Co-written by SuperSaiyan2Link.
Pan on Namek and Trunks in the library both watched the blue-skinned individual trying to grab Vegeta by the neck, then transitioning to trapping the Saiyan Prince in a bear hug from behind.
"Pan, is that...?"
"That's Mira."
Vegeta tried, but couldn't free his arms from this grip. Even with this, Mira was well aware of his captive's capabilities.
"He was just fast and strong enough to keep me from breaking his neck. Even if I tried it again right this moment, he would stop me once more."
The Supreme Kai of Time took a closer look at this adversary only seen by Pan and Trunks until now.
"Is he from the Demon Realm as well? How did Towa go about recruiting someone like him?"
Her focus shifted to Trunks, who wasn't just terrified, but petrified at what was transpiring.
"My father's completely trapped in his arms! Towa could just grab them both up any second now!"
"Towa's not going to take your father, Trunks."
"How can you be so sure?"
"For the same reason Towa's never tried taking key figures like Vegeta before: such a deviation would be trackable to us no matter how well Towa tried cloaking over it."
Aside from easing his thoughts on his father's situation, Trunks was hit with a revelation.
"It's so obvious why she chose Dodoria and Guldo: their impacts came to a wrap, so those two being missing at the time of their deaths was minor to the point of overlooking."
"Towa knows she has that advantage, and until she breaks it, we can't track her back to her base of operations."
Pan last encountered Mira blocking a blast from Trunks intended for Towa, but seeing who she likened to a bodyguard now trying to alter history himself left her to wonder:
"Now that the Ginyu Force has failed, is Mira the last resort? But why now and not before?"
This entire time, Vegeta refused to go quietly with whatever Mira had in store for him, even as he felt his hands numb from the pressure.
"Let go, damn you!"
The Z-Fighters and Ginyu had been completely silent since Mira's arrival, just trying to make heads and tails of what he was doing and what his intentions were, be it as an ally or enemy. But Mira decided to break the silence by speaking directly to one of them.
"Captain Ginyu."
Ginyu didn't know what to make of being addressed by this stranger with his target in hand.
"What do you want with me?"
"Come closer."
Mira slowly hovered down with Vegeta in tow.
"I will keep him in place for you to change bodies."
Now Ginyu understood that Mira wasn't going to get away or taunt him with the prize he desired, but instead was on his side.
"I don't know who you are, stranger, but for your patronage, you shall be the first of my new Ginyu Force."
He took his first steps in Mira's direction, partially due to how worn out his body had been, but also from sheer anticipation.
"Lord Frieza may find me with my crew having fallen, but with our enemies slain and myself in a more powerful body, their sacrifices will have led his empire to far greater glory."
Gohan and Krillin may have only been temporary allies to Vegeta out of necessity against a greater threat than him, but they knew they couldn't abide what Mira was trying to do. Both were about to lunge forward.
"No, Gohan! Krillin!"
Goku called out to both of them.
"Whoever he is, his power... it's on par with Vegeta. Maybe even greater."
Ginyu didn't overhear this, and neither did Vegeta or Mira.
"Come as close as you wish, Ginyu. All the better."
Vegeta reflected on his past with Captain Ginyu, his present, and what would come for them both now.
"For all my life, Ginyu's power was far superior to my own. Now I have eclipsed his... but with him in my body, he'll rival me once more. And that's if I survive all this."
It looked as though Ginyu was intending to stand just shy of touching Vegeta just to make sure his body change was successful...
...when Pan swooped in between them, a gust pushing Ginyu back a few feet.
"You, again! Your interference may have cost me my men, but you will not stop this! Now get out of my way! I'll switch with you again if I have to!"
"I insist you do as the captain says," Mira told Pan. "I don't think I need to tell what it'd mean for you if you switch bodies with Ginyu again... permanently this time."
"What do you know of that, stranger?" went Ginyu with some puzzlement at first before dropping it. "Never mind that. I'll get what I want, one way or another."
Goku sensed Pan between Ginyu and Vegeta, trying to use her as an anchor for his aim.
"If you can hear me now..."
Pan heard her grandfather speak to her telepathically for the first time since Towa puppeteered Krillin on Earth. She briefly turned to him, the Namekian frog still in his right hand.
"Get out of the way if you have to, but I'm going to intercept Ginyu's technique with this. I won't let Ginyu take your body again, or Vegeta's... or anyone else's."
Ginyu did see Goku, but paid no mind to him at all.
"He can't help you now, all thanks to the Earthling for blinding him, and you, Vegeta, for crippling his body completely."
While he didn't regret the action itself, Vegeta did muse that this left him with one less person to aid him in this moment. Ginyu stretched out his arms, waiting for Pan to either move out of the way or stay in place. She didn't doubt her grandfather's capabilities, but this was a critical moment, all of history riding on what happened now.
"If Ginyu gets one more body, we'll be no match for him and Mira."
She thought about turning around to try freeing Vegeta from Mira, but couldn't risk countless disasters that could result from it. Standing in Ginyu's way was the slim, but only sure way she could stop this.
"Chaaaange...!"
Chronoa looked over at Goku's location, the visible arc of his hypothetical throw somewhat shaky.
"It was rock solid before, but be it his injuries or the pressure..."
"I'm off! I'm completely off!"
Goku's sight was out of the question and his senses were only getting him this far.
"Body, I'm going to have to ask you for one more favor."
"Kaio-Ken!"
"NOW!"
The beam fired from Ginyu's mouth as he heard "Kaio-Ken!" shouted by Goku.
"What is he going to do with Kaio-Ken? Headbutt me to death?"
Pan heard this too as the dreaded beam moved towards her.
"What is Grandpa doing?! Strengthening his body's not going to help..."
Then it dawned on her.
"Kaio-Ken boosts the senses too, not just the body. He's not trying to throw the frog harder: he's boosting his senses to hit that mark."
Hearing the frog being launched from Goku's hand and feeling its course right towards her...
"He aimed the frog at me, where I am! That's how he'll intercept it!"
She acted quickly, falling onto her side to duck underneath the body change beam as she saw it about to pass above her...
...when the frog came between the beam's path to Vegeta. Now the Namekian frog was robbed of all its momentum, frozen in place as if held telekinetically. Ginyu realized too late what Goku had planned this whole time.
"NO! NOW I'LL BE...!"
Pan remained lying down when she saw the Namekian frog hurriedly trying to land on its feet as it was about to drop directly atop of her. She scurried backward, sitting up as the frog faced her.
"Ribbit! Ribbit!"
As a frog, it was hard to read his facial expressions, but Ginyu's posture became more anxious with each ribbit.
"He's trying to say "Change Now," but can't."
She looked over at where Ginyu once stood and saw Ginyu's body crouched over, his arms and legs in the stance of that of the frog. It didn't seem alarmed at all regarding its undoubted increase in height and size, and soon hopped away from the proceedings. Ginyu pursued it, ribbiting constantly as he tried catching up.
Goku dropped out of Kaio-Ken immediately after the throw, his body aching after that action alone. But now that he sensed a change in the ki of Ginyu and the frog, he knew...
"It worked. Ginyu's not going to be any more trouble."
But now he sensed Mira's ki increasing rapidly.
Even as his facial expression remained unmoving for the most part, his eyes and his lips gave just enough away to indicate his irritation.
"Son Goku's blindness changed nothing! And Vegeta missed that arm again! History always wishes to remain the same!"
"Focus, Mira," went Towa in a calm manner. "There's countless ways you can alter history still."
Gohan and Krillin remained by Goku's side at the ready.
"Don't worry, dad. We're here."
"Yeah. If he tries anything, we'll be right here to..."
"Leave me," went Goku to their shock.
He put his right hand to Gohan's shoulder.
"They're going to need your help a lot more than I do. It's going to take all four of you."
"But Goku, you'll be a sitting duck."
"That sure would hit the spot, but that's not important right now."
Krillin had a small chuckle escape even as he was trying to be serious.
"Goku, I mean it. We can't just leave you lying here."
"The best way to protect me right now is to attack him all at once. Now hurry. He's going to strike at any moment now."
Mira felt Vegeta swinging his feet and trying to swerve his body to break free. Pan got back to her feet and faced him.
"Let him go."
"I will release Vegeta... after I've crushed him in my arms."
While she wouldn't risk attacking right that moment with Vegeta potentially being a human shield, Pan eyed for any openings she could find. Mira's muscles and suit visibly bulked around the upper body especially, his words not an empty threat, but definitely plausible.
"I, the Prince of all Saiyans, will not DIE LIKE THIS!"
He tried flying upward without the use of his arms, Mira keeping him from ascending, though his upper body did shift to accommodate this. Even with Mira's arms bulking, this gave Vegeta's arms the smallest gap needed to move his elbows, both of which struck Mira's chest. The impact then led to Vegeta's legs lifting up, and crashing back with a double stamp to Mira's lower body. The damage was minimal enough not to leave a blemish, but Mira found himself releasing Vegeta, who immediately went to return the favor with a punch to his face.
"Unimaginable bastard!"
Mira caught this fist with his palm, but before he could squeeze his hand around it, he had to back away from a kick.
"Treating me like a toy!"
As Mira hopped backward, Vegeta took on his iconic stance.
"I'll rip you apart!"
But Mira kept his arms to his side, the battle about to commence a fun prospect rather than a concern.
"You are welcome to try."
He saw Pan with a stance next to Vegeta.
"The combined might of you both is still no match for me."
Krillin and Gohan then hopped over to join them, Mira now facing four opponents.
"As my dad once said, strength isn't the only thing that matters!"
"But not when the difference in strength is so great."
Vegeta flew forward with a chop, but then saw Mira disappear in mid-impact. When he turned, he saw Mira directly behind him, booting him backward. Pan hopped upward to swing the Power Pole onto him, but he blocked it with his wrist before swinging that arm with such force to send her and her polearm downward. Gohan and Krillin then attacked him side-by-side, Mira keeping up with both before two red ki-charged hands struck the ground, the shockwave of this alone launching the two back.
Chronoa and Towa both watched the battle closely from their respective homes, but with polar opposite experiences.
"This isn't working! We have to figure something out, and fast!"
"You're doing well. I underestimated you, Mira."
Vegeta went for a double axe handle, but Mira struck his chest with a punch, causing him to spit out.
"Arrogant Saiyan."
Seeing Gohan trying a Masenko at close range, he swung Vegeta at the child of Goku.
"Half-breed."
And as Krillin tried a sneak attack from behind him, he nonchalantly swung his arm to knock him away.
"Irrelevant..."
He then charged red ki in his hand for a blast.
"And useless."
Pan kicked Mira in the face, causing his blast to fire just over Krillin's trajectory, who still felt its searing heat near him. As Mira swung back at her, Pan could actually block his attacks, unlike before on Earth where one hit alone was too much for her.
"It's not going to go over in one hit this time! I've trained!"
Pan scored an uppercut on Mira, but aside from barely going off the ground, he had anticipated this and went for a punch in mid-impact. Pan rolled backward, grasping her stomach as she stopped herself.
"You think I haven't?" he retorted back to her.
He then guarded against a barrage of punches by her, and as she lifted her leg to bring it down on him, he blocked with one arm and sent her back to the ground.
"You do fare better now, but the battle is still unwinnable."
She fired a two-handed blast at him, but he countered with simply one, the two attacks dissipating. He saw Pan standing all around him, his pupils darting back and forth. As they all appeared to move towards him all at once, he had his hand out to catch the real Pan by the neck, then slam her to the ground on her back.
"My orders are the only reason you will survive."
After her strenuous bout with Recoome, Burter, and Jeice before where they were perfectly willing to kill her and even focused their full attention on attacking her instead of the wounded Z-Fighters, Pan was at a complete loss at Towa's order to Mira.
"Towa wants me alive?"
He then transitioned to putting his palm over Pan's face to drive her further into the ground while also covering her mouth. His other hand fired behind him at Krillin, who was forced to descend to avoid it, while he then clotheslined Vegeta with that same arm.
But from his side, he felt Gohan crash into him with a high speed tackle, putting him onto his side and freeing Pan. Gohan then punched at his face repeatedly, the first few hits getting in, but Mira then tilted his head back and forth to avoid the rest. Once Gohan realized all his punches from there were missing, he tried hopping away, but Mira grabbed his right leg and squeezed it, then slammed Gohan down.
"Your leg won't hurt for long."
His other arm held an orb of ki to bring down onto Gohan when Krillin struck Mira's legs, interfering with his stance enough for it to miss and for Gohan to get free. Krillin then grabbed Mira's left wrist and held it down against the ground while Gohan did the same with the right. Mira saw Vegeta flying straight for him and got ready to fly upward to break this attempted pin...
"Behind you, Mira!"
..when he felt the heat of ki behind him and by the time he tried to float upward and turn his body to avoid it, a blast struck his side. As he saw Pan, hunched over with steam stemming from her palm, he turned back to Vegeta, who crashed into him at high speed with both feet. Mira's back grinded against Namek's surface, leaving a trail until he stopped himself with ki from both hands, then launched himself forward to stand before the four.
"Those attacks amount to inconveniences while the damage you've received is more consequential. At our current rate, it will only take a few minutes for me to kill all of you."
"What are you, a computer?!" shouted Krillin. "Talking like we're all just variables!"
"By my calculations..."
"See, this guy's a computer..."
"...the only scenario in which I could be overpowered is with the intervention of Son Goku... and he's in no condition to participate."
Goku felt the impacts on the ground from the battle, as well as sensed when Mira took damage, but didn't sense him wavering.
"They're all getting in hits on him, but he's just not budging. He's really tough. If only I could move or just see what was happening..."
Now he sensed the ki reserves of his best friend, his son, Vegeta, and Pan beginning to deplete while Mira's did not reflect the same.
Mira took to the sky, firing off four purple orbs, his four opponents avoiding them, but then noticing none of the orbs detonated. Vegeta flew above everyone, preparing something while Gohan and Krillin both swung at Mira, who guarded against them both. Pan joined them with the three of them all punching and kicking only to find him successfully stopping all three at once before booting Krillin down with one leg, punting Pan back with the other, and grabbing hold of Gohan by the top of his head.
He attempted to crush the child's skull, but Pan peppered him with ki bullets while flying back to him. He proceeded to swing and throw Gohan at Pan, stopping her from firing and forcing her to try retrieving her ally. She caught him, but then found Mira had fired a two-handed purple beam, neither able to escape in time. Pan's ki shield held up at first, but shattered soon after, the remaining beam striking her back and rocketing them away. They struck a rock formation, Pan trying to cover Gohan as they tried to stop their roll downward.
Vegeta finally joined, slamming into Mira and intending to ram him into Namek's surface, but in mid-descent, Mira slipped past and then directed Vegeta towards one of the purple orbs that lied untouched. Vegeta tried slowing down, but a kick from Mira knocked him right into it, the ensuing explosion clouding where he went afterward.
Goku could feel an explosion in the distance, soon followed by three more in rapid succession.
"Gohan. Krillin. Everyone. I'm sorry."
Reaching the ground again, Pan stuck out her hand while holding Gohan in her other arm, finally coming to a stop as she heard and felt the explosion from Vegeta colliding with Mira's mine-like projectile.
"This isn't working! Whether we attack Mira one-on-one or together, it won't work!"
As the area around Vegeta remained clouded in dust, she looked up to the sky, but not at Mira, who she could sense with ease.
"Trunks... Supreme Kai of Time... we have to try something else."
"I could use a disguise," Trunks suggested. "Then I could get Mira away from there."
"But how much power would you need to expel to defeat him?" Chronoa asked. "Frieza felt your presence earlier. If you pop up again, he might just investigate."
"Not if I keep it to the bare minim..."
"What can I DO?!" Pan interrupted. "Me, right now?!"
Mira remained, waiting for any one of his four targets to resume combat with him.
"Mira. You've been up there for some time now."
"All this time they're here fighting me is time they're away from Namek's Dragon Balls. No need to rush things."
He did peer down upon seeing the dust settle, and three of his targets became clear and visible.
"Let them come."
Just then, Pan saw Krillin reeling on his stomach nearby. She beckoned Krillin over with her freed hand as he tried to keep quiet while making his way over.
"Gohan, you okay?" he whispered.
The son of Goku had one hand over his forehead, marks from Mira's grip on it still visible, and tried to keep his right leg still.
"First Jeice, then Guldo, and now Mira have gotten it."
Now that she had Gohan and Krillin with her, Pan tried to work out Vegeta's whereabouts.
"It was hard to see, but he tried slamming Mira into one of those orbs."
She noticed the three remaining orbs, but didn't spot any marks on the ground from where he could have possibly landed.
"If that explosion didn't knock him back..."
In the orb's place was a massive hole.
"At the speed he was going, I think he might have just gone through it."
Without wanting to use words in case Mira could listen in, she tried as best as she could to direct Krillin in that direction.
"You mean going...?"
She covered his mouth and moved her eyes in the direction of the hole.
"Mira, I insist you strike now while the iron is still hot."
He then spotted Pan handing Gohan off to Krillin while she looked up at him.
"They're splitting up. All the better for picking them off."
As Krillin began to move away from Pan, she fired up into the air at Mira.
"She really thinks that would distract me from the easiest of the prey?"
He simply swatted her projectiles away and zoomed towards Krillin and Gohan, the latter of whom covered his eyes as Krillin put his hands to the side of his face.
"Solar Flare!"
Mira had his wrist over his eyes, having counted on this technique for some time.
"Predictable."
Pan flew at Mira from behind to trip up his legs, but he hopped over her. He moved his wrist away and saw her flying towards one of the three orbs, turning back to fire at him once more.
"I won't be led into her trap."
He fired in her direction, the orb bound to be struck by her or his own projectile, and turned back to Krillin, standing by another orb.
"Leading the wounded towards such a hazard?"
"Power Pole Extend!"
As the orb he fired at seconds ago exploded, he saw Pan standing by another untouched and with her polearm racing towards him.
"Your blasts aren't fast enough. Why attack with something even slower?"
He caught it in his hand, then pulled it to strike Pan on the other end of it with his right...
...but struck nothing.
"A distraction."
He looked back to Krillin, who had called down an orb he had created and launched while his focus was turned to Pan. Now seeing a beam coming down for him, he fired at it with his right while his left dropped the Power Pole and fired at Krillin.
"Your tactics have gone from amusing to irritating."
Just then, the shrunken Power Pole was between his legs, then swung upward, the impact more than discomforting. As he crouched down, he saw Pan with ki charging into her palms.
"Kamehameha!" she shouted quickly.
The quick burst version would not do much damage to him in the meantime, but did push him back.
"Towa, do you see them?"
"The area's all but completely engulfed."
He caught himself before he could crash into the final orb, then noticed how much the sky had been covered by the other two exploding just then.
"You're the only one I'm seeing clearly, Mira."
He couldn't find Pan now, but did see Krillin above him.
"I will finish him right...!"
"Above you, Mira!"
The rest of Krillin's attack from earlier rained down towards him. The majority struck in an arc in front of Mira, preventing his pursuit, and he was forced to shield himself from the last as it went off along with the orb behind him.
Mira had to wipe his face from all the dust in the air, then flew all around trying to find any or all of them.
"Where could they have gone?!"
"I didn't see any of them leave."
He realized someone had not participated in the attack prior.
"Vegeta. Did he escape as well?"
Scanning the surrounding areas quickly, Towa tried locating where they may have gone.
"Unless Vegeta was sent into the nearby waters, he didn't crash land anywhere that I can see. It could be that he recovered in midair and is lying in wait for an ambush."
"Of course," went Mira. "Vegeta would not run from a battle like this. Perhaps he would go for something underhanded, but he would not run."
Seeing the area clear up around Mira at last, it occurred to Towa:
"What if they fled, but not above ground..."
Mira stood over one of the massive holes his attacks had created.
"...but below it."
He hopped down into this one, then began hovering through what looked at first like a tunnel.
Beneath the battleground, Pan and Krillin found Gohan, who had been keeping afloat to keep from walking.
"Look..." he whispered.
He had found Vegeta, lying on his side and with the back of his armor clearly damaged from his collision before.
"Playing us like damned..."
Pan saw blood coming from a wound on his back and tried to bandage it with a torn piece of her cape.
"Do I look like I need to be nursed, woman?!"
Pan covered his mouth and Krillin shushed him, then pointed upward, Vegeta grasping that Mira was above them. The moment she released him, Vegeta pulled Pan towards him by her cape's collar.
"Do that again," he threatened with a whisper. "And you'll need that cape for your body bag."
Krillin suddenly jumped.
"He's coming down here."
Digging a hole as fast as he could, he beckoned Pan and Gohan to join him.
"Quickly!" Krillin's voice as close to a shout as it could be while still keeping quiet.
Vegeta joined as well, digging even faster than the others. They hopped in, all four managing to fit standing up. Vegeta stuck out a hand to fire at the ceiling above when Krillin pulled his wrist back.
"If we fire something, he'll sense us for sure."
Pan used her Power Pole to poke at the ceiling, small cracks and some dirt emerging. With one strong enough jab...
"It's coming down."
All four lied down as quickly as they were being rained down on all the faster with each second.
"Deep breaths, everyone!"
By the time Mira had floated down this corridor, he saw only the aftermath: dirt all around with no sense of its origin.
"The ground here's so crumbled it's all been coming apart."
At first, Pan and everyone could see a faint glow of ki even while buried.
"CRAP!"
She knew attacking him now, even successfully with the element of surprise, would likely reveal everyone's location to him. Now it was glowing brighter and she felt the blast radius would be gigantic.
"I have to protect them. But he's broken my shield before. What would stop something like this?"
But then it went dim, vanishing away.
"No use wasting my energy with no guarantee I'll hit any one of them."
He then flew straight upward back into the sky.
Towa noticed Mira having left the tunnels.
"Did you cover all the tunnels already, Mira?"
"There's no point! There was no use looking down there to begin with! They could be on the other half of Namek by now while I have nothing to show for it! Absolutely nothing!"
She could tell Mira wasn't himself.
"Breathe, Mira. Breathe."
He stopped huffing from his impatience and slowly worked his way back to a calmer breath.
"I think this was all meant to be a diversion. That if they couldn't defeat me, they'd keep me preoccupied here looking for them while they regroup."
"I will search all over for them, Mira. We just need one of them to fall by your hand."
"Unless..."
"Unless what, Mira?"
He looked back to where the battle had first started, where he had entered...
"Son Goku."
He then zoomed backward that way.
"Son Goku! Of course! Killing him will be a far easier endeavor!"
Pan and the others had gotten out of the hole and overheard the two words that he spoke aloud.
"He's going for my grandfather now!"
They flew off in Mira's direction, but didn't sense him changing course at the least.
"We won't catch up to him in time!" mused Gohan.
Pan grabbed hold of Gohan by his hand, then flew even faster. Krillin tried reaching out to Vegeta, who didn't bother to help him and zoomed off instead.
"Damn it! You better catch that guy!"
Chronoa saw that Mira's current trajectory and speed compared to Pan's and Vegeta's made it most likely...
"He'll kill Goku before they can stop him!"
"Unless..."
"Unless what, Trunks?"
"Can you bring Goku here?"
She began to channel her energy.
"Yes. But I need to focus."
Trunks took a step back.
"Okay. I'll just stand over there and..."
"Trunks, I need you to leave the library and hide your ki."
He already worked out the reason for this.
"Okay, just come get me when it's all..."
"Trunks, now!"
He hurried out of the room as she tried to pull this off.
Goku felt the mass of ki heading for him. All he could do is use what was left of his ki in his right hand to try any number of things. But even with everything he had now...
"It won't be enough. I'm just about drained."
Pan and Vegeta could finally see Mira himself, but by the time they tried to fire at him, he had already descended downward straight toward Goku.
"Dad!" Gohan cried.
A red-black orb charged in Mira's hand that he would slam straight into Goku's head.
"Namek will become your grave!"
Krillin, having finally caught up, saw Goku just a second before impact with Mira.
"GOKUUU!"
Pan almost didn't want to look and instead saw the reactions of her father, Krillin, and Vegeta.
"Kak...Kakarrot..."
But when she finally looked down to where her grandfather lied and where Mira now stood...
...she saw that he hit nothing. Goku was nowhere to be seen.
"Dad?"
"Goku?"
"Kakarrot?! Where the hell did you go?!"
The Supreme Kai of Time had brought Goku to the library, his pale pupils looking in her direction as if staring right at her.
"Please tell me he can't see me or this room."
"Patrollers."
None of the four, other than Pan, had any idea what Mira was talking about.
"Patrollers?" went Krillin.
"No matter."
Mira's disappointment in his intended killing blow being robbed from him was minor compared to what he felt this meant for their situation.
"If Chronoa was forced to interfere herself..."
"My victory is already assured."