Reviews:

Chico: I don't see any reason why it wouldn't...but ok. You'll have to e-mail me and tell me whom you think, I'm curious now. Something tells me that you'll be looking forward to chapter 15 as well...

Trugeta: here's the update. Glad you liked it. Lets see how you like the match ups.

Rejhan: thought it would be. Doesn't make much sense to have everyone be fine with Goku just disappearing for ten years. Someone has to be at least a little mad. & Now that Goku is big again, he doesn't have to fight in the Junior division! That was just silly in the show...

Chris: I'll try. Super 17 came after the tourney (that I'm kinda adding in a way) so you won't have to wait long to see him. Enjoy the update!

On with the story!

Chapter 13: sign ups.

Papaya Island was bustling with activity. Fighters from all over the world had gathered here to take part in the tenkaichi budokai and even more people had come to watch, a certain group of super warriors and their families included.

"Wow, this place seems to be twice as busy as last time we were all here." Goku commented as he looked round at the crowds.

"Yes," Chichi agreed, "after watching your fight with Uub, this tournament has gotten even more popular. Everyone keeps coming just to see if there will ever be a fight like that again."

"Well they're not going to be disappointed." A voice added from the woman's elbow. Krillen and his family had come to watch as well.

"That's for sure. Lets just make sure that nothing bad happens like the last two times we were here." Bulma said from behind Goku and his wife. All of the Z gang – except Vegeta – sweat dropped nervously and Goku laughed.

"We'll try not go off on some adventure but we can't exactly help it. Right guys?" he said and looked over his shoulder at the others. Vegeta was being his normal distant self whilst Trunks and Zara seemed to be in deep conversation with Marron but Goten wasn't even paying attention. In fact he was completely silent which was so unlike him…

"We may not but you're a magnet for that kind of thing Goku." Krillen joked, pulling Goku out of his thoughts of his son.

"I guess I am, kinda." He laughed along with the others at the front.

The youngest of the group were behind the rest of the z gang. They were all still talking when Marron stopped and noticed Goten. She paused for a moment and then grabbed the young Son man's arm.

"Come on, I want to have some fun before the fights start." She quickly said as she dragged the shocked man off, the other four following close behind.

Marron convinced the rest of the group to go have fun on the attractions and pulled Goten off to the side. They stayed out of view behind a stall.

"I thought you said that you wanted to go have fun, not talk." Goten commented suspiciously. Marron lent against the stall and stared at the saiyan before her.

"We're worried about you, Goten." She said after a moments pause. She watched him carefully, her shinning blue eyes deep with concern.

"Well don't be," he said then smiled, "I'm fine. Can we go now?" he began to walk off but Marron grabbed his arm.

"No, you're not." She said and Goten looked back at her. Her eyes were pleading with him to stay.

"I know you better then you think. I know Uub is bothering you-"

Goten jerked out of Marron's grasp, catching her off guard. He stared at her with a frown etched onto his face. Marron stared right back at him.

"Goten, you can talk to me. You've been coming to my café for ages. Years even. And every time you do we talk. I would have thought that you could tell me anything by now."

Goten surveyed the blonde girl in the pink summer dress then sighed heavily. He walked back to her and leant against the stall next to her.

"He stole my dad, Marr." He started. Marron kept watching him the whole time as Goten stayed focused on his feet.

"He stole him. You don't know what that's like. My whole life I wondered what it would be like to have a dad. I was even jealous of Trunks sometimes for having Vegeta. Then mine finally comes back and it was great. I had what I was missing for all those years. Sure I had had Gohan but he wasn't a father. It was unfair that he had to look after me like that but then mine came back and he could move on and make his new family. I had a dad." Goten said and smiled at the memories. But that smile quickly turned back to a frown.

"Then Uub came and everything changed. Everything had been perfect. Our family had been complete for the first time in years. We were happy but then Dad had to run off with…with him! It was almost like dad didn't even care anymore! He just took off! I had to look after mum and the house while Uub stole dad. I could have gone and done something with my life but instead I had to stay and look after mum and get a damn pointless job that I hate to keep us in the house and with food. I didn't have anything anymore! And it was all his fault!" Goten clenched his fist round the wood of the stall and accidentally broke it in half, causing Marron and anyone else near it to cry out in alarm and jump aside. Goten stared at his hand then apologised to the stall's owner with a nervous scratch of the back of his head.

Marron watched Goten carefully and sighed. She was about to say something that would probably of made Goten feel better but two teenage girls choose that moment to catch up with them.

"Geese Goten, don't tell me that you're still hooked up on that whole Uub thing." Pan said as she and Bra approached them, licking ice cream that was piled high on their cones.

"You should get over it already. Uub is an ok guy when you get to know him."

"And kinda cute too." Bra added between licks and a giggle.

Goten scowled at the pair of them and, after one quick glance at Marron, stormed off into the crowd. Marron stared after him and let off a worried sigh.

"Poor Goten…"

Trunks's face was one of concentration as he stared at his target, eyes never moving away. He gripped the ball in his hands as tightly as he dared and then, when the moment was right, he tossed the baseball at a small jar in the middle of a line. The shot was too long and the ball bounced off the rim, landing harmlessly on the ground next to it.

"Aw man…" He muttered as he stared at the ball. It had been his last.

"Oh, so close." Zara chuckled from his right. Trunks looked over at her as she lent casually against the stall. He quickly gave her the once over and then stepped aside.

"Yea, well lets see you better."

Zara flashed him a smile and collected three balls.

"Ok then." She said and then casually tossed them at the very same jar Trunks had gone for. The first bounced of the rim, the second rolled round the rim before falling off the wrong side but the third was different. It looked like it would surely miss but at the last second it swerved slightly to the left and landed straight into the jar. Trunks stared at her in near astonishment as the man handed her a prize.

"I do believe that was one better." Zara said as she held the stuffed toy, a purple cat. Trunks chuckled at her.

"True, but we don't all have telekinesis on our side." He pointed out. Zara put on a fake look of hurt.

"I didn't cheat. Besides, you could have used your ki, mister." She said and smiled. He smiled back.

"Yea, could have, but that would have been cheating, now wouldn't it." He pointed out and led the way towards the others.

"Ok then, you can have the cat if you feel cheated then." She said, and offered it to him, making him laugh.

"Nah, but I want to ask you something." He said and stopped in the main stream of people. Zara stopped and faced him with a look of curiosity.

"Ok, shoot."

Trunks stared into her large, golden orbs and took in a deep breath.

"Well you see…" he started and hesitated, leaving Zara to look expectantly at him. He quickly sorted out the jumble of words that were flying through his head and was finally ready to speak when something strong pushed in between the two, making them both stumble backwards.

"Hey!" Zara yelled at the guy then stopped.

"Goten?" Trunks asked and his friend turned round and gave them a cold stare.

"Come on, we've got sign ups." He said then stalked off. Zara sighed and the couple started following the moody saiyan.

"So what were you going to say?" she asked Trunks as they walked along. Trunks glanced at Goten - who was still in earshot - and sighed.

"Nothing."

The stadium was completely filled up. There wasn't a single spot on the towering benches that wasn't occupied. This was almost worrying for the younger z fighters as this meant the chances of being recognised would increase, but that small worry was quickly replaced with excitement.

"Sure is packed, huh?" Goku said with an enthusiastic grin on his face. Gohan nodded at his father's side.

"Yea…sure is…" he muttered. Vegeta glanced at Gohan.

"You're not thinking of backing out now, boy, are you? We wouldn't want a coward in our midst." He smirked. Gohan shook his head and straightened up."

"No way! I'm no coward!" Gohan declared. Goku smiled at his son but couldn't help getting the feeling that something was missing. He glanced over his shoulder at Goten who was still being strangely silent and staring at Uub.

Trunks nudged Goten's arm as he caught his friend staring again.

"Hey, don't worry about him. Why don't we just enjoy ourselves while we're here? Just look where we are." Trunks told his long time friend. Goten broke his stare and looked at Trunks and then at all of the other fighters that had made it past the punching machine.

"Do we have to look?" Zara joked from behind Trunks. Goten couldn't help smiling.

Most of the people that had gotten past the punch machine looked like jokes. There was a pair on the far side of the ring having a quick warm up spar. They both looked more like professional wrestlers instead of martial artists. One was a black man wearing a red outfit and the other was a white guy in navy blue. Both had shaved all of their hair off.

Next to them was a masked man known as 'the arachnid'. He was a fighter well known for speed and for being unpredictable. His out fit was a black suit with a web design over it and a spider emblem over his mask and chest. He also had a white cape that looked a lot like webbing. His suit completely covered him and he was busy surveying the others.

The next two over was a 20-something girl with her black hair braided into a long plait. She was wearing a tight navy blue gi and was listening intently to a good-looking man with gelled blonde hair in the style of all of the recent pop stars. It looked like he cared more about his hair then the tournament, or maybe getting a date.

The last two humans had a very familiar outfit that all of the older z fighters recognised instantly.

"Hey! They must be Tien's students!" Krillen exclaimed from his place in the stands. He was sitting with 18, Marron, Roshi, Oolong and Paur in the middle of the stands with Chichi, Videl, Bulma and Yamcha in the row in front.

Videl looked over her shoulder at them.

"Tien has students now?" she asked. She had only met Tien a few times and most of the gang hadn't seen him for years so no one really knew what he had been up to. Except for Krillen and Yamcha that is.

Krillen nodded at the woman but it was Yamcha that explained.

"Yea, some kids tracked him down a few years back after hearing of a great martial artist that trained in the mountains. They found him and kept asking him to train them until he finally gave in and did it. This is their first tournament."

Bulma smiled at hearing this as she carefully watched the two young men in question.

"That's almost a shame. They're going to have to go against the strongest people in the whole universe. A bit much for their first budokai." She said with a chuckle and the others all had to agree.

The balding announcer finally made his way onto the ring with two monks following holding the ball box. They set the box onto a table that had been brought along as the announcer addressed everyone and the fighters gathered round him.

"Ok, this has been working fine for the last couple of Budokais and so we're going to use it again. All you have to do is draw a numbered ball from the box and that will determine whom you'll be fighting. Everyone ok with that? Lets have arachnid come up first then!" he explained and the costumed clad man walked up to the ball box and drew a 14. His name was then written down next to the corresponding part of the leaders board.

Next came the two wrestlers. The white one got a 12 and the black one got a 2. Then came Bra. She walked confidently to the box and after some rummaging she got a 6. It took a while to get to the rest of the Z gang as the last few humans went first but they soon came and went. Goku got an 11, Gohan got 13 and Goten got 7. Pan was after Goten and she got 5, pairing her up with Bra.

The three eldest saiyans all gave each other challenging looks as they silently betted which girl would win. The rivalry between the Sons and Briefs would surely come back full force in this match up.

Trunks was next and he quickly drew a 10 and then came what Goten was waiting for. Uub had to draw.

The human quickly breathed out and then made his way almost nervously to the box, knowing all eyes were on him.

Its ok, Uub, It's just a whole stadium of people watching you. No big…he thought as he reached the box. He put his hand into the box and rummaged around in it until he had a firm hold on a ball. When he pulled it out all of the younger members of the Z gang gasped.

"This can't be good." Zara muttered. Trunks looked over at Goten and rested his hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"You better not be too hard on him." Trunks muttered to Goten but he wasn't listening. Instead he was smiling dangerously at Uub.

Uub had drawn 8.

Vegeta was called forth next and the saiyan drew a ball as quickly as possible and tossed it at the announcer without even looking. The poor announcer fumbled about as he tried to get a firm hold. When he finally held the ball properly, he adjusted his glasses and stared at the ball.

"1" he announced cheerfully, making the z gang - except Uub – sweat drop. Uub looked round at them all in confusion and then looked at Goku.

"Is that bad?" He asked. Goku looked at his student and straightened up, grinning his famous grin.

"In a way, yes. He doesn't even humour those weaker then him. This fight will be over in a matter of seconds. The crowd is really going to miss out." He explained and Uub nodded with a slight sweat drop and a grin as well.

"See what you mean." He said and laughed. Goten was watching them through their little conversation and he was now glaring at the young man. Uub was treating Goku like his own father so this was just another example of his crimes to Goten.

Zara quickly pointed Goten out to Trunks before running up to collect her ball. There wasn't much point as she was last though…

She got 9 and the standings looked like this:

Vegeta V.S Butch
Daisuke V.S Eisuke
Pan V.S Bra
Goten V.S Uub
Zara V.S Trunks
Goku V.S Bruno
Gohan V.S the arachnid
Tara V.S Haru

A/N: Ok, there's another chapter done. Kinda short compared to the last few. Meh, oh well, we have some interesting matches set up just for the first round. So, who will win? Find out next time! Ja'ne!