One by one each of the preliminaries ended and out of all her predictions, she got all of them right. Sharpner, Erasa and Gohan all qualified, along with them the creepy but strong beneficiaries that helped her master ki sensing did as well, their names were Shin and Kibito she just learned. Their qualification was weird according to the people who watched them. They were somewhat similar to Erasa in that they got forfeit after forfeit. However they never even fought a single time, after walking on to the ring, their opponents always forfeited and when asked why, they said they felt they couldn't win.
While the preliminaries were going on, the Junior Division also finished and Videl saw Son Goku and Bulma Brief walking towards the draws for the finals with their young kids next to them, from the smug expression Trunks had and how Eschalot was pouting, the result of the fight wasn't hard to guess.
Compared to the professional smile she had in seminars and photo shoots, the slightly angry and slightly annoyed look Bulma Brief had while saying something to the blond tall man made her look much happier. Another thing Videl noticed was that this weirdly youthful looking woman felt way stronger than Son Goku next to her, not as strong as Son Goku when he got riled up but right now in their resting strength, she was above him.
She couldn't really hear their discussions because as soon as she saw them, Son Goku waved at her with a smile on his face, "Hey, Videl." cutting off Bulma Brief and trying to find a way out of getting lectured to.
"Hello Mr. Goku, hello Mrs. Brief." Videl said. She had seen Bulma Brief in the past but Videl never got the impression that she knew her besides the identity she had as 'Mr. Satan's daughter'.
However her next words surprised her, with a smile Bulma said, "You grew up so much since I last saw you Videl, it has been years since you came and listened to me."
Trying to change the discussion from how she fell out of favor with academic pursuits last few years, Videl said, "Wow, you paid attention to me Mrs. Brief?"
A hearty laugh came from Bulma Brief and she said, "Of course, I am someone who likes having a big circle of associates. If it hadn't been for your father's protests, I would have taken you in our travels as well."
Son Goku suddenly laughed and said, "Don't sow discord between father and daughter. Would you have really taken her?" Videl snapped out from her moment of emptiness with these words. She felt a sense of betrayal at her father before she heard Son Goku talk.
Bulma Brief's small laugh hidden behind her hand looked mischievous in all the ways Videl didn't want to see, it was confirmed! Erasa, 18 and now Mrs. Brief, all the women who broke the human limit had personalities that couldn't be accepted in any civilized society. Was she going to become like them or was she already there? She had to ask a neutral third party to evaluate her.
She asked, "Why wouldn't you have taken me Mrs. Brief? Didn't Trunks and Eschalot go with you?" even though she was still young back then, surely bringing her was safer than bringing a toddler.
Eschalot stopped fighting with Trunks a bit to say, "Yeah we did! My first ever memories are from space. I thought sky was supposed to be magenta until I was four!" Videl wanted to say, 'Aren't you only six?' but didn't voice her thoughts.
To the side the blond man said, "You can talk with Videl if you want to Bulma, I'll go check the draws with the kids. Come on Trunks, Eschalot." and started walking towards the crowds, while they were walking away Videl vaguely heard Trunks complaining about not being able to join the adults tournament.
After lighting a cigarette, Bulma Brief sat on a bench and gestured Videl to sit as well but before waiting for her she started to talk, "Stars are those kids' birthright. They need to be in space, they need to be strong."
Videl knew Mrs. Brief was talking about something she simply lacked the context to understand so she stood silent while the woman in front of her asked her a question, "How much do you know about the past of Goku?"
Deciding not to hide anything she learned Videl talked, "I knew about both of his public persona for a few years but I investigated him as thoroughly as I could after Gohan came to our class."
Speaking in the small gap between Videl's words Bulma Brief said, "It is so funny because despite how much she shouts and gets angry, she chose Orange Star, I didn't manipulate her or deceive her at all, she sent her son to the wolves with her own hands." with a bit of a melancholic look.
After seeing that she wasn't going to continue further, Videl said, "Earliest thing I saw about Son Goku is from the aftermath of 21st World Martial Arts Tournament where he got second. A photo featuring Son Goku, you and a few other contestants."
Finally a slightly surprised expression appeared on the otherwise nonchalant face of Bulma Brief, "I thought I erased all of those photos from the face of the planet, where you find one, did your father have it?"
She shook her head and said, "A gossip magazine's archives had them, because you were there, they even had photos from 22nd and 23rd too. You bought out and sealed the archives of the newspapers right?" Videl wanted to solve this small mystery too.
"Good guess. It is much better for those archives to stay sealed, your first impression of us wouldn't be so positive and I don't even want to imagine someone like Gohan getting to them." the smoke around her got a bit thicker and her expression became more unreadable.
As she believed her father was a good person, she believed the people who he thought to be good, were good but she had to ask, "What are on those news?" why would something on the newspaper affect her thoughts about them?
The slightly melancholic expression was still there as Bulma Brief talked, "Son Goku knew how to make friends or allies out of anyone. From perverts to bullies to criminals to people who are much worse. Knowing who they were in the past is important but so is knowing who they are now."
A question came to Videl's mind, "Would 17 and 18 be a part of that group?" both of them had basically no past and the mental image Videl had of them painted them as dangerous people, they could fit the criteria Bulma Brief set too.
After a moment of contemplation Bulma Brief answered, "They could maybe fit but they are not who I am talking about, they are just unfortunate souls who turned into who they are because of a mad man and his desire for revenge."
Videl then asked, "So who are the people you are talking about?" she didn't see a lot of people around Son Goku but it really wasn't hard to believe someone with that weird charisma, strength and looks having a large circle of friends and associates.
The melancholy in Bulma Brief's face got a bit deeper, "You said you saw the photos from the three tournaments Goku joined right? It is mostly the people on those photos, Roshi, Krillin, Tien... None of them are innocent people."
Between the smoke getting thicker Videl said while keeping her composition as well as possible, "What about Mr. Yamcha?" he was the one she was most interested about, according to Son Goku, he was the strongest normal human. She wanted to know if her future master was a criminal or not.
A small smile appeared on Bulma Brief when her ex was mentioned but her next words froze Videl, "Countless amount of murder and banditry before he was even an adult. He is one of the people who benefited the most from his past being cleaned."
That baseball star, the ex of Bulma Brief was a murderous bandit? Videl couldn't rationalize it, the strongest of humanity being such a man was hard to come to terms with. Why couldn't it be her father or even Bulma Brief? And he was the person most qualified to teach her too?
Bulma Brief clicked her finger in front of Videl's face and said, "See? This is why I sealed those archives. Your first impression of a man who put his life on the line for the whole of humanity again and again is so low."
Videl could believe that despite his past Yamcha could be a good person however she still wasn't sure about the words coming from his ex, "I know Mr. Yamcha is in space right now but what about the other people, what happened to them?"
Along with a voice that got much more heavy, she talked, "Roshi, Chiaotzu, Krillin, Tien, Piccolo, Trunks, Vegeta, just seven people but their deaths hurt more than you'd think."
This sentence was enough for Videl to understand the story, including her husband, many people she knew died one way or another because of fighting, this made Videl understand the reservation everyone had around teaching others how to fight, Son Goku to Gohan and his father to her, this wasn't a safe world.
"What about Mrs. Chichi, was she in the know?" these circumstances could explain why she was the way she was. Videl already knew she was an ex-fighter.
Between the smokes, Bulma Brief's mood lightened up a bit as she laughed, "Of course she was, it comes from her family, if she tried her hardest her potential was great, much bigger than what I had."
It all added up, Chichi was a girl interested in martial arts with a lot of talent, she trained hard and joined a tournament where she met Son Goku and instantly fell in love with him, after their marriage but before they had Gohan, she witnessed something horrible which made her fall out of love with martial arts and keep her children away from it while Son Goku pushed on.
Though she didn't agree, she understood why she raised Gohan the way she did, academy was safe, a scholar didn't fight someone to death with his fists.
After Bulma Brief looked at her face for a second she said, "Well you probably have the details wrong but I bet you understood the main lesson. This world is dangerous but I hope you never get to see the dangers." and finally finished her cigarette, put it out with her shoe and started walking away, "Come on the draws should be finished by now."
This talk cleared up many of the questions Videl had, she would have loved to see the golden age of martial arts because she now felt like she was chasing a train that had long passed. But she decided she would create her own stories along with her friends and hopefully boyfriend. Hearing Mrs. Chichi's story made her think she could get to that same position without giving up her ideals.
Only the people qualified for the knockouts could enter the room the draws took place in, when they got to the door, Bulma Brief said, "I am sure everything will happen as your heart desires Videl. Don't worry, okay?"
Right after she entered the room she felt 'it', she felt chaos, she felt animosity and most importantly her ki sensing gave her instant alarms of people who couldn't wait to fight
She rushed towards the brackets and her face went pale. Erasa was fighting Sharpner, Son Goku was fighting Shin, 17 was fighting Kibito, 18 was fighting her dad and most importantly she was fighting Gohan.
Five out of the eight fights were between people she knew, this couldn't be a coincidence this had to be rigged.
Her ki matched the chaotic energy of the room as she wildly searched for her dad who was standing on the corner with a slightly concerned expression. She walked towards him as fast as possible and right before she talked, he said, "It wasn't me."
Before trying to investigating him further she looked around the room, first she saw Son Goku giggling towards Shin who looked serene, Kibito and 17 sizing each other up and on the side 18 was looking at her dad as a cook did to his ingredients.
However the most aggressive match up was Erasa against Sharpner. These two friends, who grew up together, studied together, trained together and sparred together never seriously fought against each other.
On the outside they looked calm and energetic. Erasa was talking to the tournament announcer with her signature smile and Sharpner was asking something to the monks but Videl knew better, their Ki both felt the most aggressive out of everyone in the room.
However out of everyone in the room who broke the human limits, there was someone completely calm, someone whose ki didn't even ripple. This ki didn't have any textures, anything unique about it or anything that makes it identifiable other than its size. Just like the ki of a normal person who never trained before but just larger.
Videl knew right now, Son Gohan was ready to fight. This was the exact same mental state she got in whenever she had to fight seriously. She was going to joke around with Gohan but she didn't want to fight mentally, she wanted to fight on the ring.
According to the fixture after two fighters she wasn't familiar with, the next fight was going to be between Erasa and Sharpner and the third one was her fight. With the fourth fight also not having anyone special, she couldn't ask for a better draw.
After the draws ended that doubled as the rest period for the people who participated in the preliminaries, the tournament announcer invited the first two contestant and shouted, "And for the opening fight of the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament, we have two experienced fighters and a rematch from the last tournament, everyone welcome thee 24th World Martial Arts Tournament semifinalist and finalist, Pintar and Jewel!"
A fight that would have been exciting to Videl a few years ago acted as just a filler, she couldn't wait for this to end. Not because she couldn't wait to fight Gohan, no but because she couldn't wait to see Erasa and Sharpner fight. She had even wanted to tease Erasa about her childhood crush on Jewel but she was gone too.
This fight was likely to take a while too, with their old experience against each other both on the ring were likely going to be cautious.
But Son Goku who came to her side, gave her something to do when he asked, "So, this is your first tournament right?"
She answered, "I won the junior division last time." if she didn't get any of the stories wrong, that should have been before her dad met Son Goku so it wouldn't be weird for him not to know.
Son Goku said, "So you already ate the appetizer but let me tell you, the main course tastes better." and Videl nodded in response, though the food analogy was weird, it was accurate.
With some curiosity in her voice Videl asked, "This is your 4th, right Mr. Goku?" learning about the history of martial arts sounded very interesting.
"Yep that's true alright. First one when I was 10. Good thing there wasn't the kid's tournament back then" and laughed a bit but slowly stopped and said, "Well I got to the finale all three of those times but I don't know if that will be possible this time."
This response from him sounded weird to Videl, "Is that because of Shin? Or are the twins stronger than you are?"
He slowly shook his head and said, "I am not afraid of any fight but there is a bad cloud over this tournament, I don't think it will be finished." and stopped talking.
Videl didn't really try to understand his enigmatic words. His Ki sensing must be at a level she couldn't imagine, in the one moment of memory he showed her, she felt like she could understand the existence of the universe itself so it made sense for him to feel something she couldn't but what that could be, she had no idea.
On the ring the fight between Jewel and Pinter was coming close to its end with both fighters clearly using the last bits of energy they had, the fight that started off as Jewel trying to outmaneuver Pintar and Pintar trying to break through that cycle turned into a slugging contest between the two men.
Son Goku looked at the two man whose faces and fists were covered in blood and said, "You don't know. you can't know but those two tired man who lost a ton of blood feel more alive than they ever did right now.'
With Jewel taking a hit from Pintar and returning back to hit him on the jaw serving as a backdrop Goku continued, "That feeling of punching as if it is going to be your last punch and taking a punch as if it is going to kill you are the most valuable lessons you can learn from this tournament." he said.
And he was right, Videl would accept that she didn't know what fighting to death meant but she didn't know if she wanted to learn this lesson or if she could even learn it in the first place. This was a safe tournament environment where killing wasn't permitted. Wasn't that experience limited to street fights?
Not even a minute later, Pintar finally couldn't keep up and he fell down on a count to 10. As the announcer declared Jewel the winner, a roar came from the otherwise elegant looking man.
While the announcer was declaring the winner Jewel walked off to get his first aid, after the thrill of the fight was over, it was clear that all of the energy in his body waned off he was walking but each of his steps felt labored and his body was slumped but only his eyes remained sharp.
To this tired and hurt man Son Goku said, "That was a good fight." and Videl saw Jewel slowly nod. The difference in strength between Jewel and Son Goku would be hard to quantify but the mutual respect between two fighters impressed her, she wondered if one needed to fight these fights before understanding where it came from.
Finally the fight she was excited for came, the announcer on the ring shouted, "And for the second fight, two newcomers, I invite to the ring, Erasa and Sharpner." and two of her friends were coming to the ring.
