Into the Void

Numachi

3- Numachi

After three weeks of steadily flying, the ship had picked up the first Dragon Ball. Trunks had been so relieved when he saw the red blinking indicator that there was a Dragon Ball nearby that he almost teared up.

It had only been three weeks, but it felt so much longer. Pan had been surprisingly pliant. Trunks ignored her, and she ignored him. He honestly couldn't even remember when the last time he spoke to her was. She usually stayed in her bedroom with the things she had hoarded in there from the other rooms. It was slightly aggravating, but Trunks let her be since it kept her out of his way.

The boredom was what was the worse. His mother had stocked the ship with plenty of books, movies, and games, but finding the energy to do any of them was hard.

"I can't believe we're on our first planet already!" Pan told Goku with a grin. "What do you think the planet will be like, Papa? Do you think it'll be easy to get the Dragon Ball?"

"I hope so," Goku said. "It would be really nice if we could not have any problems at all."

Trunks wanted to snort and say that with Pan tagging along, that was unlikely.

With a sigh, Trunks tapped the code, and the bottom bay's door opened up for them. A warm, muggy air hit them instantly, and Trunks felt himself cringing.

The planet they had landed on was called Numachi. It was a swamp-like planet, and most of it was covered in murky water. There was no telling how deep the water was, and Trunks didn't want to find out. Bundles of trees and wet fields surrounded the planet. It had taken Trunks a while to find a good place to land the ship, but thankfully he had found a large stump of an old tree.

Goku was the first to jump out of the ship. Pan followed after him, and Trunks was last as he closed the door to the ship. He didn't want to risk anything on this planet sneaking onto the ship while they were away.

"Which way?" Goku asked Trunks.

He pulled out the Dragon Radar and turned it on. It gave a small beep, and the screen quickly lit up. The red dot was right ahead of them towards the right and about two miles away.

"Right now, straight," he answered.

Pan took off to lead the group. She was jumping from root to root as she laughed. Trunks fought the urge to sigh. He knew that Pan saw this as nothing but one big adventure. He almost wished he could see it as an adventure as well. Maybe I'd make him feel less stressed.

The closer they got to the Dragon Ball, the further into the swamp they went. Thick trees with tall branches towered over them. The trees stood so close together that the roots stuck up from the wet swamp floor and tangled together. Trunks couldn't quite explain it, but there was an eerie feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.

Trunks narrowed his eyes as he glanced around the trees. He usually wasn't the kind of person to be jumpy, but he was at the moment. Maybe it was because it was their first Dragon Ball, and he was a bit nervous.

A sudden hiss sounded from behind Trunks, and he turned quickly. Nothing was there, but he scanned the trees, and his eyes widened at what he saw. He turned back around as he checked the tall branches on the other trees and his mouth fell open slightly.

"Look, Papa!" Pan's laugh echoed across the swamp. "Those bundles of weeds look like Nimbus! I wonder-"

"Pan -" Trunks hissed her name. It was the first time he had talked to her in well over a week, and she turned towards him in surprise. "Shut up."

Pan gasped as her dark eyes widened. She opened her mouth, no doubt to yell.

Trunks walked over towards her and Goku and placed himself in the middle of them. "Look up at the tree branches," he said lowly. "Look at what's hanging off of them."