Chapter 2: Encounters

All disclaimers apply.

White light made it nearly impossible for Goku to open his eyes. The light was intense for him. It felt as if he had been kept in darkness for a long amount of time, then, suddenly, someone shoved him into the sun. It didn't help that he had a painful headache and could barely register his body lying prostrate on a floor. He couldn't feel much of anything; nothing seemed to register in his mind. He tried to move his hand to block out the painful intensity of light, but his arm remained limp by his side. Slowly, however, the pain of the headache subsided, his eyes became somewhat used to the light, and his body once again responded to the commands sent by his brain.

"SON GOKU!" a strange, masculine voice boomed heavily, "RISE BEFORE US, SON GOKU!".

Goku stood up and looked around quickly for his Nyoi-Bo and other things. Nothing was there. All he could see, as far as his eyes would see, was bright, brilliant light. There were many figures and bodies of different shapes and sizes ranging from men to women, from short to tall, from old to young—all clad in pure white robes and tunics.

"SON GOKU, YOU HAVE INTERFERED IN SOMETHING THAT DID NOT CONCERN YOU OR YOUR KIND. RISE BEFORE THE COUCIL AND EXPLAIN YOUR INTRUSION."

Goku looked straight ahead, eight rather grandiose figures stood several yards in front of him. It was hard to tell exactly, but it seemed that half of them were females. They stood emanating an almost tangible aura. Goku stood not knowing what to say, not really wanting to say anything.

"What's goin' on? What is all of this?" he asked slowly.

One of the eight, a male—supposedly—with a large, alien head, beady red eyes, and a small frame answered, "This is our tournament, you have unrightfully intervened to aid one of our contestants; we, now, must decide what to do with you in light of this." His voice was weak and wispy; a sharp contrast to the one who spoke before.

"I-I didn't mean to do anything, really." Goku spoke tentatively, "He just attacked me and I defended myself…" Goku looked down and his voice lowered as he finished speaking.

"But you had no right, no need to exert force enough to kill the opponent!" Another odd figure, a female, responded this time seeming angry—almost outraged—at the intrusion. "Now you have disrupted the course of the entire tournament!"

"Please," Goku offered tentatively, "I'm sorry." That's when he suddenly noticed a strange feeling on his head. It was as if something was missing. He reached up to his skull and ran his fingers through his hair; through the place where his diadem was suppose to be.

"We have removed your accessory and accosted your weapon." A third voice spoke wearing a somewhat unctuous grin on his odd, elongated face.

Goku stood helplessly, hesitant, cautious and he thought of Hakkai again who would have, undoubtedly, suggested he remain calm. Now none of the others were here to help him out of the situation—he felt a twinge of longing to be back with the others—back with Sanzo. He let both hands fall to his sides and stood looking into the area of the council members.

A lingering silence came upon the area; the council members seemed to be waiting for an answer or an explanation; Goku didn't oblige. He, instead, noticed the environment around him. The air was pristine, clear, almost as if it were nothing but oxygen. Aside from the many figures off in the distance, nothing really moved with much—life. The scent in the air was strange to Goku, the entire place was strange to him.

The sonorous voice boomed again breaking the silence like a bulldozer crashing into the anterior of a brick building, "WE, THE COUNCIL, HAVE DECIDED TO ALLOW YOU TO STAY AND PARTICIPATE IN OUR TOURNAMENT. YOU SHALL BE GIVEN ALL NECESSARY INFORMATION REGARDING THE RULES, REGULATIONS, AND SOFORTH. SON GOKU, YOU HAVE BEEN WELCOMED INTO THE SACRED ARCHGODS' MULTIVERSE TOURNAMENT. PROCEED TO THE CHAMBERS PREPARED FOR YOU."

Goku bowed not knowing what else to do, and felt awkward doing it. It felt kind of demeaning for him to bow, even though he knew it was appropriate. He walked off into the distance of the light led by one short, bald humanoid dressed in robes. What have I gotten into? He wondered.

Pain. Unbearable and lingering pain. That was all that Gojyo felt. How could teleporting be so painful? He thought to himself. The pain was so strong, so blinding, that it seemed to leave him no room for control. Aside from the pain, he could register only the darkness around him. Everything was pitch black; he tried to open his eyes, but he wasn't sure whether he really had, or if he was just too completely incapacitated by the pain. No matter what, darkness enveloped his entire body and he could see nothing. He groaned in agony, a slight agony that held more frustration than desperation.

"SHA GOJYO." A voice sounded. The cacophonous sound sent ripples of fresh pain through his body. He writhed trying to cover his ears and dull the pain. It seemed that no matter what he would do, the pain would not subside.

"SHA GOJYO! RISE TO YOUR FEET!".

He felt an odd pressure against his neck; it was a foreign, deliberate pressure not close to his jugular vein, but nevertheless against his neck. The darkness he saw suddenly vaporized and light flooded into his raw, open eyes. He quickly closed them back; but it didn't help. He still saw the white sheen of the light, as if his eyelids had suddenly become translucent.

"SHA GOJYO, RISE TO YOUR FEET!" the voice sounded again; obviously becoming annoyed.

"Hold on!" he shouted, struggling to get on his feet. "If you wanted better cooperation you should have used less drugs".

"SHA GOJYO, YOU HAVE INTERFERED IN SOMETHING THAT DID NOT CONCERN YOU OR YOUR KIND. RISE BEFORE THE COUCIL AND EXPLAIN YOUR INTRUSION."

"I dunno," he answered cockily. "I guess I couldn't just allow a girl like that to be attack by losers like them."

"This is our tournament, you have unrightfully intervened to aid one of our contestants; we, now, must decide what to do with you in light of this."

The pain finally subsided enough for Gojyo to see to whom he was talking to. Eight large figures stood before him. None of them looked exactly human, but they didn't exhibit any youkai traits either. Completely alien and obviously peeved. Gojyo thought to himself.

"Well," he began to say with a cheeky grin on his face, "if you can hook me up with that piece of—"

"You will keep your mouth shut unless we speak to you first, retched half-breed!" one of the large aliens snapped with a sharp, masculine voice suddenly cutting off Gojyo's sentence.

"Wha'd you call me!" he responded, his anger rising immediately. He moved as if ready to strike, but found himself encased in an active electric field within seconds.

"You will know your place!" the same creature cried out vehemently. "You stand before the Council! Here, we are law!"

"Well someone's a little full of themselves…" Gojyo muttered under his breath.

"SHA GOJYO, WE, THE COUNCIL, HAVE DECIDED TO ALLOW YOU TO STAY AND PARTICIPATE IN OUR TOURNAMENT. YOU SHALL BE GIVEN ALL NECESSARY INFORMATION REGARDING THE RULES, REGULATIONS, AND SOFORTH. SON GOKU, YOU HAVE BEEN WELCOMED INTO THE SACRED GODS' MULTIVERSE TOURNAMENT. PROCEED TO THE CHAMBERS PREPARED FOR YOU."

Gojyo, as well as the council member he was arguing with looked to the source of the booming voice with surprise. "I don't wanna be a part of your stupid tourney!" Gojyo protested. Deep within his heart, however, Gojyo didn't really believe his own words.

"You no longer have a choice, half-breed." The angry council member sighed.

"Son Goku, your chambers are in here, your possessions will be brought to you shortly." The short, bald alien said to Goku as he entered the room. Goku looked around the room without much feeling. It was a cube with white, gleaming walls, a bed, a full-length mirror, and the door he had just walked through. The floor was bare and shined as if fluorescent lights lined the entire floor. Goku sat on the bed, then moved to lay down. It had been three days since he slept in an actual bed; unfortunately, the bed was as stiff as a board and yielded nothing to Goku's body weight.

His door creaked open on its hinges which shocked Goku into a sitting position. The girl from the forest, now wearing a white tunic waltzed in carrying Goku's leather sack and Nyoi-Bo in her left hand. In her right she held folded white clothes; on her head, was Goku's diadem.

She dropped the sack on the floor, Goku winced as the sack hit the floor emitting a sound like that of shifting metal cans and breaking glass; he stifled a groan as he realized what just broke inside his bag.

"Thanks a lot," she spat as she threw him the clothes in her hand, "because of you, I have to go out on another battle mission, you don't know how easy that guy was compared to some of the other people! I basically had him right where I wanted him before you got in the way!"

"I don't believe you." He answered staring more at his diadem than at the girl. 'If you really knew what you were doing, you wouldn't have jumped when you heard that noise the first time."

The girl looked at him with an embarrassed look, "I was just nervous, that's all; it was my first battle mission." She said her voice trailing. "But you screwed it up!" she suddenly yelled, her voice echoing off the walls, ceiling, and floor of the room.

"I'm sorry," Goku apologized "who are you, anyway? You never told me your name."

"Ayanna." She said staring at him with embittered eyes. "I come from a place called Thelius, I am 16 years old and I use magic and bows as weapons. And that's all you're going to know about me." She answered cockily. Suddenly, she began to walk out the door.

"Uh, uh" Goku murmured as he rose on his feet, "can I have my diadem back?"

"No." she looked at him slyly waiting for his reaction.

"Why not, it's not like it belongs to you."

"Consider it payment for stealing my win." Ayanna began to walk out the door again, but Goku caught her hand and held her back. She looked up at him with a hurt expression as if she wasn't expecting Goku to actually insist.

"Really, I need it back." Goku insisted. He looked into her green eyes and reached for his diadem with his free hand. She stared back, seemingly transfixed, and allowed Goku to take it from her head. He let her go and replaced his diadem in its proper place.

"Just make sure you keep up with this tournament, 'cause if you don't, you'll die. I won't be afraid to kill you." Ayanna threatened as she backed out of the door. Goku stared after her wondering why she shifted so suddenly. She was, at first, apprehensive, then he detected a bit of submission when he held her arm; but now she seemed somewhat concerned. He watched her disappear into the white halls that held no strands of life, then shut his door.

He rummaged through his leather sack looking for the picture. A sharp pain, then droplets of blood confirmed that the glass within the picture frame had been broken. He emptied his sack onto the floor and searched for the remnants of the frame. He searched through everything twice, but all he found was an empty and broken picture frame—the picture had be stolen.

Gojyo didn't wait very long in his room. He looked at the room, collecting his shakujou from the bald, pale, man that had led him there, then left in search of something interesting to do. He walked through the hall and into the clearing he had come from not too long ago. He looked around with a smirk. Women, beautiful women, pert and fit women as far as his eyes could see. Jeez, I must be in heaven or somethin'. He thought to himself. Yeah, there were plenty of men around as well, but he didn't even register most of them as he glared at the women, their endowments, their voluptuousness. He felt the remnants of his old libido rise again and he was immediately consumed with the idea of getting T & A. I guess old habits really do die hard. He laughed as he sauntered over to a group of women who stood talking to one another.

He made them laugh, he charmed them, and seemed to be succeeding at flirting when a tall, black-haired guy suddenly pushed Gojyo out of the mass of women. Gojyo looked the figure over, measuring his strength. He had long, jet-black hair that came down to his back and was obviously heavily treated; his lithe figure was covered by suntanned skin. What was most noticeable to Gojyo was the color, and shape, of his eyes. They were golden and fierce eyes that glowed with a lecherous glint. It seemed that the adjective befit the man because he obviously was hitting on every girl in the group.

"Yo," Gojyo said putting his arm on the guy's shoulder, "didn't anyone ever teach you it isn't nice to butt-in on other people's conversation?"

The guy turned around looking straight at Gojyo; the lecherous glare vanished instantly and became cold, almost threatening. "Yo, no offense, but I don't talk to dudes." He said as he shrugged Gojyo's arm away and turned back to the girls. Gojyo looked at him a little longer reminded, shockingly, of himself; he smirked and walked away.

More than two days seemed to pass as he was told everything he could and could not do during the tournament. He didn't really care, the rules were simple: as long as you were on a battlefield, there were no limits on fighting tactics, strategies, or weapons; as long as you were not on a battlefield, you could not fight under any circumstances. Everything else was simply a restatement of the same thing just in different ways. He wasn't the only one in the room. There were about seven others who, Gojyo guessed, may have been added because of him. He didn't really look at any of them, but thought he recognized a few. At the end of the third day—coincidentally, the end of the orientation—he left without so much as a word to anyone. He walked into his room and noticed a piece of black parchment on the floor.

Your first battle mission has been decided, you will report to the Eastern Sea wing upon acquisition of this document. Come with all weapons you feel you will need.

He read it, then threw the parchment away in a balled-up crumple. Grabbing his shakujou, he walked out of the room and straight to where he was supposed to go. He was directed onto a magic circle and transported to his first battle mission. Gojyo hoped that his opponent would be that jerk from the other day—he had a credo to keep.

Goku, receiving the same document headed straight for the Eastern Sea Wing with a sense of nervousness. He had found a place where he could practice and had tried to make a few friends there; but everyone seemed too apprehensive to be amicable. He stifled his feelings of loneliness with a sense of determination that he would win his first battle mission and go on to win the entire tournament.

Author's Note: Excited? (Well maybe not so much) In any case, thank you for reading—again. Please feel free to send me reviews, I really want to know what you think about the story as they progress. I will try to write and update as often as possible, but it may be difficult around the time school starts. So! If you want to be updated on the newest chapters make this a favorite! laughs I'm just kidding (unless you do want to) but I do look forward to your reviews.