Then Pan was a Zombie

Chapter 10

"Woah!" Pan ducked as a fist flew past her face. She flared golden, readying herself to engage Hirudegarn.

She darted around her foe, probing her latest opponent with her senses. Hirudegarn relentlessly pursued her, a chunk of the ring exploding as Pan leaped away from one of the creature's destructive punches.

"This thing is fast for its size," Yet, Pan detected a noticeable lack of technique in Hirudegarn's attacks. The demon was nothing but a mindless monster. Was Tapion unable to control it?

"Let's try this!" Pan unleashed a volley of ki blasts at her opponent, but they didn't even singe the monster's thick carapace.

"Shoot." Pan leaped away from another wild punch. "Let's try this, then." Her ki flared brighter, punching Hirudegarn from behind. But again, the attack did nothing. Her next kicks and punches ended with the same result.

"Useless," Bra made a derisive snort. "Is that the best she's got?" Her grandfathers watched with crossed arms, studying the fight with detached interest.

Gritting her teeth, Little Bra cheered on her counterpart even louder to drown out Bra's sarcastic comments. "You got this!"

"What is this, though?" her father asked. "He didn't do this last time."

"It's just like when we fought Hirudegarn before," Goku said with uncharacteristic seriousness. "This will not be easy."

"Sorry, Tapion," Pan said in apology.

Her ki flared like a supernova as she gathered energy in her palm, ready to unleash her most devastating attack yet. With quick steps, she pivoted around to Hirudegarn's blind spot.

"Kamehameha!" But Pan gasped in shock as her opponent dissolved into wind, her attack flying past harmlessly. She grunted as a massive arm swatted her like a fly, leaving a spiderweb of cracks in the arena.

A massive fist swung down to finish the job, but Pan slipped away, avoiding getting crushed by a hair. As powerful and destructive as Hirudegarn was, Pan's swiftness kept her a step ahead.

"Okay, that's just not fair." Pan's mind raced, wondering what her next move should be. A dark voice whispered, telling her to abandon everything to the wind and embrace the darkness. It told her it took an animal to defeat another animal. Anpan stared at her, expression watchful, expectant.

"No! That's not the answer!" Pan told herself, yelping in surprise as a sudden burst of flame shot in her direction. Her opponent had shot fire from his mouth, almost toasting her.

"Quite a predicament," Buu of Universe 4 said. "What will you do now, Pan?"

"You're fast, but let's see you dodge this!" An idea struck Pan. Her mouth stretched wide, eager for some payback.

"Uh, Pan," her father said, pointing at her shoulder.

"Huh?" She glanced down, yelped in surprise when she realized part of her shirt had caught fire. With frantic palms, she swatted it out. "Thanks." She blushed. Unable of feeling pain, she'd completely overlooked it.

"That was my favorite shirt!" Outraged, she charged her foe.

Energy gathered in her palm and she fired a ball of destruction. Like before, Hirudegarn phased into his wind form and the blast flew through him harmlessly. The ball exploded against the ground, creating an obscuring cloud of dust.

The reformed giant monster glanced around, unable to find his quarry. Then Pan charged out of the dust cover, golden aura alight as she gathered ki for her next attack.

"Kamehameha!" Hirudegarn howled in pain and fury as the blast connected. It swung a wild fist in retaliation, but Pan ducked. She fired another destructive ki blast but found Hirudegarn had shifted to its wind form. It roared in annoyance, swatting at the dust cover with wild attacks.