Co-written by SuperSaiyan2Link.
Krillin, holding Dende in his hands after saving him from an explosion and its debris, floated in place and saw Frieza below him on a narrow pillar above the water.
"Here's a little party game: which of you will be the first one I send to Hell?"
The Earthling peered over to his left, seeing the son of his best friend, and to his right at the Saiyan he tried to kill with Yajirobe's sword. Looking downward to find Pan...
"She's not there! Where did she go?"
But instead of looking around, he focused on Frieza, whom, without even taking on a proper pre-flight stance...
"I choose... you!"
Krillin saw him leave the ground, a purple glow over the tyrant, and quickly deciphered just where he was heading...
"He's coming for Dende!"
Frieza didn't have either of his hands out for a punch or a blast, instead heading their way head-first, his two horns intending to stab.
"I can't move out of the way fast enough!"
But he peered down, seeing not just Frieza's rapid approach, but also the young Namekian in his arms...
"He won't get you!"
Krillin couldn't avoid it in that instant, but he threw Dende over towards Gohan's direction. His impalement by Frieza's horns was imminent, one headed straight for his face, but at least he saved someone.
"Dying twice... just like Chiaotzu..."
But then he felt someone holding him by his waist, pulling him upward, and just briefly saw the long sleeves of a light gray jacket.
"She saved m...!"
Towa and Mira witnessed her attempt to have Krillin killed come up short due to Pan's efforts...
...then Towa covered her mouth with her hand to quiet down a gasp as she witnessed Frieza's right horn had stabbed through not just Krillin, but Pan as well.
"Towa? Is something wrong?"
The female demon quickly shook it off and appeared neutral.
"I was caught off guard by her speed. Beating Frieza there without Kaio-Ken..."
"You are not concerned about the patroller's wound?"
"Why would I be? It serves our purpose. Fighting Frieza and protecting the Z-Fighters will be that much harder for her one-armed."
As far as Mira could tell, Towa wasn't distraught at the pain Pan was going through and would likely suffer as the battle raged on.
"She is not protecting the patroller? Not this time, it would seem."
Now Mira watched almost assuredly as Pan fell upon being struck by Krillin being launched into her.
"Let's see her face Frieza now."
Even amidst falling, Pan saw Gohan turning between Krillin and her in what was akin to slow motion. While the child's features weren't crystal clear, she could tell her father was trying to decide who required his aid more so.
"Now he's picking between the two of us... and if he doesn't save Krillin..."
For Gohan, he could see Krillin falling towards water and the wound through his back clear as day...
"Krillin's wounded! And he'll drown in the state he's in if I don't get to him!"
...but from his perspective, he couldn't tell if the blood he saw behind Pan was from just her shoulder or perhaps her chest.
"Was she stabbed in an even worse region?! I don't know!"
And with the briefest look at her projected descent thus far, it looked like she would hit rocky terrain.
"Water in a wound would be one thing, but that impact with that deep of a laceration..."
Gohan felt trapped in a trolley dilemma, even as it boiled down to just saving one person or the other.
"Krillin's my friend... but I can't just let her die either! What do I do?!"
Pan saw Gohan appearing to have made up his mind and facing her intently.
"No...!"
The pain of this combined with that of air rushing to and through her wound.
"I'll live through this! Krillin will die without you, Dad!"
What was merely seconds felt like an eternity waiting for her father to go through with the choice that would result in history altering.
"I shouldn't have put him in this situation."
Now Gohan appeared ready to fly straight towards her with all haste...
"Shouldn't have gotten caught by that horn."
...but her inner musing was put on hold when she felt herself being caught.
"Now sear that wound shut, dumbass!"
Even while hearing Vegeta's words, she kept her eyes on Gohan, whom, upon seeing Pan in Vegeta's arms, swiftly turned around and flew after the more grievously wounded Krillin. She managed a small smile while witnessing this...
"Thanks to your father, Trunks, now history's back on..."
"HEY! Earth girl!"
She gave Vegeta her full attention after this as he scoffed in frustration.
"You asswipes, the whole lot of you! The shortie, worried about that little green brat! And you with him!"
But she felt Vegeta shiver ever slightly, then peered where he was looking:
Frieza had zoomed around Pan's father and into his path, stopping him from reaching the currently submerged Krillin.
"That... that incredible speed..." the normally proud Saiyan muttered.
"Trying to help your friend?" went Frieza in a condescendingly apologetic tone to Gohan. "Well I am sorry, but there's nothing you can do. He's not long for this world."
She then heard Vegeta all but groan.
"That moron's just floating there..."
"Kakarot's brat is like a lowly beast in headlights! The Earthling dies, so be it... but if Frieza kills the kid here and now..."
Pan felt herself being rotated, almost positioned to stand.
"Now land. Your shoulder's busted, not your legs."
With those words, Vegeta turned his full attention towards the two figures floating in the distance and let her go straight downward.
"He's going to help my dad..."
Pan tried to use her ki to mitigate the impact of her landing, but even with her efforts, she still couldn't help but stumble straight into a wall of rock, her right shoulder making contact with it first. As she put her left hand over the wound and clenched her teeth from the feel of that alone, Pan brought her attention back to her father and Frieza.
"Might I make a suggestion, little one?"
She could see that even as Gohan's posture indicated fear and dread, her father also wanted to get past the galactic tyrant, not away from him, to save Krillin.
"Worry about your own life."
Now Pan could tell her father was making fists and shaking, and even with his back turned to her could tell he was willing to go straight through Frieza if he had to.
"Out of my way..."
Gohan's words were to the amusement of Frieza at first.
"Could you repeat that for me?"
A gust formed around her father, one that Pan could feel.
"OUT OF MY WAY!"
Gohan zoomed up towards Frieza's head, his left leg outstretched for a kick...
"I'm afraid not, son of Goku," spoke Towa aloud as she pressed a button.
Frieza was completely off-guard, his arms in no position to defend himself as Gohan's left foot neared the side of his head to the sight of a mid-gasp Vegeta...
...when Pan caught a flash of red from Frieza's eyes and a burst of purple encompassing his body right as he tilted his head, as well as his torso, to duck underneath it.
"Pan, your father...!" shouted Trunks on comms.
Gohan was undeterred and span to throw a right handed punch which would curve itself into an uppercut to strike Frieza's chin.
"He's supposed to land strikes on Frieza! Actually hurt him!"
Once more, Frieza adjusted his stance to avoid the hit in question. Anticipating a counter attack where he was floating, Gohan descended down underneath a chop, then went for a punch between the tyrant's chest and stomach...
"Towa's making him laser focus on your father! He's dodging everything Gohan's...!"
...but Frieza blocked it with his wrist. In rapid succession, Gohan punched, but found Frieza's opposing wrist would block it before the attack could reach its intended destination.
"No, no, no! Frieza shouldn't be doing this to Gohan! Not right now!"
Vegeta tried deciding between helping Gohan or continuing to overlook the skirmish.
"He has all that Saiyan power at his disposal when he loses his head like that... but now it's been made useless against Frieza."
Gohan's assault slowed for only a moment, allowing Frieza to bat Gohan's right arm to the side, then, before the son of Goku could attack with his left, struck the child back with his other arm. It was essentially a slap, but the sheer force slammed Gohan straight to the ground, where he was slow to lift himself up.
Pan, beginning to generate ki over the front of her shoulder...
"So Trunks, my father's supposed to... to hurt Frieza..."
She mentally paused from the burning sensation of slowly sealing the wound.
"What about your father? Is he... he joining in any... any day now?"
"Once Gohan began to do damage, my father fired at him from behind."
"But with my father not... not getting it DONE...!"
She spat out and crouched over, then felt her right fingers moving atop her knee.
"Good. I can feel them again."
Now putting her left hand behind the right shoulder, the initial burn of her ki had her stepping backward into the wall, her hand partially embedded into it.
"Talk to me, Trunks! What do I... what would you have me do?"
Trunks, standing overlooking the battle alongside Chronoa, mapped out what was meant to occur.
"Frieza was meant to nearly kill Gohan when your father used up much of his energy," Chronoa began. "And Vegeta fired at Frieza from behind after his first initial hit, all before Krillin returned to the battle."
"K-Krillin returned?"
They could hear Pan was surprised at the prospect after his wound just then.
"But how?"
"Dende got him out of the water, then healed him," answered Trunks. "Unfortunately, the time frame's off, so it'll be some time before..."
"Trunks, look!" Chronoa interrupted.
Pan caught initial silence from the two.
"What are you looking at?"
She then peered over at Frieza, seeing that instead of looking at Gohan beneath him, he looked over at the water instead.
The small Namekian was slowly swimming towards the shore with Krillin in tow and his head above water.
"Hold on. Whatever you do, just h..."
He stopped upon glimpsing something in the shape of Frieza in the water's reflection.
"Is he...?"
"How very kind of you, trying to paddle the dying Earthling to shore for his burial."
Dende turned around, seeing that his fears were true.
"He found them!" Trunks shouted to Pan. "Dende and Krillin!"
Pan stopped what she was doing and stepped forward.
"Wound's good enough. I need to move."
"I have a better idea."
Frieza put out a hand in their direction.
"Scattering your ashes."
Frieza fired down, a blast almost perfectly wide enough for both targets...
...when a streak of yellow with a touch of orange zoomed past just before impact. Once it ceased, Frieza saw no sign of them and immediately knew who had taken his kills from him.
"The Saiyan girl..."
Atop the shore on a nearby island, Pan laid the two down as gently as she could to account for the wounded Krillin.
"Take care of him for me, okay?" she asked Dende.
When Dende first encountered Pan, he mistook her for Zarbon from a glimpse of her shadow and even hid behind Gohan from her after the fact. But now she had saved the two of them.
"I will," the Namekian replied back followed by a nod.
Frieza peered over from island to island trying to find the trio until...
"You little sneaks."
Gohan, now ignored by the tyrant temporarily, glimpsed Pan, Krillin, and Dende on one of the islands and saw Frieza aiming at it.
"Can't reach them in time..." he mused before changing his tone. "I have to warn them!"
"LOOK...!"
And before he could even shout "Out," Frieza had already fired straight at them. The explosion that resulted enveloped the island in its entirety and Gohan couldn't sense any of their ki.
"I was too late... I... I..."
"That island was an eyesore anyway."
This comment from Frieza drove Gohan from melancholy straight to anger.
"I do believe I'm forgetting something."
He looked back down, seeing Gohan about to strike with a flying kick.
"Ah, yes."
He practically side-stepped it and now grasped Gohan by the back of his head.
"It really is cute that you keep trying."
He then slammed Gohan into his knee, initially letting him go afterward, then kicking him upward in his side.
Pan, having gotten Krillin and Dende away from harm once more, picked another island with more cover for them.
"Keep out of sight for now, got it?" she whispered.
Dende nodded, then turned his attention back to Krillin as Pan flew off.
"I'm glad I've been fast enough so far, but until we get Frieza back on track, we..."
She caught Gohan rocketing upward followed by Frieza emerging above him to strike him back down with his tail.
"Dad!"
This time, when Gohan was headed straight for the ground, he actually managed to land on his feet and hands, but as he tried to lift himself up, he couldn't help but have a hand to his back from just how much that impact stung.
"Until we know the best route to take here, Pan, keep your distance and..."
"Unless your father gets involved, Trunks, I'm going to have to...!"
She caught Vegeta still eying the battle while keeping as far as he could.
"What in the hell does he think he's doing?!"
"Pan, wait!" Trunks shouted only to find her having reached him.
"Vegeta!"
The Saiyan Prince didn't even look at her, instead still seeing what Frieza was doing below them.
"I thought that brat was one of the strongest among us... but it's all for nothing."
They both saw Frieza seemingly disappear, then reappear behind Gohan, grabbing him from behind once more, then proceeding to elbow the back of his head.
"Vegeta, please! You have to do something!"
But what followed pushed Pan further towards the edge:
Frieza picked up Gohan by his hair, then punched him straight in the stomach, keeping him in place with a tighter grip.
"Frieza's going to kill him!"
Another swat left Gohan on his side in a near-fetal position, but the son of Goku still managed to will himself back to his feet. Frieza approached him on foot, this time waiting for Gohan to strike.
"My...! Gohan needs you! He needs us! Both of us!"
Gohan struck Frieza's chin with a jumping kick, his first unblocked blow and one that actually made Frieza stumble ever slightly.
"Frieza's just toying with the kid... and us. It's all just a game to him."
The tyrant lifted Gohan upward like a ragdoll, then while swinging him downward, prepared his left knee.
"Pan, leave him be. My father's part comes la..."
But the impact of Frieza's knee to Gohan's head could be heard by her even from that distance. Almost as if her vision had zoomed in, she could see clear as day that Gohan's nose was bent, and blood came down from his forehead, his nostrils, and his lips. And once her father opened his mouth, he spat out blood in a violent cough.
"Wait, your father's not supposed to be..."
But Pan's shock gave way to fiery hot rage.
"He's not supposed to be beaten TO DEATH, HUH?!"
After her mental exclamation at Trunks, she grabbed Vegeta's by his armor's collar and shook him up and down.
"Look at THIS!"
Vegeta still wore a blank and paralyzed expression despite Pan's attempts to get his attention.
"He could tear us limb from limb..."
"He'll die IF YOU DO NOTHING! Now COME ON!"
"...take us apart like toys. That's what Frieza..."
"Do something, you DAMN COWARD!"
Vegeta broke his blank expression and actually pushed Pan back.
"I'm no coward! I just recognize that saving him is SUICIDE!"
Her initial outburst simmered down as she turned her back to him.
"You really are the opposite of the Vegeta I knew..."
"Hey!" Vegeta shouted as Pan shifted into a flying stance. "Just what the hell is the brat to you, huh?! Answer me!"
But Pan flew off in silence, not due to her being prohibited from revealing details about herself and her father, but because she didn't even want to humor him with any response, let alone an answer.
Frieza threw Gohan back downward, the child all but immobile from the beatings he had endured.
"All tuckered out, are we?"
He raised his left foot above his head.
"Die!"
In spite of his last word, Frieza didn't stomp on Gohan with all his strength, but instead slowly put more and more weight down on the son of Goku.
"No, Frieza! This is your chance! Kill the son of Goku now!"
Mira rarely caught Towa vocalizing her frustrations in this matter, especially at the screen itself.
"Damned sadistic tyrant! Still playing with his food even with my formula!"
"But should the other mission go according to plan..." he began.
Towa proceeded to take a deep breath.
"I suppose it will make no difference."
Gohan was now screeching in pain from the slow attempt to flatten his skull.
"Ah, there you are..."
Frieza had finally found Vegeta in the distance after all this time.
"Is something the matter?" he asked. "Aren't you going to come help the poor boy? He won't last for much longer, you know."
Frieza waiting for Vegeta to reply to him gave Gohan the briefest respite, the force of the foot halted for that duration.
"The Saiyan Prince at a loss for words. Aww, that's no fun."
He then heard something to his side and saw Pan, even more serious than she had appeared prior.
"So, Saiyan girl, the 'Prince of all Saiyans' had nothing to say. Tell me: do you have any words before this one departs for Hell?"
Frieza covered his mouth in a mock "oops" fashion.
"Oh, pardon my language in front of the little one... the next dimension."
Her fists were as tight as they could be within minimal comfort.
"Leave... the kid... ALONE!"
"If you simply must insist..."
Frieza lifted his foot off of Gohan and took a step backward...
"...except..."
He then pointed his hand toward the son of Goku.
"...how can I leave the kid alone if there is no kid to begin with?"
Pan got ready to charge at him with everything she had to either tackle him or block the shot...
"On my signal, get to Gohan!" Trunks shouted.
"Is your father about to go for a sneak attack?"
"No, it's..."
Pan immediately recognized the sound of the attack and Frieza turned toward the strange audible noise completely alien to him. The tyrant hopped upward and, as Pan feared, his hand was ready to fire at Gohan.
"GO!"
She flew straight ahead, her ki shield up over Gohan once her back was to Frieza's hand, as the blast fired right before Frieza performed a flip, ceasing it.
"Kaio-Ken!"
As her ki shield withstood the heat of the attack while protecting her father, she caught the familiar destructo-disk, in spite of Frieza's attempt to avoid it, managing to cut at one half of his tail...
...but Trunks and Chronoa caught that the upper half of his tail was not sliced off completely.
"It's only about halfway cut. It's still attached."
"And even with Krillin back in the fight, with Frieza not having sustained any damage from Gohan..."
Frieza saw the Earthling who he had impaled just earlier not only back on his feet, but appearing completely healthy.
"I left him at Death's door."
Along with that, he peered below him to see that beneath a massive seemingly bottomless crater he had created, a lone pillar remained with Pan hunched over and covering Gohan.
"Kienzan!" shouted Krillin, immediately drawing Frieza's attention away from them.
As a flurry of destructo-disks were launched at Frieza, this time more than able to avoid them, Pan realized...
"You said Piccolo was wished here, to Namek, right?"
"Yes," Chronoa answered. "He should be on his way there now."
"Can you give me an ETA?"
As Chronoa began to shift her view to elsewhere on Namek...
"I know the path he'll arrive from. Let's see where he is right now..."
...she saw what to Trunks looked like a purple fog entrenched over the area.
"Supreme Kai of Time, what is that?"
"It's an alteration in progress... from earlier in time."
She swiped the scroll, seeing the fog unchanged throughout...
"I should see him and Nail by now."
"Whose Nail?"
"In a moment, Pan. Just need to find..."
Pan waited, then heard both Chronoa and Trunks gasping.
"Something wrong?"
"Pan, we need to extract you right this second!" Chronoa proclaimed.
"But how? Wherever I go, everyone can see me!"
Pan felt a piece of rock she was standing on loosen and break off, causing her to nearly lose her footing. She landed on her side just next to Gohan, then sat up and saw said rock falling down the pit until it was no longer visible to her.
"Can you beam me out of here from down there?"
"Yes, just so long as no one is above you."
She noticed Krillin's destructo-disk barrage had concluded and he now had Frieza's complete attention after blowing a raspberry with a taunting pose.
"I think we're good there."
"Pan, there's no time!" Trunks shouted. "Jump down there, now!"
As much as she tried to keep an eye out for Vegeta and Dende, she understood the severity of the situation and fell down into the depths below.
Krillin, however, noted this.
"Wait!"
He flew in her direction, then found a massive pillar-like beam of light coming out straight from the bottomless crater.
"What was she...?! Where did she go?!"
Dende, hidden from view, didn't know what to make of this either.
"How could she save us before and then leave us now?"
Vegeta, having refused to save Gohan once it appeared suicidal to do so, was left further adrift now that a constant in their battles had seemingly abandoned them.
"If she's left us to Frieza... then it truly is hopeless."
"I have a promise for you all:"
All four of them turned toward Frieza, who, even with his wounded tail, spoke with his usual calm and assured tone.
"Within the next hour, whichever of you four who are still alive... shall grow to envy those who are dead."
Pan, having repositioned herself in mid-fall, landed on her feet back at the library.
"Okay, what is the situ...?"
"Take the scroll, Pan!"
Chronoa handed it right to her.
"No time for a briefing! You're needed now!"
Pan understood this and closed her eyes while gripping the scroll tightly.
As her vision was filled with only pure white, traveling through time once more, she used this window to ask:
"Is Towa altering history before the event I'm on again?"
"Yes. She's keeping Piccolo from reaching everyone."
"So someone's stopping him?"
"Not just that..."
Pan found herself in another area of Namek, now seeing three people before her:
Piccolo, donned in the same attire as before, but with his turban, weighted cape and shoulder pads.
A Namekian warrior lying on the ground behind Piccolo, wounded with purple bruises all across his body.
"That must be Nail."
And the third, a man in purple, gold, and orange, a black hooded cape hiding the rest of him, was locked in battle with Piccolo.
"Help Piccolo fend this guy off," Trunks ordered.
Piccolo, spotting Pan from the corner of his eye...
"Y-you're here?!"
This allowed his hooded opponent to punch him in the face, knocking Piccolo back.
"I don't mind the company," the figure began. "Just as long as you don't touch anything."
She then saw him aiming his hand right at Nail.
"Protect Nail!"
Heeding Trunks' words, she then drew her Power Pole and swung it into the man's stomach, throwing off his aim just enough to leave a searing trail next to Nail.
"Now that wasn't very nice of you."
Piccolo ran in from behind to ambush the caped man, but he was pushed back with a burst of kiai from one hand while Pan found her next swing of her polearm caught by the other.
"Didn't your parents teach you not to go around swinging your toys like that?"
He then swung the Power Pole with Pan in tow with that arm alone, slamming her onto her back.
"You could really hurt yourself doing that, kiddo."
Piccolo, his arms outstretched, successfully grabbed hold of the man by the back of his head. He tugged, but found that he only had the hood and cape in his grip.
"Why thank you. Wouldn't want them to get all sweated up."
Pan, seeing the Power Pole aimed just right to strike, fired a kiai wave of her own, slipping through his grip and jabbing it into the man's armpit.
"Agh, hey!"
He gripped the Power Pole once more and swung it down at Pan, this time two-handed, but despite an impressively deep impact in the ground, she rolled out of the way in time. After this, Piccolo tossed the cape and hood forward as he made his approach, but then found it was blasted through by two beams from the man's eyes.
"No biggie. I have plenty in..."
Piccolo then went for a sweeping kick at the man's legs, but found he had not only hopped over...
"...my wardrobe."
...but swung downward at him with the Power Pole. The Namekian guarded against it with crossed wrists, but was forced into a crouch from just that alone. Pan charged at him, but swerved to the side from a jab of the Power Pole while Piccolo was struck from the opposite end.
"Here, you want your toy back?"
The man charged straight at Pan with her polearm, her taking hold of one end, but now being pushed back toward a wall. She managed to stop, but now the man pressed forward, intending to pierce through her with her own weapon.
"At least now you won't be able to leave home without it."
As it drew closer...
"Power Pole Extend!"
The man was puzzled at first...
"Beg your pard...?"
...but was struck back by the growing Power Pole.
"Now, Piccolo!"
He heeded Pan's words and fired a beam from his mouth right at the man, who was then forced straight into the air. Once the mysterious figure left their sight, Pan began walking away while Piccolo faced Nail.
"Time for me to leave?"
"Not sure," Trunks informed her. "Was the enemy defeated?"
"I'm not sensing him. Who was he anyway?"
"I don't know, but let's just get you out of sight in case..."
As Pan was about to get behind a piece of cover...
...she felt someone gripping her right wrist.
"Just where do you think you're going?"
Piccolo, having stretched his arm to reach her, then pulled her towards him.
"I'm not hearing an answer."
"Pan, just tell him you're leaving to help the others."
"I'm heading out to help the others. From Earth."
"And you just happened to stumble upon my fight just now?"
"I couldn't just leave you and Nail."
"Pan, no!" shouted Trunks.
"What? What did I say?"
"'You and Nail'?"
Pan caught from Piccolo's tone that he was especially startled at this, soon followed by the Namekian from Earth pointing directly at Nail.
"You. I don't even know your name. What is it?"
"Nail," he responded back.
"Seems she knows you. Do you know her?"
Nail lifted his head enough to look upward at Pan.
"I don't know you."
"You don't know her?" Piccolo asked.
"I've never seen her before now."
Piccolo seemed even more flustered after Nail revealed this.
"How in the hell do you know Nail without Nail knowing you?"
His grip around Pan's right wrist tightened.
"Don't think just because you protected Gohan that I'll..."
"Enough!"
Pan shoved Piccolo back and freed her wrist.
"You should know by now that I'm on your side."
"Even so, you've kept so much to yourself I know next to nothing about you other than your fighting abilities."
He took a step forward, forcing Pan to step backward.
"Including who you are, where you're from, and just why it is that you help us in the first place."
"Piccolo, you have to trust me."
"Right now, I don't."
"Even after I've helped you..."
"You helped me against Raditz, I'll give you that... but you helped Goku against me. And yet you let Goku die. I told you to hold Raditz in place and you refused."
With each step Piccolo took, Pan was slowly getting farther away from Nail.
"You went out of your way to warn Yamcha about the Saibamen, yet stood by when Chiaotzu and Tien died... along with me."
"If I try to run, he'll change history just to catch me."
"Piccolo, listen..."
"And now you're here on Namek of all places, and to what? Protect me and Nail?"
"I told you, I'm going to help..."
This time, Piccolo stepped faster than she anticipated and grabbed hold of her by her neck with his right hand, lifting her off the ground.
"Either you're plotting something... or you're just a pawn in a greater scheme."
Pan could break out of his grip whenever she needed to, but couldn't risk what that'd mean for Piccolo's all-too-accurate theory.
"No more secrets. Tell me everything. Or Namek will become your resting place."
"I'm not your enemy, Piccolo."
"If that's true, then you'd have no reason not to tell me."
"There's... there's too much at stake."
"Then it sounds like there's too much at stake for me to let you live."
His grip tightened and now Pan had to consider breaking free just to protect herself.
"Please... I don't want to fight you."
"That's irrelevant. Answers are the only way you're leaving here alive."
With her training to prepare for Frieza, all Pan had to do was overpower Piccolo to break free, but with the threat of an impending battle with Piccolo guaranteed to alter history resulting from it, she only pulled at his arms with the minimum power necessary.
"Supreme Kai of Time, Trunks! I don't know what to do here! I won't tell him anything, but I can't have him turn on me!"
"Gohan!" went Trunks. "That's how you'll get him to rethink what he's doing!"
"Gohan..."
Piccolo almost seemed to loosen his grip on her throat just slightly after she began.
"What about Gohan?"
"You know Gohan... wouldn't want this..."
Instead of appealing to Piccolo, this had the opposite effect.
"What kind of a veiled threat is that?"
"No, I'm not...!"
"So if I don't play along, Gohan's life will be at stake, is that what you're telling me?!"
Piccolo tightened his grip even more so than it was before.
"How dare you bring him into this!"
"Piccolo, stop!" Nail called out. "Aren't you here to help those Earthlings?"
"I am, but this..."
"Frieza is the immediate threat. They'll die without our help."
"'Our help'? You're dying. What good would you be against Frieza?"
"I know a way to make you more powerful. Several times more powerful. Strong enough to defeat Frieza. But first, you have to let her go."
"Pan, tell Piccolo that it will work."
"What will work, Trunks? I don't even know what Nail's talking about."
"It's our last resort. It'll confirm some of his suspicions, but if Piccolo accepts Nail's offer, history can begin to restore itself."
Even with how enticing what Nail suggested was, Piccolo was skeptical about the claim.
"How do I know you're not just making that up so I'll spare her?"
"It'll work," Pan answered in Nail's place. "It will."
"And how is it that you know?"
"There's no time, but I..."
"HOW do you KNOW?!"
"What do I tell him? That I'm a fortune teller or something?"
"You won't stand a chance without it," Nail lightly threatened.
Piccolo was in disbelief at what Nail was doing.
"You don't know her, yet you're taking her side on this?"
"Frieza did this to me... and because of that, I understand his capabilities."
He turned to the side, spitting out purple blood.
"I'm not long for this world, so if you don't believe me, go ahead... just as you are now, and get killed by him."
Pan's eyes shot open and she let go with her left hand, generating ki. Piccolo, at first, responded by tilting his head to avoid her attack.
"That's the last attack you'll ever pull against me, mark my..."
Instead, he found the blast that followed was nowhere near him, instead headed just above Nail. Nail saw something bright above him and saw a ball of energy descending straight towards him, then found Pan's attack struck the ball away, going through a rocky structure before detonating in a massive explosion.
"He's still here."
Piccolo, now seeing the figure from before floating down, let go of Pan, who fell to her knees, coughing and trying to recover.
"I've been to Namek only once before. Always thought it was a nice place, but when you sent me up there just now... that was a lovely view."
Pan noticed the man's clothes nearly lacked any damage or marks from any of their attacks on him thus far.
"This guy's strong. Whoever he is, his power..."
Standing up, she made her way around to cover Nail right as the man landed.
"I'm going to have to stop pulling my punches."
"Get him away if you can," reentered Chronoa. "I've stopped time to keep Frieza from killing anyone, but Nail needs to survive long enough to fuse with Piccolo."
Pan couldn't help but look over at Nail, then back to Piccolo upon hearing this.
"Fuse?! Like join together?"
"What's the matter there, dearie? You look like you've just seen a ghost."
Piccolo, hearing the man still speaking so casually and lightly in spite of their combat, and sensing that his last attack had hardly caused any depletion to this man's ki, stomped ahead irate at the situation.
"Is this all just a joke to you?!"
"I'll be rather straight with you: I wasn't going all out because it's been so long since I was in my prime. Like riding a bicycle, it's all slowly coming back to me."
"Enough with your games! Who are you?!"
Now that he was standing still without his hood, both Pan and Piccolo caught a closer look at his grinning green face, the top half of which was concealed by a purple helmet with a blue gem atop it, and a small scar visible below his left eye.
"Lord Slug. Or the almighty Lord Slug, if you prefer."