Disclaimer - I don't own Dragon Ball or any of the characters unless add some of my own.

A/N - Because the first chapter is a bit slow and short I've decided to upload this chapter as well but that means chapter 3 won't be uploaded for awhile. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter Two – Preparing for departure

Previously on Dragon Ball C…

A mysterious enemy has invaded Planet Namek, recruiting the strong, and killing the weak.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" the Elder asked

"I want to know which of you here is strong"

After watching two Nameks get killed, one being a child, the strong decides to do as the man says and allow themselves to get escorted to his ship.

"What else could you possibly want? There's nothing else here of interest to you" an evil grin appeared on the man's face suddenly.

"Nothing else here interests me, so why keep it around?"

In a last ditch effort, dying Elder Moori sends an SOS message to Dende, hoping beyond hope that Goku will save what remains of his children…

"Dende, Dende what is it? What's wrong?" Gohan asked; wanting to know what was happening on Namek.

"It's-It's Elder Moori" Dende stuttered, tears forming in his eyes.

"You mean the one who took over from Guru? What about him?" he pressed.

"He's-He's…"

"He's dead" Piccolo finished for him,

"What? Why? How?" Gohan spluttered.

"Someone's attacking planet Namek and killing anyone who gets in their way"

"Gosh Dende, I'm so sorry. I mean, you knew him" Dende didn't say anything; he'd just lost a dear friend and father. Tears spilled from his eyes, trailing down his face. He didn't listen as Gohan and Piccolo continued their conversation.

"So what now? My dad's off training Uub still, but if someone's attacking Namek we have to help them"

"Agreed, that's why I'm going" Piccolo informed him.

"Me too. I know it's been a while since I've fought but I can't just sit back and do nothing" Gohan thought for a moment. "Goten can come which means Trunks will probably come too, and Vegeta…"

"Humph, do you really think Vegeta would want to help out?" Piccolo asked sceptically.

"Maybe, if he could gain something from it. Although, he has changed quite a lot since the last time we were on Namek, maybe he would want to help out" Piccolo didn't seem convinced by that but didn't say anything further about it, frankly, the more help the better.

"Dende don't worry, as soon as we take care of the problem we'll use the Dragon Balls to wish everyone who died on Namek back to life" Gohan assured his friend, giving him a light tap on the shoulder. Dende, seeming to remember the two other people with him smiled appreciatively at them before going back inside to talk to Mr Popo.

"Gohan, go round up everyone who's going and meet me back here in one hour" Piccolo ordered.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll head to Bulma's house and retrieve the spaceship Goku used before and bring it here, as soon as you guys arrive we'll set off" with that said he took off into the sky leaving a light wind in his wake.

Gohan headed back to his house first to let Videl and Pan know where he was going, not knowing how long he would be gone he didn't want them to worry too much. As soon as he landed outside the house the front door opened and Pan came bounding out, wanting to be the first one to greet him.

"Daddy!" she squealed cheerfully.

"Hey Panny" he replied, equally as cheerful, he picked her up and enveloped her in a huge bear hug, squeezing her tight.

"Guess what Pan; daddy's going on an adventure"

"WOW!" her eyes lit up instantly, causing him to chuckle. Just then Videl came out of the house, overhearing what Gohan had just said.

"Hey honey" she greeted, giving him a peck on the cheek.

"Mummy, mummy, daddy's going on an adventure" Pan began gesticulating to emphasize how cool this was.

"Yeah, I heard" she said, shooting a look Gohan's way. He scratched the back on his head nervously, a habit he'd picked up from his dad.

"Can I go?" Pan asked excitedly.

"NO!" Videl and Gohan said in unison, losing all traces of jokiness at once.

"Aw" she said sulkily, upset that she wasn't allowed to go.

"I'm sorry Pan but it's too dangerous, your Mum and I just don't want to see you get hurt"

"Bah! Grandpa trained me, if anyone tried to hurt me I'd beat them to a pulp" she pumped her fist high in the air to show she meant business. Both her parent's laughed.

"I'm sure you could Panny, but we don't want to take that chance. I mean, I don't even know if I could beat them" Pan faltered, an enemy that daddy couldn't beat, that threw her off slightly.

"What do you mean you don't know if you can beat them?" she whimpered.

"Uhm, err, is that what I said? I meant I haven't seen the person yet to know for sure" he saw the panicked look on his daughters face. "But, I'm pretty confident I could beat them" he added quickly, he watched as her face slackened, her worry disappearing.

"Honey? Who are we talking about? What's going on?" Videl asked concern evident in her voice. Gohan glanced at her then at Pan.

"Pan why don't you go back inside whilst your daddy and I have a talk?" she'd said it as if it were a question, but Pan knew she wouldn't get a choice in the matter.

"Uh-oh" she said, sensing that her dad was in trouble.

She jumped down from him and quickly left, not wanting to get caught in the cross-fire. Before she left she had to ask.

"After you and daddy talk then can I go with him?"

"NO!" they repeated, not angrily but sternly. She headed inside grumpily and left the two adults to it.

"So…Gohan do you want to tell me what's going on?" Videl asked, again making it sound like a question.

"There's someone attacking Planet Namek, they're killing all the Namekians, even the Elder" she clamped a hand over her mouth in shock.

"That's awful, who would do that?"

"I don't know that's what I'm going to find out. Me, Piccolo, Goten, Trunks and maybe Vegeta are setting off in less than an hour. That's why I came here first, to let you know"

"What about your Dad, isn't he going?" Gohan shook his head.

"He's still training Uub and he made a promise that he wouldn't leave until he's finished" she thought for a moment, she wasn't so sure about Gohan going in case it was something he couldn't handle. He could sense her uneasiness.

"Don't worry Videl; everything's going to be alright. I have Vegeta with me" she raised her eyebrow at him.

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better"

"He won't let me die; he's helped out a lot in the past I don't think now's going to be any different. Besides, Piccolo's going too and you know that he won't let anything happen to me" Gohan stated feeling her resolve slipping.

"Just be careful, don't do anything reckless and make it back safe" Videl ordered, still worried, she had an uneasy feeling in her stomach, something bad was going to happen. Gohan pulled her into a hug and held onto her for a long time before releasing her, he gave her a kiss on her forehead and they just stayed there, staring at each other.

"Ahem" Someone cleared their throat to get their attention and it took Gohan and Videl a few seconds to realise it was Pan.

"I'd like to make an announcement…"

"How does she know that word?" Gohan whispered in Videl's ear, she gave a shrug.

"Shhh!" she instructed him, placing a finger on her lips.

"I've decided I want to be there when they take off" they both blinked down at her.

"Erm, Panny I don't think that's a good idea" Videl began.

"Why not" Pan whined, folding her arms.

"Well…Your father will tell you why not" both the girls turned to him waiting for him to say something. Gohan coughed nervously then motioned for Videl to come closer, he leaned over to her ear to whisper.

"Psst! Videl, why isn't it a good idea?" she face palmed, a twitch appearing above her eye.

"It's a bad idea because you know how she gets, she'll just keep asking and asking and eventually you'll give in like you always do" Videl explained.

"Oh don't worry; this is one thing I'm certainly adamant about. She's not going" Gohan assured her, Videl sighed in defeat.

"Ok fine, you can go, but I don't want you asking me or your father if you can go to Namek with them again. Deal?"

"Yay" Pan started jumping around, throwing her fist in the air again.

"Pan? Pan?" Videl tried getting her daughters attention

"Huh?" she stopped, halfway through a jump in the air. Now she was just floating, looking at her Mother.

"You haven't agreed yet, do we have a deal?"

"Uh-Hu, I won't ask if I can go again" Pan promised, still in the same position in the air.

"Good"

"Alright then I guess we should head over to my Mum's to pick up Goten" Gohan said now that everyone had come to an agreement.

They arrived at Chi-Chi's house rather quickly and were now sat in the kitchen talking while Chi-Chi was cooking food for them to take on the journey. They were trying to convince Goten to go with them, and so far he'd spent most of the conversation whining and complaining, saying that he didn't want to go.

"Come on Goten they're in trouble, we have to help" Gohan tried.

"Why can't Dad go with you instead?"

"You know why" Gohan was fed up of having to answer that question again and again to everyone.

"I think saving people and a planet is more important than training, besides wouldn't that be training for Uub? Having real experience with life or death situations?" Goten argued.

"You're complaining about it to the wrong person. If you want, take it up with Dad" Goten huffed and folded his arms but didn't respond.

"Come on Uncle Goten, think how fun it's going to be, travelling to another planet and beating bad guys up, what could be more fun?" Pan said happily, she made a show of fighting an invisible enemy and announced her victory by placing a foot on the invisible guy as he lay unconscious on the floor and threw both her arms up in the air above her head.

"What have you turned my Granddaughter into?" Chi-Chi sighed exasperatedly to herself as she continued cooking.

"Look I'd love to go and everything but I can't, I have a date" Everyone stared at him in silence and Gohan raised an eyebrow at him.

"I think saving people and a planet is more important than a date" Goten was a bit annoyed that his brother had used his own argument against him; he was also annoyed that he'd been ganged up on.

"It's not fair, you guys always drag me into fights that I'd rather stay out of!" he whined.

"You think I like fighting? I'm supposed to be retired but since Dad can't do it I'm stepping up and going, so you can too"

"But-" Goten began, but quickly fell silent along with everyone else as Chi-Chi slammed a frying pan she'd been washing, onto the table in front of where he was sat.

"GOTEN YOU'RE GOING AND THAT'S FINAL, YOU'VE BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT NOT HAVING ANYTHING TO DO, WELL, NOW YOU HAVE SOMETHING, SO DO IT!" Chi-Chi screamed this in his ear but he wasn't the only one whose ears were hurting now, everyone at the table had flinched as soon as she began yelling. Even some animals deep in the forest near their house were startled by the monstrous voice and had run away.

"Y-Yes Mum" he stuttered, he waited for the frying pan and his mother to move back over to the sink before he let out a breath he'd been holding since she'd slammed it down.

"Good, now don't forget to eat plenty of food and shower every morning. Remember to brush your teeth once in the morning after breakfast, and again just before you go to bed" Chi-Chi said, reverting back to the loving mother to her boys.

"Yes Mum" Both Gohan and Goten said in a monotone voice, a bit embarrassed that they were going through all this with Videl and Pan in the room, who were giggling at the two men.

"Videl, you and Pan are welcome to stay here while they're gone if you like. Ooh, we can have girl time" Videl laughed nervously, sweat dropping. The idea of girl time didn't really seem pleasant but she couldn't refuse after watching her almost hit Goten with the frying pan. Feeling the same way Pan balked, she was missing out on going to another planet and now she had to endure 'girl time' it was just too much, but she daren't argue.

"Sounds…great" Videl replied half-heartedly. She watched as Pan put her head in her hands, shaking her head, and tried to stifle a laugh at her daughters' behaviour.

"Well, I guess now we should head over to Capsule Corp. to get Trunks…" Gohan started.

"I'll go" Goten cut in. "It'll be faster, we'll meet you at the Lookout"

"I'll go with Goten since I'm meeting Bulma anyway, that way you can't skip out on going" Chi-Chi announced, glaring at Goten.

"Thanks Mum, okay, then it's off to the Lookout. Vegeta will probably meet us there since he'll know about what we're doing, Piccolo paid them a visit earlier to collect the ship" They all stood up and made their way to the front door. Bidding farewell to each other, Goten and Chi-Chi set off for Capsule Corp. while Gohan, Videl and Pan headed for the Lookout.

When they got to the Lookout they saw Piccolo and Dende stood by the ship talking, they walked over to them and that's when Gohan noticed Vegeta standing to the side of everyone, leaning against one of the pillars of the temple.

"You two go on ahead, I need to talk to Vegeta" Videl glanced between the two and was about to say something but then Pan dragged her mother towards the ship, leaving Gohan alone. He made his way over to Vegeta.

"So, you're here, does this mean you're coming with us to save Planet Namek?"

"Bah! As if I care about a worthless planet" Vegeta spat out venomously, folding his arms.

"Then why are you here?" Gohan asked, scratching the back of his head in thought.

"I sensed the power level of the one attacking that planet; I'm interested to test my new power out on them, that's all. Finally I can put all my training into practice"

"Well whatever your reason is to join us I'm glad, it's been over ten years since we've had a real fight, and while you've been training non-stop since then, I've been focusing on other things"

"Mmhm" Vegeta grunted in acknowledgement, not really paying attention or caring about what the half- saiyan was saying.

"I see Kakarot isn't here" he pointed out,

"Huh? Yeah he's still with Uub so looks like it's just us this time" Gohan replied.

Knowing that the conversation was over between them he went to look for Videl and Pan, he found them examining the control room of the ship. Well, Videl was examining the ship; Pan was pretending to fly it.

"Breaker, breaker, this is Pan requesting immediate back-up. Pew pew, die!" she was jumping up and down in the seat, dodging incoming fire.

"Seriously, where did she learn these words?" Gohan asked Videl as he made his way towards her.

*"I'm HIT!"* Pan shouted, imitating a gun wound and falling out of the seat onto the floor.

"Who Knows?" she responded, ignoring her daughter crawling along the floor asking for a senzu bean.

*"This is the end…"*

"So how did the talk with Vegeta go?" Videl asked.

"Better than I thought it would actually, although he did call planet Namek worthless" he answered, frowning at the last part.

*"Goodbye cruel world!"* Pan lay on the floor, motionless.

"Well it is Vegeta, for him that's tame" Videl said matter-of-factly.

"I guess you're right"

"GUYS! Do you two even care that I died?" Pan complained, standing up and staring at her parents in disbelief.

They blinked, "You did?" they both asked her at the same time.

"Gah… I give up" she threw her arms up in frustration then left the room. Gohan and Videl stared after her.

"What's her problem?" he asked.

"I think she's still upset that she can't go" Videl evaluated after much thought.

*"That's not it!"* Pan shouted from somewhere else in the ship.

"Oh I see" he replied, understanding why his daughter was upset.

*"GAH!"*

"I can sense Trunks and Goten outside, we'll be leaving soon" Gohan told his wife, looking in the direction of the ki's that just arrived.

"We should head outside, they're probably waiting for you" they made their way out of the ship towards the others that were gathered.

"Gohan there you are, I wondered where you'd gotten to. Everyone's here now so we'll be taking off" Piccolo spoke before making his way to the ship, leaving the others to say their farewells.

"So do I have to go or is it optional?" Trunks asked hopefully.

"Come on" Goten dragged Trunks by the ear towards the ship. "If I have to go so do you". They entered the ship leaving the others outside.

"Be careful" Videl ordered, giving Gohan a kiss and a hug goodbye.

"Don't worry too much" he responded. He said a quick goodbye to Dende and then followed after Piccolo. Vegeta was the next to follow, arms crossed with a scowl on his face.

"Bye Vegeta" Videl called out, knowing that it was pointless.

"Humph" was his response. The door to the spaceship shut behind him and a few minutes later the ship began to take off into space. Dende and Videl watched as the spaceship left Earth and began its journey to Namek.

"Erm…Videl?" Dende asked after looking around him.

"Hmm?" she turned to him.

"Where's Pan?" her eyes widened and she too looked around herself at the lookout, but she couldn't see her daughter anywhere.

"Oh no!"...

"So I guess this is our home for the next two days" Goten said, looking around the control room with everyone else.

"Not too bad, it's quite roomy" Trunks voiced happily, relieved that at least they wouldn't be cramped up with each other for days.

"I wonder if there's any furniture in here"

"If there is I hope it's soft, like the couches at Capsule Corp. they're the best"

"Can we redecorate this place?" Goten asked.

"I don't see why not, what did you have in mind?"

"Well I was thinking, for the wallpaper-"

"If you ladies are finished discussing home furnishing-" Vegeta cut in, "-Then maybe we can do something that doesn't involve pink flowered curtains and daises"

"Well he'd know all about wearing pink" Trunks whispered to Goten, but Vegeta heard.

"What was that, brat?"

"N-Nothing" he stuttered, holding his hands up. Vegeta continued to glare at him for a few more minutes until something got all their attention at once.

THUD!

"What was that?" Piccolo asked no one in particular, Goten and Trunks shrugged their shoulders.

"Whatever it was it came from the back of the ship, but I can't sense anyone's energy back there. So either they don't have any, or…" Gohan started.

"They're suppressing it" Vegeta finished; he walked over to the door that lead out of the control room and opened it. Everyone followed as he headed for the back of the ship, ready to reprimand the intruder. Both Goten and Trunks were getting freaked out from the tense silence as nobody was saying anything.

"You know, maybe no-one's there" Trunks tried.

"Yeah it could just be that something fell" Goten added.

"If you believe that then you're stupider than Kakarot" Vegeta said simply.

On Earth…

"Achoo" Goku sneezed while in the middle of performing a scissor-kick on Uub.

"Huh? Are you okay master? Are you getting sick?" Uub questioned worriedly, stopping the fight briefly.

"No it's fine; I think Vegeta said something mean about me that's all"

"Oh" they went back to fighting.

Back on the ship…

"I'm not as bad as Dad" Goten said sulkily.

"Quiet we're almost there" Gohan held his hand out to stop everyone once they made it to the room that the noise had come from.

"I'll deal with this…" Vegeta began.

"No, I say we all go in together, we don't know who's in there and we don't know how many are in there" Piccolo argued, preparing himself.

"Pfft…waste of time, I could do it faster if I didn't have you lot slowing me down" he mumbled, but allowed them all to gather around the door.

"On the count of three" Gohan ordered, Vegeta rolled his eyes. "One, two, three…" they barged the door open and trooped into the room ready for a fight, what they saw instead caused everyone to fall to the floor in disbelief. They stood up slowly and stared in exasperation at the intruder.

"Pan!" They all said in unison.

So let me know what you think so I can improve the story each chapter. Thanks for reading. :)