Aftermath


Chapter 3


Teach like a Child





The Satan mansion boasted many things. Hundreds of rooms, a spacious wine cellar, even an in house theater ostensibly for 'training purposes' (Hercule did watch a lot of fights in there, at least). The piece de resistance of all this, though, was the Gym. While there were several Hercule Satan gymnasiums throughout the city, heck the world, this was the Hercule Satan gymnasium. Only those handpicked by Hercule himself had the privilege of training in this hallowed hall . . .


Well, everyone except the current sole occupant of the gym. Her privilege was by right of birth. Videl Satan was training, though without much luck. One of the drawbacks to her training for the Budokai with Gohan was that most of the conventional training tools she had there were simply inadequate for her level of strength. Sandbags burst after only a few hits, weights were simply not heavy enough anymore and none of the bench presses offered enough resistance. The evidence of all this was strewn throughout the gym, as if some natural disaster had befallen the haven for Hercule's chosen elite.


Right now, she was meditating, her mind turned inward, trying to become better acquainted with her own personal energy. 'Ki' as she'd heard it called by Gohan and the others, was a concept still relatively new to her. As best she understood it, it amplified her already considerable strength by drawing on her own spiritual energy, making her freakishly powerful, at least compared to any average human being. Six months ago, she would have been happy with that. Of course, six months ago, she believed that her father was the strongest man in the world.


Things changed.


Now, she found herself a small fish in a big pond. Well, maybe more like an ocean. The people she had come to know in the past few months outclassed her in strength by way more than she ever thought possible. She'd never become comfortable with that. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that superpowerful aliens had been among them for decades and no one really knew. She was still trying to fully accept that her father had pulled one of the biggest con jobs in history in claiming to defeat Cell (true, she had always suspected, but still . . . ). That wasn't what irritated her the most, though.


There were people more powerful than she.


Not just aliens, or former demons, magical entities, or cyborgs. People. Homo Sapiens. Human beings. People no different from her or her father. People who could do what the Saiyans and Nameks could. Granted, so far, humans didn't rank among the elite of the Earth's special forces, but even the least of them outclassed her by a lot.


So she trained.


Now that the wish had finally been made to erase the events surrounding Buu and his resurrection, the city was virtually calm. Videl rarely had to be called upon to take care of anything by the police anymore. Saiyaman was there to take care of the major disasters and occasional falling aircraft (she still had trouble thinking of Gohan and Saiyaman as the same person, even though she'd found out several months ago). She'd taken the new luxury of free time to train herself. To prove to the world (or at least, herself), that a Satan could truly be the World's Strongest.


She'd made progress, and Gohan was helping to teach her some of the finer points of ki usage, like sensing and even energy blasts, but right now, she didn't want to impose too much upon him. With the passing of the memories of death, Gohan was finally able to relax and enjoy spending time with his father for the first time in many years. Videl could sympathize with that, suddenly wishing more than anything that her mother was there.


Some guys have all the luck. She thought, abandoning meditation for the time being and absently punching through another sandbag . . .


"Damn it, is it too much to ask for some durable equipment?" She raged, trying to vent her momentary anger. She turned to leave the gym, only to be surprised to bounce backwards . . .


Standing behind her (now in front of her) was the childlike being that had once eaten her like a candy bar. Exactly like a candy bar, actually. She corrected herself. She still was a little creeped out by the fact that Buu now lived under the same roof as her, but she'd grown fonder of the former menace. Without his darker tendencies to drive him to wreak destruction, he was actually an endearing (if sometimes childishly annoying) person.


Right now, Buu ignored Videl and looked around at all the smashed gym equipment. Taking it in, he looked down at the daughter of his benefactor and asked, in his usual baby voice "Why for you tear down Hercule's gym?"


"I wasn't trying to tear it down, Buu, I was trying to train. Unfortunately, the equipment is just too fragile now."


"What's fragile?" came the response from the corpulent ex-demon


Slumping, Videl said, "Weak, easy to break Like us humans." She wasn't in the mood right now and was beginning to depress herself.


"Oh," he was silent for a moment. Videl was about to start walking around him when he said, "You not fragile. Are you not human?"


Videl balked a bit at that one. Even though, the question was asked from ignorance, she couldn't help but feel a bit validated by it. "I am human, Buu," she said, chucking lightly. Sweeping her hand across the mess that was the gym, she said, "This equipment, though, it's fragile. It breaks easily. I was trying to train and get stronger."


"Oh!" Buu tittered for a minute, laughing in his own, innocent way. "Buu can help!"


"I don't know, Buu," Videl said, laughing a bit harder now. "You're not as strong as you were, but you'd probably still hurt me if we fought."


"No, Buu not fight. Videl fight Buu."


"What are you talking about?"


"You hit Buu. Buu not get hurt. Buu not fragile." Trying out his new word, Buu grinned, patting his stomach proudly.


"I'm not sure about this, Buu. Are you sure you don't mind? You won't get hurt?" Videl felt more than a little surreal about this.


"Sure. Watch Buu." Immediately, Buu took one of his hands and punched himself in the side of his stomach, his hand appearing on the other side, "See, Buu not hurt. Now you try."


"Ok, if you're sure about this." Videl crouched, gathering herself. She knew, on one level that, the former Majin meant every word he said, and moreover, he was right. She could go all out on him and he'd probably not even flinch. On the other hand, she wasn't sure how comfortable she would be about hitting him.


Well, he did ask for it, she rationalized weakly before powering up and hitting him with a powerful (for her) punch right in the stomach. It was strange, like punching rubber, or a Jell-O mold. Her fist sunk in, then bounced right off.


Buu, insufferably happy, clapped his hands. "Yeah, like that. Now hit Buu again."


"Buu, are you offering to by my new punching bag?" Videl asked, a bit dumbfounded.


"Sure. Buu help Videl get strong. Now hit Buu again."


Sighing, Videl got into an attack stance, "All right, Buu, I'll hit you again, but this time, I won't quit, OK?"


"Sure, hit Buu."


"Ok. Here I come!" She put everything into this attack. She attacked furiously, punching his gut, kicking his back, chopping here, ax handling that. She didn't let up, only stooping to catch her breath before going back after him. Every time was the same. She'd hit him. He'd laugh. Pretty soon, it got to be irritating to the point that she started to get mad, hitting him even harder.


"Good, good, getting stronger!" was all Buu would say, between fits of childish laughter. This went on for about an hour, with Videl stopping every now and again to catch her breath. Finally, she collapsed on the ground, too spent to move. She'd put her body and her ki fully into that exercise, and she was exhausted. After a few minutes, she felt better, but wobbly on her feet.


Nevertheless, she was ecstatic. She hadn't felt this worked out in days. Gohan would never let her do this, he was too concerned about her feelings to really show his strength around her (not to mention his total incapacity to hit a girl, despite her efforts to get him to spar), and she just didn't feel comfortable yet around anyone else to ask.


As grateful as she was, though, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Not once had Buu even tried to defend himself. Even knowing what he was capable of, that tweaked her conscience a bit. "Are you sure you're OK, Buu?" She asked, knowing the answer, but needing to know.


"Buu not hurt. Buu had fun! Can we do this again later?" You'd think I'd just fed him a chocolate sundae. He's so happy. She thought, beginning to feel a bit better for trying to knock his block off.


"I'm not so sure about that, Buu. I still don't feel right about using you like that, but, if you're sure, come down here tomorrow morning and we'll do this again," the daughter of the World Champion bowed her head to the former Majin, "Thank you, Buu. That was very nice of you. Let me shower and I'll buy you some chocolate, OK?"


"YAY!" Buu danced around as Videl slowly walked out of the gym toward the showers, her muscles already aching from the exercise.


Buu waited patiently, already happy, but even happier that candy was in his near future, dancing in his delight.