A/N: Hi everyone. Thankyou for your reviews. I'm going on holiday in a couple of days so this will be the last update for 3 weeks. Sorry but hey at least it gives me some time to write more.
saiyan-hinote-demoness: Hey man, you're the first ever Kiwi (other than moi) that I know who uses this ! Everybody else I know is like Fanfiction what? So thanks for your cool review!
Oh and by the way the length of my chapters are 4-5 pages of writing on refill and it takes a lot to fill that and then a lot of time to type it up etc so the length probably will not be changing anytime soon.
And I don't own DBGT, I'm not making any profit. Etc etc.
Great. Enjoy the chapter...Man i just previewed this and it had funny little symbols where all my speechmarks and commas were and i had to go through the whole thing and change them all. What's up with that? Anyhow...
Chapter Four"I had to."
"You had to?" Pan shot a withering glare at Goten, who pantomimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key.
"Yes." She was quiet for a moment. "Do you remember about five months after Grandpa was gone we had a picnic at the beach?" Several heads nodded. "Do you remember then, that Bura had forgotten something so I flew back here to get it for her? Yes? Well I got it from her room and as I was walking down the hall past your lab, Bulma, the satellite communication set went off. I answered it because I thought that it might've been someone important and I could have diverted it to the communicator you had with you. But I didn't, because it wasn't for you." Here she paused, when she continued it was on a different tangent. "When Grandpa left it felt wrong and I don't mean wrong that he left a hole in our lives," She tacked on the explanation interpreting Gohans look, "I mean that the way he left was wrong. There wasn't any logical reason for Grandpa to have to leave with the dragons like that. I ran it over and over in my mind and every possible reason and excuse I could come up with felt wrong, they just didn't fit. So I kept looking and hoping that Grandpa would come back. But he didn't. I was going to for look for him but then that day at the beach.." She sighed, struggling to find the words.
Goku had been listening intently to the start of her tale. She'd never told him the true reason why she came looking. Now he knew.
"She's right," necks snapped around to look at him, "There was no reason for me to go. I could have stayed and the same result would have been achieved. But they wanted to inflict one last blow. So they took my body to the other dimension. It was petty and cruel but it made them feel that they had the last say. And it hurt this I loved the most." Goku looked sad. Chichi squeezed his hand.
Pan listened to his words, relieved that her worry and actions hadn't been in vain.
"Ok so I had this feeling and when I answered the communicator it was confirmed. I didn't know who was on the other side and I still don't know to this day. However their message was clear: if we ever wanted to see grandpa again we had to go look for him and apparently he had decided I was to be the one to find him. It was my 'task'," she shook her head in disgust remembering, "There were stipulation's. If I went I could take one person with me, but that person couldn't be family. I have no idea why that was a rule but it immediately stopped the possibility of taking Goten or Papa. I suppose I'd already made the decision to go. So that left me with 3 possibilities of which I could choose. No offence Bura but I wasn't going to take you. Trunks, you had a business to run and I couldn't take you away from that. And Vegeta," she glanced over at him, he raised an eyebrow and smirked, "With grandpa gone you had to look after the Earth. I couldn't take you from your responsibilities here. So I told him I'd go by myself, which I'd originally planned to do anyway. When I told him I'd be going alone he sounded satisfied. He told me to go to Dende and I'd receive further instructions'"She stopped and took a breath.
Gohan and Videl looked sick at the thought of somebody else controlling their daughter.
"So you see, I didn't really have a choice. If any of us wanted to see Goku again I had to go. I believe now, that his motivation was for both of us to be lost forever. Then the Saiyan ranks would be weaker and more susceptible to attack. But I didn't know that then. So I went."
She stopped talking and looked around the group, hoping to see understanding for her reasons. Silence descended as they all contemplated what she'd told them.
"But why didn't you tell us you'd gone?" Bura sounded hurt. "Didn't you trust me?"
"Of course I trust you Bura. But that was another one of his rules, I wasn't to tell anyone, I suppose it was more of his undermining tricks to make you feel we were gone forever."
"Well it damn near worked!" The bitter words exploded out of Trunks mouth, "The conniving bastard, whoever he is, we thought you both long gone."
Pan winced. "That's partially our fault too though. The next day when I left, I went to Dende and was again contacted. He sent me to some far off planet where I searched for grandpa. Eventually I met up with a funny little man who knew, as far as I'm concerned, far too much about Saiyans and Dragon Balls. He'd somehow heard about the Shadow Dragons and eventually I was able to drag out of him that he was from the dimension that Goku was imprisoned in. He had learnt all he knew from the stories being told."
She shot a reproving look at Goku, who grinned. "Hehe."
"After I'd learnt that I managed to persuade him to take me to his dimension."
"And just how did you manage to do that?" Videl looked worried.
Pan looked disgusted. "Yuck mum, not the way you're thinking about. I told him I was Gokus granddaughter and after mild display of power..."
Again she was interrupted, "What do you mean display of power?" Gohan was looking at her raised eyebrows demanding an answer.
"Aw c'mon Papa. I just flew a bit. But it was enough. The next day I was in a different dimension," She paused, musing on that, "It wasn't that different from ours was it, Grandpa?"
Goku wrinkled his brow, thinking about it. "Not really, there was still good and bad, different races and technologies. Food was the same. Must have only been the timeline that was different." No one laughed at his lame joke and he looked crestfallen.
"Anyway, so by this time a year had passed," she looked around, "You don't want all the details do you? No, I didn't think so. Carrying on.. I was now on Lexins home planet. He had taken me under his wing once he knew I was a Saiyan. I asked around, looking for Grandpa and eventually I got some responses. Apparently, and this is what I got told, he had been slumming it on the planet that just happened to be the ruling power in their universe. AND somehow he'd gotten involved in a power struggle between them and another faction. So I hopped the nearest transport shuttle and got a ride there to see if I could find him." She left off speech for a bit. She turned and looked appraisingly down the table at Goku. "Would you like to tell them what happened, or should I do the honour?"
Goku shucked down in his seat and a dull red blush started up his neck. "By all means, go ahead."
Pan grinned. It looked malicious to Goku. She was going to enjoy this and she had an idea that Vegeta would enjoy it twice as much as her.
"Let's not exaggerate this anymore than you have to."
Pan shot him an imperious look, "You said I could tell it and I'm going to. Exactly the way it happened, from my point of view of course." And with a satisfied smile she began.
"Like I said before, I travelled to K-19 (the name of the planet). When I arrived, the security was unbelievable. I managed to get through because Lexin had had the foresight to forge a travel and residency chip for me. The guards were suspicious because they had been told to look out for people travelling alone that had little luggage, which I'm sure had nothing to do with Grandpa telling them to look for that as part of the campaign against the other faction. But I got through ok," Pans eyes lit up with humour as she remembered what happened next, "I got out on the street and was nearly knocked over by the crowd rushing to what looked like a huge stadium. I managed to snag one of them and ask what the big rush was for. He said the big fight was about to start. What could I do?" She held up her hands helplessly, a smile playing around the edges of her mouth, "I followed the crowd into the arena and whom did I see in the middle of the ring getting his butt kicked by a human? Who else but the mighty Goku! I watched the rest of the fight and just about died laughing when he lost."
Thinking back on it her body was racked with laughter and tears began to trickle down her face as she tried to keep talking through the giggles. "Granted gasp he wasn't using gasp his Saiyan power but still wheeze it should have been enough to beat a human. Hell, I fought that guy and won." Finally she couldn't talk anymore and put her head on the table, shoulders having with laughter.
Everyone turned his or her eyes from the hysterical Pan to Goku, who was a deep magenta and was trying to hide behind Chichi. He spluttered, trying to explain. "It wasn't like that! I had to lose."
"Sure, sure Gramps. Whatever you say." Pan was wiping the tears from her face and grinned wickedly at him.
"No! It's true!' He was earnest in his efforts to try and clear his name. All the others in the room were in a state of denial and were willing to listen to what Goku had to say. All except one.
"So, a human managed to defeat the great Kakarot," Vegeta pushed himself up from the wall and uncrossed his arms. "You shame our race, baka. Or perhaps it just shows how weak you have become." He sounded disgusted and it was shown by the sneer on his face.
Goku opened his mouth to defend himself but was interrupted. "But just wait Vegeta! There's more." Pan got up and paced to the bench then turned to face the group. "The people still considered him their hero. He was their planets equivalent of the Earths Hercule!"
Someone gasped, Vegeta made a sound of utter horror and Goku, Goku buried his face in Chichis shoulder and groaned.