My Life's Stranger Than Yours
Videl's Dilemma; Learning the Hard Way
The next day came in a flash and as soon as the final bell at Orange Star rang, Videl was out the door and into the skies in no time. Per her request, Gohan decided to opt out although he was still curious of Cologne's technique, he wanted to respect Videl's wishes and give her the space she desired, so while she went to her training session at the Cat Café, he got back to work in defending the city.
Before long, Videl descended at the Cat Café where she was quickly lunged at by Mousse. "Oh Shampoo, you've finally returned!"
Videl simply sidestepped the Male Amazon and dealt a chop to the back of his head. "Put your glasses on," she deadpanned. After complying with her request, Mousse let out a gasp. "Gah! You're back!"
"Yeah, because I'm training with Cologne, remember?"
"My apologies. I've no ill will towards you, but if you're here, can I assume that friend of yours isn't too far behind either?" asked Mousse.
"Nope. I asked Gohan to stay behind this time, so unless HE'S SPYING ON ME AGAIN…" Videl shouted and waited for a reaction. After a brief pause, she continued, "…then he probably won't show up today."
"Tch! Curses…it seems my retribution will have to be postponed longer than I'd have liked," Mousse muttered.
"Uhhhmmm…you know I can hear you right?" Videl stated.
Mousse cleared his throat. "Regardless, the old lady's not here at the moment," Mousse revealed.
"What? Then, where is she?" Videl inquired.
"I'm not 100% sure, but she asked me to give you this." Reaching into his sleeve, Mousse pulled out a scrap of paper and handed it to Videl who, after looking it over, narrowed her eyes in irritation.
"What am I supposed to do with this picture of Shampoo?" Videl asked.
"GYAGH!"
Mousse hastily snatched the photograph away from Videl and handed her a second scrap of paper. Shooting Mousse a displeased look, Videl simply stated, "You know I'm gonna tell her about that picture right?"
A red-faced Mousse simply shouted, "Just read the note dammit!", before scampering off in shame.
With a sigh, Videl opened the note and read aloud, "An opening?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Videl felt a light tap on her stomach before a sharp pain shot through her gut, blowing her back and bringing her to her knees.
Videl slowly picked herself off the ground and looked up to see Cologne perched on top of her staff.
"Glad you could make it. Did you enjoy your first lesson?" the elder smirked.
"You…call that a lesson?" Videl strained as she got to her feet.
"I guess 'demonstration', would be more accurate," Cologne snickered.
"You do know I've seen your demonstration before, right?" asked a disgruntled Videl.
"Must've slipped my mind," snickered Cologne. "Now for the fun part, follow me."
A short moment later, Cologne led Videl back to the vacant lot where a large number of cinderblocks were stacked together.
"Now before we begin, tell me this though girl, how would you describe the sensation you felt when I struck you?" asked Cologne.
"I…don't know. Painful?"
"Specifics girl, specifics!" Cologne demanded.
"It felt like…my stomach started tingling…and then someone nailed me in the gut with a soccer ball."
"A bit basic, but not inaccurate. Watch closely." Cologne hopped over to one of the cinderblocks before swiftly throwing a punch with her tiny fist. In the next instance the block was still intact, but there was a small knuckle sized indentation on it.
"Whoa…" marveled Videl.
"As I've previously explained, the key to this technique is holding onto your energy and releasing it at the exact moment your strike connects your opponent. As opposed to just utilizing your ki to amplify your attacks in the normal sense, this is a more precision based technique," recalled Cologne. "By expending your energy, you can land a pre-emptive strike that can bypass enemy defense."
Videl looked down at her hands while Cologne explained. "Now first things first, let's see how much your Ki has grown this past week."
Videl was caught fairly off guard by Cologne's request. With the exception of flight, Videl hadn't really used any form of energy that was actually visible before…except…. Thinking back to her early lessons with Gohan, Videl recalled the moment she was able to bring her ki out. She wasn't quite sure if that's what Cologne wanted to see but at this point, it was all she had.
Cupping her hands together in front of her face, Videl concentrated for a few seconds before a small ball of light appeared in between her palms. Without realizing it, the ball steadily became bigger and bigger until it was about the size of a bowling ball.
Cologne eyed Videl with an inquisitive look. 'Hmmm…it could be better, but she should have just enough fuel in the old tank to…' Before Cologne could finish her thought, Videl's energy ball soon grew until it was the size of a large beach ball, and Videl could be seen visibly straining to keep it in check.
'Oh! Perhaps I spoke too soon.' "Okay Videl, that's enough!" Cologne exclaimed.
The ball expanded another two or so inches before it finally bursting in a bright golden light. Panting, Videl fell to her knees, holding herself up on a pair of shaky arms.
"How…was that…?" Videl strained out.
"If I were to give you a letter grade…" Cologne hummed. "That'd probably be a B-."
"A B-?"
Cologne nodded. "Your improvement from when we first began is clearly evident, but there's still quite a gap for you to cross. Still, you did earn yourself a passing grade at the very least."
"Yaaaay…" Videl faux cheered throwing up a shaky fist.
"So, now that your base ki is at an adequate level, and you can release your power with relative ease, we can begin the tricky part: holding that power inside…"
Cologne took a glance over at Videl to see that while she was back on her feet, her arms were still shaking. She took that as a sign that Videl still needed a bit more time to recover. "…as soon as your energy replenishes."
[A brief moment later]
Cologne observed as Videl concentrated. For a while, she seemed to just be idly standing around with her eyes closed. Before long however, a small whirlwind of dust began to pick up around her, showing evidence of Videl's power being raised.
'So far so good…' Cologne mentally noted. 'Now focus that power where you want it to go.'
Once she felt that she was at full power, Videl slowly extended her arm in front of her. Making a fist and clenching hard, Videl let out a small grunt as, similar to what Gohan had shown her with flight, she was able to focus her energy into her arm.
Guessing that Videl was prepared to try her hand at the technique, Cologne quickly placed one of the cinderblocks before her and stepped aside to give her necessary space. After slowly rearing her hand back, Videl threw a punch at the stone block, and to her surprise, a large chunk of it crackled off before her fist even connected.
"Did…did I do that?" asked a stunned Videl.
"Believe it or not, yes." Cologne confirmed. "That's the good news. The bad news is, you failed to perform the technique."
"Then…what'd I do wrong? What happened?"
[A few seconds earlier]
When Videl threw her punch, the energy that had been focused in her arm was prematurely and unintentionally released, resulting in a small ki blast to shoot out of her fist and shatter the block.
[Back to the present]
"Basically, you released your power WAY too soon which resulted in it shooting out of your hand in the form of a ball," explained Cologne.
Videl remained silent at Cologne's explanation, a look of disbelief on her face. As Cologne continued to give Videl tips on what she should be doing, which fell on deaf ears, Videl merely raised her hand, focused her energy and lightly palmed the air. As Cologne said, a ball of ki flew out and struck the ground. Making a small, but notable sized hole.
A childlike grin etched its way onto Videl's face as she raised her opposite hand and repeated the motion again. Sure enough, another small ki blast shot out. Followed by another, and another, and another.
As Videl continued to fire off the 'Energy Pellets' her grin soon escalated into a giddy giggle, which in turn escalated into a frantic, excited laugh. All around the lot, Videl fired off the tiny, non-lethal shots until…
Ka-Thonk!
"Ow!"
Videl rubbed the sore spot on her head and turned to see Cologne with a displeased look on her face.
"Having fun are we?"
Videl took a quick look around the lot and her face became a light red once she saw that there were now tiny holes and cracks plastered all over the area. Thankfully, it didn't seem that she hit anything vital, but there would undoubtedly be several questions.
"Maybe just a little…" Videl sheepishly chuckled.
"Hmph," Cologne narrowed her eyes. "Normally, this would be the part where I'd chew you out for ignoring me and my instructions," Cologne began. "…But because you managed to impress me with your little 'Chi-Blast' display, I'll let it slide this one time."
Videl let out a relieved sigh. If Cologne's normal lessons were always so brutal, she'd hate to be on the receiving end of a major punishment.
"Yeah, sorry for zoning out like that," Videl apologized. "But after seeing Gohan, the others, and even Ranma of all people fire off shots like that…I just got a bit overjoyed that I could do it too now." 'Even though I know the force behind them is nothing compared to theirs.'
"Oh. So you've seen Son-In-Law's Tiger Blast in action, have you?" asked Cologne. "It's not every fight he uses that technique, so his opponent must've been quite a handful. If you may, who exactly was Ranma fighting when you saw him use that technique?" Cologne asked.
"Oh it was just a light sparring match with Gote…Ah!" Videl quickly bit her tongue as she recalled that Ranma's loss to Goten was supposed to remain a secret.
Seeing it only as a typical Freudian slip, Cologne let out a light chuckle as Videl took a quick sip of water. "So, Son-in-Law and that boyfriend of yours actually did have a match, didn't they?" Cologne guessed.
After recovering, Videl simply replied. "Actually…it was Gohan's dad. He put up a solid fight but got thrashed pretty hard in the end."
"I'm guessing that's what's gotten him so flustered these past few days?" Cologne sighed. "If there's one thing Akane's right about when it comes to that boy, it's his fragile ego. It's no surprise he's taken the loss rather poorly, but he shouldn't feel too bad if it was against someone as renowned in the martial arts world as Son-Goku." Cologne said.
"I guess," Videl added before taking another sip of water.
"Now if he had lost to his son however, then Ranma's ire would be more justified."
Videl suddenly coughed in surprise as the words left Cologne's mouth. To not arouse any suspicion, she quickly apologized and gave a quick, "Wrong…pipe…" which seemed to do the trick.
After a few more minutes rest, Videl was once again ready to attempt the technique again. However, she once again released her ki to early and wound up firing a small blast. Videl repeated the process over and over again until…
"Gaow…!"
Videl held her hand in pain as this time she hadn't released her ki at all and struck the cinderblock with her bare fist. She did manage to crack the block, but thanks to her unfamiliarity with striking something so solid it also took its toll on her. Still, hanging true to the old saying, Videl continued to attempt the technique.
[Many Hours Later]
The sky was bathed in a bright orange light as Videl could once again be seen on her knees panting whilst rubbing her right hand and wrist. Off to the side, Cologne could be seen sipping a cup of tea with a manga just to the side. All around the two women were shattered remains of cinderblocks from Videl's many, MANY failed attempts to perform the point of impact technique.
Over these past few hours, Videl had repeatedly shot off small chi blasts that would break the blocks before she ever connected with them, or flat out just punch them with varying degrees of success in breaking them. After the many attempts and scrapes, Videl finally did manage to contain her energy and completely shatter a block or two with a single strike. Unfortunately, she was still quite a ways off from her desired results.
"Dammit…why am I not getting this!?" Videl harshly muttered.
"I wouldn't be too distraught if I were you. Nailing the timing for this technique is admittedly rather tricky. If it's any consolation though, you have at least learned how to concentrate your energy where you want it to go."
"Yeah, I guess…" Videl sighed.
"I think it's best if we call it a day right here," suggested Cologne.
"…Alright."
"Now what's with that attitude? You've made considerable progress today…for a rookie."
"I know but…it's just so frustrating. It feels like I'm this close to getting this right," she motioned with her fingers, "But I just can't for some reason."
Cologne sighed. "I figured someone with your martial arts experience would know that not every technique can be learned in a single day, let alone one's first attempt."
"I know…but I thought this would be easier once I managed to get my energy to where it needs to be. After all, I did manage to float on my first day when I was learning how to fly," Videl countered rather smugly.
"As impressive as that is, a baby must learn to crawl before learning to walk," Colgone replied sardonically. "Even if it knows how to stand up on its own, the child is likely to tumble and fall before it can fully take its first steps. To put into perspective, you've already got the crawling and standing thing down, you now have to take the step without toppling over."
"How do I do that?" asked Videl.
"The old-fashioned way girl."
Cologne grabbed her things and pogoed onto a nearby fence. "I've shown you the basis of the technique, all you really need to do now is keep practicing the technique until you've got it down. If you wish for me to continue monitoring you, feel free to drop by again after school. Otherwise, you're free to do as you like. I'll be looking forward to your upcoming battle. Win or lose, we'll discuss compensation afterwards."
"Okay."
Cologne quickly leapt out of the lot and hurried back to the Cat Café. She knew she could trust Shampoo to keep things under control while she was gone, but given what time it was now, things were sure to be rather busy.
As soon as Cologne was out of sight, Videl remained still for a moment to think over her words. Of course, simply practicing would yield results sooner or later, but it couldn't be that simple…could it. Also, something about the way she'd said it had sounded eerily familiar. Sadly, Videl's thoughts would be interrupted by a low rumble filling the air. Videl looked down and sheepishly clutched her stomach. "It has been a while since I've eaten, hasn't it?" she thought aloud. Hovering out of the lot, Videl began to fly her way over to Ucchan's.
Unbeknownst to Videl however, a tall, white-cloaked figure with sharp eyes could be seen hovering above the lot where she and Cologne had been. "Hmph, well what do you know?"
[Some time later at Ucchan's]
"Thanks Ukyo." Videl said, as Ukyo handed her a large box.
"No problem, but when are you finally gonna bring that man of yours over?" Ukyo asked. "I'm dying to see how much he enjoys my okonomiyaki myself."
"Can't say for sure, but it may be soon. Until then, just keep up the good work…and also, stock up on supplies."
"Will do," Ukyo chuckled. "Catch ya later."
"Bye!"
Videl exited Ukyo's restaurant, food in hand. Already having had one, she decided to get some okonomiyaki to-go for her father, Buu, and maybe Gohan if they happened to meet again.
Taking to the sky, Videl's mind began to wander. She knew she was close to getting the technique down, she even knew what she was doing wrong, but what could she do to fix it? With a sigh, Videl decided not to think about it for now. She'd spent all day pretty much brutalizing her own hand with those cinderblocks, and she needed to unwind.
[Meanwhile]
At Mt. Paouzu, a familiar trio of a young boy, a young man, and an older man could be seen soaking in a wooden hot tub together.
"Hurry up you guys, dinner's almost ready!" Called Chi-Chi.
"Okay!" The father and sons said simultaneously.
As the three prepared to exit the water, Gohan, heard a familiar voice ring through his head.
"Gohan! It's me."
'Piccolo? Finally.'
"Hey, you guys go on ahead, I think I'll stay here a little while longer," said Gohan.
Goku and Goten both shrugged. "If you say so Son, but don't get angry if your brother and I eat most of the food," Goku taunted.
Grabbing their clothes and a pair of towels, the youngest son and patriarch entered the dome home. Once inside, Piccolo made his presence known and landed outside the tub.
"Hmph, enjoying your bath?" teased Piccolo.
"Never mind that now Piccolo. How's Videl?"
"Straight to the point huh? Well, if you're worried if she's going to get herself seriously injured or anything like that, you can rest easy. From what I saw today, she and the old lady she's training with are just going through the motions of teaching her the technique."
Gohan let out a relieved breath. Sure he experienced first hand the kind of training Videl was doing with Cologne, he still needed that extra reassurance.
"There's more good news. She's actually learned to harness her energy rather quickly. Though they're weak, she can now, at least form a solid blast," Piccolo continued.
"Wait, Videl can use energy blasts now!?" Gohan exclaimed.
Piccolo nodded. "Yeah, but like I said they're weak. If she used one in combat, it probably wouldn't be any better than throwing a small, but heavy stone."
"Still, it's great that she's progressing." Gohan's excitement quickly subsided. "Although…part of me wishes it was me that helped her get to that point."
"Isn't being possessive of your mate considered a bad thing by you earthlings?" Piccolo joked.
Gohan's face instantly became beet red. "I'm not being possessive!" he defended. "It's just…I was her first teacher when it came to energy control so…"
"With her finding a new teacher, you're feeling a bit left out?" Piccolo guessed.
Gohan nodded. "I know it's kind of my own fault, since I don't train that often anymore…but still."
"If that's you're only worry, then you may want to hear this."
Gohan then faced his former teacher with full investment. "The bad news is, Videl seemed to be struggling with performing the technique. Knowing that girl, she's most likely going to want to try and figure it out for herself, but she clearly needs some extra guidance."
Gohan put a hand to his chin. "So…you think I should try and be that guide?"
Piccolo nodded. "The way I see it, that Cologne woman has clearly done all she can for her at this point, and you said it yourself, you were her first teacher for these sorts of advanced martial arts, so who better to help her fine tune things?" he replied with a smirk.
A small smile grew its way onto Gohan's face. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks Piccolo…and sorry for getting you involved in this."
"Hmph. No worries. If anything, this just makes me curious to see where her training will go from here, so who knows, you might see more of me in the meantime." With a flick of his cape, Piccolo ascended into the air just as the sun finally began to disappear. Now that Gohan was alone, he decided to think over the situation again.
Piccolo may have had a point about him being the one to help Videl through her little slump, but would he even get the chance? Gohan was well familiar with how stubborn Videl independent she was/tried to be, so the odds of her straight up asking him for help at this point, especially after the Cat Café fiasco seemed pretty unlikely. Deciding to it over the night, for now, Gohan quickly left the tub, covered himself accordingly and made his way back inside. 'Hopefully Dad and Goten haven't taken all the best parts of dinner yet.'
[Satan City]
After finally making it back home, and enjoying the last bit of okonomiyaki with Buu, Videl stood under the tense-easing spray of hot water, thinking back to Cologne's earlier words to simply keep practicing.
"I've shown you the basis of the technique, all you really need to do now is keep practicing the technique until you've got it down."
"I've already shown you how to fly. All you really need now is a little bit of private practice."
The realization suddenly hit Videl like a punch to the head. Gohan had said something similar when he first taught her to fly.
'It always comes back to Gohan, doesn't it?' "That figures," Videl sighed.
Shortly, after leaving the shower, Videl lay back on her bed, still in her robe recalling the last few days.
"You have a habit of biting off more than you can chew."
The words rang in Videl's mind as she recalled the incidents Gohan mentioned following that statement, and though she hated to admit it, he was right. Her current situation shouldn't be too far out of her league, but given that she's (presumably) short on time, maybe a helping hand wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Now that I think about it, Gohan did offer to help me quite a few times already…maybe I ought to take him up on it.
[The next day]
Morning at Orange Star High. The bell had yet to ring, so after arriving early and discarding his costume, Gohan decided to hang on the roof of the school and enjoy a little EXTRA bite to eat, courtesy of a café he made a brief stop at.
As Gohan unwrapped his breakfast sandwich, a small humanoid shadow crept up beside him. "Good morning Gohan."
Turning aside, Gohan waved a quick greeting to an approaching VIdel. "Guhd…good morning Videl," Gohan said while swallowing.
"It's not often I find you at school this early. I guess the prospect of a second breakfast after leaving home was motivating enough for you to hurry," she teased, taking a seat next to him.
"I'm not…that motivated by food!" Gohan defended.
"Compared to your dad and brother you mean," Videl chuckled while Gohan meekly pouted.
"Joking aside, I'm glad I found you so quickly," said Videl, her tone becoming notably more serious.
"Hm?"
"You see Gohan…I think I need help…" Videl began.
"With…training?" Gohan guessed.
"How'd you know? You weren't spying on me again, were you?" Videl teased in a half joking manner.
"O-of course not. I actually heard it from Piccolo," Gohan slipped.
"Wait…Piccolo?"
Color seemed to drain from Gohan's face. He hadn't meant to tell her about Piccolo, but when she seemingly got suspicious again, he instinctively shifted the blame to him.
"Gohan…please don't tell me that you asked Piccolo to spy on me in your stead," Videl said in a more threatening tone.
"No way! I learned my lesson last time!" Gohan defended. "I did tell him about your training with Cologne though," he admitted. "I guess something about what he heard got him interested enough to check out your training himself, and he just passed it on to me."
Videl looked at Gohan as he explained and while she could see the shakiness on his features, she guessed it was from her imminent anger as opposed to being a lie as she could also sense the sincerity in his voice.
Her ire quickly dissipating, Videl let out a calming breath. "I see…well I don't know what he told you, but yeah, this technique…is a bit harder to pull off than I thought," she admitted. "Cologne says I should just keep practicing on my own, but I don't think it'll be enough."
"So basically, you're saying you need a training partner?" Gohan asked, his face lighting up.
Videl nodded. "I can find a partner anywhere, what I need…" Videl stood up and extended a hand towards Gohan. "…is a good teacher."
His face as bright as a spotlight, Gohan stood up and firmly (but carefully) took Videl's hand. "Well, you've got one!"
"Oh thank you Gohan!" Videl exclaimed throwing her arms around him. Their warm embrace was cut short at the sound of the bell ringing.
"Well, that killed the moment," deadpanned Videl. As Gohan chuckled, Videl quickly opened the door to the staircase. "We'll head to your place after school. How's that sound?"
"Pretty good to me," he replied.
"Great!" Planting a quick kiss on his cheek, Videl rushed down the stairs and called back, "See you in class!"
Gohan lightly rubbed his cheek as they both flashed red. Despite being together for at least a year, he just can't help but get flustered every time he feels the press of her lips him. Quickly shaking himself back to reality, Gohan rushed down the stairs to class.
(A/N: Long time no see. Sorry I missed uploading in June. If you follow me, you'll know that I finally posted my remaster of 'Gohan and Videl's First Date' (Titled, The Promise) and honestly, that took quite a bit out of me. It took a while for me to get my creative juices back for this story, coupled with a real-world issue here and there. Either way, I'm back and Videl's making progress. For reference on Videl's surprise ki blasting, think of the game 'Budokai Tenkaichi 3' where Videl's blasts in that game were short range and fairly low damage. I may be giving her a small upgrade, but I ain't about to make her a full powered Z-Fighter JUUUUUST yet…if I even do decide to go that route. Speaking of full powered Z-Fighters, Piccolo makes his first appearance…and I think this is the first Chapter where Akane DOESN'T make an appearance. Next time, training continues back at Goku's house and the battle draws ever closer)
