"Allllriiight!" The announcer extended out, bringing back the buzzing excitement to the audience. "It's now time for our sixth match of the day! 17 vs Yamcha! Give us a good one fellas!"
Standing out mostly from the cheers were the noticeable girly ones. Both fighters had somehow accidentally captured the attention of the female audience. One for his boyish and slightly wild charm, and the other for his more cool and bad boy aura.
"Go Yamcha! We're rooting for you!" Girls collected together and chanted. The fighter sheepishly scratched the back of his head, unsure of how to respond to all the attention.
"17! We love you!" The other half of the girls yelled out. The Android looked as if he hadn't heard, but then turned to give them a charming smile–which only increased their cheering.
Yamcha tried his best to ignore them, and focus back on his match. The first thing that stood out to him was how laid-back his opponent was. It was like he wanted to be anywhere else in the world right now then be here. His form practically screamed this with his hands in his pocket, and his eyes closed as he waited for the bell.
In contrast, Yamcha stood the complete opposite. His form was tense, and he was focusing his complete energy on his opponent, never taking his eyes off him.
If he was still the immature fighter he once was, he might've felt some type of offense to this, but he was a better man now.
Master Roshi had taught him what real fighting was about. What it meant to use his fist for protecting instead of personal gain or status. A real fighter knew how to not let little things like this get to him.
17 let out a yawn, and Yamcha once again felt a tick of annoyance at his opponents blatant disregard of him, but tried to squash down his feelings. 'Don't let him get to you. This must be some sort of trick to get me fired up or something. Yeah, that must be it. Too bad I know every trick in the book already!'
The bell rang, and Yamcha made his first move to go towards 17. He wasn't waiting. He'd show this flashy guy exactly why it was a bad thing to underestimate him.
17 stood still, choosing to remain in his spot. 'This dude is asking for it!' Yamcha thought. Just as he passed half of the distance between them though 17 was already in front of him, to his shock.
A solid punch met Yamcha's forearm, and the vibration from the power behind it could be felt throughout his whole body. It was not what he expected from a guy as skinny as 17.
If anything, Yamcha had figured he was just some pretty boy who learned a few moves and thought he was the next Bruce Lee. This guy was no joke though. His strength was on par with Tien's–if not stronger!
The strength was only half of it though. Within seconds 17 had managed to appear in front of him without so much as breaking a sweat. Yamcha knew speed was not one of his strong points, but to be that unmatched? Was it even humanly possible?
"Not bad, kid." 17 said, as he kept at a stalemate with Yamcha. "Looks like you weren't all talk. I might have enjoyed this if I wasn't in a hurry, but unfortunately-"
"Wha-?" Yamcha let out as 17 easily broke out of their stance. He jumped up, and Yamcha could only stare upwards, realizing somewhere in the back of his mind, he was staying in the air 0.1 seconds longer for it to fit the laws of gravity.
"I am." 17 finished as he kicked the side of Yamcha's head, sending him off. Following him, the Android aimed for his stomach, only to be blocked by Yamcha's two hands.
It was taking all Yamcha had, but he managed to push 17 off of him. The Android effortlessly landed on the other side of the ring, and Yamcha took the time to catch his breath. 'Man, this guys isn't playing around!' He thought.
He knew his fights were going to get tougher, but he didn't expect to be out of breath in the first 5 seconds of the match. If he wasn't careful, he could actually lose this thing!
"You're not making this any easier on yourself." 17 said in a annoyed tone, as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. "I was trying to take it easy on you, but you leave me no choice."
Yamcha frowned. What was this guy's deal? he was acting like he already won the fight. "You're not the only one who has something to prove." He found himself saying.
"We'll see about that." 17 warned, as he took a swing at Yamcha, who managed to block it with his forearm. 17 didn't let up though and used his foot to swipe from underneath his opponent.
Yamcha fell, but used his hands to keep himself off the ground. He pushed himself back up, only to receive a sharp kicked to the side. "Oof!" He let out as he was thrown across.
"Oh no!" The fans in the crowd yelled as he landed near the edge of the arena. Not the best spot to be at. Yamcha quickly picked himself up, but lost sight of his opponent.
He cursed his luck as he found no sign of 17 around the arena. It was like he disappeared! Sweat formed at his brow, as his eyes moved back in forth, preparing for any surprise attack.
Where was he!
He caught movement in the corner of his eye, but by the time he spotted 17, 17 was already kicking his back, sending him across the other side of the arena.
'Dammit,' Yamcha thought, as 17 disappeared again. There was no doubt about it, this was some kind of ki move. Countering something like this had been part of his training, but–augh! He couldn't think straight. The frustration was starting to get at him.
He had assumed the only opponent he had to worry about would be either Tien, or Piccolo, but it looked like this years group of select fighters were a lot more tougher than he first thought.
Maybe he should have listened to Piccolo and Tien when they said he should have trained more instead of sneaking off to play baseball and show off his skills to regular people, but what was done, was done.
He couldn't think about giving up here after everything he has been through up until this point. He fought hard to be here. He couldn't bring shame to Master Roshi.
Feeling his resolve, he thought back in his training. Master Roshi had taught him a bit about Ki reading. Closing his eyes, he tried locating 17's energy signal.
At first, he felt like nothing was happening. He pushed for his mind to try harder, but then remembered something essential. Master Roshi had said a relaxed mind was key to this, so despite the adrenaline pumping through his veins, he forced himself to relax.
His eyes snapped open when he felt something faint. "There!" He stated, moving and swiping at the area at his side. He was so confident, he falter a bit when he hit nothing, but air.
"Missed by a hair." A smug voice said, as 17 pushed Yamcha, who had accidentally left his back open while being at the edge of the ring. Yamcha could only blink before his butt was greeted by the grass on the outside.
"And Yamcha is out!" The announcer stated. "17 is the winner of our 6th match!"
17 couldn't help, but look down at the fallen Yamcha with a smug smile. "No helping it this time, kid. Better luck next year."
Yamcha might've hated the fact that he lost to such a jerk, but he was no sore loser. "Yeah, yeah." He replied, picking himself up, and dusting himself off.
When he turned back to 17, he wasn't looking at him anymore, but instead something behind him. Normally, he would have thought nothing of it, but the look of pure fear marking 17's face, made him think twice about it.
Yamcha tried following his line of sight, but seen nothing, but the audience, still cheering on. "Hey man, are you alright?" He decided to ask.
17 blinked once, then twice. He turned back to Yamcha still looking a little pale in the face. Without another word, he turned to leave, to the surprise of Yamcha.
"Talk about mood swings," Yamcha couldn't help, but say to himself.
17 walked back to the waiting room, trying to ignore how he could hear the beating in his heart. He was wrong. He had to be wrong. There was no way Dr. Gero could be here of all places. Not now.
But there was no denying the familiar bushy white hair he had briefly spotted in the audience.
"17?"
His head snapped up in alarm, only to see his sister looking at him with a raised a brow. He hadn't even noticed he had made it to the waiting room.
"Is something the matter?" She asked. She had expected to see him walking in with a stupid grin on his face despite his opponent only being a regular human. Instead though he just looked shaken up.
Even 16 was looking at him with something of a worry look. 17 stared back at him, reminded that if Dr. Gero was in fact here, 16 would have felt it, and told him.
But then again, 16 had been acting strange ever since this tournament started. Especially after his own match. 17's eyes widen in realization. His match! 16 had purposely quit it without ever explaining why.
The only thing that would have him acting so strange, is Dr. Gero. If he was here though why would 16 want to keep it a secret? Unless–
"16 do not lie to me." 17 started, his voice having a desperate edge to it. "Why did you forfeit your match….?"
There was silence. 18 looked back and forth, trying to figure out where the sudden standoff between her brothers came from. "Did it have something to do with… him?"
18's eyes widen, but 16 continued to stay quiet, giving 17 a hard look. "It… did not."
17 was ready to accuse him of keeping something from them, when 16 opened his mouth before he could. "But, something is not right."
What did that mean? It wasn't a difficult question to answer. Was Dr. Gero here or not? If not him, what else could it be?
The only other person he could question was gone. Wait–He was gone, but his friends weren't. His friends who, he quickly came to realize, were just as suspicious as Krillin was.
Baldy knew about ki and had ways of contacting Lady Anonymous. If he knew that much, and always hung out with the same sort of people, it wasn't far off to think at least one of them knew more than they were letting on.
That Goku guy had even admitted to being the guy he fought, alongside Lady Anonymous, at the park. Though their fight was brief he could tell that guy was stronger than the average human.
When that weird move had hit them, it had also blocked them from seeing who exactly had thrown it, but 18 and him had naturally assumed it was a new move Lady Anonymous had learned.
After all, she was the only human who had managed to give them trouble. What if they had been wrong though? What if the move had never came from her, but that Goku guy instead?
He was already making his way towards the group, before he even came to the conclusion. There was something fishy going around here, and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.
The group tensed as they took notice of him.
"You guys know something." He accused, looking for some sign that he was right. "It can't be a coincidence that I've run into at least every one of you outside this tournament. Even that blue haired girl. Her father is sponsoring this tournament, isn't he?"
Goku kept a somewhat neutral face, and Vegeta looked slightly ticked for having Bulma be brought up, but Chi-Chi managed to look the most offended. "Which is how we heard about this tournament in the first place." She replied calmly, but in a firm tone.
Normally, 17 would have kept it cool, but the fact that Dr. Gero might've been involved with this, he let his anger seep into his voice. "Let me make one thing clear. If I find out on of you kept something from me–it won't end well."
Vegeta walked forward, unbothered by the Android. "Keep that same energy during the tournament. You'll need it." Just for extra measure, he let out a taunting chuckle, as he made his way to the arena outside.
"On this side we have last year's champion!" The announcer had to pause as the roar of applause was immediate as it almost always was with returning champions.
"Don't count this guy out yet though! Vegeta has made quite the stir in the preliminaries with almost all of his opponents being sent to the ER!" The blonde revealed, hyping some of the audience member who had thought the match was already decided.
"Alright, fellas, go ahead and begin as soon as the bell rings!" The blonde told them as he quickly left the strage, not wanting to be caught in the middle of their fight.
Mighty mask had been the previous champion, but he took every fight he faced, seriously. He got in a fighting stance, expecting his opponent to do the same. To his surprise though he just continued to stand with his arms crossed, not even bothering to look at him.
Did he understand they were about to fight at any moment? The bell rang, not giving him time to think about it. If his opponent won't come to him, he'll just have to be the one to make the first move.
"Ahhh!" He yelled as he charged towards Vegeta.
As soon as he was in distance, Vegeta simply kicked him. Mighty mask only had time to spit whatever Vegeta kicked out of him, before his body repelled backwards. He crashed into the same wall Hercules had hit, breaking pass the already dented wall.
"Hu-uh…?!" The announced couldn't help, but let out, as his mouth stayed open in shock. The audience members reflecting similar expressions.
In all the quiet disbelief surrounding the audience, there was one person clapping enthusiastically. "Alright, Vegeta!" Bulma proudly cheered.
"V-Vegeta is the winner of our 7th match." The announcer managed to say, despite the disbelief in his voice.
Vegeta walked in the same way he had walked out. Unbothered and without care. Chi-Chi had expected as much with him. That's not what worried her. What did was across the room, and burning holes through the back of her head.
Ever since 17 had confronted them, there wasn't once she hadn't felt eyes following her every move. He was suspicious of them. She didn't know what was the cause of his sudden paranoia, but this couldn't be good for them.
If he continued to watch over them like a hawk, she'd have less chances of discussing things over with Goku or anyone else. Even worse, if they really felt like something was wrong, and they decided to leave, she'd lose her bait.
She let out a breath, rubbing her arm for comfort. She had to trust that things would just turn out the way they were suppose to. Caught up with trying to assure herself, she had almost jumped when she felt a warm hand at her shoulder.
"Hey," Goku said, his brows puckered in worry at her reaction. "Are you okay?"
"Fine." She assured a little too quickly. Maybe the nerves really were starting to get to her. "It's just… there's so many things that have to go right today. What if something goes wrong?"
"Don't worry so much. If something does end up going wrong, we'll figure something out." He assured. "For now just focus on the fight."
Chi-Chi nodded. She wasn't sure if anything would be able to distract her right now. Everything was riding on this day.
"Besides," Goku continued. "This is the last fight of the first round. Once this is over, it's your turn again."
Chi-Chi open her mouth, in shock. She had totally forgotten about her match against 18. Great. Leave it to Goku to cheer her up by making her worry about something else.
"Er–You guys know t-the rules, right?" He hesitantly asked. After all, him, and pretty much anyone around could sense the tension in the air. "L-Let's try and keep this clean, alright, fellas?" He quickly finished not bothering to wait for an answer as he ran straight for the stairs.
Tien blinked at the announcers antics, in confusion, before getting back to business. "Raditz Son, right? Something tells me this is going to be one hell of a fight." He said with a slight smile.
Raditz returned the gesture, with a nod, getting in a stance of his own.
"B-Begin!" The announcer shouted into the microphone from a safe distance, as the bell rang.
Tien went straight for the offense, testing him out with a few punches that his opponent was able to fend off. His strategy was to try and keep it safe until he could figure out some kind of pattern or weakness from him.
Well... that was the plan.
He pulled back last minute barely able to escape Raditz's chop that hit the sweat in the air instead. Tien didn't have time to rest though as Raditz quickly moved behind him grabbing his arms in a lock.
"Ugh." He let out as Raditz squeezed his arms with tremendous pressure. With teeth clenched, he used all his power to hurl Raditz's whole body forward.
The long haired Saiyan spun his body, so he landed back on his feet. He had expected that move to end the fight, but was surprise to see a human be able to hold his own.
"Tien Shinhan, huh?" He acknowledged.
Tien nodded.
"You know how to use your Ki." Raditz stated, rather than asked. "Why don't we get more serious then?"
Tien blinked in a mix of surprise and slight suspicion. "But the people..."
"Anything, but energy blasts." He replied.
Tien smirked, getting back in a fighting stance. "In that case–sounds interesting. Sure, let's try it then."
Before Tien could blink, Raditz was already in front of him. "Hu-?" He tried to question, but was interrupted by Raditz's foot kicking his side. He moved back from the force, but managed to stay on his feet.
There was no time to rest as Tien felt alarms go off in his head. He let himself fall till he was almost flat on the ground, feeling a whoosh of wind right above him, slicing the air.
Raditz didn't let up though bringing his foot down at where Tien stayed at. The martial artist was able to twist his body fast enough to stop Raditz's foot from crushing him.
They stayed at a stalemate as Tien's arms shook trying to keep Raditz's foot up. The Saiyan's power proved too much for him though, so he resorted to plan b, pushing his foot away from him, and rolling off to the side.
Like a Rollie pollie, Tien curled his body, and then used the momentum to push himself off the ground and back onto his feet. By then though Raditz had disappeared once again.
With sweat dripping down his forward he looked back and forth quickly, trying not to leave an opening for his opponent. 'Where is he?' He thought in frustration. He felt a faint ki signal to his right. 'There!'
"Urgh!" Raditz let out as he was forced to defend himself from Tien's fist. This human was proving to be even more difficult than he first assumed!
Chi-Chi still felt anxious at the back of her mind, but Goku was right, the fight was a good distraction. Who knew someone else besides Goku and Vegeta would be giving Raditz this much trouble.
They had all sort of expected this fight to be a short win for Raditz. Instead though they were treated to an amazing, clean fight. Even Vegeta couldn't keep his eyes away from it, despite looking a bit irked at the situation.
Goku looked more intrigued than anything. "Raditz is sure giving it his all out there."
Goku's comment seem to tip over Vegeta's already irritated attitude. "Preposterous." He scoffed. "He's just going soft on him. If this was a real battle, he wouldn't even last seconds against him."
Goku glanced over at Vegeta over his shoulder. "Without the use of blasts and other attacks, they're pretty evened out."
"Only when there's rules involved." Vegeta begrudgingly admitted.
Chi-Chi had only been halfway listening to their conversation, therefore not registering Vegeta's tone. "Yeah, but there really isn't any rules in this tournament any-" she stopped when she caught his glare. "Er…"
"This fight isn't going to last much longer." Goku commented on the side, turning their focus back on the fight.
-LINE BREAK-
"It seems as though both opponents have dealt with some damage!" The blonde announcer commented.
Tien was sweating, and was looking more than a bit torn up. Raditz was fairing better, but there was no denying the heavier breaths he took in.
"This fight is a lot better than anything else I would expect in a small tournament like this." Raditz admitted, the corner of his mouth barely lifting.
Tien nodded. "I knew this match wasn't going to be easy, but to go against someone of this caliber? Makes victory so much sweeter!" He said as he took off towards Raditz.
"That's quite the imagination!" Raditz retorted, flying towards Tien with his foot out.
Tien managed to side step him last minute, grabbing onto his ankle. With great effort, he swung Raditz away from him. The older Saiyan was able to stop himself mid-air, despite still being upside down.
"What's this?!" The announcer exclaimed. "It looks as if Raditz is suspended in mid-air! Amazing!"
Tien knew better than to wait around, and flew up in the air after him. "Ha!" He said throwing a punch to him, as he righted himself up.
He scraped passed his cheek, but Raditz quickly retaliated with his own set of punches. Soon, they both were exchanging blows, dodging and hitting each other.
"This fight is over with!" Tien shouted, holding both his fist together, bringing them down.
From below, the announcer was using his hands to shield him from the beaming sun, so he could try and get and better picture of what was going on above. "It's not clear what is happening folks, but it looks like they are now fighting in the air!"
"And–wait–what is that?! A shooting star?!" He yelled as something came hurtling down. Faster than he expected, something crashed onto the tournament floor.
The announcer opened his eyes when the noise calmed. Blinking, he inched towards the smoke filled area to see what had crashed. "Uh! I don't believe it folks! It looks like Tien has lost the match!"
As the smoke cleared, the audience was able to see Tien, who was unconscious on the dented part of the floor thanks to the impact of his crash.
A short while later, Raditz descended from the sky, landing back on the arena. "Spectacular! Raditz is the winner for our last match of the first round!"
"Good job!" The announcer congratulated without the microphone. He gave him a pat on the back missing the look of pain flashing through Raditz's features.
Raditz walked back to the waiting room, trying not to show the immense pain he was currently under. 'I can hardly move my left arm.' He realized.
He clenched his fist trying to control the shaking from his whole arm. 'Dammit.'
So I'm back... Not sure if people have given up on this story, but if you didn't catch my excuses for not updating in so long, there was trouble with moving, as I'm sure some of you have already guessed. I basically lost all my information for this story including all my ideas and the whole outline for the rest of the story.
I wanted to wait and see if I can get the stuff back, but it was looking impossible and taking way too long, so I just decided to try and continue anyways. I reread most of the story, but I apologize if there's some glaring inconsistencies.
In other news, I've had the chance to redo my whole profile, so if you want to check updates on this story, and others I've write, AND others I plan to write... Go check out my profile.
This wasn't the chapter I wanted to upload after such a big break, since it was kind of short, and not much happened, but I finished the next chapter, so once I heavily edit that mess, I'll try uploading right away. Only a few more chapters to get through after that though so I'm hoping I can stay on track and see this story through to the end. Sorry again!