Disclaimer: I don't own anything. See Chapter 1 for details.
Author's note: Hey everybody! How is everyone doing? Hope everything is okay with you guys. Work has been extremely busy with me but I love it! The kids are awesome and cute too! Hehehe. Although, some of them, I believe, are the actual spawn of Satan. Grrr! Don't worry though. The classes have been well under control. You have no idea how the game of soccer has been integrated in the lives of little Japanese children.
Anyways, many people have tried to guess what were the anime/manga references that I posted in the previous chapter. Mostly everyone got the Hopp and Naruto part. I was trying to combine the wrestler Hulk Hogan and Usopp from One Piece together but Hopp seemed to have more of Usopp's personality and just Hogan's muscles than both personalities combined. There was one reference that I am not surprised not a lot of people got. When Misa and Gohan go see the movie, the plot line of that said movie was taken a manga called Ichigo 100%. If you read the manga, then you know what I am talking about. Hope that helps out everyone. Nice try everyone! Oh and to SonicAnime2010, I have heard of "Lyrical Nanoha." I have been planning to watch it for some time and I will try to do so in the future.
I want to thank naioka1992 for beta-reading this chapter! She has been awesome! So let me present you guys out there reading Chapter 25 of Saiyan in Mahora! Enjoy!
Period 25: Heroes of the Ages Assemble! The Mahora Budokai Begins!
Inside the resort of Eva's, Gohan and Negi were soundly asleep against the crashing of the waves. Both of them started to get up as they heard girls playing in the background, boys snickering to each other as they had done something devious and another voice of man eating a large amount of food. Negi and Gohan walked out of the room and saw mostly everyone before them. Asuna, Konoka, and Setsuna were playing on the beach while Trunks and Goten were covering up a sleeping Vegeta with sand. Goku was near the girls and Vegeta, eating a large stack of food that he had brought along. Piccolo was meditating and floating underneath the shadows of the palm trees. Kotarou was staring at the sea. "Good morning!" the duo greeted everyone.
"Good morning!" everyone said.
"Negi! You're awake!" said the hanyou.
"Onii-chan!" Goten hugged Gohan as he lifted the young demi-saiyan in the air like a plane. Piccolo cracked open one of his eyes and gave a smile towards Gohan. Gohan knew that it meant 'good morning' coming from Piccolo.
"Hey Gohan, want some breakfast?" Goku asked.
"Sure Dad," Gohan said as he walked over to where his dad was. "I'm starving!" Gohan grabbed the nearest food and started to eat, causing Konoka to giggle.
"They look so cute together," Konoka said.
"Like father like son I guess," added Setsuna.
"It is nice that we can all rest here though," Asuna said. "Especially since we were forced to go with everyone to the middle-of-the-night festival and the whole thing dragged on until 4 in the morning. We were just thinking about how we'll manage the second day with no sleep but this thing really saved us," explained Asuna.
"Thanks to this resort, one hour gets stretched into a whole day. We're the only ones that have the whole day to spend until the tournament," Kotarou added. "Which reminds me – just how often have you been coming in here anyway Negi?"
"Y-You think?" Negi said nonchalantly. "H-How could I've kept up with my teaching duties, though, if I hadn't?" Kotarou growled at Negi causing everyone to get a good laugh.
The girls went back to playing while Vegeta woke up from his sleep and was pissed that he was covered in sand. As he chased the two boys around the resort, Kotarou turned to Gohan since he had finished eating breakfast. "Are you sure they shouldn't be getting ready for the tournament Gohan-nii-san? They are participating like us," Kotaro questioned as Gohan shook his head.
"I'm sure they'll do fine," Gohan answered.
"Hey guys," Goku said catching the attention of both Gohan and Kotarou. "Do you want to practice a bit before tomorrow's tournament?"
"Sure thing Dad," Gohan replied.
"Yeah good idea, you ready Negi?" yelled Kotarou.
"Yes," Negi said, activating the Cantus Bellax spell without any incantations. This drew an impressed look from Gohan.
"Hooo, he can do it without reciting the words now," observed Gohan.
"Ahh because spells without incantations seem to be basic for a magic fighter," noted Chamo. Gohan was impressed at Negi's progress. Ever since their spar, Negi had been going overtime on his training and thus had been getting stronger since then. The whole kissing incident proved that. Gohan couldn't wait to match with him during the tournament and so did Goku.
"Without incantation, it looks almost no different from a concentration of Ki," Kotarou said.
"Most likely because it is similar in origin Kotarou-san," added Gohan. "From what I understand and based on research as well, Magic power and Ki refer to energies that reside inside an infinite variety of living organisms, but magic power is the spiritual power to collect the natural energies that is full in the atmosphere and bringing it under the control of one's own body. On the other hand Ki is the internal burning of one's own energy that resides within everyone. This is the reason why magic power is referred to as spirit power and Ki as physical power," explained the young scholar-in-training.
"So Negi how long can you hold that for?" Kotaro asked his friend.
"I can go thirty minutes, easy," Negi responded.
"That long, huh?" Kotarou said. "Then the tournament should be no problem." Kotarou then heard Piccolo snicker. "What green man?"
"Don't be so quick to presume things Kotarou," Piccolo said, opening one of his eyes as he talked.
Negi nervously laughed. "Piccolo-san's right though. I can barely go five minutes if I'm fighting all-out against the masters including Gohan-san."
"What? Wasn't that your full power yet?" Kotaro asked.
Negi shook his head. "Not at all! But that doesn't mean I should stop," he said. He turned around towards the sea and mentally chanted 'Sagitta Magica, Series Lucis. Nine orbs or light surrounded him then shot out towards the open sea.
"Oh a bunch came out even without incantations," Kotarou said, impressed at Negi's skill.
"The most is 9 shots but it's more than 1 shot, it's necessary to go from only a few seconds to a charge up period of more than 10 seconds," Chamo explained.
Kotarou then took this opportunity to challenge Negi as the two of compared their attack on the sea as Gohan stood back from them, watching with a smile on his face. "They're getting better every day aren't they?" Goku said as he walked up next to Gohan.
"Yeah it's surprising that he progresses so fast in his training but his opponent tomorrow is Takamichi-san," Gohan said with a worried face. "He's got his work cut out for him that's for sure." Gohan looked down, a bit dejected until he felt a pat on his shoulder. He turned his head to see Goku smiling before him.
"I'm sure he will do fine," Goku said with a Son grin on his face. "Negi has a lot of potential. I think he can win against that dude."
"Takamichi-san, Dad," Gohan corrected.
"But you know Negi, no matter how much power you have if you can't make contact with your enemy then there's no meaning right?" Kotarou said as Negi pushed his fingers together.
"That's true; even now my physical techniques are still no match at all for Ku-sensei or master or even Gohan-san's."
Seeing a chance to one-up him Kotarou made clones of himself. "Ha, can you do kage bunshins, Negi?"
"You know I can't do that Eastern-mysticism stuff!"
"Well then can you do Shundo?" Kotarou asked.
"Shundo?" Negi said.
"Like this. You concentrate Ki into your feet. Though for you it's magic power," he explained as he appeared at the opposite side of the beach in an instant. Negi then began practicing but it was pretty rough for him. But still he kept going at it.
Gohan and Goku chuckled a bit until they were interrupted by Vegeta, who was carrying two unconscious demi-saiyans that had swirls in their eyes. "Kakarotto, we should get going."
"You're right Vegeta. We should get going," Goku said as sparkles started to appear in his eyes. "I want to see all the strong fighters there!"
Gohan smiled. "Hey you guys!" called Gohan, catching everyone's attention. "We are going to head up! We'll see you there okay?"
Everyone nodded. "Sure thing Gohan-san," Negi said as he clenched his fist. I should take this time to practice and get stronger, Negi said to himself. I am going to win against Takamichi and Gohan-san. With that, Gohan and his friends left the resort, leaving behind Negi and his group to prepare for the Budokai.
Outside in the real world…
The air was full of excitement as the many spectators were all traveling towards the Tatsumiya Shrine, for the Martial Arts tournament. Kids were telling their parents to hurry up so they can go watch the fights and get tickets, fighting clubs were rushing towards the site to watch and maybe gain new senseis to teach them fight. All the while most of the class of 3-A were stuck at the Haunted House working. "That's not fair!" Ayaka shouted as she paced around the room. "I finally got a ticket but I can't go!"
"That's for you to say," Yuna muttered. "I wanted to go too and see Gohan-kun fight but they ran out of tickets." She sighed. "Oh well, maybe somehow we will be able to see it soon."
Meanwhile…
Negi, Kotarou, Asuna and Setsuna all entered contestant preparation room all at the same time. As they entered they saw that everyone was already there. Standing together in right in front of the door were Ku and Kaede. Ku Fei was still wearing her Chinese dress, though the sides of this one stopped at her thighs. Kaede was wearing the same tux she wore when the class had set up the maid cafe. "Good morning everyone," saluted Negi as Ku and Kaede greeted their teacher. As soon as they entered the room, another door opened. Everyone turned their attention to the door to see a group of fighters come in. Negi, Asuna, Kotarou and Setsuna immediately recognized who they were. It was Gohan and his friends!
However, some of them were dressed differently. Vegeta wasn't wearing his Saiyan battle armor but rather the same clothes that he wore during the fight against Hildegarn. Goku, Trunks and Piccolo were wearing the same clothes as before, while Goten and Gohan had changed clothes. They were using the same clothes as they wore during the battle against Hildegarn with Gohan dressed exactly the same as Goku in the Kame uniform of orange and blue. "Gohan-san!" greeted Negi.
Gohan waved at the boy teacher with a smile. "Good morning Negi-san! Good morning everyone!"
"Yo!" greeted Goku. Both groups greeted each other and began to talk to each other. As the group started to mingle with each other a bit, Negi walked over to Gohan. "Gohan-san?" Negi asked catching the attention of the demi-saiyan. "Why are you wearing those clothes? I thought you were going to wear your usual blue dogi."
"I actually thought about that," Gohan replied. "However, when my Dad was young, he would participate in the Tenkaichi Budokai wearing these colors of the Kame school of martial arts in order to hone his skills. So, since I am entering, I thought that I would enter with the same colors to hone my skills as well."
"Wow," awed Negi. "You must really look up to Goku-san."
"Sure do," responded the demi-saiyan. "I'm sure that's the reason why you are wearing the same clothes that your father wore too."
Negi flinched. "H-How did you know?"
Gohan grinned. "Don't worry about it Negi-san. I looked up some information on the Thousand Master in order to better understand him. There is so much stuff about him. I have to thank Takamichi-san. He was one that he told me about him the most."
"Why thank you Gohan-kun," thanked Takamichi, catching the group by surprise. He turned his head towards Negi and his group. "Good morning Negi-kun," Takamichi said. Setsuna, Kotarou and Negi just nodded at him, while Asuna was blushing and bowing her head.
"Good Morning!" she nearly shouted. Takamichi smiled at her and she blushed even more; however, something inside her was shouting that she was betraying Gohan. This made her frown but she beat down the thought.
Takamichi then noticed Goku, who stood behind Gohan. He walked over to the Saiyan and shook his hand. "You must be Son Goku," Takamichi said. "I heard a great deal about you. You must be proud of your son teaching at this institution."
"Well…" Goku trailed. "I would say Chichi would be the proudest but I'm happy as long as Gohan is happy."
Takamichi smiled. "That's a father for you."
Goku grinned at the compliment. He turned to the others and asked, "Yo, you guys ready for this?"
"Of course we are," Kotarou smirked. The two girls nodded in agreement, while Vegeta simply smirked at Goku.
"Of course Kakarotto," Vegeta said. "Today is the day that I will finally beat you."
Goku grinned at his rival. "I wouldn't be too sure of that Vegeta." He then turned to Gohan and Negi and asked them the same question as before. "You ready?" Gohan nodded, while Negi put on a determined face.
"That's right I'm ready," Negi answered. He looked towards Takamichi and said, "...Takamichi I'm going to try my best today, because I'm not going to lose to my father. So let's not hold back." The red head's voice was so full of determination, it had Gohan smirking.
"Hehehe, Negi-kun has become a young man, but that's not something to get worked up over for. I mean you are you and your father is your father." Takamichi then leaned down and whispered, "But I think we should hold back just a little. If we go all out and our magic gets exposed, it'd be problematic ne?"
"Takamichi is right Negi-san," Gohan blurted in. "Things will get bad if we do expose things like that out into the open. Which, by the way, Dad and Vegeta-san," Gohan said as he turned his attention at Goku and Vegeta, "…please don't destroy the stage."
"Whatever, brat," Vegeta mused. Goku simply nodded.
Takamichi then walked up to Asuna and said, "Asuna-kun..."
"Yes, Takahata-sensei?" the girl asked hopefully.
"I know it may be a little early but I think we need to talk about something," Takamichi told her in a firm yet kind tone. This had Gohan quirking and eyebrow but no one could see it.
"Good morning contestants!" a Kazumi's voice rang out through the speakers of the room. All the contestants looked towards the front of the room, where she and Chao were standing along with the board of who is fighting who. They were currently wearing the same things from last night, though they were in different colors. Where Kazumi's was white, it was now black and Chao's was white instead of red.
"Welcome and thanks for gathering! Thirty minutes from now, the first match will start! Let me explain the rules for this round. This will take place in a 15 m by 15 m arena, and each battle will take place in an allotted time of 15 minutes. Get knocked down for ten seconds, be out of the ring, lose consciousness, cry or give up and the match goes to the opponent. In the event of overtime, the winner will be decided via viewer e-mail. Furthermore, the same rules about yesterday's matches apply as well."
Outside of the tournament grounds
"What am I doing here again?" Chisame asked herself, as she stood front row to for the tournament. "Oh yeah, Negi-sensei and Gohan-sensei invited me to go. At least this is better than working at the stupid haunted house."
At another part of the shrine stood the library club who were still decked out for the haunted house. "I wonder if Negi-kun is going to be okay? I mean there are so many adults in this too," Haruna stated to both Yue and Nodoka. "And what about Gohan-kun? There are some pretty tough opponents out there."
"Don't worry Haruna. Negi-sensei and Gohan-sensei are very strong, so it's ok. Right, Yue?" Nodoka asked her best friend. Yue seemed to be broken out of her thoughts as she stuttered.
"Y-yeah that's right," the blue haired girl replied.
"Huh? Yue did something happen?" Haruna asked. Yue immediately regretting the stutter in her voice at her answer.
"Eh...no not really," Yue said not meeting the other girl's eyes.
"Really?" Haruna asked her face darkening.
Damn she is scary when she does that, Yue thought off handedly. The blue haired girl was really hoping that Haruna doesn't find out about the little talk she had with Negi, as well as her feelings.
Also at the shrine were Natsumi and Chizuru. Chizuru was also in an elegant Chinese dress except black, and had her hair in a ponytail in the back. Natsumi was wearing a fairy costume, complete with wings and antennas along with a pink dress. "Chizu-nee, Kotarou-kun is in the first match!" Natsumi told the older girl.
"Well well, I wonder if he will be okay," she said of handedly.
"No problem he's strong! Negi-sensei is in the fourth match, while Gohan-sensei is in the sixth match. I have rehearsals for my play sadly. I wonder if I can still get to see it."
"Natsumi who do you do you want to win?" Chizuru asked her friend.
"Huh?"
"Who do you want to win?" she repeated.
"Ah...I want Kotarou-kun to win," the red head said embarrassed. Natsumi nodded with a small smile. "How about you Chizu-nee?"
"I want Gohan-sensei to win."
"Ara? Why?"
"Oh no reason at all," Chizuru replied still smiling. "I just wish him the best."
"Oh. I thought you wanted him to win for other reasons," Natsumi whispered.
"What was that?" Chizuru said in a sickeningly sweet voice.
"N-nothing!"
Back at the tournament grounds…
"To all the audiences, thank you for waiting!" Kazumi shouted to the crowd through the mic. "Starting now we will be starting the first match of the Mahora Budokai!" As she spoke Kotarou, and surprisingly Mei walked onto the arena. Kazumi pointing to Kotarou said, "In this corner, we have the mystery shounen ninja, contestant Murakami Kotarou!" She then pointed towards Mei. "And in the other corner, the second year middle school girl contestant, Sakura Mei!"
"What with this? Those are just some brats!" one of the audience members shouted out.
"What's the meaning of this organizer?" another one demanded.
"But their abilities were proven in the preliminaries!" Kazumi shouted back. Within the crowd Kotarou had made a small fan club of girls calling him cute.
"Eh! You're that onee-chan from the other day!" Kotarou shouted.
"Thanks for helping the other day Kotarou-san," Mei said with a bow.
"Why are you in this place?"
"Uh...um...I don't actually want to be here but..."
"What's the meaning of this?" Negi asked from one of the contestant benches. Gohan, who was with Negi, Asuna, Setsuna and the others, was curious as well. If Mei was here then that means that…
"Fufufu," Takane chuckled as she revealed herself. "Good morning Negi-sensei."
"Eh you're the one from yesterday!" Negi exclaimed standing up surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Are you surprised? The reason I'm here is to discipline you!" Takane stated. "You keep doing reckless things like getting infected by the world tree and joining this odd tournament! If we don't punish you, we will never be in agreement, that's the reason we joined this tournament! That and also seeing Gohan-sensei fight as well..." she mumbled the last part with a blush on her face and avoiding Gohan's gaze. "Besides you should worry about your friend. Mei may look like a sweet child but she graduated from a magical school in America with straight A's. At her age she can do many spells without incantations. And when we win, we will take the 10 million yen as your punishment!"
Back on the arena the two contestants were still talking. "I...don't want to do this but this is senpai's orders. I have to defeat you Kotarou-san,' Mei said as she discarded her cloak.
"Big words coming from a cute face," Kotarou smirked getting in to his fighting stance.
"Match No.1…begin!"
Kotaro put some distance between him and Mei as he was concerned about fighting Mei. If it was Kaede-nee-chan or Tatsumiya-nee-chan then ok. But against such a weak girl like this how? Kotarou said to himself. Then Mei pulled out a card and chanted, "Adeat!" The card shone in a bright light, materializing into a broom.
Kotarou looked at the girl curiously. What? It's just a broom, if I hit a child like her and get her injured it'd be going too far. As I thought I can't hit a girl…can't hit her…well then, he thought with a grin on his face. Kotarou then sped forward and did an upward palm thrust, not hitting the girl but using the air pressure of it to send her flying out of the stage and into the water.
"T-This is?" shouted Kazumi in the mic. "Contestant Kotarou, with an unbelievable speed, has ended the match that easily? T-That was a palm upper hit just now wasn't it? It blew a girl's body 10m up into the air. That's harsh!"
"Idiot, that was just the air pressure," muttered Kotarou.
"How bad are that year-two schoolgirl's injuries? Contestant Mei has only ten seconds to get back in the ring!" continued Kazumi.
"Help I can't swim!" Mei shouted during the ten count, forcing Kotarou to help her.
On the sidelines, Negi and Asuna were a bit in shock at Kotarou's skills, especially how he sent a girl flying without even hitting her. "Setsuna-san, do you know what happened?" Asuna asked the swordswoman.
Setsuna shook her head. "I'm not entirely sure since I use ki only in my sword attacks."
"Kotarou-san used kiai," Gohan stated, catching Negi and Asuna's attention.
"Kiai?" Negi asked.
"Kiai is a form of attack by ki users in which we just expel ki from our body towards a desired location," Gohan explained. "Since Kotarou-san has a policy of not hitting girls, he probably thought that using Kiai would be the best option in winning the match." However, I thought that Mei-san would be ready for it since I had showed to her earlier, Gohan said to himself.
"Interesting," muttered Negi. He was curious to see if he could do that as well. As he pondered, Kotarou walked up to the group who were standing on the sidelines. "You did it Kotarou-kun!"
"Aww, 'tweren't nothing," Kotarou smiled with a thumbs up. He then felt a pat on the shoulder from Gohan. "Gohan-nii-san?"
"Don't get your hopes up," Gohan stated. "There are stronger fighters ahead." Kotarou nodded, fully knowing that after seeing Gohan fight against a monster like Broli, the Legendary Super Saiyan. Then he turned his head to see Ku Fei walking towards. "Hey Ku Fei-san!" greeted the demi-saiyan.
"Ku-roshi!" added Negi.
"Hey Chinese girl," said Goku as the three of them walked up to Ku Fei.
"Hey everyone," Ku Fei greeted.
"Are you ready for your match Ku-roshi?" Negi asked.
Ku Fei nodded. "Yup! I can't wait-aru." She then looked at Gohan then Goku and smiled. "Don't lose you two. I want to fight you-aru."
Goku grinned as he locked fists with the Chinese martial artist. "Same here. I want to continue our match from last time." Ku Fei smiled and walked towards the stage, ready to fight against her opponent.
Meanwhile, Kazumi continued on with the next match. "Very impressive! As expected from the mystery shounen ninja Kotarou who, by the way, is also friends with the incredible boy teacher, Negi Springfield!" Murmurs were heard all across the arena, discussing on what happened in the match and on the bit of information that Kazumi gave on Kotarou. "Now let's continue to our second match. In this corner we have the winner of last year's ultimahora! Contestant Ku Fei!" yelled Kazumi, motioning towards Ku Fei who did a martial arts bow before the crowd. "And in our other corner, the mysterious and agile Ku:Nel Sanders!" Kazumi then motioned to the other corner to a white cloaked figure who didn't do any gestures or movements.
Gohan and the others turned their attention towards the stage, eager to wait for the match to start. Then it happened. Ku Fei went in at a fast speed to try and land a palm on Ku:Nel Sanders's chest. However, the cloaked man simply dodged the attack and separated himself from Ku Fei. But Ku Fei didn't stop as she launched forward with various combinations of punches and kicks at Ku:Nel Sanders.
Negi started on cheering her master, with Goten joining in as well. Gohan wanted to join in too but then he suddenly felt something. It was an incredible power source. Gohan turned his attention towards the source and noticed that it was coming from the cloaked figure, Ku:Nel Sanders. This is bad, Gohan said to himself with a frown of worry on his face.
"You noticed it too," Goku said as he stood beside the demi-saiyan. Negi, Asuna, Kotarou and Setsuna all turned their head to Goku, curious as to what he was talking about.
"Goku-san, what are you talking about?" Negi asked.
"That Chinese girl can't win," Goku stated bluntly.
"HUH?"
"What do you mean Goku-san?" Setsuna asked.
"That can't be true," added Negi. "Ku-roshi is very strong! There is no way she can't win." Negi was about to continue even more with his comments but was stopped by Gohan. "Gohan-san?"
"Negi-san," Gohan sighed, "my dad is right. Ku Fei-san can't win." Negi, Asuna and Setsuna turned wide-eyed at the shocking comment.
"How can that be Gohan?" Asuna asked. "Didn't you say that Ku Fei was very strong?"
"She is, but…" Gohan looked at the cloaked man as he dodged another attack. "That man is much stronger. He is hiding an incredible amount of strength away."
"But Gohan-san…" Negi was about to protest but he noticed Gohan's hands were clenched hard. Negi realized that if Gohan was like this, then it must be true. Gohan, meanwhile, couldn't believe what he was seeing. This was bad. How could he not have sensed this power before? Could this be the guy that Goku was talking about before the preliminaries that got him all worried?
Back at the arena, Ku was back in her fighting pose as Ku:Nel Sanders walked a bit closer to the Chinese martial artist. "You are good," spoke the cloaked man, catching Ku Fei by surprise. "No wonder Negi-kun chose you as his martial arts master. However, you can't win."
"We'll see about that-aru," Ku said before rushing in. She sent a palm thrust towards Ku:Nel Sanders's chest, to which he parried to the side. Ku followed it with another palm thrust toward the same spot. Ku:Nel sent his fist up to parry it again, but he slipped when he saw Ku put her foot behind his to make him fall down. She brought her palm down on him as his back hit the floor. When the hit was about to connect, Ku:Nel's arm shot up and grabbing the wrist to stop it just above his chest. His other hand flew to her neck and grabbed it. This action caused her to choke momentarily. This was all he needed to push her away from him, and stand up.
Ku:Nel dusted off some dirt on him. He then egged her on by doing the come here motion. Ku frowned for a moment before lunging at Ku:Nel. She then did a flying side kick with her right leg extended out. Ku:Nel carefully sidestepped out the way, but when Ku landed she put her hands on the ground and spun on them. Her feet flailed towards him and forced him to jump back more. When his feet the ground, Ku:Nel almost fell to the ground himself. He looked back and saw that he was at the edge of the arena.
Ku:Nel turned his head back to face the girl and his eyes widened. Her fist was about to hit his face. Ku:Nel instantaneously jumped back. As he was going down, he stretched out his legs forward kicking Ku Fei in the gut. Ku:Nel touched the floor outside of the arena before doing an instant movement back inside of it. The crowd gasped when they saw Ku clutching her abdomen.
"Wow!" awed Negi. "Ku-roshi is incredible! Gohan-san, Goku-san, I'm sure that you two have changed your opinions already."
"No," both Father and Son immediately responded which caught Negi by surprise so did Asuna and Kotarou.
"What?" Asuna commented. "You got to be kidding me! Ku Fei is matching evenly against that cloaked man!"
"Yeah," added Kotarou. "I'm sure that guy is tired already. She has won this."
"No he isn't," Vegeta stated, catching the three of them by surprise. "He is just toying with her."
"Vegeta-san," muttered Negi.
"Kakarotto and the brat are right," Vegeta said. "This match is over. I wish he would stop playing with her so we can get out with this stupid tournament."
Kotarou shook his head. "How could that be? I mean that onee-chan is matching evenly with the cloaked man!"
"Kotarou, you are blinded by your eyes," Piccolo added in.
"Huh what do you mean?"
"You are looking at the fight with your eyes instead of sensing their ki. If you watched it with your ki sense, you will realize that Gohan and the others are right," explained the Namekian. "That girl has no chance." Kotarou and Negi clenched their fists as they tried to prove that Gohan and his friends' assumptions were wrong.
"Is that the best you can do," Ku:Nel called out to the girl who uneasily got up to her feet again. She had bruises covering every visible part of her body, and was panting heavily. She noted though that he never aimed for her face after the first hit. Being unable to hold herself up Ku fell to the floor on her back.
"What an incredible upset! Without landing a single hit Contestant Ku goes down!" Kazumi shouted. The crowd gasped, again, when they heard this. Kazumi began counting slowly as Ku:Nel hovered over the girl who's eyes bore into his very own.
"You did well," Ku:Nel stated smiling down on her. "You were able to take hits that only a few people were able to survive. You are truly a great fighter." Ku was breathing in deeply as she closed her eyes.
"Seven! Eight! Nine!" After the number nine, Ku suddenly shot up surprising everyone, including Ku:Nel. She latched the palm of her right hand under his chin, and the other one went directly under the elbow of the right.
"It's not over yet!" Ku exclaimed happily. Using the force of her left hand, she pushed upward sending Ku:Nel into the air. Ku didn't stop there though. As he was barely lifted up, she let loose a flurry of punches and palm strikes to his body. Each hit could be heard throughout the shrine as all went silent when she actually landed a solid hit. After doing the combo she jumped up and kneed him in the stomach, before doing one final palm strike to the chest, sending him into the wall right above the contestant seating.
After a few seconds the crowd went wild with excitement seeing their champion being able to land a hit on the mysterious hooded man. "That was a marvelous reversal by Contestant Ku! Waiting for the right moment to strike and beautifully pulling off an amazing amount of hits on Contestant Ku:Nel! I wonder how he is doing?" The crowd looked to where Ku:Nel had hit the wall and the rubble it had made. Negi and the others were cheering, seeing that Ku may have won! However, Negi shot a look at Gohan's face and noticed that it hadn't changed much. Gohan's expression was still that of worry. Could it be that Ku:Nel survived that? A few seconds later, Ku:Nel stood up from the rubble with no injuries!
Ku couldn't even move much after exerting that much Ki, and energy into doing that combo as Ku:Nel came into the arena. "Impressive," Ku:Nel said. "You almost had me going there for a second."
"Heh, really?" Ku asked tiredly.
"Yeah, I am truly impressed," Ku:Nel as he started to gather energy in his hand. "However…"
"It's over," Gohan muttered, fearing for the worst.
"It's my win." With a flick of Ku:Nel's wrist, Ku suddenly felt a whole lot of pressure on top of her. It felt like she was carrying 10 tons of weights on her shoulders. Ku couldn't hold on much longer and thus let it as she landed hard on the ground, creating a crack on the arena floor. Everyone gasped at the scene including Kazumi.
"Oh my! It seems that Contestant Ku can't go any further due to an invisible attack from Ku:Nel. I shall begin counting..." Kazumi stated as she began to count. Negi ran from the sidelines and towards the arena to see if Ku was okay. Gohan followed suit as well. On the way there, he passed by Ku:Nel Sanders and gave a look at the cloaked man who simply smiled at the demi-saiyan. "Ten! And Contestant Ku:Nel has advanced to the second round! With a costume that completely hides the face, the mysterious Ku:Nel breaks through!" Though the crowd cheered, they were also disheartened that the Ku Fei had lost.
"Ku-roshi!" Negi screamed as he checked Ku Fei's condition. Her eyes were closed. Negi feared for the worst.
"She is not dead," Gohan said as he picked up the Chinese girl. "She is just simply unconscious."
Negi let out a sigh of relief. "That's good."
"Still, we should take her to the infirmary," Gohan said. Hope Dad brought some Senzu beans, Gohan said to himself as he carried Ku Fei in bridal style to the infirmary. Gohan feared that he was going to miss Piccolo's fight but luckily, the tournament was going to take a break while they fixed the arena stage due to damages.
A few minutes later…
Ku started to open one of her eyes. She then saw a few figures standing before that were a bit fuzzy. She blinked her eyes to clear out the blur and saw Negi, Gohan, Asuna and Setsuna standing before her. "She is awake!" Negi said with a bright smile on his face, happy to see Ku Fei finally awake.
"Ughh," Ku gargled. "What happened-aru?"
"You lost," Gohan said.
Ku bowed her head down in disappointment. "Sorry."
"Don't be Ku Fei-san," continued Gohan. "It was an incredible match. I was very impressed by your skill."
Ku let out a small smile. "Thanks Gohan-sensei but now I won't be able to fight you." Then she felt a pat on her shoulder and looked up to see Gohan's Son grin on his face.
"We will get to fight another time," Gohan said. Ku smiled and nodded at the demi-saiyan.
"I feel bad though-aru," Ku said. "I showed an uncool side to my disciple."
"Are you kidding? You were great Ku-roshi!" Negi said. "Even though that cloaked man was strong, you kept going at it. You never gave up! I will carry on your will Ku-roshi!"
Ku Fei smiled at the boy's determination. "Good. Show what you learn-aru!"
Negi nodded. "You bet!"
Back at the arena…
"Thanks for your patience, everyone!" Kazumi said. "We've been busy putting up new boards, and will be starting match no. 3 any moment now. This is turning into a real high-powered event, isn't it!" Chisame had to disagree with that as she watched from the sideline. High-powered, yeah right, Chisame said to herself. No normal people could move like those two did especially Mister Satan and he is the champion of the world. What is going on?
"Let's meet our contestants! In this corner we have, according to close and reliable sources, Gohan-kun's sensei…Challenger Ma Junior!" The crowd cheered on as Piccolo didn't show any expression but had his arms folded and his eyes closed. "An-n-nd in this corner, now in her second year at St. Ursula's high school for girls…Takane D. Goodman!"
"Onee-sama!" cried out Mei. "You be careful!"
"Fhn, fhn," chuckled Takane. "At last, the time's come to show my true power! Negi-sensei! It'll be too late for panic once you've seen what I'm about to show! Today's the day you finally get some tough love to straighten out that poor attitude of yours!" She turned her head, ready to show off to Negi and his group, more specifically towards Gohan. However, when she tried to look for them, they weren't there! "Hey! Where did they go?"
"To the nurse's office," Mei responded. "All of them, a while ago."
Takane cursed under her breath. She wanted to Negi to see her match but more specifically, she wanted Gohan to see her match. She wanted him to cheer her on and compliment her skill. She blushed at her thinking but she shook her head to get rid of those thoughts right now. Though she was curious as to why Gohan wasn't here to watch. She was about to fight against his sensei, wasn't she? Wouldn't he be worried about her hurting this Ma Junior too badly? "Listen green man!" shouted Takane. "It's going to take a lot of power to defeat me. So be ready!"
Piccolo didn't say anything as he unfolded his arms and opened his eyes. He stared at the blonde girl who was taken aback by the Namekian's gaze. "Then come at me with your full power," Piccolo said.
Takane gritted her teeth in anger. This guy was pissing her off. "You asked for it!" She yelled as she dashed towards Piccolo. Takane opened up with a right, straight punch, the attack soaring at her opponent with increased backup momentum. Piccolo easily blocked it with his left arm, fist connecting with rock hard muscle. Takane yelled and pulled back her right leg while still hovering in that position. With a powerful thrust, she sent her knee into his chest, only to have that blocked by the same left arm.
She didn't stop there though. The blonde girl followed that up by landing and sending a left jab, a right hook, a left uppercut, a right roundhouse kick, and a left side kick. Her attacks were deemed useless when her opponent easily blocked them all with his left arm, stopping her dead when he grabbed onto her left leg. Here, he wasn't afraid to show her this small portion of his strength. After seeing she was unable to yank her leg from his grip, she moved to an alternative. She back flipped, kicking up with her right and forcing him to let go. Piccolo did so, but that was his choice. From here, he watched her leap away from him, performing a few more back flips before stopping crouched low. Teeth gritted, the angered girl pushed off the ground she had landed on and leapt at him again, this time jumping to a greater altitude.
Stopping at the pinnacle, the girl then dove down at him, left foot extended. With a yell, she unleashed a shadow infused kick, intent on knocking the stuffing's out of her opponent. Piccolo gruffed, stepping to the side at the last minute with the girl flying straight past him through his cape and kicking the ground instead of him. She cracked the ground with that blow, yet wasn't hurt herself. Growling, she pursued her opponent, spinning round to her right and leaping at Piccolo, bringing her left leg back. Reaching him within seconds, she threw a triple-roundhouse kick at him with the same leg, the Namekian holding up his right arm and blocking the series of blows with an expressionless face.
The girl stopped on the third, kicking off of him with her left leg a second later and flipping back. She landed on the solid ground a second later, pulled into a defensive stance. Piccolo gazed down at her, still showing no expression at Takane. Takane saw that her opponent wasn't going to attack any time soon, so decided to attack instead. With an angry yell, she launched herself at him and began attacking him ruthlessly. Flurries of punches and kicks came flying at Piccolo, who slowly backed away while avoiding and parrying her blows easily, using only his left arm whenever it was necessary.
His eyes kept an eye on the blonde girl's lightning fast movements and attacks. She had incredible skill, her technique, combinations and magic skill perfected in every way. However, every technique had its flaw, but he didn't bother marking it out. He just wanted to wait for the right opportunity to end this fight, since he was starting to realize that the blonde girl wasn't that strong. Maybe she could prove him wrong.
The crowd was in awe at the display of fighting from both fighters, particularly on Takane's side. The crowd was definitely not impressed at Piccolo just simply standing there and defending. They wanted to see some action!
Meanwhile…
"Sounds like fun over at the main hall," Negi said as he was sipping a cup of tea. Gohan was doing the same as well.
"Negi, Gohan," spoke Asuna, "we're heading back to the tournament field."
"Yeah shouldn't you two get going?" Kotarou asked. "I mean, your match is next right Negi?"
"I'll be there," Negi said.
"What about you Gohan-sensei?" Setsuna asked. "Aren't you coming with us?"
"What do you mean Setsuna-san?" Gohan responded.
"Isn't your sensei fighting right now? Shouldn't you watch his match?" Setsuna questioned.
"Piccolo-san will be fine," Gohan answered. "Me and Negi will go over there soon. We'll meet you guys later." With that the group left, leaving behind Negi and Gohan sipping tea while watching over Ku Fei, laying in her bed.
Back at the battle arena…
Takane continued to drive him back with her assault, fists and kicks flying through the air. She decided to step up the ante by infusing her shadow magic in her arms and legs. As a result, her punches and kicks's power had increased than before. However, little did she know was that her attacks were nothing to Piccolo. Bringing her left fist back, she drove it forward, aimed for his face. Piccolo swiftly caught it in his left hand, holding her in place right there. Takane gritted her teeth and growled angrily, eyes flaring and wavering. However, the blonde girl was rather surprised he was able to move her fist, but after realizing they were still glaring at each other there, Takane brought her right fist back and drove it forward.
Piccolo pushed her left fist away and caught her other fist, holing it right there with little or no effort. After which, the girl yanked her fist out of his grip sharply and sent a left roundhouse kick aimed at his face. The Namekian moved his hand around to block it, easily stopping it by raising a finger. Takane didn't stop. Bringing her leg back down, she leapt into the air and spun around, sending a backwards round house kick aimed at his head with her right leg. Piccolo ducked it and slipped under her, the girl landing behind him when he stood up. Takane wheeled around, seeing her opponent standing there. Yelling out in frustration, she took another stance before flying at him, infused with her shadow magic. His back was turned, so this was her chance!
She began sending punches aimed at the back of his head and upper back, but she got one hell of a surprise when she saw her opponent avoid them easily, his movements leaving afterimages behind where he stood. When she launched the first six punches, she stopped, left arm extended on the seventh. It was then Piccolo's form stopped blurring and he spun around, grabbing her wrist and pulling her forward. Takane gritted her teeth and tried to yank her arm free of his grip, but was unable too. So, she moved to a new move and kicked off of her opponent's thigh. She used his build to push off of him, with Piccolo releasing her so that she didn't hurt herself. It was a foolish move to try with such a strong opponent, yet he couldn't but figure that it must have worked with other opponents around her strength. So, he just returned to a normal standing position and watched his opponent back-flip away, landing 20 meters away and dropped into yet another fighting stance. Both of them glared at each other, Takane panting slightly and Piccolo just standing as he was. The crowds were cheering wildly, with the Z senshi and Negi's group staring quietly from the sidelines. This fight was sure moving up fast.
Takane gritted her teeth and backed down a bit, watching her opponent stare at her. "Very impressive I must say," Piccolo said, catching Takane by surprise, "especially when you started to infuse your shadow magic in your attacks." Takane turned wide-eyed.
"What?" Takane yelled. "How did you know?"
Piccolo smirked. "I have lived longer and have seen things that you couldn't possibly imagine. Though your technique is impressive, it still needs improvement. Watch." Suddenly, Piccolo disappeared, catching the blonde girl by surprise. She started to look around for the Namekian but couldn't find him. "You look too much with your eyes," said a voice behind her.
Takane turned around and sent out a roundhouse kick but hit nothing. Only an afterimage! Takane's eyes started to flicker as a sweat went down the side of her. She turned around to see Piccolo standing before her. I-Impossible.
Piccolo then put out his hand and sent out a series a low level ki blasts towards Takane. Takane dodged with the best she could at the ki blasts. "Come on!" yelled Piccolo. "You can do better than that!" Takane was about to protest but she was too busy with avoiding the blasts. Pieces of the stage were getting torn to shreds because of Piccolo's attacks. "Show me some skill; otherwise you won't be able to help Gohan at this level!"
Takane turned her head at the very mention of Gohan. But because of that, she stopped dodging and took a ki blast headlong. A small explosion occurred on the arena stage. "Onee-sama!" screamed Mei with anime tears coming out her eyes, worried about Takane's wellbeing.
The crowd got worried over Takane's safety, hoping that the poor girl would at least be all right. However, Piccolo didn't stop there as he fired a series of ki blasts at that same spot. "Not enough!" Explosion occurred in succession with the crowd cheering on the spectacle while Chisame murmur the logistics of shooting beams from a hand was highly unlikely. A few seconds, Piccolo stopped firing and simply stared at the smoke.
The smoke cleared up to reveal Takane! "Why you!" growled Takane. "Now you've done it! Now you're gonna see my real power, the power to protect Goha…" But Takane stopped herself when she noticed a slight breeze coming onto her body. That wouldn't be possible unless she was naked right. The whole arena was silent. She looked down noticed her clothes were missing! All that was left on her due to the attack was the top of her school uniform, from the shoulder up and her hat. A few tattered pieces of clothes flew away on the breeze that rolled through.
"Well," Piccolo said, "aren't you coming at me or not?"
Takane started to tremble in embarrassment as she quickly engulfed one of her arms with shadow magic. "Wh-Why-y-y…" She ran up to Piccolo, who was clearly not showing any expression at seeing a woman's body, "YOUUUUUUU!" She gave a straight uppercut at Piccolo, catching the Namekian by surprise and launching him into the air.
The crowd and Kazumi thought that the match would be over then however, Piccolo had other plans as he stopped himself in mid-air and descended towards the stage. Everyone was gaping with their jaws wide open at seeing Piccolo fly in the air. Chisame couldn't believe it herself either. There was no way a person could fly! It was not possible!
"Impressive," Piccolo said, rubbing his chin. "But it is going to take more than that to defeat me." Takane started to shake in embarrassment. She couldn't fight like this, especially if Gohan were to come in right now and watch the fight. She was about to ask Mei for a spare jacket or something to cover up but when she turned, she noticed a certain figure standing next to Mei. It was Son Gohan! OH MY GOD! Takane screamed to herself. Gohan-sensei is here! Holy Shit! Takane's face was turning scarlet due to the embarrassment of having Gohan see her naked now.
"I-I give up!" Takane yelled. "I GIVE UP THE FIGHT!" The crowd was stunned to say the least! All of them face-faulted, thinking that Takane would at least get something to cover herself up and continue the match. However that didn't happen as Takane then took this opportunity to dash off stage, scarlet in embarrassment.
Kazumi blinked a few times before she collected herself so as to announce the winner, Piccolo. Afterwards, Kazumi talked into the mic to explain what was going to happen next as the crowd was starting to get antsy with the upcoming match. "Sorry to have kept you waiting, folks, we'll be starting the fourth match just as soon as we have repaired the stage. Please note that the use of cameras are forbidden. Your understanding is appreciated."
Goku, Goten, Trunks, Kuririn and Vegeta were all in the sidelines, awaiting for the next match. Vegeta was starting to get very impatient at the slowness of the tournament. "I swear, if they don't hurry it up, I will blow this whole area to kingdom come!"
"Vegeta relax," Goku said, trying to calm down Vegeta. "I'm sure they are doing the best they can."
Vegeta growled. "Shut up Kakarotto! You just want them to waste time to delay the match since you know that I am going to defeat you!"
"That is not true Vegeta," Goku responded.
"Whatever," Vegeta said, turning his back at the Z senshi. "I want them to just hurry it up so we can fight. That is the only reason I came here for."
"I know Vegeta, but still I really want to see that kid, Negi's fight," Goku said with a Son grin on his face.
"What is so special about that brat Kakarotto?" Vegeta asked.
"You'll see," Goku said when he noticed Piccolo walking towards them. "Hey Piccolo, good match!"
Piccolo growled. "What match? It was a complete waste of my time," stated the Namekian. "I should have taken her out beforehand. She lacked technique and training."
Kuririn let out a smile. "Always the strict teacher."
Author's note: Hey everybody! Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, especially on the two prominent fights in this chapter: the Ku:Nel vs Ku Fei and the Takane vs Piccolo. I wanted to have that same embarrassing scene that Takane has during her first match and see what Piccolo's reaction was. But of course, being Namekian, he has no idea about women's parts and whether to be embarrassed or not. Hehehe. That was very enjoyable when I was writing it. Hope you guys enjoyed the fights.
By the way, the poll will end when the next chapter is posted so if you haven't voted yet, now is the time to do it. READ AND REVIEW! I love hearing from you guys! It makes me feel like my work is being appreciated! So review please! See you guys around! Peace!
Oh, and Happy Halloween!