Videl's Saiyan-Sized Appetite || C11: Diminishing Returns

“HAAAA-!”

Two beams of ki exploded against each other, clashing fiercely as the fighters behind them poured tons of power into the  waves of energy.  The ground cracked and broke beneath both of them, but neither yielded.
 Gohan actually felt himself sweating, using every ounce of his base strength and yet unable to force a victory against Videl’s beam.  Her ki was exploding with her rising weight, making him wonder how long it would be before he had to transform.

Videl was sweating profusely, even as she sustained her large energy wave with relative ease.  She had the ki to power it –  more than enough, really –  but the stamina…?  That was another question entirely.
 The force of her blast eventually barreled the combined ki towards Gohan, who barely managed to dodge while the beam flew off into the sky above them.

Gohan felt Videl’s ki approaching, dodging a punch from the heavyset fighter.  His own fist slammed into her side, but between her strength and mass the sensation of impact was dulled to her.
 She tried to counter with a kick, but heaving her heft to throw her leg out –  especially after such an exhausting beam clash –  proved too much and she whiffed the attack once more.

“Come on, Videl!  I know you have the strength, you just have to push yourself!”  Gohan found himself blocking and dodging with relative ease now, a fact that made his brow furrow in concern.
 For a while now, he’d noticed a worrying trend with Videl’s current method of training.  Her ki reserves grew steadily, but with more and more bulk piling on and not enough time to adjust, her speed and raw strength were beginning to wane.

“I am pushing myself!”  Videl scowled, throwing her entire body towards Gohan with a burst of ki that blew off the soles of her shoes.  The raw momentum behind her sudden lunge sent her crashing into Gohan, the duo becoming a mess of tangled limbs as they rolled and bounced along the ground.
 They eventually hit the side of a cliff, bouncing off and toppling to the ground beside each other after making a very humanoid-shaped crater in the rock.

Gohan slowly sat up, rolling his shoulders and trying to dispel the newfound soreness that racked him, but Videl simply lay on her back huffing and puffing.
 “Hey uh, Videl…?”  He began, a bit nervously.  “Maybe it’s in my head, but have you noticed your stamina kind of, decreasing as of lately..?”

Videl looked over at Gohan from the ground, giving a weak nod.  “Well, yeah…  maybe just a little.  Figured maybe I’m just not training hard enough…”  Videl had noticed her endurance lessening, but given her continued uptick in power she figured it was only a temporary hurdle.

“I think it’s less your training and more uh…  how quickly you’re growing.”  Gohan shifted closer, lightly patting and rubbing Videl’s flabby gut through her sweat-soaked T-shirt.  The act earned groans from Videl, who found even less reason to move from where she lay.
 “I know you’re enjoying gaining weight, and heck I’m…  kind of enjoying how big you’re getting too.”  His cheeks darkened.  “But, I’m just worried that your health may be starting to suffer a little, you know?”

Videl savored the sensation of Gohan rubbing and patting her belly –  one of her favorite feelings these days, really –  but paid complete attention to her boyfriend and teacher’s words.
 Gohan was always very straightforward with what he thought about her training and health, so she knew this came from a genuine place of concern…  not to mention, this was the first time in forever he’d even spoken up about her heft in a remotely negative way.

“Well..  I mean.  I honestly  don’t know how easy it’d be to slow down at this point.”  The raven-haired fatty admitted with a faint blush.  “I kind of just…  eat, without thinking about it these days.”
 She hesitated, before continuing.  “..And I’ve kind of just started enjoying growing even aside from our training, so…”

“Oh…  Oh-!”  Gohan blinked in realization.  ‘Guess I’m not the only one into the pure size side of all of this.’

“Yeah…”  Videl chuckled sheepishly, a lull of silence washing over the two of them.  “So, I guess…  What do we do about this, then?  I don’t really wanna stop, but I don’t want to get too unhealthy.”

Gohan pondered for a moment, rubbing his chin before an idea struck.  “Oh-  I know!  Bulma’s been looking into biology for a while now, ever since everything with the androids.  Maybe she could check you out and give us a second opinion?”

Bulma, giving her the equivalent of a check-up?  The thought was a bit embarrassing, when it was her gluttony causing the problem in the first place, but…
 “How soon can you get it set up?”  Videl struggled to sit up on her own, eventually using a bit of ki to float up to her feet.

“I’ll make the call today, I’m sure she’ll have time sometime this week.”  Gohan stood up, approaching Videl and leaning in to plant a soft kiss on her lips.  “Everything’s gonna work out, alright?”

“...Alright.”  Videl nodded, feeling more nervous than she had in some time.

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Next time || Chapter 12: Second Opinion