Chapter 4 – First Match
Goten was a little perplexed by the girl named Kiare. She seemed shy and did not have much ki. And yet, she had to be confident in her fighting abilities. Otherwise, she would not have joined the Budoukai. The girls had made his introduction to her exceptionally brief, especially his niece, who was yet angry at him for his humiliation of her. So, he was still very curious about her and wondered how he could get a chance to speak to her alone, without Bra or Pan interfering.
They were all on their separate ways to their groups. Fortunately, all of them were in different groups. Goten did not want to meet either his father, Ubuu or Vegita during the preliminary rounds. Sure, he loved fighting, but not if he knew he would surely lose. The three girls were walking a few paces in front of him, but when he turned, the two young ones had disappeared, leaving Kiare walking by herself. He took the opportunity to quicken his footsteps and catch up with her. She had heard him coming and was not surprised when he kept pace with her. "Hi, Goten," she said softly, not glancing up.
"Hi," was his bashful reply. He really was not eloquent when talking to other girls! "Er… which group are you in?"
"Group two. I am in the sixth match. What about you?" she inquired, finally raising her dark brown eyes to look at him.
"I'm in the second match in Group One. Is this your first time here?"
"Yes." she paused for a while, then added, "I came because I need the money for my okaasan's medical bills."
"Oh. I see." Goten felt a little sorry for her, since it was most likely that she would not be able to get the championship. "It's okay if you don't win. You can still get the money." He unconsciously blurted out his thoughts.
"What?!" Kiare looked astonished, then narrowed her eyes at the half Saiyajin.
In the face of her inquisition, Goten was at a loss of words. "Er…, well, you see, the mayor of this city, Mr. Satan, is a friend of ours and he is very rich. I'm sure he could be able to give you enough money." Feeling that the meaning of his words could be taken the wrong way, he added quickly, "Very willingly, of course."
"Really? But I don't feel very comfortable about a total stranger giving me money."
"It's all right, he is very generous. I'm sure he won't mind."
"That's great!" she cried out blithely, clapping her hands. Then her face fell. "But… my teacher will be disappointed if I don't win."
"Oh, but can't you tell him that you tried your best?" Goten said, trying to elevate her spirits a little.
"I don't know…, perhaps. He might not believe me, though." Kiare's face was down. She had her arms crossed, staring at the floor, deep in thought.
They walked on in silence. Goten felt uncomfortably guilty that he had brought about her despondency. You mouthy fool, he chided himself. Look what you have done. He was so vexed with himself that he failed to notice Kiare trying to get his attention. "Goten!"
Her cry brought him back to the present. He jumped, looking around hastily for an enemy, then realised that no one was in danger. Instead, Kiare was gazing at him amusedly, her mouth twisted slightly in a smirk. Feeling his face growing hot, Goten muttered an apology for being so distracted. "What is it?" he questioned sheepishly.
"Nothing, it is just that we have reached our groups and the first match is about to begin." she informed him. "You had better go and report now. See you later."
As Goten walked on to his own Group, he thought of his promise to Kiare again. Maybe he had no right to use Mr. Satan's money. In any case, they still did not know much about the girl. How could he know whether she wasn't lying? He had always been very naive about such things. What if it was a plot to get their money? Perhaps he should coax the two girls to get close to Kiare. No, they were so much younger than her. Juuhachigou-san? Well, she and Marron were the only trusted friends he knew of who were closest to her age. Then, he realised that he did not even know her age. He had simply assumed that she was fourteen, or maybe fifteen at most. She looked that age, anyhow. Later, he would ask her and introduce her to the Jinzouningen…
With a shock, Goten understood why Kiare had seemed so… familiar. She sort of resembled Juuhachigou-san, with black hair rather than gold, and deep green eyes in place of pale blue ones. He wondered if they were related. If she was related to Marron too.
He heard his name being called and quickly flew to the stage, feeling all eyes on him and hearing gasps of awe from under him. He landed neatly, just as his opponent was scrambling clumsily onto the raised stage. Seeing the great bulk of his opponent, Goten rolled his eyes. Not another giant, he thought. They were always so arrogant, thinking that they were invincible due to their immensity. He had to make short work of this fellow.
Sure enough, the behemoth was being supercilious already. "Hulk", as Goten promptly named him, was mocking and making gibes at him. Despite this, his smaller opponent was rather impressed with his size. "Hulk" could easily be two and a half times his mass and more than twice his width. The giant was clothed in a thin layer of hair and a pair of exceedingly large shorts. Not surprisingly, he did not wear any shoes and had a wild mane of hair. In all, he reminded Goten of the "Incredible Hulk" in the cartoon, hence the nickname.
The announcer gave them the signal to start fighting and Goten instinctively moved into his fighting stance. Then, he decided to have some fun with the guy and straightened up. "Hulk" gaped at him incredulously and burst out laughing, "What! You have given up so quickly? Maybe you know you cannot defeat me?"
"Oh yeah? Watch me."
Despite Goten's good intentions, the giant was making him annoyed. At first, he just stood there thinking of ways to finish him off quickly, instinctively dodging the titan's clumsy punches. Finally, he moved, so quickly that no one in the group saw where he went. It seemed that one moment he was there, at the giant's feet, then in another, he was gone. "Hulk" was turning round in circles, looking for him.
"Stop that! You're making me dizzy!" Goten called out from the monster's head. "And your hair stinks. I suggest that you wash it after this."
With a great shout of fury, the giant tried to crush him with a fist, but only succeeded in hurting himself. "Aw… did that hurt?" the half Sayajin boy mocked from the other end of the large square arena.
"Hulk" glared angrily at him, then launched himself at the irritating brat, intending to do him harm. However, he could never have a hope of catching the gadfly that was Son Goten. The youth jumped easily out of the way as the giant, unable to stop, crashed out of the stage. "Number 4 wins!" cried the announcer as Goten showed a victory sign to his amazed audience, then nimbly jumped offstage to find Kiare.
When he spotted her, she had already seen him coming and grinned at his effortless win. "Congratulations, Goten. I saw the whole thing from here. You were impressive! He could not even touch you at all."
"Uh… well," he muttered, not quite sure how to answer her. Finally, he said, "It was nothing much, really. He just underestimated me."
It was now the fourth match for Group 2 and until now, it had not been particularly interesting, so Kiare had just waited patiently, leaning against the wall with arms folded and elbows in her palms. Once again, Goten was reminded of Juuhachigou. Seeing his stunned appearance, the girl asked him if he was all right. Chagrined, he replied that she reminded him of someone he knew.
"Not an ex-girlfriend, I hope." Kiare said, with a coy smile.
"No, she is much older than me. Besides, she is married and has an exceptionally winsome daughter." He paused awhile, thinking about Marron.
"You like her daughter, do you?" Kiare raised an eyebrow.
Goten blushed furiously and replied, "Well, I guess I do, but Marron was Trunks' girlfriend, so… Anyway, I could take you to call on her later. She's also watching the Budoukai." Goten offered. "By the
way, how old are you?"
"I'm sixteen. Why?"
"Oh, that means that she is two years older than you," he said, slightly startled that Kiare was older than she seemed. "Her name is Juuhachigou."
"Number eighteen? That's a strange name." Not quite believing, Kiare looked at Goten quizzically. "Is it because of her age?"
"Not really, but I'll explain it to you later."
"Wait a minute. How old is Marron?" she asked.
"Seventeen." Goten replied instantly.
Kiare stared, wide-eyed. "But… her mother is only one year older than her?"
Goten looked shocked. Yet it was true once he thought of it. "Uh… That is related to her name, which I'll explain to you afterwards, okay?"
Kiare shook her head in disbelief. Was he lying or maybe somewhat confused?
It was now Kiare's turn to fight. Her opponent was a burly, black-skinned man who wore a douji not unlike Goku's. They bowed to each other, then waited for the command to start the combat. Kiare crouched into her fighting stance, waiting for the man's onslaught. He gave a feral growl, then attacked. He was quite fast for a human, Goten noticed, but Kiare managed to stay out of his reach through her remarkable speed. Somehow, he was not surprised at all. Maybe he had sort of expected that she would be quite skilled. Her opponent proved to be no match for her.
As he watched, he observed that she was only defending herself and dodging blows, not attacking the man. Thus, the fight lasted longer than it would have been. The half-breed also noticed that despite her holding back, her speed was already close to his level, which meant that her real speed was possibly faster than all of them, even his otousan and Ubuu. Boy, would they be surprised! Maybe he should warn Trunks about this. On the other hand, he did not feel like talking to his best friend when the latter was in such a disagreeable mood. Moreover, Trunks had caused distress to the girl who was currently the most important thing in his life. Marron.
"Number 28 wins!"
The announcement shook him back to the present. Once again she had interrupted his thoughts. He saw the dark-skinned man writhing on the floor, clutching his stomach tightly and guessed that the girl had just kicked him out of the arena. There was collective gasp from the watching participants when Kiare defeated the black man. Nobody expected a girl, let alone a girl so young to defeat a fully grown man. Kiare went to see if her opponent was all right before jumping down beside him, remarking that the time given for the fight was way too short. "Just warming up, huh?" Goten commented.
Kiare stared at him for a moment, then guiltily admitted it. "Actually, I did not want to hurt the guy too much," she said, with eyes cast down.
"Don't worry," Goten said gently, "With your ability, no one is likely to blame you for trying to be lenient on that guy. I certainly don't, and the others won't either. We meet with these problems all the time. The competitors are very often too weak and unskilled."
The teen-aged girl beamed at him gratefully for being so reassuring. However, he just wished it was Marron who was smiling so sweetly at him. Not that the girl before him was in any way inferior to his dream girl in looks, but his mind was totally absorbed in thinking about her that he hardly noticed the other girls around him.
Chapter 5 - Finals
All of them qualified for the finals, which wasn't astounding. In another large hall, where all sixteen of the finalists gathered, Trunks skeptically inspected the other eight fighters who had been skilled enough to get into the finals. Most of them wore weird costumes and wacky hairdos. Only three of them could pass off as normal humans. He shook his head dismissively. Why should they go to all this trouble to look peculiar? They did not have much ki too. Mr. Satan and Buu had not taken part since they had supposedly "retired". However, Trunks knew that the truth was that Mr Satan could not stand the humiliation of defeat and Buu was tired of fighting such unworthy opponents.
He felt sure that he could beat his sister, Pan and maybe Goten too. He was quite taken aback when he found out that Kiare had also gotten into the finals. However, he was sure that he could defeat her too, though he would be more easy on her than he would be on Pan or Bra, if he had to fight her. She looked quite pretty in a gentle way and seemed to be quite friendly with Goten, Pan and his sister, since they were always together. However, with her ki level, it was not likely that she could defeat even one of the other finalists, unless she was concealing it. No, that was quite unthinkable. Maybe she had some secret skill, or more probably, she had acquired a place in it by sheer luck. He knew that he could never defeat Goku, Ubuu and his father in a real fight, but he could at least try his luck, or lose gracefully.
To the onlookers, both Trunks and Vegita looked alike. They both were leaning against the wall with their arms crossed. They even wore similarly dark expressions. It was because of their fierce stares that no one dared to point out that fact to them. Soon, the finalists were asked to pick their numbers. Trunks received the number, four. He would have to beat number 3, Pan, then either Bra or Kiare. Easy, he thought. Pan defeated her rival without difficulty, then it was his turn. It was far too simple. One punch, then his opponent was out of the ring. He wondered why he even bothered to participate, other than to attract female attention, of course. Bra had finished off her adversary by now and Kiare was up next.
He paid more attention to this fight because he did not know the girl's fighting prowess. The half-breed Saiyajin saw that she was fast, very fast. He was just able to see all of her moves but probably the audience and her opponent could only catch glimpses of her as she darted around him, giving a punch here, a kick there. The poor guy did not even have a chance of dealing a blow. However, Trunks still felt that she was holding back her true strength. He would have to watch himself later. As he had suspected, there was more to her than met the eye.
Finally, it was his turn to fight Pan, after the rest had defeated their respective rivals. When the two went on the stage, nearly half of the audience cheered Pan on. After all, she was Mr Satan's granddaughter. The other half was encouraging Trunks. They bowed towards each other, then went into fighting stances. "Don't think that I will go soft on you just because you are a girl," taunted Trunks.
Pan stuck out her tongue at him. She retorted, "Huh! You and your threats! I'm not afraid of you! Don't talk; let's fight!"
"All right! You asked for it!"
They charged at each other, shouting battle cries. Initially, they seemed equally matched, then Trunks's added experience in fighting techniques gave him an advantage over the younger fighter. Also, Pan was wearing out too quickly with the strain of parrying his lightning-quick blows. The others saw that she could not keep this up much longer and started encouraging her to keep on fighting. She flew straight up to gain some respite, but was joined swiftly by Trunks.
Kiare stared up, mouth open, at the two exponents hovering in mid-air. "H- how come they can fly?" she stammered, amazed.
"What? You don't know how to fly?" Goku asked, seeing her astonishment. "All of us here know how. It's quite simple, really."
"Could you teach me, Goku-san?" the teenager asked shyly, looking at him hopefully. "It must be so fun to fly around without using machines or airplanes."
"Of course!" the older man exclaimed, beaming happily at her. "It is also very useful when you need to travel somewhere fast."
"Cool!"
By now, Pan had already lost the fight because of her accidental fall out of the arena. Aching and bone weary, she submissively allowed herself to be carried by Trunks back to where the others were waiting. It was now Kiare and Bra's turn to spar with each other. The two girls walked onto the stage, smiling at each other genially. They also bowed, then started fighting. Bra attacked with both fists, striking so quickly that it seemed that she had at least ten hands. However, Kiare countered all her punches with her palms. Now Bra tried a kicking approach, but was also thwarted. She kept attacking and the older girl kept defending, until the female half Saiyajin got careless and unwittingly created an opening for Kiare, who punched her squarely in the midsection.
As the two girls were fighting, the others were wondering how Kiare had learned her excellent, for a full human, skills. Vegita eyed her suspiciously, then turned to Goku, asking, "Kakarrot, do you think she looks familiar? Like someone we have fought before?"
Son Goku scratched the back of his head, frowning slightly in his thought. "To tell you the truth… No."
The Saiyajin Prince gaped at him in shock, then remembered that the other Saiyajin had not been there during that particular fight because of his illness. "Idiot. Why did you not tell me earlier? I might have saved my breath," he muttered, annoyed.
Frustrated and a little piqued by her opponent's superior speed, Bra flew up into the air and shot a Burning Attack at her. Kiare was about to dart away, but if she did, the audience could get hurt. So, instead she stood her ground and did a silent Kamehameha of the same power. The ki blasts canceled themselves out. As Bra hung in the air, goggling like those who were watching them, Kiare jumped up behind her and sent her crashing out of the arena with a two-handed hit. The other Saiyajins were astounded by the fact that Kiare knew the Kamehameha. "Could she be one of Mutenroshi's new students?" Goten asked his father.
"Seriously speaking, I have no idea," answered Goku. "Maybe we should ask him later."
In the audience, Kamesennin himself wondered where the girl had learnt the skill. Was it from one of his old disciples? Meanwhile, on the sandy ground out of the arena, the blue-haired girl groaned and picked herself up. Kiare offered her a hand and they walked back to the hall just as companionably as they came. "Never underestimate your opponent." The older girl said with a grin and wink. "Still friends?"
"Of course!" came Bra's reply.
Sitting beside her husband, in the midst of his friends, Juuhachigou knew that she had found the girl she was looking for. Kiare had defeated Bra almost effortlessly. The girl also bore a striking resemblance to both her and Juunanagou. However, she had expected a much younger girl. Juu-kun was really in for it this time. Speaking of which, where was he? He promised her he would come but there was no sign of him anywhere. Frowning, she scanned the crowd with her enhanced eyesight. Still no Juunanagou. Idiot. Perhaps she would bring the girl to see him later. Have a nice family reunion… If he was at home, that is. If he wasn't, there was no telling where he would…
BOOM!
Chapter 6 – Old Enemy
What's that? An earthquake? Was her first thought as the ground rumbled violently right after the sound. Somehow, she felt that it was not, that it was something worse. The others were staring around wide-eyed. On the stage, Vegita and Goten had stopped fighting. They glanced back at Goku and the others, then instantaneously took to the air, heading towards the sound. All of them left, leaving behind a dismayed Kiare. Now the Jinzouningen felt the powerful ki emanating from the source of the quake. It seemed familiar, like she had gone up against the person before.
Brolli?! Her narrow eyes flew wide open in shock. Not him again! Still, there seemed to be a slight difference in the ki she felt now. Kuririn and his friends were in consternation. She noticed that Piccolo was gone. So was Son Gohan. The other women, Chi-Chi, Videl and Bulma, were wondering what had happened. Kuririn looked terrified. Their eyes met and Juuhachigou saw recognition in his. So he also knew.
Evidently, the MC was very confused right now. He was stupidly gazing in the direction where Goku and the others had left, his jaw nearly reaching the ground. Finally, he regained his composure and said, "Si… since the others have all flown off, I declare the winner of this year's Tenkaichi Budoukai to be Kiare! Kiare, please come forward to receive your prize. Ten million dollars! Kiare?…" There was no response. She was probably be trying to make her way there too, thought the female android. However, since she can't fly… I'll go find her myself. Informing her husband where she was going, she searched for the girl's ki, found it, and proceeded to fly there.
* * *
Marron sat amongst her classmates in the audience. The other girls had been appalled at the hasty departure of the fighters, but Marron knew why they had gone. Although she did not have any interest in fighting, and her parents had not forced her to learn, she had learnt how to sense ki from Kuririn and was now quite adept at it. With this skill, she could find out where her friends were, no matter which part of the world they were in. The ki she felt now was foreign to her and it was strong, very strong. However, it was distinctly Saiyajin, and… She opened her eyes wide with shock. It was the ki of a Super Saiyajin!
Her best friend, Ushika, who was sitting beside her, saw her horrified aspect and asked her if she was okay. She did not want to lie to her friend, but also did not want Ushika to worry too much about Son Goten, whom she admired secretly. Hesitatingly, she said, "Ahem… I… er… think that everything should be all right."
"What do you mean 'everything should be all right'?" The dark brown-haired girl looked baffled. "What caused that earthquake? Do you know why they left? Tell me!" She grabbed hold of Marron's slender shoulders and searched her pale blue eyes for a clue, shaking her a little. At her sudden outburst, the people surrounding them all stared curiously.
Gulping and conscious of the eyes on them, Marron stuttered, "I- I don't know wh-why they left. B- but I think that they went t- to investigate the c- cause of the quake."
Ushika finally let go of her shoulders and slumped down in her seat. Marron shook her head. Her friend was normally rather gentle and soft-spoken, but her love for Goten (if it could be called love) made her like this.
"I'm very sorry, Marron-chan; I don't know what's gotten into me. Did I grab you very hard?" Ushika murmured, not daring to look up.
"Yes."
She looked up at Marron hastily, then relaxed when she saw the blonde's cheeky grin.
"I'll probably have bruised shoulders until next week."
"Huh! I should have grabbed your tongue too!" the girl said, playfully pretending to pull Marron's tongue out and squeezing it.
"Owww… That hurts!" Marron said, laughing. She had successfully turned her friend's mood around; nevertheless as for herself, she was still worried for her friends, Pan, Bra, Goten and Trunks. Sure, she and Trunks had broken up, but he was still her friend, right?
