Finally, the final match would begin. The two boys Tarble and my 'son' Trunks flew into the arena, startling the blonde announcer, he muttered something before speaking up through his mic, slowly walking off the stage.
"H-Here they are! The finalists! Trunks! And… Tarble, you may begin!"
(Trunks-POV)
He felt rested, ready to fight against Tarble, who landed opposite him, eyes peering into his. They got into their preferred fighting positions, running forward, the two coming to bows. Starting off with an exchange of fast-paced melee attacks, their faces met, Tarble's face shown concentration when at once, one of his fists glowed as he thrust a now opened palm forward, firing off a minuscule-sized beam forward. Trunks took the beam at point-blank, being pushed back while he put up a defensive guard.
"...Urgh, 'Royal Spear'" Trunks launched his beam forward, but Tarble launched his own, he yelled towards Trunks.
"'Gatlick Gun', nice try!" their beams met and fought for dominance, neither one of them let up but seeing as they were warned not to go overboard, their beam struggle ended, for one last time struggle before both ended with feeding their attacks with their Ki.
Trunks had to dodge as Tarble came blasting through the remnant explosion still dissipating, blowing most of it aside as he blasted forwards for Trunks, he flickered in time and landed a retaliating punch first upon Tarble before, the two of them engaged once again in melee combat.
((Future) Trunks-POV)
"You know, it's really weird watching… me down there, my past self I should say or what could have been... You must be… proud." he said quietly, speaking with Kron who, snorted before replying.
"I am of course, what? Does something say I'm not in your eyes? But yes, I am proud Trunks, of all my children, they have taken to my training well. Have you seen your mother, or father for that matter?" he asked slowly, his voice quiet. Trunks nodded, replying while turning to watch the battle below.
"Yeah, this timelines Trunks has more friends so meeting with her has been a bit simpler. I guess I have you to thank for that, you and Goku for that matter… a lot of new Saiyan's for the defense of this planet…" he said carefully, eyes squinting, when Piccolo's voice could be heard as he approached, speaking quietly to both him and Kron.
"Those two strangers, I haven't pin-pointed where I know them or, for that matter, their similar feeling Ki but… my memories as Kami have felt such a similar feeling from his meetings with King Yemma… I can't be sure though, they feel… weirder." Piccolo glared down, as Kron replied and Trunks hummed, interested but ultimately, not really understanding what they were on about, at least for now.
"That so… well, keep an eye on them Piccolo, tell Goku and the others after this fight. You'll know more I'm sure, I'm pretty sure you're going to be fighting one of them first." Kron said with a smirk directed towards Piccolo, who grunted in reply, returning his interest to watching the bout. Trunks hummed, before he too focused on the impressive fight between his alter-timeline self and this Tarble, Vegeta's… new son.
The fight went on for up to thirty minutes, with neither side giving in, this Trunks impressed him greatly, but as the two boys were greatly evenly matched, the fight ended when the blonde announcer called out suddenly, much to disappoint coming from both the crowds and some in their group.
"Alright you two! This match is over! Seeing as no one has 'lost', this match will now be in the hands of our officials! The three men sitting behind me." indeed, Trunks almost forgot about them, as this was the rules, the ruling will now go to them to sort out who had won, who had done the most for earning the win, a very tournament thing, Trunks could hear Vegeta, Raditz and some of the others show their displeasure to this rule, but as it is, Trunks just waited for the verdict like most of the others. Finally thought, Trunks could note that the blonde announcer had finished speaking with the three officials, they been gathered in a small circle to discus the winner when one of then whispered to the announcer.
The man with the mic walked upwards onto the stage, he spoke loudly. The anticipation eating at a few of his group.
"OK now, as our officials have finally decided the winner, we have to announce that…- the ruling officials had a hard time but, in the end… Tarble has shown he dealt more physical damage so… Tarble Wins!" ah… what a sham, that ruling not that Tarble won. The thirty-minute ruling is going to be annoying for the rest of the tournament for their division, though it seemed the crowd below them had screamed in cheer, hyped by the showing and giving some applause for both the young Trunks and the winner Tarble. The announcer spoke while he heard his 'father' yell haughtily, giving Kron a smug look which Trunks thought was weird seeing on his 'Father'.
(Kron-POV)
I almost forgot about that damnable time limit for these bouts, the two boys fought well but seeing them so evenly matched made for a long bout. Raven looked quite happy for her, a smirk on her face. She seen me looking, Raven gave me a look, which I found to be between mocking and scantily but the look from Vegeta annoyed me more, he spoke as he approached me, arms still folded but an annoying grin spread across his face, teeth showing.
"Now, lets get down there. I am awaiting my turn to fight-" Krillin interrupted, getting Vegeta to scowl but, Krillin's words made him even more angry.
"Yeah, Vegeta though, you're fighting Goku first and… if you haven't understood those balls the tournament officials got us to pick out… you'd know that you are in fact… last to fight-"
"-What! Who made this rule?" Vegeta yelled annoyed, no, outraged as he raised a shaking fist but Goku replied, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"This is going to be a good showing, plus… we should be last, it means we can have a good fight and also see everyone else strength first-hand. Relax Vegeta." he shook off his hand but nodded, before everyone begun a slow walk towards the amphitheater near to the arena.
Glaring at those two muscle-heads with the 'M' marks on their heads, they looked like they were scoping out the competition. Trunks came out through to our group and I bent down to wrap him in a hug, before my son could be swarmed by some of the media my glare scared them away. Hercule also approached hesitantly, coming through the participants including ourselves with a little shake in his steps, of which it was funny to see him scared in his boots. It was rather funny seeing him slowly comer forward, as I remembered, he would be fighting the winner, Tarble in an exhibition match that would, frankly, make me laugh watching but I would pass with a chuckle instead. The announcer spoke up on the stage, eagerly for the hyped crowd.
"Now for the exhibition match, our very own champion will be facing off with the winner! A friendly match. The new junior world champion versus the world martial arts champion! An exciting match for you all! Now, here comes the champion right now!" the crowds begun to chant for the man, though he looked to be hesitating to step out in the arena.
"Heh, look at him, shaking in his boots." Yamcha remarked, also a keen eye. Krillin replied with a chuckle, replying through a laugh.
"Yeah, well… let's hope this is over soon. We know who would win this-" Gohan interrupted, a glaring Videl almost interrupting when he spoke up in turn.
"-C-Can it guys, the uh, Champ has a c-chance-" Raven snorted but it was Yang who replied at the same time, the mother and daughter duo giving one another a mutual look unfathomable even to my watching eyes, as Yang replied.
"Yeah, right kid, we know how this is going to go, a one hit-knock out. Hey girl, uh, Videl. Use this, it's what's known as a scouter, the latest model made from Capsule Corp." she rummaged into her skirt, removing a simplistic device, meant to be worn over the eye, much like the Cold empire issued ones. She passed it over to Videl, resuming explaining about said device.
"This device can scan accurately gauge a person's fighting power- come over here, will head out near the ring and I'll show you." the two females left, with Gohan looking on if unsure if he should accompany them or not. Krillin chuckled loudly, looking towards Gohan, a small smirk on his face.
"Man dude, you're whipped-" Gohan went to shout, blushing but the voice of the announcer called out, it seems that… Hercule needs to see a doctor…
"This joker is trying my patience!" Raditz growled out, and for once, Vegeta agreed with him, nodding menacingly, barring his teeth though he then was elbowed from Raven.
"Oh! Mr. Satan is in some very serious pain! … … … Whoa, a knee injury from fighting Cell folks! Are y0oum aright Sir? Just a minute, I'll go signal a medic on standby- Did you here that folks, a knee injury from Cell!" the blonde announcer added, and you could hear Hercule pretending from his fake moans reaching the announcers mic, the man went to get a medic but, in an instant, Hercule stood up. I spoke to Trunks, nodding to him.
"Let's go see this fight from near the arena son." Trunks replied, eagerly.
"Sure dad. I don't think that guy will fight though, he sounds in pain." Trunks said seriously, which made me chuckle a little. He looked towards me questioningly, but I just petted him on the shoulder, leading him outside onto the grassy area near the ring.
Hercule suddenly looked much 'better' springing to his full height and then for a few minutes, went about trying to speak with Tarble, which I couldn't hear, the fight begun after ten minutes of him stalling. Then… the fight was over, if you could call it that, as Tarble kicked Hercule out of the ring while disregarding Hercules 'champions greeting' Hercule spouted loudly for those around the arena to hear, one kick that flung the champ into the red and gold brick wall of the stadium. A ring-out, and Trunks nearby my side sounded quite in awe with Tarble's win, the kid walked out much in the same way Vegeta walks around, his mullet-like hair reminiscent of his mother's mane of black hair blowing in the wind.
"Well son, the junior tournament is over, did you want to watch the fighting with your mother or-" he nodded 'no', not wanting to leave looks like and he replied as much.
"Nah dad, I can watch from here. I don't need to eat and if I do, I'll ask Tarble's mother, she is nice." I snorted at that, nodding at his serious face and replied with a chuckle at first.
"That's fine then son, but don't cause any trouble you here? I wouldn't want to inform your mother of such-" he nodded more seriously but kept quiet and the announcer came to the center of the ring after speaking with the recovering Hercule, who had just gotten out of the hole he created on the wall. Hercule took his sweet time getting to his feet but, he done so in a way that made him look as if that kick had done nothing to him, which you could see, he was failing to fake it at least for myself. The man begun to laugh aloud, some of his words reaching the microphone the guy with glasses held.
"OW-Wow, he got me! He sure is strong. The old man has lost this bout fair and square! What a great fighter!" Hercule's voice praised through the mic, he continued to laugh, and I caught sight of Videl, Yang and Gohan nearby the ring on the right side of the amphitheater entrance to the ring, with Videl looking on in shock from her father's apparent loss.
"Oh wow folks! Hercule has done been defeated by Tarble! What a guy!" the crowds cheered for Hercule, who continued to wave at the adoring crowd. Honestly, I was a little bit bored, but it was good that Hercule got a kick in the head, now we could get to some fighting of our own though I'm not sure I will be fighting… here, unless I leave a clone. Buu though… I just better not get absorbed by him, or the others will be fucked. We returned inside the amphitheater next to the arena, Hercule went in first, a little bit too quickly, making way as he continued out, possibly to his private chambers for the champion, to heal up while the rest of us now stood around inside. A couple of officials pulled in a large whiteboard, with all the names of the competitors on it, linked up to who was fighting who and so on, it was listed as part of the graph to show the fighters opponents.
"Right then guys, we've made up the list for you to look over. The first fight is between a Ruby Rose and Chiaotzu, aren't you a crane school student, I should remember but it has been too long." the blonde announcer spoke up, Chiaotzu replied with a nod, to which the man just nodded, not adding anything else for a few seconds before he did reply.
"I'll call you out to the arena in twenty minutes. Most of the audience have already been to either get a break or whatever, they should all be good to go for the main tournament of matches. Wait for me to call you out." the man the headed for the middle of the ring, I gave Ruby a look over, she seemed nervous but stood with a look I'd seen on her half sister yang.
Confidence.
"Good luck out there Chiaotzu, I'll be rooting for you." Tien said, placing a hand onto his shoulder while Yang then approached them, Interrupting them with a haughty laugh.
"My sis has been training non-stop since the Cell games, I'm afraid that luck isn't even going to be a factor. Sorry Chiaotzu, do your best." she have him a thumbs up and Chiaotzu grinned, but it was Yamcha who responded, coming towards with a can on soda.
Ignoring them now, Weiss was within reach of me, so I casually reached out to hug her from behind, pulling her in closer, she didn't fight me, and Blake seemed amused by the glint in her eye.
"You two could go home for now, the tournament has just begun after all, from the list we've looked over, you're no. 18 Blake and no. 13 for you Weiss. Also, you and Winter huh? I have no idea who I should root for." she leaned around, pecking me over her should, I pushed her hair out of the way to deepen the kiss, though it was Winter and Pyrrha who interrupted us, I also heard Trunks nearby me, my son, not the future version who stood somewhere on the other end of the building, out of sight. The boy was gagging, disgusted by our displays of affection, Pyrrha replied.
"That is a good idea, we have been standing awhile. Though I won't go, I'm fighting against that Zangya woman after this match, I'll be looking forward to coming to blows with her. Can I get a peck, for…luck?" she peered lovingly into my eyes, Weiss removed herself from me though she did before leaving my reach while playfully licking at my lips with her tongue, giving Pyrrha a look. Pyrrha only looked amused though, before taking my lips with her own, she even got rough with me… gripping my hair. Blake clapped then, as Winter went to answer a call on her scroll, probably work.
"Alright you two, break it up. You're giving Trunks the heebie cheebies-" she had both her arms wrapped around Trunks, hugging him while he continued to gag, Blake added while looking over her shoulder.
"-Not to mention that little 'friend' of Gohan's is looking over here in shock, I guess she hasn't heard of one-man, multiple wives huh." Blake chuckled, looking down to Trunks.
"Go find Tarble Trunks, the fight doesn't begin for another fifteen minutes sport." Trunks nodded, looking towards me, for confirmation to which I nodded at him, as he sped off to Raven, Vegeta, Ruby, Yang and Tarble's side, Qrow was currently speaking with the lad.
(Shin-POV)
'That one there is the one who defeated Cell, while this one over there certainly had the capability to do so… ' He eyed the two powerful warriors of this planet, there was also Goku who'd he heard much about from King Kai. Shin telepathically spoke, looking at Kibito, as their minds connected, without looking at one another.
'Keep an eye on those two thugs, they will target either this Kron or Gohan. Possibly any of them, who knows. But when they act, we must let them. I will explain our case to those strongest fighters of this planet in time.' Kibito replied, simply.
'I will watch them. I was surprised they hadn't acted during the children's fighting, those kids have impressive fighting capabilities, anyone of them could have been taken by those two, had they acted.' Shin replied, seeing that the first match would begin in ten minutes or less, time wasn't on their side.
'My guess is that that Babidi wants a huge boost of raw power, from one of the strongest. They would therefore be targeting the ones known as Kron, Goku, Gohan or Vegeta…' Perhaps even this piccolo, his strength has risen in a allotted time since the downfall of that creature Cell.' he shook his head, adding.
'Either way, we must be ready to act. Keep an eye out and I will be walking among those of interest, to explain our purpose here.'
(Kron-POV)
"And so, we're ready to convene the world martial arts tournament's twenty-fourth championship! Now, we present you with the first match! Would contestant Ruby Rose and Chiaotzu come out onto the arena! Now Chiaotzu has been in a previous tournament, all the way back in the twenty-second tournament While Ruby Rose is entering her first tournament!" Chiaotzu headed on out, Ruby towering over him size-wise, possibly as tall as Pyrrha is these days, though still a lithe girl.
"Break a leg, Ruby!" Yang called out, though she gushed when Tien gave her a raised eyebrow stare, to which she added sheepishly.
"Uh, you to Chiaotzu!" The two headed to the ring, standing opposite one another, a few of us headed on out and leaned against the wall to get a good place to watch the fight from.
Winter leaned up against the wall nearby, pulling out her scouter device, and placing it on, slightly adjusting it accordingly.
"Now, let the match begin!" the announcer yelled out, though the two hadn't yet made a move.
"... … Huh… What the heck- OK, Ruby's fighting power is reading at 22,200,000 while Chiaotzu is reading at… 24,000,000. A close enough match if I ever saw one. What do you two think?" she asked me and Pyrrha. Pyrrha replied with an interested hum, nodding along.
Ruby suddenly moved quickly, as in much quicker than even my own speed, at least within 'Super Saiyan', possibly more. She used her semblance, almost blinking in and out of existence by her speed while the only evidence left behind being her signature rose petals, Ruby struck against Chiaotzu. The strike looked to have connected but on further look, and by the way Ruby froze, Chiaotzu's hands were held up as a glow of energy surrounded them, meeting her own while covering them in his own fists. Rubies legs looked to be surrounded in an aura of some kind of purple aura as her legs were brought together snugly, psychic power could be seen materializing around her as a glow of purple, most likely from Chiaotzu who now struck back, Ruby being unable to run now.
Goku called out from nearby, standing on the field with most of the others.
"Her speed is incredible but looks like Chiaotzu has her speed hindered for now, she isn't as strong as him either." an idle hum came from him, curiously watching the fight unfold like the rest of us.
Ruby growled loudly, her speed hindered from only her legs, she inflamed in her Ki. Trying to break the hold, Ruby held out her hands in Tien's familiar technique, the Tri-beam which shocked Chiaotzu out from his position as he begun to float upwards.
The girl fired, screaming the name of the technique, firing a short-waved blast forwards, Chiaotzu flickered out of the way, coming around to her right side, but Ruby was free to move. She connected with him, landing a blow, though she received one in turn, the fight got more heated as they now traded blows at impressive speeds. Chiaotzu couldn't keep up though in close combat as Ruby was just that much faster than him, she landed more hits than receiving them in turn.
They continued, with Chiaotzu trying to game some distance from her now, to try and hinder he speed once again but Ruby didn't let him get away, easily keeping up with his attempts, laying into him when she could. The fight ended when a lucky hit got through Chiaotzu's guard, knocking him in the head which sent him into a kind of shock, before Ruby flickered above him, dropping the hammer literally on him with a brutal-looking axe kick, she quickly followed him to the edge of the ring, making sure he went out. Chiaotzu ended up stopping just mere moments before hitting the ground. Ruby went to finish him off by jumping up onto him, but she glowed once more as Chiaotzu flickered to her side and with an axe kick, sent her out of the ring, Ruby struck the earth outside the ring as Chiaotzu floated way above her, looking down towards her while breathing a little.
A ring Out.
"OH! look at that folks! The match is over! Barely any time has passed as well! What a showing, the speed of Ruby and the mesmeric abilities of Chiaotzu!, I couldn't even keep up! Could any in the crowd? Anyways, congratulations to Chiaotzu now the next match, cheer for Chiaotzu and cheer for the next contestants!" I see that fat lug head out into a ring, a sneer on his face while he looked at Raven like a piece of meat, Raven passed by Vegeta and headed onto the ring, arms folded.
"Pintar Versus Raven Branwen, you may begin!" Pinter lecherously approached Raven, speaking loudly though I heard nothing from here nor did I want to as he most likely was harassing her inappropriately. Raven let him approach a bit more, before the lardass reached forward, though he couldn't even touch her when Raven flicked him on the head while turning, her hair whipping him out of the ring with ease. Pintar become a foot note when, Raven was already leaving the arena, hands on her hip whilst Pinter landed face-first out of the arena in the grass.
"L-Look like this match is o-over folks! What a quick ending- a quick ring-out! The next match, Pyrrha Nikos versus… Zangya! Come on out onto the stage you two!" the blonde announcer recovered quickly, from the sheer speed shown by Raven, removing her opponent in a blink and with her hair alone, which had the crowd wither excited or shocked from such a thing.
Pyrrha pushed off the wall we were leaning on- While Winter spoke up as Pyrrha finished smooching my face on her way out.
"...Hmm, Raven's fighting power was at 40,240,620 for a brief moment before it fully dipped downwards to 400. I'm still in awe of her change over the years, from ruthless bandit leader to-"
"-Yeah, but keep that kind of talk down Winter, she's changed much since. For the better too I'd think." she nodded, still thoughtfully looking into her scouter. She added while the scouter bleeped once again in Pyrrha's direction.
"That Zangya is sitting comfortable at 8,860,420,000. She doesn't look like she will hold back. While-" I interrupted calmly, though my eyes did narrow in that woman's direction.
"-While Pyrrha has a power-level of roughly forty-two million. I know."