Chapter 28:

Anpanai followed her father through the crowd, occasionally having to squeeze through a bit to catch up. "Papa," she called, squeezing past a particularly large lard of a man eating a messy hot dog dripping chili all over onto his shirt. Anpanai frowned as some fell on her head.

"Anpanai," she heard her brother call, "Hurry up! They're calling numbers!" Anpanai rushed up to be beside her father just as they called her name, Gaea and Odeni right behind her.

"Here," she said, raising her hand. She skipped up to the box and stuck her small, slender hand inside. "Hm," she said as she picked out a ball. "It says number 6!" she announced.

"Poor kid," the announcer sighed, "She has to fight Mr. Satan right off the bat."

"Odeni?" Odeni looked up as his name was called.

"Here!" he called as he came up. He stuck his hand into the box, pulling out the number three. "Number three," he announced, holding it up.

Everyone else picked their numbers, and the schedule came to be like this:

Krillin vs. Pintar

Odeni vs. Yamu

Mr. Satan vs. Anpanai

Goku vs. Vegeta

Piccolo vs. Shin

Jewel vs. Spopovitch

Killa vs. 18

Gohan vs. Videl


"Good luck, Krillin," Odeni said, patting the monk on the back.

"Yeah," Anpanai added. "Do your best!"

"Ha!" said a voice behind them. All three turned to see a huge, huge brick of a man looming triumphantly over them, a smirk gracing his face. "Your very best can't beat me, little man!"

Anpanai stuck her tongue out defiantly. "Krillin's gonna kick your butt, you big bully!"

"Ha!" Pintar said again. "As if he could even lay a hand on me! I'm invincible."

"Why don't you try saying that when Krillin's foot is stuck up your nose?" Odeni said, smirking (Odeni was gonna say something much worse but I censored it).

"Odeni!" Anpanai shrieked. "No cussing! You've been spending way too much time around Vegeta!"

Pintar chortled loudly. "You'll never beat me," he said, leaning down into Krillin's face.

Krillin winced and said, "Ever try a breath mint?"


"AND PINTAR IS DOWN FOR THE COUNT!" the announcer screeched as Krillin made his way proudly off the stage, not even bothering to open his eyes.

"Good job, Krillin-san," Anpanai congratulated, slapping the man on the back.

"Ah, he had it coming," Krillin said, brushing it off. But you didn't have to be a genius to tell he was certainly proud of himself.

"My turn," Odeni said, bracing himself. He strode onto the stage, only to be met by a maniacal-looking man. Veins bulged and throbbed out of his head, and his muscles were extremely exaggerated. Her was completely bald, and his skin was pale to the point of near-albino.

His breathing was ragged and irregular, and you could tell his motive was anger. Odeni noted that his anger would probably blind him, and even though he seemed incredibly strong to the humans, his power level was pretty weak.

"Go, Odeni!" Anpanai called, her tail swishing back and forth.

Odeni blushed, giving an embarrassed smile as he yelled back, "Thanks."

"BEGIN!" the announcer yelled, slamming his hand down onto the stadium.

Odeni dropped into his stance, but he jumped when he heard a voice louder…and much more high-pitched than all the others.

Slowly and fearfully he turned…and he saw a red-haired girl with a pink feather boa around her neck.

He didn't even have to look for the teddy bear.

Oh, dear God, he thought.

"Odeni-kuuuuuuuuun!" His most mortal enemy.

MiMi.

Odeni tried to take calming breaths. Calm down, calm down. Then another thought struck him. If MiMi was here, his mother was sure to be here, too! And after the last failed attempt at getting him back, she'd have backup. He had to get this done as quickly as he could so that he could get out of there fast.

He turned towards Yamu, who was rushing at him with a fierce punch. With ease, Odeni blocked both his fists, utilizing the opportunity to knee him in the stomach. As Yamu was hunched over from the pain, Odeni took to the skies, bringing down his elbow upon the man with intense force. But Odeni didn't want him to lose quickly. Just before Yamu could hit the ground, Odeni grabbed his legs and swung him around, fast. He used his heel as a stop on the sudden friction to send Yamu flying out of the ring, battered and broken.

"That's my Odeni-kun!" he heard MiMi's annoying voice tell her friends. "he went on an amazing adventure and he finally realized that his true love in life was me. And could it be that by fate we met here, where he was most heroic?" She did a ridiculous sigh as she and her friends swooned. But her beauty moment was ruined when she saw a blond-haired, teal-eyed girl run up to her Odeni-kun, hug him, and congratulate him! And Odeni didn't even mind!

MiMi's fist clenched. Who was this girl? And why was she mooching off her Odeni-kun? She growled. "Wait here," she told her friends and she stood, stomping out of the bleachers and towards the stadium.

"E-excuse me, ma'am," the announcer told her. "You really can't enter here. You have to be a fighter."

"Oh?" MiMi said sweetly, blinking up at him. "Well, then, I can just have my Papa, who's a lawyer, by the way, sue you for all you have, you know, because he's a lawyer."

"Um…go right ahead," the announcer said shakily moving out of the way. "Please excuse my rudeness."

MiMi marched right up to Anpanai and Odeni, scowling. "Who are you?" she screeched, pointing at Anpanai.

"Me?" Anpanai gestured to herself. "I'm Gold Fighter Anpanai. What's your name?"

Anpanai, Anpanai, MiMi searched her thoughts. She remembered someone name Anpanai, but she had black hair. This girl was blond.

"What are you doing here, MiMi?" Odeni asked, irritated.

MiMi swooned. "Could it be, my dear prince, that we met here by fate?" MiMi looked into his eyes, then looked away, pretending to be modest. "I see you have returned from your adventures to find the true love of your life. Me!"

"No," Odeni said, his left eye twitching. "I came here to fight, dumb-pass." (Once again, I censored Odeni's cussword)

Anpanai pursed her lips, but she didn't point out Odeni's cuss.

"Oh! Denial!" MiMi blushed. "You wanna take it slow, huh?"

Odeni was beginning to turn red with anger. "I don't like you," he pronounced.

"You should stay away from that girl," MiMi said, pouting. "It'll make you stray from the love of your life…me!"

"You are not the love of my life!" Odeni shouted. And to prove his point, he whipped around, grabbed Anpanai's unsuspecting face, and immediately smashed his lips against hers.

"Mmph?" Anpanai managed to get out. She blinked a few times, but, seeing as Odeni would not let go, she closed her eyes and relaxed.

Odeni was a little bit shocked at this. When they had been younger, a kiss wouldn't have meant much. But now…?

MiMi was spitting with rage. She wouldn't have this, she wouldn't! Kissing another girl, how dare he?

"It looks like we've got a bit of romance going on," the announcer yelled, turning all attention to the two. Surprised, Odeni quickly pulled away.

"What…" Anpanai breathed, "Was that?"

Odeni blinked. "I don't know."

Goku, in the fighter's area was whistling and shouting, "Woo-hoo! Atta boy! Take good care of her!" while trying to hold back Gohan, who was livid with rage.

"Gah! You stay away from my sister! I'm gonna rip you apart limb to limb, you—GAH!"

Odeni realized he had his hands wrapped around Anpanai's waist, and, blushing furiously, he retracted his limb. "I…uh…"

Anpanai took a deep, shuddering breath. "Whoa," she whispered.

"Excuse me," the announcer tapped Anpanai on the shoulder. "Miss? Your match—it's coming up."

"Oh!" Anpanai stood up straight. "Sorry." Feeling flustered, she unsteadily climbed onto the stage.

Vegeta growled. Why did he feel so angry that the boy had kissed Anpanai? He barely even knew the girl. And yet…he felt something familiar about her. Why? Why?

"GET READY TO BE BEATEN," Mr. Satan yelled as he beat meaty fists against his hairy chest. "NOBODY'S BEAT ME BEFORE! HA!"

Anpanai bowed. "May the best win," she said cheerfully.

"Begin!" the announcer yelled, and Mr. Satan rushed at Anpanai, his fists stretched out. He hoped to meet flesh, but the flesh he met were the iron-like fists clamping tightly down on his own.

"Shame on you!" Anpanai scolded. "You should never hit a lady first! I'm gonna have to teach you some respect!"

"Wha-?" the man didn't have time to form a single word as Anpanai swung him around by his fist. She threw him up into the air, and as he was falling, she landed a monstrous punch in his stomach, sending him flying out of the ring.

And flying out of his fame.

The crowd was silent. Everything was silent. Nobody uttered a word as the great Mr. Satan walked shamefully off the stage. Now they know, he thought. They know I'm a liar. Anpanai bit her lip and watched him go for a moment, then she hopped off the stage.

"Odeni," she whispered. "He's sad. Did I do something wrong?"

"No," Gohan told her. "You did the right thing, little sis. You did the right thing."

Well? What did you think?

And by the way, would anyone like to draw the scene in this chapter where Anpanai and Odeni kiss? Hm? Hm?

Vegeta: Like they would want to draw something so stupid.

Odeni: You're just mad 'cause Bulma didn't give you any sugar last night.

Vegeta: (enraged) What? How did you know that, boy?

Odeni: (grins evilly)

W.O.T.L.: Uh, I can see this is getting scary. Anpanai, care to do it?

Anpanai: Read and review! And draw pictures, too! Hey, that rhymed!