Dragonballreader: Thanks, I'm glad to see you like this story so much. I'm not a huge fan of GT myself, but I wouldn't say that I hate it, even with all of its significant flaws. I doubt I can really do anything with the human Z fighters in this story, but Piccolo is salvagable at least, so I'll do what I can with him.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The ritual had come and gone.
Old Kai pulled himself to his feet and dusted himself off "Well that's done, and about an hour faster than I was expecting. Looks like someone has been focusing."
"I meditate on a daily basis, so focus is pretty much my fortee." Piccolo noted flatly "So how does this work, how do I awaken this latent potential you've unlocked?"
"Well it shouldn't be too different from when Goku and the others become one of those Super Saiyans, why don't you give that a shot and believe in yourself as you do."
"I'm no Saiyan, but believing in myself… I guess there's only one way to find out. You may want to take a big step backwards."
"Finally, someone who has the decency to let me step back instead of blowing up right in front of me!" Old Kai promptly took a huge step backwards "Alright go ahead, let er rip!"
Gritting his teeth as he got into a stance, Piccolo let out a furious roar and shockwave, the sheer force shaking the entire planet. When everything died down, Piccolo took a moment to take in the changes, his body having bulked up slightly while crackling with white electricity "This power feels incredible…"
"This feels amazing!" Kibito Kai was left in awe by what he was seeing "The power you have now is beyond what even Gohan showed when his potential was awakened!"
"You're giving me too much credit, and him not enough. If Gohan were to reawaken that form at the level he's at right now, I seriously doub if my new power would be enough for me to defeat him. But we don't have time for small talk right now, I haven't been up here for very long and that's been enough for that parasite to take over Vegeta's body."
"And most of Earth too for that matter." Old Kai pointed out "From the looks of it most of your friends have already fallen to him, like that Bulma woman and her family."
"Dammit, I was afraid of that."
"But on the plus side, it would seem that the good part of Majin Buu from that whole ordeal is still unaffected, and so is that buffoon with the dog."
"Buu can take care of himself fairly well against the likes of Gohan and Goten, are there any others?"
"Let me take a look." Old Kai sat down in front of his crystal ball "Yep, from the looks of it there's one down there training up in the northern mountains area."
"That narrows it down pretty well." note the sarcasm in his tone "Who's down there?"
"Looks like the boy that Buu was reincarnated into, he's fighting off a bunch of Baby's henchmen down there as we speak."
"You mean Uub. Good thing, if Baby had gotten his hands on him then we'd be in even more trouble."
"We'd best hurry." Kibito Kai told him "The sooner we get you back to Earth, the more allies we can recruit. Come Piccolo, I can bring you back to Earth so we can get to work."
"I appreciate the effort, but I think it's for the best if you don't get involved for now. We can't have you getting infected by Baby as well. Besides, thanks to my so called father I found a way of my own to get back to Earth." Piccolo gave them a nod of respect, and then he disappeared in a flash.
"He learned Instanteous Movement? Perhaps we underestimated just what he was capable of up until now."
"Maybe, but it doesn't change anything." Old Kai pointed out "He's the only hope the Earth has until Goku and the others get back."
"I know Ancestor, I know. Good luck Piccolo, we're all counting on you.'
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It only took a matter of seconds for Piccolo to make his way back to Earth in a large mountain region, quickly lowering himself to the ground 'I can't fly anymore than necessary, Baby will scope me out in a matter of seconds. For the time being, it's for the best if none of the others know that I'm still alive. Looks like Uub probably has the same idea for now, I can't sense him anywhere around here.' he looked down at the bottom of a cliffside, and he found a rather large village sitting down below 'Huh, I knew his village was poor, but the way Goku made it sound, I thought it was small too. This doesn't help, with so much ground to cover in this area he could by anywhere, and that's assuming he even is here.' his attention was quickly grabbed by an explosion in the distance 'But that does look like a good place to start.' and so he quickly flew off towards the scene.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
By this point, Goku and the others had returned to Earth and handed the Black Star Dragon Balls over to Dende and Mr Popo, unaware that both of them were already under Baby's control like everyone else in the world.
From there, the group split up, with Goku and Pan returning to Mount Paozu, quickly noticing how strange Chich and Videl were acting, but it was only after they burst into the building and attacked both of them that they realized that something was very wrong.
Once Pan had been knocked unconscious, Goku wasted no time in fending off the combined attacks of both Gohan and Goten, but as he was about to finish them, Mr Satan and Buu showed up on the scene and informed him that Baby had taken control of everyone on Earth, having laid eggs inside of all of them, turning them into Tuffles.
To make matters even worse, this was when Baby himself showed up on the scene, still in control of Vegeta's body, which promptly Buu to swallow Pan and Mr Satan into his body and then take off, leaving Goku to fend for himself, and not long after, Trunks and Bulla arrived on the scene, both of them having been infected by Baby as well.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Uub was fending off a weak barrage of Ki blasts from various infected villagers, his mind racing despite being able to do so with ease 'Not only is everyone acting so strange, but their power has increased far beyond normal human limitations. Everyone please stop this, I don't want to hurt any of you!"
"Shut up brat, for the glory of Lord Baby you either become one of us or die!" the villagers kept on attacking him.
Uub deflected each blast being fired at him with ease, then blitzed forward and knocked out all of the villagers, about 100 or so, with one hit each, knocking them out cold in a matter of seconds "I didn't want to hurt them."
"You're doing what you can based on the circumstances." that was when Piccolo dropped down in front of him "So you're Uub aren't you?"
"I am, but I don't think we've ever met before."
"That energy is a dead giveaway, even if we've never met in person I could sense you training with Goku over the past few years."
"He did mention his friends and family a lot of the time. You wouldn't happen to be Piccolo, would you? Goku said that you were strong, but your power is so much more than I was expecting from you."
"I've gone through some changes over the past few days, mainly because of everything that's been happening throughout the planet." Piccolo glanced over to see a large number of villagers charging towards them armed with weapons "So who are they?"
"People from my village, whatever is going on has infected them too. Whatever it is, I'm trying to subdue them without hurting them. If you want to help, then please just knock them out with as little force as possible."
"Duly noted." so the two of them promptly charged at the army of infected villagers, quickly knocking all of them out either with swift punches to the gut, or with attacks to certain pressure points, until there was only one left.
The man looked up at Piccolo with eyes full of hatred and malice, and held up a hand directly towards Piccolo's chest "You can't dodge it from this close, there's no way in hell you're fast enough!"
"Yeah, about that…" Piccolo just took the Ki blast without so much as a scratch "It's really a matter of whether or not I have to. I'm going to give you one warning, leave now if you value your life."
"You little… Lord Baby will make you pay for this!" and so he left, leaving the rest of the infected villagers behind.
"I take it that one was the first who actually left."
"Whatever it is that makes them so devoted to this Baby character, they're definitely dedicated enough to die for him." Uub noted grimly "And even for those who do run, they keep coming back to come after those who aren't possessed like them. I don't suppose you know what's happening to them?"
"It's not good, that much is obvious. The people of the Earth are being possessed by some sort of parasite called Baby, the only thing I really know about him is that he hates Saiyans with a burning passion."
"What about the rest of Goku's friends and family?"
"They haven't gotten out very lucky either, Gohan and Goten were the first ones to be taken over and now Baby is using Vegeta as a host, and even together I doubt we'd even stand a chance of taking him down."
"I have been sensing an enormous and sinister power, so I'm guessing that's him. Is he really as strong as you claim?"
"I fought him when he was possessing Gohan, and now he's at least 10 times stronger than he was before."
"But at the same time, you said you're far stronger too, although I can't tell as to how much power you're holding back."
"Why do you seem so interested in that?"
"I know it might seem strange that I show up like this out of nowhere, but right now I need to see for certain just how strong you are. I need a good grip on your power if we're going to have any chance of surviving against Baby, let alone defeating him. We need to work together if we're going to make that happen, so in order to do that I need to see what you've got." and so he charged at Uub at full speed.
"If you're so insistent, then I'll oblige you." Uub leapt into the air and dodged Piccolo's initial attack, as well as the ones that followed, and then he went on the offensive, leading to the two of them trading even blows, but Uub easily weaved his way around Piccolo's attacks and slammed a fist into his gut, then followed up with a kick to the head that sent him flying.
Piccolo quickly stopped himself in mid air "Looks like you're even stronger than I was expecting from you, you really do know how to handle yourself in a fight."
"Just because my training with Goku is over doesn't mean I've been taking it easy, but your power is amazing too." so the two of them began clashing throughout the skies, leading to the two of them continuing to trade even bows, which ended when Uub dealt Piccolo a swift and powerful fist to the gut, then followed up with a barrage of punches to the gut, and then charged in for the finisher.
With his aura surging white and his muscles bulging, Piccolo caught Uub's hand, then held out a hand of his own and hit Uub at nearly point blank range with an Explosive Demon Wave, the force sending him flying backwards and crashing to the ground in a heap.
Uub pulled himself to his feet and spat out some blood "I knew you were hiding a lot of your power, but to think you were just toying with me."
"I like to think of it as gauging your power, but to think I would have to use this power shows how strong you really are. Looks like Goku wasn't that bad of a teacher after all. Good thing this kid isn't like he was in his past life, otherwise we'd probably be in a lot of trouble. As strong as you are right now, I can tell I was right when I said it wouldn't be enough to stop Baby. All we can do for now is go into hiding and wait until Goku and the others get back to Earth." but then his head snapped in a certain direction "That power… that's Goku, no doubt about it, and from what I can tell he's fighting against Baby and the others."
"And I hate to say it, but I think he's losing. We have to go help him."
"I just hope we're able to make it in time." so the two of them blitzed away with Piccolo's Instananeous Movement.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Goku found himself at a disadvantage against Baby Vegeta's overwhelming power, forcing him to go Super Saiyan 3, but quickly found that with his small childlike body, he wasn't able to control it properly, leaving him to be brutally pummeled at Baby's mercy, or lack thereof in this case.
That was when Gohan and the others all transferred all of their energy into Baby, causing him to take on a new form that led to him leaving Goku on the ground in heap with a single blow. He then proceeded to gather energy from all of the people on Earth under his control, and form an attack similar to Goku's Spirit Bomb, known as the Revenge Death Ball, and he hurled it straight at Goku, apparently killing him in the blast.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Huh?" Buu touched down in a snow covered mountain area and looked over to see the explosion in the distance left behind by Baby's Revenge Death Ball "Goku… gone?"
"Buu what's going on out there? It felt like the planet was falling apart!'
"Boom! That's what Buu heard, boom, and then poof! Buu can't feel Goku anymore! Buu thinks that Goku is gone."
"What, you mean Goku's dead?! But that can't be!"
"Satan hold on, Buu spit you and Miss Pan out." so Buu promptly spat both of them out of his body.
"Yes! Fresh air and sunshine, I feel as free as a bird!" but Mr Satan's joy over his freedom was quickly cut short when he noticed Pan kneeling on the ground and not moving "Wait a second, what the heck is Pan doing down there? Is she hurt?" and then the laws of physics caught up with him, leaving him to fall to the ground with a thud.
Pan was on her knees, tears streaming down her face over Goku's death "Grandpa, why… Why did you die? I need you… We can't do this without you…"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Piccolo and Uub blitzed onto the scene at Mount Paozu, only to find that the only thing there was a massive crater "Baby and the others have left, and I can't sense Goku anywhere… We were too late."
"Goku… no…" Uub fell to his knees and slammed a fist into the ground, only to stop when he noticed the sky go black and a massive red dragon appear above them "Is that… a dragon?"
"That's the Eternal Dragon that's summoned by the Black Star Dragon Balls. Dammit, that must mean Baby is using them."
"You mean Shenron… Goku told me stories about it… It's majestic…"
"Goku is gone now, we can't do anything about that. Baby has used the Black Star Dragon Balls, which makes the situation that much more dire. We have to find Pan and the others, so let's get moving."
"R-Right." so Uub picked himself up off the ground, and the two of them blitzed away from the scene in a flash.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
True to Piccolo's fears, Baby had been given the Black Star Dragon Balls by Dende, and he used them to restore Planet Plant, the homeworld of the Tuffles, in Earth's orbit, and now that a wish had been made, the Black Star Dragon Balls were left to scatter throughout the galaxy all over again.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Pan could only look on in horror as she watched the Black Star Dragon Balls disappear across the galaxy "No… we just got those Dragon Balls back to Earth, and now this? I can't believe we did all of that work for nothing… Not only is everyone I love gone or trying to kill me, but now my home planet is going to explode in a year…" she fell back on the snowy ground beneath her, tears streaming down her face "I'm sorry… I'm not strong enough… I can't do it… I don't have what it takes… We can't do this without Grandpa…"
"Like it or not, we can't rely on Goku to save the day this time." a voice caused her head to snap up.
'That voice…' Pan looked up and her eyes nearly bulged out of her head "P-Piccolo?"
Sure enough, Piccolo and Uub had materialized onto the scene, and the former knelt down in front of Pan and helped her to her feet before pulling her into a gentle hug "I'm sorry I couldn't be there sooner."
"Piccolo… why?" Pan's tears kept flowing as she leaned into his embrace "Why did Baby do this? We never did anything to him or his people, we never hurt him."
"The Saiyans who hurt his people are long gone, he can't accept that so he's taking out his anger on whoever he wants. There's only one way to get back the people he's taken, we have to get stronger and stop him ourselves."
"Piccolo… I'm not strong enough…"
"Maybe not yet, but we're going to find a way. You can help us, but there's something I need you to do. I'm going to train you like I did your father, so that you can help us fight Baby and save the Earth. Are you willing to do that?"
"I…" Pan pulled herself to her feet and wiped away her tears "I'll do it, to save Mama and Papa and all of them. Where do we start?"
"I know just the place, so let's get started."
"Right." Pan looked over at Mr Satan and the others, and gave a wave and a small smile "I'll see you guys soon, okay?" and so they disappeared.
Mr Satan looked on with a smile full of pride 'Thank you Green Man, for giving my Pan the push that she needs. Pan, I know you'll do us proud.'
Buu on the other hand, he was more focused on Uub 'This boy… Buu thinks Buu seen this boy before.'
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Now that the Tuffle planet had been restored, Baby had Bulma create a massive ship to carry himself and his Tuffle slaves to the newly restored homeworld, fully intent on rebuilding the Tuffle civilization, and then spreading his infection to the rest of the universe.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, in a very familiar wasteland…
The rain was pouring down from the skies above.
Pan charged at Piccolo at full speed, her white aura flaring higher and higher with every second that passed 'This is insane, I can't even see his attacks coming!'
"Don't even think about letting down your guard, if you can't even see my attacks coming then how can you hope to avoid them, let alone do any damage?" Piccolo wasted no time in dodging, weaving and parrying around every punch and kick being thrown at him, and he was quick to take action and kick Pan's legs out from under her, then dealt her a brutal kick to the face that sent her crashing to the ground.
Pan pulled herself back to her feet and wiped the blood from her lip 'This is crazy, Papa always said that Mr Piccolo was strong, but it's like he's some kind of monster!'
"So that's where your power and skill are at right now. I'll be honest with you, your father paid me a visit a few days after you left for space with Goku."
"And what exactly did he say?"
"First he said that when you got back with the Black Star Dragon Balls, he was going to ground you for a year, and after that he asked for what I thought about your potential. You've handled yourself well up until now, but you still have a lot of power that you haven't even come close to tapping into. Before I tried to confront Baby myself, since I suspected how it may turn out, I went to get some Senzu Beans from Korin, and now I'm going to use them to whip you into best shape that I can for the fight to come." he held up the bag in question "You should be glad I got these when I did kid, from here on out we're going to be kicking things up a notch."
"Papa always told me that I should never expect anything less from you. I'm ready to do what I have to Piccolo, if we're gonna save everyone from Baby then I've gotta get way stronger than I've ever been before." Pan's aura flared once more, and with a roar she burst forward and launched a furious barrage of punches and kicks.
Piccolo dodged and weaved his way around Pan's attacks with ease, not even taking so much as a single scratch, and eventually he just slugged Pan clear in the gut, sending her tumbling backwards a great distance "In case you forgot, you're not the only one who had to get stronger in order to win this fight."
"I know…" Pan staggered back to her feet and spat out some blood "But I'm not giving up, not by a long shot."
"You're eager, I'll be sure to put that to work soon enough."
"That's what I'm counting on."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Of course, what none of them realized was that Goku had survived Baby's Revenge Death Ball, but just barely, having been saved by Kibito Kai at the last second and taken to the Sacred World of the Kais.
Since Goku was nowhere near powerful enough to take on Baby in his current state, Old Kai decided to train Goku in order to achieve the power necessary to defeat Baby.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The rain continued pouring down from the skies above.
Pan was effortlessly sent crashing to the ground with a loud thud, but she wasted no time in pulling herself back to her feet and readying herself for another round "I'm not done… not by a long shot… I have to get stronger… so much stronger… I have to save my friends… my family… I'm not giving up…"
Piccolo studied the look in her eyes intently for a moment, but then he just shook his head in what looked like disapproval "All I see is you psyching yourself up, not to mention making yourself far too overeager for your own good."
"What?"
"Pan, if you just tell yourself that you have to win then that isn't training, it's pointless. You have to be willing to face the reality of the situation and do the real work involved with it, if you can't into that power that you claim to need so desperately, then all of the motivation in the universe won't be anywhere near enough for you to save your family."
Pan's expression fell to one of horror.
"Having something that you want to protect and fight for can make you stronger, that much is true, but when your emotions dominate your reason and cloud your judgement they can become far more of a hindrance than a help. You want your emotions to complement your strength rather than just compensate for it, if you're too desperate to win and if love makes you afraid then you won't be able to assess the situation from a logical standpoint, which will cause you to misjudge the abilities of your opponent and that will cause you to lose."
"So… So that's it then… that's why I've been so weak up until now…" furious with her own lack of clarity and understanding, Pan let out a roar of pure rage as her aura flared wildly.
"There's no such thing as a fight that you can't lose, if we lose this fight then that means the entire universe will become enslaved by Baby, not just this world. That is a fact that you have to accept and come to terms with, and then and only then will you be able to surpass your current limitations."
"I know, but I'm not giving up."
"You can do this Pan, we all have faith that you're going to overcome these obstacles, and perhaps in time you may become the strongest among us."
"Piccolo… thank you. I promise I won't let you down."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
By this point, Goku's training had begun, although he was stuck with grinding coffee beaens, which he believed was because Old Kai was too lazy to do it himself, but at the same time he noticed his tail bone beginning to itch, which earned a grin from Old Kai as a result.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The rain overhead was now being accompanied by a thunderous roar across the skies that drowned out any other nises.
Pan floated overhead a short distance away from Piccolo, her milky white aura panting wildly despite her panting heavily 'This is way more intense than I was expecting, but if Papa was able to take it, then so can I.'
"I think it's safe to say I've warmed you up enough already." Piccolo wasted no time in removing his weighted cape and turban "Now come at me with everything you've got, if you're not giving it your all then you won't have a chance in hell of becoming a Super Saiyan."
"I know." with a quick roar, Pan's white aura began flaring even higher.
"You have a great amount of potential Pan, that much we're all aware of, but the problem is that you have another glaring weakness that you inherited from your father, and unless you can overcome it you won't last long against the likes of Baby, whether you're a Super Saiyan or not, and if you do lose then don't expect the rest of the universe to last much longer."
"What weakness are you talking about?"
"Don't think I'm gonna give it away so easily, I'm gonna show it to you."
"Leave it to you to make things harder." and so the two fo them charged at each other, colliding with each other in an explosive fashion, trading even blows with neither of them getting any leeway over the other, at least not until Pan dealt Piccolo a sharp kick to the face, sending him flying backwards a short distance.
Piccolo rebounded within a matter of seconds, then blitzed behind Pan and aimed a knee at the back of her head.
Pan blocked the knee and aimed a kick at Piccolo's head.
Piccolo leapt over the attack and aimed a Ki beam from two fingers, creating a massive fissure in the ground.
'Woah… that's some technique… He just carved a trench through the planet!'
"Oh trust me, that's just the tip of the iceber." Piccolo promptly used his extending arms in order to catch Pan in a chokehold that she couldn't get out of "What's the matter Pan? Come on, you can't seriously tell me that's all you got. You can't blame me when you black out."
"I'... I'm not giving up… Not yet!" Pan tried to force herself free, but quickly found her vision growing blurry "Piccolo… I don't get it… how did you get so strong?"
"I had some help from the Supreme Kai, but it takes a lot more than that. Do you really think that while you and the rest of the Saiyans travel across the universe in search of Dragon Balls or a good fight, the rest of us just sit around doing nothing?" Piccolo quickly tightened his grip, which finally caused Pan to lose consciousness, but then he quickly revived her with a Ki blast to the chest "Alright Pan, it's over now. You're strong for your age, you have a lot of room to grow, we all know this for a fact, but now I'm starting to think you lack the heart of a true warrior. But on the other hand, if there's a chance to win then you have to be able to close the deal. This is something that you inherited from your father, and I'm hoping to deal with it before it gets out of hand. Power usually leads to one thing, and that's arrogance, which I think it's safe to say you've experienced first hand time and again during your time with Goku and Trunks searching for the Black Star Dragon Balls."
"Yeah… I noticed that a lot, but I'm not really different in that regard."
"People like them were born with that kind of power, but at the same time they enjoyed it far more than they should, so instead of using their strength to win their arrogance left them open to being defeated by people like Goku and the others. If you let yourself succumb to that then you're going to lose, no matter how much power you may have at your disposal."
"Piccolo…"
"You have to be a true warrior, when you face your opponent you have to fight with everything you've got."
"...Alright Piccolo, I think I get what you're saying. I'm not going to let you down, not like I did all those times before." Pan let out a roar as her aura flared even higher, and it even began slowly flickering gold, as did her hair, the force of her power causing her bandana to fly clean off (thank god for that, I hated that thing).
"That's not what I want to see from you Pan, and you know that damn well. I want you to show me the power that your father, your uncle and your grandfather tapped into with years of blood, sweat and tears. I want you to show me you have what it takes to be a true warrior! SHOW ME NOW!"
Pan let out a primal roar that was capable of drowning out even the thunder raging in the skies above them, her golden colored aura suddenly surging into life in such a manner that was capable of blowing away the storm clouds and revealing the bright blue sky. When the golden light subsided, it revealed Pan in the same location, only now her hair was a brilliant shade of gold, her eyes teal, indicating that she had finally ascended into her Super Saiyan form "So how about it Piccolo, do you like what you see?"
"It's about time, now we can get somewhere."
"Glad to see youre satisfied because I should warn you, I'm not going to hold back against you any longer. I'm coming at you with everything I've got, so you'd better prepare yourself."
"I would be insulted if you didn't." Piccolo wasted no time in creating at least a dozen clones of himself.
"Cloning huh, I didn't know you had that ability."
"It's one of those things I don't get to use very often." and so all of the Piccolo clones charged forward.
Pan wasted no time in taking out all of the clones with a single hit, dodging and deflecting every attack being thrown at her, and when she finally found the real one she dealt him a knife hand attack that blew his arm clean off, much to her horror "Oh my god! Piccolo I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen!"
"Don't be sorry, that's exactly what I was looking for." Piccolo promptly dispersed all of his clones, but chose not to regenerate his arm "If you can fight like this against Baby, maybe we do have a chance of making it out of this with our free will and lives after all."
"Piccolo… thank you." and yet she received a surprise Ki blast to the back that knocked her out of her Super Saiyan form "What the heck was that for?!"
"I wanted to see if you could close the deal, but from the looks of it I can see we still have some work to do."
"Meaning what exactly?"
"It's the same thing that happened when your father fought Buu, when he had his power amplified by the Elder Kai he basically got drunk on his power and let down his guard, which allowed Buu to absorb him. That sort of thing wasn't entirely his fault, Goku often made that mistake plenty of times, but you need to make sure that you don't forget to stay focused and drop any arrogance you may have, and be sure to keep your guard up until the enemy is defeated."
"Right Piccolo, I think I understand."
"Good, now let's go again."
"I'm ready when you are."
"Good, now then…"
"Okay, Papa said this was going to come."
"DODGE!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Nightfall came.
Piccolo and Pan, the former now clad in a crimson red replica of Piccolo's gi, returned to the snow covered mountain area, where they found Mr Satan and the others huddled in a cave "It's done, I pushed her past her limits."
"Alright!" Mr Satan wasted no time in glomping Pan in a comical fashion, only for him to get pried off by "Uh… sorry."
"Thanks Buu, it feels good to breathe." Pan let out a sigh and started stretching a little bit "You know I really do have to thank you Piccolo, I think training with you is exactly what I needed to push me to where I need to be."
"Don't get soft on me yet kid." Piccolo told her flatly "Your training to go Super Saiyan might be over, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us."
"Yeah, I know."
"Listen to me Pan, I know for a fact that what you tapped into is only a mere fraction of the power you have locked inside of you. We were able to break through one wall, and with any luck we'll soon be able to break through the next. You can't tell me that you're not curious, that you don't want to know how strong you can truly become. You can't just settle for being better when you could be the best."
"I know Piccolo, and we'll all have to be at our absolute best if we want to take Baby down and get our families back." Pan looked around to see Uub and the others gathering around them "I know we have a lot of work to do, but we'll get it done."
"That we will. Goku or not, we will win this fight, and we'll do it together, and I know just how we're going to do that."
A/N:
While Piccolo wasn't exactly given the royal treatment in GT, the human Z fighters like Tien, Yamcha and others weren't given any treatment at all. Most of them didn't even have any lines. One big problem I have with Dragon Ball, as much as I love it, is that it makes it look like the Saiyans are the only one capable of doing anything, and then GT makes that even worse. This time around, it's going to be a lot more than just the Saiyans saving the day, though that doesn't mean they won't get to do anything. While I had originally decided to add in the likes of Tien and Yamcha to the story, I figured there would be too many complications with the power scaling for it to work in this story. As a result, I instead decided to incorporate Uub into the story earlier than he was included in canon.
For the record, now that he's had his potential awakened by Elder Kai, Piccolo can now access the Ultimate Form, to become what I will be referring to from now on as Ultimate Piccolo.
I'm not sure exactly how long it was between Baby taking over Vegeta's body and Goku and the others returning to Earth, so I decided to go ahead and have them return in this chapter, in order to progress the story faster.
Just throwing this out there, I thought that whole game after life thing was really stupid, so I decided to skip that and just have Goku be brought straight to the Sacred World of the Kais to begin his training to achieve Super Saiyan 4.
I know I know, a lot of people aren't fond of Pan in GT, myself somewhat included, but one of my favorite GT centered fics, A Hero is Born, revolves around her defeating Baby, and while that isn't going to happen in this fic, I do intend to include one idea from this fic: Pan going Super Saiyan, only in this one she's trained by Piccolo as Gohan was. Like father, like daughter. She's not going to be OP or anything, she'll be as strong as the likes of Trunks and Goten at most.