Part 1, Chapter 3.

PART ONE: A VERY STRANGE TOURNAMENT!

Chapter 3

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

Nine years earlier, at the Palace of Kami-Sama...

Piccolo and Dende stood atop the Lookout, speaking with one another as they often did. This particular day, they would soon be joined by company, as they felt three familiar Ki signatures quickly approaching the palace. It was none other than Goku and Uub, as usual, as well as Goku's granddaughter Pan. Upon their arrival, the young girl appeared visibly excited to have been traveling with her grandfather. As for Uub, finding himself at such a sacred and holy place made him feel somewhat uncomfortable. Goku smiled as he turned to the two Namekians.

"So Vegeta isn't here yet?"

"No, you three are the first," replied Piccolo with a smile on his face. "Do you really intend to fight him again?"

"Well, I hope so..." Goku replied, a distinct gleam in his eye.

"Hello!" Pan exclaimed as she landed near the two Namekians.

Piccolo and Dende, pleasantly surprised by the upbeat politeness of the child, replied almost timidly. Uub greeted them in a soft and respectful voice, bowing religiously. He was quite nervous to be face-to-face with the god of Earth.

"Hello, Kami-sama... Hello, Mr. Piccolo," Uub spoke, bowing timidly.

The new younger generation seemed to ingratiate their elders with great respect... Which was a far-cry from how it had been in Goku's youth. But in his mind friends were never far apart, and if they saw each other regularly there was no point in formality. He'd always failed to see the point in such trivial greetings!

Dende faced the two young warriors-to-be. "Are you two also fighting?" he asked.

"N-no!" Uub replied hastily, adding a hint of panic in his voice. "I'm just here to watch."

"Yeah, me too!" said Pan, jumping lightly into the air with excitement. "I'm really looking forward to this!"

A figure suddenly appeared, descending from the heavens... then, the proud Saiyan prince landed on the surface of the lookout; he headed immediately towards Goku.

"Are you ready to lose?" sneered Vegeta.

"Yeah right! That would be one hell of a surprise!" replied Goku. "So are you ready?"

"Not yet," Vegeta answered, crossing his arms. "I would prefer your son be here for this."

"My son? You mean Gohan?"

"Obviously, Kakarotto!" Vegeta growled irritably.

"But, what for?"

"Do NOT argue with me! Just teleport and bring him here; I'll be waiting!"

"Sheesh... Alright, Vegeta," replied Earth-raised hero. "I'll see what I can do..."

Goku then placed two fingers on his forehead and disappeared... He returned a few minutes later accompanied by his eldest son Gohan, dressed in work clothes.

"Daddy!" exclaimed Pan, who was always delighted to see her father.

"Pan?" Gohan greeted her, surprised his little girl was at the palace. "You're here too?"

"The Room of Spirit and Time might not function correctly with five people," Piccolo noted aloud.

"Yeah I know, but don't worry about it," replied Goku.

Without hesitation, Vegeta walked swiftly past the group and into the special room, much to the unease of Gohan.

"What? Vegeta? Why are you here?!" exclaimed Gohan.

"I actually prefer it when they don't have an audience," said Dende. "When they fight in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, at least their fights only lasts a few seconds to us."

Piccolo was surprised at the remark. "What difference does it make?" he asked.

"It's just, their power is so great that I'm always afraid they'll accidentally destroy the room," Dende said.

"It is possible," the other Namek mused. "But I'm sure we can trust them," he continued. "Besides, Gohan is going in with them this time. I'm sure he wouldn't let anything like that happen."

Eleven year old Uub and five year old Pan were amazed at what was taking place before them. Two of the greatest warriors in the universe, Goku and Vegeta, were fighting in front of their very eyes at Super Saiyan level two. Uub had known Goku was powerful since the first time they'd fought at the Budokai, but he had never seen him display this level of power.

'How could Goku-Sensei possibly expect me to become his replacement?' he wondered to himself.

Standing beside the apprentice, Pan was equally excited. She'd always loved fighting, and often thought back to her first time in the Budokai. The golden auras, the fire balls, and the roar of the strikes amused her greatly. The adorable youth raised her fists in the air triumphantly and jumped about, encouraging her grandfather to do his best. Gohan, the last of the spectators, sat quietly on the entrance steps watching the fight. He now understood why Goku and Vegeta had asked for the Room of Spirit and Time to be improved. It was because the Earth had suffered great damage from Goku and Vegeta's battle years ago.

"They've improved a lot," Gohan said to himself. "Very impressive."

Their fight lasted for quite a long time, as any true rival battle should. After a extremely intense clash, Vegeta slowly began to gain the upper-hand, delivering more blows than he took. The other Saiyan was beginning to show signs of wear, losing his energy, and the Saiyan Prince even blocked an energy attack from Goku without flinching.

"Vegeta's energy is really impressive," Gohan observed. "But if Dad loses, it's only because..."

Vegeta powered down to Super Saiyan level one and stared angrily into Goku's eyes. "Stop patronizing me, Kakarotto! You're obviously holding back!"

"Huh? Oh, right, well I could go to Super Saiyan three, I guess," the other Saiyan replied. "But the last time I did, our fight ended way too quickly." Goku chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "It just wasn't interesting or fun, to be honest. Besides, after all of this time, shouldn't you be able to transform into Super Saiyan three yourself?"

Vegeta's clothes were torn and scorched from the battle, yet he folded his arms across his chest. "TCH! Level three is useless, Kakarotto. I intend to do much better. But if you continue holding back against me, I won't be able to!!!"

"What could be better than having super-long hair and no eyebrows?" Goku laughed humorously.

"Isn't it obvious?" the prince mused. "Super Saiyan three devours energy too rapidly, surely you've noticed. It may be powerful, but its time limit demands a price I'm unwilling to pay. I WILL find a better solution!"

Goku raised an eyebrow skeptically. "But, to surpass level three wouldn't you have to master it first?"

"Perhaps," replied Vegeta. "But it just so happens there is a person in this very room who's even stronger than level three... And he doesn't need a single transformation."

There was a brief pause while Goku turned towards his eldest son. Uub and Pan, who were on either side of the half-Saiyan, began to look at him as well. The warrior-turned-scholar seemed somewhat unsettled by himself being mentioned, and he felt equally uneasy from Vegeta's gaze.

"That door is our one and only way out of this place, Gohan," Vegeta announced suddenly, raising his arm in the half-Saiyan's direction. "You had better protect it, understand!?"

"Vegeta, wait! What are you doing!?" Goku interrupted, even as Vegeta continued to accumulate more power.

Ignoring the protest, Vegeta ascended to Super Saiyan level two and continued forming a sphere of crackling energy in his hand.

"Pan!" Gohan shouted quickly. "Get out of the way, fast!"

For the first time in her life, Pan caught a glimpse of the fearsome side of her father that she'd always heard about, but had never seen.

"Big... Bang..." Vegeta began.

"Gohan!" Goku yelled.

"Attack... !" Vegeta roared.

The blue sphere slammed directly into the hands of Gohan, who yelled out as it struck, surrounding himself with a near translucent white aura. The scientist would have been knocked back by the sheer power of the blast, but he braced with his entire body in midair, levitating intensely. Nonetheless, his glasses shattered and his white button-up ripped apart around his body.

The ground rumbled deep beneath the white surface as the shock wave of the blast circled around the seemingly endless room, and an explosion of light blinded all in the area. In spite of the massive amount of power concentrated into the blast, Gohan had effectively stopped it on an instant's notice. Apart from two mere yards of rubble left in the blast's wake, there was no damage; there was only the faint white smoke that rose off of Gohan's unscathed hands. The retired warrior had not been damaged in the slightest by the attack; there was neither blood nor even the slightest scratch anywhere on him.

"You see, Kakarotto? That is exactly the kind of power I'm talking about," an exhausted Vegeta said, letting his hair slowly fade back to black.

"Vegeta!" Gohan roared through gritted teeth. "You...You...!!" The man couldn't even find the right words. He was equally astonished as he was filled with unbridled rage towards the reckless Saiyan Prince. "So THIS is why you practically dragged me here!?" he growled.

"Don't be such a baby," Vegeta replied, ignoring the question. "Piccolo will be able to fix your clothing when we return. And as for your girl, she's perfectly fine, you yourself saw to that." Vegeta approached and placed a hand on Gohan's shoulder, much to the surprise of the half-Saiyan. He allowed a small grin. "Besides, I've dreamed of doing that for more than ten years," the prince chuckled. "Don't be too angry with me, hehe."

Goku finally spoke again, breaking the tension as he walked towards the other two. "But, Vegeta, Gohan has the power of the gods in him. His strength has nothing to do with train—"

"You and I are finished," Vegeta announced, cutting Goku off. "No more of this sparring. It seems I will never find a stronger opponent, so I will just have to find the answers by myself."

Once they'd returned to the lookout, Vegeta lifted into the air to fly off, but was interrupted. Gohan hurried after him, running past Piccolo and Dende, both surprised to see Gohan in rags.

"Wait, Vegeta!" Gohan yelled. "Why!? Why did you do all this? Sometimes I think I'll never understand what's going on inside that head of yours!"

Vegeta turned and stared at Gohan dumbly, as if the answer was obvious.

"You work to expand your mind, to discover why atoms go bling and blong and what not, isn't that right?" replied Vegeta. "Well, I work to push my limits, the find and exceed new heights, to be the greatest Saiyan warrior alive. Do you understand?"

Vegeta turned to leave when Gohan suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder, stunning the prince. Vegeta turned back towards the son of Kakarotto, whose facial expression had hardened dramatically.

"Vegeta," Gohan said, calmly but firmly. "If you ever do that around my daughter again... I'll kill you..."

"Noted," replied the prince with a smile.

Vegeta then vanished in a quick flash of light. Gohan watched him disappear, calmed himself, then turned around. "Bling...and blong?" he murmured quizzically.

"Dad!" Pan shouted, appearing behind her father and grabbing his arm. "I didn't know you were so strong!"

"Hi, Pan... You're not hurt are you?" asked Gohan, his concern obvious.

"No way!" she replied. "You stopped the whole blast! I'm fine!"

Pan was really proud of her father, now seemingly more than ever before. Her broad smile and admiring eyes spoke volumes about what she thought of him. Goku and Uub then arrived out of the palace and joined Gohan and Pan.

"Son Gohan... What incredible power!" exclaimed Uub. "I've never seen you in combat before!"

"Yeah, Gohan doesn't really enjoy fighting," said Goku. "I'm proud of how strong he is, but he hasn't really trained since the fight with Cell... It's kind of a shame, actually."

"Is he... Stronger than you?" Uub asked.

"Well," Goku shrugged, "he was ten years ago, that's for sure. Since then, Vegeta and I have trained extensively every day. Uub, even you haven't seen my true power yet--nor have you seen Gohan's... But I can see you becoming as strong as him someday!"

"Really? But..." Uub began. "When I see how strong the three of you are, I just can't see how I—"

"You have to trust in yourself and your power, Uub," Goku replied. "In ten years you could become stronger than all of us!"

Uub didn't have as much confidence in himself as his sensei did, but he vowed to try his hardest to become stronger.

"Come here, Gohan," said Piccolo. "I'll fix up your clothes."

"Thanks, Piccolo," his old student replied.

"Gohan..." Goku said as he approached his son. "Don't be mad at Vegeta, okay?"

"I'll try, dad. It just pisses me off that he put Pan in danger."

"C'mon!" replied Goku. "It was fun and no one got hurt!"

"Grandpa's right!" said Pan.

"You were really impressive, Mr. Gohan!" Uub added with encouragement.

"Right, well..." Gohan murmured. "Let's just forget about it."

Gohan flew away from the lookout calmly, but the image of Pan in danger still lingered in his mind. "Damn you, Vegeta..." he muttered under his breath.

Pan, who was (for once) more interested in her father than her grandfather, flew up behind him to fly home together...