Son Goku walked out of the lookout bedroom, having put a physically and very mentally tired Pan to bed. He glanced outward, sighting Dende and Popo talking quietly at one end, and Piccolo standing by himself at the other end. Goku walked to stand by Piccolo, gazing down at the Earth.

Goku sighed. "Well, I figured out what Gohan meant after I read Pan's mind. The way she looked at me before she cried herself to sleep. It was rough..."

"How bad was what she went through?" asked Piccolo.

"Just as bad as any of our struggles and journey's against Freeza, Cell, or Majin Buu," said Goku, "Only, Pan was an eight to nine year old girl without her family and friends who hadn't been hardened towards this sort of thing. Not to mention she was fighting alongside questionable allies, especially one in particular who was a really bad influence."

Piccolo grunted. "Hmph, worse than Vegeta or I?"

Goku smirked and put a hand on Piccolo's shoulder. "Neither of you were as bad as that Odianna girl. You both could be reasoned with, she could not. Though, I suppose I'm being a bit to judging on the others, they weren't bad and tried to be good friends with Pan."

He pulled his hand away, frowning. "That dimension though..."

Piccolo nodded. "Good, you're thinking ahead. The Saiyans' there could become a very real problem. An entire universe full of them, its mind boggling."

Goku shook his head. "Nah, they actually don't concern me, yet. As I understand it, very few of them are even at Super Saiyan 2. From Pan's memory of that one Odianna beat, if that's the level they are all at, the Saiyans there have a long way to go before they even reach the level Vegeta and I were during the whole Majin Buu thing. Not to mention, they are all apparently fighting one another, so, were not even on their radar."

Piccolo's eyes furrowed. "Why does that dimension concern you then if the Saiyan's don't?"

Goku frowned intently. "Odianna played us. When I first encountered her, I knew something was off with how she was maintaining her Kaio-Ken effortlessly, and when she survived going 'Hyper' Kaio-Ken."

Piccolo raised an eyebrow. "Hyper?"

Goku shook his head. "Don't even think about it, I doubt a mortal body could survive it."

Piccolo narrowed his eyes. "I'm not daft, if you say a mortal body can't handle it, then she's-."

Goku nodded before closing his eyes and sighing. "Yeah, she's immortal. She was turned immortal for a good cause, but, it just all went downhill for her and that world. They've had it far worse than we did. It's a real shame. They didn't deserve what happened to them, and even though I'm very angry with Odianna with how she hurt and influenced Pan, she didn't deserve to go through that life either."

Piccolo began to tap his feet. "You haven't explained how she 'played you' yet."

Goku half smiled. "She's immortal, and she got us to remove the two-day time limit on her time chamber. From what I understand about her from when we met, and from Pan's memories, shes driven by an insatiable hatred of Saiyans. If I had to guess, shes probably been in there almost every day since the chamber was changed. That was four moths ago, so, already over a hundred years."

Piccolo frowned intently. "Goku, that's a problem. That's a huge problem. Humans may not scale in power with training to the degree you Saiyans do, but, an Immortal whose empowered by a more powerful Kaio-Ken with near infinite training time?"

Goku nodded. "Yeah. Though I doubt she'll get anywhere near strong enough to challenge the power of Super Saiyan Blue, I'm pretty sure by the next time we meet she'll be able to handle even my Super Saiyan 3, probably with ease. Though, unless she can actually figure out how to both get out of her dimension and find ours, she might not be a problem. Not to mention, she has an entire universe full of Saiyans to fight first."

He glanced at Piccolo. "But, just incase she does wind up here at some point, up for practicing the Evil Containment Wave later?"

Piccolo smirked. "Hmph, you always have some kind of plan. I'm surprised you don't want to go out and fight her though."

Goku smiled softly. "Maybe I do. But, I think I've drawn enough attention to our world over the years and brought far to much trouble with the Universal Survival Tournament and this dimension stuff."

Piccolo turned his head and studied Goku for a moment before grunting and facing forward. "About time you learned your lesson. It's a shame it took your Granddaughter having to go through a trial like that on her own for you to finally realize it."

Goku winced. "Low blow Piccolo."

"Hmph, truth hurts," replied Piccolo.

There was silence for a few minutes.

"So, what do you intend to do?" asked Piccolo.

"With Pan? I dunno. I mean...," Goku began before pausing briefly to think.

"I don't understand some of the things Pan did," he admitted.

"Such as?" asked Piccolo.

Goku hesitated. "Well, I dunno if I should say anything without Pan's permission."

Piccolo merely stared at him.

Goku rolled his eyes. "Well..."

He looked a bit squeamish. "Her stay in the time chamber when preparing for an Saiyan invasion really... made me feel a bit sick. There's a big difference between pushing your body to its limits, and destroying yourself over and over again. It wasn't one or two times, she almost killed herself dozens of times. There were a few times she just started crying and deliberately blasted herself to near-death with the Kamehameha wave."

Piccolo frowned intently. "She probably figured out that Saiyans grow stronger when recovering from near-death."

Goku shook his head slowly. "Even so, Gohan and I... we never trained and bled like that. The damage she did to herself just with those stunts she pulled with the Kaio-Ken... I'd rather have gone through several rounds of letting Freeza beat on me back in the day. It would have been the kinder thing to do to my body. That kind of pain and self-abuse is just unnatural. I thought I taught her the importance of resting."

"Perhaps, but, I want you to recognize something Goku. As I figure it, she was a little girl without any guidance willing to do whatever it took to get strong enough to stop people she probably cared about from dying. Of everything you taught her, to never give up and push yourself beyond your limits was something she probably took to heart," said Piccolo.

Goku sighed. "I guess. Just... I wish she hadn't done that stuff to herself. If she hadn't gotten a new body when she died, I woulda made her eat a few Senzu beans after I saw what kind of damage she did to herself, even being Saiyan wouldn't have fixed all of that. I might not be a doctor, but I think no nine year old girl should be having heart attacks."

Piccolo winced. "No, definitely not."

Goku scratched his head. "Not to mention, I do remember 'some' of the first aid lessons Chi-Chi made me go through, I think a few times Pan outright passed out or had pain attacks after abusing the Kaio-Ken might have been sees, seiz... um... seizures?"

Piccolo rubbed the bridge of his nose and gave a disgruntled sigh. "We all apparently did a piss poor job teaching her how to properly push herself. We'll have to fix that, especially since the first thing she did after waking up and eating was go train. She wants to get stronger, we have to straighten her out on how to properly do it."

Goku nodded. "I'll handle that."

Piccolo cleared his throat. "Anything else that didn't make sense?"

Goku tilted his head back and forth. "Her fights, even if I didn't like them, made enough sense to me. Though, she definitely goofed by going in against Kojin blind. Also, a lot of the girl stuff she talked about with Aideen during their down time was..."

Piccolo coughed. "Goku, your male, they're female. There's probably a reason it doesn't make sense to you."

Goku snickered. "I guess. The only other thing that really alarmed me was her training in the afterlife. I mean, she trained correctly to master Super Saiyan, but, she just seemed so miserable and angry the entire time. Not to mention, she didn't know she was getting revived, so she wasn't training to come back and save everyone like I did with King Kai, she was training to obliterate Kojin's soul when he died."

Piccolo grew confused. "But... she never would have gotten that opportunity. For one, the chances of him getting to keep his body were slim to none, and two, regardless of his body he would have immediately been sent to hell."

Goku nodded, an angry look coming over his face. "I know, and her training partner and teacher probably knew that too. Just like Odianna, they pushed her towards that to suit their own needs of defeating Kojin. They should have been straight with her. Making her think she was never going to be revived, never see us again, its almost unforgivable to me."

He closed his eyes. "Especially since Pan was going to destroy her own soul or be reincarnated after destroying Kojin, just because she didn't think she was going to ever see us all again."

Piccolo stiffened. "Fool girl... willing to throw everything away like that..."

Piccolo slowly shook his head. "Standing up here looking down on humanity. I've seen what depression and despair can do to a human. Its not a pleasant sight to see. Now that she's alive and back home, I hope she wont think such thoughts again, but, just incase, keep an eye on her."

Goku nodded. "I ain't worried about that, but, I'll do as you ask anyway."

He crossed his arms. "The thing that really worries me right now is breaking her of how she fights. Were you watching us spar? You saw how she fought at the end, right?"

Piccolo nodded. "Yes. It wouldn't be intentional, but, she could kill or seriously harm someone with ease if she got worked up like that again. She's too dangerous right now to risk letting her spar with anyone but you, Vegeta, myself, or Gotenks. She doesn't need accidentally killing or maiming someone during a spar on her conscience right now."

Goku massaged his forehead. "I'm a bit frustrated to be honest. I taught her mercy, I taught her how to hold back. It just all started going downhill for Pan after she lost control and killed that first Saiyan. Odianna and Cheikame both influenced Pan in bad ways, one deliberately, one by withholding the truth. Too see so much of what I taught her undone in a few months, one time chamber visit on Terra, and a few months in the afterlife is a bit disheartening."

"Perhaps, but if it came down to it, at least Pan would do what she'd have to do," said Piccolo, "I'm not sure you should try to undo all of what she's learned, some of it yes, but not all of it."

Goku frowned at him. "I dunno Piccolo, I dunno."

They grew silent for a few minutes before Piccolo asked, "So, what DO you intend to do at the moment with her?"

Goku half-smiled. "Well, I have one idea..."

Pan gave a start and woke up when something cold and wet hit her forehead. "Wha...?"

"Oops, sorry Pan, your icecream is melting!" came her Grandpa's voice.

Pan looked up, sighting her Grandpa standing next to the bed she was in holding two very large icecream cones, one was half eaten; she wiped off her forehead before asking, "How long have you been standing there?"

Goku shrugged. "I was hoping you'd wake a few minutes ago."

He offered the none-eaten icecream. "You like chocolate-vanilla swirl, right?"

Pan smiled and took it. "Yeah, its been so long since I had icecream."

Goku sat down next to her and they quietly enjoyed the treat.

*crunch crunch*

Pan finished off the cone itself. "Thanks Grandpa."

"No problem Pan," replied Goku.

Pan looked down at the floor for a moment, trying to work up the courage to speak. "Umm... G-grandpa?"

"Yeah Pan?" answered Goku.

"T-thank you," she said quietly.

Goku gave her a curious look. "You already said thanks for the icecream."

Pan rolled her eyes. "Dummy! That's not what I meant!"

"Huh?" was Goku's response.

Pan struggled to look up and meet his gaze, feeling bashful. "I-I mean... for coming for me out there in the dimensions. For not hating me for what I did. And... for being willing to listen."

Goku blinked a few times. "Listen?"

She could have groaned, he wasn't making this easy, sometimes she wondered if he acted like this on purpose. "Listening to my memories, of what happened."

Goku gave her a warm smile and ruffled her hair. "Pan, I woulda kept looking for you forever if that's what it took, and I already told you I could never hate you. As for listening, I'm always willing if you ever need to talk."

Pan smiled weakly and grew silent.

"Though, I wasn't the only one who was looking for you. Vegeta, your dad and mom, even the Supreme Kai came with us," said Goku, "You ought to go say thank you to your dad and mom, and apologize for earlier, then go thank Vegeta."

Pan winced. "Well, I guess I was a little rude, but, that question he asked was dumb!"

"You know he was just flustered and couldn't ask what he really wanted to," Goku pointed out.

Pan scowled. "I guess."

"I'll drop you off at home," said Goku as he put a hand on her shoulder and two fingers to his forehead.

ZIP

Goku instant transmissioned them to the house and took his hand off her shoulder.

Pan glanced up at him. "Grandpa, you gotta teach me the instant transmission sometime."

Goku smirked. "When your older, its a really complex thing to learn."

Pan scowled. "Fine, fine."

Goku put two fingers to his forehead and said before disappearing. "See ya later."

Pan gave a heavy sigh and walked into her home, making her way to the kitchen. Her mother and father were sitting at the table talking quietly to themselves. They stopped and glanced her way when she stepped into the room.

"Umm... sorry about earlier," mumbled Pan.

Gohan gave her a soft smile. "Its okay, I'm sorry too."

"How are you feeling sweetie?" asked Videl.

Pan shrugged and moved to the table to sit down. "Okay I guess."

"You work it all out on your Grandpa?" teased Videl.

Pan rolled her eyes. "He hit me harder than I hit him."

There was a small chuckle from the three of them before Gohan cleared his throat. "Pan, umm... Mr. Saten called us earlier, were going to need to go over the cover story before the police arrive to talk to you tomorrow."

Pan blanked. "Uh... what?"

"Well, we left it up to mom and Mr. Saten to decide how to explain you and us being gone," Gohan began.

Pan groaned. "What did he do?"

"Well, apparently you were 'kidnapped' and we went out to search and rescue you," said Gohan.

Pan put her face on the table. "Ugh, I don't know which Grandpa is worse sometimes."

"We'll have to get it down pat so there is no conflicting information if someone asks you in school," said Videl.

Pan slowly picked her head up from the table, a frown on her face. "School..."

She mulled it over for a minute before speaking. "I'm not going back to school."

Gohan and Videl exchanged glances before Gohan spoke sternly, "Pan, you need to go to school and go to college to get a decent paying job these days."

Pan crossed her arms and scowled. "What are you, Grandma? Grandpa lives well enough off farming, so, so can I. I can't afford to waste time at school! I have to train as hard as I can!"

"Pan...," began Gohan.

"Don't Pan me!" exclaimed Pan, "I CAN'T be weak anymore! I have to get stronger! I-I..."

She bowed her head. "Daddy, so many people died or almost died because I wasn't strong enough, I died because I wasn't strong enough... I couldn't bear to lose you and mom because I was weak..."

Gohan looked lost, stricken at her words, "Pan... that's not something you should be worrying about, a burden you shouldn't have to handle..."

"I have to dad," she whispered, "I saw what happens if I don't."

She cleared her throat, and reigned in her trembling voice before she looked up at them. "If you make me go, I'm just going to fly out of school. I'm a Super Saiyan 2, if you try to keep me there yourselves or with someone watching over me I'm not going to back down, I will cause a scene. Each. And. Every. Time. Good luck explaining ki blasts to the media."

Gohan sighed, a pained look on his face. "I suppose I can't really stop you then if your that set. But, you're still getting home-schooled."

Pan rolled her eyes. "As long as it doesn't cut into training that much."

"Sweetie, are you sure about all of this?" asked Videl with concern.

Pan nodded. "I'm sorry mom, but I am."

Pan got up from the table and made for the door before pausing. "Mom, dad, thank you for coming to look for me."

They both smiled faintly at her.

"I gotta go thank Mr. Vegeta, I'll be back later, bye!" said Pan before rushing out the door and flying off.

Videl sighed and looked to Gohan. "What do we do?"

Gohan shook his head. "Nothing. Unless we want her to resent us for the rest of her life, we can't stop her. All we can do is try to support her and be there for her as best we can."

Videl closed her eyes. "I wish this had never happened. It... it hurts to see that she isn't the same smiling joyful little girl anymore. She's just... so serious all the time now, I'm scared that she wont ever be happy like she was ever again. Your father is a good man Gohan, and I know he meant no harm, but, I don't know if I can forgive him."

Gohan sighed. "I know Videl, I know. But, Pan's dead set on her course, and the only one who can really steer her right on that path is my dad. When he and I go into the time chamber, were going to have a long talk. He caused this, he better see it through to the end..."

Pan eyed Capsule Corp from the air, mulling something over in her mind. She did want to thank Vegeta, but, there was another reason in her mind for her to go see him. She landed at Capsule Corp and knocked on the door...

She gave a yelp when a certain blue haired girl barreled out of the door and took her to the ground in a tackle hug. "Hey Pan!"

"Jeez, hi Bra," said Pan.

"I'm so glad you're back! Its so good to see you again," said Bra, sniffling.

Pan nodded. "Its... good to be back. Is your dad in?"

Bra rolled her eyes. "Is my dad in? Please, you can feel him in the gravity chamber. He just got done mopping the floor with Trunks, c'mon."

The two girls entered the house. They passed the kitchen, Pan took note of Trunks sitting at the table with his mother putting an icepack against a bruise on his face. Pan took in the sight critically, eyeing how much damage Vegeta was willing to dish out against his own son. Pan nodded, making up her mind on what to ask Vegeta before she moved to follow Bra. They reached the gravity chamber and Bra knocked on the door.

"Daddy! Pan's here to see you!" Bra called in, trying to be heard over the hum of the chamber.

When nothing happened, Pan stepped forward, powered up a bit, and heavily knocked on the door.

Bra giggled when the humm stopped. "That's one way to get his attention."

Vegeta opened the door and scowled at them. "What do you want?"

Pan bowed her head to him. "Umm, thank you for coming to help find me."

Vegeta crossed his arms. "You interrupted my training for that? Hmph, fine, you're welcome, you can go now."

"No need to be mean daddy," scolded Bra.

Pan stepped forward and stood directly in-front of him. "Vegeta..."

He frowned at her. "What is it grandbrat?"

"I want you to train me," said Pan.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "Kakarot's grandbrat comes to ME for training? What? Is he gone to mushy after his dear grandbrat is back to lift a finger against you?"

"No, we sparred earlier," said Pan, "But, he holds back to much."

Vegeta scowled. "Because you couldn't handle anymore than he gave you. Don't waste my time, he's more than capable."

Vegeta turned, walked into the room, and began to close the door before Pan grabbed it. "I mean it Vegeta! I don't care how hard the training is or how badly you hurt me. I''ll have already done worse to myself, I can take anything you dish out!"

Bra gave her a sharp look. "Pan...?"

Vegeta slowly pushed the door open again, eyeing Pan critically. "..."

She stared him right in the eye, not budging an inch.

"Bra, go help your mother tend to Trunks, Pan and I need to talk," said Vegeta.

"But...,' began Bra.

"Now!" barked Vegeta.

Bra winced and scurried away.

"Enter, now," ordered Vegeta.

Pan walked inside and turned as Vegeta closed the door behind them. They stood, as if at an impasse, both staring at eachother with arms crossed.

"You will explain what you meant by 'worse to yourself'," ordered Vegeta.

Pan frowned. "I trained in the time chamber back on Terra. I damn near destroyed myself with the Kaio-Ken plenty of times, nothing you could do could compare to that."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe it is," taunted Pan, hoping he would take the bait.

"Hmph, if you can already push yourself to that kind of extreme training, why would you need me?" asked Vegeta, dashing her plan.

Pan took note of the critical gleam in his eyes and carefully formed her words. "Because, all I learned on Terra was to fight like a human. I want you to teach me to fight like a Saiyan."

She might hate their kind outside of her family, but denying herself more knowledge, especially how to exploit their race by knowing how one of their elite fought, was something she wouldn't pass up on.

Vegeta silently studied her.

Pan stood there, waiting patiently as the minutes passed by.

Finally, he spoke, "I already have my hands full with the brats and my own training, I can't..."

Pan rushed at him, ascending to Super Saiyan 2 and lashing a heavy fist towards his face. Vegeta caught it effortlessly, merely going Super Saiyan to match her. He tightened his grip on her fist, squeezing down. Pan resisted the pain, merely staring him in the eye.

"Hmph," said Vegeta.

He threw her back and to the floor before turning to the gravity machine. "I meant what I said. My time is cut short. I will offer you two hours on Mondays at six o'clock in the evening. No more, no less. Be there on time every time or don't bother showing up at all from that point onward, and no after school activities excuse like my own children try to give me will work. Are we clear?"

Pan relaxed her power and nodded, a grin on her face. "Perfectly, and besides, I'm training full time, I'm not going back to school."

"Is that so? I'm surprised your family would agree to that," said Vegeta, an interested tone in his voice.

"I didn't give them a choice," said Pan.

Vegeta smirked. "Hah, perhaps I might squeeze in a few more hours for you here and there then, but, don't push your luck. Now leave."

Pan stood up and walked out, a content look on her face. With both Grandpa AND Vegeta training her, she was sure to get really strong, and really skilled. She nodded to herself; Good, she needed to become as powerful as she could as quickly as she could. Maybe, if she pushed herself hard enough, she could become a Super Saiyan God by the time she became an adult, maybe even sooner! She smiled and hummed to herself. She'd become so strong that NO ONE could ever hurt her or anyone she cared about again. And if they tried... well... she wouldn't give them a chance to try a second time...

Vegeta rubbed his chin in thought, turning towards the gravity machine and ramping it up. Perhaps he was wrong about the next generation not being able to rise to the challenge. Though, he had taken note; Pan seemed to have changed a lot more than he thought she had, in some ways that he approved of, in others that he did not, he wasn't quite sure yet what to make of her. Regardless, he was a bit at odds with training one of Kakarot's blood. Speaking of which...

Vegeta turned Super Saiyan Blue and waited.

When nothing happened he scowled. "Damn clown can't take the hint."

Vegeta turned the godly power on and off like a switch until finally...

ZIP

"Yo, what's up Vegeta?" asked Goku, teleporting into the room.

"Why was your Grandbrat here asking me to train her?" asked Vegeta.

Goku gave him a look of surprise. "Pan was? Really?"

"Said she wanted me to teach her to fight like a Saiyan," said Vegeta.

Goku frowned and crossed his arms in thought. "Hmm..."

He looked at Vegeta and asked. "You got a few hours to talk about Pan?"

Vegeta turned back to the gravity machine and cranked it up further. "So long as it doesn't interrupt my training..."