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"Try not to choke, alright!" Krillin joked as he watched his best friend stuff his face. Kakarot kept eating as if he didn't listen.
"Geez, what manners you have!" Chi-Chi said while looking away in disgust. "Hope your mother taught you to-"
Gine was also stuffing her face with a large breakfast, her mouth as full as Kakarot's. Chi-Chi just sighed in defeat.
Both mother and son set their last plates down, with Kakarot punctuating his with "Done!". Everyone else was too awestruck by the towers of bowls the two Saiyans went through to fully satiate their hunger. Kakarot almost fell over as his food coma set in.
Chi-Chi scoffed, "Hope you'll be able to at least stand up during the fight!"
"Sorry," Kakarot burped, which gave him a good slap on the head from his mother. "Ow. Sorry..." He said again, meaning it this time.
"At least you feel quite well and full of spirit today." Gohan said as he helped Kakarot up to his feet, then turned to Gine who was still basking in the euphoria of a good meal.
"I talked to Yamcha this morning." Bulma said to them, "He said he saw Crane and his crony Tien at the hospital earlier this morning, getting checked in for a broken leg and broken rib too!" Bulma said almost gloating. "Yamcha said he was amazed to hear that Gine was so strong as to put both Tien and Crane in their places!"
"Hah!" Blonde launch said. "Looks like you guys might win afterall with those boozo's dealt with. Now it's just that old geezer, Jackie, to beat!"
"Jackie Chun is not a geezer!" Roshi said indignantly. Then caught himself before he could give himself away more.
"I dunno." Kakarot said. "I don't think we'd seen the last of Tien and Crane; and I'd hate to not get a chance to fight them."
"Even with all the injuries they sustained?" Oolong asked, "Hard to believe they'd be back for more after having their butts kicked!" He punctuated with a sly glance at Gine.
"Yep." Gohan said sadly. "Someone like Crane won't give up so easily."
Gine was slightly worried by those possibilities, she knew that stupid people could be so determined sometimes. But she felt secure they could easily deal with them after she had demonstrated what happened when someone crossed her. Or at least, she hoped.
Roshi turned to her. "And how are you feeling, dear?"
"Much better." Gine said. She went through a lot the previous night with fighting off Crane and being made mortal enemies of his school, but with her friends and a good breakfast, she felt like herself again.
"Good!" Roshi said as they all got up from the table. "Then are we ready to dive back into the action?"
"Yeah!" Everyone cheered. Even Gine felt a surge of excitement, for she could feel this was going to be a good day somehow...
...
It was now day four of the tournament; and despite the culture shock, Gine almost felt at home here now. Looking around and seeing all the spectators still made her irate with all the pushing and shoving and noises, but she felt she was getting used to it enough to make it through still sane. Crane was nowhere to be seen, she noticed. And she wondered if that was a good or bad thing...
The referee stepped out onto the ring with his microphone, and a buzz erupted as the action was about to get underway.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, is about time we begin the fourth and final match of the quarterfinals! Let's welcome our fighters! First up, is the second-place winner of the last tournament, Son Kakarot!"
They all cheered as Gine's little boy stepped onto the ring. He looked wide-awake now that his food-induced coma was gone, and he was taking in all the applause from his friends. Gine was amazed at how, unlike her, her son was not timid or shy in front of crowds at all. To him, it must've felt like it was just another day of training but with more spectators.
Gine also realized that it was day four of the tournament and it took THIS long for her to actually see him compete. Took them long enough, but here he was. And she was going to cheer him on at last.
"Yay, Kakarot!" His friends cheered for him. Gine smiled and waved at him, and he did the same in return as he noticed her. Then the announcer waved towards Kakarot's competitor, Chi-Chi, to step into the ring.
"Next, we have the young and fiery warrior princess, Chi-Chi! This lovely young lady may seem sweet and innocent folks, but she has proved in the preliminaries that she can hold her own against the boys!"
They all cheered for Chi-Chi too as she stepped out onto the ring. Instead of her trademark battle bikini, Chi-Chi wore a blue and red-trimmed fighting dress but kept her pink gloves and boots. She couldn't wear her helmet so her long ink-black hair flowed around her.
Gine applauded for her too. She was curious to see how much of a fighter Chi-Chi was. From what Kakarot told her, the young girl had become quite a competent sparring partner over the course of their travels together and from some coaching here and there. At least she would be a better challenge than all the other fighters Gine saw during the preliminaries.
Kakarot and Chi-Chi starred each other down playfully.
"I can't wait to wipe that smirk off your face for good!" Chi-Chi bantered.
"I'd like to see you try!" Kakarot retorted.
"Seems like Kakarot and Chi-Chi have quite a history between them, and it's about to unfold here in the ring! You wanted a good fight, well here we go!"
The crowds went crazy, then silent in anticipation as the drums sounded slowly at first, then faster and faster until the gong.
"Ready fighters? And... begin!"
"YAAA!" Chi-Chi went after him with everything she had, relentlessly sending jabbing strikes and kicks at Kakarot that he dodged expertly. He returned her attacks with punches of his own that she blocked just in time. He was much better than her at counter attacking, but Chi-Chi was very fast and slipped out of his punching range and went after him again, pressing her offensive hard.
She kept up her attack for a good minute as Kakarot parried her barrage of jabbing strikes and jumped back out of her reach. He got into a stance readying to attack.
Chi-Chi was surprised. Last time they fought, she used this same attack and managed to constantly hit Kakarot until he was too dazed to defend himself. It was a series of moves she had put to good use against the Red Ribbon Army battle suits she and Kakarot went up against. They would literally fall apart after such an attack from them, and it made quite a good sparring move against Kakarot if she wanted a quick win. But now it seemed like he had really gotten stronger in the last three years to last this long.
"Is that all you got?!" Chi-Chi taunted, ready to launch herself again.
Kakarot chuckled, "I'm just getting warmed up!"
They jumped high up, clashing in the air and trading blows. From the flurry of movements and the force of blows, they looked evenly matched.
"Look at them go!" Bulma said in awe, the rest of the gang and audience captivated by the action.
But Gine could see that Kakarot's strikes were more painful to Chi-Chi while he didn't seem affected at all by hers, let alone breaking a sweat from the effort. Chi-Chi was using all of her energy at the start to get a quick knock out, but Kakarot was not tiring out as fast as she hoped to. And he conserved his energy and defended himself very well, anticipating her moves until Chi-Chi tired herself out instead.
After a long midair fight to the ground, they kicked each other away and landed on the ring. Chi-Chi looked worn down and out of breath, while Kakarot looked like he was having a good time. His tail twirling in excitement, and glad at himself that his defensive strategy and training worked.
"What's the matter, Chi-Chi? Can't put me down as fast as you used to?" He poked back at her.
Chi-Chi growled under her breath. She hated this, Kakarot had somehow adapted to her attacks so he couldn't be knocked out at all. Worse yet was she knew that she was now on the backfoot. She had gone all out and didn't have enough energy left to start a
nother offense. It seemed like she might mostly be knocked out if they went at it again.
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Want to read more?
The next 10+ chapters are already available on my Patreon!
By joining, you'll get:
📖 Early access to future chapters
🗳️ Polls to shape the story
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🔥 Bonus scenes & content you won't find anywhere else
👀 Don't fall behind—others are already ahead!
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