May 7th, Age 764.

On an island East from South City sits a large, nearly spotless temple. The temple is almost completely empty and silent on most days of the year, but today... today is different.

"Watch it!" a tall man shouts as he gets pushed by the crowd around him.

"Out of the way, asshole!" a woman replies, shoving the man aside as she rushes inside the temple.

About 20 feet away from them, a small, black-haired girl falls to the ground, unable to handle the crowd's erratic struggles. The crowd, unknowing and uncaring, continue forward.

Not long after the child falls, an overweight bear-man pushes his way past the crowd, not seeing the child as he walks over her...

However, just before the heavy man can unwittingly trample the young girl, a tall, bald martial artist grabs him by the scruff of his neck, completely halting him.

"Hey... watch where you're going." the bald fighter says in a quiet voice.

"What the-- what's the big idea?!" the bear-man roars, whirling to face the man who stopped him. "Who the hell do you think you-- oh fuck!"

The man pales upon seeing the face of the martial artist, causing him to audibly gulp as he stares at the bald man's eyes... all three of them...

"Tien Shinhan." the three-eyed man says coolly. "As for 'what the big idea' is, well..."

Tien's hand firmly grasps the back of the man's neck, easily holding him in the air. The bear-man briefly attempts to struggle... before his eyes land on a small black-haired girl, shivering on the ground directly in front of Tien.

"...you almost crushed her."

"Oh hell! Sorry man, I should've paid more attention!" the overweight man says, fear evident on his face.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

At Tien's urging, he quickly turns towards the small, black-haired girl.

"I'm sorry miss! I was in too much of a rush! Please tell him to stop!"

With a small scoff, Tien releases his hold on the bear-man, shoving him away.

"Tch... jackass." the triclops mumbles, before turning towards a small, almost clown-like man. "Chiaotzu, help me with this, would you?"

The pale midget nods his head, floating into the air a split second later. He raises his hands, and, as if by magic, the crowd completely stops, completely focused on Tien. The black-haired girl looks around in bewilderment at the weird situation she's found herself in, but immediately finds her gaze drawn towards the three-eyed man, who shouts in a booming voice.

"SINGLE FILE LINE! CALMLY AND CAREFULLY MOVE INSIDE THE TEMPLE! IF I CATCH ANY MORE SHOVING, PUSHING, OR CUTTING IN LINE, I'LL MAKE SURE THAT YOU'LL REGRET IT!"

To the young child's surprise, the crowd listens to the man, each with a terrified look on their face. Without any further distractions or conflict, the crowd quickly moves into the temple, far outpacing the rapid, messy confusion that they used to be.

"???"

The black-haired child stares at the scene , completely and utterly baffled. Before she can voice her confusion, a long-haired, orange-clothed man suddenly appears behind the bald duo.

"Woah! Nice going, Tien! You should do that more often!" Yamcha says, slapping the triclops on the back.

"Heh. It wasn't that big of a deal. I'm sure you or Krillin could've done the same thing." the three-eyed martial artist says humbly. "That's not to mention how they'd react if Goku or Piccolo were here."

"Yeah... where is Goku anyways? Even if he couldn't actually fight in the tournament, I'm sure he'd love to watch!"

"He's with his brother." Chiaotzu interjects. "You know what people think about him and Vegeta. If he showed up here, even if Goku accompanied him, then he'd completely ruin the mood. They're a few miles that way--"

The clown-like fighter points into the sky.

"--watching the action from a healthy distance."

"Ugh, so they get to watch the entire tournament, don't have to pay for tickets, and they don't have to deal with the crowds?! I wish I thought of that..."

Tien chuckles at Yamcha's griping, before turning towards the child he just saved.

"Where are your parents?" he asks in a calm, quiet tone.

"Uh... my Dad is fighting in the tournament. I was on my way to find a seat so I can watch him win!" she says, jumping to her feet.

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"Your mom isn't here?"

"...No."

"I see... do you want to sit with us? We've got front row seats to watch the fighting, and nobody in the crowd is going to bother you if you're next to us."

The black-haired girl opens her mouth to respond, but pauses... for all of two seconds. After the miniscule pause, she launches into an onslaught of questions.

"What's with that anyways?! Why the heck was everyone so scared of you?! Are you some sort of big-shot? Are you a politician? Dad told me that I'm not supposed to trust politicians! But you don't look like any politicians I know! Are you from East City? South City? Or are you in charge of the temple? Dad told me that the monks who live here are really strong! Is that why everyone was so scared?"

Tien slowly blinks at the rapid-fire questions pouring from the girl's mouth. Before she can continue, he raises his hand.

"I'm Tien Shinhan. Winner of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament and semi-finalist of the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. They're scared of me because I'm one of the most powerful people on this planet... and because I can use Ki."

"Woah! Like that Raditz guy?! Are you stronger than him?!"

"..."

Yamcha grins when he sees the scowl adorning Tien's face. "Nah, he's not even close! Raditz is pretty strong, you know? I think there's only two people on Earth that can beat him if he goes all out."

"Oh..."

"Hey, don't look so down! Raditz isn't as bad as most people think!" Chiaotzu says. "Those weirdos who worship him are much worse!"

"Yeah..." Yamcha agrees. "I'm all for letting people worship whoever they want, but those guys give me the creeps!"

"We should get going... Krillin and Gohan are saving our seats for us, and I don't want to keep them waiting." Tien says, before looking at the black-haired child. "Are you coming or not?"

"Well... ok! Lead the way!" she says cheerfully.

The group march into the temple with the young girl following close behind. Soon after, a huge stadium comes into view. As they walk, Yamcha speaks to her.

"I'm Yamcha, that's Chiaotzu, and you already know Tien's name. Our friends Krillin and Gohan are going to be watching the tournament with us. Krillin is a short, bald dude wearing an orange gi that looks like mine, and Gohan is a kid around your age. You'll know them when you see them. What's your name?"

"My name is Videl!"

The crowd roars with joy as a blond, sunglasses-wearing man in a navy-blue suit steps into the center of the square ring. He grins at the crowd, taking a few seconds to wave towards Tien's group, before he brings a microphone out from his pocket.

"Ahem... WELCOME!" he begins in a loud, excited tone. "I'M SURE YOU'VE ALL MISSED THIS, I KNOW I HAVE! YOU KNOW WHY WE'RE HERE, I KNOW WHY WE'RE HERE, BUT FOR THE SELECT FEW WHO'VE BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK, I'LL GO AHEAD AND TELL YOU WHY WE'RE HERE! TODAY IS THE START OF THE..."

"24TH WORLD MARTIAL ARTS TOURNAMENT!!!!!!!!!!!" The crowd roars back, speaking at the exact same time as the announcer.

"ALLLLLLLLRIGHT! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, FOLKS! THE PRELIMINARIES HAVE BEEN FINISHED PRIVATELY, AND THIS TOURNAMENT WILL HAVE 3 STAGES: THE QUARTER-FINALS, THE SEMI-FINALS, AND THE FINAL MATCH! NOW THEN... LET'S SAY HELLO TO OUR FIGHTERS!"

The announcer quickly begins to call out names as the fighters who have made it past the preliminaries run into the ring.

"KING CHOPPA!"

"YAMU!"

"KILLA!"

"PINTAR!"

"PAMPUT!"

"RANFAN!"

"HERCULE SATAN!"

At this moment, Videl excitedly points into the ring.

"That's my dad! That's my dad! He's gonna win this tournament!"

Gohan, seated directly beside her, stares at the well-muscled man. "I think you're right Videl, he's the strongest one in there!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that... I think we have a cheater in the tournament." Yamcha mutters with a scowl as the next name is called.

"AND FINALLY, THE ONLY FIGHTER TO HAVE SKIPPED PAST THE PRELIMINARIES DUE TO HIS SHEER SKILL AND POWER, SPOPOVICH!!!!!!"

The crowd cheers as a handsome, extremely buff man walks towards the ring. Spopovich walks with an arrogant air around him, taking far more time to reach the ring than the others, as he spends most of the walk waving at the crowd, flexing, and listening to their cheers. By the time he finally gets into the ring, the announcer's excited air has deflated somewhat.

"Finally." he mumbles, before raising the microphone to his mouth. "Ahem... these are our fighters! In just a few seconds, my assistant will bring a hat for them to draw numbers out of! Numbers 1 and 2 will fight first, numbers 3 and 4 will fight second, and so on and so forth. Let's give a round of applause for all eight of these warriors! Although only one can be champion, all of them are the best of the best, and deserve every bit of praise they can get!"

Cheers ring out as the crowd gives a standing ovation to the group of eight. Gohan, at Videl's urging, also joins in. While the crowd is distracted, Tien, Krillin, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha hold a quiet conversation.

"You can sense that guy, right?" Krillin asks.

"Yeah... it's weak, but the amount of Ki in his body is far more than any normal fighter's." Tien remarks. "The way it flows is also different... he can use Ki, and he's had some serious training too."

"You guys think we should tell the tournament organizers?" Yamcha suggests. "Ki users are banned from this, and he's sure to win if we do nothing... and that's not to mention the malice I can sense from him."

"No... it won't matter even if we do tell them." Chiaotzu says with a scowl. "They have a Ki user on standby to 'prevent cheating.' I think that they already know that Spopovich is cheating, and that's probably the point. The tournament is fixed."

"..."

The group fall silent as the cheers finally quiet down. An assistant runs into the ring, clutching the paper-filled hat. One by one, the fighters reach into the hat, drawing their numbers...

"First round: Hercule Satan vs King Choppa!"

"Second round: Killa vs Yamu!"

"Third round: Ranfan vs Pamput!"

"Fourth round: Spopovich vs Pintar!"

"The matches have been announced! Hercule, Choppa, get to the opposite sides of the ring! Everyone else, out!"

The two fighters slowly move to the opposite sides of the ring. Hercule drops his cape onto the floor outside the ring, while King Choppa stretches in place to prepare himself for the battle ahead of him. Not long after, the only people left inside the ring are the two combatants and the announcer.

"Before we start this off, let me explain the rules one final time! Anyone who comes into contact with the floor outside of the ring will automatically lose! You will fight until someone is knocked out of the ring, knocked down for a ten count, or until someone gives up! If both fighters are knocked out, the match will be declared a draw!"

"Non-natural weapons and protective gear are strictly prohibited! Hitting the eyes or the groin is prohibited and will result in a disqualification! Last, but certainly not least, any fatal blows are subject to the same rules as eye or groin strikes! Although we're all aware that accidents happen, intentionally trying to deal fatal damage is illegal! We have a panel of judges consisting of the leaders of East, South, North, Orange, and West City that will judge whether an attack was purposeful or not!"

"King Choppa, are you ready?!"

The martial artist nods.

"Hercule Satan, are you ready?!"

Hercule turns towards the crowd, grinning when he sees his daughter. He nods as well.

"Alright! Then... begin!"