolled ball of fabric at the very back of the closet that had an odd texture. He could have sworn it was denim… like jeans… but he didn't pack any jeans for the trip. He wondered if maybe Pan's clothes ended up in his section of his closet somehow. It wouldn't be against her nature to be sloppy when it came to laundry.

He pulled the denim item, and realized it was rolled tightly with other clothes, as if it were a set. This piqued his curiosity; he remembered what he thought was a rolled blanket at the back of the closet. It turned out he was wrong. This was even better.

He smiled a bit to himself as he realized how ironic it was for him to not see the the treasure that was in front of him the entire time. And he was only just noticing it now.

He pulled the outfit out from the closet with a grin, and quietly slipped out of the dark bedroom and into the dimly lit hallway. Trunks turned to the right and shuffled into the small bathroom, where he flipped on the light that was now way too bright.

Adjusting his eyes to the luminosity, Trunks held up the clothes bundle and got a better look at the denim in his hands. He realized he was holding an old outfit of his that his mother made for him when he was younger - probably around eighteen or so. It consisted of a blue jean jacket, black tank top, and dark denim jean pants with a high waistline and silver belt.

He held it up to himself in the mirror, and then looked back down to the outfit. It looked like he could probably still fit into this. It also went to show how young he still looked in his reflection.

Feeling a change in the winds, Trunks undressed from his pajamas and donned the denim outfit, scrutinizing himself in the mirror, and turning around to look at the jacket, which sported a Capsule Corp logo mark on each sleeve.

Feeling a little younger and with an extra pep in his step, Trunks turned off the light in the bathroom and followed the low-lighting LEDs in the wall to the central ship exit. The latch was located right outside of the cockpit entrance - designed to enable quick escapes, if need be.

Just as he was about to bend down to open the hatch, a sudden, vocal utterance behind him caused him to spring to his feet. Inhaling sharply, Trunks spun around in surprise.

Pan stood in the dim hallway, rubbing her sleepy eyes in a set of red pajamas that covered her whole body. Her shoulder-length dark hair was unkempt with strands sticking out from around her ears, and wisps of her bangs covered her eyes.

"Pan," Trunks exclaimed in a hushed tone, "You startled me!"

"Mmm," Pan smacked her slips and combed her bangs back with her right hand. She groggily yawned, and said, "I saw you up." She frowned a little and made a small yawn that she tried to cover with her same hand. "I thought maybe we could talk?"

"Yeah…" Trunks looked to the hatch below them, and leaned to press some buttons that were embedded into the floor. "I've been meaning to talk to you, too. I couldn't sleep… I was thinking of going for a walk. Want to join me?"

Pan seemed hesitant. "But I'm in my PJs…"

Trunks figured she felt her attire was inappropriate for outside, but he had a quick fix.

"Here," Trunks shifted to take off his jacket. He held it out to her, with the arm-holes facing her, offering to help her put it on.

Pan seemed genuinely surprised in the darkness, as if she found his simple act of kindness to be unusual, or uncharacteristic.

Trunks flashed a smug grin. Pan had yet to witness his irresistible charm.

She paused for a moment as if to consider if he intended goodwill; and then, after she saw his offer was genuine, she turned and put her arms through the sleeves as he settled it onto her shoulders. She turned around to face Trunks again, looking down at the denim jacket on her.

It was still very big on her, and covered her body like a trench coat. The sleeves were too long for her arms, so she had floppy cuffs. She was just so small … The top of her head came up to Trunks' shoulders, so the jacket covered a lot of her frame.

Trunks knew she had a lot of growing to do. He also knew that Saiyans had late growth spurts. Both he and Goten were shrimps until they were each fifteen, and there was an awkward year when Trunks had suddenly gone from looking ten to looking eighteen years old, and Goten still looked like a kid.

It was a funny year, that year, when Trunks was a whole head taller than Goten. But then Goten had his own growth spurt a year later, and in a dramatic comeback, he grew slightly taller than Trunks. It was by only an inch … but it made Trunks feel super insecure (though he never admitted it), so he started wearing boots with slight heels. And he never stopped wearing them, to this day. They at least made him the same height as Goten.

The hatch swung open downward, and a capsule-based ladder poofed out and descended to the grass below. Along the trip down the ladder, they passed by their shoe rack, which had been built as a last-minute additional box that they placed within the ship's insulation layer along the ladder's path. Trunks pulled out his staple pair of brown boots, and Pan took out some brown outdoor rubber slippers she picked up a few planets ago.

When they touched down to the grass, they looked around, and realized that even though the sky was lit with a shade of ambient green, the ground still looked too dark to see their own feet.

Trunks left the hatch open, and walked about twenty steps from the ship, looking up at the sky and feeling a chilly wind against his torso. It felt good, since his body was feeling a little hot.

He felt Pan's presence follow behind him. Trunks considered that he was going to be feeling her presence a lot more often…

… And then he realized, despite traveling with her for so long, he didn't really know her very well at all. They only ever had one single heart to heart, in the beginning, when Trunks tried to explain his upset feelings to her, alone. At the time, it was far too soon for either of them to hear that truth. It took a week before they could talk again, and they never opened up since that time.

Trunks put his thumbs in his jean pockets, bending his back as he looked up at the green planet overhead. "I don't know what to talk about."

Pan exhaled and stood next to him, imitating his action as if teasing him. She leaned backward and put her thumbs into the waistband of her PJ bottoms instead of pockets.

Trunks looked at her and flushed at how she was imitating him. He stood straight, self-conscious of her calculative gaze. He still wasn't sure what to talk about, and from Pan's actions imitating him in her traditional teasing way, Trunks could see she was already starting to show her true colors as Classic Pan again. Like usual.

Pan stretched out her arms as if yawning, and then stood up straight again like Trunks. "How about an icebreaker?"

Trunks looked down to her dark silhouette in the evening sky, "What counts as an icebreaker?"

Pan brought her hands down and shrugged, "I don't know. Something that teaches me something about you. Because you never talk about yourself."

"Hmm," Trunks thought for a moment. "... Well…" He decided he liked the idea of this conversation, "What do you want to know?"

"Well, duh, I want to know everything, if we're still moving forward with tomorrow."

"Everything?" Trunks sighed at how she had impossible expectations sometimes. It showcased her immaturity, because it meant she really didn't know what she was asking for. "I really have no idea where I'd start."

Pan thought for a minute, and then walked in front of her a few steps. After the fourth step, she twirled around to face him, with her hands locked behind her back. She bowed forward with a small grin, "Well, how about… your birthday?"

Trunks wiggled his thumbs in his pocket. "It's in two months - November 21st. I'm turning twenty-eight."

Pan whistled, "Man you're like, twice my age."

Her demeanor was laissez-faire. Her body language communicated that she didn't even care. It sounded like she thought it was funny. Trunks simply groaned, because he knew the actual repercussions of it all. "I know."

Pan then pouted, "But why do you act like you're twelve?!"

Trunks was taken aback. He was not expecting that. "Excuse me?! TWELVE?!"

"You have so many insecurities, Trunks!" Pan waved her hands as she spoke, "It's like you never outgrew them, and then you act like a little kid and explode, as if you've never been spanked for being naughty before in your life!"

Those words were triggering. Trunks' demeanor turned foreboding, which she could not see in the low light. His voice lowered to a low, menacing warning, "Don't you go down that path, Pan. You have no idea what kind of spankings I've had."

"And I don't care to. You keep your sex stories to yourself."

Trunks was flabbergasted - completely taken off guard. "W-What?!" His face flushed so bright, he might as well have been a red sun. "I- uh, ah!" Trunks wanted to die in sudden embarrassment.

"Anyway," Pan walked back toward him, and then turned and walked backward again. She was pacing. "I wanted to talk to you today because it's time you accepted my leadership on the team."

Trunks was still reeling as he raised his eyebrows, "Your leadership?!"

Pan nodded, "Right, my leadership. Because I've felt lately like you've been slacking on it."

Trunk bit his bottom lip with his eyebrows up in a challenge, "Ok Spunky, you tell me what leadership is to you, then!"

"Okay Bullhead! Good Leadership should be about being bold but within reason!" Pan's glare reflected the green planet above, "You do a thing to set an example for others to follow."

Trunks glowered, "Can you explain what I've done that you feel deserves better leadership?"

"I'm not done yet," Pan interjected, "There's more to it. Leadership is also about giving credit where it's due. And appreciating all the strengths of your team."

"I'm still waiting to hear why I'm not a good leader."

Pan pointed to Trunks rudely, "Because you've done none of what I just said. None of it! And you don't even acknowledge me as the leader!"

Trunks gritted his teeth, "Because you're not the leader, Pan."

"Pfft. You kidding?!" Pan put her hands back on her hips, "You're silly Trunks. I've led this team since the beginning." She gestured away from her with her right hand, "You go off and sulk in your corner, and I have to run the place! Or maybe you've been stuck in your head behind all your walls. But I'm the one that always tells us where to go and what to do."

Trunks felt frustration well in his gut, and it bubbled up with a sardonic tone. "Mmm… you do think you tell us what to do."

Trunks smirked at her confidence. She always did have a way of claiming more credit than she should.

Pan nodded, "And it always works out. Even when you're going off and blowing up the place."

Trunks winced. "Ouch… point taken." He sighed and tried to not let her words get to him, "I know I went too far today."

"Yeah, you bet you did. But you also are a hypocrite."

Ooooohhh the nerve of this girl.

"A hypocrite?!" Trunks allowed the frustration to spike as anger. "How dare you!"

Pan spouted, "You say you care what other people think of you, but you jump to conclusions and get super aggressive super fast."

Trunks shouted to make his point, "I do not!"

"Look, you're getting mad right now." Pan gestured to him.

"Because you called me a hypocrite!" Trunks sharply cut the air with his right hand. "You're belligerent!" He grit his teeth, "And brash!"

Pan crossed her arms in front of her and took on a haughty tone. "If I knew what those words meant, then maybe it might register!" She stuck out her tongue. "All you do when you get all mad is use big words, and all those big words bounce right off me."

Trunks groaned with a gravelish tone. "I don't even know why you find that something to be proud of. I tried to teach you vocabulary in the first week, and you ripped up my assignment sheets. Remember that?!"

"Yeah. I remember you trying to teach me, and you were just plain rude."

Trunks was beside himself. "Rude?!"

"You didn't even ask if I wanted the lesson. You just marched right in with it, and sat me down and you were controlling and bossy!" Pan nodded her head to him, with her arms still crossed.

Trunks just scowled.

Pan raised her nose, as if she were proud of how pedantic she was acting right now. "I think one of your flaws is that you're controlling, Trunks."

"Me?! Controlling?!" Trunks spread his hands before him, "I let everyone walk all over me!"

"Except you don't. You get all mad and then you spiral and have your tempers when you can't have your way." And then the next words out of her spiteful little mouth were, "I think you're spoiled, Trunks!"

"Spoiled?!"

"But it's okay," she nodded confidently, bringing her hands back to her hips, "I think I can get through to you."

Trunks was boiling mad. "I am beyond words right now, Pan. Your audacious personality is incensing me."

"See, you get all big-wordy when you get mad. But I'm invincible because you can't hit me with them. See, bounced right off!"

"Ahhhh!" Trunks released an angry stream of frustration from his gut. And then sighed and brought his right hand to his forehead, trying to contain his emotions with his thumb and index finger rubbing on his temple.

Trunks closed his eyes and rubbed an oncoming migraine. "Don't publicize that as a superpower, please Pan…"

Pan just grinned. "The best way to not get hit with an imaginary fist is to imagine the fist is not there!"

Trunks lowered his hand and shook his head with a groan. "What the heck quote is that supposed to be?"

"It means you create your own problems, Trunks. So stop imagining problems, and you'll stop feeling like there are problems!" She grinned impishly. "Another way to say it is: I think you need to take a Chill Pill."

Trunks immediately jumped and landed with all his limbs out, ready to take a fighting stance, "A CHILL PILL?!"

This was going to be his wife. Dear gods.

Pan continued, "I get the feeling this is not going to be as explosive as you've been making it out to be. I appreciate your big proposal, but I want to make it clear that I want a better proposal one day."

Trunks just gaped, "Are you serious right now?"

"You say you care about how others think of you. So take a minute and try to think of others." Pan patted her chest with the jacket sleeve, "How do you think I feel right now?" She pointed to him and stomped her foot, "I need to know that you're going to shape up to be a man worthy of me. You say that you'll be better for me, but you don't have a plan! So I'm telling you how to be better."

Trunks stopped and just watched her. His jaw was ajar.

"Do you mean it? Do you want to be better? Or are you just putting on another one of your acts, and you're going to go brood about it later? I don't know how genuine you are, Trunks! And I don't think anyone's ever called you out on it before."

Trunks had no words. He stared at her, dumbfounded.

"And now you're going have me. And I call out the bullcrap. I'm not going to wait until we have our first fight, because I'm stopping it now. You listen to me, Trunks." She stepped forward with a waggling finger.

With eyes wides and both hands extended by his side, Trunks stepped backward.

Pan pointed to Trunks, then pointed to herself. "I'm the one that the stupid prophecy is about. This is my ceremony. And if you want me, then you're mine. Get it?"

Trunks was taken aback. "Ah.. I, uh…"

"Good. I'm glad we had this talk." Pan crossed her arms, and the jean jacket sleeves extended beyond her hands.

"W.. what…"

"I feel better now, and I'm going to go back to bed."

Trunks watched her head back up the ladder. He never even had the chance to go on a walk with her. He was dumbfounded. He was appalled.

But at the same time, there was something about her spunk that ignited something in him. He … liked… it…

He… liked … how she challenged him just now.

She never once challenged him before on this entire trip. He had heard about her personality. He had heard she was comfortable taking this tone with her parents. And she showed some signs of it on their Grand Tour. But she never directed that confidence toward him. He never realized before… how it affected him.

Until this point, Trunks avoided her. This was their first time truly speaking one on one. And it was his first time seeing what Pan's personality was truly like.

No wonder the kids around her had a problem with her. She was crude and forward, and she took pride and credit for things that she should not be proud about. But she was too uneducated to understand that, and she was too proud to learn the correct way to do it.

Pan was an absolute shrew…

But… for some reason… Trunks' heart drummed a little quicker, just now…

There was something about her that attracted him. And he never saw it… until just now.

And for a moment - just a moment - Trunks wondered if maybe the Kais were actually good, with their best interests at heart. For a moment… he might have believed that Pan was a match made in heaven.

But then he heard her rip a loud fart -FRRRRP- on the way up into the spaceship, and he was pulled far back from that thought.

––––––––

––––––––

–A: 10/17/23–

–F: 7/23/24–