Chapter 7: The Tournament Begins!

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When Pan arrived at the room where the fighters were waiting for the opening ceremony to begin, she quickly located her father and uncle and stood beside them as the announcer explained the order of events. First, they would all walk out to the ring, where they would be divided up through random selection of balls from a basket, then Mr. Satan would say a few words, and after that the tournament would begin. During the actual tournament there would be a gradually increasing time limit on all but the final match, which would simply go until there was a winner.

"Everyone clear on how it all works?" the announcer asked, looking around, "Good! We'll call you out shortly."

Pan stood calmly beside her father, who was carrying on a pleasant conversation with Goten, scanning the room and checking out the other fighters. Several of them were talking loudly about their chances and bragging about past fights. Most likely, these would all be eliminated in the first round, she thought. The only other fighters were two big men with shaved heads and strange symbols on their shirts that stood away from the group, watching everyone and whispering quietly to each other. These held her attention for several minutes until one of them noticed her and glared; she quickly looked away, but he continued to stare at her with hate filled eyes. Pan tugged on Gohan's shirt and whispered, "Who are those guys in the corner?"

Gohan looked at them for a moment and then whispered back, "I think I heard that their names are Yurak and Sike. They've never competed before, so I don't really know anything else about them."

Pan was going to say something else to Gohan, but the beginning of the ceremony banished the two men from her mind.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the 31st Tenkaichi Budoukia! You are in for a spectacular tournament featuring the finest fighters the world has to offer. Now, please welcome our sixteen champions from the elimination round!" The fighters filed out of the waiting area and were greeted by thunderous applause from the thousands of people in the stands.

When they had all lined up in the middle of the ring, the announcer once again stepped forward.

"All right folks, now here he is, the champion of the Cell Games and savior of the planet as well as the winner of five consecutive Tenkaichi Budoukias, lets hear it for Hurcule Satan!" Cheers rang out from the crowd as Hurcule leapt onto the stage with his trademark yell and victory sign.

The crowd went instantly silent the moment he took the microphone from the announcer and cleared his throat. "First let me say that seeing all of you here makes me want to come out of retirement and win another championship!" The crowd roared its approval. "However, I know that wouldn't be fair to these other fine fighters. So, I'll just say good luck and may the best fighter win!" The crowd roared again in appreciation of their hero; Hurcule reluctantly handed back the microphone to the announcer and exited the ring as a large bucket was brought out.

"Each of you will select a ball from this bucket to determine whom you will fight first. Matches will work as they always have: you win if your opponent falls to the ground and is unable to rise before the count of ten; if he or she hits any area outside of the ring; or if you are able to force your opponent to give up. Now please line up and take your ball." The fighters did as they were told each pulling out a green ball with a number written on it and handing it to the announcer as an assistant wrote their names down on a tournament bracket sheet.

"Oh man," Goten said as he looked at the number fourteen ball he had just picked and then checked the match-up board, "I have to fight Vegeta first! What crappy luck."

"Tough break kid," Krillin said as he went next, pulling out the number five ball. "Hey, it looks like I get first crack at Pan's boyfriend!" he chuckled and elbowed her lightly in the ribs, "Don't worry, I promise not to go too hard on hi..." his voice trailed off as he noticed the look the female Saiyan was giving him.

After everyone had picked a ball, Pan was pleased to see that out side of Goten vs. Vegeta and Akira vs. Krillin, none of her other friends were fighting each other right away. 'At least this thing won't be decided in the first round,' she thought to herself.

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As soon as all the fighters had been matched up and the ring cleared, the announcer once again took center stage.

"The first round will have a time limit of fifteen minutes. And now fighting in out first match of the day will be two newcomers: Bomani and Sike!" The two fighters made their way to the ring. "Bomani comes all the way from a small village in the Yunzabit Heights. Let's see if life in the harsh cold has prepared him for this tournament.

"His opponent Sike chose not to give any back round information, but he clearly is an enormous man, standing at 6'10" and weighing in at 320 lbs! He looks pretty serious about this match. So with out further ado, let the fight begin!"

Pan watched the fight with interest; the fighter called Sike was the man that had been staring at her earlier.

The two men began circling each other slowly as soon as the bell rang neither wanting to make the first move. Finally, Sike seemed to get impatient and rushed at the smaller man. Bomani dodged nimbly out of the way and delivered a myriad of kicks to Sike's exposed ribs. The big man hardly seemed fazed by the kicks and again lunged out, but met with a similar series of blows. After several exchanges like this, Bomani began to grow tired and was moving noticeably slower; finally being caught by Sike. What followed was not pretty; Sike spent the next several minutes pummeling the poor man and breaking several of his bones. After nearly ten minutes of carnage, the large man threw the bloody and broken warrior out of the ring. Medics rushed to get Bomani to the infirmary as the announcer declared Sike the winner.

"He's big and mean, but doesn't seem too strong," Gohan whispered to Pan who had not taken her eyes off the large man, "you shouldn't have any trouble with him in he second round."

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"The next match will be between Pan and Nareg! Nareg has competed in this tournament several times, but his best showing was during the 28th Tenkaichi Budoukia when he advanced to the third round before being defeated by the eventual runner up, Mr. Buu. He also seems to be something of a favorite with the ladies in the audience." At this Nareg blew kisses to a couple of girls in the stands, who promptly fainted.

"Pan has also competed before and in addition to that she is the granddaughter of the great Hurcule Satan! Perhaps she will carry on the family tradition with a win here today."

Nareg was about to walk up the stairs on the side of the ring when he suddenly stopped, stepped to one side, and let Pan go ahead of him. "Ladies first," he said with a bow and what was probably supposed to be a seductive voice, Pan ignored him and headed up the stairs. "Hey, nice buns you got there sweet-thing," he said as she passed him. She stiffened just slightly, but didn't stop. They reached their starting marks and waited for the bell.

As they stood there, Nareg smiled lustfully and said, "Hey, why don't you just give up now and I'll show you a good time back in my hotel room." Pan raged inside, but didn't make any outward appearance that she'd heard him.

When the bell rang, Pan calmly began walking forward; Nareg stared at her in confusion. When she was about an arm's length away from him she stopped and in a low voice asked, "So, are we going to fight or are you just going to sit there looking stupid?"

"Well, I didn't want to hurt you seeing as how you're the granddaughter of Mr. Satan, but if this is how you want it..." With that his fist shot out in a series of quick jabs. Pan dodged every single one without even taking a step. After nearly a minute of this, Nareg began to realize that he was being toyed with. "Hold still you little bitch!" he yelled in frustration.

He pulled his arm way back and swung with all his might. Pan easily caught his fist and squeezed, bringing him to his knees as he cried out in pain. She leaned close to his face and whispered fiercely, "I don't waste my time with pathetic weaklings like you. Perhaps you should watch your mouth when speaking to a lady or next time you might not be so lucky!" Then she threw a light punch that sent him flying out of the ring and smashing into the side of a building.

The crowd sat in stunned silence until the announcer called out: "Pan WINS!" Then there was an eruption of applause and cheering that followed a grinning Pan all the way back to the waiting area.