Co-written by SuperSaiyan2Link.
Pan jogged over to the academy, readying herself for whatever test would be coming her way. As she stood with the others looking over at Commander Hale, holding something behind his back.
"Today, we shall begin with..."
He took out what looked like a book of some sort.
"...the Time Patrol manual."
To her surprise, today started not with physical exercises, but sitting at a desk and reading a Time Patroller manual.
"Now I really do feel like I'm at school again."
Pan knew better than to skim through the pages, though it was certainly a lot of information to take in: items and their uses, timeline alterations, and long-term effects of untreated distortions.
"Class...!" Hale shouted, getting the class' attention. "Before you can be let out into the field, you must know the intricacies of our role as Time Patrollers. So then..."
He took out a piece of chalk and wrote something rapidly. Just as Pan read the two words he had jotted down...
"Pop quiz!"
Pan noticed she wasn't the only one nervous about needing to remember the materials right at that moment.
"True or false: You are permitted to kill enemies outside of the timeline."
Pan wasn't entirely sure on this, then saw someone had raised their hand.
"Pima?"
"True... because due to these enemies existing from elsewhere, their demises wouldn't alter the timeline and instead would help to restore it."
In spite of Pima's standoffish mannerisms, Pan could tell he knew his stuff when it came to patrolling.
"Correct. As long as serious enough harm does not come to those who exist in the proper timeline, then it will revert once those outside it disperse."
Shortly after their classroom session, Pan and the rest were brought back onto the track.
"It's simple: just run across the track for as long as you can."
After Commander Hale gave the signal, all of his students took off, nearly blurs.
Some patrollers were running slowly by comparison, forcing Pan to move around them in mid-run. Others seemed to be evenly paced with her, and her with them. A select few seemed to zoom past Pan and the rest of the pack with ease.
"Don't worry about how fast they are: just keep going."
"Increase the gravity."
Trunks was at a console and with just an input, the gravity around the track grew.
"Ten times gravity."
Pan and the others immediately felt the area around the track becoming much heavier. She saw herself and a good chunk of the pack slowing down.
"Is this field like the gravity machine?"
At this point, she wasn't sprinting so much as she was moving at a much slower pace trying to stay upright on her feet.
"Increase it again."
Pan and the other struggling members didn't like the sound of that.
"Again?!"
Trunks pressed the console once more.
"25 times gravity."
Pan felt herself dragged down and put out her hand to catch herself.
"This... this is..."
With a forceful shove to the ground, Pan pushed herself back upward, but while standing, she was hunched over, unable to lift her upper body.
"No, I can still do this..."
She managed to lift one of her feet upward, then to the ground, and continued with the other foot. At this point, Pan was just forcing herself forward with one step at a time.
Trunks turned to Hale.
"Commander Hale. Isn't the gravity training... a bit much?"
"I won't have any of these men or women becoming casualties, Trunks... and to ensure that, they will be pushed to their brinks."
He pointed at the console.
"Another increase."
Trunks nodded and did so.
Pan and a few behind her suddenly felt themselves pushed onto the ground.
"50 times gravity."
This time, she couldn't bring herself back up.
"Fifty... fifty times?!"
Hale and Trunks could see some on the field alongside Pan on the ground unable to lift themselves off the ground.
"Hale, they'll be crushed."
"Do you think I hadn't considered that?"
With a remote in his hand, Commander Hale activated fields around the lanes of the track with the fastest runners.
"Those of you still going, continue for as long as you can."
From there, the remaining lanes had the increased gravity deactivated. Hale flew down, minding the fastest runners, to make sure those who were down before were okay.
For the most part, none appeared to be seriously injured: just sore from having to endure that much gravity for less than 30 seconds. Those that were hurt were carried out of the academy to get medical attention.
Pan managed to get herself onto her hands and knees, but could barely push herself up beyond that. Hale could see this was a big push for her.
"I take it you haven't trained with gravity before..."
She lifted her hand just long enough to wipe sweat off of her forehead.
"No. And I never thought it'd be like this."
Hale flew off to check on remaining patrollers as Pan allowed herself to fall onto the ground.
"And to think I almost did 300 times..."
Pan stood on two pillars in a large room with a floor far below her. Around her were dozens of other patrollers doing the same.
Two other pillars rose to her left and right with small bars emerging on different sides. They looked like Wing Chun dummies, but much thinner and not made of wood.
"You are to stand, defend, and anticipate for as long as you can without falling onto the floor below or flying."
Pan looked over at the dummies, which would begin spinning at any moment.
"Begin."
The one to her left span clockwise, the right the opposite direction. She stopped both with her fists, then saw them stopping and turning in the opposite direction.
This time, she had to face four bars: two high enough to hit her on the head, the other two low enough to strike her knees. Pan ducked, avoiding the top two, then stopped the lower two with her wrists.
It seemed predictable enough at first until some of the bars sunk back into the dummies while new bars emerged almost immediately, some higher and lower than those before them.
"Just have to keep a sharp eye."
Hale turned to Trunks.
"Faster."
Now the dummies were spinning much faster and Pan felt one bar strike her left side. She had to duck, barely spotting some spinning above her, then caught a swing on the right.
"They're fast. Much harder to see."
She stood up, moving her arms to hit above her, as well as below at a faster rate than she had earlier.
"Just have to keep up."
From what Hale could see, only a few had fallen off their pillars onto the padded ground below. But he also saw some patrollers almost nonchalant about the exercise thus far.
"Once more, Trunks. Faster."
For a moment, Pan could see the bars... and now she almost couldn't with how quickly they were going.
Each time she managed to strike one, she felt herself struck elsewhere, higher or lower. A successful block of the chest lead her knee to be hit, and protecting her waist led to her forehead being struck.
"I can barely track their movements."
One struck her back, forcing her forward, then another tripped her right shin and Pan saw herself forced off her feet falling back-first.
"No, no, no!"
She flipped in midair, catching herself on the pillars' tops with her hands as she barely kept herself up. She looked over at Hale, whom appeared neither impressed nor disappointed.
"She didn't fall... but she still has much to master."
"No ki. No special techniques. Only basic close-quarters."
Pan had been paired with a Namekian with pinkish skin in a green and white uniform.
"A little short for a Namekian..."
All the same, Pan got herself ready for the spar.
"Begin."
She moved in, then saw her way immediately blocked by this Namekian stretching his arms to block her path.
"Crap! I forgot all about that!"
Even in her training with Piccolo, Pan never truly fought him in fisticuffs, let alone had to counter his arm stretch ability.
"Guess I have to figure out a way now."
But this Namekian had charged at her, swinging away at her. It almost seemed predictable for Pan, who was ready to take advantage of a clear opening.
"Wait... I can't see his left arm!"
She felt something grab her by her ankle and yank her to the side of him. Left stumbling after this, the Namekian ran in for a jumping kick to her stomach, knocking her further back.
As much as Pan tried to counter the ensuing onslaught of stretchy-armed strikes, she kept getting struck on her sides, leaving her exposed. Just then, she felt two hands grab her by her arms, then toss her behind the Namekian toward the barrier.
**ZAP!**
Unlike her spar with Trunks the night before, the barrier seemed to sting much more. As she landed on her wrists and knees, she appeared slow to get up. Before the Namekian, who didn't show a hint of exhaustion, could continue his assault, Hale deactivated the field.
"The match has been decided. Umiu wins."
As Umiu left the ring, Pan had managed to stand on her knees and lift herself up.
"Damn it... I wasn't done... I could still..."
But she faced the fact that she wasn't in the best shape to finish the fight with him.
An Earthling in the stands got nervous seeing all the non-Earthlings around him.
"Wait, so you mean you guys stretching your arms isn't breaking the rules?"
"It's not a technique and it doesn't use any ki, so yeah."
He then turned to a Frieza race member, whose tail pointed at him.
"Don't forget tails."
The Earthling hunched over, utterly nervous at the prospect of being paired with one of them.
"Oh, what would Hercule Satan do?"
"It is vital for a Time Patroller to aim carefully and keep a close eye on their enemies and allies alike..."
But then Commander Hale pointed at a narrow hallway-esque maze of sorts.
"But more often than not, your enemies will not give you the opportunity to take your time. Thus, you will have to act and react quickly."
Pan stepped forward, the area of the floor she stood on rising a few feet.
"Fly through there and make it to the end as quickly as you can while hitting the proper target. Hitting any allies will result in an automatic failure."
She started floating off the ground she was standing on and tilting herself forward.
"Begin."
She flew forward and while it appeared to be clear-sailing at first, she had her eyes peeled for...
Two pop-ups appeared, in the shape of Frieza soldiers.
"There!"
She fired off two ki blasts, hitting her marks, then saw what looked like a miniature rectangular force field appeared in her path.
Pan basically screeched to a stop in midair to avoid hitting it, then flew around it. More Frieza soldier pop-ups appeared, which she was quick to dispatch. After blasting one at near-close range and flying through its remains, she saw herself about to blast a pop-up of...
"Krillin?!"
She didn't want to fail the mission and flew straight into the wall to avoid hitting it. But then she saw herself crashing into a field the Krillin pop-up had hidden from her vision.
"Just gotta pay attention! That's all!"
Pan saw herself coming up to the end of the hallway, which split into two paths, one to her left and the other her right.
"Right... it's a maze. Okay, just have to keep an eye out and I'll be at the center before I know it."
But she found that much time had passed as she still tried finding her way there. She was weary of targets popping up, not sure if they'd be enemies or allies and having to stop and check them.
"I'm taking too much time. I have to hurry!"
She tried zooming forward, but found so many fields popped up in front of her that she had to slow down or risk running into all of them.
"Where the heck am I? And where's the finish?!"
Pan had to retrace her steps, often flying through areas where she had already destroyed the enemy pop-ups around her. But at last...
"A giant floating ring?"
She saw it right before her in a tiny room: she had finally made it to the center. It looked like a portal of some sort emerged inside the ring as Pan flew closer to it.
"Let's just get this over with..."
Pan zoomed through it, then found herself back outside the maze, Commander Hale standing before her. He had a stopwatch-like device in his hand, which he clicked upon seeing Pan before him.
"7 minutes."
She wasn't sure if that was a good time or a bad time, but then saw what looked like a leaderboard of sorts on a screen nearby:
#1: 2:35
#10: 3:00
#20: 4:10
#30: 4:50
#40: 5:20
#50: 6:40
Pan figured there was much she could improve on the next time. But then she overheard a conversation.
"If it's just the same maze every time, I could ace it next time, right?"
"The maze changes every time someone steps in. Moves the walls and even the pop-ups."
That didn't sound too promising.
"Well, there went my plan."
"Your fists may not be enough against some foes. You shall learn to utilize these weapons."
Pan saw a container filled with prop weapons: swords, bo staffs, axes, knives, pitchforks, and even fans, canes, and whips.
Since she'd only really used one melee weapon before, the choice seemed obvious to her:
"I mean if I did use Grandpa Goku's Power Pole, I may as well use the bo staff."
But as she reached for it, Trunks' hand stopped her.
"Maybe next time. This session's about swords."
Trunks took one out for himself, then waited in the center of the ring as Pan retrieved one as well.
Pan had seen plenty of movies with people using swords, but she herself never used one before. The only person she knew who owned one was Yajirobe, and she was definitely never permitted to use it, let alone hold it.
But then she focused on Trunks, who awaited her approach while wielding his sword with two hands.
"Remember: no ki."
The other Time Patrol recruits watched in the stands as the two slowly made their way to each other, their prop swords about to be swung.
"Has anyone ever beaten Trunks with a sword?"
"Even without him using ki, no one has."
Hale simply crossed his arms as they saw the spar commence.
Pan swung downward at Trunks' shoulder, which Trunks side-stepped before swinging himself. She barely intercepted the sword coming at her head, then crouched down to swing at his legs. Trunks hopped over it, then swung downward at her.
Despite blocking Trunks' swing, Pan found herself knocked onto her back. She saw Trunks approaching and swung her sword to deflect as many swings as she could, but then saw her blade launched from her hands and out of her reach. At this point, there's wasn't anything Pan could do without ki as Trunks pointed the sword at her.
"Trunks wins."
"Told you: no one's beaten Trunks with a sword."
"How are you doing today?" asked Trunks, sitting across from Pan while the two ate.
"I didn't do as well as I would have liked..." answered Pan, stopping for just a moment to chew her food. "...but I know it'll take time."
Trunks was glad to hear her performance wasn't getting her down like it was the day prior.
"Believe me, Pan. The more often you work on those tests, the better you'll do at them."
Weeks had passed as Pan was in the classroom, now having a much better idea of the Time Patrol manual.
"True or false: You aren't permitted to speak to those around you in the past."
She raised her hand.
"Pan?"
"False..."
"And why is that?"
"I think you're allowed to speak with combatants for... say, strategies."
Hale smiled at her.
"That's correct. Contrary to what most believe, Time Patrollers are permitted to speak to individuals of the past..."
He did, however, turn his hand, pointing upward.
"...but it is important that they absolutely must not divulge too much about the future. Otherwise too much information may alter the timeline."
Pan ran across the track again, knowing that it would soon be...
"10 times gravity."
While still nowhere as fast when in normal gravity, Pan could keep a decent jogging pace in it. She saw that those like her that struggled with it the week before were also acclimating to it.
Even as the Wing Chun dummies span faster, Pan was starting to see that she didn't always have to directly see where the bars were spinning in order to predict their mechanisms.
Seeing this, Hale turned to Trunks, who looked over at Pan and all the others who she was keeping up with and activated switches correlating to their specific areas.
The dummies stopped spinning for just a moment as four more pillars rose around Pan: two for additional points to stand on, and two more dummies for further strikes to block and anticipate.
With how well she was doing today so far, Pan couldn't help but grin.
"Begin."
Umiu swung his stretched arms at Pan, who, this time, kept her guard up on all sides of her. She hopped over two swings aimed for her legs, then swerved to avoid a punch to her side. Two fists came down on her and she blocked them with her wrists, then, when one eluded her sight, she span and kicked in place, stopping an attack aimed for her back.
When he went for a two-handed grab, she jumped over at the last moment, then grabbed onto his wrists in mid-jump. Pan flipped over Umiu's head, then upon touching the ground, launched him in front of her.
**ZAP!**
He struck the barrier and landed on his feet, his arms reverting back to a normal size. It seemed like he realized his stretched arms weren't offering him an advantage at this point.
Pan saw him running right for her, throwing as many punches as he could, but she kept moving left-to-right to avoid them or redirected them with her hands. Finally, she caught one of his hands, the grip seeming to keep Umiu in place as she threw a punch right at his chest.
Umiu went sliding across the ground, his head nearly touching the barrier. He tried getting up, but had trouble lifting himself back up.
"Pan wins."
She offered a hand to Umiu, whom had worked up a sweat.
"Wow. You've improved a lot since our last bout. I'm going to have to step it up from here."
Pan had never heard him speak before, his voice much higher-pitched than she expected.
It wasn't the same maze as before, but Pan had a new strategy in mind: instead of stopping and hitting the targets, she could fly ahead and turn around so she could hit them while still on the move.
She went ahead and did this, carefully aim and fire at the enemies only while minding the fields behind her.
Pan could already tell she was saving much time than before and with a much calmer mindset, she didn't panic whenever she ran into a dead end.
"No biggie. Just retrace your steps before this point, then take the next turn."
Soon enough, the ring was in her sight and she flew through it, materializing before Hale.
"How was that?"
"4 minutes. You almost cut your last time in half."
Her time wasn't the top 20 and she could go faster next time, but for now, it was a huge improvement for her.
In her latest sword fight with Trunks, she swung her blade upward toward his face, forcing him to tilt his head to avoid it. He then clashed with her, the two standing their ground. He then swung hard enough that Pan's blade was forced toward the ground, then struck it again, sending it sliding across the ground.
"I've got no weapon... but I can't just give up now."
Pan eyed Trunks' sword, then as she saw it beginning to move, swung her wrist below its handle near Trunks' hands, keeping the blade from coming down on her head.
One of the patrollers was puzzled by this and turned to Hale.
"Commander, is that allowed?"
Hale watched closely as Pan timed blocks with her wrist, keeping Trunks from swinging the sword at her.
"Yes. She's keeping the blade itself at bay while trying to get back to her weapon."
As Pan pushed Trunks back, he then crouched and launched Pan over him. She rolled across the ground, but got back onto her feet, seeing her sword just behind Trunks' position.
"She's still in it. Have you seen anyone last that long against Trunks?"
"Not in a while, I think."
Trunks saw Pan's intended target and prepared to swing his sword. Just then, he saw Pan ducking and sliding across the ground. He couldn't adjust his swing in time, just barely missing her. She grabbed her sword in one hand, then, as she saw Trunks making his move, swung her legs at his.
He saw himself falling onto his back, watching as Pan stood over him, her sword ready to strike him where he lied. The patrollers were shocked at this sight.
Just then, Trunks caught Pan's sword with his own, then tripped her with his legs, knocking her onto her side. She saw Trunks about to bring his sword down onto the ground and rolled out of the way, then swung at him. He swerved, the sword nearly touching his eye, then with a two-handed swing knocked the guarding Pan back several feet from him.
"Trunks is getting serious now."
"Yeah, he's not fooling around anymore."
Pan and Trunks looked over at each other, standing in place, as they readied their blades for what they both intended to be the final blow.
Both charged, their blades nearly touching the ground, and their arms prepared to swing at any moment.
The two zoomed past each other, their blades drawn, then stood on their knees after coming to a complete stop: it looked like both felt a sting in their side.
The other patrollers weren't sure who had won that one.
"Who won that one?"
"Is it... a tie?"
Commander Hale pulled up a virtual screen on his wrist, then scrolled back and forth on what appeared to be a video clip of the two dueling just now. He slowed the movements between their last swings, which, at normal speed, was nearly indiscernible, as if the two struck simultaneously.
As he rewound it and moved frame-by-frame he saw Trunks' sword had struck Pan just before Pan's struck him.
"Trunks wins. That's all for today."
Pan went ahead and placed her prop sword back into the box of weapons, then began to make her way to the exit.
Outside the academy, Trunks approached her.
"You did really well today, Pan."
In spite of losing to Trunks once again, she was feeling much more confident than the week prior.
"Yeah, I guess I did."
Trunks stopped in front of her.
"Don't sell yourself short. You almost had me earlier, you know."
"Sure... without ki."
"Well, when the time comes..."
"Hey!" shouted a voice from behind them.
Pan and Trunks turned to see a short girl with pink hair and a ponytail with a purple and black uniform.
"You're that new girl, right? I'm Amura..."
Her introduction was immediately followed by her pointing at Pan.
"...and I challenge you."
This was new for Pan: having someone wanting to face her. She turned to Trunks.
"Wait a second... people can issue each other challenges?"
"That's right."
Both could hear Amura clearing her throat to get their attention.
"Well... do you accept my challenge?"
Pan grinned back at her.
"I accept."
Pan and Amura approached the tournament area, Trunks looking over at his wrist and then at them.
"I have to take off, so just have a good, clean fight, okay?"
Both nodded back at Trunks, who ran off in a hurried fashion.
"Huh. Guess he must have more top secret stuff to do."
From there, they stepped into the arena square, which definitely reminded Pan of the World Martial Arts Tournament. Amura laid down the ground rules:
"How about this: no ring outs and we'll stop at the knockout or when one of us gives up."
Pan stretched while Amura stood confidently.
"If I beat this girl, who almost beat Trunks, I'm sure to shoot up the ranks."
"Ready?"
Pan took on a stance, then nodded back to Amura.
"Alright. Aaannnd... fight!"
The two ran into each other and clashed immediately, each unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks.
Both broke it off and hopped back, with Pan flying forward quickly with a kick. Amura blocked it, but was knocked backward, landing on her hands and flipping backward to get back on her feet.
Pan ran across Amura in a circle, whom seemed less than intimidated by the technique.
"Afterimage, huh?"
Amura began charging with blue ki, then unleashed a bubble around her. The result removed all afterimages from the equation and knocked Pan backward.
"That's for beginners."
She struck at the ground with her leg, seeing no trace of Pan. When she turned around, she saw Pan coming at her, right on cue.
"Okay!"
Pan saw Amura pointing her right hand into the air pointing up and her left hand to her side...
...and Pan was unknowingly doing the exact same pose.
"What in the...?"
"Let's do this!"
Now Amura's right was pointing to her right as she shook her body, with Pan mirroring her entirely.
"How are you doing...?"
The two of them stood on their right leg, their left off the ground as they turned their bodies to point both arms towards the left.
"Right and right!"
Now they were slightly hunched over to the right, moving their bent arms up and down.
"Left and left!"
They turned in the opposite direction.
"Spin and turn...!"
They span 360 degrees clockwise, then stood on their right, their left leg up and bent and their arms to their sides.
"And a great big smile!"
This dance concluded with Amura hunched over, pointing at her mouth with both hands, which had an open-mouthed smile. Same with Pan.
"Please tell me this is over..."
But as Pan pondered this, Amura flew forward at high speed, her fist striking Pan on the cheek and launching her towards the stands. Pan stopped in midair, then saw Amura flying towards her, attacking with a rapid barrage of punches.
Pan was initially dazed enough that Amura got in a few, but afterward, she began blocking them with ease before moving behind Amura to grab her from behind. She climbed up Amura's back, then stomped her back down towards the ground.
Amura stopped her descent and the two flew back to the ring, where they both fired ki projectiles at each other. Pan waited, then saw Amura jumping towards her.
"Bingo!"
Amura struck an afterimage, then caught a punch from Pan. She tossed Pan to the side, then saw several more afterimages before her. She didn't even turn around to punch Pan in the face, her hands over her nose from the impact.
"I thought you'd have learned by now..."
Pan could tell from Amura's hand gestures that she was about to perform that cursed dance again.
"Oh no you don't...!"
Just as Amura placed her right hand over her head, Pan had already placed her hands towards her eyes.
"Okay!"
"Solar Flare!"
The flash went off just before Amura could start off the move again. Pan saw that she had only barely began to take on the first phase of the dance, then broke free with Amura unable to continue it.
She threw a kick, then saw that despite her current state, Amura was able to back away from it. Pan threw a punch, seeing Amura stop it with one hand while still covering herself with the other.
Catching this, Pan then threw a punch to Amura's left side, causing her to flinch just enough to land another blow. Afterward, both of Amura's arms went to work stopping Pan's offensive, even if she still didn't open her eyes.
Pan hopped back, deciding to try a different attack. She charged golden ki in both her hands.
"Masenko!"
As it struck Amura, it was instead repelled by a blue ki bubble that formed around her mid-attack. Pan saw herself being dragged backward several feet as a result of the shockwave, then saw Amura, her eyes wide open now and charging ki in her right hand. This wasn't just going to be a standard projectile.
With that in mind, Pan began cupping her hands together and gathering ki herself.
"Ka... me... ha... me..."
With a shout, Amura fired off an orange energy wave from her right hand.
"Haaaa!"
The two beams collided, neither seeming to overpower the other, though by the looks of it, the kamehameha appeared to have more power.
Slowly, it appeared that the kamehameha was going to take over.
"Only have one shot here..." Amura said begrudgingly. "Kaio-Ken!"
Amura glowed with a red aura and the energy wave from Amura's hand nearly doubled in size and power. Pan had never heard of this technique before...
"Kaio...?"
...then saw her Kamehameha being swiftly overpowered.
"Shoooot!"
Pan was sent flying back, being struck by both Amura's attack and her own.
Seeing Pan lying on the ground and not moving, Amura's kaio-ken expired, leaving her barely able to stand.
"Surely, this new girl couldn't be..."
But Amura couldn't believe what she saw next: Pan was getting up.
There Pan was, still standing after the energy wave and her kamehameha struck her, her jacket torn to shreds to reveal her blue shirt underneath... but certainly battered and panting heavily.
"Okay, guess it's time for my back-up..."
Amura wasn't much better either, as it took nearly all of her power to overpower her opponent's kamehameha. Pan noticed both her arms were down, but her right hand's index and middle fingers were out.
"She still has another...?"
Pan's opponent raised her right arm, the fingers in the air as she grinned.
"Oh boy..."
A destructive white flash exploded in front of Amura, reaching high into the sky where she knew even Pan couldn't fly high enough to evade it in time.
"That should do it..."
The debris began to clear.
"Now... where are you?"
Amura looked up, then down, not seeing Pan in her direction. She then turned around, not seeing Pan behind her either. She almost began to get nervous that her move worked too well.
"Oh, please don't tell me... that move actually..."
Just then, Amura heard a muffled sneeze behind her.
"Hey!"
She turned around throwing a punch... and still no sign of Pan.
"How did you...?!"
She turned around again, seeing Pan as clear as day. Without a moment of hesitation, Amura fired off two beams, one from each hand.
"Didn't dodge that one, now did y...?"
Pan was still standing, almost like the beams hadn't even phased her. In fact, she looked untouched.
"There's no way..."
This time, Amura fired off a simple ki bullet, one which phased right through Pan.
"You were never there. That was..."
Amura thought back towards the beginning of the match:
"Afterimage, huh? That's for beginners."
After she had foiled her initial attempt at the afterimage technique.
"I thought you'd have learned by now..."
After she had struck Pan from behind before using her dancing technique a second time.
But when she thought about what she used after their beam struggle, her seeing Pan appearing nervous before she unleashed it.
"Oh boy..."
Amura saw the white wave flashing from the ground up and looking back, it almost looked like...
...Pan was winking at her: she wasn't standing there when the attack hit.
Amura turned, then saw too late that Pan was running right for her.
With a punch to the gut, Amura was launched out of the ring and rolling across the ground. Had this been the World Martial Arts Tournament, she would have been rung out then and there.
However, Pan hopped downward, walking slowly as Amura struggled to get up. Pan wasn't about to hit her when she was down and instead stood waiting to see if her opponent wished to continue.
Amura spat on the ground, a small amount of blood in her saliva, then stood up on her knees, looking over at Pan, who still seemed battle ready even now.
"Just one minute please..."
Pan wasn't sure if Amura had a trick up her sleeve or if she actually did need a moment to get back up after the blow she was dealt. But she eyed Amura, whom finally made it back to her legs, though it looked like she could barely move them.
"Are you alright, Amura?"
Her opponent put a hand out in front of her.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good."
She looked down at the ground for just a moment.
"Can I really keep going? After that?"
Pan could hear Amura taking a deep breath, then looking back up at her.
"You win this one, Pan."
Pan helped Amura out of the arena onto a bench just outside the tournament area.
"And here, I figured you for an easy mark to get up the rankings. No, not even close. That was an entirely different animal."
Pan sat down next to her.
"Well, you definitely had to make me work for it, Amura."
Amura noticed Pan's jacket was barely together, save for the back and sleeves.
"I'm really sorry about your jacket."
"No biggie."
Pan took what was left of her jacket off and wrapped the sleeves around her waist.
"Tell you what, Pan..."
Amura reached for something in her gi, then handed it to Pan.
"Here. I want you to take this. You earned it."
Pan saw something familiar in the palm of her hand...
"Mrs. Bulma... what's up there?"
A young Pan was pointing at a decorative table with a glass covering.
"Here. Let me show you, Pan."
Bulma lifted Pan upward, whom could see various items under the glass covering: something that looked like a cross between a watch and a compass with a green screen on the left, a rice cooker that appeared water-damaged on the right, and in the middle...
"What's that?"
Pan pointed to an orange-gold orb sitting atop a red cushion between the other two items. She noticed something on its surface.
"It has stars on it."
She counted on her fingers.
"One, two, three... four. Four stars!"
Bulma placed Pan down, then pushed a button on the table, opening the glass cover. She picked up the orb, crouched down in front of Pan and handed it to her.
"It's a Dragon Ball."
Pan was completely mesmerized by the stars on it.
"This used to belong to your grandpa Goku. In fact, it was thanks to this Dragon Ball that I met him."
"Really?"
"Yes. Your grandpa Goku was just a small boy watching over the Dragon Ball in his grandpa's house when I... bumped into him for the first time."
Bulma placed her hand out to indicate she wanted the Dragon Ball back. Pan slowly returned it back to her, then watched Bulma put it back.
"Now we keep this here as a reminder of him. Of when the adventure first began..."
Pan couldn't believe it: the four-star dragon ball in her hands once again.
"Where did you get this?"
"Won this from another patroller about a week ago," answered Amura. "Wanted to get the whole set."
"The whole set?"
Amura could tell Pan didn't know everything there was to know about the Dragon Balls, but she didn't want to act condescending towards her.
"There are seven Dragon Balls in total. From the one star to the seven star."
"And... what happens when you get all seven?"
"You can use them to make a wish to Shenron."
"I thought..."
Pan stumbled at the concept.
"I thought that Dragon Ball was just a sacred ornament."
But then she just realized what she could use them for.
"What can you wish for?"
"Nearly anything..." answered Amura, though Pan noticed she paused for a moment. "...But the thing is, as Time Patrollers, we do have rules on what we're allowed to wish for. Guess the boss doesn't want us asking for something too big."
As always since she first arrived in Toki Toki City, it seemed that every chance Pan saw to have her home and family back was impossible to grant.
"But hey..."
Amura pat Pan on the shoulder.
"You beat me fair and square, so I wanted you to have it. I wouldn't even know what to wish for anyway."
She got up from the bench and appeared to be walking just fine on her own now.
"Be seeing you around, Pan."
Pan waved as Amura left for the industrial area, then, to her surprise, saw that Toki Toki City's sky began to become covered in grey clouds.
"I guess even places at the edge of the universe have their rainy days."
She looked back over at the tournament area, umbrellas being put up over the stands.
"Hey, I recognize you..."
Pan turned to the source of the voice and saw a man who was nearly bald save for some spiked purple hair wearing a light green and black formal uniform.
"You know me?" inquired Pan.
"Name's Cloke. I saw you here weeks ago. When you first came here. You were in really bad shape. Looked partially frozen all over."
"You mean when they found me?"
"Found you? You were summoned here."
Pan didn't understand.
"Summoned? But how?"
Cloke pointed over at the altar.
"The Dragon Balls."
She just learned from Amura that wishes could be granted by gathering all seven, and she could tell by the openings on the altar that this was the place to do so.
She then thought back to when she was in space that day, suddenly being taken by a light into another dimension. A dimension of time. And that voice she could barely comprehend...
"Someone... from... far away... Warrior! Now..."
But it was like she could suddenly hear it clearly now.
"Someone summons you from a land far away... brave warrior! Now, come forth!"
She realized then and there that she wasn't randomly found, but brought here specifically. Now she had just one burning question on her mind.
"Who summoned me?"
Cloke could tell from her tone that she wasn't going to be happy with the answer one bit, but sighed as he couldn't bring himself to lie to her.
There Cloke was weeks ago at his post by the tournament area when he saw someone in a coat approaching the altar, seven dragon balls in his arms. He thought nothing of it initially, seeing as how plenty of patrollers had made wishes.
The sky went dark as Shenron emerged from the altar and looked down at the one who had summoned him.
"State your wish."
This person didn't keep him waiting.
"I need someone, a strong ally with the power to help me defend time itself. This wish I ask of you."
Shenron's eyes glowed a brighter red.
"Your wish is granted."
In all his time, Cloke had never heard anyone wish for another person before. And even from that distance, he could tell whose voice he heard...
"It was Trunks."
Lightning struck.
Pan could barely stand. In fact, she felt sick to her stomach. Cloke could see then and there that it was not the news she wanted to hear.
"Madam, I'm..."
She could only put her hand out.
"Please... just stop..."
She slowly walked away from the tournament area towards the housing area. She needed time to take in all of this...
"Hey, Pan."
She turned, seeing Trunks waving at her from nearby. But then Trunks saw Pan's distraught face and put down his hand.
"...Pan?"
She turned and ran away from him.
"Pan!"
Trunks turned toward Cloke, whose face couldn't hide what had transpired.
"What did you say to her?"
Cloke looked down, unable to speak. Trunks already had a feeling what he told her.
"Oh no..."
Trunks ran in Pan's direction as rain began to pour down onto Toki Toki City. He managed to catch up to her as she neared her housing unit. She could hear him behind her and stopped at her door.
"Pan..."
She didn't make a sound or even move as she waited for him to talk.
"Pan, please let me explain..."
Once she turned around, he couldn't think of another word to say.
"You summoned me here... and you kept that from me."
Trunks couldn't even process a defense for himself. He just stumbled through the first thought he could think of.
"I... I didn't lie to you..."
She pointed at him, just shy of poking him in the face.
"You kept the truth from me! You fed me half-truths! And for what?! So I could become your naive personal assistant?!"
"But if I hadn't summoned her, she would have died. Pan's alive... because of me."
Trunks' nervousness suddenly transformed into brashness.
"I saved your life! And if it wasn't for me changing the future, you would never have been born!"
Lightning struck again.
He realized right then and there that he had given away something critical... something that jeopardized everything.
Pan didn't even register his shock: only his words.
"...and that's supposed to make it better?"
The lone angry tear on Pan's face told him he had made a grave error.
"You got to change the future, but I can't?!"
She turned away from him and began to open the door.
"I was wrong: the Trunks I knew is dead."
She entered and began to close the door even as Trunks put his hand out for her to stop.
"Like you should have left me."
By the time Trunks tried to reach her, the door was closed. He knew no amount of knocking or pleading would get Pan to come out now.
"Damn it!"
He turned around and fell onto his knees, his legs soaked from a puddle.
"Damn it all! What have I done?! You idiot!"
He could only make his hands into fists.
"I did this! I should have told her before! This is all my fault!"
He got up and walked away, his head down and tears clearly visible going down his cheeks.
"I'm so sorry, Pan. Please forgive me."
Inside her housing unit, Pan sat with her back against her door, trying in vain to keep it together as her head fell onto her knees.
"Why did you keep this from me? I trusted you, Trunks... I trusted you!"
Much time passed as Trunks couldn't bring himself to find cover from the rain even as he was drenched.
"This... this is all my..."
He suddenly realized the rain wasn't touching him anymore and saw a large umbrella top over him.
"Trunks..."
He looked down and saw the Supreme Kai of Time covering herself and Trunks with the umbrella.
"What are you doing out here?"
He could barely look her in the eyes.
"I did it. I've jeopardized everything."
He crouched over, his hands over her eyes as the Supreme Kai of Time placed her free hand over his shoulder.
"I... I hurt her. I hurt Pan."