Note: I've a day off tomorrow (no lectures, the prof is ill), so if you give me some motivation (remember: reviews = motivation) I might be able to write the next fight till Friday...


Welcome to the afterlife, son!



Chapter Eight: Goku's fight



Last time...

Gohan shook his head and pretended to be cleaning his ears from all the water, while his thoughts were evolving around this young woman.

"She surely is an eyecatcher..." he muttered to himself, "my voices are right, I've gotta come to know her! But after the fights are over..."

Gohan then walked over towards the other fighters of the North quadrant and received their congrats. His father patted him on the back and smiled proudly at him. Yeah, he had survived his first baptism of fire...



Now the continuation...

Gohan and the others were now standing outside the ring and wanted to watch the next fight. It would be the East quadrant versus the West quadrant, and already the alien announcer guy stepped into the ring again.

"Ladies, gentleman and everything in between, and now we have Alamba from the East quadrant" he pointed at a blue-haired guy, "versus Neko from the West quadrant!" he exclaimed.

The crowd cheered, but most of them for Alamba, the blue-haired guy from the East quadrant.

Apparently Neko, the cat-like fighter from the West quadrant was not overly like here, and regarding his threatening looks that was easy...

But Gohan had learned long ago not to judge a person not by his or her looks alone, so he waited until the fight would begin to form a view on Neko for himself.

The alien announcer guy looked at Grand Kai, who then gave the signal. The fight was on!

Instantly Alamba and Neko disappeared, but they were not as fast as Gohan would have expected. He had no problems to follow them, even in his normal form.

Neko had extended his claws and clearly wanted to use them to his advantage, but Alamba was not intrigued in the slightest.

He blocked blow for blow, and apparently his skin was hard enough not to be harmed by Nekos' claws.

Suddenly they reappeared again, and then Neko jumped at Alamba with extended claws and tusks. Alamba seemed to be stunned, but then he disappeared at the last possible moment.

He reappeared behind Neko and kicked him in the back. The kick was strong enough to send him to the opposing side of the ring.

Neko regained his composure fast, and this manoeuvre from his opponent had made him angry. Gohan could sense his KI rise as it was obviously reacting to his anger, but it was rather weak.

Gohan did not know if Neko could sense KI, but if he could he would have known that he was outmatched.

Alamba was clearly the stronger of the two combatants, but not so strong that Gohan could not have beaten him.

Gohan focused his view on the ring again, and at that moment Neko launched another head on attack on Alamba. Again at the last moment possible Alamba stepped to the side and dealt a blow to Nekos neck.

The cat-like fighter was forced to one knee, but seconds later he sprang to his feet and hissed.

Okay, this fight is soon over... Gohan thought, this Neko is loosing his focus and plays Alamba directly into the cards...

And so it was. Neko jumped at Alamba in order to kick him, but this time Alamba rather decided to end this fight then to toy around.

While Neko was still in the air Alamba demonstrated his superior speed and jump-kicked Neko in the chest. The force of this kick send the cat-like fighter flying out of the ring were he landed against the concrete, knocked out cold.

The alien announcer guy stepped into the ring.

"And the winner is... Alamba!" he declared, and the crowd cheered.

Gohan smiled. If he had to face this Alamba in the next round he'd supposedly have a free walk...

After the winner had been declared Goku smiled at his son.

"Now it's my turn." he said and clapped his hand.

And sure enough, seconds later the alien announcer guy announced the next fight.

"And now to a fighter we have all been waiting for, as he has won the last two tournaments... let's hear it for Son Goku!"

Goku walked towards the ring and smiled, then jumped up into the ring in one fluid move.

Yeah, that was his dad, always eager to fight. And it had been a long time since he had seen his father fight. He wondered how much his dad had improved up here...

"Show him what a Saiyan is capable of, Kakkarot." came from behind. Gohan turned around, and there stood Vegeta, arms crossed and smirking.

Hmm, that was odd. The former so cold and arrogant Saiyan prince wished one of his former enemies actually good luck...

Man, he must have really changed up here! Gohan thought.

Yeah, Vegeta had changed, and that was very much due to the fact that Kakkarot had agreed to train with him after he had been brutally killed by the Androids.

He actually knew that Kakkarot had talked King Yemma into giving Vegeta permission to train here rather then be sent to hell, but he kept this knowledge secret.

Vegeta did not want to show it, but actually he was very thankful towards Kakkarot. He had heard of hell, and had it not been for Kakkarot he would have been powerless down there. Down in hell, one could not become stronger through a beating...

He could not have done anything to become stronger; all hope to become better in order to be prepared would have been lost.

And he had been glad to be able to train with Kakkarot, and the results from their training were remarkable. They had grown a lot in power, and Vegeta was quite sure that they could beat the Androids should they be wished back anytime soon.

Vegeta knew now what for a kind of fighter Kakkarot really was. He knew now where he drew his strength from. It came from the heart, a heart that loved his wife and his son, and deep down inside Vegeta had made way for his feelings towards Bulma and Trunks.

But he would never admit it to anyone! He was not ready for that, yet...

Meanwhile Goku was standing in the ring. He had heard what Vegeta had said, and he was smiling. In former times Vegeta would never have said something like that, but Vegeta had changed. And that for the better...

But then Goku concentrated on the upcoming fight, as his opponent, a tall, bulky orgre with brown skin entered the ring.

He was a head taller than Goku, but Goku knew from experience that size was nothing without strength.

"And here comes A'Raskar from the South quadrant!" the alien announcer guy exclaimed.

Goku and A'Raskar surveyed each other and nodded. Then they dropped into a stance.

The alien announcer guy looked at the Grand Kai, and then the signal was given. The fight had begun!

And Goku wasted no time as he zanzokened out of sight. He reappeared behind A'Raskar and kicked him in the back.

The ogre was sent flying, but caught himself in mid-air and fired a KI-Blast at Goku.

Goku deflected it with ease and fazed out of sight again. This time he reappeared right in front of A'Raskar and decked him with a series of punches and kicks.

The intensity of Gokus attacks increased, and soon A'Raskar was not able to hold up his defences. One punch that was aimed for the abdomen went through, and A'Raskar staggered back.

He recovered fast and jumped into the air, and the whole crowd took their breaths. Especially a young human woman was anxious to see what the father of this lovable young man could do...

Obviously A'Raskar gathered energy for something, but Goku just stood there and waited.

The South galaxy fighter A'Raskar was nearly finished gathering the energy...

while Goku just stood on the ground with a look of anticipation on his face.

Then A'Raskar launched the attack!

"Wind of Pain!" he howled, and a large purple beam left his palms.

While the audience still held their breaths Goku only smiled. He would end this now.

"KA...ME...HA...ME...HAAAA!" he exclaimed, and the gigantic blue wave that was his favourite signature attack exited his palms and flew towards the purple beam.

The beams collided in mid-air, and after a brief moment of struggle the kamehame-ha wave quickly gained the 'upper hand' and flew straight at A'Raskar.

The alien only had time to exclaim an

"Oh shit..."

before the wave hit him head-on.

Goku had been carefully not to make it too strong, and so the beam only knocked A'Raskar out cold. The South galaxy fighter fell from the sky and crashed into the ring, were he remained laying in an impact crater.

After he did not get up the alien announcer guy walked into the ring.

"And Goku is the winner by knock-out! Lets hear it for Goku!" he exclaimed.

The crowd cheered, and Goku waved at them. He was happy that they were pleased, but that had not been a real challenge for him. Merely a warm-up.

He hoped that the next rounds would be more interesting; he had not even needed to go Super Saiyan...

Now that the fight was over Goku returned to the others, and they congratulated him to his victory. Goku smiled, but waved it off quickly. After all, it had been to easy...

Quickly the next fight was announced.

"And now to the next fight, ladies, gentleman and everything in between: it's Boldo from the West quadrant versus Jabadai from the East quadrant." the alien announcer guy exclaimed.

Uilibu, who had meanwhile made a full recovery from his fight against Gohan leaned forward and smiled.

"This should be a funny fight. Both of them are speedster, and not very strong. Although I see a light advantage for Jabadai." he said.

Vegeta just huffed.

"What is speed without strength and endurance?" he asked.

Ulibu nodded.

"You are right, Vegeta, but if speed is used to its fullest it can overpower a much stronger opponent. Never underestimate someone because he is weaker than you."

Vegeta scowled, but otherwise kept his mouth shut and watched the fight that was about to start. This warrior knew what he was talking about, he was, after all, training for some thousand years...

The alien announcer guy looked at the Grand Kai, and again the Grand Kai gave the signal for the battle to begin.

Both speedster shot at each other at mind-boggling speed and attacked in a blurry of punches and kicks. Most people in the audience were not able to follow, and especially a certain human called Hercule Satan was bug-eyed.

If he had not known it better he would have called it a trick. But he had been assured more than only once that everything he saw here was perfectly real. Real, yeah, but also unbelievable...

Videl on the other hand was not surprised; she had seen many strange things up here. And another strange thing was that the young man, this Son Gohan, and his father as well as the others standing with them seemed to have no difficulties in seeing the fighters move.

Their heads whipped into different directions, so they were actually following the fight! But how was this possible? That was just blatant!

Back at the fight Ulibus prediction proved to be true. Slowly but steadily Jabadai gained the upper hand, and soon Boldo was only in the defence.

A defence he could not maintain much longer for Jabadai proved to have more stamina. After a very vicious attack that consisted in hundreds of punches and kicks Boldos defence shattered and Jabadai was able to land the final punch.

A quick blow to the head rendered Boldo unconscious, and the fight was over.

"And the winner is Jabadai from the East quadrant!" the alien announcer guy exclaimed.

Naturally East Kai was gleaming with joy, for one of her fighters had actually (and finally) 'survived' the first round!

West Kai on the other hand was very displeased that one of his fighters had lost to East Kai, but he still had his best weapon in store, Pikkon!

Then the next fight was about to be announced, and the Z-Fighters listened intently, for this time one of theirs would fight.

"And now to the next fight... and here, from the North quadrant, I give you Piccolo, son of Piccolo Damuo, the demon king!" he exclaimed, and the crowd cheered.

Piccolo actually waved at the audience, and Gohan was very surprised.

Is my old mentor and sensei actually defrosting? Hmm, seems as if his stay up here is affecting him... he thought.

"And here, from the South quadrant, I give you Arrar! He's a fierce fighter from the planet Grizzlor who gave his life defending his home planet against the invading troops of Oregar!" the alien announcer guy exclaimed, and again the audience cheered.

Piccolo surveyed his opponent. Arrar was very tall and broad-shouldered, muscular and seemingly well-trained. And, most important of all, he looked like an intelligent version of the grizzly bear from Earth.

This will be one interesting fight... Piccolo thought and readied himself for the battle...



to be continued...


==  Next time: Piccolos fight versus Arrar! Who will be the stronger of the two? The Namek or the Grizzlorian? Stay tuned!  ==

Thanks for reading! Please review!

And as always a very special thanks to my beta, who is doing a great job! Thx!



REVIEWERS RESPONSES:


Raid-Scion-of-Randomness: Oh yeah, that he did. But those fights in Round 1 are nothing compared to the upcoming fights, just wait and see. There will be a lot more action! And this is kind of a G/V AU, for this story is set after Gohan has been killed by the Androids. Videl has been killed to (Chapter 5), so it figures that she's here...           


Rose Vaughn: One can say so... but right now Gohan will concentrate on the tournament. After all, he has challenging competition in the tournament...


Anthony1: Thank you! And yes, Gohan has his left arm back. I watched a lot of DBZ episodes that regarded the afterlife, but I never saw anyone who was disabled. Thus I 'arranged' it that Gohan got his arm back once he entered the afterlife... 


Digi fan: Thanks, and you can be sure there are coming more fights! A lot more...             


Marshmellow13Dragon: I liked writing it :P; and you're fully and totally right, why shouldn't Videl and Gohan enjoy their afterlife? Although this is coming later, for now I am focussing on the fights...


Goten's Girl12: Glad that you liked it! I am honoured for the 8 out of 10 and that this story is now one of your favs! Thank you!
wonderswhatitwouldtaketoget10outof10...             


Candy the Duck: Cool! I've a five star story now! Cheersloudly,thentakessugarawayfromhimself Cool that you like it!


DBZ Chick1: Thanks! I enjoyed writing it! And Gohan will do far more, promise!               


animeprincess1452: Yeah, lately I seem to be inspired to write fighting scenes. It's a good equalisation to Romance and Humour, although I like to write those too...