Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, and their respective franchises.

Last time, on The Lost Prince…

The 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament reached its semifinal round! After testing his improved strength against Vegeta in the first match, Yamcha admitted defeat once he realized that he would need much more training to catch up to the Saiyan prince. In the second match, Goku faced off against Jackie Chun, but he was ultimately knocked out after transforming into his Oozaru state, when Vegeta briefly intervened to protect the audience from the rampaging Great Ape.

Now, the final match of the tournament has arrived, with the Saiyan prince facing off against the disguised Turtle Hermit. The tournament concludes… now!

Turtle School Saga, Part 5: Mind Over Matter

Papaya Island, Planet Earth

Age 750

"And now, ladies and gentlemen… it's time for the final match!"

After an hour's recess to give the two remaining fighters a chance to rest (and so the tournament ring could undergo some hasty repairs, after the damage that Goku's Oozaru transformation had done to it), the tournament announcer's amplified voice boomed out across the stadium again, drawing a chorus of applause from the onlookers. "After a thrilling series of matches," he continued, "we're finally down to our last two contestants, and now is the time for us to find out which of them will be crowned as the strongest in the world!" The audience's cheers rose into a collective roar of approval, and the great drums began to beat once more. "Fighters, please take your places in the ring!"

Goku had now joined Yamcha, Launch, Oolong and Puar in the stands, and was bouncing excitedly up and down in his seat, while also deliberately keeping his gaze down so that he wouldn't risk looking at the moon again. "Oh, man, I can't wait to see this!" he exclaimed, his eyes sparkling gleefully. "This fight's gonna be so cool!"

Yamcha, seated beside the younger boy, wasn't so sure. He watched as Vegeta and Jackie Chun made their way out into the arena, his gaze shifting from one fighter to the other as he tried to get the measure of them both. All things considered, though, he was fairly sure that he already knew how this fight was going to go. That Jackie Chun guy put up a really good fight against Goku, that's for sure… but now that I know just how powerful Vegeta is, I don't think Jackie can win this one. Unless he's got more tricks up his sleeve that he hasn't shown so far, Vegeta's probably gonna be too much for him.

Vegeta, for his part, felt the same way. Jackie Chun's fight with Kakarot had given him an ideal opportunity to see his final opponent in action, and he was confident that it had taken everything the older man had to overpower the younger Saiyan. In addition, the time he'd spent studying the older fighter's ki during that last fight had told him everything that he'd needed to know about Jackie, and all the pieces of the puzzle that had been bothering him during the earlier matches had now fallen into place.

"All right, then, sonny," Jackie greeted him cheerfully as they both walked to the center of the ring. "Let's make this a good clean match, shall we?" The older man held out a hand, raising an eyebrow and grinning in a friendly manner.

Vegeta's lip twitched in an amused smirk, and he nodded as he took Jackie's hand firmly and gave it a brief shake. "Sounds good to me," he replied, before he tugged Jackie a little closer as his voice dropped low enough that no one outside the ring could hear him. "But before we start, you should know… the jig's up, old man."

Jackie blinked, his casual attitude faltering for a moment before he snapped back to focusing on Vegeta. "Ah… I'm not sure what you mean, my boy," he replied.

"Oh, I think you do," Vegeta retorted, his smirk growing wider. "I've got to give you credit: it took a while, but I eventually put the pieces together… and I've got you figured out." His eyes narrowed. "Roshi."

Jackie's eyes widened in shock, and he took a half-step back. He was silent for a long moment, until he lowered his head and chuckled softly. "Nicely done, kid," he finally replied, his faint grin returning as he looked back up at Vegeta. "I've gotta ask: what gave me away?"

"Your ki," Vegeta replied as he took a step back and folded his arms over his chest. "You've done a good job on your disguise, but I first learned how to sense ki by sensing yours, so there's no way you could hide that from me. On some level, I'd been suspecting it for a while, but that Kamehameha clash between you and Kakarot was what sealed it." He arched a brow, curiosity mixing with the amusement on his face. "So, I have to ask: why the whole charade of pretending to be someone else? Why didn't you just enter the tournament as yourself?"

Jackie – Roshi – chuckled and stretched his arms up over his head, arching his back and letting out a soft grunt as he stretched out his muscles. "Well," he answered casually, "I was hoping to use this tournament to teach all three of you a valuable lesson: that you all have much more room to grow." He tilted his head slightly towards where Goku and Yamcha were watching from the spectator seats. "Those two knew that already, thanks to you, but the gap between your power and theirs is wide enough that I wanted to give them a closer, more attainable goal, to keep pushing them forward." His grin widened, and he indicated himself with a small wave of one hand. "Hence, Jackie Chun. By making sure that neither of them could win the tournament and showing them that there are other fighters out there who are stronger than they are, I've been able to give them additional inspiration to keep bettering themselves in the future."

"Clever." Vegeta nodded, amusement gleaming in his dark eyes, before his smile faded and his expression became more serious. "But I should warn you: if you were planning to do the same to me by making sure that I don't win this tournament, I'm afraid that won't be happening. We both know that I'm far stronger than you are, and now that I've seen all of your hidden techniques during your fight with Kakarot, I can assure you that you won't be able to rely on any of them in this match." His arms dropped to his sides, and his confident smirk returned as he rolled his shoulders and clicked his neck. "So, which ones were you planning to try? Your fancy Thundershock Surprise? Hypnosis? That ridiculous 'drunken-boxing' technique? Because I'm sorry to disappoint you, but none of those tricks will work on me."

Curiously, however, it didn't seem like Vegeta's boast had affected Roshi at all, and his faint, knowing smile never wavered. "Oh, no, you don't need to worry about any of those," he replied casually. "Against Goku, I knew I'd need to pull out those special techniques to make sure I could take him down. But against you?" He locked eyes with Vegeta, and there was no trace of nervousness in his face. "Nah. I won't need any of my 'fancy tricks' to win this match."

Vegeta's eyes snapped wide open in surprise, as he definitely hadn't been expecting that response. He stared at Roshi in silence for a long moment, before his lips twitched upwards again, and then he practically doubled over with an explosive burst of laughter. "Oh, please!" he laughed, shaking his head as he straightened back up. "Nice bravado, but we both know that's just an empty threat. I do respect your talents as a martial artist, but you don't have the kind of power that it would take to actually compete with me. If I use anywhere close to my real strength, I'll be able to knock you out of this tournament with a single blow."

"Oh, sure, you're way stronger than I am," Roshi freely admitted, but the amused twinkle in his eyes never changed. "I don't think I could've taken Goku down once he turned into that giant ape, for one thing, but you managed it no problem. Although frankly, you're lucky that I'm the only one who noticed you attacking him – and that I decided not to say anything about that – because otherwise, you would've been disqualified for outside interference, and I would've won the tournament by default." He grinned as he saw the brief flash of surprise on Vegeta's face, before continuing. "So, yeah, you're a lot stronger than me. But that's the lesson that I'm going to teach you today, kid: strength isn't everything. So you'd better not hold anything back in this fight… or I'll have to make you regret it."

When he realized that Roshi really wasn't kidding, Vegeta's smile vanished, morphing into a scowl. "You're actually serious?" he demanded, before his eyes narrowed and flashed with annoyance. "All right. I don't know where the hell you're getting all this confidence from, old man, but it's starting to piss me off. So you know what? Fine. Have it your way." Turning on his heel, he stalked over to his corner of the ring, before glaring over at the announcer. "Well? What're we waiting for?" he snapped. "Let's get this fight started!"

As Roshi turned and made his way over to his own corner, he took a deep breath and suppressed his nerves, as his faint, wry grin remained in place. Well, you got what you wanted, old-timer, he thought to himself. Now I just have to hope that my plan works… because if it doesn't, this isn't gonna end well for me.

Goku, Yamcha and Launch were a little puzzled by the quiet conversation between Vegeta and Jackie Chun, and they were all taken aback by the older Saiyan's sudden outburst before he'd stormed over to his corner of the ring.

"The hell was that about?" Launch muttered, having shifted into her blonde form when she'd sneezed during the intermission after the last match.

Yamcha shrugged. "No idea, but based on that reaction, I'm guessing Jackie Chun told Vegeta something that pissed him off." He winced sympathetically. "And I'm pretty sure that isn't a good thing."

"No kidding," Oolong spoke up, shaking his head. "I've seen what Vegeta does to people who piss him off, and I really don't envy that guy right now."

"Yeah, unless Jackie's got some kinda brilliant strategy up his sleeve, I don't think he's gonna win this one," Yamcha admitted. He glanced over to Goku, who was fixated entirely on the two fighters. "Goku? You fought him; do you think he's got a chance?"

Goku frowned, thinking it over. "I mean… Jackie Chun's definitely pretty tough," he observed. "He beat me fair and square, that's for sure. That Thundershock Surprise was too much for me; if I hadn't accidentally looked at the Moon and transformed, I would've had to give up. But…" He shook his head. "If Vegeta's really fighting all-out, then no, I don't think Jackie can win. I know how my power compares to Vegeta's, and I'm nowhere near his level. And Jackie barely managed to outfight me, which means he isn't that strong either." His voice grew more confident, and he smiled. "So, I'm not worried. Vegeta's got this."

"All right, folks, let's get started!" the announcer called out. "Fighters, are you ready?"

Jackie Chun nodded, his hands open and loose. "Ready."

Vegeta's eyes were hard, anger clearly visible in the steely glare that he fixed on the older martial artist. "Ready."

"Then you may… begin!"

"HrrrrrrRRRAAHH!"

As soon as the starting gong rang out, a low snarl escaped from Vegeta's mouth and then rose into a full-voiced yell, as he flung his arms out to the sides and summoned up his full power. A flickering aura of blue light flared up around him, and a rush of wind blasted outwards with a thunderclap, ruffling the hair and clothing of the audience. Roshi had braced himself in preparation, but he still slid a couple of feet backwards, bringing him dangerously close to the edge of the ring until he managed to stop himself.

Vegeta's expression was cool and composed as he flexed his fingers, savoring the feeling of the energy coursing through him. He was rarely able to use his full strength, so it was always satisfying when he got a chance to bring it forth. "So," he spoke up as his gaze shifted back to Roshi. "Do you still think you can beat me?"

Roshi was silent for a long moment, clearly taking stock of the situation, but then he nodded and his calm smile returned. "Yep," he replied matter-of-factly. "I think I can."

Vegeta's teeth ground together, and his composure was lost. "Fine, then!" he snapped. "I won't kill you, old man, but I'm warning you now… this is going to hurt!" Without any hesitation, he crouched into his usual fighting stance and then kicked off the ground, rocketing across the ring towards Roshi and throwing a punch with more than enough power to send the older man flying out of the ring.

Or, at least, it would have… if it had connected. Because in a blur of movement, Roshi was suddenly several feet to one side, one arm held out in his wake, and Vegeta's fist swung through empty air as his momentum sent him flying right off the ring. His eyes widened in shock, and he lifted his legs and kicked out, releasing a surge of ki to halt his forward momentum. This allowed him to rebound off the air just a couple of feet from the outer wall of the stadium without touching the ground, and he backflipped back into the ring, landing on his feet in the center.

What the hell?! Vegeta's eyes were wide and startled as he whipped around to face Roshi, who was standing a few yards away, crouching slightly in a ready stance. How did he do that? He replayed that brief clash in his mind, and realized what had happened: just before Vegeta had reached him, Roshi had ducked smoothly to one side, acting early enough that he'd been able to avoid Vegeta's bull-rushing attack before it could get close to connecting, and had delivered a seemingly-gentle shove to his back that had propelled him out of the ring, using the Saiyan's own momentum against him.

Ah… now I get it. He knows he can't keep up with me in a straight-up fight, so he's reacting preemptively and trying to anticipate my attacks so he can stay a step ahead. Vegeta's eyes narrowed, considering his options. But it doesn't matter. Considering the gap between our powers, all I need is one good hit, and this fight will be over.

"What's wrong, sonny?" Roshi called out, grinning faintly as he kept up his "Jackie Chun" persona for the crowd. "I thought you were planning on hurting me."

"Not a bad strategy, old man," Vegeta growled, his fists clenching. "But trying to predict my moves will only get you so far. I let my anger make me sloppy on that one, but that's not going to happen again!" With a snarl, he leapt forward, throwing a jump-kick at Roshi's head… but the older man had already ducked, and the Saiyan prince's strike missed completely.

Damn it–! Vegeta skidded to a halt behind Roshi, spun around, and sprang back in, throwing a series of lightning-fast punches, kicks, knee strikes, and elbows. But, again, none of them managed to find his target; Roshi swayed back and forth, sidestepping and ducking with deliberate precision, never putting a foot wrong, although he was only evading some of the blows by inches as they hissed past him. His style this time was completely different than the moves that he'd used against Goku: this style was focused entirely on defense, but there didn't seem to be much subtlety to it, as his moves were fairly simple and straightforward. Yet somehow, as the fight raged on, he was somehow always exactly where he needed to be to dodge each of Vegeta's attacks in turn.

"What – the hell – is this?" Vegeta demanded, his attacks becoming more and more frustrated. He wasn't holding back, but somehow he still couldn't land a punch, and he was getting angrier with each passing second. "Why – can't – I – hit you?!"

"You may have… powered up," Roshi replied tersely as he continued ducking and weaving around each of Vegeta's incoming strikes, "but your fighting style… hasn't changed at all! I could… predict your movements… with my eyes closed!" He flashed a noticeably-strained grin as he continued to dodge the hurtling fists and feet, actually counting them off as Vegeta kept attacking. "Left, right, down, up… right, down, up, left…"

"Damn you…!" Vegeta's eyes flashed in rage and he leapt back, kicking off the tiles and bounding into the air above the ring. He rocketed down towards Roshi with a burst of ki, throwing another full-force punch. "I've got you this time!"

"Nope!" Roshi had already vaulted nimbly into the air, and he sailed right over Vegeta's head as the Saiyan's fist slammed into the tiles, shattering that entire corner of the giant stone block that made up the ring. Landing behind Vegeta, he immediately dropped into a crouch, just as Vegeta whirled on him with a spinning backfist that would have sent Roshi flying out of bounds. Instead, it missed again, and the younger fighter's momentum carried him into a full spin in the air before he touched down on the far side of the ring.

Roshi spun back into his previous position, raising his guard once more with the broken corner of the ring just a couple of feet behind him. All right… this should be the right moment. It all depends on how this next clash goes.

"I don't get it!" Vegeta snarled, his eyes wide in anger and disbelief. "How the hell are you doing this?! I've got to be ten times faster than you!" He hurled himself at Roshi again, swinging a right hook… but one more time, Roshi flowed smoothly out of the way. This time, however, he also used his defense to strike back: he gave a seemingly-light push to Vegeta's outstretched arm, while also notching one foot into the curve of the Saiyan's ankle.

The next second was a blur of movement, and then Vegeta was flat on his back. His ears were ringing, his vision was blurred, and he was coughing and gasping for air, rubbing at his temples as he tried to figure out what had just happened. The hell did he just do?!

After a moment, it clicked: Roshi hadn't used any kind of fancy technique. Instead, he'd just swept Vegeta's feet out from under him as he stumbled past, using the stronger fighter's own momentum against him, and had then swung him off his feet and slammed him headfirst into the hard stone floor, deepening the cracks in the broken corner of the arena.

"That's true enough," Roshi admitted. "And you're a lot stronger than me, too." His amused grin returned, as he crouched next to Vegeta and focused all of his remaining ki into a glowing blue sphere in the palm of his hand. "But I have something that you don't: experience!" With no further hesitation, he slammed the energy sphere down, and let go. The sphere detonated a moment later, and a small but powerful explosion lit up the ring, shattering the stone beneath the pair and enveloping both fighters in a cloud of dust and smoke.

The blast hadn't done any real damage, but due to a combination of his crashing headfirst into the ring and the explosion, it took a few seconds for Vegeta's ears to stop ringing and for his vision to stabilize. As soon as it did, he rolled over and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees before scrambling to his feet, remembering the timer and not wanting to risk remaining down on the ground for ten seconds.

"I've had enough of this, old man!" he yelled, his energy flaring up again as he tried to pinpoint Jackie's location through the dissipating cloud of smoke and dust. "I'm done playing around. This ends now!" Flinging out his arms again, he unleashed a powerful kiai that blew the smoke away, allowing him to clearly see his surroundings…

And then Vegeta froze, his jaw hanging open silently, when he realized where he was standing: on the strip of grass that bordered the ring.

Roshi's final blast hadn't been meant to hurt Vegeta at all. Instead, he'd managed to completely shatter the broken corner of the ring where Vegeta had fallen, while also giving the younger fighter enough of a push that he'd rolled right off the shattered stone block and onto the ground outside the ring. Roshi, for his part, was still standing inside the ring, having jumped back just as the energy sphere had exploded.

"You know… I think you're right, dear boy," the disguised Turtle Hermit chuckled. "You are done."

"Incredible!" the announcer exclaimed, regarding the two combatants in amazement. "Contestant Vegeta has fallen out of the ring… which makes Contestant Jackie Chun the winner, and the new World Martial Arts Champion!"

Vegeta was completely and utterly dumbstruck.

While the rest of the audience erupted in a chorus of thunderous applause, Goku and Yamcha were both gawking at the scene in the ring, their eyes bulging in shock and disbelief.

"He… he lost?" Goku breathed, gazing incredulously down at the older Saiyan. "But… that's crazy! Mr. Chun's strong, sure, but… how could he beat Vegeta like that?!"

Yamcha shook his head numbly, unable to believe what he'd just seen. "Your guess is as good as mine," he muttered under his breath.

Vegeta's shock lasted for several seconds, before his expression twisted and his hands clenched into white-knuckled fists, his gloves squeaking under the pressure. A low rumble echoed through the ground, and his energy flared up again. "Damn it…!" he growled, his voice rising to a roar as his aura burst to life around him again.

"Vegeta! Snap out of it!" Roshi's voice rose sharply. The Turtle Hermit leapt out of the ring and landed right in front of his student, his expression stern and composed. "I'm sorry, but the match is over! You need to calm down."

For a moment, Vegeta was sorely tempted to punch the older man square in the face, but he finally managed to rein in his temper, and his aura faded away. "How the hell did you do that?" he bit out, anger blazing in his eyes. "Explain, now!"

"Well, I honestly wasn't sure if I was gonna be able to pull it off," Roshi admitted, rubbing the back of his neck and stretching his arms as he let out a weary sigh. "And I wouldn't have been able to win like that under any other circumstances; if this hadn't been a tournament match where I could win via ringout, you would've eventually beaten me." He shook his head. "See, Vegeta… you've got incredible power. There's no denying that. You're far and away the strongest fighter I've ever seen. But I can also tell that you've got a lot of potential to keep improving… and I'm sorry, but you've been wasting it."

Vegeta's scowl deepened. "The hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"It's pretty simple, actually." Roshi shrugged. "You've gotten sloppy. Ever since we first met, thirteen years ago, you've been stronger than anyone you went up against. You've won every fight you've been in since you landed on my island as a kid. And that's made you dangerously overconfident. You've gotten so used to being able to crush anyone you face that you've let it affect your fighting style." He nodded over to where Goku and Yamcha were watching from the stands. "Over the past eight months, while I was putting those two through their training regimen and you were mostly training on your own, I kept a close eye on you to see how much you'd improved since I saw you last. But I've gotta say, I was disappointed, because even though it had been a long time, you hadn't grown much at all."

Vegeta's eyes widened in anger, but he managed to keep his emotions in check. "And what exactly do you mean by that?" he gritted out.

"You've been focusing way too much on raw power, at the expense of skill," Roshi explained. "And as a result, your fighting style's gotten lazy and predictable, to the point that after studying your techniques for the past few months, I was able to learn your moves backwards and forwards. That's how I was able to predict everything you threw at me, and how I could avoid all of your attacks even though you're a lot stronger and faster than I am: I knew exactly what you were going to do, before you even did it. If you'd worked on honing your skills and continuing to develop your fighting styles over the past few years, there's no way I could've outmaneuvered you like that."

Vegeta's anger was still simmering within him, but as he listened to Roshi's explanation, his anger slowly began to fade, replaced by surprise. Is… is he right? he wondered, looking down at his hands and clenching one of them into a fist. Have my moves really become that predictable? It was true that he hadn't been able to find any significant challenges since he'd first arrived on this planet, so he hadn't improved nearly as much as he would've liked over the years… but as he thought about it, looking back on the past few years, he had to admit that Roshi was right. He had gotten lazy, relying mainly on his advantage in power to defeat any threats that came his way, and his fighting skills had suffered as a result.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Vegeta looked back up at Roshi. The anger and annoyance in his eyes were still there, but they had been greatly tempered, and a significant portion of those emotions were now directed at himself rather than at his teacher. "You're… you're right," he admitted. "I do need to work on improving my skill as well as my power. And while I don't appreciate your method of teaching me that…" His eyes flashed with annoyance again, before he sighed and lowered his gaze. "…I do agree with your conclusions, and I'll make sure to rectify that mistake in the future."

Roshi smiled and nodded in agreement, before giving Vegeta a reassuring pat on one shoulder. "That's all I wanted to show you," he replied warmly. "I am sorry for pulling that little trick on you, kid, but I needed to shock you into realizing how much you could still improve, and showing you the flaws in your current approach seemed like the best way to do it."

Vegeta nodded, still frowning but feeling a little better about the situation.

"Oh, by the way: do me a favor, will you?" Roshi requested quietly. "Don't tell Goku and Yamcha about the whole disguise deal. I want to make sure they're properly motivated to keep getting stronger, and if they find out who I really am, it might interfere with that." His grin became a bit more mischievous, and he winked at his student. "And don't worry: I won't pull any tricks like this on you again. Unless I have to, of course."

Vegeta snorted, rolling his eyes in annoyance, but he still nodded in acceptance of his teacher's request. "Oh, don't worry, old man," he muttered under his breath as Roshi hopped back up into the ring and ambled over to join the announcer, while the crowds continued to celebrate around them. "I can promise you one thing: I'm never going to fall for that trick again." Despite his outward annoyance, however, he couldn't help but feel a trace of gratitude towards the older martial artist; after all, Roshi had just shown him an area in which he could still make some significant improvements, even if the extent to which he could increase his power was still severely limited by this planet's lower gravity and lack of decent sparring partners.

"Vegeta!" The exclamation drew the young prince's attention, and he turned in time to see Goku vaulting over the outer wall and running up to him. "Are you okay?" he questioned anxiously. "How'd he do that?"

"I'm fine," Vegeta snapped reflexively. "And he…" He trailed off for a moment, not sure how to answer that question, but then he shook his head as a small, rueful smile appeared on his face. "It was my fault. I got sloppy, and he outmaneuvered me." He looked down at the younger Saiyan with a faint smirk. "Keep that in mind, all right? Strength isn't all that matters in a fight: intelligence and combat skill can be just as important."

Goku still looked somewhat disturbed by Vegeta's defeat – which was understandable, since this was the first time that he'd ever seen the older Saiyan actually lose a fight – but after a few moments of thinking that over, he nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense," he agreed, smiling up at Vegeta. "I guess we'll just have to keep workin' on that, huh?"

Vegeta let out a brief snort and rolled his eyes, but he couldn't entirely suppress a smile, and there was still a hint of amusement in his eyes as he returned the younger boy's nod. "Yes," he agreed. "I suppose we will."

Some time later, once the tournament's closing ceremonies were complete, the group from Kame House walked out of the arena, heading back towards the local hotel where they'd booked their rooms for the duration of their time on Papaya Island. Vegeta and Goku led the way, followed by Yamcha and Launch, with the two shapeshifters bringing up the rear.

"Hey, by the way, does anybody know where Roshi went?" Yamcha spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. He frowned and glanced around at the dispersing crowds of spectators. "He said he was busy catching up with some friends or something like that, which was why he didn't sit with us, but I would've thought he'd be somewhere around here by now."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow, confused for a moment, before realization kicked in. Oh, right: they wouldn't have been able to hear my little chat with the old man in the ring, so they still don't know. "I'm sure he'll be along soon," he replied casually, not breaking stride.

"Right here!" On cue, the Turtle Hermit's familiar voice called out from somewhere nearby, as Roshi appeared out of the crowd, back in his usual casual attire of a red-and-yellow floral-pattern shirt, tan shorts and sandals. "Sorry, I wound up having to grab a seat way in the back of the stadium, so it took me a little longer to get out of there." He glanced briefly in Vegeta's direction, and his lips twitched in a small grin.

Vegeta was barely able to suppress a snort, but he kept quiet. He'd been sorely tempted to tell the others all about Roshi's little charade, but due to the Turtle Hermit's request to keep his disguise a secret, he'd reluctantly followed through on his promise not to mention it.

"I did get to see all of the matches, though," Roshi continued cheerfully, patting both Goku and Yamcha on the backs. "Nicely done, you two! You've both made great strides over the last eight months, and I'm very proud of you both." He smiled over at Vegeta. "And I'm proud of you too, kid. You might not have won the whole tournament, but you've figured out where you still need to improve, and I think that's worth a lot."

"Tch…" Vegeta scoffed, shaking his head and deliberately ignoring any warm feelings that Roshi's approval might have given him. "I don't need your compliments, old man."

"Well, how about some food instead?" Roshi suggested, grinning. "I've got some extra spending money burning a hole in my pocket, and there's an all-night buffet restaurant near our hotel. After all the exercise that you three got today, a nice meal seems like just the thing to help us all get a good night's sleep." He arched an eyebrow questioningly. "Well? How's that sound?"

Goku's face lit up immediately, his mouth practically watering at the prospect of a buffet dinner, while Yamcha, Launch, Oolong and Puar also looked happy about that idea. Vegeta wasn't as visibly eager as the younger Saiyan, but his stomach chose that exact moment to produce a low, rumbling growl as his hunger fully kicked in, reminding him that he hadn't eaten more than a snack since that morning. "That works for me," he replied.

"Perfect!" Roshi beamed, taking the lead and strolling off down the street. "All right, let's get a move on! That food's not gonna eat itself."

Goku eagerly hurried after the older man, while the others trailed in his wake. Vegeta rolled his eyes and smirked in amusement despite himself, before shaking his head and following after them, as the moon continued to shine down overhead.

Notes: Hello, all! Sorry it took a few months to get this chapter finished, but the Turtle School Saga is finally complete, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

So, for the big thing about this chapter, I imagine that some people might not like how the final match of this tournament played out. However, I do want to point out that this scene was inspired by a canon example of Roshi doing exactly this kind of thing: namely, his fight with Ganos during the Tournament of Power in Super. During the ToP, Roshi was able to work out exactly how to defeat several enemies just by spending some time observing them and learning their fighting styles, even when those enemies were a lot stronger than he was. So I figure it definitely makes sense that he could do the same thing with Vegeta here after studying his moves for eight months, especially since, as he explained in this chapter, Vegeta has let himself get sloppy & predictable over the last few years since he hasn't faced any real challenges. As this chapter shows, though, Vegeta will definitely be working on that in the future, so that strategy isn't going to work on him again.

Shoutouts to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, as I always appreciate the feedback. :)

Next time, we move on to our next saga, as Vegeta & Goku head off to visit Bulma, and a new threat begins to emerge. Stay tuned!