Things were getting hectic back at the World Martial Arts Tournament.

"Ladies and gentlemen I have an update!" the announcer tried to calm the audience down "If you would all please just quiet down for a second! Now since we don't know exactly what's going on we're gonna take a little break while we get all of this sorted out!"

They weren't satisfied.

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Kai was losing his patience 'Gohan and the others have been gone for an hour, I wouldn't expect them back any time soon if they're dealing with the likes of Magatsuhi but that still means that they have to be disqualified.'

Mr Satan, who had come down within the past hour, let out an arrogant scoff "Those chumps who left must've come down with a serious case of Mr Satan itis, hats off of you guys who faced your fears and stuck around not that it's gonna change the outcome when we fight or anything like that."

'Yeah like I believe that kind of thing for a minute. Still though it is a serious problem, now that Gohan and the others left that only leaves me, Videl and the shitstain. I wouldn't mind giving him a lesson in humility, but I don't want to embarrass Videl or anything. Wait a minute, I think I've got it. You two hang back here, I think I've got a fix for this whole situation." and he made his way out.

"What's he gonna do?"

Videl shrugged "No way to know until he tells us I guess."

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"PEOPLE SHUT UP!" Kai fired a Ki blast into the air to silence the audience "Listen up people, you came to see the best of the best that this world has to offer! Well as your future 25th world champion, I promise you that that's exactly what you're going to get! Don't worry for a second, you fine people are still gonna see a tournament worth remembering!" he pumped a fist and received various cheers from the audience "Just hang tight for a few more minutes, I promise your patience will be well rewarded!" he leapt off the ring and went over to the monks and the announcer "Don't worry you guys, I think I have an idea that will keep them satisfied and keep this tournament's reputation intact."

"If you've got an idea then I'd love to hear it." the announcer told him "So what exactly did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking that since the people are so desperate to see Mr Satan fight we'd give him a free pass into the final match and have myself and Videl as the semi final match. I'm telling you, the fans are gonna eat this shit up! That's a guarantee from your 25th world champion, and I'm gonna keep saying that until I make it come true."

The monks were pretty into it "You're a genius, that's a great idea."

"Any complaints? Let's be real, with only 3 fighters left it's the only legitimate option that we have left."

"Yeah you've got a point. Alright, let's do it." the announcer quickly made his way into the center of the ring "Ladies and gentlemen thank you for waiting so patiently out there! Right now, at the wise prompting of a promising newcomer has decided to have one semi final match, with the winner going on to take on Mr Satan himself, and if they're lucky to take him out then they will be the new 25th master of martial arts!" then he looked back at Kai "You know I've gotta hand it to you, it was pretty gutsy going with an idea like that. I mean it's pretty clear he's gonna try and pass off those abilities from earlier as tricks and call you a cheat or something."

Kai shrugged "What can I say, I'm a man with a serious agenda. First, I'm here to make sure those tricks are credited as the legitimate abilities they are. Second, I'm here to swipe the title of world champion right from under that fraud's ass. Third, I'm here to make sure he stops dragging the names of Goku and the others through the mud. Overall, there's hell to pay and it's coming out of his pockets."

"Hey I'm rooting for you 100% kid, do us all a favor and knock that moron off his high horse already." then he turned back to the crowd "Alright ladies and gentlemen, without further ado let's introduce our semi final contestants who will be competing for a spot in the final match against Mr Satan himself. First off, we've got the daugher of the champ herself, VIDEL SATAN!" this was met with a roaring applause.

Videl stepped out onto the path to the ring and took a deep breath 'Here we go, you've got this one Videl. No biggie, you've just gotta fight someone over 1,000 times stronger than you.'

"And her challenger, a promising and extremely talented young man hellbent on claiming the title from Mr Satan himself, the self proclaimed 25th master of martial arts, give it up for KAI SATO!" this was met with another roaring applause "These two titans will square off for the opportunity to snatch the title away from Mr Satan himself! Who will be the first one of them to fall? Who will go on to face the champ? Will they be able to tough it out to the point where they can win it all? I hope you fans are ready, this amazing matchup is about to start up, now let's make some noise!" yet another thunderous applause.

Videl stepped into the ring "Okay let's be real for a minute Kai, we both know that I don't have a hope in hell of beating you in this match."

"Oh I know." Kai just kept stretching without looking at her, then stood "But raw power isn't everything in a martial arts match, my fight with Tien was a prime example of that. Besides, we still have to give the people a good show right?" then he gave a respectful bow "May the best martial artist win."

Videl returned the gesture "May the best martial artist win. And I-"

"-plan to." he said that last sentence at the exact same time she did "But before we do this, I have one thing to say." he went over to the announcer "Hey man, do you mind if I borrow your mic for a quick sec? I've just gotta make one quick announcement."

The announcer shrugged "Hey as long as you keep them content and make sure they don't start rioting I'm cool."

"Thanks." he took the mic and turned to the crowd "Ladies and gentlemen, before we get started with this match there's just one thing I'd like to say. The following techniques and abilities you are about to see are real in every way, shape and form. They are not light shows or tricks as some of you may claim, they never have been and they never will be. Thank you." he handed the mic back to the announcer "Sorry about that."

"Like I said, just keep them happy and that shot at Mr Satan is all yours. Now then, let the long awaited semi final match begin!"

"Alright Videl, come at me."

"Right!" Videl charged at him with a furious barrage of punches.

Kai began blocking without very much effort.

Videl then swept him under the legs and sent him crashing to the ground outside of the ring.

Kai got back up before the announcer could count to 2 "Not bad."

"You let me have that punch, if you wanted you could hit me with a Ki blast and be done with it."

"Yeah but I don't want them bitching at me about cheating, and besides I promised a show so we're gonna give them a show. Now then, I guess it's my turn." he launched a fist at her.

Videl blocked it with her forearm, resulting in them trading even fists, neither one gaining an advantage, though it ended with her kicking him in the face. Then she slid underneath a grab attempted and kicked him in the face, sending him to the ground.

Kai quickly flipped back onto his feet "Well I can't deny that you've definitely gotten better, you mind if I asked who trained you?"

"Well I got a couple of pointers from Yamcha and he demonstrated a few of his techniques, so I learned them from memory. Like this one, watch." she got into a stance.

"Wait, is that what I think it is?"

"Yep. Wolf Fang Fist!" she charged forward like a hungry wolf and kicked Kai across the head, then launched a furious barrage of blows to his face before landing one final blow that sent him stumbling back.

Kai wiped a small drip of blood from his lip "In only about 3 weeks you've already mastered moves like that, I've gotta say I'm impressed. Not that you're anywhere near as good at it as Yamcha is but still."

"Hey I spent hours upon a full week working on that technique without any sleep!"

"And I'm not insulting you, for someone who only just learned how to use Ki your master is unreal."

"Yeah well that's not the only thing Yamcha taught me, there's two other techniques I've been dying to try out! Not even Erasa knows I learned them!" she held out her right arm and gripped it with her left as she began channeling her Ki "I think you and Gohan know pretty well the amount of damage anyone can do using raw Ki as their weapon."

"Oh yeah I think I saw Yamcha use this technique during the 23rd tournament, it seemed pretty dangerous though."

"Only the best for you!" as her hand crackled with electricity, Videl summoned a ball of Ki above the palm of her hand "I hope you're ready for this Kai."

"Bring it on." Kai got into a defensive stance.

"Spirit Ball! FIRE!" Videl unleashed the Spirit Ball, guiding it with two fingers.

Kai dodged the first motion of the ball, then the second, as well as several more attempts to hit him with it "Masenko!" he fired a one handed Masenko behind his back, dissipating the attack right before it collided with him from behind.

Videl had to give him the credit he was due "Okay I've gotta admit, firing at your blind spot like that is pretty impressive."

"It better be, it took me almost 2 months to get this down. Keep in mind that you haven't even been training in Ki for a month, getting to the level I'm at now took me 3 years of blood, sweat and tears. You show real promise, you might even be able to hold your own against someone like Yamcha in a real fight if you have enough training."

"Don't talk like this match is over, I'm not out of this yet! I've still got one last technique that I haven't tried yet!" she then floated into the air, surprising everyone in the stands, well except for Kagome and Erasa and the others of course, and she cupped her hands "Don't forget that Yamcha trained under the same master as Krillin and Goku!"

"Well to be fair I don't know that much about him, he gave up martial arts after the whole thing with Cell!"

"That's where you're wrong, I learned that he's been training in secret the entire time and he even used that whatever you call it Time Chamber! He even went out of his way to teach me this technique!" blue Ki began building in her hands "Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"

"So your plan is to do one final all out attack, all or nothing to knock me out of the ring. Fine, let's fight Ki blast with Ki blast!" he cupped his hands at the side and began building Ki "Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"

"HA!" Videl fired a somewhat small Kamehameha downwards.

"HA!" being sure to hold back so he wouldn't accidentally kill her, Kai fired a medium sized Kamehameha upwards, clashing with Videl's, both attacks slamming into each other in a brief beam struggle before they both detonated in an explosion.

When both blasts subsided, Videl was left panting heavily as she slowly descended to the ring and fell to one knee "Dammit…"

"You've really improved over this past month, I think you might even be 1/1000 of my true power. Then again I really don't go all out unless it's a serious crisis."

"Like with Cell?"

"Or when Gohan and I fought this evil demon from Hell about a year ago that caused the zombie apocalypse."

"Oh yeah I forgot about that incident."

"Yeah but I wasn't really any sort of help in that fight and Gohan just barely won it, it was the main reason why I developed the Zen Ryuken technique that I used against Tien during the first round. I was tired of being useless, Gohan is my friend and if I was gonna stand by his side and support him then I'd need to get as strong as possible as fast as possible."

"I see…" Videl slowly stood and turned to the announcer "Sorry but I don't have enough stamina left to keep going for any longer. I concede, Kai can go on to fight my dad."

"...Okay." so the announcer made the call to the fans "In a shocking twist it appears that Videl's relentless assault against Kai has used up all of her stamina, and there she has gracefully stood down and allowed him to advance! Kai Sato wins and will be going on to face Mr Satan in the finals!" he was met with cheers, about ⅓ of them being for Kai for putting up such a good fight and standing against a relentless assault, and the other ⅔ of them being for Videl for being a good sport and letting Kai advance, as well as for putting up such a good fight."

Kai slung Videl's arm over his shoulder and helped her back inside "Well it looks like they're gonna give about 30 minutes to let everyone hype down after that."

Videl sighed as she sat down "Can you blame them? The current champion's daughter against a guy with the balls to claim he's gonna steal that title right from under him, who wouldn't hype out over that?"

"Fair enough."

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Gohan led the others down to the third level "That was pretty impressive 17, you've really improved since the whole thing with Cell haven't you?"

17 shrugged "You leave a guy alone for a couple of years with a job that requires him to punch people for a living and he tends to build up some muscle."

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Magatsuhi watched through the crystal ball "I see, so that one there is an artificial being capable of generating an infinite amount of energy. Yakon was a fool was a fool who has nobody to blame for his destruction but himself, he was so gluttonous that he ended up devouring more energy than his body was able to withstand."

"Who will you send next my lord?" asked Dabura "One of those horsemen that you've been recruiting from Hell?"

"No it isn't the right time for me to unleash them yet, I plan on sending them all out at once with Majin Buu once he has been revived, as well as summoning that one with them once he's finished his training in Hell. So in the meantime Dabura, you yourself are going to proceed up to level 3 to be their next opponent."

"As you wish my lord."

"And remember, do not fail me or the consequences will be dire."

"Understood." he then went into the meditation chamber to increase his power.

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"I wonder who or what is gonna come out this time." Goku commented "And by the way, we've still gotta decide who's fighting in this one."

"I am." then Krillin stepped up "Just stand back, I'll take this one myself."

"Fine by me, just don't get in over your head. Still though, whoever it is is definitely taking their time in there."

"They're probably preparing some hotshot to face me. But on the bright side, now I get a chance to say this." he got into a stance "IT'S KRILLER TIME!"

"...Yeah."

"So what do you guys think is happening back at the World Martial Arts Tournament since we left?" asked Goku "After all they did lose a lot of fighters all at once."

"Well to be fair after we were gone the only contestants left are Kai, Mr Satan and Videl. I'd say that by this point Kai is either beating Mr Satan within an inch of his life or being crowned as the 25th world champion and receiving the championship belt and 10 million zeni in prize money."

"Yeah that sounds about right."

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"Kai, wait a minute."

Kai looked back from where he was stretching to see Erasa, Kagome, Yamcha, Miroku and Sango all standing behind him "Oh hey guys what's up?"

Erasa stepped forward first "You know you're going up against Videl's dad in this next match right?"

"Oh yeah I know." he gave a menacing grin, but it subsided when he saw how concerned she looked "Look, I've got the whole thing planned out all the way. I'm gonna give him a good thrashing, tear into him and threaten him into never trashing the names of Goku and the others again while mentioning that I know he didn't really kill Cell, and once I've done all that I'm just gonna harmlessly throw him out of the ring, thereby securing myself as the 25th world champion. You don't have to worry, I'm not gonna rat him out or anything. Don't get me wrong if it was just him then I'd do it in a heartbeat, but Videl is my friend and I'm not gonna do that to her."

Then he heard the announcer making the call for the final match to start "Alright ladies and gentlemen, let's introduce the two warriors taking part in our championship match! First up a man you all know and love, MR SATAN!" he was met with thunderous applause 'And after this jackass will be someone actually deserving of the title.'

'Okay Satan, put on your game face!' Mr Satan rushed into the ring but ended up doing a split, but he quickly rebounded and posed for the crowd.

"Next is a new up and coming martial artist, a young man who quickly proved himself in the first round by defeating former champion Tien Shinhan and making the bold claim that he would steal the title away from Mr Satan, and a young man who has restored long forgotten powers and abilities to their former glory after 17 years! Give it up for the other finalist and self proclaimed future champion KAI SATO, the CRIMSON DRAGON!" he received another thunderous applause, though nowhere near as much as Mr Satan got.

Kai slowly made his way out into the ring 'Here it goes, there's no turning back now. Gohan, Goku, this one is for you guys, especially you Gohan.'

"Go Kai!" Kagome and the others were cheering "You've got this one in the bag, just bring it home quick!"

'Oh there's no way I'm making this quick.'

"Now let the final round of the World Martial Arts Tournament begin!" the announcer screamed at the top of his lungs.

Kai stood completely still and cracked his neck and knuckles 'Oh I'm gonna get a lot of mileage out of this.'

Mr Satan waltzed up to him and barked out his typical arrogant laugh "Listen buddy with all of the light shows and tricks from earlier it's clear that you have no real skill as a martial artist and since I'm feeling generous I'm gonna give you a chance to back out of this now before you embarrass yourself in front of all these people alright?"

"...You wanna run that by me again Afro the Ass Clown?"

"Look it's pretty obvious that you're just like those pathetic chumps from the Cell Games all those years ago."

'Does he actually believe the shitty lies that he's spewing out?'

"After all, they weren't anything at all like real martial artists like yours truly, having to rely on pathetic light shows and tricks. Cell beat them within an inch of their lives and then I had to take over, that just proves that they were nothing but a bunch of fake…"

Kai let out a low growl.

"...weak…"

He gripped his fist to the point where it nearly bled.

"...cowardly, cheating…"

He began grinding his teeth furiously in his rage.

"...pathetic scum."

"YOU SHUT YOUR WORTHLESS GODDAMN MOUTH YOU PATHETIC SON OF A WHORE!" Kai charged forward in a rage "IF YOU WANT A FIGHT THEN I'LL GIVE YOU A FIGHT YOU'LL NEVER FORGET!"

"You're starting kind of fast there-"

Kai slugged him in the gut as hard as he could and then in the face, knocking the championship belt off of him, then leapt and elbowed him in the gut "How's that?!"

"Okay so maybe you've got some skill without using all of those tricks-"

"SHUT THE F*CK UP!" Kai loomed over his downed form and began punching him in the face over and over again, then fired a simple Ki blast, leaving a hole in his afro "Does that look or feel like a trick? Huh? DOES IT?!" he picked him up by the front of the robe "Do you hear the crap you're spewing out?! Well let me give you a little bit of a reality check! You are the fake one here! You are the weakling! You are nothing but a liar, a cheater and a coward who doesn't deserve his title or any of the fame or wealth you have! You are the pathetic scum here! YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO MARTIAL ARTS, TO THIS TOURNAMENT, AND TO HUMANITY IN GENERAL!"

"What… What are you-"

"Oh you know damn well what I mean, but in case you really are that much of an idiot let me spell it out for you!" he pulled him closer and lowered his voice so nobody in the audience would be able to hear them "I know what really happened at the Cell Games."

Mr Satan went pale.

"I know it was the Waterboy who really killed Cell and not you, and I know this because he happens to be my best friend and the one who taught me how to use these Ki based abilities in the first place. That's right, it has a name. It's not the light shows or tricks bullshit you claim it is, they're legitimate techniques, it's called Ki. Say it, Ki."

Mr Satan stayed silent.

"I SAID SAY IT!"

"Ki! Ki! Ki!"

"Good. Now let me make something perfectly clear. I'm not mad about you stealing the credit."

"You-You're not mad?"

"Oh I'm absolutely livid, just not about that. Gohan, the Waterboy, didn't want any of the credit and just wanted to be left alone, so I chose to respect that because he's my friend. But what I can't stand, what makes my blood boil more than anything, is how you mocked and spat on the sacrifices he made. Son Goku, the champion before you, gave his life to save this entire planet when Cell attempted to blow himself up and take all of us with him. He gave his life to save all of us without asking for anything return and what did you do? You spat on his sacrifice and dragged his name through the mud while you stole the credit for defeating Cell, credit you don't deserve!"

Mr Satan felt a horrible realization hit him as to what Kai was intending to do "Are you… going to tell them the truth?"

"As tempting as it is… No, I'm not."

'...What?'

"Don't get me wrong, if it was just you then I'd expose your pathetic ass in a heartbeat. But there's more to consider here. I don't give a rat's ass what you say about it, but your daughter is my student and my friend, and I'm not going to ruin her life just because of how much I may hate you." he let go of Mr Satan "I'm giving you two choices here, you either jump out of the ring willingly to secure whatever shreds of dignity and pride you may have left in the eyes of these people or you stay like a stubborn jackass and I beat you even further to a pulp. What's it gonna be?"

Mr Satan contemplated for a moment, before he slowly stood and held out his arms "Go ahead, earn your title… new champ."

"If you say so." Kai slowly clocked back a fist and let it fly directly into Mr Satan's gut, sending him flying out of the ring and into the wall behind him.

Mr Satan slowly fell to the ground out cold, leaving a monk to check and make sure he was still alive and the no killing rule hadn't been violated.

'I can still barely sense his Ki, he's out cold but he's still alive.'

The announcer received a thumbs up and sighed in relief 'Thank god, we finally got a champion worthy of the title. Now to make it official. Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen, it looks like the impossible has just become possible and you all saw it here live and in person! After dealing our now former champion a devastating beatdown, Kai has done the supposedly impossible and defeated Mr Satan with a single punch to the gut and sent him flying out of bounds! That means that the winner of the championship match, the 25th world champion, and the 25th master of martial arts is KAI SATO, THE CRIMSON DRAGON! Let's give him a much deserved round of applause!" he started clapping and whistling for Kai in order to get the crowd going.

Slowly but surely, claps were beginning to spread throughout the audience.

"Alright Kai!" Erasa and Kagome all started cheering for him, with all of the others following shortly after, while Daizo on the other hand just applauded in silence.

As the number of people applauding grew soon about 97% of the people in the audience had forgotten the brutal beatdown that they had just witnessed, and knew only that a truly incredible feat had been accomplished.

A new champion had been born and easily swatted the old one aside.

Videl let out a sigh 'Sorry dad.' but she clapped with the rest of them 'Congratulations Kai, you truly did deserve this win much more than anyone else here.'

'I did it… I really did it…' Kai took a moment to process the fact that he had actually won and become the new world champion, and once it had sunk in he merely hung his head and pumped up one fist, causing the cheers to become louder, and he smiled 'Gohan, Piccolo, all of you, thank you for helping me get this far. None of it would ever have been possible if it wasn't for all of you helping me get here. Now it's your turn Gohan, show Magatsuhi what for and then you can come back here triumphantly and we can celebrate together my friend.'

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Vegeta was losing patience "How much longer do we have to wait?"

"Just be patient, and it's not like you're the one fighting." Inuyasha pointed out "Who knows, maybe Piccolo and 17 did such a good job with the first two that the others are too scared to try their luck with us. So keep your trap shut spandex."

"You wanna run that by me again mongrel?!"

"Bring it midget!" and cue the funny angry sparks connecting between each other.

Gohan promptly blitzed over and placed Vegeta underneath Inuyasha "Now then, Inuyasha sit."

WHAM!

"Man it feels so good to do that again."

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Magatsuhi looked and saw Dabura emerge from the meditation chamber "I take it your time in there paid off."

Dabura smirked "I am sorry for the delay."

"Just get down there and show them true terror before I lose my patience."

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Krillin braced himself "Well whoever is next is definitely gonna be a tough one, I can already sense the power from out here."

"I'm actually kind of excited." Goku commented "It's gonna be great to see how strong you've gotten since you and Tien went into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Too bad you didn't have this kind of power against Cell or either one of the two of you would've stomped him big time."

"Tell me about it."

That was when the door opened and Dabura emerged "It's time."

Shin let out a horrified gasp "It can't be! This doesn't make any sense, why not just reserve Dabura for the final stage?'

"The fact that you all have defeated Yakon and made it all the way down to the third stage, well it's unexpected to say the least, at least to me anyway. I myself might even call it miraculous, you've earned the respect of a warrior. That said, I'm afraid that Lord Magatsuhi has come here to halt your progress."

Vegeta smirked "Your boss must be in a real panic to send you up so early, did we really make this demon that nervous? That's just pathetic."

"Do you take pleasure in your childish taunts, or are you just stalling for time? All of you feel free to come at me, not that it's going to make any sort of difference."

"No." then Krillin stepped forward, surprising some of those present with the sheer levels of determination he was showing "They're staying out of this, you and I are doing this one on one."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, and there's no way a sardine can like this is gonna be enough either. Tell your boss to take us to somewhere with more room to duke it out like he did with Piccolo and 17's fights earlier."

"You foolish runt." Dabura dropped into a battle stance "You dare to mock the great Demon King Dabura?"

"Don't get so carried away Dabura." Magatsuhi's voice rang through the air "Don't forget that reviving this pawn in particular is a very delicate business, the last thing I need is for your carelessness in a battle to end up compromising the ship. Do what the midget says and take your battle somewhere else."

"Yes sir, as you command."

"Do you have somewhere particular in mind?"

"Let us give him the home advantage, put us somewhere like Earth if you would."

"So be it." then the room suddenly changed again.

"Alright runt, is this more to your looking?"

"Yeah it is." Krillin dropped into his combat stance, then blitzed forward and attempted to slug him in the face.

Dabura escaped by taking to the air and fired off his Cape Swing.

Krillin narrowly dodged the attack, as well as the follow ups, causing them to carve into the lake below them and several surrounding plateaus, then dove down into the lake in an attempt to hide from him 'Now then, what was that move Goku used against Frieza? Oh yeah, maybe I can use some kind of sneak attack!' he fired a Ki blast upwards for his Twin Dragon Shot technique.

"You fool!" Dabura to deflect the blast.

Then Krillin blitzed into the air and slugged him in a sneak attack, sending him flying into a plateau and narrowly avoiding his own Ki blast 'Good, for a second there I was afraid my plan wasn't gonna work.'

Dabura emerged and used his telekinesis to send several boulders at Krillin, sending him into his own plateau as he landed on the ground "Is that all?"

"Not even close! Kaioken 3x!" a crimson light burst upwards from amongst the rubble, and then Krillin emerged, his crimson Kaioken aura blazing 'Okay no more fooling around Krillin, it's time to show this guy what you've really got. After all of the humiliations you suffered with Raditz, Nappa, Vegeta, the Ginyu Force, Frieza, the androids, Cell, Bojack and all of the others, now you've got a chance to redeem yourself and prove your worth as a martial artist!' he then blitzed forward and slugged Dabura in the gut, causing him to cough up some saliva, but he quickly retreated before any could get on him, and then slugged him in the face, sending him flying back. He then blitzed behind Dabura and kicked him in the back of the head, sending him crashing to the ground, then cupped his hands at his side "This is straight from Master Roshi's handbook! Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" he fired a Kamehameha straight at Dabura's downed form, resulting in an explosion.

Dabura blitzed behind Krillin after a few minutes of eerie calm on the battlefield.

Krillin spun around and caught his fist.

Dabura then slugged him in the face, then the gut, then blocked an attempted counterattack in the form of a fist to the face, before finally lowering himself down onto the surface of a plateau.

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Shin watched the battle in awe "Incredible!"

Goku nodded "I'll say, I don't think I've ever seen Krillin fight like this."

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Krillin's crimson aura flared "What's the problem? Come on big guy, you're still holding out on me aren't you? Just take this seriously already."

"As you wish." with a furious roar Dabura then powered up to his maximum and charged.

"Kaioken 4x!" Krillin powered up further and charged at Dabura, both clashing and training even blows without either one of them gaining any sort of advantage over the other. The clash ended with Krillin kicked Dabura in the face, sending him crashing to the ground.

Dabura rebounded and retreated just in time to dodge another kick and unleashed his Evil Flame attack.

Krillin avoided the first and second stream of flames, then burst through the third one and attempted to slug him in the face.

Dabura disappeared, revealing that Krillin had only hit an afterimage.

"Dammit!"

"Looking for someone?" the real Dabura fired an Evil Impulse blast from a short distance away, hitting Krillin dead on and sending him crashing into a lake.

Krillin hit the bottom of the lake and took a moment to recover 'Well I guess that's what I get for letting my guard down like that.' he noticed a shadow above the water 'He must be waiting for me up there. Sorry Goku, but I'm gonna have to borrow one of your moves.' he fired Goku's Twin Dragon Shot into the air.

Dabura noticed both blasts fly up and deflected them with ease, then fired an Evil Impulse blast at where Krillin was rising from the water, hitting him dead on in the ensuing explosion "What, is that really all of the strength you could muster even after powering up like that?"

When the blast subsided, it was revealed that Krillin had blocked the attack at the last second, but he had still been scorched along his front, and the top of his gi had been shredded "Oh you don't have to worry, I may have let my guard down for a second but there's no way in hell I'm letting that happen again."

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"I've gotta hand it to him, Dabura's a lot stronger than we thought." Goku commented "Krillin is definitely having a hard time with him."

Vegeta let out a scoff "Maybe so but he's not invincible, all baldy has to do is stop messing around and just go all out all ready."

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"Let's go." Dabura blitzed away.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Krillin blitzed away, resulting in both of them trading various even blows.

This ended when Dabura attempted to petrify Krillin with his spit, hitting one of his wrist bands in the process.

"Nice try!" Krillin quickly took it off and threw it to the ground, causing it to shatter 'That was way too close, I've gotta be more careful from now on.'

Dabura charged at Krillin and forced him on the defensive with a relentless barrage of attacks.

Krillin then slugged Dabura in the face and sent him flying back, then charged forward in order to finish it.

"Goodbye!" Dabura materialized his darkness sword and slashed at him.

Krillin narrowly dodged the slash attempt "Sorry big bad and ugly but I'm through playing nice with you. Solar Flare 100x!" he unleashed an enhanced Solar Flare.

Dabura found himself completely blinded 'Even with my eyes shut I can't block out all of this light, how is this possible?'

"Now to finish it! Kaioken 10x!" Krillin powered up his Kaioken even further, then leapt up and cupped his hands at his side, blue Ki gathering in his palms "Ka… Me… Ha… Me… HA!" he fired a full power Kamehameha, the sheer power engulfing Dabura and incinerating him on the spot, leaving only his materialized Darkness Sword behind, drived into the ground, before it disappeared as the room reverted back to normal.

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Tien was the first one to regain his senses once he turned back to normal "Guys… does anyone actually remember what happened?"

Cooler clutched his head, then sighed "That Demon King, Dabura I think his name was, spat on us and it turned us to stone. The fact that we've been turned back to normal means that Gohan and the others must have succeeded in killing him."

"Do you have any idea where they are right now?" asked Koga.

"I can sense Gohan and the others inside that ship right now, but some of the larger Ki signatures from before have disappeared. I can still sense Magatsuhi in there, as well as Turles and Slug, so that means that they're still around."

"Should we go after them?"

"No, I think that for now we should go back and inform the others of the situation, and then you two will wait and see how things play out while I myself head over to Other World in order to pick up some extra insurance that we'll win."

Tien nodded "Agreed. Besides, I was kind of hoping to see how the tournament went."

"I imagine that Kai has already won." he then grabbed both Tien and Koga, and they disappeared with Instant Transmission.

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Krillin led the group down to stage 4 "Come on guys, let's get on with it already!"

Goku was the first one to drop down after him "Wow Krillin I've gotta admit, that was pretty awesome what you did to Dabura back there. I'm impressed."

"Thanks."

Gohan gave an approving nod "You did great Krillin, but remember that I might be the only one here who can defeat Magatsuhi."

"And that there's still Turles and Slug to deal with." Vegeta pointed out "Those two are after me so I will deal with them myself, you just worry about taking out Magatsuhi while Kakarot and the rest of these guys deal with whatever other pawns Magatsuhi has."

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Magatsuhi watched through the crystal ball, feeling nothing but sheer boredom "Well that was over much quicker than I had expected. It seems the Dragon Saiyan has trained his allies much better than I had anticipated. No matter, the only question is what am I going to do about stage 4?"

"Just send me down." Slug told him "That bastard Vegeta is all mine."

"No no, I need you and Turles for when the rest of my Horsemen are ready. Maybe I can turn a few of them over to our side." he looked through the crystal ball, his eyes falling on Broly, as well as Inuyasha "Well who said I need to pick new pawns all the time?" then his eyes finally landed on Piccolo "The original mentor for the Dragon Saiyan, yes I think he and the others will do very nicely."

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Shin was finally growing increasingly restless "Something isn't right here, why hasn't Magatsuhi sent anyone to face us? We've already defeated Dabura, as shocked as I am by this."

"Just stand back and let the master get to work-" Inuyasha stopped mid sentence, then suddenly clutched his head and began screaming in pain.

"Inuyasha what is it?" asked Gohan "What's the matter?"

Shin let out a horrified gasp "Don't tell me… No, it can't be!"

Inuyasha began slamming his head into the wall, his features turning more and more feral with each passing minute "Get… out… of… my… HEAD!"

"Inuyasha please you must keep control, Magatsuhi is exploiting your negative emotions to try and make you his puppet!"

"And not just him!" Gohan looked and saw Broly and Piccolo suffering similar effects, whereas Broly had already turned Super Saiyan.

"No!"

"Piccolo! Broly! Listen to me, you guys have to fight it! I know you're stronger than this!" he received only screams of agony, their auras flaring higher and higher every second "Please!" he was sent stumbling back.

"Gohan!"

"I'm fine! Even separate, their levels of power are well beyond anything I've ever felt from them before!' then he noticed their auras subside as they fell to the ground "Guys are you alright? Come on, say something!"

Inuyasha, Piccolo and Broly all stood, Inuyasha having his claws grown out, his eyes turned crimson and with purple marks on his cheeks, and all three had sinister smirks plastered on their faces.

'This can't be…'

"Kakarot… KAKAROT!" Broly suddenly let out a roar and entered his Legendary Super Saiyan form.

'Magatsuhi you wretch, how low will you stoop to enhance your own vile plans?' then he noticed the room changing again "Oh perfect, this again. Just what I need."

"Brace yourselves, there's no telling where he'll transport us." Shin warned.

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Kai, now wearing the championship belt, stood in the center of the ring and listened to Cooler's explanation of the events taking place with Magatsuhi "So that's part of what's going on apparently."

Cooler nodded "Yes, it would seem so. Now we have no idea what's happening with Gohan and the others."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it, knowing Gohan he's probably beating the demonic shit out of Magatsuhi as we speak."

"Hey new champ." the announcer came up to him "You've still gotta pose for the crowd remember?"

"Oh right." Kai hung his head and pumped up a single fist, causing the audience to begin roaring with cheers 'Mom, I kept my promise to you… I told you I was gonna do something great with myself one day, and now I have. I also plan to keep my promise to you Goku, Master Roshi. I'm going to use my new title to restore the good name of martial arts and Ki.' then he looked to his side.

Gohan and the other suddenly appeared and he looked around "What the- We're back at the World Martial Arts Tournament?"

"Hey Gohan!"

"Kai… So how'd it go?"

"You tell me." Kai showed off the new belt "I told you I'd be the new champion by the time you got back, I've never broken my word before and I'm not gonna start now."

"Congratulations, I knew you had it in you." then he turned serious "But as happy as I am for you, we've got other things to worry about right now."

"What are you-" then he paused 'Inuyasha, Broly, Piccolo… their Ki is so powerful, yet so dark and full of malice. Gohan, are they…?"

"Yeah. Magatsuhi is controlling them with his dark power, and now he somehow transported us back here."

The announcer grinned, unaware of the impending carnage "Hey, where did you all run off to if I may ask? Sad to say but you're all a bit late to the party, Kai here has already been crowned the new champion." he started walking towards them, past Broly.

"Look out! Hurry, get out of the way!"

"KAKAROT!" Broly let out a roar and powered up, his Legendary Super Saiyan aura crackling with crimson electricity, sending the announcer flying.

Gohan caught him and lowered him back to the ground "Guys…"

"Listen well you three." Magatsuhi's voice rung through the air "This is your new master speaking, now why don't the three of you go ahead and start causing some chaos?"

"Quiet!" Piccolo barked "I don't give a damn about fighting any of these people here, but Goku is another story!"

"Get in line." Vegeta grumbled.

"So don't think you can order me around!"

"And still you resist, my aren't you impressive? Fine, go ahead and fight whoever you want. Just remember that their energy is going to Majin Buu's revival. And just to warn you, you may want to step back for this next part."

"What next part?"

"Kakarot!" Broly fired an Eraser Cannon in Goku's direction.

"Dammit!" Goku struggled to push it back as he flashed into Super Saiyan, but he was forced out of the way, leaving the blast to incinerate a good 5% of the audience and about 20% of the city behind the stadium, horrifying everyone present "Broly…"

"Goku!" Yamcha jumped down to join him, Tien and Krillin "You wanna give me a quick rundown?"

"It's Magatsuhi, he used some dark magic to take control of Broly, Piccolo and Inuyasha."

"I figured as much." Kai stood next to him "Erasa, Videl, Miroku, Sango and Shippo are all evacuating the civilians as fast as they can."

"Good, but we've still got three pretty big problems to deal with."

"You're way too soft with stuff like this Goku." Piccolo turned to face him with a look on his face that Goku recognized all too well.

"Piccolo…"

Gohan turned towards Inuyasha and noticed the look in his eyes, one that he recognized all too well as when he went wild 'Inuyasha…'

"Damn Gohan, I don't think I've ever seen you look so down." Koga stepped up and promptly summoned his Raiso "You're the only one of us who can stop Magatsuhi so don't worry about the likes of the mutt, I'll take him on myself."

"Kakarot…" Broly snarled "Kakarot… KAKAROT!" his aura exploded.

"Forget it." Piccolo snarled sharply "Get in line you savage beast, if anybody here is going to fight Goku then it's me."

"No." then Gohan stepped forward, taking them all by surprise "I think I pretty much understand just what kind of magic Magatsuhi is using to control all of you, he's got all of you in the palm of your hands so I doubt talking would work at this point, especially since only one of you is still intelligent enough to speak. So sorry Piccolo, but if you want a fight then it's gonna have to be with me." he received various shocked looks, particularly from Goku and Vegeta "Yeah I know, you're both surprised. We're talking about the same little kid who shirked away from fighting one of you and Nappa, attempting to bargain with a murderous bug android like Cell, and is the son of a pacifist who happens to also be one of the strongest warriors this universe has ever seen." the shocked looks subsided "And besides dad, after you sacrificed yourself to save us all from Cell the role of protecting the people we care about and the people of this world fell to me. Someone has to stop Magatsuhi, and if this Dragon Prophecy is anything to go by then it has to be me." he looked up "Listen up Magatsuhi, I know you can hear me! Move me and Piccolo to somewhere else where there's nobody else around, then I'll give him the fight you want!"

Shin finally found his voice and stood between Gohan and Piccolo "No Gohan, you mustn't do this! If you fight him now then you will be giving Magatsuhi exactly what he wants, the energy all of you expend during the battle will end up being absorbed and then Majin Buu is sure to be set free!"

"Does it look like we have any other choice?"

"Don't you see? He's trying to make you all squabble amongst yourselves and it's working because you're not fighting it! You're at each other's throats and it's even gotten to the point where you're drawing lots! You have to set your personal feelings aside and focus on the bigger picture at hand, compared to the fate of the entire universe your individual feelings mean absolutely nothing!"

"...Nothing you said?"

"Yes, nothing! I refuse to be party to this foolishness, if you want to fight him then you'll have to get through me!"

"...Supreme Kai, I would highly recommend you stand aside."

"I refuse!"

"Very well then." Gohan held out one hand and began charging a Ki blast, shocking everyone present even further "This is your last warning Supreme Kai, stand aside or you will leave me with no choice."

"...I understand now." Shin lowered his arms and hung his head "Do as you will, it's plain to me that I will not be able to stop you." he walked away.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry Supreme Kai."

"Yes, so am I."

"Now then, I'm taking Piccolo and Koga's taking Inuyasha. The question is, who's taking on the big guy? I think there should be at least three of you going with the Supreme Kai in order to stop Majin Buu."

"I think I've got this one." Yamcha spoke up "Krillin, Tien, Goku, Vegeta and I will go off to try and snap Broly out of it while Sesshomaru and Mirai go with the Supreme Kai to try and stop Majin Buu from being revived. Anybody got a problem with this?"

"No, just one question. What the hell happened to you to make you the kind of guy that takes charge of anything?"

"Well I learned something about 2 months ago, something that's the main reason why I went into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. I'm gonna be a dad."

"Wait, you mean-?"

"Yeah, Zangya is pregnant."

"As much as I'd like to congratulate you, we've got problems of our own. You heard me Magatsuhi, transport us somewhere else right now or you can forget about collecting any of our energy!" then they suddenly all disappeared.

the announcer was left in a stupor "What- They just vanished! Kai, do you have any idea where they could possibly have disappeared to?"

Kai paused for a moment "They've been spread out to different locations. Gohan and Piccolo are in a wasteland pretty far North of this island. Goku, 17, Tien, Yamcha, Krillin, Vegeta and Broly are even further away but they're a little bit Northeast. Sesshomaru, Mirai and Shin are somewhere around the Northwest."

"You can sense pretty far can't you?"

"With enough training you can use your Ki to do just about anything."

"Nice. That aside, you'd understand if we postponed the awards ceremony right?"

"Well of course we're gonna postpone it, who the hell would want to have an awards ceremony right after hundreds of people get slaughtered?"

"True. So what then, are you gonna stick around?"

"No, I'm gonna go help them. Against someone as dangerous and powerful as the one behind this, they're gonna need it."

"Wait." a new voice stopped him.

Kai looked back and saw Daizo walk into the ring and stop behind him "Dad."

"You're going." it wasn't a question.

"Yeah. Don't get the wrong idea or anything, it's not because Gohan is the warrior destined to kill Magatsuhi and bring peace to this world or anything, it's because he's my friend."

"Then go help your friend, make something of yourself."

"I will. After all, I've never broken a promise before and I won't start now." his white aura flared, and he took off.

'I know you won't… son.'

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Goku, along with the others, found himself in a barren wasteland "So this is it. I guess Magatsuhi knows what to say or do to get us to fight, from what I can tell there aren't any other life forms nearby.'

"Goku, father, you guys can't do this." Mirai protested.

"Please just let them be." Shin told him "With one of their strongest turned into a mindless savage, a battle like this simply cannot be prevented. Goku, you and your allies must do whatever you can to bring Broly back to his senses. Mirai, Sesshomaru and I will smash our way downwards towards the bottom of the ship until we reach the control room. At this point I have to assume that Majin Buu being revived is a foregone conclusion, given the choices at hand I feel that it would be much better for us to deal with Majin Buu when he's like this rather than when he's at full power. With any luck we might be able to prevent Magatsuhi from reviving him in the first place, somehow at least."

"I see."

"I wouldn't put my luck on that." Goku looked and saw the hatch open "Then again, I've been known to be wrong about a lot of stuff. I guess that means Magatsuhi is expecting you guys to come to him and doesn't want us wrecking the ship."

"Very well then Son Goku, others, we will leave this in your hands." Sesshomaru told him "In the meantime, the three of us shall try and stop Magatsuhi."

"Do whatever you can, just don't be reckless. Oh and before I forget, I've only got one Senzu Bean left. Use it if things get too out of hand."

"Right." Mirai pocketed it "Thank you Goku."

"Trunks." Vegeta addressed him "When you get to Magatsuhi, you have to remember what you felt when you experienced those years of pain of being tortured, how you felt when your timeline's version of Gohan was killed, when you saw Gohan die to protect that girl, take the pain and rage you felt and make it your strength."

"I understand. Alright, let's go." Mirai then leapt down into the entrance to the final floor, with Shin and Sesshomaru following.

"Kakarot."

"Yeah." Goku dropped into a combat stance and flashed into Super Saiyan "Alright everyone, let's do this."

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Gohan looked around after finding himself separated from the others 'This place… a place that I remember all too well. The familiar grassy and rocky plains, the lack of any trees, a few plateaus here and there, this is the same place where Piccolo first trained me before Vegeta and Nappa showed up.' he let out a low growl "For Magatsuhi to choose here of all places, he's trying to mess with me isn't he?"

"Who knows?" Piccolo cracked his neck and turned to face Gohan as he got into a combat stance, the M on his forehead pulsing.

"Well I guess there's no way out of this, I'm sorry Piccolo but I'm going to have to do whatever it takes to stop you." Gohan got into his own stance, mimicking Piccolo's in every way.

"There it is." Piccolo's deranged and malice filled look briefly flashed into one of approval "Just like that Gohan, don't you dare break your stance and remember everything I've taught you." his white aura flared slightly "Don't forget Gohan, this isn't going to be like our training from before. Make a single mistake, lower your guard for even a fraction of a second, and your head will be mine!" he charged forward.

Gohan twisted and avoided a strike, then another one, then cartwheeled back as he quickly flashed into Super Saiyan 'I would've preferred staying in my base form for a little while just to test Piccolo and see how powerful he is, but with the power I'm feeling from him now I'd already be dead without Super Saiyan. He's definitely serious though, I don't even need to ask him to know that if I don't fight like I mean it then he will kill me. But then again, with those Namekian magic abilities that can fry or melt my flesh if I'm not careful I'd better not take any chances. I'm gonna kick it up a notch.' he flashed into Super Saiyan 2, his golden aura crackling with electricity.

"Yes, there it is." Piccolo shot him a malicious grin "The legendary Super Saiyan 2, now I know you're definitely taking this seriously." his arms shot out to either side as he let out a primal roar, his white aura flaring as he powered up further.

'This is unreal, if I thought Piccolo's Ki had maxed out when we started then I would've been screwed! This level of power is unlike anything I've ever felt from you before! Piccolo… your Ki level is higher than I ever thought it would possibly go."

"Go ahead and keep up that smart mouth of yours kid, it's gonna be the death of you." he blitzed away.

Gohan followed his lead, resulting in them clashing in mid air in a power struggle, sending out a shockwave and shaking the ground. Gohan then thrusted his elbow into Piccolo's chin.

Piccolo landed a punch to Gohan's jaw, sending him reeling slightly.

Unfazed and unwilling to give up, Gohan flared his aura and began trading even blows with Piccolo, breaking off the power struggle.

Piccolo quickly broke away and held out his hand, green flames and black and green lightning generating in his palm "A new technique I developed in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, I've been wanting to test it out on an actual opponent. Thunder Wave!" he fired a blast of green and black Ki from his hand, based off of his Explosive Demon Wave, but infused with the Lightning of Namek and the Dragonfire of Porunga.

'So fire and lightning is it? Fine, then water and wind it is!' Gohan summoned one Ki blast in each hand, one infused with demonic water and the other with demonic wind "Fine then, we'll fight one original technique with another! Cryo Masenko!" he fired a Masenko, infused with both the water and wind properties simultaneously to create an ice element, both attacks cancelling each other out and sending out a shockwave, sending them both falling back to the ground. Gohan quickly used his wind manipulation to stop himself and cushion his fall.

Piccolo on the other hand sent out a shockwave to stop himself and propel himself back up into the air, then held to fingers in front of his face as his Ki crackled into life along the tips of two fingers.

'Don't tell me he's going to use the-'

"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!" Piccolo unleashed a full power Special Beam Cannon.

'There's only one thing I can do against an attack like that!' Gohan then did the only thing he could do, that being dodge, causing the Special Beam Cannon to collide with the ground in a massive explosion, leaving a gigantic hole where Gohan had previously stood, in the exact same shape of the Special Beam Cannon 'Unbelievable, if he had been able to hit me with that then I would've been killed in an instant. Still though, whether it had succeeded or not the fact of the matter right now is that Piccolo is aiming to kill me.'

Piccolo then got Gohan's attention when he let out a mighty roar and charged forward like a bullet.

Gohan spun around and met Piccolo in a clash, their fists meeting in mid air, the force shaking the ground between them, fists meeting hundreds of times over in just a second for several moments.

Piccolo then dealt Gohan a crushing blow to the gut.

Gohan retaliated in kind by slamming his foot into Piccolo's jaw, sending him staggering as he (Gohan) himself leapt backwards through the rocks in order to gain some distance 'Great, now that I think about it I probably should've taken a Senzu Bean with me just in case. But no use crying over spilled milk, I've gotta way my options. I'm starting to run low on gas and Piccolo has a whole tank to burn, there's no way in hell I'm gonna be able to win if I wanna win economically. But at the same time… Piccolo, I still don't want to kill you. No come on Gohan, you've gotta get those thoughts out of your head. You can fight him without killing him, you have to. Even in my Super Saiyan 2 form, the form where instinct is everything, I feel like I have to fight those thoughts. This is Piccolo we're talking about, my teacher, my first friend, he's like a second father to me. I will free him from Magatsuhi's hold, I don't care what it takes.' he cupped both hands at his side, but no Ki was building in his palms.

Piccolo's arm extended and shot towards Gohan at breakneck levels of speed.

'I've seen this way too many times during training.' he braced himself to grab the arm and pull on it, only to notice something 'Is that thing getting bigger the closer it gets? No it's definitely getting bigger, closer has nothing to do with it.'

"Gotcha!" Piccolo wrapped his gigantic hand around Gohan, the crushing pressure closing in on him.

"What the- Piccolo what the hell is this?!"

"This is an ability that I created a long time ago to use against your father for the sole purpose of wiping him from the face of the Earth, long before you were born. I can increase my body to gigantic proportions and augment myself that way, but that wretched bastard managed to find a way around it. But I've spent every single day training since then and now I've worked out just about every single kink in that ability! It's been swell Gohan, but now it's time for me to crush you into nothing!" he flexed his carpal muscles.

Gohan felt waves of pain coursing through his body 'He's literally trying to crush me to death, if I don't break out of this then I'm gonna die no question about it. I might be holding back, but he sure as hell isn't. I know this so the question is, why can't I do the same?' he struggled to free himself 'Come on, come on, come on, COME ON!' with a furious roar, he sent out a shockwave, freeing himself from Piccolo's gigantic grip and prepared an attack of his own to counter.

That is, before Piccolo landed a gigantic (in terms of actual size, not power) to Gohan's back, sending him hurtling to the ground "You're not paying attention to any of my moves."

Gohan, in an attempt to retaliate, forced himself back into the air and dashed forward.

Piccolo dodged every strike with lazy ease, then caught Gohan's fist with his own and twisted the arm downward.

Gohan attempted to escape by landing a spin kick, the key word here being attempted.

Piccolo loosened his grip on the fist in question and blitzed away on the spot, then suddenly appeared behind Gohan and landed a blow to the cheek "A blow like this would've flattened your skull in a second, and after all of those training drills on a cliffside.

Gohan gritted his teeth and attempted to attack again.

Piccolo's foot met Gohan's face, sending him flying across the sky. Then he followed after him and performed a Double Axe Handle, sending Gohan crashing to the ground like some kind of meteor.

'Dammit…' Gohan forced himself back to his feet as he coughed up some blood, then fired a Masenko out of reckless desperation.

Piccolo sidestepped the attack without any effort, causing the blast to fly harmlessly past him and destroy a large plateau behind him "And that was just careless." he blitzed forward and closed the distance, then finally struck.

Gohan let his instincts take over and he retaliated at the very last second, to which their fists shot past each other and forcefully collided with the opposite jaw, blood spraying as an aftereffect of the clash and pushing each other a short distance away.

"Do you really think I'm going to stop here Gohan? You're going to be nothing more than my first target, my first volunteer. After I've finally finished you off, I'm going to continue my work as the great Demon King Piccolo! The work that your wretched father brought to a halt 20 long years ago!" he threw both of his arms out to the side "I'll start by taking our the wretch that is your father, and then the rest of your friends and family, the people you've sworn to protect, will follow slowly and painfully!" he then spat out some blood onto the grass below him as he ascended further into the air "You're truly pathetic you know that? The son of Son Goku, the boy who saved the world from Cell, the boy who saved the world from Bojack, the boy who destroyed that monster Janemba and saved the world from what they call the zombie apocalypse, the Dragon Saiyan of legend, the one who's supposed to destroy Magatsuhi and save this world and this entire universe from his wrath… and my first and best student. You wouldn't know any of that from your pathetic performance here!" green flames gathered in one hand while green lightning gathered in the other as he put them together, a white ball of Ki gathering in between his palms "After I kill you with this attack, Kagome is going to be the first one I slaughter. For her, it won't be quick." the attack grew bigger "THUNDER GRENADE!" he fired a Light Grenade, infused with the Lightning of Namek and the Dragonfire of Porunga, and the blast exploded downwards at impossible levels of speed.

Gohan slammed both hand down into the ground, creating a massive wall of earth and rock in front of him, then rose both arms to block the blast in case the wall of earth failed.

Piccolo's Thunder Grenade surged forward, bursting through the rock wall and slamming directly into Gohan's front.

Gohan was pushed back, but with a furious roar he sent out a shockwave, just barely managing to push the attack upwards and into the atmosphere, then fell to one knee in exhaustion 'Damn… I never thought Piccolo could have such powerful techniques in his arsenal, but then again this is Piccolo we're talking about.' then his thoughts drifted to what Piccolo had said before, about killing Goku and Kagome and everyone else he cared about, and he felt his anger beginning to boil over, but his body wasn't reacting very well 'Dad… Vegeta… Krillin… Tien… Yamcha… 17, all of you risking your lives to fight a behemoth like Broly, someone even I might not be able to defeat… Mirai, Sesshomaru and Supreme Kai all going off to confront Turles, Slug and Magatsuhi and stop him from resurrecting Majin Buu. All of them, they're doing their best to put aside their personal feelings. Magatsuhi needs to be stopped no matter the cost, they all understand that. I understand that too, so what am I doing right now? Am I really so weak in both body and spirit that I can't bring myself to put my own teacher down for the sake of protecting the world? For the sake of my friends and family, and all of the other people that I've sworn to protect? For Kai? For Kagome?' his aura flared and crackled with electricity, his eyes now shining with a newly lit fury.

Piccolo looked somewhat taken aback, but he decided to mock Gohan nonetheless "What's the matter Gohan? Are you finally starting to get angry, or perhaps even feel a little bit betrayed? Has it finally gotten through your head that I'm being serious about this? Or does the fact that I'm turning your precious childhood memories into jokes just make your blood boil more than anything has before? Well whatever the case may be it's not enough, you've become far too complacent and that makes you an utter disappointment."

'Complacent… an utter disappointment… Funny, that's exactly what Sesshomaru told me when we were training in Hell. But still, it's pretty clear to me now what I have to do. You know, you may have a point there Piccolo." his voice was almost quiet "I'm gonna be the first one to admit, that might be my biggest mistake. I went into this battle desperately thinking of any way I could possibly avoid killing you, but it's been dulling my fighting sense and that's just going to end up hurting everyone in the long run. So that's it, from here on out there's no more restraints, no more holding back, no excess reserves. Get ready Piccolo, because now I'm coming at you with everything I've got." with a roar, he entered his Dragon Saiyan 2 form, combining his Dragon Saiyan power with his Super Saiyan 2 form, doubling the form's power.

"Fine by me Gohan, now let's just see how far you can get in a serious battle without me or your father holding your hand!"

Gohan burst upwards.

Piccolo burst downwards and thrusted one of his claws forward.

In a series of movements much smoother than before, Gohan ducked under the attempted attack from Piccolo, then slammed his elbow directly into Piccolo's side. Then he grabbed Piccolo by the ankle and threw him straight into the ground below.

Piccolo flipped in the air and skidded along the ground in order to prevent crashing in a violent fashion.

Gohan fired a white hot Ki blast downwards.

Piccolo gripped both hands and knocked it back towards him.

Gohan reacted on instinct and deflected the blast, sending it flying and crashing into a plateau behind him.

Piccolo unhinged his jaw and released a powerful Mouth Energy Wave upwards.

Gohan thrusted his hand forward, meeting the blast and stopping it dead, then did something that one would think impossible, and ripped the beam in half, disrupting it and dispersing its flow.

'Now's my chance!' Piccolo used this opportunity with Gohan being distracted to quickly close the distance and thrusted a powerful blow to Gohan's gut.

Despite reeling from the blow, Gohan forced himself to counter Piccolo's strike and dealt him a violent headbutt.

Piccolo was left stunned in more ways than one 'Gohan… his eyes are shining like back then. I guess this only means one thing, he's finally found his resolve. That's the same steely look he had when we transformed into a Super Saiyan 2 during his battle with Cell. This is the Gohan I've been wanting to see, the one with the mind of a warrior who could fight without mercy for the sake of defeating his enemy, the one who killed Cell, the one who killed Bojack, the one who destroyed the Big Gete Star and saved New Namek, the one who destroyed Android 13 using his Dragon Bomber, the one who destroyed the Shikon Jewel alongside Kagome, the one who freed Broly from his life of forced slavehood, the one who created his own generation of Z Fighters and destroyed Janemba, the Son Gohan that I personally trained to become the greatest warrior this world, no, this universe has ever known.' with a roar, he thrusted a fist forward, his arm expanding in size, catching Gohan by surprise and landing a crushing blow, before it retracted back to its normal size

Gohan reeled backwards but regained his composure and quickly grabbed Piccolo's arm. He then kicked away from Piccolo by pushing off his chest and with a violent roar he proceeded to tear the arm off.

Piccolo stumbled back, only for a savage snap kick to send him flying in the opposite direction, but quickly forced himself to stop, and with a violent roar he regenerated the lost arm, though it left him panting heavily.

"Oh yeah, regeneration. Right. F*ck. But then again, with how many times I saw Cell do it and how many enemies I faced in the Feudal Era with the ability to regenerate. Regardless… " he tossed the severed arm aside without a care, then took a moment to catch his breath and consider the current state of the situation 'We both might be running low, I could feel Piccolo's Ki drop when he grew that arm back and his Ki hasn't gone back up yet. I'm not doing any better myself though, by trying for so long to avoid killing him I used up too much of my own strength and now I can't go Super Saiyan 3 anymore. On top of that, I'm still gonna have to fight Magatsuhi after this. I've gotta hurry and end this quickly.'

"Are you simply lying to yourself again Gohan?" Piccolo's voice sounded akin to an aggressive growl "Your arrogance is truly astounding, and that's coming from me of all people. Do you really think you have a chance in hell of beating me?!"

"Yes, I do." the reply he gave was sharp, confident and given without even a second of hesitation.

"Fine, then I'll blow you away along with every last ounce of hope you have left!"

"Not until after I beat you into the ground!" Gohan burst forward with surprising levels of speed as his knee collided with Piccolo's jaw.

Piccolo was quick to retaliate as he slashed at Gohan's chest, creating a new wound.

Gohan struck Piccolo's face with a punch.

Piccolo retaliated with a punch to the gut, resulting in them clashing again, his white aura clashing with Gohan's gold.

Gohan ducked underneath a rushing fist, only to find his own blow blocked by Piccolo's own wrist, so he thrusted his knee forward.

Piccolo took a step back and dodged it.

Gohan blitzed away using Instant Transmission and appeared behind Piccolo's back and landed a surprise kick, then blitzed back in front of him and jabbed forward.

Piccolo vanished and slammed both of his legs into Gohan's face, then flew higher into the air as fast and high as he could 'Now to use that technique.' he began rapidly charging and firing several Ki balls, surrounding Gohan in a sort of perimeter "This next attack will finish this battle! HELLZONE GRENADE!" he unleashed his Hellzone Grenade, causing the blasts to swarm in on Gohan all at once.

All Gohan could do was forcibly withstand the bombardment of Ki blasts raining down on him from every direction, causing additional pain and even more damage, but he forced himself to withstand it all until the blasts finally subsided, and he shot an unwavering defiant glare in Piccolo's direction 'Well that hurt a lot more than I thought it would but at least one good thing came out of that, the heat from his Hellzone Grenade cauterized my wounds so I don't have to worry about bleeding out. Now then Gohan, you've gotta focus. Keep fighting, don't stop until you've won. Your enemy is still standing, slowing down is something that you just can't afford in a situation like this.'

Now that his Hellzone Grenade failed, Piccolo burst downwards.

Gohan burst upwards and landed a punishing blow to the gut.

Piccolo landed a furious snap kick to the chin.

Gohan dealt a violent elbow to the side of the jaw.

Piccolo landed a just as powerful elbow square in the face, before catching Gohan in a power struggle, their hands interlocking once more. They both tried flexing their muscles and force the other one to give out, but neither of them would budge, so with two violent roars Piccolo and Gohan flared their auras and what little Ki they both had left, their auras clashing and crackling with electricity, the clash turning into a glowing sphere that expanded, creating a whirling Ki storm.

Gohan acted on impulse first as he took a step forward and upset Piccolo's balance, allowing him to throw Piccolo over his shoulder towards the ground.

Piccolo flipped through the air and landed neatly on his feet, his voice a low snarl as he cupped his hands and began charging fire and lightning along with his own Ki "Alright Gohan, this is it. This is my final attack, with every last ounce of strength I have left I will kill you!"

Gohan immediately cupped his hands at his side, a ball of Ki forming, black on one side and white on another, taking on the appearance a Yin & Yang symbol "Fine by me Piccolo, now let's end this. I'm not holding anything back either! I've spent the last 7 years training until I was half dead to protect the people I care about, and that's exactly what I plan to do, even if I have to kill you to do it!" the ball in his hands began glowing "Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"

"THUNDER GRENADE!" Piccolo fired off one final Thunder Grenade, packed with every last ounce of Ki that he had left.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Gohan packed every ounce of Ki he could into one final Kamehameha and blasted it downwards, black and white clashing with green and black, resulting in a struggle for dominance

Piccolo packed a little bit more Ki into his blast, intent on dominating the clash and finishing the battle himself.

'He's so powerful… I can't…' Gohan was about to give up hope, when a face flashed through his mind, the smiling face of a beautiful girl with innocent brown eyes and a head of long wavy black hair 'Kagome… for so long, you were my inspiration, the reason I had to get stronger, so I could protect you… You never gave up, you always believed in me, so I can't, no, I won't let you down! I want to win! I need to win!' he finally gave in to his own Ki, his full power Yin & Yang Kamehameha increasing disproportionately to how much Ki he had left, enveloping Piccolo's Light Grenade in a violent tunnel of black and white, the blast forcing Piccolo to slam directly into the ground. Gohan then quickly cut off the flow of his Ki and demonic energy, and he slowly returned to the ground as he reverted back to his regular form.

Piccolo's body lay on the ground in a gigantic smoking crater, his left arm and both legs having been blown off, his body suffering extreme burns all over, and he didn't appear to be breathing at all.

"Piccolo… I…" Gohan let some tears fall from his eyes "I'm sorry… I couldn't save you… I wish I'd found another way…"

"If there was another way then you would've found it."

Gohan looked back and saw Kai drop to the ground behind him "Kai…"

"I rushed over here from the tournament as fast as I could." Kai slowly walked up and stood beside him "There are some things in life that are just beyond our control, things that we can't avoid."

"Yeah I know, but it still hurts."

"Then take that hurt and take it out on Magatsuhi, turn it into another reason for you to give it your all and destroy him-" he paused 'This Ki… so cold, so empty, so bloodchilling… it's something I don't recognize, it's even more massive than Broly's. Gohan."

"Yeah, it can only be one thing. Magatsuhi must have succeeded in reviving Majin Buu."

"Mirai is over there with Sesshomaru and Shin, and your dad and the others are occupied fighting Broly while Koga's off fighting Inuyasha. Come on, we've gotta hurry."

"We? Forget it, you go help the others track down the Dragon Balls to revive everyone Broly killed."

"No way, you're my best friend and I refuse to abandon you. Don't you remember that talk we had last month?"

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(Last month, before Gohan went to Hell to train with Sesshomaru)

Kai sat with Gohan at the side of a river on Mount Paozu, skipping some rocks across the watery surface "Man it feels like forever since you and I were able to just chill and hang out in peace like this, and of all times right before a tournament that might end up deciding the fate of the world and maybe even the fate of the entire universe. Your dad and Krillin are right, the way this kind of stuff works out is really weird isn't it?"

"You're one of the few Kai." Gohan laid back on the grass and let out a sigh "Aside from you, Piccolo, Cooler and Sesshomaru nobody really gets it, nobody really understands the weight I carry on my shoulders. I feel it every single day, when I go to bed and even when I wake up in the morning. Sometimes I just stop and wonder, can I really do this?"

"Wow, I had no idea this whole thing with Magatsuhi was getting to you so badly."

"Well how can it not? He needs to be stopped and we all know that I'm the only one who even has a chance, but lately I've just been feeling the pressure crushing me over and over again." he shot Kai a serious look "This fight is gonna be a big one, if you wanna back out of it then I'm not gonna stop you."

"...Is that really what you think I wanna do? Come on man, I thought you knew me better than that. I'm not joining this fight because I want to be some worldwide hero or anything, I'm in it because you're my friend and I want to stand by your side in any way I can. After all, that's what friends are for right?"

(Flashback end)

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Gohan stared at him for a moment "Kai…"

"I've never broken a promise before and I'm not gonna start now." Kai clasped a firm hand on Gohan's shoulder "I don't care how dangerous this might be, there's no way in hell I'm going to abandon you in your hour of need."

"Kai, are you really sure about this?"

"I told you before you left to train with Sesshomaru that I was going to stay by your side every step of the way because I'm your friend, and god dammit that's exactly what I'm planning to do. Now come on, let's go."

"Kai… thank you." he took to the air and flew off, with Kai right beside him 'Please keep watching over us Piccolo, we're gonna do everything we can!'

A/N:

So yeah, I pretty much hate Mr Satan for the most part. I always thought it was total bullshit that Gohan never lost it and beat him within an inch of his life for how he constantly dragged Goku's name through the mud.

Just to let you guys know, even though I'm not continuing into Dragon Ball Super with this fic, I will be incorporating some ideas, concepts, names and other stuff from Super during this saga. After all, I already used the names of Universe 6 warriors for Future Trunks' Z fighters so why not?

I know you guys probably think I made Krillin way too OP during his fight against Dabura, but think about how much he could improve after spending a full year inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber with the likes of Tien.

I know Yamcha is the fall guy for DBZ and nobody takes him seriously, see TFS for example, but I have a soft spot for characters in any show or movie with wasted potential so I decided to give him some character development.