Tenkaichi Budokai: Truth behind the Tournaments

-By Alenio Conspiriakalos

Six weeks had passed since my first visit to Lupunyy and my introduction to Errnar's stones. My office by this time had begun to take on a lived-in appearance. My desk was littered with pizza boxes, sandwich wrappers and several days' worth of take-out Chinese containers. The dry erase board I wheeled into my office days ago was now partially blocking the door and collecting a beautiful mosaic of wondrous connections. It was becoming clear to me that these events were not simply coincidences.

It seemed as if each fresh lead I followed revealed a bizarre new mystery. One question plagued my mind the entire trip home from East Province; why, I asked myself, was the son of the tyrant King Piccolo, secluded on a mountain in the middle of nowhere? What connection could he possibly have to the Ox-king of Fire Mountain, the Yeti that destroyed Pilaf's castle, or the massive explosions that rocked the Northern wastes? Taken as separate and unrelated occurrences, these events couldn't seem further apart. When I add them to my office board, the subtle, almost imperceptible correlations are astonishing.

The Demon King

My mentor, Rich van Dinkle, author of the groundbreaking Unearthly Dialogues and frequent contributor to AE, introduced me to the world of competitive martial arts. In all honesty I'm not an aficionado of fighting, however through Rich's influence, I've gained an appreciation for the power and self-discipline that these men and women posses. My introduction to martial arts coincided with one of the most unexplained and unsettling moments in recent political history.

I will always remember 753 as a defining year in my life. I was wrapping up my final semester at Central City University and had just embarked on an internship with Extraterrestrial Research for Distant Origins of Knowledge with exuberant idealism. Rich was just promoted to the position of Director of ERDORK, and I was eager to learn everything he and the organization could teach me.

More than three weeks before conventional media began covering the story of King Piccolo's assault on Earth's Central government; Rich was alerted to the disappearance and assumed death of the finalists for the previous ten tournaments. We were certain that there was an intelligence behind these abductions, and our theories were all but proven true when King Piccolo laid siege to the palace. To this day, few of the authorities we have approached believe the fighters were abducted; the ones that give credibility to the disappearances refuse to connect them to Piccolo.

Mainstream historians would have you believe that Piccolo was killed and his factions destroyed or disbanded by King Furry's forces. This was in fact the platform that won Furry another reelection over his cousin the Duke of Kibble. It could be reasonable to assume that Piccolo was killed by one of the Budokai participants and the Crown took credit. This could explain why Piccolo mysteriously ordered the kidnapping of the finalists of the recent tournaments. It's not unlikely to think the tyrant feared the tournament champions would pose a threat to him.

Some six years later, long after I moved on from ERDORK, I received a text message from Rich. He was in attendance for the 23rd Budokai, and the picture he sent me was a blurry phone image of one of the competitors. Seconds later he called me panting with excitement.

"I can't believe it; Piccolo's been resurrected! You have to come down here!"

I was intrigued by the pixely photo and immediately took a plane to Papaya Island. I was floored when I first caught a glimpse of the young man who called himself "Ma Junior". "Ma" in the ancient tongue translates to demon, surly in deference to the elder Piccolo. Although he was young, I had no doubt that this boy was the son of Piccolo. Because of the tournament, all of the hotels on the island were overbooked, so Rich and I were forced leave before the final. While the man I met on Mt. Paozu was more muscular and far less gruesome looking than his predecessor, I am positive this man is the son of the Demon King. I knew I had to return to Papaya Island to investigate further.

The World Tournament

After contacting authorities in the Office of Public Outreach for the Martial Arts Temple, I booked my flight to Papaya Island. I've always found it a bit ironic that this magnificent sanctuary is the setting for one of the most violent blood sports in the world. Every time I step outside the doors of Durian Airport, I never cease to feel draped in a peaceful tropical setting.

Currently the temple grounds are a maze of construction sites. I was welcomed through the gates by two silent monks and ushered through a labyrinth of concrete mixers and stone masons. I had an appointment to speak with the face of the tournaments, long time tournament presenter, Guy Announcèr. Mr. Announcèr showed me some of the completed areas of the new Temple, and detailed their plan for the next phase of restoration after the damage suffered after the 23rd Budokai. He assured me that they're on target for a return in 2 years. Interest in the tournament hasn't waned. Organizers are certain when they open the application process for the 24th tournament they will undoubtedly have to turn some entrants away.

When we finally had a seat at a small table on the third floor patio, we were served a pot of famous Papaya Green Tea. I asked him, quite surreptitiously, to recount some of his favorite memories from past tournaments. I was hoping to lead him into a conversation about the finalists without directly posing the question. As if on cue he began with the 21st tournament, describing it as nothing like any tournament before.

"Those two boys, only eleven or twelve, they were incredible!" He remembered. "Goku and Krillin were their names; I don't think I got their names right till their third tournament. They became fixtures here along with that teenager Yamcha; Zedaki was the other name he went by. Those three were all the students of the Turtle School trained by Master Roshi. Roshi is one of the legends of the sport, you know.

"The whole thing was won by a shrewd old master named Jackie Chun. It seemed weird, you'd expect a guy like that to have been around, but nobody remembers him before the 21st. That final, though! Wow! Who'd have thought that little kid could have gone the distance with the old man? Then there was the giant ape thing! We figured later that one of them used a shape shifter as a diversion but no video could prove anything definitive. Still, the competition committee created a new rule addressing 'psychological manipulation'

"The weirdest thing about that tournament though, was the death of that boy Krillin."

Death? This caught me by complete surprise. These competitions are dangerous and more than one competitor has succumbed to the injuries received in the ring, but in this case I was sure Announcèr just told me the boy was a tournament fixture. I pressed him to continue.

"Well, I was 100% sure I saw the kid get his neck broke by some green mercenary guy. Roshi and his other students showed up. He determined the kid wasn't really dead and that Briefs girl took him away in one of their med-units. Those were dark times then, so many of the past champions disappeared after that tournament. We thought they were all dead but they were all found safe not long after King Piccolo was killed.

"I was really sure that kid was dead, though, but I guess those Capsule Corp folks can cheat death." He laughed.

Strangely, the world tournament was moved to every three years following the fantastic display provided by the 21st Budokai. Organizers have publicly stated that the reasoning behind this was increased ticket sales and an unprecedented increase in the number of entrants, but is it possible there were ulterior motives beyond simple monetary gain?

The 22nd tournament, Announcèr told me, devolved into more of a grudge match between the Turtle and Crane schools after Jackie Chun, the odds on favorite, suddenly dropped out before the final. One of the semi-finalists, Tao, was disqualified for attempting to murder his opponent. Officials frown on the use of the competition for revenge. The final of that tournament was a contest between the two prize pupils of the respective schools; young Goku and Tien Shinhan, with Shinhan declared the winner.

The 23rd Budokai was the competition that held the most interest for me. I asked Announcèr if he or any of the officials noticed the resemblance between Piccolo and the entrant who called himself "Ma Jr."

"No, see, we rarely get to see the entrants before they get here and there have been so many anymore that it's more of a first-come-first-fight type of thing. If somebody had noticed we would have probably never let him in, but by the time the fights are going, well you know, it's chaos around here!"

Announcèr admitted that he was grateful Goku made it to the final; in his opinion the kid was the only person capable of winning. He remembers it as the most challenging fight he's ever had to call. They were moving with such speed he almost lost their movements. Announcèr confessed that he was so focused on the fighters that he didn't notice the crowd evacuation or the temple crumbling around him. He maintained a bull's-eye of sorts on "that all important square. When the fight's going on that's all that matters".

When it was all said and done, Goku was narrowly declared the victor; and rather anticlimactically, the two went their separate ways. After the dust settled, Guy Announcèr and the promoters of the World Martial Arts Tournament were left with a mostly destroyed temple, and the largest gate and TV revenues they had ever collected. Oddly enough however, a large portion of the funding for reconstruction has been through grants from Hoi-Poi Exploration Incorporated, Capsule Corporation and Omori-dyne.

Unbelievable feats of strength, giant apes, explosive destruction, shapeshifters, mysterious old men; these are becoming recurring themes throughout this feature. Is it possible that there is another more sinister and secretive motivation behind the shortened intervals between tournaments? Can the influence of some of the preeminent technological organizations be found behind other areas of this investigation, and why is it that a respected school of martial arts seems to be at the center of all of these odd occurrences?

The Players

I was simply overwhelmed with these and other questions after I reviewed the notes of my interview with Mr. Announcèr. I set out to discover as much information as I could safely get my hands on about these fighters. I began with the man I actually met only fifteen days prior, Son Goku. Oddly, if I hadn't spoken with the man myself I would think he didn't exist, yet he seems to be a major player. As it turns out, I probably know more about him than any official record. The sole picture of him is a promotional photo for the release of a new hover car designed by Capsule Corp back in 758. He can be seen as a shadowy figure in the background at a refreshment table. The only information I could find on Krillin, the boy Guy Announcèr assumed dead, was an entry in the ledger of an East City Shinto shrine.

King Choppa, the winner of the 20th tournament, has retired from competition and is ruling a small quiet country in the south west provinces. Inexplicably, there is no evidence of Jackie Chun, the winner of the 21st tournament. According to account records the prize purse was divided; 50% distributed to a small village in South Province, 25% to the Southern Transformation Kindergarten (colloquially known as the Shapeshifting Academy), and 25% to a numbered bank account in Orange Star City.

While I'm not an ardent fan of fighting, I am quite the baseball enthusiast. I recognized Yamcha Zedaki's name immediately, and I was astounded to discover that before his brief but record breaking career as the West City Dragons gold glove shortstop, he was a martial arts competitor at the highest level. While he was never a finalist, he advanced to the semi-finals of three consecutive Budokai. Yamcha is known for his acrobatic circus catches and fantastic reflexes on the ball, as well as a power hitting .485 lifetime average with an astounding 302 home runs in his four year career. The reason behind his sudden decision to retire has never been established, but if my assumptions are true; this revelation could rewrite the record books of professional baseball. I'm sure at this point some of you are saying "Alen, there's another connection there!" Oh yes, friends, a connection I will detail in upcoming weeks.

The final two competitors on Mr. Announcèr's list were linked to the Crane school of Martial Arts. The crane school was run by Shen and his brother Tao. Like the rest of the finalists, while Tien Shinhan has received an almost cult following as the champion of the 22nd tournament, there is no concrete history on the man.

In an interesting coincidence, Tao is one of the few surviving employees of the notorious Red Ribbon Army where he was employed as an assassin. Long time readers may remember this para-military organization from a series of articles published in AE a few years ago penned by my colleague Sam Koind. After his disqualification from the 22nd tournament, Tao disappeared, so most of the information about him was gleaned from the notes Sam compiled for the writing of that article.

Reading over that information, I discovered another startling connection, one which many faithful readers may have already surmised. The Red Ribbon Army met its demise in 650. The official records point to a counter mercenary group sent out by King Piccolo, but Off-world Intrusion Theorists have hypothesized that the Red Ribbon Army was unbelievably brought down by one solitary soldier. It would be preposterous to assume that one purely terrestrial soldier could exterminate an entire trained mercenary force. While promoters of the World Martial Arts Tournament have stated their reasoning, is it possible that the shortened intervals between tournaments serve another purpose? Could it be that the Tenkaichi Budokai has become a vehicle for the assimilation of otherworldly entities into Earth's society? And if so, what is their plan for our world?

My colleagues at AE warned me, when I decided to publish this series three weeks ago, that I was wading into dangerous waters. We've received more recognition in the popular media than I had ever thought possible. I can only thank you, my faithful readers, for getting the truth out there. Unfortunately, with this publicity I am beginning to feel threatened by the very entities which I have been investigating. I've been forced underground for fear of my safety. For the foreseeable future, I will be sending these articles to the editorial office through encrypted e-mails. I hope to continue to reach my Friday deadlines. Please be patient with me; if you haven't yet, my friends, you will soon begin to see the reality that the authorities are hiding from society.

-next- Vanishing Command: The Mystery of the Red Ribbon Army

All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are my own. I do not own Dragon Ball(Z) nor am I making any money off of this. No copyright infringement is intended.