CHAPTER FOUR : The Tournament

"Keycards... WHY do we need keycards when EVERY able Saiyan on the planet will be competing?" he scowled and flicked it to the arena guard.

"Your not exactly a planetside Saiyan sir."

Golkor looked to his lieutenant and scowled to him too. "Look, find my mate and bring her to my seat. I don't fight until later on"

"Yes sir" the unusually short, but obediant warrior said and trotted of.

Golkor sighed and sat with a scowl on his face. Minus the dressed up arena, the climate of Vegetasei was still the same. He had gotten used to Mikosei's cool temperatures, and actually found himself a bit hot.

Along with that, the second he set foot on the planet, he was ushered straight to his seat. When had such "order" come into the heirarchy.

He flicked a black gaze and saw the answer to his question sitting in the top box of the arena. Queen Bulma.

He'd never taken a liking to the king's choice, but delt with it, as he could easily kill off his entire race single handedly.

"Nice armor." a snide voice came from beside him.

He turned to see his mate sitting next to him, her stomach a bit swelled with child.

He smirked, feeling a slight calm wash over as he knew she was alright. "Its mandatory for off worlders, easier for the audience to see."

Miaka nodded and smirked. "Good idea, likely the queen's"

Golkor focused his attention on the preliminary fights already in session, as the finals were the main attraction.

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"When does that mate of yours fight?" Bulma asked, trying desperately to sound interested in the fights. She'd seen a few in her life, but never had she seen so much blood in one place. Luckily she had an excuse to keep her eyes diverted, and talked to Kijah as she did so.

"Third session. He's up after Shinto." Kijah replied, keeping her eye out for assasins. She didn't like having Bulma out in public any more than the king, especially when she carried the hier.

"So he'll fight your brother?" Bulma asked. She also knew most of Kijah's friends and family, which blew Kijah away, as she wasn't used to the concept of "gossip".

Kijah nodded with a scowl, knowing Chatsu could beat her brother in a second, but still hating the tension. If anyone beat her brother, she wanted it to be her.

She also sat still the entire time, trying to stay unnoticed, for she held a new secret that she wanted to keep as long as she could. Especially on the tournament day.

Kijah, Bulma, and Vikaro sat in the upper box, the door guarded by other high classed warriors who wouldn't be up for battle until the end of the third session. The King took his place in the box with the outer world visitors.

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She followed him until they reached the armor rooms and then breathed a sigh of relief.

He handed her the armor, and they slipped it on in replacement of the heavy armor they'd been wearing.

"Now see, I told you we'd be in on time." Kakarott said grinning.

Liena sighed heavily. " Why doesn't anyone else think of last minute training? maybe because they have a certain thing called... uhmm.. hmm... OBEDIENCE!!!" She snorted and folded her arms.

Kakarott grinned and led her out to the doorway to stand with a few others. "We'll be fine" he whispered into her ear, and she kept quiet from then on.

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"Will you SIT DOWN!! You still have another few fights before you're even up in LINE Shinto!" Raleiko sat back and folded her arms.

Shinto paused in his pacing " a FEW being two! That's two as in... mere minutes Ral!! I need to do well or I won't prove myself to Dad." he glared into the arena, which was being cleaned for the next match.

"There's almost no chance of even getting near your sister's rank, she'll be in the finals by default" Raleiko said.

Shinto scowled and returned to pacing. This was the only day he'd ever have to get recognition, and he wasn't about to waste it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Oh there's your friend!!" Bulma said and pointed.

Kijah looked into the arena and realized that Liena was up. She wondered why she was up so early.

She watched as Liena blew her opponent away with no problem, and proceeded to take out the next one. This placed her in the finals, as she was already ranked higher.

Kijah breathed a sigh of relief, and proceeded to watch Kakarott's match, this time with much more confidence, as she knew he'd make it to the finals, and he did so faster than his mate.

The fights were flying by quicker than usual, she must be getting over the usual excitement.

The biggest upset came next, as her brother blew his opponents away easily, much more easily than she would have thought.

Bulma raised a brow just as Kijah did. "So .. if he beats Chatsu.."

"I'll fight him" She answered, and quickly added 'my queen' to the words, even though her eyes were hard on the arena as Liena stepped up to face her brother.

Shinto started with a deep kick to Liena's arm, and landed it. This proved to be her only downfall, as she was down after a hard fight.

But Shinto wasn't finished.

He shot a defiant glare up to his sister before battering her with a ki blast even as she sat in surrender.

Liena layed back coverd in blood, and the next few insances caused great surprise. Kakarott shot onto the floor to check on his mate.

Shinto, enjoying his winning, only saw Kakarott as a threat, and fired a blast at him also.

Kakarott caught it, and flung one right back to Shinto, who was knocked to the ground.

Kakarott stepped up to Shinto and plunged a fist into his gut, but before he could do any more, he was dragged off of the feild by guards, and disqualified for a 'false start'.

Chatsu stepped onto the field as the next contender, and Kakarott saw him, then glared to Shinto's direction. "He's as strong as me you know....." he hissed before he was dragged off, carrying his mate defiantly.

Kijah was hanging on the rail next to Bulma, her mouth nearly agape at the situation. She hoped Liena was alright, but knew she was.

Now her focus was on Chatsu, as her anger grew inside.

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Chatsu knew this fight wasn't going to be hard, but he had a gut feeling something would challenge him.

He began the fight with a block and a blow to the nose. A surprize move that angered Shinto even more.

Chatsu blocked the ki blasts and fired some powerful ones.

"Damn... HYBRID!!" Shinto screamed as he landed on his hands and knees. He fiddled with something on his armor, and faced Chatsu.

Chatsu narrowed his eyes, but fazed out and came in behind him. Shinto turned and shot a ki blast to his eyes, which he blocked.

Something was wrong.... Chastu couldn't see a thing.

He listened, and blocked but he could not see to attack. Shinto had used something to blind him.

Finally, he was caught off guard and landed outside of the arena ring.

"KUSSOO!!! Treason!! He cheated!!" Chatsu yelled as the mindless guards pulled him off of the field.

Now, Kijah's eyes were filled with a rage she'd never had before.

Even Bulma stayed quiet as she stepped out of the box to ascend to her battle.

This was war. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kijah will not fight." Vikaro smirked.

Everyone in the box turned to look at him.

"Pardon me...." Kijah spat.

"She will not fight, because she is with child. Maternal leave is in the code, and she is forbidden to fight." he spat out, a grin pulling at his lips.

Kijah gaped as Bulma questioned his idea, and the announcer proclaimed forfit.

Kijah flamed and vanished, appearing on the arena and yelling for the tone to sound.

It sounded, as everyone uproared in confusion, and excitement as brother and sister went to war.

It was quite the short war.

Kijah stood and took his attacks, powering up in pure rage, as her best friend, and mate were just taken down by her weakling brother.

She screamed, sending him back in a shockwave, and blasted him with one hit, leaving him armorless, and unconsious on the floor.

She bowed, and phazed back into the box, where she nodded, and got on one knee in front of the queen. "Forgive me, but I had a debt to pay."

She nodded with wide eyes and sat back, placing a hand on her stomach. "So... you're with child?"

"Yes your highness.... forgive me for keeping the secret these few hours. I needed to prove myself, and I'll repay you in any way possible." Kijah kept her look downward in submission, knowing she was wrong.

"Well if my mate was blasted that unfairly I'd be a little mad too!! Just take care of that baby, my son will need a training partner." she smiled as Kijah looked up in relief.

"Yes my queen." she nodded and shot a smirk to Vikaro before giving the announcer the signal of forfit, and taking her seat.

The guard announced Kijah's forfit, and calmed the uproar from the crowd as the last two contestants (by extreme default) were called to fight.

Kijah was fine with this, as she had accomplished her task, and knew that the tournament was politics anyway. She was one of the highest ranked guards in the universe.

She couldn't ask for more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The tournament ended with a default winner, (awarded a badge by the king), a few higher placements, and a bunch of rowdy contestants who likely wouldn't sleep for the next few nights.

Liena and Kakarott came to see Kijah immediately after hearing the news, and were completely in awe at finding out about her future child.

Chatsu kept quiet and watched over his mate. He'd found out what the 'odd feeling' he'd had was a few hours earlier, and nearly fainted like a fallen warrior.

The four were happy with their status'. Somehow, they'd managed to work their way to the top, and they knew there were celebrations to come.

Before that, they all would have a little talk with Kijah's brother upon his leave of the regeneration tank.

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And so the planet remained a-buzz with rumors, gossip, and storytelling from the season's tournament. It would be one they would never forget.