/*
Disclaimer: DBZ isn't mine, Gohan is, well in my dreams he is at any rate.
Anything between /* and */ is just me budding in, so is anything after // up until the next hard return.
For those of you that realised, I'm trying to learn to program in C++ as a hobby, that's the origin of the commentary codes.
*/
/*
Questions, current standing just a few more points:
You can vote for more than one person to win, though as I said your influence there is a bit limited.
Reviews with to many nuances, though I will consider them during writing won't be shown here since it's hard to make a yes or no out of them.
Conditional votes, such as Dragon Empress saying: "Only if you kill the bastard!" on question #2, will be counted separately in parentheses
Should Hercule remain a complete bastard, or should he become somewhat more likeable?
More likeable : IIIII
Complete bastard: IIIIII
What do you think of the idea of a Majin Hercule?
Yes: III(I)
No : IIIII
Lol: II
Who do you think will win the tournament? (You won't be able to greatly influence me with that because I have the draw and results planned. Except for the matter of who will win, but it has been narrowed down to two candidates.)
Gohan : IIIIII
Goku : II
Vegeta: II
Videl : (I)
As you can see the vote is close on the first question especially. The polls are still open so keep the votes coming.
/*
Response to reviews:
To Kodra:
Well I guess you're right about a tendency with me and maybe some other authors to over-emphasize the nature of Hercule. You're right about him being a great fighter by most standards, that isn't my problem with him, my problem is that by most standards he's also a liar and a cheat, not to mention he insults Goku in one episode, as you can see the vote on more likeable or not is close so we'll have to wait and see what happens.
PS. I forgot to put this here the first time I posted this chapter so I'm replacing the contents, while I thank you for the offer of the plot-development-suggestions, I'm trying to get to an end for this fic, it'll still take a number of chapters, considering that I already have rather a lot of plot development in mind so I'm afraid I'll have to decline.
To No Name:
Thanks for the compliment. I suppose whether I should ignore them or not depends on the type of criticism if it's constructive, which all my criticism so far has been I don't mind, it annoys me that I've done something that could have been done better but in the end the criticism makes me a better author, if anyone should decide to really flame this fic, I'll probably just laugh at them.
To Johnny Rage:
I take it the uneducated dork is a vote for complete bastard. Any particular reason why you misspelled uneducated? Or just a funny coincidence?
To Lady Queen:
Android #16 is the right one, the big one with the red hair and the green outfit. Shin did say that Gohan was the most powerful warrior there, and to my surprise when I watched the episodes Vegeta didn't contest it, even though it turns out that both he and Goku are stronger in the series, but this isn't the series, still we'll just have to wait and see. I'm already pretty sure what the final is going to be, but I'm still not sure who will win it.
To Darkfire:
Glad you enjoyed it, I was planning for it to be a bit shorter, my original target was about fifty thousand words, with this chapter added it's going to be over eighty five thousand, and still going. It'll probably be over twice the original intended size before it's finished. But anyway, I'm glad you took the five hours to read it and enjoyed it.
To Ryan:
Glad you got stuck at nearly this time and didn't actually die. Reviving you wasn't too much trouble, my special one-day-recharging-died-of-laughter-reviewer-reviving-dragon-balls only scatter throughout my room.
To Saiyaman:
Don't worry you didn't offend me with your last review, as I've said above in response to No Name, I don't mind constructive criticism, but it does make me angry at myself, I guess that showed in that last response. The whole thing is basically one of the less pleasant side effects of my perfectionism, I don't like to find out I made a mistake, but on the other hand I want to know so I can eventually get it out. The Gohan should come second idea is certainly original, and I must say I can understand the reasoning behind it, I don't know if it's going to happen though, as shown above there is a rather large majority for Gohan to win currently, though in the end it's the author's decision, anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
To saiyan-videl:
Me understanding. Me keeping writing. Me going speaking normal now.
To Everyone:
Thanks a lot. I'm sorry this chapter didn't come sooner, but I've been rather busy.
*/
Life Is Strange
Saga: The World Tournament
Chapter 14 (or 14b for the superstitious): Equality For Kids
Videl was rather anxious as she went over to the Son house for breakfast on the morning of the tournament. This would be the first time she'd see Gohan in three days. After the first week of school, which had started with the accidental press conference, they'd spend four days together. Four days during which Gohan had put nearly all his time into training her. But the last three days he'd gone of to train by himself. It had all been discussed before hand of course, but on this Saturday morning Videl couldn't deny that she'd missed him even more than she'd expected.
Her heart skipped a beat as she entered the kitchen to see him sitting there at breakfast. He was wearing his normal blue Gi and eating like she'd never seen anyone eat before, even if she had been eating every meal with his family for a while now.
Apparently he hadn't even noticed her coming in because he continued to eat for a few minutes before looking up because the table was empty.
"Hi." She greeted as his eyes met hers.
"Hi." He replied.
"Are you hungry or something, I've never seen anyone eat like that, not even you guys."
"Oh well, it sort of comes not eating for the last three days. Saiyans, though they hate it, can actually go without food for a long time before loosing strength, must be something in the warrior race heritage. So I didn't eat while training. All I did was meditate occasionally powering up to level two and even to level three during meditation."
"I know, I felt the Ki-spikes. Everyone probably did."
"I think so, along with dad's and Vegeta's. From what I've sensed Vegeta hasn't jumped to level 3 yet, but he's the type that would save if for the tournament if he's sure enough, so we'll have to wait and see."
"So who do you think will win? I'd say either you or your dad."
"Probably, if Vegeta is saving a first transformation to level three for the tournament he's in for a surprise. The first time you transform it's difficult to hold, it gets somewhat easier over time, but you can never hold it very long. I've managed to stretch it to about 20 minutes thanks to my meditations. But I'm all but dead if I go for that long."
"I'm sure you could win." Videl felt all warm inside as she told him this.
It was strange, just a few months ago she'd pictured herself as having a good chance of winning, but now, she was just hoping to be fortunate in the draw so she'd make it past the first round. Thanks to Gohan's help and her own training the last three days she'd improved a lot, but still she doubted she'd be any sort of match for the others.
"How do you feel about it?" Gohan asked, seemingly guessing her thoughts.
"I've resigned myself to not standing any sort of chance this time around." She replied. "Winning doesn't matter as much to me anymore, not at the moment anyway. All that matters is getting better. Then maybe one day I'll be in with something of a sporting chance. But right now I don't think any non-Saiyan has one of those."
"Tien might have one considering the ring out rule." Gohan replied, thoughtfully. "He might just be able to get one of us out of the ring using the Tri-beam attack, but I'm afraid it would probably kill him to make a Tri-beam that strong."
"What do you mean it would kill him?" Videl asked, starting to feel uncomfortable.
"The Tri-beam is an incredibly strong attack, but it comes at a price. If you put to much of your energy into a Tri-beam you'll end up shooting out your entire life-force, killing yourself."
"Yikes."
"You can say that again."
"That again."
The both started to laugh at Videl's joke, breaking the tension.
"So where are your mom and dad and Goten?" Videl asked.
"Oh they left earlier, mom wanted to drive over to Capsule Corp. because she's bringing a lot of stuff so flying, or using the instant transmission wouldn't really work. I stayed to have some more breakfast and then take you there, we'll be flying of course."
"Okay, I'll have some breakfast, if you left me anything to eat, and then we can go."
About an hour and a half later the whole gang was at the Tournament Island. They'd met up at Capsule Corp. and then continued from there by jet so as not to cause to much of a scene in getting there.
Videl groaned a little as they walked towards the registration desk. She recognised quite a few fighters from her father's school, and they all seemed to be busy showing off, trying to get the attention of the camera crews that were running around.
"So it annoys you too." Gohan's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Yeah, it always has." She answered. "I fight because sometimes it's the right thing, and I fight to improve myself, because it's a skill. They fight to win, but not because they want to be the most skilled, it's only because they want the glory. Like my dad..." As her voice trailed of Gohan put his arm around her, comforting her. She was still coming to terms with the changes in her relationship with her father, and he seemed to be aware of it.
"It'll be okay." He whispered as he pulled her close while walking.
She nodded as they arrived at the registration desk. Goten and Trunks were outraged at having to fight in the junior competition, but seemed a little happier when Videl explained to them that this would give them a better chance at money to buy toys. Because the prises in the junior tournament were equal to those in the adult division.
The rest of them registered, and the registration clerk was suitably impressed by a group consisting of two former champions (Goku and Tien), the reigning junior champion (Videl herself), a former loosing finalist (Piccolo), a famous baseball player (Yamcha), a two time semi-finalist (Krillin), the husband of the richest woman in the world (Vegeta) and last but not least the son of one of the former champions (Gohan) walking up together to register at the same time.
"Why didn't you use an assumed name?" Videl asked Gohan as they headed for the qualification area.
"I don't think it would work." Gohan replied. "Between my friends and family and Sharpner and Erasa who know I'm Sayaman, which would be the logical name to assume, someone would probably give me away. Besides I've already announced that I'll be competing on TV, so if I don't show the first thing they'll do is check into the background of any mysterious fighters."
"Good point. Do you know how we have to qualify? I heard it would be different form the previous tournaments this year."
"I'm not sure, but I did hear the word punch-machine." Gohan replied thoughtfully. "So probably something like punching strength. Pathetic way to test whether someone is a good fighter really, but I think that will be it."
"I agree." Videl said. "It is a pathetic way to test a fighter. Sharpner would probably be able to punch pretty hard, but he can't get beyond some basic boxing moves as a fighter, and you need more technique than that to compete here."
They walked on in silence for a moment, evading a few reporters before going through the gates to the athletes waiting area.
Gohan and Videl were among the last of the athletes to arrive but they quickly made their way through the crowd to the front where their friends were assembled.
"Hey Gohan!" Krillin called as soon as he spotted. "You and your fiancée sure took your time getting here, were you busy?"
"We were talking Krillin." Gohan replied. "And you might want to safe your energy for the tournament rather than wasting it on teasing us."
Krillin was about to respond when the announcer took hold of his mike, grabbing everyone's attention.
"All right. Welcome all you fighters to the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament. Now this year rather than the usual start at the quarterfinals we have another round of fighting, which leaves room for 16 contestants. The defending champion mister Satan is automatically qualified leaving 15 spots for the others. To facilitate the increase of the number of matches in the tournament we've switched from the old-fashioned elimination competition to selection by punching strength. So in a few moments a punch machine will be brought out here."
At this point he stopped talking to give a hand signal and a four man brought out the punch machine. It was a big metal contraption with a read cushion that had to be punched and a display above to read the score.
// Same as in the series, just thought I'd put in a description cause it seemed logical.
After they'd put it down the announcer continued.
"Now to give us a score to go by, mister Satan will punch first as defending champion."
The crowd erupted with cheers as mister Satan walked into the waiting area, holding the championship belt above his head. "Do any of you want this?!" The big goof ball /* guess who I'm talking about */ yelled.
The crowd had quieted down after it's initial burst of noise and erupted in an even louder screaming frenzy after this.
Gohan sighed as mister Satan made his way to the punch-machine, every step a carefully planned pose. He looked at Videl who was standing next to him and saw he look up at him almost pleadingly.
He smiled at her reassuringly and concentrated. Piccolo had told him about a special adaptation of the laser-eyes technique to destroy cameras. He was aware the Piccolo himself was also about to the point where he'd use this technique, but decided not to wait for his Namekian friend and executed the technique himself instead, making all cameras in the waiting area explode.
As he looked around there were many stunned faces, while Piccolo looked very proud and mister Satan looked downright disappointed at losing the opportunity to have even more publicity photos taken.
A few seconds later mister Satan seemed to shrug of the disappointment as he prepared to hit the machine.
"Satan Punch!" He yelled as he struck, making the display blink for a few second before it showed a score of 142.
// He's been training a little harder than he was in the series, where he wasn't training at all. It'll become clear later.
After the announcer had announced the 'incredible' score he and mister Satan left while the others were assigned numbers to determine the order in which they would punch.
The Z-warriors were still all standing together so they wound up with numbers following each other. #18 was the first and appropriately ended up with 18, Krillin was 19, Piccolo 20, Yamcha 21, Tien 22, Gohan 23, Videl 24, Goku 25 and Vegeta 26.
/* I'm switching my POV style for the time being. Up until here everything is either Gohan or Videl's point of view, but for now we'll switch to a universal point of view, which means we can get insights into everybody's thoughts first hand. */
The first 17 punches weren't exactly exciting. One guy calling himself Mighty Mask managed to get a score of 105 and a huge man called Pintar managed to score 112. Then #18 stepped up to the machine.
"Now remember hun, take it easy." Krillin warned his wife, though he had the feeling that her idea of easy wouldn't really correspond with anyone else's, safe perhaps Vegeta's.
She just nodded as she prepared to lightly strike the red cushion. The display, blinked, Krillin blinked. The rest of the spectators blinked.
"774." The surprised man next to the machine mumbled.
"Do you call that easy?" Krillin asked, knowing what sort of answer he could expect.
She just snorted and rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault they're weak."
Krillin just sighed, it was a lost battle and he knew it.
#18 punched again, holding herself back even further and this time she only scored 203.
The rest of the Z-warriors now knew how much they had to hold back, so the rest of the punching test passed with little incident and in the end the scores were as follows:
#18 - 203
Krillin - 192
Piccolo - 210
Yamcha - 184
Tien - 198
Gohan - 208
Videl - 175
Goku - 186
Vegeta - 250
It had taken some doing to convince Vegeta not to punch at full strength, but a tactically placed question from Gohan, about what Bulma would say if Vegeta destroyed the machine had convinced him.
Vegeta had winced at the thought of words like 'no GR, shopping' and last but not least 'cook your own food'. True, Bulma's cooking skills were not great, but his own were far worse and he knew it.
While the others were busy with the qualification Goten and Trunks were getting ready for their fights in the junior division. Though there wasn't much to get ready for yet. They'd ended up on opposite sides of the draw, so their only challenging fight would be in the finals against each other.
Trunks just sat waiting next to Goten until finally the adults Kis began to move, signalling that they were heading for the main arena to watch, which hopefully meant the fighting would start soon.
After a number of fights that had been just as boring as Trunks had expected he and Goten finally faced off in the final match of the junior World Tournament.
"Who would have thought it?" The announcer called out as the young demi-Saiyans entered the ring. "The two youngest competitors in this year's junior division have become our two finalists. They've shown great skill in their previous fights, giving us some amazing defeats to watch, and now they will face each other. At stake are the title, the honour and a grand prize of ten million zeni. So let the Junior World Martial Arts Tournament final begin!"
The two boys dropped into their stands smiling at each other as they started to power up.
In the crowd the Z-warriors were cheering loudly. The fights up to this point had been, in Krillin's words 'as much fun as watching wallpaper dry' so they were anxious to see a really good fight between the two strongest kids in the world.
Trunks was just about to break through the barrier when suddenly Goten surprised him by attacking. The slightly older demi-Saiyan had been so focused on his transformation that he hadn't considered the option of an attack before transforming.
In the crowd Goku and Gohan were cheering wildly for Goten. While Vegeta scowled even harder than usual, worrying about his son even if he would never admit it.
Trunks transformed as he was still flying out of the ring, stopping himself in the air and floating back into the ring as Goten transformed as well.
"Not bad Goten. I see you've been training hard."
"You know that Trunks. We spar together remember."
"Yeah, but you've been training outside of that as well to pick up tactics like that."
"Just a little with my dad when he wasn't sparring with yours and some with Gohan when he wasn't working with Videl."
"Well you've improved, but my dad's been helping me too."
"This should be fun then."
"Yeah, let's do it."
Trunks landed and both boys briefly resumed their stance before rushing at each other, trading kick and punches in what became a blur of orange and black to the human eye.
"Looks like their having a good warm up." Videl commented to Gohan as they watched. "Because from what I've seen them do before they can't really be trying all that hard."
"They're not." Gohan replied, smiling as he watched his little brother, and Trunks, who sometimes seemed like another little brother, fight. "They're continuing their power up as they fight. They'll probably start to go up in a moment."
It was almost as if Goten and Trunks had heard Gohan's words, because just as he said them they started to levitate slightly of the ground, each trying to get the advantage of being above the other so they could get in a good downward hit.
The collective gasps of the crowd that met the boys' initial lift into the air were soon replaced by a shocked silence. Very few people had ever seen fighting like this. There had been fighting like this in previous tournaments, but it had more or less been forgotten when mister Satan won the 24th tournament and claimed that moves like this were just a trick.
Now however they were starting to doubt that statement, the observation at the tournament was such that it should be impossible for them to be using any kind of device to fly, even if this was only the junior division.
Trunks and Goten stopped their rise into the air after about thirty or forty feet, fighting at that level for a while, until they simultaneously managed to land a hit, sending them both back and down, landing in opposite corners of the ring.
The crowd slowly came out of it's stupor and started cheering a little as the two boys rushed together again, drawing some more gasps from the crowd as once again they left the ground behind them in their fight. Furious blows and kicks that could have seriously damaged small mountains being dealt out dodged and blocked at an incredible speed.
"Now this is more like it." Goku remarked to nobody in particular as the boys continued to trade kicks and punches with great speed.
"Yeah." Gohan replied. "I think they're about to their maximum level."
"It should prove to be an interesting fight. They seem virtually equal in strength."
He has less of an advantage than he used to have. Goten thought to himself as his and Trunks constant motion of dodge and counter continued. I suppose it comes from me having both dad and Gohan to train with while he only has Vegeta. So that helped me get stronger faster.
He's holding up better than I expected. Trunks thought at the same time. We're just about equal in strength now. I don't mind though, it makes this fight more of a challenge, and I like challenges.
Finally after about a minute of intense airborne fighting Trunks managed to land a kick in Goten's stomach. Goten however countered with a classic Son tactic, ramming Trunks midsection with his head, knocking the wind out of the slightly taller boy, causing him to fall out of the sky.
Trunks regained control in mid fall, but continued his descent, even accelerating a little to stay ahead of Goten, who was pursuing him.
When Trunks reached the ground he pushed off with his hands, flipping over in the air, so that he was upright as he headed for the corner of the ring, where he turned and waited for Goten who was right behind him.
Just as Goten was about to strike, Trunks shot up again, making the younger boy shoot on before he too shot up into the sky.
Trunks last move had evened their position in the match again. Neither had the advantage of pursuit anymore and so yet again the boys faced of in another airborne exchange of punches and kicks.
Trunks managed to get the upper hand again, with a punch to Goten's jaw, and this time he avoided the younger boy's counter attack. In stead he dealt a second blow that made Goten the one heading for the ground this time around.
Again recovery started during the descent as Goten went into a spin and then went from heading down to heading forward at a steady level and then turning around to block Trunks' incoming fist.
Another exchange along the standard pattern of kicks and punches ensued, during which the boys floated back and forth horizontally until they were above the centre of the ring where the exchange continued.
Even now that the fight had been going on for a while most of the crowd was still wavering between admiring the boys and their fight and surprise at their seemingly impossible actions. Never the less it was becoming more vocal and a collective gasp sounded as both boys managed to land a punch at the same time, sending them back and down, where they landed at opposite sides of the ring after a controlled descent.
"This is going great isn't it?" Goten called out, smiling as he dropped back into a stance and faced Trunks.
"Yeah, but what do you say we switch to Ki-blasts for a while, make things more interesting."
"Sure, you're on."
They were about to prepare their first blasts when they were interrupted by the announcer.
"Well folks this has been an amazing match so far, and it seems it's not even close to a finish yet. Ten minutes have passed without either of these young warriors gaining the upper hand. There are twenty more minutes left in the fight before we reach the time limit and if no conclusion has been reached by then it will go to the judges. With a fight this close I'm sure none of us would want to be in their shoes.
Now you may be wondering at the amount of talk in this match. So I'll let you in on some information we've managed to get. These two little guys are friends in real life, and often train together by fighting in the woods, now they've moved their fight to the World-Tournament-ring, amazing!"
The crowd cheered loudly, the casual comment seemingly alleviating their shock somewhat.
As the cheering subsided, the two boys resumed the preparation of their blasts. Trunks released his blast first, a gallick gun that shot at Goten who barely dodged it. As it continued it's path towards the shocked again crowd Trunks concentrated and with a hand movement directed it upwards, so it avoided the audience and headed safely out of the atmosphere.
Trunks didn't have long to stare after his blast as Goten shouted "Kamehameha!" and released his own attack only a few seconds later.
Trunks managed to dodge as well and Goten too diverted his blast upwards, narrowly missing the roof the building next to the ring.
An exchange of one handed basic Ki-blast followed before both boys started to power up special attacks again. This time making a showdown out of the Kamehameha and Gallick gun.
The crowd gasped as the beams met with tremendous force, both Goten and Trunks were pouring as much energy as they could into the showdown and the resulting sight was incredible.
A few minutes after the showdown had started the boys were still equal, neither had managed to overtake the other beam, and both were pushing their last effort into it. The effect was completely unexpected. Both for the two young demi-Saiyans themselves and for the audience as the force being put into the battle grew larger and suddenly knocked not one, but both boys backwards out of the ring and into the walls surrounding it.
As Trunks and Goten got back up the stunned crowd slowly caught its breath again, before starting to cheer wildly at the best match anyone out there had ever seen. The announcer meanwhile walked over to the front row where the jury was seated. This situation was new, though the tournament had seen simultaneous knock outs before, there had never been a completely simultaneous ring-out such as this.
Goten and Trunks just walked up to each other. Meeting in the centre of the ring to shake hands and wave at the audience.
Finally a few minutes later the announcer walked into the ring and over to the two kids.
"All right people listen up!" He yelled into the mike, waiting for the crowd to grow silent. "I've had a little chat with the judges about this, and frankly we're all at a loss. The first thought at a simultaneous ring-out was to do it by points, but that too is impossible since the fight was entirely even. So in an unprecedented move we've decided to finish this as a draw, with means the prise money for first and second place, totalling 15 million zeni will be split between the two boys, making prise money of 7.5 million zeni each." He paused for cheers from the crowd. The whole thing had been so close, that nobody could really say which boy had fought better.
It took a moment for the audience to stop cheering, and a few moments more for Goten and Trunks to stop bouncing up and down in the ring.
"All right now!" The announcer yelled as the joined winners finally calmed down, a little bit at least. "The prises for the junior division will be given out along with the adult division's so we'll take a little break now for the draw of the adult competition. Be sure to visit our refreshment stands in this interval if you want anything to eat or drink."
"You know," Goku remarked up in the audience, "food sounds pretty good right about now."
"Yeah." Gohan agreed, as even Vegeta let out an agreeing snort.
"Well then we should head for the athletes resort." Videl said. "They have a free all you can eat restaurant, though I'm not sure if they have enough for three Saiyans, or five if Goten and Trunks join us."
"Can they go there?" Gohan asked. "I thought the resort was for athletes only."
"It is, but if they didn't change it from last time, it's also open to fighters from the junior competition, so I'm betting they'll be where the food is." Videl stated as the group started to walk to the resort area.
Videl's prediction had been correct, Goten and Trunks were where to food was and so soon five Saiyans were eating while the other members of the company were feeling slightly nauseous from watching the Saiyans eat and decided not to.
/* Contrary to the series where the athletes draw their own numbers the draw is made for them here. This was basically done to safe me from having to try to make something funny out of a totally pointless scene without copying from the series. */
After the group had left the restaurant in the resort area, Goten and Trunks wandered around a bit while the others went to the athletes waiting area. Just a short while ago the two boys had been the ones waiting there, but now they would be banned to the audience.
It's so unfair. Trunks thought to himself. We're stronger than most of the adults but we had to get stuck fighting wimpy little kids. The only fight that was any fun was when we fought each other, there has to be a way for us to get into the adult competition, there just has to be.
He looked back up to the board that held the first round draw, scanning the matches.
Krillin - Piccolo
Mighty Mask - Pintar
Videl - Killa
Gohan - Mr. Satan
Jewel - Shin
Tien - Goku
#18 - Yamcha
Kibito - Vegeta
As he was looking at it lost in thought a masked fighter walked up. This outfit was absolutely hideous, with a white sort of dress like thing, and a dark grey mask and cape over it, finished of with horrible yellow gloves and boots. But it still gave Trunks an idea.
"Excuse me," he said walking up to the man, while Goten watched him bewildered, "you're mister Mighty Mask right?"
"Yeah that's me kid, you want an autograph or something?"
"No thanks, that was all I needed." Trunks said, jumping up and punching the man between the eyes gently, knocking him out.
"What did you do that for Trunks?" Goten asked innocently.
"Well we're going to get into this costume together and then we get to fight the adults."
"But it's ugly Trunks." Goten complained in a semi-whining voice.
"I know Goten, but it's the only way for us to fight the adults. Don't tell me you're to chicken to fight them."
"I'm not afraid of anything Trunks. Let's go."
And so after the few moments it took the boys to get into the costume together, the new and improved Mighty Mask headed for the athletes' waiting area next to the ring.
The other Z-fighters in the mean time were huddled together in a corner of the waiting room.
"There's something strange about those two." Piccolo said in a whisper, referring to two of the other fighters assembled there, Shin and Kibito. "I'm not sure what it is, but there's definitely something odd about them."
"I agree." Gohan said. "For one thing they don't look like they're human, or for that matter any other species from Earth, I think we may have to assume they're aliens."
"I think so." Goku said, looking thoughtful, an expression that was not often seen on his face. "But what species, I don't remember seeing anyone like them in otherworld, or HFIL for that matter."
Vegeta too looked puzzled. "If they are aliens, they're not from any area of space near here. During my time with Frieza I must have seen virtually every species from anywhere near here. At least any species capable of space travel."
"Let's just keep her eyes open." Gohan stated. "Their energy is high and though I doubt they'd be a threat to us when we're charged up, even if they're hiding part of their Ki, they could hurt a lot of innocent people if those are their intentions. Though I somehow don't think they're out to hurt anyone."
"I agree kid." Piccolo said, while nodding slowly. "They don't feel evil, almost the opposite, I don't know why but I have a feeling about them, it's almost familiar, but we'll have to wait and see."
The group nodded and Goku was about to add something when the announcers voice coming from the ring interrupted them.
/*
Next time on Life is Strange, the adult competition finally starts. Who will win the competition? Will our heroes discover who Shin and Kibito are?
Well it took me long enough but it's finally here. I said at the end of the last chapter I hoped to have this up within a week, but it's been two weeks and a day. I'm sorry for taking so long, but my studies took up a lot more time than anticipated. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The polls are still open on the questions I asked last time, and for your benefit I will repeat them below, so please take the time to tell me what you think about them, or to just tell me something else, by leaving a review.
Should Hercule remain a complete bastard, or should he become somewhat more likeable?
What do you think of the idea of a Majin Hercule?
Who do you think will win the tournament? (You won't be able to greatly influence me with that because I have the draw and results planned. Except for the matter of who will win, but it has been narrowed down to two candidates.)
Disclaimer: DBZ isn't mine, Gohan is, well in my dreams he is at any rate.
Anything between /* and */ is just me budding in, so is anything after // up until the next hard return.
For those of you that realised, I'm trying to learn to program in C++ as a hobby, that's the origin of the commentary codes.
*/
/*
Questions, current standing just a few more points:
You can vote for more than one person to win, though as I said your influence there is a bit limited.
Reviews with to many nuances, though I will consider them during writing won't be shown here since it's hard to make a yes or no out of them.
Conditional votes, such as Dragon Empress saying: "Only if you kill the bastard!" on question #2, will be counted separately in parentheses
Should Hercule remain a complete bastard, or should he become somewhat more likeable?
More likeable : IIIII
Complete bastard: IIIIII
What do you think of the idea of a Majin Hercule?
Yes: III(I)
No : IIIII
Lol: II
Who do you think will win the tournament? (You won't be able to greatly influence me with that because I have the draw and results planned. Except for the matter of who will win, but it has been narrowed down to two candidates.)
Gohan : IIIIII
Goku : II
Vegeta: II
Videl : (I)
As you can see the vote is close on the first question especially. The polls are still open so keep the votes coming.
/*
Response to reviews:
To Kodra:
Well I guess you're right about a tendency with me and maybe some other authors to over-emphasize the nature of Hercule. You're right about him being a great fighter by most standards, that isn't my problem with him, my problem is that by most standards he's also a liar and a cheat, not to mention he insults Goku in one episode, as you can see the vote on more likeable or not is close so we'll have to wait and see what happens.
PS. I forgot to put this here the first time I posted this chapter so I'm replacing the contents, while I thank you for the offer of the plot-development-suggestions, I'm trying to get to an end for this fic, it'll still take a number of chapters, considering that I already have rather a lot of plot development in mind so I'm afraid I'll have to decline.
To No Name:
Thanks for the compliment. I suppose whether I should ignore them or not depends on the type of criticism if it's constructive, which all my criticism so far has been I don't mind, it annoys me that I've done something that could have been done better but in the end the criticism makes me a better author, if anyone should decide to really flame this fic, I'll probably just laugh at them.
To Johnny Rage:
I take it the uneducated dork is a vote for complete bastard. Any particular reason why you misspelled uneducated? Or just a funny coincidence?
To Lady Queen:
Android #16 is the right one, the big one with the red hair and the green outfit. Shin did say that Gohan was the most powerful warrior there, and to my surprise when I watched the episodes Vegeta didn't contest it, even though it turns out that both he and Goku are stronger in the series, but this isn't the series, still we'll just have to wait and see. I'm already pretty sure what the final is going to be, but I'm still not sure who will win it.
To Darkfire:
Glad you enjoyed it, I was planning for it to be a bit shorter, my original target was about fifty thousand words, with this chapter added it's going to be over eighty five thousand, and still going. It'll probably be over twice the original intended size before it's finished. But anyway, I'm glad you took the five hours to read it and enjoyed it.
To Ryan:
Glad you got stuck at nearly this time and didn't actually die. Reviving you wasn't too much trouble, my special one-day-recharging-died-of-laughter-reviewer-reviving-dragon-balls only scatter throughout my room.
To Saiyaman:
Don't worry you didn't offend me with your last review, as I've said above in response to No Name, I don't mind constructive criticism, but it does make me angry at myself, I guess that showed in that last response. The whole thing is basically one of the less pleasant side effects of my perfectionism, I don't like to find out I made a mistake, but on the other hand I want to know so I can eventually get it out. The Gohan should come second idea is certainly original, and I must say I can understand the reasoning behind it, I don't know if it's going to happen though, as shown above there is a rather large majority for Gohan to win currently, though in the end it's the author's decision, anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
To saiyan-videl:
Me understanding. Me keeping writing. Me going speaking normal now.
To Everyone:
Thanks a lot. I'm sorry this chapter didn't come sooner, but I've been rather busy.
*/
Life Is Strange
Saga: The World Tournament
Chapter 14 (or 14b for the superstitious): Equality For Kids
Videl was rather anxious as she went over to the Son house for breakfast on the morning of the tournament. This would be the first time she'd see Gohan in three days. After the first week of school, which had started with the accidental press conference, they'd spend four days together. Four days during which Gohan had put nearly all his time into training her. But the last three days he'd gone of to train by himself. It had all been discussed before hand of course, but on this Saturday morning Videl couldn't deny that she'd missed him even more than she'd expected.
Her heart skipped a beat as she entered the kitchen to see him sitting there at breakfast. He was wearing his normal blue Gi and eating like she'd never seen anyone eat before, even if she had been eating every meal with his family for a while now.
Apparently he hadn't even noticed her coming in because he continued to eat for a few minutes before looking up because the table was empty.
"Hi." She greeted as his eyes met hers.
"Hi." He replied.
"Are you hungry or something, I've never seen anyone eat like that, not even you guys."
"Oh well, it sort of comes not eating for the last three days. Saiyans, though they hate it, can actually go without food for a long time before loosing strength, must be something in the warrior race heritage. So I didn't eat while training. All I did was meditate occasionally powering up to level two and even to level three during meditation."
"I know, I felt the Ki-spikes. Everyone probably did."
"I think so, along with dad's and Vegeta's. From what I've sensed Vegeta hasn't jumped to level 3 yet, but he's the type that would save if for the tournament if he's sure enough, so we'll have to wait and see."
"So who do you think will win? I'd say either you or your dad."
"Probably, if Vegeta is saving a first transformation to level three for the tournament he's in for a surprise. The first time you transform it's difficult to hold, it gets somewhat easier over time, but you can never hold it very long. I've managed to stretch it to about 20 minutes thanks to my meditations. But I'm all but dead if I go for that long."
"I'm sure you could win." Videl felt all warm inside as she told him this.
It was strange, just a few months ago she'd pictured herself as having a good chance of winning, but now, she was just hoping to be fortunate in the draw so she'd make it past the first round. Thanks to Gohan's help and her own training the last three days she'd improved a lot, but still she doubted she'd be any sort of match for the others.
"How do you feel about it?" Gohan asked, seemingly guessing her thoughts.
"I've resigned myself to not standing any sort of chance this time around." She replied. "Winning doesn't matter as much to me anymore, not at the moment anyway. All that matters is getting better. Then maybe one day I'll be in with something of a sporting chance. But right now I don't think any non-Saiyan has one of those."
"Tien might have one considering the ring out rule." Gohan replied, thoughtfully. "He might just be able to get one of us out of the ring using the Tri-beam attack, but I'm afraid it would probably kill him to make a Tri-beam that strong."
"What do you mean it would kill him?" Videl asked, starting to feel uncomfortable.
"The Tri-beam is an incredibly strong attack, but it comes at a price. If you put to much of your energy into a Tri-beam you'll end up shooting out your entire life-force, killing yourself."
"Yikes."
"You can say that again."
"That again."
The both started to laugh at Videl's joke, breaking the tension.
"So where are your mom and dad and Goten?" Videl asked.
"Oh they left earlier, mom wanted to drive over to Capsule Corp. because she's bringing a lot of stuff so flying, or using the instant transmission wouldn't really work. I stayed to have some more breakfast and then take you there, we'll be flying of course."
"Okay, I'll have some breakfast, if you left me anything to eat, and then we can go."
About an hour and a half later the whole gang was at the Tournament Island. They'd met up at Capsule Corp. and then continued from there by jet so as not to cause to much of a scene in getting there.
Videl groaned a little as they walked towards the registration desk. She recognised quite a few fighters from her father's school, and they all seemed to be busy showing off, trying to get the attention of the camera crews that were running around.
"So it annoys you too." Gohan's voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Yeah, it always has." She answered. "I fight because sometimes it's the right thing, and I fight to improve myself, because it's a skill. They fight to win, but not because they want to be the most skilled, it's only because they want the glory. Like my dad..." As her voice trailed of Gohan put his arm around her, comforting her. She was still coming to terms with the changes in her relationship with her father, and he seemed to be aware of it.
"It'll be okay." He whispered as he pulled her close while walking.
She nodded as they arrived at the registration desk. Goten and Trunks were outraged at having to fight in the junior competition, but seemed a little happier when Videl explained to them that this would give them a better chance at money to buy toys. Because the prises in the junior tournament were equal to those in the adult division.
The rest of them registered, and the registration clerk was suitably impressed by a group consisting of two former champions (Goku and Tien), the reigning junior champion (Videl herself), a former loosing finalist (Piccolo), a famous baseball player (Yamcha), a two time semi-finalist (Krillin), the husband of the richest woman in the world (Vegeta) and last but not least the son of one of the former champions (Gohan) walking up together to register at the same time.
"Why didn't you use an assumed name?" Videl asked Gohan as they headed for the qualification area.
"I don't think it would work." Gohan replied. "Between my friends and family and Sharpner and Erasa who know I'm Sayaman, which would be the logical name to assume, someone would probably give me away. Besides I've already announced that I'll be competing on TV, so if I don't show the first thing they'll do is check into the background of any mysterious fighters."
"Good point. Do you know how we have to qualify? I heard it would be different form the previous tournaments this year."
"I'm not sure, but I did hear the word punch-machine." Gohan replied thoughtfully. "So probably something like punching strength. Pathetic way to test whether someone is a good fighter really, but I think that will be it."
"I agree." Videl said. "It is a pathetic way to test a fighter. Sharpner would probably be able to punch pretty hard, but he can't get beyond some basic boxing moves as a fighter, and you need more technique than that to compete here."
They walked on in silence for a moment, evading a few reporters before going through the gates to the athletes waiting area.
Gohan and Videl were among the last of the athletes to arrive but they quickly made their way through the crowd to the front where their friends were assembled.
"Hey Gohan!" Krillin called as soon as he spotted. "You and your fiancée sure took your time getting here, were you busy?"
"We were talking Krillin." Gohan replied. "And you might want to safe your energy for the tournament rather than wasting it on teasing us."
Krillin was about to respond when the announcer took hold of his mike, grabbing everyone's attention.
"All right. Welcome all you fighters to the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament. Now this year rather than the usual start at the quarterfinals we have another round of fighting, which leaves room for 16 contestants. The defending champion mister Satan is automatically qualified leaving 15 spots for the others. To facilitate the increase of the number of matches in the tournament we've switched from the old-fashioned elimination competition to selection by punching strength. So in a few moments a punch machine will be brought out here."
At this point he stopped talking to give a hand signal and a four man brought out the punch machine. It was a big metal contraption with a read cushion that had to be punched and a display above to read the score.
// Same as in the series, just thought I'd put in a description cause it seemed logical.
After they'd put it down the announcer continued.
"Now to give us a score to go by, mister Satan will punch first as defending champion."
The crowd erupted with cheers as mister Satan walked into the waiting area, holding the championship belt above his head. "Do any of you want this?!" The big goof ball /* guess who I'm talking about */ yelled.
The crowd had quieted down after it's initial burst of noise and erupted in an even louder screaming frenzy after this.
Gohan sighed as mister Satan made his way to the punch-machine, every step a carefully planned pose. He looked at Videl who was standing next to him and saw he look up at him almost pleadingly.
He smiled at her reassuringly and concentrated. Piccolo had told him about a special adaptation of the laser-eyes technique to destroy cameras. He was aware the Piccolo himself was also about to the point where he'd use this technique, but decided not to wait for his Namekian friend and executed the technique himself instead, making all cameras in the waiting area explode.
As he looked around there were many stunned faces, while Piccolo looked very proud and mister Satan looked downright disappointed at losing the opportunity to have even more publicity photos taken.
A few seconds later mister Satan seemed to shrug of the disappointment as he prepared to hit the machine.
"Satan Punch!" He yelled as he struck, making the display blink for a few second before it showed a score of 142.
// He's been training a little harder than he was in the series, where he wasn't training at all. It'll become clear later.
After the announcer had announced the 'incredible' score he and mister Satan left while the others were assigned numbers to determine the order in which they would punch.
The Z-warriors were still all standing together so they wound up with numbers following each other. #18 was the first and appropriately ended up with 18, Krillin was 19, Piccolo 20, Yamcha 21, Tien 22, Gohan 23, Videl 24, Goku 25 and Vegeta 26.
/* I'm switching my POV style for the time being. Up until here everything is either Gohan or Videl's point of view, but for now we'll switch to a universal point of view, which means we can get insights into everybody's thoughts first hand. */
The first 17 punches weren't exactly exciting. One guy calling himself Mighty Mask managed to get a score of 105 and a huge man called Pintar managed to score 112. Then #18 stepped up to the machine.
"Now remember hun, take it easy." Krillin warned his wife, though he had the feeling that her idea of easy wouldn't really correspond with anyone else's, safe perhaps Vegeta's.
She just nodded as she prepared to lightly strike the red cushion. The display, blinked, Krillin blinked. The rest of the spectators blinked.
"774." The surprised man next to the machine mumbled.
"Do you call that easy?" Krillin asked, knowing what sort of answer he could expect.
She just snorted and rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault they're weak."
Krillin just sighed, it was a lost battle and he knew it.
#18 punched again, holding herself back even further and this time she only scored 203.
The rest of the Z-warriors now knew how much they had to hold back, so the rest of the punching test passed with little incident and in the end the scores were as follows:
#18 - 203
Krillin - 192
Piccolo - 210
Yamcha - 184
Tien - 198
Gohan - 208
Videl - 175
Goku - 186
Vegeta - 250
It had taken some doing to convince Vegeta not to punch at full strength, but a tactically placed question from Gohan, about what Bulma would say if Vegeta destroyed the machine had convinced him.
Vegeta had winced at the thought of words like 'no GR, shopping' and last but not least 'cook your own food'. True, Bulma's cooking skills were not great, but his own were far worse and he knew it.
While the others were busy with the qualification Goten and Trunks were getting ready for their fights in the junior division. Though there wasn't much to get ready for yet. They'd ended up on opposite sides of the draw, so their only challenging fight would be in the finals against each other.
Trunks just sat waiting next to Goten until finally the adults Kis began to move, signalling that they were heading for the main arena to watch, which hopefully meant the fighting would start soon.
After a number of fights that had been just as boring as Trunks had expected he and Goten finally faced off in the final match of the junior World Tournament.
"Who would have thought it?" The announcer called out as the young demi-Saiyans entered the ring. "The two youngest competitors in this year's junior division have become our two finalists. They've shown great skill in their previous fights, giving us some amazing defeats to watch, and now they will face each other. At stake are the title, the honour and a grand prize of ten million zeni. So let the Junior World Martial Arts Tournament final begin!"
The two boys dropped into their stands smiling at each other as they started to power up.
In the crowd the Z-warriors were cheering loudly. The fights up to this point had been, in Krillin's words 'as much fun as watching wallpaper dry' so they were anxious to see a really good fight between the two strongest kids in the world.
Trunks was just about to break through the barrier when suddenly Goten surprised him by attacking. The slightly older demi-Saiyan had been so focused on his transformation that he hadn't considered the option of an attack before transforming.
In the crowd Goku and Gohan were cheering wildly for Goten. While Vegeta scowled even harder than usual, worrying about his son even if he would never admit it.
Trunks transformed as he was still flying out of the ring, stopping himself in the air and floating back into the ring as Goten transformed as well.
"Not bad Goten. I see you've been training hard."
"You know that Trunks. We spar together remember."
"Yeah, but you've been training outside of that as well to pick up tactics like that."
"Just a little with my dad when he wasn't sparring with yours and some with Gohan when he wasn't working with Videl."
"Well you've improved, but my dad's been helping me too."
"This should be fun then."
"Yeah, let's do it."
Trunks landed and both boys briefly resumed their stance before rushing at each other, trading kick and punches in what became a blur of orange and black to the human eye.
"Looks like their having a good warm up." Videl commented to Gohan as they watched. "Because from what I've seen them do before they can't really be trying all that hard."
"They're not." Gohan replied, smiling as he watched his little brother, and Trunks, who sometimes seemed like another little brother, fight. "They're continuing their power up as they fight. They'll probably start to go up in a moment."
It was almost as if Goten and Trunks had heard Gohan's words, because just as he said them they started to levitate slightly of the ground, each trying to get the advantage of being above the other so they could get in a good downward hit.
The collective gasps of the crowd that met the boys' initial lift into the air were soon replaced by a shocked silence. Very few people had ever seen fighting like this. There had been fighting like this in previous tournaments, but it had more or less been forgotten when mister Satan won the 24th tournament and claimed that moves like this were just a trick.
Now however they were starting to doubt that statement, the observation at the tournament was such that it should be impossible for them to be using any kind of device to fly, even if this was only the junior division.
Trunks and Goten stopped their rise into the air after about thirty or forty feet, fighting at that level for a while, until they simultaneously managed to land a hit, sending them both back and down, landing in opposite corners of the ring.
The crowd slowly came out of it's stupor and started cheering a little as the two boys rushed together again, drawing some more gasps from the crowd as once again they left the ground behind them in their fight. Furious blows and kicks that could have seriously damaged small mountains being dealt out dodged and blocked at an incredible speed.
"Now this is more like it." Goku remarked to nobody in particular as the boys continued to trade kicks and punches with great speed.
"Yeah." Gohan replied. "I think they're about to their maximum level."
"It should prove to be an interesting fight. They seem virtually equal in strength."
He has less of an advantage than he used to have. Goten thought to himself as his and Trunks constant motion of dodge and counter continued. I suppose it comes from me having both dad and Gohan to train with while he only has Vegeta. So that helped me get stronger faster.
He's holding up better than I expected. Trunks thought at the same time. We're just about equal in strength now. I don't mind though, it makes this fight more of a challenge, and I like challenges.
Finally after about a minute of intense airborne fighting Trunks managed to land a kick in Goten's stomach. Goten however countered with a classic Son tactic, ramming Trunks midsection with his head, knocking the wind out of the slightly taller boy, causing him to fall out of the sky.
Trunks regained control in mid fall, but continued his descent, even accelerating a little to stay ahead of Goten, who was pursuing him.
When Trunks reached the ground he pushed off with his hands, flipping over in the air, so that he was upright as he headed for the corner of the ring, where he turned and waited for Goten who was right behind him.
Just as Goten was about to strike, Trunks shot up again, making the younger boy shoot on before he too shot up into the sky.
Trunks last move had evened their position in the match again. Neither had the advantage of pursuit anymore and so yet again the boys faced of in another airborne exchange of punches and kicks.
Trunks managed to get the upper hand again, with a punch to Goten's jaw, and this time he avoided the younger boy's counter attack. In stead he dealt a second blow that made Goten the one heading for the ground this time around.
Again recovery started during the descent as Goten went into a spin and then went from heading down to heading forward at a steady level and then turning around to block Trunks' incoming fist.
Another exchange along the standard pattern of kicks and punches ensued, during which the boys floated back and forth horizontally until they were above the centre of the ring where the exchange continued.
Even now that the fight had been going on for a while most of the crowd was still wavering between admiring the boys and their fight and surprise at their seemingly impossible actions. Never the less it was becoming more vocal and a collective gasp sounded as both boys managed to land a punch at the same time, sending them back and down, where they landed at opposite sides of the ring after a controlled descent.
"This is going great isn't it?" Goten called out, smiling as he dropped back into a stance and faced Trunks.
"Yeah, but what do you say we switch to Ki-blasts for a while, make things more interesting."
"Sure, you're on."
They were about to prepare their first blasts when they were interrupted by the announcer.
"Well folks this has been an amazing match so far, and it seems it's not even close to a finish yet. Ten minutes have passed without either of these young warriors gaining the upper hand. There are twenty more minutes left in the fight before we reach the time limit and if no conclusion has been reached by then it will go to the judges. With a fight this close I'm sure none of us would want to be in their shoes.
Now you may be wondering at the amount of talk in this match. So I'll let you in on some information we've managed to get. These two little guys are friends in real life, and often train together by fighting in the woods, now they've moved their fight to the World-Tournament-ring, amazing!"
The crowd cheered loudly, the casual comment seemingly alleviating their shock somewhat.
As the cheering subsided, the two boys resumed the preparation of their blasts. Trunks released his blast first, a gallick gun that shot at Goten who barely dodged it. As it continued it's path towards the shocked again crowd Trunks concentrated and with a hand movement directed it upwards, so it avoided the audience and headed safely out of the atmosphere.
Trunks didn't have long to stare after his blast as Goten shouted "Kamehameha!" and released his own attack only a few seconds later.
Trunks managed to dodge as well and Goten too diverted his blast upwards, narrowly missing the roof the building next to the ring.
An exchange of one handed basic Ki-blast followed before both boys started to power up special attacks again. This time making a showdown out of the Kamehameha and Gallick gun.
The crowd gasped as the beams met with tremendous force, both Goten and Trunks were pouring as much energy as they could into the showdown and the resulting sight was incredible.
A few minutes after the showdown had started the boys were still equal, neither had managed to overtake the other beam, and both were pushing their last effort into it. The effect was completely unexpected. Both for the two young demi-Saiyans themselves and for the audience as the force being put into the battle grew larger and suddenly knocked not one, but both boys backwards out of the ring and into the walls surrounding it.
As Trunks and Goten got back up the stunned crowd slowly caught its breath again, before starting to cheer wildly at the best match anyone out there had ever seen. The announcer meanwhile walked over to the front row where the jury was seated. This situation was new, though the tournament had seen simultaneous knock outs before, there had never been a completely simultaneous ring-out such as this.
Goten and Trunks just walked up to each other. Meeting in the centre of the ring to shake hands and wave at the audience.
Finally a few minutes later the announcer walked into the ring and over to the two kids.
"All right people listen up!" He yelled into the mike, waiting for the crowd to grow silent. "I've had a little chat with the judges about this, and frankly we're all at a loss. The first thought at a simultaneous ring-out was to do it by points, but that too is impossible since the fight was entirely even. So in an unprecedented move we've decided to finish this as a draw, with means the prise money for first and second place, totalling 15 million zeni will be split between the two boys, making prise money of 7.5 million zeni each." He paused for cheers from the crowd. The whole thing had been so close, that nobody could really say which boy had fought better.
It took a moment for the audience to stop cheering, and a few moments more for Goten and Trunks to stop bouncing up and down in the ring.
"All right now!" The announcer yelled as the joined winners finally calmed down, a little bit at least. "The prises for the junior division will be given out along with the adult division's so we'll take a little break now for the draw of the adult competition. Be sure to visit our refreshment stands in this interval if you want anything to eat or drink."
"You know," Goku remarked up in the audience, "food sounds pretty good right about now."
"Yeah." Gohan agreed, as even Vegeta let out an agreeing snort.
"Well then we should head for the athletes resort." Videl said. "They have a free all you can eat restaurant, though I'm not sure if they have enough for three Saiyans, or five if Goten and Trunks join us."
"Can they go there?" Gohan asked. "I thought the resort was for athletes only."
"It is, but if they didn't change it from last time, it's also open to fighters from the junior competition, so I'm betting they'll be where the food is." Videl stated as the group started to walk to the resort area.
Videl's prediction had been correct, Goten and Trunks were where to food was and so soon five Saiyans were eating while the other members of the company were feeling slightly nauseous from watching the Saiyans eat and decided not to.
/* Contrary to the series where the athletes draw their own numbers the draw is made for them here. This was basically done to safe me from having to try to make something funny out of a totally pointless scene without copying from the series. */
After the group had left the restaurant in the resort area, Goten and Trunks wandered around a bit while the others went to the athletes waiting area. Just a short while ago the two boys had been the ones waiting there, but now they would be banned to the audience.
It's so unfair. Trunks thought to himself. We're stronger than most of the adults but we had to get stuck fighting wimpy little kids. The only fight that was any fun was when we fought each other, there has to be a way for us to get into the adult competition, there just has to be.
He looked back up to the board that held the first round draw, scanning the matches.
Krillin - Piccolo
Mighty Mask - Pintar
Videl - Killa
Gohan - Mr. Satan
Jewel - Shin
Tien - Goku
#18 - Yamcha
Kibito - Vegeta
As he was looking at it lost in thought a masked fighter walked up. This outfit was absolutely hideous, with a white sort of dress like thing, and a dark grey mask and cape over it, finished of with horrible yellow gloves and boots. But it still gave Trunks an idea.
"Excuse me," he said walking up to the man, while Goten watched him bewildered, "you're mister Mighty Mask right?"
"Yeah that's me kid, you want an autograph or something?"
"No thanks, that was all I needed." Trunks said, jumping up and punching the man between the eyes gently, knocking him out.
"What did you do that for Trunks?" Goten asked innocently.
"Well we're going to get into this costume together and then we get to fight the adults."
"But it's ugly Trunks." Goten complained in a semi-whining voice.
"I know Goten, but it's the only way for us to fight the adults. Don't tell me you're to chicken to fight them."
"I'm not afraid of anything Trunks. Let's go."
And so after the few moments it took the boys to get into the costume together, the new and improved Mighty Mask headed for the athletes' waiting area next to the ring.
The other Z-fighters in the mean time were huddled together in a corner of the waiting room.
"There's something strange about those two." Piccolo said in a whisper, referring to two of the other fighters assembled there, Shin and Kibito. "I'm not sure what it is, but there's definitely something odd about them."
"I agree." Gohan said. "For one thing they don't look like they're human, or for that matter any other species from Earth, I think we may have to assume they're aliens."
"I think so." Goku said, looking thoughtful, an expression that was not often seen on his face. "But what species, I don't remember seeing anyone like them in otherworld, or HFIL for that matter."
Vegeta too looked puzzled. "If they are aliens, they're not from any area of space near here. During my time with Frieza I must have seen virtually every species from anywhere near here. At least any species capable of space travel."
"Let's just keep her eyes open." Gohan stated. "Their energy is high and though I doubt they'd be a threat to us when we're charged up, even if they're hiding part of their Ki, they could hurt a lot of innocent people if those are their intentions. Though I somehow don't think they're out to hurt anyone."
"I agree kid." Piccolo said, while nodding slowly. "They don't feel evil, almost the opposite, I don't know why but I have a feeling about them, it's almost familiar, but we'll have to wait and see."
The group nodded and Goku was about to add something when the announcers voice coming from the ring interrupted them.
/*
Next time on Life is Strange, the adult competition finally starts. Who will win the competition? Will our heroes discover who Shin and Kibito are?
Well it took me long enough but it's finally here. I said at the end of the last chapter I hoped to have this up within a week, but it's been two weeks and a day. I'm sorry for taking so long, but my studies took up a lot more time than anticipated. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The polls are still open on the questions I asked last time, and for your benefit I will repeat them below, so please take the time to tell me what you think about them, or to just tell me something else, by leaving a review.
Should Hercule remain a complete bastard, or should he become somewhat more likeable?
What do you think of the idea of a Majin Hercule?
Who do you think will win the tournament? (You won't be able to greatly influence me with that because I have the draw and results planned. Except for the matter of who will win, but it has been narrowed down to two candidates.)