The girl landed gently outside the ring and watched Nozomi walk by, staring at her.
"What was that?" Tholi asked, "You threw her out of the ring and then decided she didn't need to fall?"
"She's young Tholi," she replied.
"She's your age!" she countered, crossing her arms.
"I figured you'd be pleased that I'm capable of compassion," she said, looking at her, "I could have broken her like I do the older ones, but I didn't. Give me a break Tholi, I won. None of these fighters are on my level anymore."
"You're getting arrogant," Tholi frowned, watching Nozomi sigh, "But unfortunately, I think you're right. Maybe Mono will be."
She snorted, "Maybe. We'll see tomorrow."
xxxx
Piccolo watched Nozomi stretch with the temple girls the next morning, eventually having to look away. For the first time in his life, his body was starting to betray him, and he didn't know how to feel about this recent development. It had started after Nozomi's birthday, when he'd seen Otaka kiss her, and he'd realized she meant more to him than he had previously thought. Now he was beginning to see her as a woman, not just a fighter, not just Nozomi, but as an entirely different entity.
Nozomi could no longer hide behind her gi anymore, and no longer attempted to. She had grown up with women who promoted their sexuality freely upon their sixteenth year, and it showed. She oozed femininity and grace out of her gi, could stop men of any age in their tracks with a single look, and seemed neither to notice nor care. Intense training had made her body a beautiful combination of hard and soft. Like the Solarian priestesses she was muscular, but not overly so, curvy but not fleshy. Her features were elegant and ageless, her smile bewitching, and her glare frightening.
He swallowed, trying to push her out of his mind only to have her burned deeper into his consciousness. Why was he having so much trouble concentrating? It was beginning to gnaw at him.
'It's lust.'
He frowned, What exactly do you think you're doing?
'Enlightening you to your present query.'
Well, don't. Just shut up and leave me alone.
'If that's what you really want. Though, I think we both know what you really want.'
All I want is for you to stop popping up at random intervals trying to give me your ignorant opinions.
'Alright, fine. But it's not going to-'
I said shut up Nail! he mentally screamed.
His mind cleared and he sighed, trying not to think about it, but not having any success. Lust? He glanced at Nozomi as she slowly leaned forward while in a split and arched her back, closing his eyes again. Damn it, what if he's right?
xxxx
They all turned their heads towards the sound of deliberate yelling, seeing two lines of drummers and a pair of lion dancers coming into the arena ahead of Ika Mono. Nozomi raised an eyebrow and heard Kosui talking to Tholi.
"Why don't we do that?"
"Because I don't need drummers and dancers to know I'm good," Nozomi answered, watching Tholi smile, and seeing Piccolo smirk.
Ika Mono walked between the rows of drummers behind the lions, a smug look on her face, and took her spot in the ring opposite from Nozomi, "That's how a real champion enters."
"Martial arts isn't about PR stunts," Kosui muttered, still looking begrudgingly impressed.
Nozomi simply sighed, bowing in and waiting for the referee.
x
"Wow, that was impressive," Bulma said, staring at the elaborate silk gi Mono was wearing and then looking at Nozomi's plain gi, "Kind of makes Nozomi look like a bumpkin."
"It's not about material or flashy entrances," Chi Chi said, "Goku never needed those things."
"That's because Goku is a bumpkin," Krillin said, wincing as Chi Chi conked him on the head.
x
At the sound of the gong Mono flew at Nozomi and tried to pummel her, but couldn't land a hit anywhere. Nozomi jumped back after a few minutes and crossed her arms, a blank look on her face, "If that's all you've got, we might as well call this match."
"You little bitch, why don't you just hold still and I'll show you!" Mono panted, clenching her fists.
"Have at it," she shrugged, getting into a neutral stance, "You take a shot, and I'll take a shot."
Mono smirked, "Fine by me."
x
Tholi sighed, "Piccolo really needs to bring her down a few notches."
Kosui looked at her, "But Tholi, why don't you do it."
Tholi remained silent, and Kosui's eyes widened, "No way!"
x
Mono jumped at her again and punched Nozomi right in the jaw, and blanched as her head barely turned. She took a step back and saw there wasn't even a red mark, the color draining from her face, "What the hell are you?"
Nozomi smirked, moving forward and landing an open palm strike in the center of Mono's chest, knocking her back onto the ground, "I'm the one that's going to win this match. That's what I am. Now, get up and let's finish this."
She didn't catch the small movement of Mono's hand until she flung her arm, and Nozomi yelled in pain, shaking her head.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Mono has just added new meaning to the phrase 'dirty fighting'! Let's see if Sensono can recover from this or if it'll cost her the fight!"
Nozomi shook her head, cursing that they had to use sand in the block, and felt a hard kick to her ribs that caught her off guard and knocked her back. Pain blocked everything else out, and she couldn't focus over the roaring of the crowd.
x
"Hey! That's cheating!" Bulma screamed, shaking her fist.
"Disqualify her!" Chi Chi yelled, standing up and almost dropping Goten.
Gohan looked at Piccolo, and saw an look of stoic concern on his face and heard him mutter, "Focus Nozomi."
x
Another blow moved her back again, the sand in her eyes making it impossible to open them without pain, and she heard Tholi's voice over the crowd.
"You're at the line! Focus!"
She grunted at a hard blow to her chest, and felt her foot start to move. Without thinking, she twisted her feet and felt the earth below them move over them and stabilize her, and she took and a deep breath and pushed her hands forward palms out. She heard Mono's startled yell as a gust of wind knocked her backwards, and Nozomi released her feet and took another deep breath, lowering her power level to find Mono's ki signature. Finding it she got into a neutral position and waited, her eyes closed.
Mono looked at her, and scowled, So, she thinks she can fight me blind?
She rushed at her, and was shocked as Nozomi blocked not only the punch to her face, but the kick to her ribs. Mono dodged a palm strike and tried to sweep her feet, Nozomi bringing her knee down and absorbing to blow in her thigh and buttock. Suddenly Mono found herself in the dirt with her shirt torn, trying to remember when Nozomi had thrown her or even grabbed her. She watched her stand, and moved silently behind Nozomi, rushing her. At the last moment Nozomi did a split and pressed her chest to the ground, getting up by sweeping her legs around her.
Tears flowed down her now dirt stained face as her eyes tried to flush out the grit, and she decided with Mono's next move she was just going to push her out of the ring. She felt her on her left and grabbed her punching arm, using the other woman's momentum to spin her and throw her, listening with a satisfied smile to the ensuing thud.
"Amazing ladies and gentlemen, Sensono has just thrown Mono out of the ring blindly! What an end to a fantastic match! Nozomi Sensono is now the Six Time Champion of the Woman's World Martial Arts Tournament!"
She heard the roar of the crowd and then felt someone tilting her head up and cool water hitting her face. She opened her eyes with a sigh and blinked, everything still blurry. Someone, Tholi if she had to guess, put their hands over her eyes and she saw gold for a moment before she opened them, her vision clear. She saw Kosui beside her self with excitement, Gohan and the others cheering in the stands, Tholi was still carefully examining her face, and then she looked at Piccolo, seeing a corner of his lips turn up as he gave her a single nod.