Chap. 5
The two opponents faced each other squarely in the arena, on the platform acting like a "ring" of sorts. In their minds, each was sizing the other up, sensing how much power the other had.
"And…FIGHT!" the beginning of the fight was announced. At first, nobody moved. Vegeta was positive that he could hear crickets chirping somewhere.
Hmm, Majin Boo began to try, at least try, and use what was left of the little bit of gray matter between his ears, or in his gigantic head, to come up with a plan. This guy looks kinda strong. And from the way he dealt with Goten, he must be pretty strong. Maybe my powers will exceed his, though. I mean, how many people on this planet are actually stronger than me? Not many. Since that guy seems to like to be on defense, then I guess I'll attack first. I'll just check with him.
"Hey, is it okay with you if I attack first?" he called. Ticco raised an eyebrow, wondering if there was something that Majin Boo knew that he didn't.
"Sure, go right ahead," he answered.
The fool, he just gave away the surprise of the fight, Vegeta thought. Oh, well, it's his fight. Then Majin Boo walked right up to the other warrior. Ticco's eyebrow rose even further. The crowd began to wonder exactly how long this fight was going to last. Suddenly, Majin Boo swung at Ticco's head. Ticco bent backwards and the pink fist swooshed above his head. He straightened. Majin Boo swung again, this time aimed at Ticco's stomach. Ticco turned quickly to the right and moved a little to the left. Majin Boo's fist missed again. Ticco stepped back to how he originally was.
"All right, stop testing and start fighting," he growled, sounding annoyed.
"Oh, all right," Majin Boo said, sounding disappointed. Suddenly, he threw an extraordinarily quick punch at Ticco, so fast Ticco was barely able to detect it. He moved aside just in time. Then another punch was aimed right at his head, which Ticco quickly avoided. Majin Boo kept on trying to punch Ticco, and Ticco was always able to barely avoid the onslaught. Finally, Majin Boo stopped. Ticco backed up a few steps, so that he could detect any other attacks.
"Hey!" protested Majin Boo, "Why are you running away?"
"I'm not running away, you fool!" growled Ticco. "I'm backing away so that I can better sense your attacks!"
"Oh!" Majin Boo said. "Well, why didn't you say so before you backed away?"
"This is a tournament, fool, I'm not supposed to tell you!"
"Oh, yeah, I remember now!" This brought a few snickers from the crowd, while the rest continued to gape at how fast everything was going. Majin Boo brought his hand back, and Ticco immediately got into a stance.
That guy's several feet away, he thought, how is he going to attack me from there, unless it's a ki shot? But I sense no ki gathering at his hand. Without warning, Majin Boo's arm stretched and shot itself toward Ticco. Almost caught completely by surprise, Ticco still seemed to have the sense to jump into the air, narrowly avoiding being hit. Then Majin Boo jumped up as well. He tried a round kick to Ticco's left arm, but Ticco brought up his hand and blocked it. Ticco punched Majin Boo in the stomach. It sunk in, and then Ticco pulled his arm out, looking thoroughly disgusted.
"What the hell are you made of, marshmallows?" he said, making a face that no one could see.
"Actually, I'm not really sure myself," Majin Boo replied cheerfully.
"Ugh," Ticco grunted. "I'll be sure to make as little skin contact as possible." Majin Boo once again raised his hand, except this time it was forward so that the almost shapeless palm was facing Ticco.
Ki shot, Ticco's senses automatically told him. A pink ki ball was propelled from Majin Boo. Not a very powerful one. All thought was within a few fractions of a second. Ticco brought his right hand back, and hit the ball back to its maker. Instead of hitting it away, Majin Boo let it hit him. A large explosion immediately followed. That guy had to have lost at least an arm. As the smoke cleared, Ticco immediately sensed Majin Boo's right arm missing. Unusually, Majin Boo wasn't screaming in pain. ??? *POP* and the arm instantly grew back. Whoa, Ch-ch-ch-chia! ® Instant regeneration of lost limbs! This is going to be harder than I thought.
"So, do you like my tricks?" Majin Boo asked.
"Tricks?" Ticco snorted. "Those were obvious attacks, it could hardly be considered…tricks." Majin Boo frowned.
"Then what is considered a trick?" he inquired. Ticco thought for a minute.
"Hmm, maybe something like…this!" and with that, he disappeared from normal human view. From Majin Boo's view as well. Majin Boo looked all around him in vain. Suddenly, Ticco appeared behind him. "Ha, fool! I'm here!" and promptly delivered a vicious kick to Majin Boo's rear end. Majin Boo went spiraling off in the other direction.
Hmm, that was a pretty good trick, I think. He concentrated a bit to stop his uncontrolled careening. Then he floated back to where he used to be.
"Wow! That was a good trick!" he exclaimed. Ticco snorted.
"I told you so," he said.
"Hey! Do you know any other tricks? And can you teach them to me?" Majin Boo asked eagerly. Ticco seemed to consider the notion.
"Well…I'll do the first part. Unfortunately, I can't quite guarantee the second, oh well," Ticco shrugged. Then he slowly drifted down to the ring. With a soft pat, his feet planted themselves firmly on the ground on the edge of the ring. Then he closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Hard. At first, nothing happened.
What is the warrior doing? Vegeta thought. Is he trying to imagine Majin Boo away? Or is he just giving up? The rest of the crowd seemed to think the same way.
"Hey! Is there a fight going on or what?" someone shouted. People began to follow that voice. Suddenly, one extremely shrill woman's voice pierced the air.
"O MY GOD! THERE'S GREEN SLIME!" And sure enough, people saw what looked like tendrils of green mist snaking their way toward Ticco. But there seemed to be an invisible shield around Ticco because when it got a certain distance away from him, it began to form a sort of green misty circle around him. After a while, the circle became barely penetrable with human eyes. Even the Saiya-jin eyes could hardly see through the green force field around Ticco. Suddenly, the sphere began to shrink. It was shrinking pretty quickly. The instant a part of the sphere touched Ticco, that part turned misty. Soon Ticco looked like a ghost. Even the gold dragon armlet on Ticco's right arm looked filmy and insubstantial. During this time, Majin Boo had been watching patiently. Of course that wouldn't last forever. He decided to charge. He shot himself toward Ticco. Finally the green sphere was fully absorbed, and Ticco opened his eyes. That was the only part that didn't look transparent, probably because they already looked filmy. By this point, Majin Boo was already three-fourths of the way there. Ticco, unusually, just stood there, seemingly waiting for the oncoming attack. Majin Boo, sensing absolutely no abnormalities, kept his charge up. Now he was one foot away from Ticco's head. Everyone held his or her breath. The announcer began to tell everyone what was happening.
"Now he's half a foot away, no, he's an inch! He's swinging his fist. Oh my God, what is Ticco up to?! Majin Boo's fist went right through his head! He's dead! Oh, no he isn't, he's still standing up! What's going on?!"
"Huh?" said Majin Boo, looking bewildered as his head, then his stomach and finally his feet passed through Ticco. Everyone in the stadium's mouths dropped to their chests. Their eyes bulged until they were half the size of their heads. All, that is, except for the Z fighters. They merely frowned and thought, Beating this guy is gonna be harder that I thought. Finally, there was a gigantic WHUMP sound. Majin Boo had landed on his head outside of the ring.
"Majin Boo has landed on his head outside of the ring! Mr. Ticco is the winner!" the announcer proclaimed. Everyone recovered from their shock of seeing the big pink lard go through the other fighter and cheered. Ticco held out his hand to Majin Boo, then reconsidered and, concentrating, lifted Majin Boo off the ground and back into the ring. Then he bowed to him respectfully.
"You were a worthy…no that would be lying…you were a strong opponent," Ticco said to him. A bit dense, though.
"Gee, thanks, you were pretty good, too, and uh," then Majin Boo leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Watch out for that short guy with blue clothes on, he's mean."
"You mean Vegeta?"
"Uh-huh."
"Mean? Of course he's mean. He's a Saiya-jin."
"You know about them?"
"Yes."
"Oh, well then okay, you're gonna be okay!"
"Thanks." Ticco said sarcastically with a wry smile. Majin Boo, however, seemed not to notice the sarcasm.
"Hey, no problem! If you ever have any problems with the Saiya-jins, then just ask me!" he said with a big grin.
"Yes…I'll be sure to keep that in mind," he answered, somewhat uncertainly. With a big wave, Majin Boo walked over to Trunks and Vegeta.
"Did you see that guy fight?" he asked excitedly. "I'm gonna ask him to teach me some tricks after this!"
"Yes, why don't you do that?" Vegeta said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"Okay, I'll remember," he said. Vegeta began to rub his forehead because he suddenly had a headache. Trunks coughed.
"I, uh, think that my dad was being sarcastic," he sighed.
"Why would he do that?" Majin Boo asked curiously.
"Oh, no reason," Trunks said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, well I'm just gonna go and get a snack," Majin Boo said. Then he walked off, presumably to find a snack machine of some sort, or to get money from Mr. Satan.
"Err, Dad?" Trunks said tentatively. "Who's fighting next?"
"Just you and me, a father son moment if I do say so myself," Vegeta said with an evil leer.
Uh oh. Trunks began to worry about how far his father would go. "Um, then what?"
"Whoever wins fights that stupid human Sinter, and then Ticco."
Oh boy. I'm in deep trouble. I'm gonna get my butt creamed by either my dad or by Ticco. I'm dead.
"Don't worry, you have nothing to lose," Vegeta said calmly.
"Oh, no, I have absolutely nothing to lose, except for about three-fourths of my blood, maybe a limb or two, five teeth or so…"
"Heh." Trunks heard his father chuckle. He wanted to throw himself at his father's feet and scream, Please, please, please, don't kill me! But he knew that if he did that, he wouldn't have to wait for the fight before getting annihilated.
"All right, I'll be nice." Trunks let out of whoosh of air from relief. "Only one half of your blood, one hand, and one tooth, ok?"
"Oh, yes, Dad, I feel so relieved now," Trunks grumbled sarcastically. Vegeta chuckled again.
"And now, Mr. Trunks vs. Mr. Vegeta," the announcer called.
"Good luck," said Vegeta as they stepped out.
The two opponents faced each other squarely in the arena, on the platform acting like a "ring" of sorts. In their minds, each was sizing the other up, sensing how much power the other had.
"And…FIGHT!" the beginning of the fight was announced. At first, nobody moved. Vegeta was positive that he could hear crickets chirping somewhere.
Hmm, Majin Boo began to try, at least try, and use what was left of the little bit of gray matter between his ears, or in his gigantic head, to come up with a plan. This guy looks kinda strong. And from the way he dealt with Goten, he must be pretty strong. Maybe my powers will exceed his, though. I mean, how many people on this planet are actually stronger than me? Not many. Since that guy seems to like to be on defense, then I guess I'll attack first. I'll just check with him.
"Hey, is it okay with you if I attack first?" he called. Ticco raised an eyebrow, wondering if there was something that Majin Boo knew that he didn't.
"Sure, go right ahead," he answered.
The fool, he just gave away the surprise of the fight, Vegeta thought. Oh, well, it's his fight. Then Majin Boo walked right up to the other warrior. Ticco's eyebrow rose even further. The crowd began to wonder exactly how long this fight was going to last. Suddenly, Majin Boo swung at Ticco's head. Ticco bent backwards and the pink fist swooshed above his head. He straightened. Majin Boo swung again, this time aimed at Ticco's stomach. Ticco turned quickly to the right and moved a little to the left. Majin Boo's fist missed again. Ticco stepped back to how he originally was.
"All right, stop testing and start fighting," he growled, sounding annoyed.
"Oh, all right," Majin Boo said, sounding disappointed. Suddenly, he threw an extraordinarily quick punch at Ticco, so fast Ticco was barely able to detect it. He moved aside just in time. Then another punch was aimed right at his head, which Ticco quickly avoided. Majin Boo kept on trying to punch Ticco, and Ticco was always able to barely avoid the onslaught. Finally, Majin Boo stopped. Ticco backed up a few steps, so that he could detect any other attacks.
"Hey!" protested Majin Boo, "Why are you running away?"
"I'm not running away, you fool!" growled Ticco. "I'm backing away so that I can better sense your attacks!"
"Oh!" Majin Boo said. "Well, why didn't you say so before you backed away?"
"This is a tournament, fool, I'm not supposed to tell you!"
"Oh, yeah, I remember now!" This brought a few snickers from the crowd, while the rest continued to gape at how fast everything was going. Majin Boo brought his hand back, and Ticco immediately got into a stance.
That guy's several feet away, he thought, how is he going to attack me from there, unless it's a ki shot? But I sense no ki gathering at his hand. Without warning, Majin Boo's arm stretched and shot itself toward Ticco. Almost caught completely by surprise, Ticco still seemed to have the sense to jump into the air, narrowly avoiding being hit. Then Majin Boo jumped up as well. He tried a round kick to Ticco's left arm, but Ticco brought up his hand and blocked it. Ticco punched Majin Boo in the stomach. It sunk in, and then Ticco pulled his arm out, looking thoroughly disgusted.
"What the hell are you made of, marshmallows?" he said, making a face that no one could see.
"Actually, I'm not really sure myself," Majin Boo replied cheerfully.
"Ugh," Ticco grunted. "I'll be sure to make as little skin contact as possible." Majin Boo once again raised his hand, except this time it was forward so that the almost shapeless palm was facing Ticco.
Ki shot, Ticco's senses automatically told him. A pink ki ball was propelled from Majin Boo. Not a very powerful one. All thought was within a few fractions of a second. Ticco brought his right hand back, and hit the ball back to its maker. Instead of hitting it away, Majin Boo let it hit him. A large explosion immediately followed. That guy had to have lost at least an arm. As the smoke cleared, Ticco immediately sensed Majin Boo's right arm missing. Unusually, Majin Boo wasn't screaming in pain. ??? *POP* and the arm instantly grew back. Whoa, Ch-ch-ch-chia! ® Instant regeneration of lost limbs! This is going to be harder than I thought.
"So, do you like my tricks?" Majin Boo asked.
"Tricks?" Ticco snorted. "Those were obvious attacks, it could hardly be considered…tricks." Majin Boo frowned.
"Then what is considered a trick?" he inquired. Ticco thought for a minute.
"Hmm, maybe something like…this!" and with that, he disappeared from normal human view. From Majin Boo's view as well. Majin Boo looked all around him in vain. Suddenly, Ticco appeared behind him. "Ha, fool! I'm here!" and promptly delivered a vicious kick to Majin Boo's rear end. Majin Boo went spiraling off in the other direction.
Hmm, that was a pretty good trick, I think. He concentrated a bit to stop his uncontrolled careening. Then he floated back to where he used to be.
"Wow! That was a good trick!" he exclaimed. Ticco snorted.
"I told you so," he said.
"Hey! Do you know any other tricks? And can you teach them to me?" Majin Boo asked eagerly. Ticco seemed to consider the notion.
"Well…I'll do the first part. Unfortunately, I can't quite guarantee the second, oh well," Ticco shrugged. Then he slowly drifted down to the ring. With a soft pat, his feet planted themselves firmly on the ground on the edge of the ring. Then he closed his eyes and began to concentrate. Hard. At first, nothing happened.
What is the warrior doing? Vegeta thought. Is he trying to imagine Majin Boo away? Or is he just giving up? The rest of the crowd seemed to think the same way.
"Hey! Is there a fight going on or what?" someone shouted. People began to follow that voice. Suddenly, one extremely shrill woman's voice pierced the air.
"O MY GOD! THERE'S GREEN SLIME!" And sure enough, people saw what looked like tendrils of green mist snaking their way toward Ticco. But there seemed to be an invisible shield around Ticco because when it got a certain distance away from him, it began to form a sort of green misty circle around him. After a while, the circle became barely penetrable with human eyes. Even the Saiya-jin eyes could hardly see through the green force field around Ticco. Suddenly, the sphere began to shrink. It was shrinking pretty quickly. The instant a part of the sphere touched Ticco, that part turned misty. Soon Ticco looked like a ghost. Even the gold dragon armlet on Ticco's right arm looked filmy and insubstantial. During this time, Majin Boo had been watching patiently. Of course that wouldn't last forever. He decided to charge. He shot himself toward Ticco. Finally the green sphere was fully absorbed, and Ticco opened his eyes. That was the only part that didn't look transparent, probably because they already looked filmy. By this point, Majin Boo was already three-fourths of the way there. Ticco, unusually, just stood there, seemingly waiting for the oncoming attack. Majin Boo, sensing absolutely no abnormalities, kept his charge up. Now he was one foot away from Ticco's head. Everyone held his or her breath. The announcer began to tell everyone what was happening.
"Now he's half a foot away, no, he's an inch! He's swinging his fist. Oh my God, what is Ticco up to?! Majin Boo's fist went right through his head! He's dead! Oh, no he isn't, he's still standing up! What's going on?!"
"Huh?" said Majin Boo, looking bewildered as his head, then his stomach and finally his feet passed through Ticco. Everyone in the stadium's mouths dropped to their chests. Their eyes bulged until they were half the size of their heads. All, that is, except for the Z fighters. They merely frowned and thought, Beating this guy is gonna be harder that I thought. Finally, there was a gigantic WHUMP sound. Majin Boo had landed on his head outside of the ring.
"Majin Boo has landed on his head outside of the ring! Mr. Ticco is the winner!" the announcer proclaimed. Everyone recovered from their shock of seeing the big pink lard go through the other fighter and cheered. Ticco held out his hand to Majin Boo, then reconsidered and, concentrating, lifted Majin Boo off the ground and back into the ring. Then he bowed to him respectfully.
"You were a worthy…no that would be lying…you were a strong opponent," Ticco said to him. A bit dense, though.
"Gee, thanks, you were pretty good, too, and uh," then Majin Boo leaned over and whispered in his ear. "Watch out for that short guy with blue clothes on, he's mean."
"You mean Vegeta?"
"Uh-huh."
"Mean? Of course he's mean. He's a Saiya-jin."
"You know about them?"
"Yes."
"Oh, well then okay, you're gonna be okay!"
"Thanks." Ticco said sarcastically with a wry smile. Majin Boo, however, seemed not to notice the sarcasm.
"Hey, no problem! If you ever have any problems with the Saiya-jins, then just ask me!" he said with a big grin.
"Yes…I'll be sure to keep that in mind," he answered, somewhat uncertainly. With a big wave, Majin Boo walked over to Trunks and Vegeta.
"Did you see that guy fight?" he asked excitedly. "I'm gonna ask him to teach me some tricks after this!"
"Yes, why don't you do that?" Vegeta said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"Okay, I'll remember," he said. Vegeta began to rub his forehead because he suddenly had a headache. Trunks coughed.
"I, uh, think that my dad was being sarcastic," he sighed.
"Why would he do that?" Majin Boo asked curiously.
"Oh, no reason," Trunks said, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, well I'm just gonna go and get a snack," Majin Boo said. Then he walked off, presumably to find a snack machine of some sort, or to get money from Mr. Satan.
"Err, Dad?" Trunks said tentatively. "Who's fighting next?"
"Just you and me, a father son moment if I do say so myself," Vegeta said with an evil leer.
Uh oh. Trunks began to worry about how far his father would go. "Um, then what?"
"Whoever wins fights that stupid human Sinter, and then Ticco."
Oh boy. I'm in deep trouble. I'm gonna get my butt creamed by either my dad or by Ticco. I'm dead.
"Don't worry, you have nothing to lose," Vegeta said calmly.
"Oh, no, I have absolutely nothing to lose, except for about three-fourths of my blood, maybe a limb or two, five teeth or so…"
"Heh." Trunks heard his father chuckle. He wanted to throw himself at his father's feet and scream, Please, please, please, don't kill me! But he knew that if he did that, he wouldn't have to wait for the fight before getting annihilated.
"All right, I'll be nice." Trunks let out of whoosh of air from relief. "Only one half of your blood, one hand, and one tooth, ok?"
"Oh, yes, Dad, I feel so relieved now," Trunks grumbled sarcastically. Vegeta chuckled again.
"And now, Mr. Trunks vs. Mr. Vegeta," the announcer called.
"Good luck," said Vegeta as they stepped out.