DragonBall Z: The Lost Sagas

by Saint Jaymz

This is a seven part DBZ novel I've written; I've worked on this book for about five years, and I need to know if it was worth the effort (ergo, please read and review). Tournament Saga (Saga Two) now uploaded, so please check it out.

2. Saga Two: The Tournament

Saga Two:

The Tournament

From whence come wars and fightings among you?

Come they not in hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

-----James 4:1

After completing one of the most difficult tasks in history, the Z fighters have escaped virtually unscathed (except in Stefani and James's cases). But fate has many more adventures in store for Goku and all his friends.

Still Somewhere in Arizona

Krillin walked over to the terribly burned James, who was lying on the ground in the middle of a great crater. The bald warrior extended his hand for James's.

"Hey, buddy," Krillin said, "don't give us a scare like that any more. If Cell tries to embody you again, punch him in the eye!" James chuckled, but suddenly got serious.

He inquired, "So how's Stefani? Is she... Dead?"

"I'm afraid so, boy," Vegeta cut in. He was still stretched out next the fallen Super-Saiyan in the crater. "But don't worry your pretty little head about it: the Dragon Balls still exist, and we can bring her back in a heartbeat."

James wasn't worried. "I knew that; that's why I'm not worried now. The thought had left my mind when Gozin shot her, and I sorta freaked out. Sorry, guys."

"Forget it, boy." The still-fallen Vegeta forced a smile. "As a matter of fact, bring Cell out again when I need some training."

Krillin reached down and lifted up the broken boy, whose breaths were coming in short wheezes. His body was still smoking.

"C'mon," Krillin coaxed. "Let's go up to Dende's Lookout and use the Dragon Balls to get Stefani back for ya'." The fighters all took flight (except for Vegeta, James, and Stefani, who were not in flying condition), toward Dende's Lookout.

Dende's Lookout

"I saw the whole thing!" Dende bragged. "Boy, it was cool, guys! You sure showed Gozin! And Cell, too!"

All the fighters were milling about atop the lookout. Some were talking, others were training, and others still were just relaxing; Gohan, Goten, and Trunks were scouring Earth for the Dragon Balls. James, who had been healed by Dende, was speaking to Goku.

"Jeeze, James," Goku was saying, "I didn't know you had that kind of power. I mean, man! I wish you would have been around when we fought Buu." James chortled.

"I am powerful, ain't I? Thanks for noticing, Goku; you're too kind."

"You should really consider entering the World Martial Arts Tournament this year," Goku explained. "You'd make it really far, I'm sure."

"I've heard about that," James stated. "When is it?"

"Soon, I'd suppose. It's been almost a year since Eighteen threw the match in the finals."

"Now why the hell would she do that?"

"Hercule offered her twenty-million zeni, double the prize money for winning. She only entered to win the money, anyway, and getting twice as much is double the pleasure of getting anything."

James sighed. "I wouldn't throw a match for money, even if it's quadruple the amount offered the winner. I'd win to show everyone just how powerful I really am, and just how weak Hercule really is." The Super-Saiyans out collecting the Dragon Balls returned with all seven, and in record time, too.

"Here you go," Gohan declared, handing the balls to Dende. "Knock yourself out." A hush fell over the warriors as the balls were arranged. Dende then raised his hands to the sky. He said something in Namek, and the sky went black.

"What the heck's going on, mom?" Desmond asked nervously. "What's all that lightning for?" (The sky had become filled with green lightning bolts.)

"They are summoning the Eternal Dragon," Brittany explained. "I've never seen it done in person before!"

Suddenly, a beam of light fired from the glowing pile of balls and took the shape of a dragon. A blinding flash of light occurred, like the Solar Flare but not as harsh; nobody was temporarily blinded. There was the Eternal Dragon, plain as day.

"I am the Eternal Dragon," it boomed, "and I have been aroused from my slumber. I will now grant you any wishes within my power; what is the wish?"

Without hesitation, James yelled up to the Dragon, "We wish that you undo all the carnage caused by Gozin!" The Dragon closed its massive eyes and thought. Then, it said one sentence:

"It shall be done."

Stefani's limp and lifeless body began to stir. The fighters all looked over at her and saw her sitting up. She was testing out her hands, wiggling her fingers, and a smile crossed her face. She seemed very happy to be back.

"Yes!" James cried. "She's alive!" Stefani leaped up and tested out all her other appendages. She seemed happier with every moment.

The dragon vanished, and the balls blasted into the sky, each separating to their own corner of the Earth. The sky was blue once more.

Stefani looked at her boyfriend, tears of joy filling her eyes. James opened his arms in an embrace and, as fast as lightning, Stefani was on him. He stumbled back about fifty feet, and actually fell off the lookout with Stefani in his arms. They caught themselves, and teleported right back.

"Oh, James!" Stefani cried happily. James picked her up and they spun around a few times in rapture.

"I wish my honey would let me do that," Krillin sighed. He looked over at Eighteen, who was watching the two blissful Super-Saiyans. "Sometimes I think she married me out of boredom, and got even more bored than before."

As she watched the joyous pair, Eighteen thought, Man, I am sooo unlucky. I had to marry Krillin, and I missed out on this guy. If I could have just waited... Damn.

James stopped spinning his girlfriend and put her down. They smiled, and their heads moved slowly together, their lips puckered...

"Excuse me," Piccolo interrupted their love. They halted their hello and turned to the Namek. "I think Goku has something to say." Goku put his hand behind his head and made a nervous chuckle; a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. He knew Piccolo meant to break up the affection of the two Super-Saiyans, and now he was getting blamed.

"Sorry, guys," Goku chuckled again. "I didn't mean for you to stop being happy! I just wanted y'all to listen for a second!"

"Well," Stefani said exasperatedly, "We're listening."

"Uh," Goku began, "there's this thing called the World Martial Arts Tournament. For those of you that don't know what it is, you all know how to fight, at least. You just do that and do it good enough until you reach the championship. Big dumb Hercule will probably be at the thing, and any of us can beat him. So, who wants to fight this year?"

"No thanks," Yamcha lamented. "I can't beat any of you guys."

"Me neither," Choitzu sighed.

"I'll pass," Brittany explained. "I've had enough fighting to last me a good while."

"I can't fight," Bulma remarked. "Forget me."

"Nah-uh," Krillin regretted. "Vegeta will probably win it all, so what's the point?"

"You wimp," Eighteen mocked her husband. "I don't know what I saw in you. I'll be fighting again, and don't you forget it."

"Sounds like fun," Desmond declared. "I'm game."

Gohan said, "I won't be able to lose: I'm too good for all the regular guys. Count me in."

"Me too!" Trunks and Goten both said in unison.

"Same here,' Tien added.

"Great," Piccolo proclaimed. "You guys are some challenge. Besides, I want to make Hercule shut his mouth and fight."

"Of course I'm fighting, Kakarot," Vegeta interrupted. "And I won't be defeated: You can count on it."

"Not if you fight me," James belittled Vegeta. "I'll see you in the Finals."

"Don't make me laugh!" Vegeta snickered. "Your weakness disgusts me."

"Oh, shut up," Stefani told the battling Saiyans. "Neither of you will beat me, so don't even let yourself think that."

"And me," Goku added himself. "All right, that's eleven. Goten, Desmond, and Trunks will fight in the Junior Division, so that's nine, 'old,' fellers fighting, including Hercule. I can't wait-"

"Ten," a female voice said from behind. Goku spun around and saw Gohan's wife, Videl.

"What?" Videl asked all the stares she got from the fighters. "You thought I wouldn't enter the Tournament? Ha, please." She walked through the crowd of fighters.

"I don't recognize some of you," she pointed out. "Who are you, little guy?"

"I'm Desmond," the boy stated. "I haven't seen you yet, either, but you're pretty." Videl messed up his Steelers hat and all the hair beneath it.

"Thanks, kid," she smiled warmly. "You're cute yourself."

Videl looked up and saw the pair of Saiyans standing together after Piccolo interrupted their love. She crinkled her eyebrows, trying to remember if she'd seen them before; she hadn't. "And what about you guys? Who might you be?"

"I might be Barry Bonds," James said sarcastically, "but I'm not: I'm the strongest fighter you'll ever meet. The name's James."

"Hi!" Stefani cried happily. "My name's Stefani, and I'm a Super-Saiyan."

"What the hell was that, Stef?" James cut in, teasing her introduction. "Alcoholic's Anonymous? 'My name is Stefani, and I'm a recovering alcoholic.' Anyway, I'm a Super-Saiyan, as well."

"Me too!" Desmond added proudly.

"Super-Saiyans?" Videl asked. "All of you?"

"I'm a Saiyan, too," Brittany declared flatly, "but I don't have enough control over the 'Super' transformation to be called a Super-Saiyan. Oh, well."

"They sure do start early," Videl thought out loud. "Gee."

"James is right, though," Gohan told his wife. "He is the strongest of us, and he's faster than all of us put together."

"Nah," Videl remarked, eying James. "He's not faster than me, for sure; he's too big to be fast. He's as tall as Piccolo, and Piccolo's, like, a giant! Besides, I'm the fastest out of all of you, now. He can't beat me!" She wasn't actually the fastest one, but she had indeed learned to be pretty fast.

"You wanna bet I'm slow?" James smiled. He made his way over to and leaned upon a palm tree, folded his arms his arms and crossed his feet. "Try me: I need my laugh for today."

"Okay, fly boy," Videl sneered mockingly. "You asked for it." The other fighters all stood back to watch the spectacle.

"Hiyah!" Videl yelled. She was on James like shrimp on rice. At least, she would have been, if he hadn't teleported to the next palm tree.

"Please," James smiled again. "I may just die laughing."

"Don't make fun me!" Videl shrieked. She bolted at the cocky Saiyan and gave him a hard right and hit---Nothing at all; he was gone again.

"Shameful," James teased from behind. "You're as slow as a damn turtle." Videl turned, received a huge punch to the nose, and was knocked back ten feet.

She groaned, "How is he that fast? He must be at full speed." She looked up and her eyes bulged. James's hair was simply brown and not even standing up. He wasn't fighting at Super-Saiyan!

"Well?" James inquired, leaning back against the tree. "You still wanna fight?" Videl struggled to her feet and balled her gloved hands into fists.

"C'mon," she growled. James's hair stood up, and turned yellow.

All of a sudden, James squatted slightly and hollered, "Super-Kaioken!" His whole body suddenly glowed a dark red. Even the yellow of his Super-Saiyan hair was reddish.

"What the-?" Videl shrieked. James was forty feet away at the point of his powerup. Videl's eyes blinked, and when she opened them again James's fist was parked an eighth of an inch from her face. All that hit her face was a startled look, and she flinched and leaned backward. If James had followed through, her skull would have been crushed before she even knew he'd thrown the punch.

"Don't pick a fight with me," said he. "You wouldn't last long." The red glow vanished and he began to swagger away. Videl stared at his back in surprise.

"Hiyah!" James heard her yell. He turned and found out that Videl did not halt her attack as he received a tremendous direct hit to his nose. James groaned as he was knocked off his feet and to the ground. He rubbed his nose and stared up at the deceiving girl.

"That'll teach you," she sneered. "Don't do it again." James smiled at her.

Suddenly, he kicked her legs out from under her. As she fell, James was up and elbowed her down too fast to even think about it.

"I hope I don't have to fight you in the finals," James laughed at the fallen girl. "I'd win without even considering going Super-Saiyan."

"You won't be laughing when I beat you!" Videl shot back. "I was letting you dominate because you're such a little kid. You got lucky this time."

"Neither of you will be in the finals, because I will defeat both of you," Vegeta cut in. "And I will defeat Kakarot, too!"

"Well," Goku stated, killing all fighting words, "we all had better train hard. This seems like it'll be the best tournament ever! I hope the normal guys can step up to our level, just for this one day. Maybe give us some real fighting to do in the first round."

"Good luck," James added. "You're all gonna need it against me."

Training

James stood on an iron girder supporting the roof of a condemned warehouse in New Orleans. His hands were rounded into fists, raised up at chest-level; his eyes were closed. He was meditating.

James had changed his clothes. He wore another jersey, a powder-blue Chargers jersey with the number '21' and the name 'Tomlinson' on it. His pants were now Lee Dungarees. He added a hat, as well, a denim hat that read 'US Army Corps of Engineers'. James's shoes remained the same.

His muscles tensed. Chains that hung from the other support girders actually lifted from the power he was exerting. Pebbles, dust, bolts, and other stuff from the concrete floor floated as well.

James raised his fists a little higher. His yellow hair threw the denim cap off and began to grow longer. The chains and things floated higher.

He leaped down and threw twenty-five punches in one second, then kicked twenty times in a second. James flipped a few times and landed a few feet away. He fired a few shots at targets he'd set up throughout the warehouse. They all hit their mark.

He quickly pointed, exerted a beam of energy from his fingers and spun around a few times. The beam cut the walls all around him like butter. The building was like a big cookie jar; the roof and walls were like the top of the jar, and could be removed.

James then cut the area where the roof and walls met all around, and stopped to rest a moment. He took a fighter's stance and shot a beam at every wall. The walls exploded almost simultaneously, and the roof began to descend rapidly. James then fired a Kamehameha at the falling ceiling and was unharmed because the roof exploded into many pieces. The building was no more.

James finally opened his eyes, which were the jade green associated with Super-Saiyan. He hadn't been looking when he devastated the building. After replacing the denim cap, he looked over at his girlfriend, who was standing a few feet away with her hands on her hips. He smiled.

"You ready to give up now, Stef?" James inquired. He'd been practicing, but also showing off his abilities to Stefani. "'Cuz I'm ready to accept your forfeit. C'mon, I know you want to." The girl folded her arms and gave a harrumph of disgust. She was not impressed by James's show of power.

"Blah, blah, blah," Stefani sighed. "All you do is talk. Why don't you back all that talk up and beat me in the tournament?"

"We've only got a week, y'know," James smiled. "I hope you can get it together by then. Maybe I'll get a challenge."

"Maybe I'll get a challenge," Stefani jeered. "Wait 'til the tournament, then you'll see. All of you."

"Right," James said sarcastically. "I'm sure."

Desmond was down on his hands and knees in the white void that was the Room of Time. He was breathing very hard, having trouble adjusting to the surprisingly strong gravity and hot, heavy air. If he wanted to become a true master, he'd have to learn: He'd be there for a Chamber 'year', or an Earth day.

Piccolo stood over the struggling boy. He looked down at Desmond and felt pity towards him. Piccolo hoped the boy would survive the whole 'year'.

"Desmond," Piccolo began, "you have to get used to the abnormal conditions here in the Chamber: you'll be in here for a year."

"But the tournament is in a week!" Desmond cried, not understanding the physics behind the Chamber.

"Look, kid," Piccolo clarified, "it isn't a year out in the regular world; it's only a day there. Mister PoPo can slow down time in here so it lasts a year. There's no day and no night, just time, so we sleep when we need sleep and train the rest of the time. It's as simple as that, kid. Understood?"

"Y-yes," Desmond admitted. "I see."

"Now," Piccolo said, "I am going to teach you a great way to train yourself. Watch this." Piccolo stood up perfectly straight and groaned with power.

"Multiform!" Suddenly, three other Piccolos split apart out of the one. They all began to fight the real Piccolo, who did all he could do to avoid being hammered.

"Whoa," Desmond murmured in awe. "Cool!" The Piccolos all attacked faster and more furiously. The real Piccolo seemed in perfect control, though.

The fighting ceased, and the other Piccolos all merged back into the real one. The Namek stood there gasping slowly for breath. That took a lot out of him.

"Now, kid," the Namek panted, "I'm going to teach you how to do Multiform. It may take a few weeks, but what the hell: We've got a year, anyway." The Namek began to teach the boy to fight himselves.

All the other Saiyans, (excluding Brittany, who was not fighting in the tournament), had begun training in the Gravity Chamber near Capsule Corp. They were all Super-Saiyan; they moved swiftly, as if there was no gravity at all.

"Man," Goku chuckled, jumping a few times into the air, "this is easier than I thought it was. I remember when I'd struggle with fifty times normal gravity. This is as easy as pie!"

"Kakarot," Vegeta asked as he threw as many punches as he could in a second, "you labored with fifty times Earth gravity? You simpleton! I can train under two-hundred times normal gravity without breaking a sweat!"

"Will you two stop that?" Gohan demanded. "If you don't train, you'll never be able to beat me in the tournament! Y'all had better concentrate!"

"Daddy?" Trunks inquired meekly, tugging at his father's shirttail.

"What?" Vegeta asked exasperatedly after stopping his flailing arms. "Why have you interrupted my training, boy?"

"I was just wondering," Trunks replied, "can we stop training for right now? We're better than all the other fighters in the tournament, so why are we practicing? We're unbeatable!"

"You see, Trunks," Vegeta answered, "that loudmouth James is stronger than any of us in here. His ridiculous girlfriend is supposed to be powerful, too, but I cannot believe that. That other boy, Desmond, is up to an absurd power level; if you train as hard as me, you may just beat him in the Junior Division of the tournament. We all need to train in order to accomplish our goals, my son!"

"Well, can I go pee?" Trunks questioned. Vegeta almost passed out.

"Why didn't you say so?!" Vegeta yelled. "Be quick about it!"

At Kame House, Eighteen and Tien were having a little sparring match. Tien had been training unbelievably hard as of late, and it had definitely paid off: he was matching Eighteen's speed, and nearly matched her power. Of course, she was simply relaxing, but even in that state she was pretty strong. Master Roshi was sitting off to the side with Marron, the daughter of Krillin and Eighteen.

"Well," Master Roshi cackled, "I can sure see how she made it to the championship fight last year: she's pretty good. Plus she's pretty, period. Tien isn't a slouch anymore, either: he's greatly upped his abilities."

"My mommy can fight good," Marron declared. "I wish I could fight that good. Can you teach me to do that, mister?" The question was directed to Master Roshi.

"No, indeed not," Master Roshi laughed. "I'm not that fast, or that strong, or that young, or that sexy. Anymore, at least, heheh."

"I know you're old," Marron laughed her little girl laugh. "Tell me something I don't know, you silly man!"

"Cute kid," Master Roshi smiled. "I wish I was as cute as you are when I was a kid, heheheh." Eighteen and Tien had stopped to catch their collective breath.

"C'mon," Eighteen commanded angrily. "You're gonna have to go harder than that if you want to get any better." The training intensified.

Chi-Chi sat at the picnic table outside of her small, round house, eating a bowl of rice with some hot sauce James had brought over from New Orleans. She took a big bite---and almost gulped down the entire gallon jug of water that sat next to her bowl of rice. She choked out a cough.

"Jeeze," Chi-Chi sputtered. "Is James trying to kill me? Ow!" She looked at the label on the hot sauce. It was called Scorned Woman. Chi-Chi chuckled, "No wonder it's so hot!"

Videl was about fifty feet away, training. She was punching and kicking and dodging nothing, just trying to improve her speed.

"Videl, take a rest!" Chi-Chi suggested. "Come have some of James's four-alarm rice! You might like it!"

"He probably has some poison or something in it," Videl declined the rice and continued her training. "He knows he can't beat me, so he'll try anything to get an advantage. No, thanks."

"He didn't need to poison it," Chi-Chi laughed. "It's deadly as it is!" Videl shook her head and kept on training.

The Day of Reckoning

The Z fighters and non-fighters were walking down the path towards the arena that the tournament would take place in. They could see hundreds of fighters there, all practicing and preparing for what lay ahead. The Z fighters thought nothing of any of them.

"What do we do?" James inquired Goku, who had been in the most tourneys. Goku pointed at the arena.

"We go there," Goku explained, "and, in a couple of minutes, we see who gets to fight. The prelim last year was a punching machine, but they shouldn't do that again. Vegeta broke the thing, that crazy guy."

"It wasn't designed for my strength," Vegeta gloated. "I hope they do better this time." The group stopped to say their good-byes and good lucks.

Chi-Chi kissed her husband and children and said, "Win us the ten million-zeni, one of you!" Bulma gave the same hugs, kisses, and pep talk to her son and Vegeta.

"Good luck, Tien," Yamcha told his friend. "Just fight hard and you'll be able to hang in there with the big boys. Choitzu would agree with me." Choitzu was off training somewhere.

"Bye, Mommy!" cried Marron. "Do as good as last year!"

"Yeah, honey," Krillin echoed. "Win us some more money."

"Fight well, win well, I always say," Master Roshi addressed the whole bunch. "Somebody beat that lame Hercule, all right? I don't want to deal with his cocky self any more!"

"Break a leg, son!" Brittany cheered Desmond on. "Go out there and win!"

The group that wasn't in the tourney walked over to the stands. The stadium was very spacious, and for good reason: it looked like a hundred-thousand-plus people had come out to see the matches.

The combatants made their way to the ring. It was a square arena, about one-hundred feet by one-hundred. It was made up of huge blocks of white concrete, lined up neatly.

"Not much different, except bigger," Goku noticed.

"Good," James muttered. "I need room for my talent."

And your ego, thought Stefani. It's huge.

"Ladies and gentleman!" a voice came over the loudspeaker. "Welcome to the World Martial Arts Tournament! I hope you're ready to see some fighting, 'cuz you're gonna get some!" Wild cheers erupted from the crowd.

"And now," the voice went on, "please put your hands together for the one, the only, the Man That Beat Cell, the World Champion... Hercule!" More savage cheers occurred as Hercule stepped into the arena.

"Yeah!" Hercule yelled, holding his hands high above his head. "Who's the man? Yeah, that's right: Me!"

"Oh, please," Vegeta groaned. "Why do we have to put up with this nonsense?"

"Who wants to win this?!" Hercule demanded. He took off the championship belt, similar to those in the WWE. "I like wearing it, but I hope somebody can give the Man That Beat Cell a run for his money!"

"Me, too," Gohan agreed. "I want some opposition."

"Will all of the fighters," asked the voice on the loudspeaker, "gather in the center of the ring and await the prelims? Thank you." The tourney hopefuls all got in a big bunch as a man in a black suit carrying a microphone entered the ring.

"Last year," the man, who was the person on the loudspeaker, said into the mike, "we used a punching machine to select the fighters in the tournament. Not this year, after that disaster. Instead, after a generous contribution by Capsule Corp., we are going to allow the fighters that can weight-lift under the strongest gravity to fight in the tournament. If you don't understand, we have a Capsule Corp. Gravity-Enhancement Chamber here with a two-hundred-fifty pound weight bench in it. We can increase the pull of gravity up to two-thousand times, and the people that can bench the two-hundred-fifty pounds under the heaviest conditions will get into the tournament. Now, because Hercule is automatically in the tournament due to his win last year, there are only fifteen out of you thousands of warriors who will fight. This may last all day, so that's why we've made the tourney two days long this year. Who will be fighting? All of you get in line so we can assign you numbers. When your number is called, you will enter the chamber."

"All day?" James repeated. "Great."

The Other Day of Reckoning

The fighters, in numbers upwards of two-hundred, gathered around the board where the gravity strengths of the top fifteen fighters were listed. They were in a separate arena, secluded from the main one, where nobody was watching them.

The board read like this:

1) Goku: 120000 pounds

2) Vegeta: 120000

3) James: 120000

4) Gohan: 115000

5) Piccolo: 100000

6) Stefani: 90000

7) Eighteen: 85000

8) Tien: 70000

9) Videl: 20000

10) Eyce: 15000

11) Fyre: 15000

12) Bubba: 1000

13) Rogiv: 800

14) Boomer: 800

15) Shaw: 600

In about a quarter of an hour, all the losing fighters had filed out of the ring. That left the adult Z fighters together with all the other qualifying warriors. Hercule entered the arena once all the fighters that were left out had exited and found their seats in the stands in the main arena. The sixteen tourney warriors remained secluded.

"Well," Hercule concluded, looking at the scores and hiding his absolute dismay, "I'm impressed. Personally, I'm stronger than that, but I didn't have to show you guys my strength. Haha!"

"One more egotistical expression like that," James muttered to his friends, "and I'll put my boot up his ass."

"Don't do that," Gohan tsk-tsked sarcastically. "That wouldn't be a good thing."

"I know it wouldn't," James agreed, eyeing his steel-toed work boots. "These are real nice boots."

"Well, let's see who I have to whip first, shall we? Let's get this draw over with!" The draw he was referring to was the draw where all the qualifying fighters pulled a numbered ball, one through sixteen, out of a box and it would determine who they would fight and when. Numbers one and two would fight first, then three and four, and so on.

The man in the black suit (the announcer) brought the box filled with the balls to the fighters. He placed the box on a podium that was in the arena already. He pulled out a clipboard.

"Okay!" he said cheerfully. "Are you guys ready?" Of course they were. "Yes! Let's begin. The first person to draw a number is Boomer." The fighter walked over to the box.

Boomer was a big man. He was almost as tall as Piccolo and James, but much stockier. He had jet black hair and dark features. He wore green martial arts pants and matching fighting boots, but no shirt. Boomer's meaty hand reached into the box, and as he felt around and pulled out his hand it almost got stuck.

"Six," he grunted. The board, which had been erased and made into a bracket, was marked as such. Boomer was number six, and number five would fight him.

"Okay, Boomer is six. Now Bubba."

Bubba was a tall, skinny, deceptively-strong man (anyone that could bench-press a thousand ponds is deceptively strong). He wore a Vince Carter jersey with matching mesh shorts, Jordans, and athletic socks. His number was lucky thirteen.

"Just missed your jersey number!" the announcer pointed out. "Miss Eighteen. It's your turn." She glided over to the podium and pulled a ball from the box. She looked at it and frowned.

"Fourteen," she muttered. That made her Bubba's opponent, which apparently did not sit well with him.

"A damn woman?" Bubba muttered. "I ain't gonna fight no woman. Not me. 'Specially no woman that's as sexy as she is. If she punches me, she'll probably break one of her nails! Shit, man."

"Spare me," Eighteen mumbled. "I'd break your neck, not my nails. My nails are probably stronger than your bones anyway."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Bubba chuckled. "We'll just see 'bout that."

The announcer eyed Eighteen's rear end as she walked away. He snapped out of his trance and said, "Eyce. It's pronounced 'Ice', isn't it?" Eyce trudged over to the podium, nodding solemnly at Goku as he went by. The Saiyan shivered.

Eyce had a nasty vibe coming off of him; Goku could feel that the 15000 in his score column was misleading, to say the least. He was as big as Boomer, but gave off a tremendous power level. He wore a light blue robe that came down to his ankles and covered his whole body from the neck down. The skin that was exposed, on his face and hands, was a blue that corresponded with the color of the uniform. His boots were similar.

His face was odd, though. It was deeply scarred and old-looking. His eyes were sunk deep in their sockets, underneath bushy white eyebrows. His hair was white, too, as white as snow.

Eyce thrust his hand into the box and produced a ball quickly. He glanced at it just as quickly and said, "Four." His voice was like a deep gust of wind in a blizzard.

"Four it is, then, for Eyce. It'll be Fyre next. Heh, Fyre and Eyce. What a coincidence, I'm sure."

Fyre was the exact opposite of Eyce. He wore a robe identical to Eyce's, but it was red. His skin was red, as well, as were his boots. His face was identical to Eyce, too, but was red. What was white on Eyce was yellow on Fyre.

Fyre walked over to the box. The announcer blinked and, when his eyes opened, Fyre was holding a ball up to him.

"Whoa!" the announcer cried. "You're fast! And you're number seven!" And so the board was changed. "Gohan is next."

"Yes!" Gohan whispered. "Finally!" He hurried over to the box. Lemme get a good one, he thought. C'mon! Okay, this one seems good! He withdrew his hand and looked at the number. It was eleven.

"All right!" he cheered. "I get to scout my opponents. Sweet!" He returned to his father's side, but not for long.

"Now it's Goku's turn."

"Oh, boy!" Goku said. "Here I go!" His son gave him a thumbs-up as he walked over to the podium. Goku found a ball that suited him and pulled it out.

"Three!" Goku stated. He glanced up and saw who his opponent was. Eyce. "Rats."

"Master Hercule." The big jackass drew a fifteen.

"James." The boy swaggered over to the box. He thought out loud, "Who will I defeat first, eh?" He pulled out a nine and saw that his opponent had not yet been determined. "Okay, I'll wait and see who I battle, then."

"Piccolo." Piccolo strolled over to the podium and took out an eight. He would fight the lightning-fast Fyre.

"Rogiv." Rogiv was a sumo wrestler, tan, with white jogging clothes and black sneakers. He took out a sixteen.

"Shaw." Shaw, who had been sitting Indian-style on the concrete, arose. He was short and thin, with light-blonde hair. He was dressed in a black karate uniform with white boots.

Shaw plucked a ball out of the box. "One," he declared. The board was marked.

"Miss Stefani, if you please," the announcer said to the Super-Saiyan. She got the number two.

"That pretty boy doesn't look challenging," Stefani sighed. "Damn."

"Okay, two, then. Now, Tien." Tien made his way to the box and drew a twelve. He looked nervously over to his opponent Gohan, who gave him the gun-and-trigger point; it wasn't malicious or overconfident, but friendly.

"Miss Videl next." Four for her.

Suddenly, before the announcer could get a word in, Vegeta began to laugh. It was a simple chuckle at first, and then it became a louder, more evil laugh.

"What is it, Vegeta?" the announcer inquired.

"James will not even make it past the first round!" the Saiyan prince sneered. "I will defeat him for the second time in a row!" He held up two fingers and waved them at James. "I will finally get the respect I deserve from you, simpleton!" The board was marked, and it looked like this:

The World Tournament:

Match Bracket

(Star Indicates the Favorite, Determined by Preliminary Results and Known Abilities)

1) Shaw

2) Stefani

3) Goku

4) Eyce

5) Videl

6) Boomer

7) Fyre

8) Piccolo

9) James

10) Vegeta

11) Gohan

12) Tien

13) Bubba

14) Eighteen

15) Hercule

16) Rogiv

Hercule looked deep into Gohan's face. Hercule had to cover his mouth to prevent himself from screaming in horror. That's the kid that beat Cell! he thought. If I face up against him, I'm dead! Totally dead! Please, God, help me!

"What's wrong, Hercule?" Gohan inquired. He put his hand on Hercule's shoulder. The 'champ' shuddered and shrugged off the hand.

"Now," the announcer cut in, not noticing the 'champ's' cowardice, "you all may go to the main arena and watch the Junior Division. I saw Trunks and Goten, and those guys are good."

"All right," Goku said, very aware of how talented Goten and Trunks were. "Let's go!"

The Main Arena, Moments Later

"Welcome, one and all!" the announcer called out to the audience. "Welcome to the World Martial Arts Tournament: Junior Division! I hope you guys are ready for some monumental prepubescent battling, because you're gonna get some!" The audience cheered.

"The rules are the same as usual," the announcer continued. "If a fighter wins, he or she advances to the next round; if they lose, they are eliminated from the tournament bracket. If a fighter is knocked out of the ring, starts crying, gives up, or is incapacitated (knocked unconscious), they lose. It's as simple as that!"

"Oh, boy!" Brittany, who was in the front row with the other Z fighters that weren't in the tournament, exclaimed. "I can't wait for Desmond to fight! This is going to be great!"

"Now, please applaud these two fighters," the announcer commanded. "They'd like some love, so show them you care! It's Trunks versus Wugg!" Wild applause.

The two fighters entered the ring. Wugg was wearing black athletic pants with a white stripe down the side and a white shirt with Bring It written on the front in black letters. Wugg's face was kind of squashed-looking. He was bald, too, with an oddly-shaped head.

"Well, boy," Wugg said to Trunks, "you're mine. I hope you ready to get whipped, 'cause you gonna get whipped!"

"Bring it," Trunks read what was on Wugg's shirt. "And I mean it."

"Okay, kid," Wugg sneered. "Here it comes!"

"Let the fighting begin!" the announcer yelled.

"Hah!" Wugg lunged and punched at Trunks. The young Super-Saiyan dodged easily and elbowed Wugg down. Wugg got right up and was punched violently in the face. He flew about fifty feet and landed outside the ring.

"And Trunks will win the first round!" the announcer cheered. The audience cheered, too. "It looks as if Trunks has continued right where he left off last year!"

It went on that way for a while. Goten, Desmond, and Trunks swept their separate ways through the tournament. When Trunks defeated his final opponent and advanced into the Finals, it left the Goten-versus-Desmond match between the spectators and the championship. While the three Super-Saiyans sat in the back, waiting for the match to start, Trunks had an idea.

"Hey, guys," Trunks suggested, "I've got it: Let's fight a Battle Royal!"

"What's that?" inquired Desmond.

"Ugh," Trunks groaned. "Do I have to explain everything? Okay, look, it's like this: You guys don't fight your match."

"Blah," Desmond cut in. "I wanna fight!"

"No, Desmond," Trunks stated flatly. "You will fight, but not in a one-on-one match. Instead, all three of us will fight in one match! The last man---kid---standing wins, and is the Junior Champion!"

"Wow!" Desmond smiled. "That's tight!"

"Yeah," Goten added matter-of-factly. "We fought in one of those last year, in the semis of the Senior Division."

"How'd you guys get in the Senior Division?" Desmond wanted to know.

"We sneaked in," Goten explained. "We stole one of the fighters' costumes and wore it, and made it all the way to the semifinals, but the lady married to Krillin blew the costume up, and we were disqualified."

"Eighteen," Trunks inputted. "That's 'the lady married to Krillin.'"

"A number?" Desmond asked, confused. "Why?"

"She's a robot," Goten replied. "Mister Krillin says she can have babies because she was a human before she was a robot."

"How does that happen?" demanded Desmond. "I mean, becoming a robot."

"I dunno," Goten answered. "Maybe it's magic!"

"Enough questions," Trunks interrupted. "Let's tell the announcer guy."

Moments Later

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer said, "I've just been informed that little Goten and Desmond do not want to fight a traditional match. They want to fight along with Trunks in a Battle Royal! The last boy standing wins! So get ready for some real fighting!" The crowd was dumbstruck. Hercule, who was in the entryway leading to the arena, let his eyes bulge.

"No," he murmured, "I can't believe it! All three of those fighters are better than me! I'm in huge trouble!"

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer yelled, "here we go!"

The three boys all came out to the ring. Trunks now had on a dark purple martial arts uniform with grayish-yellow boots. Goten still had on his orange uniform, and Desmond now wore a dark red uniform with navy blue boots. His Steelers cap had remained on his head.

"Let the match begin!" the announcer called. Goten and Trunks looked at each other and winked. Desmond did not catch the wink.

"Hiyah!" Goten dashed at Desmond.

"Hah!" Trunks charged the unsuspecting Saiyan. Desmond balled his hands into fists, tensed up, and his Steelers hat flew off his head. His hair was standing on end, and was yellow; his eyebrows were yellow as well. He was in his Super-Saiyan state.

"What the-?" the announcer cried. Goten and Trunks had Super-Saiyaned as well and were wildly attacking Desmond, who was dodging the punches and kicks with ease. "It appears the boys have all undergone some kind of change, and their power has just shot up tremendously! I can actually feel the increased power coming off of them!"

"C'mon, Goten!" Trunks cried. "Try harder! We've gotta hit him once, at least!"

"I'm... Trying!" Goten struggled out. "He's too... Fast!" Goten sped up as much as possible but it didn't seem to do anything.

"I-I don't believe it!" Brittany said. She was watching her son fiercely avoid all of Trunks and Goten's attacks. "My son is awesome!"

"Whoa!" somebody in the audience cried. The whole audience had gone quiet as they watched the kids battle. "These kids are good!"

Desmond held out both of his hands and the other fighters stopped. The fighters had floated about twenty feet up into the air by this time.

"Kaioken… Times Ten!" Desmond snarled. The yellow Super-Saiyan glow was replaced by a red Kaioken glow.

"Kaioken?!" Brittany shrieked. "Wow! When did he learn Kaioken?"

Desmond began to spin in a circle. A red whirlwind was formed, and Trunks and Goten backed away (while airborne).

"What in the-?" Trunks muttered. "What is he doing?"

"Tornado Jab!" Desmond then threw a punch at Trunks. The whirlwind affect added strength to the punch, which caught Trunks in the nose. Trunks fell straight down to the ground and struck the concrete of the ring at breakneck speed. He landed right at the edge, three feet from a ring out.

"Wha-?" Goten questioned. Desmond did not end the punch there. After slamming Trunks, the fist continued in a circle around and whacked Goten right between the eyes. Goten rifled down and crashed on the other side of the ring from Trunks, three feet away from a ring out as well.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer cried. "If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it! It seems that Desmond has just knocked last year's Junior Champ and runner-up for a loop! Wow!"

Trunks got to his feet not without pain and struggle. He looked up at Desmond in dismay.

How did he do that? Trunks wondered. I've never seen that move before. Not bad.

Goten, who hadn't been moving for a few moments, finally struggled to his feet. He wiped his nose and looked at his hand. He'd been popped good, and he was bleeding.

Wowie! Goten thought. I wish I could do that! That was cool!

"You didn't know I could do stuff like that, did ya'?" Desmond called down to Trunks. "You didn't know I was that good, eh?"

"You won't win!" Trunks hollered. "Goten! Fuse now!"

Desmond's eyes widened. He took a step back (in the air) as Trunks walked over to Goten.

"What in the...?" Desmond trailed off. "What are they up to down there?" Trunks and Goten shuffled away from each other and back again, touching their pointer fingers together.

"Huh?!" Goku screamed. "They're merging?!" There was a flash of light, and, when the dust settled, so to speak, Goten and Trunks were no longer standing in the ring. Instead, Gotenks had taken their place. He was slightly bigger height-wise, but much stockier. He wore white pants with black boots and a black vest with yellow ruffles along the edges.

"Gah!" Desmond uttered. "They became one!"

"Aha!" Gotenks laughed. "I see the fear in your eyes! Get down here and fight me!" Desmond was indeed frightened, but decided to fight anyway. He didn't know what the extent of Gotenks's power was; for all Desmond knew, Gotenks was still weaker than he was.

Gotenks eyed the Steelers hat lying outside the ring. "Hmmm…" he pondered. Then, Gotenks yelled, "Chew on this!" He directed his open hand up at Desmond and fired three beams of energy at Desmond, going from yellow to red to blue as they moved down; he then shot a much larger white beam at his opponent. The effect was mind-boggling: from Desmond's point-of-view, as well as anyone behind him in the stands, the blasts formed a duplicate of the Pittsburgh Steelers logo. Desmond cried out and teleported away; the blast harmlessly careened out of the arena.

"I thought you'd like that one," Gotenks decided. "My little Steel Curtain attack was pretty creative, if you ask me."

"N-not bad, guys," Desmond replied, a little shaken. All of a sudden, though, the nervousness left him and he threw exactly the same Steel Curtain attack at Gotenks, who dived out of the way just as the energy tore a hole in the ground.

"Hoo, you sly dog," Gotenks chuckled.

"Thanks," Desmond took the compliment. Gotenks had successfully lulled Desmond into a false sense of security…

"Kamehameha!" Gotenks shouted immediately. He fired energy from his together hands and it bolted towards Desmond.

"Ballistic Blast!" Desmond instinctively shot an attack of his own, which struck the Kamehameha in mid-flight. The moves collided and stopped there, one move preventing the other from continuing its path.

"I have you now, Desmond!" Gotenks screamed over the noise of the energy attacks that were clashing together. "You cannot win this fight!" Gotenks put more power into the attack, which began to overtake the Ballistic Blast.

"No!" Brittany shrieked. "He'll be killed!" She began to climb out to the ring, but Krillin grabbed her.

"No, Brittany," he soothed her. "He'll be okay, I'm sure of it. Here, put on this Scouter." She did this. "Okay, look at Desmond with it."

"It says fifty-million," she read. "What does that mean?"

"It means his current strength has a numerical value of fifty-million. Okay, now look at Gotenks."

"He's at---I mean they're at---fifty-million, too," she read again. "Wow! My son's a Superman!"

"Not exactly," Krillin stated. "He's the strongest kid. James can get his power level up to something approaching one-hundred-million. I mean, he's a god!"

"One-hundred-million!?!" Brittany repeated, shocked. "He is a god!"

Back in the ring, the Ballistic Blast had come to within five feet of Gotenks, who turned Super-Saiyan 3 and sent the Ballistic Blast right back from the power.

"Will you look at that! Goten… Trunks… Whoever they are now's hair has actually grown down to his waist! He appears twice as big as before!"

Desmond put every ounce of strength into holding the Kamehameha back, and it slowed the attack's progress down, but it did not stop it. He felt it was over...

All of a sudden, the announcer yelled, "Oh, my! Desmond has undergone exactly the same transformation as his opponent!" Desmond felt a suddenly renewed energy, which he put into his blast.

"His power level is ninety-million!" Brittany told Krillin.

"WHA-?!" Gotenks screamed. "He's Super-Saiyan 3, too?!" The Kamehameha ended from his surprise, and the Ballistic Blast rocketed down at Gotenks.

"Mommy!" Gotenks shrieked. The blast crashed into him, and there was a brilliant flash of light. The audience screamed a collective scream. Somebody said, "It's the end of the world!" The blast had grown to the size of the ring when it hit Gotenks.

The smoke cleared after about a minute. The audience could see Desmond floating in the air. His hair had gone back to its normal black color and length and fell back down on his head, and he was little again. Trunks and Goten lay outside the ring: they'd divided in two once more.

The announcer's hair and suit were messed up. He was dazed, but he snapped out of it somehow.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he yelled into the mike. "I just can't believe it! It seems that little Desmond has actually blown Trunks and Goten apart! Not only that, but he has won by ring out!"

"Wow!" Goku cried. "That was great! Desmond has a lot more power than I thought he had! He beat Trunks and Goten as one!"

"Kudos to him," James stated flatly. "Can we please start the real man championships?"

"Ahem," Stefani and Eighteen both said together. They surrounded the boy Super-Saiyan. "Man?"

"You heard me," James said to both of them. "Neither of you will make it far, except maybe you, Eighteen. I'll have to fight you in the semifinals, because those guys in your area of the bracket suck."

"And you won't win, either," the android added. "I will stomp you."

"We'll see about that," James smiled.

Hercule was stunned as he stood in the entryway, hidden from view. He didn't believe that that boy could do what the guys could do against Cell and Buu; just more and more Saiyans kept appearing.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer cut in, "it is time for the adult tournament to begin! I can't wait to see the expert fighters battle: most of them are better than what you just saw!"

"Neither can I," Vegeta chuckled. "James, you are now mine."

"I can't wait to shut you up, Vegeta," James chortled.

The fighters in the Senior Division made their way to the locker room. As Hercule passed Desmond, who was putting his Steelers cap back on, he thought, Oh, man! That's just a kid! I'm up the creek without a paddle when I fight that girl from last year! Or even… the guy that beat Cell!

The Locker Room

"Look, lady," Hercule was saying to Eighteen, whom he'd caught before she'd entered the locker room, "I'm going to beat that Rogiv guy, and I know you'll beat Bubba, so I'll make this short: I don't think that it's fair for you to fight me. I mean, you would beat me down in an instant! So please, let me win again, like last year. I'll give you even more money this time, name your price!"

"Sorry, Hercule," Eighteen replied sternly. "I'm out for blood this year, not money."

"But lady," Hercule pleaded, "please! I have an identity to protect! You've gotta understand…!"

"Oh, I understand Hercule" Eighteen again spoke without emotion. "I understand that you have no talent to speak of, except PR skills. I understand that you're a notoriety-stealing bastard that claims he killed a guy whose eyeball had more power than him. I understand you're afraid to get your face bloodied, which would hurt the endorsements. Go ahead and tell me I don't understand again and watch what happens." Hercule squeaked meekly.

"Ooh, I ought to forfeit," Eighteen added. "I'd like to see how the other, more ruthless fighters would deal with you!"

"Please don't do that…" Hercule whimpered. "I'd rather just take my chances with you…"

"Fighters, listen up," the announcer said from the doorway. "The rules in the tournament are pretty easy to deal with. If you give up, touch anywhere in the stadium that's not part of the ring, are incapacitated, kill your opponent, or die, you are eliminated from the tournament bracket. We haven't had any deaths in forever, though. There is a time limit of thirty minutes, no more than that! If a fighter does not win before then, we'll leave it to the judges."

Damn, thought Vegeta. I wanted to permanently incapacitate that James. Oh well; I cannot without losing.

"If you will please make your way out to the arena," the announcer added, "the fighting shall commence as soon as you are situated."

"Yay," Stefani said blandly. She hadn't changed her outfit at all, except putting on a pair of silvery sneakers to replace the flimsy earth shoes. "I fight first. I hope I don't get my hands too bloody." The fighters made their collective way to the ring.

Let the Fighting Begin!

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer yelled into the mike. "Welcome to the World Martial Arts Tournament: Senior Division. After looking at the weight lifting stats of the sixteen fighters, I have to say that this may prove to be the greatest tournament ever! Even Hercule appears to be sweating bullets!

"Okay, let's do it. The first match contains the first of three lovely ladies in the tournament, Miss Stefani, versus the ever-popular Shaw! Let's hear it for them!" The crowd cheered.

"Shaw is one of the most popular fighters at this tournament. He was eliminated in the prelims last year, and wants redemption. He may just get it today when he takes on Miss Stefani. Little is known about Stefani, but she's here with her boyfriend James, who tied with Vegeta for most pounds benched. He'll fight later, and if she has power like he has, this match might end quickly."

The Z fighters were all standing on the special platform reserved for tournament warriors (above the stands). The other fighters were there, too, but so what.

James chuckled. "I wonder how it would end if I fight her in the tournament Finals…"

"Please," Vegeta frowned. "Pipe down; you won't make it to the Finals, anyway. I will."

"Sit on it, Vegeta," James shot back. "You're making my head hurt." As this war of the words went on, the tourney began!

"Come get yourself some," Stefani smiled coldly. Her hair was not the blonde of a Super-Saiyan at the time; she would toy with Shaw. "You know you want some." She turned around and gestured to her impressive physique (not the muscles, either).

"Yes, indeedy!" Shaw yelled. "Here I come!" The small martial artist ran at the girl Super-Saiyan, who smiled another cold smile.

Shaw swung a skinny fist at Stefani. She reached up and grabbed his fist out of the air and pulled Shaw roughly towards her. As he came, she stuck out a silver-sneakered foot. Shaw collided with the foot and fell back, clutching his stomach. Stefani instantly elbowed him in the head, knocking him dreadfully close to the edge of the ring. He landed with a thud.

"Give up," Stefani demanded, cracking her knuckles. "You have two chances: Slim and None." Shaw replied with a few gacks of pain. "Ooh, wrong answer: Slim just died." She kicked Shaw in the ribs, and the small man landed on the grass outside the ring. The audience was speechless. A girl just defeated one of their favorite fighters ever? How?

"Wow, ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer shouted. "It seems that Miss Stefani has just demolished one of the most popular fighters in the tournament! What a shock!" Stefani swaggered out of the ring, smiling at James.

"Nothing," was James's reply. "Absolutely nothing. His scrawny ass wasn't very powerful anyway."

"As soon as Shaw's body is dragged out of the way, the battle between Goku and Eyce will begin!" They got Shaw's tiny frame out of the way in no time, and the tournament did indeed continue.

"Okay, folks: Goku and Eyce are gonna get it on now!" The stunned audience allowed a ripple of cheers to be heard. Goku shook his head.

"Aw, well," he sighed. "Either they don't remember me, or Stefani's better than they thought. What do you think, guys?" Goku turned and saw Hercule. The Champ's mouth hung wide open in surprise.

"H-he was my best student!" Hercule choked out. "Other than my daughter, that is... Who trains that chick, anyway?"

"Me," James growled. "You got a problem with that, sport? Or do you have a death wish?" Hercule's eyes narrowed into angry slits.

"Look, boy," the Champ snarled, unaware of James's power or knowledge or arrogance, "I don't know how good you think you are, but when I beat Rogiv and that smokin' blonde, I'll beat you when we clash later on! Don't mess with me: I'm the Man That Beat Cell!"

James couldn't take it any more. Before Hercule's heart could beat, James's hand was on Hercule's throat. The Champ began to choke violently.

"What was that?!" James roared. His hair stood on end, and his eyes turned green. His eyebrows disappeared, and the fingers gripped Hercule's neck tighter. "WELL?!"

"I---Ack!" Hercule sputtered. James smirked a nasty and evil smirk. Videl became distressed.

"That's what I thought," James growled. "Now listen, pal: First, I want to tell you that you suck. That's one thing. I know that you didn't beat Cell or Eighteen straight-up, so quit this 'champion' act. You disgust me, man."

"Stop it!" Videl screamed. She was trying to pry James's hands off of her father's neck to no avail. "Let my dad go!" James threw a look at Videl that could kill an ox.

"Get off me!" the Super-Saiyan snarled. "Your father is a sham!" Her father choked in protest, and James squeezed the Champ's throat tauter. James made the evil smile again.

"I know," Videl said hurriedly. "Gohan beat Cell, not my Dad. Now please stop that! You're killing him!"

James growled annoyedly. He glanced around and saw that there was a wooden table over yonder. He took Hercule to it, raised the Champ up high, and chokeslammed Hercule straight through the table; the Champ was out like a light. I've always wanted to do that, James thought. Jackass should have shut his yap.

"Hey, announcer guy! Hercule can't fight in the tournament anymore. He had a sudden 'attack', and says to let Rogiv be declared the winner. You got that, buddy?" The announcer, who hurried up to the balcony, didn't seem surprised as he looked at James's hair and eyes.

"Lemme guess," the announcer said, "you were his 'attack'."

"Oh, yeah," James replied.

"Say, when did you come into the mix here, anyway? I don't recognize you from before."

"You remember that guy that blew up Denver and San Francisco? I canceled his plans permanently."

"Impressive. I can't wait to see you fight, dude. You'll probably get far in this tournament. I hear your opponent, Vegeta, is pretty good."

"You got that right, pal," Vegeta cut in. He was in the shadows of the corner formed by the wall and doorway, silent darkness falling deep over his face. He appeared much older than he normally did, which was an effect of the shadows. "I am going to win this tournament."

"Hoo, boy," the announcer said. "We've got us a little rivalry going on here now. I wish y'all were fighting right now: I can't wait to see it."

"Me neither," Stefani chuckled. "I can't wait to see who I'll have to take on in the finals."

The crowd was getting a little restless. They were chanting that they wanted to see Goku and Eyce, so the announcer hurried up.

"All right, guys," he said quickly, "I'll see you in a couple of matches. Good luck to all of you, and fight well. See ya'." He went back to the ringside.

"Nice guy," James muttered. "I can't wait to embarrass Vegeta in front of him."

"Oh, sure," Vegeta frowned. "Keep telling yourself that: Maybe someday it'll actually happen."

Goku versus Eyce

"Goku is one of the greatest fighters ever," the announcer began to the audience. "He fought in three straight Finals, finally winning the third. The amazing thing: He was eight at the time! He would have won the tournament last year, but had to skip off and face Maijin Buu. Eyce is not very forthcoming, and his past is shrouded in mystery. His speed is incredible, and hopes to hang in there versus Goku.

"You guys ready?" the announcer asked of Goku and Eyce.

"Harrumph," Goku grunted. He was not going to fight at Super-Saiyan, not then. Unless he needed to go all-out, he'd relax. Eyce was going to fight with the huge cloak on.

"Goku," Eyce growled in his icy voice. "I would like for you to know: I am aware of your ability to become a Super-Saiyan. Do not hold back against me, because I am not going to hold back. Just a word of warning to you, friend."

"What about that cloak thing?" Goku asked. "I'm sure that'll burden you. Take it off and fight with full range of motion."

"That was my plan," Eyce growled. "I wear this heavy cloak, as your Namek companion does, to increase my strength. For your own sake, do not underestimate me."

"All right," Goku replied. "I just hope you're not as weak as some of my opponents that have said that have been, if you understand what I just said. Good luck." He held out a hand.

"Thank you," Eyce said kindly. He took Goku's hand and shook it firmly. "I hope you are as powerful as your reputation says you are. Good luck to you, too."

"The fighters have shared a moment of friendship," the announcer declared. "That may be the only moment in which these two fighters won't be duking it out."

"Hah!" Goku screamed. His hair stood up and turned blonde. He glowed slightly yellow as well.

"I'm impressed," Eyce smiled. "You seem very powerful." He reached up and grasped his collar. With one swoop, he removed the cloak.

"What the---?!" the announcer cried. "Look at Eyce! No wonder he wore that cloak!"

Beneath the icy-blue cloak, Eyce was actually a very skinny icy-blue man. He looked as if he had no muscles beneath his navy-blue boots and karate uniform.

"I know that's not your true size," Goku chuckled. "You're compressing your energy. That's why your score in the bench press room was so low: because you chose for it to be low, so you could keep your true abilities under wraps, so to speak." Eyce smiled.

"Right," Eyce replied. "You are very perceptive." He squatted a little and began to power up. He groaned a long groan, the pain of strengthening almost unbearable. Suddenly, he filled in: in the blink of an eye, he was almost three times thicker than before. He smiled once more.

"I thought as much," Goku stated.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer said, "it appears our fighters have not shown us their true powers until now! This fight may be a doozy!"

"Let's go," Eyce growled.

"Yeah," Goku replied. The match began.

Eyce threw the first punch. It crashed into Goku's raised hand and got blocked. Goku punched back, but Eyce moved out the way.

Goku quickly launched an energy attack at Eyce, who deflected it. During Eyce's distraction, Goku teleported right to Eyce and punched about twenty times in one second. Eyce was lightning fast, too, and avoided all the punches.

With that, both fighters began battling at ridiculously high speeds. They would dodge, block, punch, and kick many times per second, neither getting wounded at all. This went on for a few minutes. The announcer was indeed impressed.

"Well, folks," he yelled, "I can barely keep up with them, and I've seen this super-speed many times. This, I can safely say, is one of the most exciting matches of all time! Let's hear it for them!" The audience watched in stunned silence as the battle raged on.

Finally, Goku slammed his fist into Eyce's face. Goku's lightning-fast opponent fell back a few feet and clutched his nose.

"Well done, Goku," Eyce said, wiping the little bit of blood away from his nose. "You are indeed very fast. My hat goes off to you: I was once the fastest man in the universe. I have gotten older and lost a step or two, but I believe we are now the fastest fighters in the universe."

"Well, that's unfortunately not true, Eyce," Goku cut in. "There's somebody in this tournament that's faster than the two of us combined."

"What---?!" Eyce cried. "How---?!"

"Yeah," Goku chuckled. "If you beat me, you'll probably fight James in the Finals. He's stronger than me and faster than five of you."

"It's... Not... Possible!" Eyce whispered. "That's almost as fast as light!"

"I know," Goku sighed. "It's kind of scary the first time you see it." The fight continued.

James stood and watched the fight in boredom. His arms were folded and he leaned against the wall.

"So slow," he frowned, as if to confirm Goku's comment.

"Hey, James!" a voice called. The Super-Saiyan looked down from the platform and saw his buddies Anthony and Carl staring up at him from the crowd.

Anthony was probably smarter than James, but only by a smidgen. He was a really skinny little guy, with black hair and blue eyes. He wore a white shirt with Tony Hawk on it, khaki pants, and skateboarding shoes.

Everybody was scared of Carl in his school. He was almost as big as James, though his power level was something like seven. His hair was blonde like the Saiyans' hair, but was artificially blonde; he'd bleached it. He wore a black muscle shirt, jeans hanging low, and white Answers.

"What's up, guys?" James asked. He teleported down into the stands by his friends. "What're you guys doing here?"

"We heard about you being in the tournament and decided to come," Anthony said.

"And watch you lose," Carl added. "Goku's gonna kick your ass."

"Whatever," James chuckled. "When I win the tournament, you guys aren't getting any of the prize money."

"How much you gettin'?" Carl inquired, interested now.

"Ten million zeni," James replied. "Second is five million and third is two-and-a-half million, even though I have no idea how they determine third. No matter what, I'm gonna get me some money."

"Hey," Carl cut in, "We just got here, and I heard Stefani's in the tourney, too. Is she really?"

"Yup," James answered. "And she won her first match."

"Well, good luck to both of you," Anthony smiled.

"You're gonna need it," Carl tacked on.

"Thanks." James nodded solemnly. "I will not lose." He Instant-Transmitted himself back onto the platform to watch the Goku/Eyce fight.

By now, the battle had reached tremendous proportions. There was a period where Goku and Eyce exchanged violent punches in the stomachs, each punch bringing out more blood from the mouths and noses of the warriors.

Suddenly, Goku and Eyce each launched a tremendous punch. The fists jolted into the other battler's face, and both fighters were knocked for a loop. They each landed dangerously close to the edge of the ring.

Goku and Eyce leaped to their feet simultaneously and took fighting stances quickly. They smiled at each other.

"Not bad," Goku told Eyce. "You're a great fighter, Eyce."

"So are you, Goku," Eyce replied. "You have indeed lived up to your reputation. Thank you for this excellent battle."

"You're very welcome," Goku grinned. "And thank you for keeping up with me."

"Yes, indeed," Eyce nodded. "Let us end this."

"You're on!" Goku yelled. "One of us has to win!" The fight intensified greatly.

After many punches, kicks, blocks, and dodges, the fighters each took a corner of the ring. Goku put his wrists together and moved them behind him. A ball of light formed within his hands. A wind kicked up in the ring, Goku's uniform billowing with power.

"Kaaaah... Maaaay... Haaaah... Maaaay..." Goku began.

A Kamehameha, eh? I can stop that easily enough. Eyce slid his foot back and stood poised to deflect the attack.

But Goku disappeared, the wind from his power ceasing. Eyce's eyes bulged a bit and he lowered his guard. Where is he? Where could he be? He's just gone, and I can't feel his energy anymore! Where is he?!

The wind began to blow again. In the blink of an eye, the space three feet in front of Eyce became occupied by Goku. His hands were still behind him, clutching the energy ball. Eyce screamed in astonishment.

"HAAAAH!" Goku thrust his hands forward towards Eyce, and the energy was discharged. Eyce had no time to react between the release of the power and its collision into him. He hollered in pain as he was blown out of the ring with Goku's immense attack. Eyce fell right next to the announcer on the platform above.

"Whoa, ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer hooted into the mike. "Goku has knocked Eyce out of the ring with a big Kamehameha wave, the trademark move of Master Roshi! That fight was amazing!"

Eyce slowly got to his feet. He dusted himself off, looked down at his opponent, and smiled.

"Congratulations, Goku," Eyce warmly called down to his competitor. "You have defeated me, fair and square. I shall look forward to fighting you again someday; good luck in the rest of the tournament, Goku."

Goku teleported to the lookout and chuckled, "Thanks, Eyce." They shook hands and embraced.

Gohan had enjoyed the fight. He looked at his father, who was beaming.

"Great job, Dad!" he cried. "Was he strong?"

"Yes, he was, son. And he was fast, and he was smart, too. He was no novice."

"Well, Kakarot," Vegeta cut in, "that was a good conflict. You have truly improved since the last time I saw you fight. I cannot wait to do battle with you once more. I'm sure it'll be in the Finals, too."

"You'll have to get through me first," James muttered. "That won't be easy."

"Quiet, boy," Vegeta snapped. "I will manhandle you without even thinking about it!"

Fights Unworthy of a Title

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer said, cutting off any further fighting words, "the third fight shall begin now. It is a bout between the ever-popular Videl and Boomer." Cheers were heard as the fighters entered the ring.

"Videl won the Junior Division seven years ago, and trained with her father, Hercule, and husband, Gohan, who are scheduled to fight each other later. She was crushed in the first round last year by Spopovitch, and would like to avenge that loss. Boomer has been practicing hard since he dropped out of the Junior Division a few years ago. He decided to fight this year in the Senior Division, and will start off with a true challenge."

The big Boomer took a nervous fighting stance. The thoughts that ran through his head were not positive ones. He remembered when Videl had kicked Spopovitch's head around backwards. That guy was a monster, too: just think of what she could do to a mere mortal like himself!

These and thoughts of gruesome ways Videl may accidentally kill him tumbled about in his mind. Finally, after wrestling with it in his mind, Boomer dropped to his knees and put his head in his hands.

"I can't," he whispered sadly. "I just can't fight Videl: she is too talented. Just get the next two guys out here." He rose and swiftly walked out of the ring. He went and sat in the stands by his wife, who was puzzled.

Videl was only slightly happy: while she'd already made it farther than she made it last year, the victory was an empty one. She shook her head, sighed, and freed the ring up for Piccolo and Fyre to battle.

"Piccolo fought in a past tournament and made it to the Finals, where he took on Goku. He fought again last year, but forfeited his first round battle with Shin. Fyre is the brother of Eyce, who was slipped past by Goku earlier. Fyre, like his brother, is virtually unknown, but has some ability in order to have made it past the elimination round."

They got in the ring. Piccolo could feel the immense energy radiating from Fyre. Piccolo didn't know where he got all his energy, but it was there, nonetheless.

"Are you ready to be defeated, Piccolo?" asked Fyre. The Namek was determined to show that he was no weakling, so Piccolo threw off his thousand-pound cape and turban and took a battle stance. Eyce narrowed his eyes, and a small explosion of power knocked his heavy cloak off. He was built well underneath, with red pants and boots.

Fyre raised his hand and calmly said, "Take this." Energy shot from his hand and Piccolo slapped the energy away. Fyre frowned.

"Okay then, try this on for size: Fire Cannon!" Instead of energy, a humongous jet of flame blasted from Fyre's hand. Piccolo moved very quickly and avoided it.

"Good speed," Fyre smiled. "Very good speed. However, you'll need more than mere speed to defeat me."

"I know you're fast, too," Piccolo said flatly. "Let's speed this fight up, if we're so fast." They did just that, both of them attacking and evading rapidly.

The fight didn't last very long. After about five minutes of hitting and dodging, the fighters landed back in the ring. Fyre teleported to right in front of Piccolo and reared back for a punch.

"Brimstoner!" screamed Fyre. Piccolo gasped as Fyre's fist burst into flames. The fist traveled thrice as fast as any of his punches before, and it whacked Piccolo right out of the ring. The fire extinguished itself.

"Not bad, Piccolo," Fyre sneered, "but futile. Maybe we'll fight again and you'll win; maybe, but I doubt it."

"It is now time for James versus Vegeta!" the announcer declared. "Give them a hand, folks!"

"WHA-?" Bulma shrieked from her seat near the other non-tournament Z fighters. "No! Their powers will destroy the whole stadium and kill us all! They can't let those two fight each other: it's suicide!" Vegeta and James had gone down to the ring. They each powered up to Super-Saiyan, preparing for possibly the biggest fight of their lives.

Bad Blood

"Are you ready, Vegeta?" James asked. The other Super-Saiyan consented somberly.

"James killed the evil Saiyan Gozin in a battle and saved the world. He's got blinding speed and nice power. Vegeta was scheduled to take Goku on last year, but their fight was postponed. If he utilizes his impressive power, we might just see them fight it out in the Finals!"

"Let's do it," Vegeta declared. "Right now."

"You're on," James growled. "You'd better bring a whole army for this fight."

Piccolo was ready for some intense fighting. "This could get nasty," he smiled in the fighters' lookout. "I'm sure of that."

"Yeah, huh?" Stefani chuckled. "This is the battle of the two cockiest fighters this side of Cell."

"I can see two reasons for Cell possessing James," Piccolo explained. "James is the best of all of us and is the most like Cell."

"I'll have to take on whoever wins this match if I beat Tien," Gohan pointed out. "I wonder how this one will end."

"They may end up blowing everything apart," Goku stated, "including us. If it seems like it may end up that way, we'll have to step in."

"Let's just see," Tien suggested. "Watch and enjoy."

"Here it comes!" Vegeta yelled. He threw a yellow energy wave at James, who knocked it away. Vegeta lunged and threw many punches at James. James ducked and bobbed and weaved away from all of them.

"Hold still!" Vegeta commanded.

"You think I'll let you hit me?" James asked sarcastically.

"Heh," Vegeta chuckled. "You might as well." He flung a punch with so much power and velocity that James had no chance to avoid it. He was hammered right in the mouth.

"Gah!" James grunted. He fell back a good distance, but teleported back into the ring after coming inches from the ground.

"Wow, Vegeta," James complimented, rubbing his jaw, "good one! For once, you got a hit in!" James took an assault on Vegeta then, but Vegeta was too quick for him.

As James threw lightning-fast punches that Vegeta dodged, James said, "Nice speed, Vegeta. You have truly become a fighter. But now let's crank up the juice." James suddenly poured on the speed. The punches were twice as fast, but Vegeta was still able to get away from them.

"Is that the best you've got?" Vegeta mocked as he evaded punches left and right.

"Oh, I'm saving my best, Vegeta," James smiled as he punched some more. "I'm saving it for the championship match."

"You really believe you'll get there?" Vegeta inquired. "You're brave for fighting me, boy."

"You're the one that's brave, Vegeta," James fired back, "for fighting me."

James's punches stopped. He dropped back and hunched a little. He balled his hands into tight fists and held them up at chest height.

"Mega-Kaioken!" James yelled. His body suddenly took on an orange glow, indicating more power than the traditional or Super-Kaiokens. Waves of orange power rolled off of James in torrents. Vegeta's hair was blown about by the sheer energy.

I don't believe it! Vegeta thought. I've never seen any level of Kaioken beyond twenty times; he has so much power!

James disappeared a hundred feet away and reappeared instantaneously two feet in front of Vegeta. Vegeta gasped and stepped back.

"What's the matter, Vegeta?" James chortled. "Scared?" The orange glow ceased, and the Super-Saiyan glow returned. "I guess that's too advanced for you. Oh, well." Vegeta was still stunned. So was the announcer.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer spoke into the mike, "I have never experienced power quite like that. This guy is really good."

"Try this on for size, Vegeta: Multiform!" There were suddenly four Jameses. They stalked toward Vegeta, who backed down.

He knows Multiform, too? thought Vegeta. This kid knows everything! What am I going to do now?

"Whoa," Tien gasped. "How'd he learn that move? Piccolo, did you teach him?"

"No," Piccolo replied. "This boy knows a great deal of techniques that few know. He's got immense skill."

"Which one of us will you fight?" they said in unison.

Vegeta dashed at the four Jameses and snarled, "Every one!" He began to attack them all at once, unafraid of their fourthed speed and power. He landed many good hits on them, and they finally merged back together again.

"Impressive," James told Vegeta. "You have greatly improved, Vegeta, even though it's only been a week. This fight may become interesting yet."

James and Vegeta both punched at each other at the same time, but punched each other's fists. They did this several times, then took to the air.

Up there, Vegeta threw a mighty kick at James's head. James held up two fists and blocked it; the impact was deafening. James punched at Vegeta, who caught the fist; again, the noise was booming.

James and Vegeta teleported around the stadium, pounding each other (and minding to not touch outside the ring). They moved so fast, all that could be seen was flashes of power wherever the two fighters made contact.

"Wow," Anthony gasped in awe. "James is fast..."

"I know..." Carl whispered.

The two fighters alighted and each took a battle stance. James smiled.

"Well, Vegeta," James said, "you're better than I'd thought, and I'd like to congratulate you on your holding me off this long. But the fight ends now." James put his middle and pointer fingers onto his forehead.

What is he doing? Vegeta thought. Is he going to use Instant Transmission or is he going to use the Special Beam Cannon?

James's hair began to billow with power, and his Tomlinson jersey did as well. He then put the same fingers (on the other hand) upon his brow as well.

What? thought Vegeta. I've never seen this before! Damn!

James hollered over the torrents of his power, "Ipsattack: Now!" Without moving, James unleashed a tremendous portion of energy out of his being. The energy shot toward Vegeta and, as unbelievable as it sounds, took the shape of a sort of energy James. Vegeta gasped in utter astonishment, and covered his head with his arms.

The attack slammed into Vegeta with amazing force. He was leveled, but, fortunately for him, knocked down instead of out of the ring. Vegeta exposed his face and saw that the attack was firing right over him; the attack was just high enough over his thick body that it passed right overhead.

I'll sneak up on him, thought Vegeta. Then I'll show him who the man is!

Vegeta crawled under the potent attack. He eventually came to James's legs, which he kicked as fast as he could. The energy was halted as James fell onto his side.

"What the---?!" James yelled. He crashed into the ground violently, shattering one of the tiles on the ring. A piece of tile lodged into James's shoulder and slashed it open. Blood oozed from it onto the broken concrete.

Vegeta leaped high into the air and hovered there.

"Vegeta!" James yelled up to him, grasping his shoulder. "What do you think you're doing?" Vegeta groaned and began to power up. James watched Vegeta in amazement.

Vegeta tossed his head back and screamed. Yellow power fell off of him rapidly, and James was blown back a foot. Vegeta held his hands up, and then thrust them forward, at James. The energy and groans of Vegeta continued as he put the wrists together.

What's going on up there? the announcer was thinking. What is Vegeta doing? I feel his immense power, but what is he going to do with it?

Once Vegeta had swelled up with power to twice his usual size, he roared, "FINAL FLASH!" The energy within him was discharged, and he shrunk back to his traditional size. The released energy made a beeline toward James.

He stepped back and shrieked, "What in the hell!?!" The power was upon him in a few seconds. There was an explosion, and the blue sky turned white. Anybody in space could see a gigantic burst of energy come from that one spot.

Once all the dust had settled, the ring had been severed cleanly in two by Vegeta's maneuver. There was no blood, no body parts, no nothing; James was totally gone.

Yes! Vegeta's mind cheered happily. I just vaporized James! That's the end of his big ass and his big talk! I wonder who Stefani will go out with now... Shame that I'm married. And a shame that I'm disqualified from this ludicrous tournament. Oh, well; that's life. Vegeta smiled broadly.

What happened next seemed to go in slow motion. Vegeta felt the wind suddenly rush through his hair, but there was no wind that day, except for the fighters' collective powers. As the Saiyan prince turned his head upward, high into the sky, he saw James. The boy bolted through the air at Vegeta and gave him a swift chop to the neck. Vegeta fell down hundreds of feet in a second and crashed violently to the ring floor.

"Honey!" Bulma screamed loudly. "No!"

"My God, ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer yelled. "James just gave Vegeta the biggest chop I've ever seen in my life! I can say surely that this match is over: The surprising Vegeta is almost guaranteed to be incapacitated!"

The announcer hurried into the ring. He saw the Saiyan Prince's body there, unmoving. Vegeta had removed the chest shield that was part of his Saiyan battle uniform in the locker room, and fought in the blue one-piece uniform with white gloves and boots. The blue one-piece was almost totally shredded, while most of the fingers on the gloves were gone and the whole ensemble was covered in dirt. He was battered and bruised and bloody, too.

The announcer looked up at James, who was breathing heavily. His Tomlinson jersey was in shreds, his pants needed many patches to return to normal condition, and blood oozed from all kinds of gashes and cuts all over his body. The announcer began to count to ten, looking only at James. The announcer was almost sure that Vegeta was down, and did not need to look at his broken body.

"One..."

Vegeta's eyes opened slowly.

"Two..."

Vegeta's fingers twitched.

"Three..."

James landed at Vegeta's feet and stared out into the crowd, cheering himself on.

"Four..."

Vegeta's hands gradually moved toward one another, the wrists pressing together.

"Five..."

Light appeared in Vegeta's hands.

"Six..."

Vegeta thrust his hands back behind him.

"Seven... Looks as if James is gonna take this one!"

Vegeta coughed, and blood splattered on the ring floor.

"Eight..."

Chew on this, James.

"Nine..."

Vegeta jumped up as quickly as his crippled body could and yelled, "Galik-Ho!" James shot a look back at the sound of Vegeta's voice. All he saw was an energy ball crash into his own body.

"WHAT---?!" the announcer hollered. "Vegeta just used another attack on James! He wasn't out cold after all!"

The dust settled. James was on his stomach on the ring floor. There was nothing left of his Tomlinson jersey anymore, exposing his battered chest and back. His face was bleeding profusely, as were the wounds all over him. He spit out more blood and climbed to his feet.

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" Vegeta questioned. "Well, let's finish this battle right now!" The two charged at each other, but the announcer cut in.

"Wait, fellas!" he cried. They stopped and stared at him. "I don't know why someone didn't stop you guys, but this match has gone for three hours, well over the thirty minute time limit. I'm afraid I'll have to end it right here and hand the fight over to the judges." The announcer himself was one of the judges, as was Hercule and Master Roshi. But Hercule had been stifled, so Krillin was grabbed up and made the replacement judge. The announcer went and sat at the judges' table. They came to their decision after a rather lengthy conference.

"We've made our decision," the announcer smiled at the two fighters. "It was difficult, because you guys gave us the best match in tournament history!" Vegeta and James looked at each other and frowned.

"You tykes sure know how to fight!" Master Roshi cackled. "You're better than I ever was! That's pretty good, guys!"

"While Vegeta caused more damage than James, James used a wider assortment of attacks. We were very convinced by that thing James did when he turned orange; I, as well as most everybody in this stadium, felt just how deep his well of power ran when he did that. It was incredible, and, for that reason, we are going to give the bout to James." The Saiyan prince was mortified.

"I-I don't believe it..." Vegeta trailed off. "How... How could they do that? I did more damage, they even said that! That's all that counts..." He started walking up to the fighters' platform, sulking the whole way. Bulma intercepted him on his way and, with tears in her eyes, gave the Saiyan a heavy embrace. He returned it half-heartedly and continued up to the platform.

"Guess what, Vegeta?" James commanded when the prince had reached the platform. "That was the whole reason I used the Kaioken. I knew it would sway the judges, and I knew the match wouldn't end in less than thirty minutes."

Is he really that good a fighter and strategist? Vegeta thought as he stared at the tall Saiyan. Did he really know that, or is he the luckiest bastard on earth? The question would go unanswered.

The Battle of the Mystic Guys, Phase One

"Coming up right now is Gohan versus Tien!" The audience cheered raucously, fired up from the last match. "Back in the day, during the battle with Cell, a young blonde boy referred to as only the Delivery Boy (by boneheaded newscasters) fought the monster, and gave him a good showing. That boy, Gohan, is back again, all grown up, and looking to avenge last year's illegal sneak attack by Spopovitch and Yamu, which incapacitated him. His opponent Tien is himself a tournament veteran: he is a former World Martial Arts Champion, as a matter of fact. This fight should not be a bad one!" Tien and Gohan had found their collective way to the ring, and they were warming up.

"Hey, Tien," Gohan spoke up as he got ready, "I'll bet you're glad I taught you the Mystic technique this week, aren't you? I wasn't expecting us to be facing each other in the first round like this, but that's fate."

"Thanks for the training, Gohan," Tien responded, not breaking his warm-up. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to do much with it, because I'm fighting the very man that did the training. As you said, that's fate."

"Fighters… Fight!" was the call from the announcer. Both warriors activated their Mystic abilities at the same time, but Gohan threw the first punch. Tien, obviously less speedy than a Saiyan, was hit with the attack, but he took it well, somersaulted, and landed back on his feet, ready. Gohan was on the way again, and Tien flew backwards to avoid the charging Saiyan. He steepled his fingers and created a triangle with his hands; he hollered, "Tri-Beam Cannon!" and an appropriately triangular jolt of energy left his hands and headed for Gohan. The Saiyan halted his pursuit and backflipped to avoid the blast, which sailed into the sky and out of the arena. Tien stopped flying backward and attacked the unsuspecting Gohan. The three-eyed man landed the first couple of blows, but Gohan recovered quickly and avoided the rest. The warriors stopped battling and paused for a moment.

"How are you going to beat me Tien?" Gohan wondered aloud. "You got anything left we haven't seen before?"

"Maybe," Tien replied, smiling. He suddenly powered all the way down, and Gohan raised an eyebrow. Tien split into four Tiens after using the Multiform morph; each individual Tien then powered up for a few seconds until each had achieved the Mystic level. The Tiens all posed as if to say, "What do you think?"

"Very nice, Tiens," Gohan complimented his opponent. "You've found a way to bypass the Multiform ability split phenomenon."

"Right, Gohan," the Tiens said. "By splitting up at normal power, and going all-out in four parts, I have made each entity as strong as one fully powered-up Tien. I stumbled upon this just messing around the other night."

"I think you're as strong as me now, Tiens," Gohan calculated. "Good thinking." The Saiyan attacked the four Tiens, who fought back hard to match Gohan.

Even though each individual Tien didn't match Gohan's strength, splitting up his focus between four different fighters began to take its toll on the Saiyan. His physical speed wasn't the only thing that diminished, unfortunately for Gohan: after several fast-paced minutes of fighting, one of the Tiens split off from the rest of the group and slunk behind Gohan; the Saiyan didn't notice because the other Tiens were coming in so fast, it was impossible to tell how many there were. The lone Tien pointed gallantly at Gohan's back and yelled, "Dodonpa!" A thin beam of yellow energy rocketed from the Tien's fingers and slammed into the small of Gohan's back. The Saiyan was knocked forward toward the outside of the ring; before he knew what hit him, all four Tiens had launched Tri-Beam attacks and had smacked him straight down to the grass outside the ring. The announcer was pleasantly surprised.

"Wow, ladies and gentlemen!" his voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "Tien just put up a near-flawless performance against a fighter arguably more powerful than he is! Give it up for that showing!" The audience did so. They were getting more than they thought they'd be getting when they came in that morning, and they were more than thrilled. While the audience cheered their heads off, Gohan and Tien exchanged handshakes and compliments and left the ring.

"And now," the announcer said, "it's time for Miss Eighteen and Bubba. Last year, Miss Eighteen scared Hercule in the Finals, but lost. This is the first time in the tournament for Bubba, who trained a little under Hercule and then trained himself. He's another popular fighter, who gained the hearts of many a fan when he overcame Jewel and Killah consecutively in a gauntlet battle at a recent pay-per-view."

Eighteen and Bubba had both gotten into the ring by then. Eighteen did not get into a battle stance; she stood with her arms folded and her feet crossed. Bubba frowned at her nonchalant attitude.

"You better be ready, woman," Bubba commanded. "You forget: I beat Jewel and Killah in a gauntlet one time, and they two good men. You one weak woman, so I ain't afraid of you."

"That's not wise," Eighteen smiled. "I wouldn't be in this tournament if I were weak, you know. You didn't hear the announcer guy? I made it to the Finals last year after eradicated that blonde Wahoo you derive notoriety from defeating. Pitiable." Bubba took all that in slowly.

"I don't know what the hell you just said," Bubba laughed, "but I could still whoop yo' ass."

With that, Bubba dashed at Eighteen. He gave a swift kick, which Eighteen slapped away. It spun Bubba around, and, when he finally was looking at Eighteen again, she smashed her palm into his chin, driving his jaw upward. His eyes rolled up into his head and he fell to the ring floor. His chin seemed limp, and rightly so; it was totally shattered.

The fans were again shocked into silence. The announcer, who was used to this by now, was not surprised.

"Well, everybody," he yelled into the mike, "Miss Eighteen has just showed us once more how she made it to the Finals last year. It looks as if she's crushed Bubba's jaw, so we'd better get the paramedics out there, and quick." Some hospital workers assisted Bubba's exit of the ring, the audience remaining quiet.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen," the announcer said gravely, cutting into the silence like a knife, "I have some bad news for you: Hercule has dropped out of the tournament. He was incapacitated, and told us to allow the fighting to go on without him. That means that Rogiv is declared the winner by default!"

"I can't stand that guy!" Krillin, who had joined his friends on the lookout, ranted about Hercule. "I'm glad that James put him out of commission!"

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer said, "that forfeit has ended the first round of the World Martial Arts Tournament! In just a few moments, the board will be marked, and you will see the lineup for the quarterfinals!" The crowd was pleased, but remained stunned silent.

He was right. The board was fixed, and looked something like this:

The World Martial Arts Tournament:

Quarterfinals Bracket

(Star Indicates the Favorite, Determined by Preliminary Results and Known Abilities)

1) Shaw

2) Stefani

2) Stefani

3) Goku

3) Goku

4) Eyce

5) Videl

6) Boomer

5) Videl

7) Fyre

7) Fyre (Upset)

8) Piccolo

9) James (Upset)

10) Vegeta

9) James

12) Tien

11) Gohan

12) Tien (Upset)

13) Bubba

14) Eighteen

14) Eighteen

16) Rogiv

15) Hercule

16) Rogiv (Upset Special)

The remaining fighters were on their way down from the lookout to the locker room to rest. Another new innovation for the tournament was the use of Sensu beans to heal fighters, but they are allocated one for the entire tournament. Everyone used theirs immediately, except the fighters that weren't given a challenge in the first round, like Stefani and Eighteen.

"Stefani," James got his girlfriend's attention. "Looks like you've got a bigger challenge this time than in the first round. Good luck."

"Yeah," she said sarcastically, "whatever." They got to the locker room and settled in. James put on a new jersey, a gold Aaron Brooks one, to replace the destroyed Tomlinson jersey. Everybody sat back and relaxed for a little while.

"Okay, people," the announcer called, sticking his head through the door. "It's time for the quarterfinals, guys. Stefani and Goku: Be out here as quickly as you can."

James put his fingers to his forehead and teleported up to the lookout. Stefani and Goku locked eyes, nodded to each other, and Goku teleported them to the ring. The other fighters had to trudge up to the lookout themselves.

Quarterfinals

"Well," the announcer yelled, referring to the audience, "I hope you guys are ready for some great quarterfinals action: You're gonna get some! Goku and Miss Stefani: Fight!"

Stefani charged and threw a few punches. Goku easily avoided them, and took to the air.

"Get back here!" Stefani yelled. She flew up at Goku, who opened his fingers wide and blasted at her quickly. Stefani stopped and teleported away, the energy passing by harmlessly. When she appeared, Goku was there and he slapped her pretty hard.

"Holy shit," Vegeta snickered, directing his comments to James. "He slapped her like she was his bitch!" James growled.

Stefani hit the ring; Goku teleported down by her and punched her in the stomach when she'd gotten up. Very hard.

"Uhn...!" Stefani coughed. Spit flew from her mouth after the aggressive punch. She closed her mouth, bared her teeth, and elbowed Goku in the side.

Goku grabbed Stefani's collar and picked her up dramatically with one hand. He smiled at her, raised his hand, and blasted her again. She fell very close to a ring out, but didn't fall out.

She rose and screamed, "Kamehameha!" Energy exited her cupped hands and bolted for Goku. He quickly teleported out of the way, but nobody in the audience saw where he went. Stefani didn't, either.

He appeared on his back between Stefani's legs. She was still firing the energy, and didn't realize he was there. Goku held both hands up at Stefani, who quickly sensed his presence. Her mouth opened in a silent gasp.

An incredible amount of energy burst from Goku's hands and slammed into Stefani. Her Kamehameha ended as she was shoved upward, hundreds of feet into the air. She shrieked in pain and surprise as she flew higher and higher.

Goku quit shooting her. Stefani's ascent slowed and ceased. As she began to plummet, she yelled, "Rapid Fire!" She shot several beams of energy at the dominant Goku, who dodged the blasts easily.

"She doesn't even stand a chance," James chuckled. "Oh, well."

Goku disappeared again. Stefani stopped blasting at him and began to look around nervously for Goku. She turned around and found him there, about six inches away. He opened his hands and placed them on her stomach. Energy leaped from his hands in a sort of Super-Saiyan shove, and the girl landed outside of the ring.

"That was boring enough," James stated. "I wonder if Goku is strong enough to beat Fyre..."

"Alrighty, then," the announcer cut in, "it's time for Videl to battle Fyre. If Fyre can put on a show like he did versus Piccolo, Videl may have her hands full!"

The two fighters began to battle. Videl moved quickly, hitting Fyre as swiftly as possible. He was able to block all of her attacks, however, and smiled at her nastily.

"My, you are very slow," he sneered. "You aren't faster? I'm getting bored."

"Stop teasing me!" she hollered. She moved as fast as she could, but the faster Fyre continued to effortlessly avoid her attacks. She pushed him back to the edge of the ring, even though he knew he was there. He wanted her to feel a little confidence.

"He's going to run the table in a minute," Piccolo frowned. "I feel his power growing: he's setting up for that Brimstoner punch. I think I'll give Videl a hand."

"What?" Goku asked the Namek. "What are you talking about?"

"He beat me, and I'd like to make him feel stupid and cause him to lose right now to a girl that is much weaker than he is. He knows she's weaker, too, which makes it all the better."

Fyre reared his fist back and hollered, "Brimstoner!" As the punch moved towards the frightened Videl, Piccolo's pupils flashed red. The flames on Fyre's arm ceased, and he looked as if he'd been punched in the face. He stumbled and fell out of the ring.

"Oh, my!" the announcer cried. "Videl hit Fyre so fast I didn't even see it!"

"No wonder you didn't see it," Piccolo grunted. "Videl didn't do it." The daughter of Hercule stared, confused, at Fyre. The frightening fighter rose up and stalked toward Videl.

"You little---" he growled. "Brimstoner!" He pulled his now-flaming arm back to cream Videl, but he was suddenly knocked to the ground by a fast-moving warrior.

"Get down, Red," James told the aggravated fighter. "Leave her alone. She beat you because you're a sorry piece of trash, and you're just going to have to deal with it." Fyre clenched his teeth at the tall Saiyan.

"Stay out of my business!" Fyre snarled. The fast and ridiculously powerful Brimstoner punch that was originally intended for Videl flew instead at James... And the boy reached out and caught it.

"Huh!?!" Fyre cried. "How in the f---!" James yanked the warrior up by his fist, slung him over his shoulders, and slammed him back-first onto the ground in a fierce spinebuster. Fyre's mouth fell open and he spit out blood. James sneered and pulled his own fist back.

"Brimstoner," James snickered. Fyre's eyes grew wide as James's fist and arm burst into flames and slammed into Fyre's face. The warrior's head snapped to the side, and a pop could be heard from in his jaw area; he was out cold.

"What the...?" Goku whispered. Eyce walked up to his fallen brother and stared at James full in the face.

"So you're the one Goku mentioned," he thought out loud. "James, I've never seen anybody block a Brimstoner, let alone block it and use one of their own. My brother invented that attack, so I'm intrigued that you were able to perform it. How do you know how?"

"I have a secret power," James smiled. "I can perform any attack or technique in the universe." Eyce's eyes twitched.

"How is that possible?" Eyce asked, mystified. "It's a spectacular skill."

"Dragon Balls," the boy smiled. "That's what they did for me." Eyce nodded his head solemnly and moved his brother into the locker room.

The Battle of the Mystic Guys, Phase Two

Tien made his way down to the ring, where James was waiting. They both took fighters' stances and locked eyes (Tien had the advantage here because he had three). Their eyes turned turquoise and James's hair 'bloomed' out. They were both Mystic.

"I don't believe we've ever been sufficiently acquainted," James decided as the two fighters circled around like hawks. He stopped and extended a hand. "I'm James."

"Tien," the three-eyed warrior offered, taking James's hand and shaking it. "You're much more powerful than Gohan."

"Yes, I am," James agreed, bowing, "but you aren't ghastly yourself. That was a great showing earlier, just like the announcer said. I congratulate you."

"Thank you," Tien responded. They broke the handshake.

"Fighters: Begin!" the announcer yelled into the mike. They did, and the match had a ferocious start. Tien and James each punched the other in the face simultaneously. There was a huge BOOM when their fists hit, and the ground actually shook.

The two fighters flipped over and over backwards. They stopped when they were about fifteen feet apart and stared each other down.

"Not bad," James smiled.

"Let's keep it up," Tien stated. "We don't want to disappoint the audience."

They both shot simple energy blasts at each other, which collided in the center of the ring. There was an explosion and the two fighters teleported together. They tackled one another and fell to the ring floor. They immediately jumped back up to fight again. Tien powered down used his Multiform-to-Mystic technique, just as he had done earlier against Gohan. James smiled and nodded.

"Going to the well, I see?" he pointed out. "Daring, but foolish." James, in a second, used exactly the same skill. To the disbelief of the onlookers, four Tiens began battling four Jameses! This interesting site went on for a few minutes, and Jameses soon got the advantage; Tien and James both became one fighter again and stared each other down genially.

"Where'd you learn Multiform?" Tien solicited of James.

"Those Dragon Balls are great for things like that," James explained confidently. "I can do any attack or technique or the like in the entire universe." Tien appeared impressed, and James inquired, "Shall we continue?" The three-eyed man nodded.

James lunged at Tien in an attempt to spear him. Tien moved out of the way, and James went by harmlessly. As Tien turned around, he saw that James had halted right there. James was on his feet, standing upright again. He hopped back and leaned sideways a bit simultaneously, and raised his leg high. This awkward-looking kick planted Tien square in the face. The older Mystic warrior was sent careening out of the ring, flipping over and over until he landed outside of the ring; the blow had stunned him sufficiently so that he could not recover from it in time.

"Wow, ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer said into his mike. "James just eliminated Tien with a picture-perfect Superkick! Not only is James fluent in martial arts moves and energy attacks, he can even perform wrestling maneuvers! This is one fighter to be reckoned with!"

Tien felt the pain as he regained his senses and got up from the grass. James was right behind him.

"You're a lot better than I would have given you credit for," James praised his opponent. "I'd like to hang around with you some; you seem like a pretty cool guy. Maybe we could teach each other a thing or two about fighting. What do you think?" He extended his hand again, and Tien grinned after a moment of pondering.

"Sure thing, kid," Tien determined. He took the Saiyan's hand and tugged the Saiyan to himself, clutching James in a tight hug. "You're pretty cool, yourself."

"And James shows great compassion and shakes hands with his opponent!" the announcer pointed out. "That's the sign of a true champion!"

Lunch Break

"It's time to see who James will fight in the semifinals. Miss Eighteen will battle Rogiv right now!"

The Z fighters, excluding Eighteen, went to the eatery together. They knew how the match would end, so it was a waste of time watching it.

They were checked at the door (only fighters in the tournament could enter the eatery) and were allowed to go in. The guy checking them complimented James and Vegeta on their match, and then the fighters sat down to order their food.

"Well," Stefani was saying, "the Finals ought to be awesome, no matter who's in them."

"It's interesting," Piccolo chuckled. "James is fighting a woman in the semifinals. I've noticed the way James eyeballs Eighteen, and I think he'll throw the fight to impress her."

"That's funny," James growled sarcastically. "Real funny. I don't see you in the semifinals, so shut up."

"Hey, hey, hey," Goku cut in, stopping the word warfare. "That's enough. You know Fyre's a great fighter, James. He and his brother seem to be equals, and, take it from me and Piccolo, they're really good."

"Okay," a waiter, carrying a huge tray of dishes, said, "here's the food. I have five 'never-ending' pasta bowls. Who got those?"

"Me," Stefani said flatly.

"Oh, me!" Goku cried happily. "I'm famished!"

"Me, too" Gohan declared.

"Me," James and Vegeta said in unison. They looked at each other and frowned.

"Okay, here you go!" the waiter chuckled. He placed the food in front of the five Saiyans, who began to chomp on it instantly.

"I will go fetch the other food for you," the waiter spoke warmly. "The bar is over there; when you run out of pasta, go get some more if you like.

"Oh," he went on, "and there is no reason for you to leave a tip. I'd like to say that in all my twenty-seven years working at this tournament I've never seen a fight like you two had just now. That match was enough of a payment, my friends." The two aforementioned Saiyans, who had dived head-first into their pasta, glared at each other once again as the waiter went off.

The Saiyans' pasta was gone already, and the Saiyans hurried to the bar to get more. Piccolo frowned and shook his head.

He remarked. "That's disgusting to me: how about you?"

"Bleah," Videl replied, sticking her tongue out and pointing down her throat. "It amazes me how they can eat that much. I guess they need that nourishment in order to fight."

"You get used to it, though," Tien added. "It doesn't bother me much anymore."

"Yeah," Piccolo concurred, "it's not as bad as it seemed at first."

"Oh, and thank you for your help in that match," Videl told the Namek. "That guy was going to trounce me."

"No problem," the Namek replied. "He pissed me off, anyway."

"Heh guhs," Goku's words were garbled by the pasta in his mouth, "Yuh han't gut yur fud yt?"

"No," Videl frowned, "we haven't gotten our food yet."

"Now you have," the waiter announced. "Here it is." The waiter put food on the table for Tien and Videl. They both got some kind of steak smothered in white gravy.

"Thank you," Videl replied politely. "I'm very hungry."

"Yeah, thanks," Tien also said; he dug right in.

"Good luck in the semifinals!" the waiter cheerfully said as he went off. As Videl began to eat, she asked Piccolo, "Where's your food?"

"Nameks don't need to eat," he replied. "It is unimportant to our bodies."

"Heh!" James called with his mouth full. "Tha baur's umpty. Gut sme mre psta owt hre!"

"What?!" Videl yelled. "You guys ate all the food on the bar?"

"Wull, yeh," Gohan mumbled. "Und eht wuz gud!"

"Ugh," a voice from the entrance groaned. "You Saiyans are so gross." The source of the voice was Eighteen.

"Ixcse es fr levn!" Goku dribbled. "U'm vry srry wuh're ulwhys suh hngruh!"

"Mahn!" Gohan cried, food flying from his full mouth. "Thet wuz gud! Gulp. Now I'm ready to watch the semis!" By this time, the bar had been emptied and refilled thrice. Goku was the last one to get a full gut. "No matter how you look at it, the Finals will be great. The semis shouldn't be that bad, either. Let's just see how this one ends."

"This is probably the greatest World Tournament," Piccolo cut in. "I mean, look at who's in it: five Super-Saiyans, Videl, Fyre and Eyce, Eighteen, and myself. That's a very talented group of fighters, if I do say so myself."

"And you do," Goku chuckled. "To the Finals!" He raised his glass of tea high into the sky. The other fighters all did the same.

"To the Finals!" they all said in unison.

In the corner of the bar, Fyre and Eyce sat at an empty table. They'd both taken their allocated Sensu Beans, and were healed fully.

"Look, man," Eyce was saying, "Why do we have to do that? I mean, it's just not right, you know? Goku's not so bad, if you get to know him."

Fyre muttered, "I think it's a very good idea. Especially after what that little cock-knocker did to me out there. He used my own damn attack against me."

"But what if we get caught?"

"We will, but that's okay: nobody will be able to stop us anyhow."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. Why would I not be sure?"

"You tell me."

"Just shut up and come on." They finished their drinks, stood up, and left the eatery. Goku noticed them.

"Eyce's brother, Fyre, seems like he's not all that good a person," Goku pointed out. "He gives me the willies."

"Really," Piccolo commented. "He is a little frightening."

"Well, let's go," James cut in, looking at his watch. "It's almost time for the semifinals, y'know, and I'm in them."

"Stop rubbing it in," Vegeta demanded. "You're lucky you can use the Kaioken technique; otherwise, I would have easily won the match." James pulled forty dollars from his pocket and set it on the table for the waiter.

"Great match, my ass," James shook his head. "Screw not tipping him; he filled up that bar until I was filled up. He's a great guy no matter what, so I'm letting him know it."

The fighters left the eatery and went back to the lookout. There they looked down at the board, which was in the middle of the ring.

The World Martial Arts Tournament:

Semifinals

(Star Indicates the Favorite, Determined by Preliminary Results and Known Abilities)

1) Shaw

2) Stefani

2) Stefani

3) Goku

3) Goku

4) Eyce

2) Goku

5) Videl

5) Videl

6) Boomer

5) Videl

7) Fyre

7) Fyre (Upset)

8) Piccolo

9) James (Upset)

10) Vegeta

9) James

12) Tien

11) Gohan

12) Tien (Upset)

9) James

15) Eighteen

13) Bubba

14) Eighteen

14) Eighteen

16) Rogiv

15) Hercule

16) Rogiv (Upset Special)

The fighters were fortunate to see the board before it was removed from the ring, which was almost totally destroyed. There were huge craters filling the ring floor, cracks spider-webbing it. Not only that, blood and spit was all over the arena. It was a real mess.

"I have to fight in that?" Eighteen groaned, referring to the yucky ring. "Gag me."

"Hey, don't sweat it, babe," James said coolly. "I'll make it go quick. You could forfeit, though. You'd avoid breaking a nail, you know."

"Watch it, big boy," she smiled coldly. "Remember what happened to the last guy that said that. Besides, I see you've been beaten up some, too. I'd suggest you drop out."

"Now why would I do that?" James asked exasperatedly. "I'm 'thu' man.'"

"Ha," Eighteen mocked a laugh, "we'll see."

A girl with bleached-blonde hair was walking through the audience carrying some nachos and drinks. She glanced up and saw James bickering with Eighteen, and she smiled.

"James!" she called. The boy Super-Saiyan looked up and saw one of his old friends, Shannon.

Shannon was slim and sweet. Usually considered better-looking than Stefani (except by James, who was glad with the steal he made with Stefani), she made the mistake of missing an opportunity to get James: Stefani beat Shannon to him. Shannon had a white shirt that read 'Hottie' across the front, a little bear purse thing, kind-of flare-legged jeans, and black flip-flops.

"Hey, Shan," James said flatly. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here with Anthony and Carl," she explained. "They're a lot of fun, y'know. What's wrong, boo?" She had seen the frown on James's face. He didn't usually frown, not for the seven years she'd known him.

"I wanted to fight Stefani in the Finals," he declared with no enthusiasm at all. It was Shannon's turn to frown.

"Cheer up!" she commanded. "I hear that dude Goku is really good."

"I know," James replied. "But Stefani's my girl, and I wanted to really show her what I can do."

"Be happy you're not fighting me," Shannon joked.

"Surely you jest," James chuckled; Shannon finally got a smile from him.

"Of course I do: and don't call me Shirley," Shannon kidded. She sat down next to Anthony; the reunion was over. Vegeta sneered.

"What in the hell is wrong with you, boy?" Vegeta chuckled incredulously. "She's got a better ass than Stefani does. Come to think of it, her hair's nicer, her legs, her---"

"Piss off, Vegeta," James snapped. "I don't give a shit what you think."

Semis

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer yelled into the mike, startling everyone. "It is now time for the final four! And what a final four we have, too!

"First, we have the mighty Goku. This guy came in as the tournament favorite behind Hercule, defeated Eyce in the second-best battle in the tournament, and easily beat Stefani in the previous round. He may have some good competition, though.

"Videl is another beloved warrior, but she's the unfortunate dark horse of the final four. The daughter of Hercule and the wife of Gohan, she hangs with the best. In her first two battles, Videl easily defeated her underdog opponents, Boomer and Fyre.

"We come to James, who has showed us that he has incredible speed and prowess. He's also fluent in both martial arts attacks and wrestling maneuvers. Even though he barely slipped by Vegeta, he had a better run against Tien in his second match.

"Finally, Miss Eighteen. She gave the now-former Champ a scare in the Finals last year, but failed to take home the gold. She is beautiful, but her beauty hides her true abilities. She trounced both Shaw and Rogiv en route to the semifinals. You can bet she won't get a fight as easy as those again!

"Goku-versus-Videl and James-versus-Eighteen. Wow, those are two marquee match-ups! So, let's get 'em started, right now!" Cheers.

Videl and Goku entered the ring and got situated. Videl swallowed hard, because she knew full well just how powerful Goku was. She saw just how easily he'd beaten a girl Saiyan, somebody that was almost as strong as he was. Videl knew she wasn't on the level of the great Goku: she was done for.

"Videl," Goku said solemnly. "I can see the fear in your eyes. Don't worry: I'm not going to fight you at Super-Saiyan." This didn't reassure Videl much: she knew Goku was stronger than her in any form.

"Let the match begin!" the announcer hollered. Videl attacked Goku quickly and without fear. She landed a couple of hits with her decent speed, but her sub-par strength didn't hurt Goku too badly.

"All right," Goku decided, "I'm gonna end this quick." He grabbed Videl around the neck and simply tossed her out of the ring. Videl was so surprised by the suddenness of the move, she couldn't think in time to recover.

"That was easy for Goku," the announcer announced. "And for the other semifinals match, last year's runner-up Eighteen will face this year's sleeper James. This fight may be a good one."

As James and Eighteen walked down to the ring, Videl glanced over at Goku. She shook her head and looked back down at the two fighters.

Well, this will be cool, Videl thought. James is going to take on the great Goku in the Finals. I just can't wait to see the destruction... Yes!

"Well, Eighteen," James chuckled, "It's time for you to lose. I won't bribe you, though: I'll just whoop your ass."

"Let's see if you can back up that talk with some fighting," the android smiled coldly. "Bring it on." James disappeared. He was at the south corner of the ring in an instant. He disappeared again and was at the north corner very fast. Then the east, then west corners, and back to his original spot. This all took place in about a half-second.

"Are you still going to fight that kind of speed, girl?" James asked sarcastically. Eighteen smiled that unloving smile again.

"What speed?" she mocked, looking around. "I didn't see any speed, unless you're on speed." James had only time to blink when Eighteen lunged from thirty feet away and punched him right in the nose. He flipped over and landed on his back on the ring floor. He rubbed his stunned nose.

"There's some speed," she chuckled.

"Hot damn!" James congratulated Eighteen. "I didn't know you were that fast."

"You have no idea," Eighteen sneered. "That's nothing."

"Then try this on for size!" James yelled. He hopped up and ran at Eighteen after his hair turned blonde and his eyes turned turquoise. Eighteen smiled knowingly.

"I'll need more power for this one," she commented to herself. She flicked her little circle earring and her eyes flashed red. James didn't notice.

James teleported behind Eighteen. She held up an arm and blocked a kick she'd sensed coming. She lowered her arm and felt on it the impact of another kick she knew was coming.

"Quit toying with me, kiddo," Eighteen commanded. "You know you're not trying."

"If I told you that you had a nice body," James said from behind her, "would you hold it against me?"

"I'm married, son," Eighteen pronounced.

"You've still got a nice ass," James concluded. "I'm not the only one here looking at it, either." Eighteen ignored the 'ass' comment.

"You're wasting my time when you don't try."

"You're not trying either," James pointed out. She nodded, acknowledging that that was indeed true.

"Okay: if I fight full power," James explained, "you do, too. Savvy?"

"Fine by me," Eighteen sighed. "I want a good fight." She flicked her earring again, and her eyes flashed red once more.

"Super-Kaioken!" James hollered. Eighteen felt the energy flow off of James in waves. She turned and held up an open hand. James's fist plowed straight into it. This happened several times in a row, very quickly, until Eighteen simply latched onto James's flailing fists and held him steadfast there.

"Why you holding my hands?" James wondered aloud. "You want a walk in the park or something?"

"Hardly," Eighteen chortled. Her eyes flashed red again, and very thin beams of red energy shot forth from them and became one. By holding James's hands, he could neither block the blast nor Transmit out of the way of it; the energy struck James in the chest. The blast had the speed of several bullets; it moved so fast and had so much energy, the beam pierced James through and through.

James's mouth fell open, and his eyes grew wide; the Kaioken and Super-Saiyan glows left his body, and he fell to his knees. Eighteen released him, and he clutched his chest. The Saiyan made a couple of weak choking sounds, and he checked his hands: they were covered in blood. His eyes met Eighteen's, and the android suddenly felt emotion. This was not something she was used to, and it was a big thing. The sneer left her face, and her jaw dropped as James's did; the audience had gone dead silent.

"Oh… Oh, my God," Eighteen murmured. James's eyes had lost their shine as his body continued to lose blood. Eighteen hoisted him up in a fireman's carry and started to carry him out of the ring. She was near the edge of the ring when James started to struggle against Eighteen, so she put him back down. He was grasping his tightly, and the blood flow had been diminished. She could see his determination through all the pain.

"No," he growled. "We're gonna finish this."

"Come on, James," she whispered. "Just stop; you may not life through this if you go on."

"Then I'll die," he stated. Blood oozed from between his lips as he spoke, and he spit some of it out. "I don't stop until my heart stops."

"P-please," she stuttered. If she could cry, she probably would be doing so. She had wounded, perhaps mortally, such a beautiful creature, and she couldn't bear it. "Just… Stop." She made her way to him and started to pick him up, but he snarled, jumped into the air, and wrapped his legs around the android's head. She cried out, and James flipped over backwards, sending the android straight to the ground outside the ring. The audience collectively let out a loud cry of surprise as James fell flat on his stomach in the ring. Blood pooled around him as the android slowly climbed back into the ring.

Eighteen put James's arm over her shoulder and brought him to his feet. The medical staff was hurrying out to the ring, but James waved them off. This surprised Eighteen.

"No, it's fine," he stammered. "I just need to bandage myself up, that's all. You missed all the organs, so it's nothing too serious."

"J-James," the android spoke, appalled, "that beam penetrated you! It's like you were shot or something!"

"Nah, I'll be fine," he forced a laugh. "That was a fucking sweet shot, girl. I'm impressed." Eighteen calmed down a bit due to James's relaxed demeanor, and allowed a little smile to appear on her face. By this time, they were in the locker room, and James was struggling to wrap some thick bandaging around his torso. Eighteen offered to help, but the proud Saiyan refused.

"So no hard feelings?" she wondered.

"Of course no hard feelings," he decided immediately. "You did what you had to do to win, but it still wasn't enough. I'm sorry I used that cheap shot to win."

"It's okay," Eighteen forgave the Saiyan. "You just said it yourself: do what you need to do to win."

"I'm glad we're on the same page," the Saiyan proclaimed, grinning. Eighteen had never noticed how deep and alluring the Saiyan's eyes were. In fact, for the first time, she realized that the Saiyan was… Highly attractive. Even through all the blood and gore, he was still handsome, as well as one of the sweetest guys she'd ever met, in an arrogant sort of way. She was sucked into his aura instantaneously, and fought hard against the urge to kiss him.

Instead of eating James's lips, Eighteen asked, "So… Are you going to try and fight Goku in the Finals? I'm not so sure that's a great idea."

"Bollocks to that," the Saiyan scoffed without even thinking. "I'm going to fight Goku no matter what, and I'm going to win."

"Are you sure about that?" the android asked once more. James nodded sternly.

"Dead sure." There was a light knock at the door, and a figure stuck its head into the room. It was Tien.

"Hey, James," the three-eyed man interjected, "how you feeling? Any better?"

"Oh, I've felt a lot worse," James concluded. "…But I've felt a lot better."

"I'm concerned for your safety, man," Tien offered. "Vegeta's telling Goku to hit you right in the wound with every attack. You shouldn't go through with this."

"You're right," the Saiyan agreed, "but I don't care: I'm going to fight this bout."

"You said earlier that you wanted to hang out with me," Tien pointed out. "You'll never get the chance if this kills you, man. I'm telling you: drop out."

"Look, Tien." James had crossed the room and put his hands lightly upon the three-eyed man's shoulders. "I'm not backing out of this; that's the bottom line." The announcer had appeared in the doorway behind Tien.

"You still going through with this?" he wondered, awe-struck.

"Yep," the Saiyan responded. "Get the audience ready." The announcer nodded solemnly, and went back to the stadium; Tien followed close behind. James turned back to Eighteen, who was at his side.

"Thanks for the help," he said. He leaned in and embraced her firmly; the android was a bit surprised, but she returned the hug.

The board had been changed for the final time.

The World Martial Arts Championship:

(Star Indicates the Favorite, Determined by Preliminary Results and Known Abilities)

1) Shaw

2) Stefani

2) Stefani

3) Goku

3) Goku

4) Eyce

3) Goku

5) Videl

5) Videl

6) Boomer

5) Videl

7) Fyre

7) Fyre (Upset)

8) Piccolo

3) Goku

9) James

9) James (Upset)

10) Vegeta

9) James

12) Tien

11) Gohan

12) Tien (Upset)

9) James

15) Eighteen

13) Bubba

14) Eighteen

14) Eighteen

15) Rogiv

15) Hercule

16) Rogiv (Upset Special)

NOTE: Goku is the favorite in the Championship match due to the injury James sustained against Eighteen.

"Well, folks, the time has come," the announcer declared, "to declare a new World Champion. Today, the extremely powerful James will fight the equally powerful Goku in the World Martial Arts Championship! Give it up for them!" The warriors walked down to the ring to have the Finals. Neither of them were Super-Saiyans at the moment.

Videl turned to the others. She said, "What is James thinking? He may not even survive this match, let alone win it."

"Well, he's strong enough, Videl," Gohan countered. "Maybe it's not a bad idea; football players play through injuries, so why shouldn't a fighter?"

"When Goku grabbed me," she went on, "I felt how much true power he had. I dunno if he's as strong as James, but he's very close. It's not like James is worlds stronger than Goku, and could get away with fighting through an injury: Goku is good enough to exploit that and really do damage to him. This isn't good."

"I follow your thinking," Piccolo added. "However, Goku's not a fighter like that. He's too kind-hearted to attack an injury of some sort, even in a fight."

"Let's wait and see," Vegeta lamented. "I told Kakarot to go straight for the wound to shut that boy up once and for all."

Down in the ring, stones and chunks of the battered ring began to float in the air around both fighters.

"Folks!" the announcer commentated. "They both have so much power! It's incredible!"

"This is the wrong decision, James," Goku announced. "You're putting yourself in a precarious situation."

"I could care less," the boy Saiyan replied confidently. "Let's just go." He and Goku's hair stood on end and turned blonde. Goku's hair grew down past his knees, his eyebrows disappeared, and his muscles grew. The ground shook even more violently.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer cut in, "both fighters have taken their power levels way beyond that of what we've seen of them so far! This match will get nasty pretty quickly!"

"So, Goku," James pointed out, "you are going to fight me at the infamous level of Super-Saiyan 3. I am deeply impressed by your skill, but my power is not yet to its maximum." Every tile that made up the ring lifted into the air. The tiles the Saiyans were standing upon shattered in two and the pieces floated up as well. The sky turned black, and green lightning flashed above. It was no rain; just pure power.

The fighter's bodies thickened even more. Goku's yellow Super-Saiyan glow began to go from a deep yellow to a sort of white-yellow. Huge lightning bolts surrounded him.

"You're step-for-step with me," James smiled. "Not bad at all, but, again, I am not through yet." James raised his hands up higher and screamed. Yellow surges of power flew off of him, blinding everybody. Goku did the same thing, doubling the amount of blinding light.

"I just don't believe this!" the announcer yelled over the deafening roar of the fighters' powers. "Goku and James have unleashed an astounding amount of strength! Hoo, boy: this fight is going to be the best ever!"

When the light dimmed, the people that weren't involved in the battle stared in terror at the two battlers. James and Goku were levitating about six inches off the ground.

"In case you do not realize," James, whose hair was brown and eyes were turquoise, explained arrogantly, "I am no longer just a Super-Saiyan. Instead, I am Mystic."

"Really?" Goku gave a nasty smile. "Watch this."

Goku's hair suddenly went back to normal. It was black again, only shaped like it would be if it were Super-Saiyan. His eyes were still greenish-blue.

"Well then," James noticed. "You're Mystic, too. Did Gohan teach you to do that, too?"

"How'd you guess?" Goku smiled. "This energy feels more pure than if I were to fight you at Super-Saiyan 3. It's great power, too, probably beyond Super-Saiyan 3."

"I have more news for you, Goku," James told Mystic Goku. "You remember how your body couldn't handle the Kaioken power-up for long periods of time?"

"What are you saying?"

"My body has been toned so well, I could use the Kaioken for six hours straight."

"Damn," Goku decided. "That is impressive. But my body is along those lines, too, now."

"Excellent," the boy sneered. "At least I'm going to have a good fight."

"Kaioken---Times Ten!" they both cried together. They flashed red, the ground shaking even more violently now. They then used the Super-, Mega-, and Ultra-Kaiokens. The two of them smiled at each other.

"So, Goku," the glowing-white James spoke up, "you're the one that invented those levels of Kaioken? I'm impressed. But now to take it to the next level, the final level." The boy bent at the knees and waist and clenched his fists. He bared his teeth, his power level rising even more. Then, he suddenly stood up straight and pointed at Goku.

"PERFECT-KAIOKEN!" the boy yelled. He disappeared beneath a thick blue glow that blinded Goku. The ground earthquaked from the insane power that rained down off of James.

"PERFECT-KAIOKEN!" Goku repeated. A blue glow exactly like James's poured off of the older Saiyan.

"My dear God, ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer yelled. "The two of them have incalculable power! It's scary!" The entrance corridor to the tournament ring, as well as the front wall of the stands, was destroyed from the power they were giving off.

The earthquake died down. The light from the power James and Goku were releasing became less harsh, and the audience could see the fighters beneath them. What they saw was almost frightening.

Goku and James's muscles had increased in size dramatically, unlike anything any of the other fighters had ever seen before. Their bodies took on a light blue glow, with a cloud of light blue energy surrounding them. Their faces had undergone a change, as well. All that was left of their eyes was the whites (no pupils or irises). Their canine teeth had grown two inches longer, like fangs. The two Saiyans stared at each other and smiled cold grins with their vampire-like fangs.

"You are very powerful," James told Goku. "I am surprised that you have amassed so much energy, but I am also pleased. This fight is going to be excellent."

"Right," Goku snickered. "You may be my greatest challenge yet."

"Well?" the announcer asked anxiously. "You guys can fight now! I know this fight will be a great one!"

"Ready, James?" Goku inquired. "Or, more appropriately, is your wound ready?"

"Let's set this thing off," James said, ignoring that comment. They each took a dynamic battle stance.

"Wait!" Gohan yelled down. The fighters, the announcer, and everyone else in the arena all focused their attention upon the Mystic Saiyan. "These guys can't fight here!"

"And why might that be, Gohan?" the announcer inquired.

"Because," Gohan explained, "look at the damage those two did powering up! Just imagine what'll happen if they actually hit each other! I suggest we move the fight a great distance away, along with cameras and the people that would survive spectating the fight, and have the battle there."

"Kakarot's son is right," Vegeta declared. "If those two are allowed to fight here, anybody that couldn't handle the energy would perish. This fight either must be canceled or moved."

"I do believe you're right," the announcer replied. "These fighters are much too powerful to be confined to this stadium. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid the Finals will have to be moved to another location." There were wild boos from the audience, because none of them could comprehend that much power anyway.

"It's what's best for you guys, I'm afraid," the announcer added. "But don't worry: Cameras will be brought along and you can watch it on the big screen up there."

"If you want my opinion," James butt in, "I suggest we eliminate the time limit and the out-of-bounds crap."

"Are you serious?" the announcer asked, dumbfounded.

"Why not?" the boy offered. "I mean, you're setting limits upon us, and that will only downgrade what we can do. If we worry the whole fight about getting knocked out of the ring or not winning under the time limit, we won't be able to fight at full-potential. That'll suck."

"That's right, isn't it?" the announcer replied, rethinking it. "Let's just go to a secluded area and y'all can fight there."

Final-ly

Everybody had teleported to the place Goku had suggested: the former site of the Cell Games. Goku and James were about fifteen feet apart, posing in their stances. The announcer was hiding in a kind of bunker that he looked out of to see the fight. The others were off to the side a little ways.

"Okay, guys," the announcer told them, "you ready to begin filming?"

"Yeah," Gohan answered, "we're ready here."

"I'm always ready," Vegeta cut in. "Let them fight: I want to see James get beaten." (It had been decided that Gohan and Vegeta would work the cameras.)

"I asked before, but I have to ask it again," the announcer spoke to James and Goku, who were standing in the 'ring' that didn't exist: "Are you ready?"

"I am," James answered.

"So am I," Goku added.

"James, this is your last opportunity to drop out," the announcer presented once more. "Are you positive you can do this?" All he got was a nod. "Okay, then. Let me address the audience, and then you guys can fight; just hang tight." The announcer turned to Gohan's camera and said, "You can switch it on now."

"Oh, okay," Gohan replied. The camera was activated and the announcer spoke to the crowd in the arena, far away.

"We're sorry for the delay, but it was worth it: The World Martial Arts Championship is now set to commence! Are you ready to be amazed?"

Back at the stadium, the crowd was not impressed. They all remembered what happened at the Cell Games: Cell and Gohan and Goku were all too fast for the camera to follow. The audience knew they wouldn't be able to see anything.

James and Goku, still in their near-perfect forms, prepared for the monumental match. Goku's power alone was beyond that of Cell or Gohan or himself from the Cell Games, so there would be much more violence in the championship bout.

Clear your head, James told himself. He can't be as strong as you are...

I think he's scared, Goku pondered. He's scared about that wound; I can just feel it. I've got the advantage already. I don't want to win the championship belt without a really good fight; I hope he can actually give me one with that injury.

"Champs," the announcer got the fighters' attention, "let the World Martial Arts Championship battle begin!"

Goku started it off by lunging through the air at James. He gave a swift chop, which James blocked. He tried again, with the same result. The Mystic Saiyan abandoned that strategy in a hurry.

The master Super-Saiyan punched at James as fast as he could. James bent backward awkwardly and caught the fist; the pain from the wound must not have been as bad as Goku thought, or James was in indescribable pain. James did a three-sixty and backhanded Goku across the 'arena'.

The elder Saiyan jumped up in a hurry and James was right there. Goku blocked a couple hundred of James's punches in a few seconds. He then tried the backhand maneuver that James performed, but the other Mystic Saiyan obstructed its progress with his forearm.

Both fighters reared back and let punches chock full of energy fly. The fists crashed into each other, and there was a flash of light and loud BOOM. They tried several more times, and the punches kept colliding and deafening the spectators.

The announcer commentated, "Both fighters seem about even thus far. Just a side note: This match will not be stopped due to the thirty-minute mark, nor will it be called via a ring-out. This fight will go on until one of the fighters knocks the other unconscious." The whole time the announcer spoke the fighters were duking it out; neither fighter could lay a hand upon the other, unless it was a block. The defending fighter seemed to have much more speed than the fighter on the offensive, no matter who was doing what.

Goku used his Kamehameha and James used his Ipsattack. The pair of attacks crashed together and canceled each other out. In the confusion of the explosion, the fighters attacked each other again.

The fighters moved around the 'ring' with so much speed, not even the Z fighters could track their movements. While the pair moved all around, they punched, kicked, blocked, evaded, and did everything possible in their mammoth confrontation.

"Kakarot has vastly improved since I fought him while I was under Babidi's control," Vegeta noticed. "I would enjoy battling him again soon."

About an hour into their fight, James held up a hand, which forced a brief break in the action.

"Hurting, aren't you?" Goku anticipated.

"Got a little winded is all," James remarked. "You're speed and abilities are well beyond my initial calculations." The older Super-Saiyan replied by giving James a big punch right in the face and knocking him so far, he hit a mountain about two-hundred feet away.

"Take that," Goku smiled. James got up from the rubble that was left of the mountain. He wiped his nose and saw blood on his hand.

"Special Beam Cannon!" James yelled. He put his middle and pointer finger upon his brow and thrust them forward. One beam of energy shot from his fingers and another spiraled around the first, making the maneuver like a drill.

Goku sidestepped the attack, his martial arts uniform billowing up from his power; he just got out of the way, but the beam drilled cleanly through the uniform and blasted a large mountain off in the distance. Goku grabbed his uniform and stared straight through the hole in it at the ground.

"Touché," James chuckled after he'd teleported back in the general field of play.

"Damn, son," Goku sighed with relief. "Good thing your aim is bad!"

"Oh, yeah?" James shot back. He teleported to Goku and got around behind him. The older Mystic warrior, a little stunned at the speed of the maneuver, didn't know what was coming. James's arms wrapped around Goku's throat like in a sleeper hold. The pressure was applied, and Goku's breath was fading. James suddenly fell on his stomach, dragging Goku down with him. The older Saiyan's head crashed into James's shoulder, stunning him. James hopped up lightning-fast and held Goku in place with his foot.

"Kamehame-" James began.

"I wouldn't do that," Goku warned. James stopped in mid-sentence.

"Why would that be?" James grinned. "You afraid of dying?"

"Nope," Goku replied. "I've done that twice already. You know if you kill me, you lose automatically."

"James looks as if he's going to follow that Sleeper Drop up with a Kamehameha," the announcer decided. "Great execution!"

"HAAAAH!!" James screamed. He shot the blast at the downed Goku, who held a hand up and fired a blast of his own.

When James stopped firing, he saw that he'd fried the top half of Goku's martial arts uniform off. Goku had reduced the intensity of the Kamehameha with the blast he'd fired, but he was still bleeding pretty badly.

"Take this!" James told his fallen opponent. He reared back and cracked Goku with the back of his fist. He brought the fist back around and hit the Mystic Saiyan with it again. James moved his foot and threw an energy blast at the vacant spot on Goku's chest. The Saiyan teleported out of the way and the blast blew a hole in the ground.

James turned around, and Goku kicked him in the chest, directly on the wound; James screamed in pain and stumbled backward. Goku tried to make contact with the injury again, but James grabbed Goku's foot, spun him around, and flung him into a mountain off in the distance, collapsing it entirely.

"Ooh, cheap tactics," James decided, grasping his chest. "Just not good enough, though. If he wants to be dirty, he'll have to do better than that."

Goku flew at James from the mountain rubble and pulled back to chop the boy Saiyan. James sneered, and tried a Superkick. Goku stopped in his tracks and swung his hands around, knocking into James's ankle and his knee from the other side. There was a sickening CRACK, and the boy yelped in pain. He kicked Goku in the knee with his free leg; another CRACK. Goku's knee buckled and the two fighters fell to the ground.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer told the audience that sat in awe far away, "we have a very good match going on here! At this point, about two hours into this match, it would appear (and sound) as if they've each broken the other's leg!" James and Goku both rose and stood on their single good legs. James grinned through the blood, as did Goku.

"You've definitely lived up to your reputation, Goku," James told him. "You are fighting like the best fighter in the universe. The only person I've faced that can rival this power is Vegeta, and he couldn't even use the Kaioken."

"I haven't taken Vegeta on in a while," Goku smiled. "Is he strong?"

"Yes," James replied, "he's strong. Very strong."

"That's perfect," Goku laughed. "When I want to fight him again, it'll be a challenge. But for now, you are my opponent." Goku lunged at the boy Saiyan and they began to fight again, faster than before.

James grabbed one of Goku's flying fists and then the other. He crossed Goku's arms and kneed him in the gut. The older Saiyan bent over, allowing for James to put Goku's head between his legs, wrap his arms around Goku's waist, and lift him into the air. The announcer looked on in awe.

"I think James is going to powerbomb Goku!" he cried. Goku came to and saw he was up in the air, about to be driven into the ground. He reacted by reaching around and jamming his fingers through James's clothing, through the bandaging, and deep into the wound. James shrieked from the agony again and lost his handle on Goku, who flew up into the air and blasted him.

Goku flew down at the smoke, not expecting for James to pull off the very awkward but very powerful Superkick. It slammed into Goku's jaw, and the sheer power of the kick rattled Goku's brain in its casing. He dropped to the ground on his knees, and James kicked Goku in the side of the head with incredible force. Goku fell on his stomach in the dirt.

"I-I believe that Goku is out!" the announcer said, breaking the silence. "What a straight kick from James! I'm going to have to step in and start the count!" The announcer walked from his bunker over to the fallen Goku. He began:

"One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six… Seven…" he started, but James swaggered over to the downed older Saiyan and kicked him over onto his back. He put his foot upon Goku's chest and flexed his muscles, sneering at the announcer.

"Well, go ahead," James told to the announcer. "Keep counting and give me the victory." The announcer shook off his confusion and went on.

"Eight!" he counted. Gohan zoomed the camera in closer, on Goku.

"C'mon, Dad," Gohan whispered, willing his father on. "Do something!"

"James can do it all," Vegeta commented. "He can move around with finesse, he can blast the hell out of somebody, and he can pound a person into submission. He is truly a great warrior."

"Nine!" shouted the announcer. James's sneer grew wider, blood dripping down his face. What an excellent fight that was! Cheap shots and all, it's almost sad that it had to end!

"T---!" the announcer began. Goku abruptly reached up and shoved James's foot off of his chest. Beneath his sunglasses, the eyes of the announcer widened (as did James's).

"No, ladies and gentlemen!" he called into the mike. "No matter how unorthodox that maneuver was that James just did, Goku has shown some life, and has not lost this match yet! And I'm stunned: that Superkick followed up with that straight kick would have surely put anybody else in this tournament down, but not the great Goku!" James's sneer was replaced with an agitated frown. He got up off of and picked up Goku.

"You just won't give up, will you?" James asked. "You've won the tournament once already, so why don't you give somebody else a chance?" Goku smiled.

"I can't just give you the win," he snickered. "That would be too easy for you." The elder Saiyan attempted to jam his fingers into James's open chest wound once more, but James grabbed Goku's devious arm and threw him into the air. James teleported up high, chopped Goku down at breakneck speed, teleported back down there, and got on one knee. Goku's face crashed into James's raised knee. The older Mystic Saiyan relaxed and lost his Mysticness and Kaiokenness as he also lost consciousness. James held up his arms and the announcer counted to ten.

Just like that, James was the new World Martial Arts Champion. The announcer grabbed what was formerly Hercule's belt and handed it to James, who held it up high for everybody to see. He was the World Champion, injury and all!

"Just wait, James," Vegeta chortled to himself. "Next year, that will be mine…"