PART NINETEEN: OFF TO THE SECOND ROUND!

Chapter 95

Translated by npberryhill

Even as Uub continued imagining his next bout, scheduled against Buu of Universe 11, the Varga announcer called the next two fighters into the ring.

“And now, continuing with the tournament, the next match is Trunks of Universe 12 battling against Vegeta of Universe 18!”

Trunks pulled his right arm out of his blue denim Capsule Corp jacket, readying himself for battle, when he noticed his father walking up. Seeing this, the announcer merely continued adding color commentary.

“The warrior Trunks from Universe 12 offered us a spectacular match in the first round against Coola, whom he dominated completely from start to finish. Likewise, our participant from Universe 18 fought a counterpart of himself from Universe 10. Despite his opponent’s surprising transformation into a giant ape, Vegeta handled him easily. I’m certain they’ll both give us a stupendous match!”

The audience was ecstatic. Down below them, Trunks had taken his sword and jacket off, only to be stopped by Vegeta.

“No, you should keep your sword. You’ll need all the help you can get,” the prince said, his arms crossed. ‘And perhaps give me at least a minimal challenge,’ he thought.

“Alright, sure,” Trunks said with a smile, putting the strap carrying his sword back over his head.

“I doubt you’ve trained as much as I have,” his father added, clarifying why he’d encouraged the usage of the blade in their fight.

“Well, I have been busy...but I’ve improved.”

The two lifted into the air in unison, headed towards the ring. As they flew, Vegeta continued, his arms crossed.

“I certainly hope so. I don’t mind holding back, but only by so much.”

“Don’t worry too much, father. I think I’ll still surprise you.”

Together, they landed on the ring, each hopping away from the other and then turning. Trunks was quite pleased with the pairing, though. He knew that when it came to Vegeta, proving himself was more about fighting than about talking. While his father certainly seemed glad to see him, exchanging pleasantries really wasn’t his thing. Vegeta immediately transformed into a Super Saiyan 2.

“Can you at least do this?”

“Sorry,” his son said, turning into an ordinary Super Saiyan. “No.”

“Disappointing.”

He had hoped that his son would have reached level 2, even if he’d only had ten years to train. But the half-Saiyan had been rebuilding the Earth, and wasn’t able to spend all his time working out. Even so, Trunks’ base strength was very close to what Gohan’s had been when he turned into a Super Saiyan 2.

‘Ten years should have been enough to reach the next level,’ Vegeta mumbled inwardly. ‘So what to do?’

He momentarily considered going down a level in order to give his son a fair fight, but quickly ruled it out. He was already holding back enough, any more and it would be an insult. His son’s answer, however, surprised him.

“Well, come and teach me then,” Trunks taunted with a smile, ready to fight.

It was clear that the young man was eager to test out the strength he’d gained in recent years. And his father had even allowed him to keep his sword to boot! Of course, even from the beginning, he knew already that the chance of him actually winning was small or nonexistent. He had already noticed Gohan’s new strength, and was certain that his father wasn’t using his full power yet either. Plus, he’d seen both Goku and Vegetto perform an astonishing new transformation with long hair... For sure Vegeta was also capable of much more than what he was showing.

The Saiyan prince rushed at his son through the air, beginning the battle. He’d already suppressed himself to the lowest possible level of a Super Saiyan 2, but even so it was well above the strength of a normal Super Saiyan—as would be the case with any normal Super Saiyan 2. But even as Vegeta reared back for his first strike, Trunks made no attempt to dodge. Yet even so, his father could see that same confident smirk on his face. The youth was prepared for the attack, clearly, but what did he have planned?

Vegeta threw his right fist forward, but in a stunning move his son turned slightly and managed to grab the prince’s wrist. Such a thing normally would have been pointless because of the strength gap between them—Vegeta would have been able to free himself with a simple flick, then attack at close range before any proper defense could be made. Only, when the prince tried to free himself it didn’t go as he’d imagined. There was legitimate resistance! As the two struggled, Vegeta finally noticed the source of his apparent struggle. His son’s left arm was far more bulky and muscular than it had been half a second ago. As he examined the rest of his son’s body, it was quite obvious that all his muscles had been boosted in this way.

“But...this technique...”

Instantly, question after question began racing through the Prince of Saiyan’s head. Foremost among them was the obvious one. ‘How can this technique, a form almost thirty years old, still possibly be relevant?’

“—has huge weaknesses?” Trunks replied, retaining his smile as he finished his father’s sentence.

The main disadvantage of the technique was that it severely hampered agility and momentum, the cost for providing such a phenomenal boost in strength. As a Super Saiyan 2, Vegeta was already far faster than a normal Super Saiyan, but with this technique it would be like a snail racing against a cheetah!

Suddenly, Trunks grip on his father’s wrist loosened. With his other hand, he’d grabbed the hilt of his sword and drew it above his head. His body was suddenly lean again! The switch had been quick, far faster than Vegeta had expected, but his own speed was still superior. Hopping backwards, he avoided the first swipe. The Brave Sword’s blade sliced into the ground, shattering a piece of the grey ring.

Instantly, Trunks chased after his father, closing the distance between them. As close as they were, he had a much higher chance of actually hitting his father with the sword. He swung it in front of him back and forth, slashing and swiping. Though surprised, Vegeta was able to dodge each swipe. Following up his attack, sword still raised high, Trunks began charging up a ki blast in his left hand. Vegeta, naturally, noticed it right away, as well as the fact that his son’s muscles once again expanded, his power shooting up. He launched the attack right away, the close range making it ten times more effective. Vegeta only had time to cross his arms in front of him defensively. The blast was so powerful that its detonation shrouded the entire upper hemisphere of the ring in a thick cloud of smoke. Amidst the dust, Vegeta, who was barely scratched, dropped his arms back down.

“Not bad,” the prince had to admit.

Ripples in the air and the subtle vibrations of ki suddenly alerted Vegeta to an attack from behind. Hearing the whistling of the blade against the air, he ducked just in time to avoid the fatal blow. Putting his hands on the ring, Vegeta kicked upwards at his son, but he dodged just in time—assuming that he’d actually meant to dodge, rather than simply getting lucky.

Trunks suddenly bulked up his left arm, swinging a violent smashing blow into his father and knocking him face first into the ring. Knowing full well that an attack like this wasn’t near powerful enough to KO his father, the youth kicked Vegeta up into the air. Then, flying through the air in his regular Super Saiyan form, he quickly made his way behind the prince and raised his sword.

But just as the swing passed through his body, Vegeta disappeared, reappearing in the ring below with a grin.

“That’s enough.” Vegeta wasn’t interested in continuing dodging the swipes of his son. But he admitted that the technique was innovative and original. “Impressive... You compensate for the loss in speed by using this form only when necessary.”

Trunks tried attacking again as his father spoke, but in vain. Re-appearing beside his dad, he swung the Brave Sword horizontally, but Vegeta’s form fizzled into nothing as he dodged. The prince was suddenly up in the air, looking down on him and cupping his hands to his side in a strange way. Trunks wasn’t familiar with this technique or stance, but it was clear he was concentrating his energy into something.

Sheathing his blade, the son smiled as he put his own hands forward to accept the challenge. Forming the most powerful attack he could, Trunks focused his ki in front of him. Above him, Vegeta finally launched his Garric Ho, an old (and far less effective) technique compared to the Big Bang Attack or Final Flash.

The two attacks met in the center with a mighty rumble, each struggling to overcome the other. For a few moments they seemed even, not even the spectators being able to determine which would triumph. Who had the upper hand? Suddenly, the ball of energy at the epicenter expanded and detonated, hurling both warriors in opposite directions.

Trunks crashed into the empty area of Universe 10, while Vegeta was thrown into the area for universe 19—the fighters and spectators all moving away from him. Even as he made his way to his feet, Trunks was upon him again, flying at full speed ready to attack.

“It’s a good technique,” Vegeta said, dodging just out of the way of a punch. “Your mastery of this state would have posed a serious threat to Perfect Cell.”

‘Although,’ the prince thought, ‘clever as he was, Cell could have very well learned to do the the same thing—and probably in mere moments.’

“—But me,” Vegeta continued with a smile. “I have both strength and speed at the same time!”

Avoiding a second punch, Vegeta sidestepped, creating an opening and swinging up his left knee into Trunks’ stomach. But the latter was able to activate his bulky transformation the moment just before impact. Vegeta even inwardly congratulated his son for taking the blow head on without being rocketed away.

“It’s also useful for defense,” Trunks said, sweating as he smiled at his father. “But...it seems it’s not enough,” he whispered, falling forwards onto the arm of Vegeta.

It had ended quite abruptly, but even so Vegeta had known the fight was finished when he had decided to use the Super Saiyan 2 form. Slowly, he turned towards the area of universe 12 and took off. Though they were counting, the Vargas were still yet to declare the winner of the match. Vegeta heaved his son onto the ground beside # 16 just as the announcement finally came.

“Thirty seconds unconscious! The victor is Vegeta!”

Forgetting to turn off the microphone, the Varga turned to a colleague beside him and began complaining.

“He could have waited until the end of our countdown... Can you believe his arrogance? He was sure to win anyway if he’d have just waited!”

“Idiot!” the other suddenly yelled. “The microphone!”

“Oh, damn!” the announcer replied.

Out in the audience there were many spectators debating amongst themselves. They had thought things were fairly even between the two, that it was a relatively close fight. But somehow Vegeta had defeated his son in a single blow. Had the difference between the two been that great?

Vegeta turned to the orange-haired robot, his face expressionless. “Hey. Just between us, how is Bulma doing in your universe?”

“All is well for her,” the robot said. “She is heavily involved with the world’s reconstruction, thanks to her technological knowledge. Her help is invaluable, as is her son’s. She is highly respected by everyone, and they would hate to lose her. In my universe she is practically famous.”

# 16 paused, adding one last thing with a smile. “There is no need to worry about her.”

“Fine,” Vegeta said.

“Would you like me to give her a message when I get back?”

The prince hesitated, turning, and whispered something inaudible to everyone except # 16. He then left immediately, passing first through the area of universe 13. The ‘Super Saiyans’ there seemed to have observed his fight with great interest. In particular, Kakarotto turned to him and smiled smugly in his direction. The other Vegeta's expression seemed to disapprove of his foolish companion with his mere glance.

As he approached, the speakers in the arena sounded once again. “The next fight will be Pan of Universe 18 against Kakarotto of Universe 13!”

“Kakarotto's an unbearable clown, eh?” the passing Vegeta mentioned to his counterpart of Universe 13, both noticing their arms were crossed in the same manner.

“A constant pain in the ass,” the evil Saiyan confirmed.

Vegeta had noticed that Kakarotto was stretching and popping his joints as he prepared for his upcoming fight with Pan.

“I'm warning you, Kakarotto,” he began. “If you fight with as little restraint against Pan as you did in your last fight...”

Unflinching, the Saiyans of Universe 13 stared at him.

“...it won’t be your own Vegeta you have to worry about, I'll stop you myself. And I promise to make it hurt.”

To his surprise, Kakarotto only smiled. “Your universe really is filled with a bunch of soft, caring pansies, isn’t it? What a shame.”

“There’ll be no need for you to pummel Kakarotto, no matter how much the idiot deserves it,” the other Vegeta suddenly added. “The girl’s father already had a little ‘talk’ with him. He’ll behave.”

“Well, well,” Vegeta said with a smile. ‘So Gohan went to see them during the night...interesting...’

Turning his back suddenly, Vegeta cut the conversation short and headed back to his own balcony. There, an anxious Pan was preparing for her own fight.