Chapter 38: Thin the Herd

While Pan fought Kareshi and Noca went up against #17, Krillin and Tien were preparing for their first fight in what felt like eternity. The two bald men stood on the stage ahead of each other and both wore serious expressions. They knew this wasn't a fight that would rival that of the Saiyans, but this was a big deal for both of them. Old friends, fighting together once again.

"You better not go easy on me, Tien."

The three-eyed man nodded towards his short friend and moved into a stance. Krillin moved into his own stance and smirked.

"You know, this feels just like old times," Krillin said, Tien smiled back and nodded in agreement. Both of them looked to the referee and nodded together. They were given their go ahead and both reacted right away. They charged into the centre and went for it. Tien started by attempting to jab at Krillin. The short man dodged the arms and twisted while jumping to try and land a kick to Tien's head. The three-eyed man ducked forward and turned around to attempt a punch to Krillin's back, but the smaller bald man twisted again and knocked Tien's arm away, giving himself a knew opening. Krillin punched Tien in the chest, Tien stepped back and sent his knee crashing into Krillin's gut, immediately. Krillin dropped back and shook off the slight pain. He charged in again.

As Krillin went in Tien attempted to connect a swift kick with the oncoming turtle student, but Krillin basically stepped over Tien's leg, grabbing it as he went past. That caused Tien to lose balance and fall to the ground, Krillin jumped up and dropped in, foot first, attempting to get Tien in the chest. Tien rolled out of the way, but Krillin adjusted his movement to follow the three-eyed man. Tien was equal to that and threw up a block, stopping Krillin's oncoming attempt. Both pushed against each other and the broke the block, jumping away from each other. Tien smirked and quickly shot a Dodonpa towards Krillin. The small bald man had to dive to the side, but Tien shot another one. Krillin had to keep moving.

He ran around Tien in a circle, but the blasts continued to follow. Krillin was just about out of reach the whole time, but he couldn't just keep running away from the attack. He needed a change of direction, or method. Krillin stopped as the last ray that Tien fired came in close. Krillin threw a blast towards the ray and they both connected, exploding against each other and filling the area with smoke. Krillin charged through the smoke, but Tien had the same idea and the two collided. Krillin was hit in the face and knocked back, but Tien wasn't expecting to clatter into him and struggled to keep his balance. Krillin had a chance to ensure he stayed on his feet and remained on equal level to Tien.

Both fighters turned to look at each other and immediately moved in again. Tien went to punch down at Krillin, but the smaller fighter managed to dodge around the fist and hit his old friend in the gut. Tien bent over as the hit went in, but Krillin moved quick and sent an uppercut into Tien's face. The three-eyed fighter stumbled back and shook it off, but only in time to get hit square in the face by another of Krillin's punches. As he stumbled back this time Krillin jumped back and up into the air for a second to throw an energy blast down on Tien. The blast hit the ground in front of Tien and knocked him off of his feet.

Krillin charged forward, finding his chance and got around Tien. As he got back to his feet Krillin jumped up, kicking Tien in the face and while in the air for the brief moment he flipped forward, smashing his fists down on Tien in a hammer motion. Krillin then landed back on the ground and jumped back to gain distance as he prepared the next move. Tien slowly stood up as Krillin launched a finisher.

"Kamehameha!"

The blue energy wave launched forward for Tien and there was nothing the former crane student could do. It was too quick for him and he had to accept that Krillin had beaten him. A small smile appeared on his face as he was knocked back by the blast. It wasn't a big Kamehameha, but it was enough to knock Tien out of the ring.

Tien landed with a thud, but slowly got back to his feet. He was beaten and he didn't mind. He dusted himself off as Krillin jumped down off the stage and held out a hand for his friend.

"No hard feelings?" Krillin said with a chuckle. Tien looked down, but then took Krillin's hand and shook.

"Of course, old friend," Tien said, "I was only really here for Torai anyway. Let's hope he does better than I."

Krillin nodded in agreement and the two friends went to get some refreshments before Krillin had to take part in his second and final Preliminary match.

Meanwhile, Holline was about to go up against her opponent. It was a young woman, probably in her early twenties. Her name was Josie. She had short brunette hair, in a sort of pixie cut. She wasn't particularly tall, probably only about 5ft and she was rather slim, but also pretty well built and definitely had the look of a martial artist. She wasn't wearing any typical fighting gear though. Just a vest with some shorts. She seemed rather pumped before the fight. Bouncing on the spot and taking a few deep breaths.

Holline stood opposite her and stretched ready to fight. The two made eye contact and Holline smiled at the woman. Josie smiled back. This was already looking like being a decent fight. Holline hoped that all this wasn't just for show and the girl could actually back up her energy before the fight. Holline looked to the referee to show she was ready. Josie was ready too. Their fight was about to begin. Holline uses her senses to get a read on Josie before starting and noticed that her energy didn't appear to be too big. It was better than average for a human which showed she did have some knowledge, but Holline was eager to find out if the girl knew how to utilise Ki. She was going to find out though.

The referee gave them the go ahead and the fight started. No words between these two fighters just yet, but then again, they didn't know each other so there wasn't really much point for them to make conversation with each other before the fight. Surprising Holline, Josie made the first move, running forward and jumping up. She didn't get the same kind of height that our heroes would get in a fight, but a better than average jump for a human. She twisted and aimed a knee down towards Holline. The red-head dodged back, and Josie had to awkwardly reposition to avoiding hitting the ground and causing herself pain.

Josie put her hand down and repositioned, getting back to her feet. She looked up quickly, ready to put her arms up, but Holline still kept a bit of distance. The red-head wasn't making much of an effort at this moment. She was probably trying to get a feel for her opponent, but Josie felt like this was sign of disrespect and underestimating of her abilities. Josie closed her eyes and let out a breath.

She opened her eyes and darted forward. She threw a couple of quick jabs, all of which were avoided by Holline. The red-head just dodged her head out of the way but didn't see the kick coming until the last minute. Holline had to quickly pull back as the foot sailed up past her face, this threw her into attack mode as she motioned forward and used the force of her Ki to push Josie back a little and knock her off balance.

Josie did well to rebalance herself and move forward again. She threw more rapid punches and Holline was swatting them away with relative ease, but she was impressed by Josie's determination to make something of this fight. Josie persisted, the punches flying in thick and fast. Holline knew she couldn't just waste time defending and needed to actually attack.

Finding an opening, Holline jabbed a punch into Josie's gut and it stopped her attacking. Josie stepped back and groaned slightly. Holline stepped forward again and Josie threw up a guard. The two stood for a second, but then Holline darted in. She punched forward, trying not to put all her strength in, still wanting to see what strength Josie might have. Josie threw up her hands attempting to block, but she wasn't strong enough with the block and felt the pain in her wrist. She dropped back, clutching her left wrist. It was only a little painful, not broken, but still annoying.

Josie took a breath and went for Holline again. She was acting a bit more erratic now and her movements were less coordinated. Holline could avoid them with relative ease and was unsure of how she should fight back. She grabbed Josie's wrist and held it tightly. It caused pain and Holline knew this.

"Fight through that pain," Holline told the young woman. Josie looked at Holline with some surprise. "You have great technique, but it seems like there's a lot you've missed out on in training."

"What do you know about me?" Josie asked, trying to sound tough, but she was very well spoken, posh.

"Nothing. But you could be an amazing fighter if you have the right teacher," Holline replied, smiling in a friendly manner.

"What, you?" Josie questioned, quite offended by that suggestion. Holline shook her head.

"Definitely not. I wasn't trained in the uh… conventional sense. My teacher was harsh… but maybe that works," Holline explained. As she started to think. "If you stick around through this tournament you'll learn a lot, and maybe you'll even find a teacher."

"You speak as if you have already won," Josie said, still seemingly offended. Holline smirked.

"Yeah, well, I might be nice, and you might have technique, but I'm still a better fighter," Holline confirmed as she moved forward and punched Josie in the gut again and then turned behind her kicked her forward. Josie stumbled forward and fell on her front. She was clutching her stomach. Slowly, she stood up again and turned to face Holline.

She attempted to fight back some more, throwing a couple of punches that Holline easily stood out of the way of. Josie was frustrated and kept trying to hit the red-head but was only tiring herself out as Holline moved swiftly to avoid everything. Holline grabbed Josie's arm again and elbowed the young woman in the face, knocking her away again. Josie growled in annoyance and darted forward, but Holline jumped up, over her and kicked back into her head.

Josie was knocked forward and, due to the momentum she had already built up for herself, she continued on too far and fell off of the stage. She took a moment to get to her feet and stood with her back to the stage, clearly frustrated. Holline dropped down next to her.

"Don't be angry, you lost, but that just gives you more chances to learn and do better next time," Holline put a reassuring hand on Josie's shoulder. Josie took a breath and looked over to Holline.

"Thanks, I guess…" Josie wasn't happy, but she couldn't really be annoyed at Holline. She did best her fairly. "I'll see you around."

Holline watched as Josie walked off. The red-head turned to the clock and looked around to see who her next opponent was supposed to be, she had that fight coming up soon.

Another fight that occurred during that first round of preliminaries was the one between Uub and Buu. An entertaining fight, which ended with Uub's victory. It was to be expected. The young man had been trained by Goku and continued to improve every day. Having Majin Buu as a sparring partner was a great thing for him too. He won and went to the next fight without saying a word to anyone else. Meanwhile, Majin Buu decided that he wanted to go see Mr Satan and spend the rest of the tournament with his "best friend."

The first round of Preliminaries was done, only one more fight before the tournament proper began. Krillin, Holline, Pan, Goten, Trunks, Vegeta and Uub all made it through. Tien's student Torai made it through as well. The last of our team was to be decided with the fight between Gohan and Noca due to take place. They agreed not to go all out because that wouldn't be good for the small stages they were using for this round, but it was certain to be a fight with entertaining qualities.

Noca calmed himself before the match, knowing that he needed to ensure his Saiyan instinct didn't take control in this situation. This was a fight that would ordinarily force Noca to draw out quite a lot of his energy, but right now, Gohan ensured Noca that they should keep it to a minimum. The younger Saiyan agreed with these terms, believing it was beneficial to hold off from showing true power for the real tournament. It was just a shame that one of these two fantastic fighters wouldn't make it to the final Sixteen.

"I'm determined to win this, Gohan," Noca informed his former teacher, before moving into a stance. There was a serious expression plastered across the young man's face. Gohan smirked and nodded, moving into his own stance.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Gohan replied, the smirk fading. Both were ready to go. The referee gave them the go ahead and Noca instantly phased for Gohan. He moved towards him at a rapid pace and Gohan hadn't quite expected it but was equal to it. He dodged to the side as Noca darted past him and stopped short at the edge of the stage. Gohan looked around and Noca turned back to attempt another attack. He did the same thing, darting forward at an immense pace. Gohan blocked this time, pushing his strength back on Noca. The two were equal to each other in that moment, and they knew it.

Noca jumped back and phased again, he came in from Gohan's left, attempting a kick. Gohan ducked down as Noca's leg sailed over. As Gohan came back up Noca had swung around and followed on with his momentum, hoping to strike another kick. Gohan defended it by pushing back against Noca's leg with his right arm, but Noca pushed forward, punching straight with his right. Gohan dodged back and then the younger Saiyan followed up, once more, swiping a kick up to Gohan's face. The older Saiyan had to straighten up quickly to let it sail past his face. Noca followed on, sending a large number of rapid jabs towards Gohan's centre, but they were all blocked or swatted away with ease.

Noca realised he wasn't getting very far with this approach and jumped back towards the edge of the stage. He then phased again, this time appearing behind Gohan. Attempting to brings his fists down on the more experienced fighter. Gohan phased this time and it was his turn to attempt an attack from the side, but Noca was also equal to this and phased again. Gohan immediately phased after his attempt and the two were locked in this cycle for about half a minute, before Gohan finally managed an attack.

He struck his fist against Noca's cheek and the young Saiyan stalled. He shook it off and glared towards Gohan. He wasn't angry with him, this was just his focussed mode. His opponent was the only thing on his mind in this moment. Noca closed his eyes and phased again, this time, Gohan wasn't ready. The young Saiyan came in behind Gohan and cracked a punch into Gohan's lower back. He arched in pain and Noca phased in front of him, smashing a fist into his gut. Gohan bent forward, only to be greeted with another punch up into his face.

He stumbled back and had to shake it off. He looked to Noca, just as the young Saiyan phased again. Gohan closed his eyes and felt the vibrations in the air as quickly as he could to determine the next move. There. Noca was coming from his right. Gohan swung around, ducked under Noca's attempt and then jumped up, getting Noca in the gut with his knee. He then flipped over and crashed a kick into Noca's back, throwing him towards the ground.

Noca managed to pounce off the ground immediately and jump to gain distance and then pounced again, this time he was going back towards Gohan and he managed to lay a mean right hook across Gohan's face. The older Saiyan was knocked back and had to put a hand down to steady himself, but Noca wasn't giving him time. He charged back in, ready to attack, but Gohan moved swiftly. Flipping back and kicking up into Noca's face as he came into the right position.

The young Saiyan was knocked up into the air and dropped back on the stage. He looked towards Gohan and winced from the pain slightly. Both of them took a moment to re-adjust.

"Your training with Vegeta has really moulded you into a brilliant fighter," Gohan said, smiling and chuckling. Noca smiled back and nodded as a way to say thanks. "But I want to be sure of something before we carry on. I need you to go Super Saiyan for me, and power up to the max."

"What? Are you sure about that?" Noca asked, not really understand why Gohan could be asking this of him, but it's not like it would be a bad thing.

"Yes. I need to see just how strong you are," Gohan replied, he was adamant about this. Noca nodded. He had to oblige. He took a deep breath stood in a relaxed way and focused inward. In a flash, he became a Full-Powered Super Saiyan. The form was comfortable and even freeing. Gohan smirked.

"Are you sure you want me to power up?" Noca asked, one more time. He had to be sure that Gohan knew what he was asking. Gohan just nodded. Noca took another breath and began to power up. His aura grew, and the energy was rising. There was an explosive rise and then the aura burst wider and began to rage. At the end of it, Noca was standing there with his power on display. Gohan smirked and scoffed. He wasn't really surprised, but it was an amazing sight for him. Just to see how far Noca had come in all those years. It was remarkable.

Gohan had already accepted what would happen, but that didn't mean he would back down. The fight wasn't over, but it wouldn't go on for much longer. That was clear to see, and if it were a fight taking place in the tournament proper and the two of them were going all out, Noca would still come out on top. Without a doubt. Gohan knew it.

Noca dropped back to his base form and blasted towards Gohan. The older Saiyan re-focused and prepared for an onslaught. Noca led with a punch, dropping in from Gohan's left. Gohan did put a block up in time, but Noca followed on through the block and still struck his former teacher across the face. As Gohan dropped back Noca landed on his feet and then performed a spinning kick to the Half-Saiyan's chest. Gohan was knocked back and flipped to get himself back on his feet.

A split second after his feet touched the stage he darted forward, attempting to attack Noca. He went for a kick which Noca ducked under and then charged up, punching Gohan in the chin and knocking him back. Noca then threw both hands forward and used a Ki blast to throw him further back. Gohan bounced down on the stage, narrowly avoiding falling off the edge. He slowly got up and laughed.

"You could have ended it already, Noca…" Gohan said. Noca scoffed.

"I wanted to see how hard you would try, I guess you're not taking this too seriously," Noca explained, and then assumed. Gohan chuckled.

"Or maybe I am just that rusty," He joked, straightening up and cracking his back. "I guess I should drop out now."

"What?"

"Come on, Noca. I'm not going to beat you. Like I said, you could have ended this already, and even if we did keep fighting, this fight would go on forever," Gohan explained, as he stepped down off the stage. "I'd like a rematch with you someday. A proper fight where we can go all out."

Noca just watched in confusion as Gohan was standing off of the stage. He won the fight. He was going to the next round, but he didn't understand it. He knew he could win. He was adamant he was going to beat Gohan, but hearing it come from Gohan himself was surprising for Noca. The young Saiyan scoffed and nodded to Gohan, as he too jumped down off of the stage and went for the showers.

Gradually, the rest of the preliminary fights ended and the final sixteen were confirmed. There would be a slight wait as the final draw took place, and just like the draw for the preliminaries it would be done by a panel. That panel consisted of Mr Satan and the announcer. The only two people drawing the opponents, but they would still have to wait. Even though only sixteen fighters had got through a vast majority of the sixty-four still remained in the arena. They were all waiting to see the final draw.

The names would appear on the screen one-by-one. Mr Satan would draw the first name, and the announcer would draw the second. The draw was as followed:

NOCA vs BILLY

VEGETA vs TRUNKS

SHAI vs PAN

SOFIA vs YAIKO

GOTEN vs JOJI

KRILLIN vs TORAI

KENSU vs HOLLINE

UUB vs ZORA

Everyone dealt with the news of who they would be up against. Trunks groaned and Goten laughed at him.

"I'm up against my Dad, again!" Trunks yelled and seemed really disappointed.

"Guess you had a nice run in this tournament, but that ends tomorrow," Goten said while laughing hysterically. Trunks shot him a powerful glare and hit him on the shoulder.

"You're probably going to lose too!" Trunks yelled at his friend, then they started to argue, but it was all in good fun. Noca took the moment to look for the opponent Goten would be up against. It was Joji, he was one of the three fighters that Noca had spotted earlier. The two guys and the girl. Actually, the girl was Sofia, and she would be up against Yaiko, the other guy in their group. Noca was intrigued by that group.

"Hey, Noca…" Pan got her boyfriend's attention back. Noca turned to face her.

"What's up, babe?" Noca asked. Pan went to respond but looked at Noca strangely.

"Babe, really? You can't pull that off," Pan joked, but then got on to what she had to say. "I'm up against Shai… he's one of the guys that worked with that evil wizard."

"Dazir?" Noca questioned. He then looked through the group, trying to desperately find Shai. "I can sense Shai's power, it's above average, but not insanely above. I don't think there's any magic involved."

Pan seemed relieved and then went on to another topic.

"What about you, fighting Billy?" Pan said, struggling to hide her amusement. "He doesn't stand a chance."

Noca looked around and spotted Billy, "Definitely not. But, that doesn't mean I'll humiliate him… too much."

The couple laughed together as the rest of the group dealt with their draw results. Krillin was already speaking to Torai and Tien. He was excited to go up against Tien's student. Holline had gone to find her opponent and discovered that Kensu was actually Josie's boyfriend, so that was oddly coincidental. Most of the fighters had finally filtered out, especially after the announcer informed them that the first fight would start at 11 a.m. the next day, but they should arrive at around 9.30 a.m. for preparations and pre-tournament events.

Once the times had been confirmed Uub, the group of fighters that intrigued Noca, and Shai had all left without saying anything to anyone else. Uub's opponent seemed to be looking around for him and Noca obliged in going to speak to her.

Zora was rather tall, but not freakishly so, just a little above average height. She was a little taller than Noca, but then again, so was Uub, at the moment. She was a little dark-skinned, and had black curly hair. She was very attractive, but that wasn't something that Noca really focussed on.

"Hi, I'm Noca, you must be Zora, Uub's opponent?" Noca greeted, in his friendly manner.

"Yes, hello. Nice to meet you," She greeted, shaking his hand and smiling. "I know that the two of you fought at the last tournament and know each other, is there any reason why he didn't stick around?"

"I'm not really sure. I can't get a proper read on Uub at the moment, he hasn't been the same since Freeza's attack," Noca explained, trailing off and realising she wouldn't get it. "Anyway, I'm sure he's just focussed on the fight. It was nice to meet you, but I better get back to my girlfriend," Noca joked.

"Ok, Noca. See you tomorrow," She said, smiling, as Noca walked off back to his group.

Later that evening, back at the Capsule House, the group of six friends were all hanging out together in one of the entertainment rooms. They were just chilling with the TV on and were chatting. Noca took this moment to mention something he had picked up on during the tournament. Something about Pan. It had been playing on his mind and he knew he needed to bring it up.

"You are going to show your true power in the tournament, right?" He questioned, Pan turned to him with a surprised expression.

"How did you even get time to realise I wasn't showing much of my power at the tournament?" She asked, not actually answering his question.

"I can always feel your energy. It's always so clear to me, and while I was fighting your Dad I realised it, you have a deep power that you're keeping hidden," Noca explained, Pan looked away and sighed. "You are planning to use it, right?"

"Yes. I will, of course," Pan answered, "But I haven't been hiding it, I just haven't needed it yet."

"Ok, if you say so," Noca responded, smirking as he relaxed back in the chair. Pan turned fully to face him.

"I mean it. I haven't had a reason to power up to my maximum at the moment, but when the time comes you'll see," She explained, getting rather defensive. "Hopefully you'll get a chance to experience it first-hand."

"Hopefully I will," Noca said, smirking back at his girlfriend. She just shook her head and pretended to sulk next to him. Noca laughed and kissed her on the cheek, she groaned in a childish manner. "Love you, Pan."

Pan muttered something in response to Noca. He knew what she had said, but he needed to hear it properly.

"What was that?" He asked, leaning in closer.

"I love you too…" Pan said, defeated. Noca chuckled and cuddled up to her, kissing her on the cheek again. Pan just laughed and playfully pushed him away. "Stop it, you!"

The rest of the night was relaxed, and that was good, because the week had only just begun. The tournament would properly kick into gear the very next day.

And the preliminary round has ended! That means the tournament will properly begin next time! Look forward to it.

Thank you for reading, as always, and if you want to say anything or have any questions feel free to review or PM. I always love reading what people think.

Much love to you all!

Next Time... Chapter 39: Easy Opening