Chapter 40: Team Earth VS Team Aquan

Team Earth and Team Aquan won the second round. They fought hard and learned how to trust one another in a battle (but they didn't trust Borox). But the hardest thing was, now they had to fight against each other. That was never easy, fighting against a friend to determine the fate of your world. But no matter what was going to happen, Team Earth, our fighters were determined to beat Team Aquan to keep their planet safe. After that was finished, they were going to go after Moritor, the leader of this sick and twisted game of his.

The two teams stood opposite of each other on the ring floor. The crowd screamed, chanting their names over and over again. Some of them chanted: "TEAM EARTH! TEAM EARTH!" and others chanted: "TEAM AQUAN! TEAM AQUAN!"

Moritor and the ref of the matches walked up to the ring standing in between the two teams. Moritor glanced at them both with a smirk on his face. The ref then held out the mic. He turned grabbing onto it holding it in front of his mouth.

"Alright! Alright! Everyone settle down!" the crowd began to quite down as Moritor continued to speak. "This is the final match of this tournament! You've all waited long for this day and so haven't the fighters of these two teams! Team Earth, a rookie team has made it to the finals with our reining champions Team Aquan! We've seen the power that Team Earth has and it seems that their Saiyans! No wonder why they made it huh? Well, I'm sure all of you are getting sick of my talking, so I'm going to explain the rules." Moritor inhaled. "Anything goes with the attacks, butif you get knocked out of the ring it's a ring out or if you get killed or fall unconscious it's a knock out! Now… LET THE FIGHTING BEGAN!"

The crowd screamed and cheeredfor theirfavorite team. Moritor lowered the mic from his mouth handing it back to the ref. He looked at Team Earth and smiled. "I'm looking forward to our battle Goku." He said.

Goku stood there glaring at Moritor as he just smirked and walked away. The refthen rose the mic to his mouth and began to speak. "Welcome to the final round of the tournament! Our first battle will start with Talli from Team Aquan vs. Son Gohan from Team Earth!"

Gohan and Talli stepped up onto the ring. They looked at each other as if they didn't want to do this. They didn't think this was right. They didn't want to fight each other, they didn't even think about killing each other. All they knew was that they were going to try to get a ring out, they didn't want to do anything to harm one another.

"Fighters! Are you ready?" the ref asked taking a few steps back as he looked at both Talli and Gohan. Talli pulled herself into her stance nodding her head as Gohan did the same.

"I might not want to do this Gohan, but I am going to beat you." Talli said to him.

"Sorry Talli, I might not want to fight you either but I've come too far to let you win." Gohan said to her. Talli and Gohan prepared themselves for the ref's queue to go.

"BEGIN!"

Talli and Gohan lunged at each other. Gohan threw his fist forward trying to hit Talli. Talli easily dodged his attack. She went to sweep Gohan off of his feet but Gohan had jumped into the air. For a while the two of them dodged each other's attacks. But then Gohan had landed his foot in Talli's face causing her to stumble back a few steps.

Talli placed her hand onto her cheek. She rubbed it as pain throbbed through. She smirked a little enjoying the battle with Gohan. As he leapt backward he settled himself right back into his stance once more.

"That was good, that was really good." Talli said standing upright. "But I don't want to fight you Gohan. And I know you don't want to either. Don't make me boil down to killing you."

"The same goes for me Talli." Gohan said to her as he stood upright out of his stance. "This whole tournament is stupid. If both of us survive you should help us try to stop Moritor."

"I can't do that Gohan." Talli said crossing her arms sadly across her chest.

"Why not?" Gohan asked.

"It's the only action we get. This is the only time that we can fight to please ourselves. Of course we train a lot but it gets boring after awhile just training with the same people over and over again."

"Trust me Talli." Gohan began. "You should enjoy the peace on your planet as long as you can. Enjoy it. Because after that first attack, it may never be the same again."

"What do you mean?" Talli asked raising an eyebrow.

"My planet was attacked more then you know. The first attack on my planet was when Vegeta and Nappa came. Back then, Vegeta was pure evil. But through the years he's changed. The second attack on our planet was Garlic Jr. I had to fight my best friends Piccolo and Krillin. Then it was the androids, they were so evil that a boy from the future had to come to us and warn us about their attack. Then it was Cell. My father had sacrificed himself to keep the planet safe. I waited seven years for my father's arrival back on earth, but he came when another attack arrived. And that was the attack of Majin Buu. I myself and the whole planet were destroyed. Enjoy the peace why you can Talli… because it may not last any longer."

Talli blinked a few times. She didn't understand how Gohan could die and be right here in front of him. It didn't make sense to her. She was about to ask when the crowd began to shout at them.

"COME ON! GET ON WITH THE FIGHT!"

"LET'S GO! WE DIDN'T COME HERE FOR YOU TWO TO CHAT!"

"Well my friend, I would love to chat more about the peace on my planet and the attacks on yours but… we have a crowd to please and a tournament to win." Talli said to him.

Gohan nodded his head. "We do."

Talli and Gohan lunged at each other again. The both of them exchanged attacks. Some of them they were able to dodge and others they weren't. The battle was in tense between the two. Within minutes of the battle neither of them could stand upright.

Blood rushed down the side of Gohan's face. Blood came down over his right eye from a cut on his forehead. Blood dripped down the side of his mouth as the blood from his nose came over his mouth and dripping off of his chin. A dark bruise lay on his cheek along with a couple of them on his arms. His clothes were torn and worn out showing places where he was hit with ki beams or ki blasts. Gohan's left eye was swollen shut half way. He stood strong though, showing Talli that he wasn't going to give up.

Talli was also covered in blood. Her hair was stiff from it escaping the top of her head dripping down her hair. A cut laid above her right brow bleeding slightly. Blood trickled down the corner of her right eye as it was swollen half way shut. Blood came from her nose and mouth like a stream with swift waters. Her right strap on her shirt was completely broken hanging forward onto her chest exposing a badly injured shoulder. Cuts and rips laid all over her clothes indicating that she was hit with a lot of ki beams or ki blasts. She also stood strong. Showing Gohan that she wasn't ready to give into him yet.

Talli lunged at Gohan with all of her might. Gohan waited till the last second. "HAH!" Gohan pulled his fists to his hips as a blast of a golden aura surrounded him throwing Talli back against the concrete of the ring. She looked at him to see that he was in his super saiyan state. She stood up off of the concrete wiping off her shoulderfrom dirt or dust that was left behind.

"Let's get started!" Talli shouted powering herself up as well matching her power with Gohan's. The two of them began an all out war.

Taylor stood at the sidelines watching the battle rage on in between the two. She pondered about who she was going to fight. But she knew no matter who it was she wasn't going to be able to beat them. The Aquan Team have become her friends (all except Borox). She couldn't fight any of them. Especially Kotari. Taylor had grown attached to the half Aquan girl, Kotari has become her best friend. There was no way that she could fight her.

Taylor turned her head facing everyone on the team as she stood next to her father. Pan watched worrying about her father. Vegeta stood there keeping his eyes locked on the battle trying to make sure that no mistake was made, and if there was one he was going to be the first to pick it out. Piccolo watched with a serious expression on his face as Gohan, his best friend, continued to fight Talli of Team Aquan. She then turned her head to look on the other side of her father. There stood Goten, who stood there with his fists tightly clenched. They were so tight that if Goten had nails he would've surely broken through his skin.

She then looked up at her father. He had the most serious face of all. He was the one paying more attention to the battle then anything else. Goku didn't want to lose this tournament and Taylor knew it. But she couldn't help feel that the world would end up resting on her shoulders. And that was to much weight for a thirteen year oldhybrid to carry.

"Dad." Taylor called softly. She was so soft that if only you were listening you could hear her. Goku did hear her, and he turned his head looking at her.

"What is it Taylor?" Goku asked of his youngest daughter. Taylor looked at the ground. Instantly her father knew that something was wrong. Goku bent down getting onto his knees looking up into the eyes of his daughter. "Taylor?"

"What if…. I can't fight them at all dad." Taylor said to him. Goku looked at her as she continued. "They've all became my friend except for Borox since he tried to kill me." Taylor inhaled. "I don't know if I can do it."

"Well Taylor, the only thing I can tell you is to hope you get paired with Borox." Goku said to her.

"That is not likely." Came a sharp, but harsh voice. Goku turned his head as Taylor looked over his shoulder to see Moritor walking over to them. "She'll be fighting whoever she was partnered with."

Taylor looked down. Instantly she knew she was going to have to fight her best friend Kotari, which she knew she couldn't do. "Don't lose saiyan. I'm looking forward to our battle after this tournament." He said to him. Goku growled at him as he only smirked, he turned and walked away.

Gohan was punched in his face. He was then thrown down onto the concrete of the ring. He looked up to see Talli jumping towards him. Gohan rolled out of the way as Talli's fist went into the ground. He then jumped onto his feet quickly looking at Talli seriously. She turned her head looking at the hybrid. She could see how high his power was even though he was badly injured and beat up.

"I'm surprised you can move that fast considering at how your beat up." Talli said pulling her fist out of the ring.

"Well, my planet is resting on me, and I'll do anything to keep it alive." Gohan said to her. Talli nodded her head agreeing with her fighting opponent.

"Agreed Gohan. But to bad to keep our planets alive we have to fight each other." Talli stated.

"It is a shame. I don't want to kill you." Gohan said.

"Nor do I."

"So we'll just have to try to throw each other out of the ring."

Talli and Gohan lunged at each other once more. Fists went flying as they moved at the speed of light. They would be in one spot and then disappear and be in another. They moved so fast that they themselves thought that all time has stopped because of it.

Talli had thrown her knee into his stomach causing blood to burst out of his mouth and land on her face. She then grabbed a hold of his saiyan-like hair. She leapt up into the air swinging Gohan in circles. She then slammed him onto the ground. Dust had then covered Gohan.

Talli hovered a little closer to the dust. She looked through trying to see if she saw Gohan. When the dust had finally cleared. He was nowhere to be found. Talli rose an eyebrow. She looked around on the ring floor trying to figure out where he had gone to.

"Ka… me… ha… me…"

Talli heard his voice. She turned and then looked up to see Gohan hovering in the air. Now the right side of his shirt hung over onto his pants showing the right side of his chest. But Talli didn't care about that. She only cared about the attack that Gohan was forming. It had a tremendous amount of ki in it, and of course she's seen the attack hit its target, but she's never been the target of one till now.

"HAAH!" Gohan through his hands forward as the ki beam left his hands. Talli countered it with an attack of her own strength. Soon enough, the two attacks clashed, forcing the two teams to get nearly blown away as the attacks exploded.

Kotari covered her face as she thought about what she had heard Moritor say. She was going to fight her partner… which meant she was going to fight Taylor. But she couldn't do it. There was no way she was going to be able to fight her best friend. Taylor was the only one that she could talk to about anything. When she had saw Taylor nearly killed in the elimination rounds; even though she never showed it, she was extremely worried and upset about her getting hurt. She wanted to kill the one who had inflected that injury on her, but it wasn't her team that was battling that day.

The light continued to shine. Kotari began to slide back till she felt someone's hands touch her shoulders. She looked up to see Guru holding her making sure she doesn't go flying.

"Guru…" She said softly.

"What is it Kotari? Now isn't the time to be talking." Guru said to her.

"I know but… I don't know if I'll be able to fight Son Taylor. She's like my best friend." Kotari said to him covering her face with her hands shielding the light from her eyes.

Guru stood there without a response since he knew that this was going to happen. The whole team knew what was going to happen. He knew that she was never going to be able to defeat Taylor.

The light continued to shine as both teams felt the powers from their members collapse almost to nothing. Then, suddenly, the light disappeared. Lying on the ground covered in dust and rubble was Talli. She was defeated. She was nearly dead. Gohan, fell from the sky landing on his back. The ref began to count for both of them. When he had reached five, Gohan began to get to his knees. He groaned as he looked forward at Talli who didn't move. He hung his head low, knowing what he has done.

He had killed her. He had done what he tried so hard to avoid. He didn't want to kill her but, it was something that he couldn't prevent. It was going to happen to one of them, and it happened to happen to her.

The ref had finally stopped counting once he had felt Talli's ki level drop to zero indicating that she was dead. The ref walked over to Gohan taking his wrist into his hand and lifting it into the air.

"The victor of the first match! Son Gohan of Team Earth!" the ref cried. The people that were rooting for Team Earth cheered and screamed on top of their lungs. Gohan had heard sobbing coming from Team Aquan. He looked over to see Jakx on his knees in tears trying to tell himself that his mother wasn't dead. Jakx had looked up at the body of his mother and began speaking.

"Mom. When my turn comes, I'll be sure to avenge you." He spoke softly. Gohan looked at his daughter Pan who held a huge smile on her face.

"You did it dad! You did it!" she shouted jumping for joy. Gohan limped towards his team. When he had reached the edge of the ring, his body had suddenly given out on him. His eyes closed as he fell forward.

Piccolo and Goku caught him. "Gotcha son." Goku said as they brought him to the ground slowly. The team huddled around him but Vegeta. He watched from afar. Gohan's head rolled a few times before he had opened his eyes focusing them on Pan. He smiled as he reached out towards her.

"Pan… good luck… i-i-in y-yo-your matchhh…" Gohan's voice trailed off. His body limped. Pan's eyes began to fill with water. She had noticed a blood stain beginning to form on her father's shirt. She placed her hand over her mouth holding herself back from screaming. Taylor had then taken her niece into her arms holding her tightly.

"Shh Pan, it's alright… we'll wish Gohan back with the Dragonballs when we return to earth." Taylor said as she began to cradle her young niece.

"Dad… no…" Pan gripped Taylor's shirt tightly. Taylor tried not to cry herself but a few tears had escaped her eyes. Piccolo had simply closed his eyes. Goten and Goku looked at the ground as Vegeta looked away. They then heard the ref call up the next fighters.

"The next match continues! Jakx from Team Aquan vs. Son Pan from Team Earth!"