Chapter 1 – Pan's encounter
By the time the tiny black-haired girl had reached the scene of the fight, Gohan and Videl's burdens had been lifted slightly. The Z-Fighters were blasting through crowds of the army with such force, that many of the darkly-robed strangers had had to drop their bags of robbed items and join their comrades in battling these newly-arrived Earth warriors. Pan avoided the camera's gaze, the visions of which were still being broadcast on TV – hopefully it would be a while before Chi-Chi noticed that she had a quaking hand resting on Bra's shoulder, not Pan's. The girl dodged around the side of the building. Immediately she was faced with a stray invader, who tried to haul her over his shoulder and cart her off to the space craft.
Surprised and furious, Pan allowed herself to be picked up, but powered up as soon as she was slung over his shoulder. He dropped her in surprise, and she flew off into the air, and was away over the top of the building whilst the invader cursed loudly and furiously. She perched, bird-like, on a ledge, laughed down at him and took off, ignoring his taunts and shouts.
Where was Gohan? She scanned around with sharp eyes, and noticed a green figure flying in from the east. She thought all the invaders wore black clothes…but then again, that figure wasn't wearing black robes…he was wearing white...
"Piccolo!" she shouted, catching his attention. He glanced at her, made to continue his path of flight but then changed his mind and flew towards her.
"Where's Goku?" was the first question he asked.
"Over there!" She pointed. "What are you doing here?"
He followed the direction she pointed at. "Whatever you're doing here. I sensed something was wrong, so came to investigate. Obviously my guess was right."
"Yeah. There were these men dressed in black-"
Something flew between them and whammed into a building behind them, breaking the conversation. Bruised but furious, Trunks flew forward between them again – "Hey Piccolo," he grunted – and punched the invader who'd thrown him into the wall. Piccolo, his attention caught, left Pan's side and went to help.
Pan descended onto the ground with a sigh. Once again she had been deserted in the field of fighting, like the little sissy girl she wasn't. "Great," she muttered angrily. "What do I do now?"
Her question was never answered. An arm came from behind her, wrapped and pressed against her neck so hard that she choked. Her attacker hissed for her silence, but Pan was too distracted trying to breathe she couldn't even have powered up, let alone answer. She was dragged backwards quickly and swiftly through the street. Looking up desperately, she saw a figure – Krillen, it looked like – fighting on the top of a building. He didn't see her, fighting hand to hand in the high winds. He was lost to her as Pan was dragged from the street and into a darkened clutch of vegetation.
Only then was her neck released.
Coughing, she clutched her chest and turned to face her assailant. "What… who… who are you..?" she managed to splutter towards the person who'd removed her from the streets. It was a girl, taller than her by about three feet. Pan, recovered, powered up defensively. "I'll hurt you if you try to hurt me," she warned, positioning herself into a figure ready to fight, just as her father had taught her to.
"Don't you think I would have destroyed you back there if I had wanted to hurt you? Otherwise I wouldn't have brought you here," the girl replied. She looked past Pan, onto the streets. Pan, still suspicious, backed away, eyes darting for a way of escape. The girl bent down behind the low bushes. "Well, you're safe now."
"I was safe before!" replied Pan furiously. Her lips formed a pout. "I can take care of myself-"
"I'm not saying you can't, normally," snapped the girl. Her black hair shook with her anger. "But I doubt you could handle that." She pointed onto the street. Curious despite her suspicion, Pan followed her gaze. An invader was looking around the ruins of the city, as though searching for something. In his hand he clutched a large metallic gun, and it was this that the girl was pointing at.
"A gun?" scoffed Pan, with a look of superiority.
"A blaster, actually." The girl looked at her in an almost amused sort of way. "Defined to hit even the swiftest of fighters. You couldn't have dodged that even if you had seen him coming behind you. He was sneaking up on you, by the way," she added. "Seems you made him angry when you powered up on his shoulder like that. These guys don't seem to like being made a fool of."
"I would have…hey, how do you know all this?" Pan's suspicion was back.
"I've been watching from here. They're only after zeni, so they haven't searched the forests. Not interested." The girl stood up and yawned. She smiled down at Pan. "Well, anyway, my job here's done. I'm going." She turned and made to go in amongst the trees.
"Wait!" Pan called after her. The girl turned and faced her again. "What else do you know about these people? When will they leave us alone?"
The girl threw back a strand of hair from her pale face and looked up at the branches, pondering. "From what I've seen – not a lot, I don't dream that often," Pan ignored this strange exclamation. "-they're going to leave the planet in about another ten minutes. This has been happening all over the world, but they've finished their looting. They'll be off soon." The girl's face masked over with seriousness, as though she had just remembered something. "But they've taken many humans from the planet with them. They're all locked up in the ships." The girl looked down at Pan with a look of... what was it... pity? "And knowing your family and friends, they won't let the Dark Army leave with so many prisoners. Perhaps they'll be captured, too," she added as an after thought.
Pan frowned. "No one can capture my Grandpa," she said darkly. "He's the most powerful warrior in the universe."
The girl looked grim. "Be that as it may, everyone has their own weaknesses." She sighed. Pan, thoroughly confused, thought of another question.
"Who are you, anyway? Why did you help me?"
"I helped you because you were going to be killed," the girl replied. "I can't abide death. Too grisly. As for the other question..." The girl's head fell sideways, considering the tiny black-haired girl standing so defiantly before her. The impression made her smile. "You remind me of someone I ran into earlier on today. Him and his purple-headed friend...he was curious, too. He looks like you. Are you related?"
Pan, thinking of Goten, replied: "Yeah. He's my uncle, I guess."
The girl's eyebrow lifted. "My, this family spreads all over the globe, doesn't it?" The girl glanced behind her suddenly. Her movements were quick as lightening, startlingly fast to watch. "They're leaving. I'm going to do the same."
Pan's mind had drifted, but now she looked up, eyes wide. "You didn't answer my question-" she began, but the girl was running away from her into the trees, her black coat billowing out behind her. It reminded Pan of Piccolo's cape. Just before she completely disappeared, the girl stopped, turned, looked up. She faced Pan for the last time.
"They're going. But be careful. Remember," she said finally, her black hair flying in strands on one side of her face, flying in the wind. Her eyes sparked and danced on her cool, pale face. "Everyone has a weakness. Keep your wits about you. If you don't then I shouldn't have bothered saving you." The girl winked. "Take care."
Then, she was gone.
Pan stood dumbstruck for moments after the girl's disappearance, silent and still. She was still trying to sort out an extremely messy jumble of thoughts when a great gush of air blew from behind and almost knocked her off her feet. The space crafts, the metallic blue coatings glowing in the gentle moonlight, were hovering above the ground, pushing at the earth below and sending huge clouds of dust into the air. Pan covered her mouth and eyes with folded arms as the dust blew in her direction. She squinted through the sheets of earth, and saw the space crafts fly higher and higher into the sky, before rotating to face the east, and jettisoning off into the darkness. They were gone, just like the girl.
Pan, eyes wide, left the darkness of the bush and returned to the smouldering streets. There was no point in hiding when there was no danger to hide from. The tiny girl looked up and around her. The city was a mess, with rubble covering the pavement and a dense layer of plaster and dirt dust coating the roads, like finely-sieved icing sugar. Small fires were still burning. Hidden amongst the devastation where the bodies of people who'd tried to escape from the invaders. Pan shuddered, and flew up into the air. She didn't want to stay here any more. She wanted to go and find her family and her friends, so that the evening could start to feel more normal - normal! - again.
The only question was where her family and friends would be. Pan remembered what the stranger-girl had told her:
"…knowing your family and friends, they won't let the Dark Army leave with so many prisoners-"
She knew her family wouldn't like to leave her here, but chances were that at least some of them would go after the invaders. So what if the girl had been right? That meant that Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Goten …they'd all left her.
Another thought struck her. "Perhaps they'll be captured, too," the girl had said. What if she was right? What if she never would see her Dad again..?
Pan shook her head. Stupid, ridiculous… you're an idiot Pan, you really are! She flew higher and over the wrecked buildings, searching with darting eyes for any sign of life. There was no movement from in the city, although she did catch sight of people hanging around the suburbs, waiting to see if their homes were now safe to enter. Cars and vans and lorries were driving into town, many of them news reporters and cameramen and TV crews, wanting the story of the destruction of West City. Pan groaned, and took on speed. Still there was no sign of a fight scene, of people flying through the air to meet her. A nasty grip was taking a hold on Pan's stomach, squeezing tighter at every street that she flew over. Where are they all..?
Eventually, Capsule Corporation came into view, and Pan knew that she had passed the area where her father and Grandpa had last stood. Breathing quickly, Pan spurred on even more speed and reached Capsule Corp. two minutes later. She touched down on her tiptoes and ran for the front door.
"Mom! Dad! Bulma, Grandpa, where are you all?" she yelled, throwing open the door and making her way to the living room. The television's blue light highlighted the sofa's material and the white walls, just as it had done when she'd left. The couch, however, was empty.
Pan checked the kitchen, the bedroom's, the study, and even sprinted for the outside workshop. The place was completely deserted. Moaning Pan slowed down, worn out and exhausted. She decided on a last-ditch attempt of finding everybody. She tried to soothe her aching lungs by breathing slowly. In and out, slowly, just as Gohan had taught her to. Then Pan closed her eyes and focused her mind on the image of Gohan and Videl, both wearing their hero costumes, just as they had been the last time she'd seen them. She imagined their power levels, and the golden aura of a Super Saiyan surrounding her father's shape. She searched for their energy levels. If they were still on the planet and she could find the ki levels, she'd be able to locate where they were. Pan shut her eyes so hard that it hurt, and concentrated.
She didn't know how long she stood like that, eyes jammed shut, fists clenched together, biting her bottom lip so hard that she tasted the bitter taste of blood, standing motionlessly in the middle of the living room of the dark and deserted Capsule Corporation. Desperation took a grip of her gut. Her eyes began to water up. Pan frantically searched the entire area for the ki levels of her father, mother, Grandpa, uncle, and friends.
There wasn't a single sign of them left on the Earth.
That was it, the last chance she had had. She hadn't been able to sense any ki levels. Her parents were no longer on the planet. No one was.
Suddenly, Pan felt very alone. She sat down pale faced on the couch, and watched as the television screen flickered images of news reporters and citizens re-entering the city. Drained of any energy, ideas or feelings, Pan lowered her head and cupped her face in her hands, trying the think of what she could possibly do next.