DBZR ½

Chapter 28: Project Super Saiyan is a Go!

Goku's Dimension

The Lookout…

As one their jaws dropped: it hadn't even occurred to any of them that this was another boon available to them, following the completion of Akane's wish. "S-seriously?" Ranma blurted out.

"Seriously?!" Vegeta bellowed, his expression turning murderous. "We did the training, you went to Namek for wishes, taking nearly another day, we have delayed long enough, Kakarot! It is time for us to find this Toltir, and destroy him!"

"Hold on, Vegeta!" Goku held his hands up to the Prince placatingly, which didn't appear to be working too well, judging by the shorter man's expression. "We can't go without Elder Cologne. She's the only one who can set wards on us to protect us from being affected by Toltir."

"Yea, and we've seen what that guy has already done, Master Vegeta." Ryoga respectfully added, crossing his arms. "Take it from me, you don't want to be stuck with a curse."

Ranma nodded quickly in agreement. "And me."

"Me too!" Shampoo added.

Vegeta glared at the three teens and Goku in turn before grunting and turning away, hands on his hips in controlled anger. "Hmph. Fine. But my patience is running thin, Kakarot."

"I know, I know, and we'll definitely try to go find the guy as soon as we drop them off." Goku breathed a silent sigh of relief, wiping his forehead. "It's not like we're waiting that much longer, the Elder gains a year for every minute, and that can't be that long, right?"

The Nerima Crew all glanced to each other: Cologne's age was generally a mystery to everyone. As one, three of them focused their attention on the one person who would have some true inkling.

Shampoo shrugged. "She is my great-grandmother, but might be great-great grandmother. We lost track of her age long ago. Best guess in the village is that she is well over one hundred years old, maybe nearly two hundred?" The lavender haired fighter shrugged again. "She wished to be twenty-five."

"So that means it could take over two hours, maybe three and a quarter?" Akane calculated aloud, prompting a nod from the other three.

"Well, if we have three hours, then we better get started. Make some room between you." Goku grinned, gesturing with his hands to direct them apart, with the teens moving to comply. Vegeta kept his back to the proceedings; although, he did glance over his shoulder towards them, at least out of idle curiosity. Piccolo and Dende both watched from a respectful distance away.

"Gohan and Videl should be exiting soon, right?" The older Namekian murmured.

The current Kami of the Earth nodded. "Probably before Goku is done. Certainly before they leave, at the least." Piccolo grunted in acknowledgement: it was good to have one's' mental timer proven accurate. Though the voice of the previous Kami gloating in his head didn't help matters, and he resolutely ignored him.

Goku placed himself in a position that was roughly center forward of the four as he began, raising a finger to punctuate his point. "Now, we've shown you how to raise your power. Going Super Saiyan isn't that easy though. It comes from a really strong emotion. Anger or rage is a pretty good trigger for it. But, once you've achieved it and gained control of it, you will be able to use it just about anytime."

"That's not right, Kakarot."

Goku looked to Vegeta, confused. "What's that?"

The Prince, his expression annoyed, likely at himself, approached with a glower. "Trunks and Goten both were able to transform with ease. Bulma has never mentioned the boy having a moment of extreme emotion to require the change. So there is more than one way to get to it." The taller Saiyan blinked, and scratched his cheek. "Huh. I didn't even think about asking Chi-chi about Goten's transformation." He laughed and shrugged. "Well, I guess there's still a lot to learn about the Super Saiyan form."

Looking back to the still waiting Crew, he continued. "Somehow, I don't think it will be quite as easy for you guys as it was for the boys. So we'll go with what we know definitely works. Think about something terrible that's happening to you, like someone trying to kill your loved ones, or actually losing someone before your eyes. Take that emotion, let it bubble and build up inside, until it finally cuts loose!" Goku suddenly transformed into his Super Saiyan form, the distinctive warble filling the air, his body surrounded by the golden aura for a few moments before he relaxed a bit, willing the aura to fade. "And that will be when you have become a Super Saiyan." A moment later, he completely reverted to his normal form.

The four teens briefly glanced between each other before turning their gazes inward. "Someone killing a loved one...or losing someone before me…" Ranma contemplated the puzzle before him. From an intellectual standpoint, he understood what the Super Saiyan form provided. It was a massive increase in hot chi, boosting all attributes. His Neko Ken, and the Neko Kaio Ken that replaced it, were both more of a neutral chi technique, instead channeling power and turbo-boosting everything and allowing the practitioner to use it as they saw fit, with a cost in strain on the body. He had managed to negate most of the flaws of the Kaio Ken, but that didn't create a transformation like what the Super Saiyan form was. That form was more inherent to the user, something that was part of them, just waiting somewhere in their genetic structure.

And to feel that kind of anger, to utterly let go, was...well, an anathema to him. "I've been angry before, but how do I get that angry?" He racked his brain, trying to picture an enemy, any enemy, that could have taken away someone he cared for. But that only gave him a focus, a target. Every time that happened in the past, typically when someone kidnapped Akane or someone else, he gained a laser like drive to correct the situation. "Man, this is going to be a lot harder than I thought…"

To the side, Shampoo clenched her fists, her face scrunched up in concentration. She had been enraged before, so she knew the feeling well. However, what was being suggested was several levels above that, and was proving difficult. "Think! What if someone kill a villager? I am the strongest in the village, I should protect them and stop the enemy." Picturing images in her head of people in the village being killed, bodies strewn about, did make her angry…

...just not enough for her to feel anything changing. She didn't have near as much an emotional connection to them as she thought, possibly due to the time being away from China for a full year causing that disconnect. Even picturing the death of Cologne didn't generate much more than the others. Close as she was to her grandmother, it was still very much a relationship that was in the realm of 'mentor' and 'student' rather than family members, and the few times where that particular role was set aside for the two of them, there was still that emotional barrier between them. "This is vexing." She silently groused, her eyes gazing at Ryoga's back in front of her.

For his part, the Lost Boy was, ironically enough, lost. This time he was lost in his thoughts. "Emotion...strong emotion...this is the basis of some of my techniques already. Losing someone I care about…" Memories of Akane being kidnapped came to mind, and he felt his anger start to simmer. He really hated when those instances happened. "What if that had happened to Akari? Or worse…" He pictured the long haired girl in his mind, wearing a wide brimmed hat and a long, strapped dress, walking along the street, approaching him. Suddenly, a pinpoint burst of energy shot through the imaginary Akari's chest, and he could see her eyes, wide in surprise, become devoid of any life behind them as her body slowly fell backwards. Despair, that familiar emotion, flooded through him, with rage hot on its heels. "Who killed Akari in front of me?! What bastard did it?!" He demanded, completely subsumed into his imagined encounte. He mentally rushed to her side, and took her hand, feeling the emotions roiling and burbling as tears threatened to escape and fall upon her lifeless appendage.

In front of Ranma, Akane was also clenching her fists firmly, eyes closed as she reached deep into her mind. Memories of the trouble she experienced when Kuno made that stupid declaration ran through her mind, but that wasn't enough anger. She had long gotten used to that, and with the arrival of Ranma that nonsense pretty much came to an end, so that didn't provide near enough impact. She tried a different tack, and pictured sweet, gentle Kasumi being kidnapped. There was that one time...but there wasn't hardly any danger to that situation. But in her mind, she pictured some faceless man suddenly tackling Kasumi as she came home from the market, catching the young woman by surprise. "Kasumi...you're so much like mother, I can't let anyone take you away from us, not like she was taken!" She made a flying leap at the captor, only for said captor to cut Kasumi's throat, spraying blood everywhere and vanishing back into the darkness.

Had Akane put thought into it, she would have been horrified she could have imagined such a thing. Then again, she had learned to become very good at following her Master's instructions, and this situation was no different. "No...no...not Kasumi…" She felt the shock blast through her as she mentally landed near the dead girls side, gazing down at the gaping wound, at the life fluids pouring out, at the empty eyes.

Externally, Akane's body started to tremble, as did Ryoga's, while Ranma and Shampoo were still struggling with trying to find something that would fit the criteria. Goku watched them closely, as did Vegeta, the latter of which was watching dispassionately. "Your method is too slow. You should be giving them the incentive they need." He commented quietly.

"Hmm. Maybe." Goku acknowledged. "We'll see how it goes."

Ryoga's mental gaze was fixed firmly on the imaginary corpse of Akari, and he gripped her hand with a gentleness that belied his strength. "I will find who did this...and make them pay! I will make them pay with their life, twice over!" He growled, slowly at first, his body shuddering as real tears began to fall from his closed eyes. Loose dust started to float upward around him as his energy began to steadily climb.

The same effect was happening around Akane, her fists clenching more tightly, the muscles of her bare arms becoming sharply defined, all the while picturing Kasumi's dead body before her. "Not sweet Kasumi. She has done nothing to deserve anything like that. She's the best of the three of us, the one who deserved a happy life...and some asshole took her away…ruined her life...killed my sister!" Her emotions were in turmoil, the invisible aura about her becoming steadily stronger as her hair began to flutter upward. The edge was right in front of her. The only thing missing was a target for her rage, for her grief, for all of it.

Ryoga was in a similar situation, power pulsing from his hard built form, bandana clad hair floating skyward. He only needed a target.

Ranma and Shampoo had both stopped in their efforts, focusing on the two in front of them, sensing the two teens power rushing upwards by leaps and bounds, wild and uncontrolled.

Goku's expression had become focused: they were almost there. They just needed a little tap. Taking note of the tears slipping out from their tight eyelids and floating upwards, he had a good idea what option they went with, and provided them with that one last tap. "Imagine the one who did it was someone who did you wrong regularly, or someone you hate."

In Akane's mind, the faceless one who murdered the copy of her imaginary sister instantly crystallized into an image. A smug, tall form, hair thick over a brow, teeth gleaming in a superior smile as a bloody sword rested against a shoulder.

Tatewaki Kuno. "And that smug bastard killed Kasumi!"

For Ryoga, the mental fog of despair lifted, and as he looked up, he saw the one who had blasted Akari, taking her from him. Spiked, upright hair, powerful form, and an evil grin, one that had haunted him several times in the past year.

Master Vegeta. "He sent me to Hell!"

The two teens power skyrocketed, their eyes snapping open, yet seeing nothing as their growls of rage grew in intensity, until they were outright screaming. A swirl of golden light surrounded their forms, sparks flew, and, as they finally fell over the edge, they thrust their arms down and chests out with a final bellow, voices echoing across the now shaking Lookout.

In that moment, two Super Saiyans were born with a powerful burst of light and sound that cracked the tiles underneath them in concentric rings.

The energy radiating off the two teens was intense, blinding Ranma and Shampoo to the point of blocking the glare with their arms. Goku and Vegeta stared, watching as the Super Saiyan Akane and Super Saiyan Ryoga struggled to control the vast power increase that was infusing their forms, their auras bursting wildly from their shaking bodies. Goku pursed his lips, and then called out, "You guys have to calm down. Focus your energy. Akane, remember what we talked about. Channel that rage, calm your mind."

Vegeta remained silent; internally though, he was proud. Ryoga had transformed a split moment before Akane did. "I win." He laughed quietly to himself.

The two hunched over teens continued to struggle, their auras slowly becoming more controlled...before they suddenly cut out completely, and they both dropped to the cracked tile, gasping for air, once more back to their normal states. "My...god...that was...so hard…" Akane panted, her body trembling from the exertion as she held herself up on her hands and knees. She felt a firm hand on her shoulder, and she turned to look up, finding Ranma's smiling face. "Nice job, Akane. You managed to do it. I haven't done it yet. I'm kinda jealous."

For the moment she was beyond exhausted. But the admission she managed to succeed while he failed was exhilarating, and she smiled in triumph. "Heh...yea, you should be. I'm just...that good." She laughed, prompting a matching laugh from him.

"Yea, I guess you are."

Another hand touched her opposite shoulder, and when she looked over, she found, to her surprise, the impressed face of Shampoo. "You do well. I did not get it, either."

If Akane died right at that moment, she would have gone into the next world with no regrets and the biggest grin ever. She surpassed both Ranma and Shampoo, in the same day! A year ago such a thing would have been unthinkable. "Heh...this is great...I'm now...stronger than you both, right?"

"Almost." Goku admitted with a grin. "You'll need to really work on your focus, but with time and training, you'll be able to hold that form without any loss of control or energy, or a need to return to your normal form. I'm proud of both of you."

Akane blinked. "Both?" She turned her gaze to the side, finding Ryoga laying on his back, arms out to the sides and breathing as heavily as she was. His head turned to face her, one eye closed and a grin on his lips. He lifted a thumb up, and she managed to give one in return.

"Heh...take that...Ranma." He managed to mutter, prompting a chortle from his rival.

"I'm pretty sure I could knock you out right now without too much trouble, Mr 'Super Saiyan.'" The pig-tailed fighter teased, prompting a laugh from Ryoga.

"Yea...I think...I'd let you…"

Shampoo leaned closer, her expression now intent. "What was it like? How did you do it?"

Akane thought back, and the imagined killing, as well as the killer, came rushing back. Her expression darkened. "I imagined someone killed Kasumi...and I wanted to destroy him for it."

"Oh…" Ranma's face fell. He honestly hadn't considered that particular angle. To be fair, he wasn't close to Kasumi by any means, beyond a great appreciation for her cooking and her generally calming presence, but he could easily see how Akane would have been triggered. He supposed if he had a sibling he was tight with that it could have given him the same motivation. As it was, he didn't really have someone like that. He shook the thoughts off. "...that would certainly do it. Dare we ask who it was?" She shook her head.

"It's better you didn't. I just...need to forget I imagined that." She adjusted her position so that she was seated, legs tucked in underneath. Looking up at the remaining two, she asked, "So you guys going to get back at it?"

Ranma and Shampoo both smirked in challenge. "You betcha."

"Then let's try again." Goku instructed as they stood up and took their places once more.

"If it's working, you should feel a tingling in the middle of your back." Ryoga called out from his spot, slowly picking himself back up. "That's what I remember feeling now."

Ranma smiled. "Hey, thanks, Ryoga!"

"Don't mention it. When we fight again, I want it to be fair." The Lost Boy looked up in challenge, which was met in Ranma's expression.

"Don't you worry, we'll definitely fight again." Ranma looked to Goku, schooling his features as he started again. To the side, Shampoo had already begun the process, while the rest watched in curious expectation.

In a room on the Lookout…

Laying atop of a plush bed, Cologne breathed shallowly, sweat sheeting her exposed skin while plastering her silver hair to her scalp, her eyes closed as she focused on herself. She ignored everything else as best as she could, to include the screaming outside and the shaking of the Lookout. Nothing else really mattered, nothing but dealing with the wave of nausea, fatigue, and overall weakness that would wash over her. As the minutes went on, she felt and heard clicks and pops as seemingly ancient tendons and bones adjusted themselves, bringing on a fresh wave of heat and discomfort. If she were honest with herself, she hadn't felt this feverish in quite a long time, not since she had learned the ways to hit the right pressure points to boost her immune system at the right time. However, nothing she could think of was capable of shunting all of this aside. Channeling her chi wasn't possible, at least not at the moment. Not with the way her chi fluctuated currently. The best she could do was focus on trying to separate her mind from the discomfort and heat, and even that particular mental barrier wasn't nearly as strong as it should have been, becoming punctured as easily as a sliding paper door after a few particularly rough moments.

She timed it, and each fresh wave of discomfort would strike precisely after sixty seconds, and would subside slowly after that, giving her a chance to attempt to shore up her mental barrier. At one point, Mr. Popo entered and set two large bowls on a vanity table opposite the bed with a pitcher of water and a washrag before stepping back out. Cologne didn't have any intentions of moving, content to simply keep focusing on diminishing the discomfort as much as she could, but after one particularly obnoxious wave of discomfort that released a veritable flood of sweat, she finally decided she needed to at least wipe her face down. Channeling what chi she could realistically take hold of through her trembling body, she worked her way out of the bed and to the vanity, using the step stool Mr. Popo had thoughtfully provided. A quick dip of the rag into the blissfully cool water, followed by throwing the now sodden cloth onto her face brought her an amount of relief she hadn't been expecting. "Merciful...that's heavenly…" She sighed through the sopping cloth, before finally wiping her face down properly. Squeezing the rag out into the empty bowl, she reached for the full one when she froze, staring at her hands.

Normally, they couldn't be seen under the voluminous sleeves of her clothing, not unless she purposefully tied them back. Yet, there they were, completely revealed. Still wrinkled and small, but not quite as small as they had been for the past… "Oh my, it must have been thirty years…" She mused. Looking to the mirror, her eyes widened in excitement. Standing in her place was a...ok, it was still elderly woman, but she was clearly taller, the wrinkles in her face not quite as heavily lined. Her hair was still mostly white, but there was more grey instead, slowly working through the transition phase from her snow-white locks to the blue-ish raven color of her youth. Though that would still be quite some time to go before that color truly returned. Another wave of discomfort washed over her, forcing her to hold onto the table as best she could. At the same time, she saw her height increase ever so slightly, the winkles seemingly diminishing. The discomfort passed, and she took the moment to douse the rag in her hand and start wiping at her face and neck. "Unless I miss my guess, I have most certainly gone back at least thirty years now. No...forty." Cologne calculated, including the time they were still on Namek, which was roughly about five or ten minutes after the wish had been granted. How she hadn't noticed the time reversing then was beyond her, and frankly, she didn't care at this point.

"The important thing is that it's working." She sighed, legs giving a brief shudder, reminding her of the weakness that was still working through her. "I should return to the bed. I'm getting tired standing here." A quick squeeze, reapplication and wringing of excess water, and she worked her way back to the bed, taking the time to shuck out of her soaked clothing and dumping it on the floor, along with her headband. "If I'm going to focus, I'm going to need to do it without as much distraction as possible. If I remember correctly, this was a period of time where my chi was significantly out of sync, and it will take all of my concentration to re-sync everything once again." She clambered up into the bed and took a seat, crossing her legs in a lotus position and taking a moment to cool herself off with the washrag. With some of her energy regained from the cool down, she closed her eyes and began to focus.

Once more, the Elder ignored the dulled yelling outside, focusing as intensely as she could on grappling with her chi, and doing her best to channel it through her form to assuage her discomfort. The results were rather mediocre, at best. Still, it was better than nothing at all. And so she continued to focus, sweat dripping down her body, the pops and clicks of tendons, sinew, and bone the only noises that she really paid any heed to.

It was going to be a long few hours...

Back outside…roughly over two hours later...

Ranma yelled, his power rising...and then he collapsed, having exhausted himself. "Dammit...why is this so difficult?"

"I told you, you can't just go Super Saiyan by raising your power. It's emotion based." Goku sternly advised. "If it was that easy, all Saiyans would have been Super Saiyans."

"They are." Vegeta muttered quietly, referencing the fact that all of the Saiyans left, at least those they were aware of, were currently Super Saiyan.

By comparison, Shampoo hadn't yelled at all, and instead had spent the time in deep contemplation, having taken up a seated lotus position with her hands cupped within each other. "A tingling in the back he said." She recalled. So, she had focused on the center of her back, falling into a meditative trance in the process. "A tingle...something that can be engaged by strong emotion. What if there was a way to skip that though…"

The screaming of Ranma was rather distracting, but she did her best to tune it out. When he finally collapsed, she gained a long moments quiet. The year she had spent in the Chamber had been grueling, and brought about a metric ton of changes to her physique. Most of which she, admittedly, hadn't really noticed in any depth, having been pretty shell shocked by the training regime. However, having spent the past couple hours in meditation, she was beginning to get a true sense of the changes to her body, and her chi paths. "The chi is stronger. Nothing new there, or else I would be unable to do any of the techniques I have created, or learned from Master Vegeta. But this is more than that. The channels are greater, deeper. And...yes...I can feel it! That wellspring of power! That has to be it!"

She opened her eyes and quickly stood up, capturing everyone's attention. Clenching her fists in front of her, she reached for that wellspring, a low groan emitting from her lips as she applied Amazon training and channeled her chi. This time though, instead of channeling it into her limbs, or into her techniques, she used it like a portal, reaching inward to open up the gate between her and the deep power she could feel. A tingle began to percolate in the small of her back, and she became excited. "Yes! That is it! Don't let up now, Shampoo!" She silently declared, focusing harder to open that gate even further. It resisted her efforts, much like a door with near frozen hinges. Her groan grew stronger as she fought against that natural resistance, becoming a low, keening cry.

An invisible aura formed about her, dust rising, as did much of her long, lavender hair, undulating upwards while it took on a more spiked appearance. Her attire fluttered as the energy around her grew stronger, and her cry became an outright scream as she pulled with all of her mental might to break that gate apart. A brilliant blast of light enveloped the top of the Lookout, and when it diminished, Shampoo was revealed to be standing in a her own set of cracked tiles, a wild golden aura flaring about her while her long hair had taken on the characteristic clumped spiked form of a Super Saiyan, even if it didn't rise completely up. Her clenched hands shook as she gritted her teeth, trying to gain better control of her energy.

"Hmm. Kinda reminds me of Gohan when he first transformed." Goku mused as he observed, watching as her aura began to become more controlled, certainly with less effort than what Ryoga or Akane had exerted. A moment later, she reverted to normal and staggered a step, but didn't fall.

"Wow...intense!" She exclaimed, looking to her hands and flexing them, the tingling sensation still shooting down her nerves as she relaxed.

"Awww man, how'd you make it look so easy?" Ranma groused, while the other two teens also looked a little put out.

"Yea, how did you? I was wiped out." Akane rubbed her cheek, noting that the feeling had fully returned. The first few moments after her change and reversion, she felt nothing but the rush of energy, and while she had been able to feel Ranma and Shampoo touching her shoulders, it was more from the pressure on her shoulder than from the actual tactile sense of feeling touched. Now that she felt normal again, she was certainly ready to give it another go. Only, after she had a better idea of how to access that form.

Shampoo put her hands to her shapely hips with a grin. "Chinese Amazon chi channeling. Ryoga said there was a tingling feeling. So I meditated, and focused on it..." She turned and reached back, pointing to the center of her back. "...right there."

"Oh, yea." Goku scratched his cheek, bemused. "I guess I could have mentioned that it feels like it centers from there. Oops."

She turned back to face them, her grin diminishing into a more wry expression. "It still took a while before I could figure it out. I am not as proficient at chi channeling as I could be."

"Well, it worked." Ranma snorted in annoyance. He had tried that himself, and, for whatever reason, it still eluded him. "Maybe I need to meditate on it longer? Or maybe the channels are still out of whack from the change, and from my previous use of chi-pain channeling. Would explain the resistance. It's like scar tissue. I'll have to work on it gently and improve them." The alternative was somehow getting enraged to the point of cutting loose, but that just didn't seem to be in the offing. Yet.

A year ago, he wouldn't have been content to cool his heels and try to figure it out. He would work over a technique, almost obsessively, and working as hard as he could to attain it. One of the things he had learned over the past year was that particular method tended to cause him a significant amount of pain. Patience was hard earned, and proved to be far more effective. He developed techniques he wouldn't have considered otherwise because of it. "Thinking it over, it makes sense that Ryoga and Akane managed it first. They wear their hearts on their sleeves. I will eventually get it. Just have to be patient."

He sighed aloud, picking himself up as he did so. "I know enough about how to become one. It's just a matter of making it happen."

"You should work harder then, future Son-in-Law." A new voice called, one that was both familiar, and not. Mr. Popo exited from within the Lookout, with a woman in tow, a gnarled wooden staff in hand. She stood taller than he, with long, blue-purple colored hair going to the backs of her legs, and a red headband keeping it back out of her green eyes. Her attire was similar to the green and red outfit she had worn before, but now fitted to a much taller woman, complete with green pants and Chinese shoes. The others recognized her from their previous time travel incident to Cologne and Happosai's past, only now she was a bit more filled out compared to her eighteen year old version. A beauty that clearly showed the ancestry between her and Shampoo; albeit, not quite as full figured as her descendant. Still, she carried herself with grace and confidence, with a small smirk placed upon her full lips. "Nothing gets results better in training than to have the proper push."

Ranma snorted. "Sure. But in its proper place. At least it looks like you're done."

She shrugged. "Mostly. I feel I have a few more minutes, but the worst of it has passed. I'm able to proceed without any issue."

"It's about time. Now we can get this nonsense over with." Vegeta growled as Cologne came up alongside. He turned his glare towards her, scowling. "Make your wards so we can obliterate Toltir, woman."

Her eyes briefly narrowed, before closing as she lifted her head up in a dignified manner. Her free hand also raised, and then flicked several times before she lowered it. "I may have become younger, but I would prefer to be spoken to with respect, Master Vegeta."

Vegeta, for his part, was gasping, one arm hanging limp beside him, while the other grasped at his chest near his collarbone. "Dammit...what did...you do?!"

"Shiatsu pressure points." Cologne smiled darkly. "It's temporary. That particular point merely numbs your arm for a few minutes. Be glad I didn't decide to lock away the ability to use it at all."

The Prince glared, before his expression changed, taking on an aura of impressed respect, if begrudgingly at that. "I have to admit, I didn't expect that. Didn't even see the movement." He straightened up, the fingers of his limp hand twitching. "Don't think you'll get to do that again."

Cologne waved the subtle threat off. "Wasn't expecting to. I made my point. Frankly, I am surprised you didn't counter." Green eyes twinkled as she added, "One should always be ready. Don't you agree?"

"Hmph." Vegeta couldn't disagree, but he certainly didn't appreciate the action she had taken, so he denied her the satisfaction of agreeing with her. On the other hand though, he did rate her as a more interesting individual now than he did before. "This explains some of the attacks the girl used against me. She is not to be taken lightly. Not that she is a match for me, but there is far more to her I thought."

Chuckling, she looked to the rest. "I do agree that it is time to return home. I would rather not think of what Mousse has done to the Cat Cafe in our absence."

"Duck boy is probably moping." Shampoo observed, dispassionately.

"Probably." Ranma agreed, stretching, while Cologne took up one of the nearby tables and drew out the appropriate scraps of paper to begin working up the wards needed.

At that moment, Popo called out, "They're about to come out of the Chamber!"

"Alright! I can't wait to see how strong Gohan and Videl have gotten!" Goku grinned as he trotted towards the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Ranma and the other teens, after giving Cologne a quick glance, decide to follow along while she worked. Vegeta followed as well, for lack of anything better else to do. Although, he was certainly curious if his prediction was accurate. Just contemplating it brought an amused smirk to his face.

They reached the door just as Mr. Popo twisted the handle and pulled the door open. Brilliant white light spilled out, briefly blinding them. A shadow broke up the light, made of gentle curves. As the figure stepped out the door, they were able to see that it was Videl who exited first. She had gone in with a blue, long sleeved undershirt and a purple gi top with matching pants and a green sash, all of which was what Gohan had provided, and had been baggy on her form. However, her borrowed clothing had been damaged from the training, the sleeveless gi top completely missing, and the undershirt riddled with holes and tears, while the pants had been reduced to shorts. Said shirt had also been tied off around her bust, revealing a trim, tight stomach. The year in the chamber had added some more bulk, muscle sliding under tight, supple skin, while the process of aging a year had added to her beauty and body build, enhancing her curves some as she moved closer to a young woman. Her hair had become significantly longer, tied back into a single tail, not unlike how Chi-Chi tied hers back.

Most notable though, were two things. Her eyes still appeared to lack pupils…

...and there was still a tail around her waist.

"Oh man, you're still a Saiyan?" Goku exclaimed, surprised. "I thought Porunga had corrected everyone!"

"Maybe she couldn't be reached in there." Akane pointed out as Videl drew closer, her bare feet padding on the tile softly.

Goku considered for a moment. "Huh...I guess you're right. I did say all my friends on Earth. Guess the Chamber doesn't count as being 'on Earth.'"

Videl paused, looking between them all. "What are you talking about?"

Behind her came a nearly unchanged Gohan, albeit with hair that had more volume to the spikes than before. His attire though, had taken far more damage. To the point that he only had a pair of badly damaged pants that was clearly struggling to remain on by sheer will, and with the heroic, tired assistance of the sash at his waist. He put a hand on her shoulder, almost possessively, as he joined in the gazing. "Yea. What's this about the Chamber?"

"Oh, I wished for all of my friends affected by Toltir to be returned to normal. Porunga made it happen." Goku grinned, his sharp eyes catching the possessive embrace. "Guess you guys made it happen too, huh?" Ranma and the other teens looked to him in confusion.

"What? Made what happen?" Ranma looked back and forth between father and now blushing son, completely clueless.

Shampoo blinked, her mind picking up on the cues and processing them, same as Akane, and as one they both put a hand to their mouths in a silent 'o.' "Guess they're officially mates now…" The Chinese Amazon determined.

"Well, looks like she won that contest." Akane considered, before glancing to Ranma, and then to Shampoo, just as the Chinese girl glanced to her. Sparks flew as a hint of the old rivalry flared, only to be replaced by a different set of sparks, prompting blushes and neck-cracking looks away.

Neither Ranma, nor Ryoga, picked up on any of the cues.

Vegeta managed to avoid laughing aloud. Barely. "Knew it. Today is a good day."

Videl, for her part, merely gave a victorious smirk, even as her cheeks became a little rosy at the memories that were brought up.

Flashback

"Oh Kami, yes! Ride on you hunk of a stallion!"

"Videl, please, it's been a month! I'm getting tire-"

"You better Super Saiyan up, Gohan! I want that golden di-"

End Flashback

"It was...quite a challenge...being in there." She slipped an arm around Gohan's waist, fingers lightly brushing at his six-pack stomach. "But we're much stronger now."

"Y-yea…" Gohan stammered with a laugh, and quickly attempted to steer the conversation elsewhere. "...so did Porunga get everything resolved then?"

Ranma waggled a hand. "Somewhat. Couldn't solve our problem, but he gave us a bunch of info we can use. So, that's something. Also, the Old Ghoul wished to be younger, and Akane wished for us to be Saiyans."

"She what?" Gohan gaped, looking among all four of them in surprise. "But...you don't seem any different from when we went in-wait…" His eyes narrowed as he focused his attention. "...you do feel different. You seem stronger now than before we went in."

Ranma crossed his arms and glanced towards the others. "Yea, and they've already become Super Saiyans." Gohan's expression became impressed.

"Nice!"

Videl's expression also became impressed, slowly shifting into a challenging smirk. "Alright. Let's see what you've got, Akane." The dark haired girl started, caught off guard.

"What, right now?" She scratched the back of her head. "Uh, I've only managed it once."

"Sure, right now. Practice makes perfect." Videl put her free hand on her hip, tail curling around her waist.

The Nerima girl swallowed. "Well..ok…" Screwing up her determination, she clenched her fists and reached within, giving a low groan as her aura began to flare around her form. This time, she recalled what Shampoo had said, and reached for the tingling feeling in the center of her back, which, the moment she found it, hit her like a flood and spread out over her body. "...aaaah haaaah!" Her hair leapt upright and turned golden as her aura flared into a still rather wild golden hue. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to relax, and the aura finally stabilized, allowing her to straighten up and look to her hands with some wonder. "Wow...this feels intense! Now that I can focus on it...it feels good! Like...my strength is increasing by the moment." She put words to action, and flexed her arm, watching as her bicep bulged noticeably, certainly more so than in her normal form, before she relaxed again and looked to Videl. "Well? This is what I've got."

The other girl nodded approvingly. "Yup, you definitely have it." The smirk hadn't faded, and, with a tilt of her head towards Akane, her own aura flared around her as her hair rose upwards, both turning golden, the signature warble surrounding her.

"Whoa! You're a Super Saiyan too! That's awesome!" Goku happily cried, clapping his hands together once in his excitement.

"Yea. Took awhile to get it though." Videl admitted, her now golden tail flickering under the somewhat upraised golden ponytail. "But in the end, we figured it out. Still getting used to it."

Akane laughed, spreading her hands wide. "That makes most of us!"

TBC…

So this was originally an over 13k word chapter...which the website did not appreciate my shenanigans uploading. So I split it. Works for me, means I wrote two chapters! Stay tuned!

...please? It would be greatly appreciated. ^_^;;

Until next time…

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Current Character Rankings

Videl - Tier 8.75 (SSJ)

Yamcha - Tier 8 (for comparison)

Ryoga (Normal) - Tier 8 (SSJ)

Shampoo (Normal) - Tier 7.75 (SSJ)

Akane - Tier 7.75 (SSJ)

Cologne - Tier 7

Ranma (M) - Tier 6

Ranma (F) - Tier 5.75

Ryoga (Pig) - Tier 3.75

Shampoo (Cat) - Tier 3.75