Part II

Chapter 20: It begins…

Jenny did not believe what she was seeing. What was her brother doing down there? Why did he turn into a Super Saiyajin, second level mind you, when he had especially told them not to? His bandana lost and his sunglasses discarded after having been recognized by his schoolmates, Son Gohan was now facing this strange guy, Kibito Jenny thought his name was. The adult tournament had started out completely harmless, but had become weirder and more confusing with each passing fight.

…

At first, when the referee had told the spectators of the pairings, there had been a collective gasp in the rows, where the Z-Fighters family and friends were sitting. Goku and Vegeta would face each other right off, in the sixth fight. Jenny, though knowing of the two Saiyajins' strained past, did not think much about it. She only wanted to see them fight.

The first fight, however, had been between Krillin and a huge fat man by the name of Punta, whose resemblance was much stronger to a genie in a bottle than to a martial artist. The fight had ended as fast as it had started. Punta had shown off a bit and then, disappointed by his opponent, Krillin had simply punched him in the stomach, slapped him couple of times and in the end kicked him out of the ring. He had had his other hand in his pocket the whole time.

This might have seemed strange to most, well 99% of the spectators, while the last one percent had expected as much. The second fight, however, had caught the Z-Fighters by surprise, be it the participants or family and friends who were just watching the tournament. It had been Piccolo's turn, who was going as Ma Junior in the tournament, and his opponent had been a fighter called Shin. Jenny would have thought this fight to become at least mildly interesting. There was something about the other fighter that she could not place and she could feel his power, though Piccolo was still a lot stronger. She had not doubted one second that the Namek would win, as well as the others, so they had been more than a bit surprised, when Piccolo had stepped out of the ring and surrendered before the fight had even begun.

Jenny did not think that the others in the stands had seen the look on Piccolo's face before he had given up, because they were sitting too far away for a normal human to make out every single detail, but she was sure that she had never seen this look before. He had been struggling. It had seemed like his mind had wanted to fight and his body would not obey. Then the sudden look of understanding and resignation, as if he suddenly knew why he could not fight and also that he would have never won against this Shin.

When the next fighters had been announced, the spectators in the stands had been roaring. The opponents had been Videl and one Supopo Bitchi. A shiver had run down Jenny's spine, when Supopo Bitchi had entered the ring. This guy was odd. He felt off, but it was different than with Shin. With Shin this strangeness had somehow felt right, but this fighter just felt wrong. She could sense the power emanating from him, but at the same time this power was not his. Each fighter had his own ki, his own life energy connected to his body and to his soul. Supopo Bitchi, too, held a small part of this power in his body, but it was subdued by the incredible strong and dark power that seemed to be possessing him.

Jenny had not known how or why, but she had been completely sure that Videl would not haven been able to win this fight. And she had been right.

If Jenny's fight against Ethus had been cruel, then the fight Videl versus Supopo Bitchi was simply monstrous and horrible. He had ruthlessly pounded on Videl, had miraculously recovered from all of her attacks, even the snapping of his neck which should have killed him and showed no mercy, not even when Videl had already been lying on the ground, unable to move anymore. Like Videl, who had shown this skill somehow during mid-fight to save herself from falling out of the ring and to recover a bit, which had surprised the whole crowd in the stands and her father, Supopo Bitchi knew how to fly.

Jenny had felt the distress in her big brother's ki. The more Videl had been hurt the more his ki had risen. It had been right before the end, just shortly before Supopo Bitchi's attacks would have killed Videl, that Gohan had turned Super Saiyajin and this other guy, who gave off the same strange vibes as Supopo Bitchi, had told his friend to back off. To end the fight, Supopo Bitchi had simply grabbed the by now unconscious Videl by her ankle and pulled her out of the ring. Gohan, now back to normal, had been immediately by her side and had brought her to the paramedics. Jenny had never seen her brother so angry and it had even looked like he had threatened Supopo Bitchi.

After this fight, the other fights had been delayed, because it would have been Gohan's turn now and he had gone with Videl. Jenny felt their father's ki suddenly disappear from near the ring and reappear on the other side of the Earth. She had understood immediately. He had gone to Karin-sama to get some senzus. Just a few minutes later, he had reappeared and after Gohan had gotten Videl a senzu, the fights could continue.

Jenny was ready to chew on her fingernails. If the previous fights had been any indication as to what was about to happen in the following ones, she could only hope that the world would still be in one piece after the Budokai. The fighter Gohan was now stepping into the ring with had a similar aura as Shin, though not nearly as powerful. He did not feel like he wanted any harm, but still Jenny had not been able to shake off this strange feeling that something bad was bound to happen.

And again, her senses did not betray her. She had been wondering, still was actually, what they had been talking about for so long, when her brother had suddenly turned into a Super Saiyajin. And there he was now, standing in the middle of the ring, his hair standing up in golden spikes, blue sparks flashing around his body in addition to the golden aura. She could hear whispers on her left and on her right, talking about the Golden Haired Warrior and the Cell Games.

Gohan would not have transformed without a very good reason, Jenny knew that, so that could only mean one thing: A new evil was afoot, if not already present.

Whirled up dust was everywhere around her. This image suddenly appeared in front of her inner eye. What if the dream meant something? She let herself be pulled away, with the image of the person engulfed in a bright golden glow, having a victorious smirk on his lips, burned in her mind.

She watched the ring, telling herself that it was only a nightmare. But the nagging bad feeling would not go away.

Son Goku could not deny that he had been happy when Vegeta had drawn the number that had chosen him as his first opponent. After everything he had observed and learned that day, he could not wait to show Vegeta that there was still something he was better at. Only once had Goku felt the Saiyajin in him that strong before and this had been after his first transformation to a Super Saiyajin.

People had always known him as naturally good-hearted – no one had even suspected that another side of Goku existed, not even he himself. Because the first time he did not want to win in a fight against Vegeta because he did not want to lose, but to wipe that smirk off Vegeta's face and to show him who was the number one among them. All thoughts of Buu had long been pushed into the far back of his mind; his jealousy of Vegeta's connection to his own kids having gotten the best of him.

When he and his friends had stepped to the gate to the ring he had sneaked a small glance at Vegeta and could not help but think that, five fights later, a third class warrior would yet again triumph over the Prince of all Saiyajins.

But then everything had started to go wrong and the looming threat of Buu resurfaced again in his mind. The Kami-part of Piccolo recognizing the Kaioushin, forcing the Namek to surrender and Videl's dramatic defeat to Supopo Bitchi and Gohan's reaction to that had only been the beginning. This Supopo Bitchi was not supposed to be this strong, wasn't he? Kaiousama had once told him how Babidi possessed people with an evil streak to do his biddings. This possession gave them a boost of energy that was not their own and through their evil they were controlled. Could Supopo Bitchi and his companion Yam be possessed by Babidi?

Unfortunately he had no more time to ponder this question, because Videl's condition left him no choice but to go to Karin's tower to get some senzus. Maybe they might need some more later…

After he had gotten back and Gohan had given Videl one of the three senzus that Karin had still had left, Gohan was to fight Kibito. Goku did not know why, but he had a strange feeling about this fight and tensed up. The fact that his schoolmates had recognized Gohan would be the smallest of their problems.

He had watched his son getting into a flawless fighting stance and waited for the first attack – but it never came. Instead Kibito was talking to Gohan, calling on him to transform. Goku had also noticed the strange pair, Yam and Supopo Bitchi, standing in one corner and whispering to each other.

"Whatever happens now, do not intervene," the Kaioushin had suddenly said.

The reaction of the other Z-Fighters had been instantaneous, demanding what he was talking about and who he was. Before Piccolo could answer, Goku had told them that he was the Kaioushin, the god of the Kaious, including the Dai Kaiou.

"I think that Yam and Supopo Bitchi will attack him," the Kaioushin had continued, ignoring the looks he had been receiving. "Don't worry, they won't kill him. They're just after his energy."

We think he's planning to use the energy of the fighters here to resurrect Buu. They were going to use Gohan's energy to resurrect Buu. Goku clenched his fists, knowing that he could not attack those two now. If he did, then they would never find out about Babidi's whereabouts.

Right at that moment Gohan had transformed into the second level of the Super Saiyajin. After that, it all happened in slow motion. The spectators gasped, Goku recognized the look of dawning realization on Yam's face, Vegeta commented that Gohan was not even close to the level he was at when he had fought Cell and then the two servants of Babidi attacked, plunging a strange looking instrument into Gohan's side, absorbing his energy. Son Goku looked at the Kaioushin and noticed that he was holding Gohan with is own energy so that the Saiyajin could not move and defend himself. Krillin took a step towards the ring, but the Kaioushin told him to stay back. Not even Kibito did anything.

Finally, after what seemed like long minutes, the golden glow around Gohan disappeared and his hair flickered back to black. Supopo Bitchi let go of him and he slumped to the ground, nearly unconscious. Then they took into the sky and fled.

"Don't do anything yet," the Kaioushin ordered again. "Kibito will restore his energy. I, for my part, will now follow them. Goku, I already told you before that I'd really appreciate your help, but you don't need to." Without saying more, he also took off.

Goku turned to look at his friends' confused and expecting faces. He sighed. No matter how he would look at it, he had no choice. "I'm going, too. The matter is truly serious."

"What about our fight?"

"I'm truly sorry, Vegeta," Goku told him, trying to keep the annoying edge out of his voice that would signalize that he hated the situation as much as the Prince. "Not now, but we'll face off later, when we have taken care of this."

"I'm going," Piccolo suddenly announced and followed the Kaioushin.

Goku looked back to the ring, where Videl had appeared in the meantime and was kneeling next to Gohan. "I'm going to follow them, but I'll have to talk to ChiChi before I leave."

Jenny watched after the trails of energy Piccolo and Shin had left behind, her eyes wide with shock, before she turned back to the happenings in the ring. Gohan was still lying on the floor of the ring, unmoving, but now not just Videl was at his side, but also this Kibito. When she had seen what had happened down there, she had so desperately wanted to step in and kick those two guys off her brother. But her body had been numbed by the shock that no one, simply no one, not even their own father or one of the others had done anything. She had never felt this helpless before.

Suddenly also Goku and Vegeta took into the air, both of them flying towards them. Her father stopped in front of his wife, who was already standing there with her hands on her hips, though her face was still deadly pale from what she had just witnessed in the ring.

"Son Goku! What is going on here?"

"ChiChi," he said in calming voice. "Please listen and do what I say. Don't worry about Gohan, Kibito will restore his energy, but this situation is deadly serious." ChiChi wanted to say something, but Goku continued before she could open her mouth. "I'm sure you remember what I told you about Buu and the magician Babidi." She nodded, finally remembering where she had seen the two fighters Piccolo and her son had had to face before. "Good… Baba!" he called out.

Only a few seconds later, Uranai Baba, the small witch and sister of Muten Roshi, appeared, floating on her crystal orb. "What is it, Goku? Your time is not up yet."

"I want ChiChi to return to the Afterlife." A collective 'What?' could be heard from his friends, but all he needed to say to make the witch understand was, "It's not safe here. Babidi is on Earth." Goku turned again to his wife. "I'm truly sorry, Chi, but if something happens to you on Earth and you die again…"

"I'll cease to exist. I know…" ChiChi took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll go back. You, take care and watch out for Gohan. I'm sure he'll follow you as soon as he's up again."

Goku smiled at her and gave her a small kiss. "Of course. I'll see you later." He now only wanted to say goodbye to his daughter, since he did not want to expose Goten and Trunks, who were still waiting in their costume of Mighty Mask for the fights to continue. But his heart sank yet again, when he saw the exchange between Jenny and Vegeta.

"But I wanna go!" she yelled.

"No, you won't. According to what I've heard it will be too dangerous for you kids out there. You're not strong enough," Vegeta argued.

"What about Krillin?" Jenny pointed to the sky, where Krillin just shot past them in pursue of Piccolo and the Kaioushin.

He harrumphed. "Baldy is too stupid to realize that he won't stand a chance against our new opponents."

"Those two guys weren't that strong. He could have taken both of them easily."

"Listen," Vegeta groaned. "I don't have time to argue. You'll stay here and do what the others tell you. You won't do anything rash or stupid. But I count on you to protect them, if something happens. Do you understand?"

Jenny crossed her arms over her chest and slumped back in her seat. She did not like this. She wanted to fight. If only Trunks and Goten would help her protest against this unfairness, but no, they were too busy hiding under that stupid costume so that they could fight the adults. They were much stronger than Krillin and could be a lot of help, she was sure of that.

"Vegeta? We should go," Goku suddenly said.

"Alright."

Before Goku followed Vegeta, he looked back at Jenny, wanting to say goodbye and to hug her properly, because he did not know, when he would see her again. He sighed almost inaudibly, when he saw that Jenny was pointedly ignoring him and only muttered a "Goodbye" to her and the others, before he, too, disappeared.

Jenny somehow felt bad about ignoring Goku, the father she had never gotten the chance to really know, but something in her stubborn head told her that it was his fault that she was not allowed to follow. Vegeta was no one to hold her or the others back, neither in training nor in sparring matches, always encouraging her in his own way to keep going and do her best. This was one of the things she liked most about him, so it must have been Goku's presence that had let him act differently. Maybe to show him that he would not let Goku's children run head first into danger.

Yes, that must be it, Jenny thought. But that would not hold her back. As soon as the opportune moment occurred, she would be off.