Dragon Blog Z #17: What If Pan Was Born In Future Trunks' Timeline?

Article(?) by Sean Wilkinson,

a.k.a. Illustrious_Owl_84,

a.k.a. A MasakoX fan

Hello, Ticketholders and Redditors!

Before we begin, please remember to like and comment down below, subscribe to my blog, and follow me on Tumblr, Reddit, and Facebook for the latest news on my content.

There were some misunderstandings about my response in this week's Reddit comment spotlight, a concept posed by Vandalia1998 on the MasakoX subReddit.

No text accompanied the titular question, and quite a few reply comments after mine asked how Gohan could have hooked up with Videl in the Future Timeline if there's no evidence that she would be alive, while others straight up assume that she would have died in that timeline. But the fact is (such as they exist in a fictional context), just like the Lookout and New Namek (which are common plot devices in "What If X Happened Differently In the Future Timeline?" stories), there isn't any evidence in the anime or manga to confirm Mr. Satan's and Videl's fates, so we fan-fiction writers can do pretty much whatever we want to make a story go a certain way.

Yes, there are things like characters acting out of...character...that are taboo (unless the story is that a given character does something different from the original). But I thought about some characters' behaviors and histories in the original material, and came up with the following, off-the-cuff reply for how Gohan and Videl's daughter, Pan, might come to be born in the Future Trunks Timeline:

Like Mai, Mr. Satan can survive anything short of the Earth exploding, and he loves his daughter more than anything (aside from fame). Also, if future 18 likes money as much as present 18, he could just bribe her into not killing anyone and take actual credit for saving the world until Cell shows up. Future Gohan and Trunks would sense Cell and come to their rescue, killing Cell easily because there wouldn't be enough of a population left for him to drink to get stronger. So Gohan and Videl meet while Hercule teams up with Capsule Corp for the reconstruction effort. Splitting from tradition, I'd put Mai and Yajirobe together and ship Trunks with 18. Vegeta and the human fighters would be wished back with Namek's balls, and Dende would be recruited as Guardian to make a new set for Earth, but let's keep the "natural causes" nerf in play so Goku stays dead. Then Trunks stops the Buu Saga like he did offscreen in his Super exposition dump. Battle Of Gods still happens, and without the Goku rivalry or Majin catharsis to close his arc, Vegeta doesn't qualify for the ritual, so there aren't enough pure-hearted Saiyans. After much groaning (and intimidation by Beerus), Vegeta suggests Tarble, who gets wished to Earth. Fortuneteller Baba gives Goku a day pass (and he becomes the Super-Saiyan God), with 18 (now going by Lazuli and pregnant with Saphri), Videl (pregnant with Pan), Gohan, and Trunks rounding out the six. The U6 Tournament has different players but ends the same, and the Black Arc happens a bit differently with Vegeta willingly partnering with Zamasu because of his resentment over Goku getting God and training with Beerus and Whis even though he's dead. He still gets Rose' without being replaced by Zamasu because Zamasu knows magic just like Babidi did, and he would have "gifted" Vegeta with power on a Suicide Squad basis. But when Vegeta realizes Zamasu's plan is to kill all mortals, he does a Rose' Final Explosion, taking out Zamasu (who did not wish for immortality in this scenario). And because no one ever found Gero, we get a Super-17 mini-arc leading into the TOP.

I was writing this on a work day, shortly before I needed to get ready to walk out the door, so that's where I stopped my answer. I look forward to seeing what Vandalia1998 does with their own take on the idea, and if you'd like to see me finish my thoughts and elaborate on some of the details in a future post, let me know in the comments down below, like this post, subscribe to my blog, and follow me on Tumblr, Reddit, and Facebook for the latest news on my content.

Tomorrow's Ticket Stubs continues the Independence Day spirit with a throwback/reprint review of a film where America's favorite actor tackles an interesting accent and plays a hopeless romantic without a country. Then, the Grimm Fairy Tales Retrospective covers a series milestone issue on Wednesday, and TBT 2023 pushes the Dead Parade through intermission with a look at an Extremely Loud film and its short-lived cash-in series that almost had the Touch.

Illustrious,

Owl.