Chapter 12

Videl

Videl woke up feeling more relaxed than she had in weeks; but was disappointed Gohan was already up. Videl stretched herself a little bit before taking a shower, wondering how she could spend her three-day vacation. Maybe I should have taken the whole week off like the Chief offered. What am I going to do? I can't just sit on my butt all the time. I nearly died back there… I need to get much, MUCH stronger before I'm done, she thought to herself. After finishing her shower, she took the time to really make herself look good, shaving, brushing up her hair after blow drying it, and took a good look at her body. Part of her was happy, and part of her was disappointed that her body had no scars from her fight with Shen's people. She heard the sound of glass moving on a platter as Gohan said just outside their bedroom door, "Careful Pan-chan, you don't have to be too fast, she's probably just gotten out of the shower." "Give me a few minutes!" Videl called out to them. "Okay!" Pan happily said.

Videl went to her closet and tried to decide what she wanted to wear. She took a look outside and saw that it was bright and sunny out, then she checked the weather forecast on her phone and saw that it was going to be that way all day. Videl nodded and decided today would be a good day to wear a sleeveless sky-blue sundress she hadn't had a chance to wear yet. She got dressed and opened her bedroom door to see Pan was happily holding a platter with blueberry pancakes, bacon, and some eggs sunny side up, while Gohan carried a fresh pot of coffee. "Morning Mom!" Pan happily said. "Is it my birthday?" Videl laughed as Pan and Gohan went in the room. "No, but you've been working so hard, I thought you deserved something, since you're on vacation," Pan happily said, "I even made the pancakes all by myself, mostly." "It's true," Gohan said as Videl laid back down on the bed and Pan handed her the breakfast platter, "I just had to tell her when to flip them."

Videl patted her daughter's hair and told her, "Good job." Gohan gave her a kiss before handing her a cup of coffee, then he said, "Nuts, forgot the syrup, I'll be back." Videl dug in to the eggs and bacon. "Well, can't say I don't like this treatment," Videl laughed. "We were so worried when we were at the Hospital, Grandpa Satan and Grandma Chi-chi were pacing the floor so much, and Daddy kept trying to get them to let Mr. Buu see you…I was scared too… I'm so happy you're alright Mom," Pan said, before hugging her. Videl hugged her back and gave her a kiss on top of her head, "You don't have to worry about me. It was my fault, I flew ahead of Krillin, he was trying to get me to be cautious and I didn't listen. I promise, I won't be that reckless again." Gohan arrived with the syrup and put it on her pancakes. While Videl ate, she listened to Pan and Gohan talk about what to do with Videl's three days vacation.

"I wanna go to the Carnival! We didn't get to go last year since I was sick," Pan pouted. "That does sound good, we could get some cash, go out, splurge on all the elephant ears and fried food we could stand," Gohan said, and Videl saw what they were doing. "Oh really? And if I just want to stay home and walk around the woods?" she asked. "It's your vacation," Gohan said, "We'll do whatever you want." Behind him, Pan was mouthing the words 'Carnival please', with the big pouty eyes only little girls can make. Videl admitted that the idea of having fun at the carnival sounded good, but she kept quiet as she finished her pancakes. She had a second cup of coffee before saying, "Alright, the carnival it is." "YAAAAYYYY!" Pan squealed, and started flying around the room, "Going to the Car-ni-val! Going to the Car-ni-val! Going to the Car-ni-val!" "Only if Pan-chan's room is clean in an hour," Videl said, making the girl stop, float back down, and run to her room.

"You sure know what makes her tick," Gohan told Videl. "Well, I wanted us to talk, without her hearing," Videl said, quietly, and motioned for Gohan to come closer. "What's wrong? Are you still hurt?" her concerned husband asked. "No, I'm fine, physically. But…Gohan, this training regimen isn't going fast enough. Those punks were all stronger than I thought they would be, I only beat half of them because I had more experience, and they weren't trying to fight me, they were only concerned about getting away. If they had all stood and fought me, we probably wouldn't be talking right now," Videl told him. "Videl…this is the best training I can give you! I mean, I can ask Dende if he has any weighted clothes you can wear like Dad does; and we can ask Vegeta if he's willing to let us borrow the Gravity Room but-" Videl cut him off, "That's too slow Gohan! Regular training methods, no matter how intense, will still take weeks to work. I don't know if we have time for that. You and I both know the one way for me to get stronger in less time." "No, no way! You're not ready!" Gohan immediately told her.

"Gohan, I can handle it," she told him. "No, you can't! Not at your current level!" he shot back. "Videl, the Hyperbolic Time Chamber is the closest thing to a literal Hell in a Handbasket there is! The gravity is at least 10 times that of Earth's; and it's an entirely separate dimension, if you wander too far from the living quarters, you'll never get out! The further away you go, the more dense the air becomes, until you practically suffocate, and close by the air density is only a quarter thickness of Earth's surface, the temperature can change in a heartbeat from negative forty degrees Celsius to over fifty degrees Celsius, all in a blank white void that you can't leave until either the year inside is up or someone outside opens the door to let you out. I just don't know if you can handle those sorts of extreme conditions," Gohan told her, actual fear in his eyes.

Videl took the time to think about what he had said, hearing it from him and seeing the worry he had for her if she went inside told her how dangerous it actually was. Before she met Gohan she would train outside in all conditions as well as in her Father's gym, she knew what it was like to train for hours in the hottest summer and coldest winter, but she had never trained at 50 degrees Celsius, let alone -40-degrees Celsius weather. Not to mention ten times Earth's gravity as well, doing nothing but training, resting, and eating in such conditions, the thought of it was already making her sweat. Then she thought back to the fight with Shen's students, and 'Master Flying Stork', aka Master Shen, she remembered how easily he treated her like a total amateur. She had no idea what awaited her, but she knew this: she wasn't strong enough to face tougher opponents.

Videl looked in Gohan's eyes and reached out to grab the back of his head, and he let her pull him close so their foreheads were touching. "Gohan, I couldn't ask for a better husband than you. I know that you don't want me to go because you care. But please, trust in me," Videl looked into his eyes, her own lit up with determination, "I'm asking you to have faith in me, believe that I will be strong enough to do this. This may make me selfish, but if it means I can face any threat that comes my way, then so be it." Gohan looked back at her, she could see the love he had, and the fear as well. After a minute, he swallowed and took a deep breath, "If anything happens, if I think it will kill you, I will get you out. Promise me, if anything goes wrong, you never ask me to do this again." "I promise," Videl said, and sealed it with a kiss, "For now, I want to spend the best day we can with our daughter, because tomorrow, I want to start." "Alright," Gohan agreed.

Fifteen minutes later they were waiting outside of Pan's room, Gohan wearing regular jeans and sneakers with a lang-sleeved black shirt and Videl put on some good sandals she hadn't worn in a while and a straw hat on her head. Pan emerged from her room wearing a short-sleeved red shirt with jeans and black sneakers and an orange bandana on her head. They checked her room and saw it was cleaned up, no toys out of place, Pan had even dusted and vacuumed too. Gohan checked and saw Pan hadn't just stuffed everything there, and he grinned, "Alright, let's go to the Carnival." The three of them got in their car and made a quick trip to Chi-chi and Goku's house. Gohan went to knock only for Goten to open the door. The brothers stopped before they ran into each other, "Whoa! Hey Gohan, what's up?" "I just wanted to know if you and Mom and Dad wanted to go to the Carnival," Gohan answered.

"Too late, we're already going, after I go pick up Marron," Goten said. "Oh?" Gohan said with a smirk, "Not a bad pick for a first date, or is this your second one?"

"This is their FIRST official date," Chi-chi happily said behind them. The two brothers got out of their parent's way. Chi-chi decided to wear her old long-sleeved purple and pink qipao; and was wearing her hair down in a long ponytail, while Goku was wearing some more casual jeans and long-sleeved red shirt with normal tennis shoes, "And we're going too." "Well, you want to ride in our car?" Gohan asked his family. "Nah, I can pick Marron up on my own. See you at the Fair," Goten quickly said, and flew off to the Krillin House. "We can take our own car," Chi-chi said, and pulled out the Capsule from her purse, making hers and Goku's car appear. Goku scratched his head, "Might need you to drive ahead of me so we can follow you to the Carnival." "Sure thing Dad," Gohan happily said, and got back in his car, waiting for his parents to follow. As soon as Goku and Chi-chi's car got started, Gohan got his car going. It was about a leisurely twenty-minute drive, flying would have been faster, but Videl liked the feeling of just having a completely normal family outing.

Once they were parked, as were Goku and Chi-chi, the whole family headed to the Carnival. Gohan paid for everyone to get in and paid extra for some special wrist-bands that let everyone ride the rides for free. "Alright then, where to first?" Goku wondered, looking at all the rides and game stands. "Hey, how about that baseball stand?" Pan suggested, it was that old 'knock the milk bottles down' game. None of the adults objected, and they headed over to the game. Chi-chi paid for her and Goku. To everyone's surprise, Chi-chi managed to knock them all down with one toss and got a little teddy bear for Pan. When Goku stepped up he smiled and said, "Hey, I remember delivering milk bottles like this when I was training with Master Roshi." He chuckled at the memory and tossed that baseball at the bottles, making sure to hold back so he didn't destroy the stand. Goku chose an inflatable cowboy hat as his prize and decided to give it to Pan after knocking the bottles down.

Gohan was up next, and he easily knocked them all down as well, getting a big stuffed zebra for Pan, and Videl went after him. She took careful aim between the two bottom milk bottles, and with 100% accurate precision, tossed her baseball, knocking all three bottles down easily. She saw a little stuffed dolphin and let Pan have it. "I don't think I can hold all the prizes," Pan said. "Well, we'll pick some other games then. Do you want to try, Pan-chan?" Goku asked. "YES!" Pan said and handed the stuffed animals to Gohan. Videl made room for Pan as she picked up a baseball. "Remember, Sweetheart, don't throw it too hard, you just want to knock them down, not break them into powder," Videl coached her. "Okay," Pan said as she concentrated on the milk bottles. The little girl pulled her arm back, and let loose, her baseball easily knocking all three bottles down as well. Pan surveyed the prizes available and saw a large bag of cotton candy almost as tall as her. "I'll have the cotton candy!" she happily said, and the teller gave her her prize. "You're all pretty good at this," the teller commented. "It was mostly beginners luck," Videl coyly said as they headed off to another game stand.

For the next hour, the Son Family, minus Goten, went through the various games at the Carnival. Whack-a-Mole, Ring Toss, Gold Fish Catching, the Shooting Gallery, all went by with everyone winning, and without a hitch. Then they got to the Ring the Bell game. Pan decided that she wanted to go first, the overly excited little girl happily picked up the mallet and the teller told her, "Make sure you hit it as hard as you can." "WAIT!" Gohan and Videl tried to yell, but Pan had already swung the mallet down, sending the weight rocketing up to the Bell, destroying it on the way up, and the weight kept on going until it was just a twinkle in the sky. The Teller could only stare into the distance before Gohan brought his mind back down to Earth. "I'm so sorry about this… Well… We raised a healthy little girl you know…" the teller looked at Gohan, then at Pan, and finally Videl. "Hey, I recognize you, you're Mr. Satan's daughter, Videl! I saw you fighting those guys on the News," the game teller said as his assistant took out an 'Out of Order' sign. "No wonder she's so strong if Mr. Satan's her Grandpa!" "We're really sorry," Videl insisted. "Nah, I should have recognized you earlier. I told her to hit it as hard as she could," the teller happily said, then stretched out his hand, "Can I at least shake your hand, and we'll call it even?"

Videl gave the Ring the Bell Teller her hand and he shook it, saying, "Keep up the good work." "Thank you for understanding," Videl said, and the family quickly went on. They focused on games of luck from then on, sometimes winning, like Chi-chi did in Bingo or Gohan did in Plinko, but mostly lost the games, enjoying the challenge of testing their luck more than focusing on winning. By the time they were done with the games, everyone was feeling hungry. They went to a food stand where Gohan and Chi-chi bought a few dozen hot dogs, corn dogs, chicken wings, and sodas, and Videl made a beeline for a stand selling okonomi-yaki. Videl bought three of her favorite fried treat, it was a vacation after all, and she was going to have a whole year to work it off anyway. They all ate their fill, which took an hour to feed Goku, Pan, and Gohan, and decided to head for the rides next.

By sheer coincidence the ride they came across first was the Tunnel of Love, just as Goten and Marron were coming out of the tunnel. "GOTEN!" Chi-chi nearly screeched, seeing Marron on Goten's lap and passionately making out with him was a sight nobody expected to see. Marron and Goten looked at his family, and Videl couldn't tell whose face was more spectacular; Marron's dark cherry red face or Goten's blue face when he realized his whole family saw them. Gohan and Chi-chi were embarrassed, Videl was laughing her head off, Pan looked confused, as did Goku. "Grandpa; does this mean that Marron-nee-chan is my Aunt now?" Pan asked. "Not quite," Goku said, "Not until they have a wedding." Goten and Marron got off the ride, and Chi-chi started walking over to them.

"Whoa Mom, hold on!" Gohan quickly got between her and his younger brother, while Videl just watched as he tried to dissuade her from giving Goten a tongue lashing. Goten and Marron used the distraction to speedily get away, and by the time they were gone, Gohan managed to mollify her. "That's completely inappropriate, out in public like that and everything!" Chi-chi huffed as they continued. "Come on, Chi-chi, it's not all that bad," Videl said, "I mean, at least they were still dressed." "That's beside the point! That sort of thing shouldn't happen on a first date, if they move too fast…" Chi-chi's head started to go red. "Chi-chi, relax, Marron's a smart girl, nothing bad will happen," Goku told her. Chi-chi took a deep breath, "I know. Honestly, of all the girls out there, I'm happy it's her. I just don't want them to screw things up, that's all." "They won't mess up, I mean, you taught Goten right, and I'm sure Krillin and Eighteen taught Marron right, I'm sure they'll be fine," Goku assured her.

While they were talking, Gohan and Pan went ahead and played a few more games, then Pan started rubbing her legs together. "Mom, I gotta go to the bathroom," she said. "Alright, let's go look for one," Videl said, and took her hand as they looked for the bathrooms. After a five-minute walk they found it, and Pan rushed inside while Videl waited outside. While she waited she got a text from Gohan, 'Talked to Mom and Dad, they'll take care of Pan while we're in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.' Videl texted back, 'Great'. That lifted a weight off of Videl's shoulders. Pan came out of the Carnival's bathroom and they headed back to their family.

The rest of the day was uneventful; they all rode the rollercoasters, ferris wheels, Pan got to jump in a jump castle, rode the spinning teacups, bumper cars, carousel, drop tower, and Videl managed to convince Gohan to go on the Tunnel of Love with her, like when they were dating. As they went inside the Tunnel, Gohan held her close and she couldn't help but feel like the safest person in the world in his arms as he kissed her. They stayed at the Carnival until it got dark, and before they headed home they all enjoyed a few dozen shish-kebabs for dinner.

Videl and Gohan's car was packed with all the stuffed animals and plushies they won for Pan, but they managed to make it home. When they got home, Gohan handed a now sleeping Pan to Chi-chi while Videl packed up some clothes for her while they were gone. Pan woke up in Chi-chi's arms as Videl gave Goku Pan's clothes and the little girl asked, "What's going on?" "Pan, Mommy and Daddy are going to need to spend all day tomorrow training, so I can get stronger," Videl explained, "So, Grandma while we're training, Grandpa and Grandma will take care of you." "Can't I come too?" Pan asked. "Sorry Pan," Goku said as he ruffled her hair, "This is really intense grown-up training, you're too little for this." "But I wanna help Mom get stronger too," Pan complained. "You already do, Sweetie," Videl assured her before taking her from Chi-chi and giving her a kiss on the forehead, "Knowing that you believe in me gives me the strength to keep pushing myself. Do you believe me?"

Pan nodded, "I know you can do it!" Gohan and Pan gave their daughter one last hug and kiss before handing her over to Goku and Chi-chi. They went inside their own house and Videl packed up all the practical clothes she had, clothes she could use to train in for an entire year, and Gohan grabbed their toothbrushes and other toiletries. After they got packed up, Gohan changed into his orange and blue gi while Videl changed into her white and black one, and together they left their house, flying straight for the Lookout.

"Are you sure you're ready for this, Videl? For Pan it will only be a day, but for us, it will be an entire year away from her," Gohan asked as they flew. "We're already this far," Videl answered him, "And I wasn't lying earlier, knowing that Pan believes in me helps me move forward. I don't care how intense it is in there, I'm not going to give up!" Gohan's face became serious then, "Alright. I'll give you the most intense year of your life then. I hope you're ready for a year of Hell." "Bring it on!" Videl said as the Lookout came into sight. Dende and Mr. Popo were waiting for them. "Everything is ready for you," Mr. Popo said. Dende looked worried though, "Videl, it'll get rough in there. Even Goku couldn't handle it the first time he tried. Granted, you're stronger than he was back then, but… Just remember to be careful." "I will be," Videl assured him, "And thanks for this." "Good luck," Dende wished as the Hyperbolic Time Chamber opened up and Videl and Gohan went inside.

Author's Note: I'm sorry this took so long to put up. I'm getting ready to move so I don't know when I'll have time to write. Thank you to everyone who's still reading this, your support is more important than you know to me.