Bardock: *snorts* I'd call nearly four months a long time, especially for a race with the attention span and patience of a gnat!
Brenda: Hey! I'm a part of that race, too!
Bardock: *smugly* Case in point.
Brenda: *scowls, then turns back to the audience* Okay, apparently there was a little confusion last time as to the purpose and function of a "beta reader". I'd assumed this was general knowledge, but apparently not. A beta reader is someone who, typically, reads over a chapter or story after the author has written it and checks for spelling, grammar, structural, and story mistakes. They help spot plot holes, inconsistencies, and rough spots that need smoothing. I often use my beta readers to help me brainstorm for ideas and get past writer's block, as well. In short, they help the author improve his/her story to the best of their ability (please note that no beta reader is perfect, so there may still be mistakes in the final draft). That clear things up? Good. On to the story!
Disclaimer: If I was a famous manga ka (person who writes/draws manga) do you think I'd still be in college and taking Graphic Design classes? I think not. Therefore, I am not Akira Toriyama and, likewise, do not own DBZ.
I Am A Sack Of Potatoes
That was grandpa! This time I'm sure of it! Grandpa Goku and Marron! But what are they doing here? Dashing down the corridor as fast as her legs would carry her without going Super, Son Pan frantically searched for some way to escape the people she could sense pursuing her. The pounding of her heart provided a staccato accompaniment to the thoughts rattling wildly in her head. It must have been some kind of formal dinner or something, what with so many people there. Vegeta, Bulma, Trunks - no, Prince Trunks! He's not the Trunks you know, Pan! With speed born of desperation, the raven haired woman skidded around a corner and sprinted down the hall, passing door after door and not opening any of them. I am not going to end up trapped inside another closet! Damn it, why isn't anything ever easy?!
Hoping to lose whoever was following her, Pan rounded another corner at random, then another, and another, until she herself was quite lost. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working, because she could still sense the three strong kis trailing not far behind her and a fourth that was fast gaining on them. Pan swore. No one I've met so far can sense ki, so how are they following me?! With a start, the conversation she had with Queen Bulma floated back to her memory and she realized that she was probably still "in season." Oh great, they're tracking me by scent?! Damn Saiyans and their acute sense of smell! Okay, think, Pan, think! How am I going to get them off my trail?
Surprisingly, the answer to her question came as she passed by a door tucked away into a small alcove. The door was slightly ajar, allowing air from within the room to pass into the hallway, carrying with it the faint odor of potatoes, squash, grain, flour, and other food stuffs, but most notably garlic. A food cellar! Inspiration struck like a bolt of lightning, and without thinking, Pan hurled herself into the cool, dry room, yanking the door shut behind her. A swift examination of the room confirmed what her nose had told her; the walls were lined with barrels, sacks, jars, and crates filled with all manner of food. I must be near the kitchens, and this is where they store things they'll be using soon. Garlic hung in clusters from a rack suspended from the ceiling, filling the room with a pungent aroma. Pan hurriedly grabbed a handful of the pale, off white bulbs and stuffed them into her spandex suit where she could - an uncomfortable but effective way to mask her telltale scent. Let's just see those Saiyans try to find me now! she smirked triumphantly.
"...went this way!" a faint voice from outside the room called out. Pan cursed her stupidity. She would not be able to get out of the room without being spotted, and unless she found someplace to hide, and fast, all it would take would be one person poking their head in here for her to be found. Unfortunately, the room held very little that could be used to hide her presence. Just a few sealed barrels, boxes, and sacks.
"Wait a minute..." she muttered, eyes lighting up with glee as a plan formed in her head. The sacks were big, easily big enough for her to hide in, and some of them were half empty. Pan snatched up one of the sacks and immediately started emptying the contents - potatoes - into one of the other sacks. Heart beating frantically inside her chest, she practically dove head first into the now empty sack, wriggling and scooting until her entire body was hidden from view. Then she held really still, pushing her ki down as far as it would go.
I am a sack of potatoes. I am a sack of potatoes. Nobody in here but us potatoes, she chanted silently as though it was some kind of mantra that would help protect her from the prying eyes of her pursuers. I am a sack of-
The door opened. Pan held her breath. Soft footsteps whispered across the stone floor, drawing closer to Pan's hiding spot. The foot steps stopped. Goawaygoawaygoawaygoaway, Pan pleaded, squeezing her eyes shut. In her mind's eyes she imagined she could see the person in the room looming over her, reaching into the sack and pulling her out. Taking a deep, steadying breath, the fugitive demi-Saiyan prepared to power up and throw everything she had in the face of her would-be captor. Why can't people just leave me alone? All I want is a few minutes alone so I can get control of myself!
"Prince Trunks, the scouter's not picking up her energy signal anywhere," a voice Pan didn't recognize said from outside in the corridor. Scouter? she blinked. Damn, I forgot about those things! Good thing I've got my energy so low.
"Her scent's vanished, too," another voice added, one that Pan vaguely recognized, although she couldn't place where she'd heard it before. "It's like she disappeared into thin air!"
"Indeed," a third, all-too-familiar voice replied. Pan's stomach performed an uncomfortable flip flop as she realized who exactly it was who was standing in the room with her. Trunks! she nearly moaned. No no no, I do not want to deal with you! Not right now! A slight scuffing sound told Pan that the purple haired prince was moving again. "And both disappeared right outside this room." A pause. "I don't see her in here, but she might have gone into the ventilation system. See how the grate hasn't been securely fastened over there? And if she did come in here, the smells from all this food would certainly mask her scent." Pan almost felt like cheering and silently encouraged this faulty assumption.
The sound of hard boots thudding against the floor warned Pan that someone else had entered the room, the footsteps heading in the direction that she guessed must be where the grate was located. Thankfully, it was on the other side of the room from where she was curled up in her potato sack. "I don't think so, Highness," the unfamiliar voice remarked. "If you look closer, you can see that even though the grate's loose, there aren't any signs that anyone's crawled into the ducts anytime recently. Note the fine layer of dust, which has not been disturbed."
"Hn... you're right, Gallot," Trunks grudgingly agreed, moving to join the other man by the grate.
"The onna may still have come in here," the other, vaguely familiar voice chipped in from the doorway. "She could have grabbed something from in here to mask her scent, though I can't see how that would explain her ki disappearing from the radar like that."
"There's a technique for ki suppression," the prince commented in an absentminded manner. "Father's told me about races he's encountered with that ability. Son Pan must have picked it up somewhere."
"Damn, that's going to make it hard to find her."
Trunks chuckled, a sound that sent chills down Pan's spine. "Don't worry, Turles. We will find her, I assure you." Pan gulped. She wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. "We've spent too much time in this room. Let's go."
Waiting until the sound of retreating footsteps had faded away completely, the young woman let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. That was close. She allowed a few more seconds to pass before she felt it was safe enough to crawl out of her hiding place. She wanted to make sure Trunks and his two flunkies were well and far away from her before she emerged from the room. There. That ought to have given them enough time. Now I can get out of this stupid sack! Grinning triumphantly, Pan had just barely twitched her left foot towards the opening of the gunny sack when-
"Pan?"
Eep!
"Pan?!" yelped Goten as soon as he saw his niece standing next to an unfamiliar Saiyan with long, spiky hair. "What's she doing here?!" He frantically tried to recall if there was some way she could have stowed away on his and Marron's transport ship. He remembered seeing her at the small farewell party that had been arranged for close friends and family to have a chance to say goodbye to the two Earth-born diplomats. Pan had stayed close to her parents, Gohan - Goten's older brother- and Videl, but had taken the time to offer Goten and Marron a heartfelt goodbye and a few words wishing them luck. She hadn't made any indication that she wanted to accompany them to Vegeta-sei, and had in fact mentioned that she would be helping the Satan City police investigate a recent string of murders. And yet, in obvious defiance of both attitude and words, Pan was here, on Vegeta-sei, in the banquet hall, and... wearing spandex? Goten blinked a few times, but the clothing his niece was wearing didn't change. Since when did Pan start wearing spandex?
He shook the inconsequential thought away. There was no one else it could be! This woman had the same silky black hair, the same wide, sparkling eyes, and, most importantly of all, the same ki signature. Her ki... Goten frowned. Pan's ki was shooting upward steadily as she struggled to free herself of her escort's grip... and it was far stronger than the last time Goten had seen her.
However, he had no time to ponder this oddity, because at that very moment Pan's fist connected with the long-haired Saiyan's face and sent the man crashing into the wall, probably unconscious before he even hit it. Goten gaped at the girl for a moment, somewhat stunned by this uncharacteristic display of strength and lack of control. And, yes, it was lack of control, going by the look of surprised guilt he saw flickering in her eyes. What's going on? he thought, bewildered. Pan shouldn't be this strong! And she's always been in control of her strength! She has to be, what with her work in the police force!
Ignoring the chaos that erupted when Pan fled from the room, Goten spun around and grabbed Marron's arm, pulling her back to an emptier corner of the room. "I'm going after her," he said, voice laced with a steel that he rarely had cause to reveal. "If anyone asks where I am, tell them I had to go to the bathroom or something." Not waiting for a response, the youngest son of Goku ran through the nearest of doors at a speed that made him invisible to all but the most well trained eyes. He didn't see Marron's blue eyes flash with anger, or hear her promise of dire consequences for leaving her to do all the damage control.
It probably would have been easier to track Pan by leaving the banquet hall through the same doors she had, but he really didn't want anyone to notice him leaving. With any luck, King Vegeta would be so distracted by Pan's actions that he'd forget about the diplomats for the time being. Besides, with the brief tour of the palace that he and Marron had been given on the way to their rooms and his ability to sense his niece's ki, Goten felt sure that he could find an alternate route to intersect Pan's path of escape.
Sure enough, it was only a minute or so before Goten's sensitive nose - he'd been told that his sense of smell was far more acute than the average human's - caught a whiff of a familiar scent. Bingo! However, far from being triumphant at his success, the spiky haired diplomat only increased his speed, a grim expression on his face. He hadn't failed to notice that there were three significant kis following close behind Pan's - and they were gaining on her. I'd better hurry if I want to get there in time... He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do when he caught up to them, if he was going to have to fend off the other pursuers or grab Pan and run or something else, but he knew, deep down, that time was of the essence.
With a sickening lurch of his stomach, Goten suddenly realized that Pan's ki had stopped moving, had, in fact, all but disappeared and the three other kis were practically right on top of her. Uncomfortably aware of all the possible reasons why Pan's energy might have dropped so low, Goten ran even faster, mentally preparing himself to have to defend his niece from her attackers. He was close, now... close enough to hear their voices.
"-mask her scent, though I can't see how that would explain her ki disappearing from the radar like that."
Goten slowed to a halt just before rounding the final corner, confused by the reference to Pan's ki "disappearing". It hasn't disappeared. It's just really low. So why- His eyes widened in sudden realization. I forgot. Most Saiyans rely on scouter technology to track energy readings... and scouters aren't anywhere near as accurate as natural ki senses! They probably can't even pick up Pan's energy when it's this low - and even if they did, they'd likely just assume it was a rodent or something! Quickly dropping his own ki to a nearly nonexistent level, Goten peeked around the corner to see what the Saiyans were doing.
"There's a technique for ki suppression," Prince Trunks's voice drifted from the direction of an open door. "Father's told me about races he's encountered with that ability. Son Pan must have picked it up somewhere."
"Damn, that's going to make it hard to find her." This was said by the only one of the three Saiyans who was still out in the hall. Goten recognized him as the one who had come to the banquet late... Turles, if he recalled correctly. Another man who struck an eerie resemblance to Goten's father, Goku. Ignoring the uneasy twisting in his gut at seeing someone who looked so much like his father dressed in Saiyan clothing and acting nothing like the kind and gentle man Goten knew, the young demi-Saiyan shook his head and sternly told himself that it was purely coincidence. After all, they say that everyone has a twin somewhere. It's just my dad's luck that he has two twins and they're both Saiyans!
A low chuckle drew Goten's attention back to the conversation at hand. "Don't worry, Turles. We will find her, I assure you." The diplomat's eyes narrowed at the way Prince Trunks said those words. Not if I have anything to say about it, he grimly vowed to himself. If there was one way he was especially like his father, it was his protectiveness of his family! If Trunks hurt so much as one hair on Son Pan's head, he'd find himself answering to Goten! "We've spent too much time in this room. Let's go."
The purple haired prince emerged from the room, followed by a burly Saiyan that Goten hadn't been introduced to but had seen at the banquet. Immediately turning to his right, he set off down the hall at a light jog, Turles and the other Saiyan falling into place behind him. Goten waited until they were out of sight, then quickly strode into the room they had just vacated. The fear that Pan had been hurt or knocked unconscious no longer seemed likely. Neither Trunks nor his men had shown any indications that they'd been in a fight, and they would hardly have left Pan behind if they had knocked her out. So that left only one possible explanation for Pan's low energy.
She'd gone into hiding.
Sure enough, to his eyes the room was seemingly empty when Goten stepped inside and first looked around. The room appeared to be nothing more than a food cellar of some kind, filled with innocent bags, barrels, and crates of flour, vegetables, and grain. But though his eyes were easily fooled, hi ki senses immediately picked out a lumpy sack lying off to one side.
A lumpy sack with a very familiar ki signature.
A lumpy sack that was starting to twitch.
A lumpy sack... with a tail?
Goten stared. Nope, it wasn't his imagination. That brown furry thing sticking out of the sack by a good six inches was none other than the very same kind of tail being proudly sported by every single Saiyan on this planet. What the hell? "Pan?" The twitching bag immediately stilled, although he could have sworn he heard a squeak of surprise. Despite the impossibility of this whole situation, Goten's lips quirked with amusement. Of all the things he'd thought he might encounter on this planet, Son Pan hiding in a gunny sack and squeaking was certainly not one of them. "Pan?" he repeated, crouching down next to the bag. "You can come out now, you know. The others are gone."
There was a moment of silence, then the bag started moving again as Pan wriggled her way out of it and sat up. Her hair was mussed and bits of whatever had once been in the sack clung to the silky black strands, but there was no mistaking that this was, indeed, Son Pan.
"Uncle Goten?" she asked tentatively, almost as though she was expecting him to suddenly morph into someone else. Thinking back to his encounters with the two Goku look-alikes, Goten really couldn't blame her.
Grinning in typical Son fashion, he reached out and plucked a bit of potato leaf out of his niece's hair. "Yeah, it's me," he confirmed.
A look of pure relief washed over Pan's face. Then, much to Goten's surprise, she threw herself into his arms and buried her face in his shirt, her entire body trembling like a leaf in a storm. Goten wasn't certain what the cause of the shaking was - fear, stress, or something else - but he wrapped his arms around her shoulders anyway and returned the hug in full.
~~**~~
As expected, school's kept me pretty busy, especially these last few weeks. I even had to end up dropping one of my classes because I couldn't keep up. Ironically, this class was English Composition. *wry* Bleah, now I'm gonna have to take it again. *sighs* Anyway, I'm hoping that next semester won't be as bad, since I'm not taking as many classes, but one of them is math. I'm fairly good at math, but the homework still takes a long time to do.
I would like to note that I have not and cannot watch Dragonball GT. I have no access to cable TV. I can only hope that my characterization of GT characters isn't too far off.
Speaking of GT, does anyone know what color Pan's eyes are? I'm told they're brown, but I think I've heard someone say that they're blue. I'm not certain if I've specifically mentioned Pan's eye color in this story yet, but I want to be consistent. If I've previously said that her eye color was something other than what it ought to be, I need to go back and change it.
That's all that I have to say. Thanks for being patient and loyal fans!