"BEEP BEEP BEEP" heard Pan as her alarm clock went off. She groggily reached out and hit the button before she got out of bed and straightened up her pajamas as she looked herself in the mirror and said, "Alright girl, today's gonna be a good day."
She then walked into the kitchen and was greeted by the usual smell of bacon and eggs and the sight of her mom, Videl, cooking as she turned to her and said, "Well someone's up early, Giru's power cells haven't even finished cycling yet."
Pan yawned and nodded in agreement as she thought of how her robotic friend was still "sleeping" on the table in her room. "Normally I'd be in there with him, but I have plans."
She sat down next to her dad, Gohan, who smiled at her as he said, "Well alright! So what's my little lady up too today?"
Pan yawned again before she said, "Oh, not much. First I'm heading over to Bulla's place and we're gonna hang out at the mall. Then I'll head over to Grandma Chi-Chi's diner to meet Grandpa Satan for lunch."
Gohan leaned back in thought as he said, "I still can't believe mom owns a diner now."
Videl chuckled as she placed the food on the table and sat down saying, "Well I'm not, I mean i'm sure even on her busiest day she's not making as much as she needed to make to keep you, your dad, and your brother full."
Pan laughed as Gohan blushed saying, "Hey, I don't eat that much!"
"Of course you don't, you Saiyans are all about moderation," said Videl sarcastically as she placed a third plate of bacon in front of Gohan and Pan respectively and watched while they each devoured their food without even fully realizing they did it. She turned to Pan and smiled as she said, "Sounds like a good way to spend a day. Gonna get as much fun in as you can before school starts ay?"
"Yup," responded Pan as she munched away on the bacon and washed it down with some orange juice.
"Speaking of which, you haven't told us if you want to go back to Orange Star for another semester or go somewhere else," said Gohan.
"Oh yeah," said Pan as she slowed down eating for a moment. She had originally planned on going to Orange Star for all of high school, but, thanks to her father's tutoring, she had managed to ace her freshman finals and was now receiving recruitment brochures from pretty much every private school in the world. And while there were some things in her life she had been wanting to change lately, she didn't think private school was the way to do it as she responded, "I'm still not sure yet."
Gohan chuckled as he said, "Well you better decide soon, we're not gonna let you trick us into giving you a semester off by pretending you can't decide until the last minute."
Videl ate her own breakfast as she said, "Now honey, you know Pan isn't the type to trick us like that. Besides taking a semester off wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."
"True, I definitely wouldn't want to be as hard on her about school as my mom was for me," said Gohan.
This caused the mental image of the gentle Gohan yelling about studying, which only produced several giggles and snickers from each of them that lightened the mood. They then simply finished their breakfast while quietly enjoying each others company before Pan said, "Whelp, I better start getting ready to head out."
She then got up as her parents said, "Have a good day sweetie."
"Thanks papa, thanks mama, I will," said Pan as she headed to the bathroom and grabbed a quick shower. As she prepared to leave the bathroom she looked at herself in the mirror and thought, "Should I brush my hair... or maybe do it into a pony tail or something?" She meshed with her tangled up bed head in the mirror before she smiled at herself and shook her head thinking, "Nah; vanity is more Bulla's department... besides... it will all be covered up by my bandanna anyway."
She walked into her room and opened up her closet as she slipped off her pajamas and tossed them in laundry basket thinking, "Alright now what exactly should I wear today?" She glanced at everything she had and thought, "Maybe the pink shirt with the black jeans... Bulla did say she thought it was a cute look and-" she then blushed as she realized where her mind was going and shook her head no yelling, "NOPE NOPE NOPE! NOT CROSSING THAT BRIDGE AGAIN! IT WAS EMBARRASSING ENOUGH THE FIRST TIME!" As she calmed down a bit she went back to the closet and continued thinking, "Hmm, well might as go with the classic," as she grabbed out her usual red shirt, gray pants, orange bandanna, and black shoes as she got dressed and said to herself, "I don't know why I always do that little decision dance when I wear this almost every day, ironically one of the few things I have a choice over and I choose to make it monotonous." As she finished up she walked over and closed the closet door and sighed saying, "Maybe one day I'll feel like a change in this area." She then turned from the closet door and saw that her little ovaloid friend had begun to stir on her desk before his arms and legs popped out as he stood up and said, "Good morning Pan."
"Morning Giru, I was just getting ready to head out," said Pan as she was once again glad that Bulma had fixed the glitch that had caused him to say his name at the end of every sentence.
"Training again?" asked Giru.
"Not today, just gonna hang out with Bulla and Grandpa Satan," responded Pan before smiling at her friend as she asked, "You want to come with?"
"No thank you, I'll just stay here and help Gohan on the latest book some more," said Giru. After the incident with the Shadow Dragons was all said and done; Giru had been keeping himself busy by telling Gohan about the various planets he visited in his mission to locate Saiyans and he, being the scholar he was, had written several scientific journals about each of them.
"Whelp, then I guess I'll see you later than buddy," said Pan as she waved goodbye and headed out the door. As she started walking down the street she thought to herself, "Maybe I should just fly there... nah. I may not feel the need to hide my strengths and powers like dad did with his whole 'Great Saiyaman' getup, but I don't want to show them off either. Besides, this gives me a chance to think and get myself physicked for today. After all we're going to the mall, which means I'm going to experience my problem again and Bulla's gonna somehow not notice." She then grunted to herself as she thought, "Maybe I should just say something to her already since she clearly can't see it on her own."
She then looked up and was surprised to see that her thoughts had helped time pass by much faster then she realized as right before her was the Capsule Corp building in all it's glory. As she turned the corner and began walking through the front lawn she was once again reminded that despite how huge the building was and all the research going on within it, it was still technically a families home. There was no chance of her forgetting that once she walked in though, as she stepped through the entryway and came to the average living room one would expect to see in a house and saw Bulla and her mother, Bulma, sitting on the couch as Bulma said with a pleading look, "Please Bulla, this would really help me out."
Bulla didn't seem to be swayed by any of this though as she closed her eyes and crossed her arms in annoyance and said, "I said no mom, why can't Trunks do it?"
"You know he's busy heading up the West City division, besides I need a teenagers perspective on this," replied Bulma as she gripped her hands together and repeated, "So can you PLLEEEAAASSSSEEE DO IT?"
As Pan took all this in she started to think that maybe she shouldn't be hearing whatever this was and made her presents known by nervously saying, "Um, I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
Upon hearing her voice Bulla looked up and smiled at her saying, "Pan! Not at all, I was just telling my mom, for the third time, that I'm not interested in the idea of moving to a whole new city just so she can make another billion zeni."
"HEY! THIS IDEA HAS THE POTENTIAL TO MAKE 2.3 BILLION ZENI, THANK YOU!" said Bulma annoyed at that statement.
"Whatever," said Bulla rolling her eyes. She then turned back to Pan and said, "Just let me grab my purse real quick and we'll head out."
Bulla then walked away as Bulma crossed her arms exasperated. Not knowing what to do, Pan sat next to her as she waited and said, "So what's all this about moving to another city?"
"Oh it's nothing, just," said Bulma before she paused and pulled out her laptop and brought up several maps as she said, "I'm working on expanding Capsule Corp into several small towns and, like usual, I sent some representatives to live in these towns for about a year or so before building it so we can get a feel for the town and where a new location would be the most successful."
"OK, with you so far," said Pan as she had grown up around Bulma and Trunks and was already pretty familiar with how Capsule Corp operated.
"Unfortunately though, we've run into a problem with our research in Canterlot City," said Bulma.
"What's that?" asked Pan.
Bulma raised her hands annoyed as she said, "Well SOMEHOW, roughly 80 percent of the towns population is teenagers so none of our usual representatives can learn all the ins and outs of the towns social structure to determine where a new building would best work, so I figured that since we have a teenager in the house Bulla might want to do it but unfortunately she doesn't, DESPITE EVERYTHING I'VE DONE FOR HER!"
"Oh," said Pan slightly unnerved by Bulma's anger, but intrigued by the conversation nonetheless.
Bulma groaned as she said, "I don't know what her problem is, I mean when I was her age I was traveling all over the place having to share a capsule house with Goku and deal with all kinds of insane stuff looking for the Dragon Balls. I would have killed to be set up with my own apartment, spending money, and enrollment at a high school that's advertised as being and I quote 'one of the friendliest place on Earth.'"'
"Hmm, well I do admit that does sound nice," said Pan with a slight smile as she unconsciously started picturing herself in such a situation.
At hearing this Bulma instantly realized that she had another potential candidate for this project sitting right next to her as she said, "Wait... would you be interested in doing it Pan?"
Pan was taken aback as she never expected Bulma to actually ask and was now fumbling for what to say as while yes she was just fantasizing about it, that didn't mean she would actually do it... would she? Thankfully she wasn't forced to dwell on this to long as Bulla walked in saying, "OK let's go."
"Great," said Pan as she actually flew off the couch and grabbed onto Bulla's hand pulling her quickly to the door to escape this situation, "for now," she mentally added on as thoughts about the offer still swirled in her head.
"Um, OK see you girls later, and Pan remember to think about my offer," said Bulma as she was made visibly nervous by Pan's eagerness to leave.
"Will do," said Pan as she and Bulla headed out the door.
Soon after Pan sat Bulla back on the ground and landed, resulting in an annoyed Bulla saying, "OK, what was that about?! It felt like you were gonna pull my arm out its socket!"
Pan blushed in embarrassing as she scratched the back of her head saying, "Yeah sorry about that. It's just your mom was telling me about her business opportunity-"
At hearing that Bulla interrupted her saying, "Let me guess, she offered this whole move thing to you too."
"Yeah," responded Pan as her embarrassment started to melt away at hearing that Bulla already knew the basics of her situation.
That calm wasn't matched though as Bulla tossed in the arms in air and had an agitated look on her face. "AHH! Seriously, I don't want to move because I don't want to leave my friends and so then she offers the move TOO my best friends," said Bulla. "So you're gonna say no right?"
"Well..." said Pan as she trailed off.
"Wait, are you thinking about saying yes?" said Bulla.
"Well, I am at least a little," said Pan before raising her hands defensively as she continued saying, "Don't get me wrong, I like hanging out with you and all. It's just, I don't know it's just sometimes I feel like even though I'm older and I've been through so much people still treat me like a little kid. It's like nothings changed since before I went into space to help find the Black Star Dragon Balls with Trunks and Grandpa Goku."
"Oh come on, your parents don't treat you like a kid," said Bulla trying to calm her friend down.
"I don't mean them, it's just like people in general. Haven't you ever noticed it before?" said Pan.
"Not really, but then again pretty much every time we go out I have to deal with some cheesy guy trying to flirt with me," said Bulla.
At this Pan looked at her as she said, "OK then, well pay close attention today and you'll see what I'm talking about."
"Fine," said Bulla as she chuckled at what had to be an exaggeration from her friend.
Soon they entered the mall and where looking around at clothes. Pan picked up a pink t shirt and turned to ask Bulla's opinion on it.
However she didn't get an answer as one of the previously mentioned cheesy guys walked up to Bulla and leaned on the table with a grin as he said, "Hey hot stuff, how you doin?"
Bulla, wanting to both get rid of this guy and prove her friend wrong, said "Alright, but kinda busy. Maybe my friend Pan will want to talk."
The guy then looked over at Pan and bluntly said, "Hey kid doing good, good," before turning back to Bulla and saying, "So how about we drop your little sister off at the play area and you and me grab a bite to eat?"
Pan turned red with anger as she started marching up behind this guy and Bulla, having seen Pan be proven right, simply nodded her approval as Pan tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned around she kicked him clear across the store where he landed right in the ladies changing room.
They where then greeted by a chorus of screams and accusations of "pervert" as the guy, now clutching his side in pain, ran away. Meanwhile an old man, whom the girls recognized as Master Roshi, slipped out of the side of the changing room mumbling to himself, "Curse these young fellas, thinking they can just barge in and get a peak and ruining it for us old pros."
As Roshi was slipping away Pan made a small ki orb on the tip of her finger and flicked it at him knocking him down, as both the girls laughed at this little punishment.
They both walked out of the store and spent some time just window shopping as Bulla said, "Way to handle that jerk back there, and give the old man some punishment too."
Pan chuckled before saying, "No problem, but you get what I was saying now right?"
"Yeah I do, and thinking back I now realize that it probably happened just about every time we go out," said Bulla.
"YUUUPPP!" said Pan, happy that her friend understood what she was going through.
"Well I mean, if you really want someone to treat you like you're older you could ask to train with my dad. I mean, I know he goes easy on me but from what Trunks told me, he's been treating him like an adult pretty much since he was born," said Bulla as she laughed a little thinking about that.
"I already tried that but every time I ask him to train me he's all like 'Of course not, I need to push myself to my absolute limit and beyond to make sure I'm ready for when that clown Kakarot comes back to Earth. I don't have time to waste on a brat who can't even turn Super Saiyan'," said Pan exasperated
Bulla chuckled as she said, "OK, first off that impression was spot on," resulting in Pan calming down a bit as she giggled in response. "Secondly, why is it that you can't go Super Saiyan anyway? I mean I'm not really the fighting type so I don't fully understand it but from what my dad says you pretty much just need to get really mad and no offense but you got quite the temper there."
"I wouldn't say my temper is that bad," said Pan resulting in a flat look from Bulla before she continued saying, "Anyway, I wondered the same thing and after talking to my dad about it I found out Saiyan genetics is a bit of a double edged sword when it comes to power."
"What do you mean?" asked Bulla in confusion.
Pan sighed before saying, "Plain and simple, for a Saiyan to turn Super Saiyan they need to push their mind AND their body to their absolute base limit, but with each generation a Saiyans potential gets stronger and... well I know neither of us ever saw my dad at his peak but you can get a pretty good idea of how high my base limit must be given how strong my Grandpa Goku is."
"Very true," said Bulla with a grin before she continued saying, "But that hasn't stopped you from trying."
"What do you mean?" said Pan with a slight blush.
"Come on, don't give me that false modesty. I may not be able to do much but after the whole Baby incident my dad insisted I at least learn how to sense ki and when you kicked that guy earlier I got just the slightest peak at your full power and it's leaps and bounds higher than what it was before," said Bulla.
"I guess so," said Pan as she smiled and scratched her head nervously. She was about to say more, but then they heard a ringing as her phone went off and she looked to see that it was her Grandpa Satan calling her. "OH, OK if you want a prime example of people treating my like a child just listen to how my grandpa talks to me," said Pan as she held up the phone so both of them could hear and hit the answer button saying, "Hey grandpa."
"Hey pumpkin-wumpkin, how's my little sweetie doing today?" said Mr. Satan.
"I'm good," said Pan, her voice laced with annoyance at all these cutesie nicknames, meanwhile Bulla was snickering and trying not to laugh.
"That's good... listen sugar plum I can't make it to lunch today. There's some punk out in the sticks who claims he can beat the world champ and won't rest until I fight him, or at least my top student Majuub does," said Mr. Satan.
"Oh, that's fine," said Pan.
"Now pumpkin, there's no reason to put on a brave face. I know you gotta be upset that your old grandpa can't take you out for ice cream like you wanted," said Mr. Satan in a bit of a puppy dog voice.
"It's really fine grandpa," said Pan blushing as Bulla fought even harder against giggling.
"Well... if you're sure," said Mr. Satan
"Yes, I'm sure grandpa!" said Pan exasperated.
"Well, alright then princess. Don't worry though, tomorrow I'll take you to the park and push you on the swings for as long as you want just like we used to," said Mr. Satan.
"You mean when I was three," Pan whispered to Bulla resulting in some of her giggles escaping before she leaned back into the phone and said, "Sounds great grandpa, bye."
"Bye, pumpkin, I'll see tomorrow. OH, and make sure to hold my hand in the park so we don't get separated-" said Mr. Satan as Pan hung up the phone and shied.
Meanwhile Bulla couldn't hold it in anymore as she doubled over laughing, ignoring her friends blush, before she said, "OK, if I hadn't seen the guy do the same kind of thing, that would have still convinced me you were right," as she continued laughing.
"Yeah," said Pan as a few chuckles escaped her before she grew quite again as she said, "Hey."
Instantly Bulla realized how serious her tone was and got herself together ready to listen as Pan continued saying, "If I do move to Canterlot City... we'll still be friends right?"
Pan stood silent waiting for a response, and preparing for the worst, only to be surprised as Bulla put her arm around her and said, "Of course we'll still be friends, I mean we can text email, video chat, and whatever else my mom's billion zeni computers can do."
"Really," said Pan as a surprised smile formed on her face.
"Duh, I mean if there's one thing we learned from that insane Time Space Tournament thing, other than the fact that in every reality my dad and your grandpa can't get along, it's that whether friends are separated by distance, time, or even LITERAL GODS they stick together," said Bulla.
"Yeah," said Pan as she leaned into Bulla and hugged her tight as she remembered that bizarre tournament and how, as much as she loved fighting, she had always been eager to stop by that version of Satan City and hang out with Bulla when she could.
Unfortunately that memory was interrupted as Bulla reminded her of another one saying, "Besides, I would never forget a friend who tried to ask me out."
Pan then pulled away from the hug blushing as she said, "Do you seriously have to bring that up now!? You know how embarrassing that was for me."
"Wasn't exactly a picnic for me either you know," said Bulla.
"Whenever a guy asked you out, you always turn him down. How was I supposed to know you were straight!?" said Pan as her blush once again deepened.
"Hey, just because I turn down a couple jerk slobs doesn't mean I'm into girls. I mean think about it, you've seen the kind of guys who usually hit on me, if they were girls and hit on you would you say yes?" said Bulla.
"Fair point," said Pan as her blush softened and she and Bulla shared a laugh at that mental picture.
As the laugh died down Bulla said, "Speaking of which, maybe you'll meet your Miss Right in Canterlot."
"Maybe," said Pan before reality suddenly dawned on her as she said, "If my parents let me go that is."
"Oh right," said Bulla as she awkwardly scratched her head saying, "We spent so much time talking about how grown up you are that I sort of forgot that you aren't actually old enough to do stuff like this without your parents permission."
"Yeah," said Pan a little disappointed.
"So you want to go I'm guessing," said Bulla.
"Well yeah, I've wanted a change of pace for awhile now and this seems like a good fit," said Pan.
At this Bulla put her hands on her hips and smiled saying, "If that's the case then you need to tell that to your parents and hope they listen."
"Really?" said Pan.
"Well yeah, I mean if you want this then you shouldn't just give up without even trying to talk to your parents about it," said Bulla.
"You know what, you're right" said Pan as she was filled by a new sense of confidence as she said, "In fact I'm going to go ask them right now!" Her aura then flared up as she took off towards her house.
"THAT'S THE SPIRIT PAN!" Bulla yelled after her before turning back to the street as she realized what just happened and said, "Well, guess I'm walking home by myself now."
As Pan flew into her yard and walked through the door she never let that determination waver and she entered the living room saying, "Mamma, papa, there is something I need to talk to you about."
"Oh we already know," said Gohan sternly as Pan noticed that both her parents where sitting on the couch and giving her very serious looks.
"Really," said Pan as her confidence was instantly shattered, before she continued saying, "How?"
"Bulma called us and told us all about this business opportunity she offered you," said Videl equally stern.
Pan panicked for a moment before remembering Bulla's words of confidence as she looked up saying, "Look, I know what you're gonna say-"
Pan was interrupted though as a smile came onto Gohan's face as he said, "So you know we're OK with it then."
"Well of course I do but," began Pan before she realized what her father just said as she continued saying, "Wait what?"
"Gotcha," said Videl laughing before she continued saying, "Sorry sweetie but once we heard about this and how you might want to do it, we couldn't resist at least going through the motions of the 'doubting parents act'."
"OK, sure," said Pan ignoring the fact that her parents had just pranked her, "But you're seriously OK with me going?"
"Well, it's not like I could say no to you just moving to another town for a year or two to go to school after I went to a whole other planet when I was less then half your age and fought a genocidal alien mad man and his personal army," said Gohan chuckling as even he realized how weird of a statement that was.
"Really!" said Pan in excitement at hearing an inarguable go ahead from her dad before turning to her mom and saying, "What about you mamma?"
"Well... I admit I was a little scared at first, but then I thought about how down you seem sometimes and I know you don't want to talk about it but I just got the feeling that this might be something that could help get you through it. Besides ever since you were a baby I wanted you to have all the options to do whatever you want, that's why I always made sure you got to spend equal time with both Chi-Chi who wanted you to be a scholar and Goku who wanted you to be a martial artist so you could learn about both and decide for yourself," said Videl.
"Your mother's right honey, this is your choice and no matter what you say we'll support it," said Gohan as both he and Videl warmly smiled up at her.
Pan had tears of joy flow down as a smile beamed on her face and she ran up hugging her parents saying, "Oh thank you mamma, thank you papa. I know I'm gonna miss both of you while I'm gone, but I just feel like this is the change I need in my life right now."
"We're gonna miss you too Pan, which I why I got a little surprise for you that will make it easier for you to visit," said Gohan.
Pan then got up surprised as she said, "Really, what?"
Gohan then stood up and opened up the window as he said, "Something that I started using around your age," before he stuck his head out the window and yelled, "NNNNIIIMMMMBBBUUUSSSS!"
Pan stood their confused as her father pulled his head back in the window before a yellow cloud suddenly flew into their living room and Gohan sat on top of it as he said, "This is the flying nimbus. My dad gave it to me when I was around your age, well technically he was dead so he just used King Kai to tell me I could have it, but still I'd like to give it to you now."
"Really!" said Pan. excited at this sudden gift as she ran up to the cloud and Gohan got off of it as she sat atop it herself.
"Now it can't fly as fast as your top speed, but it is nice to be able to fly without getting tired and having to stop and pop a Senzu Bean," said Gohan, happy to see this look of excitement on his daughters face.
That look of excitement melted away to one of embarrassment as she said, "I'm really honored dad, but I don't think I'll really need it."
"Wait, but why?" asked Gohan in confusion.
"Welllll, as you know I've been training in my free time and one of the things I've been trying to do is learn some of the techniques I've seen over the years that seem useful and welll," said Pan before reaching her right hand up to her face and placing two fingers on her forehead before she disappeared, only to quickly reappear wearing a pair of red rimmed sunglasses.
"Wait, but aren't those," said Gohan dumbfounded.
"Surprise," said Pan with a nervous smile.
Meanwhile on his private island several hundred miles away, a confused Master Roshi cried out, "PAN JUST DONE STOLE MY GLASSES!"
"Wow, um congrats Pan! My dad said Instant Transmission was such a hard technique to learn that I never even tried it," said Gohan filled with a renewed pride at his daughters accomplishment.
Meanwhile Videl started laughing as Pan and Gohan looked at her confused. "You OK mamma?" asked Pan confused.
"It's nothing, it's just here we all are doing a tearful goodbye and talking about how difficult visiting might be, meanwhile you know a technique that could let you visit everyday if you wanted," said Videl as she continued laughing.
Upon realizing just how right she was Pan and Gohan joined in on the laughter.
The next week went by relatively quickly for Pan as she went over the finer details with Bulma about the move, packed her things, including some souvenirs she had been collecting from her adventures over the years,, and finally informed everyone of the move so they would be able to come by when the day came, which it soon did.
As Pan stood outside holding her bags she looked out at her assembled friends and family and there various reactions. Chi-Chi was beaming with pride at her granddaughter for going to school so far away, though she wished it was a more prestigious one, Trunks and Goten both smiled at her and wished her luck, Mr. Satan was doubled over crying at how his "grandbaby" was growing up and was unexpectedly joined by Giru who was crying about the fact that his first friend was leaving. Part of her was tempted to change her mind at seeing that, but all thoughts of that ceased when she saw her mom, dad, and Bulla all giving her warm smiles that seemed to say, "We'll miss you, but you got this."
After taking all of this in for a moment she smiled at everyone as she waved saying, "Goodbye, everyone! I'll be sure to visit soon," and as they all waved and said goodbye back she raised her fingers to her forehead and teleported away.
As soon as she arrived she looked around a bit and, after making sure this was the place Bulma had bought for her, she pulled out her new house key and opened the door. As she looked around at the luxurious living room she with greeted a large flat screen TV, white leather couch, and a bunch of other stuff she had never seen before as she walked up the stairs and after seeing at least three rooms that appeared to be bed rooms she walked to the end of the hall into what appeared to be the biggest room and was greeted by another large TV, several expansive looking lamps and desks, and a king sized bed with what appeared to be the worlds fluffiest blanket on it.
Once she sat down on it, she confirmed that yes it did feel as soft and cozy as it looked before unconsciously laying down and curling up in it as she said to herself, "Yup, this is definitely the start of a great change."