We'll Meet At The Tournament

Goku: "Oh hey Vegeta! I almost forgot to tell you! There's a World Martial Arts Tournament coming up soon and I thought you'd be interested in competing! I kinda miss sparing with you."

Soifon: "World what?"

Momo: "The World Martial Arts Tournament is a tournament held once a year where fighters from all around can come and compete in battles with each other!"

Toushiro: "Momo and I learned about it when we were searching for the Noble Time Traits! It's a series of timed fights where two fighters face each other in a ring and whoever wins the match gets to move on to the next fight. The winner of the tournament gets the title of world champion."

Zaraki: "Sounds like fun!"

Vegeta: "One problem. You can't use weapons unless they're apart of you like teeth, claws or horns."

Ikkaku: "We can't use our swords?!"

Gohan: "No. You can only use your brute strength and energy attacks."

Toushiro: "That would be kido to us."

Goku: "Why don't you guys compete too! We always let Hercule win for certain reasons but it would be a great way to test our skills on each other! Besides I would like a chance to fight with Ichigo! From what I saw a few years ago, you seem to be pretty strong!"

Ichigo: "I wouldn't mind taking you on either, Goku! If I can survive a sparring match with Vegeta, I think I can stand up to you!"

Vegeta: "Are you forgetting Kakarot that a Soul Reapers strength lies mostly in them using their Zanpakuto? They don't have the same abilities we do and so if you want to fight them, you'll have to hold back a lot."

Goku: "Not a problem! So what do you guys say?! If you don't want to compete you can always watch in the stands with the others."

Chi Chi: "I should mention that you can't kill anyone."

Toushiro: "Well I'm going to!"

Momo: "Me too!"

Ichigo: "Hell yeah I'm competing!"

Chad: "I'll give it a go."

Zaraki: "If it means facing off against powerful opponents then I'm in!"

Rukia: "Sounds fun, I'll fight!"

Renji: "Count me in!"

Soifon: "A good hand-to-hand fight with one of you sounds great!"

Yoruichi: "Same here!"

Rangiku: "I'll try out!"

Hisagi: "Sure!"

Ikkaku: "Well I do need to brush up on my hand-to-hand skills."

Uryu: "It'll be a great chance to test out our skills on our new allies."

Byakuya: "I agree. I'll try."

Val: "I'm competing, Komamura. You want to give it a shot?"

Komamura: "Of course!"

Goku: "Vegeta?"

Vegeta: "I'm bored out of my mind from doing nothing but paperwork, thank you Rangiku, so yeah... I'll compete!"

Yamcha: "How many spots will there be in the finals, Hercule?"

Hercule: "This year is different. There are 20 spots in the finals and since I've already been announced a finalist, there are only 19 left."

Bulma: "Will there be junior division this year?"

Hercule: "No, not after a fight broke out in the stands from two fathers arguing over the result of their kids match last year."

Goku: "With only 19 spots open, some of us won't make it to the finals."

Hisagi: "Will the rules be explained to us at the tournament?"

Videl: "Yeah they will."

Chad: "When is the tournament?"

Goku: "In 5 days. Meet us here at 6 a.m."

Yamamoto: "Very well. We'll be here a few minutes early. This is a perfect way to observe our new allies abilities in action."

Urahara: "I'll have some special gigai's ready for everyone by then!"

Goku: "Ok! See you in 5 days!"

And with their goodbyes said, the Soul Reapers left for home. For the next 5 days they all trained without their swords, which some found harder to do. On the morning of the tournament, the 13 Court Guard Squads, Ichigo and his friends all arrived at Capsule Corp to head for the tournament. The ride over gave everyone the chance to continue chatting and for Goku to explain the rules to the new competitors. They soon arrived at Papaya Island, home of the World Martial Arts Tournament. The sight was familiar to Toushiro and Momo as they had seen how populated the island was during the tournament. All of the Soul Reapers were in their gigai's as they followed the Z-Fighters to the sign in station. Out of the whole group, 24 were entering. It was Mika's first time competing so she was very eager as she was 11 years old but still fairly big. Val had competed in the last tournament but was disqualified in the final match against Hercule after her hot temper was triggered when Hercule accidently stepped on her tail. The result was her nearly slicing the heads off of one of the officials with her sharp claws. As Vegeta signed his name he was thankful that the memories of the last tournament he was in were erased from the world as he had blown up half of the stadium, killing hundreds of people. Of course it was all of the competing Soul Reapers first time and the tournament officials at the registration booth all looked at the lot with the same blank expressions. The group finally came to the end of the line where the fighters had to split from the rest of their friends. They said their goodbyes and the fighters went off to the preliminaries while the rest of them went off to the stands to get seats. Thousands of fighters from all over were waiting and warming up at the preliminaries.

Rukia: "Look at all these fighters!"

Yoruichi: "This is going to be fun!"

Krillin: "Sure brings back memories huh Goku."

Goku: "I'll say."

The preliminary were unlike the one Vegeta was in before. They had gone back to the old method of having mini matches to decide the advancing 19 fighters.

Toushiro: "Why'd they change it from when you first entered Vegeta?"

Vegeta: "Good bet it has something do to with when I destroyed the punch machine."

Goku: "Oh yeah I'd forgotten about that!"

The preliminaries were soon underway! All of the fighters were matched up randomly in 7 different rings. The first match in ring 3 was Vegeta against a random fighter. The saiyan prince easily defeated his opponent without even lifting a finger. After a few battles it was Renji's turn in ring 6 who was sadly defeated. Val was up next in ring 1 and everyone knew it.

"AHHHHHH!!"

Toushiro: "What was that?!"

Vegeta: "That would have been Val."

Goku: "Turning her opponent into a human pretzel."

Uryu was next and he fought Gohan who beat him easily. Goku fought in ring 4 and won against his opponent. Finally, it was Toushiro's turn. His opponent was a big tall man who obviously didn't like kids.

Random Fighter: "Why do I get stuck with this crybaby?!"

Toushiro: "What did you call me?!!"

Vegeta: "If it wasn't for rule that you can't kill anyone, he would be dead where he stands."

The match began and in no time the young captain had the man pinned to the ground, screaming uncle.

Toushiro: "NOW WHO'S THE CRYBABY?!!!!"

Random Fighter: "I AM!!!!"

Val: "Ok... Vegeta... I feel so sorry for you!"

Vegeta: "Be thankful he doesn't have his Zanpakuto!"

Krillin: "Man he is tough!"

Goku: "I can see why Vegeta likes him!"

After the child prodigy was called the winner, Rukia and Videl faced off in ring 7. In the end, Videl lost and Rukia advanced to the finals. Ichigo, Gohan, and Goku also advanced. In the end, the 20 best fighters advanced to the finals. Toushiro, Momo, Yoruichi, Soifon, Byakuya, Val, Mika, Chad, Vegeta, Goku, Gohan, Buu, Komamura, Zaraki, Ikkaku, Rukia, Ichigo and two other random fighters were joining Hercule in the main event while the others joined their friends in the stadium. The finalists were then led to the very same area where Toushiro, Vegeta and Momo watched a part of the saiyans past play out.

Announcer: "Ok people, this is how it works! I will call your name and you will come up here to draw a ball! The balls you choose will determine your opponent in the match!"

Momo: "That sounds familiar."

Toushiro: "It should, he said the same thing back in the past."

Announcer: "When I call your name please come up! First up is... Byakuya!"

Byakuya stepped up and drew a ball.

Byakuya: "I'm number 20."

Next up was one of the other fighters who drew number 4.

Announcer: "Ichigo! You're up!"

Ichigo: "Sweet!"

Ichigo came up with number 9.

Announcer: "Up next is Buu!"

Buu: "Buu!"

The pink gentle giant got number 12. Gohan was call next and he got number 5. Soifon got number 7.

Announcer: "Hey Goku its your turn!"

Goku: "Here goes!"

Goku reached in and drew his ball. A match had been set when he saw his number. Number 10.

Rukia: "Ichigo vs Goku!"

Gohan: "At least its not my dad vs Vegeta this time!"

Goku: "Do your best Ichigo!"

Ichigo: "Count on it!"

Val was called up next. The Saboron got number 17. Momo was next and she got number 2. The next one was Chad who drew number 3. Then, it was finally Vegeta's turn.

Announcer: "Vegeta! Come on up!"

The saiyan prince went up and got his number which was number 14.

Announcer: "Ikkaku!"

Ikkaku: "Please an open slot so I can fight my Captain!"

It was number 19. The bald Soul Reaper nearly cried. Zaraki got number 11.

Ichigo: "Talk about irony!"

Announcer: "Mika! You're next!"

Val: "Good luck honey."

Mika: "Thanks mom!"

The young Saboron dashed over to get her number. She got number 1. Hercule got 15 and then it was...

Announcer: "Toushiro's next!"

Toushiro: "Finally!"

The young boy eagerly reached in to grab his number. But as he looked at the number on the ball, his smile disappeared and he turned to face Vegeta with a troubled look. The Announcer took the ball and read the number.

Announcer: "Toushiro's number 13!"

Ichigo: "What?!"

Goku: "13?!"

Soifon: "But that means!"

Momo: "He's fighting Vegeta!"

The young captain held his head low as he walked back to sit next to Vegeta. The last thing he wanted was to be pitted against his best friend.

Vegeta: "I swear cruel irony seems to be my middle name at times."

The drawing continued with the other fighter getting 16. Komamura got number 18 and Rukia got number 6. Yoruichi was the last to draw and she got number 8.

Announcer: "The tournament has been set! The 1st match is Mika against Momo! The 2nd match is Chad vs *****! The 3rd match is Gohan vs Rukia! The 4th match is Soifon against Yoruichi! The 5th match is Ichigo vs Goku! The 6th match is Kenpachi vs Buu! The 7th match is Toushiro vs Vegeta! The 8th match is Hercule against *****! The 9th match is Val against Komamura! And the last match is Ikkaku vs Byakuya!"

The fighters were all led to waiting area after being told the rules. Momo, Rukia and Mika gazed out at the stadium in excitement. Goku and Gohan stretched in preparation for their fights. Byakuya and Soifon stood quietly and the rest started to warm up for the fights. Then...

Announcer: "Now! Let the tournament begin!"

Cheers erupted from the stands as the tournament went underway!