Chapter 2: Normal Life?

Our Hero's journey has begun. Noca has started on his quest to find the mysterious Saiyan, Son Goku, but little does Noca know, Goku won't be easy to track down. But we're not going to follow that thread. Not yet anyway.

For now, we are going to drop in on some other characters. Some characters that we are all familiar with. Our friends, the Z-Fighters, as well as their families.

A few years after Goku left to train with Uub, Gohan and Videl decided to leave the 439 Mountain Region, wishing to let Goten and his girlfriend, Valese, move in together to start their lives. The two had been together since high-school and had become very serious. Gohan decided the best place for his family to live would be halfway between West City and Satan City. Gohan and Videl both worked in West City, for Capsule Corp. and their daughter, Pan, would be attending school in Satan City. Plus, it was still close enough for the couple to visit their families. Chi-Chi though, had moved out of the Mt Paozu home also. She moved to West City, into the Capsule Corp. Compound, at least for a few years. Also, so that Goten and Valese could have the space to get their lives going and also so that she wouldn't be completely alone after Goku left.

The area that Gohan and Videl lived in was situated close to the Moori Forest, an area of land created by Dende in honour of the Elder Namekian that was in-charge of the group when Dende was living on New Namek. Dende was also joined on the lookout by Piccolo for the majority of the time. The older Namekian choosing to remain there, but he would also visit Gohan and his family from time to time. Piccolo was also the only one from the group to remain in contact with Goku after the Saiyan left to train with Uub. However, within the first year of training Uub, Goku did visit his family, soon severing ties to focus on training and even going as far as to isolate and hide away so not to be disturbed. This was achieved in part with help from Piccolo and Dende. Goku had been away for seven years by this point.

What about the rest of the Z-gang? Krillin was still living at Kame house with his wife, Android #18, as well as Roshi. Krillin's daughter, Marron had actually left home to move to West City, to attend University there. She was twenty years old and about to start her second year. Yamcha had seemingly moved to East City and started a family. He only really met up with the group at big reunions which had become more infrequent with the lack of a Goku. Tien and Chiaotzu were off training somewhere and it were rumoured they had their own dojo together.

What about the Capsule Corp. posse? Bulma still lived there and was running the company after her father's retirement to the Eastern islands. Vegeta was still living there, training in his gravity room a lot, but also spending time with his family from time-to-time. Trunks still lived there and worked for the company. Bra attended school in Satan City with Pan.

I think that's all the people we needed to catch up with.

Everyone was affected in their own way when Goku left. They were all upset and disappointed, but it was certainly something that people had come to expect. It wasn't in the Saiyan's nature to sit still and let life happen. He had to go out there and make something of himself. He wanted to enjoy himself and fight. The people most affected were certainly Goten, Pan, and Chi-Chi. While Chi-Chi had also accepted it was Goku's nature, she couldn't deny it broke her. She had to see her husband leave again and basically without a proper goodbye. She managed to carry on with her life and focus on her family.

Goten lost his father. He had managed to have a few years with him and got to start growing into an adult with his father there to help him. To spar with him. But then he was gone again and Goten harboured some resentment. He managed to get on with his life by focussing on his girlfriend and doing lots of local farming work with the villages and towns around the 439 Mountain Range. He managed to build something of a good reputation for himself.

Now Pan, she was very upset, but also too young to understand when it happened, so she grew up feeling very depressed about what had happened. Both Bulma and Videl saw this in the little girl and ended up trying to get her to find someone to keep her company and help her deal with the difficulties. That is how the friendship between Pan and Bra came to be. But it was more than just their parents putting them together. The two cared for each other deeply and were best friends. Going as far to see themselves as like sisters to one another. Pan couldn't imagine being without her best-friend and the same went for Bra.

Now that we have caught up let us drop into their lives and see what happens for Pan in a typical day. The events that you are about to read also take place on the very same day as the attack on the Kayu Village.


Monday 18th September Age 791

Six in the morning on a school day. Not just any school day, but a Monday. The beginning of the week. The worst day of the week for any pre-teen. Nobody liked to get up out of bed on a Monday morning, and Videl understood that. But she was already up and preparing to get ready for work, so she needed to make sure that her daughter was also up and out of bed ready for school.

Pan was part Saiyan, obviously, and that meant she was a heavy sleeper. Videl dealt with the same thing every week so she had basically become Pan's personal alarm clock and the mother had plenty of methods she would use to get her daughter out of bed and wide awake. Videl knocked on Pan's bedroom door and opened up, stepping in hoping to see her daughter awake, but she had come to know better. Pan was still snuggled up in bed, fast asleep. Videl sighed.

"Pan, time to wake up," Videl said softly, hoping that she would open her eyes and wake up without Videl needed to resort to more harsher methods. Pan didn't budge. Videl stepped in fully and stood at the foot of Pan's bed. "Pan. Get up. Time for school."

Pan just groaned, showing that she had shifted awake, but wasn't willing to get up.

"I won't ask nicely again, you're clearly awake, so come on, get out of bed," Videl said, showing her strict side. Pan groaned again and pulled the covers over her head.

"Just let me sleep a little longer," Pan mumbled. Videl shook her head and started to power up her Ki a little bit, the spike in energy resonating in Pan's senses and causing her to shift uncomfortably. "Ok… I'm awake."

"Get ready for school and come down for breakfast," Videl instructed, walking over to Pan's curtains and opening them to get the light in the room and then she left, leaving the door open. Pan sat up slowly, stretching and yawning. She slumped out of the bed and dragged herself to her bathroom. She showered, brushed her teeth, got dressed and prepared her bag for her day at school. The worst part about getting up when her mother decided to make breakfast was that it was about two hours before she had to meet Bra in West City. It didn't take her long to get there, yet her mother always insisted on getting her up and ready early.

Pan would give Videl one thing, at least she had more time to dawdle when getting ready and could have a proper breakfast. That was a nice aspect. Pan opted to wear a slightly baggy red top which had a Capsule Corp. logo on the front, with a pair of light blue jeans and some white trainers. Pan wasn't someone to wear much make-up but after spending lots of time with Bra she had been convinced to use a little bit. Once ready, Pan went down to sit and have breakfast with her parents.

Gohan was already there, ready and wearing his suit, although he wasn't wearing his jacket at the table. He was just dishing up his own plate from the buffet breakfast that had been prepared. Videl was preparing Pan's plate as well as her own. Pan slumped down at the table and yawned grabbing her plate and thanking her mother. Gohan started to dig in, devouring his breakfast and going back for seconds. Pan had been tired but her Saiyan appetite started to wake her up and she was soon eating as much as she could, not as much as her father, but enough.

Once he had finished eating Gohan decided to start a conversation while the family all still had time before they needed to be anywhere.

"You manage to get all your homework done over the weekend?" Gohan asked his daughter, taking a sip of his morning coffee. Pan was just finishing the last of her breakfast and almost choked upon that reminder. No. That was the answer. Pan quickly took a drink of water and cleared her throat.

"Yep, all done, Mr. Sheffield's homework was especially difficult," Pan lied, smirking and pretending to wipe sweat from her brow. "Took me all night to get that done."

Pan looked to Videl and saw her mother staring at her with a raised eyebrow. Pan looked down awkwardly and picked up everyone's plates. She rushed and put them on the side and then walked towards the door.

"I'm going to make sure I have all my stuff together, make sure I don't forget to take that homework in," Pan said, smiling as she rushed off up to her room. Gohan took another sip from his coffee and chuckled to himself. Videl just shook her head.

"You know she didn't do that homework, right?" Videl asked, getting up out of her chair to go and wash some dishes.

Back up in her room, Pan was rumbling through her bag pulling out the correct book and practically ripping through the pages to find what the homework question was. She came to it and grabbed a pen, ready to write down a quick answer before noticing it was an exam style question, asking her to 'discuss.' Pan's heart sank as she hadn't done any of the research needed and knew there was only one person she could turn to for last minute help.

The raven-haired girl grabbed her phone and tapped on the last contact. The phone rang and then a rather tired voice answered on the other end.

"Uh… morning Pan," Bra said down the line, yawning, "I was just getting up."

"Yeah, sorry, thing is I forgot to do Sheffield's homework, and it's too much for me to do right now. Can I come over to yours now and use yours?" Pan asked, a hopeful yet anxious tone in her voice.

"Ok, I guess, you can't copy it though," Bra said, reacting as if this was a regular occurrence.

"I won't copy it, I just need some help with structure and if anything, I'll just rush it, but I haven't got the research," Pan explained further, sounding a bit more erratic.

"Ok, ok. Calm down, just head here as soon as you can, I'm up now so I'll be ready by the time you're here," Bra said.

"Thanks Bra, I'll see you soon!" Pan said, hanging up before Bra even had a chance to respond. Pan quickly grabbed her stuff together and threw her shoes on, rushing back down the stairs. She popped her head into the kitchen to say bye to her parents. "I'm heading to Bra's now, I'll see you both later, love you lots."

Pan, once again, didn't give them the time to respond and she was already out of the door and leaping into the air, ready to fly to West City. She was passing over lots of villages and town as she blasted her way to the big West City. She was tiring herself out by how fast she was flying but she would have plenty of time to recuperate that energy.

Upon arrival in the City Pan dropped right into the Capsule Corp. compound and rushed into the residential building where Bra and her family resided. Pan was considered a V.I.P. as far as the Capsule Corp. employees that worked on the compound were concerned and they saw her enough to warrant ignoring whenever she dropped in.

Pan rushed towards the stairs, not taking the chance to see if anybody was hanging about, she needed to get to Bra and get that homework completed as soon as possible, but a voice stopped her.

"Hi, Pan," a woman's voice called out. Pan stalled and backtracked, seeing Bulma sitting at a desk on her laptop, she was wearing a dressing-gown showing that she wasn't ready for business just yet. "In a rush?"

"Hey Bulma, yeah, I need to speak to Bra about something, kinda urgent," Pan explained, about to rush off again, "Oh, is my Grandma about?"

"Yeah, Chi-Chi's out in the garden dome at the moment, tending to the plants, you know her, she likes to keep busy," Bulma explained, chuckling, "Now go see Bra, make sure she's ready for school."

Pan smiled and laughed before rushing off up the stairs. She arrived at Bra's door and knocked a couple of times, quite frantically. She heard some stumbling on the other side and then the blue-haired girl opened the door.

"Knock louder, why don't you?" Bra joked as she let Pan in. Pan rushed in and grabbed her book out of her bag.

"Sorry, hi, but I need to get this done quickly, where's yours?" Pan asked. Bra laughed a little and tried to settle Pan down.

"Calm down, it's only a bit of homework," Bra took her book from her bag and handed it to Pan. "Here, you do that, and I'll finish getting ready."

Pan quickly jotted down some notes based on Bra's answer and then started to formulate her own based on what she managed to get from the Brief girl's work. Bra was always the more intelligent of the two. Pan was smart too, she had been raised by Gohan after all, but Bra seemed to have a more academic mind and was more interested in the schoolwork.

Pan managed to write something she was proud of by the time Bra was completely ready. The blue-haired girl stepped out of her dressing room wearing a lilac dress.

"You finished it?" Bra asked. Pan looked up and sighed.

"Just about. It's probably terrible," Pan joked, putting the finishing touches on her paragraph and then putting her book in her bag and handing Bra's back to her. "Thanks."

"No problem," Bra replied with a smile. The two of them prepared to leave, Bra put on her shoes, checked herself in the mirror one last time, and took her bag and left her room. It was just as she and Pan stepped out of her room that they heard another door go down the hall, and someone was sneaking the opposite way.

"What was that?" Pan asked, her senses kicking into gear. Bra scoffed and looked at Pan with a mischievous smirk.

"I think I know."

The two of them walked towards the sound and heard two voices, both whispered, both familiar. One of them was a guy, with lavender coloured hair, and the other a young woman with blonde hair.

"Hi Trunks, hi Marron," Bra said, with a little bit too much glee. Pan was a little shocked to see the two adults turn around slowly with surprised looks on their faces.

"Good morning, Bra," Trunks said, through grit teeth with a fake smile. Marron looked a bit more worried than anything and the amusement of the situation started to dawn on Pan.

"Are you two dating?" Bra asked, her smile widening. Trunks was still wearing his fake smile, but his eyes told a tale of fear. Marron on the other hand was accepting the situation.

"Someone was going to find out soon, Trunks," Marron said, turning to her boyfriend. Trunks sighed and accepted it.

"Fine. Yes, Bra. We are dating. We just wanted to see where things were going before we told anyone," Trunks explained. He seemed to be a little defeated, as did Marron.

"Let's say we were a bit worried about what family responses would be, you know, I am five years younger than him," Marron explained further. It made sense to the younger girls, but they didn't think it was an issue.

"So what?" Pan said, scoffing. "It's not like you're a teenager, Marron."

"Yeah, you're Twenty!" Bra agreed. The couple seemed to perk up at the support. "Honestly, I'm happy for you, Trunks."

Trunks was pleased to hear that and looked at Marron again, the two smiled at each other.

"And we're not about to tell anyone, just do it when you're ready. But you have nothing to worry about," Bra said. Trunks clearly wasn't expecting the support from his sister. "Now, we have to go to school, so you get back to sneaking Marron out of here."

The four of them said their goodbyes as Pan and Bra headed off back downstairs while Trunks escorted Marron off of the premises by flying her out of the window. The two schoolgirls said bye to Bulma as they headed off out of the property into the grounds. Bra took out a capsule, throwing it out and letting it transform into a jet ready to transport them to Satan City.

Upon arrival in Satan City the two girls had enough time to land a couple of blocks away from the school so they could get themselves something to eat and drink on the way to school from their favourite Café. Bra opting to get a hot-chocolate and a little cake for later on in the day. Pan got herself an ice-tea, believing to be a bit more sophisticated. This was just part of their ordinary routine. They liked to have the peaceful walk to school and chat, especially while there was still warm weather.

The girls arrived at school, a little bit before the bell would go off, as usual. They headed to their lockers and took out what they needed and put away what they wouldn't until later on, as usual. While standing at her locker Pan heard someone clear their throat behind her. She turned around slowly and saw it was one of the boys from one of her classes. She couldn't place which one it was in that moment.

"Hi, can I help you?" Pan asked, awkwardly, not liking to be disturbed when with her friend. Especially by boys. She wasn't in that mindset just yet.

"Uh… yeah. Sorry, I'm Jack. I'm in your math class," He said, nervously, those nerves not helped by Pan's disinterested demeanour.

"Ok, Jack. Again, can I help you?" Pan asked again, similar tone in her voice. More nervous shuffling from Jack.

"Oh, sorry, I was just wondering… if you'd maybe, I don't know, wanna go a date sometime?" Jack asked, finally strumming up the confidence to force the words out. Pan couldn't deny she hadn't expected that. Jack was one of those boys who was heavily involved in the sports groups. He was even wearing his sports gear, meaning that he probably had some sort of scholarship and he liked to show it. Pan was a little nervous now, knowing what she wanted to say, but trying to find the right way to do so.

"Uh… that's nice, but I'm sorry, I'm not interested in that right now," Pan replied, not sure if it came across as rude in her head, she didn't really care, but she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Jack did seem rather disappointed in that response and sort of backed away slowly while apologising for disturbing the raven-haired girl. Pan turned around, blushing from nerves and went back to her locker.

"Wow, that was a bit harsh," Bra muttered to her best friend. Pan was taken aback by the whole situation and now Bra was saying she was harsh.

"What, how?" Pan questioned. Bra closed her locker and looked up the hallway to where Jack had wandered off to.

"He was really cute," Bra practically squealed, almost jealous that Pan was being asked out first thing on a Monday morning.

"You date him then," Pan said, closing her own locker and starting to walk down the hall with her friend. Bra sort of giggled at that answer, she was clearly interested.

"He didn't ask me though," Bra mentioned.

"Dating isn't appealing to me right now," Pan said, not moving on from the topic, it clearly struck a chord in her. Bra was the only person she could talk to about that kind of thing after all. "There's just no one out there for me right now. Everyone in this school is kinda disappointing. Mom says it's because I'm comparing them to my power level or something like that, probably a Saiyan thing."

"But I'm Saiyan and I don't act like that," Bra scoffed.

"Yeah but you never train or fight, or utilise the Saiyan power," Pan replied. Bra had to agree with Pan on that. The blue-haired girl had never been one for violence or fighting.

The two girls went through the rest of the day along the normal routine, which was ordinary considering it was a school day. Pan did find herself daydreaming a little bit throughout the day. Something she did often, but today was different. After the talk about dating she was starting to consider thoughts on why she hadn't seen it as important in her life. Could it really be because they weren't satisfying when compared to her power level or is it the more realistic idea that she just hadn't met someone that she truly liked? She was also only twelve years old and dating and relationships were not important at that point in her life.

All the daydreaming made lunch come by rather quickly with the two girls heading for their lockers quickly. They may have much better manners than most, if not all, of the males in their families, but at the end of the day they were both part-Saiyan and their appetites were significantly bigger than ordinary humans. The girls grabbed their lunches and ate outside. It was a nice day, so it seemed only right. They did opt to sit in the shade though. They liked the warmth, not the sun bearing down on them.

The girls spent most of their time together, just the two of them. While they had plenty of friends in their classes, they preferred each other's company. The two of them were reasonably popular in school as well, considering who they were and who they were related to. It didn't mean everyone liked them, but it meant they were known. Among the people that weren't fond of Pan and Bra was a girl named Chloe. A girl that had, at one time, been friends with the girls but over time she seemed to drift further and hold a big grudge against them. Chloe had her own best friend, Alice, and would normally travel in a group, typically about five of them. All girls.

Sometimes, those girls would go out of their way to tease, disturb, or even bully the two girls. Not that it always mattered to Pan and Bra, but sometimes it would prove to be quite a bit of a nuisance, and more often than not, ridiculous and petty. Just like this day.

When Pan and Bra were just sitting together, under a tree in the shade, eating their lunch, a cup of drink was thrown towards the girls. The cup hit bra in the head and burst, spilling the contents over her and her outfit.

Bra reacted with a shocked squeal and jumped up, dropping her lunch and turning to see where it had come from. She was upset, embarrassed, and angry. She stared towards Chloe and her friends as they laughed, gaining the attentions of many other school kids who joined in with the laughter. Pan had jumped up beside Bra and was immediately glaring towards Chloe and preparing to run over there, but she went to Bra's aid first.

"Are you alright?" Pan asked, looking over her friend and checking where the cup had landed. Luckily it was only a paper cup so there wouldn't be any injury, it was only the contents that would cause issues. Bra practically froze and looked over her dress, feeling it.

"It's sticky, that was a soda… it's going to ruin this dress," Bra said, getting a little emotional. Pan could sense her friend was getting angry and she was right to, but Bra wouldn't let her do anything to get herself in trouble. Pan turned back to Chloe, glaring towards the laughing girl and her friends. Pan stepped forward.

"Can you stop acting like a bitch for once in your life?!" Pan yelled out, not restraining herself in the language department, even though there's probably a lot worse that could be said. Chloe seemed genuinely offended and stopped laughing, along with her friends.

"You hear that, she called me a bitch!" Chloe yelled, stepping up. The rest of the kids that had drawn their attentions to the situation had grown bored by that point and it was just an argument between the girls now.

"Actually, I said you were acting like one, but I guess you're too stupid to see the difference," Pan said back, smirking to herself. Chloe grew visible frustrated and started to walk towards the girls. Pan was anticipating an attack and was prepared to fight back if needed, not restraining herself like she should do. Bra noticed this and knew she needed to be Pan's moral support and stepped between the two girls.

"Chloe, back off," Bra said, doing her best to ease the situation. Chloe stopped and looked at Bra's ruined dress, laughing to herself and walking away. Bra shook her head and turned back to Pan.

"Why did you stop her? I'd love to see her try and punch me," Pan said, getting amused by the thought of embarrassing Chloe.

"There's no sense in us getting in trouble, Pan," Bra said, being the voice of reason. She looked down at her dress again and was very annoyed. "Let's just go to the bathroom so I can change, can you grab my bag."

Pan took hers and Bra's bags and followed the girl back into the building so she could get out of the ruined dress and into one of the spare outfits that she had in a capsule. Once changed lunch was practically over so the girls headed back to their lockers to put stuff away and head to their next lessons. Chloe and Alice where basically waiting for them but didn't interact with them. Chloe just stuck her middle finger up at Pan while the girls passed by. It was childish but it managed to get a rise out of Pan.

"Want me to break that finger?" Pan asked. Chloe scoffed.

"Is that a threat?" Chloe fired back with a question of her own, she believed that Pan was just all talk. Pan shook her head and just went to her locker. Chloe walked over to the two of them and closed Pan's locker.

"You mind?" Pan said, glaring towards the girl. Chloe was doing all she could to get a rise out of them. Bra just sighed and tried to walk away, dragging Pan with her. Chloe stopped Bra by grabbing her bag, causing the blue-haired girl to slip and fall to the ground. Pan immediately turned and pushed Chloe back. "Just get lost!"

Pan yelled at Chloe, drawing more attention to the scene as people were passing by. Chloe was clearly angry at being pushed by and moved forward, ready to do something. This time Bra was on the floor so she couldn't stop anything from happening and Pan was happy to let it happen. Chloe swung her hand and slapped Pan across the face. There was an audible gasp from more than one person around, and something snapped inside Pan. She had expected to stand strong when Chloe finally hit her, but no, it awakened something.

Everything seemed to slow down around Pan and her rage was boiling up inside. She slowly turned back to face Chloe with two parts of her mind telling her what to do. One part saying, 'help Bra up and get to your next lesson' and the other part saying, 'hit her.' Pan didn't say anything, she just glared in Chloe's smug face. Just her face was getting Pan more riled up and she could feel her fist clenching. Chloe smirked, thinking that she had been right, and Pan was all talk. She turned back to Alice.

"See, I told you she was a worthless liar," Chloe scoffed, but as soon as she turned back to face Pan a fist struck her right in the face and knocked the bully onto the ground. Pan punched her. As soon as Chloe hit the ground Pan returned to the present and noticed the crowd that had gathered. Chloe didn't get up, feeling her face and sobbing a little bit. Bra returned to her feet and stood right next to Pan. The raven-haired girl was starting to feel guilt and embarrassment. She looked around again and noticed that some teachers were approaching, and she started to panic. She turned around, grabbing her bag and practically barged through everyone, rushing outside and flying off away from the school.

Bra stood there at the scene and just looked on down the hall.

"Oh Pan, you're going to be in so much trouble," she whispered to herself, watching as the teachers arrived on scene.


Pan didn't know where she was flying to, she just wanted to get away from the school, away from that situation, and away from anyone that may be able to easily track her down. She only really knew of one place that was truly hidden away, even if it was known by most everyone that Pan knew: Dende's Lookout.

She flew up high in the sky and knew that she could keep going until she saw the large structure that hovered in the sky above the land of Korin. She arrived at the Palace and only had one thing on her mind, she just wanted to rest up, let what was left of the day pass her by and then return home to her inevitable scolding.

Dende and Mr. Popo were there to greet her, knowing she was on her way there before she even arrived. They allowed Pan some space to sit and rest until she knew it was right to return home. While up there, Pan managed to doze off for a little bit. The warmth and serenity that high in the sky was odd, yet strong enough to make it easy to relax.

A couple of hours passed by and Pan shot up awake upon feeling a spike in her mind. Something grabbed her attention and she was drawn to it. She rushed to the edge of the lookout and looked down. She wasn't sure where she was looking, or why, but she was intrigued. It was surprising. Dende had stepped out upon seeing Pan act in such a strange manner.

"Are you ok, Pan?" He asked, calmly. Pan turned around, shocked by Dende's sudden arrival. She looked down and thought about how she could possibly formulate the words.

"It was… nothing, just a weird dream," Pan lied, looking back over the lookout edge again. Dende cocked his head to the side and his brow furrowed. He knew Pan was lying, but he couldn't see why. The girl turned back to face the Namekian guardian. "I should probably head back home."

"Ok, have a safe journey," Dende said, smiling back at the girl. Pan smiled weakly and jumped off of the lookout, flying back. She descended from above the clouds and blasted through the air towards her home, immediately slowing herself, knowing she didn't want to get back that quickly, plus her mind couldn't move on from what she felt.

It was very brief, but something had been there, and Pan was certain it was something. She did her best to push thoughts of that to the back of her head, but then thoughts of her day at school and the coming lecture from her parents came back and she wanted to push those away too. Pan was distracted by a phone call though.

It was from Bra. Pan answered immediately.

"Hi, sorry for ditching you like that, I just had to get out of there," Pan blurted out, not giving Bra a chance to say anything.

"You don't need to apologise to me, I understand. If I could have flown out of there with you, I would have, but you needed to be alone. I get it," Bra explained, showing that she was just as supportive of her friend as ever. "But I just need to warn you…"

"That I'm in a lot of trouble? Yeah, I figured as much," Pan interrupted, adding a little fake chuckle, trying to make the situation at least a little amusing. "I'm just heading back home now."

"I guess you're worried about what your Mom and Dad are going to say?" Bra asked. Pan sighed.

"I can deal with that, they'll understand if I just tell them why I did it," Pan said, trying to make herself believe that.

"Well, I can stay on the phone with you until you get home if you want?" Bra questioned.

"Thanks, Bra. I appreciate that, but I think I need to try and clear my head, first. I'll see you tomorrow," Pan said. The two said their goodbyes and Pan hung up the phone, looking ahead and continuing to fly along, slowly. It was getting rather late and Pan knew it, yet the lack of communication from her parents showed that they could sense her and knew she was ok. Pan reached out with her senses a little bit and could tell that her mother and father were together. Pan attempted to narrow her senses to try and get a track on what kind of emotion they were feeling but that's when something else drew attention, again.

Pan immediately looked to the south and stopped flying. It was significantly more intense that before. This time it managed to scare Pan. And the emotion she could feel was more intense than anything she had ever experienced from her senses before. So much anger and sadness. Pan's own emotions started to reflect what she could sense. A brief growth in her anger was followed by tears in her eyes. She wiped them away, feeling the urge to cry but unsure of why. It worried her.

Pan swallowed, doing her best to push all of those emotions down and carried on flying home, doing her best to ignore the explosive outburst she felt.

She returned home rather quickly after all that and landed down outside the house. Nervous about entering, knowing that she would face both of her parents when she stepped through. She took a deep breath and stepped in. Straight away, Gohan was there to greet her. He was sat on the stairs and looked up as the girl walked in. Pan closed the door gingerly behind her and looked down to the ground.

"Hi Dad," Pan muttered. Gohan sighed.

"Hi, Pan. You're home very late," He said, quite sternly, but still with a bit of love and care. He wanted Pan to feel comfortable and not like she was really in trouble. It didn't help that Pan's emotions were all over the place after what she had experienced on the way over.

"I needed to be alone for a while," Pan replied, snappily, with a hint of attitude. Gohan took notice of that tone.

"I know about what happened at school today," Gohan said, trying to ease towards a friendlier conversation.

"Obviously…" Pan muttered. Keeping the attitude, and Gohan didn't appreciate that.

"There's no need for that tone, Pan" Gohan said, taking a stronger stance with his parental mode. He stood up from the stairs at that point.

"What tone? Why are you being so cryptic? Of course, you know what happened, why else would you be sat waiting for me?" Pan burst out, getting annoyed with the situation. She was feeling quite stressed out.

"I'm sat waiting for you because I need help understanding what happened today, I want to hear your side of the story," Gohan said, continuing his attempts to bring the conversation back to being nice and restrained.

"What happened, happened because I lost control after seeing my friend treated terribly by some girl in my classes, and I really wanted to take her down a peg and when she hit me, I snapped," Pan shouted back at her further, her frustration getting the better of her. "I'm sick of it!"

Gohan let Pan have her outburst, he could sense the pent-up anger inside. It was mixed with a lot of other emotions and he could tell Pan was having a hard time.

"I've had enough of today, I'm going to bed," Pan said, pushing past her dad and hoping to run off to her room but she was stopped by a voice. Her mother's voice.

"Pan, wait," Videl said, as she stepped into the hallway. The voice was enough to help soothe Pan's emotions a bit. She was always closer to her mother than her father. Pan turned around to face her mother as the woman walked up the stairs towards her daughter. She could see that Pan had tears welling up in her eyes, but she wasn't used to seeing her daughter so upset and overwhelmed. "Whatever happened today, you need to know that you overreacted, and you could have gotten yourself into a lot more trouble."

"I know, Mom. I do. I'm so sorry," Pan apologised with more tears in her eyes, but she wasn't crying. Gohan stepped up again.

"Pan, I know what it's like to let your emotions control you and get the better of you. I've made that mistake before and it's led to far worse…" Gohan said, attempting to approach the situation differently. Pan had been calmed down enough to a point where she understood it more.

"I know, I'm sorry, Dad," Pan said, wiping the tears out of her eyes, confused that there were any in the first place. Videl gave her daughter a hug and a kiss on the head.

"Now, why don't you come down for some dinner?" Videl suggested. Pan shook her head as the hug broke.

"I'm ok, I don't really have an appetite. I think I'll just go to bed," Pan said, smiling back at her parents and rushing off to her room. She pushed the door open, closed it behind her and slumped down on her bed. She had certainly had a long day, despite not spending that much of her day in school.

The only thing that continued to play over in her mind was the power surge she had felt. It had been a long time since she felt something as intense as that. Not just the amount of power, but more the emotion that surrounded it. It was so shocking and worrying. Pan couldn't understand why she connected with it. She desperately wanted to talk to someone about it but believed that someone else would have noticed. She didn't seem to think it necessary to bring it up. There was nothing more she could do that night. She went to her window and closed her curtains, deciding that the early night was best.


Characters Seen/Mentioned in this Chapter:

Son Goku - Mentioned
Uub - Mentioned
Son Gohan
Videl
Son Goten
Valese - Mentioned
Chi-Chi - Mentioned
Dende
Piccolo - Mentioned
Krillin - Mentioned
Android#18 - Mentioned
Master Roshi - Mentioned
Marron
Tien - Mentioned
Chiaotzu - Mentioned
Bulma
Vegeta - Mentioned
Trunks
Bra
Jack (OC)
Chloe (OC)
Alice (OC)
Mr Sheffield (OC) - Mentioned
Mr Popo