For the Princess of Fire Mountain, coming home didn't mean resting.
The tournament was over, but the quiet of the mountain felt wrong.
The Ox King's castle used to feel like a fortress—unbreakable, safe.
Now?
Those massive stone halls just felt tight.
She paced the corridors, glaring at the old family banners on the walls, and the truth hit her hard: staying here meant rotting.
The real world wasn't in these mountains.
It was out there, teeming with masters like Jackie Chun and freaks of nature like Goku. Hiding away up here wasn't safety anymore.
It was just giving up.
Chi-Chi grabbed a bag and started packing.
When the Ox King found her, he didn't try to stop her.
He saw the change in her eyes—the petulance of a child had been burned away, replaced by the steel gaze of a martial artist.
"I am going to see the world, Papa. I need to understand what strength really looks like outside these walls."
The Ox King only nodded.
She left at dawn.
She didn't take a carriage or a beast; she ran.
She traversed the dangerous wastelands surrounding Fire Mountain on foot, testing her stamina, forcing her body to adapt to the rugged terrain just as she had seen Goku adapt in the ring.
Her destination wasn't specific—she was hunting for struggle.
Chi-Chi reached a bustling trading town on the edge of the wilderness.
Villagers spoke in hushed whispers about military trucks tearing through the countryside and soldiers wearing red armbands who took what they wanted.
While eating at a roadside stall, Chi-Chi overheard a group of travelers discussing a strange phenomenon: a young boy with a monkey tail who was single-handedly causing trouble for these soldiers in the north.
"He's taking on the whole damn army." a traveler muttered.
"Get real. The Red Ribbon Army runs this planet. You think one little guy stands a ghost of a chance against them?"
Chi-Chi's chopsticks snapped in her hand.
Son Goku.
He hadn't gone home.
He was already back out there, chasing the Four-Star Ball.
And he had competition—the entire Red Ribbon Army was gunning for the same prize.
A sharp heat rose in Chi-Chi's chest.
It wasn't fear for his safety—that's what she told herself, anyway. It was about territory. It was the angry, possessive feeling that comes when someone tries to touch what's yours.
"That idiot..." she muttered, standing up and throwing some zeni on the table.
If anyone is going to defeat Son Goku, it's going to be me. I won't let some second-rate army steal my rematch.
Chi-Chi took off, kicking up a spray of dust as she tore down the road.
She wasn't just wandering anymore.
She was hunting.
The Red Ribbon Army just picked up a second enemy.
/////////////////////////////////
The coastal wind tore through the tall grass around Sector B. This was General Blue's forward base—a slab of military authority planted to lock down the shore while the main force went diving.
To the soldiers inside, those walls looked like safety.
They looked invincible.
Chi-Chi stood at the edge of the clearing, watching.
To her, it wasn't a fortress.
It was just something in the way.
She was dressed for combat, wearing a sleeveless blue martial arts dress with gold trim and her dark hair pulled back into a high, flowing ponytail.
She didn't bother hiding.
Sneaking was for thieves.
The daughter of the Ox King walked through the front gate.
"Halt!"
A sentry in a guard tower racked the slide of his rifle, aiming down at the girl.
"This is a restricted military zone! Turn around and go back to your mommy, little girl, or we open fire!"
Chi-Chi stopped.
She looked up at the tower, squinting against the sun.
"I am looking for a boy, Son Goku." she announced, her voice projecting clearly over the hum of the base's generators.
"He has messy hair, no manners, and a tail. Tell me where he is, and I will allow you to surrender with your dignity intact."
The soldiers at the gate exchanged glances before bursting into raucous laughter.
"Did you hear that? She's gonna 'allow' us to surrender!"
One of them cackled, stepping out with a submachine gun.
"Listen, kid. You have three seconds to vanish. One... Two..."
Chi-Chi's expression didn't change. She simply stood firm, her boots planted in the dirt.
"Three!"
The soldier pulled the trigger. The muzzle flashed, spitting a hail of high-caliber bullets directly at her.
ZING-ZING-ZING-ZING!
She didn't dodge.
She spun, smashing the bullets out of the air with her bare hands.
The rounds sparked off her knuckles and fell dead in the dirt.
The laughter died instantly.
Chi-Chi dashed forward.
"Enemy attack! Open fire!"
The base erupted into chaos.
She dropped them, one after another. It was hopeless. There was simply nothing they could do to stop her.
A bipedal Walker Mech stomped forward, leveling its cannon at her.
Chi-Chi didn't slow down.
A soldier swung a rifle butt at her head, but she was already under it, spinning into a low sweep that hit hard enough to crack the dry earth.
She didn't get a second to breathe.
Above her, a combat robot had her in its sights.
"Target acquired."
He brought a massive steel foot down to crush her.
Chi-Chi looked up.
She didn't roll away.
She planted her feet and caught the mech's foot with her bare hands.
The ground beneath her shattered, creating a crater, but her arms held firm.
The pilot inside the machine panicked as warning lights flashed—the hydraulics were straining against her.
"Haaah!"
With a roar that channeled the spirit of the Ox King, Chi-Chi shoved upward.
The multi-ton machine was thrown off balance, tipping backward and crashing into the guard tower with a deafening screech of tearing metal.
Dust billowed over the camp.
When it settled, Chi-Chi stood in the center of the wreckage.
She walked over to the soldier, who was trying to crawl away from the ruins of the tower. She slammed her boot down on his chest, pinning him to the dirt.
"Now, let's try this again. Where is Son Goku?"
Chi-Chi said, leaning down, her dark ponytail swinging over her shoulder.
The soldier trembled, looking up at the terrified eyes of a twelve-year-old girl who had just dismantled a platoon.
"W-we don't have him! I swear!"
"Liar! I know he's fighting your army."
"He is! But not here! The reports say the boy is attacking Muscle Tower! It's in the frozen north, Jingle Village! That's General White's territory!"
Chi-Chi stepped back, lifting her boot.
"Muscle Tower? The North?"
She was in the wrong place entirely.
Goku was fighting a completely different division of the army in the snow, while she was here beating up General Blue's support team on a tropical coast.
She turned on her heel. Now to actually head in the right direction.
"And just where, exactly, do you think you're going?"
Then a voice cut in. Smooth, cold, and arrogant. It didn't come from the soldiers—it came from the path leading to the docks.
Chi-Chi stopped.
The soldier, who had been terrified of Chi-Chi a moment ago, turned pale with a different kind of fear.
He scrambled backward, pressing himself into the dirt.
"G-General Blue! Sir!"
Chi-Chi looked over her shoulder.
A tall man stood there. His blonde hair was perfect, every strand in place, and his eyes were cold. The base was a wreck of smoke and dust, but his uniform? Spotless.
"I leave for a few hours to inspect the submarine bay, and I return to find my base in ruins."
General Blue stepped over a twisted scrap of metal.
He didn't look down. He just kept his eyes fixed on Chi-Chi as he spoke.
"And the culprit is... a dirty little girl?"
Chi-Chi turned fully to face him.
She sensed it immediately—this wasn't a grunt. This man had Ki.
"You're the one in charge." Chi-Chi stated, shifting into a combat stance.
"General Blue."
"I am." Blue replied, smoothing his uniform.
"And I despise filth. You've sullied my camp, broken my toys, and worst of all… you have absolutely no sense of fashion."
Blue smiled, a cruel, confident curve of his lips.
"You're not leaving this beach, little girl. I believe I'll personally instruct you in discipline."
Chi-Chi smirked.
"If discipline is what you want to test… then I'll face you."