(Sorry I didn't get a part out yesterday but my power was out most of the day.::pouts:: oh well, here it is.)
After she accepted her victory, Minako ran back into the warm up area of the arena. She was so excited. She had never felt such a rush of excitement like she had before. She couldn't wait to tell Usagi and Makoto what it was like.
Usagi and Makoto were already in the warm up area when Minako arrived. They were there, yelling words of congratulations for her. "Yeah! Minako! We knew you could do it!"
Minako smiled as she bent over and held her knees to catch her breath. "Thanks you guys. I just thought about what you said about how I'm a great fighter. And then I pretty much just acted as if it were just another spar. You know, like we were fighting each other." She stood up. "And you know, it was a lot easier that way. It was so much fun. I'm not even nervous about the next fight."
"Yeah. I'm not nervous though. I've been in tournaments before because of that martial arts class I used to take, but I've never been in the Budaki before. I never thought I was good enough you know. But, that girl looked too easy for you Minako. I hope the person I have to fight isn't that easy." Makoto looked to her left, where the boy she was to fight next was getting himself prepared.
Piccolo hadn't said much in the way of compliments to Minako. The way he saw it, people didn't need to be complimented. It just gave them a reason to become conceited. "You did ok, Minako. But it wasn't a test of your real strength. But don't think it's going to be that easy all the time. Some people enter themselves at a higher level then they need to be. Plus, it gets harder and harder as you proceed onto later fights. Don't think it's all just cake."
Minako looked up at Piccolo. "Are you saying that me winning didn't prove my strength?"
Piccolo didn't answer. He didn't want to get into it again with the "little girls", as he liked to think of them as. Instead, he grabbed Makoto by the arm and pulled her aside. "Look, you have to fight next ok? I don't want you to get distracted like your friend over there did. That causes un-necessary hits from the other person." He glared over in Minako's direction. "If you do, it could cause you the whole battle. So keep your eyes on your enemy…"
"Opponent."
"What?"
"You said enemy. Don't you mean opponent."
Piccolo let out a quiet growl to let Makoto know that he wasn't happy that she interrupted him for such a stupid reason. "Yeah whatever. Anyways, keep your eyes on your opponent, and you should be able to win. I've watched this guy fight before and from what I can tell, he's pretty good. He definitely deserves to be in this level of skill." He looked over his shoulder to a clock that hung on the wall. "Ok, you have about ten minutes to warm up. I'm going to go talk to someone." He turned around and walked away.
Usagi started to follow him. "Let me come Piccolo!"
Piccolo turned quickly turned around. "NO! Go back!" He turned back around and left.
"Gees, fine, whatever. Don't get all upset over nothing." She turned back around and walked back to Minako and Makoto who were already in the middle of a conversation. "You guys, does Piccolo seem to be acting weird today?"
Minako looked over at Usagi. "Yeah, kind of. I mean, the way he blew up at us and everything. It's kind of weird. It seems like he's got something on his mind."
"I don't know you guys. I think he's just bored. I mean, he has to watch us fight. He can't watch whoever he wants to." Makoto put her arms behind her back so they would be stretched out for her fight.
"Hey guys." Haruka walked up from behind Minako with Michiru. She was dressed in her martial arts GI. She placed her had on Minako's shoulder and put her head by hers. "Nice show Minako. But, that was pretty stupid how you let that loser of a fighter get a hit on you like that. I would have expected better from a spectacular fighter like yourself." She pulled her head up and pushed Minako to the ground. "Yeah right, like I meant any of that. You both sucked. That other fighter just happened to suck more then you."
Usagi moved up in front of Haruka. "You're just jealous that we can fight better then you. Leave us alone."
Haruka laughed. "Oh, Monkey Girl, you think you're better then us? I doubt that. Gee, who was it that got their ass beat by Mamoru? If I remember right it was…oh….I don't know, YOU!"
Usagi frowned. "That doesn't mean I can't beat you. I'm much stronger then you! And if and when I have to fight you, I'm going to beat you so bad you're going to wish you never messed with me last year!" Usagi was mad now. Haruka, Michiru, and Mamoru were probably the only people she ever talked to like that. She didn't care though. They made her blood boil like no one else could.
"When I fight you, I can beat you. I know your weak spot. I found that out right away about you. But don't worry little Monkey Girl," She went on as she patted Usagi's head, "I won't hurt you too bad. Maybe I'll just make you go unconscious."
"No Haruka, I think you should make her be awake when you beat her. Then she will have to live with the pain." While Haruka was bent on dishing out pain, Michiru liked to watch people suffer through the pain. They were a perfect duo.
Haruka smiled as she took her hand back. "Yeah, then I'll have to hold back a bit, but I guess I can do that."
Makoto had heard just about enough at that point. She didn't understand how Usagi could just be so calm and take that from them. She pushed Usagi aside. "Look, Usagi is stronger then you and you know it. We are all stronger then you. You just wait until any of us are in the ring with you. You'll see."
Haruka smiled. "We will all see." She looked around at all three of the girls' faces. She could tell that they were totally serious and stopped smiling. "Fine then. If you want it that way, you got it. None of us will hold back. But be warned, Mamoru trained us all last night and most of today. He has taught us how to use energy attacks. I know we are not allowed to use them, but, we have gotten a bit stronger by using them."
Usagi grinned. "Just because you can do energy attacks, doesn't mean you can do them very good. And so what, we've been training for over a year now. We're still stronger then you are." It was a little surprising to her that they had been training with Mamoru.
Minako glared at Haruka. She was one of the rudest people that she knew. "It seems like even losers can learn how to fight too." She knew she was taking a risk with that comment, but she didn't care. What could Haruka do to her? Minako was, after all, stronger then her.
Haruka grabbed Minako by the front of the GI and pulled her up to her face. "Listen KID! I'm going to kick your ass for that! If we don't meet in the tournament, I will hunt you down, GOT IT!?" She threw Minako down to the ground and turned back to Michiru, who was laughing. "Come on, let's go find Mamoru."
~*~*~
Rei left her temporary shrine. She couldn't wait until she returned home to her temple with her grandfather. She loved going to the tournament each year and all, but this year she had other things on her mind. She was worried about all the feelings that she was receiving. They had been more intense then normal. She knew that something was going to go down soon. Each time she performed her ritual with the fire, she got more answers. With everyday that passed by, the evil that she felt grew, as did the rage of the fire.
She always treated the fire like it was a person. Like it was a spirit to guide here. The visions she received from it always turned to be true. She sighed as she rested her head against the wall that formed the outside of the arena. "I hope whoever these people are, are ok. I wonder who that girl was earlier. I wonder why I felt a connection to her."
~*~*~
Makoto stood face to face with her opponent. They were just told that they were allowed to start the fight. Makoto rubbed her fist in her hand as she tried to intimidate the boy that stood in front of her. The boy put one of his feet behind himself and darted at an exceptionally fast pace towards her. She stepped to the side and grabbed the boy's arm, stopping him. Before he had a chance to try to break free, with all her strength, she flipped him over onto his back.
He jumped back to his feet and stopped Makoto's fist from hitting her again by grabbing it. He quickly began twisting it around, making her cry out in pain. "Think you can beat me do ya?" He grinned. Makoto wasn't able to do very much. He had her on her knees. She had her head cocked to the side with her eyes closed. "Perfect." He raised his foot to her chest and roughly kicked her back, letting go of her hand.
Makoto grabbed her arm as she fell backwards to the ground. She looked up at her competitor. He was proving to be more of a challenge then Minako's opponent. But she didn't mind. She was rather enjoying herself. She wouldn't want it any other way. If she could beat a challenge, then she knew that she was worthy of being a fighter. She sat up and rubbed a couple of hairs out of her eye. "Come on, show me some more!"
~*~*~
Rei walked back into the arena where she saw two people fighting. The crowd went wild one the female fighter threw the male fighter across the ring. "That was pretty good actually. It seems like the fighters get better and better each year." She began to walk down to the front of the stands where her grandfather was sitting. He seemed to be enjoying himself. She sat down next to him and looked forward to the fight that was going on.
Her grandfather looked over to her. "Did you resolve anything, Rei?"
Rei slightly nodded. She didn't know what happened. She hadn't expected such a response from her cries. She didn't know what to make of it. She wouldn't bother her grandfather with it at that moment though. She didn't want to pull him away from his fun. "Kind of."
"Another blank eh?"
"I guess you could say that." She watched as the female fighter kicked the male fighter in the back with her foot, forcing him to fall face first on the ground. "Ouch."
"Rei," Rei looked up at her grandfather. He pointed to Usagi who sat across the aisle from them. "You see that girl there?"
Rei looked over. 'It's that girl again.' "Yes?"
"That's Son Goku's daughter. She will be fighting next. If she is anything like her father, we are in for a real treat."
"Oh." Rei wasn't really paying attention to that right at the moment. She was more worried about other, more important things. 'What is this that I'm feeling whenever I am near her? Why do I feel like I've known her for sometime?' She let out a quiet gasp after she thought for a moment. 'Could it be…"
~*~*~
Minako rubbed some blood off of her lip. "Hehe, that was a good hit." The boy had just grabbed her by her face and thrown her down to the ground.
He jumped to the side as Makoto tried her luck at hitting him. "Yeah, I know. So is this." He tensed his hand up into a tight fist and swung it at Makoto's chest, only to hit air.
Makoto had jumped out of the way seconds before it hit. She put her hands together to form a double sized fist and hit the boy in the back of the neck, causing him to fall forward. She bent over and picked him up by the head and swung him around until she got dizzy and let go of him. All she could hear was a smack against the ground. She grabbed her head and tried to hold it still, but it didn't help. Her vision was all screwed up and there wasn't anything she could do about it at this time. All she could do was hope that the last attack on him had done it for him.
She staggered around the ring for a while until she ran into something hard. "Uh-oh." She closed her eyes hard and then opened them again hoping that that would clear up her vision. It helped somewhat. What she saw was a man in a black suit. "Thank god for that."
"We have a winner. It's this young lady right here. Makoto!"
~*~*~
"Bulma, you better hurry up over the quick. We have another crisis over here!" Videl and Chi-Chi had kind of taken up the jobs of being nurses for the Saiyans. Shortly after Gohan and Trunks had become sicker, Bra had become sick too. Goten was showing signs of becoming more sick, and now, Pan had gone into a little bit of a spasm. Videl looked down at her daughter she wasn't sure what she could do for her. They had run out of sedatives about ten minutes ago and Bulma was working on a stronger batch. The old batch didn't seem to be working all that well. She rubbed her daughter's bangs out of her face. "Pan, hold on sweetie, Bulma is getting something for you."
Goku watched in fear at everything that was going on. He had never seen something like this in his entire life and it pained him to have to watch his family suffer. "Damnit!"
Vejita didn't have any smart reply to say to Goku this time, for he too feared for his life. With every minute that passed, everyone moved into a worse condition. He didn't know what was going on. He didn't like not having control over his body. It brought back memories of being controlled by freiza. "Woman! Get your ass out here! The brats are in need of your god damned assistance." He was too mad to even control his language anymore. Bulma ran out of the room with a blue liquid and ran over to Pan. "What the hell is that?"
Bulma didn't look away. She inserted the needle into Pan's arm. "It's the new sedative. It's stronger then the first one and therefore, should work longer." She pulled a few more needles out of her pocket and handed a packet of the blue liquid to Videl. "Here is some more liquid in case you need it." She pulled out another packet and handed it to Chi-Chi. "I hope you don't need this, but just in case."
Chi-Chi took the packet from her friend and examined it carefully as if to make sure it wasn't going to harm her family. She looked over at Goten to see if he was still stable. He seemed to be ok, but only time would tell if he would stay that way. He looked as though he was having a hard time sleeping. She looked back over to her husband and then over at Vejita. "It just doesn't make any sense."
Bulma had been telling herself that same thing ever since Goku and Vejita had first gotten sick. None of it made sense. Of course, when your best friends and husband are aliens that call themselves Saiyans, not much did make sense. Nothing had made much sense since she met Goku but she wouldn't change her life for the world. "I don't know, I've worn out every kind of test we can perform on these guys. It still says that there is nothing wrong with you guys. There isn't much I can do without actually knowing what is wrong with you guys."
Videl looked up from watching her daughter calm down. "Well can't we get the Dragon Balls together and wish that the disease would go away."
Bulma showed a slight hint of a sarcastic smile. "What disease?"
"I guess you're right. But what if we knew what disease they had? Like if we found something in the next couple of days. We would do that, right?" Videl knew they most likely wouldn't find anything, but it was a valid question.
Bulma just shook her head. "I suppose we could do that, but that probably won't happen. Don't get your hopes up to high."
A look of disappointment spread across Videl's face as she looked back down to her now sleeping daughter. "I know. And that's what is really scary about this whole situation."
~*~*~
Usagi sat against a wall with her legs pressed up against her body. She had her arms wrapped around her knees to keep them up against her body. She had just fought her second fight of the day and was pretty beaten up. She barely won. She looked up as Minako and Makoto stood over her. "What do you think they're talking about over there?"
To Usagi's left Piccolo was talking to Mamoru. Mamoru had come up to Usagi, after her last fight, and tried to start a fight with her. He was enraged and neither of the girls knew why. Usagi had heard him say something about her supposedly saying something about him, but she wasn't sure. He was yelling so much that she hadn't been able to make much of anything out of what he had said. Piccolo looked like he was letting him have it, although, Usagi couldn't make out anything that he was saying. She so wished that she could. She wanted to know if he was defending her or not. "I hope it doesn't make him more mad at me."
Minako was quite curious too. "I don't know. When he gets over here, we'll have to ask him though. I hope he's yelling at Mamoru though.
"Usagi, you have to get ready for another fight." So far Makoto had already fought three of her fights. She had won all of them too. Each time they moved up, her opponents seemed to get stronger.
Usagi looked up at the clock that sat in front of her. "Already?" She was too tired. She had just finished fighting only about fifteen minutes before. "But I don't want to. I want to rest."
"You have to."
Usagi turned her head to look up at Piccolo. "Fine." She knew not to argue with him. He would have just ended up going off on her and yelling at her for no reason at all. She stood up and brushed some dust off of her GI. "How long do I have?"
"Five minutes. You had better get yourself out there." Piccolo watched as Usagi walked to the door that led to the ring where she would wait for her name to be called for her to enter. He smiled to himself. 'She will be able to hold up. I know it. Goku was right. She IS strong.'
~*~*~
"Rei," Rei's grandfather looked over to his granddaughter. "Are you actually going to watch Usagi fight time? I really think you should. She is just like her father was when he was her age. You'll enjoy it."
Rei hadn't watched either of Usagi's previous fights. It wasn't that she didn't want to, she just started to get some bad feelings again. But when she went back to consult her fire, nothing happened. She didn't get any new answers. But she knew that something was building up. She just knew it. "Yes grandfather. I will watch this one. I am getting strong vibes, but so far they have met nothing." She really wanted to go back again. She wanted to keep trying to get answers, but she knew that her grandfather wanted her to stay and watch the fight.
~*~*~
"Kiro, this is Okori, we are almost finished. You can start any time that you want."
Kiro smiled. "So this is actually it. Thank you, I will tell Taku immediately. It should only take a few minutes to complete the process and then it will be over."
"Right, I guess this is it then."
"Yes. Kiro…out."
~*~*~
"Ladies and gentlemen, we please welcome back Son Usagi for her third fight and Kokyu Shou for his last battle of the day. If he wins, he will go on to contend tomorrow, but, if Usagi wins, she will have to fight one more time today and win in order to get into tomorrow's activities." The judge put the mike into his pocket. "Ok, you guys know the rules. Let's have a good clean fight ok?"
Usagi watched as the judge left the ring and then looked back at Shou. She sighed. She was just too tired to go on. She hadn't expected herself to be so tired. With getting up so early in the morning and having to spar with Piccolo and then fighting two battles against people who were at her same fighting level, if not better, she wasn't up to fighting anymore.
Shou could see that Usagi was just plain exhausted. He, on the other hand, was no where near being tired. Well, maybe just a bit. But he would use Usagi's tiredness to his own advantage. He would win this for sure. "Come on little girl. Let's get this fight over with so I can go home and get some rest. I'm going to need it for tomorrow."
"I can do this. Just you wait and see. I may look tired on the outside, but inside, I'm as hyper as I ever could be. So let's get this thing started." Usagi flipped backwards and stared at Shou. She expected him to follow. When he didn't she decided it was time to taunt him. "What's wrong, afraid you're going to get beaten by a girl?"
Shou crossed his arms and smirked. "No, I'm just not going to fall for anything stupid."
"Is that a fact?" Usagi ran for him.
He jumped to the air and was met by the smiling face of Usagi. "What the…"
"Didn't your sensei ever tell you to expect everything." With that, Usagi grabbed his shoulders and pushed him to the ground. She took a step back. If it's one thing that she learned from all this, it was that you should never stand by your opponent when they are on the ground. Actually, it was more like don't hold still for too long. Doing that could loose the whole battle. She learned that from watching various fights between adults. They were the most desirable to watch. They had more experience.
Shou waited until Usagi was in the middle of jumping backwards to make his move. He quickly jumped to his feet and grabbed Usagi by the legs. Usagi began to kick as hard as she could, hoping that he would let go, but it was no use, he wouldn't let go. She wasn't struggling that much. He dug his nails into Usagi's soft skin, causing her to cry out in pain. His eyes traveled down to her tail that hung over one of her legs. "What's this?"
Usagi, with her head and hands to the ground still, looked over her shoulder to the best of her ability. "Don't you dare touch it!"
"Oh? A soft spot on the girly huh? Well, in that case…"
Shou grinned a little to evilly for Usagi's liking. She knew exactly what was coming. "NO!" With all the strength that she could build up in her legs, Usagi pulled them back against Shou's grip, letting them slam into his chin on the way back to her own body. She let herself flip over on her back as she heard the footsteps of her opponent stumbling to regain their composure. She took this opportunity to regain some of her energy back. She panted heavily as she tried to raise herself to her feet once again. She got up very slowly this time. Her energy was greatly diminished. 'How can I go on? This is too hard.' She frowned. 'What am I thinking? Daddy wouldn't give up. He wouldn't let me give up either. He would just tell me to tough it out until it was over.' She took a big breath and charged at Shou, grabbing him by the front of his GI. 'This is the one time I can get mad about someone pulling my tail.' "No one pulls my tail. No one even TRIES to pull my tail!" She pulled her fist back as far as it would go.
"Whatever!" He grabbed Usagi's wrist and squeezed it as hard as he could, forcing Usagi to let go of her grip that she had on it. She didn't let that stop her though. She swung her fist at him. Shou ducked just before it hit and kneed her in the stomach causing her to bend over in pain. He let her fall on his shoulder. "Come on, I know you can do better then this."
"I could if I could fight with energy."
Shou picked Usagi up and held her out in front of him. "Well, I'm going to let you go on a ride. Don't worry, it won't hurt much."
Usagi smirked. "Really?" She grabbed his hair and pulled his head back. With her free hand, she poked both of his eyes.
Shou dropped Usagi to the ground and grabbed his eye. He took a step back. "Ah, you stupid freak!"
Usagi frowned. "Don't call me a freak!" She jumped up and did a roundhouse kick to his head. She landed in a fighting stance. "I'm ending this right here, right now! All I want to do is rest for longer then twenty minutes."
Shou fell to the ground. He could feel blood running down his checks. He just had the crap kicked out of him by a girl with a tail. He couldn't believe it. And now, he couldn't even see straight from that last kick. He let his head fall back to the ground. "Good fight."
Usagi relaxed her stance. "Huh?"
"I can't go on like this."
"Of course you can. Daddy says, if you really want something, there is always a way to get it. So come on. Fight me!" Usagi tried taunting him some more. She didn't know what she was saying. Her body was telling her to just stop and let the boy give up, but her mind was telling her to continue.
"Sorry, I just can't." He closed his eyes.
Usagi walked to his side and looked down at his face. "Did he faint?" She looked up to see a judge walking out to her. "I think he fainted." She said as she pointed down to Shou.
"Then that means you won!" He pulled his mic out. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the winner. Son Usagi!"
~*~*~
Rei stared in disbelief down at the golden haired fighter. "Grandfather, you were right. She is a good fighter."
"Why don't you go and talk to her? You could learn some things about fighting from her."
"Oh I don't know. I'm not that good, and I'm not THAT serious about fighting."
He nudged his granddaughter. "Come on, I know you want to."
Rei smiled. "Yeah, I guess I am. I guess I can go talk to her."
~*~*~
Rei waited for Usagi at the gate that led back into the warm up area. She couldn't wait to meet her. Usagi and her friends were the first people her age that she had seen get so far in the tournament at such a high skill level. She finally spotted Usagi. 'I'm getting that feeling again. Why?' She decided to ignore her feelings for once and go talk to Usagi.
Her friends, including Piccolo surrounded Usagi. They were all congratulating her. She appreciated it, but she was just too tired to say anything. She was still quite out of breath and she still had another fight for the day. She looked up and saw Rei approaching her. She smiled to welcome her. "Hi." 'Where have I seen her before.
Rei smiled. "Hi. My name is Rei. I think you met my grandfather. He his co owner of this place." She put her hand out to Usagi.
Usagi grabbed Rei's hand and shook. "Yeah, I did. He's really nice."
"I was watching your fight. It was amazing. I'm guessing your dad taught you all that."
"Yup, daddy is really strong and he trains all of us. Oh yeah, by the way, this is Minako, Makoto, and Piccolo."
"Hi. Pleased to meet you. You know Usagi, I didn't think you would be able to pull that last fight off. It looked like that guy had total control over the whole fight until the end there." All of a sudden Rei began to feel something very strange. Something that she had never felt before. 'What am I feeling? What is this evil? ' She began to tremble with fear as she became light headed.
Piccolo could sense that something was wrong. "Are you all right?"
Rei grabbed her head. "I'm not sure! I'm getting a really bad feeling. I don't know what it is." She began to get weak in the legs. She couldn't hold her weight much longer. "Its an evil I've never felt before."
Usagi was, once again confused. "Rei, what are you talking about?"
Rei closed her eyes. It was becoming painful. "Something is happening. I can feel it. Something evil."
Usagi's eyes widened as she began to realize what was going on. "Oh no! You are…but…it can't be…wait a minute…" Usagi couldn't believe it. She finally knew who this girl was. "You're the girl from my dream aren't you?! But how?"
(K, thats it for this part. What do you think? Is it good or bad. Please tell me. Thank you. ^_^)
After she accepted her victory, Minako ran back into the warm up area of the arena. She was so excited. She had never felt such a rush of excitement like she had before. She couldn't wait to tell Usagi and Makoto what it was like.
Usagi and Makoto were already in the warm up area when Minako arrived. They were there, yelling words of congratulations for her. "Yeah! Minako! We knew you could do it!"
Minako smiled as she bent over and held her knees to catch her breath. "Thanks you guys. I just thought about what you said about how I'm a great fighter. And then I pretty much just acted as if it were just another spar. You know, like we were fighting each other." She stood up. "And you know, it was a lot easier that way. It was so much fun. I'm not even nervous about the next fight."
"Yeah. I'm not nervous though. I've been in tournaments before because of that martial arts class I used to take, but I've never been in the Budaki before. I never thought I was good enough you know. But, that girl looked too easy for you Minako. I hope the person I have to fight isn't that easy." Makoto looked to her left, where the boy she was to fight next was getting himself prepared.
Piccolo hadn't said much in the way of compliments to Minako. The way he saw it, people didn't need to be complimented. It just gave them a reason to become conceited. "You did ok, Minako. But it wasn't a test of your real strength. But don't think it's going to be that easy all the time. Some people enter themselves at a higher level then they need to be. Plus, it gets harder and harder as you proceed onto later fights. Don't think it's all just cake."
Minako looked up at Piccolo. "Are you saying that me winning didn't prove my strength?"
Piccolo didn't answer. He didn't want to get into it again with the "little girls", as he liked to think of them as. Instead, he grabbed Makoto by the arm and pulled her aside. "Look, you have to fight next ok? I don't want you to get distracted like your friend over there did. That causes un-necessary hits from the other person." He glared over in Minako's direction. "If you do, it could cause you the whole battle. So keep your eyes on your enemy…"
"Opponent."
"What?"
"You said enemy. Don't you mean opponent."
Piccolo let out a quiet growl to let Makoto know that he wasn't happy that she interrupted him for such a stupid reason. "Yeah whatever. Anyways, keep your eyes on your opponent, and you should be able to win. I've watched this guy fight before and from what I can tell, he's pretty good. He definitely deserves to be in this level of skill." He looked over his shoulder to a clock that hung on the wall. "Ok, you have about ten minutes to warm up. I'm going to go talk to someone." He turned around and walked away.
Usagi started to follow him. "Let me come Piccolo!"
Piccolo turned quickly turned around. "NO! Go back!" He turned back around and left.
"Gees, fine, whatever. Don't get all upset over nothing." She turned back around and walked back to Minako and Makoto who were already in the middle of a conversation. "You guys, does Piccolo seem to be acting weird today?"
Minako looked over at Usagi. "Yeah, kind of. I mean, the way he blew up at us and everything. It's kind of weird. It seems like he's got something on his mind."
"I don't know you guys. I think he's just bored. I mean, he has to watch us fight. He can't watch whoever he wants to." Makoto put her arms behind her back so they would be stretched out for her fight.
"Hey guys." Haruka walked up from behind Minako with Michiru. She was dressed in her martial arts GI. She placed her had on Minako's shoulder and put her head by hers. "Nice show Minako. But, that was pretty stupid how you let that loser of a fighter get a hit on you like that. I would have expected better from a spectacular fighter like yourself." She pulled her head up and pushed Minako to the ground. "Yeah right, like I meant any of that. You both sucked. That other fighter just happened to suck more then you."
Usagi moved up in front of Haruka. "You're just jealous that we can fight better then you. Leave us alone."
Haruka laughed. "Oh, Monkey Girl, you think you're better then us? I doubt that. Gee, who was it that got their ass beat by Mamoru? If I remember right it was…oh….I don't know, YOU!"
Usagi frowned. "That doesn't mean I can't beat you. I'm much stronger then you! And if and when I have to fight you, I'm going to beat you so bad you're going to wish you never messed with me last year!" Usagi was mad now. Haruka, Michiru, and Mamoru were probably the only people she ever talked to like that. She didn't care though. They made her blood boil like no one else could.
"When I fight you, I can beat you. I know your weak spot. I found that out right away about you. But don't worry little Monkey Girl," She went on as she patted Usagi's head, "I won't hurt you too bad. Maybe I'll just make you go unconscious."
"No Haruka, I think you should make her be awake when you beat her. Then she will have to live with the pain." While Haruka was bent on dishing out pain, Michiru liked to watch people suffer through the pain. They were a perfect duo.
Haruka smiled as she took her hand back. "Yeah, then I'll have to hold back a bit, but I guess I can do that."
Makoto had heard just about enough at that point. She didn't understand how Usagi could just be so calm and take that from them. She pushed Usagi aside. "Look, Usagi is stronger then you and you know it. We are all stronger then you. You just wait until any of us are in the ring with you. You'll see."
Haruka smiled. "We will all see." She looked around at all three of the girls' faces. She could tell that they were totally serious and stopped smiling. "Fine then. If you want it that way, you got it. None of us will hold back. But be warned, Mamoru trained us all last night and most of today. He has taught us how to use energy attacks. I know we are not allowed to use them, but, we have gotten a bit stronger by using them."
Usagi grinned. "Just because you can do energy attacks, doesn't mean you can do them very good. And so what, we've been training for over a year now. We're still stronger then you are." It was a little surprising to her that they had been training with Mamoru.
Minako glared at Haruka. She was one of the rudest people that she knew. "It seems like even losers can learn how to fight too." She knew she was taking a risk with that comment, but she didn't care. What could Haruka do to her? Minako was, after all, stronger then her.
Haruka grabbed Minako by the front of the GI and pulled her up to her face. "Listen KID! I'm going to kick your ass for that! If we don't meet in the tournament, I will hunt you down, GOT IT!?" She threw Minako down to the ground and turned back to Michiru, who was laughing. "Come on, let's go find Mamoru."
~*~*~
Rei left her temporary shrine. She couldn't wait until she returned home to her temple with her grandfather. She loved going to the tournament each year and all, but this year she had other things on her mind. She was worried about all the feelings that she was receiving. They had been more intense then normal. She knew that something was going to go down soon. Each time she performed her ritual with the fire, she got more answers. With everyday that passed by, the evil that she felt grew, as did the rage of the fire.
She always treated the fire like it was a person. Like it was a spirit to guide here. The visions she received from it always turned to be true. She sighed as she rested her head against the wall that formed the outside of the arena. "I hope whoever these people are, are ok. I wonder who that girl was earlier. I wonder why I felt a connection to her."
~*~*~
Makoto stood face to face with her opponent. They were just told that they were allowed to start the fight. Makoto rubbed her fist in her hand as she tried to intimidate the boy that stood in front of her. The boy put one of his feet behind himself and darted at an exceptionally fast pace towards her. She stepped to the side and grabbed the boy's arm, stopping him. Before he had a chance to try to break free, with all her strength, she flipped him over onto his back.
He jumped back to his feet and stopped Makoto's fist from hitting her again by grabbing it. He quickly began twisting it around, making her cry out in pain. "Think you can beat me do ya?" He grinned. Makoto wasn't able to do very much. He had her on her knees. She had her head cocked to the side with her eyes closed. "Perfect." He raised his foot to her chest and roughly kicked her back, letting go of her hand.
Makoto grabbed her arm as she fell backwards to the ground. She looked up at her competitor. He was proving to be more of a challenge then Minako's opponent. But she didn't mind. She was rather enjoying herself. She wouldn't want it any other way. If she could beat a challenge, then she knew that she was worthy of being a fighter. She sat up and rubbed a couple of hairs out of her eye. "Come on, show me some more!"
~*~*~
Rei walked back into the arena where she saw two people fighting. The crowd went wild one the female fighter threw the male fighter across the ring. "That was pretty good actually. It seems like the fighters get better and better each year." She began to walk down to the front of the stands where her grandfather was sitting. He seemed to be enjoying himself. She sat down next to him and looked forward to the fight that was going on.
Her grandfather looked over to her. "Did you resolve anything, Rei?"
Rei slightly nodded. She didn't know what happened. She hadn't expected such a response from her cries. She didn't know what to make of it. She wouldn't bother her grandfather with it at that moment though. She didn't want to pull him away from his fun. "Kind of."
"Another blank eh?"
"I guess you could say that." She watched as the female fighter kicked the male fighter in the back with her foot, forcing him to fall face first on the ground. "Ouch."
"Rei," Rei looked up at her grandfather. He pointed to Usagi who sat across the aisle from them. "You see that girl there?"
Rei looked over. 'It's that girl again.' "Yes?"
"That's Son Goku's daughter. She will be fighting next. If she is anything like her father, we are in for a real treat."
"Oh." Rei wasn't really paying attention to that right at the moment. She was more worried about other, more important things. 'What is this that I'm feeling whenever I am near her? Why do I feel like I've known her for sometime?' She let out a quiet gasp after she thought for a moment. 'Could it be…"
~*~*~
Minako rubbed some blood off of her lip. "Hehe, that was a good hit." The boy had just grabbed her by her face and thrown her down to the ground.
He jumped to the side as Makoto tried her luck at hitting him. "Yeah, I know. So is this." He tensed his hand up into a tight fist and swung it at Makoto's chest, only to hit air.
Makoto had jumped out of the way seconds before it hit. She put her hands together to form a double sized fist and hit the boy in the back of the neck, causing him to fall forward. She bent over and picked him up by the head and swung him around until she got dizzy and let go of him. All she could hear was a smack against the ground. She grabbed her head and tried to hold it still, but it didn't help. Her vision was all screwed up and there wasn't anything she could do about it at this time. All she could do was hope that the last attack on him had done it for him.
She staggered around the ring for a while until she ran into something hard. "Uh-oh." She closed her eyes hard and then opened them again hoping that that would clear up her vision. It helped somewhat. What she saw was a man in a black suit. "Thank god for that."
"We have a winner. It's this young lady right here. Makoto!"
~*~*~
"Bulma, you better hurry up over the quick. We have another crisis over here!" Videl and Chi-Chi had kind of taken up the jobs of being nurses for the Saiyans. Shortly after Gohan and Trunks had become sicker, Bra had become sick too. Goten was showing signs of becoming more sick, and now, Pan had gone into a little bit of a spasm. Videl looked down at her daughter she wasn't sure what she could do for her. They had run out of sedatives about ten minutes ago and Bulma was working on a stronger batch. The old batch didn't seem to be working all that well. She rubbed her daughter's bangs out of her face. "Pan, hold on sweetie, Bulma is getting something for you."
Goku watched in fear at everything that was going on. He had never seen something like this in his entire life and it pained him to have to watch his family suffer. "Damnit!"
Vejita didn't have any smart reply to say to Goku this time, for he too feared for his life. With every minute that passed, everyone moved into a worse condition. He didn't know what was going on. He didn't like not having control over his body. It brought back memories of being controlled by freiza. "Woman! Get your ass out here! The brats are in need of your god damned assistance." He was too mad to even control his language anymore. Bulma ran out of the room with a blue liquid and ran over to Pan. "What the hell is that?"
Bulma didn't look away. She inserted the needle into Pan's arm. "It's the new sedative. It's stronger then the first one and therefore, should work longer." She pulled a few more needles out of her pocket and handed a packet of the blue liquid to Videl. "Here is some more liquid in case you need it." She pulled out another packet and handed it to Chi-Chi. "I hope you don't need this, but just in case."
Chi-Chi took the packet from her friend and examined it carefully as if to make sure it wasn't going to harm her family. She looked over at Goten to see if he was still stable. He seemed to be ok, but only time would tell if he would stay that way. He looked as though he was having a hard time sleeping. She looked back over to her husband and then over at Vejita. "It just doesn't make any sense."
Bulma had been telling herself that same thing ever since Goku and Vejita had first gotten sick. None of it made sense. Of course, when your best friends and husband are aliens that call themselves Saiyans, not much did make sense. Nothing had made much sense since she met Goku but she wouldn't change her life for the world. "I don't know, I've worn out every kind of test we can perform on these guys. It still says that there is nothing wrong with you guys. There isn't much I can do without actually knowing what is wrong with you guys."
Videl looked up from watching her daughter calm down. "Well can't we get the Dragon Balls together and wish that the disease would go away."
Bulma showed a slight hint of a sarcastic smile. "What disease?"
"I guess you're right. But what if we knew what disease they had? Like if we found something in the next couple of days. We would do that, right?" Videl knew they most likely wouldn't find anything, but it was a valid question.
Bulma just shook her head. "I suppose we could do that, but that probably won't happen. Don't get your hopes up to high."
A look of disappointment spread across Videl's face as she looked back down to her now sleeping daughter. "I know. And that's what is really scary about this whole situation."
~*~*~
Usagi sat against a wall with her legs pressed up against her body. She had her arms wrapped around her knees to keep them up against her body. She had just fought her second fight of the day and was pretty beaten up. She barely won. She looked up as Minako and Makoto stood over her. "What do you think they're talking about over there?"
To Usagi's left Piccolo was talking to Mamoru. Mamoru had come up to Usagi, after her last fight, and tried to start a fight with her. He was enraged and neither of the girls knew why. Usagi had heard him say something about her supposedly saying something about him, but she wasn't sure. He was yelling so much that she hadn't been able to make much of anything out of what he had said. Piccolo looked like he was letting him have it, although, Usagi couldn't make out anything that he was saying. She so wished that she could. She wanted to know if he was defending her or not. "I hope it doesn't make him more mad at me."
Minako was quite curious too. "I don't know. When he gets over here, we'll have to ask him though. I hope he's yelling at Mamoru though.
"Usagi, you have to get ready for another fight." So far Makoto had already fought three of her fights. She had won all of them too. Each time they moved up, her opponents seemed to get stronger.
Usagi looked up at the clock that sat in front of her. "Already?" She was too tired. She had just finished fighting only about fifteen minutes before. "But I don't want to. I want to rest."
"You have to."
Usagi turned her head to look up at Piccolo. "Fine." She knew not to argue with him. He would have just ended up going off on her and yelling at her for no reason at all. She stood up and brushed some dust off of her GI. "How long do I have?"
"Five minutes. You had better get yourself out there." Piccolo watched as Usagi walked to the door that led to the ring where she would wait for her name to be called for her to enter. He smiled to himself. 'She will be able to hold up. I know it. Goku was right. She IS strong.'
~*~*~
"Rei," Rei's grandfather looked over to his granddaughter. "Are you actually going to watch Usagi fight time? I really think you should. She is just like her father was when he was her age. You'll enjoy it."
Rei hadn't watched either of Usagi's previous fights. It wasn't that she didn't want to, she just started to get some bad feelings again. But when she went back to consult her fire, nothing happened. She didn't get any new answers. But she knew that something was building up. She just knew it. "Yes grandfather. I will watch this one. I am getting strong vibes, but so far they have met nothing." She really wanted to go back again. She wanted to keep trying to get answers, but she knew that her grandfather wanted her to stay and watch the fight.
~*~*~
"Kiro, this is Okori, we are almost finished. You can start any time that you want."
Kiro smiled. "So this is actually it. Thank you, I will tell Taku immediately. It should only take a few minutes to complete the process and then it will be over."
"Right, I guess this is it then."
"Yes. Kiro…out."
~*~*~
"Ladies and gentlemen, we please welcome back Son Usagi for her third fight and Kokyu Shou for his last battle of the day. If he wins, he will go on to contend tomorrow, but, if Usagi wins, she will have to fight one more time today and win in order to get into tomorrow's activities." The judge put the mike into his pocket. "Ok, you guys know the rules. Let's have a good clean fight ok?"
Usagi watched as the judge left the ring and then looked back at Shou. She sighed. She was just too tired to go on. She hadn't expected herself to be so tired. With getting up so early in the morning and having to spar with Piccolo and then fighting two battles against people who were at her same fighting level, if not better, she wasn't up to fighting anymore.
Shou could see that Usagi was just plain exhausted. He, on the other hand, was no where near being tired. Well, maybe just a bit. But he would use Usagi's tiredness to his own advantage. He would win this for sure. "Come on little girl. Let's get this fight over with so I can go home and get some rest. I'm going to need it for tomorrow."
"I can do this. Just you wait and see. I may look tired on the outside, but inside, I'm as hyper as I ever could be. So let's get this thing started." Usagi flipped backwards and stared at Shou. She expected him to follow. When he didn't she decided it was time to taunt him. "What's wrong, afraid you're going to get beaten by a girl?"
Shou crossed his arms and smirked. "No, I'm just not going to fall for anything stupid."
"Is that a fact?" Usagi ran for him.
He jumped to the air and was met by the smiling face of Usagi. "What the…"
"Didn't your sensei ever tell you to expect everything." With that, Usagi grabbed his shoulders and pushed him to the ground. She took a step back. If it's one thing that she learned from all this, it was that you should never stand by your opponent when they are on the ground. Actually, it was more like don't hold still for too long. Doing that could loose the whole battle. She learned that from watching various fights between adults. They were the most desirable to watch. They had more experience.
Shou waited until Usagi was in the middle of jumping backwards to make his move. He quickly jumped to his feet and grabbed Usagi by the legs. Usagi began to kick as hard as she could, hoping that he would let go, but it was no use, he wouldn't let go. She wasn't struggling that much. He dug his nails into Usagi's soft skin, causing her to cry out in pain. His eyes traveled down to her tail that hung over one of her legs. "What's this?"
Usagi, with her head and hands to the ground still, looked over her shoulder to the best of her ability. "Don't you dare touch it!"
"Oh? A soft spot on the girly huh? Well, in that case…"
Shou grinned a little to evilly for Usagi's liking. She knew exactly what was coming. "NO!" With all the strength that she could build up in her legs, Usagi pulled them back against Shou's grip, letting them slam into his chin on the way back to her own body. She let herself flip over on her back as she heard the footsteps of her opponent stumbling to regain their composure. She took this opportunity to regain some of her energy back. She panted heavily as she tried to raise herself to her feet once again. She got up very slowly this time. Her energy was greatly diminished. 'How can I go on? This is too hard.' She frowned. 'What am I thinking? Daddy wouldn't give up. He wouldn't let me give up either. He would just tell me to tough it out until it was over.' She took a big breath and charged at Shou, grabbing him by the front of his GI. 'This is the one time I can get mad about someone pulling my tail.' "No one pulls my tail. No one even TRIES to pull my tail!" She pulled her fist back as far as it would go.
"Whatever!" He grabbed Usagi's wrist and squeezed it as hard as he could, forcing Usagi to let go of her grip that she had on it. She didn't let that stop her though. She swung her fist at him. Shou ducked just before it hit and kneed her in the stomach causing her to bend over in pain. He let her fall on his shoulder. "Come on, I know you can do better then this."
"I could if I could fight with energy."
Shou picked Usagi up and held her out in front of him. "Well, I'm going to let you go on a ride. Don't worry, it won't hurt much."
Usagi smirked. "Really?" She grabbed his hair and pulled his head back. With her free hand, she poked both of his eyes.
Shou dropped Usagi to the ground and grabbed his eye. He took a step back. "Ah, you stupid freak!"
Usagi frowned. "Don't call me a freak!" She jumped up and did a roundhouse kick to his head. She landed in a fighting stance. "I'm ending this right here, right now! All I want to do is rest for longer then twenty minutes."
Shou fell to the ground. He could feel blood running down his checks. He just had the crap kicked out of him by a girl with a tail. He couldn't believe it. And now, he couldn't even see straight from that last kick. He let his head fall back to the ground. "Good fight."
Usagi relaxed her stance. "Huh?"
"I can't go on like this."
"Of course you can. Daddy says, if you really want something, there is always a way to get it. So come on. Fight me!" Usagi tried taunting him some more. She didn't know what she was saying. Her body was telling her to just stop and let the boy give up, but her mind was telling her to continue.
"Sorry, I just can't." He closed his eyes.
Usagi walked to his side and looked down at his face. "Did he faint?" She looked up to see a judge walking out to her. "I think he fainted." She said as she pointed down to Shou.
"Then that means you won!" He pulled his mic out. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the winner. Son Usagi!"
~*~*~
Rei stared in disbelief down at the golden haired fighter. "Grandfather, you were right. She is a good fighter."
"Why don't you go and talk to her? You could learn some things about fighting from her."
"Oh I don't know. I'm not that good, and I'm not THAT serious about fighting."
He nudged his granddaughter. "Come on, I know you want to."
Rei smiled. "Yeah, I guess I am. I guess I can go talk to her."
~*~*~
Rei waited for Usagi at the gate that led back into the warm up area. She couldn't wait to meet her. Usagi and her friends were the first people her age that she had seen get so far in the tournament at such a high skill level. She finally spotted Usagi. 'I'm getting that feeling again. Why?' She decided to ignore her feelings for once and go talk to Usagi.
Her friends, including Piccolo surrounded Usagi. They were all congratulating her. She appreciated it, but she was just too tired to say anything. She was still quite out of breath and she still had another fight for the day. She looked up and saw Rei approaching her. She smiled to welcome her. "Hi." 'Where have I seen her before.
Rei smiled. "Hi. My name is Rei. I think you met my grandfather. He his co owner of this place." She put her hand out to Usagi.
Usagi grabbed Rei's hand and shook. "Yeah, I did. He's really nice."
"I was watching your fight. It was amazing. I'm guessing your dad taught you all that."
"Yup, daddy is really strong and he trains all of us. Oh yeah, by the way, this is Minako, Makoto, and Piccolo."
"Hi. Pleased to meet you. You know Usagi, I didn't think you would be able to pull that last fight off. It looked like that guy had total control over the whole fight until the end there." All of a sudden Rei began to feel something very strange. Something that she had never felt before. 'What am I feeling? What is this evil? ' She began to tremble with fear as she became light headed.
Piccolo could sense that something was wrong. "Are you all right?"
Rei grabbed her head. "I'm not sure! I'm getting a really bad feeling. I don't know what it is." She began to get weak in the legs. She couldn't hold her weight much longer. "Its an evil I've never felt before."
Usagi was, once again confused. "Rei, what are you talking about?"
Rei closed her eyes. It was becoming painful. "Something is happening. I can feel it. Something evil."
Usagi's eyes widened as she began to realize what was going on. "Oh no! You are…but…it can't be…wait a minute…" Usagi couldn't believe it. She finally knew who this girl was. "You're the girl from my dream aren't you?! But how?"
(K, thats it for this part. What do you think? Is it good or bad. Please tell me. Thank you. ^_^)