"Excuse me, only people who have passed the preliminaries can enter beyond this point."

A Budoukai official blocked the group, again minus Gohan and Videl as they made to walk into the participants' area. It was only a few minutes' walk from the stadium, and the place was quiet enough except for the distant roar from the audience.

"So the results are up?" Kuririn said. "C'mon, we all must've passed!"

They gave the official their names, which he checked off on a clipboard.

"You're right, you've all passed," the man said. "Please, this way. There'll be a lottery at 1:30 to determine the match-ups."

"Great," Goku said, grinning widely. He strode ahead and the others followed. Chiyo glanced back from time to time, wondering how long the exhibition match would take. She felt bad for Videl - it was unlikely Trunks would go that easy on Hercule, not unless the 'champion' came up with something.

"It's about time we got some special treatment," Vegeta said.

Kuririn shrugged. "They do make money from seeing us fight. And I'll bet we'll make a clean sweep of the prize money!"

"Yeah," Goku said. "Too bad I can't use it in the afterlife!"

She'd almost forgotten he would be gone forever after a day. Chiyo's stomach twisted, though from grief or hunger it was hard to say.

"It must be nice not to age anymore," Kuririn said, laughing.

"You wanna try dying, too?"

"No way. I couldn't be happier right now."

Chiyo skipped ahead and turned around so she was walking backwards.

"What makes you think Dad's gonna win?" she said, grinning mischeivously. "Now let's go find something to eat! I'm starving!"


"You sure eat a lot for a dead guy."

Kuririn, Piccolo and Eighteen watched in fascination (and a little disgust) as Chiyo, Vegeta and Goku devoured their way through enough food to feed an entire village.

"That's what North Kaiou always tells me," Goku said through a mouthful of rice, "but I just like eating."

Gohan and Videl appeared at the doorway to the eating hall. Chiyo almost choked when she saw Videl's expression. She didn't blame her for her surprise; Goku and Vegeta stacked up an impressive amount of dishes just on their own, and hers was nothing to sneeze at either.

"Alright!" Gohan cheered.

"Hey Gohan!" Goku said. "How was the fight?"

"Trunks beat Hercule with one punch," Gohan replied, oblivious to Videl's confused glance. "But Hercule made it look like he lost on purpose."

Kuririn laughed. "He should be an actor."

Videl glanced down. "What d'you mean by that?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Gohan said hastily, clamping his hand over Kuririn's mouth. "Kuririn's just a funny guy. You just never know when to quit - do you?"

Ten minutes later the Saiyans, including Gohan, were still eating. Chiyo was on her fifth bowl, having remembered her manners somewhat better than her father and brother. Their area was crowded with waiters continually taking away piles of dirty dishes and bringing more food for Vegeta, Goku and Gohan to shovel into their faces. Kuririn, Eighteen and Videl's disgust had turned into amazement.

"Hey!" Gohan called. "We're out of pasta!"

"Excuse me, more soup!"

"Bring some egg rolls while you're at it!"

"May I please have some pork buns? Thank you!"

Kuririn stared at his friends as their eighth course slowly dwindled before his eyes.

"You Saiyans have bottomless stomachs," he said. "Where the hell does it all go?"

"What's a Saiyan?" Videl asked.

"Kuririn!"

"Sorry, sorry!"

"What a great lunch!" Goku cheered as the group finally left the eating hall. "I'm stuffed!"

"Videl, why didn't you eat anything?" Gohan asked. "You're not on a diet, are you?"

Kuririn shook his head. "Most martial artists don't eat before a fight."

"Why?"

"Well, if you get punched in the stomach, it just comes back up, you know..."

"We should see who's fighting who," Eighteen interrupted. It was the first she'd spoken since they left their families behind an hour earlier.

Chiyo trotted ahead of her friends, glancing around with interest. The area looked much the same, dotted with palm trees framing a paved road that lead to the next building.

There were two people waiting patiently ahead. At first she made as if to walk around them, but hesitated. They were odd looking. Both wore weird clothes and had white hair; one was very tall and one very short. Their chi wasn't too powerful, but there was something very different about it - like a low frequency against an undercurrent of background noise. If she hadn't been trained to pick up these things, she might have missed it.

Chiyo backed up until she reached her father. Goku glanced down at her and both hands rested on her shoulders comfortingly, but he didn't comment on her apparent unease. The smaller of the odd pair approached.

"Hello," said the man. "You must be Son Goku."

"Yeah, I am," Goku said. "How'd you know?"

It's the hair, Chiyo thought with a stifled snort, and saw the man glance at her sharply before speaking.

"Oh, I've heard about you," he replied. "I've always wanted to spar with you. I hope the lottery will pit us together for a match. Not that I'd ever imagine I could win, of course…but I want to know just how powerful you are."

Chiyo scrutinized the man carefully. His voice was smooth, light and formal, giving away seemingly no emotion but for a subtle hint of respect in the tone that was not reflected in his black eyes.

"It was an honour," the man said, glancing at her once again. "I am looking forward to this competition. I've travelled very far to see this...you could say I'm a fan, and I am sure you will not disappoint."

"Wow!" Goku said, grinning. "Thanks."

"May I shake your hand?"

Goku's strong brown fingers gripped the odd man's slight, lilac-coloured hand, which was not much bigger than Chiyo's. She frowned. They didn't look like the hands of a warrior.

"You have a good soul, as I've always heard." The odd man let go of her father's hand. "I'll see you!"

He and his large companion left, the group staring after them.

"Wait," Goku called, "I, uh, didn't catch your name..."

But they had vanished.

"And who was that?" Piccolo rumbled.

"I don't know…but I know it won't be easy to pull off a clean sweep."


"Hey, wake up."

Chiyo glanced up to find Kuririn's face inches from hers.

"What?" she said, blinking.

"I asked you to hurry up," the fighter replied, grinning. "You've been walking like a puppet on strings ever since we met those weird guys back there."

"Huh? Oh, sorry…"

Chiyo suddenly realised she and the others had arrived in an open area like the qualifying arena. A table with a white box and a large board were set up in the centre. The announcer that had greeted Goku earlier, two officials and another short, stout little man in a white shirt were conversing amongst themselves.

"Can I have your attention?" the stout man called. "Let's start the lottery! Please step up and draw a number when I call your name." He glanced at his clipboard. "Let's see…Killa!"

A lanky, dark-skinned man brushed past Chiyo and approached the two men sitting at the table. She watched with interest as he drew a green ball painted with the number 14.

"Mr. Killa is number fourteen," the official said, and another wrote Killa's name on the board.

Chiyo took the time to observe the other contestants as the official began to read names. Most were fairly normal-looking and except for Videl and herself, they were all men.

The next to draw was Kibito, who turned out to be the red-skinned companion of the strange man who had greeted Goku earlier.

Chiyo promptly lost interest, only noting that Kibito's companion was called Shin and he had drawn number three. She took the time to size up the other fighters; anyone could be her first opponent. Apart from Shin and Kibito they looked relatively normal - except for a masked man with ludicrously short arms and legs. Chiyo stared at him for a good minute before she realized who it was, but said nothing and turned away, giggling to herself.

Then two men who stood together caught her eye. One, a huge bear of a man the announcer had called Spopovich, was facing Videl in the first round. His companion was leaner but wiry and obviously an experienced fighter. The announcer had called him 'Yam'. Both men had bulging veins and shaved heads with a curiously designed 'M' tattooed on their foreheads.

I wonder what the M means, Chiyo thought. As she stared at them Spopovich turned toward her, eyes narrowing. His mouth stretched into a silent snarl.

She held his gaze even though inwardly she was disturbed. The snarl was no pseudo-threat; there was animal fury in his black and strangely vacant eyes.

"Son Chiyo?"

Startled, Chiyo turned away from Spopovich's gaze to find everybody else staring at her.

"It's your turn," the announcer said. "Please draw a number."

Chiyo approached the table without a glance back, even though she could feel Spopovich's eyes on her.

"Number eight," one of the Budokai officials said, and another turned to write it on the board.

Number eight…Chiyo glanced at the board. Her opponent was Yam.

Her gaze fell again on the two men. Yam's face split into a hideous grin as her eyes met his.

Chiyo stared at him unflinchingly. It was a smile meant to unnerve her, make her lose her focus. She was too old and well trained to be scared like a baby, but there was definitely something creepy and unnatural about him – both of them, actually. They reminded her of something from a ghost tale.

"Who'd you get?" Goku asked, appearing at Chiyo's shoulder.

"That Yam guy."

"The little one? Ugh…he's creepy."

Chiyo shuddered. "Don't remind me! There's something weird about the both of them." She looked at Goku. "I have a bad feeling about this. Something's going on. First that purple guy, then these two."

"I know." Goku suddenly looked grim. "But there's nothing we can do right now. So try to have fun, okay?"

"Alright, please pay attention!" the announcer called, standing in the centre of the arena. Chiyo sighed.

"Here are results! They are, in order,

1. Kuririn vs. Punta.

2. Demon Jr. vs Shin – "

"Which one is Demon Jr.?" Chiyo asked her brother.

"That's Piccolo," Gohan whispered back. "He used to be evil, remember, and he doesn't want people to remember him."

"3. Videl vs. Spopovich -"

Chiyo glanced at Spopovich and felt a twinge of anxiety. She knew Videl could take care of herself, but there was something about her opponent that really unnerved her.

"4. Yam vs Son Chiyo.

5. Kibito vs Son Gohan.

6. Eighteen vs. Mr. Satan.

7. Son Goku vs. Vegeta -"

Surprised, Chiyo looked up at the match board. Sure enough, Goku and Vegeta were listed under match 7. She knew that years ago, when she was just a baby, Vegeta had come to Earth with another Saiyan to destroy the planet, and her father had fought him off. Thus began a rivalry she had known of all her life - and now it looked like they were going to fight again.

Now that would be an interesting fight.

"8. Mighty Mask vs. Killa.

"You're all aware of the rules, I hope?" the announcer said as he lead them to the waiting room. "You lose if you give up, get knocked down for a ten-count, fall out of the ring, or kill your opponent! Since we have so many matches, there'll be a half hour time limit. If the fight isn't settled in that time, the judges will determine the winner…"

Chiyo began her warm-up stretches in the small waiting room just inside the building. The only way out was either into the ring or back through the fighters' area. No-one seemed ready to quit, though no-one seemed to be warming up beforehand.

"Eesn't that ehmusing?"

Chiyo glanced up to find a large, dark-skinned man watching her from the doorway. She remembered his name as Punta. He was first up, facing Kuririn.

"Meaning?" she asked.

Punta grinned. "Leetle girls don't belong in the ring. You'll be running back to Momma when I'm finished with you!"

Chiyo straightened up and began to roll her shoulders. "I thought you were fighting Kuririn first."

"Details, details," Punta said, waving an enormous hand. "Best quit, leetle girl, before they have to scrape you off the ring!"

Chiyo wondered for a moment if Mom or Videl ever had to deal with this sort of thing when they fought. She knew the man was trying to unnerve her, to get her to forfeit so he'd have one less opponent to deal with. Her temper was as bad as Mom's sometimes, but strangely she wasn't angry. She brushed past him and went back into the main room, where she was intercepted by her brother.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked. "You're shaking."

"I'm fine!"

Chiyo's reply came out harsher than usual, and for a moment Gohan looked surprised. She shook her head. "Sorry. That guy Punta…he cornered me in the other room."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "He was talking about how the ring's no place for little girls like me. He thinks I should quit while I'm ahead."

"You won't lose," Gohan said reassuringly, patting her on the shoulder.

"I know that! He was being infuriating. I wanted to punch him!"

Videl appeared at Gohan's side. "Don't worry about it, Chiyo. That's happened to me all the time."

"Really?"

"What?!"

"Shush, Gohan." Videl took Chiyo's arm. "Come on. I'll tell you what to say when a guy tries to harass you like that."

The two girls walked away with their heads bent, whispering and laughing, as Gohan leant against the wall and sighed.

Girls! He would never understand them.