Chapter ten - Budokai Ends! Kui and Kuwa Appear!

The instant the announcer began the match Hotaru used a familiar attack. "Inryoku Chikara!" The sudden force thrust Gohan backward a few feet before he caught himself and floated unmoving in the air. "Nibai Kinryoku!" she cried charging in. Her thin silver aura flared up again and her power shot up beyond Gohan's. She threw a hard left hook that took Gohan by surprise and connected with a loud crack.

Gohan quickly raised a short arm to block the next attack by Hotaru and then threw one of his own. The two locked into a tight battle but Hotaru obviously had the advantage. She dodged around Gohan's right fist and slammed a knee into his stomach. Then she spun around behind him and kicked him in the back knocking him away. He pulled himself to a quick stop and shot up into the air.

Hotaru watched him climb a moment then shot up after him quickly catching up. Gohan fired four quick KI blasts but Hotaru weaved around them and moved in closer. In an instant she had hold of him, her legs wrapped around his and her arms around his body stopping him from moving. Then she said something that only Gohan and Piccolo heard. "You can't win if you don't use all your power, there's more at stake here than this match."

"What do you mean?" the young Sai-jin demanded.

"Focus!" she yelled diving toward the ring below them as quick as she could. Gohan's eyes went wide as they neared the ring floor. Only three feet up she pulled to an abrupt stop releasing Gohan in the process. The small warrior slammed head first into the ring shattering the entire thing and creating a large crater in it's center. Hotaru floated over the hole for a moment before landing. As her feet touched the ground Gohan floated up from the crater.

Hotaru stared across at him and Piccolo saw something in her eyes and it made him shiver. She had the look of war hardened soldier and something about the way she was fighting Gohan gave him the feeling she was trying to train him. He watched as Gohan landed at the craters edge and stared across at her, his power had gone up again but was still lower than hers.

Suddenly she shook her head. "Not good enough. Sanjuu Kinryoku!" she yelled. The thin silver aura thickened and grew faster, her muscles bulged slightly, and her power shot up again. She was now almost twice as strong as Gohan. In a flash of silver light she vanished re-appearing a moment later where Gohan was, kicking him with a loud crack, then vanished again. There was a crack in the sky and they looked upward to see Gohan holding off one of Hotaru's fists with both hands.

"You must focus your thoughts and emotions." she said calmly. "Or you will never control your power." Gohan stared at her wondering just what she was talking about. Before he could do anything she vanished again. This time she landed at the rings edge, back to the rest of the ring. A second later Gohan slammed face first into the ring a foot behind her.

The announcer stared at them for a moment then cleared his throat. "Um... the count begins! 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7... 8... 9..." He stopped as a purple and orange stream flew from Gohan's hand at Hotaru's back. The energy seemed to pass right through her, but then she shimmered and the after image vanished. She appeared again an instant later, knee buried in Gohan's back. He cried out in pain and shock a moment before falling unconscious.

The announcer started the count again, this time he finished and declared Hotaru the Champion. A few moments later she was back stage again and was watching Jaken who was watching Goku. "What?" she asked catching Piccolo by surprise, he'd not expected her to notice him.

"Who exactly are you, and why are you here?"

"I'm only explaining it once, you can wait until everyone's together." she said after a moment of silence.

A few minutes later everyone was gathered outside the arena. Hotaru stood apart from the large group staring off into the distance. A moment later Goku walked up to her followed by the others. "So... Hotaru, right?" he asked. She just nodded. "We're wondering..."

"I know." she said softly. "I am a Tanarian, more precisely, the Tanarian princess."

"Tanarian?" Bardock asked. "I thought Frieza..."

"Killed us all? No. Some of us escaped his attack force and fled our world settling on another planet outside his reach, one that's in Sai-jin space. A few weeks ago we intercepted a deep space transmission from one of Frieza's ambassadors. He was requesting permission to attack a planet within Sai-jin territory, this planet. Frieza ordered him back to Planet Frieza for another mission but said he could send any of his men that he wanted. My mother chose to over look this, she would rather let the rest of the universe destroy itself then show ourselves to anyone who might want to attack us.

"I couldn't just let this world be destroyed, let another planet fall to Frieza. So I came here, and on the way hacked into a few computers to see what I could learn about this world. It would seem I found my way into your space pod Bardock, because I found out why Zarbon wanted this world attacked. Then I hacked into some Earth bound systems as I neared and found the video records of the previous Budokais. I figured out who Goku was rather quickly."

"Wait." Appla interrupted. "You mean Zarbon's not here?"

Hotaru shook her head. "No, he's in the other end of the galaxy, or close to it. He sent Kui and his brother Kuwa here though, and if want I'm sensing is right then we have little chance of winning."

"I know of Kuwa." Vadora said crossing her arms. "That little bastard nearly cut off my tail a year ago. He's got some power but it's nothing we can't handle. Bardock has an Enhancer ring and if it comes down to it I can transform."

"How?" Hotaru asked questioningly. "This planet has no moon."

Bardock grinned. "A technique I developed, as far as I know only myself and King Vegeta have mastered using it. It creates a ball of energy that emits light identical to that of a Full Moon."

"We can discuss this later." Piccolo said looking off to their right. "At the moment we have company."

They all turned to look and saw a six foot purple alien who was grinning. "Zarbon will be ecstatic to hear that I managed to kill you Bardock, as well as all your new friends."

Vadora laughed. "Kui, it's been sometime since we met last, and I'm stronger now. How about you and I have a go at it eh? A rematch as it were?"

"Sure, so long as you don't run away again."

Vadora growled and charged in at Kui quickly. The purple alien was ready for her and blocked her kick before smashing his fist into her face. He brought his knee up but her arm shot down and blocked it. Her head pulled back and then shot forward slamming into his and knocking him back. Then she charged in again and caught him with a kick to his chin. He brought his fist up into her stomach, flipped over her, and then fired a quick KI blast into her back.

A small crowd of tournament spectators had formed to watch the fight. Vadora pulled herself up out of the shattered concrete and launched in at Kui. The two began to exchange blows with each other at such speeds that only Bardock could keep up. The two rose high over the parking lot and arena, flashes of light and thunderous explosions the only evidence for those below that the fight was still going.

Suddenly there was a brilliant flash brighter than the sun. A moment later a smoking form slammed into the ground a few feet from the Z Fighters. Slowly it stood and shook the debris off. Vadora looked skyward as she panted, "Damn coward hit me from behind." she said hoarsely. Then everyone saw who she was talking about. Floating beside Kui was another purple alien slightly taller than the other.

Vadora reached down to her hand and touched the ring around her finger. He power shot upward and she followed suit charging in toward the two aliens. She locked into close combat with both. Kuwa managed to block most of her attacks but Kui was losing his footing quickly. Suddenly the two aliens pulled back, turned to face each other, and thrust there arms toward the other, hands cupped. Between their palms an energy blast formed. Vadora charged in at them but the blast shot out and slammed into her knocking her backward and down into the ground again.

She stood up slowly as the two alien's laughed. "Damn you." she growled spitting out blood.

Bardock walked up beside her. "I'll take Kuwa, you finish off his brother." he said calmly.

Vadora shook her head. "No... I know why King Vegeta sent me with you. He thinks I'm to soft, that I back down to easily. Well I'm not backing down now, not a chance. I'm stronger than them, I'll handle this."

"Vad..."

"I said stay out of this!" Vadora cried charging into the sky. The force of her launch sent Bardock flying backward. He slammed into, and through, a six foot thick concrete wall, and then fell over unconscious. Meanwhile Vadora continued to battle the two aliens. Kui charged in at her from behind and she turned slamming an open right palm into his face. Everyone heard the distinctive crack of bones breaking.

Kuwa roared and charged in slamming his knee into the side of her abdomen. She spun and slammed the back of her left fist into the side of his head. While the two battled each other Kui held onto his bleeding face. Then he saw the unconscious Bardock and smiled. Suddenly he was diving toward the ground, both arms pulled back, charging energy in each fist.

Goku saw him charging down and looked to see where he was heading, and he saw Bardock. /What! Oh no!/ In a flash he was moving toward his father. He stopped a moment later as Kui pulled to a halt in the air and released the stream of energy. Goku stood arms out and legs spread pushing all of his energy out trying to create a barrier.

Everyone turned and stared in shock as the deep blue energy slammed into Goku's KI barrier and smashed through before slamming into Goku himself. As Goku's screams echoed over the roar of the attack Gohan's left hand brushed with the enhancer ring. Meanwhile Tien had shot into the air and floated over Kui, hands together forming a triangle through which he could clearly see Kui smiling.

"Tri-Beam!" Tien roared. As the golden orange glow bathed the area Kui looked up shocked. Suddenly he was slammed downward, his attack ended, and everyone turned from the blinding light of the blast. When they looked back there was a deep hole below where Kui had been, and a moment later the purple alien floated up from below, armor broken and crumbling, obviously unhappy.

Gohan's eyes drifted down from Tien to Kui then over to where his father and his new grandpa lay. Neither one was moving, he couldn't sense them either. His eyes were turned skyward again by a loud scream as Kui rammed head first in Tien. "That's it!" the young warrior cried as a bright orange and purple aura formed around him. "Leave him alone!" Suddenly the tiny Sai-jin rocketed skyward straight at the shocked and unmoving Kui.

Everyone stared in shock as Gohan slammed into Kui and tore right through him smashing his entire abdomen into nothing, effectively cutting him in two. He continued on past the falling remains of Kui and beyond the shocked Kuwa. Suddenly he pulled to a stop as his eyes locked onto Kuwa. His arms went up over his head, hands crossed, and his aura condensed into a small ball floating in front of his open palms. "Masenko!" he shouted thrusting his arms down and out at Kuwa.

Vadora stared in shock for a moment before moving out of the way just as the stream of energy blasted past her and into Kuwa's hands. The alien groaned and strained against the force of the blast as it tried to push it anywhere but near him. "This... this is impossible!" he cried in disbelief. "He's just a child! How can he have this much power!" His eyes widened as he felt his arms giving under the force of the attack. A moment later he was completely engulfed by the stream of energy which continued down over the arena walls and slammed into what was left of the tournament ring completely obliterating it.

Then the attack stopped, Gohan's power dropped, and so did he. Piccolo reached out with one hand and caught him by his leg as he passed. There was nothing left of Kuwa and for a moment everyone stared at the spent child. As Piccolo handed him over to Bulma he mumbled about his father. That brought everyone out of their shock of Gohan's powers and rushing over to Goku and Bardock. Piccolo bent over Goku while Appla checked on Bardock.

"Goku's dead." Piccolo said with a touch of sadness in his voice.

They all heard Appla choke back a sob. "So is Bardock... and I'm sure Zarbon will come now too, once he hears about this. We have to prepare for him."

Vadora stumbled over to where Appla was. Not only was she weak from the fight but Gohan's blast had clipped her doing more damage than Kuwa had while also incinerating her tail. She helped the other Sai-jin to her feet as they looked at the two fallen warriors. Suddenly Yamcha spoke up. "No worries! We'll just gather the Dragonballs and with them back. Goku's never been revived before, and neither has Bardock."

"That can be done?" Appla asked looking over at him.

"Sure. I've been wished back before." Krillin said. "And we've already got three Dragonballs. Goku's four star, the six star ball I found a few months ago, and the two star ball Bulma has at Capsule Corp."

"Then make that four." Piccolo said holding out his hand. In it rested the one star ball. "I've been holding on to this for about year so that I'd know if anyone wanted to use them."

"Uh, guys." Bulma said looking down at Goku and Bardock. They all turned to look and saw that they were somewhat transparent. "What's going on?"

Piccolo smiled. "Kami's up to something, I can feel it."

~You're right Piccolo. If the warriors you fought today are any indication of what's to come Goku and his father are going to need some special training, and I know just the person for the job. Piccolo, I need to know how long before Zarbon comes.~

~Right.~ He looked over at Appla and Hotaru. "How long until this Zarbon shows up here?"

Appla shook her head. "Not sure. If he's on official business for Frieza then it could be a while."

"At least a year." Hotaru said. "It's going to take him about four months to get where he's going, then at least another five months to get here from there. That's not counting the time he spends doing his job or delays after he starts on his way here."

~Good.~ Kami's voice echoed in Piccolo's head. ~Tell them to wait a year if possible before summoning the dragon so that they can get the full benefit of the training.~

Piccolo smiled. "Goku and Bardock are going to receive some special training in Otherworld. Kami said to wait a year if possible before we bring them back so they can train." The others stared at him a moment, a smile forming on Krillin, Tien, and Yamcha's faces.

"Man, if the training they're going to get is anything like what Goku went through before this Zarbon wont know what hit him!" Krillin cheered.

"Still," said Piccolo looking around at the damage. "I'd like to be ready for them myself. I suggest we all train until then." He walked over to Bulma and took Gohan back from her then glanced over to Appla. "I'm going to train with Gohan, you can come as well if you want." then he turned back to the others. "But only her. If anyone else follows I'll send you to train with Goku, got it?" They all nodded and a moment later Piccolo, Gohan, and Appla were all gone.

"I say we go see Kami." Tien said. "If he gives us the same training he did Goku a few years ago we'll be a lot stronger."

Yamcha nodded in agreement. "We'll need to be careful though, we're totally out of Senzu Beans."

Vadora laughed hoarsely. "Afraid I wont be any help for a month or so. But I can at least help you guys out."

"Can't you go back to your world for help?" Roshi asked.

Vadora shook her head. "This would be seen as a personal war, Bardock against Zarbon, only those connected can fight without triggering full blown war."

"Is it really that bad?" asked Bulma.

"Yes. If King Vegeta sent anyone here to help it would give Frieza cause to attack Planet Vegeta, he'd call it an act of war. No, we're not getting any other help in this, it's us or no one."