Disclaimer: As said in the previous 16 chapters, not owning anything.

Chapter 17: Young vs. Old

Two-year-old Marron felt the soothing warmth of the sun on her face, so she guessed it was time to wake up. Opening her eyes, she noticed her Mom and Dad weren't around. A boy, black haired and not that much older than her was watching her as she woke up.

"Hello little Marron, I'm your Godfather." The young black haired boy said, grinning widely. "My Godmother is fixing your Mom up, and your Dad kind of fainted a while ago, so you'll be in my care for a while." Marron huffed, she wanted to play with her Mom and Dad.

As if he noticed her change of mood, he chuckled. "Wow, you're a smart one aren't you?" Chuckling, he rocked her from left to right, almost as if she was drifting in the sea.

The boy was growing on her, Marron thought, as he held a soft brown toy above her head and she cooed at it when it jingled out of her reach and back. Happiness filled her being, and she felt overall content staying in his arms.

She looked around and noticed her Dad sleeping on the couch. Marron knew, from the energy she could sense from him, it was him. The boy walked up to him and smacked him with the brown fluffy thingy, waking him up.

"Oi Krillin! Wake up, your daughter wants you." As Dad stirred, the boy turned away from him, murmering in her ear.

"Marron, as long as I'm alive, as long as the Moon rises at night and the Sun signals the start of day, I will protect you with everything I have. I promise you that."

With that, Marron knew, from deep inside her being, that she'd do anything for him as well.

Four-year-old Marron knew today was an important day. Today, she would be meeting them. The Alpha-Mom, as she'd called her in her head, and the Sister-Student. Her Godfather, Gohan, always talked highly of the both of them, but they were too busy to ever meet them at Kame House.

But finally, her Mom thought she was old enough to travel to the mainland. Flying in Moms' arms, the ground flashing below her, she couldn't help but be fascinated with it all. For years, all she saw was sea, sea and more sea. The vast green plains below here were just waiting for her to explore!

After an eternity or more, they arrived at a small white house. It was different in every way from Kame House, it was like an igloo made out of mud.

As her Mom released her, she raced towards the door. Shouting "Uncle Goh, Uncle Goh," all the way. Just before she arrived at the door, it opened. Marron stopped in her tracks and gasped. Standing there stood she. The Alpha-Mom.

Her own mother didn't have a ki signal, she knew where she was anyway because of the void, but the Alpha-Mom HAD a signal, wow. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy. No wonder Uncle Goh was so awesome. The Alpha-Mom had a kind smile on her face, but Marron knew she could strike her down her enemies at the blink of an eye. According to her Dad, she'd done so many times to defend her family.

Marron had always thought she wanted to be like her Mom, but seeing her, she'd just found a different role model.

"Ha-yaa"

"Good. Again!"

"Ha-Yaa"

Crash

"Good job Marron!" Her Godfather exclaimed happily, as he rushed towards her. The scattered rocks didn't hinder him in the slightest and she was envious of that for a moment, before realization struck. Looking around, only debris were left of the two-ton rock she was supposed to practice her punches on.

"Wow Marron, you're really improving loads under big Brother!" Goten said, also smiling happily, while Trunks stood more to the side, grinning smug. "Took you long enough."

"Humph," Marron huffed, she knew he was happy as well, her photographic memory helped categorize Trunks' moods from his stances easily, and the way his mouth turned up slightly was tell-tale enough for her. Apparently, the memory wasn't the only thing she inherited from her Mom, if her strength was any indicator.

Gohan pulled her out of her musing, "Well congratulations, you're ready to join the Demon's Disciples. I've hand-made your uniform, want to see it?"

Marron never felt prouder.

"Wow, are you seeing what I'm seeing? She could stare down a lion with that look!" Krillin whispered to her. Marron had just fallen into her stance and 18 was anxious to see what her little girl could do against her more experienced and powerful opponent.

Seeing his wife fidget, he added "I know I've said it before, but she's got her cute looks from you. Bless Dende for that! But that stare, that's 100% me. A perfect mix of menace and power and it screams danger. Any normal opponent would run for the hills." He laughed, while placing his hand behind his head.

Humoring her husband, she replied "Sure", while rolling her eyes. She appreciated what he was doing, but she wasn't fooled. He was nervous as well. Chichi could break Marron's spirit and body if Marron wouldn't give it her all during the fight.

Ding

"BEGIN!"

Marron immediately jumped backwards, powering two ki-balls in her hands and shouting "HELLZONE GRENADE"!

Chichi had expected this, knowing the little girl wanted to keep her distance as she had very limited ki-based attacks compared to her and she wasn't about to show them in public. So she ducked under the two blasts, letting them pass harmless only to see a barrage of multiple balls coming.

Cursing under her breath, happy that none of her children were close enough to hear her, she kept on dodging while slowly getting closer to Marron. Marron began sweating because of the amount of power she was putting in the balls, she noticed with a wring smile.

She was within 5 meters of Marron before she changed tactics and smashed a ball back to Marron. Marron went wide-eyed and ducked to avoid her rebounded attack. Realizing her mistake, she quickly sidesteps, avoiding Chichi's incoming fist to her face. Chichi follows through with a vertical kick but Marron puts up a ki shield to block it. She struggled to break the shield with her leg but after a couple of seconds gives up and jumps back. Her leg aches and her skin is slightly burned by the friction but she tries to conceal it by moves her left leg forward, vowing to use that one to kick and block for the rest of the fight.

Marron smirks, she's been following Chichi's ki closely the entire fight and notices the discomfort she felt in her right leg. 'Good. At least that wasn't totally useless.' She thought vindictive, while digging her memory for new attack patterns to use.

After a few seconds, Chichi again tried to close the distance and again Marron uses her 'Hellzone Grenade' to make it more difficult for her to advance. This time, Chichi plunged through the barrage and only slightly burned her left arm closing in. When she got too close, Marron made a ki shield again, anticipating the same attack.

However, Chichi jumped over the shield and before Marron could completely close the bubble shield around her Chichi struck with two fingers in Marron's right arm. Immediately it fell limp.

'Oh no!' Marron thought and jumps away from Chichi, shooting blasts at her again. This time, Chichi just ducked out of the way.

Chichi felt something was off, but couldn't place it during the fight. But something was wrong with Marron, normally she'd be able to blast Piccolo's turban from his head from a mile away, yet today she was struggling with her aim. All the blasts had a weird angle at it and went into the sky. Internally shrugging, she dismissed her thoughts and focused on the little girl in front of her.

There she stood at the edge of the ring, one arm raised as guard against her, sweating and huffing already. 'Oh you poor dear.' Chichi thought, as she slowly advanced on her. 'Better make this quick, who knows what that little Android-brain of her can come up with.' But just after she finished that thought Marron laughed and lowered her guard, stopping Chichi in her tracks.

"I've won, there's no way you're going to win now."

As she continued to stare at her, Marron slowly lifted her arm and pointed up. Chichi looked up as well, and was shocked. Every ki blast that missed her was floating there! Wide eyed, she heard Marron speak, "Well, I hope you learned how to dodge," as she lowered her arm and all balls came crashing to the Arena.

"- hope you learned how to dodge"

Chichi barely had time to think as every ball raced towards her, she flared her ki to her absolute maximum and moved out of the way in a zigzag fashion. Less than 10% of the balls hit her, but it was enough to make her burns on her back, head and arms. When she reached the edge of the Arena the furthest away from Marron, Chichi pushed her ki in her legs and summersaulted over the barrage of balls and explosions towards Marron.

Seeing the fearful look on her face made her chuckle softly, "o child you have much to learn." As she started to lose altitude, Chichi pulled back her arm. She landed right in front of Marron and, using the momentum of her jump, aimed an open-palm thrust at the little girl in front of her.

The moment her palm reached Marron, she started to fade into nothing. Chichi's eyes went wide, 'An Afterimage, the little sneak!' Luckily, she could catch herself in time and turned around. Her heels were still on the solid floor, but just barely.

Searching the ring, she couldn't locate Marron anywhere. 'Now, if I wanted to sneak up on my enemy, where would I go in an empty battlefield.' Chichi thought to herself. Immediately, she looked up, just in time to block Marron's kick with her arms. She felt the strain on her arms but at least her head was protected from the impact.

Ready to finish the fight, Chichi caught Marron's leg before she could retract it from her block and threw her head first outside the boundaries on the floor.

"AND ANONYMOUS WINS BY RINGOUT! THE ANONYMOUS DOJO TRIUMPHS OVER THE DEMONS' IN THEIR FIRST ENCOUNTER. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN GIVE A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO BOTH CONTESTANTS."

Lime raced towards the still form of Marron, fearing the worst. She knew her Sensei wouldn't kill the little girl, but there could be some permanent damage if she didn't get the Sensu Spray to her soon. However, Gohan beat her to it. Slowly, he tilted the head his youngest pupil with a tenderness she only witnessed when he was dealing with Marron, Goten or Trunks he pried open her mouth and made her swallow a Sensu Bean.

As Lime was watching the healing powers of the bean take effect on Marron, Gohan gave her a pointed look and then eyed Chichi. The unspoken command sprung her into action and she went to her Sensei, who was being interviewed by Erasa at the moment.

Lime noticed Chichi's annoyance, and understood completely when she heard Erasa's questions.

"So, how does it feel to shove those fakers in their place?" Erasa asked, while shoving the microphone in Chichi's face. Lime grimaced, praying to everyone except Dende that Chichi wouldn't be too harsh to her friend.

Chichi sighed. "Listen missy, if you think they're the fakers, you obviously know nothing of Martial Arts, except what that loud mouth Buffoon spouts." She then turned to Lime, took the Sensu Spray from her hands and walked away, still shaking her head in disappointment.

Erasa looked she was about to cry, Lime noted. 'That's odd,' Lime thought. She found Chichi's reply very mild. Walking over to her friend, she rubbed her arm to get give her some comfort and in part to get her attention.

"Hey, you okay?"

Erasa took one look to see who was comforting her, then starting to bawl her eyes out and threw herself at Lime. "I-I-I-I-juhuust wanted to congratulate her *Hick* and she's my hero and-and-and she thinks I SUCK"

In hopes of getting more comfort, Erasa hugged Lime even harder. Problem was, Erasa in her high heels was about 15 centimeters taller than Lime. So the harder Erasa hugged Lime, the harder she was pushing Lime's face in her cleavage, distracting Lime immensely from the task at hand.

After a while, Erasa's cries subsided and she released Lime. Giving her a watery smile, "Thanks. I needed that. Today's been tougher than I thought." Noticing Lime's flaming red cheeks, goofy smile and a faraway look, Erasa became concerned for her friend.

"What's wrong?"

Lime snapped out of her stupor, eyeing Erasa from head to toe. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing. I'm fine. Great! Excellent! Super! Sorry gotta run! With that Lime ran back to the Fighters' Lounge, leaving a confused Erasa behind.

Gohan carried Marron back to the Fighters' Lounge, ignoring the shouts of the public. "You did well, almost had her with that Afterimage." Gohan whispered to his now fully-healed student. She beamed at the praise, then snuggled into his chest till they reached Goten and Trunks.

Goten was bouncing around Gohan's legs and Trunks seemed impressed as well.

"Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow I can't believe you almost won! You were great! I can't wait for my match!" Goten fired at her while Trunks just gave her a thumbs up and shakily walked towards the ring for his match.

In a galaxy far, far away, a spaceship rushed towards Atlantis. The journey seemed smooth from the outside, yet the passengers felt entirely different.

"Are we there yet?" Yamcha whined. He'd grown bored since he couldn't visit Hejtuo until they landed. 'Stupid diplomatic regulations,' he thought moodily.

"Negative. If we proceed the current course, we will be there in 28 hours, 14 minutes and 11 seconds." 16 responded with a monotone voice. He sat perfectly still, staring outside to the stars.

"If you ask the robot one more time if we're there yet, I'm going to make you eat your spine weakling." Vegeta stated annoyed. "Your constant blabbering is making it harder to feel Earth from here. My boy is about to fight his first Tournament and he's nervous, so one more word from you and I'll kill you."

Yamcha blanched, but Piccolo, who'd been meditating in the corner snorted.

"What, you're going for Father-of-the-Year now? Isn't it against your nature to care for others?"

Vegeta turned to him and raised his fist annoyed to the much taller Namek. "Like you aren't following the Brat right now, and you didn't even spawn him you egg-spitting freak."

Piccolo blushes at that, being caught by Vegeta, "Humph, whatever."

A peaceful silence fell over the cabin, as Trunks made his way to the ring on Earth. All seemed well, until,

"Are we there yet?"

"SHUT UP!"

As Trunks entered the ring, trying to ignore the yelling and booing him, he noticed his opponent already standing there, getting applause from his part of the audience. Jewel turned towards him, finger outstretched, "You don't stand a chance kid! Go back to the Hellhole you came from. This Prince is about to become a Pauper again."

Trunks crosses his arms with a bored expression, all his nerves fled his body. 'Man, why does everyone else have a cool opponent and I end up with some lame-o.'

"Whatever dude, let's just get this over with."

Ding

"BEGIN!"

Jewel runs forward towards Trunks and launches a barrage of punches. Trunks dodges every one of them effortlessly by just a hair's length. This goes on for a few minutes and the audience holds their breath, anticipating the moment Jewel is going to connect with the Demon Spawn.

Jewel starts to transpire and pant, making Trunks smirk, 'This is easier than Dad's warming up'.

Trunks sees a punch coming aimed at his face and stops it with one finger. Jewel backs away in terror when he notices the ease Trunks is blocking him. Trunks slowly paces towards Jewel, while cracking tiles under each step.

Jewel's eyes widen, 'What kind of monster is this kid?' Thinking about his options, he goes for the most logical one.

"I FORF-HMMM!"

Trunks placed his hand over Jewel's mouth and whispers menacing, "You didn't really think I'd let you get away that easily?" Trunks kicks Jewel across the chest with a roundhouse kick, which bounces Jewel on the floor before he skids to a halt. Before he can get up, Trunks hoists him up on his hair and punches him in the gut. Then he lets him fall to the floor.

"8-9-10! A CRUSHING DEFEAT FOR JEWEL BY THE HANDS OF PRINCE, WHO HAS SHOWN THAT THE DEMON'S DOJO ISN'T JUST A NAME BUT THEY FIGHT LIKE THEY'RE FROM HELL ITSELF!"

Two monks appear with a stretcher, while Jewel is still unconscious on the floor. They hoist him up and attempt to bring him to the Emergency Room, when Lime appears again. She scowls, "he doesn't deserve it, but I'll heal him." And starts to spray the area Trunks' punched him. The effect is immediate and Jewel slowly wakes up, "Where- where am I?" The monks start to explain, but Lime just walks away, not wanting to stay close to him.

Trunks is booed out of the ring, but he didn't care. Mockingly, he raises his fist, making the audience even more enraged as he enters the Fighter's Lounge. Goten and Marron pound on him, both congratulating him exuberantly. He waves them off, "It's nothing, waste of my time. Couldn't throw a punch to save his life."

Erasa's looking around, looking for Lime to wish her good luck on her match when she sees Lime standing close to the Demon's Disciple. Not wanting to be near that monster, she waits till Lime's done with him. However, just as Lime walks away from him, the Demon's Disciple locks eyes with her and winks.

Enraged, Erasa walks up to him. She's not about to let the bastard be cheeky with her.

"Shouldn't you be learning your students something called sportsmanship?" She screeches, making the Demon's Disciple wince.

Ding

"BEGIN!"

Rubbing his ear, he replies, "Actually, no. What he did might seem excessive, but a guy like Jewel should be nowhere near a ring. He did the guy, or at least Martial Arts in general, a favor."

Fuming, Erasa is about to reply who the hell he thinks he is, but before she can comment, Gohan interrupts. "Shouldn't you be watching your girlfriend fight? You're gonna miss it if you're not paying attention the next 3 seconds."

Shocked, Erasa spins her head to the ring, making her neck crack. That was nothing however, to the resulting crack Spopovic made when he connected face first with the wall next to her window.

"Sorry Erasa! Didn't see you there." Lime said while she ran from the ring in her direction.

"N-n-n-no problem. Congratulations on your win!" She said shakily, but regained her normal tone when Lime grinned. "How does it feel reaching the next round?"

Lime turns thoughtful for a moment, "well, normally I'd be glad but this was highly disappointing. Especially since I won't come that far this tournament."

"Whaddaya mean? You don't know what's gonna happen, you might even win!" Erasa replies shocked. She'd just seen her friend throw a guy twice her size into a wall.

Lime smiles grateful but also a little sad, "thanks, but I'm just being realistic. I'm hoping to get far in the doubles' fight." Gesturing to the Demon's Disciple, who's entered the ring, "alone I don't stand a chance against the Demon's Disciple. Just watch!" She then pulls Erasa to her window and they stand to watch, both not noticing that they're still holding hands.

That's all for now. I would like to apologize for the long wait but this chapter has been hell to write, plus I haven't had a lot of free time. It's a lot harder to write fighting scenes than I thought. I've not abandoned the story, and according to the views (almost 100.000!), the continued follows and favs you haven't either. I do hope you enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the reviews.