Rematch
"You're going down this time Trunks!" I hear my best friend exclaim from behind me as I work on stretching for the upcoming matches. He's been looking forward to this for most of the past year. It's not like we don't spar all the time but for some reason the fact that it's an actual tournament seems to make it more exciting, for both of us.
I think Goten is a little delusional if he thinks he's going to win; that would mean he'd beaten me, and that's not going to happen. Just like last time, I'm going to beat him. If he wants to think otherwise though, who am I to stop him?
"I am not Goten, you're crazy if you think you can beat me!" I retort. Okay, my pride won't let him go on thinking he's going to win. Or, at least, it won't let me keep my mouth shut, I can't actually change what he thinks is going to happen. "You're the one who's going down!"
"Am not! I've been training all year to beat you," he sticks his tongue out at me. He can be such a child sometimes. "This time I'm gonna be champ!"
"Junior champ," I correct him, "We're still fighting with the babies, Goten. We're the only real competition here," I say crossing my arms over my chest. "This is going to be lame, just like last time."
"It wasn't lame when we fought last time, right?" he asks me, his head tilting to the side just a little, kind of like a puppy.
I find myself smiling as I say, "That was the only not lame part." I punch him in the arm, "Let's finish warming up!"
He gives me a nod and we both drop down into stretches. He might be able to get me to be nice to him outside the ring but that doesn't mean I'll go easy on him once we're facing off.
Right, left, kick… I'm playing over the fives second match I've just completed as I wait for Goten to finish his. I'm calling it a match out of courtesy to the lameos who decided to stick me in the junior division again and the other fighter. I use the term loosely…very.
Ten seconds after the announcer said go I hear him announce Goten as the victor. Surprise, surprise.
When Goten walks into the locker room he looks sad. "This is really boring," he groans, "I wish we could just skip to our fight."
"It won't take long, Goten. Then I'll kick your butt!" I say with a grin.
He grins back, "In your dreams! I'm winning this time!"
"That's what you think!"
As the cheesy announcer guy tells the crowd our names and ages once again, Goten and I walk out to the ring. Facing one another we lock eyes, I feel a smirk spreading across my face and I say to him, "No added rules, just a give-it-your-all match, deal?"
He gives me a sharp nod and his game face as we square off.
"Okay then!" I yell, raising my power level at once and as Goten does the same I fly forward throwing the first punch. I feel the power surging around me, through me, and even as my fist hits nothing but air I'm pivoting to avoid Goten's first attack.
Punch, kick, block, block, kick, punch… We go at it like this for a good while and I truly doubt most of the spectators can follow our movements. Finally our fists meet, knuckle to knuckle, and we bounce back, landing several feet away from each other in the ring.
I can see Goten's breaths keeping time with my own, our chest rising and falling quickly. "Alright then, Goten!" I say, pulling my arms back, "everything we've got!" I let the energy fly forth, careful to keep it from blowing anything up.
He gets out of the way, I was pretty sure he would, and as he starts a Kamehameha I hope he can control it this time. I dodge, no shocker, and Goten manages not to take any roofs or people out. Not giving him a break, however, I immediately move in, throwing a series of punches and kicks. Only a couple of them land but I've got him on the defensive for the time being.
Not much later though, I find myself blocking Goten's attacks. This continues for a time: offence, defense, offence, defense… We do tire of this shortly though. Well…at least I do, I guess I can't speak for Goten. Finally I land a hard punch to his jaw that sends him falling to the arena below.
I come down beside him, no reason to worry, he's taken a lot worse than that. He gets to his feet and frowns at me. It must of hurt; he's giving me that face. Too bad, this is a fight after all.
Then his face tightens and his frown deeps as he comes flying at me. I'll admit, I'm a little surprised and he hits me in the gut…hard. He follows through with an elbow to the back of my head, which sends my face into the concrete below. Concrete does not taste very good.
No time to think about it though, unless I want to get hit again. I'm on my feet again and rushing Goten. He blocks most of my advances, though I get a number through. This goes on, hit after, sometimes me, sometimes him.
Standing on opposite sides of the ring once again, Goten looks pretty battered, I'm sure I do too. And looking at my best friend from across the expanse of the fighting circle, I can tell that he's worn out, I am as well. I can also see the fire burning in his eyes, winning means a lot to him, I can tell. With that thought another pops into my head, why am I so determined to win? I know why Goten wants to win; I won last time. But why do I? And I can't come up with a suitable answer. Being junior champion isn't anything special, not to me anyway.
Somehow, I know I'm going to regret this decision later…
Running at Goten I throw a punch and we lock into the normal battle. However, as he lands a punch across my cheek, I let it hit hard so as he gets in the next few hits we move closer to the ground. Then I send off an energy attack, which he quickly dodges and counters, as I know he will. Turning so his blast hits my arm I don't stop the momentum as it carries me out of bounds. I stop so my toes are just barely touching the grass; I have to make it believable.
As his victory sinks in, a huge grin spreads across his face and the announcer guy's voice booms Goten's name across the stadium, I have to look down to hide my smile. I'm not really sure who would have actually won, we are pretty evenly matched, though I'll never tell him that, but the look on his face is the better victory here. For me, at least.