AN: Are you excited?

Maybe you should be.

The Next Dimension Over

Chapter Seventy-four

"We're gonna be late!"

"You could fly."

"No way, I'm gonna do the whole time on foot!"

On his bare feet, because he'd managed to burn his shoes off trying to rush controlling chakra and accidentally lit something on fire with ki instead. Personally, she doubted that the old man would care very much if Goku used the flying cloud for the last few minutes he had before getting to the world martial arts tournament, but he was making fairly decent progress despite his bare feet anyway.

He just kept complaining about it, like it was her fault he almost drowned himself and slowed them down.

She'd yet to even decide whether she would actually enter the tournament again just for Goku's whim, so, really...it didn't matter to her if they got there on time.

For all of his worry about it, he managed to skid into the registration booth with twenty minutes left to spare.

Really.

He huffed and panted still as he regained his breath, looking around excitedly through the crowd of fighters that already gathered. She squinted across the crowd after a moment. For whatever reason, neither Yamcha nor Krillin seemed to be among them, much less the others that came along last time.

"Hey..." She walked up to the pair behind the table labeled 'tournament registration'. "Have Yamcha or Krillin registered yet?"

The two glanced up at her in surprise, and then flipped through the pages of scribbled names and signatures. "...No, it doesn't look like it."

"Did Ino?" Goku slapped his hands on the table and leaned in at them excitedly, the height of the table forcing him to lift himself off of his feet slightly to do so. "The lady from last time, is she here?"

The men fell back a little in surprise when he burst into their space, and then glanced between each other with a nervous look that made her briefly concerned that they might call for security instead of respond to his request. When Goku didn't actually move to do anything else, though, the two hesitantly reached out to flip through the pages anyway.

"...No...no one by that name." One shook his head.

The other ventured a question himself. "...Do you mean the finalist last year? She...she hasn't been here yet."

Goku's expression fell in disappointment, and he dropped back down to the ground with a huff. He jut out his lip and turned around, crossing his arms. It was one of the most petulant expressions she'd ever seen on him. "If she doesn't hurry up, she'll miss the tournament."

"...She did concede." She glanced up at the two men at the table, before adding, "Didn't she? Maybe she doesn't want to come back."

His expression soured even more and he shook his head. "No...nu-uh! She's gotta be back. I've got to beat her this time. If I don't, it won't count!"

She sighed, and shook her head.

Maybe it was for the best she'd entered the tournament and taught Goku a lesson about strength...but it would have been much more convenient if someone else had done it instead. She couldn't just make up a second person over and over every three years and expect it to last.

"Goku!" A familiar female voice called out through the crowd. A moment later, Bulma broke away from the group of martial artists near them, followed by Yamcha, Krillin, and the old man. A moment or two later, the two animals that traveled with them also broke away from the crowd.

"Ah, Bulma!" Goku grinned up at her, and then shifted his attention to his fellow student, running over to hug the other in excitement. "It's been so long!"

Sunlight glinted off of the old man's sunglasses.

After three years, she had the immediate urge to punch him.

(*)

Honestly, the flight had mostly been a relief that they were away from the crazy chick that for some reason had declared she'd stay in their house. Their perverted old master never really seemed to mind, but as much as the woman wasn't really a real threat...he didn't like the idea of getting woken up by one of her violent sprees.

And really. Even after a couple of years stuck with her, he never really could completely relax around her. Partly because the more comfortable he could be around the woman, the angrier Bulma would be if she ever dropped by their training and found the woman there.

Getting away for a bit was a relief.

But...now that he stood waiting for the tournament to start, worries like that fell to the back of his mind.

Goku looked older, and there was a certain difference in the way that he carried himself that made him wonder just what the pair did to train those three years. Sakura looked older too, and...less worn down. She looked a bit more like he'd remembered her being when they'd first met, before things got...worse, for her.

He glanced across the fighters as Goku and the others spoke. A few of the same people he'd seen in the preliminaries were still there again, hoping to vie for a spot in the finals yet again.

...She was a little short, but...that woman.

Did she not come back this time?

Ultimately, he'd had no time to look into her any further once he'd started training with the old master and Krillin, but even before then he'd come up with nothing anyway. He couldn't decide if it was annoying or not that she didn't seem to be around this time.

Just what had been up about her, anyway?

He shook his head and crossed his arms. "Everyone's signed up, right?"

Krillin and Goku glanced up at him briefly, and then gave short nods.

"We should probably get to the tournament hall, then. It's only a few minutes left before the registrations close and the preliminaries will start."

Goku frowned and swept his gaze around the area briefly, before giving a disappointed sigh.

Was he waiting on someone, too?

(*)

She still wanted to punch him. That urge just grew the more she spoke with him.

How she'd managed to survive months around him...she could only blame on disorientation and confusion associated with first arriving in the world. The idea of building up a tolerance, even a temporary or slow growing one, irritated her.

...But mostly, the idea of reprising the role of Ino did.

For a moment, she'd glimpsed herself in the reflection of the bathroom mirror.

It felt like her heart nearly ripped itself out of her body.

She clenched a hand over her chest and shook her head, willing away the pain. Golden hair brushed against her cheek, and her eyes burned. No, it wouldn't do. She was better than to allow herself to think about...anything. The woman who went into the tournament for Goku and the others wasn't Ino. It wasn't even her.

Her golden hair vanished, shifting to a cropped cut that would stay out of her vision and her old friend would never be caught wearing.

A few moments and a spike of chakra, and an image of herself - her actual self, not the disguise she wore - appeared in front of her. There wouldn't be any excuse not to be in the crowd this time, so...she wouldn't make any.

Perhaps at the end of the tournament this time she'd end the disguise entirely.

She steadied herself, and marched out of the building, heading for the registration table with renewed determination.

This was all stupid.

But...it...

It wouldn't do for Goku to get cocky. Assuming he could manage to make it to her this time.

(*)

"All I'm saying is, why did she even bother to spend all that time training if she isn't even interested in the world tournament?"

It wasn't like he was in a hurry to fight her. Even if he was much stronger now than he was, the memory of how terrifying she'd been when they were training together still lingered. Though. He'd totally caught up to her by now, even if he didn't have some of her weirder tricks. She couldn't use those in the tournament anyway.

Maybe that's why she didn't want to do it?

Whatever.

Goku shrugged a little. "She says it's not fair because she's not from this world."

That...

That...

Well. Okay. If she really was from another world (and maybe he still believed that a little) she had a point. But it wasn't like there were any specific rules in the tournament that required people to have been born on the planet to fight in it.

It was a loophole!

"...Yeah, sure. Whatever." He huffed. Maybe he could count it as conceding, if she still wasn't brave enough to compete. "So...did you learn any new tricks while you were out there?"

Like throwing fire or something?

Man.

He'd better not have learned how to breathe fire and not tell him how to do it too.

Goku nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah. Well...a little! I caught the bell!"

The what?

Before he could ask for clarification, something - rather, someone - caught his attention away from his old friend. She looked different now...older, with radically different hair...which...suited her. As a martial artist. Still, he couldn't help but recognize her. She'd been way too infuriating, daunting, and just...rude to forget. And he had a score to settle with her.

"Hey, it's her."

Goku blinked in confusion and turned his attention in the direction he'd looked. A moment later, his friend's expression shifted from confusion to excited anticipation. "She's here!" Goku grinned and sprinted toward her. "I can't wait to fight!"

Well, it wasn't like he wasn't excited to get the chance to settle the score, too, especially after she'd been missing in the media blitz about returning contestants and seemed to be missing from the registrations. But it was just embarrassing to go running up like an admirer. He didn't admire her! She was barely even a temporary rival.

For sure!

He huffed after a moment and shook his head.

Okay.

So maybe he was a little jealous that Goku seemed more excited about a rematch with some strange woman than a showdown between the two of them. But...it was Goku.

Still.

"You could at least wait and see which one of us gets to fight her before you start making promises about it..."

His voice was pretty expertly under his breath, low enough to make a biting comment about his master and not get clunked on the head about it. Someone nearby still spoke up, though, and for a terrible moment he thought his quiet voice might have been a lie (and an act on his master's part) all along.

"You look jealous."

He glared up at the pink haired woman. The one who still refused to enter the tournament. "Should you even be here? This place is about to be competitors only. Visitors have to go to the seating."

Knuckles rapped lightly on his head. They didn't really hurt. He chose to believe they were supposed to, at least a little. It felt less annoying, then. "I know. I just wanted to give Goku some last minute advice. Is that a problem?"

He frowned. "Advice?"

...Not about the fire breathing thing?

She nodded to the small boy who bounced animatedly in front of the previous almost-champion. "He can't get into the tournament wearing torn up rags like those."

...Wait.

The world tournament had a dress code?

OOC: Semi-regular reminder that I actively dislike the stat sheet war and any variation of it. Goku punched a cat and almost blew up the universe, Kaguya exploded into a weird animal marshmallow and almost blew up the universe. It's not relevant, it's not important, I actively do not care. If you're looking for a Death Battle fic, you've come to the wrong place. This is a crossover fic, not a gladiator fic. This definitely isn't a stat sheet atrocity.

And that is that.