After making a literal impression on the audience in the form of a massive, human-shaped hole in one of the bleachers, Gohan happily vacated the ring to make way for the next two contestants. Once everyone had been shaken out of their stunned reveries, the referee quickly went on to call the next two fighters, only to realize that they were both already out on the stage.
"M-Moving onto the second match, Trunks battles Tien Shinhan!" the arbitrator stammered, drawing a cheer from the audience as they watched the two men prepare.
Knowing his next fight was going to be his toughest one yet, the three-eyed former assassin removed the white shirt from his back and tossed it away. Showing off his scarred, muscle-layered body, the man then took a deep breath and brought his fists to his sides.
Meeting the lavender haired Saiyan's gaze, Tien smiled, "Hey, Trunks. Whaddaya say we give these people a good show?"
The time-traveling warrior smiled and nodded in return. "Okay."
With the crowds cheering and the stage set, the officials sounded the bell. The second it blared, both Trunks and Tien vanished from the arena and bounded up the island from platform to platform in the form of two, fast moving blurs. Once they reached the apex, they both leapt into the sky and flew right at each other, engaging in a flurry of lightning fast blows hundreds of feet above sea level.
The sound of powerful attacks cutting through the air rang out as both Tien and Trunks danced across the sky, trading punches and kicks while dodging and parrying blows in turn. When the three-eyed fighter struck out, the hybrid Saiyan countered with a swift kick, only to be met with a check and a left hook, which he was forced to avoid. Both crisscrossed, avoiding simultaneous blows from the other before Trunks flew at his opponent with a spinning kick, which Tien ducked at the last moment.
Seeing his opponent fly past him, the triclops gritted his teeth and shot up after him with a swift one-two combo and a kick, all three of which Trunks calmly avoided before countering with a left roundhouse. The blow impacted against the human's chest with a sonic boom, the force of which sent Tien spiraling towards the ocean with the scream of a passing jet. However, before Tien could hit the water's surface, he pulled up at the last second and leveled out, tearing a shallow trench through the sea.
xxx
Up in X.S Cash's roving sky box, the entire family of three could be seen gawking out the window as they watched the battle between Trunks and Tien unfold. At first they'd all been sitting quietly and patiently, expecting to watch a simple ground match between the two contestants. But then, just as they were getting comfortable, their moods did a complete one eighty when the two men suddenly vanished and reappeared in the skies above the island seconds later, throwing punches at each other that simultaneously echoed with every swing and broke the sound barrier with every impact.
In a matter of seconds everyone, including the camera crew covering the family and the Champ's communal in their part of the island, were stunned.
"They're fighting in midair," the portly, wealthiest man in the world exclaimed, unable to comprehend what was happening. All he knew was that it was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen.
His son was also speechless.
The mother, looking on nervously, glanced across at her husband, "Honey, are you sure they're not using wires?"
Her question was promptly silenced when the two fighters vanished once again and the sounds of sonic booms started to ring across the island like thunderclaps. Each invisible blast was marked by a tremor, which had the audience holding onto their seats and looking on in amazement when the two blurs that were the fighters darted through the sky in a fantastic aerial dogfight.
Wanting to get a secondary opinion, the reporter Sarah and her cameraman Tom, both of which were standing in the skybox, turned their attention to the world champion. Neither of them seemed to notice the look of abject horror on the man's face, as his back was completely turned to them.
"Mr. Satan. Can you explain this extraordinary event?" the woman asked, holding the mike out to him.
Timidly glancing over his shoulder, the afro fighter gulped before launching into a tirade of preposterous theories, "It's a simple parlor trick! They just make a quick switch-a-roo with smoke and mirrors, and what no-GAAAH!" He was cut off when the sound barrier seemingly exploded right next to their balcony and caused the entire island to shake, causing the people standing in the box to let out a startled yell before falling over.
Face-planting the cold floor, the thunderstruck Hercule Satan could do nothing except mutter gibberish to himself.
"Why… out of all the tournaments did they have to enter mine, I hate this." He could almost cry.
xxx
Their connecting blows taking the form of earthshaking thunder claps, the two fierce warriors engaged one another at invisible speed throughout the skies above the island. Eventually, after battling one another in their own plain of perception that literally shook several spectators out of their chairs, the two eventually reemerged in hot pursuit of one another.
Gaining altitude as fast as he could, Tien quickly spun around, threw both his hands up, and formed a familiar diamond shaped crosshairs. Gathering ki between his palms, he took aim with his hands and zoomed in on the approaching Trunks, who quickly spotted the attack being aimed at him.
"TRI BEAM-HAAAA!" Tien bellowed, before unleashing a square shaped blast of golden energy from his hands that shot towards the hybrid at ridiculous speed.
The attack, despite its enormous size and range, was effectively dodged when Trunks zipped out of its path. The blast ended up striking one of the island's tors where, upon impacting, caused a massive explosion that not only disintegrated that uninhabited portion of the island and caused the formation of rock to topple into the shallows, it also generated towering waves in that rippled out across the ocean. The audience practically cried out in terror at the violent tremors the explosion created.
Ignoring the smoke and the debris pelting their surroundings, Trunks and Tien continued their battle. Darting through the air at great speed, the pair eventually collided with one another with simultaneous, full-body checks. The impact resulted in another enormous shockwave, which was followed by an ear-splitting crack when Tien's fist smashed across Trunks's face. The blow sent both blasting away from one another across the water, where they then suspended themselves to catch their breaths.
Seeing his foe smiling across at him and returning it likewise, Tien's face quickly became serious. "He's still holding back a great deal of his strength. Looks like I'm going to have to go all out if I want to make him work." With that thought, Tien powered up, a white aura of energy exploding off of his body and enveloping him completely.
Responding to the threat, Trunks quickly shot up into the air to gain some distance. Once he'd secured a good altitude, he turned back to his opponent, threw his arms and legs out, and powered up as well. With a shout of effort, golden energy exploded off of the demi-Saiyan like wildfire and blasted outwards, a transformation which was marked by his hair spiking upwards, turning gold, and his eyes flashing a greenish-blue.
The crowds were completely awed by the display, watching on while the two glowing fighters prepared for a second bout.
Practically leaning over the railings at this point, a completely stunned Videl blinked in amazement when she watched the two competitors take off from their low altitude positions to engage each other above the island once again. At first overwhelmed by their sheer display of speed, ferocity and power, as well as their ability to fly, the girl was once again sent into an inner spiral of thought when she saw the pair light up like flames and start trading blows with one another at an even greater speed. It was completely mindboggling.
While she continued to watch the pair dogfight through the clouds and between the towering platforms, the raven haired girl remained completely silent, locked in a daze that would not be so easily broken. But then, as memories of watching the Cell Games flickered through her mind and a group of familiar faces from that same day began to surface, the child was eventually able to piece two and two together and soon enough blinked herself out of her startled reverie.
"W-Wait a second… super strength, super speed, beams of bright energy… golden hair…" Videl's thoughts came to a screeching halt when she finally realized what she was looking at. "Th-These are the people who were at the Cell Games with dad!"
Holy crap. So the men who'd fought Cell after her father were here at this tournament as well. That was outstanding! Looking up at the screen showcasing all of the competitors, she was soon able to recognize four of the ones that she remembered seeing there on the news, as well as the one that'd been knocked out in the preliminaries by Doskoi. Startled by this discovery, the girl then took a moment to tally up the faces before looking out across the island a third time, watching on as more explosions rippled through the skies.
"A couple of them are missing though," Videl thought, since she couldn't see the blonde haired father and son anywhere. They were the two she remembered fighting Cell after her dad and his friends had been knocked out, and displayed the exact same powers as the fighter with the previously lavender hair now battling it out with Tien.
Of course, thinking on it a little more, after witnessing the competitor's startling alteration, Videl then realized that the father and son duo must have the same ability to change their hair color as well. Apparently this Trunks's normal hair color was purplish. If that were the case and his change in hair color was part of his transformation into that golden form, then the father and son from the Cell Games could probably do that too.
Despite this new information though, Videl still had a few more questions that had been left unanswered.
"W-Where does Gohan fit in to all of this?" He obviously didn't display the normal traits of a strong fighter. The fact that he sent his previous opponent on a two kilometer flight was proof of that. Her dad was one of the strongest people she knew and even with his ridiculous hitting power; there was no way her father could do something even close to that. But again, after meditating on it a little bit more, something in the girl's mind clicked that had her staring at the screen with the demi-Saiyan's face smiling back at her. "No way… could… could Gohan be…?
After the things she'd seen and was now watching live in front of her, everything was starting to come together.