AN: Uh…hi. ::waves:: Thanks for the reviews!! They inspire me to write whenever I have a 24-hour bug of the much- feared ::dramatic music:: WRITER'S BLOCK! Plus, the more there are, the faster I get the next chapter done. Oh, and be prepared for something extremely…uh, USED this chapter. I would say cliché, but, well, it makes me disgusted to think about it. ^^;;
…Read it already.
Disclaimer: I-d-o-n-o-t-o-w-n-D-r-a-g-o-n-b-a-l-l. There, I spelled it out for you. Happy? Good for you.
Through Thick and Thin
Chapter 10: …Right?
Chi-Chi and Goku were sitting on Kintoun in silence. Goku was nervously twiddling his thumbs back and forth, while Chi-Chi was trying hard to concentrate on ANYTHING besides Goku, who was sitting beside her.
'Damn, how'd this happen? Ha, I bet Krillin would make a joke about me having PMS right now.' She growled at the thought, but then laughed a little.
'Oh, well. I just wish Goku would say something. The silence is deafening…oooh, a paradox.' Chi-Chi, as you might have noticed, was using any bit random thought to distract her from her current…ah…predicament.
Goku was having similar thought patterns.
' Chi…er, Chi-Chi…SAY SOMETHING!!" [AN: Goku, it's Chi-Chi, not Chi! Better watch what you say…^^;;]
'I might as well break the ice. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?'
Goku spoke, a little too cheerfully to be convincing.
"Nice day we're having, huh?" Chi-Chi was taken off-guard, and snapped.
"It'd be nicer if you weren't here." OUCH.
"LISTEN! I'M JUST TRYING TO BE NICE!" Goku was pissed, much like Krillin earlier.
Chi-Chi sighed. "…I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that."
Goku was surprised at her sudden change of attitude, but smiled. "That's okay, Chi…-CHI!"
'That was close.'
Chi-Chi smiled inwardly, catching his mistake; yet she let Goku think that she didn't.
"Oh, and…I'm sorry about blowing up at you earlier. I was just…worried, I guess. You know, you still shouldn't have done that."
"Yeah, I guess…I'm sorry too. But I couldn't resist!!" Chi-Chi grinned amiably.
"Yup! Haha, and that's why I like you so much, Chi…-CHI!" Chi-Chi grinned, and almost laughed out-right.
'I've got to stop that!' Goku berated himself.
There was a silence, but it was soon broken by the two friends animatedly sharing their thoughts and laughing…like it should be.
Soon…they arrived at the arena.
The crowd was even denser than before; packed into every free space to witness this history-making fight. It's not very often that a fighter gets a rematch because of an injury. In fact, according to the Boudaki records, this was an un-precedented occurrence.
That might've been why Chi-Chi was so nervous.
She knew that she had the physical ability to defeat Oogato; yet her mental ability wasn't so fine-tuned. Chi-Chi wasn't used to fighting in front of this type of crowd; it had doubled since yesterday.
Goku seemed to have sensed Chi-Chi nervousness, or maybe he felt her Ki tense subconsciously.
"You okay?"
"…Yes. It's just…the crowd is so big!" She spread out her arms to emphasize her statement.
"And I'm not used to it. It…makes me a little nervous." She admitted.
"I noticed. You felt tense." Chi-Chi was confused. "felt tense"? He wasn't making any body contact with her, so he couldn't have felt a change in her muscles. [AN: People's muscles may tense when they feel…well, tense.]
"What?"
Goku seemed confused of what he stated also, as he explained, stumbling, "I-I'm not sure. You-Your…'aura' seemed to have…flickered."
"Aura?…I guess."
"I know it sounds cliché, but…"
SCREEECH!! The microphone that the announcer was holding was being turned on.
"HAHA, SORRY ABOUT THAT, FOLKS!" The announcer said sheepishly.
"…BUT WILL CHI-CHI AND OOGATO PLEASE REPORT TO THE JUDGES!! THE FIGHT WILL START AS SOON AS THE RULES ARE EXPLAINED!"
Chi-Chi glanced at the judges' table. They seemed to be nonchalant, yet a little restless to get this over with.
"I've got to go. We'll talk later." Chi-Chi rushed off.
"…Okay." Goku stared at Chi-Chi's quickly retreating form.
****at the judges' table****
"You are Oogato and Chi-Chi, I presume?"
Chi-Chi sweat-dropped. "Oh, no, I'm just another innocent bystander waiting for you judges to get going with it."
"Ah, well will you please return to your seat then?"
Chi-Chi sweat-dropped again.
'Is this guy real?'
"Er, sorry, that was a joke. Yes, I'm Chi-Chi."
"And you,…uh…sir?"
Oogato grunted. The 'head judge' raised his eyebrow and then shuffled some papers, trying to look official. "I'll take that as a yes, sir."
Grunt.
"Ah…anyway, the rules are quite simple. The first competitor to touch the ground with anything besides their feet will be disqualified, making the other competitor the victor."
Chi-Chi shrugged. "Sounds simple enough to me."
"And you, sir?"
"Sure. I'll pound her!" Oogato slammed his fist into his palm to make his point. The 'head judge' raised his eyebrows again, and rearranged his glasses.
"Ah, yes. Now that you two are fully briefed with the rules, shall we begin?" The judge directed his last statement at the announcer, who nodded his head excitedly.
"HERE IT IS FOLKS! THE START OF THE MATCH!! WHO WILL WIN? CHI-CHI, ALTHOUGH THIS BEING HER FIRST APPEARANCE HERE, HAS BEEN KNOWN TO PULL THROUGH SOME STICKY SITUATIONS! OOGATO, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAS COMPETED HERE TWICE BEFORE. HE IS KNOWN FOR HIS EXCELLENT USE OF BRAWN, AND USING EVERY ASPECT OF HIS PHYSICAL STRUCTURE TO HIS ADVANTAGE. I'M SURE THAT YOU WILL AGREE WITH ME THAT THIS WILL BE A MATCH FOR THE BOOKS!"
Chi-Chi heard this announcement, of course, and realized that she would have the disadvantage in this match. He could easily use his body bulk and weight to slam her to the ground. She walked towards the steps onto the arena, and was nearing Goku and Krillin also.
Krillin, who had arrived just after Chi-Chi went to the judges' table, realized this also.
"Man, Goku, this is going to be one tough match for Chi-Chi."
"Yeah. But I'm sure she'll win. She IS Chi-Chi, remember?"
"I hope you're right, Goku. For Chi-Chi's sake, I hope you're right."
'You can win this, Chi. You've won every match so far…Don't stop now. Never give up, Chi, never.' Goku didn't even bother to correct himself on his use of 'Chi' instead of 'Chi-Chi'. After all, Chi-Chi couldn't hear his thoughts…
Chi-Chi turned around, and to settle her nervousness, joked with Goku,
"Goku, I thought I told you to not call me Chi!"
…Right?
AN: Told you…the inevitable 'bonding' cliché. I hope that last part didn't confuse you, because it was sort of vague (at least in my opinion). Well, anyway, this chapter came out REALLY FAST. Hehe, I got inspired.
Kat's Advertisement Corner
Being A Teenager SUCKS! by Kei. THE BEST all-around DBZ romance fanfiction I have ever read. Action, humor, romance…high school. Uh, oh…
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-kat