Disclaimer: If I owned Dragon Ball Z, Goku would not have been a God Mode Sue. Yeah, I just went there.


Neither of them mentioned their conversation the next morning. When she woke Pan rose from her bedroll in silence, put up her hair, and left the cave without a word. Piccolo did not ask where she was going.

When she returned several minutes later she had a bundle of leaves sticking out of one pocket and was carrying a fish nearly as big as she was, which she proceeded to cook and eat just outside of the mouth of the cave. Piccolo watched in disgust for a few minutes before turning away, though he was unable to block out the noises. The night before, however, had left him numb, and somehow the disgust of watching a Saiyan eat had less of an impact on him than it would have ordinarily.

Within the space of ten minutes, there were only bones left. Pan stomped dirt over her small fire and buried the remains before she returned to the cave and turned, slowly, reluctantly, toward Piccolo.

"I need to change your bandages." It was the first time all morning that either of them had spoken.

"Do what you want."

She knelt down beside him, digging through her capsule assortment. As she located and opened the capsule she was looking for, Piccolo spoke again. "We need a plan."

"I know." She lifted the cloak from his body before moving him – gently, though the motion was enough to send jolts of pain through his body – and helped him to sit against the wall of the cave. "We need to think of a way to get past that ki-draining field. Is there any other way into the lab?"

"Not that I know of." It was good to have something practical to talk about, something that did not stir up so many emotions better left buried. "But I think it likely that the field does not extend into the lab. It cannot, if he needs Dende alive." Pan did not look up as she cut away the bandages, but nodded to show that she was listening. "That is, of course, assuming Dende is even being held at the lab."

"Sounds reasonable, and it's the only lead we've got." She let out a sigh of frustration. "It really isn't that far to the door, if only we could… fly…" Pan's eyes glazed over for a moment, and even her hands stopped moving as she sat lost in thought. "What about Nimbus?"

"Pan, I can't ride that thing."

"Doesn't matter. You can hold onto me." Pan started humming a cheerful tune as she plucked the leaves from her pocket and began to grind them into pulp.

While she was doing that, Piccolo occupied himself by imagining the various ways he might ride on a fluffy yellow cloud, supported by a woman a full head and a half shorter than he was. By the time Pan had finished with the leaves, he had come to the conclusion that there was no way he was going to make it through this with his dignity intact. Still, it was the only thing they had thought of that could conceivably work. He grunted his consent.

"It's a plan, then." She paused, examining the green paste she had made and apparently finding it to her satisfaction, before looking back at him. "Okay. This will hurt."

"Just do it."

Pan nodded, and then swiftly applied the paste to his shoulder. Immediately it felt as if every nerve ending in that bit of flesh had been lit on fire; Piccolo clenched his jaw with a hiss of pain, his talons leaving gouges in the floor of the cave. Thankfully the sensation lasted only a few seconds, but he had to resist the urge to swat her hand away as she continued the process on the rest of his wounds.

"What is that?" he asked after she was finished, just as soon as he could trust himself to speak without screaming.

"Grandpa Goku showed me when he took me camping. He said to remember it because it would come in handy if… if we ever ran out of senzu…"

Piccolo nodded, leaning his head against the rock as she began to apply fresh bandages. "Your grandfather may have done a lot of stupid things in his life, but he had his moments."


It would be several more days before Piccolo was in any condition to fight again, and so they used the time to plan. Pan, when she wasn't foraging, eating, or tending to his wounds, spent a great deal of time using that strange machine of hers to keep in contact with her friends at Capsule Corp. More than once, Piccolo had heard Goten's voice coming through as well.

Pan, he noted, still had not changed out of the gi that she had left the house in the morning they had left (had it really been only a day ago?). The garment was in horrible shape; there were large splotches of both crimson and violet all over the orange. The hit to the leg she had taken earlier had also shredded one of her pant legs from the knee down, and the gaping hole in her shirt was so large that even Piccolo could tell it was barely on the edge of decency.

"Didn't you bring any spare clothes at all?" he asked as Pan hung up after her latest call to Capsule Corp. Her only response was to look at the ground, blushing slightly.

"Never mind," he grumbled, raising a hand. "I'll just—"

"No." To his surprise, Pan shook her head as she pushed herself to her feet. "I don't think you can spare the energy right now. Just… hold on a minute, okay?" Without another word of explanation, she made her way further back into the cave, until she was well out of Piccolo's sight.

He had learned not to push her when she did things like this; there would be no getting anything out of her until she was ready to explain. So he waited. From somewhere in the back of the cave, Piccolo heard a rustling which he assumed meant she was stripping off the damaged clothing. His guess was confirmed when a heap of cloth was dropped on the ground, followed by the click and distinctive expansion of compressed air that accompanied an opening capsule.

Had Pan brought a change of clothes after all?

His question was answered when he heard her pulling on some new article of clothing, and he wondered irritably why she hadn't done so before. When she had finished her ki spiked, briefly, and Piccolo assumed she had incinerated the discarded gi.

A few more minutes passed before she came back out. When she did her steps were slow, hesitant, and sounded much softer than before – not at all like the boisterous clomping that was usually produced by her heavy boots. Finally, though, Pan emerged from the shadows, and Piccolo had to suppress a gasp of surprise.

It was not eye-blinding orange that greeted his sight, but dark purple. A blue belt fit snugly around her waist, and soft, moccasin-like shoes adorned her feet. Raising his eyes to her face, Piccolo saw with a shock that there was a faint pink blush spreading across her cheeks.

After a few seconds of silence, he finally managed to find his voice again. "…Pan…?"

Still blushing, not making eye contact, she moved further toward the mouth of the cave and began to arrange kindling for a fire. "Dad left me…" She hissed in frustration as the sticks she'd been propping into a tent shape clattered to the ground, and started again. "He knew you'd never had another student, not really. He said that even though you never actually taught me, he thought you'd like it if I wore your colors once in a while in addition to Grandpa Goku's, since he couldn't." She started picking the sticks up once again.

Once again, Piccolo was speechless. Though he would never say as much out loud, he was deeply moved, touched that his student would think so much of preserving his legacy.

But also ashamed. That Gohan would ever find it necessary to apologize for following his own path in life.

"Pan."

The whole time he had noticed her watching him out of the corner of her eye, and as these thoughts went through Piccolo's head he had noticed Pan's face changing, her expression softening as the blush faded from her cheeks, and Piccolo wondered irritably whether he had broadcast his thoughts by accident again. Now her eyes were filled with understanding, and she gave him her full attention as she turned toward him, leaving the sticks forgotten on the ground.

"I… appreciate the gesture. But my earlier offer still stands."

Pan nodded, offering him a small smile, and suddenly the awkwardness between them was gone. "Just as soon as you're well enough," she said.


Two days later, Piccolo could tell that it wouldn't be long before he was fully recovered. Pan, when he told her as much, was skeptical – until she removed the bandages again and discovered that most of his wounds were already halfway closed.

"Woah," she murmured, taking a closer look at his shoulder. "Yesterday I could've sworn your arm was more off than on… How do you do that?"

"I told you," he said, smirking, "Namekians heal fast."

"Man, I wish I could do that." She rocked back on her heels and resumed her grinding of the now much-dreaded leaf paste. "Have you thought of anything else that might help us when we go in?"

Piccolo shook his head. He had already told her all the details he could remember of Gero's lab, and he had a very good memory.

She bit her lip for a second. "Have you had any luck—"

"No," Piccolo snapped, his own worry making his temper even shorter than usual. "I will tell you if I manage to contact Dende. In the meantime, you should trust that I am still trying."

"Sorry."


The next morning, he came out of his light trance at sunrise and realized he felt right again. Sitting up, Piccolo hooked one of his talons under the bandages on his chest, and hesitated only a second before yanking his hand downward. The gauze fell away with a jagged ripping sound.

Pan stirred in her bedroll, mumbling something about food, but then sat bolt upright as she came fully awake. "What are you—oh!" she exclaimed. "You're healed!"

"Why, exactly, do you sound so surprised?" With a wave of his hand, a new gi appeared on his body. Much better.

"Guess I'm just used to dealing with humans." She sat up, putting her chin in her hands. "You do know a normal person would have taken several months to recover from that."

Piccolo merely grunted in response. When training a five-year-old Gohan, it didn't take one long to become completely inured to inane chatter. "Just stay still," he said, "and I'll replace yours as well."

Pan did not reply, but from the way she shifted her weight, Piccolo could sense her hesitation. "What now?"

"It's just… if you use that trick, won't it get rid of what I'm already wearing?"

He lowered his hand. "Yes, but I don't see why that matters." He had thought she was uncomfortable wearing his colors; had she changed her mind?

"It wouldn't… it wouldn't bother you?"

Piccolo shook his head. "It's for the best."

Their eyes met, and in that moment he knew that she understood why. With a quick nod, Pan closed her eyes. "Do it."

That was all the prompting he needed. A beam of brilliant light surrounded Pan's body, and when it had dissipated, she was clad in a gi like Goku's once again.

"Thank you." She looked down at herself, plucking at the fabric. "Wow, and it's exactly right, too. How do you do that?"

"It's a Namekian ability. Trying to explain it would be like trying to explain human reproduction to me—I don't want to know!" he added hastily as Pan opened her mouth.

She closed it with a mischievous smile.

Was it just him, or had she just pulled a prank?

"So when do you think we'll be able to move out?" she asked, still grinning, breaking into his thoughts.

"Now that I've healed, it shouldn't be long before I regain full strength," he said, still caught between annoyance and relief. "Tomorrow morning, at the latest."

"That's great!" Pan bolted out of the cave, presumably to go get breakfast. "StaythereI'llbebackinafewminutes!" she yelled as she flew away.

Shaking his head, Piccolo found a sunny spot and settled into a meditative trance, putting all of his focus into regaining his strength.


A/N: Next chapter, they're getting out of this cave, and the action starts again. Though I do think it was a good thing to devote a chapter or two to character development.

For anyone who hasn't seen Dragon Ball, Nimbus will only carry those who are pure of heart. Piccolo, as a former villain, definitely does not fulfill that requirement.

Out of all the chapters in this story, this is so far the one that has undergone the most revision since the first draft. In particular, I'd already established that Pan hadn't brought any extra clothes, and I had a long, hard debate with myself over whether and how to handle the possibility of her adopting Piccolo's look. In the end I just did what I generally think is the best thing to do in these situations: I told the characters what was going on, sat them down and said "go," and they handled the whole thing without any further prompting from me.

In more detail, the reason I went with the solution I did was that it just didn't feel right to have Pan start dressing like Piccolo. There are some situations where it might work, but this is not one of them. He never taught her, and what's more, they haven't been particularly close before now. Also - and this is the most important reason - one thing I'm trying very, very hard not to do is make either one of these characters into the other's "replacement Gohan." All three of them are their own unique people, and attempts to replace a deceased loved one with another person tend to end badly.

That little aside on human reproduction was a joke I just couldn't resist, and which might have been inspired by a scene in My Little Lolita's story Watching, in which Krillin blackmails Piccolo into attending Trunks's birth by threatening to give him "The Talk" if he doesn't. I don't know just what it is, but putting asexual characters in awkward situations is something that I've always found to be hilariously funny - much to Piccolo's dismay.