I'd Do Anything For You: What's The Deal?
Disclaimer: Um, okay, I think everyone knows what I don't own. And who really does. Ya know? I think I'll stop posting this now...
Author's Note: Heh!! Got it out a little late, but 'ey, it's out, ne? I hope ya guys like it! Thanks for sticking around to read this far, too... ::big grin:: Read on!
~*~
Previous chapter...
~*~
He threw out the cloak to the audience and the satisfying sounds of several thunks of fainting women
reached his ears. Hercule then turned back to both Saiyaman and the announcer, cracking his knuckles.
"Here we go, folks, this is it...! The fight, for the title of the Satan Tournament Champion!"
~*~
End of Chapter
~*~
Gohan tried to surpress a laugh as he watched Hercule stop in his tracks and strike a pose, both arms raise
and flexing with his feet planted apart. This got a roar from the audience in response. With a satisfied
grunt the man righted himself and walked over to where Gohan was waiting while the announcer stood a
distance away.
"I'm going to tear you up, kid! You should've stayed home!"
yelled Hercule, grinning a savage grin. He hadn't had the experience to see the Great Saiyaman in action,
but had assumed he'd be as easy to beat as the fighters from the previous years.
Gohan kept his head lowered as a half-smile spread across his lips. He was clear to go all out against the
man that stood before him. Even Videl told him that she wished someone would win against him in the
fights; she said that he was getting too cocky and was running around with too many girls half his age.
The announcer raised the loudspeaker to his mouth and put one hand in the air, holding a larger version
of a check.
"Who's gonna win this baby? Will it be Hercule, the man who defeated Cell, or the city's new super hero
who fights crime on the streets? Let's get ready to see some action, people!"
The referee remained standing by the sidelines but still raised his hand as he looked to each fighter.
Within several seconds, he swept his hand back down and the foghorn sounded. The fight began.
~*~
"Look, Gohan's up!"
Goten jumped onto the top of his seat and started waving both of his hands while screaming his older
brother's name, Trunks getting ready to do the same until he noticed his father's steady glare. Chichi sat
up, eyes wide as she looked down at the platform, examining both of the fighters. Realizing who her son's
opponent was, a sly grin spread across her face as she stood, raising both arms and stomping her feet.
"Go Saiyaman! Beat the living heck out of him!"
Android 18 smiled slightly as she watched the announcer pump up the crowd as Krillin continued stuffing
his mouth full of popcorn.
"Come on, Saiyaman, show him your stuff!"
screamed Bulma from her seat next to Chichi as she cheered enthusiastically. The Z gang already had a
guess on what the result of the battle would be, and they didn't think they'd be proved wrong.
On the platform, both Hercule and Gohan remained in the same place where they'd began, staring each
other down. Hercule had the same smirk on his face as before. He hadn't seen Gohan fight, and was
confident that he'd win the match easily. There wasn't a human around who could beat him, right?
Too bad Gohan wasn't human.
Breathing in a breath of air, Gohan took a slow step forward. Slow for him, at least. Hercule jumped back
then pounced forward, roaring as he brought his fist up to move it towards the Saiyan's face.
The half-Saiyan stepped back, then knelt, bringing his knee up so that it came into contact with the man's
stomach. Hercule grunted, and keeled back as he brought up his fist, attempting to cuff Gohan in the chin.
Gohan stopped the attack by blocking it with the palm of his hand, then took several steps back, watching
Hercule.
Hercule blinked, then grinned, letting out a loud roar. The crowd screamed and whistled as he smiled
triumphantly, gasping as he sucked in quick breaths of air. Gohan smirked, bending his head slightly.
Hercule thought he was winning, but what he didn't know was that the Great Saiyaman wasn't even
trying.
Gohan relaxed, then stepped back as he raised his ki level slowly. He'd humor the man for awhile, and at
least not make it look too easy for him. With that, he leapt forward, doing a partial twist in midair as he
charged towards Satan Hercule.
~*~
Videl let the curtain slip from her fingers as she leaned back, sighing. Gohan was fighting her Dad. She
really wanted the teen to beat him, but she didn't think he could. After all, her father was the man who
defeated Cell, and Gohan used tricks similar to those people who lost to Cell. Winning another
tournament would just boost her Dad's ego even higher.
::*At this rate, he might start expecting me to bow to him everytime I pass or something. He already
thinks that he deserves all those cheers out there for doing all this stuff that is just for publicity...*::
She let out a quiet breath as she crossed both arms and let her head roll back, so that it was resting against
the wall. She remained silent for several minutes, eyelids slowly falling until they were closed, when a
loud voice woke her.
"Hey, Videl!"
"Huh?!"
Videl jerked up, almost falling off her chair as she recovered, then looked to the source of the noise.
Relaxing, she leaned back again.
"Oh, hey, Erasa."
"Hey! You did awesome! You almost beat that guy, too, and I couldn't believe it! You would've won if he
didn't fly! Actually, you flew too, how did you do that? That was really cool!"
The raven-haired girl grinned as she shook her head a little. The crowd had really gone wild after that
fight, considering how high they flew. She was surprised that Erasa was still excited about it. After all, it
wasn't anything new to Videl.
"Thanks. It was a pretty good fight..."
Videl leaned forward, peering through the curtain at her dad and Gohan, keeping her gaze on Gohan for
several seconds until she pulled back again, sighing. Erasa tilted her head to the side and put a finger to
her temple, confused. Suddenly, her lips broke into a sly smile.
"You like him?"
"What, my dad? Of course I do! I mean, I have to love him, he's my *dad*..."
Muttered the girl as she stood, dusting off her shirt.
"No! Not your Dad... I meant the Great Saiyaman, or whatever."
Videl froze, turning her head to look at Erasa, a look of surprise on her face. It changed to that of
nervousness.
"What, him? No way.. I mean he does great stuff for everyone and everything, but I don't like him as
anything past friends, he's alright, but not that alright..."
"Is it just like the way you like Gohan?"
continued Erasa, knowing Videl was probably lying.
"What!?!"
"Gohan."
"Gack!!"
Erasa stopped, running a hand over her short blonde hair, grinning widely. She could tell that Videl liked
them, she was as red as a tomato. Clicking her tongue, she winked as she looked out at the Great
Saiyaman, making it obvious enough that Videl would see the look easily.
Videl looked at her friend, feeling a deep blush creep up her cheeks. She tried to choke out a retort but
only managed to stammer out a few incoherent words, then gave up on all resistance. Erasa had a
tendency to guess most things about her, and it was pointless to try to make her believe otherwise. She
looked outside as she noticed Erasa do so, and kept her eyes locked on Gohan. She allowed a small smile
to appear.
Erasa didn't know that the two guys she liked were actually the same person.
~*~
"Yeah, Great Saiyaman! You can do it!"
Chichi cheered loudly while both Goten and Trunks stood on their seats, waving their arms while they
jumped up and down, yelling wildly.
Vegeta raised his head to glare at the two kids and made a loud grunt, lowering his head again. The noise
was getting annoying. Couldn't the brat of Kakarott just win the fight and bring all the screaming to an
end?
Bulma raised his eyebrow suspiciously as she looked at her mate, noticing his look of distaste for the
cheering. She quickly tapped into their bond, arguing with him to not be so sulky. In the end, as always,
she won the fight, and he forced himself to look at least a little happy, and to even give out a few words of
praise about the young Super Saiyan.
"Go Gohan."
Bulma grinned widely at him as she heard him mutter the words, then nudged him lightly with his elbow.
::*See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?*::
::*Don't push it, woman.*::
Smirking, Prince Vegeta's mate turned back so that she was looking out to the platform, and started to
cheer once again. She knew that, even if he tended to deny it, Vegeta really did want Gohan to win, even
though it was obvious that the Prince wanted to intervene at some points.
Gohan, it looked like, had already gained the upper hand.
~*~
Hovering above Hercule's retreating form, the Saiyan pummeled him with punches, mostly directed
towards his chest where it shouldn't effect him too much. Gohan smirked as he watched the surprised
man back up slowly, eyes wide as he tried to block as many of the attacks as possible.
Gohan was going at a slow pace for him, and wasn't using anywhere near his full strength. He decided to
save it for later, and to at least make it look like he had to work pretty hard to defeat Hercule. He didn't
want to make Videl's father look bad in front of a huge audience of people that had come to respect and
admire him.
Gohan drew back, landing on the ground softly, then stepped forward, slowly, as he saw Hercule stand
and let out a low growl. The boy gave a short laugh that he hoped wasn't heard by Hercule, and pulled up
both of his fists in a defensive stance. He couldn't help but feel overconfident, as he thought up an image
of him winning.
::*Bring it.*::
Hercule gasped as he watched the masked teen before him. Somehow, someway, the kid had trained
enough to get to his level, possibly surpass it. He couldn't let himself be beaten in front of so many people
by some teenager that was still new to the scene! If he needed to, he'd resort to 'aiding' himself. A sly
grin spreading over his face, he placed one hand into the front of his shirt as his hand rested on several
pouches. With that, he ran forward, yelling, and whipped out one of his hands holding the pouches,
flinging it directly at the Great Saiyaman while using the same hand to try and punch him.
Blinking, Gohan watched as Hercule charged, then smiled as he remained standing, and feigned a look of
surprise. He was going to let the guy get a hit in; at least he wouldn't look so bad. Bracing himself, he
lowered his ki level enough so that he'd probably fall backwards when hit. What he didn't expect,
however, was the small brown pack that came flying directly at his face. Drawing back, he looked to
Hercule and saw his fist coming towards his face, and remembering he was going to let himself get hit, he
didn't move. By doing this, he got slammed hard in the nose with a rattling punch, and the packet hit him
directly in the eyes.
Gasping, he fell overbackwards as he rubbed his eyes furiously with his knuckles. The pack had exploded
on impact, and a white powder had poured into his eyes. And it stung like hell. Shaking his head, he tried
to open one eye, finding it incredibly painful and his sight was still blurry. Staggering, he stood and
almost fell over backwards as he tried to steady himself. Something was very wrong.
He raised his head to squint at Hercule, and saw the man waving his arms and laughing, his back to the
boy. Hercule had assumed that the punch had knocked him out. Snarling, Gohan reached forward and
swung a wild punch towards Hercule's head as he started to hover, hitting him in the upper back instead.
With a surprised yelp, Hercule fell forward and landed on his face. Turning his head, he looked behind
him, and saw an overly pissed off Saiyaman. Coughing, he crawled to his feet, and smirked. The pepper
had done its work; he could tell by his opponent's actions that he was having a hard time balancing and
seeing anything. His win would be a lot more easier, now.
Without making a noise, he leapt forward and slammed a powerful kick into Gohan's ribs, then brought
up his other fist to hook him on the other side of the rib. He frowned as he realized there was no snap, and
pulled back, shaking his fist a bit. He hated how the boy had managed to train up enough that it felt like
he was hitting pure rock.
Gohan felt the impact of a blow on one side, then the other. Coughing, he yanked back his form to try and
avoid anymore hits. Fortunately, from his blurry vision, he could still see that the body in front of him was
now waiting for any possible retaliation he might've had. Sighing, Gohan let his ki level rise steadily. If
Hercule was going to go to other measures to try and win, so was he. Trying to wipe more of the substance
out of his eyes, he reached forward and jetted to the side, doing a full 360 as he hovered in midair, his
heel coming into contact with Hercule's shoulder.
Yelling angrily, Hercule leapt back and rubbed his left shoulder grumpily. The kid's abilities to fly was
giving him an advantage. The man sighed as he slipped his hand into the front of his shirt again. He had
plenty of means of backup, and if necessary, he'd use every one of them to get what he wanted. After all,
Satan Hercule got whatever he wanted, right? He wasn't going to give up that privilage anytime soon.
Grinning wildly, the man stepped forward and swept his foot up at Gohan's hovering form and hit him
easily in the back of the knee. Falling forward, the Saiyan tried to open his eyes to see what Hercule's next
move would be. He was slightly surprised as he saw another packet coming his way, and immediately
clamped his eyes shut.
Hercule smirked as he threw a punch at Gohan's face, and hit him in the lower jaw. The Great Saiyaman
had thought that he was throwing another pepper bag at him, to mess up his sight even more. No, the
packet contained other ingredients, so that he'd have a different problem.
Gohan suddenly felt his breath come short as he breathed in, and he gasped, letting himself drop from his
hovering state to stand unsteadily on the ground, backing up. Whatever Hercule had put in the second
pack, it had nothing to do with his eyes. Now the man was trying to ruin his endurance, so that he
wouldn't be able to function as well. A Saiyan had great endurance, but without air, it wouldn't help too
much.
Grunting, Gohan raised both of his hands defensively, then charged forward, knowing his attack would
probably miss. But he wasn't going to let Hercule off anymore. Soon enough, he'd power up enough that
it would probably be impossible for the man to do anything about it.
~*~
"WHAT?!"
Chichi roared furiously as she grabbed the sides of her chair, almost ripping it up in the process.
"Who in the *hell* does he think he is!"
Android 18 had noticed the small flying objects, thanks to her improved sight. And she could tell that
whatever was in them, it was enough to make Gohan stagger around and look completely weak.
Bulma blinked several times as she registered the information, and had to restrain herself from yelling at
Vegeta to get his ass down to the ring to beat the living heck out of Hercule. Her mind was cursing loudly
and she was flushed with anger. Looking at Vegeta, she could tell by the pained look on his face that he
was getting the bad end of her anger. Taking in a sharp breath, she forced herself to calm down, and
watched as her mate slowly relaxed from his tense state. She was ready to kill, but didn't want to injure
Vegeta's 'ears' anymore. Smiling sheepishly at him as he glowered at her, she looked back to the
platfrom.
::*Poor Gohan...*::
She watched as her friend's son barely avoided a fierce kick to the head, and was knocked to the side by a
punch.
Bulma found herself getting angry again. She looked away, and tried to concentrate on restraining Chichi
from running towards the ring instead of the fight.
Krillin let his jaw hang open as pieces of popcorn fell from it, as the bag of popcorn in his hand was
immediately snatched by Goten and Trunks. Goten and Trunks, who were completely oblivious to what
was happening in the fight and the adult's anger, ended up eating most of the food and then throwing the
rest at random people.
18 had fortunately remained calm in the midst of all the other's anger. She bent her head, face remaining
emotionless, but thoughts raging through her mind that she hoped weren't being heard by Krillin. She had
enough confidence that Gohan would win the fight in the end, but she hated Hercule's attempts to win at
any expense.
The Z crew watched on with the other awed spectators, who were unaware to the cheats that Hercule had
resorted to. The stadium was booming with cheers and whistles.
~*~
"Hey... what's going on out there? Major racket."
Erasa covered her ears with both hands and shut both eyes, frowning. Videl blinked and turned from her
seat, drawing the curtain back enough so that she could see what was going on on the fighting platform.
Her father was in the process of beating the crap out of Gohan, known to the audience as the Great
Saiyaman.
Videl stiffled a cry as she watched her friend's movements. Something was obviously wrong with him; she
knew from past training that his attacks were normally fluid and quick, even when he was straining
himself. Instead, they were erratic and random, and he was being hit a lot more than normal.
The girl realized that she'd never seen him in the state. It could've been that her dad was so strong that
Gohan was weakening; he could've looked like that when he was coming to an end. Or, it could've been
something else... The thought was immediately pushed out of her mind as she continued to watch the
fight. She should've known that her father was going to win. It was hopeless to hope that anyone could
beat him.
Videl thought that Gohan maybe could've, if he'd really been training. But, in the end, it seemed that her
father was definately the strongest person in the world, and he wasn't going to lose his place to the boy
that was both the Great Saiyaman and the Golden Warrior.
Sighing inwardly, the girl let the curtains fall back again as she turned to face her friend, a fake smile
plastered on her face.
"Looks like... daddy's going to win. Again."
~*~
Gohan let himself fly backwards as a powerful punch came into contact with his tensed stomach. The teen
felt himself shaking, and not only from the powder that had messed up his breathing. Because of all the
hits he had taken, and the chemicals, he found himself getting dizzier each passing second, and a feeling
he hadn'd expected to appear in the tournament. He was weakening.
Somehow, after so many blows, Hercule had managed to lower Gohan's ki level without realizing it. The
boy shook his head as he gripped his hands, drawing back. Hercule wasn't anywhere near as powerful as
Nappa and his Saibamen, yet he couldn't win? He shook his head again. Nappa hadn't cheated with
chemicals, he'd just tried to use more man--or alien--power. Hercule, however, was using other ways to
resort to it so that it'd look like he was just the better fighter. Ways that Gohan didn't have a way of
defending himself again.
He felt another punch hit him in the side of the face, and coughed as two arms wound around his neck and
yanked him back, so that he was suspended partially in midair, in a headlock. A voice spoke to him
quietly and gruffly.
"Now... You know you're going to lose, kid. How about making things easy and just.. giving up? I'll even
give you a bit of prize money to go along with second place. Believe me, it's a win-win situation. You get
money and the title of second place and don't get... maimed. I keep what's rightfully mine. What do you
say?"
Gohan felt himself coming close to a black out as the thought turned over in his mind. If he gave up, then
he would still get the prize money for his family, and he'd get enough recognization. And many people
wouldn't be put down to see their so-called hero lose to an adolescent. It would be better for him if he just
gave up.
Struggling, he began to choke out his response.
~*~
To be continued...
~*~
Ehheh... sorta a cliffhanger! I know!!! Well let's see.. what should I have Gohan say? *evil grin* Anywho! Read and review, people! I love all you guys who have and who've read, too! Stick around, I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.
Oh yeah.. forgot to mention... we've almost broke 50 reviews!! Score!! ALMOST ALMOST... just two more!! Alright! Jaaaa!
Disclaimer: Um, okay, I think everyone knows what I don't own. And who really does. Ya know? I think I'll stop posting this now...
Author's Note: Heh!! Got it out a little late, but 'ey, it's out, ne? I hope ya guys like it! Thanks for sticking around to read this far, too... ::big grin:: Read on!
~*~
Previous chapter...
~*~
He threw out the cloak to the audience and the satisfying sounds of several thunks of fainting women
reached his ears. Hercule then turned back to both Saiyaman and the announcer, cracking his knuckles.
"Here we go, folks, this is it...! The fight, for the title of the Satan Tournament Champion!"
~*~
End of Chapter
~*~
Gohan tried to surpress a laugh as he watched Hercule stop in his tracks and strike a pose, both arms raise
and flexing with his feet planted apart. This got a roar from the audience in response. With a satisfied
grunt the man righted himself and walked over to where Gohan was waiting while the announcer stood a
distance away.
"I'm going to tear you up, kid! You should've stayed home!"
yelled Hercule, grinning a savage grin. He hadn't had the experience to see the Great Saiyaman in action,
but had assumed he'd be as easy to beat as the fighters from the previous years.
Gohan kept his head lowered as a half-smile spread across his lips. He was clear to go all out against the
man that stood before him. Even Videl told him that she wished someone would win against him in the
fights; she said that he was getting too cocky and was running around with too many girls half his age.
The announcer raised the loudspeaker to his mouth and put one hand in the air, holding a larger version
of a check.
"Who's gonna win this baby? Will it be Hercule, the man who defeated Cell, or the city's new super hero
who fights crime on the streets? Let's get ready to see some action, people!"
The referee remained standing by the sidelines but still raised his hand as he looked to each fighter.
Within several seconds, he swept his hand back down and the foghorn sounded. The fight began.
~*~
"Look, Gohan's up!"
Goten jumped onto the top of his seat and started waving both of his hands while screaming his older
brother's name, Trunks getting ready to do the same until he noticed his father's steady glare. Chichi sat
up, eyes wide as she looked down at the platform, examining both of the fighters. Realizing who her son's
opponent was, a sly grin spread across her face as she stood, raising both arms and stomping her feet.
"Go Saiyaman! Beat the living heck out of him!"
Android 18 smiled slightly as she watched the announcer pump up the crowd as Krillin continued stuffing
his mouth full of popcorn.
"Come on, Saiyaman, show him your stuff!"
screamed Bulma from her seat next to Chichi as she cheered enthusiastically. The Z gang already had a
guess on what the result of the battle would be, and they didn't think they'd be proved wrong.
On the platform, both Hercule and Gohan remained in the same place where they'd began, staring each
other down. Hercule had the same smirk on his face as before. He hadn't seen Gohan fight, and was
confident that he'd win the match easily. There wasn't a human around who could beat him, right?
Too bad Gohan wasn't human.
Breathing in a breath of air, Gohan took a slow step forward. Slow for him, at least. Hercule jumped back
then pounced forward, roaring as he brought his fist up to move it towards the Saiyan's face.
The half-Saiyan stepped back, then knelt, bringing his knee up so that it came into contact with the man's
stomach. Hercule grunted, and keeled back as he brought up his fist, attempting to cuff Gohan in the chin.
Gohan stopped the attack by blocking it with the palm of his hand, then took several steps back, watching
Hercule.
Hercule blinked, then grinned, letting out a loud roar. The crowd screamed and whistled as he smiled
triumphantly, gasping as he sucked in quick breaths of air. Gohan smirked, bending his head slightly.
Hercule thought he was winning, but what he didn't know was that the Great Saiyaman wasn't even
trying.
Gohan relaxed, then stepped back as he raised his ki level slowly. He'd humor the man for awhile, and at
least not make it look too easy for him. With that, he leapt forward, doing a partial twist in midair as he
charged towards Satan Hercule.
~*~
Videl let the curtain slip from her fingers as she leaned back, sighing. Gohan was fighting her Dad. She
really wanted the teen to beat him, but she didn't think he could. After all, her father was the man who
defeated Cell, and Gohan used tricks similar to those people who lost to Cell. Winning another
tournament would just boost her Dad's ego even higher.
::*At this rate, he might start expecting me to bow to him everytime I pass or something. He already
thinks that he deserves all those cheers out there for doing all this stuff that is just for publicity...*::
She let out a quiet breath as she crossed both arms and let her head roll back, so that it was resting against
the wall. She remained silent for several minutes, eyelids slowly falling until they were closed, when a
loud voice woke her.
"Hey, Videl!"
"Huh?!"
Videl jerked up, almost falling off her chair as she recovered, then looked to the source of the noise.
Relaxing, she leaned back again.
"Oh, hey, Erasa."
"Hey! You did awesome! You almost beat that guy, too, and I couldn't believe it! You would've won if he
didn't fly! Actually, you flew too, how did you do that? That was really cool!"
The raven-haired girl grinned as she shook her head a little. The crowd had really gone wild after that
fight, considering how high they flew. She was surprised that Erasa was still excited about it. After all, it
wasn't anything new to Videl.
"Thanks. It was a pretty good fight..."
Videl leaned forward, peering through the curtain at her dad and Gohan, keeping her gaze on Gohan for
several seconds until she pulled back again, sighing. Erasa tilted her head to the side and put a finger to
her temple, confused. Suddenly, her lips broke into a sly smile.
"You like him?"
"What, my dad? Of course I do! I mean, I have to love him, he's my *dad*..."
Muttered the girl as she stood, dusting off her shirt.
"No! Not your Dad... I meant the Great Saiyaman, or whatever."
Videl froze, turning her head to look at Erasa, a look of surprise on her face. It changed to that of
nervousness.
"What, him? No way.. I mean he does great stuff for everyone and everything, but I don't like him as
anything past friends, he's alright, but not that alright..."
"Is it just like the way you like Gohan?"
continued Erasa, knowing Videl was probably lying.
"What!?!"
"Gohan."
"Gack!!"
Erasa stopped, running a hand over her short blonde hair, grinning widely. She could tell that Videl liked
them, she was as red as a tomato. Clicking her tongue, she winked as she looked out at the Great
Saiyaman, making it obvious enough that Videl would see the look easily.
Videl looked at her friend, feeling a deep blush creep up her cheeks. She tried to choke out a retort but
only managed to stammer out a few incoherent words, then gave up on all resistance. Erasa had a
tendency to guess most things about her, and it was pointless to try to make her believe otherwise. She
looked outside as she noticed Erasa do so, and kept her eyes locked on Gohan. She allowed a small smile
to appear.
Erasa didn't know that the two guys she liked were actually the same person.
~*~
"Yeah, Great Saiyaman! You can do it!"
Chichi cheered loudly while both Goten and Trunks stood on their seats, waving their arms while they
jumped up and down, yelling wildly.
Vegeta raised his head to glare at the two kids and made a loud grunt, lowering his head again. The noise
was getting annoying. Couldn't the brat of Kakarott just win the fight and bring all the screaming to an
end?
Bulma raised his eyebrow suspiciously as she looked at her mate, noticing his look of distaste for the
cheering. She quickly tapped into their bond, arguing with him to not be so sulky. In the end, as always,
she won the fight, and he forced himself to look at least a little happy, and to even give out a few words of
praise about the young Super Saiyan.
"Go Gohan."
Bulma grinned widely at him as she heard him mutter the words, then nudged him lightly with his elbow.
::*See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?*::
::*Don't push it, woman.*::
Smirking, Prince Vegeta's mate turned back so that she was looking out to the platform, and started to
cheer once again. She knew that, even if he tended to deny it, Vegeta really did want Gohan to win, even
though it was obvious that the Prince wanted to intervene at some points.
Gohan, it looked like, had already gained the upper hand.
~*~
Hovering above Hercule's retreating form, the Saiyan pummeled him with punches, mostly directed
towards his chest where it shouldn't effect him too much. Gohan smirked as he watched the surprised
man back up slowly, eyes wide as he tried to block as many of the attacks as possible.
Gohan was going at a slow pace for him, and wasn't using anywhere near his full strength. He decided to
save it for later, and to at least make it look like he had to work pretty hard to defeat Hercule. He didn't
want to make Videl's father look bad in front of a huge audience of people that had come to respect and
admire him.
Gohan drew back, landing on the ground softly, then stepped forward, slowly, as he saw Hercule stand
and let out a low growl. The boy gave a short laugh that he hoped wasn't heard by Hercule, and pulled up
both of his fists in a defensive stance. He couldn't help but feel overconfident, as he thought up an image
of him winning.
::*Bring it.*::
Hercule gasped as he watched the masked teen before him. Somehow, someway, the kid had trained
enough to get to his level, possibly surpass it. He couldn't let himself be beaten in front of so many people
by some teenager that was still new to the scene! If he needed to, he'd resort to 'aiding' himself. A sly
grin spreading over his face, he placed one hand into the front of his shirt as his hand rested on several
pouches. With that, he ran forward, yelling, and whipped out one of his hands holding the pouches,
flinging it directly at the Great Saiyaman while using the same hand to try and punch him.
Blinking, Gohan watched as Hercule charged, then smiled as he remained standing, and feigned a look of
surprise. He was going to let the guy get a hit in; at least he wouldn't look so bad. Bracing himself, he
lowered his ki level enough so that he'd probably fall backwards when hit. What he didn't expect,
however, was the small brown pack that came flying directly at his face. Drawing back, he looked to
Hercule and saw his fist coming towards his face, and remembering he was going to let himself get hit, he
didn't move. By doing this, he got slammed hard in the nose with a rattling punch, and the packet hit him
directly in the eyes.
Gasping, he fell overbackwards as he rubbed his eyes furiously with his knuckles. The pack had exploded
on impact, and a white powder had poured into his eyes. And it stung like hell. Shaking his head, he tried
to open one eye, finding it incredibly painful and his sight was still blurry. Staggering, he stood and
almost fell over backwards as he tried to steady himself. Something was very wrong.
He raised his head to squint at Hercule, and saw the man waving his arms and laughing, his back to the
boy. Hercule had assumed that the punch had knocked him out. Snarling, Gohan reached forward and
swung a wild punch towards Hercule's head as he started to hover, hitting him in the upper back instead.
With a surprised yelp, Hercule fell forward and landed on his face. Turning his head, he looked behind
him, and saw an overly pissed off Saiyaman. Coughing, he crawled to his feet, and smirked. The pepper
had done its work; he could tell by his opponent's actions that he was having a hard time balancing and
seeing anything. His win would be a lot more easier, now.
Without making a noise, he leapt forward and slammed a powerful kick into Gohan's ribs, then brought
up his other fist to hook him on the other side of the rib. He frowned as he realized there was no snap, and
pulled back, shaking his fist a bit. He hated how the boy had managed to train up enough that it felt like
he was hitting pure rock.
Gohan felt the impact of a blow on one side, then the other. Coughing, he yanked back his form to try and
avoid anymore hits. Fortunately, from his blurry vision, he could still see that the body in front of him was
now waiting for any possible retaliation he might've had. Sighing, Gohan let his ki level rise steadily. If
Hercule was going to go to other measures to try and win, so was he. Trying to wipe more of the substance
out of his eyes, he reached forward and jetted to the side, doing a full 360 as he hovered in midair, his
heel coming into contact with Hercule's shoulder.
Yelling angrily, Hercule leapt back and rubbed his left shoulder grumpily. The kid's abilities to fly was
giving him an advantage. The man sighed as he slipped his hand into the front of his shirt again. He had
plenty of means of backup, and if necessary, he'd use every one of them to get what he wanted. After all,
Satan Hercule got whatever he wanted, right? He wasn't going to give up that privilage anytime soon.
Grinning wildly, the man stepped forward and swept his foot up at Gohan's hovering form and hit him
easily in the back of the knee. Falling forward, the Saiyan tried to open his eyes to see what Hercule's next
move would be. He was slightly surprised as he saw another packet coming his way, and immediately
clamped his eyes shut.
Hercule smirked as he threw a punch at Gohan's face, and hit him in the lower jaw. The Great Saiyaman
had thought that he was throwing another pepper bag at him, to mess up his sight even more. No, the
packet contained other ingredients, so that he'd have a different problem.
Gohan suddenly felt his breath come short as he breathed in, and he gasped, letting himself drop from his
hovering state to stand unsteadily on the ground, backing up. Whatever Hercule had put in the second
pack, it had nothing to do with his eyes. Now the man was trying to ruin his endurance, so that he
wouldn't be able to function as well. A Saiyan had great endurance, but without air, it wouldn't help too
much.
Grunting, Gohan raised both of his hands defensively, then charged forward, knowing his attack would
probably miss. But he wasn't going to let Hercule off anymore. Soon enough, he'd power up enough that
it would probably be impossible for the man to do anything about it.
~*~
"WHAT?!"
Chichi roared furiously as she grabbed the sides of her chair, almost ripping it up in the process.
"Who in the *hell* does he think he is!"
Android 18 had noticed the small flying objects, thanks to her improved sight. And she could tell that
whatever was in them, it was enough to make Gohan stagger around and look completely weak.
Bulma blinked several times as she registered the information, and had to restrain herself from yelling at
Vegeta to get his ass down to the ring to beat the living heck out of Hercule. Her mind was cursing loudly
and she was flushed with anger. Looking at Vegeta, she could tell by the pained look on his face that he
was getting the bad end of her anger. Taking in a sharp breath, she forced herself to calm down, and
watched as her mate slowly relaxed from his tense state. She was ready to kill, but didn't want to injure
Vegeta's 'ears' anymore. Smiling sheepishly at him as he glowered at her, she looked back to the
platfrom.
::*Poor Gohan...*::
She watched as her friend's son barely avoided a fierce kick to the head, and was knocked to the side by a
punch.
Bulma found herself getting angry again. She looked away, and tried to concentrate on restraining Chichi
from running towards the ring instead of the fight.
Krillin let his jaw hang open as pieces of popcorn fell from it, as the bag of popcorn in his hand was
immediately snatched by Goten and Trunks. Goten and Trunks, who were completely oblivious to what
was happening in the fight and the adult's anger, ended up eating most of the food and then throwing the
rest at random people.
18 had fortunately remained calm in the midst of all the other's anger. She bent her head, face remaining
emotionless, but thoughts raging through her mind that she hoped weren't being heard by Krillin. She had
enough confidence that Gohan would win the fight in the end, but she hated Hercule's attempts to win at
any expense.
The Z crew watched on with the other awed spectators, who were unaware to the cheats that Hercule had
resorted to. The stadium was booming with cheers and whistles.
~*~
"Hey... what's going on out there? Major racket."
Erasa covered her ears with both hands and shut both eyes, frowning. Videl blinked and turned from her
seat, drawing the curtain back enough so that she could see what was going on on the fighting platform.
Her father was in the process of beating the crap out of Gohan, known to the audience as the Great
Saiyaman.
Videl stiffled a cry as she watched her friend's movements. Something was obviously wrong with him; she
knew from past training that his attacks were normally fluid and quick, even when he was straining
himself. Instead, they were erratic and random, and he was being hit a lot more than normal.
The girl realized that she'd never seen him in the state. It could've been that her dad was so strong that
Gohan was weakening; he could've looked like that when he was coming to an end. Or, it could've been
something else... The thought was immediately pushed out of her mind as she continued to watch the
fight. She should've known that her father was going to win. It was hopeless to hope that anyone could
beat him.
Videl thought that Gohan maybe could've, if he'd really been training. But, in the end, it seemed that her
father was definately the strongest person in the world, and he wasn't going to lose his place to the boy
that was both the Great Saiyaman and the Golden Warrior.
Sighing inwardly, the girl let the curtains fall back again as she turned to face her friend, a fake smile
plastered on her face.
"Looks like... daddy's going to win. Again."
~*~
Gohan let himself fly backwards as a powerful punch came into contact with his tensed stomach. The teen
felt himself shaking, and not only from the powder that had messed up his breathing. Because of all the
hits he had taken, and the chemicals, he found himself getting dizzier each passing second, and a feeling
he hadn'd expected to appear in the tournament. He was weakening.
Somehow, after so many blows, Hercule had managed to lower Gohan's ki level without realizing it. The
boy shook his head as he gripped his hands, drawing back. Hercule wasn't anywhere near as powerful as
Nappa and his Saibamen, yet he couldn't win? He shook his head again. Nappa hadn't cheated with
chemicals, he'd just tried to use more man--or alien--power. Hercule, however, was using other ways to
resort to it so that it'd look like he was just the better fighter. Ways that Gohan didn't have a way of
defending himself again.
He felt another punch hit him in the side of the face, and coughed as two arms wound around his neck and
yanked him back, so that he was suspended partially in midair, in a headlock. A voice spoke to him
quietly and gruffly.
"Now... You know you're going to lose, kid. How about making things easy and just.. giving up? I'll even
give you a bit of prize money to go along with second place. Believe me, it's a win-win situation. You get
money and the title of second place and don't get... maimed. I keep what's rightfully mine. What do you
say?"
Gohan felt himself coming close to a black out as the thought turned over in his mind. If he gave up, then
he would still get the prize money for his family, and he'd get enough recognization. And many people
wouldn't be put down to see their so-called hero lose to an adolescent. It would be better for him if he just
gave up.
Struggling, he began to choke out his response.
~*~
To be continued...
~*~
Ehheh... sorta a cliffhanger! I know!!! Well let's see.. what should I have Gohan say? *evil grin* Anywho! Read and review, people! I love all you guys who have and who've read, too! Stick around, I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.
Oh yeah.. forgot to mention... we've almost broke 50 reviews!! Score!! ALMOST ALMOST... just two more!! Alright! Jaaaa!
