SS: Young Roshi: Chapter 11-12 (Patreon)

“Hey, Master Roshi, it’s good to see you again.” I waved at Goku as he made his way over to me, carrying his little son with him. “It’s good to see you here at the World Martial Arts Tournament. There were talks about them skipping it, but in my opinion, it would truly be a mistake.” He rubbed the back of his head as he chuckled. 

Krillin came up from our side holding hands with a girl… With Raditz, who was blushing and not making eye contact. I held back my laugh as he spoke. “Morning, Master Roshi. Yeah, this tournament is going to be an interesting one. You see the junior division they added? Are either of your kids going to join?” “Yep.” “Uh-huh.” Goku and I both answered together. I enrolled Barrage, his half-sister, Ling-Ling, and his half-brother, Purple. They were on the younger side, but ever since they could walk, they’ve been training.

To be fair, all the children younger than five in this tournament were going to have an advantage compared to the older children because of the wish I made. Even now, with the help I provided Barrage, he had to train twice as hard as his brother and sister to keep ahead of them. His growth was amazing; children shouldn’t have a base power level that Goku had just a few years ago, before Raditz invaded.

We’re all much stronger now, but just the fact that one of my children had a power level of four hundred at the age of five was ridiculous to me, and his brother and sister weren’t that far behind him; only because he took his training seriously did he beat them. Goku’s son was born after I made the wish… So there was a very good chance he’d win, but I’ve been around him, and Gohan didn’t seem to be much of a fighter.

We’d have to see. We waited for the matches to start. I sat out the tournament again. Goku needed the money, and there was a good chance that Chi-Chi's calling in complaints were why the tournament was still held today instead of being skipped. The prize pool was also increased from 500,000 to 2,500,000, while the junior winner would get 500,000.

I bet a million on Goku to win. The odds would only pay out 500,000, but unless something goes horribly wrong, he was a shoo-in to win. More people were excited for the junior division, and that went for me as well. My eyebrows rose into the sky when I saw someone I hadn’t expected. “Kami, it’s good to see you with… Your child?”

He chuckled. “Indeed. Wave hello to everyone, Castanet.” His little son waved his hand before I could ask, he explained. “Piccolo is part of the warrior class, and I am of the dragon class; warriors age rapidly, that is why my son is so young, even though he is four years old.” 

He sighed before explaining more. “I won’t be around forever, and while I wanted you to take over the mantle of Kami when I pass, it’s always better to have a backup just in case.” With a self-assured smirk, he continued. “And with the power boost Castanet received from your wish, he might even take the junior division.” Thank god Piccolo didn’t demean himself by joining the junior league; he was technically young enough to join it, but joined the main tournament instead.

Goku quickly proved his strength by easily defeating all the competition. At this point, I was the only person on the planet who could possibly fight him. He had a power level over thirty thousand, and I was close behind him. With another few months of training, I had no doubt he’d surpass me again, but while he only had Kaio Ken, I also had my muscle form to rely on. So, unless he gained another more powerful form, I held the advantage.

Forty children signed up, with most being right near the cut-off age of fifteen for the tournament, some even tried to cheat and sneak in, even though they were passed fifteen. Forty quickly became twenty as our children defeated their opponents in a matter of seconds. My daughter got unlucky and was placed against Gohan; he wasn’t as skilled as her, but his Saiyan physique and power level difference made up for his lack of skill. He was easily over six hundred, but because I hadn’t brought my scouter with me, I couldn’t get a completely accurate read on his power.

Even though Gohan is almost twice as strong as Ling-Ling, it was the most entertaining fight we got to see, with many close calls to him being ringed out by my daughter. By the blush on her face, I could tell she already had a crush on the little boy. There was a dark horse in the competition, though. A little girl had knocked out a boy twice her age.

Her father had taken part in the real tournament, but was quickly defeated by Krillin in a single move. Little Videl was worth watching, though, it was just unfortunate her next opponent was Kami’s son. Ten became five, which meant someone had to fight twice. My son Purple pulled the unlucky card, and he had won against his first opponent, but then lost to Gohan.”

The remaining four were Castanet, Gohan, a lucky random, and Barrage. The lucky random was quickly defeated as he didn’t go easy on him. Barrage was in his brown haired form right now, it was the smarter of his two forms, so he was thinking tactically. His green-haired form was the fighter who could pick things up instinctively. The tactical mind of his knew the green-haired version would have better odds at winning, so he tickled his nose, drawing a confused crowd to wonder what happened and why his hair was a different color.

They had to make sure we didn’t do the old switcheroo and put in a fresh contestant after everyone else was worn down, but after he showed it was part of his abilities, he was allowed to move on. The fight between Castanet and Gohan was closer and better than it had any right to be. 

We got the kid version of the Goku and Piccolo fight, with both using their brains to do things children their age shouldn’t be capable of. Castanet could use the arm lengthening attack, which caught Gohan by surprise, and Gohan could already use the Kamahameha wave from his feet to avoid an attack. Gohan barely pulled out a victory. 

The finale was about to happen, and it was clear to see who the victor would be. Gohan was breathing ragged and had tears forming in the corner of his eyes, while Barrage looked fresh. He looked at me and nodded his head as I asked for a time-out before the match started. I split a senzu bean in half and fed it to both of them. Barrage should have stayed his nerdy self, because he wouldn’t have looked down on his weakened opponent like this.

It was another close fight, but it was clear that Gohan would win after a few exchanges. Over the course of his matches, he learned how to fight better, and no amount of work ethic can make up for sheer talent and a tenfold power level that children born after I made my wish had. A child that would be born with a two-power level would be born with twenty, and Gohan might have been able to win without ever training; he had that much of a head start. Gohan… Looked upset that he won, like he knew he really didn’t deserve it compared to the people who put in more work than him. It would be interesting to see the outcome of this.

All the younger participants went to an ice cream parlor and spent some of Gohan’s winnings on treats for themselves. The parents got to talking, and our kids would have to visit Videl when it was her birthday. Maybe I could do something about her sick mother as my birthday gift to her.

Chapter 12

Cui’s Point of View

Ever since Vegeta came back from his failed recruitment mission… I’ve felt different toward him. Where before, I loved being stronger than him, often teasing him until he had reached my power level. I felt that rivalry changing into a different feeling for some reason. I couldn’t put my finger on why, but it probably had to do with the two lumps of flesh he grew on his chest.

For some reason, I wanted him to be thankful to me; the easiest way for me to do that was to destroy the people on the planet he failed on. I chuckled evilly as I made my way out of my attack ball. I looked around the planet, and it didn’t look special. It looked pretty boring, actually. A place that I would have never attacked if it wasn’t for Vegeta, because it held no assets or strategic value.

How did he lose on this planet? The scouter was reading the strongest power at five thousand, he should be able to kill hundreds of warriors at this level without breaking a sweat. I headed toward it and spotted a Namekian. What was a Namekian doing on this planet? Was he also here to invade them? No, that didn’t make sense; he must have crash-landed here or something. I had to report this back to headquarters.

I left him to his own devices, as he clearly wasn’t one of the few who hurt Vegeta. Looking around, there was another cluster of higher power levels. They were only around the strength of our ground troops, but everyone else on this planet was far, far weaker. I flew over and met a group of children. Are the children on this planet this strong? No, they must just be a very short race or something; children don’t get this strong.

My eyes barely scanned them, but my eyes stopped when I saw a colorful piece of jewelry on the hat that one of them was wearing. Without any strong fighters on this planet, I might as well just come out and steal it. I rushed over and stole the ball off the child’s head before rushing away. The kids all ran into the house screaming as I ran, laughing maniacally.

I looked around as my scouter started going crazy. Out of nowhere, a power level similar to mine formed and began chasing me. I kept running. A man appeared behind me as he screamed. “What are you doing with the Dragon Ball?” He charged an attack, but I easily dodged it, until I felt his strength grow again, surpassing mine. Once he did that, I knew I had to trick him because I wouldn’t make it back to my ship.

“W-wait. I was sent here to gather this by the master.” The man stopped before looking confused. “Master? You mean Master Roshi? What does he need the Dragon Balls for?” I played along. “T-that’s right. He sent me here to get this and the other ones as well. How many of them are there?” He looked confused again as the man responded. “Huh? There are seven balls, don’t you know that? I wonder what wish he wants?”

I couldn’t help but gulp down saliva before asking. “These balls can grant wishes?” He looked happy that he got to answer so many questions at once. “Yeah, don’t you know? Kami made them, big green guy, can’t miss him.” My mind reeled at the idea before I pieced everything together. “So you’re saying that Namekians can create these Dragon Balls?” Before I could get an answer, I was hit with an attack from behind that vaporized me.

…

“Goku! Do you realize what you’ve just done!?” Goku just looked at me, confused, before I told him. “Those scouters record audio and send back messages. By telling him we have wish-granting orbs, we’re going to get invaded by an army, or the army is going to invade Piccolo’s home planet because you let them know the Namekians create them!”

“WHAT!?” Piccolo approached from behind, coming once he felt our spiking power levels. “You idiot, how could you let the enemy know about the Dragon Balls! How can you be so stupid!?” I couldn’t believe it myself. The enemy barely spoke a handful of sentences between them, yet he got almost all the information necessary about the Dragon Balls he possibly could.

How did I ever think I could leave the safety of this planet to that moron? As strong as he was, he was a complete musclehead. I could only sigh as what was done is done. There was no fixing Goku’s gullibility, but even the children playing at his house wouldn’t have fallen for that information gathering attempt. We were in trouble, but until they showed up here, or went to Namek, there wasn’t much we could do.

I just hoped they underestimated us and didn’t send someone on the elite level. We might be able to fight against someone over a hundred thousand power level, but not against a team that strong. I just hoped the information I had, that those above a hundred thousand were extremely rare, and that the information would be ruled an idiot's superstition… Which might have been the case if I hadn’t murdered him the moment he got all the information from Goku.

All we could do was prepare, and I knew the next fight we went into would be far harder than the one with Vegeta; we were fighting an army now. An army with many people on the same level as Vegeta. I let King Kai know what Goku did. “Are you serious? He gave away all the information on the Dragon Balls to a member of the Frieza force? How can he be so stupid!... I might have to wake up the god of destruction early if Frieza goes crazy with his wishes…”

He whispered that last part, but I still heard what he said through his mumbling. That was a question for another time, though. “What can we do to get stronger in case they come after our planet or go after Namek?” He thought about it before mentioning. “There’s a planet called Yardrat. The alien race there are physically weak, but they have many techniques that could increase your power.”

I sighed as I knew I’d be busy for the foreseeable future, who knew how long it would take until the shoe dropped. “Alright… I’ll take some of us there, can you give me the spatial coordinates of the two planets?” Thankfully, Yardrat was close to Namek. It meant if they did get invaded, I would be able to make it there before they got all the Dragon Balls. I just had to rely on King Kai to notice the Frieza force.

I took Krillin, Piccolo, Gohan, and Barrage with me. Depending on the techniques that could be taught, it might be better for us all to learn something different that we can teach each other in case they invade before we can learn everything. I mean… What kind of person would learn an extremely useful technique, then not bother to teach it to his friends or his teacher, from whom he learned everything from? That would never happen.

Either way… I talked to Bulma and told her to make another ship, just in case. I doubted I could defeat the leader Frieza, so we might need a backup ship to flee the planet in case he decided to show up. Goku’s brain finally caught up to what actually happened as he said. “Ohhh, that purple alien guy was lying when he said he knew you.” I almost fell over from how long it took him to realize.