Vegeta:
The room was no different from the previous one where Kera had just defeated Pui Pui. What kind of creature would be waiting for them here?
He looked at Kera. She looked so grim. As if she was electrified all the time. He tried to imagine what it would be like if Bulma had been petrified. Would he be so hell-bent on revenge then? Probably he would. Kera had a much deeper bond with Piccolo than he had with Bulma. If the Supreme Kai had done nothing, she might have died. He didn't want to imagine that.
Then he looked at Kakarrot. He looked annoyed and was complaining about the wait. Vegeta was annoyed that they hadn't been able to fight each other yet. They only had this one chance to find out who was the strongest of the three. Kakarrot had beaten him once and outdone him again and again. Now it was the Saiyan prince's turn.
The door opened. A large being entered the room. All in green, it held itself up on two powerful legs. Its arms ended in thick pointed claws. On its back were several black thorns. A long tail whipped behind it. With its mouth wide open, it stared at them. Saliva dripped down from its sharp teeth.
"Bah, what's that?" Kakarrot was disgusted.
"Welcome Yakon, the beast," it bawled from the speakers.
The Supreme Kai gasped. He seemed to know the beast, or at least to have heard of him. Vegeta didn't care and stepped forward.
"You'll have to deal with me now!"
"Hey, I thought it was my turn," Kakarrot said, offended.
"You're last, Kakarrot," Kera called out to him.
" Hmph!" Kakarott retreated to the wall of the room. Kera, Gohan and the Supreme Kai followed him, careful not to get in Vegeta's way.
Good, then he could finally get going. He made a leap forward and gave the beast a good hook to the chin. It tried to dodge, but he hit. Nevertheless, he felt a short sting on his arm and jumped back. His suit was torn at the upper right arm and a red stripe showed on his skin. He cursed. The suit had been new.
Furious, he fixed the beast and took a step forward. Suddenly it went dark, pitch black. Vegeta couldn't even see his hands, let alone the others or his opponent. But he could sense it. This critter wasn't smart enough to suppress his aura. With ease, he gave the creature a few punches and kicks. It tried to dodge, for it could obviously see in the darkness.
Vegeta landed again. This was taking too long for him. Angrily, he looked up. "Different way then."
With a cry, he transformed into a Super Saiyan. Immediately he lit up the surroundings and saw the hell beast in front of him again. With satisfaction, he saw that the creature had already taken some bruises.
He felt a suction. Yakon had started to suck in the air. Confused, Vegeta looked to the others. Kera looked equally surprised. In the next instant, his glimmer of light was gone.
"Vegeta, Yakon feeds on light and energy!" the Supreme Kai shouted to him. "You shouldn't transform anymore."
"I see." Against the Supreme Kai's advice, Vegeta transformed back into a Super Saiyan.
"Wait. He knows what he's doing."
Inwardly, Vegeta thanked Kera for that. She trusted him.
Once again, Yakon began to absorb the energy. Instead of withdrawing, Vegeta concentrated his energy even more. He gave his energy freely. He watched Yakon absorb more and more until he had a panicked look in his eyes. Vegeta once again let energy pulse outwards.
Unable to break the connection, Yakon had to keep sucking up the energy. It was too much. He gulped down the light, retched and exploded. Disgusted, Vegeta put his arm in front of his face as several body parts and fluids hit him. Instantly, the room transformed back to its original state.
"Good idea, brother." Appreciatively, Kera patted him on the shoulder.
Ahead of them, the floor hatch opened and they jumped down a floor.
"Whose turn is it now?" asked Kakarrot impatiently.
"Your son, but you can do the dice again for all I care."
"Don't we all want to fight together now?" asked the Supreme Kai.
"Why?" Kakarrot looked taken aback by the question. "That would be unfair, wouldn't it? Kera and Vegeta have had their fun already, haven't they?"
Vegeta had to grin when he saw the horrified look on the Supreme Kai's face.
"I'd rather fight you in the tournament, Kakarrot!"
Kakarrot smiled. "So would I."
"And I would then have defeated the one remaining of you," Kera interjected, having to laugh briefly.
"Where does that leave the next one?"
"Just be patient, Gohan. I'm sure your opponent is scared," his father reassured him.
"Can't we just blow the door off?"
"I'd rather not. We don't know if the shocks can wake the demon Buu."
Vegeta snorted snidely. This waiting was going to suck.
Reyak:
He was annoyed that he and Menka hadn't thought of entering the adult tournament in disguise. Whereas - Menka probably wouldn't have gone along with it. Reyak felt more and more that she was not born to fight. She preferred to stay in the background. Perhaps that would change again. He understood what his mother had told him so often, those tingles when a fight was imminent, the great feeling when they had trained.
Reyak looked at his sister who was sitting next to him.
"Are you okay?" she asked him when she noticed Reyak looking at her.
"Sure. I'm curious to see what happens next."
They certainly all were. Some of the spectators had already angrily asked for compensation and left the stadium. After some discussion, the referee had announced that the remaining participants would do a battle royal. There were not many participants left anyway, as most of them had flown away with his parents.
Hercule, 18, Killa and Mighty Mask gathered in the ring.
"Where is Trunks anyway?" asked Aunt Bulma suddenly, looking around searchingly.
"Probably in the shower," Reyak hurried to say. She couldn't see the energies under Mighty Mask's disguise. Reyak and Menka knew very well that Trunks and Goten were able to participate in the n tournament like this. Which still annoyed Reyak.
"I suspect bad things with Goku being gone so long," the old man muttered.
It took Reyak a moment to know who the old man meant. Kakarrot. His mother only ever spoke of Kakarrot when she meant Goku, since that was his Saiyan name.
Secretly, Reyak had to agree with him. Those strange guys who had sucked Gohan's energy had sent a shiver down his spine. Menka had said that an evil aura surrounded them. Reyak had not perceived that. His sister had always sensed the beings around her differently.
Reyak had no great desire to follow the fight. Trunks and Goten as Mighty Mask were strong, but fighting together wouldn't work for long. 18, he knew from his mother, had appeared on Earth a few years ago and had given her and Uncle Vegeta quite a beating.
"Look, Reyak!"
He looked up as Menka addressed him. 18 and Goten and Trunks hovered in the air opposite each other while Hercule stood in the ring seemingly completely forgotten, staring upwards. 18 must have realised who was under her opponent's mask during Reyak's musings. She had torn the costume. Then, as the two went to attack 18 together, the referee had overcome his astonishment and shouted loudly, "Disqualified!"
Disappointed, Goten and Trunks looked at each other. What were they talking about now? In the next instant, they flew off.
"They want to fly after Mum and Dad. Should we too?", Menka asked him in a whisper. She had been able to overhear the conversation.
Reyak grinned. Now that was something to his liking.
"What's there to grin about?", Chi-Chi snapped at Menka and Reyak.
"Nothing, Aunt Chi-Chi," Menka replied quickly, suppressing her laughter. At the same time, she pinched Reyak's arm to stop him laughing too.
"Come, Menka!" Without waiting for her reply, Reyak pulled her up and followed his two cousins in the air.
They quickly caught up with Trunks and Goten.
"You guys want to come too?" asked Trunks.
"Of course," replied Reyak. "We want to know what our father and mother were doing. We're old enough to join in once in a while, too."
"Hey, Goten!"
Surprised, everyone turned their heads. "Videl!" shouted Goten, moving closer to the woman hovering in the air. "Where's Gohan?"
Videl was out of breath and pointed east. "That way. I couldn't keep up."
"What happened?" asked Menka.
"I'm not sure. I think it's about a demon being reawakened by a mage."
Four heads turned towards each other. "Cool!" all four shouted at once.
Videl cleared her throat. "I'm not so sure ..."
"See you later, Videl!" said Goten, and flew off in a rush in the direction Videl had indicated.
Vegeta:
"This is all taking too long for me here!"
"Please, Vegeta, if you destroy the ship, it will surely awaken the demon."
Vegeta snorted. It was an insult to have to wait so long. Their opponents were surely so scared that they had already retreated by now and no one would show up.
"Gohan, do you actually train regularly?", Kakarrot asked his son.
"Uh, well ..." Uncertainly, Gohan rubbed the back of his head.
"Surely not. Trunks is already stronger than your son, isn't he?"
Before anyone else could say anything, the door opened and the next opponent entered the room. It was Dabura. The Supreme Kai looked completely terrified. Determined, Gohan walked forward.
A blink later, the room had turned into a vast rocky landscape. The only point that reminded of the spaceship was the hatch that stood out from the dry rocky floor.
Gohan was the first to attack. But Vegeta saw from the first few hits that Gohan was outmatched. Even after transforming into a Super Saiyan, it didn't get any better.
Vegeta looked to Kera, who, like him and Kakarrot, was watching the fight in silence. She looked ... disappointed? Was it because she had already trained with Gohan for so many years and had expected more from him? Or because she knew how much potential this boy had? He had shown it to them all when he had fought Cell. He had surpassed them all.
Sudden anger rose in Vegeta at the thought. Cell! When he had fought Cell back then, he had taken quite a beating. And his son from the future had not seen a strong warrior in him either. In the final fight he hadn't even had a chance and had been humiliated by this ridiculous mini-version of their opponent, only to be rescued by Kakarrot's brat.
A muffled sound jolted him out of his thoughts. A few steps away, Gohan had landed on the ground.
"You're such a wimp, Gohan! You've been neglecting your training. A disgrace to the Saiyans! You're no warrior!"
Furious, Kera looked at him. "Do you have to do that?" she hissed at him.
"What, you're thinking the same thing, aren't you?"
Guiltily, Kera looked down at the ground. Oh yes, she was thinking the same thing. And she wanted to get into the fight.
"Now will you two keep it down!" snapped Kakarrot at her.
Gohan, meanwhile, had picked himself up and was looking up at Dabura, who had been hovering over them the whole time. He, however, seemed no longer interested in the fight.
"Master Babidi, please bring me back."
The rocky landscape disappeared. They were back in the spaceship and only saw Dabura disappear through the door.
"What's this all about?"
Perplexed, they looked at each other. Gohan transformed back and knocked the dust from his clothes.
"Now we're standing around again. This is all your fault, Gohan!"
Gohan went on the defensive as Vegeta took a step towards him. "What?"
"If you had defeated Dabura right away, we wouldn't have to wait around here any longer. My son could have defeated that guy faster. You forgot everything that makes a Saiyan. You are not worthy of being a Saiyan!"
Kera grabbed Vegeta by the shoulder. "You don't have to do this now!"
"You know very well it does. On our planet, he would be ..."
"We're not on our planet anymore. Our planet doesn't exist anymore!", Kera shouted at him.
How dare she speak to him like that? "You dare ..."
"Yes, I dare. And I am allowed to. I am your sister. I'm just bringing you down to earth. You're just angry because you can't fight Kakarrot."
Vegeta growled. Damn, she was so right. What if now the once-in-a-lifetime chance to face him was gone? He would not bear this ignominy of not having defeated Kakarrot once. He had shown him up. Time and time again he had proved that he was stronger and could protect everyone. Surely he had to be able to do that.
'You can beat him. With my help.'