Co-written by SuperSaiyan2Link.
"Kaio-Ken Times Ten!"
Pan flew towards Commander Hale with this massive power-up, the two appearing dead-even once again in their spar thus far.
Trunks stood in the distance watching over the battle now that he had decided he would only help and instruct Pan under Hale's supervision.
"Pan's holding Times Ten for much longer than before. Her body's acclimating slowly, but surely to it."
**BEEP BEEP BEEP**
Once this was made audible to everyone, the two immediately stopped combating each other as Pan exited Kaio-Ken completely.
"The first time you were at this level of Kaio-Ken, you almost couldn't get out of it... but now I see that you can freely."
Hale peered at his wrist, seeing a virtual screen with a timer that ceased at...
"20 seconds. How do you feel, Miss Pan?"
"To tell you the truth..." she answered back, hands over her knees with steady breaths. "I feel like I could've gone just a few more. But..."
Standing back up straight, though still strained...
"Better safe than sorry."
"That said, we can attempt a few more seconds for the next session."
Hale typed on a virtual keypad, setting a timer for 22 seconds.
"Now then, another of Frieza's techniques..."
Trunks stepped forward.
"You'll need a volunteer for this one, Hale. Rocks won't cut it."
Pan saw Trunks standing in place, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.
"What you're about to see, Miss Pan, is the Imprisonment Ball. Frieza can use his energies to ensnare his opponent in a sphere. They remain trapped for some time until he decides to have it strike anything other than himself, be it terrain or one of his attacks."
Trunks opened his eyes and nodded to Hale.
"I'm ready."
Pan watched as Hale put his right hand over his left wrist as his left palm was directed at Trunks, energy emanating from it. She then saw a sphere emerge around Trunks, then begin to close in, Trunks not appearing to move during any of this.
"It can't crush its target, can it?" Pan inquired, knowing Trunks would be more than alright, but moreso worried about other recipients such as herself.
"It traps, but it does not crush. Attempting to do so would detonate it prematurely."
Now she saw Hale taking a step backward, his stance akin to a soccer player about to run and kick a ball back into play.
"With this technique, he intends to land as many hits as he can."
Sprinting forward, then with a swing of his right foot...
Trunks and the Imprisonment Ball that held him were launched into the air. Hale reached it in a flash, kicking it back down, then emerging on the ground to knock it away once more with a flip kick.
Pan knew Trunks could go Super Saiyan and he had volunteered himself, but even as she didn't sense or hear Trunks in pain...
"I get the idea, now wrap it up. Please!"
Hale put out his hand before the approaching Imprisonment Ball...
"As you wish."
Instead of kicking it, he used a kiai wave to send Trunks back down.
"The moment it touches down, Trunks..."
"I know!"
Pan watched the orb, in the distance, crash down into a simulated rocky structure, then explode. She felt the wind around her change and had to shield her face from pieces of rock, but instead of fearing for Trunks, she immediately tried to sense him.
"There!"
She saw Trunks flying in her direction, then touching down. Even with all of Hale's kicks that landed, he appeared little the worse for wear.
"How did you get out of it, Trunks?"
"Well Pan, there's a small window between impact and its detonation where one can escape. Your grandfather pulled it off."
"There is one other thing, Trunks..." started Hale, hovering down between them. "It also unleashes a vacuum effect of such power it can pull in those that attempt to escape it."
"Grandpa had to not just escape it, but with tremendous force to get out of the vacuum..."
"Pan. Trunks. You have both done well."
Both said their thanks back to Hale, but Trunks had his hand behind his head.
"I mean, I didn't really do much other than..."
"Nonsense, Trunks. You're ensuring our safety."
The next few days were a routine of Pan first battling Hale while using Kaio-Ken Times Ten at greater lengths than the day before, then learning of a new technique of Frieza's.
"Time!"
Hale checked his gauntlet's screen.
"Twenty-two. Now Miss Pan, watch myself and Trunks carefully."
From where Pan stood, she could see both from the corners of each eye, Hale out in the open while Trunks stood with his back against a wall.
"Is he about to fire off a blast or...?"
Now Hale moved so fast to her that he vanished.
"Still watching Trunks!"
In that split-second, Pan saw Hale's arm piercing through the rock wall. From that angle, it almost appeared as if Trunks had been impaled through the chest.
"Without Kaio-Ken, I couldn't even track that movement!"
Trunks seemed almost nonchalant, brushing off his coat and stepping forward afterward as Hale then flew in an arc over the wall.
"Focusing his energies in that instant, Frieza can move fast enough to arc behind his adversary and strike with enough might to pierce through even stronger foes."
Landing before Pan, pebbles still left on his hand from the wall...
"No doubt you could track it in higher levels of Kaio-Ken, but if he attacks you when you are not in it, you have to act with alacrity. The moment he disappears, you must be swift as if he will attack from behind at any moment."
"Twenty-four."
Now Hale had one hand out, the other holding it, as a pink orb formed, then grew.
"Unlike his death beam, this one is less for piercing and more so to overwhelm and break apart."
The blast that resulted left a massive hole in each structure it struck through, then...
"Gah!"
Pan felt herself off her feet just from its impact with the ground as a massive spherical explosion went off surrounded by sparks...
"...or is that electricity?"
"Unless you have the ki on hand to counter or overpower the Death Cannon, get out of its way and watch out for the shockwave afterward."
"I swear half of Frieza's techniques have Death in the name..."
But this time, Hale decided to go over Frieza's technique in question before his spar with Pan.
"As you have known for some time, Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta. This attack, the Death Ball, is what he used to do it."
As Hale began demonstrating at least the stance, his index finger up in the air...
"He forms an orb that expands..."
...both he and Trunks noted Pan keeping calm, but clearly being bothered at the sight of it.
"I've seen it."
This time, Pan spoke about the events of her Earth without her hands closing into fists.
"He used it to destroy my Earth. Told me he'd let me see the fireworks."
Trunks stepped to her side and put a hand to her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Pan."
Hale stopped his stance and had his hands behind him.
"Then I will not carry on what I had intended without your permission, Miss Pan."
Trunks felt Pan stepping forward and put his hands to his sides.
"What did you want to do, Hale?"
"At the tail end of our spar, I intended to unleash a Death Ball and for you to try repelling it."
"But that's... that thing can kill planets."
"Yes, but through reaching a planet's core, not by simply detonating the planet all at once."
Trunks approached Pan and turned to face her.
"If you want to try repelling it, just know neither of us will let it reach you."
Hale had his virtual screen in front of him, swiping his left hand to scroll through what seemed to be notes.
"If you do not wish to undergo that technique, I could come up with another conclusion to the session if you so desi..."
"I'll do it."
Pan made her way to Hale as he turned his screen off.
"I can bet he used it on Namek. That's why you're going over it. And I have to be prepared for it."
"Very well."
Considering this session was different from the rest of Hale's, more-or-less out of order...
"So if we're not just aiming for twenty-eight seconds today..."
"Think of this as the graduation from his third form to his fourth and final."
Taking off his two-eyed scouter, then tossing it to Trunks...
"Face me however you wish and I will then determine your readiness to face his final form on your performance."
With a set of taps on his gauntlet without looking down, Hale had set a stopwatch with his left hand. One of his fingers waited to press until Pan had shouted "Ten", after which it touched down, starting the stopwatch...
...while going for a flying chop immediately afterward, blocked by Pan with both wrists. Seeing Hale's right hand about to join, she tilted her left wrist enough to face that hand directly into his right's path. A kiai blast pushed the right back, then, knocking his left back with uncrossed arms, was free to strike him backward with a two-handed strike, almost akin to the conclusion of the Wolf Fang Fist.
As Hale fell onto his stomach, stopping himself, he found that Pan had disappeared. Without sensing ki to emulate Frieza's lacking knowledge of it, he could not track her, even as he could hear her flying and felt the changes in the air. Once she finally approached him, he swung, but found her ducking in mid-flight to punch his side.
After being dragged back, Hale tried defending himself from whatever attack of Pan's could come next. Once he successfully avoided one, he flew between several spots quickly to make himself a harder target for Pan to hit. Despite this, she either beat Hale there or seemed to course-correct before he could move again.
Even with how they had squared off in their sessions prior...
"I think her in Times Ten has finally edged me out at this level..."
But Pan still knew why she was faring well so far.
"It's beating him so far, but once it runs out..."
She had improved her capacity to stay in Times Ten immensely, but knew in the field the risk of going too long with it. And while Hale seemed outmatched, she knew her hits hadn't truly worn him down.
"Hale can take all of it. He'll outlast Times Ten."
A thought in mid-combat...
"But doubling it... if it does enough damage for him or Trunks to call the fight..."
"Kaio-Ken...!"
Hale wasn't about to let Pan try to power up, not in a graduation session in this one, flying to her with all haste while firing to interrupt her...
"Times...!"
...but she had swatted the blast to the side without ceasing the last word.
"...Twenty!"
This was the second time Trunks had encountered Pan in this level of Kaio-Ken, only this time, it wasn't done out of stress or fear while hidden by a destructive orb, but her electing to do so herself with the red aura radiating well past her body.
Hale rapidly punched at her, but now Pan wasn't even needing to block with her arms, simply moving side-to-side.
"Hale can't even touch her!"
In the midst of Trunks' astonishment, Pan pushed Hale back with a simple hand out, then Hale would appear to have vanished to the untrained eye...
...his intended punch being stopped by two hands with Pan having turned around. With a twirl, she flipped Hale off his feet, then slid underneath and struck him before he rotated once. He tried stopping himself in midair, but Pan was already above him before he could even attempt it. With a blow to his side, Hale was rocketed back, then struck in the direction he came once more.
From his perspective, it was almost akin to what he had done when demonstrating the Imprisonment Ball, only unlike Trunks, he wasn't trapped, but simply couldn't move fast enough to escape.
"Without exceeding his third form's power, I cannot..."
Pan's rapid fly-bys and strikes were beginning to slow as she quickly realized...
"If I could go 28, maybe 30 seconds in Times Ten, then with Twenty, I..."
An ache was felt and she immediately knew from doing the math in her head, as well as realizing how much time had passed...
"15 seconds! Shoot!"
Directing Hale back down with a double axe handle, she touched down quickly and, with one last punch to give, had Hale rolling across the ground. She dropped out of Kaio-Ken immediately after that impact, falling to her knees and trying to keep her upper body up when she saw Hale was starting to recover in mid-roll.
"No, no, no! He's still not worn out!"
Upon seeing him flip himself off the ground with his hand, then landing on both feet, and feeling that she could barely stand even if she tried...
"I used it too long! I'm completely exposed! The moment he comes at me, I won't be able to defend myself! He'll run right through me!"
Not looking away or intending to lie down, but feeling like she was finished in the state she was in, Pan waited for Hale to strike...
...instead seeing him hover upward, one arm upward and a tiny orb forming from just one finger raised.
"Prepare yourself, Miss Pan."
As Hale went higher up into the air, the ball expanded, now several hundred times the size of the tiny orb it began as.
For the first time since the last day on her Earth, Pan saw the Death Ball form before her.
"You have just a few more seconds."
Pan stood back up, then began channeling ki for what she believed would be the best way to try repelling it...
"Kaaa... meeeee..."
Trunks saw Pan beginning to form Goku's legendary technique her grandfather's master originated long ago, as well as saw the Death Ball still growing. He knew all too well what happened when he tried something similar with Pan weeks back...
"It won't be like last time. Not sink or swim."
"Haaaa... meeeeee..."
Pan's attack was beginning to reach its apex as the Death Ball appeared to have done the same.
"Three... two... one..."
Even as Pan wanted to fire the beam immediately, she waited for Hale to begin his attack proper.
"Throw it."
"Go!"
The moment she saw just the slightest twitch of Hale's index finger and the smallest movement of the Death Ball downward and diagonally in her direction...
"HAAAAAAAA!"
Trunks saw the Kamehameha, one of a greater size and power than he had seen used against the likes of Zarbon in her first mission on Namek, soon collide with the Death Ball...
...and was being torn through relatively with ease.
"Shi...!"
As much as it pained her to even think of it in the moment...
"Come on, body!"
"Times Ten!"
She tried to minimize the strain with the form she had gotten more accustomed to, seeing and feeling a clear change in the Kamehameha besides just appearing larger...
...but even then...
"It's barely even slowing it...!"
Feeling the ground beneath her start to lightly crumble as the Death Ball was halfway to its mark...
"Everything I got..."
"Times TWENTY!"
She saw the Death Ball nearly three-fourths of the way there when the Twenty Times Kamehameha enveloped over her prior beam, then made impact with the deadly orb.
"It stopped?" went Trunks aloud watching it.
Hale, hovering around to see it from the opposite side of Trunks, also noted this.
"It has been stopped."
As much as this would be a comfort to her and a huge accomplishment in another context, with her body not having recovered from using Times Twenty before and having to resort to using it just now in spite of this, Pan knew it was only delaying the inevitable.
"The moment I run out of juice, I won't be able to do a thing to get away from it."
This wouldn't be her demise, as she had help from two sources, but having a Death Ball vying to get to her still made things uneasy.
Trunks saw Pan dropping to one knee, keeping her arms and torso pointed at the Death Ball still, but increasingly strained while doing so. Not only that, but her Kaio-Ken began to peter out in brief intervals, during which the Death Ball would inch a tiny bit closer, but closer all the same.
"The Times Twenty's giving out!"
Pan couldn't bear to close her eyes, but also tried swaying her head to keep sweat out of them as they saw what was almost akin to a miniature sun was closing in on her. Feeling that she couldn't hold on to Kaio-Ken a second longer...
"You did all you could, body..."
Almost in unison, both Trunks and Hale saw her Kaio-Ken about to expire completely and both flew to intercept the Death Ball.
"We've got you!"
Trunks landed directly next to Pan, then shouted "Now!" The moment her arms ceased the Kamehameha, he pushed her out of the way of the Death Ball's path, then put both his hands up to catch it. Hale caught Pan before she could touch the ground, then helped her to sit down as they saw at first what looked like Trunks beginning to sink into the ground as the Death Ball reached him, a massive crater the width of the orb forming.
"I can't see him...!"
But as it looked like the Death Ball would finally go through the ground undeterred...
"Galick... Gun...!"
It not only stopped, but was being pushed back as Trunks actually appeared to be stepping upward while holding it. Pan saw his jacket's sleeves begin to sear and even his gloves becoming fingerless, but also noted a massive purple glow between his hands.
"FIRE!"
Trunks' beam soon rocketed the Death Ball away from him and upward towards the seeming sky until Pan noticed Hale raising one hand.
"Cover your ears, Miss Pan."
Pan did this as Hale formed and threw another purple orb of sorts, one much smaller than that of the Death Ball, which arced towards it and struck it. Upon seeing just a small distortion forming at its center...
...it exploded entirely, and Pan could feel herself being pushed downward, as well as the winds around her becoming more violent. She shielded her head with her arms and by ducking downward, not feeling debris, but strong currents from the result of the shockwave.
"Pan..."
She felt a tap on her shoulder, then saw Trunks' hand ready to help her up. As she arrived at her feet, Pan saw Hale with his virtual screen and tapping keys on his gauntlet.
"I failed, right?"
She saw him click just a few more keys, then shut the screen off before putting his arms behind him.
"On the contrary, you passed."
"But the Death Ball..."
"Stopping the Death Ball was not in any way a requirement. You held it off for as long as you could. That's all."
Turning away towards the Training Chamber's entrance for just a moment...
"Use these next few days to rest. You will be ready for his final form the next time we..."
"But I wasn't. I'm not."
Pan walked up to Hale.
"I wasn't fighting smart earlier using Times Twenty like that."
"You completely overwhelmed me with that. It outmatched his third form completely."
"You were more than combat capable after all those hits and I wasn't. If Frieza decided to attack me right in that moment, there would've been nothing I could've done."
As if anticipating Hale about to discuss Frieza not fighting seriously or wanting to drag out a fight...
"Now I know he plays with his food, but that was a free kill shot. You know I can't get away with that with the real thing."
"Even if I were to grant you that, Miss Pan, you will not be facing Frieza alone. He will have others to deal with besides yourself. And knowing your strategies formed between them..."
"He could kill me if I pull that again."
"Then it sounds like you've already ascertained what you need to do differently in the field."
Trunks, not liking the way Pan was talking about her performance...
"Pan, you're not..."
As if having read his mind, Pan knew what this was reminding him of.
"Like when I was training for Ginyu?"
She turned away for a second, breathed out, then turned back to them both.
"This isn't like when I was down on myself. This time, I know I'm underperforming by your own standards, Hale. Wearing myself out to beat his third form can't be a victory. Not when his final form will follow."
Sitting down criss-cross, she looked down, then sighed.
"We know you can't risk coddling me. Not when the stakes are so high."
She didn't know what to expect, with the results ranging from Hale believing she was right and needed to be held back from graduating up to Frieza's final form, or Hale telling her she was overexaggerating and had no reason to fear. The latter case almost sounded worse to her as it'd be like he was either ignoring her concerns entirely or writing them off as non-issues completely.
"Miss Pan."
She saw Hale in front of her beginning to crouch down to join her.
"I understand what you are saying. You have made several valid points. And your concerns are indeed worth pointing out."
Now criss-cross as well, his tail adjusting itself...
"As much as you have a point, you are forgetting another thing."
Putting his hands together in front of her...
"My concern isn't solely the toughness of my cadets, but their well-being. They require the assistance of others and time to rest and acclimate. If they aren't helped and eased, they break down. Requiring them to soldier on alone and push ahead when their bodies and minds simply can't will result in ruin more than it will 'toughen them up'."
Pan thought she heard something nearby, but quickly returned her focus to Hale, who continued.
"In many ways, it is the ones who try only to become tougher who break down easiest. Because when the sole attribute they've worked towards has failed them, they have nothing else to call upon."
This already sounded akin to many of her opponents in history thus far.
"You've seen it in some of your battles. When someone has only known their overwhelming strength bringing them victory, anything threatening that illusion tears them apart. They make worse decisions and become more vulnerable than their supposed lessers."
One of his hands pointed towards Pan.
"But if your well-being is kept at the center, you will find better solutions and keep a cooler head in the heat of such battles. And that is what I hope to guide you towards."
Pan realized as much as her mission to defend history made it sound like she had to be pushed well past the breaking point in order to keep up with it, none of her teachers and instructors at Toki Toki City ever had her put in such a position. The threat was real and had to be prepared for, but never at the cost of her well-being.
"Pushing me like that wouldn't have helped my missions."
Hale made his way up to his feet as Pan followed suit.
"Think on these sessions in preparation for what is to come, Miss Pan, but do rest."
Putting her hands together, then nodding to him...
"I will, Commander Hale."
Hale then couldn't help but notice two shadows of those behind him, the first being a familiar coated one and the other with a tail just like him.
"Well said, Commander. I never had any doubts."
He realized then that Beetro had entered after the session unseen.
"I couldn't be more proud of you," went the medical Saiyan, hugging Hale from behind.
Hale put both of his hands atop of Beetro's, then lightly put his forehead against his, the two closing their eyes as they wore heartfelt smiles.
Having left Hale and Beetro, Pan and Trunks sat atop the academy's roof. Their conversation seemed to have hit a rut with Trunks, hunched over looking downward at the patrollers below him, as well as back to the Hercule statue, recalling all too well...
"This was where she first talked about Colm..."
He closed his eyes, pained by what he had done using his name.
"Trunks, is something wrong?" asked Pan, taking notice of all this.
Not wanting to hide anything else from Pan after what had happened before, he spoke aloud, however well or poorly he conceived his words beforehand.
"I don't think I ever apologized for using Colm the way I did. It was none of my business treating your memory of him that way. Like a prop."
"Look, I think we both realize now the method to unlock Super Saiyan wasn't good, but I understand why you did what you did."
"I should've told you what happened to my Gohan long ago. Instead, I kept it from you, thinking you'd blame or hate me for it..."
He paused upon feeling Pan's hand over his shoulder.
"I've been keeping something from you since we got here, Trunks. I've told you and the Supreme Kai of Time almost everything that happened except the day before."
She put her hands together as Trunks sat up straighter.
"The day before Frieza's invasion was the World Martial Arts Tournament. My uncle Goten, my grandmother's youngest son, was my opponent. All I'd ever heard of Super Saiyan was in stories of my grandfather, and there in the ring, Goten... he was the first one I ever saw."
Trunks tried to imagine how it'd have felt from Pan's end.
"Once he went Super Saiyan, it wasn't long before I was rung out. I was happy for him winning the tournament, but I was so mad at myself for failing to achieve it still... even after so many years."
Trunks realized he went through most of his life up to that point unaware of Super Saiyan, only learning about its existence upon meeting Gohan. But for Pan...
"She was raised on it. The legendary Super Saiyan Goku. And trying to achieve it for all that time growing up, but coming up short..."
"That night, I planned to use the gravity machine at Bulla's. My father tried to talk me out of it, but once he showed me he could go Super Saiyan and never told me all those years, I snapped at him and ran off."
He tried rationalizing why Gohan would have kept this from Pan throughout her life and while at first thinking of potential danger to the planet, Trunks reached another conclusion.
"Your father did what he did because it was peacetime. Because there were no such battles to be had."
He wasn't about to say this out loud, both not to interrupt Pan and because it might not have been what she needed to hear in that moment.
"Once there at Bulla's, I wanted to achieve Super Saiyan right then and there, three hundred times gravity or whatever it took. Vegeta had to talk me out of it. Told me it was my Saiyan pride and that'd only lead to ruining myself and everyone around me."
"Is that when he told you he was responsible for the Cell Games and your grandfather's death?" Trunks asked.
"Yeah. That same day."
He had something to ask regarding the topic, and as much as he tried to word his inquiry well...
"Were you... jealous of your uncle?"
Pan could see Trunks immediately hated how his question sounded after he said it.
"I didn't resent him for going Super Saiyan when I couldn't. Right then and there, I wished I was more like him. Even now, a part of me felt he was better than me. That he deserved that chance which I took from..."
Trunks was thankful she stopped after he heard her deeper feelings on the matter during their last session, but still felt her hidden guilt of being the only survivor of her Earth via Trunks' wish on Shenron instead of one of her loved ones and friends.
"Like me, it seemed like we trained all our lives to be like our grandfather Goku. Only difference was for him, becoming like Goku was his entire life. No school. No life other than training and fighting. Outside of family, friends, and my Earth's Trunks being like a brother to him from childhood, he just didn't do people. He'd visit years at a time, but otherwise Goten was just... alone. He got strong, sure, but..."
Trunks saw Pan's demeanor and expressions slowly shifting away from reflective and instead becoming ones of clarity.
"Now I realize I wouldn't have changed a thing about my life. I couldn't trade Bulla or anyone to become my grandfather. If becoming a Super Saiyan meant giving them all up, everything else about my life up..."
It dawned on her that when Trunks said she had gone Super Saiyan after it seemed like all her friends and family had been killed by Frieza...
"...it's like I got what I wanted, but at that cost..."
"No matter how much worth it'd give me, I wouldn't..."
"Going Super Saiyan isn't what gives you worth. It's you, Pan."
Trunks had finally interrupted her, but he felt strongly about what he had to say about her even as he wasn't catching her talking down to herself.
"Look at everything you've done. The plans you came up with. The battles you helped us win. The lives you saved. All of that without needing Super Saiyan. Heck, doing all of those things without it speaks volumes about you."
Pan thought back to all her missions, even the ones where she was heavily outmatched, and everything he said seemed to click into place.
"Now say in time, you do finally find the way to go Super Saiyan freely... but it's not about being a late bloomer Super Saiyan, where going Super Saiyan will give you worth."
Pan saw all the moments of her life from childhood to teenhood to eventual adulthood where she felt she was lesser for not being able to achieve Super Saiyan, then transitioned to all her accomplishments outside of the Time Patrol, and beyond physical feats to what she meant to those around her.
"You already do and will always have worth."
Trunks saw Pan turning around and walking away from the edge of the academy's roof and he followed until she stopped in place.
"Maybe I didn't say it right, but I..."
She turned back to him in tears...
"I meant every word."
...but these weren't tears of sadness. While not exactly filled with joy in that moment, Pan's smile told Trunks just what his words meant to her...
...as did the hug that followed.
"That's all I've ever wanted to hear, Trunks."
He then put his arms around her as they remained standing in place, the side of her face against his shoulder looking outward. Pan closed her eyes as Trunks lightly rocked back and forth, her feeling the slight movement. She felt free from so many of her past burdens, which were now no longer dragging her down.
"It's like being weightless..."
Earlier
"It has been 24 hours, yet we have not heard back from him."
"24 hours HIS time, Mira."
Towa was hard at work on the project she agreed to for their mysterious ally she corresponded with during Mira's recovery.
"I still have a few days left to work on it."
"What arrangement do you have with our new colleague, Towa?"
"First, he desired a set of Dragon Balls, then when I asked what he would wish for, I told him I could grant it for him myself."
"And just what is it that he wants?"
"The one thing his rule can't buy..."
Days later
"You held Kaio-Ken Times Twenty for that long?!"
Amura, who had taught Pan and Umiu the base technique after Pan's first battle with Vegeta, was amazed by what she had done.
"What about you, Amura?" the short Namekian asked.
"I barely dabble in Times Ten to begin with. Times Twenty's a whole other league."
"If you taught me..." entered Pan. "If you taught us both... I know you'll get to Times Twenty."
Even with Amura imagining that Pan clearly wielded the greater power of the two, she found Pan's words encouraging.
"Well in that case, don't get too comfy," Amura playfully teased. "Maybe I'll even go past Times Twenty."
"Now that would be something to behold," went Umiu.
Soon arriving outside of the Training Chamber, the three saw the door slowly open as Pan turned back to them.
"So... you both ready?"
"More like 'Is the Commander ready?'"
"I'll do my best, you two."
Entering the familiar simulated desert terrain, they found that not only Hale and Trunks waited for them, but also...
"Goma!" The pink-haired Earthling exclaimed. "You beat us here?"
"I kinda bumped into them, then they invited me over."
"Now then..." went Trunks, removing his coat to reveal a laser-tag reminiscent vest underneath.
"Hey, that's from the last time we all trained together," noted Umiu.
"It is, but with a new purpose," replied Hale. "Trunks will be wearing it and acting as a non-combatant. As he'll be close by throughout, it will be your task to protect him along with yourselves. Should I land an attack on him, it will be treated as a mission failure."
It occurred to Pan whom Trunks would be representing during the upcoming battle.
"Dende. That's right."
A massive holographic screen, almost akin to a see-through whiteboard, had an image of Frieza's first form materialize.
"Shorter than I expected," went Goma, taking his own height with his gloved hand, then trying to compare that with the image next to him.
"Why don't you join the others over there?" asked Trunks, gesturing towards Pan and the others.
Once Goma scurried over, a second image emerged next to the first: Frieza's towering second form.
"When you three joined us last, I was at his second form's power, which is at least eight times that of Captain Ginyu's."
"And considering Ginyu was basically Frieza's number one guy..." added Amura. "That's a lot of power already for just being halfway there."
"Indeed. And you three fought well alongside Pan."
Pan had seen the third form already, but the other three saw it for the first time as a hologram of it was now next to his second form's.
"Whoa, that is..." stumbled Umiu. "That is certainly... something."
"I don't want to get a headbutt from that dome..." added Goma.
"Huh," went Amura, a hand to her chin. "Wonder if he spits acid."
"It's tough, Amura," Pan replied to her. "At least three or four times that of his second."
Hale, stepping in front of the third form, put out his hand towards his left.
"And today..."
This last hologram formed slowly, feet first...
"You will all be facing me with..."
Trunks then sensed something fast approaching close-by...
"Huh?"
Hale took note of this, as did the other four, turning away from the holographic board towards the doors, which began to open.
"Pan!"
She had spoken to this patroller only a few times, and this was the first time he had addressed her by her name.
"Pima?"
His black and red gi became visible as it appeared he was trying to force the doors open faster himself.
"Pan, it's time! Supreme Kai of Time told me to find you!"
Pan slowly left the group, realizing now, just as they were about to practice against Frieza's final form...
"I've only trained against his first three forms, but now it's here..."
The door now open enough for her to get through, Pima stepped aside.
"Get your uniform on and get to the nest! Double time!"
Knowing how serious the matter was, especially if Pima treated it as such, Pan ran past him, the others hearing rapid and loud steps up the stairs for only a few seconds until it went silent.
Pan didn't want to shove anyone aside and knew flying around Toki Toki City at such high speeds wouldn't be permissible, but now in her mission attire with her Power Pole on her back, she tried avoiding crowds through whatever movements she could without bumping into anyone.
"Make way, please!"
Trunks, having caught up to her, was trying to direct the others aside for Pan as he led her towards the plaza.
"I thought she'd have called you."
"Communicator must be acting up or something."
Once they finally made it to the library, Chronoa had the scroll in the air telepathically for them to look over. Each took one side of the scroll and saw this alternate set of events unfold:
Age 762
Goku, Gohan, and Krillin lied down exhausted on the ground by the grassy shore. Frieza, in his final form, dragged Vegeta over by his leg with one hand, then tossed him in front of the remaining three, the Saiyan Prince's eyes closed and his body still.
None of the three could even lift themselves up onto their feet, let alone fight the galactic tyrant now. Frieza pointed his index finger from his right hand at Krillin...
...when a purple glow overtook him and he instead moved it towards Goku, as well as did the same with his left towards Gohan. He fired seemingly invisible beams at both their chests and as Frieza raised his arms upward, to Krillin's horror, Goku and Gohan were lifted up into the air.
"I can't...!" went Goku with great strain, unable to move.
He did manage to turn his head enough to see his son, whom was especially frightened.
"Gohan... you have to...!"
"I can't get away, Dad!"
"Please, not them!" Krillin all but begged. "Please don't!"
Frieza closed both his fists and what at first looked like Gohan's armor inflating then turned out to be energy building up within Goku and Gohan's bodies.
Even as he felt his own body essentially puffing with energy about to detonate, Goku's full attention wasn't on himself.
"SON!"
And Gohan, even amidst his own demise, couldn't bear being parted from his father like this.
"DADDY!"
All three had tears in their eyes as Krillin watched as two explosions followed.
"GOHAN! GOKU!"
There wasn't a single speck of either of the two in the aftermath. Frieza had brought total extinction to the Saiyans at last.
"That attack wasn't meant for either your father or your grandfather," began Trunks.
"You don't mean..."
Chronoa didn't yank at Pan's chain on her pants, but tugged it just lightly enough for Pan to take notice.
"Pan, three died over the course of the battle with Frieza: Dende, Vegeta, and Krillin."
"But if all three were on my Earth..."
"The Dragon Balls brought them back," Trunks started to clarify. "After the battle with the Ginyu Force, Gohan, Krillin, and Dende made two wishes on the Namekian Dragon Balls, the first of which was to bring back Piccolo, in turn resurrecting Kami and the Earth Dragon Balls."
"K-Kami?"
For Pan, this name didn't register a single memory for her.
"Think of him as Dende's predecessor on Earth. You might've seen him during the tournament when you battled Piccolo."
She did recall the lone odd one out: a Namekian in white robes with a purple cape.
"Look, we don't have time to explain, but the key thing is Piccolo was brought back to life, he was sent to Namek, and in time, Dende, Krillin, and my father were wished back."
Even with the fact they were alive and well on her world didn't change that they were now about to die long before her birth.
"As neat as it is knowing the Dragon Balls can bring people back from death, that doesn't lessen the fact they lost their lives. At least not to me."
Trunks let go of the scroll, watching as Pan seemed hesitant to close her hand around it.
"I'm not ready..."
He put a hand to her shoulder.
"Best case scenario, we get you out before things on Namek turn for the worse."
But he soon saw that the slivers of fear on her face gave way to determination.
"I'll stay until the job's done if I need to. We're trying to stop Frieza from doing something even worse."
"All the same, the moment it's all clear, where there's a window to get out of there, we'll retrieve you. That's a promise."
Her grip on the scroll tightening, Pan nodded her head at Trunks, then stepped away as she faded from his and Chronoa's sight.
The moment Pan emerged on Namek, it seemed completely different from her last four visits there:
"It's dark. But where's that light coming from?"
Minding her surroundings so as not to be seen, she remained on ground level, then peered to find from a distance that her father and Krillin faced Vegeta as all three stood in differing sets of battle suits and armor before a massive green and tan creature.
"Is that... a buffed up dragon with arms?"
"His name's Porunga, yes," answered Trunks. "They're making the first two of three wishes on the Namekian Dragon Balls."
"T-three wishes?"
As Pan tried getting closer unseen, now able to hear Krillin shouting...
"It's our only way out of this!"
...it occurred to her someone appeared to be missing.
"But where's Dende?"
Upon closer examination, Vegeta's shadow revealed something was dangling something from his hand.
"Dende, you've got to grant his wish!"
From where she stood, Vegeta was holding the young Namekian up by his collar.
"What the hell is he doing?!"
"He's..."
As Trunks' answer seemed slow to form itself, Pan heard Dende's younger voice for the first time.
"If we have no choice... I will."
"Good!" went Vegeta with an almost snarling glee as he didn't let go of Dende so much as threw him down with minimal enough force to not harm him. "You're a smart lad. Now get to it."
Pan took cover as Dende made his way onto his hands, then to his feet.
"Was he about to torture Dende for a wish?"
"My father... look, they could all sense Frieza was on his way and he was desperate to survive just as much as he wanted to become immortal."
It just occurred to her to try sensing any other high ki sources...
"There!"
She looked back, catching the direction where Frieza would eventually touch down from and seeing Dende with his arms raised to make the third and final wish...
...when it was as if the seeming night sky had instantaneously turned back to day. Porunga had vanished without a trace and the seven Namekian Dragon Balls, which glowed with light while surrounding the dragon, fell to the ground and now appeared to be stone.
"Where'd these rocks come from?!" shouted Vegeta, looking all around him. "Where's the dragon?! Why is it day again?!"
"The Great Elder Guru..." began Dende solemnly. "The one who made the Dragon Balls... has passed on."
"I'm sorry," Krillin replied to the young Namekian over the loss.
"Stop your bawling!" exclaimed Vegeta, taking a step towards Dende. "Now what about my wish?! My immortality?!"
"We were too late..." Dende calmly replied even as he knew what the Saiyan was capable of in that moment.
"Too late for MY WISH, but just early enough to leave me out of it, you...!"
He turned to Krillin and Gohan, Pan seeing his face absolutely fuming before she took cover.
"You little bastards! This is your fault!"
Watching from the corner of her eye, she then caught...
"That's him!"
Vegeta's berating suddenly ceased, Krillin seeing him appear to almost shiver.
"Wh-what is...?"
Looking behind Vegeta, Krillin's posture seized up and he became completely still.
"Krillin, what's...?"
She saw her father take a similar turn as the three Z-Fighters and Dende all saw from atop a nearby peak the figure they feared...
"F-F-FRIEZA!"
"Oh would you just take a look at what it is you have done..."
For the first time since that day, Pan heard Frieza's voice and even with him being in his first form and with this taking place over three decades before that day...
"He doesn't sound any different."
"My dream of immortality... utterly ruined."
Pan saw Dende slowly backing away from what he felt could at any moment become ensuing combat.
"Hide!" shouted the Supreme Kai of Time.
"What do you think I'm doing?"
"And the Ginyu Force is nowhere to be seen. Dead, perhaps? I certainly wasn't expecting that."
Pan saw Dende still coming her way and took hold of her cape to keep it from his view.
"And oh, you, Vegeta, were so close to immortality for yourself. It seems our one great desire is lost to us both, but it's much worse for me."
Despite standing as still as she could without giving any of herself away, Pan saw that her shadow began to shift out slightly from cover.
"Crap..."
"Now this is a rarity. In fact, this is a first. Not once before has anyone ever gotten me this mad."
Dende peered over as much as he could without losing any sight of Frieza, seeing only a glimpse of Pan's shadow.
"What... who could this...?"
He thought back to the three he had encountered when his village's warriors and two of his siblings, Moori and Cargo, were slain:
Frieza, who commanded them.
Dodoria, who had slain them all by himself.
And the caped one…
As much as Pan wished it, she didn't have any room to maneuver without stepping out in front of Dende or fly upward without being spotted by the others.
From a closer examination of the shadow, Dende saw what he believed to be a piece of fabric of some kind...
"A cape!"
Pan felt Dende stopped moving, then saw that he was terrified.
"And not once has anyone ever made such a fool of Fr..."
"Agh!"
Dende fell onto his back and scurried back, as at least reaching Gohan and Krillin would increase his odds of surviving. All four combatants took note of this and turned to him.
"From behind us!"
"Dende, what are you...?" Gohan began to ask.
"The one with the cape!"
Pan had once again been caught before a battle due to her cape.
"Double crap!"
All four immediately drew a conclusion as to who he was referring to and Frieza's smile was not just hiding his fuming rage, but also had a spark of excitement.
"Ah. Then perhaps word of Zarbon's demise was exaggerated after all..."
"There's no way..." went Krillin in an attempt to rationalize. "He couldn't have..."
Vegeta tried to do the same, but thought back to his last battle with Zarbon.
"I slew him myself... but I did the same to Dodoria and yet..."
As a precaution, he formed an orb of ki in his right hand.
"...he came back, even stronger than before, and he nearly..."
Pan sensed Vegeta's ki building up and saw just how determined in that moment he was to dispel the possibility of another surviving opponent coming back to repay the favor.
"Oh no you don't!" the Saiyan Prince shouted before throwing the orb, which curved towards where Dende spotted her.
"Triple crap!"
Pan flew around the structure, now facing Gohan and Krillin turning and seeing her as Vegeta's orb all but shattered her cover from before. Dende still appeared panicked at her very presence and hid behind Gohan.
"W-wait, Dende!" Krillin shouted. "She's on our side!"
"You idiot!" berated Vegeta. "Why were you hiding?!"
"Ah."
After seeing Pan for the first time, Frieza decided to hop down off of the peak to ground level.
"I know you."
None of the others knew what to make of this, but Pan especially was caught completely off-guard.
"How? How could Frieza... the Frieza of the past... know me?"
He tapped on his red scouter over his left eye, as if to answer the question he was sure she was asking.
"When I listened in to the feed on Vegeta and Nappa's scouters, finding that they sought Dragon Balls for immortality and that the Dragon Balls were derived from Namekians, I knew to come right here. But I also overheard some chatter regarding you."
Vegeta realized right then...
"I destroyed my scouter, but Nappa's..."
"I believe it was your old colleague, Vegeta, who insisted that she simply had to be..."
Waving his hand in front of the Saiyan Prince...
"A surviving Saiyan like yourselves."
The Saiyan Prince tried to shrug this off with his usual demeanor.
"Hah! That's hogwash! He was an idiot! She's an adept Earthling, that's all."
"Really? Because outside of Dodoria, Zarbon, the Ginyu Force, and myself, very few things ever so much as rattled any of you Saiyans. Even Raditz never so much as feared anything that wasn't a Saiyan like himself."
But then with a few clicks on his scouter...
"And yet here is a select recording of Nappa."
What at first sounded like static soon could be made out as rapid punching and kicking. Along with that, grunts from Pan could be heard while those of Nappa's were much more audible.
"This isn't an Earthling! There's no way she could be! This much power...! This caped girl has to be a Saiyan! There's no other possible explanation! She just has to be!"
After clicking on his scouter to stop the recording, Frieza pointed directly at Pan's cape flowing in the wind behind her.
"And I do believe that is a cape you're wearing, yes?"
Pan heard Frieza furious with the four before him and now it seemed as if her presence had glossed over it almost completely with his focus now entirely on her thanks to Nappa's feed.
"Nappa said that in my third mission. Frieza would've changed history already from hearing that back then, wouldn't he?"
Both Trunks and the Supreme Kai of Time seemed as stumped as she did as to an explanation for this phenomenon unfolding before them.
"It left me quite curious and I thought I'd have to wait until after leaving Namek and heading towards Earth to find out for myself. But now here you are, saving me the trip."
He took a step forward.
"Someone who put that kind of dread into such a proud Saiyan..."
Pan had no reason to fear Frieza's first form, but the revelation that her actions may have left an impact after all...
"This whole mission's..."
Gesturing an open palm out to Pan...
"It is my pleasure."