Thx so much for the reviews!:D I've changed some things for the tournament like... there's going to be more fighting rounds than what it is in the anime/manga - for character and plot reasons. Hope thats okay, now enjoy! ^_^




Part 1: Gather For The Tournament


Goku was back for a day and everyone had already been signed in to the World Martial Arts Tournament. After their brief encounter with the mysterious Shin and Kibito, the group of fighters headed to the private arena where they were suppose to be assigned a match.

When they stepped into the arena they saw the other fighters. Among them were Shin, Kibito, and another, Richezz, a shady character with cold black onyx eyes, a greenish, horribly pale skin, spiky dark green hair, and he wore a black outfit with the top having cut-off sleeves that showed off a strange dragon-like marking on his left shoulder. His pants were loose and his shoes were other-worldly looking. And just like the Z-Fighters, his body was well muscled. He just glared seemingly at nothing with his arms crossed.

"Wow," Goku said, his ever dominant happy and excited smile on his face as he gazed around at his competitors.

"Goku, is that you?" The World Martial Arts Tournament announcer asked, seeing all of them come through the entrance.

"Huh?"

"Goku! It is you!" he shouted with joy, rushing up to him and Krillin and they began talking about old times.

Meanwhile....
The last contestant was elsewhere, preoccupied with talking to the birds. It was the same girl with long crimson hair and scarlet eyes as before who fought five thousand years ago and sealed an evil being away with her deep inside the Earth. She has just been awakened from her long slumber, and fortunately enough, he was not awakened with her.

She wore a backless tank-top under a red kimino-type vest with cut-off sleeves. She wore loose black khaki's with a red belt and a red cloth hung down in the back. Instead of shoes, there was a gold ring around her ankles with a silver and very strong cloth wrapped around the crease area of her feet that came from the gold ring - it was a small tradition of her people she kept with her.
Her pale skin (unlike anyone else's) shimmered in the bright sunlight as she gently stroked the brown bird resting on her long finger.

"You're a pretty bird aren't you?" she spoke with kindness, her usually fierce and ringing voice growing soft toward the gentle creature.

The bird chirped, loving the attention it was getting, and she continued talking with it.

A competitor known as Mighty Mask, or a.k.a Trunks and Goten were walking in her direction and their Saiyan hearing picked up on her talking and they walked up curiously.

"Wow lady! You're actually holding a bird! I can never get to hold them at my house because they always fly away from me," Goten said with excitement and she broke out of her gaze with the bird she was holding to look at "Mighty Mask."

Trunks quickly punched down to where Goten was. "Shut up or you'll blow our cover!" Trunks told him in a deadly whisper before looking back up at her with a nervous smile. "Sorry about that, I guess I got carried away..." he said in a deeper tone, and she smiled.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Happens to me all the time too!" she laughed lightly and Trunks found himself laughing along with her.

"Hey, wait, are you competing in the tournament? We were just on our way to get assigned to a match---oh man! We're probably already late!" Trunks sort of lost his deeper voice toward the end out of fear but the mysterious young woman paid no mind to it.

Immediately she panicked, mouth flapping open with wide eyes and sweating---already letting go of the bird and it flew away. "Yes I am! We better move!" She started running away with Trunks and Goten behind her but they swiftly caught up and ran beside her.

"Hey, what's your name by the way?" Trunks asked in between his breaths of air, and she turned to him, smiling.

"Ryoko. Yours?"

"Tru---I mean, Mighty Mask!" he answered nervously, laughing nervously as well but Ryoko seemed to not pay any attention to it. She turned away to look in front of her and Trunks breathed a sigh of relief, and then he realized that her name meant dragon... well, according to Gohan.

* * * *

"Alright now..." The announcer looked at his clipboard after Kibito drew number ten. "Ryoko, it's your turn!"

He looked up after a few seconds of silence and scanned the small arena. "Ryoko? Is Ryoko here?"

"I'm here!" she shouted, running through the entrance with Mighty Mask following behind her but he stopped at the entrance to catch his breath. Everyone looked at her, most of them already counting her as weak judging by her appearance.

"Sorry, I hope I'm not too late," she said, standing in front of the box and announcer.

"Nope. All you have to do is draw from this box and hold up one ball that has a number on it."

"Okay, let's see..." she said, rummaging through it until she grabbed one and held it out for the announcer to see.

"Ah, number sixteen. So that puts you up against Goku," he said as they wrote it on the white board and Ryoko walked away from the drawing box, wondering who this Goku was that she was up against.

"Wow Goku, you get to fight against a girl - I wonder if she's strong?" Krillin said to his best friend but then Goku left the group with a confident smile and walked over to where Ryoko was standing.

"Hi, my name is Goku." He decided to be friendly and introduce himself.

"Oh," she turned around to face the spiky-haired fighter. "Hi, I'm Ryoko, and I guess I'm your opponent in the 8th match?" she said with a smile.

"Yeah," Goku nodded, pleased that she was friendly enough and sensed that her spirit was pure.

"What do you suppose their talking about over there?" Gohan asked.

"I dunno," Krillin shrugged, curious like all of the other Z-Fighters. Then, Goku came over to the team with Ryoko, surprising everyone.

"Hey guys, meet Ryoko." He said cheerfully.

She bowed in respect with her right palm out against her left fist with her long, pale fingers all around it in the signature way of greeting with her people that was embedded into her very being. "It's nice to meet you all."

Everyone saw the way she bowed and found it odd but paid it no mind, all but Piccolo. But neither him, nor Kami, could figure out what that hand sign meant and where it was from.

"You too, I'm Krillin - I'm in the first match," he smiled, being friendly like Goku.

"Wow, well good luck," she told him, eyes bright at actually being able to talk with a group of people.

"Gee, thanks." He chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

"Hey I'm Go---I mean, I am the Great Saiyaman!" Gohan said after clearing his throat to make his voice sound deeper.

"Huh? Oh, well, hi." Ryoko greeted, somewhat confused. Why is he wearing a costume? Is that the style now?

Videl sighed and stepped up so she was right in front of Ryoko. "His name is really Gohan," she pointed out while smiling friendly toward the girl.

"WHAT?!!! Videl!" Gohan shouted, appalled that she would reveal his secret.

Videl turned to him with her hands on her hips. "Pipe down! I'm pretty sure she won't reveal your secret, if she even knows it." She said in an annoyed tone while Gohan simply slunk down in defeat and Ryoko still remained confused. Videl turned back to her with a warm, competitive smile. "Besides, it's not everyday I get to meet a girl like me who knows how to fight."

Gohan was slightly shocked by this, but Ryoko returned the same smile to her with an even more competitive side.