Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of its characters. If I did I'd be a whole lot richer.
Chapter 55
Bardock stared at the mountain of a man before him. It was obvious to the boy now that he was facing a Super Saiyan. But how was that possible? He, his family, and Vegeta were the only Saiyans left. How could there be another Super Saiyan? His thoughts were interrupted as Broly appeared in front of the boy and wrapped a massive hand around Bardock's chest. How is he so fast? Bardock thought as the larger Saiyan began to squeeze. When Uncle Raditz used this form he was slow and cumbersome.
The young Saiyan was forced to place such thoughts aside as Broly continued to squeeze his chest. The young Saiyan thrust out a foot, catching Broly's arm at the right pressure point, causing the large Saiyan to involuntarily release his prisoner. Broly shot his other arm out hoping to once again trap and squeeze the young Saiyan to death but this time Bardock was ready and ducked underneath the large hand. Using his superior speed and smaller size to his advantage, Bardock charged in close and drove an uppercut into Broly's chin. The huge warrior went flying from the force of the attack but Bardock wasn't finished there. The boy quickly phased out of sight and appeared above the out of control warrior. Before Broly could react, Bardock brought both fists down on the other warrior's head and sent him flying back down into the ring where he hit hard forming yet another crater in the ring.
"Is that all you've got?" Bardock taunted as Broly slowly picked himself up from the ring. "I thought you said something about killing me."
Broly picked himself up off the ground and rubbed the back of his head. That attack had actually hurt. No one had ever hurt him before. It both invigorated and enraged him. He shot back up at the demi-Saiyan with renewed will to kill his enemy. He lashed out with another hand to try and grab the boy again in a death grip but Bardock wasn't going to fall for that same tired move more than once.
The boy teleported away from the monstrosity and appeared on the other side of the ring. Gathering some energy in his hands, Bardock hurled several small blasts at Broly. The Legendary Super Saiyan batted the blasts aside with ease. Bardock phased in behind Broly to deliver a crushing blow when he noticed that one of the blasts the bigger warrior had batted aside was heading right for the crowd. While the blast was small by his standards it was more than enough to wipe out a good portion of the stadium. The young Super Saiyan quickly disengaged from the battle and teleported in front of the stray blast batting it aside to explode safely in the distance.
Broly grinned as he saw the young warrior go out of his way to save the weaklings watching the fight. Now he knew of a weakness to exploit. The large warrior raised a hand and gathered some energy of his own into. Instead of pointing it at his opponent, he pointed it at the crowd. He let the green energy blast fly right at the crowd.
-Dbz-
The crowd watched in horror as a huge green blast appeared to go straight towards them. But then the boy, Bardock appeared in the path of the blast with his arms crossed taking the blast head on. The resulting explosion shook the entire stadium causing the once stunned crowd to erupt in cheers for the intensity of this fight.
"Amazing Ladies and Gentlemen," the announcer said. "In what appeared to be a blast aimed at the crowd, Mighty Mask has expertly anticipated his opponent's movements and hit him with a devastating attack." At least I hope he wasn't aiming at the crowd, he thought.
-Dbz-
"That wasn't anticipation," Raditz said as he watched the fight between his nephew and Broly. He intentionally aimed at the crowd to get Bardock to get in the way of the blast. We should go intervene."
"No," Kakarot said. "This is Bardock's fight. He has things under control for now."
"This isn't about the tournament," Raditz said. "This guy could kill Bardock and many others if we don't stop him."
"I know," Kakarot said. "But for now Bardock can handle it. We have to give him a chance before we intervene."
-Dbz-
Bardock floated battered and bruised as the smoke from Broly's blast cleared. "That was a cheap shot," the young Super Saiyan shouted.
Broly laughed. "You care about these weaklings, you can die for them." He raised a hand again to blast the crowd.
Bardock acted before Broly could fully form his blast and teleported behind the warrior. The young Saiyan grabbed the huge warrior and teleported once again.
The two warriors appeared in a deserted area with jagged rocks erupting from the ground. "Now, we're away from people," Bardock said.
Broly answered with a hard elbow to the boy's head sending him flying away. Before Bardock could react, Broly was on him grabbing the young Saiyan's arm and slamming him into the ground hard. "So you want to be buried alone." The huge warrior lifted Bardock out of his hole and slammed him into the ground again.
-Dbz-
"Where'd they go?" one member of the audience asked.
"I don't know," another one replied.
"They just seemed to disappear," a third one said.
-Dbz-
"Where'd they go?" Bulma asked from the booth where they were still watching the fight between her son and the warrior they now knew as Broly. She was worried about her son's safety but she knew her boy was one of the strongest fighters in the universe. That still didn't make it sit right with her when she knew that his opponent was out for blood.
"Bardock teleported them to the other side of the world," Kakarot finally replied. "He's taking the fight away from people."
"Who's winning?" Bulma asked.
"It's hard to tell," Kakarot admitted. "Both of their powers seem to be about equally matched."
Bulma sighed in relief. Her son was still doing fine. She knew that Kakarot wouldn't let anything bad happen to him. She just had to trust in his judgment to intervene if necessary. She swore that sometimes this whole Saiyan pride thing was nerve-wracking.
-Dbz-
Bardock kicked at Broly freeing himself from the huge warrior's grip. The demi-Saiyan shot at the huge warrior throwing a flurry of kicks and punches. Broly managed to block most of the attack but some of the attacks still got through his defenses. The huge Saiyan raised a hand to the oncoming onslaught and unleashed a huge beam of energy at his opponent.
Bardock teleported out of the way of the blast as it exploded in the distance causing the earth around them to shake. The demi-Saiyan reappeared behind Broly with a blast of his own aimed at the back of his head.
Broly turned just in time for the blast to hit him in the face, the resulting explosion causing him to stumble back slightly. "Kakarot," he shouted in anger as he raised a hand and unleashed a flurry of green energy blasts at the boy he was fighting.
Bardock shot higher into the air to avoid the attacks from the crazy Saiyan but the blasts curved up to follow the boy where-ever he went. The young man was so focused on the blasts that he didn't notice when Broly appeared behind him and wrapped him in a body lock. The huge Saiyan used the boy as a human shield as all his previous energy attacks impacted against the young demi-Saiyan.
-Dbz-
The announcer sighed as he lifted his microphone to his mouth. It had been nearly twenty minutes since the two fighters had simply vanished from the stadium. The entire staff had been tasked with finding the two warriors in the surrounding areas and nobody could find a trace of them. He had witnessed many extraordinary fights in his time but never one where both fighters mysteriously vanished. Since he had no way of telling if one fighter or the other had touched down out of the ring, he had no choice but to disqualify both fighters. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to thank all of you for your patience. It appears that Bardock and Mighty Mask are nowhere to be found. So they will both be disqualified from the tournament. We will move on to the next match. Can I have Piccolo and Hercule please come to the ring?"
-Dbz-
Hercule made his way into the ring and stood facing a tall green man wearing a turban and cape. He recognized him as one of the fighters that showed up at the Cell Games. He didn't see him fight at all though so he didn't really know how strong he was. I need to win this one, he thought to himself as he got in his fighting stance.
Piccolo watched as the 'World Champion' took a fighting stance. He just stood with his arms crossed across his chest. This wasn't even a fight. It was a slaughter. He was starting to have second thoughts about entering the tournament anyway. He knew he couldn't match Kakarot's power as a Super Saiyan 2 so he knew he wasn't going to win the tournament. Add that to the fact that a battle that could very well decide the fate of the planet was happening on the other side of the planet. That made this tournament the last place he wanted to be.
"Ready, Fight," the announcer shouted into the microphone.
Hercule took off and ran at the warrior facing him. He figured if he attacked hard enough and fast enough that he could get the drop on him. He threw a hard right cross at the man's face but it felt like he'd hit a concrete wall instead of an opponent's face. He continued to pummel the warrior but none of his attacks seemed to have any effect, just like when he fought Cell.
Finally, Piccolo lightly backhanded the annoying man away from him. Hercule when sliding across the ring to stop just inches from the edge. The man with the afro picked himself up and resumed his fighting stance.
Piccolo groaned to himself. He'd been trying not to hurt the buffoon but apparently he hadn't used enough power to actually knock the annoying man out. Well he wouldn't make that mistake again.
Hercule approached the green man once more but this time he had a different strategy in mind. "Hey, listen here," he said as he got close to Piccolo. "I know you can beat me but if you let me win I'll give you 20 million zeni."
Piccolo actually chuckled about that one. This pathetic human was actually trying to bribe him to throw the fight, as if that would do him any good. Both the other fighters still in the tournament would beat him anyway. "You think I need your money?" he said laughing harder.
"I'll make it 25 million," Hercule said.
Piccolo thought about it for a second. "Fine," he said. "But you better deliver or you won't have long to live."
Hercule paled. He knew that 25 million would put a dent in his fortune he'd obtained through advertising and marketing after becoming champion but he'd have to make do with just a little less. It wasn't like it would leave him poor after all. He would definitely lose more money if he lost the tournament and the deals he had going. "Ok so just act like this punch lays you out," Hercule said.
Piccolo groaned. He could stand quitting a tournament he couldn't win anyway. But there was no way he was going to lower himself to pretending to be laid out by such a weakling. The Namekian warrior turned his back on Hercule and floated over to the edge of the ring where he touched down in the grass and started walking away.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," the announcer said. "After delivering the first devastating blow of the match, it appeared Piccolo has given up the fight. No one knows the reason this fighter has for throwing in the towel but that makes Hercule the winner."
Some of the crowd erupted in cheers that their champion had won another fight while others groaned at how boring that fight was.
"Can I have Kakarot and Dabu up here for the next fight," the announcer said.
Kakarot walked into the ring and stood across from his brother's star pupil. The young man facing him bowed. "I've watched all your fights," he said. "It's an honor to fight you sir."
"Thank you," Kakarot replied. "But you've only seen the tournament fights. I assure you that I've gotten much stronger since then. I'm sorry but you don't stand a chance."
Dabu grinned. "That's not going to keep me from trying."
"Begin," the announcer yelled.
Dabu charged at Kakarot with everything he had throwing a flurry of kicks and punches at the Saiyan warrior but none of them came close to touching the Saiyan. A few seconds later the warrior backed off. He clenched his fists at his side and grunted as he focused his energy. Raditz had told him that it was possible to use your energy to be stronger than your physical limitations but he hadn't managed to do it yet. His body was incredibly strong already from the training in ten times Earth's gravity but he knew that his master trained in much higher levels and that Kakarot probably did as well. I have to be stronger, he thought as he focused more on bringing his energy out. A white aura surrounded his body as his power began to rise. It felt incredible. The amount of power he had was amazing. This was what his master had been talking about. With this amount of energy he could surely win. He charged at Kakarot once more throwing another flurry of kicks and punches but Kakarot easily dodged them all. After only a few seconds of fighting at that level, Dabu backed off and bent over holding his knees panting.
"Are you ok?" Kakarot said. "You look worn out."
Dabu straightened and got in a fighting stance once more. The power he had felt before faded now. He knew that he needed to learn to maintain it but he would have to worry about that later. But before he had time to ponder that any further, Kakarot disappeared from in front of him. He turned just in time to see the warrior behind him. He hadn't even been able to follow his movements. Seconds later everything went black as Kakarot's fist came down on the back of his head.
"One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten!" the announcer counted. "Dabu is out cold. Kakarot is the winner. Now since both Mighty Mask and Bardock were disqualified. That means that Krillin will automatically move to the finals. Our next fight will be between the former champion, Kakarot and the current champion, Hercule. As long as Kakarot is ready to continue, we will begin the next match immediately."
Kakarot nodded to the announcer signaling that he was ready to continue.
"Can we have Hercule to the stage?"
-Dbz-
Hercule took his stance as he faced off against Kakarot. "Hey," he asked, "if I give you 25 million zeni will you let me win?"
Kakarot rolled his eyes at the length that this man would go to have others believe he was the best. That must have been how Piccolo was convinced to quit. The Saiyan laughed at that. Piccolo had taken the man's money knowing full well that he wouldn't win. "Sorry," he said. "But I've got enough money."
Hercule's face fell. He wasn't going to let that stop him. He just had to find some way to win.
"Fight," the announcer said.
Hercule charged at Kakarot and started to throw punches and kicks at him with everything he had. None of them even touched the Saiyan.
Kakarot shot a foot out and kicked Hercule high into the air. With a quick hop the Saiyan was above the flying warrior brining both fists down on Hercule's back. The former champion plunged to the ground where he hit the pavement hard.
"One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten!" the announcer counted. "Hercule is out cold. Kakarot is the winner.
Power levels
Broly:
6.75 billion (Legendary Super Saiyan)
Bardock:
6.75 billion (Super Saiyan 2)
Piccolo:
500 (suppressed)
Hercule:
65
Kakarot:
35 million
Dabu:
250
1,000 (full power)
Paragus:
5 million
