All was quiet in the early hours of the morning in the Paozu mountain range. As the sun begins to peek over the horizon, the many animals that inhabit the wilds of the mountain forests were waking up to begin their day of hunting, foraging or just general meandering within their territories. It was a peaceful day...

A sudden and rather violent explosion ruins that quiet peace, shaking the world and causing any of the animals still asleep to jolt wide awake in a panic. Many would break into a mad run to flee, others just froze in place out of confusion and terror.

If you were to look, high above the treeline of the forest, between the mountains, a giant cloud of smoke and steam billowed in all directions. This cloud was not unlike the aftermath of a firework exploding in mid-air, but scaled to the height it was the preceding explosion was a frightening thought for sure.

From the dark plumes, a human figure rockets himself backwards through the air, arms raised crossed in front of himself to protect their body. This figure, this young man, was the eldest of the Son family twins, Xander, trying to evade the second ki blast his twin sister, the firey spirited Kira, had just flung at him.

He really hadn't been expecting his sister to start their sparring session with that much power right off the bat, meaning that her energy attack caught him completely unawares. It was only by sheer instinct that he put his hands out in an attempt to catch and hold the damn thing, but he was forced to fling it off somewhere. He had heard the explosion, but just hoped that he didn't hurt anything down below.

"Hey Kira, don't you think that was little overkill? I thought you said we were just doing some..light..." But as Xander watches on as Kira finishes charging up her next attack, he starts to get the feeling that this had been her plan from the moment she had woken up. It's been like this every since they were kids, goading him further and further.

Now, as Kira's second energy sphere was quickly closing the distance between it and him, Xander would find himself trapped between a rock and a hard place, quite literally. Ironic, since he was the one flying backwards towards a mountain peak. As he was keeps rocketing back, Xander couldn't help but wonder back as to why Kira was being so serious all of a sudden, why she was deciding to go almost all out on the first couple moves like she was in a real battle. Sure, she was a little impulsive, at least as much as Xander believed, but going this far right now meant that she was fired up about something..something that she'll never tell Xander about, anyways.

Just before Xander would make contact with the sheer rock face, he stops dead in midair, blowing dust off the rock behind him. He grits his teeth before throwing his arms outstretched in front of his body, hands open, just waiting for his sister's attack to hit once again.

The ball of explosive energy hits Xander's open palms with a slam of large kinetic force, the very presence of which causing large cracks to form in the mountain side. Xander grunts and winces in strain as he fights to keep his sister's attack under control. Kira, meanwhile, had finally flown back into range where she could clearly see her brother struggling. This puts a smile on Kira's face, a rather cocky one at that, as she decides to push the envelope a little.

"You do realize we're not kids anymore, right? We both said that from now on we didn't need to hold back against each other, so don't go wimping out now!" Kira yells down to her brother, smirking rather triumphantly. Though, the longer that Xander continued to hold onto the ball of energy, the more Kira's cocky attitude diminished, replaced by increasing irritation.

'What the hell is he doing down there? It's not like I put that much power into that attack, so why is he stalling like this?' Kira wonders to herself, now just silently watching Xander, glaring as she tries to figure out just what he might be thinking.

She would soon get her answer when Xander's energy output skyrockets, bumping him up to his power limits almost instantaneously. Slowly, Xander would reach his hands around the energy sphere, all while still keeping it in place. Soon it wasn't so much that Xander was holding back his sister's attack, but actually holding it in his hands. The energy shook and sparked violently, trying to find an outlet to fly through and break apart like intended. Through the blinding light of the attack, Kira couldn't actually see her brother's facial expression, but she had a feeling at just what-...

Kira was shook from her thoughts with a sudden and violent burst of pink and white light, actually causing her to shield her eyes. Xander had, in a split moment, ramped his energy output up and into into his palms. He crushed Kira's sphere with his bare hands, containing the resulting explosion with his own energy.

After the display, the two Son siblings looked back and caught each other's gazes. Kira, now having lost her mocking demeanor, gave a genuine smile of excitement as she saw her brother's face clearly. Xander was finally getting serious, his once worried and reluctant expression being replaced by a fire in his eyes, looking right back at his sister.

"Good, you finally got angry. Took you long enough, you butt." Kira says to herself, still smiling at her brother.

The two siblings let their energy flare, flying towards the other at breakneck speeds before their fists collide, again rocking the land underneath them and knocking away any stray clouds that had gotten too close. Xander and Kira would continue with an exchange of rapid paced jabs and kicks, trying catch the other off guard and deal a debilitating blow.

To any normal person, it would look like the sibling duo were trying to kill each other, throwing around as much power as they were for just a simple sparring match. It's not like the two were trying to kill each other, on the contrary the entire exchange began out of simple, early morning boredom. The days now seemed to just pass on by with nothing of interest happening. Hell, even the petty criminals seem to have taken a vacation, of which Kira in particular was pretty miffed about.

Nowadays, all the twins had in the way of training was each other, along with their parents when they could find the time. Their mother was currently the breadwinner of the family, a policewoman in West City, soon to be promoted come next month. Their father, meanwhile, was traveling abroad on a teaching visa for language arts and culture sharing. As a result they weren't around too often these days, though it wouldn't take much for either to fly back if something were to go down. Though, for as powerful as Kira and Xander were, they weren't too worried.

As Kira dodged a volley of punches from her twin before spotting her opening. She sent a fist flying directly towards Xander's gut, making contact almost immediately. He flew back a couple feet and began coughing up blood. "Seriously bro, that's the fifth time I caught you off guard today. Are you alright?" Kira asked, concern clearly evident in her dark brown eyes. She knew Xander was stronger than this and a lot more skilled, but lately he's been distracted in their sparring matches and when he's not he gets angry and reckless with his fighting style.

"I'm fine Kira, it's just... I haven't gotten that much sleep lately." Xander said but only half meant it. Sleep wasn't an issue more so than these weird dreams he was having, he couldn't explain what they meant but they depicted several disturbing images: carnage...mass destruction...lots of lost lives...and a face that looked to be made of bubblegum. Xander didn't know what to make of all of it and frankly he didn't care, he knew he was strong enough to take on whatever challenge would come his way and whoever this bubblegum looking monster is would be in for one hell of a fight! "Well then try and get to bed on time and not stay up all night playing videogames. I want an actual challenge out of you!" Kira said smugly, knowing it would sting her brother's stone cold ego.

"Hey, at least I'm not the one who uploads fanfictions and fan art of herself and Harley Moatrs 24/7." Xander retorted, enjoying the quickly darkening red shades that were appearing on his sister's face. "Why you little...Hyarrgh!" Kira powered up and rushed her twin to engage in another exchange of kicks and punches. They began moving about the sky and colliding at one another to try and break the other's defenses. They broke away a couple of feet and Kira fired her signature attack. "QUADRUPLE SUN EXPLOSION!" She yelled and hurled a large yellow ball of energy into the sky. "Damn," Xander said as he watched the ball rise up into the clouds.

It didn't stay that way for long, "Break apart and rain down!" Kira called out as she flexed her outstretched hand in a certain pattern. Xander looked up as the large ball of energy burst apart into four smaller projectiles, all aimed towards him. The energy balls raced towards him, leaving no other options but to dodge. He weaved in and around the raining balls of destruction and flew off to avoid the explosions. "I don't think so, I've been working on how these things work!" Kira yelled after her brother. She then thrust her hand towards Xander and the energy projectiles followed suit, giving chase to the retreating boy. Xander looked over his shoulder and grimaced, he was nowhere near losing these things and they were quickly gaining ground on him. "Only one thing to do!" He said inside his head.

Xander stopped abruptly in midair and turned to the oncoming energy balls. He dodged the first one and managed to get his hands on the second. He then thrust it up above him and fired his own ki blast, destroying one of the four targets. The third and fourth energy balls nearly caught him off guard as they raced past him. Xander then took this opportunity to fire another ki blast and destroy another projectile. "Two down, two to go." Xander counted in his head. Kira was getting frustrated that her specialized technique was being taken out so easily. With a sigh of frustration she raised her other hand to take control of the two remaining energy balls left. "Let's see you handle this!" She said with a snicker as the two small energy balls combined once more into a larger energy ball.

"What the hell is she doing?!?" Xander questioned once he saw the projectiles reform. Then he saw the ball grow larger and things started to make sense, "She's feeding it energy to retry the sun explosion, not of I have anything to say about it!" Xander yelled and flew towards the growing ball of energy. "No, is he insane?!?" Kira yelled once she saw Xander flying towards the attack. Once he was close enough Xander wasted no time. He grappled the energy ball in an effort to move it. Veins started appearing in his arms, neck, and head as the strain of moving his sister's attack was wearing on his body. Xander was getting frustrated and that only made him angry. No one could see it but his eyes started to darken and his pupils stated to take on a reddish tint, his skin was starting to color whether from strain or the heat permeating from the energy ball one couldn't know.

Finally, with a loud scream of defiance, Xander grabbed hold of the ball and flung it away and out of Kira's control. It sailed towards a mountain and only then did Xander snap out of his angered stupor and race to catch it. He didn't get as a large beam of energy shot out of nowhere and collided with the massive ball. The beam managed to carry it up and out of the earth's atmosphere, causing it to explode in a blinding flash of light. Xander looked to see who fired the beam only to regret he wasn't invisible. There, floating at eye level with him, was his father Uub and Pan his mother, both of whom looked extremely angry. "Don't destroy anything, that's the one rule we set for the both of you and the minute we get here you're about to wipe a mountain off the face of the earth!" Pan screamed at her son, who hid his shame with his hand. "I'm sorry, I was just trying to get rid of Kira's attack and-"

"No excuses," Uub spoke in his deep voice. "I taught you personally to respect the balance of this world and to not go around and blow things up. You have to know when and where the appropriate direction to deflect an attack will take place." Uub lectured. He knew his son was better than this but kept seeing him make mistakes that shouldn't be happening. "I'm sorry father, I'll take better care of the planet." Xander said with his head down. Kira could see Xander getting chewed out from her spot on the ground and decided not to get involved. She started walking away when she bumped into someone, her mom. "No fair, instant transmission is technically cheating!" Kira pouted with cheeks puffed out. "All's fair in love and war, or in your case when you have an angry mom!" Pan said as she grabbed her daughter by the ear. "Owowow, are you seriously doing this? I'm seventeen you know." Kira said in an effort to have have her mom release her vice like grip on her her ear. "Then you need to start acting like it." Pan said with finality before using instant transmission to bring them over to Uub and Xander.

Pan let go of her daughter, who almost fell out of the sky, and went back over to floating besides Uub. Kira rubbed her ear and went over by Xander, who was trying extremely hard not to snicker. "Look, I know you two are bored," Uub said with a twinge of regret, but why? "And I know that the only ones who can keep up with both of your sparring matches and extracurriculars are you two. But, you have to try and slow down and take in your surroundings if you ever are to understand what you're protecting in the first place. You two are part of the Z-Fighters and are the protectors of the planet, so you have to learn to control the amount of power you put out." Uub explained in the simplest way he could, but when he looked at his two kids they had dumbfounded expressions on their faces. "Okay, I think I have another way of explaining this." Uub said and reached into his back pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper.

Xander, Kira, and even Pan were curious at what Uub was talking about. It wasn't until he unfolded the piece of paper and showed all of them that the pieces began to fit in place. "Wait, you're serious?" Xander said, the anticipation evident in his eyes. "Yes I am." Uub said with a nod, watching the smiles on his twin's faces grow incredibly large. "Yes, thank you thank you thank you thank you!" They both yelled and hugged their father. "Really, I thought we were going to keep that a secret until after dinner!" Pan whined, she didn't like it when things don't go as planned. "Oh come on Pan, don't you think these two needed the little pick me up after that talk?" Uub said, making Pan relax. She smiled, "You're impossible to predict sometimes, you know that?" She said and pecked him on the cheek. "Well let's just call it a habit." Uub said with a laugh.

Xander turned towards Kira, "I guess this means that we have something to train for, let's get to work!" Xander said and got into his fighting pose.

"Don't expect me to go easy on you!" Kira said cockily and readied herself.

"We may as well get in on the fun!" Pan grinned determinedly and got into her signature stance.

"Right." Uub readied himself as well, keeping slip the piece of paper in his hand. The family then raced at each other and exchanged volleys of rapid paced kicks and punches.

The paper took awhile but eventually landed on the ground with a slight crinkle. It read,

"World Marital Arts Tournament: Early entry roster:

Son, Xander
Son, Kira