~Tournament Saga~

Chapter 32 – Ready? ... Set...!

"It's been so long Jacki Chung! What've you been up to all this time?"

Master Roshi looked up to Goku, slightly shaking. "Well...I figured I'd come out of retirement to put you whipper snappers like Mr Satan in his place! Ya- that's it."

"Kakarrot...you do realize that's the old perv, right?"

"Huh? No he's not Vegeta...this is Jacki Chung! I fought him the first time I entered in this tournament. What were you guys ... cousins or something?"

Master Roshi couldn't' believe it. He was being given a way out. "Uh, yup! I'm that old Turtle Hermits couz."

Vegeta, Gohan, Krillin, and the rest just looked on with varying levels of bewilderment. Goku had to just be playing along...right?

"Ahm, Mr Jacki Chung. You're papers are in order. Now all you must do is hit the punching machine to enter into the preliminary rounds."

The group turned to the official looking man behind the wooden entrance table. His head was still looking down at the papers, and yet he gave off a presence that made you feel like he still was watching you. Standing to the side of him was a rather large machine with a brown cushion on a spring protruding out. This had never been there before, what was it?

"The what now sonny?"

"In recent years, in order to prevent injuries, participants need to be able to punch at least over an 75 to enter the tournament. To many people were trying to enter and getting hurt."

"Oh, well, sure then. I'll hit your contraption." Master Roshi, or Jacki Chung as it were, took his position in front of the punching machine. The hermit pulled his fist back, and putting as much force into it as he could without making his muscles expand to much and rip through his shirt, punched forward. The machine took the punishment, and numbers started to appear on the display. For the first time the official looked up, and his eyes nearly left their resting spots.

"T-two hundred and four..." How was that possible? The highest the champ had ever gotten was in the one hundreds...but this old looking man just hit higher.

Krillin cracked his knuckles, getting ready to go. "Remember, try to hold back everyone. No need to stand out to much right away." Vegeta scoffed at the idea, but the rest of the group nodded. Jacki walked back to the group while Krillin walked up and got ready to punch.

The poor official barely had time to recover before Krillin as lightly as he could tapped the machine with a light punch. The numbers rolled, and once again they caught the man off his guard. "Two hundred fifty two..."

Gohan then walked up next. "Three hundred and nine..."

Then 18. "Four hundred thirty six..."

"That your idea of holding back?" Krillin chuckled. 18 just growled. "It's not my fault."

Piccolo walked up. "Two hundred eighty seven..."

Then Yamcha. "Two hundred sixty six..."

Goku walked up. "Three hundred ninety two..."

Vegeta followed after Goku. "Three hundred ninety nine..."

With a happy smirk, Vegeta walked back to the group. Trunks walked up next, followed by Goten. The young boys finally shook the official out of his mystified state. "W-whoa whoa there kids. This is for big grown ups. You'll have to fight in the junior division, the sign in for that is on the south end of the stadium."

"What! But we want to fight with the grown ups!"

"Rules are rules! You have to be able to hit over a 75 to fight in the real competition."

"Can you believe this Goten? They're gonna make us fight with the little kids!"

"What? That's no fun!"

Krillin silently thanked Kami for being kind and understanding, but Goku walked up to the official. "Couldn't you let them at least try? I'm sure they'll be able to handle themselves."

Krillin flailed his arms around in protest, but no one besides 18 took notice. The official shifted his glasses back up his nose from where they had fallen down from the previous shock. "Tell you what, if you both can hit the machine and get over a 75, it's fine with me."

The two boy's got devious smiles on their faces, giving Gohan a slight feel of uneasiness. With Goten living out in the woods and Trunk's father being Vegeta...the one thing these kids had not learned how to do was hold back. The two chibi's walked in front of the machine and fell into their fighting stances. In perfect unison, both jumped up and thrust a fist forward. With a battle cry their father's would be proud of, they let loose upon the poor machine. As soon as their fists made contact, it transformed into shrapnel and flew backwards in a heap of twisted metal and wires. It crashed through the outer wall before coming to a crashing halt at the base of a tree.

Both chibi's smiled proudly, admiring their work. Gohan slapped his face, groaning slightly. Yamcha and Krillin looked on with amused faces. Master Roshi blinked a few times. Darn these youngsters. When they were holding back as best as they could, they still hit as hard as he could when he was trying his near best. Vegeta laughed, walking up to where the young warriors were standing. "I couldn't have done better myself."

-DBZ-

The small group slowly made their way through the packed walkways that was the stadium. Compared to this, the last tournament they had been to was the regional. This place was huge! It had a large stadium in the middle with a nearly equally sized building to the side where the prelims would be held. They had to be there for preliminaries in two hours, so they figured they'd walk around and check out all the new stuff.

There were vendors selling everything from Hercule T-shirts to puppet shows. Krillin could feel a sweat drop forming when he noticed one specific vendor selling Hercule action figures with real Satan punch action. "This place sure has changed."

Piccolo grumbled. "Its like a circus..."

"Hey daddy? I'm hungry." Goten tugged on his father's arm as his stomach roared, getting everyone in the immediate area's attention.

Goku chuckled, picking up his youngest and putting him on his shoulder. "Well then lets find some food! I can smell the hotdogs from here!"

"Kakarrot, you can't possibly like those meat sticks. Don't you know what's in those things?"

"...but they taste good. Besides, food is food. Lets go!"

Rolling his eyes, Vegeta took the lead. Following the saiyan noses, the group started to zero in on what they presumed would be a few food vendors. As they were nearing their destination however, a mob of people over took them as they were running.

"I cant believe he's here!"

"I didn't know he was a martial artist? I definitely need to get his autograph."

The group blinked, looking toward where they were running. Yamcha especially looked curiously over at the person who everyone was making the fuss about. Krillin chuckled, elbowing Yamcha in his side. "Heh, aren't they suppose to be asking for your autograph?"

Yamcha huffed, suppressing an annoyed chuckle. As the group looked over the mob, a pale colored man with ripped jeans, a black short sleeve shirt over a white long sleeved one, an orange neckerchief, icy blue eyes, and strait long hair waved off the mobbing fans. "Really, I can't give any autographs right now. I have to get ready to fight."

Someone, presumably a reporter flung a microphone into 17's face. "17, are you really here to fight or are you just here to watch Mr Satan fight?"

17 chuckled. "No...I'm here to fight. Who knows...maybe I'll even get a chance to fight the champ. Now that would be something..."

Not wanting to answer any more questions, the android pushed his way through the crowd and met up with the Z-fighters, who mostly were watching him with slightly surprised expressions. 18 smiled, walking up to her brother and gave him a sisterly hug. "I'm glad you could make it with your busy schedule."

17, reluctantly, hugged his sister back. "Its no problem. It's been a while anyway, so I want to see how rusty I've gotten."

Yamcha, along with the rest of the group behind him, approached the two. "So...er, are you famous or something?"

The icy blue eyes slowly swayed toward the man asking the question, sending shivers down Yamcha's spine. "I guess. You make one good rock song and then boom, you're a house hold name."

Yamcha slowly inched back, the stare he was getting putting him seriously on edge. 17 looked over the group 18 now called family, so now by default was also his family. That would take some getting used to for the android...but he'd do it because his sister had asked him to.

The saiyans, no longer able to control themselves, started to make their way toward the food court, which they could tell was very close. As the rest of the group slowly started to follow, 17 locked eyes with Krillin. The monk gulped, feeling a sense of uneasy not that much different from Yamcha. 17's stair wasn't a death stair per say, more like a brotherly I'll mess you up if you hurt my sister look. After a few more seconds, 17 started to walk after 18. Yamcha and Krillin both watched the android walk away, sighing in relieve.

"Sure hope I don't have to fight him."

"I hear ya Krillin...I hear ya."

As the two humans caught back up with the group, they discovered that...well...the saiyans had found the food court. They hadn't even fallen that far behind, but they had all ready gathered enough food to last a small village a good half a year.

"I figured I'd find you guys here."

The group turned behind them, the saiyans only taking a moment's brake to see who it was before returning to the food. Tien waved while Chiaotzu floated at his side smiling happily while flailing both his little arms. Krillin and Yamcha walked up to their friends and exchanged their hello's. Meanwhile a group was slowly gathering. It wasn't every day you got to see five humans act like vacuum cleaners. That along with a rock stare and a famous major league baseball player and something along the lines of a tall green man...a lot of people were exchanging strange looks at each other. No one wanted to get close however, cause one of those human vacuums might get a hold of their arms or legs.

Two blond people however caught wind of the group, and they did have the guts to walk up to them.

"Yo! Books! What's up?"

Gohan's head popped up from where it had been in hailing a large leg of some beast. Turning around, he smiled waving back to Erasa and Sharpner. Reluctantly, he got up from the table and walked over to his friends. "Hey guys! What's up?"

Erasa hugged her friend, it had been a long time since she had seen him. "We've been good! And don't worry, we took care of the city while you two were gone."

Gohan smiled, scratching the back of his head. "I heard. It's good that you guys got a good enough handle on energy before we left. It would have been dangerous if you couldn't block bullets."

Sharpner chuckled as if it were no big deal. "Oh, please, it was easy as pie."

Erasa rolled her eyes. "Wasn't it you who got grazed in the shoulder and started to freak out?"

"H-hey! You said you were gonna keep quiet about that!"

Gohan smiled as he watched the two blonds go back and forth. While he had been at Korin's tower Gohan had glanced in one of his gars full of water and caught a glimpse of the two protecting the city from robbers. They had both decided to fight in their Halloween costumes to hide their identities. Sharpner had even made a mask to hide his face. Because of them...rumors of Saiyagirl and Saiyaman were flying all over the tabloids.

Gulping down the blush, Gohan tried to interrupt the two. "So wait, are you guys going to fight?"

The blonds broke from their argument, turning back to their teacher. Sharpner crossed his arms. "Nah, we just wanna watch. With you and Videl fighting we wouldn't stand a chance."

"Gohan...those are your friends behind you...right?" Erasa's eyes seemed kinda glassed over, causing the saiyan to blink.

"Hmm? Oh ya. Those are them."

"So...you know 17?"

"Yup."

"And you never thought to tell me?"

"Well, I never thought-"

"Doesn't matter. Introduce...now."

"Gohan."

The three turned to meet one pumped up Videl Satan. She had finally freed herself from the press and the mob, and had locked onto Gohan's energy. Sure enough, she found him in the food court. "Hey, prelims are gonna start soon. We should get going."

"Ah, is it that time all ready?" Turning to the rest of the crew, Gohan cupped his hand next to his mouth to help his voice carry. "Hey guys! Time to go!"

The remaining four saiyans finished their meal so fast the gathered crowd couldn't even catch most of it. Goku and Goten leaned back slightly and patted their bellies, content. Trunks and Vegeta stood up, turning around and crossed their arms as they started to walk towards Gohan. The blonds said their goodbyes and rushed off so they could get a good seat for the real tournament. The fighters then gathered around Gohan and Videl, and Gohan couldn't help but feel a tiny big of fear from the glint in everyone's eyes.

Clearing his throat, Krillin decided he would be the one to throw the first punch. "So Gohan...you gonna introduce us?"

Gohan rubbed the back of his head. And so it begins... "Ah, she's Videl Satan. She's a friend of mine from school."

Then turning to Videl, Gohan took a nice long deep breath and pointed to each of his old friends in respect. "And this is Goku, Goten, Vegeta, Trunks, Piccolo, Krillin, 18, 17, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, and Ros...er...his cousin Jacki Chung."

Videl stood in front of the group, rather bewildered at how many there really were. Coming back to reality, she quickly bowed her head. "It's an honor to meet you all."

Yamcha put his hand to his chin. "Satan you said...so that means..."

Videl simply nodded. "Yes, Hercules my dad."

The Z-fighters looked from Gohan to Videl, and back again. Krillin let a little snicker escape his mouth. Goku broke from the pack and waved. "Hey Videl! Long time no see!"

"Hello Mr Goku. It's...um...good to see you again."

"Mr? You can drop that. Sounds funny. Anyway, you seem stronger! Gohan must have put a lot of time into your training."

Videl blushed, looking down at her shoes. "Uh-huh. He did..."

"Kakarrot! Let's get these damn preliminaries over with."

"Hmm? Ah, right. Well, lets go!"

-DBZ-

The group made their way to the building where the prelims would be held. As they walked in, they found that they were not alone. Hundreds of fighters had shown up at a chance of taking the title and the huge money reward. Vegeta huffed. With a flick of his finger he could blow the place up and that would leave him to fight Goku...damn it was going to take forever to knock all of these weaklings out without killing them. The past tournament fighters took in the sights. It had been quite a while since any of them had been here, and it definitely brought back memories.

"Goku...!"

Goku turned his head around to find where the voice calling his name had come from. The rest of the group followed suit, finding a green fox with eyes nearing the brink of crying looking at the hero. Goku tilted his head, confused. "Sorry, do I know you?"

Konkichi patted his chest, as if that would help Goku remember. "Its me Goku. Don't tell me you've forgotten your own brother."

Goku looked at Konkichi for a while longer, blinking a few times as his mind searched through all of his memories as he tried to remember. "Kon...Konkichi? Is that your name?"

Konkichi's knees started to shake. "Yes...yes its me..."

Goku's smile widened, finally remembering the small adventure he had with his old friend. "It's been a long time bro! What's up?"

Vegeta's eye started to twitch. He had never asked about Goku's childhood. He had never bothered to care...but why on earth was he referring to this fox as his brother?

Trunks nudged Goten. "Hey, is that your uncle?"

Goten shrugged. "Dunno. Never saw him before."

Gohan along with Videl blinked. Konkichi was going to be fighting in the tournament too?

Konkichi covered his eyes with his arm as he composed himself. When he looked back up, he was smiling just as happily as Goku. "Where have you been brother? You wouldn't believe how much trouble I've gone through trying to track you down. And then imagine my surprise when Gohan showed up in my class!"

Goku laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "So you became a teacher after all?"

Konkichi nodded, looking down at the ground. "Ya...just like I promised."

"Goku!"

The group was once again drawn to a random voice calling out to Goku. This time, it was a tan man with a single feather stinking in the back of his hair. He had Indian clothes on, and he looked around Goku's age, maybe slightly older.

Goku scratched his head, wondering where all these people were coming from. "Hello?"

Upa chuckled slightly, pointing his thumb to his chest. "Come on Goku, its me. Upa!"

This time Goku's mind was a little quicker to remember, since he spent more time with Upa. "Upa! It's sure been a long time!"

Upa smiled as he walked up and shook Goku's hand. "You're a hard guy to find! But I figured you'd show up here."

Goku just smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, its cause I've been dead. Didn't you see the halo?"

Konkichi and Upa blinked, glancing up above Goku's head. Sure enough floated a small golden halo. Caught off guard and confused, they both were rendered speechless. Goku pointed up to the object in question.

"I'm just back for today. Its good to see you both again!"

"MAY I PLEASE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION!"

The Z-fighters along with the few new additions glanced at the blond haired man with the microphone. The announcer of the World Martial Art's tournament stood on top of one of the small arena's, addressing the mass of fighters.

"Let me be the first to welcome you to the 25th World Martial Art's Tournament! The greatest fighters from throughout the land have showed up on this vary day. And by sunset, we may have a new champion! Do any of you think you have what it takes to take down Mr Satan? Well! Put your will and pride on the line!"

The hundred odd fighters all yelled out in unison, pumping their fists into the air along with the announcer. As the yells died down, he pointed towards two officials who were holding onto a box. "Please get in line and grab a number. Good luck!"

As the announcer got off of the fighting arena, he started to weave his way through the mob of fighters. He was almost out before something orange caught his eye. Turning his head, he dropped his microphone which gave of a rather loud screeching. Quickly he regrouped himself and picked it up. As he left the building, he couldn't help but smile. Finally! They were back!

The fighters slowly started to make their way towards the line. The Z-fighters found themselves close to the box, so they quickly got into line. Tien telepathy told Chiaotzu to try and make sure no one had to fight one another till the actual tournament. The white mime did as told, but as it turned out someone would have to fight another before the actual tournament.

I'll just go up vs you Tien.

"You sure that's ok?"

Ya, its not like I'd get much farther than that anyway.

And so it was, Chiaotzu lost to Tien in the prelims. Gohan had managed to watch one of Konkichi's fights while he was taking a brake between his, and he found his teacher to be surprisingly strong. Well, relatively at least. He might be able to give the champ a run for his money if he got the shot. The adults in Goten's and Trunk's bracket were perfectly dumbfounded. There had been stories of two young kids fighting in the tournament before...but to see adult after adult beaten with such ease from these two young kids respectfully...it was scary. Vegeta tried his best not to hurt anyone, but he was quickly growing impatient. Goku just chuckled at every fighter who tried to take him on. Their faces were quite comical when he disappeared from their vision. Gohan and Piccolo both both tried to act serious, but it was hard against these people. The androids as well had trouble. They had all been born for fighting on a level that was quite far above these kind of fights. It was hard to say the least.

Videl progressed with ease as well. She caught a little bit of attention when she fought against Spopovich. He had made it quite fare last year, and the girl put him in a world of pain. Videl couldn't explain why, but she had this feeling of really wanting to pound this guy into the ground.

Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Jacki Chung also progressed with relative ease. The entire mass of fighters watched in utter horror as these fighters who seemingly came out of nowhere put them all to shame. Many just forfeit and left, while others just stayed to watch in awe. And not before long...the sixteen fighters that would be moving on had been decided.

Author's Annotations:

The pieces are set! The stage is ready! The tournament starts next! Sorry for making ya wait, but I needed this chapter to get everything set. Who's going to win? Only I know!