Chapter 11: The Beginning of a Long Day
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, or any of its characters. All rights reserved to Akira Toriyama and his buddies.
AN: I think the only good thing I can say is that at least this one didn't cross the month and half wait period that the last chapter endured. That said, it was pretty damn close to crossing it once again. Anyways, in the last chapter I mentioned that a good portions of this chapter had been written beforehand, until my computer became unresponsive and closed down Word. After I finally uncurled from the ball that I became following that event, I began to slowly work on this chapter again. Honestly I loathed at times writing this chapter as I felt that the first version was much better, and this one was going in a tangent I didn't like. I like to thank all those that reviewed the last chapter. Those reviews really helped me pull through this mess, and hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter. I will also go back to reviewing in the following days, and don't worry I have a list of all the stories I've missed out on.
Not a soul walked along the desolated brick corridor. The roar of the cheering crowd outside, dulled by the brick walls, was all that was heard. At one end of the corridor was a bright light signifying the exit of the corridor to the outside world. Suddenly from the light two people emerged, pumping their arms back and forth as they ran like their life depended on it.
"I told you Gohan that we shouldn't have gone back for extras. Now we are going to be late," Trunks whined as he briefly looked at his smaller companion.
Gohan shook his head, "I don't remember you saying any of this while you were stuffing your face. In fact if I recall correctly it was you and Pan that were jumping for joy when I offered. And really, I wasn't about to deny Pan when she gave me that look."
"A little tip of advice from someone that has been down this road before; get used to that puppy-eyed look and become immune to it, otherwise she will always have your number. Are you sure this is the right way?" Trunks looked at his surrounding but everything looked the same as every other corridor they passed.
Gohan chuckled, "Unlike you I do have a sense of direction. I mean really Trunks, how could you have led us to the girl's locker room? The signs were in bold right outside!"
Trunks rubbed his cheek, "She didn't have to hit so hard. Anyways I didn't see you tell me we were going the wrong way."
"That's because I was following the guy who said 'I know where I'm going. Have a little faith Gohan,'" Gohan pitched his voice to mock his companion. "Anyways, when I realized the sign I stopped dead in my track, but by the time I tried to warn you, well… you know what happened."
"Somehow, I get the feeling that you didn't immediately jump to my rescue, and instead waited until I got slapped." Trunks narrowed his eyes.
The eleven year old savior had to stop as he exploded in euphoria. He placed a hand on the nearby wall as bent down.
Trunks pulled to a sudden stop when he saw his partner had stopped a few meter back, "You didn't. Tell me you did everything to warn me, but you were too late."
"Hahaha I'm sorry Trunks but it was too much of a good opportunity to let go. I saw the sign and stopped but by then you had entered. After that I heard the shrieks, and at that point I figured it was too late, so I just let nature run its course," Gohan gleefully replied when he got enough air back.
"I'm going to remember this Gohan," Trunks affirmed. Even though he tried to be serious, both knew that he was only joking. It made him happy to see Gohan smile after the way he saw him a week ago, but as much as his face radiated happiness his eyes told a different story. Still Trunks took what he could get.
*Ding* All fighters, please report to the entrance of Gladiator Hall. Final registration with the desk will close in five minutes.
"You can make me pay later. Right now we have somewhere to be," shouted Gohan as he took off once again.
"Get back here Gohan!"
After a couple of turns along the dark corridor, or as Gohan said 'a short-cut he saw on the map,' both warriors ran out of the corridors to the open walkways.
"Are you sure Gohan it's here?" Trunks looked in all directions for the elusive Gladiator Hall.
"Have a little faith Trunks," jeered Gohan. "Plus its right over there," Gohan pointed off to their right where another muscle-head was just arriving as well, out of breath.
"Last one there has to pay for dinner." Trunks took off while finishing his sentence.
When Trunks arrived at the table he found Gohan faking a yawn. "Don't worry Trunks, take solace in the fact that I don't eat much, but I'll be sure to tell Pan that her big brother Trunks will be paying tonight."
Trunks just rolled his eyes, "Whatever man." He turned to the two people dressed as referee with striped white and red shirt behind the desk. "Hi, are we too late to sign-in?"
"No sir, you just made it just in time, but you friend right here can't join you. Spectators' entrance is on the other side." The heavy man said while pushing his glasses up.
"I'm a competitor." Gohan responded with a twinge of boredom. "My name is Gohan. He is Trunks. Here is my badge." He placed lanyard that was given to him at the ticket office.
"Right, sorry it's just you are a little young compare to the others I have seen today," the man amended quickly after taking the badge number and finding it on his list. The age and a special note had been placed beforehand to announce that the young competitor in front of him was truly eleven and it wasn't a mistake.
The other referee spoke up when he officially signed in both competitors. "There you go. Please keep going down that hall, there is a locker room on your first left but I suggest you move quickly as there is only a limited time. Here are your badges back, please give them to the doorman at your respective terminal," he said while handing back the lanyards.
"Trunks was it?" he turned to the older of the two. Upon getting nod he continued, "You are going to platform seven; while you young man, you are going to platform two. Get a move on there isn't much time left. Have a nice day and good luck out there."
Since Trunks and Gohan hadn't really brought anything worth putting inside a locker, they decided to bypass the locker room and walk towards their respective terminals.
"I forgot to mention this beforehand but did you get a look at the so-called aliens we will be fighting in the third round? I saw 'their arrival' on a small screen when we were waiting for the tickets," Gohan stated.
Trunks snorted, "Yeah, I mean they could have at least put some effort into their costumes. The closest thing to aliens these people will be getting today are people with alien blood in them. Piccolo, you, and I are the only ones that could be technically called aliens, but we were born here so that shoots that theory."
"It just makes me more depressed to think that this will be too easy. I mean at this point the only person that has a chance against us is Piccolo," Gohan said with a long sigh.
"Well then I have some good news. A little while ago I talked to Chiaotzu and he said that Tien is here. Also when we were at the food court I thought I saw Oolong and Master Roshi, so maybe Krillin is here as well. My Mother did say she had called them, and they did say they would try to make it here." Trunks announced with a shrug
"Good, I wouldn't want to win with ease," the eleven year old savior coyly replied.
Trunks snorted, "That's if you get past me first. Anyways did you hear who is going to be our final opponent? You know the one we face after all these rounds?"
"No, who?" inquired Gohan.
"The illustrious 'Hercule Satan' apparently will face the winner," Trunks mocked with as much venom as he could infuse into the name.
"…who?" Gohan questioned once again while tilting his head to the side.
'Wait I thought Gohan knew about him. Could Mom be right and the threats over what would happen if one of the guys exposed of what really happened at Cell Games be Chichi's doing?' Trunks pondered. "You know the guy with the weird afro… the guy that was introduced to a mountain side personally by Cell?"
"Oh him, what's so important about him that he is our final opponent?" asked Gohan very monotonously.
"You don't know who Hercule Satan is?" questioned a confused and gapping Trunks.
"No, unlike you Trunks I've had no time for gossip. If he is so important than out with it, quit beating around the bush," responded an irritated young world savior. Something about seeing that gob smacked expression on Trunks annoyed him to no end, after all what purpose does he have for knowing some random human.
"… um well, you see," Trunks regained his composure as soon as he saw the visible irritation on his Gohan's face. He knew his Master's anger was legendary in its own right; this Gohan was by far worse than him. Trunks saw as Gohan's eyes began to narrow; he felt the need to pull on his collar, "Hercule Satan basically took cred—"
"And jus' where are you ladies suppose to be?!" shouted a rather burly man with a thick brown mane and a small clipboard. He stood in front of a big painted seven on the wall behind him. "Can't you see tha' we are working hard to get all you losers in your proper pen so we can see you' running like little scare' girls!" grinned the large man.
Gohan snarled before smirking, "I'd like to see someone as big and stupid as you try to even push me, let alone eliminate me."
"What did you saw pipsqueak?!" the massive man shouted. He took a couple steps towards Gohan.
Trunks was baffled likewise by Gohan's aggressiveness. Sure he more than anyone knew of Gohan's legendary anger, but this level of aggressiveness just didn't fit with this younger Gohan.
"You heard exactly what I said," Gohan said as his head tilted to the side with one of his eyebrows raised and smirk intact. "I detest repeating myself; if you couldn't hear me the first time then why should I bother making accommodations for a brute like you," he quipped with a shrug.
"Why you lil'…runt." The man began to raise his fist, but Trunks decided to get in between them.
"Hey," Trunks outstretched his arms in front of him, "look I'd rather not miss my match, so if you two can put your egos away then maybe we can move on. Plus I don't think the staff is supposed to lay a hand on the fighters like the fighters can't get physical with the staff. My name is Trunks and I'm going to platform seven; my friend here is Gohan and he need to get to platform two."
The burly man lowered his fist when he heard Trunks' reasoning. He tilted his head to the side to get a look at Gohan behind him, "You're lucky your friend here is defending you, otherwise I' tear you into itty bitty pieces."
"I don't need anyone defending me. Come a little closer and I'll show you how perfectly well I am at defending myself," Gohan snarled.
Trunks turned around to speak directly to Gohan. "Enough Gohan! Look I don't know why you're acting like this, but snap out of it. You'll have your chance to let out some steam during the fights, but for now let's get a move on."
"Hey lilac-hair you said you're in seven righ', well you're here. Get inside, you can talk to your little boyfrien' when the two of you lose after this round and you're heading home."
Trunks sighed, 'This guy really is messing with the wrong people.' "Fine, Gohan go to your platform before they close the door. I'll see you in the next round." Trunks walked past the man handing him his lanyard.
"Watch yourself boy, here I can't touch you but once you lose then you're mine."
Gohan just laughed, "It's pathetic that you think that you can intimidate me, you overgrown ape." The young world savior walked to the wall and threw a quick right jab through the brick wall. Momentarily a faint dark aura surrounded him before disappearing. Gohan pulled out his arm from the hole and walked away.
The large man gritted his teeth and spoke under his breath, "Jus' you watch kid, no one make fun of Spopovich and get away with it."
Gohan on the other hand walked away, but felt a slight sting feeling in his right hand. He pulled it up to inspect the odd sensation; however what he found baffled him. All along his knuckles and partially on the rest of his hand were small scrapes. Nothing serious but nevertheless mysterious as Gohan thought about all the other items in his life he had punched through without even a scratch. He looked at the wall he walking alongside but couldn't see anything more than a normal wall, so why did it hurt his so much this time?
He shook his head, 'I'll figure it out later.' He took a deep breath and walked towards the giant painted two at the end of the hall. 'For now I have a tournament to win.'
"Heh heh heh…" an ominous whisper could be heard along the darkened corridor.
***Line Break***
"I will not, Mark!" seethed Lucielle.
"It's Hercule now, honey," said the afro man in front of her.
"Mark! I don't care what you changed your name too; you will now and forever be Mark to me. That is the man I married, not this…this Hercule character you're trying to make everyone believe you are," she stated while recoiling in disgust. "I don't understand why you continue this ridiculousness."
Hercule sighed as he looked both way of the empty walkway, "Please don't make a scene Lucy. All I'm asking is for you to be alongside me during the tournament. The Cash's have extended an invitation for us to be in their luxury box; it would be rude of us to deny them." A large grin extended across his face, "Plus, as world champ, it's only natural that they would want to pamper us."
"You don't get it do you?" She shook her head, "Ever since the Cell Games you have changed; instead of that adorable fool I fell in love with, you have changed into greedy man that only cares about living the high life, and you don't seem to understand that I want no part of it!
"All you do now is go from one party to another and come home drunk. What kind of example is that for Videl, have you ever even thought about what kind of image she has of you? No, of course not, all you care about is where the next party is located! Did you even know that this is the first time we see you in two weeks, and the only reason you brought us along was because I called you. I wanted this to be a family outing, so Videl could spend some time with her father, but as always you have somewhere else to be," complained Lucielle.
"That's not fair Lucielle. Everything I do is for you guys. Yes I have been away, but it's only because I want to better provide for you two. Don't make me out to be the bad guy," Hercule retorted.
"Last time I checked getting drunk and partygoer aren't an occupation. Look Mark, I wanted this to be a family outing, not another of your publicity stunts. Going with you means having to deal with those vultures called the gossip columnist. I'd rather clean 'our new home' with a toothbrush than have to deal with them.
"I'm getting tired of being used as a trophy wife that can only say 'good' things about how well our supposed home life is. The truth Mark, I'm getting tired of this new life and I'm getting tired of you. I hate how much you are corrupting our little girl," she lamented.
Lucielle turned away, "I keep asking you to not to push her on to the global stage; you may like the attention, but we don't know what kind of effects it will have on her to always be watched by the media. And really I don't want her to grow up with a sense of entitlement." Lucielle turned and stared right into the eyes of her husband, "All I want is my family back, the family before the events of the Cell Games. We may not have had a lot of money, but at least we were all together." Tears began to run down Lucielle's face. "But that is never going to happen huh?"
She pulled a small handkerchief from her purse and dabbed under her eyes to clear the tears, "Don't worry about us, I've made arrangement for Videl and her friends to be with me during the tournament, somewhere else. Go have fun with those morons of the media that love to stroke your ego."
"Are you leaving the island?" Hercules asked.
"No, Videl wanted to be here, so I just rented our own space away from the cameras. When you are ready to be a father and part of this family, come join us." She turned and walked away, not even giving her husband a second glance.
"Lucielle!" the fake world savior yelled, but to no avail. "LUCIELLE!"
"Is everything alright Mr. Satan? I heard screaming," asked Mr. Cash while poking his head from the Cash's Luxury Box.
"Eh… oh that, don't worry. Bwahaha, nothing to worry, just a little disagreement with the missus; you know how women are right Cash!?" Hercule laughed while playfully elbowing the portly man. "Alright! Let's see who dares challenge the Great Hercule Satan." He walked past the owner and entered the room.
"Will Ms. Satan be joining us?" smiled Mr. Cash
"Ah…eh… actually she said she was going to take care of Videl, so I guess we might see her later on," Mr. Satan quickly made a somewhat believable cover-up story. Inside he could see the chair near the windows overlooking the various platforms over the sea, the reporters setting up their equipment likely to get his opinion during the matches, and a large buffet table with unimaginable amounts of food of all sorts.
Hercule smiled while rubbing his palms together, 'This is going to be a good day.'
***Line Break***
"Can I have your attention people!?" a man in referee attire screamed from one side of the room. All the fighters in the room kept going with their conversations as if nothing had happened.
"Everyone, pay attention!" yelled a large burly man alongside the referee. The chatter slowly dimmed when they heard the powerful voice scream and saw the large person that emitted the yell.
"Thank you," he directed at the fighter that spoke up for him. "Alright, this is terminal two, if you are suppose to be in another terminal please speak with the man on the other side of the room, otherwise please listen as I will only say only once!"
Gohan raised an ear to hear what the man in charge had to say.
"Alright there are two hundred fighters here today, so please pay attention or you will be disqualified if you do something you weren't suppose to! There are three rounds today; the first is a battle royale with the last man stand moving on to the next round! If you manage to pass the first round you will be getting instructions on where and what the second round will be! In total there are eight platforms, so there will be only eight people moving on. Remember that the use of weapons is strictly prohibited, and killing an opponent is an automatic disqualification…"
"Hey who let the child in here," one fighter close to Gohan asked the person alongside him while pointing at Gohan.
The other fighter looked at Gohan and chuckled, "Some parents are so irresponsible. Oh well when we send him crying back to momma, they can't blame us for hurting him."
Gohan clenched his fist, when he remembered something peculiar; this was the fist that was all scraped up but he didn't feel any discomfort. He inspected it and saw that his hand had completely healed; no sign of any damage as far as he could see. 'Saiyan gene, I guess.'
"…Finally, in order to move things along there is time limit of one hour. If no winner has been declared in one hour, the field itself will start expelling people," said the referee.
"Expelled..?"asked a fighter close by.
"You'll find out," smiled the official. "The arbitrator word is final, remember that! If an official declare you are out, you're out! Is that clear? Any questions? ... No, alright well good luck out there. Please make a single file line as we walk out to the platform. Once the whistle is blown, then you can begin. Please no shoving!" He yelled as the fighters began pushing one another to get into a single file line.
Gohan calmly took his place in line, all the while focusing on his healed hand. He opened his other hand and quickly jabbed with his healed hand into his open palm. He immediately noticed the tingling sensation on his open palm. 'I guess its back to normal.'
***Line Break***
"Aunt Bulma, where is daddy?" asked Pan while picking a couple kernels of popcorn from her bucket.
"I don't know… but there are some platforms still empty so maybe not everyone is out yet." Bulma's eyes shifted back and forth as she tried to find Gohan, but not a speck of the young savior could be seen. "Oh! I see Tien over there. Chiaotzu, look he is over there… Chiaotzu?" she turned to the small emperor only to see him still gawking at Pan. "Chiaotzu?"
Finally he broke his one sided staring contest to look up at Bulma, "Eh...? Oh Tien right… sorry Bulma, you have to understand that it's quite the shock to meet a descendant of Gohan; I mean, he is still a child after all."
"I understand, but given how crazy our lives are, and the fact that this is the SECOND unborn descendant we meet, I thought you could handle it." Bulma slouched back into her chair with a smile. 'It's crazy alright.'
"That's true…" Chiaotzu fiddled with his thumbs.
Bulma immediately stood up, "There he is. Pan, your father, he is over there. He is near the front of that group that is barely entering."
Pan jumped on her chair to get a little more height to see over the people in front of her, and sure enough her father was with the group that was just entering. "Daddy! Daddy you can do it! Over here!" She waved her hands over head in the hopes to get her father's attentions, but he was too far to hear her.
Bulma placed a hand on her shoulder, "Calm down sweetie, he is a little far so I don't think he can hear you."
She turned to Gohan's direction and saw that he was looking directly at them. He was a little far for her to see the details on his face, but he seemed to be smiling. Finally he lifted one hand and waved at them.
"See! He knows we are here!" Pan resumed bouncing once again waving her arms and screaming out her cheers.
"Aright Pan, he can see us. Let's sit down for now, right Chiaotzu?" she turned to him for support but couldn't stop from laughing at seeing the bucket of popcorn that previously had been in Pan's hands in Chiaotzu's now and its content all over him.
"Right," was his only reply.
***Line Break***
"Welcome ladies and gentleman on this fine day to the Battle Dome and first Intergalactic Martial Arts Tournament, brought to you by Cash Inc., who wants to remind you that Cash-Land will officially opens its doors… this summer!" announced the hyperactive commentator into the camera in front of him. "My name is Arata Sato and I will be your commentator this fine evening for all you folks tuning in at home; alongside me is a living legend within the reporters' community, a ZTV sports analyst, and the man that dared interview the demonic Cell, I'm talking about the one and only Jimmy Firecracker!"
"Hehe well that is one hell of an introduction." Jimmy turned to his partner of the evening. He pushed his glasses up and turned back to the camera in front of him, "That's right folks, today we have a show for you, and to start us off we begin with the first round already underway.
"There are two hundred participants today, and they have been divided into eight groups of twenty-five. Each group has been assigned a platform where they are eliminated if they faint, surrender, or fall to the water below. Three of the eight groups are already competing for the critical last man standing spot, to move on to the next round," Jimmy explained. "Every fifteen minutes a random group is added to their respective platform, and we are seeing that group number two is making their way to their platform."
Arata took over from there, "Today's tournament has attracted people from all around the world. Not just your run-of-the-mill fighters but some real talent. Strong favorites to win this tournament are people like the fighter from the west, Udo, and who can forget the behemoth of a man from the eastern islands, Doskoi, who just today holds the record for largest amount of elimination with a single move, at eleven fighters with one push. It also has brought some fighters that haven't been seen in more than ten years like former World Martial Arts Champion Tien Shinhan!" informed Arata with a certain amount of glee when he announced Tien.
Jimmy just scoffed, "I don't understand why this former fake champion decided to sully this beautiful tournament with his presence."
"Come now, Jimmy, Mr. Shinhan was a champion at one point in his life. I think he deserves some respect," argued Arata.
"How naïve Arata, he and the fighters of those times were known tricksters, Mr. Satan has said so himself. Mr. Shinhan may have won, but he did with underhanded deeds and cheating. That's no champion!" replied Jimmy.
"You're wrong Jimmy, and you will see during this tournament." Arata decided to move on as this was not the forum to have this discussion, "In any case, well-known fighters aren't the only people that signed up. So have celebrities like former baseball superstar from the Titans, Yamcha the Bandit…"
***Line Break***
"What are you watching dad?" the seven month pregnant Chichi asked her sitting father.
On screen were many fighters in a free-for-all, pushing and shoving one another, in the hopes to be declared as the winner. Eight small boxes surrounded the large video image, with each platform being shown simultaneously; in the bottom left screen were two men sitting behind a desk trying to make sense of all the fights, as the cameras kept shifting from one platform to another on a five minute interval; interchanging the large image for one of the other eight on the sides.
"A new tournament, apparently," answered the Ox-King. He leaned forward and interlocked his fingers under his chin; a growing smile began to form on his lips as he saw someone in particular on screen. After almost a month of not seeing his grandson, he finally gets his first glance at him; a very stoic Gohan on screen, but at least not as pale as when the Ox-King saw him the last time.
Chichi decided to let Kasa, the midwife her father had brought along from the old kingdom, to finish the daily chores around the house. She let out a deep breath of air as she settled herself on the couch. She opened her eyes and what she saw made her lose the air she had just inhaled. "Is that…?"
"Gohan, yes it is," answered the Ox King the unfinished question.
***Line Break***
"Hey kid why don't you do us all a favor and just quit, or better yet why don't you jump. You'll get a nice swim out of it," coaxed the man behind Gohan. "I would rather not have to see as these guys pulverize you."
Gohan just kept walking, ignoring the guy behind him. As he approached the platform he could see the under mechanisms of the stage. He hunched over a little to get a better look and saw that it was primarily being held up by a central arm connected to the walkway they were currently standing on. Essentially the center of the circular platform was the only thing directly connected to anything, while the rest was in the air with no support. The corners of Gohan's lips began to rise as he thought exactly how he was going to win this round.
"Come on kid," yelled the referee as he motion for him to walk of the stairs to get on stage.
Gohan climbed up the stairs and began to make his way around the stage as the other fighters also climbed on. He took a couple steps and tapped his foot on the arena; Gohan tilted his head to listen closer. The small grin he had before grew just slightly more. He kept walking and tapping his foot every so often. Finally he reached the center and tapped his foot one more time. By this point the last three were getting on stage.
"Fighters ready?!" declared the official. Everyone assumed their respective position, their eyes darting back and forth between the closest opponents. Gohan looked right at the three that were closing in on him. "Begin!" and with a whistle Platform Two began their treacherous journey to find a winner.
As soon as the whistle blew Gohan jumped over the two brutes that charged him. As he landed, he did so with a little extra force. His foot slammed into the platform making a hole and spider cracks around it.
"Get back here you little twerp!" screamed the brute that had initially charged him, his nose a little red from sliding on the ground.
Gohan kept jumping all around the arena, always making sure that every time he landed that his foot created a cavity and of course large spider cracks around it. Some fighters had even tripped on the holes, but nonetheless they just got up and kept fending off their respective offender.
The official in charge raised an eyebrow at the strange strategy, but could find no rule against it so he allowed it to continue. All the time two fighters kept running after Gohan; the third having lost interest and went to fight someone else.
Gohan twisted and dislodged his foot from his most recent hole. He looked up just in time to see and hear one of the two brute just about to catch him while screaming, "Stand still you worm!" Behind him he could hear the sounds of someone else closing in on him, Gohan snarled but quickly formulated and enforced his next action. Gohan jumped forward and crashed his knee into the guy's midsection; the guy bent forward, allowing the world savior to grab him by back of his neck and partially from his trunks, and launch him like a missile against the other one closing in from behind. Once he saw both ejected from the platform and crash into the water below, he allowed himself momentarily to smile before he jumped to the next place he needed to get to.
"Alright kid, we let you have your fifteen minutes of fame, but it is time for you split and let the real men have their fight. Nothing personal, but we can't have you running around like a coward!" yelled the third guy that had initially lost interest. He began to approach Gohan while smashing his fist into his palm, in an intimidating fashion.
Gohan lowly chuckled, but within second turned to full blown laughter; he bent his head back as he allowed the euphoria to encompass him. "Please, I just figured why bothered attempting to send you guys one by one out, when I can just eliminate you lot in one shot." He was standing right in the center of the stage, so he began to bring his right leg up until his knee was at hip level.
The fighter in front stopped in his tracks as he tried to make sense to what the kid in front of him was spouting.
For a split second the dark aura sprung around Gohan, but just as quickly as it appeared it disappeared; however there was something Gohan immediately noticed, his Ki had dramatically dissipated. He closed his eyes and attempted to pull for more power and directed right into his leg, but he felt like it was a tug of war for the power. Any time he amounted any of it, it would not stay for very long. "Better luck next time!" he yelled as he put as much power as he could muster, which wasn't very much, and smashed foot right into the ground.
Thankfully his foot indented into the platform with a strong enough force that the spider cracks from this hit began to extend connected with some of the previous ones. Those, in part, began to connect with the outer one until the entire platform was cracked.
All the fighters had stopped their squabbles to look as the faults formed under their feet; all frozen in fear of what might happen next.
"Huh… I was sure that would have done it," informed a sweating Gohan. The arena still stood even after his premature victory yell.
Snickers could be heard from all around until it evolved into full blown laughter. That was until one guy collapsed while holding his ribs, until that moment everyone had stood still, but with his movement the outer edges gave out and piece by piece started falling to the ocean below. Before the other guys could react the platform became nothing more than rubble, that with no support from below, began falling and taking the fighters with them.
The referee could only watch in shock as his entire arena fell to the water below.
***Line Break***
"-and it seems Sky Dragon has eliminated yet another one of his opponents. Bring his total to eight in this match," stated Jimmy while looking at his monitor. At that moment what sounded like a falling building reached the ears of Arata and Jimmy, the yells and louder cheers quickly followed. "What was that?"
"I don—look… over there!" declared Arata as he pointed to the falling Platform Two. "Go to camera two, go to camera two! What happened over there?" Arata picked his binoculars from the table and looked out the window.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, in a surprise twist, Platform two has broken apart and fallen with all of its competitors. Arata is there a rule for these kinds of situations, like do they restart or simply there is no winner?" enquired Jimmy to his colleague.
"There is a rule, but I don't think we will have to enforce it," responded Arata. Jimmy raised an eyebrow, but Arata pressed on, "There is still one person still standing."
"What?! Let me see." Jimmy jumped from his seat and took the binoculars as Arata came back to the desk to look through his notes to indentify the sole man standing in the ruins of the once Platform two. "Ladies and Gentleman, here is the replay of what lead to the destruction of that stage," he relayed what he heard through his earpiece, but never took his eyes from the pictures of all the contestants.
"You're right, there is one person standing on the mechanical arm that is usually holding up the stage. Incredible! One has survived, but the official hasn't raised his arm to signify a winner," Jimmy announced while taking a seat once again.
It was then that Jimmy looked at the replay screen and began to see the event that led to this moment. "It seems like the one responsible for the downing of the platform in no other than the sole surviving fighter, would you look at the power behind each of those stomps. He is literally breaking the stage apart, but how could such a thing be possible?!" Jimmy looked closer at his monitor and the closer he got to the image of the boy, the more familiar he became. 'I've seen you somewhere, but where?'
"Here he is!" Arata pulled the file of Gohan, "The name of the fighter still standing is Gohan, but he has yet to be declared as the winner. I'm getting word that officials are meeting to discuss whether this constitutes as a victory. In the mean time we turn to stage four where it is coming down to the last four!"
"Go…han…" repeated Jimmy to himself.
***Line Break***
Krillin ducked as a large forearm passed overhead. When the large lug started tripping forward, Krillin took this opportunity to spin kick him, starting from his ducked position, and push him off the stage. "Ooooh I'm on a roll today. That's Krillin with two 'L', and I'll be taking that Zeni now," he said with a laugh and hands on his hips.
He dashed forward and punched his next opponent a couple times around his sternum until he saw the guy's eyes begin to roll back. Krillin then jumped over him to take down the boxer charging at him. 'All I have to worry about is Yamacha and I'll be one hundred million Zeni richer. Then I'll ask 18 out,' Krillin thought with a blush.
Suddenly he heard the crowd begin to go wild off to his right followed by something that chilled his blood.
"IT'S OFFICIAL; WE HAVE OUR FIRST FIGHTER MOVING ON TO THE NEXT ROUND, GOHAN! GIVE IT UP LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!"
"What?! Gohan?" he shouted in surprise. A quick Ki scan confirmed what he heard. "But that's not fair, he is a Super Saiyan." 'More importantly, he's back?!'
He heard a roar behind him and began to see bodies flying from another platform. Another scan and he knew exactly who it was. He narrowed his eyes, "Piccolo too! Of course because wherever Gohan is, Piccolo is not far behind. Dende, why not have the whole gang here," he asked sarcastically.
"Rah!" One body flew past him from another nearby platform following the war cry. He followed the previous trajectory of the body that flew past him to find a smiling Tien.
"How did you find this tournament?!" Krillin shouted at Tien.
"I'll see you in the next round, and watch out behind you!" Tien responded while pushing another fighter off his stage.
Krillin, who had been distracted by all the familiar faces, didn't see as another fighter came from behind and tripped him. He rubbed the bump on his head, where it had bounced off the metal ground. "Alright, who did that?" Behind him was a larger opponent with a smug grin.
His opponent charged forward while punching forward. Krillin took this as his opportunity to catch his opponent's wrist, pull him forward while falling on his back, and finally use both of his feet to launch him off the arena by kicking up once Krillin's back hit the ground.
He took a moment to dust off his hands, "Alright, alright, at least things can't get worse from here." Behind him a pile of bodies landed. He looked up and found Trunks.
"Dende, that wasn't a challenge," he shouted to the heavens above. He sighed, "This is now officially unfair. There goes my Zeni," Krillin stated while rubbing his forearm over his eyes, as if he were crying.
"Fighters, time is up!" announced the referee. The platform began to tilt on to one side.
"Great, just peachy" Krillin complained while his feet began to slide forward.
***Line Break***
Drop by drop, blood fell from Gohan's foot to the sea below. His foot, that one that had finally broken the arena, still remained in the air. Gohan's gaze remained locked on his injured extremity and internally on the feeling of his missing power. 'Why?'
"Don't worry kid; I've already sent for a ladder!" informed the official; however, Gohan didn't even listen, too busy with his own internal dilemma.
'Oh dear me, hahahahaha, it looks like the poor boy is injured. Want me to call mommy to come kiss it better?'
"You!" Gohan growled. "I should have known it was you Cell."
Cell cackled, 'I see you haven't forgotten me, this pleases me. Tell me Gohan, how many times do I have to tell you before it gets through your thick skull, your power …in unreliable.'
Gohan began shaking, and his eyesight began to dim. He closed his eyes and shook his head to clear it. He snarled as the image of Cell began to float in front of him. "This…is…your doing."
'As much as I would like to take credit for your suffering, this had nothing to do with me; you're responsible for your own body. In the end, I'm just part of your imagination' Cell added with shrug.
"Don't worry kid; we'll get you here in a few minutes. In the mean time try to put some pressure on your foot, so that you don't bleed out. I know this is scary, but I promise you, you'll be fine," the official tried to reassure Gohan, mistaking his shaking for Gohan going into shock because of his injury.
Gohan hopped from his position to the bridge the referee was standing on.
"That was highly dangerous kid!" the referee began to scold Gohan for the 'unnecessary risk' in attempting the jump. From the other side of the bridge were two paramedics rushing to attend to Gohan's wounds.
Gohan began to limp, but each step with his injured foot felt like stepping on a million needles. Still Gohan pushed forward. He could hear the cackles and jokes of his weakness from Cell behind him.
"Sit kid. The paramedics are coming, look. You don't need to push yourself" said the official while placing his hand on Gohan's shoulder.
"Get off of me!" Gohan shrugged the official's hand off his shoulder. He pushed forward and kept limping. "Out of my way," he growled when the paramedics attempted to stop him. When they did not move, he tried one more time to be 'nice', "Out of my way, or you two can swim back to shore when I push you off this ledge."
Something about Gohan's raspy voice, or the look in his eyes, was enough to deter them from pushing the matter any further. The picked up their items and walked behind the limping Gohan. "At least allow us to bandage your foot. You're bleeding too much, and walking on it won't help."
Gohan tripped and fell forward. The two paramedics immediately tried to help him up, but Gohan just lowly barked, "Don't touch me." He kept pushing air through his nostrils while getting up. Once he was on his own two feet he restarted breathing through his mouth orifice.
'You know they are just trying to help. You don't have to yell at them. Maybe you should let the good doctors get a look at your lil' mishap.'
"You, shut up," Gohan snarled. He grabbed onto the side of his leg and kept walking through the gate into the backrooms.
Both paramedics exchanged perplexed glances at the strange behavior of the boy in front. Neither one had said a word, so they didn't understand why he said that.
***Line Break***
"Gohan moves on to the next round" stated Arata.
Hercule, who had been making jokes and talking with the birthday boy Monty Cash, looked up and saw the face of Gohan on screen. He dropped his fork when he saw him. His breathing hitched, as his popped eyeballs couldn't separate from the image of Gohan. Sure the hair was a different color, but Hercule couldn't forget the stare of the boy that HAD defeated Cell. 'Oh man, he has come for me. Why here, why now?! What am I going to do now?'
With each name announced as another fighter moving on, the more color drained from Hercule's face. 'I've got to get out of here now. While most won't recognize the other fighters since they were barely recorded during the fight with Cell, if they see me lose to any of these clowns then the jig is up.'
Hercule looked all over trying to find a way to escape.
***Line Break***
Pan kept cheering well past her father's return to the backstage area. "Did you see that Aunty!? He won and made everyone fall," she commented with a laugh.
Bulma smiled at Pan's enthusiasm, but inside she was worried by Gohan's behavior after the match; he is not one for pride so she didn't understand why he pushed away the medical group trying to assist him. Also the fact that he was limping didn't ease her heart.
'I hope you are alright kid.'
***Line Break***
Gohan slammed shoulder first into the wall on the side of the room he just entered. He bit his lip to control himself from howling at the pain of his foot. He used the one hand that wasn't hold on to his leg to push himself of the wall and as a clutch to help him get to the benches nearby.
"Please just let us help you," the paramedic once again tried to reason with the injured boy.
Gohan, however, didn't seem to have acknowledged his request and kept walking pushing himself off the wall. His breathing a little uneven, but not deterred from his goal of arriving to the bench. Finally he arrived at the bench and sat down. He laid his upper body against the wall behind him. Gohan closed his eyes and took a couple deep breath of air to normalize it.
The two paramedics, seeing Gohan relaxing, took it as their cue to begin working. They immediately cut a portion of his Gi bottoms to see the whole damage and slowly removed his shoes, for fear of damaging his foot more so than Gohan had already done so by walking on it. They began putting some bandages around his calf where most of the injuries there were from his leg scraping the metal as it dug into the arena.
"You know from the images of his leg slamming into the platform I thought his foot would have been completely destroyed, but it's surprisingly well, considering the circumstances," One paramedic informed the other.
"Yeah, after the trail of blood he left behind I thought he would have passed out before getting back here, but he got here all by himself. Tougher than he looks huh?" joked the other paramedic.
The referee that had been trailing behind them decided to speak up, "So is he out? Should I inform that this fighter can no longer continue?"
At the same time the referee was consulting the paramedics, Cell decide to add his two cents to the only person that could see him in the room, "How sad, if only your father could see you now. How ashamed do you think he would be of seeing his offspring in such a pitiful state? Maybe you should run along and quit, like the coward I know you to be."
"Well, his injuries aren't life threatening. He has lost a lot of blood and might be more prone to hallucinations or passing out, but we won't have to air lift him to a hospital like I had initially thought. In my professional opinion it might be best if he were pulled—" he was cut off before he could finish his complete diagnosis by the subject himself.
Gohan began to growl and venomously barked, "Never!" Though Gohan had intended that message for Cell, the people in the room assumed Gohan was speaking to them.
"But kid, you're young and you'll get another opportunity next time. You're very brave, but to keep fighting is insanity. You got lucky that your injuries are healing, but next time you might not be so lucky." He took a hold of Gohan's shoulder as he spoke to him directly.
Cell began to cackle, "All injured and you still want to fight? Please, foolish as always, but you forget that I'm part of you, and I know deep down you just want to curl up into a little ball and hide away from the world forever. That's the scared child I know. So give in!" Cell's face was a few centimeters from Gohan's face, with a smirk intact.
Gohan snarled, his nose wrinkled in anger, and his eyes burned with a renewed fire. He felt some pressure on his shoulders, which in Gohan's distorted mind; he took it as Cell's hands. He shrugged, forcibly, his shoulder knocking the paramedic back. Gohan stood up pushing the other paramedic back. "I said… NEVER! I will never 'give in' to you or anyone like you!" At this point Gohan could only see the laughing Cell in front of him, not the people trying to help him.
"Please listen…" the paramedic got up once again. He couldn't understand why this kid was so stubborn.
"LEAVE ME ALONE! Get …out…of here… NOW!" Gohan yelled at the image of Cell.
Something about the force behind the words of Gohan, or the conviction in which he said it, were enough for the referee to understand that Gohan wasn't going to quit. He placed his hand on the shoulder of the paramedic that was getting up, "It's okay. He made his choice. He asked for privacy so let's give him that."
"Um… I wasn't done bandaging his foot," mentioned the other paramedic. "What should I do?"
"Just leave the tape near him and let's go," said the referee. After he got two reluctant nods, the first paramedic and referee began to walk towards the door; the other paramedic placed the roll of wrap on the bench and also made his way out. "Don't worry kid, I'll send the other fighters that moved on to the next round here so you don't have to move. Take care." He closed the door behind them.
Gohan looked around the room but could find no trace of Cell. He sat down once again, but this time he bowed down put his head in between his hands. His fingers gripped onto his cranium. "I'm losing my mind. He's… not… real," Gohan reminded himself once again.
"Well, at least I can agree with you that you are losing you mind he he ha ha ha" Cell bent down and whispered into Gohan's right ear.
"Aahh!" Gohan turned to his right and hooked with his left fist, but it hit nothing. He got up once again, his breathing became erratic, and his vision blurred, but still his eyes darted back and forth looking for the cause of his insanity. Gohan's power began to rise once again with each second he couldn't locate Cell, but unlike before where it felt like a tug-of-war, now it felt like it was freely flowing through his body.
"That's right, lose control!"Cell snickered. "Show everyone how much of a loose cannon you are."
"What…?" Gohan asked confused. It was then that he knew he fell into Cell's trap once again. "Damn… it," he said with some difficulty. Like before, his power took a life of its own and began to spike erratically.
All around Gohan could hear the cackles of glee of Cell.
"Just…Shut up!" Gohan brought his hands up to his head to cover his ears. 'I'm better than this… I'm better than him… this is my power and you will listen to me,' he screamed internally. In response, a bioelectrical field began to surround him. 'Control…control…control…control,' he kept repeating while sitting once again. The young savior closed his eyes and began to rein in on his wild Ki. He took a deep breath of air through his nostrils, and released it through his mouth. Within a few minutes the electricity began to disappear until only a little portion remained around his feet, and his Ki began to level off once again.
'Why is that that either I have to struggle to produce even a little bit of Ki, or it becomes uncontrollable?' Gohan questioned himself, hoping to find an answer internally.
He remained in that position of sitting with his head in his hands while doing breathing exercise, until someone came a tapped him on his shoulder.
Gohan opened his stormy eyes and looked up to see a smiling Krillin in front of him. Gohan placed both of his hands on his knees and looked around the previously empty room, now being filled with the other fighters.
"Hey Gohan, it's been a while. Is this seat taken?" Krillin pointed to the place beside him on the bench.
"Uh…" Gohan looked lost momentarily, but eventually acknowledged Krillin's question, "No it's free. It's been a while hasn't it."
Krillin smiled before laughing openly. 'It's a different laugh from Cell, there was no malice embed,' surmised Gohan.
"Falling asleep already? Did it take us that much time that you decided to take a nap to pass the time?" joked Krillin while picking up the bandage tape left on the bench.
"Something like that," responded a monotonous Gohan.
Krillin's grin wane slightly by Gohan's nonchalant attitude. He took the wrap in his hand and dangled it in front of Gohan, "Yours? I didn't know you Saiyans could still get hurt," he teased Gohan after seeing his bloodied badly wrapped foot. "What did you do?"
Gohan looked down at this badly wrapped foot, but for the life of him he could not remember ever wrapping or letting anyone else wrap his foot. "I-I guess it's mine."
"Here let me," Krillin slid off his seat and took a knee to put Gohan's foot on his kneecap. He began to remove the dried bloodied bandage, "You know, I and everyone else have been really worried about you. You can't imagine both my surprise and horror of seeing you here though, but I'm glad you're back. I was so sure that Zeni was mine," quipped Krillin.
"I know these months haven't been easy on you. Kind of makes me wish I would have been a better friend, and been there for you more often. I'm sorry Gohan; I'm sorry that we just went home and didn't even think to come looking for you. I mean…"
"There is nothing to apologize for Krillin. Everyone is allowed to go back to their life. You did no wrong by me," Gohan assured.
There was a faint of a smile which Krillin was barely able to see. It tore him up inside to see the young man before him; especially since Krillin remembered the child he once was, the laughing, joking, hyper kid with a strong sense of justice and innocence. The Gohan before him seemed to be in pain. Krillin looked down and took off the last of the bandages, "Well it seems like you're healed. Sometimes it's a gift to have Saiyan genes huh?" Still Krillin decided to re-wrap his foot once again, but this time doing a proper job of finishing it off.
"Right," Gohan nodded. "I guess it's healed." Gohan tried his best to hide the fact that the small electrical field that used to be at his feet, remnant of his recent loss of control, were now in his shoulders.
"You're alright?"
"I'll be fine Krillin. Thanks for asking. Instead tell me what you have been up to these last few months?" Gohan tried to redirect the conversation away his current status.
"Well…" and so Krillin began to relate all of his adventures since the dreadful Cell Games. He talked about living on Kame Island and his, rather unsuccessful, attempts to catch 18's attention those days that he see her.
After ten minutes of talking the final official arrived with Trunks, Tien and Piccolo. "Sorry it took me so long. Here are the final three fighters," the official apologized to the other refs already there.
One of the two referees sighed, "I was beginning to think that we were going to have to start without you. Alright we only have ten minutes before the first scheduled match, so that barely gives us enough time to talk to the fighters, and push the first two through the double doors."
"Alright," affirmed the other two.
The official walked to the middle of the room, "Gather around fighters! As you can see around there are only eight remain fighters, and by the end of this round only half will remain. That's right; this round is a one on one match with the winner moving on to the next round. Unlike the previous round where everyone is fighting almost simultaneously, this round will only have one fighting pair at a time. The pairings have already been decided, so please pay attention as I will name of each fighting pair and when they will fight." The Official pulled out a small card from his back pocket, "The first match will be Gohan vs Udo. The second match will be Krillin vs Ma Junior. The third match will be Tien Shinhan vs Trunks. Finally, the last match will be Doskoi vs Sky Dragon.
Cell gave a small whistle, 'Well this is interesting. How will you face this challenger, I mean one wrong move and it's bye-bye Udo, especially with your fluctuating Ki. Who will you determine if you're not putting too much power?'
Gohan scoffed when he heard his voice once again. "You never learn when to quit do you?" he muttered so no one could hear him. Gohan's Ki began steadily rise, but Gohan balled up his fist in order to try to bring it back down. His nails began to dig into his skin.
"Also, unlike the last round, there is no time limit; however, fighters can still be eliminated by fainting, submission, or falling to the sea. And of course, weapons are still not allowed; neither is killing your opponent. Are there any questions before I move on?" He looked all around the room, but no one spoke up so he decided to push ahead.
'Well I guess it's over for you then, huh? With that power of your going berserk at a moment's notice, poor Udo is going to die by your hand. His blood will on your hands. Just look at yourself.'
For a moment Gohan's iris turned teal and his Ki spiked, before he was able to bring it back down. His breathing was uneven once again. All Ki users in the room turned to him as soon as the spike happened.
Piccolo kept his eyes on Gohan until he saw something the deeply disturbed him. His eyes widened in disbelief.
"Very well then will the fighters Gohan and Udo, please step forward. Everyone else is allowed to mingle back here, but you cannot leave this room. If you need anything please let one of the officials know of your need, and if the bathroom is what you want, there is one right there." He pointed to a door with a stick figure on it.
A large blonde man walked towards the official, but Gohan had yet to make a move. Trunks began to walk to towards Gohan, but was bumped by Piccolo who all but dashed towards the young Son.
The bioelectrical field around Gohan began to restart around his hands. He brought one of his hands and covered a portion of his face, as if he had a strong migraine.
'Control …control …control …control …control …Control!'
'It's pointless, and you know it,' Cell stated with glee.
"So …where is my opponent?" asked Udo to the referee with the clipboard by the doorway.
The official quickly looked up from his clipboard before he responded, "Udo right? He is the kid over there," he pointed in Gohan's direction. "Gohan! You're up!"
Another official, the one that had officiated Gohan's previous match, walked up to Udo and the referee, "How about you go on ahead. Gohan over there was pretty injured in the first round."
Udo sneered, "A child? I thought this was a tournament not a daycare. Fine whatever, when the boy gives up, just come and declare me as the winner." With that Udo walked through the door towards the arena.
Piccolo placed a hand on Gohan's shoulder, but quickly pulled it back after he was shocked. It didn't hurt him as much as it startled him, "Gohan, we need to talk." After no response from the teen he placed his hand once again, sure Gohan unknowingly shocked him once again, but this time Piccolo did not let go. He shook him while saying, "I mean it Gohan. Snap out of it."
Gohan's electrical field dissipated once again, but he was sweating and heavily breathing once it disappeared. He looked up to Piccolo in front of him. Around him he could see the worried expression of Trunks and Krillin, and Tien in the background but still close enough to hear.
"Gohan! Please step forward. You're match is next." The official announced once again, trying to get the attention of Gohan.
"We need to talk," Piccolo repeated.
"I'm asking for fighter Gohan to come here now! We don't have a lot of time!"
The sweaty Gohan turned to Piccolo, "Does it … have to do with a threat to the planet?" he barely spit out.
Piccolo shook his head, "No, but this is about you."
"I will not repeat myself once again, Gohan, your match is about to start, and I will be forced disqualify you if you remain back here."
Gohan pushed past Piccolo, "Then it's not important." He started stumbling towards the official. "I'm here! I'm going!"
"Listen to me." Piccolo gripped his shoulder. "This is important. It's about your life! I can see him. You're unstable once again. Don't you care; don't you care what might happen to that little girl if something happens to you?"
Gohan roughly pulled his shoulder away from Piccolo's grip. "It's for Pan that I'm doing this for. I must win for her, so I can take care of her. I know I'm messed up, but these are just some humans. I can still fight against these fighters. We'll talk after the tournament."
"Gohan are you alright?" asked the worried official in front of him. "You can quit if you want."
"I'm FINE!" Gohan kept walking until he passed through the door to the arena.
"That stubborn boy," growled Piccolo.
Krillin walked up to Piccolo, "Is he going to be okay? I mean I heard you, but he is not going to die or anything like that right?"
Piccolo turned around and began walking towards a corner so he can meditate, but left Krillin and the other with this piece of information, "He's getting more and more unstable. Whatever was keeping it him whole doesn't seem to be working or here at the moment. He won't die, but he could easily hurt someone in his current form, and I know that boy will hold himself responsible if something happens. Also I think I finally figured out what is causing his instability."
Krillin wanted to press for more information, but Piccolo had begun meditating already. He knew better than anyone that bothering Piccolo when he was meditating was suicide on its own, even if Piccolo was on their side. Plus he didn't want to antagonize his future opponent anymore.
Trunks walked up to Krillin and placed a hand on his shoulder, "It's okay Krillin. Piccolo is on the case; with him Gohan couldn't be in safer hands."
"Yeah I guess you're right," relented a deflated Krillin and walked back with Trunks to the bench they were previously sitting.
"Better yet, I'm curious who this 'Pan' Gohan mentioned. Know anything we should know…Trunks?" Tien asked the time traveler.
"Right… that's a long story," Trunks said while scratching the back of his neck.
Krillin slightly smiled at the change of topic, "Well we got nothing but time here, so who is she? A girlfriend?"
Trunks could only sigh.
***Line Break***
Gohan inhaled, his eyes downcast, as he walked down the dark corridor towards the shining exit on the other side.
'This is a mistake, one you will regret for the rest of your life.'
Gohan shook his head.
'You're going to kill him in cold blood in front of everyone in attendance. One wrong punch and that human will die. Everyone will know you for the killer that I know you to be.'
He stumbled forward. He caught himself against the nearby wall. Gohan looked at the hand on the wall and could see some blood trailing down the wall, from when his nail dug into his palm. He could hear the cheer of all the people in attendance.
'Then your hands will be tainted with his blood. You're power is unpredictable, you have shown that you have no control over it,' Cell sneered.
"Quiet you," Gohan muttered. "I'm going to win, for Pan's sake." Briefly the image of Pan smiling passed through his mind.
Cell seemed to recoil momentarily, 'Your power will abandon you like it always has. You will lose, or you will kill the human and then lose. Either way, in the end the result is the same. Just look at yourself; you're not even fighting and you can't even control the power in you right now.'
To a certain degree Cell was telling the truth. His Ki was fluctuating once again. 'I will find a way, for her.'
***Line Break***
"Here we go ladies and gentlemen! Gohan has just arrived from the backstage. This was the first fighter that passed on to this round. Let's see how he deals with the mountain of a man, all the way from the western islands, UDO! We've got a modern David versus Goliath here folks!" Arata yelled into his microphone.
Jimmy added his two cents, "You know after the last round I didn't think we would see him again, but this kid got heart to continue and against Udo no less.
Arata continued from there, "He is the youngest competitor of the tournament, just shy of twelve years old. It seems the referee is taping his right hand before letting him on stage."
The referee cut the tape and placed it back in his pocket. "There you go. That way you're not bleeding everywhere. Good luck in there."
"Thanks," Gohan muttered as he climbed the stair to the platform where Udo was waiting for him.
"Well it seems in the end you didn't run. How sad that I, the mighty Udo, has to play babysitter for you," Udo lamented as he saw his opponent walking towards him. Udo shook his head as he saw the boy with a pained expression, bandaged right hand and left foot. His clothing, while not damaged in the upper portion, were missing one knee where the paramedics cut his Gi bottoms. For a moment he could swear he saw sparks coming from his opponent.
"Well, for whatever it counts, I'm sorry for what I'm about to do to you, but you can blame your parents for putting you in this situation. I'm not going to take it easy on you, even if you are a runt." Udo said with smirk.
Gohan looked up with a sad smile, "I'm sorry too."
"Fighters ready?!... BEGIN!" screamed the referee.
Udo charged forward and sent his massive fist crashing down on Gohan. Gohan knocked his fist to the side just as it was about to connect with him. Udo laughed, "Guess you have some fight in you."
However Gohan heard a different laugh. He heard Cell's laugh instead of Udo's. Once again his Ki began to spike before coming to a rest. 'Control… control…'
Gohan took a couple steps back as soon as he began seeing the same pattern of him losing control once again. Udo, on the other hand, took Gohan's backpedaling as a sign that Gohan was afraid.
Gohan brought his hands up to see them. He was shaking as he saw the sparks begin to form. So focused on his hand was Gohan that he didn't even notice when the giant man was standing a few feet in front of him. Gohan lowered his Ki to almost nothing in the hopes to stop the increasing Ki, but at that moment Udo's boot connected with his sternum. The young savior slid across the metal platform.
He convulsed a couple times on the ground as Ki became erratic once again.
"Is this is it for Gohan?!" asked Arata.
"Surrender kid. Save yourself from suffering," Udo told Gohan when he picked him up by his Gi and held him at eye level.
Gohan's eyes dilated before yelling, "NEVER!" He brought his knee up and hit Udo under his jaw, releasing himself in the process, but also toppling the giant. "I will never surrender Cell," stated the confused Son from the ground where he landed.
Udo spit out a tooth and blood he lost from the last hit. He rubbed his chin, "Alright you want to play rough, you got it." He looked in front of him and saw his opponent wobble until he was standing on his own two feet. Both of his small arms dangled alongside of his body and his head was downturned. The boy then began to lift his head, and Udo could see his eyes opening and shutting in fast intervals.
"I'll make you pay, Cell," muttered Gohan as he began to drag his feet towards where Udo was on the ground. Though instead of Udo, Gohan's mind replaced him with a sitting upright Cell.
Once his opponent was within range, Udo decided to throw a quick right to push him back, but was surprised that it was caught by his smaller opponent.
Gohan looked at the sickly grey hand in front of him, or at least that is what his mind told him he was looking at. He tilted his head to side slightly and croaked, "You will pay for all the lives you taken." Since the hand was too big to encompass, instead he took Udo's middle and pointer fingers into his palm and began putting squeezing as he pulled them back slowly.
Udo could only howl at the pressure placed on his fingers. "Let me go you freak!" He took his other fist and punched Gohan, but unlike last time where one of his hits sent his opponent flying, his small foe stood his ground almost like if Udo's fist were doing no damage. Eventually the pain became too great, and all he could do was cry out in pain.
A smile formed on Gohan when he heard the howls of pain, but something in the back of his mind told him something was not right. Gohan heard Cell begging to be released, but he didn't remember Cell ever begging. He shook his head and rubbed his closed eyes lids. When he opened them again, he could hear the yells of the crowds, and instead of Cell he saw his opponent Udo withering under him. Once Gohan realized what he was doing to his opponent fingers, he released them as if he had touched something blazing.
The young Son backtracked once again. Slowly it dawned on Gohan where he was.
'You almost did it.'
Gohan looked towards his opponent, and could see Udo cradling his hand. "What did I do?" What's worse is that a faint grey aura appeared around the confused Demi-Saiyan. Gohan's Ki increased dramatically, and his iris turned teal once again. He closed his eyes and balled his fist and commenced meditating to repress the out of control Ki once again.
"What is this?" asked Jimmy. "It seems both of the fighters aren't moving. Gohan, after releasing Udo, took a couple steps back and appears to be meditating; while Udo is clutching onto his injured hand. What could Gohan's strategy be? I mean he seemed to be on the way to winning by surrender, but suddenly he released him."
"I don't know," Arata answered. "I'm sure this is part of his strategy though, but what it could be is anyone but Gohan's guess."
"Look at that, Udo is back on his two feet, and he doesn't seem too happy with Gohan right now," Jimmy commented as he saw Udo begin walking towards the immobilized Gohan. "Whatever is Gohan's strategy, he better implement it now because Udo is about to pay him back for injuring his hand."
Gohan finally was able to get it under control somewhat, but had to decrease his Ki substantially. He finally released the air he was holding and resumed taking deep breaths of air. He felt pathetically weak, but at least it was under control once again.
Udo huffed as he looked down at the closed-eyed panting Gohan. Udo balled up his one good fist, pulled back, and punched Gohan dead center. This time Gohan did fly back. Udo, not wanting to allow Gohan to pick up any momentum, ran to where Gohan laid and placed the forearm of his injured arm on Gohan's chest to keep his down, while using his good fist to continuously strike his face.
"You think you can hurt me, and I won't retaliate?!" Udo yelled at his pinned down adversary.
'I can't…move…I need…to push… him away, but…if I use… my Ki… it might go out of control again.' Gohan at this point was seeing stars from the many times Udo struck him across. Finally, he felt as he was being lifted, his neck barely doing a job of keeping his head straight. The last thing he saw was Udo pulling his head back before bringing it forward. The sounds of the deafening crowds slowly trailed away to nothingness.
"And he is down! Gohan is down! Can he get back up though, or will the official mark him as down and out?" Jimmy reported.
"I don't think he's going to get up from this one. There is a small puddle of his blood where he landed coming from his nose and mouth," noted Arata.
'I told you… you were going to lose.'
AN: So Cell has returned, I wonder why? and what was keeping him away? Like I said I'm not proud of this chapter. There are a couple things I liked, but I felt the second half just didn't sit right with me, but I know that it will be crucial for the next part. I know some might disagree with the level of Gohan's lost of control, that either he doesn't get any access to his Ki or it's too much at once and he is struggling to bring it back down; I'll go more into detail later, but for now just know that Gohan is trying to access a safe amount, but can't seem to hit the mark and instead is undershooting or overshooting it by a large margin. Udo is just taking advantage of those moments where Gohan has brought it down to zero to restart. Anyways that's chapter 11. Thanks for putting up with my weird updating schedule.
Dear lil dynamic,
=D You were first haha. Hopefully next time I get to hear your thoughts on the chapter as well ;)
Dear The Fantastic Altruist,
My theory on Videl has always been that she wasn't always the she-devil we knew in Saiyaman Saga, but rather a product of years in the spotlight and attempting to live up to the name of her father. All those years of fake smiles probably made her distrust everyone. Still I don't condone what she did cause things like blackmail, as funny as some people make it out to be, seems pretty asinine to me. To make a joke of something that serious was in poor taste. Anyways, my point is that I do believe Videl to be like any other child with friends, and it seems a certain blonde duo were with her. I'm glad you liked their meeting.
Dear Aaron Leach,
Thanks man
Dear PoisonDreamz,
Well thank you for being accepting of my tardiness, and I'm glad you liked their 'meet.'
Dear KiwiS92,
It's funny I hadn't realized that Videl's mother was finally named. Still as much as I like the play on names with Miguel, I think of that name to be generally a guy's name so I think I'm sticking with Lucielle; if you don't mind. Pan usually reacts of her mother name, in a sense that if she hears it she immediately associated it with her mother, but doesn't know the name per se. Not sure if that makes sense.
Honestly I'm not sure with who Piccolo actually, really, gets along with. Overall though in this story we have two people with different theories on how to take care of Gohan. Bulma sees that Chichi and Piccolo are having their fued, and she believes Gohan to be a casualty of their war, so she want to protect Gohan from both. Piccolo on the other hand is trying to stick close to his charge, as he always has. It's not they don't get along, as they are extremely worried about Gohan in their own way and turning against one another because of differing opinions.
I'm glad you still liked the chapter.
Dear feral creature,
We will see how this ends. Though as you can see things won't be exactly the same.
Dear 99913
Thank you :)
Dear SinisterofRAGE,
Hahaha no, Gohan's loss of control is for a different reason.
Dear A,
I want to thank you for taking the time to actually come check if my story has been updated. I, at one point, used to have to keep track of the stories I was interested by continuously checking because I didn't have an account, so I remember what that was like. Thank you.
Dear Zyphrost,
Well at least it wasn't two months that you had to wait. Sorry it took so long, but at least this one was extra long. I also liked the interactions of Piccolo and Pan.
Dear Guest,
Yes, she is pregnant with Goten. I think I stated she is either seven or eight months pregnant, so Goten is almost ready to be born. As for Chichi, she does miss Gohan dearly, but she can't do much in her state. At least it comforts Chichi slightly that Gohan is with Bulma, even if they had a fight last time, rather than Piccolo. Still if she had her way Gohan would be in his room, but the author didn't want Gohan's skill and power to wane.
Dear SaintMichael95,
I thought so too. :)
Dear Joshrobo,
Trunks isn't having second thought about leaving Pan. To him, his future is no place for her that's for certain, so no matter what he has already risked too much to change his mind now. Mostly Trunks finds it hilarious that Gohan and Videl did cross, but he has no way of knowing if that will ever happen again. In the future Gohan and Videl became connected at the hip since the moment they met, while in this time Gohan and Videl just casually ran into one another, so he just thinks it's oddity that against all odd they still ran into one another but that's it.
Dear The King of Ranting,
Hopefully this one was a little better :)
Dear palazard95,
Like I mentioned for Joshrobo, Trunks mainly finds it incredible that against all odd they met, but he sees that continuity is changing already since instead of Gohan and Videl becoming inseparable, they just exchanged a couple words before going their own path. He hopes that they meet once again, for Pan will then meet her mother, but above all he just hopes Videl will have a better life here than she did in the future. It certainly raises a couple suspicion of who is Gohan, but Videl will have to remember him, and who knows when the next time they meet and if she even remembers him.
Thank you all those that reviewed!