Co-written by SuperSaiyan2Link.


"So while the Saiyans sleep, how about another game?"

Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin were standing to Goku's defense after the hit Pan took...

"Might as well let you have just a little fun... until they see what's left of you."

...only to become demoralized with what Frieza intended to do to them, as well as him stepping on the Power Pole and holding Pan's orange bandanna. Piccolo sensed her ki, knowing she was alive, but...

"She's in no condition to fight, so we're on our own. And with how low our ki reserves are and the power he's wielding now, he can tear us apart."

The Namekian tried to think of something, anything he could do to keep Frieza from slaughtering any one of them now.

"If they think I'm trying to save my own skin, I'm not. It's the one thing that'll appeal to him."

Piccolo was taking a massive gamble in what he was about to reveal, but felt it was the best way he could stall Frieza, at least long enough for Pan or even Goku to get back into action.

"One of you had better get up..."

"Wait, Frieza. You wanted a wish on the Dragon Balls, right?"

Upon hearing Piccolo's question, he practically snarled at Gohan and Krillin.

"You must have been living under a rock, Namekian, because those two were amongst the three responsible for turning the Dragon Balls to stone! They cost me my wish and I will torture them slowly before they join the little Namekian!"

Seeing the tyrant ready to take action against the two, Piccolo frantically waved his arms to dissuade him.

"T-they're not the only Dragon Balls! There's Dragon Balls on Earth as well!"

Krillin was aghast at him for revealing this to Frieza, but Piccolo knew...

"Frieza will invade Earth next regardless."

"You refer to the Dragon Balls Vegeta and Nappa went rogue to go after. Yes, I'm well aware of them. I only came here first because it was a shorter trip."

"My life force is linked to the Dragon Balls on Earth. My death means they won't work, just like the ones here."

Frieza appeared to be shocked to hear this...

"So if you kill me, you won't get what you wish for..."

...then closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I can certainly appreciate your attempt to stall me. Thinking you could lull me into sparing you from the horrors to come with such information..."

Piccolo didn't understand why Frieza was acting this way after everything he told the tyrant...

"But you've told me nothing new. I already knew about your link to Earth's Dragon Balls."

...and was now especially panicked once Frieza revealed this.

"That's impossible! There's no way... Frieza should have no way of knowing that!"


With Pan not responding, but otherwise alive, Trunks and the Supreme Kai of Time overheard the newfound revelation from Frieza.

"Towa."

"She gave him the ability to sense ki and even gave him that piece of information."

"But what good would it do having Frieza spare Piccolo? Wouldn't Towa want the opposite?"

"Frieza killing Piccolo and going on a rampage without immortality would be one thing... but keeping Piccolo and using the Dragon Balls for that wish and more..."

Trunks put a hand out, interrupting Chronoa.

"Someone's missing!"


Frieza chuckled at how unnerved Piccolo was.

"Oh, don't worry your big green head about it: you'll still outlive everyone here. I have great plans for you and Earth."

Frieza briefly turned back to the other two...

"Besides, you can regrow limbs. And the Saiyan only needs to see pieces of you when he..."

...seeing one of them missing.

"That little...! He hid his power and snuck away during all this!"


"V-Vegeta?"

The Vegeta of Pan's past slicked back his hair, then put both hands into his letterman jacket's pockets.

"The stories I told you... nothing at all like this, were they?"

Meanwhile, Pan had just managed to lift herself off the ground by her hands.

"To think you'd be here, facing our old foes... and my younger self..."

Was this real? Was she actually being reached out to by the Vegeta of her own Earth, somehow?

"Had I ever imagined you'd see these battles... live them... I would've done as your parents told me."

Pan looked less rattled and more like she was attempting to decipher what was going on.

"That blow to the head just now... I have to be imagining this..."

He lightly scoffed.

"You see me for the first time in ages and the first thing on your mind is the logic behind it?"

Projection or not, Pan regretted talking like that to him.

"I'm sorry, Vegeta."

"Don't be."

He looked away for a moment, the back of his letterman jacket swaying from the wind.

"So... your grandfather. The stuff of legends just as you hoped?"

Pan couldn't quite put it into words.

"You still don't know the half of it, Pan."

Now she actually got up enough to crouch.

"Something else on your mind?"

"When you and Bulma had Trunks..."

She reached into her jean's right pocket...

"...you met him before."

...and took out a photograph, handing it to Vegeta:

Bulma, appearing to be the same age as when she had just had Trunks, standing next to the Trunks of the future.

"How to eloquently explain that... 'Why yes, Trunks. I met another you from the distant future who changed the course of our very lives.' How would he even react?"

"Bulla too, for that matter. Especially once you mention him fighting Androids using a sword."

"Heh. Quite right."

Whatever the cause of this or it even being a reality, Pan spoke to how she truly felt:

"I miss Bulla so much."

Upon hearing a sniffle, Vegeta turned back to her...

"You told me to guard Bulla with my life and I..."

...then saw tears come down.

"I let her die. It was all my fault. I should've... it should've been..."

This Vegeta did something his past self wouldn't dream of doing:

He put his arms around Pan, consoling her when she showed vulnerability.

"You can't trade lives, Pan."

"I miss you all so much."

"We've all missed you. You're the only one who didn't join us. We had hoped you survived Frieza and here you are now."

But Pan soon found Vegeta breaking off the hug and standing once more.

"I don't know how much time we have left, so listen well: you have anger and hate, but you don't use them. Here, against Frieza... you must."

"But if I give in to my hatred and rage, I'll be consumed by it."

"You think that lowly of yourself, Pan?"

"I can't focus it. Can't control it."

"Yes, you can!" he immediately retorted. "You can use it without losing yourself to it. I know you can. Your will and mind are stronger than you give credit."

"But if I'm not permitted, I could risk altering..."

Now Vegeta was face-to-face, just shy of putting his hands to the sides of her head.

"Forget timelines! Forget never being born! Forget other universes and forget the damn multiverse! What do you, YES, YOU, want?!"

Instead of closing her eyes or looking away, she looked Vegeta in the eyes.

"I don't want anyone else to die on my watch."

"There. That was a simple thought."

With two pats on her shoulder, he got up and appeared ready to walk away.

"Wait..."

"Yes?"

"I wanted to tell you..."

"That you don't forgive me?"

Vegeta crossed his arms.

"I understand completely. Everything I did... even in death, I have to live with it."

"No, not that."

He seemed surprised to hear that Pan didn't want to talk to him about his past sins.

"I wanted to say... thank you, Vegeta... for what you did for me. Not just stopping me from going into three hundred times gravity that night..."

"Such sentiment..."

Vegeta grinned once more at her.

"...and here, I thought I was just a figment of your imagination..."

He put his hand out to her and Pan reached out to him...

...as another voice reached her.

"Hey, are you okay?"

She then found that in Vegeta's place was...

"Dad?"

But then it became clear that it was her father from her past, still a child.

"What? No. Your dad's not here. You're still on Namek, remember?"

After he clarified this, Pan's vision and hearing became crystal clear at last. Realizing what she could've given away to her father's younger self, she played it off like she was confused earlier.

"G-Gohan?"

"Yes, it's me."

He put both his hands to the side of her head akin to a doctor trying to see the state of a patient.

"You must have been a bit concussed if you saw someone else just now."

Seeing the streak of red, almost in a perfect line, near her right eye, he wiped it with the back of his gloved left wrist, then lightly blew on her right temple.

"Feeling better?"

"Better."

Looking back in the direction of Frieza and the others, he had a feeling the respite was almost over.

"Frieza's left my dad alone, but now he's after us again. If you can still fight, we all need to work together to survive."

Seeing her father put his hand out, she took it and was lifted back to her feet.

"I won't let Frieza kill you, Dad... not again..."

"Pan, do you read me?"

She heard Trunks' voice for the first time since the hit from Frieza.

"Trunks, we've ruled out senzu beans, so now what do we do?"

"Trunks and I will find a way to get Goku back in the fight," entered Chronoa. "We just need Frieza's attention elsewhere."

Peering over into the distance at Piccolo...

"Leave that to me."


Frieza found the culprit helping Pan onto her feet:

"Saiyan brat..."

Piccolo and Krillin saw Pan looking in their direction, but the Namekian could tell from her glance that she wanted to get his attention for immediate mental communication.

"You'd better know what you're doing. I don't intend to die on your behalf."

The Earthling found Piccolo almost appearing to be staring off, not paying his ally or even Frieza any mind.

"What the...?! Hey!"

Trying to get Piccolo's attention didn't seem to work.

"Hello! Earth to Piccolo!"

The glare Piccolo gave Krillin told him without words that he was not only busy, but it was important.

"Whatever he's trying to do, it's going to determine if we live or die."

But now Krillin noticed Frieza forming a pink orb in his hand which then grew exponentially.

"Do feel free to stop me if you so please."

With the smallest gesture of his green arm, Piccolo signaled to Krillin that they should stay back.

"He must think Gohan will be okay, otherwise he would've sprung into action by now."


Pan saw Frieza starting to form an attack and knew which one it'd be from training with Taino. Gohan instinctively stood in front of her, his hands outward, not acting as a human shield as Piccolo did, but prepared to stop it himself with his own power.

"I've got you."

But Pan, now seeing the Death Cannon begin to fire, practically tackled him forward and to the side of it, the two ducked with her shield over them. The Death Cannon went straight through the tall structure and both felt a violent quake from its impact, but as Pan knew...

"It's what comes after..."

An explosion almost in a perfect sphere shape went off and not only were the two pushed forward by it, but as cracks formed in her shield, Pan soon felt electric shocks and tried keeping Gohan covered from them.

Frieza found them rolling forward, then Pan's shield dissipating with the two splitting up. She took most of the brunt, steam coming off her back and her father, while well protected, was far from untouched by it.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

She looked up to see the tyrant rolling the Power Pole forward with one foot while holding her orange bandanna out.

"I expected better from you."

Pan saw the Power Pole come to a stop in front of her and put her left hand over it...

"Now sure, no one has ever survived against me for this long..."

...to which Frieza stepped on her hand with his left foot.

"...but still not good enough."

Gohan saw him putting more and more pressure on Pan's left hand and her gripping his left ankle with her right hand in an ultimately vain attempt to stop it.

"See that, little one? She seems to be having trouble picking that up."

Now it appeared as if the pain was so unbearable she couldn't even keep her head facing upward, now lying with the right side of her face in the blue-green grass.

"Typical bottom feeder. Can't do anything by herself. Needs help just to get by."

Gohan saw Pan looking at him with her left eye...

"Those who oppose my rule don't deserve help of any kind. They should starve and rot away..."

...then caught her winking at him.

"...or better yet..."

Now Pan felt Frieza poking her left temple with his left index and middle fingers. Gohan didn't see her panicking, but also wasn't sure if she had planned this out entirely.

"I can't risk the chance that he kills you now."

The son of Goku took a step forward, then saw Frieza pointing his right hand at him in a similar fashion.

"I'll let you live... longer if you don't get involved. Just look the other way."

Even with his reserves having been depleted over the course of the battle and the clear difference in power, Gohan clenched his fists and faced Frieza unafraid.

"I'd rather look a monster like you in the eye."

"Hmph. Then she'll watch you die first."

Just then, Frieza felt Pan shake, appearing to outwardly panic.

"Goku's gone! Where is he?!"

Frieza peered over and found that the fact of Pan's comment appeared genuine.

"He was out like a light! Where did he...?!"

Along with Goku's unconscious body, two more bodies were also missing.

"How can I not sense them either?! I'd have known if they had... USELESS POWER...!"

"Power Pole...!"

Pan gripped his left wrist, moving his hand away from her head.

"...Extend!"

Gohan, seeing the expanding polearm coming towards him, rolled towards it, avoiding the first Death Beam that Frieza fired...

...and before Frieza could go for a second, he found himself and Pan being lifted off the ground in tow with the Power Pole by the child. Pan, using their momentum, along with managing to get onto both her feet to run forward, then shoved Frieza into the polearm's path and joined her father in swinging it downward onto him. The strength of their combined swing left Frieza with only his hands visible from the hole he was in, to which Pan snagged her bandanna back from him while he was momentarily stupefied by what had transpired.

"Not losing this either."

She placed it back over her head and tied it in record time as Gohan appeared ready to go for another swing of the polearm. Pan's hand taking hold of it didn't stop him, but told him to let go of it.

"Step back a moment, Gohan."

Frieza, appearing to rotate upward like a vampire exiting a coffin, then saw Pan with a hand out, glowing not with the usual color of her attacks, but instead purple.

"Hmm... almost reminds me of..."

But once the energy wave fired, it was unmistakable.

"Milky Cannon?!"

Frieza stayed right where he was and backhanded it, the resulting blast tearing through several structures and leaving a noticeable trail.

"Captain Ginyu created that move. I don't believe he taught it to anyone. None even his four flunkies."

"It's like Goku said," Pan began. "Monkey see, monkey do."

Despite his initial curiosity, Frieza was certain this display of Pan's was...

"Amusing, but clearly a fluke."

Gohan believed Frieza would now fly forward at any moment, taking on a defensive stance for himself, but also trying to cover Pan.

"Oh, but that's not all, Frieza," Pan taunted.

Gohan stepped aside, able to tell what Pan was doing.

"She's stalling him. Keeping him occupied. Away from Dad, Krillin, and Mr. Piccolo."

"Allow me to show you."


Elsewhere, Goku lied totally still, Namek's ocean to his right. Water from Earthling hands cupping it was then tossed at the unconscious Saiyan, splashing down on his face and hair, but so far, to no avail.

"We don't have much time, Krillin," Piccolo cautioned.

"I've been doing this since we got here, and it's done nothing."

Piccolo knelt down in front of his former hated enemy.

"Hmph. He's just as stubborn unconscious."

"I still don't know if you and her planned this out, but if we don't wake him up now, our geese will be cooked the moment Frieza..."

"Shut up a second..."

Now the Namekian had his hand over Goku's chest, ki glowing from his palm.

"Wait a minute, you're..."

"I think I can give him some of my ki directly."

"And that will get Goku back on his feet?"

"Got any better ideas?"

Just then, the two heard and saw a massive purple energy wave emerge from where they had left.

"Piccolo, they bought us time, but now we need to get back into the fight."

"Just one more second..."

"Frieza's ki didn't go down at all from that just now."

"I said one more...!"

While Piccolo did feel a small amount of his ki transfer directly to Goku, it still had no effect on him that he could tell. Sighing, he got back up.

"We can only hope that did something for the long haul."


Chronoa was watching what was transpiring with Goku as Trunks came running back into the library.

"Beetro gave me this: a capsule of senzu bean extract. It'll give Goku just enough nutrients to regain consciousness. No more, no less."

So far, she hadn't paid any mind to what he had said.

"Supreme Kai of Time? Did you hear me?"

Getting closer, he found her staring right at an unfolding event, seeming partially confused and even dreading something, but mostly unable to ascertain something.

"Wait, is that...?"

Now that he saw it clearly as well, he was in the same boat as the Supreme Kai of Time.


Krillin and Piccolo flew back towards the battle with Frieza, Goku still as immobile as when they brought him to that spot.

"The higher up isn't going to like this one..."

The hooded figure made his way over to the unconscious Goku, the others now far enough away for him to avoid being noticed.

"...but the rules forbid me from interfering with death more than once, not waking somebody back up."

From his long brown robed sleeved, a glowing palm touched Goku's forehead.

"Goku? Hey."

He lightly ruffled Goku's hair as the glow encompassed the Saiyan's whole body.

"Rise and shine. It's time to get up."

Despite the glow, Goku still had his eyes closed.

"Oh, this simply won't do."

Now the hooded figure resorted to lightly smacking the sides of Goku's face.

"Wakey wakey. No time like the present."

He rose back to his feet and seemingly walked past him...

"I am sorry, but I have no other choice but to resort to this..."

...then somehow on his person, he pulled out from his robes...

...a twin bell alarm clock attached to a string, which he placed directly behind Goku's head. He then slowly stepped backward with the increasingly long string stretching out. By the time he took cover behind a rock, it was akin to him preparing to use a demolition plunger.

"We both learned just how effective this could be..."

And with a yank of the string...

...the alarm clock went off, the ringing having Goku sitting back up in a panic.

"Oh shoot! I've really overslept now! Krillin probably beat me there! And Master Roshi's going to...!"

But once Goku heard the noise no longer, he saw that he was still on Namek and immediately sensed...

"Frieza's way over there! And so is Gohan and that girl! I'd better get back there and...!"

But he then realized his ki reserves were near-drained, and his body ached and was still as sore as before from Kaio-Ken Times Twenty earlier.

"Think Goku, THINK! I was brought out here so I wouldn't be a target!"

During Goku's initial panic, the hooded figure had tiptoed over and picked up the alarm clock, slowly putting it back in his sleeve...

...but upon fumbling with it, almost dropping it...

"Oh dear..."

Goku could've sworn he heard something behind him and turned around, to which the hooded figure leapt towards the water, putting his robed hands together.

"Is someone there?!"

Goku found no sign of anyone behind him...

...all except for a red Namekian crab climbing and then walking nearby his feet.

"Focus, Goku! There's still life on Namek. And I could draw from nearby planets..."

Knowing exactly what he had to do, Goku raised both his hands up towards the sky.

"Plants and animals of Namek... please... lend me your energy."

Below Goku in the depths of Namek's ocean, the hooded figure appeared standing, not even the least bit concerned with being underwater.

"Much too close there, you old geezer..."


"Who the heck was that?!"

Trunks had seen a mysterious figure in a brown robe hop towards the ocean and vanish out of sight the moment his hands were together.

"I have no idea, Trunks," Chronoa answered. "I've never seen them before."

"And this mystery person... helped us? Helped Goku get back into the fight?"

"It would appear they're on our side, but to what end, I couldn't say."

"Pan wasn't counting on something like this, that's for..."

Then Trunks began swiping at the scroll itself.

"Shoot!"


A purple sphere surrounded Pan's body as she then charged straight for Frieza with an elbow.

"How about that?" the tyrant responded...

...stopping it with one hand. Pan saw him immediately aiming his other hand to fire at her and the orb then took on a more yellow-orange glow before bursting. Frieza slid back, still on his feet, as he then found Pan running right for him. He chopped at Pan, but found she had launched herself upward with his wrist, then elbowed the back of his head. Once he turned back to her, she threw rapid punches.

"Look at that. The trifecta."

One hand was all he needed to redirect them.

"Why it's almost like Ginyu taught you these himself."

But now that Dynamite Punch had ceased, Pan found herself exposed in midair, another pointed hand intended to fire for her.

"Masenko!"

Gohan fired right as Pan's technique expired, forcing Frieza to stop it with that hand instead.

"That just gave me an idea, Dad..."

Landing on her feet, Pan had both wrists out to block a swing. Pushing forward, Pan had Frieza go back a few inches, then slid down straight between Frieza's legs. He went for an immediate retaliation with both hands, but saw the fast hand gestures Pan performed followed by...

"Masenko!"

It was likely he would've avoided it in just any other context, but at this close a range along with the shock he felt...

"What?! She did that after seeing the brat do it... JUST NOW?!"

...Frieza had to actually cover himself with both hands, but was still sent upward.

"Replicating a technique just from sight...! Is that what she did against Ginyu?!"

Pan flew up in pursuit of him with her left hand out to Frieza's face and her right hand over her left wrist...

"No... she couldn't have..."

...then gripped it.

"IMPOSSIBLE! It's my technique! MINE! To think such a lower life form could be capable of it...!"

Expecting to be caught in an Imprisonment Ball, he froze.

"Heh."

Hearing this from Pan, as well as not realizing the technique didn't leave her hand after all...

"You bamboozled me...!"

...he was perfectly vulnerable to a double axe handle to the back of his head by Gohan. Pan floated next to her father as both charged ki in their hands for any number of attacks. Gohan saw her forming purple spheres in her hands, then tried something similar, but with a yellow hue. As Frieza rotated, he found a two colored barrage of blasts coming down right for him, one of them being...

"Galaxy Dynamite!"

Despite his defenses never wavering, he found his back striking the ground, then himself sinking further downward with each successive hit.

"Hey! Take it easy with the planet!"

Pan ceased her attack and then gestured for Gohan to stop as well upon hearing that voice.

"Goku. You're finally awake."

"If it was your idea to get me far away from Frieza, it was a really smart play. It won't be quick, but if you can keep Frieza at bay, we'll have a shot at beating him."

Gohan knew Pan wasn't just staring off blankly.

"Is my dad talking to you?"

"Gohan."

Now he heard his father communicating with him.

"D-Dad?"

"I need you all to keep buying me time for something. You've been doing great, Gohan, so I know you can do it."

"I will, Dad."

Pan thought something bright was getting into her eyes, so she and Gohan started floating downward.

"The Spirit Bomb..." Gohan whispered to her.

From below where they sent Frieza, they heard...

"How dare you..."

Krillin and Piccolo floated into their view.

"We got here as soon as we co..."

Pan gestured with her arm for them to get out of sight and the two of them looked for cover.

"HOW DARE YOU!"

The tyrant didn't float up this time, instead creating an explosion that turned the Frieza-shaped hole into a massive crater.

"You learned Ginyu's techniques from somewhere. The brat's too. You tried to trick me. Well it won't work again."

But Frieza's initial fuming at Pan was put on hold as he then appeared to turn around towards Goku's direction.

"What is this...?"

Knowing that Frieza had been granted the ability to sense ki by Towa, Pan at first pondered...

"Did he track down my grandpa? But with his ki..."

...then came to a different conclusion.

"The Spirit Bomb!"

"Even if Frieza doesn't know what it is exactly..." Trunks started. "Sensing all that energy from across the planet and coming in from outside it..."

"What the hell is this?!"

Frieza was further baffled.

"It's not a lifeform or even several. No, it's... power... flowing somewhere..."

Pan quickly realized the danger this scenario presented.

"Is it almost ready, Trunks?"

"The Spirit Bomb's nowhere near where it needs to be. If Frieza finds it or your grandfather now..."

"I'll take his mind off it!"

She eyed Frieza, and the tyrant, while still eager to discover this massive ki source, could see in her eyes that she looked to combat him right in that moment.

"If you're about to do what I think you're doing..." started Piccolo. "You won't have much left after. Best case scenario, you'll drain your ki."

"I'm trusting you and the others to keep him from killing Goku... please."

Krillin, next to Piccolo, caught the Namekian still again, then saw Pan eying Frieza's movements.

"Already got a feeling we're not out of the frying pan yet..."

Not knowing their plan exactly, Krillin zoomed out of cover, but in a way to not compromise Piccolo's position.

"HEY, YOU!"

Frieza heard the Earthling, then saw him taking on his Destructo-Disk stance.

"Remember this?!"

Pan saw Krillin creating a distraction for her.

"KAIO-KEN...!"

Frieza, who looked ready to swipe his hand for a technique Krillin was already fearful of...

"Yipes!"

...turned away from Krillin the exact moment Pan shouted this.

"TIMES...!"

The barrage of ki blades from the swipe came rushing for her.

"TWENTY!"

The moment the massive red aura was over her body, Pan either struck the blades closest to her away or weaved through them. She then zoomed right for Frieza, who already went to block with his wrists, but this led to him being struck into the upright corner of the crater he stood in.

Hopping upward to the point of shaking the ground, Pan then zoomed right for him. Frieza fired a barrage of Death Beams, which Pan avoided in a barrel roll, wrapping around the path before tackling him straight through the crater and perhaps a sports field's worth of solid ground before Frieza broke it off, flying straight back up.

"You can't do this forever, you know!"

Pan didn't pay Frieza any mind, catching up and punching at his face. The first few got in, then Frieza actually appeared to catch her wrists to stop further punches.

"Tiring out, are we?"

But Pan managed to nudge her right hand into pointing directly at Frieza's forehead. He had already ruled out Pan being able to learn techniques from immediate sight after she tricked him into thinking she knew one of Frieza's own techniques, but then deciphered...

"That too?!"

The first orb of Visionary Attack struck and exploded at near point blank, then, before Frieza could be sent backward, Pan gripped his other wrist to keep the projectile barrage going. From below, it looked like a rapid barrage of fireworks going off.

But Frieza finally put a hand in Pan's finger's path, this resulting explosion sending both back.

"That is much stronger than Ginyu's..."

The dust settled and he saw Pan giving away the faintest signs of fatigue.

"And it used up much more energy, didn't it?"

Pan put her right hand behind her shoulder...

"Damn him. I can't afford to fire any more ki at him."

...and reached for the one piece of her arsenal that wouldn't require any use of it.

"I'll impale you with that once you run out of fuel."

Pan flew around out of Frieza's sight, then the tyrant turned to block a swing with both wrists. He found that not only did his wrists hurt, but he actually saw marks left from their impact.

"You first!"

Now Frieza was actually inclined to try avoiding the Power Pole strikes instead of just blocking, but found several swings getting in and himself forced to defend when able. His wrists and legs actually felt something like soreness just from the impacts, which Pan hadn't accomplished before.

He caught a downward swing of the polearm intended for his head with both hands, but Pan kneed him in the chest, then swung it on the back of his head. As Frieza tried recovering in midair, he found Pan coming right down for him and by the time he had his hands out to stop it, the Power Pole's end struck his chest.

The two came crashing straight down, a crater not unlike the one Frieza created earlier forming, as Pan then stepped on Frieza's waist with her right foot to increase the pressure.

"Spirit Bomb ready yet?!"

"A few more minutes, Pan," Chronoa answered. "But right now, your Kaio-Ken...!"

"I know..."

Frieza then felt the pressure from both the Power Pole and Pan's foot dissipate.

"That's all the Times Twenty I can pull off..."

Just as Pan stepped off of Frieza, the tyrant raised a foot initially intended for that leg and booted Pan back. She was first embedded into a corner of the crater, then, as she moved her arms to grasp the region Frieza struck, fell out of it and rolled down for some time before reaching the bottom.

"That Saiyan nearly killed me earlier, you know..."

Frieza floated back to his feet and Pan immediately noticed the Power Pole was still sticking out from where Pan jabbed it.

"But you..."

He then took the polearm out, revealing not blood or a stab wound, but an indent left from it.

"You and your orange headwear are the worst breed of annoying."

Pan could stand, even fight, but with her reserves where they were now and how her body felt...

"It's all up to you now, Grandpa."

While he initially planned to kill Pan with her own weapon, with what she had inflicted on him with it in Kaio-Ken Times Twenty...

"I'll use all my energies..."

She saw him lowering the Power Pole and lifting one foot over it.

"...to show you that there is nothing..."

It had withstanded what Frieza threw at it in the heat of battle so far, but now that he was free to put everything into this...

"...that I can't destroy!"

Frieza stomped down onto the Power Pole with all his might...

...and found it didn't budge.

"Wh...?!"

He tried the same gesture as before, but his stomping foot still couldn't get it to break or even bend.

"The Devil?!"

Obsessed with snapping her prized possession in two, Frieza continued stepping on it repeatedly, now finding it and himself were starting to become burrowed further downward.

"How is this even possible?! A totally unbreakable weapon?!"

Pan found Frieza's one-track mind was keeping her alive and his attention away from the Spirit Bomb, but knew that eventually, he'd tire of it.

"I think we've bought Goku just enough time," reentered Trunks. "It'll be tricky with the Power Pole, but we could retrieve you now and come back for it later."

As much as she would've wanted to get away from easily her longest back-to-back battles...

"Not until the mission is over, Trunks."

But then Frieza peered back upward.

"That damned sensation again..."

He floated back up and held the Power Pole in one hand, appearing almost tired from his efforts to break the polearm.

"It's even more massive now..."

Now he had left the crater entirely, looking out into the distance.

"That sun is incredibly bright right now..."

Knowing what Frieza was about to figure out, she floated upward.

"Did you forget about me?!" she shouted to get his attention.

"Oh, how could I ever forget about you?"

Now Frieza actually put out a hand to cover himself from the "sun", peering downward to see...

"I've found you!"

"He's found your grandfather!"

She saw Frieza look at the Power Pole and then saw him grin back to her.

"I know what to do with this now..."

Frieza flew forward as Pan pursued and tried to keep up, but was clearly falling behind.

"If I had more ki... but I..."

She then felt someone taking hold of her wrist:

"Hold on."

Piccolo zoomed forward with Pan in tow.

"They're both already watching over Goku. I stayed back just to make sure you weren't dead."

While it almost sounded like he was almost caring for her, he then gave Pan an especially serious look.

"What Goku's doing had better work. Or Trunks will have some serious explaining to do."

"Crapbaskets," went Trunks on comms. "He's still on about that."


Gohan and Krillin, standing on a cliffside looking down at Goku, still standing in place with his arms upward, were in awe at the scale of the Spirit Bomb.

"It was about this big when you and Goku used it on Vegeta," went Gohan, his arms trying to gauge what he remembered of its size.

"I think this one's well over a hundred feet," Krillin replied.

"But there's only so much life left on this planet..."

"Did you forget how many planets we and Bulma passed by on the way here?"

"Heh. You're right, Krillin."

Noticing several of the marks left across the landscape from the various attacks Frieza unleashed throughout their fight...

"With everything happening with the planet... I really hope Bulma's okay."

"Gohan, she's been turned into a carrot and back. She's been through it all."

"Wait... turned into a carrot?"

"It's a long story, Gohan. Puar could tell you all about it."

But the pleasantries were cut short by the two sensing an unmistakable ki fast approaching them.

"He found us already?!"

"She kept him occupied... and if he's coming here now, then she..."

"Piccolo stayed back, remember? She'll be fine. I mean, after everything she went through with Captain Ginyu..."

And then they saw Frieza floating just about Goku, purple over his body and his eyes glowing as he appeared to be taking aim with the Power Pole.


"Toss it straight through Son Goku! Right through his heart!"


Piccolo and Pan saw what Frieza was about to do and that they couldn't catch him in time.

"I can't go any faster! Even a blast wouldn't...!"

"Throw me to Goku, NOW!"

Piccolo span at high speed, then threw Pan in an arc around Frieza and downward towards Goku.


Pan's grandfather, taking notice of Frieza's presence, then saw the Power Pole thrown right towards him.

"Couldn't roll out of the way if I wanted to..."

Pan suddenly arced down directly in front of Goku into its path, putting out both her hands to catch it.

"Time it just right and...!"

She had both hands around the polearm, gripping it...

...then felt one end pierce right into her. She violently collided and slid across the ground, just shy of rolling off into the waters below.

Frieza then hovered downward, not intending to go right for the immediate kill as Towa wanted.

"Did you enjoy your nap, monkey?"

Goku didn't answer, instead looking over at Pan, who appeared still.

"Please tell me you're okay..."

"I'm... I'm okay, Goku."

As Frieza stepped closer, the tyrant saw no attempts on Goku's part to take on a stance, his arms still raised to the sky.

"Are you trying to surrender? Not that that gesture would save your life to begin with."

"N-no..." Goku responded. "Not quite."

"Just how long are you going to stand around like that?"

Goku, a trail of blood from earlier still on his lip, lightly chuckled.

"Long as I want."

"You..."

Frieza then zoomed directly in front of him...

"...ASSHOLE!"

...with a kick that practically had Goku skipping across the waters before his back struck another landmass.

Pan, taking the Power Pole out, saw her blood from that end almost blended in completely with its red hue.

"Missed my organs..."

She then saw Frieza floating over to meet Goku on the shore of the other landmass.

"Can't let Frieza..."

Piccolo put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll go. Patch yourself up."


Goku, slowly climbing up, saw Frieza waiting for him.

"I didn't have to expend anything for you. I could've just waited for you to swim back. I was generous enough to meet you here and save you the trip."

Now the Saiyan from Earth lied, only half out of the water, huffing.

"I could've destroyed the planet at the very start of our fight, gone at you with all my power all at once... and I didn't. I don't ask for much, I really don't. At the very minimum, you should repay me for my kindness by taking this seriously."

Seeing that Goku didn't even look up at him, Frieza pointed down at him.

"Another utterly ungrateful Saiyan... just like Vegeta. And you'll die the same way he did."

But then Frieza saw something curious behind Goku, like a bright ball.

"The sun was bright before, but this..."

Frieza had conquered enough planets with one or several suns to know that none would look like that reflected in the water.

"That's no sun..."

He peered directly at it, realizing...

"It's a ball of energy."

And while he only saw Goku with that arms up stance for a short time, Frieza pieced together...

"You did this! All that power I felt earlier... that's where it went!"

Privately, Goku mused that Frieza had figured it out and he was in the worst position to pull it off now.

"Even if I use it now, he'll... he'll dodge it! It's not big enough! Damn... damn it all!"

But now Frieza was ready to finish him once more.

"Defeating me must've been a nice dream... but they're meant to be broken."

Whether Goku thought there was still a chance to fight back or simply lashed out from what Frieza would do to his loved ones after his death, the Saiyan raised on Earth threw one last punch at the tyrant only to find it easily caught and Frieza's pointing hand nearly at his eye.

"Ta-ta."

A punch from a stretched Namekian arm struck the tyrant's face soon followed by a divekick directly into Frieza's chest, sending him through the ground and into the water on the opposite side of the landscape.

"T-thank you."

"Hurry and finish your damn Spirit Bomb!" shouted Piccolo.

Goku was free to put his arms up once more, putting all his focus into the task...

...even as he heard Frieza splashing out of the water.

"Damned Namekian! This is what I get for offering to spare him...!"


With Goku and Piccolo now on the other landmass, Gohan and Krillin descended down to see how Pan was doing. She had rolled up the front of her blue shirt just enough to get a closer look at the wound from the thrown Power Pole.

"My dad made that wrap for you earlier. When this is all over, we can get that taken care of."

"Look, you've done tons for us already. Just take it easy while they..."

But using their senses, they knew that Piccolo's attack on Frieza didn't harm him much and that the tyrant would be back any moment.

"Stay here," went Gohan.

"We'll be okay, I promise," added Krillin.

As they flew off to any number of spots nearby, Pan just knew...

"Too much has changed already, hasn't it?"

"Frieza and Goku weren't supposed to have their confrontation over there," went Chronoa. "Once the Spirit Bomb touches down, they'll be scattered who knows where."

"You mean the Spirit Bomb will leave them all in..."

Pan took what was left of her ki and put it over her wound.

"They won't drown if I can help it!"


Piccolo, whether Frieza would spare him or not, knew his anger had reached its boiling point.

"Frieza's infuriated! It's now or never, Goku! Do it!"

"W-wait! Just a... just a little more."

"Cowards! Pests! Flies! Rats!"

The tyrant had any number of attacks planned, some that'd hit the Saiyan dead-center and others where Piccolo would be included in the destruction, but before he could unleash one of them...

Goku saw two projectiles strike the tyrant before he could turn around, one of the most massive detonations from attacks seeming so small he had ever seen.

"You guys... have really outdone yourselves now."

Shortly, Frieza saw where Gohan and Krillin attacked from clear as day, on a small piece of land nearby.

"I could tear those twerps apart with my bare hands... but then again..."

Looking out at his palm, then closing it with only his index finger out...

"I've been on this planet long enough!"

Everyone present saw Frieza raise it upward, an orb beginning to form.

"Feel free to flee anywhere... because when this touches down..."

It grew even more massive with only the Spirit Bomb being larger than it.

"...you'll die with Namek!"

Goku, meanwhile, felt the Spirit Bomb was ready.

"DONE!"

Piccolo, seeing Frieza's Death Ball reaching its apex, shouted, "Do it, NOW!"

Frieza heard this, then saw Goku gesture his arms downward.

"Is that thing...?!"

Seeing the Spirit Bomb coming down for him, he gestured his index finger downward and the Death Ball came down for Goku and Piccolo.

"This isn't right!" went Trunks. "The Spirit Bomb should've devoured it before he even had a chance to throw it!"

And now instead of appearing afraid or too slow to avoid it, Frieza actually looked more than able to fly away from it.

"If Frieza avoids the Spirit Bomb...!"

"He won't!"

Pan, using what ki she still had, upped her speed to collide straight into Frieza's back, forcing him to put his hands out towards the Spirit Bomb.

"Good! Now get away from it, Pan!"

Pan then pushed off his back with her feet, Frieza knocked even closer into it.

But now she was left with the Death Ball headed for...

"Grandpa! Piccolo!"

She looked to see Goku trying to pull off a Kamehameha, but...

"It's... it's no use..."

...but his ki didn't coalesce.

"That was everything I had."

With everything his body had given, Goku could only crumple onto his knees.

"I'm... I'm drained."

Even as Frieza was being dragged downward underneath the massive Spirit Bomb, there was nothing Goku could do now against not just his own impending death, but those of his friends and family there as well.

"I... I couldn't save you all..."

"Masenko!"

Piccolo fired off not a brief burst, but an almost continuous version of his technique, trying to delay it. Goku saw that who was once the son and living incarnation of one of his most hated enemies, the Namekian who desired his death above all else, and who even had some amusement in killing him alongside Raditz, was now trying to save not just everyone on the planet, but him as well.

"Nobody kills you but me, Goku," he lightly teased, if mainly to hide his own exhaustion and fear of what would come from failure now.

Pan landed quickly, seeing the Death Ball was slowed, but seconds from impact.

"Come on, body. Just a little more..."

"Kaaaa... meeee..."

Goku saw Pan, even with everything she had given so far, managing to use what was still there.

"Haaaa... meeee..."

He actually looked over in astonishment.

"I don't know if you're a Saiyan or not... but if Vegeta was right about there being a Super Saiyan..."

"Haaaaaa!"

Her blue beam fired side-by-side with Piccolo's yellow one, the Death Ball being slowed even further...

"...you have the heart of a Super Saiyan."

...but still not enough to stop it.

"Body, if you can pull this off one more time, I'll give you a break. For real this time."

"Kaio..."

Pan didn't stop from hesitation, but almost as if even her body was warning her against it.

"Kaio..."

Piccolo could see and sense what this would mean.

"Don't use Kaio-Ken! You'll burn yourself out at best and then we're done for!"

"But if I don't, we'll...!"

She saw Frieza coming down, trying to push back against the Spirit Bomb.

"This is... no... this is no problem!"

It was a race between which attack would reach Namek first and in one of the two cases, the planet would be destroyed.

"I have to!"

Pan knew her Kamehameha wouldn't last forever and that, at least in theory, increasing her ki twice over would increase their odds of survival.

"Kaio-K...!"

"Stop!"

Just then, her father stood to her right.

"I'm here too!"

He performed the same gestures as Piccolo to fire a second Masenko, resulting in a third beam pushing back against the Death Ball, which was now at its slowest.

"Gohan, you're doing it!" went his father. "It's stopping! It's..."

Now it almost appeared as if the Death Ball came to a dead stop...

...almost.

"It's not enough..." mused Pan.

All three knew the exact moment one or more of them were tapped out, it would tear through what remained unhindered.

"All three of us aren't enough to stop it."

Pan tried going for Kaio-Ken one last time, but as her Kamehameha actually began to narrow just slightly, she knew...

"I'd power up for a second, then I'd be toast. Them too."

Goku saw the trio starting to tire.

"You did well... all of you. It's all anyone could be asked to do..."

Frieza, even faced with his own demise, saw that they were about to be finished as well.

"If I die... they die with me."

"Kaaaa... meeee..."

Frieza couldn't believe it.

"Haaaa... meeeee..."

The hands of another student of Master Roshi, standing to Piccolo's right, began the technique...

"Haaa!"

"The insignificant little Earthling..."

Krillin's Kamehameha struck right as the Death Ball was certain to strike everyone...

...and the Death Ball was going backward.

"Just a little more, guys!"

And with a final push from all four, all but collapsing after the fact, now the Death Ball was rocketing into the sky.

"No, no, no...!"

And now Frieza's back touched the water.

"NOOOOO!"

The five on the landmass saw Frieza disappear from their sight and the Spirit Bomb slowly submerge.

"Krillin, you..." began Gohan. "You saved us."

"We're still in danger," warned Goku. "The moment the Spirit Bomb touches down, the waters will get violent. The ground we're standing on will break or be submerged."

"He's right," Piccolo agreed. "We have seconds at best now. Grab whoever's closest to you and...!"

The explosion that resulted from the Spirit Bomb and Frieza making contact with Namek shook the ground with such unequaled force that not only did the landmass all but shatter entirely, but all five of them were thrown into the rampaging waters.

"Goku!"

Piccolo managed to stretch his arm in Goku's direction, but as for the other three, they practically scattered by comparison.

"Dad!"

Gohan tried reaching for his father, but his fingers were just shy of grasping his hand. And in the next second, he couldn't move his hands fast enough to stop himself from colliding with a chunk of rock.


"We've got to get Pan out of there now!" shouted Trunks.

"I'm not going anywhere until they're safe!" Pan countered.

"Pan's right," the Supreme Kai of Time added. "Once they're all safe, then we can retrieve her. But in the meantime, Trunks, you have a job to do."

"Wh... me?"

She handed him the scroll.

"That Death Ball can't be allowed to hit anything or anyone."

She telekinetically lifted and handed Trunks a breathing device, almost akin to a mouthpiece.

"I'll make sure Pan and the others are okay. But you need to stop that thing."

Clenching the scroll...

"Right."

...he faded right as his other hand put the breathing device on.


Pan, keeping afloat, but realizing just how much easier such waters would've been to deal with if she had ki, kept her eyes peeled for anyone.

"You're my eyes in the sky, so let me know if anyone's in..."

She found Gohan, unconscious and his head and shoulders just barely above the water.

"Dad!"

Pan swam as best as she could against the current, then wrapped her left arm under his left armpit and across his chest, keeping him more comfortably above water. But they had to reach ground of some sort soon or they would get pulled into the vortex they were just at the edge of.

"That big gap where the Spirit Bomb entered... I don't even want to know what that'll do to us."

Her right hand gripped the Power Pole, then took aim at a promising piece of land that would've been too far for arm's reach otherwise.

"Let's get you above water..."

Plunging into it with whatever strength she could still muster, it stuck.

"There! Got it!"

Pan began to slowly release, then grab hold of the polearm with her right hand repeatedly to advance while still holding onto Gohan.

"Goku and Piccolo are okay, Pan, but I'm having trouble finding Krillin."

"Keep me posted."

A little more gymnastics and Pan would have her father on dry land.

"Power Pole's not going anywhere. Just a few more..."

But then she heard massive cracks forming and spreading rapidly. From the little Pan could see in the water, it appeared to originate from below.

"This is a big hunk of rock. It's gotta..."

Just then, a huge section of the piece of land she jabbed the Power Pole not only broke off, but actually began to sink, her and her polearm being slowly dragged down with it.

"No! No, no, this is bad!"

Pan tried to pull the Power Pole out of it, but through a combination of how deep it dug into the landmass and her own taxed strength...

"It's too heavy..."

She nearly tried pulling the Power Pole with two hands, but realized that hand was what was keeping her father afloat. And now everything up to her chest was underwater and Gohan's chin was all that kept water from his mouth.

"It was my grandfather's... but my dad... I can't..."

Pan couldn't begin to fathom it, but with her father's life on the line, she closed her eyes as her right hand let go.

"Damn it..."

It was one of her most prized possessions and one of the few things from her home, but she released it, allowing it and the landmass to sink into the furthest depths of Namek.

But now without the little ground the broken mass gave her, Pan sank down briefly, keeping Gohan's head above water before she could rise back up.

"Don't know how long I can keep at this. When I really reach zero percent..."

"Pan, there's another mass coming up! Much sturdier! You and your father will be safe up there."

She saw it coming up on her right and knew whatever energy it'd take swimming in its direction would mean less to keep afloat if she missed it now.

"Just one more chance..."

Her right hand reached out to a piece of land just sticking out...

...and managed a grip.

"Thank God..."

As she began to lift Gohan upward, she heard the same sound of cracks as before, seeing them right above her.

"Breaking apart... but at least Dad will be safe."

She managed to get his upper body over it, then with all the strength her left arm could muster, tossed him onto the landmass entirely.

"There! My dad's safe! Now is Krillin okay?"

"Y-yes! He's just near you!"

"Above water?"

"Perfectly safe."

"That's good."

Pan's hand's grip was giving out, her fingertips all that kept her from descending.

"Supreme Kai of Time... you can retrieve me in the water, right?"

"The timing might be tricky, but..."

"Yes or no."

"I can retrieve you in the water, Pan."

"That's good too. Then..."

She saw the area she gripped now nothing more than an odd-shaped rock with indents in the shape of her fingers.

"Then that means..."

She closed her eyes as she was ocean-bound...

"It's over."

...letting go...

...until she felt someone grip her with their left hand.

"K-Krillin?!"

"You're not sinking on my watch!"

She noticed the ground beneath Krillin began to crack as well as he put out his right hand to her.

"Now take my other hand! Quick!"

Pan couldn't believe the situation she was in:

"Pan, if Krillin falls in, it could..."

"You think I don't know?!"

She had to refuse Krillin's help or risk him falling down with her.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"How am I supposed to tell him?"

"You have to let me go."

The short Earthling couldn't believe it.

"What are you talking about?!"

"The ground beneath you's giving out! You'll fall in too!"

Krillin heard the crackling behind him, realizing what Pan said was true, but even with that...

"And let you get swallowed up? No way!"

"I'll be okay. But Gohan... he needs you more than I do."

"You can't ask me to pick between him and..."

"I'm not asking you. I'm telling you!"

"What would I be if I...?!"

"Please..."

She looked down.

"Take care of the little guy."

Pan had tried pleading with Krillin to release her, all to try getting history back on track and remove her from the equation...

...but Krillin crouched down, his right hand managing to grab onto her left arm.

"Not a chance!"

And now she had to continue for his sake.

"Krillin, please! I can't let you endanger yourself! Let me...!"

"NO! I won't let go! I AM NOT LETTING GO!"

The ground around Krillin broke up in an almost perfect oval shape, a second away from breaking off.

"If you drown because of me, I'll never forgive myself, Krillin!"

"How could I sleep at night if I let you drown now?!"

He grinded his teeth, then, with a massive hop, Krillin launched himself and Pan back, the two seeing the ground he was just on split, float away, and sink.

Pan thought Krillin was looking at the ground and Gohan, still out, would mean she was in the clear.

"Time to go?"

"We can't risk it. They've both got eyes on you."

"Both?"

She saw Gohan awake, looking up at her, then coughing out water. She then heard Krillin have a rough cough, breathing out heavily.

"Krillin, I wasn't worth the risk."

But despite this, he transitioned from lying on his side to standing.

"Don't ever talk like that again."

He slowly marched towards her.

"We lost Dende... and Vegeta. I wasn't about to lose one more person."

Now Krillin was kneeling to her left, just like when she was healed by Dende after Krillin caught her.

"Did you really think after I caught you before that I'd just let you go now? And it's not about me owing you. I helped because I wanted to."

He put his right hand to her left shoulder.

"Besides, you would've done the same for me."

Pan wiped her eyes with her wrist, then smiled at him.

"Thank you... Krilli."

Gohan actually found himself chuckling from it and even Krillin did, covering his mouth with his glove to try quieting his.

"Hey, I kinda like that."

Pan sat up, putting a hand to the wound she had put off for some time.

"Behind you."

Piccolo's voice. Pan turned around and the three of them saw Piccolo climbing up onto this landmass with Goku in tow.

"Piccolo! Goku!"

"Mr. Piccolo! Dad!"

Goku, coughing up water, smiled upon hearing his son's voice.

"Hey..."

Upon seeing Gohan, his smile grew, and Goku actually crawled forward, arms outstretched.

"Come here, son."

Gohan couldn't contain how happy he was, chuckling and all but running towards him for a hug.

"Daddy!"

Krillin joined in, a hand to Goku's back.

"Goku, you son of a...!"

"You need everyone to look away while you disappear, right?"

Piccolo spoke to Pan once more.

"Over there. They won't see you. I'll keep you covered."

Piccolo acted out having an injury, putting a hand to his chest as Gohan and Krillin tended to him.

"There. All eyes are over here now. You're free to go."

"Thanks, Piccolo."

"Thank you for keeping Gohan safe."

By the time the other three looked back, Pan was nowhere that they could see.

"Krillin, without you, we all would've..." Goku started.

"Aw shucks," went Krillin. "Come on. It was a team effort. We're the Z-Fighters, not the Z-Fighter, right?"

Pan heard them laughing in near-unison as she turned her head away from them completely.

"I'm back," went Trunks. "Death Ball's all taken care of. Now let's get you..."

She felt a hand grip her by the throat, then was pulled away before the white beam could touch her.


"No! Pan! He shouldn't have...!"

"I should've seen him coming a mile away! Damn it, how could I have...?!"


Amidst their laughs and talking, Krillin looked out...

...and went quiet.

"Krillin?"

Goku found no answer from one of his oldest friends. Then Krillin's eyes went wide.

"You..."

The others looked over in Krillin's direction, then were frozen at the sight of...

"F-F-Frieza!"

"Oh, but I'm not alone. I brought a friend."

He came out from behind the cover Pan used, holding her up.

"You know, even I thought I was dead."

They also noticed Frieza's tail in this form was missing its tip, similar to when Krillin and Pan's efforts sliced that half off before in his second form.

"Frieza, let her go!" Goku shouted. "I'm the one you want!"

"Well, if you say so..."

The tyrant threw Pan to the ground on her front, then, before she could try lifting herself upward, gripped her by the back of her neck.

"You have used up every last ounce of my generosity. And I want ALL OF YOU!"

"Get to my ship, now!" he all but ordered the others.

"Do that...!"

He poked Pan's left temple once more with his left hand in a pointing stance.

"And she dies! You fine gentlemen wouldn't want blood on your hands, now would you?"

He scoffed.

"Which is too bad. None of you are cut out for this business."

He then peered over at Piccolo.

"Namekian, you will come with me now."

"And why should I go anywhere with you, murderer?!"

"Because I'll kill this wretched Saiyan wench if you don't."

"Piccolo, don't...!" Pan began to shout until Frieza poked back at her left temple much more so.

"This transaction doesn't concern you!"

He found that the Namekian appeared unwilling to approach him.

"Oh, don't think I'm a man of my word, is that it?! That I'm all talk?! Just hot air?!"

Frieza took his left hand away from Pan's head, then lowered it, hovering just under her chest.

"Maybe you'll believe me once I've ripped her heart out."

Still, Piccolo didn't move one bit.

"I'm sorry, but to become his pawn... for him to use Earth's Dragon Balls..."

"Wait, I have an even better idea..." went Frieza upon looking over at her left side at her exposed stomach.

Pan felt his index and middle fingers slowly dig into the wound from the Power Pole which she had seared shut and his thumb trying to join them by clamping down on her side. She spat out, then cried out as the tyrant couldn't hide his grin.

"I can make this Saiyan's death as slow and painful as you wish, Namekian. I certainly don't mind the wait."

Pan had no means of extraction, her ki reserves were practically emptied stopping the Death Ball and saving her father, and now her wound was being reopened.

"He'll kill me in front of you... then kill you too. Grandpa... Krillin..."

Piccolo couldn't bear to see Pan in the state she was in and couldn't help but listen in.

"Dad... I couldn't save you this time..."

The next squeeze from Frieza had her turning her head towards Goku. It was entirely unintentional on her part, but for Piccolo...

"Dad? As in..."

...then past memories of his battles alongside Pan flashed before his eyes...

"It all makes sense now! From the beginning, she was there..."

...and to the battle in the World Martial Arts Tournament, where she fought him.

"Protecting her father! Starting with protecting him from me!"

From there, she was a guardian angel to Gohan.

"And protecting her older brother!"

Piccolo recalled the woman in blue and red present along with Goku's other friends and while the similarities seemed purely coincidental, if not superficial before...

"She has traits from both of them... or she will in the future when she's born!"

While Piccolo wouldn't let Frieza get a wish on the Dragon Balls, he had a whole new purpose for not letting this mystery woman die.

"Goku dying now means she's never born! And Gohan, live or die here, will lose family he never even had!"

One last cry of pain from Pan had her unable to lift her head, this time legitimately.

"Want to know my record on keeping a recipient of my torture alive? Any takers? It's longer than you'd think. Anyone?"

Piccolo took just a few steps forward.

"Alright, I'll tell you: it was 52 hours at least."

"Let... her... go."

Frieza saw Piccolo's hands glowing.

"Or what? Do you really think you're in a position to do anything to me with that little power?"

"It's not for you."

Piccolo put both hands to his chest.

"You're right. I couldn't hope to do a thing to you with my ki now... but I have enough to take my own life."

Pan lifted her head enough to see what Piccolo was threatening to do.

"If I die now, then the Dragon Balls on Earth go dormant for good. And that means you can't make your wish for immortality anywhere."

Frieza appeared to be pondering, then returned to his usual expression.

"I'll release her if you come with me."

"Release her and let them all go."

"Adding demands, are we? That wasn't part of the original bargain."

"I'm altering it. Now tell me: are taking four lives worth more to you than immortality?"

Frieza actually took his fingers off Pan's wound, his now red stained index and middle fingers just shy of touching his chin.

"You drive a hard bargain, Namekian."

"It's my final offer, Frieza. Take it or leave it."

Pan could see the lengths Piccolo was about to go to protect everyone, including her.

"I don't want history to change, but... there's nothing I can do."

"We know, Pan," Chronoa went, trying to console her. "Whatever it takes, we'll get you back and fix this."

"Very well. You have a deal, Namekian."

Piccolo almost appeared stunned that it worked, but was relieved that she was about to be released.

"First things first..."

Frieza placed Pan onto her feet standing up and appeared ready to let go of her.

"You can take her off my hands!"

He instead threw her forward, off her feet almost immediately from the force, and headed right for Gohan. The son of Goku tried catching her, but she unintentionally headbutt him from the impact, the two watching in a daze as Frieza pointed over at Piccolo.

"And one small change!"

A flash of red over his eyes later, the tyrant pointed over at Goku.

"I get to kill one Saiyan!"

Piccolo saw the shock on both their faces and knew what he had to do.

"Neither of you will be without your father!"

He couldn't push Goku out of the way in time or had the strength to stretch his arms again, but at the angle he approached, Piccolo could intercept the Death Beam.

"Piccolo!" cried out Krillin.

It went through the right side of what would've been a human chest, Piccolo immediately going limp and collapsing entirely.

"MR. PICCOLO!"

"No need for that, little one. I missed his vitals. And when he wakes up on my ship, he'll learn that I set the terms. Not him or anyone else."

The purple glow overtook him...

"He'll learn that he has no power over me once he sees what's left of two of you!"

...and he pointed both his hands at Goku and Gohan.

"The scroll's vision... "

"No!"

Pan nearly tackled Gohan down, then put her body over him to shield him. But peering to her left, realized...

"Even if I protect my dad now... with Grandpa gone..."


"With Goku dead, the legendary Super Saiyan dies with him... or perhaps a new one will take his place."


What could Pan do without abandoning her position and letting Frieza kill her father instead?

"GRANDPA!"

An Earthling roar took Frieza's attention as the tyrant then felt a single ki projectile strike, one not even strong enough to get him to nudge.


"No! NO! Kill Son Goku! KILL SON GOKU!"


After firing that attack, which was completely non-damaging to Frieza in his final form, Krillin could barely stand on his feet.

"That was all I had left..."

"You chose to involve yourself in MY business."

He then gestured his palm at Krillin and a tiny beam that fired so quickly as to be indiscernible struck his chest. It was to no effect at first, but then he found himself floating off the ground.

"H-HELP ME!"

"KRILLIN!" cried out Goku.

To Pan's horror, she immediately realized this was the exact manner the golden Frieza of her past dispatched Krillin.

"NO! NOT AGAIN!"

Now it appeared as if Krillin's armor was puffing outward, but Goku and the others could sense that it was actually his body doing this.

"FRIEZA, STOP!"

But Frieza didn't relent as Krillin's chest glowed.

"GOKUUUUUU!"

The resulting explosion didn't even leave a single speck of the Earthling. Not one piece of his armor or even a drop of his blood.

Goku, his eyes and face frozen in shock, remained standing...

...while Pan's face twisted in grief as she fell onto her front.

"Oh, oh, are you crying, poor dearie?"

Only her hands were keeping her from lying down completely, and her face was all but buried in her right wrist.

"Oh, oh no, there's no need for that."

Even as Frieza mocked her, she couldn't find any way to stop her tears coming down.

"Ah, well while the waterworks continue, that leaves the both of you..."


Towa and Mira saw Goku and Gohan moments away from meeting the same fate as Krillin, Pan completely unable to continue.

"This is it, Towa. This is finally it. Your moment of triumph."


Frieza was ready to fire...

...but stopped, hearing Pan's continued cries becoming louder.

"Oh boo hoo. Now where was I?"

Once more, he set out to eliminate Goku and Gohan...

...but the same noise from the same person.

"Would you kindly pipe down? I'm in the middle of something."

Frieza relished the countless instances of his enemies being brought to tears, be it from fear of him or complete and utter hopelessness, the latter most recently from the proud Prince of all Saiyans Vegeta when he lost the will to fight. If he had any means of achieving it, drinking the literal tears of his enemies would be as satisfying to him as having a fine wine.

But tears from grief, he couldn't stand. Pan wasn't afraid of him. She didn't fear what he could do. And while she was inactive, it wasn't hopelessness that made her so. No. It was her grieving.

He scowled, not even able to focus on two easy kills right in front of him.

"Oh for the love of... ENOUGH ALREADY, you precious fragile little snowflake!"

He sighed loudly to himself and looked back to Gohan...

...who began to tear up as well.

"Oh good lord, not you too!"

And even before turning to Goku, he saw tear drops had landed near his boots and heard a few sniffles.

"I don't believe this..."

He turned around, both his hands over the sides of his face and fingers over the top of his head, fuming and finally shouting aloud from annoyance before facing the three again.

"Thin-skinned! You're all THIN-SKINNED! You maggots have NO IDEA how the real world works, at all! You seriously expect me to feel ANYTHING from taking one life?! ANYTHING over the loss of ONE SINGLE LIFEFORM?!"

Frieza stomped petulantly, nearly splitting the landmass between him and them.

"You are just like the absolute worst people in my empire! SPINELESS and COMPLETELY UNGRATEFUL! Ungrateful of the air they breathe! Ungrateful of the food they eat! Ungrateful of the land they live on taken from the savages that didn't deserve it! And ungrateful of every single second I let them live!"

He put his hands to the sides of his face in mock feminine fashion.

"It's always the same damned things! 'Oh pitiful me. ONE death is just the worst. Oh how cruel and unjust. This simply mustn't stand. Something must be done. Something must be changed so it never ever happens again.' GOOD LORD, it never ends with you people over the deaths!"

He turned, punching the structure Pan tried hiding behind, turning it to dust.

"You know what peace is?! It's not a lack of killing! It's the lack of whining and whimpering about the killing! If all of you cry babies ceased to exist, the universe would finally know real peace! And I would never have another headache in my life!"

His demeanor of formality and sophistication was shown to be a total facade with his true colors out in the open for them to see.

"With the billions... trillions... perhaps even quadrillions lives in the entire universe, what makes you think JUST ONE LIFE means anything in the grand scheme?! New lives are born to fill in the void, so NOTHING was lost!"

Now Frieza's completely unplanned rant had him stuttering.

"Wha... what use is it crying over one?! I killed my brother and you don't hear me crying about it! My father didn't shed a single tear for him! He understood!"

He was hunched over, arms out to his sides.

"Don't you get it?! It's all about strength! It's everything! It governs everything! And as I possess the most strength, I govern everything! Those with less are NOTHING!"

The tyrant gestured upward where Krillin was.

"Just as his life was inconsequential from the start, so too is his death. It amounted to nothing! It changed nothing! It meant NOTHING!"


"Pan..."

Trunks had tried reaching out to her, but so far, he and Chronoa were left with silence.

"I'm not hearing anything from her, Trunks. Not a thought."


And with a deep breath, Frieza tried recomposing himself.

"Now if you would be so kind as to stop being little girls and grow a thicker skin, then maybe you'll amount to something with the little life you have remaining."

Pan heard every despicable thought Frieza spelled out, but she had nothing for him. No response. No change in her demeanor. Not even thoughts other than what she felt the moment Krillin died.

"Wh...?"

She felt a warmth, a comfort. Pan turned to find the source of it:

Gohan put a hand on her left shoulder. He mourned Krillin's loss as well and was frightened by what Frieza could do next to any one of them...

...and still comforted this young woman whose identity was a mystery to him. As if giving a wordless retort to Frieza's lack of empathy and value of life, Gohan could feel what Pan felt, let her know that she wasn't alone or weak for feeling that way, and that there was value in what she felt.

"It's okay, Pan."

This woman's voice.

"Is... is that really you?"

"I'm here."

Pan saw her mother Videl, almost a spitting image of when she sat down on her bed to comfort a younger Pan all those years ago. Illusion or not, Pan was with her parents again.

"Next up..." went Frieza, using Gohan's gesture to determine who would be his next victim. "The brat."

"Let out how you're feeling," went Pan's mother before fading away, and Pan saw Namek with clear eyes again.

"Need a wittle kiss on your wittle booboo before he goes away?"

The tyrant couldn't see her eyes, all but hidden under her bangs.

"Was it something I said? Oh. Did I offend you?"

Pan slowly made her way up, hunched over.

"Whatever could be the matter, dearie?"

"He was my friend."

She stood up straight, facing her death.

"Oh, really? Tell me something I don't know."

Goku, having heard and watched all this, clenched his fists.

"I won't..."

"Hmm?"

These were the first words Goku had made since he pleaded with Frieza to spare Krillin.

"I won't let you..."

Frieza saw Pan and Goku, some distance between them, but otherwise standing side-by-side in grief combining with anger...

...and their hair appearing to change shape with flashes of a gold hue.

"YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

Frieza was unsettled seeing Goku's hair sticking upward, as well as the sky going dark.

"W-what is...?"

Lightning struck in several spots across Namek as Goku practically roared.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"He was my friend!"

But for Pan, she didn't hear her grandfather screaming aloud, nor did she look at him. In fact, her eyes were closed, tears still coming down. Frieza and Gohan both saw Pan begin to hover off the ground and the bangs of her hair flow upward. Instead of making fists, her hands were open with masses of ki, practically orb-shaped, surging in them.

"HE WAS MY FRIEND!"

After screaming the four words once more, the orbs in her hands were immense and the ground beneath Pan cracked, forcing Gohan to hop forward.

"W-what are you?!"

The intense glow of the orbs now over her entire body, she cried out and roared, a yellow pillar-like mass of energy all around her and stretching upward, and where she once stood shattering with a massive wave striking, then stopping and falling back down as if hitting an indestructible wall.

To his right, Frieza saw Goku with a golden aura, his hair now a yellowish hue and his irises blue-green.

To his left, Pan, the ocean below her, floated forward.

"Pan, do you read us?!" went the Supreme Kai of Time.

She touched down on the ground and her yellow-white hair, which was initially floating upward, came back down. Her sorrowful indignation was now transformed into a quiet rage as Pan opened her eyes, her irises also a blue-green hue.

"I read you loud and clear."