Then Pan was a Zombie

Chapter 7

"Not good." Pan's mind raced as she considered her next move. Blackness continued to entrench in her vision, threatening to consume her.

Was this it? Had she hit her limit? Should she surrender like her Universe 18 counterpart? But she scowled, hating the idea. After going so far, quitting seemed impossible. She'd entered this tournament to show she could match both her famous grandfathers and her aunt Bra. Just thinking about her aunt made her undead blood boil. If she quit now, Bra would never let Pan live this down.

"Oh?" Cell said, amused as he caught her expression. "Not finished yet?"

"No!" Pan's ki flared like a torch, ready to ignite everything around her. Cell was caught off guard by the blow she struck to his chest, but snatched the next blow with his fist.

"Better." Cell kneed her in the chest, driving her back. Pan only struck harder, determined not to lose without a fight, but it proved all for naught. Pan flinched as her next blow barely did anything to her opponent.

"So it's over then. Pity." A knee slammed into her stomach, the arena exploding as Pan crashed into it. Energy lanced down at her, explosions blasting everything to dust. Pan's consciousness fell into a black void, consumed like a black hole.

---

"Is that truly everything you had? So disappointing!" a familiar voice said, rolling her eyes.

"Huh?" Where was she? What had brought her here? Within the black void, a hazy, indistinct figure grinned at her. Pan's mind was a thick fog that refused to clear. Even recalling her own name was difficult.

"You can't lose yet! The tournament will get dull otherwise!" the girl said with a pout.

"Be my little monster." A shark-like grin extended across the familiar girl's face, stretching far past her eyes. "Tap that darkness. Let your Saiyan blood dance! Bloodshed, murder, death, destruction! Make the multiverse bleed!" The girl spun around in a circle, then cackled. "Such fun!"

"And with all that pesky light-side ki gone, the darkness can flow like a broken dam, ready to drown everything in its path!"

No, that wasn't right. Pan didn't want this! But she was powerless to resist as darkness drove into her mouth, consuming her entire being.

---

"That's it? Sad," Son Bra said with a contemptuous snort. What was her niece thinking? She didn't even attempt to destroy Cell's core. Didn't she pay attention to her father's stories? Pan collapsed, hair blackening as she dropped from Super Saiyan.

Much to her disappointment, Cell didn't explode the zombie freak into tiny pieces. Instead, he allowed his opponent to lie half-covered in the rubble to get counted out. If she were fighting, she'd destroy the monster girl's every atom as a precaution. But few had Son Bra's sense.

"Water," she barked at the nearest Vargas, hoping it would temper her throbbing head. When she'd awoken from her drunken stupor, she'd felt like death. Bra swore she'd never drink again!

"I'm not some servant to be barked around!" the bird-like alien complained, but a death glare from Bra sent him scrambling to comply with her order. She smiled, pleased with herself.

"Pan is down for the count. To avoid what happened last time, we'll give a ten-count before declaring the winner," the announcer said. A waste of time, in Bra's opinion. The monster girl was finished.

"Ten."

Cell stood still as a statue, arms crossed, patiently waiting for his victory to be declared.

"Get up!" Pan of Universe 18 said in useless encouragement. To Bra's annoyance, all of Universe 18 threw in their support. Why? They barely knew the girl!