Vegeta and Gohan finally received word that it was their turn to take the first test, so they made their way to a hanger with a small shuttle in it. When they boarded the shuttle, they found 6 empty chairs sitting behind a very padded pilot's station. A voice came from the chair, "Please sit down and we will be off."
As soon as they sat, they could feel the shuttle lift off and start moving towards the planet. After a few minutes the shuttle landed near one end of a large valley. "You will find your challenge in the valley ahead of us. When you are finished here come back to the shuttle here and I will return you to the station. Please stand by while I turn off the artificial gravity in here." A hum from the back of the shuttle faded and Gohan and Vegeta were pressed down into their seats by the weight of their bodies.
Gohan and Vegeta stood up and grinned at each other. They moved to the shuttle door that had opened and jumped out. As soon as they were out the door closed and they heard the gravity generator in the shuttle start back up.
Gohan did a few deep knee bends and then a couple summersaults to test out the gravity with. "What do you think Vegeta, maybe 25 times normal gravity?"
"That seems about right, it should not pose a problem for us. But still be careful, one bad landing and you could break enough bones to make yourself useless in completing the trial."
"Yes Vegeta." Gohan looked around, "I wonder what the trial will be. It has to be more than just walking around down here."
Vegeta did not answer, but started walking down the valley while trying to keep an eye out for anything that might attack then. They had made it about halfway down the valley when they started to hear a rumbling from around them. They both leapt a short distance to put some space between them and dropped into fighting stances. They watched with surprise as 6 large boulders floated up into the air. The boulders were made of a 2 foot round sphere with numerous spikes coming out of the center. Each spike was almost 2 feet long and ended in a 6 inch ball, much like a club. As they watched the balls started spinning in mid-air, randomly changing directions and speed while they spun. After a moment, all six balls started to move in towards Gohan and Vegeta.
Vegeta just scowled and charged a Ki attack in his left hand and threw a ball of energy at the nearest rock. The rock changed the direction and speed of its spin and knocked the ball of energy away harmlessly. Vegeta turned to face the rock and increased his power some more. Then he let loose with several dozen shots all aimed at the rock. The rock's spinning went into overdrive and managed to deflect every shot Vegeta threw at it.
Just then Vegeta heard a yell from Gohan and turned his head to see what was going on. Gohan had leapt into the air and flew at one of the rocks near him, his fist cocked back ready to punch. The spin of the rock changed directions again at the last second and hit Gohan's arm as he threw his punch, Gohan gasped in pain at the force of the hit on his arm and hesitated. Then the rock bounced forward a bit and smashed Gohan in the chest, sending him flying. Gohan managed to recover before he hit the ground and caught himself in mid-air.
Just then Vegeta had to jump into the air to avoid a couple of the rocks that were charging him and shot several more energy blasts behind him while he tried to think of something that would work against these things. He had a sudden idea and froze his flight while he charged another powerful blast. A second later another ball of energy was flying towards one of the rocks still near the ground by Gohan. At the last second, the attack changed direction and slammed into the ground right below the rock. An explosion shook the area as pieces of rock flew everywhere. When the dust cleared the floating rock was still there but had a couple of its spines knocked off. Vegeta screamed in victory for a moment and looked around for another one to attack, but then he realized the rest were still too far off the ground for them to be damaged the same way.
Meanwhile Gohan had gotten an idea of his own and found the perfect tool to use, while still floating in the air he used his Ki to lift a large flat piece of rock into the air and sent it flying to smash into one of the rocks attacking them. With a crash that made Gohan and Vegeta wince the 2 rocks fell to the valley floor. After the dust cleared they could see the attacking rock was shattered with its core broken into several pieces, but clearly it was out of the fight.
"Good work Gohan!"
"Thanks Vegeta, but that is hard work in this gravity!" Gohan was still panting with the effort he had expended to lift and throw that rock. But he was still paying attention and dodged the next couple of attacks without much problem and got himself a little room to catch his breath. Vegeta, following Gohan's lead, found a smaller piece of rock that looked like an oversized baseball bat. He picked it up and with a yell charged at another one of the rocks that was coming at him. With a strong swing he hit the flying rock a solid blow and sent it flying into the side of valley where it was buried in a small landslide caused by its impact. But Vegeta had broken his bat with that hit and growled as he let the useless chuck of rock he now held fall to the ground.
He heard a noise right behind him and turned just in time to see another rock almost on top of him. Without thinking Vegeta reach out and grabbed a couple of the spines and stopped the rock cold. It tried to spin and shake him off but Vegeta held on and managed to turn the spin against the rock and with another yell, sent the rock flying straight down to smash against the ground where it broke into a bunch of little pieces.
Gohan, having caught his breath now, took off flying at a tremendous speed. He circled back and went pass one of the rocks moving at a blur. As he passed the rock he grabbed it and pulled it along with him. Gohan flew at the second to last rock and used the one he was pulling to smash them together. Pieces flew from the force of the impact both rocks were destroyed.
Gohan and Vegeta landed near each other and smiled. "This wasn't so hard after all."
"We still have one more to take care of Vegeta."
"It is already damaged, there will be no problem with this one."
Gohan nodded. "I'll lead off." He took off and flew towards the rock at high speed. After several passes around the rock suddenly Gohan stopped, planted his feet on the ground and grabbed the rock, halting it dead. "I can't hold it for long Vegeta."
Vegeta smiled as he saw where Gohan had grabbed the rock. The broken spines were pointed outwards leaving Vegeta a perfect place to make his attack. Vegeta jumped forward and focused his energy into his fist and punched right into the heart of the rock. It exploded into fine dust leaving Vegeta and Gohan dirty but happy.
A voice floated down the valley then. "Congratulations Warriors. You have passed the first test."
Gohan and Vegeta flew back to where the shuttle was waiting and climbed in after the door was opened. They sat back down in their seats and sighed with relief when the artificial gravity was turned back on. After a short flight back up to the station the climbed out of the shuttle and were met by one of the officials of the tournament.
"Well done. Just so you know, only half the teams that have tried, have passed this test so far. And you two have just scored the fastest time on this test." The official bowed to Gohan and Vegeta. "Do you need any healing?"
Gohan looked over at Vegeta for a second before answering, "No, we are fine. But I am kind of hungry, could use something to eat."
The official smiled. "Of course, please come this way. We will serve you all the food you want."
Gohan and Vegeta just grinned at each other and followed the official out. "If they only knew what they were about to get themselves into." Vegeta thought.
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Author's notes:
Thanks for all the great reviews so far. So far I have been doing pretty well and managing chapter every couple of days. I hope to keep up that pace and should be able to keep in interesting for a while longer at least.
Happy reading!
As soon as they sat, they could feel the shuttle lift off and start moving towards the planet. After a few minutes the shuttle landed near one end of a large valley. "You will find your challenge in the valley ahead of us. When you are finished here come back to the shuttle here and I will return you to the station. Please stand by while I turn off the artificial gravity in here." A hum from the back of the shuttle faded and Gohan and Vegeta were pressed down into their seats by the weight of their bodies.
Gohan and Vegeta stood up and grinned at each other. They moved to the shuttle door that had opened and jumped out. As soon as they were out the door closed and they heard the gravity generator in the shuttle start back up.
Gohan did a few deep knee bends and then a couple summersaults to test out the gravity with. "What do you think Vegeta, maybe 25 times normal gravity?"
"That seems about right, it should not pose a problem for us. But still be careful, one bad landing and you could break enough bones to make yourself useless in completing the trial."
"Yes Vegeta." Gohan looked around, "I wonder what the trial will be. It has to be more than just walking around down here."
Vegeta did not answer, but started walking down the valley while trying to keep an eye out for anything that might attack then. They had made it about halfway down the valley when they started to hear a rumbling from around them. They both leapt a short distance to put some space between them and dropped into fighting stances. They watched with surprise as 6 large boulders floated up into the air. The boulders were made of a 2 foot round sphere with numerous spikes coming out of the center. Each spike was almost 2 feet long and ended in a 6 inch ball, much like a club. As they watched the balls started spinning in mid-air, randomly changing directions and speed while they spun. After a moment, all six balls started to move in towards Gohan and Vegeta.
Vegeta just scowled and charged a Ki attack in his left hand and threw a ball of energy at the nearest rock. The rock changed the direction and speed of its spin and knocked the ball of energy away harmlessly. Vegeta turned to face the rock and increased his power some more. Then he let loose with several dozen shots all aimed at the rock. The rock's spinning went into overdrive and managed to deflect every shot Vegeta threw at it.
Just then Vegeta heard a yell from Gohan and turned his head to see what was going on. Gohan had leapt into the air and flew at one of the rocks near him, his fist cocked back ready to punch. The spin of the rock changed directions again at the last second and hit Gohan's arm as he threw his punch, Gohan gasped in pain at the force of the hit on his arm and hesitated. Then the rock bounced forward a bit and smashed Gohan in the chest, sending him flying. Gohan managed to recover before he hit the ground and caught himself in mid-air.
Just then Vegeta had to jump into the air to avoid a couple of the rocks that were charging him and shot several more energy blasts behind him while he tried to think of something that would work against these things. He had a sudden idea and froze his flight while he charged another powerful blast. A second later another ball of energy was flying towards one of the rocks still near the ground by Gohan. At the last second, the attack changed direction and slammed into the ground right below the rock. An explosion shook the area as pieces of rock flew everywhere. When the dust cleared the floating rock was still there but had a couple of its spines knocked off. Vegeta screamed in victory for a moment and looked around for another one to attack, but then he realized the rest were still too far off the ground for them to be damaged the same way.
Meanwhile Gohan had gotten an idea of his own and found the perfect tool to use, while still floating in the air he used his Ki to lift a large flat piece of rock into the air and sent it flying to smash into one of the rocks attacking them. With a crash that made Gohan and Vegeta wince the 2 rocks fell to the valley floor. After the dust cleared they could see the attacking rock was shattered with its core broken into several pieces, but clearly it was out of the fight.
"Good work Gohan!"
"Thanks Vegeta, but that is hard work in this gravity!" Gohan was still panting with the effort he had expended to lift and throw that rock. But he was still paying attention and dodged the next couple of attacks without much problem and got himself a little room to catch his breath. Vegeta, following Gohan's lead, found a smaller piece of rock that looked like an oversized baseball bat. He picked it up and with a yell charged at another one of the rocks that was coming at him. With a strong swing he hit the flying rock a solid blow and sent it flying into the side of valley where it was buried in a small landslide caused by its impact. But Vegeta had broken his bat with that hit and growled as he let the useless chuck of rock he now held fall to the ground.
He heard a noise right behind him and turned just in time to see another rock almost on top of him. Without thinking Vegeta reach out and grabbed a couple of the spines and stopped the rock cold. It tried to spin and shake him off but Vegeta held on and managed to turn the spin against the rock and with another yell, sent the rock flying straight down to smash against the ground where it broke into a bunch of little pieces.
Gohan, having caught his breath now, took off flying at a tremendous speed. He circled back and went pass one of the rocks moving at a blur. As he passed the rock he grabbed it and pulled it along with him. Gohan flew at the second to last rock and used the one he was pulling to smash them together. Pieces flew from the force of the impact both rocks were destroyed.
Gohan and Vegeta landed near each other and smiled. "This wasn't so hard after all."
"We still have one more to take care of Vegeta."
"It is already damaged, there will be no problem with this one."
Gohan nodded. "I'll lead off." He took off and flew towards the rock at high speed. After several passes around the rock suddenly Gohan stopped, planted his feet on the ground and grabbed the rock, halting it dead. "I can't hold it for long Vegeta."
Vegeta smiled as he saw where Gohan had grabbed the rock. The broken spines were pointed outwards leaving Vegeta a perfect place to make his attack. Vegeta jumped forward and focused his energy into his fist and punched right into the heart of the rock. It exploded into fine dust leaving Vegeta and Gohan dirty but happy.
A voice floated down the valley then. "Congratulations Warriors. You have passed the first test."
Gohan and Vegeta flew back to where the shuttle was waiting and climbed in after the door was opened. They sat back down in their seats and sighed with relief when the artificial gravity was turned back on. After a short flight back up to the station the climbed out of the shuttle and were met by one of the officials of the tournament.
"Well done. Just so you know, only half the teams that have tried, have passed this test so far. And you two have just scored the fastest time on this test." The official bowed to Gohan and Vegeta. "Do you need any healing?"
Gohan looked over at Vegeta for a second before answering, "No, we are fine. But I am kind of hungry, could use something to eat."
The official smiled. "Of course, please come this way. We will serve you all the food you want."
Gohan and Vegeta just grinned at each other and followed the official out. "If they only knew what they were about to get themselves into." Vegeta thought.
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Author's notes:
Thanks for all the great reviews so far. So far I have been doing pretty well and managing chapter every couple of days. I hope to keep up that pace and should be able to keep in interesting for a while longer at least.
Happy reading!