Interlude-With the Other Fighters

Tien, Chaotzu, and Yurin accompanied Master Shen to the docks at Yahhoi City. The 3 crane students had trained the very hardest they had ever trained over the past few years. Tien and Chaotzu had had near-constant training Sessions with Tao, who had himself been forced to up his own training to keep an upper hand on the Students. For her part, Yurin had trained hard enough to be almost as strong as Tao had been before he had been forced to up his own training, but the real prize, as far as master Shen was concerned, was the revelation that Yurin had learned how to make power-boosting magical talismans from a book that her mother had left her. With the help of these Talismans, Tien could fight evenly with Tao for awhile. Shen was certain that revenge would be his this year.

Unfortunately, Tao had been forced to range further afield for Jobs now that Red Ribbon had been mysteriously dismantled. He currently was on a Job in East City to kill the Master Thief Hasky on behalf of the West City yakuza family and could not accompany the rest of the Crane School to the Budokai. It was during their time in Yahhoi City, waiting for a ship to take them to Papaya Island that something...unfortunate happened.

"Out of the Way!" Cried a large man with a thinning afro and brown gi as he shoved his way through the passengers waiting to board on the dock. The man was trailed by a much younger man with a full afro, a thin mustache, and a white gi.

"Tien, what do you make of this buffoon?" Asked Master Shen.

The star pupil of the Crane School frowned at the large man, who barreled through the crowd, sometimes knocking hapless passengers off the dock and into the Harbor. "It looks to be the Master of South City's Satan Castle, master. Do you think he could be making another bid to enter the Budokai?" Asked Tien.

Shen thought for a moment. The Master of Satan Castle was a former quarterfinalist, if he had been training hard, it was possible he might pose an impediment to their revenge simply by skewing the tournament bracket. It would be best to prune this errant threat now. Decided, he said, "Tien, I do believe this might be a good time to thin the field somewhat. Make sure he does not get on the ship, then join us afterward."

Tien nodded and soon went to start trouble with the Master of Satan Castle. Shen and his other students boarded the ship without issue and 10 minutes went by before Tien Joined them. Shen was surprised it had taken his student that long to deal with the glorified wrestler. "Trouble, Tien?" Asked the Crane Hermit.

"Not at all master, I simply had to find an opportunity that would not bring the authorities down on me for a public assault. It took some time to find the right opportunity, but you could say that the Master of Satan Castle's hopes of entering the Budokai is all washed up. By now he's probably been swept out into the harbor with the tide." Replied Tien.

Shen smiled, yes it truly seemed like nothing would stop him from claiming his revenge on Roshi. He clenched his fist as he thought of the so-called Turtle Hermit publicly humiliated as his students lie broken on the tournament grounds by the students of his old rival. Revenge would be sweet. . .

XXXX

Krillin had met up With Goku some 6 months before and found that the monkey tailed boy had far outstripped his progress in the time he'd been training. Goku had claimed that it had something to do with training with Master Korin in the Far West and that if Krillin climbed the Tower and completed Master Korin's training, he too could be this strong. Krillin hadn't believed Goku at first, but the results didn't lie and at this point, there was little he could do to keep up with Goku in a spar after spending 2 and a half years back at the Orin Temple training to learn the Buddhist Palm. The monk's training schedule was less rigorous than Krillin had been used to and he had come out of that time less strong than Goku. If he needed to go to Master Korin's To get stronger, that's what he would do.

What had followed was 5 months of the most intensive training he had ever taken part in. Not only was he forced to climb an over 4 and a half-mile tall tower repeatedly, but he had to chase the cat who claimed to be the god of martial arts around for months just to get to where Goku had been, and it wasn't all chasing either, Korin hit pretty hard when the chasing evolved into sparring. Eventually, though, Krillin had reached where Goku was and climbed back down the tower. He finally met up with the monkey tailed boy 1 week before the Budokai and they had sparred again. This time, things were much more even. Krillin still lost, after all, Goku was a freak of nature, but he was able to fight evenly with him for a while at least.

Together they found themselves swimming their way to Papaya Island for the Budokai. When they arrived, Krillin couldn't believe how strong he and Goku had gotten. He wasn't sure if it was strong enough to fight some of the others he knew would be coming to the tournament though. Despite his anxiety, Krillin swallowed his doubts and prepared himself as best he could for the Budokai. The night before the tournament, Krillin and Goku bedded down in a cheap hotel in Papaya Town and Krillin tried to calm his fluttering nerves. Tomorrow was the big day.

He hoped he was ready. . .

XXXX

Yamcha and Bulma touched down at Durian Airport the day before the 22nd Budokai. Yamcha had returned to West City a year ago and he had been focused on using the newest Capsule Corp technologies to get stronger, with a side focus on being a better boyfriend to Bulma. It was true that the former bandit hadn't really been there for Bulma much over the past 3 years. In fact, before he'd come back to West City, he'd only seen her one time since leaving with Yang to train under Muten Roshi. That was when reports of Red Ribbon bases being found consistently destroyed started popping up here and there in the first 3 months of his training. He had gone to investigate one of the bases near Kame Island, which had once been an abandoned pirate base and found Bulma had the same Idea, looking to scavenge any technology that had been left behind for study.

That was part of how he'd gotten stronger. Bulma had found a lab that had been set up to allow for biological modifications and gene therapies aimed at making super soldiers. Yamcha had helped her carry the necessary equipment and materials from the broken up base to Bulma's capsule boat, as well as defeat some leftover security robots in the process. Over the next couple of years, Bulma had managed to reverse engineer a full course of treatments that would enhance a fighter's combat power and even improve on them. Yamcha had volunteered for the treatments once it became clear from Yang's Letters that the magic that he had been learning from Baba could outclass anything Yamcha could do.

Now Yamcha was a leaner, meaner, fighting machine. More powerful than he'd ever been thanks to Bulma and her scientific knowhow. He didn't know if it would be enough to give him the victory in the Budokai, but he felt more prepared now than ever. As he and Bulma spent the night before the Budokai at a high-class hotel in Papaya Town, he reflected that coming back to West City a year early had been the right choice. Not only had he managed to patch up his rocky relationship with Bulma, but he'd managed to get stronger too doing it.

He didn't know if it would be enough to win the tournament, but it was definitely enough for him to be happy with his progress. . .

XXXX

Soon enough all fighters gathered in the tournament grounds for the 22nd annual Tenkai'ichi Budokai. Old Faces and new faces alike would be competing to find out who was the pinnacle of martial arts. However, deep within the wilds of the Western Continent, a small imp with delusions of grandeur was about to make a horrible mistake as he unearthed a sealed rice cooker that seemed to be at least 300 years old. . .

XXXX

Author's Note:

Power levels before the 22nd Budokai are

390: Son Goku

375: Krillin

252: Yamcha (Enhanced Full Power)

381: Yamcha (Enhanced Improved Max Power)

390: Tien

380: Chaotzu

240: Yurin

395: Tao

130: Master Shen, the Crane hermit

220: The Master of Satan Castle

35: Pilaf