The Mirror's Mistake

by ASlimeApproaches

It's been eight years since the Shadow Dragons. Pan has been struggling to fill her late grandfather's shoes, so when his rival Frieza surfaces in the Eastern Quadrant, she's determined to find out why. But when her investigation strands her on a corrupt planet, beset by treachery, Pan realizes she and Frieza may need each other to get out alive. Complete.

1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Pan had just finished drying a teacup and was thinking of the best way to get it into the overhead cupboard when Chi-Chi screamed, went rigid, and dropped the plate she'd been washing.

Pan dove, caught the rim of the plate on two fingers. It wobbled and then fell into her hand. She set the dish on the counter.

"Did you feel that?" Chi-Chi asked.

"I still do, Grandma," Pan said. "West of here, somewhere between the mountain path and Fortuneteller Baba's place."

"It's someone who knows how to mask their ki, then, because I can't anymore."

Scooping the plate and cup from the counter, Pan got a knee up on the sink and climbed to the cupboard. It was still a bit of a reach to open it. Her phone almost fell out of her pocket. Should have just flown, she thought. When she jumped back down, she found Chi-Chi had crossed the whole round room, passed the table still dotted with crumbs, and stood at the window, pulling back the curtains. Sunlight fell across her black eyes; eyes, Pan was constantly told, she had inherited.

"I doubt you'll be able to see anything with Mt. Paozu in the way," Pan said. Still, she looked outside the window, too. A lot of grass sprouted around the wall, which led to old Grandpa Gohan's hut, and after that, yup: an obscuring wall of mountainside. "I'll have to go down and see what it is."

Pan hadn't taken one step to the door when Chi-Chi grabbed her by the shoulder. There was a lot of strength in that hand. That, too, Pan had inherited; that and more.

"One of the others should do it."

"I'm the closest. Krillin and Eighteen are at Kame House and everyone else is in West City. If there's trouble, I'm the only one who could get there in time to do anything."

Chi-Chi relaxed her grip on Pan's sleeve, but not by much. "The last time your grandfather walked out that door, he didn't come back."

Pan gently pried her grandmother's fingers loose. She patted her hand. A moment later Pan was at the door.

She turned back long enough to say one thing.

"I'll come back, grandma. I promise."

And then she took to the air, unaware just how difficult keeping that promise was about to get.