Dragon Ball V: Chapter 5 (Patreon)

We trained in the gravity chamber pretty much every day after that. 

The first days were hard on both of us, but me especially. My body wasn't used to the intense training and the first few mornings after training I woke up feeling like someone had beaten me with a bat while I slept. Goku was mostly fine, but  even he was feeling the results of his personal training sessions that he took after I tapped out.

Chi-Chi made sure that we got the proper rest and food between sessions. Honestly, that woman was a godsend. She was pretty wary of the whole thing at first, regularly chastising Goku and I for taking it too far when we finally dragged ourselves back inside after a long day of training, but eventually she mellowed out, and now all we got was a few annoyed huffs as she fretted over our bruises. I guess she realized that neither of us had any intentions of taking it easy and decided to just make sure we were treated as well as possible.

Slowly but surely, things got easier. Weeks turned to months and my body slowly acclimated to the new gravity. Then it was time to turn things up a notch. 1.5Gs became 1.8, then 2.0 as the days ticked by. I felt each point acutely, a weight on my very being pulling me down to earth with ever increasing strength, but I pushed through. My body adapted, muscles becoming harder, more flexible underneath the strain.

It went without saying that Goku always got to that point before me. Saiyan biology was suited for higher gravity in the first place, Heck, though he was out of practice, Goku had suffered ten times earth's gravity as a literal baby. It didn't take him long to get back into the swing of things, so to speak, and it felt like it only took a few hours for him to do what took me days.

He always waited for me to catch up, of course, always waiting for me to take things at my own pace, until I was ready to take it up to the next level.

In the present, I was struggling to keep my breath under the crushing weight pressing all around me. Sweat poured down my face and neck, soaking my skin and hair enough that drops of perspiration fell in front of my field of vision. I wiped my face for all the good it did me, and turned just in time to catch Goku's bare foot on my forearm.

“There we go! Now you're getting it!” He said, flipping backwards as I lashed out with a kick of my own. My knees nearly buckled as I landed on the ground but my will didn't waver. Setting my stance, I jumped after him, throwing a barrage of punches at a snail's pace.

Goku effortlessly weaved between each and every one of them, before swinging a backhand aimed towards my face. I ducked, grabbing the arm as it passed and using it to lift and swing myself towards him. My foot landed square in his chest, but that short distance had drained most of the power from the strike so all it really did was push him back a little. 

Goku's grin widened as I fell back down to the ground. “Good thinking! But remember, since you're small, you'll need to put a lot more force into your movements if you want them to have an impact, especially under this gravity.”

I breathed deep and pressed forward, will and determination driving me to push myself to the limits and even further beyond. I was almost at my breaking point, but Goku was barely trying, and that got to me a little more than it probably should have.

I knew he was out of my league---he was freaking Goku after all, but just once, just once, I wanted to feel my fist connect with his face.

I threw a right cross with everything I had. Goku leaned back just enough for my knuckles to graze the tip of his nose.

“Ooh, close one!” He laughed, bouncing back “You're getting fired up, huh? I like it!”

In response, I moved even faster. My fists blurred as I fought through the pain and weight of the world pressing down around me. Under this gravity, everything was sluggish, like the air itself had turned to mud. But I pushed through it, channeling everything I had into these few moments.

Goku's grin widener we he noticed th change. “That's the spirit! You've really improved, Videl!”

The praise barely registered as I threw myself at him, feinting a hook into a jab and then a spinning kick. Goku twisted, catching me by the back of my shirt and redirecting my momentum past him. I stumbled to stay in my feet and whipped around with a spinning elbow aimed at his temple.

He slapped it away and swung his much longer leg in a sweep aimed towards my mid section. I ducked underneath it, planting my palms on the ground and pushing off with a mule kick. Goku ducked just in time and my feet sailed over his hair, followed by the rest of my body.

I landed hard, one hand hitting the floor to steady myself, and immediately launched back at him. I didn't make it far before I stumbled and fell to my hands and knees, completely and utterly gassed.

Damn it. My arms trembled, sweat dripping on the floor in front of me. I tried to push myself back to my feet, and nearly collapsed from the effort. C’mon! Move!.

No use. It didn't matter how hard I tried, I wasn't able to get back up. I sucked in lungfuls of air, but the added oxygen did little to smooth fire in my muscles that just refused to go out

A soft beep echoed through the chamber, and the crushing weight vanished so suddenly that my arms nearly buckled the other way. I gasped as the pressure released, and looked up to find Goku stretching by the console.

“That was a great workout!” he said, beaming down at me. I stared at him for a long moment, before I dropped my forehead against the floor and groaned.

A few minutes later, the door hissed open, letting in a rush of fresh air that felt like heaven against my sweaty skin. I was still sprawled on the floor, limbs spread out like a starfish, when a familiar voice called out.

“Videl!”

I lifted my head just enough to see Gohan standing in the doorway, tail swishing behind him excitedly. He took in my pitiful state and seemed little concerned.

“Are you okay?”

“M'fine,” I mumbled into the floor. “Just give me a second.”

Goku chuckled, gently laying a towel on the floor beside me. “She's just tired, Gohan. She'll be up in a minute.”

I grabbed the towel and pressed it against my face, using it to mop up enough sweat that I could see without blinking through stinging eyes. After a moment, I pushed myself up onto my knees and then onto wobbly legs.

“Are you sure you're okay?” Gohan asked again, hands clasped in front of him.

“Just walking it off, Gohan,” I said, taking a couple of careful steps. My legs felt like they'd been replaced by overcooked noodles, but I managed to walk without falling on my face.

Upon seeing that I was actually okay, Gohan's face lightened considerably. He bounded into the room, stepping over a puddle of sweat as he bounced around. “Do you wanna play? I'm all done with my homework so I can!”

“Give her a minute to breathe, Gohan,” Goku laughed from beside the console, rolling his shoulders. “She just worked really hard.”

“I'm fine,” I stood to my full height, watching as  Gohan's face lit up. “We can play Gohan, but how about we make it a little more fun?”

Gohan tilted his head, while watched me hobble to the console with a knowing grin. Clearly, he already knew where I was going with this.

“Don't turn it up too much,” he said as I took his place in front of the console. 

“'Course, I don't want to hurt him.” I tapped a few buttons on the console, glancing back at Gohan who was watching me, his tail flicking curiously behind him. “We'll play tag, okay? But we'll do it in here.”

Gohan looked around at the room. It was smaller than the yard and didn't have as many fun obstacles as the woods. I watched as his face scrunched. “Um, okay. But I think it'll be too easy.”

I grinned in response and dialed the gravity up, letting it sit at an easy 1.2, and setting it there. The walls hummed to life, casting the entire room in a gentle red hue, before a gentle weight settle across all of us. Gohan stumbled, his eyes going wide as he put his hands on his knees to steady himself. “W-Woah!”

“There. That should make it a little bit harder, don't you think?” I said, watching with some amusement as he rose back to his full height. HIs tail drooped towards the floor, twitching before rising and wrapping around his waist almost instinctually. 

“W-wow, it's like the whole world got heavier!” he declared, taking one step and immediately listing sideways. He caught himself on his heel, grinning. “B-but it's okay! I can do this!”

“Then you'd better start running,” I said, dropping low. “Because I'm it.”

Gohan's eyes went wide and he turned to run, and almost immediately ate it as his legs failed to compensate for the sudden shift in weight. He hit the floor with a squeak but quickly scrambled back to his feet, more dazed than hurt. I let him recover before starting after him.

He adjusted pretty dang quickly to the new environment. I let him sort of get the hang of it, lagging a step behind and not catching him when I could, though, which turned out to be a mistake as within ten minutes he was weaving around the chamber with his hands out like an airplane, and I had to actually work to catch the little gremlin because I was so darned tired.

Goku watched us from the doorway for a little while before deciding to join in as a referee-slash-moving obstacle. It was exhausting, especially after such a tough training session, but I had a smile on my face the entire time, up until we all went inside to eat enough food to bankrupt a small nation.

It had been months since Hercule Satan had dragged himself out of the water and into the arms of the Turtle Hermit school. Four. Grueling. Months.

Hercule was no stranger to intense training, but the Turtle Hermit had more than earned his reputation as a master martial artist, treating Hercule to a training so incredibly gruelling that he was prettty sure that it could be classified as actual torture in some placed. The first month, he woke up wishing he died in his sleep just because of the pain wracking his body every moment of every day.

But he pushed through it for his little girl. Even as he swam laps around the island with that turtle shell on his back, his arms on fire and his lungs gasping for air they wouldn't get, he didn't stop. He had to get stronger, and this was the way to do it, so he was going to stick to it no matter how much it hurt!

Eventually, he got used to the pain and bruises. The burn in his arms as he did his laps faded, and he finished them quicker and quicker. His body, torn down again and again, came back stronger. His old calluses had been paved over by new ones, and his muscles grew even more defined. Powerful.

He recalled something his old master said.

“The body and the will are linked. When one falters, the other picks up the slack, but when both are working toward a common goal, pretty much anything is possible. When you work at something with single-minded determination, no other motives or reasons plaguing your mind, then you'll start improving by leaps and bounds. You won't even recognize yourself by the time your done.”

As Hercule clenched his fist, feeling the power behind his thick fingers, he chuckled as he realized his master had been right.

One morning, the routine changed. Hercule stepped out onto the island, turtle shell fastened tightly to his back, only to stop as Roshi held out a hand.

“Take that thing off. You won't be needing it anymore.”

Hercule blinked. “What?”

“You heard me, youngster.” Roshi waved a hand at the shell on his back. “I'd say you've just about outgrown that thing. Go ahead and take it off for me.”

Hercule hesitated for a moment, before unstrapping the heavy shell and letting it fall off of his back. It hit the ground with a heavy thud and fell on its side and he rolled his shoulders, amazed by how incredibly light he felt. “Woah!”

He bounced on the balls of his feet and threw a quick one-two at the air. His fists snapped out so fast he could barely even keep up with them, and he gawked.

Roshi shuffled over, chuckling. He prodded the discarded shell with his staff. “Take a good look at that thing, youngster. You've been wearing it dawn to dusk for half a year. Your muscles acclimated to it, growing tougher and denser carrying it. Even your heart and lungs got stronger just trying to keep everything running under all that weight.”

Roshi stepped away from the shell, stepping across from Hercule and stretching his back. “Now then, come here youngster and let's see what six months of my cooking bought you.”

Hercule didn't need to be told twice. He was more than ready to pay the old man back for everything he'd been through. He rolled his shoulders and got into a stance, waiting just long enough for Roshi to return the favor, before stepping towards the old man.

He dashed across the sandy beach and came in plain and simple, forgoing theatrics for good old fashion basics. He threw a straight jab, waiting until the last moment to snap his arm out towards Roshi's face. The Turtle Hermit swayed away from his blow as usual, but the motion wasn't nearly as  casual as it usually was, and Hercule wasn't done.

They danced across the beach, Hercule throwing punches and kicks like they came second nature to him. He was faster and stronger than before, yet the old man was keeping up with him just as well as before. Or at least it seemed like that.

It took a few more exchanges for Hercule to realize that something had changed.  It happened as Roshi slipped underneath a punch; straying just close enough that Hercule's fist caught a bead of sweat dripping down his neck.

A fee months ago, Roshi never would have sweated from anything but the heat. Was he actually trying?

Hercule chased that idea, taking up another notch and then three, moving with everything he had. Sand formed clouds around them as they battled it out, and Roshi chuckled at his student's zeal.

"There's no doubt about it; you've gotten better." Hercule froze as the old man suddenly grabbed his fist on the next strike, stopping it cold with no effort at all. "But you've still got a ways to go."

The old man pushed him back and Hercule fell back in the sand, panting and swearing. Roshi stroked his beard, gazing down at him. "I must say, you're shaping up quite nicely. Why, if I push you hard enough, you may become one of my best students yet."

Hercule would have beamed at the praise if he wasn't so tired. That had taken more out of him than he had realized.

He turned, motioning for Hercule to follow him.. "We're done for now. It's time for the next part of your training. Come with me."

Roshi led him inside the house and shuffled into the nearby closet, digging around for something as Hercule watched curiously.

"The Turtle Hermit School isn't for everyone, but you've been doing a good job of keeping up with what I've asked you" Roshi said as he knelt down and popped the chest open. "I'd say you've just about earned this."

Roshi turned around with a bundle of orange fabric in his hands. It was a gi, alongside a matching pair of wristbands.

"Go on then," Roshi offered it to him. "Take it."

Hercule reached out with both hands, taking the gi. His eyes bulged as it was placed into his hands. "W-What the!?"

"These weighted clothes will provide much more resistance than the turtle shell. I got the idea from Kami. It worked wonders for Goku, and you've earned the right to wear the colors of my school."

Hercule realized the honor he'd been given and bowed low. "T-Thank you, Master Roshi! I promise, I won't disappoint you!"

"I'm sure you won't," Roshi tapped his cane on the ground. "Now then, go ahead and put those on and give me a couple laps around the island." 

Hercule changed into the gi right there in the house, not wanting to waste a second, and immediately regretted every decision that had led him to this moment. The shirt alone weighed more than the turtle shell!

"What... hah... is this thing MADE of!?" he wheezed, taking his first few steps and feeling his entire body scream in protest.

"A trade secret," Roshi said cheerfully from his lawn chair, magazine already open on his lap. "Now come on, youngster! Two laps! Put your back into it!"

Hercule let out a groan that came straight from his soul, and started to run.