The Human Challenge: Kami's Training Interlude
The five warriors rested around the campfire, each of them absorbed in his own thoughts. Chaotzu lay drowsing sleepily at Tenshinhan's side - not quite awake, yet not quite asleep. One of Tenshinhan's hands wrapped gently around the tiny warrior's form, pulling him closer to his tall friend to keep him warm.
Yajirobe was, as usual, eating heartily, unconcerned with the exhaustion filling the eyes of the other warriors. Unlike them, he hadn't done any strenuous activity that day, at least nothing more strenuous than lifting a haunch of meat to his mouth and chowing down. Both Kuririn and Yamcha seemed absorbed in thoughts that the others couldn't guess at. It surprised everyone when Kuririn suddenly made his thoughts known.
"Man, I'll bet Goku has had such an exciting life," the little monk murmured wistfully, as he stared into the crackling flames.
Yamcha blinked at him in surprise. Tenshinhan glanced up from the fire, his surprised gaze resting briefly on the small warrior. Even Yajirobe paused in his eating for a second, staring at Kuririn in brief shock for a moment before continuing his repast. Yamcha shook his head.
"Well, I'm sure he has," the taller scarred warrior agreed. "But you know, so have we! None of us has had a particularly boring life!"
The three-eyed warrior across the campfire from Yamcha flicked him a small, brief smile before his gaze settled back on the tiny warrior curled up at his side. Chaotzu's eyes had opened, and he was looking curiously, if sleepily, at Kuririn as well.
"Well," continued Kuririn, looking somewhat abashed. "Maybe. But nothing like his. You know, he went out and did all those things when he was just a little kid! He and Bulma went after the dragonballs when he was only eleven! And then he goes and defeats the Red Ribbon Army all by himself, and other things as well. He's had such an exciting life, we haven't even come close!"
Yamcha's jaw dropped, and then he laughed, shaking his head so the long heavy hair swung gently about him. "Oh, I think you overestimate our friend Goku, and I think you underestimate us!" he said with a chuckle. "Think about it. Sure, Goku did some pretty amazing things when he was a kid. I know. I was there! I was on that adventure as well, it wasn't him by himself. And yeah, he did some things afterward, but so did I. Bulma and I had some pretty wild times!"
He smiled wistfully, remembering fondly back on those old times. He and Bulma did have some pretty strange adventures, and he knew that his friends didn't even know most of them.
He rolled an eye towards Tenshinhan, looking at him thoughtfully. "And I'll bet you and Chaotzu have had some pretty interesting adventures, haven't you? I mean, you've been together for a long time, and we've only been with you for small parts of it. I'll bet when you're off on your own, you've done some cool things too!" He wasn't surprised when the tall bald warrior nodded thoughtfully, a brief smile flashing across his face as he glanced down at his tiny companion.
"Yeah, Chaotzu and I have had a few adventures," he replied in his carefully understated manner. Chaotzu heard the fondness in his voice and looked up at Tenshinhan, his face suddenly wreathed in a smile. "Haven't we, dumpling?"
The little emperor smiled back at him and nodded. "Tenshinhan has done some amazing things when we were together! He's the greatest warrior that lives!"
Tenshinhan smiled down at him, not disputing him, and feeling a glowing warmth at the other man's friendship.
Yamcha grinned at Kuririn. "See? And you know I was a desert bandit before I met Goku. I had some pretty wild times then, too! And you know, Goku settled down these past five years. I've heard that after he got married, Chi-Chi kept him at home all the time, he never got to go on any adventures or even train much!"
He shook his head sadly, thinking how trapped Goku must have felt. He knew that Goku loved his wife, but he also knew how much the spiky haired man needed both adventure, and the chance to test his skills and muscles occasionally. If Chi-Chi was forcing him to be 'domestic', he was sure that it was harming his friend in some way, although not necessarily in any obvious manner.
"And you, Kuririn. You didn't just sit around these past five years, did you? I mean, you went out and did things and didn't just sit on your butt, did you?" Yamcha persisted. "And when Goku was having all those adventures, weren't we doing things as well? I mean, you weren't just sitting around doing nothing, right?"
Kuririn shook his head dubiously. Somehow he doubted that anything they'd done was as exciting as anything Goku has done, but before he could speak up, Yamcha was talking again.
"So you know, guys, I'll bet the five of us have had more adventures in the past five years than he has!" Yamcha grinned roguishly at the others. Then he glanced at Yajirobe and couldn't resist teasing. "Except for Yajirobe here. I'll bet he hasn't lifted his sword in years!"
"Hey man!" Yajirobe retorted, putting down the chicken leg he was gnawing on and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I've been a warrior a lot longer than any of you have even been alive! I've done things that none of you can even imagine!"
Yamcha looked at him dubiously. "Well, if that's the case, why don't you tell us about some of the things you've done? And can you back up your claims with any proof?"
"Yeah, I can." Yajirobe's reply was somewhat more subdued. "I've done a lot of things you guys wouldn't imagine. I wasn't this old forever, you know."
Yamcha grinned rakishly at him again. "So why don't you tell us about it then?"
Yajirobe glared at him a moment and then nodded. "All right, I will."
~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~
All right, the above wasn't an intro to a new story, or even the beginning of one, instead that was the intro to a new fanfiction contest! Lady Lark and I have combined our wits together to create a series of fanfiction contests. This one will be the first.
The Human Challenge, the contest:
Write a story about one of the human Z warriors. It must be a sympathetic story to him (no picking Yamcha or Chaotzu just so you can bash him), and it should focus on that character. We will not allow any of the non-human Z warriors in the fanfic - no Vegeta, no Goku, no Gohan, no Piccolo. They may be mentioned, but they must not appear in the story itself, either through flashbacks or directly. The story should be about the human warrior, and he should be the focus.
The characters you can use as the main focus are: Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chaotzu, Kuririn, Yajirobe, or Kamesennin (Master Roshi if you've only seen the dubs). Although Kamesennin isn't used in the above ficlet, he is a Z warrior - and he's human, a main character, and not used often, so he's allowed.
Remember that the story must focus on the character and be sympathetic to him. You may write a Yamcha fic that shows his relationship to Bulma when they were teenagers, but you can't make him a cheating jerk or a womanizer or anything similar to that. The fanfic may not be AU, although it doesn't have to be entirely canon either, it just can't contradict anything that actually does occur in the manga or anime. (The movies don't really count.)
You may wish to write about the character during the five year hiatus between Dragonball and Dragonball Z, or the three year hiatus when they were training for the androids, or even the seven year hiatus between the androids and Buu. Another suggestion is to write about the character during the Dragonball or pre-Dragonball years, before they met up with the others, or during periods of time when they were not part of the main storyline. We are not looking for a retelling of any of the storylines from either the manga or anime. There are plenty of stories that can be told about the characters without simply repeating stories we already know. Since the stories are supposed to fill in the gaps, and since the humans aren't really used during GT, please no stories that take place after DBZ.
The idea is that you'll be writing about some of the under-used characters, the ones that tend to be neglected by fanfiction authors. Hopefully you'll explore parts of them and learn more about them yourselves, even as you show other people aspects of them that are possible. The story can be action, romance, introspective, drama, or comedy. There is no limit on style, only content as mentioned above.
Contest Dates
Starting at 12:01am PDT September 16, 2001 and running until 11:59pm PST
December 15, 2001.
The Voting Period will be for 2 weeks after the contest and end on December 31
at Midnight, PST.
1) Stories must be sent to either the 0-DBZ-Fanfiction@yahoogroups.com (you will have to subscribe first to post there), or to one of the coordinators: Mia Skywalker at miaskywalker@crosswinds.net, or to Lady Lark at leilia@hotmail.com.
2) Entries must include (Fanfic Contest Entry) in the Subject line, as well as the title of the story. Please mention that it is an entry for the contest "The Human Challenge". Authors must include a brief description to go with the story as well as a pen name and e-mail to go with it.
3) The fic must be a NEW fic, not one that was written previously and has been posted elsewhere before.
4) The fic must not be posted anywhere else, for any other contest or on any other mailing list or website, until the conclusion of the contest. The one exception is that you may post it to fanfiction.net, as long as you make a note that it is also being entered into this contest.
Once the stories are submitted they will be archived at the websites of both Mia Skywalker and Lady Lark. Voting will take place on Mia Skywalker's site, with a link from Lady Lark's. Results of the Voting will be posted to both Mia Skywalker's and Lady Lark's websites on January 1, 2002.
Mia Skywalker:
http://dbbulma.cjb.net
Lady Lark:
http://www.100megsfree3.com/leilia/fanfics/
First Place:
A Dragonball or Dragonball Z manga
A Dragonball Z poster
A CD with the winners choice of DBZ multimedia - episodes, clips, images,
sounds, etc.
An autographed trading card, autographed by one of the North American voice
actors
Two PVC Dragonball Z figures (1 hero, 1 villain)
A banner for your website
Second Place:
A Dragonball or Dragonball Z manga
A CD with the winners choice of DBZ multimedia - episodes, clips, images,
sounds, etc.
A holochrome DBZ sticker
A banner for your website
Third Place:
A banner for your website
For those of you on fanfiction.net, there's no need to review it. Just enter the contest. ^_^