Chamber Day 97

Pan yawned, sleepily rising out of bed and making for the storage room. She grabbed an entire basket of apples for breakfast and chowed them down. Another day to train. She had decided that she was going to set goals. Her current one was to get to a times twenty Kaio-Ken. That's the level her Grandpa had gone too, once he said while fighting Freeza, and once fighting Mr. Hit during the first Universal Tournament as a saiyan god.

It was progressing kind of slow for her. After gauging her three month progress, going from a times fifteen to a sixteen was really rough. Its like her body just couldn't properly balance it. It took her near thee minutes to even properly activate it. An opponent would never give her that much time. She could jump to that level and force a times sixteen sure, but, it wouldn't be balanced, and it would burn her out twice as fast and risk devastating her body.

Pan was a bit fearful she was somehow reaching a natural limit. Despite her strength, she still only had an eight year old body. Not to mention, she recalled that whenever she had seen Aideen go above a times twenty, it had physically hurt her, not just drained, but hurt. Was there a limit on how much a mortal body could take?

She hoped not...

Chamber Day 104

Pan sat at a table in the main room in the time chamber, munching away on grapes and nuts. The food crates were starting to get rather thin and lackluster. Not that she had a right to complain, she was just a bit worried, not about herself, but about the people of Haven. She knew they had a storehouse of somewhat preserved food using what few refrigerators and other containers that worked, Either they were running low, or scrambling to keep getting food to her in time before she ran out.

Regardless, to support her progress in the chamber, they were giving up an entire years worth of food, spaced out over intervals where the chamber was stocked as to not let the food spoil. She hadn't caught one of the restockers yet, she was sure she was always asleep or out training whenever they sneaked in. She just... she just didn't want to think that people might go hungry because of her.

She walked into the storeroom and examined what food was left. Perhaps it was best to ration it, just incase, she didn't always have to eat to her fill after all. When the next restocker noticed, they'd bring less next time, hopefully.

She nodded to herself, that was the best bet. Besides, its not like her progress was extreme anymore. She could afford to tone down her training a little bit as to not need as much energy...

Chamber Day 111

Pan smirked to herself, so much for toning it down. Fire raged around her, ignited by the extreme heat out here in the depths of the time chamber. She had finally reached the really challenging areas of the time chamber, at last.

WOOSH a wave of fire washed over her. Pan ground her teeth, resisting as best as she could. All of the sudden, the heat vanished. She blinked, growing confused, and tried to take a step forward, only to find her legs frozen to the ground. Crap...

"Times eighteen!" she cried out, pushing herself ahead.

BURST! The ice shattered, releasing her legs. She flew up into the air and was surprised to find snow falling. How the heck was there snow in this place without clouds or rain or anything like that? This place was weird... woah... woaaaaahhhhh!

She gave a yelp as a tornado of snow started sucking her in and trying to pull her deeper into the chamber. Pan grimaced and braced herself against it, trying to pull herself back. Suddenly, the ice melted, and for a moment, she was submerged in water before it evaporated and the tornado was engulfed in fire.

sizzle

Pan gave a yelp of pain, her gi, her hair, her skin was on fire! Enough was enough, it was time to head back. She cringed, trying her best to push through the fire vortex. Shit, her power was draining fast, if she lost her Kaio-Ken in this it was over for her.

"TIMES TWENTY!" she roared, shoving through and launching herself towards the rest area as hard as she could...

Chamber Day 118

Pan stood next to her bed, feeling sad and holding her gi. Her favorite gi, already in horrific shape, was utterly ruined by this last week of training out in the depths of the chamber. She might as well be wearing nothing with how ripped it was.

She scowled, her temper flaring at the sight of her destroyed childhood treasure. She moved over to the second bed in the chamber and gently set her gi down on it. She didn't really feel like training naked, so, she began to look through the chamber, seeing if she could find anything else to wear...

Chamber Day 125

Pan slid a simple black shirt over her head to replace the last one she had destroyed before stretching out. Always remember to stretch out before training Grandpa had told her, could really hurt yourself if you didn't he said.

"Alright, break times over, lets go," Pan ordered herself, "Times eighteen!"

Pan watched herself and kept her senses directed inward. She had made okay progress these last two weeks. Times fifteen was finally stable, and she was working on sixteen through eighteen. She still wasn't really sure if holding herself at the lower levels, or pushing the higher ones, was the best way to go, but, she really wanted to at least be able to maintain times twenty in short bursts...

Chamber Day 132

Pan walked back to her room, one shaky step at a time. All of this week she had been forcing herself to train at times twenty, ignoring her body's screaming. She... she wasn't even half way through the day yet... but... so tired... so very... tired...

Chamber Day 139

Pan did her daily stretches, minding not to overdue it. Her body had collapsed at the end of last week, she had taken this last one easy. Though, it was boring to do so. Sitting around in bed or at the table made her blood boil with agitation. Maybe if she had someone to talk to it wouldn't be so bad. She wondering how the others were doing. She wasn't exactly sure how much time had passed outside, but she knew it hadn't been to long. Was everyone still scrambling to prepare? Or were they all hunkered down and just waiting?

They weren't the only one she was curious about. What were her family doing? She felt in her heart that they were probably giving it their all to find her and bring her home. The only thing was... she wasn't sure she could bring herself to leave. The humans of Terra needed her help. Even though Odianna was immortal, she could only be at one place at a time. Terra needed as many protectors as possible. Maybe if her family arrived they'd be willing to help out. Grandpa would surely want to challenge other Saiyans... wait...

Pan's eyes went wide with fear. Oh no... Grandpa, he was a Saiyan, if her family stumbled into this dimension and encountered Odianna, she'd try to kill them! She'd fail, to be sure, but encountering them would ruin everything. She'd lose all of her friend's trust...

Pan bowed her head, a thought striking her. Did she even deserve their trust? She had keeping her heritage from them the entire time. Maybe when she got out of here, or after the upcoming Saiyan attack, she'd reveal the truth. They deserved to know about the bile flowing through her veins, about her Saiyan blood. She was mostly human, maybe they could look past it...

Chamber Day 146

Times twenty, about damn time. She could finally maintain it in short bursts instead of one time stints that wrecked her body. She flew around the time chamber main area a few times, smiling with a wide childish grin.

"Teee heeeeeeee," Pan cheered for herself.

She almost wished she had a cake or something to celebrate... wait a second... cake, like a birthday cake... birthday...

Pan landed on the steps, a thought striking her. What month was it? She had been roughly half way through her eight year of life before she had come to Terra, she ought to be somewhere close to turning nine if she hadn't already. She grinned and spun around of a single foot, feeling a little happy at growing another year older. Though, how exactly did that work with the time chamber flowing fast and being outside the time chamber where only a day had passed? Was she technically nine? Or technically eight?

She grew confused for a moment before shaking her head and shrugged. "Whatever, I'll take Grandpa's example and not worry about the details."

She giggled to herself before slowly, she looked around the room, growing a little sad. "Wish I had someone to celebrate with."

She sighed. "Oh well, I know what my birthday present would be from Odianna. A day full of super hard training, joy."

She giggled again before walking out into the training area. "Time to open that gift then..."

Chamber Day 153

Pan was satisfied, she could maintain the times twenty for a little bit, longer with short bursts. Though, she had to admit, it took a lot out of her. Ah well, her control over that level would only grow. It was time to take things up to the next level, time to personally go beyond the level her Grandpa had!

She chided herself. "Only reason Grandpa didn't was because he had Super Saiyan. Who knows, if he ever had a reason to, he'd probably go higher with his god ki."

Pan trembled with excitement and moved to the steps leading to the training area. "Okay okay okay, lets see. Aideen went up to a times twenty-five against that Super Saiyan when I first got here. He might have been toying with her, and been a weak Super Saiyan, but, she was at least somewhat in range of his power not to be beaten in one hit. I'm pretty sure if I went twenty-five now, being way stronger than Aideen, I could have matched that Super Saiyan. Well, at least until my stamina was shot. Ah well, it's all about baby steps, I'm getting there."

She grew giddy. "I should probably go a twenty-one and work my way up, but, oh I can't wait, I gotta try a twenty-five! Okay! It's go time!"

Pan calmed herself and went through the motions to prepare herself, calming, focusing, grabbing all of her ki, and preparing her body. "Kaio-Ken times twenty-five!"

For a split second, she had it, felt a rush of power so high it made her head feel light. Then, her eyes went wide, and blood gushed out of her nose. Her heart began to pound like crazy, her muscles bulged and began to spasm nonestop. She fell to her knees as pain ripped through and screamed at the top of her lungs. Her Kaio-Ken cut off, she gave off one horrific sob, and then pitched forward and collapsed unconscious.

Chamber Day 160

Pan laid in her bed, not understanding what she was doing wrong. Going above a times twenty at any point was horrible. Unlike the teens of the Kaio-Ken, the sheer difficulty was insane. And also unlike the teens, jumping ahead to levels beyond what she could manage caused horrific instant pain. She was forced to crawl and drudge her way through the times twenty-one, and it felt like he progress had slowed to almost a standstill with how long she had to wait between training sessions to recover her strength and stamina.

She didn't understand, Aideen had shown some pain when she had gone to twenty-five and thirty, sure, but she hadn't shown the crazy muscle spasms nor the degree of pain Pan had felt. She hadn't been rendered unconscious instantly either.

"DAMMIT! What am I doing wrong?!" Pan yelled in frustration.

Once again, as she began to wonder if she had hit some kind of limit on what her body could handle. "No... NO! I refuse!"

She couldn't accept that, she wasn't strong enough yet! She needed to be able to take on a real Super Saiyan! Not some first time or pathetic one, but a strong one! She needed, she had to prove to herself that she didn't need that power, that she could fight them without using their transformation. Aideen and Aneurin tried their hardest, but all they, and her by extension, could handle was the fodder of the Saiyan race. Once a Super Saiyan appeared they had to either sit on the sidelines or run away as to not be used against Odianna. If she couldn't... if she couldn't get strong enough, then she'd be useless.

Pan buried her face in her pillows, sobbing muffled sobs. "I'm not useless... I'm not..."

Chamber Day 167

Pan began to slowly fly back to the steps of the training area, feeling exhausted. She had made 'some' progress. It didn't hurt to go times twenty-two anymore. Small relief, it still guttered her power in one combo or Kamehameha wave. She was pretty sure if she used her Judgement attack she'd either die or be rendered unconscious at the expenditure.

She sighed. "This is stupid... I'm not making any real progress anymore."

She landed and started heading for her bedroom before pausing, looking at the time chamber door. For the first time since she had entered here, she considered calling it quits. She hesitated for only a second before reprimanding herself.

"Stupid girl! You can't quit! If you do then people are going to die!" she yelled.

"Just... just go take a nap, then go right back out there and train! You'll surely make some progress!" she ordered herself, not really feeling like their was any truth in her own words...

Chamber Day 174

Pan hung her head, feeling defeated. She hadn't even been able to make it to a times twenty-three this week without collapsing. She figured her body wasn't old enough, or she was just couldn't hack it. Slowly, step by step, she moved towards the door leading out of the chamber. She sniffled, feeling ashamed and embarrassed. Finally, she stood in front of the door, staring at the door knob. She just wanted it to end... she just wanted to leave... to stop being all alone and putting her body through horrific pain...

This stupid room, she had such high hopes for coming in here. Her Grandpa and Father's stories of being in here had fueled her drive to train. Now, it just felt like empty hope. They had trained in here, gotten her dad Super Saiyan, gotten their grade forms, and then their mastered states.

"Dammit," Pan cursed, both at her situation, and herself.

It just wasn't fair! The Kaio-Ken burned worse than any transformation possibly could! Stupid Super Saiyans! Their transformation made it so easy. Just train and bulk up and everything was fine. The knowledge of their mastered Super Saiyan state made her feel even worse. To be able to maintain that form none stop without any energy burn or stamina loss was ridiculous.

She put her hand on the door knob. "It's not fair, its not like the Kaio-Ken could be mastered to such a state..."

She froze. "Mastered to such a state..."

Her eyes went wide. "Wait... could it?"

She backed away from the door slowly, thinking furiously. All they ever did was push themselves as high as they could to end a fight quickly, fearing to drain all their power. Once they improved their Kaio-Ken, the earlier levels were all but forgotten in the struggle for more and more power. Was that the right way though? Could she learn to wear the Kaio-Ken like a second skin?

Pan narrowed her eyes, turned away from the door, and made for the steps. She stood there, gazing out into the white void, a new determination burning in her heart. There was only one way to find out...

Chamber Day 181

Pan sat at the table, sipping water from a canteen and tapping her finger's impatiently, but lightly, against the table. Resting at a regular Kaio-Ken, merely doubling her power, had been a rather trying experience. Sitting around all day, or only doing light training, was boring and frustrating, but, she knew she was making real progress. The first few times, she had only been able to stay in the state for an hour tops, regardless of how weak it was compared to the higher levels. Her heart just started beating crazy and she had a hard time breathing all of the sudden when she reached that threshold, like there was some unseen stress putting a clamp on it. She had a hunch that doing this wasn't the same as doing it as a Super Saiyan, there might be some long term danger from this, but she was willing to risk it.

Slowly, the timer increased, her body could tolerate being in the base Kaio-Ken longer and longer. Her current record was five hours, followed by a quick nap, where she could then do another five hours. She smiled, being able to almost naturally be twice as strong as she was normally was kind of cool. Though, breaking stuff and having the aura on all the time was a little distracting...

Chamber Day 188

Pan didn't understand what had happened at first. All of the sudden, when she had activated her base Kaio-Ken for the day, the aura didn't appear. Her hair and eyes changed to red like normal, her skin tinted a little bit, and her power doubled like normal, but, the fiery aura didn't appear. The stamina drain and shortness of breath was almost none-existent, she was fairly certain she could hold the regular base Kaio-Ken for the entire day if she really wanted to.

She sat down on her bed, pondering the development. It had taken two weeks to reach this point, to make the base Kaio-Ken her default state. Though, that wasn't the full truth, it still drained her, just as beyond a snail's pace. She still didn't know if maintaining it like this would have any long term effects on her health or not, but, if she ever made it home, its nothing a Senzu bean couldn't repair.

"Times three," Pan whispered.

Immediately the aura reappeared and Pan scowled. She'd have to go another few weeks probably to get the times three at the same state as the regular Kaio-Ken. Oh well, though, she did have one other thing she wanted to try. She moved out to the training area.

Pan tensed for a moment and braced herself. "Times twenty-five!"

WOOSH! The aura exploded around her, but, unlike before, there was no pain. The stamina drain was still a bit rough, but, it wasn't physically harming her to use this level. Pan grinned, she grinned like a madman. She had just gained access to the higher levels of the Kaio-Ken...

Chamber Day 195

Pan hummed to herself, quietly moving about in a natural times three state. It had surprised her how quickly she had adapted to this level compared to the basic Kaio-Ken. She couldn't say she was displeased. She'd begin mastering the times four state in a little bit, but, she wanted to do some calculations first. She flew up to the clock in the time chamber, examining it. She was a little over half way done her day in the time chamber. She figured hopefully she'd have enough time to master her state up into the higher levels. She nodded in satisfaction before floating down to continue her light training.

Chamber Day 202

It seemed like it was a week per mastered level of Kaio-Ken, she was comfortably resting at a times four. She was glad that she mastering the base levels allowed her to slowly push her maximum levels, but, there was a problem. This wasn't doing her normal, overall power that much good. Her base, and thus what was multiplied, wasn't increasing much. She thought for a moment, perhaps she should alternate? Switch between trying to master a level, and then switch to some real training to improve overall?

She nodded with satisfaction. "Yeah, that'll do. I hope you're ready body, its time to start the real training now!"

Chamber Day 207

Another week, another mastered level of Kaio-Ken. She was surprised that alternating between training types hadn't slowed her down. For the first time since she had entered here, she felt true pride, she was making legitimate progress. Though, she did have to admit, the monotone routine was a little aggravating...

Chamber Day 214

Pan felt greedy. An idea had struck her all of the sudden. Why crawl forward like this?

"Kaio-Ken times ten!" she shouted.

She grinned, watching the aura ignite around her. It was time to skip ahead and monumentally increase her progress. Maybe it would take longer, jumping from a mastered times five state to trying to master a times ten, but, it's rewards could be astronomical! She'd take it easy for the first few days, but after that, business as usual...

Chamber Day 221

She hadn't quite mastered the times ten state. She saw some of the signs of mastery coming around, mainly the extreme time she could keep it up, but she still had a ways to go. More importantly though, she was ready to try something else.

"Times thirty!" she shouted!

WOOOOOSH! The aura ignited around her. "Huff, huff, whew, this... is intense..."

She grinned and flexed her arms, teasing herself. "Tee hee, this power feels amazing!"

"Alright then," she said, "Times thirty-one!"

Woosh! She held the aura and examined her hands, this was great, it...

thump thump thump

It...

thump thump thump

Her heart was racing like crazy, she didn't feel pain, but, this speed was unnatural.

thump thump thump

Fearfully, Pan canceled her Kaio-Ken and clutched a hand to her heart and began to breath in and out as her heart rate slowly resumed its normal pace. She wiped the sweet from her forehead. That had been uncomfortable, borderline terrifying. It... hadn't hurt, but, that speed was scary. She had figured something might happen when she went to the thirties, as it did for the twenties, but, this was an unknown. She didn't think it was safe to go above a times thirty yet...

Chamber Day 221

Finally, she had finally mastered the times ten Kaio-Ken and was wearing it like a second skin. She felt like a little kid in a candy store. She was walking around naturally ten times as strong as she normally was! It was awesome. She grinned, the Saiyans would never know what was coming for...

She paused. "Wait..."

Her eyes went wide. "SHIT!"

There was a drawback she hadn't thought about. She was ten times as strong sure, but she was also ten times more visible to someones senses. She'd be like a beacon and could never get the drop on her opponent for a sneak attack. She began to swear nonstop to herself until she finally manager to reign in her temper. Okay, lets see, could she suppress her power once she had the Kaio-Ken up...?

She frowned, unable to do so. "Dammit, it isn't like mastering Super Saiyan at all! It's just a more permanent boost, not a new natural state..."

"Okay, I've got a permanent target on my forehead once I go Kaio-Ken, so what?" she muttered.

She'd have to make due with the drawback and just remain in her base state until it was time to fight. For now, she'd keep going as is. Anyway, it was time to move to the next step.

"Times fifteen!" she yelled.

She nodded to herself, examining her aura. Time to master a times fifteen.

She sat down and waited for the time to pass by.

An hour passed by...

Pan began to suddenly feeling odd. There was a sudden tightness to her chest that she didn't understand. She frowned, massaging her ribs, feeling uncomfortable. It didn't really hurt... it was a steady pressure, but...

She winced, what the hell... her left arm from her shoulder down to her elbow had suddenly started to hurt, there was an odd pain between her shoulder blades. Her right side suddenly drooped, feeling numb. Her back started hurting moments later. Pan winced as a new sensation hit her, wow, it felt like she had just eaten something super super acidy, she was getting a heavy heartburn all of the sudden. Cold Sweet began to pour down and she clutched her chest with a hand. Her breath was shortening, becoming weak, and she started to feel nausea followed by fatigue.

S-stop...

She shook her head, took a deep breath, and canceled her Kaio-Ken. The sensations and pain didn't stop. Pan tried to stand, fell to her knees, and began to crawl towards her bedroom.

W-what... what was going on...?

Chamber Day 228

It had taken her a little bit to figure it out, but she had. Nine years old. She was nine fricken years old, and she had not one, but two heart attacks. The first after trying to master a time fifteen. The second was one she figured she'd just try to baby step it again and master a times eleven. It had still happened, she still had a heart attack.

She trembled in fear, not of dying, but of having reached an insurmountable limit. She knew she was lucky she wasn't dead. If her body didn't heal like a Saiyan, she'd probably be dead right now. She figured her Saiyan biology would repair the heart damage over time, but, the fact still stood. She couldn't master beyond a times ten Kaio-Ken. She couldn't risk trying it again, if she had a third attack, she might not live through it. There wasn't just a little chance, but a heavy one that if she tried to push this issue, she would die. It just... it wasn't natural, wasn't feasible for a mortal body she figured.

She bowed her head in silent defeat.

She sighed. "I'll give myself some time to recover, then, I'll just switch back to normal training..."

Chamber Day 235

It just got worse and worse...

She had decided to test her maximum. She figured by now she ought to be stable into the thirties of the Kaio-Ken. The moment she had went times thirty-five, that intense heart-rate she had felt the last time she had went times thirty-one returned. What was worse, it was still there when she went times thirty-one to try to baby step it.

She powered down, frowning. "Hmm... well... its not like what I felt with the heart attacks, so..."

She was very hesitant, but, she decided to try training at that level anyway. "Times thirty-one!"

WOOSH! Immediately Pan threw herself into a barrage of punches and kicks followed by a Kamehameha wave. The moment it left her hands, her Kaio-Ken dropped out of existence, her power plummeted, and an heavy exhaustion took ahold of her, preventing her from doing anything but breathing heavily.

She sat there, bewildered. This wasn't like how she normally lost power as she tired, it had just dropped like the water in a sink if you suddenly removed the bottom. What in the world was this...?

Chamber Day 242

Pan took off her clothes and silently moved to the second bed in the time chamber before gently grabbing her gi and putting it on. After, she grabbed the clothes she had just had on and slipped them on over her ruined gi. Silently, she walked into the main area and stood there, her arms crossed.

It was over. Her limits had been found and met. No matter what she tried, no matter what she did, anything above a times thirty gutted her power. Whether it was a times thirty-one, or a times forty. She'd get one combo, one single combo or heavy ki attack, then her power was gone and she was left defenseless. She could not master anymore levels of Kaio-Ken, she could not push herself to maintain the highest levels of Kaio-Ken. She was to scared of the consequences to try even going above a times forty even for one combo. It was over, the limits of a mortal body had been found, or, at least an eight-to-nine year old body anyway.

She brooded to herself. It was sad in a way, she had managed to come so far. She ought to be proud, no, she was proud of how far she had come. She was now the second strongest person on Terra without question. She knew she could temporarily match and maybe even kill regular Super Saiyans with her power. But... anything above that, any of the grade forms, or a mastered Super Saiyan, she couldn't match them.

Maybe, one day, she could push up her base power to the point where she could match a mastered Super Saiyan with the Kaio-Ken. Though, she doubted she could ever match a Super Saiyan 2. But, for now, she was tired of this. The training had worn out its welcome, as had the loneliness. It was time to leave.

With a small nodded to herself and one last fleeting look around, she walked to the door, opened it, and left the time chamber.