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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.
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Note: I've decided to devide the fic into Sagas, so now you can see what Saga it's in at the beginning of each chapter, the Saga names have also been added to all previous chapters.
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Questions, current standing and 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---: IIIIIIIII
Complete bastard: IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
What do you think of the idea of a Majin Hercule?
Yes: IIIIIII(III)
No-: IIIIIIIIIII
Lol: IIIII
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------: IIIIIIIIIIIII
Goku-------: IIII
Vegeta-----: IIII
Mighty Mask: I
Videl------: (II)
As you can see the vote is close on the first question especially. The polls are still open so keep the votes coming.
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Response to reviews:
To Saiyaman:
As you probably know by now, I have read your story, and even left a review, something I don't do often as I suck at writing them. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do a Majin Hercule the polls are getting closer and I don't know if he will get killed if I do, he will suffer though, that's a certain part of the Majin Hercule package.
To Keios Thiori:
I didn't know about the two different dubs, but I already had a lot of downloaded episodes. Thanks for telling me though. I'm glad to have given you a nice (I hope) break from your physics revision and I did wish you luck when I got your review, as this would obviously be too late, the responses to reviews are the last thing I write, anyway I hope it all went well for you.
To SSMysticGohan:
I'm not planning on him reaching level 4 during the tournament, maybe during my version of the Buu Saga, which will be a lot more Gohan Videl centred, but maybe not.
To olympus83 and Jer:
I'm glad you liked the boys tying for the prise. It seemed better than the series to me.
To dbzchick and stoked:
I am planning on doing my own version of Buu, which will be more Gohan/Videl centred and hopefully better than the series because I've seen the Buu saga in the series, including the Japanese and I rather think it sucked, no offence intended to Akira Toriyama or anyone else involved with it.
To Darkpower:
Good point, I'm not really following the DBZ story line, though I'm trying to keep close to it in points. I will do my own version of Buu, but I'm not sure what's going to happen after that. I don't think I'll do GT, I haven't seen that yet, though I have seen everything up to the end of Z, watching the stuff that isn't available in English in fansub, and I don't think Z ends very believably, and that's the basis for GT so I think we van scrap that for this AU, I just doubt that Gohan and Videl would become so boring.
To mika:
Well I don't think this is really Gohan torture, not on the same scale as many other fics certainly, but I'm glad you like it.
To Lady Queen:
Quite possibly the shortest review you've ever left me. The next chapter is here now so that's that taken care of. The next time you don't have anything to put in there, why not try your little bro's e-mail addy. * Grins *
To Jimbo Jones:
I don't think I'll have Videl find a power like that, it for all its charm is not what I'm planning for this fic, at this point. However, I may be able to use it sometime in future, I'm not really sure yet what I want to do with this fic once I'm past the world tournament and my own version of Buu.
To Everyone:
Thanks for the reviews.
*/
Life Is Strange
Saga: The World Tournament
Chapter 15: First Round
"Alright." The announcer called out, getting himself the attention of both the fighters and the audience. "The draw has been made and we've all had a bit of a break to go to the bathroom or get some refreshment, so we're all set to start the Adult Tournament." The crowd started to cheer and he had to wait a moment for things to quiet down again. "Now with out any further ado let's get the fighters for the first match out here. Piccolo and Krillin come out here please."
Krillin and Piccolo walked out side by side and were greeted by mild, polite applause, not the kind that was reserved for the well-know fighters, but more the sort of, 'well we have to fill the time with this fight' applause.
The announcer continued as they made their way into the ring. "Krillin is a true veteran in this tournament, the first time he entered was back in the 21st world tournament, where he made it all the way to the semi-finals where he was defeated by the eventual winner of that tournament the old master Jackie Chun. He made it to the quarter finals in both the 22nd and 23rd tournaments but for some reason didn't come out to compete in the 24th he's back now though and I'm sure we'll be seeing more of the fabulous fighting he's always displayed."
The crowd cheered a little louder this time after hearing Krillin's fantastic record and the two fighters got ready for their 'friendly' battle as the announcer waited to give Piccolo's background information.
"Piccolo only entered once before, in the 23rd world tournament. He made it all the way to the final though, and came in an impressive second in a closely run match that was so intense it destroyed the ring. I hope that won't happen again this year, because rebuilding the ring takes a lot of time, which is why there was an usually long break between the 23rd and 24th tournaments. And now let the fight begin."
The crowd cheered a little more and Krillin and Piccolo both dropped into their stance before launching at each other. Krillin was the first to really take the offensive, though he knew he didn't really stand a chance against Piccolo, since he'd fused with Kami the Namek had become to strong for even a normal level 1 Super Saiyan to handle, though of course even Goten and Trunks could now get beyond that point, but without them in the tournament only Gohan, Goku and Vegeta could stop the mighty green warrior.
But Krillin couldn't focus on that now, he was to caught up in the fight to really think about anything else. The only very slim chance he had was to put all of his effort into the first few minutes of the fight.
His assault started all out, with him throwing a furious series of kicks and punches toward Piccolo who either dodged or blocked all of them.
Piccolo then seized the offensive and pushed Krillin back with his kicks and punches. The short man could barely block and dodge them and was thankful for his size for once. It had earned him a lot of teasing over the years, but now it made him a smaller target a slightly faster than he would otherwise be.
Gathering as much of his Ki as he could Krillin suddenly left the ground and flew at Piccolo, forcing the Namek back some. He himself immediately jumped back again, and began to prepare a Kamehameha wave, Piccolo apparently noticed his intensions because he started to power up a Ki-beam of his own.
After he'd finished his power-up, Krillin released his Kamehameha with a loud yell as Piccolo did the same with his blast.
The crowd gasped as once again two beams of light and energy met each other in the ring, Krillin's pushing Piccolo's back ever so slightly in the beginning. It didn't last however and within seconds Piccolo's attack started to overpower Krillin's Kamehameha, eventually cancelling it out completely and hitting the small human warrior, pushing him out of the ring.
Krillin mentally sighed as the blast connected with his stomach. It wasn't meant to penetrate and didn't, it just pushed him back, into the wall of the arena.
"And Krillin is out of the ring!" The announcer yelled. "But from the force of the impact I'd say Piccolo may have to be disqualified for excessive use of force and..."
He was cut of as Krillin pushed himself out of the dent he'd made in the wall and brushed of his clothes. The audience was stunned as the short man made his way in to the ring and congratulated his opponent.
"Well that settles that." The announcer yelled as the two fighters made their way back to the waiting area. "Apparently the force, though great was not excessive which means Piccolo becomes the first to advance to the quarter-finals, where he will face either Mighty-Mask or Pintar. So if those two would be so kind as to get out here we can start the second match."
In the athletes waiting area Goten and Trunks enthusiastically jumped up together. Finally they would get to fight in the adult tournament.
The huge fighter called Pintar also got up and followed his opponent who'd practically run there to the ring. He wasn't worried, after all he was a lot larger than Mighty Mask so he was bound to be stronger.
"Both of these fighters are second time competitors." The announcer told the crowd. "Pintar did better than Mighty Mask in the last tournament, but who will win today?"
Pintar just grinned at Mighty Mask before going into an imposing routine of flipovers.
"Is this guy for real?" Goten asked Trunks inside the Mighty Mask suit.
"I suppose so." Trunks replied. "We'll have to put him out of his misery, than we can fight Mr. Piccolo in the next round, that should be fun."
"Okay, Trunks." Goten jumped and the two boys flew at Pintar together.
Trunks just lightly punched and the large man was sent out of the ring.
"That was easy." Trunks said and he felt Goten's head nod beneath him.
"Well that was certainly a quick fight," the announcer said, "Mighty Mask has clearly been training. So now we know who's going to face Piccolo in the quarterfinals. But we still need to find out who's going to be in the second quarter-final and first match that will help us determine that is Videl versus Killa."
The crowd started cheering wildly the instant Videl's name was mentioned and continued to cheer as Mighty Mask and Pintar left the ring and Videl and Killa entered it.
"Now neither one of these fighters really needs an introduction but in the tradition of the tournament we'll give you one anyway." The announcer yelled as the crowd quieted down some. "Videl of course is the daughter of mister Satan, our ruling champion, last time here she won the junior championship and since then she's been helping the Satan City police force. Now she's back here at the tournament, this time as on of the fifteen fighters to make it through the elimination to challenge her father. * Cheers from the audience * Her opponent Killa also competed in the last tournament, though he of course fought in the adult competition and not in the junior contest like Videl. Now let the fight begin."
Videl sighed, she'd have this one fight, and then it would be over, Gohan would win the next fight, to face her in the quarter-final, and if her dad by some sort of miracle would have gained the power to beat Gohan, something she knew to be impossible, she wouldn't stand a chance against him because she had no chance against Gohan, even when the demi-Saiyan was having a bad day.
It seemed like her destiny, at least for the time being, to have only two possible types of fight in this tournament. First the type of fight she was facing now, where he opponent couldn't be considered a warm up, let alone a sparring partner, and certainly not a challenge. And second the type of fight she would be having with Gohan in the next round, in fight in which she would barely serve as a warm-up for her opponent. Even if she'd had to face Yamcha she wouldn't have been able to keep up, though he seemed to be the least powerful of the participating Z-fighters from what she could feel of his Ki.
She got into her stance and waited for Killa to attack, no need to rush the fight, the audience was getting precious little entertainment for its money anyway in a fight like this.
Killa didn't wait long before he charged at her, trying to hit her with a punch to the face. Videl just brought up her hand to intercept his fist, got a good grip on it and used that to lightly toss him over her shoulder and out of the ring.
The crowd fell silent at first, the ease of her victory apparently astounding the gathered fans, before it erupted in cheers that were louder than ever. Videl just shrugged, it wasn't really a victory, this guy was to weak to pose any sort of challenge whatsoever.
"You did great Videl." Gohan told his fiancée as she came back into the fighters waiting area.
"It wasn't going to be a challenge." She stated, she was feeling a little put out and they both knew it.
"I know, but there was a challenge in this match, even if it wasn't to beat the enemy. The challenge was not to beat him too badly, you tossed him out of the ring, I know for a fact you could throw him clear out of the stadium, with some luck even into low orbit."
Videl couldn't help but giggle a little her mood lightening drastically after Gohan's remark, which combined with a mental image of Killa shooting up and seeing his own reflection in a nearby satellite. "I suppose that is a challenge in itself, you'll have an even bigger challenge if you look at it like that."
"Don't worry I'm used to having to control my strength, I won't hurt your father too badly."
"That's okay, but make sure you do defeat him clearly enough, I don't want people saying he let you win. And if they do say it I don't want anyone believing them."
Gohan nodded and Videl got onto her toes to give him a kiss before he had to head out to the ring.
"Well this looks like it's going to be a great fight." The announcer yelled. "We have a newcomer here, Son Gohan, Gohan is the oldest son of Son Goku the winner of the twenty third World Tournament. His mother Chi-Chi also fought in that tournament and his parents actually faced each other in the quarterfinals. Recently the world found out that Gohan is engaged with Videl Satan, if he wins this fight he will face here in the quarterfinals, a repetition of his parents history. The man he has to get past however is none other than mister Satan, the defending champion. Mr. Satan has often said in the past that he will not let Videl marry anyone that has not beaten him and as yet these two have not fought each other, so there is more at stake here than just a place in the quarterfinals. Now let the fight begin."
Gohan didn't even drop into his stance, he just stood there with his arms by his sides as Hercule prepared to go on the attack.
"Why aren't you getting ready kid?" The 'champ' yelled. "You figured out that fighting me is impossible already?"
"Hardly." Gohan stated, loud enough for everyone to hear but without shouting like mister Satan had. "I'm ready whenever you are."
"I doubt it kid, I've been training again, your tricks won't work on me." Hercule said, now lowering his voice so only Gohan could hear.
Actually it was only Gohan and Piccolo, who thanks to his Namekian hearing could follow everything said in the ring, even if it had been whispered. Piccolo of course promptly told the other Z-fighters what Hercule had said, which had all off them, including Videl, rolling on the floor howling with laughter. Except for Vegeta and Piccolo himself, who though they were laughing managed to remain standing.
Mr. Satan was blissfully unaware of this as he laughed and made the victory sign with both hands. Gohan however just gave him a glare that would have made Vegeta proud, and at present made mister Satan just a little nervous. He'd been training again for the first time in years, his daughter was at stake, and his image along with her, but this kid seemed unaffected by that message.
Hmm, I'll show him. He thought to himself. He may have been a little stronger than me when he fought Cell, but even then the difference was minimal, after all I did make that fantastic jump. So now with my extra training all I have to do is ignore his stupid light tricks and I will win.
He thrust his hands back up in the air giving the double V-sign again before dropping back into his stance and going on the offensive.
Gohan just stood where he was standing without moving so much as a muscle as Hercule started his offensive, much like Cell had just taken the meaningless hits of this self-proclaimed super-fighter some seven years before.
After a few minutes of this Gohan raised on finger, using it to block Hercule's right fist as it was headed for his face.
"I hate to interrupt you." Gohan said, falsely polite. "But this is getting boring, either hit me in a way that I can actually feel, or try something new. If you like neither of those options I'll go on the offensive if you like."
Hercule just looked at him, the look meant to say 'who do you think you're fooling you punk' but he just couldn't pull it off.
Instead of adding a vocal reply to the look he continued his offensive with another punch packing all of his power, however this too was stopped with just a finger.
"Well I guess it's my turn." Gohan said simply. In some corner of his mind he was aware of the surprised audience, but at this point he really didn't care. The real battle wasn't taking place in the ring, and none in the audience could see it. The only ones that might be aware of it were the other Z-fighters in the athletes waiting area. Gohan was fighting himself, his Saiyan pride combined with a lot of irritation that had build up over the years because of the way mister Satan behaved and talked about things like the Cell-games, the endless lies, the insults, the claim that it was all a big trick. That was the true enemy, the one that made it very difficult for him to stay focused on how he wanted to win, a knock out, no 'oops I must have slipped' ring out, no 'well I couldn't beat up my daughters fiancée surrender', a simply and complete loss without giving in to his baser instincts and getting disqualified for killing his opponent.
Gohan went about the rest of the fight with a strange sort of single mindedness, somewhere, at the edges of his consciousness he was aware of the surprised reactions from the crowd, and the announcer talking about miracles, but it didn't matter, all that mattered now was doing what he'd come to do, nothing less and especially nothing more.
He went about effecting Mr. Satan's fall from grace very unceremoniously. Keeping his Ki all the way down so as not to hurt his opponent to badly he countered the two stopped punches with a light punch of his own, which made Hercule stagger back a few paces.
Gohan didn't wait to hear the announcer report this latest surprise development to the audience, nor did he wait to hear said audiences shrieks of surprise, he just continued the attack. He sent in a few punches and kicks that weren't meant to connect and only served the purpose of driving Mr. Satan back a bit. The he went for a quick kick to his opponent's chest that sent the big goof flying out of the ring.
Well at least it's over. Mr. Satan thought, as he saw the edge of the ring come closer during his flight. I'll just claim I slipped on something. That'll be perfect it would make me look * thud * like I could have won.
Unfortunately for Mr. Satan's plan the thud was Gohan appearing seemingly out of nowhere and stopping him before he left the ring. The young demi-Saiyan had no intension of scoring a ring-out like this, and made that clear by holding out a hand that stopped Mr. Satan by the forehead.
Almost casually he then kicked the older fighter again sending him flying a little ways in the other direction where he landed near the centre of the ring.
As Hercule struggled to his feet again he realised that his thoughts at the beginning of the match had been sorely mistaken. He still wasn't sure about the light tricks but somehow this boy was a lot stronger than he looked and even a lot stronger than him, Hercule Satan.
He tried to get away as Gohan approached again, but the younger man was just to quick for him, appearing in front of him as he tried to make it to the edge of the ring.
Gohan looked at Hercule as he appeared in front of the now clearly fleeing man. Now was as good a time as any to end this and he didn't know how long he could stay in control of his more violent tendencies. He raised his hand with the palm stretched out and did a simple neck-chop, a relatively painless way to make sure someone wouldn't have trouble sleeping for the next half hour or so.
The crowd's gasps of surprise came through a bit louder this time as Gohan nudged the unconscious Hercule with his foot and motioned for the announcer to start the count.
Silence fell over the stadium as the announcer counted: "One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten... Son Gohan wins by a knockout."
The crowd cheered for a bit, but it was a rather half-hearted sort of cheering that quickly turned into muttering, nobody had expected Mr. Satan to lose, in fact most of the audience had expected him to win the whole thing again without any opposition.
Up in the audience, two people were a little less shocked than most by this surprise development.
"Wow." Sharpner exclaimed turning to his wife. "I knew Gohan was good, but this good."
"Yeah, it's surprising." Erasa replied, looking oddly thoughtful. "Though we did never see Mr. Satan do any of the stuff we know Gohan can do."
"True but he said those were just tricks. And they have to be right, except maybe the flying thing."
"All of a sudden I'm not so sure anymore, but then what about Cell?"
"I don't know, this is all so confusing."
"Yeah, Gohan and Videl are the brains of our little group, we can't do this on our own."
In the end it took the audience five minutes to go through the stages of shocked silence, confused muttering, absolute confusion and finally acceptance. When those had finally been completed the announcer stepped in again. "Well ladies and gentlemen, that was a rather unexpected result for most of us, but if anything it is a demonstration of the awesome field of contestants we have this year. Another prime example of that is coming up in this match. Where we have Jewel the runner up of the last tournament, facing Shin, a first time contender who got a very impressive score on the punch machine in spite of his light build. From the looks of him Shin will be both fast and powerful, and we know for a fact Jewel has the necessary speed and strength to do good in this tournament. So please welcome Jewel and Shin."
The crowd applauded, but a little half hearted as most of them were still rather stunned by the previous fight even if they were slowly coming to terms with it.
Backstage the Z-warriors once again crowded together in the space where they could watch the fight. They'd all been standing there to watch Gohan fight Mr. Satan and now they were anxious to see the first of the two mystery man compete. How strong would he be? He certainly had high Ki, but he was probably even repressing some of it so maybe he wouldn't have to show his full strength in this battle, given the Ki they could sense that was actually rather likely.
And so they watched as the self-proclaimed blond-babe and the mysterious purple man made their way to the ring.
They will know soon enough. Shin thought, as he sensed the eyes of the Z-fighters on his back. And so will I, was I right when I thought that some of them must be stronger than me? Or is Kibito right, am I just over-estimating the mortal worlds ability to solve it's own problems, either way this tournament will let me know.
Jewel mean while was very puzzled by his opponent, normally he wouldn't have expected any trouble from anyone but Mr. Satan, he'd made it to the last round of the previous tournament with relative ease. But now he'd suddenly seen Mr. Satan go down while the other guy looked like he hadn't even put any effort into the fight, and then there was this Shin, he'd never seen anything quite like this purple man.
When both fighters were in position in the ring the announcer gave the signal for them to start and Jewel went on the offensive. He rushed towards his opponent, but his punches and kicks were all blocked and he could tell that Shin wasn't even trying.
Just as Jewel was starting to panic the purple man simply held up his hand with the palm opened to the blond fighter and somehow send a large gust of wind at him, blowing him clear out of the ring.
"Well that was a quick fight." The announcer stated as Shin made his way back to the other athletes and Jewel was taking to the infirmary with a sprained ankle. "So let's move on to the next match. And I must say if I spoke about a prime example of the awesome field we have this year in the previous match, I'm forced to repeat myself now because with mister Satan out of the competition this one may just decide the whole tournament. Tien is the first fighter in this match and this is his third appearance at the World Tournament, he managed to claim the title in the 22nd Tournament but lost it in the 23rd. He didn't appear in the 24th Tournament but he's back today and willing to give it another shot."
There were cheers from the crowd as Tien made his way into the ring.
"Now," the announcer continued, "there was of course a reason why I said this may well decide the tournament and it's not limited to one fighter, because Tien's opponent is another veteran and if I may say so a living legend, he entered three times before, getting to the final in the 21st tournament at the tender age of twelve. He lost that final to the old master Jackie Chun but came back the next time and made it to the finals again, where he lost to his opponent in this match, Tien, he finally managed to win the third time he made it to the finals, at the 23rd tournament. Like Tien he wasn't at the 24th but now he's come to try to reclaim his title, here is the one and only Son Goku!"
The crowd cheered wildly, Goku's name had already been well known and now that everyone had had a refresher course on his accomplishments he'd become the instant favourite after the fall of mister Satan.
"So," Tien asked Goku as the crowd fell silent, "think you can beat me without going super?"
"I reckon so." Goku stated. "Unless you were to put dangerous amounts of energy in a tri-beam to try for ring-out, but that would be way to dangerous somewhere this crowded."
"You're right of course, and I really must admit I don't think I have a good chance, but you never know how a fight is going to turn out until you've fought it."
Goku nodded and the two sped towards each other, starting the fight with an exchange of kicks and punches that nobody in the crowd could see. Except of course the other Z-fighters who were watching backstage.
"Tien is really doing great." Yamcha remarked. "He must have been really working out."
"Tien works out for a living." Krillin replied. "It's his job to be as strong as he can since he's Chaozu's bodyguard."
"He's no match for Goku though." Piccolo added. "Goku isn't even using half the power he has in his normal form and he isn't using the Kaioken either, I don't think he'll have to transform for this battle."
"Stop being so modest." Yamcha said, sounding almost as if he were accusing the Namek. "We all know you're the only one that can force any of the Saiyans to transform except for the other Saiyans."
Piccolo just smirked a little and gave a barely visible nod as everyone's attention returned to the fighting in the ring.
Goku was powering up some more, apparently having had enough of the warm up stage of the fight and Tien was now at full power where he'd been a bit below full earlier.
They both landed in the ring to stare at each other for a second before rushing into the final stage of their battle, Goku quickly overpowered Tien with a series of kick and punches that finally forced the three-eyed man out of the ring. He was of course still floating and shot up in a last attempt to avoid a ring out, but Goku quickly shot up as well and after a short airborne fight managed to knock his friend to the ground where he hit leaving a bit of an impact crater.
"And that does it folks." The announcer yelled. "Once we've confirmed that Tien is in fact still alive Son Goku will advance and..." At this point Tien got back up and calmly walked over to the man.
"Don't worry, he knows it'd take a lot more to kill me." The three-eyed fighter stated before leaving the stadium as wild applause sounded.
Goku in the meantime had floated down and also headed back over to the others.
"Well let's move onto the next match shall we." The announcer told the crowd. "And it looks like another spectacle. The first fighter in this match is one of only two female fighters to make it to this stage of the tournament. We don't know whether the name she gave is real, or just and alias, but we know her only as #18. The other contestant in this fight is another of our veterans though there are few people left who know of his background as a martial artist, most of you however will know him from his other sports career, I'm talking about Baseball's very own, Yamcha!" The crowd cheered as the two fighters emerged and the announcer had to wait a while before he could continue. "Yamcha is one of a group of fighters here today who for some reason didn't enter in the 24th tournament while they did fight in one or more tournaments before that. How or why they missed that tournament we don't know, nor do we know why they are here today but as we have seen so far, they are fighting spectacularly, and I'm sure this fight will be no different."
Yamcha and #18 who had by now made their way into the ring took that as the starting sign and started their fight, though it wasn't destined to last a long time. #18 though she had left her evil ways behind still had a certain predisposition towards efficiency and made short work of the human fighter. She couldn't sense Ki but she didn't have to, everybody knew the Saiyans and Piccolo were her only competition, they could defeat her, and she could defeat the others, that was her place in the order of things and as they both knew it, why bother prolonging this to make it into more of a fight than it could ever be?
Her strategy was simple yet effective, block Yamcha's initial attacks, distract with a punch, a kick to the stomach to send him flying and watch him hit the wall, a quick and relatively painless ring-out.
"Well would you look at that folks." The announcer yelled. "Not only is #18 rather attractive, she's also a good fighter. In fact this is quite spectacular, there were no women in the adult division of the 24th Tournament but they seem to be back with a vengeance, both of our female fighters have made it past the first round and into the quarterfinals. Videl will of course be facing her fiancée, Son Gohan there, in what will probably be their first official domestic dispute, while #18 will be facing the winner of the next match. And that next match is a bit of an unknown. It is the only match in this tournament with two complete newcomers. Kibito is the silent type like his friend Shin, in fact we don't even know for sure whether or not they are friends, but they seem to be spending all their time close together and have only talked to each other. The only time they've spoken to others was when there was no way around it. So from Shin's impressive performance earlier I'd say we have something to look forward too with Kibito fighting. His opponent is almost as much as an unknown. Sources tell us that he is married to Bulma Brief, owner of Capsule Corporation, but they can't tell us much else, he did get the highest score on the punch machine though so there is a good chance he'll do well here."
Vegeta and Kibito had made their way to the ring during the introduction and dropped into their stance as the announcer finished.
Now we'll get to see if there is any truth in the legends. Kibito thought. I've told Shin he had too much faith in the mortals but I hope I'm wrong. Both he and I know we don't stand a chance ourselves. But can their legend and ours combine as he thinks they will.
Vegeta too took some time to think about his opponent. He was the first of the Z-fighters to face one of these two strangers. The first to see how much power they really had, though to him Kibito seemed like he was the weaker of the two.
Ah well. The might prince of Saiyans thought to himself. At least it should be a decent warm up for my match with the android later, but I doubt I'll have to go Super, he doesn't seem quite that strong too me. Shin seems to be the one hiding his power.
Just to be on the safe side Vegeta powered up until he was just a little beneath the Super-Saiyan barrier as he prepared to charge the large reddish warrior.
As their exchange of blows started Vegeta quickly judged his opponents strength. They were almost equal in strength, he himself was only slightly stronger in his normal form when he was completely powered up as he was now.
"Kibito seems to be pretty tough." Gohan commented as he watched with the others. "He won't be able to beat Vegeta, but it's close now that Vegeta is in his normal form."
Goku nodded. "He is, Kibito is giving everything he's got now and Vegeta is as well, at least for his normal form, it's a matter of time before Vegeta overpowers him. But from what I can tell Shin is the stronger of the two, so I'll have to see what he can do when I fight him in the next round."
Gohan nodded in turn and ended the exchange just as Vegeta managed to end the match by scoring a ring-out.
"Well folks there you have it!" The announcer yelled as the two fighters made their way backstage. "The first round is over and the quarter finals await. In those quarterfinals we'll start with Piccolo against Mighty Mask. Followed by a very special match, Son Gohan against Videl Satan. Next we'll have the mysterious Shin against former champion Son Goku. And finally #18 will face Vegeta. We'll just take about fifteen minutes break for the fighters to get ready before we start with the next round of this exciting World Tournament!"
/*
Next time on life is strange the quarter finals start and the speculation continues. Who exactly are Shin and Kibito? Why are they here, and what are they so worried about. We may know it, but the Z-fighters don't.
This is the very last thing I'm adding to this document, I've already put the questions below but I felt I had to add this. For those of you who didn't know (anymore) I'm Dutch and as many of you may know by now, a major political figure over here, Pim Fortuyn, has just been shot and killed. And while I didn't agree with the man, he was rightwing I'm definitely leftwing, it is a bit of a shock, and I don't know when it'll wear of. Or how it will influence me until it does. This may mean that I won't update in a while this sort of shock tends to occupy the mind. Fortunately I'd already finished this chapter when it happened, but as for the next I just don't know at this point. As the very last thing I add to this I'd like to offer my condolences to his friends and family.
And now to our questions:
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? (I think this may be your last opportunity to vote on this, the final isn't too far away.)
New questions:
How do you like the new Saga-list summary, is it better than the old ones?
Just to repeat the summary:
"Ch. 15 is up. Sagas in this fic so far: Strange - Sayaman my way, Truth - Videl's discoveries, The heir of the Cold-empire (it's not Kooler), The World Tournament - my way (in progress)."
*/
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.
*/
/*
Note: I've decided to devide the fic into Sagas, so now you can see what Saga it's in at the beginning of each chapter, the Saga names have also been added to all previous chapters.
*/
/*
Questions, current standing and 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---: IIIIIIIII
Complete bastard: IIIIIIIIIIIIIII
What do you think of the idea of a Majin Hercule?
Yes: IIIIIII(III)
No-: IIIIIIIIIII
Lol: IIIII
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------: IIIIIIIIIIIII
Goku-------: IIII
Vegeta-----: IIII
Mighty Mask: I
Videl------: (II)
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 Saiyaman:
As you probably know by now, I have read your story, and even left a review, something I don't do often as I suck at writing them. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do a Majin Hercule the polls are getting closer and I don't know if he will get killed if I do, he will suffer though, that's a certain part of the Majin Hercule package.
To Keios Thiori:
I didn't know about the two different dubs, but I already had a lot of downloaded episodes. Thanks for telling me though. I'm glad to have given you a nice (I hope) break from your physics revision and I did wish you luck when I got your review, as this would obviously be too late, the responses to reviews are the last thing I write, anyway I hope it all went well for you.
To SSMysticGohan:
I'm not planning on him reaching level 4 during the tournament, maybe during my version of the Buu Saga, which will be a lot more Gohan Videl centred, but maybe not.
To olympus83 and Jer:
I'm glad you liked the boys tying for the prise. It seemed better than the series to me.
To dbzchick and stoked:
I am planning on doing my own version of Buu, which will be more Gohan/Videl centred and hopefully better than the series because I've seen the Buu saga in the series, including the Japanese and I rather think it sucked, no offence intended to Akira Toriyama or anyone else involved with it.
To Darkpower:
Good point, I'm not really following the DBZ story line, though I'm trying to keep close to it in points. I will do my own version of Buu, but I'm not sure what's going to happen after that. I don't think I'll do GT, I haven't seen that yet, though I have seen everything up to the end of Z, watching the stuff that isn't available in English in fansub, and I don't think Z ends very believably, and that's the basis for GT so I think we van scrap that for this AU, I just doubt that Gohan and Videl would become so boring.
To mika:
Well I don't think this is really Gohan torture, not on the same scale as many other fics certainly, but I'm glad you like it.
To Lady Queen:
Quite possibly the shortest review you've ever left me. The next chapter is here now so that's that taken care of. The next time you don't have anything to put in there, why not try your little bro's e-mail addy. * Grins *
To Jimbo Jones:
I don't think I'll have Videl find a power like that, it for all its charm is not what I'm planning for this fic, at this point. However, I may be able to use it sometime in future, I'm not really sure yet what I want to do with this fic once I'm past the world tournament and my own version of Buu.
To Everyone:
Thanks for the reviews.
*/
Life Is Strange
Saga: The World Tournament
Chapter 15: First Round
"Alright." The announcer called out, getting himself the attention of both the fighters and the audience. "The draw has been made and we've all had a bit of a break to go to the bathroom or get some refreshment, so we're all set to start the Adult Tournament." The crowd started to cheer and he had to wait a moment for things to quiet down again. "Now with out any further ado let's get the fighters for the first match out here. Piccolo and Krillin come out here please."
Krillin and Piccolo walked out side by side and were greeted by mild, polite applause, not the kind that was reserved for the well-know fighters, but more the sort of, 'well we have to fill the time with this fight' applause.
The announcer continued as they made their way into the ring. "Krillin is a true veteran in this tournament, the first time he entered was back in the 21st world tournament, where he made it all the way to the semi-finals where he was defeated by the eventual winner of that tournament the old master Jackie Chun. He made it to the quarter finals in both the 22nd and 23rd tournaments but for some reason didn't come out to compete in the 24th he's back now though and I'm sure we'll be seeing more of the fabulous fighting he's always displayed."
The crowd cheered a little louder this time after hearing Krillin's fantastic record and the two fighters got ready for their 'friendly' battle as the announcer waited to give Piccolo's background information.
"Piccolo only entered once before, in the 23rd world tournament. He made it all the way to the final though, and came in an impressive second in a closely run match that was so intense it destroyed the ring. I hope that won't happen again this year, because rebuilding the ring takes a lot of time, which is why there was an usually long break between the 23rd and 24th tournaments. And now let the fight begin."
The crowd cheered a little more and Krillin and Piccolo both dropped into their stance before launching at each other. Krillin was the first to really take the offensive, though he knew he didn't really stand a chance against Piccolo, since he'd fused with Kami the Namek had become to strong for even a normal level 1 Super Saiyan to handle, though of course even Goten and Trunks could now get beyond that point, but without them in the tournament only Gohan, Goku and Vegeta could stop the mighty green warrior.
But Krillin couldn't focus on that now, he was to caught up in the fight to really think about anything else. The only very slim chance he had was to put all of his effort into the first few minutes of the fight.
His assault started all out, with him throwing a furious series of kicks and punches toward Piccolo who either dodged or blocked all of them.
Piccolo then seized the offensive and pushed Krillin back with his kicks and punches. The short man could barely block and dodge them and was thankful for his size for once. It had earned him a lot of teasing over the years, but now it made him a smaller target a slightly faster than he would otherwise be.
Gathering as much of his Ki as he could Krillin suddenly left the ground and flew at Piccolo, forcing the Namek back some. He himself immediately jumped back again, and began to prepare a Kamehameha wave, Piccolo apparently noticed his intensions because he started to power up a Ki-beam of his own.
After he'd finished his power-up, Krillin released his Kamehameha with a loud yell as Piccolo did the same with his blast.
The crowd gasped as once again two beams of light and energy met each other in the ring, Krillin's pushing Piccolo's back ever so slightly in the beginning. It didn't last however and within seconds Piccolo's attack started to overpower Krillin's Kamehameha, eventually cancelling it out completely and hitting the small human warrior, pushing him out of the ring.
Krillin mentally sighed as the blast connected with his stomach. It wasn't meant to penetrate and didn't, it just pushed him back, into the wall of the arena.
"And Krillin is out of the ring!" The announcer yelled. "But from the force of the impact I'd say Piccolo may have to be disqualified for excessive use of force and..."
He was cut of as Krillin pushed himself out of the dent he'd made in the wall and brushed of his clothes. The audience was stunned as the short man made his way in to the ring and congratulated his opponent.
"Well that settles that." The announcer yelled as the two fighters made their way back to the waiting area. "Apparently the force, though great was not excessive which means Piccolo becomes the first to advance to the quarter-finals, where he will face either Mighty-Mask or Pintar. So if those two would be so kind as to get out here we can start the second match."
In the athletes waiting area Goten and Trunks enthusiastically jumped up together. Finally they would get to fight in the adult tournament.
The huge fighter called Pintar also got up and followed his opponent who'd practically run there to the ring. He wasn't worried, after all he was a lot larger than Mighty Mask so he was bound to be stronger.
"Both of these fighters are second time competitors." The announcer told the crowd. "Pintar did better than Mighty Mask in the last tournament, but who will win today?"
Pintar just grinned at Mighty Mask before going into an imposing routine of flipovers.
"Is this guy for real?" Goten asked Trunks inside the Mighty Mask suit.
"I suppose so." Trunks replied. "We'll have to put him out of his misery, than we can fight Mr. Piccolo in the next round, that should be fun."
"Okay, Trunks." Goten jumped and the two boys flew at Pintar together.
Trunks just lightly punched and the large man was sent out of the ring.
"That was easy." Trunks said and he felt Goten's head nod beneath him.
"Well that was certainly a quick fight," the announcer said, "Mighty Mask has clearly been training. So now we know who's going to face Piccolo in the quarterfinals. But we still need to find out who's going to be in the second quarter-final and first match that will help us determine that is Videl versus Killa."
The crowd started cheering wildly the instant Videl's name was mentioned and continued to cheer as Mighty Mask and Pintar left the ring and Videl and Killa entered it.
"Now neither one of these fighters really needs an introduction but in the tradition of the tournament we'll give you one anyway." The announcer yelled as the crowd quieted down some. "Videl of course is the daughter of mister Satan, our ruling champion, last time here she won the junior championship and since then she's been helping the Satan City police force. Now she's back here at the tournament, this time as on of the fifteen fighters to make it through the elimination to challenge her father. * Cheers from the audience * Her opponent Killa also competed in the last tournament, though he of course fought in the adult competition and not in the junior contest like Videl. Now let the fight begin."
Videl sighed, she'd have this one fight, and then it would be over, Gohan would win the next fight, to face her in the quarter-final, and if her dad by some sort of miracle would have gained the power to beat Gohan, something she knew to be impossible, she wouldn't stand a chance against him because she had no chance against Gohan, even when the demi-Saiyan was having a bad day.
It seemed like her destiny, at least for the time being, to have only two possible types of fight in this tournament. First the type of fight she was facing now, where he opponent couldn't be considered a warm up, let alone a sparring partner, and certainly not a challenge. And second the type of fight she would be having with Gohan in the next round, in fight in which she would barely serve as a warm-up for her opponent. Even if she'd had to face Yamcha she wouldn't have been able to keep up, though he seemed to be the least powerful of the participating Z-fighters from what she could feel of his Ki.
She got into her stance and waited for Killa to attack, no need to rush the fight, the audience was getting precious little entertainment for its money anyway in a fight like this.
Killa didn't wait long before he charged at her, trying to hit her with a punch to the face. Videl just brought up her hand to intercept his fist, got a good grip on it and used that to lightly toss him over her shoulder and out of the ring.
The crowd fell silent at first, the ease of her victory apparently astounding the gathered fans, before it erupted in cheers that were louder than ever. Videl just shrugged, it wasn't really a victory, this guy was to weak to pose any sort of challenge whatsoever.
"You did great Videl." Gohan told his fiancée as she came back into the fighters waiting area.
"It wasn't going to be a challenge." She stated, she was feeling a little put out and they both knew it.
"I know, but there was a challenge in this match, even if it wasn't to beat the enemy. The challenge was not to beat him too badly, you tossed him out of the ring, I know for a fact you could throw him clear out of the stadium, with some luck even into low orbit."
Videl couldn't help but giggle a little her mood lightening drastically after Gohan's remark, which combined with a mental image of Killa shooting up and seeing his own reflection in a nearby satellite. "I suppose that is a challenge in itself, you'll have an even bigger challenge if you look at it like that."
"Don't worry I'm used to having to control my strength, I won't hurt your father too badly."
"That's okay, but make sure you do defeat him clearly enough, I don't want people saying he let you win. And if they do say it I don't want anyone believing them."
Gohan nodded and Videl got onto her toes to give him a kiss before he had to head out to the ring.
"Well this looks like it's going to be a great fight." The announcer yelled. "We have a newcomer here, Son Gohan, Gohan is the oldest son of Son Goku the winner of the twenty third World Tournament. His mother Chi-Chi also fought in that tournament and his parents actually faced each other in the quarterfinals. Recently the world found out that Gohan is engaged with Videl Satan, if he wins this fight he will face here in the quarterfinals, a repetition of his parents history. The man he has to get past however is none other than mister Satan, the defending champion. Mr. Satan has often said in the past that he will not let Videl marry anyone that has not beaten him and as yet these two have not fought each other, so there is more at stake here than just a place in the quarterfinals. Now let the fight begin."
Gohan didn't even drop into his stance, he just stood there with his arms by his sides as Hercule prepared to go on the attack.
"Why aren't you getting ready kid?" The 'champ' yelled. "You figured out that fighting me is impossible already?"
"Hardly." Gohan stated, loud enough for everyone to hear but without shouting like mister Satan had. "I'm ready whenever you are."
"I doubt it kid, I've been training again, your tricks won't work on me." Hercule said, now lowering his voice so only Gohan could hear.
Actually it was only Gohan and Piccolo, who thanks to his Namekian hearing could follow everything said in the ring, even if it had been whispered. Piccolo of course promptly told the other Z-fighters what Hercule had said, which had all off them, including Videl, rolling on the floor howling with laughter. Except for Vegeta and Piccolo himself, who though they were laughing managed to remain standing.
Mr. Satan was blissfully unaware of this as he laughed and made the victory sign with both hands. Gohan however just gave him a glare that would have made Vegeta proud, and at present made mister Satan just a little nervous. He'd been training again for the first time in years, his daughter was at stake, and his image along with her, but this kid seemed unaffected by that message.
Hmm, I'll show him. He thought to himself. He may have been a little stronger than me when he fought Cell, but even then the difference was minimal, after all I did make that fantastic jump. So now with my extra training all I have to do is ignore his stupid light tricks and I will win.
He thrust his hands back up in the air giving the double V-sign again before dropping back into his stance and going on the offensive.
Gohan just stood where he was standing without moving so much as a muscle as Hercule started his offensive, much like Cell had just taken the meaningless hits of this self-proclaimed super-fighter some seven years before.
After a few minutes of this Gohan raised on finger, using it to block Hercule's right fist as it was headed for his face.
"I hate to interrupt you." Gohan said, falsely polite. "But this is getting boring, either hit me in a way that I can actually feel, or try something new. If you like neither of those options I'll go on the offensive if you like."
Hercule just looked at him, the look meant to say 'who do you think you're fooling you punk' but he just couldn't pull it off.
Instead of adding a vocal reply to the look he continued his offensive with another punch packing all of his power, however this too was stopped with just a finger.
"Well I guess it's my turn." Gohan said simply. In some corner of his mind he was aware of the surprised audience, but at this point he really didn't care. The real battle wasn't taking place in the ring, and none in the audience could see it. The only ones that might be aware of it were the other Z-fighters in the athletes waiting area. Gohan was fighting himself, his Saiyan pride combined with a lot of irritation that had build up over the years because of the way mister Satan behaved and talked about things like the Cell-games, the endless lies, the insults, the claim that it was all a big trick. That was the true enemy, the one that made it very difficult for him to stay focused on how he wanted to win, a knock out, no 'oops I must have slipped' ring out, no 'well I couldn't beat up my daughters fiancée surrender', a simply and complete loss without giving in to his baser instincts and getting disqualified for killing his opponent.
Gohan went about the rest of the fight with a strange sort of single mindedness, somewhere, at the edges of his consciousness he was aware of the surprised reactions from the crowd, and the announcer talking about miracles, but it didn't matter, all that mattered now was doing what he'd come to do, nothing less and especially nothing more.
He went about effecting Mr. Satan's fall from grace very unceremoniously. Keeping his Ki all the way down so as not to hurt his opponent to badly he countered the two stopped punches with a light punch of his own, which made Hercule stagger back a few paces.
Gohan didn't wait to hear the announcer report this latest surprise development to the audience, nor did he wait to hear said audiences shrieks of surprise, he just continued the attack. He sent in a few punches and kicks that weren't meant to connect and only served the purpose of driving Mr. Satan back a bit. The he went for a quick kick to his opponent's chest that sent the big goof flying out of the ring.
Well at least it's over. Mr. Satan thought, as he saw the edge of the ring come closer during his flight. I'll just claim I slipped on something. That'll be perfect it would make me look * thud * like I could have won.
Unfortunately for Mr. Satan's plan the thud was Gohan appearing seemingly out of nowhere and stopping him before he left the ring. The young demi-Saiyan had no intension of scoring a ring-out like this, and made that clear by holding out a hand that stopped Mr. Satan by the forehead.
Almost casually he then kicked the older fighter again sending him flying a little ways in the other direction where he landed near the centre of the ring.
As Hercule struggled to his feet again he realised that his thoughts at the beginning of the match had been sorely mistaken. He still wasn't sure about the light tricks but somehow this boy was a lot stronger than he looked and even a lot stronger than him, Hercule Satan.
He tried to get away as Gohan approached again, but the younger man was just to quick for him, appearing in front of him as he tried to make it to the edge of the ring.
Gohan looked at Hercule as he appeared in front of the now clearly fleeing man. Now was as good a time as any to end this and he didn't know how long he could stay in control of his more violent tendencies. He raised his hand with the palm stretched out and did a simple neck-chop, a relatively painless way to make sure someone wouldn't have trouble sleeping for the next half hour or so.
The crowd's gasps of surprise came through a bit louder this time as Gohan nudged the unconscious Hercule with his foot and motioned for the announcer to start the count.
Silence fell over the stadium as the announcer counted: "One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six... Seven... Eight... Nine... Ten... Son Gohan wins by a knockout."
The crowd cheered for a bit, but it was a rather half-hearted sort of cheering that quickly turned into muttering, nobody had expected Mr. Satan to lose, in fact most of the audience had expected him to win the whole thing again without any opposition.
Up in the audience, two people were a little less shocked than most by this surprise development.
"Wow." Sharpner exclaimed turning to his wife. "I knew Gohan was good, but this good."
"Yeah, it's surprising." Erasa replied, looking oddly thoughtful. "Though we did never see Mr. Satan do any of the stuff we know Gohan can do."
"True but he said those were just tricks. And they have to be right, except maybe the flying thing."
"All of a sudden I'm not so sure anymore, but then what about Cell?"
"I don't know, this is all so confusing."
"Yeah, Gohan and Videl are the brains of our little group, we can't do this on our own."
In the end it took the audience five minutes to go through the stages of shocked silence, confused muttering, absolute confusion and finally acceptance. When those had finally been completed the announcer stepped in again. "Well ladies and gentlemen, that was a rather unexpected result for most of us, but if anything it is a demonstration of the awesome field of contestants we have this year. Another prime example of that is coming up in this match. Where we have Jewel the runner up of the last tournament, facing Shin, a first time contender who got a very impressive score on the punch machine in spite of his light build. From the looks of him Shin will be both fast and powerful, and we know for a fact Jewel has the necessary speed and strength to do good in this tournament. So please welcome Jewel and Shin."
The crowd applauded, but a little half hearted as most of them were still rather stunned by the previous fight even if they were slowly coming to terms with it.
Backstage the Z-warriors once again crowded together in the space where they could watch the fight. They'd all been standing there to watch Gohan fight Mr. Satan and now they were anxious to see the first of the two mystery man compete. How strong would he be? He certainly had high Ki, but he was probably even repressing some of it so maybe he wouldn't have to show his full strength in this battle, given the Ki they could sense that was actually rather likely.
And so they watched as the self-proclaimed blond-babe and the mysterious purple man made their way to the ring.
They will know soon enough. Shin thought, as he sensed the eyes of the Z-fighters on his back. And so will I, was I right when I thought that some of them must be stronger than me? Or is Kibito right, am I just over-estimating the mortal worlds ability to solve it's own problems, either way this tournament will let me know.
Jewel mean while was very puzzled by his opponent, normally he wouldn't have expected any trouble from anyone but Mr. Satan, he'd made it to the last round of the previous tournament with relative ease. But now he'd suddenly seen Mr. Satan go down while the other guy looked like he hadn't even put any effort into the fight, and then there was this Shin, he'd never seen anything quite like this purple man.
When both fighters were in position in the ring the announcer gave the signal for them to start and Jewel went on the offensive. He rushed towards his opponent, but his punches and kicks were all blocked and he could tell that Shin wasn't even trying.
Just as Jewel was starting to panic the purple man simply held up his hand with the palm opened to the blond fighter and somehow send a large gust of wind at him, blowing him clear out of the ring.
"Well that was a quick fight." The announcer stated as Shin made his way back to the other athletes and Jewel was taking to the infirmary with a sprained ankle. "So let's move on to the next match. And I must say if I spoke about a prime example of the awesome field we have this year in the previous match, I'm forced to repeat myself now because with mister Satan out of the competition this one may just decide the whole tournament. Tien is the first fighter in this match and this is his third appearance at the World Tournament, he managed to claim the title in the 22nd Tournament but lost it in the 23rd. He didn't appear in the 24th Tournament but he's back today and willing to give it another shot."
There were cheers from the crowd as Tien made his way into the ring.
"Now," the announcer continued, "there was of course a reason why I said this may well decide the tournament and it's not limited to one fighter, because Tien's opponent is another veteran and if I may say so a living legend, he entered three times before, getting to the final in the 21st tournament at the tender age of twelve. He lost that final to the old master Jackie Chun but came back the next time and made it to the finals again, where he lost to his opponent in this match, Tien, he finally managed to win the third time he made it to the finals, at the 23rd tournament. Like Tien he wasn't at the 24th but now he's come to try to reclaim his title, here is the one and only Son Goku!"
The crowd cheered wildly, Goku's name had already been well known and now that everyone had had a refresher course on his accomplishments he'd become the instant favourite after the fall of mister Satan.
"So," Tien asked Goku as the crowd fell silent, "think you can beat me without going super?"
"I reckon so." Goku stated. "Unless you were to put dangerous amounts of energy in a tri-beam to try for ring-out, but that would be way to dangerous somewhere this crowded."
"You're right of course, and I really must admit I don't think I have a good chance, but you never know how a fight is going to turn out until you've fought it."
Goku nodded and the two sped towards each other, starting the fight with an exchange of kicks and punches that nobody in the crowd could see. Except of course the other Z-fighters who were watching backstage.
"Tien is really doing great." Yamcha remarked. "He must have been really working out."
"Tien works out for a living." Krillin replied. "It's his job to be as strong as he can since he's Chaozu's bodyguard."
"He's no match for Goku though." Piccolo added. "Goku isn't even using half the power he has in his normal form and he isn't using the Kaioken either, I don't think he'll have to transform for this battle."
"Stop being so modest." Yamcha said, sounding almost as if he were accusing the Namek. "We all know you're the only one that can force any of the Saiyans to transform except for the other Saiyans."
Piccolo just smirked a little and gave a barely visible nod as everyone's attention returned to the fighting in the ring.
Goku was powering up some more, apparently having had enough of the warm up stage of the fight and Tien was now at full power where he'd been a bit below full earlier.
They both landed in the ring to stare at each other for a second before rushing into the final stage of their battle, Goku quickly overpowered Tien with a series of kick and punches that finally forced the three-eyed man out of the ring. He was of course still floating and shot up in a last attempt to avoid a ring out, but Goku quickly shot up as well and after a short airborne fight managed to knock his friend to the ground where he hit leaving a bit of an impact crater.
"And that does it folks." The announcer yelled. "Once we've confirmed that Tien is in fact still alive Son Goku will advance and..." At this point Tien got back up and calmly walked over to the man.
"Don't worry, he knows it'd take a lot more to kill me." The three-eyed fighter stated before leaving the stadium as wild applause sounded.
Goku in the meantime had floated down and also headed back over to the others.
"Well let's move onto the next match shall we." The announcer told the crowd. "And it looks like another spectacle. The first fighter in this match is one of only two female fighters to make it to this stage of the tournament. We don't know whether the name she gave is real, or just and alias, but we know her only as #18. The other contestant in this fight is another of our veterans though there are few people left who know of his background as a martial artist, most of you however will know him from his other sports career, I'm talking about Baseball's very own, Yamcha!" The crowd cheered as the two fighters emerged and the announcer had to wait a while before he could continue. "Yamcha is one of a group of fighters here today who for some reason didn't enter in the 24th tournament while they did fight in one or more tournaments before that. How or why they missed that tournament we don't know, nor do we know why they are here today but as we have seen so far, they are fighting spectacularly, and I'm sure this fight will be no different."
Yamcha and #18 who had by now made their way into the ring took that as the starting sign and started their fight, though it wasn't destined to last a long time. #18 though she had left her evil ways behind still had a certain predisposition towards efficiency and made short work of the human fighter. She couldn't sense Ki but she didn't have to, everybody knew the Saiyans and Piccolo were her only competition, they could defeat her, and she could defeat the others, that was her place in the order of things and as they both knew it, why bother prolonging this to make it into more of a fight than it could ever be?
Her strategy was simple yet effective, block Yamcha's initial attacks, distract with a punch, a kick to the stomach to send him flying and watch him hit the wall, a quick and relatively painless ring-out.
"Well would you look at that folks." The announcer yelled. "Not only is #18 rather attractive, she's also a good fighter. In fact this is quite spectacular, there were no women in the adult division of the 24th Tournament but they seem to be back with a vengeance, both of our female fighters have made it past the first round and into the quarterfinals. Videl will of course be facing her fiancée, Son Gohan there, in what will probably be their first official domestic dispute, while #18 will be facing the winner of the next match. And that next match is a bit of an unknown. It is the only match in this tournament with two complete newcomers. Kibito is the silent type like his friend Shin, in fact we don't even know for sure whether or not they are friends, but they seem to be spending all their time close together and have only talked to each other. The only time they've spoken to others was when there was no way around it. So from Shin's impressive performance earlier I'd say we have something to look forward too with Kibito fighting. His opponent is almost as much as an unknown. Sources tell us that he is married to Bulma Brief, owner of Capsule Corporation, but they can't tell us much else, he did get the highest score on the punch machine though so there is a good chance he'll do well here."
Vegeta and Kibito had made their way to the ring during the introduction and dropped into their stance as the announcer finished.
Now we'll get to see if there is any truth in the legends. Kibito thought. I've told Shin he had too much faith in the mortals but I hope I'm wrong. Both he and I know we don't stand a chance ourselves. But can their legend and ours combine as he thinks they will.
Vegeta too took some time to think about his opponent. He was the first of the Z-fighters to face one of these two strangers. The first to see how much power they really had, though to him Kibito seemed like he was the weaker of the two.
Ah well. The might prince of Saiyans thought to himself. At least it should be a decent warm up for my match with the android later, but I doubt I'll have to go Super, he doesn't seem quite that strong too me. Shin seems to be the one hiding his power.
Just to be on the safe side Vegeta powered up until he was just a little beneath the Super-Saiyan barrier as he prepared to charge the large reddish warrior.
As their exchange of blows started Vegeta quickly judged his opponents strength. They were almost equal in strength, he himself was only slightly stronger in his normal form when he was completely powered up as he was now.
"Kibito seems to be pretty tough." Gohan commented as he watched with the others. "He won't be able to beat Vegeta, but it's close now that Vegeta is in his normal form."
Goku nodded. "He is, Kibito is giving everything he's got now and Vegeta is as well, at least for his normal form, it's a matter of time before Vegeta overpowers him. But from what I can tell Shin is the stronger of the two, so I'll have to see what he can do when I fight him in the next round."
Gohan nodded in turn and ended the exchange just as Vegeta managed to end the match by scoring a ring-out.
"Well folks there you have it!" The announcer yelled as the two fighters made their way backstage. "The first round is over and the quarter finals await. In those quarterfinals we'll start with Piccolo against Mighty Mask. Followed by a very special match, Son Gohan against Videl Satan. Next we'll have the mysterious Shin against former champion Son Goku. And finally #18 will face Vegeta. We'll just take about fifteen minutes break for the fighters to get ready before we start with the next round of this exciting World Tournament!"
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Next time on life is strange the quarter finals start and the speculation continues. Who exactly are Shin and Kibito? Why are they here, and what are they so worried about. We may know it, but the Z-fighters don't.
This is the very last thing I'm adding to this document, I've already put the questions below but I felt I had to add this. For those of you who didn't know (anymore) I'm Dutch and as many of you may know by now, a major political figure over here, Pim Fortuyn, has just been shot and killed. And while I didn't agree with the man, he was rightwing I'm definitely leftwing, it is a bit of a shock, and I don't know when it'll wear of. Or how it will influence me until it does. This may mean that I won't update in a while this sort of shock tends to occupy the mind. Fortunately I'd already finished this chapter when it happened, but as for the next I just don't know at this point. As the very last thing I add to this I'd like to offer my condolences to his friends and family.
And now to our questions:
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? (I think this may be your last opportunity to vote on this, the final isn't too far away.)
New questions:
How do you like the new Saga-list summary, is it better than the old ones?
Just to repeat the summary:
"Ch. 15 is up. Sagas in this fic so far: Strange - Sayaman my way, Truth - Videl's discoveries, The heir of the Cold-empire (it's not Kooler), The World Tournament - my way (in progress)."
*/