Saturday

After my shift, I went home and got ready to meet Bulla at the movie theater. I dressed casually in a dark green jumpsuit that displayed my figure nicely. I curled my hair in loose curls, and since I'd been practicing, I did my makeup. It looked natural. I thought it looked nice, which is all that really mattered. I added my long jacket that came with a hood. I decided to carry my dressy heels and purse, I didn't want to chance losing them mid-flight.

I landed about a block from the movie theater, put on my shoes, and encapsulated my coat. I didn't need it, really, I'd only worn it to keep my hair looking nice. I walked to the theater and sent a text to Bulla that I had arrived. She didn't respond, but I figured knowing her that she was driving and it was probably safer for everyone else if she didn't text me back. After 10 minutes of waiting outside, I ventured inside and grabbed some popcorn and a drink. Bulla wanted to see the new romance movie with Benjamin Snyder in it. He was the latest teen heartthrob to come on the Hollywood scene. This was my compromise with Bulla. I told her I would go see this movie with her, but that I couldn't go to her house and have a sleepover, because of Trunks' ultimatum.

The movie was supposed to start in 20 minutes, but Bulla had yet to arrive. So I waited for 5 minutes, before I decided to call her. There were many couples that arrived to watch this chick flick, but so far no Bulla. Her call went straight to voicemail. Now I was starting to wonder if I was being played for a fool. So I decided to send her a text message. After a few minutes it remained unread. I just didn't understand, did Bulla change her mind? Why was she ignoring me? Is it because I've been so withdrawn that she's getting back at me? I decided to call Bulma instead.

"Hello, Pan?" Bulma answered.

"Hi Bulma, I'm sorry to bother you, but is Bulla there?"

"I'm sorry sweetie, but she's spending the night at Marron's. Did you need to speak to her?"

"No, that's okay. I'll catch her some other time. Thanks, Bulma."

"I'll let her know that you called, dear," Bulma replied.

"It's not a big deal," I said, "I'll talk to you later, Bulma. Bye."

"Bye," Bulma said.

I hung up the phone completely frustrated. Here I was all dressed up, and my best friend had forgotten me. 'I should've taken the extra shift at work,' I thought. It was starting to get dark, and since my evening was shot, I figured that I might as well fly home. There was no sense in seeing this movie if Bulla wasn't around to watch it with. I took my shoes off and decided to carry them as I took flight.

After almost 20 minutes of flying, I felt as if I was being followed, but by whom or what I didn't know. I couldn't shake them. Whoever it was, was closing in and fast. The strangest part was that I was starting to tire out, which was so unlike me, even only being a quarter Saiyan I generally had a great deal of stamina. Something about this wasn't right and at that point I started a rough descent. My power was draining and then it went dark.

Elsewhere…

The phone rang, and Bulma picked it up, ¨Hello.¨

¨Bulma?¨

¨Oh hi Videl, How are you dear?¨

¨…Worried. Bulma, we can´t find Pan. Have you seen her? She was supposed to meet Bulla at a movie and head home. I've tried her cell phone and she hasn't picked up or replied to the text messages. Something's not right."

¨She called here earlier looking for Bulla, but Bulla was spending the night at Marron´s.

I didn't even know that she was planning on meeting Bulla. I'm so sorry, Videl. I will call Bulla and see if I can get in touch with her and find out if she's heard from Pan.¨

¨Thank you, Bulma, I really appreciate it," Videl said as they hung up.

Bulma then called Bulla's cell. "Hey Mom, What's up?" Bulla asked as she answered her cell phone.

"Bulla, were you supposed to hang out with Pan tonight?"

"Oh yeah, we were supposed to hang out. I kind of made other plans," Bulla said with a slight giggle.

"She called here earlier looking for you. Why did you make other plans if you were supposed to meet with her?" Bulma asked.

"Honestly, I thought she would forget about it, and our friendship hasn't really been the same since Trunks' Birthday," Bulla replied.

"That's not really fair. You need to come home. Now… I have something that you need to see," Bulma said.

"No, I'm hanging out with Marron. I'll be home tomorrow," Bulla argued angrily.

"You'll come home now if you know what's good for you. You should bring Marron with you. I need to talk to her too," Bulma said.

"Grrr…fine," was all Bulla said before she hung up the phone.

Bulma dialed Videl, "Any luck?" Videl asked as she answered Bulma's call.

"No, Bulla hasn't talked to her. I will let you know if she hears from her or if we do," Bulma said.

"Let us know if you hear anything, and when she makes it home we'll let you know too."

"Yes, please let us know, Videl." Bulma said as she hung up. A real fear creeping into her. 'Where are you, Pan?' She pondered.

She was still standing at the kitchen island when Vegeta walked into the kitchen. He could tell she was upset. "What's wrong, woman?"

"Vegeta, you haven't heard from Pan have you?" She asked.

Vegeta shook his head no, "Should I have?"

"Pan called earlier this evening looking for Bulla. Apparently, they were supposed to hang out. Bulla chose to hang out with Marron instead, but she neglected to tell Pan, who went to the movies and waited there for her. Bulla is on her way home and I asked that she bring Marron home. This has to stop. I just hope Pan gets home soon."

"I can sense that Bulla is on her way now with Krillan's brat in tow," Vegeta stated.

"Can you sense Pan?" Bulma asked.

"No, it's strange that I can't," Vegeta answered, slightly perplexed, and dare he say even worried.

"Can you have them wait for me in the living room? I need to run to the lab and…well you'll see. You wanted proof. I have proof, but Pan didn't want me to get involved. She wanted all parties to be happy. But this can't continue, especially if Pan hasn't made it home and her feelings were hurt because our daughter ditched her for Marron, who's up to her eyeballs in this."

"Oh goody," Vegeta said as he pulled out the leftovers to heat them up. "Dinner and a show."

Bulma merely shook her head and made her way to the lab.

A few minutes later Bulla and Marron made their way through the door. Vegeta came to the living room and advised that her mother wanted her and Marron to stay in the living room. A minute later, Trunks and Mai emerged from upstairs right as Bulma walked back in.

"What's this all about, mom?" Trunks asked.

"I have something that all of you need to see," Bulma said as she gestured toward the couch. She turned on the television and hit a button.

"What are we watching?" Bulla asked.

"You'll see," Bulma said.

Before their very eyes was a scene with the volume turned up of Trunks and Mai in the courtyard. Then suddenly, Pan appeared. She said she was sorry for interrupting them and they commented on her attire, then she made to leave. She didn't get far, when the screen split and Trunks and Mai's conversation in which Pan was cut down could be overheard. The screen also showed Pan's reaction to what they said. Trunks' jaw ticked. He could see the hurt on Pan's face as they shared a laugh at her expense. Pan went to the back entrance, a camera showed. She locked herself in the bathroom. Another screen showed Trunks going in one direction and Mai going in another. She met Shu and took something from him, careful to look over her shoulder. Then she made her way inside. Marron could be seen following her. The next bit of footage showed Marron confronting Mai in the gift room. Marron accused Mai of stealing and being an old shrew and then the argument really got heated. It was about that time that Pan walked in, it was clear then that she'd been very upset. She grabbed the gift, and just after that Marron was shoved into the gift table by Mai and the gifts started to crash. Pan knelt down to catch what she could. Marron and Mai ran for the exit to leave Pan with the carnage. That's when Trunks and Bulma walked in.

Trunks watched in silent fury. He'd been made a fool of. His angry outburst at Pan played out in front of him. He watched as he confronted her on her feelings for him. He watched as he broke her heart. He watched as he left her to clean up the mess. She fixed what she could and picked up her gift and left the card on the table. The way that the video had been edited, showed that Pan went to the library and stowed what looked like a book there. Trunks was going to be sick.

Trunks looked at Mai with anger. She'd lied by omission. She watched as he accused an innocent young girl of something that she and Marron were ultimately responsible for. She kept the lies for months knowing how wrong he was. Everyone had heard that Pan had slipped into a deep depression. Pan had become withdrawn. He wasn't unobservant; he just wanted to teach Pan some humility. He took Mai's hand in his and quickly took off her engagement ring.

"Wha" Mai started to say.

"Save it. Get OUT!" Trunks demanded. "You've lied to me for the last time. This goes way beyond anything you've done in the past. You lied by omission. You and Marron destroyed the gifts at the party and let poor Pan take the blame. I want you out of here. I don't care where you go. When you get there we will ship your belongings to you. Make sure you take Shu and Pilaf with you. I've extended my last courtesy to you."

"Trunks…wait. I can explain," Mai said.

Trunks nodded his 'no'. "Not a chance. Get out."

Vegeta could only watch with glee, 'finally,' he thought.

Mai left with tears streaming down her face.

Not to be outdone, Bulla looked at Marron incredulously. "Care to explain why you never said anything? You knew the truth too, and you didn't say anything… Why?"

"That's easy," Bulma interjected.

Everyone looked at her, "You have a romantic interest in Trunks, don't you Marron? If you admitted you were there that would come out and you wanted to be Trunks' shoulder to cry on. You needed a way to stay close. That's where Bulla comes in. Everyone was blaming Pan and you were able to step right in."

"I admit that I care about Trunks, but Bulla you're my very best friend. I didn't say anything and that was wrong, but I saw how Trunks was treating Pan and I didn't want the same to happen to me."

"I can't believe you would use me to get close to Trunks. Worse yet, you knew that Pan was suffering and said nothing. You let everyone think the worst of her, including me. I accused her repeatedly of something that she was innocent of. I abandoned her tonight to hang out with you because, in part, I genuinely believed she destroyed Trunks' gifts and didn't own up to it. I..I have to go see her," Bulla said as she started to get up.

"That's part of the reason that I called all of you here," Bulma said, "Pan's didn't make it home after she left the movie theater."

"She didn't make it home?" Bulla questioned.

"I'm sure she's okay," Trunks said.

"She called me nearly 4 hours ago, looking for you. It should only take her about 30 minutes to fly home from the theater. Something is very wrong, and you two are going to help search for her. Videl has been frantically looking for her. You will help them, since ultimately we bear some responsibility here. If she was in the theater with you, Bulla, she wouldn't have gone missing." Bulma then looked at Trunks, "and if you hadn't accused Pan of breaking your gifts, she wouldn't have been so isolated and depressed. I want you both to fly from the theater to Gohan's house and see if you can find her."

Bulla nodded and headed for the door. Trunks remained motionless at first, still being in shock from the evening's revelations. His relationship was a complete sham and an innocent girl was missing. He finally stood up with some resolve and headed for the door.

Elsewhere….

"Mmmm," the girl groaned.

"She's waking up," The soldier said.

"Excellent!" The pudgy man replied.

"Where am I?" The young woman asked.

The men merely ignored her.

The young woman asked again, "Where am I?"

But the men didn't reply.

As she looked to her left and right she noticed she was restrained. She tried to pull her arms away from the rails of her bed, but she soon realized that she was alarmingly weak. She felt groggy, as if she had been drugged, as the room was spinning and she was seeing two of everything.

"They will be here soon to collect her. Do you have everything you need from her doctor?" The soldier asked.

"I've completed a comprehensive medical workup and collected all the genetic material that I need from her. This will be very profitable to the right people. She must be very important if they're coming all this way for just one girl," The doctor replied.

The girl on the table was becoming more lucid. "Stop ignoring me. Where am I?"

"Quiet now." The doctor said as he reached over and placed something into a syringe. After a minute the girl was asleep again. "Up close, she's really quite beautiful."

"They're entering the atmosphere, Doctor," the soldier advised.

"Excellent. Everything is right on schedule," The doctor replied as he rolled the gurney with the now sleeping girl toward the entrance of his facility. As they made their way toward the front a spacecraft landed.

After a moment the ramp to the ship emerged along with its occupants.

"Vir," the man said as he exited the ship. "I see that it's true that you've gathered the puella."

"Ay, I didn't realize that your culture referenced ancient Latin," the Doctor said.

"Yes, well we're very multicultural…I see that you've acquired the princess, as requested." the man motioned to the sleeping girl on the gurney.

"Yes, as requested. We've assessed her and she's completely healthy and ready for transport. We did give her medication to make her sleep. It will wear off in the next few hours so be prepared. She's very strong," the Doctor advised.

"Of course she's very strong. This girl is the heir of Saturn. She's 75% Saiyan and she's the Phoenix. Her mother and Hercule were smart to hide her as long as they did, but going into space last year created a shift and she was noticed. It's said that it will be through her that all will be made right. I have someone ready to take her in," the man said as he leaned toward the Doctor. "Here are the space credits that you requested, in full."

"Yes, this will do nicely. It was nice doing business with you, Commadus," the Doctor said.

"Thank you, Doctor Hedo," Commadus said as rolled the unconscious girl up the ramp of his ship.

"Who knew that there was life on Saturn after all?" the Soldier asked.

"The galaxy remains so undiscovered by humans. There's much that we don't know."

1 hour later

"I just don't get it, Trunks. Where would she have gone?" Bulla asked as they flew to Gohan's residence.

"I honestly don't know. There's no sign of her, Bulla. That's very troubling."

As they got closer to Gohan's home they were stopped by Goten, "I take it you've found no sign of her?"

"No, we haven't seen anything, but it's dark out. Perhaps, in the daylight we might have more information to go by," Trunks answered.