(Meanwhile – Otherworld, Snake Way)
"So… how's the tournament coming along, King Kai?" the familiar, chirpy voice of Goku spoke up, drawing his mentor's gaze over to him and across the large mountain sticking up out of the clouds. Seeing the Saiyan approach, the Kai of the North took note of the enormous pile of food he was also carrying in his arms, "Has it started yet? Did I miss anything?"
"Not quite. They've just closed the registration desk and are setting up the arenas for all of the fighters," the Kai replied, hands folded over his stomach as he sat there on the deck chair with his eyes once again fixing upon the television crackling away in front of him. "I gotta say this is a pretty big tournament… much bigger than any of the other ones I remember seeing on earth before."
"I know. It's exciting, isn't it?" the Saiyan bearing the halo exclaimed, stopping behind his teacher. "Every year more and more people turn up to compete. How many fighters are there at this one?"
"Hmm… I'd say around roughly … two hundred strong."
"Two hundred?" Goku whistled, his eyes reflecting his amazement, "The prize money must be pretty awesome to draw in that big of a crowd."
"Yeah. Most of the people that'd signed up for the competition are more interested in winning the cash prize than fighting the 'Champ' and his 'alien' compatriots," King Kai snorted. He'd seen what the visitors from outer space looked like through the television and, curious as ever, decided to hone in on them to determine whether or not they were the genuine article. Sadly, they weren't. They were just a bunch of Hercule's top students dressed in ridiculous costumes that no man on the face of the planet would be caught dead in. The reality of the situation had King Kai sigh in disappointment. "The days where warriors fought for honor and glory are long gone now."
"You think so?" Goku asked.
A smile spread across the North Kai's lips, "Well… that may be true for most people, but your friends and family are a different story."
Oh yes, how could he forget about the Z-Fighters? Out of all the martial artists on the planet, their group was the only one who really fought for the sheer fun of it (the strongest ones anyway). Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta, Tien… for them fighting was a passion and a way of life. This went double for Goku and triple for the Prince of Saiyans, who took things like honor and pride to a whole other level.
Even Gohan had taken on more of his father's qualities.
Speaking of which…
"Hey, how's my son doing?" Goku asked while gleefully looking into the magic box, watching the images of the island stadium's numerous platforms flicker by. "He's in this tournament too. Is he feeling okay?"
"Oh, your son is doing just fine," King Kai responded, glancing at the man eagerly peering over his shoulder. "He's been training really hard for the last few weeks and he's been getting stronger ever since his battle against Cell. I have to say, he's made some excellent progress."
"Chi-Chi's letting Gohan train?" Goku was especially surprised at this news, which saw him gawking across at his mentor. "S-Since when?"
"Since he talked her into letting him over a month ago," King Kai snorted, watching as the camera switched over to another part of the island. "That boy of yours sure is something else. He's grown into a fine young warrior with a big heart. If you ask me, he's starting to look more and more like you each day. With that bright smile and passion for fighting, he's almost the spitting image of a younger you."
Smiling proudly, the spiky haired, orange-clad Goku beamed down at the screen as the intermission period continued, "Yeah. That's my boy alright. It's a shame I can't be down there with him."
King Kai then threw him a witty look, "Are you saying that because you want to be with your son… or because you want to participate in the tournament?"
"Both," was Goku's first response before his expression softened greatly. The twinkle in his eye was more than enough to tell the blue-skinned overseer of their quadrant what the man was really thinking, "But I'd rather be with my family more than anything else."
This brought a smile to all those who were listening, including Gregory and Bubbles who were messing around at the cards table behind them. Even though Goku had chosen to remain in the netherworlds to protect his family and friends from any and all enemies that were likely to come after him, they could still see that the Saiyan missed being with his loved ones. It had been a harsh and difficult decision for him to make, even if the earth's greatest hero had practically labeled himself as a jinx. All the same, everyone believed that it was for the best.
He said that he would come back whenever he could and until then he was going to have to be ready to face the aggravated storm that was his wife. Boy… was Chi-Chi going to be mad.
As they continued to watch the screen intently from their positions, the pair then saw the feed flip over to one of the random roaming cameras in another part of the island. Recognizing the familiar environment of an enormous food court, King Kai and Goku spent a moment admiring the festive setup with interest before both their expressions suddenly switched to looks of surprise.
Sitting right there at one of the tables, they saw Gohan eating and chatting animatedly with a girl with raven black hair and pig tails around the same age as him.
Seeing the pair giggle at what they deduced was a little joke, King Kai's sunglasses flashed mischievously, "Hello? What's this?"
"Hey! It's Gohan," the Saiyan exclaimed in delight, before his gaze fell upon the newcomer, "Huh? Who's that? I don't think I've ever seen her before."
"It looks like your son's made a new friend," the otherworld trainer remarked, a statement which brought a look of pleasant awe followed by a wide grin to Goku's face moments later.
OOO
(Back on Earth)
If getting onto the island was hard enough, finding a spot in the stands overlooking the various battle platforms to watch the fights was even tougher. This was especially the case for both Chi-Chi and Bulma who, after purchasing some snacks and beverages from one of the food stands in their area, quickly headed up to one of the higher levels to find a seat. Having to navigate their way through countless civilians flocking in the exact same direction, the pair eventually secured a spot in one of the upper balconies right at the front.
It'd been a stroke of luck. After making themselves comfortable, the two mothers only had to wait a short while before the announcer's voice blared out across the island via the enormous intercom system that'd been setup.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience! We will now be starting the first round of the tournament!" the loud, charismatic voice of the primary mediator spoke up, drawing a loud cheer from the thousands of people scattered across the landmass. "All fighters please make their way to their assigned platforms to begin the preliminaries!"
"Alright! It's starting," Bulma exclaimed, with the crowd behind her sharing similar phrases and remarks of enthusiasm. With her infant son held securely in her arms, the blue haired woman turned to smile across at her friend. "Let's see if we can spot the others as they're coming out."
"Yeah. That shouldn't be too hard," Chi-Chi replied, leaning forward with her companion to begin scanning the blocks one after the other. "All we have to do is look for the most unique and outstanding group in the competition," And the one that would be, in relative terms, kicking the most ass.
For the next fifteen minutes following the message, the two women watched on as hundreds upon hundreds of martial artists poured out into the open and onto the various open stages that would serve as the arenas for the first round of opening fights. Each one of these elevated platforms represented a block on the tally that the fighters were assigned to, and it was here that the competitors would decide who would be moving on to the quarter finals through a series of eight separate battle royale matches. Since there were over two-hundred fighters present, all of whom had been randomly assigned to each platform, the crowds were almost guaranteed to get one hell of a show.
As they were watching more fighters spill out into the arenas, Chi-Chi's face lit up and she pointed towards one of the tower rings, "Hey, I can see Krillin." He wasn't that hard to miss; short, bald, with the trappings of a monk and wearing the signature orange and blue uniform of the Turtle School. With Bulma also spotting her friend of years past waving towards the crowd, the two women beamed with joy, "Heh. Check it out. He looks pretty upbeat today."
"Yeah. I figured out of our entire group, he would be the first to show up for this tournament. Since he and Goku participated in so many of the World Martial Arts Championships together, it doesn't surprise me one bit to see him at this one. It must be his way of honoring the memory of his best friend," Bulma commented, a warm smile reflected on her face before her eyes suddenly rolled moments later, "That or the enormous prize money dragged him down here."
Chi-Chi giggled, "He probably thought nobody else from our team would be signing up for the event and put his name down under the impression that this was going to be a walk in the park. Too bad for him that Gohan and Trunks wanted to come along as well."
Both unanimously agreeing that it was the prize money that had called the Z-Fighters here, except for maybe a couple of them, both Bulma and Chi-Chi went back to scanning the mob of fighters.
"There's Yamcha!" Bulma called out, pointing across to the third stage to see her orange-wearing ex-boyfriend ambling out into the open.
"Yeah. And there's Tien," Chi-Chi chimed in, pointing towards a third platform across the way where the three-eyed man could be seen standing on the edge of the crowd with his arms crossed. "Cool as a cucumber, as usual. He's probably one of the only people here who's not interested in the prize money at all. He's just looking for a good fight."
"And if those two are here, then that means Oolong, Puar and the others must be somewhere around here as well," the blue haired woman added, while glancing across at her best friend with a smile. "I don't see Chiaotzu on any of the arenas. Maybe he's sitting out on this one."
Seeing as how the short, mime-like fighter wasn't able to keep up with the others too well anymore, it made perfect sense to the pair that he would prefer to watch the fights rather than participate in them. Nobody thought any less of him for it and nobody was going to hold his decision against him.
"Ah. Check it out. Another familiar face just rocked up," the scientist chirped when she glanced at another grand stage to her far left.
When her eyes landed on the same area, a low groan escaped Chi-Chi's lips, "Well, if it isn't Mr. Piccolo." The young woman sighed, "Figures he'd be out and about. He must have caught wind of the tournament over the airways and decided to come down here for a bit of fun." The prize money obviously didn't beckon the Namekian here. What would an alien warrior from another planet and a former Demon King who only drank water possibly need with a hundred million zeni?
Despite having come to tolerate Piccolo and view him as an old family friend, Chi-Chi still felt a little iffy about him at times. Maybe he was just a little too strange for the Son mother to really become attached too… or maybe because his aloof personality made him close to unapproachable. She was learning more towards the latter than the former.
After seeing Trunks roll out onto one of the platforms above Krillin's, Bulma's smile brightened, "Well… that should be everybody. The only one I don't see out there yet is Gohan."
"He's probably still wandering around the food court or exploring the island," Chi-Chi wondered out loud, shaking her head and looking across at the blue haired scientist. "Just like his father. He thinks more with his gut than he does with his brain." Her expression then blinked to one of confusion as she watched the young mother make funny faces to her giggling son. "Speaking of fathers, didn't you ask Vegeta if he wanted to come along?"
This question quickly had Bulma frown and look towards the platforms exasperatedly, "Hmph. No way. The guy's been moping around the house every day for the past month. He's not even going out to train anymore. I don't know what's gotten into him."
Chi-Chi, giving it a moment of consideration, looked back over the railings in front of her solemnly, "He hasn't been the same since Goku died."
After several moments of thought, the raven haired woman decided that they'd had enough negativity and decided to brighten the mood a little. Sucking it up, the Ox King's daughter reached into her purse and pulled out two fans with the words 'Son' and 'Victory' imprinted on each one. Since she was here to support her number one, she was going to give it her all and make sure he had all the positive energy he needed to win.
All she needed to complete the equation was a son to support who, as of right now, was still absent from the arena.