CHAPTER FOUR : The Tournament

"WHY do we need keycards when EVERY able Saiyan on the planet will be competing?" he scowled and flashed said card to the arena guard.

"You're not exactly a planet-side Saiyan sir."

Golkor shot a glare to his liutenant. "Find my mate, and bring her to my seat."

"Yes sir" the obedient warrior said, and trotted off.

Golkor sighed and sat with a scowl on his face. Outdoors, the climate of Vegetasei was still the same. He had gotten used to Mikosei's cool temperatures, and actually found himself a uncomfortable in the heat.

As it turned out, there was plenty for him to uncomfortable with. The second he set foot on the planet, he was ushered straight to his seat. When had such "order" come into the hierarchy?

His black gaze slid over the growing crowd, and he saw the answer to his question sitting in the top box of the arena; Queen Bulma.

He'd never taken a liking to the king's choice, but dealt with it. After all, the king could kill him (and several hundred more just like him) with the flick of his finger.

"Nice armor;" a snide voice came from beside him.

He turned to see his mate sitting next to him, her stomach swollen with child.

He smirked, feeling a slight calm wash over him; as he felt she was alright. "It's mandatory for off-worlders, easier for the audience to see."

Yamako nodded and smirked in response. "Good idea; likely the queen's"

Golkor shrugged off his annoyed feelings and focused his attention on the preliminary fights. It would be a long wait for the finals, but he could at least enjoy the entertainment while he had the time.

Kijah, Bulma, and Vikaro sat in the upper box, the door guarded by other high classed warriors who wouldn't be up for battle until the end of the third session.

"When does that mate of yours fight?" Bulma asked, trying desperately to sound interested. She had seen a few of these competitions in her life, but never had she seen so much blood in one place. Luckily, she had an excuse to keep her eyes elsewhere, and talked to Kijah as she did so.

"Third session. He's up after Shinto." Kijah replied, keeping an eye out for assassins. She didn't like having Bulma out in public any more than the king, especially when she carried the heir.

"So, he'll fight your brother?" Bulma asked. She knew most of Kijah's friends and family, which blew Kijah away, as she wasn't used to the concept of "gossip".

Kijah nodded with a scowl, knowing Chatsu could beat her brother in a second, but still hating the tension. If anyone beat her brother, she wanted it to be herself. This day, however, she sat still and warded off thoughts of battling her brother . Kijah was doing her best to stay unnoticed, for she held a new secret that she wanted to keep as long as she could; Especially on the tournament day.

Eventually, the King took his place in the box with the outer world visitors. It would not be long before the true test of her skills would begin

She followed him at a delicate, but fast-paced trot until they reached the armor room. and then breathed a sigh of relief.

Digging through supplies, he picked out, and subsequently handed her pieces of armor. Both soon got to work on armoring themselves in replacement of the heavy armor they had been wearing.

"See? I told you we'd be in on time." Kakarott said grinning. He stood with arms akimbo looking as if he'd just won a race, or a test of the mind.

Liena sighed with exasperation "I wonder why no one else thought of last minute training," she said as she finished up her own dressing process. "Maybe because they understand the concept of ... what was it again? Oh, yeah, obedience!" She snorted and folded her arms.

Kakarott grinned even more and sent her a mock salute. When her exasperated look showed just a hint of worry, he led her out to the doorway to stand with a few others.

Her nerves would not stop buzzing, and he must have felt it too.

"We'll be fine" he whispered into her ear, and she felt herself relax, just a bit.

"Will you SIT DOWN! You still have another few fights before you're even up in LINE, Shinto!" Raleiko sat back and folded her arms.

Shinto paused in his pacing "A few being two! That's two as in... mere minutes, Ral! I need to do well or I won't prove myself to my father." he glared into the arena, which was being cleaned for the next match.

"There's almost no chance of even getting near your sister's rank, she'll be in the finals by default," Raleiko said.

"No need to remind me," he replied, clenching both fists and glaring at her. "I am forever being reminded of that."

"Just sit down."

"No," he replied. "I'm thinking."

"You do that at all of the wrong times, you know."

Shinto waved her off, scowled, and returned to pacing. This was the only day he'd ever have to get recognition, and he wasn't about to waste it.

"Oh, there's your friend!" Bulma sat up and pointed.

Kijah looked into the arena and realized that Liena was up. She wondered why she was up so early, but focused on her nonetheless.

She watched as Liena made quick work of her first opponent, and proceeded to take out the next one with nearly as much ease. Those two victories, as well as her rank, placed her in the finals.

Kijah breathed a sigh of relief, and proceeded to watch Kakarott's match. This time, she watched with more confidence; He made it look easy, and did so faster than his mate.

The fights seemed to be starting and ending much more quickly than she remembered. Kijah wondered if she was getting over the usual excitement and wonder that the tournaments brought. Then again, her position had changed drastically since the last time she had witnessed the event.

The biggest upset came not long after Kakarott's qualifying match, as her brother Shinto blew his opponents away. She focused her attention on him with drawn brows. He had finished those matches with ease, leaving her wondering about his recent training.

Bulma raised her eyebrows, noting Kijah's expression. "So,if he beats Chatsu..."

"I'll fight him," Kijah answered, and quickly added 'my queen' to the words. The thought was fleeting in her mind, but did not last long. Her eyes and focus were hard on the arena as Liena stepped up to face her brother.

Shinto started with a brash, swinging kick to Liena's arm, and landed it. Clearly, he had been paying attention to her weaknesses. He seemed to dance around her, hitting, kicking, and swinging her by that same arm. Liena, already tired and over-extended from previous fights, eventually flagged. She moved to surrender at last, looking drained.

But Shinto wasn't finished.

He made sure to send a defiant glare up to his sister before lifting his hand and bluntly firing a ki blast at Liena, even as she sat in surrender.

Time seemed to stop in that moment and pass in a blur of slow but fast motion.

As dust and smoke thinned, Liena's body could be seen slumped, still, and covered in blood;

Kakarott appeared in a blur, sliding to a halt at her side, but before he could touch her, another blast came in his direction.

In what seemed like a fluid reflex, Kakarott caught it, and flung one right back to Shinto. Not expecting such a quick move, much less such a response, Kijah's brother found himself on his rear with the wind knocked out of him. He stood quickly, doing his best not to look like he had lost his cool.

Kakarott stepped up to Shinto and plunged a fist into his gut, but before he could do any more, he was grabbed dragged off of the field by guards.

Kijah vaguely heard the announcement of Kakarott's disqualification due to a false start. She watched as Chatsu stepped onto the field as the next contender. When Kakarott saw him, he glared to Shinto's direction. "He's as strong as me you know..." he hissed before he was escorted off of the field, carrying Liena in his arms.

Kijah realized that Bulma had moved to the rail next to her, her mouth agape in her own surprize.

"Will she be ok? Your friend?"

Kijah nodded, but did not respond. Now her focus was on Chatsu, and she let her anger boil.

Chatsu knew this fight wasn't going to be hard, but he had a gut feeling that Shinto was not about to go down without using all of his tricks.

He began the fight with a block and a blow to the nose. It was a surprise move that he knew would anger Shinto even more, but that was the plan. As Kijah's brother flared up and fired off a round of fi blasts, Chatsu blocked and charged his own before firing back.

"Damned... HYBRID!" Shinto screamed as he wiped at a burn on his face. Clearly, he had not been able to dodge or block all of the attacks. More quickly than he thought, Shinto began to tire out.

After exchanging more blows and even more cursing words, Shinto spat blood, and fell to his hands and knees in exhaustion. Not quite finished, he stood. fiddling with his armor before facing Chatsu again.

Chatsu narrowed his eyes, but continued the fight as soon as he saw his opponent move to attack again. He fazed out and came in behind him, but Shinto turned and shot a ki blast toward his eyes. Chatsu's reflexes were fast enough to block the blast, but before he could move on, he stumbled.

Something was wrong... Chastu couldn't see a thing.

The fight did not stop, of course. He focused on listening and blocking, but he could not see at all. Shinto had used something to blind him. The crowd broke into screams and chants, which made it harder and harder for him to hear.

Finally, he was caught off guard and landed outside of the arena ring after a particularly hard kick to the chest.

He heard the tone, and the felt the guards lifting him by his arms. "Out?" He yelled "No, I couldn't see! Treason! He cheated!" Chatsu shouted in a rage as the mindless guards pulled him off of the field.

Kijah stood tall behind the rail and turned to face the doorway, her eyes were filled with a rage that sent others moving out of her way.

Even Bulma stayed quiet as she stepped out of the box to ascend to her battle.

First, the needless attack on Liena, and then the cowardly trick pulled on her Chatsu? This was not some sibling squabble. This was not a competition for father or mother's love. This was an outright attack on her, personally. Bother or not, Kijah thought as she made for the stairway. This was war.

"Kijah, will not fight." Vikaro smirked.

Everyone in the box turned to look at him, and she turned gracefully on her heel to face him.

"Pardon me?" Kijah spat.

"She will not fight, because she is with child." he said with a pompus smirk.

She felt like her heart would sink into her stomach as he went on speaking.

"Maternal hiatus is in the code, and she is forbidden to fight." he spat out, a full grin pulling at his lips.

Kijah gaped and watched them all react.

No...

She saw Bulma smiling, and then stopping to question the rules. Before she knew it, the battle-announcer himself was calling her name and claiming forfeit.

No!

Kijah suddenly flamed and vanished, appearing in the arena and yelling for the tone to sound.

She was not sure who, but someone made sure that it sounded. The audience was in a confused uproar, and she thought she heard something being announced, but her blood rushed in her ears. She saw red, and wanted to see more.

All at once, brother an sister clashed in battle, and the audience hushed.

And all at once, it was over.

Kijah stood and took his attacks, powering up in pure rage, as his previous acts ran through her mind in a torrent. She screamed, sending him back in a shockwave, arcing through the air. Before he could even hit the ground, she blasted him with one hit, leaving him armorless and unconsious in the dirt.

The silence seemed to last forever, but it gave her enough time to calm down, bow, and phase back out.

She phazed back into the box, where she nodded, and got on one knee in front of the queen.

"Forgive me, but I had a debt to pay."

Bulma nodded with wide eyes and sat back. It took her a moment to speak, and Kijah waited without moving.

"So... you're with child?"

"Yes your highness," Kijah said with a sigh, and stood slowly to take her place. "Forgive me for keeping the secret these few hours. I needed to prove myself, and I'll repay you in any way possible." she kept her look downward in submission, knowing she had been wrong.

"Well if my mate was defeated in such an unfair fashion, I'd be a little mad too!" the queen finally said with one of her signature smiles. "Just take care of that baby. My son will need a training partner," she smiled as Kijah looked up in relief.

"Yes, my queen." she nodded and shot a smirk to Vikaro before taking her seat.

The announcer called the arena to order and spoke of Kijah's technical forfeit. He eventually calmed the uproar from the crowd as the last two contestants (by extreme default) were called to fight.

Kijah knew that the tournament was often based on politics, and did not mourn the loss of her chance at victory. She had proved herself and avenged her friends. She stood by the planet's queen as one of the highest ranked guards in the universe.

She couldn't ask for more.

The tournament ended with a default winner, (awarded a badge by the king), a few higher placements, and a bunch of rowdy contestants who likely wouldn't sleep for the next few nights. Groups formed around the arena in loud parties, brawls, and other games as the excitement coursed through their veins.

Liena and Kakarott came to see Kijah as soon as Liena was cleared of her injuries. They both babbled in awe at finding out about her future child.

Chatsu kept quiet and watched over his mate, unusually stoic for a change. He'd realized what the 'odd feeling' he'd had was a few hours earlier, and Kijah got a good laugh at finally wiping the smirking look off of his face.

"I call first shot at your coward brother," Liena announced as they ate later that evening.

"Nope. I said it earlier." Kakarott claimed. "You were unconscious at the time."

"There's more than enough of his blustering mass to go around. We'll all get a chance," Kijah answered with a smirk.
"Just gotta wait till he's out of the regeneration tank."

They toasted to Shinto's eventual payback, to Kijah and Chatsu's growing child, and to the Tournament. It was definitely one for the books.