“Are you okay, Mary Sue?” Pan asked, pulling her friend from the rubble. The entire half of the building had collapsed on them, burying them alive. While it had caused no lasting damage, it wasn’t an experience Pan was eager to repeat. Thankfully, since everyone else was out having lunch, only Mary Sue and Pan had been present in the wing.
After a quick search of her person, Mary Sue nodded. “Everything seems fine. What the heck happened? What was that power?”
“I don’t know,” Pan frowned, sensing the odd ki spike even higher. “Is Grandpas fighting it?” And she also sensed Aunt Bra somewhere in the middle of the conflict, reckless as always. “Let’s go.”
“Woah!” Suddenly, Pan found herself weightless, flailing around in the air. Mary Sue took the sudden lack of gravity in better stride, floating with a dancer's grace.
“What is Grandpas thinking?” The power was unreal. Pan had never sensed such ki from her grandfathers before, and it risked tearing everything apart with its sheer mass. Pan didn’t even realize that was possible.
While spinning like a top in midair, Mary Sue tapped her chin. “Reckless. They should have taken this elsewhere.” Unlike everyone else, who seemed on the verge of blind panic, her friend seemed unfazed. “He’s needlessly scaring people.” She said, her tone disapproving.
“That’s what you’re worried about?!” With a thud, Pan flopped to the ground as gravity righted itself. Mary Sue landed with more grace, landing with a gentle plop.
“Ladies and Gentlemen! The artificial gravity has been increased for you to stay on the ground. Please hang on to something. Sorry for the inconvenience,” the announcer said.
A roar resonated through the arena as her grandfathers unleashed a ki attack with a power beyond Pan had ever sensed. The light was blinding, making Pan flinch. If she still possessed normal eyes, she’d see spots for days.
“It’s over,” Mary Sue said.
“It’s been 30 seconds that Broly has been away from eyesight. Vegito from Universe 16 wins the fight,” the announcer said.
“Glad they have their priorities straight.” Would they have allowed the rampaging Broly to fight again if he’d won?
“The Vargas sure knows how to throw a party, huh?” Mary Sue said. “We better get back.”
“Okay.”
The arena was a disaster zone as they climbed over rubble and fallen audience members. No one seemed too injured. The Namekians were quick to heal the odd bruise and bump. Mary Sue helped any audience member who needed help, ensuring they were okay.
“Thanks, young lady. My hip isn’t what it used to be,” a grandma of a purple-skinned species said as they helped her stand.
“Medic!” Pan yelled, waving at the nearest healer. In moments, a young, green-skinned cousin of Uncle Piccolo appeared.
“Do you need assistance? I am a skilled healer. Tell me where you are…” The Namek froze as he realized who he was speaking to. The mood turned awkward as he had trouble finding the right words.
“I’m fine. It’s this older lady that needs help.” Pan pointed towards the person in question.
“Oh, right.” The Namek said, relieved he wouldn’t have to deal with the strange zombie girl. Pan did her best to ignore this.
“Thank you so much, young lady,” the grandma said, pinching Pan’s cheeks. “You are a dear. Would you like some hard candy as a ‘Thank You’ treat?”
Pan tried her best to keep her expression neutral. “Sure. I’d love to have them.” Maybe her uncles would enjoy them in her place.
“You, young man?” The woman said to her healer.
“I don’t actually…” But Mary Sue jabbed him in the ribs, reminding him to have some manners. “Sure. Thank you.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Mary Sue said, taking the candy with relish. She tore away the wrapper and plopped it in her mouth, a gentle smile tugging at her lips. “Thanks, grandma. It brings back happy memories of my own dear grandmother.” Her smile turned melancholic. “She raised me after my father passed in the war. I’m afraid I caused her no end of grief back then. I was quite the rapscallion.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, dear,” the older woman patted Mary Sue’s hand. “I’m sure she was proud to have a beautiful and dutiful granddaughter like you.”
Huh? Hadn’t Mary Sue said an abusive mercenary father raised her? No, it made sense. Her mercenary father died in a war, then she moved in with her grandmother. Yet, she hadn’t gotten that impression when Mary Sue had first explained her past. Pan shook her head, laughing at herself for overthinking such a silly thing.
After helping some more people get the care they needed, they finally arrived back at Pan’s group. She frowned as she caught everyone’s pensive expressions. “What’s wrong? Is Broly not defeated?”
“Where have you been?” Aunt Bra said, releasing a derisive snort. She kept a finger to her forehead, scanning for something.
“Yeah, you missed all the action,” Goten said with better grace. He blushed as he spotted the girl who’d followed her. Her uncle opened his mouth to say something, but words failed him for some reason.
“Nowhere important.” Pan glanced around, frowning as she failed to find her grandfathers. “Where’s grandpas?”
“We don’t know,” Uncle Piccolo replied, worry etched into his usually stoic face. “He went after Buu.”
“Oh.” That didn’t sound good. Buu was an evil beyond evil in her father’s old stories. He was a being that existed only to destroy, killing without conscience. Worse yet, this Buu won in his native universe!
“Found him.” her father extended a hand to his daughter and niece.
“Good luck,” Mary Sue said.
“You’re not coming?” Pan asked.
“No, there’s still much to clean up after Broly’s attack. I’m staying to help anyone that needs it,” her friend replied.
“S-so noble!” Goten said. For some reason, a sob escaped his mouth, tears dripping onto the grass beneath them.
“She’s so selfish! We must help her! Sacrifice our lives if we must in this noble goal!” Trunks added.
“K-kay.” What the heck was up with them? They hadn’t just fallen head over heels for Mary Sue. They were worshiping her. Mary Sue was kind and pretty, but wasn’t this overdoing it? With no time to spare to consider this oddity, her father teleported them to the battle scene.
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Pan gasped at countless Buu heads that spread across the endless expanse of space like demonic seeds, each mouth grinning a malevolent smile.
“Our father is asking for help. It’s not like him,” her aunt said. Pan gasped at her grandfathers’ appearance. He was hurt! Impossible! Nothing could hurt him!
“So, the cavalry has arrived,” Prime Buu said, his smile widening as he spotted Pan.
“I won’t let you hurt grandpas!” Pan said, energy gathering in a palm as she prepared to fight. She blanched as the evil genie directed his full attention toward her.
“Ah, the one who’s caused so much controversy lately,” Buu said, amused. “A living contradiction, neither alive nor truly dead. A monster, but with a caring heart. How fascinating! Save your grandfather if you can!”
Pan gasped as a fist flew at her with astonishing speed. Only by a hair was she able to block it. But her troubles had only started. Pan grunted as a leg struck the back of her head, making her go into a wild tumble in space. Her aunt and grandfathers were not having a better time either, assaulted on all sides by Buu heads.
“Darn it,” Pan grunted as a kick hard enough to rattle bones drove into her chest. If she still needed to breathe, the blow would’ve knocked the air from her lungs. She retaliated with a punch, but Buu slipped aside with ease.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Buu taunted. “Surely the monster girl can do better than that.”
“You!” Energy gathered in her palm, and Pan unleashed her fury at her opponent. Its sheer might caught Buu off guard, disintegrating a hearty chunk of his torso. But the monster only smirked as his body reformed, rendering her attack pointless. Her grandfathers and aunt were in trouble, weakening as their limited air supply dwindled. But both refused to give up, not wanting to surrender Broly’s body to Buu.
Temper flaring, Bra exploded with power as she turned Super Saiyan. Half of Buu heads exploded into dust as she unleashed a mighty ki blast into him. Wasn’t that grandfathers' technique? Any Buu heads unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire exploded as they met her wrath. Yet, it wasn’t enough. Buu only reformed again, and Bra’s last-ditch attempt caused her precious air. Pan’s family faltered as the demand for air became impossible to ignore. They each lost Super Saiyan as the pressures against their bodies became taxing.
Buu only taunted them, laughing at their pitiful attempt to kill all of him. But someone in their group didn’t need to breathe.
“Get going! I’ll handle this,” Pan said, taking a protective stance before her grandfathers and aunt.
“Ah, a gallant final stand! How amusing!” Buu said, engaging Pan in full. She howled as Buu delivered a punishing blow to the chest.
“Stay still!” But each of Pan’s punches missed the mark, it was like fighting the wind. She released a scattershot of ki blasts, but her opponent only slapped them aside. Her skull rattled as Buu jabbed her hard in the face, her teeth grinding together hard enough to chip her teeth.
This isn’t working! Pan looked back, dismayed to still find her family in space. Were they crazy? They couldn’t afford to linger any longer. Panic made her undead heart beat a mile a minute. Buu noticed her hesitation and divined her reasoning.
“Very well. If they’re going to be a distraction, I should get rid of them.” With a gesture of his hand, her family vanished. It left only Buu, Pan, and the unconscious Broly. He smirked when he caught Pan’s expression.
“Don’t worry, I only sent them back. Now you can focus 100 percent on stopping me,” Buu said, malevolence entering his voice. Pan jolted in annoyance as a Buu head struck her from behind as she attempted to fight off Buu’s attacks. They continued to pester her, inflaming her temper.
“That’s it!” Golden light exploded from Pan’s body as she went Super Saiyan. Still weak from her fight with Bojack, she’d held back. But she couldn’t afford any half-measures with the stakes so high.
Pan roared and exploded with energy. The blast caught Buu by surprise, reducing him to half of a torso. Hundreds of Buu heads unfortunate enough to get caught in the explosion of ki evaporated. Pan channeled her fury and pain and all the terror she felt when she’d become a zombie and focused it into the most destructive ki blast she’d ever thrown.
“Kamehameha!” She didn’t throw it in a straight line; instead, she created a path of destruction as it swept across everything within reach. When the dust cleared, she panted, her ki exhausted. She’d used more than she intended. While her zombie body was immune to exhaustion, Pan felt drained and worn out. Without ki, her body seemed leaden. Heck, it was a struggle to keep her eyes open. Was her undead body powered by her ki? Was that keeping her alive? She gasped in fright as Buu reformed before her eyes. Impossible! She'd reduced him to dust!
“Impressive. If I’d been more careless, you might have obliterated me. Lucky I kept pieces of my body distant, just in case,” Buu said, his smile self-satisfied. He frowned when he realized Broly wasn’t anywhere in sight.
“And the prize got away from me. They must have returned Broly to his home universe when I was distracted.” But Buu only shrugged, not broken up about it. While her brain was foggy, Pan broke into a blind panic as the monster got into her face. Oh crap, she was dead.
But, much to Pan’s surprise, Buu only beamed at her. “Impressive for someone so young. You possess your father’s inner fury. But it’s untrained, unfocused. Still, who knows? You might get far in this tournament, maybe even face me in a future match.” That was all Pan heard before darkness enveloped her.
---
“What fun! Already, spider webs are spreading across the fabric of fate!” The voice laughed in delight. It echoed in Pan’s head, full of sadist mirth.
Pan gasped as a twisted reflection of her face appeared, full of cruel humor. The doppelgänger smiled, showing endless rows of jagged teeth. “How much more havoc will you cause, I wonder? I can’t wait!” The voice broke into mocking, delighted laughter.
---
“Huh?” Pan jerked awake, blinking in confusion. Above her stood the concerned face of her father.
“Thank goodness,” her father grabbed his heart, sighing in relief. “I was so scared you wouldn’t wake up.”
“Pan! I was so scared!” Mary Sue said, hugging her tight.
“Hey now, it’s all right,” Pan replied, patting the back of her sobbing friend.
“I told you she would. Would I lie?” A familiar voice said. Her father shot the speaker a venomous glare.
“Buu?” Pan said, surprised. When she’d fallen unconscious, she’d been certain the evil djinn would destroy her in her sleep.
“How little you think of me!” Buu said in mock injury, holding his heart. “You wound me.”
“You’ve proven your point, Buu. Get lost,” her grandfathers said, a growl entering his voice.
“Some gratitude for saving your granddaughter from getting lost in the deep reaches of space!” Buu said, lamenting their ingratitude.
“She was there because of you!” her father snapped.
“What happened?” Pan’s mind was fuzzy, her odd dream already fading away.
“After we teleported back here. That thing teleported here with you in tow, unconscious and unmoving. We were certain he’d killed you.” Her aunt replied.
“Why?” Pan asked, confused. Wasn’t Buu’s goal to destroy all existence or something? But Buu only gave an enigmatic smile, refusing to answer. What was with this guy?
“The next match is about to begin,” the announcer said, bringing a stretching halt to their conversation. “Two members of Universe 2 are called for this match: Arale from Universe 2 and Mary Sue of Universe 2!”
Then, bizarrely, the announcer mentioned a long list of facts about Mary Sue that Pan was almost certain completely contradicted things she’d told Pan about her past.
“Okay,” Pan said, somewhat confounded, wondering how those random, contradictory attributes could be a reality. For example, Pan highly doubted that Mary Sue was a Saiyan or the secret daughter of anyone she knew. Worse was when her uncles started fawning over her, needlessly worrying about her safety.
“Please be safe, my love,” Trunks said. “If anything were to happen to you, I couldn’t live with myself!”
“I swear if anything happens to you, I’ll dedicate my life to avenging you against this Arale!” Goten said, naming the other contestant’s name with disdain. Other combatants named their devotions to her, even the barbaric Kakarot from Universe 13.
“Am I missing something here?” Pan asked.
In response, Mary Sue released a deep, forlorn sigh. “Just ignore them, I usually do. I’m more worried about you, Pan. Are you going to be okay?”
“Um,” Pan tested a limb. Despite the usual dullness of her senses, she seemed otherwise fine. “I think so.”
“That’s a relief at least.” Mary Sue sent Buu a scornful glare. “Buu, I don’t know what you’re up to, but I’m putting a stop to it, mark my words.”
“Hey, I have done nothing warranting this abuse!” Buu spread out his hands, all innocence.
“Now that’s another interesting one,” Her grandfathers said, watching the girl enter the ring. He furrowed his brow. “Odd. She feels like an old, dear friend, yet I’m almost certain we’ve never met."
“Did you see the knockers on that girl?” Goten whispered. He made a crude, exaggerated gesture with his hands to demonstrate the object of his affection’s bust size. To this, Trunk only rolled his eyes.
“...” Boys. Pan could only sigh.
“So this is my opponent,” Mary Sue said with uncharacteristic seriousness. “Unbelievable. But I can’t afford to lose! My brother is counting on me to wish him back from the dead!”
“So noble!” Trunk said, touched. Tears threatened to leak from his eyes.
“Huh?” Since when did Mary Sue have a brother? It didn’t gel with what she’d told Pan earlier.
Her opponent, a purple-haired girl with a baseball cap and blue overalls, watched Mary Sue curiously. Neither combatant moved. Seconds stretched on, and neither did anything.
“Uh, Mary Sue?”
“Incredible,” Mary Sue suddenly announced, her tone dire. “I’ve never seen such a stance. It’s perfect! I see no opening! To think this would be my first opponent!”
“Uh?” As far as Pan could tell, the young girl was just standing there. She hadn’t a clue what her friend was talking about.
“Ho?” Arale said, curious. She took a step, only for Mary Sue to mirror the movement and take an equal step backward. Minutes passed as this pattern continued. Arale moved forward, only for Mary Sue to keep her distance. Neither combatant seemed ready to make the first move.
“Come on, do something already!” her grandfathers said in obvious impatience.
But Mary Sue only gritted her teeth like she was in a life-and-death struggle like the slightest mistake would equal her doom. Arale only continued the dance of stalemate, amused by it. More minutes passed with neither contestant doing anything. The crowd entered a heightened state of tension, waiting for violence to break out.
“This must be an elaborate chess match,” a crowd member said. “Thousands upon thousands of moves and counter-moves must be flashing through their heads!”
“Okay, I’m bored now!” Arale jumped from the stage and dashed off, her arms spread out like a bird.
Pan and the other onlookers fell over, a leg sticking up in the air. After a moment, Pan pulled herself to her feet. “Really?”
“Are you serious?” her grandfathers said, an eye twitching in agitation.
“Uh, I guess Arale from Universe 2 has surrendered, making Mary Sue from Universe 2 the victor!”
Mary Sue released a tense breath, grabbing at her chest. “What an intense match. I’ve just survived the most dangerous combatant in the tournament! I was lucky to escape with my life!”
“I-if you say so,” Pan replied. What the heck was that?
---
Author's Note:
Next time: Son Bra shows her sensitive side. And Pan's restless night of terror! Bojack's revenge!