Hopefully things will work out less repetitively in this chapter, huh?

In the competitor's viewing area

Erasa was talking with Sharpener.

"I've tried calling Videl, but she won't answer," she complained.

"What I would give to have her here right now," Kevin grinned devilishly. Sharpener glared at him.

"You can't talk, man. You were head over heels for her just as long as I was-until Erasa finally caught your eye and you realized Videl didn't want you."

With this comment, Erasa slapped him. A furious, hateful expression filled his face. He readied himself as if to fight.

"I suggest you go find a place to calm down before you hurt yourself," commented Angela, one of the other students. Her best friend (the only one who listened to her babbling, anyway) Katie smirked.

"Kevin, there are many professional martial arts fighters present, and none of them would appreciate you hitting a girl. I'm sure they'd be happy to break your face if you try, though." Videl nodded at the girl's statement, cracking her knuckles and smirking. She wouldn't mind breaking his face at all-provocation or no.

"Perhaps we should see how the first fight goes, eh?" Kevin said quickly, glancing at the arena. Even he could tell when he was in a room full of people that didn't like him.

Eighteen faced Gohan, expressionless. Gohan mirrored that, stretching his arms before readying himself for the fight.

"Welcome to the second round! The first fight will be the lovely miss Eighteen versus your very own superhero Saiyaman! Begin!"

They launched into a fight immediately, moving at such speeds that the crowd thought they were teleporting from one spot to another to exchange blows. Eighteen made a comment to Gohan under her breath.

"Give me some of the money from the prize and I'll forfeit. That's all I care about-to take care of Marron." She gestured towards the front row where ChiChi and Bulma were sitting, Eighteen's daughter in between them.

"How do you know I'll win?" Gohan said, raising his eyebrows. They continued fighting. Unfortunately for Eighteen, Gohan was indeed just too strong. He was unable to beat her at first, but he powered up to Super Saiyan 2 and very quickly defeated her.

"Sorry, wanted to beat you fair and square. I'll share the winnings with you regardless," he smiled. She shook her head.

"No. You beat me. 'Fair and square'." She had a small smile on her face, then left to join the other mothers in the audience. She wanted to be with Marron and Krillin for the remainder of the tournament.

Videl took a deep breath, turning to the door as she prepared for her fight.

"Good luck, Videl," Gohan whispered in her ear, kissing her on the cheek.

Erasa squealed, seeing the gesture but not hearing his whisper.

"Oh my god that's so cute!" she said, grinning. Videl blushed and hurried out.

"Okay, so you two are dating, and you two are dating?" Erasa pointed to Gohan, then to Adia and Mirai.

"Yes," Gohan said, scratching the back of his neck in the classic Son grin.

"Hm . . ." Katie looked closely at the superheroes. Their hair was blonde when they fought crime, but clearly their hair was black now-except the Gold Fighter. Who are these fighters? She frowned and turned to Erasa.

"Saiyaman looks familiar," she said quietly. The others were focused on the battle. Sharpener turned, too.

"What?"

"I swear. He looks familiar . . . I can't figure it out though. And the others. Saiyaman, Saiyagirl, Allurai, and the Gold Fighter. I think they might be our classmates . . . but it's not for me to find out, I think. No matter how much I think I'm right. Secret identities are secret for a reason . . . still . . . keep an eye on your heroes. I'm sure there's something important about them that's really obvious that I'm missing." Erasa glanced at Gohan.

"Yeah, their hair . . ." She glanced down the three of them, gasped, and then whispered something in Sharpener's ear.

"Watch the fight! I think I know what she's talking about. Videl might just have qualified after all..."

Videl took a stance. So did Goku, smiling widely.

They launched themselves at each other, and the battle was unfortunately decided before it began. Yes, Videl was strong, especially with this new power. But Goku was inevitably still stronger. Within a single minute, Videl had been thrown out of the ring. She only landed one hit on the great hero.

"Heh, good job Videl," he smiled, giving her a hand.

"And the winner is Son Goku!" shouted the announcer.

The competitor's viewing area

"Wait-I know that fighting stance that girl took," Erasa murmured to Sharpener. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Her boyfriend nodded.

"Vi? But then . . ."

"I know. Let's talk to them after this round."

The Arena

Adia was shaking in fear and anger as she took her stance. She heard nothing of the crowd, or the announcer. A silent roar filled her ears like a tidal wave. She wanted to see his face-the creature that had imprisoned her for so long.

Lorcan didn't remove his cloak. The two of them stood, the arena in a deafening silence. Then Adia leapt at him, ferocious, deadly, and feral. A black leather glove reached out of his cloak, the only indication of a person beneath it.

"Rekkar," he said, and a white beam blasted from his finger, directly pointed at Adia's heart. She didn't seem to be phased-she dodged it without a thought, until the beam bent and followed her.

"A tracker?" Adia muttered. She swung a fist at his shoulder-to find he wasn't there.

"Damn," she said. Focus, or you'll lose.

"Come then, Adia," the man's voice said, right at her ear. He was behind her. She was wild with fury, but knew better this time. She focused her power and created multiple small ki-balls, releasing them at short intervals.

At first, they distracted him, and it appeared to give her time to find an opening in his defense. Lorcan only smirked.

"That won't work," Lorcan said, bemused. Her ki-blasts, which were floating at the ready in different areas of the ring like land mines, disappeared. The blast he'd shot at her was still following her, but it was changing color from white to blood red, and it was far more menacing as it followed-sparking, speeding up. In a moment, Adia made a mistake. She was dodging the blast, attempting to hit him when she could. She connected with his fist in her stomach and the red explosion in her back.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" she screamed, collapsing. Didn't show his face. I just wanted to see his damned, wretched, evil face.

"Did she survive?" a few moments later the announcer asked. She was lying on the ground, slightly bloody where the ki had hit. She coughed.

"Lorcan wins," the man shakily said as she opened her eyes.

"I-hate-you-" she hissed through what must have been a lot of pain.

"Likewise," Lorcan replied, sweeping his cape and leaving the ring.

The viewing area

"NO!" Mirai said, glaring. He rushed down the stairs, senzu bean in hand for her. She shook slightly, but smiled gratefully when she chewed and swallowed it.

"Your turn is next. Beat the cat up for me," she said, as he carried her bridal-style up to the viewing area to recuperate.

"I want Lorcan," he growled in reply, "and I want to rip that damn cloak off so I can see his eyes when he realizes he's done for." Mirai let her sit on the couch, and then he left to fight Marcus.

Erasa sat next to Adia.

"Allurai . . . you came to our town fairly recently, right?" The other students had moved to the other end of the room, surrounding Ventas who was loving the attention.

"Right," she responded, wary of Erasa's tone.

"And you look about my age. Are you in my class?"

"Stop stalling, Erasa. We think we know who you guys are," Sharpener cut in.

The Arena

Mirai stood across from Marcus, who cracked his knuckles.

"You're sure you want this?" Marcus said.

"Excuse me?! I highly doubt you'll beat me."

"Maybe, maybe not. Doesn't matter. I just want my world back and this madness to end."

"Funny, I want the same thing. But you're in my way."

"I don't have to beat you in this fight. I just need to clear the way, pay off the humans Zigdiad hired, and fight for Lorcan until he gets the Dragon Balls. But I'm allowed to let out some pent-up aggression, so I'll do just that." Marcus then lunged, a lot quicker than he looked.

Mirai reacted quickly-he'd dealt with strong opponents before. Use their weight against them, he remembered his world's Gohan saying. But Marcus was wise to that tactic, and kept his balance even as Mirai swung his hand low to throw the cat man off. In fact, the otherworldly mercenary had a counter. He deftly grabbed Mirai's wrist and flung him skyward.

"The Gold Fighter is in the air! But he's not out yet!" cried the announcer. Yes, the demi-saiyan was floating now. He growled and blasted directly at Marcus, who blasted back.

Both fighters had been through devastation. Both had been trained rigorously. Both were fighting for a cause that was not technically theirs. One was the son of a prince, and the other the son of an emperor. One let his temper get the best of him sometimes, and the other let his arrogance do the same.

Marcus suddenly stopped and raised his left hand. Mirai floated down to the level of his opponent.

"I concede."

Viewing Area

"He quit?" gasped Erasa.

"Scared?" guessed Sharpener.

"No . . . biding time. When this competition is over, we aren't done yet," confirmed Videl, who had been so focused on the fight she'd nearly forgotten what Sharpener had said earlier.

"Wait until he's back. I want us all to hear this," said Gohan uneasily.

Mirai returned to the expecting faces of his friends.

"You're Mirai, Gohan, Adia, and Videl, aren't you?" Erasa finally asked.

"No point in trying to deny it, I suppose," shrugged Adia. "I have no other personality or secret past to hide. Erasa, Sharpener-you can't tell anyone, understood?"

"Y-yeah. Oh Kami. You guys are superheroes," Erasa glanced at each one of them.

"How can you fly and all that? Why are you keeping it a secret? Especially you, Vi-you never needed a secret identity before."

"It's a long story," Gohan said, scratching his head.

"And we haven't got a lot of time," Adia finished, "But if we make it through the fight, we'll give you all the details. Basically, Lorcan, Marcus, Ventas, and Zigdiad are the bad guys we have to fight, but they're really strong and want to destroy the world and everything on it. And any one of them could do it as simply as-" she snapped her fingers. "So please, please be careful. And if the world doesn't vaporize within the next week, then I think we'd be happy to share everything with you." Erasa blinked, and Sharpener looked on, terrified of Lorcan especially.

"It's almost over. Now, fighters, Saiyaman and Son Goku must fight! After them is Mirai and Lorcan!" The announcer suddenly called, the exhibition match going unnoticed during the conversation.

"Tomorrow, it ends. The tournament will be over, and the real fighting will start," Lorcan said clearly, everyone feeling a tremor down their backs at the foreboding words.

Not as good as I'd hoped but still way better than I expected. Everyone, peace. I'll be back, but it'll be a while.