Chapter 20 – "An unprecedented finale begins! Choi vs. Uub."
Tensions mounting…
Goku reappeared beside Uub after leaving for no more than half an hour. The whole group had only begun entering the restaurant when Gohan and Videl joined them. Videl was holding Pan's hand like a toddler, making sure she wouldn't leave her sight and Pan looked embarrassed to be seen holding hands with her mother like this. She did have on a cute summer dress that Bulla picked out for her with bright orange colors. Pan insisted she kept her bandana on and Bulla fixed it so it would look more adjusted to the style of the dress. Uub glanced over at her and he blushed heavily.
"Sorry we took so long; it was a difficult choice to make between three dresses but I felt this one matched the bandana the most. What do you think?" Pan said. Videl let her hand go knowing that she felt her daughter was safe around the others and Pan twirled around to show her dress to Uub.
"Um, y-you l-look, u-um…" Uub stuttered, unable to speak his mind and Pan tilted her head a bit.
"You don't have to be shy, Uub, say what's on your mind," she told him and Uub swallowed.
"You, y-you l-l-look…great," he said but whispered that last word and Pan blinked.
"You trailed off there. Are you okay? You're not getting nervous again, are you?"
"No! No, it's not that. I'm ready for this final match," Uub said and Pan's smile grew even larger.
"We're all going to cheer for you really loudly, we'll be the loudest section of the whole stadium," Pan cried out.
"Assuming people chose to stay, that is. A lot of spectators haven't come back since yesterday, afraid of a repeat incident," Gohan stated, noting that a lot of places weren't as busy as they were yesterday morning and quite a few shops were still closed due to a lack of business and Pan waved it off with a nudge against Uub with her fist.
"I'm with you all the way, win or lose," Pan said and she smirked, walking inside.
"Pan?" Uub said, stopping her. She glanced behind her.
"I do like your dress, you look cute in it," he said and Pan couldn't help but blush and put her hands to her face.
"Well, I did get my looks from my mom, right?" she said, eyeing Videl who stared back, red-faced and glancing around her.
"Um, th-thank you?" Videl said and Gohan smiled nervously with a hand behind his head as Goku was the last to follow the group inside. Two large tables were set up, one for Broly's family, and the other for Gohan and Goku's family and they all sat down. Gohan graciously volunteered to pay for everything this time and Goku kept pushing plates full of food in front of Uub, who waved his hands in front of him.
"It's okay, Master, I don't think I can eat anymore," Uub said after some time had passed.
"C'mon, you'll be fine! Look, Choi's practically on his sixth plate already!" Goku said and Uub glanced back.
"I can't eat like a Saiyan can, Master. I'm stuffed and if I eat one more bite I'll burst," Uub said and Goku shrugged, putting the plate back in front of him and eating away.
"By the way, is Tien okay? You haven't said anything about him since you came back," Uub said and Goku glanced at him. Part of him would've like to divulge all the details but if he brought up anything related to Freeza or these androids Tien mentioned, it would distract Uub and he wanted to make sure that Uub was completely focused on this match above all else. He could see Piccolo observe the group from outside and nodded towards him, standing up.
"I think I've packed in all I could for now! Hoo boy, I could use a bit of a workout now after that meal. See you at your match!" Goku shouted and ran outside of the restaurant while everyone else looked at him, confused.
When Goku locked eyes with Piccolo, the two took to the air, isolated from the island below and both men stared at each other. Goku was all-business with his facial expression and Piccolo knew what this meant.
"Is there another problem coming that requires our attention?" Piccolo asked.
"I'll cut right to the chase. Freeza's built a pair of androids and sent them here to gather the Dragonballs."
Piccolo's eyes widened a bit. "Great, just when I thought we'd never hear that bastard's name again."
"They attacked Tien's martial arts school and roughed him up pretty badly. I've got a feeling they did something to him which explains the evil energy I've been sensing on and off inside him. I passed the message on to Bulma so she's off to collect the Dragonballs before those androids do."
"Are you certain about this?" Piccolo asked and Goku nodded.
"Yeah. They're definitely androids if I can't sense their energy so they could be anywhere. I've got a bad feeling they're shadowing Bulma and if that's their plan, she'll lead them right to the Dragonballs and they can summon Shenron before we could catch onto them."
"Very well, I'll keep an eye on Bulma in this case. If we get ambushed, I'll heighten my energy so you can sense where I am and move over to my location immediately."
"Right. Don't do anything reckless and engage them. If they're anything like Freeza, they're very strong and we'll need more than just the two of us. I'll bring Gohan and Broly along just in case."
"Heh, listen to you asking for reinforcements," Piccolo said with a chuckle. "You'd love to fight those androids all by yourself if you could."
"Normally I would in a heartbeat. But teaching Uub over these last few years took up a lot of my own personal time to train hard. It also didn't help havin' Chichi keeping me workin' on the farm. I know I haven't gotten all that stronger but I know I haven't gotten weaker either."
"The burden of peacetime: a warrior's worst experience," Piccolo said with a grin and Goku chuckled a bit.
"Couldn't have said it better myself. But all these new guys showing up's got me all excited to train hard again and I want to have a proper fight with Kelerot the next time I see him!" Goku said, punching his hand with his fist and Piccolo stared up at the sky.
"Even though you two will be enemies according to him," he said, glancing back down. Goku grinned back at him with a determined look and Piccolo shook his head.
"You don't care either way, just another test of your strength as always, huh?" Piccolo said and Goku chuckled a bit behind his toothy grin and flew back down. Piccolo remained up in the air and traced Bulma's energy to fly over to her location.
When everyone was finished, Pan and Bulla were the first to meet Goku at the entrance.
"Grandpa? Where'd Uncle Piccolo fly off to?" Pan asked.
"He had to take care of something important," Goku said and Pan frowned a bit.
"He could've said goodbye though," Pan muttered and Bulla nudged her.
"C'mon, let's go see Arugula," Bulla said and Pan nodded, her grin returning.
"Pan, where are you going?" Videl called out from behind her.
"We're going to see Arugula, mama," Pan informed her and Videl paused for a moment, then nodded.
"Very well. But be back before the final match starts, okay?" Videl said.
"I will, mom," Pan replied.
"And don't go running off, either!" Videl cried out and Pan sighed.
"I wasn't going to, mom!" Pan called back and glanced over to Bulla, who nodded and the two girls ran off.
"Make sure you keep an eye on her energy. Let me know the moment she leaves the island," she ordered Gohan and he blinked.
"Why would Pan want to leave the island? She'll cooperate with whatever you're asking her, don't worry," he told her and Videl frowned.
"I only want to be sure our daughter and her friend don't come up with some crazy idea and ditch me. I can't fly as fast as she can, remember?"
"Um, well, if you want, I can teleport over to her and ask her to come back to the island if you're that worried, Miss Videl," Uub informed her when he approached the two and Videl grinned, bowing down at Uub.
"Please do. Pan's future husband should have her safety in mind and ensure she doesn't do anything dangerous that could put her life in danger," Videl told him and Uub went red in the face.
"Um, I should go to the waiting area and warm-up before the final match starts," he said and quickly ran out of the restaurant and Videl sighed.
"They're so young and reckless, but they'll grow out of it," she said and Gohan swallowed, glancing over at Goku who looked away, minding his own business.
Broly approached Goku as Bok and Choi both left.
"Hey, excited to see your kid take on my student?" Goku asked and Broly had a grim expression on his face.
"I was not expecting this stay on your planet to be this stressful," Broly told him and Goku stared up at him with a grin on his face.
"I'm actually rather excited to see how well Uub does with a clear head and I think your son will be fine this time without losing his cool. He's the best opponent Uub could possibly run into because of how wild he is."
"I do not want him to endanger anyone again," Broly said and clenched his fists. He felt a bit of his anger rise up again and Goku raised his hands.
"It's going to be alright, Broly, trust me."
"I have no outlet to channel my anger towards and it's becoming harder to control due to the nature of this stressful situation. I feel I have failed as a father in raising my children and I don't know how to handle this."
"What kind of talk is that? You're a great father," Goku said. "I hope your daughter's feeling better."
Broly paused for a moment, then pictured Cheelai and Arugula in his head. It helped ease his stress a bit and he smiled. "Yes, I should go see her. Cheelai and Arugula have helped me control my anger a great deal when I'm not busy with my meditation exercises. I will see you later, Kakarrot."
Broly exited, following his boys behind and Goku decided to take a stroll around the tournament grounds to get in some fresh air and admire what sights were still to behold.
Complete submission…
There was a secluded island far to the north of Tien's martial arts school, an area where the weather was bitterly cold and harsh yet harvested an ideal training ground that he and Chaozu used often during their regimen. The area hosted a cavern that led to a set of hot springs that Tien believed were enchanted with special magical abilities to cleanse one's spirit of evil energy and impure thoughts.
They couldn't sense Glacial flying behind them. She kept a steady distance away so they couldn't spot her with the naked eye and she grinned as she saw the pair land down on the snow-covered landscape.
Chaozu hugged himself and shivered a bit. "I never liked this place; it feels way colder than last time."
"It'll do just fine. Come on, we mustn't waste any time," Tien said and he walked over to the entrance, Chaozu floating behind him.
The cavern sloped down towards the area ahead, dimly lit by a strange greenish glow off in the distance. It provided enough illumination for the two to see into the cavern and Tien suddenly stopped for a moment, glancing behind him.
"Huh?" Chaozu muttered.
"N-nothing, I thought I saw a shadow," Tien said and continued walking. Glacial was at the entrance and almost let her cover be blown by the angle of the sunlight and she sidled beside the entrance. She glanced back in and saw the two leave her sight as they walked further in and she quickly followed them.
When the slope evened out, the two could see the glowing pools up ahead, bubbling away. Tien stopped and placed his fist against his palm, bowing deeply at the area. Chaozu channeled energy to light up a set of torches that were lined up against the wall, which lit up the whole area. There were several pools of the strange liquid that spiraled inwards towards a larger one in the middle and Tien powered up a bit to give him some resistance to the heat of the liquid as he stepped into it. He took a deep breath and held it as he submerged himself completely. He steadied himself as he held his breath and stayed submerged as Chaozu waited.
From what Tien had studied of this place, he needed to submerge himself in the first pool for a whole minute, increasing by one minute for each pool until he reaches the center where he will meditate for an extended period to channel the cleansing energy to purify his spirit.
Chaozu grew more nervous as he progressed with each pool, wondering if his lungs could hold out for that long. He heard a rock fall, echoing throughout the cavern and he spun around.
"I-is someone th-there?" he asked, floating around to get a view of the area. Hearing nothing, he turned around and a hand covered his mouth, preventing him from screaming.
"Shh," Glacial said with a grin on her face and Chaozu felt something poke him in the face like a fine needle. He grabbed her wrist with his hands and tried to struggle out of her grip but his eyes widened a bit when he felt something stir around his body, fluctuating his energy and he shook nervously. He glanced down at the pool that Tien was still submerged in and focused with his mind.
Tien, help!
Tien, who still needed another minute, felt Chaozu's aura wavering a bit and he abandoned his meditation inside the pool to climb out and he exhaled, breathing heavily. He glanced up in horror to see Glacial hold Chaozu by his face and she glanced down at him with a smile on her face.
"You bastard!" he screamed and flew out of the pool to attack her but something rocked his aura and he collapsed on the ground, holding his head.
"It's useless to fight it. The more you resist the worse it's going to be for the both of you," she said and let Chaozu go.
"Ch-Chaozu," Tien muttered, reaching out towards him. Chaozu fell to the ground, looking up with a shocked look on his face and Tien's eyes widened when he saw red lines fading in on his friend's eyes and he felt like he was about to black out from the level of pressure he was feeling.
Tien lay there motionless for a few seconds, and then his eyes opened up again, only this time the red lines were permanently fixed on them. He casually stood up and grinned at Glacial, who helped Chaozu up to his feet. The two both grinned at her, who enjoyed the sight she was witnessing.
"Such incredible ingenuity, this Tsufurian technology of ours," she said and chuckled a bit.
"We are at your command, Lady Glacial," Tien said and bowed at her with his fist to his palm.
"Whew, I wasn't sure it was going to work if you were using those things," Glacial said, pointing to the glowing pools. "Guess this was a complete success after all. Now what to do with you two."
She glanced back towards the entrance to the cave and waved at the two to join her as she left. The three took to the air and she turned to face them.
"You had quite a powerful attack there. Tien was it?" she asked and Tien nodded.
"The Kikoho. It's a last-ditch attack I use to finish off my opponent but it comes at a great risk to my own lifeforce if I use it too much," Tien informed her and she gently wrapped her arms around herself, hand to her chin.
"What of the pipsqueak here?" she asked, pointing at Chaozu.
"Telekinesis and telepathy. He's a very gifted psychic, my lady," Tien said and Glacial smiled.
"Interesting. You're friends with the one who's been a problem for my uncle, the one called Goku," Glacial said and the two nodded.
"He's over there," Chaozu said, pointing southeast of their location. Glacial cocked an eyebrow and smirked.
"Curious. You are able to detect energy without a device. Tell me then, are you able to locate all of Goku's associates?"
"We can, Lady Glacial," Tien told her. "There is one close to our present location, he is headed to the one called Bulma."
"Bulma," Glacial pondered. "The woman with the device that can locate Dragonballs. Is this person strong? Does he pose a threat?"
"His name is Piccolo and he is formidable. We will help you take him down," Tien told her and Glacial held her hand up.
"I'm delighted in your enthusiasm, but I won't need the both of you for this. The pipsqueak will go and find those other humans who were with you earlier. The energy I've infected you with can be spread to the others. So long as this proceeds uninterrupted, infecting the populace of these earthlings will be a simple matter."
Tien and Chaozu both smiled at that notion and Glacial pointed towards Piccolo's direction.
"Tien, make sure Piccolo does not get to the woman, I want her isolated so she can obtain the Dragonballs for us."
"Understood," Tien said and both he and Chaozu powered up to fly off while Glacial giggled under her breath, making her way to rejoin Tundra.
The final match begins…
Uub and Choi were stretching in the waiting area. Choi used the wall to stretch out his legs and Uub was doing his exercises the same way Goku was. He couldn't help but stare at the boy with a determined look and Choi sighed.
"Quit staring, faux-hawk, it's a bad habit," he said, glancing back. Uub stood up after he finished warming up his legs and didn't say anything. Choi lowered his leg and stared back.
"What?"
"Why do you treat others so poorly?" Uub asked and that threw Choi off for a moment.
"Tch, why should you care? It's none of your business how I treat people," Choi stated, looking away.
"This is your first time away from your home, right?" Uub asked and Choi glanced back.
"Yeah, and?"
"You've only ever had your family to be around. I had a whole village look after my brother and I, even after I lost my mother and father to illness. If you had more people live around you, maybe you wouldn't be so mean-spirited to others."
"Shut up! I only ever need my family! Stuff your sympathy crap and get ready for a beatdown!" Choi yelled and stormed off towards the waiting pavilion, standing behind the sign with a cross look on his face and Uub sighed a bit, staring down at the ground. He clenched his fist and glared at Choi for a moment but relaxed it shortly afterwards. It's a shame no one ever taught you the value of kindness. If you had a teacher like Master Goku, I know you would've turned out better.
Elsewhere, Cheelai's voice could be heard from the whole hotel building.
"HE DID WHAT~!"
Arugula was still sleeping on her parents bed as Cheelai was shaking Lemo vigorously by his collar.
"All the hell and pain that boy puts me through! All the times we try and tell him what to do and he ignores us! Why does he do this to me?! Why Lemo, WHY?!"
"Chee-lai-please-stop-sha-king-me!" Lemo cried out and Cheelai let him go. He felt the room spinning and had to sit down, holding his head. Cheelai walked over to the window and opened it wildly.
"I HOPE YOU CAN HEAR ME FROM HERE, CHOI! I HOPE IT'S WORTH BREAKING YOUR DAMN NOSE AGAIN!" she screamed and slammed the window shut and clenched her fists, shaking.
"Mama?" Arugula's faint voice called out to her as she let out a yawn. Cheelai spun around to face her and Arugula winced at the angry face her mother was wearing and Cheelai blinked, surprised she was feeling this level of intensity and she relaxed her face.
"Oh little one, I'm sorry. Mama's not mad at you. Your big brother's decided to go and fight again even though I explicitly told him not to. He promised me he'd forfeit and he goes and breaks that promise. Why do I bother?"
She sat down beside Arugula on the bed and Lemo cleared his throat.
"Well, if it helps clarify anything, it wasn't entirely Choi's decision to fight again," Lemo said and Cheelai glared at him.
"I-I mean that other kid, Uub. He wanted to go ahead with the final match and Choi couldn't refuse. Probably that Saiyan blood of his. Those Saiyans can't overlook a good fight when it hits them in the face, you know that, right?" Lemo protested and Cheelai pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Ugh, fine. If Choi wins I'm using the prize money to buy the strongest possible cage and lock that idiot in for a year until he gets his act together and behaves for once," Cheelai said and Lemo gulped. Geez this woman's scary when she's in full on angry mama mode.
"If we hurry now, we can make it before the final match starts," Lemo said and Cheelai nodded.
"Ok. C'mon Arugula, let's go," she said but Arugula clutched her nightwear tightly, glaring ahead.
"I'm not going," she said, not looking at anyone.
"I know how you feel, but Pan and Bulla will be there too," Cheelai told her and Arugula shook her head.
"I know Pan-Pan and sissy will be there, but I don't want to see him. I hate him," Arugula said and Cheelai sighed.
"Little one, I know your big brother has been a difficult person to deal with. But despite how he is, he has never hurt one hair on your little body. That's gotta mean something, at least. He loves us, even though he'll never say it out loud. Can you put on a brave face for mama and be there for him? What does Mr. Bronto think?"
She took the stuffed dino and handed it over to her and Arugula held it in front of her. She stared at the dino for a moment and her face went blank.
"Arugula?"
"Looks like another one of those visions," Lemo stated and Cheelai gave him a look but put her hand on Arugula's head.
"Little one? Please talk to me," Cheelai said and Arugula blinked, staring up at her.
"Huh?"
"You okay, little one?" Lemo asked and Arugula nodded.
"Mr. Bronto said Choi looked a bit weird. Well, his hair looked a bit weird and that Uub looked red as a tomato. What does that mean, mama?"
Cheelai giggled a bit. "I wish I knew, sweetie. Pan and Bulla would love to see you again, I'm sure of it."
"Yay! And I bet they want to have a food fight with Uub afterwards, that's why he looks red as a tomato!" Arugula cried out and Lemo's eyes widened a bit.
"Hey, don't go thinking of wasting food on me here, you two," Lemo cried out as the three left the room.
At the waiting area, Uub glanced at Choi and made an observation he hadn't noticed earlier.
"Hey Choi, where's that thing that was tied around your waist the other day?" Uub asked and Choi glanced back. He looked down at his shorts and taped ankles and shrugged.
"Beats me. I'm not going to bother with weights for this one since I noticed you're in a different outfit than yesterday. It shouldn't surprise me that you trained with weights like I did. Heh, I swear you've probably lived a past life as a Saiyan," Choi said and Uub grinned, walking to stand beside him.
"Entity of pure destruction actually," Uub spat out casually and Choi's eyes widened, taken aback from that.
Seriously? What a weirdo.
Those who had stayed on the island after yesterday shuffled in and occupied their seats, noticing that the stadium was still a bit beaten down, but the fighting stage had been repaired to the best of the monks' abilities. The announcer went over final preparations as he watched people come in and he smiled, breathing a sigh.
"Oh good, we're still getting spectators for the final match," he said and nodded to the crew as they went to their posts.
Pan had her hands held by both Gohan and Videl and she blushed out of embarrassment, walking like a toddler in between her parents. She glanced up at Gohan.
"Dad, why am I being forced in between you and mom like this?" she said.
"So you don't run off on me," Videl stated, looking for an ideal seat.
"Can't I sit beside Bulla, though? What if Arugula manages to come by?" Pan asked but got a look from Videl.
"I'm not taking any chances with you two. Here, let's sit down."
Pan sighed out of frustration as she plopped down between her parents and looked around to see others coming into view. She looked out for Goku and saw him come in with Bulla and he waved at her and Gohan while Videl had her arms crossed, eyes closed. Pan gave him a look that screamed "help me" to Goku but he couldn't figure it out and Gohan waved at him to come sit in their row. Bulla sat down beside Videl but looked a bit nervous as she stared at her and decided to sit beside Gohan instead.
"Psst, Pan. Your mom's acting a little too unhinged, isn't she?" Bulla told her and Pan sighed.
"Besides, Arugula and her mom are a little late, don't you think?" she added, noting that when they stopped by earlier, it was only for a brief moment since Cheelai told them that Arugula had a scary nightmare and wasn't sure they were going to leave the hotel room. The girls nodded grimly and hoped that Arugula would feel well enough to come out and left shortly afterwards. They didn't tell her about the final match with Uub and Choi, unsure how Cheelai would take it and they kept that information to themselves.
"Yeah. I hope nothing bad happened," Pan said and Videl cleared her throat, glaring at the two. Pan quickly sat upright and politely waved at Bulla, who frowned up at Videl. While waiting for things to get started, she looked at her wristwatch and brought up her Dragon radar app and it showed four blinking lights together moving towards a fifth and she zoomed in on the lone Dragonball's location.
"Hey, that island, is that what I think it is?" Bulla asked and Gohan glanced down. His eyes widened as a huge smile came across his lips.
"Woah, you built a dragon radar? It looks more sophisticated than your mom's," he said enthusiastically and Bulla nodded.
"I boosted the signal to track them a lot more easily. Is this the island your brother's working at as a Ranger?" she asked and Gohan paused to look at the diagram a bit more and he nodded.
"Yeah, that's Android 17's island, alright," he said.
"Do they know there's a Dragonball hiding there?" Bulla asked.
"Probably not."
"Oh, I know. I think I remember Trunks saying he was going to stay a bit there with Goten," Bulla said and brought up her communicator and dialed Trunk's number. His face appeared on a holographic screen and Bulla waved.
"Hey sis, what's up?"
"Waiting on the final match of the Tournament. How's the island? Are you relaxing at least?" she asked.
"I only just got here a day ago so I haven't had time yet to settle down," he said and Bulla smirked.
"Guess what? There's a Dragonball on that island you're at. Why don't you and Goten go and look for it?" Bulla asked and Trunks's eyes widened.
"For real?!" Trunks cried out and Goten's face popped in at the same time.
"There's a Dragonball on our island?! Awesome! Come on, let's go find it!" he yelled and waved at Gohan.
"Hey big bro!"
"Hey Goten, how's work?" Gohan asked.
"Keeping the peace as always. Marron, 18, and Mai went off to do some dress shopping for our wedding so it's just the two of us looking after things until they come back. Think 17 will want to tag along to find it?" Goten said, turning to Trunks.
"Probably not, I can't think of any reason he'd want to. So it's on our island, right?" Trunks asked Bulla.
"That's what the radar said. Happy hunting!" she cried and they waved at each other before the screen shut off. Gohan chuckled a bit and glanced up at Goku, who was facing up at the sky with his eyes closed, frowning.
"Dad? Something wrong?"
Goku opened his eyes and shook his head. He grinned down at him.
"It's nothing. Alright, let's see a good fight happening!" Goku said as he plopped down behind Gohan and Pan.
Broly and Bok had a huge pile of snacks in their hands as they emerged and Goku waved at them to sit beside him and they made themselves comfortable.
A few minutes later, Cheelai and Lemo ran up the stairs, Cheelai holding Arugula in her arms as she was gripping Mr. Bronto tightly against her chest. She stopped and had to put Arugula down before she bent forward to catch her breath since she breathed heavily from all that running. Lemo was equally out of breath and almost collapsed from shock when he saw Broly and Bok hold all those snacks in their hands.
"Aw come on, you guys! I cooked all morning and put the food into capsules for a reason!" he cried and lounged himself on a seat beside Bok while Cheelai sat down beside Broly. Arugula climbed up on his back and put her hands over his eyes.
"Guess who?" she said. Broly smiled.
"I don't know, who is it? I can't see anything," he said and Arugula giggled.
"It's me, silly! Mr. Bronto says hi!" she exclaimed, holding the dino in front of his face. Broly reached around to grab Arugula with his large hands and he placed her squarely on his lap and she stood up with her feet on his legs for support. She saw Pan and Bulla and waved at them.
"Pan-Pan! Sissy! We made it!" she cried out and the girls turned around to wave at her from below.
"Thanks for coming," Pan said.
"Mr. Bronto said that Uub looked like a big red tomato, but I don't know what that meant," Arugula stated and Pan's eyes widened a bit.
"A tomato?"
"Yeah, and Choi had different hair, or was it a different color? Mr. Bronto wasn't sure, only he saw Choi with weird hair."
Goku and Gohan exchanged looks and Goku put his hand to his chin. Gohan leaned over to whisper to him.
"Is he referring to what I'm thinking?" Gohan asked and Goku pondered it a bit more.
"Why would Uub want a tomato bath?" Goku asked and the others almost collapsed.
"Uh, nevermind," Gohan said and sighed. He put a hand on Pan's head and the two smiled at each other.
"Thank you all for coming!" the announcer shouted into his microphone and all eyes were now on him.
"This is an exciting day for everyone that was able to make it! Today is the final match of the 30th World Martial Arts Tournament!" he said and the remaining spectators all cheered and clapped. Buu's fanclub was still dedicated as always and chose to stay, all with new signs showing their support for Uub (mostly they just flipped it over so the letters would say Oob instead).
Uub stood ready to head out while Choi had his arms crossed, staring ahead with a determined expression.
"The contestants have had a chance to rest and heal up, and they're more than ready to engage in an amazing test of skill and strength! Let's bring them out now!" he shouted and pointed towards the pavilion where Choi was the first to walk out. He ignored the crowd as he walked forward, while they started cheering loudly for Uub who came out a couple seconds afterwards, a bashful smile on his face.
Pan's face was beaming as she watched Uub walk onto the stage and she couldn't stop staring at him, her face blushing heavily. Bulla took notice and smirked.
"If you keep fawning over Uub like that you won't be able to pay attention to the fight," she quipped and Pan blinked, giving her a look shortly after.
"He looks strong, okay? His shoulders are a lot broader, his arms look defined, he's got a confident look on his face and his eyes are really really pretty," Pan said as she drifted off, ogling Uub's physique and Bulla chuckled a bit, then noticed Bok was glancing at her a couple of times and they caught each other staring, looking away quickly.
"Ahem, well, I think Uub's got this. I can't wait to see that belt around his waist," Bulla said and Goku smiled confidently down at Uub.
"It ain't about winning or losing this Tournament, but ascending to a new plateau," he said and Bulla glanced up at him.
"Tell that to Choi," she muttered and stared down at Choi, who was focused solely on Uub. Bok could easily see when his brother was now in his zone, much like the match against Pan and he was wolfing down several snacks with Broly. Goku kept glancing back and his mouth began to drool.
"Aw man, I should've gotten something before the match started," he whined and Lemo sighed, taking out one of his capsules and activating it, popping out a container which he opened.
"Don't worry, I gotcha covered," he said and opened it, handing a few items over to Goku.
"Thank you!" Goku said and gave his thanks before chowing down.
After the announcer gave his usual speech, he stepped down off the stage and the monks began pounding on the drums. Uub went into his fighting stance, mirroring that of Goku's with his index and middle finger slightly less curled than the rest of his fingers on his left hand as he waited for Choi to assume his stance. Choi took an unusual stance when he squatted down and placed on hand on the stage, the other stretched out and Bok's eyes widened a bit.
"So you've decided to use that method, then?" Bok stated.
"Meffod?" Goku said, mouth full of food.
"When he went into that stance, he threw me off quite a lot with his wild and random fighting style. We decided to call it the 'wild child' style," Bok said and Goku swallowed his food.
"Really? That's awesome!" he cried and Bok cocked an eyebrow.
"You really think so?"
"Of course! The more unorthodox the fighting style, the better it'll be for Uub to fight against," he stated and Bok gulped.
"I hope you're right about that. Choi was holding back quite a bit against Pan, but I know he's not going to with this one," Bok informed him and Goku had a huge smile on his face as he stared at the two on the stage.
When the drumming stopped and the gong rang, the announcer yelled into his microphone: "BEGIN!"
Choi vanished in front of Uub but Uub was prepared for Choi's first attack yet was almost thrown off balance from the way Choi was coming in for his attack. He was on his hands, bringing a foot down for a hard kick which Uub blocked with his forearm, and Choi spun around on his hands to attack with a few more kicks that were blocked by Uub. Choi danced around on all fours, attacking from all directions at Uub, forcing him to divert himself away from the edge of the stage and block as much as he could.
His way of moving is all over the place yet he's getting in precise attacks! Uub thought to himself as he went to gain some distance, but Choi was coming in fast, flying low to the ground. He swung a huge uppercut that Uub narrowly dodged and Choi followed it up quickly with an elbow to Uub's gut with the same arm and Uub gasped a bit from the shock. He immediately regained his momentum and blocked more punches and elbows from Choi as he tried to throw in a few counters that Choi easily dodged and weaved to avoid them. He threw himself down on his back and thrust his feet upward towards Uub, who dodged and flipped backwards to get out of the way, but Choi was right there, vanishing and reappearing in a high speed burst to bring his ankle down on Uub's face, who blocked it with his hands. He grabbed Choi's ankle as it came down and he twisted his body around to throw Choi down onto the stage but the boy was ready and put his hand down to stop him from falling and he kicked Uub in the face on the way down. Uub staggered back a couple of steps and Choi followed with a flurry of kicks that were connecting very fast. Uub blocked most of them but his body was being pelted with Choi's multitude of blows from his taped feet and he was grunting from the impact.
Uub knew he couldn't allow himself to be pushed back like this and went on the offensive and the two boys were trading blows on the stage. Choi's unorthodox movements were slowly being met by Uub's own unorthodox movements and the two were trading punches and kicks that rocked the stage and they were able to dodge and block each other's hits effectively to the delight of the spectators watching and their families amazed by their display.
Goku's eyes were lit up with excitement as he watched the fight intensely, grinning ear to ear. Pan and Bulla were on their feet, cheering Uub on.
"Yeah! Come on Uub!" the girls cried, pumping their fists in the air. Videl cleared her throat and forced Pan to sit back down and she sighed, complying with her mother. Gohan adjusted his glasses and had his arms crossed, observing the fight yet the way he was gripping his clothes with his hands, he too was feeling excited from watching the fight proceed.
Bok and Broly were mesmerized by how well the two were going at it on the stage and Bok's mouth hung open a bit.
"Now I regret not wanting to push Choi any further, this is amazing!" he cried and Broly couldn't help but smile at his son.
"My father would've been very proud to see his grandson fight with such passion," he said and Bok glanced up at him. Cheelai gave him a small look, frowning. She might've been inclined to agree if she didn't remember the treatment Broly went through at the hands of his father when they first met.
"What's wrong, faux-hawk? Having trouble keeping up?" Choi said through their flurry of blows and Uub gritted his teeth but grinned regardless.
"I thought this was a warm-up," Uub said and Choi frowned a bit. The two landed a punch that connected against one another and sparks of electricity flew from the aura it radiated and their other fists connected as well. Their fingers soon clasped together and the two were now engaged in a test of strength.
The whole area began to shake as Choi's and Uub's powers clashed against each other. Their energy began to swell higher as they worked towards overwhelming the other. Uub had a slight advantage in his strength as he began to push Choi back. He knew this boy had the advantage in his speed but most of his punches and kicks weren't as strong as those of his brother's, an aspect of the twins he discovered soon after he began fighting Choi. This one emphasized a lot of his training on gaining the speed advantage, while Bok's was pure strength and power. It wouldn't surprise him at how well they worked as a team if the need arose and he wondered for a moment what fighting the both of them would be like. He thought of asking Pan to team-up against the two and blushed a bit, picturing the two of them fighting together side-by-side.
"Big mistake letting your thoughts distract you," Choi said and Uub was caught off-guard with that statement. Choi kneed him in the gut and Uub staggered back a few steps. Choi followed up with a flurry of punches which Uub was forced to block and he powered up to move around faster so he could dodge and gain some distance, firing several energy blasts that Choi flickered to dodge.
"What happened? Uub had the advantage," Pan said, then realized something when she saw him blushing. Crap, am I distracting him?
"It's far from over," Goku stated. Just as long as you keep your head clear, Uub, you'll do fine.
Uub took to the air and Choi quickly joined him, bringing his hands to cross over each other and send an energy blade arcing towards Uub as he was flying back and Uub quickly flipped backwards to avoid it. Choi powered up, building energy in his hands and sent wave after wave of those energy arcs towards Uub, who swerved his body to avoid getting hit by those and one of them was half an inch from striking him in the face and he was stunned at how close that was. He flew down towards Choi for an offensive attack and went in for a hard punch but Choi dodged it nimbly and grabbed Uub's forearm as he avoided the blow. He twisted his body to throw Uub down to the stage but Uub spun around to thread his legs around Choi's torso and push him forward, using the secondary momentum to unwrap his legs around him and give him a hard shove by building energy in his feet for a blast that propelled him skyward while forcing Choi to come crashing down into the stage. Choi couldn't free himself from the energy beam in time and plowed through the stage, the energy exploding. When the dust cleared, Choi was still lying face first in a small crater that had been formed by Uub's attack and the crowd cheered.
"Contestant Choi is down! ONE! TWO! THREE!" The announcer shouted as he began the count. Uub quickly flew back down and landed near the crater, waiting to see if Choi was going to make a move or not.
"Attaboy Uub! Nice hustle!" Goku shouted.
Pan and Bulla high-fived each other and Arugula cheered, shaking Mr. Bronto in her hands. Cheelai winced when she saw Choi hit the stage while Broly and Bok had grim expressions on their face.
"C'mon brother, don't let this get to you, keep your cool," Bok said, pleading with Choi and hoping he got through to him. Broly was silently observing the announcer make his count, which was now at five and he raised an eyebrow at what was happening next.
Choi snapped his arm up and fired thin energy beams, almost like fine needles at Uub, who reacted with shock at how fast Choi had moved after hitting the stage. The energy needles were on a one-way course to Uub's face when he brought up his arm to defend himself and the energy needles pierced his forearm.
He winced from the impact and jumped back to gain some distance, glancing down at his forearm. It felt like he was stung by a bee when he looked at the energy needles and they faded away shortly afterwards. He stared at Choi in confusion.
"What kind of attack was that? That didn't even hurt," Uub said and Choi smirked, standing up.
"Maybe not with five needles, but how about several thousand all at once?" Choi said and extended his hands forward. Thousands of small lights shot forth from around him as an insane array of energy needles shot forth from around Choi towards Uub and Uub's eyes widened.
"What the hell?!" he cried and shielded his face from the attack with his arms. He grunted and cried out as he felt thousands of these energy needles sting him simultaneously and Choi casually began walking towards him.
"You're a worthy opponent to have the honor of testing this attack of mine, Uub. I've only ever shown this to my brother one time so be thankful I extended the courtesy to you," Choi said and Uub was still crying out from the increasing pain of all these needles poking him.
"Dammit, how am I able to get close? I can't get a read on his energy if all these things are distracting me," Uub grunted, then let out a scream as he powered up even more, making the needles disappear and Choi stopped walking towards him as he saw a bright white aura surround Uub.
"Brute forcing your way out of it, huh? I know those needles have done some damage to you though, so it's only fitting that I out-pace you to wear you down even more," Choi said and clenched his fists, powering up himself. A white aura flashed around his body as well and he vanished, as though he left an after-image behind when he moved right towards Uub.
Uub's focus had returned just in time for him to block Choi's attack and the boy dropped down for a leg-sweep that tripped Uub up. Choi flipped forward to drop an energy charged heel down on Uub and Uub quickly dodged out of the way before Choi could connect.
Choi blocked a series of punches and kicks from Uub, who was going on the offensive this time and the boy moved his body to swerve and avoid Uub's punches, catching one of his arms and hitting him back with a palm thrust to his chest. He flew back and fired several energy blasts at Uub, who countered with energy blasts of his own that connected and exploded, creating a cloud of smoke and light that made it hard for the spectators to see what was going on.
Choi jumped high in the air and Uub kept track of his movements, spotting him dart out from the smoke and he charged up energy in his hands, firing them both up at Choi in a large beam of energy. Choi grinned and built up energy in his feet and both Bok and Broly took notice.
"This looks like it could be over for Uub," Bok stated and that caught Goku by surprise, who turned around to face him.
"This is one of my brother's signature techniques he had been working on the most," Bok told him and Goku's eyes widened when he turned to see what Choi was doing.
Choi moved his feet over the energy beam as it passed underneath him and the energy in his feet served as a sort of platform for Choi to "surf" along the energy beam, sliding down on top of it towards Uub, who was shocked to see what Choi was doing as he was barreling down towards him. Everyone stared in shock and awe at what Choi was doing and Pan was gawking the most.
"That damn brat! How the hell did he come up with that?!" Pan cried out and Videl gave her a look.
"That's not very lady-like, Pan," she told her and Pan sighed, pouting and crossing her arms.
Uub didn't have enough time to let the energy go and wasn't ready for what Choi was about to do next. Choi pushed himself off the energy beam as he was inches away from Uub, flipped over him, and kicked him hard in the back of the head, causing Uub to fly forward. Choi landed gracefully on the stage, watching Uub in anticipation that he would land out of bounds and lose the match.
Uub blacked out momentarily from the impact to the back of his head for a few seconds, which wasn't much time as he was on a one-way course to the out of bounds region. He blinked, regaining his thoughts and panicked when he saw the grassy area outside of the stage and he powered up to stop himself from landing outside, floating inches above the grass. He looked a bit rattled as he stared at Choi, who decided to not stand around and gunned right for him with blazing fast speed, running across the stage. Uub, in a desperate move, cupped his hands, and fired a Kamehameha blast to the ground to propel himself upwards, making sure not to use too much power to severely damage the area below him and he was able to gain some distance from the ground.
Choi watched Uub launch himself up to the air and jumped up to fly straight at him, readying a punch to connect with his face. Uub glanced down and just barely raised a forearm to block Choi's punch.
"Pretty gutsy play you just made there, Uub. I underestimated you," Choi said as Uub grunted, gritting his teeth as Choi's fist pushed against his forearm.
"You shouldn't take me lightly, Choi, because I've still got a lot in me left," Uub replied, making the boy grin.
By now you realize that no matter what tricks you have up your sleeve, whether it's energy attacks or close-quarter combat, I'll always have something to match that. It comes with years of training with my brother," Choi said and Uub chuckled a bit.
"Big mistake, thinking like that. You can't learn much if all you do is fight the same opponent over and over again," Uub said and Choi glared at him.
"Think I don't know that?!" Choi yelled as he flew into a barrage of punches, throwing hundreds in rapid succession at Uub, who put up his defenses to block them all. Uub quickly powered up again to fly away and head back to the stage, forcing Choi to pursue him and Uub landed in front of the boy as his speed matched his. Uub immediately flipped over behind Choi as he landed behind him and pelted his back with several energy blasts that knocked Choi, sending him staggering forward.
Choi growled as he struggled to turn around and he felt his anger begin to swell up again within him. But this time he felt more consciously aware of his temper rising and felt a swell of energy he hadn't felt before.
"Damned if I'm letting this idiot get the best of me!" he yelled and growled, clenching his fists. Goku was the first to notice the massive increase in Choi's energy and his eyes widened a bit.
"Is he doing what I think he's doing?" Goku said and the others glanced at him. Gohan began to notice this as well and everyone turned their attention back to Choi, who was continuously being struck from behind by Uub's energy balls, shoving him closer to the edge of the stage.
Choi's mohawk began changing color as his white hair faded in and out from white to gold, spiking up even more than it usually did. He cried out in anger as his eyes stared down at the stage, the color changing in them. They were lavender like his mother's, but the lavender faded to an eerie aqua-green as he completed his transformation into a Super Saiyan, taking his family by surprise. Uub's jaw dropped as his eyes widened in surprise for a moment, putting a halt to his energy attacks as a golden aura pulsated around Choi's body.
"Contestant Choi is shining brightly with a golden colored aura! I haven't seen something like this in years!" the announcer cried out and Cheelai looked ready to freak out.
"Wh-wh-what-what the hell?! When was he able to do this?" she cried out, then her eyes widened when she glanced down at Arugula. Oh my God, it really was as she saw. Does that mean that what she saw in her dream is going to happen as well?!
Arugula eventually was able to calm down enough to tell her what she had seen in her dream; how she saw the eyes looking at her to the image of Broly with a hole in his chest and it unnerved her considerably. She was still very much in disbelief at all these instances of Arugula having visions of the future that when she saw Choi transform into a Super Saiyan, it confirmed what her little girl had said earlier. She mentioned how Choi's hair looked weird and putting two and two together meant the only logical conclusion was that her son was able to become a Super Saiyan like his father.
"Dad? What's wrong with brother?" Bok asked. Broly frowned, knowing that this was something he wasn't sure he wanted to reveal to his offspring yet. Remembering the time he transformed into a Super Saiyan after the death of his father was still very painful to bring up. This Super Saiyan transformation was still rather foreign to him as he hadn't had much of an opportunity to learn more about it and felt it was too risky to put it into practice given how hard it has been to control his anger. If he was ever going to learn how to master this form, he'd have to learn how to temper his rage first, a decision he came to after much discussion with Cheelai and Lemo on the matter.
"Dad?" Bok asked again and Broly was almost too distracted by Choi's power to have heard Bok talk to him.
"Choi, he-" Broly started, but frowned and glanced back down at Choi.
"Your brother's become a Super Saiyan," Lemo said.
"Super Saiyan? That's actually something we can do?" Bok asked, glancing up at his father and Broly nodded, eyes closed.
"Yes, it is," Broly muttered and Bok stared back down at Choi.
"I wonder if I can do it too," he asked and Broly sighed, opening his eyes to look at him from the side.
"If you train hard enough, you'll be able to do it. I'm sure of it," Goku chimed in and Bok blinked.
"But how did Choi do it? We both trained equally hard every day," Bok stated and Goku grinned.
"It's more than just training to become strong. The trigger to become Super Saiyan is intense anger. Choi probably could've done that yesterday against Pan, but he had a different power awaken within him. You've got quite the prodigy, Broly. I'm impressed."
Broly wasn't as enthusiastic though. "I…I didn't want this to be the case for my sons. I don't want my boy to be like me, a slave to his anger."
"Dad…" Bok said and Broly hung his head, resting his arms on his lap. Cheelai took his hands in hers and gave them a squeeze. Arugula turned around to put her hands on her father's and mother's as well and frowned up at him.
"Your student's in a great deal of trouble now," Broly said, glancing up at Goku, but he was surprise to see that it didn't phase him. Goku looked at him with a confident expression on his face.
"Don't worry about Uub, Broly," Goku said with a determined grin. "He may have a more powerful opponent to fight now, but he's not going to give up."
Goku glanced over at Uub, who began to smile with determination himself.
A Super Saiyan like Master Goku, eh? Uub thought to himself as he stared down at Choi.
Choi finally relaxed his body and turned his head around to stare up at Uub with his aqua-green eyes that reflected a bit of the sunlight, narrowing his eyes to focus squarely on his opponent up in the air. The two stared at each other for a moment as the air grew quiet, like the calm before a huge storm.
