Usagi and Michiru stood face to face in the middle of the ring. Both glared at each other as the crowd screamed down for them to start. However, they weren't fighting for the crowd. They would start when they pleased. At that moment, they were attempting to intimidate one another with their stares. Both of them had a reason to want to defeat the other. he tension between the two grew as they each took a step forward. Neither of them wanted to fall to the other.
Usagi knew that she had to be extra careful in her fight against Michiru and any of her friends if she wanted to win the fights against them. She would have to watch their every move more carefully than she had ever had to before. Though, she was up to the challenge. "Bring it on, liar." She stopped to crouch into her fighting stance.
Michiru frowned as she did the same as her opponent. "It's none of my business if you don't want to believe me, but don't call me a liar."
Usagi could feel her anger rising within her as she picked her foot up off the ground. "You're just making things worse by lying." She slowly and gently placed her foot back down in front of herself.
Once again, Michiru mimicked Usagi's movements. "You're being close minded. You're brother isn't a total saint, you know. You can't always trust family. That's just something that little babies like you have to learn." At that precise moment, both fighters were enraged with one another. Michiru was only trying to help Usagi, even though she didn't care for her. Usagi, on the other hand, was tired of Michiru trying to pull her family apart with her supposed lies.
Having had enough of a calm situation, both Michiru and Usagi jumped at each other and locked hands on the left side of the ring. Unconsciously, they had both risen their power levels just above normal. Though, they had risen them enough to create a clear wave of energy that was thrown away from them and out towards the audience. The crowd went wild when the action started.
~*~*~
Goku sighed as the power levels of the two youngsters gradually grew. "I knew this was going to happen."
Goten walked up beside his father with a smile. "This is going to be a great fight. I can see it already."
"I know. But they weren't supposed to use their energy in the tournament. But they just have too much of a history to control themselves enough to keep their power levels out of the fight."
~*~*~
Usagi didn't let her power level rise any further than Michiru's for she didn't want to have an unfair advantage. She wanted to win this battle for real instead of having it handed to her. She wanted to triumph over Michiru once and for all so, fairly.
Michiru grinned as she increased the strength of her grip, causing Usagi to cry out in pain. "If you want a fight, then a fight is what you'll get." With that being said, she gave herself a small burst of power and pushed back on Usagi's hands, making them push backwards.
Usagi dropped to her knees with pain as she glared up at Michiru with fire in her eyes. "Don't use your Ki energy you cheater."
Michiru moved her face to be right there with Usagi's. "What's wrong? Is the monkey complaining because a superior fighter is going to win?" She ripped her hands away from Usagi's. Before her opponent had a chance to do anything, she made a tight fist and punched Usagi square in the face, throwing her all the way onto the ground with blood to follow. "This brings back memories of when we beat you and your freakish friend up in kindergarten. Do you remember that? You got your ass kicked in front of you own class."
Usagi growled as she pushed herself back up to her feet. "Things have changed since then." She lowered her power level some since she was no longer locked with Michiru. Though, she kept it high enough to be able to block. "You're the freak now." Usagi angrily lifted her leg and planted it right into the stomach of Michiru.
Acting with Usagi's kick, as she was flying back, Michiru performed a swift back-flip to avoid dropping to the ground. Instead, she landed on her feet and was completely ready to retaliate, which was exactly what she did. She jumped to the side and ran for Usagi, only to end up jumping overhead and land on her left side.
Confused by all the movements, Usagi barely had a chance to catch Michiru's fist, which came at her from the left. "Too slow." With Michiru's fist in her hand, Usagi began to squeeze as tightly as she could. "Now it's your turn." Usagi pulled away from Michiru and jumped up to do her roundhouse kick.
At the sight of seeing Usagi begin her attack that Gohan had warned her about, time seemed to be almost stopped for Michiru. Thousands of thoughts were running through her head. She didn't want to cheat to win, but her friends would be angry at her, but on the other hand, she didn't have the heart to mess with the situation.
She could see her friends cheering for her to go for the kill in her peripheral vision. 'Damn it!' She took a deep breath as she side stepped and laid her eyes upon Usagi's tail, which was calling out to her to grab. She reached out to grab a hold of it but moved her foot into a crack in the ground and made it appear that she had tripped and fallen to the ground.
Seconds later, Usagi landed and turned around to Michiru, who starring back with a pale face. "What's the matter with you?"
Michiru jumped away from Usagi and stared blankly at her. 'I was so close. Why did I not just grab it? What's wrong with me? I hate her, but…'
~*~*~
During that whole situation, Goku and Goten had found themselves just outside the door anticipating what would happen next, while Gohan found himself ready to tear into Michiru. 'What the hell is wrong with her? Does she not hate Usagi or something? Why didn't she just grab it and make her loose?'
~*~*~
Michiru shook away her thoughts as she dashed out for Usagi once again. "You should consider yourself lucky, brat."
Michiru took swift a punch at Usagi, which was easily blocked. With her forearm holding Michiru's fist away from her face, Usagi made a fist of her own and threw a similar punch at Michiru, which didn't quite make it to her face for Michiru pulled away and jumped over Usagi. Not letting her opponent react, Michiru lifted her leg to kick Usagi in the back, but Usagi could sense her movements. She ducked to the ground and in retaliation, she extended her leg and swung it underneath Michiru's feet, causing her to fall to the ground.
Michiru rolled onto her side just as Usagi soundly planted her fist into the concrete beside her head. "You just don't give up, do you monkey?"
Usagi frowned as she jumped to be standing over Michiru again, with both feet on either side of the girl. "I'm not a monkey!" She bent down and grabbed Michiru's Gi. "How does it feel to be beaten by me?"
"Huh?" Michiru could feel the anger rising within the body of her foe.
"You liar! You want me to hate my big brother, Gohan. Well tough luck!" She made one last fist and pulled it back as far as she could.
Michiru glared up at Usagi. "I'm not through with you yet, monkey." She lifted her legs up and kicked Usagi in the back.
Usagi's eyes became wide with pain as she dropped Michiru, letting her slam against the ground. That hit from Michiru had hit closer to home than she had wanted it to. Though Usagi's tail was safe from being grabbed, it was still very vulnerable to rough hits to the waist, which is exactly what had just happened when Michiru had kicked her. "Owe…" She stumbled backwards as she tried to regain her energy.
Michiru pushed her hair out of her face as she stood up. "What's the matter little monkey? Did your precious tail get hurt?" 'That was an accident. It's ok if I win this way."
Usagi gave Michiru a piercing glare. One that would scare just about anyone. "I'm not a monkey!" She jumped into the air, with fury, and kicked Michiru's chest, forcing her to fall right back to the ground.
Michiru grinned. "Oh, I forgot, you're just a beast."
Usagi tried to control her anger as she looked around to the screaming audience. All they seemed to want is a good fight, something that they were definitely getting. But, the stakes were to high. They didn't understand what was going on between both fighters. "Michiru, I'm NOT a beast! YOU ARE!" With that, she, again, jumped into the air and landed over Michiru. This time, she let her feet dig into Michiru's side, making her cry out in pain just as she had made Usagi near the beginning of the fight. "Say you're sorry! Say you're sorry for making fun of me! Say you're sorry for lying about Gohan!"
Michiru winced as she looked up to the angry face of Usagi. For the first time, she had actually been afraid of her face. She had never seen her so full of rage. "You're nuts! I'm not apologizing for something that isn't a lie! I'm NOT apologizing for making fun of you, either!"
Usagi jumped away from Michiru. She didn't want to get disqualified from the tournament. "You're the real beast then. Stand up and fight!"
Usagi's statement only put more fear into the eyes of Michiru. She had never seen her so eager to fight in her life. True, she had challenged her and Haruka when she was only in kindergarten, but she only did it to get her Dragon Ball back. She had never actually truly hurt them, either. "Do you ACTUALLY think that you can beat me?"
"Enough! Apologize!"
"There is nothing to apologize for. Except making fun of you, which I'm not sorry for!"
Usagi growled as she set out for Michiru. At that point, she had completely powered down, to her families liking. She didn't even give Michiru a reply before her fist was planted firmly in her stomach. Even then, she didn't want to talk to the girl, who was crying out for the pain to stop. Before Michiru fell away from Usagi, she felt the small hands of Usagi wrapping around her shoulders. Usagi looked into Michiru's eyes, not with hate, but the want for a truce that she knew would never happen. "Apologize and tell the truth!" Usagi released her grip on Michiru and let her fall, one last time, onto the ground.
Usagi wiped her cheek, which was covered in blood that ran down from just above her ear, as the announcer walked to Michiru to see if she was all right. It was obvious who had won. He took one look at her and knew that she was out of it. "Ladies and gentlemen, Son Usagi," He grabbed her hand and raised it in the air. "The winner of the match!"
~*~*~
Gohan punched the wall at the top of the stands out of sheer anger. 'Damn it! She wasn't supposed to win. Michiru was supposed to grab her tail!' With immense fury, Gohan turned to the door that led out of the stands. He was going to have to go and have a word with her, as well as look at the board that determined who fought when.
~*~*~
Usagi staggered over to Michiru, who was beginning to move. "Good fight." She held her hand down to her with a friendly smile.
Michiru cautiously looked up to Usagi with hesitation. "Is this some kind of joke."
Usagi giggled. "We may be enemies, you may be a jerk, but I'm not going to be sore about it."
Michiru showed a slight smile as she reached out for Usagi's hand. She hesitated to make contact as she cocked her head to the side to see the angry faces of her friends glaring down at her. 'Gees.' She wiped her slight smile off her face and slapped Usagi's hand away. "We are enemies and that's all that counts, monkey. Now get out of my face. I can get up by myself."
Usagi turned around to glare at Haruka and Mamoru, who were laughing as they were walking away. 'Those jerks.' She turned back to Michiru. "Fine. I can respect that. You don't like me. I know." Usagi turned to walk away from the ring where she would await her next fight.
~*~*~
Goten turned to his father, completely stunned. "I know what Gohan told the others. Her roundhouse kick and how she swings to the left when she does it. It exposes her tail. Michiru had a chance to get it when she dodged. I wonder why she didn't grab her tail when she had the chance. It was right there for her."
Goku smiled as he watched his daughter walk back to them, Michiru followed close behind. "She's growing up. Unlike her friends. She's just trying to hide it from them so she's going along with what they say. You can tell that she really didn't want to do it." He backed up to allow the two tired fighters to enter. "Good job, Usagi." He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him, examining her face as he did it. "Don't let your mom see your face. She'll freak out."
Usagi looked around the room. "Where is mom?"
"In the stands, rooting for you of course. Along with Videl and Gohan."
'Gohan? He's rooting for me…I knew he didn't want me to loose. Stupid Michiru.' "So, you think I did good?"
Goku nodded. "Of course. I knew you would."
Usagi smiled. "Thanks!" She looked up at Goten just as Michiru was walking by with her head hung low. "She didn't try anything. At least, I don't think she did."
Goten turned to his father as if he were asking him if they should tell what they knew. But he only got a shake of the head in response, telling him that they shouldn't tell her. Goten frowned. 'He's still thinking about making her loose. I knew it. How could he go along with it?' "No, she didn't do anything." 'Not technically.'
"Usagi, you increased your power level out there."
Usagi opened her mouth to protest. "I know but…"
"Hey, hey, I never said there was anything wrong with it. I was actually going to say that it was good that you lowered it at the end there. I'm proud of you. You actually beat her while she was still at a higher power level than you were."
Usagi looked to Michiru, who was just leaving the building. "She let me do it. I could tell. She could have blocked it easily. But she chose not to."
~*~*~
Once Gohan had found Michiru, he ran to her and grabbed her by the shoulder, violently turning her around to face him. "What the hell was that?!"
Michiru frowned. "What the hell was WHAT?!"
"Don't screw around with me, Michiru. You've been trying to get back at my sister for years now. Why choose now to not jump at the chance to beat her in front of everyone? Are you that chicken?"
"Me? Chicken? I hardly think so, Gohan. What was the main word in that sentence that you just used? Let's see, 'sister' I believe it was. Shouldn't you be protecting her from people like me instead of helping us try to beat her?"
"That's beyond the point. We've already discussed this. We had a deal. You had the chance to beat her and yet you chose not to. What the hell was going through your head?"
Michiru frowned harder as she got up into Gohan's face and glared into his eyes with her own fury. "Don't think that just because I'm young, means that I'm naïve. I'm not going to do your dirty work. I'm definitely NOT going to cheat to win some stupid tournament because you don't want your kid sister to win. That's not the way I bounce. If I want to beat her, I'll do it for real. I want to know that I can actually beat her. Now get the hell out of my face so I can prepare for my next fight you moronic excuse for a brother." She turned around and walked away, not wanting to even look at him anymore.
Gohan turned around in shock. Even Usagi's own enemy was yelling at him for what he had done to his little sister. He had t have been terribly desperate to resort to doing something as low as finding a way to cheat to make her loose, but he didn't want her to expose Mr. Satan. The man didn't deserve the torment that came with the exposure. He smiled when he saw Mamoru and Haruka approaching him. "Guys, I have a proposition for you on how you can beat Usagi."
Mamoru grinned. "Hey old man, we're listening."
Gohan once again cringed at being called an old man. "Ok, now, you know that your objective is to get Usagi out of the tournament, right?" The duo nodded. "Great, then all you have to do is work extra hard to stay in and fight Usagi."
"Well, Gohan, I would love to do that but I don't think I'm going to be able to fight her until really late in the tournament from the way things are going."
Gohan groaned inside as he turned to specifically look at Mamoru. "Then you have to hold up against the other girls as long as possible. You have to win against Usagi. Either of you. Now, what I suggest is save all of your energy to fight the girls since they're going to be your only challenge."
Now Haruka was the one grinning. "Right. So you want us to take out the others as easy and as soon as possible. Got it."
Gohan shook his head. "No, let the others have a chance. Just don't waste your energy."
"No, no. Haruka, I think that's a great idea. Let's just take them out as fast as possible. We don't need to give them a chance. Why give them false hope?"
Haruka, who was now ignoring Gohan, turned to Mamoru. "Agreed. Let's get this done and go home."
Gohan stopped trying to knock sense into the duo as they walked past him without even saying a word of thanks for his ideas. Though, he didn't exactly want them to just beat every opponent without giving them a chance. That wasn't the point of what he had been tying to say to them. But, those two did seem to like to see others suffer for their own sadistic pleasure. He had learned that when Mamoru had first torn into Usagi, something that could never be forgiven.
And that's when it hit him. The true severity of what he had just done. He had given the most brutal and aggressive people that his sister knew, information on how to beat her. Who knew what they would do to her once they had a hold of her tail. Who knew if they would try to rip her apart just as Mamoru had when he had first met Usagi. He had just put her into the most danger that anyone could have put her into, but he wasn't willing to allow that to happen. All he had wanted her to do was loose the tournament and not expose Mr. Satan at all. 'Damn.'
He turned to the fighters' building and began walking to it. He could feel his father's Ki there. He needed to tell him what he had done, but little did he know that Goku already knew of the problem.
~*~*~
Usagi was leaving the building with her friends and Gohan just as he arrived there. He gulped as he walked by her smiling face. Even though he knew that she didn't know of what he did, he still felt as if she did. Like she could read what was playing on his mind. He looked up to his father, who was watching the fight that was taking place. He seemed to be getting a kick out of their ignorance of how to fight. "Dad, I really need to talk to you."
Goku frowned when he heard the sound of his oldest son's voice calling out to him. "Yes?" He turned around to see Gohan approaching him with shame.
"Father, I've done a horrible thing."
"I know."
Gohan looked up to his father's face. He cowered away ever so slightly from the anger that was coming from him. "You do? Did Goten tell you?"
Goku nodded. "Yes. He seemed very concerned about it. As am I. Why did you feel that you had cause to do something like that?"
"Don't worry about that right now, father. That isn't the most important thing in the world. What is, is Usagi's safety. I kind of told them how to grab a hold of Usagi's tail."
Even though Goku had figured it out, he still acted surprised. "You what?"
Gohan dropped his head in shame. "I know. It was wrong, I know. But Usagi shouldn't be allowed to fight Mr. Satan. It's wrong and we both know it. But now, I'm worried about Usagi. If Mamoru gets a hold of her tail, he'll rip her apart just like he did before, when they first me. I never saw what she looked like because I was sick, and I'm glad of that, but what you and mom and Goten told me, it was something awful. You have to tell Usagi to quite the tournament. Make up some silly excuse. Tell her that there is a danger that is making you pull her out, because there is."
Goku was ashamed of his son at that point. "Gohan, not only did you go behind my back and pull something so stupid as this, but now you want ME to lie to cover it up? Well, I'll tell you what. This is your decision now. If you want her pulled, you go ahead and do it, but I'm coming with you to make sure you tell her EXACTLY why you're doing it. I want you to tell her that you were the one that released the bit of information to Mamoru and his gang. I want you to explain why you did it, and they better be GOOD explanations with GOOD reasons because I, myself, am interested in knowing WHY it was SO important to have her loose to Mr. Satan. I'm still waiting on being further convinced. Now, what'll it be, son?"
Gohan glared down at the ground as he squirmed to make his decision. "I'm NOT telling her any of that crap."
"I agree, it IS crap. And you're the one who created. You're a grown man now. I'm not always going to take the heat for you. If you don't want to tell her that, then she stays in the tournament, it's as simple as that."
Gohan smirked as he slowly brought his head up, though, he erased the smirk off his face when he looked at his father. "Then you're just going to let Usagi get hurt again, are you not?"
Goku laughed at how Gohan was trying to get him to go along with that he wanted. "It's not my problem. It's yours. You got her into this mess, now you get her out. If something goes wrong, I'm here. But I doubt that anything will. So pick what you want to do."
Gohan weighed the situation in his head for a moment. It was true, their father would be there to help if it was needed. There really was no reason to worry, and besides, it was a sure-fire way to keep Usagi away from Mr. Satan. "Great. Then I'm letting her stay in. She'll loose and that's that." He turned around and walked away from his angry father.
"Great, Gohan. I'm glad you've become such a loving, caring brother." Goku grinned as he tried to spite his son. With that one last sentence from him, he summarized his feelings towards the whole situation.
~*~*~
~~Twenty minutes Later~~
It was twenty minutes before the next major fight took place. Ironically, it was a fight between Makoto and Usagi. Both were extra excited about fighting each other on this day since they both wanted to excel into the rest of the tournament, though, Usagi knew that she wanted it more than Makoto for obvious reasons.
When the bell rang for the fight to begin, both fighters took to their fighting position. They both kept a calm emotionless face so they couldn't read each other's intentions.
Makoto was the first one to make a move. She quickly ran for Usagi at full speed, ready to attack at a moment's chance. Usagi kept calm for she knew that Makoto wasn't stupid enough to just run at her and expect to get a hit on her. No, she had something else planned and she was pretty sure she knew what it was. Makoto had been using the same routine for the past two weeks. She would always jump into the air just before making contact. Well, this time Usagi would be ready. She would meet her in the air and pull her down with her.
Just as Makoto was about to run into Usagi, she made it appear as if she were going to jump by lifting up her foot higher than if she were just trying to run. Once she saw Usagi begin to jump up, as she knew that she would, Makoto jumped into her plan. She dove to the ground and rolled under Usagi, who was still in the air.
Usagi looked down to see Makoto lying on her back. She knew that she had something planned, but without the power of her Ki at hand, the situation of falling into Makoto's hands was unavoidable, except for one thing. Without much time before she hit the ground, Usagi flip herself upside down and met Makoto's body with her hands. "Did you actually think that you could outsmart me?" She grabbed onto Makoto's arms and pulled her out from underneath herself.
Makoto rolled over to her side and pushed herself back up to her feet before Usagi had a chance to do anything more. "That was pretty good."
Usagi bounced to her feet and jumped away from Makoto. "So was your move. I was sure that you were going to jump into the air."
Makoto smirked. "Yeah, I had that planned ever since we first heard about the tournament. It's my little way of tricking whoever I fought first. But my plan kind of backfired on me."
"I'll say. Shall we continue?"
"Certainly." Makoto took a step forward to reenter the fight that she hoped to win.
This time, it was Usagi's turn to make the first move. Instead of running towards Makoto, she circled her as she looked for a good opportunity to attack in, though, Makoto didn't make it easy for she was turning right along with Usagi.
Makoto grew weary of Usagi's circling and decided it was time to make a move. So, with a simple jump forward, she was within reach of Usagi. She reached out and grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her closer. Usagi grinned as she realized what her friend was attempting to do. "Not so fast, Makoto." With her free hand, Usagi grabbed Makoto's arm and ripped it off her own. "Heh."
Makoto was already one step ahead of her, though. She had planned for Usagi to do something like that. She lifted her leg and kicked Usagi in the legs, causing them to collapse from underneath. She bent down and picked Usagi up and placed he back on her feet. "Come on." She jumped back to get a running start.
Usagi didn't stay in place that time. She dove to the side, leaving her leg in its original place to trip Makoto. But Makoto was too smart for that. At first movement of Usagi, she jumped to the side right along with Usagi rammed right into her because she was unable to stop herself in time.
Usagi stumbled backwards. She wasn't about to let herself fall down and give Makoto the upper hand, but it would have been for the best if she had let herself drop. She couldn't get her footing back before she found herself falling over the edge, out of the ring and into disqualification, loosing the match. "NO!"
Makoto ran to the edge and looked down to a pouting Usagi. "Gees, Usagi. You were supposed to win."
~*~*~
Usagi grumbled as she walked into the fighters' building. "Why me? I WAS supposed to win that match. I'm supposed to beat Mr. Satan."
Gohan smirked as he watched his little sister walk out of the building with her friends close behind, trying to comfort her. "Well I guess that'll teach you to just let yourself fall every once and a while."
Usagi froze in place as she perked her head up and the sound of her brother's voice. "Shut up, Gohan!"
(Ok, there is yet another part. What did you think? Good, bad? See ya later. Ja! )
Usagi knew that she had to be extra careful in her fight against Michiru and any of her friends if she wanted to win the fights against them. She would have to watch their every move more carefully than she had ever had to before. Though, she was up to the challenge. "Bring it on, liar." She stopped to crouch into her fighting stance.
Michiru frowned as she did the same as her opponent. "It's none of my business if you don't want to believe me, but don't call me a liar."
Usagi could feel her anger rising within her as she picked her foot up off the ground. "You're just making things worse by lying." She slowly and gently placed her foot back down in front of herself.
Once again, Michiru mimicked Usagi's movements. "You're being close minded. You're brother isn't a total saint, you know. You can't always trust family. That's just something that little babies like you have to learn." At that precise moment, both fighters were enraged with one another. Michiru was only trying to help Usagi, even though she didn't care for her. Usagi, on the other hand, was tired of Michiru trying to pull her family apart with her supposed lies.
Having had enough of a calm situation, both Michiru and Usagi jumped at each other and locked hands on the left side of the ring. Unconsciously, they had both risen their power levels just above normal. Though, they had risen them enough to create a clear wave of energy that was thrown away from them and out towards the audience. The crowd went wild when the action started.
~*~*~
Goku sighed as the power levels of the two youngsters gradually grew. "I knew this was going to happen."
Goten walked up beside his father with a smile. "This is going to be a great fight. I can see it already."
"I know. But they weren't supposed to use their energy in the tournament. But they just have too much of a history to control themselves enough to keep their power levels out of the fight."
~*~*~
Usagi didn't let her power level rise any further than Michiru's for she didn't want to have an unfair advantage. She wanted to win this battle for real instead of having it handed to her. She wanted to triumph over Michiru once and for all so, fairly.
Michiru grinned as she increased the strength of her grip, causing Usagi to cry out in pain. "If you want a fight, then a fight is what you'll get." With that being said, she gave herself a small burst of power and pushed back on Usagi's hands, making them push backwards.
Usagi dropped to her knees with pain as she glared up at Michiru with fire in her eyes. "Don't use your Ki energy you cheater."
Michiru moved her face to be right there with Usagi's. "What's wrong? Is the monkey complaining because a superior fighter is going to win?" She ripped her hands away from Usagi's. Before her opponent had a chance to do anything, she made a tight fist and punched Usagi square in the face, throwing her all the way onto the ground with blood to follow. "This brings back memories of when we beat you and your freakish friend up in kindergarten. Do you remember that? You got your ass kicked in front of you own class."
Usagi growled as she pushed herself back up to her feet. "Things have changed since then." She lowered her power level some since she was no longer locked with Michiru. Though, she kept it high enough to be able to block. "You're the freak now." Usagi angrily lifted her leg and planted it right into the stomach of Michiru.
Acting with Usagi's kick, as she was flying back, Michiru performed a swift back-flip to avoid dropping to the ground. Instead, she landed on her feet and was completely ready to retaliate, which was exactly what she did. She jumped to the side and ran for Usagi, only to end up jumping overhead and land on her left side.
Confused by all the movements, Usagi barely had a chance to catch Michiru's fist, which came at her from the left. "Too slow." With Michiru's fist in her hand, Usagi began to squeeze as tightly as she could. "Now it's your turn." Usagi pulled away from Michiru and jumped up to do her roundhouse kick.
At the sight of seeing Usagi begin her attack that Gohan had warned her about, time seemed to be almost stopped for Michiru. Thousands of thoughts were running through her head. She didn't want to cheat to win, but her friends would be angry at her, but on the other hand, she didn't have the heart to mess with the situation.
She could see her friends cheering for her to go for the kill in her peripheral vision. 'Damn it!' She took a deep breath as she side stepped and laid her eyes upon Usagi's tail, which was calling out to her to grab. She reached out to grab a hold of it but moved her foot into a crack in the ground and made it appear that she had tripped and fallen to the ground.
Seconds later, Usagi landed and turned around to Michiru, who starring back with a pale face. "What's the matter with you?"
Michiru jumped away from Usagi and stared blankly at her. 'I was so close. Why did I not just grab it? What's wrong with me? I hate her, but…'
~*~*~
During that whole situation, Goku and Goten had found themselves just outside the door anticipating what would happen next, while Gohan found himself ready to tear into Michiru. 'What the hell is wrong with her? Does she not hate Usagi or something? Why didn't she just grab it and make her loose?'
~*~*~
Michiru shook away her thoughts as she dashed out for Usagi once again. "You should consider yourself lucky, brat."
Michiru took swift a punch at Usagi, which was easily blocked. With her forearm holding Michiru's fist away from her face, Usagi made a fist of her own and threw a similar punch at Michiru, which didn't quite make it to her face for Michiru pulled away and jumped over Usagi. Not letting her opponent react, Michiru lifted her leg to kick Usagi in the back, but Usagi could sense her movements. She ducked to the ground and in retaliation, she extended her leg and swung it underneath Michiru's feet, causing her to fall to the ground.
Michiru rolled onto her side just as Usagi soundly planted her fist into the concrete beside her head. "You just don't give up, do you monkey?"
Usagi frowned as she jumped to be standing over Michiru again, with both feet on either side of the girl. "I'm not a monkey!" She bent down and grabbed Michiru's Gi. "How does it feel to be beaten by me?"
"Huh?" Michiru could feel the anger rising within the body of her foe.
"You liar! You want me to hate my big brother, Gohan. Well tough luck!" She made one last fist and pulled it back as far as she could.
Michiru glared up at Usagi. "I'm not through with you yet, monkey." She lifted her legs up and kicked Usagi in the back.
Usagi's eyes became wide with pain as she dropped Michiru, letting her slam against the ground. That hit from Michiru had hit closer to home than she had wanted it to. Though Usagi's tail was safe from being grabbed, it was still very vulnerable to rough hits to the waist, which is exactly what had just happened when Michiru had kicked her. "Owe…" She stumbled backwards as she tried to regain her energy.
Michiru pushed her hair out of her face as she stood up. "What's the matter little monkey? Did your precious tail get hurt?" 'That was an accident. It's ok if I win this way."
Usagi gave Michiru a piercing glare. One that would scare just about anyone. "I'm not a monkey!" She jumped into the air, with fury, and kicked Michiru's chest, forcing her to fall right back to the ground.
Michiru grinned. "Oh, I forgot, you're just a beast."
Usagi tried to control her anger as she looked around to the screaming audience. All they seemed to want is a good fight, something that they were definitely getting. But, the stakes were to high. They didn't understand what was going on between both fighters. "Michiru, I'm NOT a beast! YOU ARE!" With that, she, again, jumped into the air and landed over Michiru. This time, she let her feet dig into Michiru's side, making her cry out in pain just as she had made Usagi near the beginning of the fight. "Say you're sorry! Say you're sorry for making fun of me! Say you're sorry for lying about Gohan!"
Michiru winced as she looked up to the angry face of Usagi. For the first time, she had actually been afraid of her face. She had never seen her so full of rage. "You're nuts! I'm not apologizing for something that isn't a lie! I'm NOT apologizing for making fun of you, either!"
Usagi jumped away from Michiru. She didn't want to get disqualified from the tournament. "You're the real beast then. Stand up and fight!"
Usagi's statement only put more fear into the eyes of Michiru. She had never seen her so eager to fight in her life. True, she had challenged her and Haruka when she was only in kindergarten, but she only did it to get her Dragon Ball back. She had never actually truly hurt them, either. "Do you ACTUALLY think that you can beat me?"
"Enough! Apologize!"
"There is nothing to apologize for. Except making fun of you, which I'm not sorry for!"
Usagi growled as she set out for Michiru. At that point, she had completely powered down, to her families liking. She didn't even give Michiru a reply before her fist was planted firmly in her stomach. Even then, she didn't want to talk to the girl, who was crying out for the pain to stop. Before Michiru fell away from Usagi, she felt the small hands of Usagi wrapping around her shoulders. Usagi looked into Michiru's eyes, not with hate, but the want for a truce that she knew would never happen. "Apologize and tell the truth!" Usagi released her grip on Michiru and let her fall, one last time, onto the ground.
Usagi wiped her cheek, which was covered in blood that ran down from just above her ear, as the announcer walked to Michiru to see if she was all right. It was obvious who had won. He took one look at her and knew that she was out of it. "Ladies and gentlemen, Son Usagi," He grabbed her hand and raised it in the air. "The winner of the match!"
~*~*~
Gohan punched the wall at the top of the stands out of sheer anger. 'Damn it! She wasn't supposed to win. Michiru was supposed to grab her tail!' With immense fury, Gohan turned to the door that led out of the stands. He was going to have to go and have a word with her, as well as look at the board that determined who fought when.
~*~*~
Usagi staggered over to Michiru, who was beginning to move. "Good fight." She held her hand down to her with a friendly smile.
Michiru cautiously looked up to Usagi with hesitation. "Is this some kind of joke."
Usagi giggled. "We may be enemies, you may be a jerk, but I'm not going to be sore about it."
Michiru showed a slight smile as she reached out for Usagi's hand. She hesitated to make contact as she cocked her head to the side to see the angry faces of her friends glaring down at her. 'Gees.' She wiped her slight smile off her face and slapped Usagi's hand away. "We are enemies and that's all that counts, monkey. Now get out of my face. I can get up by myself."
Usagi turned around to glare at Haruka and Mamoru, who were laughing as they were walking away. 'Those jerks.' She turned back to Michiru. "Fine. I can respect that. You don't like me. I know." Usagi turned to walk away from the ring where she would await her next fight.
~*~*~
Goten turned to his father, completely stunned. "I know what Gohan told the others. Her roundhouse kick and how she swings to the left when she does it. It exposes her tail. Michiru had a chance to get it when she dodged. I wonder why she didn't grab her tail when she had the chance. It was right there for her."
Goku smiled as he watched his daughter walk back to them, Michiru followed close behind. "She's growing up. Unlike her friends. She's just trying to hide it from them so she's going along with what they say. You can tell that she really didn't want to do it." He backed up to allow the two tired fighters to enter. "Good job, Usagi." He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him, examining her face as he did it. "Don't let your mom see your face. She'll freak out."
Usagi looked around the room. "Where is mom?"
"In the stands, rooting for you of course. Along with Videl and Gohan."
'Gohan? He's rooting for me…I knew he didn't want me to loose. Stupid Michiru.' "So, you think I did good?"
Goku nodded. "Of course. I knew you would."
Usagi smiled. "Thanks!" She looked up at Goten just as Michiru was walking by with her head hung low. "She didn't try anything. At least, I don't think she did."
Goten turned to his father as if he were asking him if they should tell what they knew. But he only got a shake of the head in response, telling him that they shouldn't tell her. Goten frowned. 'He's still thinking about making her loose. I knew it. How could he go along with it?' "No, she didn't do anything." 'Not technically.'
"Usagi, you increased your power level out there."
Usagi opened her mouth to protest. "I know but…"
"Hey, hey, I never said there was anything wrong with it. I was actually going to say that it was good that you lowered it at the end there. I'm proud of you. You actually beat her while she was still at a higher power level than you were."
Usagi looked to Michiru, who was just leaving the building. "She let me do it. I could tell. She could have blocked it easily. But she chose not to."
~*~*~
Once Gohan had found Michiru, he ran to her and grabbed her by the shoulder, violently turning her around to face him. "What the hell was that?!"
Michiru frowned. "What the hell was WHAT?!"
"Don't screw around with me, Michiru. You've been trying to get back at my sister for years now. Why choose now to not jump at the chance to beat her in front of everyone? Are you that chicken?"
"Me? Chicken? I hardly think so, Gohan. What was the main word in that sentence that you just used? Let's see, 'sister' I believe it was. Shouldn't you be protecting her from people like me instead of helping us try to beat her?"
"That's beyond the point. We've already discussed this. We had a deal. You had the chance to beat her and yet you chose not to. What the hell was going through your head?"
Michiru frowned harder as she got up into Gohan's face and glared into his eyes with her own fury. "Don't think that just because I'm young, means that I'm naïve. I'm not going to do your dirty work. I'm definitely NOT going to cheat to win some stupid tournament because you don't want your kid sister to win. That's not the way I bounce. If I want to beat her, I'll do it for real. I want to know that I can actually beat her. Now get the hell out of my face so I can prepare for my next fight you moronic excuse for a brother." She turned around and walked away, not wanting to even look at him anymore.
Gohan turned around in shock. Even Usagi's own enemy was yelling at him for what he had done to his little sister. He had t have been terribly desperate to resort to doing something as low as finding a way to cheat to make her loose, but he didn't want her to expose Mr. Satan. The man didn't deserve the torment that came with the exposure. He smiled when he saw Mamoru and Haruka approaching him. "Guys, I have a proposition for you on how you can beat Usagi."
Mamoru grinned. "Hey old man, we're listening."
Gohan once again cringed at being called an old man. "Ok, now, you know that your objective is to get Usagi out of the tournament, right?" The duo nodded. "Great, then all you have to do is work extra hard to stay in and fight Usagi."
"Well, Gohan, I would love to do that but I don't think I'm going to be able to fight her until really late in the tournament from the way things are going."
Gohan groaned inside as he turned to specifically look at Mamoru. "Then you have to hold up against the other girls as long as possible. You have to win against Usagi. Either of you. Now, what I suggest is save all of your energy to fight the girls since they're going to be your only challenge."
Now Haruka was the one grinning. "Right. So you want us to take out the others as easy and as soon as possible. Got it."
Gohan shook his head. "No, let the others have a chance. Just don't waste your energy."
"No, no. Haruka, I think that's a great idea. Let's just take them out as fast as possible. We don't need to give them a chance. Why give them false hope?"
Haruka, who was now ignoring Gohan, turned to Mamoru. "Agreed. Let's get this done and go home."
Gohan stopped trying to knock sense into the duo as they walked past him without even saying a word of thanks for his ideas. Though, he didn't exactly want them to just beat every opponent without giving them a chance. That wasn't the point of what he had been tying to say to them. But, those two did seem to like to see others suffer for their own sadistic pleasure. He had learned that when Mamoru had first torn into Usagi, something that could never be forgiven.
And that's when it hit him. The true severity of what he had just done. He had given the most brutal and aggressive people that his sister knew, information on how to beat her. Who knew what they would do to her once they had a hold of her tail. Who knew if they would try to rip her apart just as Mamoru had when he had first met Usagi. He had just put her into the most danger that anyone could have put her into, but he wasn't willing to allow that to happen. All he had wanted her to do was loose the tournament and not expose Mr. Satan at all. 'Damn.'
He turned to the fighters' building and began walking to it. He could feel his father's Ki there. He needed to tell him what he had done, but little did he know that Goku already knew of the problem.
~*~*~
Usagi was leaving the building with her friends and Gohan just as he arrived there. He gulped as he walked by her smiling face. Even though he knew that she didn't know of what he did, he still felt as if she did. Like she could read what was playing on his mind. He looked up to his father, who was watching the fight that was taking place. He seemed to be getting a kick out of their ignorance of how to fight. "Dad, I really need to talk to you."
Goku frowned when he heard the sound of his oldest son's voice calling out to him. "Yes?" He turned around to see Gohan approaching him with shame.
"Father, I've done a horrible thing."
"I know."
Gohan looked up to his father's face. He cowered away ever so slightly from the anger that was coming from him. "You do? Did Goten tell you?"
Goku nodded. "Yes. He seemed very concerned about it. As am I. Why did you feel that you had cause to do something like that?"
"Don't worry about that right now, father. That isn't the most important thing in the world. What is, is Usagi's safety. I kind of told them how to grab a hold of Usagi's tail."
Even though Goku had figured it out, he still acted surprised. "You what?"
Gohan dropped his head in shame. "I know. It was wrong, I know. But Usagi shouldn't be allowed to fight Mr. Satan. It's wrong and we both know it. But now, I'm worried about Usagi. If Mamoru gets a hold of her tail, he'll rip her apart just like he did before, when they first me. I never saw what she looked like because I was sick, and I'm glad of that, but what you and mom and Goten told me, it was something awful. You have to tell Usagi to quite the tournament. Make up some silly excuse. Tell her that there is a danger that is making you pull her out, because there is."
Goku was ashamed of his son at that point. "Gohan, not only did you go behind my back and pull something so stupid as this, but now you want ME to lie to cover it up? Well, I'll tell you what. This is your decision now. If you want her pulled, you go ahead and do it, but I'm coming with you to make sure you tell her EXACTLY why you're doing it. I want you to tell her that you were the one that released the bit of information to Mamoru and his gang. I want you to explain why you did it, and they better be GOOD explanations with GOOD reasons because I, myself, am interested in knowing WHY it was SO important to have her loose to Mr. Satan. I'm still waiting on being further convinced. Now, what'll it be, son?"
Gohan glared down at the ground as he squirmed to make his decision. "I'm NOT telling her any of that crap."
"I agree, it IS crap. And you're the one who created. You're a grown man now. I'm not always going to take the heat for you. If you don't want to tell her that, then she stays in the tournament, it's as simple as that."
Gohan smirked as he slowly brought his head up, though, he erased the smirk off his face when he looked at his father. "Then you're just going to let Usagi get hurt again, are you not?"
Goku laughed at how Gohan was trying to get him to go along with that he wanted. "It's not my problem. It's yours. You got her into this mess, now you get her out. If something goes wrong, I'm here. But I doubt that anything will. So pick what you want to do."
Gohan weighed the situation in his head for a moment. It was true, their father would be there to help if it was needed. There really was no reason to worry, and besides, it was a sure-fire way to keep Usagi away from Mr. Satan. "Great. Then I'm letting her stay in. She'll loose and that's that." He turned around and walked away from his angry father.
"Great, Gohan. I'm glad you've become such a loving, caring brother." Goku grinned as he tried to spite his son. With that one last sentence from him, he summarized his feelings towards the whole situation.
~*~*~
~~Twenty minutes Later~~
It was twenty minutes before the next major fight took place. Ironically, it was a fight between Makoto and Usagi. Both were extra excited about fighting each other on this day since they both wanted to excel into the rest of the tournament, though, Usagi knew that she wanted it more than Makoto for obvious reasons.
When the bell rang for the fight to begin, both fighters took to their fighting position. They both kept a calm emotionless face so they couldn't read each other's intentions.
Makoto was the first one to make a move. She quickly ran for Usagi at full speed, ready to attack at a moment's chance. Usagi kept calm for she knew that Makoto wasn't stupid enough to just run at her and expect to get a hit on her. No, she had something else planned and she was pretty sure she knew what it was. Makoto had been using the same routine for the past two weeks. She would always jump into the air just before making contact. Well, this time Usagi would be ready. She would meet her in the air and pull her down with her.
Just as Makoto was about to run into Usagi, she made it appear as if she were going to jump by lifting up her foot higher than if she were just trying to run. Once she saw Usagi begin to jump up, as she knew that she would, Makoto jumped into her plan. She dove to the ground and rolled under Usagi, who was still in the air.
Usagi looked down to see Makoto lying on her back. She knew that she had something planned, but without the power of her Ki at hand, the situation of falling into Makoto's hands was unavoidable, except for one thing. Without much time before she hit the ground, Usagi flip herself upside down and met Makoto's body with her hands. "Did you actually think that you could outsmart me?" She grabbed onto Makoto's arms and pulled her out from underneath herself.
Makoto rolled over to her side and pushed herself back up to her feet before Usagi had a chance to do anything more. "That was pretty good."
Usagi bounced to her feet and jumped away from Makoto. "So was your move. I was sure that you were going to jump into the air."
Makoto smirked. "Yeah, I had that planned ever since we first heard about the tournament. It's my little way of tricking whoever I fought first. But my plan kind of backfired on me."
"I'll say. Shall we continue?"
"Certainly." Makoto took a step forward to reenter the fight that she hoped to win.
This time, it was Usagi's turn to make the first move. Instead of running towards Makoto, she circled her as she looked for a good opportunity to attack in, though, Makoto didn't make it easy for she was turning right along with Usagi.
Makoto grew weary of Usagi's circling and decided it was time to make a move. So, with a simple jump forward, she was within reach of Usagi. She reached out and grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her closer. Usagi grinned as she realized what her friend was attempting to do. "Not so fast, Makoto." With her free hand, Usagi grabbed Makoto's arm and ripped it off her own. "Heh."
Makoto was already one step ahead of her, though. She had planned for Usagi to do something like that. She lifted her leg and kicked Usagi in the legs, causing them to collapse from underneath. She bent down and picked Usagi up and placed he back on her feet. "Come on." She jumped back to get a running start.
Usagi didn't stay in place that time. She dove to the side, leaving her leg in its original place to trip Makoto. But Makoto was too smart for that. At first movement of Usagi, she jumped to the side right along with Usagi rammed right into her because she was unable to stop herself in time.
Usagi stumbled backwards. She wasn't about to let herself fall down and give Makoto the upper hand, but it would have been for the best if she had let herself drop. She couldn't get her footing back before she found herself falling over the edge, out of the ring and into disqualification, loosing the match. "NO!"
Makoto ran to the edge and looked down to a pouting Usagi. "Gees, Usagi. You were supposed to win."
~*~*~
Usagi grumbled as she walked into the fighters' building. "Why me? I WAS supposed to win that match. I'm supposed to beat Mr. Satan."
Gohan smirked as he watched his little sister walk out of the building with her friends close behind, trying to comfort her. "Well I guess that'll teach you to just let yourself fall every once and a while."
Usagi froze in place as she perked her head up and the sound of her brother's voice. "Shut up, Gohan!"
(Ok, there is yet another part. What did you think? Good, bad? See ya later. Ja! )