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~Universal Tournament Saga~

Chapter 12 – Where are the Fighters?

"Aaaaaaaannnd we're back! Welcome to the Universal Martial Arts Tournament! We'll be getting right to the action, but first a word from our Universal Overlord, Dark Sithus of the Sithus family! And from their champion...the one you know and love, the one who freed us from Frieza and the Cold family...Dark Achilles!"

Goku could only blink. "Wait...what did that brain thing say?"

A final spotlight shot towards a special area that seemed to jut out from the stadium. The Z-fighters squinted, their enhanced senses able to make out the dots that represented the people in question.

A medium sized man, or what was presumed to be a man, stood before two other beings whom were taller than himself. He had a black cloak that covered his entire body and dragged along the floor as he moved. His entire face was hidden by shadows cast by the large hood over his face.

Behind him to his right was the tallest of the three, whom was also covered head to toe in a black cloak. Despite that, it was easy to tell he was much more muscular when compared to the man infront of him.

Still, the Z-fighters could tell. These two, unlike the others, were dangerous. The larger man had a very high power level. It's true heights couldn't be confirmed, but it was easily in Goku and Vegeta's league.

The third one, however, was not in a black cloak. Infact, one could claim that it was about as far as a black cloak as one could be. It was all kinds of colors. Red, blue, orange, yellow, green, and all of them were bright and in your face. Each were cut into a shape, pasted over each other somehow forming a fighting gi. The alien had five fingers, but the two opposite each other seemed to be like a thumb, able to grab a hold of things. He currently was holding the three fingers out, as if it were his version of a v for victory or peace sign.

His face was a dull purple, and light blue tentacles came from his face in a fashion that could be described as a mustache. No nose to speak of, and normal eyes, but the real draw to this crazy character was a very blue and very large afro upon his head.

All in all...it looked a lot like Hercule.

Vegeta's eye began to unconsciously twitch. "They think...that thing was who beat Frieza?"

Crossing his arms, Goku pouted as he looked at the ground. "I kinda know how Gohan feels now..."

Videl chuckled nervously as she scratched the back of her head. Gohan however looked around, his arms on his side with a stern look on his face. "Where is dad anyway? I thought I saw him with us earlier."

"Uh...big brother? Daddy is right there. Can't you see him?" said one confused Goten. Gohan looked to the smaller saiyan, blinking a few times before he remembered just the pickle he was currently in.

"Oh...right." Sending a glare towards Videl, Gohan started to tap his foot in anger again. "What I meant to say was, where is Videl's dad?"

Tien then pointed his thumb behind him. "As soon as we got here he...well..."

The group curiously leaned over to look behind Tien, finding the old champ in the fettle position.

"This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real. It...it's all a dream! Ya, that's it. Any moment now I'll wake up, Videl safe in her room, with nooo boys trying to take her from me. Yup! Any moment now..."

Gohan slapped his palm to his face.

All their attention was suddenly drawn to the smaller man in the black cloak, whom was projecting his voice to fill the entire stadium. It sounded old, and cracked as he talked. The words were lathered in venom, and the more serious Z-fighters narrowed their eyes as they tried to sense out this mystery of a man. "Welcome. I hope the fighters give us a good show, as always."

The floating announcer turned to fully face the cloaked man, along with the other fighters. They all held their right hands to their hearts, or where a human heart was at least,their hand balled in a fist as they bowed. The Z-fighters looked around, noting a few of the aliens seemed to do so reluctantly. After the quick bow, the announcer once again spoke to the crowd.

"To those who are about to die...phhhahaha...we solute you!"

The crowd roared with laughter, but the fighters from earth were unfazed. Instead they rather calmly watched as the flying brain floated over towards one of the camera's. "Now...let's get this Tournament under way! As a warm up, we'll pit one team against the team from Earth. After that, we'll decided how the real tournament will be broken up!"

As the crowd cheered, a wheel popped up on all the large screens in the stadium. On the wheel were all the alien team names, and a giant arrow was connected to the middle. The announcer continued to push the crowd on as the arrow began to spin. Around and around and around it went. Finally however, it came to a stop on Team Pocket.

The other teams seemed to have mixed feelings from them not caring to slight disappointment, while those from Team Pocket looked excited. Just as quickly as they came, the other teams were slowly lowered back under the fighting arena, leaving just the Z-fighters and Team Pocket above ground along with the announcer.

"Team Pocket it is! They are currently eight strong, while those from Earth have twelve. How does Pocket want to proceed?"

The presumed leader, the one who looked more like electricity than flesh, smiled as he answered back. "We'll send one fighter over at a time. They can try and fight with as many as they want. Let's just get this over with so the real fun can start."

"There you have it folks! The rules are in place, killing is allowed! There is no surrender! The fights will continue till one fighter can not fight back! Team Pocket, pick your first fighter!"

Vegeta chuckled, crossing his arms infront of his chest. "Hmph. Killing these cretins wouldn't even be worth the effort."

King Furry slunk to Goku's side. "Now...y-you're sure you'll be able to win these fights, easily...right?"

Blinking, the Saiyan looked down to the short dog, smiling after nodding his head. "Ya, they're actually pretty weak."

Bardock glanced away from his son as Goku tried to made the King feel better, looking back at the two in black cloaks, said to be from some Sithus house. Those two...they gave of a true sense of danger. But something else was nagging Bardock. This stadium. It all...seemed...so familiar. He was sure he had never been here before. So...why did it feel like he had been here before?

One of the fighters from Pocket stepped away from the rest of the group. He had human features, but his body was far from bone and blood. Instead he looked more like a group of rocks stacked on top of each other in the form of a human. Smashing his two rocky hands together, he smirked.

"Well, let's get this over with."

The floating brain quickly floated in between the two groups of fighters, it's voice continuing to boom throughout the stadium. "And so Caesar Salad is the first, and quite frankly possibly the last to fight the team from Earth! Who will challenge him? Will they send everyone just so they have a chance?"

"Enough of this nonsense. Trunks!" Vegeta turned to look at his son, holding his hand outstretched palm up as if asking for something. "Jump!"

The small boy blinked, confused at first. Quickly however he shook those feelings off and did as his father demanded of him. But why did Vegeta want him to jump?

Just as Trunks got about head level with Vegeta, the Saiyan caught his son with said outstretched hand. Before Trunks could comprehend what was about to happen, his father took a large step forward and planted his foot. Trunks shot like a cannon from his father's hand, his body straight as an arrow as it flew. Before Caesar, or anyone else knew, Trunks had crashed into the rocky being.

Caesar flew past his team, crashing into the wall far beyond them, his eyes plastered open. Everyone's eyes were wide, even King Furry was in a state of shock. Trunks slowly picked himself off the ground, sporting a large bump on his head has he wobbled around trying to regain his sense of balance.

The electrical alien from before, stuttered as he looked over his friend from so far away. "The...they hit Caesar so hard...he actually opened his eyes..."

Goten laughed as he watched his friend try to walk back to the group. The swirls in Trunk's eyes weren't helping, and soon the poor boy had to sit down before he hurt himself. Vegeta returned to his normal standing position, huffing one last time just to make sure everyone knew just how pointless he thought this whole thing was.

The entire stadium was quiet, even the floating brain announcer didn't know what to say.

Sighing, Goku pouted as he kicked at the ground. "I was hoping he would have some strange power that would have made up for his low energy level...man..."

Vegeta smirked, glancing over at his rival. "We could always fight here and now Kakarrot. Give these fools a real show."

"But we're on a team Vegeta. We can't do that. We have to play by their rules."

"Fine. Do as you like."

-DBZ-

Chi-Chi had found it odd when she couldn't find her family, or even their friends for that matter. And when night came, that turned to worry. She had spent the whole night up with Bulma's father trying to get the Scouter to work. But no matter what they did, it just kept saying they weren't on the planet.

That was enough cause for worry. They weren't hurt were they? Where could they be? And it continued like that for a whole day. Nothing but worry and concern. Knowing them, they had probably gone fishing and just decided to camp out, and she was worrying for nothing. She'd be sure to give them a proper talking to when they got back. Honestly, what kind of family just leaves their wife and mother all alone without even telling her goodbye?

Another night past, and anger was quickly starting to overtake her worry. Honestly, it was just a pregnant Bulma. They didn't need to act so pathetic about it!

The unthinkable happened the next day. Bulma got a call. Two actually, but the second from the Royal Palace requesting help for a missing person of interest case wasn't all to important with her. No, the first call was much more important.

It had been from Orange Star High.

Apparently, two days had passed and Gohan hadn't shown up for class. After calling the Son residence and not getting any response, they decided to try and call the child's godmother, Bulma. And, naturally, Bulma passed that little bit of info along to Chi-Chi.

"How could he skip two days of school! That...that...it's his father! I just know Goku said it would be fine, and Gohan took advantage of it! Skipping school! How could he do this to me! My baby's turned into a full blown rebel! And his father just had to get him to join that gang of his. My baby! My baby! Whahhahahhaaa!"

From rage to tears, Chi-Chi slowly fell to her knees crying her eyes out. Bulma leaned over, putting her hand on Chi-Chi's back. "We'll find them, don't worry Chi-Chi. They couldn't have gotten very far."

"B-b-but! What if my baby's are hurt! I...I...uggghhhbb..." Suddenly, Chi-Chi stood up and ran toward the nearest bathroom. Bulma blinked, quickly following after when she heard the sounds of someone throwing up. Stopping at the bathroom door, she winced as she heard Chi-Chi heave once more.

"A...are you okay in there?"

The area suddenly went quiet, and Bulma wondered if she should open the door to make sure the woman inside was fine or not.

"Actually...I'm kinda hungry."

Bulma nearly fell over. First angry, then sad, then vomiting, and now hungry? Strange...wait...that all sounded...rather...familiar...

Oblivious to the two woman, either through amazing natural willpower or shear practice with his own wife, Dr Briefs was sitting infront of a monitor watching something one of his deep space satellites was picking up. It was full of static, and he had to jerry rig a translation device just to make the data compatible with his own tech, but he was picking up a very odd game-show.

-DBZ-

Stuttering, the announcer announced the beginning of the next fight. "We...well, that was...unexpected! Caesar must have really been caught off guard! Talk about embarrassing for Planet Pocket! However, he is unable to fight, so the first win goes to Planet Earth! Will the next fighters step forward?"

A young boy stepped up next. Instead of hands, he had large blades protruding from his elbows. His skin was green, and to be honest he looked more like a dinosaur than a person. Looking around, Videl pointed to the monster. "So, who's fighting next?"

Krillin, however, looked over to Trunks. "Hey...was that guy you hit...erm...strange in any way?"

"No, not really. Just felt like a normal old rock to me." said Trunks, whom was still nursing the lump on his head.

Yamcha got a wild grin on his face, looking to Krillin as he turned out with the same look. "You know what that means...right?"

"It means...it means...!"

"This is a threat to the planet that we finally can take on!"

"Ya! Finally!"

Happily, Krillin and Yamcha started to hop around, Tien smiling uneasily. Vegeta rolled his eyes, while Videl chuckled uneasily as she rubbed the back of her head.

Focusing, Krillin stepped forward. "I'll go first then!"

"Go get em Krillin!"

Krillin turned back to face his scaly opponent, finding him drawing with his arm blade things. Blinking, Krillin slowly approached Sketchy. "Uh, you ready to fight?"

"I'd rather jussssst draw..."

"Really? Well, uh...does that mean you give?"

"Sssssorry. But I can't do that." Looking up from the small drawing in the rock and sand, Sketchy eyed Krillin up. "I'll dicccce and ssslicccce you up quickly, and then get back to drawing!"

With that Sketchy charged, swinging his blades with reckless abandon. Krillin however just stood there, looking interested as the alien got closer and closer.

King Furry finally couldn't take it anymore, yelling out just before Sketchy reached Krillin. "Look out!"

In a flash, Krillin brought his forearms up to block the downward slash of his opponent. The blades hit Krillin, instantly snapping. The crowd was silence before they could even begin to cheer for Team Pocket. Jumping, Krillin kicked his foot right into Sketchy's chest which sent him flying once again right past his team. His body continued on the full length of the stadium till he crashed into the wall right next to Caesar.

Krillin turned, holding a single fist in the air as he walked back to the group. Yamcha cheered for his friend, laughing the whole time. As he neared his friends, a cheesy grin appeared on his face. "No need to worry King. We got this one."

King Furry could only nod. Truly these fighters were capable of protecting Earth, with or without him here.

The announcer tried to stay calm as he watched the second fighter fall to the Earthlings. Just...what were they? Their power readings had been so small! How...was this possible?

Goku then stepped out, stretching slightly while sporting an aggressive grin. Goten blinked, calling out to his father in confusion. "Dad? You're going to fight?"

"Why are you even bothering Kakarrot? These weaklings aren't even worth our time."

"I'm just bored. Maybe the next fighter will have some cool special power!"

The fighters from Planet Pocket looked at each other. Something was obviously up. This was suppose to be an easy win for them. But somehow it was backfiring and making them look like fools. Time for damage control. With a nod, they sent out a woman. She had a darker pick colored hair, almost red. On top of her head a white hat with a red x sat comfortably. She was dressed in standard nurse cloths. Infact, she looked almost exactly like a human nurse.

"Awwww man. She looks like the weakest out of all of them!"

"Hah! Make sure you don't embarrass us Kakarrot!"

The woman smiled, holding her hand out. Strangely enough, it started to morph into something that definitely wasn't human. Slowly, Goku's eyes widened as realization began to set in on him.

Nurse Joyce smiled as she pointing her hand, now which was a giant needle, right at Goku. "Ready for your shot?"

"...AHHHHHH! G...G...Get her away from me!"

With speeds most people in the audience couldn't track, Goku shot back towards the Z-fighters blowing threw the lot of them, sending many of them flying, until he came to a hiding spot behind the very large Piccolo.

"Goku! What in the world are you doing back there?"

"Stop moving Piccolo! She's see me!"

Gohan blinked, sweat dropping as he picked himself off from the ground. "What's wrong with him?"

Videl just sighed, looking down at the ground, blushing slightly from embarrassment. "Oh dad..."

Bardock turned away, his hand covering his eyes and he slightly shook his head. Truly, it would take some time to both get to know his son...and come to accept that it really was his son. Something, like a small flash of light in the back of his mind, went off and drew his attention.

Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Videl seemed to all have a similar reaction, though Goku's attention was quickly drawn away and back to the Nurse who was starting to come at him with a huge needle.

What caught their attention, however, had also caught the attention of the short cloaked man only known as Dark Sithus. Behind him, the larger man also in a black cloak seemed to be twitching. Almost violently shaking even.

The shorter man held his hand out, revealing his gray wrinkly skin as he waved it infront of the larger man. "What has you so tense... You must relax!"

A slight growling could be heard from under the hood, hiding the man's face underneath. However, it didn't do anything to hide his voice...

"Ka...ka..rrot...!"