Dragon Ball Next Generations Part II: Afterlife
Chapter XLIII: The Otherworld Tournament
It had been only one month since Dominick, Dalton, and Martin arrived in Otherworld. Everything seemed normal. There had been no leads regarding the disappearance of those King Yemma mentioned. He told them to just wait, and that he was sure something would surface before too long. They didn't mind. They were already having a lot of fun training together in Otherworld, along with meeting many of the Universe's past heroes. Everyone had little halos floating above their heads to signify that they were dead, so that took some getting used to, and it did not go without some teasing of each other. And they also had one more thing to look forward too. The long-famed Otherworld tournament was beginning.
They had yet to visit the living world. King Yemma had promised them frequent visits, but Fortune-teller Baba had fallen extremely ill. However, they were able to frequently speak to their loved ones because of King Kai's telepathy. Dominick told Ichimei that he was searching for his father, and not to wish him back. There was no wedding ceremony planned for them in the near future, but the two were already practically married. Martin and Rika also talked everyday. Dalton hadn't talked to Sakumi at all. There was still a little bit of tension between him and the other two. Even though both Martin and Dominick had voiced their forgiveness and that it wasn't his fault, he still held guilt.
"ALRIGHTY!" They heard the Otherworld announcer over the loudspeaker. Everyone was already waiting in the field surrounding the giant square tile ring. The announcer was a little imp-looking guy who couldn't have been more than two feet tall with a mushroom for a head. His only facial feature was his mouth. Everyone definitely made fun of his appearance behind his back. "TODAY IS THE DAY! WE'RE STARTING THE OTHERWORLD TOURNAMENT! THE RULES ARE A LITTLE DIFFERENT THIS TIME! FIGHTERS ENTER THE TOURNAMENT INDEPENDENTLY OF THEIR GALAXY'S KAI, SO THIS TIME, WE HAVE A DIFFERENT NUMBER OF FIGHTERS FROM EACH GALAXY! WITH THIRTY TWO FIGHTER TOTAL, WE HAVE SIX FROM THE WEST, SEVEN FROM THE SOUTH, FIVE FROM THE EAST, AND A WHOPPING FOURTEEN FROM THE NORTH! SINCE THERE ARE DIFFERING AMOUNTS OF FIGHTERS FROM EACH GALAXY, ONLY THE FIGHTER THEMSELVES WILL RECEIVE THE PRIZE FOR WINNING THE TOURNAMENT: A PRIVATE TRAINING SESSION WITH THE SECOND NAGA OF OTHERWORLD!" The entire crowd of about 10,000 people erupted after hearing this. Apparently, the Naga was the one named the absolute strongest fighter in Otherworld, and it was a fairly new addition to the system. The Grand Kai didn't like it very much, but there was not much that he could do. The fighters were starting to respect the Naga more than Grand Kai himself. "THE ONLY RULES THIS TIME ARE THAT YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO KILL YOUR OPPONENT! YOU MAY USE ANY OTHER METHODS NECESSARY TO WIN! INCLUDING WEAPONS!" Dalton made a silent motion of satisfaction. "YOU WIN IF YOUR OPPONENT IS UNCONSCIOUS, DOWN FOR TEN SECONDS, FALLS OUT OF THE RING, OR GIVES UP! NOW, WE NEED ALL OF OUR FIGHTERS TO HEAD INSIDE TO DRAW YOUR SPACES ON THE BRACKET! THIS WILL BE OUR BIGGEST TOURNAMENT YET, WITH FIVE ROUNDS, EACH ELIMINATING HALF OF THE CONTESTANTS! ALRIGHT, CONTESTANTS, FOLLOW ME!"
Dominick, Dalton, and Martin followed the little mushroom man into the room in the back of the arena. "Man, I hope this isn't a breeze." Dominick said.
Olibu, a big, muscular greek-style hero with long blonde hair, slapped him on the back. "Oh, rookie, you're in for a good time."
"I really hope so." Dominick replied.
He was from the North Galaxy, like the three of them, and King Kai was always bragging to the other Kais about him. He was his "prized fighter", and then he would always say, "behind Goku, of course." Dominick felt kind of bad for him.
The fighter Pikkon walked up next to them. He and Olibu slapped hands. "You really remind me of Goku, new kid. With your tail and that attitude, there's no way it's a coincidence."
Dominick rubbed the back of his head. "He's my ancestor. His too." He pointed at Dalton. His little brother didn't pay them any mind.
"And you too?" Olibu asked Martin.
He smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm a descendent of Vegeta, a close friend and rival of Goku's."
"So you know Goku?" Dominick inquired. "I figured he ended up here at some point, but I thought that was a long time ago."
"We've been here a long time, kiddo." Olibu replied.
"And Goku left quite the imprint on us fighters, as well." Pikkon added. "He showed up out of nowhere and won the Otherworld tournament."
"It was a tie, wasn't it?" Olibu argued.
"It was ruled a tie because we both touched the ceiling at the same time, but if that hadn't happened, he would have won." Pikkon explained.
"I guess we have big shoes to fill." Dominick said to them.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the finals come down to two of you guys." Olibu said.
"I agree, but don't think we'll go down without a fight." Pikkon added.
Dominick smiled at them. "I hope not."
Olibu roared with laughter straight from his gut and slapped Dominick on the back again.
They entered the room, and it was a little dark and a little musty, but it seemed comfortable enough. "This will be your break room as well, where you rest after your matches." The mushroom man sounded a lot different without his speaker. "We have an empty bracket here, and I'm thinking we'll just randomly draw lots. Alphabetical order should work." Everyone nodded in agreement. "Uhmm...Tenka Alany?" A pale, bald man with a light blonde mustache walked up to the mushroom man, and next to him was a table with a box with a hole in the top. "There's thirty two cards in there, each with a different number. Just close your eyes, pick one, and read me the number." Tenka nodded.
His burly forearm barely fit in the box. Dominick wondered how Olibu was going to pick a card. "Twenty-one." He said. The announcer quickly counted twenty one spaces from the left and wrote his name in that space.
"Next is...Merana Anhia." She went up and repeated the process. This was going to take a while.
"Fourteen."
Dominick, Dalton and Martin tuned out the rambling of the announcer. "Hey," Dalton started, "have you seen that guy with spiky hair and the green shirt?"
"What?" Dominick looked around and saw him. He had dark brown hair that stuck out sideways in both directions, and much of his hair in the back was tied into a ponytail that hung down to his lower back. His eyes were also a dark brown and looked straight ahead. "What about him?"
Martin looked as well. "What? He just looks serious about the tournament."
"No, look at what he's holding." Dalton responded to both of them. He was holding a sword. It had a black hilt, and a golden, petaled guard. It was similar - no, identical to Dominick's sword.
"He's got a sword just like mine." Dominick exclaimed in a whisper. "What-"
"Dalton Fiscalini?" The announcer called.
"We'll just keep an eye on him." Dalton said. "He could be our first lead to finding Dad." He reached his hand in the box and pulled a card out. "Five." He told the announcer.
"Thank you…" The announcer mumbled as he wrote the name down, then looked back at his clipboard. "Dominick Fiscalini? Huh? It's not often we have two of the same last name enter the tournament."
Dominick walked up and grabbed one of the cards from the box. He looked down and saw the number. Uh-oh. "Three." That's really close to Dalton's number. I was hoping we would be more spread out.
"Looks like we'll be fighting sooner than later." Dalton said upon his return.
After the announcer wrote his name down, he looked back at Dalton. "I guess we have until the third round, that's not super soon."
Dalton looked at the board as well. "Oh, I guess I already know who I'm fighting, as well. Arujan Cathar? I don't know what he looks like. I should have been paying attention."
Upon another look, Dominick said, "Oh, my opponent's already up there, too. I'm going against...uhh...Serom Ethel."
"We should listen to the names from now on." Martin said. "It would be good to know that guy's name." The brothers nodded in agreement.
"Woah." The announcer said. "Another two with the same last name? Kaoren Hashai, then Nyoriyo Hashi."
Kaoren went up first, and Nyoriyo, who was presumably his twin brother, follow behind. The two looked very similar. Their hair was a solid brunette color and both spiked up and hung to the side a little bit. The only difference was that Kaoren's eyes were a little but thinner, and his hair hung to the opposite side that Nyoriyo's did. "Seven." Kaoren said.
"Eight." Nyoriyo looked at his brother. "No way." He smiled genuinely at him. Kaoren rolled his eyes.
They were starting to want to tune the announcer out again. "Kasae Itsumi."
A man in glasses and spiked up hair walked forward. He wore a heavy black hoodless jacket with a high-riding collar. He also had the same sword as Dominick.
The three of them watched him closely as he drew from the box. "Twenty Five." He said.
"Soriyamo Kageyoshi." The man in the green shirt walked up. The three boys watched even more intently now. He looked so graceful as he moved, like his head was barely bobbing up and down as he stepped.
"Thirty two." The last spot.
The lottery drew on. Martin was only a couple names after Soriyamo. "Twenty two." The announcer wrote him down. He would be fighting Tenka Alany in the eleventh fight.
A couple names after that, it was Olibu. There were a couple sounds made from the other fighters. "Twenty six." He was fighting Kasae. Dominick heard 'poor kasae' from some of the other contestants more than once.
Pikkon was right after that. The sounds from the fighters were louder than last time. "Thirty one." He said. Dominick, Dalton, and Martin all looked at each other. He was fighting Soriyamo.
Olibu laughed and slapped Dominick's back again. "That Soriyamo guy is in trouble."
Dominick smiled and laughed. Dalton was not as amused. "I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up the other way." He said.
Olibu looked at him, confused. "Whatever you say, kiddo." He walked off to go talk to Pikkon. It was nice that fighters were entering individually now, because the Kai's personal squabbles wouldn't get in the way of their friendly competition.
Martin tapped Dalton's shoulder. "Look, that blonde guy over there has the same sword as well."
"You're right." He replied. A pale, tall, blonde man in a white gi with black pants stood walked up next to Soriyamo and said something to him. His hair hung all the way to his knees and looked super silky. It fell completely straight down except for two little spikes on the top of his head.
"Fahra Wisto." The announcer called.
"We're almost done." Dominick said. "I'm getting restless. I'm going almost right away." He was in the second fight. Dalton was in the third.
"Two."
"Shirako Yasufumi."
His blonde hair flowed behind him in the air as he strode up to the box. "Seventeen." He said while looking at his card. He walked back to Soriyamo. "Unfortunately, we're both in the second half." He said. "We won't be able to fight in the final round."
"That is fine." Soriyamo said. "I have someone in particular I want to fight in the final round." Dominick was watching, and he thought Soriyamo looked at him, but he turned away too quick to be able to tell.
"Aaroc Ynatta?"
"Twenty."
"Alright, I think that does it." The announcer said. "The matches will be fought in order from left to right, find which match you're in and plan accordingly."
A man in a brown gi got up real close to the board and looked at everyone's names, not just his. He jumped with joy as he finished looking over the brackets. "Yeah! All the strong guys are in the second half! Looks like I'll see you in the finals, Soriyamo!" Several other contestants laughed at this display, including the Hashai twins and Shirako. Even Soriyamo smiled. Kasae was the only one that kept a solemn face.
Dominick and Dalton rolled their eyes. "The strong guys are all in the second half?" Dalton said.
"What a jerk." Dominick added.
"I have to agree with his statement." Martin teased. This was coming from the only one in the second half out of the three of them.
"ALRIGHTY!" They hadn't even noticed the mushroom man leave the room. "WE'LL START THE FIRST MATCH RIGHT AWAY! CAN CONTESTANTS RYU KEIN AND FAHRA WISTO PLEASE ENTER THE RING!"
"They're starting already, huh?" Dominick said. "I guess I should start stretching or something. My match is next."
"This won't be such a breeze like that other tournament." Martin said. "Remember, we met in that tournament."
"Oh, yeah, huh." Dominick replied. That felt so long ago. It was before the Black Sclera started to surface. But this tournament would definitely be a different story. In fact, if they would have entered at the strength they were at for the last tournament, it's likely they would have gotten their asses handed to them. And there was Soriyamo, Shirako, and Kasae as well, who all wielded the exact same sword as he did. Whether or not they ended up being a lead in finding his father, he hoped they would be really strong at least.