Chapter 4: The Intergalactic Tournament Begins!
Piccolo sat in mid-air, his trademark white cape just barely off the ground when a bright light suddenly exploded onto him. Quickly reacting, the large Namekian took a defensive stance as his opponent charged, another appeared, then another. The three enemies descended onto Piccolo, but he was ready for them, grabbing one by the arm and slamming it into one of the others, sending them flying. The third took a large swing, effortlessly dodged by the Super Namek before landing a large blow to the enemies stomach, dropping him. "I'm too easy on myself." The enemies came into clearer view, three exact copies of Piccolo, but not nearly as strong.
"Maybe I've reached my limit.." Piccolo thought as he descended onto the ground of the white chamber. "This hyperbolic time chamber provides me an abundance of time, but no matter how long I spend in here, my progress is not enough.." He shook his head and exited the chamber, back onto the lookout. "The tournament draws close, I should prepare."
Up in the Northern Mountains..
Krillin's teeth chattered as he spoke, "Tien, is this always where you train? It's freezing up here."
"The extreme weather is part of endurance training, Krillin." The triclops explained as his rose his Ki. "Come on you two, let's get one more spar in." He shot like a rocket off the ground towards his target.
Yamcha took a quick defensive stance, throwing an arm up to meet Tiens outstretched fist. "Gotta be quicker than that." He said as he threw a kick that was easily caught by the three eyed man. Yamcha's previous confidence escaped his face as Tien easily threw him up into the air.
Tien's victory was short lived as Krillin quickly closed in on him with a large, swinging axe kick that needed both of Tiens arms to block. He pushed the monk's leg off of his arms, but that was what Krillin had expected, he spun onto the ground and quickly launched himself into Tien's torso head first, buckling him over.
"Ha! Way to use your head, Krillin!" Yamcha exclaimed as he found himself back into the scrap, throwing a punch that just barely missed Krillin's head. "My turn to go on the offensive..Wolf Fang Fist!"
A flurry of swift punches and kicks found their way towards Krillin, effectively putting him on the defensive. He had all he could do to defend himself, but the blows eventually started to land, Krillin staggered back. Yamcha smirked as Tien joined back in, throwing his own leg at Krillin, sending him flying through the air. The triclops looked at Yamcha, "Let's finish this quick." The desert bandit nodded and they both darted after Krillin.
Krillin spiked his Ki and his aura flared as he found a way to stop his momentum. He smiled as his two sparring partners charged him. "This is my chance to take them both out…" He thought, then he rose his voice and put both his hands in front of his face, "SOLAR FLARE!"
"Oh shit!" Yamcha and Tien both said in unison as their eyes became useless in the bright light.
"Eat this!" Krillin yelled as he took a familiar stance, hands cupped at his side, "Ka-me-ha-me-ha!" The blue wave shot out as Krillin extended his arms, the blast narrowly missed both Yamcha and Tien.
"Wow. What a shot Krillin, you missed!" Yamcha laughed, but his laughter was short lived as both he and Tien were quickly shot in the back with the familiar wave, falling to the ground.
Krillin smirked, "I didn't miss. That's a new technique for exactly this type of situation. It's my scattering Kamehameha!"
Tien slowly made his way back to standing, "What a move, Krillin. You took us both out, quite a feat by yourself.."
"Yeah, you've really improved!" Yamcha confirmed.
"We all have." Krillin said as he got closer to his friends, "We should get some senzu's and go meet the others at Capsule Corp. The three nodded and shot up into the air, heading to West City.
Over on Mount Paozu..
Two bright, golden lights flashed across the sky, smashing into each other repeatedly. For anyone who didn't know what it was, it almost looked like two meteors colliding in the sky. The familiar figure of Android 16 stood stiff on the ground, analyzing the fight between Trunks and Gohan, both in their Super Saiyan states.
16 processed quickly, "Analyzing, Gohan seems to be the stronger of the two, but they both appear to be holding back." Trunks flew straight into Gohan, throwing a fist that Gohan met with his own. "Their powers both far exceed my own, but their fighting styles differ. Trunks is linear, inexperienced, relies on raw power. Gohan on the other hand has been trained in real martial arts, a lifetime worth of fighting has honed his defensive style but he explodes with power on a whim." Gohan swung a leg at Trunks which caused the larger Super Saiyan to jump back, leaving an opening for Gohan to throw a Ki blast point blank range which Trunks barely had time to block, throwing him back a few feet.
Trunks smiled and looked at Gohan, "You are your father's son. I am no match for you."
Gohan powered down to his base form, "I am strong, but I still can't tap into that power I used against Cell...something is missing."
"Rage." A new voice entered the fray, "Your power is you anger, Gohan. You are too calm. You are a poor excuse for a Saiyan."
"Father, there is no need to insult Gohan. Kindness should not be mistaken for weakness."
"Kindness is not needed on the battlefield." The Prince of Saiyans approached the two Half-Saiyans, "I don't know how else to explain it to you, a Saiyans strength is their pride and anger."
"Is that why you haven't been training for months? You have no anger to act on since my Dad is gone." Gohan asked, knowing it would strike a nerve.
Vegeta's Ki spiked a bit at the comment, but it quickly disappeared. In his mind, he knew Gohan was right. Trunks' arrival caused a momentary spark of motivation, but it didn't last without Kakarot's presence. "Shut up, boy. You know nothing of my anger."
Trunks sighed, "Alright. I suppose it's time. We should get back home, I guess that's why you're here Dad."
"Your mother sent me to collect you, vile woman." Vegeta turned away from the pair, "It's time to go." He shot off into the sky.
"Come on 16!" Gohan yelled as he and Trunks followed Vegeta.
"Affirmative." 16 slowly levitated into the air before rocketing behind them, heading towards West City.
Moments later at Capsule Corp…
All of the Z Warriors were gathered on the lawn, preparing to venture to the place where the tournament was happening, a place called Battle Island.
Bulma walked out onto the lawn, "Hey everybody! I have a ship to take!" She clicked one of her capsules and threw it on the ground, a large metal airplane appeared in front of the group.
Krillin spoke up, "Can't we just fly?"
Bulma scoffed, "Well I guess...if you all wanna be savages, go ahead."
Gohan smiled, "Okay! See you there, Bulma!" He levitated slowly as he waved bye, but before he could go, a familiar voice rang through his head..
"Hey guys!"
Tien looked around, "Is that..?"
"It sounds like it." Piccolo confirmed,
"I'm using King Kai to talk to all of you."
"Dad…" Gohan trembled for a minute, "Dad!"
"Hi Gohan!" Goku had his hand on King Kai's shoulder, using his trademark telepathy to speak to his friends, "I heard there was a tournament today, and I wanted to wish you all good luck! Knock em dead..well, not literally!" Goku let out his signature laugh and everybody joined in.
"Dad..I'm sorry." Gohan's eyes were welling up slowly, his hands trembling.
"Gohan, there's no time for that now. These are happy times. Go show them what you got, Son! It's time for me to go! Bye everyone!" Goku lifted his hand off of King Kai, "Thanks King Kai" he said softly to the blue deity.
Gohan's wiped the tears from his eyes, "I will Dad, don't you worry…" He thought to himself and shot off towards Battle Island as fast as he could. The others quickly followed.
Bulma slowly entered her ship, followed by Puar, Oolong, Master Roshi, and Chi-Chi, all excited to go to the tournament.
Trunks' eyes widened as the group got closer to Battle Island, it was like nothing he had ever seen, the crowd was enormous. The arena was certainly different, there were four different rings, Trunks wondered what they were for to himself, but decided to wait for the official rules. The crowd area was in large towers above the rings, which were themselves on pedestals above the water. He looked around at the group as they landed, quickly realized his father was absent. "He must decided not to come after all...he really is depressed.." Trunks thought to himself.
"Wow, look at this place!" Krillin exclaimed, "This is amazing!" He walked swiftly to where the signs for registration pointed.
Moments later all of the participants in the group were signed up and waiting in the designated waiting room, TVs surrounded them as Mr. Satan and his partner, an exotic billionaire named X.S. Cash were being interviewed by the Tournament Announcer. "So, Mr Cash, I understand there is a 100 Million Zeni prize and a chance to fight the Champ, our own Mr. Satan, up for grabs for the winner here?"
"That's correct." X.S. Cash confirmed. He was short, pudgy man beside the taller, muscular Satan.
"Hahaha! But first, the fighters will have to compete against 19 other competitors, 20 on each of the preliminary rings in a free for all, then fight my own, hand picked Alien fighters from across the Galaxy!" Mr. Satan boasted and motioned the camera behind him as four men, made up in alien costumes were posing for the camera.
16 looked at the TV screen, "My data says that those are just normal humans.."
Trunks laughed and patted 16 on the back, "Nothing gets by you, big guy." Trunks thought to himself, "What a ridiculous stunt…"
The Tournament Announcer turned back to the camera, "Well there you have it folks! The first round will be a Free For All between twenty fighters, all on four different rings at the same time! Eighty fighters in total, the biggest tournament in history! This will leave four semi-finalists, who will then race to the finish, fighting one of the Galactic fighters on the way! The first to finish will win 100 Million Zeni and have a chance to fight The Champ himself! This all starts in five quick minuuuuuutes!" The cameras panned out to an overhead view of the arena as the interview ended.
Over the loudspeaker a different voice was heard, "All participants please go to your assigned ring, the tournament is about to begin."
End of Chapter 4
Next Chapter, Chapter 5: Fear, Unbound.
Author's Note: Whew. I am extremely happy with the response so far. It's only been about 24 hours since I started this and already over 120 views. Please feel free to submit reviews and your opinions on the way I am handling things. The start has been admittedly slow, but it's starting to heat up now! Thanks again.
