Mamoru got into his fighting stance as he prepared himself for his battle. He didn't see it as something that had to be stressed over. He didn't loose very often because of his training. Not very many people who went to the tournament trained at the same intensity as he did. Heck, he didn't know anyone else who could fight with energy attacks like he had. He was a bit surprised when Usagi had. He smirked. "Let's just get this over with so I can go on to my next victim."
Yakuri followed Mamoru's movements and placed his body in a fighting stance. He watched Mamoru for any sudden movements. He was always stronger and faster with each year. It wasn't exactly fair to place him in the kids division. But as soon as next year came around, Mamoru would go onto the adult division because he would finally be thirteen. "I'm going to make you take those words back in a few minutes."
Mamoru looked to the spectators and grinned. Everyone was chanting his name. "Well, it looks like everyone wants me to win."
"Well that will all change now!" Mamoru looked back to Yakuri and jumped at him. Yakuri, expecting this, rolled underneath him, barely missing a hit.
Mamoru's fist hit the hard concrete of the ring. He stood up and turned around to Yakuri. "Not bad, I see you've been practicing."
"Yeah…" He jumped up and swung his leg into Mamoru's face. He landed just as Mamoru hit the ground. "How do you like that?"
Mamoru pushed himself off the ground and once again stood in front of Yakuri. "Very much so. It was good hit, though, not good enough." He lunged himself at Yakuri.
'Damn, that was my best hit. What's up with this guy?' He put his hands out in front of him in a taunting fashion. "Come on, take your best shot."
Mamoru snickered. "If you say so." He sped himself up to his fullest speed as Yakuri backed up. "Here we go!" He jumped into the air and over Yakuri. Now both fighters stood back to back. Before Yakuri had a chance to do anything, Mamoru's foot found its way into his back. He waited until he heard Yakuri smack against the ground and then turned around. "How do YOU like THAT?"
"I liked it very much thank you." He grinned and grabbed Mamoru's legs. "Let's see how you like this." He tugged Mamoru's legs out from underneath him, forcing him to fall flat on his back. Yakuri quickly stood up and sat on Mamoru's stomach. "I'm going to beat you this time!" He began to punch Mamoru over and over in the chest.
Mamoru lifted his legs in the air and quickly brought them down while pushing his upper body up, along with pushing Yakuri off of him. "So, you want to play that way do you? I can deal with that." He ran over to Yakuri's side and picked him up and held him over his head. "Here we go."
Yakuri looked to the ground beneath him. "Oh god, what the hell?" Yakuri knew it was useless to struggle at this point.
Mamoru pulled his arms back at far, as they would go without dropping Yakuri and quickly pushed them out as hard and fast as he could, hurling Yakuri across the ring. He ran up to Yakuri and looked down at him. He was grabbing his back from the impact of falling. "Are you out now? Or do you want to keep going?" He didn't reply. Mamoru looked over to the judges. "I think he's out." He looked back down to Yakuri, who didn't seem to be able to get up. "Good fight man."
One of the judges walked back out to the ring after a couple of minutes and looked down at Yakuri. "It's been long enough. You're out Yakuri." He pulled a microphone out of his jacket. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. Chiba Mamoru!" The judge held up Mamoru's arm. "He will be back in a couple of hours to fight his third fight of the day. Don't miss it."
~*~*~
Makoto looked around as the crowd in the stands went wild. "I guess they really DO like him huh?"
Usagi shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah. He's a good fighter and all, but he's still a bully. I don't like him. He's mean, and so is his dad."
Piccolo stood up from his seat and evilly eyed Usagi. "That boy is not mean. And neither is his father. I have talked to them a few times and become somewhat friendly with them. You don't really know either of them otherwise you wouldn't say stupid comments like that. You're being close-minded, just like Vejita!. Your father told me about what happened between you and him a couple of weeks ago and I think you're just jealous that he beat you. You need to shut your mouth about things you know nothing about. You have no room to talk unless you know the true facts, which you do not."
Usagi was a little hurt by Piccolo's words. None of her friends had ever talked to her like that in such an angry tone of voice before, and now, she considered Piccolo one of her friends. But maybe she was wrong. Maybe he still hated her. "I know plenty Piccolo. Maybe if you would just listen to what I have to say."
Piccolo crossed his arms and frowned. "Fine. Go ahead and tell me what's on your mind. But I'm warning you…"
Usagi wasn't sure what had gotten into Piccolo. He was just fine a couple of minutes before. But now, he was totally going off on her. Of course, this wasn't the first time he had done this to her. Whenever she stayed at Gohan's house when her parents wanted to go on a vacation, she would usually see Piccolo and even then, he was rude to her. Always telling her that she got in the way and if she wanted to do something useful she should learn how to fight or leave the area. "He only fights to hurt others, at least, that's why he fought me. He was just trying to show how much stronger then me he was. Daddy says you should only fight to defend yourself. Well, that's what I did. But I wasn't good enough and he rubbed it in my face. That's what daddy calls a 'Poor winner'. Then, after he beat me, he left me all alone to be kicked at by Haruka and Michiru. He knew I couldn't move. Even his dad left me. He was there after the fight. I was so scared. I didn't know if I would ever get home or not. I lay there for a long time before daddy came and got me. So I do know what I'm talking about Piccolo." Usagi wanted to cry just thinking about it. She tried not to think about it after it happened. She had been doing a pretty good job of it too. The only time it ever crossed her mind was when she saw Mamoru.
Piccolo thought for a while before responding. "Are you saying that he doesn't fight for honor?" Usagi nodded. "Well is that so? Listen to me and listen carefully KID, life isn't fair, so deal with it!"
Usagi stood up so she was facing Piccolo. "Life isn't fair, Piccolo? You're telling me that life isn't fair? I already knew that. I have had the worst time ever since last year. I was happy before I started school. Then I met Haruka and Michiru. You could say that they are the reason why I asked daddy to teach me how to fight. I want to be able to protect myself. I know people think I'm a freak because if my tail, but mommy and daddy say I have to accept it and I'm tying to do that the best that I can. So Piccolo, I agree, life is not fair, but that doesn't mean his dad had to leave me by myself. Life may not be fair, but people should. His dad was not being fair by just leaving me all alone, with not strength to do anything. Daddy says he's going to 'talk' to Mamoru's dad when he sees him. He's really mad about it. So are Goten and Gohan." Usagi could feel tears forming in her eyes. She didn't like to have to think about the previous school year, things had gotten better, but a lot of kids still made fun of her. And Mamoru had only added to the stress.
Minako and Makoto stared at Usagi. They never DID hear the whole story about Mamoru. They definitely didn't know that that's how Usagi felt about the whole situation either. They knew that she was upset and angry about it, and that's about it. Makoto raised her face to look Piccolo in the face. He looked pretty angry. "Piccolo, Usagi is right about that one. His dad shouldn't have left her alone like he had. If he was a true fighter, he would have tried to help out a fellow fighter. But instead, he left her there."
Piccolo looked over to Makoto. Now he had to listen to it from both girls. "Whatever you guys. All I have to say is, that until you REALLY get to know these two, your guys' critique is going in one ear, and out the other."
Usagi frowned at Piccolo. How could he say such a mean thing to them? She had been the victim of Mamoru. She was pretty sure that she knew what she was talking about. Usagi wanted to go home. She didn't want to be around Piccolo anymore. Not if he was going to call them stupid, which is exactly how she was taking this argument. She interpreted it as him calling her stupid. "Piccolo, can I call daddy now?"
"Fine, but make it quick. We don't have all day. Minako has to fight in about twenty minutes. I don't want you wondering off again." Piccolo stepped out of the row of seats. "Come on you guys. Let's go to the warm up pit. Usagi, you can call your parents there. There should be a phone back there somewhere."
~*~*~
Gohan sat up when a piercing pain shot through his body. "Arghhghhghh!" He grabbed his chest. He could feel his heart beating inside him faster then normal. "Shit!" She grabbed the side of his bed and dug his nails into it.
Videl, who had arrived around 9:00, ran to her husband's side. She looked to his eyes, but they were closed due to the excessive pain that was being caused from within him. "Gohan, dear, what's the matter? Tell us?" Gohan didn't answer. He couldn't. His body was getting warm. Warmer then normal. His could feel his veins heating up at a rapid speed, almost to the point of burning. Videl turned her head. "BULMA! Come quick!"
Bulma ran out of her small office and saw Gohan. "God!" She ran back in her office and grabbed something off of her desk and in a flash, ran back out into her lab. "Hold on Gohan." She ran to Gohan's side, pushing Videl aside so she could get to him easier.
Videl looked down at her husband in pure horror. She didn't know what was going on. They had done several more tests, none of which proved anything new. "Gohan…no." She watched as Bulma pierced Gohan's skin with a needle. "Is that another sedative?"
Bulma nodded, not taking her eye off Gohan. She had given them sedatives a lot lately. It seemed to be the only thing that calmed them down. She tried all sorts of medications. Nothing seemed to work. "Gohan seems to be getting everything first. I don't know why, You guys, be sure to prepare yourselves for this. Videl, call Chi-Chi down here please."
For once Vejita was somewhat scared. As he lay and watched Gohan suffer, he was afraid of what it would feel like to go through something like that. He punched a bottle off of a table that sat by the head of his bed. "Damnit! Why do I just have to sit here and wait for death?"
Goku took his eyes off of his son and looked over at Vejita. "Don't think of it that way Vejita. There is still hope. And who says that we're going to die?"
Vejita frowned. "It's pretty obvious that we're going to die. Just look at your brat over there."
Bulma backed away from Gohan. "There you go. Now that should help you rest a bit." She turned around when she heard the sound of the door opening behind her. "Chi-Chi…"
Chi-Chi didn't pay any attention to Bulma. Instead, she ran right passed her and knelt down by her son. "Gohan, sweetie, are you ok? What happened." Chi-Chi had still been sleeping in the guestroom when Videl summoned for her. Waking up to the words, "Chi-Chi, wake up, something is happening to Gohan," is probably the worst possible way for Chi-Chi to wake up.
Gohan looked up at his mother. He couldn't really make her picture out because of the sedatives. He felt like he was drunk now. "Hey ya ma!" He grabbed his head. He had a splitting headache from all the commotion.
"Gohan, don't talk. Just rest." Chi-Chi was disturbed by a tap on the shoulder from Bulma. She turned around. "Yes?"
Bulma held out a phone to Chi-Chi. "Usagi is on the line. She wants to talk to you guys."
Chi-Chi snatched the phone from Bulma and put it up to her ear. "Hello? Usagi?"
~*~*~
"Mommy?" Usagi plugged her free ear with her finger. There was too much noise around her and she could barely hear her mother.
"Usagi, how are you? Are you sick? If you're sick you are to come home right now!" Chi-Chi hoped that she wasn't sick. She didn't want all of her children to become sick. So far, she was the only Saiyan who had not become sick and she was hoping that it would stay that way.
"No, I'm not sick. I just wanted to call and see how everyone is doing. I'm really worried." Usagi stepped to the side as a shoe came flying at her. She looked to where the shoe came from and noticed that a couple of people who appeared to be fighting with each other. "I'm trying to talk on the phone here!"
The two people turned around and looked at Usagi. "Sorry bout that."
Chi-Chi didn't know what was going on where Usagi was. She didn't like the sound of it though. She could hear all sorts of grunting and bashing in the background. "Usagi, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but things have gotten worse. Gohan just went into a worse state of being sick then before. Bulma had to give him more sedatives."
Usagi felt uneasiness in her stomach all of a sudden. She didn't know how she could just act as if life was normal when everyone that she cared about were back at home with an illness that no one knew anything about. "Can I talk to daddy?"
Chi-Chi looked over at her husband to see if he was still awake. "Sure." She handed the phone to him. "It's Usagi. She wants to talk to you."
Goku grabbed the phone from her hands and put it up to his ear. "Hey sweetie." He tried to sound as cheerful as possible. He didn't want her to think that he was in pain, when he actually was.
Usagi smiled. "Hi daddy. Are you ok?"
Goku rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, I'm fine. So, what have you been doing? Have you been behaving for Piccolo?"
"Yes. I just watched Mamoru fight. He won. And I haven't seen his dad yet." She paused a moment and looked around her to make sure Piccolo wasn't anywhere around to hear what she was saying. She saw him talking to Minako. She figured that he was prepping her for her fight. "Daddy, Piccolo is being mean to me. He yelled at me because I called Mamoru and his dad mean. He said I didn't have any information to go on or something."
Goku sighed. "Usagi, please try to get along with him. He's not a bad guy." Goku wasn't in the mood for her to throw another fit. He would make her stay. Not only because it was a good learning experience, but also because he didn't want her anywhere near anyone who was sick.
"But daddy…" Usagi whined.
"Usagi, don't start. You already know how I feel about this. Just deal with it."
"Yes daddy." She looked behind her at Piccolo again. "Are you sure you're ok? You don't want me to come home or anything?"
Goku chuckled. He knew exactly what she was doing. "No, believe me, you'll thank me for this one day. Now relax, it's fun."
Usagi leaned against a wall. She could hear something going on in the background on her father's side of the line. "Daddy, what's going on over there?" Goku hadn't really been listening to answer his daughter's question. All of a sudden out of no where Trunks started to go nuts. The same thing that had happened to Gohan was now happening to Trunks. All Usagi could hear was yelling. "Daddy…"
"Usagi, I have to go. Don't worry about us. We'll be fine. You just worry about having fun. I've got to go. Good bye." Goku hung up. He didn't want to explain to her what was going on in fear that it may ruin her concentration.
All Usagi heard was a click. She didn't even have time to respond. "Daddy…daddy.…" She pulled the phone away from her ear. "What the…he hung up on me." She put the phone back down on its base and walked over to Piccolo and Minako.
~*~*~
Everyone stared at Trunks as he gasped for breath. Vejita looked to Bulma who was fiddling with a needle. "Woman, hurry up, the brat needs help and you're just sitting there wasting time. Be more efficient. Come on, hurry up."
As soon as Bulma finished refilling the needle with the proper sedatives she ran to her son's side and grabbed his arm. "This may hurt." She rolled his arm over and stabbed the needle into it. She couldn't really do it a safe way for the fact that he was moving too much. It didn't really matter though. As soon as the sedatives began to work, the pain would go away. Bulma had made her own sedative with two different purposes. One was to calm the person down, and the other purpose was to take any pain away. "Trunks, you're ok now."
Trunks began to calm. He was sweating from the action. He breathed heavily. "That was too weird. I couldn't breath. My veins were heating up and my head felt like it was going to explode."
Bulma looked down at her son. That was the first time that he had been through that. "You guys, it seems to be getting worse." She put down the needle and walked over to Vejita. "And you! I was working as fast as I could." She made a fist and hit him in the jaw with it.
Vejita grabbed her by the wrist. "You would hit one of your own patients? Tsk…Tsk… You just wait until I'm able to get out of here. Then you're going to be sorry that you did that."
Bulma rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up Vejita. You aren't as sick as the children."
"What did you just say Bulma?"
Bulma turned around to look at Goku. "I said that he isn't as sick at our kids. You know that's true neither of you are." She said as she put her hands on her waist and looked at both him and Vejita.
"Have you guys noticed that this virus is taking longer to work on me and Vejita then our kids?"
"Well of course it would Kakkorotto. We are pure Saiyans. They are only half. And in that girl's case," He pointed over to Pan, "She is only ¼ Saiyan."
Goku looked back to his sleeping Granddaughter. She seemed to be sleeping a lot, which kind of worried Goku. It wasn't normal for girls her age to sleep all the time. There must have been something more going on inside of her. She was wheezing a lot in her sleep too. "That's true. But why would we be getting sick, and not Usagi. Like you just said, half Saiyans are more vulnerable to getting this disease. She hasn't gotten sick at all."
Chi-Chi let her eyes scan across the room and over everyone who was sick. She stopped when her eyes met her husband's. "Well, maybe it's because she was born a Super Saiyan."
That was the first time that Goku had ever heard Chi-Chi refer to their daughter that way. She didn't like to think that her sweet little Usagi had to power to become very powerful. Goku kept his eyes with his wife's. "I don't think so. We all have the power to become Super Saiyan. And as we found out before, the power of a Super Saiyan only speeds up the process. But I guess it doesn't matter. As long as she is safe I'm happy."
~*~*~
Rei sat in front of her great roaring fire. She looked up at it in fear. She feared what she saw. The fire actually proved to be useful this time. Her black eyes reflected the images. "A planet, space warriors, what does this all mean?" Rei went back to chanting to the fire in hopes that she would get the answers that she was looking for.
The fire grew bigger as she put more dust into it. She was trying to give it more energy to provide her with much needed information. She looked back up to the fire to see another image. "What?!" It was an image of a man in black. "Who is that?" She picked up the bottom of her red Kimono and stood up. She felt lightheaded. "Do you have a message for me?" She sat back down and closed her eyes.
She found herself looking over a room of men. They were talking but she couldn't make out a word that they said. "What is this?" The picture in her head disappeared. She opened her eyes. "Now I'm getting somewhere. But I don't feel the evil around any more." She looked to the fire. It had nearly gone out. "Is that all you have right now?" She put her hand in her bag of dust and fed the fire with it. The fire did not respond. She put her hands together and bowed. "Thank you for your help."
~*~*~
Minako, Makoto, and Usagi all stood in a circle. Makoto put her hand on Minako's shoulder. "You'll do fine. You're probably stronger then most of these freaks anyways."
There were only about five minutes before it was Minako's turn to fight. She had become very nervous in the last ten minutes. She doubted her ability to fight. Piccolo wasn't of much help. He didn't provide her with any words of wisdom. "I don't know. After watching some of them fight, I just don't know."
Usagi looked to the door, which led out to the ring. She noticed that one of the judges was walking towards them. "Minako, I think they want you to go now or something." Minako looked to the judge and then back at Usagi. Usagi smiled at her. "Don't worry. Makoto is right, you're a great fighter. Now, go wipe those smirks off your opponents' faces."
Minako smiled. "Yeah. I'll show em whose boss around here. No one messes with me."
"Yeah, and if you have to, picture Haruka's face on these guys." Makoto looked over to Usagi. "Come on, we should probably go join Piccolo in the stands." She looked back at Minako. "We'll meet you here after the fight to congratulate you on your victory."
Usagi put her fist in the air. "Yeah! Your gonna kick butt!" Usagi turned around and walked to the door that led back up to the stands. Mr. Satan stopped her right before she went on. "What do you want?" She waved for Makoto to go on without her.
"Well, I do this thing where, on the third day of the tournament, after everything is over, I challenge the winner of each skill level of the kids' division." He could see that he was boring Usagi. "Well, anytime someone from your family or that guys Vejita's family comes here, you win. Well I'm asking you, please, if you or your friends win, let me beat you."
"What?! You mean you can't beat a little kid?"
"Well, it would ruin my rep. You know?" Satan could see that just that didn't convince her. "Everyone else does it. Trunks did it when he had to fight me. 18 did it when I really had to fight her. So come on, let me win."
Usagi grinned as she crossed her arms. "What's in it for me?"
"I'll buy you all the candy you want."
"Daddy already does that for me." Usagi wanted to hear him beg. But the candy thing was still true.
"I'll buy you anything you want."
"I would get in trouble. Mamma would think I was stealing everything." Usagi wasn't going to give in to anything THAT easily. It would have to be something REALLY good or else she would expose this fool for what he really was.
"Do it because we are family?" He was getting a little put out with her responses. He didn't know why she wouldn't just be a good little girl and do as she was told.
"I'm not your family. I have no relation to you. You are not my father-in-law just because my big brother married Videl." She was enjoying seeing him squirm. "And besides, I can't take anything from you. That would be like a bribe and daddy says it's bad to do stuff like that."
Satan frowned. "Do you always listen to your father?"
"Yes! Now I have to go. I'm not going to throw a fight just for you to keep your rep. Sorry. Whoever wins, will win for real. The only way you will be able to beat me, is if you are stronger then me." She stepped to the side and walked right past him. She didn't care if it ruined his rep. He shouldn't even have the rep that he had anyways and both of them knew it.
Satan let out a small growl. "But your father trains you. That's not fair. And besides that, Mamoru and his father do it. And look at them. They are two of the greatest fighters here!"
Usagi just kept walking forward. "In that case…I'm NOT DOING IT!" 'Why is he telling Mamoru and his father about the way that he really is?'
~*~*~
Usagi met Makoto and Piccolo back up in the seats that they had been in when they watched Mamoru's fight. Makoto sat on Piccolo's left, while Usagi sat on his right. "I can't wait to see her win. It's going to be so cool."
Piccolo looked down at Usagi. "You really think she can win do you?"
"Of course. She's really good."
Makoto put her hand up to Piccolo's mouth and put her finger to her lips. "Shhh…they're starting."
Piccolo slapped her hand away from his mouth and looked down to the ring where a man walked out with a microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, we will be starting the next fight now. It will be between Aino Minako and Kibou KiKi. This is the higher end of the intermediate skill level."
~*~*~
Usagi sat forward in her chair. "What?! Higher level of intermediate? Daddy thins we're THAT good? But we just started. What was Mamoru in then?"
"Pro I think." Piccolo had been following him ever since he started coming to these tournaments.
~*~*~
"So here we go!" The judge put the mic. in his pocket. "Ok girls, now, don't step out of the ring. If you do, you will be disqualified. Don't fight dirty, for if you do, you will be disqualified."
Minako nodded. She already knew all the rules but one. "Are we not allowed to use Ki blasts?"
The judge looked blankly at Minako. "Ki blasts?"
"Never mind."
"Ok, well, go ahead and start as soon as I'm clear and off the ring." He backed up away from the girls a bit and turned around to walk away.
Minako stared at her opponent. She was built big. She looked very strong. But, since they didn't know what a Ki blast was, maybe she wouldn't be so strong. "Ready?" She asked as she crouched to her fighting stance. She held her hands out in front of her.
The girl laughed at Minako. "You look stupid. But yeah, I'm ready."
Minako grinned. "So am I!"
Without further conversation, both girls jumped for each other. The met each other in the air with the locking of their hands. They landed on their feet, with their hands still locked with each other. Minako pushed with all of her weight against her opponent. She wasn't proving to be a very good challenge to Minako for she was sliding backwards. But the girl wasn't going to give up that easily. She grinned at Minako and kneed her in the stomach.
Minako let go of KiKi's hands and took a step back. She grabbed her stomach with one of her arms. Although she had fought with Vejita and Goku many times, getting hit in the stomach still hurt. She noticed a fist coming straight for her. "Come on, you can be a little bit more sneaky then that." She grabbed KiKi's fist. With her other hand she punched her in the face.
KiKi didn't let herself get discouraged. She had been up against worse then Minako before and still won. She was very confident that she would win this time, too. She didn't care that she had just been hit in the face. She couldn't afford to care. She kneeled down to the ground.
Minako snickered. "What are you trying to do?" Minako knew that she could very well beat her opponent. It was quite obvious now. Minako was just going to play around now and see how much abuse the other girl could take. She stayed in her spot and looked up at Usagi and Makoto. They were cheering her on. She smiled and waved.
KiKi crawled slowly and carefully over to Minako, trying not to be seen or heard. She was hoping that Minako wouldn't turn her head back and see her. She stopped at her feet. 'What a freak. I'm going to win this easily.' First she made a fist as tight as she could. Then she jumped up as hard as she could, with her fist extended out over her head, hitting Minako in the chin and up a ways off the ground.
Minako slammed to the ground with a big thud that echoed throughout the stands. All she could hear were the spectator's 'awws.' She grabbed her tailbone and backed up as KiKi walked towards her. "That was a good trick."
"Yes, I know, and you see, now I'm going to take you out and win this fight. All because you were stupid enough to take your eye off of your opponent."
Minako smirked. "Is that a fact?" She waited until KiKi got close enough to her and flipped herself backwards off of the ground. She had just faked being hurt so KiKi would walk to her to make another hit on her. She could feel her feet hitting their target as they flew into the air. First KiKi's chest, and then her face. She looked back to KiKi when she landed on her feet. "You should never underestimate your opponent. That's why my sensei says."
KiKi fell backwards to the ground. Minako's feet had hit something in her chest that had made a strange sensation in her body. She began to go numb. "Gees you hit a nerve." She could move, but she couldn't really feel what she was doing.
When it was pretty obvious that KiKi wasn't going to get back up the judge came out with his mic again. "Ladies and Gentlemen…" He grabbed Minako's hand and raised it to the air. "The winner, Minako!"
Minako looked to the stands where her friends were. They were yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs congratulating her. The fight hadn't been as bad as she thought and she couldn't wait to talk to them about it.
(K! That's it for this part. What do you think? Good, or bad? Please review.)
Yakuri followed Mamoru's movements and placed his body in a fighting stance. He watched Mamoru for any sudden movements. He was always stronger and faster with each year. It wasn't exactly fair to place him in the kids division. But as soon as next year came around, Mamoru would go onto the adult division because he would finally be thirteen. "I'm going to make you take those words back in a few minutes."
Mamoru looked to the spectators and grinned. Everyone was chanting his name. "Well, it looks like everyone wants me to win."
"Well that will all change now!" Mamoru looked back to Yakuri and jumped at him. Yakuri, expecting this, rolled underneath him, barely missing a hit.
Mamoru's fist hit the hard concrete of the ring. He stood up and turned around to Yakuri. "Not bad, I see you've been practicing."
"Yeah…" He jumped up and swung his leg into Mamoru's face. He landed just as Mamoru hit the ground. "How do you like that?"
Mamoru pushed himself off the ground and once again stood in front of Yakuri. "Very much so. It was good hit, though, not good enough." He lunged himself at Yakuri.
'Damn, that was my best hit. What's up with this guy?' He put his hands out in front of him in a taunting fashion. "Come on, take your best shot."
Mamoru snickered. "If you say so." He sped himself up to his fullest speed as Yakuri backed up. "Here we go!" He jumped into the air and over Yakuri. Now both fighters stood back to back. Before Yakuri had a chance to do anything, Mamoru's foot found its way into his back. He waited until he heard Yakuri smack against the ground and then turned around. "How do YOU like THAT?"
"I liked it very much thank you." He grinned and grabbed Mamoru's legs. "Let's see how you like this." He tugged Mamoru's legs out from underneath him, forcing him to fall flat on his back. Yakuri quickly stood up and sat on Mamoru's stomach. "I'm going to beat you this time!" He began to punch Mamoru over and over in the chest.
Mamoru lifted his legs in the air and quickly brought them down while pushing his upper body up, along with pushing Yakuri off of him. "So, you want to play that way do you? I can deal with that." He ran over to Yakuri's side and picked him up and held him over his head. "Here we go."
Yakuri looked to the ground beneath him. "Oh god, what the hell?" Yakuri knew it was useless to struggle at this point.
Mamoru pulled his arms back at far, as they would go without dropping Yakuri and quickly pushed them out as hard and fast as he could, hurling Yakuri across the ring. He ran up to Yakuri and looked down at him. He was grabbing his back from the impact of falling. "Are you out now? Or do you want to keep going?" He didn't reply. Mamoru looked over to the judges. "I think he's out." He looked back down to Yakuri, who didn't seem to be able to get up. "Good fight man."
One of the judges walked back out to the ring after a couple of minutes and looked down at Yakuri. "It's been long enough. You're out Yakuri." He pulled a microphone out of his jacket. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. Chiba Mamoru!" The judge held up Mamoru's arm. "He will be back in a couple of hours to fight his third fight of the day. Don't miss it."
~*~*~
Makoto looked around as the crowd in the stands went wild. "I guess they really DO like him huh?"
Usagi shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah. He's a good fighter and all, but he's still a bully. I don't like him. He's mean, and so is his dad."
Piccolo stood up from his seat and evilly eyed Usagi. "That boy is not mean. And neither is his father. I have talked to them a few times and become somewhat friendly with them. You don't really know either of them otherwise you wouldn't say stupid comments like that. You're being close-minded, just like Vejita!. Your father told me about what happened between you and him a couple of weeks ago and I think you're just jealous that he beat you. You need to shut your mouth about things you know nothing about. You have no room to talk unless you know the true facts, which you do not."
Usagi was a little hurt by Piccolo's words. None of her friends had ever talked to her like that in such an angry tone of voice before, and now, she considered Piccolo one of her friends. But maybe she was wrong. Maybe he still hated her. "I know plenty Piccolo. Maybe if you would just listen to what I have to say."
Piccolo crossed his arms and frowned. "Fine. Go ahead and tell me what's on your mind. But I'm warning you…"
Usagi wasn't sure what had gotten into Piccolo. He was just fine a couple of minutes before. But now, he was totally going off on her. Of course, this wasn't the first time he had done this to her. Whenever she stayed at Gohan's house when her parents wanted to go on a vacation, she would usually see Piccolo and even then, he was rude to her. Always telling her that she got in the way and if she wanted to do something useful she should learn how to fight or leave the area. "He only fights to hurt others, at least, that's why he fought me. He was just trying to show how much stronger then me he was. Daddy says you should only fight to defend yourself. Well, that's what I did. But I wasn't good enough and he rubbed it in my face. That's what daddy calls a 'Poor winner'. Then, after he beat me, he left me all alone to be kicked at by Haruka and Michiru. He knew I couldn't move. Even his dad left me. He was there after the fight. I was so scared. I didn't know if I would ever get home or not. I lay there for a long time before daddy came and got me. So I do know what I'm talking about Piccolo." Usagi wanted to cry just thinking about it. She tried not to think about it after it happened. She had been doing a pretty good job of it too. The only time it ever crossed her mind was when she saw Mamoru.
Piccolo thought for a while before responding. "Are you saying that he doesn't fight for honor?" Usagi nodded. "Well is that so? Listen to me and listen carefully KID, life isn't fair, so deal with it!"
Usagi stood up so she was facing Piccolo. "Life isn't fair, Piccolo? You're telling me that life isn't fair? I already knew that. I have had the worst time ever since last year. I was happy before I started school. Then I met Haruka and Michiru. You could say that they are the reason why I asked daddy to teach me how to fight. I want to be able to protect myself. I know people think I'm a freak because if my tail, but mommy and daddy say I have to accept it and I'm tying to do that the best that I can. So Piccolo, I agree, life is not fair, but that doesn't mean his dad had to leave me by myself. Life may not be fair, but people should. His dad was not being fair by just leaving me all alone, with not strength to do anything. Daddy says he's going to 'talk' to Mamoru's dad when he sees him. He's really mad about it. So are Goten and Gohan." Usagi could feel tears forming in her eyes. She didn't like to have to think about the previous school year, things had gotten better, but a lot of kids still made fun of her. And Mamoru had only added to the stress.
Minako and Makoto stared at Usagi. They never DID hear the whole story about Mamoru. They definitely didn't know that that's how Usagi felt about the whole situation either. They knew that she was upset and angry about it, and that's about it. Makoto raised her face to look Piccolo in the face. He looked pretty angry. "Piccolo, Usagi is right about that one. His dad shouldn't have left her alone like he had. If he was a true fighter, he would have tried to help out a fellow fighter. But instead, he left her there."
Piccolo looked over to Makoto. Now he had to listen to it from both girls. "Whatever you guys. All I have to say is, that until you REALLY get to know these two, your guys' critique is going in one ear, and out the other."
Usagi frowned at Piccolo. How could he say such a mean thing to them? She had been the victim of Mamoru. She was pretty sure that she knew what she was talking about. Usagi wanted to go home. She didn't want to be around Piccolo anymore. Not if he was going to call them stupid, which is exactly how she was taking this argument. She interpreted it as him calling her stupid. "Piccolo, can I call daddy now?"
"Fine, but make it quick. We don't have all day. Minako has to fight in about twenty minutes. I don't want you wondering off again." Piccolo stepped out of the row of seats. "Come on you guys. Let's go to the warm up pit. Usagi, you can call your parents there. There should be a phone back there somewhere."
~*~*~
Gohan sat up when a piercing pain shot through his body. "Arghhghhghh!" He grabbed his chest. He could feel his heart beating inside him faster then normal. "Shit!" She grabbed the side of his bed and dug his nails into it.
Videl, who had arrived around 9:00, ran to her husband's side. She looked to his eyes, but they were closed due to the excessive pain that was being caused from within him. "Gohan, dear, what's the matter? Tell us?" Gohan didn't answer. He couldn't. His body was getting warm. Warmer then normal. His could feel his veins heating up at a rapid speed, almost to the point of burning. Videl turned her head. "BULMA! Come quick!"
Bulma ran out of her small office and saw Gohan. "God!" She ran back in her office and grabbed something off of her desk and in a flash, ran back out into her lab. "Hold on Gohan." She ran to Gohan's side, pushing Videl aside so she could get to him easier.
Videl looked down at her husband in pure horror. She didn't know what was going on. They had done several more tests, none of which proved anything new. "Gohan…no." She watched as Bulma pierced Gohan's skin with a needle. "Is that another sedative?"
Bulma nodded, not taking her eye off Gohan. She had given them sedatives a lot lately. It seemed to be the only thing that calmed them down. She tried all sorts of medications. Nothing seemed to work. "Gohan seems to be getting everything first. I don't know why, You guys, be sure to prepare yourselves for this. Videl, call Chi-Chi down here please."
For once Vejita was somewhat scared. As he lay and watched Gohan suffer, he was afraid of what it would feel like to go through something like that. He punched a bottle off of a table that sat by the head of his bed. "Damnit! Why do I just have to sit here and wait for death?"
Goku took his eyes off of his son and looked over at Vejita. "Don't think of it that way Vejita. There is still hope. And who says that we're going to die?"
Vejita frowned. "It's pretty obvious that we're going to die. Just look at your brat over there."
Bulma backed away from Gohan. "There you go. Now that should help you rest a bit." She turned around when she heard the sound of the door opening behind her. "Chi-Chi…"
Chi-Chi didn't pay any attention to Bulma. Instead, she ran right passed her and knelt down by her son. "Gohan, sweetie, are you ok? What happened." Chi-Chi had still been sleeping in the guestroom when Videl summoned for her. Waking up to the words, "Chi-Chi, wake up, something is happening to Gohan," is probably the worst possible way for Chi-Chi to wake up.
Gohan looked up at his mother. He couldn't really make her picture out because of the sedatives. He felt like he was drunk now. "Hey ya ma!" He grabbed his head. He had a splitting headache from all the commotion.
"Gohan, don't talk. Just rest." Chi-Chi was disturbed by a tap on the shoulder from Bulma. She turned around. "Yes?"
Bulma held out a phone to Chi-Chi. "Usagi is on the line. She wants to talk to you guys."
Chi-Chi snatched the phone from Bulma and put it up to her ear. "Hello? Usagi?"
~*~*~
"Mommy?" Usagi plugged her free ear with her finger. There was too much noise around her and she could barely hear her mother.
"Usagi, how are you? Are you sick? If you're sick you are to come home right now!" Chi-Chi hoped that she wasn't sick. She didn't want all of her children to become sick. So far, she was the only Saiyan who had not become sick and she was hoping that it would stay that way.
"No, I'm not sick. I just wanted to call and see how everyone is doing. I'm really worried." Usagi stepped to the side as a shoe came flying at her. She looked to where the shoe came from and noticed that a couple of people who appeared to be fighting with each other. "I'm trying to talk on the phone here!"
The two people turned around and looked at Usagi. "Sorry bout that."
Chi-Chi didn't know what was going on where Usagi was. She didn't like the sound of it though. She could hear all sorts of grunting and bashing in the background. "Usagi, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but things have gotten worse. Gohan just went into a worse state of being sick then before. Bulma had to give him more sedatives."
Usagi felt uneasiness in her stomach all of a sudden. She didn't know how she could just act as if life was normal when everyone that she cared about were back at home with an illness that no one knew anything about. "Can I talk to daddy?"
Chi-Chi looked over at her husband to see if he was still awake. "Sure." She handed the phone to him. "It's Usagi. She wants to talk to you."
Goku grabbed the phone from her hands and put it up to his ear. "Hey sweetie." He tried to sound as cheerful as possible. He didn't want her to think that he was in pain, when he actually was.
Usagi smiled. "Hi daddy. Are you ok?"
Goku rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, I'm fine. So, what have you been doing? Have you been behaving for Piccolo?"
"Yes. I just watched Mamoru fight. He won. And I haven't seen his dad yet." She paused a moment and looked around her to make sure Piccolo wasn't anywhere around to hear what she was saying. She saw him talking to Minako. She figured that he was prepping her for her fight. "Daddy, Piccolo is being mean to me. He yelled at me because I called Mamoru and his dad mean. He said I didn't have any information to go on or something."
Goku sighed. "Usagi, please try to get along with him. He's not a bad guy." Goku wasn't in the mood for her to throw another fit. He would make her stay. Not only because it was a good learning experience, but also because he didn't want her anywhere near anyone who was sick.
"But daddy…" Usagi whined.
"Usagi, don't start. You already know how I feel about this. Just deal with it."
"Yes daddy." She looked behind her at Piccolo again. "Are you sure you're ok? You don't want me to come home or anything?"
Goku chuckled. He knew exactly what she was doing. "No, believe me, you'll thank me for this one day. Now relax, it's fun."
Usagi leaned against a wall. She could hear something going on in the background on her father's side of the line. "Daddy, what's going on over there?" Goku hadn't really been listening to answer his daughter's question. All of a sudden out of no where Trunks started to go nuts. The same thing that had happened to Gohan was now happening to Trunks. All Usagi could hear was yelling. "Daddy…"
"Usagi, I have to go. Don't worry about us. We'll be fine. You just worry about having fun. I've got to go. Good bye." Goku hung up. He didn't want to explain to her what was going on in fear that it may ruin her concentration.
All Usagi heard was a click. She didn't even have time to respond. "Daddy…daddy.…" She pulled the phone away from her ear. "What the…he hung up on me." She put the phone back down on its base and walked over to Piccolo and Minako.
~*~*~
Everyone stared at Trunks as he gasped for breath. Vejita looked to Bulma who was fiddling with a needle. "Woman, hurry up, the brat needs help and you're just sitting there wasting time. Be more efficient. Come on, hurry up."
As soon as Bulma finished refilling the needle with the proper sedatives she ran to her son's side and grabbed his arm. "This may hurt." She rolled his arm over and stabbed the needle into it. She couldn't really do it a safe way for the fact that he was moving too much. It didn't really matter though. As soon as the sedatives began to work, the pain would go away. Bulma had made her own sedative with two different purposes. One was to calm the person down, and the other purpose was to take any pain away. "Trunks, you're ok now."
Trunks began to calm. He was sweating from the action. He breathed heavily. "That was too weird. I couldn't breath. My veins were heating up and my head felt like it was going to explode."
Bulma looked down at her son. That was the first time that he had been through that. "You guys, it seems to be getting worse." She put down the needle and walked over to Vejita. "And you! I was working as fast as I could." She made a fist and hit him in the jaw with it.
Vejita grabbed her by the wrist. "You would hit one of your own patients? Tsk…Tsk… You just wait until I'm able to get out of here. Then you're going to be sorry that you did that."
Bulma rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up Vejita. You aren't as sick as the children."
"What did you just say Bulma?"
Bulma turned around to look at Goku. "I said that he isn't as sick at our kids. You know that's true neither of you are." She said as she put her hands on her waist and looked at both him and Vejita.
"Have you guys noticed that this virus is taking longer to work on me and Vejita then our kids?"
"Well of course it would Kakkorotto. We are pure Saiyans. They are only half. And in that girl's case," He pointed over to Pan, "She is only ¼ Saiyan."
Goku looked back to his sleeping Granddaughter. She seemed to be sleeping a lot, which kind of worried Goku. It wasn't normal for girls her age to sleep all the time. There must have been something more going on inside of her. She was wheezing a lot in her sleep too. "That's true. But why would we be getting sick, and not Usagi. Like you just said, half Saiyans are more vulnerable to getting this disease. She hasn't gotten sick at all."
Chi-Chi let her eyes scan across the room and over everyone who was sick. She stopped when her eyes met her husband's. "Well, maybe it's because she was born a Super Saiyan."
That was the first time that Goku had ever heard Chi-Chi refer to their daughter that way. She didn't like to think that her sweet little Usagi had to power to become very powerful. Goku kept his eyes with his wife's. "I don't think so. We all have the power to become Super Saiyan. And as we found out before, the power of a Super Saiyan only speeds up the process. But I guess it doesn't matter. As long as she is safe I'm happy."
~*~*~
Rei sat in front of her great roaring fire. She looked up at it in fear. She feared what she saw. The fire actually proved to be useful this time. Her black eyes reflected the images. "A planet, space warriors, what does this all mean?" Rei went back to chanting to the fire in hopes that she would get the answers that she was looking for.
The fire grew bigger as she put more dust into it. She was trying to give it more energy to provide her with much needed information. She looked back up to the fire to see another image. "What?!" It was an image of a man in black. "Who is that?" She picked up the bottom of her red Kimono and stood up. She felt lightheaded. "Do you have a message for me?" She sat back down and closed her eyes.
She found herself looking over a room of men. They were talking but she couldn't make out a word that they said. "What is this?" The picture in her head disappeared. She opened her eyes. "Now I'm getting somewhere. But I don't feel the evil around any more." She looked to the fire. It had nearly gone out. "Is that all you have right now?" She put her hand in her bag of dust and fed the fire with it. The fire did not respond. She put her hands together and bowed. "Thank you for your help."
~*~*~
Minako, Makoto, and Usagi all stood in a circle. Makoto put her hand on Minako's shoulder. "You'll do fine. You're probably stronger then most of these freaks anyways."
There were only about five minutes before it was Minako's turn to fight. She had become very nervous in the last ten minutes. She doubted her ability to fight. Piccolo wasn't of much help. He didn't provide her with any words of wisdom. "I don't know. After watching some of them fight, I just don't know."
Usagi looked to the door, which led out to the ring. She noticed that one of the judges was walking towards them. "Minako, I think they want you to go now or something." Minako looked to the judge and then back at Usagi. Usagi smiled at her. "Don't worry. Makoto is right, you're a great fighter. Now, go wipe those smirks off your opponents' faces."
Minako smiled. "Yeah. I'll show em whose boss around here. No one messes with me."
"Yeah, and if you have to, picture Haruka's face on these guys." Makoto looked over to Usagi. "Come on, we should probably go join Piccolo in the stands." She looked back at Minako. "We'll meet you here after the fight to congratulate you on your victory."
Usagi put her fist in the air. "Yeah! Your gonna kick butt!" Usagi turned around and walked to the door that led back up to the stands. Mr. Satan stopped her right before she went on. "What do you want?" She waved for Makoto to go on without her.
"Well, I do this thing where, on the third day of the tournament, after everything is over, I challenge the winner of each skill level of the kids' division." He could see that he was boring Usagi. "Well, anytime someone from your family or that guys Vejita's family comes here, you win. Well I'm asking you, please, if you or your friends win, let me beat you."
"What?! You mean you can't beat a little kid?"
"Well, it would ruin my rep. You know?" Satan could see that just that didn't convince her. "Everyone else does it. Trunks did it when he had to fight me. 18 did it when I really had to fight her. So come on, let me win."
Usagi grinned as she crossed her arms. "What's in it for me?"
"I'll buy you all the candy you want."
"Daddy already does that for me." Usagi wanted to hear him beg. But the candy thing was still true.
"I'll buy you anything you want."
"I would get in trouble. Mamma would think I was stealing everything." Usagi wasn't going to give in to anything THAT easily. It would have to be something REALLY good or else she would expose this fool for what he really was.
"Do it because we are family?" He was getting a little put out with her responses. He didn't know why she wouldn't just be a good little girl and do as she was told.
"I'm not your family. I have no relation to you. You are not my father-in-law just because my big brother married Videl." She was enjoying seeing him squirm. "And besides, I can't take anything from you. That would be like a bribe and daddy says it's bad to do stuff like that."
Satan frowned. "Do you always listen to your father?"
"Yes! Now I have to go. I'm not going to throw a fight just for you to keep your rep. Sorry. Whoever wins, will win for real. The only way you will be able to beat me, is if you are stronger then me." She stepped to the side and walked right past him. She didn't care if it ruined his rep. He shouldn't even have the rep that he had anyways and both of them knew it.
Satan let out a small growl. "But your father trains you. That's not fair. And besides that, Mamoru and his father do it. And look at them. They are two of the greatest fighters here!"
Usagi just kept walking forward. "In that case…I'm NOT DOING IT!" 'Why is he telling Mamoru and his father about the way that he really is?'
~*~*~
Usagi met Makoto and Piccolo back up in the seats that they had been in when they watched Mamoru's fight. Makoto sat on Piccolo's left, while Usagi sat on his right. "I can't wait to see her win. It's going to be so cool."
Piccolo looked down at Usagi. "You really think she can win do you?"
"Of course. She's really good."
Makoto put her hand up to Piccolo's mouth and put her finger to her lips. "Shhh…they're starting."
Piccolo slapped her hand away from his mouth and looked down to the ring where a man walked out with a microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, we will be starting the next fight now. It will be between Aino Minako and Kibou KiKi. This is the higher end of the intermediate skill level."
~*~*~
Usagi sat forward in her chair. "What?! Higher level of intermediate? Daddy thins we're THAT good? But we just started. What was Mamoru in then?"
"Pro I think." Piccolo had been following him ever since he started coming to these tournaments.
~*~*~
"So here we go!" The judge put the mic. in his pocket. "Ok girls, now, don't step out of the ring. If you do, you will be disqualified. Don't fight dirty, for if you do, you will be disqualified."
Minako nodded. She already knew all the rules but one. "Are we not allowed to use Ki blasts?"
The judge looked blankly at Minako. "Ki blasts?"
"Never mind."
"Ok, well, go ahead and start as soon as I'm clear and off the ring." He backed up away from the girls a bit and turned around to walk away.
Minako stared at her opponent. She was built big. She looked very strong. But, since they didn't know what a Ki blast was, maybe she wouldn't be so strong. "Ready?" She asked as she crouched to her fighting stance. She held her hands out in front of her.
The girl laughed at Minako. "You look stupid. But yeah, I'm ready."
Minako grinned. "So am I!"
Without further conversation, both girls jumped for each other. The met each other in the air with the locking of their hands. They landed on their feet, with their hands still locked with each other. Minako pushed with all of her weight against her opponent. She wasn't proving to be a very good challenge to Minako for she was sliding backwards. But the girl wasn't going to give up that easily. She grinned at Minako and kneed her in the stomach.
Minako let go of KiKi's hands and took a step back. She grabbed her stomach with one of her arms. Although she had fought with Vejita and Goku many times, getting hit in the stomach still hurt. She noticed a fist coming straight for her. "Come on, you can be a little bit more sneaky then that." She grabbed KiKi's fist. With her other hand she punched her in the face.
KiKi didn't let herself get discouraged. She had been up against worse then Minako before and still won. She was very confident that she would win this time, too. She didn't care that she had just been hit in the face. She couldn't afford to care. She kneeled down to the ground.
Minako snickered. "What are you trying to do?" Minako knew that she could very well beat her opponent. It was quite obvious now. Minako was just going to play around now and see how much abuse the other girl could take. She stayed in her spot and looked up at Usagi and Makoto. They were cheering her on. She smiled and waved.
KiKi crawled slowly and carefully over to Minako, trying not to be seen or heard. She was hoping that Minako wouldn't turn her head back and see her. She stopped at her feet. 'What a freak. I'm going to win this easily.' First she made a fist as tight as she could. Then she jumped up as hard as she could, with her fist extended out over her head, hitting Minako in the chin and up a ways off the ground.
Minako slammed to the ground with a big thud that echoed throughout the stands. All she could hear were the spectator's 'awws.' She grabbed her tailbone and backed up as KiKi walked towards her. "That was a good trick."
"Yes, I know, and you see, now I'm going to take you out and win this fight. All because you were stupid enough to take your eye off of your opponent."
Minako smirked. "Is that a fact?" She waited until KiKi got close enough to her and flipped herself backwards off of the ground. She had just faked being hurt so KiKi would walk to her to make another hit on her. She could feel her feet hitting their target as they flew into the air. First KiKi's chest, and then her face. She looked back to KiKi when she landed on her feet. "You should never underestimate your opponent. That's why my sensei says."
KiKi fell backwards to the ground. Minako's feet had hit something in her chest that had made a strange sensation in her body. She began to go numb. "Gees you hit a nerve." She could move, but she couldn't really feel what she was doing.
When it was pretty obvious that KiKi wasn't going to get back up the judge came out with his mic again. "Ladies and Gentlemen…" He grabbed Minako's hand and raised it to the air. "The winner, Minako!"
Minako looked to the stands where her friends were. They were yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs congratulating her. The fight hadn't been as bad as she thought and she couldn't wait to talk to them about it.
(K! That's it for this part. What do you think? Good, or bad? Please review.)