Chapter 20: Chapter 20 - Crane Games Are Stupid
Arriving at the meetup point at the airport, they meet up with the rest of the crew.
"Goku!"
Krillin saw the trio first and noticed Goku mixed in with the girls. Everyone went up to them to greet them.
"You have grown a little bit Goku? Doesn't matter! I will win this time!" Yamcha said pointing at himself with an extremely arrogant smirk.
"Yes, you will Yamcha. I believe in you." Goku patted on his arm with a sincere expression on his face.
"So Goku, how has your training going? What is it that Bulma created to improve yourself with your trip around the world."
"Yeah! Bulma and her Dad were working gravity manipulation and they gave me this!" Goku pointed at the belt that he was currently wearing. On it was flashing the image of 2x in bright white. Goku needed to turn down the Gravity or else the helicopter they came in would have been brought down from the weight.
"Huh. So what, is it increasing your gravity to put more stress on your body and muscles?" Roshi was prodding Goku with a stick to see if it would affect the stick or Goku in some way. Before Goku could answer, Bulma injected feeling a little too happy to be discussing science with the old coot.
"That is the basic premise behind it. How it works is that it calibrates the effect of gravity that is already placed on the user and enhances it to whatever degree you want. That is why his clothes and other necessities are not affected but he is. It is only affecting him throughout his entire body." Bulma finished off her rant on the amazing technology that she made.
"Hmm, I see. So what right now he is at 2x gravity compared to us? Interesting." Everyone nodded at the simple explanation that Puar whipped up. They didn't really pay attention to the details, only results. Bulma didn't notice it soaking up the fact that she is indeed a genius making Chichi and Goku look at her in pity.
After talking with the crew about what they did over the 3 years that they were separated, they all heard their flight being called. They all ushered in the plane taking up their assigned seats that were next to each other. Bulma was able to get Goku's pass last second when he showed up to her house. Pays to be friends with some of the most powerful people on Earth.
They all talked some more on the short flight while Roshi was busy groping the flight attendant. We made sure to point out that we didn't know him when she asked.
Landing at the airport, they quickly hailed two taxis that were already on the road to go to the tournament.
They finally arrived at the entrance of the tournament grounds, they saw hordes of people crowd around not letting anyone else go through.
"There are a lot more people here than last time. I guess the last tourney really got people riled up." Puar hovered above everyone trying to see an end to the massive cluster of people. Everyone was heading to the spectator stands while the registration stand was pushed back a little.
Puar noticed a line sort that was blocked with some rope. They headed towards that line and were about to enter before someone stopped them with their nasally voice.
"Why if it isn't my former rival the Turtle Hermit. Former because I am way out of your league now."
Walking up to them was an old man of the same aura of Master Roshi. When they locked eyes, there was a fierce clash of sparks that erupted.
"Why if it isn't my former rival the Crane Hermit. Former because he couldn't take rejection from a lady unlike me where I get all of them."
Shen spat to the side at the old jab and snorted at the Roshis's entourage behind him. He scanned the orange outfits with disgust.
"No matter. Although your school was more prevalent in the last World Martial Arts, it was only because my school was not present. This time however we will stomp on you flat until you disappear with Tien and Chiaotzu." Shen pointed to the tall man with an extra eye on his forehead and the pale person that was floating.
"Are you smoking something more severe than last time? You up the ante from weed to cocaine? My students won't even see you in the finals let alone compete!"
"Hmph." Not willing to put up with Roshi any longer, Shen headed to the large crowd while Tien and Chiaotzu went to the presumable registration line.
"Who was that Master Roshi?" Krillin looked between the two old monsters with curiosity.
"That was my old friend turned rival. We had the same masters but he was led down a dark path." Not wanting to discuss it further they all continued their way to the roped in line.
"You guys here to register?" It was a large man with a muscular complexion. His eyes scanned the group resting on a few particular faces.
"Yeah." Goku answered simply.
"Only contestants. You better register or you will regret it."
The non-combatants, including Roshi, grumbled before heading onto the big crowd that was formed. Goku knew that that mass was going to test the patience of Bulma before she did something to get her to the front.
The rest went through the line making it very obvious that they were fighters when everyone glanced at them. They recognized the group and the crowd broke into a discussion. Goku could easily hear what they were saying.
"Who do you think would win? I think that Goku kid is going to win this time!"
"What are you saying? He was strong but he is still as short as he was before. I think that Jackie Chun will win if he comes back."
"I don't see Jackie... I believe Yamcha will win. His Wolf Fang Fist was cool."
It wasn't long before that person was shoved out of the crowd and back into the front of the entrance.
---
Everyone at the preliminary stage looked at the trio with a bit of fear as they walked into a whole slew of different fighters.
An old man came out of the woodworks and started talking to the contestants. He basically told everyone that participants were increasing, making the tournament come every 3 years. Goku on the corner of his eyes saw a familiar luscious hair attached to a familiar old man.
Everyone went up and grabbed a paper from the box. Everyone was on separate brackets like the plot planned.
Yamcha in block 1, Goku and Krillin in block 2, Jackie in block 3.
Of course, the preliminaries served as a reminder as to how brutally strong they were compared to the regular fighters. The ones in the same block as them really started to regret their life decisions and considered backing out right there.
Being the douches that they are, Tien and Chiaotzu came up and Tien bumped Yamcha on the should inciting a response. And that he did when Yamcha nearly fell down.
"Hey watch it Eyeball! You would think that with an extra eye, a freak like you would see where you are going."
Tien stopped while Chiaotzu looked worriedly at him when his expression didn't change. Tien turned around and glared at the smirking Yamcha.
"Better watch your back weakling. Hope you squeal like an actual wolf when I crush you."
After those words, they turned around and left.
Needless to say, the prelims were pretty stale with each fighter easily winning each round. The crew studied their rivals' abilities while they did the same, but no one was really showing too much as the fights were not hard enough.
---
They found the others at the front after weaving through the massive crowd that was surrounding the ring.
"How did you guys get to the front of all those people?" Krillin asked the others. Everyone looked a little embarrassed when he asked that besides Bulma and Launch. At the same time, everyone within earshot glared at Bulma before she returned it at full force.
"All I did was make everyone in my way smaller with my newly invented shrink wave and went to the front. They got a free show from the bottom up anyways before I unshrank them so I don't know why they are so touchy."
At that remark, everyone in the crowd looked away while the fighting trio looked at the gun on her hand that she produced out of nowhere with great interest.
"An improved version of your shrink watch? Nice." Goku said with earnest.
"Thanks! At least someone appreciates my technology." Bulma said with a little more oomph than usual.
Sure enough, the contestants were called just a few moments after.
"All contestant please gather at the Main Hall, the tournament will start soon."
---
Entering the hall, they saw Jackie, Tien, Chiaotzu, a man wolf, and another guy with bandages wrapped around his hands.
Goku was stretching himself while the announcer was getting everything ready. Krillin and Yamcha were talking amongst themselves before the nag petrol came.
"Looks like garbage as been smelling up the whole room. Don't worry, we will take it out soon enough."
Yamcha and Krillin looked at each other in exasperation. They could not believe that this guy is still trying to talk trash. They both looked towards Goku and he was completely ignoring them both in favor of his warm-ups.
"Hey Goku, they are talking to us." Yamcha thought that he was a little slow at the uptake on this one.
"Huh? Oh, I thought they were talking to themselves. Real martial artists show their training on the stage, not by losing their dignity with talking outside of it."
After that snarky answer, Krillin and Yamcha smirked at the embarrass Tien.
"I'll show you!"
They both stormed off just as the announcer called them over to draw lots. It was the same charming announcer with his blonde hair and extravagant gestures.
"Let's start with last tournament's champion, Jackie Chun."
"No. 4, match 2"
"Yamcha, No.1, match 1"
"Putput, No.7, match 4"
"Tien, No.5, match 3"
"Krillin, No.8, match 4"
"Man Wolf, No.2, match 1"
"Chiaotzu, No.3, match 2"
"Goku, No.6, match 3"
After Goku got the last card, he glanced at the smirking Tien. Staring at him for a few seconds, he adverted his gaze to Chiaotzu who was next time. He smirked when they made eye contact and put a finger on his eyes and pulled it down revealing the red below his eyes.
After they got stunned for a little, Goku left to spectate the first match.
"Sorry for making you wait everyone! The 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament begins now!"
Everyone in the crowd cheered nearly deafening the announcer as he sweatdropped at the excitement.
"From these 8, the winner will receive 500,000 Zeni and be officially named the Strongest Under the Heavens! The first match we have is someone by the name of Man Wolf in the left corner! Not to be confused with Wolf Men who turned to wolves during a full moon, Man Wolf turns into a man during the full moon!"
Man Wolf walked on stage with a certain amount of swagger in his step.
"And on the right corner, we have Yamcha! A contestant from the previous tournament, he is known for his Wolf Fang Fist and judging from his gi, a student at the Turtle Hermit school!"
"We shall see! An actual wolf vs the imitation! Let the match begin!"
When he heard the word imitation, he scoffed at the ludicrously from such a statement. He made the glorious Wolf Fang Fist and is proud of such a feat. If any.
"You are going down kid! I need to meet up with Jackie Chun so I can smash his skull in!"
Yamcha smirked at the hot-headed Man Wolf before him and decided to teach him a lesson.
"Hmph! I will show you and everyone else what my so-called 'imitation' is!" After saying such a bold statement, he launched himself at his opponent.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
PostLost
PostLost Done!
Next couple of chapters are going to be tournament. Not much to say after lol. What I did see was people asking for more Harem. Like what does that even mean. I already have the finalized Harem if that is what you guys are asking. :)
I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any suggestions, reviews, or critiques! Please share them with me!
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