CHAPTER 42:
No More Titles

Piccolo sat behind a boulder and sighed, folding his arms patiently as he ever-so-slightly raised his power level.

Two months had passed since Piccolo first started training Pan. The days were beginning to get noticeably cooler, and the sun found itself often covered by graying skies, most threatening autumn rains which would light up the sky in fantastic displays of lightning.

During those times, Piccolo would take Pan out to the center of a giant field and train her extra hard, using the energy from the storm as a shield to mask their rising power levels. He knew that Pan would have to learn how to endure the worst in order to appreciate battling in the best of conditions. Piccolo was teaching Pan everything he could to get her to break the mental block inside of her that made her believe that she was not good enough to take down some of Baby's strongest fighters.

These last two months, Pan had improved a great deal. It was not that she was physically stronger, but she had been developing a faster reaction time and was quick on her feet. It was getting harder to dodge her punches, and Piccolo found he could no longer block her kicks without having to resort to raising his power level – which he could not do, no matter what, unless it was during one of the occasional thunder storms.

In addition to Pan's speed, her mindset had begun to change as well. It was slight, but Pan was incrementally getting over her depression. After the first few weeks, Pan began to shape up. Her sadness and anger was beginning to get focused into her strikes. Her control of her power level had significantly improved, and her temper had calmed down a great deal. Although it took a while, Pan finally began to get it. She finally began to understand the significance of training, and after some time, she actually began to listen to Piccolo. And for that, the Namek was extremely proud of her. She reminded him of Gohan more and more every day. And, with luck, Piccolo might be able to draw out that significant legacy of Gohan, which she still had walled up in her mind.

But even without her access to that potentially enormous power she had inside of her, Piccolo was so proud of her progress, he decided to give her a break. Breaks were rare, but he felt she deserved it. She was cooperating, she was improving, and, although Piccolo would never admit it, she was beginning to grow on him.

So, as a prize for being such a diligent pupil, Piccolo decided to invent a sort of productive game with her, which was somewhat based on the children's game of "hide and go seek." It involved Piccolo hiding in the woods and raising his ki so it was barely perceptible – just high enough so she practice opening up her ki senses more while trying to track him down.

Piccolo realized that Pan had a difficult time reading power levels. For her to have marched straight into Capsule Corporation while Trunks was hiding his ki was absolutely reprehensible on her part, and Piccolo gave her his piece of mind for a good three weeks following that incident. He still castigated her for almost screwing up everything by encountering one of Baby's strongest fighters. At the time, there was no way Pan could ever match up to Trunks. And that fool knew it, too, trying to force himself on her as if she were some rag doll. She had better be glad Piccolo arrived in time. If it weren't for her spiking her ki, however brief it was, Piccolo would never have found her.

Speaking of finding… Piccolo frowned and adjusted his seated position against the boulder. Pan should have found him by now. He dared not raise his ki any higher, but it was at a level which Pan should have been able to sense. He'd have to do this more with her, so she could learn how to sense kis better. When she would find him, he'd be sure to pummel the sanity out of her. So much for being proud of her! She needed a lot more work done, and Piccolo would be sure to beat it into her. Five minutes of searching for him was just inexcusable! It should have taken her five seconds at the most to sense his power, and another twenty to run and fetch him.

He heard something rustle in the brush and stood to face it, getting into a menacing battle stance. Whoever or whatever that was would regret finding him, especially if it was Pan!

"Mmm…..Maahh… Mr. Piccolo!" The girl's voice came from behind several tall bushes which were knocked aside by her body and a gigantic sack she was dragging behind her. "There you are! Guess what I found!"

Piccolo narrowed his eyes and cletched his fists while remaining in his stance, "You were supposed to find me! Where have you been?!"

"Oh… heh…" Pan blushed slightly and scratched behind her head, "Well… I mean… heh…" She smiled and gestured to her sack, "I saw there was this incredible creek that just emerged. It must have been from all the rain we've been having." She smiled shyly, "I saw it and thought you might like some fresh water."

"Huh?" Piccolo dropped his pose and raised a brow as he looked at the gigantic sack beside Pan.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about taking so long. I had to go back to the cave to get the mammoth skin and fill it up." Pan beamed proudly, "And now we have enough to take hot baths right in our own cave!"

Piccolo could not help but blink as he realized all his anger for the girl had just been knocked right out of him by what she had done. Relaxing and standing straight, Piccolo smirked and nodded slightly to her, "Good job, kid. I'm proud of you."

Pan blushed slightly as she smiled and looked away, subconsciously reaching up to adjust her repaired bandana.

Piccolo's smirk widened as he remembered how Pan tried to get him to fix her bandana for her. One night, she had come to him and asked him to use his powers to fix the holes in the fabric. He, of course, told her to just throw it out. He realized that rag would only prove to be a problem later on. But, no matter how many times he declined fixing it, Pan would continue to persist, saying the bandana had a great deal of sentimental value to her. So, Piccolo decided, if she wanted to repair her bandana so badly, she should do it herself. One night, when Pan had fallen asleep, Piccolo went and "borrowed" some supplies from a local village. The town was small, but it provided two vital things he needed for Pan: first, a sewing kit, and second, some scissors.

Piccolo hadn't shown her the scissors yet, though. But, if she let her hair grow any longer, he'd have to force her to cut it. She shouldn't rely on a bandana to hold it back. If for any reason that rag happened to get tattered again in a battle, Pan had nothing else to hold her hair back. And, it was one of a warrior's principle rules to never allow hair to get in the way of fighting. All it ever did was give the enemy an additional tool to use against her.

"Mr. Piccolo?"

Piccolo was snapped out his thoughts as he looked down at Pan.

"I also found some berries." Pan twisted slightly to undo an opossum skin pouch she had tied around her waist. "I couldn't believe it! Berries are actually back in season!" She handed the pouch to Piccolo, "I know you don't like eating meat or nuts, but I thought you might like a few fruits."

"Huh?!?!" Piccolo's eyes widened as she handed him the pouch. Nobody had ever given him a gift before. Not even Gohan. Not even Dende. The thought of it perplexed him beyond words, that Pan, the little brat he took under his wing, was actually doing something for him.

Something smelled fishy.

Piccolo's eyes narrowed somewhat as he broke into a sly grin, "Yeah, okay, I get it now." He grunted, "What do you want?"

Pan looked at him innocently and put on a classic grin, clasping her hands behind her back, "Me? I don't want anything..."

Piccolo raised his left brow ridge and threw the skin back at her, "Spill it."

"Heh…" Pan grabbed the pouch and tied it around her waist as she looked down shyly. After she knotted it tightly, she looked up with a slight tint of color on her cheeks, "Well… you see…. um…" She coughed nervously, "I was wondering if…"

Piccolo crossed his arms in front of him, awaiting her request. Whatever it was, he would say no. She didn't even have to finish her sentence, and he knew he would still say no. Out here in the wilderness, Pan followed his rules.

"Well, um, yeah, I was wondering if you could maybe… you know… um…" Pan looked anxiously at him, "teach me that Special Beam Cannon trick?" Her eyes widened, "Oh! I mean no disrespect to your move or anything like that! I think it's great, I mean, you could even teach me something else or a derivative or something new entirely! It doesn't matter, you don't need to teach me anything at all if you don't want to! I'm sorry Mr. Piccolo, I didn't mean to disrespect you at all! I'm so, so sorry!"

Pan dropped to her knees and bowed fully to him as if to demonstrate how respectful she was trying to be. Piccolo looked at her and felt his ears turn a slight shade of pink, half from embarrassment, half from a rising rage that curled his mouth down to a frown and knotted his brows as he watched the girl prostrate before him. His anger built up more and more as he watched her shamelessly venerate him as if he were some religious icon.

"NO!" Piccolo growled, "I won't tolerate this any more from you!"

"Huh?" Pan looked up, blinking.

"You shall NOT revere me!" Piccolo pointed to her, "NEVER bow to me again, do you hear me?! Now get up!"

Pan blinked again in confusion as she got to her feet.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson today, and I want you to never ever forget this." Piccolo pointed to her, "You will NEVER address me as MISTER again. You will never call your father PAPA again. You will never call Goku GRANDPA again, got it?"

Pan's eyes widened, "What?" She stuttered in shock, "But… but…"

Piccolo growled at her with his finger still pointing, "I don't care what you do on your own time, but around me, everyone will be considered your equal. That includes me; that includes Baby; that includes the Supreme Kai himself." He watched as Pan stood there in a flabbergasted stupor and felt the need to explain himself, in order for him to get his point across fully, "I want you to realize that, on the battlefield, you should never think of anyone being superior to you because of age, maturity, or experience. Do you understand why?"

Pan shook her head slowly as Piccolo continued, "If you approach a battle with the idea that someone is more powerful than you, that leads to intimidation. And what does intimidation lead to?!"

"To…defeat…" Pan looked down.

"Exactly. That also applies to people with given titles. By the mere fact that you consider me MISTER Piccolo indicates that I am somehow formally superior to you."

Pan looked wide-eyed at him, "But you ar–!"

"–No I'm not. Just shut up and listen to me!!!" Piccolo walked up and cowered over her as he looked down on her menacingly, "Titles don't matter, blood relation doesn't matter, and body size doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is this." Piccolo tapped Pan's head with a scowl on his face. "It's how you approach your enemy. Always consider your foe to be an equal. This also applies to people who could be weaker than you because you don't want to make an error of underestimation. They could be holding a greater power inside themselves that you don't even know about."

With a final huff, he growled menacingly and crossed his arms, "I want you to get it in your head that I am no longer 'Mr. Piccolo'."

Pan looked down and nodded, her body trembling slightly.

Piccolo sighed and put his hands on his waist, "Now what?"

"M…P…Piccolo..?" Pan's body shuddered slightly as she dropped the mammoth sack and clutched her stomach, shivering, "D… Does this mean that P…Go… Gohan isn't my Papa anymore?"

"Yes, that is exactly what this means." Piccolo nodded to her. "Your 'Papa' has been dead to us since over half a year ago. I was there when it happened."

Pan's eyes widened as she looked up slowly, tears lining her eyes, "Y…You… You were THERE!?" Pan's eyebrows shot down as her eyes flared with rage, "And you let him get possessed?! YOU LET HIM?!"

"Pan," Piccolo frowned, "You need to control your anger."

"How could you?! How could you?!" Pans fists clenched as she screamed and lunged forward, delivering a punch that Piccolo easily side-stepped. Pan fell to the ground, crying as her body tremored.

"For the same reason you let Trunks get possessed in the first place."

Pan stood, grasping herself with shaky arms. She sniffled slightly and brought up a soiled hand to wipe tears from her eyes. "I… I…" Pan held back her tears and grew silent, trying to push all thoughts of her father and former friend from her mind.

A raindrop fell between the two of them, followed by another.

Piccolo looked up and saw the sky growing darker from a black cloud forming overhead. He smirked slightly and then looked to Pan again. "So are you finally growing up, little girl?"

Pan scowled at him and wiped more tears away and readied herself in a battle stance, "I am NOT a little girl!!"

"Good," Piccolo grabbed the mammoth sack with his left hand and then walked up to her, grabbing her collar with his right. "because I'm about to teach you a technique that will make everyone realize how their little Panny-poo has finally become a formidable woman."

With that, Piccolo began to drag her with him toward the sparring field; the lightning overhead beginning to clash its ominous foreshadowing.

----------

----------

-1/23/05-