Part II

Chapter 19: Even more Surprises…

Just like everyone had suspected, the following fights after Jenny versus Ethus were more than boring. Both Trunks and Goten made their fights short, especially when Trunks was finally facing Ethus. The Saiyajin had just grabbed the older boy by his belt, carried his struggling and kicking opponent to the edge of the ring and dropped him on the grass. This was his way of showing him that he should not mess with him and his family. Goten's first opponent hat been the brute's younger brother, Ikose and Goten had unintentionally helped him to make a fool out of himself by blocking the hardest punches and kicks thrown at him as if they were nothing and in the end knocked him out with a light punch to the fourteen years' old jaw.

The rest of the fights were rather unexciting for the Z-Fighters. Some of the youngsters showed talent, but never would one of them to be able to rival the strength and skills of Krillin, Tenshinhan or even Yamcha. Some of them even started crying without having been hit and surrendered. As everyone who knew them had expected, Goten and Trunks kept winning their fights and were to fight each other in the finals. At the beginning of the finals, both boys were standing in the ring with the referee in the middle of them.

"Well, at last it's time to determine the winner! Who will win? Goten or Trunks? They've gotten this far as a result of their overwhelming strength and skill! I also heard that they are good friends!"

Just at the same time, Gohan and Videl came up to the Z-Fighters with Jenny in tow. Jenny had been waiting for them after having been disqualified and thanks to the quick replacement of the punching machine, they were able to make it to the finals of the junior division in time. "Did we miss something?" the oldest Son son asked.

"Low class fights, but this one should prove interesting," Vegeta answered.

Son Goku nodded in agreement. "I can't wait to see what the boys can do."

"Well dad," Gohan chuckled, "I think you'll be in for some surprises."

…

After the boys had bowed to each other, the fight began. The beginning was fast but looked rather harmless, at least for those, who knew how the two kids were usually fighting. Because of the large smiles on both faces one could assume that this fight was nothing more than a child's play, though in reality every human participant, be it a child or an adult, would long be dead due to the sheer strength that was behind the blows. While most of the Z-Fighters were still able to follow the exact movements, with their eyes or through the ki the boys emitted, the normal spectators were at a complete loss, because the only thing they were able to see was a blur zigzagging across the ring.

The pauses between the attacks were brief and it did not take long for Goten and Trunks to take the fight into the air. The spectators gasped, not believing their eyes, after all, Mr. Satan had told the world repeatedly after the defeat of Cell that this whole flying business had just been a cheap trick. And now there were two kids right in front of them flying in the air with no strings attached.

Videl was neither able to close her mouth again nor avert her eyes from the duo in the air. Of course had she known that they could fly, but never before had she seen anyone, her own father included, move with that kind of speed. Her trained eyes barely picked up moves now and then and her mind could not comprehend how someone could move, let alone react that fast. She managed to remove her eyes from the fight and looked at Gohan and his family and friends. They all seemed to be able to fully follow the fight, according to the concentrated looks on their faces. At this moment it dawned on her: if only one of them was nearly half as strong as the kids out there, her father could give them the belt without a fight. The former World Champion would never stand a chance and again one question appeared in her mind: 'Son Gohan, what exactly are you still hiding from me?'

In the end, after the fight had become more ferocious with every single attack, both kids broke the promise they had given Son Gohan on the way to the Budokai. At first it was Goten who turned Super Saiyajin, after Trunks had held him in a bear hug, which he could not break without transforming. Not even a minute later, Trunks did the same, as he found himself in a similar win or lose situation. Goten had launched a full body attack from high in the sky and Trunks had only been able to avoid being hit by turning Super and hitting his friend with a ki-ball, which sent him out of the ring, which made Trunks win the match and the title. Goten was pouting after that and accused Trunks of cheating, but after Trunks had promised him three toys, Goten's mood had lightened considerably.

…

"Both can turn into Super Saiyajins?" Goku asked amazed. "Wow, they're still so young! Gohan, do you remember how much training and taunting it took for you to transform?"

"Yeah, I remember, dad. But it's not only Trunks and Goten who are able to do that. Jenny is, too. They even say that she was the first to do so," Gohan told him proudly.

"I must admit, I was surprised, when they suddenly turned into the Legendary in the middle of my training session," Vegeta said. "But they're good. They have a lot of potential, Jenny especially."

Again, for the second time in less than an hour, Son Goku again had this strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that he had not known before. For the first time in his life he, of whom everyone thought that he was incapable of those feelings, was jealous. Jealous of what Vegeta had. Jealous that he had been able to see Jenny's first steps in person, jealous that he was her mentor, jealous that she trusted him more than her own father, jealous that she looked up to the man who had sworn to kill her own father. But this was not just about Jenny. It was also about Goten and Gohan. Everything, or a large part, of what they had achieved or would still achieve that day would be because of Vegeta's training.

Now he finally knew what Vegeta had felt the whole time, as Son Goku had achieved something that was actually meant for him as Prince. Goku now regretted more than ever his decision to stay dead after the whole affair with Cell. If he had known beforehand that things would turn out like this, he would have asked to come back. He wanted to be the one to teach them everything they needed to know. He wanted to be the one they trusted. He wanted to be their father!

Down in the waiting room for the fighters, the Kaioushin felt the inner turmoil of the fighter and sighed deeply. Things would have been different, if he had not messed up. He did not know what would have been different, but he was sure that, with ChiChi still being alive, the children – the child, it would only have been Goten, he reminded himself - would not have seen someone else as his father. 'I'm so sorry, Son Goku. I wish I could make things the way they were supposed to be, but that's impossible.'

Videl had a queasy feeling in her stomach. Trunks now had to fight against her father and this would be her father's downfall. From the few encounters she had with Trunks she could safely say that the boy was not someone to hold back when he had the chance to prove his strength against someone who was supposed to be stronger than him and in addition still held the title as World Champion. She did not want to watch. She wanted to go to her father and tell him to throw that match, though it was just one part of the prize the boy would get.

Gohan, somehow sensing his friend's distress, put a calming hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. "Don't worry, Videl. Trunks will know how far he can go."

"Yeah," Jenny added. "Trunks will sense that your father is not as strong as he always claims to be and hold back."

Her brother's eyes shot daggers at her. He had not meant to say it that bluntly that Mr. Satan was a weakling, but Videl at least smiled now. He had to give his friend more credit, he decided.

"Well, at least I now finally get to see the face of my father, when someone kicks his ass, a small boy nonetheless. Maybe this helps shrinking his ego a bit," Videl now openly laughed.

Mr. Satan did not know what to do. He had seen the two children fight. He had seen what they could do. He had seen the resemblance between the black-haired child and the man at the Cell Games. Both kids had transformed into those golden haired fighters from the Cell Games. And he now had to face one of them. What could he do? What could he do to come out of this match as winner? It was impossible, he knew, but he could not lose his reputation, at least not by losing to a small child!

"Mr. Satan? They are waiting for you," one of the monks told him.

"I'll be down in a minute!" he yelled and once again looked out of the window at the small boy, who was still standing in the middle of the ring. A child, a small boy! That was it! Would his fans expect him to pound on a small boy? No, surely not! He could make it look like he was letting this child win! That was it! He'll lose to the boy, won't lose his reputation and gain the admiration from the spectators!

Taking a deep breath and putting on his white cape with new confidence, he strode out of the room, down the stairs and into the ring. The referee was already announcing him.

"And now, after a tense battle, we will come to a funnier event. The victor of the youth division, Trunks, versus the World Champion, Mr. Satan!"

The spectators cheered, as Mr. Satan stepped into the ring and threw his cape into the grass. Trunks eyed him suspiciously. He could not believe that this weakling was supposed to be the World Champion. His ki was low, even lower than the one of Gohan's girlfriend. His eyes narrowed even more, when he saw the ridiculous warm-ups Mr. Satan was doing. Shrugging, he also proceeded to do some stretching, before the fight was about to start.

"Hey, hey," the deep voice of Mr. Satan suddenly tore him out of his thoughts. "Don't be so serious about it, okay? This fight is just for fun."

"No way," Trunks answered, "I'm going full out."

"It looks like everything is ready! Please start the fight. Now!" the referee announced.

'Please, don't let him hit me too hard,' Mr. Satan prayed, as he got into a stance.

Trunks watched him going into something that resembled a defensive stance. 'At least he knows a bit about fighting. Maybe I shouldn't attack him too hard at first…' Lowering his ki a great deal, Trunks lunged at the World Champion, hitting him straight in the jaw.

Mr. Satan felt as if his head was about to explode, when the small fist hit him. At first it all appeared to happen in slow motion and then suddenly in fast forward. His feet lifted from the ground and then the next he knew was a sharp pain in his back and the feeling of grass on his face and hands. He was out of the ring. Getting up struggling, he plastered a smile on his face. "You're really strong. You beat me!" he called out in a voice that could not be any more fake.

The spectators soon came over the shock and quickly came to a conclusion. Their World Champion lost on purpose to give this kid something to tell his friends about. Who else could say that he had defeated Mr. Satan? So they cheered for him and praised him for his good nature.

"Well," Krillin rubbed his hands, "I think we can now also go down. Our fights should start soon."

"Yeah," his wife agreed.

"See? I told you he would hold back," a grinning Jenny told Videl.

Videl looked incredulously at the small girl. This had been holding back? This hit had still sent her father reeling over half of the ring and into a wall. Sure, she had wanted someone to show her father that he was not unbeatable, but she thought that this could have been done with a lot less strength.

"Okay, I think when you go down again, I'll go to Bulma!" the girl announced, but before she left, she jumped into the arms of an unsuspecting Vegeta, who, surprising the others without exceptions, did not drop her. "I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. And of course also for you, big bro!" she added quickly with a wink, before she jumped down again and raced towards the stands, where Bulma and the others were sitting.

Goku's eyes narrowed dangerously at this display. How could he have missed this obvious father-daughter thing between Vegeta and Jenny before?

He was slowly really looking forward to the fights to release some tension and he hoped one of his opponents would be Vegeta.

Son Goku could not help but wanting to prove to the prince that he was still better than him - in more than one way.