Mar and Reona flew at one another, not wasting any time. As they got towards the middle of the arena, Reona phased out, reappearing above Mar. But my blond haired friend must have expected something of the sort, because when Reona threw a fist, aiming to hit her right on the head, Mar phased out as well, reappearing beside the purple haired girl and kicking her in the face. Reona flew backwards, doing a backflip and landing on the edge of the arena, pushing off and immediately coming back for Mar.
"Get her! You can do it! Go Marron!" Nate hollered from beside me as the two exchanged some more hits. It seemed that they were pretty close in strength, even this early into the fight.
Suddenly, Mar landed another good hit on Reona, sending her crashing to the stage. The older girl was barely able to flip to she landed on her feet in time.
"That Reona chick has some pretty decent reflexes," Gohan observes. I nodded in agreement, smirking.
"Too bad she doesn't know Mar's spent pretty much her whole life keeping up with Saiyans," I say, crossing my arms.
"Don't overestimate her that easily," Ares says, watching Reona as she launched herself back at Mar. "After all, the man who screams into that mechanical stick says that she's a returning winner."
"Oooooh! That hit almost knocked Marron out of the arena!" I turned back to the fight in time to see Mar shoot back towards her opponent from where she had been floating over the grass. I breathed a sigh of relief. As long as she didn't touch the grass, she was still in.
Mar approached Reona, her fist drawn back. Quicker than a bullet, she was on top of the other girl, her fist buried in her stomach. Reona coughed, doubling over as Mar drew back. My friend smirked, rearing back to kick her. As she brought her foot around, Reona caught it. I heard Mar gasp in surprise.
Standing up straight and still holding Mar's foot, Reona raised her hand, a small Ki blast forming. Before Mar could get free, Reona let the blast go, hitting my friend square in the chest and letting go of her foot simultaneously. Mar flew backwards, quickly coming up on the edge of the arena where she had just been moments before.
"Mar!" I shout, my eyes wide.
But, while in midair, Mar recovered, flipping so her belly was towards the ground. A split second later, she phased out, reappearing behind Reona, who stood in the middle of the arena. She was using her momentum from the other girl's blast to propel her. It would have been an awesome gut shot, had Reona not screamed.
Well, it wasn't a scream exactly. It was more like a yelp. But whenever she did it, a powerful sound wave flew from her mouth, hitting Mar head on. My friend once more flew backwards, hitting the arena and skidding to a stop right before she fell off the edge.
"What the?!" Krillin exclaims, leaning forward and rubbing his eyes, as if trying to make sure he'd seen that correctly. "Did she just blast Mar with her voice!"
"I've heard of creatures like this!" Tarble says excitedly. "A banshee! They can create sound waves with their voices! I never would have guessed there were some on Earth!"
I looked from him back over to where Mar was standing up. There was a cut on her forehead dripping blood down her face.
"How powerful of a one do you think Reona is?" Goten questioned. Tarble shook his head.
"It is hard to tell. All banshees are different, depending on how much they've trained their voices."
"Well, let's just assume that Reona is a pretty decent one," Trunks says. "Considering how easily she knocked Marron aside."
'Mar, are you okay?' I sent the blond.
'Y-yeah, I think so...'
'That chick, she's a banshee. She can create sound waves with her voice!'
'Ya think?!' Mar sent back, a fierce look on her face. Reona was watching her, smirking.
"Still refusing to stay down?" she asked, her arms crossed over her chest. Mar glared at her.
"I will never stay down," Mar replies, flying at her. But I noticed that it wasn't quite as fast as before.
"Reona is wearing Marron out," 18 observes. "If she can't dodge as quickly, then the sound waves are more effective."
"Dammit!" Nate exclaims. Then, louder, "C'mon, Marron! Show her what you're made of!"
Scowling, Mar twisted around, missing Reona's punch and knocking her feet out from under her. As the purple haired girl landed on her back, she let out another sound wave. It hit Marron, sending her flying into the air. She came to a stop, floating about twenty feet in the air.
Reona stood up, brushing herself off. She never took her eyes off Mar a she jumped up, quickly flying to the same height Mar was at. The two floated there for a while, glaring at one another.
"C'mon, Mar," I muttered. "Take her out!"
Suddenly, Reona flew at Mar, ready to strike. But, when she swung her fist, it passed through Mar as if she weren't there. The purple haired girl looked around in bewilderment.
"Hey! Over here!" All attention shifted to where Mar now floated behind Reona. The older girl whirled around, a scowl on her face. She charged Mar again, once more aiming to hit her. But, just like before, her hand passed through her.
"She's using After Images!" Krillin says excitedly. "Yahoo! Go Marron! That's my girl!"
Each time Reona hit an image, another one appeared. Half growling, she started blasting them with her sonic blasts.
"One of these has to be you, blondie," Reona says, hitting two more of Mar's After Images.
I looked around the arena for the real Mar. It wasn't hard to spot her, standing on the tiles of the stage. Her arms were crossed across her chest and she shook her head. I laughed.
"Hey! Reona!" Reona froze, looking down at Mar. All the images faded.
With no hesitation, Mar raised her hands to her forehead.
"Incoming!" Bulla warns. We all glance away, knowing what's coming.
"Solar Flare!" Mar shouts. A bright flash of white light is followed by Reona's surprised yelp. I looked up, watching as Reona rubbed her eyes to clear them.
Mar took her chance, phasing out and reappearing above Reona. Kicking her hard, Mar sent her opponent crashing to the ground below. More specifically, the grass.
"And it looks like Marron has won, Ladies and Gentlemen! She will be moving on to the next round"
My group and I cheered loudly as Mar descended from the sky, a grin on her face. When she landed, she walked over to the edge, jumping down and holding out a hand to help Reona. The purple haired girl looked at it for a moment before a small smirk crossed her face. Grabbing Mar's hand, she let her pull her up.
"That was a good fight," Reona says. "Maybe we could do it again." Still grinning, Mar nodded happily. After shaking hands with Reona, she walked over to us.
"Congrats!" I tell her, pulling her into a hug. Mar hugged me back.
"I just can't believe that actually worked! I really didn't think it would!"
"You'd better believe it!" Nate says. I moved out of the way so he could get to her. They hugged and kissed before Krillin and 18 came to congratulate their daughter.
"All this makes me really excited for our match!" Bulla says, looking at Krillin. He chuckles.
"Just go easy on me. I'm not as young as I used to be, y'know!"
"The next match is getting ready to begin! Would Nate Matthews and 18 please step onto the stage!"
"Well, wish us luck everyone!" Nate says, glancing at 18. Just like with Mar, some of us hugged them for good luck.
"I know you'll both do great!" Mar tells her boyfriend and mom. They smile and thank her. 18 and Krillin share a kiss before she and Nate walk out into the arena. We watch them excitedly.
"The fighters this round are quite interesting! 18 is the mother of Marron and a returning contestant, last seen at the tournament ten years ago! However, this is Nate's first tournament! I wonder how this will end up!" The announcer had Nate and 18 shake hands before they went to their ends of the arena stage.
"Ready, set, fight!"
Nate and 18's match didn't last as long as Mar's and Reona's. Though they were both fairly close in strength, 18 eventually got the upper hand, throwing her daughter's boyfriend out of the arena.
"Hey, Rosey, 'member when we dressed up in some guy's clothes to fight 18?" Goten asked, poking my shoulder, grinning. I laughed at the memory.
"Yeah, I do. And we totally would have won had she not ripped our costume in half!"
"Why did you have to dress up to fight 18?" Trunks asked, his eyes amused. I shook my head.
"I'll tell you later," I say as Nate and 18 walked back to us, the former laughing about something.
"Hey, guys! Did you see that?! This is sooooooo much fun! We'll have to come back next time!" Even though he just lost, the blond was still a big bundle of excitement, just like always.
"You both were wonderful," Mar says, hugging her mom and boyfriend at the same time. I smiled, watching them.
"And now it's time for our third round of the day!" the announcer says excitedly.
"Looks like we're up, shorty," a voice says from behind me. I turn around to see the girl with long blond hair - Lilith - standing near Tarble. He frowned slightly, nodding.
"Good luck, Uncle Tarble!" Bulla says, grinning at the man. Tarble's frown turns into a smile as he thanks her. We all gave him encouraging words, including Vegeta, which seemed to send the younger of the two over the moon.
"Tarble really looks up to Vegeta, huh?" I asked Dad quietly so Vegeta wouldn't hear as Tarble and Lilith walked out onto the stage. Dad nodded.
"Oh yeah! And Ares says it's always been like that. I guess since their mom died shortly after Tarble was born and their dad was the king and all, Vegeta was the closest family Tarble ever had. Well, Vegeta and Ares, but of the two, you can guess which one he idolized more."
I smiled. "I think it's sweet. Vegeta has his own fan club!"
Tarble and Lilith took up their positions on the either side of the stage, getting into their fighting stances. Lilith looked rather confident like Tarble wore an expression similar to one I'd grown accustomed to seeing on Vegeta.
It looks as if we're finally getting to see what the younger prince was made of.