Chapter 7: The Training Begins
A/N: Okay everybody, sorry I couldn't update faster but I was on a camping trip so I didn't have any service. Thanks to all those who have reviewed my story so far, I really appreciate it.
Tensa-Zangetsu102: Yeah I realized that I accidentally put in his wrong "Teen Gohan" age from the dub. I'll change it to 9 once I can, but I already have his age of 16 correct for this time period.
GohanSsj4: Posting power levels would be a pretty good idea, so I'll do that. However, I don't want to give the whole story away by giving the Saiyans' maximum power level, so for those guys I'm just going to post the base power levels. Also, I know Gohan may have sensed her on the roof, but as of right now Videl's power level is still under 200, so he may have not noticed it. Either way, I needed him to not notice her for the purposes of my story. Finally, yes, Chi Chi is going to go a bit crazy, but that's Chi Chi for ya.
Lightningblade49: Yeah Vegeta would have sent her straight to HFIL, but then again Vegeta wouldn't be caught dead in a Saiyaman suit.
Ky111: Yeah Gohan is gonna be pretty tough on her, but as far as the verbal abuse goes, I'm not even sure how much she will dish out, since in my story she already knows that Gohan is far stronger than anybody she knows. Then again it is Videl, so I'll probably have her give him some.
DiscoStu09: The age gap thing is a pretty confusing topic, since it's different between the dub and the manga. Since I go by the manga I'm changing his age to 9 in the first chapter, but don't need to change it now since I already have the age of 16 correct. As for Goten's progress, I also thought that it would be a good idea for him to have more skills than is in canon, due to the fact that if Gohan was training seriously, Goten would surely be more powerful.
Anyways, in this chapter the training with Videl will start, and I apologize but I'm going to have to do a re-hash of her learning ki manipulation. Don't throw too many tomatoes my way! Also, at the request of GohanSsj4, I will be posting the power levels of the characters that appear in the chapters.
It was another sunny day on Mount Paozu, and Gohan was in the middle of his daily training with Goten, who was coming along quite nicely on his control over the Super Saiyan transformation. After Gohan left for Satan City on the previous day, he had told Goten to stay transformed for as long as he could, and despite the fact that Goten was already low on energy when this happened, he was able to stay transformed through the whole day. Seeing that Goten has what it takes to sustain the transformation, Gohan decided that it was time for him to gain full control over it, just like he had for the first two stages of the Super Saiyan transformation.
"How are you feeling so far, Goten?" Gohan asked his brother, who he had just finished a spar with.
Goten looked away from the birds he had been staring at for the past few seconds and turned his attention towards his brother before saying, "I feel great, Gohan! Why?"
Gohan just chuckled to himself as he looked at the golden haired youngster hovering before him. Frankly, Gohan was simply stunned that Goten would still be full of energy after being transformed for a little over 24 hours, but it was easy to ride it off as a combination of serious potential and the natural endless energy every child seems to have.
"Okay then Goten," Gohan started, "in that case we're going to do another spar. So, really try and beat me this time okay!"
"But Gohan," Goten whined, "I want you to fight as a Super Saiyan too!"
Gohan just laughed at his brother. That could be a good incentive for him, he thought. "Well Goten, if you want me to fight as a Super Saiyan you're gonna have to beat me when I'm in my base form first, okay?"
Goten accepted the challenge without hesitation. "Deal!" he said before taking off like a rocket towards Gohan.
A/N: Current power levels: Gohan (Base Half Power) 375,000,000, Goten (SSJ) 375,000,000
Gohan reacted quickly to Goten's charge and took a defensive stance. Once the boy neared the older Saiyan's position, he lashed out with his right arm, trying to land a hard blow to Gohan's midsection. Gohan saw this attack coming, however, and just brushed it aside with his left arm, sidestepping away as he did so. Goten followed up his failed attack by stopping his momentum on a dime and spinning to face Gohan, and then unleashing a series of punches aimed for Gohan's head. Well at least he doesn't seem to care about hurting me this fight, Gohan thought, happy to see that his brother was not going to hold back against him.
To Goten's dismay, however, Gohan was able to dodge every single one of his hits simply by moving his head out of the way. Seeing that punching alone was not going to get the job done, Goten lashed with a kick aimed for Gohan's side, and it connected. Although it wasn't very painful for Gohan by itself, it caused him to lose some of his concentration, and Goten took this opportunity to land three punches to his brother's chest, followed up by another, harder kick to the opposite side, sending Gohan flying down towards the ground.
Hoping that he'd be able to end this fight quickly, Goten followed his brother towards the ground at high speeds, and prepared to spike him once he landed on the ground. To his dismay, however, Gohan recovered from the fall extremely quickly, landing on his feet and using his falling momentum as a springboard to launch himself back up at an unsuspecting Goten. His punch connected with Goten's chest, sending him flying parallel with the ground. After Goten landed and skidded to a stop, Gohan said, "It's my turn now!" and rushed towards his brother.
Gohan attacked with a series of kicks, since his large legs would be harder for Goten to avoid. Despite this fact, Goten was able to dodge all of his brother's attempts, before Gohan lashed out with another kick aimed at Goten's midsection. This time around, instead of dodging the hit Goten grabbed his brother's leg, and with a yell swung his brother around a few times before throwing him forcefully down to the ground.
Goten's even stronger than he was just twenty minutes ago, Gohan thought, if I continue to fight him at this strength, I might not be able to win. I'd better start taking him more seriously.
Goten once again charged after his falling brother, and Gohan, seeing his mistake by trying the same attack twice, stopped his momentum in midair and stuck his arm straight out to the side. Goten, unable to stop his own momentum, crashed into Gohan's arm and started plummeting towards the ground, spinning uncontrollably in the air.
Gohan decided to take this opportunity to power up. "Haaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" he shouted, clenching his fists at his sides and allowing his ki to charge up as high as it could without him transforming.
A/N: Gohan (Base Full Power) 750,000,000
He had just finished powering up when he noticed a recovered Goten charging back up at him. Had he not powered up, Gohan would have been helpless to dodge his brother's attack, however with his increased power output also came a large boost in speed, so Gohan was able to effortlessly move out of the way, leaving an afterimage as he did so. Goten struck the afterimage, assuming it to be Gohan. When his punch hit thin air, however, Goten instantly tried to alert himself to his brother's location. However, the boy was far too slow in doing so, and was rewarded with a devastating hit over the head, sending Goten flying headfirst towards the ground.
Oops, Gohan thought, I may have powered up a little too much there. Goten crashed down into the ground with a hard thud, and lay there unmoving.
1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10
After confirming his knockout victory, Gohan powered down and hovered towards the ground, where he gave his unconscious brother a senzu bean from the pouch he had tied to his belt. After eating the bean, Goten's eyes instantly shot open and he jumped up from the ground, his injuries fully healed.
"Wow Gohan!" Goten exclaimed, "That was one heck of a hit you gave me! I didn't even know that you could be that strong without transforming!"
Gohan chuckled and patted his brother on the head. "Believe it or not, neither did I. It's been a while since I've had to use my full power in this form, so I didn't really know how strong I was," Gohan said, before continuing with a compliment to his brother, "You did really well too, Goten. I could tell that you were much stronger this time around than you were from just our last fight. I was actually afraid I might lose for a little bit!"
Goten gave his brother a big grin and flexed his muscles jokingly before he turned his attention to something in the air.
"Hey Gohan, what's that?" he asked pointing to the yellow vehicle he saw flying towards their house.
Gohan looked to where Goten was pointing, and he was surprised by what he saw. Oh shoot! he thought, I'm supposed to start training Videl today! Gohan turned to his brother and said, "I have a…friend coming over to train with me."
Goten's eyes lit up, he loved having a partner to train with. "That's awesome Gohan! Can I train with you guys too?" he asked excitedly.
Gohan just shook his head at his brother and said, "Sorry squirt, but I don't think you can. Videl's pretty strong; for a human anyway, but I don't think that you're going to be able to get any stronger with the type of training I'm going to have her do. It won't be easy for her, but for you it would be a walk in the park. So how about you take a break from training for a while and get something to eat, okay?"
Goten didn't need to be told twice. If there was one thing that could get a Saiyan distracted from training, it was food. "Oh, boy! Food!" he shouted with excitement, before rushing off to his home, dashing through the door mere seconds before the yellow jetcopter touched down outside.
Videl landed her jetcopter outside of the dome-shaped house, and to her surprise there was nobody in sight. Don't tell me Gohan already forgot about our deal, she thought. She decided with a sigh that the easiest way to find him would be to just knock on the door to the house, so she opened the door to her jetcopter and jumped out before replacing the aircraft back in its capsule. Little did she know that this would be one of the last times she would be using the vehicle, though whether it would be by choice or not was still to be determined.
After putting her capsule back in her case, Videl walked up to the door and rang the doorbell, expecting Gohan to answer it within a few seconds. However, to her surprise a woman with long black hair was the one to answer the door.
"What are you here for?" Chi Chi asked, looking over the teenage girl before her with a look of skepticism.
"Hello to you too," Videl said, not taking Chi Chi's manners (or lack thereof) well. "I'm looking for Gohan"
This was not the answer that Chi Chi had wanted to hear, so she rose her hand up and pointed at the girl outside the doorway, ready to give Videl a stern talking to.
"What could my Gohan possibly want to do with a girl like you?" Chi Chi asked, half-shouting.
Videl took this comment as the offensive remark that it was, and was not in the mood to just stand by and take it. "What do you mean a girl like me? Is there something wrong with me all of a sudden?"
What should have been casual talk at the door had now escalated in a full scale shouting match, and both women were going to give the other one a hard time winning this one.
"WHAT I MEAN IS THAT MY GOHAN IS FAR TOO BUSY TO BE HANGING OUT WITH TRAMPS LIKE YOU!" Chi Chi shouted, her anger swelling up continuously.
"TRAMP?" Videl shouted back at her with equal fury. "I'VE NEVER EVEN MET YOU BEFORE IN MY LIFE! HOW COULD YOU BE CALLING SOMEBODY YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW A TRAMP?"
The intensity of the argument was climbing up to a nuclear level, and smoke could actually be seen coming from the heads of the two steaming mad women.
"I KNOW HOW YOUR KIND OPERATES," Chi Chi shouted back, "I DON'T NEED TO KNOW YOU TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE A TRAMP!"
Videl was at the breaking point. If something didn't stop her fast, she was going to attack the woman in front of her. "FOR YOUR INFORMATION, LADY, I WAS INVITED HERE, SO OBVIOUSLY YOUR PRECIOUS GOHAN HAS TIME FOR ME! NOW TELL ME WHERE HE IS BEFORE I MA—"
"Whoa Whoa there!" a running Gohan said, just arriving on scene. "Mom, this is my friend, Videl, and she really was invited here."
Videl was about to ask her how Gohan heard her say that she was invited, but Gohan answered the question before she could even ask it. "Everyone in the next city could hear you two, it wasn't very difficult for me to be able to."
Chi Chi still wanted to have nothing to do with Videl, however, and turned her back to the pair with a "hmph!"
Gohan still needed to rectify the situation to an acceptable level, and after moving Videl so that he was now standing between the two women, Gohan said "Mom, I'm going to be training Videl for a few months, so you two are going to have to be able to get along."
Chi Chi still seemed unconvinced, so Gohan turned to Videl and said, "Videl, could you apologize to my mom?"
Videl wasn't happy with this request, so she said back to Gohan "But why? She's the one who—"
"Just…do it," Gohan said, holding his palm over his face. This is going to be a long four months, he thought.
"*Sigh*…Fine," Videl said before stepping past Gohan so that she was once again directly in front of Chi Chi. "I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier, Mrs. Son. Are we okay?" she asked Chi Chi.
The older woman finally turned to face Videl once more, and said, "I accept your apology." However, she quickly followed this up with "But you better not try anything with my Gohan, do you hear me?"
"MOM!" Gohan interjected with a look of embarrassment on his face, "We're not doing anything like that!"
Gohan closed the door, cutting off anything else that could have transpired between Chi Chi and Videl in the process. After letting out a sigh of relief, Gohan turned to his soon-to-be student and said, "Follow me, Videl, I'll show you to where we'll be training" and then began walking off towards the place he and Goten were just minutes ago.
As she strode alongside the tall boy, Videl felt the need to ask a question that had been bugging her since she arrived. "Is that really your mother, Gohan?"
A small smile formed on Gohan's face before he answered. "Yeah, her name's Chi Chi. I know she seems like a really mean person, but she's not too bad when you get to know her. She's just really moody…and a little bit overprotective."
"Ha, I got that much," Videl said back to him with a laugh. "So where are we going to be training?"
"Well, there's this great spot where my brother and I train by a river. It's in a wide open area, so even our stronger attacks don't do very much damage to the forest," Gohan responded, although as often happens in conversation, this answer led to another question from Videl.
"You have a brother? What's his name?" she asked slightly puzzled. From what she could remember, there was nobody else aside from Goku who bore any similarities to Gohan in the video.
Gohan figured that if he was going to be training Videl that he might as well start treating her like a friend, so he answered her question. "His name is Goten, and he's six years old."
"Wow," Videl said, "he's a little guy. Does he go to school or anything like that?"
"Nah, he trains with me every day," Gohan said, thinking this to be a harmless statement. However, he had neglected to remember that to a normal human, a six year old training in martial arts would seem a little odd.
"What? How could somebody that young be training every day?" Videl asked incredulously.
Gohan shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, silently reprimanding himself for his mistake. "Well…I uh, guess it runs in the blood! Ha…" Gohan said, attempting to ride the error off with a lame excuse.
Runs in the blood? There must be more to it than that, Videl thought. She could see that they were nearing the place that Gohan had mentioned earlier, so she began to stretch her arms and wrists out as she was walking. Eventually, Gohan stopped and turned to face her.
"Okay, Videl, here we are! But before we start, I have a question for you," he said, and Videl raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what he could have to ask.
Figuring that she had questioned him plenty in the past few weeks, Videl decided that it would be okay to answer a few from him. "Okay, shoot," she said.
"Well, why did you want to train with me anyways? I mean, if your dad is Mr. Satan why didn't you want to train with him?" he asked, trying to hold his composure while implying Mr. Satan was strong.
Videl, however, was not very amused. "You don't need to be so patronizing. To be honest, the way I was able to find out your identity in the first place was from the footage of the Cell Games, and the first thing I saw in that broadcast was my dad being flung aside like a rag doll. I know he's nothing compared to you, so why limit myself?" she said, and Gohan took this answer wholeheartedly.
"Well, that sounds good to me!" The Saiyan said in reply.
Videl continued her stretching, now moving on to her legs, although her mind was elsewhere. After remembering how that spiky-haired guy in the video changed his hair color, and remembering that in the footage Gohan's hair was the same way, she wanted to know how he did it. So after she finished up stretching her left leg, she asked Gohan, "Gohan, when I watched the footage, your hair and eyes were the wrong color, and I saw one other guy change them to the same color too. How did you do that?"
Gohan decided that he would answer this question with a proposition rather than an answer, since he didn't want to give anything about the Super Saiyan transformation away so easily. "How about this," he started, "I'm going to have you try and attack me as a warm up, so I can asses your current skills, but why not make a little wager out of it?"
Videl was interested by this. "What kind of wager do you have in mind?" she asked.
After seeing that she had taken the bait, Gohan said, "If you can hit me three times in five minutes, I'll tell you how I changed my hair and eye color. However, if you can't hit me three times, then you have to wear fighting clothes of my choosing. Do we have a deal?"
Videl couldn't believe the offer that he was giving her. Three times? That'll be a cinch! she thought, already assuming her victory. "You're on, Gohan!"
Gohan nodded to her, and then after backing away ten paces took a fighting stance. "Okay then Videl. Ready…Go!"
A/N: Power level, Videl: 185
Videl wasted no time in rushing at Gohan. She came in with fists of fury, all of her potential blows aimed straight at Gohan's head. Videl was moving her hands as fast as she could with her blows, but try as she might, after twenty consecutive seconds of punching she had failed to come even close to landing a single blow on Gohan, who was moving effortlessly out of the way of all of Videl's attacks.
"Videl," Gohan said while still dodging punches, "remember that all you need to do is hit me three times. If you aim for my head it will be harder for you to hit than a larger area of my body." In his head, however, he was analyzing all of Videl's punches which she had now started to aim at his chest. Despite her lack of speed, she seems to be making only the necessary movements in her attacks, Gohan thought. So far it seems that efficiency is her strong suit, but let's see how she reads my movements.
Gohan then lifted up his right elbow slightly, and while it would be difficult for a passer-by to notice, it left a part of his midsection exposed. To the pleasure of Gohan, Videl noticed this right away, and instantly lashed out at Gohan's exposed side with a jab, which Gohan allowed to connect as a reward for correctly reading his movements.
One down, two to go, Videl thought, now trying her hand at kicks aimed low. Seeing that she was having even less success with these than her punches, Videl began to worry. It's already been three minutes, and I still need to hit him two more times. Maybe…Maybe I bit off more than I can chew on this one.
Videl refused to lose this bet, however, and pushed herself even further, speeding up her punches and kicks in the process. After another minute of Gohan dodging every single attack, however, Videl was beginning to become angry. She began to forget about the speed of her hits and instead just tried to hit Gohan with all of her strength. This did not go unnoticed by Gohan, who took a mental note of this weakness. She's getting angry at me, and now she's losing speed on her hits and is winding them up way too much.
After Gohan's mental timer reached five minutes, he stopped dodging Videl's attacks and instead grabbed both of her wrists lightly, before smirking at her and saying, "Time's up!"
Videl couldn't believe that she had failed such a simple task, and said with frustration, "Darn it! How could I fail at something so easy?"
Gohan wasn't going to let his student get too down on herself, though, so he said, "Believe it or not Videl, you actually did very well. Would you like my full grading report?"
Although Videl wasn't sure how she could have possibly done well without landing more than a single hit, she still complied. "Sure, how do you think I did?"
Gohan shook his head, maybe we should work on confidence a little bit too. It seems odd, though, she's usually quite cocky. Maybe she just doesn't know how to deal with failure. Gohan stopped his inner monologue, remembering that Videl had asked him to give her his status report, so he said, "Well, first of all, your attacks were very efficient. I didn't see you making any unnecessary movements at the beginning, which is a very good thing. Secondly, when I loosened up my guard you were very quick to recognize the opening and exploited it without hesitation. Taking advantages of your opponents' lapses in concentration is another very important aspect of fighting, so it's a very good thing you are able to do this. As far as things you need to work on, the biggest problem for you is your speed, however with the outfit I'm going to give you, that will improve in no time at all! Secondly, once you started to get angry, you tried to attack with too much force, and in the process started sacrificing speed and made unnecessary movements."
Videl took in everything Gohan said. Although she liked what she was hearing for the most part, she was confused by one of the things he said. "How could an outfit help me improve my speed?" she asked.
Gohan smirked at her and said, "You'll see in a minute. How about we get you into those clothes first, though?" He walked over to Videl and lightly placed a hand on the top of her head.
What the heck is he doing? He's not taking these off on his own, is he? Videl thought in horror.
"Don't worry, Videl," Gohan said, noticing the girl's discomfort, "I'm not going to do anything funny here. I'm just going to use a little trick my old master used on me."
Although she still had no idea what he was talking about, Videl was put at ease by the fact that Gohan wasn't going to be doing anything inappropriate.
"Haah!" Gohan shouted, and Videl was instantly surrounded by a bright yellow light. She felt a tingling sensation as her black spandex pants and white T-shirt were replaced by something different. As the bright light dissipated, Videl looked down to examine her new attire. The uniform itself was similar in design to Gohan's Demon School gi, however the color scheme was different. The sleeveless V-neck shirt was apple-red in color, and because of Videl's gender Gohan had a short-sleeve black undershirt beneath it. Videl's pants were the same shade of red as the overshirt, and had a black piping down the outside of the legs. The shirt was tucked into the pants and held together by a black cloth belt tied in a knot on the side, and Videl's feet were covered by comfortable, yet sturdy black moccasins. Finally, on the left breast of the shirt was the kanji for "Son" in black lettering inside of a white circle with a black outlining. There was another, much larger logo on the back of Videl's uniform as well.
Pleased by the look of her new uniform, Videl turned around to face Gohan, with a huge smile plastered on her face.
"Thanks a lot, Gohan!" she exclaimed, "I really like how the uniform looks!"
Gohan smiled back at Videl fondly, and with excitement said, "Welcome to the Son School of Martial Arts! Do you feel any different?"
Videl looked at Gohan confusedly. "Not really, other than the fact that I have new clothes on now. Should I?" she asked Gohan.
Gohan was surprised. Wow, she can't even feel it yet, he thought, I may have to change her outfit faster than I thought. However, he also thought that she may just not feel it because she hadn't moved since Gohan changed out her uniform, so he said, "Okay Videl, it's time we begin the training. The first thing that we are going to work on is training your speed, so you and I are going to run to the mouth of the river about ten miles south, back to my house, which is about twelve miles from the end of the river in the opposite direction, and finally we are going to sprint the last two miles back to this spot. How's that sound?"
On the inside, Videl thought that he was being absolutely absurd. Although she had run long distances before, she had never done twenty-two miles of running and then another two miles of sprinting on top of that. However, she didn't want to show any weaknesses to Gohan, since she knew that she would be much stronger in the end. So instead of complaining like most people would do, she instead said fearlessly, "Sounds good. I'm ready whenever you are."
Gohan nodded to Videl. "Okay, you set the pace today, but after today that's going to be up to me. Ready…Go!"
Videl tried to take off at a fairly quick jogging pace, but soon found out that she was only running at about half the speed she normally would be at. She tried to figure out what was holding her back, and after a few seconds she realized what it was. It feels like my shirt weighs a hundred pounds! How didn't I notice this before?
Gohan glanced over at Videl and noticed her looking down and tugging at her shirt. With a smirk on his face, Gohan said, "So, you've finally noticed I gave you weighted clothing, I see."
Videl, still jogging, turned her head towards Gohan and said, "Yeah, it's really heavy."
Gohan nodded his head in reply; he knew that weighted clothing can take quite a while to get used to. "I know how you feel Videl," he said, "but trust me; this is going to improve your speed in no time at all. Plus, it can also help you with your power, since you're going to have to work harder to throw your punches."
Videl also nodded, trying to save her breath as much as possible. However, since they were going to be on this run for quite some time, she wanted to have a few more questions answered. He said that he knows how I feel right now, so he probably wears weighted clothing as well, Videl thought.
"Hey, Gohan" she said, unknowingly picking up her pace at the same time.
Gohan noticed that she was already getting used to the clothing, but quickly forgot about this fact to respond to her. "What is it, Videl?"
"You said that you know how I feel right now, so you obviously are wearing weighted clothing as well." She said, and Gohan replied to her with a nod, signaling her to continue. "Well, I was wondering…how much does your shirt weigh?"
Gohan thought about the last time he changed out the weights. It had been a while, so he made a mental note to do it again that night. However, he still answered Videl's question.
"As of right now, my shirt weighs two tons, although I also have weighted armbands and boots, each of which weighs one ton apiece."
Videl's jaw dropped to the ground. He has to be joking, she thought, there is absolutely no way anybody can take something that heavy.
Gohan laughed as he ran, quickening the pair's pace as he did so. "I know what you're thinking Videl, but I'm being dead serious. I'll show you after the run, okay?"
Videl nodded and said, "Okay Gohan, though I still think you're lying." The two had just hit the fifteen minute mark, and had just made the turn around at the mouth of the river. Gohan was surprised that Videl was able to sustain a speed of over forty miles an hour with weighted clothing, and at a jogging pace no less. Maybe, just maybe, she would prove herself to be quite the martial artist.
For the bulk of the run, the pair jogged together in silence, and both took notice of a glaring Chi Chi as they made the turn around the back of the Son residence. Once they were almost around the corner, Gohan decided that he was going to show off to Videl a bit. He turned his head towards her and with a smirk said, "Okay Videl, we're going to sprint the last two miles of the run. I'm going to demonstrate to you how I want you to look by the time we get to the tournament…just try not to keep me waiting too long, okay?"
Videl turned to Gohan confused, "What do you mean by tha—"
She discovered exactly what Gohan meant when she saw him vanish into thin air, leaving a wind trail in his wake. That show off! I'll show him! Videl thought, before pushing herself to her own limits.
Gohan sat on the ground once he had reached the clearing in the forest where he and Videl had started their run. It had only taken him a few seconds, so he decided that he would start a count to figure out how fast Videl runs in a full out sprint.
118…119…120
Videl stopped in front of Gohan, and threw her hands on her knees panting, exhausted from the run. Gohan was pleased with her speed, "Sixty miles per hour in a two-mile sprint," he said, "that's not bad for a first day, Videl!"
"Th…*huff*…Thanks, Gohan *huff*" Videl said, trying to catch her breath as much as she could.
"Don't tell me you're all worn out already, Videl! That run is going to get longer every day, today was an easy run!" Gohan said, trying to light a fire under Videl.
He succeeded, and despite the fact that she was almost ready to keel over and die, Videl stood up tall and said, "No way, Gohan. What's next?"
Wow, Gohan thought, she really wants to push herself doesn't she? Gohan thought that she had done a fine job with the run, so he had decided to reward her with a slightly less strenuous second workout. This would, however, be quite a workout for Videl's mind.
"Okay Videl, we'll move on now if you're ready. But first…" Gohan trailed off, before grabbing a small capsule from his gi, and opening it to reveal a bottle of water. "Drink this," he said, "you've earned it."
Videl was never as happy on Christmas as she was at that moment. "Thanks, Gohan!" she said, grabbing the thirty two ounce bottle and downing all of the water in a matter of seconds. Feeling quite refreshed, Videl was now truly ready to move on to the next aspect of her training.
"Okay, I'm all set now, Gohan. What are we going to do next?" she asked her master.
Gohan thought about this for a moment, as this topic was not the easiest for him to explain to a beginner. He scratched his chin for a while, deep in thought, and after a minute or so he had an idea of how to explain this new technique. "Have you ever heard of ki, Videl?" Gohan asked the black-haired girl.
The look on her face would have been answer enough to Gohan, as Videl raised one eyebrow after he asked the question, however as a courtesy she still answered. "Never. What is it?" she asked.
"Well," Gohan started, this was one of the difficult parts to explain. "Ki is like an energy that lies within people. Everybody has it inside of them, but there are only a handful of people who are able to actually find and control it. Once people gain access to their ki, then they can use it however they wish, whether it is to strengthen your guard, to fly, or to fire off powerful energy beams. Finally, the stronger a person is, the more ki that person's body will contain."
Videl took in all of this information. Powerful beams, she thought once she heard Gohan say the phrase. That must be what those people in the Cell Games footage were using then. After she had digested everything that Gohan had told her thus far, she was able to understand the basic idea.
"Okay, I think I get it. Basically, ki is a person's fighting energy that everybody has, but not something that everybody knows how to control?" Videl half stated, half asked.
Gohan nodded in reply and said, "Yeah, that's about it," and then continued with, "I already know that you aren't able to access your own ki yet, since I never saw you use it to fight criminals. So, in order for you to be able to progress in your training at a higher pace, I'm going to teach you how to access and use your ki."
Videl was excited by this development. Learning ki manipulation would bring her so much closer to achieving her goal of fighting like the people from the broadcast, so she was determined to learn this as fast as possible.
"That sounds awesome, Gohan. Let's start right now!" Videl said, her voiced laced with excitement.
Gohan chuckled a little bit in reply. "Not so fast, Videl. Remember how I told you I would show you how heavy my clothing was after our run?" he asked.
Videl was a bit worried; she knew where this was going. "Yeah I remember; what about it?"
Gohan smirked at her, ready to, once more, show off to this girl. I sure am doing that a lot today, he thought, before slipping one of his armbands off.
"Well," he started, "it's after the run now, so I'll show you this armband." Gohan proceeded to hold out his arm in front of him so his hand was between Videl and himself. Then, after he had made sure Videl was not going to reach out for the band Gohan dropped the armband to the ground, where it landed with an audible *thud* and buried itself two feet into the ground.
Videl was shocked, He couldn't have dropped that thing more than five feet, yet it buried itself two feet into the ground! That armband couldn't possibly be as heavy as he says it is…could it? she thought, looking towards the hole in the ground as Gohan reached down and picked up the armband out from inside of it.
"Sorry about that," Gohan said, "I didn't mean for it to fall that hard, but I think it demonstrates the weight of it really well." He then proceeded to place the article of 'clothing' down on the ground, and once again turned to face a dumbfounded Videl. "You can try and lift it if you still are doubtful, but I think you're going to find that it isn't easy to move."
Videl, although shocked at the display Gohan had just shown her, was not going to be one to back down from a challenge from anybody, so willing all of the strength in her body to come out, she reached down and grabbed hold of the armband, and tried with all of her might to lift the small piece of clothing. Try as she might, however, Videl failed to move it even an inch, and the more she tried to move it, the more she just made a fool of herself. A realization then set into her mind. He has another one of those on, two more boots that weigh the same amount, and a shirt that weighs twice as much.
"How on earth can you take that much weight without falling over?" Videl asked, growing slightly angry as she spoke.
Gohan patted her on the shoulder as a bit of a consolation and said "You have to remember Videl; I've been training since I was four years old, so I have had a huge head start on you. In time, you may be able to handle weights comparable to these, but that will come in training which, by the way, we should get back to."
Videl shook her head; she had actually forgotten that they were in the middle of a training session at this point. "Right," she said, "Ki manipulation. So how do I get control of my ki?
Gohan, happy to see that Videl was back to business as usual, began his explanation. "In order to access your ki for the first time, you need to look deep within the core of your body. It can be difficult to do for a rookie, so the best way to do this would be through some intense meditation."
Once he had seen Videl nod her head, he continued on. "Sit down on the ground, cross legged, and close your eyes." Videl did as she was told, so Gohan chugged along some more. "Now, take very deep breaths. Let as much air into your lungs as you can, and then let it flow out of you, with the end of each breath leading into the beginning of the next one. Try to stay completely still as you do this, so you will be able to concentrate on what you feel occurring inside of your body, rather than what is happening outside of it."
Videl relaxed as much as possible and did as she was told. Eventually, she was able to gain complete control over her body, and was in almost a sleep-like state. Seeing that she was making fair progress, Gohan decided that she was ready to try and locate her ki.
"Okay, good so far Videl," Gohan began. "Now that you are totally relaxed, try and focus your mind on the center of your body. When you do this, eventually you should start to feel something pulling towards your center."
Once again, the young Satan followed the instructions of her master, and after a few minutes she was able to feel the pull that he had mentioned. Trying to decide if this was indeed what she was looking for, she examined herself further. Through this self-examination, Videl was able to determine that what she was feeling was something akin to an aura, which was yellow in color. Making the connection to the video, Videl was able to determine that this was indeed her ki.
Gohan was able to tell from Videl's slight facial expressions that she had found her ki. "Good job Videl, you have found your ki; you're halfway there. Now what you need to do is let it flow out of your body. To do this, open your hands, and hold them close together, however making sure that they do not touch." Videl did as she was told; still keeping her eyes closed and body relaxed, as to not break out of her meditation. Afterwards, Gohan continued, "Good. Next, locate your ki once again, but this time around use your mind to try and direct where it flows. Try and move it to the tips of your fingers, and then allow it to flow out of your body."
Videl once again located the yellow-colored aura within her body, and tried forcing it out as much as she could. However, all she was succeeding in doing was shaking her hands. Gohan, noticing the tension she was experiencing, interrupted.
"You're being too tense. You won't be able to get the ki to flow out of you by physically forcing it out of you. This is a mental exercise, so instead try to tell the energy where to go with your mind, not your body. If you concentrate and keep your body as relaxed as possible, you should be able to do this in no time."
Videl took a deeper breath than usual, and relaxed her hands in order to start over. After a few short seconds, Videl was once again able to locate her ki much quicker than before. She tried for the second time to push the aura out of her body, but this time rather than try and move it with her arms she told herself internally where to move it. Out, she thought in one word sentences, Arms. Hands. Fingers.
Videl could feel the energy flowing through her body and up through her arms in tune with her internal commands. Eventually, she was able to feel the energy leaving her body, and a small and shining yellow sphere began to form in over her hands. Videl opened her eyes to examine her handiwork, and was quite proud of what she saw. However, all of that meditation and mental strain had taken quite the toll on her, so after sustaining the sphere for a few seconds Videl's hands separated and she collapsed to the floor, stopped only by the strong hands of Gohan that she felt on her shoulders.
The boy lifted her up from her seated position and placed her feet gently on the ground. Keeping one arm on her shoulder, Gohan looked at Videl with pride and said, "That was really good, Videl. I can't believe that you were able to access your ki so quickly!"
Videl smiled back at Gohan and said, "Thanks a lot. I guess it helps to have a really great teacher."
Gohan laughed at this comment. "Great teacher? Don't sell yourself short. You've been a fighter for quite some time now, so it was easier for you to access your ki," he said.
Videl nodded at him before saying, "Thanks, Gohan."
The Saiyan was content with what Videl had accomplished for today, so he decided that their training was going to end a little earlier than he had expected. "I think that's enough for today, Videl" Gohan began. "I didn't expect you to gain control over your ki as quickly as you did, so I have nothing more planned for us today. However, do not think that this means your training will become any easier. In fact, now that you have access to your ki, we can begin your real training."
Videl's eyes widened a bit out of surprise, and her jaw dropped slightly. That wasn't even my real training? she thought, This guy really is insane! Gohan smirked a little, finding her inner turmoil slightly hilarious. Videl noticed that Gohan was getting a kick out of what she was doing, so she turned away from him and looked on at his house in the distance.
She shuffled her feet a little bit. That training had really taken its toll her and she was now extremely hungry, though she didn't want to impose on Gohan's family. After mulling it over for a few seconds, Videl came to the decision that he wasn't going to ask Gohan for food; however her body had other plans as her stomach growled loudly just as she came to this decision.
Videl blushed at this, but Gohan just laughed. "That training must have taken a lot out of you, huh?" Gohan asked, with Videl nodding her head shortly after, though she still was looking away from Gohan.
"Come on," he said, "I'll have my mom go make us dinner; you can meet my brother Goten too.
Videl was a little unsure about this. "Your mom?" she asked, "Are you sure she is going to be fine with making me dinner? With how things went with her earlier, she might just poison me."
Gohan once again laughed, as this was not exactly out of the range of an angry Chi Chi. However, he knew that his mother would not be mad any longer, so he said to Videl, "Are you kidding? With how my mom operates, she has probably already forgotten all about your little altercation earlier. Now let's go get some food, I'm starving!" With that, Gohan led the way back to his house, and Videl followed closely behind, blissfully unaware that she was about to get her first experience eating with a Saiyan.
A/N: That concludes our seventh chapter! I'd like to inform all of you that I'm still on vacation, but I was able to get online because somebody brought an unsecured wireless hotspot into the campsite, so you guys got this chapter a day early! I hope you all enjoyed the first day of training with Videl, and I must say I found it difficult to make her learning how to use her ki seem…different? However, it needed to be done, but it's over with now!
I'd also like to take a moment to explain my thought process regarding the speed that Videl was able to move at. Now then, in the manga at the time of Goku and Krillin's training with Master Roshi, Roshi had a power level of 139, and was able to run a hundred meters in 5.6 seconds. If you translate 5.6 seconds for 100 meters into mph, then it comes out to just over 40 mph. Given the fact that Videl has a power level 33% higher than Roshi at this point in the story, I felt that it would be reasonable for her to sustain this pace once she began to adjust to the weighted clothing.
Next chapter, there will be a three month time skip, and we will get a look into the final stages of Videl's training, as well as a look into how the other fighters are preparing for the tournament. Thanks for reading this chapter, and please take a minute to review it for me, I would really appreciate it. Until next time, everyone!
-HRR2b23
