Chapter nine - Hotaru's Amazing Power! Krillin's Quick Defeat!

Goku, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha (who just recently came to), and Tien all watched Gohan with shock. They couldn't believe the power they'd felt radiating from Gohan. He hadn't been stronger than Jaken, his easy win had come from the shock at Gohan's sudden increase of power. As Gohan stepped into the fighters area Goku felt a presence behind him and turned to see Bardock standing there.

"That was impressive." he said. "I've only heard of such power once before, a Sai-jin by the name of Brolly was born with a power level of over ten thousand. The last anyone heard of him his power had surpassed five hundred thousand. That was ten years ago." Bardock knelt down and watched his scouter closely. Gohan's power wasn't moving, it had dipped all the way back down to it's original level. "However I've never heard of increases like that, power spikes that come and then fade."

"Maybe it's from his Human side." Piccolo said watching as Gohan looked at them in wonder, not sure why they seemed so confused. "He's the only half Human half Sai-jin I know of."

"He's the only half Sai-jin period." Bardock said standing back up. "No other race has the potential of the Sai-jins so mixed blood children are unheard of, it's believed they'd have low power and low potential. Either the Human race is an exception to this, or Gohan's natural power is that impressive it cancels the effect of his Human blood."

"Well," Goku said scratching the back of his head. "Chi Chi is the strongest woman on the planet. She's more than half the strength of Master Roshi so that could be a factor too."

Goku felt an elbow in his side. Looking down he saw Krillin pointing his thumb at the ring. Looking Goku saw Hotaru already there waiting for him, and finally heard his name called. "Oh! I guess it is my match huh?" he said laughing. Goku made his way out to the ring and turned to look at Hotaru. "Sorry to keep you waiting." he said sliding into a fighting position.

Hotaru said nothing and did the same. Goku watched her closely, the match had started but they weren't moving yet. /She's got a strong power, I can't feel it all, she's still suppressing it. Though I don't think it's for our benefit./ he glanced back at where Jaken sat, leaning against a wall, scouter on his face. He seemed to be talking to someone, of course, Bardock had said that they were also communicators. /Probably talking to that Zarbon guy./

He turned back to Hotaru. He felt certain her eyes were taking in more than just his appearance. Suddenly she charged in and Goku slid to his side. Her power spiked up quickly and topped off just above his as her fist slipped past his face only inches away. He brought his knee up into her stomach and his elbow down into the back of her neck.

"Ouch!" cried the announcer. "That has got to hurt!"

Goku moved his arm and leg then spun around. The back of his hand connected hard with her face and she stumbled backward. Her left arm shot out and a stream of orange energy charged at Goku. He batted it away but it was only a decoy. She came up behind him and planted her knee into his back driving him into the ring floor. Reaching down to either side of him she grabbed his wrists and pulled his arms back stretching the muscles in his arms and shoulders.

He gritted his teeth and strained against her grip trying to pull free. /Man she's strong! I've got to get her off somehow... but how?/ Suddenly he screamed out as her other knee slammed into his back hard. As she drove her knee harder into his back he twisted his hands slightly so that his palms were pointing down. He fired off three quick energy blasts from each pulverizing the ring beneath him and rocking him around enough he could roll onto his back, or more precisely, hers.

Still she kept a firm grip on him but know that he wasn't pinned to the ground he could move his legs. He pulled them in quickly then thrust them outward pulling away from her. The force of the motion pulled him to his feet and he flipped her over his head. Still she wouldn't let go so he brought his knee up as he brought her down slamming her face into his knee. With that she finally released her grip. She started to move back to the opposite side of the ring with Goku following. "Inryoku Chikara!" she cried. The invisible force slammed into Goku but he pushed against it and broke through. Her eyes widened slightly then narrowed. "Inryoku Chikara!" she called out again. This time the force pushed into Goku harder, but still he came.

Hotaru stopped going backward and went up into the air. "Nibai Inryoku Chikara!" She shouted as Goku charged up toward her. The force blast slammed into him hard and threw him down into the ring again, but not very hard as he managed to land on his feet and stand back up.

Hotaru clenched her fists tightly as she watched Goku slip into a posture she'd seen before, in the match with the bald guy. Then Goku's voice echoed out through the arena. "Kaaaaaaaaaaa Meeeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaa Meeeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaaaaa!"

Hotaru felt the power build up from the attack as Bardock, Appla, and Vadora watched their scouter in awe. "His power is going up, but how?" Appla asked. "It's at over fifteen hundred now."

"It's not his power." Vadora said. "It's the attack, he knows how to concentrate his energy into a single point to make his attacks even stronger than he is. There's no telling how much power he may be able to force into his attacks, this one is only meant to knock this girl out, not kill her."

As the attack neared Hotaru pulled in all her energy. "Nibai Kinryoku!" she yelled out at the last second. The Kamehameha wave slammed into an invisible barrier and exploded. It tore apart down it's length and Goku stopped the attack so as not to waste energy.

Hotaru floated, unharmed, above the ring. Her muscles were slightly larger, her hair was floating out behind her, and she was surrounded by thin silver aura. Her power had doubled but a moment later the aura faded and her power returned to normal. She moved her fingers to her temples again, as she had against Piccolo. "Kuro Omoi Seichuu!" she cried.

Goku felt a pull on himself and expected to be frozen as Piccolo had been, yet he could still move. As he wondered at this he noticed Hotaru had relaxed slightly. Quickly he took advantage of the situation and leapt into the air toward the now descending Hotaru. Her eyes went wide in shock as she saw Goku charging her. Before she could react to him his fist was in her face.

She was knocked backward into the air a short distance before recovering. "Nibai Kinryoku!" she cried, the thin silver aura returning and her power jumping up again. Then she vanished. The others watched in wonder as Goku's head jerked to the right as though he'd been hit, but none of them saw anything. Still, they could feel her energy speeding around in the sky, she was to fast for any of them, save for Gohan, to see. The young Sai-jin was only able to see her momentarily as she slowed to make turns or to attack.

There were three resounding cracks, one as a knee impacted Goku's stomach, another as a fist hit his jaw, and finally the third came from an elbow to his back. Goku slammed hard into the ring floor cracking it. Hotaru landed and once more the aura around her faded away.

"Amazing!" Cried the announcer. "That was just amazing!" He stared at Goku a moment before remembering to do a count. "1... 2... 3... 4... 5..." he stopped as Goku moved and began to get onto his feet. Hotaru watched with little emotion showing on her face, but she was still obviously surprised that Goku was still getting up.

"You are quite impressive." she said smiling at him. "I've never met a Sai-jin weaker than me who wasn't effected by my Kuro Omoi Seichuu. In fact, I've never met anyone weaker than me who wasn't effected by it."

"I think Piccolo can attest to how well that move works." Goku said with a grin trying to catch his breath.

Hotaru nodded. "Shall we continue now?" she asked.

"Well... I've always loved a challenge." he said panting slightly. "But I don't think I stand much chance against you."

Hotaru smiled softly. "Not really."

Goku nodded. "Then that's it. I'm done."

The announcer blinked at Goku for a moment. "D... did you just... forfeit Goku?" he asked surprised.

Goku nodded. "I can't give her much of a match, I'm spent and she's still fairly fresh. I can't win anyway, not with that one move of hers... Besides, she'll be fighting Gohan in the finals and I think he'll be more of a challenge".

Krillin crossed his arms and frowned. "Gee, thanks a lot Goku." Gohan looked at Krillin and laughed. After a moment Krillin sighed. "Guess he's right though, I don't stand much chance of beating you kid, do I?"

Gohan smiled and the two walked out to the ring. "You can try Krillin. Who knows, you could get lucky."

"And go up against that Hotaru girl? Nah, I say we just get this over with... I'm not even sure why I'm going to try this, you're more than four times my strength. Anyway, congrats Gohan, you're the youngest person to ever reach the finals."

The two stood in the rings center ready for their match. Krillin slid into his battle stance and gulped wondering just how to go about something like this... Pulling in his courage he charged in at Gohan, fist cocked back for a punch. He never even started the swing before Gohan's foot came up into his chin and sent him skyward. He hit the ring hard a moment later unmoving. The announcer blinked twice, then he started the count. Gohan smiled and bowed to the motionless Krillin. When the count finished he carried him out of the ring, thousands of eyes following the little warrior in disbelief.

"That had to be the shortest match in the history of the tournament." Yamcha laughed as Krillin slowly came to.

Rubbing his head Krillin sighed. "Yeah... remind me never to attack Gohan head on again." Piccolo smirked while Goku, Yamcha, and Tien laughed as the announcer declared a temporary recess to the tournament to give the finalists a chance to rest a bit.

"Yeah!" Goku cried pumping a hand into the air. "Food time!" Gohan smiled and laughed as they walked toward the restaurant.

Meanwhile Jaken leaned against a near-by tree watching them go. The Humans were weak, the Namek was stronger but nothing that couldn't be handled. Kakkarotto seemed like no Sai-jin he'd ever seen, and his son was inconceivably powerful for a Third Class Sai-jin Soldier's child. His eyes followed the silver haired woman as well. She was an unknown factor, one that had defeated Kakkarotto. He was beginning to wonder if perhaps Zarbon had started something that none of them would be able to finish.

Fifteen minutes later found the fighters back at ringside for the final match of the tournament. Gohan was adjusting his GI while the announcer went on about how incredible it was for him to be here, after all, he was only five. He was also commenting on Hotaru's defeat of the former Champion by surrender. Gohan was curious about that too, he'd never seen his dad do that before... maybe he just wanted to see how Gohan would do against her? He shook his head and readied for the match.