The group walked to where the kids were supposed to meet to participate in the preliminaries for the Junior Tournament. Chichi knelt next to the twins who were smiling at her. "Now you two be careful not to hurt the other kids too much, okay? Your dad and I can't wait to see you fight. Oh! I can't believe I missed four years of my babies' lives!"
They smiled twin Son Smiles. "It's okay, Mommy!" they assured her before giving her a hug.
"We'll come see you guys before the quarterfinals start okay?" Goku gave them a Son Smile of his own. "Come on, Chi, we'll be late." He reached down and ruffled their hair before leaving with the others to go use the punch-o-matic. The twins glared after him while they messed with their hair.
"Come on, Terrors, we have to get in there before they start without us. I sure hope we don't get put up against each other before the real thing starts."
Gosen grinned. "We won't." Gohan looked down at her to ask her how she knew that but remembered that she had trained with Piccolo and Chiaotzu a lot and Piccolo had told him she was pretty good with telepathic skills and that was about the best compliment anyone ever got from the Namek.
"Only to make sure we're not against each other," he ordered.
"I know, Nii-chan!"
With the Adults:
They walked toward the area that had been cleared for adults. When they approached, a large group of reporters swarmed them. "Are you the real Cell Games fighters?"
"Yes, we —"
"Did you really think you could beat Cell?"
"Did you not have faith in Mr. Satan?"
"Where did you two get those amazing headpieces?"
"These aren't headpieces," Goku answered, confused. "Their halos, you get them when you die. See—"
"Kakarott!" Vegeta snapped.
"What?"
"Why did you all go to the Cell Games?"
"Why did you send The Delivery Boy out to fight Cell?"
"Why—"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Vegeta thundered in a very Vegeta like voice. "We went to the damn Cell Games because Hercule Satan in an incompetent idiot and couldn't be trusted to deal with Cell."
"But he did beat Cell! What do you have to say to that?"
"That fool didn't beat Cell, Kakarott's brat did. Now shut the hell up and get out of my way before I blast you all to hell!" The reporters immediately dove out of the way and the gang walked through.
"You didn't have to be so mean, Ve —Prince."
"Yes I did, Kakarott. I learned that from the past few years with the woman," he growled as they stopped in the area where they were to use the punch-o-matic. Everyone stayed away from them as the aura Vegeta and Piccolo radiated was terrifying. They stood calmly beside the machine as they waited for the monks to announce they were to start.
"Okay!" the monk in charge shouted. "First, to get an idea of the calibration of the machine, welcome Hercule Satan!" Mr. Satan strode out and gave victory poses as he walked down to the punch-o-matic. He made a big show of hitting the machine. "Wow! Mr. Satan has gotten a whopping 135!" Several cheers sounded from the Hercule Lovers of the group.
Vegeta laughed. "Ha! That oaf can only score that high!" He continued to laugh.
"Well, let's see how you do..."
"Prince. I'll gladly show you how superior I am." He strode in front of the machine.
"Wait! Prince, if you destroy it now we won't get a chance to use it and we might miss the twins' fights!" Chichi objected.
"How about we all go and then you can show everyone how much more powerful you are than them," Krillin suggested, hoping to avoid a fight.
Vegeta smirked. "Sure, Baldie."
"I'll go first. Are you okay with that?" he asked the monk in charge. "If we go first?"
"Uh...I guess so?" his statement sounded more like a question.
Krillin smiled. "Good, so I'm first. Uh...how about we go Eighteen, Jackie, Harpy, Midget, Triclops, Bandit, Kakarott, Majunior, and Prince?"
"Sounds good, Kr —Baldie."
"Kakarott, you know the point of aliases is so as to not let people know our real names, right?" Vegeta asked him.
"I'm trying, V —Prince!" Vegeta only glared at him.
"Okay, I guess I'll start." Krillin walked in front of the machine.
"Hey kid! You know you're supposed to be with the junior competitors, right?" someone shouted.
"I AM NOT A KID! I AM 36 YEARS OLD!" he shouted before turning around and punching the machine lightly...well, it was lightly for him.
"578!" someone shouted in astonishment.
"It can't have uncalibrated so fast." A monk sated in confusion.
"Can you hit again, sir?" Krillin did as he was asked. The screen read '592'. "Um, Mr. Satan, would you mind hitting the machine again as well?"
"OH GET OVER YOURSELVES! BALDIE IS A LOT STRONGER THAN HE LOOKS AND IS FOR SURE STRONGER THAN THAT PHONEY!" Vegeta yelled. He really wanted to upstage Hercule.
"What gives you the right to call me a phoney?" Hercule asked him.
"I was at the Cell Games, weakling. I saw Kakarott's brat kill the damned bug." Everyone stared at him in disbelief, except Hercule whose face had paled.
"But that kid would have had to be eleven at the time!" one of the monks shouted.
"He is a saiyan warrior! It is expected of them to be stronger than you weaklings that call yourselves human."
"What's a saiyan?" Vegeta gave a full out death glare to the man that asked that. The man jumped back.
"If it will make you weaklings shut up, then by all means let the head weakling punch the machine again." Hercule swallowed before doing a victory pose and punching the machine again. The screen read 135 once again. "See, I told you. Now get out of the way and let the warriors punch the machine." Everyone stared in shock as Eighteen scored a '600', Roshi scored a '200', Chichi scored a '547', Chiaotzu scored a '445', Tien scored a '586', Yamcha scored a '454', Goku scored a '722', and Piccolo scored a '674'.
"My turn." Vegeta announced as he stepped in front of the machine.
"You guys do have a spare, right?" Goku asked, trying to be considerate as always.
"Yes, why?" He found out a second later when the machine shot backward and busted into several very small pieces when it hit the concrete wall. "Oh," the monk's eyes widened.
"We're going to watch the brats. We will see you when they win." He turned and led the Z Warriors (and Chichi) to the stadium. They stood at the top but were able to see everything perfectly thanks to their saiyan eyesight.
The blonde announcer that had seen so many spectacular fights jumped onstage. He had just heard about the actual Cell Games fighters being part of the tournament and was ecstatic. It'll be just like old times! Back when little Goku entered. Oh, I bet he's one of those fighters, especially after I saw those kids with tails. They must be his kids. Oh, I can't wait! "Hello everyone and welcome to the Junior Tournament of the 26th World Martial Arts Tournament! We have some amazing young fighters competing today! I have been told that two of them were at the Cell Games with the mysterious fighters, one of which being the young Delivery Boy that battled against Cell himself! Three more are their siblings! Not to mention the young Videl Satan who is nearly as good as her father!" The announcer's voice boomed through the speakers. "First to take the stage is one of the Cell Games fighters, Hero, and Miss Videl Satan!"
The two teens stepped into the stage and turned to face one another. "I know that you're either Gohan and Mirai, so which is it?"
"I have no idea who you're talking about."
"You have to be Mirai, then. Gohan isn't so good at flat out lying." They turned to face each other. "Be sure to let Gohan know I'm going to be holding him to his promise."
"BEGIN!" Videl took advantage of Mirai's apparent confusion but the half-saiyan side-stepped her punch.
"Ready to lose, Videl?"
"I'm not the one that's going to lose."
"Would you like it embarrassing or would you rather I let you show off a bit?"
"You're not going to beat me!" Videl spun around and sent a right toward Mirai's face.
"Embarrassing it is then." He grabbed her arm and flipped her over his shoulder. When she passed the edge of the ring, Mirai turned away because he assumed she'd just fall. Videl didn't fall, however, thanks to Gohan. She floated in the air just past the edge of the stage and brought herself back. She turned around to see Mirai's back to her and her vision gained a red tint to it.
"THIS ISN'T OVER YET, HERO!" she shouted, stopping herself at the last second from calling him 'Mirai'. He turned around and was shocked to find her just behind him. She punched him squarely in the jaw an the sound of cracking bones could be heard if you were close enough or had saiyan or namekian hearing. Videl jumped back, cradling her hand and muttering a long string of curses. Mirai lifted her and tossed her out of the ring. She tried to stop herself but realized she couldn't fight with a broken hand.
Gohan strode out of the building the competitors were waiting in and shot Mirai a glare before handing Videl a Sensu Bean. "Eat it," he ordered and turned around, not waiting to see if his order was obeyed. Knowing it was Gohan, Videl put the bean in her mouth and swallowed. Her eyes widened. The pain was gone.
She clenched her hand into a fist and then released it as she walked back into the building behind the other two. "It's healed," she whispered. When she walked in, she looked over to see both Gohan and Mirai watching her. Gohan lifted a hand and motioned for her to come to him.
He waited until she was right beside him to speak. "So, Hero here told me you figured us out. I sure hope you don't tell because you're world is going to be turned upside down by the end of this tournament. I just want to apologize now. We've decided to reveal your father's big secret and it's going to very nearly destroy your life as well."
"I'm still not sure about you knowing who we are but Delivery Boy here seems to think its inevitable. He also thinks you can be trusted with the information. You had better not prove him wrong." Mirai pushed off the wall and went over to congratulate Goten on his quick win and to wish Gosen and Maron luck in their fight.
The girls walked out to the ring happily. They took their places facing each other and could hear people calling this tournament a set up because their teenaged kids hadn't made it but these two children had. "Hey, what do you say we give the audience something to look at? Keep it slow enough they can see."
Maron grinned, she understood her friend's desire to show off and she herself wanted to do the same. "Sounds fun. I say we show those parents just who they're dealing with."
"BEGIN!" the announcer shouted after he had gotten off the stage. He just knew this would be a fight to remember.
Both girls dropped into their fighting stances, Maron's was reminiscent of her father's obviously turtle style stance and Gosen's was a slightly altered version of the one Gohan used when he was her age. Grins appeared on their faces just before they shot forward at an extremely fast but human speed. The spectators that had been calling the tournament a hoax watched in awe along with everyone else as they realized that most of the adult fighters wouldn't have stood a chance against their speed and skill.
Gosen threw a right punch toward Maron's face but the other girl caught it with her left hand before throwing her own right punch at Gosen who mimicked her friend's movement and caught the girl's hand. Gosen brought her left leg up and kneed Maron hard in the stomach causing the girl to release her hand and double over slightly. Taking advantage of Maron's moment of weakness, Gosen swung her around, trying to throw her out of the ring.
Maron, however, wasn't planning on losing so easily. She put her hands on the tile floor of the ring and pushed herself straight up, flipping over as she did so. Gosen didn't plan on allowing the other girl to land smoothly however and sent masenko blast at the falling youth. Maron flew out of the way of the blast but didn't recover in time to block the hard blow Gosen delivered to the back of her head.
She hit the ground hard and watched as Gosen landed not far away, smirking. She glared at the other girl before jumping to her feet and charging. They began exchanging blows, none really connecting when Gosen got an idea. It was a cool trick her brother had taught her though she had no doubt Maron knew it as well. She grinned maliciously at the thought of how she could use it, her saiyan instincts showing themselves in her expression.
Maron noticed her friend's expression and it made her uneasy, Gosen obviously had a new trick up her sleeve, the question was, what? Maron pushed aside the thought as her punch made it through the other girl's defenses but went right through her. Confusion only crossed Maron's mind for a second before she realized it was the use of the afterimage technique.
She jerked her head around and sent out her senses, trying to locate Gosen by sensing her chi or seeing her. The only problem was that the other girl was hiding her chi and Maron could see four Gosens behind her in four different, but vaguely familiar, poses. She tried to put a name on the technique her friend was planning on using when the announcer's voice broke through her concentration.
"And young Terror 2 has just shown expert knowledge of the afterimage technique! This could spell trouble for Terror 4 as it appears Terror 2 is preparing a Kamehameha Wave!" Terror 2 is preparing a Kamehameha Wave...the words repeated themselves in Maron's mind and she immediately began moving, trying to be a hard target for her friend whom she still had not found.
Several feet in the air, Gosen smirked. She made sure to move out of Maron's sight range the second the other girl turned her head. She was glad the announcer had shouted about the poses being that of the Kamehameha Wave because it had appeared her friend hadn't been able to identify them, much like being unable to identify the face of someone you haven't seen in a long time. Gosen was satisfied about the technique being identified because she was not performing a Kamehameha Wave and had been depending on panic from her friend for her next plan to work smoothly. She knew panic always disrupted Maron's battle instincts and that was exactly what she wanted.
Gosen grinned broadly as Maron finally got just a little too close to the edge of the ring, the opening she had been waiting for. She phased just in front of the girl, whose back faced outside the ring, and used her shock to send a masenko blast at point blank range just powerful enough to knock Maron out of the ring hard enough that she would hit the ground before she could recover. Gosen, Goku, Chichi, Gohan, and Mirai all beamed with pride as the announcer shouted Gosen's victory; Piccolo and Vegeta were also proud that their student's victory with the use of strategy and power but neither would ever admit it to witnesses.
Gohan smiled at his sister as she stepped inside with Maron right beside her, both talking about their mistakes and things the other could work on. He smiled as he stepped out the door and walked down the path beside Trunks, his opponent. "No chi blasts, Trunks. Bulma would kill us if we hurt the weaklings watching...I've been spending too much time with your father."
Up With the Z Warriors (and Chichi):
Vegeta smirked. "It seems I have taught the boy something about how to act saiyan." He sent a glare to Goku. "If you screw that up Kakarott, I'll kick your ass." Goku laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.
"My son has become a delinquent!" Chichi shouted with tears in her eyes, then the tears disappeared and she turned on Vegeta. "AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" The others were saved the rant that would have surely followed by the announcer calling for the fighters to begin.
Back With Gohan and Trunks:
The second the announcer had yelled "BEGIN!" Trunks had launched himself at Gohan who was guarding himself with obvious ease. This sent Trunks's brain into overdrive...what could he do that would at least give him a chance at winning this match? He considered using Gosen's strategy and trying to confuse the older half-saiyan with afterimages of himself but quickly discarded the idea, Gohan was far smarter and more experienced than Maron and so the same trick was highly unlikely to work on him. But he couldn't keep going like he was now, that wasn't working either. Then Trunks came up with a plan, and it was so farfetched it just might work...
He jumped back from Gohan and pulled his hand back "GALLIC GUN!" he shouted as he sent the attack toward Gohan who immediately countered with a masenko. Trunks masked his power level seconds before letting go of the attack and phasing behind Gohan. The older boy released his attack, not sure if he had accidentally hurt Trunks enough to cause the drastic drop in his power level or not...
That's when he felt like most of his power had been zapped from his body, not all of it but enough to give Trunks an advantage. Immediately knowing what Trunks had done, Gohan brought his left elbow back and smirked as he felt it connect with smooth flesh. The pressure being applied to his tail gone, Gohan felt his power rush back as he turned to face the wide-eyed Trunks who had obviously thought grabbing his tail would have taken all of Gohan's power like his father had told him was the case with most saiyans.
Trunks gulped when he saw the smirk on Gohan's face. "So you're done playing around?" he asked in a voice that reminded Trunks of his father's when Trunks had done something he really shouldn't have during one of his training sessions. "Good, because I am too." Gohan's foot moved so fast that Trunks could barely see it, much less dodge. He went straight up in the air but he wasn't alone long. He felt Gohan's brutal attack hitting him from what felt like every direction at once before he was slammed resolutely into what Trunks hoped was the ground, he would gladly accept defeat if it meant the beating was over with.
"AND THE DELIVERY BOY WINS! WHAT AN AMAZING FIGHT, FOLKS! GIVE IT UP FOR LITTLE TERROR 1 WHO PUT UP ONE HECK OF A FIGHT AND THE WINNER THE DELIVERY BOY!" Cheers erupted from all over the stadium but, even with all that noise going on, Gohan could hear his mother.
"Oh, my baby's become a delinquent! Where did I go wrong?" He could hear tears in his mother's voice but braced himself because he knew it wouldn't last long. His assumption was confirmed when his mother's angry ranting started. "WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOUNG MAN YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET THE DAY YOU WERE BORN! HONESTLY, TAKING ADVANTAGE OF POOR LITTLE TR—TERROR 1 LIKE THAT! HE'S TEN YEARS YOUNGER THAN YOU AND NO WHERE NEAR AS EXPERIENCED!" She stopped yelling but Gohan knew that the second he was standing in front of her, she would continue and accent each word with a blow from the all mighty Frying Pan of Doom.
He walked over to Trunks and helped the five year old up before taking him into the competitors' area and giving him a Sensu Bean along with some congratulations for putting up a good fight and a redundant warning that he would be wise to never touch his tail again. And then a small bit of praise for his resourcefulness in battle.
Chapter 9
"ALL RIGHT, EVERYONE! IT'S TIME FOR THE JUNIOR TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS!" The announcer waited for the cheers to die down before continuing. "AND WHAT AN AMAZING ROUND IT PROMISES TO BE! FIRST WE HAVE FIFTEEN YEAR OLD HERO WHO ASTOUNDED ALL WITH HIS EASY VICTORY OVER THE WELL KNOWN VIDEL SATAN! AGAINST HIM WE HAVE FOUR YEAR OLD TERROR 3 WHO BEAT A YOUNG MAN MORE THAN FOUR TIMES HIS AGE IN ONLY ONE HIT! I HOPE YOU'RE ALL READY!" The two demi-saiyans stood facing one another in the ring, both smiling. "FIGHTERS READY? BEGIN!"
Both boys dropped into their stances before launching at one another. They disappeared from normal view much to the shock of everyone watching except those that knew the two. Goten got close to Mirai, hoping to use his small size against the older warrior. Goten delivered repetitive blows toward the older saiyan's gut and, while a few were blocked, most made contact as Mirai couldn't compete with the shorter distance Goten's arms had to travel. Mirai pulled his knee up in an attempt to knock the smaller saiyan away so he could deal some damage but Goten planted his feet on the knee, using its momentum along with that of his punch to land a hard blow into Mirai's chin.
Mirai was knock back a little and Goten grinned. His grin faded though when Mirai looked down at him with a smirk. Realizing his mistake, Goten tried to get close to his opponent once more but couldn't get past Mirai's combinations. Goten blocked as many of the punches and kicks that Mirai threw his way as he could but quite a few still made contact and the smaller saiyan wasn't close enough to land blows of his own. Suddenly, he saw a slight opening in Mirai's attack and shot a quick energy attack into the older boy's chest. Knocking him back a step and halting his attack.
Goten shot at him, trying to get close enough to regain an advantage. Mirai expected that though and moved out of the way at the last second and delivered a round house kick to Goten's back, sending him off the edge of the stage which Mirai had been quite close to. Goten hit the ground outside the ring hard, creating a small crater. He popped up a second later and was up on the stage, chattering away at Mirai as the announcer declared the winner and they went back into the fighters' area.
"That was a really fun fight, Mi-Hero!" he quickly caught and corrected himself before he let Mirai's name slip.
"Yeah it was, Terror 3. You should fight like that when we spar, it would make training a lot more fun."
"Not to mention that it's useful against smaller opponents like the Terrors," Gohan added. "It's a good thing Terror 1 didn't think of using that tactic along with the other one. Even if it doesn't drain my energy very much, it still hurts."
"Really?" asked Gosen as she stepped next to her brother to walk out to the ring. "That's good to know." Gohan laughed as they walked, partially listening as the announcer introduced them over the crowd's roar. There was a certain audience member that was yelling louder than the others about her babies fight each other and they better not get too hurt. Gohan smiled and looked up to where the Z Warriors and his mother stood. He stepped up onto the stage, still smiling happily.
"Don't hold back, Squirt. I want to see what you can do."
"Okay, Nii-chan!" she chirped into response before dropping into her stance and putting her game face on. Gohan fell into his stance as well and the announcer called for the match to start but neither fighter moved, still examining one another's stance.
"You've been working on your stance with Piccolo I see. It's pretty good."
"Thanks, Nii-chan. So is yours." She looked up into his eyes and he could see the excited amusement in his eyes. "Solar flare!" she shouted after quickly moving her hands beside her face. Then her power level disappeared. Gohan smiled despite being blinded by the light and masked his power level as well before leaving an after image in his place.
With the Z Warriors and Chichi:
"Damn that brat!" Vegeta shouted, covering his now blinded eyes. Clang!
"Don't you dare curse at my baby!" she shouted at Vegeta who was now rubbing a very sore bump on his head.
"Yeah, Vegeta. It was a really good plan. I can't sense her energy anywhere down there, and now Gohan's is gone too."
"So they resort to terror tactics?" he growled. "And to not think about Gohan being able to hide himself as well, it was careless!"
"Maybe not." Piccolo answered, examining the ring below with all his senses.
"What do you mean, Namek?"
"She is at an advantage. While her brother can only use his senses, including his chi sense, she can also use telepathy to locate her opponent, something Delivery Boy cannot."
Another shout of "Solar Flare!" came from below.
"So she did think this through," Vegeta responded, examining the ring below as best he could. "That's a pretty good plan," he admitted.
"Yes, it is."
"You can say that again, she seems to be as smart a fighter as he is. She'll be an incredible fighter when she grows up if she keeps at it," Goku added.
"All of the Terrors will, Kakarott," Krillin responded, remembering the alias at the last second.
Goku nodded. "I feel kind of bad for Terror 4," that was the easiest alias for him to remember as he didn't really know who Maron was before that day. "She had to go up against Terror 2 in her first match. At least Terror 2 has a chance at the big leagues if she loses."
"Yeah, but she'll be fine. Your daughter may be one of the smartest fighters, but she's also the weakest in power terms, well beside Maron that is." The others nodded confirmation to Roshi's words before they all turned back to the fight.
In the Ring:
Gosen was keeping the ring in an almost constant solar flare with her power level masked. Though she couldn't see or sense her brother, she did know where he was, just like Piccolo said. She would spike her power or make a soft sound at random intervals before making it disappear or returning to absolute silence and occasionally she would send a quick chi blast at Gohan, almost all of which made contact. She took a deep breath, "SOLAR FLARE!" she yelled, only staying in the spot long enough to perform the technique. She didn't move far this time though. She only jumped out of the way of Gohan's chi blast and moved far enough away that he wouldn't recognize her closeness by her smell or hear her breath.
She charged at her brother as fast as she could when he came to check the spot she had yelled from. She grabbed his tail tightly before ramming her full weight into his back, successfully pulling on it hard enough to elicit a loud yelp of pain from her brother. She immediately released his tail and dodged the elbow he shot her way and then the punch that followed. She stayed close to him, sending repeated blows to his gut just as her twin had done to Mirai. Gohan though was much faster than the time traveler and Gosen was slower than Goten so Gohan could block far more punches.
Gosen growled in frustration, it didn't seem that her punches had much effect on her Nii-chan. She brought her feet into the mix, resulting in several more blows landing but they still didn't have much effect. What was the point of landing hits if they didn't effect your opponent? She flipped backward and landed in her stance, breathing heavily. She had wasted a lot of energy trying to hit Gohan and he didn't even look phased.
"Getting tired already, Squirt?" Gohan asked, smirking.
"Maybe!" she shouted back, glaring at him.
"Maybe is it? Well, you certainly look exhausted."
"So, looks can be deceiving!"
"You're pretty smart, you know that Squirt? I'm not going to let you recover so easily though."
Gosen frowned. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Gohan only grinned before phasing in front of his sister and sending out a kick to her side, which she blocked, followed closely by a kick to her stomach. She managed to get her hand in front of the kick fast enough to block some of the damage but was not strong enough to stop it. The force of the kick sent her hurtling over the edge of the ring. She quickly recovered and flipped over before trying to stop herself, but didn't succeed until her feet touched the concrete wall, signifying that she was out.
She landed on the ground and through a pout up at her brother. He grinned and walked over to her as the announcer shouted his victory. "That was a good fight, Squirt, and a brilliant plan in the beginning. You probably would have beaten me if you were just a bit stronger. But, please, don't pull my tail again, that really hurt."
She smiled up at her older brother's whining face. "It was supposed to, Nii-chan," she sang, skipping back to the competitors' area.
"WE'RE GOING TO TAKE A SLIGHT INTERMISSION TO GIVE OUR TWO FINALISTS A CHANCE TO REST AFTER THAT AMAZING BATTLE! WE WILL CONTINUE IN FIVE MINUTES!" Gohan smiled. He didn't really need a break thanks to the amazing amount of strength he got from training on his own as well as the repetitive beatings he allowed Vegeta to dish out while he returned the favor. No one else knew how strong Gohan really was but that didn't mean he couldn't lose. If someone like Mirai, Goku, or Vegeta had Gosen's skills and tried her tactic, he would be in serious trouble and he had no doubt that those three weren't certain wins. He was pretty sure he could beat Vegeta if he caught the prince off-guard but wasn't too sure.
He went on to run through possibilities for his fight against Mirai and hoped he knew more about his friend's abilities than he had his sister's. Mirai stayed down in the competitors' area with him, both waiting on their fight to start, but the Terrors went to go stand watch the fight with their parents and Videl went to find her dad and tell him the junior finals were starting so he needed to get ready for the top six's attempt on the punch-o-matic, which he was supposed to watch and cheer on, and the adult competition directly after.
Up With The Z Warriors, Chichi, and The Terrors:
"Uncle Prince! Uncle Majunior!" Gosen yelled as she came bounding up at the front of the group, grinning proudly. She had started to yell 'Uncle Veggie' but stopped herself in time and decided to continue on with it. "Did you see my fight?" She had chosen to call on her teachers first as she wanted their opinions on her fights.
"What about mine?" Goten asked as he ran up beside his twin, grinning just as proudly up at their mentors.
Trunks and Maron walked up together, both looking a little upset about their losses. "It's not fair! I had to go up against the strongest of us first!" he whined to his father.
Maron walked over to stand beside her parents with a pout. "Gosen tricked me!" she whined quietly.
"Stop whining, brat!" Vegeta snapped at his son. "A true warrior makes due with what he has. The twins did just fine against much stronger opponents." Trunks pouted. "Don't pout, brat! You're a prince, act like it!"
"Stop being so harsh! He's just a kid!" Chichi yelled at him.
"She's right, Prince, he is just a kid. I bet you used to pout when you were a kid."
Vegeta glared at him. "Pouting is not something a prince does, Kakarott. Be glad I don't teach the brat the way I was taught."
"What did you think of my fight, Uncle Majunior?" Gosen asked Piccolo, enjoying the use of her new names for her 'uncles'.
"You did good, kid."
Gosen beamed, knowing Piccolo wouldn't go into her mistakes but drill them at their next training session. "What did you think, Uncle Prince?"
Vegeta looked up from his argument with Goku to answer her. "Could have done better," he told her before returning to arguing with Goku about how he raised his child. Gosen beamed again, that was about as good as it got with Vegeta.
Trunks pouted again, and muttered under his breath. "That's because she's a telepathic freak." Unfortunately for him, most everyone, excepting Goku and Vegeta whose argument was on the verge of physical violence, Chichi and Krillin who were trying to break up the fight, and Master Roshi who did have saiyan/namekian hearing like the others did.
Gosen glared at him, slight tears in her eyes. "I am not a freak!" she yelled at him before turning and disappearing into the crowd, hiding her power from the others and her mind from Piccolo. Trunks watched her disappear and truly felt bad, he hadn't meant for her to hear it, he was just mad that his dad had complimented her but reprimanded him.
Goku and Vegeta stopped their argument at Gosen's shout and disappearance then looked down at Trunks. Goku's expression was confused, worried, and curious while Vegeta's looked borderline murderous. "What did you do, brat?" he growled at his son. He, like everyone else, had seen that Gosen's shout was directed at Trunks and now she was gone, no one could find Gosen when she didn't want to be found.
Trunks swallowed under his father's glare and opened his mouth to speak but closed it when he couldn't find the words. "Trunks muttered something that was kind of mean because he was upset and it made Gosen upset so she took off," Goten answered, frowning. "We won't be able to find her though, she's too good at hide and seek."
Vegeta opened his mouth to yell at his son but thought better of it. He took a deep, calming breath like Bulma always told him to. "Let's go find her."
"She'll be fine," Goku answered calmly. "Besides, Delivery Boy's fight's about to start."
"Kakarott! She is not her brother! She isn't used to wandering around places on her own! She doesn't even travel to the geezer's house and back alone!"
"Yeah, and she's only four to top it off. Delivery Boy may have been trained to rely on himself at that age but she wasn't put through the same kind of training as he was, she's never been in a situation that she had to prepare for a battle like he used to."
"She is a very smart girl, and a good fighter as well, but she is still a child. I'm going to go try to find her, whether I can or not."
Goku looked confused. He didn't know his child but apparently she wasn't capable of wandering around on her own. While that didn't make any sense to him considering what he saw she was capable of, he nodded. "I'll help too. I don't really understand the importance of it. It wouldn't really hurt to find her."
"What are you people waiting for?" Chichi shouted. "My baby is lost and you are all just standing here talking about it!"
"Hey, where did Maron go?" Krillin asked, looking around for his daughter. "And the boys are gone too. I guess they didn't want to stand around waiting for us to argue this out." He let out a sigh. "Well, at least the three of them are together. Hopefully they'll be able to find Gosen but it wouldn't hurt to help. Let's not tell their brothers, they don't need to be distracted just yet. Let's go." The group of adults split up and went in search for the Terrors, for once worrying about their safety rather than everyone else's.
With Gosen:
Gosen sniffled. This day had just gone from good to great to bad to worse. It was like an awful roller coaster. She had avoided all the strangers that asked her if she was okay or looking for her parents. Gohan and Bulma always told her not to talk to strangers when they weren't around. She somehow managed to get into the main tournament building. She walked down the hall and ran into someone she had seen before. She looked up at the taller girl who had black hair and pretty blue eyes, trying to place her.
She finally placed the girl in front of her and knew that she was not a stranger but one of her brother's friends. That meant she could talk to her. "You're one of Nii-chan's friends, right?" she asked in a quiet and teary voice. Her lip quivered a little.
Videl looked down at the girl curiously and immediately placed her. She was Gohan's little sister. "Yes I am, are you looking for him?"
She shook her head. "Nii-chan's fighting."
Videl nodded, she knew Gohan was in the junior finals. "Then are you looking for your parents?"
Gosen shook her head hard. "No! I don't want to go back there right now!"
"Why not?" Videl knelt down to the girl's level, she had obviously been crying as Videl could see the tear trails on her cheeks.
"Trunks was being mean." She reached up and wiped at her eyes and got an irritated frown on her face as she realized that her mask was in the way.
"Dad, can you go on ahead without me? I'm going to take her to get her face cleaned up and then see if she's ready to find her parents then."
"Sure sweet pea, but how do you know her?" Hercule answered, looking down at her and knowing she must be in the same group as the Cell Games fighters.
"I don't really know her but I know her brother. He's in my class and one of the competitors in the junior finals right now."
"Oh," he looked cautiously at the child but she looked like she was just a lost and upset child. "Okay then, sweet pea. I'll just ask them to wait a little while if you don't get back in time for the punch-o-matic."
"I'm sure we'll be back by then, she's one of the six that get a chance at the punch-o-matic so I doubt she wants to miss that."
"She was one of the top six in the junior tournament?" he asked, the girl couldn't be older than five.
"She was a semifinalist actually but she fought another girl her age in the first round of the junior quarters. Then she fought her brother in the semis."
"Oh," Hercule nodded, that made sense. "I'll see you in a little while then, sweet pea." Hercule turned and walked off toward where he was supposed to be.
Videl stood up. "Come on, I'll show you where the bathroom is and get you cleaned up." She started walking and was a little surprised when Gosen grabbed her hand but continued on her way.
Gohan and Mirai's Fight:
Gohan frowned as he walked up to the stage. None of the others were up there waiting on his fight. That didn't make any sense. He knew they wanted to see this fight as it would be anything but boring for them so why weren't they there?
"Hey, Mirai, did you notice?" he asked, still staring curiously at the spot the Z Warriors had occupied previously.
Gohan followed Gohan's gaze and stopped short of the ring alongside his friend. His brow furrowed. "Where did they go?"
"A better question is why did they go somewhere? I can sense their power levels scattered around the tournament grounds, the Terrors are in another group. It's like they're...looking...for..." Gohan's eyes widened.
"Um, guys?" the announcer interrupted."You kind of need to step in the ring."
Gohan looked over at the announcer before nodding, there was nothing to do now, he would just have to get this fight over with quickly so he could go help. He jumped up to his spot on the ring, Mirai doing the same, albeit a little confused. Why did Gohan look so serious all of a sudden? He never looked like that unless it was for a serious fight; the life or death kind. Before he could question his friend, Gohan squared himself to Mirai and spoke. "I really wanted to draw this fight out and have fun, Hero, but I think Terror 2 has run off. I can't sense her anywhere and, considering all the others are separated like they're looking for something..."
"Come on, Delivery Boy, they would have told us if something like that was going on."
"Can you think of another explanation? And do you really think they would tell us that she was missing just before we fought?"
Mirai frowned, he doubted they would. Mirai let out a breath. "We'll have to make this as quick as possible so we can help."
"I agree, which is why I apologized." Gohan moved into the stance they usually used when powering up. He threw back his head and let out a shout, powering up to as high as he could go in SS2. Mirai just stared, Gohan was far stronger now than he was when they had sparred just two days ago. What happened? "Surprised? I don't blame you. It's time we get this started and over with." Mirai nodded and the two fell into their stances.
In Space:
"One minute until touchdown on Planet Earth," a computer voice sounded through eight small pods that were just entering Earth's atmosphere. In the lead pod, a saiyan female that was cast almost completely in shadow stretched as much as her little pod would allow. Unfortunately for her, that wasn't much.
Just as the computer voice(s) said, the pods crashed into the Earth one minute later, creating large craters in the Earth's crust. Seconds after their crash landing, the pods' doors opened up revealing eight bored and stiff saiyans whose faces were still in the shadow of their pod doors. The saiyans had arrived on Earth yet again.
Chapter 10
The two saiyans faced one another, waiting impatiently for the announcer to call for them to begin. "IT SEEMS TENSION IS ON IN THE RING! WHO WILL WIN THIS MATCH? FIGHTERS READY? BEGIN!" Before the word 'begin' was even wholly out of the announcer's mouth, Gohan charged forward far faster than any human could see. Mirai was shocked, where did all this power come from all of a sudden? He was quickly jolted out of his shock as Gohan's left fist connected with his gut. Then Gohan hooked Mirai's left leg and pulled it out from under him, forcing him to fall to the right side. Mirai barely recovered in time to block the hard right into his falling side, but, with both Gohan's power and his momentum, the punch was still very effective.
Mirai let out a gasp of pain as the back of the hand that was trying to stop Gohan's punch hit his side with most of the power of Gohan's attack beside it. Then Gohan's foot connected with Mirai's gut, knocking him back several steps. Mirai coughed, trying to regain his breath and Gohan was back on him again. Knowing that blocking wasn't really an option, Mirai dodged as many of the attacks Gohan sent his way as he could. As Gohan continued to land several combinations, a thought stuck to the back of Mirai's mind: how is he this strong? It was all he could do to dodge and block, he had suspected Gohan was going easy in their spars, against both him and Vegeta, but he never suspected it could be this much! And that was the advantage Gohan had been hoping for against Vegeta but had to use to finish this fight quickly: his opponent was too shocked to fight back with everything they had.
Gohan continued to push Mirai toward the edge of the ring, hoping against hope that Mirai would fall off the edge and not recover in time to stop himself touching the ground. Sadly, Mirai caught on to Gohan's little plan when he saw how far back he was being pushed and shot into the air. Gohan hadn't prepared for that action but quickly followed. Mirai summoned a quick energy blast and shot it at the other saiyan. Gohan knocked it into the ring easily and kept charging. In the half-second it took for Gohan to appear beside Mirai, the time traveler had shot his power up to its maximum so he could better fight off his opponent.
Though his power level was still much lower than Gohan's, Mirai was now able to block the attacks directed at him as well as deliver some of his own. The two half-saiyans battled it out mercilessly more than thirty feet above the ring while moving in and out of human sight. It was clear to anyone who could see the fight (though no one was watching that could see the fight) that Gohan far outmatched his future counterpart's student. The only problem was that Mirai wasn't going to make Gohan's win easy on him, though. Even if they both wanted to finish the fight quickly so they could help find Gosen, neither teen wanted to lose.
Mirai gasped for breath, he had taken far too much damage at the beginning of the fight and was starting to think that Gohan had broken a couple of his ribs with his kick. Both boys jumped back from one another, landing on either end of the ring. Both boys were panting, though Mirai far harder than Gohan. "Hero, we can't determine this fight with physical combat; it'll take too long," Gohan called once he caught his breath.
Mirai nodded. "Yeah...What do you...suggest?"
"Kamehameha."
Mirai looked up at the younger version of his deceased mentor. "But that could hurt...the people in the stands as well!"
"Can't you control yours well enough to redirect it before it hits the audience?"
Mirai thought for a moment as he finally caught his breath. "Yeah, I suppose so." He dropped into the familiar stance of the Kamehameha Wave and Gohan mimicked his movement.
"WOW FOLKS! IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE GOING TO GET TO SEE A KAMEHAMEHA OFF! THIS HASN'T HAPPENED AT THE WORLD TOURNAMENT SINCE THE 21ST TOURNAMENT!" The announcer was beyond excited. They were about to have a Kamehameha off! And this was only the junior division! He couldn't wait to see the adult competition where these kids' parents and their (parents') friends competed!
"KA..." both boys shouted as the held their cupped hands in front of them. "ME...HA..." they moved their hands to their sides. "ME..." A ball of light appeared in their hands and started growing quickly. "HA!" they shouted as they thrust their hands forward, their blasts meeting in the center of the ring. All around the tournament center, the Z Gang turned to look in the direction of the ongoing match.
With Vegeta:
Vegeta couldn't believe what his senses were telling him: the brat had been holding back! He growled before turning back to his search, he would make Gohan pay for that later he needed to focus on finding Gosen now.
With Goku:
Wow, Gohan's gotten a lot stronger than when I last saw him. I'll definitely have some trouble if I come up against him in the tournament. And Mirai Trunks! Wow! He'll be trouble too. It looks like I might have to pull out my secret weapon. Goku smiled at the thought of the fights ahead of him and return to searching for his daughter.
With Chichi:
Oh, my baby is so strong! I guess I can see why Goku had him fight when he was a kid. My poor Gohan, he had to go through all that awful stuff when he was just a little boy! Oh, I hope he's been studying as much as he's been training! No son of my is going to be a muscled idiot! Chichi crossed her arms and continued her search for her daughter.
With the Terrors Minus Gosen:
They all stared in the direction of the match between Gohan and Mirai. "Wow," Goten whispered. "Gosen wasn't kidding..."
"Wasn't kidding about what?" Trunks turned to glance at his friend before looking back toward his 'brother's' fight.
"She said that when Uncle Piccolo was teaching her how to find people's minds, she decided to try to find Nii-chan's because Piccolo had said he was up on the Lookout for something and she accimadentally—"
"It's accidentally, Goten," Trunks corrected on impulse.
"Oops, well, she ac-sa-dent-al-ly," he enunciated carefully, "read his thoughts before he noticed and he had been thinking about his training. She said he was a whole lot stronger than he told anybody. She wasn't too sure how much but that he could beat Mirai and Uncle Vegeta if he wanted to."
"He couldn't beat Dad!" Trunks immediately responded, his dad was the strongest in the whole world, no one could beat him.
"That's just what she said!" Goten assured his friend.
"Guys, shouldn't we be looking for her?" Maron asked.
"Right!" the boys agreed, turning to resume their search.
With Gosen and Videl:
When Videl stepped into the bathroom with Gosen, but the little girl stopped. She looked down curiously to see what was wrong then blinked. Why is she staring at the wall like that? She grew up in Capsule Corp so I doubt there's anything so awe inspiring about a wall. Oh well, better ask her. "What are you staring at, Gosen?"
She jumped slightly and looked up at her brother's friend. "Nii-chan's power just went up really high." She frowned. "I didn't think his power would be that high but now I think he's still holding back a little..." Gosen tried to get into her brother's mind to see what was happening but it was so concentrated on the blue beam in front of him that...she...couldn't. "Kamehameha off!" she shouted in realization. "That's what they're doing! They're trying to end the fight quickly. I guess they know that I'm not with everyone else." She looked up at her new friend. "There's not much to worry about, except that Uncle Veggie's gonna be mad."
Videl blinked. How did Gosen know all that? She shook her head, that was just another question to ask Gohan. "Okay, Squirt." She lifted the smaller girl up onto the counter and reached over to get a paper towel and run it under the water. "I need you to lift that mask up so I can clean your face, okay?"
Gosen shook her head. "Nii-chan said I can't take the mask off until he says so."
"It'll only be for a second, no one else is going to see your face and I already know who you are."
"But what if someone walks in?"
"You'll know beforehand, right?" Videl didn't understand how the girl knew how many people were around and where exactly they were, but she knew she could. Gosen thought about for a second before nodding and pulling her mask off.
Videl gasped when she saw the pupilless teal eyes that were red and puffy. Videl shook her head and grabbed Gosen's chin. She then wiped the tears away with the wet paper towel in her hand. Gosen sat calmly and let Videl work.
A couple of minutes later, Videl was finished and Gosen replaced her mask. "We have to go, Nii-chan's match is over." She hopped down from the cabinet and smiled up at Videl. Videl wanted to ask who won but wasn't sure the little girl knew so she just took her hand and led her to where the top six junior competitors were to meet.
As they walked through the halls of the tournament building, Gosen looked up at the older girl. She's really nice and kinda pretty. I guess I can see why Nii-chan likes her. I wonder how long it'll take for everyone to start teasing them. I might have to speed that along a little. She grinned mischievously and rose her power level to noticeable levels so the others knew where she was.
Where I Left Off With Gohan and Mirai:
The Kamehameha Waves shot from the teens hands, huge and powerful. They collided in the center of the ring, causing a ball of built up and fighting chi to form. It caused a shallow but long crater to form in the center of the ring. To everyone in the audience, they looked evenly matched. Mirai's body trembled slightly as he poured more of his low reserves of energy into his blast. It didn't make much difference, Gohan matched him. Mirai gasped in a breath.
On the other end of the ring, Gohan was trying to figure out how much power into the blast that it would beat Mirai's but not kill his friend. He could feel Mirai's power waning and wasn't completely sure of how Mirai's body would take the blast when Gohan put more energy into it. Taking a deep breath, Gohan slowly rose the energy of his blast, carefully watching the blasts to see where exactly he should stop pushing. Finally, Gohan's blast started pushing toward Mirai. Gohan rose the power behind it a very small amount and watched as it pushed to Mirai, knocking the other saiyan out of the ring. Gohan sent his blast into the sky and stopped the force behind it. He rushed over to his friend to check the purple haired teens condition.
Crap! He's not in super saiyan anymore! Someone might recognize him! Gohan hurriedly pulled the protective pouch full of Sensu Beans out of his belt and put one in Mirai's mouth. Mirai sat up and looked around to see where he was. "Mirai, Super Saiyan," Gohan's voice hissed in his ear.
"Oh!" Mirai abruptly turned his hair back to the golden color and hoped no one had noticed.
At The Top of The Stadium:
Unfortunately for him, eight saiyans had watched the display and knew exactly what happened. They were all cast in the shadow of the sign beside them. "Well, guys, it looks like we've got our work cut out for us. Those two are no joke," the saiyan female that had been in the lead pod told the others softly.
"I know," the saiyan male that crouched beside her said. "They destroyed our scouters."
"I told you to learn how to sense powers," she responded condescendingly.
"Shut up," they all grumbled.
Back With Mirai and Gohan:
"Sorry for going so hard on you but we had to finish quickly." (their fight really only lasted a couple of minutes)
"I know, man. Let's go find your sister."
Gohan chuckled. "You're starting to sound like Sharpner," he whispered.
Mirai looked horrified, "Don't even joke about that!"
Gohan grinned as he headed off to start his search for Gosen with Mirai on his heels. As he entered the competitors' area (which had the exit to the rest of the tournament complex) he stopped and let out a sigh of relief. "She's fine." He blinked as he recognized the power beside her. "She's with Videl, they're headed to where we're supposed to meet up for the punching machine thing."
Mirai let out a sigh of resignation. "You like her, don't you?"
"Who?"
"Don't play dumb, Delivery Boy." Gohan continued to stare at him stupidly. "Videl."
"WHAT? I DON'T LIKE HER!" he shouted.
"Yes you do, and you know it." Mirai started walking again. "Come on, we have to go meet up with you girlfriend."
"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"
Mirai smirked. "Whatever you say." This is going to be fun! Maybe I can get the others in on it too...And I have been spending too much time with Dad and mini-me.
When they finally arrived at the meeting point, the rest of the group was waiting with Hercule; apparently they had noticed Gosen's power reappear and head here alongside a friendly one. It wasn't long after the junior competition's finalists arrived that Gosen and Videl made their appearance.
He noted curiously that Gosen was holding Videl's hand and dragging the older girl toward him. Then he saw the smile on her face and it made him anxious. What was his little sister planning? She stopped just beside him and her smile widened. "Nii-chan, you're girlfriend's really nice!" she chirped.
The cry of "SHE/HE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND!" was loud enough to be heard on the other side of the tournament complex causing both Videl and Gohan to turn red as tomatoes and avoid eye contact.
Mirai leaned down to whisper in the little girl's ear. "Nice one." He straightened as Gosen beamed, waiting on what was bound to happen next.
"MY BABY HAS A GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND?" Chichi and Hercule shouted at the same time. "YOU CAN'T GO OUT WITH HER/HIM!" they pointed to the other's child then turned on each other. "AND WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY BABY?" The Terrors, Mirai, and Krillin all collapsed into laughter while Vegeta and Piccolo smirked in amusement before examining Videl.
Krillin elbowed his friend. "Good going, kiddo, she's pretty."
"SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Mirai and Gosen smirked, their job was done.
"YOU CAN'T KILL HIM, CHI!" Goku shouted, trying to hold Chichi back from attacking Mr. Satan for saying that her son was too much of a scrawny weakling to date his daughter.
"KAKAROTT!" Vegeta roared at the absentminded saiyan. "ALIASES!"
Goku frowned, "Oops."
Gohan and Videl groaned, both thinking the same thing: This is going to be horrible! That's when the monks decided it was time to make an appearance. "Okay! I need the parents of the top six junior competitors to sign these forms, for insurance reasons." Hercule, Chichi, Goku, and Vegeta stepped up.
"Sign your alias, Kakarott!" Vegeta snapped before signing 'Prince' onto the parental signature line for both Mirai and Trunks.
"Uh...How do you spell Kakarott?"
"Forget it! I'll just sign it for all three of them!" Chichi snapped before signing 'Harpy' on all three of her children's pages. Hercule quickly signed for Videl.
"Okay! I need you to line up in this order," he looked down at his clipboard, "Videl Satan, Terror 1, Terror 3, Terror 2, Hero, and finally Delivery Boy." They nodded and lined up in front of the punch-o-matic.
"Hold back a bit, you five. Those pieces of junk break easily and this is their last one!" Vegeta snapped at the four half-saiyans.
"Okay!" Terrors 1-3 chimed. Mirai and Gohan merely nodded, they had already intended to.
"You're telling them to hold back?" Hercule asked Vegeta, disbelievingly, "There's no way those three are older than five and the other two are in their early teens! How can you tell them to hold back?"
"They are far stronger than their appearances suggest."
"O...kay," the monk took a deep breath, not really understanding Vegeta's reasoning but remembering what he did to the other machine. "So, Videl, step right up." Videl did and punched the machine with all her might. Thanks to all the training Gohan had given her, she was a lot stronger than she had been which, according to Gohan, was stronger than her father. "201!" the monk and Hercule yelped in shock.
Gohan grinned proudly; Mirai, Vegeta, Goku, Chichi, Gosen, Piccolo, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, 18, Krillin, and Maron looked impressed; Goten looked oblivious; Trunks looked contemptuous; and Roshi, Hercule, and the monks looked shocked and disbelieving.
"N-next." Trunks punched the machine lightly, for him, and the numbers shot up. "550!" He didn't believe the score but had learned earlier that these scores were real. "N-next." Goten got a 549, Gosen a 545, Mirai a 590, and Gohan a 600. "Um...it seems you have all advanced to the adult tournament. You will be competing with Mr. Satan, Prince, Baldie, Eighteen, Midget, Harpy, Kakarott, Majunior, Bandit, and Triclops. You will be drawing numbers in five minutes in the competitors' area, have a good day." The monks walked away, astounded. Every single one of those kids had scored higher than the world champion himself, and their were four and five year olds with them! If they hadn't seen the kids' matches, they would have sworn the machine was completely busted.
Vegeta turned to Gohan with a devious smirk. "I see you've been training your mate."
"SHE IS NOT MY MATE!"
"Oh, my baby's growing up! He's got himself a girlfriend and soon enough he'll be married with kids!" Tears filled her eyes until she processed what she had just said. A wide smile spread slowly across her face. "And I'll have grandbabies to spoil!" she squealed.
"Oh no," Gohan groaned.