2/25/24 Update - Chapter 15, 16, and 17 have now been written in full.
Co-written by SuperSaiyan2Link.
The three remaining Z-Fighters standing alongside Pan saw Goku walking past them and towards Frieza with what they'd consider a strange calm.
"I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner."
"Goku, is that really you?"
The Saiyan raised on Earth turned to Piccolo, who couldn't hide his awe towards his former hated enemy.
"You've... you've completely changed."
"I'm not the only one, Piccolo. You really surprised me when I sensed you here earlier."
Gohan stepped towards his father.
"Dad..."
Goku put his hand out, blocking his son. Krillin followed, stopping short of where Gohan was.
"Your ki..." Krillin began. "It's entirely different from earlier."
"You both kept each other alive. You don't know how happy that makes me."
Goku then ruffled his son's hair.
"You made it this far without me. I'm proud of you."
He saw Pan stepping forward, just as ready for battle as he was.
"You really had a close call earlier... but right now, I'd say you're past your peak."
But even with what sounded like an endorsement from her grandfather, Goku turned back to everyone with a stern expression.
"I'm glad you're all here in one piece, but stay back. I'll take over from here."
Pan looked over to a piece of cover she could use to leave, but considering everything that had gone differently so far...
"He said to stay back, not to leave."
"So... you must be Frieza."
This whole time, the tyrant held Vegeta, his other hand still raised for the killing blow.
"Leave him be. I'll give you a better fight."
While this sounded like Goku talking down to Vegeta, Pan and the others knew the intentions behind his words to Frieza.
"Grandpa's saying this so he'll spare Vegeta."
Vegeta was dropped to the ground, stunned to see...
"K-Kakarot..."
"That name..."
Frieza's suspicions were now confirmed:
"It's a Saiyan name."
And now seeing Goku standing up close, his hair and face especially, a gap in his memory was filled.
"He has almost the exact visage of that low-class Saiyan. With the Saiyan girl, that scar was just a fluke. But this one... it's like a spitting image."
"It seems I missed yet another Saiyan. Not that it'll make any difference. You won't die quietly."
Instead of seeing Goku intimidated by his words, he found that Goku lightly smirked in response.
"You know, you're shorter than I expected."
Frieza, in the short distance between himself and Goku, appeared to vanish to the untrained human eye...
...but then Pan caught a purple flash.
"He sped up!"
Frieza went for a kick to Goku's face, which Pan's grandfather returned with the same gesture...
...with both landing further back, a hand to the opposite cheek.
"Frieza wasn't supposed to land that!" exclaimed Trunks. "Goku should've caught him off-guard with his speed."
But even with Towa's interference at that moment, Pan was drawn to the fact that...
"He landed a hit on Frieza... and took one... without any Kaio-Ken."
"You know, your friends are much too exposed behind you..."
Goku believed it to be a trick, keeping his eyes directly on Frieza, who pointed at him...
...and proceeded to then shift his aim to Piccolo.
"Especially him!"
Goku knew first thing what the Death Beam making contact would mean if it made contact.
"If that kills Piccolo... Kami dies too! They'll have wished him back for nothing!"
But just as he was about to move...
"Kai...!"
Pan shouted this as she zoomed into the Death Beam's path, a ki-covered palm knocking it away. But she then saw Frieza fire once more, this time at...
"Dad!"
"O...!"
She intercepted it once more to the same result with the opposite hand. A brief glimpse of another arm tilt...
"Ke...!"
...and Pan struck the last Death Beam away from Krillin with both. Having stopped short of going into Kaio-Ken, she looked down at her fingerless gloved hands, realizing...
"I saw them... and stopped them... before I could even say it."
Her astonishment was put on hold as Frieza then peered to his original target, firing not one, but a full-blown barrage of Death Beams.
"Duck, Goku!" Krillin shouted.
But he instead put out just one hand as the first beam reached him...
...knocking it back and then doing the same to the rest with rapid swipes of his wrist.
Vegeta, tilting his head upward, saw Goku to his left perform this feat, and was utterly stunned.
"This is not the same Kakarot from before. On Earth or even the one here. His limits... he's far surpassed them..."
Frieza's exposed expression of shock would soon subside as his eyes briefly flashed red.
"I suppose that was impressive... but you've yet to fathom my true power."
But then he couldn't believe what he heard next:
The wounded and defeated Vegeta laughing.
"Has your fear driven you insane?"
"Oh Frieza, you've yet to fathom HIS power. Taking him lightly because he's a Saiyan will be your last mistake. In fact, he's the one you've always been afraid of. He's... the Super Saiyan!"
Frieza's thus far narrow eyes actually shot wide open.
"The legend is true, Frieza. Soon... this planet will become your grave..."
Goku saw Frieza pointing and took on a defensive stance.
"...and you'll get what you des...!"
A Death Beam straight to Vegeta's heart put a stop to his speech, spitting up blood.
"Vegeta!" Goku exclaimed, having anticipated Frieza attacking anyone but him.
"I knew the rule of three was lost on you, Vegeta, but to continue rattling on that joke..."
"He was in no position to fight back! He couldn't even move! He wasn't a threat to you at all! You didn't have to...!"
"No one tells me what I can and cannot do. I told him to cease with that Super Saiyan nonsense, but the stubborn little monkey refused. I had every right to kill him."
"You're still so naive..." began Vegeta at his most hoarse, blood running down his lips. "You limit yourself, you fool. To become the Super Saiyan, you must be cold-blooded... merciless."
"I don't know anything about a Super Saiyan..." Goku replied. "And I won't be merciless like you."
"That stupid sentiment of yours..."
This was followed by several rough coughs.
"Save your strength, Vegeta. Stop talking."
"Why? This is as far as I go."
Pan came as close as she could while Frieza looked away.
"Listen... your birth planet... Planet Vegeta... the Saiyan homeworld... Frieza destroyed it."
The tyrant, his arms crossed, was entirely detached and apathetic towards Vegeta's words.
"Not even running through his heart can shut him up."
"My father and the Saiyans served Frieza... doing what we do best... clearing out whole planets of their people... but then he exterminated them. Your parents... and my own... out of fear of the Super Saiyan legend."
"Oh sure..." Frieza sneered. "Take HIS word for it."
"All my life after, I've lived under his subjugation... as one of the last Saiyans in the universe. I was always looked down on by his elite... a target on my back. I went to any length just to survive being under his service... well aware he'd bring about our extinction for falling short. Living in fear of the one that took everything from me."
More blood spewed, covering the previous trails that went down his chin and down his neck.
"F-Frieza must perish..."
Pan heard every word Vegeta said to her grandfather, knowing his next words could be his last...
...then saw him looking at both Goku and her.
"...at the hands of a... S-S-Saiyan..."
Taking note of the look on Pan's face, Vegeta scoffed...
"I still don't believe you're a Saiyan... but you might as well be..."
...and drew his last breath, eyes closed and the back of his head touching down.
"Oh GOOD. FINALLY. Took long enough. Might we get started, newcomer?"
Instead of replying or even acknowledging Frieza, Goku glared just to the side of Vegeta's body...
...an invisible eye beam creating a small explosion, leaving a hole just deep enough to bury the fallen Saiyan.
"He used you. Twisted you. But behind all your cruelty..."
Pan watched as Goku began covering Vegeta up with dirt, giving even someone like him a proper burial.
"...deep down, you were a true Saiyan warrior."
She was almost tempted to join in paying final respect to the Saiyan Prince, but simply stood recalling everything Vegeta revealed.
"He wasn't raised spoiled. Frieza never gave him special treatment. It was cutthroat and brutal."
"It's no wonder he went after the Dragon Balls... both Earth's and Namek's..." Trunks added.
All of Vegeta's rationales clicking into place, Pan put her head down and closed her eyes as if giving Trunks' father a moment of silence.
"I understand."
But even with Vegeta's past fully acknowledged, the visage of the pleading Saibamen he eliminated, his otherwise loyal partner Nappa thrown into the air and reduced to nothing, the holographic image of the Namekian village Vegeta slew for a Dragon Ball, and Arlia and its people being destroyed for no reason turned Pan's initial sympathy into a combination of conflicting feelings.
"I don't forgive him... but I understand."
As harsh as those four words may have been towards his father, Trunks, having witnessed Vegeta's every deed from the past, as well as his future, said nothing back to Pan.
"I suppose I'll have to be merciless, just as you said..."
As Pan's grandfather stood up, she heard him carry on regarding being raised on Earth, but also being a Saiyan. He turned to face Frieza...
"For the Saiyans..."
...then saw the body of Dende, killed just before his arrival...
"...and all the Namekians you killed... !"
A clenched fist indicated he was more than prepared for the coming battle.
"I will bring you down!"
"Sure, sure..."
Frieza wasn't the least bit intimidated or moved, as if he had heard declarations of that sort enough times to lose count. Pan was locked onto him to ensure his attention was locked onto her grandfather.
"Frieza hasn't made a move just yet."
Piccolo turned to Krillin and Gohan.
"Go! NOW! We'll just be collateral damage!"
Krillin started to float off his feet...
"He's right, you know..."
Purple overtook Frieza as he raised his hand upward, not unlike when he was in his second form...
"He's removing them from the equation!"
...and immediately flew straight for Piccolo, practically tackling him.
"GOHAN!"
Goku saw what Frieza was about to do, but right as he was about to take off to protect his son, he saw Krillin shielding him, then Piccolo stretching his arm to take hold of them both. With Pan pulling the three to safety, Goku quickly crossed his arms as Frieza's attack finally went off.
From orbit, Frieza's attack created a tiny red spot on the otherwise green planet.
"She can't protect them all..." began Mira.
"And not just because of her strength..." Towa added.
Pan lied on the ground a distance away, releasing Piccolo, who then released Gohan and Krillin.
"Frieza really went out of his way to target them," went Trunks. "He should've been fixated on Goku and let them go."
"Shoot!" Pan exclaimed. "He was right towards the center of that!"
"Then you'd better get going..."
Piccolo mentally conversed with her once more.
"I fear even what Frieza did just now was just the smallest sample of his full power. With Dende healing you, you're the best help to Goku right now."
Considering before when Piccolo tried figuring out her identity and purpose, hearing him speak to her like this now...
"Piccolo, you... you trust me?"
"I saw what you did for Vegeta... and heard what he is to Trunks."
"Crapbaskets," went Trunks. "He'll know I'm Vegeta's son the moment he first sees me on Earth..."
Pan looked down.
"That wasn't for you to know..."
"I know enough on why you're here, and that's enough for me. Trunks won't be born if we lose this battle and we all perish. And since I'm sure Kami and the Dragon Balls will have their role for after, I'll stay back with these two."
Rising to her feet, Pan saw the fiery destruction perhaps less than a mile away from her.
"Piccolo seems to be gaining an understanding of what's at stake," went Chronoa to Pan, but mostly to Trunks. "It wasn't part of the plan or even remotely ideal, but I believe he'll still keep your secret upon meeting you."
But right as Pan was about to leave...
"Wait..."
Gohan took her hand. He didn't pull her down, but wanted her to face him.
"Please don't let my dad die."
She then saw him gesturing her grandfather's polearm towards her other hand.
"You either, okay?"
Pan nodded to him.
"I promise."
Taking the Power Pole into her hands, she then saw Krillin clench his fist.
"Deck Frieza good for us... and for Dende."
One last nod towards the short Earthling.
"You got it."
Now going as fast as she could, Pan zoomed over the fiery landscape straight for the battle of not just Goku's life, but her own.
Goku, his hands out to stop a projectile, was being pushed straight through a large mass of rock.
"I thought you would've been happy, Saiyan."
Frieza saw his opponent redirect his projectile into the air and coming to a stop...
"I even took the liberty of removing distractions so you could go all out."
...his orange gi already partially torn and his palms with the smallest burns.
"Damn, that hurt. I'm gonna need to use Kaio-Ken sooner than I would've liked..."
"Perhaps a dip in lava will soothe you."
Frieza had his hand out and Goku could feel the ground beneath him starting to heat up.
"He couldn't be... is he controlling the planet itself?"
As Frieza was about to gesture his hand upward and lift enough rock beneath Goku to unveil the lava beneath it...
"If this Saiyan dies this quickly, then I can bring about their extinction in under an hour."
...he thought he heard something in the air behind him and turned...
...being tackled by Pan.
"You tried killing my father!"
A punch to his face before he could respond.
"This won't go down like it did on Earth!"
At the speed they traveled, the blue-green grass and water left untouched was coming into view. Frieza only barely saw it as another punch struck him.
"And this time...!"
Shoving Frieza through some land, a third punch caused Frieza's eye beams to miss their point-blank target.
"...no golden form to help you!"
As Pan's fourth punch neared him, his right hand in a spearpoint stance struck her stomach...
...and Pan was simply knocked back like having been punched with not a trace of blood to show for it.
"I skewered you just earlier! "
Frieza, stopping just before his back would collide with a boulder, then jumped forward with so much force as to turn the whole rock into dust. His hands poked and chopped at Pan's head, trying to debunk the idea his once fatal attack was now something she could withstand with little harm, only to find them ceased by her wrists.
"Where's that red aura?! You couldn't hope to accomplish any of this without it... especially against this form!"
He stopped attacking with his hands, firing eye beams, but Pan kept turning her head to avoid them. Dodging a punch to his chest from Pan's right hand, trapping that arm with his left arm clamping down by his armpit, and catching her left with his right, he believed he had Pan dead to rights with a headbutt and eye beams...
"Yes! Got it!"
...the eye beams were stopped by ki covering her face before the beams could make impact. The headbutt struck true, Pan rolling back, but in all the rotations, he didn't see a spot of blood or even a bruise on her forehead.
"CONFOUND IT!"
Pan caught herself on her hand, then immediately recognized Frieza putting up his index and middle fingers.
"Let's see you unharmed by THIS!"
But looking up, Pan had every reason to believe it wouldn't come to pass. Frieza caught only a glimpse of a shadow forming, growing larger...
...then felt himself struck on the back of the head by a double-axe handle. Frieza landed on his hand, stopping him from being shoved straight through the ground, though a crater formed around his wrist.
"Thanks for the save earlier..." went Goku, who helped Pan up. "...but I'm ready this time."
Frieza almost appeared to rotate back onto his feet, then had his arms spread out towards his sides, palms facing the two.
"I suppose going up another ten or twelve percent wouldn't hurt..."
While keeping their distance, Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin went around the fiery region Frieza created earlier and tried keeping up with the two-on-one battle.
"She needed Kaio-Ken just to stand up to that form of Frieza's earlier, but now..."
"Could she be a Saiyan, Mr. Piccolo?"
"Her, a Saiyan? I thought she was a human."
Privately, Piccolo had another theory entirely.
"If Trunks is of any indication, a full-blooded Saiyan and human could conceive a hybrid child. However far into the future she's from, the girl could've been the child of a Saiyan... or the child of a Saiyan hybrid."
But the Namekian did have one idea he could bring up.
"Vegeta grew in power after Dende healed him. And Goku from the healing pod. She appears to have done the same."
"So maybe she is a Saiyan that escaped Frieza destroying Planet Vegeta."
Krillin sighed, realizing he had been healed twice by Dende, but his own power hadn't gone up nearly as noticeably.
"Man. To think your father and I used to be so closely matched as teenagers. All this time, he wasn't just a monkey boy... but a whole other animal. Growing in power farther than any of us could ever dream of..."
Piccolo gave, perhaps for the first time in his life, a friendly slap on the back to Krillin.
"You humans surpass my expectations too, you know. I heard you and Yajirobe survived fighting Vegeta."
"Yeah. Yajirobe cut off Vegeta's tail... and Krillin, you almost cut off Frieza's."
Krillin recalled a particular taunt Frieza had for them upon reaching his second form.
"Frieza said he had a power level of a million. At least a million. And I did that to him."
They felt ripples in the air itself, then saw high-speed clashes above them, almost too fast for them to even see.
"They're taking to the skies..." went Piccolo.
Krillin, meanwhile, actually felt his once dwindling confidence return to him.
"Oh man, just wait until the others are wished back with the Dragon Balls. They're never gonna believe when I tell them what I did to Frieza..."
Pan and Goku clashed side-by-side against Frieza, now finding that his speed appeared to increase.
"Towa's doing... no. He was always meant to do this..."
"Shoot. He might not have been bluffing..."
A chop of Goku's then appeared to have struck an afterimage of Frieza...
...and he saw a piece of land from below flying up straight towards him.
"Move!"
Pan shoved him aside, then performed with her hands as quickly as she could...
"Masenko!"
The blast struck before it could hit her, Pan completely still as a perfect hole through the chunk left her untouched by the passing landmass. She then saw Frieza being pushed down by Goku with a kiai wave towards the water below only for Frieza to telekinetically pull the mass back towards Goku.
Pan's grandfather almost appeared to step backward, preparing one hand, then floated forward, a claw-like strike hitting the chunk of land. Right as it made impact, it broke into two pieces, going over and below him.
They then sensed Frieza zooming back upward, but now both his hands gestured in opposite directions. Pan and Goku both saw half of the mass coming right for them, the latter's at a much closer distance. He appeared to have almost backhanded it, sending it above him, then lost sight of Frieza.
"He's right on top of me..."
But directly above him, no such luck seeing Frieza. Following Frieza's ki, he saw the broken landmass...
...then Frieza chopping through it with a downward kick that then struck Goku straight down into Namek's ocean.
"Grandpa!"
Pan saw this, but also eyed the other half, catching glimpses of the tunnel her Masenko created as it rotated.
"Time it right..."
She descended slightly, still not enough to avoid it, but then flew straight towards it at high speed, the tunnel a clear path. Upon making it through, she put out both hands in front of her while never breaking her flying stance.
Pan's high speed punch to Frieza's gut with both fists sent Frieza up high so quickly by the time he pushed Pan off of him, he saw clouds below him.
"A job well done."
Pan found that Frieza wasn't irritated at her newfound power like he was before.
"When this is done, I'll chisel your gravestone. Now if you'll excuse me..."
He flew downward so quickly it came close to looking like he vanished from her sight. Pan went to follow, then realized Goku hadn't come up from the water just yet.
"Hey."
Goku's voice.
"So I don't think Frieza can sense ki like we can. He's just been going off sight. So let's use that to our advantage."
For all of what Goku lacked in formal education, to think that he deciphered this in just the short time he had battled Frieza...
"You really are a fighting genius, like they said..."
"I'm preparing something underwater. Something Krillin and I worked on a long time ago. Could never quite get it to work right, but I think I can pull it off now. Should give us some openings."
Goku formed controlled Kamehamehas which remained in the shape of orbs while on the ocean floor. Frieza, now hovering over the water, was unable to figure out his opponent's location from that far below the surface.
"Come out already! I know even a Saiyan like you couldn't have been done in by something like that!"
Something floated behind him in near-silence, his attention too glued to his Saiyan adversary and the sounds of the rumbling waters to take notice of it.
"Will you be joining me any day now? I've been preparing a surprise just for you."
Just as he felt the slightest shift in the air behind his head...
"Sneaking up on me..."
...a pointed staff touched the back of his head.
"You seem to be having some trouble, Lord Frieza."
A female voice entirely new to the tyrant spoke to him as his pupils turned purple.
"If the Saiyan has help, I think it's only fair you have some assistance as well."
The other three Z-Fighters were just close enough that Frieza wasn't a tiny speck, but then found him almost frozen in place.
"That doesn't look right..." began Krillin.
Gohan thought he saw something akin to a white cape, if not a coat, directly behind Frieza.
"S-Someone's doing something to him..."
Just as Piccolo picked up on this, a light-like beam flashed behind Frieza and there was no sign of whoever this person could've been.
"Whoever that was... we're dealing with something or someone we can't even comprehend."
Pan saw the light-like construct beam nearby and then flew down faster.
"Towa! Just what is she doing now?"
She saw Frieza at first appear alarmed by one of Goku's orbs firing straight up near him from underwater...
"Frieza's gonna think Goku's attacking from down there, but then he'll circle around and..."
...then saw Frieza glow purple once more.
"Oh, I think you'll love this surprise..."
The second orb came up, but this time, Frieza actually flew backward to avoid it...
...then, as Goku flew downward for a dropkick...
"Ah!"
Frieza tilted in midair, gracefully avoiding it...
"Very clever ploy."
...then caught Goku by the throat with his right hand to the Saiyan's disbelief.
"H-how?! I was almost completely positive he couldn't...!"
Pan didn't have to be told to intervene or what Towa had just done.
"Frieza can sense ki now!"
As Frieza tightened his grip...
...Pan went for a flying kick, which he ducked in midair. Goku, this brief cease in the crushing pressure keeping his neck intact, then put his feet against Frieza's waist.
"Kamehameha!"
He shouted this as quickly as he could before Frieza could squeeze his throat, the blast minimal in power, but the impact enough for the tyrant to release him and to repel Goku away.
He then avoided another pass from Pan, this time gripping her left ankle in his right hand. Before he could squeeze it, Pan curled up enough to elbow the back of his head with her left elbow. It didn't release her, but each time Frieza tried crushing it, she struck once more.
His tail finally becoming involved, her left arm was caught and he was free to carry on.
"Better yet..."
Now he transitioned to holding her behind his back, his right hand taking over for his tail, which then proceeded to wrap itself around her neck. Sensing Goku nearby, he rotated so he could see her.
"Make a wish."
He wasn't frozen, but his initial attack plan was cut entirely and Goku had so little time to figure out what to do to stop Frieza from using Pan as a human shield or snapping her in half.
"D-Don't do this!"
While he doubted the tyrant would listen to him, the first thing he could think to do without endangering Pan was imploring with Frieza.
Pan, her right arm still free, reached over her right shoulder...
"The one wish I can't grant," Frieza taunted.
...her Power Pole in hand, didn't have the time to say anything before he went through with it, and even given time, the tail was too tight around her throat.
Goku then tried getting around Frieza, but the tyrant span too quickly, Pan still facing her grandfather...
...and jabbing the Power Pole straight for what she hoped was Frieza's equivalent of an ear.
"AGK!"
It wasn't at all pleasant and now with him releasing her left arm...
"Kaio-Ken...!"
The two hands thrust the polearm even harder. Now in such pain that he inadvertently released her completely, she hopped atop the polearm and stomped it with both feet. Now spinning uncontrollably during his fall, Frieza's first instinct was to pull the Power Pole out. He did, seeing a drip of his blood on it, then saw Pan trying to take hold of it.
"Vicious little bitch!"
He pulled the polearm towards him, Pan along with it, as he pointed right down her left ear.
"I hope you hear this..."
He was then met by another drop kick of Goku's, this one landing successfully.
From the distance, Goku's son and allies saw the impact of Frieza's Death Beam just nearby them. Frieza himself crashed into an island, then his body hopped across water before colliding into another one, dirt and debris flying out from the explosive impact.
"You really had me worried there..." began Goku, floating downward with Pan, who left Kaio-Ken.
"It was the one play I had available."
Pan shook off Frieza's blood from the polearm, then placed it back in its case. Floating above the tyrant's initial impact, they eyed the other island as the dust began to thin out...
...with Frieza standing, cracking his neck.
"Oh, would you look at that..."
He brushed debris from his shoulders.
"You got me all dusted up..."
Frieza's initial tone of it not being any bother to him subsided once he glared at Pan.
"And YOU! You are THE FIRST to have tried wounding me HERE!"
His left hand to what Pan thought to be his equivalent of an ear, it had drops of red, which he then waved off.
"How, oh how, shall I punish you both? What to do... how to inflict it..."
He hopped upward, then chunks of rock began to tear themselves free from the cliff-like structure he stood on.
"This again?" went Goku.
With them flying out rapidly, he and Pan moved rapidly in midair to avoid them, some requiring them to punch and kick through them.
"Oh, but that's not all...!"
What appeared to be a mountain-like mass nearby actually appeared to be slowly floating upward...
"Lifting something that big... that's... how is that even...?"
...was then flung upward and came right down, the peak like a massive sharpened point.
"I've got this, Goku!"
Pan stepped in front of him, Goku deciding to use this moment to go after Frieza.
"Maybe she'll give me the opening I need..."
Flying in Frieza's direction, he saw the tyrant gesture his hands towards the thrown landmass heading for Pan and chips of it broke off. They practically rained down in their sheer quantity, Goku treating the smaller and more pointed projectiles like bullets.
Pan, seeing that it was nearing her much faster than she would've hoped...
"Quickly now!"
"Kamehame...!"
She cupped her hands and ki flowed through, but now the point was less than a second from touching her.
"HAAA!"
This quicker Kamehameha did put a hole through it...
...but it was as if it were crumbling completely as a result.
Goku, forced to the ground, then saw Frieza put his hand down.
"Hook, line, and...!"
The mountainous mass then came straight downward, Pan in no position to move away from it.
"Kaio-K...!"
"NO!"
With his mysterious ally, at best, trapped underneath it, Goku then saw Frieza thrust his hand upward, the very ground beneath him shaking violently. In no time, pieces flew upward, Goku having to step quickly to avoid the projectiles which was like dodging rain traveling backwards.
From the corner of his eye, Goku thought he saw his best friend, former enemy, and son watching from afar.
"They'll be hiding their ki, but if there's even a chance he senses them..."
Now seeing Frieza looking and aiming in their direction for any number of attacks, he threw caution to the wind and flew straight at the tyrant. Several rocks struck, some just short of piercing his skin, but he pushed through to keep Frieza's attention on him and away from the others.
As Goku reached him, Frieza, his right hand gripping his left wrist, and his left hand out to the Saiyan.
"...and sinker!"
Goku felt himself trapped in place, then saw that a mass of golden-like energy had ensnared him.
"Like a moth to the flame."
Pan, her Power Pole out and her ki shield around her, had kept it at bay so far. But with the shield actually cracking, bits of dirt slowly slinking down around her like sand in an hourglass, it was clear that the shield enhanced with Kaio-Ken couldn't hold back the crushing weight of the remaining mass forever.
"Just for a moment..."
"Kaio-Ken Times Twenty!"
Frieza, seeing that Goku couldn't hope to move while in the Imprisonment Ball, tried to see the look on his ally's faces, witnessing the Saiyan completely at his mercy.
"I have the perfect punishment for you now: you get to watch."
Frieza punted Goku away just right so he'd be facing the same direction, unable to look away.
But then a shaking on the ground actually made Frieza lose his footing for a moment. He saw a chunk of the landmass he launched at Pan earlier actually lifting upward from the rest.
"It'd take a Great Ape just to..."
"Power Pole extend!"
Now it was held atop the red polearm almost like a hammer. Pan swung it downward with all her right towards Frieza, the tyrant putting his hand out. As he did, his resulting release of power reduced the entire mass to dust...
...and yet the red polearm was entirely unaffected by this.
"There's no way such a weapon could be...!"
The resulting slam of the extended Power Pole sent him straight downward through the cliffside and deep below it.
It shrunk down after and Pan immediately exited that high level of Kaio-Ken. Even if she didn't feel much of the effects now...
"I can't afford to overuse it. Not now."
She saw her grandfather high in the air, just shy of leaving her sight entirely.
"Are my dad, Piccolo, and Krillin out of sight?"
"After they were sitting ducks just now, yes," Chronoa answered.
"Then I'd better go after him. Can't have him floating off into space."
"I think it'd technically burst before leaving the planet's..."
"Doesn't matter, Trunks!"
She took off, reaching him before he went through the first cloud.
"D-Don't touch him, Pan!" went Trunks.
"Well, what do you propose I do here?"
"That newfound sensation... actually sensing those three tiny auras near me... and now they're gone without a trace. What a pain."
Frieza went for a different approach for the remaining ki sources.
"But you two Saiyans... oh, it's like you're not even trying to hide from me."
"That said, is it better if I attack the ball or get him to the ground?"
Pan still had no idea what to do in this scenario.
"Your grandfather was always going to get trapped by the Imprisonment Ball," Chronoa clarified.
Gohan's daughter still hadn't gotten an answer.
"Okay, but space... or the atmosphere, whatever, isn't where he's meant to go!"
"Pan...!" stumbled Trunks.
"What?!"
"Below you...!"
She saw a trail emerge from the blue-green far below her.
"He tunneled himself to keep out of sight!"
Flying straight into the path he sent Goku on earlier, Frieza kept pace with it and put a hand out.
"I can make this explode at any time... and he'll go with it. You wouldn't want to have that happen to a fellow Saiyan, now would you?"
Pan already knew the workings of the Imprisonment Ball, so it was a matter of either playing the fool and going along with Frieza's threat, or using that knowledge to do something.
"I mean, there are so few of you left. Just you two and that runt."
He caught Pan making a fist.
"Did I touch a nerve, dearie?"
She swung it at Frieza, then as the tyrant dodged as anticipated, thrust that same hand towards her grandfather and the orb containing him.
"You'd better get out of this, Grandpa..."
A massive kiai wave pushed Goku straight back towards the ground.
"Clever..."
But as Pan turned back to Frieza, hers arms in guarding positions to stop any number of attacks...
"Not!"
The purpose of the gesture his arms took didn't require any guessing on her part. As soon as Pan felt herself stuck and surrounded, she knew Frieza put her in the same predicament as he did her grandfather.
"Don't suppose I need to tell you that you might die this time..."
With his fist not even in a punching motion...
"Ta-ta."
...a light tap to the orb had Pan not just descending, but rotating. Pan saw the ground beneath her, the distance behind her, Frieza above her, the distance in front of her, and repeat. This happened a multitude of times due to Frieza tapping the Imprisonment Ball with just enough force to make her fall.
This should've made Pan sick, but she tried searching for any sign of Goku's orb. Her senses were thrown off by this much motion, so she tried going by eyesight any time the blue-green ground was within her sight.
"I couldn't have pushed him that far away, did I...?"
It then occurred to her...
"The water!"
If there was a chance she sent him there unintentionally, she had to find out. Seeing the ocean in the distance...
...a massive splash. One far higher up than any of the landmasses or structures nearby.
"Shoot..."
"Goku made it out of the ball on land. He'll make it out of there underwater."
But Trunks' words of encouragement were just as Pan was about to hit the ground herself.
"Escape in the window before it detonates. And with the force to escape the vacuum."
"Surprise!"
Frieza was now on the ground and punted her straight upward. The Imprisonment Orb may have encircled her entire body, but it didn't act as a shield at all. The kick might as well have gone through air to reach her stomach.
"This is a fun game, isn't it?"
The next kick was to her side, now rotating sideways. The disorientation was much worse when mixed in with direct strikes.
"Why it's so fun..."
A downward kick to her back.
"...we should keep playing it..."
And now he stood at the ready, trying to time this one perfectly.
"...until you die!"
This punt struck her forehead directly. Pan's bandanna came off, joining bits and pieces of Trunks' coat flying around like confetti.
"I really have no way out of this, do I?"
The kicking barrage was now picking up speed, Pan lucky to go a few seconds without being hit.
"Can you keep this up forever?"
A kick to her cheek had blood joining the assorted fabric.
"Don't think I'm getting tired!"
As rapidly as it span now and as much as she ached, Pan could've sworn she saw something besides Frieza. Something coming up at high speed, but she couldn't quite make it out.
"Blue and black..."
Whatever it was, now she saw its hands out...
"Gloves..."
"Masenko!"
Frieza had to direct enough of his attention to stop it with one of his hands.
"Dad stopped him, but he's left himself wide open to it now..."
He saw him putting his other hand to his wrist.
"NO!" shouted Trunks. "Gohan! If he's trapped...!"
"That's enough, Frieza!"
Pan saw Goku come down fast with an elbow, rocketing Frieza down before the Imprisonment Ball could form around his son.
"Oh thank God..."
But now a mountain, hill, whatever it could be with how much Pan was spinning, was seconds away from collision.
"Escape... window... vacuum..."
Goku, seeing Frieza looking out in the distance at Pan, turned to his son.
"Go, Gohan! NOW!"
He never looked away from the tyrant for a second to ensure his son's safety, but saw what Frieza was watching:
"It's too bad, really..."
Pan's Imprisonment Ball crashed, the explosion practically nuclear. It stretched out from so far away, the winds made so violent that bits of Goku's tattered gi top flew away. All they saw of Pan were burnt shreds of the coat she was wearing including its fur-lined collar.
"I had just finished warming up. She went much too quickly."
He tried sensing Pan's ki as hard as he could.
"Not at all how I wanted things to go."
Goku, tiring of Frieza talking up his horrible deeds like they were everyday activities, stepped forward.
"And how did you want things to go, Frieza?!"
"I'm sensing hostility, Saiyan. Whatever could I have said to offend your sensibilities?"
"Sensibilities?!"
Tearing off his orange gi top, he tossed it aside, his blue undershirt fully revealed.
"You speak of torture like it's a game! You treat lives like they mean nothing to you!"
"Au contraire. Of course lives mean something... when they're to my benefit. Up until now, that female Saiyan's life relieved my stress."
Still no luck in sensing her.
"Slowly killing someone is your idea of relieving stress?!"
Goku came as close as he could to cracking the ground.
"You're a monster! And I'm gonna stop you!"
Gohan, peering out, was distraught from no sign of Pan, as well as from hearing the horrid things Frieza spoke.
"I couldn't leave you to that monster..." he quietly wept aloud. "...but all I did was..."
A fingerless gloved hand touched his shoulder.
"You have no idea what you did for me."
Frieza remained amused at Goku's anger.
"With Vegeta and now her deceased, that makes just two Saiyans left in the universe. I can only hope you and your boy offer me much more lasting entertainment."
"You'll regret it, Frieza."
"Somehow, I doubt that, Saiyan."
"He's right, you know..."
Frieza heard his own taunt from the start of the battle repeated to him...
...by Pan, blood coming down her lip wiped away with her wrist. Her bandanna in hand, she placed it back atop her head, typing the back in a knot.
"You will regret it."
Unknown to the Frieza of the main timeline, Pan was wearing the exact same clothes from when she and her family and friends battled her timeline's Frieza.
"I'm not going to let you do something even worse."
"You may have missed it, Saiyan girl, but I was just telling your friend here I've finished warming up. The real fight begins now."
Goku, seeing Pan take on a stance almost mirroring his, grinned.
"You've got that right."