~1-9-00~

About the Roshi/Happy/Veggie battle. I know Vegeta could easily kill them but then it wouldn't be at all funny. I'm basically going by Ranma events and mixing a little DBZ in. Happosai never dies even though he gets beaten up repeatedly. I just made Kamesennin the same way.

Watch out for guest appearances!


The Fifth Fiancé
Chapter 9 - "The Tournament, Part 1"

The day of the tournament was a warm one. In fact, *very* warm. The news reporter that morning said the temperature would probably reach the latter seventies (fahrenheit). The sky was a brilliant blue, no cloud in the sky, and a gentle breeze blew softly. It was really more of a beach day than a tournament day but oh well.

Pan and her family were the first to arrive of the group. She and Ranma had fought all morning about who would be defeated first even though he knew Pan had a better shot of winning something. That was just something they did, (almost like Bulma and Vegeta) argue I mean.

Videl kissed Pan and hugged her hard before she departed. She also gave Ranma a hug which surprised everyone. "Do a good job Pan-chan! You too Ranma."

Pan smiled. "I will Kaasan. Cheer for me, okay?"

Gohan pouted slightly and turned to his wife. "Don't I get a kiss for good luck too?"

Videl shook her head. "You don't need it. Besides," She winked. "You'll get much more later on."

This set Pan and Ranma blushing while Gohan coughed. "I don't think that they needed to hear that."

"He's right!" Pan said while Ranma nodded. "We didn't."

Then they all laughed and waved as Videl left for the stands.

"What do we do now?" Ranma asked.

Pan made a face and hit him lightly. "We check in of course. Duh!"

"Pan-chan!" Came a shout from behind her. Bra was running towards them in basically the skimpiest outfit Pan had ever seen. She had on black, skin-tight short shorts and a deep red halter top. Actually, it was more of a sports bra than anything else.

"Jeez B-chan! I think it's okay to wear more ya know!"

She looked at her clothes. "Nani? It's hot!"

Ranma shook his head. "Not *that* hot. Looking at you, someone would think it was 95 or somethin'."

She waved it off as unimportant and asked him a question. "How are you going to fight?"

"Excuse me?" He blinked.

"As a boy or a girl?"

"A boy of course!"

She smirked. "But what if you have to fight a girl? What then?"

He also smirked. "If it's Akane or Pan there won't be any problem. They're almost boys anyway." This earned a punch from the dark haired quarter-saiyan.

"Would you fight me?" She asked.

He frowned. "I don't know. You look pretty fragile." She punched him in the stomach, knocking the wind from him.

"I guess I was wrong," He gasped out while doubled over.

"I'm half-saiyan, baka, and probably stronger than you are."

"Bra Briefs!" Bulma somehow materialized from no where. "What have I told you about that?"

She conjured up an innocent expression. "What do you mean Kaasan?"

"Hitting people weaker than you!"

"Onna leave the child alone. I saw. She was just proving to that boy that she was stronger. No big deal." Vegeta snorted. "Of course my children are stronger."

"Excuse me?" Ranma asked a little embarrassed because he was hurt by a female. "I'm strong too! I'm probably the best!"

"RANMA SAOTOME! PREPARE TO DIE!"

Ranma jumped aside just as a red umbrella hit the stone beside him. He looked up. "You made it in time for the tournament. I'm impressed Ryouga."

"Don't give me that! Because of you, Ranma, I've seen Hell!"

Pan absently counted on her fingers. "And that makes the tenth time you've said that."

Ryouga glared at her and turned away. "I don't remember asking for your opinion."

She shrugged. "Doesn't matter."

"Are we going to stand here all day or are we going to register?" Vegeta asked, characteristically annoyed.

Pan waved her hand towards the tournament officials absently. "Go ahead Veggie-ojisan. I'm not stopping you. I want to wait for the others."

"Fine," He grumbled. "And stop calling me Veggie!"

"Pan-chan!" Goku called as he strode up to them. "Ready?"

"I sure am!"

"Now Pan honey," ChiChi said worriedly. "I don't want you getting hurt..."

"She'll be fine Kaasan," Gohan said assuredly. "Have some faith."

Soon everyone had shown up and the large crowd moved over to the registration booth. The short, bald man looked up and grimaced a little.

"Not you two guys again!" He groaned at Vegeta and Goku. "Please don't damage the ring like last time!"

Ranma blinked and elbowed Pan in the side. "What happened 'last time'?"

She sighed. "Don't ask. It's a--"

"I know," He rolled his eyes. "Long story. With your family and friends, it's always a 'long story'."

She growled slightly but said nothing.

"Mister, I can't vouch for Veggie over here but I know I won't blow up the ring!" Goku gave him his best grin.

"Kakarott..." The other warned.

"Just drop it!" Pan snapped, slightly irritable. "Sign up already!"

"Jeez Pan-chan!" Trunks protested. "Is it that time of the month or something?" She punched him.

"You're just lucky it isn't."

"Guys? Can you calm down? You're attracting attention..." Gohan trailed off.

Goten made a face. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were ashamed of us niichan."

Ranma shook his head. "If I was related to you, I would be."

"Can you keep your idiotic comments to yourself, baka?!" Pan shouted at him.

"ME?! You're the one hittin' everybody! What's *your* problem!"

Her ki rose sharply and hi aura flared up. "I'll take you right here!"

"Pan please!" Gohan snapped in his no-nonsense father voice. "You can save that for later."

"Ranma honey!" Ukyou sang as she glomped him. "I brought you some okonomiyaki."

His eyes lit up. "You did? Thanks Ucchan!"

She stepped back and handed him a box. "Don't mention it."

"It's more than some people do for me..." Pan glared him into silence.

One-by-one everyone who was going to participate signed up and drew numbers until there was about ten minutes remaining. Akane and Shampoo had shown up and were currently glaring at each other, Pan and Bra were talking quietly about who would win, Ranma was doing stretches, Ukyou was worrying whether or not she could fight hand-to-hand good enough, and the rest were trying to find something to occupy the time. After about three minutes, Cologne came to wish Shampoo luck and she brought someone with her.

"Oh yoo hoo! Shampoo!"

The girl looked up and glared. "Why dumb Mousse here?"

"He wanted to see you fight Shampoo."

"Who's that?" Akane asked as the brown-haired boy continued to talk to a wall.

"That annoying boy from China," She snorted. "Idiot really."

"Why are you talkin' to a wall?" Ranma called to him. The boy blinked and pushed his glasses down onto his face. Ukyou's eyes widened when he did.

"Wow! Those are some *huge* glasses! I see why you keep them off."

"Are you the person who rivals me for Shampoo's affection?" He asked Ranma as he looked him over.

Ranma held his head proudly and waved a hand. "The name's Ranma Saotome. Look, I don't want that girl. You can have her."

Shampoo glomped him anyway and smiled. "This Shampoo future husband. Shampoo no want you Mousse."

"I wonder..." Pan said slowly. "Do you ever use personal pronouns?"

She blinked at her. "Shampoo no not what you mean."

"What she means child," Cologne said gently. "Is why don't you use the word 'I' and speak in the first person."

She shrugged. "It habit. You understand Shampoo, yes?"

"Well yeah..." She said as everyone nodded.

"Then Shampoo find no need!"

"You know," Vegeta said suddenly. "I really don't care about you people. You're starting to annoy me!"

Pan smiled at him right before she hugged him. "Aw cheer up Veggie-ojisan!"

The short saiyan colored faintly and froze. "Please let me go."

"Did he just say 'please'?" Goten gasped. "I don't think I heard that right!"

"It's true," Trunks confirmed. "Papa just never says it to anyone other than B-chan and Pan-chan."

Goku spotted them suddenly and grinned. "Group hug!"

"Oh no!" Pan gasped out before she ducked and released Vegeta. She moved quickly so her grandfather only hugged the now extremely annoyed saiyan.

"KAKAROTT LET ME GO NOW!"

"Excuse me," The man at the booth spoke up. "But the tournament is about to begin. All people who are not participating, please clear the area!"

"Goodbye Great-grandma!" Shampoo called back. "Bye Mousse," she added as an afterthought.

"Goodbye Shampoo," He said happily as Cologne dragged him off. "Win something okay!"

"Well I guess this is it," Pan said as she made sure she was ready. Ranma noticed and snickered a bit.

"You sound like you're goin' off to war."

"Oh do I? Have you seen the notice board?"

"No why?"

"It tells who fights who ya know."

He glanced up at it and shrugged. "I'm gonna do fine. I *can't* loose!"

"Whatever," She said as she moved to an area so she could see the matches. "Your call."

***

(Authors note: Here's how I'm going to do this: I'll briefly go through all of the fights until I get to the last twelve matches (24 entrants) and then I'll detail most of them. The ones that don't have people that I'm not sure how they fight (or I really don't remember) I'm going to leave alone. This chapter and the next should be the longest two yet.)

The ring announcer stepped out in front of everyone and spoke. "Welcome to the 32nd Annual Tenkaichi Budoukai! There are a lot of excellent competition here so it should be interesting. Now here are the rules: You can't poke anyone in the eyes, hit below the belt, or bring in any foreign object or weapon. You lose if you: step outside the ring, go down for a ten count, get knocked unconscious, or give up. If you kill your opponent or leave in the middle of the tournament you *will* be disqualified!" Then he stepped away and nodded. "I wish everyone luck and let the tournament begin!"

The Junior Division was held first but it didn't interest Pan at all since no one she knew was participating in it. She just wanted to relieve some of the stress that Ranma had created. The little idiot made her so mad!

Genma and Soun joined up with the group where they were standing. It turned out that they had entered too. Surprising...

"Pop," Ranma said. "you're too old to be fightin' like this."

"Yeah Tousan," Akane agreed. "You are too."

"Don't worry Akane dear. I'm going to do my best. So what if I get beaten in the first round..." He trailed off. "Oh you're right! What am I doing?"

"Tousan," Akane took him aside. "you can do it. Don't listen to me or anyone else."

Soon the first part was over and the main event started. There were tons of matches -- around fifty something people entered -- , some better than others, until only twenty-four people were left (excluding Mr. Satan of course).

There was a break since everyone had been there for around three hours so Goku and everyone used this time to get some lunch. Pan picked the restaurant (an all-you-can-eat buffet), and they were back within the hour after Bulma paid the *huge* bill. It was her treat after all.

The first match was, surprisingly, Goku versus Krillin. The announcer introduced them to everyone who, for the most part, already knew who they were.

Vegeta laughed *very* loudly. "Oh please! This isn't even going to be interesting!"

Pan sighed. "No, it isn't."

"Who's the little short guy?" Ranma asked.

"That's Tousan's best-friend since they were kids," Gohan replied. "I doubt Krillin thinks he can win either. This is more for fun than anything else."

Goku and Krillin faced each other in the ring. Goku smiled brightly and nodded to him.

"Krillin."

"Goku."

Then they got into defensive positions and began.

"Goku, I don't want you to go easy on me," Krillin said while blocking a punch. "I already know that I can't win." He dodged a kick and jumped away.

Goku advanced at a steady pace and just nodded. "I would expect you not to do the same." Then he lunged at him unexpectedly and Krillin almost panicked. Regaining himself, he moved quickly to the right, spun around, and kicked Goku in his back. Then he flipped away to the other side of the ring.

"He's got some moves!" Ukyou commented. "I wonder if he'll teach me..."

"Good shot Krillin!" Goku said but the other frowned.

"That was too easy. Goku! I told you not to do that! Give it your all."

The larger man sighed. "Okay..." He phased out appeared next to Krillin before he could say anything, then he punched him right out of the ring.

The crowd went wild and the announcers voice could be heard over the loudspeaker. "And the winner is.... Son Goku!"

Pan and the others cheered but they knew that it wasn't all that entertaining. The next match proved to be, however, and the participants moved to the ring.

"Our next match will be Piccolo versus Ubuu!"

"Before you ask, Ranma, Goku-ojiisan trained Ubuu. He's pretty nice."

The boy shrugged. "I wasn't." This earned him the third punch for the day.

The match was fast and furious. Each contestant gave it their all but Ubuu proved to be the winner when Piccolo accidentally tripped and fell out of the ring. The crowd cheered for Ubuu but some just shook their heads at the other's fate. When Ubuu came over to where the others were, Pan gave him a big hug.

"That was great! I'm so glad you were next, that first fight bored me."

Ubuu blushed heavily. "It was nothing..."

She released him looked around. "Who's next?"

"Believe it or not, it's Gohan versus Junana-gou."

"Really?!" Pan hugged her father as he went to take his place. "Good luck even though I doubt that you need it."

"Arigatou Pan-chan."

"I didn't know he was going to show up," Goku mused. "Did you Krillin?"

He shook his head. "Juu-chan didn't ever mention it."

"Junana-ojisan just wants the money just like Kaasan," Marron mentioned suddenly. She was so quiet, they did even notice she was there. "With you guys here, we aren't going to win a cent."

"Shh..." Akane hushed them. "The fight's about to start."

Gohan and Junana-gou faced each other in the ring, each looking the other over. Then they both got into defensive positions and the fight began.

It started off with a series of kicks and punches that were easily blocked by Gohan. They traded blows back and forth for a long while before they got into some serious fighting. Then Junana-gou took to the air, flying high above the other.

Pan grinned as she saw this. "And here is where it gets interesting..."

Seventeen powered up even more, smirking as he did so. "Even though I won't win Gohan, I intend to give you a good fight."

Gohan powered up as well, still matching him blow-for-blow. He gave Junana-gou his best smirk and replied. "Good."

Ranma watched this all with wide eyes. It was all so interesting. These people, he knew now, did not play around.

Gohan dodged Junana-gou's punch but caught his arm as it went by. Grabbing him firmly he threw him towards the ground outside of the ring. The crowd went crazy.

"Is he gonna win?" Pan asked. "Is he?!"

But Junana-gou stopped himself an inch from the ground. After that point, the pace picked up a bit.

Ranma, Akane, Ukyou, Ryouga, Shampoo, Genma, and Soun blinked as the two above the ring disappeared from sight.

"Where'd they go?" Ukyou asked in confusion.

"They're still there," Goku responded. "But they're moving too fast for you to see."

"Wow!"

Gohan and Junana-gou still turned it up again. The android to his max and Gohan to the first level of Super Saiyan. Then they just stopped and looked at each other.

"Why his hair blond now?" Shampoo asked suddenly. Without turning her eyes from the match, Pan answered.

"Because Tousan's Super Saiyan."

"Oh. Can you do that too?"

Pan sighed. "Iie not yet. Goku-ojiisan, Vegeta, Trunks, and Goten can." Then she turned her full attention back to the fight.

Gohan and Junana-gou were still going at it. Both were pretty well matched really but that would soon change. Gohan pushed himself to level two -- the lightning bolts sort of startled Akane -- and the other knew he was about to lose. With an elbow to the back, Junana-gou was knocked out of the sky rather violently and onto the ground. Gohan exhaled, his hair going back to it's midnight black and he smiled.

"Good fight Seventeen."

"Hai," He agreed. "Good fight."

The announcer stepped into the ring. "And the winner is... Son Gohan!"

The crowd cheered loudly but ChiChi's rose above all of the others. "That's my boy!" Videl was just as loud.

"Who's next?" He asked after a huge hug from his daughter.

"Me versus Buu," Vegeta answered.

"You'll win, no problem," Bra said.

"Remember that other time you fought him Vegeta? In the 28th?" Goku asked. "He beat you."

"Well not this time!" He rose his ki higher, near the border of Super Saiyan. "I *will* win."

Vegeta was so ticked off that the fight went pretty quickly. He went into Level 3 from the beginning and knocked the other unconscious. Veggie was *not* in a playful mood. He stomped back over to them, a smug smile on his face.

"What did I tell you?"

"Next up is Ryouga Hibiki versus Soun Tendo!" Came the voice.

"If you hurt my Tousan," Akane warned. "I'll break every bone in your body!"

"You better watch out Ryouga," Ranma said not-so-discreetly, "she's the deadliest tomboy I know next to Pan."

"Ranma you jerk!" She shrieked as she pulled out her mallet as Pan pulled out her fist.

Ranma backed up. "Put those things away!"

Goku stepped between the girls and Ranma, effectively shielding him. "Now girls, can you let this go for once?"

The lost-boy just shook his head at the scene as he moved to go into the ring. Soun followed him at a significantly slower pace. They faced each other and Soun gulped nervously.

"Now son," He said, "I know you can win easily. Just go easy on an old man okay?"

"That, sir, will go against my honor." Ryouga responded. "I can't give you special because you're middle-aged! Besides, you shouldn't have entered in the first place."

Two figures in the audience raised an eyebrow at this. "You know," One said the other, "that sounds like something you would say."

'Be quiet Maxwell or you will taste the wrath of justice!"

"Don't you see what I mean?" Duo shook his head and sighed. Wufei would never listen.

Anyway.... back to the tournament. Soun and Ryouga were circling each other, or rather Soun was trying to get away from the boy. Then he lunged and tried to get at least once punch in before he lost when Ryouga hit him and knocked him out.

"What kind of fight was that?" Genma protested. "Bring on the next fight!"

The crowd was protesting too, at the really bad battle. Ryouga just shrugged and went back to the others.

"Nice job bakayaro! You knocked my Tousan out!" Akane yelled at him. She was just about to run to him when she saw him move and try to get up. After about a minute, he looked to be fine.

Pan smiled when she saw who was next. "I finally get a turn! Sugoi!"

"Our next round will be our very own Mr. Satan's granddaughter, Son Pan, versus Marron!" They both went down to the ring, Pan practically running to get there. She held out her hand to Marron, who shook it.

"I hope you remain my friend when I kick your butt," Pan said hopefully.

The blond girl smiled. "Don't worry Pan. I know I can't win." Then they suddenly broke apart and studied each other.

"Believe or not," Krillin said. "Marron's been working extra hard for this tournament. Pan might beat her in a smaller margin."

"But she's good enough to get this far," Piccolo mentioned making the people who can't sense ki jump. They didn't even notice he was there.

Krillin nodded proudly. "She sure is."

Pan and Marron attacked each other fiercely, neither gaining the upper hand. It seemed like Marron was almost as fast as Pan was.

"I thought mini me was supposed to be good," Ranma asked.

"*Pan* is," Gohan responded rolling his eyes at Ranma's little nickname. "But so is Marron."

Eventually it was Pan's stamina that won out. Marron became wearier and wearier until finally when Pan knocked her down she just stayed there.

"And the winner is Son Pan!"

There were tons of cheers for her from her whole entire family and all the friends and the audience as well.

She held a hand down to Marron so that she could get up.

"Domo arigatou!" She hugged her. "This was fun and I needed the fight."

(Sorry minna but at this point, I'm going to skim over the matches unless they're going to be interesting. I'm a little tired of typing so much.)

Next up was Ranma versus his father. It was over quickly and Ranma won. Akane versus Kodachi ended with the Tendo girl as the winner when they had both fell out of the ring and Akane flipped over so that Kodachi touched the ground first and Ukyou versus Yamcha (who didn't want to hit a girl) moved Ucchan up. Shampoo versus Juuhachi-gou was a entirely different story.

Mousse was the loudest cheering person in the whole crowd. He shouted encouragement to his object of affection, love declarations, and "friendly" advice until Shampoo got so irritated she stopped in the middle of the battle.

"Why Mousse no shut up? Shampoo no like you Mousse! You no understand?!"

"I love you Shampoo!" He said, ignoring her declaration. "Marry me!"

Because the Amazon girl's attention was elsewhere, Juuhachi-gou made her move. Shampoo noticed it a bit too late however. Using a kick, Juuhachi-gou knocked Shampoo the ground, winning the match.

"The winner is Juuhachi-gou!"

"You know Mousse," Cologne said after the android was declared the winner. "Shampoo will hate you forever now."

"No!" He wailed. "Please say it isn't so!"

Once Shampoo was up from the ground, she darted into the audience, her bonbori held up. "Mousse! You I kill!"

Goten versus Kuno was next. Since the latter spent most of his time trying to appeal to the ladies and quoting Shakespeare, Goten knocked him unconscious with one blow and walked away. "That was a terrible fight."

Akane had snorted at the match antics. "That's Kuno for you."

Trunks versus Bra was next. Vegeta and the others settled in for a long wait and they weren't disappointed. Trunks didn't even go Super Saiyan for twenty minutes and by that time the crowd was getting restless.

"There should be a time limit on these things!" One man shouted loudly.

"My butt's falling asleep!" A woman complained. The ring announcer heard it all and tried to get them to hurry up some.

"You have ten minutes to finish this!" He shouted to them. Trunks smirked, went Super Saiyan Level 2, and knocked Bra down for a ten count.

"And the winner is Trunks Briefs!"

The first part of the tournament was over, with more up ahead.

To be continued...