The Mega Evil Explosion Wave VS the Ultimate Kamehameha
******NOTE! I posted 9 and 10 within minutes of each other because I forgot to update 9 when I did so on AO3... so make sure you read 9 before 10! ********
Piccolo's claws sliced her skin to ribbons with each direct hit, but she gave back twice what she took; Piccolo reeled back as Chichi connected with his left eye, blue blood burning her hand. Her jaw ached from gritting her teeth, her arms throbbed from thousands of small injuries, legs on fire with the ferocity of their battle.
The demon's face was smeared with his own blood; he looked more horrifying than ever with his lips torn at the corners and gore oozing from his swollen left eye.
Chichi managed to snatch one of his antennae and squeezed hard on what she only hoped was a weak spot. Piccolo cried out, his claws finding her side faster than she could block him. She twisted his antennae and his attacks became more desperate. Chichi struck a blow to his right shoulder, sweeping a kick to his knee and knocking his leg out from under him.
"Now we're even," she snarled, torquing the unfortunate appendage around her hand. Her vision went white as something sharp sunk into her left arm. She released his antennae and slammed her right fist into his skull.
"Did you just bite me?" Chichi shrieked as she kneed him hard in the chest. "You just bit me! That's not allowed!" Albeit, she had seen worse indiscretions ignored at these tournaments.
Piccolo wheezed, his eyes wild and crazed as he staggered to his feet.
"This isn't about rules, Princesssss," he hissed. A plum-colored bruise bloomed from the tip of his antennae to his skull. She sneered.
The demon roared and pounced. She dodged with a sweeping sidestep before her hand cracked across his neck.
Her knee connected with his stomach. The demon wretched but managed to draw blood from her already wounded leg. Chichi yelped, yet her left hand closed around Piccolo's neck and yanked him up, her right curling into a fist and slamming into his gut. He gagged. She bared her teeth, fist flung back and surrounded by glowing white ki before she drove it into the exposed pink skin of his abdomen. His flesh yielded, blue blood spurting over her hand and arm.
Piccolo cried out, gore flying from his mouth. Her hand opened, closed around the small, solid object she sought and withdrew. Piccolo dropped, clutching at the gaping wound. He writhed in his own blood as it mixed with the sand and dust of the arena grounds.
"Tenshinhan!" She flung the bloody bottle at her companion. He caught it with ease, his face curling in disgust. "Open it up."
"C-Contestant Chichi of the Ox Kingdom - you've used deadly force, which is against the rules of the tourna -"
"Shut up." The announcer choked, his surprise ringing out over the few remaining spectators' ears through the microphone. "He's fine, just being dramatic." She spit and kicked dirt at the flailing demon. "Now get up and finish this!"
The demon's eyes flashed, and he leapt to his feet. The wound had ceased to bleed. Healed.
Of course.
There was something different about his face. The malice remained, but it had been joined by fear. Desperation.
Just as she felt Kami's ki spring back into her plane of existence, Piccolo's energy flared red, burning hotter than any fire. Her eyes widened.
"EVERYONE GET DOWN!"
A kamehameha built in her hands as the very air around the demon king waved and bent. His image flickered behind his aura, eyes glowing red and mouth open in a roar of fury.
Her friends would never escape in time.
She planted her feet, fighting to keep her hands at her hip as the burning ball of ki burst to life between her fingers.
"Kaaaaaaaaa meeeeeeee haaaaaaaa meeeeeee…"
Piccolo's energy exploded.
"HAAAAAAAA!" Chichi threw the kamehameha, fighting to break through the energy surrounding her nemesis. Muscles in her jaw strained as she ground her teeth together, feeling her feet losing their hold. "Shit!"
Her attack ricocheted outward and up, and Piccolo's ki hit her hard in the gut, knocking her off of her feet.
Dust clung to the tension in the air, obscuring the outcome of Piccolo's carnage. The demon himself gagged on the cloud, squinting and whipping his head wildly about. Was she dead? He snarled, sweeping his arm around in a ferocious swipe. The air cleared.
A splattering of scarlet blood on the ground to his left. A tattered blue scrap of fabric fluttering in a wan breeze. There was no other sign of her.
"I… I did it," Piccolo wheezed, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth, "not even the Dragon could bring her back now." His face split into a foul mockery of a grin, lips peeling back over purple gums and fangs stained blue with his own blood. Exhaustion forgotten, the newly crowned Demon King rounded on the remaining spectators, red eyes gleaming.
Tenshinhan and Goku sank into defensive stances - pah, as if they could even hope to stand against him! How futile.
Crimson eyes flickered to the stooped, shriveled green figure bracing against his staff behind the two strapping warriors.
First order of business, put that old bastard back in a bottle, where he belonged.
Piccolo took one deliberate step forward, lightning crackling at his fingertips, face splitting open in a wicked, cruel snarl. The world was his. At long last -
WHAM.
Piccolo saw stars, his organs protesting as a juggernaut slammed into his ribs. He hit the dirt face first and plowed through the battle-churned earth, rocks snagging and ripping at his skin.
And then the world swam around him in the same manner a shark circles a bloody chunk of flesh.
He pushed his head up, forcing his chin out of the dirt, only for Chichi's arm to lock around his neck, elbow squeezing his throat and pinching off his breath. Her bicep flexed, and he gagged as she crushed his windpipe. He gurgled, gasping for breath. Her arms were broken! How… How in all the Hells…
Dark circles formed hazy rings around his vision.
How was she still…
And then the world went black.
Kami's throat constricted, his heart seizing in his chest. The ancient guardian watched, feigning impassiveness as Chichi, twice his Beloved Earth's savior now, strangled the twisted cast off fragment of his soul. He wavered on the edge of collapse, life draining away with Daimao's. It was...better...this way.
And yet he woke, not to see the long forgotten faces of his family, nor even the Dragon he had crafted, but to see Chichi's bloody visage hovering above him.
"You foolish girl!" he wailed, "you didn't kill him!"
"Couldn't," Chichi grunted, smearing gore from her cheek. "He got himself a third wind and hit one of the ki blast wounds. Struck a nerve and my whole arm went dead." Her face crinkled in disgust, cutting wrinkles in the dried blood. "He flew off, then Yajirobe gave you 'n me both a senzu bean."
"That means Piccolo has likely recovered as well," Kami lamented even as his heart skipped a beat, relieved to be alive. "You should just strike me down now, and never need fret over the beast."
Chichi looked away, her eyes glassy.
"Aw Kami," Goku slapped him on the back, earning an undignified yelp from the guardian. "We can't killya! Yer one of us! A good guy! A friend." At least the boy thought to help him to his feet after nearly snapping his spine, Kami groused internally as he dusted off his robes. And then he met Goku's steely gaze. "It'd make us worse 'n Piccolo if we killed ya just to make our lives easier."
Kami closed his eyes, inhaling through his nose and praying to his predecessors for strength, patience, and the wisdom to overcome. This is why he should never have become entangled in the affairs of the everyday mortals…
"Very well," he exhaled, and turned to Chichi, extending a hand and touching her cheek. "What is next for you, my child? More adventures?"
Chichi flushed, tucking a stray strand of her wild hair behind her ears. She nodded, dark eyes flickering towards Goku for the briefest of moments.
"You could say that, Sir. But first I think I want to go home."
And so, Chichi and Goku set off on foot for the Ox Kingdom. The already good friends grew ever closer on their journey, made longer by small quests and miniature adventures. They seemed inseparable, and yet, when the time came for Goku to continue his martial arts journey, Chichi chose to remain in the Ox Kingdom with her father, feeling an intense need for a safe haven. She had experienced enough adventures for quite a while - or so she thought! She had no idea she was about to embark on her greatest adventure yet.
And his name was Gohan.
Join us next time for Dragon Ball C - Z!: A Blast...from the Past!