(Some time later)
The run through Mount Paozu Gohan had selected led the pair through various different areas of the region across every kind of terrain you could possibly imagine. This included; mountains, bridges, grasslands, streams, banks, rocky wastelands and forests, with one of the legs through the fields even involving Videl being chased by a hungry T-Rex, much to an observing Zangya's amusement.
When the poor girl had a go at Gohan after losing the damn thing after three miles of screaming and sprinting later, the boy laughed it off as something she was just going to have to get used to. He went on to explain that this routine was essential in improving her endurance, agility, footedness and balance, all of which they were able to cover in this first part of the morning. It was a trek that pushed Videl to her absolute limits.
Following their rigorous twenty mile jog which nearly saw the poor youngster faint from exhaustion, the demi-Saiyan then took her to a nearby village to show her what would eventually become her mid-morning exercises. It was at this very sanctuary in the countryside where a couple of familiar faces were already standing by and waiting for their arrival.
Having stopped on an expanse of rolling hillsides, Videl stood hunched over, pouring sweat and breathing heavily.
"That… was insane…" she groaned. If she wasn't wearing eighty kilos of weight that lap of the region would have been so much easier.
Gohan chuckled as he looked down at the thoroughly exhausted girl, "You did pretty well on your first run. But we're not stopping yet. We've got a lot more to cover before our day is through and since we're starting out late, we're really going to have to fly through this." When he saw the raven haired fighter look at him in disbelief, the spiky haired youngster then turned his attention to the hills, where two people could be seen standing nearby. One of them was an elderly man in a martial arts outfit and with white hair, and the other was a young girl with brown hair tied into two pigtails, and was wearing a yellow shirt and red suspenders. "Now it's time to try your hand at agriculture."
"Uhh… agri-what?" Videl shook her head, wondering if she heard him right.
When the pair lumbered over to the two people waiting nearby, the Super Saiyan 2 gave them a fond greeting. "Hey, Mr. Lao."
"Good morning, Gohan," the white haired elder exclaimed with a smile. "How are you doing today?"
"Great. Just going for a little bit of a run across the countryside with my friend," the demi-Saiyan chirped, before then turning his attention to the little girl standing beside the martial artist. He beamed as soon as his eyes fell upon her, "Hey, Lime. Long time no see."
The adolescent immediately brightened at the sight of the boy and, stepping up to him, immediately took his hand in hers, "Welcome back, Gohan. It's great to see you again." Giggling when she saw the Saiyan grin at her as well, she then looked up at the locks standing atop his head. "You look a little… different today. Did you grow taller?"
"Heh. Sort of," the teen replied, at the same time flicking his bang out of his face. "I'm not sure if this counts though."
"Well, I think your hair looks awesome," Lime replied, ecstatic at seeing her friend again after all these weeks. "You should keep it like that."
"Really? You don't think it makes me look scary?"
"No. Not at all," the youngster shook her head. "You could make it a little bit shorter though, so that it doesn't get in the way."
"Yeah. I'm thinking of getting it cut as well."
Videl, noting how friendly the two youngsters were acting with each other, then turned her attention to the Super Saiyan standing alongside her, "Hey Gohan, who's this?"
"Oh, yeah. Sorry Videl" Quickly turning back to his friend and student, the demi-Saiyan gestured her towards the folks in front of them. "This is Mr. Lao and his granddaughter Lime. I met them a couple of months ago while I was doing some grocery shopping for mum before the Cell Games. They're really good people."
Blinking in realization, the raven haired girl smiled at the two neighbors and bowed, "It's very nice to meet you, sir."
Lao beamed at the girl's polite greeting and bowed to her as well, "And it's a pleasure to meet you too, Ms. Satan. Welcome to our village."
While Videl was made friendly small talk with the elderly martial artist, she failed to notice the girl standing next to him give her a funny look, as well as quick glance between her and Gohan. Taking note of the similar uniforms they were wearing and how this newcomer was a friend of the demi-Saiyan's and not a relative, Lime couldn't help but feel a little bit suspicious as to what was going on between them.
Turning back to her teacher, Videl threw him an inquisitive look, "So Gohan, what am I going to be doing while I'm out here?"
Grinning, the young Saiyan then directed her attention toward the fields behind the two villagers, "So far you've only covered the early morning portion of your training. Now it's time to get started on your mid-morning exercise. This will consist of you plowing these fields with your bare hands."
The young martial artist looked at him as if he'd grown a second head, "My… bare hands…?"
Nodding, Gohan lifted his right and showed her his palm, "This will help build the strength and dexterity of your fingers. By using them to toil away at the ground, you'll be able to strengthen them enough to move on to much harder tasks." He then lowered his arm to his side and smiled. "I built up my strength by surviving in the wild using only my hands and feet. This is pretty much the same concept, only confined to a specific routine."
"O-kay," Videl murmured, still feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the enormity of the task that was being asked of her. Swallowing nervously, she turned away from him to gaze across at the valley, "How long… do you want me to do this task for?"
"Oh… maybe an hour or so. We'll see how well you do and if you do well I'll get you to stop early," Gohan chirped before then nodding her towards the hills. "Better get crackin'."
Sucking it up, Videl quickly sprinted out onto the square patch on the hillside and, starting from one end, began to dig. Within moments the spunky young fighter started plowing furrows into the ground up and down section of earth, moving at a labored pace yet still making sure she kept right on task. She knew that the faster she did this, the sooner she would be able to move on to the boy's next assignment.
Hopefully it would be something more along the lines of what she originally came here for.
While Gohan stood by watching her with a pleased look on his face, he sensed Mr. Lao step across to stand alongside him.
"I see you're getting her to go through Master Roshi's classical Turtle School routine."
"Oh. You've heard about Master Roshi's training regimen?" the demi-Saiyan asked curiously.
"I've been around for quite a while, lad… and as an old hand in martial arts you can bet I've heard a lot about some of the big wigs over the years, your father included," Mr. Lao replied, a mischievous smile ever present as he kept his gaze fixed firmly upon the raven haired girl toiling away at the earth.
Upon taking this in, Gohan sprouted a grin, "Well… I guess you can say I'm taking a lot after a person who'd actually been a student of the old Turtle Hermit."
"That's good. There's no better place to start then from the ground up," the elder villager remarked in a pleased tone of voice. "I'm assuming your friend's already developed some strong foundations to build upon, seeing as how she already appears to be using weighted clothing."
"That's right," Gohan said, but then turned away when he felt a tug on his shirt. Glancing to his right, he saw Lime looking up at him with narrowed eyes and a serious scowl on her face.
"Gohan… who is this girl?"
Caught a little off guard by the sudden question from the rather irate looking girl, the Super Saiyan smiled back at her in his usual, pleasant manner, in hopes of trying to lighten her mood, "She's Videl; a friend I met at the Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament several weeks ago."
The brown haired girl frowned, "So… she's… just a friend to you?"
"Uh-huh. Yeah. This is… actually the third time we've met up with each other to hang out. She'll be staying over at my place while I train her, so you'll probably be seeing her around a lot." Confusion then suddenly came across his face as he continued to gaze down at his country friend, "Why do you ask?"
Looking away quickly, Lime smiled and slipped her hands behind her back, "No reason. I was just curious." When she sensed relief wash over his expression and his gaze turn to keep watching his friend's progress, the granddaughter of Mr. Lao looked up to gaze at him once again, but this time with a hint of concern. Her eyes cutting between him and the raven haired girl he was observing, for the next hour or so Lime stood back quietly and watched closely as Videl dug away at the field.
Meanwhile, positioned on a fence made of rock and stone nearby, an equally quiet Zangya and Piccolo could be seen sitting and standing there respectively, both with their arms crossed and both with firm, unchanging expressions in play. Needless to say, judging from Videl's progress, they knew she was in for one hell of a first week…
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