Chapter Nineteen: The Tournament Begins

Kakarot was somewhere underground, deep underground. He scaled his way down a ladder, looking around him for some unknown threat. He could not see it, or sense it. He reached the bottom, and Kakarot advanced through the facility.

There, lying dormant within a tank of green liquid, stood an embryo. Though it could scarcely be considered human, Kakarot felt as though it was aware of him. Watching him, and it was afraid.

He raised one hand and summoned the power to his hand, more power than he'd ever had before. He must kill it; he must slay the foul creature before it killed them all! Yet for some reason, he stopped. Something held him back.

All of a sudden everything went dark, and he was floating above a planet, yet he knew it was not earth. A man in black and green armor stood against a lone enemy. Yet Kakarot could not see the enemy. Suddenly his vision changed. He saw himself standing amidst the bodies of many friends, though he did not know their names.

Again the vision changed, and he felt his rage boiling over. Then everything changed to one final vision. Three great monkeys, looming over a city. They breathed energy blasts like the Kamehameha wave to annihilate those beneath them. They were just like the monster that had killed his master, yet they were clad in armor. They must have been sentient too, for they fought with precision. It had been nothing like the monster from before.

Kakarot awoke with a start. He had been dreaming again, and he rose up and walked out to watch the sunrise.

An early morning mist rose up over the island, making the light seem pale as the sun rose over the horizon. A ringing echo from a bell sounded throughout the mountains and hills of the island. A new day dawned over the peaceful island, full of new challenges. The clouds were swept away, and soon, the whole of the world was covered in light.

Several months had passed. The tournament would begin in several more.

Before the morning dew had left the ground, the four students resumed their training as usual. The turtle shells had become lighter on their backs as they had gotten stronger. Kakarot knew that he was far stronger than he ever had been before. He zigzagged through trees alongside the others. Chi Chi was almost always ahead for this part, followed by himself, then Krillen, then Launch.

Each day Roshi had kept them sweating by boosting their workload even more. The fields they ran got longer. The mountains they climbed got taller and taller. And yet the four students endured. The world martial arts tournament was fast approaching. And they were all of them determined to fight at any cost.

Months on the island had passed like this, with relative calmness. And the strength of Master Roshi's students increased. And unfortunately for the sharks which chased them, so did their speed.

As he watched his four students work, Roshi reflected that they would soon be ready. 'Darn,' he muttered, 'that means I'll have to work.'

Since they didn't have a decent cook handy, they ate out almost every day. Launch, for her part, was usually too tired to go on rampages, so they could almost feel secure in her presence.

On and on the training days passed, until the tournament was only one month away.

One day, while Roshi was eating breakfast, Chi Chi entered and bowed. 'Master Roshi, could you please come with me?'

'What is it?' asked Roshi.

'It's important,' said Chi Chi, 'please come on!' Then she dragged him by the hand out through the fields, until they came to a giant rock towering over them.

'Yes,' said Roshi, 'it's a rock, what of it?'

'Don't play dumb ya old geezer!' snapped Launch. 'You said if we moved it, you'd teach us fighting!'

'You do remember, don't you?' asked Kakarot.

'I… said that?' Roshi remembered, but he was trying to avoid the question.

Kakarot said nothing; he merely began to push against the rock. He strained horribly against it. For the first few moments, nothing happened. Then with a terrible groaning, the stone began to move, shoving up dirt as it did so. Roshi stared in dismay as Kakarot pushed it full twenty feet. Krillen laughed in triumph, and Launch smirked. Chi Chi gazed on with dreamy eyes.

'See!' said Krillen. 'I moved it too! Almost as much as Kakarot did!' Then he approached and began to push on the rock as well. After a few moments groaning, the rock moved a little further. This was followed by Chi Chi, and then Launch, who finally pushed the stone off a cliff to tumble and smash in the sea.

'There!' said Kakarot. 'We've done your training! Can you please teach us to kill things now!'

'Oh,' said Roshi, 'how… nice…' The rock thing had just been a joke to keep them working. He'd never expected them actually to do it. Roshi probably should have pointed at a mountain. He looked at his student's expectant faces and cleared his throat. 'Uh… well, my students… I have almost nothing left to teach you about the martial arts.'

'WHAT!' roared Kakarot.

'Master Roshi, you aren't serious, are you?' asked Krillen.

'You miserable old bastard!' Roared Launch as she drew out two machine guns from nowhere. Suddenly she was sporting a Rambo bandolier. 'I spent eight months moving dirt for nothing because of you! Give me one good reason not to fill you so full of lead that you'll reflect radiation!'

'Would you have preferred to spend the last eight months in prison, Launch?' asked Chi Chi sweetly.

Launch blinked. She had not thought of it in that light before. '…Good point. I'll just uh… just be quiet now.'

'The whole method behind the Turtle Hermit fighting style is the training schedule.' explained Roshi patiently. 'Which you've done every day,' With that, he began to walk past them. 'You students don't seem to realize, but just by repeating these simple exercises, you've pushed your arms and legs and hearts, and even your brains past their built-in limitations.' He then turned to them. 'That right, there is the whole art behind martial arts.'

'That doesn't make any sense!' said Kakarot. 'How am I supposed to win if I can't fight!'

'Well, you four didn't come here to win.' said Roshi. 'You came to learn. But don't sweat it, you know how to fight, it's just the outward expression of your strength. It's natural.'

'But aren't there special moves or tricks to win?' asked Krillen.

'What?' said Roshi. 'Is there an echo in here, Krillen? I just said winning wasn't the real point. This tournament is only another step in your training. It's an introduction. And that's the lowdown.

'There is no point teaching you special moves until you get the fighting experience. So keep training the same.'

Kakarot turned to Chi Chi. 'Chi Chi, what do you think of all this?'

'Yeah,' she rubbed the back of her head, 'I kind of sent a letter to my papa telling him where I was. And then he sent one back and sort of spoiled the surprise for me.'

'Speaking of surprises,' said Roshi, 'we're going to make it a little harder.' He drew off his own turtle shell and dropped it. The shell crashed into the ground, cracking it. 'Now you'll be wearing heavier turtle shells! Their twice the weight!'

Later as they worked to move rocks while burdened by their new shells, Krillen spoke out. 'So what do you think, Kakarot? Do you think we even have a chance of not getting creamed at the tournament?'

Kakarot glanced back as they walked. 'Well, I'm confident that I'll make it to the final round, at least. As for you, well…' He thought about how to say this gently. 'Your career started poorly. It's probably going to lessen in importance towards the middle, and the less said about the end, the better.'

'You're a real charmer, Kakarot, you know that.' said Krillen with narrowed eyes.

'I try.' said Kakarot.

Meanwhile, Launch and Chi Chi were working elsewhere. The blonde was throwing herself into things with her usual fury, while Chi Chi was dutiful. 'Can't believe that old bastard, wasting our time with all this.'

'But he isn't,' said Chi Chi, 'we'd never have been able to move that rock all those months ago. We've all gotten much stronger than we ever would have been able to get otherwise.'

'Give me a break.' muttered Launch. 'This training isn't doing us a lick of good.'

'Well if you are so convinced it's useless,' said Chi Chi, 'why don't you quit?'

Launch paused and looked at her with narrowed eyes. Chi Chi met her gaze with a demure smile as though daring her to do anything about it. Finally, Launch looked away. 'Shut up, kid.'

Elsewhere amidst an ancient forest, a wolf howl pierced the night. A lone warrior trained obsessively. A shadow rushed through the darkness, his ragged hair flowing about him. He was working to tap into his most feral self. Leaping into the air, he swung himself on a tree branch and rushed on word with many springing leaps and bounds. With one final leap and a battle cry, he landed in a clearing and took a stance. Making multiple slashes and elaborate moves, he cut through the air with all his might. Then he halted, and stood deadly still, the light of his eyes the only thing visible from his silhouette. He bent his knees, and launched a charge at a nearby giant rock and charged it, his hair flowing behind him.

'Wolf Fang Fist!'

The rock shattered into thousands of pieces and flew across the forest. It left nothing but a small bit of rubble to show it had been there before. And high above, the crescent moon stared down at him, leering. One more wolf howl cut through the night, and then all was silent.

Yamcha finally allowed himself to relax. He'd spent the past month or so out in the wilds. He'd been preparing not just for the tournament, but to battle Mercenary Tao. He knew that if he was not strong enough, it might not just mean getting knocked out of the tournament. But also the loss of his life. So he had trained and trained to ensure that he was in the running for the strongest man alive.

Because if he wasn't, he'd be a dead man.

'It's been over a month now,' he said after a moment, 'and I'm a lot stronger. Perhaps I should return.'

A plane flew over West City, where below cars drove to and fro, and people went about their daily business. A blonde woman spoke to a blonde stud, flirtations passing between them. Bulma Briefs walked along the sidetrack on the opposite side of the street. Bulma was in a foul mood and had been so for the past month.

'I have just about had it,' said Bulma, as she carried back groceries for her family.

'Oh Bulma.' said Puar. 'Please don't say that?'

'Why not?' snapped Bulma. 'Two weeks, three weeks, four weeks.'

'Because it's always been Yamcha's dream to fight in the tournament!' said Puar. 'He needs to prepare-'

'Four whole weeks and he doesn't even call!' ranted Bulma. 'He didn't send me a letter of flowers, or even a stinking post card. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd forgotten my name.'

At that moment and orange fell out of her bag, and on reflex, she went after it. Before she knew what was happening, she was out in the middle of the street, with a truck bearing down on her. She screamed.

Then a shadow surged forward, picked her up and hauled her out of the way. They stood together on the sidewalk, staring at each other. The man who had saved her was clad all in black and had a shaggy head of black hair fell to below his back, and was unshaven. She stepped back quickly. 'Who are you?'

'Come on,' said the man. 'It's me, look!' And he pulled back his hair.

'Yamcha!' said Bulma in relief.

'Yay!' cried Puar as she approached. 'I missed you!'

'Hello Puar,' said Yamcha, hugging the floating blue cat. 'How has it been here?'

'Like a beach without sunshine.'

'Oh, fine!' snapped Bulma, turning around in a huff. 'You ignored me all month long; why wouldn't you ignore me now?'

'Uh…' began Yamcha. 'I…'

'Yamcha,' said Bulma, voice breaking slightly as she turned around. 'I was worried about you! For all, I knew you were dead in a ditch or trapped in a country you can't pronounce!' She turned around. 'You'll have to make this up to me. And you're going to enjoy it!' And she marched off.

Yamcha blushed despite himself, before glancing to Puar.

'Now let's go clean you up.' said Bulma.

'O-okay…' said Yamcha.

The last month had counted down until finally, the tournament was only one day away. Master Roshi stood in front of a car, dressed in a smart black suit and a broad-brimmed hat. The four students stood before them in their turtle shells.

'Okay students,' said Roshi, 'did you remember to pack your toothbrushes?'

'Yes, sir.' said Krillen.

'Of course.' said Blue Launch.

'Papa taught me always to remember.' said Chi Chi.

'Tooth what?' said Kakarot.

Roshi ignored him. 'Okay, you can take off your shells now.'

'Good,' said Krillen 'I was scared we'd look silly at the tournament.' And they pulled them off, letting them fall down to land with a crash.

As soon as they were free of them, the group began to move about, moving faster than they had thought was possible. Kakarot was amazed despite himself. 'I'm so light…' he said, 'I feel as though I were a leaf blowing in the winds.'

'Alright!' said Launch 'Now this is what I'm talking about! Real power!'

Chi Chi spun round and practiced a kick. 'This is so cool!'

'See how high you can jump.' suggested Roshi.

Obediently the four of them jumped up. And up, and up, and up. Krillen looked to Kakarot as they rushed upwards. 'Hey Kakarot,' he said.

'We're a lot more powerful than we ever were before.' said Kakarot with a smile.

They landed and began to run, surging across the plains with ease. They had taken off the turtle shells before now, of course, but never when they were completely fresh. They had always been totally exhausted.

'Now,' said Roshi, 'Blue Launch has something for you.'

Blue Launch made her way into the house. She removed from it a box which she opened to reveal similar, gray suits to the black one that Roshi had made. There were four of them, for each of their sizes. 'I made you all suits in my spare time.'

'Launch,' said Kakarot, 'are you telling me that with all this training, even our special training, you still had time to make these from scratch?'

'Special training?' asked Krillin.

'We're not talking about it.' said Kakarot.

Blue Launch shrugged. 'I guess I felt my other self was working on something, so why shouldn't I? I'm sure you'll look great in it.' Then a bee flew past her nose. 'Ah, ah, achoo!'

They quickly put them on, and Krillin laughed as he saw Kakarot.

'What's so funny?' asked Kakarot, eyes narrowed.

'You in a suit.' said Krillen.

'Don't listen to him, Kakarot.' said Chi Chi. 'I think you look dashing.'

'This is awesome,' said Blonde Launch, 'we look like regular gangsters now! No one will dare oppose us once we've won the tournament!'

'What did I tell you?' asked Roshi.

'…We're not going there to win,' said Launch, 'I get it.'

'Good,' said Roshi, 'now let's get this baby moving or we're going to miss our place.'

They set off in the car, driving over the roads to the airport. They then boarded a plane flying to the tournament island and rode it until the sun was setting in the distance. As they went, Kakarot stared out the window in bemusement. The landscapes flowed out beneath them far below. As usual, the sea was beautiful.

'It's rather like a flying house. Clever really.' he reflected.

'It's just an airplane, Kakarot.' said Krillen.

'I think you fully appreciate the brilliance of your own species.' said Kakarot.

At the far end of the seat Master Roshi watched as a flight attendant did her rounds. 'Would anyone like something to drink?' she asked, before feeling Roshi groping her. And that was how Master Roshi took a plate of hot coffee to the face.

Krillen looked back over the seat to where Launch was gripping her heavy machine gun. She held it like a newborn child. 'Hey Launch, mind telling me how you got that past airport security?'

Launch put her heavy machine gun to Krillin's forehead and smiled. 'Like this, kid.'

'I'm gonna stop asking questions I already know the answer to now.' said Krillen, before sitting down.

Kakarot leaned back in his seat, and little by little felt his eyes drooping. The sound of the plane's engines in his ears lulled him gradually to sleep.

Kakarot was floating above a planet, watching a man with his hairstyle. He wore green armor and cast a bolt of energy towards an enemy. He carved a bloody swath through his enemies as he rushed towards a vessel.

The vessel was a huge saucer, floating in the upper atmosphere. As he came before it, the man called challenges to his enemy within. Then his enemy emerged, and Kakarot felt his blood run cold.

The man cast a bolt of white energy against him. Yet his enemy created a sphere of energy so gigantic that it obscured everyone around. The energy was cast down towards the man and consumed him. Then it fell upon the world far below, burrowing deep into its core. Great crisscrosses of light appeared on its surface, and then everything came to an end.

'Father!' cried Kakarot as he awoke with a start.

'Kakarot, are you alright?' asked Roshi, looking at him with concern. 'You look a bit pale, boy?'

'Yes,' said Kakarot, 'just… just a bad dream.' Yet as he looked out the window and saw that night had fallen, he realized that part of his dream was true. There were countless crisscrossing lights far below on the ground. 'What are those lights?' he asked horror in his tone.

'Nothing to worry about, m'boy.' said Roshi. 'Those are city lights. We've arrived.'

'Their not dangerous are they?' asked Kakarot, wondering if the whole world would come to an end.

'They're harmless, they just keep buildings lit up.' said Roshi in amusement. 'You've seen a few of them at Kame House.'

'Right, of course. Now I remember.' said Kakarot, feeling silly. I wasn't real.

Soon they came in for a landing, rolling out onto a great landing field. The plane came to a halt, and the passengers filed out off a ramp. Once they were past the airport, they entered the city.

As they made their way into the city, Kakarot was filled with awe. Though he had seen its like in dreams, it had never dawned on him how completely huge cities were. Cars of the sort he'd seen Bulma and Yamcha drive were everywhere. There were countless people of all shapes and sizes. The number of lights was nearly as impressive on the ground as in the sky.

'This place is gigantic,' said Kakarot, 'how does one feed this many people?'

'They import food from outlying farms, silly.' said Chi Chi. 'My papa is in charge of many prosperous farms which feed places like this.'

'Good to know,' said Kakarot, 'note to self, the cities are reliant on the farms. Target them last.'

Roshi raised a staff. 'Taxi!'

A green car labeled taxi zoomed up. 'Can you take us to the tournament grounds?' asked Roshi,

'Yeah, sure.' said the man.

Zeni was exchanged. In return, the man provided them transportation through the city. They soon came before a tremendous walled structure. There was massive building before them, painted red. They emerged from the castle.

'Everyone who hasn't registered please come to the front!' called a man on the loudspeaker. 'You have until midnight!'

'There are a lot more people on this world than I first thought.' reflected Kakarot as they walked. 'Destroying this world is going to take a lot more time than I'd thought.'

'Destroying the- what?' said Krillen 'Don't you think you should keep your bad jokes to yourself?'

'It was merely an observation.' said Kakarot.

They scaled up to a set of steps and came to a great building with red walls and a green roof. It was labeled: Tenkaichi Tournament. Before the gates was a table with a white cloth and several men sitting at it with a book.

'This where we sign up?' asked Roshi.

'Yes,' said the man 'we just need your name.'

'No,' said Roshi 'it's not me. It's those four.'

'Oh,' said the man 'you mean you want seats.'

'No, no!' said Roshi 'I mean their entering the tournament!'

'You mean the three kids and the blue-haired women who couldn't possibly harm anyone?' asked the man.

'Naturally,' said Roshi, 'do you see any others?'

'Hey!' called a voice. 'Hey, Kakarot!'

Kakarot turned to look where the voice had come from through the crowds. 'Yamcha!' he cried happily, before rushing to meet his friend as Krillin looked on.

'Hey Kakarot,' said Yamcha, 'how have you been?'

'Oh you know,' said Kakarot, 'fairly good. Master Roshi's training has been pretty intense.' He noticed Yamcha's hair had been cut. 'So what's with the new haircut?'

'Bulma's idea.' said Yamcha. 'Supposedly long hair is out this year.'

Krillin tugged his sleeve. 'Who's the tall guy?'

'He's called Yamcha.' said Kakarot. 'He was a warrior companion of mine on the quest for the dragonballs and very dangerous rival. Yamcha, this is Krillen. He is…' Kakarot sought the term, '…a martial artist.' He settled on. 'At least I think he qualifies. We were sort of training partners.'

'Nice to meet you,' said Yamcha, 'sorry if Kakarot seems like a jerk. He's always been like that.'

'I noticed.' said Krillen in deadpan.

'Hey, Chi Chi!' called Yamcha. 'How is it going!'

Chi Chi didn't answer, merely glared, and Yamcha blinked. 'Wonder what I did to get her angry at me.' Then he saw Launch. 'You.' His voice lowered.

'Hey I remember you,' said Launch, 'you're that schmuck I robbed blind!'

'You already know each other?' asked Kakarot, surprised.

'It's a long story,' said Yamcha, 'we don't have time for it now.'

Master Roshi then arrived with a sheet of paper. 'Well it's done, you are now part of the tournament.'

It was at this point that Kakarot noticed two other figures. Bulma and Puar had come up to where Yamcha was standing, and Bulma had an ice cream cone. 'Bulma! Puar!' said Kakarot as he approached.

'Looking sharp Kakarot.' said Puar, giving what might have been a thumbs up.

'Oh the outfit, yeah,' said Kakarot, 'well I wouldn't fight in it, but it has a certain appeal. How have you guys been?'

'Kakarot,' said Bulma with a smile, 'how in the world did you end up at the tournament?'

'Hey there!' said Roshi as he stepped between them.

'Oh, it's you!' said Bulma. 'Hey, thanks for telling me you were moving. I stopped by the island to see how Kakarot was doing, and your house wasn't there!'

'Well, that island is more for loving than training-' began Roshi,

Ca-clink. Went Launch's machine gun.

Roshi blinked and quickly stepped away.

'Well Kakarot,' said Yamcha, 'I guess tonight we'd better hang out together while we still can. Because we're all going to be rivals in the tournament tomorrow.'

'Perfect,' said Kakarot, 'I'm looking forward to our fight. Wait, I thought the tournament started tonight.'

'Afraid not kid,' said Bulma, 'everyone gets checked in tonight, but it starts in the morning.'

'Well, I can wait.' said Kakarot.

Happy as he was to be reunited with old friends, Kakarot had little time for catching up. The next day the sun rose again, and they went from the hotel to the place where the elimination round would be held.

There were a lot of people for them to get through. 'Oh, I hate crowds.' said Bulma.

'Are we going to have to fight all these people?' asked Kakarot.

'Why don't you punch one and see.' suggested Krillin.

'Okay,' said Roshi, 'why don't you stay close to me, boys. Don't get lost staring.'

The announcer from last night then appeared. 'Would all the applicants registered for the world martial arts tournament please gather in the contest hall?!'

'Loudmouth.' muttered Roshi.

Yet there was one final challenge to be made. 'Now are you absolutely sure you want to enter?' asked a man doubtfully. It was the wrong thing to say, and Launch's gun was pressed to his forehead.

'Listen punk,' said Launch, 'we've trained too long for this to put up with this. Now sign us up, or eat a machine gun sandwich, capiche?'

'Yes, yes, of course, Ms uh…' he paused.

'Launch,' said Launch, 'remember it.'

Overall it was a pretty cool way to enter the tournament. They marched to a building with golden lining labeled contest hall, and here Roshi turned to them.

'This is as far as I can escort you.' said Roshi. 'So do your best.'

'Understood,' said Kakarot, nodding.

'Now one more thing,' said Roshi, kneeling down and opening a box, 'you obviously can't fight in suits so here!' He brought up a red gi, with the symbol that had been written on the rock on it, surrounded by a circle of gold. There were four of them, one for each.

As Kakarot put on the outfit, he had to admit he felt proud to be wearing it. Whatever his intentions, he had earned the right to wear the symbol of the Turtle School of Martial Arts. 'This is easily the coolest thing I've worn.'

Launch wore hers well, and surprisingly, it was quite modest and concealed her curves. 'I was kind of expecting something really skimpy, actually.'

'Sorry to disappoint you, baby.' said Roshi.

'Shut up, old man.' said Launch, raising a machine gun, though she meant it kindly.

'Yay,' cheered Chi Chi, jumping for joy, 'papa will be so happy when he sees me.'

'Your father is coming here?' asked Kakarot in surprise.

'Well of course.' said Chi Chi. 'He wouldn't want to miss his little girl fighting in the world martial arts tournament silly. Though I'm surprised, he hasn't shown up yet…'

Krillin was the only one concerned. 'It's so bright,' he reflected, 'I hope we don't stand out.'

'You look good Kakarot,' called Bulma, 'that outfit really suits you.'

Kakarot flashed her a smile as Roshi approached. 'The first roadblock will be the elimination round. Only the eight top fighters from there will move to the actual tournament.'

'Yamcha, Krillin, Chi Chi, Launch, and me.' said Kakarot thoughtfully. 'Alright! We all have a shot at getting in! I'll see you guys in the finals.'

'Just be sure to take this seriously,' said Roshi, 'or you might get knocked out. I'll be watching from the crowd, so you won't see me, okay.'

'I understand.' said Kakarot.

'We'll work hard master.' said Krillin.

'This tournament will be a piece of cake.' said Launch.

Chi Chi just bowed. 'Tell me if you see my papa, okay.'

Bulma and Yamcha spoke some ways away. 'Put your gut into it!' said Bulma.

'Yeah,' said Yamcha, 'I've been training way too hard to lose now. And I'll try not to get hurt.'

They then filed into the elimination round. There they found countless fighters preparing and warming up for their matches. They were of every race, size, and stature. They were big and tall, and black and white, and animal and human. Some glared, others cheered. Kakarot found himself in awe despite himself. 'All these people are fighters then.'

'I'm starting to feel a little sick…' muttered Krillin.

At that moment, a gong was sounded, and the announcer reappeared. 'Attention! The world martial arts tournament elimination round begins!'

Finally, months of intense preparation have paid off. Would their intense training get them through the elimination round? And what of Yamcha? It was a question they would have to wait for.

Author's Note:

So yeah, epic foreshadowing much? I added it because not much happens in this episode. The thing about Dragonball is that it has a much slower pace. Instead, it takes the time to explore the world, and see new things. This is one of the reasons I prefer Dragonball to Z. It's more fun and dabbles in other genres.

Interesting fact, I was just going to have Roshi buy the suits they wear. However, I decided at that last minute that it would be demoting Blue Launch to extra. So I decided to have Blue Launch manage to make them anyway.

Also, I'd just like to apologize for how things are dragging in terms of action. I've tried to keep them interesting with Yamcha's adventures, of course, but that can only go so far. It's just that this is an important part of Kakarot's life. His developing relationship with Krillin, Launch, and Chi Chi can't be skipped over.

Next time we'll finally get to the tournament.