Hope!

Chapter Two

"Good morning, listeners! It's April 10th, Age 786 and the time is 8-o'clock, which means that this is your daily news! Three weeks ago, West City completed its reconstruction on the Capsule Corporation Manufacturing Facilities after more than 14 months of hard work. Bulma Brief's decision to focus on rebuilding her family's business over helping to rebuild homes was initially met with considerable controversy, but West City's favorite daughter only had this to say:

'The faster this company is rebuilt, the faster we can focus on fixing this planet.'

"While her words were met with skepticism, recent statistics have shown that, since Capsule Corp.'s resurrection, West City has seen increases in employment, availability of capsule-homes, and construction-oriented capsule-drones, as well as dramatic boosts to both city morale and reconstruction progress. World-wide effects remain to be seen, but I'd say that we're off to a great start! In other news…"

Pan's interest in the affairs of the world was interrupted when she heard the apartment's door creak open. Excitedly, she jumped from her little chair and ran to see her mother return home. It still felt strange to think of it like that. This was their third home in as many months. She and her mother have lived practically all over Orange Star City at that point, Pan believed.

Of all the homes, she liked this one the least. It was small, dark, and it smelled something like old socks. There were only two rooms – the bedroom, and the living room. The kitchen was just an old refrigerator and a microwave oven in the corner of the living room, and the bathroom was just a toilet and a sink. Still, she had her mom. That was enough. On the bright side, they were moving again very soon. Her tail swayed from side to side as she stood in the narrow hall in front of the doorway, obstructing her mother's path into the apartment.

"Mommy! Mommy!" she cried happily, waving her short arms up to her mother. Videl responded by dropping to one knee and placing a motherly kiss upon the young girl's forehead.

"Panny, did you pack your things like I asked?" questioned Videl, still kneeling so as to speak directly to her daughter's face. The child nodded, beaming sweetly at her mother. Videl smiled in turn before standing up. "Good girl. Now let's see if we can get you something to eat, huh?"

As she passed through the living room, Videl shut off the radio. "Why do you listen to this, Pan?" she asked her daughter. "It's not even East District radio. That broadcast is almost three hours behind us."

Pan shrugged her small shoulders as she sat herself on the living room carpet. "I like to hear about West City, mommy," she answered plainly. "Did you know that Bulma Brief finished recon – um…"

"Reconstruction?" Videl supplied, opening the old refrigerator for whatever was left of their bread. Her daughter nodded.

"Recon…struction," she sounded out, her face slightly scrunching up as she focused on pronouncing the word correctly, "…reconstruction."

"Yeah, on that Capsule Corp. plant," Videl replied. She sighed softly as she produced from the fridge the last of their perishable foods: a head of lettuce and leftover bread. Packed away in a small bag sitting at the opposite corner of the living room were their canned goods – beans, soups, that sort of thing. 'Should be enough to last us until we find a better place in Orange Star…' she thought, taking the bread and lettuce. Food in hand, she joined Pan on the living room carpet. "You told me about that last week. What about it?"

"Everyone seems happy that it's done," Pan said, as if it were the most appropriate summary of what she heard on the radio. Videl chuckled as though her daughter told her a little joke.

"That's good for them, Pan," Videl said in response, her tone slightly dismissive. She tore a piece of bread from the larger share and handed it to Pan. "I'm glad they're doing what they can to make their lives better." Videl couldn't help but say that with a smirk, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah…" Pan agreed, naively unaware of her mother's sarcasm. The little girl took a bite of the piece of bread in her hand, chewing it thoughtfully. "I want to live there someday," she declared after a hearty swallow.

Hearing that gave Videl pause. In many ways, West City would clearly be the best place for Pan to be raised. West City already had its primary education reestablished, steady jobs were easily available, and, most importantly, it was protected. In this world, it was as close to perfect as anyone could get. In comparison, Orange Star was…

The blaring cry of sirens sounded outside. The loud tone pierced her ears and ripped her from her thoughts. Her response was instinctual; Videl raced to the windows and shut the blinds, leaving them in considerable darkness.

'Another raid…' she thought, her face hardening with a furrowed brow. Videl gathered her and Pan's belongings into the center of the living room. They had nothing more than a backpack with a few changes of clothes, whatever money she had saved, and a small sack of canned foods. She frowned. 'I thought we'd have more time!'

Videl turned to her daughter. "Pan," she said, kneeling down so that they were at eye-level, "There's going to be trouble. Stay in the bedroom and keep quiet, okay?" When Pan nodded in understanding of her mother's wishes, Videl stood up and posted herself at the edge of the narrow hallway. She watched the little girl quickly run into the bedroom, her tail being the last thing she saw before the door closed.

Videl knew how to throw a punch. She knew how to kick. But how to fight? That was a little different. She never learned everything her father knew; she never had the chance. There was one thing she learned over the years, and that was how to survive. It didn't matter what was out there in the streets, or how many she had to face because nothing would get past her so long as she had Pan to protect. Muffled sounds, husky and brutish, made it through the walls from the outside.

'Voices…' she noted, hugging the corner where the entry hall met the living room. It was a blind spot for anyone intruding upon the apartment. That there was barely any light coming in and that the narrow hall couldn't allow more than one person in at a time provided Videl the tactical advantage she needed – one she was fully willing to exploit.

"Alright," she heard from outside the door. "You three will check out these second floor places here. The rest of us will head upstairs. Anybody tries to fight you, you kill 'em. Got it?"

Vocal confirmation was followed with the pounding of footsteps, no doubt more people heading to the upper apartments. As the sound of the march died down, the sound of hard fists banging on doors grew.

'Is it stupid to hope that they would just leave?' Videl asked herself, still pressing her back to the wall and peering over the corner. She cringed as the door to her apartment rattled violently in its hinges as the raiders hammered their fists upon it, announcing their presence. 'Of course it is, Videl. If there's nothing to kill, there's always something to take.'

Three knocks, followed by a pause. Videl kept her head back, concealing herself in the blind spot as much as possible. The door was weak. It didn't even have a deadbolt lock. She peered over once her shoulder once more. There was a weak clang and thudding sound – more than likely the result of someone breaking off the doorknob from the outside. Videl leaned back into the wall. She listened as the men outside fiddled with the mechanisms before the other half of the doorknob inside the apartment fell to the carpeted floor.

The door creaked as it slowly swung open. Videl adjusted her position, taking a few quiet steps back. It wasn't long before someone came into view. Male. Medium build. Armor pieces cannibalized from what looked like hockey pads. A red circle was painted onto his armor padding.

Videl charged, ramming into his body with all of her weight. Unprepared, the man fell under her, his head crashing into the nearby window. Videl quickly dropped to her knee, placing it right next to the man's chest. She pulled her clenched right hand back as she held the man against the floor with her left. Videl fired three punches in rapid succession across his jaw, leaving his mouth bloodied and him unconscious.

Videl had to act fast. The other two were already rushing into the apartment hallway, their weapons ready. Noticing the assault rifle by the raider she knocked out, Videl picked up a weapon of her own and aimed it at the two men. She smirked as they froze in place at the edge of the hallway. Videl motioned for them to step into the living room.

"Drop your weapons," she ordered, still resting upon her knee. They obeyed, placing their held weapons – an aluminum baseball bat and a steel pipe – on the floor. Videl waited silently for a few seconds before taking the rifle out of its safe mode and aiming once again at the two raiders. "Guns, too. You Red Son guys always carry something. C'mon."

They looked hesitantly at one another before the man on Videl's left unstrapped a pistol from his pants while the one on her right revealed a pistol of his own on his chest. Both of them tossed their pistols toward Videl's feet, satisfying her demand.

They weren't men, upon closer inspection. Rather, they were two young boys. Late teens, perhaps younger. Their eyes were wide – a sign of fear – but the deep bags just below those eyes betrayed the tiredness they truly felt. It was likely they had no other choice but to join the Red Sons to protect their own lives in some way. Videl sympathized, but she couldn't allow herself to care about what will happen to them at the end of the day.

"Walk out of this apartment," she said slowly and clearly, still pointing her gun at them. "Run out of this building." Once again, they responded with hesitant glances at each other and confused looks on their faces. Videl heard gunshots outside. 'Damn. If they're already firing their weapons then…'

Videl was running out of time. It wouldn't be too long before the raid evolved into chaos in the streets. She pointed the gun up to the ceiling and fired rapid bursts of potshots. "Do it!" she barked, refocusing her aim on the Red Sons.

They clumsily clambered to their feet, leaving behind their weapons and their unconscious comrade. Videl slung the rifle's sling over her shoulder, turning the weapon's safety feature back on, and gripped the weapon firmly with her right hand. She walked briskly toward the apartment's bedroom and used her free left hand to knock on the door.

"Pan!" she called. "We're leaving. Come and get your things."

The door opened gradually, cautiously. "Pan, don't worry. Everything's going to be alright," Videl soothed. "We just have to get moving."

Her daughter opened the door enough so that she could step into the living room. Videl allowed herself a relieved sigh seeing her daughter was alright. She bent to one knee and held out her left hand for Pan to hold.

"Mommy!" Pan screamed suddenly, pointing behind Videl.

Videl spun around quickly, only to stare straight down the barrel of one of the discarded pistols. Holding the firearm was none other than the man she had previously thought to be incapacitated. The darkness of the room made it difficult to see, but Videl was sure it was him. She scooted back, dropping from her knees to a backwards, up-facing crawl. Her heart stopped. Her eyes shut tight.

Click.

Nothing. Her eyes opened wide. Without thinking, Videl flipped the gun's safety to its automatic fire and squeezed the trigger. A wild stream of lead was unleashed, fired from the assault rifle without aim. Videl screamed in anger and frustration as bullets pierced the raider's armor and the apartment's walls, windows, and ceiling indiscriminately. Bullets struck him in his sides and shoulders, sending him staggering backwards toward the windows, his arms flailing about uselessly. Videl ceased fire, made a mad dash toward the man, and thrust her left foot into his chest.

The Red Son's back hit the wall hard before he dropped face-first into the carpet with a satisfying thud. Videl was left panting hard, sweat dripping from her face. She returned the rifle to its safety mode and let it hang lazily from her shoulder.

"Mommy…?"

She looked back towards her daughter. Four words repeated in her head, over and over again.

'Pan could have died.'

The thought made her face turn to stone. "Pan," she said, almost coldly, "get your things. We're leaving."

Videl walked toward the center of the room and picked up the food sack. There was plenty of space in it remaining – another reminder of the living conditions in Orange Star City. Silently, Videl dragged the bag around the room and collected what the raiders dropped – the weapons. The aluminum bat, the steel pipe, the discarded pistol – it all went into the bag. Videl continued to drag it toward the Red Son's body.

'Still alive…barely,' she observed, holding her fingertips to the man's exposed neck.

Videl pried the second pistol from his finger tips and dropped it into the sack. She brought the carrying strap up to her free shoulder as she stood. Videl looked down upon the unmoving body of the Red Son. She was hesitant to move. Not because she was afraid of the man waking up and attacking again; there was no chance of that so soon. Rather, she was afraid of what she might do.

Could she consciously take another life?

A gentle, but firm tug on the bottom of her shirt pulled her back into the moment. Her daughter stared up at her with her dark eyes.

"Mommy," she said. "Let's go."

Videl nodded slowly. "Okay."

She took her daughter's hand in her own and led her through that narrow hallway for the last time.

The prairie land west of Orange Star City was originally a planned suburban expansion before the Onslaught. Perhaps a city of its own, as Red Sun City once was. When the androids attacked, any plans for Blue Comet City was abandoned. All that remained was a faded signpost that gave the area its name.

A majority of the Watchers pulled out of Orange Star as each neighborhood was lost to the gang war. They used the Blue Comet sign to establish an outpost for people to gather, rest, and recover from whatever it was that drove them from their homes. Shanty homes could be seen littering the area, spread unevenly across the prairie. Several stands formed together in the center of the shantytown in a large, square formation. Ragged stools lined its outer perimeter. The Blue Comet Trading Post.

Videl had heard about this place through the grapevine back when she was still living in the city. Old Watcher friends with whom she used to keep in touch told her where the Watchers set up. It's how she knew the area was safe enough to stop for a while before she and Pan left Orange Star for good. Videl approached the trading post, Pan following closely behind.

"Well, well! If it isn't Miss Videl?" greeted the man behind the trading post stand. He was a thin man. His black hair and stubble was kept closely shaved. Like Videl, he had his own denim jacket and solid orange bandana scarf. "I feel like I haven't seen you in years!"

Videl was wordless as she dropped her bags on the ground by the counter. She bent over to pick up Pan and set her up on the stool. The girl swung her short legs back and forth in alternation. "Yeah, um…" she started, struggling to remember this familiar stranger's name.

He laughed. "I suppose it really has been years, huh? Don't worry about it. It's me; Garnade."

"So, you're the new kid, huh?" he asked with a handsomely boyish grin. He was the type that seemed like he would always be young at heart, despite being 20 years old. "Don't worry about it. I'll show you the ropes."

"I can handle a whole lot more than ropes," replied the 16-year-old confidently. She casually brushed one of her pigtails off of her shoulder. "Trust me – I might be new, but I can take care of myself," she declared with a smirk.

"I like your attitude, Videl! The name is Garnade. Welcome to the Watchers!"

He was her trainer when she first volunteered to join the East Watchers almost 14 years ago. What a relief it was to see an old friend – the first friendly face since leaving Orange Star. Videl smiled.

"Garnade. I remember now. It's good to see you again," Videl said. She took a seat next to Pan. "Pan, I'd like you to meet my friend."

"Hello, mister," greeted Pan.

"Hey, there, kid!" He turned to Videl. "So, this is that little girl of yours I heard about. I figured you had a good reason for leaving the Watchers. Is it true she has a tail?"

Pan's tail curled upwards and swayed enough to make its presence known before wrapping around the girl's waist. Garnade stared in shock and awe, his mouth slightly ajar.

"Wow. I really don't know what I'm supposed to say," he finally said. Garnade cleared his throat before turning back to Videl. "So, did you come out here to join with the other Watchers? Help us take back our city?"

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" asked Videl, curious.

"I mean the Watchers are going to fight back," he stated in a low voice. He leaned over the counter, almost whispering, "The Red Sons, the Sharks, all of them – we're going to wipe them out."

"Wipe them out," Videl echoed, unsure of what her old friend was saying. He nodded.

"If we just drive them away, they'll come back. We need to crush them completely so that no gang will ever take our homes away from us. And the Watchers won't fight alone. Anyone who can handle a weapon is welcome to join us."

"Gar, I know how you feel, but you're talking about war," Videl responded. "You're talking about endangering the lives of everyone here."

"What other option do we have?" he asked, his voice rising. "These people have lost everything. Their belongings, their homes, their…their loved ones…" Garnade slapped his palms against the counter. "Those assholes need to pay!"

"You need to calm down, Gar," Videl said, her brow furrowing.

"Don't tell me to calm down, Videl!" he shouted. Everyone in the shantytown and sitting at the counter seemed to stop what they were doing to watch the scene. "Do you even know what they did? Do you?"

Videl didn't know what to say. Her silence seemed to answer Garnade's question. After what seemed like a lifetime of complete quiet in the shantytown, everyone soon returned to their own business as if Garnade's explosive outburst hadn't happened. He sighed deeply as he leaned over the counter once more.

"They killed Pin…" he confessed in a low whisper, his head dropping so that he faced only the countertop. "They killed him, Videl."

"Hey, I know you've been eyeing me lately, kid," Garnade said with a playful grin.

God, how she could stare at that smile for hours. It took her few seconds to realize what he had just said. It took less than that for the color of her face to betray the embarrassment she felt.

"Shut up!" she said, punching him lightly in the shoulder. "You wish I was eyeing you."

"As cute as you are, Videl, I think it's only fair I tell you that I have a boyfriend. Well, fiancé, more like."

It took her a few seconds to realize what he had just said.

"Oh."

Videl gently rested her hand on his shoulder. She felt him shiver beneath her fingers. "I'm sorry…"

"Look, just tell my why the hell you came out here if you're not going to help," he responded rather coldly, brushing her hand from his shoulder. Garnade wiped his tears away. "What do you want, Videl?"

Videl's brow lowered. She was unsure how to react. "Fine," she answered, her tone slightly bitter. "I'm taking Pan out of here. Going up to East City where it's safer. We need a Cap-Case and a car."

"Alright." Garnade squatted down behind the counter for a few seconds before rising up with a small box and a couple of Dyno-Caps. "You get your car and Cap-Case, but the Watchers are taking your weapons as payment."

Slowly, Videl pulled the rifle strap over her head and firmly placed the weapon on the counter. She glared at the Watcher, never once taking her eyes off of him. She picked up the sack at her feet and dropped it on the counter as well. From it, she produced the aluminum bat, the steel pipe, and the two handguns.

"Are you satisfied?" she asked sarcastically. She opened the Cap-Case and inserted the two Dyno-Caps into the empty spaces. Videl closed the case and stored it in her breast pocket. "I hope you enjoy your war. Come on, Pan."

Videl slung the sack over her shoulder before helping Pan from off of the stool. The bag was far lighter with only the canned foods inside remaining. Videl held her hand out for her daughter to grab before they turned away from the trading post and headed northeast. However, the sound of a whistle caught Videl's attention before they were more than a few steps away.

Videl turned around, only to find a pistol and holster tossed in her direction. She caught both items by reflex before looking to the person who threw it.

"We used to be friends, a long time ago," Garnade stated simply. "I figure I should at least warn you that Terrors have been seen up north. You might want to be careful about wearing that scarf. You've heard about what they do to Watchers they catch alone, right?"

He didn't smile at her. He didn't even wave or make some other gesture of farewell. Videl strapped the holster to her hips and placed the gun inside.

"We wear these stupid things because we're not afraid, right? Isn't that what you told me?"

"I'm just saying. I gave you that gun because we were friends. I don't owe you anything anymore." He paused for a moment. "…Hey, Videl?"

"Yeah?"

"…It's just…The fighting, surviving…" he lowered his gaze, his tone melancholy, "I thought we'd be done with it by now."

Videl and Pan kept heading northeast. As soon as they cleared the shantytown, Videl opened up the Cap-Case.

"Alright, Pan. Let's see what we've got…"

Model 772-T. A donkey.

Model 619. A small, wheeled car. Videl took the 619 from the case and put the case away in her pocket before pressing down the activation button on the Dyno-Cap. Videl tossed it a short distance away, and in a loud bang and a puff of white smoke, the car appeared.

Pan stared in awe at the spectacle. It was the first time she had seen a Dyno-Cap in action. "Wow, mommy! Is that magic?" she asked.

Videl chuckled. "Not magic, Pan. This is what that Capsule Corp. you like to hear about so much makes. Now, come on. We don't have a lot of daylight left and I want to get to East City by tomorrow night at least."

"Yes, mommy."

Videl first opened the passenger door, ushering her daughter inside. After buckling Pan in, Videl moved to the driver's side of the car. She learned to drive during her time with the Watchers. Another one of Garnade's lessons. They had to transport injured people from one city to another when the local clinics and offices couldn't take anyone else. As a result, it wouldn't be her first time driving out to East City.

Still, it was her first time driving in more than seven years.

Thankfully her long break hadn't affected her ability to turn on the car's engine or differentiate between the brakes and the accelerator. Videl sighed. It was going to be a long drive.

The Writer's Block:

I've decided to move my thoughts as a writer on each chapter to my deviantArt journal (the link to which you can find on my profile here on ffnet!). I figured that I should leave the notes here on the bottom for announcements regarding update schedules and possible breaks, as well as shout outs when appropriate.

So you still get to read about my own thoughts about the story, but now I won't end up breaking up the story flow or deceiving you with word counts that have that 500 word padding.

Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, or following! Any feedback on this chapter or the story as a whole is very much appreciated!

~smashbangfusion