"Dragonball AS: Destroyer Saga"
Chapter 6- "The Plan"
By- Tiny
Everyone had been assembled at the Lookout by early in the afternoon after Dende had broken the news to Ubuu about Destroyer, the news only being sent after Sanil and the Saiya-jin managed to pull the Majin off of the guardian. Dende was still in pretty rough shape even after healing himself from any critical injuries, though he was still keeping wary of the resurrected Majin as he explained things to the others. It had looked for a moment like Gohan would go one step further and kill the guardian when he found out, but knew that that would possibly be a mistake and had contained himself.
All of the older warriors that remained and their families were there, including the reformed and reformatted Juunana, though all of the new human fighters had decided to remain at home just in case something should happen. The Saiya-jin had all come along and been sure to bring their families along, even bringing the two year old Medon just to make sure he kept out of trouble. The young one was currently playing around near the living area with Mr. Popo while Dende talked with the others, being sure to talk slowly and cover everything to avoid any confusion.
"I guess we should have known the bastard would follow us here, I just didn't think it would be so soon," Kimuchi growled, "He must've been behind us the whole time and has been waiting for us to drop out guard."
"Destroyer is the least of our worries, it's his masters I'd be more worried about if I were you," Apio mused, "After all, they were able to get the drop on a Saiya-jin at the legendary level and that, as you well know, is no easy task!"
"I almost wish that my father were still here to help us out now," Trunks nodded, holding Marron close to himself, "He might know what to do in this situation..."
"Destroyer entered the upcoming Budokai registry this morning," Dende chimed in, "He must think that he can draw out the strongest fighters by picking on the weaker ones in front of us."
"Well, I have to fight in that Budokai anyway, since I'm the defending champion and all," Ubuu muttered, "Maybe we could all enter and face off with him there! He'd never see it coming!"
"I don't know Ubuu, he might want us to do that so he can pick us all off at one time," Gohan spoke up, "It'd be the perfect way to ensure that nobody was around to defend this planet from his masters."
"Then I say we have the strongest of us, you and Kimuchi, stay in the stands during the fights," Goten suggested, "That way if the rest of us are too weak to do anything to him and he tries anything, the two of you could swoop in and take his ass out!"
The two older Saiya-jin thought it over and actually figured that the younger warrior had probably made the most valid suggestion today, proving that he wasn't an exact copy of Goku after all! Destroyer more than likely wouldn't expect the strongest of the fighters to stay out of the matches, no matter how old they were, and would be caught off guard by the move. It was the perfect plan for taking him out and moving on with life, but there were a few complications that had to be taken care of first, the first of which being who would actually fight.
Marron was absolutely out of the question, since she was pregnant and both Trunks and Krillin would kill Gohan if he even mentioned her name in the roster, assuming Juuhachi didn't get to him first. There were of course the six younger Saiya-jin, not to mention Ubuu and the other two aliens, which would equal up over half of the battle brackets all on their own, but that still left six slots. Juunana was definitely a candidate, seeing as he was still extremely powerful thanks to his time as Super Juunana, but now was just barely at Ubuu's level. And that was when it came to Gohan so quickly that it was almost like it had been slapped right into his head, the idea so perfect that it would have been a true testament to his genius had Trunks not spouted it out first.
"You know, we could always have the new human fighter's take a shot at this guy in the ring," Trunks spoke up, "I mean, Krillin and Yamcha have three students left without Marron, Tien and Chautzu have three students to offer. I say we go for it and hope for the best!"
"Yeah, I agree with Trunks on this one," Gohan grumbled, "Filthy idea thief..."
"Then it's settled, we'll all go sign up for the Budokai in two days and keep our eyes peeled for this Destroyer guy," Kimuchi smiled, sensing his cousin's thoughts, "Just be sure to keep your guard up until then, because we never know when he'll decide to change his mind."
"Oh don't worry, we'll be sure to keep our eyes open," Pan chuckled, cracking her knuckles, "I've been itching for a good fight for a long time now."
"Then let the plan begin..."
Two days passed by like they had never been and the big day had arrived for the Z fighters as they prepared for the Budokai, getting all their things in order before heading out for the arena in preparations for the fights. All of the older human fighters would be there mostly for moral support and what not, since they had all been surpassed by the younger generation and wouldn't be much good in this new battle. Gohan and Kimuchi had also called ahead to make arrangements for their seats, demanding the box over the waiting area as a favor from the current champion, getting the seats with virtually no trouble whatsoever.
No training had been done outside of quick warm-ups or stretches over the two day grace period, seeing as nobody wanted to be sore or overexerted when the time came to possibly face Destroyer. Even the normally diehard training buff Trunks had been taking it easy the last couple of days, spending all of his time helping get ready for his child's arrival. It was a tense time for the entire Z gang, though things had stayed rather calm and cool under the circumstances, but now it was crunch time and there was no room for such insecurities as they got ready for the fights.
The preliminary rounds, which now consisted of the accursed punching machine once more, had gone smoothly with all of the winners scoring at the very least a three hundred or higher. Well, everyone except for the highly irritable Sanil, who let the machine have it so hard that the max overload sign didn't flash just before the whole thing exploded into a pile of burning scrap. That had been rather amusing for the whole gang to watch, reminding them of Vegeta's incident with the machine years earlier, but nobody smiled for fear of possibly missing sight of their prey.
The one known as Destroyer had been easy enough to spot, though nobody could see his face or anything thanks to the cloak that he kept over himself, but the evil energy radiating off of him was unmistakable. It had been like sticking your hand into a pile of cow shit and then yanking it out, the disgustingly revolting feel of it not leaving even after you had moved away from it. All of the Z fighter's now understood exactly why Kimuchi and the other's had run from this horrible creature and were more determined than ever to take him out.
Everyone had been shooed into the back room for the drawing of numbers to see who would fight who shortly after the machine readouts, the monks wanting to get things out of the way quickly so they could get to business. That had gone relatively smoothly with the new announcer in charge, a young man with shoulder length blonde hair and a goatee, who it turns out was the grandson of the old announcer. Destroyer's turn had been a quiet one with no cheering until they saw who he had to fight in the first round, but now everything was decided and the announcer had gone out to give the juicy details to the crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this, the 31st Budokai, and what I can promise will be the most thrilling one ever!" the announcer roared into the microphone, "The fight's will be progressing as follows:"
Round 1: Ice vs. Sanil
Round 2: Roshi vs. Destroyer
Round 3: Pan vs. Bra
Round 4: Goten vs. Ubuu
Round 5: Bonzar vs. Trunks
Round 6: Yugin vs. Apio
Round 7: Yuno vs. Bruno
Round 8: Berge vs. Jace
"Now, let's get started with the first match, featuring our first contestant, a young man with a rather cold disposition," the announcer continued, "It say's here that he's from a far away place where he fought for years to gain freedom for his people, but was then sold into slavery before being rescued by his mentor and father-figure. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with the most frosty character in this tournament; give it up for Ice!"
The crowd cheered wildly as the lizard-like alien walked out of the waiting area and literally hovered over the walkway and into the ring, setting himself down only after he had reached the center. Ice was dressed in a black t-shirt, mostly because it stood out against his pale body, and a pair of dark blue jeans, which he had cut off at the ankles so that they didn't drag underneath his feet when he walked. He also had a blue baseball cap with the Capsule Corp. logo on the front turned backwards on his head, hiding his baldness from the crowd as they continued to cheer for him.
"Our next competitor is a little bit different than Ice here, but by no means less of a fighter ladies and gentlemen, as he managed to destroy a punching machine!" the announcer kept on, "He is said to be a student of the Demon style of martial arts first seen here by the infamous Piccolo, not to mention a distant relative of the former Budokai runner-up! Let's hear a warm round of applause for the green-skinned warrior, Sanil!"
The crowd was probably more enthusiastic now than they had been with Ice, since Sanil used a style that any Budokai fan was familiar with, seeing as Piccolo was one of the most famous figures in Budokai history. Only Son Goku rivaled the Nameksei-jin in popularity amongst the fans and their cheers turned into screams of sheer delight as the young warrior walked emotionlessly out of the waiting area. He was dressed in the same outfit he had worn when the others had met him on the Lookout, claiming it suited him in battle, the only difference being he wore a black bandana now rather than a hat.
The two warrior's stared each other down intensely as Sanil entered the ring across from Ice, his obsidian eyes coming into contact with the Kurudo-jin's red ones as they prepared for the fight. They were here as allies for a common cause and knew that, if the human in the upcoming fight failed, that one of them, the stronger, would go on to face Destroyer in the next round. Both were determined that that fighter was going to be them, neither willing to back away from the other even in the stare down, a good sign of their courage as the crowd began to grow silent.
Energy began to crackle in the air between the two fighters as their aura's shot up all around them, Sanil's a brilliant silver color in sharp contrast to the light blue one that surrounded Ice. Everyone with ki senses could feel the energy levels of the two fighters beginning to rise even as they fell into their fighting stances across the ring from each other, both smirking at each other with a mixture of respect and mockery. This fight was already being played out on a mental plain between two skilled young men and soon, that mental struggle would come to light in the middle of the Budokai arena.
"Alright everyone, the time has come at long last to get this party started!" the announcer screamed into the microphone, "FIGHT!"
Author's Notes: Some of the human fighter's in this story will be slightly different than they were in the first one, but I've jettisoned two of the characters and decided they won't be in this remake. Akira and Trevor, Krillin's students in the first DB:AS, will be replaced in this one by Jace and Bruno, who will show up as Tien's students at the Budokai. They should be familiar to you all, since they will be revealed to be 'old friends' later on, and I think you know who they are! Other changes will be taking place in the chapters to come, so stay tuned for those! Now, to recognize my wonderful reviewers!
Adum I. Smart: Thanks for saying the last chapter was good, since it was personally a let down for me cause I couldn't get it to flow the way I would have liked. Oh well though, I think this one turned out pretty good for a quick update, don't you? Review and let me know!
Everyone Else: Thank you for reading this and let's see some reviews alright? They help me to know what I need some more work on and are greatly appreciated. Thanks and I'll see ya next time!