Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Who would've expected that just a few changes could have such a major impact. Read as Gohan and Kai journey through life and across the universe in this exciting retelling of DBZ, with changes and surprises around every corner. Yamcha x Bulma, Raditz x Android 18, Gohan x Erasa later on. Other pairings undecided at the moment.

40. Tournament Begins, Calm Before the Storm

Guest: Well to be fair, keeping in mind the power jumps that the other characters have made in the past, plus the fact that Videl's been training with Kai nonstop for three years (and thus has had more time than in canon to figure out both her physical and ki strengths and weaknesses and work on them), I don't think it's unbelievable that she could be that strong. Beside, power levels are bullshit.

Guest: Oh yeah, pretty much any of the Z fighters could oneshot the Frieza Force. The only exception to that is Videl since she's still so inexperienced and far behind the others.

xSonallyGirl129x: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Goten and Ranch's fight was something I enjoyed doing, I mean I had to give the younger ones something to do. The conversations between Gohan and Kai on nerd culture were a lot of fun too, and they're actually based on my opinion on those things too. Yep, the fights I've set in motion for the tournament should prove to be very interesting.

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Now that the matchups for the first round had been decided, everyone had gathered in the waiting area before the first round actually started.

'Looks like the matchups are gonna be pretty interesting.' Kai glanced around at the various participants, almost all of them being from his group, but then he glanced over at Piccolo and saw him cringing visibly, despite trying to appear stoic 'Seeing Shin here has really got him on edge, if anyone is gonna find out before it actually happens it will be him.'

"Is he alright over there?" asked Videl "He looks pretty on edge, I thought you said was one of the more collected ones."

"He is, it's pretty rare he gets like this." Kai glanced over between Gohan and Cooler, his expression hardening slightly 'If I had to guess then I'd say Piccolo is probably going to end up confronting Cooler about this at some point. So how about it, you look like you're pretty fired up before your match."

"I'd like to say so, fighting against a former champion in the first round sounds like a hell of a way to kick things off. Sounds like it's gonna be a ridiculously tough act to follow."

"Maybe but it's one hell of a way to start, but it's got a disadvantage going for it."

"And what would that be?"

"The fact that me and Gohan are going at it later in the first round. Just be sure to give them a good show when you go up against the Triclops, but be careful in the second round since you're gonna go up against Piccolo, and he's one of the toughest ones we've got."

"Yeah I know. Any advice on how to beat him?"

"Piccolo's a metric fuckton stronger than most of the guys we've got going for us, but his greatest strength is his intelligence. Keep in mind that it doesn't matter how powerful your techniques are if you don't know how to use them properly."

"I'll be sure to remember that." this was followed by fireworks sounding off throughout the skies and the band playing throughout the stadium.

"Sounds like they're about to get started."

"And we're back ladies and gentlemen, thank you for sticking around!"

"Where the fuck would we go? Well in any case it doesn't matter."

"You seem about as excited for this as any of us." Videl commented with a grin.

"It's not that surprising. This tournament was where history was made time and again, with some of the greatest warriors of this world showing everyone what they can do. Three of them are right over there." he gestured over to where Scarelt, Tien and Goku were preparing for their matches in their own way, whether it be doing sit ups or pushups or meditating "But now the time has come for the three of us to show our stuff."

"The three of us?"

"Me and Gohan, and now you too." this cased her to blush slightly.

"Thanks for that."

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, the moment of truth is finally at hand! Are you ready to see some truly spectacular martial arts right before your eyes?!"

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Meanwhile, in the stands…

Erasa gave a smile from where she was sitting in the stands with Chichi and the others "So the charter says that Videl is in the first match and Gohan is in the seventh match? I never thought I would say this, but I'm pretty excited about this."

"No offense sweetie, but you might not want to get her hopes up." Chichi told her "I know you really think highly of her, but she's going up against Tien, and he's got a lot more experience than her."

"Yeah I know, but to be fair I've known Videl a lot longer than anyone here, and I know that she's not going to go down without a fight." then her cheeks turned slightly pink "But later on we'll have Gohan's match, I can't wait to see him fight."

"He's going up against Kai though, so yeah I think Gohan is going to win no problem."

"Okay now see, that's where I have to stop you." Bulma cut into their conversation "Kai might be a sociopath, but you can't deny that he's strong and smart and he can keep up with any of the Saiyans, and Yamcha can give them a hard fight too. Don't get so caught up in the swing of things."

"It's hard not to when your little boy ends up taking home the title for the Junior Division, I mean he was a sure win either way but that doesn't make me any less happy for him, and all I have to do is wait for Goku and Gohan to go at it and then we'll have two champions in our family, which means that much more prize money."

"Yeah well I say dream on sister, Goku and Gohan are in the same half so only one of them will be able to make it to the finals, and even then their victory isn't exactly guaranteed. You might as well brace for disappointment, because that's all you're going to get out of this."

"Oh what, you expect me to believe that you made yourself psychic all of a sudden? Well some of us have to face the reality of the fact that you can't buy your way to the top in everything in life!"

"Oh you wanna go there do you, well I'll have you know that both Kai and Yamcha have been training like madmen for this tournament, and neither one of them will settle for anything less than the full championship!"

"Neither will Goku and Gohan, and the major difference here is that both of them have saved the world from monsters like Frieza and Cell!"

"Kai saved the world from Bojack and he's the one who ripped Cell's torso apart using one single attack!"

"My boys aren't in this for shits and gigglees you know, the main reason they're in this is so we can be kept out of the poor house, and the same can't be said for some people who haven't had to work for anything a day in their life!"

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"Exactly what it sounds like, that my boys are going to win!"

"Not on your life!"

Erasa just watched the back and forth between Chichi and Bulma while calmly slurping down a slushie, and she looked over at Bulla "So do they get like this a lot?"

"Yep." was the simultaneous chorus from pretty much all of the others.

"Just checking. We've got time before any of those matches get here, so for the time being let's just watch Videl show them what she's made of."

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"Alright ladies and gentlemen, the time has come for us to get this show started! The same question continues to plague the minds of everyone here, who is going to be crowned the next master of martial arts?! Now let's get the first round underway with the first match, in which we have Tien Shinhan, the former champion of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, fighting against the daughter of the champ himself, Videl Satan!"

"Looks like I'm up." Videl finished with her stretches and cracked her neck slightly "I'm both excited and nervous."

"Forget it, you've got nothing to be nervous about." Kai told her "Just keep your cool and think it through, and you'll do fine."

"Got it, I'll see you after I win." and on that confident note, Videl calmly made her way out of the waiting area and towards the ring.

"I'll be holding you to that." Kai glanced over to see Tien making his way towards the ring, and then he glanced over to see the look Piccolo was giving him "What?"

"So you've been training this girl for about three years now, and she went from being only slightly above the level of her father to being more powerful than Frieza's third form, and being able to beat Frieza himself with a sufficient Namek-Ken multiplier? How exactly?" his tone was filled with skepticism.

"I've got two perfectly good explanations for that. One, power levels are bullshit. I mean for fuck's sake, before you died you couldn't even stand up to Nappa, then you train with my mom in Otherworld for a few days, fuse with your dead dad in Hell, and then you're taking on Frieza in his second form! Not to mention you went from being weaker than Goku's base form to being near the level of Super Saiyan in about three years. Two, keep in mind that I've been teaching her literally everything I know in every way I know, whether it be with weights or the gravity chamber cranked up to the fucking max, and don't forget that before I started training her for this tournament she was weaker than Frieza's first form, but before the month was over I had her get her potential unlocked by that Namekian working for Cooler, which multiplied her power level by 5, and on top of that, she drank the Ultra Divine Water, which multiplied it by another 5, and that multiplies it by 25 in total. So yeah, that turned her into a fucking powerhouse."

"...Fair enough."

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Meanwhile, in the ring…

"You can practically feel the intensity radiating from both of our contestants as they get ready to begin their match. As I said already, Tien Shinhan was the previous champion of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, and I know for a fact that he's only grown stronger in the 20 years since then, while Videl is known by everyone around the world and beloved by many, and she seems increasingly eager to claim the title of world champion from her father's grasp. Will she succeed in this undertaking? One can only hope, but we'll just have to wait and see."

Once Videl made her way into the ring, she stood on the opposite side of Tien, and she promptly gave him a bow as a sign of respect "May the best martial artist win."

"I agree." Tien promptly returned the gesture, and then both of them promptly dropped into combat stances "Now come at me with your full strength, Kai has spoken highly of you over the past few years, and I've been waiting to see just how far you've come."

"That's what I plan on testing too." this was followed by the call being made to start the match.

Tien was quick to charge forward and swept Videl's legs out from under her.

Videl didn't waste a second as she rebounded before she hit the ground and leapt out of the way to avoid a kick to her side, and then she got back to her feet.

Tien then charged at her and launched a rapid barrage of punches and kicks.

Videl dodged every strike and aimed a kick of her own down towards Tien's knees.

Tien leapt over the kick and aimed a punch, and then he followed up with a kick once his fist had been caught.

Videl leaned her head to the side, and then she fired off a kick to the head.

Tien ducked underneath Videl's kick and launched another furious barrage of kicks of his own at her.

Videl dodged and blocked every kick being aimed at her, and then she retreated back towards the edge of the arena, then charged forward.

Tien promptly did the same from his hand and chanelled some Ki into his fist, then stuck it forward.

Videl promptly did the same, which resulted in a clash that sent both of them staggering backwards.

Tien blitzed forward and aimed a kick at Videl's head, only for her to phase out of existence once it made contact "So she did an afterimage."

"Namek Ken 10X!" with her green aura flaring, Videl attempted to deal Tien a swift attack from behind.

Tien began dodging and blocking her attacks before he retreated back a small distance "So you tried to attack be from behind, a pretty smart move. I was so focused on the opponent I saw in front of me that I didn't think about the possibility of you using an afterimage. I underestimated you, and that's a mistake I have no intention of making again." he promptly removed the t shirt he was wearing, an arm surging up and over his shoulder as he blitzed forward and used that arm to slug Videl in the face, followed by an uppercut to the chest, then a chop to her jaw and finishing it with a palm thrust from his left hand.

Videl was sent tumbling back and leapt back onto her feet, then promptly wiped the blood away from her face 'Those arms, they must be from that technique Kai told me about, he called it the Fourt Witches. I should've expected this much from a former champion, your mastery over Ki control and other techniques is incredible."

"I appreciate that, but you haven't seen anything yet." Tien promptly retracted the two arms from his back, a small light appearing on the end of his fingertip, and he suddenly disappeared from sight.

'Dammit, I can't sense his Ki signature! No calm down and get a grip Videl, like Kai said you have to stay calm and think the situation through.' suddenly hearing a pinging noise, Videl's own green aura suddenly flared into life "Namek-Ken 20X!" she promptly burst upwards to avoid taking a Dodon Ray to the back, and then she landed on the ground "So you tried to suppress your Ki signature while attempting to attack me from my blind spot, a smart move."

"So was using the Namek-Ken to avoid it, I didn't know Kai taught you that."

"He did about two years into my training, I haven't had a ton of practice with it but I can use it up to here without too much strain, which works really well against an opponent normally stronger than I am."

"I see, considering how long you've been training that's pretty impressive. But at the same time, it's all the more reason why I shouldn't be holding back with you any longer." Tien's white aura spiked as he suddenly blitzed out of view.

"Masenko!" thinking quick, Videl rolled forward just in time and fired off a one handed Masenko enhanced by her Namek-Ken, which managed to cancel out the Dodon Ray being aimed at her arm, but just barely.

Tien was quick to use his Multi Form technique in order to create a copy of himself, and then he fired another Dodon Ray.

Videl retreated with a series of backflips in order to avoid the blast, only to find herself stumbling back into a third copy of Tien "Dammit!"

"You'd better get ready, because here it comes! Volleyball Fist!" the third Tien thrusted a roundhous kick to connect to Videl's guard as she hastily rose it, and then he spiked her into the air, with the second one slamming her back into the air when she was coming back, and both copies stood together in the center of the ring while the original hammered her back down to the ground with both hands, with the copies jumping up and landing kicks to Videl's spine, the force slammnig her straight to the ground.

'D-Dammit…' Videl slowly struggled to get back to her feet as she spat out some blood "I'm not going to lie… that one really hurt… a lot…"

"It's for the best if you just stay down." all three versions of Tien prepared a Dodon Ray on their fingertips "You're only going to get hurt even worse if you keep going like this."

"I figured… I appreciate the offer.. But I can't… I won't give up…" Videl gritted her teeth despite the pain she was feeling, and her Namek-Ken aura spiked even higher, Ki being directed into one hand as it materialized above her palm, and she burst into the air "I said I won't give up, so you'd better not hold out on me! Spirit BALL!" she fired forward a medium sized version of the patented technique of Yamcha.

The three copies of Tien backpedaled away, avoid the attack as it hurtled downwards towards the group.

Videl flexed a finger, and the Spirit Ball suddenly burst out of the ground and uppercutted all three copies of Tien, and then she breathed a quick sigh 'Kai was right about what he said, it doesn't matter how powerful your techniques are if you don't know how to use them properly.'

"Don't think you're out of the woods just yet?"

Videl looked up and saw Tien hovering above her, his hands forming a triangle 'Dammit, this is going to be bad!'

"Tri Beam!" Tien fired a Tri Beam down towards Videl, engulfing her and resulting in a powerful explosion.

When the blast subsided and the smoke cleared, Videl was down on the floor of the ring with one hand stretching upwards while she was panting heavily, her body covered in a fair amount of her own blood, but despite this, she couldn't help but give a smile filled with exhaustion 'Well I'm not dead, so I think that has to count for something.'

"I have to admit, I'm surprised by you." Tien promptly lowered himself back to the ground in front of Videl "You were able to manipulate that Spirit Ball you fired before at the last second, and you used it in an attempt to cancel out as much of my Tri Beam as you could. I have to say, for someone who's only been training with Ki for about three years, a feat like that one is very impressive."

"I… I appreciate that…" Videl wiped some of the blood from her face "I have to admit… I get this feeling that… you've been holding back… your true power all alone… at first I thought that we were evenly matched… that my Namek-Ken could level the playing field… but after I felt an attack like that one… sending me crashing to the arena like this… I would know hidden power anywhere… Don't forget that I've been training with Kai…"

"So you were able to figure that out… You're a lot sharper than I gave you credit for."

"Here I am… thinking that I would be able to win… if I came at you… with everything I've got… and you just brush all of it of… like it was nothing… I was right to be weary… of how strong you were… but I'm not going to give up… come at me with… all the power that you've got…"

"You want to see my full power? Fine by me, with the way you've been fighting until now I say you've earned it." Tien dropped into a stance "I should warn you in advance, this will mean the end of the fight. Once I go full power it won't last a minute."

"By all means." Videl dropped back into her combat stance "I plan to come at you with every ounce of power I have left."

"Spoken like a true warrior." on that note, Tien let out a roar as he powered up, the entire stadium shaking as his milky white aura flared higher than ever before.

'You've gotta be kidding me, just look at him! This is incredible, I can practically taste the power he's putting out. Not even Namek-Ken 20x would be enough for me to match him at his current level. I could probably try pushing it up to 30x, but I've never tried that before, and I have no idea how my body would be able to withstand that level of power. And on top of that, he's already insanely strong as it is. How the hell am I supposed to fight my way to the top if I can't even beat one of these guys? Maybe he's right, maybe this is all I can do.'

"You can do it!"

Videl's eyes shot wide open as she looked back at the stands 'Erasa…'

Sure enough, Erasa was cheering her on from her place in the stand with the other supporters of the Z fighters "I have faith in you Videl, no matter what obstacle you've faced you've always found a way to overcome it, now show that Triclops what you're made of and send him flying already!"

'Erasa… I…'

"Rip the triclops a new one!" that round of encouragement came from the Satan City police force embers that were cheering her on "Send that triclops flying and show them what the protector of Satan City can do!"

'Yeah that's easier said than done, as it stands right now I'd be lucky enough to make him stumble back even a few feet.'

"Don't you fucking dare give up on this!"

Videl's head snapped to the side, and her eyes widened at what she saw 'Kai…'

Sure enough, Kai was the one barking out encouragement to her, a great deal louder than any of the others for that matter "What the hell are you standing around for?! Are you seriously that content with losing like this?! After everything you put yourself through, has it been to lose like this? If you really care about being the best as much as you claim, if you're really my student, if you're really my friend, then don't you fucking dare lose to him! Now plant your feet, grit your teeth, and eat that mother fucking horse!"

'Kai…' mulling over what he was saying, Videl felt an idea dawn upon her 'Wait that's it, yeah I think that might work! Namek-Ken 20X!" her green aure flared into life with noise and size nearly equal to that of Tien.

"Are you ready for this?" Tien called out to her over the roar of his own power, which easily blocked out the cheers from the other side "Keep in mind that I can keep this up all day if I have to!"

"Yeah well here's the thing about that, we won't have to!" Videl forced herself to step slightly forward, forcing her arms to cup at her side, a deep blue sphere of Ki building up in between her palms "I have one more way to beat you, and if I use it then that means I won't even have to break a sweat! Ka… Me…"

'Is this a bluff of some kind?' Tien felt Videl's Ki multiplying in his palms, only to hear the full clear humming of a traditional Kamehameha 'No there's no doubt about it, she's really about to go through with it.'

"Ha… Me…" the blue sphere grew larger and larger, and then condensed in Videl's palms as she continued charging.

'She knows that I can deflect that attack if I wanted to, she can't seriously think I'll just let her fire off a full power Kamehameha blast as strong as that and not deflect it.' Tien felt a nervous twitch in his muscles as he watched Videl with a serious glint in his eyes 'I'm not going to fall for a trick like that, there's no way firing off a Kamehameha is really going to do anything that will help you-'

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Videl unleashed a massive Kamehameha form her palms with all of the strength she was able to muster, but instead of firing it twards Tien, she fired it in the opposite direction, the force of which proved to be enough to send her hurtling forward at full speed.

'Wait so that was her plan?! She wasn't trying to hid me with it, she was trying to send herself forward towards me so fast I wouldn't be able to stop her or dodge it?!'

"So you figured it out, but it doesn't matter!" Videl burst forward and managed to close the distance between them in a single second, her aura still flaring "This battle is over, and I'm the winner! Nail Gun!" she fired a pure white Ki beam at Tien at point blank range.

Tien didn't have enough time to raise his guard before he was struck by the beam, the force sending him flying clear off his feet and soaring through the air until his back ended up smashing directly into a wall.

Videl quickly fired another Ki blast behind her back to stop her from soaring in the opposite directio and allowing her to land on the edge of the arena, and once she did this she breathed a heavy sigh of relief "Okay… that was close…" she spat out some blood "But at least I'm safe now."

"Barely." Tien freed himself from his place in the wall and landed on the ground, letting out a few small coughs and rubbing the wound where he had been pierced by the Nail Gun "Far be it for me to deny credit where it's due, that was the sort of move that takes as much courage as it does intellect. The only other person I can think of that's crazy or brilliant enough to pull a stunt like that was Goku, and that was only when he and Piccolo fought in the last tournament that he entered. I'm just kind of relieved that you didn't blow a hole through me, though you did come pretty close."

"As much as I hate to admit it, if this had been a real fight and not a tournament, then I doubt I would've had a chance in hell of beating you. I know for a fact which one of us would be lying on the ground in a bloody heap if this was a real fight."

"But you still won the battle today." Tien made his way back into the ring and promptly held out a hand to Videl "You fought well today, good job."

"I appreciate that, truly." Videl accepted the hand, but then she stumbled forward slightly, the injuries and exhaustion she had sustained catching up to her, though she was quickly caught and supported by Tien.

"You don't have to make your way back on your own, it's the least I can do for the performance you showed today." Tien promptly supported Videl with one arm slung over his shoulder as he gently helped her back to the contestant lobby.

"After a long and brutal struggle, Videl has succeeded in knocking Tien Shinhan clear out of bounds! This means that Videl is the winner of the first match, and as such she will be moving on to the semi final rounds! Now we'll be able to see if she has what it takes to take the title away from her father! I had a good feeling about today and it looks like I was right, this really is going to be the tournament to end all tournaments!" this was met with a thunderous round of cheers and applause, as well as a certain degree of screaming and guns shooting.

"Oh no."

"What the hell was that?" asked Videl.

"That would be Launch, also known as a very long story that I have no intention of going into at the moment."

"I choose to respect that, and I'm also kind of scared of what the story is behind that."

"That's understandable, and highly appreciated." Tien helped Videl back to the competitor's lobby and gently sat her down on the bench.

"Thanks for the help." Videl winced from the pain "I can only imagine how bad this is gonna turn out to be."

"I've got a few ideas of that." Kai told her flatly "Based on what I saw out there I'd say some noteworthy injuries, mainly a crapload of exhaustion and potential muscle tears from overusing the Namek-Ken like that. Willpower or not, your body can only take so much."

"Yeah I figured, but desperate times call for desperate measures."

"So I see. You actually caught me by surprise for a second, I actually thought you were desperate enough to try and hit him with that blast."

"Oh wow, I appreciate the overwhelming confidence in my abilities. But to be completely serious about this, if I really tried firing a Kamehameha blast at him, then it wouldn't have gotten very far with someone as strong as him on the arena. His power was so insanely huge that I was afraid he was going to snuff it out just by punching it."

"The universe can only handle one Saitama, but even so you took what I said to heart, and you got one hell of a win out of it too. Nice work, you really showed your stuff out there. You did good."

"Glad to hear it, because my body feels like I just got run over by a stampede of angry bulls."

"That feeling sticks with you for awhile, but you get used to it. But putting the words of wisdom aside, let me give you a piece of advice." he spared a glance over at where Shen was in the middle of meditating in the corner "Whatever happens, make sure that you stay as far away from him as you can. I'm not entirely sure what he's up to, but I know it's not gonna be good for any of us."

"Right. The only problem right now is, even though I won I doubt I'm gonna be in any sort of shape to fight in the next round."

"Oh I already took care of that, I sent Goku to get some Senzu Beans from Korin, so frankly he should be back any minute now."

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Meanwhile, with Goku…

Sure enough, Goku had indeed used Instand Transmission to travel to Korin Tower in search of some Senzu Beans, but he found himself in the middle of an awkward situation "Uh…"

"I told you to use the brush before you got out of the shower!" Yajirobe had been in the middle of rounding on Korin in a heated argument "Your hair clogs up the drain!"

"And I told you to stay out of my kitty treats!" was Korin's effective counter "Seriously, those things are for cats! Why the hell do you eat them?!"

"I swear to Dende, the only reason I live here is because it's rent free!"

"The only reason I let you live here is because you know how to give the best belly rubs for a hundred miles!"

"For crying out loud you idiot, don't say that stuff in front of Goku! He's about as understanding of that crap as a housecat!"

"What you should be proud, you know how to rub this pussy real good."

"Oh for fuck's sake!"

"So…" Goku finally found his voice after that ridiculously awkward exchange "Can I just have that bag of Senzu Beans now?"

"Oh yeah sure, here." Yajrobe promptly threw him a small bag of Senzu Beans.

"Hey those are my Senzu Beans, you can't just-" Korin was cut off by Yajirobe throwing another one to Goku.

"There you go, take another one for the road."

"You prick! That's it I'm done with your crap, grab your stuff and get the hell off of my tower already!"

'Ignore that stuff Goku, just keep moving.' so on that note, Goku silently leapt off of the edge of the tower and pressed two fingers to his forehead to use his Instant Transmission, but then he stopped and looked down at the extra Senzu Bean he got from Yajirobe "Why does this one smell weird?"

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Meanwhile, back at the tournament…

Piccolo was still trying to meditate in the corner of the waiting area, but he was constantly ripped from it as he spared glances over at Shin, watching them from afar 'What is it with this guy, why is it that he keeps making me so uneasy?'

"Piccolo listen." Tien was quick to get his attention "I know you're concerned about whoever this Shin is, but I need to warn you now about Shen. From what I can tell he's nothing compared to you, but either way you still shouldn't let your guard down. Be careful."

"I will, thanks for the heads up."

"Alright then, let's move onto the next round. Oh yes, this one is going to prove to be a fine successor to the last match. Now we've got newcomer to the tournament Shen, going up against the likes of Majunior, who actually made it to the finals in the last tournament he was in. And I speak for everyone who was there that day when I say this, that is one battle that isn't going to be forgotten anytime soon. Now then ladies and gentlemen, let's show them some love!" this was met with a large round of cheers from everyone in the stands.

"Looks like it's about time."

"Excellent, I do believe this is going to prove to be very interesting. I have a strong suspicion I'm going to enjoy myself in this match." Shen promptly made his way into the ring.

Piccolo started to follow his lead, only to stop when he saw the look the announcer was shooting in his direction "What is it?"

"Just throwing this out there, we'd really appreciate it if you didn't destroy the island this time around." the announcer told him.

"I will make no such promise." Piccolo stepped into the ring, trying not to sweat profusely as he did so.

"Going into more detail on our two combatants, this match is going to be the first appearance that Shen appears in with us at the tournament. Majunior just so happens to be a veteran of the tournament, and many of you are no doubt fully aware of his dazzling round in the finals of the 23rd tournament, one battle that has yet to be topped. I can confirm for a fact that it's going to forever be etched into my mind, and I'm sure many others agree."

'What the hell is wrong with me? It's like something about this Shin guys is leaving me to be completely paralyzed! How the hell could I feel so nervous about him? I've never even met this guy before in my life, what reason would I have to be nervous?' and then the realization struck him like a boot to the head 'No that's not possible, there's no way he could be here. Who the hell is he?'

"You would be wise to take this fight seriously." Shen promptly dropped into a combat stance, a malicious smirk spreading across his face 'Facing the demon king's reincarnation himself, one step closer to achieving my goals of crushing those wretches.'

"Okay then gentlemen, let the match begin!"

'It's time. Babidi can wait, this is too good of an opportunity.' Shen burst forward faster than the normal eye could see.

'He's fast, but not fast enough.' Piccolo dropped into a stance of his own, not even bothering to remove his weighted clothing, and he blocked Shen's oncoming fist with one hand, the resulting collision shaking the stadium and leaving many of the spectators in shock, as well as cracking the ground beneath their feet. The two of them then vanished from sight, leaving in their wake only the sounds crashing, shaking and a series of small surges of Ki to give any indication of where they had been, with one of them firing off a series of fierce blows before they split apart and took themselves back to the ring.

Shen broke off from his assault, which had been pretty much entirely unsuccessful, and he let out a quick sigh "More resilient than I had anticipated."

"You're about as persistent as I had expected, but all things considered I think that's enough of a warmup don't you?"

"I couldn't agree with you more if I tried. Dodon Barrage!" Shen's black colored aura spiked higher, then he held out one hand and unleashed a series of Dodon Rays forward from his fingertips.

Seeing this plain as day, Piccolo simply spiked his Ki and used one hand to deflect the incoming Ki rays, dispersing all of them without breaking a sweat, and then he blitzed out of view.

'He's fast, even faster than I had anticipated. No I can't afford to lose my composure now, I've come too far for something so trivial. So he's planning to attack from behind is he?' Shen was quick to turn on his heel and unleash a shockwave from both hands in an attempt to try and knock Piccolo off balance, and then he blitzed forward and attempted to deal Piccolo a swift kick to the spine.

Piccolo was able to dodge the attack with ease by propelling himself upwards, and then he gently returned to the ground and breathed a sigh, and then he spoke "I will say that you're a great deal more powerful than I was expecting you to be, but at the same time you're much more wicked as well. Not what I expected from someone who trained alongside Master Roshi."

"That old fool, he and parted ways a long time ago."

"You trained under the same master, what would he say if he could see you now?"

"He was a fool, all of them were. Their ways were progressve but nowhere near enough, and you're living proof of that fact."

"You were around when my father had launched his first attack on the world."

"I was, and that was when everything changed, and not for the better. When your father's spawn attacked our school, Roshi and I were the only ones to survive. Our master challenged the demon king with every ounce of power and skill he had at his disposal, but in the end he was defeated and disgraced, and then he disappeared for years. Truth be told everything changed that day, it set me down this path I'm no now. I actually have you to thank for it, since your father has long since been slain. After countless beatings from your fellow demons, after witnessing for myself the dominance and superiority they held over the world, all of it became clear to me. True power comes from ruthlessness, true power comes from absolute terror, and now that myself and my brother have received the aid of our new benefactor, both of us have been reborn. He's been able to compensate for the pieces of his humanity that was ripped away from him by that filthy monkey brat so long ago. As for me, I'm not the same man I used to be either. I've become a warrior whose far surpassed the likes of Mutaito and Roshi, and I will prove just how worthless and outdated those methods are!"

'He's gone mad, whatever this Ki is I'm sensing doesn't only increase his power, it's sapping away at any sort of good he has left in him, and that's not much to begin with.'

"Now all I have to do is kill you and the others and collect all of your Ki, and then my new lord will make me his right hand man when he begins the conquest of this world!"

"I see. Well then I have no more need to continue dragging this out."

"The same goes for me, let us end this demon king." the two of them blitzed out of view and started clashing once again, trading a series of blows with Piccolo having a noticeable advantage, and it came to an end when he slammed his fist into Shen's gut.

Thanks to his enhanced durability, which was much more than it should've been, Shen wasn't in anywhere near as much pain as anyone would've expected him to be, and he tried to counter with a crushing blow to Piccolo's chest, though unleashing this blow left him slightly winded as a result.

Piccolo wasn't even fazed by this attack and his muscles bulged to showcase a subtle increase in his power, with Shen spiking his aura in response, and the two of them began clashing again, one blow after another, each collision sending a series of shockwaves throughout the arena, but after a few of these, Piccolo blitzed upwards to avoid any contact with the arena and began charging a Ki blast in one hand.

"So you're actually deciding to get serious are you? So be it then, I might as well use my own trump card as well." Shen's black aura began flaring.

"This battle is over, and you've lost!" holding back power so as to not endanger anyone in the stands, Piccolo fired an Explosive Demon Wave, the attack exploding upwards.

'Dammit, you little-' Shen was forced to stop charging his Ki and raised both of his arms in order to stop the attack "Forget it… I've risen beyond you… I don't be outdone… not like this!" and yet despite his blustering, he still didn't have anywhere near enough power to contain the Explosive Demon Wave and the blast engulfed him before sending him flying high into the air and leaving him heavily wounded as a result.

Despite his wounds, Shen slowly returned to the ground and cracked his neck, and then he spat out some blood for good measure "As I said, I won't be out done by the likes of that blast."

"So you actually withstood it, Tien always said that you proved to be far too stubborn for your own good, and now I see he's right. Take my advice and quit while you still can."

"Don't you dare look down on me!" Shen furiously tried to blindside Piccolo with a blow aimed at his ribs, only to find an arm slamming down on his head, which sent him hurtling towards the stands at full speed, but he rebounded and returned to the ring.

'So based on what I've heard from him so far, it's not just for the sake of his own ego that he showed up here. Granted he may be looking for revenge, but he's got some sort of other sinister agenda for being at the tournament. The question is though, what is he planning? Fine by me, I say it's about time we end this already." Piccolo spiked his aura and began charging another Ki blast.

"Enough of this farce, I'm ending this right here and right now! Dodon CANNON!" Shen then slammed both of his hands together and unleashed a golden colored energy wave.

"That's not going to be enough." Piccolo fired another simple Explosive Demon Wave that collided with Shen's Dodon Cannon and proved to be enough to overpower it within a matter of seconds, completely destroying the attack and engulfing Shen in the ensuing explosion that followed.

When the blast subsided, Shen was sprawled out on the ground covered in a considerable amount of his own blood "D-Dammit…" and then he collapsed.

"He can't move anymore, this fight is over."

"I'm here brother, just hold on." this was when Tao blitzed onto the scene for everyone to see, still a cyborg but with a large M emblem engraved onto his metallic forehead. Upon his appearance, he hoisted Shen up over his shoulder and shot a glare at Piccolo "We both know that he wouldn't have been able to fight you all out here, and getting revenge would be meaningless if we were to do it in a place like this, but don't forget what I'm about to tell you. Tien Shinhan will fall first, then Goku, and you will be the third." and with that he floated off the scene, taking the wounded form of Shen with him.

"You can try, and I'll be ready."

"Well… after that display it's very clear for all to see that Shen is out of bounds. As a result of this, Majunior wins the match and moves onto the next round." this was met with a series of applause and cheers.

"Now if you'll excuse me, there's something I have to check on." and on that note, Piccolo then took his leave of the arena.

Shin on the other hand had watched the whole scene from afar, and the creepy smile on his face widened 'I see, his power is even more than I had dared to hope, not that I should be surprised by such a fact. After all, he is bound to the former guardian of this world, and that may just give him some special insight into just who I truly am. Kai and Son Gohan were right to speak so highly of this one, he will be a valuable ally.'

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Meanwhile, back with the others…

Kai glanced over to see Piccolo make his way back into the waiting area "Well that took a hell of a lot longer than it should've, I thought that would've been easy for you."

"It was, I barely felt any of his attacks hit me." Piccolo told him "I was trying to see what sort of information I could get out of him."

"And how did that work out for you?"

"Not as well as I would've liked, all I know is that he and his brother aren't here on their own will. They're working with someone, I don't know who, but that Shin probably does."

"Speaking of which, you have any sort of hunch as to who he is?"

"I don't know for certain, but I do have a fair idea. I have to go check something, but I do want to talk with you and Gohan later about it." and so he walked off on his own.

"Yeah it's official, I'm on his shit list."

"You can't blame him for being mad." Gohan lowered his voice so no one else could hear him speaking "We have been keeping this a secret for about three years."

"If you've gotta justify it then call it respecthing Shin's wishes."

"Okay then ladies and gentlemen, it's about time for us to move right along. I have a feeling the third match will be an interesting one, as we have Krillin, a veteran of the tournament, fighting against a newcomer by the name of Cooler! Let's give them a round of applause and show them we're rooting for them." this was met with a large number of cheers from the audience, from the older members in particular.

"Looks like people are excited for this one."

"I wish I could be the same way." Krillin muttered from his place in the corner, sweating visibly for all of the others to see "I'm not nervous or anything though."

"You know you could either sit here sweating or get off your ass and take it like a man. It's your call, cause if you don't then I'm gonna throw you out there myself."

"...Yeah okay, if I'm gonna go down then I might as well go down with honor." and so as he swallowed the lump in his throat, Krillin made his way up to the ring.

"This is either gonna be really cool or really pathetic."

"I choose to believe it will be the former. So it seems my time to fight has come, I'll see for myself what your human allies can do." and so Cooler made his way up to the ring as well.

"Yeah, it's probably gonna be pathetic."

This was the moment in which Goku suddenly popped in with Instant Transmission "Hey guys, so what did I miss?"

"Piccolo drop kicked Shen and took a lot longer than he should, and speaking of which where the hell were you? We sent you to get Senzu Beans like 15 minutes ago."

"Yeah well, I had to get around Yajirobe and Korin while they were in the middle of some kind of fight about catfood and hair."

"So basically them having a domestic?"

"I'm not sure what that means, so I can neither confirm nor deny."

"That's a yes then." Kai promptly handed Videl a Senzu Bean, which she swallowed, which brought her back to full strength.

"...Yeah probably."

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Meanwhile, with Shin…

At the same time, Shin was calmly floating in a small secluded area away from everyone else, when he looked over and saw "I take it there's something troubling you?"

"You could say that, I just wanted to confirm something with you." Piccolo told him simply "I'm just going to come out and ask: Are you the Grand Kai by any chance?"

"I see, so you did notice after all. While I will say that your deduction skills are impressive, I'm afraid that is not the case."

'So he's not the Grand Kai, but then who is he?'

"What a foolish question, but from a mortal, I should expect no less." this was when Kibito made himself known to Piccolo "To put it so simply that even your kind can understand, he happens to be the Supreme Kai." that made Piccolo's jaw drop.

"T-The Supreme Kai?!"

"Indeed I am, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Guardian of the Earth." Shin's smile turned a little bit less creepy "I would greatly appreciate it if you were to keep this to yourself, for the moment I believe it to be for the best if the others not know that I'm here. And you shouldn't blame your two pupils for not informing you of my presence sooner, it was my request that they stay quiet on the matter until I was ready to make myself known." and with that, Shin promptly took his leave, with Kibito following right behind him.

'So he really does exist after all. Of course it's fairly well known that the four Kais answer to the Grand Kai, but I've only ever heard rumos about the one he answers to. This sort of thing is the stuff of myths even by divine standards, but what would he be doing here?'

"So I take it he told you everything?"

Piccolo glanced over to see Gohan coming up to him "He told me who he was, but he hasn't told me anything about why he's here. I take it you already knew then?"

"Me and Kai both did actually, he approached us after the incident with Janemba and told us everything. Cooler knows too. I didn't want to keep it a secret from you, but…" he was silenced by a hand held up to his face.

"You don't have to explain it to me, I understand your reasons. At the very least though, can you explain to me why he's here and why he approached you in the first place?"

"Of course, and actually it's also part of why I've been training with Kai so hard over the past few years. I'll tell you everything the Supreme Kai told us, about the monster that he wants to destroy… he calls it Majin Buu."

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The third match was about to begin.

"Though I'm sure many of you don't need to be introduced to him, Krillin just so happens to be a veteran of the tournament himself, having competed in three tournaments before now. He's shown his prowess time and again for all the world to see, proving over and over again why he deserves to stand with the best of them, and after nearly 20 years since his last appearance, he's more than ready to show just how much stronger he's gotten, and why he's aiming for the top! As for his opponent, Cooler is a newcomer that we don't know much about, but I think it's safe to say that this calm, cool and collected figure doesn't have any intention of making it easy for anyone who stands in the ring against him!"

Krillin stood opposite to Cooler, large beads of sweat dripping down his face as he dropped into a combat stance "So just in case you weren't aware, ring outs have a pretty big part to play in this tournament, so you have to make sure you can fight without getting knocked off."

"I appreciate the input, but you should be aware that the tournament itself holds very little interest to me." Cooler told him simply "The main reason I agreed fight this match was so that I would be able to see the current power level you possess. In the heat of battle, there may very well be a case where you end up surrounded by enemy forces on every side, whether it be by friend or by foe, so you need to be sure that you can maintain your composure and never let down your guard."

"Yeah I've got a fair idea about that, I did let down my guard once and it ended up getting me blown straight to hell by a Saibaman. To be honest though, I am pretty nervous about the fight I'm in right now."

"You shouldn't be, just maintain your composure and you'll do fine. From what I've been told, this one wasn't on Planet Namek during the battle against Frieza, so all I have to go on is what I've been told by Son Goku and what I've during the battle against Cell, and based on those experiences alone, I have my doubts he'll be able to do much when having to face off against the likes of Babidi's forces. Granted he should be able to stand against many of his men without too much difficulty, but I still have my concerns. I need to gauge his power level in order to see if he can be trusted with this. Son Goku spoke highly of his abilities, so now I intend to see them for myself.' Cooler was snapped out of his musings by the announcer making the call to start the match.

"Alright then Cooler, I'm ready to start this when you are."

"I'm eager to see how much prowess you can demonstrate."

"Don't forget that this tournament isn't the sort of thing where you can go around doing whatever the hell you want, there's going to be a lot of limits on what you can do."

"I'm well aware of that fact."

'I'm not sure you fully appreciate exactly what I mean by that.' Cooler glanced over at the sidelines to see Shin watching from afar, with a certain glint in his eye 'I know, I can't show off my full power just yet.'

"You shouldn't be distracted so easily!" with a surge of Ki, Krillin spiked his aura and charged towards Cooler, launching a rapid barrage of attacks as he did so.

Despite nearly being caught off guard, Cooler was able to block every attack Krillin threw at him with ease 'So he aimed for my blind spot, which means that he has a keen eye.'

"You know this isn't much of a match if you're going to pull your punches, at least come at me like you mean it."

"If you insist, then I'll honor your wishes." Cooler grabbed Krillin by the wrist using his tail and threw him away, sending him tumbling towards the edge of the ring.

Krillin recovered and stopped himself just in time to keep himself in the ring, and to avoid the follow up attack by Cooler, and so he leapt high up into the air, miles above the ring "I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve than you give me credit for! Solar Flare!" he quickly unleashed a Solar Flare.

'So that's his move.' Cooler was quick to shield his eyes from the light 'He's using an ability that disables and potentially paralyzes his opponent with blinding light. It's a useful ability to those wh rely on their eyes, but for those who rely on all of their senses, including the ability to detect other energy signatures…' he quickly used his tail to stop Krillin's attack from behind, sweeping his feet out from under him and blowing him towards the edge of the ring "You said that ability is known as the Solar Flare?"

"Yeah that's right, you can thank Tien for that." Krillin pulled himself back to his feet "He's the one who created the technique, but me and Goku and a few others have learned how to do it as well."

"It's an impressive technique, but the problem is that it relies too much on interfering with only one sense, when there are many others to consider. In this case, I used my energy sensing to detect where you were and disable your attack."

"I appreciate the feedback, even if I did have to get knocked flat on my butt in order to figure that out."

"So do you wish to continue with this match?"

"I'm not gonna just lie down and give up like that, and besides I have a few things I want to check out myself."

"Which includes what exactly?"

"Nothing too big, just testing out a few techniques that I've been working on since the Cell Games. Keep in mind that just because the Saiyans have natural fighting instincts doesn't mean any of us want to fall behind them so easily."

"Sounds like a certain young man I've had my eyes on for some time."

"I know you're talking about Kai, and while he might come off as insane, he's got the right idea about pushing yourself as far as you can. There's a huge difference in those who aim for the top and those who settle."

"The boy has incredible levels of potential to tap into, but what's even more impressive to me is his unwavering spirit. He speaks the truth though, a true warrior should never settle for their current level when they know there are greater heights that are possible to reach. As for this match itself, I should warn you that I do have a prior engagement that I need to settle once this match is over, so I cannot afford to overexert myself in a match like this. To put it simply, I won't be able to use my full power against you, whether it be transforming or using some of my more powerful techniques."

"I know, and I know that in a straight up fight there's no way I'd be able to beat you. You're way too powerful for me to keep up as I am right now."

"And don't forget that I've seen your ambush technique, such a tactic is not going to work on my a second time."

"I'm well aware of that, and I know I'm up against someone that could probably give Goku a run for his money, a lot more than you think."

"Then you know what you're up against."

"Like I said, I know it a lot more than you think. I know that you've got power surpassing the likes of a Super Saiyan at your disposal, but I don't see any good reason why I shouldn't have the ability to reach that level myself. Kai said it best, I shouldn't settle for just being better when I could aim to be the best."

"It seems that you took those words to heart. Very well if you fully insist on seeing this through to the end, then I believe we should continue this match."

"Sure thing, and I'm gonna go ahead and take the first move again, but this time I won't bother to use a sneak atack." Krillin made a quick step forward, his smirk never wavering 'This kind of remiss me of the last time I competed in the World Martial Arts Tournament, to think it's been almost 20 years since then. I fought Piccolo back then and lost, but looking back I think it could've been a lot worse, and I've only grown stronger since then. Why don't I start by showing you some of the new moves that I've been working on since the Cell Games?"

"By all means."

"Alright then. Destructo Disk!" he quickly fired forward a Destructo Disk from one hand, and then he followed up with a rapid barrage of disks from both hands.

Cooler blitzed forward and around the various Destructo Dicks, observing as Krillin raised his hands in a certain familiar position 'So he's trying to use a Solar Flare again? I already did warn you about the drawbacks of using such a technique, and twice in a row for that mater."

"Yeah I know, it's called a fakeout!" instead of a Solar Flare, Krillin launched a rapid barrage of Ki blasts at Cooler while he was too close to dodge them, and with a wave of his hands he had the Destructo Disks swarm back towards him.

Cooler quickly found himself forced on the evasive and destroyed each Ki saucer with a single Ki blast to each one, though not without receiving a few shallow cuts in the process 'So it would seem that while they don't have much defense, their offensive capabilities are remarkable. I'll need to be more careful going forward. So I take it you choose to go with diversionary tactics in this battle?"

"And I'm not done yet either! KamehameHA!" Krillin suddenly burst through the smoke and fired forward a full power Super Kamehameha at nearly point blank range, with Cooler being sent skidding across the ring as a result.

"So you intend to force me out of the ring? An interesting tactic, but it will require something more effective than a basical frontal assault. Case and point." Cooler's dark purple aura surged higher as he unleashed his full power, which promptly allowed him to blow away Krillin's Super Kamehameha blast with ease. He slowly looked around the ring, only to find that Krillin had vanished from his sight 'So he's trying to make me lower my guard. You forget that unlike my brother, I can sense energy levels and I know where you're hiding. Such a tactic is not going to work on me." he unleashed another surge of Ki that blew away all of the rubble from the damage to the ring and unleashed a powerful shockwave.

Krillin was quick to recover from the shockwave and land on the edge of the ring "I had a feeling you were going to do that."

"I must admit that part of me is surprised that you've lasted as long against me as you have, but if you wish to keep this match going then I won't object. I do wish to avoid draining my energy unless absolutely necessary, but I'm confident that I can regulate it efficiently. So tell me, what other tactics do you have going for you in this fight?"

"How about you give me a second and you'll find out." Krillin promptly dropped into a stance, and within a matter of seconds he was surrounded by a faint white glow, his body slowly surging with white electricity "So what do you think?"

"This must be the Spirit Ken technique that I've heard about. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by such a feat. Would I be correct to assume that all of your human allies have this ability?"

"Well Kai does obviously, then there's Yamcha, Tien and Scarlet."

"I see, that's certainly good to know. I must admit that I'm impressed, so should I be informed of any other developments?"

"How about this one." Krillin gave a simple wave of his hand, which immediately caused the ground Cooler was standing on to suddenlybreak apart.

Cooler was quick tl blitz away from the broken section of the ring before he could fall out of bounds "Again with your diversionary tactics. Would I be correct to assume that your barrage of energy saucers that you launched at me before was not with the intention of launching all of them at me?"

"You got that right, and it worked like a charm too, at least until the end there."

"Agani you continue to impress me, power is only one factor in a battle, and intellect and strategy are just as important."

"A certain sociopath once said that it's important to get creative if you want to get ahead in a fight."

"That he did. After all, if you were to charge in without thinkin then you're almost certainly signing your own death warrant, or be thrown into the ocean because you let down your guard."

"...Kai told you about that didn't he?"

"Indeed he did." Cooler let out a chuckle.

"God dammit."

"A little bit of humor helps to lighten the mood." Cooler spiked his aura, and with a quick surge of Ki he entered his final form, his voice growing deeper and his eyes turning red "So what do you intend to do to me in this form, because I believe it's quite obvious that another fakeout trick won't work on me."

'To think he's got one more form than Frieza did, I heard about this form from Kai and Gohan from that whole mess with Janemba but now that I'm on the receiving end of it… He hasn't even made a move yet and he's already got me sweating.'

'With a difference in power like this, I think it's safe to say that even with his diversionary tactics at his disposal, I'm more than able to defeat him very soundly. I suppose this means he just doesn't wish to go down without a fight. It only makes sense, he has his pride as a warrior well after all.'

"I'm just gonna say it, I'm enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would."

"I can safely say that I feel the same way, but with all due respect, I am on a schedule so I believe the time has come for us to end this." Cooler held out one hand, holden colored Ki gathering in his palm "You had best prepare to try and counter this."

"I'm way ahead of you." Krillin was quick to take Cooler's advice as he cupped both of his hands at his side, and blue Ki started generating in his palms "Ka… Me… Ha… Me…"

"Death Flash!" Cooler fired forward a Death Flash from one hand.

"HA!" Krillin fired forward a full power Super Kamehameha with all of the Ki he was able to muster, which struggled valiantly against Cooler's Death Flash, but in the end it was easily overpowered, and he was blown backwards by the explosion that followed, resulting in him being sent hurtling towards the outside of the ring. He could only shut his eyes and wait for the inevitable crash… but it never came, and he opened his eyes to see why.

As it turns out, Cooler had caught him by the arm and threw him back into the ring "You fought valiantly."

"But in the end it wasn't enough, even if all of my doubts in my heart and mind cleared away like they're supposed to be. I guess this is as far as I could go."

"Not necessarily. The key in battle is to know not only how far you're able to go, but also how far you're willing to do."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. My reasons are something that you will be informed of before much more time passes, but for the time being, allow me to say this. This tournament holds very little interest to me, and the title holds no interest to me. For the sake of keeping with the proceedings, and out of respect for the performance you've demonstrated to me today, I'll allow you to advance to the next round of the tournament to showcase your skills and continue striving towards the title held by that imbicile. I wish you the best of luck moving forward." and on that note, he promptly walked out of the ring "I withdraw from the match on the grounds of having other business to attend to, which means that he will advance to the next round." and he walked back into the waiting area.

"Well… after an exciting battle it seems that Cooler has decided to withdraw from the match, and this means that Krillin wins the match and will advance to the next round." this was met with a number of cheers.

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Meanwhile, in the waiting area…

Goku glanced over at Cooler as he helped Krillin back into the waiting area "Why did you just give it up like that? You pretty much won it."

"As I said out there, the title holds no interest to me." Cooler told him flatly "I have other matters to attend to, and I believe that your friend did well enough to earn his place in the next round of this tournament. I thought you would be happy for your friend."

"Of course I'm happy for him, but I didn't think you would just give up."

"As I said, I have business to attend to."

"What sort of business."

"I suspect that you will find out in time. Now if you'll excuse me I have preparations to make for that business, and I believe that you have an upcoming match to prepare for." and on that note, he promptly walked away.

'Cooler… it's not like him to be that secretive. He's hiding something, I know that much.'

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Gohan let out a sigh as he leaned against the wall, watching Goku's frown deepened 'He's getting suspicious, all of them probably are by now.'

"Cooler's growing less secretive." Kai popped up next to him and handed him a soda "That must mean they're getting ready to make their move, which means that Shin will probably make his own move pretty soon."

"Good thing you got some Senzu Beans when you did, call it a hunch but I have a feeling that this is going to be bad. I hate lying to them like this."

"Lying implies that you told them something that wasn't true, and you know as well as I do that that isn't the case here."

"Either way I still hate not being able to tell them."

"Cool yourself off already, we'll tell them soon enough and then your conscience is going to be clear, so stop whining already."

"I know but… You know what I need to cool off for a minute, I'm gonna head over to the stands and see if I can talk with Erasa."

"Yeah well when you do, just don't let your boner do the talking for you."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. I wasn't born yesterday and it doesn't take a genius level IQ to figure it out, you've got the hots for her."

"What do you- I do not! She's just a friend!"

"Just a friend that you told about Ki control, about the Dragon Balls and how you're a fucking half Saiyan, and you can't seriously tell me she's just a friend."

"Well… Well of course I told her that stuff, you yourself said that if she was a real friend then she would accept all of that."

"And she tried to lock lips with you but only got the cheek. Stop pussyfooting about this man, you know as well as I do you like her."

"Well she just… I mean…"

"More pussyfooting and stammering like a jackass, I rest my case. Speaking of jackasses, where exactly are your brother and cousin right now?"

"Oh them, they said they were gonna get something to eat before they joined up with mom and the others."

"Two half Saiyans eating alone with no sense of restraining themselves? Yeah you guys really need the prize money."

"Tell me about it."

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Meanwhile, in the stands…

Chichi and the others were waiting anxiously for the next match to start, and she was watching the lineup for the tournament like a mother hawk "Okay, so Goku is gonna be up in the next match."

"Yeah but Raditz is the one he's going up against." Bulma pointed out "I don't know about you, but I think this is gonna be a really interesting one."

"Yeah well Raditz might be good but he's about as capable against Goku as a deer is against a set of oncoming headlights."

"...Come again?"

"Okay yeah, that one might be a little bit dark. Either way Goku is obviously a frontrunner for the championship, the same with Gohan for that matter. Come on already boys, mama bear needs a new pair of shoes already!"

"Well to be honest, if it really comes down to that then I think Gohan is gonna be the won who wins it all." Erasa told her, smiling sort of dreamily as she did so.

"Well of course you'd say that, we know how you feel about Gohan." this caused her to blush a deep shade of red "And there we go. Not to worry dear, I'm behind you every step of the way."

"I'm kind of surprised by that." Bulma noted "I thought you'd be dead set against Gohan having a girlfriend?"

"It's either a nice girl like her or spending the rest of his life with Kai, I think I'm making the right call here."

"...Yeah okay, fair enough."

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Meanwhile, with our two evildoers…

At the same time, Shen and Tao, the former still wounded from his fight with Piccolo, were still lurking behind the scenes for whatever their evil purpose was, with a strange device in hand "My loss against that wretched demon means little in the grand scheme of things, we still have our mission and we can still carry it out. This next round may be the one, so we have to make sure we stay alert."

"Of course we know exactly what they're capable of in terms of power, but the energy output is what's important here." Tao gestured to the device he was holding "All we have to do is wait for the proper output of energy to appear and then we make our move, it's as simple as that."

"Let's just get this over with quickly, the sooner we get the energy to Babidi, the sooner we can focus on our own agenda."

"Agreed."

What they hadn't noticed was that Shin was watching them from afar, floating in mid air as his gaze hardened, and he gave a subtle nod to where Kibito was located on the ground 'It should be any moment now, once they make their move the time shall come for us to do the same, and our allies amidst this planet's warriors.'

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Meanwhile, with the others…

With the brief intermission taking place, Goku was in the middle of stretching, though his mind was drifting as he did so 'Looks like me and Raditz are going to be up any minute now.'

"I take it you're about as uneasy as I am about this, and for the same reason?" it was at this moment that Raditz made his way up to him.

"Yeah, something about all of this just doesn't seem right. I'm having a bit of trouble staying focused actually."

"Whatever it is don't let it eat away at you, a Saiyan always focuses on the battle at hand, or else they know they'll lose."

"Yeah I know, but I can't shake this feeling."

"I get it, but all we can do for now is keep our guard up for the time being. Even if there is more trouble heading our way, we might as well enjoy this battle while we can."

"Yeah… Yeah I guess you're right." Goku gave Raditz his classic Son grin, though it looked rather forced "But between all of us here, whatever is about to happen next, I bet we'll be able to handle it."

'I hope you're right about Kakarot, I really do.'

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The World Martial Arts Tournament has gotten well underway at last, and things are going well with one spectacular match after another. But the true warriors know that all is not well, as sinister forces are lurking behind the schemes, for reasons that only Cooler, Gohan, Kai and now Piccolo are aware of, and as such an ominous cloud hangs over the tournament stadium and everyone in it, large enough that even the cheerful Son Goku and the normally composed Raditz have both become uneasy at the thought of it. When the moment comes for these sinister forces to strike, our heroes will have to be ready for the fight of their lives, next time on Dragon Ball Z: the Next Generation!

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A/N:

And with this chapter, we see the true World Martial Arts Tournament FINALLY get underway, and it gets off with a bang, starting with Videl vs Tien, and then going on to multiple other battles that take this tournament up to new heights of epic battles, such as a showdown between brothers, a certain martial arts hermit confronting the legacy of the demon that drove him down the path of darkness in the first place, former champions prepared to face off against each other in a one-sided slaughter, and much more. But this is just the calm before the storm, as sinister forces are at work behind the scenes as well as in the ring.

So yes, I had Videl fight Tien in the first round, and while she isn't anywhere near as powerful as Tien by any means, she still ended up winning in the end not through power, but through cunning, which is just as important in a fight, if not even more important. I have to admit, part of me didn't want to go through with this. I don't have anything against Tien, I think he's a really underrated character, but I had to give Videl her chance to shine. Besides, Tien is going to get his moment soon enough, especially considering who I've included in the tournament this time around, so you don't have to worry about that.

Yep, I decided to have Shen fight Piccolo in this round, and unlike canon Piccolo gets to move onto the second round, though he still gets his answers from Shin on his identity and purpose. Now this was one fight that had been recommended to me by xSonallyGirl129x, and I have to admit I was unsure of going through with at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much potential this pairing had. Keep in mind that Shen, like Master Roshi, was around during the first war against King Piccolo and his mutated Namekian henchmen, and it was during those days of darkness, at least according to Roshi, that he changed for the worst, progessing down the path of darkness, so I decided to expand on that. Plus I think it compensates for the fact that Piccolo was pretty much toying with Shen throughout the entire fight, both to gauge his power and get information out of him.

Krillin vs Cooler was another fight I was unsure about, again recommended to me by xSonallyGirl129x, but like with Shen vs Piccolo, it has a lot of potential. I know that I've been neglecting Krillin for the majority of this fic, and I do feel bad about that, but I think this should at least somewhat make up for it. After all, I get to show some of Krillin's development and growth, especially compared to an opponent as strong as Cooler, and I think it was a fine way to close out this chapter.

Goku vs Raditz is a showdown that I'm really excited to write. After all, it's not too often you get to see brothers go at it in anime, and since Raditz is a good guy in this fic, I thought it would be fun to see them fight each other with everything they've got. Unfortunately though, seeing how long this chapter has gone on, that will have to wait until the next chapter.

Tarble vs 18 is another one pitched to me by xSonallyGirl129x, but truth be told I mostly went with this one out of the process of elimination, since I didn't really have anything noteworthy for Tarble or 18 to do. At least not yet, they're gonna have more important roles later on, especially 18.

Yamcha vs 17 is another one I went with mainly for the sake of process of elimination, I didn't really have much to do for either of them yet, but be on the lookout for it later.

Gohan vs Kai is another fight I was looking forward to doing, a showdown between best friends in the ring, and you can imagine how excited Kai was when he found out about this. Unfortunately though, this fight was ended very abruptly as a result of Gohan being attacked from the sidelines by Shen and Tao for the sake of stealing his Ki.

Scarlet vs Mr Satan, well to be completely realistic this one mainly ended up being another result of the process of elimination, since there wasn't really anyone left for me to do anything with, and it doesn't really matter anyway.

Now before I close this out, I should probably address a certain issue that's been getting some skepticism, which happens to be my power levels lists, more specifically the power levels I put for Videl, putting her in the millions already, albeit behind the others by a fair margin. While I admit that I may have gone a bit higher with her power level than people would accept, Keep in mind that Piccolo went from not being able to stand against Nappa to taking on Frieza in his second form, even if he did end up fusing with Nail, and that was in less than two months, so I don't think Videl's progress is that unrealistic. Besides, like Team Four Star said, power levels are bullshit. But if it helps, I toned it down at least a little bit, so her base power level before was less than 300,000, higher than Ginyu Force but still below that of first form Frieza. As for after training, keep in mind that she had her potential unlocked (which is a 5x multiplier) and on top of that she drank the Ultra Divine Water (which is another 5x multiplier, which makes 25x in total). I think that would do a fine job of justifying it, at least to a certain extent.

Now then, to close out this chapter I would like to point out a noteworthy milestone this story has reached. With this chapter, this story is now up to 40 chapters. Only one of my other stories has gotten that far up until now, and this milestone wouldn't have been possible without all of your support, so thank you for that.

Power levels:

Kai: 1 billion

Scarlet: 1.8 billion

Gohan: 4 billion

Goku: 3.8 billion

Raditz: 3.8 billion

Tarble: 3.4 billion

Yamcha: 200 million

Tien: 200 million

Krillin: 175 million

Krillin (Spirit Ken) 26.25 billion

Cooler: 45 billion

Cooler (Final form): 135 billion

Android 17: 2 billion

Android 18: 2 billion

Weighted Piccolo: 60 billion

Videl: 7.5 million

Videl (Namek-Ken 20x): 150 million

Mr Satan: 25

Majin Mercenary Tao: 20 million

Majin Shen: 20 million