Chapter 15
Videl
Day One in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber
Videl fell to her knees almost as soon as she walked into the white void of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Gohan put their things away before walking over to her. Videl struggled to stand up, she had never felt so heavy in her life, not even when she was pregnant with Pan. "Come on, if you really want to get stronger, then this is how you'll do it. If you can't adapt to this, then you'll never reach your goal," Gohan said with a very Piccolo-like look in his eyes. Videl grit her teeth and stood up. "We're going to exercise twelve hours every day until your body adjusts. After your body adjusts, then we'll focus on sparring along with exercise, seven hours of exercises and then seven more of training. The extra time is for bathroom breaks, showers, and eating. When not doing any of those things, we'll be sleeping. Now, time for squat walks," Gohan said, immediately squatting down low. Videl followed suit, her legs screaming as she struggled to maintain proper form.
"Now let's go, around the Sanctuary," Gohan declared, and started squat walking as if it was nothing. Videl struggled, but she wasn't as strong as he, and soon GOhan was far ahead of her. "Keep up! If I can make it three times around before you manage one, then you'll be doing push-ups!" Gohan told Videl. Videl picked up her pace as well as she could, but ten times gravity was something she just wasn't used to. She couldn't possibly keep up with Gohan, but she pushed herself anyway. She knew that everything was for her benefit, this was what she wanted. If he dared show her any pity, if he let up or went easy on her, she would never forgive him. By the time she made it around the Sanctuary once, Gohan had managed to go around four whole times. "Get into position," Gohan told her.
Videl got into position to do push-ups, and Gohan stood beside her, dropping his foot on her back. Videl almost fell, but stayed up, struggling against him. "Come on, get started, I'm not even pushing," Gohan told her, "This is just the weight of my leg on your back." Videl was already dripping with sweat as she pushed herself to do push-ups. She may have slowed down, she may have felt her back aching, her shoulders were in pain as well as her core, but she didn't stop doing push-ups. It could have been a few minutes, or a few hours, but she kept on going, until Gohan told her, "Stop." To her credit, Videl managed not to fall to the ground. "Get on your back, get ready for leg lifts," Gohan told her. Videl did as ordered, and Gohan stood above her head, and she gripped his legs. Videl lifted her legs, and Gohan pushed them to the left. She lifted them again, and he pushed them ot the right. Videl lifted a third time, and Gohan pushed her legs down the middle. "That was set one. We're doing a hundred before we're done," Gohan told her as Videl lifted her legs up again.
Videl's stomach muscles felt like they were cramping half-way through, but she kept on going, gritting her teeth with determination, just keep breathing! Keep that oxugen flowing! Keep breathing! Videl thought to herself as she pushed herself further and further. By the end, Videl could barely lift her legs, but she struggled through, when Gohan finally counted, "One-hundred," her legs dropped down hard enough to make a loud THUD. "We're only half-way done with today's exercise," Gohan informed her. "SIX HOURS ALREADY!?" Videl screamed in shock, her body was already sweating so hard she looked like someone had thrown her into a pool. "Get water, for the rest we're going to be running," Gohan told her. Videl stood up, her entire body felt like jelly, but she slowly walked to the Sanctuary. She fell to her knees at the feeling of lighter gravity, before crawling to the bathroom.
She climbed her way up to the sink and got her head inside before turning it on and guzzling water straight from the tap. More water soaked her head than went in her mouth, but she didn't care, she was just happy to rehydrate and cool off. Gohan came into the sanctuary and pulled out a gallon jug of water. After Videl drank her fill, he filled up the jug, and handed it to her, "Drink from that as you run. Let's go." Videl headed out, and the feeling of heavier gravity hit her again, but she stayed standing, and followed Gohan as he started jogging around the Sanctuary. She followed, barely keeping him within sight of her the whole time, but the whole thing was agony from start to finish. Her muscles were all in pain, but she refused to give in to exhaustion. She needed to be stronger, she refused to have to rely on others to protect her, she would stand beside them all; Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Pan, Goten, and Gohan, or she would die trying.
She timed herself to only drink water every thirty minutes, but even then, by the last hour of the jog she had drank all of it. She kept going, until Gohan finally stopped. Videl stopped as well, and then collapsed. "Videl?" Gohan said, back to his normal voice. "I can't move…" Videl gasped between heavy pants, "Help me to the bath…" "Right," Gohan said, and lifted her up gently. He took her to the bathroom and helped her undress and clean up. By the time he was done, she had enough energy to at least make it to the bed by herself. She didn't even bother covering up, only falling unconscious as soon as her body hit the bed.
Day Seven in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber
Videl was sweating bullets as she ran, but she was doing far better than when she first started. Her body was getting used to the gravity. Gohan was in her sight the whole time as she ran, pushing herself harder than before. "That's it Videl! Keep going!" Gohan encouraged her as she ran around the Sanctuary, sweat pouring off her. Sit-ups, triangle push-ups, and burpees were so hard here, but she refused to stop. She had even started stretching in the gravity by the third day, and now it was starting to pay off. She was moving faster, stronger, even if it wasn't as well as back on Earth, she wasn't pathetic either. She was running harder, even though her legs felt like they weighed two hundred pounds each, which they probably did in this higher gravity. The temperature rose up in an instant, over a hundred degrees. "Videl, keep running, I'm getting some water, so you don't dehydrate!" Gohan told her. "Alright!" Videl said as she kept up the pace. If this keeps up, I'm going to be a lot thinner just by sweating out all my body's water! Goku and Vegeta went through this Hell HOW MANY TIMES!? They're monsters! Videl was panting hard as she struggled to keep it up, until Gohan arrived and passed her the water. Videl kept going while she drank her water, remembering to pace herself so she didn't cramp up.
"One more hour," Gohan said, then the temperature dropped fast! Videl screamed, it had become so cold so fast that it physically hurt her! "Focus your ki! Let it keep you warm!" Gohan warned her. Videl summoned her ki and felt warmer as it flowed through her body. She ran through the whole hour, then got back into the Sanctuary. She was at least able to bathe herself this time, but once again, she collapsed on the bed, falling asleep instantly.
Day Forty-Five in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber
Videl pushed through the one-handed pushups, feeling more confident than she ever had before in her life. More than six weeks, and she felt as if she could move just like on Earth! She switched hands, and kept on going, not stopping for a hundred one-handed pushups before Gohan finally declared, "Up! Give me a thousand kicks per leg!" "Got it!" Videl said with a sweaty smile as she immediately started throwing kicks with her left leg. "Higher! At least my chest level!" Gohan said and walked closer. VIdel aimed for his chest like he asked and kept throwing side kicks, round kicks, hook kicks, all at his chest level above her head. Once she finished with her left leg, she moved on to her right leg, and keeping it up the whole time at the same pace. "Alright, punches, two-thousand per arm! Hit my hands as hard as you can," Gohan told her, and showed her his palms.
Her fist hit his hand hard, harder than even he expected, but he didn't show the pain as Videl kept on throwing punches at lightning fast speed, Gohan kept track the whole time and after she threw her two-thousandth punch, he yelled, "Stop! Run!" Videl stopped punching and got to work running around the Sanctuary. "Come on slow-poke!" she taunted him. "Oh yeah?" Gohan yelled back, and quickly caught up with her. "Alright Videl, I'd say you've finally adapted. Now, on to Phase Two, tomorrow, we'll be focusing on sparring!" "Good! I'm ready!" Videl confidently yelled, as they kept on running.
Day One-Hundred-Sixty-Three in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber
"HIYAH!" Videl yelled out as she threw a punch that Gohan easily deflected, leaving her open to a palm strike to her ribs. Videl took the hit but managed to blast a ki ball to his face, giving her space to back away from him. She summoned all her power, amazed at how much stronger she had grown in less than six months; she had to have been ten times stronger than before, maybe even more! Gohan used Afterimage to get behind her, but Videl ducked under his punch and swept his legs out from under him. Videl tackled him then and tried to mount him, but the half-Saiyan was able to resist her efforts and instead got her into a headlock, and then wrapped his legs around her hips and pulled her down, putting her in a textbook Guillotine Choke. She struggled hard against it, but his technique was flawless, and he was still much stronger than she was. Starting to feel like she was going to pass out, Videl tapped out and he immediately let her go.
Videl took a minute and just laid there on top of her husband to breathe. "You're really improving! I didn't think I'd have to use those grappling moves on you, ever!" Gohan told her. She lifted her head and looked at him, "You really underestimate me then." Videl rolled off him and only now that her adrenaline had worn out did she realize how tired she was. "How much longer are we going to spar?" she asked Gohan. Gohan checked the giant clock on the Sanctuary and chuckled, "Apparently we ended like an hour ago." "Say what?" Videl said as she got up. "I lost track of time! I was having so much fun training and sparring with you and all," Gohan said, rubbing the back of his head with a very Goku-like smile. Videl huffed, "No wonder I'm so tired…man, how much stronger am I now?"
Gohan thought about this as they went into the Sanctuary and showered up together. After cleaning up they started to eat, and Gohan finally spoke-up, "I think you're about a hundred times stronger than you were before." "Are you serious!?" an astonished Videl asked. "Yeah, I mean, I'm sure it doesn't feel that way for you, but you have to remember we're in a higher gravity. Once we get out of here and return to Earth, I'm sure you'll really feel the difference. You'll need to work on controlling your strength then, I remember after me and Dad came back to Earth after Namek, we were both so much stronger than then that we nearly destroyed all our dishes because we didn't realize just how much stronger we were," Gohan explained. "I bet Chi-chi had a fit," Videl laughed as she ate. "Oh yeah," Gohan agreed, laughing at the memory.
Day Three-Hundred in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber
Videl flew around, blasting ki balls by the dozen at Gohan. Her husband easily avoided or blocked all of them, but she persisted nonetheless. Gohan started blasting ki balls of his own, countering hers, before long she was the one dodging while he blasted at her. Videl flew and moved as fast as she could, but, even then she struggled to not get hit, and in only a few seconds about a dozen ki balls came within millimeters of hitting her. Videl put her hands together and focused her ki inside of them building up the power as much as she could. "Kaa-mee-haa-mee…" Videl stopped and focused hard, creating a ki barrier around herself to absorb Gohan's ki balls. As soon as Gohan stopped firing, Videl let loose with her Kamehameha Wave, "HHHHHAAAAAA!" Gohan quickly countered with his own Kamehameha Wave, stopping hers dead in its tracks. Gohan poured more power into his attack and was surprised to see he wasn't pushing hers back.
Videl focused more power and slowly pushed Gohan's attack back instead! Gohan focused harder, but it only slowed down Videl's attack. Is this real!? Am I really beating Gohan!? Videl wondered to herself. But then, Gohan got a serious look in his eyes, and for the first time since they started training, his ki aura flared out like a silver light and he roared out, "HHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Faster than lighting, Gohan's Kamehameha Wave tore through Videl's attack, and slammed into her like a freight train at top speed. Videl was so shocked as her entire body felt pain that she couldn't even scream, only lay there as she realized she couldn't even move. Oh God… I think everything in me is broken… she realized as she tried to breathe, only to vomit out blood instead. "OH NO! VIDEL! HOLD ON!" Gohan screamed when he realized she wasn't getting up.
So… this is the real power of a Saiyan… I don't think even Spopovich damaged me this much… She thought as she struggled to remain conscious. "Videl! I have a senzu bean, you need to eat it!" Gohan yelled as he held her head up. She struggled but was too injured to open her mouth. "Videl!" Gohan yelled again. Videl heard something crunch, and then Gohan's lips were on hers as his tongue forced bits of senzu bean into her mouth and down her throat. Videl swallowed on reflex, and instantly all her injuries were healed. "Gohan, I'm alright," she said, and he immediately pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry!" he told her, and she could see tears in his eyes as he said that. "Gohan, you big goof," she said and hugged him back, "Now's not the time for crying. We both went overboard, accidents happen when you're a martial artist." "But still, I should have exercised more control…I almost killed you!" Gohan said as they separated. They both stood up and Videl reached up to rub his face, "I'm alright now. I knew I would get hurt, trying to get stronger. I made you work, I forced you to push yourself. This training is working, and I have you to thank for it." Gohan looked at her as she pulled him down for a kiss, then pushed him back.
"Come on then," she said as she took her stance, "We still got two hours before we're done training for today!" Gohan took his own stance, and they flew at each other once more.
Outside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber
Dende and Mr. Popo were both surprised, Videl had stayed the entire twenty-four hours inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Dende was the more optimistic of them, and even he was certain that she would last twelve hours at most. He swallowed as the door opened, and Videl and Gohan emerged. Videl stood proud with a cocky smile on her face, her gi's sleeves torn off, displaying her much more toned and muscled arms. "You're alright!" Mr. Popo yelled. "We had a few rough patches," Gohan said, "But yeah, she's alright." "Thanks for letting me train here," Videl said as she pulled Mr. Popo and Dende into a shockingly tight hug. "Too tight! Videl!" Dende quickly gasped, and she let him go, blushing, "Sorry, I was trying to hold back. I guess I need to work on that."
"It's okay, just be more careful out there now," Dende told her, then sensed her ki. She was so much stronger now! "I will be," Videl said. "Thanks again old friend, we really owe you," Gohan said as he and Dende hugged goodbye. "Take care," Dende and Mr. Popo said, waving goodbye as the couple headed back home.
Author's Note: I figure that Videl gained about twenty pounds of muscle in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and now looks like an MMA Fighter now, think Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey, or Holly Holm. I think she can go toe-to-toe with any of the Saiyans now in their base forms now.