Chapter 2: The Junior Tournament starts! Trunks vs Time Shennhan!

Now that she had finally met him, Chi didn't know what to make of her father. He was friendly enough, sure, and certainly everyone treated him like an old friend, and mom was the happiest Chi had seen her in… well, ever really.

Still, she couldn't help but feel somewhat out of touch with the stranger who was her father. Unlike the rest of the adults, Chi had never known her father before this moment, so it stood to reason that she was currently feeling a bit of a disconnect between the two of them. Not helping matters was the fact that Goku had asked why his son was wearing makeup when he had first looked down at her.

That had annoyed Chi to no end, though she said nothing and did her best to mask it with a friendly smile. The last thing she wanted to do was to ruin everyone's happiness of having her father back, even if it was just for one day.

"What do you mean I can't enter with the adults!?"

Chi blinked, her train of thought interrupted by Trunks's raspy yelling. He, Bra, and Chi herself were now signing up for the tournament. Though upon listening in on their conversion, Chi soon learned that there was apparently a younger division now, which meant that the three of them and Marron would be fighting in a different tournament then the grownups.

The daughter of Goku thought this over and rubbed her chin in thought. If she was perfectly honest with herself, she might just like this better. She knew she wouldn't have a chance against any of the adults, and the possibility of going up against her father would just be awkward as all heck. So, this could certainly work out best for at least her and Bra if nothing else.

True, she wasn't as strong as Trunks was, since she was a year younger, and not quite as dedicated to training as he (or to be more truthfully, his father) was.

At the same time, seeing as how he could have to up against Marron, whose ability to keep going no matter how long a fight dragged along was something that had always impressed the young Son girl, that would without a doubt even the odds a good bit in her favor if she had to fight him before Bra did.

Just then, she felt a familiar ki fast approaching Papaya Island, followed by at least two others that she was sure she recognized from somewhere.

"Hey guys," Goku said. "I'm sensing a few incoming power levels. Two of them are Yamcha and Tien approaching, but I'm not recognizing the third, forth, or fifth one," Krillin said. He then crossed his short arms together and continued.

"But you're right on the other two, can't say I've ever felt them before. But at least one of them is my daughter, Marron."

Goku looked at his best friend, his expression stunned. "You have a daughter, Krillin? Seriously, who's the mom?"

"Ahem."

Goku looked over and, for the first time since he had arrived back on earth some 20 minutes ago, finally noticed 18's existence.

"If Android 18 is her mom then that means… you married an android?"

"Cyborg." Both 18 and Krillin said in unison. Krillin added: "Turns out Dr. Gero just modified her some, while leaving all her… ya know parts intact, which allowed us to have Marron."

"Ohhhh, but why would Gero-"

"Don't know or care and I suggest you do the same.," 18 interrupted quickly as her cheeks started to color pink, cutting Goku off in a hard tone of voice that said that the topic of why Gero let her keep her ability to reproduce was over.

Goku nodded casually. "Fair enough. Good to see tthat you're one of the good guys now 18."

18 snorted. "Feh."

A few short minutes later, Marron, Yamcha, a blonde haired woman and boy, and Tien all landed in front of everyone. The three of them everyone had been expecting. But the other three they hadn't. One was a man with black shoulder-length hair and blue eyes, who had a bright orange banana wrapped around his neck.

The other two were a child who looked a few years older than the rest of the kids, and a woman with green eyes. Both, has had been mentioned had blond hair and were standing next to Tien. The boy had the same serious eyebrows as Tien did (though the boy's eyebrows matched his hair color), with green eyes similar to Lunch. On his head was a black baseball cap with a red dot on the top and a green T shirt with the picture of a crane in the middle.

Before anyone could say a thing, however, Yamcha burst out into a big grin when his eyes locked onto his old dead friend.

"Goku, it's been way too long man!" the former bandit said as he went over and smacked his old friend on the back. "How's the afterlife been treating you?"

"Yamcha, Tien, good to see ya guys!" Goku's face broke out into an enormous grin. "Been pretty good myself, won a tournament against a bunch of really powerful dead fighters, one of them even happened to look a lot like Piccolo now that I think about it."

He glanced over to the woman and the child. "Um, excuse me miss, but who are you exactly?"

The blond woman snorted in response. "'Who are you' he says, like he don't even remember who helped saved his sorry butt after he got himself captured by the Red Ribbon Army."

"We talked about this-" Tien hissed as he put a hand on the woman's shoulder. He glanced over to Goku. "Everyone, you remember Lunch, I hope?"

It took a moment for the name and face to sink in before Bulma, Roshi, and Oolong all blanched together in memory.

"I-It's nice to see you again Lunch." Roshi stammered.

"R-Right!" Oolong added with a nervous smile. "Good ole Lunch who-"

"Never once got a letter or phone call or nothin' from you guys.," The blond woman cut him off, her voice hard and harsh. "If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you guys had forgotten about me." Lunch glared at the trio as she placed her hands on her hips.

"D-D-Don't be silly Lunch," Bulma said. "How could we ever forget someone as… unique as you?"

"How indeed?" Lunch said with a snort. She then gestured to the boy next to her. "Anyways. This is our son, Time. Son, say hi to mamma's old buddies."

Time gave a small bow. "It's an honor to meet you all." Now that the child's relation to Tien and Lunch had been cleared up, everyone could see the resemblance as Time looked more or less like a blend of both of his parents. They could even see the third eye that stuck out through the fluffy volume of bond hair.

"Y-Your son…" Bulma stammered.

"You married LUNCH!?" Both Goku and Krillin repeated together with shared dumbstruck expressions.

Tien nodded. "It was right after the Cell games, Lunch tracked me down again and revealed that I had gotten her pregnant three years before I had set off to train for the Androids. She had kept out of sight during that time so I could train for the upcoming battle. Feeling that the only honorable thing to do was to return that kindness and stay with her and raise our son-" He paused with a shrug of the shoulders. "Here we are seven years later. Choutzu is staying home, holding down the fort as it were."

"I-I see," Roshi murmured as he adjusted his sunglasses. "And things have been alright then, what with-"

"The fact that I share the body with a brainless blue haired halfwit?" Lunch finished. "Yea, other then that it's been okay. Though allergy season's a real bitch."

"Excuse me," a young voice spoke up.

Everyone turned and looked down in the voice's direction. Sure enough, there was Marron, only a few feet away from the adults, her hands resting on her hips in a relaxed manner with a somewhat bored expression on her face. The gravity suit that Bra had given her had clearly seen much action, as it was now a wrinkled, dirty, scuffed up mess of a uniform.

"I was wondering where Bra, Chi and the rest were at. It's been a while since I've seen them and-"

" They're down the hallway some." Goku pointed to the dark tunnel near the group. "They've already registered, though only for the Junior Division."

"I see…" Marron looked over at her father and mother and smiled warmly. "If it's alright daddy, I'd like to go sign up now."

"Sure kiddo, good luck."

Time glanced up to his father. "I'll go sign up as well."

Tien said nothing, but nodded his approval.

When both kids had signed in and wandered off out of sight, Goku turned his attention to Number 17. "I take it since 17 is with you, he's a good guy now too?"

It was at this point that 17 finally spoke up. "I haven't been going around blowing up buildings or slaughtering innocents, if that's what you're thinking."

"Oh, well that's good. So will you or Lunch be entering as well?"

"No, though as tempting as a rematch with the Namek would be, I'm just here simply as a spectator."

"Oh, okay then." Goku turned his head to Lunch.

"Unless they've gone and lifted that ban on weapons, I ain't enterin'," the former outlaw replied gruffly as she folded her arms together.

"Are you sure Lunch?" Tien replied as he put a hand on her shoulder again. "You've become quite a formidable fighter in your own right these past seven years, the machine gun just slows you down anyways."

"Maybe so, but that gun was my first baby. It's seen me through thick and thin. Wouldn't feel right fighin' without it."

"Well, on a different subject, I take it Marron's a student of yours Master?"

Roshi chuckled. "Partly Goku, partly. It's been mostly a three way job between myself, Krillin, and 18 though."

"Uniform's a bit different though."

"That's because my daughter, Bra, made it for her," Bulma said, not bothering to hide the pride in her voice. "It's apparently a wearable gravity room that can change the amount of weight that's on the person's body."

Huh, Bulma and Vegeta had another kid., Goku thought to himself. Guess without me to fight it's not like he would have had much else to do besides training. Guess he eventual got bored and needed something else to do... now that I think about it I guess that is why we have Trunks. And from the sound of it, it seems like this Bra didn't fall far from Bulma's part of the undergarment tree.

"So how is she as a fighter?" Goku asked Tien and Yamcha. "Marron I mean."

"She's dedicated, I'll give her that much." Tien replied. "I'm amazed she was able to pick up as much as she did during the short time we had to train her."

"Yea," Yamcha said with a shrug. "She's a driven fighter, that one. Same for Tien's kid, and both can be a bit bossy, which might explain why they bicker as much as they do."

At this, 17 let out a small chuckle. "Well given who her mother is, I can't say I'm surprised in the least."

18 shot him a withering glare, or at least a glare that was more withering than usual.

"Either way, if it wasn't for her, neither Yamcha nor I would have bothered to compete in this tournament," Tien said.

Goku arched an eyebrow. "Really now?"

"Yea," Yamcha added. "Tien didn't want to interrupt his training with Lunch and Time, and I didn't want to compete because I won't have a snowball's chance on the sun against you guys."

"Well," Goku said, giving the former desert bandit a friendly smile. "I'm glad you're here, now it really will be like old times!"

He turned back to Krillin. "Right?"

Krillin nodded and gave a thumbs up. "You bet Goku!"

"Well in that case, you guys may wish to go ahead and sign up then."

Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien all looked at one another and nodded in unison. "Right!"

DBZ

"There are quite a number of fighters here," Time remarked as both he and Marron took in the crowd before them. They had both just stepped out of the hallway, declining to change as they were already wearing the clothes that they'd be fighting in for the tournament.

Time shoved one hands in the front of his jeans while he adjusted his black-with-a-red-dot baseball hat with the other. "Almost makes me wish that we could compete with them all."

"Yea…" Marron replied in a distant voice, eyes wide in wonder. Having lived her life mostly on the small island of Kame House, this many people with so many different conversations going on at once were more than a bit awe inspiring and even intimidating.

Time noticed the blond girl's absentminded staring. "Hoy, earth to the baby blender!"

That snapped Marron out of her gaze as she reactively pounded Time's closest arm with a punch.

"Jerk."

"Ice Princess."

"Three eyed weirdo."

Time opened his mouth to fire back with another insult when a loud voice caught both his and Marron's respective attentions.

"HEY MARRON, OVER HERE!"

Both blonds looked over and Marron broke out into a big smile as she dashed over, Time trailing behind her, to the group of people where the voice had came from.

"Bra, Chi!"

"Marron!"

All three girls came in for a three-way hug that lasted a few good long moments before they let go. After weeks of the three of them having not seen one another, the hug was desperately needed.

Time simply stood alone from the trio of girls, feeling more than a bit of a fourth wheel just then.

"So how have you two been?" Marron asked.

"I've been alright," Chi replied in a chirp-like tone. "Been helping big bro and his new girlfriend train for the tournament."

Marron frowned as her face became confused. "Girlfriend?"

"Hey Marron!"

Marron looked up and saw Mr. Gohan walk over to them, still dressed in the same silly outfit that he had worn on Kame Island. By his side was a short haired, blue-eyed young woman who looked about the same age as Gohan himself. Judging by her somewhat higher than normal energy, Marron thought that she must be a fighter.

"Videl," Gohan said when the two teenagers had reached the group of children. "This is Marron, the daughter of a good friend of mine. She's quite the fighter for her age."

"Like your sister?" Videl remarked in a suspicious tone.

For a moment, Gohan hesitated before saying, "Well, more or less, yea."

"I see." Videl looked down at Marron, while Marron likewise looked up to the tall (from her perspective) teen with interest. For a moment, neither said a word as they just glared at one another.

Finally Videl closed her eyes and smiled slightly before reopening them. "It's nice to meet you Marron." What sort of little girl that age can make a glare like that, Videl thought to herself as she felt a drop of sweat slide down the side of her face.

"Likewise Miss Videl," Marron said as she gave a small bow.

"coughkissasscough." Behind his shades, Gohan blinked as he glanced down in the direction of the male sounding voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there, who are you supposed to be?"

"My name is Time, I'm the son of Tien and Lunch Shinhan."

"Really now?" Gohan said as he felt his shades slip slightly down his nose. "Never would have guessed-"

"Hey, GOHAN!"

Both Gohan and Videl looked up to see Goku, waving his arm for his son to come over as he and the rest of the adults came out of the tunnel.

Gohan quickly glanced back down at the kid again.

"Bestofluckinthetournament. YoutooChi!"

With that, Gohan dashed over to his father and friends with Videl in tow, his hand clamped around her wrist.

"Dad!"

"Hey Gohan, it's good to see you. Nice outfit."

"Thanks, Bulma made it for me. I'm entering as the Great Saiyaman."

"That so?" It was then that Goku noticed the girl. "Oh, are you that Videl girl my son's been talking about so much?"

At his comment, both Videl and Gohan's faces flushed red.

"Come on," Goku said with a laugh. "I was just joking you two."

Blush fading from his face, Gohan was about to answer when yet another voice bombastically called out to them.

A dark blond haired man in a black suit and red tie ran up to them, a broad grin on his mustached face. Both Goku and Krillin broke out into smiles when they realized who it was.

"And here I started to think I'd never see you guys again," the World Announcer remarked with a happy smile. "I mean how long has it been really? You guys haven't been out to compete in the world tournament in AGES."

"Well, you know." Goku scratched the back of his head. "World to save and all that."

"Speaking of saving the world-" The Announcer took a quick glance from side to side before leaning his head in closer. "Hercule Satan didn't actually beat Cell, did he? Come on Goku baby, I KNOW it was really you that did it," the man asked in a hushed voice as he gave Goku a playful jab in the ribs.

"No comment," Goku said as he, Krillin, and the rest of the male fighters let out a knowing laugh.

Shrugging his shoulders, the World Announcer then raised a lone index finger to his face. "I can't TELL you guys how happy I am to see you. Ever since your gang stopped entering the fights have been nothing but capital B boring."

It was at that moment that he noticed 18 and Vegeta standing nearby. Both of them were looking off in different directions with indifferent expressions.

"They with you?" the Announcer asked. He had only gotten half a yes and a nod out of Goku before cutting the dead warrior off. "GREAT! The more the merrier! Just try not to blow up the ring this time okay?"

Piccolo gave the man a rare, small smile. "We'll try." The tone was one that was almost friendly, which by Piccolo standards was down right amicable.

The Announcer let out a good-natured chuckle, before his shade covered eyes were drawn to the halo above Goku's head.

"You… haven't always had that gold ring over your head, have you?"

"Well," Goku replied as his eyes went up to lock onto his halo. "Thing is I've been dead ever since the fight with Cell, but they let me come back for a day just to compete."

For the longest moment, the World Tournament Announcer was in a rare state of speechlessness, unsure of how exactly to respond to that.

To the man's credit, however, he quickly recovered and gave it all a dismissive wave of the hand. "Well, that's weird. But after all the crazy stuff I've seen you and your friends do I'd be crazy to start doubting you now, am I right Goku baby?"

Nice to know that there's at least one person who knows how great my dad is, Gohan thought to himself with a smile.

"Well," the Announcer said as he began to back away from the others. "I've got business to take care of. Best of luck to all of you ringside, I'm expecting a super show ya hear!?"

At this everyone gave the man a nod in agreement, with Goku holding up his index and middle fingers in a V shape.

"What was that all about?" Videl asked Gohan, her voice a hushed whisper.

"Well my dad and his friends ARE past competitors, makes sense that they'd be friends with the Announcer."

Videl frowned, but said nothing. There was no faulting the logic, but something still seemed off. What had the World Announcer felt was so important that he had to whisper it to Goku's dad (the whole coming back from the dead for a day thing hadn't yet fully sunk in)?

She supposed it was just another mystery about Gohan and his life that needed cracking at some point. But not today, today she'd do her best to get to the same round as "The Great Sayiaman," and then the children of two of the past World Tournament champs could properly duke it out. It would be a fight worth remembering.

It was at that moment that the roar of the crowd of spectators cut off Videl's thought, as well as brought the rest of Gohan's group of strange friend's' attentions to the front of the courtyard.

Standing above the horde of fighting fanatics, clad in his brown martial arts gi with his golden championship belt wrapped around his waist, was the so-called world savior himself: Hercule Satan.

"OH YEA!" Both his arms were raised to the sky, his fingers in the pose of victory. "WHO HERE WANTS AN AUTOGRAPH FROM THE WORLD'S GREATEST FIGHTER? CUZ I'M CHARGING FOR THE FIRST 50!"

"Go Satan!" The crowd cheered as they pumped one of their fists in the air in unison. "Go Satan! Go Satan!"

"Man, people would cheer for a goldfish if you put a belt on it." Krillin's remark was met with a round of chuckles, save for Videl who simply glared at the short, bald headed man.

"Where do you get off insulting my dad like that?" she snapped as she put her hands to her hips. "I know he's a blowhard and all but he still saved all of our lives, the LEAST you could do is show him a bit of respect."

"Hey now," Gohan said as he put a hand on Videl's back. "I'm sure Krillin didn't mean anything by it, it was just a harmless joke, RIGHT KRILLIN?"

Krillin let out an audible gulp. "R-Right."

"Well," Tien said, hoping to change the topic. "Let's get going, shall we?"

The massive crowds of fighters now stood in a U shape around three Tournament monks and a short, spectacled wearing man with suspenders holding up his pants. In his hand was a microphone. "Attention please!

"The preliminaries for the world tournament are about to begin. 192 people have entered the adult tournament, but there are only 16 slots available.

"As per the rules, the returning champion is automatically allowed one of those spots, which makes for 15 openings left. To ensure fairness, we will select the finalist by way of punching strength, and the people with the highest scores on the machine will be given the spots for the tournament."

"Punching machine?" Krillin arched an eyebrow in interest before quickly lowering it again. "That's a new one."

As if on cue, three monks heaved the machine over before setting it down on the ground.

The short man quickly continued: "And now to give us a score to go by and to test the machine out to make sure that it isn't broken, we ask that the defending champion Mr. Hercule Satan come over and show these would-be champions a demonstration of his magnificent skill and strength."

His body posed with confidence, Hercule took a step forward and then stopped. He untied his long white cape and tossed it up in the air. He then took off his championship belt and held it out in one hand for all the rest of the fighters to see.

"DOES ANYBODY WANT THIS!?"

Hercule got his reply in the form of a loud cheer from most of the 192 competitors. Videl simply put the palm of one of her black gloved hand to the front of her face, trying her best to cover up the reddening of her cheeks.

I'm not sure what's worse, Krillin thought to himself. Hercule Satan the show boater, or his fans?

Hercule, being the type of man that he was, of course did not simply go and deliver a punch to the machine's big red button when he reached it. He posed, flexed, and modeled as a multitude of cameras snapped pictures of the most well known fighter on the planet. That is, until every single one of them exploded at the same time.

For a long moment, no one knew quite how to react to the sudden and explosive loss of their machines as clouds of smoke began floating up into the air. Hercule himself simply stood there mid-pose, looking only slightly more buffoonish then usual.

Gohan glanced over to his long time mentor and friend with a questioning expression.

"A ring is a place of fighting, not photo shoots. I want you to fight at your full power without worry of having your identity discovered."

"Oh. Thanks, I think?"

Hercule, meanwhile, had decided to go ahead with setting the power standard with the punching machine. Cracking a knuckle, he bent his knees down, and raised one hand with his fingers spread out in a claw like shape, while his other hand was brought back and curled up into a fist.

For a moment, Hercule did nothing more then grunt and groan. To most of the fighters, it seemed as if the man who had beaten Cell was gathering all of his strength for one mighty punch. To those that knew better, the hot air balloon was doing nothing more than letting out air.

Hercule threw his fist forward. "SATAN PUNCH!"

The hand met the red mat of the machine and above the cylinder shaped device in the rectangular box, numbers began to register.

A second later they settled on a number.

"140 points ladies and gentlemen, what incredible power!"

Hercule turned his attention back to the rest of the fighters, nearly all of whom were cheering from their champion's show of strength. Walking off back to his private office, Hercule turned around one last time to the rest of the crowd. "Good luck to all you fighters, and I hope at least one of you can break 100, that way we'll be able to have a decent match!"

"You know," Yamcha commented to Tien, making sure that Videl wasn't within hearing range., "it's times like these I wish I had entered the 24th tournament and won, if only so we wouldn't have to put up with someone like him."

Tien nodded, his face in its typical solemn expression. "It's a sad state that the martial arts are currently in. Makes me wonder if I wasn't off better off going through with it."

"'It?" Yamcha asked. "What's 'it'?"

Tin smiled as he closed his eyes for a brief moment before reopening them. "Nothing. Just an idea I've toyed with these past seven years but never gone through with is all."

With that both warriors returned their attention to the short man with glasses. "All entrees please form a line in front of the punching machine. Once we have our scores we will then assign you a number."

Next to him, an elderly looking monk raised a hand. "And anyone who is competing in the Junior Division, please come over here."

Bra, Chi, Time, Trunks, and Marron had all gathered together in one group after Krillin had wished them luck and followed the old monk off to the tournament dugout where they would have a short bit of time to chat before their part of the tournament started.

With the children gone, the crowd began to slowly dwindled in number as fighter after fighter came up, gave the machine their best punch, and left. None of them topped Hercule's score - that is, until Number 18 walked up to the stand.

Ignoring the crass comments from the weakling meatheads from the crowd, the blond cybrog gave the machine a love tap. Said tap score was 754 points.

"T-That can't possibly be right…" the short man in charge of the machine commented. "It must be broken."

18 glared at him. "Wasn't broken when that blowhard Hercule or any of these other weaklings came up to it, was it? Because if that overrated piece of scrap metal it is malfunctioning, then what makes anyone's score a certainty? The machine is fine, I'm just that strong."

"I-Um… Well… Right, moving on," the short portly man said with a gulp as he rubbed the now sweating side of his head with a handkerchief. He wanted to object but there was something about that woman's cold blue eyes that sucked the spine right out of him. "Next please?"

Krillin glared at his wife as she walked past him. "You didn't have to do that you know."

"I am not going to hold myself back for these weaklings any more then I have to," 18 replied.

When it came the turns of Tien and Yamcha, both scored 250 and 177 respectfully, this forced Videl to give both them and 18 a long look of awe and respect.

At first she had simply chalked up such a high number to a machine malfunction like the man had said, and thought that 18 had somehow weaseled her way out of having to try again.

But now that two other guys from Gohan's group of family and friends had managed to obtain scores higher than her father's, it was mindboggling and more then a little suspicious. Just how powerful were these guys anyways?

Then came Krillin (192), Gohan's father (186), the man that Gohan had called Piccolo ( whether he dressed as the long dead Demon King for kicks or intimidation, Videl could only guess at) who managed a number of 210. And then came Gohan himself, who got a score of 195.

When Videl's turn finally came up, she paused for a moment as she gathered her ki up in a similar manner as when she had first learned to summon it a month ago. Fist as tight as she could make it, Videl threw a gloved punch forward like a shotgun blast. Both hand and machine mat recoiled and reverberated for a brief moment as her number came into view.

"326?" Videl murmured to herself. "Am I really THAT much stronger then my dad?"

For a moment, Videl was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the short man's order for her to leave so the other fighters behind her could have their turn at the machine.

"Right, sorry." Videl walked over to Gohan, who noticed her puzzled and confused expression.

"You should be proud of your score Videl, next to 18's it's the highest one so far!"

"But everyone from your group is holding back!

Gohan's face froze in a mix of awkwardness and fear. "Well… maybe a little. But not by that much I swear!"

"First the flying, now dead dad's coming back to life, and now this. What the hell kind of training regimen do you and your friends GO through to get that sort of power Gohan?"

"Well-You see- I-"

It was at that moment that a resounding crash and explosion was heard. Looking up both teens saw the punching machine, or what was left of it at any rate, having been demolished by crashing into the nearby wall.

"I believe that qualifies myself," Vegeta remarked with a smirk to the short man. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"O-Of c-course sir," the man replied as his round body quavered uncontrollably. It's a good thing he was the last of the qualifying fighters, though, the man thought. "Um, with that the last position is filled."

Under normal circumstances, the remaining fighters would have let out a collective groan of disappointment. But given that they had just seen a man smash a machine that must have weighed easily over a 100 pounds into a wall with just one punch, the group of would-be warriors could only stare on in shock.

Before she could think of anything else, Videl then felt Gohan's hand grip itself around her wrist once more, as she was soon dragged off to join his father and friends to watch the Junior Division Tournament start up.

Why do we have to go through this? Trunks Briefs thought to himself as he stood in a horizontal line. In front of them was the World Announcer, yammering about some sort of big prize for the winner of this whole kiddy pool of a tournament. The apparent 'honor' was to go and fight against the world champion Hercule himself.

Joy.

"Hey." The eldest Briefs child felt a nudge in his side.

Trunks glanced to his left to the face of the new guy, Tim or whatever his name was.

"Not sure if I introduced myself, but I'm Time." He held out a curled up fist, waiting for Trunks's response.

Trunks gave the blond ten year old a small smile and bumped his fist against Time's. "Trunks."

"I know."

"So how annoyed are you that we're having to compete in the baby division?"

Time gave a stiff shrug. "Not that annoyed, seeing as how I'll be getting a chance to fight against the one person I came here to fight anyways."

Trunks blinked. "Yea? Who's that?"

Time pointed a finger at the lavender haired boy. "You. I figure seeing as how my father fought your future self in that so-called Galactic Tournament all those years ago and lost, the least I could do is try my best to beat you."

Trunks found himself blinking for the second time in a row. "Oh. That makes sense… I guess. But I don't see how you'll have much of a chance, seeing as how I can go Super and all."

Time gave him a cocky smile. "Please, I overheard your sister and Son Goku's daughter talking, the whole lot of you space apes have been barred from transforming. While there are no such rules for Marron or myself and the Kaio Ken. I'd say that evens the odds up some in my book."

"Well… at least my hair isn't all puffy looking."

"Says the kid with natural purple hair."

Trunks opened his mouth to fire back with a retort of his own, but Time stopped him.

"The loudmouth announcer's about to finish up here. Save your insults for the ring."

"You alright Chi?" Marron asked her friend. She had noticed that her otherwise happy-go-lucky friend was unusually quiet and reserved.

Normally by this point, she was chattering about the latest episode of My Mini Pastel Colored Horsy: Magicalfriendship Z or Happy Dog. Seeing the spiky haired girl so quiet was more then a little unsettling.

Chi looked over at her friend and let out a small sigh. "I'm okay I suppose. I guess I just feel a bit bad about feeling so awkward around my dad is all."

"Why feel bad about it though?" a voice asked.

Both Marron and Chi looked over in the direction of the voice and saw Bra Briefs standing before them with a hand on her hip. Her normal white lab coat (which she had made the designers base specifically off of her grandfather's) was instead replaced with a practical pair of shorts and a black tank top.

"I mean it makes sense to me, you'd never met him before today, and he looks like an older version of you with a gold ring around his head. It only stands to reason that you'd feel a bit awkward around him. Personally I'd be a bit disturbed if you DIDN'T feel a bit awkward around the man."

"I guess so, it's just that I-" Chi paused and sniffed the air, and almost instantly she fell to her knees in pain. "Sweet Kami, what's that smell?"

"No idea," Bra gasped as she put a hand over her mouth and bent over. "Maybe all the male testosterone and ego somehow diffused its way over here?" She smiled weakly as she fell slowly to the floor.

"What in the world are you guys talking about?" Marron asked her friends, her face visibly puzzled by their reactions.

"They're talking about me ya blond shrimp!"

All three girls turned in the direction of the stranger's voice, near them stood a tan skinned teenager. She was a massive, thick-limbed girl who easily towered over all three fighters, and sure enough, a visible cloud of stench was emitting from her body.

Marron blinked once, then twice before speaking. "And you are…. Who exactly?"

"I am… Bacteriabella!"

For a long moment Marron didn't reply as she racked her memory for where she had heard that name before.

Finally, it clicked. "Oh. Your Bacterian's… granddaughter then?"

Bacteriabella smirked as she spat out a large, wet wad of mucus and spit.

"That's right. And with a-BRAAAPPP- stupid face like that there's only one person who could be your father. You're the daughter of Krillin's daughter, aren't you?"

Marron nodded. "I am, yes."

Bacteriabella's smirk increased. "Kami must be smiling on me then. Once I win my match it will be just me and you short stuff, which means after all these years my grandfather will finally be avenged!"

Marron touched her chin in thought with her thumb and index finger. "Nope," she said after a moment of silence. "Afraid I can't do it."

"Do what?"

"Care about your stupid vendetta. I just can't seem to see why someone my father fought when he was no more than a few years older than me should matter any to my life right now."

Bacteriabella's face turned a deep shade of red as she shot the young girl that was half her age a powerful death glare. Having been raised and trained by the likes of #18, however, Marron returned the glare by staring coolly at the brown mountain of a teenager that stood before her.

Seeing that her glare wasn't having any effect, Bacteriabella snorted and then spat out another large logie from her mouth. Elsewhere the Announcer called out both her and Marron's names for the first match to start. "Just get into the ring brat, I'll make you care about my vendetta soon enough."

Marron shrugged. "Alright."

Moments later the two stood in front one another, waiting for the Announcer to allow their match to start.

When he gave them the go-ahead Bacteriabella glared down at Marron and cracked her neck. "Are you ready to be put in a world of stench-based pain brat?"

Marron shrugged. "I'm ready whenever you-"

WHAM! Bacteribabella crashed her ham-sized fist into Marron's stomach, chest and abdomen, cutting the blond girl off.

Wasting no time the massive teenager slammed her to the ring's gray stone floor, bent over and belched in her face. Once, then twice, then three times before finally slamming Marron's body one more time as a finisher. Bacteriabella stood up and looked over at the blond Announcer.

"Hey Ref, start the count!"

"R-Right! One, Tw-"

"That," said Marron's voice, "will not be necessary Mr. Announcer."

Bacteriabella turned around stiffly, her face twisted in fear. Before her terrified eyes was Marron, back on her feet and brushing her small arms as she cracked her neck from side to side. There wasn't so much as a scratch on her body as she began causally stretching her muscles and limbs. "I-Impossible. How-"

"Are you as dense as your hygiene is poor?" Marron asked. "I'm not being sarcastic mind you, I'm simply wondering if you really are this stupid is all. Of course your smell based attacks didn't work. It's for the same reason that they didn't work on my father when he fought your grandfather-" Marron rubbed the barren place where a nose would have otherwise been. "No nose to know how bad you smell. Simple as that really."

"B-But-How-Are you even capable of smelling things in the first place!?"

"Well," Marron said as she began walking towards Bacteriabella, who in turn was taking many a fearful step backward as the small girl came closer and closer.

"My dad and I just can, I guess. Not sure how but we do. Mind you, it varies. Sometimes we can, sometimes we can't. This just happens to be one of those can't times I guess."

Marron paused as she gave a helpless 'What can you do?' shrug'.

"Now-"

Marron bent down in a fighting pose, her blue eyes narrowed and her expression one of the utmost seriousness. "Let's get started shall we?"

"The hell we are kid, I know when I'm beat!" Bacteriabella frantically cried out, as she swung her head to the Announcer. "Reff, I'm out, you couldn't pay me a billion Zennie to go up against that freak of a kid."

"Fair enough," the Announcer said with a nod. "Bacteriabella surrenders and young Marron is the winner!"

DBZ

"I hope you're ready to cry kid."

Time looked arrogant opponent over. While both were blonds, this one appeared to be a few years older with long hair in the back of his head while the front consisted of bangs. The name, though, Time was having trouble placing. Not that this moron looked like he was worth remembering in the first place.

"Go end that little brat Idasa!" Ah, that was it, Idasa.

The creature that shouted this might have been considered a woman of bountiful beauty to a kinder person, were it not for the fact that she lacked a very important third of the requirements. Not helping matters were the tacky low-class glasses matching red dress and lipstick, and oversize green pearl earrings that hug from her ears. Not even the pearl necklace she had around her thick neck had enough class to save her tacky taste in style.

Lunch turned to the overripe tomato of a woman and grinned. "That your son down there?"

The woman's chest heaved with pride as she adjusted her tacky glasses. "Indeed it is. My Idasa-"

"Is screwed and doesn't have a chance in hell of beating MY kid," Lunch cut in with a proud smirk on her face, causing the woman to turn the same shade as her dress and glasses. "WHY YOU NO COUNT-"

"Take a look for yerself." Lunch jutted a thumb down at the arena. Sure enough, Time was causally, almost lazily, evading each and every one of Idasa's kicks and punches.

You know, Time thought as he leaned his head out of the way of an oncoming punch to the side of his face, his form's not bad given his ignorance and lack of real training. If the rest of us weren't competing, there's a good chance that he'd be the winner of this tournament.

"COME ON SON!" Time glanced up and saw his mother, who was shoving a very heavy set woman to the side with her elbow, call down from high up in the stands. "QUIT FOOLIN' AROUND AND KNOCK HIS BLOCK OFF!"

Time shrugged and turned his head back to Idasa in just enough time to see a fist land flat in his face. Idasa smirked;, happy that he had finally landed a blow on the quick little rat, but his smile quickly vanished when he felt a powerful and painful throbbing in his hand.

The taller blond boy hastily drew his hand back and opened his mouth to cry out in pain, but an incoming punch to his stomach shut him up and sent him dropping to his knees in a fraction of a second. One full count later and Time was declared the winner.

"CHEATER!" the large woman hissed, her nostrils visibly fuming, "THAT LITTLE BRAT CHEATED, I'll SUE, I'LL-"

THWHACK! Lunch smirked as she returned her hand to her lap, the woman unconscious thanks to a nice simple blow to the back of her neck.

"I-Is she-? Oolong looked over across Lunch's lap at the stone cold lump of self-importance and hot air with a worried look. So much for the hope that living with Tien all those years would have calmed blonde Lunch down some.

"Dead?" Lunch leered at the transforming pig with what looked like a sinister look. Then she smiled more warmly. "Naw, just knocked her out was all. Sides, tube of lard like that ain't worth killin' anyhow. Though if she starts insulting my boy again when she wakes up…

"I can see why you tried your best to forget that she existed," Chichi whispered in Bulma's ear. "She's a complete nutcase!"

"R-Right," Bulma replied with a nervous gulp. "Tried to forget, let's go with that." The purple haired woman glanced down at the tournament ring. "Oh, look! Trunks is fighting Time next. GO TRUNKS!"

Everyone still conscious did so and sure enough, Trunks was now indeed entering the ring. Lunch smirked as she folded her arms together. "Wouldn't be surprised if'n Time used his powers to pull that fight, though I guess it could also always just be a conwinkiedink too."

"Looks like you got your wish," Trunks remarked, a smirk of confidence on his face as he bent his body down into a fighting stance.

"Funny how that works, isn't it?" Time replied with a smirk as he bent down into the stance of the Crane Style. "Now the two of us can get a real fight without any nobodies getting in the way."

"Heh." Trunks just smirked in response as he too bent down into a fighting pose.

"BEGIN!" The Announcer shouted, and both boys were happy to comply as they both shot at one another in midair like rockets and began trading a flurry of punches and blocks. The sheer speed at which the two were fighting astounded most of the audience. Videl's blue eyes were the size of a hover car's wheels.

She may have gotten somewhat used to fighting at the crazy speed that Gohan and his sister were capable of going to, but seeing someone else do it as an onlooker? It boggled both mind and description.

Both Trunks and Time kept up their battle of blows for nearly half a minute until both suddenly stopped and landed back on the ground, still facing one another.

Both of their bodies were scattered with bruises and scrapes, but aside from that and some heavy panting, neither Time nor Trunks seemed to mind in the slightest.

"You're good," Trunks said, his smirk now a playful grin.

"Thanks." Time returned the grin with one of his own. "You too."

"Still," Trunks cracked his neck from side to side. "I'm stronger."

"Maybe, but like I said before, I've got the Kaio Ken on my side. Plus you know how much of an edge my longer limbs now give me."

Trunks scowled; much as he hated to admit it, Time was right in that regard. Those longer and older limbs of his DID give him an edge, though not much of one considering that Trunks was still-

"Though, speaking of that technique: KAIOKEN!"

A red aura surrounded Time's body as the air and ground around him began to quake and shake as a result.

Man oh man! the World Announcer thought, a big goofy child-like grin on his face. Now THIS is what the World Martial Arts Tournament is all about baby, haven't seen action this intense in YEARS and these are only kids. Though, given who their fathers are, that's not the least bit surprising. Can't say I recognize this KayoKin or whatever it's called though, must be a new move.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IN ALL MY YEARS OF TOURNAMENT HOSTING I'VE NEVER SEEN A TECHNIQUE LIKE THIS! IF I HAD TO GUESS THOUGH, I'D SAY IT'S SOME KIND OF SPIRITUAL CONCENTRATION! HOW WILL YOUNG TRUNKS COUNTER THIS SUDDEN MOVE?"

"Yes Trunks," Time said with a cocky smirk. "How ARE you going to counter the Kaio Ken, considering you can't transform and all?"

"I'll… Think of something," Trunks said through gritted teeth. I hope. Trunks reballed his fists and shot forward in the air at Time once more, only for Trunks's punch to go right through the blond boy's body.

It took Trunks a fraction of a second too late to realize that the 'Time' that he was punching had a faded out look to him. Before he could react, though, Trunks felt a powerful jabbing kick to the back of his head that sent the young Capsule Corp heir flying face first into the white tiled floor.

While his face was still stinging and his mind and vision still somewhat blurry, Trunks heard Time say behind him, "The After Image technique, simple but effective wouldn't you say?"

Trunks simply hopped up to this feet and whirled his head in the direction of Time's voice.

Sure enough, Time was floating mid air, red aura still surrounding his ten-year-old frame, arms crossed in confidence.

"So, I'd say that with the Kaio Ken's current level, I'm just a wee bit stronger than you, wouldn't you say?"

"I say EAT THIS!" A sudden beam of ki blasted Time squarely in the gut and instantly the blond felt himself double over slightly as a reflex. Before he could react, however, Trunks had already vanished, reappeared, and threw back a powerful knee blow to Time's back.

CRACK! The blond was sent sailing to the ground, where he crashed front side first. To his credit, Time recovered quickly and leaped out of the way of an oncoming two-legged jump down kick. The result was a cloud of dust and debris that obscured Trunks from view.

"N-Not bad.," Time remarked. "Looks like I'll have to bring out all the stops then." He crossed his arms and began summoning his ki.

Elsewhere above the stands, Goku arched an eyebrow in surprise.

"You really taught your son THAT move, Tien, even with all the flaws it has?"

Tien nodded. "Indeed I did Goku,. Marron too, though that was because she asked. As for the flaws-" a confident smile appeared on the three eyed man's face. "Have you forgotten the Kaio Ken?"

Goku's eyes went wide. "Oh yea!" Goku gave Tien a big smile. "Pretty clever."

Back in the ring Time threw his arms in a diagonal X shaped slash and a second, identical body appeared beside him. The process was quickly repeated with both bodies, creating another two, at which all four of them did it again for a grand total of eight Time.

"Oh yea, isn't this that technique that splits your power by the number of bodies you have? So that means you're technically fighting with 1/8th of-"

"KAIO KEN TIMES EIGHT!" all eight Time's shouted together, cutting Trunks off.

The purple haired boy gulped as he took a step backwards, "Well, this isn't good…"

"Let's get started with round two," an individual Time remarked as all eight began to circle around the half Sayian like a shark to a bleeding animal. "Shall we?"

DBZ

Tien chuckled. "Looks like my son is winning, eh Vegeta?"

The Sayian Prince said nothing, though the small but visible twitch under his right eye spoke volumes. Trunks, Vegeta thought as he began grinding his teeth, you had BETTER find a way to win this fight or else!

DBZ

Trunks felt his body hit the stone floor for- what was it, the fourth time now? He groaned as he struggled to get back up on his feet. His arms felt like jello as the wobbled under the weight of his bruised and scratched up body.

If only I could go Super, he thought as he glanced up with one eye as he saw all eight copies of Time zooming down in on him. Maybe if I went all out for just a second, I might be able to knock one of his copies out of the ring.

Even in his head Trunks didn't feel very confident about his plan, but it was that or lose, and as skilled and powerful as the ten-year-old human fighter was, Trunks wasn't about to let that happen if he could help it.

He leapt up onto the soles of his feet, eyes still glued to his eight foes.

Three…

Trunks tightened his left hand into a fist.

Two...

He then did the same with his right hand.

One.

With all the copies of Time now only nanoseconds away from his body, Trunks threw back both of his arms and let out a loud and powerful shout as his body lit up in golden light and his power level skyrocketed to its maximum.

The sudden and severe increase in ki took every single one of Time's copies by surprise as they were all sent flying away like scraps of paper that had gotten stuck in a twister.

"FOLKS, UNLESS I'M MISTAKEN, IT LOOKS AS IF ALL EIGHT COPIES OF TIME HAVE BEEN SENT FLYING OUT OF THE RING DUE TO YOUNG TRUNKS'S SUDDEN AND STRANGE TRANSFORMATION! SPEAKING OF WHOM, TRUNKS BRIEFS WINS THE MATCH!"

"T-Thank goodness," Trunks mumbled as he allowed his arms to drop like dead weights.

"Hey."

With a slight nervousness, Trunks turned his head and saw Time. There was just one of him now, and his body was also a mess as bruises, scrapes, and scratches covered his arms and chest. In spite of these light wounds, however, Time still had on the same cocky smirk from earlier. "Good match, even if you DID have to cheat to win."

Trunks opened his mouth to fire back a retort but decided to drop it.

"Thanks, you're not bad yourself. Didn't think someone who was only human could be that powerful."

Time shrugged. "What can I say? My family takes it's training pretty seriously. Either way, I'll beat you next time, fake blond transformation or no."

Now it was Trunks's turn to grin. "You're on!"

With that, both boys walked off and the Junior Tournament continued…

And on went the tournament, though the rest of the matches didn't quite reach the intensity of Time and Trunks's fight, that is, until the two Briefs siblings were forced to fight it out in one of the semi finals.

Bra would face off against her older brother in the next round, while Chi and Marron would face off against one another in the round after that. The winners from those two matches would go onto the final round and the winner of that match would be declared the champion of the Junior Martial Arts Tournament.

"So what would you guys do if you won the money?" Chi asked Bra and Marron. Bra was touching her toes with her hands repeatedly while her older brother was stretching his legs as both still had a bit of time before the match.

"Honestly? I'd probably give it all to charity," Bra said as she bent back up straight. "I mean if you have more money than Kami, what do ya need with more of it ya know?"

Chi smiled. "That's cool." She looked to Marron, who was currently glaring at Time, both of them trying to see who could give the other the dirtier look. So far, it seemed to be a tie. "What about you Marron?"

Marron said nothing for a moment, her gaze still locked with Time's, as she thought the question over for a moment. "I'd install sound proofing in the dojo below Kame House.," she said finally through gritted teeth.

"Kame house has a basement dojo?" Bra asked, blinking. "Didn't know that, not that mom's ever let me go there mind you."

Marron shrugged. "Apparently. Even father wasn't aware of its existence and he's been training with master Roshi since he was 12."

"Odd. So why would you want to make it sound proof?"

"It's for my parents really. Kame House is pretty small so whenever they want some 'alone time' they always cook up some excuse about having to head to the city for something and most likely rent out a room at some cheap motel, or at least dad does. Mom doesn't really care if she knows that I know what she and dad are really doing when they go off like that."

For a moment, none of the kids said a thing. Then Time broke the silence.

"I'd probably use the money to buy a bank that my mom and I could rob over and over without worry."

Marron glared at him. "No one asked YOU."

"Well excuse me for wanting to express my opinion ya mini tin toy!"

"Three eyed freak." Marron muttered back.

Time simply rolled all three of his eyes (the third was kept hidden by a large chunk of blonde hair). "You really aren't all that creative when it comes to smack talk, are you kid?"

Marron's whole body tensed up as she balled her hands into tight fists. Before either blond could start anything, Chi quickly changed the subject.

"So why would your parents bother to do all that just for some alone time? Couldn't they just fly somewhere peaceful or something?" Chi asked as she turned to face Marron, head tilted to the side.

Bra, Time, and Marron looked at each other, then back to Chi.

"You haven't heard of the bird and the bees yet, have you?" Bra asked.

Chi looked at the both of them with a perplexed expression. "What do birdies and bugs have to do with this?" she asked, her face scrunching up in confusion.

She could picture birds, sure. Bugs too. She could even picture the two creatures together, hanging out and being best friends, but what that had to do with Marron's parents sneaking out together was beyond her.

Bra opened her mouth to explain when she heard the Announcer call out her and her brother's names.

"Can't talk, got an older brother to beat thanks to Time. Thanks Time!" Bra then turned her head back to Chi. "Ask Marron. Or Time. Or both. Bye!"

With that, Bra dashed off. Chi looked at Marron expectantly. Marron glanced to where Time was but the blonde boy had vanished on her.

Marron cringed and could feel her cheeks starting to heat up. "It's got to do with baby making. I'll tell you when you're older."

Chi frowned. "But we're all the same, age more or less, and both you and Bra and Time know about this birds and bees stuff. I WANTA KNOW!" The small half Saiyan lifted her foot and stomped the ground with so much force that it made a small crater in the ground.

"I-You-Fine! It's a reference to parents getting it on to make babies. Happy now?" Marron could feel her cheeks burning red, something she was not often prone to doing. She only hoped that Chi's curiosity would stop there.

Thankfully, Chi smiled. "Yes." Then she thought over what Marron had said and after turning it over in her mind, asked: "But you're still an only child, so why do your parents-?"

"Just shut up and watch the match okay!?" Marron hadn't thought it was possible for a human's face to flush this hard; obviously, she had been VERY wrong.

"... Fine," Chi said with a pout as both she and Marron turned their attention to the two Brief siblings, who were about to knock the tar out of each other.

And here we've reached the last of the super long chapters, thankfully the lengths are going to be a good bit more manageable length wise from here on out folks. Now for the Q and A session, which just consists of one person, so let's get it knocked out, shall we?

Maxi: Are you aware of the idea behind the Butterfly effect concept in time travel (a concept I personally think is utter nonsense seeing as how there's more then one lone butterfly in the world, and thus it shouldn't matter if one stinking butterfly bites it or not)? Well imagine what a whole person can have on the world, that and Bibidi dying before creating Buu because reasons might have something to do with the kids being as different as they are. But I'm glad that you're enjoying the story dude.