Gohan gave a start and looked at his daughter, confused and very alarmed at the abrupt change he suddenly felt in her. She blasted off, causing the rest of them to staggered back as she rushed to the ring and set down on the opposite end of the ring as Coli walked in. Pan stared at Coli with a malice in her eyes that Gohan had NEVER seen there before. Her ki after she had awoken from her coma had always been a steady maelstrom, but now it had turned into a violent and unpredictable storm. He could feel the rage roiling from her. He didn't understand, what in the world had just happened?
"Somethings wrong," said Gohan with alarm.
Goku nodded, a serious expression on his face. "Pan's off."
Goten and Trunks exchanged nervous glances. Vegeta crossed his arms and frowned, but said nothing. Gohan looked back at their spectator area. The others had noted it as well, all of the Z-Fighters were on edge, Videl looked like she was going to have a stroke. Piccolo especially seemed alarmed.
"Begin!" shouted the Grand Priest.
Gohan turned back to the ring. He had half expected Pan to throw herself at Coli in a blind rage. Instead, she appeared to be struggling with herself to hold back. He had a momentary surge of hope that Pan would reign in her fury.
"Why... did you do it?" asked Pan through grinding teeth.
Coli raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"
"Why did you kill Aneurin?!" screamed Pan.
Gohan went very still and exchanged glances with Goku. The look in both of their eyes said the same thing: Oh shit.
Goku looked uncertain and wary. "That Aneurin guy was a friend of Pans'. Aideen had told us one of them had killed him, but, it never even crossed my mind that Pan would get paired up with the one who did it."
"Guess that explains whats going on with her," murmured Gohan in mute horror; of all the situations Pan could be placed into, why this one? Things had been going so well this last month...
Coli looked at Pan, a confused look on her face. "Kill who?"
Pan looked like she was about to lose it. "My friend! The one you murdered before coming to this tournament!"
Coli paused briefly before she grinned, a sadistic look on her face. "Oh? You were friends with that pitiful weakling? You know, he was one of my easiest kills. Did most of the work for me with that bastardization known as the Kaio-Ken. All I had to do was let him wear himself out and then he was all mine to play with."
Pan started to shake with rage.
"Tell me, would you like to hear what I did to him?" asked Coli, licking her lips slowly.
"You tore his heart out," Pan whispered with hate.
"Oh please, I did so much more than that," teased Coli with glee.
Coli slowly turned her head and gazed towards Dimension 5, and then towards Dimension 1.
"Hmm, perhaps I should give you a demonstration of just what I did, after the tournament. I already promised to burn that Dimension's human world, I could start there. Or, perhaps I should strike closer to home? That woman up there in the spectator area, is she by chance your mother?" asked Coli, pointing straight at Videl.
Gohan's own rage was immediately overwhelmed by his daughter's, it was radiating off her like a sun. If Pan's eyes could naturally change color without a transformation, he was sure they would have just turned blood red.
"Mmm, the things I'm going to do to that delicate little flower," said Coli sadistically.
Gohan lost all color in his face as he felt IT. He felt Pan lose complete and utter control of herself. He felt her turn into what he had always feared she would become after she first came home from the other Dimensions. Her ki roiled and raged, the look on her face warped with a hatred he had never seen before, her entire body was quaking. Bolts of blue lightning were crackling down her body despite that she hadn't even transformed yet. Her eyes shined with deadliness, there was nothing but death in them. Coli had already killed Pan's friend, and now she had just threatened her mother. Pan had snapped.
"You can't do anything to her if you're dead!" roared Pan.
She ascended to Super Saiyan 2 with a scream of fury. Her aura erupted, lightning wrapping around her uncontrollably. Her power erupted far above what Gohan thought to be her normal maximum power. She had gone completely unhinged and had absolutely nothing holding her back. It was one of the most terrifying and painful things he had ever seen in his life. Coli ascended to match her, powering up as fast as she could, a wild, eager look on her face. She had poked and prodded Pan to this, and appeared pleased with the results. Gohan felt nothing but pure and utter contempt for the woman. They had just been set back so much because of her, in a way that will either be incredibly difficult to come back from, or that Pan might not turn away from at all...
"We tried so hard this last month," despaired Gohan, "She'd come so far..."
Trunks frowned at him. "Hey! Give Pan a break! That Coli bitch deserves whatever is coming to her!"
Vegeta frowned. "One reaps what they sow..."
They didn't understand. He could see that only he, dad, and Piccolo understood just how bad this was. This was the mistake, this was the tipping point, the breaking point they had feared Pan might reach. He could see it in her eyes; Pan was going to brutally murder Coli in cold blood in the middle of a tournament that forbade death. Everything was going to go downhill from here.
Pan gave a scream of fury and burst forward, closing the distance in an instance and thrust her fist forward with such intensity the air cried out in pain. Coli barely dodged to the side, letting Pan surge past and slam her fist into the ring barrier behind Coli with enough force to make it ripple. Gohan closed his eyes in defeat. There was the proof: that wasn't a hard hit, that was an attempted killing blow, if it had hit, it would have punched right through Coli's body. He opened his eyes and met his father's gaze, both of them sharing their silent misery between one another.
Pan spun and unleashed a wave of ki from her hands, blasting Coli back and rushed forward, engulfing a hand with ki and backhanding her as hard as she could. Coli's face was ripped at the blow, drawing blood, and almost snapping her neck at the force of the blow. Coli sagged back, wincing painfully. Pan rushed forward and drove a knee as deep into Coli's stomach as she could before grabbing her head and slamming her own into it. Coli stumbled and fell to the ground, rolling as Pan tried to pounce and hit her. Coli staggered away and flew into the air to gain a moment to breath. Pan began to fire a barrage of death beams, each one lethal. Coli dodged and parried them, burning her hands on contact each time, wincing painfully. Pan burst forward, closing the distance, and then two-handed smashing Coli to the ground. Pan pursued relentlessly, surging down and slamming a knee into the woman's back. Coli screamed in pain, rolling and bucking Pan off of her. Coli rose to her feet, rushed Pan, and uppercut her chin.
Pan staggered back and growled, a little bit of blood leaking out of her mouth. She bared her teeth and then ran at Coli, throwing a blow at her shoulder. Coli raised her arm to knock the blow high, spun on a foot, and slammed the back of her fist into Pan's face. Pan staggered past, anger and rage blinding her eyes. She spun and formed a Destruco Disk in her hand, swinging it at Coli like a weapon. Coli barley managed to pull back in time to save her life, but, not fast enough to escape unharmed. The disk sliced into her armor, leaving a visible red line up from her stomach to her collarbone that started leaking blood. Coli gave a cry of agony at that and clutched a hand over the middle of the line.
She swore and flew back as Pan rushed at her again, swinging the Destructo Disk in a failed attempt to cut her in half. Pan pursed, the Destructo Disk held behind her back, and snapped it forward to fling it at Coli. Coli turned and kicked the flat of the disk, batting it into the ring barrier. Pan closed the distance before Coli could right herself and drove a knee right into Coli's crotch. Coli's eyes bulged with agony, but it didn't end there. Pan grabbed Coli's arms, pulled her down, and bit down right into Coli's neck, her head winging back and forth trying and succeeding in ripping a chunk out of her neck. Coli screamed and slammed a fist into Pan's face, knocking her back. Pan spit a chunk of meat out of her mouth, blood running down her face, a near mad grin on her face.
Gohan brought up an arm to block his mouth, resisting the urge to gag. "Gods..."
"Remind me never to threaten Videl," murmured Trunks uneasily.
"Bro, dad, this isn't...," began Goten, but stopped, unable to find the right words.
Gohan glanced back, sighting a grim look in Piccolo's eyes. There was no warmth or hope there. They exchanged glances, and Piccolo's eyes read: 'I'm sorry, but I told you this would happen'. Gohan eyed his wife, she had a hand over her mouth, horror on her face. Everyone else looked ill or wary. Bra wasn't even watching anymore, staring down at the ground, tears in her eyes. Gods, this was demoralizing to watch.
Pan wiped the blood off her face and glanced down at her bloody Gi sleeve. Suddenly she paused, looking her Gi over. "Huh."
"Wait a second, this isn't right," said Pan.
Gohan had hope for a moment, before Pan pulled off her Turtle Hermit Gi and tossed it to the ground, revealing her Fox Hermit Gi underneath. "Much better, does this look familiar to you, witch? It's the same Gi as Aneurin, and it'll be the last sight you see."
Gohan watched Pan's Gi hit the ground with a thud. For some reason... this above all else... hurt to see. Pan had treasured that Gi beyond everything else. Treated it almost as if it were a person, with tender love and care. Now? She had just tossed it aside like it was nothing... what had happened to her? Just... when had things gone so wrong? Not even ten minutes ago Pan had been fine. Now it was like Pan was lost in herself, wasn't even aware of where she was or what she was doing. He hoped and prayed the Gods would interfere since Pan had announced her intentions, but they stood back and watched. She hadn't broken a rule yet, they wouldn't intervene unless she did.
Rather than looked frightened, scared, Coli had an almost equally mad grin on her face and mocked Pan, "Oh? So you share a poor taste in clothing with that weakling? Pfff, hahahaha."
Pan's eyes twitched, and her anger rocketed. "Laugh while you can, bitch."
Gohan watched in disbelief, was Coli being serious right now? She was getting her ass kicked and she was STILL egging Pan on? Gods, that woman was acting... acting almost like he envisioned Pan might act if she turned down a dark path... Gohan closed his eyes painfully. For as much as Pan hated her, Coli was exactly what Pan was going to turn into. He stared at his daughter, not sure what to feel. He expected anger, sadness, bitterness, but, he simply felt disappointment. Not with her, but himself. He felt like he had failed her.
Pan cupped her hands to he side. "Super..."
Blue energy shined out of her hand.
"Kaaaameeehaaaaaaaa," began Pan, her body glowing bright blue.
Coli tensed and grew still preparing herself.
Instead of aiming at Coli, Pan aimed up into the sky, "Meeeehaaaaa!"
The energy wave surged into the air. Pan clenched her fists over the energy wave and pulled down, causing it to ripple, rupture, and exploded. The entire ring was bathed in energy, torching both Pan and Coli, knocking them to the ring floor. Pan was the first to recover, rushing at Coli and kicking her up into the air. Pan caught her leg as she flew up, and then flew down, smashing Coli into the ground. She placed a foot on Coli's knee, fired a death beam through her knee joint, and TWISTED her leg, snapping it. Coli gave a pained cry, but Pan did not stop. Her aura started flaring uncontrollably. She started pulling, trying to rip Coli's leg off.
Coli ground her teeth, twisted her body, and unleashed a blast of ki, blasting Pan off her. Coli flew into the air, massaging her broken leg painfully. She still didn't look alarmed, in fact, she looked pleased, very pleased. She flew down at Pan and slammed a fist into her face, sending the girl stumbling. Pan barley reacted to the pain, recovering immediately and throwing herself at Coli. Slugging her across her face and knocking her to the ground. She straddled Coli's chest, pinning her down, and rained down endless blows on her opponent's face, turning it into a bloody mess.
Finally, Coli caught a fist and twisted, rolling over as she did to throw Pan off of her. She rushed to her feet and at Pan, cracking a fist across Pan's face. Pan staggered away, anger radiating out of her. Coli tried again, aiming for an eye, only for Pan to catch the blow, pull her hand down, and bite down into it, trying to make a repeat hole like the one in Coli's neck. Instead, Coli unleashed a blast of ki into Pan's mouth, causing the girl to let go and staggered back, coughing, smoke rising out of her mouth. Coli flew forward and two-hand clobbered Pan, sending her flying. Pan corrected herself, stopping her hurtle. She aimed a finger and unleashed a death beam at the charging Coli. The woman tried to dodge, managing to instead take the beam through her shoulder instead of her forehead. Coli crashed to the ground, cringing.
"It ENDS!" screamed Pan.
She burst forward, her power churning. She kicked Coli into the air and then threw her hands out to her side, gathering energy. She aimed them up into the sky.
Ripple! Pulse!
Pan gave a mad cry of hatred and threw her hands down towards the ground, "JUDGEMENT!"
A giant energy beam rained down from the sky, hit Coli, carried her to the ground and exploded. Gohan had to shield his face from the bright light. When it faded, Coli laid on the ground, bloody, bruised, battered, leaking blood everywhere. Her armor was shredded, and she had dropped out of Super Saiyan 2. Pan walked over and stared down at her, grinning wickedly.
Coli started laughing, coughing up blood as she did. "Y-yes! YES! Show it to me! Show me your worth as a Saiyan! Show me that you're just like us!"
Pan snarled at her and aimed a finger, ready to blow a death beam through her head...
And then she froze... standing there as still as a statue, shock and horror creeping over her face...
Pan's her heart stopped for a moment, her hate and rage faded, and she suddenly became very aware of herself and what was going on as Coli's words echoed through her mind...
"Y-yes! YES! Show it to me! Show me your worth as a Saiyan! Show me that you're just like us!"
"Show me your worth as a Saiyan! Show me that you're just like us!"
"Show me that you're just like us!"
Pan looked down Coli in disbelief, staring into the psychotic Saiyan's eyes... and... saw a reflection of herself in them. All the color in Pan's face drained away, and her hand started trembling. Oh gods... oh gods... she WAS acting just like them, like HER! She had been about to murder the Saiyan in cold blood in the middle of a tournament. She recognized that Coli... that Coli was what she could grow up to be like. It hit Pan like a Super Kamehameha Wave. It was like staring into some kind of twisted mirror...
Piccolo turned his back on her. "Is it? Pan, we don't fight to 'end' people. We will kill if we must, but our goal is to defend those we care about and better ourselves in the process. Not kill our enemies and mindlessly chase power. Goku might be more merciful, Vegeta and I might be less forgiving, but all three of us have the same goal. If you can't honestly see the difference between your reasons and ours, then you lost your way and don't even deserve the power you have at your fingertips now, let alone the power of a god or that green energy. If you keep on this path your walking, you'll end up worse than Freeza, Black, Zamasu, or any of the other villains we've encountered. I can only hope you realize this before you make an irreversible mistake."
Goku took a deep breath and let it out. "But beyond that, Pan, a lot of the times when you'd spar when you got first got back home, and sometimes when you talked, your ki would feel dark, bad."
Pan looked at him in disbelief.
"You could act so viscous, whether it was sparing, or talking, it made everyone scared, not of what you were, but what you could become," explained Goku, "And when you basically tortured the Cell junior to death, it was really bad and..."
"I did not torture it!" she defended, "I beat it to death and finished it with Judgement so it couldn't regen..."
"Pan," Goku said sternly, "I was watching that entire fight. You crushed it into the ground and 'licked your lips' at the sight of its beaten body. You said you 'forgot how good it feels to beat the crap out of scum like you', said you didn't care about killing it. Pan, that's not something a good guy does or says..."
Pan cracked, and recoiled at the memories. She lowered her hand, banishing her death beam, and took a step back. Coli stared at her in confusion, but Pan made no other move except to bow her head in shame. This entire fight, she'd been fighting like an animal, like a bloodthirsty Saiyan. There had been no honor, no purpose in it except brutality and revenge. She closed her eyes, a tear sliding down her face. Piccolo had been right... she... she had been just like them. Piccolo was right, she was just like those villains...
Pan felt hollow and empty all of the sudden, feeling nothing but a dull pain inside her chest. She dared... she dared not look towards her Dimension's area. She knew what she'd see, the disappointment, the rejection on the faces of her friends and family's faces. Was it... was it already to late? Would they even want anything to do with her anymore after watching this bloodbath? Was she... alone? Oh gods... the thought hurt so much.
If she was alone... then did it matter what she did anymore? Her eyes twitched at the thought. Should she just kill Coli and get it over with? She was already damned in her own mind, and probably damned in her family's eyes. Pan slowly raised her head and looked at Coli. Their eyes met, and Coli's confusion turned to pure, raw, fear for the first time. Pan didn't know what the woman saw in her eyes, but if it terrified that psychopath, then it couldn't be good. Pan didn't really know what to make of the reaction. She should have felt something, but, she just felt so empty right now... there was a blackness in her head and her stomach that was all consuming.
She struggled to push through that empty feeling and think. If she was alone, then no ones else opinion mattered but her own. So what was it then? What did she want to do? What did she want to be?
She stared at Coli, watching the woman stand up and assume a defensive stance, finally; after another minute, Pan made her decision and spoke with a dull, empty tone, "Do you know what I wanted to do to you, Coli? I wanted to break every bone in your body. I wanted to test how many death beams you could take before you died. I wanted to rip you limb from limb."
"You said I was like you, like the others. You shouldn't want that, because if I were like you, I'd be so much worse," continued Pan, her voice dark and breaking, sounding like some kind of twisted sob, "You have no idea what I would become."
She closed her eyes for a moment before sighing. "But, I don't want to be like you."
Pan blurred and disappeared, reappearing behind Coli and chopping at the back of her neck, knocking the woman out cold. Pan powered down and stared at the woman quietly. She had hoped she might feel something for making that decision, but, she felt just as cold and empty as she did before. Did she honestly deserve to feel anything else? The thought hit her painfully. She had betrayed her family, her Grandpa, in that fight, fighting like that. Who was she kidding? She had turned her back on their teachings, turned her back on everything they had been trying to do for her this last month, no, ever since she had first come back home from the other Dimensions. She was just like the other Saiyans, a monster. She was alone. Did she deserve to feel anything after such a betrayal? Did she even deserve to live?
Pan's eyes dimmed, and a sad, twisted smile appeared on her face at the thought. Yes... that was the right thought: did she deserve to live? That was the question, oh yes, hee hee hee, that was the question. Her eyes twitched a bit, and she heard the Grand Priest announce her victory, but the voice sounded so far away, everything sounded so far away. Pan turned towards her Dimension's area and started walking. The faces of her friends and family looked blurry. She thought they were talking to her, saying something, but she didn't hear them. They were probably condemning her, so what did it matter what they were saying? She already... she already knew they didn't want her anymore...
Gohan smiled and exchanged relieved glances with Goku. She had done it, gods, she had pulled herself out of that mess in the nick of time. He had all but given up, expecting Pan to just murder the Saiyan right then and there, but against all odds, Coli's own words seemed to unintentionally snap Pan out of her mind-numbing rage. It had still been a very close call, but she hadn't crossed the line. He still wanted to have a long talk with her about what had happened, later after the tournament, but, for now, he was very pleased, and very content.
He felt a surge of pride at his daughter as she neared, "I know that took a lot of strength to do Pan, you did good. I'm proud of you."
Pan said nothing, a weird blank look on her face, and walked passed them.
"Umm Pan?" asked Goku, "Shouldn't you go get your other Gi out of the ring?"
Pan kept going and disappeared into the hallway.
Gohan and Goku exchanged glances.
"Hmph, give the brat some alone time," said Vegeta dismissively.
Gohan nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, she probably needs it after that."
He frowned momentarily, turning his head to watch the hallway his daughter had walked down. For some reason... he felt a unsure all of the sudden. Something still felt off about Pan... almost worse than before... it was unsettling and twisted at his stomach...
He shook his head to banish his feelings and flew into the ring to pick up Pan's discarded Turtle Hermit Gi before walking back. "I'll give it to her when she comes back..."
Towa knew something had gone terribly wrong. She had initially been PISSED when Pan had refused to kill Coli, but her rage had faded when she detected an abrupt destabilization in Pan's mind. All of her hooks and anchors in the girl's head were breaking away, as if what they had been holding onto was crumbling.
Towa had looked at Pan, seen the sad twisted look on her face, the empty, despairing look in her eyes, and paled at the sight. She had tortured enough mortals to recognize that look of final despair and desire for escape anywhere. Had she chipped away to much at Pan's mental fortitude? Had she weakened her control to a point she shouldn't have? Had she pushed Pan to far, to fast, and to hard? Should she not have pit Pan and Coli against one another?
Towa silently cursed herself. How could she have been so stupid? She hadn't even considered this could happen, when it truth breaking her prized tool should have been a concern on the forefront of her mind. Pan was a twelve year old mostly human girl, there were limits on what she could take. FUCK! Towa knew she had just ruined her own plans, she had gotten greedy and damaged the girl's psyche to a breaking point by pitting the mentally weakened girl against this situation. That look on Pan's face, she knew what was about to happen, and she couldn't interfere without revealing herself.
Shit, shit, SHIT!
Pan walked past her former family and friends and out into the hallway that led out of the arena. She turned down the hallway and spotted a bathroom. She walked in, no one else was there. She walked up to a mirror and looked at herself. She looked utterly pitiful, it filled her with pain and disgust to even look at herself. Pan curled a fist and slammed it into the mirror, shattering the glass. She glanced down at the broken pieces and picked up one.
She stared at it blankly for a time. She felt so alone... so worthless... so pained... she just wanted it to stop. No matter how much she struggled these last few years, everything just kept going wrong over and over again. Her failure by fighting Coli like that... she'd never be worthy of being her Grandpa's granddaughter, always being a disappointment to herself and others; she'd never be able to protect people... she had failed so many times already... had been responsible for people's deaths... had helped to murder entire timeplanes at the word of a god... and even led to the death of a dear friend...
Pan choked out a pained, agonized word, "Bata..."
Pan closed her eyes, lowered her ki as much as she could, put the glass shard to her wrist, gave a horrid pained sob, and tried to drag it along. She grew confused when her hand didn't move. She felt some kind of pressure holding her back.
"You. Fucking. Coward." a hateful voice hissed in her ear.
Pan opened her eyes, seeing someone's hand grabbing her wrist and stopping her from cutting open her vein. She turned her head and saw Odianna, in her base state, glaring at her, pure raw fury on her face. Odianna grabbed the glass shard out of her hand, threw it, and then backhanded Pan across her face, sending her to the floor.
"What is wrong with you?" demanded Odianna.
Pan looked up at her wordlessly for a moment before she burst into tears, unable to stop herself from completely breaking down...