Dragonball Z
Legacies
A New Dawn
(Mount Paozu)
The loud beeping sound of a generic, bedside alarm clock resounded throughout the small, single-person bedroom of one Son Gohan, causing its sole resident to stir under his covers. When the incessant noise failed to rouse the youngster after the first few seconds, the volume of its screeching suddenly grew even louder; so much so that it looked as though the glass of his window was about to shatter.
This sudden increase in noise finally pulled the demi-Saiyan out of his dream world who, after giving a low groan of discomfort, reached over and slapped a hand down on the piece of plastic to shut off the damn thing. Unfortunately, due to the force of his actions he ended up not only flattening the entire clock, he also wound up putting his hand through the surface of his desk.
Hearing the noise of the device die completely as it shattered into a thousand pieces, Gohan's head surfaced from underneath his blanket, revealing him in his Super Saiyan 2 state.
A scowl framed his face while he slowly pulled his fist out of his now ruined bedside drawer, "Damn it. Again? Ugh…" He really needed to ask Bulma if he could buy some of that Vegeta-proof-stuff she was designing for the guy to use around the house. Kami knew that he could really use with some of it…
Maybe even beg her for a Gravity Room he could set up in the backyard somewhere while he was at it.
Anyway, after destroying yet another ten zeni timepiece and ruining his table in the process, the Super Saiyan 2 sat up and stretched, feeling his muscles pop one after the other.
According to his count, it'd been close to a week since the Kana incident; making that three, potentially earth-moving conflicts the Z-fighters had had to combat in just one year. But of course, the crisis had been successfully averted thanks to good old-fashioned fisticuffs and once law and order had been properly restored to the communities of the continent, the earth was once again allowed to continue turning as if nothing had ever happened.
This went to show that even in peacetime the Z-fighters were all hard at work.
It was probably the most ongoing trend for Gohan and his friends. All of them had saved the planet so many times and yet have received no acknowledgements for their actions. Though it didn't bother him or his family so much, since they preferred to peace and quiet, a couple of the others were feeling a little bit cheated out of their honors, namely Yamcha and Krillin. But, not being ones to hold grudges for the sake of wellbeing and serenity, they let the credit-taking slide, and returned as productive, hard-working members of society.
Gohan in the meantime tackled his training regimens even harder than ever.
With the knowledge that there were even more powerful fighters out there in the universe outside of Bojack and Frieza, the boy resolved to make some much needed amendments to his previous routine, starting with his extended study periods. After telling his mother about his little scrap with Kana across the planet that nearly saw all of them put up for public auction, the Son mother, satisfied with the progress her son had made in his education and studies, reluctantly allowed him to train more times during the week with the promise that he would be able to use his skills to provide a steady income for his family.
Feeling as if a great weight was being lifted from his shoulders, Gohan assured Chi-Chi that he would be able to get some part-time work at a construction company over in Satan City, similarly to what his father and Krillin had done while they had been training under Master Roshi. With his level of skill, strength and knowledge of building, the boy was confident he would be able to fill up an entire roster of staff for the business, thereby saving them a lot on big projects.
Gohan also had the incredibly attractive idea of entering the World Martial Arts Tournaments to get some extra spending money for his family, since they could surely use it.
Approving of his plan, Chi-Chi pretty much allowed Gohan free reign over the next couple of weeks so that he could get all of his priorities sorted before moving into anything big. So with an idea in mind and a new plan for the future coming to light, the demi-Saiyan spent a majority of his time training out in the fields.
Not only did it allow him plenty of opportunities to think, clear his head and make some independent arrangements for the coming years, it also gave him more time to become accustomed to his Super Saiyan 2 form. Having already stayed like this for several days since his battle against Kana, Gohan was really starting to come into his own.
Though he did experience sudden mood swings every now and then, his naturally kind side battling with the aggressive side of his level two state, he learned to get a hold of himself through quiet meditation and concentration. After long periods of settling his spirit and finding his true self swirling in the depths of all his monstrous power, the demi-Saiyan would then go out and do some physical exercises that focused on control above everything else, which really helped him in acquiring a firmer grasp of his Ascended Saiyan state. It also strengthened his body in general, as continuing to hold this form required a great deal of effort and focus.
Understandably, every once in a while he did have these surprising and unexpected bursts of strength, which led him to damaging one thing or another around the property.
This morning it had been his whole bedside station.
Granted it wasn't something as big as the dining room chair, the T.V remote or the front door, it was still another thing broken. Hopefully he would be able to fix that sometime soon.
After waking up early that Saturday morning and noticing that it was still dark out, the transformed boy flexed his arms and, upon rolling out of bed, quickly slapped on his orange and blue gi. Being sure to quietly tiptoe out of the house, the young half-Saiyan then retreated out onto his property's front lawn and, just like every other early morning, began a series of warm ups and stretching routines.
Going through the familiar motions of his father, starting with his legs, his arms, and then throwing a few light jabs and kicks for practice, kicking up a small gust of wind at the same time, Gohan then took off and headed into the hills. Being sure to put a big distance between himself and his home, the half-Saiyan quickly threw himself into several long rounds of shadow sparring. Holding his power at just the right level so that he didn't cause any unnecessary damage to the region, the spiky haired blonde's form blurred out and sprang into the sky, where he began his eloquent martial dance over the rolling fields of his homeland.
The next few hours practically flew by at a reasonable speed, with Gohan jumping from close combat skills to ki control. He even spent an hour of fighting against himself through use of the Cloning technique, which he was able to pick up from Piccolo during the month to help him with his sparring practices.
To the orange haired form of Zangya watching the young warrior from underneath a nearby tree, there was no stranger sight than seeing the person she considered the strongest person in the universe fighting against three other copies of him. As she leaned against the trunk with her arms folded and a firm expression on her face, the female Hera kept her distance while she watched with interest as Gohan battled himself in an effort to discover and eliminate the weaknesses in his fighting style.
He was making cracking progress too.
Eventually, when the sun started to rise over the mountains, the boy ended his bout of fighting with his copies and promptly returned them to his body. After they jumped back into him from different sides and melded into a singularity once again, the demi-Saiyan continued on with a harder round of sparring, this time with a little more power in his blows.
Generating gusts of wind that cut across Mount Paozu's valleys and fields in all directions, the young Saiyan male blurred over the valleys and through the sky at terrific speeds. Eventually, after shadow sparring for several more minutes, the boy dropped to ground level and began back flipping rapidly across the terrain. Landing on his feet and sliding to a stop, the boy cupped his hands beside him and charged a blue ball of ki between his hands in an instant.
"KA-ME-HA-ME-" Its light blasting out across the grass, Gohan gritted his teeth before flinging his attack forward with a mighty bellow. "HAAAAAAAAA!" The blast rocketed from his hands and shot across the valleys, at first traveling in a straight line. But then, all of a sudden, the powerful attack started to curve and bend as the young Super Saiyan warrior took control of the beam's path and guided it safely over the hills and into the sky.
Bringing it around in a wide arc, he eventually brought the blast back down to the ground and directed it towards him. The blue energy wave honed in on his position, prompting the young warrior to spin around and catch the attack with his bare hands. The enormous attack slammed into his palms and burned into them with the ferocity of the sun itself. Eventually, after a full minute of struggling, the powered down Super Saiyan 2 then dug his fingers into the front of the blast and literally ripped it in half. The two parts detonated safely off to the sides with great force, shaking the countryside all around.
Zangya whistled at the size of the explosions. "Wow…" Despite the blast being low key, it still produced a fantastic result.
When the smoke cleared and the embers of energy faded onto the wind, it revealed Gohan standing perfectly unscathed in the center. Patting his hands down and dusting off his gi, the young warrior breathed a sigh of relief and went about loosening his arms and shoulders. "Good work out. But if I want to get stronger, I'm gonna have to do a lot more than that over the next few months." Yep. He had a whole list of sessions to work into his days, including technique control and intense weight training.
Before that though, he had a couple other things to have sorted first.
While standing at the top of that hill, the youngster then became aware of a set of eyes on him and turned to see Zangya now standing behind him. Not at all surprised to see her, Gohan gave her a charming smile, "Don't you get a little bit tired just hanging around outside my house all day and night?"
The orange haired girl shrugged, "Well… I'm still new to this planet and I don't have anywhere else to go… plus this place is pretty quiet." A small smile of her own pulled across her lips while she gazed into the distance. "Out here I don't have to worry about traffic, currency, food shortage issues, huge crowds, and people stopping to stare at me whenever I walk past them. Sure I can deal with the attention, but I'd rather just hang out in an area like this where there are only animals and small villages to worry about."
"Hm? Why do you say that?" Gohan asked, not quite seeing the problem.
Zangya looked back at him with an amused smirk, "You may not have noticed this, but it's kind of hard to fit into earth's society when you're a striking alien girl like me… having blue skin, pointy ears and all that nonsense. You and your kind don't have to worry about these kinds of problems, since you Saiya-jins already look a lot like humans and can walk around without having to worry about scaring the daylights out of people every time they glance in your general direction." Vegeta was kind of a massive exception to that fact.
That man was scary by default.
Despite her concerns regarding her appearance though, Gohan merely smiled back at her kindly and shrugged, "I don't see what the big problem is, Zangya. I'm sure you can walk around wherever you want just fine. You look pretty normal to me."
Zangya's expression softened upon hearing the youngster say that, "You're sweet."
Giggling, Gohan massaged his scalp and turned to look towards the horizon as well. Seeing the sun starting to peak over the mountains, the young half-Saiyan chuckled and glanced back at the woman standing in front of him. "I've got a couple hours before Videl comes around. Would you like to hang out with me and have a little sparring match?" The young fighter raised a hand and clenched his fist excitedly. "I think it would be awesome to have another training partner besides Piccolo and myself."
The former gangster chuckled and stepped away, arms still comfortably folded over her chest. "No thanks. I'm not really in the mood."
Gohan responded with a disappointed groan, "Aww. Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm pretty sure," Zangya replied, rolling her eyes at the crestfallen, puppy-eyed look the strongest warrior in the universe was now sending her way. "You already proved several weeks ago that you can beat me without breaking a sweat in your current form, so I think I'll play it safe and stick to watching you for the time being." She then glanced at him when she saw his expression fall just a little bit more and then smirked at him confidently. "But… if you ever turn back to normal and you're still up for it, I'll strongly reconsider having a few bouts with you across the countryside."
This inevitably had the young teenager brighten and tighten his fists with enthusiasm. "Alright. Sure. That sounds awesome."
"Is it just me… or did that sound like you were wussing out there for a second?" the familiar, gravelly voice of Piccolo resounded over the area as the warrior descended from the sky to land between the pair. "I never expected to hear that coming from you."
Glancing at the caped Namekian guardian, Zangya snorted, "Oh. Look who it is. It's the green man." The girl shot him a mischievous smile, "Still dropping in everyday to check up on me, huh?"
"You and Gohan both," Piccolo replied, arms crossed and a glare set on the orange haired warrior standing in close proximity of his student. "I'm just making sure that you don't try anything funny while you're hiding out here in the valleys. You know… being Bojack's former henchwoman and all." You can't be too careful with these kinds of characters. They could be very unpredictable.
All evidence to the contrary though…
"That guy can suck a meteor spike for all I care," the Hera shot back immediately with a frown on her face. Seeing the pair staring at her, the former invader of their planet flicked her hair away and turned her back on the green-skinned martial artist. "You don't have to worry about me blowing a cork while I'm down here. I'm not interested in fighting you guys anymore. I'm done with that kind of life."
"Hmph," Piccolo grunted, before focusing his gaze to his transformed student standing nearby and staring up at him with a smile on his face.
"Hey, Piccolo."
The child's cheerful exterior quickly drew a smile from the Namekian as well. "What's shakin' kid? Did you finish your training for this morning?"
Gohan shrugged, "Not quite. I was hoping to have a little spar with Zangya while she's here, but she said she doesn't want to right now. I'm a little bit disappointed." His attention momentarily pulled across to the woman who merely glanced back at him. After seeing her stick her tongue out, he then turned to his mentor and saw the man remove his cape and turban.
"Don't bleed your heart over it, kid. I wouldn't mind going a few rounds with you for the next hour or so." Unlike their newfound alien friend, if you wanted to call her that, Piccolo wasn't afraid of getting a few bumps and bruises in a fight against the young Saiyan. After seeing his stellar performance against Kana a few days earlier and seeing the progress he's made since the Intergalactic Tournament, the Namekian was confident he had nothing to worry about. He could trust his student enough to be able to control his power around him. "Let's work a bit before that girlfriend of yours shows up."
Not even shirking at the jab about Videl, seeing as his teacher was game for a bit of fun, Gohan cracked his neck and slid into a fighting stance just as his friend of years past did as well. "We've got time. Let's make the most of it, okay Piccolo?"
"Heh. No problem."
Zangya, sensing conflict, wisely chose to put some distance between her and the pair, and floated over to sit atop a nearby log. Crossing her legs over, the orange haired space pirate got comfortable as she watched the pair size themselves up before, in a blur of superhuman movement, threw themselves into a friendly match.
Just like he intended, Gohan kept his power down at the lowest possible decibel as he began trading blows with his teacher across the skies. It wasn't just a workout for the Namekian trying to keep up with his Ascended Saiyan opponent, it was also proving to be a lot of work for Gohan as well, since the adolescent warrior had to keep an extra eye on the amount of power he was using at all times. The next hour or so was spent by the teen primarily working on his control and even when his teacher started throwing some big moves his way, the youngster did marvelously at keeping his strength at a low enough level.
Time eventually ticked over to the end of the session and when the pair dropped out of the sky and landed back on solid ground, both of them were looking a little bit beat, yet were still standing in relatively good condition.
Wiping a small bruise away from a punch he'd received across the face, Piccolo smiled. "Not bad, kid. I'd say with a couple more months of this training, you'll be able to gain complete control over your Ascended Saiyan form and fight with it without exerting any effort whatsoever."
Breathing out as well, the unscathed Gohan stood up and stretched his arms out, "Yeah. I think so too. It's really hard trying to keep so much power suppressed and to fight using only the bare minimum. But if I keep at it and continue using it on a regular basis, I'll be able to transform into a Super Saiyan 2 and fight with it anytime, no problem."
"Heh. I like how you're finally starting to come out of that shell of yours," Piccolo remarked, straightening up and giving his student a sagely look. "You're not the same Gohan I knew two months ago; the kid who was hesitant about stepping up and giving it his all. You're a lot more confident and sure of yourself now. Even though you still act a lot like your father, you're slowly turning into a warrior all your own." A wider smile formed on his face. "All of your hard work is really starting to pay off."
Feeling his spirit lift a little at that remark, the youngster then looked across at their audience member, who was still watching them closely from her log. "What do you think, Zangya?"
The orange haired woman gave an off-handed wave and spoke up, "I wasn't here for all of that Cell and android stuff but… yeah. I agree with what the green man said." She then threw the boy a smile and a thumbs-up. "Good job, blondie."
Accepting that as her answer with a gleeful grin, Gohan hummed away the splashes of encouragement and watched as his teacher retrieved his turban and cloak. Limbering up while the Namekian dusted himself down, the half-Saiyan then reached out with his senses to see what was going on across the ether.
Outside of his training spot, he could feel his mother up and making breakfast, the villagers of the neighboring towns beyond their property waking to greet the day ahead and, a little bit further away but on fast approach of their home turf, he sensed the familiar ki signature of Videl on the move.
And she wasn't alone either.
Smiling towards the horizon, Gohan turned back to his teacher, who he was now standing upright and back in his weighted training gear, "Thanks for agreeing to come by today, Piccolo. I really appreciate the help."
"No problem, kid," the Namekian replied calmly. "When I heard you were planning on taking a student of your own, I immediately became curious. So I decided to keep a closer eye on you to see how you handled it in case you didn't ask for my help. I'm really interested to see how you plan on starting her off. She wants to learn how to become a fighter like us, right?" Seeing the young Saiyan nod elicited a grunt from the towering warrior. "Then she should know that she's got a lot of hard work and long days ahead of her."
Gohan nodded, wrapping his fingers around his belt and holding it in a manner that his father often did, "I was thinking of starting Videl on some running laps of the countryside. Get her used to the routine before introducing her to the energy based material. I need to see how well she's doing in the physical department first and whether she has a good enough grasp of the basics." He then grinned a little bit, "If she does well on her first day, maybe I'll throw in some of your stuff to see how she'll cope swimming in the deep end."
"Sounds good to me," Piccolo replied, finding some mild amusement at the idea of his student using a few of 'his' teaching methods. As cruel as that sounded, he was positive the demi-Saiyan would be a little tamer in his approach to teaching than he was while he was teaching the ankle-biter all those years ago. "Don't forget to teach her how to dodge."
"That's lesson one," Gohan chirped, running a hand through his gravity defying hair. "Wait here for a moment. I'll be back in a bit." After straightening his gi up, he then took off and began leaping across the fields towards his home, leaving Piccolo and Zangya standing out on the grass.
Gohan made it to his front door just in time to see a tiny speck appear over the horizon in the direction of Satan City. When he stopped and waited, he saw the dot get closer and closer before eventually taking the shape and form of a familiar yellow jet-copter.
The craft soon came to hover above the Son family home. Its engine hummed loudly as it slowly came to settle on the grass a few yards in front of the Super Saiyan. When its skids settled and its ignition cut, the boy watched the side door open up and his friend pop out of the passenger seat.
The sight of her brought a smile to Gohan's face. "Morning, Videl."
"Morning, Gohan-kun," the raven haired youngster replied, hurriedly making her way over while the other door to the copter opened up as well. "How are you doing?"
"Great. You?"
"Packed, rested and ready to go," Videl answered, clenching a fist before having a look around his property. Finding not one front yard but an entire expanse of rolling hillsides with forests and mountains in the distance, the girl's eyes shimmered with awe and wonder. "Wow… so this is where you live?"
"Yep. This is our home," Gohan stared, placing his hands on his hips and turning in the same direction his visitor was gazing. "My family owns this entire region. It's also the same place my dad grew up in when he was a kid." He then pointed towards a small, oriental style house sitting not too far from the dome-shaped building that was the central element of their residence. "That's his old home, the one great grandpa used to own… or should I say adoptive great grandfather."
Videl nodded in acknowledgement. "It's very nice. All of it is." She looked back at the youngster standing in front of her, "So… wanna give me the grand tour?"
"Of course. Whenever you're ready," Gohan said.
Before he could set off though, another voice interrupted them.
"Hold it right there, sweet pea," the booming voice of Hercule Satan spoke up, drawing the pair's attention towards the copter to see the man with the afro cut step out from behind it. Adorned in casual clothes consisting of a jumper, jeans and shoes, the big man appeared before the two kids looking proud and confident. "Now, before I let you go off with this boy, I just want to remind him not t-GAHAWHOA!" Until he spotted Gohan, of course.
The still transformed Saiyan smiled and waved pleasantly at the gob smacked champion, "Hey, Mr. Satan."
Jaw hanging open and appearing absolutely shocked, the man with the afro hairstyle laughed nervously and waved, "H-Hello. Uhh…" Staggering forward slowly, the man stood before the much shorter boy in a hunched over position. "So… you were the one my daughter was talking about training with, huh?" There was no way he could forget a face like that. His spiky blonde hair and gi was a dead giveaway.
Videl sighed and glared across at her father, "Of course he is, daddy. Who else did you think I was talking about? Were you even listening to me?"
"S-Sorry, dear. I… I knew who you were talking about. It's just… it's taking a lot of time for me to wrap my head around all this," the world champion replied, looking between his daughter and the boy in front of him nervously. "I mean, the last time I saw him like this was at the Cell Games… fighting against that green freckled monster. He saved my life… ALL of our lives. Hell, he saved the entire planet."
A smile spreading across her lips, Videl stepped over to her friend and tugged on his sleeve, drawing Gohan's gaze over to her. "Yeah. It's kind of his job," the raven haired girl informed, smiling fondly up at him.
Hercule, rubbing his hands together anxiously, then nodded to the demi-Saiyan in a very timid manner. "I'm really sorry about taking the credit for Cell's defeat… as well as for that incident at the Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament you were in. I was… it's just… after your group disappeared and no one stepped forward to claim victory over that monster, I took the chance and came up with that bogus story. At the time I just didn't want to lose face with the public… and I wanted to make sure that the people of earth knew that they were safe. But when it happened again at Cash's tournament, everyone thought that I was the one that beat those freaky alien monsters when the connection cut out. It was a selfish thing to do, I know, and I apologize." He bowed his head humbly to the young man, who leaned back in surprise at the man's actions. "There are no excuses for what I did… and I can understand if you hate me for it…"
Listening to the sincerity in the martial artist's voice, Gohan slowly processed what he said before beaming brightly, "It's alright, Mr. Satan. You don't have to go that far." When he saw the man look up, the half-Saiyan shrugged. "Seriously, my friends and I don't mind. We're not mad that you took the credit for killing Cell or anything like that. As long as the world and the people are safe, than that's good enough for us."
An owlish expression came over Hercule's face, "R-Really?"
Gohan nodded, while both Hercule and Videl listened to him intently, "My family and friends have fought to save the world many times before, and we've never asked for anything in return. It's what we do." The boy tilted his head and grinned. "Honestly, we're glad you took the credit for it. Because as long as people believe you were the one who saved the world from Cell and Bojack, we won't get harassed by the public for it." He chuckled and thumbed over his shoulder, "We already got pestered by the reporters that came by here wanting to ask me some questions about the tournament, but a friendly 'acquaintance' of mine was able to chase them away."
"S-So…" the Champ gulped nervously, "You're really not angry or anything?"
"No. Not at all," Gohan replied, smiling back at the fighter with the mustache and afro cut, "All I want to do is be friends with Videl and have your permission to come visit her whenever I can, if that's okay with you."
"Oh. Well… if that's all, then…" A swell of delight quickly returned to Hercule's face, "you and my daughter can hang out all you want!" the Champ exclaimed, walking right up to the boy and taking his hand, shaking it vigorously to show how grateful he was to him. "For the boy who saved the world from Cell; you have my full permission!" His answer bringing smiles to the two children's faces, the martial arts master then suddenly gave a stern look and glared across at the teen with the blonde hair. Despite knowing he was the one who defeated Cell, the father still mustered up enough courage to say one last thing. "But you listen here… um…"
"Gohan," the demi-Saiyan chirped, "Son Gohan."
"Gohan," Hercule cleared his throat and pointed a finger at him. "Videl is my daughter and the greatest treasure in the world to me. There is not a person or thing alive that can compare to her. She is my little princess-"
"DAD!" the girl shouted, blushing brightly as she glared at her father.
Undeterred, the Champ continued on with his declaration, "Just because you're the boy who saved the world from that bug and those alien scoundrels on that island, that doesn't mean I'm going to take it easy on you regarding my little sugar bee. I expect you to take good care of my daughter and to treat her well, because if I hear that you've hurt even a single hair on her head, then there is not a force on this planet that's going to stop me from coming after you and popping your head clean off of your shoulders! You got that?!"
Almost being shaken by the shoulder, Gohan smiled back at the father and nodded in understanding, "Don't worry, Mr. Satan. I promise I won't let anything happen to her."
"You mean it?" Hercule asked for confirmation. When he saw the boy nod, the man sniffed and pulled away, fists being placed firmly on his hips. "Good. Good. Er… thank you." He then moved back over to the jet-copter and around to the side. Opening the compartment there, he then unloaded a couple sets of luggage, including a pillow and sleeping bag, and set them on the ground beside the pair. "I hope you two have a lot of fun together. And remember; no drinking, no joy riding, no drugs and no s…"
"DADDY!" Videl barked again, looking even more thoroughly embarrassed than before, "We're only eleven."
"Oh. Right… yeah… umm…" Hercule took a moment to think it over, before calmly falling back into continuation. "The rules still stand!"
Sighing in exasperation Videl then heard the door to the house behind her open up, and the trio standing outside turned to see a woman wearing purple, oriental robes with her black hair tied into a ponytail step out into the open.
Quickly spotting their guests, the Son mother smiled and approached, "Hello there. It's good to see you again, Videl." She went straight for their young visitor standing by her son and held her hand out to her, "I'm Chi-Chi, Gohan's mother."
"Oh. Yes. Hello again," the pig-tailed girl straightened up and took the woman's hand in hers, "Th-Thank you for having me here, Mrs. Son."
The woman giggled. "Please, just call me Chi-Chi. Mrs. Son makes me feel too much like an old lady." Placing her hands at her sides, the raven haired mother took a step away and sized her up. "And of course, Gohan's friends are always welcome here. Anything for my sweet little angel…"
"MUM!" the Super Saiyan 2 blushed and scowled across at the woman beaming at his friend.
Giving her oldest boy a momentary look, Chi-Chi turned back to their guest with a cheerful smile, "I hope you're looking forward to your stay here, Videl. I'm sure you're going to enjoy it."
"Thanks so much, Chi-Chi," the youngster bowed.
Gathering up his friend's bags like a gentleman, Gohan held them under his arms and over his shoulder, walked up to Videl, and nudged her lightly. "Come on. I'll show you where you'll be sleeping." Receiving an enthusiastic smile in return, the raven haired girl quickly followed him into the house where they disappeared.
Staring after them for several seconds, Chi-Chi then turned to Hercule to see the big man looking back at her nervously. Upon which the martial arts champion cleared his throat and nodded, "Ma'am."
"Mr. Satan," the Son mother replied with a parental nod of respect.
"I appreciate you for having my daughter over. This… really means a lot to her," the Champ murmured, rubbing the back of his hand in a meek manner as he gazed back at the woman. "I can tell she really likes that boy and that she wants to be around him as much as possible. Just… make sure she eats her food and brushes her teeth every morning and afternoon."
Chi-Chi sucked in her gut confidently, "Don't worry, Mr. Satan. I'll make sure that your daughter is well looked after. I promise."
Feeling relieved, Hercule swallowed nervously and bowed to the woman, "I'll drop by every now and again to check up on her. Even though I am the World Martial Arts Champion and the face that defeated the mighty Cell, that doesn't mean I can't set aside some time for my most important little girl in the world…"
"I understand that completely, sir," Chi-Chi responded earnestly, giving the man a kind gaze. "My Gohan means the world to me too. So don't worry. I swear I won't let anything bad happen to either of them." It was the best comfort she could give, which was all Hercule needed to settle the swarm of butterflies in his stomach.
Eventually, after pleasantries and assurances had been made between the two, the world champ waited for his daughter to come back out and after giving her a hug, he hopped into his copter, waved, and took off.
Over the past few days, both Gohan and Videl had assembled one hell of a timetable together.
While the half-Saiyan was still getting a few of his things in order, the champion's daughter had arranged to stay over at his place for the next several weeks. It wasn't just an ordinary sleep over either. The raven haired martial artist was going to be taking fighting lessons under him starting from that very weekend, and Videl was determined to give it her all. She even took some time off from school for 'Hercule Satan' business, which was one of the few privileges granted to her by the institute. Of course, this was under the condition that she completed the course work during her away period over the internet.
After hashing it out with her dad, clearing the air and what not, the raven haired girl then packed her things and readied herself for the long months ahead. Gohan had no problems organizing this with his mother either, who was just as happy to have her son's friend over as he was.
Surely there was some ulterior motive behind her cooperation in the matter, but Gohan wasn't splitting hairs. He was sure that whatever it was, he did not want to be a part of it…
Because he was pretty sure that he'd already passed that point.
With Hercule gone and Videl's stuff put away in his bedroom, the demi-Saiyan then walked the girl across the field and in the direction of the spot Piccolo and Zangya was waiting. On their way there, the visitor began taking in as much of the countryside as she could. Marveling at the hills and the cool breeze that moved gently across the plains, the pig-tailed martial artist in training smiled and stepped closer to her friend.
"This place is really beautiful. You like it out here?"
Gohan grinned, "Yeah. It's quiet, it's open, and I can go wherever I want and not have to worry about stepping onto another person's property. I can also get a lot of training done out here without having to worry about destroying anything important or hurting any people nearby."
"For a superhuman that's capable of wiping out an entire city block with a sneeze, I think that's a fair deal," Videl replied, grinning brightly at the blonde. "I bet your workout sessions are intense."
"Well, not as intense as Vegeta's for sure, but definitely more practical," Gohan informed, shrugging as they continued moving through the grass at a casual speed. While the girl brushed some bangs out of her hair, the young Saiyan continued. "My dad and friends believe that training out in the open is the best way to get stronger. While I'm thinking of mixing it up a little more, the fields and natural environment I think is the best place to begin."
"And that's where you'll want me to start as well?" the girl asked, giving the spiky haired fighter a hopeful look.
"It was where all of us started out, including me. Considering how far I've come along, I believe that's where we should kick things off," Gohan said, earning a grin from his friend and seeing her pump her fist excitedly.
The pair soon arrived at the flat where Piccolo was waiting for them. When they approached him, Videl shirked a little at the sight of the seven foot green man. But of course, being the daughter of the world champ and a tough girl in her own right, she gladly stood beside her friend as he introduced her to the giant of a warrior.
"Hey Piccolo, this is Videl," Gohan greeted, turning to the teen to see her cup her hands in front and bow to the Namekian. "Videl, this is Piccolo, my best friend and my very first martial arts teacher. He's the one that taught me everything I know about fighting, and helped me and my dad train for the androids and Cell." The youngster grinned across at his guardian. "He's an awesome fighter and one of the best I know."
The Namek smirked at the girl standing beside the Saiyan, "'Sup?"
"It's good to meet you, sir," Videl said, her voice a little bit shaky but eventually leveling out when she mustered up the confidence. "Gohan has told me a lot about you."
"Has he now?" Piccolo glanced at his student, who smiled back at him innocently and prompted the warrior to raise an eyebrow. "How much exactly?"
"Enough to know that you're a great man and a wickedly good instructor," the raven haired girl immediately replied.
This tickled a funny heartstring in the Namekian, who grunted back at the youngster's praises, "I'm flattered. Thanks."
While trading pleasantries with the tall green alien, Videl then noticed somebody else present and looked around the caped crusader. Squinting to get a better look, the young fighter then jumped when she recognized the blue-skinned alien girl from the Intergalactic Tournament and the Kana incident sitting on a nearby log.
Gulping, the pig-tailed martial artist raised a hand and waved, "H-Hey?"
Zangya gave an upward nod, "Yeah, hey." And then went back to looking off onto the horizon.
Chuckling at his compatriot's indifference, Gohan placed a hand on Videl's shoulder, "That's Zangya… and yeah. She was one of those aliens from the island incident. Don't worry, she won't bite. She just hangs around our place now standing guard over our laundry."
"O-kay," Videl murmured, tilting her head in the direction of the woman. After several moments of sizing her up and getting a feel for her presence, she eventually shook herself out of her daze and quickly focused back on the reason they were here. Clenching her fists, the pig-tailed fighter smiled across at her friend, "So. When can we get started?"
"Oh-ho? Eager, are we?"
The girl nodded, "You damn right I am."
"Alrighty then. The first thing we're going to do is get you acquainted to our routine. Square one," Gohan said, at the same time tugging on his gi. "That means you're going to need a new uniform."
Videl then pulled at the collar of her shirt. She was wearing a pair of black spandex pants and an oversized top; something she often wore while training at home, "What's wrong with my current uniform?"
"Nothing at all. It's just that you need one for our kind of training," Gohan replied and glanced across at his teacher. "Piccolo?"
Knowing it was his time to shine, the Namekian stepped forward and towered over the girl. While his size and appearance would have intimidated any other person, Videl didn't back down in the slightest. All she did was look up at the man silhouetted against the morning sky and watched him curiously as he raised a hand and held it a foot above her head.
"Hmm, I think… a solid eighty should do it." Before the young girl could question what he meant by that, Piccolo then gave a loud yell and, in a flash of blinding light, the Champ's daughter found herself adorned in a completely new uniform.
It was an orange and blue gi very similar to the one Gohan had worn when he was four, complete with the kanji 'Ma' on the left breast and 'Son' on the back.
When she emerged from the smoke, Videl wanted to check out her new look, but was unable to when her body suddenly lurched downwards and she had to put momentary effort into straightening back up.
"Whoa. What the heck?" It was heavy. That was a surprise. Not just the wrist bands but her shirt and shoes felt like they were being held down by bricks as well.
The material didn't feel dense, but she sure as hell felt the weight of it. Probably because she wasn't expecting it.
"Cool." Gohan, smiling as the girl pulled herself up, then turned to look at his mentor, "You're going to have to teach me how to do that sometime, Piccolo."
The Namekian nodded, "Sure. You and I can have a sit-down about it later. But let's focus on getting your student up to speed." When they looked back at Videl, they saw her quickly adjust for the sudden weight increase in her new uniform with a quick skip of her toes.
"Wow… how did you do that?" the young fighter asked, glancing up at the Namekian curiously.
Piccolo chuckled, "Magic, runt… and not the kind you can find in any retail and convenience store. That stuff was the genuine article."
"He's really good with it too. Trust me," Gohan remarked with a proud look in his eye.
This then raised another important question that the pig-tailed girl had to address.
"What happened to my old clothes?"
Staring blankly at her for a moment, both master and student turned to look at each other. After several moments of silence and contemplation, which put a bit of sweat on the two of them, the Namekian slowly looked back at the newcomer. "Don't know… don't care." His response and the half-Saiyan's deadpanned look had Zangya snort before breaking out into fits of suppressed laughter.
The Hera could be seen holding her sides in the background.
"Okay, skimming over that," Gohan cleared his throat and moved to center stage. "Welcome to your first day of training at Son Gohan's martial arts academy." Seeing his teacher roll his eyes next to him, the demi-Saiyan snickered and continued on with his introduction, "As you've probably already guessed, Piccolo has given you a new set of weighted clothing. That entire ensemble, the wrist bands, boots and blue under shirt, weigh a total of eighty kilograms. Since you're probably only used to using weights sparingly during gym sessions, probably a lot more than that, we're going to get you accustomed to wearing this weight on a daily basis."
"Alright. Sounds fair," Videl murmured, lifting her arms and testing what she felt was twenty kilos on both arms.
"If you do well on your first day, we'll up the ante a bit tomorrow and increase your weight," Gohan said with an excited grin. "This is the training that my father and his best friend Krillin started out on, and it's the stuff that we still use even today." He gestured towards Piccolo and then himself, showing off his wristbands. "We wear these on a regular basis. My outfit has a low weight so I can still fight in it, but Piccolo ups his every time he's training or just moving around."
Immediately curious, Videl stared at her friend, "How much does yours weigh?"
"Oh, my clothes weigh around five hundred kilos altogether."
The girl appeared dumbstruck, "F-F-Five hundred kilos?" And he looked like he was barely even feeling it. Forget the fact he was in a transformed state, either way it still sounded crazy to her.
"Yep," Gohan nodded.
"H-How can you even fight with something like that?" Silly question. He was a superhuman/alien after all. Of course, like all normal people, Videl tended to forget a few important details when wallowing in shock. It was a trait she happened to pick up from her father's side, sadly enough.
"Pretty easily, actually," the half-Saiyan answered, but then paused for a moment. "Oh. Yeah. That reminds me. Hey Piccolo. Could you bump my weight up to two tons on my wrist bands and shoes, and three for my shirt? If we're going to be doing this, I might as well do this the right way." Since he was in Super Saiyan 2 it felt like he was wearing tissue paper and he couldn't even feel the weight. He needed to put on a new grade and get used to it when he eventually reverted back to his base state.
Complying with his student's request, Piccolo pointed at him and fired a golden beam that lit up his wrists, feet and shirt. When the glow inevitably faded, it left Gohan in the exact same style of dress with a weight increase that he barely felt. Testing it in his neutral, ascended Saiyan state, the Z-fighter nodded and turned to face his friend. Seeing that she was still staring at him in shock and disbelief, the youngster grinned and, slipping off an armband, gently set it on the ground and stepped away.
"Give it a try if you like," the transformed boy chirped.
Managing to shake herself out of her daze, Videl cautiously walked up to the band and reached down to pick it up. As soon as her fingers wrapped around the fabric, she was baffled by what she felt, "W-What in the?" Gritting her teeth, the girl attempted to lift at least one part of the material, only to find her fingers unable to pull it up on their own. She even tried with both hands. But after several seconds of futile struggling, the girl stood up, backed away, and panted heavily, "Okay… uhh… well that's… something."
Chuckling, the boy stepped over and casually picked it up. "Still don't believe me?" Tossing it up and down a few times, the young fighter then rolled his hand at chest height and dropped the band to the grass, which it hit with an earsplitting crack and punched a hole a foot deep into the ground. It was a sight that had Videl gawk until Gohan reached in and picked it up again. "See. Two tons." He then casually slipped it on like a watch and placed his hands on his hips. "So… still think you're up to it?"
Remaining silent for but a moment, Videl faced her friend with a serious look, "Will I eventually be able to lift that much?"
Gohan grinned, "If you work hard and keep at this every single day, yes." He then patted himself in the chest, "My dad started this at around the same age as you. So I'm sure that with enough practice and training, we'll be able to make some headway over the next few months… and maybe even the year if you want to-"
"YES!" was the immediate response from Videl's mouth, who didn't even need to wait for the boy to finish. Eyes shining with determination, the girl stepped towards the Saiyan with her fists clenched tightly, "I want to do this, Gohan-kun. I want to become strong… just like you and your friends." She then smiled sincerely in his direction when she spoke her next words, "And, if I do this… I'll be able to hang out with you every day." It was a series of words that had the girl momentarily avert her gaze and become a little red in the face.
Her statement nevertheless brought a flutter to Gohan's heart and a smile to his ever cheerful exterior. Ignoring the snicker from Zangya all the way from her log and the intrigued look from Piccolo, the half-Saiyan rolled his shoulder, cracked his knuckles and gestured over his back, "So… want to get this show on the road?"
"You bet," was Videl's enthusiastic reply.
"Alright then. For starters, we're going to go for a nice, brisk jog through the mountains and across the valley. While we're at it I'll fill you in on what else you're going to be doing for your training and what will be happening over the next couple of weeks," Gohan informed, beginning to skip on the spot before waving the girl into formation. When she fell in step, both of them turned and began running in the direction of the hills, the pair carrying their respective weights and establishing a fair yet fast pace.
Both Piccolo and Zangya watched the youngsters vanish into the distance, bearing the same looks of seriousness as they usually did. Eventually, after a couple minutes of sitting around, the most playful of the pair decided to stand and float up into the air. "You know what… this might actually be fun to watch." The Hera then flew after them.
Grunting, the Namekian followed, not just to keep an eye on her but also curious to see how his student handled the role of instructor for a change.
And so, as the group left on their early morning run through the mists, Videl's apprenticeship and tutelage under Son Gohan began…
XXX
(Some time later)
The run through Mount Paozu Gohan had selected led the pair through various different areas of the region across every kind of terrain you could possibly imagine. This included; mountains, bridges, grasslands, streams, banks, rocky wastelands and forests, with one of the legs through the fields even involving Videl being chased by a hungry T-Rex, much to an observing Zangya's amusement.
When the poor girl had a go at Gohan after losing the damn thing after three miles of screaming and sprinting later, the boy laughed it off as something she was just going to have to get used to. He went on to explain that this routine was essential in improving her endurance, agility, footedness and balance, all of which they were able to cover in this first part of the morning. It was a trek that pushed Videl to her absolute limits.
Following their rigorous twenty mile jog which nearly saw the poor youngster faint from exhaustion, the demi-Saiyan then took her to a nearby village to show her what would eventually become her mid-morning exercises. It was at this very sanctuary in the countryside where a couple of familiar faces were already standing by and waiting for their arrival.
Having stopped on an expanse of rolling hillsides, Videl stood hunched over, pouring sweat and breathing heavily.
"That… was insane…" she groaned. If she wasn't wearing eighty kilos of weight that lap of the region would have been so much easier.
Gohan chuckled as he looked down at the thoroughly exhausted girl, "You did pretty well on your first run. But we're not stopping yet. We've got a lot more to cover before our day is through and since we're starting out late, we're really going to have to fly through this." When he saw the raven haired fighter look at him in disbelief, the spiky haired youngster then turned his attention to the hills, where two people could be seen standing nearby. One of them was an elderly man in a martial arts outfit and with white hair, and the other was a young girl with brown hair tied into two pigtails, and was wearing a yellow shirt and red suspenders. "Now it's time to try your hand at agriculture."
"Uhh… agri-what?" Videl shook her head, wondering if she heard him right.
When the pair lumbered over to the two people waiting nearby, the Super Saiyan 2 gave them a fond greeting. "Hey, Mr. Lao."
"Good morning, Gohan," the white haired elder exclaimed with a smile. "How are you doing today?"
"Great. Just going for a little bit of a run across the countryside with my friend," the demi-Saiyan chirped, before then turning his attention to the little girl standing beside the martial artist. He beamed as soon as his eyes fell upon her, "Hey, Lime. Long time no see."
The adolescent immediately brightened at the sight of the boy and, stepping up to him, immediately took his hand in hers, "Welcome back, Gohan. It's great to see you again." Giggling when she saw the Saiyan grin at her as well, she then looked up at the locks standing atop his head. "You look a little… different today. Did you grow taller?"
"Heh. Sort of," the teen replied, at the same time flicking his bang out of his face. "I'm not sure if this counts though."
"Well, I think your hair looks awesome," Lime replied, ecstatic at seeing her friend again after all these weeks. "You should keep it like that."
"Really? You don't think it makes me look scary?"
"No. Not at all," the youngster shook her head. "You could make it a little bit shorter though, so that it doesn't get in the way."
"Yeah. I'm thinking of getting it cut as well."
Videl, noting how friendly the two youngsters were acting with each other, then turned her attention to the Super Saiyan standing alongside her, "Hey Gohan, who's this?"
"Oh, yeah. Sorry Videl" Quickly turning back to his friend and student, the demi-Saiyan gestured her towards the folks in front of them. "This is Mr. Lao and his granddaughter Lime. I met them a couple of months ago while I was doing some grocery shopping for mum before the Cell Games. They're really good people."
Blinking in realization, the raven haired girl smiled at the two neighbors and bowed, "It's very nice to meet you, sir."
Lao beamed at the girl's polite greeting and bowed to her as well, "And it's a pleasure to meet you too, Ms. Satan. Welcome to our village."
While Videl was made friendly small talk with the elderly martial artist, she failed to notice the girl standing next to him give her a funny look, as well as quick glance between her and Gohan. Taking note of the similar uniforms they were wearing and how this newcomer was a friend of the demi-Saiyan's and not a relative, Lime couldn't help but feel a little bit suspicious as to what was going on between them.
Turning back to her teacher, Videl threw him an inquisitive look, "So Gohan, what am I going to be doing while I'm out here?"
Grinning, the young Saiyan then directed her attention toward the fields behind the two villagers, "So far you've only covered the early morning portion of your training. Now it's time to get started on your mid-morning exercise. This will consist of you plowing these fields with your bare hands."
The young martial artist looked at him as if he'd grown a second head, "My… bare hands…?"
Nodding, Gohan lifted his right and showed her his palm, "This will help build the strength and dexterity of your fingers. By using them to toil away at the ground, you'll be able to strengthen them enough to move on to much harder tasks." He then lowered his arm to his side and smiled. "I built up my strength by surviving in the wild using only my hands and feet. This is pretty much the same concept, only confined to a specific routine."
"O-kay," Videl murmured, still feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the enormity of the task that was being asked of her. Swallowing nervously, she turned away from him to gaze across at the valley, "How long… do you want me to do this task for?"
"Oh… maybe an hour or so. We'll see how well you do and if you do well I'll get you to stop early," Gohan chirped before then nodding her towards the hills. "Better get crackin'."
Sucking it up, Videl quickly sprinted out onto the square patch on the hillside and, starting from one end, began to dig. Within moments the spunky young fighter started plowing furrows into the ground up and down section of earth, moving at a labored pace yet still making sure she kept right on task. She knew that the faster she did this, the sooner she would be able to move on to the boy's next assignment.
Hopefully it would be something more along the lines of what she originally came here for.
While Gohan stood by watching her with a pleased look on his face, he sensed Mr. Lao step across to stand alongside him.
"I see you're getting her to go through Master Roshi's classical Turtle School routine."
"Oh. You've heard about Master Roshi's training regimen?" the demi-Saiyan asked curiously.
"I've been around for quite a while, lad… and as an old hand in martial arts you can bet I've heard a lot about some of the big wigs over the years, your father included," Mr. Lao replied, a mischievous smile ever present as he kept his gaze fixed firmly upon the raven haired girl toiling away at the earth.
Upon taking this in, Gohan sprouted a grin, "Well… I guess you can say I'm taking a lot after a person who'd actually been a student of the old Turtle Hermit."
"That's good. There's no better place to start then from the ground up," the elder villager remarked in a pleased tone of voice. "I'm assuming your friend's already developed some strong foundations to build upon, seeing as how she already appears to be using weighted clothing."
"That's right," Gohan said, but then turned away when he felt a tug on his shirt. Glancing to his right, he saw Lime looking up at him with narrowed eyes and a serious scowl on her face.
"Gohan… who is this girl?"
Caught a little off guard by the sudden question from the rather irate looking girl, the Super Saiyan smiled back at her in his usual, pleasant manner, in hopes of trying to lighten her mood, "She's Videl; a friend I met at the Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament several weeks ago."
The brown haired girl frowned, "So… she's… just a friend to you?"
"Uh-huh. Yeah. This is… actually the third time we've met up with each other to hang out. She'll be staying over at my place while I train her, so you'll probably be seeing her around a lot." Confusion then suddenly came across his face as he continued to gaze down at his country friend, "Why do you ask?"
Looking away quickly, Lime smiled and slipped her hands behind her back, "No reason. I was just curious." When she sensed relief wash over his expression and his gaze turn to keep watching his friend's progress, the granddaughter of Mr. Lao looked up to gaze at him once again, but this time with a hint of concern. Her eyes cutting between him and the raven haired girl he was observing, for the next hour or so Lime stood back quietly and watched closely as Videl dug away at the field.
Meanwhile, positioned on a fence made of rock and stone nearby, an equally quiet Zangya and Piccolo could be seen sitting and standing there respectively, both with their arms crossed and both with firm, unchanging expressions in play. Needless to say, judging from Videl's progress, they knew she was in for one hell of a first week…
OOO
Just as Gohan had planned, the next several days following Videl's arrival to his home followed the exact same routine the young man walked her through on their very first session together.
After their lap around Mount Paozu, which led them to the outskirts of Chazke Village, where Videl took part in the second part of what would become her morning practice, the two of them then settled down for brunch at Mr. Lao's house. Upon eating their fill with the family, allowing Gohan and Lime some time to catch up, the demi-Saiyan then jogged Videl back over to his place to start her on her ki manipulation lessons.
He explained to her all of the mechanics behind the concept of energy, such as how ki was the 'latent energy' and 'fighting power' inside of a person, that it existed inside of every living being and how it could be manipulated outside of the body to perform different techniques, and how it predominantly existed in the center of each person. Because there were limits to what the body could actually do, Gohan said that it was necessary for her to learn how to control and train using her ki, and that in order to overcome her barriers she needed to strengthen it continuously.
All the energy Videl had previously lost came back to her the instant Gohan showed her she would be learning how to control her energy and immediately sunk her teeth into his lesson. He decided to start her off by getting her to grab hold of her ki to form a blast. By prompting her to draw it out and control it, even in a small form, he would be able to get her started on exercising it to strengthen it at an early stage.
Remarkably enough, Videl was able to bring out her ki in only two days of practice. This showed Gohan just how much potential she actually had in their art of fighting, as well as how committed she was to getting this skill down.
He informed his apprentice that the time between breakfast and lunch would be spent meditating, learning how to manipulate their energy, or studying. In the words of a great man; a strong warrior would be incapable of fighting at their full potential if they didn't have the proper mindset or knowledge to do so. It was a balance he was hoping to achieve over the next coming months so as to hit Videl from all sides, and being a well practiced academic himself, the demi-Saiyan was confident he could also have his friend's education covered in that period as well.
After lunch at the Son household, Gohan and Videl then had an hour break. For all great martial artists, rest was just as important an activity as their work, something that both young fighters gladly agreed with and for good reason. One, because Videl was exhausted, and two, it'd been words of advice Gohan's father had shared with him during their own hard miles of training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
The pair used this portion of the day to chat and hang out, with the first few sessions of the month being spent sleeping underneath one of the property's oaks alongside a meditating Piccolo and physically present Zangya, who also decided to have a little catnap alongside the group.
It actually impressed Piccolo to see his student managing to sleep while assumed in his Ascended Saiyan state. His current state showed just how deeply immersed the young warrior was getting into his own training, even when he was focusing a lot of his attention on coaching another. He was really nailing the base from all possible angles.
Once break time was over, Gohan got Videl to work on her fighting skills against him.
The first session that they had together had been, in a few words, a real doozy of a scuffle…
XXX
"Y-You… want me to what?" the raven haired girl asked the spiky haired boy in disbelief.
Waving the bang out of his face, the young Super Saiyan 2 grinned, "I want you to come at me with everything you've got. If you can hit me, I'll congratulate you with a body shot. If you can avoid my blast, I'll reward you with another. Got it?"
The young martial artist stammered nervously. "B-But… what… HOLD ON JUST A SECOND," Videl exclaimed while waving her arms frantically and pointing at him, "I can't fight you, Gohan! You'll destroy me with just a tap of your finger… especially when you're like that!" She added to this by referring to his temporary blonde hairstyling and transformed appearance.
Gohan chuckled at her flustered expression and adjusted his wristbands, "Don't worry, Videl. I'm suppressing my ki as low as it can possibly go without breaking this state. That means not only will I be able to work hard without hurting you, I'll be getting you to fight at your absolute best as well." He then narrowed his gaze as the girl stared firmly back at him, "Listen; if you want to become as strong as us, then you're going to have to spar with me every single day. By continuing to push yourself beyond what you're capable of and using everything you've learned in all of our spars, you'll become stronger and stronger the further we go." He then gave her a serious look. "Can you do that for me?"
At first sweating up a storm and appearing anxious as hell, the human fighter quickly weighed up her chances of fighting against the boy in such an overpowered form. However, knowing she came out here to work harder than ever before, Videl quickly made up her mind on the matter and dropped into a fighting stance. Though she was trembling like a leaf, she was still raring to go.
"Alright. Let's do it, Gohan," Videl said, a smirk forming on her lips. "I'm putting all of my trust in you."
"Yeah," the half-Saiyan replied, a proud smile appearing as he watched his friend settle into full fighting form just several feet away from him. Looking at her right now, adorned in his colors and facing him down the way she was, she reminded him of what he used to be back when he first sparred with Piccolo all those years ago.
It was a wash of nostalgia that hit the Namekian as well, who was still watching the pair closely from a nearby tree. Even Zangya was paying close attention to them.
'Now,' Gohan thought, taking a deep breath and letting it out. Spreading his feet till they were shoulder width apart and letting his hands rest firmly at his sides, the boy took a moment to suppress his energy level. Upon pushing it down as low as it could possibly go, he then opened his eyes and fixed his sights upon his student. A bead of sweat formed on his brow, "Remember Videl… don't forget to dodge."
With a nod and a growl, Videl let out a hearty battle cry and charged right at her opponent. As soon as she was upon him, she opened up with a flurry of attacks; punches and kicks flying at her target in an effort to bring him down. The second her attacks were loose, Gohan began effortlessly slipping around them, presenting the girl with a moving adversary that she now had to try and catch.
Yelling out with every swing she threw, the girl attempted to outflank the blonde as she chased him across the grass, the pair circling the clearing at least three times before Gohan decided to counter attack.
Dodging a roundhouse kick, Gohan then got right up into the girl's face and, lifting his hand, threw a light palm strike into her surprised mug. The blow smacked her square in the forehead and sent the energetic youngster blasting back across the field, where she ended up tumbling along the ground for over a dozen yards. When she ended up falling behind a boulder, with a cloud of dust hanging in her wake, the demi-Saiyan thought he'd knocked her out. A split second later though, Videl came charging right back with a yell, and nothing but dirt on her clothes and a bruise on her forehead.
'Perfect. This is exactly where I want to be,' Gohan thought, smiling as he began excessively weaving around the girl's attacks once again.
Unleashing another flurry of combinations, Videl tried to at least clip the blonde in the shoulder. However, when she tried for a right overhand, she suddenly saw the boy vanish into thin air, causing her to stop for but a moment.
This was her mistake, because the instant she looked over her shoulder, she saw the boy, who'd appeared directly behind her, raise his foot and kick her in the rear, sending her flying and crashing into another boulder. When she hit the grass, the girl groaned and glared back at him.
"Keep your eye on the enemy," Gohan coached.
Groaning as she rubbed her side, Videl frowned at the Saiyan, "But you disappeared. I couldn't see you at all."
"You're going to have to learn to keep up with this kind of speed. You have to use all of your senses to keep track of your opponent… all of them," the young Super Saiyan 2 informed, a smirk appearing on his face. "If you can't see the enemy, then feel them out. And remember; don't make yourself an easy target. You have to keep moving." He then raised his hand and took aim.
"Ugh. Easier said than-WHOA!" Videl barreled out of the way, dodging a fast moving energy ball, that slammed into the boulder she'd been leaning against and slapped a perfectly shaped burn mark in its side. Jumping to her feet after her skillful evasion, the girl shot him a look, "HEY! What the hell-?"
"No time to talk," Gohan chirped, throwing another blast her way and prompting the girl to move once again. He continued lobbing energy spheres in Videl's direction, bombarding the ground when she leapt and ducked around them, "Don't just dodge, Videl. Get inside and attack!" His instruction getting through to her, the half-Saiyan fired another barrage of weak blasts, prompting the young fighter to move in as fast as she could and leap at the boy with another onslaught of attacks. However, the moment she swung in, the boy disappeared again and reappeared at her side.
Throwing a slow combo of attacks, he prompted Videl to duck a kick and slip a left jab, only to then tap her with a kick to the stomach that sent her spiraling across the field. When she hit the ground, she took up a crouched position and stared across at her instructor, panting heavily.
"Good. Keep it up," Gohan encouraged, watching the girl rub at the bruise on her face. After which she went after him once again, unleashing a combination of attacks that had the young Saiyan dodging around her in a blur. All the while the two of them were watched on by a fully invested Zangya and Piccolo, both of whom continued to observe quietly from the sidelines.
XXX
Taking full advantage of her weighted clothing, the demi-Saiyan had Videl fight him using all of the skills she had at her disposal. While pushing himself in his own exercises, he encouraged her to do her very best as well, beating her into the ground with attacks that were strong by normal human standards yet at the same time making extra certain not to seriously injure her.
He made sure to up the ante the further along they progressed.
The two of them continued this session until late afternoon, where Gohan then left a period of time at the end for Videl to work on any one of the skills she saw fit to improve; whether it was building her strength, meditating to improve her senses and state of mind, or sparring to continue polishing her fighting techniques. This period also allowed the demi-Saiyan an opportunity to work on his own training as well, where he spent time honing his techniques and building his strength. It didn't just allow him time to talk with Piccolo and learn how to use his magic materialization ability, he also had a perfect chance to practice his control over holding his Super Saiyan 2 form and using the technique Kana had given him before she left.
He began learning how to use the Instantaneous Movement technique, something he was eager to get down as soon as possible and add to his move set. It was after the first week and a half of training Videl he started practicing it.
XXX
"Are you sure about this?" Piccolo asked with a bead of sweat running down his face, the Namekian watching his student limbering up a few yards away.
Taking a few deep breaths to steady his nerves, Gohan turned back to his old sensei to see Videl also standing by and watching on nervously. After looking between the two worried faces, the demi-Saiyan shared with them a small grin, "No. But I have to start somewhere."
Nodding, the green skinned warrior then glanced over the horizon and pointed across the hills. "Remember… pick a target that's close by. Don't try to aim too far or too wide with it, otherwise you might end up somewhere you don't want to be." It was advice he learned from the memories he was able to retrieve of Kami, who knew a technique very similar in this one's design that allowed him to travel to and from the Otherworld.
Though he'd lost the ability with his other half's inception into his subconscious, the Namekian still experienced phantom flashes of his previous forms that really contributed to his wealth of knowledge.
"The dimension you will be entering will be passing you at an insane rate, so use your reflexes to slow it down. It'll be like diving into a rushing river traveling hundreds of times faster than light."
"Yeah. No problem," the demi-Saiyan replied with a chuckle, which was noticeably nervous.
Zangya, who was standing behind the boy and also watching on with interest, grinned from ear to ear when she sensed the youngster's uncertainty. "Oh-ho… this is gonna be good."
"Okay," Gohan breathed out, skipping on the spot while clapping his hands and rubbing them together. Once he was certain he'd got his blood and energy flowing, he then looked across at the two in front of him and nodded anxiously. "Wish me luck." When he saw his raven haired friend and alien trainer acknowledge his words, he then stopped jumping around enough to flex his fingers uneasily and take a stance. "Oh yeah… and Videl…" The girl perked up, "in case I forget to say this later…ow."
He then vanished in a flash of golden light…
A split second after Gohan's form disappeared completely from sight, an explosion of dust occurred about two kilometers in the direction of the mountains, a sight which immediately caught the group's attention. Acting instantly, Piccolo and Zangya took flight in the direction of the blast, with Videl being carried by the former.
When they eventually landed at the site of the disturbance, they found themselves staring at a five-foot-wide trench that'd been dug through an entire field of grass for over five hundred meters, which ended at a suspiciously human-shaped crater at the base of one of the forest covered mountains. Peering into it, Piccolo, Zangya and Videl stared blankly at the upside-down form of Gohan wedged in its center, his clothing shredded, his body covered in dirt and bruises, and a dizzy look on his bewildered face.
Groaning, the half-Saiyan that'd clearly plowed the ground with his face, spoke in a weak voice, "Missed it by that much."
Exactly five seconds later, both Zangya and Videl burst out laughing, with the latter falling onto the floor holding her sides. The Namekian meanwhile, smirked at his beaten up student.
"You're going to have to work on that, kid."
XXX
After about a hundred face-plants into mountain sides and random valleys later, including several instances where he'd ended up teleporting himself inside of several walls and to the bottom of random masses of water, Gohan started getting it down… kind of.
Sure, his teleportation skills weren't perfect, but at least he was making progress.
It was just one of those 'no pain, no gain' instances and he knew that if he preserved enough, he would eventually get it right. He sure as hell was going to abuse the hell out of this move when he eventually mastered it, so until then he was just going to keep at it until he finally got to where he needed to go in one piece.
Over the entire month, Videl's routine remained mostly the same, with Gohan changing it up every now and again to cover all of the fundamental aspects of his group's martial arts. For example, while running her lap of the region at four in the morning, he had her hit the mountain slopes with boulders, in which she would spend a segment of that session dragging them up the side over and over again to build up her leg muscles. To push her even further, he even had her swim long distances in the lake with her weighted clothing on, and to coincide with her ki control lessons, he had her sparring with him blindfolded so that she could master ki reading along with her other fighting abilities.
As the days rolled on and Gohan kept pushing his friend, he periodically increased the weight on her clothing, an act that not only allowed him practice with Piccolo's technique, but also increased the difficulty of Videl's training.
It was an incredibly taxing time for the raven haired girl, who at first believed she wasn't making any progress at all. Sure, every once in a while she felt like it was getting easier, but every time she felt like she was making some kind of headway, Gohan would just up the regimen and it would become harder once again.
However, while she sweated away and worked her skills into the ground, the three powerful fighters watching her from the sidelines began to notice and sense remarkable improvements in her abilities.
One thing certainly became clear to all of them; she was an amazing prodigy.
XXX
(A few weeks later - Evening)
Controlling her breathing patterns, Videl extended both hands out and caught the golden sphere of energy that flew at her like an arrow. Managing to hold it above her palms while it pulsed away, the raven haired fighter then took a few seconds to focus before, with a grunt of effort, she launched it back in the direction it'd come, where it was promptly caught by Gohan in the same manner.
For the past couple of hours the two youngsters had been at this; passing a ball of energy between them, catching it using their own energy, and reversing its direction, at the same time keeping it in a state of constant flight and form. Even though it seemed like just some sort of fun game they were playing, it was actually a really effective form of training that not only focused on physical exercise through control, but was also a great way for the two to harmonize their energies and find equilibrium between mind and matter.
While the demi-Saiyan in charge of the session felt that this was an excellent way to work on his own control in the area of ki, as he was currently assumed in a suppressed Super Saiyan 2 state, this activity was mostly for the benefit of his student. Through continuous repetition, Videl had been able to gain a firm grasp of the concept of energy manipulation, and was doing incredibly well in catching, deflecting, blocking and absorbing ki blasts of varying degrees and forms.
This exercise of 'playing tennis' with an energy sphere was one of the many ways she was strengthening said control.
Picking up speed in their passing, the two martial artists continued hurling the attack between them. As this was going on, in the background Piccolo and Zangya were busy doing their own little thing, sitting across from one another with their arms and legs folded and their eyes tightly shut. The two were apparently wrapped up in a session of their own design, a really intense one from the looks on their faces, and were also being watched over by a currently present Mirai Trunks, who was adorned in his vest, trousers and blue jacket.
Looking between the two adults on the grass in front of him and then up towards Gohan and his partner, the lavender haired time-traveler sprouted a smile and nodded his head in approval.
"With Gohan and everyone here… and with Cell gone, I know things are going to be alright from now on." After witnessing the events that'd occurred following the whole Kana incident, he knew for certain that this world was in good hands.
The proof was right in front of him, hard at work with his best friend.
Catching the ball of energy firmly in one hand, Videl concentrated on holding it while it spun above her palm. Gritting her teeth as it hovered in place, the girl then focused her ki around it and began compressing the basketball sized sphere. Within a matter of seconds, the attack popped out of existence and the raven haired girl collapsed onto her backside. Panting heavily from the effort, she wiped the sweat from her brow and looked up, where she saw Gohan stop in front of her with a smile on his face and his hands on his hips.
Grinning at the Super Saiyan 2, Videl raised a hand, "I think… I'm gonna call it a day."
"No problem," Gohan nodded back, before reverting back to his base form with a quick exhale and beaming at his companion, "You worked yourself pretty hard this morning. You've definitely earned a good night's rest." He then offered a hand to her.
Immediately reaching up and taking it, Videl was pulled to her feet. "Thanks, Gohan." After dusting her gi down and adjusting her wristband, the spent youngster then turned her attention to Piccolo and Zangya, both of whom were still sitting across from one another, sweating and trembling from head to toe. Though the sight of the two of them bleeding bullets like that would have initially puzzled the young fighter, because she'd been at this for a month and a bit already, she knew exactly what was going on. "Those two are image training again?"
"Uh-huh. They've been at it since the end of lunch," Gohan replied, placing his hands on his hips. "That's good. It means they're really working hard."
"I wouldn't be surprised. Those two definitely seem like the stubborn types of fighters."
"You can say that again," the demi-Saiyan chuckled. "I've definitely seen Piccolo image training many times before, since he was the one who taught me how to, but I've never seen Zangya train like this." He then paused for a couple of seconds, "Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen her train, period." To be honest, it was a refreshing change of pace. For the first time ever, he was able to see how a character like the Hera actually worked on her skills in her free time and, judging from the expression on her face, she was really having a ball against Piccolo through their telekinetic link.
"So… they exercise their bodies using only their minds by fighting against a mental image of their opponent inside their heads?" Videl asked while glancing across at her instructor, seeing the boy nod in response. "That's kind of like shadow sparring, isn't it?"
"In a way. The image they fight against is a mental projection created and controlled by their opponent's ki. The resulting mental battle stirs up the circulation in the users' bodies, getting them to exercise their abilities physically as well as mentally, and requires the combatant to continuously project their energy at a controlled rate. That's why at the end of every session we're always exhausted and out of breath, since the fights we get into in the mental world can be just as grueling as a fight in the physical plain," Gohan informed, looking across at the girl to see her nod in understanding.
"And you say you can train like this by yourself or with another person?"
"Yep. It's a really good way to keep your mind sharp and your techniques polished. Though it is effective as an exercise, you still need to actually move around and do stuff to keep your body in full fighting form. You can't focus on one thing without working on the other," Gohan informed, a grin forming on his face.
Videl beamed right back and nudged him in the side, "Hey. When I get good enough and I've mastered control over my ki, I want to have a go at image training against you. No holds barred. Alright?"
"Whatever you say, Videl," the demi-Saiyan chuckled, "But I warn you, it can get pretty intense in there… especially against an opponent who's far more experienced than you."
"I think I can handle it," the adolescent replied with equal enthusiasm, meeting the smile from the spiky haired young warrior.
For the next couple of minutes the two of them stood there, watching the silence permeate between both Piccolo and Zangya. In no time at all, the audience began to question who was actually winning in the one on one fight taking place inside the link the pair had established.
It was obvious the woman was the more powerful of the two and probably an equal in skill. However, she'd been trapped in a star for over ten thousand years, whereas Piccolo had lived a total of two lifetimes with two other Namekians sharing his body, both of which brought an insurmountable level of experience and pain to him. The man knew how to play mind games just as well as anyone in their group and was as stubborn an opponent as they came.
Between the two of them, in a battle confined to a mental plain where there only limits were their strengths of will and life force, it was impossible to tell which of them would come out on top.
The trio got their answer seconds later when Zangya's eyes suddenly snapped open and the young girl gave a gasp of shock, collapsing onto her hands and heaving ragged breaths of air, as if she'd almost been drowned. Her awakening was shortly followed by Piccolo, the Namekian also reacting in a similar manner, only he was able to keep his arms crossed.
Sweating up a storm, the Hera glared up at her sparring partner in frustration, "That was a cheap shot. I didn't know you could use eye beams."
"I haven't had to use them for a while, but it definitely got the job done, don't you agree?" Piccolo asked with a smirk forming on his face. "You have to be patient with these kinds of fights. Unlike you, I don't jump in every time my opponent lets his guard down. If you rush in blindly without a plan of attack, you're likely to fall victim for whatever trap your opponent has laid out for you."
"Your back was turned!"
"And you went for it just like I knew you would," Piccolo replied with a smirk. "That's what happens when you get frustrated."
Snarling, the orange haired girl put her fist into the ground before standing up. There was a slight wobble in her legs the moment she straightened her posture, but she was able to correct it, "You, green man… are an asshole."
Piccolo snorted, finding a retort for the girl's response despite being thoroughly drained as well, "I'll take that as a compliment."
Folding her arms, the orange haired young woman turned her back on him and stormed off, deciding to go sulk over by the house.
Trunks chuckled when he saw her leave, "Man. Never thought I'd see her get worked up."
Getting to his feet as well, the Namekian turned to Gohan to see him beaming up at him, "Training done?"
"For now," the half-Saiyan replied cheerily, which was matched by a bright smile from Videl. "You zapped her when she tried to drop down from above, didn't you?"
"It was inspired," Piccolo replied, giving the boy a sly look. "Something I learned while fighting against you."
Remembering all the times he'd been hit by Piccolo's eye lasers during their training for the Saiyans, Gohan then led the march back towards the house. Around the other side of it, the group found Chi-Chi already laying out a gourmet feast for her family and their guests, Trunks included. Beckoning them over when she saw the group stroll into view, she then began pouring them all a serving of rice, at the same time Gohan, Videl and Piccolo sat around the outdoor dining area.
When the two demi-Saiyans and the human martial artist had their food served to them, on his end of the table Piccolo received a rather pleasant surprise when a glass of ice water was set down in front of him along with a full jug. When he looked up, he saw Chi-Chi give him a smile and a nod, before quickly moving back to deal out the rest of her sides.
The Namekian raised a brow, before glancing down at the glass of refreshing aqua in front of him. "She's in a surprisingly good mood." Not wanting to question the kindness of her gesture, the man accepted the serving gladly.
When Trunks made himself comfortable, he too found a dish of rice and sides sitting in front of him, and beamed across at the woman that'd gone out of her way to cook for all of them. "Thanks so much, Chi-Chi."
"You're welcome, Trunks," the mother replied with a beaming expression as she took up another bowl for herself. "It's always a pleasure to have you and the rest of the family over… well… most of them anyway."
Getting what the woman was saying, the lavender haired Saiyan chuckled, "Yeah. I admit my dad can be a bit overbearing and impatient sometimes, but I know he's still a great guy deep down." It was a remark that had Piccolo pause and stare for a few seconds. "I wouldn't trade him for anyone else in the world."
"Well… that's good," Chi-Chi replied with a nod. "I'm glad to see that you care about him a lot. If I'm being completely honest, I think Vegeta really cares about you as well. He's just too proud and stuck up to admit it."
Smiling at the woman for her kind words, Trunks collected up his chopsticks and prepared to dig in. When all of the boys and girls around the table clapped their hands together and said their thanks to the spirits, they then dug in all at once. The Son mother, Videl and their lavender haired companion ate at a languid pace, pulling up their bowls and putting whatever they wanted onto the dishes in front of them. Their pace was matched by the one set by Piccolo, who quietly drank his water through his straw, which he slowly consumed and savored every drop.
Of course, in stark contrast to the speed the majority of the troop had set, there was one exception to the above who'd decided to make this meal his next conquest.
Just like his father, Gohan speedily fished for several more sides from the center of the table and popped them into his bowl. Upon which he then began inhaling the food at his usual rate of speed shoveling, a sight that had Videl stare and giggle when the boy pulled away with his lips covered in rice.
"You Saiyans really love your food, huh?" the raven haired martial artist asked, drawing the boy's gaze over.
"Yeah. We sure do. But I think it's because of mum's cooking that me and dad eat so much more than we're supposed to," Gohan replied, at the same time sparing his mum a thousand megawatt smile. "We've gone out to tons of restaurants over the years, but out of every single one of them there hasn't been a single chef that's been able to match mum's cooking skills. She's the best in the world."
Chi-Chi's expression warmed at her son's compliments, "Why thank you, Gohan."
Videl leaned over to smile at the home owner as well, "Yeah. Your food is really amazing, Chi-Chi. Thank you so much."
The woman's eyes twinkled, "You're welcome too, Videl." She then gave an inward squeal at the prospect of grandchildren, a twitch in her expression that didn't go amiss by the ever observant Piccolo.
As the group continued to feast and Gohan had gone through two more servings, the half-Saiyan then had his attention pulled over to the house. It was there he saw Zangya standing against the wall with her arms folded and a neutral gaze set upon the group.
After looking at her and back towards the table a couple of times, the demi-Saiyan smiled in her direction and shuffled over, "Hey, Zangya. Why don't you come join us?"
His call catching her by surprise, the previously aggravated blue-skinned fighter blinked, "Huh? You want me to sit with you guys?" They had a pretty full table already. However, looking across at Gohan, she saw the youngster make a space beside him and gesture to it gleefully.
"Yeah. Mum made us plenty of food. Why don't you come and have some with us," the young warrior continued, his exclamations drawing gazes from Piccolo and Trunks, before they too turned to the woman standing across the way.
Appearing hesitant at first, Zangya looked away, "I… don't know if I should." She was aware of their history. After everything she'd done, she wasn't so sure if she would be welcomed or not.
Gohan beamed warmly at her, "I can't eat knowing that you're standing over there all by yourself while the rest of us are here. Even Piccolo is sitting with us and having a drink." He gestured to the Namekian, who merely gave a grunt and turned back to his water. "If he can sit with us without being bothered, then I'm sure you can eat with us too."
Giving the boy a long stare of surprise, the Hera regarded his proposition with a few more moments of thought. Once a full minute ticked by and the woman passed the happily smiling child a couple more tentative glances, Zangya eventually conceded and slowly made her way over. Giving a bow to the woman of the house who gave one in return, the orange haired fighter sat down next to Gohan.
She then had a bowl of rice held out in front of her and looked across at the young Saiyan to see him still smiling.
"Here. You must be pretty hungry," the boy spoke.
Nodding gratefully, Zangya took the bowl and chopsticks. Picking at a slice of pork, she then brought it to her lips and nibbled on it. Giving a few testing bites of the rest, a small smile quickly formed on her face, "Mm… it's delicious." She glanced across at the group, whom she saw was eyeing her intently. Looking from one face to the next, the blue-skinned woman then became slightly nerve rattled and looked away, frowning stubbornly. "Th-Thanks." She then started to eat at a livelier pace and remained quiet for the rest of the evening.
Smiling when he saw the woman get more comfortable, Gohan switched to his own meal and continued to devour it, at the same time sharing small talk with both Videl and Trunks.
As tea time rolled on, things seemed to file out nicely for the group outside the Son household. Against the backdrop of Mount Paozu and the sun setting gently over the horizon, the serene scene around the table was nothing short of perfect. Eventually, once most of the food had been put away and Gohan and Zangya were in the process of finishing off their last servings, the lavender haired Saiyan accompanying them looked down at his empty plate anxiously. After which he then addressed the company with the announcement he'd shared with the other members of their party.
"I'll be leaving in two days," Mirai said, drawing everyone's attention over to him in an instant. "Now that I know everything is going to be okay, I believe that my work here is done."
"You're going back to your own time?" Gohan asked.
"Yep." A sad smile pulled across the half-Saiyan's lips, "Since this'll probably be the last time we'll ever get to see each other again, I'm visiting everyone from here to Kame House and letting them know that I'll be going this Saturday. My mum's probably worried sick about me back home, so I don't want to keep her waiting anymore than I already have."
Processing his words quickly, Chi-Chi nodded in understanding, "Since you two are the only ones left, I'm not surprised." The raven haired woman straightened up in her seat and, reaching over, patted the young man on the shoulder. "Be sure to take good care of her, okay?"
"I will. And I'll be sure to visit the rest of you when I get back as well," the young man replied, giving the Son mother a warm smile, "Thank you, Chi-Chi."
"We'll be there to see you off on the day, kid," Piccolo also spoke up from his end of the table, earning a grateful nod from the time traveling hero. "Count on it."
"I appreciate that. Thanks."
While the group beamed at the lavender haired warrior, who they feel had become just as much a part of their family as all the other friends they'd made, Gohan then realized a very important fact. Grinning at the demi-Saiyan who was his student and friend in the future, the energetic, orange-wearing fighter then stood out of his seat and threw the man a competitive glare.
"Hey Trunks." When everyone turned to the young warrior, they saw him back away from the table and instantly transform into a Super Saiyan. The explosion of golden energy around him kicked up a wind that ruffled everyone's hair and clothing, and brought a round of surprised looks to the people sitting at the table. "You and I never had a chance to fight during the Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament. How about you and I have one for the road… just to wish you luck and give you something to remember us by?"
The glimmer in Gohan's eyes gave Trunks all the confidence he needed to make a quick decision.
Smirking, the lavender haired Saiyan nodded back at his counterpart, "Sure. Why not?" It would be awesome to spar with his old master one last time, even though the ages had been reversed. While the kid was unquestionably stronger than him, even as a first level Super Saiyan, Trunks was positive he would be able to get a lot out of this.
Pleased at the man's answer, Gohan looked down at Videl and smiled. "Want to see how a pair of Super Saiyans fight?"
The raven haired girl nodded eagerly, "Yeah."
Though she didn't want to admit it, even Zangya was interested to see how the two half-Saiyan males fought. Sitting at the table with her bowl of rice in hand, the orange haired woman focused all her attention on them and watched as they prepped themselves for battle.
Chi-Chi gave her eldest boy a proud look, "Be careful out there, son." She then winked in is direction. "Don't hurt your friend too badly."
Grinning, the transformed youngster then saw Trunks leap out of his chair and rush out into the fields surrounding their home, where he immediately jumped to his Super Saiyan 2nd Grade level and sprang into the air. With Gohan joining him in the sky, the two fighters then secured a position several stories above the ground safely out of reach of the spectators. Once there, the warriors faced each other down in their glowing forms and began to circle, the sound of their auras echoing across the wide open prairies.
"Let's make this one count," Gohan said, his teal eyes shimmering with excitement.
Trunks grinned back at the boy with equal enthusiasm, "Don't worry. I won't disappoint you."
Then, with Piccolo, Videl, Zangya and Chi-Chi watching from the table below, the pair rocketed towards one another and began clashing in an explosive display of speed, skill, and strength.
The sound of thunderclaps ringing out across the plains, the audience looked on with warm expressions in play as the two companions from different eras traded blows for what would be their first and last time.
From one point of view, the spar was just a rival match between two incredibly powerful warriors.
From another… it was a fond farewell between two friends.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Author's Note: Woot. I hope you guys liked this chapter.
Here, we see Videl begin her training under Gohan, starting off with the oh-so-famous Turtle School routine. It'll take her a while to get up to the same level the other human Z-fighters are at, but she has plenty of time to get this right.
About seven years to be exact.
Okay, so I won't be having the montage just yet. I've managed to fit one more arc into the series that I'm sure you're all going to enjoy. Right now we've started the training period.
During the seven year gap (which is now), we have the Junior Division Arc coming up next. I don't have to tell you what's involved with this arc. After this we have the Zeru Arc, which is close to the end of the seven year gap, then just before the 'Gohan Goes to Highschool' period we have the God of Storms Arc, where the Z-fighters encounter their first God opponent who's from the same realm as Beerus (you're going to like how they fight this one). After this we have Gohan's high school period, followed by the Saiyan Invasion Arc, Varax Arc, Dabura Arc, Kidnapper Arc, and then finally the Doomsday Arc.
(SPOILER ALERT, I should probably put this in here, but this is for you loyal readers out there… your favorite character dies.)
I won't tell you who exactly, but have fun trying to figure it out.
Ciao. Hope you're looking forward to the next chapter.
Oh, and if you all want to see a cover picture for my story, I commissioned AlphaDelta1001 to do a picture for me and provided a link to it in my profile. Let me know what you think.
I also have a one-shot spin-off of this story already posted in my profile Long Night, so if anyone wants some Gohan/Zangya divergence, enjoy. :)
