Chapter 5: Bra vs Marron

Time: A number of minutes before the final round of the Junior Tournament.

"Bra Bulla Briefs, your father and I want to have a word with you young lady."

Bra turned her head back as she kept her arms rested on the cold metal bar of the top balcony railing and saw her father and, more importantly, her mother standing above her. "Father. Mom."

Her mind was already working into overdrive on some way to worm herself out of this situation; even without seeing her mother's pissed off face and hands resting angrily on her hips, the sheer use of Bra's full name was enough to tell the seven year old child genius that she was in grave trouble.

It was a good thing she had already cheered herself up with ice cream (Chi of course had gone back for more, the little glutton).

Her father, ever loving and caring man that he was, simply had his arms crossed and a look of typical indifference on his face.

"About what?" Bra asked as she played up her naturally innocent voice and batted her eyes.

"About your use of energy attacks," Bulma replied. "When your father tells me you have no control over them."

"Oh." Bra blinked. "Is that all?"

Bulma looked at her daughter, face thunderstruck. "IS THAT ALL!?-" Bra winced at her mother's now much louder voice. "You could have hurt someone doing a stunt that stupid!"

Bra simply shrugged in response. "Could have is the key word phrase. And I didn't, so the point of wondering about what could have been is moot I would think. Besides, it won me the match didn't it? And didn't you-" she pointed an accusing index finger at Vegeta, "- once throw dirt in the face of one of that Freeza guy's top henchmen? To say nothing of the fact that you were more than willing to let a bunch of little green men do your fighting for you all those years ago?" "What your father did-"

"ENOUGH!" Bulma froze midway through her sentence as Bra turned her attention to her father. Vegeta gave his daughter a cold stare.

"The girl asked me a question, so I'll answer. Yes, I did do that once. I did a lot of things most people would look back on with regret. And my stupid stunts once got me killed, and at least nearly three times more since then. You've always expressed disdain for your Saiyan heritage and pride for your human side, then maybe you should prove your human side better than your Saiyan side next time instead of resorting to cowardly tactics like that!"

"You know what I think?" Bra was now copying her mother as she placed her own small hands on her next to nonexistent hips. "I think you're just jealous because I won against your beloved warrior prince."

Vegeta snorted. "Arrogant brat. This has nothing to do with Trunks. The reason that your mother and I are even having this conversation with you in the first place is because we see you squandering your potential to become a better person than either one of us."

Bra blinked and stared at him with a gob smacked expression at which Vegeta couldn't help but chuckle. In all seven years that she had known her father, she had never once see him admit to a character flaw like that, let alone out loud to one of his children!

"What? You seem surprised by my answer, or did that 200 IQ score that you always brag on and on about not tell you what I was going to say?"

"I…"

Now her father was smirking that annoying stupid smirk of his that he always did.

"You have my arrogance and my pride, couple that with your mother's brilliance and you could be a truly deadly fighter on par with Trunks, not to mention that tin can and baldy's daughter, if you decided to really discipline yourself. But instead you choose to spend your time fiddling with pointless gadgets and the like-"

"MY GADGETS ARE NOT USELESS!" Even Vegeta was forced to pause at her daughter's outburst. "JUST BECAUSE YOU AREN'T SMART ENOUGH TO APPRECIATE THEM, DOESN'T. MAKE. THEM. STUPID!"

"AND IF YOU'D LET ME FINISH-" Vegeta roared back. "Your interests lie with tinkering with gadgets and gizmos and the like, which is fine, but that doesn't give you the right to force your brother to throw your match just so you can win in the end. And I think I know why you did it too."

"Really now?" Bra said as she rolled her eyes. "Do enlighten me father."

Ignoring his daughter's sarcasm Vegeta said: "It's because you wanted to impress your dear old father, didn't you?"

For a long moment, Bra only kept her intense gaze locked onto her father's smug face, hands pressing so deep into her sides that she was starting to feel the pressure on her ribs. "Shut up." Tears were starting to swell up in her eyes even as the words limply left her mouth.

Vegeta nodded. "I thought as much. My advice is to keep fighting, but fight in a style worthy of someone with an IQ of 200."

The prince then turned back to Bulma, who had remained silent for a long while. "Punish her as you see fit, I have fights to prepare for."

"Sure, I guess." There was a moment of silence between human mother and half saiyan daughter.

"He cares, you know," Bulma said at last.

"No he doesn't. Even Marron's mom is more affectionate then he is. SHE at least gives the occasional hug or head pat. He doesn't even do that."

"Your father isn't the easiest person to get to know, Bra, but deep down he DOES care. Even if he doesn't show it very often."

"Or ever. Can't even remember the last time I was hugged by him..."

Even Bulma was forced to wince slightly at that statement. Why did her daughter have to be so damn sharp and self-aware for her age? "Look, regardless of all this, you're still grounded understood?"

"Whatever," Bra said with a sigh. She could deal with a grounding for a few weeks anyways, think up new stuff to invent, maybe work on making a time machine or spaceship like her grandfather and that one alternate timeline version of her mother had done at some point.

"Think of this as a way to show your father up as a member of the Briefs family, and a human. And yes, a Saiyan Princess too. But you'll never prove yourself better then your dear old man's dead people if you stoop to tactics like the ones you used against your brother, do you understand?"

Bra nodded slowly and uncomfortably. "I do."

"Good, and just so you're aware Bra, you've also lost all science and experimenting privileges for the duration of the grounding."

"That's fair I suppose-"

"It's a month and a half."

"OH COME ON!"

DBZ

Although Bra was smiling at Marron, the two of them on the arena and the Announcer moments away from starting the final round of the junior championship, inwardly she was scowling. Why did Chi have to go and lose like that anyways? Not that she had anything against Marron of course; she liked the blond girl plenty, even if she was just a touch too serious at times.

The better question is, Bra thought. Why didn't I take Marron into account in the first place? She did the mental equivalent of a shrug. I must have just not thought of it, what with all the training with dad that I've done and worrying about having to possibly fight everyone else in this dumb tournament.

Either way I guess I'm stuck with the hand fate's dealt me, and I doubt Marron does enough math problems to make giving up the match worth her while.

Not that I cared about the stupid title, I just wanted to keep going to spite dad, and to add in some extra salt to the wounds, I won't even transform. I'll fight only as a human, THAT will show him! Legendary transformation, my foot! I-

Bra?

M-Marron? Y-You can read minds?

Picked it up from Mr. Tien. Look, as fun as listening to you mentally monologue about your daddy issues is, do you think we could start? The announcer's already given us permission to start and you're kinda just standing there.

Saying nothing and feeling the color of roses fully flush her cheeks, Bra ran at Marron and tried to swipe the blond off of her feet with a low kick to the legs.

Marron dodged the incoming strike by jumping in the air, which was what Bra had been waiting for as she summoned two balls of ki and blasted them at Marron at point blank range while the blond girl was still in mid air.

The attack sent Marron reeling back in the air a foot or two before she landed on the gray, clay floor on the soles of her feet.

She was up a second later. "Not bad Bra," Marron said as she cracked her knuckles together and took a step forward. "You've done a lot of training, I can tell. Your blasts don't normally pack that much power."

Bra could feel her face turn an even darker color of scarlet at the compliment. "Thanks..." she mumbled.

"Of course," Marron continued, "compared to what mother can dish out to me when we spar, that barely tickled. You're going to have to bring your A game if you want to beat me Bra, otherwise you may as well just give up now and go back to your Tinker Tots and your Blockos and your books and save yourself the embarrassment."

A small little twitch began to form under Bra's left eye. She knew what Marron was trying to do. Marron had no doubt spent a good bit of energy fighting Chi and now she was trying to get her angry so she'd lose focus and become sloppy, waste energy, and eventually give her the edge.

Well it's not going to work Marron, Bra thought to herself, mind reading powers be darned, with that she summoned a white aura around her body and began powering up.

She was tempted to go Super, VERY tempted, but her vast amount of maturity and will power held strong. If her father wanted her to prove what her human side could do in battle, then Bra would show him just that.

Marron's only response was to summon forth another Kaio Ken. For a long moment, neither girl moved. Then, with a sudden burst of speed, Marron vanished from view, only to reappear in front of Bra at point blank range and deliver a two hit combo of a punch to the stomach, followed by a clean right hook across the face. The two-pronged attack cased Bra to slide back on the sloes of her shoes slightly as she let out a grunt in response.

"You've always been the fast one, but I wonder if I can't beat ya in some good old fashioned fisticuffs?"

"Only one way to find out," Marron said with a smile. Then, both she and Bra vanished from view of the regular audience at least, all of whom could only continue looking on in the same shock that they had had plastered on their respective faces for the past 45 minutes.

While none of them could see the two girls trading powerful punches against one another, everyone could hear the aftereffect and the mild sonic booms that were following their clashes as the girls flew around at speeds the normal human eye simply couldn't keep track of. Unless, of course, they were trained in the art of controlling ki.

But this nigh impossible to view battle of blows ended as quickly as it had begun as both Marron and Bra returned to view a few moments later.

Both were badly battered with bruises and scrapes, though Marron more so than Bra having already fought off Chi from earlier before.

Still, Bra knew she was no Chi, let alone her brother, and with Marron's access to the Kaio-Ken there was a very good chance she could lose the match if she didn't keep her guard up. So, she would have to play her cards right and just try not to childishly give in to Marron's taunts and insults.

"Seems like your ki isn't the only thing that's improved, Bra."

Bra now gave her friend an annoyed glare. "Look, are you going to just keep complimenting me or are we going to fight?"

"I'm just trying to be nice is all…" Marron said in a hurt tone that made Bra cringe a bit at her previous statement. "And is everything okay with you and your family?"

"What, you read my mind for something like that?"

Marron shook her head from side to side. "You don't need mind reading to tell that your mind's elsewhere."

"It's my dad, nuff said."

"Ah." With Bra, the simple one word explanation of her father was generally enough of an answer. "Transform?"

Bra glared at Marron. "I'm not, and before you say it, it has nothing to do with you being just human or thinking less of you as a warrior or anything like that."

Marron closed her mouth, an O noise dying on her lips. Then she said: "In that case, if you're not going to transform, then I will."

"Transform?" Bra blinked with a confused expression. "What do you mean by transform?"

Marron smirked, an act that Bra couldn't help but look on with uneasiness. "You'll see, through you may want to brace yourself… I'm about to become a bit… wild for lack of a better word."

Bra nodded with slight hesitation, crossed her arms in an X shaped blocking position, and braced herself as Marron's body began to shake and tremble as she summoned a Kaio-Ken times five. Then she dropped to her knees, her hands breaking her fall.

For a moment she continued to quake with power as her ki continued to rise, eventually increasing the Kaio-Ken all the way to a times seven. It was midway through this increase of power that Bra began to hear very distinct growls and snarls coming from Marron's mouth.

"Mar? You alri-" But the sudden snapping up of Marron's head and a good look at the bestial expression that was now locked on her face, cut the daughter of Bulma and Vegeta off.

"Wolf Fang Mode activated." With that, Marron let out a cry that was very similar to that of a wolf's and began changing at Bra on all four limbs, tongue flapping madly in the wind. As she was braced for a punch or a kick, the sudden paw-like swipe from Marron's right hand came as more than a bit of a surprise to Bra.

But, to the credit of her father's training, Bra stood her ground and withstood the next swift slash of fingers, and the next, and the next, all coming in with a blur of movement that only ended when she transformed into a Super Saiyan, causing the now bestial Marron to pause for a brief moment.

But only a moment as the blond shortly returned to her savage swiping onslaught. Now, even as a Super Saiyan, Bra found she was STILL having trouble keeping track of when and where Marron was going to strike next.

Just as she was getting used to the pain and rhythm of the swipes and slashes, however, Marron slipped in a powerful punch that bypassed Bra's block and sent the purple haired girl skidding back once more about a foot and a half away.

Staggering a bit, Bra tried to bring her body back into balance, but Marron gave her no such opportunity as she at rushed her with flailing kicks and savage punches that hit with such speed and ferocity that the poor scientist in training simply couldn't keep up as she was soon overwhelmed by the stinging, pounding barrage of blows.

Eventually, however, the onslaught attack began to slow down, each passing punch becoming slower and weaker then the last until Bra finally was able to catch both of Marron's fists with her own hands.

Both girls were panting heavily, their breaths labored from the strain that the battle was taking on the both of them. Seconds passed as Bra held Marron's fists off with trembling arms as she blinked back the sweat and blood from her forehead injuries.

Then, finally, the red aura that surrounded the young martial artist's body faded away, as did her wolf like expression. A second later Bra's hair returned to its normal shade of lavender.

Marron cringed when she saw her friend's face. "Sorry about your face."

Bra did her best to put on a brave face and shrug it off. "Eh, don't worry about it. We got sciency magical beans that should be able to heal us up pretty good after we're done anyways," Bra said with a sniff and smile.

Marron gave a small smile of her own, partly because she was winning but mostly because she was just glad to see her friend smiling once again.

"Still," Bra continued. "What was up with all that growling and howling and stuff?"

"It was something I made myself. It's a combination of Master Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist, Mr. Goku's Mad Dog Fist, and the Kaio-Ken. I increase my power and enter a very animal like state of mind, overwhelming my opponents through the sheer unpredictable barbaric force of my blows. It does still need some serious work though, not to mention the fact that makes me use up a lot of energy when I use it."

"Well I think it's neat. Though I think we'll have to end this match pretty shortly, I'm out of juice, you?"

"I got a little bit left, won't say how much though." Marron replied with a wink.

Bra simply stuck her tongue out in response. Both she and Marron may have been very intelligent and mature seven year olds, but that didn't change the fact that they were still just that: seven years old.

With that, Marron finally broke free of Bra's grip and leaped back some few feet away where she landed on her feet in a cat-like manner.

This time Marron came running at Bra with just her legs, not bothering to waste the energy to fly, and threw back her right arm with her hand balled up in a fist. Bra blocked the first punch, but failed to block the knee jab to the stomach that forced her to bend over.

However, having both her mother and father's stubbornness on her side Bra quickly stood back up and delivered a powerful jab to Marron's face, which sent her head back reeling as a result.

"You know if I had a nose, you probably would have broken it with that punch."

Bra shrugged and threw back her arm for another punch to Marron's face. "Probably."

With that, the two went into another series of furious punches and kicks, the difference being that this time the entire audience could keep track of them. Then, a few minutes later when her body felt like it was slowly turning to lead even with her suit being on the lightest setting, Marron jutted a finger out and a yellow ball of energy appeared in her surrounding her index finger.

"Dodon Ray!" The ball of ki turned into a beam of ki too fast for Bra to react as the princess of all saiyans was sent flying out of the ring where she smacked the back of the concrete wall with her skull. Her head swimming, Bra struggled to lift her head up and reopen her eyes.

Suddenly she felt a familiar hand hoist her back on her feet. Finally reopening her eyes Bra saw a very badly battered and weary looking Marron standing next to her, a confident smile on her face.

"Good match."

Bra started to nod in agreement, but stopped half way as a sharp pain raced down her neck.

"R-Right.," Bra said stiffly through clenched teeth. "And congrats on winning, 'Junior Champ.'"

"I haven't won yet, I still have to fight Mr. Satan."

"Please, that blowhard, he doesn't stand a chance. Besides, just look at him, he's scared of ya."

Marron looked up and saw a clearly terrified looking Hercule Satan standing some distance away.

"Either way, I'm going to get myself some sweet sciency magical beans. Best of luck with the 'World Champ'!"

With that, Bra walked off the arena, giggling to herself madly as she did, leaving Marron with just one final match a head ahead of her, the World Martial Arts Champion Hercule Satan himself.