"Is this tournament worth entering, Lazuli? We've only been training for a while, and I don't think we're that skilled yet," asked a young man with dark hair, soft features, and an attitude that seemed to constantly exude confidence despite the negative tone of his voice.
"I want to test myself, Lapis. How will we know if we're good if we don't fight others? Our strength is similar, and as twins, we know each other so well that it's boring to fight each other," replied Lazuli, a young woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and an aura of arrogance.
"Have you seen the videos? There are many powerful martial artists, some with incredible techniques," said Lapis, looking at the TV screen they had in the living room.
It showed a match between two fighters from a previous edition of the tournament. In it, they displayed some pretty sophisticated ki techniques, which made Lapis more interested but not enough to fight.
"We can win a lot of money. They say Capsule Corp is sponsoring the prize of this tournament with a lot of money and some special things." Lazuli concentrated on a pamphlet describing the tournament, its requirements, how it worked, and the prizes.
But aside from the money, she was focused on one of the prizes, a strange fruit that helped preserve and enhance the beauty of its consumer. As a girl with a great aesthetic sense, how could she not want something that would help her to be more beautiful?
For this reason, she had even changed part of her training routine because she didn't want to develop big muscles like some of the wrestlers or boxers she had seen in the city.
So the direction of the skills she was learning was different from what her brother was achieving, and it was here that aspects of both their personalities came through, conditioning their own created techniques.
"We don't need money, you know, but it's obvious what you want," Lapis scoffed as he saw his younger sister's eyes riveted on Beauty Peach.
"What do you know, we can't keep depending on that group, they're crazy, we need our independence." Lazuli glared at her brother, causing Lapis to get serious.
"Yes, I don't like the way they try to influence our lives. They adopted us and raised us, but they never asked us if we wanted to be a part of them; they just assumed we owed them something.
Perhaps paying them with the bounty from the tournament is a good idea," Lapis said, and for a moment, the energy of his body manifested itself in a greenish aura around him, but it soon vanished.
He was going to protect his sister with this power he had trained so hard to acquire, he did not know the real difference between him and other artists, so now, convinced by Lazuli, he wanted to test himself against other martial artists.
He didn't know that his 'original story' had changed quite a bit and had taken a unique path; what he did know was that when he found the person who opened the way to martial arts for them, he would thank him.
With only a few days left before the tournament began, the two siblings decided to prepare in time, using some of their savings to buy a plane ticket to the island where the competition would be held.
...
"Chaoz, are your things ready?" called Ten Shinhan to his companion.
"Yes! I was just picking up a few things," Chaoz replied, using his psychic powers to float a few bags of items behind him.
"Master Tsuru will be proud of our improvement," Ten Shinhan said with some excitement in his tone.
He had been training with Master Tsuru since he was a little boy, but only recently had he left him because he felt a strange calling.
So it was that he and Chaoz ended up at the landing site of what appeared to be a spaceship, where he learned a great deal about himself as a descendant of an alien race that others crudely referred to as Triclops.
Fortunately, he found no remains of bodies or the like, but from what little he could learn, this spaceship fell to Earth hundreds of years ago. The small number of Triclops on the planet left only two possible fates.
Either they were wiped out, or they intermingled with the humans to the point where they were fully integrated, Ten Shinhan being one of those who had a genetic atavism and returned to his ancestors.
Although these possible discoveries made him feel a little bad, he quickly recovered at the prospect that he could learn a lot from the culture of this race, as well as some techniques unique to them.
It was this situation that made him feel more confident that his goal of becoming a great assassin like Tao Pai Pai was something he could realize and overcome, so he eventually decided to aim for higher mountains.
For the time being, he respected Tsuru and his younger brother Tao Pai Pai very much. But when he thought of his teacher, he couldn't help but think of his classmate Yulin, a witch who also studied martial arts at the same school as them.
"Hey Chaoz, should we invite Yulin to the tournament? I feel like we have been ignoring her a lot," Ten Shinhan said suddenly, causing Chaoz to stare at him and even use his psychic abilities to scan him.
Ten Shinhan obviously noticed his friend's actions and a grimace appeared on his face, he really was a very isolated guy who rarely wanted to interact with others, so Chaoz was surely mocking him in his own way.
"This girl is scary, but it's okay; we can bring her in. Though, I still don't understand the master's obsession with having a witch train martial arts.
Something about 'he has a witch around, I must have one too', I never understood the master when he starts obsessing over Muten Roshi," Chaoz floated quietly, taking advantage of the freedom he had to say whatever he wanted for now.
Although Tsuru was a very greedy person, he was someone who was very strict with his teachings and old manners, always assuming that he would never 'deviate' from the true path like Muten Roshi, who always got along with his students.
For Tsuru, his orders as a master were absolute for his disciples, who had to follow a strict hierarchy, so in a way he didn't really like mixing Yulin with Chaos or Ten Shinhan, who had better 'talents' and were the 'older brothers'.
Even if he taught certain people just for money, as long as they were under his tutelage, they had to follow his orders as a teacher. According to him, this was common in the past, but now only he followed this great 'tradition'.
He even said that he did not create the so-called 'sect' because people today are not as eager for martial power as they used to be, and Mutaito's sect was the last to be founded and dissolved.
"The master is obsessed with small things." Ten Shinhan frowned subconsciously at the thought of all the strange things Tsuru did, but his respect for him remained the same, at least for now.
"Anyway, let's not waste any time. Let's go," Ten Shinhan said before taking flight.
Soon, the two young men left the ruins of the crashed ship behind, and although it was a desolate sight, the signs of human habitation in the area at least gave the place some charm.
...
"My master will allow me to watch the match from here, boys, I hope you do your best," Kami's voice could be heard in the gym of the Brief House, where a motley group of people had gathered.
"Are we talking to Kami-Sama?" Krillin looked up in disbelief before pulling several wooden beads from his pocket, closing his eyes, and beginning to pray.
It had been a long time since he had done that! He had never really believed that Kami-Sama existed, so he had put aside his teachings on the subject, but seeing Bulma casually interacting with God, he decided to dedicate a prayer to her again.
"You don't have to exaggerate, little Krillin, I can hear you without praying, don't worry," Kami-Sama said, very used to Krillin's reaction.
It was one of the most common! Only Bulma and her acquaintances would get used to him as quickly as they did that day; normal people reacted like Krillin's or Yamcha's, who looked up with a slightly angry face but didn't speak.
Kami-Sama, from the other world, sighed. He understood Yamcha's bad mood, but as a god, the worst he could do was perform miracles left and right. Besides, he was one of those who believed in the saying 'teach a man how to fish'.
His job was to protect the Earth and encourage people to improve themselves little by little, which is why you could say there were so many great minds on planet Earth; it was literally 'divine grace' that facilitated their births.
Speaking of Yamcha, the boy was nervous and stood mute in front of Bikini and Bulma, but at least he was no longer frozen, but his eyes were kept away from the two women, not wanting to suffer any mishaps.
"Anyway, Kami, did you learn anything new in the other world?" Goku asked curiously, even his tail swaying gracefully, wanting to know what powerful and mysterious things Kami-Sama had learned.
"Some things you can learn for yourself if you come here one day," Kami-Sama replied mysteriously, making Goku want to ask more, but Bulma covered his mouth.
"Do you want Goku to die? Or can we go without dying?" asked Bulma with a small smile on her lips, waiting for Kami-Sama's answer.
"You always see the strange side of the things I say, Bulma..." Kami-Sama sighed audibly before continuing.
"Yes, you can get to the other world by following the official passages or by being transported here. If you want to come to my master, you will have to go a long way to prove your determination," Kami-Sama replied, causing the martial artists present to become interested.
Muten Roshi stroked his beard, and although his eyes were covered by his sunglasses, Bulma, sensing his emotions, could feel that the old man was like a sun filled with excitement at this news.
"That sounds very good, Kami-Sama. But first, it would be good for them to follow the normal path, wouldn't it? After the tournament, they'll go to Karin's Tower and then, if you agree, to the Lookout," Gohan said, trying to calm the boys' emotions.
"Oh, Karin's Tower, I still remember that greedy cat..." muttered Roshi, before his body shook, he felt that someone was looking at him with malice, but he couldn't identify from where.
Then he realized that Karin, an 'Immortal' from distant times who could observe the past and present through certain artefacts in his tower, was watching the group.
"First, the Mythical Kami-Sama, and now the Tower of Legends. it seems this world has many things I don't know." Krillin touched the area where his nose should be, and this gesture attracted Goku's curious attention.
"There are many interesting things, like magic," Chi-Chi said before showing her palm, where a flame appeared and gradually turned into a lotus flower.
"It seems that your magic talent is quite high," Roshi said, taking off his glasses as he watched Chi-Chi's little trick.
"Obviously! She'll be the future mother of my children," Goku boasted, puffing out his chest as he managed to free himself from Bulma's 'evil' grip.
Only he didn't know the full power of his words; Bulma slapped her face in embarrassment, Krillin and Oolong looked at Goku with envy, Roshi and his apprentice Gohan gave him a thumbs up.
Bikini burst out laughing. Doctor Brief stopped teasing the little cat that always lived on his shoulder and looked quizzically at Goku, and if you paid attention, you could hear the laughter of one god and the resigned sigh of another.
Yamcha was holding back his laughter, and Chi-Chi had turned completely red, but this time, she was able to control her mood swings. Seizing the opportunity, Chi-Chi clung to one of Goku's arms, causing Goku to smile as usual.
"Ah, sometimes I think maybe you broke your head as a child, but no, you're just incredibly innocent," Bulma muttered before smiling.
Goku still had his innocence, but Bulma knew her younger brother. The boy also had a cunning and intelligent side, but he seemed to be more comfortable letting himself go, showing his whimsical nature once again.
"The amazing thing is that I can use this strange cloud," Oolong pointed to Kinton, the flying cloud that Roshi had given to Goku and that was always circling the gym.
"It's comfortable. I like it very much," Goku replied, looking at the cloud, which recognized his gaze and flew towards him like a puppy.
Seeing Goku surrounded by Kinton, with his magic staff on his back and Chi-Chi at his side, Bulma felt that she was seeing not only the Saiyan but also the fearless monkey who dared to cause chaos among the gods.
It seemed that every wild monkey with a staff and a cloud was always causing trouble for the gods in one way or another.
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AN: Lapis: C-17. Lazuli: C-18. Yulin: That witch who appeared in Dragon Ball Super. YES; I WROTE KARIN, PROBLEM? Cof cof, I need sleep...