Author Notes: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I was dreading working on a fight scene but QuantumKakarotto helped me through it. Anyways, please accept my apology in the form of two chapters at once!
One simple punch was all it took to get them started. After it happened, Krillin heard his friend try to apologize but it was too late. His instincts kicked in and he punched right back. Glaring at one another, they stood in silence for a few moments. Then it really begun. There wasn't much room in the living room area of the house but that didn't matter to them. They skillfully avoided the furniture as they zipped around and avoided each others attacks.
Goku grabbed hold of Krillin's shoulders and kneed him in the stomach to get him to stop moving.
"Krillin - I won't fight you." Goku stood straight as he watched Krillin fall over and catch his breath. "And I won't be talking to you anymore, either. As of today, our friendship is over."
Krillin slowly stood up and coughed. "Goku - I don't want to do that and if I have to fight you to knock some sense into you, then so be it." With that, Krillin charged again.
But Goku grabbed his friend's hand and stopped him. "Fine. We'll fight. If I win, you stay away from me and my family. If you win, we'll fix this your way."
Krillin hated that plan. He hated that deal more than anything but he knew that look in his friends eyes all too well. "Deal" was the only answer Goku would accept "but none of that Super Saiyan stuff."
After Krillin nodded, Goku turned away. "Let's take this somewhere else."
~!~
They traveled first to Goku's house then out into the wilderness. "This place you're about to see is supposed to be secret for my family and me but you'll get to see it just this once."
Krillin swallowed something in his throat as they flew together. Well, as he flew behind Goku. How bad was this stuff messing with his head? This wasn't the Goku he knew. The Goku he knew would accept his apology and move on with his life.
They finally landed in an open field with a lake on one side and the forest on the other, all covered in flowers. Krillin took note of the shape and size of the clearing and said "This place… it's just like the World Tournament stage."
Goku didn't nod, he didn't shake his head, he didn't say a word. He only walked over to one side of the clearing, turned and glared at Krillin as he got in the same stance he took against Vegeta all those years ago.
Krillin swallowed something in his throat for the second time that day. Goku was serious. This wasn't a friendly spar, this was a fight for honor. This was something Goku needed and Krillin would more than gladly let him have it if not for one thing. The deal the two made. Krillin would not be able to live with himself if he were forced to cut all ties with his friend. So he took his own stance. A stance he learned back at Orin Temple before traveling to Master Roshi.
The two stared at each other, each imagining the drums of the World Tournament stage as the fight was preparing to start. Krillin moved only an inch to better balance himself but Goku took that as a sign to begin and that's exactly what he did.
As he charged forward, Krillin moved to block and somehow managed it in time. After one block was a hit to the side that Krillin had left wide open. Goku launched his next attack swifty, he fell backwards onto his hands before swinging both his feet up and landing a hard double kick straight into Krillin's solar plexus, sending the former best friend high into the air.
Krillin stopped his momentum mid-flight and stared at his friend. He panted a few times to gather his senses before taking a deep breath and charging down with an energy beam at the ready. As he fell to the ground and Goku dodged the attack, he flipped onto his feet and kept the energy blast going, sending it directly at Goku, following his every move.
Realizing he couldn't dodge the energy wave, Goku instead went against it with his own Kamehameha wave, blasting through it. Krillin narrowly dodged the attack and stared as it went through a mountain in the distance. That could've killed him. Goku wasn't trying to kill him, he knew that much, but still... this fight was serious. Goku was serious.
Meanwhile, Goku stood perfectly calm glaring at Krillin with the same eyes he would have given one of his enemies. This wasn't a fight he was enjoying, but it was still necessary...he was tired of all of this...he needed to get serious.
He lowered a bit, bending his knees, his fists at his side as he began to charge up his own energy, a white aura starting to overcome him.
Krillin shook away his nerves and began to do the same. Powering up his ki. Cracks began to form all over the ground around them, their power becoming more and more overwhelming for the Earth itself.
Krillin gritted his teeth, betting everything on his next attack. He lowered himself as he cupped his hands at his side and began to chant the mighty attack. "Kaa….Me….."
Goku gritted his teeth as he continuing powering up, his eyes glaring at the traitor in front of him. He started all of this with those lies he spread. Goku had enough and he just wanted peace. He screamed as his aura turned red. "KAIO-KEN!"
"Haaa…..Mee….." Krillin continued, his attack powering up in the palms of his hands. He had forgotten about the Kaio-ken but he knew that for Goku to use it meant that he wanted to win badly enough. Still, Krillin had a chance and he was going to take it. Every part of his being was going into this final attack. The end of their fight was coming because if this didn't work, Krillin wouldn't have the ki to go on.
"HAAA!" Krillin yelled as he launched the final attack, he saw the blur of his friends movement. This was it. Krillin shut his eyes as he prepared for the inevitable. He loss. Goku was behind him in an instant and he smacked the back of his neck with his hand, sending Krillin over and falling out of bounds.
He was knocked out.
Goku had won the fight.
The saiyan stood at his spot on the stage, glaring down at Krillin with a look of anger and sadness. He stood motionless, paralyzed by the events that just transpired.
How could this have happened? Krillin was his best friend and he went behind his back and had created all these lies.
His glare intensified as he made a fist, before launching himself into the air, leaving.
One final whisper hit his mind as he left "I don't even know why he has friends. I would never be friends with someone as awful as him." Maybe it was all true, and if it wasn't, he might as well play along and make it true. That seemed to be the only way to make the whispers and the feelings go away.
Maybe that's the secret. If what everyone says about you isn't true, you hear it in whispers and then if it is true, the whispers leave you alone.
That's what he'll do. He'll shut the whispers down. No matter what it took.
He'd end the whispers.
