Disclaimer: DBZ belongs to Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation.
Aleandra Alyra Sarienna – You give the most interesting reviews. Update!! You know I will… It's just going to take me some time to do so. Anyways, make the Z Senshi loose? Nah, I don't think so. If it's like that, I might as well stop writing!

Story Weaver1 – The meal scene is hilarious huh? Wow, I didn't know that I had some humor in me!

Inu-dude – A sad or pissed Gohan is the coolest? I so agree. He's too much of a dork if he's not like that. All I have to say is steer clear of my other fic 'Teen Models' if you don't like a dorky Gohan!

Tenshi-Hotaru – You don't really like Victoria? Why??? TT My own beautiful original character is hated! Wah… Nah… I'm just kidding. You'll change you mind later. (Hopefully)

Shea Loner – I bet you're angry with me for not updating for such a long time. Sorry! I just haven't been in the mood to write lately…

Mayonaka Hoshi – Action? Action is pretty hard for me to write since I am not accustomed to writing action scenes, but I will try my best. Let's just hope that you think that the action is still good.

Luna's Meow – Yep! Buu's certainly got some competition, however, this is going to be a little different so don't expect Buu to get blown up in one blast. By the way, I don't really like GT anyway. Everyone except Goku and Vegeta are weak!

Silver Warrior – I have good taste in fan fiction? That's only because I advertise those I think are worthwhile to read. You know how lame some stories could be (my first works). Since you never heard of Parallel and Perpendicular, maybe you should start reading it. It's very interesting and it was written by my beta reader, ShaggyDiz.

There isn't going to be a junior tournament in this fic, just to let you know. I'm going to stick with the adult competition. However, I might consider adding a junior competition later. Ugh. Sorry if this chapter isn't written as well as the others. I haven't been in a writing mood lately and school began so the rest is self-explanatory.


Chapter 11

The Tournament

Victoria sighed to herself and laid down on the old and worn out mattress in one of the bedrooms. "Why didn't I finish them off?" she wondered to herself. She had the power and brains to defeat them, and yet… she still chickened out. "I guess that was my very first real battle against someone and my nerves got the best of me." She brought an arm behind her head and used it for a pillow. "I guess I'll have to wait until the tournament tomorrow."


"Oww! That stings!" whined Goku. "Are you sure there aren't any senzu beans?"

Chichi removed the cotton ball that had atheistic absorbed within and sighed to herself. "Goku, stop acting like a baby. And for the last time, no, there aren't any senzu beans left."

Goku grumbled under his breath. "I should've gone to the Look Out when I had the chance."

"What was that?!"

"Nothing!"

Gohan couldn't help but grin at the sight. His father was always so childish. He turned to Erasa and asked, "Is Sharpner awake yet?"

Erasa shook her head. "You gave him quite a scare with your freaky hair and eyes."

Gohan grinned. "Well, let's just say that my hair is special. It changes color when I want it to and I just put on my contacts again," he lied.

Luckily, Erasa believed everything she was told. Videl on the other hand, did not. She was told the truth about the Saiyan's abilities to change their hair and eye color after a long explanation about their heritage and past.

He turned to Videl and said, "If you're planning on entering the tournament tomorrow, I have a suggestion."

"What's that?"

"Cut your hair."

"What? Cut my hair?!" she screeched.

"There is no way you're going to convince Videl to cut her hair, Gohan. She loves it way too much," stated Erasa.

Videl gritted her teeth and hissed out, "Fine."

"What?" Erasa's mouth dropped open. "I can't believe I just heard that."


"Videl! Is that you?!" asked Chichi.

The raven-haired girl nodded slowly and ran a hand through her short hair for the hundredth time that day. She still had not gotten used to it yet. It just felt so awkward compared to her pigtails. "I cut it yesterday," she stated.

"You look… different," said Bulma.

"Yeah… tell me about it," groaned Videl.

Gohan eyed her and said, "At least now your opponents won't grab your hair."

Videl ran a hand through her hair again and glared at Gohan. She cut her hair just because of that? She could've avoided that easily. After all, she fought crime all the time and managed to escape evil hands that threatened to yank her hair off her head. What makes this any different?

Gohan noticed the glare and smirked to himself.


"Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the World Martial Arts Tournament!" the announcer yelled.

The crowd roared with life as they were anticipating the start of many battles.

"To start us off, we'll have the Great Hercule give a little speech before the fighters choose their opponents. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Great Hercule!"

Hercule stepped out from the resting area and toward the ring. The Afro haired man raised his arms up and released a yell, "Yeah!" He grabbed the microphone from the announcer and began his long boring speech. "We're here again to witness my magnificent victory over many fighters who have traveled here to have a chance to defeat me. I don't think they'll stand a chance, but the least I could do is let them try. Now let's get this tournament started! Everybody say Hercule!"

"Hercule!"

"I can't hear you!"

"Hercule!" the crowed screamed, louder than the previous yell.

"Now that's what I like to hear! Now let's get this tournament started!" Hercule smiled at the crowd with his victory symbol. "Right now we're gonna go draw our numbers to find out who we're fighting against. Be patient Hercule fans. You'll see lots of action soon enough!"

The crowd cheered once again at their hero's words.

As our favorite group of fighters stood in line for the punching machine, Vegeta grimaced at the sound of Hercule's voice. "That buffoon thinks he can defeat the Prince of Saiyans? Well he's in for a surprise," he smirked.

"Vegeta, I don't think it'll be a good idea to plummet Hercule right now. You should do it when they least expect it, like when they're laughing at you. Then boom! You knock the stuffing out of him!" said Krillen.

The prince eyed the monk. "Embarrassing myself before destroying my enemy is dishonorable." He shot the monk a glare and said, "Destroying my enemy the moment I see him is the fighting style of the Saiyans."

Krillen gulped. Now he definitely should not get on Vegeta's bad side. He took a step back to get away from the menacing prince.

Vegeta smirked to himself as he received the desired effect from his words to the bald monk.


"Number six," Gohan mumbled to himself.

"What was that Gohan?" asked Videl.

He turned to her and replied a little louder, "Number six." He said those words without enthusiasm. Ever since his conversation with his father the other day, he was slowly opening himself up to his family and family friends. However, he had not done so with his own friends he had made since he still did not have enough trust in them to show his true self in front of them.

Videl glanced at the board and said, "It's empty. He's my opponent, whoever he is…"

Gohan glanced at the board as well and nodded. "I have a good idea who that person is."

"Who?"

"You'll see."

Videl walked over to the wall and leaned against it. "What's up with him? He's back to his usual cold self. What happened to that happy Gohan? It's like he just shifted gears and he's back from being happy to being indifferent," she mumbled to herself.

"Don't worry, you'll just have to give him some time, that's all," said a voice.

She jumped up in fear from the voice that cut through her thoughts.

"Whoa… relax there, Videl. I'm not going to bite you or anything," assured Goku.

Videl calmed herself down and leaned back against the wall. "You know… I hope you're right about him. It would be a pity if he stays like that forever."

He nodded. "Um… Videl, just why are you trying to help him?" wondered Goku.

She sighed to herself and said, "Well… when I first met him, he seemed kind of interesting, especially the part where he hardly talked and was able to fly and shoot golden lights out of his hands."

Goku nodded.

"Then next week, he acted kind of normal. He talked, he laughed, and he enjoyed himself. It was odd." She looked up Goku and continued, "I was trying to open him up for a while, but he just shrugged me off, and then the next day he was smiling at me. You know what? The first time he smiled warmed my heart. I managed to open him up even if it was just a little bit. And now, after this whole Victoria thing, he's back to the way he was… I just want to see that happy Gohan again."

"Do you like him?" he asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Do you like him?" he repeated.

Videl was taken aback. "Do I l-like Gohan?"

Goku nodded his head. "I've been watching you two these couple of days and it seems like you've been hanging around him a lot. I also noticed how happy you look when you're next to him compared to your other friends."

"I… I…" She looked down at her feet for a while before looking back up at him. "I… guess… I mean, I like Gohan when he's not all cold and mean…"

Goku smiled at her. "That's a good thing because that's his true self."

"True self?"

He nodded. "About five years ago, I died."

"You died?!" she shrieked, suddenly fearful that she was talking to a ghost or zombie.

Goku pointed to the halo above his head. "What did you think this was?"

Videl shrugged her shoulders.

"Anyway, my wife and I died, which is why Bulma and Vegeta are now Gohan's parents."

She nodded her head, listening to what she was being told.

"After our death… Gohan kind of distanced himself from everyone, which is why he's acting the way he is. I hope that he'll return to that cheerful little kid."

"But… that doesn't explain his weird behavior from being you know… mean… to happy and then back to mean."

Goku sighed. "I don't know either. He must've been planning something."

Videl looked downcast for a minute before looking up. "I'll try my best to help Gohan revert back to that cheerful boy and will stop nothing at it."

Goku smiled at her. "Come on, I think they're going to start the first round soon. Let's see who our opponents are."

The two walked up the board full of fighters and looked themselves up. Both their eyes widened when they found out who their opponents were going to be.

"I'm going against Vegeta in the first round? This is not good…" Goku muttered to himself.

"Spopovitch, he's that big buff guy over there right?" she asked a little nervously. Ever since she found out about the Saiyans, she was not as confident about herself anymore since she knew that there were people far stronger than herself and her father.

"Relax, Videl. I don't think that Spopovitch is that strong. I can assure you that you'll beat him."

"I hope you're right," she mumbled to herself.


"So Kakarotto, ready to loose?" Vegeta asked with a smirk.

"I don't know about that. You might just beat me, but we won't know until we're actually fighting," replied Goku.

Vegeta rolled his eyes. 'Pathetic.'

Gohan leaned against the wall near the doorway, watching the fighters enter and leave the premises. After scanning the room for a while, he noticed Videl standing in a corner in a very nervous state. He quirked an eyebrow, wondering why she was behaving the way she was and walked over.

Videl unclenched her fists and tried to get the butterflies out of her stomach. She remembered being very confident when the won the junior division years ago, and this was no different. So why was she nervous now? She glanced out the window and felt the butterflies increase in amount.

"Videl."

She looked up at the owner of the voice and felt her heart skip a beat. She wondered why her heart did that. "Hi… Gohan."

He looked at her and asked, "Why are you nervous?"

"Nervous? Who said I was nervous?" she returned.

Gohan looked at her in disbelief.

"Okay… I'm nervous alright?" she admitted. She glanced out the window again. "It's just that I don't think I stand a chance against all of you. Look at how strong you are and how weak I am. How I can win against you guys? If you wanted, you could even kill me just by touching me."

"Stop thinking so lowly of yourself. You know why we are so strong. You are a normal person and so it's natural for you to not be able to be as strong as us."

She looked away as he said this. She knew he was right, but didn't say anything.

He heaved a sigh and said, "If you stop thinking so lowly of yourself, I'll teach you how to fly."

She whipped her head around to face him after hearing the last word of his sentence. "Really? How about shooting those beams of light too?"

"You're pushing your luck," he grinned.


"Alright folks, we all know that you paid good money for fantastic fights and it's time to commence the Tournament! In our first round, we have Krillen, a very skilled fighter who hasn't made an appearance in a while. We're just glad that he's back and that he's going to give us an awesome fight!"

The crowd cheered loudly at the sight of the two fighters stepping onto the ring.

Pintar grumbled to himself again. "He's not even worth my time."

Krillen shot him a glare, but remained his cool long enough until the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the battle.

"Come on little man, hit me right here in the gut," taunted the fat man.

Krillen smirked. "Okay… if that's the way you want it…" He jumped up and gave a powerful punch to the stomach of the obese man.

Pintar fell back from the pain, gripping his stomach.

Krillen threw Pintar in the air and kicked him out of the ring, winning the fight.

"Is that awesome or what, ladies and gentlemen? Pintar is out of the ring AND knocked unconscious. You can't loose worse than that!" exclaimed the announcer.

The crowd roared with life.

The announcer looked at his clipboard and announced with a smile, "The next two opponents will be out shortly, so keep your pants on!"

True to his word, the next two fighters stepped up. One was a tall green man wearing a turban. The other was a short purple man with a Mohawk.

"Introducing Ma Junior! He has been to a couple of tournaments in the past and we're once again glad that he's back."

The moment Piccolo stepped into the ring; sweat began to pour down from his head. 'This is not good. Who is this guy and what does he want?' Piccolo thought. This was the first time he seen his opponent and he was frightened. Who ever this person was, happens to be very powerful, not to mention very mysterious.

'You will find out,' said a voice.

Piccolo reeled back in fear. 'Who said that?!'

'Me, of course.'

'W-who are you?'

'It's like I said, you will find out.'

"And a first timer, Shin! He may be small, but he packs a powerful punch," said the announcer. He looked over at the other operators of the tournament and waited until they ran the bell. "You may begin … now!"

The crowd screamed and yelled as the battle commenced.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" inquired Shin.

Piccolo stood rooted to the spot. He had no idea what to do. "I… I... uh… I…"

"Um… gentlemen, the fight has begun. You can start fighting now…" said the announcer.

Piccolo gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He slowly turned to the announcer and said through gritted teeth, "I forfeit."

"What was that?"

"I forfeit," he said louder.

"What? You forfeit? You can't do that! You're one of our best fighters!"

Gohan narrowed his eyes in suspicion. 'Something's up.'

Piccolo bowed his head and mumbled, "I'm sorry." He then proceeded to walk out of the ring and back to resting area.

The announcer sighed and said sadly, "I'm sorry Ladies and Gentlemen, but we're not going to have a fight for Round 2. Ma Junior has forfeited. Now don't get upset! We're going to have our next two competitors out soon!"

Half the crowd growled in disappointment while the half cheered for the next battle.

"Piccolo, what's the matter?" asked Gohan.

Piccolo leaned against the wall. His jaw tightened when Shin walked through the doorway, but he remained calm. "This is going to be a very interesting Tournament this year."

Gohan nodded. "I had a feeling that it would be." He walked away and leaned by the doorway to watch the next fight.

Piccolo eyed Shin once more before closing his eyes. 'What is he doing here? What is someone as powerful and great importance as him doing here?'

Kibito came up behind Piccolo and said, "Since you know our secret, I suggest for you not to tell the others."

Piccolo's eyes sprung open in surprise. He didn't even hear them coming. His ears were even better than Saiyan hearing for crying out loud and he didn't hear this guy coming!

"We do not want them to know of us just yet," the pink man continued.

Piccolo nodded slowly and listened as the sound of retreating footsteps echoed through the room.


"Let's welcome our next two competitors. First we have Spopovitch, who had competed in the last Martial Arts Tournament. He lost in the first round, but he's back and he looks like he's ready to change that," began the announcer. He gestured toward the other fighter and smiled proudly. "Our other fighter, Satan Videl! Hercule's very own daughter! She won the junior tournament years ago and now she's ready for the big league. Let's just see how well she does. Everyone give her your support and yell!"

Instantly, the crowd began to roar with life.

Videl smiled up at the crowd and waved at them as she walked into the ring.

Spopovitch was instantly enraged. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly. He clenched them so tightly that his knuckles turned white and it appeared as if his teeth might be grinded to dust. Spopovitch screamed at the announcer to start the match so he could vent out his anger and pulverize his opponent.

The announcer jumped back a little, but obeyed the large man, for fear of his own safety. "You may begin now!" he managed to squeak out.

Spopovitch dropped into a fighting stance and grinned cynically at Videl. This was too good to be true. He could pulverize that idiot's daughter for making a fool out of himself. Then he could beat the moron to a bloody pulp just like his daughter. Yes, he liked that thought. Spopovitch took a menacing step forward and watched as the girl dropped into a defensive stance and clenched her fists tightly. She showed no fear, but her eyes gave it all away. Those eyes showed fear of being outmatched, embarrassed, and most of all, killed. Spopovitch took another step forward and watched as Videl unconsciously inched away from him. He smiled to himself. Fear was what he liked. He wanted to see fear in those eyes, the exact same eyes that belonged to the girl's father.

"You're not going to get out of this fight in one piece," he said with an evil smile.

His voice sent shivers up her spine. Videl moved back a couple steps. She clenched her fists tighter than they already were and gritted her teeth. She could feel sweat beginning to roll down the side of her face. 'I REALLY hope Goku was right about this guy…' she thought frantically to herself.

"Why are you running away?" he asked with that eerie voice.

Videl moved back a little more until she heard small pieces of rock falling. She looked behind her and cursed to herself. She was at the edge of the ring. Videl quickly ran to the other side of the ring. Why was she showing fear to such a bully? Her father beat him in the last tournament and he no doubt want revenge. Well, she wasn't going to give it to him. She gathered all the courage she had in her and attacked. She went for a punch to the stomach. Her fist made contact with its target with a deafening sound as flesh hit flesh. Videl felt pain surging through her arm, but it was nothing compared to her usual training with a wooden doll. 'That ought to have caused some damage,' she thought. She looked up at his face and her eyes widened in shock.

"What the…?" She quickly pulled her arm back and swung again, this time with her other arm. Again, she hit him with enough force to knock down a man twice her size. However, her punches barely even bothered him. Videl gritted her teeth. "What's with this guy?" she muttered to herself.

Spopovitch looked down at her with that eerie smile and uttered, "You can't win."

Videl's eyes widened in fear for a brief moment. She jumped back a couple of feet before trying a roundhouse kick. This time, the kick caused some damage. Spopovitch fell to the ground, hard. Videl landed gracefully and released the breath she didn't know she was holding.

In the fighter's waiting room, a group of fighters watching the fight sighed in relief as the large buff man fell to the ground.

"That's the way," Gohan muttered to himself. "If she keeps this up, she might have a chance to beat this guy."

Goku nodded. "I can see that she's a skilled fighter. With some training from us, she might surpass her father."

"I think she already has. Hercule wouldn't have been able to knock that guy down like that with one kick. It might have taken him several tries before he was even able to scratch his opponent," said Gohan.

"That's true. That buffoon wouldn't have stood a chance against that guy," agreed Vegeta. He paused for a while, narrowing his eyes. "I sense something odd about him. I know that he was originally not this strong. Something happened that gave him his strength."

"How much stronger is he?" asked Goku.

"A few hundred or few thousand times."

Gohan turned his attention away from both his father and stared out the doorway and at the ring. 'Videl… I hope they're not right. I don't think that I can stand anything happening to you. You were the first person to actually try opening me up and never gave up either. I might even like you. I don't know why, but when I'm around you, I feel all warm and happy inside. I… I can't really explain it, but I like being around you. I may not have known you that long, a month max, but I had this good feeling about you; that you were different from the others.' He shot her a smile, even though he knew that she couldn't see it and whispered, "I promise you, I will protect you from any harm."

Back in the ring, Videl tried multiple attacks, hitting Spopovitch with all her strength. All which caused absolutely no damage to the grinning man.

He looked down at her again and said, "Time to stop fooling around and start getting… serious."


Well, that's it for Chapter 11. I know it isn't much, but I have the next chapter planned for something special. Could you guess what it is? Oh wait, I know that many of you are angry with me for not updating for over three months, right? Well, sorry! I am kind of back in the mood of writing, so hopefully the amount of time between each update won't be as long. Remember to review and give me your opinions on how I am writing, how the story is progressing, or if you just want me to update!

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