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"Grandpa, do we have to do it today? It's Saturday," she whined.

"Oh, I know, but it's super important to your dad."

"How come?," she halfway groaned and threw back her head.

The ground raced beneath them, but it was yesterday's news to Pan. She remembered her grand mother's stern speech as a four year old. No flying with sharp objects. No flying in the house. No flying in public. No flying at pre-school. No flying with a dress on. No flying on Sunday. No, no, no, no—no. Pan had been viewing the world on high since she was ten months old, according to her father.

"Cause its for your schoolin' and all."

"Grandpa, I won't tell," she scoffed.

"That's not the problem," he laughed.

"Where are we going so slow?"

"A rainbow, up and close, like for your project."

"You can get close to 'em?"

"I sure hope so. Cool huh?"

"Wow grandpa!"

"I saw it this morning before you came."

"But, it'll disappear by the time we get there," Pan said.

"The sky's too cloudy. It's real hard to see."

"Do your mimstant-transmission," Pan struggled.

"I wish I could, but I need something to lock on to."

"I forgot about that."

"It's okay. I forget lots of things."

They flew through the grey sky. Pan kept careful watch of Goku's back.

'I'd be lost forever if I fall behind', she thought.

Pan's pink zip-up hoodie rippled against her skin. Her hair whipped around her neck and face. She imagined that she looked like a doodle in the Sunday paper, with a swirl of black lines over her head, visualizing confusion. Distant bolts of lightening zipped on the horizon.

"I've got an idea," Goku said coming to a stop, "A not so boring one, too."

"What is it?," Pan hovered to a stop.

"Nimbus!," Goku Yelled.

A curd yellow blob zoomed into the fog. Pan gasped and tried not to scream. Nimbus stopped between them. Pan's pupils dialated at the dissipating frothy stream coming from Nimbus' tail.

"Grandpa, it's a floating booger!"

"No Panny," he was duped, "He's a cloud."

"You have a cloud for a pet?"

"He's not a pet, but a good friend."

"Hiya Mr. Nimbus," Pan said.

The cloud's surface buzzed; it was his only reply.

"Who better to map the sky than a cloud," Goku reasoned, "He'll be fast. Neat, right?"

"He's kawaii, like a quishy-ishy-wishy marshmallow!"

"Hop on."

"Say what?," she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Hop on. He doesn't mind."

"You sure, grandpa? I mean it's really—"

A sheepish grin formed on Goku's face. He lazily stretched his arms over his head. He tuned out her mumbled excuses. He patted her back with his open hand. Her arms windmilled for balance, and her brain forgot her position in mid air. She fell face-first into Nimbus. She shuffled her piled up body from the belly of the cloud.

"Grandpa!," she scolded him.

Goku covered his 'o' shaped lips and tried not to laugh. He had no intention to hurt—never did. It was a slow-learned lesson from his firstborn, Gohan.

"You alright Panny? I didn't think you'd—"

"Eat floof!"

Pan chucked a fist-full of Nimbus. She stared blankly while the wad evaporated into weightless yellow sprinkles.

"Don't throw his floof, er fluff, don't throw Nimbus from Nimbus," he said before scratching the back of his head, "It hurts his feelings."

"Sorry Mr. Nimbus," Pan patted the cloud while Goku stepped on.

"Hold on real tight Pan. To the rainbow Nimbus!"

Nimbus blasted through the atmosphere, moving faster than Pan's gurgling squeal. The moist air stung Pan's face. Pan jerked her flappy hood over her head and pulled the drawstrings tight. Air whistled against her peephole.

"Loopty-Loo Nimbus," Goku called.

Goku hugged Pan tight. Pan watched the world do a cart wheel from the hole do her jacket. Her giggling stopped. Her chin dug into her chest; it was all she could do to not fall face first into the cloud again.

Pan pulled her hood back down to her neck. Cold air nipped at her cheeks. Pan looked over the edge of their ride. Rolling black clouds chugged along underneath, but they were sitting still.

"Grandpa," Pan said tugging on Goku's gi, "What's—"

Pan's arm fell to her lap. Her eyes finally saw it in the clearing clouds. Her smiling face glowed agains the grey sky, and she looked up at Goku.

"Grandpa, that's the rainbow! It's the—"

Pan stopped. Her smile wilted on her lips, like a pink lily under beating rain. Goku's face was hard and confused; Pan didn't brows were too rigid, not like the little facts of life that caught him off guard. Something was wrong, so wrong it soured the very air pan breathed.

For the first time Pan realized how much taller he was; her neck ached from the awkward angle. The sun's shadow on his face made her skin tingle. Her startled heart quieted her lips. The light drew her eyes away from her puzzled grandfather. The rainbow was there in all its dazzling colors, but Pan couldn't tell if it was its end or beginning. The spread of color fanned out behind the colossal floating mound of dirt. A sandy white castles stretched into the sky.

"Look grandpa, it's like Cinderella's castle on top of a floating ice cream cone!"

"Yeah, sure Panny," Goku hoarsely whispered.

'Sure, if it was burning to the ground… bizarro floaty rainbow island', Goku thought.

"I've seen weirder, I guess," Goku sighed.

"The smoke's weird."

"Yeah, the smoke," Goku nervously snickered.

Ominous black vapor poured from the pyramid shaped chunk of Earth. The castle bobbed up and down on its coal smoke bed. Warm brimstone tickled Goku's nose. Goku imagined a red-faced dragon with black gills, thick with soot hiding in its den beneath the castle—blazing with angry fire forever.

"Grandpa, you think someone's in there?"

"There could be."

"Like pirates—air pirates!"

Goku couldn't believe what he was about to say in spite of the situation, "Come on now Pan, that's a little silly—"

"Or bandits' n aliens or somethin'."

"Now Panny—"

"Ooooh, what about mad scientists!"

"Pan…"

"Got it! Mad pirate, robot-alien scientists wearing zombie socks!"

"Pan!"

Goku finally grabbed her attention. He offered her a toothy smile before puting on his 'adult face' as Chi-chi called it. He had been practicing.

"Nimbus, take Pan home," Goku said stepping off the cloud.

"Ahh, Grandpa!"

"If she hops off just catch her and take her home," Goku tuned Pan out.

"I'll be so bored," Pan said.

"Listen, Pan. Go home. Grammy should be back now. You two can make cookies until I come home. This is really important."

"But—"

"If someone is in trouble, what do we do?"

"Get help, but—"

"It's not like they make flying fire trucks," Goku laughed.

"Well, I could help you get the other help," Pan tried to talk him into it.

"Off you go Nimbus!," Goku said.

The cloud reversed its tracks. Pan lost her balance and fell to her knees. Goku's back became smaller in the distance. Pan balled her fists next to her waist. Water snuck to the edges of her eyelids. Bitterness settled on her tongue.

"You're supposed to watch me, not Nimbus!," Pan screamed after him.

Goku passed in the dreary, sky, but he didn't turn around. Pan was sure of it; he heard her. Pan's lungs grew rock-heavy in her chest. Strange angry tears rolled down her cheeks. She struggled to categorized the emotion in her head. She missed Piccolo, his presence, his consistency. He was stead-fast and guaranteed; Pan counted on it. Pan understood why Goku left her with a strange flying cloud. His good intentions were painful. Being alone was sharp and new. The potential realities came to life in her head.

"Grandpa Goku please don't go!"

Fear pricked Pan's heart.

'Everything dies Pan-Chan. Mr. Piccolo may leave us soon', she remembered Gohan's words.

Her red hand scraped her tears from her face and slung them with her fingers.

"Grandma Chi-chi is too slow to be back by now!," she yelled into the thick sky.