Though many of the audience members wanted to complain about the thirty minute intermission before the final fight, their full bladders and empty bellies silenced such opinions as they hurried to finish their business before the time was up.
But as they crowded the corridors under the stands, many of the spectators were filled with awe as they suddenly found themselves face-to-face with the Dragon Emperor himself.
"Daddy! Can I have some candy?" Edith asked in a cutesy voice from her position in Alex's arms, to which the doting father readily answered,
"Of course you can! Here's some cotton candy, licorice sticks, 'every flavor jelly beans', and kettle corn!" Instead of going through the long lines, Alex just waved his free hand as the selected merchandise disappeared from the respective stalls, and reappeared in front of Edith. The vendors of the various stalls didn't complain though, as Alex left a very generous amount of money in place of the items he took, much more than they were charging for them.
Meanwhile Alec, who was walking alongside his father and Edith, grinned in satisfaction as he rubbed his belly while recalling the taste of Gohan's Masenko attack. His satisfied expression quickly became strained though, when people noticed their presence and quickly surrounded them.
"Ara ara."
"Oh my god! You're so cute!"
"I could just eat you up! Yes I can!"
"You're exactly the same age as my daughter! Should I introduce you to her?"
Alec immediately found himself surrounded by women from all over the universe as they cooed and fawned over him, before one of the more daring among them actually pulled him face first into her breasts, smothering him in their softness.
Alex and Edith were in no different circumstances though, as many of their admirers surrounded them, the women pressing themselves up against Alex, feeling his muscles, and running their fingers through his fur while also trying to fawn over Edith. The little girl didn't care for their attention though, as she glared at the surrounding women that dared tried to steal the attention of her daddy.
But soon her glare turned into a smirk as two certain figures approached them, both of whom were radiating an intense killing intent when they saw the scene.
"And what....do we have here?" Gabriel asked with a smile that didn't reach her eyes, while Anne said next to her,
"It appears that a pack of tramps are harassing our husband and children Gabriel." As she spoke, the killing intent radiated by Gabriel and Anne spiked to an all time high as the shadowy figures of a dragon and biblically accurate Angel behind them.
The crowds of fans quickly scattered in the face of the two demonic(lol) women, leaving Alex chuckling at their expanse while Alec and Edith both cried out,
"Mama!"
"Mom!"
Alec readily ran into his mother's arms and buried his face into her breasts, having long since concluded that there was no better pillow, while Edith waited for her mother to approach them before scrunching up her face in contention as she patted her head.
"You did well Edith." Gabriel told her warmly, while also trying not to recall the image of her daughter riddled with holes from Millicas' use of Destruction. Anne meanwhile hugged her son tightly as she said,
"To think, my little Alec was the first to reach SSJ2!" Though Edith pouted when she heard that, Alec smiled widely and posed proudly as he said,
"Haha! I AM the omni slayer after all!" Alex smiled wryly as he ruffled his son's head, opting not to tell him about how Zeno didn't seem too thrilled about him calling himself such, as it sounded like he wanted to slay the Omni King. Instead, he did tell him,
"We'll have to see if you can still do it during training tonight, since you managed to make the transformation due to eating Gohan's energy blast." Alec pouted this time when he heard that, though Alex secretly felt that he didn't have anything to worry about.
Even though he couldn't make the transformation yet before eating Gohan's energy, and normally it would only be a temporary power up, Saiyans were quite literally built different. It was far more likely than not that Alec's Saiyan cells would recall the levels of power he previously achieved, and would allow him to make the transformation regularly with a little bit of training.
Meanwhile, a certain someone who was watching the interaction between the mothers, father, and their children, clenched his fist in frustration.
'What was it all for...?' Vegeta questioned within his mind, recalling the last several months of hardship he'd gone through.
Ever since he was born, Vegeta had possessed an amazing talent and potential amongst the Saiyan race, a talent that had gone unmatched amongst his kind up until that fateful day that he traveled to an insignificant planet known as earth. Then he encountered the freak of nature known as Kakarot, his half breed son, and the mysterious anomaly called Grant.
From there Vegeta had experienced impossible battles one after another, all while strengthening himself in order to keep up with Kakarot, until he too managed to become a Super Saiyan. But then the greatest freak of all appeared, Alexander Morningstar.
The man was everything Vegeta believed Saiyans shouldn't be, yet he was more powerful than any of them ever thought was possible. But then Vegeta pushed him too far, and for the first time in his life he was stripped of his strength and power.
That was the first Vegeta experienced true struggle, as in the wilds of Pangea he fought for survival day after day with less strength than he'd ever possessed before. Forced to fight with his all just for survival, Vegeta experienced growth like he never had before, along with a newfound appreciation for what he had.
Then came that fateful night, when the full moon arrived on Pangea for the first time.
Apparently Alex didn't take THAT into consideration when he sealed Vegeta's strength and power, and after the transformation wore off the next morning the seals were undone, and Vegeta felt more strength in his body than he ever had before. Within a matter of days after recovering his strength, he managed to pull off the transition into the SSJ2 for the first time.
Spending the rest of his time training his transformation and strength, Vegeta returned to the tournament with a feeling of triumph at his progress. But all of his effort meant nothing when Vegeta witnessed a mere CHILD manage to make the SSJ2 transformation right before his eyes, a boy young enough that he still smelled of his mother's milk.
While the old Vegeta would curse the brat and rage at the unfairness, the current Vegeta had matured a fair bit during his isolation and struggle. Instead, he turned on his heel and made to find some place to train himself so as not to fall behind.
"Going somewhere?" A voice suddenly said while a hand firmly grasped his shoulder, making Vegeta whirl around to find himself face-to-face with Alex.
"What do you want?" Vegeta demanded instead as he shrugged off Alex's hand, though Alex could tell that the same rage that once fueled him was there no longer.
Shrugging at the question, Alex replied, "I just thought that you would be interested in meeting someone who might help you become stronger."
Vegeta's eyes widened at the comment, before his fist clenched and he said in a resolute tone, "I'm not looking for a handout."
Alex just smirked at this as he stated,
"Oh it's not a handout. You'll be working your ass harder than you ever have in your entire life. Come on." Without another word Alex turned and left along with his two wives and children, leaving Vegeta to determine wether or not to follow along.
After a moment of thought, the former Prince quickly followed after Alex and his family, all the way back to their private viewing room. There he quickly drew everyone's attention, but they dismissed him just as quickly when the gathered gods, Angels, and women decided he wasn't worth their time. At least, until Alex called out to a certain duo,
"Whis, Beerus, heres someone who I think would benefit greatly from any training you might offer." The duo looked Vegeta up and down with a look of appraisal, before Beerus stated,
"Eh, he's alright....for a mortal. But I don't see the appeal of bothering to train him." Beerus replied dismissively as he looked away, though Whis remarked with a playful smirk,
"Now now lord Beerus, I think that young Vegeta here would make an excellent playmate for you." Beerus narrowed his eyes dangerously at that, as he practically snarled,
"Are you patronizing me Whis?"
Though the Angel was about to assure his lord that that wasn't the case, he was cut off as another God of Destruction, one who's appearance resembled a clown, stated plainly,
"Well it wouldn't matter anyways even if you did train him Beerus." Beerus narrowed his eyes at the rival God, and asked him in a low voice,
"What do you mean by that, Belmond?" The clown smirked as he remarked plainly,
"Just that if THIS is the best that Universe Seven has to offer, then it'd be best to throw in the towel before the rest of us can have our own fighters participate in the next tournament." Though he wasn't speaking for them, the rest of the Gods of Destruction adopted smug looks as they mentally compared Vegeta to their own fighters, finding him severely lacking in terms of strength.
Vegeta snarled in irritation when he heard the god's insulting remarks, but before he could say or do anything, Beerus stood up suddenly as he stated,
"If you want to talk so much smack then I'm game! Come on Vegeta!" Beerus then began to lead Vegeta away to begin his training, no longer caring about appearances as he instead focused on wiping the smirks from their faces.
Before he could leave though, Kusu stopped them with her scepter held out, and offered them,
"If you'd like Beerus, since my lord was the one to suggest yourself and my brother training Vegeta to begin with, then I can send the two of you to a separate space within my scepter. Time will flow at a much faster pace, with roughly an entire earth year to a single day out here, and it is stocked with all sorts of delicious foods from Asora and it's connected world's."
Hearing that there was delicious foods that he'd never tried before, Beerus readily agreed to Kusu's offer while Whis said slyly,
"Perhaps I should be the one to train young Vegeta. After all, I think it's safe to say I'm the with the most patience between the two of us." Beerus however just snorted as he stated in accusatory tone,
"Don't lie to me Whis, you just want the delicious new treats all to yourself!" Whis covered his mouth as he gasped drastically, and declared with a wronged expression,
"I would never lord Beerus! I just simply want to ensure young Vegeta receives the best training possible!'" Beerus just snorted with obvious disbelief in Whis' words, but the impending argument was dissolved before it even began as Alex said to them,
"Then how about Whis trains Goku while Beerus trains Vegeta? If it's in the roll of the dice, they might even be able to fight one another in the tournament."
When they heard that both Beerus and Whis looked at each other, before smiling eerily.
"Then may the best 'God' win Whis!" Beerus said challengingly.
"Ohohohohoho! I believe you meant 'may the best ANGEL win' lord Beerus." The deal struck, the God of Destruction readily took his new charge into Kusu's scepter to begin training him, while Shia hesitantly asked Alex,
"Uh, what just happened?" The man just smirked as he replied,
"I do believe I just slingshotted Goku and Vegeta's development into hyper overdrive. This will be interesting." Alex's smirk slowly transitioned to a full on shit eating grin as he thought about how much stronger Goku and Vegeta would become during the duration of this tournament.
One unspoken rule in the Dragon Ball franchise was that ones growth would be slow going unless either there was an opponent that forced the main fighters to suddenly grow stronger, like Cell or Frieza, or they became aware of a new hurdle to overcome.
Already several members of the Dragon Team were showing greater levels of strength just a few months after Cell was defeated, than they did in over eight years when Majin Buu emerged. And while Goku had yet to ascend to SSJ3, his strength and mastery of SSJ2 were enough that all he needed was the correct trigger.
Alex figured that even if Goku couldn't find that trigger during his training with Whis, then he would during the tournament, and it was possible Vegeta might as well. And of course the sooner they attained the SSJ3, then the sooner they could transition up to the SSJ4 and beyond.
Shia however shuddered at the idea of more SSJ4s running around, and resolved herself to keep using Sala and Caulifla as stress relief when she needed it. Thankfully though her attention was brought back to the arena as the announcer cried out,
"AND WELCOME BACK EVERYONE, TO THE JUNIOR CUP OF THE UNIVERSAL GRAND TOURNAMENT!"
Echoing cheers met his declaration as people rushed to return to their seats, not wanting to miss out on any of the action. As they did, both of the finalists also made their way out onto the stage at the center of the arena, both of which had been refreshed to tip top shape after their previous fights.
"AND NOW PRESENTING OUT TWO FINALISTS, SON GOHAN AND MILLICAS GREMORY!"
The cheers were deafening as Gohan and Millicas were projected throughout the colosseum, and the entire universe. Chief amongst those cheers were the screams of teenage girls who adored the two boys, with Millicas looking like the stereotypical pretty boy with his crimson red hair and fair features. Gohan meanwhile had let his hair grow out somewhat for the first time in his life, keeping it trimmed just enough to prevent it from going wild, and wore a purple gi matching the one Piccolo wore that showed off his muscular figure that didn't belong to a boy his age.
With one being the typical teenage heartthrob, and the other appealing to the women who were attracted to the 'wild' type, there were quite a few high pitched shrieks that lasted long after the rest of the cheers died down. And when they finally did, the announcer jokingly said,
"IT SOUNDS LIKE OUR TWO FINALISTS ARE PRETTY POPULAR WITH THE LADIES! HEY, THROW SOME OF THAT MY WAY!"
There were a wave of laughter at the announcer's expense due to his joke, and as they waited for it to die down Millicas suddenly said to his opponent,
"Gohan.....I plan to win." When he heard that Gohan fixed Millicas with an intense stare, before smiling as he replied,
"I'm looking forward to it Millicas!" In comparison to Millicas' seriousness though, Gohan seemed to be taking the current match lightly.
The two were actually quite close in the Academy, and had even sparred against one another several times by now. This meant that both of them knew what the other was capable of better than almost anyone.
Despite seeing Millicas' power of Destruction up close and personal though, as well as how good he was at controlling it, Gohan didn't seem concerned at all. After all, he had never lost a single match between himself and Millicas.
The two boys squared up as they awaited the start of the match, which only came when the laughter of the crowds died down in the face of the serious atmosphere.
"FINALISTS READY FOR THE FINAL BOUT?" The announcer asked to ensure they had everyone's undivided attention, before declaring,
"BEGIIIIIIIIIN!"
*WHOOSH!*
As was the case with the rest of the previous matches, Gohan began by swiftly transitioning into his SSJ2 form, before rushing Millicas at his top speed.
'That's what I expected though...' Was all Millicas thought, as in all of their matches Gohan had never changed his approach.
That was why the young Saiyan was surprised when Millicas suddenly disappeared, confusing him for a split second before his instincts screamed at him to dodge. But, even when Gohan leapt to his right, he felt an almost unbearable pain on his left arm that was followed by the sound of something hitting the ground.
"I-I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS FOLKS!"
The announcer cried out in disbelief while the cheers went silent, and Gohan instinctively grabbed at his left arm with his right hand, but grasped nothing.
"CONTESTANT MILLICAS HAD COATED HIS OWN HAND IN THE POWER OF DESTRUCTION, AND USED IT TO CUT OFF CONTESTANT GOHAN'S ARM!"
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Gohan cried out both from the pain and realization that he had actually lost an arm, distracting him from Millicas disappearing yet again before he came at him from the other side.
"!!!"
Gohan just barely managed to twist his body to face Millicas as he leapt back, now somewhat fearful of the hand covered in the sinister reddish-black power of Destruction. He didn't go only on the defensive though, as Gohan then followed up by spinning while bringing his foot up in a wide kick.
"Guh!" Millicas groaned as the powerful kick impacted him, but instead of sending him flying like Gohan expected, Millicas only slid a few feet before he disappeared yet again.
This time though Gohan was prepared for it as he instinctively leapt back and turned to face his blind side, only to see nothing as Millicas wasn't there. Instead, Gohan was surprised yet again when a fist connected with his face that carried traces of the power of Destruction, making him reel back in pain as a part of his cheek was erased.
Thankfully though Millicas had restrained his power of Destruction so that it did minimal damage to Gohan's face, as his goal was to win the fight, not to kill his friend.
"How come you've never fought like this before Millicas?" Gohan asked him suddenly as he alternated between cradling his bleeding stump, and the missing flesh of his cheek.
Millicas, who was breathing heavily from the drain of fighting in such a way, told him,
"It's a fighting style I developed just for you." Gohan wasn't the only one surprised at Millicas' answer when he heard it, as no one was expecting that. Millicas however continued,
"You taught me my shortcomings that I hadn't learned while fighting alongside my peerage, namely my low physical capabilities. They act as my shield when we fight together, but when it's me by myself I turn into a glass cannon. So I developed an alternate way to fight to use against people like you who could beat me before I fire off a single spell."
As he trailed off, Millicas tossed away his top to reveal a muscular figure that, while not as impressive as Gohan's, still surprised many of the spectators as he took a martial stance with light flashes of Destruction radiating from his arms and hands.
Seeing the look in Millicas' eyes, and how much he prepared for this match, Gohan couldn't help but to chastise himself as he realized his folly. He'd regarded this match lightly due to how often he'd won against Millicas in their spars, whereas Millicas had used each and every loss he suffered from him to learn and adapt his fighting style.
Clenching his fist at his side, Gohan looked up at Millicas and took a stance as he declared,
"Let's settle this then!"
With Millicas nodding in agreement, Gohan moved his sole arm to that his hand was pointed in front of him with an open palm, while Millicas mirrored his arms into a matching position in front of him.
"KA ME-"
Gohan began as he drew his hand back and began gathering as much energy as he could into it, while Millicas did the same with the power of Destruction instead of energy.
"-HA ME-"
The two attacks grew even larger and more powerful as the two boys poured every single ounce of energy they could into them, Gohan's shining brightly like a miniature sun, while Millicas' seemed to draw in any light around it.
"-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Gohan cried out as the two released their respective attacks at the exact same moment, which then collided in the space directly between them as they began a battle for supremacy between the bright energy, and dark Destruction.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" Gohan cried as he poured every single drop of power he possessed into his attack, trying as hard as he could to overwhelm Millicas' power of Destruction.
"..." Millicas on the other hand was completely silent as he poured as much Demonic energy as he could into his attack, willing it to erase every single bit of Gohan's attack as he continued firing it.
Typically there would be no way Millicas could go head to head with a SSJ2 in terms of a power struggle, but with the earlier injuries he dealt Gohan taking their toll, and him erasing Gohan's Kamehameha instead of actually fighting it, he was managing for the moment somehow. However with each passing second it was becoming increasingly obvious that he'd run out of power first.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" Millicas suddenly cried out as the power of Destruction began to radiate from every inch of his body, as if it were oozing out of his pores themselves and his skin began to turn red.
"W-WHAT IS THIS!?! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IT APPEARS THAT MILLICAS GREMORY HAS BEGUN TO TRANSFORM!"
The announcer cried out as Millicas' figure grew slightly larger, while horns sprouted from his head, and his skin turned blood red. Curiously enough though, his hair also began to turn silver during the transformation, though hardly anyone was paying attention to that at the moment.
The reason was because the power of Destruction began to pour off of Millicas' body in thick suffocating waves, which were slowly but surely eating away the stage around him to further limit the area that he and Gohan could fight. But that didn't matter as his attack increased in intensity as he slowly began to overwhelm Gohan's Kamehameha.
Seeing this, Gohan gritted his teeth as he made to stepped forwards towards the point where the two attacks had collided, all while yelling as loudly as he can to follow Saiyan rule number one, 'when in doubt, shout it out'.
Millicas, now looking completely demonic in his Super Devil form, responded similarly as he growled menacingly, and stepped forward to match Gohan. The closer the two got though, the more intense the collision was as arcs of Gohan's energy struck their surroundings like bolts of lightning, while more and more of Millicas' surroundings was becoming erased as his power of Destruction continued to increase.
The standoff continued until Gohan and Millicas were right in front of one another, firing their respective attacks from point blank range, until,
*KABOOOOOOOOM!!!*
The volatile energies exploded outwards and kicked up a cloud of dust and smoke that covered the entire stage, veiling the two contestants from view.
"DOES ANYONE SEE ANYTHING? WHAT IS GOING ON?"
The announcer cried out, giving voice to the thoughts on everybody's minds as they desperately tried to see through the smoke and dust, before Anne used her control over the winds to clear it away, revealing the scene below them.
"I-I CAN'T BELIEVE IT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! OUR WINNER OF THE JUNIOR CUP IS, MILLICAS GREMORY!"