PART SIX: PAN'S FIRST FIGHT TO THE DEATH!

Chapter 28

Translated by Kakarotto Ka Power Level Kya Hai?

Pan fell, immobile. Bojack victoriously stood in the ring for a moment to witness the girl's descent.

At the same instant, the announcer shouted into his microphone," Pan has died, making Bojack from Universe 6 the winner!"

A dryness echoed in the words of the announcer. Not even the death of a child had an influence on the tone of these announcements! In a tournament where killing was permitted, it could only be expected...And it was true that her death would only be temporary...But still...

"Pan!" cried her mother, flying towards her, weeping and stretching out her arms to catch her daughter.

But it was Son Gohan who suddenly appeared behind Pan to catch her. He appeared so quickly behind her, his arms already in the correct position that he seemed to have teleported. He bowed his head down, descended slowly to touch to the ground, and followed Videl, distraught.

A ghastly smile was perceptible on the face of the muscled, rough, green-skinned man. "Was that it? Too bad I had to show my real strength in the first round...Anyway my next opponent is this Cell..." he thought, glancing toward his opponent from Universe 17.

Vegetto and Son Goku gathered around Universe 16's wing. The Videls from Universes 16 and 18 were shocked. They collapsed to their knees, crying, when Bojack had broken their beloved teenage daughter's neck....The Son Gohans had clenched their fists and teeth...And when Bojack literally threw their daughter, Universe 16's Gohan had gone to catch her, much quicker than his wife.

Now, a fundamental difference existed between the two Universes...

In Universe 18, Videl quickly surrounded her daughter in her arms for comfort. Pan had just lost a friend, and it was even worse to see herself die...She stood in tears, trembling, as she benefited from her father's presence to reassure her. Gohan looked at his counterpart in Universe 16. He had just lost his own daughter and the only thing he could cling on to was her resurrection at the hands of the Vargas at the end of the tournament. But...could he maintain his anger? Even in Universe 18, Gohan was calm, but inwardly he fumed. This Pan was really close to his daughter. If he, himself, was at his breaking point, what about his counterpart in Universe 16?

As Gohan walked slowly towards his wing in Universe 16,

Several discussions spawned everywhere. In the audience, it was about the ruthless Bojack, the second person to kill someone in the tournament, or even the fact that an age limit did not exist...

In the 13th Universe, that of the 'Super Saiyans,' Kakarotto amusedly said, more to himself than to his companions, "Those fools. That's what they get for letting that brat enter, hehe."

"They're going to be more than sorry," said Raditz beside him. "In a few seconds, they'll all be eliminated."

"Huh? Why?" Nappa wondered aloud, as he approached the brother, Kakarotto.

"Because it's forbidden to fight outside of the matches..." Raditz said, "And this group does not have a nervous Vegeta like us to stop simpletons."

"Hey," said Kakarotto, very embarrassed that his attitude had been distorted by the Pheromone Attack. "I was..."

No sooner had he started his sentence was he interrupted by a strong power that seemed to suddenly appear in Universe 16. Even though Gohan was burning inside, his face only expressed his disgust...He was not the one who was giving off this new power...

"You're gonna die, Bojack!!" shouted Bra, transforming instantly into a Super Saiyan, like Pan did several minutes earlier.

Many people were surprised by the girl's sudden transformation. In Universe 17's wing, Cell, after being surprised by Pan, was once again shocked. And this girl seemed no weaker than Pan...

In Universe 18, everyone was astonished. The first to be bewildered by the girl's power was none other than her own counterpart. Vegeta looked at her for a moment, and it became evident that this was not a secret that she had been hiding... Vegeta did not admit it, but it pleased him to know that she had the capability to become a Super Saiyan. Pan was also astonished...First her counterpart, now Bra...it didn't help her regain confidence in her strength. If even Bra could transform, in one Universe or another, she was definitely stronger...What could she do?

Beside Son Goku, whose face was smiling with surprise, Uub was almost amazed. A Super Saiyan Bra, who was actually training... What class! What strength! What poise! However, as Uub kept his eyes fixed on her, from head to foot, she suddenly seemed full of rage and readied herself to fly.

"No, Bra! Not outside of a match!" Piccolo yelled, holding out his arm, but unable to reach her. Indeed, Bra was already preparing to rush headfirst at Bojack, who was just beginning to enter his Universe's wing.

She was finally stopped by her father, Vegetto, who grabbed her shoulders.

"Piccolo's right. We'd be sent back to our world and Pan wouldn't be brought back to life at the end of the tournament."

Bra continued to scream inwardly in anger. She turned to the stare of her father, who saw that she was less controlled. It would be bad if she got too angry right now... Vegetto continued to talk to calm her down.

"Look, even your brother, despite his legendary rage is backing down. So don't go into your usual tantrum..."

It was true that Gohan, as an adult, was always calm and cheerful... However, he was also seen to explode in power through well-justified rage. Some might even say that it was the source of his strength. Some Cells in certain universes could confirm that...some Bojacks in certain universes, as well! Similarly to Gohan, Bra often burst in a fiery temper...and that meant Vegetto would have to talk her out of it. Uub heard these words and winced. The Bra from his universe was a capricious girl and far from simple. But she had never thrown such a powerful temper like this...

The moment Vegetto finished speaking, Gohan reached a low wall that separated the Universes. Rather than jumping over it, he continued walking and stepped right through it...as if it was nothing...as if the wall didn't even exist. The barrier exploded under the force of a power yet unseen, an aura filled with anger.

"Here, Gohan," said Piccolo, keeping calm as usual, conjuring in his hands a hollow object, about the same size as Pan.

"Thanks, Piccolo-san," replied his former student by placing his daughter inside the container.

After staying at her side for a moment with his wife, Gohan's vigil was suddenly interrupted behind him by Bra.

"Big brother! Bojack must die! I will..."

"You're not doing anything, Bra! Bojack played by the rules. We're not allowed to attack him."

"So you won't even lay a hand on him? Don't you want payback for your daughter?" Bra continued angrily.

Son Gohan trembled a lot. Bra was not helping him calm down at all. He took off his glasses. His eyes sought his wife, whose presence comforted him already...but it wasn't enough. Giving her his glasses, he turned, shook his fist, and allowed some of his anger to explode with his ki. A violent white aura surrounded him.

After the surprise of Bra's strength that far surpassed that of Pan, perhaps even that of Bojack, the spectators and combatants of the 19 other universes were amazed by the power that emanated from Gohan.

In Universe 19, which represented the universe filled with "nano-warriors," a nickname they obtained from the large number of people who did not know them, one of the combatants measured the energy that seemed to emit from the half-Saiyan and spread throughout the stadium with a Force Sensor.

"Is the asteroid shaking?" asked one of the armored warriors.

"My sensor's detecting a huge flow of energy!" his panicked friend replied as he analyzed each fighter.

In Universe 4, the only fighter present folded his arms and smiled.

"Ah, I see that Son Gohan hasn't lost a single bit of his power! How interesting!"

In Universe 17, Cell was even more surprised. Is this how strong Son Gohan was as an adult? What strength! At the time, he had been so impressed by Gohan's power level back when he had to commit suicide. But this...this was something entirely different!

As for the Namek in Universe 7, who seemed to be sleeping since Universe 18 arrived...he opened his eyes for the first time, intrigued by this power.

"Bra!" said Gohan, placing himself in front of her with his fists clenched. "If you want to let off steam, hit me. But don't put our participation in danger...and Pan's resurrection with it!" he cried at last when his power increased as a result of his anger. His rage shook the entire asteroid. Small pieces of the ring that had fallen into Universe 16's wing were flying around Bra and Gohan as a result of his raging white aura. Even Bra slightly trembled against the unusual expression on Gohan's face.

Bra stopped straight in her tracks at the sound of her brother's idea of vengeance for Pan. She loved Gohan and Videl's daughter...She was her niece...She wanted revenge, but at the same time she couldn't go against her brother. He was right...

"Ok..." she said at last after calming down and turning her head towards the ground.

Gohan remained angry enough to maintain his aura for three long minutes. Vegetto knew that his son would not let it go, that he would resist the urge to kill Bojack again. However, he maintained close supervision, just in case.

As the tension gradually faded, in Universe 18's wing a little girl was frightened. She, too, had seen the expression on her Universe 16 father's face...and she was afraid. She could never do something that would make her father, the real one from universe 18, have a face like that...

Other than that, her fighting spirit had also disappeared. Her joy in participating in this tournament? Gone... Did she believe herself to be...immortal? Perhaps... Was it the presence of her father and grandfather, Vegeta and Uub, Trunks and Goten (who could fuse into Gotenks and get even stronger) that had comforted her for so long? Had she allowed herself to believe that nothing could happen to her? That if anything happened to her, they would save her, the way Kat was saved by Universe 13's Vegeta who stopped Kakarotto?

Could she die, as well?

"Dad, I think I'll stop here," she cried softly, "I don't wanna die too!"

The girl relinquished the embrace of her mother and stared at her father. Videl stood up, one hand on her moth, still quite shocked by the death of Pan. Her real daughter continued to speak to her husband.

"Plus, she lost and...she was a lot stronger than me..I'm far from this level of fighting."

Son Gohan regarded his daughter. She was not wrong. And deep inside, part of him wanted her to give up, to play it safe. But in fact... Rather, they should be encouraging her, reassuring her.

"Pan, you could be as strong as her if you wanted to... You two are identical. You'll transform in no time."

Bra took advantage of this remark to speak a bit. She thought it would be best to divert the topic, not to stay on Pan's death. It wasn't really a bad idea.

"That other Bra, on the other hand, isn't identical to me. We don't have the same father...and I could never be a Super Saiyan..."

"You probably could if you trained more!" Vegeta said very seriously, trying for the umpteenth time to convince Bra to train.

"Not interested. Did you see that hairstyle? And I don't want to become all muscles and no brains like you and Goku."

"What did you just say?" cried the Prince of Saiyans, galled at this remark. Did his daughter seriously take him for a brainless idiot for so long?

Son Goku himself was somewhat amused. In fact, he wasn't going to try to prove her otherwise. He had learned a long time ago to ignore these kinds of things...

Son Gohan continued to speak to his daughter.

"You can forfeit at any time, and I won't let any enemy hurt you if the fight is over. You know, I'm sure to be much faster than Vegeta, if the time comes to. And besides, I know this isn't something to take lightly, but especially here, one death won't last that long. It's weird, I know, but think of it that way," he continued to say to his daughter.

In Universe 11, Babidi was getting impatient. After the defeat of his Dabura, he only remained to get his wish with Buu. Waiting for the second round would be long. And the organizers seemed to be taking their time to repair this ring...and these imbeciles were crying over a death...

"What a bunch of wimps!" he said as if it would help him wait. "My Dabra is dead too and I'm not complaining about it!"

At his feet, the demon slowly opened his eyes and managed to breathe, "I...I'm not dead, yet!"

Buu, behind Babadi, was entranced by his master's words. Approaching, he asked with a huge smile, "If he's dead, can I eat him?"

Exhausted and angry at being ignored, Dabra continued to defend himself, "I'm not dead, dammit! Argl! Keuff..."

As the Demon king lost consciousness, the ring finally recomposed into one huge sphere. The announcer took the opportunity to announce the next match: Tapion versus Caracoru!