Warrior Instincts

Ch. 18- Hope and Resolve; a martial artist's strength beyond their muscles!

The noises of traffic as it whizzed by a single block away from Capsule Corp filled the air of West City as its citizens went about their daily lives, each and every one of them totally unaware for the moment of the deadly stare-down taking place just outside the landmark home to the Brief's family.

One pair of those eyes belonged to Tien Shinhan, who stood only a handful of feet away from the most horrific darkness he'd ever felt in his young life. Yet, despite this, the martial artist chose to smother any sense of unease with pride and the knowledge that he had a much more important battle looming on the horizon. So, rather than panic, Tien swallowed all feelings fear, and shifted his weight so as to be ready for the fight in front of him.

A battle, which came in the form of the newly rejuvenated King Piccolo, whose identity was still a mystery to the young man.

The green giant hadn't even moved a muscle yet, and still he found himself filled with excitement. Taking a large breath of the fresh air, and promising to replace it with the smell of roasting flesh and fire, the Demon King tensed his powerful muscles and shifted into a slight running position.

'This is it,' Tien hissed to himself, 'here he comes!'

"Allow me to thank you," Piccolo chuckled, "this will be a nice warm-up for me; provided you don't die too quickly."

"Heh, well, I'll do my best not to disappoint you."

"I've no doubt you will," Piccolo chuckled mockingly, "but until then, let's have some fun!"

Tien had only ever seen Tao move as fast as this new foe, yet surprised himself with how easily he'd been able to follow the beast, and even more so as he ducked away from being smashed by the fiend's elbow. It hurt to block the overhead spin-kick that came after, but Tien was able to ignore the ache in his forearm enough so that he could slide around and drop into a leg-sweep.

Piccolo jumped to the side, avoiding the loss of his footing, before rushing back in to re-engage the bald human with a smirk on his face. They traded blows, bobbing and weaving through each other's combinations with barely a hint of strain on to show for it, and through it all Piccolo could feel the gradual control of his power return to him.

'Let the fool think he's a match for me,' the green-skinned monster chuckled as he sent Tien sliding back with a strong knee to the stomach, 'it's only a matter of time now~'

The Crane-style student though could sense that something was off almost immediately, and, as he twisted around his enemy's counter-elbow to his own knife-strike Tien began to call upon the well of ki within. Jumping back, he tensed, and planted his feet firmly into the city street.

"I don't know what you're planning, but it wont work. I've been trained by the best there's ever been, and now, I think it's time to show you just what that means. Prepare yourself; round two starts now!"

There was a twinge of fear in Piccolo's heart then, and a memory of green energy swirling around him before eternal darkness played back through his mind, before the realization that man would surely have died before his current opponent's time settled over him. Flexing his neck as he rotated a single shoulder, the Demon King grinned maliciously at the human martial artist.

"And here I thought I'd been quite open about my plans; the destruction of your filthy race. You humans are a hideously inferior species, hardly fit to live as my children's slaves, let alone challenge me. But, by all means, please do your absolute best to stop me; it'll make it that much more satisfying to watch you fail~"

"That's what you think," Tien growled as he felt the energy build to the right levels, "Multi-Form!"

Soon, Piccolo watched as his one foe became four, and the grin stretched across the villain's face took on a tint of intrigue at the memory of the first time he'd seen it. Amused, the Demon King even allowed the blue-haired human to scuttle away from behind them and drag two others with her. There'd be plenty of time to toy with them, but only after putting this whelp in his place!

"You'd said ten of me wouldn't be enough, well, I'll bet even four of me is too much for you. But, for good measure, let's see how well you do against this; Four Witches Technique!"

Now, this was a move Piccolo had yet to encounter, and the Demon King found himself mildly impressed as he watched each of his foes grow an extra set of arms from behind their backs. Chuckling deep in his throat, the green giant readied himself once more for combat, and leaped forward in a burst of great speed, enjoying the apprehensive look on the human's many faces as he went.

"Very fancy, boy, but let's see just how well you've perfected those techniques!"

This, Tien hadn't been expecting, and watching his foe be so eager in the face of what should be overwhelming odds sent off alarm bells at the front of the young man's brain. However, there was little time to think on this before the monster fell upon him and his copies. They tried to circle him, to surround the green beast and force him to defend from all angles, yet with each passing second it seemed as if this fiend was getting faster!

It wasn't long before Tien found himself s the one on the defensive, despite outnumbering his opponent, and watched as one-by-one each doppelganger was smashed into oblivion and faded from existence, leaving just he and the green giant to continue their fight one on one.

The arm coming from Tien's left shoulder-blade reached out hastily to catch the incoming fist meant for the young man's face, but the sheer pain that surged through its muscles forced the martial artist to stumble back. This left him open though, and a powerful knee came crashing into Tien's stomach, sending the bald warrior flying across the street and crashing into the park grounds a few yards away.

Piccolo watched his foe as they curled into a groaning ball of pain, and a malicious grin stretched tightly across the giant's face as he began to float over to inspect the damage.

"Come now, human, surely that wasn't all you had? Or perhaps, this teacher of yours wasn't as powerful as you made him sound? Whichever it is, get up, I'm not finished playing with you yet; I've hardly even begun to get warmed up!"

Hearing this strange creature talk down about his master fueled Tien's already burning rage at Tao's untimely demise and the bald martial artist used this to roll over and launch a powerful blast of ki from the palm of his hand. Brilliant, blinding light filled the teen's vision then as his attack erupted in a violent explosion upon contact with the giant's chest.

Those next few moments, silence reigned supreme as even the noise of capsule cars came to a halt.

Still on the ground, Tien huffed for breath as his aching lower-ribs cried out for medical attention, but there was a triumphant grin on his face despite the pain as he stared at where his foe had once been.

"How's that, you freak, hot enough for ya?"

What came next though, was nothing like what the Crane-style student had been expecting, as a large hand came rushing out of the smoke to wrap around his throat! Gurgling for air, Tien found himself hoisted into the air as the arm attached to the hand began to retract, until finally he was once more face-to-face with the unharmed form of the green giant.

"Oh, you humans, always such a crafty, cowardly lot; taking any chance you can to score the victory over your superiors. No, boy, that poor excuse for an attack couldn't even scotch my uniform; all you've done now is make me angry!"

"ARGH!" Tien choked out a cry of pain as the claws around his neck lightly pierced his flesh, leaving rivulets of blood to ooze down the chords of his throat as the demon squeezed his windpipe. Through the agony, Tien fought for the breath to speak before his gravely voice filled the air.

"I-I don't understand, who are you; what are you!?"

Piccolo looked into the eyes of his prey and raised a single, amused eyebrow as the human struggled to free himself. "So then, you truly didn't know; figures your kind would do their best to erase me from their history. Ah, you poor fool, perhaps if you had known, you could have survived just a bit longer; but I digress."

Tossing Tien back down onto the ground, Piccolo then gathered energy into the tips of his first two fingers, and sent rings of ki out to surround the young teens wrists and ankles so that he couldn't move.

"I, am pure evil made into flesh; the bringer of death. I am the one who is meant to rule over the humans with an iron fist! I, am the very thing each and every human fears in the darkest corners of their hearts! I am, the supreme King of all that is unholy and despicable, the one and only-"

"King Piccolo; I didn't want to believe it. But, your energy is far too horrible to belong to anyone else."

Large, angry, yellow eyes shifted as their owner growled, "Who dares interrupt my return to greatness!?"

The answer came in the form of two old men; with another, younger, fighter off to the side. Roshi of the Turtle school stood beside Tien's own Master, Shen, with a young man the Crane-style student had never seen before beside them. He wore the Kame-style's orange gi, and was bald just like Tien with six dots decorating his forehead to show that he'd studied from Oran Temple.

"We dare," Roshi hissed from a few yards away, "and if you think for even a second that we'll just stand back, and allow you to throw this world back into chaos, you've got another thing coming Piccolo!"

"Oh," the Demon King scoffed, "So you managed to survive my last reign of terror on your pathetic species then, hm? Well then I must say, the two of you are the very reason humans need to be eradicated; they don't know when to surrender!"

An immense pressure descended on the new trio, and Krillin found himself struggling not to drop down onto all-fours while the two martial arts masters were reminded of just how terrible their foe truly could be. But, before they could think on it too much, their enemy let out a snarl and launched himself at the trio in a mind-boggling display of speed.

Roshi barely had time to push Krillin away before the Demon King fell upon him, but those precious seconds cost the elderly fighter, and he was left unprepared for Piccolo's fist as it rammed into his chest. Roshi's whole world went white then, and the old man hardly felt the way his own body crashed against the street after being sent flying.

Shen tried to catch Piccolo off-guard with a Dodon Ray at point-blank range, but the technique failed to even scratch the green giant, and Tien's master was soon ducking in a desperate attempt to keep his head as Piccolo countered with a swipe of his clawed hand. A knee that followed though caught the Crane-style master in his gut, and soon enough he too was laid out on the street.

"No, master!"

Tien forced himself to his feet at the sight of his teacher being manhandled by vile monster, and in a blind fit of rage went charging down King Piccolo.

"I don't care who you are," the bald young man growled, "I won't allow you to get away with what you just did!"

Piccolo just allowed himself to smirk as he swatted away each of his opponent's strikes with the palm of his large hand, "Just be glad you've proven to be so amusing, human, or else you'd have already been ready to greet your master in the afterlife. Now, show me more of that rebellious fire, so that I can stamp it out before sending you to oblivion!"

It was easy for Tien to see now that his foe was merely toying with him, holding back the full force of his power, and while the warrior inside felt disgusted that it was still too much to handle Tien chose to put such thoughts aside and try to find a way to use this to his advantage.

Just then, an angry voice shouted from the side, drawing both fighters attention...

"Kamehameha!"

There was a bright, blue beam of energy rocketing through the air on account of Krillin now that he'd gotten over the shock of Roshi being so easily brushed aside, yet the former monk had checked to see that the Turtle Hermit was still breathing before taking up the fight and allowed a bit of relief to flood his system even as Piccolo sent the beam off into the sky with a flick of his wrist.

"You humans truly are nothing but overgrown roaches,harmless yet annoying in your resilience; did you really think a sneak attack would catch the mighty King Piccolo off-guard so easily?"

Krillin chuckled, "Honestly, I was kind of hoping, yeah."

"Then you're as stupid as you look, but this is good, I can tell you're much stronger than those old fools who accompanied you, together with this other fool it may just be enough to finally get me warmed up."

"Your arrogance will be your downfall," Tien hissed as he slipped into a defensive stance, "I don't care what it takes, you wont conquer the world while I'm still standing!"

Piccolo scoffed at this, "Don't try to act so noble now, boy, not after what I walked in on earlier; you and I aren't as different as you'd like to believe-"

"That was revenge, justice, what you are doing is nothing but mass murder for your own enjoyment!"

"Ah~ is that all it takes, then?" Piccolo's face twisted into a maniacal grin, one that sent shivers up both young men's spines, "Very well, my conquest will be a mission of revenge, justice, against the human race for imprisoning me!"

Krillin didn't want to hear anymore, "Enough! I don't care what you wanna call it; you're murdering innocent people, and I can't let that happen!"

"Then please," the Demon King chortled, "come, and do all that is within your puny power to try and stop me."

xXx

As the two martial artists were about to enter into a fight for their lives, Bulma had long since escaped from West City in a capsule car, and sped away with the unconscious twins in the backseat before switching to a jet-coptor for the rest of her journey.

Even though she wasn't a fighter, Bulma had still been capable of feeling the horrible energy that the green giant had given off in waves; her stomach twisted even now just thinking about it! And without knowing the stories, Capsule Corp's heiress could still tell that the new arrival to what had been meant to be her execution was the very evil which Goku had been taken away to train for.

This pushed the blue-haired beauty into action then, and rather than simply run away, Bulma now steered her airborne vehicle towards Jingle Village.

Surely, Goku's training was finished by now!

'I'll pick him up, and we can go back together so that he can clean those freaks clocks!'

Yet, even she had to concede that her family's fastest jet-coptor would take over an hour to make that trip, with another hour devoted to the return, so Bulma could only hope that her home and all that she'd been working on would still be standing after so long.

Pushing the machine to its limits, and praying that it would somehow break its own mechanical limits and go faster, the young woman's heart thundered in her chest as a sense of dread tried to take hold then; what if the training wasn't enough?

She'd already seen Goku lose to Tao, her vision of his invincibility forever shattered by the image of the boy battered and bloody on the ground, so who was to say that even a full year of training with a talking cat would be enough to take on a hideously evil being like the one she'd just escaped from in West City!?

'I guess...all I can do is hope, and have faith that Goku won't fail, not when so much is at stake.'

Yet, nagging in the back of her brain, Bulma wondered if 'Hope' was really going to be enough to save the day this time.

xXx

Hope; the only thing Roshi had at the moment. This single word was what allowed the elderly martial arts teacher to keep his body from giving out on him even after the breaking of his ribs. Even now, after crawling with his fingertips and huddled behind the rubble of Capsule Corp's entrance, Roshi forced himself to hope that his plan would work.

Watching Krillin use the After-Image technique so flawlessly however did fill the old man with pride though, and solidified his resolve to do what needed to be done so the former monk could take those talents and attempt to become the next World Champion.

Thinking of the tournament and the gold-plated belt given to the winner, sent Roshi's mind drifting a bit to where an image of a certain monkey-tailed former student filled his thoughts.

Proud to a fault, yet stronger than anyone he had ever known, the Turtle Hermit could only dream of what sort of student Kakarot may have been if he'd taken to Gohan's kindness, if he'd lost their bout in the Tenkaichi Budokai...just what sort of man would 'Goku' had been?

It was a bitter-sweet thought, but one Roshi couldn't help but ponder as he gathered every last bit of energy within himself and prepared it for one, final technique.

'Perhaps Gohan and I can talk about it together; dream an endless dream of happiness and possibilities. Yes, that sounds nice.'

Krillin's howl of pain nearly broke the martial arts master's concentration, but the elderly man managed to push it into the back of his mind alongside the devastating truth that he could no longer feel Shen's energy. Instead of dwelling on them, Roshi used those feelings to fuel his power to the point the man's knees shook.

He was only going to get one shot.

"You've both begun to bore me," Piccolo's gruff voice filled the air now, finally drawing Roshi's attention at last, "I think it's time we end this pathetic little game now."

Snapping his eyes open, the Turtle Hermit could now see his greatest nightmare towering over both his own student as well as Tien, the monster's hand was outstretched and glowing with the build up of evil energy. Roshi's heart began to thump wildly under his damaged ribs as the thought of those two young warrior's deaths pushed him into action.

"You're right about one thing, Piccolo, it all ends here!"

The Demon King's head swiftly turned to find this new speaker, and an annoyed snarl decorated the fiend's face at the sight of the old man he'd thought to be dead still standing.

"Damn you, humans, when will you all learn to just accept the inevitable and die!?"

"I've no doubt I'll die this day," the Turtle Hermit lamented, "but not before I see you sealed away again; this time permanently!"

Piccolo's already large eyes grew wider with fear as he recognized that familiar green energy swirling around his foe, the monster's cold, black heart even began to race as images of another eternity in darkness filled his every thought.

"N-No, you can't, I won't let you!"

"Evil Containment Wave!"

xXx

"W-What do you mean they aren't back yet!?"

"I apologize," Bora bowed, "but it is the truth; Master Korin and your friend have not come down from the Tower."

"W-Well can't you go up and get them, this is an emergency! That evil, the one Goku's supposed to be training to fight, yeah, it's here!"

"I...am aware," the dark-skinned warrior pinched his eyes shut in dread as he spoke, "Piccolo's malice is all to easy to sense, even here. Unfortunately, even if I did make the climb, it would do us no good; they are in the Dead Zone. Only a deity may travel to limbo freely."

Dread filled Bulma to her core at this reveal, and she dropped to her knees as the young woman's entire body shook. Normally expressive, crystal-blue eyes dimmed, and air became nearly impossible to pass through her lungs as the girl whispered...

"So then, w-what you're saying, is that all we can do..."

"Is wait, and hope, that they will return soon."

'Hope'? What good was 'hope' in the face of certain doom?

For Bulma, it was a question she dreaded the answer to as she turned her face to the sky and screamed...

"Goku, where are you!"

xXx

Power-Level

Krillin: 1,000

Tien: 1,500

King Piccolo: 5,000

Roshi: 300