PART FIVE: TWO GIANTS FACE-TO-FACE.

Chapter 21

Translated by American Vigor

With the conclusion of the fight between Kakarotto of Universe 13 and Kat of Universe 6, the tournament's participants and spectators were awaiting the announcement of whom would fight next.

Of the registered fighters from Universe 18, the only one who had not yet fought was Gotenks. Even though Gotenks had not yet graced the tournament with his absurd jokes and playful foolery, Trunks and Goten of Universe 18 were in the midst of being quite absurd and playful even so, while others in the 18th Universe Balcony were focusing on matters of significance.

"It's a shame that Vegeta decided to stop Kakarotto from hitting Kat after she gave up," Pan said. "Don't get me wrong; I'm glad she wasn't hit again. All I'm saying is that if grandpa's alter-ego did hit her, that jerk would have been disqualified from the tournament."

"He sure deserves to be disqualified," Gohan said. "It's hard to believe your grandpa could have turned out so ... horrible had things been a bit different."

"I'm glad grandpa would never do any of that," Pan said. "But next round, I'm supposed to fight that creep. I really wish I could've avoided that. Honestly, papa, I'm not so sure I want to fight here anymore if it means I have to fight him."

"We're here to fight, Pan, and no matter what our opponents are like, we should at least try our best to fight them," Goku said, with a modicum of forcefulness in his voice. "Otherwise, we'd be wasting our time here."

Pan did not verbally respond, and solemnly reflected upon her grandpa's words as she looked toward the spherical arena above. She knew he was right and knew she needed to remain brave. She also hoped, for the sake of her counterpart from Universe 16 who soon was to fight one of her father's most hated enemies, that she, too, would remain brave.

"Still, I think Kat is very lucky," Uub said, causing Pan and Gohan to redirect their attention toward him. "If Kakarotto had been stronger, or even more aggressive, he could have killed her without the Vargas properly reacting in time."

"Maybe so," Gohan said. "I wonder if they're working on a way to respond faster when a situation like that happens."

As if on cue, the blue Varga in charge of attending to the 18th Universe Balcony surprised its occupants by suddenly and silently arriving from behind them with an answer to their concerns.

"If you're wondering about our ability to retain control over the tournament, have no worries," the Varga said, with what could reasonably be described as a smile. "If Kakarotto's friend had not intervened, you would have seen that Kakarotto would not have been able to hit Kat that final time. Since she forfeited, if Kakarotto's punch had gotten any closer, he would have been immediately disqualified and sent back to his universe. Each of the directors of the universes, like me, has a remote control for returning participants who either dangerously break the rules, or are simply too dangerous. Observe!"

The small Varga opened up his vest and revealed what had been the concealed left side, from Gohan's perspective.

The Varga then patted, but did not firmly press, a grey rectangular object that was within an interior pocket.

To Gohan, it appeared that the device was very slim and lightweight. In fact, it appeared to be equipped with only one button.

"Each of us has one of these devices at the ready at all times," the Varga said.

The Varga then took the device out of its pocket and, while grabbing it with one hand, further showed it to the curious fighters and spectators of Universe 18.

"I know that you all are very strong and very fast, but when any of you fight, I keep a finger on the button, just in case," the Varga said. "All the directors do this for the universes under their supervision. It doesn't matter how fast a warrior is, as we can send that warrior back to his or her universe in an instant without any problems."

The Varga suddenly saw six of the people of Universe 18 redirect their attention to the Varga's right ... toward two of the universe's other guests. The Varga looked toward the two boys, one with disheveled black hair and the other with hair that was lavender and relatively well-kept. He saw that the two of them were entertaining themselves with a remote control, not only by repeatedly pressing its single button, but by throwing the remote back and forth like a ball.

The Varga thought it looked rather fun, actually, and that the remote they were messing around with looked relatively like the one he was holding in his ... hand?

"What! Impossible!" the Varga yelled, upon recognizing that he was no longer holding the remote control and that somehow, the boys had acquired it.

He had been holding it in his hand! He had not seen anyone move! The boys had not only swiped the precious item, but their roughhousing with it likely had degraded some of its components! The damage would be deducted from his pay, for sure!

Gohan and Bra shifted behind their respective siblings and struck them in the back of the head. They were by no means impressed with the childish behavior. Had Trunks and Goten learned nothing about being courteous and refraining from taking things that did not belong to them?

The remote now was lying on the floor, and Goku took the opportunity to retrieve the remote and give it back to the Varga.

"Obviously, we can easily prevent you from using this," Goku said, upon handing the remote to the Varga. "Goten is far from being the fastest here."

"Hey! That's not true!" Goten shouted, as he was rather bothered by what his father had said.

Trunks began to laugh, but a comment from his father quite thoroughly made him stop laughing.

"I wouldn't make fun of Goten if I were you," Vegeta said. "You're only slightly stronger than him. And don't forget - you're weaker than your counterpart from Universe 12!"

Trunks then thought of the conversation that he and his counterpart from Universe 16 had decided to have with Trunks from Universe 12. At the time, he had been ashamed of the fact that his counterpart from Universe 12 seemed to commit noble deeds and help others on a daily basis, while his own life had been one that was far easier, and more care-free. Vegeta's comment about the difference in their strengths intensified his downtrodden feelings even further.

Gohan then spoke up, as he felt that he needed to address an important point with the Varga as a result of what had happened.

"Since it was so easy for those two numbskulls to swipe your remote control, couldn't anyone who is fast enough and knows about the remotes just steal some of them and knock other participants out of the tournament by sending them back to their universes?" Gohan asked.

"Thankfully, no," the Varga said, while placing the device back into his interior jacket pocket. "This remote and all the others can only be used by a Varga. The remotes were designed to only function after detecting a special electronic signature that only we, the Vargas, possess."

"Is it kind of like a fingerprint?" Gohan asked.

"It's more than than, actually," the Varga said. "The remote has various protocols to counter any attempt to copy or even clone a Varga's body."

"Very impressive. Bulma would be interested in this," Gohan said softly, more to himself than anyone else.

While Trunks and Goten were sulking near the wall of the balcony closest to the audience section, and while nearby, most of the other guests from Universe 18 were continuing to speak with the Varga, Vegeta squatted and began to draw a tournament chart in the sandy soil with his right index finger.

He had not remembered some of the competitors' names, such as Mahissu, or even Bujin, but he decided that listing only the winners of each of the fights in the first round was sufficient for creating the chart.

Vegeta wanted to know in advance exactly what he would have to do and what would have to happen for him to be able to fight certain opponents with whom he greatly wanted to fight. The chart would enable him to have a clearer picture of this, and upon completing the chart so that it reflected the outcomes of battles up to that point in the tournament, he began to strategize.

"So, first I'll crush Trunks," Vegeta said, loud enough that his son of Universe 18 heard the comment.

"What!" Trunks shouted, slightly anxious as to what his father was planning.

"Not you!" Vegeta shouted, without even turning to look toward him.

It was quite unfortunate, but those at the tournament who had observed the exchanges between Vegeta and his son from his universe might have perceived that Vegeta believed his son to be nothing more than a fool.

Vegeta then resumed his scheming.

"Then, I'll fight the winner between Pan and the other Kakarotto," Vegeta said, while looking toward Pan from his universe and then snickering right before speaking to her. "Hey, Pan! Lose your next match! Make me happy!"

Pan jumped backward with a startle.

"Huh?" she asked aloud.

"If you refuse to do so, I'll hit you," Vegeta jokingly said, with another snicker.

"But ... that's a threat!" Pan shouted.

"Nope, it's the randomness of the rounds!" Vegeta said, with a smirk.

"Dad, Vegeta isn't being nice!" Pan said, almost with tears.

She knew that she needed to remain brave, but she also was in no way happy with the fact that she might have to fight Vegeta. She in no way believed that Vegeta would show any restraint!

"Vegeta, stop bothering Pan, please," Gohan said, with a tone of frustration because of Vegeta's brashness.

Gohan didn't want to appear overprotective, and in fact, he didn't feel that Vegeta had truly done anything wrong to Pan. After all, this was a tournament of martial arts combat, in which aggression was the norm.

However, Gohan wondered to himself what Pan would do if presented with other tournament challenges.

'How would she react if she had to fight me in this tournament?' he thought to himself. 'Would she refuse to fight me, or would she fight me as thoroughly as her grandpa would if he had to fight me? Regardless, she will not have to fight Vegeta in the tournament if she doesn't manage to defeat the misguided version of dad from Universe 13. Kakarotto seems even more dangerous than our own Vegeta did when I first met him. Since he apparently has no qualms about hitting grown women, would he also have no qualms about hitting young girls? I ... just don't know.'

Without saying a word to anyone, Gohan kept these considerations to himself. After all, there was still time before the second round in which to contemplate these matters further, and if necessary, act on them ...

Goku had observed Pan's complaints about Vegeta's behavior, but he had decided to not interfere. It was clear to Goku that Pan, likely because of her age and inexperience, did not yet possess the emotional maturity to better respond to Vegeta's taunting. Goku hoped that her experiences in this tournament would enable Pan to become not only physically stronger, but emotionally stronger as well.

Goku found it to be all too true that Pan, so far, had been having too much fun with martial arts. She had mistaken martial arts for a mere game, and despite the relative rivalry between her and Uub, only the latter was serious enough about martial arts to have made good progress as a result of his training.

After reflecting upon all of this, Goku decided that regardless of what happened in the tournament, Pan would benefit from a more rigorous training regimen that would begin after they returned to their universe.

In the 16th Universe Balcony, Gohan and Vegetto were in the midst of discussing what they regarded as the rather unexpected behavior of Vegeta from Universe 18.

They had acknowledged that Vegeta of Universe 18 had not only willingly talked with his son from Universe 12, but during the fight with his counterpart from Universe 10 had made comments indicating his outright rejection of many of the values he had once cherished. Gohan and Vegetto had been especially surprised to hear Vegeta, in the midst of his battle against Vegeta from Universe 10, acknowledge his counterpart from Universe 13 as what he would have been like if he "hadn't found inner peace on Earth," suggesting that he was pleased this had happened and that the other versions of Vegeta were inferior for not having found that peace.

"He is very different from the Vegeta I remember," Gohan said, while crossing his arms.

"It seems he changed much over 20 years ...," Vegetto said, while considering how Vegeta of Universe 18 compared to the version of Vegeta within himself.

"What do you think happened?" Gohan asked.

"I don't know," Vegetto said. "He seems even calmer than my predecessor had been right before fighting Buu ... perhaps we should try talking with some of the others in Universe 18 to find out more about this."

Gohan nodded. He was indeed very curious about Vegeta's behavior, and he had wondered about the grin that Vegeta had possessed when taunting Pan ... as he could not readily describe what it meant. In fact, he wondered if Vegeta of Universe 18 had turned out as he had largely because of his decades of interaction during times of peace with Pan and all the other offspring of his and Goku's families.

In thinking of Pan from Universe 18, Gohan decided that he wanted to briefly talk with his daughter from his universe.

When he turned to talk with her, however, he noticed that she was nowhere to be found in the 16th Universe Balcony!

'Oh!' Gohan thought to himself. 'There she is, talking with her counterpart in the 18th Universe Balcony!'

It seemed to Gohan that both versions of Pan had become quite close with each other since the start of the tournament, probably even closer than the versions of Trunks and Goten had become.

"It looks like they've become friends," Bra said, while arriving to the right of her father and farther to the right of her brother.

"Yes, but after the tournament, they will need to say their goodbyes and will never get to see each other again," Vegetto said.

"Bra, don't you want to make some friends here?" Videl asked, while arriving to Gohan's left and then clinging to his left arm.

"No. My counterpart is too different from me," Bra said. "And those girls from Universe 6 are of no interest to me ..."

"Too bad there's not a female version of Broly here!" Vegetto said, with a laugh. "You could have become friends with her!"

"And then what? I'd remain a woman with refined tastes, and she would probably have muscles so big that it would be unsightly!" Bra said.

"Not necessarily," Vegetto said. "In fact, she might even look like you, but with all the gems and stuff that Broly wears!"

With Bra's sour facial expression, she made her father more than aware that she was less than amused with the idea.

"Relax! I was only joking!" Vegetto said, causing Bra to slightly lighten her mood. "Anyway, I can't wait to see Broly's strength!"

"Aren't you worried?" Gohan asked.

"No, not really," Vegetto said, right before acknowledging the presence of someone who had returned. "Hey, Piccolo! You're back!"

Indeed, Piccolo had been absent since shortly after many of the fighters and spectators of Universes 16 and 18 had formally met each other, and had not returned until now. For much of the time, he had been in the 20th Universe Balcony to talk with the Vargas about Broly.

"What's new?" Gohan asked.

"Nothing, really. I haven't yet talked with my counterpart from Universe 18, if that's what you want to know," Piccolo said. "As for Broly, the Vargas are determined to let him fight, despite our advice."

"Good!" Vegetto exclaimed.

"They told me that they have a system they can use to send participants back to their universes," Piccolo said. "Each Varga directing one of the universes has a device, and there is a master device located in their main control room up there."

Piccolo pointed toward the pillar protrusion that extended above the audience section, indicating the location of the main control room.

"It is principally from there that the Vargas are supervising this tournament," Piccolo said.

"Hm...," Vegetto said aloud, signifying his contemplation.

He stood for a moment, perplexed and yet thoughtful, and then turned toward the 4th Universe Balcony to address Buu.

Although they were physically separated by hundreds of meters, they still could communicate via telepathy, as the art was by no means a secret to Vegetto.

*Hey Buu,* Vegetto said, summoning his attention via telepathy. *Have you noticed the devices the Vargas possess to send fighters back to their universes?*

Although Buu did not answer, Vegetto continued his communication.

*When either you or I fight Broly, it may be necessary to block the Vargas from using their devices to send him back to his universe,* Vegetto said telepathically, while grinning.

Vegetto waited for an answer, but it never came. He then wondered exactly what Buu had in mind ...

In the 18th Universe Balcony, Uub once again expressed surprise that two counterparts could be so different from each other.

"I'm still shocked that Kakarotto from Universe 13 was aggressively hitting Kat the way he was, but fortunately, our Goku isn't like that!" Uub said.

"Clearly, Kakarotto never experienced life with his universe's version of my mother," Gohan said. "She never would have tolerated any of that crap. Actually, she probably would have dominated him in many ways."

"It's because our own Kakarotto is married to his woman that he became so submissive!" Vegeta shouted, taking advantage of the unexpected opportunity to not only demean his rival, but to confess his dislike of Chi-Chi's overly assertive nature.

While Trunks and Goten exploded with laughter, Videl, Gohan, Uub, and especially Goku sighed at the insult.

"Speaking of assertiveness, I wonder how strong my counterpart from Universe 13 is," Vegeta suddenly asked aloud. "Is he a Super Saiyan? A Super Saiyan 2? Higher?"

Considerations of his counterpart's abilities made him somewhat nostalgic. He had dreamed for years of becoming a true prince of Saiyans, with the distinction of being the strongest in his universe! But he had abandoned the idea, instead finding his rivalry with his own Kakarotto to be worthy enough.

"Wait a minute, Vegeta," Goku suddenly said. "Didn't Bulma recently make you wash a few hundred dishes after losing a bet? Yeah, that's right! I remember coming to Capsule Corporation one afternoon and wanting to spar, but she said you were in the middle of cleaning them!"

This time, Videl, Gohan, and Uub joined Goten and Trunks in laughter, while Vegeta began cursing.

He had certainly had a rough time on the day he had lost that bet! And nothing he had said or promised had been able to persuade Bulma to negate the deal!

He had to face the facts ... regarding character level, Bulma was not far from Chi-Chi!