Spike grit his teeth as he landed hard on the cold floor of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, with his feet shaking he began to push himself up and look at the Saiyan hovering in the air. His breathing came in a few labored gasps as he fought just to keep himself standing.

"Alright Spike, that's enough for now, we'll pick back up in an hour." The Saiyan taskmaster dismissed as she easily floated down to him.

"Thank you Sensei..." Spike mumbled as Paolina had him sling an arm over her shoulders. He took a minute as they walked back to the time house to actually look at the differences between the two of them, it had only been a couple months inside the chamber but already he was growing up to a much more athletic and powerful size. His baby fat had almost completely disappeared except for a small deposit on his stomach that he was already on the way to fixing.

The Saiyan's training style had taken on much of what her last mentor's had been; strength by pain. By subjecting him to combat against her with just a little holding back his muscles quickly began to go into overdrive to keep up with the punishment and gravity training... in just the couple of months they had been in the chamber he had already grown to nearly twice his size. His senses were sharpening and he found himself smelling new scents just from being around Paolina alone, his mind worked idly on the idea of just what he would smell once the two of them left the chamber... in a year everything would feel so foreign and he'd be able to rediscover his old love of books.

And meat! Oh by Celestia did he enjoy the meat that Paolina had been cooking alongside the vegetables and sushi, he had been more than a little apprehensive at first, after he tried it though he just couldn't help but await their mealtimes with eagerness as he began to cook more and more for the two of them and began trying new spices that continued to send his mind into bliss every time he took a whiff.

Paolina eased him onto the bed that he had taken and smiled at him. "Great job today Spike, keep up the training like that and soon you might even be able to fight against Celestia herself." The growing dragon nodded slowly, taking a quiet sniff of the air as he let his mind get wrapped in the scent of the warrior standing nearby. He could certainly understand why most adult ponies loved to smell new things like flowers or treats, it was absolute bliss as his mind began to wander with each breath.

"Yeah..." He groaned as he began to stretch out and lay on the bed, he quickly slid the upper body armor of his outfit off and kicked off his boots. "... Heh... If I keep this up I might just be able to beat you."

The Saiyan rolled her eyes as she sat down on her bed. "You wish, you still haven't even been able to reach the point where you could stand up to my Super Saiyan form, once you can do that, then you just might have a shot at beating me."

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Spike took an even breath as he and his mentor separated from their clash, his arms and legs were sore but he was only able to smirk as he noticed the golden-haired Saiyan was panting just as hard as he was. She refused to show him that she was tired though, the two had been going at each other for the last half a day so he could practically hear her stomach growling at the both of them. He let out a small chuckle as she straightened.

"Alright, that's enough for now... I'm pretty sure you need something to eat too." She let the energy stop flowing to her super form and her hair changed back to its usual brown color. Spike had a small smile as he landed next to her, he closed his eyes and took a small breath, enjoying the scent of the Saiyan who had been training him for almost a year now, and boy had he grown... he went from being about knee height to the Saiyan to only a half-foot shorter than her, true that made him about as tall as most ponies that weren't bodybuilders, but it was still grating every so often when Paolina did point out his height difference.

"Hey Paolina..." He starts quietly, getting the Saiyan to turn to him as he steps a little closer. "...I... I've been thinking... I want to thank you for... well... for helping me with getting stronger..."

"Oh..." Paolina replied with a slight blush as she suddenly realized just how close the dragon was. "Y-yeah, it's not a problem Spike... I'm happy to help, you know... it could come in handy later."

Spike gave a small chuckle as he pulled the Saiyan into a hug. "Yeah, thank you so much Lina..." He said as he took a breath of the Saiyan's scent, it was a musky scent that he couldn't quite put a name to but loved nonetheless. As he broke the hug he let out a small sigh. "The only information that Princess Celestia was really able to get Twilight about dragons was that they grew in size and power based on their hoard... their greed... but... I'm growing now without the need for a huge hoard of treasure."

"Well, maybe it's because something you value is much different than what other dragons value, perhaps your greed isn't what you need to grow... but... something else...?"

Spike put a claw to his chin in thought as he walked with her back to the house. "Yeah... you might be on to something there, I may not be getting bigger because of my greed... but I'm definitely getting stronger because of you and your training!" He smiled a bit more as he continued walking toward their home, the food was starting to run a little low, but that was only because their year was almost up... a year of spending every waking hour together... her scent that simply sent his mind into bliss with every breath.

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Spike growled as he was sent skipping across the ground of the chamber, "We have one month left in this chamber, you're still not dodging!"

Using his momentum from the roll the, now quite a bit taller, dragon leapt back into a standing position and growled once more. "I don't need to dodge!" He brought his body into an X-shape. "Final! Flash!" He shouted as he brought his hands back together, the emerald-violet aura around his body shifting to gold as the energy quickly built up and rocketed away from his claws.

Thinking quickly Paolina brought both of her hands back behind the right side of her head as a violet light began to shine from her cupped hands. "Galick Gun!" She shouted in response as the blue lighting around her body coalesced into the violet beam that collided with the golden one. Sadly the clash didn't last long before the violet beam began to dominate it, taking only a scant few seconds before the violet blast struck Spike and sent him flying once more.

"We have one month... get yourself together! Now isn't the time to slack off... Now, DODGE!" Paolina shouted as she drove her elbow into Spike's chin just as he got up, flowing into a very quick succession of punches and kicks to the dragon's already battered body. Each second the battle lingered certainly forced Spike to thank whatever divine being was watching him that they had Sensu beans available. Spike struggled to stand as Paolina landed in front of him. "This is why you DODGE!" she punctuated the statement by kicking him into the air and letting the increased gravity do its work. "It doesn't matter how much damage you can take Spike, it's better for you in the long run to not get hit at all." She picked up the barely conscious dragon and began to haul him back to the outpost.

Three outside days had been spent training... three years straight in the chamber... Already the little dragon was shaping up to be a fairly competent fighter, with her scouter actually putting him at a power level of forty, just shy of half her last recorded strength. Definitely enough to put him at an equal or superior fighter to Gomo, that was for sure. Actually... now that she thought about it... with their training bringing him up to a proper speed he might not even need the rest of the month, or even the rest of the week, to become a capable fighter from the outside world.

It was strange to think about, they had put nearly three years into training and already he was almost half as strong as her. It brought a smile to her face as she began to prepare something to eat for the two of them. She took her time, good food wasn't something to be rushed after all, and added several seasonings that she noticed Spike had taken a liking to. A smile slowly began to spread over her face as she thought about how far they both had come... perhaps soon she would teach him the Kaio-Ken technique. For now she would be able to take comfort in the fact that Spike believed she was holding back even after she transformed.

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Paolina smirked as she watched the emerald and violet dragon across from her growl. He had certainly bulked up from when he first arrived, he was even strong enough now to weather several of her high-powered barrages. He was more than a force to be reckoned with now that he had brought his power up and began to get used to Paolina's fighting style... which admittedly was Vegeta's favorite battle strategy as well...

...Blast it with everything, if it's not dead, keep shooting...

For the most part it worked, she was devastating when it came to harnessing her Ki into ranged attacks, not so much at close range, she was about average for the top-tier fighters when it came to hurting people with her fists, even Gomo was at her strength in physical combat because he focused on the basic attacks and strike barrages. Spike though, he definitely focused on withstanding blows and hitting hard, even her own Ki-blast attacks risked not doing enough damage to the dragon that now matched her size as he quickly closed in.

It was a weakness that he exploited every chance he could, no matter how much faster she was she certainly couldn't risk taking more than a couple hits from the dragon. The battle only seemed to excite the Saiyan as it continued though, he was certainly learning how to be a threat in combat... and it was all borne from wanting to help his friends. A small smile began to worm it's way into her smirk as she dodged and avoided the dragon's attacks. With a quick teleportation she smiled and clapped her hands. "That's enough Spike." She announced proudly. "You've certainly come a long way as my apprentice." She beamed as he landed in front of her.

Spike blushed a little as he rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "Well, I wouldn't say that..."

"You're not a little dragon anymore..." Paolina pointed out.

"Only to you, compared to real dragons I am though."

"You don't need wings to fly and can manipulate more than just your inner fire."

"Okay... I'll give you that one." Spike admitted.

"Come on, when we get out of here we'll head back to Ponyville bright and early, to them it's only been a week, we'll surprise them with how much you've changed. I've even had Cello request from the Time Patrol HQ to have a battle suit commissioned for you."

"Cool! So... what do we do for the last week in here?" Spike asked.

"Relax, we don't need to do anything else for now. This training was mostly used to give Twilight and her friends a new Bodyguard when I can't be around."

Spike nodded and began to make his way over to the temporary home they had within this chamber. Paolina watched as he continued walking. In three years he had grown so much, would he come back on his own? What would he do now that he was stronger? She made sure that he wasn't stronger than her in case his greed got the better of him but there were still so many things to think about.

She hadn't been ignorant of how much Spike seemed to enjoy just being around her, how many deep breaths he took when he thought she didn't notice. She had been a warrior all her life... would this world change that for her?

Author's Note

Good.. lord... This chapter took forever to get out because I didn't want to bore you guys with three years-worth of training montages.