Well, I am back finally. I wish I could give you some type of excuse as to why it has been so long, but I can only say that laziness was a big factor. I am going to try and be a little better about it here, and see if I can get a chapter out every week or so until I finish the story.
I have a couple more ideas for stories that I want to write about but am going to punish myself but not starting on those until I make some progress here. But keep you eyes open, I will be throwing some more stuff into the mix soon enough. I hope.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey, you look just like Recoome from the Ginyu Force."
Coombra looked surprised, "He was my older brother, did you know him?"
Gohan gave him a sick grin. "Um, yea. Kind of. Well, I did get to meet him once."
"Oh. I was hoping you might have known how he died. Did you know he died?"
"I think I had heard that. Why do you want to know how he died?" Gohan noticed out of the corner of his eye that Vegeta had taken a step back and started to raise his power level a little bit.
"I am hoping his end was fitting for the fool that he was."
"Huh?" Gohan's question was echoed by Vegeta.
"Well, I'm sure you realized what a stupid, aggressive blockhead he was. Always picking fights and beating on people that couldn't fight back, and having fun with it. I hope whoever beat him took the time make him suffer a little bit on the on way out. It was no more than he deserved."
"Um, you really seem upset by his death. Didn't you like your brother?"
Coombra busted out laughing. "Like him? I hated his guts. After all the pranks he played on me and all the times he beat me up as a kid, I would have been willing to kill him myself. But I never got the chance."
Then Yardra spoke up, "Enough about us, I don't think we caught your names?"
"My name is Gohan, and that is Vegeta."
"Are you one of the teams that completed the trials?"
Gohan nodded.
"Great! I look forward to seeing what you guys can do on the battlefield." Then he turned to his teammates. "Let's go guys, we need to work on that opening pose some more, I don't think any of us where lined up right." And then they all wandered off with Trace and Pace waving to the Sayians as they walked away. Then Coombra stopped and turned back to them. "Vegeta? That name is familiar. You sure we haven't met any place?"
Vegeta shook his head. Coombra shrugged and finally turned away and walked off.
Gohan turned to Vegeta, "Did any of that give you a headache too?"
Vegeta nodded, still staring at the door the Quazar Quartet walked though.
"Okay, I am going to go lay down for a while. See you later Vegeta."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Vegeta and Gohan stood in a small alcove looking into the arena. They could hear the roar of the crowd that had gathered for the Opening Ceremonies of the tournament. They had been told to wait in the alcove and they would be introduced to the crowd, so they spent a few minutes trying to see if they could figure out who might be other fighters in the tournament by sorting Ki signatures. They had not met any of the other teams so far and most of the info they had to go on was rumor and hearsay.
Gohan shook his head. "Most of the crowd out there seems to be warriors of some type. Everybody has some type of power and there is so much of it, it is hard to even pick out individual ones."
Vegeta didn't respond but Gohan could see a look of frustration in his eye. Gohan turned back to the entrance and asked the host standing there. "How much longer until they get this started?"
"Not long now, young warrior." The roar of the crowd grew to a deafening level. "That should be for Lord Ventard. Once they get him and the ruling council seated, they should start bringing out the teams. Please remember, when you enter walk to the center and bow to Lord Ventard."
"I still don't see why I have to bow to him."
The host looked at Vegeta, "It's a show of respect for holding this tournament. And he will also take it as thanks for allowing you to stay in his palace during this."
Vegeta just rolled his eyes and after a moment nodded. "Very well, this once."
Just then they heard the announcer start talking again. "Assembled folk! Honored Guests! It's time to meet the warrior teams that have completed the 3 Trials of Excellence and will fight for the honor of their people. As many of you know, the trials were very difficult, as so only the best would be able to fight here today. But little did we know how difficult those trials would be. In fact of nearly 325 teams that originally signed up, only 5 made it through all 3 trials!"
Vegeta and Gohan looked at each other. "Five teams? We came all this way to end up fighting only 4 other teams? I have half a mind to walk out and leave this sham to itself."
The host turned back to them, "Don't worry. After the tournament is over, they will hold an open house for a couple weeks. Anybody can challenge anybody, one on one, or any mix of teams. I am sure many groups would love to challenge you."
Outside the announcer had gone on, describing the trials and explaining what each trial tested. "And now, we will bring you the 5 finalists! The teams will be introduced by their total power level as measured when they signed up, so without any more delay I bring you the first finalist!"
"With a total power level of 19.8 million, this team has surprised many by making it this far. Even though there are only 2 of them, they showed themselves to be un-stoppable and will make for great fights! I bring you Prince Vegeta and Gohan, the Sayians!"
Gohan and Vegeta walked out into the arena to an enormous roar. Gohan waved to the crowd as Vegeta just looked around taking in the crowd. When they reached the center of the ring they turned to the dais where Lord Ventard was seated. Gohan stood next to Vegeta, waiting for his lead. Vegeta for his part stood straight and met the eyes of Lord Ventard. After they stared for a moment, Vegeta smiled and then bowed his head. Gohan matched his actions, as did Lord Ventard.
"Our second team, hailing from the far end of quadrant 734, has come a long way to be part of this grand event. They are part of the Ga-nich Homogony and as such, they don't have individual names. But with a combined power level of 36 million, this six person team is anything but ordinary. Welcome the Ga-nich!"
At that, 6 small creatures came marching in lockstep formation out of another alcove. As soon as they had moved out of the shadow, Gohan was surprised to see looked like 3 foot tall beetles. They had a dark blue shell, brown underbelly and black heads. Their arms and legs looked pathetically small, but Gohan remembered from his lessons that insects on Earth were incredibly strong for their size, so he thought these might be so too. They walked to the center of the ring seemly ignoring the crowds and stopped a few paces from Vegeta and Gohan. As one, they turned and bowed to Lord Ventard.
"Next is a 3 member team that has shown great promise in the trials. They passed all 3 with the fastest times shown by any of the teams. So not only are they strong and fast, they don't like to waste time when the action gets started. They have a combined power total of 45 million and seem to find impressive ways of showing how good they are with that power. They are Sritick, Kitrick, and Titrick; The Brothers Itrick!"
With that 3 tall and solidly built lizards walked out into the open. They stood just over 7 feet tall and had solid, well muscled frames. They each had gray scales for skin, sapphire blue eyes and thick but flexible tail. Their outfits were easily the most eye catching part, all they wore were one piece tunics looking similar in design to a leotard, they were colored in thin vertical stripes of bright red, green, yellow and blue. The stripes were in a different sequence on each of them, otherwise they looked exactly alike. As they walked out waved to the crowd and threw small Ki balls into the air that exploded like fireworks. Once they reached the center of the arena, they bowed to Lord Ventard and when straightening back up, threw a triple burst of Ki into the air that exploded with a load bang and showered sparks all over the stadium.
"Now comes one of the great mysteries of these games. This 5 member team is from a race that nobody has ever heard of before and they are unwilling to tell us where they hail from. But they skill as warriors has been proven in the trials so they stand here with us today, ready to face the next challenge. They come to us with a combined team power of just over 50 million and an intense concentration that seems to know no bounds. Their names are unpronounceable by anyone who tried so they have agreed to be called simply, The Feathered Follies!"
And out they came, 5 members of an avian stock that truly looked like some mad scientist had managed to cross a chicken with a normal human. Their bodies were mostly human shaped except they only had 3 digits on each appendage. Their heads looks like it was pure bird like, right down to a short curved beak. They wore no clothes of any type and they bodies were covered in lightly colored feathers. Coming from the top of their heads each one had a bright red crest of feathers that flopped around freely has they moved and turned their heads. Waving to the crowd they walked to the center of the arena and bowed to Lord Ventard.
"And as they say, last but definitely not least is our fifth team! This group of fighters has already made a name for themselves in several local sectors and is the odds on favorites to win it all here. All 4 of them are not only great warriors but showmen of great pride. Their team power comes in at a staggering 75 million, and I am told they love their job which makes it just that much better for all of us. Welcome Yardra, Trace, Pace and Coombra; The Quazar Quartet!
They came bouncing into the arena doing flips and cartwheels. As they reached the center of the arena, they suddenly went into a routine that reminded Gohan of some of the cheerleading squads he had seen on TV back home. After several poses and a couple chants, the Quartet landed facing Lord Ventard and bowed to him.
"There you go! Our five finalist teams for the Great Ceti Thersus Tournament! Now Lord Ventard has a few words before the matches begin."
Lord Armond Ventard stood up and waved to the crowd for a moment waiting for them to quiet down so he could be heard. "Let me give my congratulations the five finalist teams. I know what you went through to get here today and I have the greatest respect for your skills and determination!" He turned his had back up to the crowd, "And let's also congratulate those many teams that also took part in the trials but cannot be here today!"
The crowds continued to roar in response.
Ventard waved again to quiet the crowd down. "Now for the tournament, because we had originally expected several more teams to make the finals we had planned on a simple, elimination style match-up. But since we only have 5 teams, we had decided on different format. Instead we will be fighting round-robin style. So each team will get a chance to test itself against the others."
"There are only 2 rules for this tournament. First there is no use of deadly force allowed. Doing so will get your entire team eliminated from the tournament. Second, you must remain within the zone of combat. If you leave the marked area during a fight, you will not be allowed to rejoin your team for that fight. However, if you are thrown or blasted clear out of the area, you must return as quickly as you can. If you are not able to return within 5 minutes you will not be allowed to return until the fight is over."
"Each team will fight once per day, so we will have two matches each day for the next five days. So a team will fight 4 times and have one day off. Now to determine the lineups for the fights each day, I would to have one member from each team come up and draw from the bin here. The number drawn will place you in the tournament and also determine which day you will have off. We will draw in the order the teams where introduced today."
Vegeta nodded and Gohan walked up, reached in and pulled out a ball with the number 3 on it. A Ga-nich drew number 5, one of the Itrick pulled number 1 and the Follies got number 2, leaving number 4 for the Quazar Quartet.
So it ended up lining up like this:
Day 1: Itrick (#1) Off
Follies (#2) Vs Sayians (#3)
Quazar (#4) Vs Ga-nich (#5)
Day 2: Follies (#2) Off
Itrick (#1) Vs Quazar (#4)
Sayians (#3) Vs Ga-nich (#5)
Day 3: Sayians (#3) Off
Itrick (#1) Vs Ga-nich (#5)
Follies (#2) Vs Quazar (#4)
Day 4: Quazar (#4) Off
Itrick (#1) Vs Sayians (#3)
Follies (#2) Vs Ga-nich (#5)
Day 5: Ga-nich (#5) Off
Itrick (#1) Vs Follies (#2)
Sayians (#3) Vs Quazar (#4)
Lord Ventard stood up and waved to get the crowds attention again. "Let the tournament begin!"
I have a couple more ideas for stories that I want to write about but am going to punish myself but not starting on those until I make some progress here. But keep you eyes open, I will be throwing some more stuff into the mix soon enough. I hope.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey, you look just like Recoome from the Ginyu Force."
Coombra looked surprised, "He was my older brother, did you know him?"
Gohan gave him a sick grin. "Um, yea. Kind of. Well, I did get to meet him once."
"Oh. I was hoping you might have known how he died. Did you know he died?"
"I think I had heard that. Why do you want to know how he died?" Gohan noticed out of the corner of his eye that Vegeta had taken a step back and started to raise his power level a little bit.
"I am hoping his end was fitting for the fool that he was."
"Huh?" Gohan's question was echoed by Vegeta.
"Well, I'm sure you realized what a stupid, aggressive blockhead he was. Always picking fights and beating on people that couldn't fight back, and having fun with it. I hope whoever beat him took the time make him suffer a little bit on the on way out. It was no more than he deserved."
"Um, you really seem upset by his death. Didn't you like your brother?"
Coombra busted out laughing. "Like him? I hated his guts. After all the pranks he played on me and all the times he beat me up as a kid, I would have been willing to kill him myself. But I never got the chance."
Then Yardra spoke up, "Enough about us, I don't think we caught your names?"
"My name is Gohan, and that is Vegeta."
"Are you one of the teams that completed the trials?"
Gohan nodded.
"Great! I look forward to seeing what you guys can do on the battlefield." Then he turned to his teammates. "Let's go guys, we need to work on that opening pose some more, I don't think any of us where lined up right." And then they all wandered off with Trace and Pace waving to the Sayians as they walked away. Then Coombra stopped and turned back to them. "Vegeta? That name is familiar. You sure we haven't met any place?"
Vegeta shook his head. Coombra shrugged and finally turned away and walked off.
Gohan turned to Vegeta, "Did any of that give you a headache too?"
Vegeta nodded, still staring at the door the Quazar Quartet walked though.
"Okay, I am going to go lay down for a while. See you later Vegeta."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Vegeta and Gohan stood in a small alcove looking into the arena. They could hear the roar of the crowd that had gathered for the Opening Ceremonies of the tournament. They had been told to wait in the alcove and they would be introduced to the crowd, so they spent a few minutes trying to see if they could figure out who might be other fighters in the tournament by sorting Ki signatures. They had not met any of the other teams so far and most of the info they had to go on was rumor and hearsay.
Gohan shook his head. "Most of the crowd out there seems to be warriors of some type. Everybody has some type of power and there is so much of it, it is hard to even pick out individual ones."
Vegeta didn't respond but Gohan could see a look of frustration in his eye. Gohan turned back to the entrance and asked the host standing there. "How much longer until they get this started?"
"Not long now, young warrior." The roar of the crowd grew to a deafening level. "That should be for Lord Ventard. Once they get him and the ruling council seated, they should start bringing out the teams. Please remember, when you enter walk to the center and bow to Lord Ventard."
"I still don't see why I have to bow to him."
The host looked at Vegeta, "It's a show of respect for holding this tournament. And he will also take it as thanks for allowing you to stay in his palace during this."
Vegeta just rolled his eyes and after a moment nodded. "Very well, this once."
Just then they heard the announcer start talking again. "Assembled folk! Honored Guests! It's time to meet the warrior teams that have completed the 3 Trials of Excellence and will fight for the honor of their people. As many of you know, the trials were very difficult, as so only the best would be able to fight here today. But little did we know how difficult those trials would be. In fact of nearly 325 teams that originally signed up, only 5 made it through all 3 trials!"
Vegeta and Gohan looked at each other. "Five teams? We came all this way to end up fighting only 4 other teams? I have half a mind to walk out and leave this sham to itself."
The host turned back to them, "Don't worry. After the tournament is over, they will hold an open house for a couple weeks. Anybody can challenge anybody, one on one, or any mix of teams. I am sure many groups would love to challenge you."
Outside the announcer had gone on, describing the trials and explaining what each trial tested. "And now, we will bring you the 5 finalists! The teams will be introduced by their total power level as measured when they signed up, so without any more delay I bring you the first finalist!"
"With a total power level of 19.8 million, this team has surprised many by making it this far. Even though there are only 2 of them, they showed themselves to be un-stoppable and will make for great fights! I bring you Prince Vegeta and Gohan, the Sayians!"
Gohan and Vegeta walked out into the arena to an enormous roar. Gohan waved to the crowd as Vegeta just looked around taking in the crowd. When they reached the center of the ring they turned to the dais where Lord Ventard was seated. Gohan stood next to Vegeta, waiting for his lead. Vegeta for his part stood straight and met the eyes of Lord Ventard. After they stared for a moment, Vegeta smiled and then bowed his head. Gohan matched his actions, as did Lord Ventard.
"Our second team, hailing from the far end of quadrant 734, has come a long way to be part of this grand event. They are part of the Ga-nich Homogony and as such, they don't have individual names. But with a combined power level of 36 million, this six person team is anything but ordinary. Welcome the Ga-nich!"
At that, 6 small creatures came marching in lockstep formation out of another alcove. As soon as they had moved out of the shadow, Gohan was surprised to see looked like 3 foot tall beetles. They had a dark blue shell, brown underbelly and black heads. Their arms and legs looked pathetically small, but Gohan remembered from his lessons that insects on Earth were incredibly strong for their size, so he thought these might be so too. They walked to the center of the ring seemly ignoring the crowds and stopped a few paces from Vegeta and Gohan. As one, they turned and bowed to Lord Ventard.
"Next is a 3 member team that has shown great promise in the trials. They passed all 3 with the fastest times shown by any of the teams. So not only are they strong and fast, they don't like to waste time when the action gets started. They have a combined power total of 45 million and seem to find impressive ways of showing how good they are with that power. They are Sritick, Kitrick, and Titrick; The Brothers Itrick!"
With that 3 tall and solidly built lizards walked out into the open. They stood just over 7 feet tall and had solid, well muscled frames. They each had gray scales for skin, sapphire blue eyes and thick but flexible tail. Their outfits were easily the most eye catching part, all they wore were one piece tunics looking similar in design to a leotard, they were colored in thin vertical stripes of bright red, green, yellow and blue. The stripes were in a different sequence on each of them, otherwise they looked exactly alike. As they walked out waved to the crowd and threw small Ki balls into the air that exploded like fireworks. Once they reached the center of the arena, they bowed to Lord Ventard and when straightening back up, threw a triple burst of Ki into the air that exploded with a load bang and showered sparks all over the stadium.
"Now comes one of the great mysteries of these games. This 5 member team is from a race that nobody has ever heard of before and they are unwilling to tell us where they hail from. But they skill as warriors has been proven in the trials so they stand here with us today, ready to face the next challenge. They come to us with a combined team power of just over 50 million and an intense concentration that seems to know no bounds. Their names are unpronounceable by anyone who tried so they have agreed to be called simply, The Feathered Follies!"
And out they came, 5 members of an avian stock that truly looked like some mad scientist had managed to cross a chicken with a normal human. Their bodies were mostly human shaped except they only had 3 digits on each appendage. Their heads looks like it was pure bird like, right down to a short curved beak. They wore no clothes of any type and they bodies were covered in lightly colored feathers. Coming from the top of their heads each one had a bright red crest of feathers that flopped around freely has they moved and turned their heads. Waving to the crowd they walked to the center of the arena and bowed to Lord Ventard.
"And as they say, last but definitely not least is our fifth team! This group of fighters has already made a name for themselves in several local sectors and is the odds on favorites to win it all here. All 4 of them are not only great warriors but showmen of great pride. Their team power comes in at a staggering 75 million, and I am told they love their job which makes it just that much better for all of us. Welcome Yardra, Trace, Pace and Coombra; The Quazar Quartet!
They came bouncing into the arena doing flips and cartwheels. As they reached the center of the arena, they suddenly went into a routine that reminded Gohan of some of the cheerleading squads he had seen on TV back home. After several poses and a couple chants, the Quartet landed facing Lord Ventard and bowed to him.
"There you go! Our five finalist teams for the Great Ceti Thersus Tournament! Now Lord Ventard has a few words before the matches begin."
Lord Armond Ventard stood up and waved to the crowd for a moment waiting for them to quiet down so he could be heard. "Let me give my congratulations the five finalist teams. I know what you went through to get here today and I have the greatest respect for your skills and determination!" He turned his had back up to the crowd, "And let's also congratulate those many teams that also took part in the trials but cannot be here today!"
The crowds continued to roar in response.
Ventard waved again to quiet the crowd down. "Now for the tournament, because we had originally expected several more teams to make the finals we had planned on a simple, elimination style match-up. But since we only have 5 teams, we had decided on different format. Instead we will be fighting round-robin style. So each team will get a chance to test itself against the others."
"There are only 2 rules for this tournament. First there is no use of deadly force allowed. Doing so will get your entire team eliminated from the tournament. Second, you must remain within the zone of combat. If you leave the marked area during a fight, you will not be allowed to rejoin your team for that fight. However, if you are thrown or blasted clear out of the area, you must return as quickly as you can. If you are not able to return within 5 minutes you will not be allowed to return until the fight is over."
"Each team will fight once per day, so we will have two matches each day for the next five days. So a team will fight 4 times and have one day off. Now to determine the lineups for the fights each day, I would to have one member from each team come up and draw from the bin here. The number drawn will place you in the tournament and also determine which day you will have off. We will draw in the order the teams where introduced today."
Vegeta nodded and Gohan walked up, reached in and pulled out a ball with the number 3 on it. A Ga-nich drew number 5, one of the Itrick pulled number 1 and the Follies got number 2, leaving number 4 for the Quazar Quartet.
So it ended up lining up like this:
Day 1: Itrick (#1) Off
Follies (#2) Vs Sayians (#3)
Quazar (#4) Vs Ga-nich (#5)
Day 2: Follies (#2) Off
Itrick (#1) Vs Quazar (#4)
Sayians (#3) Vs Ga-nich (#5)
Day 3: Sayians (#3) Off
Itrick (#1) Vs Ga-nich (#5)
Follies (#2) Vs Quazar (#4)
Day 4: Quazar (#4) Off
Itrick (#1) Vs Sayians (#3)
Follies (#2) Vs Ga-nich (#5)
Day 5: Ga-nich (#5) Off
Itrick (#1) Vs Follies (#2)
Sayians (#3) Vs Quazar (#4)
Lord Ventard stood up and waved to get the crowds attention again. "Let the tournament begin!"