(Sometime later)
With the end of the quarter finals, which saw the challenger Doskoi tossing his opponent over one of the upper platforms and literally out of the competition, the four remaining contestants were then escorted into the waiting room while the audience was told to remain as they were. Though this announcement initially confused the spectators waiting eagerly in their seats, every single person on the island soon found out why they were told to hold fast as then, all of a sudden, the entire landmass began to move.
As it turns out, the island that the spectators and all of the other fighters were on wasn't actually fixed to the ground at all. The entire mass of earth and steel was in fact an enormous vessel that, after being unlatched from the seabed, set a course for the competition's final destination. Even though the preliminaries had been held on this island, the semi-finals and final match was actually set to be held on a second landmass dubbed Battle Island II; an actual atoll with two enormous mountains making up its topography, both dormant volcanoes, with the main stadium sitting in the heart of the larger of the two edifices.
Those that'd partaken in the festivities on the first island would be able to witness the final battles on the second. It wasn't a long trip to get to the place either; a quick sail out of the inlet and across the channel and the entire entourage of over eighty thousand spectators were there in just over forty minutes. The passengers were quick to disembark from the mobile landmass as soon as it docked with its significantly larger counterpart, where everyone was then driven via a fleet of buses to the dome serving as the final stadium.
The excitement hanging in the air was almost palpable.
For most anyway. As it turns out, X.S Cash's attendant had actually caught Mr. Satan trying to jump ship prematurely and ended up having to escort the man personally onto the second island, where he quickly adjourned to the nearest bathroom. The Champ had apparently come down with some sort of a chronic stomach ache, an illness that the staff reasoned the man had contracted due to a severe case of motion sickness.
Anyway, once all of the spectators had been filed into the stadium, the staff was then able to take the four winners of the quarter finals to their next room. Bringing them into the levels beneath the stadium itself, the group was sorted into a separate chamber where they were able to mingle and rest up before they were called to the elevators that would take them up to the final ring.
Each settled down to their own devices. While the imposing sumo wrestler Doskoi adopted an Indian style position in the corner of the room, Trunks had taken to leaning against a wall with his arms folded, Krillin a spot on the couch, and Gohan, energetic as always, had decided to stay on his feet and wander about the waiting room, taking in the various paintings and other embellishments hanging around the place. The smile he wore throughout his entire lap of the room told everyone that he was the most relaxed there, a sight that put a smile on Trunks's face.
"Excited?" the lavender Saiyan asked.
"You bet. I've never actually participated in a tournament like this before and I actually made it into the semi-finals on my first go," the younger hybrid chirped while looking across at his friend.
"Same here. The World Martial Arts Tournament in my time was shut down due to the havoc the androids were creating across the planet and since we were so busy fighting them, nobody had time for these kinds of activities," Trunks replied, his smile brightening somewhat as he looked down at the ground. "But now that their nightmare is over, we're able to go back to the way things were."
"I hope you guys are able to pull through it," Gohan spoke, beaming brightly with his hands behind his back. "You're the earth's protector now in your time… so that means everybody will be looking to you for support. I'm sure you'll do fine."
"Yeah," Mirai responded, nodding towards his mentor from the past with a heartfelt gleam in his eyes, "Thanks, Gohan."
"Ah, you shouldn't worry about it too much," Krillin said from the couch, soda in hand and a smile on his face. "Now that #17 and #18 are gone in your time, you and the rest of the planet can rest easy, knowing that the greatest threats have been wiped clean from the board. I mean, after all the stuff you and Bulma had to go through, I can imagine you guys are exhausted."
"Mm," Trunks nodded in agreement.
While the two had their heart to heart across the way, Gohan decided to pace around a little more. When he went to check out the bonsai trees growing along the table in the back, he sensed a pair of eyes watching him and glanced around to see Doskoi staring at him.
The youngster, blinking at the man's serious contours, beamed. "Hi there."
Appearing stoic at first, the big man soon broke out a smile, "Hello. You were the little one that sent Udo on a free trip across the pond, yeah?"
Gohan giggled and scratched his cheek, "Guilty."
"Impressive. You may not look it, but you're an incredibly powerful fighter," Doskoi replied while at the same time tilting his head towards the young man. "I'd fought Udo a few times before in previous tournaments. Even I found it difficult to toss a man of that size." He then gave the youngster a curious glance, "What's your secret?"
Giving it a moment of thought, the spiky haired hybrid chuckled, "The trick is to take their weight, pull them forward, and reverse their momentum. That way you'll not only throw them off balance, you'll also be able to use their strength against them."
Doskoi laughed heartily, which sounded more like a rumble that could be felt rather than heard, "You're a very technical fighter I see… just as I expected of someone of your character. To each their own, I suppose" Seeing the boy smile at his comment, the man then nodded towards him respectfully and spoke. "I hope that we get to meet each other in the final round to see who'll get to take down that Mr. Satan fellow." The wrestler frowned a bit and closed his eyes, "Between you and me, I do not believe that a man like that could have taken down somebody as terrifying as Cell. I saw what that monster did on the news. No way could someone of that caliber have fallen so easily to someone of Hercule Satan's skill set."
His remark actually had the three Z-fighters present smile, especially Krillin.
"At least there are some people out there with a little bit of common sense about them," Trunks thought, sharing an acknowledging nod with his companions. "We think so too, friend."
"Mr. Satan may know how to please a crowd, but defeating someone who can crush mountains with their bare hands… no way," Krillin added.
"Yeah. It takes a different kind of stuff to take on somebody like that," Gohan led on, earning a wide smile from the large sumo practitioner.
"Stuff that you three possess, I assume," the man responded, earning surprised blinks from Krillin and Gohan. Grinning slightly, the hulking figure winked, "I've seen how you three do battle. As someone who's been practicing martial arts for years now, I think I know when I've been outgunned. But that doesn't mean I won't give it my best shot."
Initially surprised, the three Z-fighters then smiled and gave their respects to the big wrestler. As one-dimensional as he initially came across, this man was actually one sharp customer. Of course, not wanting to rain on the man's parade, they simply returned his friendly exclamations with gestures of acknowledgement and thanks.
"I wonder what Chi-Chi and Bulma are doing right now," Krillin wondered out loud, turning to Trunks with an inquisitive expression. "You guys did mention that those two came along the watch the tournament."
"Maybe they're still arguing over who out of the three of us is going to win this thing," Mirai suggested with a shrug.
This reply had the short monk cackle sarcastically, "Oh please. No need to beat around the bush on this one, pal. What you really meant to say was who out of the two of us is going to win this thing. If you haven't forgotten, you and Gohan are products of a pair of terrifying space monsters and I'm just a poor little sack of flesh human with no hair."
While Trunks rolled his eyes, Gohan smiled and looked up as well, "Everyone should be getting comfortable right about now. I'm just wondering how Videl's doing. Maybe she's up there in the stadium waiting for us."
This little exclamation took Krillin out of the conversation a bit and had the man look in the youngster's direction, "Videl? Who's that?"
"Oh. This girl I met up in the food court. She's really nice and really tough… and she's learning how to fight using different kinds of martial arts. I think she's pretty cool. Maybe you guys can meet her afterwards." The moment he finished his little exclamation, Gohan then saw Krillin and Trunks look across at one another. After that, he then saw the monk grin slyly at him, while the man with the lavender hair threw the demi-Saiyan a very Vegeta like look of curiosity. Gohan actually felt a shiver run down his spine when he saw the pair's eyes flicker with mischief. "Uhh… why are you guys looking at me like that?"
"Oh, this is going to be fun," Krillin sung in his head while a wide grin pulled across his lips.
Poor innocent Gohan. He had no idea what kind of teasing was going to be coming his way.