When Pan walked up to the balcony, she found Bra standing alone, simply staring at the view outside. And she looked upset. In fact, it almost looked like she was about to cry.

While Pan wasn't the best at comforting friends – most of her friends were boys, and hardly ever cried – she wasn't going to leave her family-friend alone like this.

"Hey," she asked. "Are you OK?"

Bra turned around and saw her. "Pan…"

Pan could see the tears in her eyes.

Bra took a shuddering breath, as if she was holding back. Holding back words, holding back tears, holding back…everything. Everything that she had been hiding that day.

And then, something landed on her back. It was small and thin, barely the size of Pan's thumb. Glancing over, Pan realised it was…some kind of dart?

Bra's eyes glazed over. Stumbling, she fell backwards…off the balcony!

Pan ran to her, desperately trying to catch her. But she had just arrived on the edge of the balcony when she saw what had happened.

Just below the balcony, two men were on a large flying bike. They had caught Bra as she fell, and were busy placing her securely in the seat in between them. It was as if…as if they had been planning this.

And then the bike flew off, making almost no sound as its silhouette became smaller and smaller.

The sheer speed of it made Pan dumbstruck. She could only stare, astonished, for a few seconds, before the enormity of what had just happened sunk in.

Bra just got kidnapped.

She had to follow her!

Checking no one was around, Pan took to the air. At top speed, she caught up to the bike quite quickly. Bra looked like she was recovering from the effects of whatever they had given her, but she still looked quite shaken. Pan was sure she could get in there and get Bra out, but the problem would be the other guys. They weren't going to sit there and let her take her friend, and if they tried to attack…they were too far off the ground. If she pushed them, they would most likely die. And her parents had always, always drilled in to her that killing people was never allowed, unless her life was in direct danger.

She was hesitating, not sure what to do. But, just as she was working out a plan, the bike started to descend. Fine, thought Pan. I'll wait until they land, grab Bra, and fly off. As long as I don't drop her while flying, it'll be fine.

As it landed, the men opened the dome, and grabbed Bra, one man holding each of her arms. But, for some reason, Bra didn't seem to be fighting back. She looked clearly conscious, but she was just letting the men take her! What was going on?

Pan had had enough. She flew down, using her momentum to kick the nearest guard. He flew through the alley and landed against the wall of the nearest building. Pan then gave the second guard another kick to get him out of the way before he could register what happened.

"…Pan?" Bra stared at her, surprised but grateful.

But Pan wasn't happy. "Why didn't you fight them off?" she snapped at her. "You're a Saiyan! You could have dealt with them easily!"

"I…" The normal chatterbox Bra seemed at a loss for words.

Then, suddenly, she burst into tears.

"I didn't want to…" she blubbered.

"You didn't want to save your life?"

Bra could only stare at the ground. "Normal girls couldn't fight them off."

That just got Pan even more confused. "You're not a normal girl. You're not entirely human."

"But I wish I was." Those words were muttered so softly Pan could barely hear it.

And that's it, Pan realised. That's why she was so sad at the party.

She had been mulling this over the entire time, hadn't she? At her party, everyone was there, acting like it was just a normal party, for a normal girl. But Bra…despite how she acted, she knew she wasn't like them.

Pan was sure, in this situation, other girls would talk about how Bra really wasn't that different after all, and how she was mostly human and it didn't matter who her father was. But Pan's reaction was just "Why?"

Bra looked up. "What?"

"Why would you want to be normal? Normal is stupid."

That got Bra angry. "You don't understand!" she exclaimed, the tears still streaming down her face. "At the party, I realised, I have all these friends, and I know they like me, but they don't even know the real me. If they knew the truth…they'd leave me. They'd think I was…" Bra paused, trying to find the right word.

"A monster." She decided. "And I don't want to be a monster."

You're not a monster, Pan felt like saying. But she couldn't say it. She was just too angry at Bra for being defenceless like that. She wasn't in the mood to be soft and gentle.

"So there are two of you."

Pan looked around. While they had been talking, cars had arrived at the street. A lot of them – identical in size and colour. This must have been planned. All around her, men were emerging – men with the same dark clothes and sunglasses as the ones who took Bra. And, closest to them, was another man. He looked like he was the leader.

Pan's first impression of him was of someone who was used to having his orders followed. While he was rather short, his attire showed his influence. He was wearing a long white coat that looked almost custom made. Rings glinted on his fingers. And strapped to his side was a large gun.

"Who are you?" she asked to the leader.

"That's not important," he said. "If I were you, I'd suggest you surrender the girl and yourself. Otherwise, you might get hurt."

"What do you want with her?"

The leader gave an exaggerated sigh. "Ransom, of course," he said. "This girl's family is one of the richest in the world. We were lucky to find her alone. We've been targeting her for a while, but this was the first chance to get her without alerting the authorities."

He signalled to his men, which were now forming a circle around them. They all simultaneously took out their guns.

"Now, why don't you step away from the girl? I promise we won't hurt her if you surrender quietly."

For a split second, Pan understood what it would be like to be a human in this situation – weak, defenceless, scared. But that soon faded. I'm part-Saiyan. You're no threat to me.

She started to laugh. "You picked the wrong person to kidnap."

Pan's confident expression seemed to shock him. But then his features curled in a grin. "Silly girl," he said. "You don't seem to understand who you're dealing with."

Pan smirked. "Neither do you."

And she let loose her full power.

The force of it immediately knocked the nearest men to the ground. While the others stood there in bewilderment, Pan attacked. She used the air to her advantage – using the momentum from her flight to launch the men away and into each other. They didn't seem to understand what was happening until it was too late.

Except there were so many of them! She was still trying not to kill them, but perhaps she hadn't been hitting them as hard as she should have. Because a lot of them kept getting up after she knocked them down.

And, as she landed to try and fight more offensively, a sharp pain in her back made her turn around. One of them had shot her. She knew it would be hard for bullets to kill her, but she didn't realise how much it would hurt! Examining it, it looked like the bullet had narrowly avoided penetrating her skin. Either way, it would definitely leave a bruise after this. And the pain was incredibly distracting. It was all she could do to not stop and try to nurse the wound.

But despite all of that, she could do it, she could finish them all. If worse came to worse, she could use a ki blast and hit them from the air. It might kill them, but she might not have any other choice-

"Stop."

The leader was standing, holding his gun to Bra's head.

"Get down on the ground, or I'll shoot her."

She didn't want Bra to get hurt. But, at the same time, she had seen a lot of movies with this sort of situation. "You won't kill her. You need her as a hostage."

"Oh, yes," he said, smiling. "But I'm sure the Briefs' will still pay an exuberant sum for her dead body."

Pan's heart leaped in shock. He was right.

"And this isn't an ordinary gun," he said. "These bullets will penetrate even the strongest steel. I doubt you'll be able to block it with those tricks of yours."

With that, Pan gave up. They'll really kill Bra if I don't surrender. She suddenly realised how reckless her attitude had been. Sure, the criminals posed no threat to her, but what about Bra? All the strength in the world wouldn't matter if she wasn't able to protect her.

Pan slowly landed. "Just let her go," she said.

"Hold on," he said. "First, we'll need to restrain you. I'm assuming handcuffs are worthless? In that case, close your eyes and count to…I don't know…500. And if you follow us, I'll kill her."

Close my eyes? I don't get it. "But then you'll get away."

The leader rolled his eyes. "This is why I don't work with children. Always have to explain everything to them-"

Suddenly, Bra pushed him out of the way and ran. It seemed that, while in the middle of talking, he had loosened his grip enough for her to free herself.

He slowly stood up. "You're going to PAY for that!" he yelled. He took out his gun, and fired.

Pan flew over as fast as possible, and pushed Bra out of the way. The bullet just missed them by inches.

"Do you want to die, too?" he asked her. "That's fine. I'm flexible."

She's going to die. She's going to die and there's nothing I can do to stop it.

"You…won't get away with this," Her heart was pounding. Pan thought it was the adrenaline, but it was more than that.

"I don't know," he said. "It seems like I already have."

And he lined up the shot.

Memories flashed before Pan's eyes – memories of Bra, of their time together, and of her desperate confession. She just wanted to be normal.

Almost unbidden, her whole body began to tense. It was as if a huge force was standing on her, forcing her down. It was becoming hard to breathe. And it was getting more intense by the second.

"You won't hurt her," she said.

"I WON'T LET YOU!"

And then something inside her broke, and the power flowed through her.

It almost felt like she was on fire. She could feel the power radiating from her. And, while a part of her knew exactly what was happening, and was even excited for it, she pushed it aside. She only had one thought. Get to Bra.

She flew in front of her, blocking the leader's shot at her. He was bewildered by her sudden appearance. "What the hell happened to you-" he stopped himself. "It doesn't matter. I'll kill you first."

He aimed at her head and fired.

And Pan caught the bullet. It wasn't even difficult. Nothing would be a challenge anymore.

The leader could only stare, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. "But…that could penetrate solid steel…"

Pan smirked. With all the power she now had, she could easily make him suffer. All she had to do was flick the bullet back at him. She could hit it through his brain, and make it easy, or she could choose another organ and draw out his pain. It was all too easy.

She started slowly walking towards him. Panicking, he started firing a few more times. This time, Pan didn't even bother trying to block. She just stood there and waited while the bullets stopped harmlessly on her body. It didn't even hurt anymore.

"What should I do with you?" she asked rhetorically.

The change in her voice made him suddenly take a few steps back.

"Wh-Wh-What are you?" he asked, terrified.

At last, he was fearing her. It was about time he got what he deserved.

"Pan?" said a voice behind her, heavy with fear.

It was Bra. Is she afraid of me? Why would she be afraid of me?

Then she remembered Bra's words, uttered desperately. I don't want to be a monster!

And with those words ringing in her ears, Pan suddenly became aware of herself, and she had done.

What was she doing? She was about to kill him! She'd never killed anyone before. That was just wrong. And she had been so close…she hadn't even thought twice about prolonging his pain.

I don't want to be a monster, either, Pan thought.

And then, everything became too much. She doubled over, feeling suddenly sick. The pressure on herself, on her body, on her mind…it was too much, too much to handle. She couldn't manage it anymore.

The leader decided to use that opportunity to get everyone out of there. Pan watched them leave. She knew she could easily stop them from getting away. But she couldn't do it. She didn't want to kill them. She would never be able to live with herself.

When all was silent, Pan turned to Bra. "Are you OK?" she asked her.

"Pan…" she was still staring at the sight of her. "You're a…s-s-"

She controlled herself. "You're a Super Saiyan!"

"Oh." With everything that happened, that detail seemed to slip past her. She knew that she'd transformed, even without seeing it, but she was too busy focusing on trying to save them to really acknowledge it.

Now the news sank in. And it was glorious.

"Yeah," she said. Despite all that happened, she grinned. "I am, aren't I?"

And with that, she could feel that she had turned back to normal. It left her exhausted.

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out behind them. "That was impressive, Pan."

Pan turned to see, up on the roof on the building behind them, the last person she'd ever expect.

"G-Grandpa?"

And there he was – her illustrious grandfather. The current guardian of the planet, stronger than Goten and her father. Despite all she knew about him, she rarely saw him – he was always off training, or simply not around, with his whereabouts unknown. So seeing him here, of all places, really surprised her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"I sensed a massive ki," he explained. "It felt like a Super Saiyan, but not like anyone I was familiar with. So I used Instant Transmission to get here and I saw you."

"Wait," said Bra. "You mean you were here the whole time? Why didn't you step in?"

"By the time I got there, it looked like Pan had everything under control."

Goku looked at Pan and smiled. "So, another Super Saiyan, huh?"

"I guess so," said Pan.

"I'm proud of you Pan," he said. "I'm sure your parents will be, too."

My dad, maybe, she thought. My mum…maybe not. I don't think she wanted me to do it. The way she had reacted a few days ago…

"Um…Goku?" asked Bra. "Can you…give us a lift back? We were just on the balcony on the second floor, and we don't want people to notice we left."

"Oh, sure!"

Pan almost forgot her grandfather could teleport.

They landed back at the balcony. Luckily, no one was standing around there. Pan was right – none of her friends thought they were even allowed to come up here. It was a perfect place to meet in secrecy.

Seeing everyone running around inside, it was almost like nothing had happened. It would be easy for Bra to act like there was nothing wrong. But Pan knew things would never be the same for her.

"Just act natural," Bra whispered in her ear. "I don't want mum knowing what happened. Not yet."

Pan stared at her, puzzled.

"Mum's going to tell Dad," Bra explained. "And Dad…you know what he's like. He'll probably get mad at me because you transformed before I did."

That's ridiculous, Pan thought, but she didn't want to argue.

"But…you're going to tell them eventually, aren't you?" Pan asked.

Bra nodded. "Tonight. After the party's over. And then mum can look up those guys and get them arrested."

Pan had almost forgotten about that. She let them get away. But hopefully they would be able to find out who they are. Provided Vegeta didn't decide to take matters into his own hands.

So Pan left to go and find her friends, weaving her way through the crowds of children, many of them still eating their cake. Bra left soon after her and quickly rejoined her group of friends. She seemed to be acting normally. Or, at the very least, she didn't look upset anymore. Was she actually alright, or was she just pretending?

Pan almost wanted to go up to her, but…that would raise suspicions, wouldn't it? Bra looked like she wanted to pretend nothing strange was happening, so perhaps she should follow along.

She was feeling a little surreal. Perhaps it was because they arrived back so quickly, thanks to her grandpa, but…it didn't feel like those events had actually occurred. Did Bra really have an attempted kidnapping? Were those people really going to kill them? And did she really-

Suddenly, Pan saw her friends, walking away from some of the stalls. They had clearly won, and were leaving proudly, prizes in hand.

"Hey, guys!" Pan waved to the boys, bounding over to them.

"Where were you?" Shiba asked, a little annoyed. "We had to do the dodgem cars without you!"

I went to find Bra. I saved her from getting kidnapped. And I'm a Super Saiyan.

"I was…wandering around," Pan lied.

"Huh." Them being boys, they didn't think about it too long. Pan was glad for that.

"The photo booth doesn't have a long line anymore," Intel commented. "Why don't we go on that?"

So, altogether, they squashed into the photo booth, trying hard to make the most stupid looking poses possible. And while Pan was having fun, her full attention wasn't in it. She was still thinking about what had happened. Amongst everything, there was one thought that kept echoing through her mind.

I have to tell my parents about this.

[AN: Telling your parents you're a Super Saiyan - it's just like coming out, only without the homophobia!

Also, the 'super gun' idea isn't something I just made up to add tension. General White uses something like it during the Red Ribbon Army saga, and it actually hurts Goku! And Bra getting kidnapped...I guess I took something from GT, after all!

But there's still story left, and while the real action has passed, what happens next was even more enjoyable to write.]