Chapter 9

The outer wall of the Namekian castle exploded as Pikon was slammed through it by his brother dragon.

Righting himself just in time to block a punch, Pikon's only concern was leading this monster away from his new allies, and thereby protecting the Dragonballs.

"So, Nova," the fat dragon smiled, "you have betrayed us?"

"My name is Pikon!" the fighter roared as he leapt at his opponent.

"A weak name, for a weak spirit," the monster smiled a toothy grin as he dodged blows. "Best to put you out of your misery now, before you disgrace us all!"

The Dragon unleashed a series of furious punches to Pikon's head, finishing it off by sending him slamming into the ground far below.

When the dust cleared, the Dragon floated down to the center of the crater where Pikon lay. "Just for the record, my name is still Haze Shenron," the fat dragon said as he knelt down to deliver the finishing punch!

Pikon's hand flashed upwards like a snake and caught his opponent's fist with one hand!

He smiled. "Yeah, and Haze was always the weakest!" Pikon lifted Haze over his head in a wide arc as if to throw him. However, he did not release his grip, and the wicked rotation shattered Haze's arm in several places.

As the fat dragon screamed in agony, Pikon repeated the move, this time completing it by tossing the beast as far away from the castle as he could.

Back inside, Pikon's human companions were still trying to pick themselves up off the ground.

"Bra, how did you get here!?" Trunks shouted.

"I snuck on board the ship before you left, obviously!" she replied. "Keep up! What are you going to do about that thing out there!?"

"It's one of them!" the smaller Namekian boy trembled. "The Dragon Gods, they've returned. We have failed!"

"Calm down," Uub said. "We can handle it."

"But you don't understand," the boy carried on. "Their power is different from normal power, since they're not from this universe. It's impossible for normal fighters to battle them! That's why the Real Gods had to seal them away!"

"Well, that does explain why Gotenks got knocked out in the first round last time," Goten grumbled.

"Look," Trunks spoke up, "we've got to get these Dragonballs out of here! Our friend is a Dragon too, so I think he should do fine. Let's go!"

The two boys gasped in terror. "Another one!?"

"No, he's a good one, I promise," Pan started to say, before she saw what they were really looking at.

Another creature had appeared in the room somehow, a large brownish one with a beak, fins and antennae.

"Evening, my name is Rage Shenron. Please hand over those Dragonballs of yours!"

Pan dove at the Dragon in an attempt to attack.

"No!" Uub shouted too late, as Pan was easily knocked aside by the larger beast. "You can't fight them with normal chi!"

"Hehehe, you noticed that, huh?" the monster smiled. "I'm afraid you are all out of luck."

Uub stepped forward. "I'm afraid not," he said, cracking his knuckles.

Outside, things were not looking very good for Haze Shenron. He had a broken hand and his body was beaten pretty severely.

Pikon brushed some dust off his sleeve. "And to think, you were worried about me embarrassing our clan."

Haze sneered at him. "You think you are so clever? Well, have this!"

Haze reared back and vomited a mountain of black smoke at Pikon, causing him to cough and his eyes to bleed. Dark welts appeared all over his body as he dropped to his knees, deathly sick.

"It's not always the strongest who wins," Haze bellowed with laughter.

Uub wasn't all that concerned about this fight. This Rage Shenron was no equal of Pikon's, to be sure.

But he was concerned about his own mental health. He didn't want to get too worked up. He avoided Rage's electrical attacks with ease, while trying to keep Pan out of the way. She simply refused to buy that she was less than useless in this fight.

"Damn it, Uub," she screamed, "stay back, this is my fight!"

"Pan, you're just killing yourself," he yelled back.

Trunks and Goten ushered the small Namekian children out of the room, while Bra followed, still carrying the Dragonballs in their case.

"Shouldn't we help?" Goten asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Weren't you listening?" Trunks said. "We can't fight them! We have to let Uub handle it!"

"I wish Daddy was here," Bra moaned.

"Yeah, where the hell are our dads?" Trunks wondered aloud. "With our luck they've gone back to Earth."

"Are your fathers the one who traveled with the strange-looking Namekian?" Klam asked.

"Did you see them?" Trunks jumped.

"Yes, Oysta wouldn't let us come out of hiding, but we heard them. They were talking to someone who wasn't there, one of the True Gods. They said they had to go to a place called New Namek!"

"What!?" Goten blurted. "Namek, what the heck?"

"Remember what Pikon said?" Trunks asked. "He said the other Dragons were looking for Namek and the original Dragonballs. Our dads must have gone on ahead to protect it or something. Goku's been there before, so he must have known the way."

"Do we?" Goten asked.

"No," Trunks sighed.

"A pity," a cruel voice said as everyone looked up to see Haze Shenron. "That knowledge might have made you useful, and thus worthy of living another few moments. Unlike your traitorous friend, who's dying outside."

Haze belched a cloud of smoke at them.

Pan was down on the ground. She hated this! It wasn't fair! Just because these guys were from another universe, that shouldn't mean they were unbeatable. She looked up and saw Uub holding his own against that monster and she tried to climb to her feet again. She'd be damned if she was going to let him take out another one of these guys while she just laid here.

But before she could muster the strength to get up, she started coughing furiously. It was then she noticed the smoke.

"Pan!" Uub yelled, turning his back for just a second so that Rage could unleash a torrent of pure electrical energy that shocked the hell out of Uub.

He hit the ground hard, and the monster fired another jolt.

Between clenched eyes, Uub just made out Haze Shenron's form as he entered the room, holding the box of Dragonballs.

"Hehehe, meal's here!" he laughed.

"Ah, this means we can have them all to ourselves. No sharing with the others. You were right to say we should double back and let them do all the work. But look at us now, now we shall rule over the Dragons!"

Rage clamored over to his brother as Haze popped the top of the box.

"Black stars?" he said. "I don't remember the Dragonballs having black stars."

"Aw, who cares," Haze said. "They are from the Earth, they might be inferior. Just as long as they give up their power to us." He reached in and pulled out the two-star ball. He gazed at it for a minute before dropping it down his throat.

Rage followed suit with the five-star ball.

They each stood there for second, as if waiting for the sense of power to kick in.

"I'm not sure these are working," Rage said.

Haze's stomach grumbled and he doubled over in pain, dropping the box and letting the balls spill out. "Something's wrong!" He reached out to his brother for help, who merely backed away, as if Haze's condition were contagious.

It seemed it was. Because Rage began getting sick too.

"What's wrong with these things?" he cried out.

From the floor, Pan laughed. "You idiots, we sealed those balls so you couldn't use them." She stood up, the effects of the Dragon's magic weakening as he did. "Looks like if you actually do eat them, they poison you. Good to know!"

The Dragons exchanged looks of abject terror.

"And what's more," the girl continued. "That sense of dread I was feeling earlier? It's gone now. And more than that, I can actually feel your chi! And I'm not impressed!"

She braced her legs on the ground and began powering up. Uub watched in disbelief. He had never felt this kind of power from Pan before. He couldn't help but wonder if she was about to turn into… But no, she'd never before…

Suddenly it all became clear as her aura flashed red.

"Kaio-Ken… times 20!!!" she screamed as she flew at Rage Shenron, and kicked him so hard in the head that his whole upper body exploded, leaving only his feet.

"Huh," she mused, "too hard!"

Her raging aura subsided a bit as she turned to the other Dragon. He tried to flee out the whole in the wall by which he'd entered. But Pan wouldn't let him. She cupped her hands at the side of her body and called out, "Ka-Me-Ha-Me-HAAA!!!"

The tidal wave of power slammed into the Dragon from behind and broke his body into pieces, sending parts of him flying out into the air.

Uub's blurred vision was clearing as the echoing thunder died down.

He looked up to see Pan bending over to scoop up the five-star ball from the remains of Rage. She caught him looking.

"Now THAT is how you do it!" She smiled at him. Possibly for the first time. "Now, I've got two and you've only got one. I'm winning!"

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S-Shield's notes

Pan rocks, huh? I've never been quite sure where I came down on the whole "Pan as a Super Saiyan" debate. Either way, I figured since I was trying to make this as "canon-friendly" as possible, it probably wasn't up to me to say one way or the other. But I figured there was no reason she couldn't use Kaio-Ken. Seemed like an elegant solution.

Thanks for reading.