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Gohan shook his head woefully. "I have no idea. Master Roshi never mentioned he had a friend like him before. But I guess I can see why he would never talk about him."
"I bet, with the way he acts." Gine remarked, then she looked out onto the elevated square slab of white tiles that served as the ring. "Hey, look." She pointed.
The tournament staff wheeled out the roster for the finalists who were going to fight in the tournament itself. They scanned the lettering from their first-row seats and read the fighting order.
First match will be Yamcha against someone named Tien Shinhan, then the second match was Pampet against Jackie Chun, the third was Krillin against Chiaotzu, and finally the last fight was Kakarot against Chi-Chi.
"Only three strangers for our five friends to get through." Gohan said as he read the roster. "Guess one or more of them will have to fight each other, so this should be interesting."
A buzz grew in the air as the last of the spectators came into the arena, with the roster now visible for everyone they knew the first fight was drawing near.
"Quite a crowd." Turtle observed, Oolong snorted.
"Yeah, and Roshi's hiding in it somewhere."
Bulma looked confused. "It doesn't make any sense for Roshi to hide from us."
"That's true. Especially when Launch got us such great seats!" Puar added.
"Huh? I did?" Launch asked innocently.
No one answered, and some even looked nervous. Now this was something Gine was rather curious about.
"Yeah, you did." Gine spoke up. "You fired a gun in the air to scare people out of our way to get here."
"What?!" Launch looked shocked. "I did that?!" She looked down at herself, as if unbelieving she could act so tough. "I don't understand. How is that even possible? I don't even like guns!"
Everyone stared at her scared while Gine looked as confused as Launch.
"Could've fooled me." Oolong said to no one in particular.
Gine pressed further. "You don't really remember? While you were blonde?"
Now Launch looked even more confused. "Err, while I was blonde?"
Gine wasn't sure why Launch could not even know her own hair color. "Yes, your hair turned blonde, and you had guns on you until you sneezed and returned to your peaceful self."
"When I sneezed?"
Everyone shrieked in horror, Bulma was trying to motion to Gine to quit asking questions before she accidentally set off Launch to change.
Launch looked thoughtful. "I guess... that makes sense, I always seemed to feel like I've blacked out whenever that happens and end up in bizarre situations."
"And no one's told you this?" Gine asked.
"Um..." Launch's brows furrowed as she thought for moment, then looked to Gine with sad eyes. "No, I don't think so."
Gine looked at Launch with a new sense of understanding, and then a new sense of disappointment at how her own friends could take advantage of her like this.
"Thank you, Launch." Gine said, deciding to end her line of curiosity there and let the poor girl digest that new revelation of herself on her own. Gine glanced at Bulma with a look of disapproval, for she had an idea that Bulma, as sweet and sincere she may be, was not above exploiting others. But Gine kept those thoughts to herself.
Bulma avoided Gine's judgmental glare and tried to distract everyone. "Umm, Oolong? Can you do us a favor and go take another look for Roshi."
"Aw, but the match is just about to start!" The pig complained.
"Don't worry." Crane suddenly spoke up from behind them. Gine whipped around at him, startled. She was starting to get really infuriated by his sudden appearances as much as with his ridiculing.
"I'm handling it. In fact, I just spoke with the sponsor." He said.
"What did you do?" Bulma asked, unsure.
Crane chuckled in reply as an announcement came on the tournament ground's PA system.
"Attention. A family is asking for help in locating their senile, old-as-dirt grandfather. Their words, folks, not mine. He is described as being short, fat, and bald. This fits the description for half the audience. Oh! Did I say that on mic? Uh, anyway, his family says he closely resembles an ugly turtle. So, if you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact an official."
Words failed Gine at this display of public indignation, but Bulma tried.
"What's with you?! That's not even a close description of Master Roshi. He's not our grandfather either!"
"I don't think it's right to call him a turtle like that." Turtle said with some hurt in his voice.
Crane feigned innocence, but he was a terrible actor. "Don't blame the messenger. I can't help it if all of Roshi's qualities are bad."
"He's got a point. The old man is creepy." Oolong joked.
"OOLONG!" They all glared angrily at him.
Before they can argue more, drums began to play. The crowd suddenly grew quiet as the main event was about to begin. Crane slipped away to a spot not far down to their left and didn't leave from there. It must have been his spot to watch the tournament.
Gine kept looking at him through the crowd, revulsion running through her at seeing him while the rest of the gang focused entirely on the opening of the tournament itself. Eventually she broke free of staring down Crane and focused on what's in front of her instead.
A slick-haired blonde man in a fine suit and sunglasses stepped out onto the ring with a microphone.
"Welcome to the show! I'm your host! And are you ready for this?!" He asked the crowd.
A collective "YEAH!" resounded throughout the arena. The sudden sharpness of the announcer's voice amplified by the microphone made Gine wince.
"Alright then! Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for, the Twenty-second World Martial Arts Championship!"
The entire audience went insane as they cheered. Gine's nerves screamed at her too as the noise was physically painful to her Saiyan hearing.
Gine placed a hand over one ear to help dampen the sound and focus through the noise and the anxiety flowing through her. So many people in one place making loud noises for just a fight, and
she was rather annoyed by the rowdier ones that dotted the crowd nearby and here and there.
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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
🎁 Exclusive content for Patrons
🔥 Bonus scenes & content you won't find anywhere else
👀 Don't fall behind—others are already ahead!
👉 patreon.com/FanfictionTakashi
(If link doesn't show, just search on Google: FanfictionTakashi Patreon)