Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Who would've expected that just a few changes could have such a major impact. Read as Gohan and Kai journey through life and across the universe in this exciting retelling of DBZ, with changes and surprises around every corner. Yamcha x Bulma, Raditz x Android 18, Gohan x Erasa later on. Other pairings undecided at the moment.

43. Chaotic Battle Royale, Videl's Resolve

xSonallyGirl129x: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked the chapter, and that you're still keeping up with this story. Goten and Ranch are adorable sure, but they can't really do much against a threat like Majin Buu or Babidi's forces, which is why they're hunting down the Dragon Balls. I'm glad to see you enjoy the fight scenes, especially since it took me a long time to learn how to write them properly, back when I first started writing. Yep, Scarlet isn't anywher near as snarky as Kai, but she can be one hell of a savage when she wants to be. And yeah, one of Kai's biggest character points is his hatred of Saiyan biology and how broken it is, which you have to admit, it totally is on so many levels. Of course the TFS references never get old, they're absolutely classic. Tien's fight with Shen and Tao may have been on the short side, but it served its purpose. It had Tien finish off his former masters once and for all, and it gave him some character development, as well as a little bonding moment between him and Goku. The mini arc with Ranch and Goten isn't over yet, since they still have six more Dragon Balls to collect. Yep, the inevitable part with Babidi controlling at least one of the Z fighters to do his bidding is drawing close, but we're not there yet. I don't want to spoil who it is, but I will tell you that it's going to be more than just one. As for who it is, you'll just have to wait and see.

Mugetsu700: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it.

Guest: Yeah, truth be told they're more for appearances actually.

Ryuzenga: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it, and I do understand your point about the spinoff story I'm doing. To answer your question, I had not heard about Senzu Beans being able to regrow lost limbs, and even if I did I probably would've just assumed it was a fan theory. Let me know if you have any other questions, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.

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The battle against the sand eagle didn't last very long, and before long it was sent flying away with its tail between its legs.

"Huh, well that was pretty boring all things considered." Ranch watched as the eagle flew away, then glanced over at Goten "I don't know what it is, but I figured that thing was gonna put up a lot more of a fight than it did."

"Yeah, but he was just trying to protect his friends." Goten's expression was downcast "I feel bad about having to fight him like that. I just hope we didn't hurt him too badly."

"Either way he's gonna be back soon, and I don't think he's gonna be up for an apology. Let's just grab the Dragon Ball and get out of here while we can." so with that in mind, Ranch grabbed onto the Six Star Dragon Ball, and then the two of them blasted off into the skies.

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Meanwhile, with the main party…

"Well that went a lot more smoothly than I was expecting." Scarlet glanced up as Tien and Goku dropped down through the hatch into the next floor "You handled the two of them so easily, I think it's pretty clear just how much stronger you've gotten in the past few years."

"I've been training as hard as I could to shatter any limitations that I had." Tien gave a small smile "But it helps that your son made me realize that limitations are only a state of mind, and that anything is possible."

"Well I'd like to think he learned that from me."

"And I'd like to think the idiots through the door are gonna shut their holes and send someone out already." Kai glanced over at the door "Seriously, what in the fuck is taking these guys so long? I wanna get on with punching someone already."

"Actually I believe that it's my turn next." Tarble pointed out.

"Yeah I know, but the point still stands. Some of us actually do get off on beating the ever loving crap out of other people."

"And some of us probably do more than they should." Gohan shot him a dry look.

"You realize that describes half of your bloodline to a fucking tee."

"As well as most of the reason why people think you're psychotic."

"I think you know me well enough by now to already know the answer to that."

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Meanwhile, with the evil imp…

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" as one could imagine, Babidi was less than thrilled at the sight of seeing Shen and Tao being taken out so easily "How could I be so stupid Dabura?! I actually let myself listen to those two wretched fools, and then they go and get themselves killed so easily, just like that!"

"Evidently they failed to take their own advice." Dabura frowned as he glanced into the crystal ball "They became so consumed in the power you granted them that they became arrogant and complacent, and they overestimated themselves. In the end, they have no one to blame for their deaths but themselves."

"Yes but it doesn't make sense, I imbued them with so much of my magic that their powers were surpassed only by yourself and Yakon! How is it that a mere earthling like that triclops been able to defeat warriors of their calibre so easily? This group is far stronger than I had ever thought to be possible from beings of this planet, and I actually lured them onto my ship!"

"Rest assured master, there's no need for you to be alarmed as of yet. Allow a faithful servant such as myself to set your mind at ease."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I myself intend to proceed up to level four and be their next opponent, and their energy will be transferred to Majin Buu soon enough. That much I can guarantee you. You have nothing to worry about."

"I have nothing to worry about? You do realize that if they manage to defeat you then I'll be left completely defenseless down here, are you absolutely certain that you can win?"

"That I am, I can confirm it on my pride as the king of the Demon Realm. It doesn't matter how many kilis of power they're able to muster, they will all fall at my feet and beg for the mercy they will never receive, and only then will I be finished with them."

"Then what are you waiting for? Go out and finish them!"

"I give you my word master, after I'm finished with all of them the only thing remaining of them will be their energy, and we'll be sure to put that to good use. Of course I'm never one to go into battle unprepared either, so I'll be taking a few moments in my meditation chamber to ensure that I'm at my full power first." with a wave of his hand he opened a door on the other side of the room.

'So that's it, he intends to increase his power to the fullest extent possible, in order to maximize the amount of energy that can be transferred over to Majin Buu, so I can't disturb him until he's ready. Not only that, but he's getting himself into the proper frame of mind. Once Dabura sets himself to the task, I have no doubt that he'll be able to deal with our guests easily enough. This will be quite the show to enjoy.'

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Meanwhile, with the heroes…

"Huh, I wonder who they're gonna send out this time." Goku glanced over at the door, then over at Tarble "Hey remember Tarble, you're up next so make sure you're ready for it. Okay?"

"Of course sensei, I won't let you down." Tarble gave a nod full of determination.

"I know, you've got this."

"Even so, I must advise all of you to be caution." Shin's gaze hardened "All of you are incredibly powerful in your own right, that's a fact I can't and won't deny, but Babidi has massive forces at his command, and he has no issues with using any underhanded tactics he can in order to achieve his goals. Fighting his minions one at a time has worked so far, but from here on out it might be for the best if we simply take them down together the instant they appear."

"Well I don't know if we need to go as far as all of that. Besides, I just don't think that sort of thing would be right."

"In what regard exactly?"

"Think about it. Scarlet, 17 and Tien all got to fight their matches alone fair and square, so it's only right to let Tarble have his turn. Besides, whoever it is they send, I'm sure he can take them down no problem."

"If you're sure…"

"Relax, these guys are nothing compared to the shit we've dealt with already." Kai pointed out nonchalantly "Think about guys like Cell, Bojack or Janemba. Frankly the big guy with the cape and the stupid tattoo on his forehead is the only one that comes even close, and frankly any one of us could take him out no problem, except maybe the Terminator reject back there." he jerked a thumb at 17, earning a certain finger being aimed in his direction "The point I'm making is that we've got this."

"I hope you're correct about this Kai, I truly do."

"Then again, it's assuming that whoever's in there waiting for us decides to hurry the fuck up already."

"Given the circumstances, that probably means that they're preparing one of their most powerful fighters to send out against us." Gohan told him.

"I get the reason for it, that doesn't mean I like it. We have better shit to do with our day than deal with this. We could be back at the tournament right now."

"And you're only in that to try and fight Mr Satan."

"Which is your way of sugarcoating me wanting to cave his skull in like Vecna from Stranger Things."

"That doesn't surprise me in the slightest anymore. But in all seriousness, the tournament did end up losing a lot of participants when we all just up and left. The only ones of us that really stayed behind are Krillin, Yamcha and 18. And Mr Satan."

"Videl is the one that I'm willing to bet will win. Keep in mind that I've only been training her for a few years but she's a prodigy in her own right."

"She did beat Tien earlier, and I've gotta say that was pretty impressive, so I wouldn't bet against her being able to hold her own against Krillin and Yamcha. Android 18 on the other hand…"

"I know, that's the only part that kind of concerns me. Oh well, worse comes to worse she'll get bored or something and leave."

"Do you really believe that?"

"No but it's the only real explanation I have right now. Well that and the fact that she only needs to get a ringout to beat her."

"True." Kai glanced up as the hatch in the ceiling closed above them 'Let's just hope she's fairing better in the tournament than the rest of us are down here. Like hell I'm gonna deal with her dad being the one to win the championship again. I'm not putting up with seven more years of that assclown spewing out all sorts of shit about light shows and tricks.

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Meanwhile, in the tournament grounds…

"You want one?"

Videl glanced over to see Yamcha holding out a can of soda in front of her, which she promptly accepted "Sure, thanks. Is that where you've been for the last 45 minutes?"

"That and trying to get away from the angry fans screaming about wanting us to hurry the hell up and start punching each other again. That was there exact words too."

"Sounds about right. Was it that bad back when you guys entered the tournament?"

"More or less, the crowds were a lot bigger anyway."

"And yet I somehow remember them being worse." Krillin sat down on the bench next to the two of them and caught a soda in his hand "Then again I was younger back when we did that, and a lot shorter too."

"You weren't that much shorter than you are now."

"Ha ha, play the short joke why don't you? Not like that ever gets old."

"Neither do the cracks about me getting hit in the crotch that one time that we agreed to never speak of again, or the cracks about Dr Gero fisting me."

"At least you're married and have hair." Krillin glanced out at the stadium and let out a wistful sigh "I gotta be real with you though, I definitely missed doing this. It really brings back all those memories of the good old days."

"No kidding. I just wish we got to do it at the last tournament."

"No arguments here."

"So why exactly did you guys not participate in the last one?" Videl shot them a rasied eyebrow.

"We and the others were so busy training for the Androids, and you know pretty well how that whole thing turned out, that we forgot to. I spent like a year and a half kicking myself about that whole thing."

"Because you wanted a fair shot at winning the title?"

"That and the fact that I missed out on getting my hands on the prize money."

"Oh yeah good point, my dad did mention that was one of the best perks."

"Believe me, I know how good it feels to be surrounded by all of that money." Yamcha gave a shrug "But at the same time, it feels pretty good to know you earn it yourself instead of just getting it off of someone's charity or a hot rich wife or something. Granted that has a crapload of benefits going for it, but still."

"You speaking from experience?"

"Yep, and I've got my own business chain to thank for that."

"You have a business chain?"

"You mean Kai never told you about that?"

"If I did then I wouldn't be asking."

"Fair enough." Yamcha breathed a sigh as he sat down his soda "While I might have been totally outclassed by the Saiyans, Kai and most of the others, the fact is that I'm still way above the rest of the people on the planet."

"You mean aside from the rest of your friends."

"Yeah but this is my story, I'm making a point here. Anyway like I said, I'm one of the weakest of our bunch but I'm leagues ahead of the rest of them, and thanks to that I'm pretty much the best there is at what I do."

"Putting aside the obvious Wolverine reference, what exactly is it that you do?"

"Baseball. I picked it up a few months after the 23rd tournament, but then I kind of fell off it after my sister died and I started raising Kai. Then the whole thing with the Saiyans, Planet Namek and Frieza happened, but after that I picked it back up. I even gave season passes to all of my friends. Even with the stuff with the Androids and Cell, I made time for it. It sort of became a stress reliever for me, a way of getting away from the crap that the universe handed me out or when life got to be too much for me. But then things got a little bit more complicated."

"How so?"

"Well it was about 3 years after the whole thing with Bojack, or about 3 months after the whole mess with hell breaking loose and Kai and the others fighting that thing Janemba. I just got my 500th consecutive home run, apparently that's a first in baseball history. Unfortunately, that was what led me to discover the downside of being as good as I am. It turns out I was slowly killing off the team by driving away the audience because I was too good at the game, seeing how no one was buying tickets to the games because they knew me winning would automatically mean I'd win it all single handedly. It pretty much took out the suspense or excitement."

"Huh. You know I never thought of that."

"Neither did I. But when the time came for them to dismiss me, they said the weren't gonna leave me high and dry, mostly because they legally couldn't. Instead they were offering me a buyout for 20 billion Zeni that came with a non-compete clause, which means that I don't have to work another day in my life."

"You're married to Bulma, you already don't have to work a day in your life." Krillin pointed out dryly.

"Yeah but now she can't say that she's the only one bringing in any money."

"Does she really say that?" asked Videl.

"Only when she's trying to win an argument. Anyway, I gave my signatures to the coach and the owner and retired from my sports career, which turned out to be as ambitious as it was boring, at least for the spectators. After that I went on to invest in, and subsequently purchase, the HETAP company, along with the Uncle Jesse sandwich place that Goku and the others owned, which tripled my net worth. We agreed to rename it the Wolf Fang Grill & Subs, and nowadays we have half a dozen locations in West City and the surrounding areas. I even let most of my friends eat there for free."

"Most of them?"

"Not the Saiyans, he's already learned not to let them eat for free." was Krillin's input.

"Oh. Good point."

"Exactly." Yamcha gave a small smile as he glanced upwards "Friends, a family and a successful chain of restaurants. All things considered, I think I've got it made."

"That does sound amazing, but it raises the question. If you're so successful, why be so invested in winning the tournament?"

"Two reasons mainly. One, I gotta cover the lawsuit that Wolf Fang Grill & Subs is facing thanks to that giant traffic jam Goku caused last month."

"I told you something like that was gonna happen." was Krillin's input.

"How the hell was I supposed to know that him dancing in a sandwich suit was gonna cause one of the biggest traffic jams in world history?"

"Can we get back to the topic at hand?" Videl cut into their brief argument "You mentioned that was one reason. What was the other?"

"Honeslty… I just want a chance to redeem myself." Yamcha breathed a sigh as he glanced out at the stadium "I'm gonna go ahead and guess that Kai already told you, but I don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to the tournament. The first time I entered I got my ass handed to me by Jackie Chun, the second time I fought Tien for the first time and ended up getting the bones in my leg turned into freaking powder, and the third time… well the less said about that one, the better."

"You mean the one where you hurt your crotch on another guy's head? Kai told me about that one."

"...Of course he did. Anyway, I just… I just want a chance to redeem myself, to leave behind a legacy here as more than just some guy who made himself out to be a joke."

"Oh. I see." Videl cringed slightly, then glanced over at Krillin "What about you?"

"Pretty much the same reasons, just not as extreme." Krillin gave a shrug "The difference here is that I actually do care about the prize money."

"Huh. Fair enough." Videl glanced up at the sky "I wonder how Kai and the others are doing out there. They've been gone awhile."

"They've been gone for like 45 minutes."

"And I can tell you from experience that feels like an eternity." Yamcha told him "Keep in mind that Namek happened in like 5 minutes."

"Weren't you guys there for almost a week?"

"Yeah but that time just flew right by, though the last hour or so was spent fighting Frieza and that felt like it was never gonna end. You'd be surprised how long it feels when you're trying to get off an exploding planet."

"I'll take your word for it." Videl let out a sigh "I know Kai is strong, but I just can't help but worry, you know?"

"Trust me I get it, Kai is my own flesh and blood. I know we have our spats, but frankly he's a lot more like a son to me than he is a nephew."

"I know, and I know how highly he thinks of you too. I just can't shake this feeling deep in the pit of my stomach, like if anything were to happen to him… it'd be like losing a giant part of myself. It's hard to believe that a few years ago I didn't even know who he was, and then I met him and just thought he was some snarky psychopath, but now… I can't imagine not having him in my life. And I don't want to either."

"Hey there's nothing wrong with thinking that. Kai's got his… quirks."

"You mean he's snarky and cynical and doesn't care what anyone thinks about him."

"That's about the sum of it yeah. But none of the others would want anything bad to happen to him, and he feels the same way about them, he's put his own life on the line time and again for others and he never thinks twice about it. He gets a lot of that from his mother." Yamcha gave her a small smile "Besides, from what I've seen Kai came to think pretty highly of you too over the years."

"You think so?"

"Plus anyone with eyes can see what's going on with you guys." Krillin leaned towards her and gave a smirk "You've totally got the hots for Kai don't you?"

"What?!" Videl bolted upright as her cheeks started turning red "What the hell are you talking about?"

"We've got eyes you know, just because none of us are really good at being social doesn't mean that we're blind."

"But that's not- I didn't- You just-"

"Hey come on Krillin, give the kid a little bit of space." Yamcha was quick to cut in and break off from that topic, which also allowed Videl to compose herself "Anyway we've got other stuff to focus on right now, like what we're gonna do about the tournament? We still have five fighters left."

"Oh… yeah, that's a good point. I guess that means we should rule out the others coming back anytime soon."

"No doubt about it, those chumps that up and left must have gotten too scared to see what real martial artists are capable of." this was when Mr Satan made his way into the room and started running his mouth in his typical way "Gotta give hats off to the rest of them that chose to stick around and face their fears, not when it's gonna change the outcome if they fight either one of us, right sweetie?"

"Um… sure dad, I'm sure that's the reason."

"Yeah I'm sure as the moon is nonexistent." 18's tone was practically oozing sarcasm as he shared a glance with the others 'How in the hell people can worship this man like he's some kind of god is something I'll never understand. Add that to the long list of reasons why I hate normal humans as much as I do.'

"You know what hold on, I think I just got an idea!" and on that note, Mr Satan barked out his typical obnoxious laugh and made his way out towards the arena.

"Well at least I can hear myself think again." 18 shot a look over at Videl "I'm just gonna say it, I don't see any sort of resemblance between you and that idiot."

"Trust me, I've been hearing that all my life." Videl let out a sigh "A lot more over the past few years, but still."

"Let me guess, most of it was from Kai?"

"That's besides the point. I know my dad can be… well you've already seen him, but he does mean well, at least most of the time. I wouldn't trade him for anything."

"And yet your boyfriend spends most of the time talking about the ever growing desire to bash his skull in. I can relate to that."

"For the love of god, Kai isn't my boyfriend!"

"I never said a name."

"...Can we drop the subject?" Videl's cheeks turned red again as she looked away "Anyway as far as Kai goes, yeah he does hate my dad to the point where it's basically a running joke."

"But?"

"But he also says that I shouldn't think badly of him. He says that it's one thing for him to think badly of someone, but people should think well of their own parents."

"Yeah I've heard that too, not just about your dad either." Yamcha noted "He's pretty much the same way when it comes to Chichi."

"That's Gohan's mom right?"

"Yep. He thinks that she's a crazy overbearing harpy with little to no grip on reality, and those are his exact words too, but he doesn't want Gohan to think poorly of her."

"Good thing too. Kai's a lot of things, but he's not unreasonable." Videl gave a small smile, but she quickly shook it off "We've got a lot coming soon don't we?"

"That's the hope at least. I just want them to get the tournamen underway. Seriously, it feels like we've been here for like a year and a half."

"And that just makes me worry more about what my dad is planning to do out there. Knowing him, it's something ridiculously over the top and driven solely by his ego." Videl was met with the sound of the fans in the stadium cheering and screaming at the top of their lungs "I'm pretty sure that's meant to prove my point."

"And that's how you run a tournament." Mr Satan made his way back into the waiting area with a smug grin plastered across his face "We oughta get moving pretty soon."

"What exactly did you do out there?"

"I gave the monks an idea for the tournament to end all tournaments, by taking all of us and making it into a battle royale for the ages. First off, we went ahead and disqualified the chumps that up and left, and then the rest of us get gathered up into the ring and duke it out all at the same time until only one is left standing, for maximum awesomeness! I think it goes without saying that a tournament with only five people is pretty lame, but with a battle royale like that, the fans are gonna eat it up sideways, and that's a Mr Satan guarantee!"

"...Huh. That's actually a pretty good idea."

"I will admit that I find it kind of interesting." 18 shared a look with the others 'At least this way I can beat the rest of these buffoons and get my prize money that much faster.'

"See this is why you gotta know how the people work, that way you can figure out what it is they want and how best to deliver it."

"I will say that the idea does sound kind of fun." 18 glanced over at him "Though truth be told I probably wouldn't have gone with it myself."

"Think of it this way, me and my daughter get to show the others just how amazing the family genes are all at the same time."

"No I get that part, on some twisted egotistical level, but it sounds risky."

"What do you mean risky?"

"Think about it. You're the world champion, the strongest fighter in the world and everyone knows that for a fact, so you'd have to assume that the other participants would team up to take you down first, and then focus on each other."

"...Oh." Mr Satan paused, then barked out his typical laugh "Think of it this way, if I let myself get spooked by stuff like that then what kind of world martial arts champion would I to these people? Shit, I didn't think of that!'

'Oh yeah, she's totally screwing with him.' Videl shared a look with Krillin 'I did kind of get that vibe from her, and if she didn't I probably would've. You hang around Kai long enough and he tends to rub off on you. God only knows where he got it from.'

'Yeah, he totally didn't think of that.' 18 stifled a chuckle 'I gotta admit though, this part is kind of fun. Still though, I can't explain it, but something feels off. Dammit, it's times like this I'm still cursing Gero for not giving me the ability to sense Ki. Raditz, Ranch, where the hell are the two of you right now?'

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Meanwhile, with the two half-Saiyans…

"Okay, I'm pretty sure this is the place,." Ranch and Goten dropped to the ground amidst a certain mountain range, only for the former to glance back and notice the latter looking fairly miserable "What's the matter?"

"I-It's so cold here…" Goten was left shivering violently as the two of them started walking along the path "Where are we anyway?"

"I think this area is called the Yunzabit Highlands, they're pretty far off from the rest of the world though, so at least there's not much of a chance of anyone else coming here."

"It's so cold… so cold…"

"Hey you're the one with a long-sleeved shirt under your gi, if anyone has the right to complain about being the cold it's me. Anyway let's get to work, the Dragon Ball shouldn't be too far from here."

"My big brother told me that he came here once when he was and Kai were searching for the Dragon Balls too. Plus Mr Piccolo said that he used to live out here, at least back when he was some other guy."

"You mean back when he was Kami? Yeah I heard about that too, he used to have some big house ship thing around here."

"You think we can see it while we're here?"

"Don't you remember? The others took it on that trip to Piccolo's homeworld and then it got blown up."

"Aw man, we never get to see the cool stuff."

"It can't be helped, we weren't born yet. It's like my mom says, if you can't help stuff then you just gotta get over it. Anyway let's get going, we'd better track down the Dragon Ball so we can move onto the next one and bring them back."

"Fine, I guess. I just wish it wasn't so cold here."

"Hey there are worst places to be. Gohan flat out told us that the Tsurumai Tsuburi mountains are even colder than this." and so the two of them continued venturing further into the landscape in search of the Dragon Ball.

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Meanwhile, in the tournament grounds…

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, without further ado the time has come for us to introduce the five fighters taking part in our battle royale! First up you know him and you love him, it's our very own reigning champion himself, Mr Satan!"

"Okay Satan, time to put on your game face!" Satan gritted his teeth and let out a mighty roar as he leapt into the ring… only to end up doing a split, but he managed to rebound and do his typical pose, causing the crowd to go wild.

"Next up is one of the few female competitors taking part in the tournament this year, a lady with digits for a name, it's 18!"

"Oh joy, being put on display for all these lecherous morons." 18 rolled her eyes as she made her way into the ring 'I just know Roshi is trying to imagine getting his hands on me. If he tries it I'll just backhand him into the ocean. Again.'

"Next up is another fan favorite and rightfully so, none other than daughter of our beloved champ himself, give it up for Miss Videl Satan!"

"Looks like it's time to get things underway." Videl gave a smirk full of confidence as she made her way into the ring 'Watch over me guys, things are about to get interesting.'

"I doubt any of you need me to tell you this by now, but Videl here is well known to come from championship stock. Being the daughter of our beloved champ, she's worked closely with law enforcement to keep her home city free of crime. She rocked the junior division when she was just a little girl, and now after 7 long years she's ready to take her place alongside her father. Even more than that, she's claiming to go all the way to the top, past her father himself. But the question still remains, can she back up these bold claims? Well there's only one way to find that out. Next up we have a veteran coming in from past tournaments, as well as a legend in the baseball history books, Yamcha of the Titans! Aside from being the sponsor for this tournament via the franchise Wolf Fang Grill, Yamcha has had a history in this tournament himself. Granted he hasn't made it past the first round in any of his previous outings in this tournament, but that hasn't done anything to dampen his spirit. The same can be said for the last member of our battle royale, tournament veteran Krillin! He's had a few impressive showings in his previous attempts to claim the title, and now he's raring to give it one more try! Can he do it? There's only one way to find out!"

"Well at least they're not giving us crap for losing before." Yamcha and Krillin shared a look and a shrug as the two of them made their way into the ring "But don't think I'm gonna make this one easy for you."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Krillin gave a smirk, and the two of them shared a quick fist bump "May the best man win."

"That's the plan."

"These five titans of the ring are just about to square off in our battle royale! The questions remain, which one of them will be the first to fall? Who's going to be taken out late in the game? Which one of them will tough it out to win it all?"

"I think there's only one way to find out." Videl took a glance around the arena, her mind racing as her gaze hardened 'As much as I hate to say it, I'm not strong enough to beat most of them in a head on confrontation. If I'm careless enough to end up facing any of them head on, I might be able to hold my own against Krillin or Yamcha, unless they break out the Spirit Ken. The real problem would be 18. Aside from having limitless Ki reserves and stamina, she's a lot more powerful than most of them, Spirit Ken withstanding, so frankly if I fight her, there's no chance I would be able to win against her in a straight up fight. Maybe if I can blindside her with a Solar Flare or something, I might be able to pull this off. In any case, one thing is for sure. I'll have to play this carefully.'

"Hey sweetie, here's a thought." Mr Satan suddenly popped up next to her "I know we might have to fight each other, even though I really don't wanna, but maybe we oughta work together for a little while."

"What do you mean dad?"

"I mean you and me, father and daughter. The two of us team up to take down the other three chumps, and then we show the rest of them what real martial artists are made of. What do you say?"

"...I'll think about it." Videl walked away to another part of the ring, her mind racing 'As crazy as it might sound, dad may have a point. Teaming up with one of the others might not be too bad of an idea. I know I can't beat any of them head on, so I'll have to be careful.

"I hope you're ready for what's to come ladies and gentlemen, becuase our five man battle royale championship is mere seconds away from starting up, so let's make some noise for these five titans of the ring!" this announcement was met with thunderous applause.

"Looks like it's almost time." Videl looked around at the rest of the fighters in the arean, and she dropped into a stance as she tried to compose herself "Now or never I guess."

'I can feel it, the rest of these freaks are gonna gang up on me.' Mr Satan frantically looked around the arean at Yamcha and the others, his mind racing 'You know what, if that's what they've got planned then bring it on! Me and my baby girl are about to show you chumps what real martial artists are capable of!'

'Alright it's time, I'm gonna have to handle this carefully.' Videl glanced around the arena until her gaze met that of Yamcha, and the two of them shared a single nod 'I think I know exactly what the first move has to be. All things considered, I don't think I really have another choice in the matter.'

"And now for the moment you've all been waiting for… let the fight begin!"

"YEAH! LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT THE CHAMP CAN DO!" Mr Satan summoned all of his brovado and launched himself forward at full speed… only to be stopped in a single instant by Yamcha hitting him in the chest with a single palm thrust.

"Sorry about this man, but trust me, I'm doing you a favor." Yamcha grabbed Mr Satan by the front of the robe and promptly tossed him out of the ring, leaving him to land on the grass with an audible thud.

"What in the- I don't believe what I'm seeing here folks, and I'm willing to bet that none of you do either. We're less than ten seconds into the match and Yamcha has knocked Mr Satan clear out of the ring in only two moves!" that announcement was met with more than a little bit of uproar from the fans, and not the good kind.

'Well he might not be on the level of Goku or any of the others, but at least I can say I'm the one that knocked out the former champ. If that doesn't make up for making an ass out of myself in the past, then I don't know what will.' Yamcha gave a smirk of triumph as he raised a fist for the crowd to see, and then he glanced over at Videl and the others "Think of it this way, at least this means you didn't have to be the one to knock out your dad."

"I know, and frankly I think it's gonna be a lot safer for him." Videl breathed a sigh "Doesn't make it any easier though."

"I know the feeling. Anyway I say it's about time for us to focus on the fight ahead."

"Good enough for me."

"The same for me too." Krillin suddenly popped up next to them "But that actually brings me to a little proposition I've got for the two of you."

"What kind of proposition?"

"Well the thing is that after what happened with Raditz and the Crane Hermits, Yamcha and I had agreed not to not use the Spirit Ken, just in case they had anyone else trying to steal Ki from any of the other fighters. That and we made a bet about who could go the longest without having to use it. Plus we didn't wanna make a whole thing with the press."

"Like why Gohan and the others agreed not to go Super Saiyan?"

"Yeah, and look at how that turned out. The point I was trying to make is that while she might not look it, 18 is ridiculously strong. There was a point where she and her brother fought us all once and ripped us apart like they were nothing."

"That and apparently they killed you guys in another timeline."

"Kai told you about that?" Yamcha shot her a raised eyebrow.

"Kai tells me pretty much everything about what you guys have been up to. And about your search history."

"Fuck."

"Relax, I already said I wouldn't say anything. But I think I know what Krillin is trying to get at right now. Given how things stand, none of us can beat 18 on our own, so you're thinking that we should work together and knock her out first, and then focus on each other?"

"That is about the sum of my thought process." Krillin gave a single nod "So what do you guys think?"

"Honeslty 18 was the one I was most worried about. I'm in, this time at least."

"Count me in too." Yamcha gave the two of them a smirk "Once that's done, I'll be seeing the two of you in the finals."

"I'm looking forward to it."

'So the three of them are teaming up to gang up on me.' 18 overheard their conversation and gave a smirk of her own 'I will admit, that ought to make things interesting. Still though, I shouldn't let my guard down or underestimate them. That's how 17 and I ended up getting taken down and absorbed by Cell.'

"In a matter of seconds, not only has the champ been taken out in two moves, but the field has been whittled down to four! We have the champ's daughter Videl, #18, and previous veterans of the tournament Krillin and Yamcha! The question still remains, which of these contestants will end up overpowering the rest of them in order to win the battle royale and take home the title for themselves? There's only one way to find out!"

"And it's to shut up and watch as we go ahead and get this over with." 18 rolled her eyes as she turned towards Videl and the others "I will say it's kind of surprising that you've turned out as powerful as you have."

"I think you'll find that you shouldn't underestimate us, especially not me." Videl's gaze grew hard as she dropped into a combat stance, with Krillin and Yamcha doing the same.

"So I've noticed. In that case, I think there's something that you should see. You're not the only one who's been training." so 18 dropped into her own stance as a milky white aura began to spike around her body, the sheer force shaking the entire arena.

'I can't sense any Ki from her, though I guess it only makes sense given that she's an android, or cyborg, or whatever you wanna call it. Either way, I can still feel the pressure coming from her, and it's pretty intense. I don't know how I'm gonna be able to fair against that.' Videl took a moment to calm herself as her stance tightened 'But even if I can't find a way, that doesn't mean I won't go down trying. No I'm not just going to try. I'm going to win. Good to know that you're taking this so seriously."

"Yeah well, being the cocky jackass that thinks they're the best and always underestimates his opponents is more my brother's thing. Granted we've both had our fair share of that, but I've grown out of it a lot more than he has. So how about you come and show me what you're really made of."

"As if you had to ask. Namek-Ken 20x!" Videl's aura spiked as she pushed he Namek-Ken as high as she could, and then she charged forward, with Krillin and Yamcha following her lead after spiking their own auras.

"You really thought it was gonna be that easy?" 18 blitzed past the group and struck Yamcha in the back with a Photon Flash, sending him hurtling high into the air, though that did little to deter him, and soon she was forced to fend off a simultaneous barrage of punches and kicks from all three of them.

"You really thought it was gonna be that easy?"

"Okay I see what you did there, but I hate it when people copy me." so 18 dealt Videl a swift roundhouse kick to the face that sent her hurtling upwards, and then she dealt Yamcha an elbow to the face and Krillin a kick to the chest that sent both of them hurtling to opposite sides of the ring, but all of them managed to stop themselves, and so she was forced to go on the evasive to avoid the oncoming barrage of Ki blasts from Krillin.

"Let's just see how you like this one!" Videl spiked his aura and cupped his hands at his side, with Yamcha doing the same "Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"

'Are they about to-'

"HAAAA!" Videl and Yamcha each fired a full power Kamehameha wave from different angles, both of them hitting 18 and engulfing her in the explosion that followed 'Was that enough to at least slow her down?'

"Photon Flash!" the answer came in the form of a Photon Flash bursting forth from within the smoke, missing her only by a few inches, and then 18 following suite as she unleashed a follow up attack in the form of a sharp elbow to the spine that sent her hurtling into the ring with a loud crash, and then she unleashed a High Pressure Energy Wave that struck Videl dead on, leaving a cloud of smoke in its wake "I give you points for spirit kid, but not much for getting results. You start getting cocky and you end up screwing everything up."

"How about you try taking your own advice! Kaioken 10X!" Krillin was the one to charge at her next, spiking his Kaioken and launching a barrage of punches and kicks.

'Right the Kaioken, the red aura technique that multiplies their power levels, but it puts a lot of strain on their bodies.' 18 suddenly glanced back and found Yamcha charging towards her from behind, his own Kaioken aura blazing 'Right, he knows it too. Shit.'

"Keep your eye on your opponent!" Krillin tried to push forward against 18, only to be met with a Photon Flash that sent him hurtling towards the ground, but he managed to stop himself before he actually touched the ground.

'So now what's the other one going to try?'

"Get a load of this one! Spirit Ball!" Yamcha summoned a Spirit Ball and sent it hurtling towards 18, using one hand to steer it towards her whenever she tried to dodge it 'Don't bother trying to dodge this thing, that can bust through just about anything in its path and I can make it follow you anywhere you go.'

"Let me guess, it's some kind of homing technique. Which means that all I have to do is lead it right back to you!" 18 bolted towards Yamcha with the Spirit Ball hot on her trail, until…

"Chain Destructo Disc Barrage!" a barrage of razor sharp Ki saucers suddenly began hurtling towards 18 at blinding speed, courtesy of Krillin as he appeared on the ground and continued to fire the saucers at her "I've been working on the Destructo Disc for ages, and this right here is the result!"

'Dammit, if one of those things gets me then I'm dead! That is, depending on whether or not they can follow me wherever I go like Yamcha's attack.' thinking quick, 18 began blitzing around the sky above the arena, dodging every Destructo Disc being hurled at her, leaving them to soar away into the skies above "Not too shabby of a technique, but apparently you didn't bother to work out the steering mechanisms behind it."

"...Yeah, that probably would've been good to think about."

"Even if you did, it wouldn't have been enough to win against me! Power Blitz!" 18 blitzed to the ground in front of Krillin and unleashed a pink-colored Ki wave, sending him hurtling out of the ring and into the wall behind him with a loud crash.

"And just like that folks, Krillin has been knocked clear out of the ring! That leaves only three combatants at most remaining in our battle royale! 18 and Yamcha remaining are a pretty clear given, but there's still no sign of Videl. Has the daughter of our beloved champ faced defeat just like her father?"

'I guess that means it's up to me now.' Yamcha gritted his teeth as he launched himself forward towards 18, only to be stopped by 18 catching his fist and dealing him a swift kick to the chest, sending him skidding backwards towards the edge of the ring 'Yeah I figured as much, she's not the kind to screw around in a fight.'

"Alright, I think it's about time for us to wrap this up." 18 held out a hand and fired a single Photon Flash at Yamcha, until…

"Kaioken 20X!" Yamcha pushed his Kaioken as high as he could take it, his crimson aura spiking even higher as he cupped his hands at his side, blue Ki building in between his palms at an alarming rate.

'Dammit, so he pushed his technique even further. Now what the hell does he want to-'

"Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" Yamcha gritted his teeth and fired a full power Kamehameha wave at 18, engulfing her in the powerful explosion that followed.

When the smoke cleared however, 18 was revealed to be encased in a green-colored barrier without so much as a scratch on her, stunning Yamcha to the point where his Kaioken faded from his aura "Anything else you want to try out?"

"I… didn't know that you could do that too."

"It's a little bit of something new I got for myself to prep for the tournament. Even as strong as I am and with the limitless Ki reserves, I figured having an extra trump card in hand couldn't hurt all that much. Especially if I was gonna go up against my brother."

"But where did you learn how to do that?"

"From your wife." and on that note, 18 rushed forward and dealt Yamcha a swift uppercut to the jaw, then blitzed above him and dealt him a sharp elbow to the spine, sending him hurtling down into the ring with a loud crash.

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Meanwhile, in the stands…

"Oh man, that's not good…" Erasa cringed as she watched 18's assault on Yamcha from her place with the others "I didn't think you guys all knew how to make shields and stuff."

"We don't, that's pretty much exclusive to 17 and 18." Bulma told her "At least now that's the case for both of them anyway. Actually about a week before the tournament, she asked me to make a few modifications. Now she can use the that force field just like her brother can."

"So you basically gave her this crazy new ability that she can just use to beat the crap out of your husband?" Oolong shot her a raised eyebrow, earning a dirty look in response.

"Hey she asked me for a favor, it's not like I could just turn her down."

"You do that to me all the time!"

"That's different, you're a dirty little pig and anything you want from me is perverted and usually involves you trying to get your hands on a set of panties." Bulma rolled her eyes and turned back to Erasa "Besides, truth be told I never actually thought the two of them were going to face off with each other. In hindsight I probably should've thought of that."

"Fair enough I guess." Erasa paused and glanced down at the arena 'But what the heck happened to Videl? There hasn't been any sign of her since that one part where- Wait, what the hell is going on down there?'

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Now to show you what Erasa saw…

"Alright, I think it's about time for me to wrap this up." 18 made her way towards Yamcha's downed form and prepared to fire a Ki blast, only to stop when she noticed something "What the hell?"

As it turns out, it was Videl bursting out from within a pile of rubble, trapping 18 in a leg lock around her legs, and she gave 18 a smirk as she raised her hands to her head "Hey there, bet you forgot about me didn't you?"

"Hate to break it to you kid, but you're not gonna be able to do much damage to me from down there."

"Probably not, but at least I can still do this. Solar FLARE!" Videl unleashed an enormous flash of light, causing 18 to recoil in pain as she was blinded "YAMCHA! NOW!"

"R-Right! Wolf Fang FIST!" Yamcha forced himself back onto his feet, and in a burst of speed he launched himself at 18 while she was incapacitated by the Solar Flare and struck her with his Wolf Fang Fist, ending it with one final strike with enough force to send the stunned 18 flying backwards and out of the ring, leaving her to hit the ground with a thud. Once that was taken care of, Yamcha breathed a sigh of relief as he powered down 'Yeah not gonna lie, her attacks hurt a lot more than I thought they would.'

"And just like that it's almost over folks! In what can only be described as an astounding display of teamwork never before seen in this tournament, Videl and Yamcha have managed to disable 18 and send her clear out of the ring! Now it's just down to the two of them, but the question still remains: Who will take home the title?"

"I guess that's the question for the ages." Yamcha took a moment to shake off the disorientation he was feeling and glanced over at Videl "I gotta say that was a pretty clever move on your part, taking advantage of her inability to sense Ki and using it to sneak up on her."

"Truth be told it was a pretty big gamble on my part." Videl gave a shrug "I know that we can't sense her Ki since she's an android, or cyborg, or whatever you want to call it. Kai mentioned to me once that none of you guys really knew for certain if not being able to sense their Ki went both ways. Honestly I had no way of knowing if it was actually gonna pay off."

"Take it from a voice of experience, sometimes you gotta take pretty big gambles to really get somewhere, even if you have no idea if it's gonna work out or not. That's what I did when I first invested in Hetap and Uncle Jesse's, and now I'm the owner of the Wolf Fang Grill chain and I'm sponsoring this whole tournament. Like I said, taking risks."

"Pretty sound advice. I'll have to keep that in mind."

"It's one of those things that really applies to every day life, not just for martial arts or for business. But in all seriousness, that was a pretty impressive move."

"I doubt it would've worked without your help."

"Nobody does anything without help. Without Bulma and Goku and the others, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am today."

"I know what you mean. Kai was the one who taught me everything I know about being a real martial artist, and I made a promise to him that if he couldn't be the one to win the tournament, then I'd do it in his place. Of course I want to either way, but still."

"I think that says a lot about Kai that he'd trust you with something like that."

"You said you were gonna stop bringing that up."

"Right right I know. Still, you don't want to disappoint him now after coming as far as you have in the tournament."

"I know. Now that I've come so far and I'm so close to winning it all, I'm going to come at you with everything I've got."

"Sounds good to me. Just don't be surprised that I'm not holding back either."

"I'd be insulted if you did." Videl took a breath as she backed away to the edge of her end of the ring, with Yamcha doing the same on his end 'I'm so close to winning it all.'

'I've come too far to turn back now.'

'If we're going to do this, then we have to do it right.'

'We'll make this a fair fight…'

'And one that I'm going to win!'

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Meanwhile, with the half-Saiyan duo…

"Oh man, it's so cold…" Goten was left shivering visibly as he and Ranch made their way through an icy cave, the latter looking over the Dragon Radar "How much further is it until we find it?"

"Calm down, it should be right up ahead." Ranch told him flatly, only to suddenly stop in her tracks "Do you feel that?"

"You mean how cold it is? I can taste it."

"That's probably because you tried to eat a piece of ice off the wall a little ways back."

"I was hungry and it looked like the stuff on snow cones!"

"Nevermind that now, take a look up ahead." Ranch motioned for them to hide behind a wall as she poked her head out to see a large group of men up ahead, all of them sporting a very familiar symbol on their uniforms "You see that symbol? I think those guys are with that thing called the Red Ribbon Army."

"Red Ribbon? Didn't my daddy say he beat those guys a long time ago."

"Yeah but then they came back, and my mom and uncle actually used to work for them. Plus I think Uncle 17 mentioned something about how there were rumors going around about some stragglers looking for the Dragon Balls."

"You think they have any of them?"

"I don't know, but if creeps like that get their hands on the Dragon Balls and try to make a wish, that's gonna be really bad."

"So what do we do?"

"What else, we go beat the crap out of them and find the Dragon Ball hidden around here before they do."

"...So we fight them?"

"Yep, now let's do it."

"Yay!" and so the two of them leapt out of their hiding place and charged at the soldiers full force.

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Meanwhile, with our heroes…

"Alright I think I've about covered the main points." Kai glanced over at Gohan "But that about sums it up, and that's why cancelling the Owl House without giving it a proper third season was the dumbest decision the fuckups at Disney have made in recent times."

"I'm kind of surprised you just had all of that ready on the spot." Gohan shot him a raised eyebrow.

"You really shouldn't be, I might be snarky as fuck but I'm not stupid. Plus I know a good show when I see it."

"Well yeah, Owl House has a really good story. But the fact that you went to the trouble of getting all that information…"

"You'd be surprised the kind of stuff you can find when it pops up in your recommended. Plus I had to pass the time somehow while we're waiting for this guy. Seriously, what the hell is the deal with this guy?"

"I can only imagine that means one thing." Shin told them grimly "Babidi must be breaking out one of his most powerful warriors, and I can only dread what that might mean for us."

"Dude you've seen what we've gone up against over the past few years, how bad could this guy be in comparison to the likes of Cell, Bojack or even Janemba? And are you sure we can't just blow down the door and blast the imp through the skull?"

"As much as I detest the phrasing of that, such an action is one I must advise against. It's a bad idea to provoke Babidi unnecessarily."

"He says after we break into his ship and benchpress a bunch of his nameless thugs." 17 pointed out dryly.

"My point is that any unnecessary disruptions to the ship may end up releasing Majin Buu prematurely, something that has to be avoided at all costs."

"So we just have to get on with beating these guys and then blast the imp through the skull, I literally just went over this." Kai pointed out, and then he glanced at the door "Of course that raises the big question. What the fuck is taking these guys so long? Seriously, I want to get out there and punch someone's brains out already."

"You are aware that I'm the one that's fighting next right?" Tarble pointed out.

"I know but the point still stands. At this point even the little ones are gonna get more out of today than we are."

"You mean Goten and Ranch?" Piccolo shot him a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah while you guys were getting ready to clear out of the tournament, I told them to go and make themselves useful and track down the Dragon Balls. I figured it'd be better to have them on standby just in case."

"Hm. Smart."

"Like I said before, I'm snarky but I'm not stupid. I just wish these guys could hurry the hell up already."

"Hey think of it this way." 17 gave a shrug "Maybe me and the others did such a good job fighting the first few guys that no one wants else to try their luck."

"...You got a rich fantasy life for a Terminator reject. You know that right?"

"Yep. Well besides, it's not like we're in that much of a hurry or anything. I say just let them take their time and get their fighters as ready as they can be."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night. So anyway we took out the vampire thing and the two Crane hermits, what heavy hitters do these guys have left?"

"Dabura would be the biggest concern in that regard." Shin told him "But beyond that, I know not of any other truly formidable warriors Babidi has left under his thrall. All the remainders have strength in would be numbers, but that doesn't make this situation any less serious than it already is. Whatever happens, we must not let down our guard."

"Got it."

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Meanwhile, with the little ones…

"Alright, looks like that's taken care of." Ranch took a look around at the battered and bloody forms of the Red Ribbon soldiers, as well as the scorched remains of their equipment and robots they were using "So do you see the Dragon Ball anywhere?"
"Wait hold on… yay, I found it!" Goten reached into a pile of rubble and pulled out a Dragon Ball in triumph "How many is that?"

"Well we've found two of them so far, and we picked up the Four Star Ball from your house before we came, so that should make four in total."

"This is super easy, even those guys with the big robots were no match for us."

"How are you so carefree about fighting giant robots and stuff like that?"

"I don't know, everyone says that I get it from my daddy."

"I believe that. Anyway we've got the One, Four, Five and Six Star Balls already, so that means we still have three left."

"Can we go get a Dragon Ball from somewhere warmer? Even with all the fighting, it's still really cold here."

"Fine, let's just get out of here before these guys wake up." so the two of them grabbed hold of the Dragon Ball and placed it in a bag with the others, then promptly flew away from the scene in a burst of Ki.

"So how do you think everyone else is doing at the tournament?"

"I don't know, but knowing what my mom is like, she wouldn't go down very easily. I'd be willing to bet that she'd win the whole thing. Plus she was stronger than either of our dads a long time ago."

"Yeah, your mom can be really scary."

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Meanwhile, at the tournament…

"Well ladies and gentlemen, this is it! We've officially reached the moment that you've been waiting for this whole time! Of the five contestants that were present when this battle royale first began, three of the have already been eliminated as a result of being knocked out of the ring. When we first started, a few swift moves were all that was needed to knock our reigning champ himself, none other than Mr Satan, out of the ring and out of the competition! This leaves him in fifth place for the overall tournament. I can only imagine how upset so many of you were because of this. Then we saw an absolutely astounding display of teamwork like nothing we've ever seen before in this tournament, where we saw multiple fighters gang up against one other. Sadly this led to Krillin, a veteran of the tournament, being knocked clear out of bounds, leaving him in fourth place. However, his loss was quickly avenged when in another burst of extraordinary teamwork, 18's run in this tournament was brought to a screeching halt! This leaves her in third place. Now there are only two combatants left, and when the dust settles, one of them will be our new world champion! In one corner, we have a veteran of the tournament, as well as a legend from the baseball team known as the Titans, not to mention being the owner of the Wolf Fang Grill franchise that's currently sponsoring this year's tournament! Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for YAMCHA!"

"I still can't believe I'm finally here." Yamcha glanced around as he was met with a thunderous applause from the audience, until his gaze fell on where Bulma and Bulla sat with the others in the stands 'It's kind of crazy to think about how far I've come. When I first started out I was so insecure that I couldn't even talk to women. Then I met Goku and Bulma, and they helped me to become more confidence in myself, and I ended up finding the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, even if I didn't know it at the time. But then… I lost my sister, and I had to take in her son. Losing Scarlet was the worst thing that ever happened to be, but having to move past that, both for myself and for Kai… it helped me to become a better person. To become the person I needed to be, in order to be a good husband and father. I'm not just doing this for myself. I'm doing it for them.'

"And in the other corner, we have another fan favorite contender aiming to give it her all for the title! One promising young woman that rocked the Junior Division as a little girl and fought her way to the finals with a mix of grit, skill, power, intellect and creativity very rarely seen in this competition! Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the daughter of the former champ himself, and possibly your new champ, VIDEL SATAN!"

'Looks like this is it.' Videl braced herself as she looked around the arena amidst a thunderous amount of cheers from the audience, until she noticed something amongst the crowd, specifically the Satan City Police Force 'Wait a second, is that a humanoid cat in an officer's uniform? Aw crapbaskets, if that's who I think it is then Kai's gonna throw a shit fit when he finds out about that. Well I can't worry about that now, I've got a fight to focus on. Just you wait Kai, the next time you see me there's going to be a new world champion, and that's going to be me.' so with that in mind, she took a breath and levelled her gaze on Yamcha "Looks like it's about time for us to get this underway."

"I guess it looks that way." Yamcha did a little bit of stretching before dropping into a combat stance, with Videl doing the same "You ready to do this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be. May the best martial artist win."

"That sounds about right to me. Just to give you a heads up, I don't plan on holding anything back against you."

"I'd find it insulting if you did."

"Good enough for me." and so the final battle began as the two of them charged at each other, with Yamcha being the first one to make a move as he tried to sweep Videl's legs out from under her with a swift kick to her knees.

Videl didn't waste any time as she rebounded before she could hit the ground and used a burst of Ki to propel herself out of the way to avoid a Ki blast aimed at her side, and then she rebounded onto her feet.

"Wolf Fang FIST!" Yamcha launched himself forward and attempted to strike Videl with a Wolf Fang Fist combo.

'Remember the most important lesson Kai taught me, DODGE!' Videl gritted her teeth as she forced herself to dodge a series of punches and kicks, and the final strike that was being aimed at her neck 'Kai has used the Wolf Fang Fist against me so many times, now I know how to dodge it on instinct. Now I think it's my turn!' she leapt under the final strike and aimed her own kick right at Yamcha's knees.

Yamcha leapt above the kick and aimed an elbow at Videl's face, only to be met with her catching his arm in a flash of green 'So she broke out the Namek-Ken again. I guess that means I don't have to hold back as much.' and so he attempted to follow up with a roundhouse kick aimed at her head.

'What was it Kai called this again? Oh yeah. Boot to the head!" Videl leaned her head to the side to avoid the kick and fired off one of her own at Yamcha's face.

'Shit!' Yamcha was forced to evade Videl's kick and readied himself to assault her with another Wolf Fang Fist barrage.

Videl managed to dodge every strike being thrown at her and leapt back to gain some distance from her opponent 'I can dodge them so long as I see them coming but his attacks are still crazy powerful, one bad move and I'm as good as screwed. Now to see if I can just force him out of the ring with a burst of Ki. Namek-Ken 3X!" she spiked her Namek-Kan and launched herself forward in a burst of speed, Ki gathering in her fist.

"Ki Blast Thrust!" Yamcha stuck some Ki into his own fist and stuck it forward, the attack meeting Videl's in a fierce collision that sent both of them staggering back to opposite sides of the ring.

'Dammit, just that collision and I can feel my hand going numb. I knew he was stronger than me even while I'm using the Namek-Ken, but this is crazy. If I wanna stay in this then I'm gonna have to get creative.'

"Wolf Fang Cannon!" Yamcha blitzed behind Videl and attempted to blast her out of the ring with a red-colored Ki wave from both palms… only for Videl to suddenly phase out of existence as soon as the blast was supposed to make contact 'She used an afterimage. Gotta give her points for creativity, but not for originality.'

"Namek-Ken 10x! Wolf Fang FIST!" Videl spiked her Namek-Ken even higher as she blitzed behind Yamcha and tried to launch her own Wolf Fang Fist at his back… only for him to spin around on his heel and catch both of her hands in his own, despite the force of her attack sending him skidding back a short distance, until he was at the edge of the ring 'Dammit, this is just his base power and he's still so strong. It's like my hands are on fire just from his grip alone.'

"Looks like you've got a pretty good handling of the Wolf Fang Fist, at least based on what I've seen so far. I doubt anyone would disagree when I say that Kai taught you well. I guess I gotta start taking Tien's advice, let my guard down again and I'm asking to get a Ki blade through the skull."

"Which means what exactly?"

"It means that I'm not going to underestimate you again. From here on out, I'm not pulling any of my punches." so Yamcha spiked his milky white aura, then suddenly blitzed forward and struck Videl with a swift and brutal assault via Wolf Fang Fist, sending her hurtling across the ring and leaving her to hit the ground with a loud thud.

'Dammit…' Videl slowly forced herself back onto her feet, though she spat out a considerable amount of blood as she did so 'So much for heeding Tien's words of wisdom… I underestimated just how much power his attacks can pack… and they hit like a freaking truck… I shouldn't be surprised by this… a tournament veteran… a martial artist in your own right… You really are more amazing than I thought…"

"You've been putting up a hell of a fight yourself up until now. To think that you've only been training with Kai for about three years up to this point. Your progress is pretty astounding, to say the least. But I think it's about time we kick things up a notch." Yamcha held out one arm and summoned a crimson colored Ki blade, and then just as quickly, he blitzed out of sight.

'Great, he's moving at high speed and suppressing his Ki at the same time. No calm down, you have to focus on your surroundings. Even if I can't sense his Ki signature, I might be able to detect his presence through my other senses, or the vibrations in the air… There! Namek-Ken 20x!" in a flash, Videl forced her green Namek-Ken aura as high as it could go, and then just as quickly whipped around to meet a Ki blade being aimed at her back, stopping it with one of her own "That was way too close, if my reaction time had been any slower then I'd probably be bleeding out on the ground right now."

"You did a pretty impressive job with that, figuring out where I was and what I was about to do, and responding accordingly. Plus I didn't know that Kai taught you how to use the Wolf Fang Saber. Or the Namek-Ken for that matter."

"What can I say? Turns out he's an over achiever when it comes to actually putting his mind to something."

"No arguments here, and I'm definitely not complaining."

"Neither am I. My only real concern is the Namek-Ken."

"Let me guess, you haven't had the chance to use it in a real fight before and you haven't had a chance to learn how to push it this far without being overwhelmed by the amount of strain that it puts on your body?"

"Speaking from experience?"

"Pretty much yeah, I was the same way when I learned the Kaioken, back when Goku and I were first training under King Kai. Still though, the fact that you managed to hold out as long as you have in this fight is pretty damn impressive in of itself. But with that being said, I think it's about time for me to stop holding back and wrap this up." Yamcha's white aura spiked again as he blitzed out of view.

"Wolf Fang CANNON!" Videl leapt forward and managed to fire off a red colored Ki wave just in time for it to collide with a Spirit Ball being aimed at at her, the two attacks cancelling each other out, but just barely.

"Not bad, but let's see how you do against the next one." Yamcha didn't waste any time as he unleashed another Spirit Ball.

'Shit!' Videl started blitzing around the arena to avoid the Spirit Ball, only for it to follow her whenever she went, eventually slamming into her back and knocking her to the ground with a loud thud "Dammit!"

"You'd better get ready, because this time I'm coming at you with everything I've got. Wolf Fang Fist!" Yamcha burst forward and landed another series of brutal strikes on Videl in the form of his Wolf Fang Fist, ending with him uppercutting her into the air and landing a swift elbow to her spine, sending her crashing to the ground.

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Meanwhile, outside the ring…

"Oh man, what kind of truck hit me…?" Mr Satan let out a pained groan as he finally regained consciousness, and then he got a look at his surroundings "Where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary."

Mr Satan glanced over to see Krillin standing by and reading a book in one chair, and 18 just reading a magazine in the other "What the- What about the tournament?"

"You already lost, they took you in here after you got knocked the hell out the second the battle royale began." 18 told her dryly.

"What- Like hell I did, I must have just lost my footing for a second and one of them took a cheap shot at me!"

"He knocked you out fair and square, you're here and you lost, now get over it."

"But… Wait, if you're here then that means you guys lost too. So who won?"

"Nobody as of yet, the battle royale is still going on." Krillin told him "The only ones left right now are Yamcha and your daughter."

"My daughter- VIDEL!" he bolted to the window and got a good look at what was going on in the arena… just in time to see Videl get sent crashing to the ground "Oh that is it, where the hell does that trickster get off laying the beatdown on my little girl like that?! When I get my hands on him I'm gonna-"

"Sit there and shut up like you're supposed to." 18 told him flatly "Your daughter is a strong and independent fighter, and she's showing what she's made of. You should at least respect her enough to let her see this through."

"But… she's my little girl…"

"And she earned the right to be in the finals on her own power, not through bluffing and claiming that everything they don't understand is a bunch of light shows and tricks. I would know. She's the one that knocked me out of the ring. So much for the prize money." 18 scowled, but then it softened slightly "Frankly I was impressed by what that girl is capable of."

"You uh… You married then?"

"I've got a daughter of my own, so I know what I'm talking about. If you want them to be able to stand on their own, give them the space they need to grow. If you want your daughter to prosper and win this fight, succeed you as a champion, then show her you support her and want her to succeed."

"...Wow." Krillin glanced over at 18 with a raised eyebrow "That was pretty mature and wise of you."

"I just wanted him to shut up. Plus I figured Raditz probably would've given some kind of speech like that if he were here, so I just beat him to the punch."

"Fair enough."

Mr Satan more or less tuned out this little exchange, and he just glanced out the window towards the arena 'Videl… my little girl… Come on, get back up… You can do this…'

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Meanwhile, in the arena…

'Dammit…' Videl tried to force herself back onto her feet, only to end up spitting out a sizable amount of blood "That definitely hurt… way more than I thought it would…"

"You put up a hell of a fight, but I think you'd better just stay down." Yamcha told her as his aura subsided "I don't wanna hurt you, but that's basically what's gonna happen if it keeps going like this."

"I'm not… gonna take… the easy way out…" Videl slowly forced herself back onto her feet, her Namek-Ken aura slowly flickering back into life "There's a difference between… those who aim for the top… and those who settle for where they are now… I'm not going to settle… Not when I've come so far… I can't give up now! Spirit Ball!" she summoned a Spirit Ball in one hand and fired it forward.

'Stubborn and proud right to the end. Yeah, she and Kai are made for each other.' Yamcha was quick to start dodging and weaving his way throughout the ring to avoid the Spirit Ball, and eventually launching a single Ki blast at it, resulting in an explosion and a large cloud of smoke overcoming the ring 'There that should've cancelled it out.'

'There we go.' Videl steadied herself as she coughed up some more blood, and then she flexed two of her fingers.

'Now to focus on-' Yamcha's thoughts were cut short by the Spirit Ball suddenly bursting out from the ground underneath him and slamming directly into his face, sending him staggering backwards towards the edge of the ring.

'Like a wise man once said. If you can't win through power, win through creativity. Okay that was actually Kai.'

"Word to the wise, you should never let down your guard in a fight."

Videl froze at the sound of that voice, then looked up to see Yamcha floating above the ring, both hands cupped at his side with blue Ki building in between his palms 'Dammit this is going to be bad, I'll have to think fast! Maybe I can-'

"KamehameHA!" Yamcha fired a quick Kamehameha wave down towards Videl, resulting in the powerful explosion that followed.

When the smoke cleared, Videl had been forced down onto her knees, both of her arms being outstretched, though they were left somewhat burned and covered in a fair amount of blood, though she still had that determination burning in her eyes 'That was too close… Even a second later… and I might be dead right now…'

"Gotta give you points, you really know how to handle yourself even when the situation gets pretty dire." Yamcha lowered himself back to the ground in front of Videl "Even when you saw me firing a Kamehameha wave, you managed to react in time to fire your own wave with enough power to at least cancel it out. There's no doubt about it kid, you really are impressive in your own right. It took the rest of us years of blood and sweat to reach this level, but for you to come so far so fast deserves a lot of praise in itself."

"High praise… from one of the greats…" Videl wiped away some blood from her lip "But I can tell… you're still holding out on me… Just like Tien was…"

"I shouldn't be surprised you figured that out. Strong and talented, and with a good set of senses to go with it."

"Not good enough… I need to know… just how strong you really are… And to know… just how far I have to go…"

"You sure you really wanna see it?"

"Not a doubt in my mind… Let me see just… how much power you've got… But whatever happens next… I'm not giving up… Not now… not ever… No matter what happens… I'm going to come at you… with all of the power… I have left…"

"If that's what you want, then I guess I'll grant your wish." so Yamcha let out a quick roar as he spiked his white aura once more, the sheer force alone almost being enough to blow Videl off her feet.

'You've gotta be freaking kidding me…' Videl was forced to brace herself due to the sheer amount of pressure being put out by Yamcha, and her emotions began to get the better of her because of it 'All the power he's putting out, I can feel it in my bones… Hell I can even taste it now… Not even my Namek-Ken 20x would be enough to overpower him like this… No chance my body would be able to withstand Namek-Ken 30x, especially not with all of the damage I've taken… Is this really all I can do? I've worked so hard over the past few years… Pushed myself to get as strong as I could… Did whatever it takes… to go beyond my limits… But now that I've come so close… Was it all just to fail?'

"Don't give up yet!" a series of shouting of encouragement came from the stands, courtesy of the Satan City police force "We know you can do this Videl, we can all feel it!"

'Guys…'

"It's only a little bit more!" that one came from the stands, courtesy of Erasa, amidst dozens of other spectators "Just a little bit more and you can win this!"

'Erasa… all of you…'

"You're not losing to that idiot, don't be a fool." that one came from 18 from where she was watching from the entrance to the waiting area.

'18… even you…'

"You don't have anything to be ashamed of, whatever happens next." Krillin was the next one to offer her support "Just making it as far as you have is amazing on its own."

'Krillin… All of you keep saying that I can do this… But I don't even think I have the strength to fire off another attack… I guess in the end, I wasn't-'

"Don't even think about giving up!"

Videl's gaze snapped over towards the entrance to the arena, and her eyes widened at who she saw 'Dad…'

Sure enough, Mr Satan was the one barking at her from the entrance to the waiting area "Like hell I'm gonna let my little girl throw in the towel when she's so close to showing the world what she's capable of! You've got what it takes to tangle with the best of the best there is, now get the hell over there and show that punk what you're made of!"

'Dad…' inspired by this encouragement from her father and everyone else, Videl turned her gaze back towards Yamcha, her eyes blazing with determination 'I can't just give up… I've come too far just to fail now… The only question is how I'm gonna do this? Well… if it worked with Tien, I guess it could work on him too. There's only one way to find out. I don't have much strength left, so I'm only gonna have one shot at this. Namek-Ken… 20x!" she forced her Namek-Ken back to the absolute max, gritting her teeth furiously as she did so "I'm ready. All of it's gonna come down to this."

"You sure you still wanna keep going?" Yamcha called over to her "Last chance to back out of this before we get started. You're pretty much running on fumes at this point, but I can keep this up all day."

"Funny thing really, you're not gonna get the chance to do that." Videl forced herself forward a few feet, stumbling slightly as she did so, and she stuck out one hand, golden Ki buildin in her palm, with one hand hidden behind her back 'One shot is all I'm gonna need for this. That's assuming it works of course.'

'Is she gonna try and bluff to get me to let my guard down?' Yamcha studied Videl's moves intently as he raised his guard 'No this is legit, I can sense her Ki rising. She's really gonna go through with it. What the hell is she thinking? Even without using the Kaioken her attack won't have enough power to-'

"GOTCHA!" Videl stuck her hand out and unleashed a powerful Explosive Demon Wave, but instead of aiming it at Yamcha, she fired it behind her, the force sending her hurtling forward at full speed.

'Oh I got it, she was using the attack to increase her momentum, probably thinking I wouldn't be fast enough to stop her or dodge it. Pretty clever, but…' Yamcha braced himself and managed to catch Videl as soon as she reached him, gripping her by the arm "Not a bad strategy, but you probably shouldn't repeat the same move you used on Tien. You get repetitive and you end up getting predictable."

"Yeah, I thought as much… That's why I kept one hand free." Videl brought out her right arm and thrusted it forward, only for Yamcha to grab that as well.

"You out of tricks?"

"Depends on how this one goes." she flexed a single finger on her right arm.

"What do you-" Yamcha was cut off by a Spirit Ball bursting out of the ground beneath him and nailing him in the jaw, forcing him to release Videl from his grasp in order to catch it… but then it suddenly detonated in his face, sending him hurtling backwards until he was teetering right on the edge of the ring 'Shit, she kept that hand free to fire a secret Spirit Ball that she hid under the ring!'

"I call that my Spirit Ball Burst, and I call this one my victory! Wolf Fang FIST!" with her Namek-Ken barely hanging on, Videl used the last of her strength she could muster to launch herself towards Yamcha and assault him with one final Wolf Fang Fist, ending with a final strike to the throat with just enough force to knock him out of the arena and send him crashing into the wall behind him.

A tense silence overcame the arena.

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Back in the spaceship, Dabura stepped out of the meditation chamber and declared that he was ready to fight the Z Fighters in the next level. Babidi was pleased by this, noting that the more evil Dabura had in his heart, the more powerful he would become, and the stronger Babidi's control over him would be.

Now it was time to put it to good use…

A/N:

I know I know, this chapter is ridiculously overdue. I really have no excuse for taking as long as I did to get this out, but at least it's here, so thank you all for being so patient. Also to the guys that keep reviewing my stories just to ask me to update this one, your wish is granted.

On the plus side, at least things are finally progressing on numerous fronts. Sure the Z Fighters in Babidi's ship haven't seen their fourth opponent yet, but on the more positive end of things, Ranch and Goten have gotten their hands on four of the Dragon Balls, leaving only three more for them to collect.

What's more, the World Martial Arts Tournament has finally come to an end, with a massive battle royale the likes of which the tournament has never seen. I will admit that figuring out how to write out this part gave me a bit more trouble than I thought it would, since I didn't want to just copy and paste what they were doing in canon. But at least I got to show what each of the combatants (not counting Mr Satan) is really capable of, along with giving Krillin and Yamcha, especially the latter, some redemption for their previous performances in the tournament. All of it culminating in the crowning of a new champion in the form of Videl.

Power levels:

Kai: 1 billion

Scarlet: 1.8 billion

Gohan: 4 billion

Goku: 3.8 billion

Tarble: 3.4 billion

Yamcha: 200 million

Yamcha (Kaioken 10x): 2 billion

Tien: 200 million

Krillin: 175 million

Krillin (Kaioken 10x): 1.75 billion

Android 17: 2 billion

Android 18: 2 billion

Android 18 (full power): 3 billion

Weighted Piccolo: 60 billion

Videl: 7.5 million

Videl (Namek-Ken): 15 million

Videl (Namek-Ken 3x): 22.5 million

Videl (Namek-Ken 10x): 75 million

Videl (Namek-Ken 20x): 150 million

Mr Satan: 25

Dabura: 15 billion