Chapter 8
The day of the Bodoukai finally came. It ws held on the same venue in Papaya Island. The fighting arena was, however, considerably smaller and less grander than it ws since the last Bodoukai, which was over twenty years ago. This time only 180 contestants took part; a small number, but the the world's population had been greatly reduced thanks to the accursed cyborgs.
Videl had arrived early and she decided to take a little walk around the place before registering. She could see that the front seats were already quite full. Many people of all shapes and sizes had come to watch the first Tenkaichi Bodoukai in 22 years. There were rumors that the man who had destroyed the cyborgs was taking part, so everybody was curious to see their mysterious savior. Videl too, was hoping to see him. Deep inside her heart, she suspected it was Son Gohan. If anybody had any chance against them at all, it would be Gohan. Videl also realized that she never really let go of her crush on him, that was why she never had any serious relationship with other men. Maybe later they can meet up and...
"What am I thinking," Videl thought. "I don't even know if it was Gohan. I shouldn't get my hopes up." What if the rumor turned out to be false, or if it wasn't Gohan at all. She decided to register now. Other contestants should already have done so by now.
As she walked to the registering booth, two familiar figures caught her eyes. A boy and girl she knew well. The two scrawny figures were dressed in ragged denims, an odd patch or hole here and there on their clothes. In addition, the girl had a cap over her black shoulder length hair, while the boy had his long blond hair in a ponytail.
Videl walked up to the twins.
"Well, well. Fancy meeting you here. We've been missing you, you know."
Both twins turned around simultaneously. Supper spoke first.
"Officer Videl! What are you doing here?"
"What are YOU doing here? You should be in jail."
"We were going to..."
Tea put his hand over his sister's mouth. "We were...um.....that is...we were going to take part in the Bodoukai too."
Supper looked at her brother, puzzled. "We are? But I thought you said..."
"Changeaplans" He shushed her. "Yeah, we're taking part, so you can't arrest us until the tournament's over." And by then we'd be outta here, he thought.
Videl made a face. "Oh really. So you finally decided to make a living the legit way, huh. In that case, what do you say we go register together."
Tea's eyes widen. "Ah...No! I mean, we've already registered. You go on..."
Videl laughed silently at having trapped the sneaky brats.
"In that case, you shouldn't be here. Maybe they missed you at the registration booth. There was quite a large group registering just now."
She put both hands on each twin's shoulder and stepped between them.
"Come on. You don't want to miss you r chance of winning the 5000 zeni prize money now, do you."
Tea and Supper have no choice but to follow her.
"It's so nice to see a familiar face in this crowd, don't
you think?"
At the registration booth, Videl gave their names.
"The three of us are taking part. I'm Videl. These two are Tea and Supper. Could you please check if they've registered? They were worried of getting missed, you see."
The registrar checked his register. "Tea....Supper...Hmm..We don't seem to have your names here. Must've missed you just now." He entered their names in the register. "There we are. I'm very sorry for the slip. The waiting room is over there." He pointed to his right. "The tournament will begin in 30 minutes, so you better hurry."
Videl wanted to ask the man if somebody called Son Gohan had registered, but she decided against it. If he's here, she'll see him when the tournament begins.
When they've entered the waiting room, Videl turned to them and smiled sweetly. "By the way, I'm on vacation. I wasn't planning on arresting you at all."
Tea glared at her. "What!"
Videl laughed as she turned to leave them. Serves them right. "See you later kids. Hope we get to fight soon."
Supper turned to her brother. "We're in the Bodoukai now?
Cool..."