It took maybe half an hour to regale Kami with all of the awful stuff that was going to happen in the near future. Away from the others, I didn’t hold anything back, following Goku’s lead in trusting the Namekian to make the best choices for the future of humanity and possibly even the universe itself.
To Kami’s credit, he took the burden in stride, treating it with all the seriousness that such a subject deserved to be treated with. I had only known him for an hour or so, but I could see why he had claimed his role as Guardian of Earth.
When Kami and I returned to the garden, I felt lighter than I had in years. Getting all of that off my chest was like removing a weight I didn’t know I’d been carrying. Everything from Raditz to Majin Buu, out of my hands and all laid out for the Guardian of Earth to do with as he saw fit.
Dad was standing near the edge of the Lookout, staring out at the clouds below with a distant expression. It was clear that he was thinking about everything he had been told, and I was once again struck by the thought that this man would one day be the one and only Hercule Satan, World Martial Arts Champion and eventually, savior of that same world. It seemed laughable, but somehow I could already see the shadows of the man he would become.
Goku was standing a few feet away, stretching his arms over his head with a yawn. He noticed me approaching and his resulting grin reminded me of a golden retriever smiling as its master came back. I returned it and his wave, stepping up to him.
“Hey, Goku?”
He tilted his head. “Yeah?”
“Wanna spar?”
Goku’s face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. “Really? You wanna fight? Yeah, let’s do it!”
He dropped into a stance immediately, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. I couldn’t help but laugh at his enthusiasm. Here I was, a four year old girl asking him to throw hands, and he looked like I’d just offered him an all-you-can-eat buffet.
“W-wait, hold on!” Dad was back in an instant, his face pale. “Videl, you can’t be serious!!”
“I’m serious, Dad.” nodded. “I need to know where I stand, and there’s no better way to do that than fighting someone stronger than me.”
Dad gaped and Goku grinned. “That’s the spirit! Oh, this is gonna be fun!”
Dad looked between us, his jaw working as the instinct to protect his little girl warred with the fact that he’d already seen said little girl do things he couldn’t explain. Finally, he let out a long breath and stepped back, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Fine,” he muttered. “But if she gets hurt, you’re gonna have to deal with me, mister.”
“Don’t worry! I’ve got tons of practice sparring. We’ll keep this on her level.” Goku assured, and my eyes narrowed as he got into a loose stance.
Well, now I’ve gotta make him try I thought, my heart beating faster at the notion of fighting the man in front of me. The fighting spirit of Videl and my own competitive nature mingled in my chest, urging me to try my hardest to make Goku take me seriously. I knew it was unlikely, but it was definitely enough to get me fired up.
I settled into my own stance, much more rigid than his. He grinned widely as he saw this, excitement lighting up his eyes. “Alright, kid! Hit me with everything you’ve got!”
“With pleasure,” I said, before lunging forward with all my strength.
I closed the distance between us in the blink of an eye, muscles tensing as I threw a straight jab right at his center of mass. Goku leaned to the side, letting my fist pass by him close enough to ruffle his gi. I planted my foot, pivoted, and lashed out with a leg in an attempt to catch him off guard, but he blocked it with a hand and grabbed my shoe.
I used his grip as an anchor to lift myself up, shooting my other foot towards his face, and when he blocked that too, I used his hand as a platform to kick off of, wrenching myself out of his grip and flipping backward. I landed in a crouch, my shoes squeaking against tile, before my legs tensed and I was off again.
I came in low this time, weaving a quick combination of jabs and body blows that Goku swayed away from. He wasn’t even moving his feet; just leaning, bobbing, letting my fists cut through empty air like he was dodging raindrops.
“Not bad!” he said cheerfully, sidestepping a roundhouse that I had to jump to even achieve. “You’re pretty fast and you hit hard! I wish I fought you a few years ago!”
I grit my teeth at the compliment, pressing forward with renewed vigor. A kick, hook, and a feinted jab into an elbow were all deflected or dodged with the same infuriating ease. Goku weaved through my offense with that smile on his face, and I could feel myself getting frustrated as my blows failed to actually catch.
He’s not even trying.
Of course he wasn’t. This was Goku we were talking about here. Fighting was literally ingrained into his DNA, and right in this moment, he was the strongest being on the entire planet. And I was just a little girl with the memories of someone far older.
Still, this was a learning experience. And who better to learn from than the best?
Frustration was replaced with excitement and my speed increased as I got into a flow, and as the spar continued across the length of the lookout, Goku began throwing in a few tips as he effortlessly dodged my attacks.
“You’re dropping your guard after your left hook!”
I adjusted, throwing another combination. This time, I kept my hands up after the hook.
“That’s better!” he complimented even as he effortlessly parried my attacks. “But you’re telegraphing your kicks. I can tell which one’s coming before your leg even moves.”
I ground my teeth and tried to fix that too, chambering my kicks tighter and throwing them from angles that didn’t scream “I’m about to kick you” quite so loudly. My mind knew the trick, but my body was a step behind and it was like trying to plug a dozen holes in a leaky boat while standing in the middle of a river, but I kept at it.
This is incredible.
Goku was adjusting his difficulty on the fly, matching me just enough to push me without overwhelming me. I threw an overhead that he caught in both hands, and I felt the raw power behind his grip. It was like my fist had been caught in a hydraulic press.
“Your technique’s a little rough,” he admitted, spinning me around by my own fist before letting go. I caught myself before I stumbled, getting my footing. “But you’ve got the power and the speed. What do you say we take this up a notch?”
My resulting grin was almost as bright as his. “Let’s do it.”
Goku shifted his weight, and the air around him changed in an invisible way. I tensed as every instinct I had screamed at me to be careful of the threat in front of me.
“Here I come!” he announced, and then he was moving.
The first punch came fast, but not so fast that I couldn’t track it. I slipped to the side and immediately regretted it as his follow-up knee shot toward my midsection. I twisted, barely deflecting it with my forearm, and the impact rattled through my bones like I’d been hit with a bat.
Keep your guard up! I reminded myself, snapping my arms back into position just in time to catch a jab aimed at my shoulder. The force pushed me back a step, my shoes scraping against marble before I kicked off.
I kept over Goku's head, using my smaller size to my advantage as I made my profile as tiny as possible. My hand slapped against his shoulder as I twisted around him, aiming a kick toward the back of his hip that he jumped forward to avoid.
The moment my feet were on the ground again, he turned and came in with a lightning-fast combo. Caught off guard, I did my best to weather it. I parried the jab, wincing at the pain caused by just deflecting such a strike, before ducking low underneath the following hook. I came up from below with an upper cut, but Goku leaned well out of the way, leaving me floundering in the face of the subsequent elbow that came mere inches from my face.
“Nice! You’re learning fast!”
I didn’t have time to feel proud of myself as his leg swept low, I jumped over it, chambering my knee tight before snapping a kick out toward his chest without telegraphing it, just like he said. He leaned back just enough for my foot to graze his gi, and I pressed the advantage, throwing a quick one-two that forced him to actually step back for once.
He let me do that, I knew. But still, even the fact that he was choosing to step back meant I was doing something right.
The exchange continued, and I slowly fell into a rythm, if you could even call it that. Goku would press forward with a burst of strikes, and I would do everything in my power to keep up. Every time I thought I had figured out his pattern, he’d shift it. A hook where I expected a jab, a knee where I expected a kick; he was testing me from every angle, probing for weaknesses and finding them easily.
But I was learning. Each exchange taught me something, and I could feel the gaps in my technique shrinking by degrees. When he threw a cross that I managed to slip rather than tank, I countered with a body shot that actually connected with his midsection.
Goku grinned down at me. “Good! Keep that guard tight.”
His palm came sweeping toward my shoulder to try and grab me and I dropped, rolling underneath his arm and coming up on his blind side. I aimed a kick toward his ribs and this time it actually connected solidly. It felt like I just kicked a brick wall, and I had to fight down a groan as my toes curled in my shoe from the pain.
Goku glanced down at where my foot had struck, then back at me, his grin widening. “Nice one!”
Okay, that one he definitely let land. But I’d take it.
We separated for a moment, both catching our breath. Well, I was; Goku looked the same as ever. I was soaked with sweat to the point that I could literally feel it beading its way down my back under my shirt. My arms were starting to get heavy from striking and blocking, and the less said about my core and my legs, the better.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, clearly keyed in to my fatigue.
“Tired,” I admitted, wiping my forehead with the back of my wrist. “But also good. Really good.”
“I think that’s enough for now,” he said, and I sagged a bit, but nodded, finally relaxing my tense muscles.
I rolled my shoulders, wincing slightly. I could already tell I was going to have some colorful bruises tomorrow. But that was fine. More than fine.
Dad was at my side before I could even take a step, his hands hovering over me like he wasn’t sure where to touch in case something was broken. I gently pushed him away,only slightly annoyed by the concern.
“Dad, I’m fine,” I assured as he took a step back. “I’ve had worse falling off the jungle gym.”
I turned to Goku, nodding my head and thanks. “Thank you, Goku. That was exactly what I needed.”
“Anytime!” He gave me a thumbs up, his smile as bright as ever. “That was a lot of fun. I look forward to having a real match when you’re a little older. You’ve got some serious potential!”
I felt a flush of pride at that. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Dad hovered nearby, looking a bit out of his depth, like usual. He sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “I still don’t know about all this. All this stuff is flying way over my head. Kinda feels like I’m dreaming, haha. But it’s felt like that for a while now...”
He let out a long breath through his nose, and his shoulders dropped. “But I know you’re gonna do this whether I’m on board or not. You’ve already made up your mind.” He looked at me, and there was a surprising amount of resolve in his expression. “So I’m not gonna sit on the sidelines while my little girl throws herself at the end of the world.”
My chest tightened, and I felt both sets of memories swell with affection for this man.
“That’s really brave, Dad,” I said softly. “But you’ve got a lot of training to do.”
He blinked, then laughed. “Yeah, I figured.”
“You should talk to Master Roshi,” Goku chimed in, and Dad’s head whipped toward him. “He trained me and a bunch of other guys. He’s pretty old and kind of weird, but he knows his stuff. He’ll whip you into shape in no time!”
As little as I wanted my dad around the perverted Turtle Hermit and his influence, Goku had a pretty good point. Master Roshi’s unique way of training could take the most hopeless novice and turn them into a real fighting force, assuming they were stubborn enough to put up with his unique teaching methods.
“That’s not a bad idea,” I said reluctantly.
Dad’s eyes widened, “M-Master Roshi? You mean the Turtle Hermit? I’ve heard stories about him... Is he even still alive?”
Goku laughed, scratching his cheek. “Oh yeah, he’s alive! He trained me and a few of my friends. His training is pretty tough, but it’s definitely worth it!”
Dad looked like he was chewing on a brick, but after a moment he let out a breath and nodded slowly. “I’d rather train in my usual dojo but if my baby girl thinks it’s a good idea, I guess I’ll look into it.”
Kami, who had been watching the exchange in silence, stepped forward to chime in. “If I may,” he said, drawing everyone’s attention. “Videl will need consistent training and guidance in the coming years. Staying here on the Lookout is not ideal. I fear I shall have a lot on my plate in the coming days, and Mr Popo has responsibilities of his own.”
He turned to Goku, “Perhaps Goku could take care of her training for the time being? I’m sure young Gohan could use the company of one his age as well.”
Goku blinked, then smiled widely. “Oh, that’s a great idea! Chi-Chi’s been saying something like that. She’ll be happy to have another kid around the house!”
Somehow, I doubted that, but I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Training with Goku was about as good as it could possibly get for someone in my position.
“I’m okay with that,” I said, turning to Dad. “If you’re okay with it.”
Dad looked like he wanted to argue, but after a moment, his shoulders sagged. “If you think it’s for the best, sweetie...”
“I do,” I said, feeling a bit bad for the look I put on his face.
Dad knelt down in front of me, his big hands resting on my shoulders.
“You call me if anything goes wrong, you hear?” he said, his voice thick. “Any of this alien stuff, any of this future stuff, anything at all. I don’t care if you’re on the moon, you pick up the phone and call your old man.”
“I will, Dad.” I put my small hands over his, squeezing right. “I promise.”
He pulled me into a hug that could have crushed a normal kid, and I let him. I buried my face in his chest, feeling a bit emotional despite myself.
“I’m gonna get stronger too,” he murmured into my hair. “I’m gonna find that old turtle guy and train so hard he’ll be begging me to stop. And then next time I see you, maybe you can spar with your old man.”
I pulled back, grinning up at him. “Deal.”
He straightened up and turned to Goku, his expression shifting into something more guarded. He extended a hand, and Goku took it without hesitation.
“You take care of my little girl,” Dad said, his voice more dangerous than I’d ever heard it. “I’m trusting you with the most important thing in my life.”
Goku nodded seriously. “I’ll treat her like she’s my own kid, I promise.”
Dad nodded once, firmly, and let go of his hand. He turned back to me one last time, his eyes glistening. Then he sniffed loudly, rubbed his nose, and let out a big, theatrical laugh.
“Alright! I’m gonna get a lot stronger, don’t you worry!”
“I believe in you, Dad,” I grinned, and he responded with a big thumbs up, before turning and walking toward the edge of the Lookout. I tilted my head, watching as he froze the moment he looked over the edge.
He turned back to us, face pale and knees wobbling. “Uh... So how do I get back down?”
After a good-hearted laugh, Mr. Popo was happy to give him a ride.