BEGIN!"
The announcer's shout hadn't even finished echoing before both fighters vanished from sight. To the untrained eye, they'd simply disappeared. But those with combat experience could track the blur of movement as they closed the distance in a fraction of a second.
They reappeared at the arena's center, forearms colliding with a thunderous *CRACK* that sent a gust of wind exploding outward in all directions. The force was enough to make the remaining spectators shield their faces and grip the railings tighter.
For a heartbeat, they held that position, locked in a test of pure strength, neither giving ground.
Then Piccolo's hand opened, fingers splayed. His arm swept horizontally from right to left in a razor-sharp chop aimed at Kakarot's neck, fast enough to decapitate.
Kakarot's body twisted with serpentine speed, rotating away from the strike. The edge of Piccolo's hand passed millimeters from her throat, close enough to slice through several strands of her hair.
Using the momentum of her rotation, Kakarot pivoted on one foot and launched a reverse roundhouse kick. Her heel caught Piccolo square on the jaw with devastating impact.
His head snapped to the side. A thin thread of purple blood arced through the air, splattering against the gray tiles.
*Wh-what's going on?!* Piccolo's thoughts reeled, genuine shock breaking through his usual composure. The hit had rattled him, made his vision swim for a moment. *That power... that speed...*
He heard the soft *pad* of a footstep and turned, his wits returning just in time to see her stepping forward. Her entire body coiled like a spring, her leg already in motion for a back kick that put all her momentum behind it.
The strike caught him in the side, folding his body around the impact point. The force blasted him sideways across the arena, his feet leaving the ground completely.
Piccolo's eyes bulged with pain, teeth clenched so hard they should have cracked. He snapped out of his daze mid-flight and planted his head against the tiles, using the friction to slow his momentum. The impact left a long scrape mark across the stone.
He looked up, and there she was, standing tall with a little smirk on her face, completely composed, her bare feet planted firmly on the broken arena floor.
For just a moment, Piccolo saw something else. A flash of memory from when he'd first been born into this world, Goku, standing over him just like this, powerful and confident, offering mercy when he should have offered death.
"DON'T GET COCKY!" Piccolo roared, spit and blood flying from his mouth. The shout was equal parts fury and denial.
He launched forward, his arm extending like rubber, stretching impossibly across the distance. The limb snaked through the air with blinding speed, reaching for Kakarot's throat.
She stepped inches to the side, the extended arm passing harmlessly by her. Her hands shot out and grabbed his wrist. Using his own momentum against him, she rotated her body and hurled Piccolo into the air with devastating force.
As he flew upward, Kakarot's upper body twisted fast, coiling with power. Her right arm came around in a wide hook punch that, created a compressed wave of air, a bullet of wind that slammed into Piccolo's face with the force of a sledgehammer.
His head snapped backward, neck muscles straining.
"It's not finished yet!" Kakarot called out, that smirk still playing on her lips as she jumped after him, fist clenched and cocked back for a devastating follow-up.
But Piccolo's eyes snapped open mid-flight. He'd recovered faster than she anticipated, and his tactical mind was already calculating.
*There!* He saw the opening, she'd committed to the jumping punch, couldn't change trajectory mid-air.
"I SAID DON'T GET COCKY!" Piccolo's palm opened, aimed directly at her approaching form. "HAAA!"
The ki wave exploded from his hand at point-blank range, catching Kakarot square in the chest. The impact reversed her momentum instantly, blasting her back-first into the arena tiles with bone-crushing force.
The stone cracked and buckled beneath her, creating a spiderweb of fractures.
"HAAAAAAAAA!"
Piccolo unleashed six more ki blasts in rapid succession, each one slamming into Kakarot before she could recover. The explosions hit her like a rain of molten anvils, making her body bounce off the ground with each impact. The crater grew larger and deeper with every blast, debris flying outward in all directions.
When the barrage finally stopped, dust and smoke obscured the impact site completely.
"KAKAROT!" Krillin, Chi-Chi, and Yamcha shouted in unison from the preparation area, their voices tight with concern.
Yamcha's expression was grim. "Piccolo underestimated her at first... but now he's clearly taking her seriously."
"If only Goku were here!" Bulma wailed, clinging to Oolong's neck so tightly she was choking him. "This idiot! Where is he?!"
Baba watched in silence, her eyes fixed on the crater. This was the girl she'd found as a baby, the child she'd raised for years before sending her to Kami.
Piccolo descended slowly from the sky, landing at the crater's edge. His eyes never left the settling dust.
The announcer rushed forward, microphone in hand. "The challenger appears to be down! I'll begin the count! One... Two..."
"Move aside," Piccolo said quietly, his voice carrying certainty. "It's far from over."
And indeed, through the dust and debris, a figure rose. Kakarot pushed herself up. Her gi was torn, particularly around her midsection where the fabric had been completely shredded, exposing her toned stomach. The belt was destroyed, hanging in tatters.
In the stands, Bulma, Mai, and Lunch's eyes went wide simultaneously. Not because of the injuries, but because of something else entirely.
"What the hell is that behind her?" Bulma said, her voice carrying shock and confusion.
"Is that a..." Mai added, trailing off as her mind tried to process what she was seeing.
Behind Kakarot, previously hidden by her belt and gi, a long furry tail swayed back and forth. Brown and flexible, unmistakably real.
Kakarot looked back and realized what had been exposed. She rubbed the back of her head, her usual innocent expression returning despite the battle. "Atchaa..."
Everyone in their group turned to stare at Baba.
"What IS that?!" Lunch demanded.
"She's just like Goku!" Oolong exclaimed, pointing at the tail. "He has one too..."
"IS SHE RELATED TO GOKU?!" Bulma's voice cracked with the force of her shout.
Baba's response was barely a mutter, inaudible over the wind and distant sounds of combat.
"What? We can't hear you!" they chorused.
"I DON'T KNOW!" Baba shouted back.
She took a breath and continued more calmly, "When I first saw Goku and his tail, I was intrigued. She's exactly like him in that regard. That tail is both her weakness and her strength. During the full moon, she's transformed multiple times into a giant monster that loses all control and reason."
"Goku's tail was his weakness too," Bulma said slowly, memories flooding back. "But the giant—"
She, Oolong, and Pu'ar looked at each other as realization dawned simultaneously.
"AAAAH!" they exclaimed together. "When we were traveling with Goku, one night during a full moon, his body started doing something weird, expanding, changing! But he passed out before the transformation completed!"
Baba rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm, I think they're both the same... whatever they are. Goku is a mature and clever boy, so he must have trained his tail thoroughly to eliminate the weakness."
What she didn't say, what she wouldn't reveal, was the truth she'd learned years ago. When Kakarot had been just a baby and Baba had found her in that crater, in that pod, the old fortuneteller had used her mystical powers to read the infant's mind. She'd seen the memories, a woman who looked exactly like an adult version of Kakarot, a scar across her cheek, placing the baby in a strange pod and whispering a single word, "Kakarot."
That's why Baba had given her that name. Because it was her name, her real name from before she'd arrived on Earth.
But the implications of that memory, that Kakarot wasn't human, that she'd come from somewhere else, and Goku might be like her.
---
In the arena, Kakarot stretched her arms above her head, working out the soreness from Piccolo's assault. The movement exposed her armpits and the sides of her chest, and Roshi's nose immediately began bleeding.
"Well, let's continue then!" Kakarot said cheerfully, dropping back into a combat stance.
Both fighters vanished and reappeared, clashing at close range. Piccolo's eyes glowed crimson, and twin beams of concentrated energy lanced toward Kakarot's face.
She ducked her head at the last possible second, the beams passing over her and exploding against the ground behind her. Using her lowered position, she leaned back further and lifted both legs in a double kick that caught Piccolo under the chin with brutal force.
His head snapped upward, and his body lifted off the ground. Before he could recover, Kakarot disappeared again.
"She vanished! Just like she did against me!" Tien exclaimed, his third eye wide with amazement.
Kakarot moved so fast she seemed to phase out of existence entirely. Piccolo's eyes darted around, trying to track her, his combat instincts screaming warnings.
*There!*
He twisted and drove his elbow backward, catching her right on the cheek just as she materialized behind him. The impact sent her flying sideways toward the arena wall, blood trailing from her split lip.
Piccolo spun to follow up, but she wasn't where he expected. She'd used the momentum of his hit to reposition, appearing behind him instead.
"Over here," she said.
Her kick caught him square in the back, blasting him forward. Piccolo pushed off the ground, launching himself high into the air. His teeth clenched in frustration, blood trailing from his mouth.
"I'M GONNA BLAST YOU ALONG WITH THE RING!" he roared.
His hands gathered energy, but his aim was downward, toward the arena floor and the stands where everyone watched.
"HAAAAAAAA!"
The massive ki wave erupted, a giant sphere rocketing toward the ground. If it hit, everyone would die.
Kakarot's eyes widened. She jumped, launching herself into the attack's path. Her body tucked into a backflip, rotating upside down.
At the apex, completely inverted, she extended her leg. Her bare foot connected with the giant ki sphere.
The impact seared her shin, burning. "AAAGH!"
She pushed. Struggled. The sphere resisted, its momentum carrying it downward.
The trajectory changed. She redirected it with her leg. With one final push, the sphere shot horizontally past the arena toward the sea.
The attack reached the ocean and detonated. A massive column of water exploded upward, and seawater rained down on the island, drenching everyone.
Kakarot landed hard, dropping to one knee. Her right shin was bright red and smoking. She wiggled her leg gingerly, wincing. "Hot hot hot!"
His teeth were clenched in frustration and though he'd never admit it growing concern. This girl was pushing him harder than anyone had.
*No!* his mind screamed. *I can't allow HIM to see me struggling against these weaklings! When he arrives, I need to be standing victorious!*
"ENOUGH!" Piccolo roared, his aura exploding outward in a violent surge of purple energy.
He landed heavily on the arena floor, the impact cracking the tiles beneath his feet. His power continued to build, sparks of electricity crackling around his body as he gathered energy for something devastating.
"I WILL DESTROY THIS ISLAND WITH EVERYONE ON IT!"
The declaration sent chills through everyone present. This wasn't a bluff or empty threat, the sheer amount of power gathering around Piccolo made it clear he had the capability to make good on his promise.
"This explosion will be a hundred times bigger than the previous one!" Piccolo shouted, his voice carrying over the building energy field.
Kakarot's expression shifted from determined to horrified. She turned toward the stands where her friends and the remaining spectators watched.
"RUN! Leave this place NOW!" she screamed, desperation clear in her voice.
She tried to jump toward Piccolo to stop him, but the energy radiating from his body pushed her back like trying to walk through a hurricane. The pressure was too intense, she couldn't get close enough to interfere.
In the stands and preparation areas, panic erupted. The crowd that had stayed to watch, drawn by morbid fascination or stubborn loyalty, now scrambled for the exits, screaming in terror. Hundreds of feet pounded against concrete as people fled for their lives.
Roshi, Baba, and the others who'd stayed in the front row scrambled together, joining Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Chi-Chi, and Chaozu near the preparation area exit.
"We have to flee!" Roshi shouted, grabbing Baba's arm. "Now!"
But Baba wasn't responding. She stood perfectly still, staring upward.
"Big sis!" Roshi shook her arm. "We have to go!"
Baba remained silent, transfixed.
Above them, the sky began to change. Black clouds gathered with unnatural speed, thick and roiling like a living thing. In their center, lightning flashed, not the thin streaks of normal storms, but massive bolts that seemed to tear reality itself.
Wind began to gush across the island like the breath of an approaching typhoon, growing stronger by the second until it became a genuine storm. Debris flew through the air. Loose clothing whipped violently.
"SEE MY POWER!" Piccolo screamed, the energy sphere above his head reaching critical mass, pulsing with barely contained destruction. "THIS IS THE END OF—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
The sounds of the panicking crowd, the screams, the running footsteps, the desperate prayers, all of it ceased. Not gradually, but instantly, as if someone had hit a mute button on the world.
Silence fell like a guillotine.
Piccolo, confused by the sudden quiet, looked toward the fleeing spectators. Hundreds of people had stopped running. They stood frozen in place, every single one of them looking upward with expressions of shock and fear.
Something made Piccolo turn around. Some instinct deeper than thought, some warning from the demonic blood in his veins.
Kakarot stood ahead of him, no longer trying to approach, no longer trying to stop his attack. She too stared upward, her eyes impossibly wide. Behind her, Roshi, Baba, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Bulma, Mai, Launch, Chi-Chi, Oolong, Pu'ar—every single person's gaze was fixed on the same point above.
Not looking at Piccolo. Not looking at his attack.
Looking up.
Piccolo's eyes widened to their absolute limit. Sweat began pouring down his face. His hands trembled, causing the massive sphere of energy to waver dangerously.
He turned his head slowly, reluctantly, following their collective gaze toward the sky.
The black clouds been pushed aside by sheer presence alone, creating a perfect circular opening. Lightning continued to arc across the darkness.
A silhouette, tall and powerfully built, hung in the air above the tournament grounds. His hair blazing with golden radiance. A powerful frame wrapped in torn clothing. And most striking of all, emerald eyes that burned with intensity that made even looking at them feel dangerous.
Goku floated there, hovering like the hammer of judgment about to descend upon the world below.
"Where is Kami?"