Sabriena leaned over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Tien had been relentless in their training, pushing her harder than he'd ever done before. She knew and understood why, but that didn't make it any easier, didn't make it hurt any less. Ever since Hybris had shown up at the cabin, all Tien wanted to do was train. From the moment they got up in the morning until they finally fell into bed at night, it was nearly constant training. Chores were done in a rush and meals were eaten quickly so that they could use every possible minute of daylight for training as the days began to grow shorter and the weather turned colder.

He taught her how to throw energy blasts, how to use them as a weapon in battle, as well as how to block an attack thrown at her. Goku stopped by most afternoons to train, save for the weekends when Gohan was out of class; Goku still trained with his son on those days. But the rest of the week, he came by the cabin to train with them, always pushing them to do better. Sabriena couldn't believe how much she'd improved since she'd first come out the cabin to train. She didn't have much choice in the matter, really. With Tien and Goku as her teachers, there was no time to slack off, no room for error. She learned quickly, picking up attack combinations in just a couple tries. It was either get it right or get hurt and she figured out pretty early on to pay very close attention so that she could learn each move and progress to the next. Tien may have been her boyfriend and Goku her friend, but in the yard they were her teachers and they didn't put up with anything less than her best. She appreciated that.

Tien mentioned that he wanted to teach her a new technique, but as of yet, he hadn't told her what it was. He said she needed to build up her strength and speed first, to get used to energy waves and using them before she tried any of the signature attacks. She understood why, but she was starting to get impatient. She wanted to move on to bigger and stronger attacks so that maybe she could start combining them with her magick like the other girls had learned to do.

Sabriena stood up and wiped her forehead with the back of her wrist, sweating even though the air was getting colder. "Are you ever going to show me this new technique?" she whined.

Tien frowned. He wasnt sure if she was ready for this technique. Although if he stopped fooling himself, he knew deep down that she probably was. Truth be told, he was curious about how strong her attack would be, considering her magick was based on light. He knew he was only stalling; stalling and thinking that maybe the war would stay away if he did so. But he was only hurting her in the end if if held her back. "You think you're ready for this?" he huffed and stood up straight.

Sabriena nodded eagerly.

"Fine," he said. "I want you to stand in front of me, over there by the cabin. You don't need to be close for this part. You have to see this, experience it so you know what your enemies will feel and how you can utilize that."

Sabriena gave a small smile and a nod and went to stand in front of the cabin. She wasn't sure what to expect, but she squared her shoulders, her hands bunching into fists, prepared for whatever he might throw at her. She was excited to learn something new, always eager to learn a new technique that might help her in battle. She didn't understand at first what everyone else saw in training. It had seemed like grueling work and nothing more, but after so many months under Tien's teaching, she found herself excited about it. Pushing herself further and further, seeing how fast she could move, how hard she could hit, how much she could take, always striving to better herself. "All right," she said, "I'm ready."

Tien almost couldn't help the smirk that tugged at his lips as he shook his head and braced his feet before raising his hands and spreading his fingers wide so they framed his face with Sabriena in his sights. He didnt know what he would do without this woman in his life and he had to make sure that she stayed in his life. And that meant teaching her everything he knew. He gathered his energy up and roared, "SOLAR FLARE!" The burst of white light shot out from him, blinding everything in his path... namely her.

Sabriena screamed and clapped her hands to her eyes as the light blinded her, making her eyes feel like they were being burned out of her skull. She dropped to her knees, rubbing at her eyes, growling in pain. "Dammit, Tien!" she cried. "You could've warned me."

Tien stood up straight and walked over to her, chuckling a bit and feeling slightly guilty at the same time. "Stings a bit, doesn't it? That attack has saved my life a few times."

She cracked an eye open to try to look at him, but her vision was blurry, the flash of light leaving spots swimming in her vision. She forced herself to her feet, still rubbing her eyes. "Okay... tell me how you did that."

He held up his hand and formed a small ball of energy there. "See how regular energy glows? I just concentrate a little harder." His brow drew together as he focused and the little ball grew brighter. "And I can make it as bright as its namesake. Of course, transforming the energy like that takes the harm out of it; it'll just make you go blind for a minute or two."

"No kidding," she said through clenched teeth as her vision started to clear. She blinked several times until she could see properly again. "Man, that hurts." She drew a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm herself for a minute. She wondered to herself if he wanted her to learn this because of her powers. It would make sense - it should be easy for her to do this attack. He'd taught her how to throw energy blasts now, although he and Goku hadn't taught her any specific attacks yet like the Tribeam or the Kamehameha. She wasn't ready for those just yet, but this one seemed fairly straight forward. "So how is it done, exactly?"

"Okay, so you know that when you fly, you push your energy out through your feet to lift yourself in the air, right?" he asked, pausing as she nodded before he went on. "And to throw an energy wave, you concentrate it in your hands. Well, the Solar Flare causes a blast of bright energy behind you. So you have to do three things at once. Concentrate the energy behind you, at the base of your neck. Then you have to push it out away from you in every direction, almost like you're flattening it, understand? And while you're doing that, concentrate not on making the energy strong, but making it bright."

Sabriena blinked several times, running the instructions over and over in her head, nodding slightly until she thought she understood. "Okay. Let me try this."

She strode forward to the place in the yard where he had stood before. She calmed herself further, then looked at him as she gathered her energy, holding her hands up by her face like he had. She felt a bit silly, she'd never done an attack with a specific name before... She concentrated on gathering up her energy, deciding not to try it in a transformed state just yet, and shouted, "SOLAR FLARE!" as she pushed the energy outwards.

Tien wasnt expecting her to grasp on to the concept so quickly, but he should have known better. The flare was fantastic and he immediately found himself laying on the ground, his hands covering his eyes, his head burning, eyes watering from the sheer force. He knew she didnt really have to be powered up to have her magick play some part in that. He should have known better, "Holy cow, girl!" he gasped.

Sabriena's eyes went wide. "HA!" she laughed. She hadn't expected it to really work on the first try. The endless hours of training were paying off. She put her hands on her hips as he sat up and rubbed at his eyes. "It didn't seem as strong as yours," she frowned. "And your eyesight is more sensitive than others. Are you sure that's enough?" She chewed at her lip, thinking she'd have to keep practicing to get it to work better, make it stronger. "I want it to burn their freakin' eyes out if I have to use it."

Tien groaned as he sat up, rubbing at his face, looking over at her with his vision blurred. "Oh, I dont think you'll have to worry about that. If you use that attack at your full power, everyone's going to go blind." He shook his head, blinking his eyes, testing his sight. "It might just actually have the power and heat of a real solar flare. You will kill someone with that attack." He let himself flop back on the ground, thinking it over as his eyesight returned.

She giggled and trotted over to him, flopping down on his chest with an "Umph!" She rubbed her nose against his, giving him a quick peck on the lips. "Aw, c'mon old man," she teased. "You're not wearing out on me, are you? Should I try it again? Oooo! Should I transform and try it? I wanna see what happens."

Tien chuckled, letting her lay on his chest. He loved that feeling. "Fine, fine, go on and transform, but lets move away from the cabin. I dont want to see it destroyed when you are learning this." He really would hate to see the cabin go up in flames because her attack was too much to handle. He had to see it at full power before he could decide what they could do next with her training.

She grinned widely and kissed him again before she jumped to her feet and offered him a hand up. They walked out across the yard, facing away from the cabin with Tien standing behind her. "Are you going to be okay there?" she asked worriedly.

"Oh yeah, anyone behind you won't be affected," he assured her. "Go on. I'm curious to see what happens."

"Okay," she said, squaring her shoulders again as she concentrated. She felt the magick surge through her system as her hair lifted around her shoulders, turning into a brilliant light of its own. She slowly opened her eyes and lifted her hands to the sides of her face, fanning her fingers out as she concentrated her energy and her magick into one force before she screamed out, "SOLAR FLARE!"

Tien never got tired of watching her transform, her hair even more golden than that of a super Saiyans. What he hadn't been expecting was the sheer force that was exuded from her attack and he found himself shielding his eyes at the last possible second. Good gods, that was blinding even from behind! He lowered his arm and surveyed the damage. The very trees and the grass in the field near his house were on fire as if a huge fireball had been shot straight through.

Sabriena's eyes went wide and her lips formed a small 'o' as she stared at the damage she'd done. "Oops!" she giggled nervously and dared to peek up at Tien. He probably wasn't going to be very happy with her for that one. "Well where's Jenny when you need her?" she joked, thinking they needed to put out the fire somehow. She bit her lips together and turned to her boyfriend. "Tien, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that..." She tucked her chin and looked up at him with big eyes, hoping he didn't yell at her for putting too much into the attack.

He chuckled at her, drawing her in close and tipping her chin up towards him. Although he didn't want to see his whole forest reduced to nothing, he was impressed. "Hey. Don't be sorry; that will be one heck of an attack on the battlefield. But, ah... just for me, how about you tone it down while we are training? Or else you might end up with charred remains for a boyfriend," he said, hardly believing his ears. To call himself a boyfriend sounded so... young. He leaned down and kissed her sweetly. "You did great, and the fires already starting to burn out."

She felt relief swoop through her as he smiled at her. She thought for sure she would've pissed him off with that one. She stood on tiptoe to kiss him. "Mmmm, my boyfriend," she giggled. "I kind'a like the sound of that." It was the first time he'd called himself as such.

She looked at the trees as the fire started to die out, some of the branches crumbling away from the trunks of the trees. "Wellllll," she drawled, scratching the side of her nose, "it should come back real nice and green next year, right?" She threaded her fingers into his. "Come on. You mentioned you wanted me to teach you magick. I learned something new today, so now it's your turn," she said, leading him down to the river.

Tien smiled at her, shaking his head as they walked back, heading down to the river, the refreshing cool breeze a welcome respite from the heat of the solar flare not moments ago. He really wanted to learn this magick. If he could understand it better, maybe he could use it, predict how his opponents would think, what they had to do to make their magick work, how much of a strain did it put on their bodies.

Sabriena stopped near the edge of the water and sat down cross-legged on the cool, smooth rocks as Tien did the same, facing her. "Okay, so it's sort of like gathering your own energy, except instead of pulling it from within, you concentrate on gathering it from everything around you," she explained. She held her hands out, concentrating on doing it slowly so he could see how it was done. "It feels different than using your own energy." Little, tiny balls of yellow light started to form around her hands, slowly gathering into one orb between her palms. "I talked to Jenny about this the last time I saw her and she showed me how she does it. Her magick turns blue and she said Leelee's is grey because of their powers." She held the ball of light for a minute before she released it, the orb breaking up and the lights returning to the river, the trees, the rocks, the wildlife. "Magick is everywhere, in everything. You can draw on it if you concentrate hard enough. Anyone can."

Tien watched, holding his hands out, "The concept is easy enough. I've seen Goku do it several times when he gathers energy for the spirit bomb. Never attempted it myself though." He focused hard, trying to draw up the magick. He wasn't even sure what it was supposed to feel like. It was hard to not pull from his own energy and instead use just the energy of that around him. He didn't have... what was the word... direct access to it like he did with his own body. After a moment he sat back and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "So, this is what it's like to be the student again."

"Yeah, sucks, don't it?" she laughed. "Try again."

He sat up straight again, concentrating hard, a look of frustration crossing his features. Every time he thought he had it, he realized he was just using his own energy instead. "Gah, this is maddening," he growled. "It's like trying to write with your left hand. It just feels wrong."

Sabriena frowned. She'd been expecting him to be able to do it easier than she could; he seemed so in tune with the land here. She thought for a moment before she sat up a little straighter. "Okay, let's try something different," she said. "Close your eyes." She nearly snickered at his skeptical look, but insisted, "Tien, close your eyes." She gave a little smile as he listened to her. Gods, he was so handsome. She shook her head; she had to concentrate, too. She remembered something Gramma had had her do once when she was little. "I want you to concentrate on everything around you," she said in a soft voice. "Listen to the river, to the wind. Feel the earth beneath you. Now imagine there are roots growing from your body, connecting you to the world around you. Slow your breathing. Every exhale the roots grow stronger and deeper... every inhale draws the magickal energy up into your body."

Tien would have blinked at her if he'd had his eyes open. The practice was something he could easily imagine, eyes opened or not. He had to mentally smack himself. He'd played the role of teacher for so long that becoming the student felt foreign to him now. It had been several years since he learned from anyone else.

He slowed his breathing concentrating, reaching out into the world around him, slowly feeling the coolness of the earth seeping into him, like a refreshing breeze on a hot summer day. So this was the energy of the world around him. No wonder it took Goku a while to soak it all up. It was slow, calm, patient like time didn't matter. Like a slow, steady heartbeat reverberating through every single thing around him. He was suddenly surprised that he hadn't tapped into this before. It was ancient, sacred, something to be respected, but solid and sturdy enough to be relied upon, too. He opened his eyes again, focusing on his hand, drawing up the energy around him, through him and pushed it up out of his hand like it was his own. The bright little ball was warm in his palm as he grinned, "Heh."

Sabriena gave a little squeal and clapped happily. "See?! I knew you could do it!" she cried, her eyes dancing. She leaned in, staring at the little ball of light. "Oh my god, I'm so proud of you, baby!" She leaned up and kissed him, smiling against his lips for a second before she pulled back. "Okay, so, Jenny said one of the first things she did was learn to shape it and then use it like a shield. But maybe you should keep practicing gathering it first," she said thoughtfully.

Tien chuckled and nodded, "I had a question. I was wondering about the healing aspects of this stuff. You know, just in case I end up with a busted knee that can't be healed normally." He looked up at her and the energy in his hand dissipated. "But you can teach me that once I've gotten used to this. I have to strengthen that first, you are right."

She nodded. "You know I'm still a little new to this myself, but we'll work together and figure it out," she smiled. "You wanna keep practicing or should we take a break for a bit?"

Tien chuckled and nodded. "Let's keep practicing for a little bit. Keep practicing the Solar Flare and not powered up, okay?" He grinned at her, "I'd still like there to be a forest at the end of the day." He looked up towards the cabin. "And maybe you should go over there to do it, too. It's hard to concentrate when my eyes are stinging and my head is reeling from that super attack of yours."

"Okay," she smiled and got to her feet, kissing his cheek. "Remember, draw energy from around you, not from within you. Relax. You can do it," she grinned, imitating the way he used to guide her through her meditation when she was first learning to draw out energy. She walked up to the yard a bit more and turned her back to him, making sure that she didn't transform this time. Using just her energy, she raise her hands to either side of her face and screamed out, "SOLAR FLARE!"

When Goku used his instant transmission to teleport himself to Tien's cabin for a quick training session, he hadn't been expecting to end up in front of a tremendous solar flare. He didn't even have time to shield his eyes before he was on the ground, clutching his eyes, pain singing in his head. "ARRRGH!" he screamed as he fell to his knees. "You Gotta be kidding me!"

Sabriena froze, her eyes going wide in shock as Goku fell to the ground. "Oh my god, Goku!" she cried and ran to him, dropping to her knees next to him. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see you in time to stop it!" She felt horrible - even though that one didn't have any of her magick in it, it was much more powerful than the one she'd hit Tien with. "Tien was teaching me a new technique and I was just trying to practice it. Oh, dammit, I'm so sorry!"

Goku tried to smile but couldnt manage it as a wave of pain passed through his head, "Oh boy... That's some attack!" He blinked a couple of times, but his vision remained black and he fumbled around for her, looking for purchase as he wavered, his hand brushing her breast accidentally, but in his blindness and pain, he thought it was her shoulder and he pushed, trying to get to his feet.

Tien heard the commotion and quickly put two and two together and hurried up towards the cabin. "Goku! Are you alright?" he called He froze when he saw the other man, his eyes squeezed shut, his hand touching Sabriena.

Sabriena's eyes went even wider and she grabbed Goku's wrist and slung his arm over her shoulders. "Easy there, boy," she laughed, her face going red as she shot a nervous glance at Tien. "Let's get you over to the cabin so you can sit down."

She put her arm around his waist to help guide him back to the cabin. "I really didn't mean to blind you like that," she said to him as she walked slowly, trying not to let him trip. They finally reached the steps and she turned him around and guided him to sit down. "Are you okay?" she asked timidly.

Tien couldn't help but let the smile grow on his face and he threw his head back and laughed. The blush on her face, Goku's innocent, blinded look; how could he be mad?

Goku moved and sat on the step. "Oh yeah, I'm fine, just can't see. Good heavens, Tien! How long have you been teaching her that one? Feels like I've been hit by a train in my eyes. I can't see a thing! If you use that in the war, the other side is going to be toast!"

A tiny smile pulled at Sabriena's lips. "That was only my third try," she admitted. "You should see what I did to the trees over there." She said pointing, but gave a little snort of laughter at her own stupidity when she realized he couldn't see where she was pointing. She sat down beside him and looked at the trees once more, a sickening feeling coiling in her stomach as she thought about what would have happened to him if she'd been transformed when she did that. "Oh gods," she gulped, feeling the blood drain from her face. "Tien, what if I'd been powered up?"

Goku chuckled, "If you had been powered up, I think I would be a smear on the ground right now! Holy cow! You just learned that? Good work!" He blinked again, trying to make sense of the grey shapes that were coming back to him. "Good grief! I hope I'll be able to see again. Tien, yours sting, but heck, she's topped that. Must have something to do with her magick. Good call on that."

Tien shook his head at Goku's optimism before he looked to Sabriena. "But you weren't powered up and you did as I asked. Hopefully next time Goku shows up, he'll remember to keep his eyes closed for a few extra seconds and not look at that attack directly."

Sabriena exhaled slowly and nodded, her fear subsiding a bit, but she made a mental promise to herself to never practice that attack again unless Goku was already there and standing behind her. She knew she shouldn't have said anything, but it was just far too tempting. "You never know. He might keep popping in just so he can feel me up again," she laughed, bumping her shoulder playfully against Goku's arm.

Goku's eyebrows went up into his hairline and he looked at her with wide eyes, trying to make out the grey fuzzy shapes. "I did what!?" His face turned red, he could feel it burning. "Sabriena, I swear I didnt mean to! Tien! I'm so sorry! You know I would never!"

Tien raised a hand and shushed him, but remembered Goku still couldn't see properly and dropped his hand back to his side. "Goku, relax, I know you couldn't see. No harm done... I think. Unless that shade of red is permanent on Sabriena's face."

Sabriena threw her head back and laughed. "I know you didn't! I'm just teasing you," she laughed. She linked her arm with Goku's and leaned against his shoulder. "I know, I'm just irresistible." She laughed harder as he sputtered and Tien shot her a warning look. "Oh, come on, I'm trying to lighten the mood here. I feel horrible for blinding you," she pouted.

Goku pouted too, letting himself relax as she leaned against him and he put on his best face for her, color and more defined shapes coming back into his vision. He gave her his big puppy dog eyes. "Well... you could repay me with some food... I'll call it even then!"

Tien just shook his head and laughed, "Geez Goku, its always like you are starving or something."

"Oh all right," Sabriena sighed heavily and got to her feet, giving a little giggle to show she was joking. "He is always starving," she said to Tien. "I was just about to fix some lunch anyway." She leaned over and kissed Tien, grateful that he had a sense of humor about the situation and didn't seem to get jealous or possessive about it. "Just as long as you don't as for, ahem, 'dessert'... I think we'll be okay," she teased Goku, throwing her head back and laughing as he turned an even deeper shade of red.


Author's Note: I know, I know. I should've updated sooner. I'll do better next time. If you guys leave a bunch of reviews, I promise I'll get the next chapter out quicker! *bats eyes innocently*