A/N: Yammu is going through another name change... I've already updated the previous chapters. She is now known as "Yamura".
...
Dondoro's ship, which used to be one of Freeza's many ships, was big enough for an entire fleet to fit in. Three floors, several bunkers and showers, two training decks (one of them a hologram deck), a mess hall, and four medical machines. The entire bottom level was entirely for cargo loading, or in special cases, a holding cell for intruders…
Basically, it was a massive ship for just two people…
And yet neither of those two people were conscious when the Intruder Alarms went off. Therefore, the defense mechanisms were not activated as space pirates managed to break their way into the ship. Nobody was answering their calls, so what was the harm of taking abandoned property?
"Ergh…. Five more minutes, Mom…" Pan muttered as she tried waving away whatever was poking her in the head.
"'Oy! Get up!"
That voice was unfamiliar. Was she having a dream?
No wait… She wasn't home! She was with Yamura! "Ah! Sorry!" she cried jumping up quickly to her knees, "I was just training and-"
She immediately stopped at the sound of a gun clicking. Once she got her senses about, she looked up to see not Yamura, but a strange, insectoid-like alien holding a blaster rifle to her face. "Don't make any sudden moves," he warned.
Pan went still in response. "Um… Can I help you?" she asked meekly.
"Yea," the alien huffed, "Put yer hands where I can see 'em!"
Pan rolled her eyes. "Does Yamura know you're on her ship?"
"O'ever this Yamura girl is, she clearly don't care 'bout her ship if she left it abandoned! Now stand!"
Pan figured it was best to play along and did as she was told. She knew Yamura would never just leave the ship behind, but didn't know if she had a plan, or was simply still passed out drunk… And who knows how many other jerks were on board with this guy?
"Now if ya wanna live t'see another day," the insectoid grumbled, "You'll move along where I say. Nice and easy! Move it! You go out of line once, I shoot ya, got it?"
"Got it," Pan replied simply.
Pfft… like a little laser gun can take ME out… Still, better go along if I want to know what's happening.
Somehow, whoever was taking over the ship seemed to know exactly what they came across… They seemed to know the lower deck cargo bay could also be used as a dungeon, as the insectoid roughly pushed Pan inside and closed the door behind her.
The quarter Saiyan looked up to see she was not alone… Also in the dark room was a group of furry-looking aliens who looked rather high-class, though definitely put through the wringer a few times. They looked down at Pan in concern.
"Are you okay?" a smaller alien crept over, offering to help Pan to her feet.
She smiled and took it. "Thanks," she responded, "I'm okay. Now you are who guys and what are you doing on this ship?"
Another alien, dressed in a sailor suit and cap, bowed. "Forgive our intrusion," he said, "Our luxury cruiser was hijacked by these space pirates… Once they saw YOUR ship, they abandoned ours and forced us in here."
"They're gonna sell us off as slaves!" another child cried.
Pan crossed her arms defiantly. "Not if I have anything to say about it!"
The first child beamed. "You're gonna stop them?"
"Pfft… Good luck," groaned another adult, "I spent years in the army, and even I couldn't stand a chance… What good will YOU do?"
Pan smirked. "I bet you didn't have the grueling training I had," she responded, but then grew concerned. "Speaking of which… Is there another woman here with you? Long, wild, purple hair, wearing an outfit like mine except blue?"
The aliens looked amongst each other, before responding with a no.
Pan tightened up internally… What could have happened to Yamura? Was she STILL passed out drunk? Or was she overtaken by these space pirates? Sure, she could overcome any guy who spent "years in the army" but that didn't automatically mean she stood a chance. She used to have a bad habit of putting too much faith in her abilities in the past, only to need her butt pulled out of trouble by others…
"You have to believe in yourself, Pan…"
Her grandfather's words echoed in her mind. She suddenly recalled everything that happened in the hologram room.
'I can do this… I can defeat them,' she thought to herself, 'I just need to use more than brawn. For once, I've got to use my brain too.'
Pan gave everyone a confident smirk. "Listen up!" she announced, "I'm going to free you guys and stop these creeps once and for all!"
"If you do that, they'll surely cut off the food and water supply for us!" cried one of the adults.
"They won't hesitate to kill you just because you're young," spoke another.
"They'll have to catch me first!" Pan grinned.
"And when they do, WE'LL pay for YOUR stupidity!" shouted a third.
Pan knitted her eyebrows in protest, but before she could argue, the little alien cried out, "If we work together, we can help her win! I believe in her!"
That little female alien child reminded Pan of someone… She then thought back to Grandpa Satan's museum, and that other little girl who chimed about being just like Pan one day… and that Pan needed to change herself if she truly was going to be a role model to her and other little girls in this universe.
She patted the young alien's head. "I promise… I won't let you down."
The group muttered in uncertainty as Pan made her way to the door and gave a knock. Through the window, another pirate peered in. "What do you want?"
"Sorry to disturb you," Pan said sweetly, "But I wanted to let you know this door is broken."
"Huh?" The pirate stepped to the side and hit a switch, and the door slid right open. "What're ya talking about? It's working just fine!"
"Oh!" Pan smiled, "My mistake!"
*POW!*
One punch between the eyes was all it took to take him out. Pan hopped out of the cargo bay and looked around. Fortunately there was only that one pirate on guard. Figured they'd make the stupidest one stand watch.
"How many others are there?" Pan asked.
"About twenty or so…" The little alien girl responded as she bounded out behind.
Pan nodded. "I'll make sure this level is taken out," she responded as she grabbed hold of the pirate she knocked out. "That way you guys will be safe here."
"Be careful!" the little girl cried out as Pan blasted down the corridors, dumb pirate in tow.
"Well, well, what do we have here…" One of the pirates, quite possibly the biggest and frightening one, spoke to himself as he entered one of the bunkers and found Yamura, snoring loudly, laying in her bed, her knees bent up to her chest and her butt sticking up in the air. "It's like somebody left me a present," he chuckled to himself as he approached the unconcious woman in a menacing manner. Before he could do anything sinister…
"Captain Sefu!"
The larger, strongest alien twisted in annoyance. "What is it?!" he shouted to the smaller underling, running in the room in a panic.
"There's a commotion out in the corridors!" the underling cried, "One of the hostages is beating the crap out of everyone!"
"Those little munchkins?" Sefu scoffed, "How in the universe are they kicking any of our butts?"
"One of those 'little munchkins' ain't actually a munchkin," the underling replied, "She's a whole different species… and she's stronger than she looks!"
Sefu rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll check it out," he grumbled as he stomped out of the room and down the hallway. The underling glanced over at the snoring Yamura and gave a sinister smirk of his own… then was promptly grabbed by the back of his collar and yanked along. "YOU'RE coming along! If I can't have her, neither can you!"
What was she so worried about? These pirates were nothing! They put up a good fight, sure, but they made the mistake of crossing Pan Son, Mighty Saiyan Warrior Girl!
'No, get a hold of yourself, Pan!' she mentally told herself as she smashed her fist into a pirate's face, 'Don't get too cocky… You're only going to find yourself against a stronger opponent who'll humble you…'
She had managed to clear out the bottom level (which fortunately didn't have many pirates patrolling) and was making her way through the middle corridors, having knocked out a good eighteen or so space pirates so far… Though she felt confident in her skill, she still kept on her toes, just in case…
"Freeze, maggot!"
Around the fifth corner stepped Sefu. As Pan predicted, he was the largest and strongest of all the pirates. She could sense a strong enough power level… he may just be a challenge after all. "Your little rebellion ends here."
The quarter-Saiyan dropped to her feet and into a battle stance. "I already took out your men!" she announced, "Give it up or else you'll be joining them!"
Sefu narrowed his eyes, and his already massive muscles bulged even larger. Pan was feeling nervous, but she stood her ground and refused to budge.
"Well," Sefu murmured, "What are you waiting for? Come at me!"
Pan clenched her fists tighter. 'Here goes!' She blasted off, pulling back her fist and jamming it into Sefu's gut… only to bounce back several feet. Sefu gave a hefty laugh in response. 'Just great!' she cursed in her mind, 'The jerk's not only strong, his body's tough!'
Sefu launched himself at the smaller Saiyan, ready to take her down with a single punch. Though he was fast, Pan was quicker as she used Ki Spritz to dodge each attack. That hardcore training certainly came in handy not just with strength, but speed as well!
Sefu was becoming flustered at not being able to land his attacks. He reared back and clapped his hands together hard and loud. The force of the clap sent a sonic boom into Pan, knocking her backwards and into the wall hard with enough force to leave cracks and a dent.
'I have to be careful, unless the ship gets damaged and we're all space sludge,' Pan thought to herself. The ship was sturdy in itself, but Pan didn't want to take any chances, especially with Yamura and many other innocent lives on board. The only place that they could safely go all out was… 'That's it!'
Pan twisted around and shot off down the metal corridors. She looked behind herself, and as she had hoped, Sefu was giving chase. "You're not escaping THAT easily!" he roared.
Once she approached the door she wanted, she paused briefly to make sure Sefu would see where she was going and entered the room. She rushed up to the control panel, hit the large purple button before opening the door to the holo-deck, which hummed to life. Just in time, Sefu barged through the door and followed Pan, right before the door to the deck would close on him.
"Though you could hide away in here, did you?" he sneered as everything around them grew dark, "Haha. Foolish girl! Now you're stuck with me in this tiny little… uh…" He looked around to notice the area around him had seemed to expand. Although the room was dark, he could still clearly make out the younger warrior, and the strange new environment that seemed to go on forever.
"More like YOU'RE stuck here with ME now!" Pan chimed, "The Holodeck has a special field around it which shifts the area in this room into its own little spatial dimension when activated, so that nothing gets damaged no matter how hard anyone trains. Courtesy of the Freeza Empire."
Sefu froze, his eyes growing wide with fear. "Di… did you say FREEZA Empire?!" he sputtered, "You were part of that?!"
"Nope," Pan smirked, "We just make use of what tech they left behind."
Sefu twisted around and made an attempt to run, but noticed his legs were heavier than he remembered and could only do a slow jog. "Wha..?"
"Oh yeah, did I forget to mention?" Pan grinned, "I can train up to 300g's. What's YOUR gravity level?"
Snarling, Sefu turned once more and charged at Pan, rearing back a fist. But in heavier gravity than he was used to, it was no means a surprise attack. Pan dodged without even using any special techniques, jumped to the air, and landed her ankle into the back of Sefu's neck, which was much softer and sensitive than his gut. The larger alien staggered forward and fell to his knees. Pan then hovered over the downed powerhouse and charged up a massive ki ball. "You may be tough, but let's see how you handle energy attacks!" she shouted as she hurled a star-sized ki ball into Sefu, striking him dead-on.
Once the attack cleared, Pan spotted Sefu on the ground, breathing heavily but unconscious. The quarter-Saiyan brushed her hands loudly. "So THAT's what a real win feels like…"
Pan had grabbed the alien by the scruff on his shirt and dragged him across the ship and back down to the lower levels, where the cargo bay was, and the hostages were still waiting, she presumed. The pirates she had knocked out were still unconscious, fortunately, though Pan only counted eighteen. With Sefu, that would make nineteen, and the little girl said there were twenty…. Or was it about twenty? It was probably just an estimate. Pan figured she got them all.
She approached the door to the cargo bay. Funny, she could've sworn it was open when she left… Maybe the hostages felt safer with it closed. They were going to be happy when she strolled in with their leader down and out!
She pressed the button to open the door. As it slid open…
"Not another step!"
Pan froze in fear. In front of her was the twentieth pirate, who held a blaster gun in front of the frightened hostages. "One wrong move, and I'll end them all at once!"
Pan narrowed her eyes but remained unmoved regardless. "You saw what I did to your buddies," she sneered, "You hurt any of those hostages, I'll do much worse to you!"
"Release Sefu and play nice, and everybody survives!" Sefu's underling shouted, his finger lay harder upon the trigger. The terrified hostages made yelps of fear.
"That's not gonna happen," Pan grumbled as she quickly thought of ways to take this final pirate down without endangering the others.
The underling snapped. "Insolent fool!" he cried, "You just condemned them to death!"
He pulled the trigger.
Pan completely stopped thinking, and just acted. She launched forward, kicking the gun out of the pirate's hand just before it went off, and it missed them completely. In that same second, she brought her fist downward into his skull… and felt a sickening crack as he collapsed on the ground… lifeless.
Pan just stared in shock, breathing heavily at the sight of the space pirate she just killed. 'Wh… what have I done?!'
Destroying already dead enemies that escaped Hell was one thing… She never outright TOOK a life!
She was snapped out of her trance when a small, fuzzy alien wrapped her arms around her waist. "You saved us!" the little girl chimed.
Pan looked down at the girl, trying to gain control of her breathing. An adult fuzzy alien approached. "Are you okay?" she asked in a concerned voice, taking a soft hold of her hand.
"I… I don't know…" Pan stuttered, "I've… never killed anyone before…"
"It was them or us," spoke another alien, the one who had spent years in the army, "You saw how he wanted to kill us. You're a hero."
The group of fuzzy aliens put their hands together and began applauding.
A real applause.
Pan felt her breathing return to normal and smiled. For once, she felt like a true hero… "Thanks you guys," she said, "But we're not safe until these guys are locked up. Let me round them up and stick them in here first."
Pan had the group of former hostages wait in the dining hall as she scooped up all the downed pirates she could find, transferring them to the cargo bay. After counting, and counting again, and then a third time just to be sure, all twenty were inside and slammed the door shut before they started gaining consciousness again.
"Pan?"
Uh oh… Yamura's awake. "What the hell is going on?!" she shouted as she stormed up to the younger Saiyan, "There's dents in the walls on the upper deck. And WHY are there a group of fuzz balls sitting in the Dining Hall?! I nearly killed them until I figured out they were stupidly innocent… But if they had eaten even ONE morsel of our food…!"
Pan remained confident and turned to face her. "Well, Yamura," she stated matter-of-factly, "While you were sleeping off your hangover, the ship got hijacked by a bunch of no-good space pirates." She motioned her thumb at the door, and Yamura took a peek through the window to see a group of panicking space pirates trapped inside, demanding to be let out.
"But yours truly here made quick work of them and rescued the ship," Pan continued, "Sorry about the hostages, though… They were originally kidnapped, but I figured we could just let them hang around with us and drop them off at their home planet. They're harmless."
Yamura snorted in response. "Just keep them out of my way," she snarled and looked back at the pirates. "You took ALL of them out? Even the big one? I see you managed to actually kill one too…"
"Yeah," Pan sighed, "Wasn't my favorite part, but I did what I had to do to save…" She trailed off as she noticed Yamura's hand opening a latch on the wall next to the door, revealing a switch, which she promptly pulled down.
Inside the cargo back, the wall opened up, revealing the dark vacuum of space, which immediately sucked them in. They all screamed in fear and agony as the unforgiving space pulled them into the lifeless vacuum, immediately sucking the life out of them all.
"Waaiiigh!" Pan screamed at the sight, "Wh… what did you do that for?!"
"They're pirates, aren't they?" Yamura responded, "They kidnapped people and stole our ship. They're better off gone."
"But, but, THAT was extreme!" Pan cried, "You didn't have to kill them!"
Yamura tightened her face. "And what would've happened if we let them live?!" she snapped.
"Well, okay they were evil, sure, but… we could've handled them! Maybe scare them into submission!"
"They aren't worth the time, Pan!" Yamura shouted, "You wanted to get stronger, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Strength also means callusing yourself to kill when need be," Yamura explained, "You need to know when to be hard. These pirates are worthless and will just cause more trouble."
"Yamura…" Pan whimpered, "I thought you were better than that…"
"What the hell did you think I was, dumbass?!" Yamura screeched, "I came to your planet fully prepared to kill you and everyone on it. YOU'RE the one that came to me begging me to train you! If you want me to teach you to be strong…" She gave a sneer, "This is the sort of thing you'll need to deal with." And with that, she turned and stormed off down the dark hallway.
Pan watched her leave, still in shock by her actions…
She had to try harder than ever to convince herself she was doing the right thing staying with Yamura.
...
A/N: A LOT of events here were inspired by "Dragon Ball New Beginnings: The Ammit Saga", where Pan went against the Space Pirates (named "The Dondoro" but I already lifted that name). Sefu's name still stands.
Also, we're about 17 chapters in... How about some reviews already? Even if it's that you don't like the story!