"You want me to do what?"

Gohan winced, visibly and while he did a good job not actively giving away what he was up to, Bulma was a mother. She could see that nervousness from a mile away and when Gohan tried the puppy dog eyes on her, she was certain there was only one explanation.

"Gohan...do you have a girl with you?"

It should not have been biologically possible for a face to turn so red and maybe Bulma should have felt bad but her giddiness easily overrode that emotion. Gohan was like her nephew and he had a GIRL?! Why hadn't ChiChi told her?

"Oh, Kami, you DO! You're trying to impress a girl!"

"Shh!" His command was sharp but lacked any potency. "Bulma, I promise, it's not what you think!"

Oh but she was all giggles now. "Gohan's branching out! He's getting a girlfriend!" She stopped amid her celebrating and eyed him critically. "Tell me—what exactly are you planning to DO if I get Vegeta out of that gravity room, eh?"

Gohan's look mirrored a sighted deer. "Uh...train? What else do you do in there?"

Now it was her turn to bleach to a blood red shade. "Ne-never mind! Right...you're Goku's kid." She shook her head but remarked, "I best hear ALL the juicy details later." But she turned on her heels and vanished down the hall.

Sliding to the ground with a great sigh, as if all the bones had been sucked from his body, Gohan sent his companion a look and she peered around the corner. "Hope you appreciate this, Videl."

She didn't seem bothered, if anything she looked amused. Gohan was pretty sure that he'd prefer she be annoyed. "I coulda just asked her myself, you know. I mean, I'm pretty sure Bulma Briefs is one of the few celebrities I haven't met."

Gohan snorted. "Naw. We never would have gotten anywhere if you asked. Your dad isn't very popular around here."

Oh, wrong thing to say. A fierce fire erupted in her eyes and he'd have been wrong if he said her twin pigtails didn't suddenly bounce up and down with the wave of her fury. "What? Why? My dad is the reason Cell is gone! They could at least be grateful for that! All those other fighters were using tricks! Did they..." she stopped, blinked at Gohan.

His eyes were hard. Cold. Angry. It wasn't a look she saw on him very often. But then, she supposed even he could get angry and she was asking him to teach her these supposed 'tricks.'

"Well, maybe not everything your father told you was true." Gohan's voice was heavy. "My father was at the Cell Games. My father DIED at the Cell Games. He didn't die to be called a fraud."

Ah. Now, his fire made sense. She was still learning so much about this strange boy. "Gohan, I didn't mean to say that your father was a fake. I mean...you obviously have been trained. I just meant...well, I guess it doesn't matter what I meant. But I didn't mean to insult anyone."

Gohan didn't answer her but a moment later, the door to gravity room opened and Bulma was dragging Vegeta out by his arm, babbling about something. She caught his eye for a brief moment and gave a nod. Then in a swift movement of red skirt, the human woman had rushed the Saiyan a Prince down the hall.

Gohan eyed Videl as he stood. "Well, you wanted a training challenge. So let me show you one."

OOO

"It's hot in here."

Gohan nodded and approached the control panel. "Side effect of all the machinery. That helps too though. Heat zaps strength. So if you can endure that, you're stronger than you think."

Videl stood firm, legs apart and arms folded. The pinnacle of her impatience that Gohan had learned to recognize. But he was in a different element here than at school or even outside. His father had pounded it into his head in the Time Chamber—it would be hard, it would be difficult and anything less than respect for it would end in disaster.

That's what he conveyed to Videl. "This can be dangerous, Videl. We have to do it slowly especially since you've never gravity trained before."

"I can handle anything you throw at me, Gohan." Her tone was certain. "Don't you use any kid gloves one me."

"I won't." That much he promised as he turned the machine to 5 times normal gravity. "But I'm not going to crush you either."

After a moment, Videl sank to her knees. She gave a low little gasp of surprise and stared at Gohan, "Is...this the gravity you talked about?"

"No." He answered honestly. "It's five times normal gravity. I use up to five hundred if you push me."

"...wha..?"

"Just focus on standing up." He interrupted her. "Take it one foot at a time, real slow. Do you know basic katas?"

Videl took a breath then another and yet another as she finally made her way back to her feet. When Gohan had said gravity training, her mind had automatically gone to the strength her father always showed off. Surely, that was equivalent, wasn't it?

It appeared not. Not by a long shot. Breathing was hard but she gave a nod in answer to Gohan's inquiry.

"Start with those. Gotta get you used to moving in here before we can really do anything."

It made sense. That was basic logic. You had to be able to walk before you could kick. And right now, she wasn't even sure if she could lift her foot off the ground to go forward.

But she would. Even if she had to pull it upward with her hands! She would! She had to! If Gohan could do this, she could too!

—

Gohan tried not to act like he was watching her but it was hard. His ears were fine tuned. He could hear the pressure that went into every single breath she drew. Oh, she put up a hard face but that kind of breathing was when you were strained. Struggling.

And her heart.

He could hear it. Pounding behind her ribs. Fast, harsh and desperate.

And why not? He'd just helped her throw it into a catastrophe. This wasn't like Dad or Krillin where they'd been eased into it over years or even himself—where the trials of battle had activated his Saiyan genes and training had refined them.

This wasn't like that at all.

"I know you wanna plow ahead, Videl. But you can't do that in here." He tries to stay as even key as he could. It was hard though. Sometimes, he damned his Saiyan hearing. Why was he so focused on her heartbeat?

He was never focused on Goten's or Piccolo's or when Father was alive, he never focused that much on theirs. Not ever.

But every thud that her heart made sounded like a cymbal crash to him. As if it was the only thing he could hear. "It'll hurt you if you do. Your body has to know how to handle this. It's like acclimation."

Thud. Thud. Thud. Hard. Fast. Unyielding. When she slammed a foot forward, it jumped, a microsecond of a jump. Faster. Trying to compensate.

"If you try too much or too fast, your body's shut down. It finds...ways."

But he was half Saiyan. Piccolo was Namekian. Dad had been full Saiyan. Shut down was different for them...for him...

A twisted ankle, a torn ligament, total exhaustion.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

But Videl. Her body was human. And not hardened, tempered human like Krillin or a Yamcha or Tien. Her body would give and break.

Like twigs or water against soil.

He'd seen what human bodies did under pressure though he loathed to remember it. It was not a sight that left your eyes easily. He didn't like to picture it. Skulls that crumbled like sand. Bones that snapped and gave way. Veins that collapsed and organs that failed.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

A gasp, a wheeze, a shuddering breath.

Sweat drenched Videl's clothing and all she was doing was standing up, struggling to walk. Her eyes were already watering and one of those vessels had already popped.

No. No more of this. The sound...

Gohan turned the panel off. It made that lovely whirling sound when you brought it down as quickly as was safe. It was harsh on the system but Gohan didn't want to wait. The way she was breathing and her heartbeat...

Videl hit the ground hard, her muscles nearly screaming in relief as the tons of extra pressure gradually faded away. After a moment, her breathing came easier and she found the gumption to glare at the teenage boy offering her his hand. Slapping it away, she stood though trembled and shook as she did so.

"What the hell, Gohan?!"

"Not ready." He said simply. "Your body's not ready."

"Not read—I've been training under my dad since I was a kid!"

"It's not enough." Gohan hardened his voice. "Be mad at me all you want but I'm not gonna wait for your heart to explode!"

She stared, backed up, one hand over her chest. "I'm in better shape than that."

"I could hear it. Your body isn't ready. We need to build it up first. I should have done that in the first place."

Videl's hands clenched. "What is THAT supposed to mean?"

"It means your body will crack like an egg if we keep this up! It means that I can't stand to hear your heart trying not to implode! It means I CARE what happens to you!"

The room went deathly quiet and the two just stared at one another—Videl pale and slack jawed and Gohan red faced and trembling.

"Let-let's go." Gohan strode past her, a beeline for the door. "If you want to build yourself up for this, fine but you're not ready for this yet."

Videl, after a moment, rather touched by the emotion in his voice, followed. "So...can you help me get to that point, Gohan?"

He took a heavy breath and looked at her. Hair forced loose, face still patchy with exertion but so full of passion, spunk and fire. He...he didn't want to see anything happen to her but that flame, that burning desire in her eyes...it did something for him. Something he'd never felt before and he honestly couldn't even describe what it was.

But the prospect of her growing stronger, wiser and truly realizing the kind of fighter she could become made him all kinds of giddy.

"In small steps, Videl. Small steps."

She reached over, grasped his hand and said, "So I can expect my first lesson at your place tomorrow, then?"

"...yes, Ma'am."