Thinking of You

Part 31

Zeno and Future Zeno bounded around Goku like worshippers, which wasn't far from the truth. Their squeals of laughter were evidence enough of their joy at Goku winning the first round. "Yay, Goku! Yay, Goku!"

Goku laughed, then winced when pain radiated through his body. The battles had sure been a lot on him, and it was even worse since he hadn't fought in a long time. The slump from training certainly didn't help matters. His body had grown lazy, his muscles losing their once firm shape. He felt stupid for not putting work into preparing for the Tournament. Honestly, he hadn't thought that the Tournament would be so difficult. Sure, he recalled the last one and how hard it was to come out on top, but he had assumed that it would be a leveled-down version of the first one, but it was now clear that he was wrong. And since this was only the first round, he found himself wondering what the next rounds would hold. While it was exciting to know that it would be a challenging endeavor, he couldn't help but feel nervous for what the next round would be.

Dyspo and Brianne mumbled curses under their breath, stomping away from Goku without even sparing him a glance.

Beerus jumped down from the spectator stands, grabbing Goku's arm and proudly holding it up in the air. "Ha! In you face, Champa!"

"How very mature." Whis said with a sad shake of his head.

"Goku wins the first round, putting him at the top of the rankings!" Grand Minister's voice spoke loudly over the speaker, and a large chart popped up before them with the names of each fighter from each Universe, and a number beside their names that displayed their current position out of all the others. Goku's name was at the top of the list, followed by Dyspo and Brianne and Bergamo, and Caulifla was last. The other fighters who did not participate in the first round didn't have a number beside their names, which meant that they would have to wait until the next round to get their spot on the leader board. Goku smiled when he saw his name at the top, feeling proud of himself for lasting so long.

Vegeta chuckled, leaning back in his seat. He wasn't surprised that Goku had won. Even though he had gotten nervous at one point, Goku's victory was something he knew would happen. He had gotten pretty beat up, as was evident by his ripped Gi and bruises, but he always won. That was one of the constant things Vegeta had come to expect from the larger Saiyan. Seeing his name at the top of the list of fighters made him smile.

From beside him, Cheelai jabbed her finger into his shoulder. "Hey, what kind of Tournament is this? It looks brutal."

"Welcome to the real world." Vegeta replied without looking at her. "This is a fighting Tournament. What did you expect?"

"Not this." Cheelai said, gesturing to the injured fighters. "Broly could get hurt."

"I doubt that." Vegeta said, rolling his eyes. "Broly is going to destroy everyone without even powering up. He won't have any problems."

"That's easy for you to say, you keep calling him the Legendary Super Saiyan, whatever that means." Cheelai huffed, crossing her arms. "You're basically putting him on a pedastol.

"He is the Lengendary Super Saiyan, whether you believe it or not." Vegeta said, looking over at Broly. He was rubbing the soft green fur of Ba's ear between his fingers, his dark, innocent eyes cast downward as if to avoid eye contact with others. Vegeta wasn't particularly worried about him entering the Tournament, but a small part of him was concerned about Broly changing his mind and not wanting to participate. It was possible, given the fact that Broly had become something of a pacifist over the years since their big fight in the snow. Broly was strong, yes, but he was innocent and kind-hearted and gentle. Putting him in a fight Tournament was possibly asking too much, but it was too late to turn back now.