Chapter 12
The next morning everyone woke up with a feeling of anticipation of the upcoming tournament. The group had made their way to the tournament ground together, but once they arrived Master Roshi 'mysteriously' disappeared. Goku suggested that they search for him, but Vegeta dismissed the idea claiming that he'll meet up with them to watch the fights.
Vegeta wasn't sure what Roshi was planning on doing in this tournament but he wasn't going to foil the old man's plans. Besides, the prince was curious of what he was capable of, so watching him fight could be amusing.
As the announcer called for all the fighters to enter the building, Vegeta and the other spectators were being pushed back. Well, they tried to push them back but when the group didn't budge, they treated to kick them off tournament grounds causing complaints but they ultimately backed up.
Bulma didn't appreciate the treatment and began complaining about wanting to see her friends fight to which the tournament officials adamantly refused her demands and sent her back with the rest of the rowdy crowd.
Feeling annoyed Vegeta grabbed Bulma and flew over the crowd to watch the fights through a window of the building leaving the tournament officials and much of the crowd speechless.
Chuckling to himself and Following the older Prince's example Raditz grabbed Launch, who had blond hair again, and took off towards the building. Goku, Turles and Tarble took off towards the building as well with Oolong and Puar following in bird form.
Once the whole group was over there, Vegeta told Tarble to blow a hole in the wall big enough for everyone to look through. The younger prince disagreed at first, not wanting to destroy things, but a stern look from his brother killed his hesitation.
He did as instructed and soon the whole group landed on the ground to watch the fight through the hole much to the chagrin of the tournament officials.
They were all terrified at the flying group, especially when one of the smallest ones destroyed the wall. They talked amongst each other until it was decided that one brave official would approach the group.
"Hey you guys can't be back here and you have to pay for the wall that you've just destroyed" he said with sweat going down his brow.
Everyone just looked at him with blank stares until Bulma smirked and walked towards the man.
"I don't think that you're in any position to be giving us any orders buddy. If I were you I would just look the other way because there's no telling what my friends here may do if they cant watch the fights" Bulma said gesturing to the Saiyans.
The man looked over his shoulder to see the smirking men behind her. He didn't know how powerful they were but he did just see all of them fly and the smallest one destroy a brick wall. He wasn't keen on his chances.
"Of course ma'am, sorry for bothering you". The official said before turning around and nearly sprinting back to the rest of the staff who were just as afraid as he was.
Bulma laughed and turned back to watch the fights with the rest of the Z-fighters chuckling to themselves. Now with no more interruptions they could watch the fights peacefully.
With the fighters, Chiaotzu had fixed it so nobody would fight each other in the preliminary rounds. He also made it so Jackie Chun wouldn't fight one of the group as well, he didn't know the reason, but he did what Tien requested.
Yamcha's match was the first to be announced so everyone watched in anticipation for Yamcha to show a snippet of his power. His opponent was a former world martial arts champion King Chappa. He was rumored to be one of the strongest martial artists in the world and Yamcha had heard all the rumors about his power. He was excited to show the fruits of his training against someone so legendary.
Chappa walked up to the former bandit with a smirk on his face
"Greetings young one. I have no intentions of hurting you, so lets make this quick" he said getting into his stance. Yamcha smirked at him and nodded doing the same.
Normally he'd love to trash talk back, but he was determined to let his power do the talking for once.
He looked over to see Vegeta and the others watching through a hole in the wall. He smirked before powering up about half way knowing the scouters would show them his power. His smirk increased when he saw the shocked faces of Bulma and Tarble and the semi impressed looks on the faces of Raditz and Vegeta.
Goku and Turles just smiled as they knew what Yamcha was capable of after training nearly non stop with him for the past 10 months.
Unfortunately for King Chappa, he didn't have the ability to measure opponents power levels. He arrogantly charged Yamcha only to be knocked back by a quick kick to the face that left King Chappa dazed and nearly defeated.
Yamcha frowned at the legendary fighter's lack of power. He had to hold back a lot of power to refrain from killing him and that fact was somewhat disappointing to the ex bandit.
Yamcha found himself grateful to the Saiyans, as without their training he'd probably be no more impressive then Chappa.
In contrast, that kick had caused King Chappa the most pain he'd ever felt in his life. He knew right away that he'd have to use his full power to even stand a chance against this opponent. He focused all his power until it seemed like he had 8 arms, causing the Saiyans to raise their eyebrows.
Of course Yamcha could see through the illusion, but it was still impressive that he could move his arms fast enough to make it look like he had 8 arms. Watching from the sidelines Tien smirked.
Chappa once again charged Yamcha with all his might, but Yamcha had grown tired of the fight and after dodging the first barrage of punches; he back handed him knocking the King unconscious.
The ref declared Yamcha the winner of the battle and the group all congratulated him on his victory.
Their congrats were cut short as two bald adolescents bumped into Krillin knocking him back a few steps. Krillin looked up to see who had pushed him and his eyes widened when he saw the faces of his old Orin Temple bullies.
"Well if it isn't little Krillin. What's a weak squirt like you doing at the tournament? Why don't you get lost and leave the fighting for the real martial artists" The small fat one asked causing Krillin to look down.
"Aww don't be so hard on him buddy, let him stay. After all he is my first preliminary opponent and it'd be a shame if I couldn't get a warm up fight with my old punching bag" the taller one said laughing.
They made their way towards Krillin again but they stopped when they saw a body in between them. Turles had put himself in between the bullies and Krillin and he did not look happy. He was glaring at the two teenagers and his tail lashed violently.
Goku also appeared suddenly in front of Krillin with a frown and his tail lashing. The sight of the two kids with monkey tails were weird to them, but the aura emitting from them caused them to become fearful.
"Get lost" Turles said menacingly causing the two monks to tremble. The little boy scared them and they didn't want to anger him anymore so they started walking away. However, before they left the taller one shouted
"Your friend can't save you when we're in the ring. I'll destroy you" leaving Krillin nervous about his fight.
He stood in place shaking until he slapped hard by Turles' tail. He looked over to his friend in pain to ask for an explanation but Goku spoke up. For his brother.
"You need to get it together. You spent the last 10 months training with two Saiyans and you are stronger than all of these other earthlings. There's no need for you to be afraid of people like them. In your upcoming match you will destroy him is that understood?" Goku said scolding Krillin
Krillin looked at him in surprise before smiling and nodding at his friends words.
"Thank you guys, I needed that" Krillin said. Turles nodded and Goku gave a thumbs up before they both went to return to their makeshift viewing area to watch the fights.
On the way to the outside Turles bumped into a dragon-like creature. Turles was about to just ignore the bump, but the creature reached out and grabbed his tail.
"Hey brat, I know you didn't just bump into me and expect to get away with it" he said.
Turles looked at the creatures hand on his tail before looking at the creature itself.
"If I were you, I would let go off my tail lizard. I'd hate to have to blow your arm off" Turles said with a smirk.
Goku stopped to look at his brother, but we he saw the gleam in Turles eyes, he smirked and kept going, not wanting to get in the way of his brothers fun.
"Was that a threat brat? The mighty Giran laughs at your stupidity! Did you not see what I did to my opponent just now" The creature known as Giran said.
"What does that have to do with me Lizard? Final warning, release my tail" Turles replied.
Giran was starting to get furious with Turles' attitude and turned to an official.
"Hey! I want a match with him right now!"
The official was about to deny Giran's request, but he saw how furious the dragon looked and after witnessing his last match; he didn't want to get on his bad side.
Turles smirked as the official cleared a ring for them.
"You sure you want to do this lizard man? You can keep your pride if you forget about this whole thing. It'd be a shame if all these grown men that are so fearful of you see you lose to a kid" Turles said as Giran released his tail and flew into the ring.
"Shut up brat and get over here. I will not be disrespected by some little monkey boy. I'm going to beat some sense into you" Giran roared.
Turles looked back at Vegeta and Raditz for permission to proceed. Both Saiyans were already thoroughly annoyed with Giran at that point so they nodded at Turles.
Turles smirked and flew into the ring after Giran, which surprised the dragon but not enough for him to back out of the fight.
He charged at Turles and punched him right in his face. Giran smirked as he heard his fist impact with the child's face. He felt a little bit of sympathy but the child had insulted him so he felt that Turles deserved it.
However, he soon heard the sound of laughter. A loud booming laughter that echoed through the whole building causing almost everyone to freeze. Giran jumped back to see a teasing smirk on Turles face.
"Please tell me that wasn't all the power that you could muster up. If that's the case than I'm very disappointed in you Lizard man" the young Saiyan said.
Giran had sweat dropped and was starting to back away from the boy. No one had ever with stood a full power punch from him before and this boy not only with stood, but laughed about it as well.
Starting to lose his patience he fired a pink substance out of his mouth. Turles was curious so he allowed to substance to wrap around him. He soon felt a light pressure squeezing his body together.
"HAHAHAHA you fool! This is over" Giran laughed. The boy might've been stronger than he originally thought but his arrogance proved to be the cause of his downfall.
He raised his eyebrow as Giran began this long story about how this merry go round gum was the strongest substance on the planet. When Turles was sure that Giran was done explaining he lightly flexed his muscles and the gum completely broke, freeing Turles who crossed his arms in boredom.
"Anymore tricks Lizard Man?" Turles asked with a smirk but paled when he saw that Giran had given up the fight.
Turles laughed at his incompetence before leaving the ring heading for his friends with all the competitors clearing a path for him.
After seeing Turles' exhibition match against Giran, many of the fighters quit the tournament. Goku, Raditz and Vegeta all laughed at the amount of fear Turles produced out of the competitors, but they were silenced by attacks from Bulma and Launch. After seeing that Tarble chuckled quietly to himself.
Chiaotzu and Krillin disposed of their preliminary match ups swiftly and easily and their opponents was no match for them in the slightest. Krillin was no longer afraid of his old Orin Temple bullies and he showed no mercy when attacking him. He had much more power than he thought and he only had to use a fraction of it to defeat the old bully. Chiaotzu had a very smelly opponent and after covering his nose he quickly dealt with him.
Now it was Tien's turn but he froze when he saw the person that he was facing.
"It's been a long time Tienshinhan. Tell me, did you and Chiaotzu complete your assignment?" The familiar voice of Mercenary Tao said.
After a moment of silence, Tao was starting to get irritated with his pupil's silence.
"Don't just stand there and stare at me; tell me how your mission went, is the Ox King dead or not? Shen failed to eliminate Roshi and is currently in exile for his failure. Please tell me that I wasn't the only one to complete my assignment" Mercenary Tao said impatiently.
Vegeta's eyes perked up as he heard what the man was saying. Did this fool really kill Gohan?
"Um no Master Tao. We didn't manage to kill the Ox King" Tien said truthfully to his old master.
Tao scoffed and shook his head
"I thought I taught you better than that Tienshinhan and you too Chiaotzu" the man said scolding both former crane students.
"When I disposed of Gohan, I was under the impression that Roshi and the Ox King would be dead as well but clearly you are all incompetent. I'll deal with them myself after I win this tournament" Tao said casually.
Goku and Vegeta both stiffened when they heard the man say that he 'disposed' of Gohan.
Raditz, Tarble and Bulma's scouters all went off as they saw the power levels of the two Saiyans increasing tremendously and before anyone could do anything they both zoomed to the ring.
Tao and Tien both stepped back in shock as two very angry powered up Saiyans arrived in the ring. It was a rare time that Mercenary Tao felt fear as he met two twin glares that sent shivers down his spine.
"Hey no one is allowed to interrupt this match now please exit the ring" the ref said getting tired of the group interfering after Turles match.
Vegeta and Goku both sent looks of malice towards the ref that immediately silenced his complaints. In fact, the ref decided that it was in his best interests to leave the ring himself rather than be in the path of the two angry boys. Turning their attention back to Tao the two Saiyans frowned.
"What do you mean by you disposed of Gohan?" Vegeta said while snarling
"Did you do something to my Grandpa?" Goku asked loudly as his tail lashed violently behind him.
Before anyone could do anything Raditz, Tarble, Turles, Yamcha, Krillin, and Chiaotzu appeared in the ring. They all joined Tien and positioned themselves in between Tao and the two Saiyans.
It took Tao a moment too shake himself out of his fearful trance, but when he did he began to smirk. A sense of understanding washed over him.
"Ah I understand now. You're the two grandchildren he spoke off before he died. Well kids I sent your grandpa to the otherworld, feel free to attack me if you want to follow him" Tao said still smirking.
"I'm going to kill you" Goku snarled and launched himself towards Tao only to be stopped by the combined effort of his brothers and Krillin.
Everyone else's attention was on Vegeta who's body shook in barely contained rage. He looked at the smirking face of Mercenary Tao. He wanted nothing more then to turn Tao into ash, but there was something that he had to know first.
"How did a weak piece of trash like you manage to kill Gohan? Clearly you don't have enough power so how did you do it. This is all I want to know before I kill you" Vegeta said powering up slightly causing Tao to take a couple steps back.
Everyone in the arena with the exception of Goku was fearful of Vegeta at the moment. Even Bulma, Tarble and Raditz who had the closest connection to the prince. Tao was fearful for his life but he decided to tempt fate even more by telling Vegeta what happened.
"If you wanna know so badly how your Grandfather was defeated by the great Mercenary Tao then I'll be happy to tell you" Tao said recalling that day more than 10 months ago.
Flashback
Mercenary Tao was defeated. Gohan had knocked him down time and time again. He had come to the realization that he was severely outclassed by the old turtle hermit student, but he had a mission to complete and he was determined not to lose.
"Why don't you give up and go home Tao? It should be obvious by now that you'd never defeat me and I honestly don't want to kill you" Gohan said sympathetically.
Gohan had grown tired of beating up the Mercenary and he felt that it wasn't his fault he was twisted. He was raised by his brother the Crane Hermit and that man had always had a nasty heart as far as Gohan could tell.
"Just walk away now and no more harm will befall you Tao. Please hear my words and don't try to continue fighting when you're clearly tired and defeated" Gohan finished looking down at him.
Tao looked at the older man incredulously surprised that he's showing him mercy. He smirked to himself knowing that he could take advantage of the man's generous nature and big heart.
"Alright Gohan you're right and I give up, you win" Mercenary Tao said shocking Gohan. Secretly Tao had pulled the pin on a grenade he was carrying. He had 10 seconds to throw it and with Gohan's speed, he'd have to be perfect in order to pull this off.
Gohan was impressed. He'd didn't think the man would actually give up but he was glad that the fight was over.
"Good. You may leave" Gohan said turning his back to Tao causing him to smirk. With 3 seconds left before the grenade went off he threw it then jumped in the air yelling at Gohan
"HERE'S YOUR GOODBYE GIFT FOR SPARING ME"
Gohan turned as he was caught in an explosion shook the area
When Tao landed and the smoke cleared he saw that Gohan was still alive but he was severely hurt.
Smirking Tao began to laugh as he started charging the ki necessary for a Dodon Ray. His laughing stopped when he heard Gohan laughing weakly along with him.
"You got me good *cough cough* my grandsons will be really upset… I hope your conscience can withstand the amount of pain you are putting on two young boys" Gohan said struggling to speak.
"I couldn't care less about your grandchildren, I'll dispose of them myself after telling them how foolish their grandfather was" Tao declared.
This caused Gohan's laugh to get even louder which angered Tao greatly.
"Good luck with that one Tao. You know I actually feel bad for you because the pain I'm going through now is nothing compared to what they're going to put you through. Especially Vegeta… You know I've never really been able to control him and train him to not kill; and Goku with all his antics… he'll be the death of me" Gohan said offhandedly.
Tao was getting tired of Gohan's constant babble about his Grandchildren. He fired the fully charged dodon ray at Gohan's head and with that the old master was dead.
Tao thought about the old man's words about his grandchildren. Gohan really felt bad about what his grandchildren would do to him? Tao thought it was absurd that some kids could be a threat to him. He'd just kill them whenever he ran into them.
With a light chuckle and a shake of the head he walked away from Gohan's dead body to reconvene with his brother, Tien and Chiaotzu to check on their mission success.
End Flashback
Tao finished telling the story about how he defeated Gohan and looked to gauge the reactions of the multiple people in the ring.
Goku was thrashing wildly in the grip of Raditz who even at full strength was having problems holding the young saiyan back.
The others were fully powered up and all formed a barrier between Vegeta and Tao with Tien and Chiaotzu having solemn looks on their faces.
By this time Bulma and Launch had entered the ring as well. Bulma tried to console the shaking prince.
"Vegeta you can't stoop to his level and if you kill him right now they'll try to remove you from tournament grounds by force. Let Tien deal with him. I promise you that Gohan wouldn't want you too…" Bulma said before a glare from Vegeta stopped her from talking.
"How would you know what Gohan wanted? You only knew him for 10 minutes and based of this bastards story it seems like Gohan knew that I'd vaporize this waste of life for what he did to him so why shouldn't I destroy him?" Vegeta said in a low menacing voice while powering up to his max, angered at the cowardly way Gohan was killed.
By this point every other person had ran out of the competition hall and all the people left were Tao, their group, Jackie Chun and the lone tournament ref that was scared out of the ring earlier. Even Puar and Oolong had ran away to take cover.
When Tarble's scouter picked up Vegeta's full power he knew it would take everyone's full power to try and stop him especially with Raditz being unavailable as he's containing Goku.
The only one who couldn't sense the increase in power was Tao himself as he sneered becoming irritated by the situation. He didn't come here to deal with the emotions of children.
"He's right girl now stick your nose in someone else's business before I send you where Gohan is. You know what never mind. I'm growing bored of this situation so I won't spare you. DODON RAY" Tao said firing the beam at Bulma.
Everyones eyes widened with the exception of Vegeta who casually back handed the beam away. Even Goku stopped thrashing in Raditz' grip when he saw what Tao had done. Jackie Chun shook his head and turned away from the scene knowing that Tao had just signed his own death warrant.
"Was that attack meant for her? You thought that you could take her from me like you did my adoptive grandfather" Vegeta asked in a tone that sent fear down everyone's spine.
Tao couldn't even find the words to respond to him as he was filled with the same fear everyone else felt. He had never seen his Dodon ray being dealt with so easily and it made him truly realize the gap in power.
Vegeta started walking towards Tao with slow deliberate steps. His friends all moved out of the way, allowing Vegeta to get right into Tao's face.
The mercenary looked at him with obvious fear in his eyes. He was petrified and couldn't find it in himself to move. It was as if Vegeta's glare locked him in place.
Vegeta lifted a hand right above Tao's eyes and a blue light could be seen by everyone in the room.
Tao felt his life flash before his eyes and he now understood why Gohan looked at him with pity as he lay on the ground dying. Vegeta was going to completely obliterate him and he felt his imminent death.
"Bulma, Launch, Tarble, Kakarot, Turles, Chiaotzu, Krillin close your eyes. Raditz make sure their eyes stay closed until I'm done" Vegeta said and everyone did as instructed.
Vegeta focused his energy in his fingertips. He sent one beam down Tao's throat to burn his vocal cords so he couldn't scream. Then he used his energy to cut off each of Tao's limbs before incinerating them as they hit the ground. Finally he pointed his hand at Tao's limbless body and simply said "Go to Hell" as he vaporized the Mercenary ending his misery.
Jackie Chun, Yamcha and the tournament official were all shocked at what they just witnessed. Even Raditz and Tien, who were no strangers to murder and torture themselves, were a little perturbed by what they witnessed. Raditz instructed all those with their eyes closed to open them and to no ones surprise Tao was gone.
Goku let out endless tears as he ran to Vegeta with Bulma not far behind. The two hugged the eldest Saiyan prince who had let a single tear fall from his eyes out of respect for Gohan. He allowed the two to hug him and everyone else looked on at the emotional display with solemn faces.
Jackie Chun walked over to the tournament official.
"Tell no one about what transpired in here today. Tell them you settled the situation and advance the top 8 fighters. The fights will resume tomorrow" he instructed and the tournament official nodded before walking out to do as he was told.
"Bulma we have to wish him back when the tournaments over" Vegeta said with slight desperation.
"Of course we will. Gohan won't be gone forever" Bulma said determinedly as she continued to embrace Vegeta and Goku.
The group grieved with their friends and everyone gave a moment of silence for Gohan the fallen Roshi student. No one noticed Jackie Chun walk away.
Once he was away from the group Roshi removed the wig and shed a tear for the lost of his first Pupil.
"Rest in Peace Gohan. You will be missed" the turtle hermit said looking into the horizon.
TBC
Power Levels
King Chappa: 67
Giran: 71
Gohan: 300
Tao: 145
Master Roshi/ Jackie Chun: 650 (He didn't really train as much he
mainly taught the others and he's older so he only gained 350 in power)
Chiaotzu: 200
Krillin: 1600 (He had great sparring partners and he fought with them nearly everyday but his power was lower than everyone's to start so its only natural he still is lower than everyone who's a fighter
Yamcha: 2400 (same as Krillin but he started out stronger)
Turles: 14,000 (He and Goku get Zenkai boosts)
Goku: 19,500 (had to hold back a little for the others but still got stronger)
Tien: 2700
Tarble: 10,000 (He's not a prodigy or a naturally skilled fighter like the other saiyans)
Raditz: 21,000 (only stronger than Goku because of the healing tank and constant Zenkai boosts)
Vegeta: 27,000