Chapter Fourteen

The day before the 21st Annual Martial Arts Tournament had finally arrived after a long eight months of training for Raditz and his friends. Raditz and Krillin had trained vigorously, harder than ever before for the last four and a half months before the tournament. They had trained so much that even their teacher, Master Roshi, had been forced to become much stronger than before.

Raditz, Krillin, and Master Roshi awoke bright and early that day, knowing that it would be a long flight from their training island to Papaya Island, where the tournament was scheduled to take place. The three of them now stood outside of Kame House, with Launch ready to greet them away as they prepared to leave the island.

"Now the two of you can finally take off your turtle shells," Roshi instructed his students as he unstrapped his own purple turtle shell. "You will have no need for them at the tournament."

"Great, thank you Master." Krillin laughed as he unstrapped the latches upon his turtle shell, causing the eighty-five pounds of dead weight to drop onto the ground. "I thought we would end up looking pretty ridiculous in those things! Plus, I could hardly feel the weight on me."

"That's extreme lightweight," Raditz interjected, simply dropping his own turtle shell, this one weighing exactly one hundred and five pounds, to the ground as if he had never noticed the weight that it added to his body in the first place. Originally he had insisted on wearing the weighted boots and gauntlets that had come with his armor, which was prohibited from the tournament, but not wanting to suppress any of his strength, the Saiyan had swapped the accessories with nonweighted ones, so that he would not be holding back any type of power.

"I've got something for the three of you," Launch squealed, handing each of the masculine martial artists a cardboard box. "A newly bought suit for each of you. Master Roshi told me to buy them for you."

"Umm… no offense, but why would I wear this to fight in? I'm a martial artist and not a businessman." Raditz politely spoke to Launch. In the eight months he had trained under Master Roshi, the Saiyan had grown a liking of the woman as a close friend, nothing more. They weren't very far apart in age either, as he was nearing nineteen and she was already a few months older than seventeen herself. The two of them had grown close, much like that of an older brother-little sister relationship during the times in which he was not training.

"These suits are just to wear on the way so that we look professional." Roshi exclaimed. "Those things costed a whole lot of Zeni so we're going to wear them and that's final."

"Fine," Raditz gave in, walking into the house along with Krillin and Master Roshi to change into the professional suits. The three of them had packed a few sets of clothes in their briefcases so that they would have something to both fight and relax in upon arrival.

A few minutes later the three men walked out of Kame House, dressed in their fancy clothing. Raditz was the first one to walk out of the home, dressed properly in a darkened platinum colored suit with a white collared dress shirt under the buttoned up jacket. Launch had helped the Saiyan tie a green tie around his neck, adding a bit of color to his look. The Saiyan, not wanting his opponents to have much of an advantage, had also tied his hair up in a rubber band, slightly shortening the hair by placing it in a bit of a spiky, untamed ponytail (Like Future Trunks hair as a Super Saiyan). Raditz felt highly uncomfortable wearing the suit but just insisted on getting it out of the way for the time being. Upon his left eye, the Saiyan wore his lime green scouter, which complimented the tie that he was wearing as well as distinguishing the young warrior as a proud member of the Saiyan race. Master Roshi had insisted that the wild haired student wear a fedora of the same color upon his head but Raditz had nearly rioted, harshly putting an end to that idea as he unleashed a small ki blast onto the hat in a tantrum of irritation, disintegrating it to nothing.

Master Roshi donned a similar suit, albeit his coat and pants was a complete black color coat on top of his own white dress shirt, hoisting a crimson red colored tie. The elderly master retained his sunglasses with the outfit, as well as wearing a black fedora on his bald head. Krillin's outfit was the exact inverse of the older master's suit, being a snow white color as he was the only one of the group to wear a black collared shirt with a white tie. His own fedora was also the same color as his tie and suit, being an icy white color with a single black stripe.

"I look good," Krillin smirked, admiring himself as he flaunted about.

"Never speak of this again or someone dies," Raditz threatened as he walked away from Kame House, with Master Roshi and Krillin quickly following him. "And I mean it."

"Bring home the championship Raditz!" Launch screamed out as the three men began their journey to catch their flight at the airport.

After a two hour-long plane ride and a somewhat quiet and quick taxi ride, the three martial artists finally arrived at the coliseum that would be hosting the extremely popular martial arts competition, the 21st Annual World Martial Arts Tournament.

"We're here to sign up for the tournament tomorrow," Master Roshi explained to the attendant, walking up to the registration booth.

"How many of you are there?" The attendant questioned the Turtle Hermit.

"Just the three of us… Master Roshi, Raditz, and Krillin." Roshi responded, pointing out each individual. At first, the teenage attendant was going to make an offending joke about how a senior citizen, a mere midget, and a teenaged boy with hair whose length rivaled that of most girls hoped to participate in such a tournament but upon glancing up at the threatening glare that Raditz was delivering his way, the man had decided against doing so in fear of his own life.

Originally, Master Roshi had planned on entering the tournament under the alias of Jackie Chun, a master martial artist, just so that either of his students would not hold back on him a bit. However, once he realized that the boys were unlikely to hold back any of their strength in a match with him, the Turtle Hermit had dismissed the idea, knowing that if he had gone through with the idea, Raditz's scouter and keen senses would have easily seen through his disguise. He had repeatedly heard Raditz and Krillin stating that they would be going all-out throughout the entire tournament, even if they managed to fight either one another or the old master himself.

"Hey Raditz!" A familiar, masculine voice suddenly screamed out from a few yards away, growing louder as the tone's creator cleared the large crowd and neared the Saiyan's group. Within seconds, Yamcha, followed by Puar and Mai, revealed themselves to the group. Not much had changed about the bandit over the course of eight months, except that he had happened to cut his semi-wild hair down to just ear-length. Mai's leg also appeared to be healing quite well, evident by the fact that instead of walking with the aid of crutches, she was now walking by herself albeit with a full-leg brace upon his right leg. "I knew that you wouldn't miss this!" The obviously excited bandit greeted his long-haired friend.

"What's up Yamcha," Raditz replied, exchanging handshakes with the former Desert Bandit. "And hello to you two as well… Mai and Puar." The Saiyan added, addressing to the two companions that had arrived along with Yamcha.

"Hi Raditz!" Puar gleefully greeted his short-term traveling companion.

"Hello Raditz…" The former henchman of the villainous Emperor Pilaf hesitantly said to the Saiyan Warrior that she had attempted to kill a number of times. "You know, I never really got the chance to apologize for previous actions."

"No apology needed," The Saiyan interrupted the raven haired woman. "Sorry for being the cause of your broken leg…"

"So Radz, you ready for our long-awaited rematch?" Yamcha asked his spiky haired Saiyan friend. "I know I am!"

"Let's just see if you manage to advance that far in this tournament before we get too far ahead of ourselves," Raditz told the slightly taller Earthling.

"I know for a fact that I'm going to make it all the way to the Finals," Yamcha confidently let out, a sly smirk easing upon his face as he spoke. "I've been training like never before, just for this tournament."

"Is that so? Let me check to see if your training was pretty effective or not," Raditz said, powering on his scouter to scan and reveal the power level of his friend, Yamcha. After a few seconds of calculating the approximate strength of the Desert Bandit, the flashing golden figures upon the device came to a rest at a single number. "A solid 129 I see, not too shabby."

"Although that sounds like a pretty good improvement from the last time we were together... I'm still willing to bet money that Raditz could still easily mop the floor with you." Another voice, this one quite cheerful and feminine, now joining in on the conversation.

"Bulma," Raditz suddenly smiled, turning to face the first female he had befriend. The blue haired woman whom had given him his first ever romantic kiss, Bulma. The Saiyan instantly brought the bluenette into an embracing hug as he breathed in the sweet fragrance of Bulma's magnificent hair, bringing back the memories of their adventures to his mind. "I'm glad you managed to make it."

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world," Bulma responded, a slight blush easing upon her face as she felt Raditz's muscular arms bring her into a hug. "But still, you do know that you forgot to visit me."

"Oh yeah about that… I never really had the time to," Raditz responded, releasing Bulma from the romantic hug as he held the woman at arm's length. "Master Roshi kept Krillin and I incredibly busy with our training."

"It's okay," The bluenette smiled, twirling her small finger through her hair. "But at least we're with one another now." She finished, pecking the Saiyan's check with her delicate, savory lips.

The rest of the day passed by quite quickly as the old friends caught up with one another, as well as meeting and learning a bit about Raditz's new friend, Krillin. Later on that night, Master Roshi rented a room for his two students and himself, with he and Raditz each taking one of the beds while Krillin slumbered upon the sofa. The remainder of the night went by rapidly as the trio of martial artists decided to go to bed early, wanting all of their rest for the upcoming day.

"You two come here," Master Roshi instructed his students the next morning once the two had awoken from their peaceful slumbers. "I originally intended on giving these to you before we left Kame House… but I never had the time to do, so here you go," The old master smiled as he handed each of the two young warriors their own medium-sized box.

Krillin was the first to open his boy, doing so as slowly as he could. Inside of the container, a new martial arts uniform awaited the former monk. The uniform consisted of an orange gi which bared the turtle symbol on both the top left side of the chest as well as on the back of the shirt. Along with the gi was a black belt as well as a pair of unweighted blue wristbands.

"Thanks Master Roshi," Krillin thanked his martial arts teacher, bringing the Turtle Hermit into a father and son type of hug.

Once Krillin had left to change into his martial arts gi, Raditz followed the midget by opening up his own box, revealing his own uniform. His martial arts gi looked quite similar to Krillin's, except that it had been made much larger to accommodate the older warrior's size. His gi also lacked the orange color that Krillin's uniform bared, instead sporting a blue color, to go along with an orange colored undershirt, belt, and wristbands of the same color. The Kame symbol was also on the same exact positions on Raditz's uniform that they were printed onto on Krillin's.

"The inverse in colors compared to Krillin's symbolizes your individuality and the fact that you were the superior student of you two, as it is a tradition of mines to inverse my original colors onto the strongest student I train… just as I did to Gohan when he proved the strongest out of himself and the Ox King." Master Roshi explained to his students. "The symbol is to show that you are both my students."

Raditz stood silent for nearly an entire minute, his eyesight maintaining on the martial arts uniform. Never before had someone other than done something like what Master Roshi had did for him… training him, providing shelter and food, and now this. The Saiyan exchanged a slight hug with the Turtle Hermit as he grinned largely at the sight of the fighting gi, something that was incredibly unfamiliar for him to do. "I-It's an absolute honor… thank you, master." Raditz told the elderly martial arts master before he walked into the bathroom to change into the newly obtained attire.

Once Raditz, Krillin, and Master Roshi had all changed into their designated fighting uniforms, the three arrived at the coliseum, ready to begin their tournament journey as the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament final came to a start. Once the hundreds of fighters present for the tournament had all been assembled together, an elderly man with a thick gray mustache walked to the front of the group, standing before the huddle of martial artists.

"Now I suggest that you all listen up," The man bellowed, causing all of the commotion to come to a stop. "I do not want to have to repeat myself because that one dumb person did not quiet down. Before we begin the true tournament, we will be participating in a game of single elimination matches in the qualifying rounds. Momentarily, you will all be divided into four separate groups, where you will face off as instructed until only the top two from each of the groups remains. Those two will then move on to participate in the finals, meaning that only eight of you will be able to advance. As always… you will lose if you are knocked out, thrown from the ring, if you admit defeat, or if you attempt something as low as intentionally killing your opponent. Also, you will be automatically disqualified if you purposely strike your opponent in his vital area." The man continued, glancing down at his private area just to clarify the statement to all of the slightly confused contestants.

After a few more minutes filled with explaining all of the tournament's rule to the competitors, each of the tournament fighters were then asked to draw a single number from a large container, deciding where they would face off for a shot at the final rounds.

"I got 93… which number did you get?" Krillin asked his friend, Raditz as he held up his own sheet of paper, which bared the number ninety-three written in fine ink.

"70," Raditz plainly responded, revealing his sheet of paper, reading seventy, to the former monk.

"Wait what?" Krillin suddenly gulped, beginning to freak out as the Saiyan revealed his number. "T-That puts the both of us in the third block!"

Raditz let out a slight chuckle, feeling a bit praised at the sight of Krillin frantically freaking out at the mere thought of facing him in a fight. "Don't worry Krillin," The Saiyan smirked, suppressing his chuckle. "They placed us on opposite sides of the tier. But rest assured, you're going to have to eventually fight me if you're planning on winning this thing. There's no doubt that I'm going to be in the finals."

"And I'm either going to be there alongside you, or the one who stops you from reaching them." Yamcha said, joining into the two warrior's conversation as he approached them. "By the way, I'm in the second tier and Roshi's in the first."

Before the conversation could carry on any longer, a thundering, energetic voice released from the nearby speaker let out, "Will the first two tier three fighters come up? I need Fighters Number 69 and 70."

Raditz slowly walked onto the arena, seeing that his opponent, a male, was already awaiting him in the small tile ring. The poor contestant was a kid who looked to be nearly thirteen or fourteen years old. He had his hair in a nappy, black short low afro, as if he had been growing the hairstyle out for a decent amount of time. His martial arts uniform consisted of an overgrown brown top that revealed a bit of his scrawny chest along with a pair of white training bottoms. Along with this, the teenager also accessorized his gi with a white belt made purely from silk and a pair of black fighting boots.

Even though Raditz had abandoned his scouter for the tournament, handing it over to Bulma for safety due to the device being prohibited from the contest, the Saiyan took one look at his opponent and knew that it would not be much of a challenge. Although the boy had to be a somewhat prized martial artist, evident by the fighting stance that he positioned himself into, Raditz was not worried, knowing that he would easily be able to walk away with a victory without even exerting too much effort.

"Hey, it looks like Raditz's fighting first!" Bulma exclaimed as she watched the preliminary fights, peeking through the window that stood a few feet off of the ground, with the assistance of a hesitant Oolong.

"Ready… fight!" The preliminary announcer shot out.

"Hercule Punch!" Raditz's opponent let out, instantly charging the Saiyan and hoping to land a power packed fist upon the warrior.

"Pathetic," Raditz shrugged as he effortlessly dodged the young martial artist's fist, grabbing ahold on the slim limb. Using only the pure amount of strength at his disposal, the Saiyan martial artist flipped his opponent to the ground. However, before the teenaged Earthling could strike the ground, Raditz delivered a fierce kick to the boy's chest, striking him directly in the middle of the child named Hercule's body. Because of the outstanding amount of force exerted into the powerful blow, Raditz's opponent was sent not only flying out of the ring, but also through the brick wall nearby the arena as he lied back down upon the grassy field outside of the stadium.

"Tricks!" The afro haired combatant managed to let out before he suddenly fell over, knocked completely unconscious by the Saiyan's single strike.

"We have a winner!" The tournament attendant excitedly exclaimed, completely stunned by the Saiyan's display of strength.

Raditz, along with Krillin, Master Roshi, and Yamcha all managed to make it out of the incredibly long Elimination Round without any sort of trouble, barely having to use more than one-fourth of their full power. The Saiyan of the group had easily sent his opponents soaring out of the ring and through the building with only the slightest touches. Krillin fared pretty well too… even getting in a bit of sweet revenge upon one of his former, much older, Orin Temple bullies, managing to harshly beat the boy without any type of true effort. He then easily took out the remainder of his opponents, defeating each of them without even breaking a sweat. The boy's martial arts master, Master Roshi, seemed to be incredibly bored by how easily his opponents dropped, having one competitor was blown out of the arena just because the Turtle Hermit slightly sneezed. Yamcha showcased his strength to Raditz and the others, showing off his incredibly improved Wolf Fang Fist technique. He had even managed to defeat his final opponent of a much improved version of the technique he dubbed the Blinding Wolf Fang Fist.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, are you finally ready for the tournament to begin?" The new announcer, this one a much younger blonde screamed out, hoping to hype up the gathered crowd that sat in the stands, ready to enjoy an entertaining martial arts tournament. "It is time for the 21st Annual World Martial Arts Tournament to finally come to a start!"

Bulma, Puar, Mai, and Oolong all sat in the front row of the audience, loudly cheering on the four competitors that were their friends. Along with Raditz, Yamcha, Master Roshi, and Krillin, four other individuals had come out on top of their respective tiers. Bacterian, an incredibly fat, caveman-like Earthling who emitted an incredibly foul stench from his body was one of the fighters to do so. Along with the stinky giant, another martial artist to advance was Ranfan, a medium-heighted, lilac haired skinny yet curvy woman managed to do so. Master Roshi had attempted to hit on the female many times throughout the morning, hoping to use his charms to when over the curved woman. Giran, a huge, dark blue and green scaled dinosaur-like beast of a creature with a smaller than expected set of wings also just so happened to work his way into the finals along with Nam, an sort of scrawny, incredibly quiet Indian who sat to himself for most of the day, meditating alone in the corner of the room. Judging by their actions and the energy each combatant was radiating off of their bodies, Raditz instantly came to the conclusion that besides his three friends and himself, Nam surely had to be the strongest of the group of Earthlings.

"Okay, our contestants have previously drawn numbers backstage and it appears that our scheduled first round matches will be as follows:

Match 1: Krillin vs. Bacterian

Match 2: Master Roshi vs. Yamcha

Match 3: Ranfan vs. Nam

Match 4: Raditz vs. Giran

Now that our matchups have been directly established and explained to you all, may I please have both Krillin and Bacterian to the ring?"

"Wish me luck you guys," Krillin smiled, arising from his seat as he confidently walked out of the fighter's waiting area and out into the large coliseum, where the thousands, if not millions, of people sat ready to watch him fight… and not to mention the billions of television watchers supervising the former monk as he took a single step onto the giant, tiled arena… ready to show the world just how powerful he had managed to become.

"You shouldn't need any of that," Raditz tonelessly remarked, silently meditating in the corner opposite of that of Nam's. "Just finish that brute of yours quick and efficiently so we can get on with the much worthier matches."

Imagination Almighty: Well, at least Roshi is getting dangerous

Response: Yes, yes he is.

ESO (Guest): Update! Lovding it! When will we see raditz x bulma? Can we have some good ol lemon as well?

Response: Much more Raditz x Bulma shall occur throughout the story, beginning after the tournament for the big parts. As for the lemon idea… I've NEVER written a lemon and I've never really given thought to one. I might have to give it a shot one of these chapters though… though not one of the oncoming chapters.

Simgr101: most of what i said i would say were suggestions to go on if anything. you dont have to incorperate any of it but anyways. great to see mai becoming a character of herself in this than whatever the fuck she was in dragonball. i feel yamcha is going to be so outclassed at the tournament though though itd be interesting if he actually did other shit instead. like if mai tells him about things like the legend of korin etc. and its yamcha who does that whole thing. kinda dont want to see him completely obliterated at the tourny but i digress. good solid chap though. nice work

Response: Right! I wanted to see Mai develop into an antihero or something of that kind. Plus, those ideas of yours are pretty good… I might have to incorporate them into the story. I won't make Yamcha get completely destroyed though and who knows… Yamcha might be the one to climb Korin's Tower in a later chapter.

Richard1081: Will you put up a poll for Kakarrot's mate

Response: At the moment, I'm not sure if I will do that. I'm just going to go with the flow and just do it how it is… who knows, he might not even live long enough for a mate.

Hulk Davidson1010: This is a good episode.

Response: Thanks for the support! I hope this one was just as good!

Power Levels

Raditz: 235

Krillin: 167

Yamcha: 129

Master Roshi: 222

Hercule: 12 (13 years old)

Bacterian: 31

Ranfan: 40

Nam: 81

Giran: 70