A/N: There's apparently some confusion about the name of the series and what it entails. Dragon Ball is heavily inspired by Journey to the West, the story of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. In fact, the Japanese name of Sun Wukong is, you guessed it, Son Gokuu. So, if the Monkey King was a girl, they'd be the Monkey Queen. That's all. Nothing to do with the Saiyans or royalty or Vegeta. Chapter Forty
Revenge and Understanding! Who are These Mystery Fighters?
As the eight finalists lined up to take their numbers for the finals, Krillin couldn't help but notice the lack of one scar-faced reformed bandit.
'Ouch,' he thought as he took his number, 'Eliminated in the preliminaries. Poor guy.' After all that bluster and his shiny new gi, too. So that meant that one of the new guys was stronger than Yamcha. No one had said anything about fighting Yamcha liked Suno had said she'd fought Launch. As the green guy walked past Krillin to take his number, Krillin couldn't fight the cold feeling he got in his stomach. Like someone had just stepped on his grave.
"Hey, Ken!" Goku said excitedly as she reached into the box to take her number. "It's great to see you again!"
"Good to see you again, too, Goku," Ken said with a smile. Then Goku got entirely too close to his face and Ken's face started to flush. "Uhhh… G-Goku?"
"You grew a mustache!" she exclaimed with that starry-eyed look. "It's neat!" Then she walked back into line and Ken flusteredly adjusted his tie to regain his composure. Hercule stepped up to take his number and Ken couldn't stop from smirking.
"Wow, Hercule," he teased, "I didn't think I'd ever see you make it this far!" Hercule took his number wordlessly and Ken cleared his throat uncomfortably. Once everyone drew their numbers, they were ushered out to the ring to the roar of a cheering crowd.
"Hey, Goku," Krillin said as he walked besides Goku, "Where'd you get that gi from, anyway? It's pretty snazzy."
"Thanks!" Goku said with a grin. "It was a present from God." Krillin blinked.
"God?" he asked in confusion. He'd never figured Goku for the religious type. Before he could ask any more questions, they were in front of the crowd. It was even bigger than the tournament before!
"Llllladies aaaaand gentlemen!" Ken crowed as he waved his arms around animatedly, having slipped right into his role as a showman. "We welcome you to the historic 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai! Let's hear it first for our new arrivals! Majunior!" The green man turns up his nose at the crowd's cheering with a scoff. "Suno!" Suno waved politely as the audience roared and cheered and, in a few cases, whistled. "Mercenary Tao Pai Pai!" The crowd grew deathly quiet and Tao chuckled. "Hercule!" The crowd cheers again but the virally-popular Hercule ignored his usual theatrics to stand stock-still with his arms at his side and look completely focused. "Aaaand the Warrior Woman!" The crowd cheered for the giant of a woman as she flexed her arms, although there were no whistles, perhaps out of fear. "Now for our returning finalists! Ladies and gentlemen, Krillin!" Krillin raised his fists as the crowd roared far louder than the tournament before. There were audible chants of "Bald Tiger" as well. "The returning and defending champion, Tenshinhan!" Tenshinhan raised a fist as the audience cheered even louder. "And finally, the two-time runner-up, Son Goku!" The crowd cheered louder than ever, dwarfing all the reactions as she smiled and waved excitedly. There were also more people whistling than there had been for Suno.
"Wait," Bulma muttered as she looked at the lineup, "I don't see Yamcha." It clicked and she burst out laughing. "Ha! He got eliminated already! Hahahahahaaaaaa–" her laughter was interrupted as Puar turned into a large fish and slapped her across the face. Yamcha was, however, in the fighters' area, as was Launch.
"Excuse me," one of the staff said, "I'm afraid that the fighters' area is for finalists only." Yamcha and Launch each held out their hands with light glowing in their palms. "N-never mind." The staff member muttered, sweating nervously as he shuffled away.
"For the Quarter-finals," Ken continued, "It will be Tenshinhan versus Mercenary Tao," there was a noticeable tension in the air as the two fighters turned their heads slightly to glower at one another; "Majunior versus Hercule," Piccolo sneered and, if possible, Hercule looked even more serious; "Goku will take on the Warrior Woman," There was an ever-so-slight change in the Warrior Woman's posture, as though she was fighting to keep from bouncing with excitement; "Aaaand lastly, Suno versus Krillin!" Suno smiled and Krillin did, too, although his was slightly forced. "So, let the 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai begin!" Everyone left the ring except for Tenshinhan and Tao and the two got into their stances.
"You will die," Tao growled as he drew back his fist. Ten allowed himself a small smirk.
"I very much doubt that," he retorted calmly as Tao dashed towards him. Tao released a flurry of spear strikes and knees that all missed their mark. Ten finally stopped Tao's assault by gripping Tao's fist in his hand with the metal audibly creaking and crunching in his fist. "As long as I have you as a captive audience," Ten said as Tao struggled in vain to escape the triclops' grip, "I demand an answer. You once said that you were my father 'in a sense'. What do you mean? Are you my father?" Tao growled and pulled back. There was an audible click as he jumped away with his hand staying in Ten's hand and a blade sprung from the wrist.
"Your father?!" Tao spat as he swiped at Ten, startling him with a thin diagonal cut across the abdomen. "I killed your father, you fool!" Ten's eyes widened in shock as the cut slowly began to trickle blood. "I killed your father and your mother when you were an infant! Then I took you to Shen to train you! You would not exist if not for me!" He raised the blade high overhead before he thrust the blade down to stab into Ten's heart. "So it is only fitting that I take your life!" Ten's head snapped forward to grab the blade between his teeth and shatter it. Tao's face paled and, if he still had eyelids and eyebrows, no doubt they would express his shock. Ten spat the shards out onto the floor and Tao hopped away while he thrust out the stump of his wrist which began to glow. "Y-you don't scare me, boy! I am still your better! I am Mercenary Tao! Take this! Chou Dodonpa!" A massive beam of yellow light fired out of the hidden cannon in Tao's arm and Ten glared at it, vaporizing it with a kiai. He was on Tao in a flash and had a hand around his throat.
"I will never know," he growled as he raised Tao off the ground, "my father. I will never know my mother. I will never know the man I might have been if it had not been for you. You stole a life from me." His grip tightened and there was another audible crunch and creak of metal, "It seems only fair that I would take yours. You can't stop me. I'm stronger than you and as you taught me long ago, strength is all that matters." Suno and Krillin made a move to stop Tenshinhan but Goku held out her arms to stop them and shook her head. Tao whimpered pathetically and kicked his legs as Ten glowered up at him… before throwing Tao out of bounds into the grass. "I won't," he spat, "Because I am not like you. I'm better than you." He found Shen in the crowd and pointed down at Tao, "Take him away and disappear. If I ever see either of you again, I will make you regret it." Shen ran through the crowd and grabbed Ten before flying away. Ten walked to the fighters' area as the crowd cheered. He bumped fists with Yamcha and blushed when Launch hugged him. He felt much better, as though a great weight had been lifted off his soul and a chapter could finally be closed on this part of his life.
OoOoOoO
Piccolo glowered across the ring at Hercule with both men practically immobile and the only movement being the wind blowing through his cape. He had a sneaking suspicion as to who he was really facing. Damn the old man. In the quarter-finals? No sense of dramatic timing. Hercule disappeared from sight and reappeared in front of Piccolo to strike with a spinning kick that Piccolo raised his forearm to block. Hercule landed on his feet in front of Piccolo and followed up with a series of palm strikes. Piccolo blocked them all but it was only a feint as Hercule swept Piccolo's feet out from under him and smashed an elbow into his sternum to send him careening back.
"Hmmm," Roshi muttered as he stroked his beard, "Hercule wasn't anywhere near this good when I faced him. Either he's been training seriously or something's not quite right here." Piccolo growled and charged at Hercule to rake his claws across Hercule's chest except that Hercule jumped back at the last second so his claws went through nothing but air. Hercule landed and launched himself forward again with both fists out and spinning like a spiral. Piccolo threw out his hands and grabbed Hercule's fists to bring his spinning to a stop and slam him down to the ground back-first several times before Hercule threw up his feet to catch Piccolo under the chin and break his grip. Hercule rolled back to his feet, right into Piccolo's headbutt and a knee to the stomach. Hercule doubled forward and Piccolo jabbed an elbow down into the small of his back. Hercule groaned and rolled out of the way to avoid a spear strike. Hercule hopped to his feet again and they exchanged a violent but precise flurry of punches and kicks.
"Jeez," Suno muttered as she watched, "Do these guys know each other? It's like they hate each other." Goku watched silently with her arms folded over her chest. She knew the green guy was Piccolo and the guy with the mustache had a pretty familiar fighting style. She was pretty sure she knew what was going on. Hercule threw a powerful hook to the body but Piccolo sidestepped it and gripped Hercule's neck suddenly.
"I tire of these games," he growled, "Reveal yourself before I break this human's neck!" Hercule then did something no one was expecting: he threw a ki ball into Piccolo's face to break his grip. Piccolo growled in pain and let Hercule go as he clutched at his face with both hands. Hercule followed this with something equally preposterous when he flew.
"Okay," Launch muttered as she watched him go up, "That tears it. Something is up." Piccolo flew up to meet Hercule and the two foes battled in the air with a ferocious intensity. Hercule suddenly slapped both hands on Piccolo's ears and he cried out in agony, disoriented as Hercule drove him to the ground with a hammerblow. Hercule met him on the ground and threw a small vial down at his feet.
"I am finishing this!" Hercule declared suddenly, speaking for the first time all day as he thrust out his hands. "Mafuuba!" Everyone, with the exception of Goku, stared in open-mouthed, bug-eyed shock as a green cyclone flew out of his palms and enveloped Piccolo. Surprisingly, Piccolo only growled in response. Then he raised his arms and threw them out in a mirror of Hercule's stance.
"Mafuuba Gaeshi!" he bellowed and the direction of the cyclone changed and turned on Hercule. The man screamed in agony and something seemed to fly out of his mouth before Hercule collapsed in a heap as the cyclone funneled down into the tiny bottle, the stopper securing onto it like magic. Piccolo grinned to himself as he scooped up the bottle.
"Wh-what just happened?" Launch asked. "That Majunior guy reversed the Mafuuba onto Hercule and then… something went into that bottle."
"It looked like Piccolo Daimaou," Ten muttered with a hand under his chin. Goku shook her head as she stared at Piccolo intensely.
"That wasn't Piccolo," Goku explained, "That was Kami. That is Piccolo." The others stared at Piccolo and swallowed nervously.
"Told ya," Yamcha said suddenly. "Pay up!"
"Ten!" Ken shouted as he finished the count. "Majunior is the winner!" Piccolo sneered at Hercule's unconscious body and turned away from the ring with a flourish of his cape. He stopped when Goku blocked his path.
"The bottle," she said forcefully, "hand it over." Piccolo smirked and held the bottle in front of her face.
"This what you want?" he asked. In a flash, the bottle was in Piccolo's mouth and he swallowed it. Goku stared in horror and he grinned. "The only way to get the old man back is to kill me. But that would kill him, too, wouldn't it? What a dilemma." Then he shoved his way past Goku and the others.
OoOoOoO
As Hercule struggled to his feet with a groan, the crowd suddenly began to chant his name, inspired by his performance.
"Hercule! Hercule! Hercule!" Hercule staggered as he regained his balance and wore the look of a man who had no idea how he'd gotten there. The last thing he could remember was running a pick through his afro and waxing his mustache. Now he'd made it all the way to the finals! Even though he'd lost. As Hercule walked towards the crowd a woman suddenly pushed her way to the front. She was wearing a yellow sundress and had long black hair and bright blue eyes. Her name was Miguel and she was Hercule's girlfriend.
"You did great, hon!" Miguel shouted proudly as Hercule climbed over the barricade. "I didn't know you could fly!" She threw her arms around Hercule and covered his face in kisses. Fly?! If Hercule had been confused before he was hopelessly lost now.
'What the heck,' he thought to himself, 'Just go with it.' he hoisted Miguel up onto his shoulders and threw his arms triumphantly into the air. "Yeah," he crowed as he waved his hands to fan the flames of the crowd's cheers, "Lemme hear it! WHO'S THE MAN? WHO'S THE MAN?"
"HERCULE!" the crowd answered, "HERCULE! HERCULE! HERCULE!" Hercule grinned to himself. He could get used to this.
OoOoOoO
"So, uh, Goku," Krillin asked with a tone of nervous confusion, "Who's Kami?" So Goku told them everything about Piccolo Daimaou's egg and how she'd met Kami and the training she'd undergone with him and the connection between Kami and Piccolo.
"So," Yamcha muttered, "The guy who kicked my butt was possessed by kinda-sorta-God." He shrugged, "I can live with that."
"And I," Ten added, "Have to fight the reincarnation of the Demon King. An even stronger reincarnation of the monster who nearly killed me." Launch put a hand on his arm.
"You don't have to fight," she told him, "You can pull out of–"
"Pull out?" Tenshinhan asked incredulously before cracking his knuckles. "This is the kind of challenge I need. Besides, he owes me a rematch."
OoOoOoO
Goku stared across the ring at the giantess who was looming over her. There was an intense look in her eyes. It wasn't hatred, Goku could see that much. Before Goku could ask why she was looking at her so funny, the woman darted across the ring at a speed surprising for her size and brought her fist down on Goku's head.
Or rather, where Goku had been a moment before. She was slightly off to the left now and waving pleasantly. The woman growled and swung around her fist to try to uppercut Goku with enough force to knock her out of her boots. This time, Goku was balancing on her fist.
"Did I do something wrong?" Goku asked before flipping and landing behind the Warrior Woman. "How come you're mad at me?" The woman turned to face Goku again and seemed to be fighting to keep her composure.
"I'm not mad," the woman insisted, "But I will defeat you, Son Goku!" She leaped and tried to drive a knee into Goku's face but Goku bent almost completely in half backwards to watch the woman sail overhead.
"Have we met?" Goku asked as she straightened up. the Warrior Woman unleashed a flurry of punches, elbows, knees, and kicks that Goku blocked and deflected with one hand.
"If you want to know who I am," she told her as she doggedly continued her fruitless assault, "You'll have to defeat me! But that won't happen! I will defeat you, Son Goku! I have to!" She lunged forward with a headbutt and Goku appeared to be meeting her head-to-head… then the woman was in the grass before they ever made contact.
"Ring out," Ken declared, "Son Goku is the winner!"
"Impressive," Roshi muttered, "Goku took her out with just the wind generated by her attack!" Goku walked to the edge of the ring and held out a hand to help the Warrior Woman to her feet.
"So," Goku asked, "Who the heck are you?" The woman reached up to the red wrapping around her head and began to undo it. She finished unwrapping the cover and held the cloth in one hand. She had a beautiful face, with high cheekbones and eyes like chips of onyx. Her jet black hair was in a tight bun that she undid with her other hand before shaking her head side to side to let her hair fan down around her shoulders and to her back.
"It's me," the woman said, "Chi-Chi. The Ox King's daughter?" Roshi, Bulma, Puar, and Yamcha gawked in bug-eyed, slack-jawed disbelief.
"But she was… and now she's… what?!" Yamcha babbled in confusion.
"There was something familiar to her fighting style," Roshi muttered as his sunglasses slid off his face.
"The heck's she been eating?" Bulma murmured.
"Hi, Chi-Chi," Goku said pleasantly as she looked up at her, "You got taller!" Chi-Chi blushed slightly and bowed her head with her eyes turned down.
"I'm glad you remembered me, Son Goku," she said softly. "Now I can tell you why I entered the Tenkaichi Budoukai and why I was being so secretive. You see…" she paused and sucked in a deep breath as if preparing to move some great weight, then turned her eyes back up to Goku, "From the minute I met you, I felt… something spark inside of me. I was drawn to you and to this whole big world you seemed to be a part of that was so much grander than the little world I knew in my father's kingdom." Ken took a step towards Chi-Chi to tell her that they still had another match to get to but she shot him a glare so sharp it could have shaved his mustache. He quickly moved backwards away from her and she returned her attention to Goku and her expression instantly softened again. "I've spent so many years trying to find you, to meet with you, to join you, but things kept getting in my way. And with every attempt, despite every setback, that spark I had felt inside me four years before had fanned into a wildfire. I have been training for the past three years for this day, Son Goku, so that I could say…" Chi-Chi suddenly went down to a knee, now having to look up at Goku for the first time and took Goku's hand in hers, "I want to be in your world, Son Goku. With all your friends and your grand adventures. I… I want to be with you. Will you marry me, Goku?" There followed a long and tense silence. Suno looked uncomfortable and Krillin looked like he wanted to scream his head off.
"I don't know what that means," Goku said bluntly. An entire arena face-faulted as one. "Hey, Krillin!" Goku called as she turned her attention to the fighters' area. "What's marry mean?" For half a second. Krillin hesitated and pondered his answer, wondering what he might say. In the end, his nerves failed and he decided to give Goku the truth.
"When you marry someone," he explained, "It's when you live in the same house with someone that you really care about and you spend a lot of time together and you… um…" Krillin swallowed and his face reddened, "N-never mind." Goku looked back at Chi-Chi, still on a knee and looking up at Goku with expectant eyes. Goku chewed on her lip for a moment with conflict written all over her face.
"Chi-Chi," Goku said softly and squeezed the other girl's hand, "I… I'm sorry. I can't marry you. I don't know you." If there was an expression beyond hopelessness, a depth beneath despair, a pain beyond heartbreak, they were all written on Chi-Chi's face as she slowly stood up and walked back to the fighters' area. She moved as far away from Goku's friends as possible and slumped down onto a bench with her head in her hands. Goku frowned and went back to join her friends. Ken said that she was the winner but she didn't feel like one at the moment. She sort of just felt like a jerk.
OoOoOoO
Suno and Krillin stood across from each other and moved into their guards. The crowd cheered wildly as they clapped and stomped their feet. As before there was an audible "Bald Tiger" chant.
"Bald Tiger?" Bulma muttered in confusion as she looked around at the chanting audience. "Do they mean Krillin?!" Suno couldn't stifle a giggle when she heard the moniker that Krillin had apparently earned in the past three years which made Krillin ball his fists even tighter in anger. He shot towards Suno like a rocket and threw out a straight jab that would have taken a normal person's head clean off. As it was, Suno felt a sharp pain jolt through her forearms when she brought up a cross-armed guard to block the strike before she shoved Krillin back and struck with a lightning-fast crescent kick. Krillin forcefully redirected it to the side with the Orin temple style with enough force to make Suno spin and jumped up to smash a knee into the back of Suno's head. She staggered forward and glowered.
"Okay," she muttered as she spun around to her side, "What the heck is your problem?!" She exploded with an onslaught of kicks at Krillin who threw up his forearm to block them with his feet planted firmly as he weathered the assault. "You've been holding onto this for, like, six years! Every time you see me hanging out with Goku, you get mad! What, is no one else allowed to be her friend, you little psycho?!" Krillin growled and dove down to slide between Suno's legs and came up behind her with another punch aimed at the back but this time Suno twisted around and blocked it with her elbow.
"Shut up!" Krillin snapped as he hopped away from Suno's palm strike counterattack and jumped up to flip forward with a scissor kick. It caught Suno on the shoulder as she rolled out of the way and Krillin pressed forward with a series of body punches. "I didn't have any friends before I met Goku! I knew her for a year and then you just swoop in and it's like you've been buddies your whole lives! Who the heck are you, Suno? Where did you come from? Why? Why?!" Suno brought her arms down to block Krillin and headbutted him right between the eyes.
"That's just it!" Suno told him even as they both winced. "You don't know anything about me! You don't know that stuff because you've been too busy being mad all the time!" She and Krillin charged each other and met in an explosion of fists. "Goku and I fought together against the Red Ribbon Army! She saved my village!" Krillin threw a right hook and Suno threw a left, each fist smashing into the other's cheek as they stood and glared at one another. Slowly, however, Krillin let his fist drop.
"You're right," he said and Suno let hers drop as well in surprise, "I've been stewing on this for years like a real jerk. I thought I'd had it spelled out to me years ago that Goku was just friends with everybody. I guess I've just got… issues." he shrugged and got back into his guard with a smile. "Come on, let's do this fair." Suno smiled back and nodded.
The two charged again and while their strikes were still furiously delivered, there was no more malice behind them. With the graceful qualities of the Odori Style and the redirective strategy of the Orin Temple it was almost half a dance. The end came swiftly when Suno wrapped her legs around Krillin's neck in a headscissors and twisted in the air to send him head-over-heels out of the ring and into the grass.
"Ring out!" Ken declared. "Suno is your winner!" The crowd cheered and picked up a small "Suno" chant as Suno walked out of the ring and offered Krillin a hand. He picked himself up but shook her hand anyway.
"Hey," Krillin said with a slightly reddening face, "You and Goku… uh… just," he swallowed and shook his head. "Never mind." He walked back to the fighter's area and left Suno terribly confused. Goku grinned widely as her friends came back to join the rest of them. She was glad that everyone was getting along. She felt Piccolo's ki pressing on the back of her mind and frowned, her good mood gone. There was still a tournament to win.
A/N: Yep, that's right, Goku won't be marrying Chi-Chi. Don't worry, though, since we'll definitely be seeing more of her in the future. We'll talk a bit more about this next chapter.