PART FOUR: TWO UNIVERSES IN BAD LUCK.

Chapter 19

Translated by Prince Vegeta

In Universe 10, the Saiyans began to panic. Their King Vegeta, who was the most powerful of them, had lost, and pathetically at that.

"The king has lost?" wondered again one of the Saiyans, who did not believe it yet.

While two of his accomplices attended to the naked King on the ground, the old Vegeta, the former king, had to bring himself to admit the truth:

"It seems that the participants of this tournament are at a much higher level than we could imagine."

Removing his cape, the old Saiyan offered it to cover his son to end his humiliation. The ironic side of the matter was that he had lost against himself ... At least there was a universe where he was even stronger. This was a meager consolation prize ...

Universe 18 Vegeta returned quietly, arms crossed as usual. He received a few quick congratulations from his children, but it did not matter. It was not a real fight, just a warm up.

"Tell me Vegeta, what did you say?" Goku asked, smiling.

"You don't need to know," replied his rival.

"Oh come on, tell me, I want know," insisted Goku the clown.

"Forget it Kakarotto!" The Prince of Saiyans said, frustration edging his voice.

"I heard it all," said Piccolo nearby to annoy Vegeta a little.

Goku, wearing a silly expression, approached Piccolo, a gleam in his eye:

"Piccolo, go ahead, tell me everything," he whispered in his ear.

"If you repeat it, I'll kill you!" Vegeta assured the Namek.

Goku laughed. There, he had managed to annoy Vegeta, mission accomplished! Piccolo remained like a marble statue, while Vegeta turned his back on everyone's pouting. The alien leader chose this moment to start the next fight:

"Now, Baddack of Universe 10 against Pan of Universe 18!"

In the audience, some thinkers questioned. In section forty-two, seventh story, row S, in a box that spanned three hundred and eight square mile, a Metamor, wearing a dark jacket and displaying his beautiful abs, asked his neighbor, "This is the third time we have Universe 10 against Universe 18, right?"

"The viewers will see nothing..." replied a confident, monkey -tailed man dressed in orange, almost the same kimono that Goku wore, but with a different symbol. And then, as if he were to be justified for such a remark, "It's all because of the chapter title..."

His neighbor said nothing.

"But I'll bet it was decided long ago”, cut in a blonde with blue eyes. “This tournament is historic, so that means historians may have already written its history and its outcome! There may already be thousands of people reading this story! I'm sure of it! I'm a historian, myself!"

As the Monkey-tailed man whipped out a revolver, ready to commit suicide in the face of such idiocy, his neighbor's eyes were riveted on the package that the blonde held, an onigiri. The latter gave it to him, and the Metamor devoured it greedily ...

"Excellent, it's my turn!" exclaimed Baddack from Universe 10.

Pan jumped for joy. "My turn already!" Even better, against her great-grandfather! She could not have been happier.

"Now pay attention to your opponent, and be careful," Videl told her, kissing her on the forehead to encourage her.

"Don't worry," assured Goku as he approached his happy granddaughter. "My father isn't really hard to beat, she'll turn out fine!"

"Pan!" cried a young girl, arriving at a run, who was called... Pan!

"Pan!" cried the first of Universe 18 to her counterpart of Universe 16, who already jumped on her to embrace and encourage.

After two or three turns on themselves, they stopped, clasped hands:

"You have the chance to fight against our great-grand-father! I envy you!" Universe 16's Pan said.

"But maybe you'll get an opponent with a higher power level!" Pan replied to the other, smiling.

"I hope so!"

Little did she know, she would. And it would not turn out good.

"Pan, go, go," said Gohan, who was paying attention to ensure that she was not disqualified for not having been in the ring in time.

"Yes!" she replied, taking off, still smiling.

"Good luck," shouted her counterpart and friend who remained in Universe 18 alongside her mother.

Opposite, Baddack was cracking his knuckles. The fact that his Universe lost its King didn’t really shock him.

"It won't stop me having fun," he said with a smile, almost sadistically.

He flew quickly and arrived at the same time as his opponent in the ring. There he noticed that it was only a kid. But the proud Saiyan warrior paid no attention to this 'insult'.

"You're my great-grandfather!"

"Huh? I never had any grandchildren... No matter; I won't be holding back my shots!"

"Me neither, let's go!"

In Universe 10, King Vegeta awoke painfully.

"Are you awake, sire?" asked one of his subjects kindly.

"I lost?" said the King, still disoriented, sitting down, rubbing his aching head with one hand.

"Against yourself," countered immediately another Saiyan. The revelation hit him.

"Baddack made the next fight," says another. "He will save our honor."

Baddack was indeed known for his great strength, how he was born of lower class and had, over the years, demonstrated skills and force more and more developed, making him one of the most feared warrior Saiyans. If Vegeta was not so strong, he would have approached the King of the Saiyans in challenge.

His professional and personal sacrifice pushed him into the ranks of the elite. It did not take him by surprise, and they rarely avoided his punches. Several Saiyans’ groups could confirm from the depths of their memory that they never came out unscathed from a battle against Baddack. He who...

"I'm really happy to see you!" Pan screamed, pouncing on her great-great-grandfather, hugging him nimbly around the neck with her little arms, making him nearly fall backwards in shock.

Baddack grabbed the body of the clinging child with both hands and pushed, but it was impossible, she was like a leech on him, crushing his face in her belly. Pan, with her head against her great-grandfather's hair and face, made Baddack look like a person unable to remove the most grotesque party mask.

Below, more than a dozen Saiyans opened their eyes to the vision of the humiliation of Baddack.

Baddack managed to throw away the pesky child, but she rebounded on him, in an attack position this time.

Baddack was surprised at her speed and strength. Placing his arms outstretched, he countered the assault of the girl, but the shock made him step back a few feet still, his feet leaving the ground marred. He tried to push ... in vain.

"Hey! Let me go!"

"Grandpa!"

"Get off of me, you freak!"

Baddack couldn’t really do anything... she was a master. Pan managed to climb on him, and climb on his shoulders. Clutching his hair, she played rodeo, with the confused Saiyan as the bull. She was playing like crazy while her great-grandfather was desperately trying to get her down.

The audience seemed just as amused as Pan, and laughed a lot.

None of the Saiyans in Universe 10 dared to say anything. They were too shocked by such a spectacle.

"Awful ..." King Vegeta still managed to sigh.

Pan then decided to get down from the shoulders of her opponent. While the latter was quickly massaging his shoulders, Pan grabbed her staff and... struck quickly, leaving no time to give the warrior a chance against the attack.

Once again, Baddack began with a blow to the head, before receiving other small attacks with the same weapon. Pan struck quickly and efficiently as she had been taught: a few shots at the ankles and knees, and also on the wrists. She allowed his blows to force him to make slow movements in order to have an advantage over the long pole.

Baddack got mad, and when he still had one hand on the new bump on his head, he tried a powerful punch. Pan quickly hit her stick in his back, attacked, and yelled, "Rock!" as her fist launched forward against that of her ancestor.

Baddack felt a sharp pain on his fingers. He shook his hand as if to try to abate the pain... but he recovered quickly. Pan shouted "Rock!" with every punch she gave to counter those of her opponent, then suddenly changed technique.

"Scissors!" she said when two fingers of her right hand poked the eyes of Baddack.

"Paper!" she cried then, an attack with the palm of her hand, pushing off her opponent.

She ran to him to catch him, grabbed his arm, carried out a quick decision to land him on his stomach and sat on his back clutching her legs, pulled them in towards her.

Baddack was fed up with this monstrous torture, he couldn’t do anything and his whole body was sore.

"I give up!" he cried, sweating, tapping on the floor.

"What, already?" Pan was surprised, a sadder air replacing her previous enthusiasm.

"Pan wins by forfeit!" cried when one of the twelve announcers, ending Baddack‘s ordeal.

At Universe 10’s balcony, King Vegeta became angry in silence. Baddack returned, looking shocked. Just as he arrived, Vegeta said, "We’re leaving."

Behind him, the other Saiyans expecting to participate later were actually quite happy with this decision. They did not like the idea of being beaten like Baddack, or humiliated as their King was, or Mahissu, or worse: being killed!

"Bring us back home," the King said to a Varga present in their space.

"You don't want to wait until the end of the tournament?" the Varga asked, amazed, following the Saiyans who already engulfed in the corridor behind one person... one Saiyan.

"You don't want us to treat your injuries?" he inquired when they did not answer him, trying to make them stay.

Baddack brought up the rear with a dignified air. He suffered multiple bruises and red eyes that reflected the fingers that had penetrated them, but his attitude said, "Tsk, these scratches? It's nothing!" His king did the same, and walked like a monarch, though he wore a cape wrapped like a towel.

"We will not continue to be so humiliated," King Vegeta grunted, clenched fist.

"We forfeit also." Nail was behind the blue Varga.

The Varga was seized with a sudden burst: the whole universe in his care was gone! He could say goodbye to his promotion! It was not until tomorrow that his colleagues would stop ribbing him for being incompetent...

"Yes!" Goten and Trunks cheered in Universe 16 and 18. In an efficient manner, the Nameks hope to profit on the return to their world before being eliminated!

"But you won your battle ..." muttered the Varga, almost sadly, to Nail.

"I can’t stay, I am sure to lose," he replied, smiling, but still leaving a small local Varga surprised.

Indeed, for Nail, they did not level either. Cargot was beaten easily, when he was number two of the Nameks. He himself had struggled against Reacum. In the next round, he would fight this Uub of Universe 18. He thought he had a small chance of winning, but then what? In the third round there was a choice of King Kaioushin, then a Supreme God of the Universe, and a pink demon that would be overkill. He had no chance, it was realistic. His friends agreed with him - after Cargot and Nail, other Nameks no longer wanted to participate. They had seen what they needed to see, it was not necessary to stay longer.

Pan of Universe 18 returned to her space, to be welcomed by her parents and her counterpart in Universe 16, under the glaring eye of Vegeta.

"Damn”, thought the prince who never became king, “they only have to congratulate her if she also happens to lift a pebble, or thinks about breathing while they are here! She’ll probably find herself against Cell in a few rounds and then there will be a worthy fight!"

While Pan and Pan did a little dance, the official announcement was made.

"We announce... the forfeit of the entire Universe 10!"

This declaration was followed by protests from some viewers. But ultimately, it was also for their good. They would see less fighting from low level warriors, so more fun. For Vegeta, it was all the same.

"Good for them, they had nothing to do here," he said.

"Maybe it's a shame but," Gohan replied.

"I would have liked to say goodbye to Nail..." Piccolo thought, without letting his emotion show.

"I hope it'll be my turn at the next fight!" Universe 16 Pan said to her Universe 18 counterpart. That way we would end up in the second round!

"That would be great!

Unfortunately, fate decided otherwise when the presenter announced, "Followed by… Kakarotto of Universe 13 versus Kat of Universe 6!"

"Oh no ... Universe 16 Pan said... Now even after one of the rounds we won't meet... Perhaps the third round if I'm next?"

"It would be nice, said the Pan in the red kimono. But will we get to the third round? I'll have to beat one of the two... Kakarotto is like Grandpa..."

"Maybe he’s less strong?"

"I'm sure," Goku said behind the girls. "It’s impossible that your grandfather can be beaten by... hmm... himself, right?"

"They said they were Super Saiyans..." Universe 18 Pan complained.

"Oh don't worry," replied her counterpart, "You can beat him, I'm sure! Let's first see what this Kakarotto does in his fight."

Goku was turning to the ring.