"This is talking"

This is thinking

This is typically a flashback

Date: April 20th, (Age 771)

Four years had passed since his father sacrificed himself at the Cell Games, and the savior of the world, Son Gohan still blamed himself for his father's death... his little brother was growing up without a father, and it was all his fault.

But that wasn't where the problems ended. Money was getting tight and the fourteen-year-old boy would soon have to find somewhere to work. The teenager had already mentioned to his mother that the richest women in the world, Bulma Briefs was like family to them, but his mother insisted they didn't need anyone else's help financially, as they needed to be independent.

"Hey Mom, I'm home!" Gohan shouted as he walked into the kitchen and set some groceries down on the counter.

"Perfect timing! Come here son, you need to see this!" His mother shouted from her room. She sounded, happy?

"Hey Mom, what did you want to show me?" The teenage boy asked as he walked into his mother's room. In response, his mother pointed to the television.

"The winner of this competition will take home the Grand Prize of 1,000,000ž! The runner-up will take home 250,000ž! Please note all contestants under the age of 14 will have to participate in the Junior Division, competing for a Grand Prize of 100,000ž, the runner-up will be awarded 25,000ž. This competition will take place on May 20th!" The TV spokesman stated.

Do you know what this means??" Chi-Chi asked rhetorically, not expecting an answer. "It means you won't have to find a job! You can just go win this thing and bring home the grand prize! We'll be financially stable!"

"And we'll finally be able to afford enough food for both me and Goten." The teenager said as his eyes brightened. "They said May 20th right? So that means I'll be able to compete against the adults and get even more zeni." He said as he thought about it.

One Month Later

"So wait, why are you guys here? Are you guys competing too?" Gohan asked, surprised to see some old friends at the tournament.

"Well, I was planning on it. But I don't think I'll stand much of a chance now that I know you're competing." Said the former bald-headed monk who recent grew up his hair out.

"Yeah, same here." The Taitans superstar explained. "But there's always the prize of runner-up so I think I'll still compete." He said with a shrug.

"That's true. Too bad you won't be getting that runner-up prize since I'm competing too." Said a voice from behind them.

"Tien? I haven't seen you in years bro!" Yamcha said with a smile plastered on his face.

"Yeah it's been a while, hasn't it? And look at you Gohan, you've grown quite a bit. And... wait, is that you Krillin? Are you wearing a wig?" Tien asked, causing everyone but Krillin to start laughing.

"IT IS NOT A WIG!" Krillin shouted angrily, gaining the attention of everyone around him. "Oops, a little too loud." He said much quieter with a chuckle. "But I'm not normally bald you know, I just waxed back in the day." He explained.

"Wait really? I had no idea." Tien replied.

After a few minutes of catching up, a group of teenagers caught Gohan's attention. Noticing the teen's interest in this group, Yamcha elbowed the teen. "I bet you won't go up and get one of their phone numbers." He said, causing Gohan's face to redden.

"Yeah you're right, I bet I won't." Gohan replied.

"Just do it Gohan! Make us proud!" Yamcha said, before Krillin joined in on the fun.

"Yeah! Atleast go talk to them!" He said, pushing Gohan towards the group.

"Fine! Just quit pushing me." Gohan finally said after contemplating his options. With that being said, the spiky-haired teen walked up to the trio. "Hey, my name is Gohan. What are your names?"

"Oh hey Cutie, I'm Erasa! This is my friend Videl and that's Sharpener." The blonde girl said, introducing her and her friends to the onyx-eyed teen.

Gohan blushed a little after the blonde girl's comment. "It's good to meet you guys. Are you guys competing in the tournament?" He asked.

"I'm not, but they are!" The blonde girl, Erasa said.

Dang is she always this happy and positive? Gohan thought to himself. "Junior Division or against the adults?"

"We're both in the Adult Division. I won the Junior Division last time I was here." Videl said, pride evident in her voice. "What about you?" She asked.

"I'm fighting in the Adult Division as well. Good luck to both of you guys! Hope you do well." Gohan said with a smile on his face.

"Good luck to you too. You're going to need it if you go up against me." The blonde boy, Sharpener said cockily.

~ 1 Hour Later

"All contestants in the Adult Division please make your way to the practice ring, where all the punching machines are!" One of the main officials shouted through a megaphone.

"Punching machines?" Gohan asked, confused.

"Oh, they added those at the last tournament I think. There is no more preliminary rounds, instead everyone punches this machine and the people with the highest scores get to compete in the tournament." Yamcha explained.

"Oh, that's dumb." Gohan replied. He didn't like the concept of pure strength being the deciding factor for qualification.

"I agree." The three-eyed martial artist replied.

As the line got shorter, there were only six people left in the line, all five of the others were in front of Gohan. Among those four people were the two contestants he met earlier along with Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin. Let's see what he can get. He thought as the blonde teen punched the machine. 168. Not bad. He thought as he watched the raven-haired girl walk up to the machine. 208, impressive. I think that's the highest score yet.

Meanwhile, the raven-haired girl was excited. She just got the highest score on the punching machine! Her pride showed through her smile as she watched the next contestant... that smile quickly disappeared and her expression turned to one of shock rather than pride. 437! No way! I must've really damaged the machine. She thought.

"Um, Sir, could you please punch it again? I think we experienced a malfunction." The official in charge of the punching machine said.

"Sure, but it wasn't a malfunction." He said confidently, as if he was sure it wasn't a malfunction. Throwing another punch, the fighter earned another crazy number, this time it was 428, just lower than his previous.

Eyes wide in shock, the official spoke. "Umm, right this way sir. You'll be competing in the tournament." This earned a grin from the baseball star.

The next guy, who looked a bit familiar to Videl stepped up to punch. I wonder if he's as strong as the other guy. They seem to be in one group. She thought as he punched the machine. 293! Unreal. How strong are these guys?

"Umm, sir, could you hit this punching machine instead?" The official asked, walking over to the other punching machine.

"Sure thing." Tien said as he punched the other machine.

308. The machine read. That's not possible! My Dad only scored a 223 at the last tournament and he saved the world from Cell!

"Y-you're in as well. Right this way sir." He told the three-eyed martial artist.

"Next up." He said. This time it was a shorter guy with hair that almost looked like a wig. Throwing a quick punch, he earned a score 486. I wonder if he's as strong as the others. She thought to herself watching the teenage boy step up.

Quickly, the boy threw a punch. The number went all the way up to 999 before giving off an error code and then exploding. No way he just did that. She thought, eyes wide.

"Sir, you're going to have to hit this machine since that one must've had a malfunction and blew up." The official explained to Gohan.

Gohan frowned, not excited to have to hit the machine as weakly as possible again. It took effort to hit it that softly! "Alright then." He said, throwing a really slow punch.

734! No way that can be right! Videl thought with her eyes bulging out. They must've used some cheap trick or something!

After the spiky-haired teen walked off to the three of his friends, Videl ran to him, needing an explanation. "Just who the hell are you guys and how the hell did you guys all do that? Did you guys rig it?" Videl asked, anger evident in her voice and facial expression. She just recorded the highest score on the punching machine, and then these four guys come in and score outrageous numbers!

Gohan chuckled and scratched the back of his head, the typica Son Grin. "I guess we did hit it a little too hard after all."

"Yeah, I guess so." Yamcha said with a laugh.

"So you guys did or didn't rig it?" Videl was confused, as no one answered her question.

"Of course we didn't rig it." Krillin replied. "You'll realize that during our matches. You can say we're pretty accomplished martial artists."

"Is that so?" Videl asked, eyeing the group. "Well, since we're all competing in the tournament, what are your names? I already met Gohan." Videl explained.

"I'm Krillin. This is Tien Shinhan and that is Yamcha Bandit." The former bald monk introduced himself and his friends, causing Videl's eyes to widen substantially.

"Wait, you're the Krillin!? And you're the Tien Shinhan that won the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament!? And you're that player for the Taitans that everyone always talks about?"

"Yup, that's us." Yamcha said with a chuckle. "I see we have quite the reputation, huh?" He asked his friends.

"I guess so." Tien said with a smile. "Well we have to go eat before the real fun begins. Good luck to you during this tournament." He said, showing good sportsmanship. "Wait, what was your name again?" He asked.

"Videl Satan." She said with a prideful smirk. "And

thank you, good luck to you all as well." Videl replied before looking at the spiky-haired teen one last time. As their eyes met, a thought ran across the girl's mind.

He's kind of cute.

But little did she know that boy had the same exact thoughts running through his mind.

End of Chapter 1

If you've made it this far, then thank you! This is my first story in quite a while, so my writing is a bit rusty. I've had problems finishing stories in the past,

but this one I already have planned out and the future of it is looking bright in my eyes.. if you enjoyed (or didn't) please leave a review. Chapters will typically be about 3000 Words, although this one was a bit shorter at about 2000 words.

Until next time...

March 13th, 2019