The Game
Chapter Three
"Lord Tedei, the earthlings should appear any moment." A low ranking soldier assisting the technicians reported.
"Excellent, have the collars ready, these..humans won't be happy about this. Be ready for anything." Tedei replied.
"Yes sir!" exclaimed the soldier, rushing to retrieve the collars.
At that moment, the black rift suddenly expanded as four figures suddenly materialized. The darkness clouded any vision of the beings, but Tedei wasn't worried at all. He had his fighters, and he knew they would not fail to disappoint him.
The shroud of black lifted, revealing the four fighters, who were anxiously studying their surroundings before they located one another. Tedei stepped into the room unobtrusively, not wanting the humans to detect his presence just yet.
"Yo Vegeta, Piccolo!" Goku shouted.
Vegeta spun around to see his long time rival standing behind him. "Kakaroto! So, you were sucked in as well, eh?"
Goku sheepishly nodded, "Well, sort of.....hehehe."
"Otousan!" Gohan shouted as he joined the small group along with Piccolo.
"Gohan!!! What are you doing here?! I told you to go home and take care of your mother since we were able to break free!" Goku yelled. He immediately clamped a hand over his mouth, but it was too late.
"Break free? So you were strong enough to escape?! What the hell are you doing here then?" Vegeta demanded.
"Well, a voice came to us through that black hole thing saying I had to come or else you two would die." Goku said.
Piccolo whispered something that Goku couldn't hear, then coughed abruptly, which sounded a lot like "Baka..."
Gohan stepped up, saying, "We'll argue about this later. In the meantime we're all in this together, so let's work together to get out."
Piccolo tousled the boy's hair, causing the boy to beam immensely. "Something is very wrong here Gohan. Just remember what I've taught you."
Gohan nodded, and Goku smiled as he finally caught on that the two had been training for months now.
"Well, it's obvious that whatever caught us wanted the four most powerful beings on Earth. Kuririn and the rest would've been here otherwise." Piccolo said.
"Yes," said Goku, his tone becoming more serious. "Something brought us here for a reason, I only wonder what."
"Perhaps I can explain, Son Goku." came a voice from a little distance away.
The four spun to see who had spoken. Standing in front of them was an almost angelic looking humanoid with elfin feautures and a golden tinge to his skin. Vegeta smirked as he noticed that Bulma would have found this being beautiful. Clothed in a simple adornment of white silk pants and a skin tight vest that stretched taut over his muscular frame, the alien smiled...a little too menacing.
"Welcome to Hilrago. My name is Tedei, and I rule here. I sent for you. I'm sure you are all curious as to why, so I'm here to clarify that. Once a generation I host a universal fighting tournament simply called "The Game." The best fighters in the universe are assembled to fight to the death. What is the greatest honor than to die in battle? Saiyajin, I know you know what I mean." Not waiting for Vegeta's response, Tedei continued. "The tournaments have become less and less entertaining over the years. Thus, I had my science team build a transdimensional gateway to scan alternate dimensions for fighters. Upon scanning Earth, we discovered you four had excellent fighting potential, so we brought you here."
"What made you think we would simply fight for your entertainment?" Goku asked.
"Hmph....well, you have no choice in the matter." Tedei replied.
"The hell we don't!" Vegeta exclaimed, instnctively powering up to Super Saiyajin, his KI forcing the others to step back. "I'll show you just how we plan on leaving!"
Continuing to power up, Vegeta smiled as he realized that this was exactly what he had been waiting for. The chance to fight again.
Tedei looked less than impressed.
"Please don't do anything foolish, Vegeta." He said quietly.
Crouching down, Vegeta leapt at Tedei.
Tedei didn't move. Vegeta swung his leg around and connected with a kick to the head that should've broken tedei's neck instantly. Landing back on his feet, Vegeta gasped as Tedei simply smiled and said, "I warned you." Before Vegeta had a chance to blink, something hit him...hard....knocking him backwards at such a rate that he couldn't stop himself. He felt someone grab him, and he looked up as he saw tedei still hadn't moved. Looking up, he saw Kakaroto had grabbed him, preventing further injury.
"Damn you Kakaroto!" yelled Vegeta as he spit blood from his mouth. The whole right side of his face hurt him terribly, and he was sure he had broken a cheekbone at the least.
Goku set Vegeta back on his feet. Vegeta stood, albeit a little woozily.
"No more single attacks! This guy is way too powerful! We attack together or not at all!" Goku was shouting, and even Vegeta nodded in agreement. Goku and Gohan both powered up into Super Saiyajin, as Piccolo powered himself up to his max.
"Enough of this! I didn't bring you here to simply kill you before you ended your usefulness to me!" Tedei shouted. Extending a hand, he uttered a silent word. The four beings suddenly found themselves unable to move.
"Chikyushoo!" Goku swore silently. Piccolo, Gohan, and Piccolo restrained against whatever force was holding them, but were unable to do any more good than Goku himself.
"Guards, place the collars on them and escort them to their lodgings. Son Goku, Son Gohan, Vegeta, Piccolo Daimaoh, tonight there will be a banquet in the fighter's honor. There, the Game will be explained in full, and drawing will be made for the first round of fighting. I hope to see you more pleasant by then." Tedei said.
Still unable to move, the four gasped in shock as the collars were placed around their head and the power they had all harnessed left them.
"Ah...yes. The restraining collars. With those on you will have only limited use of your powers, at a set increment that I will determine before you fight your matches. This keeps the fighters' power levels equal and thus allows a more entertaining match. For now, you can fly, but you won't be able to do much else. These matches will not only be a test of power control and combat readiness, but also of fighting skills in general. You will understand what I mean tonight when the rules are explained. Until then, goodbye." Tedei said and abruptly flickered out of sight. The four were thrown back as an incredible invisible force overwhelmed them as it passed by, quicker than even they could register.
"G.....Gods, I've never seen such speed!" exclaimed Piccolo.
Vegeta was unnerved but kept silent. Gohan was visibly frightened, not fully registering what was happening, while Goku simply remained silent. But was that a hint of a grin on Goku's face? Piccolo smiled inwardly as he realized Goku was excited about the prospect of fighting strong opponents again. Good, he thought, that gives us some hope at least if Goku hasn't given up.
The four were herded to a quiet room which contained beds for each of them, toiletries, and other accomodations that the fighters' were thought to deserve.
"That creature was right about honor. There is no greater honor than dying in combat, but this isn't any real combat, this is just a game in which we are the pawns!" Vegeta snarled.
"Vegeta, we can't do anything about it now. The collars won't come off, and right now I feel as powerful as I was when I was just a child." said Goku.
"Yes, I've never felt as weak as I do now." Piccolo agreed.
Gohan was attempting to power up. Reaching deep within himself, he felt that his power was still their, but he was unable to reach it, his body completely dampened by the collar.
Finally letting out a gasp of breath, he fell to his knees, giving up.
"We....we have to do....something." Gohan said, gasping for breath.
"The only thing we can do at this point is go along with this Game and see what happens. It's really the only choice we have for now. Even if we weren't nearly helpless by these damned collars that Tedei being is still out of even our league!" Piccolo shouted, punching the nearest wall as hard as he could....to no effect. Snarling with rage he stalked off to a corner of the room and slowly hovered into the air, going into a meditative position.
Goku opened up the refrigerator and gasped in surprise as he found it was stocked full of food.
"At least he knows that us Saiyajins like to eat!" He said through a mouthful of rice.
Vegeta suddenly felt a pang in his stomach and realized he was nearly ravenous with hunger as well. He walked over and shoved Goku out of the way, much to the other's annoyance.
"Shut up you fool, you have enough to last the first course at least!" Vegeta snorted.
Goku looked down at his double armload of food and back up. "But..." he started.
Vegeta glared at him, and Goku nodded his acquiesience and went to eat. Gohan had wandered over by Piccolo and sat, contemplating their situation and the best course of action. Piccolo was right, they had no choice in the matter. Or at least, the choice from the way Tedei had said it was to participate of die. And seeing how he had handled Vegeta made Gohan tend to think participating was the more favorable option. He suddenly began to think about home, his mother and grandfather, and friends. Smiling at these thoughts, Gohan's eyes slowly closed until he was fast asleep.
To be continued.......