A/N: I always found it stupid that when Piccolo was faced with Kaio-Shin as his opponent in the Buu Saga, he forfeited. Piccolo just wouldn't DO that, ya know? Sure, fusing with Kami would give anyone a healthy respect for the hierarchy of the afterlife, but Piccolo's own personality was supposed to remain in the forefront. And Piccolo just doesn't give a rat's ass as to where he ends up in the afterlife. He'd preferably like to be with Gohan, but he's lived since birth knowing he'd go to Hell. So why would he care about upsetting a Kaio-Shin? He didn't seem to have any problem with pissing off the North Kaio.

The Switch
Chapter 16: The Tournament Line Up.
By: Yami no Kaiba

Blinking, Pine crawled away from the pint sized demon far enough to regain her feet. Vejita, for once, seemed disinclined to follow through with the advantage (Piccolo secretly figured he'd realized what a fool he looked like running after him like that.) and was back over by the group, giving Goku a good run for his money in a glaring contest.

Turning back around, Pine watched as the purple humanoid stood up with help from a tall stoic white haired being with pointy ears. The man's skin color was more easily blendable with the human crowd, but the redder hue still set him apart. Normally she'd just tick the features off as demonesque and get back to Gohan, but there was something... off... about these two. They just didn't have the same aura that labeled the denizens of Earth's more shadowy areas, but a familiar feel to it all the same.

A tense moment with locked gazes. "You're not-"

"Pine!" Two pairs of small hands tugged down on her pants as the Trunks and Goten looked up at her. "Hurry it up already, we haven't signed in yet!"

Slapping off the annoyances' hands and giving a small growl, she turned her attention back to the two other pointed eared people-

Only to be met with the regular milling crowd. Damn.

Oh well, she was pretty sure they'd meet again. It was time to go and get that girl off of Gohan anyway.

*---*---*---*---*

"So that was the former Kami of Earth? How disappointing."

"Oh stop that, Kibito. I think she was rather nice."

"She ran you over and didn't apologize, Shin-sama. How can you say she was nice?"

A knowing smile went over the purple being's face. "Just a Kaio thing, I guess." Kibito just grunted, an ear flicking slightly in annoyance. "Still, you should loosen up a bit. This is the first time we've been to the mortal realm in centuries."

Another flick of an ear. "We wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you actually thinking about training that upstart from the Dai-Kaio's Tournament."

The knowing smile only got wider. "It's not often that the Dai-Kaio is over his head from the start, you know."

"I still don't like this place."

"Would that be because of the lack of Holy vibes, or the aura of a Demon King?"

A pause and a slight widening of the eyes were the only things that gave away Kibito's shock. "A Demon King? Here?"

An amused backwards glance from Shin. "You still have a long way to go if you couldn't pick that up."

A slightly embarrassed flush turned Kibito's face redder. "Yes, Shin-sama."

[Of course, I had to walk right into the person before knowing who it was, but there's no need to tell him that.]

*---*---*---*---*

Trunks, the purple haired demi-saiyajin, wasn't in a good mood. Goten just pouted. "What do you mean we can't enter the adult competition!"

The Buddhist monk charged with the task of signing in tried not to lose his sense of peace. "Exactly what I said, sir. Due to a law passed two years ago it was deemed inhumane to allow children to participate in tournaments against people out of their general age group."

Annoyed with the hold up, Vejita snarled with his arms crossed over his chest. "Certainly there's a some stupid loop hole around it."

"Well, there is the consent form, but the First Brother needs to be witness to the Parent or Guardian signatures."

"Fine. After the rest of us sign in, you go find the old geezer and two copies of the form."

*---*---*---*---*

It was interesting, Pine admitted to herself. The new arrangement at the Budoukai had been supposedly faster then the one-on-one elimination rounds that had been used in the previous tournaments. Until Vejita's turn, that was. The Saiyajin no Ouji certainly made it clear to some people that entering was a bad idea when he punched the strength measuring machine into smaller parts then the assembly of it had required.

So now she was stuck in line, waiting for a replacement machine with Gohan and Videl right in front of her.

And positively on edge with the feeling of being stared at.

Of course the fact that she had resorted to meditating in mid-air to pass the time might have had something to do with the staring.

Without opening her eyes, she growled out, "Is that really necessary?"

The human that had been waving his hand back and forth under her yelped slightly in response and backed off.

"You know, Pine," Gohan piped up, "you remind me a lot of someone I know."

[Think fast!] "If you're talking about Vejita, it's all in the attitude, I assure you."

A commotion started at the beginning of the line and a small grumble came from Videl. "Well, it's about time they got the replacement."

*---*---*---*---*

"The results are in, Sir. Pine got into the tournament."

The black suited man lifted his sunglasses long enough to scan the list of data presented on the center monitor screen. "Those people, Shin and Kibito. Cross check their DNA and until the results come in I want them marked as possible demons."

A slightly startled response. "More demons?"

"How many humans have you seen with purple skin and pointy ears? They're most likely contacts of some sort sent by Daimao to look in on his offspring."

Nodding slightly, Wess typed in some commands on a side keypad. "Spy bot one has been rerouted to get the DNA samples."

"Any new info?"

A short typed in command of the main keyboard brought up a picture of a rotating Goku on the left monitor screen. "One Son Goku, a previous champion of the Tenkai-ichi Budoukai. Believed to have participated in the Cell Games and killed there. Other then a Marriage Certificate, Driver's License, and previous enrollment in the Tenkai-ichi Budoukai, I can't find a record of him existing. Also," another short input of the keyboard brought up a picture of a rotating Vejita on the left monitor screen. "Other then the Marriage Certificate, I still haven't been able to find any official documents on him either."

"Wait a minute, that Goku character is supposed to be dead?"

"Like I said, Sir. It's believed, but not officially reported."

Black sunglasses slid back over a pair of brown eyes. "This case is getting more interesting by the day."

--To be Continued.

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