Double Hate
Disclaimer: DBZ (DB/DBGT) no owned by me humble self.
Summary: The two have seemingly forgotten—but will they ever forgive?
A/n: Well, this is a nice long chapter. :D I'm sure some of you (coughSalazarfalconcough) are positively bouncing off the walls now that I've updated (coughchristoocough), and will be even happier to realize that this chapter is eleven pages long with 5,808 words in story context. Of course, you may all attempt to kill me when you get to the end…. :) How fun.
Enjoy!
Previously on Double Hate—
Jeff nodded; glad he had Linda. Slowly his face broke into a grin as he thought about Linda's words, or more importantly, how she'd delivered them.
"You're going to be a great mom someday, sis."
Chapter Twelve: Time to Meet Your Maker
To the disappointment of the Z-senshi, the Harrisons declined the dinner offer, offering the excuse that they had an annual family mountain climbing trip to go on. When the Z-senshi kids asked around, they found out that it was true; the Harrisons did have an annual mountain climbing trip every year. It varied from year to year when and where the trip was to, but the trip was always on a weekend, and Jeff and Marc were always back on Monday, cheerful and raring to go.
This year, it seemed that the family was going to climb Mt. Yonito, a huge mountain actually quite close to where the Sons lived, on Mt. Paoz. It was only two mountain ranges over, and Pan had been commissioned to go and watch them, see if the Harrisons knew anything about the Sons, and if they did, how they reacted to the knowledge. It was a big job to be sure, but if they sent Goku, he would only mess it up by jumping up and confronting Jeff and Marc with their pseudo-identities. The Z-senshi did not need the kind of reaction that would follow, whatever it was. If they sent Chichi, well, she wouldn't be able to get to Mr. Yonito without the Nimbus, and Korin the cat usually used the Nimbus on the weekends so that he could get his supplies for his precious Senzu beans. So Pan was the only one for the job.
As it was only Thursday, it was much too early to think about such things. The Z-senshi had other problems, such as school, Jeff, Marc, the reasons for their turning it down other than the mountain-climbing trip to go on, if any, working off the frustrations that came with the turn-down, and many other things.
To add to those problems, Bra was insisting that she get sparring lessons from Pan at the Son household so that she could defend herself if she needed to. Her family and friends knew that it was really to get revenge upon future Verez-like characters if she ever met any more of them, but they said nothing about that. Instead they told Bra that she didn't need the sparring lessons, as she had plenty of people who would be willing to take care of any martial arts problems for her.
Bra's only reply was, "Yes, well, what if I find myself attacked without any of you guys around me? I've got to be able to take care of myself in case that ever happens."
The only female demi-Saiyan's logic was found to be irrefutable, and so the Spar Wars began.
Again, Pan was picked, because Vegeta would just go easy on his daughter, Trunks would do the same for his sister, Marron knew nothing about sparring, Bulma was the same, Chichi was too busy, and Goku would just goof off. Krillin wouldn't take Bra seriously, Eighteen would expect Bra to be able to do much more than she actually could, and Piccolo was busy being Piccolo (and right now that consisted of interrogating Dende for hours on end).
Pan, on the other hand, actually understood Bra's plight. She'd been in it herself only five years ago. She could empathize with the pain of being helpless and having to depend on others to survive, even if she didn't always do that.
Luckily for Bra, however, Pan only put up minor resistance, which was mostly in the form of skepticism aimed at Bra's sense of commitment. It took a lot of dedication to learn how to spar, and to keep sparring to keep those skills sharp. Bra knew, indirectly, exactly how much dedication was needed. Her father exhibited that assiduousness to his training every single day. Her brother even showed it: he sparred with their father every three days, regardless whether or not his homework was done. Trunks called it his PE practice, and this in addition to the tough junior varsity lacrosse practices Trunks was required to attend every day really kept him in shape.
Bra had tennis practice herself, and that was doing wonders in improving her athletic ability as well. However, knowing how to swing a tennis racket didn't do anything towards defending herself, unless of course she had the racket with her in the specific time of danger. Yeah, that would work. But it was impractical to assume that she would always have a tennis racket with her when danger approached, and thus she was determined to learn how to spar, no matter how much it hurt.
As could be expected, the demi-Saiyan certainly wouldn't be feeling the same way after her first spar with Pan.
Thursday and Friday were spent in learning the basics, such as the stances, the movements, drills, and breathing exercises needed for learning how to spar. Saturday and Sunday were called off because of the Harrison family trip, but Bra's homework was to keep practicing those things that she had learned. Pan would know if Bra hadn't been practicing. Monday, it was back to the grindstone, and they would see about the first spar at the end of the next week.
For now, though, Saturday was here. And so were the Harrisons, two mountain ranges away on Mt. Yonito. Pan was about to be added to that list, as she grabbed two plates of breakfast (loaded with French toast, dripping with butter and syrup, just the way Pan liked it) and headed out into the chilly morning dawn.
It was a good thing Pan had learned to wear long-sleeved shirts under her gi when she sparred in the morning, no matter what season it was. Of course, she was not going to be sparring with her father this early morning, but she had a mission to go on, and she was going to do it.
And judging by the five kis she could already feel, the Harrisons were already there. That could or could not be a good thing, depending on the variables also known as Jeff and Marc Harrison. If those two weren't Gohan and Goten, then the family's being there was a good thing. If those two were indeed Gohan and Goten, then the family's being there was a doubtful thing.
Ki reading was a skill that never died once a person learned it, and if those two were indeed the Lost Sons, then Pan would have to be careful around them. She would be, anyway, since this was a precarious situation all around, but as Pan was still not certain of the Harrison Brothers' feelings toward her, it became even more dangerous if those two were Gohan and Goten.
Pan sighed. Couldn't anything be easy?
Well, it was a good thing that Pan had brought her own customized Capsule jet/hoverboard with her, so that she wouldn't have to use any ki more than necessary. However, the problem was that they were noisy and loud in the silence that usually presided over the mountains, and Pan did not want that. So, what to do?
Pan solved the problem by hoverboarding over one mountain range and flying in slowly to land on a mountain halfway into the second mountain range. From there she hiked it, glad that she had put on her sturdiest boots, and not her usual light fighting shoes.
She was approaching the summit of the last mountain in her way when she finally felt them. The Harrisons, that is. And included with those kids were the crackling signatures of Jeff and Marc. Pan stood still in shock for a second, amazed that she had not noticed before now that Marc also had more than normal levels of ki. But then she thought about Marc and his easygoing personality, and she could easily see why. Still, even from a mountain away, she could tell that Marc was incredibly strong, as strong as his brother Jeff, even.
That made sense, especially if they were both whom she thought they were.
It was getting more and morel likely that those two were indeed the Lost Sons.
She still had to produce satisfactory work with her research, however. She just could not find any records of Jeff and Marc before they had appeared at the Harrisons'. There were plenty after the official adoption papers, but Pan was not interested in those. All the adoption papers showed as that Jeffrey and Marcus Harrison had both been adopted on April sixth five years ago. However, Pan had found it interesting that both had the initial "G" listed as their middle names. But Pan had not been able to get anything other than that, even though she definitely had her suspicions about what those names were.
So far, she had not told anyone of her findings. She considered them too sparse to really be of use, other than giving hope to the rest of her family, and not just the Sons, but the whole of the Z-senshi. It was a very real possibility that those hopes were false, however, and that just gave Pan all the more reason not to tell.
Pan sighed as she refocused on the situation. Now was definitely not the time to be thinking like this. So not the time.
Now that she was able to feel the kis of the mysterious Harrison family, Pan became even more cautious. As she crept up to the summit of her mountain, she constantly monitored their kis. She stopped every time there was a spike in any of the kis, be it Jeff's, Marc's, or any of the other three, or when she just felt like they knew she was there. She also gradually scrunched down her ki beyond what she'd already lowered it, until it was below even the level of an average human, and so would be missed if it wasn't looked for. Now she could only hope that she hadn't already been noticed, or she'd be in serious trouble.
Both Jeff and Marc were tracking the ki that had crept up on them. It was small now, almost too weak to register, but the Brothers Harrison had been alert for it ever since they arrived. They knew exactly where they were, and how close to their former home Mount Yonito was. So they had thought that one of the Z-senshi would come to spy on them, and it appeared that their prediction had come true, in the form of Son Pan.
How that girl had ever gotten to her current position at the summit of Mount Meko without using her ki was beyond them.
Of course, they alerted the other Harrisons of the fact that they were being spied on, but did warn the rest of their family to act normal. This was hard for them to do, as Linda, Myna, and Jack were all outraged, but as they could not sense ki, it was easier for them to do.
As for Jeff and Marc, they had had practice in acting casual for over four months. Well, more like three and a half, actually. It was December now, and the mountains were covered with snow. The Harrisons were all bundled up nice a warm, although Jeff and Marc had the advantage over their familiar counterparts with their ki. However, they had also bundled up with the plan to use as little ki as possible. Little did they know that Pan was trying to do the same thing, although they could say that she was doing an impressive job, for a super-powered human.
As Pan's ki slowly climbed up to the summit, Jeff started making his way to the foot of Mount Yonito. Marc caught the hint and started collecting the climbing gear, motioning to his sister to help him. She did, albeit a little grudgingly, and Myna and Jack both did their own temporary job of cleaning up the remnants of the breakfast they had just completed.
Fifteen minutes later, all of the Harrisons were standing before the mountain, looking up at its huge expanse. They all felt like the mountain was just daring them to come climb it, bragging that they couldn't get to the first ledge before they were forced to stop. Sharing glances, the Harrisons grinned and rushed forward to the mountain, ready to take the brooding cliff on its own terms.
Pan watched discreetly as the Harrisons went about their pre-climbing rituals. She saw with no little bit of amusement that Jeff and Marc seemed to be teasing Linda about her tangled-up ropes, teasing to which Linda responded huffily, although she smiled afterwards. Myna was already on the mountain, but Jack was hanging a few meters above her and looking down at her, almost as if he was encouraging Myna to come up to him.
Pan turned back to the Harrison children, only to discover that two of them were not there. And those two were exactly who Pan did not want to be missing.
Pan ducked back behind the summit of her mountain and tried frantically to find the kis of the two Harrison Brothers. She couldn't, even though she stretched her consciousness to the limit trying to track them down. Finally, she realized that she just would not find them. She decided to get off the mountain as quickly as she could, before she could get caught red-handed and landed herself in the doghouse.
Hardly noticing all the snow she through left and right, Pan slid down all the way down the mountain to its foot and set off. She was still careful to make sure that she didn't use too much of her ki, and that said ki didn't get to high to be noticed.
All too soon, Pan came to a clearing that she had skirted before to get to Mount Meko. She hesitated this time, debating whether to cross it to cut down on the time to get back to her own home or to skirt it and decrease her chances of getting caught. It was for some time that Pan vacillated, before finally she decided to cut across. Hey, if she ran really fast, then no one would be able to catch her, right?
She looked furtively both ways, checking that no one was there in the same clearing with her, then darted across. Unfortunately, in her growing panic, she had not checked with her ki reading abilities, or she would have absently noticed the two figures that were suddenly occupying the mountain with her.
"Gotcha!" said a familiar strong voice behind her.
"What do you want? Why are you here?" Jeff asked furiously of Pan, who was currently crouching, frozen, before him. Pan was inwardly smacking herself for being so stupid as to get caught in a clearing, but she looked up at Jeff's heated tone. She blinked calmly at him, and said, with that same calmness,
"Spar with me."
Marc stared at the girl who had intruded upon his and his family's peace. He had never before noticed her subtle resemblance to his former family before, nor had he cared to do so. But now, as he studied her intently, he could see that she possessed more than Goku's gait, his and Chichi's slight taints on Pan's otherwise foreign ki, and a bit of Chichi in the face. Pan also had Goku's seriousness in battle, even if she carried that seriousness a bit further outside of fighting than he did, and also Chichi's persistence and resourcefulness when she focused on something.
Of course, Pan could have had these traits before she came to live with the Sons, but certainly those traits would have developed more fully than normal under the Sons' care, if she did indeed have those traits before. Now, Marc didn't know how Pan had come to live with the Sons, but he knew that she would have had to be in a less than desirable living situation for his hated biological parents to take her in. So, if Pan's cheerful, and cunning, nature was to be any judge, yes, she had at least had some measure of resourcefulness pre-Son.
Well, this wasn't exactly the time to be thinking about the mysterious girl who was such a puzzle. Pan was obviously itching for a fight, and with his brother. Jeff, on the other hand, had made it an official policy never to fight anyone, no matter how strong they were, or how weak, excluding his brother, of course. Marc had the feeling that he wasn't going to drop that just because Pan had been training with Goku and was so much stronger than any normal human. So he prepared himself for battle, slipping silently into a fighting stance, consciously not allowing his ki to spike as he did so.
Jeff could feel behind him that Marc was in a martial arts stance, ready to fight Pan if Jeff let him. The elder Harrison male didn't indicate that he knew what his brother was up to, however, instead focusing on Pan, who had jumped up and was again badgering him to fight her.
"Fight me, Jeff! Or I'll tell the whole school that it was you and Marc that played that prank on Videl last month," Pan threatened.
Jeff raised his eyebrow. Had she seen them actually play the prank? He didn't think she had; her ki had been nowhere near the place. Still…
He asked her smoothly, "Why do you say that? The prank was reported to have occurred over our Thanksgiving break; we weren't there."
Pan countered with, "I saw you putting up the photographs of Videl's prank on the common bulletin board the day Bra was attacked." The challenging look on her face intensified, almost turning into a look of accusation. In fact, Jeff was sure it was a look of accusation, if not for the amused glint in the girl's eyes.
"Well, yeah. The actual pranksters wished to remain anonymous, and so they asked us to put up the photos for them. I am not going to tell you who they are, for your information" he added as Pan opened her mouth. "And besides, witnessing something like that is not going to get you anywhere if you're still thinking that we did it."
Pan's gaze smoldered into a glare, and she snapped, "Fine. But I still want to fight you. Prepare yourself!"
Jeff held up his hands in a defensive manner. "Wait a moment! First tell me why you want to fight me," he said, stepping back a pace.
Pan was not fooled by the not-so-obvious tactic to throw her off track, as she'd heard it being used before, on someone more hapless than she. Nevertheless, she answered vaguely, "I have my reasons." Without further ado, she rushed at him, only to have him sidestep her easily, although he certainly made it look difficult. Her forward momentum was too much for her to stop, and therefore it carried her forward straight into the waiting fist of the other brother, Marc.
Oomph! Pan's breath whooshed out of her, for the fist had connected directly with her abdomen. Marc was also stronger than she had thought him to be, even with the revelation of his crackling ki she had come across earlier. Before Pan could recover, Marc quickly spun around and roundhouse-kicked her, sending her flying into the snow. The snow did nothing to cushion the effects of her fall, leaving Pan with a sore head and a bruising back.
The girl looked up and rolled hastily to the side, however, as Marc came whistling through the air, obviously intending to flying-kick her. He crashed into the snow, but pulled his leg out quickly and blocked Pan's attack. He counteracted with his own attack, pressing Pan back as he struck in various different places with lightning speed. He never hit in the same place more than twice, and Pan was having difficulty, at first, in keeping up with him.
Soon, however, Pan managed to get in a lucky blow that momentarily distracted Marc and gave her a chance to escape. She slid back away from him and into a fighting stance only meters away, while Marc stood up and slid into his own stance.
For seconds, the two stared at each other, Marc's black eyes unreadable, Pan's eyes intense. Both were breathing heavily, their breaths steaming in the cold air surrounding them, and both were sweating, their exercise doing wonders to ward off the chill. This also was rising off in steam from them both, making them seem like pale fire apparitions that had no business being there in the arctic regions they were in.
Then Marc moved as if to take a step and Pan shot forward to meet him. Marc smirked to himself and stood his ground, allowing his opponent to come. Pan knew that she'd just fallen into a trap of some sort, as Marc didn't move to meet her, but she'd already started moving, and she couldn't stop now.
So it wasn't a surprise when Marc drop-kicked her, but it was a surprise when Marc didn't throw a ki blast her way. Then she remembered: she was fighting a strong human, or the appearances of a strong human, and he wasn't supposed to know about ki. She controlled herself, restraining the urge to use ki herself, and dodged out of the way as Marc attempted to punch her as she lay on the ground.
It was hard, suppressing her ki so that she wouldn't give away its secret, especially as she was both used to using it and as she'd already unconsciously let it blossom out of her control. No, it wasn't out of her control, but it had been rising steadily, and Pan needed to keep it down, or she would slip eventually and let loose a ki blast. That was something that she absolutely could not do.
But it was so hard, since Marc was so fast, so strong, and so full of mettle. This battle had been going on for what seemed hours already, and Pan's opponent didn't seem to be getting low on energy just yet. Pan, on the other hand, was already starting to falter, getting tired, clumsy, and slow, and Marc obviously took advantage of those moments of weakness. Pan didn't know how long Marc had been sparring, or where he had learned to fight like this (and this was assuming that he wasn't Goten), but obviously he'd been fighting for far longer than she had, a pitiful five years.
Marc could tell that Pan was getting tired. It'd been a half-hour of fighting already, so Pan was doing pretty well against him. Impressive, for a human, and a girl to boot. Not that gender really mattered in fighting. Look at his biological mother. She had been a mean fighter in her day, and he had no doubt that even now she could still put up a fight if she wanted to, especially with that darn frying pan, if she still had it.
He punched Pan in the face, giving her what was sure to be a black shiner on her cheek, and she staggered back. She recovered quickly, quickly enough to block Marc's next punch, but she failed to see Marc's leg coming around, and he swept her feet out from beneath her. Marc tried to step on her as his next attack, but she grabbed his foot and pushed it away from her, hoping to make Marc fall.
Marc foiled that plan, however, by somersaulting backwards. Pan got up, ignoring the aches and pains she had accumulated fighting against Marc, and chased after him. She was careful not to get too close to him, however, so that he couldn't kick her as he somersaulted. As Marc sprang off his hands a final time, Pan put forth an effort to grab him in midair and thus interrupt his momentum. She barely missed him, as he was too fast for her, and he landed on the trunk of a tree, where he grabbed onto a branch of the tree and stopped.
Pan slid to a halt before the tree and squinted up at Marc, who waved cheerily back with two fingers. She growled under her breath and prepared to use a ki blast to shoot him down, before she remembered that she couldn't use those. By then, it was already too late, for Marc had taken advantage of his opponent's distraction and leapt at her from above. He had his hands clasped together in a double-fisted move, and with an almighty swing, smashed them down on Pan's head. Pan, already staggeringly tired, dropped to the ground like a stone, and was still, stretched out on the snow-covered ground before Marc.
Pan's opponent walked over to her, bent, and checked Pan's pulse, then waved his hand slowly in front of Pan's open eyes. He got several blinks for his answer, so he straightened up and gingerly put his foot on Pan's chest to indicate, tentatively, that he had won.
Pan groaned and tried to move, but her sore back protested the action, and the pain was too much for Pan to ignore. So she lay back and looked up instead at Marc.
Marc, who had a slight smile playing around his mouth.
The smile was not a smug one, however. It wasn't even a triumphant one. It contained what Pan imagined to be respect, a grudging respect, but as the smile widened, the enigmatic emotion was lost in the change to delight.
"Nice job, Pan. Most of the people I spar with, and they are strong, don't last this long. I commend you on your skill," he said, removing his foot carefully from the base of her throat. Pan only noticed in passing that Marc had exerted no strength to keep her down with that foot, but pushed the thought to the back of her mind for more pressing matters.
"Where'd you learn to spar like that? I've never had a challenge like this one." This was definitely true, as Pan had never been this mercilessly beaten, not even at Vegeta's or Goku's hands. And she'd most definitely had not had to hold back her ki skills against her father or her best friends' father.
Marc, inwardly, grimaced. Externally, he smirked. "Oh, here and there. Mostly I spar against my brother, who is just as strong as I am, maybe a little stronger," he replied nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. Pan blinked in no little bit of shock as she rested where she was in the snow, still steaming from the spar. Marc smirked wider at Pan's surprise, and offered a hand to help Pan up. She accepted it, although painfully, and gasped as she was pulled up with a force she still didn't expect from Marc. The good thing about that force, though, was the fact that she experienced very little pain in her back as Marc pulled her up.
Pan was able to stand, but she needed help in walking, help she received from a cheerful Marc. Jeff, who had gone unnoticed throughout all of the spar, came out to greet them, and again, Pan saw something like respect flit across his face as he walked across to them.
"Well, Marc, Pan, I'd say that we can honestly say that that was the spar of the century," he greeted them, a laughing lilt to his voice. Pan grinned weakly back, conveying her thanks for the compliment.
"Yeah," Marc replied, "that was a great spar, wasn't it? Better than some of ours, even." Pan looked at Marc in surprise, even as Jeff nodded.
"I believe that. It almost made me wish that I didn't have my non-fighting policy, for once."
Pan transferred her shocked gaze to Jeff, who just smirked at her. He then stepped back and eyed her critically, then looked his brother over.
"Jeez, Marc, what'd you do to Pan to get her all bruised and bloody like this?" he demanded to know. Pan, confused, looked down at herself for the first time since the spar began, and understood Jeff's concern. Her gi was shredded in some places, so Pan could see that she was covered in all sorts of bruises, ranging from a small pink one on her leg to the huge black one on her upper arm. Pan knew that her face was probably just as much of a mess, especially on the cheek where Marc had punched her. And her back, ohh, her back was going to be one solid punch of pain when she woke up tomorrow.
"I sparred with her," was Marc's succinct answer to his brother's question. Jeff shook his head at his brother and muttered something Pan didn't catch, but which caused Marc to glare blandly at him. Pan shrugged inwardly, and simply focused on putting one foot in front of the other. She couldn't fly at the present moment, and not just because she was low on ki, but because she was in the presence of those who supposedly did not know about ki. Marc hadn't used a single ki blast or enhanced his speed using ki, not that he needed to do that, Pan contemplated. She shuddered mentally to think of how fast Marc could get if he knew how to manipulate ki. That idea was not a pretty sight.
It was not just for those two reasons that Pan wasn't flying away at the present moment. It was because she was actually enjoying the company of the two Harrison Brothers, now that she had stopped being so demanding. She knew that she'd been acting like a brat in trying to get Jeff to spar with her, and she'd paid the price dearly for it. She was in no hurry to repeat her performance, although she was sure she was going to spar with them again. But that time seemed far off, and she simply applied herself to the task of relishing the presence of the bantering Harrison Brothers.
Jeff turned away from his brother after his retort with an eyebrow raised and a mild glare set on his face. Pan grinned slightly at his expression, eliciting a smile from Jeff as well. His face suddenly changed into one of bafflement, and Pan unconsciously braced herself for the question that was to come.
"Where do you live, anyway? I don't think we have an address for you in the Directory, just a phone number."
Pan blinked, and a blush stained her cheeks. "Uh," she stuttered, her brain racing wildly for an answer. Surely these two wouldn't believe she lived on Mt. Paoz? No, they wouldn't. So she came up with the lame and totally unbelievable answer, "Around here," with a vague wave of her free hand to accompany it. Jeff raised an eyebrow, sharing a glance with Marc, who was equally interested, and returned his interrogative gaze to Pan, as did Marc.
Pan noticed the gazes and sighed in defeat. She hated it when people did that to her, and mostly those people were her mother and her father. They didn't do it to her very often, but it was often enough to tell her that she would be in trouble if she didn't tell them what they wanted to know.
"Fine. I live in 439 Mountain Area, on Mount Paoz." There, it was out. Pan sneaked a glance at the two brothers, expecting to see what she got. Yep, the two Harrison brothers did indeed have disbelieving looks on their faces, but at least their jaws weren't hanging open, like she'd anticipated. Darn.
"Mount Paoz?" Marc finally shrieked. Pan winced and nodded. "But—but—but—" he stammered, unable to get anything out other than that.
Jeff rescued him, however, with his own statement. "But that's five hundred kilometers from Satan City," he deadpanned, his voice containing no emotion.
Pan nodded mutely again. Things were going exactly as she'd thought they'd go. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it would have been interesting if they'd reacted another way.
Jeff shook his head unbelievingly, then asked, in a voice that reflected his inner chaos (or whatever balderdash those fortune-tellers were always saying, Pan thought), "Do you live in the city on the weekdays?"
"Nope," Pan denied. Marc's eyes bugged out. Incredulously, he inquired,
"You mean you actually travel five hundred kilometers a day to get to school?"
"And five hundred to get back home."
"Kami! How do you ever get to school on time?" Marc continued, still incredulous.
Pan responded, "I don't. On a good day I'm only fifteen minutes late. On a really bad day, I'm like forty-five minutes late. The worst day was when I was over an hour late. I missed the whole of first period English. I even get up like two hours early, too. I just never make it." Sparring with Goku too long tended to do that, Pan mused wryly.
Unbelieving silence filled the next few seconds, during which Pan suddenly shivered. They'd been standing in the snow-covered clearing for all of ten minutes, during which Pan had actually cooled down. Now she was freezing. She loosened slightly her hold on her ki, which had bounced back a little since the spar. She would be able to fly slowly now, but Pan still didn't feel like leaving yet. And besides, she had the feeling that they weren't done yet.
"Oh, are you cold?" Marc said at the same timethat Jeff asked "Do you have anybody who lives closer to school and wouldn't mind having you overnight?"
Pan blinked at the double barrage of conversation she was suddenly on the receiving end of. She tried to sort out who had said what, but was saved when Jeff repeated himself.
"Oh, yeah, I do," Pan answered. Marc nodded and set off again, this time not stopping as they talked. "But I can't expect them to be able to host me all the time, so I haven't asked them if I could yet."
And besides, Bra would constantly be chattering her ear off if she did stay over, and Pan seriously needed to get her homework done. She went home with the Briefs every day anyway, but she always slept at home. She wouldn't get any peace if she didn't.
"Well, I suggest that you ask them. They may surprise you," Jeff suggested. Pan nodded, keeping her thoughts to herself. The trio engaged in other small talk for the rest of the long steep walk down to the Harrison camp, Pan talking less and less as she concentrated more and more on getting down without tumbling. Marc was a great help, and Jeff caught her once, but it was mostly through her efforts that she was finally standing at the bottom of the mountain.
And then she collapsed.
A/n: Cliffie! (Evil grin)
Rei: Meanie! I don't like you anymore! (Crosses arms and pouts)
Autumn: Way to go, SP!
SP: Hehehe…. My muses are so weird. /Sweatdrops/
R/A: WE HEARD THAT! (Pounce on SP and start wrestling with her two on one)
SP: HEY, NO FAIR! (Changes into panther to hopefully even the odds)
Autumn-Skips out as sees SP's panther form-
Rei-Transforms into a boa constrictor, six feet long-
SP/R-Stare at one another-
General Responses to Reviews
1) For those of you who didn't want Pan to get her spar with Jeff, well, you can see she didn't. For those of you who did want Pan to spar with our favorite elder demi-Saiyan, well, she got a spar, and got her butt kicked. :D How's that for a little twist?
2) Son Oliver, those are some pretty good ideas. I was keeping you in mind when I was writing the paragraph where Pan knows she was being bratty. :) I'll also keep in mind the "fleeing to save their lives" idea. I'm thinking that some Harrison relatives in America need some visiting. :) Thanks for your review!
3) DBZ Chick1, SAY SOMETHING MORE THAN A SENTENCE PLZ:P Thank you. Frying Pan of DOOM, NICE TO SEE YA! How have you been, my long-time absent friend?
4) I'm writing, I'm writing, demi-legend! I'm actually on a roll here, LOL! So I'm really the one who got you hooked on DBZ fics? KEWL! That makes me just so happy. /Squeals/
Thanks to Son Oliver, DBZ Chick1, Neptunes Tsunami, Salazarfalcon (SLYTHY!), chris, Frying Pan of DOOM, demi-legend,and MarshmellowDragon for their reviews of last chapter! Merci!
SP-Tauntingly- I just left you on an evil cliffie, I just left you on an evil cliffie, I just left you on an evil cliffie, and you don't know anything! Haha! (Points and Laughs™ at readers)
Rei (who was defeated in our duel)-Scowls darkly and grows butterfly wings- (Flies away to join Autumn, wherever she went)
SP-Watches muse go, shrugs- Whatever. Poor, poor Pan…. /Grins/
Thanks guys! We'll see you later!
TheShadowPanther, Autumn, and Rei, from AASN
AASN; Writing is what we do for you at AASN. Enjoy.
Updated 02.05.05
(PS-DAMN QUICKEDIT! It deleted all of my dividers AND my punctuation before and in quotation marks AND my exclamation points! ARGHH! I HATE YOU QUICKEDIT! I'm going to have to complain about this. /Mutters/ Damn QuickEdit...)
