Co-written by SuperSaiyan2Link.
"If you save Pan and your father now, he will go down a dark path of no return."
Trunks hated this predicament he was in.
"Damn it..."
"I don't know for sure how it would go: whether Vegeta would kill all three of them..."
Trunks pictured his mother, Krillin, and Gohan slain at his father's feet.
"...or if Krillin and Gohan might kill him..."
Now he saw Vegeta dead at Gohan's and Krillin's feet.
"...or if both your father and any one of them would be dead."
Whoever the Earthling casualty was, none of the possible scenarios were any less devastating.
"That's why you have to intervene with Gohan now."
"But even if I intervened now, it'd be too late..."
"Yes..."
Chronoa took the scroll and began to turn back the time on Namek prior to Gohan nearing the vital meeting point.
"...which is why you're going farther back."
Trunks hung up his coat nearby, revealing a dark grey long-sleeved shirt and the full length of his brown gloves.
"Obviously I can't afford to be noticed..." he began, strapping what appeared to be a watch on his right gloved wrist. "...so I think this will do the trick."
Now having found the ideal place to drop him off, Chronoa handed him the scroll.
"Keep Gohan from getting there. I'll let you know when the time is right."
"Watch over Pan. Please."
She noted the concern in his voice.
"I will."
Wrapping both his hands around the scroll, he closed his eyes as a beam of light covered him. Once he disappeared completely from her view, Chronoa took the scroll and moved time forward to Pan's current predicament...
Sinking, Vegeta to her side, and neither of them able to escape their impending descent towards the bottom of Namek. She had overheard the crisis Trunks and Chronoa were in and, as much as she had hoped for it, she wasn't going to get back-up.
"Do what you have to do, Trunks."
Now on Namek minutes prior to Vegeta's final battle with Zarbon, Trunks made his way to cover, sensing Gohan flying in his direction. He clicked on the watch's screen.
"Here goes..."
The young Gohan, the Namekian four star Dragon Ball in his hands, stopped in midair upon noticing a white glow from behind a large rock.
"What could that be?"
From behind it, a figure floated upward, donned in Saiyan-esque armor and shoulders pads, white gloves and boots, and a mouth-covering helmet not unlike those worn by the Frieza Force, but with a dark visor that made his eyes difficult to see.
"Stop right there, uh... scum!"
His mask had a built-in voice changer, distorting it to the point that it would be unrecognizable to Gohan, unlike any voices had heard or would hear up until the Cell Games.
Gohan tried flying around him, forcing Trunks to fly in front of him without going faster than anything Gohan had seen so far.
"That Dragon Ball belongs to Lord Frieza! Hand it over!"
He fired a ki blast past Gohan, which the young half-Saiyan perceived as a warning shot.
"That was your one warning! I'm taking it from you... now!"
He flew in Gohan's way again, then swiped the Dragon Ball from the son of Goku's hands.
"Hey!"
Trunks made his way to land, Gohan in pursuit.
"Give that back!"
Seeing Gohan about to fire at him, Trunks turned his head and anticipated the angle of the shot.
"Never!"
Trunks could easily avoid it, but as the blast left Gohan's hands, he maneuvered in such a way for it to strike the Dragon Ball head-on, knocking it out of his hands. He gestured as if he was shocked and grunted, then he and Gohan both followed it as it rolled towards a hill. Both fired bolts to stop or slow down the other, Trunks' always just close enough for Gohan to think he was in danger.
As the ball finally came to a stop and Gohan tried picking it back up, Trunks fired at Gohan's feet rapidly. In a fashion akin to his father's reaction to Launch firing bullets at him, Gohan hopped on both feet repeatedly to avoid Trunks' barrage of ki blasts.
''"He'll pick up that I'm toying with him unless I change things up."''
He stopped firing, then flew in front of Gohan, his foot standing atop the Dragon Ball.
"Tell you what, Kid..."
Gohan waited to see what this mysterious Frieza Force soldier would do next.
"Last one breathing gets the Dragon Ball."
He tried taking on a menacing pose.
"Get ready to meet your maker."
He found Gohan trying to hide any nervousness he may have had, ready to fight.
"I won't run away!"
Upon touching the ground, Pan and Vegeta were both held down, trying to move their faces out of the sanded floor. Suddenly, a thought sparked in Zarbon's head...
One he found delightful.
"Dodoria was right! This is so much simpler! I'll just tell Lord Frieza that Vegeta chose death over facing him!"
He grinned as he mused over this new plan.
"I'll bring the one Dragon Ball as collateral, then Ginyu can find the rest. Oh, this will work out perfectly."
Chronoa already feared the worst.
"Zarbon shouldn't be acting like this. He should want Vegeta alive. But now..."
"He'll kill us both." mused Pan, whose vision was already beginning to blur.
With her left arm stuck, Pan couldn't manage a Kamehameha, and even with a one-handed one, had to assume it wouldn't be enough to get out of the water.
The Surpreme Kai of Time knew she should stay the course, but even now, she was conflicted.
"Pan and Vegeta will die. They'll drown unless I do something."
The scroll in her hand, she readied her hand to swipe time backward to get in contact with Trunks.
"I just hope he has kept Gohan at bay long enough..."
Pan went to reach for the Power Pole's case on her back...
"I forgot. It's not there. It fell into the water after Dodoria..."
She paused in mid-thought when she took a closer look to her right at something nestled between rocks...
"Grandpa's Power Pole!"
Chronoa stopped what she was about to do.
"You found it?"
''I just need to...''
Pan reached in front of her, managing to touch it with her fingertips, and slowly dragged it closer.
"Got it!"
Finally, she held it in her hand and tried to aim with it. She knew a simple jab of it would only slightly irritate Zarbon, so she had to hit something that would leave him vulnerable. As far as she could tell, his head was turned away from her...
Zarbon eyed Vegeta, smirking as the Saiyan shook violently, bubbles flowing from the sides of his head.
"The Prince of all Saiyans... snuffed out by water. I'm going to savor the last of your life leaving your body."
"There isn't much time, Pan!" warned Chronoa. "You have to act, now!"
Pan agreed, especially now that it was harder to see the very Power Pole in her hand. She thought of the size of Zarbon's head, as it was in this form, and tried to account for where it would be from where she lied and where Zarbon stood. Too much to one side, and she'd simply jab his right cheek. Too high up, his forehead, and too low, his chin.
"Here goes..."
"POWER POLE EXTEND!"
It extended, one side digging into the ground. The other struck rose to her intended target and Pan put her strength into the thrusting polearm...
Just then, a muffled scream followed by the smell of blood.
Now that Zarbon's hand no longer held her down, she turned and saw dark green in the water, as well as tons of bubbles spreading out from his mouth.
"Vegeta!"
Pan knew even if they both swam now, they might both lose consciousness by the time they got out, if not drown beforehand.
"Chronoa... how far can the Power Pole reach?"
"Goku reached the Earth's moon with it."
"The moon?!"
Pan planted the Power Power downward, then took hold of the other end in her left. She look to her right and saw Vegeta on the ground, turning over with ki in his hands for an attack. She reached out with her right hand...
"You'd better take me up on this, Vegeta..."
Not about to wait on him, she grabbed hold of his wrist, grabbing hold as tight as she could. On his face, she could see him flustered at what she was trying to do.
"POWER POLE... EXTEND!"
She felt herself rising upward as Vegeta felt the same while in Pan's grip.
Krillin and Bulma stood looking over at the water below. Vegeta, Pan, and Zarbon were so deep below the two of them couldn't see anything of them.
"I should have done something..." Krillin mused. "Guru unlocked my potential... and all I did was..."
"Wait...!" interrupted Bulma, pointing... "Down there!"
They saw two blurred figures coming upward, along with some kind of red pole...
"Wait, that's just like..."
A splash...
Followed by Pan holding onto the pole and Vegeta, and both coughing up water and gasping for air. At this point, all Pan could see was yellow and orange blurs atop green-blue blurs.
With a swing of her right hand, she threw Vegeta towards land. Krillin, unintentionally standing in Vegeta's path, caught him.
"Now Vegeta's..."
Pan felt her grip slipping...
And saw herself falling...
When her left hand was gripped by both of Bulma's, who crouched over, trying to keep her footing. With a pull, she yanked Pan to shore, then lowered her down onto her back gently.
"You're okay. Just stay with us."
Krillin did not receive the same treatment with Vegeta, who pushed him away.
"Get o...*cough*!"
Both him and Pan simply looked upward at the sky, their vision slowly unblurring, coughing out all the water they took in, and taking this moment to let their bodies recover from their near-drowning at the hands of Zarbon.
"I promise you, Bulla... I will keep your father safe."
"The second Zarbon is done with his bath, I'll make sure he rests at sea."
Another splash...
Perhaps too soon, Zarbon arose, his right hand covering his right eye. Pan and Vegeta quickly hopped to their feet as Zarbon let go, revealing his right eye had turned the same color as his blood. He pointed at her with his bloodied hand.
"You wretch! You nearly gouged out my eye!"
With a snarl, Zarbon was out for blood, slamming his fists towards the two of them. Bulma and Krillin made their way to cover, stumbling from the impact, as Vegeta and Pan had just managed to get out of the way, then went for kicks. Frieza's right hand managed to block both, Vegeta's striking his right arm to no effect...
But Pan's kicked his left, whose burns from before were far more visible, the impact more than irritable. She noticed unlike before, there was no purple aura.
"Chronoa... you don't think there's any of Towa's formula left, do you?"
"Zarbon shouldn't have been able to block your times three Kamehameha earlier. That formula encompassed his arm, allowing him to withstand it... but from the looks of it, I think it used itself up doing so. So now..."
As Zarbon reeled from her first kick, Pan's second struck his right side. Vegeta, seeing an opening, flew past him with a punch to his face.
"There's no more power-up."
She took on a similar approach to Vegeta, flying past Zarbon while delivering a punch. Once Zarbon began to turn around, he was met by a simultaneous punch from both of them, then two blasts to his chest, knocking him farther away from the water.
From there, Vegeta flew upward, firing several ki bullets at Zarbon, whom shielded himself with his right arm while firing a charged beam with his left. Seeing Vegeta falling out of the sky, Pan flew forward to keep Zarbon at bay.
This time, Zarbon side-stepped her intended punch, then grabbed hold of Pan by her cape. He slammed her downward, then took hold of Pan by her shoulders as he tilted his head backward.
"Come on, body!"
"KAIO-KE...!"
She was interrupted by a headbutt from Zarbon.
"Nice try."
He then tilted his head back once again.
"But no more."
Another headbutt, leaving Pan further dazed.
Vegeta, seeing this transpire, began to charge up ki for a blast. From this angle, he'd end up blasting through her to hit Zarbon. Pan saw this and tried getting her ki shield up.
"Damn it, Vegeta..."
Zarbon headbutt her once more, shattering the shield and leaving her exposed for one more.
"Good night."
As his head was about to go forward...
Two feet crashed into it, followed by Zarbon being tunneled underground by Vegeta's hit.
"He was about to blast us both... but he did that instead."
Seeing Pan staring at him, Vegeta crossed his arms to her.
"What?"
"I..." stumbled Pan. "Thank you."
"You think I did that for you? I saw an opening. That's all."
In spite of this, Pan grinned back at him.
"It's baby steps..."
Just then, an explosion from below her feet expanded through the ground she stood on, knocking her back into the water. From this crater rose Zarbon at his angriest by far.
"No more talk! No more playing around! I'll rend your spine here and now, Vegeta!"
Vegeta, however, was at confident as he had ever been.
"I'll enjoy watching you try, Zarbon."
The two charged towards each other, neither intending to avoid the impending collision and preparing their own killing blows. Pan, taking hold of the massive Power Pole, which shrank as she made her way to land, did not like Vegeta's odds.
"Zarbon may be in bad shape, but Vegeta's not any better."
She saw Zarbon's exposed back and pondered if her Power Pole could do something.
"Tripping him might not be enough and I'm not sure throwing it will do much at this point."
A thought occurred to her and as much as her muscles ached at it, Pan knew what was at stake.
"You can hate me later, body."
She began running on foot herself...
"Kaio-Ken..."
She readied her Power Pole like a javelin.
"Times..."
Zarbon heard this, but disregarded it as he saw Vegeta grasping his stomach with his other hand.
"My fists'll turn your bones to powder before your hand can reach me!"
Pan saw him starting to raise both his fists and finally pushed herself to say...
"Three!"
The thrown Power Pole struck the back of Zarbon's leg, causing him to stumble. Zooming toward the bouncing Power Pole, Pan retrieved it, then, as Zarbon tried to slam his fists down on the approaching Saiyan, Pan struck his back with the Power Pole, causing him to step forward into the path of Vegeta's fist, which pierced his stomach.
"You did it, Pan!" shouted Chronoa. "Now hurry, while everyone's looking at Vegeta."
Pan flew behind the cave with what was left of her Kaio-Ken. Bulma and Krillin did look in her direction initially, but looked back at Vegeta upon hearing...
"Wait, Vegeta! Don't kill me, please!"
Back on Trunks' end, he had spent all his time since being sent back to stalling Gohan with their battle. This whole time, he had to hold back extensively so as not to hit or harm Gohan while simultaneously appear as if he intended to.
"C'mere, you little runt! Fight me up close like a... a monkey!"
Immediately, Trunks knew he had to work on his evil henchman banter. Then for the first time since he arrived, he heard Chronoa's voice declare...
"Pan did it, Trunks!"
"She did?!"
The good news left him exposed to a hit from the slowly angered Gohan. The hit didn't cause too much harm, but Trunks flew backward, flailing and acting like it was a far greater hit.
"Agh! How are you this strong?!"
"Supreme Kai of Time, what should I do now?"
"Wrap things up here."
"Roger."
Gohan, not buying his act earlier, flew around Trunks repeatedly, hitting him with each pass. Trunks knew in any other context, he could easily block and counter each of these, but he had to keep taking the hits.
"Awww nooo!" cowered Trunks.
As he fell down, he felt Gohan charging his ki for a more powerful attack, one that he recognized immediately.
"Masenko!"
Trunks covered himself with his hands, then allowed himself to be pushed down towards the water below.
"This can't be! AUUUUUUGH!"
As he was sent into the sea, he finally let the beam pass him, then hit himself from Gohan's view. He sensed Gohan's ki, hoping he'd finally grab the Dragon Ball and leave, but the son of Goku didn't.
"He's waiting for me. He knows I'm still here. I'd better get back up there."
He made a big splash and gave a huge gasp, as if he was lucky to be alive. He crawled onto land, looking over at Gohan, who remained suspicious of him.
"You're not fooling me."
Seeing Gohan about to make another move, Trunks put out both his hands out nervously.
"Wait, wait, please!"
He crouched onto his knees, his hands over his head and looking down at the dirt.
"The Dragon Ball is all yours."
He looked back at Gohan, appearing to shiver in fear.
"I'm done working for Frieza. I'm going to leave the force and rethink my life."
At last, Gohan grabbed hold of the Dragon Ball, not seeing Trunks making any moves or sensing him preparing ki for a back stab.
"I know you're not as evil as the rest of them," Gohan suggested.
He began to float off the ground.
"I hope I see you as a good guy some day."
Gohan watched as Trunks slowly waved to him before flying forward towards his originally intended destination.
"Good luck, kid."
He stood waiting for the all-clear.
"...and Gohan is headed back at the right time. Well done, Trunks."
"Phew."
He clicked the watch again, deactivating the disguise and allowing him to be free of the helmet.
"I couldn't see in that thing."
"It's not over just yet. When you get back here, I'm going to send you forward in time to do one more thing."
Bulma and Krillin saw Zarbon begging Vegeta to spare him while Pan listened to it behind the cave.
"We... we can work together! Together, we... we can defeat Lord Frieza!"
In spite of this plea, Vegeta caught his bluff.
"Loyal to Frieza to the end. Well don't worry: he'll join you in Hell soon enough."
With a beam piercing through his back, Zarbon was launched off Vegeta's hand and left everyone's view with a massive splash.
Mira didn't hear a single noise out of Towa even as Zarbon was slain by Vegeta. As far as he could see, she didn't have a hint of anger on her face.
"Zarbon has failed and yet you are not... upset."
"Seeing as how this patroller had far exceeded my expectations prior, I had planned for the probability of her success here."
"Just what is your contingency?"
"It is a risk, but it will be worth it, Mira."
Pan, her back against the cave just to keep herself standing up, eagerly awaited her departure.
"Is it time for me to head back yet?"
"Not just yet," answered Trunks.
She heard a conversation begin between Krillin and Vegeta.
"You should've thanked her, Vegeta."
"Ha! For what?"
"Even after the hell you put us through, she still saved you."
Knowing what he had done against both Dodoria and Zarbon, Vegeta turned to look over at the latter's body...
...but didn't see it.
Back in the round room, Trunks and Chronoa looked over the deceased Dodoria's body as the former waved a scanning device over the body, finding...
"Hold on a minute..."
A chemical compound of some kind and its components were being identified.
"Towa's formula! It's still there in Dodoria's body! With this, we could deceipher it. Maybe find a way to counteract it the next time."
"Wait a minute..." Pan began to inquire, overhearing them. "You have Dodoria's body?"
"Right as my father was finishing Zarbon, I flew in and grab Dodoria's body unseen."
"What for? It wasn't going to disappear?"
"Dodoria's in the correct place in the afterlife, but not his body. Seeing as how his body will remain intact without my father having destroyed it, we'll hold onto it for the time being."
Chronoa put her hands over the scroll, readying it for Pan's return.
"Alright, it's time to bring you back, Pan."
Pan let herself slide down and sit, letting herself relax.
"Good, because let me tell you two, all this Kaio-Ken has..."
She saw a flash of light encompass her surroundings, but... it wasn't from her going through time.
"What... what is this?!"
Trunks and Chronoa were shocked at what had happened.
"What... what is thi...?!"
Suddenly, Pan's feed had gone completely silent. Trunks saw no sign of her at all.
"Where did she go?!"
Chronoa created a globe of Namek and tried searching for her, but...
"I... I can't read her location!"
