Exams are over so it's time to have a bit of fun. Thank you for the reviews, as always they help provide motivation.

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ

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"What's your name?" asked the old master.

"Videl," answered said girl as she looked down at Roshi.

"Let's see what you can do," said Roshi as he grabbed his walking stick. Videl quickly glided into her stance but before she had even realised she was unable to move from the spot, Roshi having struck her five times in an instant and momentarily paralysed her. From Videl's point of view however it hadn't even appeared that he had moved from the spot since he was that fast.

"What did you do?" she growled through clenched teeth.

"Don't worry's its only temporary," said Roshi as he examined her from all angles. "Your balance is slanted," said Roshi as he nudged her gently with his staff and she wobbled on the sand a little before rocking back to her previous spot, thankful she hadn't planted into the ground. "You've got a good rear guard for when facing multiple enemies so that your back is well defended but in a one on one fight you should reconsider your stance." Videl took this into account, when she had been fighting for the police force she often had to take down a number of men in order to complete her mission. As such she was used to having to defend from all sides at once but while this had its advantages she didn't realise that it could also be disadvantageous. "I'm not going to try and tell you what type of stance you should have," explained Roshi. "I can only tell you what you need to adjust, not rewrite your whole stance for you. Each stance carries its own strengths and weaknesses. Those who believe that their stance is the greatest will pay no heed to any other stance. In order to counter anything you must be able to easily jump from one stance to another in a heartbeat to remain one step ahead of your target."

With that Roshi gently pinched the base of her neck and she felt herself able to move again as she dropped to her hands and knees. "What was that?" she asked.

"Just a technique I learnt a few dozen years back," smiled the old hermit. "Alright, let's see what you can do from this stance of yours. I swear I won't paralyse you this time."

Taking Roshi's word, Videl sprung from her position at Roshi sweeping out with her right leg at his chest. Roshi however tossed his staff from one hand to the next before blocking the blow, the staff not moving an inch even though she gave the blow everything she had. Focusing, she relentlessly charged at the old man, knowing well enough that if he was attacking back she would have altered her style in order to defend but he had asked her to go all out. Yet it was the same as had been with Korin and even Yajirobe, her best simply wasn't even worth these guys to take her seriously.

"That's enough," said Roshi allowing Videl to put her hands on her knees panting as sweat formed on her brow. Usually a work out which would only last a few minutes, such as this had, she wouldn't even have formed a sweat let alone be exhausted. "Where do you usually train?" asked Roshi.

"In my father's gym," answered Videl looking up.

"Air conditioned I assume," muttered Roshi. Videl thought about it for a moment before answering by nodding her head. Roshi continued, "So can you answer why you are so tired from a small exercise like this?"

Videl stood up straight and looked into the sky, shielding her eyes as she did, to see only a couple of clouds in a near perfect sky. She also realised that despite a sea breeze (being on a small island she didn't know if there would be any time when there wasn't a sea breeze) it was quite hot as the sun bared down on her. "There's a different difference in temperature, instead of constant air conditioning, we're out in the open," she answered.

"And..." said Roshi expecting more. Without an answer to give Roshi tapped the sand with the base of his staff. "You're not on concrete or tiles anymore, you don't have a solid footing."

Videl looked down at her feet and noticed that they were buried half an inch in sand, the terrain moving underneath her feet. "It's harder for me to get a grip," she noted.

"You were like my student Gohan," said Roshi. "When he first trained under me to charged head first before understanding the changes he had to make."

"You trained Gohan, what was he like when he was starting out?" asked Videl.

"No I'm not talking about Gohan, I'm talking about Gohan's grandfather Gohan," clarified Roshi but this lead to only more confusion.

"So Gohan's grandfather is named Gohan," said Videl quizzically.

"Actually Gohan never did talk much about his family," said Roshi.

"No, I'm talking about young Gohan, my age Gohan," said Videl trying to clear things up.

"Ah, that makes sense, sorry I'm getting a bit senile in my old age," apologized Roshi. "My student Gohan found Gohan's father Goku when he was just a boy and named his son in memory of his own father."

"Memory...does that mean..." said Videl uncertain if she wanted to ask the question.

Roshi solemnly nodded his head. "He was crushed to death when Goku was still a child, leaving the boy to fend for himself. It was many years later before I discovered that Gohan had ever taken a child into his care and that was after I had trained Goku for his first martial arts tournament."

"That reminds me, I've been wondering, after seeing all of those great fighters of the past tournaments it was awkward not to see Goku there, was he ill or something like that?" asked Videl.

Roshi shook his head and Videl knew that the news he was about to give was not going to be pleasant. "Goku was my finest student with a positive attitude and raw determination which made him the greatest warrior on the planet. However, even heroes have their limits. He sacrificed himself to save everyone he loved right in front of his son's eyes. Gohan personally shouldered the burden of his father's death and it weighed him down for years. Even though he looks like he's recovered he's afraid of being hurt again."

"So that's what he was talking about," muttered Videl recalling how Gohan had said he was afraid to get hurt again. She knew when he had said it that he had faced some sort of trauma but she never expected anything of this magnitude. Immediately she regretted ever acting cold towards him but knew that she couldn't do anything about it now, except do what he sent her here to do. She stiffened and stood completely upright as if saluting a commanding officer before dropping to her knees slowly. "Please teach me master," she said, repeating the words she had never thought she would have said many years ago.

"So this is your new student," said a new voice which caused Videl's head to shoot to the side to see a woman standing there in denim jeans and a white tank top. Videl recognised her from the tournament as the woman known only as Eighteen. In Eighteen's arms was the young child which had defeated her, Marron.

"Is the pretty lady my training partner?" asked Marron of her mother.

"That's for the pervert to decide," answered Eighteen shooting a glare at Roshi who paled nervously.

"Are you paying out my old master again?" asked another voice, male this time, as the ex-monk appeared from around the side of the house holding a couple of bags of groceries. Meanwhile Marron had jumped down to the ground before running up to Roshi.

"Please let her stay, I can help you train her," she begged whilst initiating puppy eyes she had learnt from Goten.

Videl wanted to argue that Marron couldn't teach her anything before remembering that this was the same four year old who had beaten her in front of a live television audience. "Well student Videl," said Roshi stepping forward, "Are you ready to begin your training?"

"I am," said Videl gratefully as she got to her feet.

"Since I am well aware of your studies, we shall train you for two months and in that time I wish for you to have a total of six stances to call your own and have a fundamental knowledge of ki," said Roshi explaining the outline.

"I've been meaning to ask, what is ki?" asked Videl.

"Ki is the spiritual energy which flows within our body, the amount of which cannot be defined in numbers," explained Roshi. "Those who know how to, are able to use the ki from their bodies as either a weapon or a shield, depending on the purpose. However, there is a limit to the amount of ki you can use otherwise the results can be dangerous. If you access more than you can handle, it is possible that the stress will tear your body apart. Do I make myself clear?" Videl nodded vigorously. "Alright then, Marron would you like to teach Videl here how to access her ki while I catch up on my reading?"

"Sure thing," said Marron joyfully as she ran forward and grabbed Videl's hand. "Let's go sit in the shade of the tree and I can teach you," she said with a smile as she dragged Videl along, the Satan girl barely able to keep up with the girl's speed. As they took a seat and Marron began teaching, Videl inwardly knew that the next two months she was going to be pushed through hell and back.

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Hope it was worth the wait. Please review.