Son Goku stepped through the portal and onto the other side, his eyes going wide after he did. "Woaaaaah!"
"Move it Kakarot! You're blocking the way," demanded Vegeta,
"Eh? sorry," answered Goku.
Goku floated up and took the room in. It was huge. Currently, they were at one portal of tons in the room. It started on the far ground, then each level was kind of like a rice plateau. It went up then over a bit, leaving enough room for the portal and to walk. On each level, lining the entire room, were portals set a few feet from eachother. However, that changed in certain areas. To the due north, south, east, and west were breaks in the portals where large hallways lead to other areas. The entire room itself was a giant circle with a large space in the middle.
Goku scratched his head. "Hmm, ten levels of portals huh, with lots per level..."
"I count one hundred per section dived by the hallways, so, there's four hundred portals in this room," said Gohan.
"Tsaaa! That's a lot of portals," exclaimed Goku.
He looked around. "Tch, was wondering if Pan would just be sitting out here."
"Really Kakarot? Things are never that simple," said Vegeta.
"Wait here, I wana go check something," said Goku.
"Wait, dad!" said Gohan.
Goku flew down one of the hallways and then stopped, exclaiming at the top of his lungs, "There's another room of portals!"
Shin appeared next to him, grabbed his shoulder, and teleported him back to the group before giving him a stern look. "The Omni-King does not lie, there must countless dimensions. If you go off on your own, you could get lost forever."
Goku nodded. "Yeah, if every room looks the same and leads to another three hallways to more rooms over and over again then I'd get lost and dizzy real quick."
"Only because you have no sense of direction, clown," chided Vegeta.
"No, I agree, we need to track where we've been somehow," said Gohan.
"Anyone got a marker?" asked Videl.
POP
Aa marker appeared in Shins hands. "Yes, here."
Videl took it and wrote on the floor in-front of the portal they'd come out of: HOME
"Maybe we should put a check mark or small description in front of each portal that we go through so that we know we've been there before?" suggested Videl.
Gohan nodded. "Good thinking, and, if we have to go down the hallways into other rooms, we should draw arrows leading back to this room."
Goku rubbed his hands together. "Hee hee, alright then we got a plan and were set to go! Lets find Pan!"
Shin sighed. "I admire his optimism."
"Lets do this one!" said Goku, stepping into the portal right next to theirs."
"Dad! Wait a-," Gohan began.
Goku went through the portal and almost started floating. "Woah, there is... not much gravity..."
He began to cough and gag. There was almost no air here! The others followed him into the portal and suffered similarly before Shin made a bubble barrier around them.
Gohan rubbed his throat. "I don't think this Planet has much a lot of atmosphere."
Goku looked around. "Lota sand and hills and rocks. I don't see any trees, or even grass."
Shin closed his eyes, a blue glow surrounding him. "I'm not detecting anything but basic life microscopic life on this planet, even that is in small amounts."
"You wont find much here, I recognize this type, we were tasked to blow up useless planets like this all the time back in my youth," said Vegeta.
"I hope Pan didn't end up here," murmured Videl.
"I still dunno why she wasn't just outside our portal," said Goku.
Shin rubbed his chin. "Pan was sucked into the portal before it stabilized. It's likely she was thrown into another world before those rooms were even created."
"Who knows, maybe she'll just walk back out the... waaaaah?" Goku began and exclaimed.
He pointed. "Where's the portal?!"
The group whirled around and looked around.
Shin stepped forward and held his hand out. "It should be..."
He winced momentarily as energy appeared to drain from his hand into thin air. Slowly, the portal they had just came out of appeared.
"Why's it hidden like that? It wasn't in our dimension," asked Goku.
"If I had to guess, it's because our portal fed off two Omni-Kings instead of one. It's probably far stronger than normal ones," said Gohan.
"That's to our advantage," said Vegeta, "It means that Pan is most likely stuck in whatever world she dropped in, so were not searching for a moving target."
"Unless she chances upon it," said Shin, "Look, the portal's fading already. It requires a good chunk of ki to keep it open."
"So, lets go back and..." Goku began.
"No dad, we should give a quick pass of the planet first," said Gohan.
"Why?" asked Goku.
Gohan was silent for a moment before answering, "Just... well, just in case she arrived and... suffocated here."
"Oh," said Goku quietly, hoping that wasn't the case.
"I'll go with Videl," said Shin, "The rest of you make your own barriers and split up to look around, meet back here in an hour."
They nodded and started flying in different directions. Goku flew silently over the planet, keep his eyes open, but thankfully finding nothing. He flew back at the end of the hour and linked up with the others.
"Nothin," said Goku, everyone else saying the same.
"So, lets go back and head to the next..." Goku began.
"Wait! What about other worlds? Or other universes in this dimension?" asked Videl.
Gohan closed his eyes. "Videl, you have a point, but, I think we have to hope that she would only be on the planet the portals on. Otherwise, it would take more than a lifetime to search just one universe, and we'd still probably not find her even if she was in it somewhere."
He crossed his arms. "Statistically, I think our best bet is to do a quick sweep of the worlds we enter like we just did. One hour, keep our eyes peeled and our senses on alert."
"We could miss her that way if her ki is suppressed, or shes sleeping or unconscious," said Vegeta.
Gohan went silent again, thinking. "Well..."
"Gohan is right, the sweep is our best bet. We won't be readily suppressing our ki unless we have a reason to. If she's hiding and feels us, she will come out. I'd imagine our presence would wake her up if she's nearby. If she's unconscious, or dead, well...," said Shin.
"She's not dead!" yelled Videl, "I know it, I just... I can feel it."
Shin half-smiled. "I believe mortal's call it, mother's intuition?"
Videl nodded. "Yeah."
"The chances of her being unconscious when we pass through any given world are statistically small, we'll just have to chance it," said Gohan, "The more world's we check, the more chances we have to find her. So let's go."
"What part of bedridden don't you understand?" yelled a man's voice.
Pan gave a start and opened her eyes, finding herself on a very uncomfortable bed with a blanket over her. It took her a moment for her to remember what had happened. The slaughter at that ruined town, the super saiyan, and the Kaio-Ken Warriors.
"I'm fine, save the supplies for someone else," came a weary, vaguely familiar voice.
Pan slowly rolled her head towards the voice, sighting one of the warrior's from before, Aideen, sitting on a bed with a man in a ripped up white doctor's coat standing infront of her.
The doctor grabbed her bruised arm, causing her to yelp. "Really? You call that alright? You got the shit kicked out of you by a super saiyan to the point where that little grab from me of all people hurt. You are lucky to be alive. Now lay down and let me do my job."
Aideen sighed and obeyed. "Alright doc, but, I'd rather be helping the others."
Doc began to clean her wounds with a wet dirty towel and then bandage them. "I know, I know. Hell, I want to be out there checking for survivors. Instead, I gotta be in here looking after you and the defense corps."
Aideen sighed. "How's the corps?"
Doc was silent.
Aideen braced herself. "Just hit me doc."
"We lost almost every one guarding the outer towns, the only ones left are those who were guarding Haven," said Doc quietly.
"Son of a bitch!" yelled Aideen in a rage.
Pan closed her eyes and looked away. She didn't understand how that portal she had been sucked into dumped her outside that town, but she knew now more than before that she had been far to late to help. She hadn't even felt fighting in the town, only arriving after mostly everyone was dead. She felt ashamed, Grandpa would have been there quicker, could have saved those two kid's mother.
"Alright, off with the shirt and let me get your ribs," said the doc.
There was a ruffling of clothes, an uncomfortable grumble and the sound of something like tape being wrapped around something. "Alright, put it back on and just lay down for awhile. If you can sleep, good, if not, just lay there for a bit."
"Hey doc, before you go, hows the girl?" asked Aideen.
"Well, our little mystery fighter fared better than you did. Few bruises here and there, especially her stomach area. She's got a thick head, was a nasty bruise on her forehead, doesn't appear to be a fracture or any skull damage though," replied Doc before leaving.
Pan opened her eyes and felt for her stomach. She only winced a little, it didn't feel that bad. She'd had rougher during sparring, well, aside from the spurting blood out the mouth part. THAT had hurt. She reached a hand up and massaged her forehead. It was a little tender, otherwise, she agreed with the guy. She had already recovered well enough in her own opinion, but, decided not to make a ruckus. She didn't want the doctor yelling at her like he did with Aideen.
She stretched out her senses, trying to gain a feel for the area. She could detect maybe a few hundred people scattered around a large, but somewhat nearby area. Outside of that, she could detect a cluster of of small powers, a single medium one, and a larger one, flying back and forth in the distance. She figured the last two were the other two Kaio-Ken warriors.
Otherwise though...
"Hmm," she murmured.
She couldn't feel any other ki signatures the farther and farther out she tried to feel. It made her feel a bit nervous, where were all the other people? Pan didn't know exactly where she was, but, it wasn't normal not to feel people, even when she sometimes flew over deserts and wildernesses. She thought hard, wondering where in the world was she...
Wait a second...
Grandpa's wish! She was in a different dimension! She was in another Omni-King's universe. She frowned, feeling uncertain in more ways that one. She was in another dimension, and she didn't know how she'd be able to get home. There was also the Saiyans. At home, her and Vegeta's family were the only Saiyans. It wasn't the case here. Even so, why were the Saiyans murdering people? They acted nothing like Grandpa or Vegeta. Pan frowned, brooding for awhile. There was something that the teenager Odianna had said, about 'leaving super saiyans' to her. Did that mean this wasn't the first time? Remembering the children's dulled reactions, did this happen a lot? Pan continued to brood for awhile, not liking the train of thought she was on, not at all.
"Zzzzzzz," came a snore.
Pan broke her thoughts, glanced over and smirked. That lady was one loud snorer. At least she was getting some sleep. Pan's eyes furrowed as she took in the lady, and then the room she was in. She had noted it before, but the lady's clothes were ragged and ripped up. The room was run down and somewhat demolished. She looked at the 'bed' the lady was sleeping on. It was an upside down tub with some metal burned onto it to make a flat surface with a large metal sheet ontop of it. There were a few ripped up blankets between the lady and the sheet. Pan looked at her own bed, it was pretty much the same. There was one other 'bed' of crude construction in the room, aside from these two. In the corner, there was a large bucket of dirty water, and a clothes line of bloody towels. The floor was covered in dust, with many footsteps leading to and from. The ceiling looked cracked and flaky. Was this supposed to be a hospital? This looked like a dump.
She closed her eyes and felt around again. She identified the doctor in a nearby room with a lot of weak, stationary ki signatures. Maybe that was another part of this 'hospital'. Though, why separate the rooms? She thought briefly, there were three beds, and... three Kiao-Ken warriors, maybe this was where those three came specifically when they were hurt. She gave a start when there was a large burst of ki in the distance followed by a brief rattle and tremble in the ground.
"Mmmm, feels like she found another one," murmured Aideen before giving a quiet chuckle, "She should keep it down, some people are trying to sleep here.
Pan glanced over at the lady, seeing her rub her forehead and sigh. The lady glanced over at her, and their eyes met.
"So, up at last I see," said Aideen.
Pan nodded. "Y-yeah."
Aideen smiled faintly. "You got guts for trying to take on a group of saiyans, and then a super saiyan. I'll give you credit for that, though, remembering the first time I did that, Odianna is gonna chew you out for it."
"I couldn't just let those two kids, or you, die," defended Pan.
"I ain't accusin you of anything, I'm thankful," said Aideen, "Just warning you of whats headin your way when she gets back."
"That bad?" asked Pan, sitting up.
"Heh, you have no idea," murmured Aideen.
Aideen gave her a glance over, her gaze resting on Pan's gi, in particular, the turtle hermit symbol. "Hmm."
"What?" asked Pan.
"Well, eh, nevermind. Odianna's got a bunch of questions for you when she gets back, I won't make you repeat yourself," said Aideen, "Can you raise and lower your Ki in three quick bursts? I'd do it myself, but I feel like crap."
"Okay, but why?" asked Pan.
"I told her I'd do it when you woke up," answered Aideen, "Lets her know to head back."
Pan nodded, took in a breath, and tapped fully into her ki. She was a bit surprised, despite the beating she had taken, she felt stronger than she had before. Weird. Her eyebrows furrowed, something about this was familiar, something about Saiyan's and recovery that Grandpa had once mentioned. She shook her head, banished the thought, and raised and lowered her ki three times. The two larger power levels Pan felt immediately stopped and started flying towards the hospital.
She looked at Aideen. "I never got a chance to thank you though, for saving me from the first four people."
Aideen shook her head. "I don't think I'd call Saiyans 'people', but, don't mention it. My duty as third in the corps."
"Third in the corps?" asked Pan.
Aideen raised her eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"What does that mean?" asked Pan.
Aideen winced, trying, and barely succeeding in sitting up. "Umm, third in charge of the defense corpse?"
"Oh, so, whose the second and first? That girl and the guy?" asked Pan.
Aideen gave her an incredulous look. "The hell? You... have no idea who we are, do you? What rock have you been living under?"
Pan went quiet, not sure what to say, and merely bowed her head. She had no idea how she was going to explain herself. She didn't really like lying, and these people had saved her life. Not to mention, Aideen already knew something was off.
Odianna and Aneurin walked in a minute later, the former glared at Aideen, "You should be sleeping, not sitting."
Aideen waved a hand at her. "Thanks 'mom'."
Odianna ignored her and started making for Pan's bed before Aideen spoke. "That girl has no clue who we are."
Odianna stopped momentarily, a confused look on her face, before she banished it and approached Pan. "Your name, now."
"Son Pan," Pan answered.
"A surname, that's not common anymore," said Aneurin.
"Where are you from?" demanded Odianna.
"Mount Paozu," Pan answered.
"Mount what?" asked Odianna.
"Paozu," Pan repeated.
Odianna glanced back at Aneurin. "Never heard of it."
"Me either," he replied.
Odianna began to tap her feet, a bit of anger seeping into her voice. "Your gi, who is the turtle hermit?"
"Master Roshi, my grandpa's teacher," Pan replied, she had a feeling this was going to be rough.
Again Odianna exchanged glances with Aneurin. "Never heard of him, how old is he?"
"Umm, I think he's over a hundred, I don't really know," answered Pan.
"I'm going to say this once, and only once, do not lie to me," warned Odianna.
"I'm not lying!" retorted Pan, crossing her arms.
"Alright then, whose your grandfather? Or the names of any other students of this 'Master Roshi'?" asked Odianna.
"My Grandpa is Son Goku. There's Krillien, Yamcha, and Tien-Shinhan also studied a little under him, I think. Don't really know anyone else," replied Pan.
"I've never heard of any of those names," replied Odianna, her voice growing thin, and a little dangerous, "I've been all over Terra, well before the second and third invasions, and I've never met or heard of a turtle hermit school."
"Terra? Invasions?" asked Pan.
Odianna looked at her, a frown on her face. "..."
"Like I said, it's like she doesn't know anything. I was gonna suggest amnesia, but, she clearly knows stuff," said Aideen, "Just the wrong stuff."
Pan was starting to get a little frustrated before an idea hit her. "Look, can we skip this for now? If this 'Terra' is anything like Earth, do you guys have dragon balls to revive..."
Pan gave a small scream when Odianna grabbed her by her throat and slammed her into the bed. "How do you know about the dragon balls?!"
Aneurin grabbed her shoulder. "Calm down, now."
Slowly, Odianna let go, and gave Pan a death glare. "You have one chance to explain yourself, only one."
Pan trembled, feeling scared of that teenage girl. "W-well, m-my grandpa h-had..."
"Take a breath and calm yourself," ordered Aneurin.
Pan blinked a few times, took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. "My grandpa had just won the second of all-chans, er, the Omni-Kings, universal tournaments..."
"Omni-Kings?"asked Aideen.
"Universal tournament?" asked Aneurin.
"You two, shut up," said Odianna.
Pan was really starting to not like Odianna. She was mean, physical, and rude to everyone around her. What, just because she was stronger than the other two she thought she could boss them around and act like that? Pan wiggled her nose in annoyance before sighing. Whatever...
"For winning the tournament, the Omni-Kings was going to give Grandpa a wish, but, decided to wait because he was gonna be late for a meeting with other Omni-Kings. We didn't know it at the time there were other Omni-Kings who each had their own dimension. Our Omni-Kings said that it wasn't possible to go to other dimensions, but, once we got back to Earth, Grandpa was Grandpa and ended up wishing to for it to be possible to do so. A portal appeared and I got sucked into it and ended up outside a town being attacked by Saiyans," explained Pan.
The three of them stared at her, blank expressions on their faces.
Aneurin was the first to speak, rather than accuse her of lying as Pan thought he would, he asked, "And the first thing you do after coming out of that portal is throw yourself into a fight on behalf of people you don't even know?"
There was a peculiar way the man was looking at her, as if he was waiting for something. "Yes? I thought someone might have needed help."
He half-smiled. "Reminds me of someone we used to know."
Odianna shot him a warning look before returning her gaze to Pan. She held deliberate, forceful eye-contact, and crossed her arms, but said nothing.
"So... am I the only one who thinks that story is full of shit?" asked Aideen with scorn, "For one, the hell is an Omni-King?"
"God of everything, above the kais, grand kai, supreme kais, gods of destruction, and their angel attendants, " said Pan.
"I've never heard of the last three, but, we all know Prince Kai of the north," murmured Aneurin, "And no one outside of us three know of the Grand Kai."
"Aneurin, give the prince a call," murmured Odianna.
"Hey! Prince Kai!" shouted Aneurin towards the ceiling.
Nothing happened.
Aneurin grumbled. "Regal bastard never answers."
"Actually, good sir, I always hold an ear in Terra's direction, I was merely enjoying a sip of wine," a voice spoke into their heads.
"Huh, he doesn't sound anything like king kai, does he tell corny jokes?" asked Pan.
"Corny jokes? Who is this young miss who would accuse me of such a disdainful pastime? I, young miss, am a gentlemen of the highest quality," replied Prince Kai.
"Hmm, somehow, I like king kai more," muttered Pan, "This one talks to much."
"Yeah he does," muttered Aneurin.
"What what what?" exclaimed Prince Kai.
"Enough," said Odianna, a vein bulging in annoyance on her forehead, "Prince Kai, do you know of a supreme kai? or a God of destruction?"
There was a cough, as if someone was choking on something, following by a spilling sound and the shattering of glass. "T-t-the g-g-od of d-d-estruction? Why do you ask?!"
"To confirm something," replied Odianna, "Though, I'm curious why you've never mentioned a god of destruction before. Sounds strong enough to take on the Saiyans."
"Erm... invoking the god of destruction would be as likely to get your own planet destroyed as it t'would be your foes," replied Prince Kai, "It is a most unwise idea."
"Do you know what a dimension is?" asked Odianna.
"Erm... no, not outside of mathematics and sciences," replied Prince Kai.
Odianna glanced at Pan. "Explain, now."
"Well, we have worlds inside galaxies inside universes. There's multiple universes, all ruled over by one Omni-King, twelve universes and two Omni-Kings in my case. We didn't get that much of an explanation, but, as I understand it, there's more than one cluster of universes, which are separate from one another and ruled over by a different Omni-Kings," explained Pan.
"The concept of the universes is true, but, I've never heard of the term dimensions used this way. Not only that, to think, there is more than one Omni-King is something I could not fathom," whispered Prince Kai.
"So, your saying there might be truth in what she's saying then? Can you question this 'Omni-King' about it?" demanded Odianna.
"Q-q-q-uestion the Omni-king?! Are you attempting to get me killed?! Absolutely not!" replied Prince Kai.
"Useless old coot," said Odianna, "And speaking of which, Prince Kai..."
"WHERE WAS OUR WARNING ON THAT LAST SAIYAN ATTACK?" yelled Odianna.
"W-w-ell... we gods aren't supposed to interfere in mortal affairs to begin with...," stammered Prince Kai.
"Don't you give me that crap," said Odianna, "You probably weren't even paying attention!"
There was nothing but silence.
Odianna slowly shook her head. "Don't know why I bother, humans can only count on humans. Our own damn fault for getting complacent, been far to long since the last attack."
Odianna settled her gaze back on Pan. "So, from another dimension. You said... Earth?"
Pan nodded.
"So, were really believing this then?" said Aideen, starting to stand up, "I don't..."
She winced and fell to a knee, "Tss..."
"Seriously, lay down in the damn bed. You are already going to be out of commission for a few weeks, don't make it longer," said Odianna.
Aideen slowly stood up, but didn't lay back down. "I'll walk it off."
"Do you guys have sensu beans?" asked Pan.
Odianna gave her a look of surprise before frowning. "Not anymore, we lost them when Master Papaya died."
"Oh, I'm sorry. This Master Papaya, was he a fat white cat? He sounds like Master Korin," asked Pan.
"'She' was a thin black cat actually," replied Odianna, her voice growing soft for a moment.
"Huh, our worlds seem really similar," said Pan.
She thought for a moment. She had been told universe six was the mirror to their own universe seven. Maybe this dimension was a mirror to their own dimension?
"Since you kind of flipped out earlier about it, you guys have dragon balls?" confirmed Pan.
"Not for the last twenty years since the guardian was murdered," said Odianna angrily.
Pan bowed her head. "Oh."
There was no way to bring the people who had died back. The weight of her failure to help those people in the town began to feel crushing. She had let them die...
"I assume your family will come looking for you at some point," said Odianna dismissively, before turning around.
"You may stay here in Haven until then, but you will have to earn your keep scavenging or working the fields...," began Odianna.
"I want to help fight!" interrupted Pan.
Odianna stopped before turning, a frown on her face. "..."
"Crazy story or not, the girl is strong. If we teach her the Kiao-Ken, she'll be a forced to be reckoned with," said Aideen.
"Is there a point? She will be leaving at some point, and regardless of that, we should not be forcing someone from another world to fight our battles," said Aneurin.
"I want to fight," repeated Pan, "My Grandpa and his friends have always helped out the people of the Earth. It wouldn't be right for me to not help out the people of Terra."
Odianna walked back over and stood in front of Pan. "I don't know what kind of training you've had up to this point, but if we train you, there will be no coddling."
"That's fine," said Pan.
"If an attack comes, you will be expected to fight," continued Odianna, "Except against super saiyans, speaking of which..."
Odianna slapped the back of Pan's head. "What were you thinking trying to take a super saiyan on?! Were you trying to commit suicide?"
"Owww," said Pan, rubbing her head, "I was TRYING to save miss Aideen's life!"
"Pfff, miss," said Aideen, cracking up a bit.
Odianna turned and started to the door. "Well? Let's go."
Pan got off the bed, fell in behind Aideen and Aneurin, and left the hospital.