After a couple of hours of no news from those who suddenly left, the Tournament organizers and its president, alongside Mr Satan, decided to have an open free for all with all remaining participants instead. It was only fair, the audience wanted to see spectacle, and there was none.

By the time Krillin came back, that decision had been sanctioned and approved by all parties involved and the fight was about to start. Krillin accepted it, he was disqualified and that was not something he even considered fighting. He thanked Mik for telling him, reassured him he was perfectly fine with the decision, and let him do his job to announce the last fighters with all the fanfare they deserved.

Krillin hadn't even considered reentering the tournament, it was far down his priority list (although he knew for sure Eighteen would scold him for it), and went to find Yamcha, Chichi, Bulma and Tights to give them a rundown of the situation.

.

Marron, sitting comfortably in Bulma's arms, was cheering loudly for her mother. Krillin cheered for Eighteen as well before going to his friends. He sat with them, apologizing to the neighbors, and ended up first inquiring about the children. Yamcha just pointed at the arena.

".. Aren't they clever," Bulma chuckled.

"Your boy's always dragging my little angel down the path of shenanigans."

"Oh you know Goten is often the one leading… But I won't deny this is probably Trunks' idea." Bulma had to laugh it off.

"This and a thousand other things!" Chichi fake-scolded her friend with a playful glint in her eye.

After sitting in between his friends, Krillin had a good look at the arena, and nodded. He wondered for an instant why Eighteen hadn't called the kids out on their deception, until he remembered she couldn't sense ki. Eventually she would figure it out though.

Yamcha approved of Chichi's judgment on the two boys and their behavior. To him, Trunks was more often than not the instigator, mostly because he said so and took the blame and credit for their games. He was older, after all. Tights knew better but kept her thoughts to herself.

Chichi had to express her light displeasure with the menace her boy was when he was with Trunks. The tone was shallow, though. Truth was she had accepted there was no use going against the tide and that the two of them were happy playing together, even if they often got into trouble. Normal children's troubles.

"It's harmless fun," Tights approved of it all, it was quite entertaining.

"Can't say it's not the most hilarious thing I've ever seen in a Tournament," Yamcha grinned.

"Well, at least it'll keep them occupied while.." Krillin sighed, then slowly and quietly he explained to them what he knew; an evil the Saiyans were going to deal with before it hatched. Hopefully.

.

It didn't take long for only three (well, four) fighters to remain in the arena: Eighteen, Mr Satan and Mighty Mask.

Eighteen was quick to realize this strange masked fighter was no ordinary fighter, considering how he disposed of his opponent and accurately gave her his attention as the next threat to deal with. Mr Satan was outright ignored, even as he announced he would take them both at the same time.

Trunks and Goten knew Eighteen was stronger than regular people due to having been babysat by her and kept in line more than a couple of times, so she was their target. Trunks had faced Mr Satan after winning the Junior Division, and he judged Eighteen was perhaps more dangerous, even if he wasn't sure how strong he was actually.

Eighteen eventually realized what was happening when she saw upclose how small the fighter's limbs were, and when they powered up, she recognized their voices and their attempts at coordinating. The fight was over, their lack of teamwork within the costume had them go in separate directions, and when the deception that they were two people in a costume, Mik was quick to point out this was against the Tournament rules and as such, they were disqualified and scolded.

Unwilling to face the wrath of their respective mothers, the two boys flew away as fast as they could.

Yamcha and Krillin both considered going after them, but eventually decided against it, mostly because the kids were actually faster than them, but also because it could cause more disruption for the tournament.

Eighteen eventually caught Mr Satan in a deadlock, and he somehow managed to free himself.. and win by ring out.

This was how Mr Satan was declared the winner, and after complimenting his opponents, he started giving his speech and thanked his audience, their cheers and their support who carried him to victory once again. The thunder of applause and cheers shook the bleachers and those who knew better were gobsmacked. Except Krillin. Krillin knew what Eighteen had done. And he had no clue how to deal with that information.

While in the middle of enjoying the deserved cheers, however, other disqualified contestants suddenly appeared in the arena.

.

Tights looked dumbfounded, seeing Vegeta in his super Saiyan glory, standing in front of Goku and one of the contestants that didn't get to fight, the small one with pointy ears, that was similar to this Lady T woman who had trapped her daughter. Her daughter.. wasn't there, and neither were Gohan and Videl. Tights shivered. Something didn't feel right.

Then, suddenly, horror struck. Vegeta blasted towards the crowd, killing dozens and leaving a massive hole in the bleachers. Not even Goku had been quick nor strong enough to deviate the blast away. Soon the screams came, reminding her of others she'd heard before.

Yamcha and Krillin quickly stood in shock. Bulma cursed, none of this was normal.

Then, Vegeta blasted in their direction.

Bulma stared at the beam of light coming their way, unable to react or comprehend. Only her hold on Marron tightened. But the light wasn't going straight at them. Just almost towards them.

Yamcha, being the one closest to where the blast was going towards, was quick to pull a few of their closest neighbors out of the way, saving their lives. The blast was just too close and too quick, without build up, he couldn't have stepped in between the audience and the blast fast enough, like Tora had done all those years ago, saving most of the Satan neighborhood in Central City.

Krillin and Yamcha promptly shook off the shock to take charge; Yamcha was to keep everyone safe and evacuate as orderly as possible, while Krillin was holding as much of the structure as he could to avoid further casualties. Act first, ask questions about what the hell just happened later.

Goku soon transformed into a super Saiyan and confronted Vegeta, and Tights was attentive to what was happening, at least as much as she could considering the circumstances. She didn't move and didn't evacuate like all others, this was something she needed to understand, to see. Those past few months at Capsule Corp, she had more than a few occasions to observe the man he'd become, this… This, she didn't know what it was. She couldn't hear what they were saying, of course, there was too much panic, there were too many screams. It all felt too familiar, too much like home. Before Tora had freed their world. There were fearful screams and the occasional comment about those 'golden warriors from the Cell Games'.

Tights recognized Vegeta's frustration, Goku's will to fight, and that strange man, the Kai above Kais according to Krillin, getting in between them, shaking and seemingly trying to calm them down. Only to be threatened by both Saiyans and having to step away, much against his will it seemed. There was also this strange platform that was under their feet. Yamcha was trying to help Bulma and Tights away from the dangerous structure. Eighteen was already helping everyone else, and Bulma whispered to Marron that everything would be ok, and to look at how strong and helpful Mama was being.

Chichi called for her husband in the middle of the chaos, his transformation and Vegeta's sudden murder spree bringing back awful memories. Was this how the twenty-four hours he got to spend on Earth would be spent? What the hell was happening?!

Amongst the ruckus, they managed to hear Goku raise his voice and say something about taking it all elsewhere. Almost as quickly as it had all happened, the trio (and the platform) disappeared.

Bulma was holding back her tears, holding onto Marron, and witnessing the destruction Vegeta had just caused. The destruction and death. Why… What was happening?

Once the sudden crisis (attack?) passed, Eighteen came to check on them and took her daughter back into her arms to reassure her and finally get some intel about what had happened from her husband. But there was still so much to do, so many that needed help, so Marron was left once more in someone else's care: Tights took her in easily; she was older and arguably more fragile than the rest of them. So Bulma, Chichi, Krillin, Yamcha and Eighteen focused on helping the first responders and the wounded get help. Punta, Sharpner and other former Tournament participants soon jumped in to help.

Surely the two boys would be alright, wherever they went. Hopefully they'd be back soon, and would be forgiven for having entered the adult tournament against the rules…

.

.

Letting Son Goku handle Vegeta was the best Shin could do; he truly did not have the means to stand in their way, and Babidi knew it. Thankfully, Vegeta had refused to kill him for some reason and Goku understood that he had to make sure he didn't lose energy, so as to not fuel Buu's egg. After the three of them were teleported elsewhere, Shin and the platform had been brought elsewhere. Babidi wasn't done with him, and if Vegeta was not going to kill him...

There was only so much the Kai could do while facing another ally that had turned against him because of Babidi's magic. He was so focused on trying to understand why Tora had turned against them as well that he was becoming sloppy in his combat ability and there were more than a few close calls in his ability to evade the lavender-haired youth.

Something just didn't add up; there was no evil in there to manipulate, and while Vegeta had fallen willingly , Tora looked like he was in pain. Babidi's spell was powerful, but Tora didn't seem to have evil in his heart.

Shin just couldn't read or hear Tora's soul at all. But he seemed like a good person, the taciturn kind most certainly, but his willingness to jump in to help Videl, and then Gohan earlier… Those eyes didn't lie.

So Shin believed he could fight it. Tora had to fight it. The young Kai had to bring him back, he wouldn't let Babidi steal one more soul.

At least that was what Shin thought, when he understood that what he was seeing in his blue eyes was pain.

In hopes of gaining some reprieve, the moment he managed to put some distance between him and Tora inside, Shin extended his hands forward and froze the young adult in place. This also froze him in place because he had to maintain his focus and pose to keep Tora immobile, but it stopped Tora from attacking him. It was a risky move that left him vulnerable, but he didn't have much of a choice.

Perhaps it would give them enough time to give Tora a chance to his senses, and perhaps it would be enough time and pause to get him to regain full control against Babidi's spell. And it might even give Gohan a chance to help out, since they seemed close.

But then those pained eyes lost their pupils and turned teal.. and then blank.

.

.

After having fled the tournament and ditching their stolen costume, Trunks and Goten stopped when something caught their senses. With their experience fighting Hirudegarn a few weeks prior, where they were able to feel and see Vegeta and Tora transform as well, they'd grown to notice such spikes of energy. Tora and Gohan had transformed when their fight was interrupted, but it hadn't lasted. This time, however, there was another fight, somewhere. Somewhere where Gohan and the others had gone.

"You felt that, Trunks-kun?"

"Yeah.."

While they were waiting for the Tournament to resume, a super Saiyan ki had spiked, then just as quickly it had disappeared. Then once more.

They noticed the third time, which happened more or less when Auntie Eighteen broke their costume. That third super Saiyan spike lasted longer, and by the time they were away from Papaya Island, they realized that ki wasn't alone. It was alongside another strange energy that was a little like Hirudegarn somehow, when they managed to feel it.

"That's.. a fight?" Goten wasn't certain.

Trunks didn't know, but he still nodded. Whenever Goten made a gut-guess, he was usually right, so yes, that was probably a fight.

As they were wondering which way to go, whether to that much further away place, back to Papaya Island, or towards where they first felt the shorter energy spikes, something closer grabbed their senses.

There were two more super Saiyans, but in a totally different place, and Trunks and Goten felt they were behind them somehow, and they disappeared just as quickly.

And then there were two more super Saiyan energies, but they were in another place on the planet, much further away to the east.

Why were there so many super Saiyans all of the sudden? Or were they teleporting around on the planet? Regardless, those last two kis didn't die down, unlike all others, and they felt further ahead, in the general direction all adults went towards when they ditched the Tournament with those suspicious pointy-eared pink-like people.

Then that other Hirudegarn-like energy and the super Saiyan ki way up north also disappeared… only to be replaced by super Saiyan once again (the same?) in the general same location. That's where Goten started flying towards.

"I think that's my big brother..!"

"Prolly? Also there's two fighting that way too..."

Trunks followed his friend without hesitating; Goten went for what he thought was Gohan, not towards the other two energies that were clearly fighting.

Whatever the adults went to, it was far more interesting than the Tournament, no doubt about it, and they weren't about to be kept at bay. They were useful, they had proven themselves, hadn't they?

.

By the time they passed by the location of Babidi's spaceship, the two young boys could pinpoint the two super Saiyans were much further away. Goten pointed in the direction and noted the occasional ki blast and column of light breaking through the larger clouds. Clearly those two were fighting over there, but as for the other energy spike...

Something caught their eye on the way, though; a destroyed village of sorts with some broken bloody limbs, a strange white small cabin of sorts with a closed door that clearly looked alien, and strange statues atop one of the taller rock formations. The maimed bodies horrified them both, but the fact that Goten thought he recognized one of the statues got him to pay attention to them instead.

"Izzat big sis Videl?" Goten tugged Trunks to fly down and see those instead.

When they got closer enough to see, they noticed it wasn't just Videl, but also two of the three long-eared people that were involved in keeping Gohan and Tora still when those strange guys jumped them. Trunks confirmed Goten's initial question. The closer they got, the stranger the statues looked; they looked terrified and surprised, they weren't glorious statues like the ones on monuments.

"Uh?.. Oh, seems so. Weird, right?"

"The old guy said something about an ancient evil…" Goten remembered he heard some of the words Kibito had said to his big brother before they all left.

"Think it's an evil wizard like in that movie—"

The two boys yelped and moved back when all of the sudden, a strange man appeared in front of them. They only briefly saw that this man was an adult, with blond hair with some sort of gel holding it back in a sleek way, long ears a little like Tapion's were, but with earrings of sorts, a strange pair of yellow sunglasses, a flour-like white skin with strange lines on his face, and some sort of black coat with fur without any shirt underneath. He was levitating in front of them with a dangerous smirk on his face.

"Hey there boys!"

His voice was fake-sweet, no doubt about it. Trunks gasped and moved back, pulling Goten along by holding his hand. They hadn't sensed him at all, and the older boy's instincts screamed danger.

"Who are you?!" Trunks was defensive.

"You two shouldn't be here, go back to your moms," the man shooed them with a laugh. "I'm not here for you." And he moved away, ignoring them entirely.

Goten shook his hand free from Trunks' hold once it had relaxed, but when he saw the man's target had been the statues and visibly charging ki in his hands, he got an adrenaline rush and went after him.

"Don't touch big sis!"

.

Thankfully a flash of black stepped in between the statues and that strange man that was about to destroy them and deviated the incoming couple of blasts.

A cloaked figure with visible short black hair with spiked bangs, a red and black mask representing a fox, and a massive ki stood in between the strange humanoid alien and the statues, only his right hand out of the fabric, fingers curled and building ki.

"You won't succeed here either," his deeper voice gave a stern warning at the blonde man.

"Oh? I'll try anyway, if you don't mind!" The guy with the glasses raised an eyebrow, taunting his new enemy, and he blasted towards the statues anyway.

The masked guy moved fast to block, counter or soak all of those blasts, and soon they started fighting.

Goten squinted his eyes, the second guy looked somewhat familiar, but he also realized something. The masked guy was protecting the statues and the one with pointy ears was trying to destroy them, and was shooting ki blasts to try and bypass the masked guy's defenses. So he couldn't fight, because he had to make sure no ki blast reached the statues behind him.

"Trunks-kun, we gotta help him. Gotta move them," he whispered to his friend and pointed.

Trunks looked at Goten, then back at the situation, then nodded and they flew away to make a big loop and reach the rocky formations from behind. By the time they had circled around and reached the petrified versions of Videl, Lady T and Kibito, the boys realized that moving them wouldn't be as easy as they first thought.

Hopefully the strange man who fought with only his right hand would realize their plan, but not the blonde.

"I'll help you out!" A cheerful voice told them in a half-whisper.

Another female voice agreed. Two girls had approached from the other side of the battle as well, and Trunks and Goten were surprised they hadn't sensed them at all. Were they like Auntie Eighteen and Uncle Seventeen?

The two girls wore similar outfits to the guy with the mask, but their masks were white and red, not black and red, and represented other animals but the two boys didn't stop to observe what they were. What they did take notice of was that one had a black bob, the other had a blue ponytail, they both wore black and dark green combat-ready outfits with a similar black shirt and waist-length coat. The brunette wore green denim-like shorts and black tights, the other wore a red skirt with built-in shorts and calf-high boots.

Trunks got suspicious, but they were out of options, and Goten was seemingly willing to trust them, so he had to follow along.

"Okay!"

The one with blue hair grabbed onto Kibito, the one with black hair onto Lady T, and the two boys were tasked with moving Videl.

"I can't believe how cute you are! Adorable little boys," the girl with the bob haircut marveled about the two boys with unbound enthusiasm.

Trunks recognized that tone of voice, the kind that threatened cheek-pinching while Goten took the compliment with a wide grin, of course he was cute!

"They're so adorable, right?" Her friend chuckled and agreed, even if she was less expressive and enthusiastic about it, it sounded genuine.

.

.

.

The last time Tora had been in such a situation was about a year prior, when Vegeta had insulted her mother, forcing her to break her chains and let super Saiyan completely take over. It had been what Vegeta had wanted.

She had known she needed to find compromise, but she had been pushed too far off and the pain, exhaustion and desire to kill had won.

Facing Shin, Tora acted on instinct, the deep desire to break the chains taking over, and for that, she would do anything, she would do everything needed to be set free. Only her body, strength and instincts remained, she was gone.

With the full power of super Saiyan eventually taking over her body, Tora broke through the shackles holding her in place, and she soon caught up to the Kai and managed to get a hold of him and slam him against a hard boulder. They were far from everything, from everyone, she could do it.

And the Kai was the target of her rage, her sorrow and her despair. She was about to break him through and through without letting any of her blood the chance to savor it all.

Gohan wouldn't let that happen, he wouldn't let his friend be consumed like that, and if Tora couldn't hear or listen to reason, then he would fight.

It was with great pain that Gohan stepped in, broke his friend's hold on the Supreme Kai, and grabbed onto Tora's fists.

They would fight it together, even if it meant fighting against one another. Even if Tora roared and summoned more and more power between each hit, Gohan promised himself he would endure and help his friend break free from it.

.

.

.

"Who are you?"

Trunks had to ask as the four of them moved further away from the two strange men fighting. These girls sounded and looked somewhat younger than Gohan and Videl and the classmates they saw in that school event he went to, but much older than them.

"I go by Star," the brunette giggled. "Don't worry, we're friends!"

"Comet," the other said, a bit further ahead, adjusting the much larger statue of Kibito to carry him more safely.

Comet's voice was a bit more flat, by comparison to the chirpy and energetic voice her friend had.

"I'm Son Goten," Goten gave his own name. "Thanks for the help, you know what's going on? My big bro—"

They didn't get to continue talking when yet another person showed up, simply appearing out of nowhere.

"Ah, Heaven!" Star called for him with a relieved but also somewhat pressing tone.

The guy was wearing dark green pants, black boots, an open dark long coat hiding a sort of long red vest and a black shirt. And a white and red mask as well, but this mask, the two boys immediately recognize the animal: a dog. The messy and unruly short black spikes, all arranged towards his right side, looked thicker than Star's silk-like hair, and Goten was reminded of Uncle Vegeta's hair, somehow. This guy was much taller than Vegeta, though.

"Star!" This new guy sounded and seemed older than the girls. 'Maybe as old as Tora,' Trunks thought. All of this was far too suspicious.

Heaven, as his name seemed to be, helped Comet put down Kibito's statue now they were far enough from the battle between the fox-mask guy and the blonde guy with glasses. He then helped Star with Lady T, very carefully; Star had waited for him to be done before trying to even put her statue down.

The two boys placed Videl upright on their own without issues. Now everyone was on the ground, they could see that Star was the shortest, and Comet had a solid half a head on her. Heaven, however, was much taller; Star barely reached his chest.

Goten felt quite at ease, especially with the girl with black hair. Her hair was a little similar to Videl's, before she ended up cutting it, or his mom's when she had it down. On the other hand, Trunks slowly realized her hair reminded him of his classmate Mai's hair, while Comet somehow reminded him of Tora, but as a girl. Trunks tried reading their energy, these three people felt kind of familiar, but he could not really sense them.

"Alright, everyone's safe! Mission accomplished, good job!"

Heaven gave the girls two thumbs up with that contagious positive energy, and the two girls returned the gesture, Star far more willing and enthusiastic than Comet. Then the three of them gave all six thumbs up to Goten and Trunks. Goten was quick to return the gesture, but Trunks was more cautious and only gave one thumb up.

"What's going on?" Heaven ended up asking now the 'save the statues mission' was a success.

"Hearts," Comet answered. "And a Black Warrior—"

"Hearts?!" Heaven turned to his friends, the situation seemingly far more pressing all of the sudden. "Crap, crap crap crap, I gotta go help him then, gotta put our differences aside, you girls call for our— for Astro, Sun and Moon and you boys, you'll stay here and protect them, okay?"

Heaven didn't wait for confirmation, he summoned the golden aura of super Saiyan, his hair turned yellow, and he flew away. Goten and Trunks were left with a thousand questions.