Goku didn't quite understand why Trunks, 'the older one', had stayed, but he didn't question it: it was tournament time, and the more amazing rivals, the merrier. Seeing Vegeta drag their old ally to sign up for the competition meant the ordeal would be so much more interesting. Goku was excited. Not only that, but his second son looked promising too, and his rivalry with Trunks ('the younger one') reminded him of his own with Krillin and how it made them better fighters, better martial artists, better friends. He looked fondly at them, playing with a little blonde girl before it was their turn to sign up. Speaking of Krillin, Goku questioned his sudden hair growth, and Goku was shocked, shocked to find out the little girl was actually his daughter. With Eighteen! His further questions on the hows and whys were promptly shut down.

Both Bulmas were overwhelmed by emotion with Goku's return, they had missed him so much, but of course that idiot came back to participate in the Tenkaichi Budokai. Why else would he come back? It was idiotic, and 'so much like Son-kun, after all'.

.

Due to the televised nature of the event, Gohan chose to enter as the Great Saiyaman, but his helmet was not allowed, so he wore a white bandana and a pair of sunglasses to conceal his identity. Bulma had prepared it all, of course.

Piccolo, not believing it would be enough, especially as Gohan panicked seeing some classmates on their way to take a seat in the audience, decided to take the matter into his own hands. Or rather his own eyes, as it is through them that he destroyed all cameras in the vicinity.

.

Tora wasn't let go by Vegeta until she'd written her name on the sign-up form. And his, too. Vegeta was stubborn like that, and Tora decided that if needed, she could just forfeit in the preliminaries and wash her hands of the ordeal. She didn't voice that plan (plan A?), else she wouldn't hear the end of it though. It would of course cause uproar, but she didn't care, she did not want to participate… or did she? Tights took her daughter away when she and Vegeta moved out of the way to let everyone else sign up.

There was no use trying to go against stupid Saiyan genes and their desire to fight, regardless of the circumstances, and Tora had to accept that and slowly began thinking about how to fight properly. Tights encouraged her, took her jacket and sword from her and made sure the binder she was wearing was the fabric one, so it wouldn't be considered armor. She even kept an eye out so Tora could change into something she could fight in away from people before she had to enter the tournament grounds.

"Don't worry too much about it and have fun, ok Trunksie?"

Tora was reluctant, she didn't like the idea of her mother seeing her fight, even if it was just friendly spars, but she was insistent. She couldn't deny her. She'd at least give it a try.

.

Soon enough, the boys complained about the tournament being separated between kids and adults, and Goku also lamented the change; back then, there was no junior division! As kids, he and Krillin loved testing themselves against older rivals. A junior division? How disappointing. Everyone under fifteen had to sign up for the child's version, and so Goten and Trunks had to obey and comply with the rules. They still pulled a face when they wrote their name in though. There was little chance of anyone but them being the finalists, should they be lucky enough to not fight each other before that. It also meant that fight was likely going to be the only fight worth watching in the junior division.

.

Bulma, despite not knowing about Goku's return, could have bet Vegeta was going to change his mind about participating, there was no way his blood wouldn't heed the call, so she had packed his change of clothes alongside Trunks'. He snatched the capsule from her hand, acknowledging her foresight and 'told you so' attitude. Everyone gave their best wishes to the fighters before going their separate ways. Bulma had made a request of them all before they went on their way. Vegeta hmpfed a disappointed agreement about the request to not go super Saiyan due to the memory of the 'Golden Warriors' of the Cell Games. People would recognize them, Bulma said, and that would be a problem. Vegeta couldn't care less about being recognized, but he valued his peace (and going against Bulma fucking Brief would jeopardize that peace). Regardless, he knew himself to be stronger than them all in base. He was also certain his heir was stronger than Kakarot's brat, whose senses had dulled with the years of peace. They separated into two groups: participants who needed to change and go through preliminaries on the one hand, and the audience on the other hand.

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With both Krillin and Eighteen participating, Bulma had previously been asked to watch over Marron. Yamcha, who had decided to not participate (he wouldn't be able to recover from the humiliation), as well as Tights, also agreed to share the responsibility of the little girl. Tights was particularly fascinated by how much this world had changed due to her invention. Marron was the incarnation of such change, the daughter of Krillin and one of his killers… Tights and Yamcha also shared memories of a past life together, but he wasn't really the Yamcha she knew. It was uncanny. Her version of him knew she had a daughter, after all, so it was yet another wall separating them. All was good, though, all was going as expected and Tights was at peace. That Eighteen did not look like the monster her Gohan and Trunks told her about.

.

As they made their way through the buildings, Vegeta ignored the questions thrown his way by journalists trying to cover the events. Piccolo took it upon himself to destroy those cameras as well, while Goku, who couldn't say no when these people were being so nice and just doing their job, answered some questions. This caused quite interesting follow up questions concerning his place of origin ("the afterlife").

Tora walked near Eighteen, hoping for peace and silence compared to the enthusiasm displayed by everyone else (bar Piccolo), but the instant she mentioned her brother's name, Tora was gone.

At least the children wouldn't be that much of a bother, so she accompanied them and helped them change into their respective gis instead of hearing all of the nonsense spoken by the adults. Tora tried her best to reassure the boys she'd cheer them on.

"But we wanna fight the adults, not some lame children!" Trunks pouted.

Tora helped Goten with his sleeves and then reached to pinch Trunks' cheek gently.

"Be nice to your competition, little rascal," Tora lightly scolded.

"I want to fight adults too," Goten protested sheepishly. "I trained really had with my big brother, I want to try against them.."

"You'll get to do it after the tournament. I'm sure Goku-san will love fighting you both."

"He's really that strong?" Trunks doubted, but Goten got stars in his eyes. Tora noticed and gave him a fond smile.

"Maybe as strong as your dad," Tora told Trunks with a mischievous smile.

"No way!" Goten protested.

"Yes way! Papa is much stronger than him!" Trunks pulled his tongue at his friend and soon enough, they were lightheartedly fighting about whose dad was stronger.

Tora had been happy to fuel the rivalry, but there was no doubt in her mind that Trunks and Goten were close friends. Perhaps it was their Saiyan blood speaking. The other contestants of the junior division weren't impressed with the childishness of it all, especially as Tora told the children to hold back and be mindful.

.

Ever since its reconstruction after the Son Goku and Ma Junior finals, Papaya Island had become such a touristic place, with a show of performers rather than true martial artists. Mik had lost faith in his job and found the ordeal to have lost its spark ever since… well, ever since the Son Goku and Ma Junior finals. Well, perhaps that had been a little too many sparks but… oh well, you gain some you lose some. Ever since the old martial arts schools stopped attending, the tournament became a feat of strength, and that was simply not as interesting.

Mik had been presenting it for decades, explaining all of the techniques and knowing the competitors, new and old. His fondest memory had been asking Contestants Krillin and Jackie Chun to re-do a fight sequence, but slower, because they had been so quick…

So when he spotted that unmistakable mane when different contestants left the changing rooms to warm up for the qualifications, Mik ran over, the flame igniting once more in his heart.

"Oh Kami, is that you, Son Goku?!"

"Hey! Long time no see!"

Mik couldn't be happier. Krillin had also enrolled! And.. Ma Junior too! Mik guessed (correctly) that Mr Satan had nothing to do with the defeat of Cell, that it was Goku and his friends (more friends?! this tournament was going to be exceptional).

The short guy why flame-hair hissed something about them not being friends, about low-class warriors and whatnot, but Mik knew how rivals became friends in the ring. He knew this man, whom he had seen on TV seven years prior, would come around, like Tenshinhan did. It was a shame he was absent, too. There was a moment of disbelief when Goku said he had indeed died when fighting Cell, but got special permission to visit for the tournament. Considering Krillin had come back to life once about twenty years prior, Mik had to accept these guys were just something else. The long-haired contestant trying to redirect his aggression was a strange sight too.

"Wait, you were in the Cell Games too, weren't you?" Mik inquired, his squinted eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. "Yes, the Golden Defender, I remember Jimmy confirming that! Geez that footage is gone but I remember clearly that hair color..."

He wanted to ask more questions, but the youth glared, huffed and just left, following the spiky-haired one who was complaining about the no-killing rule.

"Tora is the taciturn kind, don't take it personally," Krillin reassured with a knowing smile.

"Oh well, with you guys I shouldn't be surprised… This tournament is going to be a-ma-zing! But don't blow up the arena please!" Mik giggled nervously, seeing the dreadful Ma Junior had also enrolled. Piccolo, who had changed so much over the past twenty years, said he would try, but made no promises.

Mik oversaw the preliminaries; Mr Satan was pre-qualified, of course, but there were almost two hundred contestants and needed to be trimmed. The organizers insisted on a punching-machine, but Mik hated that. The strongest contestants weren't always the strongest in raw force, he wanted to see interesting techniques, damn it!

Thankfully the spiky-haired man sort-of.. solved that situation by breaking the machine beyond repair. The second machine met the same fate. No doubt about it, the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai would mark history, and Mik was excited.. and afraid at the same time.

.

When Vegeta told people to move aside and punched the machine with little restraint, Tora quietly chuckled. Truth was that if he hadn't, she probably would have done it herself. Eighteen, Krillin, Goku, Gohan, Piccolo.. they all had easily qualified by barely touching the machine and scoring crazy numbers, and it had to be revised because obviously something was wrong with it. With Vegeta's stunt, actual preliminary matches had to be held during the children's tournament. Mik was happy with the point system used for those preliminaries which was a combination of speed, skill and entertainment potential. Contestant Tora was the fastest once on the rings and earnt her qualification, hopefully fast enough to observe the children and cheer them on, as she had promised them she would.

.

While these new preliminaries were held, those who had qualified were on the bleachers to observe the children's tournament. It was progressing exactly as expected. Some under 15s tried their best, but with Trunks and Goten more advanced in their formal training, there was no doubt about the outcome and the final round was slowly building up for some of the most attentive fighters. Tora eventually joined her allies, smoke in hand.

"I hope I didn't miss anything interesting," she asked Gohan once she joined him and stood by his side.

"No, they're up in a couple of matches.."

While they were discussing their prognostications about whether Trunks or Goten would win, Sharpner pointed the strange gang over to Videl with a questioning look.

"Isn't that Tora? He qualified? Damn."

Sharpner was disappointed and surprised at the same time; he had failed to qualify himself. When the main show was to start, he would have to go sit with the rest of the audience instead of staying with the other martial artists.

"It seems so..."

Videl squinted her eyes at the mismatched group of strangely dressed people. Including Gohan, that dork was wearing the Saiyaman disguise. Tora hadn't bothered with any disguise. She recognized Vegeta from their previous encounters, he still looked angry as he did prior. Strangely, that tall guy wearing orange standing next to Gohan actually looked a lot like him.

When the final match between Trunks and Goten was announced, the adult participants watched with more interest. Videl was shocked, she thought for sure the finalists would be older, but no, it was two of the youngest contestants of that year.

She could hear her little sister cheer Trunks on from the lodge. And then Goten and Trunks started their fight. Videl was baffled by their skill, their jumps, their speed, and all these strange people around Gohan (or rather, the Great Saiyaman) found it perfectly normal.

So, as Sharpner had to join the audience, Videl marched over to the group to question them about it all. But as she approached, she started recognizing two more: two of them had features she hadn't forgotten from seven years prior, and she had seen one of them prior already. They were part of the group of clowns who fought against Cell, she was certain of it.

"Hey Tora-kun!" Videl decided to call out the one that wasn't in disguise.

Tora glanced over hearing her name, did a double take, then looked at the others, and Gohan gave his approval about something and said something to his friends. Gohan then gestured for Videl that she could join them all.. and Tora promptly got away to smoke in peace.

"Your hair, it's different!" Gohan had to notice the absence of the pigtails.

Videl's hair had been chopped short. Sure, he had told her long hair often got in the way and could be a liability in combat and she should cut it, but Videl had screamed at him about it so he was confused that she actually did it.

"Ugh. Yeah." Videl tried dismissing the observation.

Two things bothered her about it all: he never said that about Tora's hair, and he had completely missed the opportunity to say he liked girls with short hair. Her pride was hurt.

Gohan introduced Videl to the rest of the gang, especially as said gang called him by name and not by his super hero name. Talk about keeping it secret. The man in orange was his father, who was dead? Videl believed that was a cover for a nasty divorce, but.. That green man also looked an awful lot like Piccolo Daimao, from the history books.

"Not bad at all, Gohan, she's pretty cute," Krillin nudged Gohan who got beet red, and Videl glared at them both.

"Oooo so you are a girl! How nice!" Son Goku was surprised and exclaimed his own realization. The man was enthusiasm incarnate.

Videl was now angry; she knew shorthair was boyish, but there was nothing in her figure that would mistake her for a man, that was ridiculous. Gohan looked embarrassed on her behalf, while Tora who had seemingly heard it and was trying hard to keep a straight face.

As the two young boys were presented for the surprising finale of the Junior division, Videl heard the spiky-haired man taunt Son Goku about how his son would wipe the floor with Goten. But strangely, he didn't call him Son Goku, but.. Carot? Weird, but after all, Gohan was named after lunch...

"Hey Goten's amazing!" Goku commented with enthusiasm the moment they started fighting.

The boys' fight was a sight to behold, they jumped, traded blows, grappled and more. Videl couldn't believe it, she had a hard time following what was happening, and the comments in the speakers were going crazy! And yet, these strange guys looked at it as if it were perfectly normal. They had not reacted at all when Vegeta broke the punching machine either, Videl had seen that from afar. Tricks, and the machine was broken, no doubt about it… no, they weren't normal. They couldn't be normal. Videl's eyes grew wide.

"Ha! He's still far from what my kid's capable of. And you two will lose to the rest of my royal bloodline," Vegeta sneered, but Son Goku didn't mind and just looked excited at the threat. Which only infuriated Vegeta more.

Behind his sunglasses, Gohan looked embarrassed and Tora glanced over. Videl half-frowned. Was Tora also related to this man? It made no sense, Tora was Trunks' cousin on Bulma's side, not on the father side.. Right? These people were strange, even more so than what she saw a few weeks prior with that.. strange monster.

.

Vegeta was proud of his son, and it showed. Their no-ki blasts rule was broken by Trunks, he had needed it to win, but he blasted at the ground, not at the brat. Kakarot's second spawn was not completely worthless, but he had no tactical sense. Trunks had baited and played him and the runt couldn't stop himself in time; he touched the bleachers and it was a ring out. Good enough, that's one win out of three for Vegeta's lineage. His heir would show Kakarot's brat what seven years of slacking off did to his power, while he would get to obliterate Kakarot. A second chance at revenge, for staying dead instead of facing him.

And it seemed fate was on his side, as both him and his heir would fight that third-class's lineage right from the start. And show him.

Krillin vs Pintar

Lady T vs Ma Jr

Videl vs Spopovich

Great Saiyaman vs Tora

N°18 vs Mr Satan

Mighty Mask vs Kibito

Goku vs Vegeta

Shin vs Jewel

Sorry I had forgotten to upload the previous chapter actually lol! Thanks for checking in!

What do you think about these brackets? ;-)