Chapter 6: The Biggest Outbursts

The tension that filled the air during the remainder of that school week was palpable. Noca and Pan had stopped talking to each other completely. No interaction at home, and nothing between them at school. They even started travelling to and from school at separate times. Pan continued to leave at the same time she always did, continuing to meet Bra at Capsule Corp. and heading to Satan City from there, while Noca would head straight to Satan City and meet with Kiera in the mornings. It had become a routine and he was feeling less and less uncomfortable. The flights to school were always awkward.

The friendship growing between Noca and Kiera was nice. She understood what it was like to be the new kid at school, so she was doing her best to help Noca at least feel like he was settling in. Meanwhile, in Noca's mind he knew that once the time was right, and he had achieved what he needed to in his training with Gohan, he was just going to leave again. He had no obligation to anybody in this part of the world.

While this animosity between Noca and Pan remained, Bra still tried to make as many attempts as possible to get the two to be in some sort of position where they would have to talk to one another. She would ask Noca questions when they were in lessons together, or whenever they were at their lockers. She would try her best to bring him into conversations. This led to some added tension between Bra and Pan as the latter was very against trying to become friends with Noca. The Saiyan boy himself, he just stayed quiet, kept to himself, and went about his day, until he was able to see Kiera and that's when he would be able to open up and be himself, even if for just a little bit.

That was pretty much the whole week. Nothing new happened that stood out in their lives. Noca was continuing to get more and more comfortable with his Ki abilities, at least he was coming to terms with how to regulate how much he used. It was just a matter of training himself enough to the point where he didn't get as exhausted quickly. Flight had already become like second nature, which wasn't something he had ever imagined, but it had happened.

The next step is what Noca was most excited for. Training with Gohan.

Saturday 10th February Age 792

Noca was up bright and early. Showered, wearing his Gi, ready and waiting in the kitchen for Gohan to come and tell him it was time to get out there and finally spar. Noca had eaten a small breakfast, not really wanting to be too full-up before a fight. Seemingly the opposite of the typical Saiyan practise. Normally a Saiyan would be full to the brim with food before training. Noca was nervous though, so he decided to keep himself calm and relaxed, despite the excitement he actually felt with the chance to see Gohan in action, even if it was against him. He hoped that the experienced Saiyan wouldn't hold back too much and actually give Noca the challenge he was craving.

While Noca was waiting Pan did wake up and come down to get her breakfast, but as per usual, the two teenagers said nothing. Pan poured herself a bowl of cereal and decided to go sit in the living room with it. Noca simply sat there, hands on the table, quietly. He couldn't deny he hoped she would have been a little easier on him since the day he snapped at her, but she retained that same demeanour she held from the moment she met him, if anything it was worse.

Noca wasn't given too much time to dwell on it because Gohan finally walked in, wearing his Gi.

"So, you ready?" Gohan asked, tightening his belt and putting his hands on his hips. Noca stood up and nodded.

"Yep," He uttered, smirking slightly. Gohan chuckled and walked towards the door, stepping outside in the field and making sure to move to a safe distance away from the house. Pan was sitting on the sofa, facing the television and out of the corner of her eye she could see her father and the boy she didn't like. This annoyed her so she moved seats, decided to instead sit on the chair by the window, because it faced away, and she wouldn't be able to see outside. This was slightly strange for Videl who sat there and watched her daughter suddenly get up and move seat.

"Are you ok, sweetheart?" The mother asked. Pan made an affirmative sound but clearly something was up. Videl sighed. "Is this still because he won't train you?"

Pan huffed and stood up, walking out of the living room.

"I'm fine, mom," Pan said, heading into the kitchen now that she knew Noca wasn't there. Videl didn't like when her daughter kept things from here. No mother liked it when their children kept things from them.

Noca was finishing up some stretches, making sure he was completely ready to dive into some fighting. For Gohan this was going to be a simple spar where he gauged Noca's current knowledge and technique, but for Noca this was a time to unleash and not only get out some pent-up aggression but see just how strong he had gotten with that Ki training. He had to be careful not to show off too much though. He didn't need any of that Saiyan suspicion.

"Ok, it's been a while since I sparred, so, I guess we better ease into this," Gohan suggested, "I'm sure your experience at this point is limited?" He questioned.

"I have some knowledge, less experience," Noca answered, honestly.

"We'll just have to see how this goes then, you advance on me when you're ready," Gohan instructed. Noca would make the first move. He had to think about it for a second, he wanted to make sure he didn't just run in like a child, and actually show that he did have knowledge like he said. Sparring was odd, but then again Noca had never really been successful in a real fight, as far as he was aware.

Noca started to inch forward, unsure of what he should do for the first move. He had been so excited to get on with it but had to admit when thrust into the moment he lost his confidence. Gohan could see this but decided not to act on it and give Noca the time he needed to adjust. Noca took a breath, moved into a stance, arched forward a little and narrowed his eyes. He was ready to pounce and pounce he did.

Noca shot from that spot and rushed towards Gohan. He didn't move so fast that Gohan couldn't deal with it, but it was a little unexpected. Gohan moved out of the way as Noca went past and stuck a foot down on the ground to stop himself and turned to try and move towards the older Saiyan again. He ran towards Gohan and attempted an uppercut but Gohan simply stepped back. Noca carried himself with the momentum and lifted up a little, attempting a roundhouse kick with his left foot. Gohan caught the leg and pushed Noca away.

The teen fell back and landed on down, hands on the ground. He moved up to his feet but Gohan had moved forward and sent a punch towards Noca, a punch that the teen was unable to avoid as it struck him in the face. Noca was knocked back into the ground with a thud but jumped back to his feet and retaliated with an attempted punch of his own. Gohan caught it with complete ease, but there was definitely some visible tension as Noca put a lot of power into it. Gohan noticed this and made a mental note.

"You seem to be attempting to brute force this spar, there's not too much attempt to use your technical knowhow," Gohan explained, remarking on what he had observed from these small movements. Gohan let go of Noca's arm and took a few steps back, putting his arms by his side. Noca's brow furrowed and his jaw clenched. He stood up straight and darted towards his opponent, with a newfound pace that took Gohan by surprise. The teen leapt up and smashed a strong kick against Gohan's face.

The older Saiyan was practically knocked off balance, a little. Noca dropped to the ground in front of Gohan and then jumped forward, aiming in with a gut punch that was easily defended. Gohan had let his guard down and paid the price. Noca had some hidden potential that Gohan hadn't thought about. He pushed Noca away with an energy pulse and backed up. Noca was knocked off of his feet and landed on his back, although not too hard.

He sat up and noticed that Gohan seemed to be relaxing a little bit, practically stepping off. Noca stood up and focussed for a second, raising his Ki level and creating a light aura. Gohan stopped moving back and turned back to look at Noca. He didn't expect to feel such a rise in Noca's power. Sure, it didn't match up to his in anyway, but it was incredibly above average for a human.

Two other nearby people felt that power rising as well. Videl stood up and moved to the window, noticing Noca standing there with Gohan. She scoffed in surprise that Noca had that in his locker and sat down in the chair by the window, looking out to see what may unfold. Upstairs in the house, Pan, sitting in her bedroom felt the spike and was intrigued. She got up from her bed and moved to the window.

She looked out to see Noca and Gohan standing there, Noca's aura just about shining. She groaned and moved back to her bed, trying her best to ignore the energy output and push aside the thoughts of her father training someone that wasn't her. Wasn't it bad enough that Goku already left to train some other stranger? Now her own father was doing it. Why her?

Noca took a breath and ran towards Gohan again. He prepared to punch with his right but feinted to the left and came back with a left jab towards Gohan's face. The older Saiyan had to move back, unable to move quick enough to catch the fist, but Noca persisted, moving forward again and continued to jab with a few punches. Gohan managed to easily block these, noticing that Noca's attacks were becoming a little more erratic and slower. They were less precise.

This was happening because Noca was growing frustrated. He felt like he was doing all the work in this. Gohan was letting Noca take the lead on the attack but the teenager wasn't sure that was the best way for him to learn. He needed something in return. He needed for Gohan to fight back. Noca jumped back and tried to bring out more Ki. He wanted to raise his power some more. Gohan noticed the attempt, as did Videl and Pan. The increase in Noca's power was noticeable and still surprising. He was showing them that he wasn't an ordinary human, which is precisely what he wasn't.

Noca started to groan as he forced out some more energy, starting to feel a little tired, but he needed to try something. He growled as he charged forward and punched towards Gohan's head. Gohan moved his head to the side to avoid the punch but Noca went to follow up with another one that the older Saiyan did well to avoid. Noca dropped in front of Gohan and attempted to sweep his legs. Gohan had to hop over his leg but Noca moved forward again and went for a gut punch. Gohan caught his arm and pushed him back, moving back into a defensive position.

Noca groaned again and darted forward. He jabbed a punch that Gohan blocked with his arms positioned like an X in front of him. Noca pulled the arm back and then attempted a raised kick with his left foot that Gohan blocked with his right forearm. Noca pulled back his leg and grunted as he thrust another punch with his right. Gohan caught it that time and pulled Noca's arm down to the side. Noca attempted a left-handed punch but that one was also caught, with that arm being pulled down to the side also. He struggled in that position to move, Gohan had a strong grip on his arms.

"Where is this energy coming from?" Gohan asked. Noca appeared too distracted by his urge to fight, ignoring the words that came out of Gohan's mouth. He just continued to try and push himself. His arms were shaking as he tried to pull them free, but Gohan kept them held in place. He wasn't hurting Noca, he was just trying to stop him.

Pan had come back to her window to see what was happening and saw the two of them locked in that position. She was eager to see what Noca would try to do to get out of the position. She could feel his energy dwindling a little, and she also noticed her father was easing off. She scoffed, amused by Noca's struggle but as she went to walk away again, she felt a small spike and quickly looked back.

Noca found a burst and he found the right moment as Gohan eased off. He quickly pounced and performed a two footed kick right into Gohan's chest, managing to get himself free and get a hit on Gohan in the process. Gohan took a couple of steps back to readjust but Noca fell to the ground, on his back and seemed to be a little hurt by it.

Turns out he had used the last of his available energy in that moment and exhausted himself. He was putting too much in. Something that Gohan would tell him to learn from in future confrontations. Noca didn't realise that his well didn't run too deep at that moment, or it did, and he was being kept from going any further by his own barrier. He cursed as he lay on his back, staring up into the clouds. Gohan walked over to Noca and looked down.

"I think that's enough for now," He instructed, helping Noca back to his feet. The teen wobbled for a second but steadied himself. He managed to walk himself back to the house and instantly went for the stairs. "Focus on Ki control some more, I think you lost your grip on it out there." Gohan said as Noca ascended the stairs.

The teen was locked in his thoughts. Did Gohan even want to train him because he seemed to be sitting off and letting Noca do it all himself? This wasn't going the way he had expected, and it was doing nothing for his confidence in his abilities. He got to his bedroom just as Pan exited hers. It was just a mistimed moment from the girl. Noca didn't pay her any attention as he opened his door and stepped into the room as Pan walked past him and went down the stairs.

She went into the kitchen, where Gohan was just sitting down with Videl.

"I saw some of that out there, and I think if you're going to let him train with you when he doesn't have a grasp on his abilities then I think you should be giving me a fair shot," Pan said to her father, shocking both him and her mother with that clearly planned out sentence. Gohan scoffed and stood up, walking to pour himself a drink. Pan looked to her mother but nothing, no support. "You're kidding me, right? You still think I'm not worthy to be trained by you?"

"Pan, don't…" Videl started, trying to defuse the situation.

"No, mom. I won't listen to this all the time. Why don't you want me to train with you? What do you think will happen?" Pan said, getting pretty annoyed, and upset as she asked it. She brought her hands to her head and looked away. "I don't get it."

"Pan…" Videl said, trying again.

"Why does he get your attention with this, but I don't? I'm your daughter!" Pan yelled back at her father. He set down his glass and turned around to face her.

"Don't raise your voice to me, Pan," He said, taking on the parental tone. Pan took a heavy breath, noticing she was getting really worked up about it.

"Do you think I'm not good enough?" Pan asked, lowering her tone.

"It's… not you," Gohan uttered. He looked to Videl for support but knew he needed to talk to her himself. "When I was your age, I got a taste for fighting. I had the power and I wanted so badly to use it and express myself… but I didn't really want that. All I ever knew was fighting, it was ingrained in me, a part of me. I don't want that for you."

"Do you ever stop to think that maybe I want to train because I like it, I enjoy it. It's nothing to do with the power fantasy," Pan tried explaining. She was tired of trying so hard. "It's not like anyone else is going to train me. I have to do it myself in the early hours of the morning or really late at night. I'm sure you can sense that?" Gohan nodded. "You can't control my life forever," Pan said, turning around and walking off upstairs again. She rushed to her room and slammed the door behind her.

Noca was sitting at the edge of his bed and had heard a little bit of what had happened, but only really the louder parts. Hearing through the whole house wasn't as easy as hearing across a classroom, but he couldn't help feeling a little bit guilty about Pan being give the short straw in this situation. Too bad that they weren't on speaking terms and she had never made an attempt to be his friend. Maybe they would be able to talk it out otherwise.


That Sunday was the same as the previous one, with Noca doing the bits of homework he needed to, and also finding some time for Ki control training. He didn't bring it up to Gohan but after that sparring session, even though not much had happened he was actually feeling pretty tired for the rest of the weekend and needed to just rest and get on with things. Noca did keep a hold of the dwelling thoughts that he was wasting time going to school and doing homework. If he was training every day, he would be so much more advanced so much quicker. It was frustrating.

The next week was pretty much exactly the same as the previous one. Noca and Kiera were still close and talking regularly. Bra seemed to step off with her attempts to force Noca into their conversations but that was because of Pan. The raven-haired girl was getting angry with Bra about that and wanted her best friend to cut back on it. Bra wasn't happy about the situation she had been placed in. She just wanted everyone to be friends. She wasn't going to stop trying, she just wouldn't try every day, and maybe she needed to bring an ally into the fold.

Friday 16th February Age 792

During the final period of the day, Bra had managed to subtly spend a good solid half an hour texting Kiera, trying to hide what was on her phone screen from both Noca and Pan. The latter did ask about what Bra was up to, but Bra managed to brush it off with a little white lie, telling her best friend that she was just texting her boyfriend, Kareshi. That was enough for Pan to ignore it for the rest of the lesson. Noca, on the other hand, honestly didn't care too much about who Bra was speaking to. It was her life after all.

However, the text messages were important to both Pan and Noca. Bra and Kiera had organised to meet up at the same place outside of school. It would be in one of the local parks, but they would have to arrive from different locations and at reasonably different times to avoid jeopardising the meet-up. It was important that they try to at least work towards making things amicable with the two stubborn teens.

The clocked ticked down and it was finally the end of the day, and Bra and Kiera both had to simultaneously put their plans into motion. The trio all stood up and headed towards their lockers. Noca deliberately moved slower so he could let them get a head start. While Bra and Pan moved on, they spoke, with Bra laying the groundwork for leading Pan to the park.

"I totally forgot to mention earlier that my Mom needed me to head into the city to pick something up, that's no big deal for you, right? Shouldn't take too long," Bra mentioned, talking pretty quickly, almost a little nervously. Pan didn't pick up on it, knowing that Bra was sometimes asked to do things for her mother.

"Yeah, sure," Pan said, bluntly. Bra was pleased that Pan didn't pick up on the nerves and just focussed on getting her stuff and heading out of the school.

Meanwhile, Kiera met up with Noca in the hall as he headed towards the lockers.

"Are you still coming with me to do some shopping?" Kiera asked, nudging Noca as they walked together. Noca smiled and nodded.

"Of course, I'm not gonna leave you to do it on your own," Noca said, kindly. Kiera couldn't deny she started to feel a little guilty about leading Noca into this situation that he would be very uncomfortable with. It was wrong to do it to him and Kiera was certainly starting to feel bad about what she was going.

By the time the two recent friends arrived at Noca's locker Pan and Bra had already departed, meaning Noca had avoided any awkward or unwanted interaction, at least for a little bit. Obviously the Saiyan boy was very unaware of what was going to happen. The two friends left the school and made their way towards the city, albeit taking a different route to what Bra and Pan had taken, as discussed. This would lead them around to a completely different entrance to the park, and it would probably end up with the two sets of two meeting somewhere in the middle.

"Do you mind if we walk through the park?" Kiera asked, she made sure to avoid giving a reason, wanting to avert more suspicion and just made it seem like she liked the park. Noca was agreeable, he saw no issues with taking a more scenic route.

Bra had her phone gripped tightly in her hand, almost as if waiting for something, a text from Kiera was the obvious guess, but Pan wasn't aware of that. The raven-haired teen was on her own phone at the time. She wasn't talking to anybody else, just reading some news articles about her favourite show, or favourite singer, you know, the normal things teenagers would look at on their phone. She was, however, keeping a slight eye on Bra.

"Hey, we should walk through the park, right? Take in the view," Bra said, with a chuckle, which she had to be careful wasn't mistaken for a nervous one. "I think it would be nice, yeah?" Bra questioned. Pan looked up, her brow furrowing. Bra did look back at Pan but quickly looked forward, which only led to some more suspicion from Pan.

"Ok?" Pan answered, awkwardly. She looked down at Bra's hand, the phone still gripped. "Why have you got such a tight grip on your phone? You waiting for something important?" Pan asked. "Is Kareshi going to text you?"

Bra screamed internally, feeling a sense of relief. Pan just gave her a way out.

"Yeah. Kareshi. He said he was going to text me about maybe hanging out this weekend, I'm not sure yet," Bra said, rapidly, not really helping Pan's ever-growing nerves. She was feeling rather tense as the two of them entered the park. She kept an eye on Bra, putting her phone away in her pocket. Bra was incredibly anxious.

Noca and Kiera were walking through, with the blonde pointing out a certain breed of bird that really liked to nest in that park, and it happened to be native to the region. Noca was interested by the wildlife, and certainly distracted, as had been Kiera's intentions. Kiera looked down at her phone, checking if she had received any correspondence from Bra, but nothing, meaning things were still going ahead. Kiera decided to stop at a rail and pointed over towards a small river that ran through the park. It was just a nice thing to look at, and it continued to serve a purpose as a distraction.

Kiera looked up the path and could see Bra and Pan approaching.

On the other end, Bra tensed up a little bit when she noticed Kiera and Noca there, she knew it was going to be a tough situation either way, but it was a conversation that needed to happen and there was no backing out. Pan noticed that Bra tensed up and when she looked ahead, she immediately saw why. Noca and Kiera were standing there, and Pan felt justified for being on edge.

She stopped walking immediately and grabbed Bra's arm, harder than intended.

"Ow!" Bra said as she was turned around, seeing that Pan was not happy.

"You planned for us to meet up, didn't you?" Pan asked, clearly set off by that idea. Bra opened her mouth to speak, but Pan was already distressed. "I can't believe you."

Noca felt a spike nearby, something familiar. He looked to Kiera and noticed she was looking away and then he too, saw Bra with Pan. He sighed.

"Kiera," He said, softly. She turned and saw he was looking up the path. "Did you organise this?"

"Yes," She said, earning a reaction from Noca that screamed his discomfort. "Bra and I did it together, but only because you two need to bury this," Kiera attempted to plead as Noca turned away and walked a couple of steps.

"Nobody asked you to interfere," Noca said, turning to face her again. He wasn't angry, he just wasn't pleased.

"I am not speaking to him!" Pan said, rather aggressively to her best friend. Bra tried to get a word in, but Pan was having none of it. "I can't believe you actually went behind my back to do this. You've been weird all day and this is why?"

"Pan, please, just talk to him and you guys can settle things and this whole situation can be behind us," Bra pleaded.

"What don't you get? I don't want to try and be his friend, I don't want to care about his life!" Pan yelled at her friend, a sound that carried to the other two. Noca sighed again and Kiera looked up at him apologetically.

"Please just try," Bra said to her friend, with one last attempt. Pan glared ahead and walked past Bra, towards Noca. He backed up a little bit, nervous about the coming confrontation. Kiera stayed where she was. Pan ignored her.

"They want me to talk to you, fine, let's talk. Stay the Hell out of my life!" Pan yelled right in Noca's face. He swallowed and looked down at his feet. "You just waltz in and take all of it for yourself. My friends. My home. My family!"

"I don't want any of it. I said that," Noca said, quietly. Trying his best to avoid his temper getting the better of him, again.

"Well, you've done a great job at redirecting the attention elsewhere. Everyone is far more interested in you than me and I can't have it anymore," Pan continued. Kiera had a visible reaction to that, her brow furrowed, and she stepped next to Noca.

"Is this really just about you wanting attention back on you?" Kiera asked. Pan was taken aback by Kiera's sudden involvement.

"What? No. I wasn't even talking to you," Pan said to the blonde, almost stepping up to intimidate her. Noca put a hand in front of Kiera.

"You don't need to get involved in this. You two were friends before I came into your lives," Noca said.

"Exactly my point!" Pan yelled back.

"But I'm not trying to steal anything from you, Pan. Believe me. I don't want any of your life," Noca reiterated, his anger swelling a little as the confrontation grew.

"My own father…" Pan uttered, getting a little upset. Noca looked down again. "He would rather train you… than me. His own daughter. Just… like my grandpa…" Pan mentioned, as a single tear rolled down her cheek. "And you came here looking for 'Son Goku,'" Pan said, making inverted commas with her fingers. "You're just gonna take him away from me again…"

Noca looked up and tried to look into Pan's eyes but couldn't do it. He couldn't help the guilt he was starting to feel, but then again, he knew that he had done nothing wrong by showing up and being embraced by these strangers. What more could he say or do to prove he wanted none of it?

"Maybe that's something you need to address yourself. Why your own father doesn't want to actually train you, and why he thinks that maybe you're unworthy. I don't know. I'm not a part of this or any family," Noca explained, thinking he was making a helpful point, but probably just adding more fuel to that fire.

"Well, I'm losing my family. I'm losing everything. And I've already lost my grandpa once and this is what that feels like," Pan said, before realising she was almost becoming too familiar with Noca. Something she didn't want. He didn't have a right to know any of that about her. "What do you know about that, huh?"

Noca bit his lip and breathed a heavy sigh.

"Maybe that's enough, Pan," Kiera said, stepping forward again. Bra looked at Kiera and Noca and noticed something in his eyes, a look she was familiar with. Something she had seen before. She looked to Pan and wanted to say something but didn't want to be seen to take sides.

"No. Isn't it enough to take everything from me. I bet you're not the good, nice guy you claim to be. You're probably just another loser come to attempt a swipe at taking down my family, like all those other losers in the past," Pan said, sort of grasping at whatever she could at that point. It was starting to sound more and more unreasonable, and it honestly didn't make sense anymore.

Noca just looked at her and opened his mouth but there was nothing he could think of saying to sort any of it out. He just sighed and nodded.

"You think very low of me, don't you?" Noca said, sniffing, clearly feeling his emotions well up inside him. His anger was being repressed and Pan had touched on some difficult subjects for him.

"What can I say? To me, you're scum…" Pan said, looking away. "And that's probably what you come from."

Noca scoffed and turned away too. He brought a hand to his face for a second.

"Maybe…" He uttered, turning and walking away slowly.

"Noca…" Kiera said, going to walk after him. Noca stopped.

"You've been hostile with me from day one, and you wonder why I won't share with you," Noca shook his head and continued to walk again. "Don't follow me, Kiera. I need to be alone."

Noca immediately took to the sky and flew somewhere. He didn't really want to be alone. For the first time in his life he truly felt alone, with no one around him, nothing he could truly call his own, and he hated it. He hated himself, he hated his life. But he had vowed to persist. He had a promise to keep. Nothing would get in his way.

Noca had disappeared completely from view and the three girls were left alone.

"Pan… you should have just given him a chance. No one came here for a fight," Kiera said. "I'm sorry we did this."

Pan stood with her arms over the railing that looked into a really lovely patch of flowers. Kiera looked to Bra and smiled weakly.

"I'll see you in school," She said, waving as she walked away.

"See you," Bra said, before joining Pan at the railing. "That wasn't good."

Pan was very much lost in her own thoughts in that moment, as if she couldn't believe what she had said. Some of it came from a real and personal place, but she was on the attack from the moment she saw him. She wasn't being unreasonable in wanting answers for why everything seemed to centre around him at that moment. And surely, he was being unreasonable for choosing to hide everything, making him all the more suspicious. Pan sighed and walked away.

"Pan, please don't be mad at me," Bra said, running after her.

"I'm not mad at you. Ok, Bra, I'm not," Pan said, very sharply. And then she sighed again, shaking her head. "I was on edge. I'm not wrong for thinking those things. We don't know him."

"We could," Bra said, smiling weakly. Pan shook her head again.

"I just want to go home now."

Pan went with Bra back to Capsule Corp., primarily to waste time, but chose not to stay long. She really just wanted to get back to her own home and relax and calm down. She flew the entire way, lost in her thoughts, thinking over the things she had said. She accepted some of it was irrational or harsh but stood by her accusation of him taking all the attention. Pan was too deep into those thoughts to see that it was perhaps selfish of her to think that way. She stood by her suspicions because of the way he carried himself, but maybe there was credence to the idea that they should talk.

When she arrived home, she dropped her bag on the table by the door and went to see her parents in the kitchen.

"Good Evening, Pan. How was school?" Gohan asked, looking up from his capsule-pad. Pan nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, it wasn't too bad," She said, putting on a façade. She greeted her mother with a quick hug and went to grab herself a soda from the fridge. "Uh, has Noca got home yet?" She asked, surprising her parents, who were very aware of Pan's dislike of Noca, just from the way she acted.

"No, not yet. I assumed he would still be with Kiera," Videl suggested.

"Oh, yeah, of course," Pan said, acting like she had simply forgotten about that. "I just didn't see him at the end of the day, that's all," She lied, before heading out and going up to her bedroom. Was she worried about Noca, or about him coming back at her with something else to say? Hard to say.

Meanwhile, not too far away from the house, deep in a wooded area, Noca was sat. Alone. In the dark. In the damp. Thinking. Pan had cut him deep with some of what he said but he was doing a good job of supressing and ignoring the sadness. Sure, he was always sad at the thought of what he's been through, but with the way Pan was talking to him, showcasing her ignorance and inability to empathise with him on any sort of level was really frustrating. That's what he was thinking about. That is what had caused him to find this sanctuary. The isolation. He needed to calm himself. To regain some of that self-control he had been teaching himself. He was learning to control his Ki and he needed to control his emotions with it.

Real talk. He was really terrible at that. He was just so angry all the time and he had no grip over that. That's why he needed time to be away, by himself, with no one there to say anything when he chose to express his anger. Noca was cradling his right hand in his left and his knuckles looked dirty. A nearby tree had a very big dent caused by a fist. That is why Noca sought this silence.

Hopefully, all of that had been drained and he could return home. Well. He could return to the house that he was calling home at that time.

He walked in, said a quick hello to Gohan and Videl, talking to Gohan briefly about whatever training they would get up to that weekend, brushing over the topic of school. Noca soon headed to his room, but upon reaching it he was immediately graced by Pan's presence.

"Hello," Noca said, bluntly, while avoiding looking at her.

"About today…" Pan started.

"I get it. You were unaware that it was happening, just as I was," Noca interrupted. Pan wasn't happy about being cut-off, but she decided that maybe this was the time to try and be the bigger person.

"I just don't want it to bleed over onto Bra and Kiera anymore, they don't deserve it," Pan said.

"But I do?" Noca asked, looking up at Pan. He was clearly not in the mood for a civil conversation.

"Look, we both said harsh things to each other, ok?" Pan responded, finally regaining her feisty nature. She wasn't about to be talked down to.

"Whatever you say," Noca said, stepping inside his room, Pan rushed over and stopped him from closing the door.

"Seriously, now that I'm attempting to talk to you, you're gonna back off and hide. Boy, you must be weak. That's not something that you can fix by just training with the strongest guy you can think of," Pan said, clearly provoking Noca at that point. Noca opened the door, causing Pan to lose balance but she backed up as Noca stepped out of the room.

"I'm not weak," Noca said, standing right up to Pan. She had to admit a little bit of fear crept in at that point, but she wasn't one to back down and roll over. "And you finally decided to be amicable and talk to me because, why? Let me guess, you're feeling guilty about what you said? Well guess what…" Noca leaned in closer. "I don't care what you think of me. I have no reason to."

Noca stepped off and turned his back to Pan but she was set over the edge. The heat of the moment, the swelling of emotions in the room, it was almost like whatever Noca was feeling had somehow jumped to her and she wanted nothing more than to fight back. So, she did.

Without a second thought Pan darted forward, striking Noca in the back with a strong punch that took him very off-guard as he was flung forward into his bed frame with a thud, and a crack. Noca fell to his knees on the ground, feeling a sting on his nose. He had smacked it right against the bed. He touched it and winced, standing up. He turned to face Pan, but she didn't seem at all shocked by what she did. She was in fight mode. And so was he.

"Come on then," Noca said, taunting her. Pan took a deep breath and charged towards him again, punching towards his gut. Noca caught her arm but she retaliated with an uppercut into his chin and then a spinning kick into his chest which knocked him back into his bedside table, which knocked over, smashing something on the ground. Noca quickly stood up with his arms up ready but Pan moved in and jumped up, punching him down into the ground. She was too quick for him. Noca fell against the wall again, struggling to stand.

"Stay down," Pan threatened, powering up Ki in her hand. Noca stood up quickly and grabbed her wrist, keeping her hand aimed towards his face. She continued to power the Ki.

"Go on, do it," Noca said, provoking her. Pan's brow furrowed but her rage didn't subside. Nothing more happened as Gohan and Videl had rushed up the stairs and the Saiyan adult phased in between them both, pushing them apart. Videl pulled Pan out of the room.

"What is going on?!" Videl asked, yelling at both teens. Noca was breathing heavily, blood starting to run down his nose, his anger not settling down. Gohan held him back against the wall but noticed that Noca wasn't about to do anything. He looked at the boy and noticed that the damage had been inflicted on him. He then looked to his daughter.

"Pan, why?" He asked. Pan tried to steady her breathing and sniffed, managing to pull away from her mother, rushing to her room. She stood in the doorway and looked back to her mother.

"I hate him!" She screamed, slamming the door. She instantly fell against his and put her hands on her head, practically gripping her hair. Where had that rage come from?

Videl looked back at Noca and Gohan but decided her daughter was more important in that moment, she went to Pan's bedroom door, leaving the men.

Noca looked out of sorts as he slowly started to calm down. He wore a vacant expression. He was lost. Gohan patted him on the shoulder and shook his head.


Characters Seen/Mentioned in this Chapter:

Noca (OC)
Pan
Bra
Kiera (OC)
Son Gohan
Videl
Son Goku – Mentioned
Kareshi (OC) – Mentioned