Part 1, Chapter 2.

PART ONE: A VERY STRANGE TOURNAMENT!

Chapter 2

Translated by MikeysBoner(certified god) and Kakarotto Ka Power Level Kya Hai? and npberryhill

It was essential to Vegeta that he train each morning at the crack of dawn, though the Brief’s house could attest he was usually up well before that. Over a decade ago, when he’d first come to Earth, he’d trained inside a vessel his father-in-law had built, one which could simulate artificial gravity much stronger than normal. Following his many battles on Earth, particularly against Goku, he eventually requested something entirely different. His objective was both to push himself further than ever before and also to mask his progress from the other Saiyan. In fact, Vegeta wanted to be cut off from any and all distractions of the Earth—not being able to sense others was a price he was glad to pay for his own privacy.

After several months of planning and a good deal of trial and error, Dr. Briefs finally came to Vegeta with his schematics. According to his design, he would create a secret room under the Capsule Corporation as the prince’s new training facility. While the convenience and dramatically improved gravity settings were undoubtedly pleasing to Vegeta, he was quite disappointed to learn that the technology to hide his Ki did not yet exist in this world...

Unwilling to accept that hinderance, Vegeta even went to Dende’s lookout and inquired about the dragonballs—his wish being to ask for the technology to shield his Ki signature. However, Piccolo and Dende flatly refused his request, claiming it would be a grievous misuse of Shenron’s power. While this angered the prince, the Earth’s guardian made amends by offering him use of the Room of Spirit and Time as often as he liked. The other-dimensional training ground had been rebuilt to allow guests to remain inside for a longer period of time. Since that time, Vegeta had developed a habit of alternating between his new training room under Capsule Corp and the Room of Spirit and Time.

On this particular day, however, Vegeta was unable to make it up to Dende’s lookout—despite the demands of his rigorous training schedule. His wife and daughter planned on going shopping and had informed him that he HAD to accompany them—something even he simply couldn’t get out of...

Drenched in sweat, he found himself face to face with his wife, Bulma, whose hands were firmly placed on her hips.

"Vegeta!" Bulma screamed, inches from his face. “You're late!"

"Ptch!” he grumbled. “Bulma, at least let me get in my morning workout!"

"We said we we're leaving at eight o'clock!" replied his agitated wife.

“It's not even eight yet!" came the Prince of Saiyans retort.

Bulma’s face remained stern as ever. "You've got ten minutes, mister" she stated. "Do us all a favor, take a shower and find some decent clothes to wear. You being a prince know as well as anyone that public appearance is important."

Vegeta softly grinned and headed towards the bathroom.

‘Tch. What a pain in the ass,’ the warrior thought.

Behind Vegeta, eyeing his exit, Bulma smiled to herself before turning. ‘Hmph,’ she thought, biting her lip. ‘I’ve got to but that man some sexy jeans today...’

Twenty minutes later, Vegeta walked out of the Capsule Corp building dressed quite elegantly. He could be more than presentable when he cleaned up, wearing nice dress shoes and pants with a formal jacket covering his shirt. Before him stood his wife and his daughter, Bra, who were obviously at the forefront of fashion.

Without saying a word, Bulma came up and gripped the arm of her husband, who blushed with slight embarrassment. The trio began to leave their family home when Vegeta suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He had an odd feeling, as if he was being watched. Just then, a flying spherical robot with short metal legs appeared about two meters in front of him. He wondered at first if it was one of his wife’s many side projects, but the unfamiliar design made it apparent that this was not the case.

The little robot silently landed on the ground in front of him and played the same holographic message that his rival had received roughly two minutes earlier from the Varga and Piccolo.

After the message concluded, the robot lifted off into the air again, flying towards the palace. The smug smile that had gradually begun to appear on Vegeta’s face, having been invited to fight in a “glorious tournament”, had reached it’s peak. The prince turned to his wife with an excited smirk. “Well, too bad...” he said, doing his best to suppress his enthusiasm. “I had so looked forward to our day of shopping...”

While the effort didn’t go unappreciated, there was no way he was going to fool his wife and daughter. “I’m sorry, girls. Bulma, Bra, it seems something important has come up...”

But his wife wouldn’t have a bit of it. “Oh no you don’t!” she exclaimed. “You promised that the three of us would go shopping, and that’s what we’re gonna do!”

Women and their bickering had always nagged at Vegeta, but he’d learned to go with the quirks. Bulma, in particular, was worth it. But this was an occasion when he refused to yield. “We can go shopping another time, it’s not like you’re missing some big sale. Right now I have to go to the lookout, this can’t wait.”

Bra, who knew her father all too well, was fully aware that this time it would be useless to try and change his mind. "Okay," she said with a smile, "then we'll all go to the palace together in the plane!"

Vegeta sensed the trap coming a mile away. "Hah! So you can trick me into going where YOU want to go?" he laughed. "Nice try, but I'll make better time going there on my own."

The Prince immediately lifted into the sky and blasted off in the direction of the palace, leaving the two women behind fuming with anger. Unphased, Vegeta smiled to himself as he flew through the air. "A tournament? Finally, something worth my time!"

Renewed with excitement, Vegeta accelerated, even transforming into a Super Saiyan to multiply his speed. In his haste he didn’t notice the little spherical robot in his path, and grazed it as he rushed by, knocking it distressfully to the ground.

At the palace, Piccolo stood motionlessly in thought, arms crossed and eyes closed. ‘What could possibly be the purpose of such a tournament?’ he thought to himself, a question that had been on his mind ever since he received the information.

Piccolo suddenly opened his eyes and uncrossed his arms. A familiar Ki was quickly approaching the palace. After only a few seconds, Gohan appeared, scaling the altitude of the lookout at an astonishing rate of speed. He halted about ten feet above the tiled surface, letting down the white aura that surrounded him. The Saiyan-Human hybrid quickly inspected the palace by scanning the mysterious ship, the Namekians, and the bizarre bird-like aliens. Next he spotted Piccolo and Dende, and dropped a couple of feet in front of them before walking in their direction.

"Hey, guys!" he said to his two old friends.

Dende was visibly pleased to see the man. "Gohan!" he exclaimed, "It's been too long since you've paid us a visit!"

"I know, Dende," Gohan replied with an honest smile. "Sorry, I've been busy at the university lately, but the holidays just started so I should have a little more free time."

"You made it here pretty quickly, Gohan," congratulated Piccolo.

Gohan modestly began scratching the back of his head. "Yeah," he replied, "but my speed is probably the only thing I've retained since I stopped training."

Piccolo was a bit surprised. "Speaking of training, seeing you like this sure brings back memories," he said with a little smile.

"Oh, it's probably because of these." Gohan removed his glasses from his shirt pocket and put them on. "I put them in my pocket so I wouldn't lose them on the way here."

"Hmm... They definitely add age to your appearance," replied Piccolo.

Dende's attention suddenly shifted. "Vegeta's here..."

Arriving in the same way as Gohan, the Prince of Saiyans landed in front of trio nearly without slowing down, creating a blast of air which forced Dende to shield his eyes. With obvious arrogance, Vegeta asked directly if Goku had arrived yet, a question that seemed apparent.

"He'll be here soon," replied Piccolo. "Don't worry."

Vegeta replied with an arrogant smile. "Hmph, as if I would be worried about that low-level clown!"

"Hey, Piccolo," said Gohan, skillfully changing the subject. "What do you think about our visitors?"

Vegeta, who was interested in the question, crossed his arms and waited to hear Piccolo's answer.

"Nameks are Nameks," said Piccolo. "They can always be trusted. These Vargas... seem honest at least. I don't sense any hostility from them. They claim to be from another universe..."

"Is that even possible?" asked Vegeta skeptically.

"Theoretically not," replied Gohan pensively. "But time travel is not theoretically possible, either, even though we know firsthand that it is. They must have had one hell of a technological advance for that to be possible... Going from one universe to another must use a lot of energy."

Gohan turned and examined the Vargas and their ship. "I wonder if they would let me study that..."

Suddenly, a group of seven people appeared out of nowhere next to the quartet, to which Vegeta immediately reacted. "Trunks!" said Vegeta with obvious annoyance. "Where the hell have you been? I looked all around the Capsule Corp for you today!"

Trunks nervously turned to Goten, seeking any form of support from his friend.

Videl approached Gohan and lovingly straightened out his shirt, which the flight had crumpled, and Chichi took the time to reprimand Goten's lack of formality. Uub looked all around him at the group of warriors in fascination. Vegeta, on the other hand, spoke menacingly to Goku.

"Kakarotto! What took you so long? You've made us wait!"

"Sorry, Vegeta..." Goku replied with a smile on his face.

"You're awfully slow for someone who can teleport..." said Vegeta.

"I had to pick everyone up first," replied Goku, who did not manage to change Vegeta's bad mood.

"Couldn't they have just flown here themselves?"

"If you were this anxious, Vegeta, why didn't you come find me instead?"

"Here we go again..." mumbled Piccolo to himself.

"Great idea!" said Vegeta. "Next time I'll come grab you by the skin on your ass!"

"Oh sure! Give it your best shot!" countered Goku with a pleasured smile on his face, taking a stance.

Vegeta's eyes jubilantly lit up. "What an excellent idea, Kakarotto!"

Vegeta then also took a guarded stance, much to the worry of the Nameks and Vargas. Embarrassed at the situation, Chichi intervened. "Goku!" She said, staring at her husband intensely.

Goku suddenly became tense as his smile was erased from his face.

"Oh, uh... Chi-" Goku began.

"Don’t make a fuss!" Chichi said cutting Goku off. "Do you think you're in a school playground or something? When will you grow up?"

Goku did not know what to say. It was true that for a fight against Vegeta, pleasure tended to prevail over reason. "Uh..."

Suddenly, a strange, thundering noise was heard for several seconds. The Vargas, fearing a storm, began scanning the bright blue sky. The group of Earthlings, however, knew exactly what the noise was, and they all turned their eyes to Goku.

"Ha ha, it's just my stomach, guys!" said Goku. "I left in a hurry and forgot to eat.

While Vegeta and Chichi scoffed with an air of boredom, Uub was perplexed. "But we had breakfast just before we started training..."

"But that was two hours ago!" said Goku. "All of that training raised my appetite. Where's Mr. Popo? Oh! I'm sure he's already preparing all of my favorite dishes! Mr. Popo! Helloooo?"

Everyone remained silent as Goku ran inside of the palace to the kitchen. Trunks then attempted to break the silence. "So, uh, Dad," he said. "Where're Mom and Bra? They didn't want to come?"

"I think they're coming by plane," replied Vegeta without even looking.

A small Varga suddenly approached the group timidly. "Um... Excuse us..." the Varga began.

"Don't worry," Piccolo said. "He'll return soon. When Son Goku gets hungry, it's impossible to take his mind off of food. But you can join us if you'd like. We can discuss the details of this tournament over a bite to eat." A sudden thought tore a giant smile into Piccolo's face. "Of course, with all of these Saiyans around the food might not last that long."

The Varga returned to his group and informed the others that their stay might last longer than expected...

Mr. Popo finished preparing all of the food and lined up the dishes on his floating magic carpet, which was being used as a long makeshift table. Bulma and Bra soon arrived at the palace.

Bulma, much like Gohan, was fascinated by the Vargas and their technology, while Bra thought that the aliens were cute due to their small size and fashion sense. She even went as far as to pet one of the creatures, causing him to "purr" before quickly distancing himself, looking rather embarrassed.

During the meal, only Goku and Pan, who was fond of imitating her grandfather, gorged themselves with food. The others instead focused their attention on the Vargas, who were seated at the end of the carpet, while they further explained the aspects of the tournament.

So as you know," the Varga began, "we came from a universe entirely different than the one you know. The Nameks who came here with us are also from our universe."

One of the Namekians advanced slightly and reached out. He held in his hand a thin circular object, which became slightly warm and caused the air above it to behave in strange ways. Images began to appear above the object, which instantly sparked Bulma's curiosity.

"A hologram?" she asked.

"Yes, it appears to be," replied Gohan.

"You exist within a multiverse," the Varga continued, "which is to say, multiple universes. They are all similar, with many of the same causes and effects. However, one single event that happens differently in one universe will cause it to diverge from the others. For example, in one universe, the sky of your planet could be red, and in another universe it could have been conquered by aliens."

The Varga was cut off by the noisy eating sounds emitting from Goku and Pan. The two noticed that the room had suddenly gone quiet and looked up at everyone, with noodles hanging out of their mouths. Knowing they stopped talking because of the noise they were making, Goku and Pan quickly slurped up the rest of the noodles and gave the speakers their attention.

"Yes... As I was saying," the Varga continued, "another example is our universe. In our universe, and ours only, the Vargas inadvertently discovered technology that allowed us to travel from one universe to another. The gods decided that the universes should remain closed, but they allowed us to organize one unique event..."

"Hey, that's the Supreme Kaioshin!" Goku exclaimed suddenly, noticing the purple-skinned god on the hologram.

"We allied ourselves with the Nameks of our universe," said the Varga, ignoring Goku's comment, "to organize a tournament between the strongest warriors of all the different universes. The winner of the tournament will get three wishes from the eternal dragon of Namek."

"The Dragon Balls of the other universes will be used to resurrect anyone who dies in the tournament," said the Namekian with the hologram. "And aside from the winning prize, the warriors of the tournament should find much excitement in the prospect fighting all of the powerful opponents."

"The tournament is unique and completely safe," continued the Varga. "Our question is: would you like to participate?"

The group around the table began to talk amongst themselves, and didn't quite know if they trusted the story or not. Vegeta, who remained silent, found it a little hard to concentrate with all of the different conversations happening around him. Goku finally cut in.

"This is a great opportunity! Uub will be able to test his powers without any risk. There're too many restrictions here."

"I don't trust this multiverse story at all," said Vegeta, "but there's no way you're going to enter a tournament without me, Kakarotto! I have a few surprises in store for you."

"Um... We have a question." said Trunks and Goten simultaneously.

Can we fight as a team?" asked Trunks.

"No," replied the eldest Namekian. "Fights are one against one. You lose if you cannot fight for thirty seconds or if you forfeit. Weapons are allowed as long you enter the ring with them. Once you enter the ring no outside force is allowed to help you. We will detail the finer rules later. "

Trunks and Goten both smiled contently.

"That's fine by us!" said Goten.

"We register Gotenks," said Trunks. "He is among us, but you can't see him, and we’ll come along as spectators. Is that okay?"

"Yes," replied the Namekian, "spectators are greatly encouraged, and anyone is allowed to participate. One person even enrolled their unborn son. We don't care if you create this Gotenks just before the fight."

"Then I'll come as a spectator also," said Piccolo.

"Me too!" said Gohan without hesitation.

"You are the eighteenth universe to participate," said the elder Namekian. "This will be the number registered to your universe."

Without delay Vegeta instantly stood up. "Well, what are we waiting for?" he exclaimed. "Let's go!"

"I can't wait to get there!" said Pan excitedly.

"I'll stay here," said Chichi. "I find this tournament idea ridiculous. Gohan, surely you're not gonna let my granddaughter participate?"

Gohan shot a glance at Videl, leaving the decision up to her.

"Well..." said Videl. "It could be beneficial to her..."

Chichi crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and turned away pouting.

Trunks looked to Goten. "It looks like we have to start practicing fusion again."

"This is gonna be amazing!" Goten replied with evident eagerness.

"Gohan," said Goku, "are you sure you don't want to enter the tournament?"

"Yeah," replied Gohan. "I've stopped training for too long and haven't been in a fight in years."

"But with your power alone you could probably go far in the tournament," said the young Uub.

"Forget it!" Vegeta intervened. "Gohan is worthless. I could beat him with my eyes closed!"

The remark made Gohan smile. "If it makes you happy to think so, Vegeta."

Vegeta also smiled, remembering a time nine years ago...