by Jamie L. Word
"Gladiator Tournament"
Fourteen years had passed since Koji lost his best friend Chih on planet Sagea. In that time, Koji had grown up and become a tall, well-muscled man. He stumbled upon a gladiator planet with a battle arena which resembled the gladiator arena of the original Roman Colliseum. He spent much of his time there, fighting in exhibition matches and waiting for the opportunity to find a worthy opponent. He had survived the gladiator battles for many years, and now he found himself with a chance to enter the first ever tournament of the gladiators there.
Planet Veloria.
It was a packed house at the gladiator arena, and two fighters stood in the arena battle ground awaiting the start of their battle. The audience also awaited the start of the fight anxiously. There was a great deal of tension in the air as everyone waited for it to begin.
One of the two fighter was a huge, hulking brute with dark blue skin and red eyes, and he had bushy silver-colored hair with a full beard. He wore battle gear which very much resembled Roman Centurion armor without the helmet. The warrior was massively muscled, maybe two to three times the size of his opponent across the battlefield from him.
The opponent was Koji. He was taller and much bulkier than he was as a teenager, looking like a powerful warrior. His attire was the same, only it was larger to fit his beefed up physique. He was clean-shaven, and his hair had not changed in all those years. He stood calmly awaiting the start of the fight.
An announcer broke the tension with the opening announcements preceeding the fight, saying, "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the final qualifying round of the first ever Velorian Gladiator Tournament! The winner of this bout will advance into the actual tournament where he will draw for a spot against seven other great fighters!
Introducing first, the hulking giant of a warrior! Representing the Zolian warrior caste, he is the powerful Zolian warrior Borgoso!"
The audience gave Borgoso a good response, cheering him well. Borgoso lifted his massive arms into the air, holding his fists aloft and roaring like a professional wrestler in an effort to improve the crowd response.
"His opponent is a solid performer in our arena for the last twelve years!" the announcer resumed his announcing job. "He represents the now-eradicated Saiyan race! He is the undefeated gladiator known as Koji!"
The crowd erupted in deafening enthusiasm for the mighty Saiyan warrior, and Koji merely stood there, his eyes focused on Borgoso, who is growing quite annoyed at Koji's popularity. Koji showed no obvious display of emotion, just a hint of an ever-so-subtle smile upon his lips and the slightest gleam in his eye. He and the fuming Borgoso locked eyes in a staredown.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time for this qualifying match!" the announcer exclaimed, exciting the crowd.
"I'm gonna squash you under my foot, little man!" Borgoso bellowed at Koji as he clenched his fists and held them up in preparation for battle. "It's too bad you're such a runt, pip-squeak! This is gonna be a cakewalk!"
"If you're so confident, why don't you prove it to me?" Koji taunted the fuming brute while maintaining his relaxed stance. "Come on! Let's see what you've got! Let's go!"
Borgoso uttered a rage-filled roar as he charged at Koji, but Koji still seemed relaxed, even at the sight of the barreling brute! Borgoso threw a punch at Koji, but Koji ducked under it! Borgoso tried to punch Koji again, but Koji sidestepped that one! Borgoso tried to kick Koji, but Koji evaded the kick as well, further frustrating Borgoso! Borgoso continued to throw hand-to-hand attacks at Koji, swinging faster and with more emotion than before, but Koji's speed continued to keep him out of the path of Borgoso's extremeties!
After several moments of this, Koji went on the offensive, hammering the big brute at will with punches and kicks that bruised the hulking fighter! Borgoso found himself unable to match Koji's skill and speed, and Koji found himself at a tremendous advantage! With a tremendous kick, Koji knocked Borgoso to the ground with a thud!
The big brute pulled himself to his feet, his frustration and rage building and obvious. His face was bruised, and his lip and nose were bleeding, but he was undaunted. Borgoso grimaced in pain and outrage.
"What's wrong?" Koji inquired tauntingly as he grinned a slight grin. "I thought you were going to squash me under your foot, big guy. What happened? Am I too much for you?"
"Grrrrrr! You're gonna regret that, little man!" Borgoso snarled as he tensed every muscle in his body and spread his feet shoulder-width apart. "Now I'm gonna show you something nobody else has ever seen before! I'm gonna show you a Super Zolian!"
"Huh?" Koji muttered in a state of confusion. "What are you talking about? Super Zolian?"
Borgoso began his transformation with a vicious-sounding growl, and a glowing aura surrounded his body! The ground began to tremble slightly, the sky darkened slightly, and winds began to howl! Stones then began rising from the ground just seconds later, accompanied by whirlwinds of flying debris! Small rocks began to split as the ground began shaking more strongly at first and then violently. Seconds later, huge rocks erupted out of the ground as the sky went dark, and lightning flashed in the sky as the whirlwinds intensified!
Borgoso's bulky frame grew much larger as his muscles swelled in size! His hair grew down below his shoulders and turned blood red! His energy aura turned blood red as well, setting off his eyes menacingly!
"Huh?" Koji muttered in utter disbelief as he watched the transformation before him. "What's going on?"
At the completion of his transformation, Borgoso glared menacingly at Koji as the side effects of his power-up subsided! Borgoso then flew at Koji and punched him in the face, bruising the Saiyan's cheek and splitting his lip! Koji was slammed into a far wall, leaving a small crater in the side of the wall where he hit! Koji slumped to the ground, but he wasted little time getting to his feet and wiping the blood from his lip with the back of his fist!
"He's really strong now!" Koji thought to himself as he looked at Borgoso in wonder. "I can sense that his power level just went up substantially as well! He's now twice as strong as before, and his skill level has improved as well! This will be much tougher than I thought it would be!"
"Ha!" Borgoso mockingly taunted the tough Saiyan as he began walking forward, each step echoing like a ton of bricks slamming into the ground. "I see you're impressed! That's right! I'm a lot stronger than you are! I am gonna squash you under my foot, you little rodent!"
"You seem more confident than before," Koji remarked as he steeled his resolve and braced himself for another collision. "Let's see if your confidence is well-founded or not!"
The giant-sized Zolian flew right at Koji, but Koji ducked under Borgoso's punch attempt and slammed his fist into the giant's midsection! The thunderous punch Koji hit Borgoso with seemed to have little effect on the pumped-up Super Zolian! Koji hit Borgoso in the face with a double-fisted smash, turning his head but not otherwise harming him! Koji's eyes widened in disbelief as he noted Borgoso's newfound toughness!
"What's this?" Koji thought to himself as he looked at Borgoso in disbelief. "A moment ago, my attacks were sufficient to hurt him! Now, in his transformed state, his resiliency has increased significantly! It's going to take a significant force to cause him harm now!"
"What's the matter, little man?" Borgoso taunted with a laugh as he now bore a big, dumb grin on his face. "Not so tough now, are you?"
Borgoso threw another punch at Koji, but Koji sidestepped it and planted a double-footed push kick to Borgoso's back, hurling the off-balance brute forward where he slid on his face in the dirt for a great distance! Borgoso stood up, angry over his humiliating experience! Koji smiled as he gazed upon his handiwork!
"Now!" Koji thought to himself as he pointed both open hands towards the furious brute, waiting for him to turn around.
"Alright, you little runt!" Borgoso roared before turning around to see Koji preparing to blast him, then he looked terrified when he saw Koji.
"You may have increased your strength, your power, and your hand-to-hand attack skill significantly, but your increased bulk slows down your reaction speed just a bit," Koji explained as he powered up the energy blast at the end of his hands. "You may have become more resilient to my hand-to-hand attacks, but there's more to a battle than just physical prowess!"
With that said Koji fired his powerful energy blast at Borgoso, but Borgoso crossed his forearms in front of his face and clenched his fists! As Borgoso roared in his effort to deflect Koji's blast, Koji grimaced as he pushed even more energy into the blast! The powerful blast slammed into Borgoso's crossed forearms and began driving him backwards towards the wall of the arena! Borgoso's feet slid backwards, carving trails in the dirt as he was pushed back by Koji's mighty energy blast!
The ground began to tremble slightly under Borgoso's sliding feet as small stones began rising from the ground! Seconds later, the ground began to shake more strongly and small rocks began to split! Everyone was on the edge of their seats as they watched the closely-matched contest! After several moments of this struggle, Koji's blast exploded like a powerful bomb, creating a vision-obscuring cloud of smoke and dust around the explosion!
After several moments, the cloud of dust and smoke settled to reveal that Borgoso had survived the explosion, but he was much worse for wear after enduring that blast! Borgoso was breathing heavilly, but Koji wasn't quite as out of breath! Borgoso put his hands together and laced the fingers of his two hands before pointing them at Koji! Koji pointed both of his open hands palmfirst towards Borgoso like he did moments before! Everyone was on edge waiting for the next struggle!
"That little runt has a lot of power!" Borgoso thought to himself as he grimaced and braced himself for the next exchange. "He's still too fast for me to fight him effectively, even in my Super Zolian state! My only chance may be to overpower him with my energy!"
"The foolish oaf!" Koji thought to himself as he braced himself and grimaced in preparation for the next exchange as well. "He's not aware enough to realize that my power is still much bigger than his! He's very strong, but he's not too bright! His bulky frame slows him down, making it even more difficult for him to dodge my attacks! He's falling right into my strategy for this fight, which is too bad for him!"
As the two warriors prepared to attack each other with energy attacks, they both began to glow! In seconds, the ground began to tremble slightly, the sky began to darken slightly, and the winds began to howl! Seconds later, the ground began shaking more strongly, and small stones began rising off the ground! A few seconds after that, rocks began to split, whirlwinds of flying debris formed around them, and the ground began shaking violently as glowing spheres of energy formed in each of their hands! Seconds later still, the sky went dark, lightning began performing a cellestial dance in the darkened sky, huge rocks erupted out of the ground, and the whirlwinds of flying debris intensified even more!
"Oh, my goodness!" the announcer screamed as he trembled with the building and tried to make sense of things. "They're both so powerful! It's scary! These two fighters are extremely powerful!"
From the back area reserved for the fighters, there are seven more fighters watching. One of them was wearing a hooded cloak, and he was rather on the short side. Another fighter was significantly taller, wearing a "sandman" style attire. There was a tall Nameccian fighter who wasn't wearing a weighted cape or turban. Also standing there was a fish-like Kanassian (from the movie Bardock: Father of Goku). There was also a giant, bug-like Arlian standing in the back of the others. There was a Pikkon-like, green-skinned alien in his traditional garb (resembling Pikkon from the Other World tournament who fought against Goku in the finals). There was a tough-looking Sagean standing in their midst as well, looking a lot like a cowboy from the wild west of Earth's history.
"You think they're powerful?" the short fighter wearing the hooded cloak thought to himself as he watched the fight with the others. "Wait until they see what I can do!"
"Very impressive!" the 'sandman' attired fighter thought to himself as he watched alongside the others.
"Those guys are okay," the Arlian thought to himself as he admired their performance. "Whichever one wins, he might make a tasty treat later!"
"They're incredible!" the Nameccian fighter thought to himself as he struggled to not look worried. "That Super Zolian is powerful, but the Saiyan fighter is far more powerful than he is! A couple of the other fighters here possess great power, much like the Saiyan fighter fighting now! This is going to be one tough tournament!"
"The Saiyan is strong and incredibly skilled!" the Pikkon-esque fighter thought to himself as he watched stoically.
"This is gonna be one good tournament!" the Sagean exclaimed excitedly as he watched the fight. "I think I recognize the little 'un there! He kind o' reminds me o' that little Saiyan kid who saved my planet from Tarboz!"
The other fighters looked at the Sagean with interest as he smiled and adjusted his ten gallon hat. The short fighter in the hooded cloak seemed particularly interested, even upset, at the comments of the Sagean.
"He will be joining us as the next qualifying fighter in this tournament," the Kanassian thought to himself as he regarded the others stoically.
Back on the battlefield, Koji and Borgoso fired their powerful blasts at each other while uttering long, drawn-out battle yells! The two massive blasts slammed into each other and began pushing against each other! The power-up special effects from when they were powering up their blasts continued as they continued to channel more and more energy into their blasts by the moment, trying to overpower each other's blasts!
"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!" Borgoso thought to himself as he grimaced under the strain of keeping pace with Koji. "My energy is depleting too rapidly! This effort's gonna leave me drained!"
"It's only a matter of time now!" Koji thought to himself as his veins bulged in his forehead. "He can't last much longer, and then I'll raise the stakes a bit more! When his power is almost depleted, I'll surprise everyone!"
Moments later, Borgoso was visibly fatigued from the effort! His face and posture were a dead giveaway, and his blast began to give way to Koji's! Borgoso looked desperate and panicky, but Koji just smiled! With his power-up yell suddenly rising to a crescendo, Koji pumped even more energy into his blast, and it completely overwhelmed Borgoso's maxed-out energy blast! The super-charged energy blast from Koji washed over Borgoso and exploded like a nuclear artillery shell, creating a huge mushroom cloud of smoke and dust as the power-up special effects subsided!
When the cloud of dust and smoke finally dissipated, there was a huge crater where Borgoso once stood, and there was no trace of Borgoso! Everyone gasped in horror, but Koji just smiled and looked up! Everyone finally followed Koji's gaze and saw Borgoso hurtling skyward! It seemed that, of the fighters in the back, only the Arlian and the Sagean didn't already have their gazes upon Borgoso's hurtling form! Koji used his superspeed to seemingly teleport from the ground to over the hurtling form of Borgoso, and then he hammered Borgoso with a two-fisted smash that knocked the battered Super Zolian back into the crater with a thunderous thud! In the crater, the unconscious Super Zolian reverted to his normal state, and Koji descended back to the ground to bask in the glory of his victory! The crowd went wild!
"And there's our winner, folks!" the announcer shouted to be heard over the roar of the crowd. "Koji will join the other seven fighters in the tournament starting tomorrow! We'll see you all then!"