A/N: I split this chapter into two parts because it was over 18,000 words
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CHAPTER 20:
Pulse | Part 1
The star blazed fiercely as Trunks and his team neared the passenger cruiser, its looming presence scaling from horizon to horizon in their view as a stark reminder of the peril they faced, this close to its flames.
For five minutes, Trunks and his team descended towards the blinding star and the passenger cruiser that lay in its gravitational pull. In that time, Trunks found himself feeling introspective. His initial thoughts veered toward a panic that he and Pan were getting themselves into something truly life-threatening again.
Attempting to clear his head, he couldn't help but feel as if his life was shaping up to feel like a Sharkspearean drama. Trunks felt a sting of irony as he was tasked with ensuring his team's safety while simultaneously steering them toward potential danger.
He questioned his series of choices that got them into this mess in the first place.
His mind kept replaying the look in Pan's eyes when she had convinced him to go along with her plan.
He didn't know why… but he always had a soft spot for her. Ever since the beginning of the trip, whenever Pan wanted to do something, Trunks always caved. He used to think that he acquiesced because he was weak... but he wondered if there was any element to it that lent to her being strong.
Trunks glanced at Pan, noting the resolve on her face as she piloted her own small ship. Her brow was tense and determined. Her expression was focused.. and the corners of her mouth were turned up a slight smile.
She was clearly thriving in the moment, as the thrill of heroism illuminated her features. And through her smile, Trunks could vicariously feel his own heart warm.
As Trunks watched her, he saw a reflection of his younger self in Pan's demeanor, which took him on a mental journey back to when he was her age… when he was fifteen and a half years old.
That was the summer in between his freshman and sophomore years in high school.
That period marked a significant chapter in Trunks' life, as Goten was about to join him at Blue Hal in the fall. It sparked new adventures, from their Saiyaman X-1 and X-2 escapades, to getting his first girlfriend.
Looking at Pan, Trunks recognized the familiar rush of being a hero, and he could imagine what she was feeling.
Trunks knew that Pan came on this trip because she wanted to prove her worth, driven by a similar urge to make a meaningful difference in peoples' lives. Her drive to save the world stemmed from the same motivation that she had to dive head-first and save children on a stranded alien passenger ship.
Pan was at that critical age, now… creating memories that would shape her character into who she'd truly become one day.
Naturally, she felt compelled to save anyone she could. She couldn't bear the thought of missing an opportunity to rescue someone, especially a child. Trunks understood her motivation; it wasn't her fault they were in this predicament.
She just wanted to be a hero. Just like him.
A feeling of thrill rose in Trunks when he realized he saw so much of himself in her.
As he perceived their dangerous rescue mission through a different lens, Trunks recognized this as an opportunity for him to help Pan live out her dream today. She, and Trunks, together with Legend Goku, would all be heroes.
With one last silent smile toward Pan's transport spacecraft, Trunks then set his sights on the nearby stranded cruiser that they were fast approaching. In the silence of space, Trunks could only hear his own breathing as he keyed in commands, synchronizing the navigation systems of Pan's and Goku's ships.
As they drew nearer and Trunks had a clearer view of the passenger cruiser, he could see that all of the major damage was concentrated at the ship's rear.
The front of the ship remained pristine with all lights operational, suggesting the possibility of survivors, though for some reason, Trunks was having a difficult time trying to confirm the presence of life on board.
No matter how close they got to the ship, it remained difficult to sense for ki on board. Every time Trunks tried to reach out his senses, he felt a tingling sensation in his mind, akin to looking directly into a blind spot. All of the ship seemed to be cloaked in an energy that appeared to glitch in a binary-like manner, which made it challenging to gauge if any ki-based life forms were on board.
As they approached the large cruiser, Trunks attempted to communicate with the ship via radio, but was met with no response. The radio was eerily quiet, devoid of even static.
Trunks kept trying to adjust the communication frequencies, sending different signals through different channels, but no matter his attempts, the radio remained as deadly silent as the vacuum of space around them.
After another failed attempt to hail the cruiser, Trunks started to worry. In their rush to make it over to the ship, Trunks never considered the possibility that they might not be able to board the ship.
Trunks pressed a button on his glove to speak over the intercom.
"-shhk- I guess their radio is jammed -shhk-," Trunks muttered through the intercom, his voice reverberating softly in the confined space of his ship's cabin.
Trunks suddenly realized a potential issue in their rescue attempt. "-shhk- I didn't think about it before, but docking might be a challenge if we can't get into the shi-."
As if answering his concerns, the massive doors to the docking bay creaked open. The doors swung outward like the welcoming jaws of a behemoth.
"-shhk- Well, I take that back, " Trunks remarked with some relief. "They know we're here."
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As Trunks, Pan, and Goku navigated through the gaping docking bay doors, they entered a scene strewn with devastation. Mangled pipes and demolished machinery filled the bay.
With an ominous click, the docking bay doors silently locked behind them, as if the ship itself was sealing them inside its iron belly.
Upon docking, a series of muted red lights started to flash across the port, signaling the re-pressurization of the bay. Clouds of air swirled into the bay while a faint beeping from the lights grew steadily into a louder chorus as the air pressure returned to standard atmospheric levels.
After about a minute, the winds within the bay died down, and the air cleared as the dust settled. A deep WHOMMM echoed through the bay as the red lights turned green.
With a sibilant sound of pneumatic pressure, -kkssshhh-, Trunks opened his hatch.
Trunks stepped out onto the dock. Still in his spacesuit, he examined his watch intently through his helmet's glass, pressing buttons to check the air quality.
Feeling comfortable with his readings, Trunks pressed a button on his watch, and his spacesuit popped back into his watch with a quick -FWIP-
-kksssshhh-
Trunks heard the familiar sounds of the pneumatic hinges as Goku and Pan opened their ships to join him.
As Goku and Pan disembarked their small ships, Trunks surveyed the extensive damage around them.
The docking bay was a scene of chaos. Everywhere they looked, there was scattered debris, twisted metal, and small ships that bore scars of some kind of battle.
"Everything was destroyed…" Pan's voice seemed far-off and haunted, "Why would they blow up all their ships?"
Looking around, Trunks mused aloud, "Maybe to maroon them?"
"Yeah…" Pan looked around, shrugging, "From the looks of this, it looks like nobody got off."
"No, Pan," Goku disagreed with a low tone, "I wouldn't say that."
"What do you mean?" Pan inquired, and both she and Trunks turned to look at Goku, who stood straight with a stoic expression on his face. He met their eyes and then looked to his right.
"Look at the doors," Goku gestured with his head toward two metal doors that had been mangled and melted as if to seal the room off from the rest of the ship. "Isn't there something strange about them?"
Trunks looked at the doors, and saw what Goku was looking at. He felt a sudden sense of dread as he said, "Oh."
"What?" Pan looked to the doors, and back to Goku and Trunks, "The fact that they're melted?"
"No, Pan," Goku gestured with his hand. "See how they're melted?"
"From this side," Trunks spoke aloud, as his mind tried to piece together a puzzle.
"What does that mean?" Pan looked at both of them.
Trunks looked at Goku and felt tension in his gut. "Someone was trying to prevent the people on board from escaping."
They all felt a sudden wave of dread.
Trunks tried to reach out his senses again, and was hit with the same static energy that he had felt in their descent to the ship.
The strange static numbed his ability to sense power levels, as if something were… uncalibrated in his head. And it came from all around him, as if the whole ship was channeling some kind of ki.
It didn't make sense to Trunks. If the ship had ki, then it would mean that the ship was somehow alive…
Trunks liked to keep an open mind to alien concepts, and for a moment, he toyed with the idea that the ship could have an artificial consciousness similar to Giru. That could make sense. But even if that were the case, the ship would still count as a robot. Just as Goku had clarified earlier, the robot would not have any detectable ki.
But this wasn't even ki. The strange energy emanating from the ship was different… It was almost like how a radar screen glitched in the presence of a stealth bomber.
"That's weird," Trunks murmured as he approached the metal doors. Beside him, Goku stared upward with a peculiar look, as though he were trying to gauge something in the air.
"What?" Pan was ahead of them and turned toward him with a mixed expression of curiosity and concern as she walked.
It was an odd sensation that seemed to hint at something Trunks couldn't quite remember.
He couldn't put words to the feeling… but it felt like ki was flickering around him, just quick enough to elude his sensory reach. It was like a trick of perception. He had never felt anything quite like this.
Gripped by a sense of apprehension, Trunks looked at Goku, who appeared stern and focused. "Hey Goku… do you sense anyone alive on board?"
Goku frowned, his voice low and troubled. "It's weird. I've been trying to sense any signs of life since we docked…" Goku put his hands up to each side of his head, "... but it's like…" Goku tried to search for his words, "my senses are all scrambled."
Trunks felt a chill run through him as he nodded slowly. "Yeah, there's something weird about this ship." His voice was steady despite the unease that knotted his stomach. "I don't have a good feeling about this."
"Don't worry," Pan stopped by the melted door and turned to face Trunks, putting her hands on her hip, "We'll do a quick search and be out of here in a jiffy!"
Trunks hesitated,"Y-yeah, easy to say… but-"
"-So stand back." Pan grinned and pointed to herself with her right thumb, "I got this!"
Trunks audibly sighed in resignation. He spoke to the heavens as he muttered to no one, "I can never win against this girl."
"Hah!" Goku broke out into laughter under his breath, as if Trunks had just said a one-liner joke, "Hehehehe!"
Pan stood by the metal doors and then reared back in a ki charging stance. She focused her energy into her palms until it beamed as a ball of bright light.
As Pan charged her attack, Trunks looked at Goku and grinned, enjoying seeing the Saiyan in such a good mood, "What's so funny?"
"Hehehehe…" Goku wiped his right eye, "Nothing, it's just…sometimes she reminds me a lot of Chi Chi." Goku grinned, "And if she's anything like that with you, I really only have one thing to say."
As Goku spoke, Pan yelled out "HAAAA!" and threw the pall of energy into the doors, exploding them back into the hallway, and raising a huge cloud of dust and smoke.
"Oh?" Trunks perked up as he fanned the smoke away from his face.
"You won't win against her," Goku grinned, "She'll find a way to beat you every time. She's persistent ... Just watch."
"HAH!" Trunks guffawed and grinned at Goku. Sometimes he said things that were genuinely funny.
"Well, are you guys coming?!" Pan's voice broke through Trunks' thoughts as she stepped through the bent and mangled doors, into the corridor.
"Yeah!" Goku turned to follow Pan.
As Goku moved, Trunks noticed an item that had been behind Goku's feet. The item stood out to him for some reason.
Something about the metal looked familiar. Its pale color stood out among the dark and charred flooring of the bay, and triggered an odd feeling in his gut.
It looked crushed, as if from a hand. Mangled,like an old memory - perhaps something from a dream…
-KZZT-
It was the only way to guarantee they were dead.
-KZZT-
Trunks stared at the small, mangled metal, in a trance.
He heard a voice call his name, which echoed in a distant realm of his mind.
Something about the pale gray metal called out to him… And he found himself bending down, to reach for it…
"TRUNKS!"
The sound of his name felt like a pulse through him, which jerked his mind back to the present.
"What are you doing?!" Pan called from the door, "Get your butt over here!"
Trunks realized he was caught daydreaming, "R-Right!"
Slightly embarrassed by the fact that he was caught picking up trash, Trunks hurriedly shoved his hands in his pocket, bringing the mangled metal with him.
As he stepped through the hole in the doors to meet up with Pan and Goku, he entered the cruiser's large, empty, and brightly-patterned carpeted corridor.
The air within the hallway smelled different - acrid. A lingering scent of burnt ash lingered in the air, and a faint undertone of barbecue. Otherwise, there was no movement or activity.
Since the engines had been destroyed, it was eerily silent on board.
Pan cupped her hands to her mouth as she stood in the center of the hall, "Helloooooo?" She turned to her right, with the longer length of hallway, "Is anyone aliiiiive in here?!"
The carpeted hallway answered in silence.
Pan cupped her hands and tried again, "Helloooooooooooo? We're here to save youuuuu."
They each held their breaths, anticipating any sound or movement.
Instead, they continued to be met with deafening silence.
Trunks frowned, and looked down each end of the hallway. To their left were a couple of open doors that seemed to lead to utility rooms, and the hallway was otherwise completely sealed with an air lock.
The engine room had been in that direction. With the air lock in place, that whole part of the ship was doomed to the vacuum of space.
"I guess there's only one way to go," Trunks shrugged and gestured with his chin to the right, where the hall led through the ship and seemed to open out into a larger atrium by the end.
They turned right and began to make their way through the corridor. As they walked, Goku and Pan each took a side of the hall to peek in through every door. Trunks followed behind, monitoring their remaining time on his watch.
As they moved through the dimly lit corridor and glanced into vacant rooms, the silence began to feel almost suffocating. It starkly contrasted with Trunks' quickening heartbeat as he contemplated their pressing timeline they faced on the ship. Things might start to get hot.
"Helloooooooo?" Pan's voice pierced the silence, ringing out as she searched for survivors. "Anyone heeeere?!"
The only response was the muted echo of their steps on the brightly patterned carpet.
As they searched, Trunks lagged slightly behind his companions, and found his eyes drifting to the colorful geometric pattern on the ship's carpet.
Something about the carpet felt familiar… but he couldn't place where he had seen this pattern before.
They noticed signs of heat damage to the carpet, such as melted fibers, yet there was no definitive cause
As they made their way along the corridor, the aroma of barbecue intensified, eventually taking on the sharp tang of a fresh fire.
As they examined the area, Trunks noticed slight heat damage to the carpet threads, though there were no concrete indicators of its cause. Nothing had really been burned.
Looking into an empty recreational room, a sense of unease settled over him.
"Strange…" Trunks frowned as they walked, "I smell smoke, but I don't see any traces of fire."
"Yeah… and no traces of people, too." Pan grimly stated as she opened another hallway door to peer into another room.
Trunks opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated when he sensed a slight movement in the periphery of his vision.
He looked up towards a bare wall where a security camera was installed at the ceiling edge. Though the camera seemed immobile, Trunks was sure it had followed their movements.
Keeping his eyes fixed on the lens, Trunks murmured aloud, "Actually… I don't think we're alone."
Upon Trunks' realization, Goku's face grew stern, and both he and Trunks walked a little more slowly as Pan continued to search ahead.
They each unfocused their eyes a bit as they tried to sense through the ship's strange static, for any definite life forms of board. As they reached out tendrils of their senses, Goku's eyes suddenly went wide.
Trunks' eyes and expression followed as he suddenly felt pummeled by a pressure in his head. "W-Wha!"
A barometric pulse exploded in his mind of crackling static.
-WOMMMMMMMMMM-
Goku and Trunks both felt the static ripple through their senses like a sonar wave.
Oblivious to the pulse, Pan continued her search, swiftly peeking into another room as she led them toward the atrium.
The two men shared a look, instantly knowing they had felt it.
And then they tensed as a second, relay pulse , echoed through the corridor.
-WOMMMMMMMMMM-
An echo of static energy pulsed as a direct answer to the first.
Trunks' hairs began to stand on end, as he slowed in his walk.
With his eyes still on Goku's, their expressions hardened as the air around them seemed to crackle with energy.
The pulse had come from around the corner.
Trunks and Goku both nodded to each other, in mutual understanding.
Something was there, in the atrium…
Something was waiting f or them…
"Hey, guys!" Pan began to jog forward toward the intersecting hall, unaware of the static shift, "I thought I saw some movem-"
Goku shouted as both he and Trunks realized where she was running. Goku reached out to snatch Pan's arm, " No, Pan, stand back!"
Pan shouted as she was yanked back from the mouth of the corridor, where it opened to the atrium.
A large missile WHOOSHed by Pan's face and CRASHED into the wall by her face, erupting the wall into a cloud of dust and debris.
-KABOOOOOOOM-
The wall exploded to reveal a massive hole that led to an abandoned office room, where papers flew in the air pressure from the blast.
Smoke and ash blew up in the atrium, choking them in their surprise.
They all coughed in the smoke as they heard a loud rattle of metal that shook the ground with a low -grrrrrrrr- vibration.
Suddenly, a massive white robot sprang forward, clamoring to charge toward them at full speed .
Goku stepped back in surprise, "Woah, that's huge!"
The enormous white robot lunged at the team, and as it landed, it spun, and then made a large -KRANKKKK- sound as it leaned back, and then opened up six flaps on its chest.
-fwip- -fwip- -fwip- -fwip- -fwip- -fwip-
Pan leaned forward, "What is it doing?!"
Each flap opened to reveal a missile. And all of them were aimed at the person who was closest to the robot.
Pan.
Trunks and Goku both realized Pan's danger immediately, and lunged in front of her.
As if in slow motion, Goku and Trunks spun in the air and blocked Pan from the missiles that were fired at point-blank range. They each grabbed a close-range missile with each hand, and managed to secure a third one through the skins of their teeth.
In the same moment, Pan jumped over both Trunks and Goku with a somersault down-kick that shattered the massive robot into pieces.
The robot exploded into shards as Trunks and Goku lowered their missles to the floor. By the time they looked up, the robot was reduced to broken parts, already dismantled and smashed by Pan.
The whole battle seemed like it was over in a flash. Their teamwork was on point, and that robot went down fairly easily. Trunks was genuinely impressed.
"Wow," Trunks stood up and adjusted his gloves, "Good job, Pan."
Pan beamed as she stood over the remains of the robot. She turned to Trunks and Goku and puffed out her chest triumphantly wiped her hands together in a clapping motion, reminiscent of Clean God's finishing victory move.
"Alright!" Pan declared with a grin, "Bad-Guy eliminated!"
Trunks continued to smile, enjoying Pan's enthusiasm before turning his eyes to try to check the time on his watch.
Suddenly, his gaze blurred as his attention was disrupted.
-WOMMMMMMMMMM-
Another pulse vibrated within the atmospheric static. Electrical lights brightened and dimmed as a wave of energy that moved through the hull. The ship creaked slightly amid the low infrasound waves.
As the larger wave resonated throughout the ship, many smaller points throughout the ship signaled back.
-wiiiiimmmmmmm-
The waves were barely perceptible - hardly more than pings of disturbance within the binary static that surrounded them. But like tiny ripples in a pond, the vibrations came from many places at once, all around them.
Trunks looked up to one of the sources of the pings, and confirmed it was from another security camera…
Trunks' back hairs stood up on end as he once again made eye contact with Goku.
Someone, or something… was watching them through the cameras.
Trunks suddenly was no longer okay with being on board the ship. With all of these unusual circumstances, he was starting to feel that they may have been lured into the belly of some kind of beast.
Pan didn't seem to notice Trunks' or Goku's stern countenances. She instead continued to peek into doors, leading the team as she worked her way toward the end of the ship's hallway, where it again opened up to another large room - the lobby.
Or at least… it used to be the lobby…
As they stepped into the large open space, all three of them came to an abrupt stop.
The air was heavy with the rank stench of scorched flesh and blood. The lobby was a scene of destruction; every couch and chair was torn apart, as evidence of a severe struggle. The whole area was cluttered with fragments of burned luggage and broken children's toys, all blasted apart.
The check-in counter was notably damaged, with a clean hole from some kind of impact. Melted and mangled pipes had burst under heat and pressure and dangled from the ceiling. Steam was leaking from one of the vents.
"What happened here?" Pan looked around, wide-eyed.
Trunks crinkled his nose, reflecting on the memory of his strange daydream. He had imagined a large room like this… but there were people… What….?
Feeling sickened by both the smell and his strange memory, Trunks tried to block the stench from his nose with his bandana. As he tried to adjust it to cover his face, it came undone, and he simply held it up to his nose.
With a tone of disbelief, Pan muttered aloud, "Do you think that robot did all this damage?"
Goku looked around, clearly also confused. "I don't think so… it wasn't nearly that powerful."
As they spoke, Trunks held the bandana to his mouth as he looked around at all the luggage. He felt uneasy, as he murmured, "Guys… something's really weird about this… "
Pan looked at him, "What do you mean?"
Trunks looked around to the burn marks on the wall, and the discarded luggage along the sides. He gestured broadly with his free arm, "People were killed here..."
Goku's eyes followed Trunks' gesture, and his gaze sharpened in realization. He sharply frowned toward Trunks, "You're right. It is weird."
"What's weird?" Pan repeated as she turned to Goku.
"The bodies," Trunks looked at Pan, and walked to the center of the atrium.
"Yeah?"
Trunks stood at the center of the atrium. He turned, and gestured with his right hand, which still held his bandana, toward all burn marks, before he faced her again with wide arms at his sides, "Where are the bodies?"
Pan looked around. She hesitated, and it was clear that she had no answer.
Her face scrunched as she channeled her frustration into an accusatory tone, "They probably were saved!"
Trunks huffed a laugh. "With burned luggage?!" He gestured to the walls with his bandana again, "And robots that try to assassinate people? Come on, Pan. The REAL bad guy on board has clearly been either taking or eating the bodies!"
Pan's expression immediately turned to defiance, as she refused to accept a worst-outcome scenario. "Come on, Trunks, what could have eaten every single passenger on board, and we wouldn't have seen it yet?"
Trunks felt defensive, thinking of Majin Buu and Cell. "It's possible!"
"Yeah right." Pan rolled her eyes and huffed as he placed her hands on her hips, "If that were true, then we'd probably have found or smelled a massive poo pile by now."
"I-! Uh-!" Trunks blushed, suddenly frazzled by Pan's answer, and he raised his bandana with a gripped fist, and legs widely extended as he barked, "How is that the first thing that comes to mind for you?!"
Pan shook her head with a half-grin, and then flipped her right hand as if to wave off Trunks' concerns. She then twirled her hand into a gesture, where she pointed toward the end of the lobby.
Trunks turned his eyes to view a big sign that flashed "CAPTAIN," in amusement park lights, over a simple gray door beside the reception desks.
Pan looked half amused as she kept pointing to the final door, "I figure that's the cockpit. Maybe the Captain's still on the ship?"
"Right… the Captain…" Trunks looked at the door, trying to sense for any ki signature beyond it.
Trunks put his bandana in his right rear pocket as he contemplated what might lie in waiting within the cockpit.
The way Trunks saw it, someone or something was behind the strange pulses on board. With all of the security cameras following their movements, it was likely that whoever was watching them was stationed in the cockpit.
Looking at Goku, Trunks could see a blend of skepticism and a slight flicker of anticipation in his expression, as he was likely thinking the same thing.
Pan walked right up to the metal door that, upon closer look, had been mangled around the lock and hinges. The damage looked similar to what had been done to the ship bay doors.
She turned to watch them with a grin, "I got this!"
"Wait, Pan," Goku interjected, reaching out his right hand to signal her.
Pan wasted no time, and charged her elbow with ki as she smashed it against the door behind her. The door burst open in her powerful thrust, and bent backward as it smashed into its opposing wall, and then rotated back with a creaaaaak motion.
There were a couple -pop- sounds, and then the door's hinges broke. It collapsed inward with a loud crash.
-KBUUU-!
Pan winced with a wide grimace, "Oh oops! I went overboard!" She turned around to see the damage, and then faced Goku and Trunks again, looking a little sheepish, "I guess it was unlocked…"
For some reason, to Trunks, that also seemed strange. Yet what bothered him the most was the view of the cockpit inside.
Now that the door had been flattened to the ground, the cockpit was fully visible, with walls of monitors that displayed a strange running stream of code that seemed to snake its way through all of the monitor screens.
The room was otherwise empty, with chairs that faced monitors that seemed to be on autopilot, and a massive viewport window that spanned the entire wall, showcasing a sea of stars.
The view beyond the glass was mystifying and serene. In the quietude of the space, it was easy to forget the immensity of their peril.
-biiiiiip biiiiiip biiiiiip-
Trunks' watch started to beep.
Trunks looked down to his watch, and saw the words "3:00 WARNING" scroll across the screen in red and yellow blocks of text.
Feeling pressed for time, Trunks decided to call the mission. "Hey guys, I'm pretty sure we can say we searched everywhere."
"What?" Pan instantly recognized Trunks' tone of resignation, and perked up. "But-!"
"We did our due diligence, and I think it's pretty safe to say there's nobody here."
Trunks looked at Goku, who seemed distracted in thought. He then gestured out to the vastness of space as he continued, "Hey Goku, can you sense our spaceship from here?"
Goku looked out to the stars and seemed a little surprised by something.
"Wait!" Pan interjected, with a stronger tone, "What about the babies?"
Trunks groaned, feeling the argument had already gotten stale.
With a dismissive gesture toward the back of the ship, Trunks sharply stated, "You saw, same as I did. There aren't any babies on board."
He didn't want to waste time arguing about this. Trunks turned to Goku, "Are you ready to send us back?"
"No, wait!" Pan stomped a foot as she dissented, "We never found the bodies!"
Pan was being argumentative, and it was slowing the team down. Trunks didn't know how to communicate their urgency to her, so he spoke with a decisive tone.
"We might never find the bodies, Pan," Trunks bared his teeth at this point, ready to end this mission. "For all we know, whatever killed them might have eaten or absorbed them."
"You said that already!" Pan was persistent, "But if someone did that, we would have seen them!"
Trunks' lip curled in frustration, "If someone did that, and if they're still on this ship, let's just say I'd rather not see them!"
Pan began to protest, realizing she was losing her argument, "But-!"
"Stop arguing with me!" Trunks cut Pan off as he looked pointedly to Goku. "Time to get back to the ship. It's about to get very hot."
Trunks gestured to red buttons along the cockpit dashboard that warned of imminent danger. All of the readings were beginning to rise into dangerous levels.
"Right," Goku nodded. "Okay everybody," he reached out his left arm, "just hold on to me."
At Goku's prompt, Trunks reached out to touch Goku's wrist.
"No!" Pan stomped her foot. "We still have time!"
"We need to get off this ship, Pan!" Trunks was done with her tantrum. As it was, they had jeopardized their own lives and mission, and had gotten themselves into a strange situation, and now it was all going to be over. Some mysteries would be better off left in space.
"Come on, Pan," Goku invited her with a more gentle tone. "Maybe we can use the Dragon Balls to help these people. But Trunks is right, we have to go."
Pan seemed reluctant, but after Goku pressed her acquiescence, she looked to Trunks, then down at her feet, and then reached out her right hand to touch Goku's left arm, with a sour pout on her bottom lip.
"Okay, here we go." Goku brought his right two fingers to forehead and closed his eyes.
A slight wind sensation whirled around them.
They felt particles of ki swirl around them in a glitch-like static similar to the ki on the ship.
— —- —- — —- – - -
- - - -
All three continued to stand in the cockpit.
The wind around them died.
Trunks and Pan both let out a breath they didn't realize they had been holding, and then all three looked around.
Nothing happened.
"Uhhhh," Pan stuck out her bottom lip as she raised a brow in thought, "Is this supposed to happen?"
Goku suddenly seemed very embarrassed.
Uhhh…" Goku shyly brought his right hand around to the back of his head to scratch his haid, "Hehehe… uh… So I might have been wrong…"
Trunks' gut felt like it was going to fall through the floor, "What do you mean you might have been wrong?!"
"Hehehehe…" Goku blushed a bit as he scratched behind his neck, "Uh… so it turns out, I can't sense the rice cooker."
Trunks jumped up with all limbs spread, "WHAT?!"
"I mean," Goku looked up, still scratching, "I guess it was a bit of a pot shot…"
"NO!" Trunks could not accept Goku's response, and it was clear that Goku was not feeling the same kind of pressure that Trunks suddenly realized was on their shoulders. "Sense again!"
"I would, but the weird ki is still on the ship," Goku frowned, "All my senses feel like they've been vibrating this whole time on the ship. It all feels kinda numb…"
Trunks looked to Pan, and then back to Goku.
There was a creaking sound as the ship's hull began to bend and melt under the heat of the star.
And then Trunks felt another pulse.
BA-BOOM.
It was a different pulse - familiar, and egging. It ran through Trunks' body like a freight train, blowing away walls of reservation . Its whistle was clear. Its warning was loud.
He heard the pulse as a voice. It was almost musical as if sirened into his ear and filled his core with an unadulterated need…
Save her…
The voice was a breath of ocean breeze in his ears. The words were as compelling as a moon that pulled his tide.
Save her…
His heart beat faster. His breaths raced quicker. His wedding band burned on his finger.
Trunks looked at Pan, and was reminded of his true priority.
There was only one option. There were no decisions to make. Trunks left no room to argue. He needed to keep Pan safe.
He emphatically pointed his right glove downward as he stressed, "Alright team, we're out of options, so now you'll listen to me."
"What -" Pan started.
"Do not argue," Trunks cut her off. He wasn't playing games, "We need to go," he pointed to his watch, "NOW!"
His watch displayed a red-and-yellow scrolling message that read "2:00 WARNING."
"So this is what's going to happen and - NO!" Trunks snapped his hand toward Pan who had opened her mouth to object, "You listen to ME, this time."
Pan closed her mouth and scowled, as she crossed her arms.
"So listen up," Trunks started again as he sharply looked at Pan. "In about sixty seconds, the Heat Shields on this ship are going to start to fail. It's going to get very hot."
Trunks gestured at the control panel that was showing status metrics that were flashing orange, and about to turn red.
"We need to get off this ship so Goku can sense the rice cooker," Trunks asserted with urgency. "Unless Goku gets off," Trunks looked right in Pan's eyes, " nobody gets off today."
Pan was suddenly overcome by a strange look. Her eyes glossed as if she imagined something that she didn't wish to see.
Pan's expression turned vulnerable, and betrayed an underlying current of fear behind her eyes, as Trunks realized she was finally realizing the gravity of their situation.
Pan swallowed thickly and searched Trunks' eyes. "What do we do?"
Trunks took a step to her, and reached out his arms, "We're getting out of here. No arguments!"
Trunks began to wrap his arms around her back, in a hugging gesture.
Pan seemed surprised that Trunks was opening his arms for an embrace. With a surprised and slightly bashful expression, Pan responded by also raising her arms, as if to hug Trunks back.
Trunks snaked his left arm to wrap around her lower back. Pan blinked in confusion as Trunks then secured his right arm across her upper back and lower neck.
Then, Pan squeaked in surprise when Trunks firmly yanked her up, off the ground, and then pinned her tightly against his chest.
"Wwwmm?!" Pan flailed in shock, suddenly met with a mouthful of business coat.
Pan's face was planted straight into his chest, and no matter how she tried to grab at Trunks, she couldn't pry herself off.
"Wmt dm bg idymm?!" Pan yelled into Trunks' beige blazer, flailing her limbs about as her core remained pinned.
"How about a race to the docking bay?" Trunks lifted himself with Pan against him as he hovered in the hallway. "You ready, Goku?"
Goku grinned in challenge as he leaned forward to prepare a running start, "Ready."
"Alright. Let's get out of here!"
"Nnmmm!" Pan shouted into Trunks as she flailed.
Trunks rocketed forward, down the straight hallway, as fast as he could safely fly with Pan secured against his chest. His swift motion sent a shockwave through the hallway, slamming doors open with the force of his air pressure.
Behind him, Goku ran so fast that his shoes made divots in the ground as tiny craters and rattled the ship, making a speed contest or game out of their escape.
Pan, meanwhile, was squealing against Trunks, half in rage and thrill as her hair whipped against her shoulders.
-FWOOOO-
The race only lasted about two seconds, but it still had all the fun and thrill as any other race. Trunks made a "hoot!" sound as he made it to the docking bay doors first, and then stopped himself so fast in the air that he created a soundwave BOOM that rattled the ship.
Goku was not prepared to stop mid-run, and grabbed at Trunks to stop his momentum. When he reached out, he accidentally grabbed Pan's arm, which had been flailing out.
"Aaah?!" Pan shouted in surprise as she was ripped from Trunks' chest.
Goku and Pan were accidentally swung in a new trajectory, and barreled straight through the central wall, landing in a dusty heap.
They both groaned as Pan wriggled, pinned underneath Goku.
Pan grumbled amid all the drywall dust that erupted into the air. She spat, and then smacked her lips, which were white and covered with chalk-like dust as she groaned in disgust, "Aaaoogh, groooosh!"
Trunks kept pushing forward, into the docking bay. He didn't have time for conflict, and they were both fine. For now.
He had to get them off the ship immediately. They were all in grave danger, and Trunks was going to save them.
He was going to Save Pan , no matter what. No hesitation.
The whole docking bay remained a disarray of mangled metal and melted machines. There were many buttons along the walls, but most of them had been destroyed by whatever scuffle happened here.
"Shit!" Trunks darted his eyes as he rushed through the large bay, searching the mangled and burned walls for any controls that could open the bay doors.
After almost ten seconds of a search, Pan called out from beyond the mangled hallway doors.
"TRUNKS!" Pan's voice was shrill and urgent. "We found a boy! He's alive!"
Trunks heard her words, and he stopped in his tracks.
"A boy?!"
Trunks was momentarily distracted. He looked over to the bay doors as Pan stumbled through the melted entrance, carrying a small unconscious boy on her back.
The boy was a young adolescent alien with spiky green hair and a light green complexion. He wore a white shirt that was edged with soot, and dark purple pants. He looked severely injured with multiple lacerations on his face and body.
A survivor…
Trunks stared in amazement for a moment, unable to comprehend the existence of this boy, "Where did you find him?!"
"You'd never believe it!" Pan adjusted the unconscious boy on her back, "He was in the room behind the wall!"
"Behind the wall?" Trunks blinked and shook his head, "Didn't we check every room?!"
"So get this," Pan gestured with her head to the hallway, "The door to the room was on the other side of the airlock. He was trapped!"
Trapped…
Trunks' eyes widened. He remembered his strange gut feeling from earlier.
"And, it's really weird," Pan adjusted her stance, careful to steady the boy on her back, "He was pinned under a bunch of pipes."
"Pinned?" Trunks only half-listened. The voice in his head began to compel him to search for an Emergency Exit button of some sort. He could clearly see the afterimage of a mental countdown in his peripheral vision.
"Yeah," Goku stepped through the doors, and into the docking bay. "We had to bend back a bunch of pipes just to reach him."
As Goku stepped into the docking bay, he passed by a piece of metal that had a broken edge shaped like a hook. In one of his clumsier moments, Goku walked a little too close, and accidentally got snagged and yanked back by the pipe in mid-walk. His blue gi fabric was stretched taught as Goku remained snagged on the metal.
"Oops!" Goku laughed a bit in embarrassment as he picked his gi free, and unhooked some blue fabric that had gotten trapped on the pipe. "Yeah, the pipes by the boy were bent all funny just like all the pipes here."
Something about that sounded strange to Trunks. But he remained conscious of their countdown time, so he didn't stop to question why a child would have gotten trapped under layers of bent metal, and then Air-Sealed away from the rest of the ship…
He couldn't think about that right now. They had a much higher priority. And Trunks had to save Pan.
Trunks continued to search, feeling more desperate as he realized he was coming upon the end of the wall, by the doors, and he still hadn't found a working button.
"So anyway…" Pan did not seem to share Trunks' urgency in the tone of her voice, "Now I'm in a tough spot with you."
"What?!" Trunks turned on his heel, thinking she was crazy. "What are you going on about?!" He could not understand her ease of countenance. She should have been a little more intimidated by their time.
Pan glowered and rolled her eyes, "I feel I have to somehow thank you for being a jerk."
"I don't have time for this," Trunks continued to search the walls and rubble for an escape button.
"If not for you doing your stupid race with Grandpa and grabbing me - against my will, by the way! - we wouldn't have crashed through the stupid wall…" Pan's voice got more quiet as she concluded, "And we wouldn't have found the boy."
"So you're thanking me for being a jerk?" Trunks continued to search, and despite how she frustrated him, there was a part of him deep down that appreciated her moment of levity during an otherwise harrowing search to save their lives.
"Well," Pan rolled her eyes and hiked the boy up on her back as she droned in an unappreciative tone, "We never would have found him if you hadn't been a dick and pulled a bunch of bullcrap back there."
"Hey!" Trunks dropped his grin. He looked at her as he kept searching, "I did what I did because you always argue."
"I do not!" Pan huffed and stomped a foot while holding the boy.
Trunks huffed and hit a box, "You just thanked me for being a jerk!"
"I was being nice!" Pan barked.
"Nice isn't going to save us right now!" Trunks barked.
"Well being a jerk isn't saving us, either!"
"Aaaah!" Trunks could not take this anymore, "Stop arguing with me! And help me find the goddamned button!"
Pan looked clueless, "What button?!"
Trunks knocked over a box to try to access a lower panel on the wall, but it seemed to be related to a different breakout room.
"Are you serious right now, Pan?!" Trunks spun with a racing heart, "The button to open the doors!"
His panic had blurred his sight, and he could not believe how she was not in a similar state. His peripheral vision was a stream of a thousand calculations. His heart was racing as he realized they were going up against their maximum time limit.
Pan's face contorted in confusion and urgency, "Trunks, there is no button!"
Trunks stopped, and spun to face her. "Wait, then what is it?! Do you see it?! Is it a lever?"
"No, silly. The doors are motion activated! Don't you see?!" Pan gestured upward with her head, "There's a bunch of cameras. And there's a big hit zone on the door."
"Hit zone?" Trunks had heard the term from baseball, as the area where a pitched ball could be considered for a strike.
Trunks looked up to the doors.
"You know, the, uh," Pan looked up as she thought, "The launch box?"
He saw it. There was a big red-painted rectangle on the doors that showed the area where ships could launch. The area box was very clear , and all of the cameras targeting that zone had motion sensors.
The solution was right in front of him, and Trunks was overwhelmed with joy. He realized that Pan had solved a simple problem that he had been too anxious, and too distracted to notice. His eyes had been on the walls the whole time… but… Pan had seen something that he had not. And she saved the day.
Trunks didn't even think about his words in his amazement. His eyes were trained on the doors as he absentmindedly spoke what he thought was a common phrase, "Pan, I could kiss you right now."
Pan's eyes went wide in surprise and her cheeks tinted a little pink. "Ohh?"
Goku tapped Pan's shoulder and distracted her attention away as he offered to take the boy in his ship. They both began to discuss what to do with the boy, and Trunks' earlier comment had gone with the wind.
Trunks stared at the bay doors. He could not believe that the answer had been as bold as a flag in front of him the whole time, ever since they even landed.
In all his frenzy, Trunks had never thought to look at the doors…
But Pan did…
Trunks could not help but marvel.
It was such a simple thing… but without her observation, Trunks could not have noticed it on his own. They would have been as good as dead.
King Kai's voice to Pan echoed in Trunks' mind, "…you'll have a much better chance of saving his life this time around…"
And at the thought of Pan, and being saved, all of his mental alarms went off again.
Save Pan.
Trunks glanced down at his watch.
It read 0:42 seconds until they fell into the star.
Pan called out, "Hey Trunks, if you're ready, get in your ship!"
Trunks turned to see that both she and Goku were already in their transport ships. Goku had taken the boy with him, and was sitting on his lap to drive the ship.
"I am ready," Trunks stood straight and reached into his pocket.
He found the encapsulated ship in his pocket, and he pulled it out.
He pressed the top button, ready to hear a -POP- of his vessel.
…
Nothing happened.
Trunks tried again, but realized the top had been jammed.
Trunks looked down, and realized with a wave of dread, that the capsule was broken.
What…
Somehow, it had been crushed.
The whole capsule was bent as if his hand had crushed it to the point that it no longer even resembled a capsule.
It instead resembled…
Trunks' eyes went wide, as he remembered the object he had picked up when they had first landed in this bay.
The mangled metal object…!
Trunks inhaled sharply as his vision lost focus, and the object in his hand seemed to multiply into a hundred spinning copies. His heart raced in his chest as a thousand thoughts fogged him with confusion and awe. A million feelings shook him to the core.
Trunks immediately doubted himself. There was no way that his thoughts could be based in reality.
It was a one in a billion chance. No; it was one in a quadrillion chance. Or more. It was… impossible.
Trunks stared at the object, realizing it for what it was, and doubting his sanity, and his impulsive propensity to jump to conclusions.
It looked just like… a capsule…
But it could not possibly be.
"Trunks, get in your ship!"
Trunks snapped out of his daydream. "R-Right!"
Trunks shoved the mangled capsule back into his pocket, where he dug around and retrieved a second metal object - his actual ship capsule.
He tossed it to the dock where it -POPPED- into his transport ship, and he followed up with a -FWIP- as he quick-changed into his spacesuit.
Trunks quickly slid into his ship and pulled the glass hatch down.
The moment his hatch closed, a large siren began to wail throughout the ship, and all of the lights began to flicker.
-wiiiiiiyooooo wiiiiiiyooooo- HEAT WARNING -wiiiiiiyooooo wiiiiiiyooooo-
As the bay doors flung open, a tempest of hurricane-force winds unleashed from behind, transforming the corridor into a wind tunnel.
The air rushed past them in a furious torrent, vacuuming everything into the void of space.
"Ahhhhhhhh!" They all screamed as they were suddenly flung off the ship, spiraling uncontrollably into the endless abyss.
–––––––
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–A: 5/23/24–
–F: 7/23/24–