Disclaimer: I can stake no legal claim of ownership on the characters that appear on the show, but the rest are mine. This disclaimer will suffice for the rest of the story, so I won't have to keep writing them.
Author's Notes: Here we go, the beginning of a whole new adventure in the Dragonball universe lies before you. For all of you who read "The 25th Tenkaichi Budokai," thanks for coming back. For those who didn't, here's the rundown (WARNING! Spoilers ahead, if you were planning on reading that): The Great Saiyaman won the tournament, and 18 beat Mr. Satan, although he panned it off as an act of gentlemanliness and the crowd, of course, ate it up. Krillin somehow beat Kaioshin, and the events as he recalled them reminded Goku of the Kaio-ken, but Krillin said he didn't know that technique. That's pretty much it, after the victory ceremony, Spopovich and Yamu attacked Gohan, and the Buu saga went on as usual. I'm just telling you because this story takes place in that universe. Two more things: No GT! (And no Uubu.) And Bra was born just following the defeat of Buu, which makes her seven and a half years or so younger than Goten. Here's the new saga then, have at it!
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Episode One- New Times of Peace
It had been nearly one year since the defeat of Majin Buu. The Z-senshi and those close to them were the only ones to remember the horrific event. Gohan hand Videl had gotten married at a fairly young age only one week ago, despite some disagreement on the part of Mr. Satan and even Chi Chi. However, Chi Chi relented when Gohan confided in her that he and Videl had already bonded.
Currently, Yamcha was busy putting the finishing touches on his dojo that was to open the very next day. As he did so, he reflected on all the things that had happened in it in just the last week.
Gohan and Videl's wedding had been spectacular. Ox-King gave the service, and even Tenshinhan and Lunch had shown up. Yamcha didn't know how Piccolo had managed to find them. Furthermore, he was surprised that the Namek himself had made an appearance, albeit a brief one, to wish Gohan the best. Mr. Satan and a few friends of the happy couple from school were there, but that was everybody outside "the group." Mr. Satan had for some reason agreed to pay for most of it, so there was decent food and decorations, which was a good thing considering five saiyans were in attendance. Even Vegeta was in a seemingly good mood, and mocked Gohan as anyone would do to a groom on his wedding day, or bachelor party for that matter. Oy, there was an event never to be forgotten, either. Yamcha would never have suspected that Vegeta could act like a normal guy.
After the wedding, some friendly sparring matches were fought. Nothing too serious, after all, those kids from Gohan's school were there. When the newlyweds left for their honeymoon, Krillin and Goku had offered to stay and help clean up the place, for which Yamcha was very appreciative.
Three days later, Bulma came by to put the finishing touches on the back room of the dojo, the gravity room. Unlike the standard gravity room, this new model would only revert to 2 G's when the door was opened, and never go below that. The system was set to reach up to 400 G's, but Yamcha doubted he would ever need to go that high. However, he wanted it to accommodate any one of his friends that might come by to use it. After all, they'd all made a promise that after Buu they would never be caught unprepared for anything ever again.
The next day, Krillin came by to test the gravity room with him, and they had a sparring match in 50 G's. Krillin won, as Yamcha had expected, and then helped him set up some of the last bits of equipment. He then asked if he could unveil some news when they had the gathering to open the dojo. Yamcha saw no problem in this, and said yes.
So that left one night. When Yamcha woke up the next day, he would have his very own dojo. His plan was to train the current and future children of all the Z-senshi, a plan which most of them agreed to. Bulma was still working on getting Vegeta to allow him to train Bra, just the basics. She had a few years to wear him down until Bra was old enough.
Of course he would allow others in too, but few if any of them would probably ever use the back room. However, it gave him the chance to "scout for new talent" so to speak.
* * *
The next morning was a busy one. The whole gang sans Piccolo and Tenshinhan showed up to support the former bandit as he opened his dojo to the public. Well, sort of. Only the best martial arts students in the world had heard about it, so it was them who stood outside, hoping to be accepted by this new master who was supposed to be very good. Rumor had it he might even be as strong as Mr. Satan.
"Thank you all for coming," Yamcha said to his friends as they gathered in his dojo. Bulma had even managed to drag Vegeta to the event. "But before we start, Krillin has something he wants to say to you all." The shorter man stepped up next to Yamcha so he was facing the group.
"Thanks, Yamcha," he said. "I've known about this since after the barbeque last month," he said to the group, "but I wanted to wait for another special occasion to tell you." He scanned the assembly, and saw his wife wearing her trademark tiny smile. "I just wanted to say…" he paused for dramatic effect, "Say hello to the new Kame Master!" He took a bow, and his friends all clapped and cheered for him.
"Wow, that's great, Krillin!" Goku exclaimed, slapping his friend on the back. "Good for you!"
"Congratulations, Krillin!" Gohan said, and repeated his father's gesture. Many more congrats came before everyone settled back down so Yamcha could open the doors. Outside stood the small cluster of fighters who were anxiously waiting to see if this place was all they'd heard it was believed to be.
"We'll be off so you can have your try-outs or whatever," Goku said.
"Thanks," Yamcha said. Then he called out to Videl and Gohan. "Can I talk to you guys for a minute?" he asked.
"Sure," Gohan said, and he and his new wife walked over to their friend.
"First things first," Yamcha began. "How was the honeymoon?"
"Well, I'm not supposed to give details," Gohan said, "And we had to cut it a little short to make it back here for your opening, but let's just say it was beyond fantastic."
Yamcha smiled. "That's good to hear. Anyway, I wanted to ask Videl to stay a little while. If she's going to take the position of 'top student' around here, she should stay for the first day, don't you think?" They seemed to agree, and Gohan decided to stay and watch the process. After all that was settled, Yamcha opened the door and stepped out to address the group of eager young fighters. He held up his hands to gain their attention.
* * *
"Hey, it's him!" one of the fighters said. "That's Yamcha!"
"Haven't I seen him somewhere before?" another one asked.
"Yeah, he used to play baseball," a third one said. "He was incredible."
"They say he's a great fighter, too. I hope I get to train here!"
"Shh! He's gonna talk."
* * *
"Good morning to everyone," said Yamcha to the crowd that immediately hushed. "I thank you all for coming, and welcome you all to my dojo. Unfortunately, as of now, I only have room for eight students, so many of you will not make it." He motioned for Videl to come stand next to him, which she did. "I've invited the great Satan Videl to come train here, so if you do the math, that leaves seven spots. I'm going to have sort of a 'try-out' today, and I'll select who I think can gain the most out of training here. If you'll all follow me, please." He turned around and walked back into the dojo, and Videl followed him. The crowd of fighters came soon after, and the murmuring started again.
* * *
"Whoa! Videl's training here? It's gotta be good, then."
"How do you think he'll pick the seven who get to stay?"
"Well obviously," said a young man named Daisuke with short brown hair who looked like a walking rock, "he's gonna pick the best fighters. I've been training for my whole life, so I'm sure to get in." He flashed a cocky grin as they were passing through the front door.
"All right," Yamcha said to them as they all made it inside and stood in a circle around him. There were nineteen of them in all. "I'm going to pair some of you up, and we'll see how you do in standard sparring matches." He proceeded to pair the boys up. They ranged in age from sixteen to mid-twenties. Oddly enough, no girls showed up.
He was completely unbiased in his pairings, and age did not factor in. Daisuke managed to get paired up with the youngest boy there, who was a little tall for his age, and had brownish blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Naturally, he was acting very arrogant about it. Videl paired against the last remaining fighter, whom Yamcha could sense was the strongest one there. He had jet-black hair and that was quite short, and the eyes of someone who'd seen a lot. The former bandit signaled for them to begin sparring, and stood back with Gohan to watch.
"What do you think?" he asked the young demi-saiyan.
"Those two over there look pretty good," Gohan pointed to a pair of young men who were matching each other blow for blow fairly well. They were about the same height and build, one with brown hair and one with blonde. "And what about that guy fighting Videl?"
Yamcha looked, and saw that the man was having considerable trouble holding his own against the young woman. It was obviously worrying him, but Yamcha just grinned. Videl wasn't holding back much. Then he looked over to where Daisuke was fighting the younger boy. The boy was strictly on the defensive, and Daisuke was pressing his advantage.
"Why'd you even bother coming?" the older one taunted. "You should know that you don't stand a chance with fighters like me here." He sent out a flying kick, and the boy fell back onto the mat, exhausted. Yamcha stopped the sparring. He then went around to talk to each of the candidates one by one, and Videl went over to talk to Gohan.
"That guy was pretty good," Gohan said to his wife. "Did you catch his name?"
"Keiichi," she answered. "Poor guy's terrified that he won't make it in because he lost the fight." She and Gohan chuckled.
Yamcha, meanwhile, had made it to the pair Gohan pointed out earlier. "What are your names?" he asked them.
"My name's Antas," the one with brown hair said.
"And I'm Faita," said the blonde one.
"How long have you been training?"
"For six years," Antas replied.
"Hey, same here!" said Faita.
"Any particular reason why you want to train here?" Yamcha asked them.
"I want to make the best I can of myself," Antas said.
"And I want to be strong enough to help the police like Videl," said Faita. Yamcha smiled at them.
"Those are good reasons," he said. "Why don't you two go rest for a minute while I finish speaking to everyone." They gladly complied, for they'd nearly worn each other out. Yamcha stepped on to the next fighter, who just happened to be Keiichi.
"Where'd you learn to fight?" Yamcha asked him.
"On my own, really," came the reply. "I've lived alone in the forest for most of my life, and I only came to the city about a year ago. I found a dojo downtown that I've been training at, but my sensei told me there was nothing left for him to teach me and sent me here." Yamcha was very impressed. "I guess I blew it, though," Keiichi continued. "I didn't count on her being that strong." Yamcha grinned to himself. He would have to let this guy think himself weak for a few more minutes.
"One more question: how old are you?"
"Nineteen. I guess I could always try the next time you take on students," he said dejectedly.
"Just sit down and rest for now," Yamcha said. "I have two more people to talk to." Keiichi sat down, and Yamcha moved on to the last two: Daisuke and his young opponent.
"What are your names?" he asked them.
"My name's Daisuke," said the cocky fighter proudly.
"I'm Takeru," said the younger one. He was just about out of breath and was rubbing his head painfully.
"How long have you been training?" he asked.
"All my life," stated Daisuke with an arrogant grin.
"A little over three years," Takeru said meekly. Yamcha's eyes widened slightly and Daisuke laughed.
"Three years? Ha! No wonder I beat you so easily! I think you should get in at least another decade of practice before you try to come here again!" Yamcha scowled, and then told the two fighters to go and join the others. He then went over to convene with Gohan and Videl, and ask the latter about her fight with Keiichi.
* * *
"I can't believe I blew it," Keiichi said despondently. "Now what am I going to do?"
"Don't get all down on yourself," Antas said to him. "We've only had one round of fighting. He'll probably at least give us one more."
"Tough luck getting paired up with Videl, though," Faita said.
"Well I don't care if we have another round or not," Daisuke said. "The only one here that I would have trouble against is Videl, and the odds of me getting paired with here are pretty small. Besides, I told him I've trained for my whole life. That's gotta count from something." The sound of Yamcha's voice ended their conversation.
"If I could have everyone's attention, please!" he shouted. They all turned to face him. "I've made my selection, and have decided upon the seven fighters that will be training here."
"What?" one of them said. "But we've only had one fight! How could he make up his mind already?" Yamcha ignored him and continued.
"Those of you whose names I call please come speak to me after everyone else leaves, and as for the rest of you, I encourage you to keep training and try another time." He then motioned for them to stand up and started calling off names.
"Fej!" A short, brown-haired fighter pulled in his fist in triumph.
"Yamato!" A taller fighter with spiky golden brown hair made a similar gesture.
"Bokken!" This man was very tall, and seemed to resemble a stick with muscles. He had no hair.
"Antas!" the young warrior refrained from celebrating until he was sure his new friend made it as well. Sure enough, the next name Yamcha called out was…
"Faita!" The two high-fived each other, and then quickly calmed down so as not to embarrass themselves.
"Keiichi!" The black-haired warrior was stunned, and more excited than he had ever been in his life. The others seemed happy for him as well, and they all congratulated him, except for Daisuke.
* * *
The aforementioned was greatly puzzled. Hadn't that guy lost a fight? Why was master Yamcha choosing him?
"I guess it doesn't matter," Daisuke said to himself. "There's only one fighter left, and it's sure to be me."
"Do you really think so?" asked another young man.
"Of course!" Daisuke laughed. "Who else would it be? He's probably saving the best for last." He puffed his chest proudly as he said this. He was going to be picked, and he knew it.
* * *
"And last, but not least," Yamcha called out, and he paused for effect while all the hopeful young fighters waited anxiously with bated breath, "Is Takeru." The young blonde boy fell over in disbelief. Yamcha grinned in satisfaction, and Daisuke was visibly upset.
"HIM?"
"Are you saying I didn't choose correctly, Daisuke?" Yamcha asked.
"You're damn right I am! I beat this kid! How can you possibly say he's better than me!?"
"I never said he was a better fighter than you, Daisuke," replied Yamcha calmly. This only seemed to enrage the young man even more.
"Then why did you pick him?" he demanded.
"That's simple," Yamcha explained. "You may be a better fighter than Takeru right now, but you've been training a whole lot longer than him. If he keeps going at the pace he's on, he'll be able to beat you easily in just a few years. That's why I picked him." Now Yamcha got a stern look on his face. "Furthermore, I find you to be an incredibly cocky and arrogant fighter, and there's no place for that in my dojo, or any dojo for that matter. I have no interest in training a hothead like you. Now if you would kindly follow the example of the others who were not selected and leave, the rest of us can go on with our business." He turned his back, and motioned for his new students to follow him. Daisuke merely stood there for a moment, mouth agape, and then turned on his heel and stormed out, vowing revenge on Takeru someday.
* * *
"What a day, huh?" Gohan asked Videl as the two of them were flying home that evening.
"You said it," she replied. "I hope Yamcha's up to this. Being the master at a dojo isn't an easy job."
"Well, he's been looking for something to do for a while now. Krillin says that he really rekindled his fighting spirit while they were in otherworld."
"Speaking of Krillin," Videl asked, "Do you think he and Juuhachi will let Marron train there?"
"That's a good question. I know they originally didn't want her to fight, but all the stuff that's happened may have changed their minds. And with Krillin being the new Kame Master and all…I just don't know. The real question is whether or not Bra will be allowed to train there."
Videl chuckled. "Well if Bulma gets her way she will."
"But you know Vegeta. He really doesn't want his daughter to fight. I still can't figure out why, but he doesn't. And he never did like Yamcha very much."
"You just wait and see Gohan," Videl said. "Somehow, Bulma will force him into it."
* * *
Meanwhile, out near the reclusive home of the Sons, two young warriors were testing their strength against each other.
"C'mon, Trunks! No transforming!" Goten whined.
"But doesn't your dad say that you can increase your strength faster if you train as a super saiyan?" Trunks asked.
"Oh yeah!" Goten realized. He took a moment to power up, and then transformed himself. He then resumed his earlier attack on the young lavender-haired boy. After an intensive spar, Goten took a break only to find Gohan and Videl watching the fight.
"Brother!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Did you come to see dad?" Gohan nodded, and Goten ran over to him and began jumping up and down. "He said you were coming! Mr. Piccolo's here, too! Did you and Videl have fun last week? How come I couldn't go with you, huh?"
Gohan put his hands up. "Whoa! Slow down, squirt! Did you say Piccolo was here?" Goten nodded. "All right, I've got to go talk to the two of them. Why don't you two keep Videl company, okay?" He then turned to his wife. "I'll be back in an hour or so." He gave her a quick kiss and then took off for the lake out behind his father's house.
Videl turned to Goten. "So what have you guys been doing lately?" she asked.
"We've been fighting!" answered Goten enthusiastically. "We wanna be as strong as my brother someday!" Videl just giggled.
* * *
"Here he is," Goku said as he saw Gohan flying toward them.
"Hi dad, hi Piccolo," Gohan said as he touched down in front of them.
"How were the try-outs?" Goku asked. "Anyone promising?"
"There were a few guys who looked pretty good, and there was this one guy who could put Mr. Satan to shame when it comes to self-esteem." Goku chuckled.
"How long did it take?" Piccolo asked.
"Not long, really. He paired them up and had them fight for a little while, but that's about it." Then Goku changed the subject.
"So are you ready to try again, Gohan?" he asked. Gohan's expression grew serious.
"Yes," was all he said. He put his arms out next to him, and began to concentrate. With one massive surge of power, he transformed into his super saiyan form. Goku followed suit, and then Piccolo and the older saiyan dropped into fighting stances.
"I hope I can do it this time," the young demi-saiyan said as he too dropped into a fighting stance. All at once his father and Piccolo attacked him full force, and it was all he could do to merely defend himself. Punch after punch and kick after kick came flying at him at absurdly great speed, and to put his limbs out to block took every bit of concentration and effort he had.
"I can tell you've had a week off from training," Goku commented as he continued his furious assault.
"Well…" Gohan choked out while he blocked and dodged the endless barrage of punches, "you kind of…have to…give me that one, dad. I mean…even you can't…expect me to…be training…on my honeymoon."
"I guess that's true," Goku conceded, "but you do have to remember what happened the last time. We don't ever want to be caught off-guard again." Gohan nodded a stern affirmative and released every bit of his power that he could.
"You're getting closer, Gohan," Piccolo observed. "Every time we train like this I can feel you getting closer to that plateau."
"Just concentrate, Gohan," Goku said. "Remember to fight with your feelings. Think back to Freeza, and Cell, and Majin Buu. We don't ever want anything like that to happen again. We have to be ready." Gohan felt his father's words infusing him with power. His strength was slowly growing.
Apparently, Goku could feel it as well and decided to keep pressing. "Remember Babidi, and all the horrible things that he did. Remember Spopovich! Remember what Spopovich did! Do you ever want to see that again?"
They had been fighting for nearly ten minutes straight now and Gohan was starting to get worn out. However, his father's words were ringing clear. Images of the horrid Cell Jr.'s mercilessly beating his friends flashed through his mind. These were followed by pictures of Videl being beaten into the ground by an unpitying Spopovich. Anger flowed through him, and he could feel his inner restraints slipping.
'It shouldn't be this hard!' he told himself. 'I've done it before! I'll need to do it again! I have to do it! NOW!' With a mighty roar, his power exploded out from him, and literally blew his father and Piccolo away. In a blinding flash of light, he finally accomplished what he'd only ever done four times before in his entire life. He had transformed to Super Saiyan Level 2.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Done! If you don't get the title just yet, don't worry, you will. And also, I'd like to mention that future chapters will move faster than this one. I was just setting things up here.