It was quiet there, standing out in the middle of the grass covered plain. The untamed wilderness stretched out all around them, with scraggly trees growing not far away and the sounds of wild animals off in the distance. A gentle breeze stirred the tall grasses, ruffling the hair of the two opponents who were facing each other. "Are you ready?" Gohan asked seriously, his scruffy black hair pointed upward in that distinctive style that he always wore. Videl didn't answer aloud, instead the girl just kicked upwards, the black haired fighter's body a blur as she moved gracefully in her simple overshirt and leotard. Gohan blocked and struck outward, then they were off. The fight almost became a dance, each of them flowing from one stance to another with a speed that most would consider to be inhuman. 'I've got to move faster,' Videl thought to herself bleakly, knowing that her opponent was still holding back against her. Gohan had a determined expression on his face, the handsome young man's fighting stance giving every indication that he was putting his all into the fight. But Videl had seen him battle during the Buu contests, saw the devastating power that he could call up so easily and she knew that he wasn't going anywhere near his limits. 'And I'm barely keeping up,' Videl thought. Distracted by her thoughts she moaned as a fist clipped the side of her face, blood sent trickling down into her eyes. "Enough," Gohan called even as he stepped back. Videl faked a kick at his head even as she scowled, "Keep going!" She raced forward, throwing punches but Gohan just blocked and dodged, backing away. Gohan caught her hands in his, restraining her with frightening ease as he said to her hesitantly, "But you're bleeding...." Videl pulled free angrily then reached up to wipe the blood away with the back of her hand, straightening up to show that the pain wasn't bothering her. She sighed as she asked him, "And has that ever slowed you down?" "Well, no," Gohan admitted, "but I'm...." He trailed off, seeing the peeved expression on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked. Videl felt a flash of anger, one that she worked hard to contain. "I'm a fighter Gohan," she explained to him patiently, "just like you and the others." "I know," Gohan raised his hands in surrender. He took up his stance with clear reluctance as he said, "Do you want to continue?" "No," Videl shook her head, knowing it was a waste of time. She looked at him, this warm, kind young man whom she had come to know, who was her best friend. 'I just wish that I felt more for him,' she thought regretfully, wishing she didn't have to do what she planned. "What?" Gohan blinked. "Gohan," Videl looked at that open, honest face sadly as she said, "I don't think we should see each other anymore." Gohan looked at her with an expression of honest confusion and she sighed, 'this is going to take some explaining.' Videl looked up, watching him disappearing into the afternoon sky. It was almost irritating, how good naturedly he had taken it all. 'Not that I'm entirely sure he understood,' she thought to herself tiredly. She rose into the air, wobbling a bit as she thought with a flash of irritation, 'Could he really not have figured out we were dating?' The ground streamed by beneath Videl as she soared on, enjoying the feel the air whistling by her. She smiled wryly, feeling the honest pleasure of this gift, the best present that Gohan had ever given her. 'And the only one,' she thought. The grasses soon gave way to rock, then desert sands blew around her as she let herself drop, coming down to rest on a simple stone tower. Short black hair fell into her eyes as she sat down on the warm stone, crossing her legs under her as she looked up at the blue sky, watching the white clouds drift by on the shockingly blue sky. "So what do I do now?" Videl muttered. She had always wanted to be the best fighter in the world, to live up to her father's legacy. Videl smiled to herself wryly, 'Not that Hercule was what all that he claimed to be.' Still, she had developed her physical strength, her fighting power, and for a time she had thought that she was at least the second best to her father. "Then I met Gohan," Videl muttered to herself as she lay flat on her back, cushioning her head with her arms. His first appearance as the Gold Fighter with his superhuman power, then 'Great Sayaman' and eventually meeting all the other Z fighters had just driven the point home. Her father wasn't the world's strongest, he had just been lucky that they hadn't chosen to compete against him. And his supposed victory over the deadly warrior Cell? He may have been there, but Videl doubted that Hercule had played any major role there. Videl didn't feel any anger for him, didn't even resent the deception that her father had carried out to the world. What she resented was her own inability, her complete lack of power. Working with Gohan showed her she merely had a shadow of the sort of power that he had, and even mastering flight under his training hadn't really helped. 'I may be able to use the sort of power that the other Z fighters do,' Videl thought, 'but I can't really do anything with the little bit that I have.' She sat up, closing her eyes for a moment as she mused, 'I want to compete on their level, I want to be able to find my own power.' Videl sighed softly, 'But I can't do that, not the way I am.' Videl rose to her feet, her stance casual, but there was a feeling of power all around her. The dust motes flew around her as she rose up into the air, hovering there a moment as she felt that simple realization come over her. "Then I guess I'll have to try and become something else," Videl concluded, soaring off with a destination clearly in mind. Bulma opened up the door, looking at Videl with a wry smile on the blue haired woman's face, seemingly unsurprised at seeing her at her door. "Gohan called me," she explained as she waved Videl in, "he was worried about you." Videl raised her eyebrows and followed her in as she said, "I wonder if he called all our friends or if he guessed I'd be coming here?" "I wouldn't underestimate Gohan's intelligence," Bulma scolded. "Oh?" Videl asked as she was sent to a seat at the kitchen table and Bulma got them some healthy fruit drinks from the fridge. Bulma looked amused as she said, "Gohan can be kind of dumb emotionally, but other than that he's pretty sharp." "Maybe," Videl didn't sound terribly convinced as she sat down, Bulma sitting just across from her. "Are you all alone here?" she asked. "Baby Trunks is here," Bulma smiled to herself fondly, "but Vegeta has taken off on another one of his training journeys again." "It must get lonely," Videl murmured, thinking back to all the times her father had left back when she was a little girl. "Not really," Bulma looked impish as she drawled, "I always have my, ahem, muscle massager to keep me company." It took Videl a moment to figure that out, then the girl blushed brightly under the clearly amused woman's gaze. "I wanted to ask you something," the dark haired girl quickly changed the subject to the reason that she had come there, "is there any way that a normal fighter can reach the sort of power levels a Z fighter can?" "A normal fighter," Bulma took a drink from her cold cup of juice as she continued on gravely, "meaning you." "Yes," Videl admitted. "No way," Bulma shook her head regretfully. "Oh come on," Videl protested, "a suit of battle armor, maybe?" "Whatever you gained in strength enhancement you'd loose in speed and maneuverability," Bulma said, "they'd take you apart." "Cybernetic enhancements, like the androids," Videl offered up the idea, looking across the table at Bulma intensely. "You'd really go that far?" Bulma raised delicate eyebrows, a bit surprised. "I don't know," Videl admitted. "Yamcha came to me for help a while back," Bulma said softly, "he's a Z fighter, but he was never able to... ascend, in the same way that the others have. His powers never grew, he never pushed himself in the same way the others did." "And he wanted you to enhance him," Videl said softly. "For what had once been between us I tried my best," Bulma softly said, "and failed. The only thing that I could give him wasn't enough for him, he still would have had to work hard for any possible increase in his power." "Oh," Videl blinked, wondering for a moment what had once been between Bulma and the former bandit. She stopped, something Bulma had said fully registering and asked her "So what did you come up with for him?" Bulma walked over to a dresser, pulling open a drawer and digging around inside while muttering comments under her breath as she came across various things like, "Oh there's where I put the dragon radar." Finally she pulled out a pair of gloves and tossed them to Videl and said, "Here." The black gloves were fingerless, the synthetic cloth glossy in the kitchen lights. On the back of each was a clear crystal, held onto the gloves by a simple golden ring. "What are they?" Videl asked, a bit hesitant to pull them on. "Chi resonators," Bulma explained. Videl blinked as she blurted, "You can manipulate that energy scientifically?" "It impacts the physical world," Bulma shrugged, "so a scientist should be able to study it." She took on a lecturing tone as she nodded to the gloves, "By manifesting a chi field the gloves will amplify the effect, giving you more energy to draw on. Eventually, you'd be able to generate that greater power level entirely naturally." "But you'd have to train hard to keep that power," Videl mused, "as well as to continue to grow in power, right?" Bulma nodded her agreement as Videl slipped the gloves on, tightening straps on her wrists till they fit. "Not bad," Videl murmured. "Don't try them out until you go outside," Bulma quickly cautioned her, having some experience with the girl's impatience. "Oh, right," Videl looked a little sheepish, "sorry."
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