A fun conflict in this one. This one was foreshadowed way back in the chapter I brought Raditz back

thewittywhy: many thanks many thanks
And yeah, veggie probably wouldn't murder in cold blood anymore, but he wouldn't necessarily be opposed to the concept

Arkon: yeah, I mixed it. Its a good thing I clarified the listings at the end
And my primary thinking is that Goku is easiest to track as strong since SIGohan is only the strongest with The Ultimate, but yeah, that's also a good explanation

Diate: many thanks, the most appreciated

Qinlongfei: yeah I mixed up the numbers lol
And yeah that's fair, being more aware probably pushed that especially
And yeah, I don't actually remember much of gt, let alone how 17 was gt, I figured actually watching super was a bit more important to the pic than rewatching gt just yet
And don't worry. I have my plans for 17 :) though I will say I don't think he or 18 would go out of their way for upgrades if only out of distain for Gero

JCINNABAR: many thanks and same to you :)

I frowned at the listings.

Now obviously I couldn't be happier with my listing. Finally, an opportunity where dearest Veggie couldn't duck out of a fight with obvious odds.

Not that it wasn't obvious that the second he'd start losing he'd probably just forgo the whole, no Super Sayain thing, and then he'd definitely be stronger.

I was still debating on if it'd be worth it to jump to The Ultimate or not with the crowd. I mean, technically I was still in costume so the only people who'd affect me if they found out were Videl and co.

I wasn't sure if Pigero's group knew specifically about The Ultimate, but I'm pretty sure they at least knew about another form that went further than the blonde.

But that wasn't really what was concerning me at the moment.

No, that was the listing of Videl vs Spopovich. I didn't recognize the guy by name, and maybe he looked a bit familiar, but the real concern was the stylized 'M' tattooed on his forehead.

I knew that meant he was under the control of that guy who was going to revive Buu. I'm pretty sure it was also a power boost. I wasn't as certain of that, but it's DBZ so probably.

Now, Videl was definitely stronger than any human not in our group. I knew that. However, when I tried to sense her opponent's Ki, I really couldn't? It was weird. I knew it was there, I knew there was something there, but it felt voided out.

So despite knowing she was probably stronger? Maybe? I was still, concerned.

I mean, worst case is she loses the match, right?

I'm pretty sure in canon she got hurt pretty badly, but I wasn't completely sure of the situation. I mean, that could have been one of the movies and I was attributing it to this Saga for all I knew.

I shook my head and refocused on the fights in the meantime.

I was probably worried about nothing.

It sure was a good thing I wasn't betting on the outcomes of any of these fights, cause I certainly would have lost on the first one.

I mean, from an outside perspective, Seventeen definitely should have won.

I drifted closer to Piccolo as his match against the Kai neared. Supreme Kai I think. Though he was currently going by Shin for the competition.

I wasn't completely sure if that was actually his name or an alias. The Kai's were weird.

I peered over the wall and spied one of the guys who didn't make it through practicing with a sword.

Didn't know why he even brought that since there were no weapons allowed but whatever.

"Remember when I had a sword?" I asked idly.

"You mean before you were stronger than everyone else?" Piccolo glanced down at me.

"Yeah, before that…I want a sword."

"You don't need a sword."

"Okay? They're still cool."

Piccolo sighed and rolled his eyes before glancing back at Shin.

'Who is it that you were concerned about coming to this tournament?' Piccolo asked through telepathy.

'Oh, uh. Well technically he didn't sign up for the tournament himself, but his two minions are the guys with the M's tattooed on their heads.'

Piccolo blinked and glanced over at the two that I indicated.

'Then who are those two?' He asked, just barely glancing back at his opponent and the guy Goku was paired against.

'I'm, pretty sure they're also worried about the guy I'm worried about. They're not enemies, though they could certainly act less sketchy if they didn't want to look it.'

Piccolo nodded.

Piccolo and Shin were called out and their match began.

And then neither of them moved.

Even when the match began.

A few moments passed, with no one quite knowing what to do with the standoff.

When prompted by the Announcer Guy, Piccolo forfeited.

He offered no explanation as he stepped back into the room.

Except for me, that is.

'You could have warned me he was a Kai!' Piccolo somehow managed to hiss through telepathy.

'I mean, yeah? I guess. To be honest, I don't really get what the big deal is with the Kais. Like, I get they have status but-" I shrugged.

My attention was taken by Videl standing up for her match next.

I grimaced, my concerns returning.

I shook my head and decided it wasn't worth the risk. So as her name was called I grabbed her wrist.

"You should forfeit," I said.

"What?" She glanced at the stage, "why? It's Spopovich. He's the guy my dad beat in the last World tournament."

"I just, have a bad feeling about it."

Videl blinked, then smiled, "it'll be fine Gohan. You said it yourself, I'm stronger now than my dad ever was, so it should be no problem fighting this guy."

Before I could say another word she ran out to the stage, and I could no longer do anything about it unless I wanted to run out into the crowd.

And for a brief moment, I was no longer concerned.

Because that concern had been replaced with anger.

The first thing. The first thing I made her agree to before I started teaching her was that she'd forfeit if I told her to.

But then the match started and I couldn't help but be concerned again.

…

Videl

Videl didn't understand.

Before she didn't understand why Gohan was so worried, but now she didn't understand why this guy just wouldn't stay down.

It was Spopovich. Her dad beat him in the first round last time.

Maybe Gohan was exaggerating about how much she'd grown, but no, she could see how much stronger she was. She knew she was stronger. Stronger than anyone else she'd ever seen. So even if Gohan was exaggerating she should have still been way stronger than Spopovich.

Then maybe, he also learned about Ki and Energy and stuff? Maybe that was why he was so, durable.

It didn't make a whole lot of sense since it was supposed to be super rare and she didn't know where he would have learned it, but it was the only thing she could think of.

Which, in that case, it should have been fine if she used her own energy, right? She'll just, dial it up slowly to be safe. Gohan did say she had to be careful with it, and she never used it against anyone other than Gohan who probably wasn't the best reference for safety testing.

So, she started infusing Ki into her punches. The difference was immediate. A punch that before would have pushed him back, sent him flat on his back instead.

But he still just kept getting up.

It didn't matter, again and again. Anyone should have been down for the count by now.

She was getting frustrated. Why couldn't he just stay down? He wasn't even trying to fight back. He just kept getting back up. She just wanted this fight to be done with.

So when she kicked his head she had put far too much energy into it.

She knew that.

She knew that because when he toppled over his neck had twisted in almost the opposite direction.

At first it didn't even register.

She didn't quite understand what she was looking at.

And as realization set in she just felt numb.

She hardly heard the announcer say that she was disqualified for k-

It wasn't her fault.

She didn't know.

She didn't know that would happen.

If she knew she never would have-

Did he have a family?

She didn't know.

She didn't know anything about him.

That was awful.

Would it have been worse if she did?

She didn't know.

She didn't-

He.

Got.

Up.

And as he lifted his arms to twist his head back right, she looked on with horror. Because something was well and truly wrong.

…

Announcer Guy.

This, this was more than he was used to.

The fight had begun mostly normal. Sure it was strange that Spopovich wasn't fighting back, and he seemed much more, durable than he was previously, but nothing too out of the ordinary.

Though Miss Videl was visibly getting more frustrated, which was understandable as all her efforts had proven futile to that point.

Until one particular kick left Spopovich with a, less than salvageable injury.

It wasn't the first time someone has died in the fights. But never so accidental. And never by someone so young.

He worried about what this might do to her future. She was unlikely to be held criminally liable, contestants had to sign off waivers for injury before joining, and while death is a bit of a step up, anyone could see that this ass not purposeful.

But it could interfere with her police work. Not to mention what it may do to her mental state.

But that wasn't for him to meddle with.

So with a heavy heart, he began to announce Videl's disqualification for-

He got up yet again.

Now. He's seen a lot in his days in the ring, but seeing Spopovich forcibly twist his head back into a forward position was up there with the more gruesome.

Now what Videl had done to Spopovich was clearly accidental.

The man's retaliation was anything but.

At first, it had begun to look like an actual fight. What with Spopovich starting to fight back and Videl having to dodge.

Videl was clearly the more agile of the two, having no problems dodging his wider blows. There was even one rather impressive instance of her firing one of those energy blasts at the ground to propel her away from an attack.

Which cause some minor damage to his ring but he long since accepted that as inevitable in this tournament.

Then Spopovich landed a blow and the fight began its way downhill from there.

Because while Videl was clearly the more skilled of the two, Spopovich hit harder than she could defend against and her own strike backs, while seemingly inflicting damage, were just as quickly brushed off as though nothing had happened.

Videl had almost fallen out of the ring, and while in most instances, he would have been amazed by a fighter revealing their ability to fly to avoid a ring out, he had in the past, this time he had to ignore the pit in his stomach as the fight resumed.

Fight being, a generous term.

He's seen fights go too far many times in the ring. But the closest any fight had come before this to, what he could only assume to be, revenge-fueled torture was the 23rd's finals. And at least then Son Goku was fighting back.

In this case, Videl lost her ability to even do that when Spopovich grabbed her by her pigtails and lifted her off the ground.

He quickly scanned through his miniature rule book, one he'd long since memorized cover to cover, trying to see if he could spot some loophole that would allow him to call the fight now. But unless there was a forfeit, ring out, or a fighter rendered unconscious, there was nothing he could do.

This was no longer a fight to be commentated on, but he was helpless by the rules to do anything to stop it.

"Spopovich."

The man stopped when his colleague, the one with a matching forehead tattoo, called his name.

He nodded his head off to the waiting areas and he followed their gaze.

There stood Anonymous, visibly furious. The air crackled around them and the ground cracked under their feet, a single finger pointed at Spopovich, its tip shining so bright it hurt to look at.

That was technically when he was supposed to mention that any outside interference would result in disqualification. But what a shame the light seemed to have blinded him so he couldn't see what was going on.

What a shame. Oh well. Nothing to be done about it.

After a moment where everything was still, Spopovich tossed Videl out of the ring. Anonymous blinked out of sight only to reappear, catching Videl before she'd hit the ground.

He doubted anyone would complain about him calling that a ring out rather than outside interference.

It truly twisted his stomach to announce Spopovich the winner, but by the rules of the tournament, he did, technically, win.

"I'll call the medical staff-" he started, only for Anonymous to just barely not cut him off.

"I'll take her," their voice was clipped, angry. He couldn't blame them. From what he could tell before they were friends, or at least colleagues. Anyone would be upset in this situation. Someone close would be furious.

Frankly, it was probably lucky they didn't shoot Spopovich down from the sidelines.

He, called for an intermission as Anonymous walked off into the building.

He needed a break after that one.

Perhaps he'd appeal to allow early calls for such extreme circumstances in future tournaments.

…

I stalked through the building as medical staff practically had to jog after me, directing me on the directions. They had one of those stretcher things but I was in no mood to slow down.

"V-Videl! What happene- hey!"

I didn't slow or turn at Mr. Satan's voice either just kept in the direction I was pointed.

"Not now, Mark," was all I offered. Whether he recognized the reference or not I didn't glance back to know.

Eventually, I got to the room marked as an infirmary and the door was already opened for me, and the staff pointed to which bed to place her.

Without another word, I turned and headed back.

I was shaking. I was aware of that. I hated that I was aware of that.

I got back and Krillin looked up with sympathy.

"Goku's gone to Korin's to get some Senzu Beans. His match is next so he definitely won't be long," he said.

I nodded.

Piccolo tried to place a hand on my shoulder but I shrugged it off.

I found it impossible to stand still, so I paced instead.

After what felt like an hour- that was probably only a few minutes- Goku reappeared with a familiar sack in hand.

He tossed it to me, I nodded, and with a quick thanks, I turned back to return to the infirmary.

I was about ready to push past the doctors who insisted I couldn't just "feed his patients strange substances." And I understood his point and his position here. I did. But I was hardly in the mood for-

"It's alright."

I glanced back at Mr. Satan, "I know what the kid's trying to give her. It's safe."

The doctor was still hesitant but didn't quite literally stand in my way as I provided the bean.

As always, the effect was instant and Videl was sitting back up, confused by her quick and total recovery.

And I found I couldn't stand in that room any longer. I turned to leave.

"Gohan!"

I paused at the doorway but didn't turn.

"I-" Videl hesitated, "I should have listened to you. I'm sorry, you were right."

"We had a deal, Videl."

"I know. I'm sorry."

There were a lot of things I could have said.

It felt wrong to be mad at her after she got hurt. But as much as I was infinitely angrier at Spopovich, there was still a part of me that felt wronged by her as well.

It wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault she got hurt, that was Spopovich alone. But she still broke the first rule I set.

But I didn't say any of that out loud. I didn't know if I ever would, but if I did, it certainly wouldn't be in front of an audience.

"That's fine. But you're going to need to find a new teacher," I settled on instead before leaving.

…

I turned through several corners and hallways, not really paying attention to where I was going. The path I took was random, and honestly, it'd probably take a while to find my way back out later.

But eventually, I was satisfied with the distance I'd made before settling in a corner that'd be difficult to spot if anyone happened to pass.

My breathing was shaking and so was I, I paced back and forth for a few moments before sitting in the corner, leaning my eyes into my palms trying to calm down, having long since lifted my goggles.

I sat there, focusing on my breathing for- I don't know how long. I just knew it was interrupted when I heard someone clearing their throat.

I glanced up, staring dumbfounded for a moment as Mr. Satan stood over me. I wasn't even sure how he managed to track me.

"Uh, black is the default…?" He awkwardly offered as an opening.

I glanced down, noticing dark strands of hair indicating the transformation had faded at some point. Probably since sitting down since I hadn't noticed sooner.

I sniffed and wiped at my eyes. I wasn't crying but it was far more moist than I was comfortable with.

I tried to scoot closer to the wall, to create more distance. I was hardly in the mood to talk after all.

Unfortunately, he just took that as an invitation to sit.

He sat in silence for a few moments and I certainly wasn't going to open any conversation.

I curled my knees up to my chest, well aware that I was trying to make myself smaller.

"…do you think that fight would have gone differently if you hadn't taught her?" He eventually asked.

I scowled.

"If Videl couldn't fly she would have lost by ring out."

"Maybe. Or maybe she would have gotten hurt more if she wasn't able to defend herself as well. Or maybe the fight would have gone completely differently. There's no way to say."

His words did nothing to make me feel better. "Who knows" is far from an encouraging sentiment.

…

"Who taught you how to fight?" He asked.

My head barely turned towards him, more out of confusion than anything else, "what? What does that have to do with anything?"

He didn't answer, moving on to a different question instead.

"Have you ever gotten hurt in a fight?"

He nodded, my silence answer enough.

"Do you blame them because you got hurt?"

"That's different."

"How?"

Because Videl didn't have to fight. Because she didn't have to be responsible for saving people or worlds. Because her life didn't have to be in danger.

I didn't say that.

"It just is," is all I said.

"Well, if anyone to blame then, besides Spopovich," the sudden venom in his voice was not lost on me, "well the reason it got so, out of hand was to get back at me so-"

"It's Spopovich's fault only. I know that."

I did. I did know that. That didn't make me feel any better.

"Right! And trust me! The first thing I want to do right now is-"

"You can't. Videl's stronger than you are," I interrupted. And at any other time, I probably wouldn't have been quite so glib about it.

"I- I'll have to take your word for it. But the point is, it's not your fault, so you shouldn't be putting the blame on anyone else."

I said nothing, glaring into the wall.

"C'mon," he tried, with a lighter tone this time, "where's that brave kid who took on Cell a-"

"I was terrified of Cell!" I snapped, my arm swinging out. I managed to stop it before it crashed through the wall.

I didn't look over. I didn't need to see him to know he'd flinched away.

"I was terrified of Cell," I repeated, "for so long. I was so helpless. Then I was stronger. Stronger than him, stronger than anyone. I still am. I was so excited, I went in knowing there was no way he could win. And I was right, but so much could have gone wrong, if I'd hesitated for too long, or if I'd misjudged how he'd react. So much could have gone wrong."

Mr. Satan didn't seem to know how to respond for a moment.

"Well, it didn't?" He tried, which fell completely flat.

It was weird seeing him all serious. I wasn't used to it.

"Look it's, it's scary. To know that there are people so much stronger out there. And I don't like to admit that but, it is. It's scary that if something like Cell came up again, I wouldn't be able to protect my Videl. And, I am so proud of her, but it's scary knowing she could get hurt out there. And, frankly, I feel better about her out there knowing she's that much stronger. And, people get hurt fighting sometimes. It happens. And, this time at least, it worked out, what with your healing, bean, thing."

It still felt weird, if not even weirder that he was being so serious.

"I'm not going to change my mind. I'm still not gonna teach her anymore."

"And- and that's fair. From what I gathered there was some kind of deal she didn't keep? That's a totally different thing, and I don't think I should interfere with that. Whether or not you train her is totally up to you."

I didn't respond.

"Look, I just, wanted to make sure you weren't blaming yourself for this."

I shrugged.

He sighed, pat me on the shoulder before standing up.

"Alright, I'll, see you around then."

He left me alone once again.

Eventually, I managed to get up and had to find my way back to the others.