There was no doubt in Mik's mind that this tournament would become crazy interesting, especially when he saw Son Goku's son, Son Goten, reach the finals against Trunks, the other promising newcomer in the Junior Division. It reminded him of the semi-finals between Son Goku and Krillin, way back when. But on steroids. Those kids were something else.
The exhibition combat against Mr Satan was over in an instant, with the Champion 'graciously losing' to the child's first punch. Trunks looked disappointed and surprised at the same time, and couldn't tell if he was strong or not. Mik kept the truth to himself and played along. The adult tournament would be far more interesting, and the world would see for themselves what the true defenders of Earth were made of.
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Videl wasn't thrilled about fighting the runner-up from the last tournament from the get-go. Spopovitch was far from an easy opponent, even her father had a hard time winning against him last time. And then she'd have to fight whoever won between Tora and Gohan and she'd prove she was that much stronger even if they had crazy tricks.
She was still intrigued about what these people were capable of, with those tricks that weren't tricks. She'd seen little of it from afar against that strange monster, she even tried doing it on her own after Tora had shown her how it worked and let her borrow his energy to do so, and yet… There was more to it, no doubt about it, but she was still the second strongest person after her father.
Another thing that caught her attention was that she wasn't the only female contestant. Finally. When Videl last participated she was the only one in the entire tournament. There were two others this time, but she doubted they'd go far. As the names were announced, her attention was drawn to this 'Lady T' person, a woman with long orange hair, pink skin, pointy ears, golden jewelry and an outfit composed of something similar to a white coat and yellow pants. She clearly didn't look combat-ready, especially with those heels, and wearing white to a fight is just.. a bad idea. She was going to face that very tall and very green man, the one who looked a lot like Piccolo Daimao, who seemed to be one of Gohan's friends so she doubted she'd go far. The other female contestant had cold blue eyes, a flawless face, blonde chin-length hair, cute diamond stud earrings, and an incredible figure. She was wearing something more suitable for combat with a long sleeve striped black and white shirt and calf-length blue pants. Sadly this woman, whose name Videl didn't quite catch, was going to face her father so she wouldn't go far either.
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The Junior tournament had Bulma and Chichi fight their neighbors, the parents of the other contestants, but there was no doubt in their minds that Goten and Trunks would come out on top against everyone else. Sadly they couldn't just.. not cheer for their own kids, especially as other parents told their offsprings to 'squash those small insects' as Goten and Trunks were some of the youngest and smallest competitors. Yamcha and Tights had to appreciate the energy displayed by both mothers. When it was time for the finals, Marron wasn't sure to cheer for one or the other, so she just cheered for both and Chichi and Bulma appreciated her earnest attitude.
The gong and announcements were always the most exciting part, to get the audience's attention and anticipation. The adult tournament could finally start. Marron clapped loudly when her father won his first match easily and even imitated the punch.
"Go, daddy!" she tried screaming loud enough for him to hear.
Krillin knew he was being cheered on by his attentive daughter, he beamed a bright smile in her direction. Yamcha, Tights and Bulma also cheered their friend on and hoped for more interesting tense fights.
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The first match was a breeze for Krillin. Pinta was a strong opponent, often using his overwhelming presence to ring out past contestants, but as Mik announced Krillin was a tournament veteran who had even put Jackie Chun in difficulty back in the days.
A well placed gut punch had been enough. Eighteen feigned disinterest, but it was the only match she actually cared to see and she promptly left the doorways to find something else to busy herself with until her own match.
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The following match was Lady T against Ma Jr, and they just.. stood there for a while, chatting a little before Ma Jr just plain forfeited and walked out of the arena. Talk about disappointing. Even Mik was speechless, but Ma Jr looked.. nervous, spooked even if Mik knew any better.
Piccolo had had his eye on these strange pointy-eared people since they passed the selections. He had a hunch, and that hunch was dreadly confirmed. Lady T gave him non-answers, but he still realized what kind of person was in front of him. There was no use fighting her so he didn't, and ignored Gohan's flabbergasted expression and everyone else's questions, be them loud or silent.
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By the time Spopovich and Videl stepped on the ring, Lady T went from giggling and giving a wink at Krillin, her 'next opponent', to looking attentively at the match that was to happen. Eighteen was about to threaten this shameless woman for trying to play her husband, but when she stepped away, so did Eighteen.
If it had been the normal Spopovich, there was no doubt in her mind that Videl would've won, but Lady T recognized the mark on his forehead and the enhanced strength given by its source. The Majin wizard, Babidi, was behind it all, no doubt about it. The fight was going to be brutal, and Videl was not the kind to give up.
Jewel, the long-haired fighter due to fight last, and Pinta, who had just lost against Krillin, quietly discussed how Spopovich had changed since their last tournament. After all, Spopovich had reached the finals seven years prior, and three years prior during the regional tournaments that were held while Papaya Island was undergoing its big reconstruction efforts. They were familiar with him, his spite and his dislike for Mr Satan, who had kicked him out of his dojo a while prior for 'anti-sport behavior'. They knew his fighting style and his strengths, but he looked so different and that was intriguing.
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The crowd cheered for Videl; not only because she was the daughter of the current Champion, but also because she was the former Junior Division Champion. Her fight against her father was the most expected fight of the tournament, after all. When introducing the contestants, Mik announced that just because Spopovich was bigger, larger and heavier meant he had it in the bag, as Videl may have hidden talents, as 'the previous fight had shown' considering Krillin's small size.
However, Mik also warned Videl that Spopovich's size and muscle mass were not the only reason why he had reached the finals in the previous tournament. This was going to be an interesting fight, and after the drums, the gong echoed once more to signify the start of the fight.
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Goku, Gohan, Tora, Krillin and Vegeta observed the fight with passing interest, and while Gohan was confident in his pupil, they all soon realized Spopovich was not fazed at all by her powerful hits, and something felt off about his presence, even if they couldn't sense his ki for some reason.
Videl avoided a ring-out by unveiling her newly taught technique, flying. Except, to everyone's surprise (once more), Spopovich could do so as well, and even used ki to slam her back down on the arena.
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The entire audience suddenly got worried, the fight became one sided and.. sadistic. Vegeta was the first to vocalize that the man was holding back because of the no-killing rule, which made Goku relax even if he thought this guy was bad news. Gohan's anger overtook him, and his bandana and cape were ripped to shreds when super Saiyan claimed him, but Tora grabbed his arm as Goku was trying to reassure him Videl wasn't going to die.
"But Videl—"
Gohan didn't understand why Tora was keeping him from going. Tora out of all people should not let these things happen, right?
"She refused to surrender and wants to see this through. She has her pride as a fighter." Tora said through gritted teeth.
"But she's just a girl.. She's strong, yes but.."
Tora quietly hissed and the grip got stronger. Gohan was forced to look at his friend who stared ahead with barely contained anger.
"It doesn't matter that she's a girl." Tora growled, blood boiling.
"He won't kill her, don't worry!" Goku added.
Gohan didn't remember seeing Tora this angry before.. No, there was an instance that Gohan clearly remembered. It was when Cell got away for the first time and Tora was forced to explain further details about the time travel situation to Krillin, Tenshinhan and Piccolo. The blue iris had drowned the pupil, he knew what that meant.
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Vegeta silently agreed with his heir, even if Kakarot, his spawn and the baldie disagreed. Woman or not, this runt had guts and they all should respect that, and perhaps even her willingness to die a warrior's death. Not that it would happen in this case (even if Vegeta found the no-kill rule to be idiotic), if that guy wanted to advance to the next bracket, he had to keep her alive.
It was stupid seeing them all say all that though, especially after everything they went through seven years prior and how the washing machine could still probably kick the baldie's ass, at the very least. She wasn't there to defend her kind, though, else she'd have vocalized how wrong they were for overlooking women. Vegeta didn't really understand why Earthlings made the distinction between the gender of fighters anyway, and why these guys insisted on it despite various female contestants participating in the tournament. Hell, one even made the Namekian quit by her sheer presence. They were not to be underestimated.
"Idiots," he muttered in annoyance, and crossed his arms.
Only the upcoming fight between Trunks and Kakarot's brat really mattered in his eyes… Apart from his own fight against Kakarot, of course. One down, two to go.
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Mik had seen his share of horrors in the arena, but a glance at Goku made him realize they were all ready to jump in, should it actually become a life-threatening situation. They all had had their share of gruesome actions in previous tournaments, there was no reason for this to be any different. Who was he to stand in Videl's desire to carry on the fight, no matter how desperate? He had seen fighters come out with crazy things, regrow limbs and so much more.
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Tora still loathed it, loathed seeing this display, and her grip on Gohan's black fabric was tight. She wanted to intervene too, stop the madness, but she had to agree with Goku; Spopovich wasn't going to kill her. It was even more infuriating.
That guy was in perfect control and playing with Videl to inflict pain, not death. Tora knew it, she saw it, and she remembered it, because she had been on the receiving end of such behavior for many years.
Videl had refused to surrender when given the opportunity, and Tora somewhat understood her pride in the matter, even if she rose her voice to tell her to quit. This wasn't a death match. No, this was different, and if Spopovich even hinted at doing any attack that could be a killing blow, Tora was ready to intervene. There was a good chance that she'd be the fastest to do so.
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Nearby, Lady T watched with intense eyes, both the group of Earth defenders, and the sadistic display. She even glanced to her right; the children had taken Mighty Mask's costume and replaced him to participate in the adult tournament. They were watching from another doorway to the arena. And so was Kibito, further away on her left, on the other side of the main doorway facing the center of the arena. Shin and Piccolo were nowhere to be seen, but Lady T wasn't worried about them.
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Goku glanced back and forth between the combat and his friends, and asked Krillin about the Senzu beans; they hadn't planned for them to be needed, so they hadn't taken any. Goku disappeared with two fingers on his forehead, as Videl would certainly appreciate one as soon as the match was over.
The crowd begged Spopovich to stop, until eventually he heeded the call of another contestant who had failed the preliminaries. He grabbed the bruised Videl and dropped her off the ring, and the moment that happened, Tora let Gohan go. The man who told him to finish already was leaner and smaller than Spopovich, but wore a similar wrestling skin tight black suit, and looked just as tense and unlikeable.
Gohan had quickly regained control of his emotions, redirecting his anger and transforming it in worry for his classmate and friend. That was his target. He dropped super Saiyan and the instant Tora's hand had let him go, he rushed to take Videl to the medical aisle. When he was running in with the girl in his arms, Krillin told him Goku went to get Senzu beans, so Gohan was reassured, Videl would be alright. When he saw Videl being taken care of in the medical room, Mr Satan was not pleased and promised he'd take care of Spopovich in the finals.
Videl's status of 'injured but in no danger' was confirmed. While Spopovich was declared as the winner, Tora stared daggers at him and at his friend (?) who had called for him to just 'drop it and win already'. If she won against Gohan, she doubted she would hold back against that poor excuse of a man. The desire for blood itched. She had no reason to hold back and did not mind being disqualified for murder.
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Gohan's worried eyes when he stepped out of the room were looking for his father, who surely would be back with Senzu beans at this point. Not spotting him yet, Gohan went to Tora, and without him finishing asking, his friend quickly agreed for their match to be delayed as long as needed. Mik and the organizers allowed for a few minutes delay, but they needed to be quick or else the Great Saiyaman would be considered to have forfeited.
The moment Goku was back, Gohan rushed to give Videl the precious bean. Tora couldn't feel Videl's ki return to normal, there were just so many people that she had to keep her senses dull. But as Gohan came back out running, looking relieved, Tora knew Videl would be alright. They could go ahead with their fight.
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"Regardless of who wins this, that previous guy is going to be served just desserts," Tights commented.
"You think Tru.. You think Tora has a thing for Videl?" Yamcha had to ask.
Tights almost choked on her drink, knowing enough about her daughter to know she would better not properly answer that.
"Wouldn't you kick his ass after what we just saw? Does that mean you have a thing for her?" Bulma retorted with a raised eyebrow, and Yamcha got beet red, shamed by the prospect of being attracted to a literal teenager and promptly denied.
"Of course I'd beat him but that doesn't mean—"
"Exactly." Tights and Chichi shared a smile while Marron clapped as the gong started. The previous fight had been painful to watch, but everyone was reassured Videl was being taken care of, so it should be alright.
"Anyway my child's love life is none of your concern," Tights added with a nod.
Her daughter was an adult after all. And she had changed so much… Tights knew more than anyone that Spopovich would be a dead man if Tora hadn't met her deceased friends and regained control over her usual kill-first attitude. It wasn't her place to decide whether it was a good thing or not, the circumstances had changed, and her own hands weren't clean either.
Tora had had to kill so much already in their world, and letting her know she knew about it would only cause more issues; Tora hadn't confided about it, Tights wasn't about to poke the tiger. And yet, here she was, restrained. Tights felt warmth in her chest, and brought the sword she had been entrusted with closer to her chest. 'You'd be so proud of her, Tapion…'
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The two teenagers stepped on the arena while Mik presented them. The Great Saiyaman, with his white gloves and boots, his black suit layered by a green gi, even posed for the public as Mik said his name. Tora had chosen a loose black tee, some gray comfortable pants, and her usual ocre boots and didn't care to even acknowledge she was being introduced with just that first name and her age; the only two elements she put in the sign form for herself. Only Vegeta's form had less info than hers, only containing his name.
Tora hadn't bothered dressing differently, as she didn't really have any combat attire, and her participation in the tournament hadn't been a secret; it was difficult hiding her unique features without going to great lengths, and well, Sharpner knew already and was certainly going to share the info with his friends.
Mik didn't have a lot of information about either fighter, but he did get to share Tora's age of 17. Tora hadn't even put in her full name. Mik had to do a double take about the age, because that made no sense if he had been indeed the Golden Defender from the Cell games, but the Tournament had always been full of weird people.
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Cameras had been disposed of, but not binoculars. Gohan's sunglasses were soon disposed of when his classmates recognized his free hair and how little said glasses actually hid. Tora couldn't help a quiet chuckle hearing the cheers from the voices she recognized, especially those shouting their names; she hadn't hidden her identity as 'Tora', since she knew Sharpner had participated and had seen her in the preliminaries, so of course he'd tell the others she'd made it through and was indeed the same Tora as the one from school, and not just someone with the same name (and hair color).
What the two fighters didn't know was that their classmates believed Gohan had taken the Great Saiyaman's identity to enter, instead of having been the Great Saiyaman all along. How he got past the preliminaries was a mystery.
The two fighters shook hands, looked each other straight in the eye to share a knowing smile, and stepped away from each other to guard and wait for the starting signal.
Tora had tied her hair up in a loop, her undercut had been refreshed by her mother a few days prior. The itch definitely needed scratching, and she could focus on the now and the fun of it; whoever of the two won would beat Spopovich and as much anger as they both had about it all, they both knew the other would make it happen should they lose.
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Shin and Kibito joined Lady T to watch the beginning of the match. Shin and Lady T in particular exchanged the occasional silent glance, and Piccolo recognized they were certainly communicating through telepathy. Their expressions were neutral, even if their eyes were mostly focused on the fight in the arena.
Vegeta quietly cursed about his heir holding back, even if Kakarot's brat had somehow trained over the past month or so. Goku was cheering the two of them on, he truly didn't care who won between the two, because he liked them both and wanted to fight either of them. Vegeta grabbed his gi and brought him down to his level and was soon scolding 'this clown' about 'completely ignoring him' as his opponent. How did he think he'd get to face any of the two brats, when he was going to lose to him, Prince Vegeta? Idiotic.
Piccolo was more attentive to what the strange people with pointy ears and earrings were doing, and the reasons behind their presence. The match was the reason why they were here. He knew, from his discussion with Shin, and eventually had to inform Goku, Vegeta and Krillin about it as he knew something would disrupt the match they were watching. And they were to not intervene. Shin joined them.
"We will use their power and you must not intervene," Shin warned.
Vegeta was having none of it, he did not want that fight to be interrupted in any single way, his heir had to win, but when Piccolo revealed this was one of the Supreme Kais, he was left without much of a choice in the matter. He gritted his teeth, not knowing what to expect.
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Like Goten and Trunks before them, Gohan and Tora started by testing each other's defenses, trying to break the other's guard.. and warm up, somehow. The fight reignited the audience who could finally see an actual martial arts prowess, after two disappointing fights and a horrific one-sided encounter (nobody could really say it was a fight). Tora did her best to tune out everything else and focus on her opponent.
Gohan had gotten that much taller than the last time she properly sparred with him. He wasn't slow, but he was slower than she was. His technique was a little rusty, while hers was fresh, but Gohan's bases were just better than her own. He was nothing like the Gohan she grew up with, nor like the Gohan whom she fought in 787. Without transforming, the two of them realized whoever would win, would win through outsmarting their opponent and either force a ring out, or actually break their self-imposed rules.
Gohan decided to aim for a ring out, phasing quickly and hitting Tora with all his might in a double hammer on the back, but it wasn't enough, Tora stopped herself before she touched the ground, and landed back on the ring.
The crowd's roar distracted Tora, and she hissed quietly. It was all eating at her patience, and she was ready to break the rules, even if for an instant to secure the win and put an end to the spectacle. Her ki rose, and Gohan quickly matched.
They traded a few more blows, the hits building up shock waves around them, breaking some tiles. Tora didn't actually care much to show more of her actual strength, and taken by the excitement of the fight, Gohan soon forgot about his classmates and matched eagerly. They didn't even hear Mik's comments, who appreciated the prowess under his eyes and tried describing it to the best of his ability for the roaring audience.
The two fighters ended up breaking away and put some distance between each other, guarding again and waiting for an opportunity. Their eyes had slowly but surely changed colors, their pupils were gone, and they both saw their willingness to go further, so they needed to take a step back even if for just a moment, as per their own rules in order to not cause any issues because of the memories of the Cell Games.
They didn't get to start another round.
There was a moment in which everything faded in Gohan's field of vision, as two people jumped him and stuck a sort of needle deep in his side. He tried fighting off, he even transformed with everything he had, but he was paralyzed.
Tora saw red, aura bursting to her own Ascended state while she rushed to the enemies that attacked her friend, when her body was frozen in place and silver chains seized her limbs and brought her down.
"Gohan-san!" she roared, ignoring the sense of deja vu that struck her.
Gohan's transformation soon vanished, his eyes got glossy, and his body dropped on the floor motionless, almost void of energy, and what was worse was that none of their friends intervened. Tora saw as Spopovich and his accomplice Yamu, who had lost the preliminaries on purpose just to be able to prepare their attack, fled the scene by flying away with the strange device. She burst her aura more and tried blasting after them, but no energy left her cage.
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"Gohan-kun!" Videl exclaimed, running to the stage too.
She had been gravely injured, the audience was surprised to see her perfectly back on her feet even if her purple 'fight' shirt was stained by her own blood.
Kibito and Shin, accompanied by Piccolo, quickly went to the stage. Mik was speechless, the fight had been interrupted and now this? The crowd was murmuring, everyone was in shock, the tournament staff didn't know what to do.
Piccolo went to Tora, Kibito kneeled to take care of Gohan, while Shin exchanged with them a few words and slowly took off to follow the assailants. Tora wasn't happy about seeing someone approach Gohan and voiced it as such, still trying to do something about the chains that eventually claimed her super Saiyan state, but Piccolo got in front of her to shield her field of vision and distract the beast.
"He'll be fine, calm down. These are orders from the Supreme Kais."
"The who? I don't give a shit! Why didn't you do anything? And what the fuck is this?"
Piccolo tried conveying sincerity and the seriousness of the situation to Tora, but the teen was far too angry to hear anything about it and was too busy trying to fight the chains that just.. felt uncanny.
Goku soon followed Shin and Krillin followed them after getting permission from his wife, who decided to stay as there was no money involved in those shenanigans. Vegeta was hesitating; his heir, or his rival.
By the time the medical team had approached, Kibito had restored most of Gohan's energy.
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"Shoo, Pi-cco-lo-kun!" Lady T chuckled as she hopped on the arena. "Go with the others, I'll take care of this one."
Lady T made a dismissive hand gesture with her free hand, as the other, extended towards Tora, was clearly the source of the chains that kept the tiger in its cage. And Piccolo, after a glance and another word of reassurance Tora did not heed, actually obeyed and went after Shin, Goku and Krillin.
Tora looked at this woman with distrust, cursing as her energy was mostly gone from trying to fight the strange chains keeping her in place. Soon, she saw her father come closer as well, looking as angry as she was. And then, she saw Gohan, standing, doing much better, to the disbelief of the medical staff that had approached to take him on a stretcher to the medical aisle. At least that was reassuring. Now to be set free...
Kibito flew away to follow the others. Gohan promptly reassured Videl he was alright, but soon his attention went to Tora and requested her to be freed.
And then she heard her mother's voice, she'd gone down through the audience and passed security. Tights, despite her age, was still fit enough to jump down a decent height for a non-fighter, and holding the sword against her, she was running towards them.
"Get away from my Trunks!"
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Tora paled, her mother was running towards danger; this unknown woman that triggered all of her fight or flight senses. She couldn't lose her. But she couldn't do anything as long as those chains held her and the more she fought, the more tired she grew.