One week later...

"Heeeeya!" yelled Pan, aiming a kick for Aideen's midsection.

The woman blocked and countered, slamming an open palm into Pan's forehead. Pan used the impact to flip upside down and then drive both of her feet into Aideen's chin. She gave a yelp, staggered back a few feet, then fell on her butt.

Aideen massaged her chin before grinning. "Good hit."

Pan grinned back. "Thanks.

"You still lost a little control of your ki when I hit your head though," said Aideen.

Pan scowled. "Well, that's what happens when your brain gets scrambled."

They both smirked before Aideen motioned her away. "Alright, go take a break."

Pan moved a bit away before laying down and putting her hands under her head. She ought to be happy that she had made it this far in just a week, but, she still felt like she was going too slow. She could attain the required controlled state of ki on demand now. However, she still hadn't been able to maintain perfect control during an actual fight. Ah well, she'd get it soon enough, it was just, grrrrr, she was so close to the next step! She knew she shouldn't be so ancy for it, but oh how she craved to finally learn the Kaio-Ken.

Pan glanced over at Aideen, watching the woman stretch. She had started sparing with Pan yesterday, taking over for Aneurin. Pan had been surprised with how quickly the woman had managed to recover and start sparring with those injuries. Aideen had joked that while she was no saiyan, her body had gotten used to getting the tar kicked out of it so she never stayed down long. Aideen fought similarly to Aneurin, but, her fighting form was a bit less refined, Pan figured it was an age and experience gap that did it. Though, the woman made up for it with raw power and determination.

Pan frowned. She had lived and breathed this training for the last week, doing basically nothing but it and eating and sleeping. She still knew so little of Aideen or Aneurin, forget about Odianna, she barely saw her. Whenever Pan tried to get to know them a little bit, she was told to focus on her training, or go on a break, or go eat, or go to sleep. She pouted a little to herself, if she had to guess, they didn't trust her yet despite how much she devoted herself to their training. Speaking of Odianna, Pan felt the teenager heading their way. Pan was still rather perplexed with her, she still had no idea how the girl could match a super saiyan 2. What's more, Pan had taken note of how she bossed everyone around, and they listened to her no questions asked, as if she were the one in charge. Pan hadn't ever asked, and had just assumed, but, she was starting to believe that Odianna was the one who was in charge of the defense corps, not the far older Aneurin.

Pan frowned, watching Odianna land and start speaking with Aideen. The way the Aideen always immediately gave Odianna her uttermost attention and respect, aside from a joke or two here and there, perplexed Pan. Was it just because she was so powerful compared to everyone else? Well... then again, Pan had watched Odianna spar with Aneurin once, the teenager DID rival Aneurin's skill. Not to mention, she was extremely knowledgeable about Saiyans. It was curious, ignoring the question of matching a super saiyan 2, how WAS Odianna that strong and skilled for what Pan thought was sixteen years old? There was a gigantic power difference between the times twenty five Pan had seen Aideen use, and the times fifty Odianna used. Not to mention, Aideen had been in pain using the times twenty five, Odianna had used the times fifty without any visible difficulty, it made no sense.

"Pan, get the hell over here!" yelled Aideen.

Pan smirked and rose to her feet. Aideen liked to swear a lot, if Pan had a mouth like hers, grandma woulda washed it out with soap hundreds of times by now.

Odianna frowned at Aideen after Pan walked over. "Are you sure?"

Aideen nodded. "Yeah, she's pretty much got it down, I think she's ready for the final test."

Pan's eyes went wide before she immediately refocused. No gleeful shouts or excitement allowed! Otherwise they might decide to hold her back.

Odianna shrugged. "Alright, we'll see then, wont we? Back up and give the me and Pan some space."

Pan frowned, she was going to be sparring with Odianna?

Odianna moved a bit away from Pan. "Go full power."

Pan nodded and began to power up. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Odianna nodded slowly. "Well well well, you've had quite the increase in strength since you began this last week."

Odianna narrowed her eyes. "Kaio-Ken times ten!"

Pan blinked a few times, feeling the teenager's power skyrocket. "Uh... that's kind of overkill... don't you think?"

"Hmph, your final test of ki control is fighting against a far stronger opponent. It's all well and good if you can fight evenly against an opponent of equal skill, but, if the first time a stronger foe comes along and you lose control, then all the training you've went through would be worthless," said Odianna.

Well, she had a point. "Makes sense."

"As a warning, this is going to hurt," said Odianna.

Pan took on her grandpa's fighting stance and braced herself. She figured that if Odianna was the leader here, it was on her word alone that would give Pan permission to learn the Kaio-Ken. She had to do this right, she would not tolerate her body and ki disobeying her now.

Odianna surged at Pan, a streak of red across the training field. Pan barely managed to get an knee up in time to block a devastating gut punch. She ground her teeth, fighting the urge to cringe. Her knee felt like it was on fire. Odianna spun and lashed out with a leg, slamming it into Pan's side and sending her skidding and tumbling across the ground. Pan pushed up off the ground and threw herself into the air. Odianna was upon her again, throwing a flurry of blows. Unable to keep up with her speed, Pan had to pick and choose which blows to block and which ones to take.

"Hraaa!" roared Odianna, slamming a double handed fist into Pan's shoulder.

Pan gave a cry of pain and plummeted to the ground, leaving a small crater where she hit.

Pan winced, struggling to rise to her feet. "Oh man, I'm going to be feeling that one tomorrow."

The sound of the Kaio-Ken streaking across the distance snapped Pan to attention. She threw herself out of the crater a moment before Odianna drove her fist into the ground where Pan had just been. Pan flew back a bit, trying to gain some distance and time to breath. Jeez, did Odianna understand the concept of taking it easy? She was being as viscous against Pan as she had been against the super saiyan.

Odianna surged out of the crater and closed to distance before Pan could react and slammed a fist into Pan's gut. Pan doubled over, puking up a bit of blood, and clutched her stomach. D-d-damn...

Odianna slammed a leg into Pan's side and sent her sprawling to the ground. Pan laid their cringing, struggling not to cry out and scream. Everything was hurting. She couldn't help but give a cry when Odianna kicked her up into the air and then flew up, letting into her with a flurry of blows that Pan had become to slow to block. With a swat, Odianna backhanded Pan to the ground. Pan laid there, unable to bring herself to move.

She took a few wheezing breaths and slowly managed to sit up, cradling her stomach. "Oww."

"You'll live, stop whining," said Odianna, floating a bit above Pan.

Pan glared up at her. "I'm not whining!"

"Then get up and fight," ordered Odianna.

Pan took a breath, grabbed what ki she had left, and rushed up at Odianna, swinging a right hook. Odianna easily dodged before taking her leg and kicking towards...

Pan gave a yelp of surprise and nearly lost control of her ki as it hit her breast area and sent her flying. "H-hey! Watch where you hit a lady!"

Odianna scoffed. "Seriously? A saiyan wont give a crap where they hit you. They'll take any cheap shot they can get. In fact..."

Odianna surged at her and kicked right between Pan's legs. Pan gave a cry of surprise, horrific pain, and rage, only to be cut off when Odianna grabbed Pan's head, surged towards the ground, and slammed her into it. Pan's ki faded and she nearly blacked out. She laid there, twitching, slowly curling into a ball and crying.

"Pff, pitiful," muttered Odianna.

"The hell was that? Don't you think that was a little rough?" called over Aideen.

"No," Odianna called back.

Odianna powered down and walked over, aiming a hand at Pan. Pan felt energy begin to enter her body, and a minute later she slowly sat up, still feeling the hurt all over her body, especially in one certain area.

"If you are done, sitting around..." Odianna began.

Pan surged to her feet and into the air, driving a fist right into Odianna's face, sending the teenager to the ground. "You asshole!"

Odianna laughed and rose to her feet. "You need to work on your stopping power, I had my guard down and I barely felt that."

Pan clenched her fists, trying so hard not to give into the goading and let into Odianna with everything she had.

Odianna studied her briefly. "Are your done with your hissy fit, or do you not want to start learning the Kaio-Ken?"

Pan blanked for a moment. "I... passed?"

Odianna nodded curtly. "To a degree, you lost it at the end, but, no one, not me, not Aideen, and especially not Aneurin, keeps perfect control after taking a hit there."

"Well, some of us have something a bit more vulnerable in that area," said Aneurin dryly.

Odianna smirked in his direction.

Pan scowled. "It's still an honor-less move."

Odianna refocused on Pan. "Honor? Pan, there IS no honor when fighting saiyans. It's kill or be killed. You should readily expect them to 'fight dirty', and should do the same when you get the opportunity."

Pan frowned, not liking being told to fight like that. "Noted..."

"Now, Aideen will guide you in using the Kaio-Ken. Even after she's explained it, wait until you've had a chance to rest and eat lunch before you use it," said Odianna.

Odianna moved away, but rather than fly off as she usually did, she sat down and kept an eye on them.

"Alright Pan, I'm going to activate the Kaio-Ken slowly, and I want you to tell me what I'm doing," ordered Aideen.

Pan nodded as Aideen's ki began to focus. "You're controlling all of your ki at once. I can see, I can feel the focus in your mind."

Aideen's body ignited red.

Pan frowned. "You're… ki increased, I can't really figure out why."

Aideen powered down. "The Kaio-Ken doesn't just require perfectly controlled ki. It also requires a union and balance of body and mind. I'm going to use and hold the Kaio-Ken, tell me what you sense."

Pan watched the woman ignite herself with the Kaio-Ken and maintain it. "Your power is… slowly dropping."

Aideen nodded. "The Kaio-Ken isn't just dangerous because you can kill you if you mess up, it's also rough on your body and burns stamina. I'm not even training or fighting and I'm still slowly losing power. That's why it's usually supposed to only be used in short bursts."

"Okay, but, I remember you were maintaining it against the super saiyan last week," said Pan.

Aideen scowled. "That's because I couldn't trust myself to activate the Kaio-Ken at the right time to defend myself. I had to maintain it because if I was hit at any point without the Kaio-Ken up, the super saiyan would have killed me."

Aideen dropped the Kaio-Ken, a bead of sweat rolling down her face. "Now, why do you think it's rough on your body?"

Pan tried to think it over. "Well, because of the pressure of all that ki you don't normally have?"

Aideen shook her head. "But you do have it, just not as normal ki."

"I… don't get it," Pan admitted.

"Mind AND body Pan," asked Aideen.

Pan frowned, still not getting it.

"Your body is drained because the kaio-ken is using your body as a source of energy along with your ki," explained Aideen, "Think of it this way. When you're using the Kaio-Ken, you're powering up twice, not just your ki, but your actual body as well."

Pan blinked a few times. "How isn't that the same thing as raising your ki to strengthen your body?"

"When raising your ki, you are just reinforcing your body with your life energy, this is actually empowering it," said Aideen, "It's why your senses become so heightened with the Kaio-Ken. Its front loading energy into your entire body. In a sense, you are temporarily overloading yourself. When you use the Kaio-Ken, you are amplifying both your ki and your body as one."

"Hmm," mumbled Pan.

She had always treated her body as a vessel for her ki. Train herself to increase her ki and her body would naturally grow stronger as a side effect. That wasn't the right way for this though. Pan faintly smiled, at last, at last she thought she had it.

The Kaio-Ken was a balance. If you raised your ki too much, your body couldn't handle it and would pop. If you're powered up your body too much, you wouldn't have enough ki to maintain nor fill it. If your mind wasn't focused enough to control your body, or your body was too wild for your mind to handle, it would break down. If you tried to use your ki alone, you would just be powering up normally, if you just used your body's energy, you'd burn through without much effect and tire yourself out. But, if you used everything together at once…

Aideen looked her over. "So, think you've got it?"

Pan nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright then, lets go get some grub, then we'll see what you can…," Aideen began.

Pan pushed away her pain and half crouched. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Pan grabbed a hold of all of her energy, and focused her consciousness on her entire body. She yanked energy from her body and her ki to spread through her body. She began to shiver, feeling her insides ignite with energy. Her muscles quivered and tensed, expanding a little bit. A red tint began to emanate from her body.

With a furious cry, Pan screamed, "KAIO-KEN!"

WOOOOSH! The fiery red aura coated Pan's body. It felt… oh man… it felt like every part of her body was so alive right now. She way hyper aware of everything. Sounds, smells, seeing further and in more detail. It was crazy! Her strength had shot up, doubling what her wounded power had been before.

In an instant though, she lost it. The red aura faded and she staggered forward, falling to a knee, and wheezing as exhaustion took over.

"Whew...," Pan gasped out.

"Idiot!" yelled Odianna, "You trying to kill yourself by using it in that state?"

Pan gave her a tired, foul look. "I did it… didn't I?"

Odianna walked over and stood above her, she smirked a mischievous smirk and raised a hand. "Yeah, you did, now let me show you why that was dumb though."

SMACK, Odianna slapped a hand onto Pan's shoulder.

Pan doubled over and screamed in agony. IT HURT IT HURT IT HURT! She slammed her head into the ground and groaned.

"Using the Kaio-Ken when you're tired and wounded is only a necessity when you're fighting to the death, once you reach that point it's do or die, you have to kill your opponent, otherwise, you end up like this," said Odianna.

Pan shivered and slowly sat up. "Owwwwww."

"Your done training for the day, go eat and rest," said Odianna, "Tomorrow you begin fighting with it."

If she had the strength to, Pan would have groaned. It wasn't even noon and she'd have to spend the rest of the day resting? Ugh… what a waste.

Aideen walked over, turned around and knelt down. "Grab on, I'll fly you back."

Pan weakly wrapped her arms around Aideen's neck and hung on as the woman flew her back to Haven. Pan lost focus, losing awareness of where she was. She was vaguely aware of being laid down and a blanket being put over her. She laid there, feeling dizzy and exhausted, until she finally passed out.