"I've kept you guys waiting a long time, but here it is!" The announcer cried. "Match number three! Son Goku vs Vegeta! Will our two fighters please step into the ring!?"
For the first time since the match-ups were announced, Vegeta was finally taking an interest in the proceedings. With his name called, and Kakarot to be fighting him in the tournament right now, this was the chance he refused to pass up. "Here it is! Finally...I'm going to crush you, Kakarot!" Smirking, the Saiyan Prince was the first to leave the wings, leaving Goku behind.
"Here it is; this one is really going to be the match to see," Gohan noted, grinning.
Erasa looked up at him, confused. "Are Goku and Vegeta really that strong?"
"Probably the strongest ones here," replied Gohan. Looking at Goku, he could already see the excitement forming on his father's face. "Good luck out there, Dad!"
"Yeah," Goku grinned, taking the encouragement from his son to snap him out of his own thoughts. For the first time in years, he would be fighting one-on-one with Vegeta. Just the excitement of the match-up was enough to make his Saiyan blood rush. Clenching his fists, a grin crossed his face as Goku left the waiting room. "Here we go! I'm coming, Vegeta!"
Rushing to catch up to Vegeta, Goku slowed to a walk when he did, and the two made their way up the steps silently into the ring.
"Get 'im, Goku!" Chi-Chi called down violently from the stands.
"Vegeta, knock his block off!" Bulma shouted with equal vigor. Both women turned to glare at each other; friends or not, they both wanted their husbands to be the victor of the match. The tension between them was enough that it could be felt, and Yamcha, sitting behind them, felt a strong urge to back away.
"Here are our competitors! This time, we've got a Tenkaichi Budōkai veteran and newcomer! With us in the ring is Son Goku, a personal favorite competitor of mine and my bet to win the whole shebang!" The announcer was unable to hide his excitement or even pretend to be unbiased; he was just pleased to see Goku stepping back into the ring. "He was a competitor in the Budōkai two tournaments ago, and with a match that was as shocking as terrifying, he took home the Championship prize! Despite this, Goku never made a return to the ring, and was unable to defend his title when Mr. Satan stepped into the ring in the previous tournament, taking the Championship from him! With training from the legendary Muten Rōshi under his belt, we're sure to see an interesting match!"
"Muten Rōshi...?"
There were mutterings in the crowd now. While Mr. Satan was certainly still popular among the easily impressed masses, it was clear that there were some who still remembered the legendary Turtle Hermit.
"The Muten Rōshi?"
"Isn't he that old legendary martial arts master?"
"I thought he was dead!"
Muten Rōshi, not too far from the individual responsible for this statement, comically hung his head. "That's what a century of retirement gets ya! No respect!"
"Now that I think about it, I think I've seen that ridiculous hair before..."
The announcer had deliberately paused to let the impact of his statements sink in. He wanted the crowd as interested, excited, and invested in this upcoming match as he was, and it seemed he was succeeding.
"Your Dad really is impressive, isn't he, Gohan?" Erasa was surprised to hear all of this about Goku. Granted, his Championship was knowledge to anyone who had bothered to investigate past tournaments, but it was still news to her.
"You don't even know the half of it yet," Gohan chuckled, scratching the back of his head.
"Loving the limelight, Kakarot?" Vegeta asked scathingly.
"Not so much," Goku chuckled, feeling the icy tone in Vegeta's voice. "You know me, I like to stay out of the public eye."
"Our other competitor is Vegeta!" The announcer finally continued with his introductions after he was sure his statements about Goku had been given the proper reception by the crowd. "As far as the Tenkaichi Budōkai, he's a virtual unknown! However, I hear he's the husband of Bulma, daughter of Dr. Brief and the current CEO of the Capsule Corporation! But if you ask me, he looks like a force to be reckoned with! Even more astounding, is these two men are the fathers of Goten and Trunks, those spirited youngsters who gave us quite a show earlier in the Youth Division! We can expect quite a match here!"
Goku and Vegeta stepped away from each other, taking their places on opposite sides of the ring.
"After all these years...I can finally have a rematch with Vegeta!" Goku grinned, clenching his fists excitedly at his side. "I've waited for this day for so long!"
"Now...after all of these years, I can finally crush Kakarot!" Vegeta was thinking along slightly similar lines, a nasty grin spreading across his face. "The victory I have long since been denied is within my grasp!"
"LET THE MATCH BEGIN!"
Goku and Vegeta wasted no time. Both of them had waited years for this match; now that it was happening, they refused to be distracted. Without taking the time to even get into a proper stance, the two propelled themselves forward with surprising speed, vanishing to all but the strongest eyes of their friends. Coming to a halt at the centre of the arena, Goku and Vegeta cocked their fists back before colliding, clashing their forearms together.
The resulting blow shook the entire stadium and cracked the ring beneath their feet. Several of the onlookers began to scream about earthquakes, but they were ignored by others who were too amazed by the speed at which the two Saiyans have crossed the ring.
To the audiences eyes, Goku and Vegeta vanished once again. The fact that a fight was still ongoing was only indicated by the sounds of crashing, the continued shaking of the stadium — best shown by the ring, which was continuing to crack and break under pressure — as well as a series of electrical sparks crackling around and above the stadium.
The majority of Goku and Vegeta's friends however, could follow the fight to various extents. It was clear to Gohan exactly what his father and Vegeta were doing, while Erasa could only get a basic feel for the ongoing skirmish by sensing their ki. Vegeta and Goku were simply too strong for even her newly enhanced senses to see.
Vegeta and Goku temporarily reappeared in the air, fiercely exchanging blows before they split apart, descending to the stadium once more and back-flipping towards the edge.
"I think that about ends the warm up," Vegeta said, smirking.
"I'd say so," Goku agreed.
"Warm up?" Erasa asked incredulously, looking from Gohan to Piccolo. That ridiculous display of speed and power was a warm up?
"Keep watching," Piccolo urged. "What you just saw was nothing compared to what they can do."
Vegeta raised a gloved hand towards Goku and released a barrage of condensed ki spheres at his Saiyan rival.
Acting on instinct, Goku coated his hand in ki, using a blast of his own to deflect the incoming spheres, causing them to disperse. As the various bombs of energy exploded around him, they only caused further damage to the ring.
"Would you look at that!" The announcer cried. "Despite Vegeta's excessive use of what look like energy bullets, Goku swatted them away in an instant! Astounding!"
With movement speed that could only be described as instant, Goku vanished again. Vegeta could feel his frustration begin to mount, but he was not yet so dull in senses that he couldn't sense Kakarot's ki. The man was aiming to attack from behind; Vegeta turned on his heel, pushing both hands towards a surprised Goku and releasing a powerfulkiai, pushing him off his balance. The Saiyan prince then placed both hands behind him, pushing off from the ground to kick Goku, sending his rival flying upwards.
Spinning upwards like a wayward top, Goku turned around in time to see Vegeta appearing above him, descending downwards with a crushing axe kick. As the leg swung down over his head, Goku expelled a kiai himself, creating an invisible barrier of ki that expanded in all directions to stop Vegeta's descent.
"A-Amazing!" The announcer was taken aback by the speed at which the combat was occurring. "They're so high in the air, I can barely see them! Can anyone see what's going on up there!?" Briefly, he considered reaching for his airplane Hoi Poi Capsule, but he knew by the time he had taken it out his pocket, they'd already be back at ground level.
Goku grinning, Vegeta scowling, the two flickered to the eyes of anyone who could see high enough. They met, clashing in the air, physically exchanging furious blows. Goku slammed his fist into Vegeta's stomach, but the Saiyan, far more durable than Goku was, didn't feel the blow as much as he ought to have, and simply responded in kind with a crushing blow to Goku's chest, winding the younger competition.
Recovering as quickly as he could, Goku flared aura — mimicked a second later by Vegeta — and the two appeared to the crowd below as a blinding new star in the daylight sky. Blow after blow, each crushing attack sending a giant collision through the stadium, shaking it. Buildings began to crack, dust crumbling from the rafters. The entire crowd was split between invested and panicking.
In his own personal quarters, Mr. Satan was still recovering from the crushing blow that Trunks had delivered to his face. Despite trying to catch some rest before his tournament match, in between the throbbing pain and the renewed shaking of the building, he couldn't quite make it to sleep. To make matters worse, his room was beginning to crack, and dust and debris was falling from the ceiling.
Having had enough, the champion stood up, still gripping his face with an ice pack, and walked over to his window, looking outside over the stadium.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOIN' ON OUT HERE, HUH!?" He shouted to anyone who would listen to his ramblings. "CAN'T YOU LET ME GET SOME SHUT-EYE!?" It was only after his eyes crossed the entire field, and he saw the strange, glowing light above the arena that he was able to put two and two together. Slinking back away from the window, he thought nervously to himself, "T-Those freaks from the Cell Game are at it again! I'd better stay out of sight!"
Angling it upwards to avoid any contact with the arena, Goku cupped his hands at his sides. "Ka...me...ha...me..." Between his palm, the energy sphere began to form, enlarging before it pushed Goku's palms apart, rendering him unable to fully cup the sphere. He knew he had to reign his ki in to some degree; if he used too much of it, he could wind up destroying the stadium.
"Here it is!" The announcer crowed with excitement, seeing the glimmering blue light in the sky. "This is Goku's Kamehameha!"
"...HA!" Goku thrust both hands forward; the sphere exploded from his palms into a large beam that traveled upwards towards the sky. Vegeta was taken off-guard, and thrust his hands forward to bring the energy beam to a screeching halt.
"I...won't be...outdone...by...this!" Vegeta could feel the heated energy flicker around his body, licking like flames as his hands forced the beam to stop its flow, pooling itself around his palms. But the strength was too much to contain entirely, and the blast soon overwhelmed him, covering his entire body before it flew well into outer space. As the blast dissipated, Vegeta was standing in the smoke, slightly scuffed, with a torn jumpsuit, but suffering no critical injuries. If anything, his pride had been wounded more than his body.
"A-Astounding, Vegeta!" Goku gasped, his hands falling limp to his sides. "I thought my Kamehameha would have packed more of a punch than that."
The Kamehameha that Goku had pulled off astounded the entire stadium, but even Erasa had look at it in awe. If the Kamehameha that Gohan had shown her had been huge, it was nothing compared to what Goku had just pulled off above the ring. And yet she had a feeling that blast wasn't even close to full power, no matter what Goku said.
"Don't belittle me, Kakarot!" Vegeta snarled, vanishing, before blindsiding Goku with a blow to the ribs. Following up, Vegeta slammed his arm downward on Goku's head, sending him hurtling dowards towards the stands.
"W-W-W-WHOA!" Goku cried, frantically trying to pull himself together, stopping right before he collided with the crowd. Many people below breathed sighs of relief; others raised camera and phones to take pictures. They seemed to be entirely unaware the collision could have killed them all.
"A very near miss by Goku!" The announcer continued his commentary. "Any further and he'd have lost by a ring out and we'd have been rushing several people to the hospital wing!"
For Goku, however, it was still too early to take a breather. He could feel Vegeta's power surging, and looked up to see him priming a large sphere of energy from above.
"V-Vegeta, what are you doing!?" Goku's eyes widened. "If you fire that thing here—!"
"No more rules, Kakarot!" The Saiyan prince cut him off defiantly. "It's obvious you can't take this battle seriously with so much baggage! I'm going to start by removing this stadium from the picture! Then perhaps you'll finally have a reason to fight me seriously!" Whatever Vegeta was saying, it was clear he wasn't processing the entirety of it. Years of having been denied his rematch with Kakarot, in addition to having to endure this farce of a tournament just to claim his victory were beginning to get the better of it.
"Vegeta, don't do it!" The cry came not only from Goku, but Gohan, Bulma, Yamcha, Piccolo, and the remainder of his comrades. Every one of them was panicking and pleading with Vegeta to not let that sphere loose. Gohan and Piccolo were even ready to intervene if they had to; there were too many humans on this island to let that sphere be fired from so high above them.
"I-Is he insane!?" Erasa's blue eyes widened in fear. She couldn't survive that blast, she could feel it, so if Vegeta let loose that attack in this arena...her father...Videl...!
"W-W-What is going on!?" The announcer was panicking with the rest of the crowd. "It looks like Vegeta is going to fire that energy sphere right down at the arena!" Beyond the Dragon Team, the only other person here who had a proper grasp on just how bad a scenario this was would be the announcer. He could remember, plain as day, Majunior destroying the majority of the arena with his terrifying show of energy attacks, and more than one threatening their lives. In a panic, the announcer looked at Goku; he had to have a plan.
"Vegeta!" Goku cried out again. in his distraction, flew away from the stands, landing in the grass just outside of the ring. He prepared to cup his hands to his side again; if Vegeta intended to fire that attack down at the crowd, he would have to overpower it. Simply distracting him wouldn't do any good; Vegeta wanted the island out of the picture entirely.
"R-Ring Out!" The announcer hastily cried into the microphone, stunning everyone present. "I hate to say it, but Goku has landed directly outside the ring. This makes the winner of the match Vegeta!"
There was silence; everyone in the crowd was stunned. Vegeta himself felt the energy attack in his palm flicker and fade; his eyes began to twitch, and the rest of his body followed into a spasm as he screamed in indignation. Growling like a mad dog, Vegeta descended onto the stadium floor, walking over to Kakarot, fuming.
"Vegeta, what were you thinking!? Goku walked over to him, complete unfazed by his loss in the tournament. "I'd thought you gotten better than that; trying to take the crowd hostage was nothing but a cheap trick!"
Ignoring this, Vegeta gripped Goku's undershirt with his hand, pulling the taller Saiyan down to his level. "After this tournament is finished, Kakarot, you and I can have a real battle! Don't think I'm satisfied with that joke of a victory!" Letting Goku go, Vegeta pushed him aside, walking back into the wings with stony silence.
Goku sighed. He had the sneaking suspicion that Vegeta would be more than willing to follow him back to the Afterlife if it meant having their match finished.
In the stands, the reaction was differing from person to person. Bulma was shaking. Had Vegeta seriously been willing to blow the entire island to ashes just to finish his match with Goku? He couldn't have been serious? Right?
Chi-Chi on the other hand, was as agitated as Vegeta. "How could Goku lose?" She grumbled to herself. "We needed that prize money!"
The announcer, all things considered was handling it well. "Everyone, we'll take a 15-minute intermission while we repair the ring for the next match!" This was his true, honest reason, but additionally, he believed everyone needed a breather after having their lives threatened by someone with more than enough power to back his words up.
As multiple people from the stands filed down to get drinks, make trips to the restroom, and other things, Tenshinhan and Kuririn were putting Vegeta to the back of their heads. Because, in fifteen minutes time, it would finally be their turn in the ring.
A/N:Before anything, lemme apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out, If anyone doesn't know why...I did a one-shot that turned into a three chapter special and it's been lackluster in terms of reception. Sorry about that.Since it actually did take so long, you'll notice this is the first time I rewrote the ending for the previous chapter as the beginning of this chapter. I won't make a habit of pulling a Kubo.Okay, this was a pretty short chapter. To anyone who is wondering why...my friends, dear, valued readers, this is the Boo Saga. Did you think I was really going to use up Goku vs Vegeta in a Tournament match? Majin Vegeta is on the way and that isn't a spoiler alert, I have not changed that in the slightest. I hope I didn't overhype too many people with this chapter. If I did, I apologize, but don't worry, the next chapter will be much, much better than this one! There actually isn't much to talk about in the notes this time: stay tuned for the next chapter of the Erased Chronicles, everyone, it's on the way! As always, let's thank Demod20 for actually reviewing my chapter and making sure it's fit for reading!