Chapter 17: The Tournament
"Oh, wow!" Bulma exclaimed, looking around in amazement. "They set this up pretty nicely, huh?" She said, taking the time to admire the decorations around her.
"Uh-huh!" Ox King said in agreement. "It looks like the turn out for this year is way better than last year's one too."
All of them had made it to the tournament together thanks to Bulma's helicopter. They were currently making their way to the place where the fighters were suppose to sign up at. Around them were other fighters heading the same place, or taking their interviews with different news outlets.
"I still can't believe you decided to enter this thing, Chi-Chi!" Bulma mentioned. "I mean, I knew you had a lot of knowledge about fighting, but I would never expected this."
"Yeah, I wasn't even aware you knew how to fight." Krillin added.
"Well…." She trailed off, unsure of how to respond to that. Luckily her father stepped in.
"I taught her everything she knows after all." He said with a hearty laugh, while slapping her on the back. "She wanted to keep that side of her quiet for some reason though. Probably didn't want to scare off the guys, huh honey?"
Or maybe it was unlucky. "Dad." She hissed in embarrassment.
Krillin still wasn't convinced Chi-Chi actually knew what she was getting herself into. Her father seemed to be confident in her skills, but this tournament wasn't anything like any other fighting tournament. Especially this year with Raditz, and the three Androids joining.
What if she gets badly injured fighting someone? She was a close friend of his, so of course he wouldn't want to see her hurt.
When he had first heard about her entering the tournament, he tried emphasized how bad of an idea it was, but it was no use. He had even tried to get Goku and Vegeta to back him up on it, but they were barely bothered by the news of her entering. He didn't think the two could be so heartless.
If only he had someway of telling her just how bad the tournament was going to get. With the type of people he knew were entering this year, even he didn't want to enter. Poor girl was totally oblivious towards the situation.
"Still, I think you might secretly be stronger than you're letting on Chi." Bulma said with a smile.
"N-No way." Chi-Chi returned, trying not to sound too eager to deny her claims. She involuntarily made eye contact with Goku who looked like he was amused at her situation.
"I'm just happy you started up Martial Arts again. I was worried you were going to drop it forever since you lost interest in practicing awhile back." The Ox King added.
"I guess the restaurant and school kept me busy, dad." Chi-Chi replied suddenly feeling a pang of guilt. She had to constantly reminded herself, it was for everybody's peace of mind that she kept this whole thing a secret.
Bulma frowned when she spotted Vegeta start to walk ahead of the group. "Uh, hey Vegeta! Slow down will you?" She yelled out to him.
Instead of responding back to her, Vegeta continued on his way, paying her no mind.
Bulma felt her brow twitch in anger. "Vegeta!" She shouted as she began to run after him. Before she was able to catch up though she ran into someone. "Ow..." She complained as she rubbed her head. It felt like she had ran into a brick wall.
Looking up in anger, she was surprised to see a normal teenage boy, with long black hair, and a scar on his right eye, and left cheek. "Oh, I'm sorry about that, do you need help?" He asked, extending his hand out to her.
"She's fine." A gruff voice said from the side, before Vegeta pulled her up himself.
The guy shrugged before continuing on his way.
Bulma crossed her arms as she looked at her boyfriend knowingly. Of course now he was willing to wait for her. She had half the mind to walk off ahead herself.
"So what do you think?" Chi-Chi whispered, next to Goku. The two were currently walking behind the group. "See anyone that might be Dr. Gero, or Android 19?"
"No." Goku answered. "He probably won't be revealing himself until at least the main part of the tournament anyways. You shouldn't waste your time worrying. We'll deal with it when the time comes."
Chi-Chi let out a breath of air, blowing her bangs up in the process. "How can you be so relax? How does that saying go? He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them?"
Goku chuckled. "I'm not saying to not be prepared for Dr. Gero. I'm just saying you're wasting your energy worrying about finding him. All our training wasn't for nothing."
Chi-Chi groaned as she remembered her training. "The training didn't exactly go as plan for either of us if I remember correctly.
Goku placed his hands on the back of his head. "We still managed to get stronger. That's all that counts." He assured her. "Unless… there's something else you're worried about?"
Chi-Chi raised a brow in confusion. "What else would I be worried about?"
"Your strength scaring away guys?"
"Goku!" She shouted in embarrassment as her partner continued to laugh.
The two failed to notice they had captured the group's attention. "Since when were you two this close?" Krillin interrupted, looking at them in suspicion.
"Huh?" Chi-Chi asked, feeling like someone had splashed cold water on her. She turned to Goku who just looked confused at their sudden interest. Figures, he'd be clueless as to why their friends found their sudden close relationship strange.
Bulma raised a brow. "He's right. Since when were the two of you so chummy with each other?"
"What do you mean?" Chi-Chi said in a slightly high-pitched voice. "We're just talking. Er, now that you mention it though Goku has been coming to the restaurant more, r-right daddy?"
The Ox King had also been looking at them in curiosity before his daughters words snapped him back. "Oh, yeah, I guess you're right. Goku has been around more." He answered.
"See?" Chi-Chi emphasized.
"That makes sense." Krillin said as Bulma nodded in agreement.
"Quit wasting your time yapping, we're already here." Vegeta stated before walking ahead to the sign up.
"He's right." Krillin said, before turning to Bulma and the Ox King. "I guess this is where we split up then."
"Good luck then guys! Tell Raditz I wish him luck too." She said, before turning to the Ox King. "We should hurry up if we want to finish our food, and still get good seats." She told him as they walked away.
"Speaking of Raditz, how come he didn't want to come with us?" Chi-Chi questioned Goku, as they walked towards the sign up area.
"Raditz can't really handle crowds." He answered her. "Plus, he had to take care of a few things with work before he comes here. You know Raditz though he's not the type to be late for things."
Chi-Chi wasn't aware of it in the beginning, but she had quickly learned how much Raditz despised being late to things. She had thought she woke up early herself, but Raditz had an even stricter schedule than her. Worse, he enforced that schedule on his students….
"You beg me to train you, and you show up late on the first day?" Raditz questioned.
Chi-Chi gulped at how intense his voice was. She wiped the sweat that had been dripping from her forehead, before answering, "I'm sorry, these mountains are way out of the city, and I had to run by foot here-"
"No excuses!"
She flinched at how loud he got. Where was Goku at when she needed him? She had hoped to run into him before facing Raditz.
"Oh, hey, is that you Chi-Chi?" She heard someone yell out to her. Turning, her eyes almost bulged out of her sockets when she seen Goku was currently pushing a large boulder with numerous weights tying him down. Despite his exhausted looking form, he managed to send a smile her way.
Had she made some kind of mistake by asking Raditz to be the one to train her?
"Keep going Kakarot." He ordered, before turning his sights back on her. "50 push ups for being late, and 70 sit-ups for talking back. Then we can start your actual training."
"What!" She exploded. Normally she was great at following directions, but what he was asking of her was impossible! She had just come from the city all the way to their home which was located deep in the mountains! "I can't do that!"
"Then I won't train you." Raditz bluntly replied.
"I…." She was at a lost of words. Knowing she had no choice, she dropped to the ground, and began her first push-up. "One… two… three…."
Her legs still shook remembering the 1 month of hell she endured. The results for it though was… well after this whole tournament thing was over, she'll know if it truly was worth it.
"Names please." One of the staff workers asked.
"Vegeta." Came a gruff reply.
"Alright," the worker said, as he wrote his name down, "You're number will be 35. Next?"
"Goku!"
"You're number is 36."
"Krillin."
"37."
"C-Chi-Chi." She stumbled, still afraid she made the wrong decision about entering this tournament.
"And 38. Great, now if you just go straight ahead, the room where the preliminaries will be taking place is in there. You still have a whole hour until it starts, so feel free to prepare however you wish."
"There's still an hour left? Maybe we should go eat." Goku suggested.
"How can you think of eating right now, Goku?" Chi-Chi lectured. "My stomach's been in knots since we first got here!" She couldn't help, but be worried about her secret somehow getting out sometime during the tournament.
"Aw, don't think like that Chi-Chi." Krillin encouraged. "The fighters in the preliminaries aren't really all that. Most of them are just guys with big egos." Truth was, he was also been worried about her, but there was no point in scaring her.
"Thanks, Krillin." She said in almost a sigh. She appreciated the fact that he was trying to cheer her up, but if only it was about the right thing. At least this way, it made her role of the innocent inexperience fighter more believable.
"No problem." Krillin told her with a smile, as they entered the room where the preliminaries were taking place.
Chi-Chi watched as dozens of different fighters were scattered across the room. There was a decent amount so far, but their was still more to come within the hour. Her eyes scanned the room not noticing anyone too out of place. And no sign of Dr. Gero.
"Not too bad, huh?" Krillin stated as he looked at their competition. "There might even be a chance not all of us will make it past the preliminaries."
"This will be a breeze." Vegeta stated. "The real competition will be when I have to face Raditz in the end."
"I just hope none of us have to go against each other so early on." Krillin said.
The group continued to talk amongst each other until a slam from the door caught their attention. At the entrance was three familiar figures. "They came after all..." Krillin said in disbelief.
Chi-Chi glared as the three Androids made their way straight towards them. 17 leading, as 16 and 18 stayed slightly behind.
Krillin gulped when 17 stood in front of him. "So you guys came after all." He nervously chuckled, trying to lighten up the sudden intense mood.
17 let a small smirk grace his features. "Well our choices seemed to be limited. We figured this might be the easiest way to accomplish our goals after all."
"That's if you guys can actually make it past the preliminaries." Vegeta challenged with a smirk.
"Don't worry about us. We'll get in, no problem." 17 replied, before turning to look at the other two people in their small group. His brows creased as he looked at them. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he had met them before. He just wasn't sure if it was while he was attacking someone or not.
Chi-Chi tightly smiled back, trying to be polite. It made her slightly nervous to be around the Androids as a regular person. The further they were from her, the better.
After all, there was always the chance that they recognized her as Lady Anonymous. What concerned her the most though was that they just might decide to forget their deal with Krillin about not attacking innocent people, and ruin this whole tournament.
If something like that were to happen, she'd have no choice, but to stop them as Lady Anonymous, possibly losing her chance to find Dr. Gero.
"Nice to meet you guys." She tried, extending her arm out to 18. Maybe if she kept up with this innocent girl act, they'd let their guard down more.
Instead of accepting her hand though 18 walked up to her with her arm crossed, towering over her. She eyed her, making Chi-Chi feel like a suspicious criminal, before completely dismissing her.
Chi-Chi felt her eyebrow twitching in anger. After she had put her feelings aside to muster the gesture of peace up too. Before she could fully angry though she blinked when 17 suddenly had his face only inches away from her own.
"There's something really familiar about you."
"Um..." She trailed off, as she leaned back from him. She turned to Goku for help, but he was frowning back at 17, hardly paying attention to her. He was probably also worried about 17 finding out her identity. It couldn't be a good sign, if even Goku was worried about this. Before she could come up with a good excuse though 17 was already speaking again.
"You're the girl from the party" He said.
"Party?" She questioned in confusion, before her eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh! You mean the party Bulma threw." She said, remembering the dance she shared with 17 while she was still 'Chi-Chi'. Right before 17 revealed his own identity, and almost killed everyone at the party.
17 pulled back with a light smirk on his face. "Interesting. I hope to see you guys sometime during the tournament. That is, if you guys make it."
"What…!" Vegeta growled out.
With his back turn towards them, he put his two fingers up, as he walked away with 18 and 16 by his side.
"That was… surprising." Krillin said. "You're probably wondering how I know those guys Chi-Chi."
"Hm?" Chi-Chi asked, before remembering she wasn't suppose to know anything about them beside what she saw at the party, and what she heard on the news. "O-Oh yeah! I was really shocked when they came up to us."
Krillin scratched the back of his head. "Its kind of a long story, but its probably better for your safety that I don't tell you."
"Right, I understand, Krillin." She nodded, trying to get this conversation over with before she started to feel guilty about keeping Krillin in the dark. "Don't worry about it."
Krillin smiled in relief. "Thanks, Chi-Chi."
The group's peaceful silence was once again interrupted by another flashy entrance. Fighters in the room began whispering, while others ran up to whoever had just entered.
"Its Officer Satan!"
"No one has a chance now! Its thanks to him the city's crime rate has declined!"
"Officer Satan, did you really decide to enter?"
The man in question, gave a short chuckle in response. "Please – one at a time!" He cleared his throat. "I didn't want to enter this thing to give you dedicated fighters a chance, but someone had to represent the West City Police Department! I'll enjoy watching your guy's fighting spirit out there! Don't disappoint me." Officer Satan said, firing up the fighters around him.
"Not exactly the humble type, huh Tien?" The group overheard the guy next them say. Chi-Chi recognize him as the same guy who had bumped into Bulma earlier. Next to him was a guy who sported a bald head, and a third eye.
"You got that right." Tien nodded in agreement. "To be fair, he's probably only talking like that because of last years competition. It was the weakest one I've ever seen. Remember who won, Yamcha?"
"Mask something, right?" Yamcha replied.
Tien nodded. "He was an okay fighter, but to win champion...? This years competition looks more promising. I'm especially interested to know how good, the fighter that entered as 'Anonymous', will be."
Chi-Chi's ears perked up at the name. "Anonymous?" She questioned, getting their attention.
"Yeah, a fighter entered with that name. No one knows who it is though so there's been talk that it might be that hero girl from West City." Tien explained to her.
"Lady Anonymous?" Krillin chimed in. "So she came to the tournament too." He sent a questionable look towards Goku, wondering why he would keep this information from him. He was surprised to see Goku mirroring a similar expression.
"Its just a rumor though." Tien clarified.
"Its probably just a copycat." Yamcha added. "Lady Anonymous is a beautiful angel who takes care of the scum in her city. Why would she waste her time in a small tournament like this?"
"Although the way you described it, was kind of creepy, you do have a point." Tien said.
"Fighters, we will be beginning the preliminaries in 10 minutes." The speakers from above interrupted. "Please wait for your name to be called out by a staff member, and follow them to the ring you're assign to. Thank you for your patience."
"The things already starting?" Goku exclaimed. "What about Raditz?"
"He better not have skipped out on this!" Vegeta growled out. "There's no point entering this stupid tournament without him."
Chi-Chi looked around the room, until she spotted familiar long, spiky hair, sitting alone by himself. "Goku, isn't that him over there?"
"Ugh." Goku said as he slapped his forehead. "If he was here, why didn't he say anything?"
"Vegeta! Ring 3 please!"
Without saying a word, Vegeta made his way to the ring assigned to him.
"Goku! Ring 4 please!" The announcer continued.
"I'll see you guys later then!" Goku said as he walked towards his assigned ring.
"Good luck!" Krillin shouted out to him. He turned to Chi-Chi. "Hopefully none of us get stuck in the same group." He stated, before being called up next himself. It didn't take long for each fighter to be assigned to a ring.
"Our turn out for this tournament was much better than expected, so to get through this faster, we have separated you guys in 15 groups instead of the usual 8 or 9." The announcer explained. "The winner of each group will then move on to the main matches to fight it out in front of the audience. Last year's champion automatically secures the 16th spot, so he will not be fighting with you guys. That should be all then. Good luck."
Chi-Chi surveyed the group she was put in. Nothing too unusual about the group of people. She still had no idea where Dr. Gero was, and if he even showed up! There was too many people to sort through individually, and he definitely wasn't in her group. She was going to have to pass this thing if she wanted to see if Dr. Gero was in the tournament.
Luckily none of them were put into the same group, so Chi-Chi did not have to worry about being paired up with one of her friends.
She was also mildly worried about the Androids. What if they accidentally saw Dr. Gero before she did? If they choose to fight him, the tournament might erupt in chaos forcing her to reveal herself and calm the situation. On the other hand, if they instead choose to run, she might lose her chance to capture Dr. Gero. She could only hope they don't find out the truth, or that might mean serious trouble for her.
Bulma took a sip of her drink, before looking at the screen that declared the winners of each group. So far, the only names that popped up were Hercule Satan from group 1 and someone named 16 from group 2. She hoped those weren't groups any of her friends were in.
She let out a sigh. "Do you really think Chi-Chi has a chance in this thing?" She asked the Ox King. "I didn't want her to go in unsure of herself, so I didn't say anything, but I'm actually really worried about her."
The Ox King took another giant bite from his hamburger. "I wouldn't worry about her. Unless she was going against Goku, or someone, she should do just fine."
"I didn't even think of that!" Bulma shouted. She groaned not liking to wait around. "I just hope she makes it back in one piece. What made her want to enter this stupid tournament anyway? She should be watching this thing with us. Where its safe!"
"Bulma?" A voice called out from behind them.
Bulma turned to see a familiar face. "Mai? What are you doing here?"
"I knew it was you." She said with a smile as she walked closer to their table. "I heard a fighter entered with the name Anonymous, and there were rumors that it might be Lady Anonymous, so I came to check it out. What are you doing here?"
"My family is a sponsor for this event." Bulma explained. "Vegeta, Goku, Krillin, and Chi-Chi also decided to enter, so I came as support too. This is Chi-Chi's father, the Ox King." She introduced.
"Nice to meet you." She greeted with a smile, which he returned.
"Hey, you should come sit with us to cheer everybody on." Bulma suggested. "Unless you came here with someone?"
"I came alone, so if you don't mind, I'll take you up on the offer." She said as she sat down at their table. "So how is everyone doing?"
"I don't know." Bulma replied feeling depressed again. "Their names haven't came up on the screen, so I have no idea if they lost, or still haven't finished yet. Its Chi-Chi I'm mostly worried about though. This is the first time she's doing something like this after all."
Mai nodded in response. "I was shocked to hear she had entered. I'm sure she'll do just fine though. And at least you know one person you know made it." Mai said pointing towards the screen.
Bulma opened her mouth in surprise. "Vegeta?" She said to herself before letting it sink in. "He made it! He really did it! I knew he'd make it!" She cheered not caring about the stares she received cause of it. C'mon Chi, you can do it too.
"How is she doing?" Krillin asked Goku as he finished wiping the sweat from his forehead with a towel. He had just finished winning his match, making him the 3rd out of the 5 of them to win. Now all they were waiting for was Chi-Chi's match to finish up, and Raditz's, who got placed in one of the last matches of the preliminaries.
Goku, who won his matches a lot earlier, got to see most of Chi-Chi's matches. He knew she wouldn't have any trouble passing the preliminaries, but it was still fun to watch. "She only has one person to go up against. If she wins against him, she's passing on to the main tournament."
"No kidding!" Krillin shouted in amazement, as he held onto the towel around his neck. "She's better than I thought! I didn't expect her to get passed the first person she fought." He admitted. "Where's Vegeta? How come he isn't watching this?"
Goku shrugged. "He just sat over there as soon as he finished his own match." Goku explained, as he pointed to the corner of the room Vegeta was sitting in.
Krillin frowned as he looked at him. "Sheesh, not even Chi-Chi winning her fights will catch that guys attention. Its like he's not even surprised."
"Ah, you know Vegeta, he's always been like that!" Goku said, hoping Krillin wouldn't find anything suspicious about Vegeta's behavior.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Krillin replied, much to Goku's relief. "I bet if Raditz started breaking down in tears right in front of him, he wouldn't even bat an eye. Man, how does Bulma put up with him?"
Instead of paying attention to Krillin's words though Goku instead watched as Chi-Chi delivered the final blow to her opponent knocking him out of the ring.
"Fighter 38 is the winner of ring 6!" The announcer shouted into the microphone.
"Woohoo, Chi-Chi!" Goku congratulated as she made her way to them, cleaning her face with a towel.
"Y-You actually made it!" Krillin said with a chuckle, in disbelief. "I never knew you had it in you Chi-Chi, congratulations."
"Thanks guys." She said in response. She had barely worked up a sweat, since she mostly knocked her opponents out of the ring instead of beating them with her strength. She was trying to keep a low profile as to not arise anyone's suspicion.
"Now all that's left is for Raditz to win his match, and we'll all be participating in the main tournament." Krillin said. "And I think we all know how that's going to go. Man, I feel bad for whoever has to go against him."
Chi-Chi couldn't help, but silently agree. Raditz's way of taking it easy on his opponents was managing not to kill them.
"Fighter 28 wins ring 7!"
The group turned to the announcement. "That was fast." Krillin commented. "Who's fighter 47?" He asked as he tried looking through the crowd.
Chi-Chi seen a familiar scar from the fighter embarrassingly smiling as he got congratulations from the people around him. "Its that guy from earlier. I think his name was Yamcha.
Krillin watched for a second longer, before turning back to Goku and Chi-Chi. "Why don't we watch the rest of the fights? After all, its better to study your opponent before fighting them, right?"
The two nodded as they walked over to one of the matches almost finishing up. It didn't take long for the rest of the groups to finish up their own matches.
"You all fought hard, especially the winners." The blonde announcer said to all the fighters. "Now if the winners of the matches can follow me to the outside arena, you guys will be picking your slot numbers in front of the audience outside. We'll go in alphabetical, so things can go much smoother."
"This is where the real challenge begins." Krillin said, as he began to get a little nervous. "D-Don't worry, Chi-Chi, if things get too rough for you, you can always forfeit the match. It takes a tough person to admit when they're outmatched."
"Uh, thanks Krillin, I'll remember that." Chi-Chi replied. She couldn't tell if Krillin's words were for her, or him.
"None of my students are allowed to quit this tournament." Raditz bluntly stated.
"R-Right." Krillin stuttered, before remembering something. "But Chi-Chi's not your student, so she doesn't count."
"The thing is starting!" Chi-Chi announced, changing the subject before it entered dangerous territory. She knew Raditz wouldn't just blab her secret for fun, but she wasn't sure how he'd do with a direct question.
Ladies and gentleman! Welcome to the 24th World's Martial Artist Tournament!" The announcer greeted, receiving cheers from the audience. "I've been watching the fights myself, and I have to say, we have a some good ones for you this year!"
"Before we can start this thing though each fighter will be going up by alphabetical order, to pick out their slot number for the order of each match." The announcer explained, as two staff members brought out a whiteboard where they were going to enter the names in. "The first one up is a fighter by the name 16!"
Chi-Chi watched as the tall Android made his way to the ring to pick out his number. The staff faced a box with a hole in the middle of it towards him as he reached inside of the box. Pulling out a green ball, he faced it towards the announcer.
"16 will be in slot 7!" The announcer shouted to the audience. The staff by the whiteboard quickly wrote his name on the correct slot number. "Alright, next will be a fighter who goes by the name 17! Boy, a lot of numbered names this year, huh?" He joked.
17 confidently walked up to the arena, with a smirk. He caught Chi-Chi's eye sending her a wink. The original plan was for her to lose against her next opponent on purpose, but if she got paired up with 17, she'd probably have to get a few good hits in before she 'loses'.
"Slot 12!" The announcer said, before looking back to his clipboard. "Hmm, another numbered name? 18!"
18 took her time walking up to the arena, ignoring the catcalls and whistles coming from the audience. "Annoying fools." She muttered to herself, before going for her number.
"Slot 1! Next up is..." The announcer paused as he made sure he had the name correctly. "Anonymous!"
Chi-Chi felt her heart jump out of her chest. This was the person that people were thinking was her. If they made it passed the preliminaries, Chi-Chi doubted that meant they were just some copycat. Just who was this person?
"Anonymous?" The announcer tried again when no one came up. "Are you here?"
There was a tense pause as almost everyone waited for the fighter to go up. After a few more seconds someone finally said something. "Here!"
Chi-Chi felt her mouth drop when a pudgy looking man with pale white skin went up. He looks nothing like me!
"T-That's who people were mistaking for Lady Anonymous?" Krillin shakily pointed towards in disbelief.
"Wow, they do kind of look similar." Goku said in surprise, with his hand on his chin.
Chi-Chi looked at him like he was crazy. Krillin shared a similar look. "What part of that, looks like Lady Anonymous?"
"If you kind of squint…." Goku trailed off.
"Slot 8!" The blonde announced. "Looks like we got our first match up!"
"16 up against him, huh?" Krillin said. "Now that's going to be an interesting match."
"Next up is… Chi-Chi!"
"Good luck." Goku told her.
Walking up to the arena, Chi-Chi could hear her name being screamed by her best friend and father. Ignoring the redness in her cheeks, she put her hand into the box. She moved some balls around until she finally found one to settle on. Taking it out, she saw the number 4 printed on it.
"Slot 4! Next up, Goku!"
Goku shoved his hand into the box, before pulling a ball out.
"Slot 10! Hercule Satan, you're next!"
The crowd blasted in cheers as some began to chant his name. Hercule Satan walked to the arena, flashing smiles and waves to the audience on his way.
"Slot 5! Alright, Idasam, you're up next!"
"Here!" A feminine voice called out from behind Chi-Chi and Goku. She had a nice slender figure, and long curly orange hair. "Out of my way!" She shouted as she shoved Goku and Chi-Chi.
"Hey!" Chi-Chi shouted in anger.
Idasam turned behind her shoulder, sending a cold glare towards Chi-Chi. "Hmph. You and you're ugly boyfriend should have moved out of my way faster."
"What did you say?!" Chi-Chi said through clenched teeth.
"Uh… ladies?" The announcer said bringing their attention back to the tournament.
"Hmph!" The girl said, turning her head away from her as she made her way up the stairs.
"R-Right, um, slot number 3 for Idasam." The announcer nervously laughed. "Looks like the two of you will be going against each other."
"Great." Idasam said as she flipped her hair.
"Geez, what's her problem?" Krillin asked.
"I don't know, but someone might have to teach her some manners." Chi-Chi angrily stated. She was seriously considering forgetting about losing her match.
"Krillin, you're next!"
"Huh? Oh right!" Krillin said as he walked to the box. Pushing his sleeves up he went for his lucky ball. Taking it out, he automatically paled. "Oh no."
"Uh, can we see the number?" The announcer asked.
Krillin shakily held out the ball for the announcer to see.
"Slot number 2! Krillin will be going up against 18!"
Krillin turned to 18 who gave him a smile that sent chills down his back. She winked at him causing him to gulp in fear.
"Next up is…. Ah yes, our returning champ, Mighty Mask!"
Similar to when Hercule Satan went up the crowd begun to chant Mighty Mask's name. He proudly held the ball up so the announcer could read it.
"Slot 13! Good luck to the person to face off the champ!" The announcer said. "Next up is… uh, P-Picklo?"
"Its Piccolo." A deep voice corrected. Walking up was a green colored man with a turban around his head.
"Sorry about that." The announcer apologized. "Alright, Piccolo gets slot 6! He will be facing off against Hercule Satan! Next is… Raditz!"
Chi-Chi noticed Goku and Vegeta perk up at his name as Raditz made his way up the stairs. She admitted, she was also a little curious who he was going to get paired up against. Luckily for her, she already got paired up.
"Slot 15!"
"Aww, man!" Goku complained. "I wanted to go against him already!" He said in disappointment. Meanwhile, Vegeta looked pleased to still have a chance to go against Raditz early in the match.
"As long as you both end up passing your matches, you can still fight against him." Chi-Chi offered. Why the two would want to go against Raditz so early in the match though was beyond her.
"Next up, Ranfan!"
A girl with short curly purple hair made her way to the arena. Chi-Chi watched as she winked at the audience, getting cheers from the men there. She wondered how a girl like that made it passed the preliminaries. She looked so delicate.
"Slot 9! You'll be fighting Goku!"
Ranfan walked back down sending a wink towards Goku. "See you there big guy." She said with a giggle.
Chi-Chi felt her eyebrow twitching for some reason. "Make sure you beat her Goku."
Goku let out a depressed sigh. "I wanted to fight someone more stronger…. Do you think she has a secret weapon, Chi-Chi?" Goku asked perking up at the thought. After all, there had to be some reason she passed the preliminaries.
"I don't know Goku, why don't you find out yourself!" Chi-Chi yelled at him.
Goku pulled back closing his ears in pain. "W-Why are you mad?"
"I'm not." Chi-Chi stated with her arms crossed.
Goku raised a brow, confused about everything that just transpired. Did she get offended because he didn't think that girl was strong?
"Next is, Tien!"
The bald guy from earlier walked up with a serious expression on his face.
"Tien is in slot 16, he will be facing Raditz!"
"That guy got Raditz?" Vegeta exclaimed, with a scowl.
Chi-Chi raised a brow at his comment. They were like kids wanting a candy. Didn't they get that they still had a chance to face off against him later in the rounds?
"Vegeta, you're up next!"
"Hmph." Vegeta said as he went to pick his number.
Chi-Chi could hear Bulma cheering his name among the audience. She wasn't sure if Vegeta could hear it too though since he made no sign he heard her. Then again, it was Vegeta, so he probably did hear her just fine.
"Slot 14! You'll be going up against last years champ! Good luck!" The announcer said. "Lastly, we have, Yamcha which will be the only number left available, slot 11! He will be facing of against 17! That's it folks. Our lineup for each match!"
Chi-Chi was surprised to hear that was the last person. She had watched all the competitors go up, and although a lot of them struck out as unusual, she wasn't sure if any were working for Dr. Gero. It was safe to say, he didn't enter the tournament himself, but she was sure he was here somewhere. The question was when was he going to show up?
"Alright, lets begin our first match! Krillin and 18 if you will both step into the ring, we can finally start!"
One thing was clear. She was going to have to pay close attention whenever one of the Androids went up. They should lead her to finding Dr. Gero. She just hopes the tournament goes by peacefully until then….
Okay, I know I've been saying that I finished this chapter since a long time ago, but for some reason editing has been difficult for me lately. I can't seem to focus. I think it has something to do with my music choice lately haha Also I can only write when everyone is asleep, and I'm alone, and its hard to get that alone time lately. I'll try finding more time though since we're heading towards the end already. Thanks for you're guys patience though your support really eases the guilt I feel when I'm late!
Son-AbyGC: Haha sorry about that, but I'm glad you're still interested in the story! I'll try updating more faster. Hopefully you liked the small moments between them in this chapter though! There will be more coming in the oncoming chapters! I don't think I'll be updating my other story anymore :c I never wanted to be that author, but I really lost where I was going with that story. Maybe I'll try rewriting it sometime in the future?
TaitanoRules555: Thanks for the reviews you left! I'm not sure if you caught up yet haha but hopefully you see this! Funny you mention Tien right before this chapter came out. If you've caught up then you've seen yes he is in this story! So is Yamcha and Piccolo! They will be involved more, so look out for that!
Rinfantasy: I thought about doing that lol but then I thought that would kind of cheapen the story. I think I lost my time to make him turn Super Saiyan during the story too ;-; Hopefully another time arises or something because I kind of wanted to do that. Yeah, I decided to go with a new angle with Raditz's character. He wasn't really developed, so I can really go anywhere with his character without it being too weird. Haha thanks! I was going to write him caring a little, but then I was like nah, that's not really Vegeta lol Haha very true!
ladybug02: :D! Hope you liked the chapter!
Gokuu the Carrot: Haha yeah their not that bad. THAT IS SO NICE OF YOU TO DO! ;-; Now you make me feel bad for not updating right away! I'll try to make it up by updating faster this time! I feel cheap saying that now though. I say it too much! D: I'll really try though! Thanks for your dedication!