Chapter: 10

:An Explosive First Match

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Dragon Ball Z. All rights are owned by their respective owners,Toei, Toriyama, etc. This is purely a fanfictional work done by a simple fan done for fun. I do no get profit from this in any way.

Gohan continued to stare down Piccolo as he began to transform, his yellow aura leaking out like a steam and his eyes turning teal green. The audience was hushed as everybody was wondering at what was happening now. Pretty soon Gohan began to scream. Low at first but then he screamed sharply as he powered up completely to Super Saiyan, his aura bursting solidly around over him and his hair turning golden simultaniously. As he stood there transformed the audience gasped at the development they'd just seen.

But pretty soon the realisation dawned on some of the crowd. "Hey, isn't that the kid who fought Cell." said one member of the crowd. "Yeah, I think it is! I thought I recognized him from before." said another as the crowds quickly began murmuring among themselves. 'Great, I was afraid this would happen... But I guess there's no helping it.' thought Gohan as he could hear what they were saying about him. "Don't worry about them Gohan. You should be more concerned on me and concentrate on the match." said Piccolo, either having read his mind or just knowing what he was thinking by the look on his face. Either way the message seemed to have worked as Gohan calmed down and refocused his attention back on Piccolo.

It was at this point that Piccolo placed himself in the horse riding stance and began his own powerup to his maximum. A powerful white aura appeared around Piccolo as he began screaming and the ground rumbled as bits and pieces of tile floor floated off the ground around them. When this tremendous display of power reached a crescendo then there was a large burst that occured and Piccolo just stood there at his maximum power with a chirping whitish blue aura around him. The two warriors now stood at a standstill glaring at each other at the height of their power and waiting for the cue to start the real fight.

Finally, at the drop of a hat the two super warriors lunged at each other with super speed and forearms connected creating a powerful reverberating concussion. They then disappeared as then many more reverberations began littering the skies at a higher frequency then before as the two fighters exchanged blows in their high powered states. "Wow... They're so fast..." commented Videl as she watched in amazement as they went at it at dizzying speeds. "Yeah, the are going at it pretty quick." said a smirking Goku. After a few minutes of the furious invisible cataphony in the air the two fighters started appearing and disappearing as one or the other would go in for a punch or kick and the other would faze out and try to counter the other. Pretty soon they started appearing and disappearing in furious combat along the ring floor kicking up dust as they went.

"Man, what are they doing out there? They're moving so fast I can't even tell who's winning or losing." said Videl who was frustrated and amazed at losing track of them. "It looks like they're checking their speed. They're looking to see who's faster in their form and so far it looks like they're evenly matched. No one can get the drop or the advantage on the other." said Goku, now looking serious as it seemed that his veteran eyes could keep up with the action. After a while of speeding along the ring floor, they finally they stopped in the middle of the ring and started just exchanching blows close up standing still. They then found themselves gripping each other with both their hands pushing against each other with their auras and powers corresponding around them, cracking the tiled floor.

"Now it looks like they're moving to a contest to see who's more powerful since the contest of speed was apparently a draw." commented Goku. The two powerhouses no strained to meet the other's challenge but after a while it was apparent to them that neither one would win the battle for power as they were evenly matched in that too. So both fighters went to end the deadlock with simultanious headbutts which knocked them both back and forced an end to the struggle. And there they stood back at square one staring at each other at another standstill.

"OH WOW! Can any of you believe these two fighters!? After "transforming" themselves before our very eyes and going into a mindblowing contest of high speed action that was even more intense than anything seen before previous, it seems that our two competitors are still equally matched as they once again stand facing each other in deadlock." commentated the excited announcer and the crowds cheered in responce to the excitement.

"Wow Piccolo, I can't believe how much stronger you are than before. I mean you're actually evenly matched with me in speed and power even as a fully powered Super Saiyan. I mean I knew you would have improved, but I didn't think you would be this much more powerful. What did you do in your training over this last year?" asked Gohan who was amazed and geniunely surprised but in a good way by his friend's and former teacher's progress. "I went into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for a second time and trained brutally hard during the whole year. That and plus I imagine that the sparring sessions I had with Goku while returning from space also helped out a bit. I also helped Videl in her training somewhat over the course of the year and those sessions also helped me out as well." explained Piccolo with a proud smirk.

"Well I guess that would explain it. I thought I noticed some of your style in some of Videl's moves when we fought earlier but I couldn't be sure. I thought it was just some of what I'd taught her but they were totally in places I didn't teach her to. Now I know where that came from. But I've gotta say that your training has produced amazing results. I bet your almost as strong as Cell was before he came back." complimented Gohan. "Thank you Gohan. And I must say that I've noticed that you've improved you're fighting technique and your battle instinct as well as your reaction time are much much sharper and faster than they were before. It looks like you really aren't the young naive boy I used to know, you've finally reached "OUR" level now." returned Piccolo. Piccolo meaning that Gohan was finally a truly experienced battle warrior like the rest of the Z-Fighters and not the young boy rookie he once was. "Thank you Piccolo. That means a lot coming from you. Let's continue with this match." said Gohan as he slid into his stance and Piccolo then got into his as they prepared for yet another round of fighting in what would become the deciding phase of the battle.

"Goku! They're so evenly matched in speed and power there's no end in sight. How are they going to decide the winner?" asked Videl to her defacto guide to the match, Goku. "Yeah, it looks like they're done with the speed and power phase of the match but it looks like they're about to move into the last realm of the fight." suggested Goku. "What are you talking about Goku? With their speed and power as it is I can't see any other way for them to move on into any other phase." said a confused Tien who was nearby. "You're wrong, there's one more element that your forgetting and unless I'm wrong it's what's going to decide this match." said Goku, turning a serious look at Tien. "Really? And that is?" called out a curious Tien.

"Their minds... The mind is often overlooked as a decisive element of fighting but there is nothing more important in a battle and even at this level. It looks like their both going to have to use their heads in order to out-tactic or outsmart the other and whoever wins the battle of the smarts is the one who'll win this match. It looks like they're about to engage in a battle of the minds." explained Goku. "But Goku, we all know how smart they both are. I mean Piccolo's the most intelligent fighter on our "team" and Gohan's like the smartest kid ever so a battle of wits isn't going to be easy for either of them." said a concerned sounding Yamcha. "You're right, and judging from the looks on their faces it looks like they both know it. This is going to be one interesting battle." said Goku as he went back to watching the match with a smirk on his face as the others turned in apprehension.

'Uhgh, Gohan is too strong and knows my fighting style too well for me to fight him head on. That would only result in a draw for both of us with our strengths and speeds the way it is. That means I'll just have to outsmart him somehow. That's not gonna be easy with this kid. He's so sharp and intelligent and experienced now, plus he knows pretty much all of my techniques, very tough to catch off guard. Great...' thought Piccolo as he tried to figure out his plan of attack. 'Man, Piccolo's gotten so strong now that fighting him head on will only result in a tie. I guess that means I'm gonna have to try and outsmart him somehow. A LOT more easier said than done. Piccolo is just so smart and calculating by nature, but there's no way around it. Except going to the next level but that wouldn't be fair the Piccolo. It would almost be cheating and I don't wanna cheat to win.' thought Gohan, thinking along similar lines about outsmarting his opponent as he too began preparing his plan of action.

Gohan was the first to start off as he shot two yellow beams at Piccolo one after the other. But Piccolo used his extending left arm to grab a large tile from the ground and lifted it up like a trapdoor by retracting his arm creating an effective wall for him. The pair of beams impacted the tiled wall and it protected Piccolo. Piccolo then started using his telekinesis and suddenly dozens of tiles seemed to rise up by themselves from all over the ring. Rising up like stone slabs. Piccolo then shot the closest one forward at Gohan almost at the speed of a bullet. But Gohan was fast enough to quickly avoid it by moving to the right side. But then to Gohan's horror the stone slab stopped on a dime at the edge of the ring and then reversed back at him at the same speed. But this time the stone slab seemed to hit a surprised loking Gohan, but the figure just hazed out of existence, an afterimage. Piccolo then spotted another Gohan further to the right and sent the adjacent tile at him. But it too proved to be an afterimage. Soon there were two Gohan afterimages, and then three, and then five. In pretty short order the whole ring was filled with Gohan afterimages being chased by white tile stone slabs as they played a game of human sized chess. It was like an outward physical expression of the game of chess they were playing with each other in this match.

But eventually, after playing this game for a while, things became sorta stuck in a pattern that way and Gohan decided it time to break out. He'd gotten him caught up in the game just like he'd planned and he used it to his advantage. The real Gohan fazed in behind the wall Piccolo was still using and appeared to the side of him in a surprising move with a kick leveled at Piccolo's head. Piccolo however, despite being caught by surprise managed to react to it and duck out of the way of the kick before grabbing Gohan's unprotected right arm and moving to slam him into the nextdoor tile. But Gohan saw the move coming and reversed it by planted his feet on the tile, which made it sink back into place on the ring floor and while him riding the tile like skateboarder. Gohan used the shift in momentum to grab and throw Piccolo into the air. Piccolo stopped himself in midair only to find Gohan firing a Masenko straight at him. Piccolo made to block it thinking it was going be easy, but Gohan reappeared next to him again and shot a straight kick which hit Piccolo but then Gohan moved out of the way as the still incoming beam hit Piccolo who had been thrown out of position. Piccolo fell down to the ring but recovered to land on his feet.

Piccolo spring boarded himself to shoot back at Gohan with a left haymaker punch lined up. But with the thunderous crack of a sonic boom Gohan blocked it. The move rattled him as it made his whole body shake, as it was the defence shattering sort of punch that Piccolo used, one powerful enough to shatter villains they'd encountered to atoms. But Gohan was sturdy enough that he recovered soon enough to send a counter-punch before he thought Piccolo would be ready.

But Piccolo managed to parry it to the side and then countered with a low kick to the left side. But as Gohan lifted his leg to check the kick, Piccolo then used his free arm, using his arm-extension techique to "roll" his arm like a whip to sweep up Gohan's last free leg. But Gohan leaped up by tucking his legs up making the arm sail clear. He then used his momentum and holding the arm he'd blocked earlier, coupled with his smaller size to attempt to kick Piccolo's head out. But Piccolo just threw his head to the side dodging the blow and Gohan went sailing back. But Gohan controlled his landing and landed on his feet and they stood back-to-back for a second. Gohan took the opportunity to try to back elbow Piccolo, but the crafty Namekian rapidly turned around and caught the blow with an open palm.

Gohan then turned around too and they both immediately went into a flurry of fist to fist action that were blurs too fast for the naked eye. But finally Gohan caught Piccolo with a straight punch to the gut that sent the namekian warrior skidding along the tiled floor. Piccolo planted his hands on the floor and stopped his skid. And then faster then barely a blur he tried to leg sweep Gohan but the young warrior leaped cleanly into the air clear of danger.

But Piccolo wasn't going to be outdone as he started gathering energy in his hands which was cupped up to his stomach. "MAKOSEN-HA!" screamed Piccolo as the powerful yellow blast then made it's way to airborn Gohan. But Gohan blocked it with both hands but he was strained to hold it in place. But Piccolo wasn't done as he put his one hand supported by the other to fire one of his signature Destruction Waves which sailed right next to Gohan and seemingly missing him completely. But the beam then turned it's course and headed for Gohan from behind. But Gohan saw it coming and let go of the blast he was already holding and rolled out of the way. Gohan watched as the two blasts collided and exploded harmlessly.

But Piccolo took the opportunity to faze out and floor Gohan down to the ring. Gohan however easily landed on feet and in retaliation he shot with two hands what looked like a small white energy ball that moved at high speed. Piccolo braced himself for the impact but it never came. Piccolo was confused and after a few seconds of waiting he peaked out to see the white ball hovering in front of him. Gohan smirked as he closed his open palm in a signal the "crush" and the ball exploded into a burst of light almost exactly like the Solar Flare technique only not as widespread. The move blinded Piccolo temporarily and Gohan used it to fly up hit Piccolo to send him to outside of the ring. But Piccolo managed to get back enough vision to see where he was and used his super extending arm to clamp onto the ring with his super extended nails and pull himself to safety. Gohan continued hovering above and watched tensely as Piccolo rubbed his still recovering eyes. Once Piccolo rubbed his eyes free he looked up and a tense staredown continued.

Meanwhile, back in the stands Bulma and Chi-Chi watched from above. "Wow! This match has really shifted into a war of wits. It's like a human game of chess! And I can't believe how well Gohan is doing. I mean I've always known that he's a pretty booksmart kid. But now he's actually holding his own against Piccolo in a tactical battle. In fact he's more than just holding his own. At this point he actually seems to be a step ahead." said an amazed Bulma next to Chi-Chi. "Well? What do you think I've just been making him study all this time? Math and Sciences? Come on Bulma you've got to give me more credit then that. For most of the last year I've been making him study tactical novels and martial arts books and making him learn strategy games in adition to his regular studies." proudly explained Chi-Chi. "Wow! You did that?" asked a befuddled Bulma. It semed so out of character for the Chi-Chi she knew. "Yup, when I learned that Gohan wanted to stay a fighter I decided that I was going to help him in any way I can. If he's going to be a fighter then I want to make him the best fighter possible. And a smart fighter is the most dangerous there is. And it looks like those efforts have paid off." said Chi-Chi as she looked down in pride at the unfolding fight.

"Well, that last technique was certainly a new one. What do call it?" asked Piccolo, curious as to the new move. "I call it the "Solar Flare Bomb". I was inspired by Vegeta's Blutz Wave Ball and by Tien's Solar flare." explained Gohan. "Impressive, that was quite surprising. But now the gloves are coming off. HAAAAH!" said Piccolo as he then went straight at Gohan.

Piccolo went on an offensive flurry, attacking Gohan with everything he had, but Gohan kept dodging and blocking. One punch that was aimed close to his heart was so powerful that Gohan barely held it when he caught it, and it unnerved him! Gohan then began being more counter-offensive and the two began fighting evenly as they circled around each other and rose to the clouds.

Once in the clouds Gohan thought he found an opening but when his punch went through, Piccolo split into two using his unique Multiform technique and the punch hit open air. Now Gohan had to fight two Piccolos and after a brief engagement he was force to disengage. But Piccolo wasn't finished with him yet as one Piccolo to the left put two fingers to his forehead with both hands. "Double Special Beam Cannon!" screamed Piccolo as then two of the notorious corkscrew beams went at Gohan. Gohan deflected both beams with both arms, but it was a distraction as the other Piccolo got behind him, hidden by the clouds and put Gohan in a full nelson position. The free Piccolo then went for an attack, but Gohan swung his captor forward and the attacking Piccolo hit his double instead. Gohan then used that to break off and streak back down to the ring while being pursued by the two Piccolos.

Once they reached the ring they began fighting again and Piccolo split off a third Multiform. Gohan fought valiantly but Piccolo continued to multiply himself until there were dozens and dozens of Piccolos surrounding Gohan, it seemed like there were a hundred of them. Now normally this wouldn't be too much of a problem as the technique was supposed to weaken the overall power levels by the number of Multiforms were used. But Gohan noticed that Piccolo seemed to have found a way to make his multiforms keep more then just half his power! And with that in mind the numbers were starting to take their toll on Gohan.

Eventually Gohan had to retreat to the relative safety of the air. But then, most of the "core" Piccolos began to fire Special Beam Cannons which Gohan had to desperately deflect or dodge. But the other Piccolos fired yellow balls of energy around Gohan and seemingly missing him. But when Gohan looked back he saw that he was surrounded by the balls of energy and even by some of the Special Beams earlier he had deflected. Gohan realised that this was Piccolos plan as he'd guided the balls into place and with an army of Piccolos waiting for him on the ground, and hundreds of balls waiting for him up above, he was trapped! The Piccolos then had all the balls and beams converge on Gohan and a massive explosion occured. Soon, the whole area was covered in smoke.

Everyone eagerly awaited for the smoke to dissipate from this brilliant attack. But when the smoke dissipated enough, it revealed Gohan! Still intact, and surrounded by a yellow energy shield that he'd used to protect himself just like Android 17 had once done! And apparently, no one was more surprised of this than Piccolo himself! As all the Piccolos of the army on the ground, wore identical faces of shock!

Gohan used this moment of surprise to his advantage as he gathered the energy of his shield into his hands which he cupped above his head into a ball. "MASENKO!" screamed Gohan as the attack hit directly in the middle of the army Piccolos sending dozens of Piccolos flying into the air. Gohan then streaked right back into the middle of the fray to take on the shell shocked survivors.

But pretty soon the numbers began to tell again and Gohan found himself being swarmed, taking gashes and cuts all over himself and his clothes as the Piccolos piled on him like a football team on a loose football. But just when it looked like it was over, an enormous explosion of energy came from the center of the mass and flung all the Piccolos all over the place. Gohan emerged to be left standing but left panting from the daunting effort. Pretty shortly all the downed Piccolos faded away as it looked like Gohan had emerged victorious and he looked to relax a bit.

But then two Piccolos fazed in seemingly out of nowhere and one of them grabbed Gohan and put him in a full nelson which the weakened Gohan couldn't escape. "Piccolo!? You left out two of your Multiforms hidden just for this?" said a shocked Gohan, but he said it more as a statement. "That's right, I waited for you to wear yourself out and with that last attack you did just that. You fought very well Gohan, but now it's over." said the Piccolo in front of him who then prepared to give the coup de gras as he leveled his hands for his Destruction Wave. But then, just as he unleashed his attack, Gohan smirked in an eerie fashion.

Gohan then suddenly split off into two in Piccolo's own style of the Multiform technique and getting out of the grip of the Piccolo holding them. The Destruction Wave hit the offending Piccolo and the beam sent it into the wall of the arena where it faded away. Then the two doppelganger Gohans got behind the now all alone Piccolo. But Piccolo turned around and tried to use an upward double chop to hit the two Gohans at the shoulder area but they both caught it with one hand each. Piccolo was now caught as the doppelgangers held firm with vice-grip of their each, individual hands. But then, in a brilliant innovation, the two Gohans used their free arms to cup their hands together and complete a maneuver that was all too familiar. "KAMEHAMEHAA!" they shouted in unison and the familiar blue sphere appeared and then with forward motion the legendary wave hit Piccolo squarely in the stomach. The blast sent him flying and "pushed" him straight out of the ring and unconscious. The entire arena was speechless... the match was over.

Author's Final Thoughts: And so there's the fight between Gohan and Piccolo. I realise that Gohan never went Super Saiyan 2, but let's remember that, Gohan didn't really need to power up to beat Piccolo. He would find it a bit too much of an overkill. And remember that his objective in this fight was just to have a good time, and he held back accordingly. Plus as I already said, HE DIDN'T REALLY NEED IT!

Plus just I wanted to make the match more about, wanting to reflect more about a battle of smarts and strategic thinking as opposed to just plain power. As both Gohan and Piccolo are considered two of the smartest characters on the show. Gohan with his book smarts and high IQ, while Piccolo having his intelligence and experience and his well defined analytical character. I wanted for Gohan to somehow outsmart Piccolo a his own game as opposed to simply overpowering him which he could've easily done, and thereby showing his growth as a warrior and a tactician. But at the same time I wanted to show that these two were adequate powerhouses too. I hope you found my maneuvers to be strategic and epic enough for your tastes.

The ending was actually originally written as something different, but I got inspired by a move I saw in one of the Hybrid Theory series of fanfics by The Sh33p by the character Cell Junior. It was months after I'd written the initial chapter, but I went back and rewrote it. I hope you liked it, I thought it was innovative and cool enough and epic enough to cap off an awesome opening match. I wanted to really deliver a nuclear bomb of an opening match to the tournament and I hope that you found it to be a great enough match. But don't you worry, because so far this is still just only the appetizer. I've still got much better to come. Hope you enjoyed.

P. S. And for anybody who wants to make more of an issue about power level this, or power level that... or that that character couldn't hang with this character because of their difference in power levels? Let me tell you something, if you haven't realised it yet, but I don't take the issue to ever mentioning the guys' power levels, because I only want to bring entertaining battles to the public. And FYI, in the show and in the manga, by this point in the story, they didn't use power levels to judge peoples powers anyway. Check it for yourselves! After the Frieza Saga, no one mentions an exact power level ever again.

Because A. The heroes on the show went to great lengths to show how that mode of thinking was wrong. Heck, Raditz himself was the prime example of the pitfalls of over-relying on reading a person's power level. And the whole fact of fighters, raising their power levels was the main antithesis for that whole concept. That's the entire point of that saga.

And B. The power levels by this point were so ridiculous that you couldn't even get to em' even if you tried! I mean, God! Even only Super Saiyan Goku and Metal Cooler from The Return of Cooler movie was billed in the official Japanese version as, quote "Billion Powered Warriors". Care to fathom how far they'd gotten to this point? I don't.

That's why I only reference the characters at approximately what they are relative to each other. Because in the show, that's just what they did! "This so and so is at a level higher than this character or that character." And that's basically the language of how the characters talked about peoples power levels at this point. They just felt what a characters power was with their senses and approximated it and that was that! And so that's just what I attempt to write it as. I stay a close to canon as I can, where I can.

So to whoever my anonymous reviewer is who keeps quoting power levels to me. I appreciate the fact that you're only trying to help me in your own way by showing me the better ways you feel I can make my stories. But, the whole issue with the power levels is just a mute point for me. As I've just listed several of the reasons why. So why don't you just sit down and shut up! And just enjoy the fights!

P. S. S. I apologize for the use of language just there, but that's just how I feel about it. It's just so aggravating to hear it again and again! So, sorry...