Dragonball: Rebirth

Chapter 2: Preliminaries

"All registered participants for the Tenkaichi Budokai tour, please report to the preliminary match area. The preliminaries will be starting in 30 minutes." The loud speakers all around the grounds announced this message, and fighters started gathering where the preliminaries would be held. Enzan opened his eyes, and then looked up. He pushed off the lamp post he had been leaning against, and unfolded his arms. He reached down, grabbed his satchel, and made his way to the preliminary area. For the past hour he had been standing there, thinking about the three people from before. Something was definitely up with them, and while it didn't concern him as far as fighting them, he was bothered by what the three of them might be doing here.

I have ulterior motives of my own after all. he thought with a smile. Still, he did not want them interfering with his plans, but if they did, he wouldn't hesitate to take care of them. In the meantime he'd simply go along with the tournament. Qualifying for the final 32 should be easy enough, considering the competition he'd seen. Then he wondered if he might have to face one of the trio. Although it would be interesting, he'd rather see them make it to the finals. It would give him a better chance to observe them, and try to figure out what was going on with their Ki.

He arrived at the preliminary area, which was packed. Every one who had registered for the tournament was here; easily over 1000 people. To thin this out a bit, the first round of the tournament would consist of a series of battle royales. 5 battles would be fought on each of the 10 rings, with 5 to 10 people in each match. They would battle it out until there was only one left standing. They would then be declared winner and move on to the next round. After this, the remaining fighters would be divided into 8 brackets. The brackets would be fought out like a normal tournament, with the top 4 of each bracket advancing to the actual Tournament.

Enzan made his way through the crowd, heading for the big billboard with the match-ups on it. He saw that he was going to be in the first battle on ring 10, so he made his way over there. As he got to the ringside, he took a look around at the others gathered here. There were 9 other people standing around waiting for the match to begin. Some were busy talking, while others were doing the same as him. Due to the amount of people in the area, he couldn't really get a fix on anyone's energy. He'd have to be cautious. He didn't see anybody who looked too tough, but he didn't want to lose his first match due to overconfidence. While he was thinking, one of the fighters walked up to him.

"Hey buddy, what's going on?" Enzan looked over to see a tall, muscular man looking down at hi, smiling. "I've got a proposition for you." the man said, folding his arms.

"Not interested." Enzan said, turning away. The guy frowned.

"You didn't even hear it yet, how can you say no? Listen, my name's Makalak. Looking around here, you're probably the only other guy who's a serious fighter besides me. You come in here looking all serious with that cloak and stone cold killer face, I know you're for real. So how's about me and you team up when this thing starts, knock all the weaklings out, then we can get down to business?" he asked as he smiled, motioning at the other participants. Enzan narrowed his eyes.

"Get out of my face." Makalak's smile turned to a frown.

"Alright kid, if that's the way you feel about it. I guess you're like the rest, and I'll have to take you down." Makalak chuckled, and then walked away. A few moments later, the loudspeakers came on as someone tapped a microphone.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, let's get these qualifying matches underway. All participants please enter your designated rings at this time. Good luck to all of you."

Enzan removed his cloak, tossing it down beside his satchel. He adjusted his now revealed gi, tightening his belt. His gi top was a dark blue, and he wore a red undershirt beneath is, along with two red wristbands. His gi pants were also dark blue, and two black boots covered his feet. He tilted his head side to side cracking his neck, and then stepped up into the ring. The others around the ring did the same. When everyone was in, the referee stepped out into the middle.

"Alright listen up. There is only one rule you have to follow: no killing your opponent. Other than that, if you're knocked out of the ring or stay down for a 10 count, you're out. Try to keep it clean." The combatants each assumed a fighting position, Enzan dropping into his own defensive stance. He saw Makalak across the ring smirking at him.

"Humph." He raised his hand to Makalak, motioning for him to come.

"Fight!" the referee shouted. Makalak immediately started running toward him full speed. Before he could reach Enzan however, someone's foot shot out, catching him across the face. He stumbled to the side, toward the edge of the ring. He hovered over the edge for a moment before losing his balance and falling out. The referee ran to the edge, pointing at him.

"Contestant, out!" he said, blowing his whistle. Enzan blinked, then shook his head. Idiot.

--

Jamie stepped down out of the ring, brushing himself off. He rubbed his jaw, which was throbbing. His match had been won fairly easily, but three of the guys had jumped him at once, and one of them managed to catch him good across the face. A small price to pay for advancing to the next round though. Tetsuo was standing at the ringside waiting for him. Jamie nodded to him, and then the two of them walked toward where Sierra's match was taking place. Jamie assumed Tetsuo had won his match quickly, as they had both started at the same time yet Tetsuo had been standing there waiting for him.

"No troubled eh?" Jamie asked, though he knew the answer. Tetsuo shook his head, smirking a little. Wise guy thought Jamie, though he had to smile. Although Tetsuo was the youngest of them, he seemed to have the keenest fighting sense. All Jamie had ever seen him do in his free time was train, and it showed. He was even a little worried about having to face him in the tournament. Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when and if I get to it.

They arrived at the ring where Sierra was having her match. It was down to her and 2 other guys. They were both facing her, ready to fight. Apparently she they had decided she was more dangerous than either of them were to each other. She stood there smiling at them, arms folded.

"Come on boys..." she teased, waving them on. "What's wrong, afraid?" The two glanced at each other, then charged her. She crouched slightly, and then as they neared she leapt over them, flipping in mid air. While above them, she grabbed hold of both their heads and slammed them together. The two collided then staggered backward, dazed. As Sierra landed, she jumped toward one of them, knee extended. She caught him in the jaw, his head snapping back. He fell, unconscious. The other guy, still trying to recover, weakly swung at her with a punch. She easily dodged, then stepped in close and hooked him across the face with her elbow. He dropped, unmoving. The referee did a 10-count, and then announced Sierra the winner. She grinned as she stepped down from the ring, walking toward Jamie and Tetsuo.

"Well that was easy." she said, folding her arms.

"Of course it was, they're regular people. What do you expect?" She chuckled lightly, looking at Jamie's face as he spoke.

"Looks like it wasn't so easy for you, Jamie."

"Lucky shot is all." he growled, walking on. "Anyway, I've still seen neither Clye, Kugo, nor any of their…people. They're nowhere to be found, but I was sure they were going to be here." Sierra patted his shoulder.

"No worried, we'll find 'em. They're definitely around here somewhere. I can feel it."

--

He watched as they walked off, a smile spreading across his face. "They're here…"

"You want I should take care of it now?" a large shadow next to him asked.

"No. Not yet. Have you located other potentials?"

"A few. We've set it up so none of them will fight each other before the finals. He's here as well."

"Interesting. We'll have to proceed carefully. For now, just go and prepare for your match.

"Right." The hulking form stomped off. The other remained there, watching. He stepped toward the light a little, revealing part of his face. He brushed his blue hair aside, tracing the outline of a scar which ran the length of the right side of his face.

"Soon Jamie. Soon..."

--

"Winner, contestant Enzan!" Enzan stepped down out of the ring, walking toward a nearby wall. He leaned against it, awaiting his next match. He only had one left to go to qualify, and he hoped it 

wouldn't be the same as the previous three. He hadn't even broken a sweat yet. In fact, none of his matched had lasted even a minute. He looked over at another ring to watch the current match. The two men were exchanging punched and kicks, looking pretty evenly matched. Nothing too interesting, so he continued looking around, checking out the other rings.

One of the matches caught his eye. A tall, thing man in a trench coat was easily evading his opponent's attacks. He wasn't even in any sort of a fighting stance. He simply stood there and ducked, dodged, and parried all of the blows. His opponent was getting frustrated, and drew back, taking a breather. Then he charged the man, going for an all out assault. The man simply smiled, holding his arms out to his sides. Right as the attack was about to land, he shifted his stance, thrusting both of his palms forward. The charging man flew backward, right out of the ring. It was fast, and hard to see, but Enzan noticed there was never any contact made.

"Winner, contestant Clye! He qualifies for the Budokai tour!" The man smiled again, exiting the ring. He pulled his long blue hair back, tying it into a pony-tail. This revealed a gruesome scar on his face. He looked around, locking eyes with Enzan for a moment. Then he turned and walked off.

He used Ki to win that match. A bit excessive, unless he was just showing off. Enzan watched him go, trying to get a fix on his energy. Again, due to so many people gathered around, he was unable to do so. He frowned, annoyed. Then he shrugged. He'd be facing the guy eventually after all, so no need to worry about it now.

Another 15 minutes passed, and then it was finally time for his qualifying match. He stepped up into the ring, checking his opponent out. The man opposite him was small, wearing an orange-red gi. He appeared to be Asian, and he had his long black hair braided back behind him. He bowed to Enzan then took a defensive stance. Enzan nodded, doing the same.

"Fight!"

The man was on top of him in a second, surprising Enzan with his speed. He barely managed to block the roundhouse kick meant for his head. The man pulled back and spun the other way, dropping low and hooking his other leg into Enzan's, dumping him on the ground. Enzan rolled to his side, narrowly dodging the follow up punch. Enzan jumped to his feet, gritting his teeth. He hadn't expected this much of a challenge from anyone, and it had caught him off guard. He gathered himself, then leapt forward to attack. He threw a punch for his opponent's head, which was ducked. Enzan was expecting this, and brought his knee up into the man's mouth, catching him hard with the added momentum of his duck. He stumbled backward, and Enzan stayed on top of hi, not giving him a chance to recover. He followed up with a hard punch to the abdomen, doubling the man over. He went to finish it with a left hook, but the man rolled backward, dodging it. He used his momentum to come out of the roll on his feet, shifting to a defensive stance. Enzan still sensed a good amount of energy left in the guy, and was fairly impressed. This was the most he had sensed from anyone so far. Of course it was still nothing compared to his own, but he had to give the guy credit.

The two of them charged each other, exchanging punches and kicks. After a few moments, Enzan flipped backward, hand-springing away. The man charged after him, ready to follow up attack. Enzan landed in a low crouch near the edge of the ring, then launched himself forward to meet the attack. He swung his leg around and caught the man hard on the side of his neck. The man staggered for a moment, which was all Enzan needed to get behind him. He drove his palm hard into the man's lower back, sending him over the edge and out of the ring.

"Winner, contestant Enzan! He qualifies for the Budokai Tour!" Enzan smirked, stepping down out of the ring, standing above his fallen opponent.

"Not bad, but you need to do a lot more work if you wanna play with the big boys." He smiled, and then walked off.

--

Jamie looked over the board, checking to see who he'd be fighting in the tournament's first round. He wasn't fighting Tetsuo or Sierra right off the bat, and he was thankful for that. He was fighting in the first match though, against somebody named Loraz. He hadn't seen this guy yet, and didn't really care either way. What he did care about was that he saw Clye and Kugo on the board, although on the other side of the bracket. He wouldn't be surprised if they had a hand in setting this matches up. He checked to see who Tetsuo and Sierra were paired up with. Tetsuo was fighting someone called Zander in the fourth match, while Sierra was up against whoever Enzan was in the ninth match. Clye and Kugo also fought some people he'd never heard of, but he was sure they'd make it to the end. Then he'd have his chance to get to them. The tournament started early tomorrow, so he figured he'd go and meditate a bit tonight, before the big day. He smiled, anticipating, and went to go meet up with Sierra.